MIAKODA


Evdokiya hadn't been to class all week.

According to Vincent, she'd been ghosting him when it came to their meet up for a few days. When Miakoda had checked her attendance on the system, it showed she hadn't been to either the lecture or her tutorial.

The Bulgarian was alive, that much she knew. She could feel Evdokiya along the Pack Bond, but something wasn't right about it. Miakoda could get flashes of pain and fear but she couldn't work out why.

Deciding to leave the lecture to her TA – Marcus Zhang's older sister, Danielle – Miakoda left early and made her way over to Rose Quartz.

She stood outside the building and could smell the cat faeces from here.

"Oh, hello dearie." An old lady stood a little ways from her, a bunch of flowers in hand. "Are you looking for Miss Evdokiya?"

"Yes," Miakoda nodded, tearing her eyes away from the dust-covered shop, furrowing her brow at the lady, "I'm one of her lecturers, over at Harvard, I was going to come and see if everything was okay. I was told what had happened a few months back when she started. Have you seen her?"

The old lady, who didn't actually smell of mothballs, shook her head, wrinkled mouth tight, "No. But her lovely Caspian, that's her cat, has been keeping me company during the day but I fear I won't be able to take him with me to the Nursing home."

Wanting to take care of a Pack Member, even if it was just Evdokiya's cat, Miakoda got out a business card from her purse and held it out to the lady. "If you can't take him and have to give him to a shelter, I'll take him. But do you happen to maybe have a key? Maybe she left something behind and I can get a few of Caspian things for you."

The little old lady smiled at her, reminding Miakoda of one of the Elders in her Pack. "He is an ever so sweet cat…Doctor Hart. But yes, I do. She gave me a spare once. I'll go and get it now."

Miakoda smiled a little tightly, more than a little anxious. The lady shuffled off and came back ten minutes later, sans flowers but with a key. She noticed her glancing back over to the shop and remembered something. "You know, there were a few men in a few weeks ago. Both tall, though one didn't have a lot of hair. She left with them in a dark van. Didn't look very happy about it either."

Getting that bit of information both relaxed something in her and made an anvil drop in her stomach. She may have gone willingly, but if Hunters had found something peculiar about her then they wouldn't have left her alone if she was an unknown. Miakoda smiled at the old lady. "Thanks. I appreciate it. Anything, in particular, you want me to get him?"

"Just his laser pointer. I don't want the darling getting to rounded."

"Just in the flower shop?"

"Yes, dear."

"Thanks again."

The little old lady hobbled off to her shop and Miakoda got her phone out, dialling Dean's number immediately.

"Yeah?" his deep voice came over the phone, the sound of a car shop in the background.

"Evdokiya hasn't been in either in her shop or school for the past week." Miakoda cut right to the chase, her nose flaring trying to catch even the slightest hint of a scent under the cat shit as she unlocked the door. Sam? Though something was off about it, something detached. "I'm at her place right now. It stinks, even out here, of cat shit but the entire place is covered in dust. You remember how meticulous of her things she was."

Dean, having remembered that there may have been something weird about the Bulgarian psychic, straightened up from his position under a car hood. "You hear anything?"

"No." Miakoda shook her head, "But one of her neighbours, an older woman, is taking care of her cat – which I might be taking by the way, but not the point – but also said that two men came by a few weeks ago. Said Evdokiya left with them in a dark van but didn't look happy about it."

"You get a description of them?"

"All she could remember was the fact that they were both tall and that one of them was balding. I mean, I might be able to get some security footage from one of the cameras but I don't think that'll look good."

On a whim, Dean asked her, "When you got your palm read by her, did anything happen?"

"Why?"

"Because if something did happen I think we have the reason they took her."

"She made me see the Fire." Miakoda gave detached. "She could also apparently read hieroglyphs like it was her native tongue and the fact that she goes sometimes into trances."

It clicked.

"They took her because they think she's dangerous." Miakoda moved up into the living space of the shop. There wasn't a lot there though that necklace on the chest of drawers made her hackles rise. "I think she's called a Relictus – it's Latin for left behind. Stories say that whilst a Relictus may not fully remember what their past lives were like, if they died in a traumatic way and left something behind, it would echo into the next one. It's why she's able to read hieroglyphics – at one point in her life she must have been able to read them."

"Is she dangerous?"

"No." Miakoda shook her head, and Evdokiya wouldn't be. "But if she has something from one of her traumatic deaths, that might a problem."

"Fuck, I hate vengeful spirits." She could picture him running a hand down his face and heard him sigh heavily, "And we don't know what the anchor is."

Miakoda stared at the necklace. "I think I found it."

"How?"

"The little old lady had a spare key for her shop, asked me to grab the cat's laser pointer. I think I'm staring at it right now and it's got weird vibes."

"Like how weird?"

Miakoda stared at the wall in front of her. "1 being Caspar the Friendly Ghost, 10 being the girl from The Ring, putting this shit at an 8, maybe a 9. The room feels off."

Dean heard that last bit and began giving her orders. "Right. Can you salt and burn the necklace there?"

"No." Miakoda shook her head. "I'm going to file for a Missing Person after I leave here, if I leave a still warm bin with soot in it, it'll raise flags. I'll take it and a couple of other things for the lady and burn it in the woods not far from here."

"Be careful." She caught the worried tone in his words.

"I'll let you know when it's done." With that, she hung up, found a small bag for Caspian's things; put the laser pointer, a few toys and his bed into it along with his food from where the necklace sat and took it as well as some salt. She tried not to shy away from it.

Miakoda quickly made her way down the stairs, snatched a pack of matches from behind the desk and locked the door behind her. She walked over to the flower shop where Caspian sat on the counter, blue tail flicking. Handing the bag to the lady, along with the key, Miakoda explained a little, "I got his bed and a few other things too. So he can be a little more at home if you have to bring him in."

"Oh, I never thought of that." The old lady fretted. Caspian stared at her, orange eyes serious. He mewed.

Get rid of that necklace.

I will. She flashed her eyes and Caspian brushed against her as Miakoda waved goodbye after asking if the old lady could remember what she was wearing before Evdokiya had left – a long blue skirt and an off the shoulder white shirt. Her hackles were raised as she made her way to a river 20 miles away from the shop. It wasn't a body by anyway means but the further this thing was away from humans the better.

Chucking it down on the marshy ground, Miakoda put a heap of salt over it and dropped a lit match. The necklace let out a screeching wail that had her clamping her hands over her ears in response. In the fiery embers, Miakoda thought she could make out a girl. The temperature around the area dropped and an apparition of a little girl, long dark hair messy but drenched, in what looked to be a dress from the Puritan era. Her eyes though were dark and dead.

A shudder went through her as the necklace – which was rather pretty now that it wasn't possessed by a child - made of a plain clasped locket and what looked to be lapis lazuli. Rather strange for who it came from.

Remembering that she had to phone Dean again, Miakoda brought the phone to her head as she dialled. "You okay?"

"I was right," Miakoda said quietly, mourning for the young girl that was finally at rest. "Whatever happens to that version of Evdokiya, it had something to do with that locket but it doesn't make sense, historically."

"The spirit's gone though, right?"

"Yeah, yeah," she nodded, making her way back to the Jeep as it started to drizzle. "But the spirit looked to be from the Puritan era. It was seen as promiscuous if they even wore wedding rings let alone a necklace like this."

"Do you still have it?"

"Yeah. I thought because the spirit is gone, Evdokiya might want it back. You know after I clean it and get it fixed that is."

Miakoda couldn't see Dean's face but he had an exasperated if fond expression as he held the phone to his ear. That was another thing about her that he realised, she cared a lot about other people's things, what they would deem important. He remembered what she'd been like when she noticed that he wasn't wearing the amulet that Sam had given him; quiet if a little sad. Maybe it was because she didn't have anything to remember her family from when she was a child.

"Well," he encouraged her, "when we find her, you can give it to her for her to decide. You seriously thinkin' of taking her cat?"

"The little old lady – I never got her name, actually, damn it – doesn't know if she can take him into a nursing home." Miakoda swung into the car. "Which, by the way, is completely stupid because having animals around has scientific proof that it makes people healthier."

"Never thought you'd be an animal lover." Dean laughed a little, heading back into the shop to refill Mr Ford Focus's car. "Though, now that I think about it, cats would make sense with how you focused on Egypt and shit."

"I still don't think doing a Rick O'Connell with a cat would work that way." Miakoda transferred the phone over to Bluetooth as she made her way back to the house. "Also, Ghostbusters lied to me and I am not okay." Dean's laughter came through the phone and she could hear other people through the phone. "Hey, I should let you go. I'll let you know when I put the Missing Persons through."

"Cool. See you, Doc."

"Bye Winchester."

Chucking the phone onto the passenger seat, Miakoda shook her head. Her Wolf wanted to try and see if they could find Evdokiya, but Miakoda knew she had to cover all her bases first in terms of the human side of the law. She clenched her hands around the leather of the wheel before heading to the police station.

Half an hour later, Miakoda was drained and barely holding the shift back as she clambered into the Jeep once more. For a second's respite, she pressed her forehead against the wheel and sighed heavily. The detective had been nice and thorough in going over the details as much as possible.

"Why didn't you report her sooner?" asked Sawyer, her grey eyes slight confused as she cocked her head.

Miakoda shrugged and answered truthfully. "We've just gotten from winter break for the spring term. It takes students a little while sometimes to get into the swing of things again. She joined just before the cut-off point last term so probably wasn't used to starting. When I went to check on her – she's in my tutorial classes and I like to let my students know that they can talk to me if they want to – her neighbour hadn't seen her in a few days. She thought she was on a trip but didn't leave her cat with someone. Evdokiya had nearly been a victim from the murders a few months back."

Through the whole thing, Miakoda had wanted to yell and howl and growl at the humans but knew that they were just doing their jobs. With a heavy sigh, she started the Jeep again and made her way back to the house. Trudging up to her bedroom, she sent a quick text off to Dean – report filed, went okay – before collapsing down into her bed.

She couldn't help but let that vindictive voice in her head come to the front. What was the point of being Alpha if she couldn't even keep her Pack safe? What if she was too late? What if Evdokiya was killed because Miakoda didn't keep a closer eye on the woman? Especially with her just coming into her powers.

A growl came out as she ran a hand through her hair, kicking her boots off towards the wardrobe and stalked off towards the bathroom. Maybe a bath would help? Miakoda had done all she could at that moment, all she could do now was wait.

She hated waiting.