The old cypress groaned, its roots clawing at the muddy bank as if trying to escape the water. Something moved in the shadows beneath it...too fast, too silent.
Sous didn't hesitate. She dropped into a crouch, her blue flames igniting around her fist. The bayou air thickened, heavy with decay and wet earth. She tasted copper on her tongue. Her nostrils flared. The thing detached from the tree's gloom, all bone-white limbs and hollowed sockets, moving with a liquid, unnatural speed. It didn't snarl. It didn't pause. It lunged.
Mud sprayed as Sous twisted aside. The wendigo's claws sliced empty air where her throat had been an instant before. Cold radiated from its passing, chilling the sweat on her skin. She struck back, it felt like carving frozen leather. The creature stumbled, a silent ripple passing through its emaciated frame. No scream. Only the sucking sound of its foot pulling free from the muck.
Sous used the advantage of imbalance. She surged forward, driving her shoulder into its ribcage. Bone met bone with a sickening crack. It felt hollow, brittle. The wendigo reeled, but didn't fall. Its head snapped toward her, empty sockets somehow focusing. She ducked as a skeletal hand whistled past her temple, close enough to stir her braids. The smell hit her then—wet rot and ancient ice, so thick it coated her throat.
Her fist flashed again, aiming for the throat. The creature flowed backward like smoke, impossibly fast. Her fist sliced only darkness. Mud sucked at her boots, treacherous. She pivoted, scanning the gloom. There, by the water's edge. It blurred toward her, silent as death's shadow. She braced herself, ready to meet the charge. The bayou's thick air pressed in, heavy with the scent of crushed moss and her own sharp sweat.
Cold washed over her as it closed the distance. Its claws raked downward. Sous twisted sideways, feeling the icy wind of their passage. Too slow. Razor-tips grazed her ribs, tearing buckskin, drawing hot blood. Pain bloomed, sharp and bright. She ignored it. Used the momentum of her dodge to drive upward, plunging her fist deep into its side.
She let go. Didn't hesitate. Sank low and swept her leg out, connecting hard with its already damaged ankle. Bone snapped like dry kindling. The wendigo staggered sideways, its unnatural grace momentarily broken. Mud splattered its skeletal legs. Sous surged forward, tackling its waist. They crashed into the shallows, fetid water exploding around them. The cold bit deeper, stealing her breath. Claws scrabbled against her back, seeking purchase. She shoved her forearm under its jaw, forcing its head back, straining against impossible strength. Its hollow eyes bored into hers, radiating pure, silent hunger.
Sous stood over the wendigo, breathing heavily, sweat beading on her forehead. She wiped her forehead and and slumped against a tree. "Shit," she said wondering if she was going to get in trouble for killing it.
The fight had dragged on and Sous felt herself getting tired, not having fought anything for more than two decades. She bent over, heaving and hiving.
The wendigo laid there, dead within the swamp. Already the flies and mosquitoes were congregating around the body.
Her teammate threaded to her and saw the dead wendigo. He looked at her as if asking what happened and Sous shrugged her shoulders. She was learning Ench, slowly but surely and said to him, "Desoleé!"
Her teammate shook his head and some what choked out a a laugh. The blue flame that Sous used slowly faded away as her claws extracted and she traveled through the trees.
She landed on the plank in the human settlement and was met with the captain of her team. But again because of the language barrier, there was nothing they could communicate with Sous until they got back to the office.
Sous looked down at her hands while the row boat slowly pulled into the plank where the office was. They got out and she went to speak with the manager.
"Try not to kill the wendigos," he said. "We really don't want any trouble with them."
Sous walked into the house, heading toward her room when she walked past the laundry room with Faye and Makala folding laundry.
"Hey, Sous!" Makala yelled out as she pulling out clothes from the washer. Sous walked into the room and at the technology.
"What are those?"
"Washer and dryer," Faye said laughing. "Its faster than magic, way faster, and you don't have to waste that much magae."
Sous walked to the square boxes and placed her hand on it. It was smooth and quiet, and when she looked into the little window, she saw the clothes just sitting there.
"How was work?" Faye asked.
"I killed a wendigo," Sous said with calmness. She lifted herself onto the washer and watch the looks on her friends faces.
They exchanged looks with Faye stepping forward. Unsure of what her friend just said.
"How many?"
"One but it was by accident." Sous glared at the two women and leaned forward. "Why?"
Faye folded the last piece of clothing and walked to Sous. "See," she started. "We, priest and priestesses, we have a contract regarding the underworld and so does the wendigos. We're kind of allies."
Sous walked to her room after listening to what Faye said and got her belongings to take a bath. She ran the hot water and began to soak herself, sighing as she did so.
The job was a lot more difficult than she thought but one thing she liked was she was getting back into shape. After six months, she would be off again. She was determined to see Kara, ask her how she was doing.
She soaked deeper into the tub and looked up at cieling, the steam fogging up the mirror and adding an extra bit of heat to the room.
"Eight kids," she said aloud, thinking of her daughter, Fednora, and the son she still had yet to meet. In fact, maybe after this, she would go find Zan and finally meet her son.
Shadow was nice enough to take Kara to Vania by ferry. He was older now, about in his fifties, his hair was longer and he had a beard. He was still single no, no Alpha insight but beside him stood a young woman, a young woman who was the spitting image of him. His daughter, an Alpha wolf.
"You mighty pretty," the Alpha said to Kara down in the bunks. "I see you mated though." She had a harsh twang to her voice that had a high amount of intonation in it.
"I am mated, yes," Kara said.
The Alpha nodded her head and smiled, swinging from the door frame. "Would you like to go to bed with me tonight regardless?"