The Crucivire

Chapter Nineteen: A Savage Instinct

The optional training began, and Alice's favorite subject, by far, was magic theory. The most fundamental rule of magic was that one could only cast a spell over something they had a measure of authority over. You could cast spells on yourself, for instance, or something you've made with your own hands. If someone transferred ownership of an object as a gift or a sale, one could cast a spell on that.

There were ways around it, however. Witchcraft, also known as black magic, was the practice of consorting with evil spirits, giving something up in exchange for power. This was strictly forbidden, as such spirits would start to demand higher and higher prices until they required one's soul. While the hunters couldn't say with certainty what the soul was, the practical effect of an evil spirit demanding one's soul was the complete and total surrender of one's willpower. Once you gave that up, you were effectively no longer human and as dangerous as any supernatural creature the Night Hunters fought.

For this reason, witches and warlocks were treated as supernatural monsters, no matter how far along they were. The evil spirit would do everything in its power to force you to give up your willpower. Consort with one long enough, and it was only a matter of time until they twisted you into what they wanted.

Of course, with magic fading from the world, the kind of spirits one could consort with had difficulty manifesting in our world, and any would be witches and warlocks had drastically reduced power since medieval times. There was a safety in knowing that modern practitioners of black magic could do little more than hex you with a cold or a headache. Overall, Alice found magic theory a fascinating subject.

Werewolf taming, by contrast, was downright terrifying.

Alice found herself sitting face to face with a curly haired, blonde woman wearing a long, simple robe. This woman had dimpled cheeks and wore a perky smile. Alice looked her over just a little nervously. Apparently, werewolves were dangerous enough that each meeting like this had to be given a single room to reduce accidents, which didn't make Alice feel better about the situation. Captain Wagner stood behind her, and to the side stood a stern looking middle aged woman with frizzy brown hair and scars on her face, including her lip. This woman had been introduced as the head of the werewolf division, Captain Stella Reinhardt.

"This woman is a werewolf?" asked Alice.

"Yes," said Captain Reinhardt with a raspy voice. "This woman is a werewolf."

Alice looked back.

"Hi," said the other woman. "I'm Hayden, Hayden Pierce. Nice to meet you. And yeah," she sighed. "I'm a werewolf."

Alice shook her hand, unsure how she should feel about this.

"What's with the robe?" asked Alice.

"This suit is specially designed to facilitate the transformation," said Hayden. "You know, so I don't just rip clothing every time I change. Robes are easier to construct like this. You'll see when I transform."

"Fair enough," said Alice. "So, how does this work? Do we only work together during the full moon?"

"That's how it used to work, back when the Night Hunters first started taming werewolves. Since then, we've found better ways of making this work."

Hayden then reached to her neck and pulled out some sort of small silver amulet dangling from a chain.

"Inside this amulet," said Hayden. "Is a piece of moonrock brought back from the lunar landings and encased in silver."