Selene Graves stood in the center of the candlelit room, her fingers brushing the edge of a grimoire as she scanned the pages. Her long, dark hair cascaded around her face, hiding the cold determination in her eyes. The faint light flickered off her leather-clad figure, casting a haunting shadow across the room's stone walls. The air smelled of incense, salt, and the faint tang of iron—symbols of protection, of power, of war.
She had once been a witch. Once.
Now, she was the leader of the Hunters, a relentless group of witch-hunters dedicated to eradicating the very thing she had once been. The witch-scarred sigil on her left wrist—a symbol that had branded her as an outcast—marked her as both a victim and a weapon. It was a reminder of her past, one she had been forced to abandon in order to survive.
It was the sigil of betrayal. The sigil of the Witch Trials.
The memory of it burned like an old scar—familiar, but painful. Selene had been just like Levi once, a powerful witch learning to harness magic. But unlike Levi, Selene had been betrayed, left to face the consequences of a power she couldn't control. Her coven had turned against her when she could no longer fit their ideals. In the end, it had been her own bloodline—her own sister—who had condemned her to the path she now walked.
But that had been years ago. She had shed her former identity long ago, buried it beneath layers of pain, anger, and vengeance.
The witch-hunters had given her a new purpose. And now, it was Levi Rose's turn to understand what it meant to live with a target on her back.
A soft click of the door pulled Selene from her thoughts. She looked up to see one of her hunters, a tall figure dressed in dark leathers, step into the room. His expression was tense, eyes scanning the shadows.
"Report," Selene's voice was low, commanding.
The hunter nodded and approached her, handing her a piece of parchment. "We've found her," he said, voice thick with anticipation. "Levi Rose. She's not far from here."
Selene's lips curled into a smile, but it was cold, without warmth. "I thought so. Her power was never meant to stay hidden for long."
The hunter hesitated, clearly uncomfortable. "Do we go after her now?"
"No," Selene answered, her tone sharp and decisive. "Not yet. We need to know more. We need to understand what kind of threat she is. We've lost too many of our own to recklessness."
She took the parchment and read the words scrawled across it—details of Levi's recent activities, the strange energy readings detected near her. Selene's eyes narrowed as she processed the information.
Levi was powerful—too powerful to be left unchecked. The girl was bound to be the next target of the Council of Shadows, who had been hunting witches for centuries. But unlike the Council, Selene wasn't interested in destroying Levi. No, Selene had bigger plans. She had no intention of simply killing the girl; she wanted to use her, manipulate her. The Hunter's Sigil was only the beginning of a much larger game.
"Prepare the team," Selene continued. "I want eyes on Levi Rose at all times. But don't make a move until I give the word. We will capture her, but we do it on our terms."
The hunter nodded, stepping back, but Selene's gaze remained fixed on the parchment.
A strange flicker of something—fear?—passed through her, but she shook it off. No, it wasn't fear. It was curiosity. Levi Rose would be her greatest challenge yet. She could feel it in the very air, the magic surrounding the girl.
She had been a witch once. She understood magic, and she understood power. What Levi had was far more than simple elemental magic. It was ancient. Dangerous. And Selene would either control it or destroy it.
But one thing was certain: Levi Rose was not going to escape her grip.
Selene placed the parchment down on the table and stood. Her dark eyes turned toward the hidden weaponry, toward the tools of the hunter's trade: silver blades, enchanted traps, sigils of binding. The tools of her new life.
It was time to prepare for the hunt.
The bell above the bookstore door jingled softly as Prairie Smith stepped inside, pulling her hood closer to shield herself from the unrelenting chill outside. The cozy warmth of the shop contrasted sharply with the brisk autumn air, the scent of old paper, ink, and leather wrapping around her like a familiar embrace. The worn wooden floors creaked under her boots as she wandered through the aisles, her fingers grazing over the spines of forgotten tomes, their pages yellowed with age.
She wasn't here for any particular book, though—she was here to clear her head. After the strange events surrounding Levi's awakening and the unsettling dreams that had plagued her recently, Prairie found solace in the quiet corners of bookstores, away from the chaos of her everyday life. Books, she had learned, held secrets. And sometimes, secrets were the only thing worth seeking.
Prairie was so engrossed in the shelf of ancient journals that she barely noticed the woman who entered the store moments later. The sound of boots tapping lightly on the floor brought her attention back to the space around her. She glanced up to see a woman standing at the counter, her back to Prairie. Dark, sleek hair fell to her shoulders, and her black leather jacket gleamed under the dim light. The woman's presence was magnetic—intense, almost suffocating. Prairie's pulse quickened as she observed the way the woman moved, with a predatory grace that felt both foreign and familiar at the same time.
The woman, clearly not paying attention to anyone around her, leaned toward the counter, speaking to the elderly bookseller in low tones, though Prairie couldn't catch the words. A strange, electric energy seemed to radiate from her, sparking tension in the air like the charged atmosphere before a storm.
Prairie instinctively stepped back, the hairs on the back of her neck prickling. She hadn't been aware of it at first, but now she could feel the shift in the room, the subtle change in the atmosphere that suggested something more was at play here than just a random meeting between two strangers. Magic, perhaps? A tug of something unfamiliar, something dangerous, pulled at the edges of her consciousness.
She turned her gaze back to the shelf, trying to ignore the unsettling feeling creeping into her chest. Still, she couldn't help but glance over her shoulder one more time. That was when their eyes met—Selene's piercing gaze locking with Prairie's across the room.
Selene's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly, her lips curling into a faint, knowing smile. There was something unsettling in that look—an unnerving sense of recognition, though Prairie had never seen this woman before in her life. It was as if the woman could see right through her, like she knew more about Prairie than she was letting on. The sensation made her stomach churn.
Prairie quickly turned back to the shelf, pretending to be absorbed in the pages of a dusty book, though her heartbeat had quickened. Her pulse was erratic now, and she felt the undeniable pull of something—a connection, though she didn't know how or why. Magic? Could it be? Was this woman another witch? Or something else entirely?
Selene, for her part, seemed unfazed by the brief encounter. She continued her conversation with the bookseller, though Prairie could still feel the heat of the gaze that lingered on her from across the room.
Prairie's curiosity got the better of her, and she stole one more glance. Selene was no longer looking at her, but the atmosphere remained thick with tension, as though a secret had passed between them in that fleeting moment. Prairie couldn't shake the feeling that Selene knew exactly who she was—or worse, that she knew what Prairie was.
Selene finished her transaction and turned to leave, but before she reached the door, she stopped and looked back at Prairie with a slight tilt of her head. Her eyes, dark and intense, lingered for a moment longer than necessary before she stepped out of the store, the bell jingling as the door swung closed behind her.
Prairie stood frozen for a moment, her breath catching in her throat. She wasn't sure why, but the encounter had unsettled her more than she cared to admit. There was something about Selene that didn't sit right with her—an aura of danger and authority that she couldn't quite explain.
When Prairie finally exhaled, her body felt heavier, the weight of the tension in the room still lingering around her like a fog. She couldn't explain the odd sense of foreboding she felt or why her heart pounded with such unease. She shook her head, trying to push away the feeling. She had to focus on Levi, on what was happening with her magic, not on some strange woman in a bookstore.
But she couldn't quite let go of that moment. Could Selene be more than just a random stranger? Or was it possible that the path Prairie had unknowingly stepped onto had already begun to intertwine with forces far more dangerous than she had ever imagined?
Prairie walked toward the door, her mind racing with questions. She would have to follow up on this, on Selene—and on the mysterious energy that seemed to surround her. If nothing else, she couldn't ignore the feeling that the woman was part of something much bigger than the quiet world she thought she knew.
As Prairie stepped outside into the crisp night air, she knew one thing for sure: her world had just become a lot more complicated.
Levi stood in her small apartment, her hands trembling slightly as she stared at the remnants of the fire that had consumed her once cozy space. The room smelled of smoke and charred wood, the flickering remnants of flames dying out in the corners, leaving trails of heat in the air. It had all started with a simple spell, one she'd been practicing in secret. She had barely understood the incantation, but something had driven her to try it—something deep inside her that had always been there but had never fully awakened until now.
The fire had started small. Just a spark, barely noticeable at first, before it grew into something far more dangerous. Her fingers had glowed with that familiar, burning heat, the same sensation she had felt when the sigil had first appeared on her wrist. Magic was alive within her now. But she didn't know how to control it.
Panic flooded her chest as the flames crept higher, licking the walls, curling around the furniture. Her apartment—her sanctuary—was being consumed. The heat grew unbearable, and the smell of smoke stung her lungs.
"No, no, no…" Levi muttered, her voice barely audible over the crackling of the fire. She backed away, feeling helpless. This wasn't just an accident. It was something bigger, something she couldn't explain, something dangerous. But she didn't have time to contemplate it. The flames were too fast, and the room was closing in on her.
She turned to flee, but the door was blocked by thick, swirling smoke. Her heart pounded in her chest. The air was growing thinner, and she couldn't breathe properly. Was she going to die here?
And then, she heard a sound—a faint, sharp knock at the door. It was sudden, jarring, and for a moment, Levi thought she might be imagining it. But then it came again, this time louder, more insistent.
"Levi!" The voice was low, but it carried through the chaos of the smoke. It wasn't the voice of a stranger, but the voice of someone who knew her, who understood. It was Rue Pendragon, his voice cutting through her panic like a knife.
She barely had time to react before the door flew open, and Rue stepped into the smoke-filled room. His figure was sharp against the haze, his black leather jacket glistening in the orange glow of the fire. He moved with the confidence of someone who had faced danger before.
"Get out," Rue commanded, his voice smooth but urgent. He didn't wait for her response, just reached for her arm with a steady grip, pulling her toward him.
Levi's heart raced as she was yanked from the suffocating air of her apartment. Her legs felt unsteady, her mind still clouded with panic and confusion. The fire was too much for her to process right now. But Rue's hand was firm around hers, guiding her through the chaos, toward the door.
"How—" she started to ask, but her words were lost in the cacophony of crackling flames.
"You don't have time for questions," Rue said, his voice like steel. "You need to leave, now."
As they reached the threshold, the heat behind them intensified. Levi's heart skipped a beat, the fire now rushing toward them, devouring everything in its path. She had never felt so small, so powerless. This wasn't her fault, but it felt like it was.
Rue didn't hesitate. With one swift motion, he pulled her out of the door and into the hallway. They ran, the sounds of the fire growing distant as they made their way down the stairwell. The air outside felt like a breath of fresh life compared to the suffocating smoke she'd just escaped.
Rue glanced over at her as they ran, his sharp eyes scanning their surroundings. "You need to get control of that magic," he said with a grim expression, his voice full of urgency. "This won't be the last time it happens. And if you don't learn how to harness it, next time, it could be worse."
Levi's breath was shallow, her mind still spinning from the near-death experience. "I didn't mean to—"
"I know," Rue interrupted, his tone softer for a split second. "But you're not the only one with a target on your back. You're not the only one waking up to something dangerous."
Levi's eyes met his, confusion and fear still etched on her face. Rue's expression was unreadable, but there was something in his eyes—a flicker of something more than just the demon who'd become her reluctant ally. It was as if he was offering her something. Something like hope. Or maybe just survival.
"Come on," Rue urged, pulling her toward the street. "We don't have time to stand around and figure it out. We need to go."
Levi nodded, her legs shaky as she followed him into the night. Her heart was still pounding, but now, she was driven by something else: a new understanding. The world she thought she knew was far more complicated than she had ever imagined. And if she was going to survive in it, she would have to embrace the power she couldn't control—and face whatever came next.
As they disappeared into the shadows, the fire still raged behind them, a reminder that Levi's destiny had already begun to unravel—and there was no turning back.