The King's Witch

The Fated Encounter

    After the incident last week, Sif had not calmed down for several days. Stewards in the castle were cowering to his unfriendly stare and angry tone. He was not amiable to begin with but his sudden callousness was too much for them to handle. Small mistakes and little irritating sound would blow him up and would start bellowing to them. His brother also fled the scene after he was not able to control himself and let the monster in him out. 

    All Lykans could transform to their wolf-like characteristics whenever they like especially when they were fighting their enemies or protecting someone. In his case, neither of them happened. She was not in danger and he was not fighting anyone either. But he lost his cool and now he wasn't able to function well after that. The impact of that unknown hooded female had shaken him somehow. He needed to do something about it. The wolf in him got very curious that it took over him and was clawing for his mate on the wall. 

    He had to know who she was and if he found out what she was and realized that she was not much of a girl he anticipated, then we would just left. He just had to sate his curiosity.

    So, he asked his brother to accompany him to the sorceress and order another of that mate-finding talisman. 

    "Sif, promise me you will control yourself. Merea is very fragile and I wouldn't let you scare her."

    "You're so protective of that witch. We're not even sure if her products are of good quality."

    "We already know that her item works. You just broke it so it was not used to its full potential."

    He just shrugged his shoulders. He could be right. But he still didn't believe that was the only cause. A very expensive magical item should be durable enough to be worth its price. 

    "We will test the product there and if I'm not happy, I could go berserk again." He was serious. He didn't have any will when the creature resurfaced in him. 

    "I wouldn't let you hurt her. She could be my mate." He looked at him shocked and for the first time in a long time, he burst in laughter. Faolan laughed too seeing his brother seemed amused by his joke. 

    Sif didn't expected that punchline would crack him up. Of course it was a joke. If Merea was his woman, he wouldn't be in the castle holding parties with unmated Lykan females and sleeping with them. If he was mated, he would be with her all the time and rutting her until they got tired. 

    After a good laugh, Faolan got serious. "I'm also wondering where my mate could be right now. But it's not as desperate as you." He smirked and laughed again.

    "Asshole! I wouldn't be in this situation if not because of you."

    "Hey, mind your language, your highness. You know we are here because of you being so hot-headed."

    He couldn't disagree. What could he do? That's how he became since their parents died and he had to lead their clans. The Corvin pack sat the royal throne which their father ruled for thousand of years. He had no choice but to assume the position at a young age of just a century old.  At that age, he would make big decisions, expecting favorable outcomes. He also had to manage all other Lykan clans and helped them settle well in a property a bit away from mortals. Any wrong judgements would cause their people's lives.  Thus, he couldn't be weak and always strive for greatness and perfection. Hence, he became stubborn and would only accept good results, no room for failure or mistakes.

    Being a perfectionist, he knew he wouldn't be able to concentrate in his task until he settled this one. Now, riding in his car, they were headed to Merea's and he was expecting this madness to end soon. He was going to take a look at her today and make a conclusion after. 

    "Relax bro. You don't need to grip the steering wheel that hard. You're gonna destroy your Jeep Grand Cherokee, unless you want to be driven in there instead." Pointing to the cars ahead of them - his royal sentinels. 

    The council argued about him always sneaking out alone, so when they found out about his plan, they sent elite troops to accompany them. He didn't need protection for goodness sake. Lykans were the strongest of all living creature. No one would dare to mess with them unless they had suicide intentions. But he didn't further assert his point since Faolan, his heir, would be going too. The  more reason he couldn't convince them otherwise. They had sent a dozen Lykans with them riding in six cars- three in front of them, and another three behind.  

    They had been driving for an hour now, reaching the main city of New York. He was wondering what was a witch doing in this big city when the Wiccans property were said to be situated near mountains and seas in secluded areas. No one had been able to locate them. He suspected without the use of magic, it would really be impossible to find them. 

    When suddenly the car ahead of them stopped. 

    "What was that?" They saw smoked coming from afar and loud shout of people were heard. Faolan tried to see what was going on and when he was opening the window, the hand-held transceiver lighted up.

    " Your majesty and your royal highness, this is Sentinel 11. Permission to speak."

    He picked it up.  "Go ahead."

    "There's an accident that's causing this panic and traffic that might take a while." He sighed in slight annoyance

    "Ten-four. Standby."

      "Oh that's too bad. We don't have a choice but to wait then. " Faolan seemed annoyed too after Sif dropped the transceiver.  He exhaled sharply, starting to get irritated. Soon, they heard ambulances. It must have been a big accident.  After a while, people were running towards their direction, seemed to be fleeing away from the scene ahead.

    "It must be very terrifying for them." Faolan commented looking at the men and women seeking safety.

    "Right. Mortals." The weakest of all the factions. Quirk less, ordinary, earthly and perishable. They were the opposite of them, strong, gifted, immortal and deathless. They never grew old. They freeze when they were in their thirties and never aged since then. He was almost a millennium and a half and humans still hadn't figured out a way to evolve themselves. Pitiful. 

    His eyes were scanning their horrified faces and among the throng of people, his gaze caught a woman running away too but was always looking behind, stumbling in her steps. She was a bit far from their car so he could not see her clearly, but her long black hair stood out, shining brightly in the sun . Interesting. Humans usually had their hair cut short in summer season. But this one was not even tying her hair or fixed it in a bun. She just let it flow and now it was bouncing as she ran.

    He frowned when the woman stopping running and was just looking towards the accident site. Standing still, people were bumping her but she remained unmoving. She looked up at the sky. Blinding by its brightness and heat, she reached for the hood of his cloak to cover her head. He groaned when she did so.  Damn that hood!  He wanted to see more.

    Hood? Cloak? She was wearing a royal blue cloak! 

    "That's her." He barely spoke. His chest was thumping so fast.

    "Who's her?" Faolan heard him murmured and looked at him and followed his gaze. "Who are you looking at?" He was checking the people going frantic outside. But now Sif got lost with his emotions. Was this the woman in the vision? Was she her fated female? He needed to find out. Jumping out of the car, he hurriedly walked towards her, ignoring his brother's call. 

    He fixated his gaze to the woman ahead who was now holding a leather drawstring pouch and taking out something from it. She was holding something in her fist and opened it. She then blew something from her hand. Powder? Dust? He saw how the tiny particles flew in the sky and glitters in the sun.  Gold? Gold dust? s**t! She's a witch. And she was doing magic in a city center, in a broad daylight. Was she insane?

    He sprinted toward her and crossed the short distance between them. But before he could grab her, she disappeared into thin air. He panicked when he couldn't sense her, she then resurfaced ten meters away. She blew the gold dust again, making her blur and vanished only to reappear in an even further distance. She was getting away! Did she notice he was going for her? He never saw her glance his way though. He wouldn't let her be gone this time.

    Gathering all his strengths, he charged towards her, anticipating where she would materialize again.  She was getting further and further away but the Lykan speed was unequaled. Even vampires who teleported had no chance to getting away from someone like him. He continued following her and he was feeling that her magic was getting weaker. She resurfaced in a much shorter distance than the first time. They were now away from the main road and now sprinting in some sort of a nature park. They are going away from the city.