Strings of Fate

194- Fire and fanatic | barely notice as | scratch my legs up on a rather ugly spiked plant as | cut through someone's backyard. I've never had a tattoo but my hand feels how | imagine getting a tattoo feels. Thousands of needles jamming into my hand over and over.I'll have to ask someone somethow it feels to know if my comparison is accurate or not. But either way the feeling is very unpleasant. Still, | am weirdly enjoying the pain, because the more pain the closer we must be to finding Kiara. All of a sudden the pain in my hand starts to fade a little. | slide to a stop, almost toppling over and turn back around. My hand is instantly burning again.

“This one. | think it’s this house.” | declare. Instantly Bellamy and the team surge into action. Moving to approach the front and back doors simultaneously. | can tell that Bellamy doesn’t wanthere, but there's nowhere else forto go. We left the cars several streets back. Aaron hangs back from the group staying with myself and Megan. | give him a small smile of appreciation but mostly | just want to barge into the house and find Kiara. | hold my breath as Bellamy tests the door. It opens, completely unlocked. | can hear voices coming from further inside the house. Bellamy and the others enter in a hurry and despite Aaron’s raised eyebrow of protest, Megan and | follow them inside.

| find all the Shifters standing at the ready but clearly not moving. In the centre of the living room is another female Shifter who looks a lot likeand a tall woman with red hair hanging long down her back. But my eyes are instantly drawn to the small blonde child. Kiara! | instinctively step forward then freeze when the redhead’s eyes dart to me.) She looks oddly familiar.

“You!” She snarls out the word. She is holding up a hand with a glowing blue fldirected towards the Shifter woman. Even | know enough about magic to identify Witches fire. One of the most common offensive spells out there. Usually a Witch is only powerful enough to use it one time, but it's fast and burns hot. It is also nearly impossible to put out without magic so if you get caught in it you can pretty much guarantee a painful death by burning. No wonder everyone is staying put. One move from the redhead Witch and that Shifter woman will die a painful death. Aaron pullsbackwards and behind him, physically shieldingwith his b*dy. | peer around him and despite my best efforts to focus on the threat, | keep staring at Kiara. She has backed up against a wall, her hands wrapped around herself. She looks so small and pale. | want to reassure her bart | know | have to wait, “No one move! Don’t cany closer or she dies!” The woman hisses out the words. Bellamy holds out his hands in a placating manner.

“No one is moving. We don’t want to hurt you. Just let the woman and child go and we can figure this out peacefully.” He keeps his voice firm and calm, but | can see the fire in his eyes and | know that he is ready to shift in a second if needed. The woman laughs maniacally.

“Peacefully! You want this to end PEACEFULLY? No one cared about being peaceful when you MURDERED my Tristain!” She screeches the words causingto flinch. | suddenly remember where I've seen her before. That night with Bellamy when we stalked Tristain and saw him with his soul mate. It makes sense that she would be angry and hurt. His mother and his lover teaming up to get revenge. | can’t believe we didn’t think of her earlier.

Probably because none of us have ever actually met her, we don’t even know her name. We were searching for it before, but then once Tristain was dead it kind of took & back burner. There were other issues to sort out.

Bellamy takes a deep breath. and keeps his voice steady.

“You are clearly trapped. There is no chance of you walking out of here. There's no reason to make it difficult.

What do you want?” He tries to be diplomatic, but | suspect it’s too late, the woman looks like she is well beyond reason. Her eyes are wild and she is breathing heavily as if she has been exerting herself. Her eyes focus onand she glares.

“Givethe Oracle girl and you can have these two. Two for one, it's a good deal.” She demands. Oh shit. | should.

1/2 194- Fire and fanatic have guessed that she would want me, she’s been targetingthis whole tafter all. | probably should have waited outside. Somehow | think my presence is just going to make this worse.

“That will never happen.” Bellamy growls the words out, his voice low and his expression dark.

“Then the Shifter-girl dies! And the child will be next!” The nicknof psycho really suits her right now. There is no way that she is in her right mind.

“Hurtingwon't bring him back.” | comment softly. I don’t actually think it will help, she isn’t someone who can be talked down, she’s too far gone, she has already committed to her plan. She knows that there is no chance of her realistically getting out of here and regaining her freedom. There are too many Shifters for her to fight her way out and even if she did she would be on the run for the rest of her life. No even | can see that she is ready to give her life for her cause. For a chance to killshe is willing to die herself. | don’t expect anything useful to cof talking to her. But at least if she is focussed on me, she isn’t aiming well at the Shifter woman and she isn’t looking at Kiara, We need her distracted, and I'm the best suited for the job.

| stay behind Aaron, | suspect if | step in range she will attackimmediately, she doesn’t care about getting caught. She has no need for a hostage other than as a way to trade for me. She probably only has one shot with the Witches fire, so | doubt she will use it on Aaron or anyone else, not unless she knows for sure that I'll be caught in it too or she is left with no other choice.

“I KNOW it won't bring him back. Nothing will bring him back, because you KILLED him!” She screams. Huh? “I didn’t kill him!” I object. She laughs, flicking her bright hair back behind her shoulder. | can see that she is shaking in place. Her flaming hand unsteady.

“You might not have been the one to strike him down, but you are the reason he is dead. No one would have suspected him, no one would have thought to question him if you were able to just KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT!” She screams. Well that’s just outright not true. Bellamy suspected there was something fishy with Tristan the whole time. That's why he trackeddown in the first place.

“Tristan planned to betray and murder my friends for power. What would you have haddo? All he had to do was stop fighting and he would still be alive!” | argue. I’'swear the Witch is turning blue at this point. | can see the veins bulging in her forehead. She swivels towardsa little more and opens her mouth to argue, but before she can speak the Shifter woman who is being held hostage takes her chance. With no tto shift, she remains in her human form and leaps at the Witch.