The War

Save the Child

Chance reluctantly pulled down the Witch's road, frustrated with the call that made him leave Aldolfo and Amber at the training facility. But Caden seemed angry and the Alpha was there so he knew it had to be important. When the Witch's house came into view Chance's breath caught in his throat. 

Marzia's house was swarmed with Healers, and Warriors. There was caution tape that wrapped the entire house, and Chance could see the Alpha and Caden's truck sitting in the driveway. Marzia's little bug was parked near the garage of the house. 

Chance pulled along the side of the street, closing the door behind him and approaching the house walking through the grass. The landscape slightly overgrown, and the grass ankle height. The house was a quaint brick home that had a small front porch with white pillars. A small two bedroom, one bathroom house that was customary for small families in the pack. It was in a good neighborhood surrounded by single family pack members. He felt the air shift when he lifted the caution tape around the front door and walked into the house. The house was decorated with lots of bushes, ferns, vines, spices, and charms. The smell of lavender, rosemary, and blood hit his nose and made his face twist with disgust. When Chance had his wolf the smell of Witch's blood would make him drool-the power radiating from a drop of it would make his thirst uncontrollable, but now the iron smell made his stomach flip.  He quickly walked through a small hallway that held pictures of Marzia's old family before she joined the Walee pack, Chance took note of her children's faces and how happy they appeared to be. 

When Chance rounded the corner of the hallway the smell of blood became so overwhelming he almost fought the urge to puke. There Caden and Alpha stood over the body of Marzia. Her grey curly hair was slick back tinted red, and her throat opened wide. Chance winced at the large gashes in the Witch, she definitely suffered before she died. She laid in a pool of her own blood, that soaked the carpet and his clothes.

Caden noticed Chance walk in, and motioned for him to join them. His face set and stoic. While Brutus continued to look down at the lifeless body of the Witch, his face sad. 

Caden handed Chance a pair of gloves, "You don't have to worry about me touching the body, Caden." Chance said as he swatted at his nose. "That smell is rough." Chance said looking at Caden and then the Alpha. 

Caden shrugged his shoulders and put the gloves back in his pocket, "No, it smells divine. That's power right there." 

Brutus who was sitting quietly watching the lifeless wide eyes of the Witch, now looked at the two guys next to him. "The body has been sitting a while, the neighbors said they noticed her run into her house. She was crying, and slammed the door behind her. Her neighbor, Jane, stopped by this morning to check on her and found her this way." Brutus looked at Chance who got increasingly more uncomfortable. "Can't handle a little blood, Delta?" He asked, his eyebrow raised. 

Chance become increasingly more uncomfortable, Healers walked around the house and began to poke and prod at the Witch looking for any clues about her death. "Not anymore, no." He stated, his nose pinched up in disgust. 

Brutus looked at Chance, his eyes serious. "Maybe you aren't cut out for this job anyway, human." His voice spat. He then turned away from the body and started down a hallway to the bedroom. He gestured for Caden to follow him. 

Chance ignored the last bit of the Alpha's insult as he left. Chance was left alone with the Healers to evaluate the body. His face sad and twisted in a grimace. He didn't particularly like the Witch, but he never wanted her dead. He looked at the large slit across her neck, obviously the finishing blow. Her wrists were red with what looked like rope burn. He keeled down closer to the body, and looked at her fingers. Her pointer finger was crusted over with dry blood, Chance wondered if it was her blood or somebody else's. He looked at the dress she wore, and remembered after Amber's interrogation how she had chased after him in the hallway, attempting to get his attention. He looked down at her ankles and saw them bruised and cut. 

He sighed heavily as he stood up away from the body, "what did you need to tell me Witch?" He asked to the lifeless body of Marzia. He gently turned around and headed to the bedroom where Brutus and Caden were. 

When he walked into the room the first thing that caught his eye was the back wall of the bedroom, the entire wall was covered in blood with the saying "Save the Child" in thick droopy letters. Chance hesitated, surely the Witch couldn't have written that with her own blood? How would she had been able to lose that much blood to write on the wall, then without a trace of blood anywhere in the hallway but in her final resting place in the living room. It didn't make sense to him. And judging by how the Alpha was acting, it seemed to stump him as well. 

Chance approached the Alpha and Caden, they quietly talked between the two of them bouncing off idea's back and forth. 

Brutus looked at Chance, "Think this has anything to do with the Child we took in?" He asked, quietly. 

Chance looked over and shook his head gravely, "She had direct contact with the child, she would have told me when she tried to open her mind." Chance took a step back and bumped into the frame of the bed. 

Caden looked back at the bed, then back up at the wall a small snarl on his face. "What other child would it be referring to? You apparently were the last one to see her alive before this big mess. Maybe you did it." Caden looked at Chance accusingly. 

Chance sighed internally, he didn't want to start with the hot headed Beta, his tone level. "You can check with the Training Facility, I have been there the whole morning. I was also there for the Child's induction." He stated. Ever since Onacona of the Ash pack took Caden and Caudell down in a small scuffle the Beta has been super sensitive and touchy. 

Brutus sighed, "this is a mess. Hopefully the crazy Witch was just being crazy and this means nothing." He looked at his counsel, "have them clean this up and bury the body. Call her children they might want to know." He exited the room and out of the house. 

Caden looked at Chance and raised his eyebrow at him, "maybe it was one of her children who did it." He shrugged his shoulder, and turned to leave. "Take care of it." 

Chance sighed, and fought the urge to punch Caden. The attitude of the Beta finally getting under his skin to the point of breaking. Chance sighed and walked back into the living room to discuss damage control and cleaning the house with one of the Warrior's there.