Biting Sacrifice

Chapter IV - The Sorcerer

It was the day after her argument with her sister, and as much as she wished she could stay burrowed under her blankets, she still had to make ends meet. So she made her way to the store, where she knew Maxwell would have been already, doing God knows what. 

Funnily enough, her furry keeper was nowhere in sight.

So she went inside and started doing busy work, counting money, making sure the shelves were fully stocked. Maxwell found himself in the basement of the store, where she could hear him speaking to his Gods, voice enchanted with his drawled out accent. Maxwell belonged to the supernatural, the witches and wizards of their world.

Maxwell was a cool guy. Tall, skinny, with pretty dark brown eyes. Not only was he cool, but he was also totally in love with Maeve - he was, no matter how hard he tried to convince Tabitha of otherwise. It was good they got along so well, considering they spent most of their time together. Her shifts at the apotechary were usually long and somewhat lacking in costumers, but ultimately very rewarding, especially as she tried not thinking about the impending Run. 

"Two things that I wanna talk about with ye, Tabi" his head peeked out from the basement door "Yes I will grant ye the time off to participate in the Run - don't roll yer eyes, that's rude - and I'm sorry I couldn't make it to the book club yesterday, I was taking care of our mutual problem, you see."

She did see. In the small operation that was the book club, Maxwell played an essential part of it. As their go to sourcerer he supplied them with items that would otherwise be unatainable to humans - whether that's healing pastes, small enchanted protection trinkets, or, even more precious, Wolfsbane. 

Wolfsbane was very difficult to come by for various reasons. First, it was banned from the Land - seeing as it could actively harm a wolf. And second, it was highly difficult to grow it due to past deals between sorcereres and lycantrophes, where magic yelders cursed fields that were prone to grow Wolfsbane into deserted lands.

This ensured that even if Wolfsbane managed to enter their providence, it was in such a low quantity that it could not arm the humans that secretly fought against the wolves. 

Thus, it brought them to their current problem. With wolves looking closely into her, and their members needing to restock on the poison, smuggling it was growing harder and harder, which led to Maxwell, oh genius Maxwell, to secretely try to grow it himself. It was hard work and it involved a lot of energy being put into it, and frankly Tabitha didn't know why Maxwell helped them as much as he did. Even if he was an easy-going person, he never really did share much with her.

"May the Gods continue to bless us, Tabi, because with the increase of orders lately, well, I'll be damned if this ain't the reason the shop keeps afloat." Altough that might have been the reason as to why he said he helped them, she felt that it really wasn't the only one. Maybe it was because of her sister - that was her winning theory at the moment. Every unmated human, regardless of committed relationship with non-wolves, had to participate in the Run, meaning that they could be whisked away at any second by them. And Maxwell was totally into her, so that was probably it. 

With that being said, Maxwell coaxed her into going down the alcove that led to the basement. Greyback's apothecary, previously owned by his grandfather, was tiny from the outside. But the basement? It must have had some type of enchantment to enlarge it, because no way it was that big compared to the store. It had grey brick walls, a cold floor, and all of Maxwells' miscellaneous trinkets spread across the space. But that wasn't all. Behind a bookshelf filled with his grandfather's scrolls, stood a tiny vent that would lead one to where the real magic would happen, to where the Wolfsbane grew in tall, bountiful ways.

"If the Gods are merciful we'll soon have enough to deliver not only to our customers, but fully supply the members of the club as well."

Tabitha giggled. "They will, you've been behaving so well lately."

As the two joked around with each other, a crash was heard from upstairs, sobering them up from the light joyful mood that had made its presence. They exchanged quick glances before locking the hidden place and making their way to the ever so growing ruckus.

"Greyback and Miss Drake, so good to see you." Greeted them officer Goodfellow, seemingly in the same mood as the day before. 

"Hello, officer Goodfellow. What was all- what's the meaning of this?" screamed Tabitha, alarmed. The wolf had just thrown some of their flasks filled with sorcerer's essence into the ground, shattering them instantly. Maxwell just stood there, with a severe expression in his face, so different from his usual small smile. 

He continued to destroy the items around him. "This is just a small warning. You once again believe that we are fools. We are not. One of these days you will be punished for what you're doing.", he dictated while simultaneously destroying an entire shelf in a swift move. 

"Officer," Maxwell finally intervened "look around ye. Ye come in my property, ye destroy our products, and yet ye believe that we're the ones that are gonna be punished?". He scoffed.

"You should leave this instant!" Tabitha continued.

The officer laughed sarcastically. "How came that even after all this time you can be so naïve? I won't rest until I can prove that something is up. The previous reports talked about Moonshine., so what is it this time, hm?" He inquired.

"I suggest ye leave, ye have no ground to come here and break my store." Maxwell insisted, with his thick accent making an appearance. 

In an attempted act of dominance, the wolf threw an array of candles into the floor. Feeling satisfied with himself, he turned to leave.

Tabitha screamed in frustration. "How can he come here and do this. Do we have no rights anymore? Will no one fight for us?"

Maxwell, counting his losses, turned to her and replied. "We can see if ye sister is able to help us, but I'm gonna be honest Tabitha, I don't think it will go anywhere. Who was he anyway, haven't seen this Officer "Goodfellow" 'round these parts."

"I guess he was sent to keep an eye on me." She sighed.

Greyback showed his crooked teeth "Ye, I wonder why." He hesitated. "Ye know, even if Mae can't help us, I might have an idea".

As Tabitha grabbed a broom she turned to him. "I'm all ears."