After he left, Arielle tried to focus on work. She packed a few orders, made a few calls, sent out emails. She rang out customers and decided to close down about 15 minutes earlier. She did all she could do. She locked the doors, pulled the chain and curtains then quickly cast her protection spell. She hurried through the store in the dark and up to her apartment.

As always, Sally number 2 was waiting for her dinner. She was sitting on the floor and meowing loudly. Arielle laughed before she swept the cat up. Sally bumped and rubbed her head under her mommy's chin, purring and pawing. Arielle laughed, dropping a kiss on the top of her head. She walked around the long island and over to the cat dish.

" Okay, okay. Chill it out. I'm early so I don't even know why you're getting snappy with me." She set the cat down, filled her bowl and smiled. Until she sensed him.

Arielle stood up straight, making sure she kept her smile. The Witcher Hunter was outside, most likely standing across the way, watching her. He was just waiting for her to fuck up so he could sweep in and arrest her. She shook her head and frowned. Fuck this. She wasn't doing anything wrong, never had, and she was not going to be scared of him.

Arielle walked to the side of the windows and grabbed the curtain pull cord. She stared out and down, frowning. After shaking her head, she threw up double middle fingers and stuck out of her tongue.

" Not today, asshole. Fuck you." She said to herself and yanked the cord, pulling the curtains shut.

Arielle spun around and smiled to herself then went off to shut all the curtains. She went to the fridge and took out the Chinese food from the night before. She closed her eyes, waved her hand over the top of the container then sat at the island to enjoy her heated noodles. She was starving and nervous. Having the Witch Hunter sniffing around wasn't ideal. He was going to start questioning things and she knew she might not have all the answers.

Witches didn't live forever but she seem to go on and on. She was around 400 years old. She had owned the building she lived and worked in for 200 years. When she first bought it, she had made sure she appeared as a man. She cast a glamour to appear to be aging in the normal human years until it was time for her to die. Next, she appeared as another man, a cousin to the first owner. After three lives, she let herself be seen as a woman. She'd age then kill that character off. This was the first time she had used her real name and that was only because she couldn't pick another on she liked.

She was different from others and Kaulder was the last person she wanted to find that out. He would question why and how it was possible and she wasn't going to have that talk with him. She didn't have it with anyone. Not even her friends. No one knew what she was and she wanted to keep it that way. It was safer for her and everyone else. Human and witch.

Arielle finished eating and decided there was one way to blow off her tension. She grinned and pulled up her friend's number. She went out a quick text to Chloe, another witch, to see if she was working. And lucky for her, she was. Arielle would go to her bar, having a few drinks, a few laughs and clear her head. She could deal with Kaulder tomorrow.

" Alright Baby, Mommy needs to go out. I need a drink. You be good and watch after the place." Sally sat on the floor, cleaning her paws and not giving a shit about anything. Arielle jumped up, grabbed her wallet, her phone and keys and headed out for the night.

NRNRNR

" So he actually showed up, just walked in?" Chloe asked. She set a glowing red drink down in front of Arielle who sighed and grabbed it.

" Like he owned the place. He's such a dick. You can tell he thinks he's the shit." She said with a frown. She took a sip and sighed at the sweetness that coated her tongue. " Chloe, this is amazing." Her red haired friend smiled.

" Thank you. I have been working on a few things. Anyway, what does he actually look up, up close? I saw him once but I didn't get a good look at him. I took off before he saw me." She said.

" He looks like a douche bag." Arielle snapped.

" No, he doesn't." Jillian, a weather witch, chimed in. She was sitting beside Arielle, enjoying her own drink. " He is amazing. He's tall, built like a mac truck and has this voice...oh man, his voice. I bet he knows his way around a female body."

" Don't you even. He's the witch hunter. I bet he will fuck you then lock you for sucking his dick wrong." Arielle said. " He's crazy."

" He's just my kind of crazy." Jillian said downing her shot. Chloe grinned.

" You're just sex starved. That's why you think that." She said.

" I am not. You want to talk about who is sex starved, that would be this bitch." Jillian said, staring pointedly at Arielle.

" That's not true! I just don't need it all the time." She defended.

" That's because you haven't had a guy give it to you right." Jillian said. " Hit me with another one, Bitch." Chloe laughed but quickly whipped up around shot for her friend.

" I won't touch him. I heard he destroys everything he touches." She said.

" He could destroy me anytime." Jillian tapped her shot glass on the bar, toasted her friends then downed her drink.

" Well he's definitely not what I thought he was. I thought he was...nicer. More gentle." Arielle said.

" Why did you think that?" Chloe asked.

For a minute, Ariell was sucked back to another time...a time when she was a child and he had saved her...she cleared her throat and looked at her friends.

" I just heard...he could be nice. But he was looking for me to be fucking something. Looking for a reason to bust me. Anyway, I better go. I'm tried and I have a big day tomorrow." Arielle hopped off her bar stool and handed her friend a twenty.

" Oh my gosh! That's right! JR Ward's new book is out! I'm so excited! I'll be by for breakfast and my copy." Jillian said. Arielle blew her friends a kiss then left into the night.

The days were warm but the nights were still chilly. She snuggled more into her hoodie as she walked. She opened her senses and made sure no one was following her, ready to sneak up behind her, human or witch hunter. It was the smartest thing to do, a woman walking in the dark in New York City. But she wasn't worried, she was a witch after all and a pretty powerful one. She didn't like using her power but she would protect herself.

She let her mind wander back through the years. Way back through the years. To the time when she was child, to the time when she had thought Kaulder was a hero. She had been raised with a health fear and respect for the man. She had been told if you do what you are supposed to do, keep your head down, he would leave you alone. Of course, over time, she had learned to fear him.

She had been five years old when she and her parents had been visiting her grandparents. The year was 1626. They lived in the woods, outside a village. Her grandma was a healer, like her mother. People from the village came to her for aid, to help the sick, deliver babies. They were eating together when her grandfather stood up quickly and ordered her grandmother to take Arielle to the back of the house.

Everyone tensed at once and the movement became fast. She was carried to the back, with the door shut quickly. Her grandma told her to be quiet, to not say a word. The door to their cabin bust open. Her heard her father and grandfather talking with another man but couldn't make out their words. Then there was yelling and her grandma set her outside the back window and told her to run and hide, to run as far as she could then to run farther. They would find her.

And off Arielle went. Something about the way her grandma look and how she spoke scared her. She ran and ran, never looking back. She fell down a hill, rolling and tumbling down. She was coated in mud but kept going. She ran through the creek until she found a cave. Arielle climbed inside and held up her tiny hands. She closed her eyes and envisioned vines growing down, hiding the opening. then she stumbled back and collapsed, exhausting pulling her little body under.

Later she woke to the sound of chopping. Arielle pulled her knees to her chest and started to cry. She covered her ears with her hands and started to shout for whoever it was to leave her alone. She was freezing, hungry and scared. She just wanted whoever it was to leave her alone! She shouted then light streamed in and his face appeared...Kaulder. He was frowning but softened his expression when he saw her.

" Come here, Child." He said. " It's alright now. Your grandma sent me." He held his hand out. Arielle launched herself at him at once. Her sobs growing louder.

" Give her to me." Another man said. Arielle was passed over to his Dolan. " It's alright. It's okay now. We have you. You're alright." The older man soothed her, running his hand over her hair.

That was when Arielle learned her parents and grandparents were dead. Kaulder had arrived at their house shortly before her grandma died. The old woman told her about the Arielle, begged him to find her. He knew the grandparents and the parents were witches but she was a child and he wasn't going to let her die in the woods.

She was taken to the church and they found her home. That was the first and last time she had seen The Witch Hunter. She never learned who killed her family but she was sure she knew why. Arielle sighed and let herself into her building. She went up to her apartment, stripped down and went to bed. She stared at the ceiling, her cat sleeping on her chest and willing her memories to fade so she could sleep...