Blood Witch (2 page)

“Leslie?” Patrick asked.

She breathed in and out, controlling herself, and finally opened her eyes. “I’m okay,”
she finally whispered, her voice a bit strained.

“You sure?”

“You looked a little scary there for a moment,” Collin said.

“I bet,” she said, letting out a shaky laugh. “Let’s get in there.”

Patrick took lead, since he was the bear, Leslie followed with Collin at her back.
Collin never fit in. He was half wolf. And so the bears hated that, but they didn’t
fully understand he hated both sides. He hated his vampire and wolf side as much as
they hated that he was half wolf.

All the Bears stopped talking as the three Supervisors walked in. The anger in the
air almost choked Leslie, making her stumble over her own feet. “I knew this was going
to happen,” Collin whispered from behind into her ear with a firm hand on her back.

“Me too,” she whispered back.

“It’s not just you two,” Patrick murmured as he eyed the crowd. “They’ve been angry
since I decided to work for the Supervisors.”

Leslie heard them murmuring, she heard the words witch, wolves, and witch again, repeating
through the crowd. Nathan walked over, and she had to avert her eyes. He stood six
foot two and did construction for a living, so his shoulders, arms and back made him
look like a wrestler. Not in a gross, muscle bulging way, but in a wide, evenly proportioned
way that made her heart skip beats. She had seen him with his shirt off once, and
it nearly gave her a stroke. Patrick’s twin brother only in looks, Nathan let his
brownish blond hair grow out so that it touched his shoulders when he did not have
it in a ponytail. She liked the slight curl it had. She used this time to wrap her
aura around her. Every person in the building had good scent, and she didn’t want
them all to know that she got aroused whenever she got close to him.

“Sorry about all the hostility, Leslie,” he said making her give him a puzzled look.
“Richard was seen talking to Carlotta.”

Patrick and Collin both made a small noise. Leslie grimaced. “Why are they angry with
me then? I don’t work for the wolves or have anything to do with Carlotta.”

“If the wolves are recruiting blood witches, they will tip the power scale, and it
will be war.”

“I’m a Supervisor. I’m trying to prevent any wars from breaking out.”

“But you weren’t always a supervisor,” he said his green eyes watching her. She loved
his eyes they weren’t your normal green eyes, no; the green seemed to be a mixture
of living green with a goldish tinge.

She was always reminded of how stupid she had been when she came to her powers. No
one had been there to teach her what she was, and when Rich had showed up telling
her what was going on and explaining to her about the Opposite side of the normal
world, she had clung to him until he used her.

“I was naïve,” she said. It was always the response she fell to.

“You still are.” Their gazes met, and his green eyes burned into hers.

“Nathan, please don’t,” Patrick said, seeing Leslie’s eyes go dark. “She’s already
been through enough today.”

He nodded. “The burns?” He reached out and ran a gentle finger along her jaw line.
Wereanimals were okay with touching each other, but just the small movement made her
want more. Her skin tingled.

She sighed, nodding, hoping the red had faded enough. It didn’t hurt after the salve
Fred had applied on her skin had sunk in and dried. “Troll blood.”

He shook his head. “Messy, I take it?”

“You have no idea,” Collin replied.

“Can you ward the doors?” Nathan asked, looking at his watch. “We gotta get this started.”

She went to the door they had walked into and placed her hand on it saying something
under her breath, her power building. The power hit the door with a small creak, and
the ward stuck like glue. She noticed the bears had fallen quiet as she worked on
the side door, watching her. She only used a small amount of power, but they had felt
it. It called to them, blood. Her eyes went to Nathan who had stopped on the stairs
of the stage to look at her. His eyes burned with curiosity, and she wondered if she
looked the same way when she felt his power. She turned away before he could see her
face flush.

She motioned to Patrick; he shook his head, frowning, and nodded to his brother. Collin
followed her to the back. They went into the back room, an unused kitchen. This meeting
was for bears only, and if they wanted her and Collin to take part, they would have
asked.

Leslie hopped onto the counter, her feet swinging lightly, heels banging against the
bottom cupboards. Collin slid himself next to her. “I don’t think I would enjoy being
with a bear, especially in bed. Too macho, I heard.”

“Who told you that?”

“Patrick.”

Leslie laughed. “Well duh, he prefers men, silly.”

“I think the women would be the same. Look at Patrick’s mom,” he said.

“Well she’s used to being a leader, since she married a leader.” Of course, she didn’t
know one of her sons was gay. Leslie assumed it was something she wouldn’t understand,
and be deeply ashamed of. Weres had one goal, family. You were raised to have your
own family so you could keep the bloodline going. So Patrick’s secret was only shared
with few people, a group which pretty much included her and Collin. Even Nathan didn’t
know, and Patrick liked to keep it that way.

“What about you; care for a Bear?” He eyed her as he asked. He and Patrick noticed
how she acted around Nathan they just never said anything out loud.

She shook her head. “It’s his power. It seems to call to me, its enticing. I don’t
know what it really is, but it’s got something to do with my own magic. It’s different
then the other’s blood magic. They all taste of death, but I have some kind of life
in mine. I know Fred noticed, and for some reason it’s very attracted to the bear’s
power. What I think I need is just a normal human. I think some normalcy would be
nice although my luck sucks.”

He stared at her with his light blue eyes. “You can’t date a Normal.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “And why not?”

“How would you explain your job?”

“Night security,” she replied easily.

“And all the bumps and bruises?”

“Crackheads?” She frowned.

“Is that what you tell your mom?”

“Yes, to a point. I can’t just tell her I’m a special police officer. Too many questions.
She is still wondering why I gave up on the job at the college, and why I insisted
on moving out. Of course, she doesn’t believe that I decided to move out because it
seemed time. Then of course, shacking up with two guys doesn’t help. Whenever I call,
she thinks it’s the call that will be me asking to move back in.”

Their phones all beeped with a text message. Before they checked, they knew it was
a nine-one-one. Patrick was already walking in the room as Collin called headquarters.
They exchanged a look before looking at Collin, watching him as he closed his cell
phone.

“Remember that murder we had that looked sort of ritualistic last week?”

Leslie’s stomach knotted as she thought of the scene. “That was bad.”

“Well it looks like we have another. Simms and his team noticed it looked like ours
so we get the privilege of working it.”

“Joy. The meeting is boring as hell, so I have no problem leaving,” Patrick said as
they headed for the back door.

“Did he just say joy?” Collin asked.

“Is Nathan going to be mad?” she asked.

“Na, business is business. He is doing what he can to save the family his way, being
leader, and I’m doing the best I can do for the family by being a Supervisor. They
will get over it one day. Anyway, what is wrong with me saying joy?”

“It’s something so unmanly and more something Leslie would say.”

She just shrugged as Patrick beeped open the locks, and they all got in. “I’m very
manly,” Patrick said, looking at Collin with darkened eyes.

“Collin, stop or he’s going to be pouting all night,” Leslie said with a smile.

Leslie had never seen anything so bad, that her mind could not comprehend what it
was seeing at first. The three stood in the living room of the nice, one story, three-bedroom
house, letting their minds take in the scene. At first they took in the blood, everywhere,
but there seemed something wrong with it. The smell and color seemed off.

Collin came to his senses first. He clapped his hands in the dead silence around them,
making the other two jump. “Okay let’s get this over with,” he said.

Leslie nodded, slightly nauseated. “Where are the bodies?”

“Simms said they're in the kitchen.”

“How many?” Patrick asked, nauseated as well by the look on his face. The blood was
giving off a sick smell he could not put his finger on, but it kept his beast calm.

“It was some sort of party, so a good amount. I’m going to check the rooms,” Collin
said.

Leslie and Patrick made their way into the kitchen trying not to step on too much
of the evidence. The thick carpet which lost its color because of the all the blood
saturated in it squelched with every step. The walls were painted with hand prints
and splatter. They pointed arterial spray out to one another as they made notes. One
piece of
stuff
on the floor was big enough to catch her eye, so Leslie bent down to pick it up,
holding it up so she and Patrick could eye the gooey red object. She turned it over
in her gloved hands.

She then noticed the piercing embedded in it, perhaps a belly button. “Oh,” She said
and dropped it back to the ground, “This isn’t just stuff. It’s human...or was.” She
closed her eyes and let the nausea settle, feeling slightly weak.

Patrick touched her arm. “You okay?”

“I am,” she said, opening her eyes. “Sorry, it just took me some time to register
what it was I was seeing. I think I knew it was human; it just didn’t look it at first.”

He gave her a small smile. “Let's get this over with. We can turn in the files, get
home and watch a nice kiddy movie.”

“Sounds good.” They walked into the kitchen, or rather, slipped. Their feet had left
the blood saturated carpet, and hit the tiles inch deep with blood in the kitchen.
Both wore shoes with slippery soles and found themselves sitting in the mess.

“Fuck,” they said together.

“I just changed!” She pulled herself up slowly holding a counter, trying not to slip
again. “Look at this mess.”

“Where are the bodies?” he said, already on his feet as he scanned the room with his
green eyes.

“Here,” Leslie said as she stood, grabbing the table.

“Do you smell the blood, Leslie?” he finally decided to ask.

She nodded, wrinkling her nose. “It has a sweet scent to it, sickly or something.”

He made his way over to her, and they both tried to see if they could make sense of
the heap of body parts. Leslie held up a hand. “This is the first piece that I can
identify.”

“Look,” he said pointing a long, gloved finger at the wrist. “The way the skin is
torn it looks like it was ripped off the body. The bone is broken. So whoever did
it had to have been strong.” He bent down, looking at some of the other pieces. “They
all looked to be torn or ripped, by the edges. Broken bones, no knives were used.”

“Yeah,” she said, dropping it. It made a wet sound as it fell with the rest of the
body parts. She looked over the heap. It was pretty big; there were quite a few people
here. She scanned the room. The walls, which had been painted a light but cheery yellow,
now were covered in dried blood. She noticed the head smudges, and then the designs,
the same as the last scene.

“Look, they missed the window,” Patrick said, pointing. “It’s like they covered it.”

“They did, so no one would see anything. See.” She pointed out the blood streaks on
the wall and frame around the window but not on the glass. “They took time to block
out anyone who might see them, so they could make this mess? Why even worry about
it? Did you see the designs? The ones at the last place were ritualistic, to the book.”
She walked over to the wall, careful not to slip. Her eyes roamed over the blood scribbles.

Patrick was behind her, looking as well. “It looks like a child did these. Some are
almost ritualistic, but they don’t finish, or they turn into something different.
Different from the last house.”

She nodded. “We have to make sure the lab gets plenty of pictures of these.”

“They should be here as soon as we finish up with our walk through.”

Her body got warm, and she shook her head of the slight headache that was coming on.
“So, we know that there had to be more than one thing that did this. We need to get
the blood tested. I want to know what is wrong with it.”

“From the door we know that what did it did not use force.”

“Some sort of party,” she said looking at the trays of blood splattered appetizers.
“From the paraphernalia in the other room we know there were drugs.”

“Could explain the blood. Perhaps, but there is something else there. I just can’t
put my finger on it. I have smelled it before,” Patrick said, making a note on his
notepad.

“We need to see if there are any Opposites in here,” she said as her eyes went back
to the markings. “Those markings are not something I have ever seen. The one closer
to the window almost looks like a human satanic symbol.” She shook her head it made
no sense. “Why would a shifter or vampire do this? They don’t believe in human religion.
Why all the work?”

“I do
” Patrick started.

“ROGUE!” Collin shouted from the back rooms.

Leslie’s power rolled out of her and over the house. She warded the doors; there was
so much blood in the house that it fed her power. It brought a gasp from her. All
the hair on her body stood on end as the magic rode through her like lightning. She
took in three deep breaths and sucked in the magic. It wouldn’t stay down.

“Go,” she choked out to Patrick.

“Are you—"

She waved him off before he could say another word. She watched him leave, balling
her hands into fists. She had never been in so much human blood, but the tainted blood
seemed to be affecting her. She looked down at her bare arms and noticed the blood
on her skin. She took in a deep breath, but her magic would not calm down. She did
the only thing she could, she let it ride. She gave in to the magic; three bodies
in the house felt it.

Blood. Magic.

Collin’s eyes turned into white orbs as Patrick’s turned into a sea green, his bear
eyes, and the Rogue licked his lips.

“What is she doing?” Collin asked Patrick.

“I think it’s the blood. She warded the doors so the rogue wouldn’t get out, and she
seemed to let out more than she wanted.”

“Fuck,” Collin said. Patrick nodded.

A noise like scratching above them drew their attention. “Five bucks says I know where
he’s going,” Patrick said at Collin's back, holding a large, silver knife.

Collin pulled out his 9mm, but Patrick stopped him from leaving the carpet, pointing
to the blood coating the tiles. They both looked at Leslie. He clicked off the safety.
Her hair seemed alive, her dark eyes were watching the roof, but she seemed to not
be there. The scratching turned into loud bangs. Collin aimed. A huge piece of the
roof fell into the blood, splashing more on Leslie.

Then it sprang at her. She held her hand out and the vampire twisted in the air as
if being strung up like a giant puppet. “I almost forget how normal they look,” Leslie
said in a far off voice.

The vampire looked so human, but the paper-thin, very white skin, the small black
dead veins. Its hair, long and greasy, matched its dirty, shredded cloths. The eyes,
unlike in vampire stories, were quite normal and plain. Leslie knew it was the mouth
you had to stay away from, by experience. The two little teeth were sharp like a snake's,
and just like a snake, they had little venom bags. A vampire's bites could paralyze
the prey, making it lie helplessly while they feasted.

“Leslie, let’s just kill it and get out of here,” Collin said.

“Did you have fun making this mess?” Leslie asked the hissing creature.

“Les,” Patrick said in a calm voice, debating the idea of using his bear power to
help calm her. He would, but he was worried it might make the situation worse.

“Talk,” she said in a bland voice, ignoring her friends. Her hand clenched. The vampire
hissed.

“I didn’t kill. I came to the blood, but it’s dirty. I will not touch this blood.
It’s sick, tainted.”

“Collin,” she growled.

He aimed and took the shot. Leslie let her hand fall to her side. The vampire’s body
hit the blood thickened tiles with a small splash. The blood hit the skin on her arm,
and it burned. It brought up more power, and she felt as if she would explode. She
collapsed to her knees, the pressure in her too much. She held her arms over her chest,
trying to hold in the terrifying power, as she struggled to hold it at bay.

“I’ll get the head and call in clean up. Get her out,” Patrick said.

Collin came over to her and grabbed her. Her magic touched him, she could feel it
didn't like him; it bit at him. He gave a very inhuman hiss and stepped back as she
struggled to her feet.

“Don’t touch me,” she said as she slowly walked out of the kitchen. “There is something
in the blood, and it is all over me. I can’t stop it.”

Collin followed after her, but her power slapped at him if he came too close. Outside,
she stopped. The cool air felt good on her overheated skin, but she was still coated
in blood, and her magic had a mind of its own. She could sense every single Opposite
out there. And at that moment, she knew what her magic wanted to do, and she could
not let the magic do it. For one minute, she looked at the dark sky and she could
feel Nathan. His beast tried to reach out and touch her. He felt her need for help.
She knew she could make him change. She knew at that moment she could make them all
change. She could control all Opposites and rule the humans.

“Collin,” she said. “Hit me.”

“Leslie, are you sure?”

Her hands balled into fists. “I can’t control it.”

Before she could blink an eye, the small needle slid into the skin of her arm. She
knew she would have an ugly bruise there in the morning. Already the heavy tranquilizer
was kicking in. Her magic had lost, and the world was getting hazy. Collin caught
her before her legs gave out.

Leslie looked at him with a lopsided smile. “There is nothing else in the house,”
she said, reaching up a hand to touch his face. “Your monster eyes are showing.”

She passed out.

“Seriously, did you feel her?”

Collin turned to Patrick, who had walked up beside him as he tried to get her in the
back seat of the SUV. “I thought I might have changed right here. I almost had no
control.”

“She said she had lost control. At least she knew it,” he said, looking down at her
as she slept. “She’s different than the other three. Even Fred has this dark side
I can’t place. But even when she can’t control it, she has some of her regular self
in there.”

“I don’t like him. He feels like the other two,” Patrick said. “Her magic is blood,
yet life runs through it. My beast reacts to her, and I hear it just isn’t me either.”

“She seems scared of the dark side which could be a good thing. But if this is just
a taste of her being out of control, I’m really scared at the thought of what she
could do if given the chance.”

“You know, let’s get out of here. Clean up is coming.” He held up a bio-bag. “I have
the head. Our job is sort of done for the night.”

“You heard the rogue, it didn’t do this. This means we have something else out there,
that will likely kill again.”

“We can talk it over when we all get cleaned up, and get some sleep,” Patrick said.