I do not own Patricia Briggs's characters. Enjoy!

I stared at the TV as the news passed. Right now, there was a story about how a young resident helped deliver a premature baby. They were talking about how scared they were about delivering a baby since they only had textbook knowledge and dummy practical in medical school. During some of the time, the TV showed the baby and the family thanking the resident. I looked at Adam, who was patiently waiting for something, it seems.

After a few years of peace (besides the occasional dealing with fae and monsters), I replayed Jesse's question if her dad and I were going to have a baby. Seeing this news kind of 'poked the bear.'

"Adam?" Then I blurted out: "Would you ever want to have another kid?"

I saw him press the volume button many times as he got it to zero. He turned his head. "I-." He looked deep in thought.

I raised my hands. "Sorry. It was random. We don't have to talk about it."

He snapped over to grab my wrist and looked at what he did. "No. I mean, sorry." He let my wrist go. "What I mean to say is: Don't be sorry. I was just surprised you brought it up. I thought we would talk about it sooner, but it's something you have the biggest say in, so I waited. Do you want a child?"

Putting in more emphasis than him, I asked, "Do you want a child?"

He smiled and tilted his head playfully. "Do you?"

"Do? You? We can go at this all day," I stated confidently.

His smile grew. "I'll bite. I like the idea of having a baby with you. I'm a bit unsure of how to be around kids that can't hold an interesting conversation, but I will always try my best to raise one right."

I knew he was awkward with young kids. "I can deal with young kids. Don't worry. I can teach you."

He chuckled. "I'm all for it then."

"Did we just agree on something?" It wasn't the first time, but I like to poke around.

"We did have that 'do you' part."

We can count that as an argument. It satisfied me for the moment. "Sounds good. Call me paranoid, but we both agreed to have a baby eventually?"

"Where do I sign?"

A Few Days Later...

"Mmm. This sh-stuff is delicious," Ben praised while shoving spoon after spoon into his mouth.

"Yeah, Mercy. What did you put in this stuff? This is not the recipe I sent you." Jesse grabbed another cup of chocolate mousse.

"I may have put in some of that white powder." I winked.

Ben chuckled. "You should have put in some of that leafy powder."

We laughed, not quite enough to make us lose the ability to breathe.

"I hope it's not addictive then." Adam came downstairs from his security meeting on the phone. He looked at the trays of cups. "Are we hosting a party I'm not aware of?"

"Knowing that the pack will come by, I made extra."

Jesse squinted her eyes at me. "Don't hide it, Mercy. You knew this was going to be a hit and that they would be asking for more than usual."

"It only looks so much because the cups are not small in size."

"If you say so." She didn't believe me, but she didn't want to put the effort in arguing, using it to enjoy her cup instead.

Two Days Later...

Surprisingly, there was no snow so far this January, but we were only five days in. I was on my way to Walmart from work when I saw a bunch of police and ambulance by a worn down house. I didn't think much of it since I had no information.

A Week Later...

TW: Infant death (only mentioned)

So, turns out the house I passed a week ago was on the news. A 16-month old died in their sleep after days of fighting a cold. The mother was on the news, crying and confused about how it could have happened since the infant had their vaccines. I felt bad Adam turned it off.

"Not a good way to spend the night."

The Next Day...

Mercy.

I opened my eyes and looked around. Adam was still asleep. The house was quiet. I slid out from under his arm and walked to the window, looking around. Nothing. I went to the drawer to pick up my water bottle to take a few big gulps; Sleeping that close with Adam made me sweat sometimes. Just as I went back to bed, I saw my phone light up. I grabbed it and saw a speech bubble, signifying that I got a text...from Stefan. It read: Meet me at the residence of the child who died.

I looked back at Adam and took out a pad to write a quick message. Then I threw on some decent clothes before heading out. Considering that he, a vampire, is asking to see me by the house of a dead child, it means that the death was supernatural. Stefan would never bring me to a crime scene unless he knew it was supernatural.

When I arrived, he was already there, leaning on his car. After I got out of mine, he stood up straight.

"I'm sorry for making you wake up."

I raised a hand to silence him. "There is no need to apologize. What or who are we dealing with?"

He turned his head to look at the house. "The mother decided to move out. Although a lot of stuff is still here, she's not staying tonight." Looking back at me, he said, "I got a call from a vampire from the seethe in West Virginia. There was a plane that landed in the state from Europe that brought vampires, but one killed one of theirs. Apparently, one of them just 'dropped dead.'"

"So we're dealing with a vampire?"

"Yes, but not a normal one."

"Witch-born?" Those were rare, but they existed. They tended to freak me out, especially Wulfe, one of Marsilla's ex-seethe-members.

"Perhaps."

"But how is this child dying from a cold have to deal with the supernatural?"

"The body had very faint bite marks, but I couldn't get a scent. I was hopping you could get something."

"Magic?"

"Anything. Not necessarily magic. Your nose is stronger than mine."

I nodded. "If this is supernatural, then I will help solve this case and bring that vampire down."

"You're the best." He smiled.

"Damn straight. How do you know a new vampire, or vampires, are behind this?"

"Because ever since those vampires arrived, more children have been dying from what seems to be minor to major illnesses, but local seethes have investigated, since they got suspicious, and the children had very faint bite marks. The first few cases started as being drained of all blood. At least one of the vampires seem to travel fast. Seethes have been sharing information to bring them down."

"Do you think it's the Lord of the Night's doing?" I thought nothing more can make me hate that guy even more than I already do.

He shrugged. "Anything is possible with him, but we want to stop this from getting out of control before anyone does anything about that suspicion."

We went through the back of the house. Stefan teleported us into the infant's room. I blinked a few times to process what just happened to me. When I was done, I inhaled to see if I caught anything. I took slow steps toward the crib-bed. It would be better if I got to see the body, but I don't want to see the child. It would be better if I can get something here. Damn. I shook my head. It's very faint.

"It's at least four days old. There does seem to be magic. I'm not familiar with it. It itches my nose a bit. This vampire smells like trees."

We looked at each other. Stefan asked, "So they could be staying in forests?" He looked down in thought. "There could be many reasons for that. They're more dangerous if they would do anything for survival. Well, I'll share this information around. It increases the ability to catch them." He stopped and focused on me again. "Thanks, Mercy. I'll let you know if anything pops up."

When I arrived, Adam was awake and waiting in the kitchen.

"Did you find anything?"

I sat down. "Only that it was a vampire who killed the infant, or at least started it. Considering the amount of cases similar to this one, I suspect a witchborn vampire."

He seemed deep in thought. "How many cases?"

"I don't know. Considering that it brought the attention of the vampires, I'd say at least a few dozen minimum."

He blinked and stood up, making the chair drag along the floor. "Let's go back to sleep. We can talk later."

The Next Day...

My eyes felt sore the whole morning, and I forced them open when working on a few cars I said would be ready tomorrow. Then my phone rang after lunch. It was Tony.

"Hey, Tony. It's been a while."

"Hey, Mercy. I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"I had just finished lunch. What's up?"

"There's a witch who reported a death, but she knows that it was more complicated."

"Where do you need me?"

"She says that she'd like to talk at her apartment."

"I'll head over after work."

"Sure. I'll send you her address and see you there."

After work, I headed over to the address Tony sent. In the parking lot, I saw Tony talking with a brown-haired woman wearing a suit. They saw me arrive and turned to face me. Tony introduced us, "Sofia, this is Mercedes Thompson Hauptman. Mercy, this is Sofia Ricci."

Sofia and I shook hands. She said, "I'm aware of your position in the Columbia Basin's pack. Thank you for your time, Mercedes."

"Call me Mercy."

She smiled, and it quickly faded away. "I'm a white witch. I travel with six others-or five now, most of us are social workers who work with children. We come from Italian families who seek to help children in trouble. We come from families who have been white witches for centuries, who have been spreading the work of Befana, a white witch from many centuries ago. Can we talk inside?"

"Of course," Tony replied, and we all went in the apartment.

Sofia's apartment was minimalistic and tidy. She led us to her living room. "Please, sit. Would you like tea, coffee, or water? I'm not sure if I have soda."

"Water would be great," I said.

"Water is good," Tony agreed.

"Of course. Give me a minute." She left and came back with a pitcher and three glasses to serve us. We thanked her. After she sat down, she continued, "I live with two others. Well, now one other. Vittoria De Luca is the one who died. She came home one night after working at Seattle Children's Hospital. She told my other roommate and I that she sensed something off about another social worker. She clearly said that it felt more like a black witch. That kind of energy is hard to miss. In fact, we're packing up to move out of fear. The next day, we noticed that she became depressed. She got sick the day after that and became worse. Then, we saw her on her bed without life. This was no coincidence. Our other roommate, who works at the same hospital, tried to check on the social worker Vittoria encountered, but she was nowhere to be found. I know that this is witch business, but we white witches are nothing compared to black and gray ones." She looked at me with hope.

"I'm willing to tackle this case to bring the killer down." It made me a bit sad when white witches were killed. It means that true evil is around. "Was there anything unusual on her body or any other symptoms?"

She shook her head. "Only physical sickness and depression. We didn't see anything on her."

Sofia let me investigate the room Vittoria was in. I didn't want to tell her of my suspicions, not yet. After leaving, I called Stefan.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Stefan. Can you give me details as to how the children died?"

"Did you find something?"

"A white witch died in the same manner that infant died; Depression and sickness. I got to investigate her room and picked up the same scent at that house."

"I'll check out the body and let you know."

"The woman told me that they plan on burning it as soon possible to prevent other witches from user her death for power."

"I'll let you know if I find anything."

The Next Day...

The white witch had faint fang marks on her. Our vampire is most likely witchborn who at least targets young children. It's too early to tell if they target witches, too. It may have killed Vittoria out of survival, not that Vittoria and her group would have done something. Stefan stopped by the house at night to talk with Adam and I.

"Considering all the information we have, our killer is very likely a witchborn vampire. We don't know the limits of their abilities though. They target primarily children."

I hated witchborn vampires...

Adam nodded. "I'll upgrade security at all the hospitals and clinics. Do you have any more background on this vampire?"

"Besides that they came from Europe and is witchborn? No. Considering what Mercy has told me, we plan on checking out the nearest forests."

Two Days Later...

Stefan called at night to tell me that he saw a vampire trying to feed on one of his people. He managed to see some features, but it doesn't help much. It looked like an old woman. It had went out the window, but by the time Stefan got outside, there was no trace of her. After seeing all the things we have seen, Stefan was mostly confident that this vampire is a shtriga-an Albanian vampire witch who fed off the lifeforce of children along with blood. What makes no sense is why she targeted the white witch. They wouldn't have been able to do anything either way.

Thanks for reading!