What Goes Bump In The Night

XI: Wolf Hunt

"Nothing! Just leave me alone!"

I cry in a panic while Pearce frantically looks for somewhere to hide, but there's not a spot anywhere in sight.

"Are you okay? You sound panicked. If you need medical help I could-"

Emerging from the shadows, I leap out and raise my hands to stop her. She leaps in fear for a moment but then scans me up and down.

"Why are you in your formals?"

"No reason, come with me, I have something to show you."

She doesn't buy my panicked attempt to steer her away, instead looks past me and must notice something moving.

"Is someone back there? Langhardt, what in the world is going on with you?"

Pearce suddenly emerges from behind me, damn near giving Tamara a heart attack.

"Hello, sorry to bother you! I came to the Church looking to put in a request, I got lost and so this lovely lady offered to help me."

With little left as far as options go, I just nod fervently when Tamara looks at me for verification.

"I see. You do realize this floor is off-limits to visitors, right? How did you get in here?"

Pearce scratches his head and I turn around to see a distant window wide open.

"Just sort of wandered around until I found someone, I'm really sorry."

"Well, what is it you wish to request? I can relay it to the woman in charge for you."

Improvising, he spits this out.

"There are lycans in town, I saw them this morning."

Her eyes go wide and I snap my head to Pearce.

"In the city?!"

She sputters, completely malfunctioning at the thought of any lycans being in the capital.

"Yeah, if you could just go and relay that-"

Pearce begins but is cut off quickly by Tamara turning to me and barking an order.

"This is an extremely urgent matter, we must attend to this at once. Come, you will assist me. Sir, lead us to the lycans."

We share a look, unsure what to do now. So, we follow Tamara out of the Church and onto the streets.

"I'm quite curious as to what this will hold for us."

Tamara mutters to herself while striding through the streets, chin held high. Her bright blonde hair flows elegantly from her head, waving like a fishtail as she puts a lot of showmanship into her gait.

"Pearce, whatever you do-"

I whisper to the hairy man beside me.

"-don't transform in front of her."

"Why not?"

He looks genuinely curious, but I just give him the side eye.

"Why are you two dawdling? We have wolves to catch!"

The longer she talks the more I get the sense she hasn't been outside much. Like the rest of us, she carries out her quota of cases. Maybe she's given easy ones and hardly has to deal with any difficult feats. Come to think of it, I'm not sure I even know what type of spells she utilizes. Pearce suddenly taps on my shoulder, leans down to my ear, and whispers while still looking at the Priest's Daughter.

"She's a Witch, right?"

"Yeah."

"How come she looks so... absent? No, green is more like it."