Cat-Who-Walks-By-Herself stared at the timer counting down as her stomach knotted and clenched. Even two and half days away the thought of sleep made her sick. Shaking off her dread, she moved to check her supply, four doses left in the box. Same as it had been the last time and the time before that. She walked and begin moving slowly around the old morgue’s confines, checking the pictographs and markings she’d placed, shifting her sight to examine the lines of magical power flowing through them, reconfirming that the lodge was seamless and intact yet again.
She felt it approaching well before the thing spoke to announce its presence.
She didn’t turn. It had no eyes to meet, not even a face. “Is it done?”
“I would not return if it were not. You know this.”
“Agonizing Mistress. As you commanded. He died screaming in helpless terror.”
She nodded. “He deserved it you know.”
“Of course Mistress. It was your will.”
She turned and faced the thing. “But I wished him dead for a reason. A good reason.”
“That you willed it was reason enough for me Mistress. His existence displeased you and thus I snuffed it out.”
“Does something vex thee Mistress?”
“No. It’s just… It’s been years… I’ve waited for this and now I’m… not sure how I feel.”
“You should feel victorious. You have struck down one who sought to harm you as a child. You managed to escape, to survive when others failed and died. Today, you have proven yourself the stronger.”
She nodded. “It was not by my own hand though.”
“My hands are your hands Mistress. It was your power that moved me to seek him out. I am but a manifestation of your will.”
“By will and blood bound.”
She nodded and turned to look at the cold metal slab of the dissection table that sat in the room’s center. She had taken everything from them, their money, this decrepit and derelict hospital they’d hidden in, even their lives. She had fortified her lair with wards and laced the corridors and doors with traps. She’d summoned dozens of spirits to watch over it, bound by blood sacrifice to defend it against any intrusion. She had made this place into an impenetrable fortress.
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