Voices. Muffled. Beeping. Warmth. Anti-septic. I really didn’t want to open my eyes. I was in a warm and fuzzy state of confusion and wanted nothing more than to just slip back into the cocoon of unconsciousness. It wasn’t to be, however.

'She's coming to.'

'Can she hear us?'

'Give her a moment. Even with Healing she suffered a catastrophic brain injury. She might not know who or where she is.'

I tired of the voices that were talking about me and cracked an eye open, blearily staring around the room. It was, on the whole, white. Filled with machines, and some concerned-looking people, two of whom I assumed were a doctor and a nurse. The rest I had trouble placing.

'Jane. Do you know who I am?' asked a concerned looking chap who was stood next to an absolutely stunning blonde.

'No. Sorry,' I rasped. I hadn’t even realised my name was Jane. It had a nice ring to it.

Thank God I’m not called something like Audrey, I thought.

The doctor/nurse leaned in and handed me a glass of water with a smile, 'Drink this. Small sips mind.'

I smiled my thanks, then tossed the drink back in three large gulps.

'Or don't,' the doctor/nurse said somewhat sharply as I handed her the now-empty glass.

'Sorry. I can't for the life of me remember who you are. I'm tired. Going to sleep.' And I did.

*

The next time I awoke, there was just man and the woman. Both of whom were asleep in large armchairs to either side of my bed. Him on the left, her on the right. My head still groggy I stared at them for a couple of minutes, trying to piece things together.

'Marcus? Ragnhild? Where's Dawn?'

Both awoke immediately; trained reflexes kicking in at the sound of my voice.

'Thank God you remember who we are this time!' smiled Marcus, surging out of his chair to give me a hug. The suddenness surprised me, as did the fact that this was totally out of character for him.

'My darling,' Ragnhild laughed, 'you're smothering her. And it's my turn.' She smoothly added herself to the group hug, her perfume momentarily overcoming the anti-septic smell of the hospital room. After a couple of seconds, they both pulled back, remaining perched on the bed.

'Where's Dawn?'

Ragnhild looked away, eyes suddenly filling with tears, whilst Marcus took hold of my hand.

'DuCrow took her,' he said, choking the words out. Tears sprang from his eyes as he spoke, and he gripped my hand so hard it hurt.

I gasped, screamed, yelled. Fear, anger, spiritual pain all gave voice at the same time. My brain gibbered and gabbled in the background as Marcus and Ragnhild scooped me into their arms. I'm not sure how long they held me like that until I was as calm as I could be once again.

'He bit her. I've had her records unsealed. Turns out she tested positive for both Vampyric and Were recessive genes. Normally, if an Agent is bitten the records are unsealed at the time and a Cure Charm applied. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to recover Dawn.’

‘How … how did he take her?’ I sobbed.

‘After he disabled the Seelie Team, knocked out Ragnhild, and broke my legs, he was able to carry her off. She too was unconscious at the time. I’m so sorry I was unable to help.’

The tears flowed heavier, and his voice choked off at the end. I could see the shame he felt, but no matter how angry and scared I was at the thought of Dawn being a prisoner of DuCrow’s, I knew there was nothing that a Mundane could have done in those circumstances. Especially one with two broken legs.

‘Marcus,’ I whispered, laying my hand on his, ‘Marcus, look at me.’

He did, but only sideways, still not meeting my eyes.

‘Properly, Marcus,’ I said more firmly. He did. Pain, spiritual not physical, was all that I could see in them. ‘It wasn’t your fault. It was no-one’s fault. DuCrow is the most singularly powerful being I have ever gone up against in my career. You were lucky he only broke your legs, and I can’t bear the thought of having lost both you and Dawn in the same night. We’ll heal. We’ll rest, and we’ll get her back.’

Marcus half-nodded, eyes dropping away from mine again.

‘I’m fucking serious, Marcus. If you can’t get over this guilt of yours, you can fucking leave.’ I snarled that last part. I couldn’t deal with a self-pity party.

Marcus looked up sharply, eyes wide in shock, mouth slightly open.

‘One hundred per cent focus on taking down DuCrow and getting Dawn back. You understand?’ I snapped. And I was totally serious. Self-doubt was not something I would put up with on this Mark. ‘We have a month, a whole month to beat him, get her back and apply the Cure Charm. I need you on this. Are you with me?’

Because a month was the longest you could go before a Cure Charm could be applied. After that, the person would be Turned forever. And I was determined that Dawn wouldn’t be Turned.

‘Yes,’ Marcus said, his eyes meeting mine. There was a spark of anger in them now. ‘Understood. Get some sleep, I’m going to put out feelers and speak to the survivors of the Seelie Team.’ He patted my hand somewhat awkwardly and then left me and Ragnhild alone in the room.

I looked up to see her staring at me, a slight frown creasing her forehead. My stomach twisted; I knew what she was thinking.

‘I know, I know, all right?’ I part sighed, part snapped. Her frown deepened. ‘I’ll apologise when I can. I was hard on him, but I can’t have him carrying around a burden of guilt and hesitating at the wrong moment. We must do everything we can to kill DuCrow and rescue Dawn. The slightest hesitation and we’re all dead, and Dawn is lost to us.’

‘Us?’ she raised an eyebrow at that. ‘You, my love. I know that you still love her, not in the way that you love me now, but in a maternal and fraternal manner. She’s been a large part of your life. But what you can’t do is ignore the fact that we might have to kill her as well.

She held up her hand as I tried to interrupt. ‘Just listen. It could be that we get to her too late to reverse the process. Too late to save her from what he wants her to become. And she might even be fine with that. Before she was a mere Magician’s Apprentice. But now she’s someone who can not only cast spells, she’s also imbued with the power of an apex predator. Would you give up your ShapeShifting if it was decided that it was a curse?’

‘No,’ I said, forcing the word out between gritted teeth. There wasn’t a chance in hell that I’d give up either my Magic or my ability to Shift. Both were far too important in their own way.

‘Exactly. So, if the patient is unwilling to be treated, are you really going to force her to lose those powers?’

‘But DuCrow is Turning her!’ I yelled. ‘He’s going to manipulate her, encourage her to feed on prey. And once she’s done that for long enough, she’s lost.’ I dashed away the tears that had started to run down my cheeks. ‘I’m a Shapeshifter, I’m human, that’s my natural form and I Shift into the animal. Weres are born that way, and no matter how much I love you, you’re a Bear, and this amazing, beautiful form before me is what you have assumed.’

I paused, seeing her face tighten for a brief moment, knowing that I was touching an area which all Weres were sensitive about. Many cultures viewed them as lesser because their true forms were those of sentient animals. It wasn’t something I’d truly thought about until this moment, falling in love with the woman before me. The thought occurred to me that I might not have been so ready to fall for her had she been in her true form when we met.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

Pushing that thought to the back of my mind for another day, I kissed her quickly, and continued with my train of thought.

‘And with her recessive gene, that means she’s going to change into a true Were. The wolf is going to be her true form. The change is going to just …’ I waved my hands, unable to express in words what I felt.

Take her away from me, I thought.

‘And we’ll make DuCrow pay for that. Yet I return to the original question. Are you going to force her to rid herself of this power? And are you prepared to fight her to do so?’

I shrugged, throwing my hands up in the air, feeling my cheeks heat as I thought through what I would have to do to get Dawn back to the person I knew and loved. Whether she wanted it or not.

‘She’s a bloody stubborn cow. I’ll give you that. And if she’s got a proper taste of what it’s like to be a Were, I doubt that I’m going to be able to persuade her to change back to being a mere human again.’

‘So?’ Ragnhild asked with a small smile.

‘So, depending on whether she’s committed any crimes, and whether we can get her some proper Were training, I’ll let her carry on as she is. Who knows, it might help to have an apprentice that I can use as a bloodhound on the odd occasion.’

We both laughed at that, poor joke though it was. Just the thought of Dawn sniffing out a Mark was funny, hysterical even. I realised that I was crying and laughing at the same time and I couldn’t work out how to stop. It was only when Ragnhild wrapped her strong arms around me that I started bawling like a baby. Again.

*

I don’t know how long I cried like that, but in the end, we parted, she kissed me on my cheek and told me to get a shower, saying she’d get some food sorted. Whilst I did so, I ran all the different angles through my head. As I walked out, towel wrapped around my head, thick dressing gown fresh from the radiator wrapping me in warmth, I felt far more positive.

‘Do we have a plan?’ Asked Ragnhild, who was sat on my bed with a plate heaped with food.

‘Of sorts. We’re going to hit every contact we can find. Pound the streets and speak to the Fae. Whatever we can do to find DuCrow and Dawn we’ll do. If that means we have to fight Dawn whilst we’re killing DuCrow, then I’m okay with that. I’m going to max out on Icons that I can use to ensnare her, whilst doing as much damage to him as possible. And if we really must hurt her because she’s too far gone,’ I paused, ‘well, that’s a bridge we’ll have to cross at the time.’

‘Right. Let me reach out to the Fae, I’m owed a couple of favours by Fae in my homeland, and I have this,’ she held up a Fae cup, a carved acorn.

‘Don’t let me stop you, I’ve always wanted to see how these work,’ I said, plonking down beside her on the bed and picking up what looked like a well-packed coronation chicken sandwich.

Smiling, she lifted the acorn to lips and whispered some words which sounded like utter nonsense.

There was a moment of absolute silence, and I mean absolute, as if someone had cast a spell, and then a pop, like when you’re on a plane coming in to land.

‘You called?’ squeaked a particularly ugly-looking Fae. It was brown, covered in what looked like Conker shells, all spiky, and held a thin rapier-like sword in its hand, jagged edges on both sides. The whole thing looked like it wanted to do nothing than cause pain and suffering to anyone it came across. I was particularly glad that the creature owed a debt to Ragnhild. Even though it was only 15 centimetres tall, it looked like it could pack a mean punch. Add to that the fact that it would be able to summon its people in the blink of a gnat’s fart, and it would be a very tough enemy to beat.

‘I did,’ replied Ragnhild, tone formal and polite. ‘I wish to call in my debt.’

It snarled, beaky nose twitching, leathery face screwing up as if it was licking piss off a thistle.

‘I know of no debt. That must have been one of my kin.’

‘Come now Weezlekin. Don’t try to trick me, you did so last time and failed. And, if I remember correctly incurred the wrath of your King. Do you really wish me to call upon him to settle our debt?’

Weezlekin shook, whether it was with rage or fear I couldn’t tell. The way if shook its sword at her gave me an inkling, however.

‘No need. I remember the debt to which you refer. And you wish to me to clear that debt with you know?’ it snarled, revealing sharp, yellowed teeth.

‘I do. We are looking for a close friend. She’s been taken by a Were. We need to know the Were’s whereabouts, as well as the friends.’

‘And by whereabouts, she doesn’t mean ‘Exeter’, or ‘England’ or anything else just as uselessly vague’, I added. ‘We need to know their precise location. In fact, we need to know their GPS co-ordinates.’

Ragnhild glanced at me, clearly impressed that I’d been so specific. Fae were tickly little shits at the best of times, and if you didn’t give them an inch, they wouldn’t be able to take a mile. I suppose that’s what happens when you’re small and people keep trying to catch you to force debts and wishes from you.

‘You do know what GPS co-ordinates are?’ asked Ragnhild.

‘Of course. We’re not totally ignorant of the ways of this world. And if I was, I’d have had to learn about them to fulfil the debt,’ it snapped.

‘One last thing,’ I said with a smile. ‘We need to know as soon as you find them.’

Weezlekin stamped his feet and screamed before falling to the ground and throwing what I can only describe as the most monumental hissy fit I have ever had the pleasure to witness.

‘How long should we give him?’ I whispered out of the side of my mouth to Ragnhild as Weezlekin continued to rage.

‘Another couple of minutes, it’s fascinating. I’ve never heard half of these curses,’ she giggled.

I nodded, happy to munch on my coronation chicken sarnie. It was one of my favourite fillings, but one which I rarely came across in supermarkets. Usually, you only got coronation chicken sarnies at in village halls during a school disco. Which was a shame as it was bloody lush. A guilty pleasure. I certainly wasn’t going to go to the local supermarket and buy some of that tinned coronation chicken you see gathering dust on the shelves. I’d have felt well pikey.

‘Enough!’ shouted Ragnhild after a couple of minutes had passed, making both Weezlekin and me jump out of our skins. Me figurately, him literally.

‘Wow, I’ve never seen a Fae shed skin like that before. What sort of Fae are you?’ I asked.

‘The sort that doesn’t like humans asking stupid questions they don’t have the right to ask. Unless of course you want to incur a debt?’ It asked slyly.

‘Fuck no. Now piss off and find our friends and her captor,’ I ordered.

He looked decidedly unimpressed, crossing his arms and looking at Ragnhild. ‘She your boss?’

‘No. She’s also my friend. My very dear friend,’ she said, laying a hand on my arm. ‘Now, please do as we’ve asked and clear your debt.’

He stood there for a few moments more before giving a heck of his head and disappearing with the same pop-like feeling.

‘Nice chap. Where’s you meet him?’ I asked.

‘I saved him and his clan from a building developer. They were going to build a housing development with a golf course. The usual rubbish. I managed to convince a swamp ghost to take up residence.’ Ragnhild paused belly laughing. ‘Caused so much trouble I was able to buy the land for half of what they paid for it. And they were grateful!’

‘Well, handy chap to have I suppose. Wait, was that back at home?’

‘It was. He tends to follow me around. Never more than a whisper away.’

‘Well, that’s not creepy. I take it he’s good?’

‘Not as good as you my love,’ she said, leaning in for a long kiss. Which turned into a much longer night.

*

My phone buzzed. Looking down I saw that it was Marcus calling.

‘Morning,’ I said as I tried to stifle a yawn. What you got for me?’

‘Morning? It’s the bloody afternoon. What on earth have you been doing?’ Marcus seemed to be particularly, and uncharacteristically snarky. Dropping into my recent calls, I saw I’d missed a dozen or so calls.

“Ragnhild” was not a reply he would have appreciated, so I just smirked as I looked over at her still recumbent form. She was drooling slightly which I found incredibly cute at that moment.

‘For God’s sake Jane, are you even listening?’ Marcus’ increasingly peeved tone snapped me back to the conversation.

‘Sorry, long night after some really long days. What did you say?’

‘I said that I’ve spoken to the Seelie local commander. Naturally she wasn’t happy that our man managed to kill so many of her people. But I think she was more put out that their reputation was sullied rather than because of the losses. Cold hearted methinks. Still, they have their unit pride, which according to her must remain unsullied. You can’t have an elite unit not appearing to be all that elite.’

‘So,’ l interrupted. ‘Long story short, they got their arses kicked and they want revenge?

‘That is, most succinct and accurate. There will be another team arriving in roughly three hours. From Scotland no less.’

‘Jesus,’ I gasped. ‘Which team?’

‘We’ve got Team Ness,’ he replied, and I could actually hear him smiling.

‘Bloody hell, they’re the best of the best of the best. Literally the cream of the crop. She must be really pissed off if she’s requested them.’

‘Indeed. And the reason they’ve taken so long is because they’re returning from a shindig in Europe. Some sort of neo -Nazi pagan cult trying to resurrect a load of SS troopers in the Seelow Heights.

‘Oh. Nasty. Well, good on them.’ To be honest I was surprised not only that they’d shared that information with Marcus, but that he’d also let it slip. It was almost as if they wanted word to get out.

‘That’s utterly hush hush by the way, Jane.’ Or maybe they didn’t want it to get out, and he’d made a slip of the tongue. Still, a very juicy tidbit.

‘I completely understand,’ I said. ‘We are we meeting them?’

‘Middlemoor helipad, 21:00. Our friends in blue have been told to expect them.’ I didn’t fail to notice the stress he put on “our”, he which he meant coppers who were in on our existence. They would either be members of the Magical Community proper or would be Mundanes who were in on the secret. Probably the latter as most genuinely magical people were high-ranking and their presence at the helipad at such a time would raise eyebrows.

‘I presume they’re coming in Masked?’

Masks were excellent spells for hiding in plain sight if the people watching didn’t have the Sight itself. You could literally hide an elephant if you wanted to.

‘No, they’re not going to be subtle with this. Chinook onto the grounds, rear door dropped, vehicles deployed, chinook leaves.’

I realised my mouth was hanging open. ‘Right. That’s not very subtle, is it? I thought they were supposed to be subtle-ish?’

‘Their feathers are ruffled. They want to finish this as quickly as possible.’

‘Not like they can go door-knocking, though, can they?’

‘Agreed. However, they’ll be on standby should we need them, and a couple of them will be accompanying you whilst you work the streets.’

I can’t quite remember what I said at that moment, but if involved a fair amount of swearing and no small amount of stuttering.

‘It’s a compromise, Jane. Besides, if people know who you’re working with it should make them all the keener to work with you, and it’ll do wonders for reassuring the public that steps are being taken to protect them.’