The next morning the whole idea about working together looked rushed and reckless for Anna. Even though she was the one who suggested it, she woke up with doubts. The Ghost worked alone. Sure, she teamed up with other vigilantes occasionally, but that was it. Helping a Montgomery or a Carano was a statement, it meant something she never wanted to get behind.

On the other hand, Anna thought while pouring milk on her cereal, it looked liked there was no Montgomery or Carano anymore. Those two were so obviously in love that they could have written it on their forehead. Besides, it didn't matter what they did before: now they were the citizens of London and they needed help. Help that only Anna could give them.

She sat down and started to eat. Later on, she had to test the newest exclusive Playstation 4 game but she was looking forward to it. In fact, she liked days like this the best: she didn't have to go to the office and listen to a bunch of guys and their slightly sexist comments. Being the only woman in the workplace could be hard. Especially if your column is traditionally considered as manly.

Anna was mostly satisfied with her career: she wanted to be a reporter and she became one. Well, a glorified blogger, really, but it was pretty close. She wasn't even 30 and her name appeared under articles that were read by a couple hundred of thousand people online. She got to try new games, new accessories and the latest smartphones. Sure, it wasn't exactly why she wanted to work in the press, but it was fun, mostly stress-free and it paid the bills. What else would she ever need, right?

Of course, when she started to study media at the university, her plan was to change the world. She wanted to be one of those investigative reporters, writing books and articles that can cause real change, expose social injustice, maybe even saving lives. But it turned out that nobody actually cared anymore. Is someone very rich has done something unforgivable? Well, life's hard, isn't it? Sure, that poor girl has to live her life knowing the man who raped her is free and happy, but hey, you cannot jail someone big and important for a misstep, right? Everyone can have a bad day.

Anna realised this early on. She couldn't use the system against them, because they were the system. They owned the police, the press, the law. She learned her lesson right away, after her first big fish: you cannot beat them. She wrote a denouncing story about the CEO of a bigger tech company, and the very next day the company bought the whole news site she was working for. Her story and all the evidence she collected disappeared, her desk was emptied and she was asked to leave. Anna turned to other newspapers and TV channels, but nobody helped her. Nobody wanted to take the risk, because they had families to feed.

Then she understood: if someone cannot be taken down by the law, they had to be handled by someone outside of it. From that moment on she didn't bother with facts and stories, she used her fists. It felt good. Wasn't the path she wanted to walk, but it was the one she needed to. London didn't need another failed reporter: London needed a hero. It needed someone the rich and untouchable would fear. So she became one.

Well, she tried. Turned out no matter how enthusiastically one beating the crap out of bad guys, it was a Sisyphean task. There were too many of them. But Anna tried her best anyway and she was able to look into the mirror.

'Wassup, girl?'

Anna looked up. Her cereal became a soggy mess while she was pondering. One of her roommates stood in the doorway, a very tall and curvy Hungarian girl named Edit. Anna always made sure to avoid her countrymen while looking for a room, but when she rented this one she was out of time and couldn't be picky. Hungarian people tended to be either way too friendly or real jerks to each other and Anna could do without any of those. She didn't need nosy friends, and she already had enough enemies.

'Just got lost in my mind,' Anna said in their own language.

'And what's his name?' for some reason Edit assumed that Anna had a very vivid and action-packed sexual life. Sure, she sneaked out on some evenings and got home with bruises but usually in a very satisfied mood. That could have meant that she had some kind of BDSM-adventure, and ever since Edit accidentally got a glimpse of Anna's vampire-hunter leather corset on laundry day, she was convinced that this was, in fact, the case.

'There is no name, I was thinking about work,' Anna said.

'Sure, work,' the other girl giggled.

Anna sighed and got up to throw away her ruined breakfast.

‘Listen, I'm gonna go to this party tonight, wanna come? There will be Hungarian music and food and men…' Edit explained to Anna on several occasions that in her opinion Hungarian girls should only date Hungarian boys because that was the order of nature. Not like she had anything against the rest of the world, but they weren't Hungarians, after all. This kind of light racism was so common back in Hungary that Anna didn't even notice it until she moved to London.

'Sounds great,' lied Anna, 'but I already have plans.'

'Well, bring your "plan", too!' Edit said. 'Those weird British boys need to eat real food once in their lifetime…'

'There is no British boy,' answered Anna tiredly while she washed her bowl. 'It's a work event.'

The girl had so many "work events" in the past on days when The Ghost showed up in the city that she was very thankful about Edit's simple mind: a sharper roommate would have figured out her secret months ago.

'Well, suit yourself,' Edit shrugged.

Anna sneaked up to her room before Edit could have come up with another idea of them hanging out. Edit was a nice girl in general, but she needed to be consumed in small doses.

The game Anna had to review was a somewhat boring zombie-killing flick with nothing new to offer and full of unnecessary jump-scares, but it was quite hard so she had to focus on it. That was good because in that way Anna wasn't thinking about the evening that waited for her with Jenna Carano and her boyfriend. She still had a hard time wrapping her head around that, but it was none of her business after all. In fact, it was for the best, probably: Anna's aghast heterosexuality couldn't take another strike from Jenna's magnetic attractiveness.

Around five she ate and went to sleep, so she could attend the meeting well-rested. Carano explained her situation and warned Anna that there will be fighting, given that the compass can find the vampire named Magda. Apparently, Jenna and Robert Montgomery already had two encounters with Magda or with her friends and none of them were happy occasions. Anna knew that beating up bad people was not the generally accepted idea of having fun, even if she couldn't understand why.

She woke up a little after ten. There was no text on the small phone, which was good. She went to the shower then ate again because she noticed a long time ago that using the abilities of her helmet burned away her energy very quickly. Then she put on her "uniform", the black cargo pants, black hoodie, a brand new military coat (the last one was destroyed in a vicious fight against a bunch of ghouls; those beasts appeared more often than ever before) and the fae mask. It opened up and hugged her head. She was ready: time to go.

The second part of October brought the real autumn weather and the nights became very chilly. Anna was happy with her new coat: it had a special spell that kept the fabric warm all the time. It cost an extra hundred pounds, but it was worth every pence.

Her journey was long and it would have been boring too if she didn't choose to jump-fly all over the city until she reached Camden Town. She was a little early but Montgomery and Carano were already waiting for her. They had a beautiful, although a little too skinny blond woman with them and a man Anna recognised as Benjamin Montgomery, Robert's younger brother. That was not part of the agreement. What was going on? Maybe it was all a trap after all? When Anna got home yesterday the first thing she did was to ask the compass whether she can trust Robert and Jenna, and the little arrow pointed to the word "YES". Was the compass omniscient? It was never wrong so far.

'That's not what we agreed on,' she said, descending from a nearby rooftop. It was almost midnight on a weekday, way after the tourist season, so the short street they met was empty.

'We might need some backup,' said Robert. He didn't move when he heard Anna talking, and he was the only one: the blond girl and Benjamin took out their wands faster than thought. Even Jenna raised her arm, just to lower it again after a second.

'Hello!' the blond girl reached out to shake Anna's hand. 'I'm Rose, big fan of your work.'

'Erm… Thanks,' Anna was glad that they couldn't see her face right now. She never met a fan before: if anything, the opposite happened often. She could handle half a dozen drunk sorcerers whose idea of being a good citizen was to curse her unconscious and gave her to the police (that particular example happened to her twice, but she managed to escape both times), but she never met someone who actually was remotely friendly.

The younger Montgomery shook her hand too.

'All right… Shall we?' that was Robert. Today he almost looked like a normal person with her jeans and a jumper, but he was carrying his walking stick to ruin the picture. The others dressed for the fight: comfortable clothes and defensive accessories on everyone. Jenna wore her big leather jacket, like always.

'Okay, so… As I told you yesterday, I don't really know how this thing works. I had some research and apparently, nobody else does. But if I'm not wrong, it is supposed to be able to show us what we want to know. For example… Who is the strongest sorcerer around?'

The little arrow turned and pointed to Jenna. Anna looked at Robert.

'Really? Not you?'

'Oh, yes, definitely,' the man nodded. 'She always had been.'

'This is fun,' said Rose. 'Now show us who is the hottest one!'

The arrow was circling and then stopped pointing on a wall. Anna switched to see the metals around and as she suspected, the compass showed a radiator inside the building.

'I think we are gonna have to be a little more specific,' shook her head Anna. 'Here, take it. Ask if it can find Magda.'

Jenna took the compass and did as she was told. The answer was a yes.

'Is she nearby?' she asked then. Another yes. 'Is she alone?' No.

'That's wicked,' said Benjamin. 'Hey, can't we find The Priest with that too?'

'I'm afraid not,' shook his head the older Montgomery. 'We need a connection, something that was his. Well, apart from the compass itself: I assume our new friend already tried that and failed.'

Anna nodded. For some reason, The Priest remained hidden before the compass.

'I don't know much about magic but I had the feeling that this thing has a kind of mind on its own, and it doesn't want to go back to that man. I have no idea if that's possible, actually.'

They were walking now, Jenna in the front, reading the face of the tool, the others after her.

'It's a possibility. There might be a demon or even something of a demi-god of sort trapped in it. Not like The Goddess, mind you, but an actual spirit with a limited clairvoyance ability. I've read about those, even though humans only ever learned how to control spirits that are linked to the elements, scientists think there are other types.'

He talked like a teacher but like a good one. It was the first time ever Anna didn't see him as a colossal douchebag. What a nice change, she thought.

'I see. Either way, you are welcome to try after this, but I don't think it would help to find the bastard. I spent more nights trying than I care to admit.'

It was true: for a while, Anna was obsessed with the idea and was flying around the city pointless until the first rays of dawn, hoping that on the next street the compass will finally pick up a lead. It never did.

Unlike now: they followed its navigation to an old pub. It didn't serve customers for a long time: most of the windows were covered by planks and the dirty walls were full of graffiti. The building stood alone on the bank of the Regent's Canal, just a few steps from the water.

'Ready, Professor?' asked Jenna with a smile.

'Never said that before but I would be happier if Marcus would be here. And Ayana, too, for that matter.'

'We can wait until they get back from France but Magda might disappear again by then,' said Jenna.

Montgomery shook his head.

'No, let's end it finally.'

Anna knew that Marcus was Robert's friend, but she had no idea who Ayana was. It didn't matter, though.

'What's our plan?' she asked.

Jenna looked at the front door and snapped her fingers. The door broke off its hinges and fell into the building with a very loud "bam".

'Simple. Straightforward. I like it,' nodded Anna and took out a couple pieces of strong but bendy metal strings. They were ideal to wrap around people's ankles if they tried to run for it.

'Let's go!' tattoos glowed on Benjamin's forearms as he stepped forward.

Jenna gave the compass back to Anna. She pocketed it and they walked up to the entrance together.

The fight was very, very short. A sorcerer stepped out of the door and sent two knives towards Robert, but Anna made them stop. While she did that, Benjamin made a ball of dirt from the ground under their feet, as big as a head of a man, and shot it at the guy. He got it to the stomach and collapsed with a weird little "ugh" noise. He fell back into the lobby of the pub and Rose hit him with a stunning spell before he hit the floor.

The next one came from above, jumping out of a window of the first story of the old pub. His plan must have been to land on Jenna, but Robert Montgomery waved with his cane and the vampire ended up in the canal across the footpath instead. He had no time to get out because Benjamin froze the water around him.

The last one was a black guy with dreadlocks who must have done something to piss off Benjamin because he didn't bother with magic, just punched him in the face then grabbed his shoulders and kneed him at a body part where it was hurtful even to watch getting kicked. Anna was thankful for a moment that she could never been hurt that way.

The woman named Magda tried to escape through the same window her friend attacked before, but she didn't stand a chance. Before her feet reached the ground, her ankles were already tied together by Anna, a wall of roaring fire emerged in her way thanks to one of the Montgomerys and she was rendered motionless because of Jenna's curse.

'Well, that was very anticlimactic,' said Rose. 'You used to be more fun in fights, Carano.'

'If you have so much energy left, I can put it in good use…' Robert cleared his throat. 'Erm, by getting that bastard out of the water, of course,' she ended. Anna grinned behind her mask and shook her head as she went to tie up the guy with the dreadlocks.