The Ladies of Horror
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Sacrifice
by Lisa Lane

“What left do I have to give?” The man, long stripped of any name or title, dragged himself back through the heavy gate.

He’d offered all he had to the Field Witch. She’d stripped him, layer by layer, with her bargains until his land, his clothes, even his flesh all belonged to the greedy hag. Still, his sweet Eva fell out of reach.

“Seems you’re down to just your bones and your soul, and I’ll happily take either,” said the old woman, her black eyes wide and unblinking, “but I still can’t promise the spell will work.”

“Why can’t you? I’ve seen what you can do—the Andersons’ crops, the Smiths’ shop, the Roberts’ baby girl—and for far less payment than you’ve taken from me.”

An unconcerned shrug. “Such is the way of magic.”

“You’re lying. I think you’ve been stealing from me, offering me false hopes all this time, and I want it all back. All of it!”

“First off, m’boy, I cannot steal what’s freely given to me. What’s done is done.”

“But you promised—”

“Secondly, your intentions are ultimately what drive the spell. Nothing I can do if you corrupt it after I’ve handed it over.”

He scoffed. “A corrupted spell!”

“I see it all the time, men like you, mistaking desire for love.” The old woman laughed. “You must love her for the spell to work.”

“But I do love her!”

The witch fell silent, but a slight smile held across her long, crooked face. “Then what will it be? Regardless of which you choose to keep, mind you, it’ll be of little use to her.”

“We’ll find a way. She’ll understand. I love her—more than anything else in this world,” he said with even more insistence. “I have to make her mine.”

Fiction © Copyright Lisa Lane
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com 

More from Lisa Lane:

Jane the Hippie Vampire, Volume 1: Revival

This four-part collection includes the first three novellas to the dark, dramatic horror series, Jane the Hippie Vampire, as well as an exclusive novelette:

Love Beads: Jane crosses paths with a middle-aged man who’s encountered her kind before–but he seems happy just to have the company. Of course, appearances can be deceiving, and his secret might just prove to be the end of her.

Flashbacks: Jane must face demons from her past when she encounters a long-lost friend and a homeless Vietnam veteran with lingering demons of his own.

Hair: Jane goes south for the winter, hoping to find reprieve in the forests of the Blue Ridge Mountains. A supernatural stalker of the shape-shifting variety has different plans, however. Will her new-found ally–a park ranger with a painful secret–be enough to help her avoid a fate worse than undeath?

Flower Power: Jane teams up with an astral traveler in order to banish a dreamwalker from her past–and in the process, she must confront her greatest nightmare.

About the series: Jane has had one hell of a time ever since she happened upon the wrong guy during the Summer of Love, but she’s taken it all in stride. Wandering from town to town, she seeks out the needy and the broken in hopes of breaking the curse that’s left her bloodthirsty and forever seventeen.

Available on Amazon!