Little Red (Twisted Dark, #4)

Chapter Twelve: Back to Hunting

I landed back into the Forest with a snap and immediately shivered, slightly glad my mother had dried my clothes. I could only imagine how damned cold I would have been if I had been out in this shitty weather when they had been damp. As it was the wind was frigid and large snowflakes were starting to fall. I didn't like how the dark sky looked, true it was getting dark out but the clouds made it seem oppressive.

I moved away from the area where the werewolf and I had been fighting and reached out with my magick. I was able to locate a faint pulse from Violet's nearly immediately. It wasn't strong and it was wavering, as if it was far away but it was still there. I silently thanked my mother for finding enough of her magickal signature so I could track her easier. I wished she would have had that earlier but one shouldn't cry over spilled milk. Spilled vodka on the other hand... I fully believed crying was acceptable in that case.

However I shrunk into my jacket, yanking my hood back up over my head and tucking all my fly away curls back into it. I knew I would need to redo my brain but I honestly didn't particularly want to at the moment. I just wanted to find this cousin of mine, tell her that mother wanted to get into contact with her and to please do so, so that she would stop bothering me about it, and then go home. If I happened to bump into tall, handsome, with baby blues on the way then perhaps I could get some fun out of it after all.

I shook my head slightly, pushing forwards into the direction the magicak signature pulsed from. I didn't know how long the walk would take but I knew it would be a hike to get wherever she was. I honestly wondered how the werewolf had known about her. I mean she had been kidnapped by a werewolf and perhaps he knew her from there but I wasn't entirely sure. To be perfectly honest, I didn't really care either way. He let me know I was on the right track and I just hoped he didn't stop me from getting to her this time around.

All I wanted to do was tell her to contact mother, giver her the ways she could contact mother, and then crash in my bed at home because I was just fucking tired of running around like a lost little dog with really no direction to go in. I wasn't a tracker, I didn't do this type of shit. I could have pointed my mother in several directions if she would have just asked. I knew several mercenaries and bounty hunters would have jumped a the chance to help a sorceress, especially one of my mother's calibre. I was also positive a vast majority would have done with for no fees simply because having a sorceress owe you a favour was a big deal.

I huffed out a breath, but then again a bounty hunter wouldn't have backed down to BamBam but even that I didn't understand. Unless Bam suddenly knew Violet was alive, I didn't get how she would even show up when I was there. I didn't get why my mother would choose me when I expressly said I wouldn't be playing peace keeper to end a blood feud between my sister and my previously unknown cousin.

I shook my head again, rolling my eyes slightly. I honestly wouldn't put it past her to do something as asinine as telling Bam where to Violet to force a meeting that I would have to be stuck in the middle of and then call it divine intervention. That thought didn't make me feel any better about anything and rubbed my hands together before stopping with a small shake of my head.

"Fucking dumbass." I said it to myself as I let my magick surge through me, warming my body up. I let it rest against my skin, keeping my temperature up while blocking the wind and snow from reaching me.

I spent more time at the bar than anything else and as a result I didn't exactly think to use magick for a lot of things. Not that I didn't want to but sometimes people got squirrely when it was used so I always tended to default to a 'if I can go without it, I go without it' type of mentality. Not saying that when the bar was closed and it was clean up that I didn't use magick. I did, just for shit like warming myself up I tended to just throw on a jacket, or when someone ordered a beer, I simply handed it over or tossed bottles of booze to my servers when they called for it. Small things like that I never thought to use magick for because I had gotten into the habit of not doing so.

I narrowed my eyes as I sent out another seeking tug and Violet's magick pulsed. It was still faint and the sky had nearly completely darkened and it was getting harder to see, not to mention the snow was coming down harder. I didn't much care for that but mother wanted it done tonight. I wanted to argue but with me having her signature for her magick, I knew I would be able to find her rather quickly. It was just getting to her that was the problem.

While the magickal barrier kept people from seeking her out and didn't stop people from teleporting out or in, you couldn't teleport to where you hadn't seen before. So I couldn't actually use my magick to pinpoint her location and then teleport there. I had never been there and there would be a good chance I would lose a limb or simply eviscerate myself when I attempted it. There was a reason teleportation wasn't a go to travel method for witches. I did it but I also had the power level to it and I was able to use my bracelet to help steady myself. I wouldn't be caught dead trying the magick without my bracelet, that was far too unstable to rip yourself and your magick through space and time without protection.

The snow started to pickup and I cursed as I had to use my magick to create a shield in front of my face so that the snow wouldn't blind me. As it was it was already hard enough to see and I could only imagine it would be getting worse. "Mother, I will kill you. I swear." I ground it out as I hunched my shoulders and pushed forward.

I kept walking, nearly running into trees as the snow started to swirl and I realized I was in a full fucking blizzard. I kept sending my magick out, seeking out Violet's and the only good thing was that it was growing stronger, meaning I was growing closer. I was thankful because I had been walking for far too long already. I gritted my teeth and pushed onwards, I wanted to run but all I had was images of slamming face first into those damn giant ass trees and my mother had so nicely fixed me up from the fight and I didn't want to bust my nose.

I had to walk, so I did and I kept going. I felt blind, I could see nothing but the swirling snow and hear nothing but my own hard breaths and the wind howling through the branches. It felt almost isolating and a part of me wanted to say fuck it and teleport home but something inside of me refused to disappoint my mother after she had explained to her boy toy so well how I behaved and how I was. Having her understand me and have faith in me made me feel like I couldn't disappoint her, not with this. As it was Violet's magick was getting closer, the pulses were vivid and I could almost see it through the snow but I knew it wasn't anything in reality but more mentally. My magick trying to show me what it saw when it pushed against hers slightly.

I felt I was close enough and I reached out with my magick, grabbing onto the very edge of Violet's tethering myself. I closed my eyes and held out my hand, using the invisible tether to guide me to where ever it was that Violet was. Without warning the tether snapped and Violet's magick reached out and slapped me hard enough to make me stumble. "For fuck's sake!" I yelled it out and shook off the tingling in my body that came with the rather vicious slap. "I'm trying to help, Violet!" I called it out, knowing that she couldn't possibly hear me but it made me feel a bit better at being slapped like a misbehaving child.

"Well at least I know she is close." That was the only good thing about that slap, she was within a hundred meters of me somewhere in the trees and I was close enough for her to retaliate to my grab on her magick. I just wished she wouldn't have hit me that hard. I rubbed at the side that her magick had slapped and glowered as I walked forward. I still couldn't see anything and the snow completely filled my field of vision. I wanted to curse because running my magick like I was, was draining and the heat was slowly lessening and I was starting to feel the cold and the snow against my skin.

Which made me just about as happy as my running face first into a wall with an off. I cursed heavily as I reached out nearly blindly before using my magick a bit more. It complained heavily at me and I internally told it to shut up as I realized that I rant into the side of what looked to be a log cabin. I followed the wall around, gently sending my magick out and Violet's magick damn near surged through the wall in another attempt to smack my own. I yanked mine back before ti could reach me and scowled.

"Bitch." I muttered it out slightly as I finally found the front door. I shook my head again and wondered how I should go about it before I shrugged and proceeded to bang on the door as hard as I could.