The Hag's Blood Incident

Chapter 1

     My eyes flashed open, registering the darkened room, as I was shunted unceremoniously out of sleep. A rough palm encircled the lower half of my face just below my nostrils. Strong fingers gripped my stubbled chin and held it still as I was jerked into consciousness. Sharp fingernails pricked my ear lobes and sideburns. I thrashed against the pressure being exerted on my face and neck trying to free myself and let out a muffled yell.

     The hand pushed my head forcibly back down into my pillow and an elbow and forearm landed in the center of my chest pinning me to my thin mattress. It held me so tightly I could feel the metal frame of my futon pressing against my spine. With panic and exertion setting in, I began to breathe more deeply, almost panting. When I did the unmistakable musk of my orcish friend Tim-tam flooded my exposed nostrils.

     He was issuing short snorting sounds through his upturned pig-like snout while he struggled to hold me still. I heard a whispered, "Shush!" The syllable slightly slurred and extended as he pushed it past his bottom tusks.

     Fully awake, I recognized his bulky form in the faint illumination from the hallway. It was always sneaking in between the cinderblock wall and the steel rolling door that separated our unit from the rest of the building, ensuring that our unit was never really dark.

     He looked down at me with red glowing pupils, one of his magical gifts, which allowed him to see clearly in near total darkness. When I relaxed, he pulled his body off my chest and face and gently placed a finger against my lips, attempting to keep me silent. He turned his head back toward the doorway, listening.

     It was a hell of a way to wake up.

     Confused, but trusting our muscle's senses, I sat up in bed. Something must be going on, especially for Tam to be on such high alert. Then, I understood. The sound of tearing metal echoed down the hallway, followed by a short sharp plink and a clattering noise. One of the units was being broken into. I groaned audibly. Knowing our luck, I knew exactly which one it was.

     When I finally registered what the sounds in the hallway were, I looked over at the door. Standing there, blocking the light, was a second silhouette. My elvish partner, Arianna, had taken up a position by the door in order to use her supernatural hearing. Her overly large ear shone reddish-pink as the light filtered through it while she pressed it to the gap. "There's two, maybe three of them out there." She whispered musically. Then, she shifted and illuminated the right front pocket of her fuzzy heart pajama bottoms in the thin beam. She pulled out several crystals of varying lengths and colors before deciding on a rose colored one. She clutched it tightly in her palm and shoved the others back into the depths of her voluminous pants. Taking the pink gemstone in both hands she broke about a third of it off. In the darkness of her own shadow, she raised the section she needed to her lips and placed the remainder of the rose stone back in her pocket. The young woman started breathing rhythmically onto the stone and whispering lyrically and unintelligibly with her vocoder-esque voice. Seconds later, a series of glowing symbols etched themselves into the surface of the gemstone. The miniature red lightning flash lit up Arianna's features, throwing her aquiline nose and full lips into relief. When the light from the symbols died, she set the crystal in her right eye socket like a pink monocle. It caught the ambient light coming in to the room and appeared to glow on her face. Her right eye, the bridge of her nose and her cheek all shone a rosy from the refracted glow of the gemstone. She adjusted it a little with her thin fingers. "You ready, Tam?" She murmured lyrically. Then, "What about you, Love? You up?"

     Another crash echoed down the hallway. This one sounded like the doorway of a storage unit being thrown open violently. The wheels clattered in their tracks and rebounded, clattering back before stopping. There was a series of laughter and giggles followed by a sharp bark of outrage, quiet enough that we couldn't make out the words, but loud enough to make out the tone. A sullen silence filled the corridor.