'So how is the search going? Found anything?' asked Remy.

'Big bunch of weirdos, yeah,' answered Jenna. 'But nothing else, and the list is getting shorter and shorter. There was this woman two days ago, she met her but even if she knows where the Goddess is now, she won't tell.'

'What? That's insane. Can't she understand what's at stake now?'

'Apparently, she thinks that Luther is either lying or wrong and the Goddess isn't dangerous anyway,' said Jenna. 'That latter one might be true, by the way: she is free for a while now and she didn't do anything wrong so far.'

'Yeah, history is full of super-powerful people who started to build a cult and did nothing wrong with it,' rolled his eyes Remy.

They were visiting yet another cemetery. This one was far out in Zone Seven, on a local High Street. A long time ago the area was a tiny town, built around the church and its graveyard. Then London came and London won: the gigantic city ate the small town, making it to be a part of its own body. Now it was just another suburb, identical to the hundreds and hundreds of other neighbourhoods in the outer Zones. The old pub became a Wetherspoon, instead of a market they had a Tesco and the local bookshop gave its spot to a branch of Waterstones.   

The cemetery remained the same, though, older than old without any sign of planning and gravestones so old that the passing time wiped them clean of any names or dates. Whoever slept their endless dream in the ground, was forgotten forever. 

'I don't know, I think I'm gonna need some proof of her guilt before I will try to squeeze her back in a doll,' said Jenna.

'Didn't she try to kill you?' asked Remy.

'Yeah, well, imagine this: you spend a couple of thousand years in a statue, then you are free in a world full of strange metal monsters with people in them, and buildings made out of stone and metal and glass and there are more people around than you have ever seen together in your life. You have no idea what happened, where you are, what is going on, you can't talk because they don't understand you, then people come and attack you. You would protect yourself, wouldn't you?'

'Damn, Jenna,' shook his head Remy. 'You do get that ancient chick.'

'Yeah, I guess I do…' she said quietly. 'So why are we here, again? If you wanted to get away from Grimes, well done, this place is literally the end of the known world…'

'I did want to get away from Grimes, but I do have something to show you, too,' answered the boy.

'If it's the same thing guys always want to show me at deserted little corners, you should know that I have a boyfriend,' grinned Jenna. 

Remy shook his head again.

'This way,' he showed. 'So I should clear this place, but when I came around to check it yesterday, there was something odd about it. See that? That crooked headstone?'

Jenna walked up to it, touched the stone, tapped on the ground with her boots, even crouched to pick up some of the soil around. She grinded it between her fingers, smelled it then wiped her fingers on her Jeans as she got up.  

'Yeah, that's the nest. Kinda small, I'd say it's probably just two of them. Do you wanna dig them out now? It's a dirty job but if they aren't too deep it could work.'

'Yeah, you might wanna check out the ground under the trees there first,' he pointed.

She did, and was frowning when stood up.

'A second nest,' she said. 'A bigger one at that, too, I think there are at least four of them down there. Remember the cemetery I showed you a few months ago?'

'Yeah, it's the same thing,' nodded Remy. 'Thought you might wanna see it.'

Jenna closed her eyes and took a deep breath. 

'That weird kind of background magic is here, too… Kind of like… I don't know. It's hard to tell magical signs apart, especially after a long time… And I don't think anyone cast a spell here in the last month.'

'So what do we do?' asked Remy.

Jenna took out her phone and checked the time, then looked up to the grey sky. 

'Sun will be down in an hour or so. Let's get a bite, then we can come back and kill them. There won't be a full moon tonight but close enough. But first, let's walk around, I wanna see if there is a third nest.'

Luckily, it was only the two of them. Six, maybe seven ghouls against two sorcerers. They have got magic, the ghouls had the inhuman speed and strength, plus they didn't feel pain. Jenna would have liked those chances if it wasn't for the soft ground.

'They cannot dig through concrete or cobblestones, but that damn place is so old it doesn't get any of those. I will have to try and make a pathway out of concrete for us somehow, but transformative spells aren't my strong suit,' said Jenna. Now they were in a McDonald's, just across the road, sitting amongst a few dozens of shouting teenagers.

'Yeah, I am bad at it, too. Should we call someone?' asked Remy. 'Maybe Robert could…'

'Nope,' shook her head Jenna. 'I will figure it out, don't worry. He is busy anyway. Dude went back to school.'

'Really, he is teaching again?' asked Remy, dunking a piece of fries into ketchup. 'That's cool.'

'No, no, he is studying,' corrected Jenna. 'That woman I told you about, she is a shaman. They have some weird kinda natural magic thingy, I don't know, but Robert thinks he could learn a couple of things from her. Hopefully only about magic...'

'Jealous much, Jenna?' grinned Remy. 'The man's crazy about you, don't be stupid. And shamans are kinda cool. My grandfather always told these stories about his great-grandfather… My great-great-great-grandfather? Or just two greats? Anyway, the old man was a shaman back in Nigeria, before it was called Nigeria, I don't know, a lot of years ago. He was a total badass, though. He could conjure thunderstorms, tornadoes, he talked to animals and ghosts…'

'You cannot talk to ghosts, Remy, they are just memories, they don't have a consciousness,' Jenna shook her head, then she took a sip from her coke 'Haven't I teached you anything?'

'I never know how to respond to that question without hurting your feelings…' 

'I guess I haven't, then…' said Jenna, tapping on her lips with her forefinger. 'That's probably the reason why the ghouls are gonna eat you tonight. My bad.'

'They will only eat me if you let them,' pointed out Remy.

'Why, what did I say?' asked Jenna in an innocent voice. 

'You are not funny, Jenna,' murmured Remy. 

'Nonsense, I am hilarious,' she answered. 'So what else was that great-great… Your ancestor capable of?'

A big group of loud teenagers left, but they got replaced with another one just a minute later. Only two or three of them ordered anything, the rest just sat and tried to over shout the background music, each other and the other groups of noisy kids.

'I don't know, a bunch of things, mostly about the weather or animals or dreams…' Remy ate another piece of fries. 'My grandpa said he could curse his enemies with nightmares. And, but I really don't think that was true, he could turn into a hyena.'

'Funny, the MAGE's records say that our shaman can turn into some animal, too,' said Jenna. 'Must be a bullshit, though, I mean, just think about it, a hyena is much smaller than a human, what is happening with the extra mass?'

'Maybe he was a very big hyena?' guessed Remy.

'Okay, what if someone turns into a bear or I don't know, an elephant? Where would the extra mass come? And don't say it's a small elephant!'

'Then I don't know,' shrugged Remy.' Where did werewolves get it? They turned into something bigger, right?'

'Yeah, but… I mean… Okay, you got me. No idea. Come on, let's kill some monsters then we go and ask Robert. The man's a walking Wikipedia.' 

Ghoul hunting was a routine task for a demon hunter if the said hunter was responsible enough to measure the scene before the hunt. Jenna skipped that step last time and the results were injuries and a big mess. Now, however, everything went according to the plans, and the two hunters destroyed the nests in no time. All things considered, getting home from Zone 7 using public transport in the evening rush hour was much more terrifying and demanding. But they survived that one, too.

Jenna invited over Remy for dinner. It wasn't an act of kindness, but pride: she mentioned that she is going to cook dinner, and Remy burst out laughing at the mere idea of Jenna in the kitchen. 

'You'll see, dude, you'll see,' she shook her head, and Remy tried to keep a straight face but his lips trembled with a hidden smile. 

When they arrived, the tiny flat was crowded already. Doing something with Robert's TV there was Marcus, and Rose was sitting on the sofa. She was back in black, not in those baggy unisex kinds of clothes but a tight tank top and skinny black jeans. 

'What's up, guys?' asked Jenna.

Robert went to kiss her, then Marcus tried the same and Robert hit him at the head with a rolled-up magazine.

'Worth a shot…' Marcus murmured. It was good to see him being goofy again, even though his smiles still weren't as bright as they used to be.

'I'm right here, Marcus, single and classically beautiful, just saying…' shook her head Rose.

‘Yeah, you are,’ agreed Jenna. They bumped fists.

'That's the catch, you see, you are single,' answered Marcus. 'I need a challenge, I need the forbidden fruit…'

Remy gave him an apple from the kitchen counter. Marcus stared at it, then shrugged and took a huge bite. 

Rose turned to Jenna. 

'We have a bit of a situation here. My company stumbled across a security footage today… It was a break-in at one of those betting places, you know the kind, they are at every corner. Met outsourced the checking of the security system to our company. The CCTV was killed but the technician guys managed to save some information. Which we are going to see now,' she nodded towards the TV.

Jenna was sitting beside her now on the couch and Remy settled on the armrest next to Jenna. Marcus occupied Robert's office chair, so the master of the house had to stand. 

'By the way, if you already had dinner, try not to throw up,' said Rose.

'I was going to cook…' 

'Yeah, hold that thought. Play it, Marcus,' she said.

The screen of the TV came to life. Jenna saw some kind of back alley with a metal door and a big rubbish container. The picture was in black and white and had disturbances, white lines running on it every now and then. There was no audio, only the picture.

'What is happening?' asked Robert.

'Wait for it,' answered Marcus.

Sure enough, seconds later a figure walked into the frame. It was probably a man, but that was hard to tell because the figure wore a big puffed jacket with the hood on. He walked like a man, Jenna decided to herself. The hooded someone raised his arm and pushed his palm onto the metal door. Runes lit up by the dozen on the door, then they all died out at once. The possible man opened the door and in he went. 

'He spends like ten minutes in, probably breaking into the cashier machines and looking for big money in a safe or something,' said Rose. 'We can fast forward it.'

'But everyone knows that these places don't keep cash after closing time,' pointed out Remy.

'Yes, but small-time burglars usually not known for their intelligence, Remy,' answered Robert.

'Fair enough,' nodded Remy. 

'How did he open the door?' asked Jenna. 'Those are sealed by a lot of different spells, it's at least a two-people job.'

'I'm delighted to know that you are an expert when it comes to breaking in,' said Robert with a crooked smile.

'Just watch,' waved Rose towards the television. 

A second figure walked into the picture. a woman in something that appeared to be a white vest, but they all knew that in reality it was yellow: a police officer. She scouted carefully, baton in her hand, radio in the other. Then the door swung wide open and the hooded man ran out, right into the policewoman. His hood fell off and Jenna could see that he was indeed a he, a white kid with short hair that was either blonde or very light brown. He couldn't be older than 20. 

They started to grapple. The copper dropped her radio which was now swinging on its cable, but she managed to pull the kid's coat halfway down so it kind of restrained him, he couldn't really move his hands. He must have been much stronger than he looked because he tore the puffed coat apart, lining slowly fell everywhere like snow. He took the ruined pieces of clothing off, showing his skinny arms and upper body. The woman tried to hit him with her baton, but he pushed her and she flew back a few metres. If Jenna wouldn't see him doing magic earlier, she would have guessed that he was a vampire: no human could be this strong.  

Police officers in the United Kingdom usually did not carry a gun with themselves, especially not the patrolmen. Those who could do magic were only allowed to carry magical weapons with non-lethal spells on them, and it was strictly forbidden for them to use anything with separated Runes on it. 

This woman wasn't a sorcerer, thought. But she did have a taser on her (which was also a rarity due to the financial crisis the police had to face), and she pointed it at the boy now. He raised his empty hands, said something, and then Jenna felt the cheeseburgers she had eaten earlier lazily turning in her stomach now.

The policewoman was bleeding. Blood poured from several wounds and Jenna was thankful for the lack of colours. The injuries were torn by her own broken bones that pierced her skin and slid slowly out of her body. She must have screamed, but fortunately, there was no sound on the video.  

'What the…?' asked Marcus in a hushed voice.

The woman laid on the ground now, in the pool of her own blood, unmoving. She didn't resemble a human being anymore, she was nothing but a mess of flesh and bones. The boy who killed her noticed the camera, looked directly into it and said something. The screen went dark. 

There was silence for a minute. 

'So… What do you guys think?' asked Rose.

'You have a really fucked up job if you have to watch shit like this,' said Remy. 'And that's coming from a demon hunter.'

'My job is much more relaxed, usually,' shrugged Rose. 'There are bad days, though.'

'Do we know who is this kid?' asked Marcus.

'As per usual, my friend, you are missing the point,' pitched in Robert. Jenna looked at him: he was pale and somewhat shaken, same as Jenna felt herself.

'So what's the point, Professor?' asked Marcus. He could say the word "professor" almost as sarcastically as Jenna.

'He did not have any wand, magical jewellery or tattoos, and every time he cast a spell he spoke. He also showed high magical potential without being on the MAGE's list. However terrible the thing he did was, it was remarkable as a spell. Bottom line: he was using the Names of the Runes, hence, he was one of the followers of the Goddess.'

JohnHKnight

That's all, folks. This was the last daily update. From now on I will upload two chapters a week, on Wednesday and Saturday. But I'm working on two other stories in this same world so soon I will be back daily with another story. In the meantime, recommend Montgomery and Carano to your friends, toss a coin to me via Paypal if you can and feel free to interact, write comments, ask things, rate. See you on Saturday!