There were only a handful of ghosts that I knew, even less that I had helped pass on. This was very different from telling my former college friend that her son was safe. I wasn't sure what exactly had happened to that man's soul, but I doubted it was painless judging by what I had seen. After a shudder ran down my back, I forced my attention back the magic that lingered in the air. Focusing on it as I would with pack bonds. Gold garland hung in the reaching for us. There was a thread of it coming from myself, but there were more reaching for both Willis and myself. Other than the strand that coming directly from me, none of the searching tendrils seemed to be able to gain any purchase on us. They would wrap around us then slide away like we were made of glass. The knife hummed at me again. I gave Willis a warning before grabbing the end of bit of the magic that tried circling my wrist. The blade sliced easily through the strand of magic. The end that was cut away turned grey and disintegrated into nothing. Where as the rest recoiled back up the steps, reminding me of an octopus that had a bit of its tentacle cut. I followed the gold strand to the thick knot of magic at the top of the steps.

The knife was hissing like it was a cat. And I was fairly certain it was saying, 'Get! Get! Get!' over and over.

"This knife can cut through the magic here. However, it is very likely that the caster will know when it's destroyed."

Willis grunted. "So, we'll have a possible conflict with the person who can do this." He gestured to the bloody mess. I could tell he definitely wanted a crack at the Shadow. This had become personal to him after what happened to his fellows. But there was also a sense of unease. Willis was not unaware that the Shadow was stronger than him. He was still resolved to face him if he had to. Even if I didn't like the man, that was something I could respect. Though I knew it was likely to end up with him dead, which was something I felt I should prevent.

"Our ghost friend said that they have an officer helping them. He or she is probably looking into the hit and run that Abigail was a victim of."

"That's not possible." His response was so obviously knee-jerk that I didn't give it any merit. I gave him a few moments to stew before pointing to the boards. A few looked like pictures from a police report, and one or two of them might have been taken directly from the police systems.

"It is possible that person is under the same thrall that affected everyone here. I imagine the good men and women of our police force don't draw their weapons each other often." That seemed to mollify as well as upset him more. "You've seen first hand what this person is capable of. That would be child's play." His eyes took on a distant hundred-yard stare, probably remembering the chaos from that incident. I wondered if the officers would be able to trust each other again.

"How do you stop a monster like that?" I was pretty sure he was talking to himself.

"Usually from a distance." Though I left out that that would likely be pretty difficult. One did not live a long time without being cautious after all.

"What's a safe distance?"

"I don't know." He looked grim at the prospect of my words. "Shall we join up with the other two? Then you guys can decide what to do next. Because I do not want to stick around after I remove this magic on the off chance whoever left it comes by."

"You won't face it?" There was obvious censure in his words.

"When I have to, I will. But I would rather not go up against something that can do that." I gestured to the carnage behind him. "With just a knife. Magical or not."

'Strong protecting, weak not. Will win this time.' I now had so many more questions that I was going to be asking when there wasn't a police officer around. Even Tony would a little concerned if I started talking to a knife with a bone for a handle. Actually, I'm pretty sure most people would be concerned by that.

"I'm also fairly certain neither you, nor Tony is carrying silver bullets, and I don't particularly want to test to see if this guy can compel Warren." I had almost zero doubts that could so with no problems. But I didn't want to make him overly suspicious of us. Just cautious. Willis seemed to see the sense in my words and nodded in agreement; begrudging agreement. He led the way back up to the front of the building where both Tony and Warren waited.

"We called in forensics for the other bodies. Where you able to get rid of whatever possessed our people?"

"I can, but I think it should wait until after you're done with collecting what you need. And everyone is ready to head out."

"Why?"

"I have it on good authority that the caster will likely know when I get rid of it. There is then a good chance he comes to check out who or what messed with his magic. Somehow, I feel like none of us want to be here when that happens armed as we are."

"We need to bring him."

I sighed. The smell of Tony's fear and anxiety had ramped up. "There is no way to gather evidence on magic currently, correct?" He nodded. "And I am relatively sure the evidence will show that those men in there, killed each other. Even if he came quietly with you guys where would you put him? You would basically be risking a mass riot if you could put him in a prison or anywhere with people." Both Tony and Willis turned pale. "And considering all the death I am inclined to say he'd merely kill us all. I think you 'd would be better served looking into his next victims."

"Who would that be?"

"Whoever was involved in the hit and run that Abigail was a victim of." I explained what the ghost had said about the police officer. Tony frowned, but nodded slightly, resigned to possibility.

"I had hoped that wasn't the case." He ran a hand through his hair, thinking. After a long moment he decided his course. "Will you be able to wait a few hours here?"

I glanced at Warren for confirmation that it was okay before deciding the rest of his morning for him. He bobbed his head once. Then I turned back to Tony. "We can wait, I'll let my guys know I'll be late."

"Alright then, once we get our preliminary investigation done, you can do your thing, then we all will hightail it outta here."

"We'll wait in the truck out of your guys' way. Just call us when you're ready."

"Thanks Mercy."

"Don't mention it."

It was quite the sight to watch the police team work. Several were sporting bruises and had a wariness when they approached or even looked at the building. But otherwise, they were fairly efficient. In the end, we waiting about five hours. The bodies had been taken away after fourth hour. Then it seemed like there was people scattering to look for tracks. Tony ended up waiting until the last of the police vehicles had left before waving me over.

I got out and walked with him to the door. He stopped at the door. Tony had zero intention of entering until after I cleared the magic. I could tell he was afraid the Shadow would posses him and force him to do something terrible. I had no idea if this wolf could use him to stop, but I certainly didn't want to find out, nor leave Tony to face those consequences. So, I walked down the hall alone.

'Here too.' The knife pouted at my side.

My lips pulled into a small smile. Not entirely alone I agreed as I drew the blade. It gleamed even in the poorly filtered light.

'Protect will. Promise.'

"You shouldn't make promises like that."

It seemed to shrug. 'Fae keep promises. Me Fae too.'

I stopped. Zee had mentioned another Fae had been involved in the making of this blade. As tempting as it was to ask questions about its creation, I needed to deal with the ball of magic first. Opening the main door again I faced the tangled knot of pack bonds. After taking a deep breath, I walked forward those last two steps, and plunged the knife directly into the center of the knot. All of the draping tendrils that were searching along the warehouse floor, jerked and twitched.

I half expected a scream. Instead, a single failing tentacle wrapped around my free wrist. I got vague impression of the silhouette of a man with deep hazel eyes, standing in the light of a massive and bright moon.

"Child of my child, cease your interference."

The knife hissed and screamed in a language I didn't understand. But it left me feeling a little dizzy from the swirl of energy. Then the Shadow turned his focus on me. I felt the hair on the back of my neck rise and the magic of the moon surround me, like I was suddenly drowning in its power.

"Coyote, I will over look you and your pack for now. Do not interfere with me or mine."

"I will protect my pack and my home. You are the one who should not interfere. You should have stayed in your frozen mountains." The words were pulled out of me as if they weren't entirely mine.

I felt his regard turn to somewhere else. "We shall see, little coyote."

The knife finished sucking up the ball of magic, ripping the garland like cord from my arm. A shudder ran down my spine. I could still vaguely feel him among the pack bonds. It was an overgrown path that had some of the brush blown away. I had suspected the Shadow was like Bran, but what if he was the Marrock before the Marrock. But how did he connect to us? It wasn't when I touched the bond. This bond was far older than that. Heck, it felt older than Bran himself. I rubbed my arms to get rid of the goosebumps that were still crawling over me. By the time I got back to Warren he was pacing with a restless nervous energy.

"You alright, darlin?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" I gave Tony the thumbs up before jumping into the truck. Warren more than easily picked up on my desire to be anywhere, but here. He got us going before he saying more.

"You look like you've seen a ghost. Well, a scary one."

I snorted since I could see ghosts and they were more often than not relatively harmless. How should I phrase this? After a moment of thought, I decided to have him see for himself. I suspected what I had done would reveal it to everyone in the pack. "Picture the pack bonds in a forest."

He gave me a puzzled look.

"Trust me."

"That I do." His gaze became somewhat vacant. "Now what?"

"Walk towards Adam."

After a moment he said, "I'm by him."

"Go past him, what do you see?"

Warren's brow knitted together in confusion. Then in the next breath his eyes widened. "Mercy, why is there another pack bonded to ours?"

"I suspect it has to do with the fact that the Shadow is a wolf."

"But he was never brought into our pack, nor the other way. When did this get here? Howe?"

I gave the only answer I had. "I don't know."