Chapter 1 The Little Mysterious Witch
Vanessa's breaths came in short, ragged gasps, each one slicing through her chest as if a dozen splintered bones were grinding against her lungs. You're bound to break a few things if you'd jumped from the second floor of a building.
Still, she managed to stand to her feet, despite all of the crack-like pain in her bones. She needed to get out of here. The streets screamed with chaos, shadows darting between flames. The stench of blood was so thick it clung to her tongue. Every step felt like wading through someone else's nightmare.
She placed her right hand over the right side of her rib cage, feeling every inch of her pain, and attempting to somehow mitigate it. She then got on her feet and started to limp towards the east edge of the town.
Her thoughts scattered like startled birds under the hammering noise. Wailing women, shattering glass, and a baby's cry cutting through it all. It was the kind of scene she'd only read in cursed old war diaries. And now it moved and breathed around her, hot with smoke and blood.
It was dark, and her vision wasn't exactly perfect. Add the smoke from all the raid fire filling the air in the town, and it was pretty difficult seeing more than a few steps ahead.
But she saw it still, its form so enormous it was unmissable. She knew werewolves could grow really big, but this was one hell of a colossal werewolf. It walked out of the smoke ahead, panting, fresh meat mixed with blood lodged in its teeth gaps. It looked fresh out of a successful murder.
Vanessa wanted to turn and flee immediately out of impulse, but then she had second thoughts. Running meant going back into the town, where all the werewolves she was fleeing from were still tearing people apart.
The wolf padded forward, each heavy step pounding in time with her heart, as her mind flickered between choices. Then the wolf exploded into full acceleration.
There wasn't time to think any longer. Vanessa turned and started to run, probably faster than even her legs could carry her. But her pace was no match for the wolf. It caught up and lunged at her, plunging Vanessa to the ground.
A white-hot burst of pain lit the base of her skull, and the ground tilted violently. The world's colours thinned, leaking away until only black swallowed her..
Somewhere, through the roar of blood in her ears, she thought she heard the innkeeper's voice again. The heat of that afternoon. The smell of sun-baked wood and dust.
****
A Few Hours Ago..
Vanessa had just arrived at the only inn in the town of Glastonbury.
"I'd like a room please. Preferably one with enough windows," she said to the innkeeper. "It's really hot this afternoon."
"I have a room on the second floor, at the right end of the hallway. It will be just perfect for you," the attendant replied. "How long do you intend on staying?"
"Not for long. I may leave as early as tomorrow morning."
"Ok. One night it is then. Do you want to make your payment now?"
"No. Maybe later. In the evening, perhaps."
Vanessa took a key, went up to the second floor, and found her room. Inside, she could clearly hear the dialogue of two women in the very next room.
"Did you see that young girl walking into the inn just now?" One of the women said.
"Yes. The one with the red hair, right? I did." The other replied.
Vanessa was shocked, they were speaking about her! She had no idea there were people who specially noticed her when she walked in.
"I don't think she's just a woman. I think she's a witch too."
"It's that tattoo on her left hand, isn't it?"
Vanessa instinctively put her right hand over the rear of her left palm.
"I need to get this tattoo off. It's already becoming too much trouble."
"Yeah. That tattoo. But it's also the way she carries herself, you know?"
"I think maybe she's running from something."
"She looks twenty one to me. You know what that means, right?"
"Ha! The witch society could be after her."
"Whatever. I just hope they don't give her a room on this floor. I'm already fed up with the number of witches in this town already. If the werewolves find out the witches are starting to fill up Glastonbury, they'll come for them in a raid."
"More like Skirian will come for them."
"Oh, come on. You think he's real?"
"I mean, someone that fierce? That ruthless and lethal? I'm tempted to believe he's not. That he's just a product of myths and folklore. But you see the number of displaced witches that come into our town everyday. They all claim to be his victims. So I guess he is, to an extent, real."
"The prospect of his reality alone scares me to bits."
"Pray we never see his shadow, sister.. pray." Her voice trembled like a loose shutter in the wind.
****
"Uurgh. What is that smell? Is that spirit? Where am I?"
"Lord Skirian! Lord Skirian! Your prisoner is awake!"
"Who the hell shouts like that? God! What is this headache?"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, my lord, she just started moving her limbs. This way."
Even if shapes swam in a fog of grey, and voices were warped and distant as though she were trapped underwater, Vanessa still managed to open her eyes and have a certain level of average vision. Just in time to see a man walk up to her on her right.
He stepped into view like the shadow of a storm, tall enough that the torchlight barely brushed his face, broad enough to block out the men behind him. His coat hung heavy, dusted with ash and torn at the hem, as though it had survived more battles than the man wearing it. His eyes were not wild, but cold, deliberate, as if they were measuring the worth of the air Vanessa breathed. Even standing still, he seemed to carry the scent of blood and the weight of command.
On Vanessa's left, however, another man stood, dressed like a physician. He spoke first.
"Welcome, Lord Skirian. We've been able to revive her."
"Skirian? The myth?"
Vanessa felt her heart sink. The cold weight pressing into her chest, dragging her stomach down with it. Her pulse stumbled, and the air suddenly felt too thick to swallow.
"So.. the little mysterious witch finally awakens," Skirian said, peering into Vanessa's eyes. His voice was calm enough to make her skin crawl.