Gaia's Champion Ch. 24

"Fuck! It got away!" Sheena grumped.

"Maybe not," Phalmina smirked before she jumped behind a tree. Using her senses, she waited until she was certain that she wasn't being watched. Taking the time to ensure that not even a video camera caught it, she shrunk down to her fairy size and flitted over to Jason and Sheena.

"The wraith may be evading us, but while in my fairy form, I am able to see things that even Shaman and Druids cannot. Stay put, I'll have a look around and see if I can find our quarry," Phalmina said.

"Observe only! I don't want you doing anything to hurt yourself," Jason told her with a note of worry in his voice.

"Don't fuss, sweetie. I would never do anything to jeopardize my life or the life of our son. Stay close by, in case things get ugly, but keep your magic suppressed. No need to light a beacon for the beast," the fairy replied.

Nodding, the young Gaians let her fly off, as she sought the creature that was taking human lives. Phalmina could sense the darkness now, as its cold and oppressive aura blanketed a large area of the park. She tried to narrow it down, but with the wraith muddling its presence, it was hard to determine where it was.

Phalmina groaned and was about to turn around when she heard something that chilled her to the bone. It was the sound of a little girl giggling, but for some reason, the sound creeped her out and she didn't know why. Turning around and hiding in a nearby sun beam, she watched as the girl who was laughing run up to a young couple who hugged her.

"So, how was your feeding?" the woman asked the girl.

"It went very well! Someone almost spotted me, but I got away and lost them in the alleys," the girl replied.

"That's good news! Can't have the mundane people knowing what you are. Not yet at least," the man grinned.

"Yes. My power is growing and soon, it will be enough where even those pesky Gaians can't stop me," the wraith/girl exulted.

"What do you wish to do now, dark mistress?" the woman asked.

"Well, I would like to..." the wraith/child started, before turning her head. She swore she sensed something, but shook it off, believing it to be just her acclimatizing to this body.

"Is something wrong, dark mistress?" the man questioned.

"It is nothing. Just my senses in distress once again," the wraith/child stated.

"Maybe some rest would be in order, then? Maintaining your disguise will be essential to continue feeding unnoticed," the woman said.

"Yes, some rest would be welcome."

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Phalmina breathed heavily as she sat in the tree, watching the young couple guide the girl out of the park. The fairy had been both shocked and horrified at what she had just learned, but it all made much more sense now! The wraith was currently inhabiting the body of that child and had likely consumed its soul! The fairy could feel nothing but pity for the child and hoped that at least her end had been quick.

Pulling out her cellphone, another gift from Jason, she snapped several photos of the couple and the child. To Phalmina, it was obvious that this couple were acolytes of the dark, which explained why they were helping the wraith/child. After a few dozen photos, the fairy woman left the safety of the tree and went straight to Jason and Sheena.

"Mina! Are you OK?" Jason asked as she lit upon his shoulder.

"Walk back to the apartment! I'll grow once we're out eyeshot, but fuck... things have gotten worse!" the fairy breathed.

"How could they have gotten worse?" Sheena queried.

Phalmina then explained everything she'd seen and what the couple had said to the wraith/child. Jason and Sheena were just as shocked as she was, scarcely daring to believe that it was possible. Although, given what they had been doing with their magic and what they were learning, impossible meant nothing to them.

"You said that you got some photos of the three of them?" Jason asked once they were in an alleyway.

"Yeah! Here," Phalmina said as she grew back to human size, before handing Jason her phone. Jason took the phone and checked the photos, making sure to check they were good shots of the couple and the wraith/child.

"Hopefully, Luke will be able to make use of these and track down this couple," Jason stated.

"Well? Let's our asses in gear then!" Sheena groused as they arrived at the apartment building.

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Luke, Karla and Emalia arrived at the house around mid-morning, getting out of the car. Both women were glowing from the incessant fuck-a-thon they had enjoyed the night previously. Especially Karla, who was wearing a massive grin, as Luke had given her a right proper thrashing. Luke was grinning like an idiot, and with what his ladies had done to him last night, who wouldn't be?

He chuckled to himself as the three of them stepped into the house, ready to start their day again. An interesting sight greeted the trio as they found Xaera and the male Nymphs cuddled up together in her bed. The women peeped in surprise before they started snickering, knowing what those three had gotten up to the night before. Xaera then popped up, her keen ears picking up on the laughter.

"Hey... could you keep it down? I barely got any sleep last night," Xaera moaned as she turned over, pulling the blankets over her head.

"Well, who's fault is that?" Karla asked, as she sidled up to the bed and peeked under the covers. "You do realize that it's morning, right?"

"Five more minutes."

Giggling, Karla nodded and thought to give her at least ten more minutes before waking them up. Sadly, Xaera and the Nymphs didn't even get that, as the Marston clan showed up barely six minutes later. They were yammering their heads off, especially Eva, Amy and Elizabeth, who just wouldn't shut up.

"Ugh! Can everyone just leave the house for the next few hours? Please?" Xaera begged, sounding like she had a cold.

"Lack of sleep? That's no problem. I can fix that," Daelina chuckled as she wove her magic into a pattern, invoking several runes and shot them at the tired forms of the Xaera, the Oread and the Naiad. The trio then sat up, feeling much better than they had just a few moments ago.

"What did you do?" Xaera questioned.

"Just gave you three a magical adrenaline rush. It will last the whole day, but by the end of it, you will all clonk out," Daelina grinned.

"Well, thank you for that!"

"Have yourself some fun last night?" Darren teased as he offered Xaera a coffee.

"Yes, I did. Besides, these two here have been without a woman's touch for centuries. Their poor balls were fit to bursting, and they needed some release," Xaera replied, defending her actions.

"No accusations on my part! Just wondering if you enjoyed yourself," Darren responded as he put his hand up in mock surrender.

"Hmm! Let me put it you this way. If I wasn't so sore from our little romp last night, you all would have walked in to these two plowing me in some pretty inventive ways," the troll woman supplied as she pumped her eyebrows.

"Well, I think what you did was a good thing," Felicitae replied, taking over Amy's body for the moment. "Nymphs are highly sexual creatures, and we have needs that are often greater than most. I hope you plan on... helping these two some more once you up for more. Going by the looks on their faces, I'd say these two are just getting started."

The Naiad and Oread grinned and nodded, agreeing with Felicitae on this matter. They turned their gaze to Xaera, and she smiled back, lust rolling off her in waves. Truthfully though, both Nymphs were just as sore, which was a new sensation for them. With their magic depleted as it was, they couldn't heal as quickly as they normally would. Once their magic was restored, then things would be very different.

The group bantered back and forth, each one of them poking fun at one another. Though it was all in good fun, as no one meant anything malicious by what they said. This kept on for a bit, until Jason, Sheena and Phalmina arrived, looking worried. When pressed about why they looked like this, they relayed the story of what they'd learned. Hearing this set everyone on edge, as such news was downright terrifying.

"So, it's possessed a little girl? And this couple is helping it feed?" Luke questioned, still trying to wrap his head around the idea.

"Yup!" Sheena told him.

"You at least got pictures, right?!?"

"Right here! You can thank Phalmina for having the foresight to snap these pics," Jason told him as he handed him the fairy's phone.

"All right! Let's have a look... not bad... not bad... better... much better... OK! I think we have enough here for me to run a basic search of these people and see who they are," Luke grinned.

"Well, that's a bit of good news! Maybe we can finally start tracking the wraith now that we know what form it has assumed," Jason said.

"Isn't the piece we have to track it working?" Karla wondered, thinking the idea redundant.

"It stopped working when it possessed the little girl. Maybe because it's inside her is why it hasn't been working lately," Xaera mused.

"Still, we need to keep an eye on it and where it goes, if at all possible. At the rate it's going, this creature will consume enough souls to make it nearly impervious to our magic," Sheena said.

"Indeed! I'm at a loss as to how it became powerful enough to possess a human body like that! Last time we tangled with it, we had weakened the damn thing!" Emalia griped.

"I think... it has something to do with... me," Felicitae/Amy replied.

"How so?" Jason wondered.

"Something in the back of my mind. Like a shadow of a memory that I can barely grasp. I don't know why, but something is telling me it received aid... likely from me," Felicitae/Amy responded.

"Seems like our job just got harder," Sheena sighed.

"What do you mean?" Phalmina queried.

"We can no longer kill Felicitae in her corrupted form. If we're going to get any answers about what's happened with the wraith, we're going to capture her alive," Sheena stated.

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Thus ends chapter 24 of Gaia's Champion! Much is going on and changing as everyone tried to come to grips with the events unfolding as they are! Will the Naiad and Oread be able to lend their aid to their fellow Gaians? What will they do when they finally track down this couple that has been aiding the wraith/child? How will they capture Felicitae's corrupted body and will they be able to contain her? For all of these answers, stay tuned for the next chapter, which is already on its way!

Anyway, thank you for taking the time to read my work and I do hope that you've enjoyed it! I'm open to constructive criticism and will seriously consider any suggestions made about various story arcs. Please feel free to rate and comment on my work down below. If you like what I write, don't be afraid to follow and share, though your views, ratings and comments are quite enough for me.

In the meantime, this is C.H. Darkstrider, signing off to grab a beer and some quality time with the wife! ;) You will attain whatever you most desire, as long as you believe in yourself. Cheers!