Chapter 3: Close Encounter

Not moving an inch as it grazed past their head, they analyzed him coldly.

The bullet grazing the hood of their cloak. It had fallen away to reveal the most hauntingly beautiful woman Allen had ever laid eyes upon. Her skin and hair as white as a ghost’s, the blood on her cheek was the only visible blemish. In stark contrast to her pale complexion, its bright red pigment seemed even more offensive.

However, her striking appearance was not enough to offset her mocking smile and the viciousness hidden behind the fine features of her face. Surprised at first, Allen still perceived the woman to be a monster. Hands steadying on the pistol, he yelled towards his nemesis across the square, “That was a warning shot, next time I won’t miss!”

The barrel of the gun pointing directly at the woman, he was bewildered when she was no longer in front of him. The hair on the back of his neck suddenly standing on end. Allen shivered, as a sweet voice whispered into his ear, “Silver, huh?” Now behind him, she peered quizzically over his shoulder. Dissolving into the air, she had closed the deliberate distance between them in the blink of an eye. The warmth of her breath tickling the hairs on the back of his neck, Allen spun around. “How-” Only able to utter a half question, all that remain behind him was the fleeting dark particles as he spoke. Disappearing again into thin air, Allen warily surveyed the area.

Playfully materializing in another corner of the square out of his reach, he was alarmed at her ability to cross a distance of 30 meters in nearly an instantly. Her tricks, causing Allen to question his sanity momentarily, he wondered a brief second whether she might actually be ghost. However, catching sight of a magic circle fade beneath her as she landed, he knew this was not the case. Much worse than a phantom risen from the grave to haunt him, she was a witch.

Delighting in his confusion, she giggled. The sound tinkling like falling glass in the rain, it made his skin crawl.

“Good shot,” she remarked still chuckling, “but you shouldn’t waste them on me.” The knowingness in her voice making him suspicious, Allen had little time to consider her words. Before a deep growl resounded from a nearby alley.

Barely managing to dodge a pair of massive claws as they swooped past, Allen slide on the wet cobblestones. Avoiding its attack, he regained his footing just in time to regard the werewolf as it entered the square.

Standing as tall as two fully grown men, the creature reeked of the overpowering stench of blood and rotten meat. Drool dripping from its long, yellow fangs, it sniffed the air hungrily.

Possessing a crazed look as its eyes, the werewolf looked like a rabid dog. Unable to focus on its surrounding it circled around the open in agitation.

Swinging wildly, the animal launched a frenzied attack at the place where the Witch had last stood. Cursing once he realized he had lost sight of her; Allen too regarded the area perturbed. Thinking that she must have taken this opportunity to escape, his resentment for her deepened. A feeling, which did not disperse, even when she appeared again in the street opposite.

“There you are.” The Witch said sweetly. The sound of her honeyed voice sending the animal into crazed fit of pained howls, he charged toward her. Fast for its size and deranged nature, the werewolf erased the space between them in a matter of seconds. Exerting little energy to avoid him, the Witch reappeared elsewhere.

Repeating the same actions of chase and evasion for some time, her wicked smile finally faltered. “Were you not satisfied playing with the old man?” she hissed, skidding to a stop on the slick paving stones as she landed.

This remark caused something within Allen, which had previously prevented him from acting, to snap. Although, he could not tell what rouse the Witch was playing by causing a scene here, he was determined to end it. Gritting his teeth, Allen pointed the barrel of his pistol at his target. The tremor in his hands no longer afflicting him, he waited for an opening to appear in their game of cat and mouse. Finger firmly placed on the trigger; Allen followed their rapid movements until chance presented itself and another shot rang out.