Security had increased around the young witch, likely because of my presence earlier in the day. They must have assumed that she would be safe in anonymity, but now that one person had found her, the witches knew that more would be coming.

The warding that the witches had set up was laughably easy to avoid. There is a reason that there is only one witch on the council, most witches were lacking in power compared to most denizens of the otherworld and relied on knowing their enemies to come up with specific countermeasures. Witches were versatile, yes. But powerful? Rarely.

It was my own hubris to have walked up to the witch in broad daylight without any preparation. I had underestimated her.

She lays there, still sleeping as I watch her.

I wonder, if I were to kill her, would this pain go away? Would her curse lift from me?

I walk up to her bed, staring down at her resting form. She turns over in her bed, and I take the moment to examine her face. Large red lips are framed by high cheekbones and a petite nose. Attractive for certain, but not overly so.

Her roommate mutters something from the other bed, making me reach for my shadow subconsciously. I relax as I realize that the roommate is still asleep.

Odd. Now that I look at the roommate, I realize that they are not fully human. Vampire maybe? I can feel the darkness surrounding them, so something that lives in the night, not that that narrows it down any. There are many things that go bump in the night.

I turn my attention back to the witch, gathering the shadow around my hand as I aim for her throat. I wouldn’t wish for her screams to alarm anyone….

What if the curse stays after her death? Haven’t I just doomed myself to a life of eternal suffering if I make this choice? I would see the fear in her eyes, and I can’t stand the idea of it. Horror fills me at the thought of taking another life.

The shadows disappear from my hand as I sit down on the floor. Tears come to my eyes as I remember all of the others lives I had taken in the dark while they lay there helpless. Countless, and by that, I mean I literally can not remember how many lives I have taken. I put my head in my hands as I fight the urge to cry.

What am I now? Some helpless being? A unicorn that would refuse to take a life even if my own were at stake?

An image of myself as a unicorn pops into my head and choked laughter comes out. The roommate’s breathing changes at my sound and I immediately melt into the shadows.

The roommate sits up in her bed, searching the corners of the room. She sniffs the air for a scent, and when she finds that everything is normal, she lays back down into her bed.

A trap, I’m sure. She’s waiting to see if anyone will show themselves now that she is “defenceless”.

She feels my presence, even if she doesn’t realize it, which means that she is significantly more powerful than I’d first assumed.

A dragon would be hard pressed to find me while I’m in the shadows.

Believe me, I’d know. I’ve killed one before.

She had screamed in defiance as my shadows broke through her magnificent scales, her voice becoming hoarse. She was young, maybe just a hatchling.

She’d looked at me with rage, and fear. I remember it clearly now. All she had ever done was protect her friend, and I’d killed her for it.

I’d taken another life.

I teleport away from Diana’s room as fast as I could, arriving at the University gardens where we’d met.

I scream at the empty gardens. A scream of pain, and a scream of hatred for myself, hatred for what I’d done. There was no doubt in my mind, that if anything in the world could be considered evil, it would be myself.

What else could evil be? I’d murdered on a whim countless times. Innocent children had lain dead at my feet.

I thought this pain was controlled, I thought that the pain was lessened by that god, but it had never disappeared. It had always lain there in the back of my mind.

I was foolish to think that I could control it.

There is only one way to make up for what I have done. Only one way to stop myself from falling into a painful abyss that I could never climb out of. And it all starts with me saving and protecting the person who has caused me the most pain I have ever felt.

I hate irony.

My mind is set however. I will follow the god’s advice. I will protect her from the evils that are coming for her. There was no real choice to begin with, I’d only fooled myself into thinking that there was one.

*******

I sit at the university cafe, drinking some homemade ginger tea and staring out a window as students do student things. Going to my house had been an experience I wasn’t expecting. In my younger days, I used to keep… trophies. I had spent the rest of my night getting rid of most of those trophies, with the exception of some of the more valuable ones. Even with the memories that they brought to my mind, I couldn’t bring myself to throw them away.

Most of the students ignore me, thinking that I’m one of them, which I was. Unfortunately, my college life will have to be over for now, considering that Diana has already found out that I am a mass murderer.

I frown, taking a sip of my ginger tea as I think about the man who had given me the hit on Diana. I may have to pay him a visit to see exactly how much he knew and didn’t tell me.

Diana herself is currently in a math class. With nothing better to do, I’d been following her around. The god had said that a threat would come tonight, but gods aren’t as all knowing as they would like you to believe. It is very possible that someone will choose to strike before then.

So far, the protections I have felt around Diana were unimpressive. Sufficient against most of the creatures that will be hunting her, I’m sure, but hardly something that would stop one of the Hounds, or an Ancestor Vampire, or even one of the Greater Fae if they felt so inclined.

Witches are in a strange place in the otherworld. Most consider them as just slightly more powerful humans, which, strictly speaking, they are.

From what I remember, and this was even before my time, the first witches were completely human, without any magical ability whatsoever. They made a deal with a dying god, or a dying demon, based on who is telling the story. In exchange for the ability to protect themselves, they would protect the god’s corpse from the countless creatures that would wish to use the corpse for their own gain.

They broke their end of the deal of course, or got around it to be more accurate. Instead of letting other creatures use the god’s corpse, they used it themselves to artificially create some of the most powerful witches in history. Because of the broken deal, most of the power that the witches had gained was taken away from them.

I was alive for that, if young. I felt the powerful bargain being broken, as did everyone else with enough brains to sense that kind of thing. With their power waning, the witches lost power over the counsel. From their original ten seats, they slowly lost seats until they now have their one remaining. The last seat is held by some old bag of bones that is nearly as old as me.

I’ve only had the pleasure of meeting her twice, and neither time was exactly pleasant. I believe that both times she wanted me dead.

Anyways, their position on the counsel is precarious and held together solely through the power of that bag of bones.

If the witches were to gain another seat on the counsel, the balance of power would change dramatically. Many creatures appreciate the freedom and power that they have over the human world, and witches are the main thing stopping them from doing as they please.

My thoughts are interrupted as the roommate I had seen the other day walks in front of the window I’m looking out of.

Dark messy hair surrounds a face which naturally forms into a cute pout. The girl’s dark brown eyes ferociously study an anatomy textbook’s diagram.

She doesn’t notice me watching her, her textbook occupying most of her senses.

I pause as I feel something on the outside of my senses. Someone, or something is trying to hide in the shadows.

And they are following the roommate.

“Fascinating.” I whisper, standing up and screwing the lid onto my thermos of ginger tea.

So how does this girl fit in? Is she a guardian of Diana? She doesn’t seem to be wary of threats, which is strange for a guardian.

She is walking in the sunlight, which gets rid of my original assumption that she was a vampire. Only ancestors can walk in the sun, and I know most of the ancestors by sight.

I slip into the shadows, appearing a little bit behind the roommate. She shouldn’t notice me in the crowd of students walking to classes.

Someone is following her, that is for sure. And I don't think they are following with good intentions. They have the scent of blood on them.

The roommate walks off campus, her nose still in her book, and to my surprise, walks into a lonely little alleyway, where she promptly closes her book.

“Come out. I know that you are there.”

I stay in the shadows, confident that she had not truly discovered me.

A moment later, my confidence is proven true as a Fae Hunter steps out of the shadows. Two enchanted steel swords sat at his side, and a quiver of arrows hung on his back.

I frown. A fae hunter is nothing to scoff at, but their services were rarely used. Only a Greater Fae could hire them to hunt.

The roommate steps back, a flash of fear appearing on her face.

I fight back the memories that start to cloud my mind as I see that fear.

I wish to keep my mind focused on this. A Fae Hunter’s power is strong enough to make me truly focus.

The roommate gulps, reaching into the air to pull a Fae sword out of seemingly nothing. Her arm is steady as she holds the sword, but her knuckles turn white from her tight grip.

So she is a member of the Midnight Fae. A member of the Midnight Fae who has angered someone powerful enough to hire a Fae Hunter.

“Am I who you hunt?” She asks, her voice steady with only a minor hint of fear.

“You are who I hunt.” The Hunter confirms, pulling his swords out of their sheaths.

“Must I die?” She asks, knowing that the Hunter must confirm his task.

“You must die.” The Hunter says.

Then with speed impossible for a human, he leaps forward, his swords glowing with their enchantments.

I know then that another choice has come to me. Do I let this girl die? Or do I save her? Of course I know that there is no real choice here. If I do not save her, I will continue to be haunted. I will feel guilt, remorse.

I don’t wish to feel these things. And if Diana were to ever know that I had let her friend die when I could have stopped it? Our relationship was already off to a rocky start, I have no desire to make it even harder on myself.

The girl lasts longer than I expected, she’s obviously had some training in the use of a sword.

Still, a Fae Hunter is not to be underestimated. With one fell swoop, he knocks the sword out of her hand, causing her to trip onto the ground. Without any expression, he prepares to deliver the killing blow.

Shadow gathers around me as I take a step forward. The shadows coalesce into a sleek black blade. A blade enchanted by dragons.

With a flick of my wrist, I block the blow that would have killed the girl.

The Fae Hunter backs away, assessing me.

Meanwhile, I fight my own battle in my mind.

Should I kill him? Yes. No.

I don’t want to feel these emotions in real time. But I can not let him live. What if I fail in my task to repent by killing him?

I need a second opinion, so I turn to the girl who is staring up at me wide eyed from the ground. “Should I kill him?” I ask, knowing that her answer would likely decide my future.

She stares up at me in shock, as the Hunter hesitates to use my inattention against me, sensing that something was amiss and he should not strike yet.

Hunters have good instincts.

I ask her again, “Should I kill him?”