Lucius

23

Lucius reluctantly tells Faline goodbye. He has a bad feeling about this night. Not about his dealing with the coven of renegade witches, but at leaving Faline home alone. It doesn't matter that Faline is with Tina, he'd feel a lot better about things if Tina had been able to place the shield around the property.

"You should go, Steven doesn't like waiting anymore than you do." Lucius detests waiting. If someone doesn't show up on time then they will find themselves summarily chewed out. If it was a potential business deal, there better be a damn good reason for them to be late. Like a traffic accident where they are hospitalized kind of reason.

"Yes, love." Lucius bends down and kisses her one last time. "I don't like the feeling I'm having right now about leaving you. Make sure that you stay near Tina until I get home."

Faline gives him  a dark look, "You don't trust me to be able to defend myself?"

"Love, if there is anyone able to defend themselves, it would be you. I don't know what mischief Darin has planned. I don't know how strong his attack will be. I need to know that you'll be safe so that I can concentrate on dealing with the black bitches."

Faline gives him a disapproving look, "You know that I don't approve of that term. You are all too fond of it, it seems."

"You aren't and never were a bitch, Faline. They are. They aren't much different than female vampires actually. I'm not sure which group gives the other lessons in bitchiness." Lucius smirks as Faline playfully hits his arm.

"Go play with the black bitches then. What are you going to do with them?"

Lucius smiles darkly, and even though Faline knows that he'd never hurt her, it makes her shiver. "All black witches are under an order of death. Not just the vampire council, but the wolf council and the witch council. I have no intentions of allowing any of them to live long enough to go to trial. It's too easy for them to escape."

Faline snorts derisively, "Sure, whatever, you just haven't terrified any supernaturals for awhile and so you want to let your inner beast out."

Lucius caresses her face, "I love that you know me so well." Lucius reluctantly pulls back from his lover and leaves his home. It takes a great deal of effort to not look back, but if he looked back he might not leave.

He promises himself that he'll deal with the witches as quickly as possible and return. He's willing to bet that Darin knows about the witches. He's willing to bet that Darin is banking on Lucius leaving Faline behind.

Now he has to bet on whether that spell and Faline's training will be more than what Darin sends to kill her. He also hopes that Tina is able to do something to help Faline should his hunches be right.

Lucius meets up with Steven and his pack of wolves a short distance from the territory the witches claimed. When Steven found out that black witches had moved in next door he was beyond worried and more than willing to work with Lucius to exterminate the threat.

They can all sense the magic and smell the taint of the blackness. It makes them all snarl, including Lucius. The smell makes the clean earth smell of the forest become as decay and death. Something none of them appreciate.

The wolves turn to their four footed selves and with Lucius surge forward.

Lucius feels a slight resistance as he moves forward, but then he's through the shield. He smirks, the witches should have set the shield against other supernatural creatures. The wolves didn't have any problem either. With the wolf pack as their next door neighbor you'd think they would have done so.

Then all hell breaks loose. He's too busy dodging attacks to smirk at the witches. When one attack actually hits he can feel the spell activate and protect him. He thanks Faline for demanding he get it.

He narrows his eyes in anger and goes after the one that almost killed him. When the witch sees the wicked look on Lucius's face she backs up before full out running away.

Lucius takes out any witch that gets in his way, but he never loses sight of his quarry. She looks enough like Tina for him to guess that this witch is the one responsible for this damn black coven in the first place.

All around there are shrieks of pain and anger as the witches realize that their magic is no match against the very fast and agile creatures they are up against.

The wolves are merciless when they take down a witch. They use their claws to rip her open and then bite her in as many killing ways as possible.

Lucius smiles, his prey has been cornered.

"Your sister sends her regrets that she wasn't able to join this party." Lucius says just to see what the witch's reaction would be.

"My sister? What does she have to do with this?" The female is confused.

Lucius leans forward a little as if sharing a secret with her, "She's the one that told me you moved in next door. I couldn't let my new neighbors come without a welcome, now could I?"

"Tina? How the fu-" The witch bites off her words.

"You didn't kill her did you?" The witch says with a sick foreboding in her.

"Kill her? Why in the hell would I do that? White witches are very useful people to have. She's quite happily set up under my protection." Lucius smiles darkly. "Her protection spells are bar none."

The witch looks sick. "Yes, she always was very good at protection spells."

Lucius smirks at the defeated witch before him and gives her a killing blow. He's tired of playing and just wants to get home to Faline.

He helps the wolves take  the witches to the buildings and they set fire to them. Already the tainted magic was starting to leave and they could all breathe much easier.

Lucius suddenly stiffens. "Steven, I have to leave. Faline is under attack."

"Go, but don't be surprised if you find her already having taken care of it." Steven waves him off.

The wolves, one in particular watch him leave. He bites his lip and worries it. Lucius has never liked him, but he hates the council even more. Does he dare approach him?

He shrugs, now isn't the time. If Lucius took off like he had then something is going on with Faline. If anything happens to Faline, going to Lucius would be a death wish.

Quinlin decides to wait and find out if it's safe to contact the vampire Lord to make his request. He turns back to cleaning up the witch mess.