Chapter Seven: Trouble comes in Three
~ Marie ~
Marie sat at the table sipping her coffee, hoping the caffeine would kick in soon. She’d woken up from another nightmare and was still feeling groggy. Normally, after something like that, she would be fine to start her day but she hadn’t gotten much sleep last night either.
Periodically throughout the night, she’d been woken up by the howling of wolves. There were occasions where she’d been about to doze off and more howling would wake her up. Later when she’d woken up from her nightmare, the adrenaline rush she normally got afterwards only lasted long enough for her to get up and make coffee. Now she was just drained. She couldn’t even take a nap later like she normally would have done. With Adrian close by, she needed to get as much work as she could done. Marie frowned. She needed to get used to this soon or she wouldn’t be getting anywhere.
Marie glared at her coffee. She should have tried harder to find some way to counter the blood link but she hadn’t found anything new. If only she’d spent more time looking. It was likely that the blood link was still active. It’d only been about a week since he’d done it. Since he was a Master vampire, a week was probably the very minimum it should last. Then again given his smirk from last night, she had a feeling it would last another week. Maybe more. Not like asking would help. Adrian wouldn’t tell her.
She sighed before she took another sip. Marie was still a little tired. She glanced at the coffee maker. Would three cups of coffee be too much for the afternoon?
Marie stood up and stared at the pitcher for a moment. She emptied out the rest of the coffee in the sink and cleaned it with magic. She needed to get further along in her investigation before Adrian woke up. There wasn’t enough information. The only thing she knew for sure was that someone had activated something near the barn and near Leon’s house. She glanced at her watch. It was too late for lunch and too soon for dinner. The werewolves probably wouldn’t be at the main house but maybe, if she was lucky, Peter would be. She needed to ask him if any of the wolves could use magic. If it was a pack member then she would be able to narrow things down quickly.
Marie closed the front door behind her as she scanned the area for magic. Her eyes stopped on three men just inside the forest. They were dressed similarly in faded jeans and t-shirts. Their build and height were similar too, though the one in the center was slightly taller than the other two. The real difference between them was the color of their hair. Blond, brown, and black. The blond in the center gave her a brief nod before they turned and went into the forest. Did they know something or did they just want to see who she was? Marie went to the main house but stopped at the back door when she heard an angry voice.
“..is the Guardian going to help?! What do we even need her here for?” That sounded like Grayson.
“Were you even listening? Dad told us— ”
“Dad’s not here right now! We don’t need her!” Peter had begun to talk but his voice was cut off by Grayson again.
“Calm down. She’s not going to be here forever. She’s only going to be here until the end of the Rite then she’s leaving.” That was Abigail’s voice.
“If Dad hadn’t gotten sick….” Grayson continued to speak, his sullen voice dropping to a whisper. She couldn’t hear the last part.
“You know that it’s not just that. He wanted to pass the leadership on.” Abigail’s voice sounded like it moved further into the room. Marie barely heard what she was saying. She thought about heading inside but the siblings would probably hear her. “Now Peter and I are going into town to pick up some things. Try not to start any fights. Ok?” Abigail’s voice sounded like it was starting to head towards her now. Getting louder with every word.
“Fine.” Grayson’s voice was also starting to get closer. It was time for her to leave before they found her there. Talking to Peter would have to wait until he came back. Marie walked halfway back to the room before she changed course and started walking towards the forest. It wasn’t as early as she would like but this way she should be able to see more of the forest than she’d seen yesterday.
Just inside the trees, something purple caught her eye. Marie knelt down. It was a small purple flower. She glanced around looking for the place it came from but didn’t find any other flowers near her. Marie stood up. Jesse had mentioned something about seeing a purple flower yesterday at the second magic spot. Did this have something to do with the magic that was left behind? It was something to look into later. She glanced around but didn’t see anything else that caught her eye. Marie picked a direction at random and headed deeper into the forest.
After about ten minutes of walking, Marie found a small area where she could sit. So far, she hadn’t picked up any magic on the way here but with any luck, she might pick up something once she extended her range. She placed a slightly stronger barrier than she normally used on herself. Marie scanned the ground for any bugs or large rocks before she sat down and tried to get comfortable. Marie took one last look at her surroundings. There was nothing out of the ordinary. She wrote out the spell on her right arm before filling it with magic. This spell would allow her to double her magic sensing range. Marie closed her eyes and pulled her focus inward. Slowly, she pushed her focus outward, extending her senses little by little. Once she reached her limit, she held it there. She already felt the strain from holding her senses out this far but this was necessary. Given how large the area was, this was just a fraction of the total area she could be searching.
Marie wasn’t sure how long she stayed sitting there, waiting for something. A headache was beginning to form in the back of her eyes. If she shut her senses down and rested, the headache would go away but she didn’t want to do that just yet. Marie tried to push her range out just a little further but she was already at max range. She couldn’t go any further. Marie froze. It was like something brushed up against her senses. Someone was using magic. Marie jumped up and nearly fell over. She leaned against a tree for support before she rushed to get to where she felt the magic.
She stumbled several times on her way there. Tree roots and uneven terrain were proving difficult for her to navigate along with the fact that she hadn’t shut down the spell properly. The recoil was causing her to feel tired and a little out of focus. Marie stopped after nearly tripping once again. She leaned against a tree to catch her breath. At the rate she was going, the magic user was probably already gone. She sighed in frustration. It was possible that the spell being used was harmless but with pack leadership on the line, she couldn’t just hope that something terrible wouldn’t happen. She needed to think of a better way to find out who was using magic.
A branch snapped to her left and she straightened up. She still had her barrier up. It should be able to absorb a good deal of damage but, just in case, Marie got ready to use her sleep spell. A man stepped out from behind a tree and she waited to see what he’d do. It looked like one of the men that had been staring at her earlier. The one with blond hair stood there, looking her over.
“Did you need something?” He looked her up and down a moment more before his gaze settled on her face.
“Wanted to see the Guardian.” He leered at her as he took a step closer.
“You saw me and now I need to go.” The magic user might be gone but they might have left something behind. She had a general idea of where the magic had come from. If she hurried, she might find a stronger trace of magic left behind. Maybe even see what spell they’d used. Marie stepped back to put distance between them.
“Hold on. I didn’t get a good look.” Another man, the one with brown hair, stood to her right. She turned and found the last man, the one with black hair behind her, blocking her in. Marie kept her back against a nearby tree as she eyed them. The barrier would take care of the first attack then she could put them to sleep if she needed to.
“Touch me and you won’t like the consequences.” The three men laughed as they took another step closer.
She waited.
The three of them were only a few feet away. Marie tensed. If she couldn’t put them to sleep fast enough then she needed to be ready to shock them. It would only be a last resort, though. She didn’t want to cause any problems for the pack. Attacking outsiders wouldn’t look impartial. Either way, she needed to finish this up quickly and be on her way.
“I can’t get a good look if y’all don’t move out of the way.” Jesse leaned against a tree a couple of feet away. His smile didn’t reach his eyes as he stood up and started walking towards them.
“What do you want?” The blond straightened up to his full size.
“Ganging up on a woman isn’t very gentlemanly.”
“Ganging up? We just wanted to talk to the Guardian. Isn’t that right?” He smirked as the other men went to stand beside him. They laughed but the sound was harsh.
“Well, let me know when y’all are done. I wanted to speak to the Guardian too.” He went back to leaning against a tree. “I’ll just wait right here.” The one with black hair muttered something but she couldn’t hear it from here. The one with brown hair took a step forward but Jesse didn’t move an inch.
“Hold on. We can resolve this.” The blond haired man put his arms out in front of the other two, keeping them back. He grinned maliciously. “The werewolf way of course. Unless you don’t think you can win?” The man turned around and headed back towards her. “We’ll just go back to having a chat with the Guardian.”
“Let’s do it.” Jesse stood and took a step forward.
“Then let’s go.” The three of them turned into wolves. They stared at Jesse for a moment before the gray and white wolf led the way. The reddish brown wolf and white wolf followed him as they disappeared behind some brush. Jesse glared at them for a moment before looking at her.
“You should head back. It’s not safe to be out here in the dark.” It was getting darker but she didn’t need the warning. He transformed into a large black wolf that had a small splotch of white around his throat.
“I—.” Too late. Jesse glanced at her before he raced after the others. Tsk. Those three used her to bait Jesse. Their goal was to cut down on the competition. During the Rite of Accord, any wolf could compete for the pack’s leadership. Outsiders could also compete but participation was more dangerous for them. There was no way to tell if an outsider left because they wanted to or if they were chased away. It made them easy targets.
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