The Witch Hunters hid away in a large, abandoned building, near the edge of Darkess Noir, just beyond the historical district. Once an old brewery, not much was left of the practice. Only the five blocky buildings and one long, metal-roofed facility remained as nothing more than empty shells. They had gathered in the long building, standing in a wide-open area where the beer vats once resided. Broken windows allowed the cold to permeate and so much dust covered the floor.
“Jesus, boys. How did things turn out this way?” Said not from a place of concern but as a lecture after hearing the field report.
The six remaining Witch Hunters stood side by side, heads shamefully lowered. Three had been stabbed in the stomach by their own knives. One was completely scorched across the chest by electrical burns. Another was missing an arm, the bleeding from the stump stopped by a belt. And the last, though, compared to the rest looking relatively unharmed, was suffering from a broken back.
Before them was Master Shaw. Tall and imposing, he was a battle-hardened, middle-aged-looking man who still somehow retained his sense of youth. With his full beard, he had full hair. With the many scars covering his face, his skin was still vibrantly toned. And beneath his gritty, default expression were many emotions strongly articulated.
“Haven’t you been trained hard enough? Haven’t you studied long enough? Haven’t you the right equipment for the job?”
A Hunter was about to speak up only to be silenced by the simplest gesture, a raised hand.
“I’ll tell you why things turned out the way they did. You were arrogant. I told you your plan wasn’t going to work. But you made no changes. Maybe you thought I might have been testing you, trying to make you second guess yourselves. And? Even if that was the case, you should have reconsidered things regardless. You know why? Because we aren’t fighting a traditional war against other humans. No. We fight monsters. We defend against the twisted nature of magic. Logic needs to be challenged. Expectations need to be disregarded. Everything that happens in the field happens moment by moment. And that’s what you didn’t plan for.”
“We anticipated every possibility,” a Hunter argued. Shaw crossed his arms and drew back to listen. “We knew there were three of them. So, we expected a fourth and even fifth. We expected human aid which they had. We expected at least one to be Altered—”
“Then how did that Altered rip the throats out of four of you?” Shaw leaned in accusatively. “You didn’t understand what an Altered was truly capable of, I’m guessing. They are certainly rare, so of course, not a single one of you has actually faced their kind before.”
“That was a lack of experience that we couldn’t account for—”
“A lack of experience is made up by extensive planning. I know it’s an oxymoron if not a complete impossibility, but I told you to expect the unexpected. I get the feeling your expectations were very much within the realm of your experiences. None of you are novices, each having claimed a kill or two or three, yet I might as well have been given a batch of new bloods. None of you anticipated an Altered with the ability to Blink. None of you considered that these Witches might actually think tactically for once. None of you believed the fucking Midnight Man could be summoned using nothing more than a candle and a matchbook. You treated this mission like the rest. But this isn’t the outside world. This is a supernatural epicenter which you seemed to have forgotten. And now half of you are dead. If I could, I would have each of you disbarred from the Templar for this failing. And I hold you mostly responsible for this screw up, Jeremiah, seeing as you were the one who asked for this opportunity to lead the operation.”
Of the Hunters, the one missing his arm stepped forward, unveiling himself as a man in his early thirties. He accepted his reprimand, “I make no excuses.”
After a prolonged look of judgment, Shaw admitted, “The truth is, I don’t know how upset I really feel I am with you. Your failure as a leader might have cost us this mission. No doubt your promotion will be in question. But the fact that you cut your own arm off without hesitation, I’m left impressed. Such action requires great resolve that very few ever obtain. It would be a loss to get rid of you. But it would be irresponsible of me, the mediator of this operation, not to rein you in. From this point on, command becomes mine.”
“This is supposed to be my Proving,” Jeremiah respectfully argued. “The Eldermen deemed it.”
“You’ll have to wait for the next mission,” Shaw directed. “Getting into the city was not easy, from what I heard. It took two years for our first Hunter to breach the barrier. Another two after that one went missing. Then six months for us to get in even with the second leaving the door unlocked. That door has closed now. We won’t be getting reinforcements. And, due to the severity of our losses, the element of surprise gone, and apparently the naivety of senior Hunters, things will be far more difficult going forward. You can’t be expected to handle this command.”
“Understood,” Jeremiah was accepting after hearing the lecture. Though, losing his leading position was a deep concern based on his expression.
Shaw sighed. “I see why they had to wake me. When did we become so weak?”
The Hunters did not answer, only becoming dejected. They felt sorry that they were so unimpressive. How could they not be? The world of magic had quickly separated from the rest after the Salem Witch trials, and by the nineteenth century, had almost completely vanished, becoming considered nothing but fantasy. Each of them did have practical knowledge and real-world practice, but it was not wrong to consider them inexperienced when facing this strength of supernatural, unlike the Immortal Shaw.
“Jeremiah,” Shaw ordered, “get yourself a prosthetic.”
“Understood,” and he was off.
“Now, someone bring me to the Witch you captured,” Shaw moved on to the next priority. “I will conduct the interrogation.”
Olivia was locked in a small, high-ceilinged storeroom that was no longer in use, all boxes and shelving having been removed. Dust and cobwebs were the decoration. What little light there was came from a half dead bulb by the door and the shine of the moon from a window overhead. She was only provided a wooden chair to sit and wait for whatever might be done to her.
If only she had been strong like the others, then she could have prevented being captured. But, though she had tried to hide in the background while everybody fought and defended themselves, a Hunter found her. The one thought to be incapacitated by lightning was able to recover from the hit and circled around to sneak up on her. She had no time to react before everything went black only to wake in this place. She loathed herself for being so useless, ready to break down and cry.
However, from somewhere deep inside, another feeling spoke. Just because she was a captive did not mean she should surrender and stay useless. She remembered how much the other women and Mark were trying to make her a part of their group. They conducted rituals together, told her many secrets, and asked for her input and permission. She was not just going along with the situation but slowly being accepted by them. Now it was her turn to pull her weight by saving herself instead of hoping they might come to her rescue.
Regardless that Olivia expected the obvious, she first tried the door. Lo and behold, it was locked. Better to check and be wrong than not do so and realize she missed her chance.
Following the failed attempt, she then walked around the room looking over the walls closely. What she found concealed by the shadows were anchors that must have been left behind when the shelving was removed. An idea came to her along with some anxiety. A certain amount of risk would need to be taken. But first, she picked up and carried the chair over to check if it would even be possible. When it came to placement, two of the anchors were able to slide through the opening of the backrest to keep the chair hanging a little higher than her head level. To determine structural integrity, pulling down checked to see if the anchors would give way to any extraneous weight. They seemed stable.
Olivia committed to climbing to the window. So, though having to struggle a bit to lift her own weight, she got up on the chair that she had hung. It held. Still, standing fully was shaky and left her feeling nervous. She raised one leg causing a slight imbalance that shifted the chair to one side. Before falling back, she tucked her body closer to the wall which steadied everything. Apprehension was swallowed, and she kept going. Her leg lifted again and was placed on the top of the headrest allowing her to step up a little higher. From there, she attempted to reach the window that was right above where she was positioned. But it was just out of reach.
Escape was at the tips of her fingers. So close. Knowing this, Olivia went for it, pushing off. The jump broke loose the anchors, the chair toppling to the floor. But one hand had grabbed hold of the window frame. Adrenaline empowered her to the point where she was able to lift herself out onto the roof.
Heart pumping hard made each breath heavy even with her breathing being fast. She sat for a moment. Realization came quickly when she remembered that there was no time to waste. Looking back and forth found a ledge that she crawled toward and slid off onto the ground outside.
Shaw entered the room just as the chair clattered to the floor. For a second, he stared at the piece of fallen furniture, then raised his eyes up to see the woman pulling herself through the window. At that moment, he contemplated the value of his subordinates. He knew they had set up numerous wards meant to suppress magic and prevent escape. Yet, they had left a window wide open. This oversight was someone’s death sentence. Something he would issue out later. Right now, recovering her came first.
He rushed forward and built momentum that allowed him to quickly scale the wall and mantle through the window in three bounds. From the elevated position, he scanned the surrounding area meticulously. She was nowhere in sight. Disappearing so fast did not seem possible. He approached the edge and looked over the side to find her there, clinging to the side of the building, trying to hide right under his nose. He dropped down directly behind her.
The other Hunters were waiting for Shaw to finish his interrogation in the corridor outside the room. So, they were surprised when he entered back into the building through the front only a minute after having entered the room. Underneath one of his arms, he carried the woman, unconscious.
“Which of you set up the room?” Shaw demanded.
“I did, sir,” a Hunter was quick to take responsibility.
Shaw swiftly backhanded the man with enough strength to cause a stagger from the hit. The Hunter sputtered, spitting blood from a broken tooth. “An open window? I can accept a certain degree of inexperience, but how could you be so incompetent?”
“I have no excuse,” the Hunter pleaded his complete guilt.
“Give me one,” Shaw pressed.
Slow to respond, slow to think of why, the answer was this, “I felt no need to cover the window because I didn’t believe the Witch could escape if her magic was sealed.”
“Sheer laziness!?” Shaw snarled his judgment.
“I accept any punishment you deem.”
Shaw swiped his hand this time, gripping the Hunter by the side of his head and slamming him into the wall. A deep inhale drew power for Shaw to press with a sharp, unstoppable force once he exhaled. But a hand placed from behind on his shoulder stopped the crushing blow.
“Why are you interfering with my judgment, Jeremiah?” Shaw spoke with a threatening tone.
“We don’t kill our own,” Jeremiah said without a hint of backing down.
“Since when?” Shaw said with displeasure. “We have always purged the weak from our ranks.”
“The world has changed much, old man.”
Shaw released the Hunter that was pinned and quickly grabbed Jeremiah by the forearm, yanking with great strength. Jeremiah was pulled over Shaw’s shoulder and slammed hard on the ground. Shaw raised his foot and stomped down with what would have been fatal. Jeremiah kicked off the wall, spinning in place because he was still being held by the arm. His new positioning avoided being crushed. Both legs came up and put Shaw in an armbar. But Shaw was unimpeded, able to lift his arm along with Jeremiah who was then slammed into the wall. The impact caused Jeremiah to let go, then a hand was at his throat, choking and pinning him. Just the slightest amount of pressure could crush his windpipe and snap his spine. But there was hesitation. Jeremiah was gripping tightly to an object beneath the fabric of Shaw’s clothes that was over his heart.
“You wouldn’t dare,” Shaw challenged. “Without me, this operation is doomed.”
“My people come before the mission,” Jeremiah defied.
Shaw let go, and Jeremiah did the same. Then Shaw said, “I’m tired of you young Templar. Any more failures this foolish and I will start killing each of you. I don’t care if I’m left to do this on my own. At this point, I already feel I might as well be doing this by myself. Understood?”
“Understood,” said six Hunters.
Shaw sighed as he stepped passed them. Reentering the room, he reset the chair and set Olivia back in her place. From his pocket, an ammonia capsule was produced which, once cracked open and placed right below her nose, caused her to wake suddenly.
Olivia swayed her head back and forth in her grogginess. Then so much anxiety struck that she felt she had swallowed her voice. The man discovered to be in the room with her was intimidating in every possible way, from his appearance to the aura he projected.
Shaw took no aggressive action once noticed. He chose to slowly approach as if he were attempting to get near a wounded animal. He took hold of her chin, turning her head left then right to look intently at the sides of her face, then stepped back.
“You’re not a Witch,” Shaw recognized. “By the code of the Templar, I can’t burn you at the stake. But, as a conspirator, I am within my right to have you whipped.”
The threat caused Olivia to sink into the depths of fear, staring wide-eyed as she broke out into a cold sweat.
“Tell me about the others,” he began. “I don’t know your relationship with them, but for your sake and my time, don’t consider being brave.”
“I, I … I don’t know … I don’t know much,” Olivia stammered. “I got wrapped up in this just suddenly. There was an explosion at my husband’s workplace. But that was actually caused by a ‘Gateway?’ that was left open. And he was the one that accidentally opened the door and got lost in another dimension. His sister, Rachael, the redhead, has been trying to get him back by doing rituals. I wanted to help. We were trying to open a portal back in the woods before … before …—”
“What of the other two?” he shifted the subject. “The tall one? The pale one?”
“Emily,” Olivia really tried to think about what she knew. “She’s … works as a psychic. And she doesn’t like Marcy because Marcy uses black magic. And Marcy was committed to a hospital for killing someone years ago. And Emily’s fiancé is Mark, the guy that was with us in the woods—”
“Enough,” he stopped her there, and without anything else, stepped out of the room.
She swallowed fearfully for what she might have said whether right or wrong.
The Hunters stood as firmly in their positions, waiting to receive what information might have been obtained.
Shaw informed them that “She knows nothing that can help us. At least nothing new. She merely confirmed there are only three Witches. For the time being, we’ll keep her locked up to act as bait.”
“Where will we be setting up the trap?” A Hunter asked.
“Right here,” Shaw revealed.
“We ensured that we wouldn’t be tracked,” that was guaranteed.
Shaw sighed. “Were you not listening to me? They’ll find their way here regardless of how thorough you think you were. What we need to do now is prepare for their arrival.”