I heard voices, one I recognized as Scott with a very sarcastic tone and the other was a woman with an equally sarcastic tone but it sounded angelic. They were talking about something but I couldn’t hear what. The only words I could hear were “mask” and “disappeared”. I opened my eyes to see a strange light hanging above me. It was similar to a lightbulb but those hadn’t been invented yet so what was it? It blinded me momentarily before the woman whose voice I heard before stuck her head between me and the light. “Ahh, you’re finally awake.” she said in a calm voice, unlike the sarcastic version I heard earlier.

“Where am I?” I asked, trying to sit up but instead was met with a lot of pain. I had forgotten I had been stabbed so I laid back down with a groan and a chuckle.

“I see you’re feeling better already.” Scott said sarcastically with a shit-eating grin plastered on his face.

“Well, fuck you too.” I replied as we both began to chuckle. The woman in the room whom I now realized wasn’t wearing the normal clothes that women of this era would normally wear but in fact, was wearing a brown suit.

It was similar to a businessman or a banker, only the coat was hanging on the wall and she had no tie. She was standing beside me rolling her eyes at us. “I don’t believe we’ve met, I am Lou Barret.” I said extending out my hand for a handshake as I was laying down. It wasn’t very proper but I couldn’t sit up so this was the best I could do.

“Elysif Avian.” she said shaking my hand. “I am surprised, you’re the first person I have worked on who didn’t ask if I was qualified to heal them because of my gender.” she turned to Scott. “You bring in some weird people.”

“I don’t see why your gender would make you any less qualified?” I said.

“I like him.” Elysif said to Scott.

“Whatever, can you fix him or not?”

“I am a witch, not God. I can only heal him to a point, he will need rest to heal what I cannot.”

“Okay, do what you can. Kid, I am heading to Mama Louise’s to tell her what happened and to Iscarat’s to see if he can track the changeling. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.” he said before walking out the door.

After a few minutes of watching Elysif mix ingredients in a bowl, I decided to speak up. “Why did he call you a witch? Aren’t you doing what normal doctors do by making medicine?”

She continued with what she was mixing and said. “Doctors make medicine from what they find in the realm of humans such as plants or minerals, I mix parts of magical creatures and the supernatural to make instant cures. I also throw in a little magic to enhance the medicinal properties. If I wanted to I could cure you with magic alone but I would be so tired from it I would sleep for a week.”

“I see. So that’s the difference. And how long do you think it will take to heal?”

“I have already stopped the bleeding. As for fixing your damaged organs, it will take a splash of this potion I am brewing and a few days of rest.”

“Well, that’s good.”

“Now a question for you. How did you meet Scott?”

“He saved me from some changelings and I killed one of them so he took me under his wing I guess.”

“You killed a changeling without ever knowing they existed in the first place? That’s impressive.”

“Ya, well now I know that a ton of monsters exist and so does magic. It’s a lot to take in.”

“I would expect that it would be. I was raised in a witch's coven so I knew about all that stuff from birth. I guess I can’t relate.” she said standing up from her workspace and facing me. I didn’t realize it before but she was quite beautiful. She had short brown hair that went to her shoulders and freckles. Her eyes were brown but seemed to glow orange in the light of whatever that device was. Her mouth was small and her lips were naturally a bright red that faded perfectly with her tan face. She was like an angel.

“Well, it’s not too much of a shock, aagh” I shrieked as she dumped the contents of her potion onto my wound. It burned like fire on a carpet.

“Maybe, I should have given you an anesthetic?” she asked herself quizzically.

“Ya think.” I shrilled sarcastically as the burning sensation continued. Then it stopped. I sat up without any pain and looked over my wound. It was gone! Why am I even surprised anymore, I found out that magic was real. At this point, I could meet God and not be fazed.

“You scream like a bitch.” she said whilst badly attempting to cover her smile with her right hand. I take back what I thought, she is no angel, but the devil.