Anna dodged the first spell, then leapt forward. She let her enchanted military coat take the second curse, so she could get closer to the sorcerer. Anna knocked the wand out of his hand, then her fist found him right at the chin and the man collapsed into the brick wall behind him. He dropped the bag with the stolen jewellery and looked at Anna with an offended face, but then he got a knee in his stomach and went down, next to his bag.

The other sorcerer sent a curse but missed and it exploded next to Anna's head, sending wall-pieces everywhere. She turned around on her heels and saw that the woman was standing on a manhole cover. Anna smiled and catapulted the sorceress into the air. She let out a scared little shriek and landed a couple of metres away with a loud thud and a bad-sounding crack.

'Me arm, you broke me fuckin' arm, ow!' she complained loudly.

Sirens cried somewhere close, and Anna knew that it was her cue to leave. There were times, very rare occasions when the police treated her as one of them, but they mostly just tried to arrest her. So she looked around, spotted a building under renovation and used the metal frame of the worker's footpath to launch herself up until the second floor. From there, she climbed the ladder: she could have jumped, but why waste her energy?

Anna flopped down on the flat roof, with her back against the tall handrail. She was invisible for anyone down the street now. It was a four-story building, one of the many that were making up the street. She wasn't sure where she was exactly: Zone Four or possibly Five. She chased the self-appointed Bonnie and Clyde for a while.

Anna reached for her face, and the fae helmet opened up. She took it off. She was sweating and breathing hard because this little encounter was her third fight that night. Ever since the Commissioner died, crime flooded the city. Everyone saw an opportunity, bands were fighting for territory, the break-ins tripled up and Anna's little phone rang at least twice a day.

Of course, the city had an acting commissioner on duty but seemed like the old vampire held back all the Hell with his mere presence. He was a terrifying and powerful man, and even though Anna never agreed with his methods, they very clearly worked. Now that he was gone, everything went south. Not even the SRU or what remained of it was enough to keep trouble in the bay.

Anna took out a flask and opened it. The potion in it was very expensive and especially bad tasting, but it worked: Anna didn't sleep in three days, and only the disgusting liquid and her limited regenerating power kept her moving. Even that slowed down: she was injured so many times that her body started to refuse cooperating.

She wanted to take a big sip, but the potion ran out halfway through.

'Damn it,' she murmured in her own language. She shook the flask to make sure every last one of the drops fell into her mouth.

A week ago, when she first heard that Jenna Carano and her team managed to arrest The Priest, she was actually happy. Sure, she felt a little left-out: Jenna got to take on the masked creep while Anna had to fight with a bunch of horror creatures. She never wanted to see anything like those things again. Criminals were bad enough, an angry vampire could be scary and sorcerers did some screwed-up things every now and then, but nothing came even close to those little monsters. It was a miracle on its own that nobody died: the battle they had that day was the most brutal fight Anna had ever seen. In fact, if Anna and the five other vigilantes she had convinced to help wouldn't show up exactly in the right moment, there would have been casualties. She saved some French guy's life who was cornered by the flesh golems, for example.

Anna put her mask back, and it hugged her head, becoming a helmet. She heard the police down the street as they took the two robbers into custody. Good, she thought. Fewer dangerous idiots on the streets. She wished that those kinds of morons were her only problem.

The vampire attacks Anna tried to investigate became more frequent, too. Not like she had the time and energy to continue her search after the Russian man and the redheaded girl. She still hasn't decided whether she will find a trustworthy police officer or will sell her soul to the man at the Crossroad. Crossroad was the name of the pub where the guy could be found, and that didn't make him less creepy by one bit. Despite all the bad feelings, Anna considered this option: it seemed like she could get much more information in that way. Who knew more about the dark businesses going on than someone who already acts as the Prince of Darkness? Teaming up with a detective seemed more or less reasonable back when the Gentleman suggested it, but it was a long time ago. The police had failed miserably in every possible way since then, losing the last bits of trust people had in them.

But everything on its own time. For now, Anna had to get more of the disgusting potion so she could patrol the streets for a few more days. But it wasn't something anyone could buy. One needed permission to use it, and those things didn't come by easily: they only gave them for sorcerers who had a very, very good reason to use something like it. First responders, doctors, police, etc.

So Anna took out her phone and dialled the Medic, this mysterious healer who helped out the vigilantes from time to time. It was a little after two in the morning, but the man picked up immediately and he didn't sound sleepy at all.

'It's Ghost,' Anna said. 'I need more.'

'I just gave you half a litre three days ago,' he answered. 'It should have lasted for a week or more. This stuff will kill you if you drink too much, I've told you.'

'You are right,' Anna replied in an innocent voice. 'I will just go home and sit this one out. I'm sure there will be someone else willing to risk his life for strangers around.'

The man sighed.

'Meet me at the usual place, in an hour.'

'Make it one and a half, ' said Anna. 'I'm out far.'

The man didn't answer, just hung up. Anna put her phone back into her inside pocket. She stayed put until she felt the potion working; her tired muscles filled with new energy, the fog lifted from her mind. For the next couple of hours, she will be the good old Ghost again.

The police and the robbers were long gone when she descended from the rooftop. She didn't want to waste the precious energy she had, so she switched on the GPS on her phone, checked where she was and called a cab. If she took off her mask and closed her coat so it covers the bloodstains, she will be just like anyone.

'And whaddya do out here in this our, sweetheart?' asked the cabby once she was in the back seat.

''Twas a house party ya see,' she answered, trying to sound like she was drunk.

'Okay, okay,' the driver said. 'You not gon' throw up in here, are ya?'

'Nah, I never puke,' Anna said proudly. 'I'm used to the drinkin', ya see,' a weird accent just came out, she didn't even know what kind, but the driver was satisfied with her answer nevertheless. He switched the radio on and they caught the last couple of beats of some unbearable music from one of those genres Anna always mixed up with one another.

The light traffic was almost entirely made up of the different kinds of taxi services and public transport. A DJ on the radio started to read the freshest news.

'Sebastiano Carano continues to criticise the Mayor's office over the chaos on Halloween's Eve, stating that without his daughter and her civilian friends there would have been much more casualties of the already dreadful evening. He also denied every rumour about his daughter, demon hunter Jenna Carano would be one of the city-wide known vigilantes or that she had any connection with them. Miss Carano, as the Mayor-candidate said, was a civilian advisor of the late commissioner, alongside UCL professor Robert Montgomery and his younger brother, Benjamin Montgomery, sons of Lord Patrick Montgomery, who is, ironically, one of the biggest political opponents of Mr Carano.'

'What a mess,' said the driver. 'I don't even know who the bad guys are here anymore. A few months ago news said the Montgomery brothers and that Carano girl were vandals, if not terrorists... Who can follow this?'

Anna just shook her head with a confused expression on her face, which was only half-fake: she had a hard time to follow what was going on with those weirdos, but she at least knew for sure that they weren't the bad guys.

She got out a couple of streets away from her destination, then looked around to find a dark corner. She put on her mask and the pretty girl wandering around where she really shouldn't, turned into the Ghost again. She still had a good twenty minutes until the rendezvous. She decided to walk. The night was cold, so it wasn't weird that she had her hood on. Not like there were so many bystanders looking at her at three in the morning.

The "usual place" was a little park, or more like a small square of green with a few trees and some bushes deep in Camden Town, under a railway bridge, railed off with a tall metal fence. It was supposed to be closed for the night, but Anna didn't think that anyone actually checked if it was.

The Medic arrived sharply at the time they agreed on. He was a tall, thin man with long, dark hair tied up in a ponytail. He wore either actual scrubs or a pitch-black suit, always with a blue surgical mask. Today was suit-day, and he looked kind of strange and a bit scary with his mask and the old fashioned bag in his hand. Like some serial killer on the loose from a horror story.

'Are you injured?' he asked as a greeting. He was standing under a tree, hiding in shadows, when he started to speak. He had a slight accent but Anna wasn't good at identifying them.

'Probably, but I'm gonna be okay by the morning,' she answered.

The Medic stepped closer.

'Are you sure? I can take a look if there is something…'

'No, it's okay,' cut in Anna. 'I just need the potion.'

The Medic sat down on a bench. He put his bag next to him.

'That potion is dangerous. When was the last time you slept?'

'A couple of days ago,' shrugged Anna. 'Listen, I get it, I need to lay off of it soon, but I really need one more portion, okay?'

The Medic shook his head. Anna couldn't see his whole face but his dark eyes were full of pity.

'Just as I was afraid of. Seems like you are already addicted to it. I think you should go home and rest.'

Anna looked at the bag. Its frame was metal, she could just fetch it and take what she needed. It's not like she didn't plan to pay for it or something… The man must have read her body language because he placed his hand on the bag.

'Okay, listen,' said Anna. 'Maybe I am addicted to it, yeah. But it's not a bad thing, right? I mean, I'm helping people. I'm out fighting. And I can do it much better with the potion.'

'Yes, but if this thing gives you a heart attack, you won't be able to help anyone. I'm sorry but as your doctor, I have to order you to stop.'

'I can take it,' she said. 'I will regenerate.'

'No,' the man shook his head again. 'I'm sorry.'

Anna reached out and the bag flew into her hand. The Medic jumped on his feet and took out a magic wand from his inside pocket.

'Please, don't do this,' he said quietly.

'You don't understand,' answered Anna. 'You are a sorcerer. But I need power, I need to be better!'

'Why?' the Medic asked.

That took Anna off-guard. She always wanted to be better, more, stronger. She wanted to help. Because she felt she had to, but she didn't know why. It was kind of an axiom, something she never questioned: she had to do it.

'Because… That's the right thing to do,' this sounded weak even for her.

'Undoubtedly,' nodded the man. 'I should know, I'm a doctor. But why? Why do you think it's the right thing to do?'

Anna felt a little confused. The potion was already wearing off and she needed more to keep her brain going.

'Doesn't matter,' she said and opened the bag. There was a phonendoscope, a couple of boxes of aspirin, some antiseptic gel, a sewing kit for wounds, bandages, some gel for burnings… No potion.

'Where is it?' asked Anna, digging into the bag.

'I didn't bring it,' the man answered. 'And I will tell you why you are doing this, why do you risk your life every night: because of your goddamn ego. Because you need to be the hero. You think that you, and only you can keep this city running, the people safe,' he took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to calm down. 'I know doctors like you, they are burning, they are on fire every day, every hour, they are saving lives and taking risks and you know what happens to them? They will burn out and take up a GP office to treat patients with the common cold or retire before they are fifty. All that potential wasted because of their ego. Because they couldn't slow down.'

Anna shook her head. She understood what the man wanted to say, but she knew that she was better. She knew her limits. She only needed to be a little bit better than that.

'I know a man, he is not a doctor but the same as you,' continued the Medic, 'you know where his goddamn ego brought him? He almost died. And now he cannot help anyone, because he lost his magic. He cooked his own brain because he wanted to do more. Because helping some people wasn't enough for him, as it isn't enough for you. He wanted to help everyone, he wanted the applause and the love of the crowd. And now he is just a ruin of what he once was, let alone what he could have been, yet still incapable to see that his magic was never the thing made him special. You are the same. Nothing but hollow, fragile ego and self-doubt.'

'I don't…' Anna didn't know what to say.

'Go home,' the Medic said tiredly. 'Sleep it off. You will feel like shit but with your healing, you will be over it soon, two, maximum three days. Enough time to think about your reasons.'

He grabbed his bag from Anna's hand and walked away.