The sound was like, well, like nothing Maddie had ever heard before. Some sort of hollow roar like what a vacuum makes, just a hell of a lot louder. It was accompanied by an extremely unpleasant feeling akin to being pulled through a tight space underwater by your bones. A sensation that made Maddie's stomach somersault and bile begin to rise in her throat. All while she still had an equally as perturbed vamp in her grasp.

This sensation lasted only a moment though before Maddie was relieved of this unexpected disruption to her brawl with the vampire that she was well on her way to slaying. She would have been happy in any normal circumstance, but in this case, she would have preferred anything else over what happened next.

Maddie and the vamp suddenly crashed in heap onto and large table which subsequently was crushed under their combined weight. The vamp seized the opportunity to get a hold of her neck and attempted to sink its fangs into her shoulder. Before he could, she landed a square punch to the vamp's head with enough force to send him flying off his feet and into nearby wall. Maddie regained her feet and at this point realised she was in an unfamiliar room that was furnished rather like an old fashioned office. She was also aware that there were other people in the room but with the vamp getting back on its feet she didn't have time to take in who they were.

The two of them exchanged several violent blows before Maddie seized a chunk of the now splintered table as a stake and buried it into the vamp's heart while holding the creature by the scruff of his shirt above her. The vamp exploded into dust, which scattered around her like snow. The danger was gone, now to figure out where the hell she was. Maddie did not expect what she was faced with when she turned around, and she silently cursed herself for not being more observant of her surroundings.

She was facing a room of people who all looked exceptionally shocked and threatened. There were ten people in the room who Maddie counted quickly. From how they were stood around the room and from the turned over chairs, they had been sitting around the now destroyed table when she had crashed into it. There were five women among the group; the eldest woman was looking at her like she was the devil incarnate, the colour had drained from her face and she was clutching a rosary in one hand. More importantly there were five men who now all had handguns pointed directly at her; all of them having a mixture of different expressions on their faces.

'Woah shit ok! Please don't shoot me!' said Maddie, throwing up her arms and dropping the stake on the floor. She knew better than to make any kind of move to take these men on. She may have slayer strength and healing, but multiple bullets would still kill her easily.

'What the fuck just happened?!' questioned the man stood closest to her. He was tall and slim; his hair was shaved with one longer section on the top that was slicked back on his head. He also had a moustache and a look in his eye that Maddie recognised in someone who was, as she would have put it, a total psycho. Maddie also recognised the accent immediately as Brummie, and she felt thankful at least she was in her home city.

At this point she realised that everyone in the room was dressed like they were in an Agatha Christie novel. The women in long dresses and all the men in very expensive and handsome looking suits. Shit...surely not, she thought.

'Fuck…' she muttered under her breath. Everyone was still staring at her as she gazed around the room, now becoming surer of her suspicions.

'Er… what year is it?' Maddie asked the room, ignoring the moustached man's question. Everyone looked around the room at each other in bewilderment.

'What?' said another man, this one much younger that the rest, with sharp features and mousy blond hair.

Despite Maddie's obviously dangerous predicament, she was rapidly getting inpatient and restless. She was in an unfamiliar environment and she needed to get out of it.

'The date? You know that thing that tells you what day, month and year it is?' she spouted sarcastically.

The room remined silent for another few seconds and Maddie thought that she was never going to get an answer and would have to find a way out of the room to find out. Then a new voice spoke up from a man that was furthest from her who was also pointing a gun at her but had remained near the shadows until this point.

'It's March 15th 1924,' said the man. His voice was level and cold, seemingly unperturbed by the situation in front of him. Maddie looked up at the man who spoke as he stepped further into the middle of the room. Then the penny dropped as to who these people were.

Tommy fucking Shelby. Maddie would have recognised that face anywhere. He was unmistakable; icy blue eyes that could freeze hell over, sharp cheekbones and jaw that could cut diamonds. Dark hair cut with shaved sides and a fringe that swept across his forehead. He stood with a strong stance she noticed, a posture that exhumed authority and power.

These people were the infamous Shelby family, all of them by the looks of it, and she had just crashed into the middle of their office and slayed a vampire right in front of them. She glanced very quickly around the room now and noticed numerous items that had the Shelby Company Ltd logo on it, the same logo the company still used in 2020. Everyone in Birmingham knew of the Shelby family, their company and of course the Peaky Blinders. And everyone knew the face of Tommy Shelby; even after his death a good twenty years before Maddie was born and she could hardly believe that he was stood there in front of her.

Tommy was appraising Maddie as she now stood gawping at the group in front of her, his piercing gaze raking itself up and down her body. As did the gaze of all the other onlookers, she realised. Then she remembered her outfit and became extremely self-conscious very quickly. She looked down at her body which she realised was half naked with her strappy crop top, red mini skirt and her favourite chunky black boots that were especially good for kicking ass when fighting. This must have been the worst outfit she could have chosen to be blasted back in time in. She hastily attempted to cover herself with her arms but failed horribly, only succeeding in drawing the gaze of the men more.

'I suggest you answer my brother's question,' Tommy spoke again, this time with a definite edge of intimidation to his tone.

Brother? Maddie looked at the moustached man again and now recognised him as Tommy's older brother Arthur. Which also explained the psycho killer look she noticed earlier. She then looked at all the faces in turn and found that she could name them all. There was the younger brother John and Finn the youngest brother. Ada, their sister was stood holding onto Polly Grey, and her son Michael Grey stood close by. She spotted Esme, Linda and the last woman Maddie almost didn't recognise but finally placed her a Lizzie Stark, Tommy's future wife.

Maddie quickly recovered her composure, something she had learned to do quickly as a vampire slayer, realising she needed to out of there as quickly as possible. However she wasn't sure that the truth was the best tactic, especially since she had no idea what had just happened herself. The problem was, she was never a good liar.

'Er… I'm not sure if you'd believe me if I told you…' she finally said before huffing. 'Look, if you just let me leave you can forget that you ever saw me.' It was a long shot, but she knew the truth would get her locked up in an insane asylum in this period in history.

'Tell us what the fuck just happened or l'll shoot ya brains out!' shouted Arthur who now approached Maddie with the gun to her head. Just what she needed. She wasn't going to let the Shelby's intimidate her, no matter how infamously dangerous they were.

With inhuman speed, Maddie disarmed the unsuspecting Arthur once he was close enough to her whilst simultaneously getting him in chokehold. She held him fast in her arm and pointed his gun at his head.

'Arthur!' called several members of the group. Stepping forward but faltering when she pressed the gun against his temple. Linda had to be held back by Lizzie as she attempted to grab Arthur. Maddie knew that violence was a language this family understood. The other men, including Tommy continued to point their guns at her.

'Now, I'm not that into killing humans but I will if it means I get out of here,' Maddie said. Now she looked directly at Tommy. She knew he would be the one to command the others. He met her gaze unblinkingly. Arthur was struggling to get free in her arm, she could tell that he was a strong man but it wasn't enough to match her strength.

'Tom… she…' Arthur gasped as he struggled.

'Let him go,' Tommy ordered calmly although Maddie could hear the menace in his voice.

'I will. But I want reassurance that I can leave here without any bullets in me. Empty your guns and throw them away. Then I'll do the same and release Arthur,' she ordered.

'Don't trust her Tom,' hissed Polly with sudden confidence. 'That one's a witch, she must be.'

Polly was right in a sense. There was no doubt that Maddie was bought here through a magical portal. And her display of strength would no doubt convince any person from this era that she was a witch. Her and Tommy however, ignored Polly's statement. They continued to stare at each other, measuring each other up while the rest of the room looked on nervously.

'Alright,' Tommy finally said. With that he opened the barrel of his pistol and emptied the bullets onto the floor with a clatter. He then threw the gun across the floor into the corner. 'Everyone put your guns down. Do as she says.'

'Are you mad Tom?!' called John.

'Just do it, all of you,' commanded Tommy, looking at each of them individually and nodding his assent to them. One by one they begrudgingly disarmed and discarded their guns.

'Lovely,' chimed Maddie. She released her hold on Arthur and pushed him sharply to Linda who's arms he stumbled into as she sobbed. Everyone but Tommy adopted a posture as if expecting Maddie to open fire on them, but she kept her word and disarmed her gun with expert proficiency that the three brothers all seemed to notice.

'Now could you please direct me to the way out and I'll be on my way,' said Maddie chirpily.

The Shelby's looked back at her in shock.

'First you tell us who you are and what the hell we just witnessed,' demanded Ada now. There was a fiery confidence in her that Maddie appreciated and which reminded her of herself.
Maddie sighed and looked at the ceiling. 'Like I said before, you wouldn't believe me if I told you.'

'Try us,' said Tommy. Maddie turned to him and he approached her, striding confidently across the room to her. She looked at him in a new way this time which sent a shiver down her spine. His presence was chilling and powerful. She allowed herself to notice how handsome he was, and how well muscled he seemed, even under the three piece suit he was wearing. God he was fucking sexy to look at. The stories she'd been told about the legendary Tommy Shelby were not enough to encapsulate this man.

Maddie let herself smile at him, now beginning to enjoy her time travelling excursion if it meant she could look at this fine specimen of a man. They regarded each other briefly before Maddie decided, what the hell? What did she have to lose? They wouldn't believe whatever she said, may as well entertain herself with their reactions to the truth.

'My name is Maddie. I'm a vampire slayer. And I'm from the future, specifically the year 2020. I was fighting that vampire you all saw, only we got sucked in by what I'm guessing was a bloody time portal, whooshing me and it here to this time. Now it looks like I'm stuck here, but I need to find a way to get back to my time.' Maddie paused and realised then where she needed to go. 'I need to get to London ASAP!'

As she predicted the Shelby's were now even more confused and bewildered than before, looking at her as if she were a lunatic. She looked up at Tommy expectantly. His face was emotionless, just one eyebrow raised in reaction to her outburst.

'The woman's mad Tom,' muttered Arthur who was still rubbing his neck.

Maddie rolled her eyes and huffed. 'No shit Sherlock! Look, I know I sound crazy but how else would you explain what you just saw?'

Arthur stuttered for a moment under his breath and sat down on a chair grumbling.

She rolled her eyes again. 'Well now I've answered your question it's up to you to decide if you believe me. But I'm leaving,' she huffed. She glanced around the room and spotted a long coat hanging on a coat peg near a door, which from the window next to it seemed to lead out onto the street outside. 'And I'll be needing that coat,' she said and indicated to the hook. The last thing she needed was the whole city of Birmingham seeing a strangely dressed and half naked girl marching across the city.

'Wait…' said Tommy as she went to walk past him, grabbing her arm. His hand was firm yet gentle. Despite her better judgement, her treacherous heart skipped with the contact. He was making an impression on her more than she could have ever predicted. She looked up at him questioningly and his eyes bore into hers as he spoke.

'You're obviously not here to hurt me or my family or you would have done it by now. You're evidently very strong and dangerous,' he said as he gripped Maddie's arm harder, feeling the solid muscles of her arms. 'I could use someone like you, and I can help you get the information you need. And help you get to London if that's where you need to go'.

Maddie could hardly believe her ears.I could use you.What did that mean? A slayer, an instrument of the Peaky Blinders? The idea repulsed her, but at the same time excited her. The others obviously couldn't believe their ears either as they were now looking at Tommy with a mixture of anger and disbelief. Maddie could have sworn she saw out the corner of her eye Polly and Ada roll their eyes in unison, though she didn't understand why. She needed to get out of there, and fast, before she got into real trouble. She knew better than to get involved with the Peaky Blinders. She could cause a lot of damage if they utilised her skills. She glanced at the door. Lizzie was stood near it, her gaze fixed firmly on Tommy's grip on her arm. A burning jealously was plastered clearly on her face. How could she be jealous of some crazy woman who'd appeared out of nowhere? But this gave Maddie a 'what the hell' idea.

She turned back to look at Tommy again, smiling flirtatiously an biting her lip. In the light from the window she now noticed how long Tommy's eyelashes were, how full and soft his lips looked and the small scar on one of his cheeks. She shrugged her arm from his grip.

'Sorry Tommy, that's a nice offer any everything but… I'll be better off on my own.' And with that Maddie stood on tiptoe and placed her hands on either side of Tommy's face, gripping the long hair on top of his head. She connected her lips to his firmly and aggressively, taking him by surprise as she heard his sharp intake of breath . His lips were indeed soft. As if instinctively Tommy's hands gripped her bare waist roughly as he kissed back and Maddie felt her heart quicken. She pulled away after a couple of seconds and made eye contact with him again, turning the corner of her mouth up smugly. Tommy for the first time since she had crashed into the Shelby office looked surprised.

'Bye,' she laughed, lifting her hand in a short wave as she strode toward the coat hook. She was acutely aware that the whole room had witnessed the kiss and were now regarding Tommy speechlessly as he watched her walk away. Lizzie however was burning holes into Maddie as she walked past as if she had laser vision. Maddie grabbed the coat and threw it on. Thankfully it was the perfect size and covered her whole body. Then she pulled the handle of the door to open it, but it was locked. Damn.

'Oh and er… sorry about the door.' she added apologetically as she yanked the door sharply, breaking the lock and latch which clattered to the floor, and strode out of the doorway onto the cold Birmingham street.