Midnight brought a hush to the deserted street. Faint wisps of mist began to form, slowly pooling and gathering until a hooded figure was revealed. Slowly he walked down the empty street, casting out his senses as he searched for his next target.

It took every ounce of his discipline to contain his rage. Despite his efforts she still had not come to the city. He knew that the witch's death had been in the papers. She came from an old, respected family and her death had been so mysterious that the press were practically falling over themselves to report it.

Within the cowl a sick grin twisted the man's face. It had been so easy. Yes, the witch had powerful wards around her home but the small threads of deadly smoke hadn't tripped the magical defense system until it was too late.

Once the woman had realized what was going on she had fought but it was useless. How could one possibly try and fight smoke? Her magic had passed uselessly through him and he nearly laughed at the ease of taking her life. He had toyed with her until he grew weary then had merely focused his energy around her nose and mouth, watching as her struggles grew weaker and weaker as the smoke slowly drained her life away.

The hooded stranger stopped in front of a house and took a deep breath while gathering his power. If one death didn't bring her to Dublin perhaps a second one would.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Rea headed down to the lobby with her luggage and was surprised to see both Ryan and Neil waiting for her. From the looks on their faces she knew something was very wrong. "What is it?"

The two led her to a less occupied area of the lobby. "Did you read the paper this morning?" asked Ryan and Rea nodded. "Did you see the article about the man who died from smoke inhalation without any trace of fire in his home?"

The witch fought to keep her face impassive. She knew that whoever or whatever was killing these people was trying to lure her to Dublin and she was sick of evading the inevitable. Maybe she was wrong, maybe this had nothing to do with her but she had to find out before anyone else died.

"Yes, I saw it."

"It wasn't just any man that was killed," said Neil. "It was a werewolf."

"Really?"

The guitarist nodded. "A friend of ours called me this morning. He was absolutely distraught because the man who was killed was a member of his pack."

Rea felt her stomach drop. Not only was she headed to Dublin to track down this mysterious killer but there was going to be a very vengeful pack of werewolves searching for the same stranger. Why couldn't anything ever be easy?

"Have you ever seen anything like this? Someone killing supernatural beings with smoke?" asked Ryan.

The witch looked between both men and nervously licked her lips. Should she tell them that she had seen identical deaths in New Orleans? That one of her sisters had been killed in the exact same fashion?

With a shaky break Rea shook her head. She couldn't let Ryan and Neil get involved with this. She had too much blood on her hands already and she would be dammed if she allowed any harm to come to these two.

"No, I've never seen anything like it."

Ryan frowned. "You're lying."

"Drop it." Rea pushed past them and headed towards her rental car, shoving luggage in the tiny trunk with far too much effort.

"We're going with you." Neil's words made the witch pause and turn.

"What?"

"Our friend wants to find out who killed his blood brother. We owe it to him to help."

Ryan took a tentative step closer. "I know there are things you aren't telling me and that's fine, you have every right to keep your secrets. But don't you want to find out who is behind this? Don't you want to put a stop to it before someone else dies?" Rea was silent and Ryan decided to push his luck. "You don't have to do this alone. If there is something killing people with smoke wouldn't it be smarter to work together?"

The witch let out a sigh. "Fine. Let's take a field trip to Dublin but first I have to do some shopping. If I'm going to face this thing I want to be prepared."