The White Queen and the Witch Hunter

Rating: M

Summary: With the Black Queen no longer able to cause trouble a darker, more dangerous, threat is rising. Chloe finds an ancient book that may be able to lead them to another immortal.

A/N: This idea popped into my head after watching the With Hunter movie and just refused to go away.

Chapter 1

Kaulder was slowly driving Chloe up the wall and making her question whether staying with him was really a good idea for her sanity. She had no idea how Dolan dealt with him for so long without wanting to kill the smug little bastard.

"Dolan? What the hell is your secret? How do you not want to strangle him on a near-daily basis?"

"That, my dear, is the secret. I do want to strangle him, quite often in fact. Imagining myself doing so when he is being particularly difficult is what allows me to deal with him…without committing pointless homicide."

"Pointless because he can't actually die right?"

"Precisely."

"You two do realize I can hear you right?"

"Your point being?"

A low gravelly chuckle was their only response, as per usual when dealing with Kaulder, if they got a response at all. Chloe let out an aggravated sigh and Dolan just shrugged. Dolan went back to logging Kaulder's latest adventure against the Black witch queen in his journal while Chloe went back to reading an ancient tome that Kaulder had in his secret vault. He had been allowing her to borrow it and read it due to it being about the history of her kind, the history of the ancient witches. According to the tome the ancient witches were mostly neutral with a few being white witches. Originally there had been no black witches, not until one of the most powerful of the neutral witches had found a strange artifact that corrupted her heart and soul, twisting her magic into a dark shadow of what it was supposed to be. She went on to infect other witches with her darkness to form her own black coven. She later became known as the Witch Queen, but the witches had called her the Black Queen because those who remained neutral still followed the white queen. The tome spoke of the battle between Kaulder and the Black Queen, but it also mentioned that the White Queen had been the one to bind the Black Queen to that tree in the first place to minimize her ability to damage the world. It was because of the Black Queen that humans began to mistrust magic and those who used it, and so they began to hunt them down.

Chloe was horrified as she read about numerous witch hunts that had occurred in history, not just in Salem but all over the world. Those hunts had resulted in the deaths of every white witch, all except the White Queen who went into hiding and had not been seen since. Many came to believe she had only been a myth and soon her story had been forgotten. Chloe had a deep, instinctive feeling that the story was true and that the White Queen was out there somewhere…waiting to be found by one who would believe in her. She closed her eyes and allowed her conscious mind to fall away, letting her unconscious mind drift out away from her body. She felt a hesitant presence reaching out to her and tried to project a feeling of safety, being rewarded with a radiant, warm white light bathing her in it's glow. The image of a small female form surrounded by a halo of light appeared for a brief moment before the presence vanished altogether. Chloe came back to herself with a sharp gasp of air that had both males in the room rushing to her side.

"Are you all right my dear? Are you hurt?"

"She saw something. What did you see Chloe?"

"The White Queen…I saw the White Queen. She's real…and she's waiting for someone to believe in her…to help her."

"What are you talking about Kid? What White Queen?"

"You don't remember her do you? She's the one that bound the Black Queen to the tree, she made it possible for her to be pinned down and killed. She couldn't kill her directly…she's too pure to kill…but she made it so that someone could if they had a strong enough will."

Kaulder's face hardened for a moment while he remembered that fateful day before softening again as he looked at the young woman he had come to view as a little sister of sorts. He rested one large hand atop her red head and let her draw strength from his presence, earning him a grateful little smile from the young witch.

"You said she's waiting for help? What did you mean by that my dear?"

Dolan had all-but adopted her as a surrogate daughter and worried over her far more than he ever did over Kaulder. Kaulder suspected her mortality had something to do with that. The red-head's eyes turned to Dolan with a soft smile that neither man had ever seen on her before.

"When her people stopped believing in her, her magic became mostly dormant. She's been waiting for one of us to find her story and believe in her again, to give her magic strength. Now…she just needs me to find her. I have to find her Kaulder…I have to. She's the true queen of my kind. Her magic is pure and she can heal those that the black one corrupted in her bid for power."

"Maybe she can help us deal with the new threat that's been cropping up as well Kaulder..."

"You mean those Shadow things that have been killing people and vanishing without a trace?"

"Yes…the shadow things. I still haven't found anything to tell us what they are or where they come from, let alone how to kill them. I'm afraid if this continues much longer it will spark a modern day witch hunt…"

"No! I won't let that happen. I'll find the White Queen…she can help us I know it. Will you help me find her or not? I can find her but I might not be able to get to her without help. I have a feeling whatever's out there doesn't want her to come back to full power."

"Yeah kid, I'll help you...I'll always help you. You got any idea where to start?"

"She's somewhere in Europe, possibly in England or Scotland or Ireland. I won't be able to narrow it down until I get closer."

"Well then…Dolan…We're going to need some Airline tickets."

"I'm already ahead of you my friend. I've just ordered two open-ended round-trip tickets to London and several open-ended tickets for smaller jump-flights to and from Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and a few other countries just in case. I am almost done ordering a third open ticket for the return flight once you find her."

"So that's how you managed to get around so quickly when hunting…damn I wish I'd have had these kinds of resources."

"Well now you do. Go pack a bag because we'll be leaving tonight. Pack enough to last at least a week."

Chloe was already out the door and racing down the hall to her bedroom before he was even halfway done speaking. Kaulder let a small amused smirk cross his lips, chuckling low in his throat as he grabbed a bag he kept packed at all times and added a number of undetectable weapons to it. The Axe and Cross had been trying to get him to come back but he was still angry and feeling more than a little bit betrayed by them, especially since one of their own had tried to kill him during his brief stint as a mortal again. He let his mind wander for a moment to wonder about this White Queen Chloe was so intent on finding. Part of him feared that it was some darker entity trying to use Chloe to get to him, but another part of him vaguely remembered a small woman wreathed in white light as she fought back the darkness trying to claim him after he killed the evil Witch Queen. He shook his head and wondered if he should have Chloe take him back into that memory to see what happened between killing the witch and being awakened by his brethren. A loud thud near the door had him looking up with a wide grin on his face. Chloe was dragging a large rolling suitcase behind her and staring at him with an impatient look.

"Well? Are we going or not Kaulder?"

"Alright kid, keep your shorts on we're going."

She gave him an un-amused look as he chuckled at her for being so excited. Who could blame her? It wasn't every day a witch got the chance to meet one of the first of their kind and be in a position to help them. The glare she leveled at him had him putting his hands up in surrender, though that infuriating smirk never left his lips for a second. He picked up her bag like it weighed next to nothing and put it in the trunk with his, earning him a more playful scowl from the red-head as she grabbed his keys and slid into the driver's seat before he could even blink. His rich baritone laugh rumbled through the car as he slid into the passenger seat before the young woman stomped the accelerator to the floor and careened around the first turn in her path.

"You do actually want to make it there in one piece right kid?"

"I like driving fast…especially in this fancy thing you love so much."

Another deep chuckle came from the large muscled male. All remained relatively quiet until Chloe slid sideways into a parking spot at the airport, long-term of course since they'd be gone for a while. Kaulder looked over at her with a raised eyebrow at the now-bouncing female he was with. He lifted both of their bags out of the trunk and they proceeded to their flight. Once they were in the air Kaulder brought up the idea of having her help him revisit the memory of what happened after he killed the Black Queen.

"Hey kid? I'm thinking I might need to have you take me back into a specific memory of mine."

"Which one?"

The one right after I killed the Witch Queen."

"The Black Queen…that's what she's supposed to be called because she's not the true Queen. Why do you want to see that again?"

"I have a vague memory of a small woman surrounded by white light…seeming to be driving something off. I need to find out more…to see exactly who she was and what she did. I want you there with me Chloe."

"Of course Kaulder…you're like my brother now."

The two settled back in their seats and Chloe placed her hand in his much larger one. They both closed their eyes and Chloe pulled them both into Kaulder's memories, sifting through until she found the right moment in time. Chloe gave him a horrified look as she saw the black one's power burning him though he did not die. They both froze in place as large numbers of shadowy figures started to swarm around Kaulder's burned form before a blinding white light surrounded him like a shield. A small woman with long wavy hair that was silvery in color appeared out of the darkness and the shadows tried to attack her. Her piercing bright green eyes landed on Kaulder's form as the shadows bounced off of the shields around them both. When she spoke her voice was soft and had a slight musical quality to it.

"Rest now brave warrior, the shadows will not harm you now. You have done what I can not and stopped the black one from destroying this world. Sadly this is not the end of her, she will return one day and you will face her yet again. I will return to aid you when the shadows also return to try and destroy all that we hold dear. Be strong brave warrior…know that you are not alone."

The voices of his fellow hunters came to them then and the small woman laid a feathery kiss on the burned form's forehead before vanishing in a flash of silvery-white light. Chloe and Kaulder jolted out of the memory and back into their seats, both looking more than a little shocked by what they had seen. Chloe felt that soft presence in the back of her mind again and didn't hesitate to let her Queen come to her this time. She allowed her Queen to speak through her to Kaulder.

"Hello again brave warrior. Chloe has allowed me to speak through her for a moment as I cannot yet reach you on my own; I am not strong enough yet. You must protect her from the shadows. They will seek her out and try to corrupt her. You cannot allow them to do so. She is the last uncorrupted dream-walker in this world and she must be kept safe. I cannot yet leave my place of hiding, not until I regain more strength. I am helping her from a distance as much as I am able to by feeding her what knowledge I am able."

A soft gasp from Chloe's lips let Kaulder know that she was back in control again. She turned to look at him with a slight sheen of tears gathering in her eyes and he pulled her close to comfort her.

"I won't let anything hurt you kid. I promise you that."

"I'm not worried about myself Kaulder…I'm worried about her…my Queen. She's still so weak and vulnerable."

"We'll find her kid…we'll find her."