Wrong

Chapter 1

Medusa sighed, throwing her head back in the illusion of abandon, drawing shallow breaths. Above her a man panted, his eyes burning into her, his lips whispering her name as he thrust, promising her love and fidelity. She did her best not to sneer, not to laugh in his face but, instead, to show him a mask of passion. She forced herself to whisper the words back, to bring her arms up to embrace him, to lift her legs to wrap around his hips, giving a genuine gasp of pleasure at the improved angle.

Another movement of her hips, a gentle squeeze, and suddenly he let out a long moan as an orgasm hit in. Medusa curser under her breath but, on the next breath, began reciting the spell she needed. While his guard was down, which the release or orgasm left him weak and shivering in her arms, she took advantage of him, whispering her poisoned words and weaving a spell he'd been left with no defence against.

When they finished she sighed and pushed him off her, letting his filthy penis slide out of her then grabbing his shirt and using it to wipe away what she could, though she knew it was probably already too late. At least she shouldn't be fertile, it wasn't likely that he could have done any harm. She should have known better then to lie with him, an orgasm of any kind would have left him in the same state, susceptible to her magic. But he'd talked about fidelity and mutuality and she'd not been able to convince him of anything but penetration, and he was so vital to her plan. Without him in her control, unconsciously carrying out the orders she had implanted in him, she'd be set back by months.

She threw the dirty shirt down on top of him, sneering at his peaceful expression. He was hers now. He wouldn't remember this in the morning, but he would belong to her, and work for her, doing his vital work to make sure her plan was successful.

She cast a quick ward against pregnancy, though it was probably too late, then picked up her own clothes, slipping into them. She probably didn't need to worry. He was a weak fool, his weak fool sperm probably would be capable of navigating her reproductive system.

~*~*~*~

She'd known, really. She didn't need the damn stupid test and all the humiliation of pissing on a damn stick and waiting, squatted in the toilet with the test clutched in her hand, but a part of her had to be certain before she planned her next move. Now things were a mess! She should have just picked another damn man to take that one's place. She should have just accepted the bloody delay instead of letting him stick his filthy penis inside her. Hell, she should have just tried the magic without the orgasm. He was probably such an idiot that she wouldn't have needed an orgasm to make him drop his mental guards. But, no, she fucked him.

Pregnant!

There was going to be hell to pay for this and it was going to be her who paid it. After all, it was always she who suffered for others misdeeds. The other witches were not going to be happy. In fact, unhappy would be an understatement, they would be livid. There were ways these things were done. They used spells to alter the body, kept things in the family.

Of course, the easiest thing would be to kill it. Flush her uterus. It wasn't like she had any emotional attachment to the thing, or felt any kind of responsibility to it. The sooner it was gone from her body the better...

But, then, she'd been thinking for a while that she needed an assistant. Not the incompetent fools she had now, she needed another witch. Big things were in the works, thought it was going to take years to put together. She'd been working on it, slowly, for some time, and she could do it eventually, but she would need someone competent on her side. Someone who could carry out her orders, be loyal to her, maybe even die for her. And who better for that then her own daughter?

No, this pregnancy had its uses, it was worth fighting for. A few tears would convince the council to help her, then she'd see.

~*~*~*~

When she'd announced the pregnancy, the other witches looked at her with open contempt. Of course she'd expected backlash, she'd broken the taboo by taking a human male as her lover and choosing to have a child, but she hadn't anticipated the depths of hatred that she'd stir up. Of course, it didn't bother her too much. She didn't need their approval to go about her plans, but she hadn't expected to find their suspicious directed at her so quickly, it was annoying. She'd show them one day but, for now, she had to hide the true extent of her power and pregnancy had her irritable, made her snap more.

She was going to need new minions.

She'd brainwashed a human nurse to help with the birthing, it was too risky to use a witch. They might try to kill the child, and nobody was going to destroy a project she'd spent nine months working on. Her little witch. She's teach her well and raise her to be powerful, loyal. She would be this child's god.

The contractions started in the morning, but she used a spell to dull the pain and ignored it. Work was more important, after all. She put if off as long as she could, but eventually the pain was too much for even her spells to dismiss and she gave up, summoning the nurse. The entire process of giving birth disgusted her. The only nurse she'd been able to find to aid the birthing had been strong willed to the mind control spell she'd used had nearly wiped the woman's mind, leaving her barely competent. She stood by, her eyes glazed, as Medusa crouched on the floor, her legs spread, and squeezed the child out of her body and letting it fall to the floor, then standing and wiping at herself as the nurse bent to pick the child up. There was a pool of blood on the floor, and she could feel it running down her legs, disgusting. The only thankful thing about the whole experience was that none of the other witches had seen it.

She straightened up, brushed down her clothes, then held her hand out for her daughter.

The baby had such an ugly face, but all babies did. She'd probably not get any better, there was no way she would be as beautiful as her mother with a father like she had, but we can't all win in life. She wondered impatiently how long it took these things to grow, adjusting the towel to rub some blood of the baby's face.

Then she froze.

She lifted the towel again and stared. Something had gone horribly wrong here. It was meant to be a girl. Witches only had girls. True, that was because witches used magic to impregnate each other, usually, leading to a dwindling number of witches as their community had been torn apart by distrust (much of which she had sewn). However, she'd had medicines. Medicines and magics supplied by the other witches and of her own devising to ensure that this child would be born female.

But, there it was, tiny and disgusting. A penis.

She threw the towel to the ground and the wretched child began to scream and she turned it over and parted it's legs, then let out a sigh of disgust. The potions and magic had worked...just not totally. She must have left it too late, that was the only explanation. She'd waited until it was unmissable to take it to the witches, and now she was stuck with this deformed freak of a child.

With disgust she dropped it, half hoping it would die but not surprised when it only intensified the screaming. That awful, endless screaming. She yelled at the nurse to take it away and the nurse did, like a machine.

Then she threw things. Pushed everything off her desk and screamed to herself. All that work, all the things she'd put off to birth that child and it came out as a deformed reject! She'd kill it but...

But there had to be something she could do with it. She couldn't afford to waste all this time and work, she'd have to do the best she could.

She'd have to wait and see, wait and see. Maybe they'd done enough, maybe it would have magic? And since no witches had been present at the birth, none of them needed to know about her child's strange gender. Yes, she would wait. Even if it didn't develop magic, there had to be something she could do with it. After all, even a blunt tool could work if the craftsman was clever enough.

~*~*~*~

"Here, Crona, you need to do this?" she said, trying to keep her voice soft. She didn't want to have to brainwash the child, she wanted a minion who could think and act independently but was loyal to her, she couldn't have that if she snapped and just controlled it, no matter how tempting it was. Not to mention, if this child managed to be as powerful as she'd like it too be it would cost a massive amount of energy to control it. Crona looked up with tearful eyes, the eyes of an idiot child. She was regretting not strangling the thing the moment it dropped out of her womb more every day. It was amazing that such a terrible thing could be partially hers.

She recited a simple spell, the same one she'd recited a thousand times before. A small light formed in her hand, just enough to see by on a dark night, then she clicked her fingers and it disappeared. Crona watched, worrying its lip with its teeth.

"You can do it, just like I did!" Medusa cooed, smiling her best smile. Crona looked uncertain, then an arm extended slowly. Medusa couldn't help but note what an horribly pudgy arm it was. Children were so awful. She wanted to reach out and pinch it but that would mean touching the thing, and she wasn't willing to go that far.

Crona mumbled the words, its lips tripping over some of the pronunciation. But it was good enough. It should be good enough. Medusa strained all her senses, but she felt nothing. No stirring, no change to the current. She should feel it, a moving of magic. Even if the damn child couldn't do the spells properly yet, if it had the talent she should be able to feel it, she had the skills to do that. But there was nothing. Not a damn thing.

The damn good for nothing child. It was looking up at her now, tears in its worthless eyes. Let it cry. Let it suffer. It deserved to die. How could something born of her body be so useless, so pathetic! A tear ran down its face and its lip wobbled, something Medusa knew from experience would lead to a bout of crying. She didn't have time for this now, she had better things to do.

The nurse stepped forward, reaching out to touch the child, and Medusa snapped. Before she could think she found herself channelling all her energy into an attack and pushing it into the nurse's midriff. The woman gasped, but her fact remained still and expressionless as her life gave out, the mind control holding to the last second. Medusa stood up, a small smile on her face. That felt good. The nurse, she'd been sick of seeing her. What use was a minion who only reacted to orders? It had been fine at first but who wanted to have to give exact orders about everything? And that damn, dead, glass eyes look. It had made her want to slap the woman every time she saw it. It was a good job she'd never see it again.

She stood up and stretched, letting a grin spread across her face. Yes, she felt a lot better now. She had other options, she would make use of the child yet. After all, she was a genius.

She looked down to where Crona was crouched, tears running down its face, tugging at the maid's sleeve. It would learn soon, everything had to die. It had no business thinking it deserved someone to care for it anyway. It was old enough to dress itself and hit its mouth with a spoon so it could take care of itself.

"She'd dead, get out of my sight," Medusa hissed, causing the little thing to jump. Crona stood there for a second, looking around tearfully, then, when Medusa hissed, turned and walked to the door, pulling it open with a little difficulty, then slipping out, looking behind itself then wincing and running away. Medusa smiled, it was good to know she still had power.

Now, she just needed to find a way to turn this useless child into a powerful weapon. If it couldn't be a witch then maybe...just maybe...she could make it into a kishin. And she'd been hearing rumours about a parasitic demon blade...

~*~*~*~

"Well, Medusa," one of the other witches said, leaning forward to stare at the child. Medusa grinned, a snake flickering out of her mouth. She'd known for some time that this moment was coming. After all, it was a normal rite of passage for a young witch, and none of them seemed to have noticed yet that Crona wasn't a young witch. "Let's see her power."

Crona looked at her, panic on its face, but Medusa just grinned.

"I'm afraid that this child hasn't manifested its power yet," she said calmly. They'd drawn attention now, other witches stopping their post-meeting chatting to look. She knew they were all curious. Let them be curious, it was too late, and a little public humiliation would teach that disgusting child what it really was.

"Really?" the witch asked, looking down her exceptionally long nose at Crona. "Medusa, if she was going to manifest she should have shown signs of it by now. You know that. I think you're withholding something from us, Medusa."

"Now, what would I be withholding?" she asked, satisfied to see the people crowding around. Good, the more people saw this the better.

"We all know how this child came to be," the long-nosed witch said, an evil smile crossing her face. "We all know of your...indiscretion. Of course, you had all the help we could give you, all the help you required to have a healthy girl. However, I propose, Medusa, that you ignored this help. I propose that the child you have here is a boy!"

There was a collective gasp around them. It was a grave accusation to make. Men were only allowe din witches meetings under extreme circumstances and, even then, only with the permission and knowledge of the other witches, and she'd been bringing Crona all along. If she'd defied them all and brought a male child into their midst then, well, she was in for it.

Or so they thought.

"If you think so, I invite you to check."

Crona made a little noise of protest but before it could finish the long-nosed Witch had grabbed it, in one move yanking down its underwear and grabbing its leg, pulling it so it hung upside down in the air, everything on show to everyone.

"See!" the witch exclaimed triumphantly, brandishing Crona around by the leg like a caught animal while the child screamed. "A boy! Medusa is a traitor!"

"Before you make any accusations," Medusa cut in quickly, letting a hint of her dangerous nature leak into her voice. "I think you should take a closer look. I think, on closer inspection, you will find that the child is female."

The long-nosed witch looked at her like she was mad, then peered closer, grabbing Crona's other leg to stop the thing from kicking her in the face. A look of disgust crossed her features. Yes, Medusa had been expecting that, hoping for it.

"She's right," she gasped. It...it is a girl. It's a girl too! Down there, everything! How can this be?"

"You should tell me." Medusa said, a dangerous smile crossing her face as the other witches crowded closer, whispering behind their hands, words like mutant and freak drifting in the air. "After all, you gave me the potions that ensured it would be female, your precious witches council. But I didn't get the cute daughter I longed for! No, instead I got this abomination, both at the same time!"

"But...but...you still can't bring it to the council..." the witch gasped, seemingly unwilling to give up on her conviction.

"But it is a woman, after all."

"It will set a bad precedent..."

"We've made exceptions to the rules before, it I remember. I don't see why this should be any different. This child is female, I see nothing in the rules that says it can't be male also."

"But..."

"It's clear to us all that the child is a freak, a disgusting specimen," Medusa hissed, smiling at the assembled witches nodded. "It is still my child though, and a woman, even if only in part. Because of this, it can attend these meetings."

"I...it seems you're right," the long-nosed witch said, dropping the child. Crona let out a little scream then, still sobbing, righted itself, wiping furiously at it eyes.

"I'm glad you agree," Medusa said, forcing her grin to become more pleasant. "It's such a strain on me to have birthed an abomination like this, the least you could do is be understanding of it until I can find a use for it. I beg your patience."

She turned then, stalking away, confident that Crona would come running after. It had been a success all around, after all. She got her way with the witches council, she always did, and Crona got an object lesson in what it was. That should stop its crying. She had the demon blade now, tonight she would combine it with Crona's body, and then things could really begin.