Blood Dancer - Part 7.1

Kate's car screeched to a halt. There was spells being cast mere yards away from her...the thought turned Kate's stomach. There was an active witch in Lincoln Lake and she had just tried to seduce her. She had been so careless in splashing magical mischief around the town and it had put her quest in serious jeopardy. How had she let this happen...her agents had spent so much time in the town ensuring there was no threats in the area.

She was stunned...vampyre queens never panicked but this was the nearest she'd ever been to it. She had been too casual. Unforgivably sloppy and now, within touching distance of the ultimate prize, the rarest bloodline on the entire planet, she had lowered her guard and was in danger of throwing it away.

How could this have happened? She had researched the town meticulously. There ad been no trace of active magic or supernatural activity of any form. Her agents had absolutely explicit on that. Yet the wave of energy was unmistakable and it source was not in doubt. Brigit was a witch or sorceress.

Abruptly Kate realised her car was in the middle of the road. She regained her composure and drove home. There, hidden behind it's protective shields, she went over her actions and in particular the times when she had used magic. That was the only time she'd been vulnerable to detection. There had been the gentle mental caresses of Reverend Wilma and the Langdales but that would be undetectable. The danger would have been at the soccer match and afterwards at the barbeque...that explained Brigit's unexpected appearance. No, thought Kate, she was probably safe...for now.

She reclined in her armchair and simmered. If she wasn't relying on her former investigators for sustenance she would go down to her basement and slaughter them all. Their sloppiness had almost cost her very dear. Had her plan to seduce Brigit and take her as her lover been successful she would have been very vulnerable...now she contemplated a completely different course of action. The witch would have to be dealt with, that much was obvious. In a big city that would not be a problem, people disappeared very easily in cities. In a town like Lincoln Lake a schoolteacher going missing would be very difficult to keep quiet.

Wilma would be key...the fact they'd spent the night together was intriguing. Brigit had to be aware of Wilma's seducing enchantment even if she didn't know the source. It would be just like a witch to stick her nose in as soon as she detected magic of any kind. They seemed to believe they had a monopoly on sorcery. Undoubtedly Kate's top priority had to be to find out if Brigit was a lone witch or there was a coven in town, if it was the latter then she had big problems. Knowing witches as she did Brigit would be doing everything she could to ensure Wilma's magical powers were contained and snuffed out. That only left Stacey, the two of them would undoubtedly be getting a visit from Brigit and her associates if there was any.

Kate needed to keep Brigit distracted until she was sure about what she was dealing with, frustrating her mission to investigate Wilma's magical power would be perfect, Kate would just need to keep a low profile and observe. As the new-comer in town she would naturally raise curiosity...it was vital now she merely blend into the background and let Brigid show her hand.

Kate mused for a while and then smiled broadly...she had the perfect thing, she retreated to her bedroom and opened her jewellery box. Unlike most ladies jewellery collections this was not mere trinkets and baubles but a thousand lifetimes worth of magical artefacts. In one of the draws she found her prize and held it up. Ironically fashioned into an exquisite gold cross but unblessed and therefore harmless to Kate she held it up and smiled. It was a perfect tool for the job, a magical shield that would grant the wearer an impenetrable protection against spells...it would instead reflect the aggressive spell back onto the user. This would frustrate Brigid's attempts to identify any destroy the magic within Wilma.

Smiling she placed the cross onto a matching gold chain and began to relax a little more. Tomorrow morning she would set her plan in motion.