*Quin*

I read the queen of magic's report thousands of times, and it seemed unbelievably evil. At the same time, it was amazing. I've only worked as a commander of the Black Hands for a year, two before as lower officers. At first, I didn't think it was much. My superior officers disagreed.

So, I read it again. Then again, and again, and again. Finally, it dawned on me. This was one witch.

Fifty kills in one night.

Three hundred magicians escaped.

Fifty magic supporting non-magicians escaped.

Running rampant for ten confirmed years.

All one witch.

But the file had other things too, more average things. Hair color was a light brown. Eyes were a dark brown. She was female, obviously. Height was five foot five inches. Birthdate, unknown. Blood type was A-. Simple things, like that. There was a small description of her personality, too. Mostly about how she liked to talk. Something about her friendly masquerade.

There were things I noticed about her in our week together that the report didn't mention.

That her hair was a light brown in the dark, but almost blonde in the light. That her chocolate eyes might swallow you with curiosity if you started into them too long. Despite her height, she was fine reaching for high shelves. That she was twenty-something years old. She did love to talk, that was true. But her kindness wasn't hiding anything. She was genuinely a nice person.

The report didn't mention her little quirks either. How she tipped her head to the side when she thought. That she loved Coke. It didn't mention that her teeth were abnormally straight for someone who probably never saw a dentist. She was ambidextrous, it didn't mention that. It didn't mention the nearly invisible line of freckles across her cheeks. Or that her nose scrunched when she laughed.

If I had to guess, I'd say she killed fifty people protecting herself, or more likely someone else. It's not even a guess. Hecate's the type of person who would never really try to hurt anyone. I wondered what kind of situation she had to be in to kill fifty something people.

The file didn't mention that she loved that weird drink from the bar or that she was always smiling. It didn't mention that she never lied or that she would go a day or two without sleep. It defiantly didn't mention that she worried more about others than herself.

Another thing the file didn't mention was that she had an amazing voice.

I only realized that now, at midnight, driving through an empty place that might've been a city once upon a time. She was happily singing a long to a song I didn't know.

"Things are lookin' up," she sang. "I know above the clouds the sun is shining."

In the moonlight shining through the cars front window, I could see the glisten of childish mischief in her eyes.

The song ended, and she stopped, singing. She was still smiling, though.

"You hungry?" She asked, making me jump.

She knew I was awake? I hope she didn't know I was watching her. Even I was a little creeped out by that.

"Uh... Yeah. I could go for some food." I sat up, pulling my back off the cars door I was leaning on. "I'll grab some from the-"

"Nah, let's stop for drive through. The others can have all that." She let out a little laugh. "We get the fatty food."

I smiled. "What's up here?"

"In-and-Out, McDonalds, Burger King. The usual heart attacks. Any thing you want?"

"McDonalds?"

"Alrighty then, McDonalds it is."

We pulled off the highway to the rest stop. McDonalds was on the right.

"Let's eat inside," she said, hopping out of the car. "My knees are stiff."

I shrugged, following her out of the car.

Inside was quiet, and calm. It smelled like fast food and, right now, it was an amazing scent.

She stopped at the cashier and ordered her ridiculously long order. I went up next and ordered a meal with two cheeseburgers, larger fries, and a Dr. Pepper.

Five minutes later we were sitting down and eating.

I saw her give a quick finger wave and I knew no one would hear us talk.

"Thought this would be a good time to tell you," she said, taking another bite, "but I put a ton of guns in a hidden spot thingy under all the seats."

"When'd you have time for that?"

She smiled. "I had Niquie do it for me and I think she had Wynnie do it for her."

"Well thanks for the thought." I took a bite of the burger. "So, question. Hecate isn't your real name, I know that. So what is it?"

She smiled. "I have a lot of names. I've been Sohpie, Jessica, Samantha, Sammy for short, and I've been Jenna too. I've been lots of people."

Another thing the file didn't mention. She was good at avoiding questions.

"You know what I mean."

She stopped, mid bite, and looked at me, really looked at me. Her deep chocolate eyes were taking in my every feature, like she'd just met me for the first time. Still, her expression was a neutral smile and I had no idea what was going through that head of hers.

"Of course I know what you mean, Mr. Grumpy Pants. Why do you think I told you all those names?" She took another bite of her own burger. "I've been lots of people and had lots of names."

"Alright, Majesty," she looked back up at me, "what was your first name?"

Her nose scrunched like it did when she laughed. "That's the first time I've heard you call me that. Only people who're close to me call me Majesty. You know, people who I've know for a while."

"Do they know you're real name?" I asked, adding a, "Majesty," to the end.

"You really don't give up, do ya?"

"Do they?"

She shook her name. "No one knows it. No one you'll ever meet."

"You know it."

She laughed again. "Of course I know it. Who doesn't know their real name?"

"So, what is it?"

"Christ," she mumbled. "You really don't give up do you?"

I shrugged.

"Fine, how about this? I don't want to tell you my original name. Is that easier for yo to understand?"

I nodded. She didn't seem irritated, but she didn't want to talk about it. If she didn't want to talk about it, she wouldn't talk about it. She was just that stubborn.

"Let's get back to the car, okay?" She said, wrapping what was left of her meal up in a bag. "As funny as it would be for them all to wake up in the middle of the night without anyone driving and them going all crazy and being all confused, we have somewhere to go."

I reached out and grabbed her sleeve before she could get away.

"I'm sorry, okay?" I said. "I won't ask anymore personal questions. Let's stay here and eat."

Her head tipped to the side for a second, before she plopped down in the seat across from me.

I always thought of her as a bit of a free spirit, not tied down by anything, even if she was a queen. She was okay with talking about almost anything and loved to talk. I expected her to happily chirp away at every corner of her past, not missing a single detail from the color of her mom's eyes to the house she grew up in.

But maybe that was too much. Maybe this perfect person really did have a flaw. Maybe she had a dark side too.

Maybe I was reading too far into this because it was just a name. But it seemed like she was uncomfortable with even the concept of an origin. A place to start. A name to start with.

I'd already found one thing she didn't want people to know about.

Her name.

Maybe there were more.