24 Hours Earlier

The tavern looked and smelled just like the countless other small town taverns Gretel had been in before. Crudely made tables and chairs littered the floor without any sense of order. Patrons, mostly men, sat alone or in small groups drinking ale and eating what was being passed off as the best food in town. A large fireplace on one wall left half the room sweltering hot and the other decidedly drafty. The scent of the place was an amalgamation of alcohol, frying meat, smoke, and stale unwashed villagers.

Gretel moved through the crowd and claimed an empty table with enough seats for Hansel and Ben once they finished speaking with the mayor. After she was seated she signaled for the bar maid to bring her a drink and then leaned back in her chair to wait for her brother and friend to arrive. It had been a long trip to the small village of Aft and Gretel's back and legs were stiff from riding for nearly two days straight. She wanted nothing more than to drink some ale, eat a meal which consisted of more than stale bread and mealy apples, and then actually sleep in a bed for the night.

Gretel dug into her knapsack until she found the research papers she'd started on the village of Aft and began to reread through her notes. Five children taken within the last month, all girls, all under the age of ten. Gretel figured that the witch was most likely after virgin hearts or blood. That was what witches were usually after when they took young girls. What Gretel couldn't figure out was where to begin searching. Each of the girls had been kidnapped miles apart from each other. Some of them had been taken from the farms where they lived, two others had disappeared in the woods, and one girl had been taken right from her own bed in the middle of the night. She was hopeful that perhaps one of the villagers would be able to give them a lead as to where they should look.

"So are you new in town?" A voice asked shyly from beside her and set down a mug of ale in front of Gretel.

Gretel smirked and didn't look up from her reading. "Has that line ever once worked for you?" She asked with amusement.

"Honestly no. But there really hasn't ever been a chance to use it before. We don't get a lot of new people here in Aft." The voice admitted.

Gretel gave a genuine laugh at his honesty and looked up from her work finally. The man standing at her side was tall and lanky. He had kind blue eyes partially hidden behind messy black hair. He was giving her a warm shy smile and holding out his hand for her to shake. "I'm Joseph by the way. I'm guessing you must be Gretel. The whole village has been talking about your arrival for over a week."

Gretel returned the handshake and the smile. "It's nice to meet you Joseph."

Joseph shifted from one foot to the other nervously. "I-uh… my younger sister Emma is one of the missing girls. I just wanted to thank you for coming here to help find them."

Gretel pushed the chair next to her out with her foot and gestured for Joseph to sit down. "My brother and I are going to do everything we can to bring back your sister and the other girls safely." She comforted as he sat down. "Is there anything you can tell me that might help? Maybe a place in the woods where the witch might be keeping them? It would be somewhere that the animals of the forest avoid, plants wouldn't grow there either."

Joseph furrowed his brow and shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry I don't have any idea. We've searched much of the forest but the woods around Aft are huge."

"Well like I said we'll do everything we can to get all of the girls back and kill the witch." Gretel assured him.

Joseph nodded and pushed himself up from the table. "I'd better get back to the stables. That's where I work so if you want a ride just ask for me. I mean- uh if you and your brother need horses I can help." He stammered.

Gretel laughed at his awkward offer of help and gave him a final smile before she returned to her reading. She was interrupted only moments later by a large hand clasping her shoulder tightly. Gretel reacted instantly, grabbing the wrist and twisting it so that the hand was forced to release her. She jumped to her feet and spun to face the person who had grabbed her.

He was taller than her by at least a foot. Tanned skin, broad shoulders, and eyes so brown they looked nearly black in the fire light. He was staring at Gretel with a wide cocky grin plastered to his face. Gretel rolled her eyes and stepped away from the large man. She knew what was coming. There was one like him in every single town. Over confident and spoiled, his daddy was probably someone important to the town and the asshole standing in front of her probably thought he could have who or whatever he wanted.

"You're Gretel right? The witch hunter?" He boomed, nearly shouting at her even though they were less than two feet apart. He said nearly the same words that Joseph had, but it sounded completely different coming from him.

Gretel nodded and took a sip of her ale. "I am and you are?"

The man flashed her a second smile, showing two rows of white straight teeth. She supposed most women would probably find him handsome, but Gretel hated men like this. She'd been dealing with them since she'd hit puberty.

"Gustav. My father is the magistrate here in Aft." He introduced proudly.

Nailed it. Gretel thought with a smirk. Just like she'd thought before there was one like him in every town.

"Well that's impressive for your father. Please congratulate him for me." Gretel quipped and attempted to sit back down in her chair. Gustav stopped her by wrapping his large hand around her bicep.

"Let's have a drink." He suggested.

"I've already got one and you're keeping me from it. Now if you don't mind… how bout you fuck off?" Gretel sneered and pried his hand away from her once again.

"Ain't you a mouthy bitch? Now I do believe I told you we were gonna have a drink." Gustav spit angrily.

"And I do believe I told you to FUCK OFF!" Gretel shouted and pushed the brute away from her.

Gustav let out a growl of anger and back handed Gretel so hard that she spun around and staggered into her table, her ale spilling across the wooden planks and onto the stone floor. Gretel grabbed the knife she kept strapped in her boot and took a deep breath to steady herself. In one fluid motion she straightened up and spun around slashing at Gustav's face with her blade. She drew a long gash from his temple across his cheek to his chin. Gustav howled from pain and fell to the ground clutching at his bleeding face.

The tavern grew silent behind Gretel and it suddenly occurred to her that cutting open the face of the magistrate's son might not have been her most brilliant move ever.

"Gretel!" Hansel shouted from the doorway.

"I'm fine Hansel, just taking care of a little trouble." Gretel assured her brother without taking her eyes off of the bleeding man at her feet.

Hansel was only mildly concerned for his sister; he knew Gretel was capable of handling herself. Ben simply smiled and followed the older man into the tavern. In the eight months that he had been training under Hansel and Gretel he had become used to scenes like this.

Gretel turned to the two as they walked over. Hansel felt his anger ratchet up a notch when he took in the bloody nose and swelling cheek that his sister was sporting. He gently gripped his sister's jaw in his hand and turned her head back and forth to examine her bruises more clearly. His eyes slid from his injured sister to the bleeding man. "I'm guessing you're the one responsible for the bruises on my sister?"

Hansel knelt down so that he could look directly into the man's eyes. "You touch my sister again and what I'll do to you will make that cut she gave you look like a little shaving mishap." He whispered venomously. Without waiting for a reply Hansel stood up and directed both his sister and Ben towards the stairs and up to the room which was waiting for them.

Once the trio was gone the tavern seemed to come back to life. Three of Gustav's friends hurried over to where he still lay bleeding on the ground. "Gustav are you alright?" His friend Anders shouted.

Gustav pulled out a dirty handkerchief from his back pocket and pressed it to his ruined face. "I'm going to make that bitch pay. We're going to make both of them pay." He sneered.

TBC

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A/N- So here is a little background filler chapter for ya'll. Thanks for reading and a big thanks to the people who review. I'll do my best to update as frequently as I can.