The Fairy and The Ravenstag King

The Beginning

For as long as people could remember, the town of Wolf Trap has always been a bit... Odd.

People would hear and see things at night that couldn't be explained. If you wandered into the thick forest that stretched around for miles, you'd either never return or come back... changed somehow. You had to learn pretty quickly not to go outside at night, especially if you heard someone calling your name. People said the forest was inhabited by the Fae, beings created by magic instead of flesh and bone. There were stories of how back in the day, people would lead grand hunts in order to take their wings for medical uses or to sell, but no one has seen one in
early 100 years now. They had all seemingly vanished, fleeing deep into the dangerous woods where even the most skilled hunter was too weary to tread. Many believed they had never existed in the first place, merely stories elders would tell the young and inexperienced so they wouldn't wander.

The place was creepy, the kind of place that only people born and raised there could call home. That, or if you were on the run from somewhere else. Crime and murder was practically commonplace there nowadays.

It wasn't all bad though, the townsfolk tended to stick together and support the families who have been affected by the strange wood. Business was prosperous and there was plenty of food imported from neighboring villages. A lot of it was thanks to the generous wealth of the Lecter's, A strange family who lived in a mansion deep in the woods. They very rarely interacted with the town and rumor had it there was only one member left...
If you were very lucky and played your cards right, you could be invited to one of their infamous dinner parties. Gods help you if you had somehow displeased the Lecter's, shreds or your body would still be found in the woods for months after you've initially vanished. No one could prove it of course, but everyone knew who was responsible whenever someone went missing.

Now, In the modern day, tales of magical beings and monsters were a thing of the past, only belonging now in childrens books where such creatures were vanquished by a noble hero. But the people of Wolf trap could never really forget it's dark past, and people couldn't help but wonder what was really out there. The lights of the Lecter mansion still illuminated the woods at night, and everyone gossiped about what kind of person, or creature, could be living there...

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Will awoke from an especially vivid nightmare to the sounds of his phone vibrating on the nightstand.

Winding black branches slowly melted into the usual old wooden ceiling above his bed when he slowly blinked the dream away. The usual wooden patterns helped to ground him as he shook off his night terrors and rolled into his side when his back started complaining about the pressure on it. On his side, he noticed his phone was still going off, he could feel the vibrations shake the mattress and resisted the urge to smash the small rectangle of light against the floor.

He groaned, reaching over to shut it off when he remembered the short list of people who actually had his number. A look at the screen confirmed his suspicions when he saw the name of his boss, Jack Crawford, in such glaring clarity he had to squint. It was a text telling him to come down to the 'precinct' (Basically Jack's house) as soon as possible today. Will, already knowing today was going to be rough, flung his phone somewhere in the room and got up to stretch. Already cursing Jack for 'hiring' him. (In actuality, the two had met by chance, after shaking hands Will accidentally let slip that Jacks wife was dying of cancer. Later medical inspection confirmed this to Jack and they were able to catch the disease in time to save her life. The man had immediately hired him as thanks.) Taking it upon himself to make Will use his 'Gift' as much as he could.

Will's gift, More like curse Was the ability to emphasize with anyone he came into physical contact with. Just the slightest brush of shoulders was enough to give him an inkling of the persons entire life story. Jack always saw it as a 'tool' Ugh... that could be used to tell if someone committed a crime or not. Iike he was a goddamn mind reader or something. But it was incredibly draining for the Empath to touch people, especially those who had malicious intent. It was one of the reasons he lived to far out in the woods.