A small amount of light filtered into the hole, illuminating the dust that still swirled in the air. Beside her, she could hear Chase's laboured breathing as he bore the brunt of the weight of the slab of concrete above them.

Soph's ward circled her like a bubble, also miraculously holding some of the weight that was hard against her back. She drew long, tight breaths into her searing lungs and watched blood drip down the inside wall of her ward.

"Hold on, Soph," Chase grunted. "I can hold this a while, so don't worry. I just need someone to pull it from above. Hold on."

Soph's vision swam in and out of blackness. Shards of stone cut into her palms where they were braced against the ground. She wanted to respond to Chase, but she couldn't find the words through her pain.

"Soph? Soph!"

It wasn't the first time she'd heard someone nearby calling her name since the building had come down, but this voice she welcomed with intense relief.

"Thank fuck," Chase gasped, then he shouted "ELI! HERE! WE'RE IN THE DOORWAY!"

Stone above moved slightly, showering them with dust but letting in more light.

"Chase?" Are you in there?" Eli was blessedly close. Soph could have cried if she wasn't so focussed on staying conscious. Blood continued to drip down her ward, pooling by her hands.

"Eli, Soph's here. She hurt. I've got the weight of this slab. Lift it from up there!"

"Here!" Eli hollered to someone up above. "They're here, alive. Someone help!"

Voices gathered around, then the weight from Soph's back lifted away, and a spotlight flooded their hole.

"Soph!" Eli jumped down into the space. As people crowded around. She could hear some asking loud questions, could hear the clicks of cameras. "Get them out of here!" Eli demanded, and the paparazzi were forced back.

"Soph, drop your ward. The paramedics are here."

It took her a long moment in which her vision continued to blacken, but finally she reined in her magic. Eli immediately caught her, sitting her up.

"Oh fuck," he whispered. She looked down, noted the wooden stake rammed into her shoulder, then finally blacked out.

***

For a while, all Soph could understand was pain and noise. She came to briefly in the ambulance, then again as they transferred her to a bed in the hospital. When they put the gas mask on, she surrendered to the painless sleep.

She woke in a semi-dark room. A machine beeped rhythmically by her head. Nona was at the end of the bed, head bowed in prayer. The room thrummed with magic. She drifted back to sleep.

The next thing that roused her was the TV. She cracked her eyes open to daylight. Her mother sat by the bed, though she watched the news on the screen mounted on the wall.

"It's believed that what was first reported as a bomb, was actually a supernatural battle. We've always known they live among us, but now in a dramatic act of warfare that killed five hundred people and counting, it seems the witches have risen from the underground."

Zita cursed and pointed the remote at the screen, changing the channel.

"-Unsure where Chase Rickon is now after being outed as a vampire. He was released from the wreckage with Sophia Giannopoulos who has reportedly been romantically linked to Eli Damiani, CEO of SinCorp which is the parent company of the Sinister building."

Footage rolled across the screen. A camera following Eli as he ran towards the mountain of rubble, calling her name. The footage blurred slightly, then came into focus as Eli and others heaved the great slab of stone away. Chase climbed out of the hole. Soph could see her own back, her hair white with dust. She saw Eli sit her up and saw the polished wooden stake in her shoulder, then the camera was pushed away.

"Soph?" Zita said, reaching for her hand. "Are you awake?"

But Soph wasn't ready to face it all yet. She let her eyes drift close again.

The next rousing was to Luie shouting. Soph opened her eyes blearily to find her cousin standing at the end of the bed with Stefan. She was cursing at Zita and waving a magazine.

"How the fuck did this happen?" Luie shrieked. "I'll kill that fucker!"

"It's on the entertainment news," Stefan said, holding up his phone. Zita and Luie leaned closer to watch the video.

"And in an exclusive scoop, a source close to Sophia Giannopoulos has revealed that she has a vampire blood addiction. Her connections to Chase Rickon on the night of the Sinister collapse are a little clearer now, though what still remains to be revealed is Sophia's ties to Eli Damiani. The CEO of SinCorp has still not given a statement to the media despite one of his buildings collapsing, killing over five hundred people three days ago, rather deferring press releases to his COO, Frederick Salin. Sophia's family also remains tight-lipped on her condition in hospital..."

"Did you know about this?" Zita demanded, and Soph glanced aside to see Eli step into the room. He looked haggard. He took the phone that Stefan offered him and watched the video again. Soph closed her eyes.

Finally, she woke fully. The room was dim, and she could hear nurses in the hallway outside. Someone was holding her hand, and she turned to find Eli sitting beside the bed, head bowed, shoulders quivering.

"Are you crying?" Soph croaked and Eli's head snapped up.

"Oh, Soph," he gasped, lurching up to kiss her forehead, then her cheek. She could feel the shaking of his hand as it brushed over her face. Then he let go of her and went to the door. After a few brief words, two nurses and a doctor accompanied him back in.

"Sophia," the doctor said as she checked her stats on the machine. "It's great to have you back with us." The nurses moved around the bed, checking Soph's pulse and pupils. One nurse pulled back the covering on Soph's shoulder and, stomach turning, she saw the gaping wound there.

"Looking pretty good, Sophia," the doctor made some notes on her chart then hung it back on the end of the bed. "How do you feel?"

"Like I've been staked," she groaned. The doctor laughed.

"Well, a sense of humour is encouraging. I need to finish my rounds, but I'll be back shortly. Your obs are all normal, so if they stay that way for the moment, I think your family will be very happy to see you awake."

The doctor and nurses left and Eli sat down by the bed again.

"What happened, Soph?" He whispered. She stared up at the dark ceiling, recalling in flashes the fight in the penthouse, Sierra's red eyes and intense magic. Their flight down the stairs and Adriana's words about her grandmother. Then the impossible weight of a building falling on them. She swallowed back the lump that formed in her throat.

"I don't know."

Eli lifted her hand and kissed it. "I text your mum. She'll be here soon."

***

Five more days in hospital with a revolving door of doctors, specialists and visitors and then Soph was ready to be discharged.

Her family, when they visited, were overly cheerful, though Nona was notably absent. They wouldn't let her watch TV or give her a phone - hers was buried somewhere under the Sinister rubble - but when they were forced out after visiting hours were done, she'd ask the nurses to turn on the entertainment channel then spend hours watching coverage about the building collapse and herself, her apparent cheating on Eli with Chase, her addictions and any other scandalous allegations they could come up with. Often, they replayed the footage of her rescue from the wreckage. They'd slow down and zoom in on everyone, with observation of the strength of so few people to lift that slab of stone, the speed at which Chase got out of the hole. They frequently commented on the stake in her chest. One thing Soph noticed that the media had yet to pick up on, was the ripple in the air as she let down her ward.

Eli was the only one who didn't act like a complete lunatic when he visited. He'd often creep in late at night, when every other patient was asleep and the nurses played cards at their station. He didn't talk about the gossip, and nor did Soph ask him about it, but he was reserved, and far quieter than usual. Often she'd sleep, and he'd just sit beside her.

On the day of her discharge, he arrived with Zita to collect her.

"We're going back to the apartment, Baby," Zita declared, and the way Eli's jaw worked told Soph that the two of them had argued about this. A lot. Still, they worked together to help her downstairs to a basement carpark and there they eased her into the front seat of Eli's Audi.

Zita climbed into the back and Eli started the car, though he didn't immediately pull out.

"The media are waiting for us," he said stonily, and Soph's stomach sank.

"Where?"

"Here, and at your apartment."

Soph nodded, staring out the car window as Eli drove towards the gate.

"Here, Baby," Zita handed Soph her sunglasses. Soph put them on as they drove out of the boom gate and into the waiting flock of paparazzi. They swarmed around the car and the lights of their camera flashes were blinding, even through her sunglasses and Eli's tinted windows. Eli edged the car forward, never stopping, even if paps got in front of the bonnet. Once they cleared the driveway and reached the street, he was able to speed away.

"Do you want to stop and get anything?" he asked, and Zita tsked from the back seat. Obviously another point of contention between them.

Soph took a moment to marvel at how Eli had just inserted himself into her family. All her worries about introducing him to them and he'd just had to fight his way into the pecking order himself while she'd been unconscious.

"A coffee would be nice," Soph whispered.

"Easily done," he replied. They stopped at a cafe at the edge of the city and Eli got out to order.

"I got you some new sheets, Baby," Zita said from the back. "One hundred percent linen. They're soft as clouds. Luie dropped over a few of her box sets too for you to watch. She'll come by to see you this afternoon when she finishes work."

Soph listened to her mother chattering and stared out the window. Eli finished paying at the counter, then came to the cafe doorway to watch the car while he waited for the coffee. Soph still denied her recollection of the night at Sinister, and her family seemed thankful that she did, but she knew Eli wanted to talk about it. Everyone knew witches had brought the building down, and Eli probably assumed they'd been there looking for him. But they hadn't. They'd come for her.

"We'll move over to Luie's place tomorrow," Zita continued. "It's a full moon tonight, so your Nona and her coven are finishing their protection wards on the house."

Soph felt a chill roll down her spine. Nona. Nona who hadn't come to see her awake in hospital. Nona who had okayed the Black Witch's debt to be called in. Whatever that was. Eli got back in the car and handed out the coffees.

"Are you alright?" he asked Soph. She didn't know what her expression showed, but she tried to school it and nodded. He started the car, and they drove into the city.

There were as many media trucks on the sidewalk outside her apartment as there had been by the hospital. Once more Eli was forced to crawl the car through their swarms to get to the basement. In the momentary darkness of the underground, Soph dashed away a tear.

The walk to her lift, then to her apartment wasn't far, but by the time she was inside, Soph's wound ached and she felt dizzy and out of breath.

Zita settled her into the bed then excused herself for a cigarette on the balcony. Eli came into the room, setting her hospital bag by the door.

"I got you a phone," he said, sitting beside her on the bed. He sat the box on the bedside table. "Your mum won't like it, but I know you know what's going on. There's no point in keeping you in the dark."

"Was it Marco?" Soph asked. "Was he the source?"

Eli hesitated, then nodded. "Your cousin has already uninvited his entire family to the wedding."

He sat and stared at her, grey eyes troubled. Soph thought he might broach the subject of the black witches, but when he spoke, he merely asked "can I get you anything?"

She shook her head. "I just want to sleep."

Eli kissed her then left, closing the door behind him.

When Soph woke, it was to hear Luie talking out in the living room.

"I've got beds set up. You'll have to sleep on the lounge, Zita. There's a bed for Soph, but it's only a single so Eli might just have to come and go, though I could set him up on a camp roll."

There was a pause in the conversation then Luie said in a low voice that Soph almost couldn't hear; "Has she said anything yet? I swear on the Founders, Zita, she used more than just black magic. She didn't even have a crystal to channel with. Fuck, I didn't even hear her chanting."

"No, she still doesn't remember. Doctor says it's common with trauma to have memory loss."

"I told Nona about it. She just went dead quiet. She won't even explain how we got a black witch in a light family as pure as ours."

Soph tried to sit up, gasping at the pain that bloomed in her shoulder and right down her side. "Mum?" she called. Zita appeared in the doorway.

"Are you okay, Baby?"

"It hurts," Soph groaned.

"I'll get your meds."

Zita vanished and Luie replaced her, a too-big smile plastered on her face.

"So good you're home Soph! It'll be easier once we move you into my place tomorrow. It'll be tight, but we'll be safe there. Nona's making sure of it."

Soph was saved from answering by Zita's return. Her mother helped her take the pills with water.

"Where's Eli?" Soph asked.

"He said he had to go out for a few hours. I'm sure he'll be back soon. Can I get you anything else, Baby?"

"No. I just want to sleep." and she settled back onto the pillow, closing her eyes. Zita and Luie returned to the lounge room. As soon as the door closed, Soph opened her eyes again. She reached for the box Eli had left by her bed and pulled out her new phone.

He'd already set it up for her, and she found his phone number at the top of her contacts list. She called it, pressing the phone to her ear.

"Soph?" he answered immediately. It sounded like he was driving.

"Can you come back?" she whispered.

"Of course. I'm only a few blocks away. I'll see you in a minute."

He hung up, and she stared at her phone screen. The Facebook app had been installed, and she hovered her finger over it, unsure if she should open it. Curiosity got the better of her.

The screen loaded and she found hundreds of notifications waiting for her. Most of them were from immediately after the building collapse - messages of condolence and well wishes - but then a few days later they abruptly stopped, right around the time the news of her vampire blood addiction broke.

She scrolled through a feed full of memorials for those that had died in the collapse, articles shared that speculated on the witches' feud and many on Chase's whereabouts. She found a list of the deceased and scrolled through it. She didn't find Sierra's name and her hopes that the other witch had been crushed to death faded.

"What are you doing back?" she heard Zita say through the door and she set her phone down. "I thought you were going to be hours?"

"Soph called me."

There was silence and Soph shrank down beneath the blankets, expecting her mother or cousin to come in and berate her, but when the door opened, it was Eli who slipped inside. He closed the door again and went around the other side of the bed. As carefully as he could, he crawled across to her, tucking her into his arms.

He said nothing, and it was at that moment that everything caught up with Soph. The trauma of the fight and flight from the building, her Nona's betrayal, the media frenzy, the goddamn fucking pain in her shoulder. The whole of it welled hard and tight in her chest, then escaped her as a gut wrenching sob. She gripped Eli's shirt and wept against his chest.

***

Soph woke to darkness. The ache in her shoulder was deep and her meds were wearing off again. She could hear the TV on in the living room, but no conversation. Gingerly, she sat up and swung her legs over the bed. For a moment she sat and forced back a wave of vertigo, then she stood and went to the living room. There was no-one there, but she could hear conversation on the balcony. She stood in front of the TV, which showed footage of her departure from hospital.

"-Sophia was discharged from hospital today, departing in Damiani's car, reigniting rumours of their relationship. Sophia and Damiani were first spotted together at the opening of Sincere nightclub, which they later attributed to being a work function. Damiani was seen later this afternoon attending a board meeting at the SinCorp headquarters. He still refused to comment on both the Sinister collapse and the rumours surrounding his relationship with -"

"Why not come to my house?" she heard Eli say on the balcony. "I've got enough space for everyone. No-one will have to sleep on lounges or floors. She'll be safe there, especially until the media fuck off."

"You still don't get it, Eli," Zita replied, and Soph imagined her mother dragging angrily on her cigarette. "What her grandmother says goes. Ma wants Soph under her coven's protection. We don't defy her."

"Is she running a totalitarian regime? The woman hasn't even visited Soph, for fuck's sake. And you all just bend over for her."

"The best thing to do is just toe the line," Zita warned. "Believe me, if you cross the woman, she'll cut you out faster than a crystal can charge. I mean it, Eli. This is coming from the black sheep family. She will ruin you. She drove away the love of my life and the father of my child - so far that he lives on the other side of the world. I don't want that for Soph. Just do what you're told."

The balcony door slid open and Eli stepped inside. He stopped when he saw Soph, and the two of them stared at each other.

"Sorry, Soph," he said heavily. "I didn't realise you were up."

Zita appeared behind him, leaning on the doorframe, cigarette smoke curling from her nostrils.

"I want to go to Eli's house," Soph declared. Both of them raised their eyebrows.

"Soph, if it will create issues, you don't have to," Eli assured her. She shook her head.

"I want to. I'd feel safer there."

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Zita muttered before returning to the balcony table to finish her cigarette. Eli pulled the balcony door closed then turned to face Soph.

"Is your shoulder giving you trouble? Do you want more pain relief?"

"I'd actually like a shower, I think."

She glanced once more at the TV to see footage of the building collapse again, then she went to the bathroom. Eli followed her, switching on the light as she turned the taps on to warm the water up.

"Here, let me help." Eli carefully pulled her shirt over her head.

"You know, you've spent more time as my carer than we've been in an actual relationship," she said wryly as he rummaged through the bag of dressings and creams the hospital had sent home with her. He smiled, extracting a waterproof sheet to put over her dressing.