The small man dangled above the cauldron, writhing in his bonds and crying out, “Please, you don’t have to do this! I-I don’t want to die!”

The witch slowly paced around him, a wicked grin spreading across her face. “Oh,” she replied sweetly, “but I do. What the Master wants,” she said as she reached up with a dagger in hand, “the Master gets.” In a single movement, she sliced the rope suspending him, and the man fell into the boiling water, a waterlogged screech escaping from his mouth.

The witch cackled as she watched him drown, the utter euphoria of this moment consuming her whole being.

The lights of the basement suddenly sparked to life, startling the witch and snapping her out of her high. She whipped around to see the Master frozen at the bottom of the basement stairs, hand still on the light switch. They wore an expression of confusion mixed with horror the witch had never seen before.

“What the hell is happening down here?” the Master almost shouted. They broke from their frozen state and sped over to the cauldron, frantically dragging the boiled man out from the water. By some grace of God, he was still alive, and gasped for air on the concrete floor.

After a few moments, the man stood up, shaking from the adrenaline. “You’ll be hearing from my lawyers!” he cried, and he ran from the basement. The witch could hear him sobbing as he left.

“Well?” the Master said, apparently exasperated. “Care to explain why you were boiling our client?”

“‘Client’?” said the witch. “What do you mean ‘client’? He was the sacrifice you asked for the other day. You told me to cook him!”

The Master went to yell, but paused for a moment, processing the witch’s words. “‘Cook him’?”

The witch just stood there, confused why they were so upset. The Master spoke again. “Jesus Christ, I said to BOOK him. Like book him for an appointment with me! He’s looking to invest in our business! Why would I tell you to cook our client?”

“Well, shit, I don’t know maybe because we do that? Because we’re witches?” the witch replied, in shock at her misunderstanding. She tried to hide her embarrassment, but the Master saw right through it. Still, they chose to ignore it.

The Master turned from her, face in their hands. The man was certainly going to sue them for this, and they had definitely lost his business. Any sane person would’ve fired the witch, casted her out without a second thought. But, it wasn’t the worst she had done. There wouldn’t be any harm in letting her stay. Besides, she had to stick around to deal with the approaching lawsuit.