Enid folded her hands behind her back and looked out the front window of her daughter’s home. Though she never had to sleep she could feel the dawn coming on. With it would come breathing, a heartbeat, thirst, hunger and vulnerability. It had been four days since she had been kidnapped. Four days since this vulnerability finally bit her in the ass. She’d had the amulet for forty years, and not once had she been in so much imminent danger. Sure, she’d been in combat, flown planes, any of which could have ended badly, but she had never been shot while mortal. She touched her shoulder where the bullet wound had been. She remembered the burning pain. The blood running out, the wound not sealing. She hadn’t spoken of her fear to Eyre, but she was scared. She’d fought all manner of supernatural beast across two thousand years, and she was brought low by a single bullet. She hadn’t left the house since it happened. Had stayed out of the sun. She’d used an excuse saying, a real girl would be traumatized, and she should take at least a day, so far it had been four. Soon her excuses would carry little weight and Eyre would begin to question. She’d avoided outright lying since her daughter shared her gift. But at this point she was about to start lying to herself.

Coward.

Her phone vibrated she looked at the caller, it was Mariana. She tapped the green icon to answer the call.

“Hi Mariana.”

“Hello Enid, are you going to school today?”

“I think so”

She heard movement outside the back door she glanced at Violet who nodded. Enid pointed to Violet then to the basement stairs.

“Give me a minute, someone’s here.”

Enid put her phone down and then crept to the back of the darkened house. She crouched beside the door. There was a flash and the back door fell down. Several figures in black stormed, they had handguns drawn. Though her night vision was amazing the smoke from their breaching charge was clouding the air. She grabbed the arm of the first one bringing her palm up under their chin. She was careful not to kill the human for she could smell that’s all they were. She twisted the arm she held and kneed them in the stomach the person went down. Enid tossed the gun away then leaped at the next hitting them full in the chest. It was covered by an armored vest. She slammed her palm down on it with the force of a bullet. Likely cracking ribs she tossed their gun away. Things were chaos now Enid pounced on the next knee to the jaw. She could feel the dawn coming, seconds now. There were muffled shouts and calls for their friends. Enid’s next blow went low taking their legs out she rolled twisting kicking them in the jaw with her socked foot. She heard a crack. The jaw was broken but whoever it was would live and then the gun shots. Part of her wanted to freeze when she felt the bullet hit in abdomen, but she didn’t, hesitation was death. She grabbed the fifth wrapping her arm around their neck and three more shots rang out. She could feel the sun on her back and the burning in her gut the wound hadn’t healed fully but it had popped the bullet out, she could still feel blood seeping down her skin. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. With the blinding sun behind her and smoke in the air the last one had just put five bullets into the tactical vest of the one Enid held. She could hear the woman struggling to breath in the sleeper hold. There was a pause as the last one realized he’d just shot his companion and that was enough for Enid to disarm him with a strike to his wrist, and then using her foot to kick him in the thigh then the shoulder dislocating it and then on the side of the head. He went down. Enid stood over the six fallen invaders and her first thought as the smoke cleared was: Shit.

She looked over them and what she hadn’t been able to make out in the smoke and chaos of the melee was that each was wearing a vest with POLICE across the front. She looked them over. She could hear wheezing out of several, but they were all breathing. She could hear their radios now. Call signs and codes, that dissolved into pleading for answers. After a few moments two officers broke down her front door and another two rushed in her back door. They all had their guns drawn. Enid put up her hands. The officers that came in front door pushed her to the ground and handcuffed her. She cried out with the pressure of a knee on her back caused a new rush of pain from the half healed and still bleeding gunshot wound. They were all shouting at her at the same time. Between the confusing mix of shouting and the pain from the gunshot wound she couldn’t really follow what they were saying. They lifted her up and sat her down against the wall. One of the officers was coming around. One of the later arriving officers was helping her off with her vest.

“Who did this, where did they go?”

The female officer was still struggling to catch her breath because of what Enid assumed were several cracked ribs just pointed at Enid. Eyre’s voice rang out from the front door.

“Oh my god did you shoot my daughter? Why is she handcuffed? What are you doing here?”

One of the still conscious officers approached Eyre hand up.

“Ma’am this is a crime scene you need to step back.”

Eyre had her phone out by now recording.

“The police are in our house they’ve shot my fifteen-year-old daughter!”

The police officer backed up and spoke into radio ask for an ambulance.

“Ma’am please put the phone away, your daughter assaulted six police officers.”

“Why are you here? Where’s your search warrant?”

“Ma’am this isn’t the time to discuss that.”

“You broke into my house and shot my daughter and she defended herself and she’s criminal? Where’s your search warrant?”

“Ma’am does anyone by the name of Jordan Richie live here?”

“No just myself and my daughter. You got the wrong house? My daughter was kidnapped four days ago by armed men, and you victimize her in her own house?”

“Ma’am please put the phone away.”

“Oh no, I’m live streaming this. You are in some serious shit.”

The officer snatched the phone from Eyre’s hand and threw it at the ground shattering the touch screen. She tackled Eyre and started to handcuff her only to realize that two more people had phones out on the street. She pulled Eyre back in the house. Eyre had a scrape on her hands and head now. Enid sighed.

So much for low profile but I suppose it’s better than being arrested for trumped up charges.

“Where is Jordan?”

Eyre laughed.

“You think I was lying?”

“Well, your teenage daughter did not do this on her own did she?”

“We’ll continue this conversation with a lawyer.”

By this time, several ambulances had arrived, along with more police cars, more than one of them had supervisor on the back of them. Eyre shook her head at Enid who shrugged then groaned in pain. The house soon filled with paramedics they tended to the unconscious police officers first. Eyre glanced up at a policeman that looked like he was higher ranking then she started talking very loudly. Probably hoping someone outside with a camera could overhear her.

“So, my daughter’s gunshot wound is less important than some officers that were knocked out?”

One of the paramedics looked at Eyre.

“She conscious and responding, these officers are not we have another ambulance on the way for her.”

Enid glanced down at the shirt that had soaked through with blood.

If I hadn’t been able to heal what I could before the sun came up, I’d probably be dead from blood loss right now.

Two more paramedics came into the house the flashed a light in Enid’s eyes and lifted her shirt. She glanced up at one of the cops.

“We had no reports of a gunshot wound, what the hell?”

One of the officers shrugged.

“Oops mistakes happen.”

Eyre’s eyes went wide.

“You’re going to regret that. Bitch.”

The female officer who had broken her phone walked over to her and looked like she was going to do something more. A new arrival, Enid recognized him as Ed, though she had no idea he was a police officer, pulled her away.

“I think you fucked up enough for one day haven’t you. Do you know who this is?”

“Why should I care?”

“She’s a personal friend of mine, and of the Chief and the Mayor. She’s on a first name basis with most of the city council you really fucked up Thompson. Undo her cuffs and go home, take a day.”

The officer was swearing under breath about privilege and unlocked the cuffs. When Enid got a better look at his uniform, she realized he wasn’t just a police officer, he was a deputy chief of police. He offered his hand to Eyre and helped her up. Enid was so focused on the exchange; She had missed the paramedic trying to ask her questions. She was feeling lightheaded. She thought it might be from blood loss she focused back on her.

“Hey, what’s your name?”

“Enid.”

“Are you feeling lightheaded?”

“Yep”

“How’s your pain level, 1 to 10.”

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“Eleven.”

The paramedic laughed and looked at her partner.

“We got a comedian here.”

“It’s a ten.”

“We’ll give you something as soon as we can, but you’ve lost a lot of blood, so we need to get your blood pressure up first, do you know your blood type?”

Enid was blinking slowly at this point. Maybe she’d lost more blood than she’d guessed.

“O Negative.”

The paramedic looked at her partner. Then up to the deputy chief.

“She’s lost a lot of blood we need to get her to the hospital asap.”

“Take her.”

Enid’s world went black for the fourth time in a thousand years and when she woke, she was laying on her back in a bed with sun streaming in a window and an IV drip in her arm. Her other arm was handcuffed to the bed. She shifted and there was a still a dull ache of pain from where she had been shot. She frowned down at the handcuffs.

I guess I did put several officers in the hospital. This is going to be a really uncomfortable situation come night fall. I’m going to have to spend the whole night concentrating on not letting my body heal how is that for a kick in teeth.

She heard footsteps outside her door and a woman walked in she handed her a card.

“Enid, I’m Jessica, your lawyer, your mother hired me. Looks like you’ve been the victim of mistaken identity by the police.”

She looked down at the handcuffs and frowned.

“They were told to specifically not to hand cuff you by their superiors. I’ll be back.”

She walked to door and started talking to someone.

“Remove those hand cuffs immediately.”

“Look lady, she put six of our own in this very hospital, I’m not going to let her finish the job.”

“You lot shot her in the stomach after breaking into her home, the wrong home, and you’re treating her like she’s the one in the wrong here.”

“Hey, just following orders.”

“No, you’re doing the opposite of following orders, I’ll talk to your superiors later at the moment though get lost, lawyer client privilege.”

Enid her some grumbling but Jessica came back in after closing the door to the room.

“We’ll get those off soon.”

Jessica pulled up a chair and sat down beside Enid’s bed she pulled out a tablet and got ready to take notes.

“So, tell me what happened Enid?”

“Mom went for her run; I was debating whether I should get over it and go to school or just take another day when the door was blown open. My ears were ringing, and I saw a bunch of dark shapes in the smoke. I used minimum required force to subdue the intruders and when the sun came up and the smoke cleared, I realized they were police officers, at that point four more officers entered my home, and I provided no resistance. They noted I had been shot but didn’t tell the paramedics and I almost bled to death. My mom showed up, they broke her phone and handcuffed her. I blacked out. Then I woke up here.”

“At any point did they announce they were police?”

“Not that I can recall or heard. My ears were ringing, my friend was on my phone she might have heard.”

“Which friend is that?”

“Her name is Maria Della Villani. She’s a contact on my phone. She goes to my school and lives at the Sisters of St. Michael’s convent in the city. Knowing her she probably called the police herself to report the explosion and gun shots.”

“At any point did you pick up a gun and shoot at the officers.”

“No, I kicked several away, but I never shot an of them or picked any of them up. If I had they’d be dead.”

“Okay, maybe leave that last part out of your statement to the police hmm? So, two of the officers were hit in their vests once, and another took five shots to the chest. How did that happen?”

“I don’t know there were three shots after I took down the first two or three, one hit me. There was a lot of confusion.”

“How about the one who was shot five times in the vest.”

“I was using her as a shield, she had a vest I didn’t.”

“So, at no point did you pick up a weapon?”

“No. I only used hand to hand.”

“Was anyone else there?”

“No, it was just me.”

“And you did all of that, all by yourself?”

“Yes.”

Jessica looked away from her tablet and at Enid.

“I’m sorry to say but I find that hard to believe, if you’re protecting someone, you should tell me, then we can discuss options.”

“Look, I wish I could blame someone else for this mess, but it was only me at home. I’ve been training in martial arts from a young age. I could have killed every single one of them and not broken a sweat if they hadn’t shot me. I only used as much force as was necessary to stop them from shooting me.”

Jessica’s eyes went a bit wider.

“Ask my mother and Maria they can both confirm what I’m saying. It’s obvious if I wanted them dead, they would be, that’s got to count for something right?”

“Well, at this point, they haven’t charged you with anything. Which is why you shouldn’t even be hand cuffed. The police force is just a bit ruffled. The videos are not painting them in a good light. Sixteen-year-old girl with a through and through standing in the middle of six heavily armored and armed police officers, them smashing a phone. Story about you not getting immediate attention for your bullet wound is already all over the net. People are going to lose their jobs and possibly get arrested for this mess and they are trying to cover their asses. Apparently, your mother’s PR people are better because public opinion at this point is strongly favoring you.”

“Why did they bust in?”

“Wrong address, they came in the wrong back door. There was a house four down from yours that was part a coordinated raid this morning. The officers breached the front and side door. One was shot in the head. He’s in intensive care. The ones that came in your back door screwed up and one of their colleagues is going to die. They are suffering from a major PR nightmare at the same time. It’s very bad. Like I said they’re looking for someone to blame, your mom and I are going to ensure it isn’t you.”

“What was the raid for?”

“Child exploitation ring. The had children in the house. They found them dead, shot this morning and a couple of the suspects got away.”

Enid clenched her fists.

“God damnit. How did I not notice that going on?”

“You are sixteen Enid, how were you supposed to notice?”

“I’m older than you think.”

“I know you were asked to grow up fast, but I remember being a teenager I barely knew what was going on outside my circle of friends. Now back to this morning. What was going through your head when your house was breeched?”

“That the Russians who kidnapped me last Wednesday were trying again.”

“Were you scared for your life?”

“I was.”

“Why didn’t you use lethal force?”

“It wasn’t necessary.”

“Excellent. Are you ready to make this statement to the police? I’ll be here with you the whole time.”

Enid nodded

“Just get it over with before nightfall. If they aren’t done by then I’m finished talking as soon as dusk hits.”

Jessica quirked an eyebrow then shrugged and nodded.

“You’re the boss. See you in about an hour.”

She put her tablet in her laptop bag and walked out. Enid let her head fall back down to the pillow. She was disturbed again when a nurse walked in with a needle with painkillers and a needle. As much as she’d love for the slowly pulsing bursts of pain to go away she’d need to be able to focus to stop herself from healing once night fell.

“No.”

The nurse stopped extracting fluid from the jar with her needle.

“What?”

“No more pain killers.”

“Are you sure?”

No give me them damn it. This hurts so much.

“Yes, absolutely.”

“Okay. I’ll be changing out your anti-biotics soon, we need to make sure you don’t get an infection.”

“Those are fine, just no more pain killers.”

The nurse nodded and left. Enid shook her head. How long had she spent as a surgeon? Fifteen years? She looked down at the hand cuffs.

Should have stuck with surgeon. Less chance of getting arrested.

As promised Jessica arrived with an investigator. Enid was surprised they were not from the Edmonton Police but something called ASIRT. She related the statement to them leaving out the parts that Jessica had suggested. Shortly afterwards the handcuffs were removed. And she was left to her own devices. Images were taken of her hands and the gunshot wound. She had a long night focusing to keep the bullet wound from closing. The nurses came by a few times trying to get her to take something to sleep, she refused politely.

I have to get out of here.

Shortly after breakfast a doctor came into her room. She was Japanese, in her fifties. She checked under her bandage checked her vitals. Enid remembered doing rounds, she’d hated it.

“So, when I can I get out of here?”

“Well, you’ve had a serious injury, the bullet missed the vital organs and you’re lucky it didn’t fragment. We need to make sure it doesn’t start bleeding again, you’re safe here.”

The doctor sat down and looked over the chart. Enid could tell she was trying to approach a delicate topic. She imagined her making the same face a lifetime ago. The doctor finally spoke.

“I noticed when we had you on the table you had a lot of scars. Did your parents do that?”

“My dad used to beat me and sexually assault me when I was young, he stabbed me left me for dead in a snowbank. My mom has never hurt me. That’s why this gun shot, it’s nothing I barely notice.”

“Have you had counselling about what your father did?”

“No, I don’t need that. I’m over it. World’s a shitty place with shitty people. And sometimes the shitty people are the people who are supposed to look out for you. I don’t need to whine to someone about that.”

Enid waved her hand.

“I also noticed the tattoo. That must have been painful. Looks new. Did your mother let you do that?”

“I do what I want. She can’t control me. So, no she had nothing to do with that.”

“It is Yakuza is it not?”

“How do you know that?”

“I grew up in Japan, did a lot of work in hospitals there before I moved to Canada, I have seen my fair share of Yakuza tattoos. Enid.”

“So what?”

“So, I can tell you have had a hard life, harder than you let on. I worked on the officers they brought in with you. A normal sixteen-year-old girl doesn’t do that to people. You should really consider counselling. But to answer your question, I will be recommending to your mother we keep you here for about a week, if your wound improves and seems to be healing then we’ll discuss outpatient treatment.”

“See, you said recommend, but you and I both know I can refuse treatment.”

“Well, no, your mother can refuse treatment for you. You’re a minor. Look I can tell your injuries were not tended to by a real doctor, this isn’t the back alleys of Japan, we don’t stitch you up and send you on your way.”

A few hours later Eyre popped her head into the room. Enid glared at her.

“Get me out of here, now.”

“Umm the doctor says you need to stay for a week at least.”

“She can say that all she wants, but you can refuse treatment and get me out of here.”

Eyre dropped her voice to a low whisper; Enid matched her volume.

“Well, you haven’t healed yet something is wrong. I mean maybe we should keep you here.”

“Of course, I haven’t healed yet, I didn’t let myself heal.”

“We can do that?”

“Yes, it’s a pain in the ass, so get me the hell out of here so I don’t have to spend a whole night in pain focusing on not healing.”

“But why?”

“Oh, I don’t know I come in on deaths door, massive blood loss and all of a sudden poof no bullet hole, that’s not strange for a normal person, is it?”

“I guess that’s a good point.”

“Seriously you’re 800 years old.”

“Hey only 700 something.”

“Does it really matter after the first century?”

“Okay I’ll get you out of here.”

Eyre left the room and Enid heard an argument in the hallway. Eyre soon returned with the doctor from earlier.

“Enid, you need to stay here.”

“No, I’m fine and I’m leaving. Mom you signed the release, right?”

“I did.”

“I’m going to call child services; You do understand that I’m a mandatory reporter.”

Enid had lost all patience by now.

“Well, you can keep me here against my will and I will fight you every step of the way, while I’m using up a bed that could go to someone else who needs it more. Or my mother, who has the means can take me home, get a private nurse and arrange for a doctor to do a house visit. I’m fine, I told you. Just mind your own business.”

Enid used every ounce of her force of will to stand up and look like it didn’t hurt her at all. The doctor threw up her hands and walked out.

“That as rude Enid she was just trying to help you.”

“Look I’ll apologize later; I just don’t want to explain a miracle.”

Enid put on the clothes that Eyre had brought in and walked out of her room and down the hall head held high. When she finally reached Eyre’s car, she collapsed into the seat holding her stomach.

“That hurt, a lot.”

“You know, I’m realizing that even though I will never have to change your diapers, you’re still a crotchety old woman.”

“Flatterer.”

Eyre shook her head and started the car.