Wood Witch and the Bounty Hunter

Ronan was a little disoriented when he and Flora were first yanked through the wall and ended up in this creepy dungeon room. If that’s always how it felt to travel via magic, he definitely preferred the longer method. The lingering dizziness quickly faded though as soon as Elise dragged Flora to that bloody table and had her pinned down with the same shadowy, oily-looking substance that was currently squeezing around his ankle.

He tried not to let panic get the better of him, palming a dagger he’d had hidden up his sleeve. He twisted and threw it, and the blade struck Elise in the leg. She hissed and whirled around to scowl at him.

“Keep your hands off of her,” Ronan growled.

“How cute,” Elise drawled. “So you really do care for our little Flora, do you? Well. Lucky you’ll be here to keep her company as you watch her die, then.”

“Touch her and I’ll kill you.”

Elise laughed. “Oh, it’ll almost be a shame to kill you.”

She stalked leisurely over to him, twirling the black blade in her hands. She knelt down to look him in the eye and smirked. “Yes, really a waste. You’re pretty and you’re rather feisty. My “sister dear” has surprisingly good taste in playthings.”

She was kneeling right in front of him and Ronan seized an opportunity while she was distracted being a cocky bitch. He rammed an elbow into her nose and yanked the blade out of her hand. He managed to cut himself free of the shadowy tentacle thing on his leg and scramble to his feet before Elise flung her hand out and sent him flying back into the far wall. The air whooshed out of his lungs and he felt like he’d bruised his spine but he recovered quickly. It was second nature to him to ignore pain, and right now Flora needed him. That was motivation enough. Elise vanished and reappeared directly in front of him. If looks could kill he’d probably have shrieked on the spot. In fact he was a little surprised that she couldn’t kill with a glare.

“You’re cute but you’re starting to get on my nerves,” she snapped at him.

“Only starting? I guess I’ll have to try harder,” Ronan replied. He tried to swing at her with the dark blade but she vanished again. He cursed in frustration.

“Fucking magic,” he grumbled. He lunged across the room at a sprint, trying to reach Flora. He managed to slice through one of the tendrils pinning her down, but Victor and Elise both reappeared before he could finish freeing her. He ducked the punch Victor tried to give him but another burst of magic had him on the floor and skidding slightly. He let out another curse.

“Stop interfering or I’ll make sure your death is agonizingly slow,” Elise said. “Now be a good boy and hand me the knife.”

“Go to hell.”

“You first, sweetie.”

“Don’t you even want to tell us your master plan?” Ronan asked. “Come on, where’s the grand reveal? You’re going to kill us anyway, aren’t you? We should at least get to know what you’re planning.”

He could see Flora struggling to get free of the tendrils holding her in place; he didn’t know if she’d be able to but he figured he’d buy her some time to try at least. He’d promised to keep her alive and he was damn well going to make sure he kept his word. Getting her to talk seemed like a good way to distract Elise, she seemed to enjoy hearing herself talk.

“We’re going to make the non-witches crawl like the little vermin they are, and then demand their utter obedience to keep all the plagues and monsters away. It’s pretty simple, really. We’ll show them that magic is good for more than cheap parlor tricks. You told me to go to hell a moment ago. Well, bounty hunter, I’d rather bring hell to all the good citizens of Lionsdale.”

“Enough, Elise. We don’t need to tell them anything,” Victor said.

“And you think your lover boy here won’t sacrifice you too, once you’ve served your purpose?” Ronan asked. “Clearly he has no problem sacrificing his own kind to this cause of his.”

“Cause of ours,” Elise snarled. Ronan shrugged.

“Sure, okay. If you say so.”

“Enough of this,” Victor snapped. “Elise, get the damn knife back and perform the sacrifice so we can get on with it.”

Ronan thought he saw Flora break one of her bonds and he scooted further back as Elise came stalking forward to take the knife. She looked a bit crazed. Ronan lashed out with the blade and seemed to catch her off guard when he actually left a cut on her face. Then her expression twisted into a mask of hatred. She made a slight screeching noise and dove at him. He staggered back. He wanted to check Flora’s progress on getting loose but he couldn’t look away from Elise because she was coming at him like a wild animal.

Elise vanished and reappeared behind him, kicking his knee and knocking him off balance for a moment. It was enough time for her to wrestle the knife out of his hand and vanish again. Ronan flung himself to the side frantically, trying to shield Flora. But he didn’t know exactly where Elise would reappear. Her face appeared directly in front of him, a cold smile on her lips. Ronan jerked as pain unlike anything he’d ever felt before ripped through him. He looked down to see the dark blade buried to the hilt in his abdomen. He winced when Elise twisted it slightly. The pain was too enormous for him to even cry out as she yanked the blade free. He was dimly aware that Flora screamed his name.

Pain and a horrible stinging cold made the world grow a little hazy. He reached up to try and staunch the flow of blood. There was a lot of it. He slumped against the stone table.

“Well, fuck. That’s unfortunate,” he said hoarsely.

“Ronan,” Flora said. He managed to twist his body slightly and look over at her. She looked stricken and he felt really shitty for letting her down. But no, she was pushing herself up so maybe he had bought her enough time after all.

“It looks worse than it is,” he said, his own voice sounding like it was coming from far away. Then he crumpled to the floor.