The Human, the Witch and the Were

Decisions

 Phillip snarled and punched his mahogany desk in frustration. Those bitches were screwing everything up! He ran his fingers through his hair. How could it be so difficult to tame two vamps and a Were? And that red headed b***h was just so... weird. He stifled a shudder. The way she stared at him was unsettling. He could handle the contempt from the vampire to a certain extent, he even respected it, but those green eyes...He started pacing in agitation. The fact they were uncontrollable was bad for morale. And it was giving the human bitches ideas. They seemed to think they could fight back too. It was all well and good to beat down on the supes because they healed themselves, but the men didn’t like it.  They felt it wasn't right to beat a woman only for her to get back up again. Once a woman was beaten, she should stay beaten. Phillip sighed. He couldn't let them get away with it.

He needed those women subdued. His pharmacists had made some modifications to Twilight based on what they knew about vamp and Were physiology and it had some positive results, but they needed suitable test subjects to fully develop the formula of the drug. Carlos didn't understand the need to get vamps and Weres addicted when there were so many humans already hooked. Phillip rolled his eyes. Carlos had no foresight, no initiative or creativity. He didn't see the bigger picture. The more vamps and Weres addicted, the more supernatural trade ins he could get and the more he could charge in his brothels. There were many men in the world who would eagerly pay top dollar for a chance to bang a vamp or Were. It made them feel powerful, as though they had been responsible for breaking the woman beneath them. In addition, the more addicts he created the more drugs that would be needed, and the more money he would earn from both drugs and whores. At the end of the day, it was all about the money.

He should have collared the vamps with silver as soon as they were traded. Having rarely dealt with supes before and never with vamps, he’d assumed they would be easily cowed by their situation and become submissive like the human bitches did, but no. The blonde one had cost him two men and two others had lost an arm and an eye trying to get the collar on her. They hadn't gotten three feet in the door before she had launched herself at them in a desperate bid to escape. They couldn't even get a tranq dart into her. She could hear them coming and when they opened the door, she was standing right behind it, waiting for them when they stuck the gun in. They could see her standing there through the two-way mirror to her cell but couldn't do anything about it. They had given up in the end, she wasn't worth it. So now she just sat in her cell scowling at the mirrored glass, daring anyone to come in.

As for the other one, the brunette...she had sat and waited calmly until the men were right beside her before becoming a blur of motion. Phillip suppressed a shudder at the memory of the blank faces and the ripped-out throats of his men. They hadn't known what hit them.

Whilst the Were had been a little easier, she had still put up one hell of a fight. No one had thought to mention to him that Weres could partially shift. She had come at them with eight-inch claws before they managed to get three tranq darts into her. She'd dropped like a sack of s**t but f**k she was heavy. She was now gagged and bound to her bed because they couldn't carry her anywhere else.

It was the green-eyed redhead that was really pissing him off however and they hadn't gotten anywhere near her cell. No one could stand the arctic temperatures that were emanating from her room. They got six feet from the door before having to turn back. The only one who could get anywhere near her was Greta due to her own magical protection.

"f**k!" he shouted. She must have been a witch or bought protection spells off a witch. Phillip had no idea how to handle a witch. He couldn't get near her cell to break her in. He couldn't just let her go because she would come after him and though he would admit it to no one, that scared the s**t out of him. And he was too proud to sit back and do nothing. He seethed in frustration. Something had to be done. He was the one in control dammit!

***

"Carlos," Phillip bellowed. "Get in here."

Phillip’s right hand man and second in command walked through the door and took a seat in the chair in front of Phillip's desk.

"Has there been any progress?"

Carlos didn't need to ask what he was talking about. It was the only thing Phillip was interested in at the moment. Carlos shook his head.

"No, there has been no change. I can't get any men to go into the vamp cells and we can't get down to the witch without freezing our balls off."

"The Were?"

"She just lies on her bed. She eats when the food is put in front of her then she lies back down."

Phillip nodded. "Good, we'll start testing out the new Were edition on her tomorrow."

Carlos hid his frown of disapproval. It wasn't up to him to make the money for the family, he just enforced the rules. However, he was concerned that Phillip was getting ahead of himself and getting them all in too deep. Carlos didn’t think there was a need to mass produce drugs to the supe community to increase the w***e trade. They made enough money from whores and humans addicts.

 Boss de Luca was not a good man to cross, and Phillip was involved in many things that de Luca would not be happy about. Carlos has a very strong sense of self preservation and he wanted to be sitting on a tropical island surrounded by beautiful women and sipping on cocktails far away from Phillip when he was caught. And Carlos had no doubt that Phillip would be caught, it was just a matter of time. Carlos considered saying something but after seeing the dark look on Phillip’s face, he decided against it.

"What do you want me to do about the witch?" Carlos asked.

Phillip leaned back in his chair before he answered.

"What do you know about witches Carlos?"

Carlos shrugged. "Not a lot. They keep to themselves and don't really branch out beyond their coven. Their powers vary so you never know what you're going to be dealing with. They draw their power from themselves or from the energy of living things around them. They generally have control over the elements. Why?"

"I was just confirming what I already knew," Phillip smiled viciously.

"So, what do you want me to do?" Carlos asked.

"Witches draw their energy from themselves and their surroundings, right? So, we cut off her energy source. We'll starve the b***h out."

***

Kayla slipped silently back inside her room, being very careful not to be seen on the way. She had no doubt that Phillip wouldn't hesitate to kill her if he knew she'd been eavesdropping. She had heard his idea to starve out the witch and she cursed to herself. As much as she hated the man, she had to give him credit where it was due. It was an inspired idea. That was one of the things she had learned about Phillip, he was a brilliant strategist and scholar with an amazing memory. If there was something he needed to know he usually took it upon himself to find it out rather than relying on second-hand information. In this case, he had needed to know about witches, and he had done his homework.

She sat on her bed, deep in thought. She was torn between the sense of kinship she’d felt when she first saw the witch and her fear of Philip’s wrath if he caught her meddling. He had left her more or less in peace for the last few months and she was reluctant to draw attention to herself. She wrestled with her conscious for a good hour before coming to a decision.

She found Greta in the kitchen. Greta was crucial to her plan. She whispered what she wanted to do in Greta's ear, confident that she could trust the healer with her secret. Greta nodded once and told her to take the basket of fruit that was on the table and follow her. They passed Phillip on the way and Kayla kept her eyes on the floor to avoid making eye contact. He barely glanced at her as he walked past in the opposite direction. She breathed a sigh of relief she didn't know she’d been holding. He must have been deeply preoccupied if he’d walked by without acknowledging her with some form of snide remark or blow. She had thought he might have questioned what she was doing, but it wasn't unusual for her to help Greta around the compound.

They headed to the cells in silence, her stomach tight with knots. As they got closer, she broke away from Greta and headed to the witch's cell while Greta continued on to the communal dining room. She had to stifle a gasp of surprise when the basket she was carrying disappeared in front of her eyes. She could still feel the weight of it, but it was invisible to the human eye. It was this little detail that Kayla was counting on. She continued, bracing herself against the cold and the fear that gripped her heart. She pretended to stumble as she put the invisible basket down on the floor and pulled out the thick gloves she had put in her pocket and put them on her hands. Quick as lightning, she opened the sliding door used for food trays and pushed the basket through.

Her heart hammering in her chest, she made her way back to the kitchen to meet Greta. She had seen or heard no one on the way there or back. Dealing with the vamps and now the cold front had sent all the men to the comfort of the bridge above the courtyard. She resumed her place next to Greta and started chopping vegetables with shaky hands in preparation for the girls' dinner. With so many of them to feed, Greta could use all the help she could get, and Kayla was glad to keep her mind off what she'd just done.

She allowed herself a small smile. She was pleased with the decision she had made and the course of action she had taken. It wasn't much but it was something. The witch wouldn't starve and that would piss Phillip off no end.

"Restrain the f*****g b***h already!" Phillip roared.

They were trying, God knew his men were trying but the Were was jacked up and pulling some serious horsepower. It was taking five men to keep her somewhat restrained, and she was still putting up a hell of a fight. They couldn't get close enough to jab her with a tranq needle and she wouldn't stop moving long enough for them to shoot her with a dart.

They'd started testing the new Were version of Twilight on her three days ago. The first dose had about the same effect as the normal street drug. She'd had a slightly elevated heart rate and some agitation for about half an hour before it wore off with no visible signs of addiction. She hadn't been anxious, nervous or jittery when she came down. Once the drug wore off it was like she hadn't even taken it. The second dose has lasted a bit longer and she had experienced cravings for another hit for about an hour until that too wore off and she suffered only mild dehydration. Even then the cravings weren't debilitating, more of an annoyance.

It was the third dose they were witnessing now. The pharmacists had added a new compound to the drug to increase its addictiveness to Weres but there had been unexpected results. Instead of triggering her addiction it had increased her levels of testosterone, aggression, strength, and adrenaline. Within minutes she had erupted, the confines of her cell setting her off. She had started throwing furniture around the room and running into the door in a bid to smash it down and get out. His men had decided to tranq her to calm her down, then wait for the drug to wear off before giving her the latest dose that the pharmacists had assured him, they had gotten right this time.

She hadn't responded well to the men coming in. In fact, it had only agitated her more and a full-scale brawl had erupted. Phillip realised at that point that he should have left her alone in her room to come down naturally, but he'd been afraid of her breaking the door down. Suddenly shouts erupted from the men as she untangled herself from their arms and made it out the door, knocking over the other guards in the corridor. They gave chase but she was too fast. It came to an abrupt halt when she got three metres from the front door of the compound. Shots rang out from the roof and the Were went down hard, blood pooling around her.

"f**k!" shouted Phillip and then turned on his heel and stomped back inside. He didn't so much as glance at Kayla, who was standing by the door and had witnessed the whole thing.