Meeting the Faceless Men

Chapter 4: The Killers

"I'm cresting the hill in front of the mansion now," Priscilla said into her phone. "I haven't heard any screaming ye-spoke to soon."

Lucy had called Priscilla two minutes ago, demanding to know where Priscilla was and if the killing had commenced. Priscilla was answering Lucy when an eardrum threatening cry of pure terror shoot through the air. Priscilla squealed and took off running towards the sound's epicenter. When Priscilla got to the top of the hill, she was dumbfounded by what she found and what she didn't find. Priscilla hurried down the slope and wandered around the almost empty area.

Moments ago, Priscilla had heard the laughter/screams of sixty, maybe seventy, people and now she could locate were only a couple handfuls of motionless human husks staring in horror into space. Trails of footprints that correlated with several different individuals laid stamped into the dirt and sand, fresh and abruptly ending. No matter who the killer was or what the killer was, they were still close by and for some reason waiting for Priscilla to leave so they could finish their job.

"I'm not leaving until I know who and what you are," Priscilla called out into the tree line, sensing eyes coldly against the back of her hooded head. "Sorry Charlie but them's the breaks."

"Female," male voices spoke behind, beside and in front Priscilla, curiosity clear in their Power leaching tones. "But of what specie?"

"That's the million dollar question a lot of people are dying to know the answer to," Priscilla stated indifferently, holding her Rod out in front of herself horizontally and slicing her thumb on the metal sticking out at the end.

As the Rod elongated to a more Staff like length the voices demand to know what Priscilla was doing. With no intention of answering them, Priscilla drew a circle in the dirt around her and two intersecting line to resemble a compass. Priscilla swung the Staff back behind her, releasing the curved blade at that end, and lifted the Scythe over her head.

"I called forth the Forces of Earth and Air to complete a task with speed and care," Priscilla whispered, Power lacing each word of the not so thought out rhyme. "Abide by this whim, grab them." At the finish of 'them' the base of Priscilla's Scythe connected with the northeast corner of the compass.

For some time, silence held to the forest, frozen in time. Priscilla leaned heavily on the shaft of her weapon with her eyes closed, opening them would be the start everything. Thanks to Priscilla hood they couldn't see her face and she wasn't breathing so when the quiet was broken Priscilla knew it was one of them. Priscilla shot a hand out to her left and her eyes flew open. Root erupted from the ground and threw soil into the air, racing towards their victim. A jolt of static zapped Priscilla's further extended finger when the roots had it, Priscilla brought her hand slowly to her shoulder then swiftly down, moving the trees aside so she could see what their roots had caught. Priscilla was stunned at the sight of the...man? It looked like a man but its face...was missing a few things.