The Fae Hunter Ch. 03

"Get back," he shouted suddenly and urgently. "The house is killing you, fae. If you come any closer you will die."

I nodded, struggling to my feet. I had no idea what he meant, but I didn't doubt him. I felt like something was killing me. I turned around and immediately felt better. I stumbled back to the edge of the estate grounds. The pain in my body disappearing as I moved further and further away from the house. When the affects were completely gone, I turned back around. How was I going to get back in there and find out what Niles had been doing? I was stumped. I wasn't going to go back towards the Manor. That was a non-starter.

As I stood there contemplating the fact that a house had easily and effortlessly defeated me, I saw Jakob walking towards me. His hands were awkwardly in front of him. When he got closer, I saw why. He had shackled his hands. He stopped fifty yards away from me. Without the pain clouding my vision I could see him clearly for the first time. He was a tall, big man with a shaggy beard and long hair that was closer to grey than brown. It was clear that in his younger days he had been a fierce warrior, but time and lack of exercise had taken his edge from him and added weight to his frame.

"I can't come any closer," he said. "Niles has commanded me to kill you."

"He knows that I still follow him?"

"He knows that a fae is haünnting him." He shrugged. "And that you would arrive sometime today." He cocked his head to one side. "What do you mean, still follow him?"

"What is that word?" I asked. It sounded like my term 'hunting' but was different. The word connected deeply inside of me.

"Which word?" Jakob asked. "Haünnting?" I nodded. He shrugged again. "It's a fae word. Don't you know it?"

"I'm not fae," I said with some exasperation.

"The house and Niles' spell say otherwise," Jakob attempted a strained laughed. "The command is strong," he said, the laughter cut short. "I'm not sure how long I can last without attacking you. Please tell me. You say that Grace is safe? How?"

"Uh," I looked at Jakob apprehensively. I remembered pushing myself as deeply inside of Grace as her pussy would allow before shooting cum inside of her. "I'm not really sure."

"Niles told me that he had killed her," Jakob said taking a step toward me, his hands reaching up toward me. He looked at his hands and stepped back twice. His body twitched.

"Yeah," I said. I watched him carefully. In about thirty seconds he would lose control and charge me. He would yell at me to run away. If he caught me, he would swing wildly with his bound hands, trying to hit my head with the shackles. I readied myself for the imminent attack. And then he had more control over himself. I blinked in surprise. I had never seen someone change their mind after I had feeling for what they would do.

"What was that?" Jakob gasped. "You just did a haünnt," he answered himself. His voice was stronger, more in control. "It gave me a respite from the command spell. Amazing."

"You can feel when I do a 'hunting'?" I said. But now that I had heard Jakob's pronunciation, I realized that I had all along been trying to say the fae word instead. "Haünnt," I corrected. Saying the word felt right. It was the word for what I did.

"Yes," Jakob said. "Any magic practitioner can." He looked up and down. "So you are a fae hound. Not what I expected."

"A fae hound?" I asked. I wanted to tell him I wasn't fae at all, but I was starting to lose that argument even with myself. "What is that?"

"You don't know what you are?" Jakob asked. He tilted his head to one side. He took a few steps forward, his hands clenching into fists. He didn't step back. So I did. "A fae hound. In the common tongue you are called werewolf. Have you heard of them?"

"What?" I said. "No, I know I'm not that. I don't turn into a wolf at the full moon." I laughed at the ridiculousness of it. "Wait, werewolves are fae?"

"Yes," Jakob's voice was strained again. He took another step forward. "How did you stop Grace?"

"Uh," I fucked her till we both came, I didn't say. "I don't know. I showed her that she wasn't alone in being manipulated and hurt by Niles."

"How?" he growled, baring his teeth in a snarl.

"I showed her my scar," I said. I pulled my shirt over my head. I grinned to myself. If he needed me to fuck him to get rid of the spell, he was sorely out of luck. As soon as my shirt was off, Jakob collapsed to his knees. He was staring at my chest and pushing his bound hands against the side of his head. He groaned in pain.

"What are those marks?" he gasped. I could feel Jakob's essence inside of me. He was fighting my control as desperately as he was fighting Niles'. Whether because I was getting used to how my own mind control was working or because he was a mage of some kind, I could sense for the first time how much control I had over him. And I could feel Niles' command. I envisioned a band of blue light that was encircled around Jakob's will. It was constricting and tightening. Soon it would snap Jakob in two and his self, his personality, would be gone. I pushed against the light. Nothing happened. I pushed harder. Harder. With a scream of rage I slashed through the blue light, inserting my own between Niles' and Jakob. And, like that, it was gone. Vanished. Jakob cried out and fell onto his side. I stumbled to my knees in the effort.

"No," Jakob cried. He dropped his hands and stared at me in horror. I held his essence in my mind. With a simple constriction he would be mine completely. His free will irrevocably destroyed. My every desire, my every command would be his only wish for life. This was greater than the power of life and death. This was heady, exciting. I would be his master with no equivocation. I pushed in. Jakob was too tired to fight. His eyes begged me for release. I staggered to my feet. My first of many slaves pushed his hands toward me in supplication. I released him. He rolled over on to his back, sobbing in relief.

"Niles' command is gone," I said out loud though we both knew the very moment it had vanished. I bent down and picked up my shirt that I had dropped to the ground. I put it back on as I walked toward Jakob. He struggled to his knees and when I got to him, I helped him to his feet. I grabbed the shackles that were encircling his wrists. "How do I get these off of you?"

"Thank you," he said. The profound relief and gratitude giving the simple words gravitas. "You can't," he answered my question. "The keys are in the house. If you wait here, I will unlock myself and bring some food out here for us to share while we talk."

"Niles was trying to open a magical bauble," Jakob said once he came back out with food and drink. He brought a loaf of bread, colds meats and a bottle of wine.

"The bounty I was given mentioned a glass orb," I said. "Is that the bauble? What does it do?"

"Probably," Jakob answered with a shrug. He took a large gulp of wine before passing the bottle to me. "He was very frustrated that he couldn't open it. I don't know what it was supposed to give him." He paused, thinking. "Definitely more power. But I don't how or why."

"Why did he leave? Did he give up? Do you know where he went?"

"Woah," Jakob said, putting a hand up to slow me down. "He left because he felt you haünnting him. You made him extremely pissed off."

"So he knew it was me?" I asked.

"Not you in particular I don't think," Jakob disagreed. "He started throwing things and breaking things and ranting about another fae hound on his trail."

"Another one," I mused. "There might be lots of people coming after him. It's a large bounty. Maybe those other bounty hunters are fae."

"Maybe," Jakob said doubtfully. "But you are definitely the fae hound he felt haünnting him."

"I'm not a werewolf," I said. I didn't even know if I believed myself at this point. It was just an automatic response.

"I've never heard of a werewolf that can control blue ley lines," Jakob admitted. "And what are those purple marks on your torso?"

"I don't know," I said. "Do you know where Niles is going next?"

"Do you know of my nephew?" Jakob asked.

"He's the current Lord Bynton."

"Yes," Jakob confirmed. "And most of the year he lives in Trepple as an advisor to the throne."

"Back in the capital?" I asked. "But that is where Niles came from."

"He mentioned that," Jakob laughed lightly. "He was not happy to find young Eldric not there. You see every year he takes two months to continue his studies. Sometimes he comes here to the estate to study. When he is experimenting with spells he goes to a home that he has built on the crossroads of six ley lines."

"You mentioned that earlier. 'Ley lines.' What is that?"

"They," he paused to think how to answer my question. "They are the way mages gather the power to do magic. Most magic users have an affinity towards one or sometimes two ley lines. Eldric is a divinator and is able to dabble in all the ley lines but is a master of none."

"Interesting," I said. "There is much I would like to ask you, but I can feel Niles getting further and further away from me. I will try to come back and talk to you in depth later."

"I am at your disposal," Jakob assured me. "I hope you are able to stop Niles."

"Me too," I answered, standing up. "Me too."

"I would offer you a horse," Jakob told me. "But fae hounds are notoriously against riding horses."

"I don't like horses," I said as soon as I heard the offer about a horse. I trailed off into silence as he finished his comment. He just smiled at me.

***

Eldric's ley house was three days north of town. As the horse plods. With Jakob's directions ringing in my ears I took off with a mile eating jog that I hoped would let me catch up to Niles before he was able to find and kill Eldric. I was half a day behind. So very close. I tuned my haünnting into Niles as I ran along the road. He was determined to get to Eldric before me. He was frustrated and angry. He wanted me stopped. He wanted...and for the first time in memory my prey disappeared from my consciousness. I stumbled in surprise. I picked up my pace, allowing a grin to spread across my face. I had Niles worried. Good.

In the late afternoon I found a campsite and slowed to investigate. I breathed deeply as I wandered around the site. Taking in everything I saw with both my eyes and my haünnting. Niles had stopped here briefly. He was going to stay the night, but growled when he felt me haünnting him. If he stayed here, he knew that I would catch up to him. He snarled at his four hench men to get back on their horses. They had to travel further down the road. Niles was hoping to take the afternoon and night to study the crystal ball. To try new spells. He had to activate it.

I frowned. Pushed my mind outward. Niles looked up and it was as if we were looking at each other across time. He grimaced and snarled. He slashed his hand in my direction and started to fade away from my consciousness. I ground my teeth together and held on. My chest started to burn. My heart pounded. I broke out in a sweat. Niles came into sharp focus. He knew I was there watching him, but couldn't see me himself.

"You aren't a dog," Niles said. "What are you?" He wanted me dead. He was filled with rage.

"Run," I taunted him. "Run all you want. I will find you. I'm coming for you." His eyes opened wide in shock.

I was back in my time and place. I was at the campsite. But there was something wrong. Was it extra quiet? Was it Niles' gloating? Was it... I dived backwards as an arrow flew past me. Time slowed down as I brought my haünnting to this time and place. The archer, standing behind a tree, was going to keep shooting arrows at me as a distraction. He knew that the arrows wouldn't kill me. He was waiting for the two men behind me to sneak up and slash at me with their daggers. I dashed away as I felt the archer loose another arrow. The two men trying to sneak up on me cursed, jumped to their feet and chased after. They were encumbered by armor and I easily put myself between them and the archer. I had at most a minute before the archer found a new location to shoot me from. The two men trying to engage me in hand to hand combat wore chained shirts and heavy leather pants. Swords hung by their sides, but they wielded blades that glinted silver. Like the archer convinced his arrows wouldn't hurt me, these two were convinced that their swords were useless against me. I grinned at them.

"Are you sure you want to fight a werewolf?" I growled. "Run away before I bite you." They were afraid of me. Afraid I really was a werewolf. But Niles was forcing them to kill me. Interesting. I grinned. I tore my shirt off, revealing my chest to them. With groans of pain they paused, staring at the purple lines radiating from the center of my chest. Standing motionless for the few seconds it took for me to reach them. I charged the one on the left. I hit his throat with the palm of my hand, breaking his windpipe. I spun around and kicked at the knee of the fighter on the right. With a satisfying, horrific, crunching sound his patella cracked as I violently dislocated his knee. With a strangled cry he fell to the ground. I dodged to one side, but not quite in time as another arrow came at me. It scraped my left side, spinning me around. I lost my balance and fell. I rolled with the fall, coming around and around and back up on my feet. Only to find the fourth guard that I hadn't sensed standing in front of me. He tried to stab in the gut. I pulled back and put my left arm down. The blade bit deeply into my forearm. Excruciating heat and pain blossomed. Ignoring my instinct to rear back and away from the man stabbing at me, I pushed forward, kneeing him in the groin. He turned his hips just in time to block the knee, but it left the side of his neck open to the edge of my hand. He staggered back. I grabbed his knife hand and spun him around just in time for the next arrow coming at me to sink into his back. He screamed and fell to the ground. The knife fell from his hand as he crumpled forward. I stomped down hard on the back of his head with the heal of my boot.

Blood poured from my arm as I turned toward the archer. I ran at him as he dropped his bow and pulled out yet another silver dagger. I stopped when I was ten feet away from him. He was watching my motions carefully, but not really seeing me. I spread my arms wide, opening my chest to him.

"Look at me," I told him. Involuntarily he looked and was lost. I was in his mind. In his essence. In my adrenaline rush and pain I crushed Niles' control over him. Crushed his own will in my eagerness.

"Ahhhh," he cried, dropping his dagger and bringing his hands up to his head. He fell to the ground, crying and sobbing.

"Get up," I said. Still crying, he stood up. "Be silent." His tears ended abruptly. He stared at me blankly. Bile rose in my throat. Swallowing hard, I kept my focus. "Lead me to Niles." He turned and started walking away. I followed.

I was careful to keep my haünnting to my surroundings and not reach out for Niles. I crept up on his location. He was drinking from a flask as he read from a leather-bound book. In his lap was a crystal ball. He was muttering words as he read, one hand splayed against the clear orb. His war horse, standing near by looked over at us as I crept close. Once we had gotten close to Niles' camp, I had told my slave to go to sleep. He had immediately laid down on the ground and fell unconscious.

The horse smelled me and neighed quietly. I stood up, crossbow loaded and pointed at Niles. Niles looked over and seeing me stood up to face me. The crystal orb held protectively in his right hand.

"Another dog doing the bidding of his masters," Niles snarled. "Feel lucky. The last dog I tortured before allowing his bitch to kill him. You I will just kill."

"Is that right?" I said. I stepped closer to him. "I don't normally like killing people, but you need to be killed. You keep on calling me dog, but you are the wild dog that needs to be put down."

"I keep on calling you dog? What are you talking about?" He looked closer at me, staring into my face. "Have we met?"

"What did you do with Cynthia? Where is she?"

"Who the fuck is Cynthia?" Niles looked sincerely perplexed. I shot him in the leg. The bolt was aimed straight and true. I was shocked when it veered at the last moment and flew straight into the ground. I dropped the bow and charged at him. He somehow locked eyes with me. I slowed down, turning my rush into a run and then into a walk. I was thirty feet from him. I forced another step and then another. Inching forward. Twenty feet. Sweat dripped off of me. My limbs were heavy, refusing to listen to me. Niles brought up the crystal ball, holding it out at arm's length between us. His arm shook. His eyes were wide. His teeth ground together.

"What...the...fuck," he gasped. I edged closer. "What...are...you?"

"Justice," I answered. "Death." And the spell broke. My movements became free again.

"You aren't a fae hound," he said, falling down onto his ass. He looked up at me. There was no fear in his eyes. He had never felt fear. Determination. Anger. So much anger. Even frustration. But there had never been fear. I was hoping to change that before he died.

"No," I agreed. "I'm not a fae hound." I kicked at his knee. It crunched nicely against my boot. He yelled in pain and threw the orb at me. I caught it. He was looking at me eagerly. A glint of evil joy in his eyes.

"But fae," he said. "You are definitely fae."

"Am I?"

"You have to be," he said. He was watching the crystal ball. Watching me hold it. When nothing happened, doubt started to cloud his features. I smiled grimly at him.

"Was this thing supposed to stop me?" I asked, holding out the clear globe. I laughed. "Sorry..." I stopped. The orb was heating up in my palm. "Sorry," I tried to speak again but my voice cracked and stuttered quiet. I cleared my throat. I tried to drop the globe, but it was glued to my hand. "Fuck," I growled. There were steaks of white lightening inside the ball. Each streak stabbing into my hand. In response my hand started to glow purple. "What the fuck are you doing to me!" I screamed at Niles.

"Die you fucking monster." He laughed at me. "Fucking die!" There was so much pain riding up my arm. So much in my chest. The heat was pouring off of me. My shirt was burning off of me. I fell to my knees. In my peripheral vision I saw Niles struggle to his feet. My whole body was now a searing pain. "You are the same fae that was hunting me before." He marveled. Mostly to himself. He laughed again - the evil hackle an echo to the building, searing pain that was growing ever worse. "That stupid little bitch was supposed to kill you. How fascinating." He leaned over me. "How did you survive, I wonder?"

I exploded in purple pain.

Thank you for reading Chapter 3 of The Fae Hunter. If you are enjoying this story, please vote so that others might find it as well.