by D. N. Hoxa
“She’s a fairy,” Theodora Sullivan said. Her blond hair was tied tightly behind her head. No makeup on, and she looked tired. The bags under her eyes were as dark as the night.
“And a Bone witch,” I said before I could help myself. “And I’d like to get on with my interrogation.” I looked at Peterson because he was the one who’d hired me to do the job.
“I hear you can’t do magic,” one of the two men said, but I had no idea who he was. I knew the names of the coven leaders, but I’d never seen their faces.
“It’s true,” I lied through my teeth.
“So don’t you think it’s better to let someone else handle this?” The man’s grey brows rose in mockery.
“She was the one who caught it, Austin. It killed seventeen soldiers and six witches before that,” Peterson warned, his voice a lot stronger now.
“I’m just saying—”
I wasn’t going to put up with this bullshit for much longer.
“I suggest you wait outside where you’re safe. If you’ll excuse me…” Without waiting for a reply, I turned my back to them and went back to the beast.
Anger was good. I could thank those witches for pissing me off because now, I wasn’t as afraid as before.
The leaders of the coven stayed in the basement, but they did hide behind all those ECU werewolves who had come in with them. Eight in total, and it was obvious they were there to protect the leaders, while Brooks’s group was there to take care of the beast.
With a deep breath, I called my beads back to my left hand. Since the beast was sitting on the ground now, the chain around its neck would loosen more easily. With enough air going to its lungs, it was going to wake up in mere minutes, if my calculations were right. My calculations also said that even if it broke through the chains and the holding spells, I’d figure out a way to kill it and stay alive.
But before we go any further, there’s one thing you should know about me. I always sucked at math.
Eight
The beast’s eyes began to move fast not even two minutes after the chain around its neck was loose. I held my breath and didn’t dare blink until its eyes opened. They were just as green as I remembered them, and I was relieved because I thought I’d imagined it. Another confirmation that this thing was not a werewolf. All werewolves had eyes of yellow that shone in the dark like beacons.
My whole being insisted I take a step back, though I was already far enough away from where the beast sat, tied to the column that kept Peterson’s house upright. I held my ground and didn’t move instead. I was too proud to show just how scared I was of the furry beast. Impossible not to be when I’d witnessed firsthand what it felt like to be hit by it. To be clawed by it. My chest still hurt, though the cuts were closed and all that was left on my skin were three nasty red scars.
The low growl that came from its throat had every hair on my skin standing at attention. It looked right at me, those eyes seeing right into my soul. I raised my chin to try and fool myself into thinking that I wasn’t afraid. That I didn’t want to turn around and run right out of there. Werewolves were scary, but this thing? It was downright terrifying, nightmare material.
Its lips pulled up to show us its teeth, large, sharp and yellow. My fingers tightened around the rubber handles of my knives. A bead of sweat fell on my eyebrow. The silence in the basement was overwhelming. Nobody seemed to even be breathing, though there were at least twenty other people behind us. Through the corner of my eye, I could see Brooks’s hands shaking as he pointed his gun at the beast.
And when it began to move, the chains made enough noise to make a deaf witch hear again. This time, my body didn’t ask permission. My legs took me back a step or two all on their own. My heart hammered inside my chest as the beast continued to try and break free from its chains and from the spells that were holding it down.
“Shoot it,” someone called from behind us, terrified.
“No! Don’t,” I said to Brooks. I hadn’t gone through all that mess just to end this before it began. I was going to get answers out of this creature one way or another.
“The chains,” Brooks whispered.
I followed his eyes to the chains around the beast’s arms. I’d wrapped them around its wrists twice just in case it wanted to grab a spell stone from wherever it was hiding them. But Brooks was right. The rings of the chains had already begun to deform under pressure.
“The spells will hold him,” I said and though I sounded sure, I wasn’t. Not really. Damn it, I should have learned holding spells. The spells that the Green witches had cast upon the beast smelled enough for the werewolves not to pick on one extra spell from me.
When the beast began to howl, it felt like the ground underneath us shook. The chains kept giving in under its strength. It kept pushing its arms to the sides, and if it kept at it, the beast was going to be free in minutes. I couldn’t allow that.
There was one thing that came to my mind. In theory, it made sense, but in practice, I’d never tried it.
“Winter, shoot it now!” Peterson called from behind me.
“Just give it a second!” I shouted and focused on conjuring my shield. This time, instead of calling it around me, I called it around the holding spells that the Green witches had conjured. I’d never even heard of anything like it being done before, but what other choice did I have? It was either try that, or Brooks was going to shoot a bullet through the beast’s forehead. All would be lost then.
No, not yet. I tapped into my magic and allowed myself a second to close my eyes. The bright orange color that burned inside me took all of my attention and pushed the fear away, much like adrenaline erased the pain from my body momentarily. With my mind, I poured the power buzzing in my veins into the words of my spell until it felt like it was spilling, then released the shield forward. I imagined the holding spells like they were layers around the beast’s body, and my own spell sneaked under them, then spread like invisible gas on the first layer’s surface from the inside.
The first chain broke. My eyes popped open. The beast growled, making my ears whistle.
“Don’t shoot!” I shouted. I needed to see if it had worked, if my shield would add protection to the holding spells.
The beast’s head shot forward.
It hit an invisible wall.
Its green eyes met mine. They were wide with surprise. I didn’t dare feel the relief, but the spell had worked. It was shielding the holding spells from the beast.
I turned around to face Peterson, whose eyes were red as if he’d been crying. “You should leave now.” If the beast managed to break through my shield, I was going to have to use my magic if I wanted to stay alive. If anybody saw, they’d report me. I’d be dead, anyway. But if nobody was there, all of this would become that much easier.
“I can’t stay here,” Theodora Sullivan said, shaking her head. She was definitely crying. Her cheeks glistened with tears. Then, she turned around and ran up the stairs. Three werewolves with their guns in hand followed.
“Go,” I said to Peterson again. Without hesitation, he nodded and turned for the stairs. The other two leaders followed without a sound. Unfortunately, Brooks and his six werewolves stayed behind. Enough time had already been wasted.
Reluctantly, I turned to the beast. It was still looking right at me, though now it was smiling. Goosebumps covered my arms at the sight, but at least it was not trying to break free anymore. My shield had worked better than I’d hoped.
“What are you?” I asked. My voice was scratchy, but it didn’t break like I expected it to.
The beast searched my face. It looked disgusted. I laughed. Didn’t it own a mirror? He was a monster!
“I’m going to enjoy skinning you alive, fairy,” it spit.
“Shit.” The word escaped Brooks’s lips in a whisper. I could feel his eyes on me, but I didn’t dare look away from the beast. I agreed with him, though. Shit, indeed. The beast had a normal voice, just like mine.
“Right
. But before we get to that part, who the hell did you piss off so much to make you look like this? You’re pretty damn ugly. It’s only fair you tell me what you are.” They could all hear my voice shaking, but I still said the words. In my mind, that counted for a lot.
“I’ll cut your tongue out, too,” the beast said. Its claws pulled up as it tried to fist its paws. Impossible to do it because of how long its claws were, but that told me that this creature definitely transformed into something else. Something that had the shape of a human. A werewolf in human form. A witch. A fairy—or both.
“Well, we already know you’re no real werewolf. Perhaps a witch? Or maybe a fairy?”
The beast growled. I almost had a heart attack because it caught me off guard. “Don’t insult me, fairy trash.” It tried to move again, and the chains gave under its strength some more. Fucking hell, I’d never seen such strength, and I hoped I’d never see it again after tonight. For the world, though, I kept a straight face and acted unimpressed.
With one hand on my hip, I sighed. “Look, I’d gladly bring you a mirror if I had the time, but I got more important shit to do. Stop being a fucking hypocrite, and be a nice little beast instead. What. Are. You?” I totally nailed it. Where’s the applause?
“If you think you can hold me with your little spells, you’re dumber than you look,” it said and looked at Brooks before it turned to me again. “I can smell Bone in you, but you’re tainted. You’re withering. I’ll be doing you a favor when I kill you.”
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from asking questions. Brooks was still there with his werewolves. Talking about what the beast could smell on me was a sure way to reveal my fairy magic. Dangerous territory, so I steered the conversation away.
“So you’re a witch,” I said, though I doubted it. A witch so strong as to alter his appearance to this level? Not possible. And if it were half fairy, it would have never spoken to me that way. Now I was even more puzzled than before, but I didn’t let it show. “What’s the deal with you and your friends? Why are you kidnapping Greens?”
“Because we can,” the beast said without hesitation. Its sickening smile imprinted itself forever in my memory. I wasn’t looking forward to the nightmares, I’ll tell you that.
“You’re going to die if you don’t tell me what I want to know. It’s not going to be pleasant,” I hissed. Yeah, I was scared, but I was pissed off, too. The beast was playing me for a fool, and I had no choice but to let it.
“Your bullets can’t kill me,” it said and laughed for a second. Call me crazy, but it would have been a nice sound if it had come out of anybody else.
“But magic can.” I expected another laugh. Instead, the beast stopped smiling. Oh? “It can burn you right down to the bones, then turn those to ash, too.”
Its snout trembled, and its yellow teeth greeted me again. Excitement spiked in my blood. Holy shit, it really thought my magic could kill it!
“What does it matter to you?” the beast asked. “You’re a fairy. Walk away while you still can.”
With difficulty, I made myself grin. “Not going to happen. Tell me why you’re after the Green leaders. What are you trying to accomplish by kidnapping their children?”
The beast moved its arms. Another chain broke and fell on its lap. My heartbeat tripled.
“What does it feel like to be covenless?”
Its words threw me off for a second. I took a step back, and let anger take the reins over my body. The next second, my knife was in my hip belt, and my gun was in its place in my hand instead.
“Why are you after the Greens?” The barrel of my gun was aimed at its left eye, and he could see it. “My bullet might not kill you, but it’s going to hurt like a sonovabitch, because I’m not going to stop shooting.”
“Why is irrelevant,” the beast said. “What’s important is we’re not going to stop.”
I laughed dryly. “You think the world is just going to sit back and eat popcorn while watching you kill innocent people ?”
“Isn’t that what the world does? Killing isn’t anybody’s problem,” the beast said. “I’ve done it before, plenty of times, and I’m still here, aren’t I? Your world never stopped me before, and it’s not going to stop me now.”
The words swirled and swirled in my head until they began to make sense. I knew it. I knew it!
The beast was telling me everything I needed to know. He asked me what it felt like to be covenless, but he didn’t mean because I was a fairy. He meant because I was a Bone witch, and there was no Bone coven.
Smiling couldn’t be helped. This creature said it with its own mouth. It’d done the same thing before. It’d killed, and nobody had stopped it. My world hadn’t stopped it.
The Bone coven hadn’t stopped it.
The door to the basement opened and slammed hard against the wall. I jumped around, my gun ready, my beads vibrating in front of my face. Before I could even blink, more than ten witches and werewolves ran towards us.
ECU was written everywhere on their expensive-looking suits and their expressionless faces. The guy in the front walked right up to me, his eyes never even blinking. He didn’t give the beast behind me a single look.
“Escort the lady out,” the man said. A Blood witch, if I had to guess. “Your services are no longer needed. The ECU will take it from here.”
“You do see the gun pointed at your face,” I said because it was perfectly possible he had missed it. The guy was cold as ice, and his grey eyes barely moved as he looked at my face.
“From now on, the ECU will handle this investigation. Please leave this room immediately,” the man said.
I would have laughed if I wasn’t so pissed off. Was he kidding?
“Let’s be clear on one thing: I caught the beast. I risked my life to bring it here. I’m the one who’s going to handle this investigation,” I hissed.
The witch pressed his lips together for a second. He looked bored. Couldn’t he see what was chained to the damn column? The beast was right in front of him!
“Gentlemen,” the man said, and three others began to walk towards me. Like hell. My beads were in front of their faces before they could take their third step.
“Have a talk with William Peterson, will you? He’ll tell you—”
“We have already spoken with Mr. Peterson. If you do not leave voluntarily, you will still leave,” the Blood witch said, and it sounded damn near a threat. “I assure you that we have more men than you have shiny balls.”
Shit. “I’m not done yet. Give me another hour,” I said because he was right. They had more people than I had beads, and I couldn’t use my magic. Not against them.
“You have one minute,” the Blood witch said with his light brows raised, and he dismissed me by stepping to the side and finally looking at the beast. The fucking asshole. He was serious! “Mr. Brooks, please update me.”
I had two options. I could stay there and argue, possibly fight those ECU werewolves and witches until they overpowered me and threw me out, or I could leave with my pride intact. A look back at the beast, and tears of anger almost sprung from my eyes. It was smiling at me again.
“I’ll see you again, Winter Wayne,” it said in a low and seductive voice that had no business coming out of a creature like that. Shivers washed over my back. The beast knew my last name. How the hell did it know my name?
Without another word, I turned around and walked out of the basement.
Nine
Peterson’s house was swarming with ECU soldiers. You could tell it was serious because they weren’t just the usual werewolves. Lots of witches of all kinds were there, too, all dressed in those black suits I hated so much. I didn’t bother to put my gun away. If somebody said a single thing to me, I was going to shoot—no questions asked. I’d had about enough of the ECU already.
“Winter, over here,” someone called when I made it out the house and found the front yard full of soldiers, too. Peterson was among them, talking to someone, a
nd he waved me over.
With my head high, I walked over to him. If somebody was watching me like people usually did, I didn’t notice. Probably because anger had narrowed my vision almost all the way.
Peterson looked a bit better than the last time I saw him. The color had returned to his face, and his eyes were no longer red.
“The ECU kicked me out,” I said, though I knew he already knew that.
“They’re taking over now. Personally,” Peterson said, half a smile on his lips. “This wouldn’t have happened without you, Winter. Thank you so much.” And he offered me his hand.
“What? What do you mean?” I asked in half a voice.
“It means that you did your job, and you did it perfectly. I’m thanking you for it.” Peterson raised his brows at the hand still waiting for mine.
“Hold on,” I said. The tips of fingers had turned numb. “Are you firing me?”
“No, no, you already did your job. You found the person responsible for the kidnappings. Now, the ECU will get that thing to talk. It’s only a matter of time before they find the others and the children of my colleagues.”
Fuck me.
“And rest assured that I will recommend your services to everyone. You truly outdid yourself.”
Can I cry now?
“Mr. Peterson, I understand why you think this is over, but it isn’t. That beast down there is stronger than anything I’ve ever seen, and there are three more like it—that we know of. They’re not going to stop until we know what they want.”
“That’s where the ECU comes in. We’ve already spoken to them, and they’re handling it as a case of national security. It’s only a matter of time—”
“But the ECU couldn’t even stop one of them! Had I not been here, that beast would have escaped!” Don’t get me wrong, I hated to be one of those people who brag about their actions, but I had to remind Peterson that he needed me. Damn it, he couldn’t fire me. I needed this job!
