There was a debriefing of course. The loss of the sword was not in my favour, and neither was the fact that Loki's body had disappeared without a trace. But I had defeated a god and stopped the world from being destroyed, and that was something to be rewarded. I got a promotion, and medals to pin on my dress uniform.

The socks that Huginn and Muninn had given me were confiscated and sent to a science lab to be studied. I spent days summoning Mjolnir in a controlled environment so it could be studied as well, but we never found a way to make it stay permanently, it always returned to where it came from.

"No one knows who Cassandra King truly is," Richard admitted. He had taken me out for coffee, he had wanted to discuss things with me that were technically speaking on a need-to-know basis, and his superiors felt I didn't need to know. Richard disagreed. I knew he was sticking his neck out for me, and I appreciated it.

"There is speculation she is part of a group called the "Druids of Avalon", although some people believe she might have been the Lady of the Lake herself. I'm not certain either way."

He took a sip of his coffee.

"We are still looking out for Beaumont, or Loki, for both descriptions you have given us, but there has been no sign of him. Of course, he could be wearing any face he'd like by now and even if we did see him we might not recognise him. Having said that, there are… rumours."

Richard leaned back in his chair.

"Sources tell us that the Illuminati may have captured Beaumont before you returned and are holding him in one of their institutions. But I have found nothing more substantial. If learn more, I'll let you know."

Time passed, and being an agent working for the Templars became my new normal. The pay wasn't bad and with the exception of certain missions that could only be completed during nighttime, it was almost a nine to five job with plenty of days off.

Richard dragged me out of my comfort zone and into the pub in Ealdwic, where I met his wife Anita and several other agents. Richard slowly became one of my best friends, we really got along.

While in theory there was a cold war between the three factions that fall under the umbrella of the Council of Venice (The Templars, the Illuminati and the Dragons) in the field we are only too happy to see another friendly face, and working together can make the difference between life and death.

I made friends with other agents from the other organisations while working together as well.

I became more confident in my abilities and more confident in my personal life. Jessie was slowly getting used to her mum's new job. Life was good and for a while, I was as happy as I thought I could ever be.

"There has been a development." Richard was sitting at my kitchen table. He had arrived a few minutes earlier with a team of security specialists in tow.

"What kind of development?"

I was eyeing the men milling through my home suspiciously, they'd better not be making a mess of the place.

"Remember when I told you that it was possible Beaumont was taken by the Illuminati?"

I sat up in my chair, Richard suddenly had my full attention.

"That rumour was not incorrect. We had confirmation this morning that Beaumont was indeed taken after your fight with him. The loss of the sword greatly weakened him. He was badly injured, and, I am afraid to say, quite insane. He was brought to a secure treatment ward of the Arkham State Hospital."

And now Richard was at my home with a team installing a grade of the art security system and inscribing magical warding runes on every surface they could.

I got that sinking, queasy sensation you normally get when falling.

I closed my eyes for a second.

"And he escaped." It wasn't a question.

"He did," Richard confirmed.

"Keep in mind we only learned of this ourselves this morning. The Illuminati had kept the fact that they had him in their custody secret from us, mainly so they could have unrestricted access to study him. From what they have shared of their findings, Beaumont, or perhaps now I should say, Loki, is very much not human. He is stronger and far more resilient. Not to mention far older. "

Richard sighed, up to this point he had been sceptical.

"It does seem his insanity was either temporary or a very convincing act. The Illuminati were under the illusion that he had lost his magical abilities, which again, was either temporary or one of his tricks. He escaped in the early hours of the morning, and we have not been able to find him by either mundane means or magic."

"I need to get Jessie," I said, already halfway out of the door.

"If Loki is free he might be coming for me or for her."

"We have a security detail on her already, and worry not, they are discrete. Jessie won't even know they are there. The security and wards placed around your house will protect the two of you. You now officially live in the safest home in Ireland."

I sat back down.

"You are well able to protect yourself, but I would still advise caution. Loki is cunning and deceptive. The moment we learn more, you will be the first to know."

The security crew was gone before Jessie came home. By that time I had decided not to tell her anything. If Loki was so clever, he'd know to stay away from my family, or I would hound him down to the ends of the world. I kicked his ass once, and that was in my first week of work. I had only gotten stronger since.

But I can't say I was sleeping well after that.

It seemed Loki did indeed know better than to come back for seconds. I didn't see him anywhere, and neither did anyone else. Wherever he was, he remained well hidden.

I had warned the people on Solomon Island as well, just in case Loki was planning to finish what he started.

I still visited the island on a regular occasion. The removal of the sword from the island had stopped neither zombie nor draugr. The fog was gone, but the people on the island were still struggling to survive. They had been infected with an airborne strain of the filth that had lingered in the fog. The strain was dormant, and they were not contagious. But they were walking time bombs that at any moment could become gibbering homicidal Filth creatures

The Council of Venice initially wanted the island bombed off the map because of this, with a heartless "better safe than sorry" mentality that horrified me.

I had lobbied endlessly to not just keep those people alive but to give them much needed aid in the form of medicine, food supplies and ammunition.

Luckily for me, I wasn't the only person who felt that killing innocent people was barbaric, and since an island was easily quarantined they had been left alone so far.

But life on the island was hard, and the little aid that was given to them by the Council was not enough.

I did what I could, but it wasn't like I could start up a "gofundme" for them. The Secret World, after all, had to stay secret.

Aid came from an unexpected place. The sheriff was contacted by a businessman and philanthropist named Lucas Lefay. Lefay's business operated in the Secret World, and when he heard about their plight he was willing to provide aid in the shape of both funding and goods.

I asked Richard to look into Lefay for me.

"On the surface, his business has been around for quite some time. Once I dug deeper I found shell companies and false names, but that is not unusual in our world. His business partners speak well of him, and while his philanthropist inclination seems recent, I can not see any reason why he would have anything but noble intentions. I would recommend not looking a gift horse in the mouth."

I was dying to meet this Lefay myself, it seemed we were the only two people who cared about the island and the people on it and I wanted to thank him for all the wonderful help he was giving.

My chance to meet this mysterious benefactor came unexpectedly, as he was overseeing the delivery of supplies himself. I had planned on making a visit the day before to maintain the wards, but my job had kept me otherwise occupied. I gave the sheriff a quick call to let her know I'd arrived.

Helen Bannerman was delighted to hear from me.

"Hey hey! He's here today, Lefay's on the island! You must come and meet him!"

I had a sneaking suspicion Helen had a bit of a crush on Lucas Lefay, her exact description of him being "Tall, dark and devilishly handsome."

"I can't wait to meet him." I grinned back at Helen. " He is kind, rich and good-looking, is he single too?"

A small ferry had arrived earlier, carrying two trucks and Lefay's private car. The islanders had unloaded the first truck in Kingsmouth, the second was on the way to the trailer park, and so was Lefay.

I ran cross country, knowing it would be quicker than following the road. When I got to the park the sheriff and Joseph were already organising the division of supplies as the vehicles pulled in.

Lefay's car was a smart little black sports car with tinted black windows. I don't know much about cars, but it looked expensive.

The car doors opened. Long legs folded out, dressed in impeccably tailored black trousers. Lefay was tall, with alabaster skin and black hair that curled just over the collar of his bespoke suit. He was wearing sunglasses that cost more than my salary could ever afford. It was sunny that day, a bright low winter sun that was blinding him for a moment.

Lefay took off his sunglasses, blinking against the sun as his blue eyes focussed on me and widened in recognition. He shimmered for a second, it's the best way I have to describe the way his features subtly changed.

"Oh shit!" we both cursed at the same time.

Loki dodged behind the car as Mjolnir was already flying from my hand, sailing over the car where his head had been less than a second ago.

"Sorcha! Stop!" Joseph and Helen were calling my name, shocked that I was attacking their benefactor. I wasn't certain if they had seen the subtle changes I had seen, it all happened so fast.

I ran and jumped over the car, secretly glad I managed it effortlessly for once, it would not have been the first time I tried something like that and fell flat on my face.

I landed on the other side, Mjolnir back in my hand.

I fully expected Loki to put up a fight, but he lifted his hands in the air. "I yield, I yield."

At first, I expected a trick, but when Mjolnir hit him in the chest I could hear ribs crack. It wasn't an illusion. "Get up!" I snarled. He slowly got up, his hands still aloft.

"I don't want to fight you," Loki spoke softly, looking me directly in the eyes. "I'm not here to harm anyone."

I had no intention of listening to anything he had to say. Whatever it was, it would all be lies anyway.

"Stay back," I told the islanders. "That isn't Lucas Lefay, it is Loki."

I called Richard who soon had a team of armed and armoured Templars on the island to pick Loki and the truck drivers up and to confiscate the items they had brought over.

I felt terrible for Joseph, Helen and the others as the much-needed supplies were taken before their eyes.

"The asshole, the bloody asshole," I muttered under my breath. Whatever he had planned, he'd pay for it. For all of it.

It turned out Loki has not taken the place of Lucas Lefay as I first thought. According to the team that looked into Lefay's affairs, he was Lucas Lefay. It was simply one of his many aliases.

His newfound charitable inclination had obviously been a scam to get access to the island again, and while I wasn't sure how he was planning to damage the Gaia Engine without the sword, I was simply glad I had caught him in time.

I couldn't wait until he was made to stand trial, I was going to make certain he would be locked up forever.