EVDOKIYA

"A prank?" Evdokiya stared up at the local sheriff in anger. "You seriously believe this was a prank?"

"What else could it be?" The Sheriff smiled at her, "No one actually believes you're a witch Miss Vankov."

While the police believed it to be a prank, they did take pictures and ask for her account. Evdokiya was angry, very angry. Her hands clenched into fists, her teeth were gritted and she listened to the condescending tones of the Sheriff. Not even when he left was she able to remain calm, Evdokiya's heart was pounding loudly and she could hear her pulse. Closing her eyes briefly, she wondered if the two FBI agents were going to do anything or they'd just leave her like the police did. Evdokiya looked around the messy room, shaking her head in anger.

"Police are so incompetent," Evdokiya spat and turned her head to glare at the two agents. "Surely you two don't believe this is a prank."

"No," Agent McTaggert moved toward the wall, "Because this is blood."

"What?" Evdokiya's eyes widened, "No, Caspian!"

Hurrying up the stairs, she shoved open the door to her apartment and stared at a clean space. She was relieved no one had come up there to spot her apartment, she could only imagine what would have happened. Hearing a whining from a cat, Evdokiya hurried toward the window, spotting Caspian who was standing outside on the roof, meowing. Evdokiya opened the window, allowing her cat to step inside, he rubbed up against her and Evdokiya was relieved that he had not been hurt.

"Your cat" she turned and found the two agents standing behind her.

"Yes," Evdokiya pulled Caspian into her arms, kissing the top of her mouth. "I worried they had used his blood."

Agent Johnson suddenly sneezed, "Sorry." He motioned to the door, "I'm allergic to cats."

"Ah," Evdokiya couldn't help the smile that crossed her face.

Releasing Caspian from her grip, she followed the two men downstairs but left her cat upstairs. Closing the door behind her she made her way back down to the room that was ruined. Evdokiya shook her head as she saw the bloody words written on the wall again. It was going to be hard to scrub off the words, Evdokiya was disappointed as she began to gather a lot of her materials that had been expensive. Wanting to cry, Evdokiya sniffed and turned her head away from the scene and continued to clean.

Hands shook as she picked up broken crystals, shattered and left all over the place. Placing them in the box, Evdokiya glanced around the room again and found the agents gathering her belongings. Though she thought them idiots, since they were adamant she was the guilty one, it was nice of them to stay around and help. Evdokiya stood slowly, carrying the box filled with broken crystals to the bench out the front of the shop. There she laid one of her hands over them, feeling saddened they had been broken.

"Find the killer and find the person who did this to me," Evdokiya suddenly snapped, turning to glare at the men.

"We will," Agent McTaggert suddenly walked toward her. "Do you have any idea who would do this to you?"

"Pastor Davis, of course," she answered with a scowl. "The man has hated me from the moment I stepped into town."

"A pastor," Agent Johnson shrugged his shoulders. "It's not like we haven't seen worse things from religious zealots."

"We'll look into it," Agent McTaggert suddenly reassured her.

"Thank you, Agents," she smiled at the two of them. "If you can get the guy who did this I promise you can have free readings."

"Uh, thanks," Agent Johnson replied awkwardly.

The two of them left not long after. Evdokiya had cleaned up the rest of the room, placing broken, torn things in the bin and leaving the wall to last. She looked down at the bucket of dishwashing soap, water and bleach. She placed the scrubbing brush inside and wet it, pulling it out and letting some drips of water hit the wooden floors. She then began to scrub the wall, starting at the W and placing both hands on the brush. With all her might and strength, she scrubbed back and forth, putting her back into it. Hearing the sound of a car, Evdokiya frowned and looked behind her, hand coming to touch part of the blood.

"Help!"

Evdokiya's eyes widened as she froze, the sound of distress in her ears.

"Help me! No stop it! Don't!"

The voice was familiar, belonging to Poppy. Evdokiya ripped her hand away from the wall, stumbling back and staring at it in horror. The W had been partially removed but the rest of the word was still there, the blood was dry but Evdokiya's skin crawled. Poppy's blood? No, it was not possible, she was a liar, she had no power. Shaking her head, Evdokiya bent to pick up the scrubbing brush. She was distracted and she was tricking herself because she was worried about Poppy. There could be no other explanation.

"Hello?" A voice broke through and Evdokiya turned her head quickly. A woman stood in the doorway, she was of Native American descent and had a leather jacket over her shoulders. "Sorry, I've just been trying to get your attention for a while."

"You have?" Evdokiya asked and then cleared her throat, realising she had slipped into Bulgarian. "Sorry, you have?"

"Yes," the woman glanced at the wall. "I'd heard about you from a student in my class and I admit, I'm curious."

"Oh," Evdokiya cleared her throat. "Are you a teacher?"

"A lecturer, at Harvard," she didn't boast. "What happened here?"

"Someone broke in," Evdokiya sniffed, "Wanting to threaten me." She was bitter, letting the scrubbing brush fall into the bucket with a little splash. "Come sit," she wiped her hands on a tea towel. "What would you like me to do? Read your palm or card reading?"

"Palm for today," the woman followed Evdokiya to sit down in front of a small table. "If I like it I may come back."

"Well," Evdokiya cleared her throat, "I better do a good job." She then straightened her back, "What's your name?"

"Doctor Miakoda Hart," the woman answered, hands together on the table.

"Well, Doctor Hart," Evdokiya held out her hand, "Your hand please." There was a stark colour difference between them, a deep russet brown of Dr. Hart's hand met the pale olive of Evdokiya's hand.

Evdokiya's face pulled together as she tried to focus on the hand but her eyes were blurring. In her ears she could hear heavy breathing, slowly that heavy breathing turned into snarls and Evdokiya froze. Her hand clutched tightly to Dr. Hart's but she could hardly notice, not when there was screams accompanying the snarling and they were distracting, she was beginning to forget where she was. The screams and snarling got louder, but Evdokiya could not let go and her body was shaking. Evdokiya flinched suddenly when the screams blended in to a loud, pained howl. It was then her eyes looked up, meeting Dr Hart's eyes.

But instead of the Doctor's brown eyes and her face, it was a brown wolf with red eyes.

Immediately, Evdokiya jumped back from the woman, standing abruptly. Her back hit the shelf behind her back she could barely feel the pain, not when she was in terrible shock. Evdokiya shook her head, no it was impossible, something wrong was happening. She had no powers, the only thing she was good at was lying to customers.

"Miss? Miss?" The woman got up and began to crowd her.

"Don't touch me!" Evdokiya yelled, but once again it was in Bulgarian but she took notice. "No, no, no… this cannot… it's not real!" Reaching up, she began to smack the side of her head like she would as a child when these strange sounds and visions would occur.

"Evdokiya!" A person yelled, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her. Evdokiya paused, looking up into brown eyes. She froze and the person who was holding her dug their fingers into her arm, "Calm down."

Frozen, Evdokiya looked away from the woman who was holding her and shook her head. She had strange occurrences when she was a child that would result in her seeing things that weren't really there. It made no sense to her and really hurt her head, often she would slip into deep sleeps that she would not wake up from. Evdokiya pushed away from the woman, making sure that she was separated from the woman. She hadn't even been able to read the woman's palm, Evdokiya felt sick and wanted to head to bed.

"You'll live a long and happy life, with many children," she murmured, repeating the line she had said to Agent Johnson the day before. "Now I'm going to have to ask you to leave." Once the woman was gone, Evdokiya locked the door and spent the rest of the day in her apartment.

In the early morning, Evdokiya was thrown from her sleep gasping and sitting straight up in bed. It was a chilly morning with the window left open for Caspian but sweat covered her body, hair sticking to her neck and to the sides of her face. Evdokiya shook her head, trying to calm herself down as she slowly shoved the blanket down her legs. Placing her legs over the side of the bed, she pressed her feet into the ground and stood up from the bed. Heading into the kitchen, Evdokiya opened one of the cupboards to pull a mug down and make herself some coffee.

Pushing her hair off her neck, Evdokiya poured the coffee into her cup and stood by the windows. Cars drove passed, heading out of town and Evdokiya noticed one familiar car pull into her carpark. Freezing, Evdokiya placed the coffee down and leaned closer to the window. The car pulled up out of her view and Evdokiya slowly made her way down the stairs, peering around the corner. The FBI agents stood by the door, one of them lifted their fists and knocked at the door, pounding their fist against the glass.

Straightening, Evdokiya unlocked the door and opened it. She then crossed her hands over her chest, leaning against the open doorframe. "Agents," she nodded at the two of them.

"Evdokiya," the two of them shared a look.

"Poppy was found last night," she then blurted. "That's what you came to tell me, right?"

"Yeah," the two of them shared a look.

"Oh," her stomach curled, her shoulders slumping. Looking down at the ground, she thought of her dream and the terrible screams, the chants that had grown louder and louder over the screams. "Oh," she shook her head. "W-where was her body found?"

"The same place as the three other bodies," one of the agents informed her quietly, but she could hardly tell which one.

"P-Poppy," Evdokiya's voice shook around her name, a tear slipped down her cheek and she pushed it away with her thumb. "D-did you tell her mother?"

"Before we came here," Agent McTaggert confirmed. "Do you have any other information of the disappearance of the women?"

"No," Evdokiya denied. "No. A woman came around last night but she was a customer, I don't think she had anything to do with the disappearances."

"Really?" Agent Johnson straightened, "What was her name?"

"Doctor Miakoda Hart," Evdokiya answered, reaching up to rub the side of her head. Her head was beginning to pound as memory from the night before tried to come to the service of her mind. "I don't think she had anything to do with the case, she might just have been curious." She shrugged her shoulders, "Sorry I can't be any more help but I think I should at least go see if I can offer Mrs Langford some sort of support, she's probably a wreck right now."

"Yes," Agent Johnson nodded. "Thank you for this information."

Agent McTaggert then paused, "Do you need a ride to Mrs Langford's?"

The two agents were kind enough to drop her on the curb of Mrs Langford's house. Evdokiya had showered quickly while the two of them waited downstairs and had changed. Evdokiya had not bothered with her hair or makeup, she couldn't be bothered with her appearance at all. She thanked the agents and got out of the car, placing her shoes on the soft grass underneath her feet and she made her way up the driveway. She was a little nervous to face Mrs Langford, the poor woman who had lost her daughter.

Knocking nervously on the door, Evdokiya lowered her hand and waited. When the door opened, Mrs Langford revealed herself. Her eyes were bloodshot and watery, her skin pale with thick bags under her eyes. The poor woman was visibly shaking, she looked as if she had been awake all night. Mrs Langford suddenly let out a sob and Evdokiya stepped through the threshold of the house, wrapping her arms around the woman who lived alone. Husband had been dead for five years and her son was away in the navy.

"Evdokiya," Mrs Langford sobbed in her shoulder. "Poppy… my Poppy… she's gone!" She wailed.

"Let's get you inside," Evdokiya whispered, leading the woman further into the house.

Once Mrs Langford was seated on the couch, blanket pulled around her shoulders and she stared into the dark table. Evdokiya moved into the kitchen and decided to make the woman a warm coffee. Once it was done, she set it on the coffee table in front of her and sat on the couch parallel to her. Evdokiya could do or say nothing, turning her head she saw on the shelf above the fireplace was a picture of Poppy's prom. It made Evdokiya's stomach turned, the girl had been killed when she was so young and it made Evdokiya feel horrible.

"My darling girl," Mrs Langford suddenly smiled sadly. "Do you think she suffered?"

"No," Evdokiya then answered. "I don't think she suffered."

"I hope not," Mrs Langford sniffed, dry tears on her cheeks. Evdokiya had to reach up to wipe tears from her face, "I just wish God didn't have to take her from me so young. Now I'm so alone, how do I move forward without Poppy?"

There was absolutely nothing Evdokiya could say or do to make her friend's mother feel better. The woman was vulnerable from losing her child and Evdokiya could not take that pain away. She found herself sinking further against the couch, having to reach up every so often to wipe away her tears. The only sound that could be heard was cars driving by, the ticking hand on the clock and the heavy breathing from Mrs Langford. Evdokiya really felt for the woman, losing her husband and daughter – having her son so far out of her reach.

She truly was alone.

A loud knocking on the door broke the silence, "Can you get that for me, Evdokiya?" Mrs Langford asked weakly.

"Yes," Evdokiya stood and made her way toward the door. Wrapping her hand around the door handle, she stepped back as it opened and she looked up.

"You," the person burst into the room, Poppy's boyfriend, "This is all your fault!" His hands gripped her shoulders tightly and he walked her backwards, shoving her against the wall. Evdokiya was in too much shock to deal with his strength. "If you hadn't moved here Poppy would still be alive!"

"It's not my fault!" Evdokiya argued, suddenly attempting to shove him away. But the man was a professional athlete, much too strong for the tiny woman in front of him. "I loved Poppy!"

"Then why did you kill her!" He demanded, Evdokiya stared up at him in horror.

"Harrison," Mrs Langford's voice was weak and they both turned to look at her, standing in the hallway. "Evdokiya had nothing to do with this, you can let her go."

"But she-"

His snarl was cut off by Mrs Langford, "You're hurting." She smiled sadly, tears running down her cheeks. "I know this, come, sit with me."

Poppy's boyfriend, Harrison, was immediately wrapped in the warmth offered to him by Mrs Langford. The woman was offering comfort and Evdokiya sat on the opposite couch, sniffling to herself. They were all so hurt and leaning on each other. Evdokiya was not shocked by the way he had reacted, perhaps she did have something to do with the deaths. Someone wanted to make it look like she was the killer, they wanted her gone. Evdokiya had her suspicions but what good would they do? The FBI did not take her seriously.

"I know how you feel Harrison," Evdokiya suddenly spoke up, wiping a tear away from her cheek. "I loved Poppy too, she was one of my only friends."

"It's just…" Harrison still seemed angry and bitter, but didn't want to cause a fight. "Thank you," he then nodded at her. "Thank you for coming to see Mrs Langford."

"Yes," Mrs Langford looked over at Evdokiya. "Thank you for immediately coming to see me."

"Any time," Evdokiya looked at them both with a smile, albeit a weak smile. "Any time you need me, just call me."

Hours passed and Evdokiya found herself looking after the two of them while dealing with her own grief. She made sure the two of them ate and it was late by the time dinner passed. She was going to have to walk home, it was late and it was dark but she had done it many times before. Evdokiya left the two of them watching TV and locked the door behind her. Evdokiya could still feel the tears running down her cheeks as she made her way toward the end of the street. Just about when she got to the intersection, Evdokiya felt something hit the back of her head.

"What?" She reached up to touch her head, but as she was about to turn around something struck her head against and her entire body tumble forward, unconscious.