Helping Blair hunt

All the women were wearing different colored robes as they stood in the hallway outside my room. Rin was draped in an ebony velvet cloak, while Blair was dressed in a shimmering, silver robe that matched her eyes.

Faye had a crimson-colored robe about one shade darker than her hair, and Morgana had a plum tinted robe that made her icy blue eyes stand out.

"Let's go," Rin whispered. "The sooner we leave, the sooner we can return in one piece. But first, everyone needs to take a vial before we go."

"I have them," Blair said with wide, eager eyes.

She handed us each a small glass vial to collect our blood, and once mine was safely tucked into my pocket, I nodded and closed the door behind me.

As we passed through the corridors, all the paintings followed us with their beady, judgmental eyes. The lights dimmed as we headed down to the first floor to leave the castle, and goosebumps rose across my skin.

"Is it me … or are the paintings judging us?" I muttered under my breath.

"Many of them were witches who were killed during the early ages," Rin said as if it should have been obvious. "They are vindictive bitches who would love to see us fail."

"Why?" I asked in confusion.

"They are filled with pain, anger, and resentment." Blair shrugged.

"So, their intentions for the living are not in our favor."

I nodded as we quietly passed through the front door. As soon as we stepped outside, the air was frigid, and the icy, howling wind whipped past my face as we headed toward the black forest.

No one said a word as we entered the thicket, but I could feel the tension from the group as we walked deeper and deeper into the woods.

"We'll definitely find something tonight," Morgana whispered. "I can feel it in the air."

"How can you be so certain?" Faye asked. "I'm not sensing anything."

"It's just a raw feeling," Morgana replied and rolled her blue eyes.

"Stop being so pessimistic."

"I'm not being--" Faye started to say, but then Blair whipped around to face them.

"Would you two stop bickering?" she hissed. "We need to work together, or we're not going to find anything. Then Yennefer will fail us, and we'll all die."

"Agreed," Rin added, but she shot me a dirty look. "Let's keep quiet and keep going."

I moved forward, ahead of the group, and pulled out my dagger. At first, I thought one of the girls was going to make a fuss about me leading the way, but no one said a thing.

Perhaps it was because I had the weapon in my hand.

We continued to move forward, but without any arguments this time. Tonight, it was difficult to see where we were going. The moon was covered by thick, gray clouds, and the black trees towered over us as we slowly made our way deeper into the woods. I adjusted my eyes to the darkness and stepped over twigs and leaves that rustled as we moved.

"Be quiet," Rin hissed to no one in particular.

"Who are you even talking to?" Blair demanded.

"All of you!" Rin growled. "Satan, you're going to draw attention to us all with your heavy feet."

I could tell the black-haired witch was nervous, they all were. So, I did my best to move onward without making a sound, and after about an hour of walking into the darkness, we finally came to an opening in the trees. It was a circular space with no twigs, dead leaves, or debris covering the ground, so the dirt was completely bare. There were markings drawn into the earth, and I immediately noticed there was an unnerving presence in the air, but I couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"The Wicca circle," Rin hissed.

"Well, what is the Wicca circle?"

"It's sacred ground once used for collective sacrifices, back during the dawn of time--" Blair started to explain, but then Faye shot her a death glare.

"We don't have time for a history lesson," the redhead snapped.

"Look, we should get to it and part ways now."

"Let's meet back here once we have collected our blood," Morgana said before she craned her neck to face me. "Don't even think about following me, Neon."

"Fuck," I groaned before shaking my head. "I had no intention of following you, Morgana."

"Good," she snapped.

Everyone separated into different directions, except for Blair and me, who remained behind. I was about to head back into the woods until the lavender-skinned witch grabbed my arm.

"Come with me," she demanded. "My leg is still sore."

Part of me wondered if this was some kind of excuse to just have some extra protection since she drank an entire bottle of mending potion last night. I shrugged with a lopsided smile. "If you insist."

"I don't need your help," she snarled.

"Then why are you asking?" I glanced down at her fingers around my arm.

"It's safer for both of us." She released her grip and then shook her hand like she'd been burned. "Let's go."

I nodded in agreement, and as we walked back into the thicket, I had to squint to see where the hell we were going. It seemed the farther we walked into the woods, the more difficult it was to brush past the branches and vines that were in our way.

We had been walking in silence for a good minute before Blair quietly spoke up.

"So … where is your home?" she asked without looking at me.

"Everyone has been wondering."

"I have no idea," I replied with a shrug.

"How can you have no idea?" she snapped. "Are you lying to me?"

"Look, I just … ended up here," I hissed back, "with no clear recollection of where I came from. Why the hell would I lie about that?" "It just seems so odd," she said after a moment of deliberation. "Well, maybe you were placed under an oblivion curse."

"I honestly have no idea," I muttered. "Can we focus on the topic at hand? I don't want to die because I failed Yennefer's damn quiz."

The topic of my past irritated me because I desperately wanted to know where the hell I came from and how I got here, and more importantly, why the devil wanted me to stay at the academy.

When I looked back at Blair, I could tell she was about to say something else, but then, a loud rustling noise came from behind one of the trees ahead of us.

"Stop," I ordered.

We both stopped in our tracks and glanced at each other, and I caught a glimpse of fear in Blair's silver eyes as they darted back to the source.

I took a step forward, but then she grabbed me again.

"Let me go first?" she said.

It was more of a question rather than a demand.

"Alright," I relented after a moment of deliberation, "but if I see that you need help, I'm stepping in."

"I'll be fine." She rolled her silver eyes. "Don't make me regret agreeing to allow you to come."

"Don't make me regret offering it," I countered.

Her molten silver eyes softened a bit, and she slowly let go of me.

"Fine," she whispered, "just let me do this."

I gestured for her to go, and Blair gradually moved toward the sound. The rustling of the leaves continued, so she cast her eyes around us for a moment. Then she stooped down and quietly picked up a decent sized rock before she made to move toward the rustling sound.

At first, I thought about letting her go, but something made me reach out and stop her.

"Take my blade," I suggested under my breath.

I didn't know why I'd said this, none of these witches had been exactly kind to me, but the thought of the sexy lavender-skinned witch getting disemboweled didn't exactly fill me with joy.

"I don't need it," she argued.

"Yes, you do," I bit back. "Don't be so fucking stubborn."

Blair sighed, and then she dropped her rock and reached out toward me.

I handed her the blade, and then something made a long, screeching sound before it scuttered from the brush. I whipped around and saw a small and scaled creature speeding from the leaves toward Blair. The monster made a long hissing sound as it neared her feet and opened its mouth, and I saw a small set of teeth ready to chomp down on her, but she managed to dodge the creature before it could bite her. Then she swiftly brought the dagger down, and a disturbing crunching sound followed.

Blair stabbed the creature repeatedly until there was a pool of blood seeping from underneath its small, dismembered body. I waited for the beast to turn to stone, just as the centaur had, but nothing happened.

I thought it was strange, but then I turned my attention to the dead being.

"What was that?" I asked as I stared at the bloodied creature.

It looked like an oversized red lizard with small, scaled human hands and long, elven ears. It had small feet, like a human child, and I shuddered at the disturbing sight.

"An imp," Blair replied, and her voice was laced with disappointment. "Damn it … this was not what I was hoping for."

"It's still a creature," I pointed out.

"And a truly pathetic one at that," she muttered.

"Well, it's better than nothing," I reassured her. "Would you rather return with nothing at all?"

"No," the witch mumbled before she pulled out a small glass vial from her cloak pocket.

I watched in fascination as she picked up the bloody imp and squeezed it like a dishrag. The blood poured into her vial, and Blair sighed as she placed it into her pocket.

"I'm going to meet back with the others," she grumbled and shoved the dagger back into my hands. "Good luck."

"What?" I smirked. "You don't want to watch me one-up you?"

Blair narrowed her silver eyes at me, but I thought I saw the corner of her mouth tick upward.

"More like I don't want to wander around all night with you and watch you fail," she countered before she turned back the way we came. "Try not to get killed, Neon, at least not today. If you do, Rin wins the bet."

"Thanks … " I muttered as I watched her leave. A part of me wished she would have stayed, but then I realized it would be more satisfying to show up to Blood Magic tomorrow with my awesome creature.

Whatever it ended up being.

So, I turned away from where Blair had disappeared and stared into the dark forest.

"Okay, then," I muttered to myself while stretching my limbs "let's do this,"

With a sadistic smile present on my face, I walked towards the woods.