Chapter 1: Crossfire.
The sun rose that day as it had done every day before. A sparrow chirped on her window, content with having a breadcrumb for breakfast. The coffee smelled the same and that first bite of her toasted bread made her mouth water as it always had. She stepped on her bathroom scale and a smile lighted her freckled face, seeing that she had lost another pound. She brushed her chestnut hair, thinking that perhaps she should buy that skirt after all. Picking her keys from the dresser, she stroked her cat's head and left for work.
When Claire Jenkins closed the door behind her on that cloudy morning, she did not suspect that this would be the last day of her life.
She walked down the road to the bus stop feeling her heart galloping in her chest. Perhaps she would be lucky enough to see him among the other passengers. And perhaps one of these days she would find the courage to walk up to him and say Hello. Perhaps...
Then her daydreaming was interrupted by the sound of trashcans crashing on the ground, followed by the howl of a cat mewing in distress. Always with a soft spot for cats, Claire halted her walk and looked inside the alley to see if there was an injured animal inside.
They came upon her like shards of darkness, sharp and lethal.
Two men in midnight cloaks stormed out of the alley, their features shadowed by their hoods. But the pulsating halo of malice followed their trail and Claire stumbled in a panicked attempt to avoid them. But she wasn't quick enough. She had unwillingly placed herself in the way of the second man's escape route and collision was inevitable. Before she could react, she found herself on the ground while the man flung his arms aimlessly, trying fruitlessly to maintain his balance. But he too landed on the ground with a loud thud, just a few feet away from Claire.
She stood up dusting her clothes and so did he, mumbling viciously through clenched teeth. Claire tried to apologize, but this seemed to infuriate him even further. Without warning, he raised his hand and slapped her.
"Stupid Muggle bitch," he yelled and slapped her again.
She was scared stiff now, fearing that she was dealing with madmen. Then the screeching of car breaks drew their attention. A passing car stopped behind them and a young man came out, a man with soft, brown hair and kind eyes.
"Leave her alone, freak," he cried out. And Claire breathed in relief for this stranger's intervention.
The hooded man laughed with a sound that couldn't be human. At least it seemed so to her ears. Then he reached out inside the dark folds of his clothes as if to draw out a gun. Claire yelled a warning that came too late. The man took out something that looked like a magician's wand and mumbled a few incoherent words. And the young man with the kind eyes who could have been her savior stared blankly to the dark figure. He blinked twice, as if in disbelief that he could no longer feel his heart beating and collapsed on the ground.
And he moved no more.
Claire screamed. Then two more men came out of the alley and she was now certain that this was an awful nightmare. It had to be. There were no building exits in the alley, so those people must have materialized from thin air. She fell on the ground, praying desperately to wake up. She hid her head under her arms, while above her the two pairs exchanged curses in a language that sounded like English and yet it was not. Through her eyelashes she saw flashes of light bursting into rainbows of sparkles, deadly fireflies that danced on and around her skin, stinging her face and arms with their spiked caresses.
Someone yelled at her to get out of there. As soon as she regained control of her limbs, she began to crawl away. She never saw whose wand cast the fatal spell.
It felt as if something had suddenly shaded the sun. She stretched her eyelids as wide as possible, but darkness fell despite her best efforts to hold onto the light. In horror, she realized that she could no longer breathe, for her whole existence had flared up into a blazing sphere of pain.
Unlike popular beliefs, her life did not pass before her eyes. One single thought crossed her mind before drifting away.
Who will feed Lugh tonight?