Zuri found Kweli in her human form, naked aside from her beads and bison-skin headdress. The shaman wiped a tattooed hand across her damp brow. "Wow, is it ever hot today, Zuri! I just couldn't take my fur one second longer."
Zuri shifted into her own human form. "I agree, Kweli. It's just not good werebeast weather. Well, I told Kibibi, and she loves the idea of seeking her fortune outside the pack. I even got her agree to avoid just tossing out Selena. Good thing shi's leaving, or Enzi just might kill hir."
"Why?" asked Kweli.
"Shi and Kibibi were sparring," said Zuri, "and Kibibi tore off Enzi's nutsack."
Kweli's hand instinctively went to shield her crotch, even though she lacked a penis in human form. "Yikes. I can see why that'd be trouble. Enzi'll want revenge, hir mate'll want revenge, hir parents'll want revenge, and hir sisters'll want revenge. It really is best if Kibibi gets out of here."
"Agreed," said Zuri. She glanced at a pile of bones on the floor. "You've been reading the bones again. What's new?"
"Trouble for the magicals of Stokerville," Kweli whispered darkly. "Monster hunters are coming, four of them. One comes from the Vordenburg family, a bloodline with a grudge against Carmilla von Karnstein. Another is her girlfriend, a witch well versed in the Voodoo tradition. She is kinder to our kind than the Vordenburg, but she hates vampires just as much, for she lost family to a nest of them in New Orleans. Another is a Scotswoman, once a vampire but no longer. She is an opportunity, for she is willing to rejoin the supernatural as some other variety of magical. The last is a vampire and remains a vampire. How strange for Victoria Vordenburg to work with a vampire. She must need her powers."
"Why are they coming to Stokerville?" asked Zuri. "To wipe out the von Karnsteins once and for all?"
"No," said Kweli. "That would merely be a nice bonus to Tori and company. The real reason is that Tori's Aunt Kim called her niece about her child, Beck Hamilton. Beck's a member of Selena's pack, you see, and Kim has seen enough strange things to suspect something."
"Couldn't Morgana just have put this Kim woman under a geis to not notice?" asked Zuri.
"I'm sure she tried," said Kweli, "but a geis is not foolproof. Things can snap people out of them without warning, and some people are just plain resistant or immune to them. Considering her maiden name was Vordenburg, I think we can safely say Kim Hamilton is such a person."
"I'll be sure to warn Selena about Tori, Kim, and the rest in my letter," said Zuri. "How's the potion coming?"
"I finished it just before you came in!" Kweli grinned. She ladled some of it into a bottle, stopped up the bottle, and handed the completed potion to Zuri. "There you go! Tell Selena that if Taylor drinks that, hir soul will be bound to mine until the next full moon. I look forward to seeing hir in hir next dream."
"Perfect," Zuri smiled. "Thank you so much, Kweli. You've been a huge help in this. Really you've been a huge help in general since Kibibi's mother died last autumn. I somehow never feel lonely around you." She gave Kweli a quick kiss on the cheek and stroke across her bare breasts before leaving the hut with the potion.