A/N: We've got quite a few new characters in this one! New to this story, that is, but familiar to the show. The look of the fairies is based on a gorgeous painting called "Fairys and the Peasant Girl" by Yuliya Litvinova.

The unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable.

-Oscar Wilde

Killian Jones was drunk. He staggered down the street without a clue where in the city he was exactly, but not too worried about it. He did want to go for a swim in the Charles River Basin, and that meant he should head north. Or maybe south. Was he in Cambridge? He swayed a little and felt his stomach lurch. He stopped and bent over, worried he was going to vomit, but the feeling passed, so he carried on walking and singing down the street.

"Oh, you're drunk, you're drunk, you silly old fool, still you cannot see. That is but a candle that my mother gave to me, oh something something I've travelled, a hundred miles or moooore. But a candle with hair, I've never seen before." His words came out slurred as he sang loudly and off key. His Irish accent grew even thicker with each line of the song.

"Good lord, you look absolutely wrecked," said a voice from behind him. A prim and proper sort of voice. An English voice, full of condescension and haughtiness.

Killian switched songs and sang out, "Oh, go home British soldiers, go on home. Have you got no fuckin' homes of yer own. For 800 years, we've fought ye without fear, and we'll fight ye for 800 more!"

"Are you just here to be a complete stereotype? You aren't even in Ireland anymore," she said.

Killian turned to face her, both of her. Two images of the woman floated in front of him. He closed one eye, so that there was only one, standing with her hands on her hips. She was pretty, in an angry sort of way, with thick brown hair, blue eyes, and severe cheekbones. If he didn't hate her so much, he might actually like her.

"Did you just come here to yell at me? Because I've had enough of it. What is it that you want, Milah?" he asked her.

"No, I didn't just come here to yell at you, you drunken fool. You still owe me a favor, remember? I'm calling it in." She stepped closer to him and he tried very hard not to fall over.

She was right, though. A few months back he had gotten into a bit of a tight spot with some redcaps who managed to get a bridle on him. He was a kelpie, a water horse who could take the shape of a man when he need to, and kelpie were not fond of bridles, unsurprising given that they had to do the bidding of whoever got the bridle on them. Milah had swooped in, however, and killed all the redcaps, releasing Killian. He was grateful to her for rescuing him, but that didn't mean he was pleased about this owing-her-a-favor business. He was kind of hoping that they could just sleep together and forget the whole thing, but Milah had too good a memory, it seemed.

"What is it, then?" he asked.

"There's going to be a fox hunt. A little fox tried to steal something from the fairy prince, but the guards have caught her. Tomorrow night, they're going to have the hunt in Wompatuck State Park. Winner's prize is worth having: the Ring of Dispel and two thousand pounds. So I need a fast horse." She smiled.

"You'll take the ring, then, and I get the two thousand quid?"

"In your dreams. I'll give you five hundred, but the rest is mine. You owe me one."

Killian sighed, but she wasn't wrong. He didn't like the hunts, but if it would get her off his back, it would be worth it. He chuckled to himself, getting her off his back by getting her onto it.

"Alright, you're on," he said, reaching out his hand to shake her own.

Regina and Henry stopped in Boston for dinner. Regina had wanted to avoid the big city and its terrible traffic, but Henry was determined to see it. He had also insisted on going through New York City and seeing the Statue of Liberty, which along with their various other detours had turned their quick road trip to Maine into a several day affair. But Henry seemed happy, so she supposed there was no rush. They found a place called Fitzgerald's for dinner, an Irish pub with a little leprechaun on its sign. It wasn't the swankiest place, but it was the only one that would let Hank inside, and they didn't want to leave him in the car. They found a small table toward the back, away from the blasts of cold air from the front door. Regina had to admit, too, that the food smelled incredible. She order a guiness and a shepherd's pie, feeling her stomach grumbling as she handed her menu over to the waiter.

There was a live band playing in one corner, a fast and upbeat tune about a funeral. Henry tapped his foot along with the music, busy drawing in his sketchbook. Regina noticed that he was documenting all the creatures they had seen, the shaggy horned beast in Arkansas, Jefferson in satyr form, and the flying shape in West Virginia. He was currently working on the horse-dragon from New Jersey.

"Did you see the Jersey Devil?" asked the waiter when he brought out their food.

"What?" asked Regina.

He pointed to Henry's drawing. "Looks like him, the Beast of the Pine Barrens."

"Yep," said Henry, still focused on his drawing. The waiter chuckled and told them to enjoy. Henry finished the wing that he was drawing and set his sketchbook aside to dig into his plate of fish n' chips. Hank stood up and sniffed at Henry's plate and Henry snuck him a french fry. Regina took Hank's bowl and a ziplock of kibble from her purse and set up the dog's dinner under the table.

Fitzgerald's was a pretty lively place, with several people getting up to dance in front of the band and others whistling and clapping along from the bar. There was one young woman, though, who didn't seem to be partaking in all the revelry. She was slumped in her barstool, nursing what looked like whiskey. Her pale eyes were red rimmed and puffy as if she had been crying. Henry noticed her a few seconds after Regina and he began to kick Regina lightly under the table.

"What?" she asked.

"This is your chance," he said, looking expectant.

She frowned at him. "My chance?"

"Your chance to do some good. She probably needs some help. So?"

Regina sighed, but after spending days in a car with the kid, she knew he didn't give up easily.

"Alright, fine," she said. She got up and went over to the bar. The woman looked up at her.

"Sorry to bother you. It's just, you look like you're having a rough time. I just wanted to see if you were ok. My, um, kid was worried." Regina nodded back to Henry, who waved at them with a big smile on his face.

"I'm fine. It's nothing you can help with," said the woman. She was Irish, and her voice came out strained and a bit rough.

"You might be surprised," said Regina. She didn't want to pry, but she did feel a strange pull toward the woman. It surprised her. The young woman was cute, but not really Regina's usual type. She tended to go more for tough blondes, often a little on the mean side.

The woman watched Regina's reaction, then leaned in closer and said under her breath, "Are you-? I mean, you're not human?"

That startled Regina.

"How can you tell?" she asked.

"Let's just say that I can have an effect on humans, but most other cryptids are able to resist it somewhat. The fact that you didn't turn into a blushing idiot when you met me is usually a pretty clear indicator."

"Let's sit and talk," said Regina. The woman followed her to the table with Henry and Hank. Henry grabbed an empty chair for her from another table and she sat, still eyeing Regina with curiosity.

"So you know I'm not human, but can you tell what I am?" Regina asked.

"No idea," said the woman.

"She's a vampiric witch," Henry said, a little too loudly. Regina hushed him.

"My name is Regina Mills. This is Henry-"

"Mills. Henry Mills," he said quickly.

Regina raised her eyebrows for a moment, but went along with it.

"And that's Hank," she finished. Hank had already put his head in the woman's lap and was drooling a little on her dress.

"Aurora McNamara." She looked a little nervous then, or at least unsure of what to say next.

"Ok, Aurora, why don't you tell us what happened," said Regina, as gently as she could.

Aurora took a deep breath and then launched into her story. She was a selkie, a seal shifter, born in Ireland, but she had come to Boston after her mom died. There were plenty of harbor seals all over the coastline, so it was an easy place to live as a selkie. To take human form, all she had to do was take off her seal skin and keep it in a safe place until she was ready to return to the sea. At least, that was how it had been until she had gotten into some debt with a fairy prince and he had taken her seal skin as payment.

Henry paused the story, surprised that a fairy had been responsible.

"They aren't like what you see in stories and paintings. They aren't little and cute with pretty butterfly wings. They're tall and pale and powerful. They know all sorts of magic and they hate being robbed. They take what they're owed any way they can," said Aurora. She continued with the tale. Not long after she lost her skin, she met a fox spirit named Hua Mulan. She was an immigrant, too, but from China. They had become fast friends and then girlfriends and Aurora had finally told Mulan about her lost pelt. Fox spirits were clever and good at sneaking into places, so Mulan had tried to steal back the skin from the fairy prince. But fairies were not easy to trick, and they had caught her. Now, the prince had called a hunting party together, open to all the fairies, sluagh, and creatures in Boston. They were going to release Mulan and chase her down, and the one that killed her was going to get the grand prize: a ring that repelled magic and a bag of money.

"When is this supposed to happen?" Regina asked.

"Tomorrow night," said Aurora, burying her face in her hands.

Regina did not want to stay in Boston that long, but the way Henry was looking at her meant that he had made up his mind.

Goddamnit, she thought.

Mulan was shaking in her cell, a small stone room with only a cot and a toilet. There was no heating and only the thinnest of blankets on her cot. She had turned into her fox form, which was somewhat warmer, but the Boston winters were brutal. She tucked her fluffy tail around herself, trying to pull as much warmth as she could from it. She was angry at herself. She had never gotten caught before, but then again, she had also never encountered fairies before. Her mother would be so disappointed. Captivity was a horrible place for her kind.

The fairy prince came to look at her from time to time, sometimes alone, sometimes with an entourage of other fairies. He was tall, with long white hair, though he didn't look old. His skin was white, too, as if the sun had never touched it, paler than some of the vampires Mulan had seen. It was his eyes, though, that were the most unsettling. He didn't have irises, only the small black points of his pupils looked out from white eyes. He wore a fine suit and a dark metal crown and grinned like a snake at her. She growled at him and he always laughed. The other fairies with him were just as pale and sinister looking. The one that was most frequently at his side had blue-tinted hair and a larger crown than his own. Mulan thought she must be the fairy queen. Not the real fairy queen, of course. Aurora had told her that the real fairy queen was still in Ireland, presiding over a huge court of fairies, kelpies, selkies, leprechauns, and hosts of other strange and wonderful beings. This Bostonian royal family was nothing but a group of posers, throwing their power around.

Mulan stopped growling and turned her back to the fairies who watched her. She closed her eyes, not knowing how she was going to get out of this one.

"Jesus, fuck," said Regina when they arrived at Wompatuck State Park, the site of the wild hunt. She was expecting maybe a dozen hunters to compete, but apparently there were more cryptids in Boston than she had thought. The starting field was absolutely full of all sorts of creatures. There were several graceful, pale beings on beautiful white horses, whom Regina thought must be the fairies. Behind them, on massive black steeds, were several headless riders, brandishing metal whips and axes, the dullahan. Many cloaked members of the sluagh, the restless dead, were riding a myriad of ghostly horses and other strange animals. Running around under the horses' feet were shaggy black dogs and slim white hounds with red ears. One of the fairies had a cockatrice on her arm. It was strange thing, like chicken that had remembered it had once been a dinosaur. It flicked its scaly tail and shrieked, revealing a row of sharp teeth. Regina could sense a spell blanketing the entire park, hiding them all from any human eyes.

There also seemed to be a crowd of people gathered on the edge of the lawn to watch and cheer on the contestants. Aurora took Henry and Hank over to stand with them, leaving Regina to walk over to the crowd of hunters. Regina was one of the only ones that did not have a horse, which gave her some strange looks from the rest of the hunters. She did see two others, though, who were unmounted, an Irish man and an English woman who were arguing over a bridle.

"Just accept it!" the English woman barked out.

The man sighed but he bent over and shifted into a horse, a gray one with a black mane and tail, shinier than a horse should be and with a bigger mouth. A kelpie. Aurora had told her about what sort of creatures to expect on the hunt. Regina just wished Aurora had known how fucking many of them were going to show up.

There was trumpeting sound and a cheer rose up from the crowd. Four dullahan walked through the hunters, carrying a palanquin with two fairies inside. They walked to the front of the crowd and set down the palanquin. The fairies climbed out, a young man with white hair and a slightly older woman with blue hair. The man held up a cage holding a little red fox and the hunters began to cheer even louder. The blue haired woman raised her hands and the crowd went silent.

"This demon tried to steal the property of my dearest son. For that, she must be punished. But, we are not unreasonable. She will be given a chance. If the demon reaches the oldest oak tree on the far side of the park, then she is free. But if one of you should kill her, then you will win the great prize, Lancelot's Ring of Dispel!" She held up a silver ring in a gloved hand and the crowd burst into applause.

"The demon will have one minute head start," called the prince. He unlatched the cage and the fox burst through the open door, leaping onto the ground and sprinting away toward the forest. The dogs began barking, but their owners held them back. Some of the horses reared up in excitement. As the minute came to an end, the prince raised his arms up in the air. The crowd stilled for a moment, and then he brought his arms down and they surged forward, a crazed mass of bloodthirsty hunters.

Regina leapt into the air and turned into a vulture, soaring up above the crowd. She was glad not to be in the middle of it all. Mulan may be the main target, but the hunters had no problem taking out their competition if needed. She watched one of the dullahan throw his whip around a cloaked member of the sluagh and yank him off his mount. A black dog, at its fairy owner's command, leapt up and tore into the throat of another hunter's horse. It was turning into a bit of a bloodbath, but Regina supposed that would work in Mulan's favor. The hunters plunged into the forest and started to break apart to search for Mulan. Regina dipped down lower as she flew over the woods, not quite sure how she was going to find Mulan in the thick trees. She swooped and landed on a tree branch and scanned the forest, switching on her vampire vision. She could see the circulatory systems of the deer and squirrels that ran through the trees, frantic to get away from the crazed hunters. Nothing that looked like a fox, though.

She flew up again and went to check another part of the forest. No luck. She went west, and this time she saw something. It was human shaped, but it was crouched in a tree, as if waiting for something. Regina blinked, letting her vision return to normal. She could see a black haired woman holding tight to a branch and watching the ground. Regina recognized her as Mulan from a picture that Aurora had showed her.

A rider began to approach below them, a dullahan. Mulan seemed completely focused on him and hadn't noticed Regina yet. Mulan waited for the dullahan to pass under the tree and then she leapt forward. She grabbed a lower tree branch, swinging her legs to kick the dullahan solidly in the chest, knocking him off of the horse. Mulan then landed on the horse's back and dropped down into the saddle. The horse reared, kicking out its huge feet, but she managed to urge it forward into a gallop. The dullahan got up and threw his ax at her, but it missed and landed deep in a tree trunk. Regina laughed and flew down as a vulture, raking her talons across the dullahan's shoulder before following after the horse.

Regina wasn't fast enough flying in the thick of the forest, so she had to fly up above the trees and catch up to Mulan from above. She dove down and landed behind Mulan on the horse, turning back into human form as she did so. Mulan, without any hesitation, drove her elbow into Regina's nose, almost knocking her off the horse.

"Wait, wait, I'm, um, here to rescue you. I'm friends with Aurora," Regina said, holding her face. Fox spirits could really pack a punch.

"Oh...thanks," said Mulan, glancing behind her.

"Doesn't seem like you need much help, though."

Mulan just shrugged and urged the horse to go faster.

"Do you know where this oak tree is?" she asked.

"No, but Aurora said not to trust the fairies, that they have no intention of letting you go," Regina said. She had to duck under a low branch as she spoke.

"Fairies can't lie," said Mulan.

"But they can deceive. Letting you 'go free' might not mean what you think. Let's just make a run for it."

Mulan thought about for a second, and seemed about ready to agree, when a lightning bolt went flying past them and caused a tree to explode. The dullahan's horse screamed, but kept running. Regina looked behind them, seeing the kelpie and the English woman hot on their heels. The dullahan's horse was big and strong, but the kelpie was definitely faster.

"Keep going," said Regina, before leaping off the horse. She glided back as a vulture and crashed straight into the kelpie, latching onto his shoulder. He twisted and bucked, throwing the English woman from his back. Regina turned humanoid, hissing loudly, and bit into the neck of the kelpie. He fell to the ground, turned back into his human form, and managed to get free of Regina's grasp. He held his hands up surrendering.

"Get up and fight, you coward!" the English woman screamed at him.

"I'm not dying for this," he said. Then he caught sight of Regina and said, "God, her face," with a look of horror on his own. His neck was bleeding and a part of Regina wanted to finished him off, but the woman was of more concern.

Regina advanced on the woman, who shot another bolt of lightning from her fingertips. Lightning was close enough to fire, though, and Regina was good with fire, so she just knocked it to the side. She grabbed the woman by the collar, watching her heart beating faster and faster and her blood rushing through her jugular vein. Regina sunk her teeth into the woman. She could hear hoofbeats as the kelpie ran away from them. Regina didn't care, though, as she had lost all interest in him. She drank and drank, then ripped into the woman's chest and ate her heart. She cleaned up her fingers and face and flew up to find Mulan again. She spotted her about a mile outside the park, still riding the horse at a dead run down the street.

"You're covered in blood, you know," Mulan said, when Regina landed behind her.

"Damn, I thought I got it all," Regina said, rubbing furiously at her mouth.

They circled around in a wide arc, back toward Boston to meet up with Henry and Aurora at Fitzgerald's.

Once the wild hunt entered the forest, none of the crowd could see what was happening, though they could still hear some of the yells and cries rising out of the trees.

"Do you think they made it out?" Aurora asked.

"Yep, I know they did," said Henry. Aurora didn't seem convinced, but she forced a small smile anyway.

"Let's go wait for them. I don't like the way the prince is watching us," she said. The fairy prince and the queen had stayed behind with their dullahan guards and a retinue of servants. The prince was staring at Aurora with a small smile playing on his colorless lips. Henry shuttered a little and followed Aurora back to her car.

They drove back to Boston without a word. Aurora seemed too nervous to talk, so Henry turned the radio on to fill the silence.

Fitzgerald's looked pretty much the same as it had the night before, except for the massive black horse tied up outside the building. Henry went over to pet it, only able to reach about halfway up the horse's shoulder. Hank was a little hesitant, but he sniffed the horse and began wagging his tail when it sniffed him back. Aurora stared at it, twisting her hands together and then ran into the pub.

Henry followed just in time to see Aurora throwing her arms around Mulan. He grinned and went over to where Regina was sitting and drinking a beer. Her clothes looked a little torn and dirty and there was a leaf in her hair, but she smiled back at him.

"You did it," he said.

"Yep, piece of cake." She patted the barstool next to her for him to sit. They could hear Mulan and Aurora talking softly to each other. Mulan was apologizing for failing to steal back the seal skin.

"Shh, it doesn't matter," said Aurora. There were tears falling down her face.

Regina let them have a moment together and then went over to them, with Henry following, of course.

"Listen, I don't know what your plans are, but those fairies seem to be pretty powerful around these parts. You might want to think about getting out of town," she said.

"You could come with us. We're going to Storybrooke County, Maine," said Henry. Regina gave him a look and he smiled sheepishly up at her. He knew she didn't like him telling people their plans. Still, Mulan and Aurora were nice. He nudged her a little.

"Really?" asked Aurora.

"Apparently," said Regina.

Regina had declared no more tourist stops on the trip, ready to get to Maine as soon as possible, so they had stocked the F150 full of food and they were powering through the night. Mulan and Aurora were sharing the passenger seat, while Henry slept in the back with Duke. The dullahan's horse was eating hay in the horse trailer they had "borrowed" on their way out of Boston.

"Are you two running from something?" asked Aurora, breaking the silence in the truck.

Regina frowned. Mulan and Aurora seemed trustworthy enough, and she had helped Mulan escape capture from the wild hunt, but she wasn't positive just how much she wanted them to know about her and Henry.

"Why do you ask?"

Aurora shrugged and said, "Most people racing up the interstate to Storybrooke County are running from something."

Regina tapped the steering wheel, wishing she had come up with a backstory before hand. Henry sat up in the backseat and stretched.

"We're just looking for a fresh start," she said.

"What about you, Henry? Are you a vampire like your mom?" Aurora asked. She asked a lot of questions. She was probably just being polite, making small talk, but it still made Regina nervous. Then again, most things surrounding Henry made her nervous. Mulan was more stoic, and hadn't said much throughout the drive.

"Nope, I'm just a kid," he said, perhaps sounding a little disappointed.

"Was your father human?"

"Oh, um, I don't know. I'm...adopted," said Henry. Saying Regina had adopted him was a nicer way to put it than she had murdered his legal guardians and then technically but consensually kidnapped him.

"We've talked about adopting some day. You're lucky to have each other," said Mulan.

Behind them all the horse whinnied loudly.

"We should give her a name, can't keep just calling her the dullahan's horse," said Aurora, and Regina was relieved for the change of subject.

"Midnight?" said Mulan.

"No, too obvious."

"Snowball?" suggested Regina.

Aurora laughed, but rejected that one, too.

They went through several suggestions, with Henry throwing in his vote for "Daisy." In the end, they settled on "Connie." Regina wasn't crazy about it, but the others seemed to like it, and she was outvoted. Connie, the terrifying dullahan's horse. It didn't quite strike fear into the heart.

Regina got distracted from her thoughts about horse-naming, however, as they passed a "Welcome to Maine" sign. They were almost there.