Hunters and Hybrids

Chapter 9

Joelle sat in The Inn, frustration and anger pouring off her in waves. A few of the clientele looked over at her in the corner but avoided her.

She had gone to The Inn soon after arriving at the cabin to give Callen his next dose of her potion; this would have been the one to make the change permanent. To keep him as a wolf, as her pet forever. She had arrived to find her cabin in ashes and no sign of Callen.

Knowing that if anything were happening, The Inn would be the best place to find information, she ordered herself a drink and sat in the corner.

Sykes watched her from his vantage point behind the bar, she hadn't noticed him, but most didn't. He was the barkeep, not a major player in anything. Sykes allowed anything in his bar as long as it didn't break Fay rules, this was and always would be a safe place for all Ne'er worlders to meet.

Tim had been by earlier looking for his mother and had told Sykes what was going on in the Mortal Realm.

So, when Joelle entered, he had kept an eye on the Witch, who had been keeping his ward's friend imprisoned. Sykes himself had seen Callen a few times as a child. He'd even offered to take him in, but that had been vetoed when Springtime had left her child with him, more for Callen's sake than Tim's as she had no idea what her mother was going to do in retribution for her transgression.

Sykes had kept an eye on Callen during his younger years, letting him sleep in one of the storehouses that was attached to The Inn, allowing him to clean the yard for food and a place to sleep. He'd always felt sorry for the boy, seeing the way some of the other Ne'er worlders treated him. Although not breaking Fay laws, they would still abuse the boy because he was a hybrid.

After Tim had been born, Gaia had gone crazy and banned any interbreeding at all. Making Callen even more of a target, more than once he had been the subject of an attack by Ne'er worlders trying to eradicate all hybrids hoping that Gaia would change her mind.

Sykes was glad that Tim and Callen hadn't known each other then. Both boys were kind hearted and Tim would have hated even indirectly to know he had been the cause of some of Callen's pain.

In Sykes's mind, both were his boys and he looked out for them.

He watched silently as Joelle toyed with her drink as if waiting for someone. Surprisingly, he didn't have to wait long as a hunter walked into the bar. Sykes had to smile at the fact that the Comescu had chosen to hide his face with a cloak, not realizing that all the other patrons in the bar had known who is was from the second he walked in. After all, Comescu's were mortal and they just oozed difference. The only time he really noticed was when Tim brought those mortals he worked with to The Inn. Sykes had known that Gibbs knew something of the Ne'er, he wasn't sure what, but the man had not shown as much unease with the situation. Gibbs had been one of the few mortals Sykes had met that he respected.

Grabbing a cloth Sykes started wiping down the tables getting closer to the one Comescu and Joelle the Witch were occupying.

"He's dead... The mutt ripped his throat out..." Comescu said.

"So he's still alive?" Joelle asked a small smile creeping over her face.

"So I hear, he's still a wolf, though, your spell worked, he can't turn human." Comescu gave a short laugh, "All you need to do is get him the last dose."

"He's with the Kolcheck Pack, they are protecting him."

"Dogs, the lot of them." Joelle snapped, "They can't protect him. That's the beauty of the spell, Callen is mine. All I need is access to the grounds. Does Kolcheck have a portal on site or does he use a communal one?" She asked.