They were still arguing several hours later as the sun dropped low in the sky and evening fast approached. At least I assumed they were still arguing, there was plenty of shouting going on but I had been unceremoniously banished to another part of the great house. To say I was annoyed was a vast understatement.

Sephtis, a name that seemingly inspired strong feelings in the three of them. I had no idea why, but I would find out. That was for certain. Of course, I had no real plan of how I would find out, but determination to do something was always a good place to start or so I had found.

I sank further into the upholstered armchair, my foot tapping an absent beat on the polished floor. It wasn’t the most comfortable chair I had ever sat in, but I’d decided that staying in it meant that I wouldn’t wander around the room and break something that I couldn’t possibly afford to replace.

The room I’d been banished to was absolutely filled to the brim with expensive objects that seemed to complement each other in an aesthetically pleasing way, even though they were all different. Whoever had decorated obviously had great taste and an eye for detail.

When I thought back to my little bedsit with the beginnings of damp showing in the corners of the walls. The clothes bunched up and tossed to one side until I could visit Evie and use her washing machine, rather than the launderette which cost money, and the general dinginess it held. I was a little embarrassed, to say the least.

Since no one seemed to be coming to check on me anytime soon, I pulled out my mobile and after several minutes of debate with myself. I turned it on. A short wait for it to come to life fully and it began to beep as message after message was delivered to the inbox.

Most of them were from Evie of course. The earliest ones asking why I wasn’t going to meet her, why I wasn’t responding, why I wasn’t at my bedsit. The tone changed then to, why were the police knocking on my door, why were the police looking for me and so on. Repeated requests to call her back as soon as possible and then finally a text from work.

I snapped off a quick text to Evie promising to call later and explain, then set my phone down and sighed. It wasn’t like I needed the job anyway. Except to pay my rent, buy the occasional meal and the booze that helped me drown out the nightmares. Crap!

“Sorry,” Marie said as the door opened and she stepped through. “Those two will be arguing for a while yet.”

“What’s going on?” I asked, pulling myself up so that I wasn’t looking quite so slovenly.

“It’s a long story and not mine to tell,” she said with a pensive look towards the far room where the two men argued still. “All I can say is that you gave them the last possible name they would have wanted to hear.”

“Sorry?”

“Not your fault dear,” she said and plastered on the bright smile of a woman who had long practice in putting on a brave face in front of guests.

“Not sure what I’m supposed to be doing,” I said with a wave at my phone. “Seems I have some trouble back home that I need to sort out but I’ve no idea where I am.”

“Oh don’t worry about that,” she said as she waved her hand before her as though swatting at flies or swatting away my problems. “You can stay the night here and listen to them argue or you can come with me and visit some people.”

“What people?” It was hard to keep the suspicion from my tone and from the way her smile tightened, I guess I’d failed. It’s just someone had tried to kill me once already today and that was the second attempt in two weeks, which was two more than I’d had since that night all those years ago. I felt slightly justified in feeling suspicious.

“Why, people like you,” she said and clasped her hands together before her. “Shadowborn.

“Sure,” I said with undisguised eagerness and Marie beamed. To meet others like myself, to not feel so freakishly out of place. Well, that would be a rather pleasant turn of events.

I followed her out to the driveway. A silver BMW had been parked beside Abe’s ratty old van and Marie gestured for me to get in. It smelt almost brand new inside and I had a sudden realisation of what people meant when they talked about that new car smell.

The other woman smiled as she pulled on her seatbelt and started the car. She looked pointedly at me until I reached for my own seatbelt and then with a nod, she set off.

“Where are we anyway?” I asked as drove along the driveway and turned left out of the gate. The opposite direction to the one we’d come earlier.

“Near Ilkley,” she said as she kept her eyes fixed firmly on the road.

“Oh, I know that place,” I said. “It’s a spa town isn’t it?”

“Yes, lots of tourists visit us,” she agreed. “Peter and me, we tend to avoid it these days. Too many strangers.”

“He doesn’t seem to like people,” I said and she let out a bright peal of laughter.

“Oh no, he certainly does not,” she said. “Most old hunters are like that.”

“Hunter! Like Abe?” I asked as I thought back to the scrawny old man. He’d looked barely strong enough to hold himself upright, let alone fight monsters.

“Of course dear. We both were once upon a time, not for many years now though.”

I appraised the older woman as I digested that. Without sounding like a total bitch, she didn’t look the type to have been fighting monsters either. She saw me watching her and her smile became a grin.

“It isn’t hard to know what you’re thinking young lady,” she said and heat coloured my cheeks.

“Sorry.”

“Not to worry,” she said. “I was much like you once. Young, brash and unable to see past the ‘now.’ That changes though.”

“It does?”

“Sometimes events happen that make you realise what’s important and when you lose that… well, that changes you too.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. The pain in her voice was unmistakable and no matter how curious I was as to what had happened in her life, what tragedy had befallen her, I wasn’t going to press.

“Nothing to be sorry for, dear,” she said but didn’t elaborate and we spent the rest of the car journey in silence.

It was fully dark by the time we were back in the city. Not Leeds, the city I called home, but Manchester. With a population of half a million people, it was an easy place to get lost in. I’d considered it myself many times over my troubled teenage years.

Marie drove through the streets with confidence. She obviously knew them well and had travelled them many times. I settled back and stared out the window, watching the people walking by.

Friday night in the city was a raucous time. Students from the university in short dresses that barely covered their ass would be out looking for a good time. Drinks with friends, dancing and maybe meet a guy to exchange hot, fevered kisses and maybe a little something more.

Men and women, freed from the daily grind of their working week, perhaps with a babysitter at home to watch the kids, they’d be out too. Stop for a meal with friends or maybe just date night together. A night free from kids and responsibility where they could have a drink and watch the younger people around them as they reminisced about the fun they had when they were that young and stupid.

Thousands of people, hitting the bars and clubs, the restaurants and takeout joints. A veritable orgy of fun and laughter that I had never experienced.

By eighteen, I’d given up on ever being normal. My latest stint at the asylum had shown me that things would never improve. They did eventually, but at the time, I’d considered it hopeless. A lifetime of dead-end jobs in between bouncing in and out of the nut house.

How could I ever keep a friend, let alone a lover? Evie, for all her compassion, would eventually have enough. She’d find someone and settle down, she wouldn’t have time for that crazy friend who constantly drew her away from the life she was building.

No. I’d looked ahead and seen a lifetime of misery and pain and decided I wasn’t strong enough to take it. Beaten down by life and the horrors it contained, I’d left the waitressing job in the café without looking back. I’d gone home and prepared myself for the end.

The blade I used was sharp enough. I’d placed it against my wrist and with one quick movement, I watched my life bleed out. I’d already cancelled my utilities, sent the last rent payment to my landlord and even left a note, apologising for the mess. I thought I’d had everything covered but hadn’t counted on my friend.

Evie had never said why she’d decided to drop by. She had a key to my place, to every place I’d ever lived in fact, and had long since given up on knocking. So when she let herself in and saw me on the bed, she’d leapt into action.

Instead of wasting time looking for something in my messy room, she’d stripped off her white blouse and wrapped it tightly around my wrist, staunching the flow of blood as I’d protested weakly. Holding it in place with one hand, she’d reached up and pressed down on the pressure point on the inside fold of my elbow. She’d explained later that doing so, slowed the flow of blood. Then she’d screamed at the top of her lungs for help until one of my neighbours heard and came looking.

My stay in the nut house after that was for a little more than six months. Endless talking about why I had done it while pumping me full of drugs to keep me placid. When I was finally released, she was waiting for me.

I could remember vividly the shame I’d felt at seeing her. As the memories rushed back of Evie finding me at my worst and of having once again, to save me. I’d been an endless burden to her and I prepared myself for the condemnation and the simple statement that it had been the last time. That it was time to part ways.

Instead, she’d embraced me warmly as I sagged in her arms and the tears had threatened to come. She held me tightly and said, “You’re coming home with me.”

Nothing could ever repay that kindness she did me. She’d taken me home and put her life on hold as she helped me rebuild mine. She’d pushed me to find a job, helped me set up a place to live when I was ready to do so and shown me more love and kindness than I had known since the night my parents had been murdered.

That had been my last attempt. I’d decided that I would build a life to show her that I could. That I would live and prosper, because I refused to ever be a burden to her again. I’d tried. It’d been nearly two years since I’d been back to the asylum and things had finally been looking up. Then, two weeks ago, a werewolf had attacked me and my world had changed.

Now, I thought as I looked at the woman driving. Now, I was headed to meet some other people just like me. Born from a union of demon and human, with powers that made us special. Powers we could use to help the Hunters find and kill the real monsters. To protect and help people. That, I realised, was something I really wanted to be able to do. To help them as Evie had so often helped me.

“Looks like they’re in,” Marie said as she pulled up alongside a terraced house and peered through the window before looking across at me. “You ready to meet some friends?”

“Yes,” I said softly. “I think I am.”