Free Snow: The White Crow by Erik Schubach

I was taken by surprise by its speed.
    The werewolf was on me!  It used one of its huge paws to roll me and it pinned me to the ground with its weight and strength that eclipsed mine.  The Red Hood just stood there grinning as she hung the crossbow under her cloak on a shoulder strap.  She wasn't helping me!  She just crossed her arms and leaned back against a tree.
    So this was to be it?  Finally an end to my long life.  To be taken down by this impossible werewolf?  It just stared into my eyes.  I blinked and looked away.  Wait, what the hell?  It was making me submit!  That was like the effects I heard described that Alphas had.  I glared back at it in defiance.  I wouldn't go meekly.  I hissed, “Do your worst bitch!”  The beast snarled threateningly at me.  Fangs inches from my face.
    The Red Hood palmed her forehead and drew her hand down across her face, shaking her head. “You have no self-preservation in you, do you, lady?  She doesn't like people calling her bitch.”
    I blinked then looked at her and the wolf then realization dawned.  I blinked in disbelief.  “She's... she's your hellhound?  A werewolf?”
    She chuckled.  “Well yes and no. She's not a werewolf, she's something... different... unique... beautiful.”  There was compassion in her tone.  Not a werewolf?
    I noted the wolf was wearing a studded leather collar with a bone shaped tag hanging down that read 'Fluffy'.  I must have read it aloud because the beast growled threateningly.  I take it she didn't like her name.
    Then the Red Hood spoke again.  “If I were you, I'd stop what you are doing with all the trees and vines you have sneaking up on us.  She likes a good fight, but she's not a good sport when it comes to magic.”  I released the magic that was calling the forest to me.  I wondered if they could see the magic or if they noticed the forest subtly closing in on us.  I thought I had it moving slowly enough for them not to notice.
    She spoke again, “Let's start over.  I'm Maireni Damaschin, the Red Hood if you prefer.  And you are?”
    I kept my eyes on the wolf.  Wait, it had human eyes!  What the hell was going on here?  I said, “Gretta, Gretta Snow.”
    She pushed herself from the tree at that, and the wolf seemed to relax though it still pinned me to the ground.   Maireni said, “I've heard stories about you.  I've always discounted them when I couldn't find you or the others.”  The others?
    Then she said, “So I take it you aren't with the coven we're hunting?  Are you after them too?”
    I shook my head, not knowing what she was talking about.  Was this coven the blackness I dreamed of that drew me here?  Then she said, “We need to talk then.”  She looked at the wolf. “Daria?”
    The wolf looked down at me, seemingly amused and licked my face in a big slurp, leaving doggy drool in its wake.  “Ewww!”  The wolf chuffed and stood and stepped to Maireni's side where she was absently holding a hand out.  That hand buried into the ruff of the big wolf's neck and she started absently scratching her as I stood and dusted myself off.
    The two looked oddly relaxed and ready to pounce in the same instant.  They seemed so in tune with each other.  The wolf looked up and whined.  Maireni squinted at her. “Which way?”  The wolf chuffed and whined.
    The woman in red nodded, knelt, and spoke to me as she took a canvas out of the pack on the wolf's back and spread it on the ground.  “The Alphas have sent two groups to the Seattle area from Europe.  A coven of gypsy witches they control, and a group of earth druids.  They seek something in the area and have already killed many in a bloody trail from Europe to the Americas.”
    She continued, “With the pressure lessening after we killed a second of the brothers Marcus, the European and African walled cities have broken the sieges.  This allowed us to track the magic users back to here.”
    As I took in what she was