"But we can talk about that later on," said Killian. "For now, let’s start with your name."
Still tremoring from head to toe, the witch licked her split lips and winced slightly. "My name is Macie."
"Macie," echoed Killian with a bland smile. "That’s a lovely name. I don’t hear such names a lot these days. Well, Macie, tell me what and why you were trying to do by kidnapping Inez? I don’t think your boss wanted her for a cup of tea or an invitation would have sufficed."
"It was just a job, nothing personal," replied the witch in a shaky voice. "A wizard came to me and said that if I brought her with me, then I could have the protection of the Great One. You don’t know how it is to live in the human world while being chased and hunted down by your kind. So naturally I took the job."
"I swear I never wanted to hurt her because they wanted that woman to be intact."
Killian’s jaw hardened when he heard her words. What did she mean by intact? He turned to look at the witch behind him and questioned, "Do you have any idea why they wanted her intact and unharmed?"
Tracy raised her head and met his gaze head-on. Just when he thought that the woman would ignore him, he heard her say, "Usually only sacrifices are kept unharmed because any scar on their body is counted as something unacceptable. A witch will never sacrifice something whose blood has already been shed. A sacrifice needs to be perfectly fine."
Killian stiffened before turning to look at Macie. He narrowed his eyes and asked, "Is this why you wanted her?"
"I don’t want her. And I had no idea what they wanted from her, I swear." Macie shook her head with a terrified sort of glance. "I was just given strict orders to keep the woman unharmed, and other than that, I have no idea what they wanted to do with her. Whether she was going to be sacrificed or something, I didn’t have a clue about it. I swear to the Night Goddess."
"You really don’t know what that great one of yours wanted her for?"
"Of course I don’t. We halflings are only given orders by our leader, and he asked me to retrieve that woman."
Standing upright, Killian dropped his gaze. "What do you mean by ’retrieve?"
"I live in the underdeveloped regions of the city. You all call these regions unregistered. The ones that are neither accepted by the government nor the people, because they see us as outsiders. Since there is no mayor, a leader is selected by the halflings, and he is the one who oversees everything that goes on in the Unregistered city. He gives us commands, and we are supposed to follow them."
"The witches and wizards come to our leader when they want the help of the halflings. Our leader would then choose one of the strongest witches or wizards and send them to do the bidding. This time he chose me, but I failed in my mission."
"And who is this wizard who asked you to bring Inez?"
"I don’t know. I never saw him; I was just told to follow the command. But my leader might know who this person might be."
"And who is the leader of the halflings?"
Killian had never heard this name before; he turned around and looked at Finn, who shook his head. From the confusion marring his features, it was evident that he had no idea about this man either.
"Joannes was not going to take this job when he heard that we need to take someone from your territory," wheezed the little witch, and Killian nodded. "Smart. Then what changed his mind?"
"The wizard promised that he could turn Joannes into a pureblood wizard."
Killian arched a brow and turned to look at Tracy, who scoffed. "It’s impossible. Even the Great One, whose power surpasses many, cannot change the origins of a person. It’s destiny. The aether stored in a body is directly proportional to the strength and capacity one can hold. If we try to inject more aether in one body, especially a halfling, I am afraid that the person will explode."
She glanced at the witch. "Much like a balloon filled with too much water."
Macie’s face turned pale when she heard Tracy’s response.
Killian whistled. "Well, I guess you halflings are really not sharp, are you? In your pursuit of getting more power, you lost sight of what is important, eh?"
"I had to admit that it was pretty stupid. How come you got the idea that you can become a pureblood when you weren’t born as one? I mean, even a kid would know that it’s not possible."
"As pathetic as it sounds, I guess we can at least give you a quick death." Killian scraped his hand over his jaw, but then he tilted his head to one side and stated, "But I don’t like the fact that you tried to hurt my woman."
Macie’s eyes widened. "She stabbed me in the neck. I had no other choice."
"You shot her with fucking tranqs!" snapped Killian. "What did you think she would do? Let you take her away just as you wanted?"
"She was supposed to pass out almost at once! My leader said that it should be enough for a latent like her. But she fought back. I have no idea how she did it, but she somehow managed to fight back."
"Then you don’t know anything about latents," sneered Killian. "Even though they do not have a wolf that can surface at the time of danger, they are still very much like a shifter. You cannot look down on them just because they are latent. They will not go down easily like a human would."
Macie’s eyes flickered. "I swear I didn’t want to hurt her." She told Killian. "It was just self-defence. I would have never hurt her if she hadn’t attacked me, I swear."