Selenity owns Fire Blossom, Frank, and Annabellina. Nyneve owns Saxen Maverick and Moksha. Everything else belongs to other people.

Chapter 3:

Psi-Earth. Witches. Van Helsing.

After an eternity, the girls and the wolf finally made it back to the Tsunami. Maverick paid the docking fee, then ushered Effie and Moksha on board. She had to admit, the wolf had started acting quite a bit more like a puppy ever since the Earth girl came along. Probably because Effie never hesitated to pet him or sneak him a few pretzel sticks. Maverick could only hope he'd still be of use in a fight.

As the two took their seats, Washu's face suddenly became visible on the main computer screen.

"Well, everyone eaten and satisfied now?" she asked cheerfully.

"Yes. But please, Lil Washu, don't show up in my food again. It was just kinda…wrong…" Effie answered.

"Just being efficient," Washu shrugged. "Anyways, if you're about ready to initiate the shift…"

"Hold on a second. Where is it exactly that we're going?" Maverick pressed.

Washu brought up her laptop and began to type. "Huh. Earth, actually."

"Really?" Effie brightened. "Hey, that's no problem at all! I've been just about everywhere on Earth you can go. And a lot of places you can't." She giggled.

The goddess shook her head. "That's your Earth. Beta-Earth. I'm sending you to Psi-Earth."

"Psi-Earth?"

She nodded. "Yep. There's a whole series of Earths out there. Some are in this dimension, but Psi-Earth isn't. You'll find that the geography is mostly the same, but each Earth is in a different stage of development, or has evolved under different conditions. Psi-Earth is similar to Effie's Earth, but not exactly the same. If I'm not mistaken…" a window opened up on the Tsunami's screen, depicting an Earth not unlike the one they were currently about two days from. "The current time period in Psi-Earth is the mid-nineteenth century. From what I gather, it's not too different from what that time was on Beta-Earth. So if you've done your history homework…"

Effie thought, then shrugged. "Yeah, shouldn't be too hard. I think I can handle it."

"Good. I'd get a different outfit if I were you though," Washu replied, then she disappeared. However, they heard her voice again as the shift was commenced. A few seconds later, Psi-Earth rose up before them like some great blue jewel.

"Wow…pretty…" Effie stared.

"It is, isn't it?" Maverick answered nonchalantly, then blinked as the ship automatically prepared to land. "What the…?"

"Washu probably set the landing point so we'd be near this God of the Hunt guy," Effie answered. "Didn't she say we'd be in a certain radius of him?"

"Oh yeah…" the hunter recalled. Shrugging, she stood up and told Moksha to make sure everything went right. Then she turned to Effie. "Come on."

"What? Where are we going?" she asked, following Maverick down the corridor.

"Washu said you should get different clothes. Do you have anything less conspicuous?"

"This isn't conspicuous!" Effie protested, pointing to the tie-dyed coat.

"Yeah. And neither is this," Maverick motioned to the rifle on her back. "So do you have any clothing that isn't bright colors?"

"Um…no…" Effie shrugged. "What? I put a little variety in my wardrobe. Unlike someone…"

"Whose clothes you'll have to borrow while we're here," the hunter finished.

"But…but…"

Maverick raised an eyebrow. "Would you rather dye your coat black? Because we could do that too…"

"No!"

"Then hold on," she replied. She pulled the copper ring off her finger and placed in the middle of the corridor. Stepping back, she raised her head and spoke clearly.

"The Password is Shiva."

With that, a bright column of light rose out of the ring, which steadily started to expand in diameter until it was about three and a half feet across. At this point, Maverick stepped forward and down into the ring, with Effie watching curiously. She tried to look into the opening, but the light was too bright. However, a few seconds later a few bundles of clothing flew out of the ring and at her. Blinking as she picked them up, Maverick climbed out of the ring, then turned to face it.

"My Business is Complete."

The light suddenly died and the ring shrunk back down. The hunter bent down to pick it up, then placed it back on her finger.

"Wow…what was that?" Effie asked.

"My closet, you could say," Maverick answered shortly.

"Closet?"

She said nothing, then turned back for the bridge. "Those clothes might be a little long on you, but I think they'll fit. Let me know if you want something else."

"Something like my clothes?" Effie asked, but Maverick ignored her.

The Tsunami touched down in a large clearing in a forest, thought where that forest was neither Effie nor Maverick could be sure. Both emerged cautiously, looking for signs of anyone who might've seen them. However, there didn't appear to be anyone around anywhere. The girls relaxed a bit.

Effie tugged at the black sweater Maverick had given her. It was indeed too long, so she had rolled the sleeves up to her wrists. After a long argument, she managed to keep her jeans and shoes, but Maverick refused to let her out of the ship with her coat on. And since the hunter didn't have any spares, Effie was stuck in the chilly dusk shivering, thankful that she had a scarf but angry that Maverick was still in her nice long heavy coat. However, Moksha pressed up against her and warmed her up a little. That made her feel better.

"So…you know where we are?" Maverick asked, sliding her rifle off her back and holding it close.

"I would guess…in a forest," Effie replied, and giggled at the sound of Maverick slapping her forehead again.

"Thanks. That's really helpful," she answered sarcastically.

"Glad to—hey, you hear that?" Effie's tone was serious now. She closed her eyes in concentration.

Maverick cocked her head and listened. "No…"

"Shh!" Effie hissed. She opened her eyes and motioned for Maverick and Moksha to follow her into the trees to the right. They walked for about five minutes, and suddenly Maverick did start to hear something. It sounded like someone singing. A bunch of people, actually. A bunch of women. And the language…nothing she'd ever heard before.

Finally, they came to another clearing. A huge bonfire was burning three tall lumpy logs standing upright, and indeed there was a large group of women standing before it, all singing in that same language.

"What is it they're saying?" Maverick whispered as she crouched down next to Effie.

"I don't know…I think they're singing in German…maybe we're in Germany?" she guessed.

"Don't ask me, I've never been to Earth."

"You've never been to Earth? But you've been to all those other places…"

"Earth never has good bounties. And—"

Suddenly there was a scream and a hiss from the clearing. The two girls snapped to attention as they saw a tall, broad figure silhouetted against the blazing fire. The women glared at it with hateful eyes as one stepped forward.

"Who are you to intrude upon this most sacred holy night?" she hissed, her black hair flying wildly around her head.

"I don't know if a night with human sacrifice is really holy," the figure answered in a masculine voice.

Maverick paled. She saw that the logs in the bonfire were not longs at all, but people. Where in the thousand hells were they?

"Sacrilege!" the woman hissed. "We shall not let you defile the sacred rights of Walpurgis Night!"

With that, all of the women screamed at once and suddenly they seemed to change. Where once stood a group of females in dresses and shawl now stood scaly, feathered beings with claw-like nails and sharp teeth. With another inhuman screech, they lunged for the man by the fire.

Although he was outnumbered, he suddenly had out a strange sort of crossbow that rapidly fired at the creatures. Within ten seconds, there were arrows sticking out of the abdomens of several of them. But there still at least a dozen ready and willing to fight.

"What do we do?" Maverick whispered.

"Watch and hope they don't see us?" Effie replied hopefully.

"No," she answered, then nodded to Moksha. He obediently rose. Maverick glanced at Effie. "You gonna fight or are you gonna secure and escape route?"

"Escape route. We went over the whole pacifist thing, remember?"

"Right. Okay, see you in a bit," Maverick replied, dashing a few feet forward then ducking behind a stump. The rifle stuck out over, but unnoticed by the man and women still fighting near the fire. Aiming closely at one of the women, she fired.

The shot went through not only her target, but another one of the creatures that had foolishly jumped in front of it. Hissing, they looked up towards where Maverick stood. Still closely concealed, she fired again, taking out another one.

The man stared up towards her curiously as well, but he didn't see her. He did however see the wolf dash out of the trees and go for the throat of the nearest creature. Blood spurted everywhere.

Now with them suddenly confused by the wolf, Maverick took this opportunity to shove her rifle back and draw her revolvers. She slowly walked out of the trees, locked eyes with the man momentarily, then fired shots at two creatures.

Recovering quickly, he drew a pistol of his own and fired at another one. Maverick shoved off one creature that had suddenly fallen on her but in that quick moment she felt hands secure around her neck. Struggling to breath, she tried to pry them off, but to no avail. Something wet then rained down on her, and the grip loosened. Wiping blood off her face as the man withdrew a knife from the creature's back, she got to her feet.

"…Thanks," she answered shortly, delivering a sharp kick into the throat of another.

"Don't mention it," he replied, throwing the knife into a remaining one.

Meanwhile, Effie had dashed off through the trees, trying to figure out which was the way back to Tsunami while trying as hard as possible not to be noticed by…whatever those things were. And with her mind so busy, she didn't notice when she crashed into another body.

"Ugh!" she gasped, falling back with a thump.

"Oh…oh dear…sorry about that," another voice replied. She saw a hand (a human hand) reach out to her. She took it and stood up.

"Are you all right?"

A short man with close cropped red hair dressed in a monk's habit looked at her. She cocked her head. "Um…yeah, I'm okay. You?"

He nodded, then looked down toward the bonfire where Maverick and the strange man were just finishing up with the final creatures. "Those are…not pleasant," he commented.

"No kidding. What are they?" Effie asked.

"Witches," he replied. "Celebrating Walpurgis Night with human sacrifice."

"Wha?" she blinked. "Walpurgis Night?"

"The first night of spring."

"Oh, that makes sense," Effie rolled her eyes. "Are you with him?"

"Who, Van Helsing?" the man asked. "Yes. And you're with the woman?"

"Yeah. Saxen Maverick. My names Fire Blossom, but you can call me Effie. Who're you?" she inquired.

"Carl," he blinked, surprised by her name. Not a very common one.

"Say Carl? Where exactly are we?" Effie asked. "My friend and I were uh…hunting…and we…got…lost." Lame story. Very lame.

Which is why Carl was even more confused and suspicious. "Brocken. In the Harz Mountains."

"In Germany?" she tried to remember her geography.

"Yes…"

Suddenly, Moksha appeared out of nowhere, splattered with blood but happy as could be. Grinning his canine grin, he ran to Effie and sat in front of her, waiting to be rewarded for doing such a good job.

Smiling, she patted his head. "Good work out there Moksha. You got 'em good!"

"Sure, reward him," Maverick snapped as she followed the wolf. She too was covered in blood, but did not appear nearly as good-natured about it. And behind her was the man who Carl had called Van Helsing.

Maverick glanced at the short man, then at Effie. "You make a new friend?"

"Yeah. This is Carl. And you're Van Helsing?" she looked at Carl's friend.

He nodded. "You two witch hunters?"

"No. But they had you outnumbered twenty to one. I figured we should help," Maverick replied.

"Well…uh, thanks," Van Helsing replied.

Suddenly, Effie realized something. "Whoa…you guys realized you're dressed almost exactly the same?"

"What?" Maverick blinked. But the hitchhiker was right. Both wore long leather coats, leather hats, boots, pants; they had the whole "roughness" thing down pat. The only difference was that while Maverick stuck to brown, Van Helsing wore black. He also had brown hair and a five o'clock shadow, as well as serious brown eyes.

"She's right," Carl agreed. Van Helsing rolled his eyes. Maverick looked like she was ready to kill Effie.

"Anyways, are you guys camped around here?" Effie asked. "Because it's been days since we've had any real food, and if you're willing to share…"

"We'll pay you," Maverick cut off. This convinced the two men.

They led the girls to a sheltered spot on the edge of the forest where the trees changed from oaks and maples to pines and firs. It was even colder up here. But soon a fire was built and Effie was happily sipping a cup of tea. But Maverick refused to eat or drink anything.

"So…how did you manage to get lost out here?" Van Helsing asked, looking from one girl to another.

Effie shrugged. "How didn't we get lost?"

That brought on a few confused looks, but the girl just smiled cheerfully and complemented Carl on the tea. When the fire started to die down, both men agreed to get more firewood, giving her the perfect chance to whisper over to Maverick.

"So? Which one of them is it?" she asked.

"Which one is what?" Maverick shot back.

"The God of the Hunt! Duh!"

"How do you know it's either of them?"

"Oh come on. Washu dumps us in the middle of the woods with nobody for miles and miles but a bunch of witches (who are now dead, by the way), and two guys. I'm putting my money it's on one of the two guys!"

Maverick thought. "Van Helsing. He was the one hunting down the witches. It would only make sense that he was the God of the Hunt."

Effie groaned. Leave it to Maverick to need the obvious explained to her, only to end up pointing out the even more obvious.

"So how should we kill him?" the hunter asked.

"Hey, isn't that supposed to be your job?" she replied.

"Yeah, but I won't be able to get at him with Carl around. If you can distract him…"

Effie sighed and nodded. She couldn't help but like Carl. But it had to be done.

"So when they get back from getting the firewood…"

"I'll get him away. But I'm not going to kill him!" Effie warned.

"That's fine. We should avoid unnecessary death anyways," Maverick agreed.

"You believe in unnecessary death?"

"…Yes…" Maverick rolled her eyes. "You know, it's not like I'm this dark homicidal maniac. Stop acting like it."

"Okay okay…sorry…" Effie replied. "Here they come."

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Carl apologized, setting the pile of branches near the fire as Van Helsing threw his into the pit.

Effie shot one more disapproving look at Maverick, then turned away.

"Hey Carl…what's that?" she asked, pointing into the darkness. There was a thump and the something moved. A large rock, to be specific, set into motion with the help of Effie's abilities.

"I don't know…" he answered. "Maybe V—"

"Come on, let's check it out!" Effie cried, grabbing his arm and dragging him off into the darkness. When they were safely gone, Maverick looked at Van Helsing.

"So, you're with the Church?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yes. After this we'll be heading back to the Vatican."

"No you won't."

Van Helsing looked at her. Fire glittered in her single orange eye. "What do you mean, "no we won't"?"

She drew a revolver out of her coat. "I'm very sorry. It's nothing personal."

Before he could react, she fired. Groaning, he slumped backwards, blood pouring out of his chest. Sighing, Maverick walked over, crouched down next to him, and pressed her scarf against the hole. For a brief moment, anger glared at her from Van Helsing's brown eyes, but it soon died and they became glassy.

Effie returned about five minutes later, alone.

"Where's Carl?" Maverick asked, standing up.

"Coming back this way. We'd better get moving," she answered solemnly.

Maverick nodded in agreement, waved for Moksha to stand, and started off into the trees. Effie frowned.

"Hey, what about him?" she pointed at Van Helsing's body.

Maverick didn't even look back. "You're the one with the telepathic powers. You carry him."

Muttering to herself, Effie levitated the corpse and pushed it in front of her. "I'm going to need a long soak in the tub when we get back," she muttered. "A very long soak."

"Me too," Maverick replied softly to herself. "Me too."