"Hey Coreen, what's the urgency?" Vicki asked upon entering her office.

"Nice of you to notice I called," Coreen snorted.

"Been a little busy, besides, knew you were safe with your guard dogs," Vicki teased.

"That is so not nice Vicki," Coreen was defensive, "they are very cool."

"Oh yeah..let's see, they kidnapped you and THEN told you they needed your help, that's a surefire way to start off a trusting friendship," Vicki's voice dripped with sarcasm. Coreen was furious. She felt as if Vicki were making fun of her.

"You know," Coreen was on her feet, "just because they didn't ask you doesn't mean you have to make fun of me!"

"Coreen.." Vicki sighed, she hadn't realized she'd hurt her feelings.

"NO, no..never mind. I don't need your help," Coreen's eyes began to water. Oh no, she was going to cry, Vicki couldn't handle that right now. Lack of sleep and food were beginning to get to her and now, she'd made the poor girl cry.

"Coreen, I'm.." Vicki struggled as usual, "I'm..sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I'm tired, hungry and very frustrated right now with this case."

"Just the case?" Coreen sniffed.

"Yes, just the case. So tell me about the shifters," Vicki redirected Coreen to focus on the task at hand, filling her in.

Coreen related all that had happened and Vicki sat quietly listening to the fantastic tale.

"Let's see," Vicki began to count off, "there are Vampires, Shifters but not just werewolves, they shift into Leopards and Jaguars, so far anyway, witches and warlocks, anything else?"

"Demons?"

"Yes, I know but not on this case, please don't add to it," Vicki groaned. Coreen handed her a hot cup of coffee. The gesture made Vicki feel worse than she already did. She nodded a thanks.

Coreen giggled, a sure sign she was somewhat over Vicki's unintentional stepping on her feelings.

"Vicki, you look terrible, you should go rest. I'll be here all day, I'll watch out for you," Coreen said honestly.

"Gee, thanks. I think I will go lie down though," Vicki yawned. While heading to her office, a thought struck her, what if she started to dream again.

"Uh..Coreen, I'm going to lock the door. You have the key right?" Vicki didn't want Coreen to suddenly walk in if Vicki had a more intense dream. Hearing someone trying to get in with a key would at least wake her up.

"Yeah, sure, why?"

Vicki shrugged, "No reason, just..well let me sleep about four hours okay?" Coreen nodded in understanding.

"Oh, Coreen?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm happy that you've been," Vicki searched for the right words, "chosen to help these people." Coreen smiled, that was as close to a compliment from Vicki as she'd ever had.

"Thanks!" Coreen was also just a tad too bubbly this early in the morning but Vicki said nothing. She had already hurt the poor goth enough for one day.

Vicki closed the door, locked it and silently hoped she'd get to finish her dream.

*******************************************************************************************************************************************************

The shifter awoke sweating and panting, her dreams had become more vivid and violent. She screamed, tore her sheets and hated herself.

"Why? Why me? Why did you do this to me?" she shouted to no one. Getting out of bed, she padded over to her medicine cabinet.

"There's got to be something in here to knock me out," she huffed. After going through several bottles, she finally found a powerful tranquilizer and took two.

"So what if it kills me," she mumbled on her way back to bed. She crawled back under her ripped comforter, vowing to kill all who had been a part of this. She had intregrated very well into society. She was in college and doing excellent. She would have had her degree in less than four years and now things had gone awry. Sleep took her quickly as the tranquilizers took effect and her eyes closed to a mercifully dreamless sleep. Outside of her door they stood in wait until her breathing was deep and even. Once they knew she was sleeping, they entered and took her.

"I knew she'd eventually give in to taking something, the feelings were too strong for her to contain and deal with," one of them said with an evil smile.

"Yes, let's get her to the others before she awakens."

********************************************************************************************************************************************************

Surprisingly, Vicki's sleep was dreamless. She wasn't so much suprised as disappointed when she realized Coreen was shaking her awake and she'd had no dreams at all.

"Hey, it's been five hours, wake up."

Vicki rubbed her eyes and looked around for her glasses. After finding them, she yawned once more, put them on and stretched. Coreen held out a mug full of hot, fresh coffee.

"Wow, thanks again Coreen," Vicki smiled.

"Sure, figured you'd need it. I'm afraid you'll have a long night ahead of you," she offered.

"Why's that?" Vicki said as she sat at her desk and opened her computer.

"Seems there's a missing college student now and I..um..well I looked on that name you had on the piece of paper from Dr. Sagara," Coreen took a breath, "it's her. The missing student I mean, it's the girl you were going to talk to."

"What? Holy shit! Great, that's just great!"

"What's just great? Me? Aw, thanks Vic!" Mike smiled.

"Missing person Mike. The girl that had an appointment with Dr. Sagara," Vicki handed him the name.

Mike shook his head, "Well, back to square one I suppose."

"Not really, I have to meet with the packs tonight, Vicki. Are you and Henry going to be able to come with me?" Coreen asked.

"Packs? Packs of what? And what about the missing kid and her dad? When are we going there?" Mike asked.

"In a few, but Mike, I need you to stay open minded," Vicki was cautious.

Mike took a deep breath and said, "Something tells me I'm not going to like this..."