I'm Doing This For Them

New Allies

"Look out!" Alison cried, then on pure instinct and reflex alone, she shoved Sireen backward with one hand and swatted at one of the bird-women, the blue one, with her other hand. Alison was nobody's fool when it came to combat. No matter how spur-of-the-moment the fight was, the vampire was always ready with a counterattack. It was why she remained undefeated across the land.

"Be careful!" Sireen cried as Alison shielded her. "Those are the Ice Witch's harpies! Their claws are coated with a highly poisonous substance!"

"So are my fangs!" Alison replied without turning around to look at Sireen. Instead, her eyes never left the harpy in front of her.

Alison allowed the implication of her statement to sink into Sireen's head while she lunged again, this time at the orange harpy. The harpy screeched and took a swing at Alison, but she easily deflected the blow with one hand before coming in with a punch from her other hand. She hissed all the while, fangs extended and ready to sink into a throat. The blue harpy took the opportunity to jump onto Alison's back, but that was when Sireen finally intervened. Though she was mortal, unlike her companion, who was a vampire as she had come to know, she was no coward. Instead, she picked up a large stick off the ground and swung. It didn't do much in the way of damage, but it surprised the harpy so much that it accidently released Alison, freeing the vampire from all that added weight.

"Well, well, well! What have we here?" a voice, soft and low, suddenly echoed from a few feet behind the quarreling quartet. Instantly, the harpies backed off, leaping away from Alison and Sireen and then retreating backward towards the voice that had spoken out to them. Sireen and Alison, regaining their bearings, also turned in that direction. Alison sucked in a breath at what she saw. Although no one said it, no one needed to. As sure as she was the princess of the vampires, this ethereal and godly woman standing before them, emerging from the shadows with the harpies flanking her sides like bodyguards, was the Ice Witch. Alison wasn't normally affected by temperature, but all at once, she felt deathly cold.

The Ice Witch seemed to have emerged from the night itself, appearing practically out of nowhere. But once she was there, it was impossible to miss her. For one thing, she radiated cold. Ice and snow seemed to follow her like a fog and it didn't take more than a few seconds for the entire area to gain a light coating of frost. A cold white fog hung in the midnight air as ice hissed across the emerald sea of grass beneath everyone's feet. But for another, the Ice Witch was such an intriguing individual, visually, that Alison was certain that even without the cold, it would be impossible to ever overlook someone such as her. She was tall, thin, lithe and powerful. Her frame was slender but sturdy. Her skin was as pale, smooth and white as snow. It was speckled with flecks of ice. She wore a long, silver dress that gleamed white in the moonlight. Whether it was crystals or icicles that made the dress so silvery and reflective, Alison didn't know. It could've easily been a mixture.

And the dress' shoulders spiraled upwards into several silver tendrils, each speckled with ice and snow as well. They framed her face, alongside long shiny, silky locks that were done up in a messy but gorgeous white bun. Her face was just as unnaturally white and smooth as the rest of her skin. Ice dotted her cheeks, glittering like crystals. She was incredibly beautiful, but incredibly terrifying too, just like a snowstorm. And just like a snowstorm, she came in through a flurry of bitterly cold ice. The shining icicles and snowflakes adorned her silvery-white gown like gemstones seemed to flash as she made her approach.

"Karin. It has been far too long," Sireen growled, unfazed by the Ice Witch and her stunning entrance.

"It is Queen Karin to you, my dearest Sireen," the Ice Witch, Karin, responded calmly, slowly, voice just as soft and gentle as a flurry. She continued to saunter towards Sireen and Alison, movements slow and graceful, while the harpies awkwardly hopped and flapped along after her, doing a very poor job of emulating the control and poise she so naturally possessed. It was almost a comical difference. While the Ice Witch was beauty and grace, the harpies were ugly and awkward. Where the Ice Witch glided, they staggered and slumped.