Savina Yordanka burst inside the door of her loft home after a long and very late night at work and flicked on the bank of lights that illuminated her home into life, her dogs barking from being on her feet all day. Being Chief Medical Examiner for the local County hospital had been very busy of late. With the advent of the Presidium there were a lot of bodies showing up, and it was her job not only to manage the dead bodies of humans but also her Fae job to make sure the Fae bodies that showed up from time to time in the human morgues were re-routed to the JFM. This was the deal she made with Bo and Kenzi when she first showed up on the County's doorstep nearly eight years ago.
Born in 1505 originally as Sarnai Mandukhai Savina's family hailed from the Altai Mountains in Mongolia, Central Asia. She and her parents Ganbaatar and Enkhjargal were Necromancers, and had a thriving business catering to travelers along the mountain roads. In addition, they touted their Fae powers by calling themselves spiritual readers to humans unaware they were Fae would could actually commune with the spirits of the dead.
In the early 1600's, as the Ottoman Empire extended its dynastic reach across what is now-called central Europe Savina's family struck out for the far east to Japan during the Shogunate of Tokugawa and established a lucrative supply and trading network for travelers along the various Japanese transportation routes on both land and sea. It was here they met Lord Hayato Matsuda, one of the Shogunate's Lords or "daimyos" as they were called. Lord Matsuda was Fae and was the leader of the Dark Fae in his geographical region. Her father and Lord Matsuda struck up a partnership and the family business prospered.
In the late 1700's, business conflicts forced her family to leave Japan and sail southward to the rather newly discovered Australia. Her family was present when the first flag was raised at Port Jackson in 1788, and they eventually settled in Sydney Cove which later became the city of Sydney, Australia. It was during this move her father changed all of their names to Grisha, Evelina and Savina Yordanka.
In the mid-1800s, her family moved to India where they took part in the active trading markets and continued to offer spiritual readings to exclusive clientele. It was here Savina learned the truth about their sudden move from Japan to Australia; that her father made a string of agreements that, in the end, could not be realized, and would have cost him his livelihood so he packed up the family, took as much money as he could and left for Australia, leaving his business partners holding the bag, and no one to step into the vacuum and broker the deals the way he could between the various partners. It was in India that representatives from Lord Matsuda caught up with them so in the middle of the night her father packed up the family and traveled to Macedonia. It broke her heart because she had made many friends at the newly established Bethune School for Women. But it proved a fortuitous move for in 1857 the People of India rose up against the British East India Company, which eventually went out of business in 1874. Her father was savvy enough to diversify their monetary interests and pigeon-holed their growing wealth through banking conduits forming throughout an emerging Europe. Her family went on to Sicily but arrived to a great deal of political unrest as Italian Revolutionary Guiseppe Garibaldi and his guerilla army, the Redshirts, were in a fight to conquer Sicily and Naples, and so her family left almost as soon as they arrived.
Her family then settled in Paris in the villiage of Chaillot just in time to witness the World Expo and the erection of the Eiffel Tower. The villiage of Chaillot was soon annexed into the city of Paris proper, and is now the famous and the most exclusive Trocadero neighborhood. Her father sent her to the Sorbonne where she earned both her degree and doctorate in Culture, Literature and Societal Transformations. It was also in Paris her father befriended a great many Fae, including the enigmatic Fitzpatrick McCorrigan. In the early 1900's, after the first World War, her mother died of natural causes.
Soon after her mother's death she and her father moved to London where he purchased several parcels of devastated property in the Mayfair neighborhood and helped restore many of the historical residences damaged by the war. It was in London where she earned a degree as a Doctor of Medicine from St. George's University. She and her father lived in Mayfair until his death nearly ten years ago also of natural causes.
Her father's last will and testament directed her to Switzerland and to his private banker, also Fae, who laid out her father's vast wealth before her. She knew they were wealthy but she had no idea how tentacled their wealth was, a reflection of her father being one of the original pioneers of market trading from hard goods to market stocks. When the private banker showed her the bottom line she was floored: all the money, properties and assets her father held amounted into the billions.
When she returned to London she was greeted by Idalia Reliford, a Dark Fae Elder who served under the now retitled Clan Matsuda after the Shogunate system in Japan went defunct in the late 1800's, and now led by Yoshe Sasaki. Elder Reliford presented Sasaki's terms, which was repayment in full which Savina was willing to do, but then Sasaki demanded she return to Japan to live her out days in servitude for her father fleeing Japan and his interests. When her father was near death he told her if Clan Matsuda came looking for her to find Fitzpatrick McCorrigan. Savina went on the run with one objective in mind: find Fitzpatrick McCorrigan.
When she found him at the County he had recently become the Leader of the Light Fae. Savina shook her head when she found out the seat of power for the Dark Fae also resided in the same County. What were the odds. It was through Trick that she met Bo and Kenzi and learned about the DRM, and with their support a deal between The Ash and The Morrigan was reached with Clan Matsuda, finally putting her father's affairs to bed.
However, The Morrigan's intervention came with a price; since Clan Matsuda served under the Dark Fae and Savina's family was Dark Fae The Morrigan not only had Savina repay Clan Matsuda, but pay her a negotiation fee, then The Morrigan had her work for the DRM for a period of no less than 50 years, in a position at their discretion. Savina readily agreed to the terms. She was done with her family running. Bo and Kenzi recommended that she put her Fae talents to good use, and in a position that best served the needs of the Fae within the County. Hence the job as the Chief Medical Examiner for the County Hospital.
She laughed at the memory. Her family spent hundreds of years shielding who there were and what they were only for their daughter now to bear witness when the entire human world would soon know an entire plane of existence of Fae. The thought both excited and terrified Savina. On one hand, she could live openly and freely as Fae, but terrified at the prospect of how the new Fae world order will literally alter everything around them. That last thought suddenly pissed her off. A lot of Fae lives could have been saved over the years if some of the Fae on this plane of existence had known about the Presidium and reached out sooner.
Savina ventured further into her home and for the briefest of moments felt a slight shudder. She stopped, looked around, then shook it off. She threw her briefcase into a nearby chair, dropped her keys and mail on the entry table, grabbed the TV remote, turned on the news, and proceeded to check her phone when she stopped again. She felt something present, scanned her loft and called out.
"Whose there? Or more precisely, whose here?" Savina called out. A figure stepped out of the shadows.
"Kenzi?" Savina called out incredulous.
"Hey Savvi!" Kenzi smiled and offered a quick wave.
"Oh my God!" Savina ran up to her with open arms. They embraced. They held eachother for a moment then let go of one another.
"I haven't seen you or heard from you since…!"
"I know."
"Where are you now? With Bo? At the Presidium?"
"Yes."
"Kenzi!" Savina said again and embraced Kenzi again.
"I missed you too, Savvi!" Kenzi said as she her hugged tightly.
"I forgot how amazing and how huge your loft is. I love the museum chic look of it!" Kenzi commented after they broke their embrace.
"Why you guys keep that Clubhouse is beyond me." Savina replied.
"The Clubhouse is home."
"For what? Cockroaches? Come on in! I'll crack open a bottle of wine!" Savina waved Kenzi forward to the kitchen.
"Well, you will be impressed with the Presidium for sure." Kenzi replied. Savina stopped in her tracks.
"What do you mean I will be impressed with the Presidium? I get to see it?"
"How could you of all people miss Bo's Installation Ceremony." Kenzi replied.
"Really? That's fantastic! Thank you!" Then a thought suddenly came to Savina "Oh dear, what will I wear? What does one wear to an Installation Ceremony at the home of The Queen of the Fae?"
"We can have the fashion panic later."
"Oh yes, of course. Sorry. Let me grab that wine!"
"Ah, can we dispense with the wine for now?" Kenzi asked. Savina stopped in her tracks again.
"Are you sure you're Kenzi?" Savina asked in disbelief. Kenzi laughed.
"Really, I came here because I need your help." Kenzi said.
"Name it. What's going on?"
"I think something is wrong with me."
"What do you mean?" Savina queried as she gestured Kenzi towards a kitchen chair, put the TV on mute, and sat across from her.
"Well, after that whole 'portal to hell' business I've been experiencing some things."
"What kinds of things?"
"Creepy, weird, fae-ey-like things."
"Well, to be honest this is not surprising, Kenz. Quite a few people believe you did not come back wholly human."
"I know. But now there may be some truth to it."
"You think you've been touched by the dead?"
"Or brought something back, yes. That's why I'm here to see if you can see anything."
"How long has this been happening?"
"At first, right after I returned. Then it stopped for few years and now it's happening quite a bit. I wanted to see if it would stop, but a couple days ago whatever is going on nearly exposed me. I need to know what is happening to me." Kenzi replied.
"Does Bo know?"
"No one knows, and no one will know until I know what's going on with me first."
"So what's been happening?"
"At first, it was my eyesight."
"Eyesight?"
"I have…or had…terrible eyesight. Now I have super sight."
"How far can you see?"
"Last time I checked I can read the fine print on the Eye Chart two blocks way."
"Are you kidding?"
"Nope." Kenzi replied. Savina took in a slight breath.
"Anything else?"
"I can assimilate knowledge, like in no time. Books, numbers, spreadsheets, horsepicks, anything."
"How fast is no time?"
"If you gave me a stack of books I can have them all in my head in a day." Kenzi replied
"Where were you when I was going through Medical School?"
"Wasn't born yet?"
"Oh yeah, right. Anything else?"
"There have been a couple of times where time itself passes either very slowly or hardly at all for me."
"Okay. Anything else?"
"My hand passed through a bottle once."
"What?"
"Yeah, right through it."
"Okay. Anything else?"
"Then there was a time where I forgot some papers, suddenly remembered them, and when I turned to go grab them, they shot up into my hands."
"Really?"
"Really."
"And no one has picked up on any of these signs? Not even Beatrice?"
"There has been a couple of close calls, but no."
"Clearly, something is going on. Have you felt a presence with you? Something weighty in your consciousness or spirit?"
"I know I feel different, but it's not because I feel something else is there. I feel I've changed."
"Has anything come out in your dreams? Any nightmares that seem like visions?"
"Beyond the usual nightmares, no."
"Well, the heightened physical abilities could simply be because you traversed thresholds between life and death, and, in course, may have very well have amplified what may already be present in yourself, but since you say you do not feel a presence or had any nightmares we could rule out that you're carrying a spirit in some way. Let me ask, do you remember anything from when you traversed the thresholds? What happened to you?"
"It's all either a blur or garbled images. All I clearly remember is coming out there with the light brownish-blond streak touches to my hair."
"I see."
"Can you help me? Scan me? Find out what's going on with me?"
"Of course."
"No one must know that I was here and no one must know of anything you discover. And I mean no one. Not Bo, not Dyson, not Tamsin, not Trick, not Beatrice. No one."
"I get it."
"No you don't! My life has completely changed. I'm…!"
"Kenzi! It's me, remember? I get it." Savina assured. Kenzi nodded slightly. "Let me get settled and then we can start, okay?" Kenzi settled down.
"Okay."
Ten minutes later Savina had Kenzi sit in a chair in the middle of the kitchen and she came and stood behind her, pulling Kenzi's hair back a bit.
"Now close your eyes and relax." Savina said. Kenzi did as she was told. Savina placed her hands on each side of Kenzi's head.
"My mind to your mind. My thoughts to your thoughts." Savina said.
"Very funny!" Kenzi replied. Savina smiled.
"Had to break the ice. Really, just relax." Savina assured. Kenzi took in a deep breath, exhaled, and closed her eyes.
Savina closed her eyes, focused, and quickly fell into Kenzi's consciousness. At first, Savina saw only darkness as she tried to make heads or tails as to where she was at, and then suddenly a swirl of white smoke appeared. The intensity of the smoke was light at first then became intense then whipped itself away quickly, the force of which pulled Savina deeper inward. Savina reached a gaping precipice, she looked down and saw no bottom, just a seemingly endless drop. Then the ground fell all around her except for a lone, long pathway that led deep into the darkness. Savina looked around and the atmosphere seemed to pulsate as if it breathed, but what she also noticed is that she could feel Kenzi all around her. Never in all her years of reading has she ever felt that with anyone. Kenzi was very much present here. Then the dark atmosphere growled and thundered and the wind swirled as if she were in the middle of a tornado swirl.
"What the hell?" Savina thought to herself. Savina decided since she could feel Kenzi's presence to call out.
"Kenzi!" Savina called out. No answer.
"Kenzi!" Savina called out again.
"Stop!" Came a voice in return.
"Kenzi?" Savina called out again. A woman came running up into view from the dark path. She was young, with long, blond, curly hair. She wore a short, summer dress with a flowered print, and a white sweater. Savina thought that was odd, but at least it contrasted well against the darkness.
"Who are you?" Savina called out.
"You must leave quickly!" The woman said.
"I can't! I'm here for Kenzi." Savina replied and the atmosphere shook again.
"You must leave!" The woman said again.
"I said I can't! Not without answers!" Savina said then the atmosphere roared.
"I have been trying to keep her presence out of their sight!"
"They? Whose sight?" Savina asked. The roar became louder.
"You have to go!" The woman insisted.
"I need to find out what's going on with her!"
"Please just leave!" The woman insisted again. The sound of the roar advanced. The woman turned towards the roar.
"No! Stay away from her!" The woman demanded into the darkness.
"Who or what is that?" Savina came up closer.
"Please take her away from here!" The woman shouted again.
"I need to know who you are at least."
"My name is Lisa! Kenzi will remember me. But you have to go now!" Lisa replied.
"But….!" Savina was about to insist when Lisa'a face turned into a skeletal death mask, and she charged towards Savina.
"LEAVE NOW!" Lisa demanded in a deep, menacing voice. The charge startled Savina enough to break the link.
"What the hell!" Savina exclaimed. Kenzi eyes opened. She quickly scanned the room and shot up out of her chair.
"Did you know who that was?" Savina asked.
"Yes! That was Lisa. Lisa Allen. The Duppy."
"A Spirit Fae?"
"Yeah."
"Explains why she could communicate with me."
"She was a case Bo and I worked years ago."
"Well, whatever that dark entity was she didn't want it focused on you."
"Yeah, what was that?" Kenzi asked.
"I haven't seen something like that since Macedonia. Out of all the readings we had done there was only one whose reading came even somewhat close to what I experienced just now."
"Do you recall who it was?"
"No, but I would know them if I ever saw them again."
"Is that entity some…thing that will follow me?"
"It's something that knows you exist, but this Lisa seems to have been keeping it from finding you. Why I don't know, and she kicked me out before I could dig deeper. But this Lisa also said 'they', which implies there is more than just that one entity."
"Oh great! Just great!" Kenzi replied exasperated.
"Well, there's one thing for sure."
"Oh, what's that?"
"You're tapped into something."
"Can you untap it?"
"Not sure what to untap. We need more information, but we need to seek help from someone who has greater powers than me. If my parents were still alive I would go to them." Savina replied.
"I need to understand more before some other ability shows itself at the worst possible time."
"I can't stop your abilities from popping up, but I can put up some spiritual smoke screens, so to speak, to mask you against this entity from finding you until we can get more of a handle on this. The smoke screens will help Lisa out in the otherworld for sure."
"Whatever you can do would be great." Then a news banner that flickered across the TV caught Kenzi's eye.
"What's happening?" Kenzi said out loud.
"I don't know. Let me turn that up." Savina replied.
"Police here are still not clear as to what happened here outside Club Fantasia but witness accounts said they saw a group of people running away. In particular, a very large man, and several women dressed in school girl outfits. Here from one of the witnesses now." The reporter said and then the news cut to a witness account.
"They were dressed in those school girl outfits and the big guy was in one of those biker dominatrix outfits. I tried to talk to him but then he flashed his red eyes at me. Thought he was on drugs." The witness said. The reporter returned to the screen.
"The examiner on the scene said the victim's corpse was petrified, dried up like a chicken."
"Dried up corpse, red eyes. Yeah that screams Fae." Kenzi commented.
"This just in. Security footage from the Club's back alley cameras. Released to the media by the adjoining business next door who had it trained on the trash dumpsters to catch illegal dumpers." The reporter said as his report cut to the footage. The footage showed several people leaving, the images were dark and blurry, and the direction of the camera was a bit off which was understandable as it was trained on the dumpsters of the neighboring business not the back door of Club Fantasia. But the image of the last three individuals leaving the Club were just clear enough for Kenzi to make out who they were.
"That's Julia!" Kenzi said as she pointed.
"How can you tell?"
"I can tell. And the big guy is Cibor!"
"Whose Cibor?" Savina asked. Then Kenzi's eyes went wide.
"Oh my God!"
"What?" Savina prompted. Then the reporter returned to the screen and continued his report.
"Do you have live rewind?" Kenzi asked.
"Yeah, here." Savina picked up the remote and rewound the live coverage.
"Stop right there!" Kenzi said. The rewind froze on an image.
"Can you make out who that is?" Savina asked.
"Yes. It's Aoife."
"Aoife? As in Bo's Mom, Aoife?"
"Yes."
"Thought she was dead."
"Honestly, we are never sure where she's concerned. In any case, they sound like they're in trouble." Kenzi replied.
"I thought you didn't want people to know you were here?"
"Looks like things have changed. I better get to them."
"I'll go with you." Savina offered.
"No I need you to stay here. Come up with a plan on what to do next with me." Kenzi said as she made for the door. "Thank you, Savina for your help!"
"I haven't really done anything yet."
"You have given me clarity, which has given me a determination to find out what's going on with me."
"Are you sure you don't want to involve Bo, Tamsin, Dyson, Beatrice?"
"Not until I have a better handle on this."
"You guys and your secrets."
"I know. Catch ya later!" Then Kenzi closed the door behind her.
Savina went to her window and looked out so to watch Kenzi leave. She was about to turn her attention back to the TV when she saw a figure emerge from a dark corner and follow Kenzi. Savina turned and ran to her phone, and when she picked it up she suddenly remembered Kenzi no longer had a number, at least one on the human plane of existence. She cursed herself for not asking Kenzi for a way to reach her. She had no idea where she was going except maybe to track down Julia so decided to call JJI in efforts to get a message to Kenzi that she was being followed. No answer from JJI. She hung up when her call went to voice mail, and tried again. No answer. She hung up frustrated and cursed herself for not having Julia's direct number. She then came up with the idea to call the Dal Riata.
"Dal Riata, this is Zachary!"
"Hey Zachary it's Savina! Savina Yordanka?"
"Hey Savina! What can I do for you?"
"I need Bruce. Is he around?"
"Sure is! Hold on." A few moments later Bruce came on the line.
"Bruce here."
"Bruce! It's Savina! Savina Yordanka?"
"Hey Savina! What's up?"
"Do you have Julia's number? I don't have it and I tried JJI."
"Sure! Ready to take it down?"
"You have it memorized? Who memorizes numbers anymore?"
"I know, right?" Bruce replied then gave her Julia's number.
"Thanks Bruce!"
"Anytime." And they hung up. Then Savina dialed Julia's number. Julia answered on the second ring.
"Yeah?"
"Julia?"
"Yeah?"
"Hey! This is Savina. Savina Yordanka?"
"Yeah, hi. What's up? Kinda pressed for time."
"Totally understand. We just saw the news about Club Fantasia on TV. They have footage of you and bunch of others leaving through the back alley."
"Security footage? Dammit! Thought we made a clean getaway."
"To the undiscernible eye, yes. It wasn't clear enough to make out specific faces, but it was clear enough for Kenzi to figure who was all in the footage."
"Kenzi? Kenzi is here? With you?" Julia asked incredulous.
"And she's coming your way."
"What?"
"Long story, but the reason why I called is because when she left she had someone following her and I'm concerned, and you know she no longer has the conventional means to reach her."
"Didn't she have the Seneschal with her?"
"The who?"
"Was she by herself?"
"Yep and she's incognito to boot. She didn't want anyone to know she was here, but then she saw you, Aoife and some big guy named Cibor on the news and so she is coming to you because she thinks you all may be in trouble, but I'm worried and she told me to stay put."
"Got it! Look I've gotta run! Thanks for the heads up."
"Please let me know she's safe?"
"I will. Bye!" And they both hung up.
