The Hunter and The Hex

He f**king loved the hunt; the thrill of stalking down his mark, the rush of out maneuvering them. It was damn near arousing the way his entire nervous system would go on full alert when he knew he was closing in. That's where the enjoyment ended though; taking the life of another was never pleasant for him. Even ending a sick and twisted b***h of a dark witch was never something he'd say he enjoyed, even if he took pleasure in everything leading up to the specific event. The event that he was now staring down at the results of. The hag of a woman laid at his feet, dead from a single shot to the temple. He didn't feel bad in the slightest, he hated witches; there was no such thing as a good witch in his opinion but he especially enjoyed hunting the blatantly dark ones. This particular witch had literally been killing babies for some sick beauty spell that had quickly evaporated from her body as she died revealing her true haggard appearance. He shook his head and leaned down, hefting her scant dead weight over his shoulder and headed for the forest. He'd have her body burned and ashes scattered before dawn. ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ He strode into the compound's main building mid morning the dispatched witch long gone despite the stench of charred flesh that refused to give up residence in his nostrils and the remanence of blood and ash on his dark clothes. "Rune, you're back!" Margaret said from behind the receptionist desk with one of her signature bright smiles as he passed. "Conference room 3, new contract and sounds like it's in your wheelhouse." She continued to which he nodded with a soft humming grunt in acknowledgement. "Always good talking to you!" She called out down the hall after him with a soft giggling trilling in her voice. He rolled his eyes and half waved at her before he unceremoniously pushed the door marked #3 opened and stepped into the modestly appointed conference room. His nordic blue eyes swept the scene before him; 3 men sat at the large conference table with cheap Styrofoam cups of coffee in front of them. Two of the men he immediately recognized as his clansmen and fellow hunters, Axel and Jacob: Number 2 and number 3 in command respectively. Axel, like himself, was of some Scandinavian descent with blond hair and blue eyes whereas Jacob was of northwestern European descent, a mix of Scotch-Irish and English most likely with his brown hair and hazel eyes much like the 3rd man he didn't recognize: the client. He focused his attention there, the client was in his mid to late 50s with salt and pepper hair and beady brown eyes. If you needed to sum him up in a word that word would be weasley. The weasel fidgeted under Rune's gaze as Axel's face pulled into a big smile. "Ah Rune, glad you could join us. This is mister Kevin Anderson and he has a bit of a witch problem." Axel gestured vaguely in the client's direction. Kevin swept his eyes over Rune's appearance and shuddered. At 6' and 220 pounds of muscle Rune struck an imposing figure, combined with his long dark blond hair, pale blue eyes and neatly trimmed beard he looked like a modern day viking back from ransacking a village covered in ash and a splattering of the witches blood and brain matter that had aersoled when he had shot her point blank. He pulled a chair out and sat down with a slight nod to his bosses before turning his gaze back on the weasel, his eyes narrowing. "Explain." He nearly growled out, his voice was gritty and low from smoke exposure. The weasel visibly shuddered as he stammered his response. "Y..yes well as I was saying the witch hexed me. I turned her down, having myself a steady gal at home and the witch hexed me out of jealousy. If she'd do this to me, just because she didn't get what she wanted, I don't want to think about what else she's doing in that odd little shop of hers." Axel leaned back in his chair, his gaze sweeping over the man before he spoke, "how did she hex you?" Kevin the weasel flushed with a mix of embarrassment and anger before he glanced down at his lap then back up to the 3 hunters sitting opposite of him "she yanno.. she hexed little John," He grimaced and looked away. Jacob's eyebrows shot to the ceiling before he glanced at his two clansmen but it was Rune who spoke, "you're here because you can't get it up and think this is the witches fault?" He tried not to smirk, he really did. Kevin shifted in his seat uncomfortably "no… I'm here because everytime I do it's like having nails shoved through it, but only when my girlfriend and I are trying to *ahem* have relations. So I know it's not some medical thing. It only happens when I intend to use it as God designed it. It's not right and not natural for some jilted female to curse me like this." He sat back with a grumble as the other 3 men tried to hide their winces. Rune nodded to his clansmen a sign of his agreement and Jacob slid a yellow legal pad and pen over to Kevin. "Write everything you know about this witch, even the tiniest detail can be significant." The man nodded and began to write, Rune leaned slightly watching what Kevin scribbled down the name at the top of the page was what held his attention, "Marinette De La Barre" Rune couldn't help but sneer as he read the name out loud, he glanced at Axel. "Looks like I'm hunting a De La Barre witch" Kevin looked up from his scribbling "is.. is that bad?" He asked, seemingly nervous. Rune grinned, feeling his senses come alive "very, her ancestors were responsible for the deaths of untold men at the behest of their wives" and he watched as Kevin paled. He stood then and headed for the door after tipping his head politely to his superiors and Kevin the weasel. "Looks like I'm hunting a Maneater."