We all met up at Kirton. I felt it was safer to travel back in time rather than stay in Crediton. Marcus agreed that it wasn’t worth risking the possibility that DuCrow knew we were on to him. The last thing I wanted was a psychopathic Werewolf tearing through the Farmer’s Market on a blood thirsty rampage.

‘Summary,’ said Marcus. ‘We know that Markku was a victim of sex trafficking. We know that somehow her survived, grew up, found out the identity of those people in Norway and killed them.’

Ragnhild picked up the thread, ‘Not only that, but he evaded the best efforts of the Mundane Police and people such as me to catch him.’

Which was impressive. It was rare for anyone to escape dedicated hunters such as Ragnhild and myself, let alone when the full force of the Mundane police is also brought into the equation.

‘Having killed all of the abusers in Norway,’ Marcus said, ‘he then came over here and lay low for a few months. Most likely to lull members of the circle here into a false sense of security. Make sure that they weren’t going to disappear.’

‘And then he got to work,’ said Dawn. ‘I see what Knowles saw in him. He’s the stereotypical dark and handsome stranger.’

‘Steady, Dawn. He’s a killer. Rein in those hormones.’

‘Oh, totally,’ she said. ‘Still hot though’ she muttered.

‘Challacombe has confirmed that Crispin Temperance is the latest victim. However, they’re not releasing the name,’ said Marcus. ‘I put in a request to the Merlins that the Mundanes hold back the identity until we ask them to release it.’

‘Why’s that?’ asked Dawn.

‘The police seized all of the victim’s belongings. They’ve managed to crack its security and access all of his files and emails,’ explained Marcus. ‘But they need more time to analyse it and get warrants sorted for further searches if the information helps. That sort of thing takes time.’

Unfortunately for the Mundanes. Agents didn’t need to worry about such things. They received a Mark, and were expected to carry it out, no matter what it took.

‘Oh, that’s good. Are they confident they can sweep up the rest of the circle?’

‘No. Thus far they’ve found that the only contact the victim had was with Henstreet. From the evidence that we have so far, Temperance was a loner. Far more obsessed with security than the others. He was also less active. A watcher,’ Marcus’ mouth twisted in disgust. This was a case that was going to stick with us for far longer than we would ever want.

‘What’s the plan?’ asked Ragnhild.

‘We use his access on the circle’s server. The Mundane techs believe that DuCrow has compromised their security, which is how he’s finding his victims. At the same time, we’re going to have the Mundanes release a statement that the victim was a James Carter.’

‘Fool DuCrow into thinking that he got the wrong person? Genius!’ said Dawn.

‘I have my moments,’ smiled Marcus. ‘We’ll access the server from a different location. If DuCrow has the skills we think he has, he’ll be able to track the location of the computer.’

‘We’re setting a trap?’ she asked. She looked a little too eager.

‘Steady on padawan,’ I said. ‘Don’t get too excited. This guy has multiple kills, he’s intelligent. And he’s a Were.’

‘We’ve got you and Ragnhild,’ said Dawn, flapping her hand.

‘Seriously,’ I snapped, ‘rein in the enthusiasm. If someone such as Knowles is intimated by him, I think that a Class 1 Apprentice should be more than on their guard.’

‘I agree,’ said Ragnhild. ‘This man is capable of intense levels of violence. I’m worried.’

Dawn opened her mouth as if she was going to argue further but closed it with a snap when Marcus laid a hand on her arm.

‘Dawn. Listen to them. We’re going to be in a remote location in order to minimize collateral damage. We’ve got a Seelie Team travelling down. ETA two hours. We’re going in mob-handed and will kill him as quickly as possible.’

Dawn nodded, lips pursed. But I could tell she wasn’t convinced. I let it slide. We had too much work to be done, and I wanted people focused on the task at hand rather than on some spat.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Still, I’m going to have to keep a close eye on her. She’s far too taken with him.

I shoved my concern down and focused on the task at hand.

‘Best location to do this?’ I asked.

‘There’s a remote campsite in North Devon, glamping. Closed for the season, but it has Wi-Fi. Lots of places for our people to conceal themselves. No chance of innocent victims. The owner is Magical, clean. They’ll be assisting us in setting up Wards and Glamours.’

‘Okay. Good idea. We’ll tool up and head out as soon as possible. I assume the Seelies will be meeting us there?’

Marcus nodded. Meeting closed, we started to get ready.

But that niggling worry about Dawn was still there. I’d never seen her so distracted by a Mark before.

*

The campsite was near a village called Beaworthy. It was quiet. The glamping pods were evenly spaced about the grounds. There was even a catch and release pond with carefully marked fishing points. It was lovely. The sort of place you could come and just chill, put all your worries to one side for a couple of days.

‘They’ve got yurts!’ gushed Ragnhild. ‘I’ve always wanted to stay in a yurt!’

‘You never cease to surprise me,’ I laughed, pleased to see her so enthusiastic even when we were doing a sweep of what was soon about to become a battleground.

‘Excuse me?’ I turned to see the owner of the campsite. ‘I’ve set all the usual Wards that can be expected for a place like this. I’ve also double-checked that the Pond Dryad is comfortable.’

‘Thank you, Mr. Norman. You can go. Here’s a receipt for use of the campsite. Any damage will be fully repaired at no cost to yourself.’

‘Good luck. I hope you catch the bastard.’ He tucked the receipt into his pocket and shook our hands. He was strong, his hands calloused. A man who knew hard work. It was clear that this campsite was his love. I only hoped it would still be here at the end of tonight’s work.

‘We’ll do our best. And thank you for letting us use your campsite. It means a lot.’

‘Specialists are here!’ Called Dawn.

‘That’s my cue. Good luck.’

A small convoy of vehicles rumbled into the courtyard. There were two canary-yellow vans, and what looked like a small horsebox.

Silence descended as the drivers turned off their engines.

‘What’s in the horsebox?’ whispered Dawn.

‘Just wait. You’re going to love it,’ I whispered back, with a large grin.

The passenger door on the lead van opened, a large woman, roughly in her fifties and wearing civilian clothing stepping down. It was typical walking gear, practical down to a tee, but also something you could wear on the high street and not stand out.

‘Well, she’s big, but I’m not loving it,’ whispered Dawn.

‘Just wait,’ I whispered back as Marcus went over and shook hands with the woman. They exchanged a few words, then the woman turned and gave the thumbs up to the convoy.

Doors opened up all along the convoy, and there was a loud crash from the rear of the horsebox. Seelie Team support members, all in civilian clothing clambered down and started unloading various boxes and crates.

‘Cavalry?’ Dawn asked as the sound of hooves reached us.

‘Nearly,’ I laughed.

‘Oh my fucking God!’ screamed Dawn, clapping her hands to her mouth as her voice echoed off the surrounding buildings.

‘I prefer the name Perseus,’ said the Centaur that had appeared from behind the horse – centaur – box. He was wearing tactical barding, with tactical rank insignia showing that he was a sergeant. Armed with what looked like a barbed lance and a war bow he looked utterly amazing.

A grey, he stood more than 18 hands tall and was absolutely massive. With a smile, he held out a hand for Dawn to shake.

‘Close your mouth, Dawn,’ I said, both me and Perseus chuckling. Centaurs always had that effect on people the first time they saw them. They were myths come alive in a world of Magic. Very few people got to see, let alone meet a Centaur due to the fact that they had retreated to Elsewhere sometime in the distant past.

Other members of his team appeared, an orc carrying a General Purpose Machine Gun. It was a beast of a weapon, Mundanes usually required two men to crew it. The orc held it as if it was nothing more than a light stick.

The woman was joined by a Shadow Aelf from the military caste. It was customary for their people to have ritual tattoos carved in white on their purple-skinned faces and bodies, and I could see that they had the rank of Corporal. The fourth member of the team was particularly pale, his smile revealing fangs. A Vampyre.

‘Jane, Dawn, Ragnhild, this is Captain Hart,’ said Marcus as he and the woman joined us.

Hart nodded to us, ‘You’ve met Sergeant Perseus. Naturally that’s not his real name. He’s our sniper, don’t let his war bow fool you, it’s got a draw weight of 300lbs, it’ll punch through anything and do it silently.’

She turned and pointed to the orc, ‘This is Private Ox. Heavy weapons.’

The orc grinned, baring his fangs. Unlike the orc we’d seen in Exeter’s UnderCity, his skin was navy blue and heavily tattooed with what looked like a comprehensive record of his military service. Looking at his clan tartan, reduced to a small patch on his uniform sleeve, I saw that he was a MicMark.

‘Private Koric is our doorman,’ she said pointed to the Shadow Aelf. The use of -ic indicated to me that they were of the third gender, neither male nor female and totally sterile. They were usually healers, and well-respected in Aelf society. Koric was armed with AA-12 automatic shotgun. It was a weapon I never wanted to be on the wrong end of.

‘And I’m Corporal Park. Close combat specialist. I’ll be the one closing with your bad boy when it comes to it.’ Up close I could see he was of Korean descent, probably Turned when he was younger. He was armed with pistols, most likely loaded with silver rounds, a Vector Kris, similar to Dawn’s, grenades, and a pair of long knives. Of all of them, he was the one I was most wary of.

Each one was a veteran. They’d faced some of the most dangerous people and creatures in existence, but Park had a vibe about him which set my teeth on edge. I had a hunch that he’d been placed in the Seelies due to having embraced his Vampyric nature rather too enthusiastically. It happened.

‘Pleased to meet you all,’ I said. I introduced myself, Dawn and Ragnhild. Pleasantries over we got to business.