Spellbound

Chapter 8

A/N: Wish I had someone to kick my tuckus over this stuff and keep me in gear. Any volunteers? Sorry if this chapter seems rather impersonal. Im writing in class ;)

(Corinne)

One moment I was there, and the next I wasnt. A warm tingling sensation coursed through me as I moved from one place to the next. With what had to be an audible boom, I reappeared in someplace dark. I stood a moment with my eyes closed reveling in the sensation as the warm tingling faded from my head and all the way down to my toes.

I felt my skin warm, and then burn as three super hot fireballs raced past me on either side I turned as fast as I could lashing out with an arc of energy, a whip of lightning. The arc struck, not the soft flesh of the witch, but a giant ball of fur confusing me greatly. The smell of burnt flesh and hair rose thick, tightening my throat. What blocked my bolt? What got between me and that witch? Was it a casting? Was it the result of a ceremony? The dim light made it hard to tell.

With a jolt I realized that the witch was down, and that my confusion had left me vulnerable to attack, had she been conscious. The little light filtering through the windows wasnt enough for me to make out any details as to why she was down, and what that dark lump several feet away was. The imprint of the arc of lightning on my retinas also obstructed my vision. Its like looking into the flash of the camera as it goes off, and you see spots afterwards. I wasnt seeing spots, I was seeing a streak. It took some time before it went away, but when it did I cast an illumination casting. I stepped forward to examine the woman that kidnapped Ian. My sneakers splashed in some sort of  liquid as I approached her. I looked down and realized it was blood and that there was pale and pink bits here and there. As I got closer I looked at the woman's face. Below her chin I could see her torn and mangled throat. How in hell had that happened?

 Chills went up my spine as adrenaline surged through my veins. I started another arc casting and looked for the thing that got in my way. It was a lumped on the floor about ten feet away from the witches body. I approached it slowly with the illumination casting in one hand and the arc trying to escape from the fingertips of my other. As I got closer, I could make out features of a muzzle and ears. It was a large dog, wait no it was a wolf, an extremely large wolf.

I stood frozen, half in fear and half in a daze as it slowly got up and turned toward me. He, for I could see that now, favored his front left leg. The arc had hit him right on the shoulder near his ribs. There was a blackened patch of skin where the fur had been burnt away. I took a step forward as if to catch him when he crumpled.