Magic is complicated. Family, power, relationships and the cleanup efforts needed when it's all over with aren't much better from the looks of it either Events unfold including but not limited to: A nice, almost completely spaced-out trip home with John, Hannah has a particularly un-Graceful landing back to earth with a bump (and the bruises to show for it), then some invisible BDSM gear glows ominously.

 

“You okay there? You’ve been kind of quiet since we left..”

We hit a suspiciously placed pot hole a moment later making my natural jerk of surprise from John's sudden words shift wildly as a hand flew up to rest over the top of my exposed chest for both dignity and comfort reasons.

My ‘creating daze’ had gotten so deep as I jumped from one half-formed idea to another that I hadn’t really realised that we’d been sitting in silence, let alone notice that we were almost home already?

“Sorry John. I got thinking and kinda lost track of things, ya know?”

He smirked but nodded in acceptance anyway.
We fell into another few seconds of silence before he picked up the conversation again and rolled his shoulders a little uncomfortably.

“Want to talk about it? From what Eris said it can’t have been fun or anything, right?”
..oh John, stupid John..

Rather than answer I sunk down in my seat a little feeling mildly guilty for worrying him when, in fact, that was possibly the most safe ‘big battle’ I’ve ever had honestly?
A few seconds later, just because I could, I sent out a prodding little line of magic which was readily answered by his own in the form of an easily offered sheet that I could pull across myself full of all his warmth, care and worry.

“..I was thinking about runes actually..”
He snorted to himself in amusement but I could feel a wave of relief flow over his magic anyway.
Everything’s easier to understand, and feel, when you’re so closely surrounded by someone else’s aura after all.
“I want to add a kind of.. anti-fae ward?.. to the new wardstone you were talking about putting in but I’m struggling to think of how exactly to do it while also allowing Felix to still come and go as he pleases.. still want to talk about it?”

The forced ‘doe-eyed’ look I sent him actually managed to pull a laugh out of him properly at last.

“Only you could pick a fight with a goddess and come out of it worrying more about some new theory project then what exactly just happened.”
His grin took any sting out of his words I could felt and I found myself quickly answering it with my own grin, before glancing away from him in mild embarrassment.

He’s kind of got a point sadly.
As much as I like fighting for my life and running away screaming sometimes, deep down I’m just a hopeless academic, when it comes to runes if nothing else!

Personally I think it’s a roll-over trait from spending the first few years of my life with either books or Sarah for company but a ‘frightened adrenalin-junky academic runes-mistress’ really IS a weird concept to try and get your head around at times, isn’t it?

..no less than some other weird mages out there though I guess?..
Yeah! Mages are weird and I’m a mage so of COURSE I’m weird, simple as that!

“We really need to get you a radio in this thing..”
John huffed and shifted in his seat a little but didn’t outright deny that I had a point.
..I really AM getting good at shifting topics subtly aren’t I?..
“Wonder if there’s a place that will fit it for you and everything in town somewhere?”

“We’ll put it on the list right after ‘take Eris swimming’, okay?”

I shot him a big cheesy grin to show my appreciation for his patience which only got another half-grumbled chuckle out of him verbally but gave me a nice warm wave of amusement through his sheet of magic so he can’t have minded THAT much about either options despite the noises he’s making!

We didn’t have much longer to worry about awkward silences or obviously stilted conversations at least because a few moments after his last comment John pulled us left onto the tree-lined road leading to our dead-end little street and I started gathering myself back together again in order to provide a brave front against the onslaught of questions to come, most likely from Sarah if no-one else is evil enough to ask them.

It’s been one LONG day and I could really do with just leaving this all until tomorrow to be honest but I doubt THAT’S gonna happen any time soon, is it?

John swung us around to park in one of the surprisingly clear spots on our wide driveway and in seconds we’d gotten ourselves out without any problems.
He shuffled around in the back of the truck for a second before coming back up and tossing a black t-shirt over to me.

I reluctantly accepted the obviously grease covered top as the better option compared to just walking inside wearing a rather eye-catching bra.
After a moments indecision I also had to let go of his magic as I focused on shuffling about to get the almost knee-length shirt over my head.

The loss of his magic’s comfort made me shiver for a second but John solved that problem nicely for me by sidling up to my now closed door and offering an arm for me to take.

My hand slipped neatly into the crook of his arm with a fake air of ‘grace’ about me that was so easy to perform that I think I might have actually picked up how to do it from one of my more stuffy past-incarnations somehow?
John found it amusing obviously, especially when I tugged him around the side of the house so we could go to the back-front door instead of the front-front one that everyone keeps using lately.

We eased our way around the little hill leading to the backyard with a shared smile and I was caught almost completely flat footed when a streak of blue light flew out of nowhere, connecting hard with John’s chest and sending him careening back up the hill with more than a little force.

“JOHN!-”
My startled cry was cut off quickly by another, much angrier sounding yell from behind me and I span away from John’s crumpled form to face a gathered crowd with more than a little fear visible on my face.

“RUNT!”
Grace grinned dangerously at me and tilted her head almost in greeting as she started slowly moving towards me; her gang of followers, including at least one mage judging by the spell they just cast on John, made short work of moving behind her at an equally steady pace.

“GRACE! Not NOW for powers sake! What the HELL do you think you’re doing?!!”

“I’m finishing this Runt, there’s only room for one leader in this pack and it sure as hell ain’t YOU!”
I didn’t even get a chance to reply before being forced to lunge to the side as Grace came swinging in at me with an angry yell and a closed fist.

“DAMN IT GRACE! I just got DONE fighting some power hungry bitch with more magic then brain cells, I don’t NEED this crap right now?!”
She growled deep in her throat and lunged at me again which I barely managed to dodge safely.

Even her group were starting to back off now, obviously her absolutely losing it and coming after me all of a sudden wasn’t quite the plan she’d told them about when she went recruiting for cronies!

“GRACE!-”
I had to pause as she swung out, forcing me to dip under her fist with a frustrated growl of my own this time.
“-will- you- just- STOP!”
Finally having enough with her mindless attempts at harming me I ducked under her next wild swing and rose back up with a textbook upper-cut to her Jaw.

The hit itself probably hurt me more than it did her sadly.
..stupid useless Arista hands..

What it DID achieve though was to send her tumbling backwards in surprise and give me some damn breathing room at last!

She’s not a trained fighter, for all her natural strength and power, so while she’s certainly dangerous she’s by no means a danger to me as long as I pay attention.
There’s still a REASON you don’t fight werewolves in hand-to-hand combat though damn it!

“GRACE, CALM THE FUCK DOWN?! Can’t we just talk about this like civilised huma- SHIT!”
Her whole body coiled in on itself and in a surprisingly well thought out move she sent herself rocketing towards me, forcing me to dive yet again just to keep from being scratched in the process.

As I rolled to a stop something long and blue fluttered down in front of me.
It took a second for my eyes to adjust but when they did I could see a scattered trail of long light-blue hair drifting across the grass I’d rolled along.

She.. she cut my HAIR!
..I mean, I could grow it back easily but that’s not the point?!..

She used her stupid werewolf claws to cut my stupid too long blue hair!!
A growl rumbled low in my chest and I forced myself back up to my feet angrily.

THAT DOES IT!

In the time it took for her to roll with her swing and turn back around to face me I’d formed up a mist of magic then pushed more into it until the solid looking bubble shield that worked so well against Maven earlier formed around me again.

A fight I can handle, but if she’s going to cheat with werewolf claws then I’m cheating with my POWERS-DAMNED magic!
..wonder how high I can send her flying up this time without a roof to stop her accent?..

It didn’t occur to me until Grace was practically barrelling down on my position that, while the shield has protected Felix and me from a lot of different attacks lately.. I’d never ACTUALLY tried it against physical strikes yet..

Crap!

Too late to dodge I had to brace for impact as best I could and a moment later her fist came flying in to connect heavily with my face.
Blood flew and so did I, crashing back hard along the dirt as werewolf strength won out against physics long enough to send me back-first into a tree and continue rolling along the grass afterwards with a pained whimper.

Finally I came to a stop only to be met by jeers and surprised laughter from Graces little posse of followers.

Grace herself didn’t pause long enough to laugh, before I’d quite managed to unscramble my poor jumbled brain-cells she’d closed the gap between us and pinned me to the floor with her arm pushed across my neck as both a leverage point and a way of supporting herself.
..amateur..

“This is nothing personal runt. Facts are facts, I can’t let someone take charge unchallenged no matter how pathetic they are without their precious magic..”
This time she really did sneer and took a few seconds just to enjoy her perceived position of power over me as her followers started celebrating her victory with cheers and prideful boasting.

..it’s kind of cute really?..
She thinks that just because she’s got me pinned I’m helpless!

Forgetting the fact that internal magic is a thing.. and blood magic.. and warping come to think of it..
I’m not like the mages she’s used to dealing with back on the farm!

Just as she has strength and agility but no skill to back it up, the mages of our family have the raw magical knowledge to cast spells but have never needed to cast them under pressure.. never needed to get creative on how they cast at all, by my guess?

She got me good with her little cheap shot of using her partly transformed hands to slash at me, I’ll admit that much.
I paid the price for underestimating her resolve there honestly.. but now she’s the one underestimating ME!

“Gracey-darling.. you have NO idea what you’ve just done.”
At first I’d have been quite happy to finish this all quickly with a bit of magic and go indoors for some food but NOW.. oh now I’m going to beat her at her own game..

A mage can learn martial arts just as well as anyone else.
They don’t tend to usually but I’ve never claimed to be normal damn it!

“What are you going to do about it runt? When everyone sees just how easily you got taken down things can finally go back to no-”
Her muttered rant cut short sharply all of a sudden; most likely because I took that moment to buck my hips up in the same way I did to John back at Mrs Jones’s place and roll sharply to the side while getting a solid grasp on the arm she had jammed heavily into my throat.

As I span, her balance went from rock solid to just plain falling in a matter of seconds.

I rolled out from underneath her with little real effort and her face planted sharply into the dirt with all the force of her poorly distributed weight behind it.
She let out a sharp gasp of pain which turned into an outright scream seconds later as I finished my roll, pulling myself up into a crouched position and neatly snapping her wrist with a jerk of my legs.

To be honest I hadn’t actually intended to break her wrist but instincts are a hard thing to beat sometimes and I have some damn good reflexes built up around causing maximum damage to a combatant with minimal effort sadly.

“We can still talk about this Grace? I don’t want to hurt you..”
My eyes cut up to her followers and they all shuffled backwards quickly, some of them actually making a break for the house instead of even trying to stand their ground.

..cowards..
Completely willing to back her as a mob against a lone mage but when the tide starts turning they protect themselves first?
..It’s so pathetic!..

I had to glance away from them a moment later as a growl began building from Graces collapsed form.
Damn it! I KNEW a broken bone wouldn’t be enough to stop her!

As much as I hate to admit it, Grace is a lot like me from what I can tell?
When she’s got a head of steam going there isn’t ANYTHING short of death or incapacitation that’s gonna stop her..

Even I couldn’t quite cover my wince as a cracking sound rang out around us and I got a front row seat to just how dangerously powerful natural werewolf healing abilities can be.
Grace’s wrist went from bent at a rather awkward angle to perfectly fine all in one fluid but really disgusting looking movement.

“You’ll pay for that runt!”
Her piece said she leapt back to her feet and lunged at me again.
Without many other options at such close range I dropped back to the dirt and kicked both my feet up with my remaining momentum.

The crack that sounded when both of my feet connected directly with Grace’s snarling face was again one that I could have done without hearing, let alone feeling through my feet as her nose and possibly her left cheek broke almost simultaneously.

Without any obvious plan involved Grace’s lunge became more of a poorly controlled fall yet again and she landed back to the ground with a thud.

“Damn it Grace! We don’t need to fight?! I only took the bloody position because I’m the one who can do the most good with it right now, I just got back from registering our house as a clan compound and-”
Before I could continue Grace’s head snapped up to glare at me so forcefully, with a look of utter loathing on it so powerful, that it shook me into silence for a moment.

The look was so harsh that I barely even noticed as her nose unbent itself sharply followed quickly by her cheek un-compressing itself back into a more natural ‘human’ looking shape to mate it’s unharmed but blood splattered twin.

“Precious Saint Hannah! You think you know what’s best for us?!”
I geared myself up for her next wild lunge but it didn’t come.
Instead she gnashed her teeth and continued to speak in a low voice that was becoming progressively more guttural with hatred by the second.
“I spent my entire LIFE proving I could protect us all, proving I DESERVED to protect us all and then YOU came along!.. a skinny little runt just like my smug bitch of a sister and just as self-entitled; in one day you’d undermined everything I’d ever done for the clan without breaking a sweat?!”

In a flash she lunged at me again, a roar of rage and pain tearing itself from her lips as she went.

It almost felt wrong to take her down again so quickly when she’s not thinking clearly but I don’t have time to be kind right now.
..she wouldn’t listen if I was kind about this anyway?..

Her body came in low this time so with a hop that may have been subtly boosted by my magic slightly I sent myself high into the air to come crashing down with a two footed stomp on her unprotected back.

Several things snapped this time, not just ribs either.
She’s not getting up any time soon that’s for sure, werewolf healing or not..

I finished my controlled landing with another roll which felt a bit weird with my now uneven, barely shoulder-length blue hair flying around wildly as I went but still ended with me kneeling a few feet away from her with keen eyes scanning for movement from either her or her followers.

Grace didn’t even seem to be able to scream as she lay on the ground, her face set in a frozen gasp of pain with eyes wide from shock and fear.

Her ‘followers’ had truly given up all pretence of being a unit at this point so at least I didn’t have to worry about retaliation from them, even if I did find myself feeling mildly disgusted with the lot of them as they broke ranks and scattered into the tree-line furthest away from me and off into the distance.

“Take the stupid job if it means so much to you Grace! I look after my family and like it or not that includes YOU.. I’ve done about as much as I’m ever likely to be able to do as a matriarch in protecting everyone at this point anyway, much better that someone else take over the daily stuff who actually has a clue what they’re bloody doing to be honest?!”

Slowly Grace’s body started to slacken out of its unnaturally still pose.
Her head sunk down into the dirt so much that I couldn’t make out an expression on her face but there was no mistaking the sound of crying that came a few moments later from her battered and broken chest.

“Y-you can’t DO this to me! I worked SO hard to prove myself and you’ve taken it all away again, I c-can’t even b-beat you in a f-f-FUCKING fight!”
Her head snapped up to fix me with a dark glare but it almost instantly dissolved into a lost look of pain and regret that actually hurt a little just to see from the usually proud woman I’d come to know and be frustrated by lately..
“It was hard enough getting everyone to accept me for who I am to start with! The magic and the pain involved was unbearable.. after all THAT I had to claw my way back up from the bottom and the moment I finally managed to get the respect I wanted YOU had to come along and ruin everything again!”

Fat tears spilled out of her eyes and she let out an almost silent gasp as something in her back cracked harshly into a more appropriate position, possibly a vertebra from what I can see?

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel guilty at this point.. it’s not like I WANTED to fight her in the first place though?!
I gave her every opportunity I could manage to back out of things with her pride intact.
..some people just can’t accept things the easy way sadly..

“I hate you.. I hate you and what makes it worse is I know you didn’t even mean to do anything wrong?.. just like Susan, just as oblivious as that smug little normal bitch!”
My eyes softened a little despite my best efforts to try and keep a harsh front in place for her.

She reminds me so much of Sarah right now?
Old Sarah, hurt Sarah.. the Sarah that made my life a living hell out of jealousy just for her own petty sense of self-satisfaction until she finally saw all the damage she’d done in her anger..

“..I forgive you Grace?..”

The words tumbled out of my mouth before I’d really thought them through.
She flinched visibly from them even as something else in her back shifted, drawing a grunt from her tightly closed lips.

I sighed to myself and shifted slightly uncomfortably on my patch of dirt.
From the sound of it, I don’t know the full story of course.. but Grace had something to prove to herself and to the family at one point that I’ve inadvertently messed up completely?

I don’t NEED to understand it all to forgive her though.
We’re not going to be all buddy-buddy after this or anything, trust is a very different thing from forgiveness after all.. grudges just aren’t my thing though?
I’m terrible at keeping them and they just take so much ENERGY to keep going properly!

With one more tired sigh I built up a pulse of swirling magic in my chest and forced it all out as a single concussive wave of golden light.
As I rode the pleasure that comes with blasting out my diversion magic with practiced ease I felt more then saw the moment that the magic reached Grace, fixing her back and all the other damage she’d sustained in seconds, before carrying on off into the tree-line around us.

She gaped for a second or two in shock.

Personally I got a little distracted by the urge to giggle and an oddly loud sounding noise of movement from behind me for a moment but when I drifted my attention back over to her I was met by a bright red face that was so jumbled I couldn’t quite make out the real emotions that were meant to be showing on it precisely.

It’s such a pain trying to get a read on werewolves!
Their magic is so manic and constantly moving that even I can’t read emotions from it all, I end up relying on body-language which isn’t exactly a good thing when dealing with people I don’t know too well yet.

The ‘sleepy haze’ stage of my diversions after-effects started to kick in and everything started moving slower to accommodate my poor straining brain.
..rather nice of the universe to oblige me like that for once really?..

My head slowly drifted down to rest on my shoulder with a giggle as Grace’s face finally settled into some strange mix of pain, sadness, anger and above all else hurt.
She pushed herself forward and swung out a hand to hit me.

I couldn’t quite build up enough focus to panic but as I took in her open palm and the tears spilling from her face I decided that I didn’t need to panic anyway.
She’s hurting.. she’s hurting and she needs to hurt something in return to feel better?
..what’s a slap going to do to me in the long run if it helps her feel better in the end?..

Slowly I blinked and watched as she came within striking range, a smile playing across my lips.

Something shifted loudly behind us again and just as her arm swung forward there was a loud bang followed by a dull thump that seemed to almost physically jerk Grace out of the air, sending her off-course to collapse sluggishly to the ground.

I shook my head to clear it a little bit without much success at first but when a dark patch of red started to form on her shirt, just below her left breast and she let out a sputtering gasp which sent a smattering of blood in such a wide arc that it splashed almost directly into my face a chill went down my spine.

I found myself snapping harshly back into reality with a flood of magic pouring through my system all at once?
My head hurt something chronic like I’d just developed a hangover in the space of seconds but that wasn’t the important part right now.

It wasn’t a rational thought that made me vent a dome of my magic out again, one which hit Grace almost like a physical wall would have done.
The dome just kind of happened on an almost unconscious level as I span in place to stare unerringly through the trees behind us into the slowly widening eyes of a man holding a very big gun.

I took everything in with a precision I’ve never really felt before.
My heart started hammering in my chest as I took in his ‘USMPA’ stamped body armor and uniform.
A snarl curled across my lips and my hands fisted themselves instinctively as I took in the almost full platoon of men surrounding him, all frozen in place and all aiming their weapons towards us.

Vaguely I picked up a familiar feeling magic source mixed in with them but before I could really consider the meaning of her presence among them all my brain finally caught up with itself and my system was flooded with a wave of rage so powerful it felt like I was about to combust on the spot just on principle alone!

“I SAID HOLD FIRE DAMN IT!”
Trudy’s voice rang out around us, anger obvious in every bellowed syllable she uttered but she had nothing on me at this point.

She wasn’t a threat damn it!
Grace wasn’t a threat but they SHOT her?!

She just needed to get it out of her bloody system!
If she'd wanted me dead she'd have transformed first if nothing else for powers SAKE?!

A deep growl rumbled low in my chest and my always eager magic surged forth by unconscious command.

The grass around me started swaying in an unseen breeze as palpable waves of magic began pouring out of me almost as quickly as my stupidly overpowered locus point body could pull more in.
Eventually the magic broke loose from my body to swirl happily around me with such force that it actually lifted me off my feet, bringing some stones and lose debris along for the ride as it went.

“She wasn’t a threat! She’s MINE! These are MY lands, she’s MY family and you fucking SHOT HER?!”
More magic poured out from me in response to my building outrage.

What’s the point of everything I did today if the Hub can still just come in and SHOOT my FAMILY?!

With a jolt my magic shifted spectrum, going from a near invisible haze around me into a golden mass that bubbled and roiled at my every thought.
My eyes connected with those of the man who’d shot Grace and as he flinched back in fear a tendril of my magic lashed out quick-as-lightning to slam physically into his chest, sending him flying backwards into a tree behind him, then THROUGH the bloody tree and across the floor behind that!

The other SWAT members started moving their gun’s up again, this time to aim at me.
It didn’t even take a fully formed thought for my magic to lash out and with a movement faster than a normal eye could hope to follow it yanked every gun they had away from them to form a pile of metal at my feet.

I fixed them all with a glare before forcing my magic, more instinctively than anything else, to slam down hard on the gun’s turning them all into a twisted mess of scrap metal in the space between heartbeats.

GUNS! I. HATE. FUCKING. GUNS!!

Trudy stepped forward with her arms raised to show she meant no harm.
It was only the emotions of fear, sorrow and regret I could feel rolling through her magic that stopped me from lashing out at her too.

Instead I squinted at her hard for a second until my magic finally seemed to get what I wanted to happen and sent a tendril of power out to encircle her completely within a bubble of my magic.
It quickly pulled back and with a flick it sent her flying across the sky on a rough trajectory towards the Hub.

I can’t guarantee that she’ll have a comfortable landing but she’ll survive which is more than can be said for her ‘squad’ that are still here!

As I took one last glance at the now slowly backing away men-
..not so brave without their precious guns now!..
-a slow malicious smirk formed on my lips and my magic bubbled happily around me like an overly eager puppy.

A gasp behind me made me hesitate just long enough for them all to start turning but that’s not NEARLY enough to help them in the long run!

With a flick of my wrist my magic flew out again in almost spike-like tendrils to wrap around a leg of each man here, even the now unconscious shooter.
In a single smooth action they were all yanked off their feet and suspended in the air before me like prize turkey’s ready for the slaughter.

..they hurt what’s mine!..
Why were they even here?
..they want to take my family away!..
I healed Grace already what good will come f-
..THEY started this!..
I’m not going to kill them for it?!

Just as I thought the word ‘kill’ my magic reacted and in one smooth motion each of the tendrils wrapped around the men’s dangling legs twisted harshly to the side making my ears ring with the sound of shattering bones.

The shock of what my magic had done without my direct control made me instinctively draw it back in again harshly, the tendrils of solid magic seemed to almost disappear in an instant, sending the now screaming men to the grass below head first.

I dropped to my knees and huddled into a tight ball as my magic lashed out in whip like blasts that scored the ground around me.

It’s.. it’s out of control?..
I’M out of control!

..it wants their blood..
No it doesn’t!
It’s my magic damn it, it doesn’t want anything that I don’t want?!

..I want their blood, same difference really?..
I’m not going to kill them!
I’m not, I’m not, I’m not, I’M NOT!

“Hannah?”

Slowly I pulled my head loose from my huddle to glance up at the voice that had spoken.
John stood pretty far away, looking a bit dishevelled but overall not too bad considering he got blasted unconscious half-way up a hill by some unknown spell a little while ago?

“Hannah, you need to calm down. You’re freaking out and your magic is responding to it, if you can calm down so will it, I promise.”
John.. you make it sound so simple?..

My magic.. it won’t LISTEN to me!
..it’s listening, you just don’t want to accept the facts..

I don’t want to kill them!
..oh but I DO, I want to tear their spines out and parade them for all to see as a warning of w-..

“ENOUGH!”

Like a puppet with its strings cut my magic just dropped to the floor as dead tendrils of power all at once.
With a forceful yank of my willpower I managed to pull it all back into myself so forcefully that it left me feeling bloated and horrible for my efforts.

A few moments later the magic hit its peak inside me and my will finally faltered.

In a cresting wave of gold my magic rushed back out of me again as one of my healing bubbles.
My huge, overpowered, scary as all hell and draining beyond belief.. but HARMLESS healing bubbles!

My body gave out a second later sending me crashing to the ground as John rushed in to scoop me up in his arms.
The last thing I saw as the pleasure and bliss came steamrolling in over my conscious mind was a large group of scared looking people tucked closely together out of fear by our back-door.

..my family..
A giggle wormed its way up my throat and out of my mouth as I flopped against John’s nice warm chest with a happy purr.
My silly, silly family are safe.. that’s so.. AWESOME!

John shifted slightly to stand and as my eyes rolled away from them at last the world faded out to black without even the slightest of warnings.
Unconsciousness can be so rude like th-

======

A shaft of light burned its way into my retina through tightly shut eyelids.

“About bloody time..”
I groaned and tried to roll away from John’s annoyingly grumpy sounding voice.
“Hannah? Really not the time to take a nap again love, you’ve been sleeping for hours. It’s morning already and everyone from your Mum to the Hub are chomping at the bit to speak to you.”

Urggg.. really?..

A warm pair of hands worked their way under my armpits and slowly tugged me upwards into a sitting position on the bed I’m apparently laying on.
At first I tried to play dead but that didn’t last long when he grunted and shifted his fingers to get a better grip, in the process managing to snag the back of my bra and practically yank it up uncomfortably high on my chest.

With a yelp I flailed my arms sending him crashing back away from me in surprise as my eyes slowly eased open despite my better judgement.

“..I hate magical hangovers..”
John laughed and worked his way back to his feet.
I tried to be subtle in pulling my bra back down under my still greasy borrowed shirt as I shuffled about to ‘get comfortable’ but I don’t think I honestly fooled him in the slightest sadly.
“Okay, I’ll admit it.. I’m drawing a blank?.. what did I do this time?”

“From what I gather we were having a nice walk to your backyard while celebrating our joint successes against modern magical bureaucracy when some half-conscious mageling with more power than brains decided to knock me out so that their wolf-y friends could gang up on you while you were ‘defenceless’.”
A snort of amusement slipped out of me at John’s sarcastic tone.
Not that it helped much considering I already remembered THAT part, it’s just the last bit after Grace dived in to slap me that things get a bit.. hazy?..

“I woke up to find one blood covered werewolf tripping over me in her desperate attempt at running away from you without being noticed and you doing a surprisingly accurate imitation of a Japanese Shokushu demon, waving solid magical constructs around like crazy with some guy’s in body armor strung up by their ankles.”
Oh, uh.. that feel’s vaguely familiar now that he say’s it?

“Shokushu.. really? You couldn’t think of a nicer mental image to offer me there?”

Shokushu’s are disgusting!
Most people just call them ‘tentacle monsters’, they have a certain attraction to women of the younger variety for some reason and their piles of prehensile tentacles look rather.. uh..
..they look pretty ‘phallic’ in all honesty..

I shuddered hard to try and get rid of the mental image that had popped up just from the mention of them, luckily I’ve only seen one of the monsters in real life before and that thing had already been dead for a while too!

Japan are SCARILY efficient with their magical task forces, they get awakened mages in young and train them HARD.
They’ve done such a good job at PR too that there’s practically no need for them to cover anything up these days if a demon appears in a public place?

The last time I was in japan my face actually ended up on the local news listed as a ‘possible new character’ for the next live action ‘Sailor Moon’ movie.
You wouldn’t BELIEVE the amount of people who were convinced for weeks that the ‘tall mysterious American woman’ caught ‘on set’ would turn out to be anyone from a main villain to Sailor-bloody-Uranus!

I couldn’t help but shudder again at the idea of me posing in a stupid micro-mini skirt and skin-tight white swimsuit with a load of other vaguely European-looking asian girls while spouting off drivel about ‘love and justice’ instead of just outright killing the bloody demon; all just in case someone was nearby with a camera to catch us in action!

I’m SO glad America has more of a lazy ‘just wipe everyone’s memory and blame swamp gas’ mentality to the whole thing honestly.
I may not know much about fashion but I DO know that I don’t look good in a school girl outfit!
..a super-tacky short one would be even worse..

“Han? You still with me?”

Huh?.. oh, John-boy!
“Sorry I got a bit lost there for a second, side effect ya know?”

He nodded but his eyes seemed a little too tight to be anything but worried at the moment.
I shifted slightly on the bed and fiddled my hands in my lap while staring up at the ceiling so I didn’t have to look at him again.

Almost instinctively at this point I reached out with my mage senses to get a better idea of his emotions in general but that idea was abandoned moments later when a wave of vertigo hit me like a freight train.
It took all I had to not just lean over and puke to be honest?!

“S..something’s wrong with my magic?”

John winced and shifted his feet awkwardly which was practically an admission of guilt!
I shot him a warning glare and eventually he gave up any pretence of innocence with a huff.

Slowly he leaned in and took ahold of my wrist, bringing my arm up to eye level and jiggling it a little to make the metal chains on my, now apparently visible, suppression bracelet rattle.
Golden runes practically glowed out at me as I stared in dumbstruck surprise at the little mesh of metal and leather I’d created for myself.

“oh.. that’s not good.. it’s not good, right?”
He grimaced but nodded along in agreement anyway.

“The current theory we’re working with is that the last big dome blast you let off did practically the same as it used to do before for some reason, leaving your mind in free-fall and your body open for the taking.”
He let my wrist go gently and fixed me with a rather intense look for a moment before taking a step back and huffing to himself again.
“Through the night you’ve had fit’s and bursts of magic followed by almost unnatural stillness that seems to match what we predicted would happen if another personality tried to take advantage of your weakened state to take over your body again.. they stopped a few hours ago but the runes are still burning bright on your suppressors..”

Of course they’re bloody glowing!
I only planned to need them to block out an attack every so often at worst, so many takeover attempts one after the other has super charged the bloody things?!

No wonder I got a hit with backlash when I tried to extend my mage senses again.
I must be burning like a STAR right now to anyone with their senses open!
If it’s bad enough for your eyes just looking at the sun, imagine how much it’s gonna hurt if you try to look at the world from the very CENTER of one?!

With a deep groan I collapsed heavily back onto my bed.
..stupid magic..
Stupid suppressors!
..stupid past-incarnations..
Stupid bloody GRACE!!

“Do you think you can handle talking with some people now?.. I’m pretty sure if I have to go back out there one more time and say you’re still not ready to see anyone then either Sarah, your Grandmother or Trudy are going to rip my head off honestly.”
An indelicate snort of amusement slipped out of me making him grin brightly in response as if that was his intended result all along somehow.

After a rather long pause to gather myself back together I let off one last quiet huff for strength and nodded to him.
He nodded back and made his way over to my bedroom door to go give them all the good news that I’m now ‘awake’.

“John?”
He turned slightly and shot me a curiously raised eyebrow in response.
“..thanks..”
His mouth shifted into a bright grin but with a slightly mocking quirk to his lips that, on anyone else, would have come across as more ‘annoying’ then anything.. on him though?
To my shame I couldn’t help but find the whole thing at least slightly endearing.

It’s good to have a friend watching my back again!

======

“If I could have a moment of your time Hannah?”

Sarah huffed a heavy breath into the crook of my neck at Gran’s almost formal tone of voice from the doorway behind us but after another squeeze she reluctantly pulled back from our hug, offering me a warm smile that I mirrored back at her before she turned to leave the room at last.

After Mum and her barrage of questions about what happened, constantly bringing up the dreaded ‘are you SURE you’re okay Hannah?’ and the slightly less regular ‘what do you mean you don’t remember too well?!’, I thought I’d gotten into the clear at last but the moment we were alone Sarah swooped down and pulled me into a tight hug that she refused to release until I’d told her everything I could about what happened yesterday.

Apparently all anyone else knows is whatever they’ve all guessed and gathered together from the few eye witness accounts of things that seem to range from ‘Hannah went crazy and almost turned some SWAT guy’s into fine paste with magic’ to ‘Grace did something that drove Hannah’s magic insanely out of control’.. the fact that the truth is somewhere in the middle of those two extremes if you count Grace being shot as her ‘doing something’ is unsurprisingly less reassuring for me then I’d hope sadly.

“I’ll go see if Eris is awake yet and get her ready to visit you if she is, okay Han?”
Sarah caught my eye just as she was leaving and paused for a moment as if asking more than that one question with such a simple look.

“That would be great Sare, thanks.”
We shared one more smile before she stepped out and shut the door behind her leaving me to Gran’s tender mercies.

Slowly she moved across the room, settling herself on the edge of my bed with a heavy sigh.
She turned to face me and after a few seconds of uncertainty her eyes finally trailed up to meet mine.
There were quite a few emotions visible in her eyes for a moment but before I could really get into trying to dissect them all she spoke up instead with a heavily laden tone that sounded almost tired at first.

“I’ve spoken with Grace’s.. compatriots?.. while I’m sure they were trying to lie more than once, overall I think I’ve got a pretty clear picture of what happened out there.”
She sighed again and brought a hand up to squeeze between her eyes tightly like I always do when I’m starting to get a headache.
“I’m sorry Hannah”

..she’s what-now?..

“I never should have put you into the position I did under such pressure without at least explaining things properly first. I’ve been running things for so long that it tends to escape me that someone so new to us all might not know about our rather unfortunate history’s and family secrets..”
My response to that probably accurate but none-the-less surprising statement of fact was a slow blink and a curious eyebrow that seemed to make Gran feel somewhat uncomfortable after a few seconds.

“Grace.. Grace was.. she was special?”
After a moment’s hesitation she continued to speak, almost in a rush to get whatever she had to say out in the open.
“One of my biggest regrets in all my years was how I handled Grace’s.. problems.. she came to me when she was barely knee-high stating quite calmly her opinion on things and I’m sorry to say that I ignored them as just childish whimsy?”

I watched with searching eye’s as Gran squeezed her hands together tightly and turned her head down to stare at them almost too quickly to be quite natural.

“She’d always been jealous of her sisters, the mages to be specific, but that’s a rather common problem with the Were’s in our family at first and most of them get over it with time.. I honestly didn’t know what to do when she calmly informed me that she hated her little sister, your mother, for being ‘normal’ and that she wanted to be treated just like her instead of.. well..”
Gran trailed off again and fixed me with a worried look for a moment before turning back to her hands with a sigh.
“You were surprised when your big confession to being ‘Alistor Cooper’ under threat of a lightning lobotomy didn’t get much of a reaction from me aside from curiosity and confusion, right?”

Without much active input from me I found my head nodding along with her cautiously.
..where is she going with this?..

“The reason I wasn’t more shocked or surprised is that you weren’t the first person I’ve met who’s body doesn’t match their mind.. in the old day’s it was considered a curse to be scorned in a mage or mocked openly if it appeared in a normal child but that is one facet of life that I’ve come to realise was truly wrong in every way from the usually ‘wise’ teachings of our ancestors..”
She sighed one last time and squeezed her hands tightly again before glancing up to fix me with a surprisingly intense look instead.
“You and Grace have a lot in common, a lot more then I think either of you really realise.. you’re both driven to protect others, both determined to prove yourselves in your own way and you.. you were both physically born as boy’s..”

A long silence stretched out across my dimly lit bedroom as I stared at her in open mouthed surprise and tried to deal with all the puzzle pieces that were suddenly starting to click together with that one key piece of information to unite them into a complete image.

She’s a werewolf.. a FEMALE werewolf?.. THE female werewolf!
Tall, muscular and intimidating despite her obvious femininity..
She hate’s Mum for being ‘normal’, not just because she’s magic-less but because she’s a ‘normal’ woman in general?!

..The change in size and vocal range when she shifted into her wolf form?..
I just wrote it off as a werewolf transformation, it’s not like I’ve seen one happen before after all, but what if the magic Grace hinted at needing to ‘get people to accept her for who she is’ just isn’t good enough to cover her werewolf form?.. her still MALE werewolf form!

“We don’t blame you for what happened Hannah, if anything I blame myself, I knew how she can be at times about this sort of thing but I was so relieved when you accepted to be Matriarch that it didn’t even cross my mind that she might make more problems for you after you slapped her first challenge down so drastically-”

Drastically?!
I took a transsexual werewolf that had apparently spent YEARS of hard effort, blood, sweat and tears just to gain the usually IMPLIED love and trust of her family.. and I stuck her naked to a ceiling for everyone to gawp at for a few hours?!

Oh shit.. oh SHIT.. what the hell have I DONE?!
No wonder she went bloody ballistic at me!

“-she’s disappeared by the way? The pack is out hunting for her but we can’t get a solid trace on her scent for some reason.”
Gran shifted uncomfortably again under my lost gaze.
“Tensions are running a bit high at the moment, especially with the Hub’s delegation currently waiting for you outside in the backyard, I’d appreciate if you could deal with them quickly for us dear?”
Her hands fisted together again in her lap tightly.
“Even I’m not feeling very charitable towards them at the moment for what they did to Grace..”

Disappeared?.. she’s.. she’s disappeared?!
Oh shit, I didn’t-
It wasn’t my-

It wasn’t my fault damn it?!

..of course it wasn’t!..
I gave her every chance to stop but she just WOULDN’T?!
It’s not my fault d-damn it!

.. of course it wasn’t, it was THEIRS!..
YEAH! It’s the Hub’s fault!

What the hell were they even doing here anyway?!
Who gave them the right to come onto MY clan land with GUNS so they could shoot MY family!

“Hannah?”

“If you excuse me Gran.. I’ve got some people to talk to about common-fucking-courtesy!”
My voice rumbled low in my chest in response to my anger.
Just the similarity it had to a growl alone brought up memories of Grace and the stupid shit I’d d-
The stupid shit they MADE me do!

“Hannah?! What are you-”

I tried to get out of bed only to find that my legs didn’t want to work at all yet for some reason.
Giving up all pretence of patience, I compressed a ball of magic in my chest tightly and dropped the right lines for a line-of-sight warp instead.

My suppressors lit up even brighter than before in response to my magic use but I ignored them with single minded focus as I almost broke the rules of magic with willpower alone to line-of-sight warp outside, a place that I know well but can barely see a hint of physically through the open door with my current angle at this exact moment.

With a flash of blue light I was yanked away into a swirling, almost uncontrollable, slip stream to come crashing down hard on the slightly damp grass of our backyard.

The moment I landed my suppressors apparently had enough of the abuse they’d taken lately and decided to vent all of my magic out through my foot into the dirt below me making our once rather dull garden area light up in a seemingly never-ending sea of wild flowers of every color imaginable.

Despite my anger and the sight of Trudy rushing towards me, leaving a strange group of people behind her in her haste to get to me, I couldn’t do much more then curl in on myself when it felt like my chest was imploding as my suppressors made a fruitless rush to clear my ever-refilling magic stores out completely.

“Hannah? HANNAH! What’s wrong? Can you-”
I managed to react out a trembling hand to grasp her arm before she could come too close.

“..owwie..”
With that last brave, and entirely necessary, statement I finally gave in to the urge that my body was viciously demanding of me to shut my eyes and take another nice long dirt-nap agai-