Chimera BxB

Chapter 12

---Scottie's POV---

A sudden rush of cold, as if jumping head first into a lake during a hot summer day. Cold that sank in your bones, lingered even after you moved away from the source.

The sensation made my fur stand on end, baring my teeth without actually hissing.

Even Ezra shivered after he stepped through the portal, making Ciri smile and tilt her head forwards. "You'll get used to the sensation the more you use a gate."

She chuckled, gesturing with her hand to which she closed the humming portal. My ears flattened almost immediately, eyes darting around to take in the surroundings.

Honestly, I didn't know what to expect when we were invited to the Witches' settlements. My human mind could only think of the crooked houses from tv shows and even offered a memory of a house on chicken legs from some abstract myth.

Instead, there was little visual difference with the werewolf settlement. Simple houses spread out in a quaint village at first glance. Though, if you took time to properly look around, you'd notice specific details about the village that weren't quite normal.

I could feel my fur bristle still, slowly looking around the area. Small details that were off, adding up to create this creepy feeling that this place wasn't natural.

Medicinal plants dotted across the gardens, blooming tropical plants that had no business being in a standard setting like this.

Spectral creatures that shimmered in the sunlight, popping in and out of view. Unknown life forms that appeared and reappeared without further notice, reacting to their environments and the witches in it.

They were even drawn to some of the stronger witches, nuzzling against them and staying close. The more I looked around, the more I felt like if I had been drugged and experienced a bad trip.

Especially when a raven flew overhead and landed on the fencepost. Blinking down with three eyes. Tilting its head as it observed us closely before flying off with a cawed "Guests. Visitors."

"Ah, Creed is already spreading the word that you've arrived." Ciri smiled before pointing at the raven. "My familiar. A little bit too nosy for his own good, but he means well."

I hissed softly, licking my lips as my fur bristled further. After everything I've been through, I had seen enough magic and magical beings for a lifetime.

Ezra's fingers gently patted through my fur, softly reassuring me as we followed the witch. Tail flicking through the air, I turned in Ezra's hold, ears swiveling to pick up any small sound.

There was too much magic in the air to be comfortable. It reminded me too much of the moment where I woke up in Azazel's prison.

The same prickle that had ran over my skin, the eerie sensation that there was something off, something more... Something dangerous.

I didn't need to be told that every single person here could be dangerous. From the small boy holding onto his mother, propped on her hip, down to the elderly couple sitting on their porch.

All of them exuded this....force. A shimmer around them, like you'd spot on the road during a hot blazing summer day.

Perhaps it was feline instincts, elevated senses that allowed me to see all this. I knew cats could see ultraviolet light, but this was something else entirely.

It made me hiss and claw up Ezra's body before hiding in his neck. Thankfully he drew up his hood, probably sensing I needed some sort of cover before the inner feline would freak out and bolt.