Disclaimer: I don't own Witch's House or any of the IPs from which my imported characters originate.

Why Cute Witches Should Deal With Outsiders (And Their Lairs)

Chapter 1: The Mission Begins

Beta: AllForFire


Late at night, out in the middle of the rural American Midwest, there stood an ominous looking Victorian mansion surrounded by an extensive set of grounds that was protected from the rest of the world by a set of high, ivy covered walls.

A short distance down the road from the estate's gates, there was a single armored personnel carrier parked along the curb. Standing around the vehicle were a team of soldiers dressed in dark fatigues and tactical vests.

Among their number was Viola Smith, an eighteen year old girl with blond hair tied into two small braids with messy bangs that hung about her face, green eyes, fair skin and a slender frame. She fidgeted nervously as she looked at the house that was the objective of their mission.

"Hey, it's okay to be nervous. It's perfectly reasonable when tangling with the infamous Witch's House." The team's sniper, Hans Braunlich, told her kindly. At six and a half feet tall, he towered over her. That, plus his snow white hair, bloody red eyes, and somewhat tanned skin should have made him intimidating, but he had been nothing but kind to Viola so far.

She nodded uncertainly. "Than-"

"Hey, stop babying the girl." A man of Asian descent with a large and stocky frame, a babyish face, brown eyes and close-cropped black hair shouted. "If she's going to be part of the team, she's got to shape up or ship out."

He was Frank Michaels, the team's heavy weapons specialist, as evidenced by the massive minigun he carried like a protagonist straight out of a cheesy action movie thanks to some weight reduction runes.

"I have to agree with Frank." A woman with long golden blonde hair styled entirely in large coils and held in place by a set of ribbons agreed.

She was Hazel Edelfelt, the team's mage, and she was the most unwelcoming of Viola's new teammates.

"I don't really understand why the girl is here, it's not like we need another dedicated mage on our team when we already have me." The older blonde said with an arrogant little flip of her hair. "And now we have two of them?"

As she finished, she gestured with annoyance at Viola's dad.

While Viola herself quailed a little under Hazel's hostility, her dad, Paul, shrugged it off.

"I disagree," The muscular middle-aged man with spiky light brown hair, brown eyes, and thin facial hair around his chin said calmly. "My summoning magic and Viola's space-time magic will enhance the team's repertoire significantly."

"Then you're seriously overestimating your abilities." Hazel sniffed disdainfully. "At the level of skill the both of you have, you're more likely to hinder us than help."

"Gotta agree with Hazel there," Frank chimed in uncharitably. "You two are little more than civilians."

Dad seemed to take offense and turned to glare at the Asian man, and looked ready to say something that would have made the argument even more heated. Thankfully, their team leader stepped in before Dad could put his foot in his mouth.

"Stow it." Marcus Beckendorf ordered. "All of you."

Marcus was a well-built African-American man with a permanent scowl, muscles like a bodybuilder and hands like baseball catcher's mitts. An intimidating appearance that he supplemented with an aura of lethal professionalism and a commanding presence. It was no surprise to Viola why he was the team's leader.

"Did you lot forget that the Joint Chiefs themselves ordered that the Smiths accompany us on this mission?" Marcus asked his old teammates.

Frank and Hazel nodded, though the mage looked distinctly unhappy having to do so.

"Good. Then quit your bellyaching."

"Gotcha boss." Frank agreed snapping a teasing salute. "Just hope that those orders don't get us all killed."

"You and me both." Marcus agreed with his own frustrated sigh. He seemed to catch himself though and with an apologetic grin he turned to look at Viola and her dad. "No offense to you two, but considering the danger involved in this mission I honestly have no idea why a pair of novices like you are here."

"The brass must have a good reason." Dad replied with a shrug.

So do I. The young witch thought to herself as she recalled all her dreams of the House and the lonely girl that lived inside.

"And you two have no clue what that might be?" Marcus pressed.

Dad just shook his head. On her part Viola did her very best to do nothing to give away her own suspicions. Whatever the reason she'd been allowed to join this dangerous mission into the Witch's House, she wasn't going to question it. Not when entering it had been something she'd wanted for years.

I have to see if there is any truth to my dreams.

Apparently clueless to her thoughts, Marcus gave a frustrated grunt and changed the topic.

"Alright, then the banter's over." The team leader said as he straightened his posture, the whole team following his cue that it was time to get serious. "Before we rush off into hell, let's review our mission one last time."

Everyone nodded seriously.

Seeing he had their undivided attention, Marcus continued.

"We're here to investigate the temporally displaced mansion and estate known as the Witch's House and to eliminate the threat it poses."

Viola's mind wandered a little as she recalled the dark history of the Witch's House.

It was a property that seemed to randomly appear all over the world and was a hotbed of monstrous activity, its mere presence stirring up hostile magical creatures and sometimes seemingly creating new breeds of abominations.

All previous attempts to investigate and/or destroy it had failed with total losses on the part of anyone who dared to invade or attack it. Considering the strength of some of those teams, it was strongly suspected that the House was the work of an Outsider, a godly extra-dimensional being, or at least a creature of similar power. Though why such a being, if it was truly responsible for the House, would create it or use it in such a way remained a mystery.

Viola's trip back to her schoolroom recollections were cut shot, when Marcus asked if everyone was ready. Not wanting to be caught daydreaming while he was giving his final briefing, and thus exposing her lack of professionalism, she hastily nodded alongside everyone else.

"Right, then let's move out." Marcus said as he took point and led them up the last stretch of road to the House's grounds.

"You know I really wish we could just use the Stryker," Frank said wistfully, nodding to the armored vehicle they'd abandoned.

"Yeah, and piss the House off before we even get onto its grounds?" Hans shot back. "Or did you forget what it did when the Chinese tried to send a tank battalion against it back in '78?"

Viola shuddered. The photos of what had become of the tanks and their crews in that confrontation was terror-inducing. Whatever the House had unleashed against the hapless tankers, and till today scholars still debated what it was, had melded them and their tanks together into grotesque, still-living fusions of man and machine. Abominations that were immobile and harmless to the House but lived in perpetual, immortal pain. For despite the best efforts of the authorities, the poor tortured souls still lived.

Would Ellen really do that? Be that monstrous?

Viola had to be sure. She had to know just what kind of person her best friend really was.

"Right, you got me there." Frank conceded. "Let's not piss off the House's owner and give whoever it is a reason to break the rule that it doesn't attack people until they cross into its boundaries."

"Yeah, that would make our lives a lot easier." Hans agreed with a crooked smile.

"Will you two pipe down?" Hazel asked with a hint of long suffering annoyance.

Both men shot each other amused smirks but kept quiet.

Viola blinked at that. Was their banter just now an attempt to goad Hazel into saying something?

"Frank, Hans, don't let your guards down." Marcus warned the two men as they neared the gates to the House's grounds.

"Wouldn't dream of it, boss." Hans replied earnestly, even as Frank nodded.

Marcus glanced at both men for a moment and nodded. Apparently, they'd passed whatever assessment of readiness that the team leader was judging them by.

He had just turned to face the gates again when it swung open for them in welcome.

As one the team turned to Hazel.

The mage just shook her head slowly, her whole body tense and the feeling of magic emanating from her as she primed herself for combat.

"That wasn't me." She hissed warily. "I didn't do anything."

They all tensed at that, expecting some kind of preemptive attack.

A long, heart-pounding moment later, nothing happened, and the team slowly relaxed.

"Maybe the House is welcoming us in?" Viola offered tentatively, even though she just knew that was exactly what Ellen was doing. Though how she knew that was utterly beyond her. Maybe it was just her wishful thinking?

Most of the team shot Viola incredulous looks. Frank though was the exception.

With a bloodthirsty grin on his face, he cried out belligerently. "Well, if that's the case, then let's not disappoint."

With that said, he hefted his gun into a ready position and marched fearlessly through the open gates.

Viola moved to follow, but a gesture from Marcus had her and the rest of the team holding position. He waited for Frank to walk a good distance ahead before finally letting them catch up with him.

He walked cautiously though, and the rest of the team followed his example. All of them caught up in his wariness about an attack. Up ahead Frank had stopped and was eying his surroundings with the same watchfulness.

"No opposition?" Dad asked in a whisper. "Isn't that strange?"

Marcus only nodded.

Oh! So that's why we're so on edge. Viola thought. The House had the bad habit of hitting its victims just as they crossed its threshold. So the fact that nothing had jumped out to attack Frank was decidedly odd and that was what had made everyone so cautious.

She wondered how long they could keep up this high level of vigilance though, it was only a couple of minutes and her nerves were already fraying.

Is this exactly what Ellen wants? Us to be so tensed up that we end up jumping at even our own shadows?

Unfortunately, that did not seem to be the case, for as soon as the thought crossed Viola's mind there was suddenly a wretched-sounding moan that echoed across the grounds. Spinning to its source, they found a pack of what must be two dozen naked, asexual humanoid corpses shambling towards them.

Without any hesitation, Frank immediately opened fire on them with his minigun, unleashing a barrage of powerful bursts of raw destructive magic with each shot. In mere moments, the two dozen monsters were dealt with but that was little comfort as their total numbers swelled.

More and more of these corpse-like monsters seemed to emerge from the gloom that hung over the grounds and join the horde shuffling towards them.

"There's no end to them." Frank complained, though Viola sensed a sliver of fear in his voice.

"Shut up! Just keep shooting!" Marcus ordered as he too opened up with his assault rifle, his blessed bullets putting down a monster with every hit but barely thinning the herd.

Hans was having more luck on that front. The magic bullets he fired from his long-barreled flintlock musket, streaked through the air and zigzagged through the ranks of the abominations in trails of blue light. In their wake, dozens of the creatures fell dead with every shot.

Hazel too was putting quite a dent into the advancing monsters. She was sending a veritable elemental storm downrange at the horde. Everything from fireballs to wind blades to earthen lances to lightning bolts.

Dad was pulling his weight where he could. He'd summoned a pack of hellhounds and had sent them to harass the House's creations. The fell beasts had taken to dragging away any zombie they could and tearing them apart.

Despite everyone's best efforts though, the size of the swarm just kept growing and was hobbling ever closer. Thankfully, Viola had something in mind that would solve that problem.

"Hold them off a bit longer!" She shouted to the team as she scrambled to craft her spell. "I'm working on something."

"And what can a little girl do to save us from this?" Hazel scoffed as she summoned a tornado to suck up a whole flank of the undead swarm.

"Shut up Hazel!" Marcus roared. "Form up on Viola!"

Turning to glance at the teenager briefly, Marcus whispered as he and the team followed his orders by forming a protective circle around the teenage witch. "Whatever you're cooking up, it better work or we're dead."

"Don't worry! I've got this." Viola assured the man, but he'd already returned his attention to the fight and probably didn't hear her.

"They just keep coming!" Marcus cursed as the horde flowed around their position and completely surrounded them. "Shit!"

"Done!" Viola exclaimed as her magic exploded out from her. It spread over the team and the area immediately around them.

"A sealed space!?" Hazel noted in shock, even as she distractedly threw a fireball into a zombie trying to exploit her inattention by leaping at her and reduced it to ash.

"Yup," Viola confirmed proudly. "Now once we finish off the remainder of these zombies inside, we'll be safe."

"That right?" Frank asked with his bloodthirsty grin once more gracing his face. "Then let's kill us some zombies!"

"Here here." Hans agreed as both men let loose on the handful of zombies trapped inside Viola's sealed space with the team.

Between them and the rest of the team, it took less than three minutes to finish the monsters off. Viola was still riding high on being the one to have saved everyone, so she was caught completely off guard when a sudden burst of pain struck her.

She clutched her head and grimaced as a burst of knowledge suddenly flooded her mind, with the accompanying feeling of a white-hot needle piercing her brain.

It was information about the zombies. Apparently they were the animated corpses of those within the House whose ego or favor with Ellen was insufficient. Part of their transformation into such by the House included a degeneration of all outward symbols of their self, which is why regardless of origin they all appear as naked asexual humanoid corpses.

Ew gross! Really Ellen!? This is what you do to your enemies?

"Hey Viola, you alright?" Hans asks, coming over to check on her. "The spell putting too much strain on you?"

"Maybe just a little," Viola lied. It was not like she could just tell him that her friend, the Mistress of the Witch's House, had helpfully given her an infodump on the monsters they were just fighting. "It's fine though. I can handle it."

"You're sure?" Hans added, concerned.

Viola nodded and offered him a reassuring smile.

"Well then good job on the spell. It really saved our hides."

"Hans' got it right." Frank chimed in with his own agreement.

"Yes, good job." Hazel said sarcastically. "You saved us from the zombie hordes, but now we're trapped here inside this little sealed space."

"No, we're not," Viola corrected. "I'm perfectly able to move our little corner of sealed space around while keeping us largely cut off from the rest of the world and thus enemies."

Hazel looked at her incredulously. "That's not possible. That's not something someone of your caliber should be capable of."

"That just shows how badly you've underestimated us, doesn't it, Miss Edelfelt?" Dad told the arrogant woman with a taunting smirk.

The older woman looked offended and seemed ready to tear Dad a new one but Ellen decided to preempt her. With a terrifying wail, a massive amount of force slammed into the walls of Viola's sealed space.

The young space-time witch tried her best to hold it together but the strain was too sudden and too much. With a pained gasp, she lost her connection to her spell just as it collapsed and shattered around them like glass.


As Viola's sealed space cracked around them like a egg, Frank cursed under his breath. The blasted House wasn't pulling its punches was it? Not even giving them a breather? That was just unfair!

Even as he ranted at how unsporting their enemy was being, the heavy spun around to face the source of the wail. He found himself staring at a spectral woman floating in the air with flowing blonde hair, dressed in tattered finery with a blank full face mask covering what he presumed to be some rotten wreck of her face.

"Banshee!" Hazel shouted rather pointlessly. It didn't take a genius to deduce what this latest monster was. Then again the Smiths might have needed the reminder, so Frank guessed it wasn't such a waste after all.

"Be careful of it's cry. It drains life force and magic." The team's uppity resident mage added. Okay, that little reminder was prudent at least.

Frank was still using his magic to swap out the spells in the barrels in his gun from the standard destruction bursts he favored to anti-ethereal exorcist spells that would work better on the banshee when Paul had the bright idea to send his hellhounds at the thing. The specter just howled at them, destroying the half dozen canine demons in a single attack.

"Well that was worse than useless." Frank notes with a grunt, as he finished his spell swap.

He pulled the trigger on his minigun just as Marcus did, the boss having also taken the time to swap his ammo to something with more of a punch against the ghostly banshee.

Too bad banshees were bloody cheaters. This one was no exception and just teleported away. As if that wasn't bad enough, the hag had to teleport right into the middle of the team's defensive circle!

Frank cursed, knowing that with his gun's capabilities he was pants at close quarters, and could do nothing in this situation.

Thankfully, Hans was there to pick up the slack.

Spinning around to face the banshee as the rest of the team scattered, the sniper unloaded a cartridge of blessed lead right into the phantom's face. They weren't the best weapons against a ghost, some kind of anti-ethereal enchantment or plain ol' salted weapon would have worked loads better, but they should have done some damage. Instead though, the shot just passed through the undead creature like it wasn't even enchanted! Not that the thing seemed to care, it got all pissed at being shot at and retaliated by grossly extending its right arm to swat at him and send him flying.

For a brief moment, Frank was worried for Hans, but as he saw the sniper brace for a rough landing he turned his attention back to the fight.

"Shit! The thing's immune to physical attacks, even enchanted ones!" Marcus shouted as his anti-ethereal bullets just flew through the banshee without doing anything.

That unnerved Frank more than he'd ever admit. A banshee that broke the rules? What the hell were they dealing with here? Was this House able to do whatever the heck it wanted? If so, what chance did they have?

He let none of his doubt show though, he had an image to maintain. Instead, he just forced out a laugh.

"Then we're lucky that I shoot magic!" He roared as he shot a barrage at the undead woman.

Unlike the others' efforts, his shots connected and the banshee cried out in agony.

Frank winced at the sound of her voice and staggered, cutting off his attack in the process. He wasn't the only one. Everyone flinched at the life-draining banshee cry. That is to say everyone except little Viola, who somehow kept her cool and cast a spell.

Suddenly, a circle of land around the banshee was surrounded by a pale grey light, the edges of which seemed like something out of a Salvador Dali painting.

Spatial Trap. Nice! Frank noted even as he regained his wits and prepared to open up on the banshee again.

Unfortunately, the undead annoyance just had to teleport out of Viola's trap just as he lined up his gun.

To make things worse, she rematerialized right in front of him with her head tilted back for a life-ending howl.

Not for the first time, Frank thanked his lucky stars he was part of a team as his comrades jumped in to save him.

"Silence!" Hazel shouted from where she was kneeling next to Hans and checking him over for injuries from his impromptu flight time. Her spell hit the banshee and enshrouded it in a sickly purple aura, but more importantly sealed off its special abilities like its killer cry. Too bad it did nothing for the actual sound though, as the damn specter screeched in anger at being thwarted.

Whoever came up with the name of the spell was a jerk. Frank thought unhappily, Talk about false advertising.

Apparently sharing his annoyance, the banshee made to rip Frank apart with her hands which now looked like claws more than anything else. But again, the heavy was saved when Paul, of all people, threw a fireball at it and distracted it long enough for Frank to back away.

The moment he had enough distance, he raised his gun and unloaded on the banshee. The thing screamed in pain, but it was still Silenced by Hazel's spell and this time its cries did squat. It couldn't teleport either, not while Silenced, so the hag was nothing but a sitting duck as Frank shot it to hell. Paul and Hazel chipping in with their own spells here and there.

It took a cathartic two minutes of filling the specter with enough magical power to light up a city, and a couple of renewed Silences, before the damn thing finally succumbed to the damage and with one last ear-splitting, pain-filled cry the banshee disintegrated into motes of purple light.

"Good riddance!" Frank declared victoriously.

He turned to the others and saw that while he had been focused on finishing off the banshee, they'd established a defensive perimeter. Smart. With only a few of them able to actually hurt the specter, having the rest of them on guard was a good use of resources. Better than just having them standing around doing nothing. Then again he didn't expect anything less from the boss.

"Frank, take a breather. We'll take a break here for a bit." Marcus told him as he walked up.

"Gotcha. Nothing came to help the hag?" Frank asked, honestly curious. If it had been him, he'd have backed the banshee with a horde of those zombies from earlier. Together, they would have been more than too much for them.

"No," Hans informed him from where he was lying down on the grass nearby while Hazel worked on healing his injuries. "Looks like the banshee might have scared off the zombies."

"Why though?" Marcus asked, confused. "The zombies are undead too. They had nothing to fear from the banshee."

"I agree with you, boss. But maybe it was just that much of a tough customer? I mean even without its scream, it tossed Hans there like a ragdoll and it could teleport to boot." Frank offered.

"Maybe," Marcus conceded. "But it still seems odd."

Frank agreed, but decided not to worry about it. Figuring things out like that was above his pay grade.

I'll just leave it to the boss. The heavy mused as he eyed the overwatch the team was keeping on their surroundings just in cast the zombie horde from earlier decided to make another appearance.

Viola though wasn't on the same page, and wasn't that fact getting old fast. Instead, she was looking at the spot where the banshee disintegrated strangely.

Without looking away from their perimeter, he asked, "What's up?"

"Huh? Oh, um, nothing. Just unnerved that Ellen turned her stepmother into that." The teenager said gesturing to the spot. "I mean she treated her terribly, but a banshee? Really? That's just vindictiveness on a whole other level."

Frank just looked at her like she was daft. Which he honestly thought she was. Who the heck was Ellen? And how the hell was that banshee her stepmother? What was the kid smoking? 'Cause with how much this mission was likely to suck, he wanted some.

The girl seemed to catch onto his thinking though, because she quickly backpedaled.

"Uh, just ignore what I said just now, okay?" The girl practically begged. "I was rattled just now and started muttering nonsense."

Frank didn't totally buy it. The nonsense people spouted when in shock usually didn't sound so consistent. He nevertheless let it pass. So what if the girl was keeping secrets? It wasn't his place to pry. He had a feeling he should though. That her secrets were about the House. No, duh! It was kinda obvious. But the girl deserved the chance to come clean on her own. Didn't mean he wouldn't watch her though.

With that decision made, he nodded to her.

"No problem. That's normal for people when they get into a real fight sometimes. By the way, you did okay in the fight. Keep it up and you might walk out of here alive."

"Uh, thanks?"

"Don't mention it." Frank said sincerely. "You've got promise."

The girl just nodded uncertainly at the compliment.

Smiling good naturedly at her, he walked off to check on Hans who was getting back to his feet with Hazel's help. He passed by old man Smith who was walking to check on his daughter. He offered the man a nod, but the summoner ignored him. It seemed he only had eyes on his little girl.

Not a bad attitude to have. Frank noted to himself as he walked to up to Hans and Hazel. Family's always the most important. Always.


And that's the first chapter folks. Hoped you liked it. I feel the fights were a little flat, but I've always felt that about my fights. Haven't had much advice on how to improve them either so any advice on that front is greatly appreciated.

AllForFire: Man, I know what you mean. Dynamic fights are always a pain when you need to conjure them whole cloth, especially when it's with groups instead of one-on-one. But hey, I think this went pretty cool!

Thanks for the compliment. I hope the rest of you guys think the same.

Now onto the content of the chapter, there's really not much to say. Everything explored so far is mainly set up for things later in the story. So look forward to it.

AllForFire: It's going to be a Hell of a Ride, I can already tell you that much.

Till next time!