"The witch we found was a dead-end, Mayor." Hansel stated. "No trace of any kids. I'm sorry."

"But we found this." Gretel interjected. She laid out a scroll to show the mayor. "This is called the blood moon, Mayor."

"An eclipse of the moon. It happens once in a generation." Madison explained. "The Blood Moon Eclipse is also the night most holy to witches."

"Oh, my God." The mayor gasped as he turned to Gretel. "When?"

"According to this, three nights from now." She answered as she pointed at the scroll.

"There's no doubt in my mind that all of this is connected." Hansel commented.

"I know." Madison agreed. "Children being taken in these numbers from the roads and fields so close to town."

"A witch does no come out in the open like that." He commented. "Not unless she have to."

"She's desperate." The she wolf concluded.

That was when Hansel's wrist timer went off. Alerted by the soft clanking, he reset it and walked over to the beds in their room. He pulled out his injection formula and stuck the needle in his left leg, giving himself the serum.

"Witch activity has been increasing lately." Gretel said as she turned to Madison. "More sightings, animal slaughters, Sabbaths."

"It seems the coming of the Blood Moon is dragging every damned witch from their dark hiding place." Madison added.

"So," Hansel interjected. "it seems like a good thing that you brought us here, doesn't it, Mayor?"

The mayor then took some paper bills out of his coat pocket and tossed them to Hansel. "Half your money now. The rest when the children are brought back alive."

Madison smirked at Hansel as he counted the bills. Her eyes then widened and she growled toward the door. That was when a knock came from the other side. "There he is." The mayor assured Madison that he knew the man on the other side. The door opened and in walked a rugged woodsman. "This is Jackson. He knows these woods inside and out. And he'll take you to where the last sightings were."

"Yeah." Jackson agreed. "We can be there in a few hours."

"Not at night." Gretel said. "It's too dangerous."

"How so?" Jackson asked, genuinely curious.

"Have you ever seen a witch at night?" Madison asked. When Jackson shook his head, she replied, "You better pray that you never do. We should leave in the morning."

"They're right." Hansel stated. "It's too dangerous." After a few moments of silence, he asked, "Is there anywhere to get a drink in the hellhole?"

A few hours later, the four were at the tavern having a drink. Well, Gretel and Madison had a drink. Hansel had several. He always drowned his worries with alcohol and women. What mostly triggered this was his stubbornness to not admit his feelings to Madison. Gretel knew this, but Madison couldn't see it. Her theory of his behavior was that he felt empty and filled that void with temporary relief.

Madison sat next to Jackson, who had a map of the forest laid out on the table. She had brought with her a bowl of soup. She was starving and needed to eat something. But before she could even lifted the spoon to her lips, she and Gretel were talking with Jackson about tactics. "There have been here and here on both sides of the river." He pointed out two spots on the map as he said this. "And on this last one, we believe a troll was involved."

"A troll?" Both women questioned.

"Trolls are extra." Hansel commented as he put a mug of beer in front of Madison. "Your first round, my fourth."

"Are money and beer all you care about?" She asked him.

"It's really unusual." Gretel said, getting Madison's attention away from Hansel as she dropped a file in front of her. "Look at this one. A father and three children attacked. One child was taken, but she didn't touch the other two."

"Uh oh." Hansel mocked.

"That's weird." Madison stated.

"That's so weird." He continued his mockery. But he used the deep, rumbling voice that sent shivers down her spine. She sent him a glare. "It is strange." Thinking he was still mocking her, Madison slapped his shoulder. "It is strange, okay."

"Yeah, yeah." Gretel sighed.

"Then again, we hunt witches for a living." Hansel countered. "What's normal, really?"

Madison chuckled as she lifted her spoon, but before she could slurp the soup into her mouth, a voice interrupted. "Excuse me. Hansel, Gretel and Madison?" All three witch hunters turned to find a boy holding a very thick book. "Wow. Oh, my God, I can't believe you're here. I'm Ben. Benjamin Walser. I'm really quite a fan of your work."

"Oh, that's great." Hansel said in an annoyed voice.

Gretel and Madison just chuckled. "It's nice to meet you, Benjamin." Gretel said in a friendly voice.

Benjamin wasextactic to meet his heroes. "Listen, if it's not too much trouble," He then put his book on the table. "would you please sign..."

"Oh, no-" Hansel tried. But when the book opened, it wasn't easy to say no. He simply sighed in defeat. "Okay."

"Oh, my." Gretel smiled in amusement as she looked at the page that the opened to.

"Wow." Madison chuckled.

The boy was just too excited to stop. "Yeah, that's from when you found the Fox Witch of Antwerp and sank her in the moat. And this one's from when from the Secret Witch Ring of Belson. When they tried to put a gate to Hell under the courthouse." As he continued talking, Gretel just smiled at Hansel, who returned a look that said 'Why do we put up with this shit?' "I mean, you guys, you certainly taught those witches a thing or two."

Gretel couldn't help but chuckle. "Wow. This is amazing. And...weird."

"A little creepy." Hansel added.

"You really keep all this stuff." Madison said with a genuine smile. She like that someone was fascinated about them.

"All right, well..." Hansel trailed.

"I Just have so many questions. Do you mind?" He asked.

Hansel was the first to answer. "You know, we have-"

"Oh, no, no." Gretel cut him off. "You go ahead."

"Thank you. Well, I have this bit right here of when Madison single-handedly destroyed that Witches Circle of Unseelies in Destigbee. How did you do that, by the way?" Benjamin asked the she-wolf.

"Well," She chuckled. "As brave as the legends make them out to be, Unseelies are truly afraid of what they can't control. And when you're an eight-foot tall wolf seen by six inch tall Unseelies, no one is dumb enough to try and control you. So, I scared them to the center of the circle where they went straight back to their hole in Hell."

"That's amazing." The boy said. "Okay. How do you best kill a witch?"

Both women looked at their male companion. "Hansel?"

Being a little hesitant at first, Hansel finally turned and said, "Cutting off ther heads tends to work. Ripping out their hearts. Skinning them is also nice."

Gretel knew that this was a plow to sicken Benjamin and make him go away. But the boy still stood there, fascinated by the information he was given. "But burning them is the best way." She said.

"'Cause that's the only way to be safe." Madison added.

"Burning. Yeah, of course." Benjamin said as if it were the most obvious thing.

"Burn them all." Hansel slurred.

"Is it true that witches can't harm you? Hansel and Gretel, I mean."

"Well, no, that is horseshit, son." Hansel said in a serious tone that caused Madison to giggle.

"There magic doesn't work on us. And they haven't killed us...yet." Gretel said.

"Well, do you think that's because of the witch that you burned when you were children? I guess thast's how it all started for you guys. I mean, is that how you became witch hunters?" Benjamin then went into this rant.

"Okay." Sighed Hansel as he stood ad picked the book off of the table.

"How did you get your guns? How did you get your weapons? Is it true that Madison doesn't change during the full moon?"

"There's lots of things to do. You're a really nice kid," Hansel then handed the book back to its owner. "But we have a town under attack." He then sat back down in his seat.

The she-wolf was just about to take a spoonful of her soup until a man ran in and crashed into a wall, causing her to drop her spoon into the bowl. Everyone turned toward the man, who was panting deeply. "She killed them!" He wheezed. "She killed them all!" He continued as he stumbled into the room, stopping in front of the fire place.

Madison could smell the black magic oozing from this man and whined slightly. Hansel heard this and turned to his friend. "You smell something?" The single nod from her was all the confirmation he needed.

"Who killed what?" Gretel asked as she stood from her seat.

"The witch!" He answered. Many people gasped. "She killed the trackers. All of them. She gave me a message. For you all." Then a gurgling sound was heard. The man sounded as though he were choking as his eyes rolled back into his skull and he wobbled from where he stood.

Hansel knew something was going to happen, so he grabbed Benjamin by his shirt and pulled him to stand in the way. Madison picked her spoon up and was about to finally take a sip of her soup. She never got the chance when the man suddenly exploded. Chunks of human flesh and whole grub worms flew everywhere, including into her soup. With a defeated sigh, Madison dropped her spoon into the bowl. "Lost my fucking appetite." She grumbled.

"The Curse of Hunger for Crawling Things." Gretel explained. As she flung a piece of intestines off of hjerself, she growned. "I fucking hate that one."

"That was awesome." Benjamin chuckled.

Madison smirked as she looked at Hansel, who was taking a sip from his mug. When he looked back her, she simply said, "I like this kid."


That night, Gretel and Madison each took a bath and went straight to bed. As Gretel slept, Madison just stared at the ceiling from the her spot on the top bunk. She could always sleep, but recently, she was having trouble. Her thoughts were interrupted as Hansel staggered into the room in his drunken stuper. He walke over and looked at the she-wolf, thinking she was asleep. "I still can't believe I fell for you." He muttered as he undressed himself. Madison heard it, but she didn't believe it. "Out of all the women in the world, I fall for the one that would never fall for me." Once he was in nothing but his shirt, Hansel laid on the floor and used his boots as pillows.

Madison just thought poor Hansel was drunk. So she ignored his statement. A few hours later, she heard Gretel shaking her brother awake. "Hey. Hey, I just had this really weird dream."

"Oh, yeah?" Hansel moaned tiredly. "About what?"

After a moment of silence, she answered. "I think it was about our mother."

"We don't talk about that." Hansel groaned. Go to sleep." And with that, he rolled underneath the bed.

Gretel sighed as she stood from the bed and walked toward the window. That was when Madison decided to say something. "You can talk to me if you need to."

The female twin turned to the she-wolf and gave an appreciative smile. "I'll be fine. You should get some sleep."

With a yawn, Madison said, "Fine. But my offer still stands." And with that, she rolle toward the wall and was able to get a little bit of sleep.