Antonia Bogdan had a great morning. She woke up early, with a ton of plans for her day off. First, she cleaned her room and went to the shared kitchen to cook for herself something healthy, but not too healthy. One of the upsides of having a day off in the middle of the week was that she didn't have to fight over the kitchen with her roommates.

Later on, she wanted to video call her parents in Romania, then she wanted to go shopping for shoes, and eat out with a friend of hers. For the evening she planned a classic Netflix and chill-type sleepover date with her boyfriend if he can leave from work early. Catching up with their favourite shows and maybe catching up on other favoured activities they didn't have much time lately, too.

Of course, nothing happened according to the plans.

Antonia was a manager at Costa Coffee, and when one of the girls called sick not long after 10 o'clock, she knew that her day was screwed. That happened a lot, and she wasn't even really mad. In her opinion, a good manager had to have their team member's back, no matter what, so she put on her uniform, some make-up and a smile, then off she went.

Not like she had a real choice: the upper management didn't care if a shop had to run with a short staff, and her conscience wouldn't allow her to let her team down. Besides, she could still grab a bite and make it in time for a movie night after work. The shoe shopping had to wait though, but it was just for fun anyway.

It was a slow day, probably because of the weather. Antonia couldn't tell if it was going to rain or not, and she could imagine that wasn't something that encouraged people to leave their cosy homes. The only guests were the ones that lived in the huge building in which the shop rented the place at the ground level.

She didn't mind: there was always something to do in the coffee shop, things to clean, deliveries to sort out, new team members to teach. She had a new girl from Spain on the shift with her, who worked really hard, was nice and smiley and did not speak English whatsoever. The company hired anyone, regardless of their command of the English language or their work experience, which was telling a lot. Fortunately, the Romanian language wasn't that different from the Spanish one, so they managed to communicate somehow.

Even so, when the little Spanish girl came back from cleaning the tables outside and said the police was there, looking for Antonia, she was sure that it had to be a misunderstanding. Why on Earth would the police be looking for her? She didn't do anything. Sure, she smoked weed, like once a month or so, when someone brought some to a party, but nobody cared about that, right? People were doing it on the street in broad daylight and no one ever bat an eye. And sure as hell that even if the police cared, they wouldn't send four very nervous, plain-clothed and armed detectives to arrest her.

'Are you Antonia Bogdan?' asked the only woman, a short, black girl who looked way too young to be a highly ranked police officer, but she showed a warrant card that looked just fine to Antonia. According to that, the girl's name was Detective Inspector Amal Ganem.

'Yes, I am,' she answered confused. 'What is going on?'

'How old are you?' the officer asked instead of answering. Her three colleagues spread out in the shop, two asking customers to leave, one standing at the door. They all had guns, which was very unusual from the police in England, and they also carried extendable batons, with Runes on them.

'I'm 27, but…'

'Where are you from?' the question was sharp and quick, not leaving any illusions about who is the only one asking now.

'Romania. But what…'

'No time. Is your real hair colour brown?'

'Excuse me?' Antonia was lost. She dyed her hair blond since she was 19 or 20, and couldn't imagine any scenario involving the police when that might have been important.

'Is your natural hair colour brown?' repeated DI Ganem. 'Yes or no?'

'Yeah, yes it is, but what the hell is going on?'

'Guys, it's her. Kumal, fire up the car. Miss Bogdan, I need you to grab everything you need right now. You have to come with us. Leave your phone, you are not allowed to have one from now on. Don't text anyone.'

The man named Kumal left the shop. Antonia crossed her arms in front of her chest and shook her head.

'I am not going anywhere until you explain what is going on here. I have rights!' She wasn't exactly sure what those rights might have been, but she assumed one of them was that the police can't just kidnap her.

'Sure,' nodded Ganem. 'The short version goes like this: there is a serial killer, who thinks that you are the descendant of an ancient sorcerer and your blood will set some horror cliche free. The guy is apparently immortal and clinically insane, also probably one of the most powerful sorcerers alive. He already killed three people in the last couple of days and sent a fourth one into the hospital. Now if you wish to wait for him here, that's up to you, but in case you want to live you might wanna grab your stuff and get going finally!'

Antonia shook her head again and even smiled a little. That wasn't true. Couldn't be. That was a joke. Someone set this up, someone with a weird sense of humour. Maybe her boyfriend, David. Yes, it must have been him. That idiot! She really needed to stop dating British guys, they always had way too much free time and energy with their office jobs… But he will have even more now because she will give him the longest sex-withdrawal anyone ever got in the history of relationships… She could lose her job because of this prank, for God's sake!

'Listen, honey, I don't know what did David promise you for this, and you are very convincing but I need to work here, okay? So either order something, now that you've already scared off my customers, or get lost. And tell David that he doesn't need to come over tonight…'

The fake officer looked at her in disbelief, eyelids narrowed.

'What? What David? Miss Bogdan, we really don't have time for this. The man could be here at any minute. This is real.'

'Male approaching, the description fits but no mask,' said the man at the door. He unclipped his gun holster but didn't take out his pistol yet. The other one, an older, broad-shouldered detective extended his baton, and the Runes started to glow in the spells. 'He turns. Looks like a false alarm. We should go anyway, Amal.'

'Time's up,' said the detective and seized Antonia's arm. 'Let's go!'

Antonia shook off DI Ganem's hand and took a step back. She wished that she had her wand but company policy said that they cannot use magic in front of the customers, so she left it in her locker at the staffroom. Not like she could have done anything against four other sorcerers, she hadn't even cast a fighting spell since the self-defence class in high school.

'Another man approaching,' said the same officer. 'Description fits, mask on. I repeat, mask on. It's him.' Now he took out his gun and put the safety off. The radio on the woman's belt started to talk in the voice of the fourth officer, who waited in the car.

'I have eyes on him, I repeat, I have eyes on him. What's our move?'

'Don't reveal your position,' answered the older officer. 'We are bringing the girl.'

Antonia didn't know what to do. The whole thing was so unreal, so unbelievable, and yet, the fear and terror she could see on the policemen's faces seemed real enough. So did the incoming spell what destroyed two of the outside tables with one go.

'Fire back!' ordered DI Ganem and the officer at the door did so.

The first shot sounded authentic as well, deafening in the small shop. The little Spanish girl who had no idea what was happening now got out from behind the coffee machine and ran to the staffroom with a terrified face.

They had another door back there where they used to put out the rubbish at the end of the day. Using it seemed like a wise idea for Antonia at that moment.

'No hit,' said the man with the gun. 'I repeat, no…'

All the big windows of the shopfront now exploded with a loud crack, but the shards didn't fall on the carpeted floor. Instead, they started to fly around, like a glass tornado, and before anyone could have just raised a wand or say "Look out!", the glasses reached the officer. Blood and flesh poured all over the remaining walls, the ceiling, and the people standing there. He died silently, only having enough time to understand what was happening to him, judging by his face. Antonia wanted to cry and throw up and faint at the same time and hysterically tried to tear her blood-stained apron off, while DI Ganem dragged her through the shop floor to the staffroom. She had her baton extended in her hand now, even though Antonia didn't notice when she took it out.

'We need a pickup at the back door, Kumal, can you hear me? Kumal!'

The radio cranked.

'Understood,' said the officer. His voice was surprisingly calm.

The staff room was empty. The back door was half-open, and they burst out into the piercing cold rain.

'Run, run, run!' shouted the woman and Antonia ran, across the ground where the residents of the building kept their cars, and out of the open gates.

The car stopped right in front of them. Its side has a long ripped mark, almost as if something huge with claws attacked it. It was a black something, Antonia had no idea what type or brand. David would know, she thought inconsistently.

Detective Ganem shoved her in, then turned around and sent something shining and very loud directed to the man in the plain white mask who was walking towards them. The spell did not affect him even though it hit him so hard the door behind him broke off its hinges from the aftermath. Antonia moved on the seat so she could see that the man was holding the old cop's bloody, severed head by its hair. The head was alive and tried to speak which it couldn't do without lungs.

Kumal, the Indian looking young officer let the window down and shot the entire clip at the man in the mask. Runes glowed on the gun. Antonia was sure that some of the bullets hit the man, but they barely slowed him down. While the policeman was shooting, Amal climbed in, and then Kumar stepped on it. The car was surprisingly fast given that it looked like something a family would use. They left the street in seconds, dodging the light early afternoon traffic.

'What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck?' every time she repeated, Antonia's voice became louder. She didn't even realise, but she was grabbing the small golden cross she wore in her neck.

'Give me your phone. Now!'

She obeyed, and the policewoman did something with it, which caused a quiet crack and some sparkles. Smoke came from it then the woman threw it out of the window.

'Hey!' Antonia protested angrily.

'Shut up! Kumal, take us out of here, now!'

The engine growled and the car accelerated even faster than before. Amal Ganem closed her eyes and started to cry silently.