Story: The Hunt for WW Part Tres

The witch, Yama-Uba, grinned as burning shards fell around her. She called the night wind and inhaled deeply as it brushed past her face. Through the smoke she could smell blood and fear. Her victim had somehow escaped the fireball, but not unscathed. She walked around the tree and knelt on the dark spotted grass. Her long fingers swept across the forest floor, wiping up the fresh blood. Rubbing it between thumb and forefinger, she closed her eyes and cast her spell, using the blood to forge a link to the thief.

There. In her mind, Yama-Uba saw a small red spark, racing through her mental map of the forest. So, the little rat was running was she? She had stolen lawful prey from Yama-Uba and would answer for her crime. The powerful witch gathered her magics around her, crafting a retrieval spell that would both ensnare and punish. Yama-Uba fueled the spell with her own rage, working it up to a fever pitch before unleashing it into the forest.

As the spell energy left her, Yama-Uba permitted herself a tired, triumphant moment to appreciate her own spellcrafting before settling herself comfortably at the base of a tree. A tree that wasn’t on fire.

Yama-Uba leaned back against the trunk, closed her eyes briefly and then said “You might as well come out. I know you’re there.”
The darkness seemed to unfold and a small, pale woman dressed all in black stood in front the witch.
“A bit late aren’t you?” Yama-Uba taunted the woman.
“I wanted to make a dramatic entrance” BSA replied cheerfully.
YU harrumphed and flicked her fingers, launching a hex at the sassy wench. The hex flew, faster than thought, only to bounce harmlessly off an unseen barrier. BSA smiled, casually checking her manicure as she commented, “Nice curse. For an old lady.”
YU frowned, “I can still teach a young witch some manners.” Her hair began to float wildly around her head.
“I’m a vampire actually.” BSA chimed helpfully, her eyes turning red as she focused her powers.


They locked gazes. The two women stood motionless as they used their powers to try and overcome the other’s mind. Minutes ticked by. The witch’s hair fell flat. Another minute. BSA felt sweat trickling down her face, but she didn’t dare break eye contact. She was a vampire for pity’s sake; she should be able to hypnotize an old lady.

BSA focused and broke through yet another psychic barrier only to sense the witch’s mind control spell, an oily snaky thing, trying to creep in while she was distracted. She pictured a rolling ocean wave, scooping up the oily spell and carrying it back to the witch. The spell wriggled madly in the waves only to be dashed against the witch’s mental barriers. BSA’s felt a flash of triumph as the spell bounced off the wall, fragmenting into hundreds of little pieces. As the spell fragments fell off the wall and back into the water, they began to change. The witch smiled as each tiny fragment turned into a fish. BSA’s triumph turned to horror as an entire school of frenzied piranha rushed her mental defenses. She changed the water to sand. In her mind, she called up massive desert dunes to suffocate the piranha but the little fish continued to swim through the sand; their jaws chomping madly.

BSA raised a hand as she wrestled for control of the spell. She felt a flash of pain as she raised a massive wall of sand and changed it to brick. The fish leapt over it. She changed the wall to glass and crashed it down on top of the piranha, shattering it into thousands of deadly shards. Yama-Uba gasped as the shards shredded the piranha. “That should kill the little monsters” BSA thought fiercely, “and just in time too.” The strain of the battle was taking its toll. She could feel the sweat through her suit jacket. She lifted the broken glass and crushed it into a large, spiky ball. With enough force it would blast straight through the old woman’s defenses. As the last of the glass lifted off the piranhas they jumped upright, suddenly encased in armor that sprouted eight-jointed legs as they rushed en masse towards BSA.
“Oh Sick!” yelled BSA. Her concentration was broken and BSA knew had to run before Yama-Uba took over her mind. BSA dropped eye contact and burst into dozens of bats winging madly away.
Yama-Uba let her flee. The score with the vampire would be settled later. The thief had to be dealt with now.