The Vampire & Her Witch

”Cypress Witch?” Ollie asked, cocking his head to the side as he tried to puzzle out what the title meant, his breath forming small clouds in the chilly mountain air. A pine needle drifted down from above, landing on his shoulder as the forest creaked and settled around them.

Knights were often given titles for deeds of great valor and those titles could only be conferred by powerful lords like a Marquis or Duke, or even the King himself. But to be granted such a title at the beginning, before he had even accomplished anything, it had to be different somehow.

But she’d called Heila the ’Willow Witch’ and the ’Willow Whip, Champion of the Arena’... That was a title earned through dangerous battles wasn’t it?

”Each witch in my coven will bear a seed of witchcraft,” Ashlynn explained, unlacing the top of her dress to reveal the faint scar that vanished into her impressive cleavage, seemingly oblivious to the effect her action had on the flame-haired young man.

Ollie’s eyes widened momentarily before he quickly averted his gaze, fixing his attention on a distant tree while heat rose from his collar to the tips of his ears. His hands, previously relaxed at his sides, suddenly seemed impossible to position naturally, and he finally clasped them in his lap as he shifted his position akwardly to conceal the reaction from his traitorous body.

”I take a seed from a specific tree,” Ashlynn continued, seemingly oblivious to the young man’s distress, ”and nurture that seed next to my heart until it is ready to be given to the witch who will bear it.”

”I’m the willow witch because my seed came from an Ancient Willow tree,” Heila said, providing a welcome distraction from Ashlynn’s unintentionally provocative display, or at least it was welcome until she traced a finger between her own humble breasts, pulling the fabric of her dress tight against her bust and revealing the top of the fading scar on her chest.

”The seed is what allows you to connect to the energy of the world and direct it’s power. It also bestows it’s own mark of the witch on you once it’s grown into a permanent part of you.”

”Oh,” Ollie said, trying to look thoughtful as he stared at the ground to escape the near scandalous actions of both women as he focused on what they had to say, slowly coming to understand the meaning behind some of their earlier words.

”So, when you said that you could transform a person into a witch, you really meant it. Just like when,” he started to say only to cut himself short when he saw Heila narrowing her eyes at him. ”Similar to how people are transformed into vampires, but different, because, um, vampires are transformed into predators while witches are transformed into part of the natural cycle of life?”

”It is a similar transformation, yes,” Ashlynn agreed with a knowing look as she glanced at Heila who smiled proudly at her ’little brother’s’ understanding. ”And similar in that both transformations are very dangerous. Life threatening even. But the two transformations have less in common than they have areas of difference,” she continued.

”For example, the type of tree your seed comes from is important because it will shape your powers in profound ways,” Ashlynn explained. ”And there can only be one of each witch in each coven. Further, while each new vampire can create progeny of their own, only a Mother or Father of the Earth is capable of creating a witch.”

”So, the seed that you’re growing for me,” Ollie said, pointedly not staring at Ashlynn’s full bust, though his darting glances betrayed his struggle to maintain proper eye contact. He wished that she would lace her dress back up now that she’d shown him what she needed to but he feared that he said anything it would only make the moment even more awkward for both of them.

So instead of saying anything, he tried to focus on the conversation at hand, grateful for the dim light that might conceal the flush still warming his cheeks, even though he was certain that she’d noticed the way his eyes couldn’t seem to meet her gaze.

”It’s a seed that comes from a Cypress tree?” he said, carefully pronouncing the name of the unfamiliar tree. ”What sort of tree is that?”

”One that was hard to choose for you,” Ashlynn said, returning to the stone she’d rest on earlier and gesturing for Ollie and Heila to take seats as well. Now that she had healed her wounds, she would only need a few days to restore her strength but she had still used a significant amount of energy tonight and standing around to talk felt like more effort than it was worth.

”I know you wanted to be a knight, so I considered using a seed from the Ancient Oak for you,” Ashlynn explained slowly, provoking a sudden intake of breath from Heila. ”Oak Witches are known for developing not only tremendous physical strength but exceptional fortitude as well, with the endurance to outlast even the greatest of challenges,” she explained.

”It’s just that, when I confer a seed from an Oak on someone, I intend to use one of the seeds I received from the Ancient Oak,” Ashlynn said slowly. ”The seed Heila received from the Ancient Willow was very powerful and I have no doubt that the person who receives the seed from the Ancient Oak will be just as mighty, but using the seed of an Ancient tree comes with risks that I don’t want you to face.”

”It’s really good you won’t get the seed from the Ancient Oak,” Heila said, shivering in a way that had nothing to do with the cold mountain breeze and everything to do with her memories of the spectre of Cecile who twisted her trial at the hands of the Ancient Willow into one that nearly killed her, and might have if Ashlynn hadn’t found a way to lend her a portion of her strength to overcome Cecile in the end.

Ollie, on the other hand, couldn’t help but wonder if he had fallen short of the diminutive Willow Witch in some way. On the surface of it, they both had so much in common. Heila had been a serving girl before she became Lady Ashlynn’s first witch and he had been a kitchen boy. It wasn’t like Heila had been a great warrior or sorcereress to begin with.

So, if she could receive an Ancient Seed but he couldn’t, then what was the difference between them? Was it because she was from one of the Eldritch Clans and he wasn’t? Or was there something else that he lacked that made Ashlynn unwilling to bestow one of the powerful seeds on him?