Snippet #1938912

"She's gone," the drunk had repeated, staring at Kiana desperately through red-rimmed eyes. "She went out to get some flowers but she must have gotten lost. And now it's too dark..." He then hesitated; like many in the town, even drunk he was reluctant to speak of the monsters that seemed to stalk the forest. Kiana had gotten all the information she wanted and needed though.

She stood up. "I'll go look for her," she had said, pushing her untouched tankard towards the drunk. Then, leaving him behind, she had headed towards the forest. The girl hadn't been that hard to find - the surroundings were all torn up, bloody, and the girl herself barely recognizable. Kiana stepped lightly through the snow, leaves, trees until she stood by the broken up swirl of blood, flesh, and nature. She quietly listened for a moment and then bent down, inspecting the body and quashing down any disgust. The answer rose at once to her mind as she noted the chewed flesh and claw marks, as well as the trail through the snow on the right, leading away. Werewolf.

She fingered one of her blades thoughtfully. Then, she stood and slipped past the body, towards the tracks. She began to follow them warily, keeping all her senses extended. It was the voice that alerted her to the other's presence first. "Damned shaman-bitch," a low gravelly voice snarled. "Cut off my hand..." He trailed off in a variety of curses. The leaves rustled as Gust reached through the bushes to pull out some herbs roughly and stick them into the basket belonging to a - now dead - villager girl who had been stupid enough to wander the forest and too slow in trying to escape. Gust licked his jaws at the memory of the blood - "Stupid little human had the basket I needed though" - and then continued savagely pulling the herbs, sometimes getting roots, sometimes bits of the leaves.

Kiana did not need to guess that Gust had been the one to kill the girl. She stepped backward, preparing to creep away. Snap! Kiana's eyes widened and she managed to call herself several kinds of stupid as Gust's head shot up and he turned. "Oho! Another stupid little human." He dropped the basket behind him and stepped forward, preparing to transform. Kiana responded quickly as she threw her blade forward at Gust's neck. He moved, and a thin line of blood carved onto his skin, but it was only on his cheek and barely a nuisance to the werewolf.

No silver, no werewolf bone. Kiana thought worriedly as she danced aside from Gust's claws. Her arm suddenly burned and blood blossomed on long, shallow scratches engraved on her skin. And I don't think I can hold him down alone. That means... She had to distract Gust long enough to- Gust gave a bloodthirsty scream as he transformed, muscles and fur exploding into being. The scream became a howl that echoed through the air. There!

Kiana grabbed the moment of distraction and the opportunity the howl gave her to stand still and take a breath. Before the howl petered out and Gust turned his gaze towards her, Kiana hummed. It was a quiet melody at first, but began to swell into a loud wordless song that matched Gust's howl as it undulated and twisted through the melody. If Gust had been completely focused on the battle, Kiana would have had a difficult time either retreating or fighting. But the howl had been enough to distract him and let her match a melody to his cry. And so she let the tune escape her lips, match with the howl and then slowly bring Gust to a stop. Even as the howl faded, Kiana continued.

Gust's eyes were glazed as he stood limply in front of her. His ears twitched, straining to hear every note - lost in the sound. Kiana's voice dropped to a low croon as she stepped forward. One step. Two steps. Gust let her walk straight up to him. Kiana pulled out a longer knife than the one earlier. She casually put it pointing straight at one of Gust's eyes. Her voice trailed to a stop. Gust stood there for several moments longer, pulling free from the spell.

"Now don't attack," Kiana murmured, her blade extremely close to the werewolf's eye. "If you so much as twitch, this will drive into your brain and the world will be free of one more werewolf."

Gust snarled. "What do you want, bitch?"

Kiana smiled, feeling more comfortable as she slipped into the familiar territory of information gathering. "Information. Just a little news."

Gust's eyes narrowed. It sounded so simple. Too simple. "What kind of news?"

"Tell me, who cut off your hand?" Kiana asked idly. Gust's reply was laden with expletives, but Kiana got the general picture of a shaman who stayed in the forest and supposedly was also a werewolf. Kiana noted down the person as a person to look for after the... "enlightening conversation" with Gust. She wasn't asking anything sensitive, so Gust was rather open with his feelings. "I thought a shaman would be healing you, not cutting off hands," Kiana murmured.

"She was supposed to be!" Gusts growled. "My hand was cut by Big Bad's bitch! Little Red!" Kiana's interest was peaked. Little Red? The villagers had mentioned... something. A rumor. Her inquiry was rebuffed however with another wave of curses. "What, you gonna torture me?" Gust howled.

"No. I'm sure I can get all the information I need from the villagers and I'm sure the shaman might be more open to inquiry." Kiana smiled at Gust's sudden fearful eyes. "I don't think I need you anymore!"

"No wait! I'll tell you! Big Bad adopted Little Red and she killed and ate humans! She has a sister-" Kiana cut off his voice by stabbing the knife deep into the eye.

"A sister, huh? I'm sure I can figure who it is soon enough." Kiana moved towards the basket of herbs and picked it up. She sifted through it, picking out the badly damaged ones and then picked up more. "I'm sure the shaman would appreciate some of these..."