Eve's Boutique - Ch 43

House Call

Abigail got down on her hands and knees, and carefully knocked on the little door.

The tiny lady who stepped onto the porch was badly overdressed for a Friday afternoon.  That gown looked suited for a charity gala, not sitting around the house.  And for God’s sake – it wasn’t even five, and she was already holding a cocktail.

“I was wondering if you’d come introduce yourself,” Lilith said.  “I kinda thought you’d be shorter.  Prettier, too.”

Abigail smacked her.

The old oak tree across the street burst into splinters, wood chips and branches pluming high into the atmosphere.  The front facade of the mansion across the street imploded as the tiny witch slammed through it.

All along the street, car alarms sounded.  Dogs barked.

Abigail stood slowly, dusting flakes of mud off her ruined dress.  She crossed the street in a single stride, and stood looking down at the woman lying in the rubble.

“Oh good, you’re still alive.”

The witch spat.  “Okay, I’ll give it to you.  That hurt like hell.”

“Give me back my friend, you smug little bitch.”

“You want her?  I’ll trade for your formal surrender.  In writing, signed in blood.  My kind likes to do things old school.  Fair warning, there will be conditions on our contract, and you won’t like them.  But you’ll get Mackenzie, I’ll get Eve, and I’ll be out of your hair by sundown.”

“Or I’ll just keep kicking the shit out of you.  I’ve had a hell of a day, and this is better than therapy.”

Lilith climbed roughly to her feet, smiling wide.  “Well then!  The only question is, do you have another one in ya, Champ?  I’ll even give you a free shot.”

Abigail grinned savagely.  She drew back her hand, closed it into a fist, and punched the woman with everything she had.

The old mansion exploded into debris.  A hurricane force wind blew, nearly pushing Abigail from her feet.  When the dust cleared, she found her strike had landed against the most gigantic ankle she’d ever seen.

In the distance, an air raid siren sounded.

Lilith looked down at her from on high, a smirk on her baby doll face.  The suddenly naked woman blotted out the sun, filled the sky.  Her shadow stretched for miles across the city.  At a rough guess, Abigail put her height at around two thousand feet – so big she could easily crush multiple homes at once with nothing more than the wiggling of her toes.

The titaness cocked her hip, and leaned forward so she could peer down at Abigail without her boobs getting in the way.

“Do you happen to have the time?” Lilith boomed politely.

Abigail scowled up at her.  “Four fifteen.”

The witch maintained eye contact as she slowly shrank back down.  Reducing herself until she was exactly twice Abigail’s height.  That left her face-to-bush with the woman.  God, was she naturally blue-haired?  If not, she must’ve dyed her pubic hair as recently as a few days ago.  That landing strip looked professionally done, too.

“Sorry,” Lilith drawled.  “I couldn’t hear you from up there.  About four?  That means… you’ve got thirty-two hours.  Mm, maybe thirty-six, my parties go late.”

“I’ll bite.  Until what?”

Lilith reached down, and lifted Abigail’s chin with her index finger.

“Until The Rules will let me hurt you, babygirl.  I’m sure that’s the only reason you were bold enough to pick a fight – because you know it’s off-limits for me to damage you.  Or are you so stupid you thought you could beat me?  Face it, toots: you’re outclassed.”

“I just wanted to behold your magnificence, oh Smaug the Great.  Truly, songs and tales fall utterly short of the reality.”

“You can stare at my chest as much as you want.  You aren’t going to find a hollow in my armor.”

“Fine.  How about this?  I wanted the catharsis of one good slap.  Added bonus?  That was an expensive dress.  You completely vaporized it when you grew.”

Lilith sneered.

“But really, I just wanted to see if you could look me in the eye.  I’ve never done a fucking thing to you, Lilith.  I want an explanation.  You’re this all-powerful mega-witch?  Why waste your time ruining the life of one dorky college girl?”

The giantess thought about it, clearly deciding whether or not to answer.

“This is a formality.  I already know who you are, and what protection you’re under.  But formality is important.  So.  What do you think of Eve?”

Abigail spoke without hesitation.  “I love her.”

“Love like an overflowing sewer drain!” Lilith snarled.  “Like unsecured toxic waste, like a baby playing with a hand gun!  You don’t know the first thing about love.  You only know how to use it to destroy.  I know you, Abigail.  Because Eve has a type, and you’re all the same.  A declaration of love from you is the greatest curse I can imagine.  Think.  Think about all the people you’ve loved, all the pain you’ve caused them.  Think about the ones you’re with now, and how you know you’ll eventually break whatever promises you make to them – how you’ll rip out their hearts with your foolish actions.  In your whole rotten life, has anything good ever come from you saying the word ‘love’ to anyone?  Can you name a single thing?”

Abigail was silent.

“Well?” Lilith shrilled.  “Answer me!”

“Oh I’m sorry I thought that was rhetorical.  You were pontificating so pretty, I didn’t want to interrupt.”

“You know I’m right.”  Lilith seemed to have more teeth than a moment before.  They looked sharp.

“You know that big ball of radiation we call the sun?  Give it a few billion years.  It’ll burn out.  All this will end in fire, then darkness.  Does that mean everything we’re doing is meaningless?  If I love someone and it ends badly, that’s okay.  We had our time together in the sun.”

“Oh no you fucking don’t!  I’ve seen what broken people like you do to Eve.  The aftermath, when you flit away like a brainless sun-loving butterfly, onto your next disaster.  You don’t get to wave away the harm you do with some Carl Sagan bullshit.  Nothing you give her is worth the cost!”

“You’re already hurting her more than I ever could,” Abigail replied.  “But put that aside for a second.  You know Mackenzie is in love with you, right?  Are you planning to put a wedding ring on her finger when all this is finished?  Take her to some happily-ever-after?”

“I’m giving Mackenzie the world–”

“She doesn’t want it.”

“You have no idea what she wants.”

“I do.  I’m her friend.”

“Yeah?” Lilith licked her teeth.  “Well I’m something more.  I’m her life coach, her mentor.  I’m the spark that lights her ceremonial bonfire.  I’ve seen to the very heart of her.  I know her worth.  When I’m gone, she’s going to ascend to her rightful place.  She will rule over this planet.”

“Neat.  I’m surprised you’d want to share the spotlight.”

“Good point,” Lilith conceded, nodding.  “The only reason I haven’t done it myself is The Rules won’t let me.  But there’s nothing that prevents that glorious girl from doing it in my place.  That was always her purpose.”

“Y’all are like.  Fuckin’, right?”  Abigail pointed.  “One of the consequences to having your cooch in my face?  Something definitely, ah, happened, when you started talking about Mackenzie.”

“Am I supposed to be embarrassed?”

“Oh no, not at all.  There’s nothing wrong with mixing a little business and pleasure.  And I bet you’re pretty good at it.  Fucking, I mean.”

“Why don’t you ask Kayla?”

“I’m just saying, Mackenzie is going to miss you.  Re-educating Eve is going to keep you busy twenty-four seven, three-sixty-five.  Seems like losing you might break Mackenzie’s heart.”

“She’ll have a world to rule, she’ll be fine.  Are you giving Eve anything that valuable?”

“As a matter of fact, I am.  I’m giving her a way.  To get you.  Out of her life.”

The giant woman smiled.  “You know what, Abigail?  I think I like you.  When this is all over?  I’m going to keep you.  You won’t have Eve’s protection anymore.  Or The Rules.  I’ll get you a jar.  A nice one, with lots of air holes.  Put it someplace where you can watch what I do to Eve.  Where she can see you, too.  What I do to you, if she ever misbehaves.  You’ll find I’m very creative with my punishments.  I’ll promise to let you go someday, if she obeys.  I doubt she’ll believe me, but that’ll be the point.  So she learns the folly of broken promises.  And know what happens when she gives her heart to an undeserving little wretch like you.”

Abigail laughed.

Lilith’s face contorted with rage.  With an obvious effort, she took a deep breath.  Relaxed her shoulders, unclenched her jaw.

When she spoke, her voice was perfectly calm.  “And what exactly is funny, Abigail?”

“Nothing.  I just figured it out, is all.  It was obvious in retrospect – the real reason you’re doing this.  To me.  To her.  It’s kind of sad.”

The giantess shrank down, until the two of them were eye to eye.  The naked woman crept closer, until her forehead almost pressed against Abigail’s.

“So explain it to me,” Lilith whispered.

“Nah.  Why don’t you explain something to me instead?  Did you know my last couple growth spurts, the ones that kept me ahead of Mackenzie, didn’t come from drinking potions?  Eve did it to me.  Like.  Directly.  Tripled, quadrupled my height with her powers.  We were making love when it happened, but I don’t think it had anything to do with sex.  She told me she can’t usually do that to people.  But she could do it to me.  Why do you think that is?”

Lilith said nothing.

Abigail put her hands on the woman’s shoulders.  Nuzzled her, cheek to cheek, and breathed into her ear.

“It’s because I’m special to her, Lily.  More special to her, than you.”

It happened too fast.  There was pressure against her shoulder, an impact on the back of her thigh.  Then Abigail was flying.  She was in the air a terribly long time.  Her chest smashed down against concrete and masonry, breaking through into someone’s smoking lounge from the looks of it, before she rolled into an impeccably landscaped backyard.

For the second time that hour, she couldn’t force air into her lungs.  She lay on her back, staring up into Lilith’s face.

“Tell Eve she gets a penalty shot,” Lilith said.  “No, wait.  We’ll make it two.”

She drew back her foot, aimed it carefully at Abigail’s ribs.  Abigail tried to roll away, put up an arm to protect herself, but she was too slow.  But at the last moment, with her foot almost upon its target, Lilith seemed to think better of it.  She stopped.

“What’s wrong?” Abigail coughed.

“I was just thinking,” the witch said.  “That it would be a shame if you were too banged up to go to the party.  So I’ll cut you a break, kid.  Have a good last night with her.  Because tomorrow?  I’m going to make you dance.”

The naked giantess dwindled beside her, shrinking back to her normal height.  Lilith casually strolled back across the street, and shut her door behind her.

Well.  That had been profitable.

It took her a long time to find her phone.  It had bounced away when Lilith had thrown her, and shrunk back to its normal size.  She crawled around on her hands and knees, wincing occasionally at disparate little pains.  When she finally found it, it snapped back to full size the moment she touched it.

“I’m okay.”

She texted it to Chloe, Kayla, and Eve.  She had over a dozen messages, almost all of them from the witch.  The last, from about fifteen minutes ago.

Two words.  “I’m scared.”

The rest was encouragement, sympathy, and increasingly frantic apologies.  And at the very top, from what felt like a lifetime ago, some very, very lovely images.

She sat in the grass, allowing herself to rest for a moment.  While she waited for replies from her friends, she checked the group chat.  City government had named Douglass Park as the official party venue.  There were plans for public safety and mass transit, and they were so reasonable and efficient that Abigail wondered if Lilith hadn’t given her a concussion.  No way was government this organized in the world she knew.

There was still the issue of music.  But Abigail knew how to handle that now.

The band texted her back at once.  They’d be honored to work with her, of course.  She had an unusual request for them.  Almost all the members were down for it, and required very little convincing.  Abigail assured them, if things went the way she planned, it would make for an absolutely legendary evening.

Chloe wanted to know if she was hurt.  She could rig up some size-appropriate first aid.

Kayla wanted details on the encounter with Lilith.  Reading between the lines, it seemed like she was hoping the two of them had put their differences aside and just fucked instead.  No such luck, Abigail told her.

Still no word from Eve.  Surely Mackenzie was no threat to her.  No more than Abby had been to Lilith.

But that last text.

“Be careful,” she sent her friends.  “But let’s meet at the Boutique.”

It was a long walk, up town.  Her size hurried things, but she had a definite limp.  Her air support swooped in, kept her company as she made her way across her little city.

Along the way, she found herself thinking about Lilith.  Having met her, Abigail had a much better idea what Kayla saw in her.  She was almost gratuitously attractive, and not a bad conversationalist either.  She could imagine meeting someone like her at a party, and being carried willingly along in her wake.  In another world, they might’ve even been friends.

If only she wasn’t such a twat.