There was nothing but pain. It was all around me, all encompassing, within me. I took a breath and it was like I could feel individual molecules of air entering my lungs, stabbing me as they moved through me. I exhaled and only felt pain. I could feel every beat of my heartbeat, every muscle, every bone. Pain was coursing through my body as if it was carried in my blood and I could feel every vein, almost like I had liquid fire going through them. I was in so much pain that even opening my eyes seemed too much, so I laid there and tried to breathe without crying. But even that was too much and if screaming wouldn’t hurt me more, I would have probably screamed. I wished to be unconscious, I wanted something to knock me out, however even if pain was enough to wish for death, my mind was awake.

I felt someone caress my arm and it startled me so much I jerked away and screamed as my whole arm throbbed. Screaming did, as I suspected, hurt more than it was worth in relief, so I closed my mouth and screamed internally.

“Sasha!” I heard my cousin say, way too loudly.

“You are awake.” I wanted to protest, to just let me rest, but she was not having it. She spoke quickly and I couldn’t understand what she was saying. Finally after a few minutes of gibberish, I opened my eyes, even though it caused me pain.

I was in my room, and Mia was walking around nervously, putting blankets away, folding them over and over, talking about nonsense. Finally I gathered the courage and wanted to say something, but my throat closed up and all I managed was a squeak. Mia finally noticed that I was trying to communicate, so she sat down, hands in lap.

“Are you ok?” She said, slow enough for me to understand.

“No,” came out of my mouth. Mia leaned over with a cup and took out an ice chip and put it on my lips.

“I was told that your throat might hurt too much because of the screaming, so I’m not sure if you can drink, but I made you some ice chips.” Oddly enough that helped and soon I was able to ask for an actual glass with a straw. Once my throat was sufficiently lubricated I felt well enough to talk.

“What happened?” I asked. Mia looked away.

“You died.”

“Uhm, what? I answered.

“After we channeled the magic, to contain the familiar, magic burned you out. You lit up like a bonfire, a human bonfire, and you just stopped breathing.” She was softly crying now, gasping for air.

“Why am I alive? Or should I say how?” I asked quietly. She touched my hands.

“The amount of magic that we called for, the same magic that burned you up was enough to heal you as well, but I wasn’t sure I was fast enough. I didn’t realize how hurt you were at first and I thought you were just passed out, but then I realized it was more than that. I tried so hard to heal you and… You just wouldn’t wake up. I called Penelope, who brought Tim, and he said your soul was not there so he couldn’t do anything. He tried calling you as a dream walker but he couldn’t find you.” I closed my eyes. Well that was unexpected. Mia gently patted my forehead.

“Tim said that you will either return, or die. I healed your body but you had to decide whether or not to return.”

“I guess I decided to come back, huh.” I said, more to myself than to her. I do remember an odd dream about walking down the road with people. I decided to tell Mia, in case she has any idea what my dream could mean.

“I remember a dream. I was walking down the road and people were there and they seemed so familiar and it was maybe family? I wasn’t scared or in pain, I think I was quite happy. But then I found a road and I had to decide which path to go…” My thoughts were all scattered. Mia suddenly hugged me as tight as you can hug a person who is laying down, causing me a lot of pain. I winced and just really wished she would let me go.

“You must have been in between life or death and you chose life!” She cried but for some reason all I felt was annoyance.

Pain was slowly leaving my body, one muscle at the time, and in mere three days I was pain free and physically I felt better than ever. Problem was, something was wrong anyway. I felt disconnected with Mia and she wouldn’t speak with me about it. Finally after three days of avoidance I managed to corner her and sat her down.

“Mia, you need to talk to me.” I said while she was putting groceries away. She turned around surprised and yelped.

“What are you doing out of bed? You need to rest!” She was trying to avoid the conversation and back away, but I was not having it.

“Something is wrong between us, you know it and I know it and I think we need to talk.” I sat down at the counter, looking at her expectantly. She finally stopped with the groceries and looked at me.

“I think I know what’s wrong but I don’t know how to talk to you about it.” That surprised me.

“What do you mean?” She sighed and replied.

“After you… passed out, the dark familiar… well…” She was talking slowly and with several pauses. It was more annoying than anything else, so I tapped the counter, making the gesture for her to hurry up. She finally took a deep breath.

“It bonded with me and now it's my familiar.” It was my turn to silently stare and think.

“So you have a familiar now?” She nodded tearfully.

“What does that mean exactly?” I asked. She took a bracelet from her hand and gave it to me. Bracelet that used to be a colorful creation filled with several precious gems, turned black. As soon as I touched it I felt the dark energy lurking behind. Mia whispered to me, as if she was scared someone was listening.

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“I’m trying to find out what exactly it is and how it was made so maybe I could release it, but for now it is bonded to me, and I am worried that if anyone sees me they will suspect I released it into the world. Especially since all the magic that it gathered was used in healing you!” I looked away from the bracelet and stared at my cousin. Several things she said didn’t really make sense, like how can a familiar be hers now, why does she even call it a familiar and what happened to its magic?

“I don't understand. I thought that the magic you gathered and called forward with the ceremony was used to heal me. That's what you said when I woke up?” My dear dear cousin literally squirmed and somehow that made me feel worse.

“I… I had used that magic to make the protective circle around the house. After the darkness bonded with me and disappeared into the gems, we saw you laying there and I thought you were fine. So I casted the circle first.” I swallowed. How long was I laying there dead, before she finally noticed? I could feel the resentment growing, but I couldn’t let it show on my face. Wanting to be done with the conversation I offered the only solution I could think of.

“You should ask Sebastian.” Mia gasped, surprised, but didn’t say anything so I continued.

“He has been very helpful in the past and we asked for his help already. Maybe if he can examine the creature he can tell us more about it.” I offered the bracelet back and she took it gently from my hands and put it back on her wrist.

“Maybe ask Penelope and Tim. I know they have elders, shamans who might have an idea what this is, but I would think it’s more of a witch problem than anything else. This thing was stealing magic and it sounds way too familiar with the shadow that I fought, so I think it's most likely the same kind of magic. Which means, it's most likely the sorcerer and Sebastian would be best with that kind of problem. Unless you plan to tackle it on your own?” Mia found her voice shortly.

“I should have talked with you sooner. I’m sorry. But you are right and I will listen to you. I will ask him tonight if he can come visit my shop and take a look at the bracelet and maybe put this familiar to rest.” I wanted to talk more, but Mia was ignoring all my attempts so I finally let her be.

I was bitter and resentful of my cousin. I always put my life on the line for her, do everything to keep her safe, and she wouldn’t even check on me after using me as a conduit to battle an unknown entity that sucks magic out of witches? Instead of feeling thankful that she saved my life and healed my body, I felt angrier until eventually I could feel the rage burning in my soul. I don’t express my emotions often, but I knew that if I don’t shift soon and hunt and destroy something with blood, I would hurt someone I love. I needed an outlet for my rage and I needed it soon. However, part of me was also scared. I could always feel my cousin at the back of my head, like a little bird twittering about how she was feeling, but ever since I woke up that was all gone. From the moment I woke up that night when I was eight and went into the forest to look for her, she has been in my head, and now suddenly she is gone? I had a bad feeling about this and while one side of me was raging about how much I have sacrificed for her, the other side was worried sick that something was wrong with me and that dying made some irreparable damage to our bond.

I was laying on the couch watching one of my favorite shows when I heard screaming coming from the parking lot. Someone was screaming my name so I opened the door and ran to the parking lot, expecting trouble. I found Sam, covered in blood crying and trying to carry Tim in my direction. I picked Tim up, noticing he was actively bleeding and pretty close to death. I wanted to ask what happened, but as soon as I came close enough I knew. Both Tim and Sam smelled like rotting flesh and death. I took Tim inside the apartment, hoping that Sam could walk by himself, and put Tim on the couch. I had to find the source of the bleeding so I took off his shirt, and gasped. He had several gashes on his body as if something massive took a swipe at him. I was in the kitchen, looking for clean rags when Sam finally stumbled up in the living room, closing the door by leaning on it. He sat on the chair and mumbled. I didn’t listen to his mumbling because I was too busy thinking about what I need to do in an emergency. I finally had enough rags and I even found one of Mia’s healing concoctions. I ran to Tim, hoping I wasn’t too late. He was still breathing, so I sent a quick thanks to the Gods.

I took a deep breath and started working on his wounds. I applied the healing liquid to the wounds, hoping it would disinfect them, while wondering if he would need stitches. I looked at Sam, who was looking paler by the second. I covered the rag with the liquid and put it across Tim's wounds and decided it's time to talk to Sam.

“What happened?” I said as I leaned over, looking at his wounds. Sam pulled his shirt up and he had a big bruise in the making on his chest.

“A boy and his girlfriend have gone missing while hiking in one of the parks, so the elders have decided that it was time to hunt the beast down. Tim was wanting you to come with, but your cousin was saying you are still recovering from the ordeal you went through and that you need to rest. But it all went wrong. I showed them where we found the creature's arm and I followed the scent from there on and we found its nest.” I cursed under my breath. I cursed Mia for making the decision to not tell me about it, I cursed Tim for not telling me directly and I cursed the whole damn situation.

“He knew we were coming and he got us, one by one. He fucking picked me up and threw me against the tree and I blacked out. When I woke up Tim was the only one left there, so I picked him up and carried him to the car… I don’t know what happened to the rest.” He started crying. I ran to the room to look for my phone and immediately called Mia. She, of course, didn’t pick up. While looking over Sam, I called Penelope.

"Sasha, this isn't a good time," she started saying but I immediately interrupted.

"Penelope, listen. Sam and Tim are badly hurt and I can't reach Mia to heal them. Do you know where she is or do you have someone else who could heal them?" Penelope gasped and started cursing.

"Mia is here, talking to my grandmother. I was sent out because it was a private conversation, but I'll interrupt. How serious is it?” I looked over at the guys.

“If you don’t bring Mia here soon you might want to call a vampire who would share blood or go to the ER. Tim needs stitches and Sam was thrown into the tree so he probably has several broken bones. I have to go after the creature, Sam said there might be other survivors.” I hung up before Penelope could protest and looked over at the guys again. There was simply nothing more I could do, especially since Tim's bleeding seemed to have almost stopped.

“Sam, can I trust you to keep an eye on Tim?” I asked the young wolf who was gripping the rag with all his might.

“Why?” He whispered with horror when he saw me getting dressed. Instead of answering his question, I looked him in the eye and replied.

“Where is the nest? If there are any survivors I need to get there now.” Sam was so pale and he looked even younger than he actually was.

“You can’t go alone,” he whispered with tears in his eyes

“I won’t go alone, I have back up on call, I promise.” He swallowed.

“Ok, but you have to be careful. His nest was in the Grotto caves. But not the one that has a tourist attraction built in, it's the one on the south side of the mountain a couple of miles away. But if you park your car at the Grotto, you should be at the nest sooner than we were. We parked at Wolf Creek Park because that’s where we saw it last…” His voice was getting softer and softer until he couldn’t speak anymore. I patted him on the head.

“You did good my friend. Don’t worry about it, I will take care of it. Mia and Penelope will be here soon and they will take care of you and don't worry about me. I will be back in the morning.” I glanced at Tim’s wounds one last time and I was satisfied with how they were healing already, changed into my hunting clothes and left.

In the car I made one last phone call, to a friend who owed me a favor and drove to the Grotto tourist attraction. Time to release that rage that has been bubbling inside of me and crush some skulls.