Our first small assignment together was easy. We got it maybe a week after T.J. got put as my partner (it was the norm for trainees to be partnered with another so that they didn't just get killed out on their own). Gather intel, report back, and decide a course of action from there. It was basically Hunting, but with better weapons and technology at our disposal.

There had been reports of a lot of weird shit happening out in Scotland. They weren't as well set up as we were in London, so they wanted to send myself and T.J. out to investigate. Neither of us minded too much. I knew T.J. had been wanting to get back out from the books (a week of just reading and studies after years of Hunting gave him serious cabin fever fast. He practically begged me to go take him out with me when I walked Karma), and Karma needed a chance to run around freely.

I just needed an opportunity to work without fear.

It wasn't clear yet as to what we were dealing with. Crop failures, sick livestock, and a drought all out in Edinburgh, although how in the hell you get a drought from a town near the ocean… I wasn't quite certain what we were dealing with as of yet, but I was damn impressed. They had given us a few basic tools to dispatch the creatures much easier, however we were free to field test any new ideas if deemed necessary.

The pair of us deemed it highly necessary. Well, when I say the pair of us, I mean that I deemed it necessary, and convinced T.J. that it'd be more fun to test them out on banshee than it would be to just keep them as hypothetical simulations (or to use him as my test subject for the broad ones with no specifics on banshees or other particular creatures).

We flew there, but I promised that we wouldn't need a flight back. T.J. didn't seem pleased about that part, but I assured him that I'd done it before.

"It'll be fun!" I added on. We were airborne, maybe an hour away from landing. "Think about it! We go in, we collaborate with the local Men of Letters and Hunters in Edinburgh, and get it all sorted out before Thursday."

"They're not answering, though." T.J. reminded me. "Calls have been made. And we're not even supposed to be technically Hunting or solving anything. This is supposed to be purely reconnaissance so that a better idea of what is happening can be formed, and afterwards a more equipped team can go in and eliminate the threat."

"T.J., you've been studying!" I exclaimed, giving him a playful look.

"I want to do this right."

"And we will." I assured him. "We're going to do this perfectly right! We go in, investigate and run recon, pop back to my apartment, sorry, flat," T.J. had been educating me on how to sound less like a tourist. "Report in what we find, and relax with I'm thinking should be some really crappy cartoons and checking out whether or not any of the guys you swiped right on for Tinder swiped back."

"I still feel more than slightly violated that you chose to investigate in to my personal life." He stated. I shrugged.

"Old habits die hard." I stated. "Besides, the only reason you didn't do the same is because I've got better internet security than you do."

"Actually, it was because I believed in ASKING." He retorted.

"Same difference."

It was kind of amazing. We hadn't been around each other long, but we just… We kind of just got along.

I just wished that my magic would stabilize with it. I knew that I wanted to use it on this expedition, but at the same time, I was secretly afraid that it would fail me.

T.J. didn't know about the problems. Nobody did. If they did, they would stop trusting me.

So I wanted this for two reasons, I guess. A chance to stabilize myself, and a chance to get out there in what I was somewhat familiar with in an unfamiliar environment.

Once we got there, I summoned Karma to my side and we followed protocol (fun fact: This was probably the first time in my life that I ever actually followed any protocol) and reported to the Men of Letters base in Edinburgh. It was a small one, run by locals, and purely there to serve as an emergency base and as a branch in Scotland.

It was funny, the entrance actually reminded me of the one in Kansas. I banged on it hard. "Pizza delivery!" I shouted, earning an entertained glance from T.J. at that. "You're right. Scratch that." I banged on the door again. "Alcohol delivery!" "What?" I asked.

"The passcode phrase." T.J. prompted me. I smirked.

"You're the one who's been studying." I pointed out. "I figured you would want to say it."

He let out a small huff, but he wasn't annoyed, I could tell. "Nos ecce enim scientia, ex fratribus nostris." We seek science from our brothers. He smirked at me, triumphant for just a moment.

That is, until the door decided to not open and reveal the four that were supposed to be on duty. I turned back to look at T.J., both of us confused. "Maybe you said it wrong?" I offered.

"I didn't." He stated, his expression shifting from one of worry to one of determination. "You said you could pick locks with magic, right?"

"Why?"

"Give these a shot."

"Can't." I answered. That was a bit of a lie. I might be able to, but I wasn't certain. "This is warded by the Men of Letters. I may be practicing with working around their wardings," T.J. cut me off.

"Practicing that is, by the way, highly frowned upon." He reminded me. I rolled my eyes.

"Call it consulting on what's wrong with their work." I rephrased. He offered me his own eye roll. "Anyways, even with my attempts to consult on their errors that have so far, only resulted in finally figuring out how to make sure Karma doesn't set off alarms everywhere," at the mention of her name, she sat up a little prouder. "I can't promise that I can open this lock without running the risk of setting off at least seven self-destruct sequences, three of which would more than likely kill US along with it."

"Really?" He asked. "That many?"

"I did my own research too." I pointed out. "Safety protocols. What gets set off, in which orders, and by what attempts to gain entry."

"And with all that research you can't work around them?"

"Not without practice." I answered. That was truthful enough. "And this needs some serious practice."

"What happened to your, what did you call it?" He pretended to think for a moment. "Ah, yes, your self-attributed 'Devil may care' attitude."

"I care a little more when it's someone else's life at stake along with mine."

"So I'll take steps back however many meters you tell me to."

"Not worth the risk." I said, reaching in to my pocket. "However, in case of emergency," I thought for a moment, looking around. "See that boulder over there?" I asked, pointing to the rock pretty far in the distance. "How many meters would you say that is?"

"A little over one hundred." He answered. "Give or take. Why?"

I pulled out the object in my pocket, a Men of Letters key. "Pulled this off of Lady Bevell day three." I stated. "It opens every door in to the London base. I'm probably not supposed to have this." T.J. stared at me in shock. "A "Devil may care" attitude, especially when you've actually had your life threatened by said Devil a minimum of two times, leaves you with a few less inhibitions when it comes to getting some petty revenge against someone that really hates you."

"You could face serious reprimands if the Old Men find out."

"So don't tell them." I replied. "Please?"

He let out a low sigh. "Why am I moving over 100 meters away from you?"

"This key opens any door in the Men of Letters Base stationed in London." I stated. "Many of those doors also happen to be warded by similar spells kept on the front door in case of emergency." I glanced at the key, then back at T.J., offering him a small smile. "Very difficult to make these types of keys. Very intricate spellwork required, embedded within layers of salt and iron so that they cannot be altered unless the key is broken and at that point, obviously unable to work." I turned to the door. "How much do you want to bet that they hire the same locksmith?"

"You want to test a possible key?"

"If the Old Men ask, I opened the door with magic due to a warding weakness we will create when we get inside." I stated, continuing to stare at the door. "Get back to that boulder. If I remember correctly, one of the safeguards for unwanted entry is the warding on the door itself to activate," I muttered, looking down at my chest. "And set on fire the internal organs of everyone within a 66 foot, or 20 meter, range."

"Don't die." T.J. encouraged. I nodded, and he jogged away to the boulder I'd pointed out. I waited until he gave me a thumbs up, then turned my attention to the key in my hand.

"Karma, protect T.J." I ordered quietly. She bolted off to be next to him, reaching the boulder much quicker than he had. I took one final look at the key. "Please don't kill me." I muttered, inserting it in to the lock. Moment of truth, here. I turned it, holding my breath as the tumblers clicked in to place.

The door opened without any difficulties. I waited a few minutes, putting one hand on my stomach as I pushed the door open with the other.

It opened quietly, but there was no backlash. No internal organs on fire. No exploding building. No anything.

I turned back to T.J. "All clear!" I shouted. He started to jog back, Karma easily outdistancing him, but when he got about halfway there he stopped, his expression absolutely terrified.

"KYLIE!" He screamed. I turned around, and the smell of sea brine and wet horse hitting me just a second before I actually saw the big, shadowy hoof aim itself straight for my face.

Another shadow blurred past me, Karma's bark thundering out as she slammed her body in to the other creature. Both of them fell in to the base, and I ran after them.

"What in the bloody hell is that?!" T.J. shouted following me.

"I don't know!" Both of us stopped at the top of the stairs, fully taking in the carnage that was the Scotland branch. It was obvious as to what had happened to the four sentries that had been here. They were all dead, strewn out about the main room. Karma bit at the horse legs of the other creature, one that I could actually see now. It looked a bit like a centaur, except the part that was supposed to be a man's torso was attached to the back of what looked like a hellhound in horse form. There were no legs to the man's torso, it kind of just… Rose up like a tumor, with an iron chain around its neck, leading up to a surprisingly large head with piercing red eyes. Its arms, however, were long and sinewy, batting away at Karma as she went for the horses fish-like legs. The grossest part, though, was that the shadow was just that, shadow. No skin underneath, nothing to particularly hide the creature's black blood coursing through tinted yellow veins, nor did it hide the pale sinews and bulky muscles of the creature, moving with each swing like one large pulsating mass of grossness.

If it has exposed skin, it may burn.

I pushed my hands out, praying for fire to exude from me and on to the creature. Instead, I got the opposite – water. Freshwater, pouring from me like a fire hose and on to the creature attacking my dog.

The man's head on top of the torso howled in pain the second the water touched it, recoiling away from Karma to glare up at me. "KARMA!" I screamed, shoving T.J. out the door as I grabbed the door handle. "OUTSIDE!"

The second she evaporated away from the creature, my magic water stopped working. I didn't care, though. I stepped outside with T.J., slamming the door shut as hard and fast as I could before re-locking it. I could hear a hard slam from the other side, followed by a stream of words I didn't know the meaning of at all, but at the same time was quite certain as to the intent behind them.

"What in the bloody hell WAS THAT?!" T.J. repeated, staring at me for a moment. "And HOW in the BLOODY HELL did you know that WATER would hurt it?"

"I didn't." I answered honestly, taking labored breaths. Karma limped over to me, and licked my palm.

"THEN WHY DID YOU USE IT?!"

"Honestly?" I asked. He nodded. "I actually meant to burn the thing."

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

"You're a Hunter." I stated. "Why are you freaking out?"

"Do you know how rare instances are in London?" He asked. "The worst I've had to deal with in the past was tracking down a singular werewolf."

"Really?" I asked, squinting a little. "You're serious?"

"Absolutely." He answered. "Why? Do monsters and beasts just run amuck in America?"

"Actually, kind of." I replied. He shook his head, pulling out his cell phone. "What are you doing?"

"I'm following protocol." He answered, dialing a number. "Are you hurt?"

"No."

"Good." He turned his attention from me to his phone. "This is Thomason Jones. I need to speak with Arthur Ketch." Ketch was in charge of overseeing our training. He was the one that had sent us here. T.J. waited a few moments before speaking again. "Mr. Ketch, we have a Class 4 emergency situation. The four operatives stationed in Edinburgh are dead, with an unknown creature residing inside the base." He paused, listening to instructions. "Myself and Ms. Dillinger are fine." He paused again. "Yes sir." He tossed me the phone.

"Hello?"

"How did you get in to the base?" Ketch asked first.

"The door was unlocked." I answered. "Huge safety risk. Gave us our first tip that something was wrong."

"And I assume Lady Bevell's request for a new key is completely unrelated, correct?" He asked.

"Absolutely."

"You realize you will have to return it, right?"

"I will when she apologizes." I answered, thinking for a moment. "And buys me good pizza, not the crap from the American section at the supermarket."

"She could report this infraction to the Old Men, and have you brought in for reprimands."

"But for some reason hiring someone to tail a new asset isn't ground for reprimands as well?" I pointed out. Ketch knew. We both agreed it was best to not bring it up unless necessary. Ketch let out a sigh.

"What did the creature look like?" He asked. I gave him a run-down of what had happened, including the negative effects of freshwater on the damn thing. "I see." He said when I was finished. "We'll arrange for you to stay in a nearby hotel for the night, and tomorrow morning a removal team will meet you there to deal with the creature."

"Call me the second you know what it is." I requested. "I might be able to figure out a few spells to help."

"Agreed." Ketch said. "I'll text the pair of you your overnight details shortly." Then he hung up. I tossed the phone back to T.J.

"Know any good places for food here?" I asked. "It seems as though we're staying the night."

"What are our orders?"

"Wait for further instructions." I said. "And for the removal team to meet us tomorrow morning." My phone buzzed, as did T.J.'s. I took a look at mine. A hotel address, with the reservation under the name Magnus. "Come on. We're in the middle of nowhere." I muttered. "Let's see if we can get a cab or hitchhike or something."