Chapter 124
Christian looked at Sebastian after Willie took Brian towards the cave. "You heard the witch. She called Kahlan 'sister'."
Sebastian sighed. "I did, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything."
Christian huffed. "Have you ever known a witch to call anyone 'sister' who wasn't also a witch?"
The detective winced. "No, but..."
"Her being a witch explains everything," Christian argued.
Sebastian raised his brows at him. "And yet you were sure she's not human, but she passed all of the harvester's tests. She would have never been able to get passed him if she wasn't."
Christian took a deep breath. "I said she wasn't completely human, maybe she is enough that it allowed her to pass the tests." He shook his head. "But her being a witch on top of it makes her all the more dangerous."
Sebastian studied his friend. "I really can't see her being a witch. She had no clue of this world until Aaron was brought into it."
"Then she was born a natural witch. She might not even know it. She wouldn't even know she has abilities because it would just seem normal to her. There could be a witch anywhere in her ancestry and something about her brought those powers to the surface."
Sebastian winced. "That would explain why the unicorn showed itself to her."
"Unless it just sensed her nonhuman side," Christian put in.
"You guys coming?" Cam asked as he came back in the door at the end of the hall. He frowned as he studied them. "Everything alright?"
Sebastian smiled. "Everything's fine," he told him and then started towards him and pulled his friend along with him.
Cam nodded and went back through the door, and Christian leaned in close to the detective. "Although, her two friends seem a little extra aware of things, too. Maybe they're actually a coven."
Sebastian shot him a look and then shook his head.
XXXXX
Hotch shivered, and then he frowned. Wait? Why would I be shivering? It's hot in here. When he felt his skin tighten as goosebumps erupted down his arms and across his back, he opened sleep filled eyes and then flinched at the woman sitting next to him. What the...? He scrambled to stand up but ended up slipping because his arms and shoulders had fallen asleep with the way they had been suspended.
The woman shook her head and floated a few feet away from him.
Hotch took a deep breath to try and still his heart and then got standing. He licked his lips as he looked around the room; everyone else still seemed to be sleeping. He swallowed and then looked at the transparent woman who had been sitting next to him.
She gave him a small smile. "I did not mean to frighten you."
Her voice was so soft that Hotch almost didn't hear her. He wasn't sure if she was being quiet because the others were sleeping, or if that was as loud as her voice went, but he shrugged sheepishly. "Sorry. I just wasn't expecting anyone to be next to me."
She studied him. "Am I your first ghost?"
He licked his lips. "The first one I have truly seen and talked to, yes."
She frowned as she studied him some more. "And yet you were willing to help me in the labyrinth?"
He took a step towards her. "So you do need help."
The concern that filled his face made her smile. "That is a very gracious offer, but I am afraid the kind of help I need you cannot give."
"Then, and please don't take this the wrong way, then why are you here?"
She shrugged. "I am not sure." She floated closer to him. "I think I just wanted to see you again. No one has ever offered to help me before."
He winced. "But I didn't, really. I should have. I. . ."
She held up her hand. "I understand that you were worried about your friend." She smiled again. "Maybe it is I who can help you."
He smiled. "Can you show me the way out of this place the next time I'm not chained to the ceiling?"
Her face turned sad. "No, I am sorry, but that is something I definitely cannot do."
He shrugged. "It was worth a try."
She nodded. "Yes, but maybe I can help with something else."
He frowned. "And what would that be?"
She floated to him, and while he tried not to, he leaned away from her. A light chuckle left her as she reached a hand toward the ceiling as she locked eyes with him. He looked up at her hand just in time to see the chain fall from its lock, and his eyes grew. She glided back a few feet. "There. Now you can lie down like the rest of them and get some real sleep."
He looked at the door. "Can you do that to that lock, too?"
"I could, but it wouldn't do you any good except get you into a lot of trouble when they found you, and believe me, you do not want that kind of trouble."
He sighed. "But I'll just get into trouble when Red comes in the morning and finds the chain down."
She thought about that for a second and then gestured to the floor. "Not if I stay and wake you up before he gets back in here. Then you can hook it back up."
He shook his head. "I don't want you to have to do that. That wouldn't be right. Me sleeping and you. . . well, you having to stay and keep watch."
She smiled. "It is quite alright. Ghosts do not sleep. Besides, it will give me something to do. Being a ghost can get extremely tedious sometimes."
"I'll be alright. You don..."
"Do you know why they have you chained?" she interrupted.
He frowned and then shrugged. "I guess it's because they don't want me feeding on any of them."
She sighed. "That is what they want them to think," she told him as she gestured to the beings asleep across the floor.
He could tell by her look that she knew another reason, so he took a step closer to her. "Then why do they do it?"
She shook her head. "We can continue this conversation the next time I am able to seek you out. Now, though, you must sleep."
His brows furrowed. "Why? Do you know what will happen tomorrow?"
"Sleep why you have the chance, vampire." When he opened his mouth to speak again, she pointed to the floor. "I will not say it again."
Her friendly tone had taken on an air of authority, and he imagined she had been a teacher in her former life. He could also tell by the look in her eyes that she meant it, so he sighed and nodded. "Yes, ma'am," he told her and then sat down.
She smiled and nodded. "It is nice to see that you are an intelligent man."
He mentally huffed and then laid down on his side using his arm as a pillow.
"Sleep, vampire, and I will wake you before anyone finds out about the chain," she told him as she sat down and started humming.
He didn't recognize the tune, but he did notice that some of the others who had not been resting peacefully started to still, and before he knew it, he joined them in the land of sleep.
XXXXX
When Christian and Sebastian got to the cave, Sebastian noticed everyone was there except Kahlan, and he frowned as he looked at Rossi. "Where is Kahlan?"
Rossi gestured to the cave's opening. "She's out there calling someone."
"She's getting a few trucks and a horse trailer," Chuck told them. "She's having Little John arrange them, and they should be here within a couple hours."
Sebastian nodded. "Sounds like you all have everything taken care of."
Chuck smiled. "We try."
Thelsa, the pixie, flew around the harvester and then landed on Willie's shoulder. "Haveyoudecidedonwhattodowiththispieceofdung?"
Willie frowned at her and then looked at Nate. The werewolf huffed. "She wants to know what's going to happen to that asshole."
Gwenith held her hand out. "Just wait, Thelsa, you'll find out in a minute."
The pixie flew right up to Brian's face, blew a raspberry at him, and then flew and landed in the witch's hand.
Chuck laughed at her and then nudged Cam with his elbow. "She remind you of anyone?"
Rossi laughed. "Joey?"
That made Cam laugh, too. "I was going to say a younger version of Kahlan, but Joey works."
Christian frowned as he looked at the humans. "So Kahlan's daughter is a lot like her?"
Chuck nodded as a goofy grin spread on his face. "Oh yeah."
Rossi noticed the glimpse of the look that the British vampire shot his best friend and mentally frowned. Why would that fact bother you? He took a deep breath to ask him why he was so concerned, but then Kahlan came back in.
She looked around the room. "Everything's set up. You all will be away from here before the sun sets."
Gwenith gave her a nod, but Thelsa flew into the air as she clapped and spun.
"And..." Kahlan started again, "real food will be arriving with the transportation."
That made most of them celebrate even more, and Kahlan smiled. Once they all calmed down, she took a deep breath and stepped up to the harvester and pulled him into the center of the room.
The daggit growled, the unicorn stomped her hoof a few times, the oncilla all let out a screeching noise, and the pixie spit. Kahlan also noticed Nate's hands ball into fists. She gestured to the trembling man as she looked at all the beings that he had treated so severely. "You all want him dead, don't you?"
"He most certainly deserves it, don't you think, sister?" Gwenith asked her.
Kahlan exhaled through her nose as she studied the man in front of her. He wasn't trembling anymore, but she could clearly see the fear in his eyes. "Actually, I was thinking of a different type of sentence."
Nate frowned as he looked at the witch for a second and then looked at Kahlan. "But he deserves to die!" he demanded as he stood up.
Most of the little creatures started making a bunch of noise in agreement with the werewolf, but they silenced when Kahlan held up her hand and looked at the werewolf. "Do you really feel that way?"
"Of course, I do! After what he's done to us, what he's done to so many others who didn't even get the chance to survive, he deserves to die!" he told her and the conviction in his tone wasn't missed.
Kahlan looked at Brian for a few seconds and then shook her head as she turned back to the werewolf. "But death is so final, and unless you're talking about a nice long stint of torture, it's rather quick."
That made some of the creatures celebrate again, but the witch snorted. "A quick death would be way too gentle for him!"
Kahlan nodded as a malicious grin spread over her lips as she locked eyes with each of them for a second before turning back to Brian. "And he deserves so much more than that."
Sebastian frowned. "What are you suggesting?"
Kahlan giggled. "I don't want to offer him death, I want to offer him a new life."
Nate bristled. "A new life?! After what he's done⦠I can't even tell you how many he's killed with his own hands! And that doesn't even include the ones who have died here, slowly, as they suffered countlessā¦"
Kahlan went to him and wiped the tears off his cheeks with gentle fingers. "And that's exactly why he deserves more than death, Nate. Death would be too good for him."
"You are proposing something worse than death?" Gwenith asked as she studied Kahlan.
Kahlan turned to her and smiled. "Oh yes, something that would hurt him far more than simple death."
"What could be worse than death?" Willie asked.
Kahlan glanced around at the beings Brian had held prisoner, and then looked back at the young-looking vampire. "What's the one thing he hates most in this life?"
Willie frowned for a second and then looked around him. "The supernatural?"
She smiled as she nodded. "So much so that he was a hunter before becoming a harvester." She turned to the werewolf. "And do you know which monster he hates more than any of the others?"
Nate's eyes grew big. "Werewolves?"
She nodded again.
"Yeah, he even had his partner chop the bottom of his leg off to avoid being turned into one," Chuck put in.
Nate looked at the harvester. "That's why you always hated me more than the others?" He advanced to him. "That's why you constantly tortured me?!"
"Yes," Brian told him and then winced. He couldn't stop himself from answering because he was still under Sebastian's compelled command to do so.
"You bastard!" Nate roared and then grabbed the front of his shirt. "That wasn't me! I didn't bite you! I never hurt anyone once I realized what I was! I made sure of it!" he yelled as he shook the man. He was too weak to keep the bravado up, though, and he started swaying.
Chuck and Cam moved to him. "Easy, Nate. Don't worry. He'll pay," Chuck assured him as they helped him back to the chair he'd been sitting in.
Gwenith turned to Kahlan. "So what is it you are proposing, sister?"
Kahlan looked at Nate. "I say we turn him into the thing he hates."
Nate's eyes shot open as his brows went to his hairline for a second, but then he wilted as he held his mouth open. "I can't bite anyone, remember."
Kahlan smiled as she reached into her thigh pocket and withdrew an empty syringe. "I would assume that your blood would also infect him."
With that, a squeak of a whimper escaped Brian, and they all looked at him as a wet spot grew on the front of his pants as he pissed himself.
Nate snorted as he looked at him. "Real tough, badass you turned out to be!" He swallowed and then looked at Kahlan as he stuck out his arm. "Do it."
Sebastian raised his hand, though, and stepped forward. "But that would only put another werewolf in the population, and that would be basically sentencing many innocent beings to death with every full moon."
Kahlan smiled. "Not if we put those damn silver chains on him. The only one hurt every full moon would be him."
"But that would mean that someone would have to keep him prisoner," Christian put in.
Kahlan shrugged, but Chuck smiled. "We could just lock him in one of his own cells."
"But then his friends would find him. Someone is bound to come looking for him sooner or later," Willie reasoned.
Kahlan shrugged again. "He had one of his hunting buddies chop off his own leg to keep from turning into a monster. What do you think his buddies will do when they figure out what he's become?"
"But even if they don't save him, he would tell them about all of us," Christian put in.
That made Kahlan turn to him and then nod. "That's true, and we definitely can't have that." She turned back to the foul-smelling human who was trembling again. "I could probably find a place to put him, someplace safe, some place we wouldn't have to worry about him, some place he could spend a very long-time suffering."
They all seemed to like that idea as they voiced their agreements, but they turned silent when Gwenith stood up. She walked up to Brian, looked him in the eyes for a few seconds, and then turned to Kahlan. "Allow me to take him to my coven. We would see that he's properly taken care of." Nate went to argue, but the old witch turned to him and smiled. "That is, after he gets a dose of your blood and those silver shackles."
With that, Nate nodded and sat back down, and Gwenith looked at the harvester again. "Witches have need of werewolves and all they can offer." She turned to Kahlan. "What better justice is there than him being turned into the thing he hates most just to get harvested himself?"
Rossi looked back and forth between the old witch and Kahlan as they stared at each other and swallowed. An eye for an eye is supposedly divine, but with these women its downright hellish.
After a moment, Kahlan nodded. "I like it." She turned to look at the others. "Any objections?" When none were offered, she smiled. "Then it's settled."
