After raiding a small-town thrift store, I’d found some new clothes and was having an enjoyable meal at a diner before continuing my trek east. Until a familiar witch sat down across from me.

“This spot taken?” Raeni asked hesitantly.

“Not at all. I enjoy company.” I replied with a smile, taking a sip of my coffee.

“So, what brings a little city witch like yourself all the way out here? I was under the impression that your coven was based in the city?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

Raeni frowned at me.

“I actually grew up around here.” She replied, reminiscently.

“While we’re on that topic of my Coven, Silas gave me the highlights of what happened and we have a favor to ask.” she said back to her exuberant self.

“Do tell,” I said as I took another sip.

“Okay so after my grandmother found out about my recent... eccentricities in the big city, she sent me out here as a go between for the local pack and our coven.” Raeni paused as the waitress brought over a plate with bacon and eggs for her.

“They’ve been having some duppy problems lately and my grandmother mentioned you by name. She was very impressed with the inscription pen’s craftsmanship and demanded I tell her everything about you, which included your shadowy friends.” Raeni rambled as she drowned her bacon and eggs in syrup.

“That’s just wrong. On so many levels.” I grimaced as I stared at her plate.

“Don’t be judgy.” she said, a lot braver than when we first met.

“So, Duppy are what exactly?” I asked.

She paused, mouth full and almost choked, having to down most of her water while coughing.

“They’re what we call dark spirits.” She said, clearing her throat, her eyes watering.

“What do you expect me to do?” I asked, curiously.

“Uhm, eat it? Isn’t that what you do?” She asked.

“I don’t even know where to start with this one.” I thought at a loss for words.

“Do you have an address?” I asked reluctantly. She handed over a pre-written slip of paper with her mouth stuffed to the brim with syrup and eggs again.

“So, what can you tell me about it?” I asked the already jittery witch, now hopped up on a sugar and grease high.

“It’s bad. They thought it was cancer to begin with. And no, Lycans don’t get cancer, or any kind of sick really, which is why it was weird. The pack thought she’d been poisoned.” Raeni explained.

“Pretty quick jump to poison, isn’t it?” I asked, getting a worried look from the waitress as she refilled my cup.

“Not when you’re an alpha that picked an inter-species mate.” Raeni said with a gossipy reveal.

“I thought things like that cleared up around here a long time ago?” I said, looking dismayed.

Raeni stopped mid-shoveling and looked up at me before realization appeared on her face.

“No no no.” she said, dropping her spoon, waving her hands in front of her.

“Not like that. She’s a Tigris, and he’s like Lycan royalty around these parts.” Raeni whispered across the table.

“Bordering packs were expecting him to take one of theirs as his new mate. It caused a bit of a rift in the pack, too. A lot of pack members left after that. He tried to rebuild, but then this happened.”

“What happened to his old mate?”

“Plane crash.” Raeni answered, looking somber.

“Nicest lady you’d ever meet, except if you acted up, in which case she’d put you in your place. She used to teach at the local school.” Raeni said with a sad chuckle.

“Don’t mention her while you’re there.” She looked up and said warningly.

“So why ask me for a favor? Why not just witchy it away?” I asked with a wave of my hand like a wand.

“First of all, we don’t use wands. Second, Manbo steer clear of dark spirits, we don’t seek them out. And third, my grandmother would like to make a good impression on this pack, apparently their bloodline is very strong.” she said looking down at the shadow I cast on the floor, then shivered slightly as it appeared to move without me doing so.

“Well, thanks for the info,” I said, paying for the meal with the last of my cash.

As I left, she called out without thinking or caring about the many other people sitting in the diner.

“Just don’t kill any of them. They’re good people!” she yelled before I left the diner.

“Great, as if my outfit didn’t already scream drifter with a body count.” I thought, mortified.

***

It took me a couple of hours of getting lost and asking for directions, before a local finally took pity on me and dropped me off at the end of a dirt road with a mailbox

After walking down the road for about ten minutes, I felt something off and realized with a smile.

“Oh god, I’m being stalked.” I had to fight back a laugh at the thought as I felt them clumsily circling me.

I’d been walking for twenty minutes at a leisurely pace to let the dangerous predators keep up without stumbling over each other. Sometimes I even stopped and pretended to tie my shoes to give them a chance to reorganize.

After thirty minutes, I started hearing the occasional growl, some sounding a lot less intimidating than others. And some even downright adorable.

“How young are these kids? They sound nearly prepubescent.”

After passing a bend in the road, a massive clearing came into view, easily four miles across, with a small river bisecting it.

Numerous buildings were strewn across the property, ranging from barns to small cottages, but at the center stood an old and proud two-story farmhouse. It wasn’t some sprawling mansion, but it was by no means small either.

“Guess that’s where I’m heading.” I thought as I walked out of the tree line towards the house.

“Hey! Wait up.” A female voice called out.

I looked behind me to see a freckled woman in her late twenties jogging towards me wearing a three sizes too large damp pair of sweatpants with the waistband rolled several times to keep her from tripping, along with an equally too big damp T-shirt she was tying up to the side, ending up with an exposed midriff. She had red hair bordering on orange, tied hastily in a ponytail.

“Thank you for doing that. They need the practice and there aren’t a whole lot of deer out there willing to pretend to tie their shoes every five minutes.” She said with a grateful smile.

“Kinda hard to do with hooves, I’d imagine.” I joked. Eliciting a wave of disapproving groans from the woods.

“The name’s Lydia Oleson.” The redheaded woman reached out her hand and greeted.

I shook it and replied, “Pleasure to meet you. I’m Aleks Titanos, but you can just call me Aleks.”

I heard a creak as the door to the house behind me opened. Turning back to the farmhouse, I saw a tall man with a thick head of hair and a salt and pepper beard. On the surface, he appeared strong and willful, but it was a facade and one I recognized.

The clothes he wore looked slept in, but the bags under his eyes and his sunken cheeks told me he hadn’t had a good night’s rest for weeks, if not months. His posture was hunched over slightly and weighed down with worry and uncertainty. He looked exhausted and hopeless.

Lydia paused as she looked up, her expression turning somber.

“That’s John, my brother.” Lydia introduced.

“You’ll have to excuse the welcome, but we’re not really at our best right now.” John spoke.

“That’s alright. I heard you were having some troubles that I might be able to help with. Raeni sent me.”

***

John had invited me inside and we were sitting in the kitchen as he went over everything that had happened when a weak, hoarse voice called out for him.

“John? Who are you talking to?” she said with a slight foreign accent.

When she turned the corner and saw me, she quickly closed the bathrobe she had draped over her warm looking sweatpants and long-sleeved shirt.

She tried to straighten herself and put on a strong face, her pride demanding not to show her weakened state. Instead, it caused her to go into a coughing fit, having to lean on the IV Stand holding the bag with tubes leading up her sleeve.

Her dark skin had a gray tone to it and was clammy with cold sweat, but when she looked back up to meet my gaze. Her eyes were defiant, her spirit burning through.

John had run forward, knocking over half the kitchen to get to her, trying to help her.

“Nala, why are you out of bed? You know you shouldn’t walk around on your own after last time!” he cautioned, concern and fear in his voice.

“John, it is bad enough that I cannot be in my true form, but the day I cannot walk around on my own two feet either, I’ll end it myself.” She said fiercely, without hesitation, more to herself than to him.

She realized what she’d said and looked to her mate, his expression frustrated and scared of losing her, fists clenched, feeling powerless.

“I am sorry my love.” she said, lifting a hand and placing it on his cheek to make him look at her.

“This isn’t your fault. You shouldn’t be apologizing,” John lamented.

She turned to look at me.

“You can call me Nala. Mr. Titanos. I’ve been told you eat duppy and other harmful creatures. Raeni can be quite the gossip.” Nala said pleasantly.

“I try to eat right, you know, enough protein, fats and incorporeal entities.” I joked. She smiled warmly at me in response and John looked grateful to see the change in her.

“How about we sit down and I take a look at you?” I asked.

***

It was evening when I stormed outside onto the porch with John, fury welling up in me at what I had found out.

She was a tigress, alright, fierce and protective. But I don’t think I’ve ever encountered someone more pure of spirit. I had barely touched her hand before being flooded with kind, soothing energy, any caustic remnants I had, ran away shrieking in horror. And her personality reflected this clearly. After spending only two hours with her, I could come to only one conclusion.

The woman was a freaking Saint.

“Mr. Titanos, what is killing my wife?” John asked desperately behind me.

“I know the surrounding packs and covens aren’t happy about your choosing Nala as your mate, but how far would they be willing to go?”

“Why do you ask? What did you find?” His expression turned dark and angry at the mention of the other packs or covens being tied to this.

“John, someone has broken off part of their soul and used it to curse your wife. That takes a special kind of hatred. It isn’t a brick through the window or a cross on your lawn. That’s a fucking suicide bomber.” I explained as I turned around and locked eyes with him.

John let out a sigh of relief at finally knowing what had afflicted his wife, then his eyes filled with fury and determination.

“Can it be removed?” he asked, fearing the answer.

“The problem isn’t removing it. It’s siphoning off her life force, slowly draining her like a tick, but it’s conscious to a degree, if it senses a threat to itself, it’ll either burrow deeper or rip whatever it can out of her and run for it, probably back to the originator.” I said, while trying to come up with a plan.

“Her life force?” John repeated under his breath.

“Unless we catch that thing and salvage what we can, she might not even make it through the night.” I explained.

“The problem is, I can only do so many things at once. If I try to keep her alive, it’ll simply burrow deeper. If I try to kill it, it’ll rip and run, killing her unless she’s stabilized, and running away with what it’s already taken.” I spoke.

“Can we track it?” Lydia’s voice said off to the side said, having listened in.

“Could we track it?” she clarified, referring to herself and the young pack from earlier.

“It’ll be dangerous. If you fight it, it’ll simply burn the energy it’s taken as fuel, and kill you with it.”

“So, it needs to be harried and corralled but not confronted.” Lydia said with a nod of understanding.

She looked at John with a gentle smile.

“We can do this.”

“We’ll need someone with medical experience there after I’ve stabilized her enough to head after it.” I continued.

“And I’ll need you there when I find it. I’ll need your help to sort through what belongs to your wife and what doesn’t. Also, I might not be able to take it alone.” I said to John, knowing it would be hard for him to leave his mate vulnerable.

“No offense.” I said, turning to Lydia.

“None taken. They’re young and this is a little out of my depth.” Lydia responded.

We both looked towards John.

“Gonna need him as an alpha, not how he is now.” I thought.

Couldn’t risk it unless someone had my back. The wolves from earlier were young, but I could feel the potential their bodies held. If John was just half of what I suspected him to be, then this might work.

He stood silently for a while before his posture visibly straightened and, as he looked up, his eyes were filled with determination.

“Go get Charly from up the road. He does house calls,” John told Lydia, sounding every bit the leader of a pack now.

“Ask him to bring a defib-unit if he has one.” I called out as Lydia ran off.

“What else do you need?” John asked.

“An iron pipe or pole about three feet long that won’t bend easily, and about twenty minutes uninterrupted.” I replied.

“The Barn might have what you need.” he said, as he took off towards it without warning as I barely kept up with him.

***

An hour later, the doctor waited in the corner of the bedroom. Nala was laying in the bed, the IV disconnected. John sat beside her, holding her hand while softly talking to her.

Lydia and I stood a respectful distance away.

Nala kissed John deeply and seemed to say goodbye. As he stood up, his resolve hardened into will so strong I could feel it radiating off him from across the room.

He backed away from the bed and nodded for me to begin. Lydia walked out to inform the pack that it was starting and to keep their eyes open.

“This isn’t just going to hurt, the feeling of discomfort will be indescribable, but you have to fight. As soon as you notice something besides me, you have to reject it with everything you've got. It is NOT part of you, it is a parasite.” I said, as Nala nodded back in understanding.

I willed up enough power to melt two inches of steel plating as the doctor behind us took a swig of liquid courage.

Then I grabbed her wrist, letting the energy flood through her body. It rushed through her like someone had electrocuted her, seeking out the foreign mass and covering everything else in an inhospitable energy.

I felt a screech in my mind as something clawed at my energy, only to pull back the scorched, ethereal appendage.

As I pushed the energy to follow the cancerous mass moving towards her heart, I felt a third will push.

It was protective and pleasant like a breeze, but absolute like the blue sky above.

Nala screamed and spasmed as the dark mass reached her heart, stopping in.

“You think killing her will stop me?! YOU WILL BURN LIKE ALL THOSE BEFORE YOU HAVE!” My thoughts threatened at it, making it pause before ripping an intangible escape path out of her body.

It took the shape of Nala but wrong, as if twisted and mixed with another person.

John stared at it confused, before noticing what it was, seeing it for the impostor it was.

It leapt through the glass of the nearby window. After passing through it, the glass seemed to pull together as if rapidly cooling, before shattering.

John moved to his mate’s side, but kept his eyes on the window.

I was fighting to keep her being from fraying, desperately knitting together what I could.

“You’ll need to clear the patient!” Charly said over the whine of the defibrillator.

“It won’t hurt me, now do it quickly!” I barked shortly.

Charly shrugged with an expression saying Your funeral.

Normally a defibrillator wouldn’t just start a person’s heart after they’ve flat lined, but a heart primed by enough energy to start a truck and the supernatural biology of a Therianthrope?

Different story.

Badump.

...

Badump,

Badump,

Her heart started beating, and I jumped straight from a kneeling position through the broken window.