Spellbound by ThatDarnCatt

Blood

I know I know, I should be completing the stories I already have instead of starting new ones, but I am driven by my muse and my muse pushed this into my head all day. So much so that I wrote 4 pages of back story while I was at work. I couldn’t ignore it. I’m really enjoying this particular fic and I promise I will get Rider, The Keeper, and Broken updated ASAP.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot, all else belongs to their respective owners.            

~~~

Chapter One: Blood

“Toshiharu-sama, there has been another murder.” Toshiharu sighed, running his hand down his face before waving the guard out of the room. Another person had bled to their death while being seemingly healthy otherwise. For the past three months, people had begun to bleed out of every orifice of their body for seemingly no reason and people were starting to whisper that it was a curse set upon them by witches. Already there were hunting parties taking it upon themselves to rid their lands of any witch settlement that was near their villages.

                The regal panther demon stood from his chair, his extravagant silk robes of the deepest blue swishing around him as he moved to look out the large window that sat behind his desk in his study. Long black hair was tied back in a severe ponytail, every hair in place, and dark violet eyes stared unseeingly out the window. One deep purple slash ran from his ear around his left cheek and a white star graced his forehead. The Lord of the North was deeply troubled, never before had the witches in the various settlements caused any problems in his lands and he was honor bound to protect them. However, how could he without damning himself to the rest of his kingdom? This curse was very real, he had sent many a witch under his employ to look into the deaths and the reports were becoming more and more gruesome.

                There were reports that as the curse spread throughout the victim’s body, if they were not killed by the blood loss, their innards would explode. The last victim was a young woman, barely in her marrying years, and while she hadn’t died from the blood loss… well, he wasn’t sure which a worse fate was. His courier had reported that blood had coated the walls and the people who had been with her when the worst had happened. Toshiharu shook his head; he wasn’t sure how the family was going to cope with such a gruesome way to lose a loved one.

                If this was indeed what was happening across his country, he had no choice but to leave the militias to their own devices. He may not agree, as the witches had never posed much of a threat to them in the past, but he would not stop them. With any hope, the one that was inflicting such pain would be among those destroyed. But he knew that the witches were not cut from the cloth of causing pain and hurt, they were cut from the cloth of defense and healing with very few of them being taught in the art of offense. While this made them a noble people, it made them a defenseless people. It was why he had offered his protection to them in the first place, but now he had no choice but to rescind on that promise and it left a foul taste in his mouth.

                The North was always a safe haven for those who were lost and in need of places to go, and while he knew the witches had settlements in the other territories, he had prided himself in being able to offer them complete security. His people worked closely with the Mother Settlement that resided in the Western Lands and it had done well with negotiations between the two Cardinal Points.

                With a deep sigh, Lord Toshiharu turned away from the window to sit once again at his desk as he took up his quill. He pulled parchment from the small stack to his left and began to pen a warning and an apology to the leader of the Northern Settlement. After its completion, he folded it and held the wax over the open flame, patiently waiting for it to melt onto the parchment. He pushed his seal into the wax and called over a courier who was familiar to the Northern Settlement.

                Lord Toshiharu could only pray it made it to them in time.

~~~

                Kagome laughed at the fire that blazed harmlessly through the air, the students sweating in concentration as they thrust their short staffs forward in unison while commanding the flame with the Will Word. Each student was required to learn basic control of the main elements of their craft, control over fire being one of them. The girls were no more than twelve years old and numbered only fifteen in total, a rather large class for this level of Will Shaping. Each girl was to attend classes until it was clear that their latent talent and mastery of Will Shaping, the ability to use words to call the specific magic from their staffs to life, had capped out.

                Capping out was not a demerit in the eyes of the Witches of the White Order. It simply meant that it was time to find their calling with what talent they had. Some excelled as healers; some in defense; and very few in offense and many others decided to live as normal people who just happened to be able to control a varying amount of magic. This currently training class showed promise and it was made obvious by the instructor ordering them to switch to water without much warning.

                All the girls quickly shifted stances before performing a short sweep of their staffs that drew the tip from their hip and out straight, causing a short torrent of water to come forth, seemingly out of nowhere. Depending on the users control and will, mastery of the elements was an endless ambition.

                Kagome frowned, Kikyo was supposed to be here looking over the eldest classes final test and she hadn’t been seen all day. Kikyo is Kagome’s sister, a benevolent woman who was the Matron to the entire Order; she is also the strongest witch in the Order with Kagome following very close behind. Leading was never Kagome’s plan, so while many believed she could best her elder sister; she chose not to test that theory as she was content to live her life as her mentor’s second in command.

                With the massacres happening in the Northern, Southern, and Eastern provinces, Kagome had thought that Kikyo would be in the Mother Settlement a good deal more. The Settlement was quite impressive with its high walls and even higher watch towers, situated back against a tall mountain to defend them from rear attacks; but it wasn’t impervious. Matron Kikyo was the only witch, besides Kagome, that was trained in all three arts and her strength and power were indispensable.

                A short shout was heard from one of the watchtowers, one of the men had seen someone approaching the gate and Kagome was instantly on her feet, grabbing her long staff and running from the flowered field that served as the training grounds. She wove through the short alley behind the nearby barracks and easily swung her way up the ladder to the man. His face was red in exertion as he pointed to the lone traveler that was running up the road.

                “He’s been running since I saw him on the horizon, what should I do?” Kagome patted the man on the shoulder before jumping down to grab the sides of the ladder, calling back up to him as she slid down,

                “I will meet with him. Open the gate.” The man nodded before hollering for the gatekeeper to raise the gate.

                Kagome stood in the middle of the gate as it opened, her long staff held easily in her grip as she leaned on it with a hand on her hips. To the common eye, she was completely at ease, but to those that knew her could she was already concentrating on what she would use as a Will Shaping.

                It would be unneeded as the courier stopped in front of her, breathing hard as he bowed low before her. Even in modest robes of white, she looked regal. Long flowing ebony hair that hung past her slim waist and twinkling sapphire eyes that shone with a dangerous glint among the good humor. While Kagome stood tall, she isn’t overly so, and the staff she carried was taller than her, the dark wood inscribed with a number of unknown symbols as the staff twisting into a vortex near the top.

                “What speak you?” The courier nodded at her simple question before handing her a letter that was messily marked with the seal of the Northern Settlement. Kagome gave him a sharp look, finally recognizing him as a Northern Lord’s Courier, before snatching the letter out of his hand. Ushering him into the settlement and calling for him to be provided with food, water and a place to rest before he left once again, she ordered the gate shut as she hurried across the training field.

                Entering her small home that resided close to the training field, she opened the letter with shaking hands, nearly ripping it in her fear. Her eyes widened before gathering with tears; the Northern Settlement had fallen.

~~~

                Meanwhile in the woods near the Mother Settlement, a nude giggling dark haired girl was chasing a similarly nude white haired hanyou with dog ears around a small clearing.

                “Inuyasha! Pease, I must return and to do that I need my clothing!” The hanyou, Inuyasha, grinned lecherously before tossing her clothes across the clearing and advancing on the dark haired woman, causing her to blush.

                “Kikyo, I only get to see you so often with all your matronly duties and what not. What’s so wrong that I want to stay with you longer?” He wrapped his arms around her nude body before nuzzling his nose into her neck, causing her to giggle once again and push him away. The hanyou huffed in mock annoyance as she walked over to where he had thrown her clothes, however his ‘annoyance’ didn’t stop him from admiring her firm behind as it sashayed while she walked.

                After adorning her white robes and grabbing her staff she walked over to her strong hanyou, leaning up to give him a sweet kiss before bouncing off towards the Mother Settlement. She wasn’t far, but she hadn’t been gone this long from her duties in a very long while and it made her nervous. Her skin prickled; something was wrong.

                Inuyasha watched her go, his heart clenching at her departure. He had been working up the courage to ask her to mate with him for months; it just seemed as if it wasn’t to be yet. With a grin, he donned his red kimono and grabbed his sword before taking off towards the Western castle.

~~~

                Kikyo smiled as she made her way through the small metal side gate that was used for single persons leaving and entering the settlement, her heart light as she looked upon her people. A frown tugged at the corners of her mouth as she realized the feeling of wrongness hadn’t subsided. As she walked, she smiled and waved at those passing by quickly becoming mildly concerned as she realized none were waving back but were staring at her in horror.

                She tried to maintain composure, but when a fellow witch screamed in freight before brushing her thumb across her left shoulder in the common way they warded off evil, she began to sprint towards her sister’s hut. A glimpse in a reflective surface made her look closer, her eyes widening in horror as blood ran from her eyes, nose and mouth. When she turned her head, she saw it ran from her ears as well. While it wasn’t gushing and not currently life threatening, Kikyo knew was this was and she knew she was not going to survive it.

                The door to her sister’s home slammed open as she burst through, her hand gripping her staff so hard that her knuckles were white. Kagome, surprised, turned to her sister with wide eyes. Tears quickly began to fall anew, once dry from her pain of her people falling in the Northern Lands. Kagome grabbed her sister’s arms, inspecting her now bloodied face before pulling her sister into a tight hug which was desperately returned.

                “Kagome… the Handmaidens… they are the only ones who know of such a curse.” Kagome pulled back from her sister, tears streaming down her face as she shook her head violently. Kikyo shushed her and put her hands on either side of her face, unknowingly wiping some of her own blood on her cheeks. “You must appeal to Sesshoumaru; he is the only one that can help us. I will not survive this Kagome. You must accept the Shikon Staff of the White Order and you must do it now!”

                Kagome sobbed before taking the tall staff in her hand, the wood so dark it was almost black with white and pink intricate writing written all over it as it curled tightly at the top around a small pink jewel. Kikyo smiled at her painfully, her pallor already going white before beginning the incantation to bind Kagome to the Matron Staff, bestowing her with the responsibility of leadership and the power of all the Matron’s that came before her. With the incantation said, she wavered on her feet as the blood loss finally got to her as she said one last thing before she fell to the ground,

                “Sed siempre bendita… my sister…” With a heartbreaking shriek the younger woman caught her sister before she hit the ground, letting the infamous staff hit the floor as she cradled her sister and best friend to her breast. She cried with abandon as her sister finally breathed her last, and as the body shuddered one last time she buried her face in Kikyo’s neck and sobbed.

                As taken as she was in grief, she did not see the white mist of her sister’s essence exit her mouth before being yanked in the direction of the East.

~~~

                In the East, Tsubaki cackled merrily as she coerced the spirit of the great Matron into a small clay skull, trapping the essence there until she could make use of it. She couldn’t coerce the half demon to love her, but she could take his current lover from him and the great Matron’s power would be at her disposal! Getting the blood of the great Kikyo wasn’t as easy as she was lead to believe, but she managed. With another shrill cackle, she thanked the lucky stars that her master was great and powerful; she would never have thought to do this on her own.

                The Handmaidens of the Necromancer only studied, hurting was new and she found she liked it.

She liked it a lot.

~~~

Alright so… I am really going to update everything else I swear.

Hope you enjoyed!

Till next time :)

-Cat