bed? Do you think he'll still want to 'have a
beer' with you?"
"He'll be hurt. But you do what you gotta do,
Mrs. Fordham, and I don't do what I gotta not do."
"Fuck you, you piece of shit," Angela said.
"Don't bother coming in Saturday. You're fired!"
She slammed the phone down into the receiver,
then slammed it a few more times for good measure. Who the fuck did
he think he was, some fucking gardener breaking up with her? Didn't
he know how important she was?
She was married to Henry fucking Fordham, one
of the oldest and most respected families in Paradise Hills. She
was on the school board.. She was a member of the Daughters of
Lilith, for Christ's sake.
The Daughters were a social club of Paradise
Hills' most influential and powerful women. Business owners, local
politicians, corporate executives, and their wives and daughters.
Her first impulse was to use her connections there to strike out at
Carlos, to ask Susan, head of the Homeowner's Association to
blacklist, or Alice, a sheriff's deputy, to boot his work truck.
Maybe have Susan, who worked for the chamber of commerce, to revoke
his business license.
Then she remembered the Daughters'... other
asset.
The Daughters of Lilith, while being a social
club, also had shades of pagan mystery cult overtones. Angela had
always thought it harmless bullshit, until the last meeting had
resulted in the summoning of an actual pagan god. This god --
Cernunnos -- had offered the Daughters a bargain: should they
summon it with the masturbatory ritual it taught, it would offer
them a service. A boon.
Thoughts of magical revenge quickly flickered
through Angela's head, but she was a practical girl. She knew of a
much greater favor to ask of this god.
#
"έλα με γαμήσεις," Angela moaned, rubbing her
clit furiously. "έλα με γαμήσεις!"
Despite her high sex drive, she didn't
masturbate very often. The remnants of religious guilt and her
mother's stern scolding. This was a special occasion though. She
was masturbating to summon a pagan sex god. She doubted her mother
would have approved, but it was for a good cause.
You have called, a voice echoed in her
head, and she could feel His presence suffusing the master bedroom. I have answered. What boon would you ask of me?
Her eyes snapped open and she sat up in bed,
eyes looking for any sign of Cernunnos's presence. "It's my
husband. He's too... passive. I want him to be a real man.
So you want--
"I'm sick and tired of his wishy-washy
attitude. I want him to be more... forceful. More confident. More
of a man, you know?"
Do you mean--
"A real man just takes what he wants!" she
said. "My father was a mechanic. Never asked questions. Just
assumed he knew best, and other people fell in line."
Your husband--
"I want to be married to a man I can be proud
of! A man I'm not ashamed to be seen with--"
ENOUGH. The mental volume stunned
Angela into silence. I get the gist. Do you want a new man, or
do you want me to alter your current husband?
"Oh, make Henry better if you can," Angela
said. "I mean, I love him. I don't know that there's any hope for
the man, but if you think you can fix him--"
So mote it be, the voice echoed in her
head. Your husband has been altered.
"Just like that?" Angela said. "How will I
know?"
There was silence in her head, and she
realized that the presence had departed.
"That was easy," Angela smiled. If it had
worked.
#
She had her doubts. Angela didn't know that
even an ancient pagan sex god could make a man out of Henry. If
Cernunnos failed, and Henry was still a wimp, would she get a
refund? Would she get another boon? Could she ask for a new
husband? She'd just have to try summoning him again if it didn't
work.
Henry was due to be back from his Miami trip
this evening. He hadn't called from the airport, which was mildly
irritating, but if he had become a man she wouldn't press the
issue. If he had become a man she wouldn't have to. Thoughts of a
new Henry,