Authoress: Hi, sorry it took me so long to update. Busy and stuff. Anyway, for those of you who have been supporting this story all this time, Thanks so much! I hope you guys would like my second chappy too! Read on! o
Chapter 2
Blood seeped out from her wounds, creeping along the lily white couch and soaking into its plush interior. No human being would be able to survive much longer in this state. Time is an essence, and Howl knew… he strode towards his desk, throwing apart the curtains to reveal an intricately carved shelf; ancient yet classical…so much like his style. With a flick of his wrist, the tinted glass doors of the shelf slid open, giving him access to its contents. Howl reached in and withdrew a bronze cup, along with a jeweled dagger. Grasping an item on each hand, he was at Sophie's side in a second.
"My sweet…hang in there, I will not allow you to die…" Howl said, and in one swift movement, he had lifted Sophie into a sitting position, and was coaxing the contents of the bronze cup down her throat.
On Sophie's part, she did nothing to protest, her mind too fuzzy and her being too exhausted from the blood lost to comprehend what was going on around her.
"That's right my sweet, swallow it…swallow it…" Howl whispered soothingly.
When the cup has been emptied, Howl eased Sophie's limp form back on the couch. He stood, clasping his hands together over her…gradually, a warm glow was seen spreading out from the depths of his clasped hands…he opened his palms then, drawing his hands in a wide arc, forming a half circle, a trail of magical glow marking the path of his hands, he then followed through with a series of slashes…before concentrating all the glow in his hands into the center of the symbol he had just created. Once that is done, he withdrew his hands to his sides, and the glowing symbol descended onto Sophie, merging with her being, making her iridescent for a few seconds before ebbing away.
"The second spell had been cast my sweet…now I just need to cast the third spell of ownership and you'll be able to heal yourself…stay strong sweet Sophie…" Howl breathed.
Reaching for the dagger on the carpeted floor, Howl slid it out of its jeweled sheath. The light from the sole lamp in the room glinted off the blade at an odd angle. Howl lifted the blade assuredly and slit his wrist; like he had done it many a times before. Rivulets of blood flowed down from his open wound, and he used his other hand to turn Sophie over, exposing the wounds which the bullets had caused. He pressed his slit wrist against her wounds, letting their two blood mix in a dance of red, allowing each of their blood to integrate into the other's system. After that he withdrew his hands, and his wound healed immediately, leaving not a trace to attest to his deeds.
"It's done my sweet, now you can heal yourself while I rest…my powers are exhausted after casting two major spells on you in one night…you will be safe here…" with that said, Howl placed a kiss on Sophie's forehead and vanished.
After 24 hours…
'Where the hell…' Sophie thought, as she struggled to refocus her vision. 'Damn…what's this stuff I'm lying in…?' She lifted herself into a sitting position with the help of her elbows, grimacing at the discomfort of the dried blood that plastered the shirt to her back like a scab.
"Ah…I see that you are awake my sweet, you sure took your time in dreamland…" Howl teased his voice rich and warm, washing over Sophie's frame, encasing her in endless warmth. His voice was always like that. Tangible, wrapping itself around you like a hug.
"What did you do this time?" Sophie asked warily, eyeing the Sorcerer lounging in his deep red office chair; just as a prey would its predator.
"Who? Moi?" Howl asked innocently.
"Of course you! Who else is here!"
"You know, I just saved your life there my sweet…" Howl said softly.
"What are you talking…" and the events of the previous night came crashing down on her. 'I was shot! Two times at that. Why am I still alive? I was certain it was goodbye…the Queen's top assassin, died in the hands of a normal human being. Granted he did have a gun, but this had not been the way I had envisioned my demise, I always thought I would go down fighting with a powerful master sorcerer or something close to that…but come to think of it, I might have my wish yet…I am still breathing…surprisingly…'
"Are you all right my sweet flower? You looked a little distracted. Did you suffer a concussion?" Howl asked; an undercurrent of worry behind his voice.
"Yeah…I-I mean I'm fine." Sophie said, startled out of her thoughts. "And don't call me sweet flower again; it's even worse than my sweet!" Sophie added as an after thought.
"As you wish my sweet…" Howl said; an amused smile on his lips.
"Now, tell me why I am still alive?"
"I saved you." was Howl's simple answer.
"I know that, god damnit! I want to know how?"
"Spells" Howl stated vaguely.
"Will you quit giving me one stanza answers? I want details." Sophie ground out.
"You look really cute when you are mad." Howl said, his face looking pleasantly amused.
"Ooh…I've about had it with you. You either answer my questions, or I put a few needles into you…" Sophie said darkly.
"I believe you are not armed…" Howl supplied, looking more amused now than ever.
"Damn you!" Sophie cursed.
"You never fail to insult me at every turn my sweet…" Howl whispered; his tone a tad bit sad.
"I will stop insulting you if you stop being a pain in the ass…and quit stalling, I want answers."
Howl gave an audible sigh, "You win my sweet…I cast the next two levels of the spell of ownership; I know you wouldn't like it, but that's the only way to save you…"
"Why you deceitful underhanded son of a bitch…the only way to save me my foot! Haven't you heard of the ambulance? This is just an excuse for you to use your magic on me, you selfish bastard!"
A flicker of hurt crossed Howl's eyes, one that did not pass Sophie unnoticed. 'Shit. I hurt his feelings, should I apologize? Damn him for making me feel guilty…argh I don't know how to go about saying sorry. Forget it…he'll live.'
Just then Howl looked up, his eyes a clear cerulean blue, the hurt gone without a trace. 'His either a damn good actor, or a sick nutcase deserving of a place in a mental institution.' Sophie thought.
"I assure you that I am neither." Howl said, staring steadily into her eyes.
"What?" Sophie asked confused.
"I am neither a good actor nor a sick nutcase deserving of a place in a mental institution." Howl quoted.
Sophie gasped. 'How the HELL?'
"You forgot that I could tune in to your mind my sweet…"
"I.Hate.You." Sophie stated.
Howl smirked.
Sophie stormed out of the room.
"Stupid Howl! Stupid…stupid…" Sophie muttered under her breath as she made her way to the nearest taxi stand, all the while receiving odd looks from the passerby.
She stood at the taxi stand, tapping her foot impatiently. She was the only one in the queue; it's perfectly normal for the taxi stands to be empty, for it is too late for most people to be out, and the night too young for the party-goers to venture home; in other words no one is quite in need of a cab quite yet.
Finally, after a few more minutes of waiting, a cab pulled up. Sophie let herself in, and gave the driver directions to her house.
Through out the ride, the driver kept peeking at her through the rearview mirror, Sophie ignored it at first, but the guy was relentless, and it finally drove her off the edge.
"You've got a problem?" Sophie all but glared at the driver when she said it.
"N-no miss…" the driver stuttered.
'Pathetic.' Sophie thought.
When she reached her destination, she barely had time to close the door before the cab fled.
'Jesus, what the hell is wrong with that guy…' Sophie thought, shaking her head.
When she entered her room, she set the bath and while she waited for the tub to fill, she checked her messages.
Most of the messages she received were from a worried Naomi. "Are you ok? Call me back ASAP." Pretty much sums up Naomi's messages.
'Guess I better ring her, she must be worried.' Sophie thought, dialing her best friend's mobile phone number by heart.
After about 15 minutes worth of trying to convince Naomi that she is fine, she finally got a chance to take a bath.
'Mmm…I feel so much better after the bath with the blood gone and all. Much better…' Sophie thought, as she stepped into a deep red satin slip; a short sort of dress that was held up by two thin straps at each shoulder, not her style of clothes, but it was a gift from her aunt and it was comfortable...so she wasn't complaining.
She strode out of her bathroom, toweling dry her hair.
"My, my, red is very becoming of you…" whispered a low yet seductive voice.
Sophie snapped her head up in an instant.
"What are you doing in my apartment?" Sophie asked in a dangerously low tone. "And quit staring at my legs."
He raised his face to Sophie, meeting her gaze unabashedly, his eyes darker than usual-a midnight blue.
"I'm merely returning this to you…" he smiled, producing a gold plated badge with a flourish.
Sophie strode towards him, plucking the badge from his hands.
"Ok, I have it back already. Now leave." Sophie said, pointing towards her door.
"No 'thank you' for going out of my way to return it to you…my sweet…" Howl asked, his voice holding an amused edge. He walked around Sophie like a vulture circling its food, causing the hairs at the back of Sophie's neck to stand on end. Sophie's eyes followed his movements warily.
"Stop that!" Sophie cried, frustrated.
"Stop what?" Howl asked; his voice completely mild and harmless.
"Stop being a pain in the ass." Sophie hissed.
Howl smirked, and stopped right in front of Sophie, too close for comfort. Sophie growled warningly, and Howl leaned in, giving her a kiss on the lips; nothing wet and sloppy nor dry and chaste, just the right amount of emotion without being over pushy.
"Good night my sweet…" Howl said, his breath flowing across Sophie's cheeks like a gentle caress, causing her to shiver. And he was gone.
'Argh…did he just kiss me…why didn't I do anything? Good question…why didn't I do anything? Shock? Much as I wanted that to be the case, I got a terrible feeling that there might be more to the problem…like I enjoyed it…Damn…this is too confusing…forget it. Rule of my life when in doubt-forget it.' With that thought, Sophie retired for the night.
The next morning, Sophie awoke to the shrill ring of her mobile phone. Rubbing her eyes groggily, Sophie reached for her phone at her nightstand.
"Code red." The speaker said.
"Needles received." Sophie said into the phone, all the sleep gone from her, "Dictate."
"New assignments, rogue witch-Witch of the Waste, seek and destroy. Files sent." said a neutral voice devoid of emotions.
"Needles on the case." Was Sophie's curt reply, and the caller hung up.
Sophie made her way to her door, and picked up the box that had just gone through the flap of her door.
'Boy, are they efficient.'
With nimble fingers, Sophie unwrap it to reveal the usual black case. Fishing around in her pocket, Sophie produced her gold badge-an issue from the Queen; and acts as a key to unlock secret information in the black cases like the one currently in her hands. Sophie pressed the badge gingerly on the surface of the case. The case flipped open, releasing gold dust into the air which then rearranged to form words and pictures regarding the mission. Sophie scanned the information, sifting from page to page with a sharp and eager eye, changing each page with a small wave of her hand. When she's done with it, the gold dust dissipated, leaving the empty black case which Sophie promptly chucked under her bed.
'The Witch of the Waste…well-versed in spells and curses; let's see if my needles or your enchantment is faster…I'm betting needles are quicker…' Sophie thought, as she set about preparing for the big fight that night.
By the time Sophie's done it's already time for lunch. Grabbing the keys to her Jeep, Sophie headed out for lunch.
Sophie pulled up in front of a Thai restaurant; she always had spicy food before a mission, it makes her more in her element, perhaps a keener inclination towards magic…who knows. She had survived so far with spicy food, why change diets now.
The bell tinkered as she entered, and the waiter led her to a table in a corner of the room, she ordered.
"Hey, Markyl is it true that the Witch of the Waste had a thing for your master?"
Sophie's ears pricked up at the name, and she leaned further back in her seat to catch more of the conversation.
"Yeah, she seems pretty smitten with master Howl." Markyl replied.
'Howl! Why does it seem like I can never avoid that guy, he even knows the witch I am supposed to kill…' Sophie thought in disbelief.
"She keeps harping on Howl, saying she wants his heart and all that…I think it is kind of creepy." Markly added; disgust evident in his voice.
"Master Howl doesn't like her; I don't really blame him, the Witch of the Waste isn't really a looker, resembled a fat slug, could hardly tell she's human."
"That bad?" Markyl's companion asked.
"You have no idea…let's get out of here now shall we; I still need to get the ingredients for the potion master Howl's working on." Markyl said. The scrapping of chairs was heard and the guys left.
The waiter set the steaming curry on the table, drawing Sophie's attention away from the two youngsters leaving the restaurant. Sophie mumbled a small thanks, the waiter bowed, "Serving you is a pleasure…" he said with a charming smile; making the simple words seem more.
Sophie blushed and averted her eyes.
"Enjoy your meal miss…" The waiter trailed off.
"Sophie." Sophie supplied.
"So-ph-ie." The waiter tested the word rolling it in his mouth, tasting each syllabus. "A lovely name for a lovely maiden." He complimented, and added, "Justin at your service."
Sophie smiled, and Justin bowed once again and left.
'Pretty cute waiter there…Justin…hmm…Howl looks more dashing though, with his silky pale yellow hair that seems to catch any light that falls on it, and those take-your-breath-away blues; I never fail to find myself drowning in his eyes…Get a grip Sophie, what the hell are you doing thinking about that irritating and arrogant Howl! The hunger must be getting to me…' With that, Sophie dug into her curry with a vengeance.
Somewhere in the middle of the meal, Sophie decided to pay Howl a visit. 'It's not that I want to see him or anything, I'm just doing that for the mission, might as well get as much information on the witch as possible, and since Howl seem to know her personally, no harm in trying to get him to point me to her current site of residence. At least it saves me the time and bother of asking around. Besides what's the use of knowing master sorcerers if you don't ask for their help from time to time…'
Sophie was just driving along, one hand on the steering wheel, and the other on her mobile phone, while she waited for Howl to answer his call. She didn't have to wait long; Howl picked up on the second ring.
"Hello my sweet…" Howl's thick honey glazed accent came over the receiver.
"How did you know it's me?" Sophie asked.
"Lover's telepathy." Howl whispered.
"Cut the crap Howl!"
"You know dear Sophie; you always took the fun out of flirting…"
"Whatever. Are you free now?"
"I'll always be free for you my sweet…"
"Fine, where are you? I'll meet you."
"As you wish my sweet, I'll be waiting at the Magic Creek…"
"Be there." Sophie did a 360 degree turn, earning a few angry horns and dirty looks from drivers, as she swerved into the parking space of Magic Creek.
At Howl's office…
Sophie stood surveying the room. The blood soaked couch she had laid on the last visit had been replaced by a black one; now with a mahogany coffee table beside it.
"You sure are efficient." Sophie muttered, turning to face Howl.
"Is that a compliment my sweet…" Howl asked, swerving around in his chair to meet Sophie's gaze.
"Take it whichever way you want." Sophie replied nonchalantly.
"So…what brings you to me my sweet?"
"Tell me about the Witch of the Waste."
Howl's smile withered around the edges at the sound of the name, "Why the sudden question?"
"It's classified." Sophie replied, crossing her arms across her chest.
"Aren't we stubborn today…a new mission?" Howl prodded.
"C-L-A-S-S-I-F-I-E-D. I am in no position to disclose ANY information to civilities."
"I take that as a yes…" Howl said seriously, "You know she's a really powerful target, I think you should relinquish the mission, I don't want you to get hurt…"
"I can handle myself, so why don't you save the concern for someone who might actually care. Besides, I am the best in the country, if I can't do it, who can?"
"You are so stubborn."
"Always." Sophie said haughtily.
"Fine, then I shall accompany you." Howl said solemnly.
"What! No way! This is MY mission, don't get involved…" Sophie said vehemently.
"I am going along my sweet, whether you approve of it or not." Howl affirmed stubbornly.
They stood there locked in a heated stare, trying to get the other to back down. Finally, Sophie realized that Howl's not going to budge; she threw up her hand in frustration. "Be like that. If you want to die, that's your problem, just don't get in my way…" Sophie said darkly.
Howl gave Sophie a wiry smile, happy to have gotten his way.
"So now can you tell me about the Witch of the Waste?" Sophie asked.
"Why, of course my sweet. What would you like to know?" Howl said, leaning back further into the big cushioned chair.
"Where is she staying right now?"
"Hmm…I believe she's currently at the Waste Land Inn, the smallest of the chain of Inns she owns; and also the furthest away from any civilizations…"
"How can you be so sure?" Sophie questioned.
"I have my sources…"
"Can your sources be trusted?"
"I know so." Howl answered simply.
"Fine."
"Anything else you want to know?"
"No, I have already been informed of her abilities and her history. I just needed to know where she is hiding...Oh; actually…I do have one more question for you…" Sophie trailed off, grinning slyly.
"The smile you are wearing now is highly unsettling…" Howl cringed.
"I heard the Witch have the hots for you…isn't that right?" Sophie asked, in an oh-so innocent tone.
Howl shuddered visibly.
"Cat got your tongue?" Sophie teased.
That got to Howl, and he regained his composure instantaneously. Putting on a charming smile, he said, "You jealous?"
"You wish!" Sophie cried, and added. "I enjoy watching you squirm just now, when I brought up that question…"
"If you like it, I'll do that more often for you…my sweet…" Howl said; that charming smile still in place.
"Jeez…I'm getting the hell out of here, no time to sit and chat when I need to prepare for the mission."
"All right then, let's go my sweet." Howl said, standing up from his seat.
"Hey, you are not coming along are you?" Sophie asked incredulously, "I…I mean who would look after the restaurant when your gone?"
"Don't worry about it my sweet; my assistant Calcifer would tend to things for the time that I'm gone."
"But…but…" Sophie protested.
"You are not getting rid of me that easily, if I let you out of my sight, you'll go ahead with the mission without me. Am I right my sweet?"
"Damn." Sophie cursed. "You tapped into my mind again didn't you…"
Howl smirked.
Sophie growled.
And the two made their way out of the restaurant.
Authoress: Ok people, I'll stop here for now, sorry there isn't as much fighting as before...it'll be in my next chapter, so stay tune…remember to review k? Cheers, till next time… -