Brent

  “Gwen, we need silverware for the table,” the Kitsune said. “Could you get that, please?”

  “I’ll get it,” Brent said. “You know since she’s doing something and others aren’t,” He snarked.

  Gwen’s eyes were wide and looked between him and the kitsune in the kitchen. “I’m not doing anything,” She rushed out. “I can do it, Suz.”

  “No,” He drew out. “You and the Dryad are doing a puzzle. You are doing something.” Before he finished the sentence, however, she was already up and in the kitchen grabbing napkins and silverware.

  “Witch, you’re doing something. I am not.” He grabbed what she was holding and set it aside before picking her up and setting her back in the chair she was in before. “You, puzzle. Me, silverware.”

  It appears his softness with his Witch was astonishing as now every monster in the house was looking at him as if he grew another head. Except for the Bodach who was smirking quietly behind his paper.

  As he was getting the silverware and placing them on the table he heard, “Gwen, sweetie, will you get the bread out of the oven.”

  “Can you not just leave her to her puzzle?” He asked angrily.

  “Well it’s not like she’s doing much,” The Gorgon scoffed.

  The Witch was already pulling the bread pan out of the oven when he glanced over. “She was doing more than you are now. She is another member of this safe house, not staff for you all to harass.” With that he stomped off, until he heard smaller footsteps behind him.

  “I know you’re trying to be helpful, Brent,” She started. “But this is the system we set up. I need to feel useful.” She looked embarrassed and a little nervous, wringing her hands together.

  “There is a difference between being useful and being used,” He sighed.

  She was about to respond when the lights started flickering.

  One second he was talking with his Witch, the next she was just about dragging him, pushing the couch away from the wall and dragging him with her behind it.

  He could feel her pulse and her heart was frantic, but when he looked at her, he saw someone he’d never met before. She looked calm, cold, surveying everything around her.

  “Stay here, I’ll be back,” and before he could reach her, she took off.

  His breathing was out of control and he felt his heart stop when something began forming in the shadows beside him. Until Sam’s face came into view. Alex came into view behind him, looking as panicked as he felt.

  “Sam,” he whispered. “We need to get them out.” Brent was too panicked to think of how, but he knew something needed to be done. “Gwen left somewhere, we need to get to her.”

  “My goal is to get you two out, Brent,” He said. “Gwen’s got the others.”

  This reeled in his brain. In what world was the fate of 4 living things rested on his witch. They would get her killed. This wasn’t happening.

  “Gwen?” He said, his hold on whispering slipping. “You’re relying on the 25 year old witch to get the others out? Have you completely lost it.”

  “Gwen has this handled.” The Bodach’s calm tone and relaxed nature only set Brent off more.

  “Gwen is going to get herself killed and it’ll be your fault, Sam. Do you hear me Sam? Your fault.” Brent was frantic. How could her own godfather leave her to get the others out like that. He should have grabbed her. He let her slip from his fingers and into her death.

  “Brent, I know you won’t get this straight away, but that’s why Gwen is here,” Sam started, “She’s here as protection.”

  All of a sudden Gwen popped up from nowhere. “Suz, and Eruan are out. I am on my way to get Asteria and Euryale.” She said quickly. When she went to leave, Brent grabbed her.

  “You can’t be serious,” He snarled. “You’re staying right here where it's safe. Do you hear me Gwen?”

  All too quickly, a shot rang out and glass started breaking. The four of them sat there with baited breath when a dark figure walked. Brent’s grip on his Witch tightened, holding her close and covering as much of her as he could with his arms.

  “Brent, you’ve gotta let go of her now,” Sam said.

  Gwen slipped out from under his grasp, and was now crouched on the ground. “Now?” She asked.

  The four of them waited with baited breath, until Sam gave Gwen something and said, “Go.”

  The man wasn’t watching for her, something Brent would soon see to be a mistake.

  What he now knew to be a knife reflected light as she moved swiftly, without noise towards her target. The intruder was tall and broad, and as he turned around to inspect his surroundings, he was confronted with the witch.

  “I doubt that’ll serve you much good, little girl,” he laughed.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  With that, she lunged at the man, knife at the ready. The man swung his fists at her, but she ducked and slash the entire length of his forearm.

  He roared, pulling back when she attacked again and caught his chest this time, as she created a slash from his shoulder to hip. He managed to grab her with his slashed arm but with a turn of her hips she drove the knife into his thigh.

  “You little bitch,” He spat at her while falling to the floor face down. She wasn’t phased, simply went to stand over him, her legs straddled his back.

  In a quick practiced motion, she gripped the man's hair and yanked it back. Drawing the blade across his neck, she slit his throat without flinching once, and dropped her grip in his hair.

  As they all watched the man choke on the blood in his throat, another appeared in the doorway.

  “What the hell!”

  Brent watched in horror as the second man caught his Witch, an arm across her stomach with his other gripping her throat.

  For the first time, he saw fear in her face, for merely a second before she schooled her emotions and thrust her knife behind her into his side.

  His grip loosened and she turned focusing her attacks on his chest now.

  With one final blow, he began to fall backwards, his grip in her hair bringing her down with him until his life gave out and his grip detached.

  The haze of trying to watch what was happening started to fade, Brent still held his breath. His Witch turned over the carnage of the intruders, looking straight through Brent, eyes like a feral animal.

  She was half crouched on the ground, still leaning over one of the intruders. His Witch had blood splattered all over her face, but she barely gave it a thought. She was now seeing him, watching, waiting for his response towards her viciousness.

  Still half way behind the couch, he shifted from out behind it, and opened his arms for her.

  “Come here,” He said. “You did good, come here.”

  That seemed to be all the invitation needed as she bolted forward, knocking him back against the wall. Still, he didn’t let go and held her firmly against him, softly caressing the back of her head.

  “Sam, we can’t stay here any longer,” Alex whispered, watching He and Gwen’s interaction intently. “We’re sitting ducks.”

  Gwen

  She was barely thinking, and allowed herself the kindness to find comfort in Brent’s arms.

  Suddenly there was another bang that came upstairs. Sam hopped up quick, and she looked up at him.

  “You get them out, I’ll get the rest,” He said. “Got it? Do whatever's necessary and I’ll cover it up later.”

  “Whats that mean?” Brent asked frantically.

  “Magic.”

  She felt him shift at her response. Suddenly she was aware that his comfort had to mean nothing. He was human and hated monsters. She was a monster. She just killed two humans.

  She moved from his embrace, “I can get us out of here. I can teleport us out and to a subway. We’ll ride it away from the last magic location so we’ll be harder to track.”

  “Can you take both of them?” Sam asked.

  “I go where Brent goes,” Alex snarled abruptly. Gwen just watched her for a second, saying nothing.

  “I can get both of them,” She confirmed with an eye roll.

  With her confirmation, Sam ran up the stairs. The three of them spent a few minutes just staring at one another, still behind the couch.

  Brent immediately grabbed her and held her close to him when they heard a man start screaming, alerting the others of their dead members.

  “Gwen, if you’re gonna do it, do it right now,” Brent said.

  “Brent, we don't know if it’ll work,” Alex panicked. “We need to think this through. We don’t even know if she’s capable.”

  Gwen just stared at Brent through all of their bickering, when he finally met her eyes head on.

  “She can do it,” He said simply. “Do it now Gwen.”

  With that, she grabbed Alex’s hand and held onto Brent tighter.

  And they vanished.

  Brent

  It was like blinking and waking up the next morning. They were behind the couch, hiding from intruders who found the ones his Witch killed. The next moment, they were in the middle of the L in downtown Chicago.

  “Brent,” Alex started. “Brent, we were there, now we're here, and it was like blinking.” Her octave kept going up and up and Alex became more and more freaked out by their experience.

  He looked down at his Witch, who still had her arms tightly wrapped around him. She was just watching Alex. He was baffled how she could go from a killer to this soft girl who got her feelings hurt so easily.

  He started rubbing his hands up and down her back. “Look, you can’t freak out right now,” He growled. “You’re freaking her out and we need to get to safety.”

  “You’re worried I’m freaking out a Witch who just killed two grown men by herself?” She whispered harshly so no one else at the subway heard. “I’m more worried she’s gonna kill us in our sleep. Get a clue Brent.”

  “She’s harmless,” Brent argued. “And need I remind you, she saved our lives.” He turned his body so Gwen was behind him more. “Get it together, we need a new place to go.”

  “I know where to go, but we need to go now.”

  As soon as she said that, a tall man came up to them. Brent immediately shoved his Witch behind him, holding her to his back, but the man just rolled his eyes.

  “Where to, Bill?” She asked. Brent’s head whipped back to her, then back to “Bill.”

  “Got strict orders to escort you to Foramen for close monitoring.”

  His Witch rolled her eyes, “Just great, and I can bet I know who’s orders they are, huh?”

  Bill just smiled at her, “Mommy dearest can be quite cold.” Then his face grew cold. “Come on kid, you’ve used magic so we gotta get a move on. What are they?”

  “We’re human beings,” Alex snarled.

  Bill just simply stared at her then glanced at Gwen. “If I knew I’d need you to shoot me,” She snarked.

  Bill ushered all of them onto the L, seeming to know where they needed to go. Brent inspected the man, he seemed to be in his 40s, and was a bit scarred up. His Witch knew him and Brent figured he worked for her parents.

  He hoped he wouldn’t meet them. He doubted he’d have anything nice to say. They turned their sweet daughter into a people pleaser and a killer.

  Gwen

  They arrived at Foramen just as rain started pelting them, the pit in her stomach grew with every step towards the door.

  “I’m sorry Gwen,” Bill said while unlocking the door with a pupil scanner. “I know you don’t like it here.”

  “Home sweet home I guess,” She laughed.

  “What is this place,” Alex complained. “There’s so much dust, ew, it's like it hasn’t been lived in in yea-”

  “Two years, three months, and four days,” Gwen answered for her. “Welcome to my humble abode.” She knew her tone was melancholy, but she didn’t have it in her to care. There were too many memories in this place.

  “Well, you know the deal, Gwen,” Bill started. “You’ll get messages through the mirror, food through the breadbox in the kitchen, and you’ll sleep in shifts.”

  “Would you like to explain what’s happening to anyone else but the Witch?” Brent asked. “What’s going on?”

  “We are in Gweny’s childhood home. It became a safehouse when you were what? 10?” Bill asked.

  “Sounds about right. It’s all a blur.”

  “No one’s allowed in or out without explicit permission from the overseers,” Bill explained. “More commonly known to this one as ‘Mom and Dad.’”

  Gwen was over the older man already. “We get it Bill, move on.”

  “How long will we be here?” Alex asked, upset. She had gone to Brent and leaned into his side for comfort.

  Gwen didn’t like the uncomfortable feeling that came creeping into her chest. The green monster reared its ugly head. She didn’t like that monster anyway, but she hated who it was for.

  Bill smiled at her, and the Vampire showed the humans his fangs for the first time. “Why my dear, as long as it takes.”

  And with that he left, the door closing slowly, shutting with a bang.

  They were stuck there for who knows how long.

  The three of them simply stared at one another, Brent now holding Alex closer to him. She was on the outside again. Left out of the club.

  Her hope she had drained out of her.