"Witches versus Hunters" (closed)

[Alice2015]

The Wyndham Hotel
Downtown Springfield
The night before:

Tereza casually stepped into the express elevator, pressed the button for the 24th Floor, and watched the doors close; on the floo of the lobby, the puddles of blood continued to spread out from the two Hunters who'd blown each other's heads off under Spell from the powerful Matka, Mother of the Daughters of Brno Coven.

As the lift sped quickly up the shaft, slowing only as it entered the 20s, Tereza could Sense the Hunter Magic protecting the floor on which were housed the Society leaders sent to deal with the Witch problem in Springfield after Chloe's Mayhem fuck-fest in Waterfront Park now almost two days ago. Tereza pulled the charm hanging between her bountiful breasts out into the open, then did the same with the Charms on bracelets around each wrist. They didn't actually have to be out in the open to work, but it had been her habit to do so since beginning to make use of them so many years earlier; she'd been given the Charm around her neck for her 8th birthday in the Year 573, and coincidentally had been given the bracelet charms the last year of the 11th and 14th centuries.

As the elevator slowed to a stop and the door bell dinged, Tereza immediately crossed her hands before her and said with a booming voice, "Uvolněte cestu!" As soon as the doors opened, an explosive shock wave burst down the hallway in both directions. Tereza hadn't had to actually see the Hunters waiting for her there; she'd Sensed them in the building before she'd even entered it, then further Sensed their exact positions on the floor as the elevator neared them.

She stepped out of the lift to find six Hunters on the ground, three in each direction; four of them were silent and still, while two off to her left -- the direction of her target, Master Tilby -- were writhing on the ground. She strode purposefully their direction, continuing to Sense their Magical nature. One of them Tereza would quickly realize had a relatively high Magical status -- he'd been protecting himself with a moderately powerful Spell and -- likely, though Tereza couldn't Sense them -- Protection Charms. As she neared him, he managed a rather acrobatic roll to return to his feet and cried out a Spell in Latin as he aimed one hand at her and pulled a firearm from his hip with the other.

Another spoken Spell from Tereza blew him farther down the hallway with ease, while his own Spell barely ruffled her hair and long, black, leather coat. As she arrived at the door to the suite, the gun that the Hunter had dropped rose up into the air and began firing his direction as he himself was rising; he was hit with one round after another, again and again, until the force of them pushed him all the way to and through the glass doors that led out onto a public balcony. Less than ten seconds later, he would crash down onto the top of a Porsche that the owner had asked to be parked up front so that, in his words, it was less likely to be stolen or damaged.

Tereza Sensed the Magic placed upon the door, finding it more than she'd expected. She took a long moment to contemplate the proper Spells, chanting them softly until finally they blew open. She crossed her arms before her yet again, this time producing a Štít -- Shield spell -- that not only blocked the dozens of rounds that were shot at her by 4 more Hunters packing automatic weapons, but also sending the rounds directly back at them; each of the men went down at some point, only injured initially but finally killed when Tereza stepped into the suite and performed her Darth Vader throat pinch on them, simultaneously cutting off their air and blood until each passed out, then died.

The Matka stood there a moment, searching the suite with her mind for her target, only to realize that Master Tilby wasn't here. She looked around at the dead Hunters, then stepped back out into the hallway to look at the bodies there. She thought to herself, What a fucking waste. Let these good men sacrifice themselves for no reason...?

Tereza thought a bit more, though, and realized that there had been a reason. The only reason for Tilby to use Hunter Magic here -- Magic that he'd know Tereza would recognize as his own and, thus, come looking for him -- was if he'd wanted her hear for a fight ... while he himself was on his way to a second fight elsewhere.

She strode quickly for the elevator, pulling her cell phone out as she went. One look at it told Tereza that the Spell from the Hunter in the passageway had fried it. She tossed it aside, rode the elevator to the lobby, and commanded a passerby to turn over his phone. She called the number for the guard shack on the perimeter gate of the Big House at which Chloe was holding Connor Jansky.

"You have incoming danger," she told the Military Contractor at the gate. "You are to kill anyone who even gets near the property. Understand?"

"Yes, Matka," he answered without hesitation or question.

 

[DreamingOfMyEx]

Of the dozen Hunters in the hotel – volunteers all – only one of them had ever seen Tereza before. It was over ten years earlier – the tiniest fraction of a moment in time for her, but it felt like a lifetime for him. She may not have even noticed the young hunter positioned to ambush her on that fateful day, but he had dreamed about her more than once since the botched operation.

It was what soldiers might call a hasty ambush – not an elaborate planned operation, but the immediate reaction to an unexpected opportunity – a reaction which didn’t happen by accident, but by a lifetime of training. Or in Tilby’s case, several lifetimes of training.

Tereza, the oldest and mightiest of witches known to the Council, might have died that day had Victor not been momentarily immobilized. Not by her magic, but by her presence. She was not only beautiful – she was magnificent! A hundred lesser witches casting spells could not have had the same effect on the young male Hunter as her confident and commanding bearing.

A fraction of a second was all Tereza had needed back then, and she needed no such breaks to gain the upper hand on this occasion. This time she knew what was waiting for her. Victor had hardly been victorious that day, and had spent over ten years morning the deaths of every hunter and every civilian who had died an unnecessary death by her hands, or at her feet, since his failure.

Today, he would get his revenge.

“She’s coming” he whispered to Jonsey, his second in command of this ad hoc group of hunters. Jonsey, in turn, visually signaled some hunters nearby, who then signaled the hunters more distant. Every one of them knew their lives were about to be sacrificed in an elaborate plan to lure her into a trap, to end her reign of terror. Yet each one of them also knew there was a chance, a small chance, that they could kill her there at the hotel. Everyone but Victor. He knew they didn’t have a prayer of a chance against her.

He was right.

The alluring goddess of unimaginable power had sent him sprawling down a hallway with the effortless flick of her wrist – subjected him to the indignity of being shot multiple times with his own gun – then tossed him off a balcony to meet an inglorious end crashing down onto the roof of a Porsche parked 24 floors below. The skilled and experienced Hunter who couldn’t shake the magnificently alluring Tereza from his mind was of such little consequence to her that she didn’t even know his name.

==

Dozens of Hunters had descended on the area overnight. By car, corporate jet, and helicopter. A specially-fitted (and magically protected) RV would serve as a command post, while every precaution was taken to ensure no witches – even those who might be watching for their arrival – would detect the influx. The airports used were all suitably distant, the rental cars obtained from diverse agencies spread out over a wide area, and a special place in the woods – not easily accessible to the general public -- would be one of the assembly places. As Tereza was wrecking her own brand of havoc on the 12 Hunters at the hotel, the assault on the compound – the Big House – was in its opening stages. Meanwhile, smaller teams of hunters were attacking the numerous smaller private residences set aside for witches who needed the … privacy. Ironically, the only thing that saved them from certain death was Tilby’s son, and Chloe’s invitation to share in a little fun with him.

However, like the trap set for Tereza at the hotel, the assault on the Big House was just another diversion. Even the “trap” Tereza would encounter en route to the compound was not the trap. It was just another trick, intended to herd her in the right direction.

The real trap was in the RV, and the bait was the books.

In pragmatic fashion that would have been shocking and abhorrent – and very un-hunter like – to any Hunter with complete knowledge of the plan, Tilby placed more Hunters into her path. The revered Hunter admonished them that no matter what, they could not reveal the location of the RV to her. They were to put it in back of their minds, and use every bit of their inherent abilities and every spell they knew to block her from accessing that tidbit of information. “You must die before you reveal anything to her.”

That should be enough to convince Tereza the information she obtained was genuine, and something Tilby didn’t want her to know.

 

[DreamingOfMyEx]

Of the dozen Hunters in the hotel – volunteers all – only one of them had ever seen Tereza before. It was over ten years earlier – the tiniest fraction of a moment in time for her, but it felt like a lifetime for him. She may not have even noticed the young hunter positioned to ambush her on that fateful day, but he had dreamed about her more than once since the botched operation.

It was what soldiers might call a hasty ambush – not an elaborate planned operation, but the immediate reaction to an unexpected opportunity – a reaction which didn’t happen by accident, but by a lifetime of training. Or in Tilby’s case, several lifetimes of training.

Tereza, the oldest and mightiest of witches known to the Council, might have died that day had Victor not been momentarily immobilized. Not by her magic, but by her ... presence. She was not only beautiful – she was magnificent! A hundred lesser witches casting spells could not have had the same effect on the young male Hunter as Tereza's confident and commanding bearing had on young Victor Patton.

A fraction of a second was all Tereza had needed back then, and she needed no such breaks to gain the upper hand on this occasion. This time she knew what was waiting for her. Victor had hardly been victorious that day, and had spent over ten years morning the deaths of every hunter and every civilian who had died an unnecessary death by her hands, or at her feet, since his failure.

Today, he would get his revenge - or something akin to it. She might not die this day, but she would be in the earliest stages of falling into Tilby's elaborate trap.

“She’s coming” he whispered to Jonsey, his second in command of this ad hoc group of hunters. Jonsey, in turn, visually signaled some hunters nearby, who then signaled the hunters more distant. Every one of them knew their lives were about to be sacrificed in an elaborate plan to lure her into a trap, to end her reign of terror. Yet each one of them also knew there was a chance, a small chance, that they could kill her there at the hotel. Everyone but Victor. He knew they didn’t have a prayer of a chance against her.

He was right.

The alluring goddess of unimaginable power had sent him sprawling down a hallway with the effortless flick of her wrist – subjected him to the indignity of being shot multiple times with his own gun – then tossed him off a balcony to meet an inglorious end crashing down onto the roof of a Porsche parked 24 floors below. The skilled and experienced Hunter who couldn’t shake the magnificently alluring Tereza from his mind was of such little consequence to her that she didn’t even know his name.

==

Dozens of Hunters had descended on the area overnight. Not in Springfield itself, but in surrounding towns and cities. By car, corporate jet, and helicopter. A specially-fitted (and magically protected) RV would serve as a command post, while every precaution was taken to ensure no witches – even those who might be watching for their arrival – would detect the influx. The airports used were all suitably distant, the rental cars obtained from diverse agencies spread out over a wide area. As Tereza was wrecking her own brand of havoc on the 12 Hunters at the hotel, each of the other Hunters involved was diligently preparing for his own very important part of Tilby's Big Plan.

==

Victor's eyes opened. He remembered the fall, remembered the sheer terror involved in plunging to one's certain death from 250 feet. But he didn't die - he was surrounded by just enough magic to prevent that from happening. Instead, he would have to live with the memory of the terror, a couple of "mild" fractures, and a lot of sore muscles.

The only witness who'd actually seen him fall was dismissed as crazy. Besides, from that angle, the Sun would have been in her eyes. No, this man must have fallen from, perhaps, that balcony on the 3rd floor. As for the Porsche - they obviously don't make 'em the way they used to.

Normally, Victor and his fall might have been the center of everyone's attention, were it not for all the gunfire, and bodies in the lobby.

"S..some.. one.. help.. me.. up... - Please."

 

[Alice2015]

The Springfield Wyndham Hotel:

After she discovered that Master Tilby wasn't in the Hotel -- that this whole thing had been a trap to kill her and/or distract her from the Society's other operations -- Tereza made her way down to the floor on which Chloe had had a room in this very Hotel. As the elevator doors opened, the first thing she Sensed was the Magic hiding Chloe's room from the Hunters. The 1450-year-old Tereza could feel the power of the Spells casted by her only-913-year-old Apprentice. Although they often clashed when it came to process, Tereza had to smile with pride as she thought of how far Chloe had come in that shorter time period.

Tereza stepped off the elevator, passed through the Perimeter Spell -- and immediately felt something she hadn't been expecting: a powerful Hunter Spell. She paused, spending almost ten full minutes trying to Sense just with what she was dealing. When she finally spun on a boot heel and headed back for the elevator, she'd learned two important things: first, Master Tilby had discovered Chloe's room despite the Spells, Potions, and Charm protecting it; and second, the Books were gone!

Down at the lobby, Tereza clutched the Charm around her neck and casted a Masking Spell before stepping out of the elevator. It turned out to be a good idea as there were three additional Hunters in the lobby. One was wearing an ID that Tereza Sensed more than read at distance; it identified him as Captain Jack Schultz of the State Police Criminal Investigation Division. Tereza had never met the man, but when he glanced unknowingly her direction, she memorized his face as she immediately began plotting his future murder.

Schultz was in the lobby of the Hotel, leading the investigation of the two men who had -- for reasons unknown -- shot each other in the face with powerful handguns. The Concierge was saying with a frantic tone, "I told the other officers this already! They just pulled out their guns and shot each other in the head."

"And there was no one else here at the time," the Plain Clothed Detective working with Schultz asked.

Just at that moment, the Concierge looked directly at Tereza, made eye contact with her, froze a moment, then shook his head and told the cop, "No! No! No, for the thousandth time. There was no one here but me, the Valet, and these two fuckers shooting each other's brains out all over the floor. Do you KNOW who has to clean all this up...? ME!"

Tereza continued outside, where she picked up the other two Hunters. The first was an EMT who was helping load an injured man into the back of an ambulance. The Nejuctívanější matka brněnských dcer -- Most Venerated Mother of the Daughters of Brno Coven -- studied the man for a moment, determining that he was young and very inexperienced.

She Sensed around for the third Hunter, only to realize that he was Hunter she'd blown out of the 24th floor balcony window ... and he was still alive! He was murmuring, "S..some.. one.. help.. me.. up... - Please."

"You are going to be okay, you are safe, with friends," the EMT Hunter told him, before repeating the reassurance in both the Hunter's preferred Latin and the Witches' preferred Czech, "Tu bene eris, tu tuta es, cum amicis ... Budete v pořádku, jste v bezpečí, s přáteli."

"How the fuck...?" Tereza wondered out loud about the Hunter's survival. She Sensed that he was far more powerful than the EMT Hunter yet not nearly as powerful as she was. Plus, he was horrifically stunned and confused from the 24 floor fall. No, no, she reminded herself. It wasn't the fall that stunned him. It was the sudden stop at the bottom.

She contemplated how to use this new information, then strolled through the crowd of onlookers toward the ambulance's driver side. Just as the EMT Hunter approached, Tereza castes a powerful Spell on him, giving him a new destination. He looked confused at first before his expression softened, and he said softly to her, "Yes, Mother."

Thirty minutes later, after the Contract Security men at the gate of the Big House outside Springfield had again removed a standard tracker from the ambulance and had one of their men drive off with it in his pocket, the ambulance was delivering the flying Hunter to the Big House's torture chamber for interrogation.

 

[DreamingOfMyEx]

It would be sunrise when she would awaken and, with the wave of a hand as she crawled out of the bed, awaken Connor as well. When he opened his eyes and -- no longer under any spells at all -- met eyes with Chloe, she smiled to him and said casually, "About now, you're probably going to be looking for answers."

He would remember everything that had happened to him since first meeting Chloe. The only question was: how would he react.

Magic or not, Connor's mind and body had been through a lot - and that was a lot for a young and inexperienced Hunter to deal with, despite whatever innate powers he had.

When he awoke and saw Chloe - he looked a little stunned. He was trying to remember. A witch? A beautiful .. woman? His ... his woman? His ... wife? No, not his wife, that had just been a dream. His fiancé? They had made love - he thought. He struggled to remember. An image emerged through the fog - her smile when he ... came. Orgasm. And not by his own hand. It was all coming back, but slowly. She knew he was a Hunter - so they must be engaged.

--
"About now, you're probably going to be looking for answers."
--

"Answers" he whispered. He had heard a series of words, but he hadn't heard a complete sentence. "I.. I can try. Wh.. what do you want to know?"

==

An ambulance would be the perfect vehicle for staking out a hospital. Many Hunters were certified as EMT's or Paramedics (it was a job in which an above average number of injuries could be expected), a lot of them were physicians as well. It wasn't unusual to see ambulances from a variety of different agencies or companies at a hospital - from nearby towns, or providing transport services for patients who were not emergency patients, so no one would question why one ambulance looked different than all the others. An ambulance was big enough to hold more than a couple of people. Three could easily fit inside, with a rotating schedule for prolonged stakeouts. What better vehicle than one with lots of room and a couple of beds in the back? And a powerful air conditioner.

Lots of room could mean other things as well. Room for weapons, for instance. And to store potions in an air-conditioned environment.

The ambulance had been too far away, with the windows up and soft music playing, for the Hunter at the wheel to hear any gunshots. He was too inexperienced and not powerful enough to sense the presence. His partner had drank too much coffee, and needed some relief. "There's a convenience store just around the corner, it'll be easier to grab something there. Tilby wants us to stay away from the main building if we can." The ambulance had been equipped with food, but it was all healthy food. Sometimes a guy just needs a bag of chips and a candy bar.

His partner had only been gone a minute when Carson saw Patton fall from the balcony of the tallest building in the neighborhood. He had no way of knowing, but somehow he knew it was a Hunter. He couldn't even see if the person was male. Maybe it was a witch. The odds of it being just a regular person wanting to end it all was slim, considering the whole area was a hotbed of activity (of the witch/hunter sort).

Witch, Hunter, or average citizen, there was no way anyone could survive a fall like that - unless they were really really really protected. In any event, someone needed to check it out - to see if it was a witch or a hunter who fell. And someone needed to keep prying eyes away from the body. That would be him - Carson. Authority figure in uniform - taking charge of the scene and of the body. A Hunter with just enough innate power to be convincing to the nosey or the skeptical. "Shouldn't you leave the body until the cops arrive?" "No, the body needs to be placed in an airconditioned environment to suppress metabolic activity - for toxicological exam." "Oh, okay, do you need any help getting him in the ambulance?"

To Carson's shock, the man was alive. It only took a little magic to reinforce the idea to the crowd that he'd fallen from the third floor.

"Don't move, man. I need to put on a ...."

The Woman was magnificent, a mature beauty who made numbers completely irrelevant. Her regal bearing came from confidence that flowed out in all directions, as if She were the center of the Universe and She was the focus of the million galaxies that revolved around Her.

The cervical collar was forgotten. "Can you walk? Here, let me help you." The Hunter who'd taken the fall didn't see the woman right away - and that was fine with Carson. He'd never been the jealous sort, but he didn't want any other Hunters looking at this woman. He wanted to be her number one admirer. That's why he actually shielded Patton's eyes - pretending to be shielding him from the bright Sun, but in reality not wanting him to see the Woman.

 

[Alice2015]

Daughters of Brno safe house
20 miles outside Springfield
Morning

"Chloe Devine," she said to Connor Jansky as she sat on the edge of the bed; she was closer to the end of the bed than to the head, not really within his reach, even if he moved as fast as he aching body would allow. She had no fear of him in his current state; even his Innate Magic plus the Charm around his neck -- which Chloe would have loved to remove but couldn't touch -- presented no real threat to her. "I'll be straight with you, Connor. We're not lovers. I'm not your fiancée. I am a Čarodějnice ... a Witch, which I'm sure you have already surmised. And in case you brain is still spinning a bit from all you've been in over the last hours ... couple of days ... you are a Lovec čarodějnic ... a Witch Hunter.

"You are safe here," Viola said, clarifying, "No Witch will harm you while you are here. You are under my protection ... so long as you do nothing to warrant harm." She smiled, saying, "Keep your hands ... and your Magic to yourself ... and you'll be just fine."

 

[Alice2015]

Daughters of Brno safe house
20 miles outside Springfield
Late Morning

As the ambulance arrived at the gates of the estate, the armed guards went quickly and professionally to work. One ordered the driver out and put him against the vehicle's exterior as another frisked him; a second pair pulled open the rear doors, verifying that the jumper -- the Hunter who hadn't yet been identified by name as Victor Patton -- was indeed still in the back, strapped down to a stretcher; and a third pair was searching the vehicle for the electronics sending the vehicle's location out.

In less than 60 seconds, the driver -- also a hunter, this one named Carson -- was cuffed and being hustled into a small closet in the Guardhouse; Victor Patton was being transferred from the stretcher to the backseat of a sedan to be taken to the Big House; the ambulance itself was being backed out to the main road by one of the Contractors and hurried off on its original route to prevent those tracking it from knowing that Carson and Victor where here; and the Senior Contractor -- Karas Abalkin, a former member of the Russia-based Private Military Contractors group, Patriot, and the only man working for the Coven who knew he was working for Witches -- was dialing his cell phone and waiting for Tereza to answer.

"We have both men, Matka," he reported. "The ambulance is back on the highway. What's next?"

He listened to Tereza's response, and without ending the call, went to his Contacts list, selected EBU -- Emergency BackUp -- and sent a text: The first 20 of you to arrive earn triple rate. The rest earn half. The incentive would work well as the mostly but not entirely male group of military contractors would begin arriving as soon as just a handful of minutes.

Putting his phone back up to his ear, Karas reported that the call for backup had been made. He told her, "There's something else. The ambulance ... it wasn't a random vehicle that this Hunter Carson just happened to be driving. It was a Society vehicle. Weapons, ammo, explosives. There was a safe hidden inside some sort of heart monitoring device. I didn't try to open it; you've warned me about that, Matka."

Karas listened, then disconnected the call. He told the men gathered around him now, "Get it all out. I want the perimeter tight. Anyone approaches who isn't one of ours, you shoot ... and shoot ... and keep shooting until there's nothing left of them but a pile of meat. Understood?"

The response to his order in English came back to him in six different languages, most of them Central or Eastern European. Kara sent them to their posts, then returned to the Guardhouse to trade in his Beretta 9mm pistol for a Croatian-made Agram 2000; the submachine gun with a fire rate of 800 rounds per minute had been converted to use a 220 round drum magazine. And because he knew that 220 rounds might not be enough for what could be coming, he tossed a bag over his shoulder in which he'd find another six drums ready for use.

 

[Alice2015]

Daughters of Brno safe house
20 miles outside Springfield
Noonish

Tereza pulled into the driveway of the Estate and allowed Karas Abalkin's men to perform the same security check on her vehicle as they did with any vehicle entering the grounds; they checked it for explosives, trackers, and Hunter's Magic, none of which were found. Tereza and Karas chatted for a moment in the old Witchy dialect of Czech; while it was the former's native language, Karas -- whose family had served the Daughters of Brno Coven for over 3 centuries -- had leaned it growing up, side by side with Russian, Ukrainian, regular Czech, English, French, Spanish, and six other languages.

"Clear!" one of the Guards call out. He stayed near the rear of the car; he and the others had had it drilled into them that they were never to approach the drivers or passengers of a vehicle unless specifically told to do so by Karas.

"You can go ahead, Matka," the Security Chief said with a smile and nod. He gestured toward the Guardhouse, asking, "What would you like done with the Hunter in the closet?"

"Bring him to me," she ordered. She pulled on the door handle, but as the door clicked open, she paused.

"One moment, Matka," Karas said. He turned to look over the Guards standing in various directions and demanded, "Odvraťte oči."

Immediately, each and every man there did an about face, turning away from the car. Karas pulled open the door and offered a hand to his boss. Tereza exited and waited as Karas retrieved Carson from the Guardhouse's closet; a black hood had been put over his head. After Tereza gestured, the Chief of Security put the Hunter in the backseat, then began to slide in beside him.

"Není třeba," Tereza told him, repeating in English, "No need, Karas."

She moved closer to Carson, whispered some words at him, got in behind the wheel, and drove up to the back of the Big House without any problems from the man in the backseat. There, a pair of Čarodějky začínající -- "Novice Witches" -- exited and descended the steps to her; they'd been awaiting the Matka's arrival.

"Vezmi ho do zabezpečené místnosti," Tereza ordered, adding, "hlídej ho." The two Witches did as ordered, taking Carson to a secured room, where they secured him with heavy shackles and stood guard.

"Kde je?" she asked yet another younger Witch, adding to her question of where is he, "Victor Patton."

The woman led Tereza to the room in which the jumper was being watched by four Witches, none of them Novices. She studied the man for a moment, Sensing both his medical and Magical situation. Feeling no threat from him, Tereza waved the other Witches out of the room, then stepped slowly up close to him. She leaned left and right as she studied his face, then smiled.

"It occurred to me ... that we've met, Hunter," she told him in a sultry voice. Tereza turned away to begin unbuckling and unbuttoning her long, leather jacket. Once loose, she shed it and tossed it over the back of a chair, then turned back to face the Hunter, showing the sexy outfit beneath. She walked slowly toward him again, saying, "Let's have a talk ... about Master Tilby ... about where I can find him ... and about how ... I get my hands ... on the Liber venatorum."

 

[DreamingOfMyEx]

Daughters of Brno safe house
20 miles outside Springfield
Morning

(Chloe and Connor)

Chloe had probably seen it before. Connor's eyes growing big and round as saucers as the first round of truth hit him like a ton of bricks. A witch?? Almost immediately, he would start breathing harder - a bit of gasping for more air would occur. Then ...

There it was. That little flicker in the eye. As if he had spotted something that grabbed his attention - or perhaps he was looking for something. Perhaps something specific, or perhaps just trying to see what lay beyond the beautiful sexy witch who had captured him. That flicker that told her that her young Hunter was preparing to cast a spell.

She needn't worry, though. None of the other inexperienced young hunters had managed it against her, and neither would Connor. The twitching of a lip only meant he felt compelled to say something - the brain had not yet conjured up what to say.

Then as the reality of his situation had completely enveloped his consciousness, the only sounds he would make were a whimpering noise, interspersed with the word "no". His whole life - his whole existence - wasted. All that time devoted to his training - by him and his trainers - wasted. He had never been on a successful hunt by himself, and had never meaningfully contributed to someone else's hunt.

Connor Jansky began to cry under the crushing weight of his reality. Somewhere within the tears would be interspersed the single word - "no". As if that word itself was a spell which could take him away to someplace safe, and could erase the reality of his life and replace it with something better.

Thanks to a sexy manipulative witch, he had no father, no grandfather, and his epitaph would read "Connor Jansky - impotent witch hunter - wasted life".

Could anyone blame him for crying?

 

[DreamingOfMyEx]

Daughters of Brno safe house
20 miles outside Springfield
Noonish
(Tereza and Victor)


Victor may not have been the most powerful Hunter to exist, but neither was he a rookie. As he was slowly coming round to the reality of his situation, he had to push the mistakes of his past out of his mind and focus on the present, moving forward. The four witches guarding him were not rookies, either, and the odds were not in his favor should he try anything. He had some vague recollection of guards, a big house ... a compound, maybe? If he could subdue these four, what lay beyond the door? Perhaps the time for immediate and decisive violence of action had passed, and now he would need to come up with a plan.

Tereza!

Fuck! What is she doing here?

Well, isn't that obvious?

Tereza didn't need the four other witches in the room now. She had already proven how even a dozen Hunters were no more a threat to her than a male mosquito. She could simply slap it and it would be dead. He realized that she probably didn't intend him to survive the fall - but on finding he was alive decided he could be useful to her.

He had one spell - a very powerful spell - that might stand a snowball's chance in Hades of working. It was a spell that combined "protection" with "binding", and the tradeoff of such a powerful and useful spell was that it took longer than most spells to cast, that it would only work once, against the particular witch it was cast against, and he had to maintain eyes on the target the whole time he was casting.

What were the odds?

But then Tereza did a very stupid thing. She turned her back to him! Does her arrogance extend so far as to make such a rookie mistake, not realizing how vulnerable she made herself?

"o stellarum figuratorum perpetua rotunditas, o perpetua definitorum temporum recursus, o vernalis et autumni ortus et moriens!"

O perpetual revolution of configured stars, o perpetual recurrence of determined seasons, o world of spring and autumn, birth and dying!​

It had to be said aloud, but the softest of soft whispers should suffice ...

Infinitus cyclus ideae et actionis, infinita inventio, experimentum infinitum, cognitionem affert ...
The endless cycle of idea and action, endless invention, endless experiment, brings knowledge of
--
then Tereza turned back to face the Hunter, showing the sexy outfit beneath - The beautiful and seductive - and evil - queen of the witches seemed totally unconcerned a semi-powerful Hunter was trying to cast a powerful spell against her - right in front of her. Arrogant, indeed.
--

cognitionem affert ... cog ... cog-ni ... cognitionem aff ... affert ...

--
"Let's have a talk ... about Master Tilby ... about where I can find him ... and about how ... I get my hands ... on the Liber venatorum."
--

Victor had gone from staring intently when her back was turned and she was covered by the coat, to trying everything he could to avoid looking at her now. It was a losing battle. She had stepped too close, and had too much to offer the eyes of any man, no matter how resolute. Yes, they had met before - and in a strange twisted perverted way he knew would spell his doom, Victor was proud she bothered to remember him.

"Don't.. I.. I don't.. know. You know he wouldn't .. share that .. with us."

Tereza wouldn't even have to look down between his legs to know if she was having the desired effect - defeat had already begun to show in his eyes the moment she entered the room, and the dress was the coup de grâce.

 

[Alice2015]

Daughters of Brno safe house
20 miles outside Springfield
Morning

(Chloe and Connor)

If Chloe had been an average, normal, every-day sort of woman, she probably would have felt sympathy for Connor as he began sobbing. She wasn't an average, normal, every-day sort of woman, though. Even some Witches would have been conflicted over his breakdown; some Witches didn't thrive off Zmatek -- Mayhem -- and would have felt sorry for Connor.

Again, Chloe wasn't one of these. Those sorts of Witches spent their entire existence out of the public eye, hidden away in remote locations, creating Potions and studying Spells and empowering Charms to be used by what Chloe called real Witches like herself.

No, as she watched Connor sob, murmuring no, no, she felt a tingle crawl up her spine, telling her that with just the slightest of pushes, she could cause this young Hunter to suffer a total collapse. It's been a long time since I crushed a Hunter so completely, she thought to herself. She wasn't including those that she'd killed on occasion, of course. Those were just part and parcel with the way she'd evolved into the powerful Ženský vůdce matriarchátu -- Matriarch -- that she'd become.

Crushing a Hunter was an entirely different animal all together. And while Chloe knew that she could do that to Connor over the course of just a few days, she had a sense that she shouldn't. There was something much bigger going on than just Connor responding to her Mayhem at the park; something much bigger than the Coven simply wanting the Liber venatorum; something much bigger than even Tereza wanting to find and kill Master Tilby.

She couldn't know it now but soon would: a Občanská válka was coming, a fight between Covens that was only going to end with the death of dozens or hundreds of Witches and Hunters alike and a total restructuring of the Svět černé magie, the World of Black Magic.

Despite now actually feeling true sympathy for Connor, Chloe scooted closer to him, reaching out a hand to gently squeeze his thigh; he was still dressed in only his hospital gown, and Chloe couldn't help but recall that the last time she'd touched him like this, she'd slipped her hand up under his gown to his cock and very easily stroked him to an orgasm.

"You're safe here, Connor," she repeated. "No one is going to hurt you here ... just so long as you do not attempt to use your Innate Magical Powers." Chloe had, of course, Sensed that he'd considered using his Magic there for a moment. She hadn't been too worried.

She reached her other hand to the drawer of the nearby lamp table, pulling it open. With a soft tone, she said, "I do, however, need you to remove your Charm and place it in here. I promise: no one will touch it, remove it, or do anything with it. I simply need to know that you will not use it, and the best way for me to be assured of that ... is if you are not wearing it."

As she waited for him to make a decision on whether to do as she asked, Chloe stood and went to the door, opening it and speaking to one of the Čarodějky začínající waiting to serve her. The Novice Witch acknowledged Chloe's request that food and drink be brought to Connor. Returning to sit on the bed again, Chloe told him that food and drink was on its way, then asked, "Is there anything more I can do for or get for you, Connor?"

 

[Alice2015]

Daughters of Brno safe house
20 miles outside Springfield
Noonish
(Tereza and Victor)

"Don't ... I ... I don't ... know," Victor stumbled through his response to Tereza's request concerning Master Tilby and the Liber venatorum. "You know he wouldn't ... share that ... with us."

"We'll see," she said with a tone that conflicted with the smirk spreading her lips. She studied him a moment, asking, "Was that a ... Protection Spell ... or a Binding Spell on which you were working while my back was to you, Victor."

She studied his reaction to her apparent mind-reading, chuckling softly. She lied, "I never was very good at Latin." Glancing down to the man's groin, her smile widened even further at the obvious activities going on down there. Looking back into his eyes, Tereza asked, "I'm sorry, is my current choice of wardrobe causing you ... difficulties, Hunter?"

She stepped closer to him, enough so that he would pick up her natural pheromones that Tereza very unnaturally increased a hundred-fold with a simple thought. Researchers in the field of human sexuality were still undetermined whether or not Human Beings -- specifically the female -- could produce sexual attractant hormones detectable through the sense of smell.

Witches, however, had no doubt at all. Oh, sure, they may have needed Innate Magical power to do so in the beginnings of their training, but a Witch like Tereza -- or even Chloe -- could flood a room with their láska vůně -- their love scent -- with just a thought. It was partially how Chloe had manipulated Connor early on and -- if she felt it was necessary -- would again; it was how Helena had seduced the Hunter in Springfield General Hospital early this morning, causing Helena her badly needed climax only to then have her leave him lying there on the lobby floor trembling in unfulfilled lust.

"I'm curious to see just how bad you are ... suffering, Hunter," she said, now just inches from where he sat in a chair in the middle of the room. She suddenly flashed out a hand before her, fingers widely splayed, as she called out in a deep, booming voice, "Proti zdi!"

In a flash, Victor flew across the room to slam against the wall. Even as he was still feeling the jolt through him, Tereza speaking her Spell low and slow; shackles seemed to just appear from within the wall to secure his wrists and ankles. Her words continued without hesitation; Tereza knew that Victor had his own Innate Powers and -- unlike the other Hunters with whom she'd dealt today -- he knew how to use them. He might not have been as powerful as she was, but he was more powerful than all of the other Hunters -- some of them now dead -- who had attempted to kill her at the Wyndham earlier.

With her hand still out before her, fingers trembling, Tereza moved closer ... and as she did, a new sound filled the room ... the sound of ripping cloth ... of the Hunter's clothing. Up and down his body, Victor's jacket, shirt, and pants began tearing up and down, left and right; bits and pieces began flying away from him, exposing bits of flesh as they fell away, even as his shoes fell to the floor and shriveled up like grapes to raisins.

When Tereza finally went quiet and took a long moment to simply draw breaths and calm herself, Victor remained in little more than the remnants of one sock, the cuffs of his now otherwise totally absent shirt, and his underwear.

It took Tereza a full minute to feel entirely refreshed and ready to continue, after which she looked Victor up and down, then focused her attention on the bulge in his boxer-briefs. She smiled, then suggestively but without explanation of specifically what she meant murmured, "I thought so."

 

[DreamingOfMyEx]

Daughters of Brno safe house
20 miles outside Springfield
Morning

(Chloe and Connor)


Things were slowly coming back to him, but it was like a giant jigsaw puzzle. Yes, he was a Hunter, he'd always known that. And he was Connor Jansky ... she had deceived him. But .. they had sex, didn't they? Or maybe not. No, he remembered that look of pleasure on her face, when he was experiencing pleasure below.

And now he knew she was a witch. He'd had those fleeting suspicions, ideas that he thought were trying to worm their way into his thoughts, to question his reality, the result of some witch's spell, but he'd known at the time that his and Chloe's love for one another was real. He had to fight to suppress those suspicions. Now, with the truth becoming clear as day, he knew how wrong he'd been, and he knew the price he would pay for being wrong. For being young and inexperienced. Perhaps even ... for not devoting himself as much as he should have to his training.

He knew almost nothing of the presence of Tilby and dozens (or was it hundreds?) of Hunters in and around Springfield, except that Tilby had paid him a short visit in the hospital. Or had he? Was that another of Chloe's deceptions? He had no idea where he was, and he had no idea what happened to the contents of the pillow case he'd tossed into Chloe's car - how long ago was that?

She's so ... beautiful! Oh, how he wished he could believe her! How he wished everything could be different. Even when he was going through all the hell the witches were putting him through, a part of him had never felt better - the feeling of being in love.

And now he would never feel that again, would he?

--

Promises?

The witch was making promises? Was she really stupid enough to believe he would voluntarily remove a charm? It was probably the only thing keeping him alive.

STOP CRYING, DAMMIT! Don't let her see you like this. Don't ever let any witch see you like this.

Trying to stifle back the tears, trying to sound like a big boy and not a frightened toddler, he responded. "No. I know you're going to kill me, but I won't make it any easier on you. You want it off, you take it off."

 

[DreamingOfMyEx]

Daughters of Brno safe house
20 miles outside Springfield
Noonish

(Tereza and Victor)


Did Tereza even realize she was wasting her efforts with magic? Not that it wasn't having an effect, but because the effort wasn't needed with Victor.

Just her ... severe ... brand of beauty, and her attitude, and that dress, it was enough to bring practically any man to his knees. That's where Victor might be, had he not had some assistance in remaining upright. While the look might not work against every Hunter, it certainly worked on Victor, because of the dreams. Dreams that created such an obsession for Tereza within his heart and mind they preordained his defeat if they ever met again. Had the dreams even been put there by Tereza all those years ago? Or were they put there by Victor's own hormones?

Early on in his obsession with Tereza he had overheard a reference to a woman turning a man into "a quivering mass of desire". That's what she turned him into every time he dreamed of her - but those were only dreams. Eventually he would wake up and pray for deliverance and for the strength and wisdom to be a good husband and father.

Now, in her presence again, he was literally quivering - and a literal mass of desire.

The Hunter was trying his hardest to deny knowing anything about the book in question - deny knowing anything of Tilby's plans. It might have come out of his mouth a bit jumbled, but clear enough for Tereza to understand his meaning.

Then he tried saying something else, but it wouldn't come. The frustration of his inability to say what he wanted to say - combined with the frustration of wanting Tereza - it would have been more than he could bear, except that he had no option other than to hang against the wall and bear it. He was trying to call on his wife's name, to call on their love for one another to give him strength to resist Tereza's temptations. Unfortunately for the Hunter, he could not remember the names of either his wife or his children.

--

O perpetual revolution of configured stars ... The cycles of Heaven in twenty centuries bring us farther from God and nearer to ... to Tereza.​

 

[Alice2015]

Daughters of Brno safe house
20 miles outside Springfield
Morning

(Chloe and Connor)

Chloe smiled a bit wider at Connor's refusal to remove his Charm; she'd known it was a long shot when she'd requested it. She rose at a soft knock at the door, opening the barrier and gesturing the Čarodějky začínající to enter. The Novice Witch -- her name was Vera -- set the platter on a small table along the wall. She looked to Connor, studied him a moment, then looked to Chloe.

"Je to lovec, že?" she asked; the language was, of course, the Witchy dialect of Old Czech, but the accent hinted toward something Nordic.

"Yes, he is a Hunter," Chloe answered. She ordered, "Použijte svou magii. Cítíš ho?"

The Novice did as told, using her Innate Magical Ability to Sense for Connor's own Innate Powers. She showed strain in her face after a moment, saying, "It is ... difficult, Matka."

"Ne!" Chloe chastised the Novice. She repeated more softly, "No."

Some of the young Witches who were directly under her instruction had come to think of and sometimes refer to her as Mother. Chloe didn't want Tereza hearing that, though; it hinted at that for which Chloe had yearned for centuries, control over the Daughters of Brno Coven and all of North America's Witches. But, it wasn't time for such measures yet, and -- to be honest -- Chloe did respect and honor Tereza, even if they had different opinions about where the Svět černé magie -- the World of Black Magic -- should be heading.

"Jít k němu," Chloe said. The Novice's eyes widened with surprise. The Matriarch repeated, "Go to him."

Vera moved slowly toward the bed, tiny step by tiny step; she was unaware of whether or not Connor was a powerful Hunter and, therefore, a threat to her or not. Chloe spoke more orders softly to her in Old Czech, leading the Novice to sit on the edge of the bed close to Connor ... then ... reach under the bedding ... then ... find the edge of Connor's hospital gown ... and reach under it ... and find his cock.

"Chtěl bys, aby tě uspokojila, Connore?" Chloe asked, then -- immediately realizing that she'd asked the question in the Witchy language, translated, "Would you like her to pleasure you, Connor?"

 

[DreamingOfMyEx]

Daughters of Brno safe house
20 miles outside Springfield
Morning

(Chloe and Connor)


Connor shook his head no, though it wasn't clear if he was answering Chloe's question or just saying "don't do this to me." Chloe was not only a witch - evil and someone who should be killed, she was also the woman who broke his heart. To be subjecting him to this now, using him as a guinea pig, only served to make her betrayal, her rejection of his love, hurt more. Now, despite his impending death - or torture - or whatever else Chloe and her sisters had planned for him, a part of Connor did what a man would do, and strike out at the woman who violated his trust. He would use whatever means he could, even attacking her allies.

"Don't count on her to save you from me, začínající. The sooner you learn she can't be trusted the better off you'll be. She'll step over as many dead novices as it takes to get to the top."

It could have been the smooth talk of an experienced hunter taking advantage of a chink in the armor, had he not had the countenance of a petulant child whose first love decided to sit by another boy. How much worse was it for Connor that his first love turned out to be Chloe?

 

[Alice2015]

Chloe and Connor

Čarodějky začínající

Chloe could Sense the resistance brewing inside Connor, even as Vera was slowly, methodically stroking his cock to full stiffness.

"Don't count on her to save you from me, začínající," he told her. "The sooner you learn she can't be trusted, the better off you'll be."

The Novice Witch glanced over her shoulder to Chloe, finding her Mentor smiling slightly. Connor continued as Vera looked back to him, "She'll step over as many dead novices as it takes to get to the top."

"I'm sure she would," Vera said in a calm, knowing voice. She slipped her hand down to cup his balls, giving them a gentle, rolling squeeze as she asked, "But then ... wouldn't you, too ... Hunter?"

 

[DreamingOfMyEx]

--
"But then ... wouldn't you, too ... Hunter?"
--

"No." Connor's voice was a couple of octaves higher. Whether Vera cupping his testicles in her hand had anything to do with that was anyone's guess. What was clear was he didn't want to be treated like this - like an object - a training aid. To be subjected to a sexual act by someone who cared nothing for him ... Any other man might be okay with a gorgeous girl like Vera giving him a hand job, but for Connor it was an indignity he couldn't bear.

"No, that's the difference, začínající, something you'll ... n..neve.. oh.." he was breathing harder, his body squirming. He was nowhere close to orgasm, but the sensation of being touched - down there - like that. It was something he wasn't used to, and certainly something he couldn't control physically.

"p..p..please.. don't"

He was looking at Chloe, not the novice.

"Please" - his voice was even more desperate. If she used her imagination, she might have been able to hear some ridiculous plea, like "if our love meant anything at all" - but of course he wouldn't say that - despite the look in his eyes. He knew she never loved him, and she knew how much it hurt. Or did she?

 

[Alice2015]

"No," Connor responded simply when Vera insinuated that he'd step over her dead body just as easily and quickly as Chloe might if she'd needed to. "No, that's the difference, začínající, something you'll ... n..neve.. oh.."

Chloe's smile widened a bit as the obvious effect the younger Witch's delicate fingers were having on the Hunter's nuts. His breathing, his squirming; it reminded her so much of when he'd creamed the inside of those same hospital gowns in the ambulance on the road to the estate. That reminded her that she needed to find Connor something clean to wear after this was all over.

"P..p..please.. don't," he begged, looking to the Witch orchestrating the event, not the Novice pleasuring him.

As he was begging, Vera had pulled the bedding down past Connor's groin, pushed the untied gown to the far side of his body to expose his manhood, and then leaned down to feed his cock into her mouth; Connor might have tried to stop her or might have let it happen, but either way he would have found it impossible to do so.

"Please," Connor begged again.

Chloe lifted her hands in a playful surrender gesture, then looked to the začínající who was sucking Connor's cock with a skill that belied her youthful appearance. The powerful Witch said, "Don't ask me. Ask her."

When Connor looked down toward his groin to the head bobbing slowly up and down over his crotch, he didn't see the face that had originally lowered to his groin but instead saw this one.

The Magic being used to create the illusion was not Chloe's but was Vera's; she wore a Charm that was a source of the Power, but it was her Innate Power that was amplifying it, making it work. She was young, though, and it took her all to maintain the illusion; if Connor could muster his own Innate Power at this time, he could make the illusion fade.

The question was: would he?

 

[DreamingOfMyEx]

Chloe (and Vera) and Connor


Connor was too confused, and too frantic, to even think about innate magic and revealing who's who. He felt an orgasm building, albeit slowly, but he knew slowly didn't mean forever. He was squirming even more now, actually trying to turn away from Vera - or Chloe - but trembling so wildly that his muscles were no longer accepting requests from his brain.

"Please please please Chloe... please.. I.. I.. I'll take it off. Just.. just please make the novice leave and let me ask you something. Please. Oh god pleeeeeeese!!!!"

 

[Alice2015]

Chloe (and Vera) and Connor

"Please, please, please, Chloe..." Connor continued begging. He pleaded with Chloe to send the Novice away.

"Opusťte nás," Chloe ordered, telling her to leave them.

Vera lifted her head from Connor's lap, the illusion of being Chloe fading in an instance. She wore an expression of disappointment, having wanted to drive the Hunter to orgasm; having him cum in her mouth would likely have caused him even more distress, thereby causing her a boost in Innate Power.

She stood and departed without a word. Once she was gone, Chloe asked, "What is it you wish to say, Hunter? "

 

[DreamingOfMyEx]

It isn't easy to bare one's soul when one has been such a failure, especially to his greatest enemy. It isn't easy to face one's own mortality at such a young age. Connor was trapped in a trap from which he would never be free. Fighting back the tears, he tried - Chloe should be able to see how hard he was trying, he tried to make it not sound like gibberish.

As he was still fighting back the tears, Connor reached up to remove the leather strap from around his neck, the necklace that held the small wooden cross which was the charm Chloe was unable to remove herself. He held it over the drawer she'd opened for him to drop it into, but his hand maintained a death grip - literally.

"I .. I've never killed a witch. I'm not even a very good hunter. I'm not good at ... anything. I've never been happy. Never in my whole life - until you came along. I know you don't love me and never will. I know you hate me and you're going to kill me. I know there is no way I can ever escape. But please, please - the only time I've ever been happy in my whole life was when I thought you loved me, when I thought we were in love with each other. I know there's no reason for you to do this for me, but on the other hand it's so little to ask. I'm taking the charm off for you - I know you'd find a way to get it off eventually, but I'm saving you the trouble."

He knew she couldn't be trusted to tell the truth, or to keep a promise - that there was no appealing to a softer side of a witch, especially one as powerful as Chloe.

"Please - I'm opening myself up to you completely. Please, cast a spell over me again, one that will be with me until I die, making me think we are in love with each other. It.. it shouldn't be that hard for you. Especially.. especially since I.. I just feel so full of love, with no one to give it to. No one who will love me back. I know what you are, but I'm tired of being so lonely - such a loser. I want to love you so badly anyway. Please?"

And with that, Chloe would hear the little crash of Connor's charm landing in the drawer of the bedside table.

 

[Alice2015]

"I .. I've never killed a witch," Connor confessed. "I'm not even a very good hunter."

Chloe's reaction was ... nothing. It didn't surprise her to hear that from the young Hunter.

He continued, telling her he felt he'd never been good at anything or ever been happy. That was hard for Chloe to hear, as she'd had a very happy and productive life; for over 900 years, she'd been improving her skills, expanding her knowledge, and -- more importantly -- having fun doing it.

Sure, some of this had meant making the lives of Hunters harder, but hey, she was a Witch -- she was supposed to do that, wasn't she? Still, listening to Connor talk about how his life had been such a disaster was hard to hear...

And then he added, "...until you came along."

Chloe listened to Connor speak of how he knew she could never love him, while at the same time pleading that she cast a Spell on him to make him love her!

"...the only time I've ever been happy in my whole life was when I thought you loved me," he said. "I'm opening myself up to you completely ... I'm tired of being so lonely - such a loser. I want to love you so badly anyway. Please?"

Chloe smiled a bit wider as she saw the Charm fall from his hand into the opened drawer. She knew she couldn't touch it -- for hours, for days? -- so she simply waved a hand that slammed the drawer closed, magically locking it from him; Connor could only ever get it back again if Chloe allowed it ... or Chloe was killed.

"I cannot simply cast such a Spell on you, Connor," Chloe said as she crossed from where she'd been standing to once again sit on the edge of the bed near him; when Vera ended her oral performance upon Connor's cock, she'd pulled the bedding back over it, but the Hunter was still swollen enough to cause a bit of a bump there. "There is something you must allow me to do first ... something that even with my Power, I cannot simply do to you.

"But, that will have to wait for right now," Chloe said, standing again. She backed a couple of steps and turned toward an adjacent doorway. "Through that door is a bathroom. Shower ... refresh yourself. There are razors if you wish to shave. By the time you are finished, I will have a fresh set of clothes for you."

She gestured a hand toward the door, adding, "I have something I have to do ... but I will be back shortly."

<<<<<<< >>>>>>>
​

Twenty minutes later:

(OOC: This takes place between the scene above and the time when Tereza arrived at the Big House several posts above. That scene involving Victor is being put off until this scene catches up to it in the timeline.)

After leaving Connor's room, Chloe had been informed that Tereza was arriving at the Big House and -- via cell phone -- had requested Chloe's presence in her private quarters. The younger of the two Witches dutifully reported to the chambers' anteroom only to find herself standing there for 20 minutes.

Tereza strode in without making eye contact with her underling, instead passing right through the room to her bedroom. From there, she spoke softly and yet -- because of their Magical connection -- Chloe could hear Tereza as clearly as if they'd been just two feet apart.

"Do you have any idea what you have done?" Tereza asked with a calm tone that belied her anger.

Chloe considered her answer carefully; there was only one person in the whole of the world who she feared, and that was Matka Teresa. There was something that Witches would only come to learn decades -- sometimes centuries -- after they'd come into their Magic Power: while it took the most powerful of Hunters or an entire army of them to kill a powerful Witch, that Witch's Mentor had the power to kill them with ease.

It was an element of their training of which they were not informed until it was too late to do anything about it. And no Witch who was Mentoring her own Novice Witches was going to give that secret away, obviously. It was how an older, powerful Witch kept control of their Novitiates; it was how Tereza had maintained her grip on Chloe for 9 centuries.

"Come in here," Tereza ordered. "I need your help."

Chloe moved from the anteroom to the Matka's bedroom, finding the other Witch standing before her walk-in closet nude. Chloe stopped suddenly, caught off guard. It wasn't as if she'd never seen Tereza nude before; there were a number of Ceremonies that involved partial or full nudity of some or all of the event's participants.

It was simply that Chloe hadn't seen Tereza naked since before she'd performed her latest Pull, causing her body to take on a younger appearance. Chloe couldn't help herself and she began forward again, saying, "For being almost a millennia-and-a-half old, Matka, you're looking pretty good."

Tereza gave Chloe a sharp look that caused the younger Witch -- the one who was just short of her first millennia of age -- to wipe the smile off her face. She repeated her question from moments earlier in their shared Witchy Old Czech and with anger, "MÁŠ VŮBEC PONĚTÍ, CO JSI UDĚLAL?"

"What have I done, Matka?" Chloe asked with a meek voice, her gaze dropping to the floor like a child being disciplined for breaking a bowl. She knew that her act at Waterfront Park had had unexpected consequences, obviously, but -- as Tereza explained the situation -- Chloe suddenly realized just how bad things had gotten.

"Světová rada se sešla, aby projednala, co jste udělala, Alžběto Svobodová," Tereza said as she picked through clothes in her closet. When Chloe remained quiet, Tereza looked at her and repeated with an even harsher tone, "The World Council has met to discuss what you have done!"

Tereza pulled an outfit from the closet rod, demanding, "Help me into this."

Chloe moved forward quickly, smiling a bit as she saw the shiny black the Mother had chosen; she wanted to ask what the occasion was, not knowing anything about the Hunter, Victor, who was currently elsewhere in the Big House being watched by four Witches with almost 1,800 years of age and experience between them. The two of them went to work fitting Tereza into the latex dress and matching boots.

When they finished, Tereza moved to the three-way mirrors in the corner of the bedroom to take a look. Turning a bit this way, then that, she said, "Maybe you are correct, Chloe. I do look good for my age."

She turned to look at Chloe again, the harsh glare causing the younger Witch to again look to the floor. Tereza approached her, used an extended finger to lift her underling's eyes up to her, and gave her the worst news she could have imagined. "The Světová rada has discovered ... somehow ... that you had in your hands ... the Liber venatorum ... and that you lost it--"

"No, Matka!" Chloe cut in. "The Book of Hunters is still in my suite at the--"

"NO!" Tereza bellowed, before more calmly explaining, "No ... it is not. I have been at your suite in the Wyndham. Master Tilby has removed--"

"Tilby...!" Chloe exclaimed in shock.

Tereza gave Chloa a moment to grasp the situation before saying, "The greatest Hunter in North America ... quite possibly the entire world ... has come to Springfield ... to recover the Liber venatorum, which it would seem he already has ... and to kill you ... Alžběta."

"Why me?" Chloe asked, sounding like that disciplined child asking what did I do? "I ... I don't understand."

"Neither do I," Tereza said. "What I do understand is this..." She hesitated, drawing in a deep breath that was emphasized by the way it expanded her boosted bosom in that dress. "The Council is sending a Speciální útočný tým to Springfield..."

Again, Chloe's eyes expanded. Speciální útočný tým didn't translate to English easily, but the concept was clear: it was essentially the Special Forces of the Magical World, Witches who had been trained for centuries for one purpose and one purpose only: killing. And they didn't just kill Hunters; when it was necessary, they killed renegade or troublesome Witches when the World Council ordered it.

"Are they here for Tilby...?" Chloe asked. When Tereza only stared at her silently, she asked meekly, "Or ... or are they here ... for me?"

"That depends," Tereza said, gesturing Chloe to help her back into her leather jacket.

Chloe was on the verge of her own tears, asking desperately, "On what?"

Tereza looked her in the eyes, telling her, "On whether or not you get that Book."

With that, Tereza departed for her business with the Hunter whose magic had saved him from a 24 floor fall to the roof of a Porsche at the curb of the Wyndham, only to them be captured by the Matka. Chloe stood there in Tereza's bed chamber for a long moment, trying to decide how to get out of this. She had to get the Liber venatorum, obviously. But how did she do that? First, she didn't know where it was, if it was no longer in her hotel suite. And second, she had to be able to handle it with her own hands, and to that she'd need...

A thought suddenly filled her mind ... and she hated it. It's not possible! Chloe told herself. It's against all that is natural in the World of Magic.

But Chloe knew it was her only way: she had to convince Connor to help her, and the only way she was going to do that was to make him fall in love with her ... without Magic!

 

[DreamingOfMyEx]

Connor found himself going through the motions in a state of emotional numbness. His body wasn't that far ahead. The ... confession? ... he made to Chloe had been cathartic in many ways - leaving him both relieved and ... emotionally numb.

His life may be over, but was that anything to mourn? What is love? A feeling? A decision? Something you fall into against your will? A cosmic thingamajig that somehow brings the right two people together? What is happiness? Happiness was something he experienced for the first time when he met Chloe. Does it even matter that she's a witch? Yes, it does. It matters, but Connor didn't care that it matters.

He was in the shower, the door ajar, when Vera brought in his clothes. Connor turned off the water - his hair still full of shampoo flowing toward his eyes, and called out to her. "Please ... can you bring me a pen and paper? It isn't for any spell casting purposes, you can watch as I write - I just need to write something Chloe needs to know."

Water back on, rinse, towel off, get dressed, and using the bedside table as a writing surface with two witches standing over him - scanning him as it were for signs of magical tricks, he wrote:

Quae res recordum .... If the witches were young enough, they might not know Latin. Chloe would. The witches watching over him were sensing, not reading.

"For the record. If you or anyone catches me trying to open the drawer, I'm not trying to get the charm. I'm trying to open the drawer to show you that I could have gotten the charm back but didn't."

"Please see that she gets this. Don't disturb her - just - if you see her. Or maybe post it on the door. Thank you."

'Please' and 'Thank you' to a couple of witches? Maybe it wouldn't hurt to be polite.

When the witches left the room (why would they want to spend time with Connor when there were so many other interesting things they could do with each other?) Connor went to work trying to open or dismantle the drawer or the entire table itself - using only his hands - no magic at all (which would have been quickly detected.)

So much loved trapped in such a young man and trying to get out - one doesn't need to define it to know it's there. If only he had someone to give it to.

The last thing they were going to do is disturb a meeting between Chloe and Tereza! That would be like barging in to the Oval Office during an important meeting to deal with a crisis and asking to use the telephone for a personal call. A brief discussion ensued outside the door to Connor's room, the note was dutifully posted, and the to young novices ran off giggling to thoughts of what Chloe was going to do to the poor little hunter.

--

Quae res recordum ... Chloe couldn't help but see the note. She might decide to enter the room right away, or she might wait to give Connor more time? Was there an adjacent room in which she could watch all that was being recorded by the hidden camera?

Could he find a way? Or would more time only reinforce the idea that he was helpless to overcome Chloe's magic? In MacGyver-like style, the young Hunter (if that's what he still was) had fashioned implements from various items in the sparsely furnished room to try to dismantle or pry apart the table. Either way, the table was laid over on the floor in the center of the room, one leg broken off, and scratch marks surrounding the drawer.

But had it been opened ... ???