=:= Samantha =:=

Sam looked around the large dining table at the other coven members. She and Nicole were standing at one end of the long table, the others seated infront of them.

On the right were Kara, Jessica, and Maria. To her left sat Cindy, Zoe, Becky, and Tanya. Becky and Tanya were friends of Cindy's, but both lived out of town now. They normally didn't attend coven meetings any more, but had teleported back for the meeting today because Sam had stressed it was urgent that everyone should attend.

Tanya was a tall, athletic blonde, attending college in Toronto. Her dark blonde hair rivalled Nikki's for length and straightness, her skin was slightly tanned, and her eyes were somewhere between brown and hazel, depending on the light. She was nearly as tall as Kara, and obviously worked out. She usually dressed fairly casual, today she was wearing track pants and a t-shirt

Becky was in the computer science program at Western University. She was a few inches shorter than Tanya, and her figure a little curvier. Her strawberry blonde hair was nearly as long. She was wearing a knee-length skirt and a blouse, and thigh-high socks, which was a typical outfit for her.

"Maria," Samantha said as she fixed her gaze on the older woman. "Why aren't Amanda, Sadie, and Ashley here?"

The social worker apologized, "I'm sorry Sam. I couldn't find anyone on short notice to babysit for Jenny and Beth, and I wasn't sure about getting Ashley away from her parents without being able to explain why. I figured whatever you wanted to talk to us all about, I could relay to the three of them later."

Nicole stated, "When we say attendance is mandatory, we mean it. Please remember that for next time. That goes for everyone."

Sam could tell Becky, Maria, and Tanya were all a little surprised by Nikki's tone, and how serious the two leaders were acting. She knew they'd understand in a few minutes, why Nicole and herself were so serious.

Samantha then explained, "Two days ago, while travelling in the U.K. Cindy and Zoe were attacked. Their attackers were using magic and they struck without warning." She looked at the small blonde, "Cindy, would you tell everyone what happened?"

When Cindy hesitated, Zoe stood up. "If it's ok Samantha, I'll explain?"

Sam nodded, "Thanks Zoe." She knew Cindy was still upset about the ordeal.

Zoe looked at the others and started to recount what happened on Friday, quickly getting to the point, "These guys both knew magic. They knew Cindy and I were part of the coven here. They were ordered to kill me and capture her. There was no warning, no conversation. When they had a clear view of us and we were in a secluded location, they struck. One of them used a spell that stopped my heart... I don't know if it was meant to be like a heart attack but I didn't have any chance to respond. The other guy's spell paralyzed Cindy completely. She could breath, but she couldn't even blink."

As the catgirl was talking, there were some gasps, and a lot of wide-eyed stares.

Tanya asked softly, "How'd you two escape?"

Zoe put a hand on Cindy's shoulder, "Our resident sorceress here is a lot better than me at quick thinking."

Nikki gave Zoe a nodd to sit down again. Then the goth said, "Samantha and I spent most of yesterday with Cindy and Zoe, going over everything that happened and what they were able to learn about their attackers. And what we have is not good news. It seems we are dealing with some sort of organization, who's mission is to either eliminate Gods and Goddesses, or at least to purge the Earth of their influence. These people know magic, but they want to keep it to themselves. They call themselves the Brotherhood of Diomedes."

Samantha explained, "That's almost certainly a reference to Greek mythology. There are a few legends about Diomedes but the stuff that's applicable here is that he was supposed to be able to see 'immortals' and he was able to hurt, perhaps even kill Gods. These people understand that the Gods need a vessel to interact with our world, and a priest or priestess to work with the vessel. Their standard routine is to kill both vessel and priestess, so that the Goddess can no longer help the coven. Then they hunt down and kill everyone else involved, to ensure no-one's left to perform the rituals to bring the Goddess back."

After a short pause, Sam continued "We don't know how many of these people there are. At least a few dozen in the U.K. and more in Europe. There weren't any in Canada, but odds are they're on their way, so we all need to be very careful."

Everyone was silent now, just staring at her and Nikki.

"One more bit of bad news..." Nikki stated. "The protection amulets we all wear, do not protect against magical attacks. They'll protect you from mundane physical harm, we know the enchantment can at least stop a bullet. But when Cindy and Zoe were attacked with magic, their amulets had no effect."

There were more worried looks from everyone as that sank in.

Samantha took over again, knowing it was time to bring the mood in the room back up. "It's not all bad news. One advantage we have is that they don't realize all of us can work magic. They think only the vessel and priestess have access to magic, so they believe everyone else is defenceless. Another advantage is we know these guys are out there and they're coming for us."

"So what do we do?" Maria asked, sounding nervous. "What do I tell the girls?"

Nikki replied, "Cindy is working on coming up with some sort of magical protection, something similar to our amulets but to block malevolent magic. Arianrhod spoke with her yesterday and gave her some information to get her started. As soon as that's ready, it will be shared with everyone in the coven, and everyone who's living with coven members. Maria, that means Jenny and Beth will be protected. Tanya, that means Brandi too."

After a pause Nicole continued, "Once that's done, Cindy will start working on improving the wards on our homes, to include some magic defence there as well. When that's ready, Jess and Cindy will have to redo all the wards on our homes. Here, your place Maria, and I think we should do your apartments too, Tanya and Becky."

Jessica asked, "No offence and all due respect to Cindy's skills, but in this case wouldn't it be better if the Goddess just gave us a magical protection spell, instead of waiting for us to figure it out on our own?"

Samantha and Nicole exchanged a glance. Sam had been hoping nobody would ask that, she knew the answer wouldn't go down well.

Nikki sighed, "Arianrhod is...working on the problem as well. I'm sorry Jessica, everyone. The Goddess doesn't have a spell ready for this. Her people have never needed protection from magic before."

Sam saw a lot of uneasy looks around the table as that sank in.

Kara then spoke up, "In the meantime I think it would be a good idea for everyone to be a little more paranoid than usual. Delete your social media accounts, or at least lock them down and delete any content that could be used to locate or identify any of us. Don't work magic where it can be seen but do step up training and practicing. Being able to respond quickly saved Cindy's and Zoe's lives. That might be our biggest advantage right now, these people believe we're 'unarmed' when it comes to magic."

Samantha could see Maria was looking very uneasy now, and asked "Maria? Do you have a question?"

The older woman sighed, "Amanda and Sadie, and Ashley... They only just joined the coven, they've had less than a month to start learning magic. We have to keep magic hidden from Beth, and Ashley has her own family to deal with. It's not going to be easy getting them training any more than we are already..." She glanced at Kara and added "And getting the three of them to quit their social media accounts will be almost impossible."

Kara replied, "Not just the three of them. Get Jenny and Beth off social media as well."

Maria looked like she was about to protest, but Nikki spoke up. "Do your best Maria. If you have to, then tell Jenny and Beth what's going on. Explain this is life and death. If Ashley has to come over every day after school for training, so be it. I expect you to supervise the three of them."

The goth then looked to Tanya. "You can tell Brandi the situation as well, Tanya. Actually, explain the whole thing and then let her know if she wants in, she can join us. You'll have to handle her training. Let her know about the threat, so she can make the choice. If she agrees, start teaching her magic at once, and we'll do her initiation as soon as we can."

"Oh... Ok." Tanya nodded slowly. "I'll talk with Brandi tonight."

Becky asked, "Can we find out how exactly Cindy stopped the two guys who attacked her and Zoe? Incase we're in a similar situation, it'd be good to know what worked."

Samantha glanced at Cindy, and saw the look on the girl's face. Sam knew the small witch was still dealing with guilt over what she'd done to the first attacker. And unfortunately, Sam and Nikki both knew very few of the other witches would have the raw power to use the stun spell the way Cindy had.

Sam sighed but replied "That's a fair question. Cindy was acting on adrenaline and instinct, but she was able to act fast enough to save Zoe's life and then her own." She paused as she saw Zoe slip a hand around Cindy's waist, a little gesture of support.

"You all know we've never even considered 'combat' magic." Sam said. "Still, we also know even 'good' magic can be dangerous..." She took a deep breath then stated, "Right now the deadliest spell we know is the teleport spell. If you send someone a few kilometres straight up or straight down, the result is going to be pretty much instant."

Nicole added calmly, "We recommend down, rather than up. No chance of any evidence turning up later, that way."

Everyone in the room was completely silent again, as that sank in.

After a few moments Maria said nervously, "You're talking about using magic to commit murder..."

Kara responded before Sam or Nikki could. Their voice was low but their tone was firm, "We're talking about self defence. I know it's a difficult subject Maria, but if someone was hurting one of your nieces would you stop and debate ethics, or would you do whatever it took to save your girls?"

The social worker sighed, "I don't know... I hope I never have to find out."

Samantha sighed as well, "I hope so too, Maria."

Nikki then said, "Unless there's any other questions, that's all we have for now. Stay in touch, be careful, and if you see anything suspicious, let us know immediately."

Kara added, "If you see anything suspicious don't go investigating on your own. Get somewhere safe and contact us."

As the others were starting to get up from the table, Becky asked "Does the Goddess know anything about these guys? Or does She know anything else that could help us?"

Nicole shook her head, "She's pretty sure they weren't around six hundred years ago when She was last active. She did say that when Sam and I woke Her, She noticed the lack of any other Gods around. Apparently they were more common way back when."

Becky sighed but nodded, "Ok. Thanks."

No-one else had any questions, so Sam brought the meeting to a close. Becky and Maria both teleported home after bidding everyone a good day. Kara and Jessica started clearing up the coffee cups and refreshments that had been set out.

Tanya stayed to talk a bit with Cindy and Zoe, and the three of them went up to Cindy's bedroom for now.

Samantha just sighed a little, and gave her wife a worried look.

Nikki stepped closer and put her arms around Sam. As they hugged, she whispered "It'll be ok, hon. We'll get through this. We're strong and resourceful... And the fact that we've basically thrown out a lot of traditions might be our biggest advantage."

Sam nodded slightly as she and Nikki continued their embrace.

=:= Zoe =:=

With another deep sigh, Cindy tore the page off her notepad and crumpled it up into a ball, then tossed it towards the corner of the room. There was already a pile of similarly crumpled pages on the floor there.

The small blonde was sitting cross-legged on her bed, surrounded by sheets of paper and notepads, with various scribbles and notes written out.

Zoe was laying on her side at the foot of the bed. She'd been watching her girlfriend stress over her notes for the past two hours now.

Cindy was alternating between staring off into space, then scribbling notes on paper, then staring at her notes, and then finally scrapping it and starting over. Every now and then she'd pause to read. She had a few of her own note-books full of spells and arcane information she'd worked on over the past few years, and she also had both the original ancient book and the new book the coven had started writing three years ago.

"Cindy?" Zoe asked softly. "Maybe it's time to take a break, cutie. I think it's time to stop and eat something."

It was mid-afternoon now, and she was pretty sure Cindy hadn't even eaten in the past twenty-four hours.

After the coven meeting yesterday they talked with Tanya for a few minutes. The tall blonde showed them both a new tattoo she had on her shoulder. At first neither Zoe or Cindy recognized the significance, but of course Cindy quickly figured it out.

Rather than an amulet, the tattoo itself was enchanted to give Tanya the same kind of protection. It had been a gift from the Goddess a little over a month ago. Cindy took some pictures with her phone, then she sat down and started working. She'd only stopped for a few hours sleep last night.

Zoe had been refilling Cindy's glass with juice but the small witch had so far refused to take a break.

"I can't Zoe." Cindy mumbled as she stared at another page in the old book. "I have to figure this stuff out. It can't wait."

Zoe sighed and watched for a few more minutes. Finally she asked "Are you making any progress?"

Cindy sighed, then frowned. "No." Her frown then shifted to a scowl, and her voice took on an irritated tone as she said "And it's not helping that you keep distracting me over and over, telling me to take a break or eat or whatever!"

Both of them were silent for a minute or two after that. Zoe kept watching her friend. She wasn't upset, she knew Cindy was under a lot of stress.

Eventually the small blonde seemed to realize what she'd done. She looked up and sighed, "I'm sorry Zoe, I didn't mean to snap at you..."

"It's ok Cindy." Zoe gave her a small smile. "How about you tell me what's got you stumped right now? Maybe talking through it will help?"

Cindy frowned slightly, looking down at her notes again. "The problem is power. The Goddess explained how She'd block magic but... It's just raw power. Of course She can block and negate any spells we'd throw at Her. It's like... No offence but I could probably dispell anything you threw at me, if I had the chance. And you could do the same for say, anything one of Maria's kids tossed at you."

"Gotcha." Zoe nodded. "Aren't we trying to make like, an amulet or something though? So its not about someone inexperienced being able to cast the spell, it's whoever's making the amulet?"

"Yeah," Cindy replied, "But if the spell's already taking a lot of power just to cast it, then making it into a permanent enchantment's not going to be feasible. I need to come up with something that's usable as a spell, before I can make it into a permanent enchantment."

That made sense to the catgirl and she nodded again. "Ok, I get it. We need some protection spell that anyone can use, before you can make it into an amulet. So something relying on pure power isn't going to be that helpful."

"Yeah..." Cindy sighed. "It's kinda something I've noticed, thinking about the magic the Goddess has provided, or stuff She's helped with? Like the transformation spell, the teleport spell... They're power-hungry spells."

Zoe thought about that, then shrugged "Well She's a Goddess. She's got like, unlimited power, so I'm sure She doesn't have to worry about making stuff elegant and efficient."

Cindy was still frowning, and in an absent-minded tone she remarked, "She doesn't have unlimited power, she just has lots more than we do..."

Zoe was surprised to hear that, wondering how Cindy would know something like that about the Goddess.

Before she could ask about it though, her girlfriend sighed again. "I just don't see a way around it though. A stronger spell's always gonna punch through a weaker defence..."

The two were silent for a minute or two. Cindy staring at her notes, and Zoe was thinking about what her girlfriend had said. Finally a possible answer popped into her head.

"I have an idea, Cindy." Zoe smiled. "But I'm not going to tell you till you've stopped and eaten something."

The small blonde looked up and frowned at her. It looked like she was about to protest, but instead she just sighed. "Ok Zoe, I'll take a break."

A half hour later they were sitting at the dining table. Cindy was part-way through a sandwich and a glass of chocolate milk, and Zoe had her laptop infront of her.

It took a few minutes for her to find what she was searching for. She turned the computer around so Cindy could see the screen and smiled. "Ok watch this."

The video clip playing on the screen was from some martial arts movie. A large strong brute of a guy was attacking a little old man. The size mismatch was obvious, the attacker looked like he could snap the old man in half like a twig. But every time the big guy attacked, he wound up on his ass.

Cindy stared at the screen as she chewed her sandwich. After a few minutes the clip ended, but the small witch just continued staring. Her expression was a thoughtful frown.

After another minute or so, Zoe asked, "So? You get it, right?"

Cindy was quiet for another minute or so. She finally finished her sandwich, and washed it down with some milk.

Then at last, she nodded. "Yeah, I get it. Pretty good idea, Zoe. It's a completely different angle, but it might actually work..." She smiled a little and added, "Thanks."

=:= Nathan =:=

"That's one of your men out of Cardiff, yes?" Richard asked.

Nathan's eyes were going over the coroner's report in his hand. He nodded slightly and replied "Yes, sir." as he continued reading.

He'd lost contact with Jeremy and Simon five days ago. Their last message indicated that they were following the two targets into some woodland, and were going to strike when they had their quarry isolated in the trees.

According to this report, three days ago a body matching Jeremy's description was fished out of the Celtic Sea off the coast of Pembrokeshire. Cause of death was listed as hypoxia, though the coroner couldn't be certain. The body had so much damage that picking any one thing as the definitive cause of death was a bit of a guess.

The summary suggested that the man had perhaps stowed away in some part of a commercial jet, and subsequently fallen out. There were indications that he'd been alive when he was exposed to altitudes well above twenty-five thousand feet.

Finally Nathan closed the folder and set it down on his superior's desk. "There's still no sign of Simon's body, but it could be just a matter of luck that Jeremy's was found... Simon may well be at the bottom of the Celtic Sea now..."

Richard looked unhappy. "And our two Canadian tourists seem to have vanished. I think we can assume Nathan, your men made some sort of mistake, and the targets were able to contact their divine friend." Raising his voice a little, he stated "Now rather than us having more intel on them, odds are their deity has pulled every last scrap of information out of the minds of your men."

"I'm sorry sir... I find it hard to believe my men would make a blatant mistake... The girls may have just gotten lucky. Or... Could one of them be the vessel? Or the priestess?" Nathan tried very hard to keep the nervousness he was feeling out of his voice.

Richard frowned as he shook his head. "Highly unlikely."

He didn't elaborate why he felt that way, and Nathan decided not to risk asking.

After a few moments his boss commented, "What doesn't make sense is how the man died. A deity wouldn't need to toss him out of a plane... They'd have a million ways to kill him without leaving a trace."

Nathan asked, "Perhaps it was to scare him? Or to scare Simon, to force him to talk?"

Richard shook his head, "I think you underestimate how powerful they are, Nathan. This is why the Brotherhood exists, to keep our world clear of their influence. Despite all our training and skill, they could take a man like you or I and simply peel our minds wide open. They'd take whatever they wanted. There's no need for them to resort to fear or torture... And if they were doing that for their own amusement, they could do it with magic, no need for a plane, no need to even take him up to altitude." There was a bit of respect, or perhaps even fear in Richard's voice as he spoke.

Nathan stayed quiet. He knew how powerful the Gods were supposed to be, he'd learned all that in his training. It was still a little disturbing to hear his boss discussing it with that hint of awe in his tone.

Richard was still frowning. After another pause, he said "And why leave the body at all? Why not just destroy it? It couldn't have been to send us a message, there's no way they'd know he'd even be found. If they wanted to send a message they could have dropped him on our front door." He sighed, shaking his head. "This just seems sloppy."

"The whole situation has been rather odd, hasn't it?" Nathan asked. "I mean, it's taken four years from the Awakening before finding them, and it looks like all they've done in that time is help a young lesbian couple buy a winery and set up a charity for LGBT folks."

Richard scowled. "Speaking of, what's the status of your men in Canada?"

"They've set up a base of operations and have begun surveillance." Nathan reported. "I've put Christopher in charge, he's smart and ruthless. And I've given him William as his second in command. William is an excellent tactician and has a great deal of experience with 'wet work'. The rest of the team are all top in their fields."

"What's their plan?" Richard asked.

"They know the cultists are probably on alert, so for the next week or two, they'll be keeping a low profile and just observing. Christopher is confident they'll be ready to strike within the fortnight, once they've got enough intel on the movements of the group and its leaders."

Richard nodded with a grim smile, "Excellent."

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