Nicole stared into the crackling fire, reflecting on the events of the past year. It was a miserable night and it had only just stopped raining. The humidity had plastered her close-cropped auburn hair to her scalp. Her brown eyes looked feral in the fire light.
Some masochistic feature of the mind had her thinking of that night again. The night that Justin died--no, was murdered--she corrected herself. She didn't cry over it anymore. She was done with tears, but she didn't think she would ever stop thinking about the events that had caused all those nights of crying herself to sleep.
Nicole was drawn out of her reflection as she felt someone pulling from a source. After a few close brushes with her target, she had nearly lost the trail several times over the past three days. When she picked it up today she had a few more close brushes. It was acting strangely. Just days ago it had been frantically searching for victims, but as far as she could tell it hadn't had a new victim in days. It had apparently finally noticed it was being tracked. At one point, the creature actually stopped running and tried to hide.
Nicole was certain that it had been about to ambush her when she had finally found its hiding spot and struck out at it. Then she lost its trail a few more times and eventually lost it entirely. If it were close enough that she could feel it drawing power then maybe it had grown desperate from its lack of victims and just decided to hunt her.
She felt another pull, this one sustained. She hoped it hadn't found another victim while she was waiting around for it to resurface. She drew from the flames to finish drying her things and extinguished the fire, then she was on the move.
She went straight towards the waking echoes, slowing at the last possible moment that would still allow her a soundless approach to her contract. She could just make out a figure in the distance, hunched over a small fire.
She moved towards the figure, moving as close as she thought she could manage without making noise. He appeared to be cooking something on a spit. She had never seen these creatures eat cooked meat before. She had only caught them in the middle of the more grisly act of tearing out a throat.
She narrowed her eyes and opened her site, trying to confirm that it was still her target.
"They don't have to eat like that, you know," came a feminine voice from behind her. The male figure over the fire faded away. It was an illusion.
"Admit it, it had you fooled."
Nicole reached for the very air that surrounded the voice as she turned to meet her eyes. She used the energy to still the air and held fast the woman that stood looking at her. The woman looking back at her couldn't have been much over five feet. Nicole had a good five to eight inches on this dirty-blond, nearly brown-haired girl. She wore a sort of riding dress of layered gowns with leggings beneath that, and a green hooded cloak.
Even though Nicole had her held in place, the woman didn't seem concerned. Her expression was neutral, at best. Her expression had become more of an amused smile as she continued to watch Nicole.
While holding a look of equal parts curiosity and amusement, she spoke again, "You can call me Nancey." Then she did something that sent Nicole's heart racing. She walked past Nicole to the fire, smiling as she went. "The rabbit is real. You can have some, If you'd like."
"How did you do that?"
Nancey smiled again, she was beginning to unnerve Nicole with that smile. Nicole forced herself to relax and then tried to observe the sources that were around Nancey. They twisted and writhed like snakes, but they didn't have the right malevolence that marked her as the contract. Did I make a mistake?
"What's your name, child?" Nancey asked.
Nicole briefly contemplated a pseudonym, but ultimately decided on truth. "Nicole," she replied, "And how did you do that?"
Nicole could feel the sources still binding the air where Nancey had been standing. She dropped the channeling and brought her full focus down on Nancey.
Nancey picked up the spit, examined the meat, and then replaced it by the fire but at a different angle. "Well, Nicole, I'm not going to run any more. I don't know who sent you after me, but if you continue, I might have to kill you. And I'd hate to do that; I'm starting to like you."
Nicole's brow furrowed in frustration. She had to be the mark. "Just who the hell are you anyway?" She briefly wondered if conversation were really the best approach, you're not supposed to become friends with your target. Especially evil ones. They had the tendency to string you along and try to kill you when you let your guard down.
"I thought I told you, you can call me Nancey." Nancey grinned, "I know you're not that slow. You managed to follow me this far, you can hardly be dense. Though," she mused, "I guess there is the possibility that you've only followed by chance."
Yeah, conversation was not a good idea. Nicole reached for the writhing mass of energies where they danced and mingled with the flow of air around Nancey. She was more successful this time and Nancey stopped smiling. Nancey's grin turned into a frown of aggravation. Nicole saw Nancey's pupils dilate and contract so rapidly that she almost wasn't sure of what she had seen. She did notice however, that the gesture seemed to be accompanied by her losing control of the sources that had been writhing about Nancey. The writhing sources were completely gone. Almost as though they had never been there. Nancey now appeared to be just a plain, ordinary girl standing in the woods.
"That wasn't very nice. You don't see me stopping you from leaving."
Not only did Nancey lack the appearance of a sorcerer, she lacked the feel of one. Maybe this is how they blend in, Nicole considered. "What are you, Nancey?"
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