Who's hunting Who? Chapter 42. (Patreon)

Hello! Have a chapter! Hopefully this will get your mind off the insane heat wave going around.

Please enjoy.

The warehouse was there. If this Bethany had any idea we'd killed her minion, there was no outward sign. I lowered my glasses and carefully lowered myself past the window sight line.

"Well?" Vivian asked. She was still clearly nervous, but being away from the coffee shop and the horrors within was doing wonders for her courage.

If you ignored the way the hand holding her whip trembled, ever so slightly.

"Nothing going on," I answered. This would be much easier if I could just send Gray in, but there could be a trap designed for witches in there somewhere, so I wouldn't risk it. Instead, Cat was taking a bit of a look her own way, using some form of skill or ability I didn't have access to. Just one of the perks of being her, I guess. As long as she had energy for it.

She had made the excuse of making sure no one escaped from the water and gone her own way. Judging from the lack of signals or her crying at me, that hadn't happened.

Because of course it hadn't; whoever was in there, Bethany something, was going to make us come get her. The most dangerous of things to do, but it was my job. Even when it wasn't my job, it was still my job.

Cat or not, I knew I'd be going first. I'd known that since I'd walked in and ordered a coffee before; the real debate was how. Vivian wanted to go and rally the troops.

I was going to let her.

"Alright, you're up. Go get about twenty of your best; pick them yourself, don't let the brass do it. Go... casually. Nonchalance, everything is fine, nothing is wrong."

Vivian nodded and started out of the warehouse we'd took cover in, only skipping a slight beat when she walked past the coffee shop, where our latest victim still lay. We couldn't risk alerting the witch by alerting the authorities - not before we moved.

I'd be moving without the authorities, of course. Vivian would take fifteen, twenty minutes to organize a squad; plenty of time to hit this witch and kill her.

That or fail and die, in which case whatever Vivian did after wouldn't matter.

I moved, heading around the back, using the back door. Gray's friends had already cleared it, and if we both went out the same way, it would be a dead giveaway to anyone watching.

A quick loop around, and I approached from down the street, doing a bit better at being part of the crowd than Vivian had been. I didn't even have blood on my clothes, which was a great help. It also was something that didn't happen often. I'd probably made a wrong turn somewhere regarding that.

Briefly, I wondered what Mom would say. My real Mom, not the bitch skin-riding her and acting all concerned even now. Maybe one day I'd ask... but probably not, since the answer would be a lie. A lie meant to piss me off, knowing her.

No one was getting near the door to the target warehouse, most even going so far as to take steps to the side to give it a wider berth. Even so, there was no other door, so I'd have to break whatever magic was being used here and go in. It wasn't like I felt it anyway.

My hat, disguised as glasses, would be useful here;

I pulled them back out and put them on, slowing only a little as I scanned for traps.

I saw two, none of which were specifically dangerous, and both of which could be easily disarmed.

No time like the present; I altered course, taking note of how no one paid any attention to me doing so, and hit the door. The trap tied to the door was simply dealt with mechanically, and the spell over the doorway? A simple counter spell. The counter spell took both out really, neither spell surviving the pulse of anti-magic I leveled at it. It even took out the spell warping the road beyond.

Whoever this was, they weren't a big name; I barely needed to do anything. Still, whoever this Bethany was, she knew I was here now, so she should be coming to meet me.

Past the little foyer room, the warehouse was dark and mostly empty, some few pallets filled with wooden boxes along one wall, another set of pallets of something in the center... and not a single thing moving.

Right. I picked a light stick from my bag of tricks and snapped it. This was one of the ones Gray had made for me, so it was bright enough to almost coat the room wall-to-wall. Nothing revealed itself save some footprints in the caked on dust.

They led to the other side, the side with a boat slip.

Nothing. The remains of some boxes, some rotting ropes... not even a boat.

Shit. That meant she was on the water... or under it. Of course, she'd be under it, because that was how my luck ran. Sonofa....

"So?"

Even being used to Cat, she got me. "Damnit! I'm going to give you bells!"

"Wouldn't help," Cat informed me. "But a collar would be sexy."

I wasn't trying to hear that. "I don't want to know your kinks."

"Prude!" She snapped back immediately.

Which fired me up! I was not a wrinkly fruit! "Bitch!"

She stopped, not even breathing, and loomed. Loomed as only she could.

My hand was on my gun before I realized it, but she stopped just as suddenly and smiled: "Just kidding! No offense taken."

She even flashed me the peace sign. Had I won or lost a round?

It didn't matter. "Okay. I'm thinking our target is in the river."

Cat made a show of looking around, trying to spot something I'd missed. "Not on it?"

"No boat was seen leaving the warehouse. Not by you, and not by the previous watchers. I could believe the rookies missed something, but you? Why go through all that trouble of setting up a living tripwire, then just leaving it behind for no reason? No, she took off when we clipped her minion, but she went under and not over."

"Truly, you have a dizzying intellect," It sounded like Cat was mocking something, but it sounded distant, as if not directed at me. "So, what do we do?"

What did she mean? "What do you even mean? We follow, and see if we can pick up a trail."

She could be anywhere along the riverbed by this point, or even out of the city if she was suited for water travel. She wouldn't be the first siren or mer-witch I'd fought.

I hated getting wet and having to swim around, but it wouldn't inconvenience me; I wouldn't allow it.

My glasses extended, becoming the helmet I was used to, or had been used to, at one point. It would allow me to breathe underwater for an hour or more.

Cat just shrugged and pulled her top off, showing off her undershirt - and the gills she was growing. Interesting trick; I wonder who she'd stolen it from.

It didn't matter.

I was still going to play the part of decoy, so I kept my light as I eased myself in. The water was cold, of course, but here it wasn't very murky, and so I was able to see every single piece of vine or crap in the water. Every single one was a hazard that could keep a normal person hung up under the depths until they died.

A ping from my helmet told me the truth, even as my eyes did. She hadn't done anything, this witch. she hadn't even moved. She was still there, at the riverbed, her hair looking like so much kelp in the current and her eyes wide open pearls.

Her familiar had to be that rather large, dopey looking catfish swimming around her in large slow circles.

Her face was calm enough, and why shouldn't it be? I was a fellow witch, not Hunt. The Hunt were no more, so even if I'd killed her friend and tripwire, I could be reasoned with. She thought we had common ground.

The thought enraged me like no other. As if I would be as weak as her.

My guns were firing before I realized they were in my hands, and her surprise was total. Even so, she had a shield which blocked the first two shots, and she twisted like an eel to avoid the next two.

Couldn't really avoid the next four, though.

Cat streaked by me, and true to her namesake, caught the fish. A bit untrue to her namesake, she stuffed it in her mouth and swallowed it whole.  Not an image I wanted to see, but there it was.

The witch was drifting, now, her hold on the riverbed broken, her eyes already glassing over.

Easy. Simple. Now, there were no witnesses left to any of the more sensitive documents out there, or the knowledge of who we really were. I snagged the body, which was heavier than it looked, and heaved. A little harmless evidence wouldn't hurt. A body or two might even sell our cause; if so, it wouldn't be the first time witches have killed their own in order to infiltrate. Not that too many knew that.

After far too long, I managed to tear the bleeding corpse free of everything; all the stuff that I had known would grab a person, grabbed a person, which meant I had to hack or shoot whatever it was. A good thing my guns worked underwater - they hadn't always.

Cat was long gone, so no help there; but by the time I could see the gloom of the warehouse, Vivian was leaning down above the water; she helped me with the last leg of things (literally) by yanking as I pushed.

One waterlogged corpse, delivered.

Shit, if she saw my helmet... I changed it quick, to a far more simple rebreather. Something some few of us Hunt had been known to carry for underwater missions. It would have meant coming up for air often, but it was more readily explained than how I'd actually done it here.

The light from my glow stick had been behind me and my head half hidden by a corpse, so maybe she hadn't seen? I really didn't want to accident her.

Cat loomed behind her, unseen.

"Impressive," Vivian said, her attention on the corpse. "How do your weapons work underwater?"

They used light now. "The ammunition is sealed."

"Explosive rounds?" Vivian asked, turning the body over.

"Sometimes," I replied, hauling myself out of the water. "She seemed to count on her gills to save her."

This close, it was easy to see that she too had gills on the sides of her neck. I guess some witches followed a theme or something. Or history repeated, something like that.

"Truly, the hunt's technology is second to none. Would you happen to have more of those?"

She was pointing to my rebreather, half an eye still checking the corpse.

I made a show of returning it to behind my belt, where it might even go properly if it was simply what it appeared to be. "No, but this should be the only one. Only two sets of tracks through the warehouse, and we've accounted for both."

"That is flimsy evidence," she commented, turning to me. "I would be more happy if you had managed to interrogate this one."

Well well, I knew she had it in her. I shook my head, hitting her and Cat both with the water pouring from my hair. Cat looked annoyed; served her right: "No such luck. I couldn't stay under for long, and the half fish there could swim faster than me. I had to hit her with something she couldn't outrun."

Come to think of it, that might have been the witch's intention... under the water, she would have drastically cut down the options of most witches. Any other witch but me, probably. It wasn't like Olivia could nail her there, at least not easily.

Cat could, of course; the seemingly young witch (who was older than Olivia) seemed to have a spell for every occasion. She was standing down now, it being clear to both of us that Vivian was none the wiser here. Her top was once again brushing her neck, but I was certain she had long since lost her gills.

"Still, doing all this yourself is impressive. Well, the two of you." Vivian gushed, clasping her hands in front of her and giving me the dewy eyes. Cat she seemed to dismiss entirely, which was amusing.

"Generators make a difference. Once ours break, we won't be nearly as effective."

Most members of the Hunt knew a bit of maintenance, but if anything serious went wrong, the mad science department had to take over. I wonder where they are now; surely they had survived... they were under orders to evacuate should Central ever begin to fall.

There was nothing for it; I needed to visit the place. Before all the evidence of what happened was gone. Besides, several of our enemies were no doubt still there.

"Then we better take full advantage while we can," Vivian declared. "Do you think there are other witches in the city?"

I did. "It is likely, but who can say? A town this big usually hides three or four just because, before their egos get the better of them. That said, we're an open challenge to any of them, so if some are here, they should be showing themselves."

Especially now, with two witches down to none of ours. Anyone left would certainly be looking into how that happened. Well, once they knew. Which was why we'd make sure they knew.

"Be sure to announce the containment and capture of two witches, and give the details on where. Some prison out in the edge of town or similar." All cities had one of those. "We stay there, any witches seeking to let their comrades out swoop in, all fire and fury, and bam! more dead witches."

Vivian thought about it for a moment, then nodded: "Sounds like a plan. I'll run it by the higher ups."

"Don't take too long; the announcement should be made in the evening news cycle."

Witch kills or captures were big news, no normal news agency would wait on that. If we were lucky, it could wait until morning, but I'd seen a witch figure the trap out with less.

"Of course. In any event, we should cordon off this place, the cafe, and the armory just in case. A few more eyes will help us, even if we don't sell the illusion."

She was learning.

"Right, I'll leave it to you. I'm a little... Well, I want to clean up."

Once this dried, it was going to be just awful.

Vivian gave me a once over; "yes, this isn't your job anyway. You should head back to the hotel."

Cat fell in as I slapped the old door open. The troops Vivian had brought were out here in force, keeping people away from the building and looking as intimidating as they could. Which, while not much, was something. It was also a reminder that she had entered the building alone to look for Cat and I, which defeated the entire purpose of gathering reinforcements in the first place. I'd have to have a talk with her about that later. After a hot bath and a large beer. Maybe even some wine.

"Are you?" Cat asked.

"One of Gray's friends is on the job."

Vivian didn't appear to have seen anything, but until we were sure, at least one saucer was going to be above her head in stealth mode. Just in case.