Sindra took a brief moment to examine the sorceress and werewolf pair. The werewolf was wearing a black denim jacket with a white tank-top and black skinny jeans, topped off with black combat boots. Her hair was that same raven-black and Sindra could see very, very faint silver scars lining her face and collarbone. She had two long and wicked knives hanging from her belt, as if a creature as powerful as her would need them, but they were probably only meant to intimidate. As for the sorceress, she had on a tan trench-coat with black leggings and black boots, and her shoulder-length hair was a very rich brown color. She had several charms in the form of silver necklaces and bracelets, and it didn't take a fellow magic-wielder to tell that those charms radiated dangerous power.
"I thought I caught a whiff of something exceptionally nasty," the werewolf woman growled, tightly folding her arms across her chest. "Two desperate hunters in my house loaded to the brim with silver. How lovely."
Sindra finally found her voice again. "This isn't your house, it belonged to the late farmer that owned it before you aimlessly slaughtered him," she spat back. She raised her handgun and pointed it at the werewolf's face. Her finger moved to pull the trigger half a second later, but then the sorceress simply raised her hand and threw Sindra against the wall. She grunted and was forced to drop her gun, as Koda cried out for her. Then the sorceress threw him against the wall too and let out a breezy chuckle. "You hunters really are pathetic, thinking you could find us here and try to kill a werewolf and a sorceress together. Hm, maybe this will be your last hunt?" Her wicked grin was enough to unsettle even the strongest hunter, but Sindra wouldn't bow.
The werewolf snickered from nearby. Sindra couldn't see her or sense her, an effect from the sorceress probably. Which was why she couldn't have sensed her earlier either, and why they were even in this mess. "Enough talking, Rose. Let's just kill them now and be done with it. Alaric would be very, very pleased to see her head on a platter."
Sindra struggled against the unseen magic. Koda grunted next to her. "Huh? Who the hell...?"
The sorceress, Rose, rolled her eyes and briefly turned to face the werewolf, who was just outside of Sindra's periphery on the far side of the porch. "Now you're the one that's speaking too much. I know you're excited, but you need to learn to hold your tongue. And don't you dare say my name in front of hunters ever again."
She moved her hand ever so slightly, and then the world went dark.
————————
Sindra woke up in what she could only assume was the house's basement. She could see Koda farther away, still asleep from whatever magical coma they had been put under. They were tied in chairs in opposite corners of the room wrists and ankles bound. She internally swore to herself. If only the sorceress's magic hadn't been powerful enough to trump her senses... then she would've been able to sense the werewolf possibly lurking down here. Instead, she and Koda had basically given them the best opportunity to sneak out and surprise them while they were hopelessly searching the upstairs. But still, it wasn't Sindra's fault that they had been outsmarted by a very powerful and intelligent sorceress/werewolf duo. Yeah, even that sounded pathetic.
"Do not tell Alaric yet. Trust me, we're going to want to keep this to ourselves for now." That was the sorceress. "I've dealt with something like this before."
"Yes, but have you dealt with a hunter prophesied to slay someone like Alaric? Alaric?" The werewolf repeated for dramatic purposes. "For fuck's sake, she really might figure out how to kill him if she ever sets her mind to it! Prophecies don't lie, you know as well as I do." She let out a ragged breath. "So let's kill her now and then we can figure out what to do with the boy later." Typical werewolves, always jumping headfirst into violence without thinking a single inch of common sense. And what the hell is she talking about with prophecies and this Alaric guy? She hoped she would find out soon enough, even though this seemed like the last duo that would ever tell her a single scrap of information.
The sorceress sighed. "Just... trust me, alright Elena? We came together for a reason, don't squander that now. And no, prophecies never lie, but we won't kill her yet. That's final."
Elena didn't respond to that, but Sindra could suddenly feel her coming closer. "Well well well, she's awake now. I'm sure she heard everything." She sighed. "Great. And now she knows my name too." Then Sindra was met with the cold blade of a knife on her throat, and she suppressed an irritated sigh. She really didn't want to go out like this, not at the hands of a werewolf. Never in a million years.
"Who the hell is Alaric?" She wearily asked.
Neither of them answered her.
Sindra lost her patience. She knew it was dangerous with a knife right at her throat, but for a split second she didn't care. "Who the fuck is he and why am I involved with him?" She had a feeling that this Alaric character was a big deal and possibly a very bad guy, and for some reason it alarmed her that these two wanted to kill her and 'alert' him.
"None of your goddamn business," the werewolf snapped back. "I'm afraid you don't have high enough clearance for that question just yet, bitch."
Ugh. This might take a while. Sindra blew a strand of hair out of her face as the knife began to press closer to her neck.
Rose came into Sindra's vision and stood in front of her while Elena stood at her back with the knife at her throat. "You're awfully bold for someone that might die within the hour. I'm never seen a hunter with that much spirit before," she murmured, looking down at Sindra with distaste. "But yet again, we've already killed all of those hunters that had gone after us just like you two have. It explains my dear friend's scars, which I'm sure you have seen already in her wolf form."
"And to think that you might've been the one hunter to kill me," Elena sneered. "Oh, and too bad your worthless sigil didn't work on me last night. It really does pay to have a sorceress friend." She had the audacity to sound bored about it, but Sindra knew that Elena was practically bursting at the seams to taunt her just so she could have an excuse to slit Sindra's throat if she stepped out of line.
She wouldn't let the werewolf have that satisfaction.
Sindra also didn't correct them by saying that Koda had been the one to construct the sigil since he was the fledgling magic-wielder, not her, but she knew not to put her partner in danger like that. He was still sleeping anyway, thankfully, so he couldn't hear their conversation and try to stand up for himself. Knowing Koda, that would be his main focus instead of working on a way to stay out of trouble.
So how did they expect to get out of this one? This was only the second time that Sindra had ever been captured by a werewolf (and the first time getting captured by a sorceress at the same time.) The first time had been when she was eighteen years old, hunting in California, still naive and learning the ways of being a proper hunter. She was caught off guard by the werewolf that she had been stalking and was held hostage by it for three days until she figured out a way to finally kill it and escape. Since then, she had sworn to herself that she would never allow another werewolf to sneak up on her first... but unfortunately now, she was unwillingly breaking that vow. Sindra also refused to believe that she and Koda had finally gotten into a hunt that was way over their heads, because they would get out of this alive.
"What's your name, hunter? You already know ours, I feel it's time we establish yours. May as well," Rose said as she folded her arms across her chest.
Sindra decided she would give them a fake name, even though she was going to attempt to kill them later anyway. For all she knew, Rose and Elena weren't even their real names. "Colleen. And my friend over there.." She nodded slightly towards Koda's direction, even with the knife at her throat. "..is Derek. Leave him alone, though. Clearly he isn't as much of a target as I am."
Elena scoffed. "You're in no position to call the shots, Colleen. We'll do with him as we please, although I will say he won't receive as much of a punishment as you will."
That was what she was expecting to hear. "Great. Now that we're all buddies, I need to know more about Alaric."
Elena suddenly came in front of her and punched her square in the face. Sindra briefly reeled, then regained her composure as she blew more hair out of her face. Blood began to trickle down from her nose. The werewolf practically snarled at her. "Like I said before, it's none of your goddamn business. You don't need to know about Alaric because you'll be dead soon anyway. It seems to me like you need to wake the fuck up and realize that you're a hostage, or else I'll hit you again to knock you down a few pegs."
Oh, she certainly realized. But she chose not to say anything because she didn't want Elena to touch her again. She wasn't so sure about the sorceress, but this werewolf was dying tonight, even if it would almost kill Sindra to do it. They would have to find some other way to get rid of Rose.
Sindra suddenly heard Koda waking up in the far corner, and Rose gave Sindra a look before striding over to see him. She strained against her binds even with Elena still nearby, and the werewolf glared down at her with disgust written all over her scarred face. "You hunters sicken me. You have this God-awful drive to end another species... a species that clearly doesn't give a single fuck about you humans whatsoever." She knelt down to look Sindra in the eye. "You know, if every werewolf left in the world were to team up, we could easily end almost the entirety of the country's population. Now that's sickening." She let out a loud, mocking laugh as she rose to her full height again.
Sindra knew the werewolf was still baiting her, waiting for another excuse to harm her again. She supposed this was better than facing down her wolf form again.
"Come on Elena, let's leave these two to rot down here for now," Rose announced from the other side of the dark basement. "We've got some important business to conduct in town today, remember?"
Elena tilted her head as she faced Rose, her dark hair tumbling over her shoulder. "Fine. I was having a real fun time beating on her, though." She nodded in Sindra's direction, shooting her a nasty grin over her shoulder. Sindra scowled back at her, still feeling the blood rolling down her face and dripping off her chin. Today would definitely be a good day to collect a disembodied werewolf head as a souvenir.
"Don't worry, we'll be back in a few hours. Maybe less," Rose said with a shrug of her shoulders.
"Have fun, hunters. Enjoy your last precious hours o bf life in captivity," Elena called as she followed Rose to the basement stairs. In just a few moments, the two of them had returned upstairs and had left the house.
And as soon as they did, Sindra began to struggle in her bindings again. She glanced over at Koda. He looked to be half asleep still. How much magic had that sorceress put in his system? "Hey, Koda! We need to figure out a way to get out of here, now! And we need a plan to kill those two before they come back and try to kill us."
At first he didn't respond, and Sindra was worried he had fallen back into his coma, until his eyes suddenly became full of life and he fully woke up. "Woah... it feels like I'm going through a magic hangover... damn, those bitches are brutal. I saw what Elena did to you."
Sindra tsked. "Yeah, she's one tough bitch, but I wouldn't let her bait me any further. Anyway, if you can somehow figure out how to cast some magic to free us, we can gain the element of surprise and at least kill one of them. But I know Elena's dying first, because she's the one we're mainly after anyway."
Koda nodded slowly. "Right... okay yeah, I can try to cast some sort of fire spell to burn these ropes so I can then free you. After that, we make up a plan to kill our captors."
"How about we make up a plan at the same time that you burn off those ropes?" Sindra suggested as she continued to struggle. She knew it was pointless since Koda was on the brink of freeing her, but she felt useful for trying anyway.
"Right," Koda said again. "I've got this." He began to mutter something under his breath, and Sindra could see the faint glow of fire erupting from his hands. "Like I said, I'll take the sorceress and you take the werewolf. It seems like Rose may be slightly more powerful than I am, but if I persevere..." he broke free of his bindings and slowly stood up from his chair. "...then I can set my mind to it and kill her. I can activate my kill drive if I'm absolutely motivated."
"That's way too much of a risk. You could get killed.. you heard them. A sorceress as powerful as Rose has no remorse for taking human lives, let alone hunters like us, so it's possible you don't stand a chance." She grimaced at him. "Sorry, this might be the one time where you've truly met your match."
He had melted off his ropes and then approached her, beginning to untie her bindings. "But I'm still getting stronger. And as for you, you're better at slaying werewolves than I am, so that's already a done deal. Just give me a chance with Rose..."
Sindra let out an exasperated sigh as he freed her and she stood up, rubbing her wrists. "Koda, no. I told you, it's way too big of a risk. We're only here to kill the werewolf, right? Her time is definitely up, but I'm not sure either one of us is ready to go up against a sorceress like Rose. Not today at least." She looked around at the basement. "Now, we need to figure out a way to distract Rose so I can go after Elena and kill her. Got any ideas?"
"Not yet. Wait... maybe I can be the distraction. Once they come back, I can get Rose to follow me to wherever... and you kill Elena. Simple as that."
"Okay, but we need to figure out a way to escape the sorceress as soon as we're done with the werewolf. If we're not careful, she could kill us immediately after Elena's gone."
"Relax, we can do this. We'll figure that part out later, but for now our priority is to take down the primary beast and distract the magician. And we've still got time to construct our plan a little more."
And so that's what they did. Sindra and Koda continued to discuss a more in-depth version of their plan before their captors returned three hours later, as promised.