The Shaman's Revenge

Honey in the Forest

I looked around the forest but didn't see anyone. The scent was still there though as if the source was standing right next to me. I started taking steps into the forest, sniffing around for where the scent was strongest and following it from there. There was a warm breeze that blew the scent all around, as if it was being controlled by someone. The smell led me to the lake on the edge of Thorn's territory. I sat on a tree that had fallen, making a perfect bench, my true powers were masked, making any outsider think I would just be a random wondering human. If someone were actually controlling the scent to have me follow it here, then I could be in some trouble.

"So it's you then." The voice of a young woman rang out over the water.

"You know me?" I asked, looking up at the sky, even though I couldn't see it was still a habit.

"You're the Shaman of the werewolves. He's told me all about you." she said in a silky voice, as if she were trying to seduce a man for her own gain. The sound made me sick to my stomach, like looking at a w***e who is painted too much with makeup, only this was in words.

Abreeze blew by and she smelled of the honey on the letter. "So how much did he pay you to kill the wolf?" I asked simply.

"After what he told me you did, I did it for free," she said with that same sickly sweet voice. "You see, James was my lover, we sold the she-wolves together. We couldn't be mates, with me being a witch and all, but he did what I commanded him to, and he was my little money maker."

The word witch made me perk up, "so you were controlling him? some kind of spell?" I asked.

A horrible laugh came from her that made her sound much older than her original voice, led me to believe "No, I didn't need to control him, he was driven by money, it was wonderful the extreme lengths he would go to just to make himself happy. He rejected several mates that were lined up infront of him to be sold and tortured for profit. His soul was so dark and nasty, I could have just.....devoured it."

The way she emphasized devoured made a shiver run across my skin. Witches are generally neutral people, but this one was dark, maybe one in every thousand witches left are as dark as she is, from the sounds of it she eats the souls of other beings that are dark as well and that how she thrives.

"So you want your revenge?" I asked without changing my position. "Is that why you're teaming up with him?" I was just fishing at this point, I had no proof who had actually killed the wolf or if it was even Ricahrd's men.

"Team up? With that thing?" She questioned back in her silky voice. "No, he just told me about you, offered me some gold, and now I'll just be happy killing you myself."

I shifted slightly, still masking myself, usually witches were no problem for hybrid-shamans to handle, even physically so there was no need to worry, but something about this one didn't sit right with me. "So you accepted his partnership with a contract to kill me?" I asked trying to poke around and see if I could get more answers.

"Well, I would have killed you for free on my own time, but getting paid is a nice side bonus even if it did come from that incompetent fool. The dead wolf got your attention though, didn't it?" Now she was trying to poke at me and get me to let something slip.

"Well..." I stood up and raised my staff "send Richard my reguards then, or even better say hi to James will you?" I slammed my staff down on the ground as hard as I could, sending electric shocks in the direction of the witch, I didn't feel her life leave though, in fact I didn't feel anything.

"Oh..poor thing." Her voice echo'd around the forest, "you already lost and you don't know it." Everything seemed calm, nothing seemed off with myself, it wasn't a hypnotic spell. I stood there looking around trying to sense if anything would happen, but it all seemed quiet, even the honey scent had left. The only conclusion I could come to was that she fled the forest.

This was bad though, if other species were going to get involved in this, then I would need Thorn and the other's help, maybe even make a few deals of my own with whomever I could. I started walking back to Thorn's pack I could smell creature lurking around me, he must have felt the witch as well and came to check and make sure everything was going to be okay. His energy seemed agitated though, like he was fighting with himself over something..usually he seems calm and only gets angry when unwanted things are in my territory, but this felt different, like he was having an internal conflict. Finally he rushed to me and touched my head, and I could see what he saw.

The conflict from his veiw point, the witch was short, but in a well hidden cloak so no one could see her, my staff had hit the ground and the shocks went everywhere, the witch eveporated, but not from me. Then from Creature's vision, you could see a heavy black air around him and it went inside him, she was hiding inside Creature. HE took his hand off of my and looked at me, scared, but took off running. I don't know where or what Creature will do, but I had to keep going to Thorn's house. The witch infected my ally, who knows what else she could do.

I returned to the territory, and imediatly went to my bedroom where Crow was and passed out on the bed, using magic really does take it out of me, but that witch was crafty too. It made me wonder what she actually already knew.