“Joan?” Gabriel sounded a little timid as he came into the kitchen.

“There’s coffee for you.” I said coolly, still a little peeved with him, just on principle, given that we’d had an argument.

“Thank you.” He poured himself a cup, and sat down at the table, but remained quiet.

After a couple of minutes, I got the muffins that I’d been baking out of the oven, and put them on the table. “There.”

“Thank you.” The elf said quietly, and began to eat. I poured myself some tea, and sat down at the table across from him, sipping it quietly. “Aren’t you going to eat?”

“I will when you’re done.” I replied, tracing the rim of my teacup with my finger.

“You don’t have to wait for me to finish…” he frowned.

“I know.” I shrugged.

It was quiet for a few moments. “I’m sorry I shouted at you.” He said quietly, breaking the silence, looking down at his clawed hands, and proceeding to retract them, and then push them out in a nervous sort of way.

Looking away from him, I sighed, my annoyance with him starting to slip quickly away. “I’m sorry I yelled too.”

“I had it coming.” He laughed a little weakly.

“You did.” I agreed.

“At least we can agree on something.” He said as he stood.

My anger at him had waned enough that I wanted him to stay. “You’re leaving?”

Gabriel paused, “Crime doesn’t wait for us to eat breakfast, I’m afraid.”

“I guess not.” I sighed, feeling a little lonely already. “I would ask to come with you, but I need to dust the whole house today…I’ve been avoiding it all week.”

“I forgive you, then, if that’s the reason that you can’t come along…but I’ll be back before teatime. I’ll be bringing a suspect back with me to interview, if you want to sit in.” The elf’s bright, fanged smile brightened the room.

“Okay.” It was my turn to smile, even if it was just a small one. I was glad that he wasn’t going to be absent when I went to sleep that night, as was often these days. I got up to see him to the front door, and made sure that he remembered to put on his overcoat, since it was a cool day, and he could be absent-minded sometimes. “Be safe.” I told him.

“I’ll be fine.” He assured me, adjusting his collar, and then teased, “Don’t let any strangers in.”

Gabriel hesitated as he started to reach for the door handle, then turned back towards me. Reaching out, he took my hand, and kissed it gently, then quickly put on his glamour, opened the door, and took off down the street, not waiting to see the look of surprise on my face as I held the hand that he’d kissed to my chest.

It wasn’t until I started to shiver from the cold that I had the sense to close the door again, and go about my day. But he occupied my thoughts the entire time that I dusted the house.

--

True to his word, Gabriel was back by teatime. The door slammed suddenly as he entered, making me jump, and the detective stumbled into the kitchen, his glamour dissolving as he did. “What’s wrong?” I asked, blinking, seeing that he was in a rather disheveled state, his clothes were covered in splotches of mud, and he had some minor scrapes and bruises on his hands and face.

“I-I told you that I would be bringing back a suspect to interview, right?” the tall elf said, sitting shakily down at the table, clearly affected by whatever had happened.

“Yes, you did. Where’s the suspect?” I asked, confused

“Dead.” Gabriel replied, shaking his head, and putting a hand to his forehead, I saw that his knuckles were a little bloodied, as if he’d scraped them on something.

“Dead?” I exclaimed, reaching out and taking his hands in mine. I pushed healing magic into him, to take care of his minor injuries. “What happened?!”

“He…received a bullet that was meant for me, I think.” He said softly, looking around the room and shuddering.

“What?!” The fact that we’d argued the day before was suddenly gone from my mind as I realized that I was every bit in love with him as I’d ever been, and was now terrified for his safety.

“We were walking towards a carriage, meaning to return here for our interview when it happened. He was a tall, thin fellow, and we both had dark hair, or rather my glamour and he had similar hair, and our coats were the same color, navy is a common coat color, after all…” he paused, taking a breath, then continued. “Anyways, there was a shot, and the man crumpled to the ground. I didn’t see anything, I’m ashamed to say, but I was still standing in the middle of the street, and was nearly run down by a passing carriage, then pushed down by people running away from the scene of the shooting.” His face was pale, and his eyes alert, flickering this way and that. “It has to be connected with this M, I just know it…this man was supposedly a lowly member of M’s crime organization, or had some knowledge of it, and I had convinced him to speak with me.”

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“M again?” I cried, squeezing his hands tightly, even though I’d ceased to use magic some moments earlier. “It’ll be the death of you, Gabriel! You promised you’d be careful!”

“I was careful! No one knew of our meeting, we were discreet in everything that we did!” he sighed, his fingers shifted, now curling around mine.

“What are you going to do?” I asked, my voice a little choked. I was suddenly able to be at ease with him. Or would have been at ease, if I hadn’t been so frightened.

“I’ve already done it.”

“What?”

“I sent for Myles. Our safety here is my immediate concern. As soon as I had some words with the police, I sent word, through my street-network, to my brother about what happened. Unless I'm mistaken, he will turn up here at some point, and probably sooner rather than later.”

“What are we going to do?” I asked him, scared.

Gabriel tilted his head to the side, studying my face for a moment. He kept hold of my hands with one of his, but reached out carefully with the other, and stroked my face. “We are not going to worry. We are going to stay here, in the house, where it’s safe, and wait for my brother to come. And like I said, we’re not going to worry. Not just yet. The time for worrying will come. But it’s not now.”

“I…feel like the time to worry is now…” I protested, feeling frightened as I leaned into his gentle touch.

“I am not grievously wounded, and am really no worse for the wear, and you are safe, and whole. That’s all that matters.” His voice was firm and reassuring. “And my brother is undoubtedly on his way here as we speak. Now, how about we have some coffee and tea?”

“Yes, yes of course.” I stood, wiping my hands on my apron, “I-I think that’s in order.”

“Let me help.”

“No, no, I can do it by myself.” I muttered, busying myself with lighting the kettle, but my hands were shaking so badly that I dropped the matches. They clattered to the floor, and I stood there for a moment, staring at them, then I burst into tears, upset and frightened, regardless of what Gabriel had said.

“Joan, sweetheart,” his voice was quiet. I felt his hand alight gently on my back, as he stood next to me, “it’s going to be alright.”

“H-how can you be sure?! Someone just tried to kill you!” I sobbed, hiding my face with my hands, embarrassed that I was crying.

“You forget that not only am I elvish, and thus fairly hard to kill, I can use magic as well. You’re a mage too, for that matter.” He snapped his fingers, and a little flame alit upon his thumb, and he used that to light the stove.

“O-oh…I hadn’t thought about that.” I blinked, feeling stupid.

“I can do better than that, too.” The handsome elf waved his hand over the matches that were scattered across the floor. Much to my astonishment, they flew into the air, and back into the box, which settled neatly back into its spot on the shelf above the stove.

“Oh.” I shook my head, “I…I’m an idiot.”

“No, you’re not.” Gabriel’s voice was soft as his hand came to rest on my shoulder. The elf bent, sending his pristine hair cascading a little into my face, and planted a kiss on my forehead. He was warm, and very gentle. “You’re not an idiot.” Reaching out instinctively, I caught his shirt, and pulled myself against him, which caused a quiet, surprised, “Oh.” to escape him, but his arms came up around me, pulling me closer, holding me tightly. “It’s alright, Joan. We’re going to be okay.”

“But what if we’re not?!” I whimpered, feeling rather pitiful and frightened, and unable to help it. “I don’t even know enough magic to keep myself safe!”

“I’ll teach you more magic.”

“Right now?” I asked, feeling hopeful.

“We haven’t the time now, I’m afraid, I can hear the telltale squeak of my brother’s personal buggy from down the lane. He'll be here in moments, but as soon as we have the time, I promise that I will teach you more magic.” He murmured.

“Oh.” I started to pull away.

But he held me a moment longer. “No…not just yet.” His voice was soft. After another brief moment, he sighed, “He’s here.” Gabriel took a step away, and I turned, resuming making coffee and tea.

I heard the front door open, and then close. “I came as soon as I received your message. What happened?” Myles’ voice inquired.

Gabriel relayed the story to his elder brother as I finished up, and brought the tea and coffee to where they sat at the table. Myles had allowed his glamour to drop, letting his true elvish nature show. “And then you returned here and frightened poor Joan to tears, I see.” Myles observed.

I sniffed, “He did, sir.” I wasn’t ashamed of my tears, not anymore. I loved him, and it had upset me that his life had been threatened.

“Indeed.” Myles was quiet for a moment as he poured himself a cup of tea.

“Wh-what are we going to do?” I asked him, still feeling a little timid of his elvish self. I’d gotten used to Gabriel’s, but Myles still intimidated me.

They were opposites. Gabriel had light eyes and hair, whereas Myles’ had the darkest shade I’d ever seen of both. And though they were both pale, Myles' hair and eyes made him seem paler in comparison to his little brother.

“You are going to do nothing.” Myles said in a mild tone, but his eyes were troubled, and his mouth was a grim slash. “I, on the other hand, have arranged for you to travel out of the city, where you’ll hopefully be safe until this has blown over, or M and the crime syndicate have been brought down.”

“But I can help you!” Gabriel protested.

“You’ve helped plenty already.” Myles’ tone was earnest. “You need to go and be safe. While you remain in the city, your lives are in danger.”

“Joan’s as well?” Gabriel was clearly upset by this.

“I’ve no doubt that they’ve been watching you, now.”

“I would have noticed if we were being watched!”

“These people are very good at what they do. This M is no one to be trifled with.” Myles’ voice was now stern. “No, you and Joan must leave the city as soon as possible.” The elder Locke brother stood, and put an envelope on the table. “These are tickets for a train that will take you two into the country. Where you go from there is your own decision. I suggest you either travel all the way home, to elvish lands, or you go visit Mrs. Hudson and her sister, they would welcome the company.”

Gabriel nodded slowly, and stood. “Joan, go pack your things.”

“Gabriel?” I was even more scared now, having heard that my own life was in danger.

“Go pack, love.” His voice was soft.

“Y-yes sir.” I dashed from the room.