We were getting ready to head out, the fortress was restocked and Martin had moved most of his items out. He was always welcome so the room would remain his anytime he wished to visit or join us on a trip.

I was finishing up my preparations when I heard a knock at the door. After checking the camera I noticed it was that hunter girl, the one Ska was training.

I unlocked the door to see what she wanted.

She let out a squeak of surprise, "um... is Ska here?"

"Yeah, but we were planning on leaving soon, can this wait until we return?"

"It shouldn't take long," she said, fidgeting and not making eye contact with me.

I sighed, "fine, I'll go get him, wait here," I added, closing the door.

I went to Ska's room, he had been acting weird since we returned. I chalked it up to Martin leaving but maybe he had a falling out with his woman friend. I sighed again, it wasn't any of my business.

"Ska, your hunter friend is here."

"Oh..." he said, sounding lethargic. "I will go meet with her."

He got up and headed to the front door and I frowned in concern. I watched the two walk off as the girl kept glancing back toward me.

Something wasn’t right with my friend.

"Fiona, I think something might be up with Ska."

"You want me to follow them?"

"Yeah, and I will follow behind you."

I didn't want to tip the huntress off that we were following them or make Ska think I didn't trust him, so I stayed well back. Fiona would remain undetected. It was obvious after a few turns that the huntress was attempting to lose any possible tail, so I moved to the rooftops. The longer I followed the more certain I became that something was off. I could see the young woman leading Ska around like a dazed child, looking none too concerned as she pulled him along. I wanted to put a stop to it right then and there but I didn’t want to involve myself unless necessary.

Fiona appeared next to me a few minutes later.

"I'm not able to follow her anymore, there is some sort of magical interference that is obscuring my vision."

"Shit, alright, go back and see if you can find Martin and lead him over here. I will try to follow them."

"How will he find you?"

"Well, if Ska is in trouble, have him follow the ruckus.”

She nodded and quickly flew off.

I launched into the air and quickly flew in the last direction I had seen the pair. I spotted Ska's tail as he was led around another corner. He was a few blocks away and I had to multicast my wings to catch up. The sun was setting so the sky was dark enough to hide my location. We were entering an industrial section of town and I finally spotted the two.

I hunkered down on the roof and watched. This woman hadn't done anything too concerning, yet. And I couldn't go around murdering people just because I was suspicious. At least not in this town.

She gave one more look around before pushing Ska into a warehouse. From my position, I could see the warehouse had missing panels on the roof so I flew over and landed quietly, and slowly moved to one of the openings.

It was clear something was going on in the warehouse as there was a group of people inside, other than the young hunter and Ska.

"You said the compulsion would hold!" Fayline raged, slamming her foot down like some petulant child.

"Miss. Rosewill, I said it should hold, but he is a strong specimen. With his level being higher than mine I can't guarantee it to be completely successful. If you had kept him by your side the whole time it would have stuck."

"I told you I couldn't do that yet, his friends would have become suspicious. I can't wait any longer, I want him to be completely mine," she glared, stroking the soft fur of the grimalkin and sighing contentedly. "Now fix your god damn mistake or I will get my father involved."

"No need for that," the unknown woman said, raising her hands to wave off the angry woman.

She snapped her fingers and a zombie-like Ska walked forward into a chalk circle.

I had seen enough. I dropped through the opening, my armor and weapon appearing as I fell.

My appearance didn't go unnoticed as the three men standing off to the side yelled. Fayline froze up as she spotted me. That shock didn't last long as she tried to bolt from the building. I wasn't about to let her get away though, so I used Beacon.

It was like a switch was flipped as everyone, including the girl and Ska, came rushing at me with unadulterated hatred in their eyes. In hindsight, I shouldn’t have used the skill until I knew what was going on with Ska. I wasn’t too worried about taking on the rest of these people, but I had been personally training Ska and he was getting dangerous to fight.

I cast Rejuvenate on Ska, knowing he would need the healing most since I was going to have to be less than gentle with him.

I hadn't had time to imbue my staff and doubted I would need it. A quick Identify told me the highest leveled adversary was fourteen. A respectable level for someone around this area. The woman that had been luring Ska had a class called Thrall Mistress. The three thugs were your garden variety, melee classes, and only level nine.

I didn't want Fayline to slip away during the ensuing fight so I smashed a Shockwave into her leg, There was an audible snapping sound as she went down with a scream. Disruption was enough to injure the rest, all except Ska, who was nimble enough to avoid the attack.

His claws raked across my shield, nearly depleting the stored mana before I was able to throw him off. I hit him with Banshee's wail, stunning him and causing his ears to bleed. I felt bad for having to do that but it would keep him trapped until I dealt with the others... or so I thought.

As I turned back toward the woman and her thralls, I was tackled from behind by an angry grimalkin.

He tore at the armor on my back as I tried to shake him off of me. I had forgotten he was wearing the bracer I made for him, at least it worked. The magic resistance must have been enough to negate the stun. I tried to elbow Ska in the nose or flip around so I could kick him off of me.

This whole time the others were recovering and already one of the thralls was rushing at me with a blade that looked like a meat cleaver, only longer.

I was forced to activate Area of Denial, flinging the angry cat across the room and into the wall. I launched to my feet, retracting my staff into its mace configuration. The man's cleaver slid harmlessly off my shield as I backhanded him across the side of the head with my weapon.

I had enough of this bullshit. I cast Blink Step and Flurry as I raced toward the recovering Thrall Mistress. Her eyes went wide as she cast a shielding spell but I released all of my anger as I pushed my staff forward. The extra force from switching it back to a staff impacted her shield with a boom that blasted out all of the windows in the building and sent her hurtling through the warehouse until she slammed into a pole.

She had survived but I wasn't done. She had harmed a friend and ally and there was no outcome that didn't end in her death. I stalked toward her as she coughed up blood, trying to stand. She produced a gun from a storage ring and tried to fire it at me but she missed every shot. Every step closer was another nail in her coffin. As she pleaded for her life, my staff descended on her head, cracking it like a watermelon.

"No mercy for those who harm my friends," I growled.

My sanity returned as the blood dripped from my staff. I heard moaning behind me so I looked around. It turns out the three men had fallen to the ground after I must have broken their enthrallment. I turned to see where Fayline was but I only spotted a bloody trail that led out the door.

I followed the trail and found Fayline face to face with an enraged Ska. I always forgot how fast he was, beating even me outside.

"How could you use me like that? After everything I did to help you out, this is how you chose to repay me!" he said in a menacing growl that I had never heard him use before.

"I only wanted you to be mine," she wailed pitifully. "Please, let me live, my father is very powerful, you wouldn't want to anger him," she added, as Ska closed on her.

Ska continued stalking toward her and she raised her hands, "Please n- ughr..."

Ska's strike was lightning fast as he tore out her throat. A wet slap of blood hit the pavement. He walked past her and toward me as she flopped over and bled out on the ground.

"Thank you for saving me... she had taken me to meet her ‘friend’ on our first outing and she befuddled my mind. She made me do things that I didn't want to do. My mind wasn't strong enough to break free, until we left for the north. I could feel my mind coming back but I was still confused. I think she knew, that's why she was so adamant to enthrall me again."

I clasped Ska on the shoulder, "It's ok man, we're friends and I know you would do the same to help me. Let's go check on the other victims, we might need their testimony to help clear our names."

I chose not to ask what things she made Ska do. I could tell by the woman's infatuation and what I witnessed of their encounters, that it was probably not benign in nature.

Two of the men were recovering, the third seemed to be unconscious from my attack, so I cast a Healing Touch on him.

The three recounted the story of how they had been lured into the grasp of the woman I killed and thanked me for helping to free them. The five of us headed toward the Marshall's building to report on what happened here.

We were met halfway by Martin and a group of three officers.

***

I just exited the marshall's office after giving him my report. They had found the two dead women. Apparently, Fayline was the second daughter of an influential Texas businessman, one that had survived the apocalypse and set up shop in a gated affluent Houston neighborhood.

I remembered the Marshall talking about this area. It wasn't allied with anyone as the people had enough wealth and power to create their own little community. But they weren't antagonistic either.

The Marshall told me that I may want to lay low or skip town for a few months to let tensions die down. It was unlikely that this man would take kindly to his daughter being killed, even if it was her fault.

I agreed with the Marshall, not that I feared some puffed-up windbag that hid behind his walls and soldiers. But best not to start a turf war. If the man decided to come after Ska or me, I would deal with it then.

Speaking of Ska, he was getting back to his normal self. Sometimes I envied the grimalkin. Their existence was so much simpler than humans. Then again sometimes I didn't envy them. Betrayal of one's own was a foreign concept to the kitties because of their shared mental state. Ejecting Ska from their clan wasn't even seen as betrayal, not from Ska’s point of view or the ones that remained behind. It just was how things were done when one threatened the whole of the tribe.

I had asked Ska if he hated them.

"Why would I hate them?" he replied. "I failed as a warrior and as a protector, it was only sensible that they would cut me out. I was distraught at the time, but never did those feelings pass onto my fellow tribe. You cannot leave a disease to fester amongst the healthy individuals."

It was far more rational than I would be in his situation.

We finished the preparations and set off to leave. I decided to fly us north along the mountains to see how far they went or if there was a pass to the other side. I know none of the Marshall's men or Mr. Hornwell's had found one yet but they hadn't ranged far past the old border of Texas.