When Deputy Reynold regained consciousness, it was to the shock that he was now tied up spread eagle in the center of the pentagram. His head throbbed; that was only to be expected from the blow he had received, but he also felt strangely chilled. That too, was quickly solved- he realized his shirt had been removed and he was lying tied up bare-chested.

To his right he could hear Meriem’s voice. She was singing and chanting, though in some strange language he for which he was unfamiliar. Turning to look at her, Reynold could not help but gasp. She stood over a large fire that had not been there when he first entered the caves. The fire was burning a strange purple hue that in and of itself was alarming, but even more alarming was Meriem’s current appearance. She still wore the same low-cut dress and her body still seemed perfectly shaped in all the right places…but now her long, flowing black hair was gone, showing her to have a slightly lopsided pale bald head. But it wasn’t only that; the longer Reynold looked, he realized that her eyebrows and eyelashes were gone as well. With a final hum of her strange chant, the deputy watched as Meriem ripped the fingernails of her pinkie fingers from their nail beds with barely a flinch and cast them into the violet flames before her.

It was only then that the woman noticed he was awake. Her ruby red lips turned up to a smirk.

“Rexford!” she remarked, moving closer to him. He could see now it wasn’t just her pinky nails she had removed, it was every single nail on her hands. Her fingers dripped blood.

“Stay away!” Reynold commanded, but she paid him no mind. She came and knelt besides the deputy, flashed him a big smile in the process. Reynold could see her mouth was bloodied and empty of any teeth. No doubt she had recently removed those too for some sinister reason.

“You’re hardly in a position to tell me what to do,” Meriem continued, gently caressing his cheek with her mutilated fingers, “although I must say, I was not expecting you to wake back up. Most people don’t. But then again, look at you. You’re a strong boy, aren’t you? Muscles on top of muscles. Serves me right for not realizing that meant you’d probably have a strong skull. No matter. Whether you’re awake or not does not change anything.”

She paused, noticing as Rexford took in her drastically altered physical state.

“Oh, yes,” she giggled, “I suppose you’re probably wondering what this is all about.” She held up her gory hands and pointed at herself. “Well, Rexford, as I believe you’ve since figured out, I’m a prairie witch.”

Rexford struggled in his binds as she spoke. It was not so much that they were durable- in fact, he knew himself strong enough to break weaker rope that his current situation used with relative ease. But it was the lingering effects of the alcohol from earlier, and the heavy blow to the back of his head. He was in a weakened state and would need to get his strength back before he could do anything to free himself from her hold.

Meriem continued: “As a prairie witch, it’s an important practice of our kind that we keep our identity a secret from your kind. Normal folks like you and your fellow citizens of Fox Den don’t take kindly to my kind’s dark magic. Frankly, I was surprised to hear before I struck you that someone has a book with our symbols and knows about the existence of prairie witches. I would investigate that further, but I’ve got my own agenda to keep.”

“As luck would have it, there is just the spell for me to use to assist with my identity remaining a secret. I say an incantation over the blessed fire and everyone in Fox Den forgets that they ever saw me. Of course, in order for the spell to work there are other components I have to add to it; this would include parts of myself, such as my hair, teeth, and nails. But don’t worry, unlike for you mortals all these things will grow back for me in a matter of days.”

The purple fire let out a loud pop behind her.

“Ah, and there it is!” the witch cackled, “with that pop, the memory of me has all but been forgotten by anyone who saw me tonight!”

“But I haven’t forgotten you,” said Reynold, confused what all of this had to do with him as he continued to try and break loose.

“Well, no, be logical, deputy. You’re looking right at me. Of course you haven’t forgotten me. But, say, that nosy bartender friend of yours who tried to warn you about me? I’m all but a memory to him now. Pity, the man certainly has some sort of extra-sensory gift to have detected my dark magic. Ah, but that no one ever trained him to use it has made him no threat to me.”

“So, this is what you do?” Reynold asked, “you go into town, get men drunk, tie them up and then…burn your hair and nails to make people forget you?”

“What? No. I try to avoid doing the whole memory erase spell unless I absolutely have to, which in tonight’s case as we were spotted together I do. While the spell works wonderfully well and never fails to remove my memory from others…” she again held up her bloody fingers, “witch or not, tearing all these body parts off to burn really fucking hurts.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Then what is it you want?” Reynold inquired with an intense glare, “you must have wanted something bad to risk going into town and bringing me back here with you.”

The prairie witch returned the deputy’s gaze. “Rexford, do you have a close family? Any siblings, parents who dote on you, maybe even cousins around your age you grew up with?”

The bound lawman took in the question with a degree of suspicion. As such, he remained quiet.

Meriem did not seem to care. She went on: “You see, Rexford, I wasn’t so fortunate. The only family I have truly known was my brother, Milagro. He and I were orphaned young and the world was not kind to us. In our coven it had always been a mother’s responsibility to teach her daughter the spells of our ancestors. I was without a mother; all I had was her spell book, but no one to teach me the spells.” She motioned to a large tome not far from where she knelt.

“I have had to teach myself all the magic I know. Other prairie witches always looked at me as if I were beneath them; after all, they had learned their spells the proper way, through generational teaching and practice. My spells were learned through trial and error, of which I made more of the latter than the former. I have never had any friends- it was only with Milagro that I have ever felt any sort of value or warmth. But, oh, as hard as I had it, Milagro had it worse. Not because he was a male born into a female society and unable to use magic, but because he was born small and sickly and always remained that way. I would swear to him every day that once I got skilled enough at my spells I would do what I could to transform him into the man he always wanted to be. That he deserved to be. A tall, muscular, handsome man.”

“When I reached adulthood, and with it, my magic abilities came to their full potential, I poured over my mother’s spell book, certain there had to be a spell capable of changing Milagro into more of what he wanted. And I thought I had found that spell. Milagro was so excited and trusted my magical ability to cast the spell on him. But…something didn’t go right.”

She paused, almost showing a moment of weakness as tears swelled in the corner of her eyes. Reynold took the moment to try his bonds again, but found they still held fast.

“I…instead of changing Milagro into a better version of himself, I instead caused Milagro to explode.”

“Good lord!” exclaimed Reynold, startled to hear Meriem had such powers.

“Oh, I have since realized the error- I misread the incantation. In hindsight, I should have practiced first on a cat or a rabbit or anything else before Milagro, but what is done is done. Oh, the guilt I feel for my mistake- but that’s all right, because I am going to fix it.”

Reynold blinked. “You’re going to fix…blowing up your brother?”

Meriem nodded, the tears disappearing from her eyes. “Yes, because I’ve been practicing, and now know another way to give Milagro what he wants!”

“But your…your brother is dead if he exploded…”

“He won’t be for long!” Meriem’s devilish smile returned. “I made sure to collect the bits and pieces of Milagro I could after my…mistake and have been keeping them in an enchanted bag. Most of him sadly was disintegrated, but I still have his head and it’s mostly in good condition. The head is the key component to my brilliant plan. I also have a sizable amount of his upper torso, a couple of his toes…”

“You…you’re going to bring your brother back to life?” Even uttering it, Reynold could feel a chill. That was an unnatural act and this prairie witch had no business playing with life.

“Not just back to life,” Meriem replied, “I’m going to bring him back with the body he wanted. That’s why I need you, Rexford.”

Reynold was once more confused by wary. “Why would you need me for your plan?”

“Because, deputy, in case you haven’t taken a look in the mirror lately, you’re a straight up dreamboat with muscles out the wazoo.”

“But…I’m alive.” Reynold still did not understand.

“Rexford, do you know why I came to Fox Den today?” Meriem asked.

“I have no idea. I’m sure it wasn’t worth having to rip out your fingernails and hair, though.”

“I came to look for men with beautiful bodies. Fox Den is a growing mining community; I’ve heard that miners have quite muscular bodies to be able to dig so well. It had been my intention to find a miner whose body fit the specifics Milagro wanted for himself. Now, imagine my surprise to lay eyes on you and learn you were a deputy- not even a miner and you were beyond physical expectations. While I have failed Milagro with the transformation spell, I have since been able to master the reanimation spell. I will not only bring my brother back, but I will bring him back with perfect form as well. No more will he be a weakling. No more will he be sickly. He will be strong and buff.”

“And…and I factor in how…?”

Meriem gave Reynold a blank stare. “I…I’m going to take your body for my brother, deputy.”

“What?!? You can’t do that!” As he had been doing, Reynold struggled in his binds to no avail.

“I can and I will,” Meriem retorted, “and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

“I’m the deputy of Fox Den!” exclaimed the lawman, “People will notice when I go missing! You won’t get away with this!”

“Rexford, that memory spell? I can do it to you too. Once I’ve finished taking what I need from your body, I’ll burn your hair, nails, and teeth in the blessed fire just as I did mine. Fox Den will never remember you existed. That fiancée I overheard you mention to the bartender? She’ll forget you too. Not that she isn’t already trying to.”

“You…I won’t let you take my body!”

“If it makes you feel better, I won’t take it all. Just anything I don’t already have.” Meriem’s eyes fell on the deputy’s bulging biceps. “Such as these masculine arms of yours. Not a big fan to see you have a woman’s name tattooed on your arm, Rexford. But I’m guessing it’s that no-longer-your-fiancee’s name. No matter. I think I’ll remove that limb first so you don’t have to worry about her being a part of you anymore.”

Meriem rose to her feet and went to retrieve the spell book.

“You can’t do this…” Reynold repeated but it fell on deaf ears.

The prairie witch flipped through a couple of pages. “Ah, here we go, a blood-less severing spell.”

At once she began chanting in the strange language from before. Not that Reynold was listening closely, for at the same time a pain unlike anything he had ever imagine pulsed through his right arm, causing him to let out the loudest scream a man could make.