Scarlet Huntress (Tales of Grimm Hollow Book 1)

by LeAnn Mason

  I watched in amazement as Jasper, who apparently had power over water, seemed to pull water from the air where clouds hovered. As I watched, they became dark. Swollen and heavy, the clouds began to shed their new weight in sheets of fat drops so thick they looked like a solid wall. The sound of water cascading into the saturated earth soon overtook the roar of the flames… directly in front of us, at least. The blaze still raged all around us.

  “Are you ready for your justice, my dear?” Elsie asked darkly. She and Ryan had sidled into the midst of our little group while I’d been sidetracked with the magic show.

  “I am. Are you?” Elsie had lost her family, too. Only, she never knew it. She had her own vendetta against the dark Witch.

  “We’re going to spread out. Take down any Lupo Coven members you run across. The goal is to subdue and capture, but do what is necessary to stop the threat to our wards and our people. Pair off, work in teams as long as possible. Jason, you stick to Allya. Regroup closer to the coven house if we don’t come upon Seth before we get there. We’ll strategize again once we see what we’re up against. Sentinels, you know what form you need to work with. Your animals absorb magic better than your human skins, so be ready to use it.”

  Well, that made sense with what I’d seen concerning Hunter and Colin that first day. Good to know. Not sure it extended to faux-Shifters like me, but I’d keep it tucked away in case shifting would get me out of a bind. I hoped it didn’t come to that. I hoped, by some miracle, this all went smoothly and we ended the Lupo Coven once and for all.

  Jason handed over my new arrows. I saw red fletching and graphite-colored shafts but didn’t take any more time to inspect the gorgeous offerings, because the fire and killer witchy-wolves took precedence.

  With a lane now open for us to get through the fire, Ryan and Nick began our assault, disappearing in the smoke looming in the space.

  “You ready for this, Red?” Jason asked with a nervous look my direction.

  I sweat from every possible place on my body, vibrating with nervous anticipation. I nodded jerkily, clenching my bow and bouncing from foot to foot. “Ready.”

  Jason sprinted for the fire-free lane with me hot on his tail, the scarlet cape trailing my footsteps like the blood I'd leave in my wake.

  CHAPTER 28

  N o sooner had I pushed through the magical barrier than I realized just how much of the heat had been absorbed by the shield. My skin instantly pinkened, sweat pouring down my body in rivulets. Eyes stinging with smoke and heat, it was almost impossible to keep Jason in my sight. Even my weapons were protesting, the dagger’s metal nearing unbearable temperatures where it was strapped to my thigh. My bow string’s resin dried, giving less and becoming more brittle.

  I prayed that the weapons didn’t fail me now when I needed them most, silently vowing that I’d get them back into top order the moment we succeeded. Each moment we moved forward, the fire seemed to recede slightly, the Mages seeming to do their work on the back end.

  “You good?” Jason paused to shout in my direction, his eyes never stopping their roving of the burning forest around us. At my squinting nod, he turned to move forward again. Deciding that using hand signals would be better now that we were in enemy territory, he waved me forward and made sure I looked all around for danger. Bow up and arrow nocked, I tapped into Ebony’s senses as we slowly moved forward.

  Somewhere in my cataloguing of the scene, I noticed that Jason’s weapon of choice was a little tomahawk ax. He had one gripped low in his right fist, another strapped to his left hip, ready to be pulled into action. No guns. Sentinels didn’t need them. They were stealthier than that, more precise. More prideful. I couldn’t help but hope that pride didn’t bite us in the ass. The good news was that the coven didn’t use guns, either.

  No, they just use their deadly magic. “Not helping,” I muttered aloud, causing a sideways glance from my mentor. I promptly shrugged it off.

  The firelight was the only light to see by now that the sun had set, and it played havoc on my mind. I saw writhing figures everywhere. Sweat rolled down my forehead and into my eyes, stinging and blurring my vision even more. I ducked my head to wipe the offending liquid away and was immediately struck with the force of a sledgehammer.

  I lifted from my feet and thrown sideways. Jason had paused when I had, and my new trajectory sent me careening directly into his solid mass. The force so strong that both our bodies were launched several feet, only being stopped by the surrounding trees, which weren’t on fire. It seemed we’d cleared the target zone. There was probably a Witch or two hidden around here to keep the blaze from creeping back toward town and the coven house.

  One of those Witches knew we were there. I groaned, my body reminding me that it had already been overworked today. Jason was already up and crouched in front of me in a protective position, both tomahawks raised as his eyes scoured the area surrounding us.

  Where had Ryan and Nick gone? I knew we’d fanned out to keep anyone from slipping through, but it would have been nice to know a badass bear and the king of the Shifters were around if we needed them.

  But I didn’t know. I would have to rely on myself and my new skills to see me through. Jason wasn’t bad as backup, either. “Do you—” I cut off as Jason’s eyes widened, his mouth opening and closing, but no words were uttered. His hands went to his throat in a gesture that told me he couldn’t breathe.

  I forced myself to breathe deeply and focus. What can you show me, Ebony?

  A tittering laugh sounded off to my right from where the blast had hit me a moment ago. Ebony pointed us toward it. I still heard the fire, but I tried to isolate the laugh and the snapping of now-dried twigs and leaves beneath heavy tread. Jason writhed on the ground, gasping for air, apparently unable to shift to relieve the pressure assaulting him.

  It was up to me.

  “About thirty yards off; adjust for wind. Breathe.” I aimed my bow. “Malignus,” I growled as I let the arrow fly. My breath hitched as the tightness in my chest twinged with the whispered activation. The shot was silent and true. With my ears tuned to where I believed the Witch hid, I heard a dull thump and nearly-inaudible gasp as the arrow hit its target and pierced flesh.

  Jason sucked in a huge breath and rolled onto his back to inhale greedy gulps of air. Seeing that he was out of the spell, I stalked toward where my arrow had found its mark, another arrow nocked and ready should it be needed. Coming around a large tree trunk, I found our assailant. Dressed in the black robes stereotypically depicting witches, one of Seth’s newer lackeys lay flat on her back, a shock of red hair flayed around her head like a gruesome halo. A stream of blood seeped from her body to pool beneath where she lay gasping and groaning.

  She may have looked like nothing sinister, but the arrow had found her when I’d uttered “evil” in latin, and her aura was already clouded with that oily black film. I raised my bow as I stepped up beside her. “Where is he?”

  Glassy eyes turned my way. She didn’t have long. She was bleeding out and would be dead soon, but the pain of dying slowly must have been agonizing. Her shady aura flickered and dimmed as she continued bleeding.

  “I have a Shaman who can either help you into the next life or keep you here to answer after your death. You choose.” I had no idea if Elsie could in fact do any of that, but this girl didn’t need to know that.

  Jason sidled up to my side, rubbing at his neck. Fire burned in his glowing eyes, Hunter rearing his grey head. “If you don’t give us something we can use, I’ll let my wolf have a minute with you… He’s pissed right now.” Jason shrugged like he didn’t care either way, and maybe he didn’t.

  It worked. The young woman coughed up a bright splotch of blood before she settled, gurgling out a slow and pained reply. “He’s waiting further inside the forest. Near where the…” she winced as a shudder wracked her petite frame, “...ceremony is held.” Her eyes flashed open, defiant once more as a macabre bloody smile stretched her face, teeth and lips
stained red from the blood she’d expelled. “He’s waiting for you—his heir.”

  “Then I’ll know just where to go,” I answered with a raise of my eyebrows before surging from my crouch and striding away from the dying Witch. It may have seemed callous, but time was of the essence, especially if we had any semblance of hope in surprising Seth. I couldn't let myself dwell on the fact that I had now been the cause of two deaths. I couldn't break down. I needed to terminate Seth's influence on the world.

  By any means necessary.

  Through the growing darkness, I noticed that Jason's dark red aura like a neon light atop a bar; bright and calling. “If we get near the others, I should be able to spot them.”

  “Really using Ebony's sight, huh?” Jason asked while we dove forward into the darkened forest. From here, the fire looked smaller, subdued and far away. Hopefully, that was because Jasper and his friend were able to influence the blaze. Maybe it would even be out soon and the offending Witches no longer a threat.

  “No, your aura is like a beacon. The others' should be, too.”

  “What about the coven?” At my confused look, he elaborated. “Can you see their auras?”

  “I don't know. Their auras have all been muddled with black, many not having more than a wisp of their original color. The black is like a shadow, it might actually help to disguise their movements from my Shaman sight.” That sucked, but it was true. The black of night might just help the bastards blend in.

  If they wanted to, many of them were very full of themselves and would welcome a fight, not even considering that they could lose.

  “Keep Ebony close to the surface, and make sure you listen to her. If we're up against magic, Hunter is better suited, and I might have to shift on the fly.”

  Surprisingly, we hadn't run into another Witch yet, let alone Ryan and Nick. I figured their animals would have a better sense of direction, but maybe something, or someone, held them up.

  As if the traitorous thought had conjured one, another Witch loomed in the trees in front of us.

  “Well, that warning system definitely didn't work,” Jason lamented with heavy criticism.

  “Hey, I warned you it might not work for them,” I muttered back as we moved into defensive positions. My bow had been lowered for easier movement through the trees, but an arrow was ready to fly. Jason held his axes aloft, one in each hand.

  As the man's mouth opened, a hand rising toward us, I brought up the bow and loosed the arrow with a shout. The word "malignus" would work on most, if not all of the Lupo Coven members. They were all evil, had to be to entertain the likes of Seth Morgan.

  The arrow whistled toward the dark Witch in a blur. At the last moment, it stopped midair to be plucked from where it froze by the completely unfazed Warlock. “You thought it would be tha—” He was stopped mid-monologue by the arrow that now protruded from his throat. Wide eyes showed his shock as he spluttered and choked on the blood that bubbled up his throat.

  “Easy? No, that's why I had another ready for when you thought you'd schooled us.” There was no coming back from that. The arrowhead pierced the throat at center with enough force to sink through flesh, muscle, and bone nearly halfway down the shaft. The dark-robed Warlock fell heavily to his knees before colliding face-first to the ground in a lifeless heap, the arrow having severed his spinal cord.

  CHAPTER 29

  I finally learned. I had to shoot first, ask questions later. These sadistic Witches wouldn’t think twice about hurting me, Jason, or anyone else if it furthered their agenda. I’d been taught this for years, but now? Now, I had the means and the ability to stop them. I was past being scared or even appalled by the need to take their lives. I was saving people, countless people, not the least of which myself.

  I didn’t even look twice before continuing on my way toward the clearing, toward the endgame. Toward Seth.

  “You’ve gotten that hesitation knocked out, I see,” Jason remarked offhand as we once again stalked through the woods. Ebony was queued up, lending her senses to aid in our predatory search. Her night sight a blessing to tap into. Who knew just how many trees I’d have walked into if I’d been a plain-old human? We were even to the point that she could hover just under my skin and not have me feeling like I was dying.

  It really cut down on shifting time.

  Rustling caught both Jason’s and my attention, and Hunter’s head loomed over my mentor’s as they worked together in our mission. I wondered if Ebony’s face would be superimposed over mine if I could see it like I could on others. I assumed so. Probably wouldn’t ever see it, though. I didn’t think my sight would work on myself. Or through mirrors.

  “Stay on point, Red.”

  Right. He was right. Now was not the time to ponder things of such triviality. Maybe I wasn’t as okay with killing as I wanted to believe. My mind tried to wander as a coping mechanism, but I needed to stay on point just a bit longer. I could fall apart after we saved the day.

  This time, we were confronted by wolves. Two emerged from the direction we were moving. Heads lowered and teeth bared, the animals weren’t playing around. Steadily, they moved toward us, spreading to the sides slightly to try to flank us. The coven remembered me as a weak little girl, scared of what they could do to her. They didn’t know the new me, couldn’t fathom that I actually knew how to use the weapons I now carried. Their animals were not used to being out much and were excessively aggressive and jittery. They must not have had much contact with a true Shifter.

  Jason removed his tomahawks, gave me a look I knew well, and disappeared in a shower of golden pixie dust just as the animals lunged, one at each of us, very much like a wild wolf would do. These animals weren’t listening to their humans.

  The bow was useless at such a close range. There wasn’t enough distance to create the velocity needed for a mortal wound, so I discarded it, throwing it to the forest floor in favor of the ceremonial knife attached to my thigh.

  Falling backward, I hoped to lessen the impact the animal had on my body. It worked to some degree, but those gaping jaws were aimed at my throat. I covered my weak spot just in time to feel its fangs dig deep, penetrating my flesh down to the bone. The keening howl of pain I emitted sounded much more beast than woman as I thrust the stupidly sharp knife up into the animal’s belly—and yanked it toward me. Warm, wet blood and thick, heavy entrails fell to cover me in another bloody display to mingle with my own where it leached from the deep tears in my right forearm. I couldn't close my eyes and mouth fast enough to avoid the splashing mass of… everything.

  With the fiend's corpse fallen heavily to press my body into the cooling earth, I was forced to take short, gasping breaths of death-tainted air. As I tried to extricate myself from beneath the animal, I felt a tugging. Hunter was there, teeth latched onto the carcass, weight scrabbling backward with nails digging deep furrows in the blood-soaked dirt. My protector pulled in quick jerky movements until I was relieved of my burden.

  Able to take in lungfuls of air only heightened the nausea churning my gut. As my mouth began sweating saliva in excessive amounts, I turned my head just in time to expel the contents of my stomach. Thankfully, not much was left from my lunch from several hours earlier.

  Hunter was suddenly there, licking my face, neck, and torso before focusing on my arm, not because he was bloodthirsty but because he tried to be helpful, ridding me of the evidence of my gruesome deed and clean my wound. Swiping my arm across my mouth only reminded me that the gore was widespread and did nothing to expel the taste of vomit from my taste buds, let alone the stench of death that clung to me.

  A bone-deep ache radiated from the bite on my arm, forcing a hissing breath through my teeth. The wound was deep, but one I would have to ignore for the time being. After I dressed it. Torn chunks of Jason’s shredded clothes were strewn about the area, and I found a suitable piece of nearly clean cloth to bind the wound. Thankfully, I’d been wearing my archer’s braces; thick pieces of leather that wrapped my
forearms from wrist to just a few inches shy of the elbow. I’d lost the cuff, but I was glad the thing had still been on.

  A quick look confirmed that Hunter had also dispatched his attacker. His kill much cleaner. He'd simply torn the throat from the smaller animal. I'd have expected his face to be stained with the evidence of his deed, but he'd cleaned himself much the same way he'd done for me. Canine tongues were effective cleansers of some things.

  “Thanks for the assist, Hunter,” I breathed wearily, giving him an affectionate pat between his perky ears. Jason was now limited to his wolf form, seeing as he would shift back to human totally naked, and so much about that would make things difficult moving forward. The fact that I’d be staring at the goods was only one complication. Clearing my throat and my lurid thoughts, I picked up my discarded bow and a few arrows that had escaped the quiver during my wolf-wrangling. “Oh, and the canvas quiver was a good call. That fall would have sucked even more otherwise.”

  It was good to compliment your team when they had good ideas, right? So what if I tended to compliment Hunter more than Jason? It meant nothing, and I would continue to tell myself that. The painful throbbing in my arm caused my head to swim, and I swayed slightly.

  “C’mon, let’s get back to it. I’m not sure how long we’ve been at it, but we have to be close, right?” I prayed, at least. I wasn’t sure how much more I had in me. I’d wandered for hours the night of my escape, but that had been in a fear-addled daze, and I was pretty sure there weren’t any straight lines used. “Well, at least now they won’t smell me coming. I reek of death and blood.” I choked back more bile as the scent once again wafted toward my nostrils. I’d have to tune it out just like the arm. I couldn’t afford to be distracted.

  Like the thought had conjured it, another wolf slunk through the shadows off our left flank, a tawny animal that seemed much more calculating than her companions. I recognized Diana on sight. Her wolf was one that never failed to seek me out if I didn’t lock myself away during a shift.