Wanted:

Someone strong and independent. Someone who hates them as much as I do. Rescue me and I shall give you all the magic you could ever want. Doubt me? Come to Feeorin and meet me under the blossoming Burrberry Tree just after Villa Lake. You’ll know who I am.

-P
-

It was put up days ago. She had managed to charm an unsuspecting fey into wandering to towns to place them up all over Canelux. She hadn’t used a charm but merely her appearance. Paulina was much more pretty than the other bog witches. Feys had a knack of wanting her. Mostly it was her bi-colored eyes and long black dreads. They had once been beautiful curls before her mother had other ideas. The witches of the bog had gone out of their way to make Paulina look like one of them.

Except she wasn’t and she would never be.

She had all the grace of her elven bloodline and it was the fault of her mother for even letting the child grow. Even as her magic grew, her features did not change like the other Yabas. Screams snapped Paulina’s attention as she watched a child strapped to a stake was slowly turned on the fire. It churned her stomach as she got up.

“Where are you off to child?” It was her ugly ass mother of all people who spoke up.

“You know children don’t settle in my stomach well. I’m going to bargain with the people of Villa for food.”

The short woman wandered away as fast as possible. They were only waiting for her to leave as the sound of tearing flesh and screams filled the air. She could smell the fiery blood in the air now. She wondered what town the child had been from. What life the child would have had. She hated them all. For even in her wicked heart she knew what they did was vile.

Wandering past Villa Lake she stood underneath the blossoming blue tree. The petals of the berries were finally falling as they landed about her. She wore a shredded grey dress, not because she wanted to. The Babas were quite unfair like that. She didn’t need more leverage on them. 

Paulina had often wished she had the strength to consume the Burrberry bush and die. However, that would let the Babas win and she couldn’t have that. She wanted liberation. Hatred burned in her light blue and brown eyes. Hatred fueled her as she waited, once again, by the tree. Eventually someone would come to help her. Someone strong.

The day went by uneventfully, which meant for Gabriel, it was quite dull. Here he had been for a couple of days in Wyllmochvar, chasing after some of the women that went to the Academy. Unfortunately they seemed to be more concerned with their studies that the handsome devil himself. He found it odd that they would continue to bury their noses in books and scriptures and all that other boring stuff, but it was their loss then. Personally he was starting to feel as though he should have never left Ataiyo. At least there were beautiful and willing (for a price) women and an air of danger lurked about them. He had found that out the hard and yet it didn’t deter him. Gabe was a connoisseur of such things, of both women and danger and he found it thrilling to be there even though he was almost skinned alive. Just as he was scheming to find himself back there and at the lovely little brothel it held, some fairy like creature had been caught putting up messages around town. He hide from sight behind a building and waited until it was gone before creeping up to what it had placed.

Blue eyes read the message a couple times over before clasping his hands and rubbed them with excitement. While he didn’t exactly need magic, it would prove wise to keep such around him just in case he would in the future. Gabe was a bit confused as he walked away and headed towards the destination, pondering on who were the “they” the writer had spoken about. It didn’t last too long and he brushed aside; whoever they were, he more than likely wouldn’t care. There was something dangerous about this and he couldn’t wait to dive right in and earn his reward. Earn. The man laughed amongst himself at the very word.

The journey took a little bit longer than expect, and it was a beautiful night as he approached the forest. As majestic as it was here, what terrible beings could ever be here? He ended up wandering about for sometime before finding this lake that was mentioned. Ah, and it was quite a sight to behold as the moon gleamed its light over it. The land seemed to quiet for his taste, which made him think that the action was likely elsewhere. “Now, where’s that tree?” He moved about, finally have found the strange tree and beneath it was a sight that made him grin from ear to ear. She was a pretty little thing, quite literally given the size difference between himself and her. But the dress, no it simply did not do. Gabriel slowly slinked over to her, both hands held behind his back until he was within sight and then they were held up from either side.

“I take it that you’re the one that had the fairy thing come into town?” he asked, maintaining the smile. “Well, look no further. I am here to help with this problem, though my lady, I’m confused about you were referring to by “them”, but I have no qualm about what you wish to do with them.” He might have looked like a noble piece of eye candy, but he was very dangerous to the unsuspecting. It was a trait he relished in, especially once his victims learned of the truth. But by then it would usually be too late. He smiled once more, this time flashing his canines at her, “Gabriel is my name, and I hope that this magic you spoke of is legitimate. I would hate to have to get my hands dirty for nothing.”

[OOC: Brittany meant Parvpora, not Canelux lol]

Paulina’s eyes turned on him and a thousand tears seemed to flow without the need to actually show themselves. It was her aura. “Yes, the fairy thing. Normally they don’t venture out of the woods but they owe me a few favors.”

She brought up her slender fingers and ran it over his cheek. “Does my helper, my freedom fighter, have a name?” She took a deep sigh. “My lady is the nicest thing anyone has ever called me in these parts. I am Paulina, a bog witch. At least partially, my mother is a yaga baba. I don’t know if you have ever seen one but they are dreadful terrifying women of the deep woods. They lure men in under charm spells and disguise their ugly bodies. The more powerful the yaga baba the uglier they look. Except, me.” She appeared disgusted. “My father was an elf, not the typical male they use. I gained all their abilities but none of the..” She waved her hand in front of her face. “Disgusting face shit.”

She took only a moment to undo the back of her dress and move her hair. There was a large brand on her back. “Hot metal to my back, they wanted to make me ugly out of jealousy and spite. They wanted me to remember what half of my blood was. No matter, too night the Burrberry Clan dies.” She tied up the dress. “No more rags, no more hiding, and I get my freedom.” 

Her bicolored eyes stare at him. “The only problem is they get stronger with every child they each, tonight was one of the nights they hunt for children. Can you handle that? Can you take down a whole clan of Baba Yagas? If you do this, I will be in your debt, your own personal witch.”

A bog witch?

Gabe never heard of such a thing before, which would have been shown as plain as day was on his face. Still, he heard the witch part and that satisfied his need to know whether or not this deal was truly real. The yaga baba part also confused him, though the woman had been kind enough to fill him in on what that was before he asked. The whole aspect about them didn’t settle well and he felt sick even picturing falling for the allure of one of those things. “No, I have not seen these yaga bawa things. Not sure if I really one to make eye contact with any of them either”, he frowned while still shuddering from thought of them. It was fortunately that he was looking at a pretty one instead and it calmed him down a bit and settled his nerves. “Apparently you have luck to thank for them going after the wrong man.”

Heavens knew what he got himself into this time, but he was hoping that the reward would be worth the risk in this case. Hell, he didn’t know why she wanted them dead if they were her kin. But Gabriel’s questions were about to be answered once she turned around and undid her dress. While he was all about putting pleasure before business usually, the wolf was actually more concerned with dealing with her problem. His eyes widened as he saw the brand and winced at the prospect of her clan doing this to one of their own. Out of jealously, or pure madness? He supposed that both were equally to blame on this on. Perhaps she couldn’t kill them on her own, which was why she had the fey sent out to seek someone that could get the job done. Whatever the case was, he felt as though to destroy the image of beauty was a crime against nature personally- he would have loved to see someone dare take his looks and spirit away. They would find themselves in a world of hurt and be hunted for the rest of their days.

The last detail of them really did sicken him- Gabe might have been a scoundrel but at least he could say that he didn’t hurt a child, even the bratty sort. And her people were…eating them? If anything else she had told him didn’t convince him to help her, then surely this would. He paced about for a bit with crossed arms, thinking about how to approach this. They surely had the numbers by their side, but none of them knew of him, so he had the element of surprise by his side.

“Okay, you get freed from these witches and you say that you will be my personal one instead?” Well that would have been far better than to be give the magic itself. He shrugged a bit, “Hardly call it freedom with those words, but why argue? Very well, I’ll take care of them for you, miss…” She hadn’t given him her name yet, but an idea came across his mind, answering the question of how to do this. “What I need from you is simply; a piece of your dress. I need something of your scent so that I know not to harm you. The rest? They will die. I hope you know that and are seriously about the outcome being that. Tell them that you found some children playing with the feys or something and send them into the woods nearby.”

Gabe flashed her smile as he started to transform, the form of man giving in to that of wolf until a tall, muscular beast stood before her on all fours. “I’ll handle the rest.”

“If luck is what you want to call it, it’s given me a life of misfortune.” She has disdain dripping from her lips as she thought about what the awful witches had done to her over the years. After she showed him the root of evil that they had done to her she sighed. “I’m not nearly as strong as they are after a children’s feast. I can’t stomach children, you can thank my elvish blood for that. They get stronger only for a few hours so they can fling magic at the other clans. Mine is one of many but I hate mine the most.”

She stared at him for only a moment before going on. “Here, I have no freedom. I barely have the chance to even send that letter. I’m a slave and sometimes I am a voodoo doll, I think that is your word for it. A conduit for their magic. I’m hated beyond belief. I’m talented enough, thanks to my mother being the leader of the clan but they are still assholes about everything. If going with you means I get out of this place, that is freedom enough. But as long as they are alive they will hunt me down, and when they find me they will kill me.”

She nodded a bit and thought about it. “If they kill me for finding out, make sure its bloody.” She ripped a piece of her dress off and handed it to the wolf. “This should be plenty.”

She had a bad feeling about everything as she skulked back to the tall houses in the forest. Blood and guts were everywhere, at least what they did not want to eat. She made a face as she picked up a clean picked bone and dropped it to the ground.  

“What is it child? You never come back this early to a feast.” She watched as her mother, big and ugly, bit into a screaming child.

“I seen something in the woods! A whole pack of children. The fey must have lured them here. They look real young.” She sounded disgusted but that was nothing out of the ordinary.

“Interesting. We will go together, and you will watch this time.” It made her stomach twist as Paulina walked with her mother and their fellow yaga babas. Deep into the woods where the thing would happen, she finally got relaxed. Nothing could stop her freedom. That though, should not have been the only thing on her mind.

Her mother grabbed Paulina by her hair and dragged her. “I don’t smell anything, you little lying bitch. You take us away from our food, do you think this is a game?” The yaga leader took out a dagger. “Pick a favorite color. Brown or blue? That’s the one you’re gonna lose. We can use it for a spell perhaps.” Paulina let out a scream as she managed to get loose and run a few feet away.

Was he truthful in trying to save the woman from the dreadful witches. Gabe was fairly certain he was, considering the reward awaiting for him, all neatly bundled in the lovely woman with the mismatched eyes. Her powers would do well for him as an insurance policy just in case he ran into a bit of trouble. Fortunately for him, the werewolf was forever bound in a cycle of trouble. Plus, he would rid the world of some children eaters, and he suppose that karma would treat him kindly in return- it was a win-win scenario. Coming closer to her, the wolf sniffed at the cloth at first before taking it into his mouth. “This is to ensure that I recognize you during the gory and not to bring any harm to you”, he muttered before turning away and trotted into the woods. He’d left the nameless woman where she stood, and a thought came across him of that- he had yet to learn of her name. It was no matter though, he was sure to get it out of her soon or later. For now, he paced about, ears open and eyes scanning his surroundings, waiting for the one moment he needed to strike.

It hadn’t been long before he could overhear numerous voices and then the scream that filled the air around and the wolf snarled a bit before letting out a wail of a howl. It would serve as music to her ears, and death for everyone else. Slowly, he traveled over to the direction that the scream echoed from and soon he saw lights illuminating the woods. Her scent was faintly among them, and it only proved to him that she wasn’t among them. The wolf held what could be said to be a smile among his bestial lips as he stalked around them until he was position behind the group. He could hear death threats and other vulgar things oozing from their mouths as they looked for the pretty woman and he slowly approached one of the witches that were trailing behind and pounced on her. Her screams were muffled as he delivered his jaws upon her throat and dragged her away just in time for the rest of them to see her disappear into the shadows. They panicked and regrouped, preparing their magic as they searched for the beast. The fresh corpse was shot into their direction and landed on another witch and he took advantage of the distraction and pounced. His claws swiped and took out two more before he looked at the rest with a bloody maw and eyes that could pierce the soul. From that moment on, a massacre stained the earth red, bodies hit the floor left and right as he attacked them only to scurry back into the darkness to leave them guessing where he would strike next. Some dared to flee, but they prove to be easier prey than the rest that remained. The leader herself positioned herself against a tree, dagger still in hand. Oh, he could see that she must have been the leader, and the one that was the mother of the rogue witch. He had something special prepared in mind for her, but first…

He waited until their numbers dwindled down from twenty to four before he relaxed and watched them panic and bicker among themselves on what to do. He started to rustle bushes around them to spread the fear around when he felt it was starting to wean down before he overtook another witch and dragged her away. Another terrible howl left and a dead silence surrounded the woods for what seemed like a lifetime before he struck and took out the two witches, leaving the mother on her. He looked on as she lifted the dagger in front of her in a failing attempt to threaten him, but Gabe wasn’t deterred as he moved in swiped it out of her hands. She started to chant something, but his next swipe left her with a wound across her neck. She collapsed onto the ground and started to crawl away from him, but he took hold of her ankle and firmly pressed onto it, causing her to wail in pain. Soon she felt the claw on her become more hand-like and she looked back to see the dashing, now naked young man in front of her. He looked at her face and nearly felt sick by her appearance, but he was able to stomach the contents of his breakfast and shook his head. “Alright, you can come out now. I think if anything, you need to earn your freedom. Why not start with ending your tormentor?” He watched the hag’s eyes widened as she begun to put two and two together, but sadly it was too late. He shot her a smile before looking up to see whether her daughter would come out. “And while you are at it, can I please learn your name. I don’t feel like calling you ‘witch’ every time, for bloody sake.”

Paulina watched from safety as her plan came to fruition. It brought her great joy to watch all the blood and guts fly on this particular battle field. They were getting everything they dished out back to them ten fold. He left her mother for last and Paulina came out. Her brown and blue eyes started with a deep hatred as she smiled in her mother’s direction. 

“Paulina, Last surviving member of the Burrberry Clan in the Forest of Feeorin.”

“I’m not dead yet Child.”

“Key word. Yet. You should have been nicer to me Mother. You shouldn’t have hated me with the rest of them. Maybe I would feel some connection to you like a daughter should otherwise… but alas you were so jealous of how I turned out. How my powers have never depended on children’s lives, how I don’t have to incognito myself to attract men.” She moved over and wrapped her arms around Gabriel’s. “See? He looks at you and he wants to puke.”

Her mother scoffed at her. “You will find out the real world is a much crueler place.”

“Counting on it actually. As long as I have lodgings and jobs to do, I won’t be a miserable hag like yourself. Picking up her mother’s dagger she came over. “You got two eyes… which one do you favor? Left or right?” She hovered the dagger above her mother’s face.

“Go to hell Child.” Paulina rolled her eyes and stabbed the woman in her mouth going for her tongue. 

“Let’s see here.” A scream left her mother’s lips. “Tongue of man… what does it do..” She thought on it for a long time before the incantation came out of her lips. The tongue lit on fire as Paulina jammed her finger into her mother’s eye socket. “Eye of man.. What does it do.” The skin of the woman began to turn black from a poison going deep into her blood. “If there is a next life, I would suggest that you reflect on yourself.” 

Paulina ended up so there wasn’t too much torture. Taking the edges of her torn dress she cleaned the blood from her fingertips. “Paulina Manaroot is what they call me. Manaroot is the root of the Burrberry trees. Used for all sorts of nasty little spells.” She dropped the charred tongue and the manaroot in her pocket. “Blasted bitch got what she deserved.” The poison was still spreading in the dead body as it began to decay the already wrinkled body. “Might as well leave before others show up. My clan may be dead but others might see this as an act of war. I’ve gotten what I wanted out of this.”

It was pleasurable to rid the world of such ugliness. Those women, if one could all them that, were some of the foulest things that Gabriel had ever saw. It was horrific enough to give him nightmares for weeks, but the reward was damn sure worth it. Or at least it had better. Paulina had to keep her word now that they went this far into the deal. The blood couldn’t just be on his hands- he suppose that it would only be fair for her to end her own suffering and cease the life of the catalyst.

Her mother.   

Gabe stood by, in all of his glory as he watched the exchange between mother and daughter. But from the way they were bickering, you’d think that they were a mongoose and cobra. As witty as he could be at times, he did have some sense when it came to certain things, like when it came to getting between two women, even if one was as ugly as a goblin with its face smashed in and was sweaty from the Ignius heat. Gabe did take the time to look at Paulina when she grew close enough to grab him and gloat. Thankfully she didn’t her mother’s looks, and her presence made him feel more at ease, counterbalancing her mother’s god awful sight. “She has a point there. Don’t know how the hell you’ve been getting men to lay with you gals, unless you club them over the heads and drag them back to your huts or caves or whatever.” He shifted to her daughter, “No offense.”

Keeping to the shadows, he looked on as the real show began and honestly he was taken back by Paulina’s cruelty, but then again, he didn’t know how far her torture had went or for how long. Everyone had a breaking point, some were stronger than others but in the end when the threshold had been reached, then even the best of temperaments could be broken. The old bat was soon no more, and he didn’t feel an ounce of guilty towards her demise. “Well, Paulina, it's time to honor your part of the bargain.” Looking down to the deceased witch, he could honestly say that the poison was making her look a teeny tiny bit more presentable.

“I’ll look after you and see that you have a better life than what you were accustomed to, but you are to be my witch”, he said with crossed arms against his chest. Despite his lack of clothing, he was all seriousness up until she suggested for them to depart before more of them came. “Oh god, I can’t…no more. I can’t stand looking at them!” He started to walk away from the scene but first turned to look at her. “Come come, we can talk more as we are getting out of here.”

Paulina tilted her head and smiled. “They use incognito spells to look like the woman of your dreams. They venture out into the cities,” She played with his chest lightly. “And they take a man for their own. Get pregnant and come back. I’m the exception. Most of my beautiful and magic come from my elvish blood, which is why elves are usually not selected for the mating process.”

After she killed her mother she nodded to Gabriel. “Of course, I don’t go back on my word.” She took his arm as they made their way out. “The village will be a tad safer than here and I need to get my stuff for the road. We will need magic components and I can finally get my ceremony dress out of the damn chest. They locked it on me and monitored it. I never did like wearing rags. I suppose it was a method of control for them.” God forbid a man came into the village. She rolled her eyes.

The village wasn’t far off. The village was up on stilts in the trees. She grabbed a lantern and lead him up onto the rope bridges. Down below was nothing but bodies and blood from their ceremony. “Forgive how they treat their victims. If it helps I only sacrifice victims who deserve it. I need to for my magic unfortunately, that part of the crows stuck.” 

She took him to a run down shack in the back of the others. Even the bridge to it seemed to be less sturdy. “This is home.” She opened it up and it was rather empty besides a bed and locked chest. There were spell components on a stool by her bed. “Mother probably has more in her shack.” She moved over to the chest and did a quick spell. The chest opened up and she pulled out a dark purple garment. It was hooded in the same velvet with a silk lining. It was more ceremonial than anything but it was better than what she had on. The sleeves were long and bellowing out, much like the stories that women would tell their children about.

“Much better I think,” She looked Gabriel up and down before summoning some clothing for him. “Here, you might need these. I think they are from a chest in one of the other houses.” She chuckled softly as she began to change her clothes.

Gabriel was so happy that he hadn’t been seduced by these…hags. Had he been one of their victims and learned about it…well they certainly would not had a happy ending if he got a hold of them. Not that this scenario was anything better for them. The grave look on his face was all that was needed to tell that he sickened by the thought. Thankfully Paulina wasn’t like them and he was grateful that he would have a beauty like her following him around. Vanity was a cruel curse upon him indeed.

The revenge didn’t last for too long and he suspected that she wouldn’t go against her word of servitude. A part of him wanted to believe that his display against her clan had helped a bit in convincing her that he was too dangerous to cross. Though honestly he probably wouldn’t had killed her over it; hell he been through worse some certain people and they still draw breath to this day. “Well, well, lead the way then”, he said with a smirk as they left with her on his arm. “Shame, you’d definitely would look better in something more appealing. The rags simply will not do.” Gabe figured that they would get in and out quickly, without ruffling any more feathers than they had to there. “Whatever we can carry, we can take. But we are in a hurry though. Remember that.”

The village found and it was quiet for the most part, something he was grateful for. At least they didn’t have to be so sneaky around these parts and before he knew it they were at her place. “Geesh, they were awfully terrible at you”, he frowned as he peeked inside. “Glad the bitch is dead, you know, aside from all the other reasons of course.” He entered and watched as she casted a spell and opened the chest nearby. Standing on his toes, he peek around her shoulder and looked at the dress. “Oh yes, that is more to your liking indeed”, he replied gleefully as he inspected it as much as he could.

It wasn’t long before she assisted him in obtaining his own set of clothes. Though he was pleased as he took hold of them, something was puzzling him. “Wait, why on earth would one of your clan have men’s clothing…you know what? Nevermind, I don’t want to know…” Gabe shook his head at the potential answer she might have given him; some things were better left unsaid. Besides he was losing interest in it rather quickly once she started undressing. Illusion or not, he watched with no shame as she freed herself of the rags and a familiar feeling set in the wolf. Before long, he came up right behind her and dropped his clothing onto the ground. “I can better see why they were all jealous of you”, he spoke, his hands coming up to her arms and slowly shifted her around to face him. Gabriel was not shy by any accounts, that much as certain in how he looked at her with hungry eyes. Perhaps it was not a part of their deal, but he wasn’t too much caring for that particular little detail. Besides, all she need was to say no and he would honor it. He was a lover or women yes, but he certainly wasn’t a brute. He reached beneath her chin to lift it up before he drew himself down low enough to kiss her neck. “I doubt that whatever interaction they had with men weren’t passionate by any means”, he whispered before going back to tempt fate with another kiss. “I suppose I can’t lie about this, you are surely inspiring me to be.”