Chaos in a Fairy tale

Lilac My day started like any other. I got out of bed, showered and brushed my teeth. Got dressed for work and left, telling myself I'd grab breakfast on the way. I never expected my day to be derailed before it truly began. The art studio was still 25 minutes away when the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen was running in front of my car. Slamming on the brakes, I lay into my horn trying to get her to move. She doesn’t even seem to notice that she’s in the street though. She looks dazed, like she can’t focus on anything. I rolled down the window, “Hey, are you okay?” I hear myself ask. Finally, her gaze swung towards me, like she was surprised that I was talking to her. “Do you need some help or something?” I continued speaking. Still silent, she stares like I’ve grown a second head right in front of her. “You can see me?” I hear her finally respond in a whisper. I almost laughed at the strange question. “Of course, I can see you. Are you okay? You’re standing in the middle of the street at 5am.” She looks down at her hands like she’s never seen them before, then looks back at me in horror. “Something must be wrong.” She’s not talking to me, or at least, I don’t think so. She looks like she’s lost in thought. “Do you need to call someone or something? Are you lost?” I dig my phone out of my purse and turn to offer it to her and find that she’s standing right beside me. I didn’t hear her move, she was staring down at me. I lift my phone, offering to let her use it. Before I can say anything else, she takes off down the street. To say I was confused would have been an understatement. As I watched her disappear down the street, it occurred to me that I was supposed to be headed to the studio. I've got 2 commissioned pieces getting picked up today. I need to make sure that they are ready before the clients come to retrieve them. I put the car in drive and sped the rest of the way to work. The great thing about working for yourself is you can't really be late. Star I’m staring down at this woman, who somehow is looking at me even though I cast a cloaking spell on myself like I always do before starting a job. I knew as soon as I stepped onto the street that something was wrong. With a cloaking spell comes a certain level of influence over those that are within your general vicinity. People walking nearby instinctively move to avoid you, cars slow without knowing why. There are downsides to it as well. You can’t open doors or pick up anything or people start screaming about ghosts. “What are you?” I ask her, she blinks like she doesn’t understand the question. “What?” That’s all the response I get before I catch sight of my target. I take off down the street after the fleeing wolf cub. I was hired by the Alpha of this region to track down his sister’s cub. He got grabbed while in the forest playing with his friends. They tracked his scent to the river, but on the other side, nothing. His scent just vanished once he crossed the river, that’s where I came in. Being a witch-vampire hybrid, I have multiple ways of tracking someone and even water can’t get rid of all tracks. Wolves use their nose to track smell, having vampires in my blood, my sight is on another level. I can see tracks that have faded to almost nothing, notice things that others wouldn’t simply because they can’t see them. Mix that with my witch blood, that gives me the ability to see traces of magic, and you’ve got a master level tracker. If not for my vampire speed, I’d never have been able to keep up with him. I’ve been tracking this kid for about 6 hours. I found the idiots who thought it was a good idea to grab him and take care of them. I’m sure the Alpha has reached the warehouse they were hiding in by now. Unfortunately, they had already handed off the kid to someone else for relocation. I took out the driver that was transporting him, and he took off before I could explain that I was there to take him home. I’ve been chasing him for the last 25 minutes. He was able to duck away from me about a mile back, and I had to follow the route I knew that road led to trying to find where he came out. Now he’s right here, and I’m eager to wrap up this job. I push myself to run faster, gaining on him by the second. Just as he goes to turn down the next street, I leap for him, wrapping my arms around his middle and holding on as tight as I can without breaking his ribs. I rolled onto my back, taking away his leverage and began explaining, “Hey, I was sent by your uncle to get you back. If you stop struggling, I’ll let you go and call your mom and uncle so they can come get you.” I feel his body relax, and he turns his head to look at me. “Can you shift back? So we can communicate. Your mom gave me some clothes for you.” He nodded slowly, turning on his side to get to his feet. “Come on, we need to find somewhere private for you to shift,” I explained while leading him into a wooded area for some cover. Once in the cover of the trees, I adjusted the cross body bag to retrieve his clothes. He walks over, taking the clothes in his muzzle and goes behind a tree to shift and dress. “I’m sorry I ran. When you stopped the van, I saw an opportunity to get away. Can you call my mom now?” he says as he comes from behind the tree. I didn’t bother with a verbal response. I took out my phone and dialed the Alpha. “Alpha Blake, I have your nephew. He’s fine, they didn’t even leave the region. We’re in Lake Town at the edge of the nature reserve. If you come down Lancaster St. we’ll be able to see you from the trees. Is your sister there? Ashton wants to speak to his mom.” I hear a grunt of acknowledgment from him and then a brief shuffling sound before a frantic female voice says, “Ashton?” I hold out the phone for him to take. “Hello,” he said hesitantly. I watch as his entire body sags with relief. As I listened to him reassure his mom that he was okay and wasn’t hurt, my mind wandered back to the young woman from earlier. She looked human, but she had to be supernatural to see through a cloaking spell. I shake off the thought as I hear the call wrapping up and turn to take my phone. “Are they on the way?” I ask, sure that they are with how frantic they were to find him. “Yes, uncle Blake and my mom are leaving right now with a few pack warriors. They should be here within the hour.” I nodded my understanding and turned back to the street. Looking at the various storefronts that are visible from the tree line, I notice a café. It should be opening soon if it’s not already open. “Are you hungry? We can grab something to eat while we wait for them to get here,” I offer. I’d been up since yesterday and hadn’t had dinner when I received the call from Blake. I haven’t eaten since lunchtime yesterday. Ashton nods eagerly, clearly just as hungry as I am. Without hesitation, we head across the street to see if the café is open. We settle at a table in the corner of the café while we wait for our food. I ordered the largest coffee they offer and he got a milkshake. As we waited, I watched him. The experience seems not to have affected him too much. He’s been relaxed ever since he spoke to his mom. I want to ask about what happened, how they grabbed him, if they said anything about why they took him, anything that might give us an idea of what they had been trying to achieve. However, I knew Blake would probably ask those same questions when he arrived. No point in making him answer twice. We pass the time talking about what he’s learning in school, his hobbies, and general interests. It feels like no time at all has passed when my phone begins to vibrate in my pocket. It was Alpha Blake. “Are you close?” I asked when I answered the call. “We’re here, are you both done eating?” came his response. “Yes.” I ended the call. I turned to Ashton, “They’re outside.” “Really?” he was out of his seat before he’d finished his question. I watched from a few feet away as they hugged and checked him for injuries. After a short reunion and many thanks, we parted ways. They headed back to pack lands and I headed home to get some much-needed sleep.