"Ms. Grey, it was never my intention to imply you weren't human," he said, his tone a little softer. "But history doesn't lie, either. I've seen a lot of suffering, we all have, and we're not interested in seeing more."
"My specialty is protection magicks, Mr. Clayton. What in the world do you expect I'll do? Use my warmth charms to lull the town into taking a cozy nap? Have you even tried one of my charms?"
The sheriff looked down at the charms spread across the table next to him. Alexandra had carefully crafted and polished each one and had been proud to put her work on display. What a pity that they would probably go to waste.
"I don't need magic, Ms. Grey," he answered flatly. "I have a flashlight, warm clothes, and a gun. That's all the light, warmth, and protection I'll need."
"You know, my cousin used to work security at an old factory and he felt the same way. He always turned down my offers to create charms for him and relied solely on his flashlight during the night shift. All it took was one bad night to change his mind."
Mr. Clayton raised an eyebrow curiously.
"He heard a noise one night," she continued, noting his interest, "and he left the office to investigate the factory floor. Well, he got about halfway across and suddenly his flashlight lost its charge. At first he thought it was just bad luck, but then he started to hear the scratching. There were probably two dozen magic-soaked rats that had taken up residence there and they drained every last drop of energy they could from the place. He has scars from where they clawed at him in the darkness."
This freewrite is part of an ongoing story using this week's prompts. If you would like to read the beginning of the story, you can use the following links:
As always, thanks go out to @mariannewest for providing the prompt! Today's prompt can be found here.
Image created by @the.artist-98.
