'Will you marry me?'

Maddie struggled to control her shuddering breath as she gazed down at the glittering ring that Tommy was presenting to her, her eyes wide with shock. His words seemed to echo through her head, all muffled and incoherent as the deafening silence of the room engulfed her.

Is this real? Surely, I'm dreaming?

Maddie took a deep breath to steady herself and quickly realised that she was indeed awake. She flicked her eyes up to look at Tommy, his expression the most nervous she had ever seen it, his brow creased as he waited for her to answer. Oh shit… I need to answer him! The tension in the room suddenly became very heavy as she realised everyone in the room was staring at the two of them with bated breath. She opened her mouth to speak but at first, she just gawped silently as she struggled to regain her wits as Tommy continued to look back at her searchingly.

Say something you idiot! Maddie cursed herself in her head angrily as she tried to connect her brain to her mouth. Of course, you want to marry him so fucking say something!

Eventually, she managed to start to move her chin up and down in a slow nod which got quicker as a tear began to form in her eye.

'Y-yes…' she finally managed to croak out as the tear ran down her cheek. 'Yes, of course I'll marry you, Tommy!'

The tension in the room immediately broke, a cool fresh breeze seeming to blow through the room as she spoke and their onlookers began to clap and chatter happily at her answer. Maddie smiled widely at Tommy who matched it, a long and relieved breath leaving him as he took the ring out of the box and slid it onto her ring finger. The ring was the most gorgeous thing she had ever seen. It reflected the light in a way that made it seem like it was glowing with its own source of light. Five small but perfect diamonds were inlaid into the silver band that twinkled at her and she couldn't help but gasp at the sight.

Is this really happening to me? Thomas Shelby wants to marryme; a slayer from the future who doesn't even belong in this time.

Maddie's mind still felt fuzzy but nevertheless she couldn't stop herself from smiling dumbly like a child, a breathy chuckle leaving her lips as Tommy took her hand to pull them both up to their feet. She looked up at him, beaming from ear to ear as the situation finally sank in. I'm engaged... to Tommy… She reached up to put her hands on his shoulders before tiptoeing to pull him into a kiss. She expected their audience to make disapproved noises as they kissed in full view of them all, but to her surprise the room clapped and cheered loudly, most of all the Shelby's of course.

When they broke apart, Maddie could feel her cheeks flushing hotly and she took a moment to look into Tommy's eyes, the blue iris' shimmering with delight. They smiled at each other for a second, Tommy looking the happiest that she had ever seen him, a very rare but genuine wide smile stretching his lips. His gaze conveyed something new in it, like he wasn't just looking at someone he loved, but at someone that he was bound to for the rest of his life.

'Ladies' and gentlemen,' a tinny voice from the speakers sounded loudly, making Maddie finally break her gaze away from Tommy. 'The race is about to start, please make your way to your seats.'

The crowd in the room began to disperse and make their way toward the balcony, the novel event of Tommy's proposal now over. They turned to look at their family finally and saw everyone looking back at them with ecstatic faces. Ada practically beamed at Maddie and pulled her into her arms in a tight hug.

'Congratulations!' she exclaimed. 'I told him you would say yes!'

'Wait?' said Maddie. 'You knew about this?'

'We all did,' chuckled John who came over and gave Maddie a hug as well. 'Gotta' admit though Mads, for a second there you had us all worrying you were going to say no with how quiet you were.'

Maddie didn't realise just how long it had taken her to force herself to speak and realised that it was probably very nerve wrecking for everyone, not to mention the most awful wait of Tommy's life. She flicked her gaze up to Tommy and cast him an apologetic look which he responded with a small smile and a squeeze of her hand.

'Well, it's not every day one gets proposed to,' said Polly, coming over to kiss Maddie on the cheek. 'Cut her some slack John.'

'Yeah,' agreed Arthur. 'Mads said yes in the end, and now we have another Shelby wedding to look forward to!'

This announcement elicited smiles from everyone, although they were tinged with an edge of sadness which Maddie didn't fail to notice. Of course, Tommy's last marriage to Grace. That wedding was less than a year ago. This realisation made her spine shudder slightly as she pictured herself taking Grace's place. However, she didn't get much chance to dwell on this as Tommy cleared his throat gruffly.

'We have time to celebrate this later,' he said, his usually stoic personality back on show. 'Let's watch the race.'

He took Maddie's arm and began to lead her through the crowd toward the balcony as everyone else followed. Maddie glanced down at her ring and beamed with happiness, this was the most perfect day of her life and she vowed to never forget a single moment of it. She had been excited for this day since Tommy had brought her the dress. During the few jobs she had done at the racetracks with the Blinders, usually dressed in a suit, she had always admired and been jealous of the audience members dressed in their expensive dresses and jewellery. It never failed to awake the little girl inside her who wanted to be a princess and dress up like those fancy women. So, when she first laid eyes on the dress she was now wearing, it had made her practically giddy with excitement.

When she had put the dress on that morning, the soft expensive silk caressed her skin in a way that immediately made the hairs on her arms stand up on end and her core tingle with arousal. Maddie couldn't believe how breath-taking she looked; if she could get away with it, she would never take the dress off. That of course was not possible, the dress being her most unsuitable outfit for slaying vampires, so she would have to settle for being a princess the few times she would likely ever wear this dress.

As they walked out onto the balcony, several passers-by stopped them to congratulate the two of them on their engagement, who they thanked politely. They found a spot on the balcony that gave a good view of the track and Maddie could see that the jockeys and trainers were beginning to line up at the starting blocks. The track itself was long, most of it being out of view beyond a hill, but the majority of it was visible, even if they had to use binoculars to see some of it.

Maddie glanced up at Tommy and saw that his attention was currently fixed on the horses, no doubt examining them all, including his own horse which was amongst them somewhere. She could see that his focus was going to be solely on the horses for the next few minutes, so she took the time to look around her as she waited for the race to start. The Shelby's were stood around them chatting excitedly about the race, also looking intently at the horses as they lined up. Other people on the balcony were bustling about animatedly, the atmosphere buzzing in anticipation for the race.

Then, Maddie got the feeling that she was being watched, and she turned her head to look the other way and quickly caught someone's eye unintentionally. It was that woman, May, who had been talking to Tommy earlier. She had a dismal and bitter expression on her face as she stared at her from several yards away. Maddie held her eyes for a split second, trying her best not to smile smugly at the posh bitch. May pursed her lips sourly at her before snapping her head away and walking away into the crowd. Maddie didn't know the whole story between May and Tommy, and probably never would, however she should have felt a little bad for May, but she couldn't really bring herself to despite trying.

Just then the stands went quiet, and Maddie turned her attention back to the track to see the horses lined up and ready, a man at the side of the track holding the starting pistol above his head. She grasped the balcony rail tightly and held her breath in wait. Then the bang of the pistol echoed over the stands and the horses, and their riders bolted out of the blocks. Loud cheers erupted from the stands as the horses galloped along the first straight towards the first bend. The horses stayed in a tight group up until the third bend where the track dipped out of sight. On approach, the horses became more separated, and Maddie spotted the horse she had bet on, Dawn Run, falling to the back of the pack just as they disappeared over the crest of the hill.

Damn, maybe I shouldn't have bet on that horse after all, thought Maddie, huffing a little in disappointment. The horses did several laps of the course, reappearing into view after a minute each time they disappeared, Dawn Run remaining at the back for the entire race. The commentator provided rather useful commentary each time the racers passed by the start line, helping her understand who looked in good shape. She noticed Tommy was watching the race rather intently, leaning on the rail with both his hands wide apart. His horse, Hill Prince, was faring better, sitting in third or fourth place consistently. As the final lap started, Maddie had already accepted that her horse would loose and instead hoped that Hill Prince might pull into first.

Ada came to stand next to Maddie and handed over her binoculars to use so she could see the horses re-emerge more clearly for the final stretch. She put the binoculars to her eyes and looked at the spot where the horses would soon appear. She realised then how bad binoculars were in the 1920's compared to the modern day; the glass lenses were blurry, and they didn't provide that much magnification. However, they were good enough for Maddie to able to distinguish the racers as they appeared galloping around the corner.

'Oh my god!' yelled Maddie, forgetting where she was for a moment. She removed the binoculars and looked over at Tommy and the others with an excited smile. 'Dawn Run has moved up to second place!'

The Shelby's stared at her in disbelief for a moment. 'You must be fucking joking,' said Arthur as Tommy wordlessly took the binoculars from Maddie and checked for himself, an amused huff leaving his nostrils.

'She's right,' he said handing the binoculars to Arthur who also checked.

'Fuckin' hell,' he muttered. 'And he's right on the haunches of the leader.'

'What!? Really!?' blurted Maddie, squinting into the distance and leaning over the balcony on her tiptoes.

Sure enough, Dawn Run was hot on the heels of the leader, a black horse called Noir who was the overall favourite. The jockeys were jostling fiercely with their horses as they rounded the final bend and Maddie yelled at the top of her lungs through the din of the cheering crowd.

'Come on!'

Dawn Run picked up a sudden burst of speed and came up beside Noir, so they were neck and neck as they began to approach the finish line. The commentator was speaking quickly and excitedly, sounding more surprised than anyone at what they were seeing.

'GO! GO! GO!' screamed Maddie, jumping up and down on the spot, not caring that she was now attracting a lot of unwanted attention from other people on the balcony.

It was as if Dawn Run could hear her encouragement because the horse managed to give just one more burst of speed and its nose pushed past Noir's as they crossed the finish line, the commentator going nuts over the speakers as the crowd descended into shocked cheers. Maddie laughed and cheered loudly along with them, clapping her hands together in delight and doing little jumps on the spot like a toddler. She turned to the Shelby's to see them looking at her dumbstruck. She stopped her immature clapping and bouncing and gave them all a smug smile.

'Who's laughing now, eh?' she taunted, enjoying rubbing their earlier teasing in their faces.

They all shook their heads in baffled amusement for a moment before John decided to bring her down a peg. 'Beginners luck,' he scoffed, giving Maddie a brotherly shove. 'You won't be able to do that again.'

He was right, she had been lucky. If she were to make a bet like that again she would certainly lose but nevertheless the current looks on everyone's faces was worth all the money she should have lost. Maddie looked up at Tommy who was giving her small slightly forced smile. His horse had finished a respectable fourth although she knew part of him was annoyed that Dawn Run had won against the odds. His ususal talent for knowing what was going to happen before it did had been upturned during this race and she could tell it was an unusual experience for him.

'Maybe I'm a lucky charm?' asked Maddie teasingly, making Tommy breath out an inpatient laugh.

'Best not test that, alright?' he said before taking her arm. 'Come on, let's go and get your winnings.'

Tommy led Maddie through the now buzzing corridors towards the betting stands. They passed a lot of disgruntled men and women who looked like they had lost a lot of money. She did her best to keep her expression neutral and not look too pleased with herself. Her win had been the cherry on top of the perfect day. Apart from the attempted assault by the betting stands and the encounters with May and Alfie, this day was a shining jewel in her life to date. A beautiful dress, a day at the races, winning a bet and of course, a marriage proposal. She, in that moment, was the happiest she had ever been.

Tommy escorted Maddie to the betting booth, and she pulled out her betting slip from her bag and handed it to the bookie who she had placed the bet with, who quickly recognised her.

'Well, I'll be damned,' he said, taking the slip from her hand. 'I thought you were bloody mad to make that bet earlier miss. You proved me wrong.'

Maddie remembered the look the man had given her earlier, the smirk he had on his face and was glad that she had proved him wrong. Looking around her, she and Tommy were amongst a select few who were going back to claim any money and could feel the dirty looks they were getting from people around who had lost all theirs. The man counted out the money to give to her, her eyes widening at the amount which must have been near one hundred pounds there abouts. He handed her the stack of notes which Tommy quickly took from her.

'Hang on,' he said as he started counting the money himself, not satisfied that the man hadn't tried to short-change her, a common trick amongst bookmakers.

Satisfied, Tommy nodded, and they thanked the man before leaving to begin their walk back to the upper-class area. He handed Maddie her money which she quickly tucked away into her bag. From her experience working on the racetracks, muggings of people who had won significant amounts of money were common and she knew better than to flaunt her money in plain view. Although, the discreet yet obvious engagement ring she was wearing would likely attract more attention.

Once they reached the corridor on the upper level, they found it was completely empty and they got halfway down it before Maddie felt Tommy stop her, pulling her arm back to gently yet forcefully push her back against the wall. He looked down at her from beneath his cap, a dangerously mischievous glare in his eye that made her shiver instinctively and stare at his lips hungrily.

'Pleased with yourself, are you?' he asked in a low whisper, putting his finger under her chin to lift her gaze up to his.

'Uh huh,' she murmured in reply. 'So, what if I am?'

Tommy didn't reply and instead dropped his gaze down to Maddie's neck, his finger following to trace her collarbone softly. She tried to keep her breath steady, but she could feel herself begin to pant feverishly as his finger glided down her sternum to stop between her breasts as he leant forward to bring his lips close to hers.

'I've been waiting to get you alone all day,' he muttered. 'I can barely look at you in that dress without thinking about what I want to do to you.'

Maddie sighed shakily, opening her mouth to reply as Tommy slid his hand under her dress to cup her breast before pinching her nipple firmly. She bit her lip and gasped, aware that they were in the middle of a public corridor which thankfully was still empty. He didn't seem to much care and began to caress her nipple as he brushed his lips against hers. She tried to lean forward to kiss him properly but then they heard a set of footsteps approaching and Tommy pulled back and looked from side to side. Then he grabbed Maddie's wrist and pulled her through a nearby door into what seemed to be a cloakroom, shutting the door firmly behind them.

'Here Tommy?' sighed Maddie teasingly. 'What if we get caught?'

Maddie only said this in jest as in reality she didn't care, the thought of actually being caught making her even more aroused than she already was. Tommy knew this question was rhetorical and didn't respond and just took off his cap before pushing her back against the wall again. This time he hitched her dress up to her hips before placing his hand between her legs, pressing his palm against her lacy underwear where her clit was already throbbing eagerly.

'Maybe I should take the dress off,' breathed Maddie. 'I don't want it to get ruined.'

'No,' snapped Tommy, pressing his chest up against her and dipping his head down to kiss her neck. 'I want to admire it as I fuck you.'

Maddie let out a small giggle as Tommy nipped at her neck hungrily before he looked around the small room and spotted a worryingly rickety looking table with an assortment of random items on it including hats, handbags and scarves. He lifted Maddie up, hitching her legs around his waist and walked over to the table, brushing all the items onto the floor with a sweep of his arm and placing her onto it. He brought his lips to hers and kissed her ferociously, biting her bottom lip which she returned immediately, making him growl like a wild animal. She laced her fingers into his hair and tugged harshly, egging him on further as his hands grasped at her waist and hips. Suddenly, Tommy stopped, making Maddie gasp for air and look at him annoyed.

'Lie back,' instructed Tommy, looking at Maddie lustfully. His eyes were black and dangerous, and she knew he wasn't in the mood for her to play games with him today. She bit her lip and nodded before slowly letting herself fall back so her back met the cool wood of the table, keeping her eyes locked with his as she did so.

Once she was lying down, her legs still wrapped around Tommy's waist, he let his gaze drift and she watched as he admired her laying before him, the dress he brought hugging her skin sensually. He followed by running his hands softly over every line of her body, feeling her hot skin and the soft silk in his hands. Her breath grew increasingly shaky as he pressed his thumbs into the soft fleshy parts of her body that he knew would make her sigh and squirm and she caught the smug smile on his lips just before it disappeared again. Soon, his hands wandered down to her thighs and he lifted her dress enough so that he could see her lacy underwear underneath, admiring it for a second before grabbing the waistband and begin to pull her underwear off. She lifted her hips off the table to allow him to pull them down her legs before discarding them on the floor. Swiftly, Tommy returned his hands to her thighs and began caressing them, making Maddie moan for the first time, wanting desperately for him to touch her now dripping pussy.

Tommy obviously found the sight too tempting as Maddie soon got her wish as he pressed his fingers against her wetness and pushed a finger inside her quickly followed by another. Her back arched off the table as she gasped in pleasure, loud enough so that anyone walking past the door was sure to hear.

'Shh,' coaxed Tommy. 'I thought you didn't want anyone to walk in on us.' She wanted to reply but just then, he curled his fingers upwards into the sensitive spot inside her and she failed to suppress her moan. He chuckled in amusement, and she looked up at him with annoyance, knowing he did it on purpose. 'I know you can be quieter than that love,' he taunted before circling her clit once with his thumb.

Maddie closed her eyes again and fought to turn her moan into a breathy whimper that was barely audible, making Tommy nod with approval. Then, before she knew what hit her, he replaced his fingers with his hard cock, not even realising he had undone his trousers during his teasing. She let out a loud squeak which she cut short when she realised how loud she was. His cock filled her up and made her pussy throb with the pressure. Not hesitating, he began to thrust into her slowly at first, something which she was able to handle without making a sound. He reached down and pulled one of her breasts out from beneath her dress as he began to pick up pace and pinched her nipple again only this time more harshly than he had done in the corridor.

'Fuck!' hissed Maddie a little too loudly although she was now beginning not to care too much. She was vaguely aware of the odd set of footsteps passing the other side of the door but still she struggled to contain her moans once Tommy had increased his pace enough that it became impossible.

Maddie's moans soon became too loud, and Tommy was forced to lean forward and press his hand over her mouth. She looked back at him wide eyed but found this display of dominance so arousing that she began to feel her climax approaching. His brow was furrowed, and a slight gleam of sweat told her that he was also close to his orgasm. Her moans, muffled against his hand, grew more desperate as she felt the familiar tightening around her stomach and throbbing of her pussy as she came hard. Tommy immediately followed, grunting loudly, making the only noise he had made the entire time.

Releasing her mouth, Tommy gasped for breath as Maddie lifted herself onto her elbows, also panting. After a moment, he took her left hand in his and lifted it up to look at the ring on her finger, grinning slightly before kissing her fingers tenderly.

'You're mine Maddie,' he whispered huskily.

'I always was,' she replied, holding his cheek in her hand before kissing him again only this time more tenderly than before.

Tommy helped Maddie stand back up and handed over her underwear and bag that were on the floor before straightening himself up, smoothing the ruffled hair back down and adjusting his tie. She inspected her dress and found it surprisingly unscathed much to her relief. Once they were both presentable again, he opened the door to find the corridor was thankfully empty again and no one noticed their exit from the small room.

They made their way back to the Shelby's who were waiting for them in the VIP area, Maddie hoping they wouldn't think too much of their absence. As they entered the room, they saw that most of the guests were preparing to leave, and they realised that they had missed the trophy ceremony. Maddie gave Tommy a guilty smirk which he returned as they made to join the Shelby's over by the bar when they were stopped by an unwanted voice.

'You two missed the trophy ceremony,' came Alfie's taunting voice from the side as he crossed in front of them. 'There must have been something really interesting in that cupboard to make you both miss it.'

Maddie let her jaw drop open before she could stop it. Was he eavesdropping on us? She quickly changed her expression to one of anger and could feel Tommy tense next to her although he was better at keeping his expression blank. She knew Alfie was teasing them for no other reason than for his own twisted amusement, nevertheless it made her skin crawl at the thought of him listening to them fuck behind the door. He more than likely had walked past at the most convenient moment and found the situation entirely amusing.

Tommy remained silent and stared back at Alfie, no doubt displaying his anger through his piercing stare which Alfie met unblinkingly before humming boredly at them. 'I just wanted to congratulate you both on your engagement. You are a lucky man, Tom.'

'Thank you, Alfie,' replied Tommy curtly, his teeth sounding like they were gritting together.

Alfie gave them both and amused grin, 'I will be expecting my invitation to the wedding promptly, Tommy.' With that he tipped his hat and turned away without another word, Maddie watching him walk out of the room with ire. Once he was out of earshot, she turned to Tommy and opened her mouth to speak as he cut her off.

'Yes, Maddie,' he huffed. 'Next time we see him you can punch him in the nose.'

Maddie grinned to herself happily and fist pumped discreetly to herself as they continued their path to join their family.

'Dare we ask where you two have been?' asked Polly sharply.

'No, Pol,' sighed Tommy. 'You may not.'

After enjoying a final round of strong drinks at the bar, Maddie and the Shelby's left the races in high spirits. Although not before a photographer approached them and took a photo of the group together as well as a photo of just her and Tommy. She realised this was the first photo anyone had taken of her since she turned up in 1924 and wanted to see it before remembering that she would have to wait for them to develop the film and send the images to them before she would find out if she looked nice or not. She suddenly missed the luxury of being able to take hundreds of photos on a mobile phone until she got the perfect one.

Once the photo shoot was over, John of course, had unceremoniously invited everyone back to Arrow House for an engagement party and even more booze. Despite Alfie's attempt to dampen their mood at their expense, Maddie couldn't help but smile from ear to ear the entire drive home. She rested her head on Tommy's shoulder and closed her eyes for a while. She was now Tommy's fiancée, his future wife. Never since becoming the slayer did she think she would ever get married. It just wasn't something slayers could do. Tommy and his family just happened to fit her impossibly dangerous and odd slayer lifestyle and accepted it for what it was. Not to mention that she had never loved anybody the way she loved him. Little did she know she just had to travel across time to meet him.

Maddie didn't think it would even be possible for anything to shake her out of her current happiness and contentment. She was the happiest she had been her entire life, which was also making her feel untouchable as she sat next to Tommy in the car, the last of the warm September sun shining through the window keeping her face warm. However, as with every other occasion where she had found some measure of happiness, it was short lived.

When they eventually pulled up the driveway to Arrow House, the sun was beginning to get low in the sky, casting an orange hue across the countryside. As usual, they all made their way inside loudly, ready for an evening of drinking to celebrate an upcoming wedding in the family. According to Polly, Maddie hadn't seen anything yet when it came to the Shelby's ability to toast an official new member of the family and she was now excited to find out what that would entail.

Esther greeted them as they entered, a warm smile on her face as she took Tommy's cap and coat first. As Esther went to put his things away, Maddie approached the housekeeper and held up her hand to show her the ring Tommy had given her making the woman's eyes widen with awe.

'Look Esther!' exclaimed Maddie. 'We're getting married!'

'That's wonderful news,' said Esther with a smile but with a slight nervous tone in her voice. She flicked her gaze up at Maddie with an anxious expression and Maddie felt her body sink in anticipation for whatever bad news she was about to hear. She and Esther were stood a few steps away from the others who hadn't noticed Esther's change in demeanour.

'What is it?' asked Maddie with concern.

Esther looked over to where Tommy and the others were stood talking to check they weren't listening before looking back at Maddie.

'There's a man here asking after you Maddie,' she said quietly. 'He didn't tell me where he came from but I'm pretty sure he's from that Watcher's Council you and Mr Shelby told me about.'

No… please no…not today, thought Maddie. Why did they pick today of all days to show up? She grimaced and sighed, opening her mouth to ask where the man was when a loud 'Ahem' echoed from across the foyer.

Everyone fell silent and looked in the direction of the voice. A tall man in about his early thirties was stood in the doorway to one of the corridors with his hands behind his back. He was slim in body and face, his tweed suit and glasses making him look like a librarian. Yep, he was a watcher alright, and a rather uptight looking one at that. The man's gaze quickly found Maddie and he addressed her directly.

'Maddie, I presume?' he asked, walking forward to meet her.

'So, you've finally turned up,' she huffed, taking a few steps toward him. 'And with such impeccable timing.'

'Who the fuck are you?' asked John as everyone else walked over to join her, Tommy coming to stand by her side. She looked up at him and he glanced back at her, letting her know that he had also figured out who the man was.

'He is my new watcher. Isn't that right?' Maddie answered bitterly, folding her arms across her chest. The room then suddenly grew tense, the Shelby's shuffling and eyeing up the man with hostility.

The man's face remained calm, but a small, amused smile stretched his lips. 'Indeed,' he replied before holding his hand out to her. 'My name is Zachary Winslow, It's a pleasure.'

Maddie hesitated a moment, not wanting to take his hand, but quickly remembered the deal she had with the Watcher's Council and put her hand in his and shook it stiffly. Zachary then looked at Tommy and held his hand out to him.

'Thomas Shelby,' he said. 'A pleasure to meet you also.' Tommy stared back at Zachary, much had he had done through the entire exchange, but took Zachary's hand and shook it, the room suddenly feeling very cold. 'And everyone else must be your family?' he asked rhetorically. 'I am pleased to meet you all.'

'Great,' burst Maddie, not able to stand the chill in the room. 'Now that the introductions are over, I can show you out.'

Maddie went to grab Zachary's arm, but he sidestepped her and gave her a stern look, a look that signified that the pleasantries were over.

'That won't be necessary,' said Zachary. 'We have a few things to discuss Madeline. Namely where you have been all day.'

Maddie along with a few other Shelby's scoffed loudly at him as she bristled to the use of her full name which she hated with a passion.

'I don't see how that is any of your business,' replied Maddie.

'As a matter of fact, as your watcher your whereabouts are entirely my business,' Zachary replied snidely. 'I'm sure that it was a lovely occasion judging by your dress however dressing up and attending fancy parties are not a good use of a slayer's time.'

Maddie felt every muscle in her body tense at once and her nostrils flared furiously. Zachary was evidently a watcher who believed that any time spent by a slayer not training or patrolling was time wasted. Well, if he thinks that he can waltz in here and expect her to do nothing but train, he had another thing coming.

'I do whatever I want with my time,' warned Maddie. 'I suggest you get used to that.'

Zachary looked down at her, a now irritated expression on his face. A short silence ensued awkwardly before he opened his mouth to speak again.

'You have made a deal with the council, Madeline. I'm sure I don't need to remind you of that?'

Maddie gritted her teeth, now regretting the agreement she had come to with the watchers. 'I remember the deal,' she said. 'But that doesn't mean I'm going to heed your every wish like an obedient puppy. And tonight, is one of those occasions. So, I suggest you leave before I throw you out.'

Zachary gave Maddie an angry look but didn't look intimidated and remained stood where he was as Finn decided it was his moment to pipe up.

'Yeah, get out. You're not invited to the engagement party.'

Maddie grimaced and turned to give Finn a furious glance as everyone else shook their heads in despair, Arthur clipping Finn around the ear who looked around cluelessly, not realising his error. If there was anything she wanted to keep a secret from the watchers, it was the fact that she was getting married.

'Engagement? What do you…?' questioned Zachary as his gaze landed on the ring on Maddie's finger. He then looked quickly between her and Tommy, his expression growing more and more disgruntled. 'But… this is quite out of the question!' he eventually stuttered out before looking directly at her. 'A slayer cannot let relationships compromise her duty! This goes against everything that has happened before!' Zachary had become increasingly irate as he spoke and he oblivious to the fact that the Shelby's in response to his rant had begun to surround him silently. 'I cannot allow this to go ahead! It is bad enough that -.'

Zachary was suddenly cut off by Tommy stepping forward to stand directly in front of him, drawing his attention to him and he stared Zachary in the eye, making him recoil slightly. A deathly silence filled the foyer as he realised what a dangerous position he was in.

'You may be Maddie's watcher Mr Winslow,' said Tommy, his voice low and threatening. 'But this is still my house, and you will obey my rules. You are not welcome here tonight, so I am giving you opportunity to leave on your own accord before I ask my brothers to throw you out.'

Zachary stared back at Tommy tensely before flicking his gaze to look at Arthur and John, who were cracking their knuckles threateningly, and finally nodded. 'Very well,' he agreed, buttoning his jacket up and addressing Maddie again who squinted back at him venomously. 'I will be back in the morning at six sharp,' he said. 'I expect you to be ready for training. No excuses.'

With that he took a step forward and Tommy stood to one side to let him pass. Everyone watched silently as he walked to the door and let himself out, the room collectively sighing as the door shut behind him.

'Are you alright, Mads?' asked Ada, taking Maddie's hand.

Maddie paused in thought. She felt like all the happiness she had felt a few minutes ago had been drained from her and replaced with anger. It was like the watchers had planned this on purpose just to spoil her and Tommy's perfect day.

'I guess that means the party's off,' sighed John, looking particularly downhearted. Her heart should have sank as part of her agreed with John's statement but she felt her heckles rise even further and she suddenly stood up straight and whipped to face John.

'No!' she snapped, a little too harshly making John and everyone else raise their eyebrows. She gave him and apologetic look to her outburst before explaining. 'Urg, there's no way I'm letting that stuffed shirt ruin my day!' she huffed. Everyone looked around at each other amused, Tommy giving her an approving smirk. 'We are having a damn party if it's the last thing I do!' she continued with a childish stamp of her heel before she made a start for the stairs. 'I'll fucking show him, I am going to drink so much booze that my head will fall off… and… and… grr!'

Maddie huffed as she stomped up the stairs, not caring that the Shelby's were now laughing at her little childish rant.

'Er… Mads?' called Finn, making her halt and look back down at him. 'Where are you going?'

'Oh,' said Maddie, looking down at her gorgeous gown. 'I'm going to change. I don't want to ruin the dress by accident.'

She turned to continue her march up the stairs when she heard another set of footsteps running to follow her. 'We'll join you all later,' stated Tommy's voice as it gained on her, followed by a round of not to subtle giggles from the group. Of course, he wasn't going to let her strip out of her dress without him watching.

Maddie stormed into the bedroom and threw her bag on the floor harshly with an angry grunt. That fucking Zachary Winslow and his tweed fucking suit had put her in a foul mood, and that was never a good thing to mix with alcohol. She needed to calm down and find a way to cheer up before she could let her hair down. She slumped onto the bed and bent over to begin unbuckling her shoes as Tommy made it to the room and shut the door without a word. She heard him approach her as she fiddled with the straps on her shoes, her irritation making it harder than it should have been. He knelt down in front of her and grasped her wrist firmly, stopping her and used his other hand to lift her gaze up to his with his finger.

'Hey,' he mumbled. 'Let me.'

Maddie felt some of the tension leave her body just from Tommy's gentle touch and loving gaze and let herself nod. 'Okay,' she whispered.

Tommy released her wrist and turned his attention to Maddie's right shoe, undoing the strap easily and sliding it off her foot. He did the same with the left shoe before gently taking her foot in his hand and began to press his thumbs into the muscles in the arch. She sighed, letting a small pleasured moan leave her lips. A foot rub?! From Tommy?! Maddie could scarcely believe her luck, she loved massages and now realised she hadn't had a decent one since travelling through time. She let herself lean back on her hands slightly as he silently and patiently eased the tension out of one foot then the other.

Maddie hummed in contentment, all thoughts of her annoying watcher gradually leaving her mind with every movement of Tommy's thumbs. Once her feet were thoroughly massaged, he turned his attention to her calves, taking one in each hand and squeezing firmly. She opened her eyes to peek at him, a shaky breath leaving her lips as he leant forward to gently kiss her knee. She watched him heavy lidded as he massaged her calves tenderly, intermittently planting kisses to her knees and shins as he did so. Soon he was done with her calves and looked up at her, conveying his next intention silently. She leant back even further onto her elbows as he slowly hiked her dress up to her waist, exposing her thighs and the wetness that was quickly pooling between her legs. Focusing on one leg, he caressed the inside of her thigh near the top of her stockings, running his finger teasingly underneath her garter before kissing the soft skin just below her groin, making her gasp.

She felt Tommy smile smugly against her thigh and wanted to scold him as usual, but she didn't get chance as he quickly sunk his teeth into the same spot and sucked on it hard to form a bruise.

'Ah, shit, Tommy!' gasped Maddie as the painful sensation rapidly turned to ripples of pleasure that made her pussy throb.

Tommy ignored her outburst and released his mouth from her thigh, revealing the dark purple bruise he had left behind. He then tucked his fingers under her garter and slid her stocking down her leg slowly, throwing it to one side. He then turned his attention to her other thigh and Maddie could see him eying up the same spot on this leg to mark her again. This time she was prepared as he bit down on the sensitive, fleshy skin, hissing with ecstasy as her pussy begged for his attention. He removed her second stocking the same way and began to teasingly massage her thighs, applying more force to these larger, stronger muscles.

Maddie's eyes fluttered closed again as she enjoyed the feeling of the tension leaving her body, her chest rising and falling heavily now. Tommy took his time with this stage and she could feel his eyes were lingering on her. She glanced down at him and saw that he was staring, pupils blown, at her damp underwear like he wanted to devour her. She pressed her lips together in a smirk. She knew just how to get him to put his tongue down there. Slowly, she began to snake her hand down her stomach toward her crotch. Tommy was so focussed on her pussy as he massaged her thighs that he didn't initially notice. However, once her hand reached the waistline of her underwear, his eyes snapped to her hand and an angered look flashed across his eyes. He snatched her wrist away harshly whilst digging his fingers into her thigh, making her giggle and bite her lip in response.

'Don't even think about it,' Tommy warned darkly, releasing her wrist which she obediently put back down. 'What do you want me to do eh?' She knew that he knew exactly what she wanted from him, he just wanted to hear her say it. 'What does my beautiful fiancée want me to do to her hmm?' he cooed softly as he placed a soft kiss to the inside of her knee.

That fucking bastard, thought Maddie. The sound of him calling her his fiancée had made her heart flutter and she felt her lips moving without prompt to respond as she turned to putty in his hands.

'I… I want you to eat my pussy Tommy,' whimpered Maddie. 'Please.'

She heard a low growl emanate from his direction in response to her confession and more wet heat pooled between her legs. He must have noticed as he suddenly reached for her underwear and yanked them down to her knees aggressively and then down to her ankles to be quickly discarded. She then made the mistake of letting out a victorious chuckle and bit her lip to stifle a moan. Tommy was suddenly on top of her, his breath hot next to her ear as he growled.

'You know what biting that lip does to me,' he whispered before pressing the palm of his hand against her bare pussy. Maddie moaned with the contact, her body shuddering. He took an intake of breath as he finally felt how wet she was as a result of his massage. However, he didn't move his hand further and he remained silent as he brushed his lips against her neck, making her crazy. She knew he was wating for an apology. Part of her wanted to be stubborn and keep silent, but the other stronger part just wanted to feel Tommy's tongue circling her clit.

'I'm sorry,' whimpered Maddie, giving in. 'Please make me cum with your mouth.'

Tommy let out deep chesty chuckle against her neck, making her shiver. 'Good girl,' he whispered.

Maddie expected Tommy to immediately move down south but she instead felt him snake his hands under her back to begin unbuttoning the silk dress which she had completely forgotten she was even wearing. He undid them in record time and followed by pulling the straps over her shoulders and down her arms before sitting her up to pull the entire dress off, so she was left naked on bed. He lay the dress gently onto the mattress next to them before turning back to her. He used one hand to stroke up her stomach between her breasts to press firmly on her throat as an instruction for her to lay back completely.

She did as she was told now, not wanting Tommy to torture her any longer. He released her neck and moved his hands back to her thighs, finding her bruises and pressing his thumbs into them. Maddie groaned and whimpered as the aching pleasure undulated under her skin deliciously. Finally, she could feel his breath against her pussy, his lips must have been only millimetres away. Then she felt it, his hot wet tongue licking a stripe up her pussy to stop on her clit. She was close to letting out a full-on scream but stopped herself at a squeal. Why does this feel so fucking good?

Receiving oral was one of Maddie's favourite things and from Tommy it was always eyes-rolling-in-the-back-of-her-head good, but that one swipe of his tongue was the best it had ever felt. Maybe it was because they were now engaged? She felt the ring on her left hand with her thumb and felt her pussy tingle just as he began to circle her clit with his tongue.

'Oh, fuck!' Maddie moaned, grabbing fistfuls of the sheet above her head. Yep, just the thought that she would soon be his wife was making the whole experience ten times better. Tommy responded immediately to her positive reaction and began to lick, suck and nip her pussy with little care for the noises she was making. She could no longer hold in her screaming moans, the sensations rippling through her body almost making her pass-out. He pressed her bruises again and the familiar tightness in her stomach began to build dangerously fast, her back arching off the bed.

Maddie couldn't form words any longer as her climax approached, tipping her over the edge as Tommy refused to slow his tongue as she felt her juices stream into his eager mouth. He stopped what he was doing as she sighed with relief, her body sinking into the mattress. He was quickly above her and he smashed his lips to hers, forcing his tongue into her mouth so that she could taste herself, not breaking away until they needed to gasp for breath.

'Has that calmed you down?' asked Tommy softly as he pressed soft kisses to Maddie's neck, the definite edge of a smile in his voice.

'Uh…calmed me?' she sighed. Tommy chuckled but she had genuinely forgotten that she had even been upset just a few minutes before, her head feeling like a hazy fog in that moment. In her dazed state however, she still managed to take control of her hands and snaked them down to his rock-hard cock that was pressing into her stomach, keen to make her head even foggier.

Maddie and Tommy re-joined the others in the living room half an hour later, who looked like they wanted nothing more than to wolf whistle and whoop as they entered. Especially once they saw she was not wearing shoes or stockings.

Once Tommy had fucked her within an inch of her life, leaving her brain little more than a pile of mush, she had gone to get up from the bed only to immediately stumble to her knees. All of her blood had drained from them the sex had been that good. She had cursed herself for falling, she was the slayer, she could fight hordes of vamps for hours and remain standing and yet some oral sex and a good fucking had made her as limp as a dead fish. Tommy had rushed to her side with concern, his legs annoyingly still functional, but relaxed when Maddie laughed at her comical tumble. Even after a quick shower and changing into a fresh dress, she still felt wobbly and was certain that she would fall again if she even attempted to walk in heels. Hence her bare feet.

John glanced at her exposed feet as she sat down with a much-needed drink; a whisky of all things which she hoped would awake her from her pleasured stupor. She heard him take a breath in to say something, but she cut him off with a pointed look. She knew he had also noticed her small shaky steps into the room and was dying to make a joke at her expense.

'I will end you,' uttered Maddie quietly to him. She may have lost blood to her legs but not the rest of her. John closed his mouth and gave her a brotherly smirk followed by a 'fair enough' expression and let it go.

It didn't take long for the party to get under way. Ada had taken the liberty of calling the rest of the Blinder's who weren't at the races as well as Lizzie, Linda (who had left her son with a nanny) and Johnny Dogs whilst they had been indisposed and who all arrived soon after. Arrow House was now bustling with excitement, everyone congratulating them on their engagement. Well… all except Lizzie of course. Maddie felt a small pang of guilt, now remembering that she would be taking Lizzie's place as Tommy's second wife. She debated whether to say something to her, however, neither she nor Tommy knew that that future was lost to them now, so she thought it best to say nothing to her in case she became suspicious.

After the first hour, Maddie's legs and head finally returned to normal, apart from the slight tipsy sensation she was beginning to feel. Unfortunately, this also meant the memory of Zachary saying he'll be back at six for training popped into her head and she gritted her teeth in fury. Urg! I'll bloody show him! Six o'clock my arse!

She then turned her attention to the supply of beer Esther had brought up for the celebrations and drank two pints in quick succession. The Shelby's took this as a good sign that shewas ready to partake in a wild night of fun. Before any of them could pull her into a game of poker she would inevitably loose or take her outside to have a round of shooting bottles off the wall, she felt Tommy's firm grip on her arm pull her to one side.

'Hey,' he mumbled softly, drawing her in and cupping her face in his hand. 'Take it easy, eh? I don't want to have to carry you upstairs later.'

Urg, he was such a square sometimes, thought Maddie. She had barely drunk anything yet and was still perfectly sober. He was probably remembering her very first night in Arrow House when she got horrendously drunk and didn't want it to happen again. However, that was exactly her intention. Now she knew the Shelby's so well, she wasn't embarrassed to get drunk anymore, especially since the incident at Pol's, which Tommy didn't know all the details about. She pouted innocently up at him and he glanced at her bottom lip, a flash of hunger in his eyes before looking back into her eyes. She also batted her eyelashes for good measure.

'Awww come on Tommy, I won't get that bad,' she said, biting her lip and giggling internally at her ingenuity. He can't resist it when I bite my lip, she thought slyly, I could get away with murder if I wanted.

Tommy glanced at her lips again, stiffening slightly before relaxing again and sighing. She could tell he didn't believe a word she was saying but she smiled sweetly at him all the same. The last thing she wanted was for him to start cutting off her drinks later, so she needed to sweet talk him now. He pinched the bridge of his nose, conflicted, before nodding with an annoyed huff.

'Alright,' he muttered before leaning in to kiss her softly. 'Just don't start drinking any whiskey, eh?'

'Uh huh,' nodded Maddie, crossing her fingers behind her back.

Once the gramophone was switched on and jazz music filled the halls, the house took on a whole different energy. Jackets were discarded and even the women discarded their shoes to join Maddie. The men were quick to do their ususal thing of pulling her this way and that to get her to perform tricks and shows of strength. At one point, Arthur, Isiah and Finn bet her that she couldn't climb up the side of the house to the roof, thinking the windows, which were very tall and far apart, would be her only handholds. Boy were they wrong.

The entire congregation gathered outside on the driveway to witness the event as of course Maddie had taken them up on the bet. She looked over to Tommy as she tied a knot in her dress between her legs so she wouldn't flash anyone from below. He was giving her a disapproving look, not keen on the idea. It may have had something to do with the fact that she up to that point had reached her eighth or ninth pint, she couldn't quite remember, and thought it was a good idea to do something so dangerous. However, she wasn't going to be made a fool of, and pointedly ignored him.

'Go on then Mads!' shouted Arthur as she looked up the stone wall toward the roof. 'Get it over with so you can pay us for loosing.'

They all laughed, except Tommy, and Maddie bristled slightly but smiled confidently. 'Oh, we'll see about that!'

Maddie turned back to the wall and stepped up onto one of the downstairs window ledges. The ledge at the top of the window was more than a foot away and she bent her knees before leaping straight up, snatching at the ledge with her fingers successfully. She pulled herself up onto the ledge and looked the few feet down onto her onlookers with a smug grin. Arthur, Finn and Isiah looked impressed, everyone else was smiling encouragingly, Ada clapping a little with excitement. Tommy, as usual, looked bored and a little annoyed, his cigarette hanging from his lips.

'That's only one window Mads,' grumbled Arthur. 'You're not even halfway.'

Maddie scoffed and rolled her eyes. It had been a while since she had climbed something tall like a building, this would be fun. She turned to look up again, the next window was far too high to jump so she spotted several footholds in the bricks and began to climb her way up to the next window ledge. She reached it easily and crouched on the ledge, not bothering to look back this time. She jumped to the top ledge of that window as she had before and pulled herself up again. Just a little further and she'd be at the top. She bent her knees for the last time and leapt the last few feet to grab the banister that lined the roof with one hand, her feet swinging out dramatically.

There was an eruption of applause from below her and Maddie smiled victoriously to herself as she decided to finish with style. She pulled herself up into perfect handstand on the banister and cartwheeled out, so she was stood on it facing the crowd below.

'I think someone owes me ten pounds!' she yelled and saw Arthur shake his head and stomp back into the house.

'Alright that's enough!' called Tommy from below. 'I'll let you in through the bedroom window.'

That window was directly below where Maddie was standing so she'd have to swing down to get in. everyone made their way back inside as she waited. Soon the window below her opened and she jumped from the roof, twisting mid-air to catch the window ledge and swing herself through the open window. She landed gracefully in-front of Tommy with a Cheshire like grin. He pursed his lips at her, his eyes looking pissed but she could tell he was trying not to smile.

'Impressed?' she asked.

'I suppose,' he huffed. 'But I've seen you do more impressive things.'

Maddie sighed; he was right. But he could at least have embraced the fun a little. She stepped forward to in an attempt to kiss him put he held his hands up to stop her with an amused smile.

'What?' asked Maddie. He reached up a plucked and tuft of moss from her hair, holding it in front of her face before chucking it out of the window.

'Oh,' said Maddie and turned to look at her reflection. Her face had a few streaks of mud on it from the dirty window ledges. Her dress was also damp with mud on it, and she looked at her hands and feet to find them caked also, her engagement ring still shimmering through the grime. She would have to apologise to Esther for getting mud in the carpet again.

'Get washed up before you come back down,' ordered Tommy, lifting Maddie's chin so she'd look at him before quickly turning to leave.

Maddie washed for the second time that evening and changed into a blouse and jodhpurs, knowing that was just the start of the antics to come.

Hours passed. Much drink and food was consumed by all, except for Tommy who mostly just drank by himself. The money Maddie had won from the bet was quickly lost and then some in several games of poker with Michael, Johnny, Polly and John. The more she drank the more determined she became to win her money back but failed miserably. Eventually, Tommy had to intervene, shooting warning glances at the other players, particularly Johnny who was rinsing her for all she was worth.

She danced enthusiastically with the women, Polly showing her how to slow dance, saying it was in preparation for the wedding. Esme danced wildly, like true gypsie, which was more to Maddie's style and even most of the men joined in. Tommy did his usual routine of smoking and watching Maddie intently, which she was used to by now. She of course hadn't followed his instruction and had a few swigs of whisky which soon made her queasy with all the spinning around. She slumped next to him on the sofa and nuzzled into his neck, inhaling his aftershave like a drug. He kissed her forehead tenderly and wrapped his arm around her to grasp her hip. She pressed her thighs together as her core began to tingle and felt the arousing pain from the bruises on her thighs as they kissed each other.

If she had been told all those months ago that she would be engaged to Thomas Shelby, crime boss of Birmingham, she would have laughed in their face. The similarity to this night and her first one in 1924 was not lost on her and she giggled into Tommy's neck as she remembered that day.

'What's so funny?' he asked, tilting her chin up with his finger to meet his eyes. As always, the ice blue irises trapped her gaze to his and she let out a small sigh and smiled widely.

'Sometimes, I just can't believe that I'm here with you,' she mumbled. Oh dear, the alcohol was finally beginning to go to her head. Tommy looked at her quizzically, an amused smile on his lips. He can tell I'm drunk, thought Maddie, beginning to flush red with embarrassment. He cupped her blushing cheek with his hand and leant into to press his lips to hers, taking her breath away yet again.

'You are here Maddie,' he said. 'And you always will be. I wouldn't let you leave even if you wanted to.'

A hot warmth spread through Maddie's entire body, making her feel instantly safe. She knew the last part was said in jest as he gave her a brief smile as he said it and she giggled again. She kissed him again and this time they seemed to get lost in each other's lips for a moment, their lips moving a little too forcefully than what was appropriate with company around.

'Ahem!' coughed Polly from the opposite sofa snapping them out of their passionate moment. Tommy cleared his throat and gave Pol an annoyed look as she pursed her lips at them in a way a mother would. Maddie stifled a laugh and settled for resting next to her fiancé for a while.

However, she was soon compelled to get up again after drinking another glass of whisky. She was finding that she was growing fond of the foul-tasting spirit, even to the point where it was making her vision fuzzy. It was already past midnight, but Maddie didn't care one iota. She had forgotten about her watcher coming back at six and was still going strong. After another hour of dancing around, she had started doing cartwheels around the room to impress everyone. She was now very drunk, her head sloshing as she spun around on her hands. Her drunkenness was likely to blame for her thinking doing a few dozen cartwheels in a row with a belly full of whisky was a good idea. She thought her cartwheeling skills weren't affected by her current state, but she was apparently mistaken as eventually a wave of nausea crashed over her as she was upside down, causing her landing foot to slip and she fell on her backside with an 'OOF!'

'You alright Mads?' called John who was nearest to her and laughing his head off at her comical tumble. He knelt down to put his hand on her shoulder as she brought her hand to her mouth and shook her head grimly in response. 'Fucking hell… Tommy!' called John, his face dropping suddenly. 'I think she's going to be sick!'

He wasn't wrong. Maddie fought to keep the vomit from launching up her throat, supressing the urge to wretch which was surprisingly painful to do. Tommy suddenly appeared and lifted her up onto her feet by her armpits.

'Get her into the downstairs bathroom quickly!' urged Ada who ran to open the door for Tommy who was guiding a stumbling Maddie out into the corridor. They followed Ada to a nearby bathroom which only contained a toilet just in time as she collapsed to her knees and vomited into it.

She coughed a spluttered as several waves of vomit left her stomach. God did she hate being sick, the acidic taste and burning feel of it in her mouth brought tears to her eyes every time. It had been so long since she had gotten so drunk, maybe even since before she was called as a slayer; she had forgotten how horrid it felt. Thankfully, she felt the warm hands of Tommy rubbing her back and her neck soothingly.

'Here', came Ada's concerned voice somewhere behind her shortly followed by the feeling of a cool wet cloth pressing against her forehead which felt divine.

Maddie sighed. 'Thanks,' she slurred drunkenly.

'Shh,' hushed Tommy. 'Just get it all out love.'

Maddie vomited again a couple of times before finally she was sure her stomach was empty, and she slumped back into Tommy's arms. He stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head as her eyelids began to flutter closed; she was so tired all of a sudden.

'She's exhausted,' said Tommy, his voice sounding distant as Maddie registered the cool cloth running over her mouth to wipe away the vomit.

'Take her upstairs, I'll let everyone know the party's over,' said Ada.

The last thing Maddie remembered before falling asleep is the feeling of weightlessness as she was lifted off the ground in Tommy's arms.

Maddie awoke to the most horrendous banging in her head along with an accompanying banging on the bedroom door. Her head felt like it was the size of a beach ball, and the loud knocking echoed around her skull painfully. She pulled her pillow over her head to try and drown it out but to no avail. She reached her arm out across the bed for Tommy to wake him up and deal with the rude intruder, but the bed was empty, the sheets awfully cold. She groaned, opening her eyes in the languid darkness of the room. What the hell did I drink last night? She grumbled to herself as the knocking suddenly stopped and she could make out the angered voices of a man and a woman on the other side of the door before the knocking started again, only louder.

'Fuck off!' growled Maddie angrily in the direction of the door.

'Madeline!' shouted the familiar yet unwanted voice of Zachary, her new watcher who until that moment she had happily forgotten about. 'Come out this instant!'

The man sounded angry to say the least. Maddie peered over to her bedside table at the small clock and saw that it was after nine in the morning. She was more than three hours late for their first training session. Ha. Served him right. The knocking continued, growing faster and more irritating to the point where she was forced to get out of bed. As she stood, her head throbbed again and her stomach turned, the sensation finally bringing all the memories of the previous night back to her. Oh, for fucks sake Maddie, she groaned to herself, why did you have to go and drink fucking whisky?

She plodded awkwardly over to the bedroom door and swung it open angrily as Zachary was mid knock, almost making him fall through the door.

'What the fuck is wrong with you?!' Maddie spat angrily as the light of the outside hit her eyes and she squinted uncomfortably. Esther was stood with Zachary looking rather stressed and Maddie gathered she had been trying to stop him.

'I'm sorry Maddie,' she apologised quickly. 'He just pushed past me when I told him for the tenth time you weren't awake.'

Zachary ignored Esther and looked down at Maddie with a hostile glare before inhaling sharply and averting his eyes suddenly. She then realised that she was in nothing but her bra and underwear and quickly ducked her lower body behind the doorframe.

'Your late for your training, Madeline,' said Zachary angrily, keeping his eyes averted.

'Yeah, I know,' she huffed and went to close the door but he held his hand out, stopping her from shutting it. She glared at him venomously. This guy was going to end up with some broken bones if he kept this up.

'I'm not impressed Madeline,' he sneered. 'If you're not downstairs in ten minutes I will be sending word back to the Council that you have broken the terms of the deal.'

Maddie's nostrils flared as she stared him down, fury bubbling in her stomach. She wanted nothing more than to get back in bed but from the tone of Zachary's voice, she knew he was serious, and she couldn't risk ruining the deal now.

'Fine, I'll be down in ten minutes,' she huffed. With that she pushed the door shut with a slam and sighed with frustration. Well, that's one way to get off to a good start with my first watcher, she thought to herself sarcastically. Maddie plodded over to the window and opened the curtains, letting in the light. Where the hell was Tommy anyway?

There was a soft knock on the door and Maddie looked up to see Esther poke her head in. 'Do you want help getting ready Maddie, I'll fill the sink with hot water ready for you.'

Maddie nodded gratefully and began to strip of yesterday's underwear before following Esther into the bathroom. She wanted nothing more than to climb into a steaming hot bath, but there was nowhere near enough time, so she settled for washing her face and hands in the sink and brushing her teeth. Esther brushed her hair and quickly braided it for her. Thank God for Esther.

'Where's Tommy?' asked Maddie, as Esther laid out her clothes for her in the bedroom.

'Mr Shelby and the rest of the family all left early. They received an urgent call, something about some trouble at the office,' informed Esther.

Shit!

'What trouble?!' asked Maddie. 'Why didn't he wake me?'

'He specifically told me not to wake you,' apologised Esther. 'Him and a few of the others should be back this afternoon.'

Maddie sighed, of course Tommy wouldn't have wanted to wake her after last night's debacle. She contemplated going to the office to join them but remembered Zachary was waiting for her and grimaced. Guess she would have to find out what happened later. She quickly dressed in her ususal training attire; jodhpurs and a lightweight blouse with her riding boots before finally leaving the room in good time, squinting at the sunlight which was still hurting her eyes. As she descended the stairs, her stomach growled loudly and angrily. She hoped Zachary would at least let her have breakfast.

As expected, he was waiting patiently this time in the foyer and looked up at her as he heard her approach. 'Ah, finally,' he chirped.

'I need breakfast first,' snapped Maddie before Zachary could continue. He looked down at her with an irritated expression and opened his mouth as if to protest but was interrupted by Esther.

'I already have it ready for you Maddie,' she said. 'There is enough for you also if you wish Mr Winslow?'

Look at Esther, with her charming maidenly ways, thought Maddie. Part of her wished she hadn't been so kind and offered Zachary breakfast, but the offer seemed to work, and he faltered and gave Esther a grateful smile. 'Oh… er, yes thank you, that would be lovely. I suppose training on an empty stomach is of little use anyway.'

Esther smiled and led them through to the kitchen where Maddie preferred to eat if Tommy wasn't home and she sat them at the ready-made table, already set for two. She made a mental note to thank Esther for such clever forward thinking. She slumped into her chair and rubbed her tired eyes, pointedly ignoring Zachary as he sat himself opposite her as Esther bustled away to get the breakfast together. God, she thought, I really hope he doesn't try to talk to me.

'Well, this gives us good opportunity to discuss your training and patrolling schedule for the coming month,' she heard him begin after only a few precious seconds of blissful silence.

Maddie kept her eyes shut and scowled, ducking her head down to hide her face. His voice had an insufferable drone to it that made her head throb again suddenly and she hissed quietly in pain. He didn't seem to notice and was quietly waiting for her response. When she refused to offer him one, he cleared his throat loudly but in a way that was a poor attempt to make it sound unintentional. Not wanting to cave to him, she continued her silence and she soon heard him shuffling angrily in his chair opposite her.

'Madeline. I am speaking to you.'

Maddie felt every muscle in her body tense as yet another painful throb rippled through her head, making her already foul mood even fouler. She felt her nostrils flare and she finally opened her eyes and looked up at Zachary with a look of fury. He blinked once in surprise at her look of rage, but quickly recovered and squared his shoulders to her, opening his mouth to speak again. She lifted her palm up to him, stopping him with mouth open like a dumb fish.

'Zachary, if you say another fucking word, I will kick you so hard in the balls they'll come out through your mouth,' she said in a low tone that was just loud enough for him to hear. A look of fear and shock passed briefly over his features as he shut his mouth again and fixed her with a disgruntled look. 'If you hadn't noticed I am having a very bad morning and I'm hangry as fuck. Word of advice, don't get on my bad side, especially before I've eaten.'

Zachary gave Maddie a puzzled look, no doubt trying to get his head around the term 'hangry', but silently nodded just as Esther returned with a large tray. Yes! Thank you, Esther! She planted a large plate that was piled with breakfast-y goodness in front of Maddie, the smell of fried eggs, bacon and sausage wafting up her nose and making her mouth water. Esther had soon learned what her appetite was like and seemed happy to cater for it, often asking the cooks to prepare extra for her for every meal. Esther began to pour the tea out for her and Zachary as she immediately dove into her breakfast, her previous anger almost forgotten about.

They ate their breakfast in silence for a few minutes which Maddie was thankful for. With each mouthful, she could feel her hangover begin to ebb away, her headache disappearing and renewed energy lighting up her muscles. She could feel her body relax and she let herself smile as her stomach stopped growling at her and a satisfying fullness replaced it. Zachary must have noticed her sudden improvement in mood and decided to try his luck again.

'Good to see you have an impressive appetite. You'll need it for what I have planned for you today.'

Maddie huffed in slight annoyance but couldn't bring herself to be angry at him; at least he could appreciate her love of food. And now she was almost recovered from her crazy night of partying, the thought of an active day of rigorous training actually sounded appealing.

'Alright Zachy-boy, tell me what you have planned for me if you're that bloody desperate,' droned Maddie, with half annoyance and half humoured banter.

Zachary bristled at hearing the unwanted nickname which he no doubt saw as a horrendous butchery of his actual name. He was obviously not used to Maddie's sense of humour or way of speaking, much like how the Shelby's weren't at first, although their initial reaction was far more positive than his.

'My name isZachary, Madeline, and I will ask you to respect that,' Zachary retorted stuffily, making her snort once in laughter.

'Well, my name isMaddie,Zachy-boy, and I would also want you to respect that,' Maddie bit back before sipping on her tea victoriously. He glared at her for another second before finally faltering and looking down once to concede her point, flushing red in embarrassment. Her mood had indeed improved enough that she chuckled at his sudden display of awkwardness and shook her head at him. Maybe I should try to get along with this fool, she thought, for both our sakes. 'Can I at least call you Zach?' she asked hopefully, finally putting her knife and fork down, her plate empty. 'Zachary is just so stuffy, English and proper. If you're going to be my watcher, I don't want all our interactions to be so bloody formal!'

Zachary sighed, giving Maddie a withered and wary look before likely deciding he needed to let her win this fight. 'Very well, if it will prove beneficial to this arrangement, you can call me Zach.'

'Great!' chirped Maddie, now feeling more optimistic about the day. 'So, what is the plan for the day Zach?' Zach smiled in response to the positive change in her demeanour and leant forward on the table, resting his forearms on it.

'Well, you might want to think of today as an initial assessment of your skills and abilities,' began Zach. 'I will put you through a long series of drills that will test your speed, stamina, agility, strength, strategic knowledge as well as your knowledge of weapons. As you have been a slayer for many years with, as I understand, no watcher, I do not have a clear picture of your current level of ability.'

'My current level is fine if you must know,' she interjected as soon as Zach gave pause from his babbling fest. He gave her a sly smile which made her doubt for a moment whether she was right about her last statement.

'That remains to be seen,' said Zach before rising from his chair. 'We'd better get started. Your tardiness means we will be doing this well into the evening.'

Maddie rolled her eyes and stifled a groan, somewhat regretting her rebellious decision to drink herself silly the previous night. At least her hangover had now disappeared, and she would be able to perform close to her best. She got up and slumped after Zach into the foyer just as Esther appeared from the corridor, looking slightly worried. She hurried over to her and Maddie could feel her heart skip a little, fearing what bad news she was going to hear.

'Maddie, I have a quick message for you, from Mr Shelby,' she said. 'It won't take a moment,' she apologised to Zach who was giving her an irritated look for causing yet another delay.

'Make it quick,' he said, stepping away politely so he couldn't accidentally overhear.

'Mr Shelby wanted me to tell you that he and his family have been held up for longer than expected and won't be back until late afternoon at the earliest,' said Esther dropping her voice.

'What's happened?' asked Maddie, trying to keep the panicked urgency from her voice.

'There was a break in at the betting shop last night. And someone also broke in Mr Shelby's office although by the sounds of it they didn't get anything from his desk or any of the safes.'

Oh shit, thought Maddie, this doesn't sound good. Who would be stupid enough to try and burgle from the Peaky Blinders but then not take anything of value? This sounded awfully suspicious. She wondered whether her help was likely needed at the office and debated deciding on going there but remembered that this would likely make Zach snitch on her to the watchers and then she would be at war with them along with whoever had committed this robbery.

'Who did it? Did he say?' she probed further.

'He said to tell you that they think that it was the Italian's and not to worry. He and his brother's will handle it.'

Italians? Maddie figured it might be a retaliation for the pubs they took several months ago, although this seemed to be a very delayed reaction. However, she was more worried that Tommy and the others would get themselves hurt, or worse killed, for this. The more she thought about it, the more this seemed like a taunt; a way to get him and his brothers to go searching for the perpetrators and end up in an ambush. Even though Tommy had asked her not to worry, she was now doing nothing but.

'Maddie,' prompted Esther, rousing her from her sudden icy silence. 'I really don't think they're in any danger. Mr Shelby sounded like he already had a plan.'

Maddie scoffed, 'Yeah, that doesn't necessarily mean he has one.'

She sighed and glanced over at Zach. She really couldn't risk causing a war with the watchers over something that may well be nothing. Tommy, John and Arthur had handled stuff like this many times without her before so she had to trust that they would be alright.

'Thanks, Esther,' sighed Maddie. 'Let me know if he calls again, will you?'

'Of course,' Esther nodded before making her way down one of the corridors and out of sight.

'I suppose I'll show you my training room,' said Maddie to Zach who looked happy to finally have her attention. She began to make her way towards the basement door when she felt him put a hand on her shoulder.

'That won't be necessary just yet,' he said with a smug smile and she narrowed her eyes at him to prompt him to explain. 'Our first test will be done outside.'

Maddie glanced out of the window and saw that it was raining rather heavily and sighed. This should be fun. Zach started for the front door, Maddie following him, and he plucked his umbrella out of the stand by the door before opening the heavy door wide. A blast of icy air rushed into the foyer, blowing her hair back and making her shiver. It looked like the weather had turned quite drastically overnight, the previous day being so joyously warm. They stepped out onto the driveway, Zach protected by his umbrella and Maddie quickly feeling her clothes start to become uncomfortably damp. She usually enjoyed the rain, but she wasn't as keen on it when it was this cold to boot. Not to mention the wind, although not gale force, was enough to whip the raindrops into her face painfully; even Zach wasn't immune to it under his umbrella.

'Okay let's get this over with,' she mumbled, rubbing her arms a little with the chill.

'I wouldn't get your hopes up,' said Zach, pulling his pocket watch out from his pocket. 'We will be out here for… a while yet.'

'Why? What are you gonna make me do? Dig up the entire lawn or something?' asked Maddie rhetorically, although she wasn't convinced that her guess was entirely improbable.

'Hardly,' chuckled Zach and Maddie folded her arms in inpatient irritation making him hurry to elaborate. 'I took the liberty of laying out a circuit around the grounds of the house,' he continued, pointing to what looked like a stick that had been stuck into the grass a few yards away with others spread out at regular intervals going round the side of the house. 'The distance by my calculation is about a mile. Your task is to run this circuit at sprint pace.'

'For how long?' asked Maddie, not yet seeing the difficulty this task was supposed to pose her. Zach gave her a devious grin.

'Three hours.'

Maddie blinked, wondering whether she had misheard him. Did he say three hours… of sprinting? But that's not possible. She had never ran that fast for that long before. At a guess she had a feeling she could sprint for a maximum of an hour with her slayer abilities. But three?

'Three hours?! I may be slayer but I'm still human. How the heck do you expect me to do that?'

'As a slayer, your abilities allow you to tap into an ancient force that will make it possible. It will be difficult, but I assure you it's achievable,' assured Zach, although he was looking infuriatingly amused.

'And what if I don't last that long?'

'If your lap time goes above eight minutes, I will stop you and you must do a hundred push ups before continuing your run.'

What was this, SAS boot camp? Maddie wasn't even sure the SAS existed yet, but surely even they didn't do drills as ridiculous as this? She gave Zach a flabbergasted look. Was he making this exercise up just to punish her for her disobedience against the council? Surely the other slayers before now, Marie even, hadn't succeeded in this insane task.

'Not up to it?' asked Zach in a goading tone. Maddie shot him a furious look, the part of her that didn't like to be told she was incapable taking hold of her.

'I didn't say that,' she retorted indignantly, looking over at the first wooden marking post. 'Let's get started.'

She marched over to the start point, turning away from Zach so she wouldn't have to see his smug expression, and stood there poised to start before remembering her engagement ring was still on her finger. She quickly removed it before unhooking the chain of her cross necklace she often wore and threading the ring onto it before tucking the necklace under her collar. Zach watched her do this with his eyes narrowed. She had no doubt he would try to discuss her engagement to Tommy at some point and cringed internally at the thought.

Zach finished his glowering and looked at his watch before looking over at Maddie, pulling out a whistle from his pocket and putting it in his mouth. He blew into it, the shrill noise permeating the air and she set off at lightning speed, kicking up chunks of mud and grass as she darted ahead.

The course Zach had set up was merciless. Maddie had assumed, seeing as the task was already impossible, that at least the circuit would be flat. Well, she had assumed wrong. Her path was riddled was dips and troughs and a number of steep inclines and muddy bogs as it winded around the estate. Sprinting on this terrain was hard enough in one lap, let alone for three hours. Despite this, she managed her first lap in what must have been less than five minutes and continued onto her second. She began to lose count of her laps as her lungs began to burn, the cold air not helping any. She couldn't tell how much time was passing, but she could tell her laps were beginning to slow. However, she was determined to not get the penalty and pushed harder to regain some speed.

After what seemed like a lifetime, Maddie could finally feel her leg muscles being to burn and scream at her to stop. The pain came on suddenly and almost made her stumble into the mud. No, I can't fail, she thought, keep going! She pushed on, but her speed had certainly dropped and when she reached the start post again, Zach's whistle sounded for the first time, stopping her in her tracks. The pause in her running was bliss on her legs, but he was looking at her expectantly for her to commence her push ups, so she dropped to the muddy grass and started them. She was thankful for the break; one hundred push ups wasn't too much of a challenge the first time, but she knew they would lose their appeal after the first set.

When she finished, she lifted herself back to standing and set off again with as much speed as she could muster. The short respite for her legs had allowed her to recover somewhat, however there were more factors that were not working in her favour. Her clothes were completely sodden down to her underwear, weighing her down along with the thick mud that was caking her legs. The rain hadn't let up and was cutting into the skin on her face, forcing her to squint and impairing her vision. At least the cold wasn't an issue anymore, her muscles felt like they had been dipped in lava.

Despite her initial recovery, it didn't take long for Maddie's time to fall over eight minutes and she dropped again for another hundred push ups. This cycle continued another several times, her arms eventually burning in as much agony as her legs. But still she continued, determined not to give up. Eventually the pain in her legs gave way to numbness, and it took all her mental effort to keep putting one leg in front of the other. She began to wonder if the torture would even end as tears uncontrollably began to stream from her eyes and her head began to get fuzzy. Please, let it be over…

Then, after what felt like eons, Maddie passed Zach for the zillionth time, and he blew his whistle again. But before she could commence her hundred push ups he called to her, 'Finish!'

Maddie looked at him for split second, half expecting him to be playing a cruel joke, before her legs gave way beneath her and she collapsed in the mud with a yelp. She panted desperately, gulping air into her lungs although it didn't feel like enough. She felt like her chest was being crushed under a truck. A few second later, an intense prickling pain spread through her entire body, the worst of it in her legs and she screamed out in agony.

Zach's footsteps on the wet grass could be heard before she could see him. He appeared above her, looking down at her like a curious child looking at a bug.

'Not bad,' he said with a slight tone of disappointment. 'But there is certainly room for improvement.' If Maddie hadn't been immobilised by her ordeal, she would have twisted his neck clean off and stuffed his fucking whistle down his throat. She glowered at him from below, her agony making her unable to speak. 'When you can walk, join me inside.'

He disappeared from Maddie's view and she grimaced as another wave of searing pain crashed over her. She wanted nothing more than to kill him, what little rapport she had built with him over breakfast had vanished again and she hated his guts. If Tommy or any of the Shelby's were here, they would have put a stop to this by now, she realised. Wait, I'm the damn slayer, I can put a stop to this! Then she remembered the contractual agreement she had with the watchers, an agreement that could result in everyone's deaths if she wasn't careful and played along. She really was on the back foot in this situation. Hopefully after Zach's 'assessment' day as he put it, her training wouldn't be this intense.

After several minutes of lying in the pouring rain, the pain ebbed away enough for Maddie to sit herself up on her knees and get to her feet. Her legs still felt numb, and her muscles had cooled enough that the cold was now a problem again, but that was preferable to being in searing hot agony. She limped indoors, her clothes dripping and leaving small muddy puddles on the floor. She would have to apologise to Esther yet again she realised. Zach was nowhere to be seen but she spotted that the basement door was open. How did he now where her training room was?

Maddie tried her best to march down the stairs and to the training room, although it was difficult to do without stumbling. When she entered, Zach was stood browsing her weapons cabinet with a mixture of disgust and disbelief.

'How did you know where to find this room?' she asked as angrily as she could, wincing still in discomfort. He turned to face her, looking relieved she had finally reappeared.

'The housekeeper showed me,' he said nonchalantly, turning back to her weapons. 'Your armoury is… well… it leaves something to be desired.'

'You put me through torture for three hours in the rain and then decide it's a good idea to insult me?' asked Maddie in a dangerously unhinged tone. Zach faltered, now seemingly aware of his mistake. He was used to slayers being more pliable and obedient and had no doubt forgot that she was anything but.

'I suppose it will suffice,' he said, not really apologising. 'It will do for your later tasks.'

Maddie had initially tried to protest, making the argument that she could barely stand and needed more time to recover. However, Zach seemed to have adopted a ruthless streak over the past few hours and threatened to inform the council of her non-compliance. He informed her that he had purposefully designed the schedule for the day to be gruelling, painful and really a test of endurance, making a point that a slayer may be called upon to fight at any time, including when she was already exhausted and ready to collapse. Even in those circumstances, she needed to dig deep and carry on. Failure wasn't an option.

Maddie admitted that his reasoning was sound and agreed to continue to her chagrin. If push came to shove, she would indeed have to push through this kind of agony, and if she was completely honest, she already had in the past and couldn't deny that it was completely possible.

Task number two was a test of agility as well as stamina yet again. It was a simple premise; she was to stand on one foot on the rim of one of the circular barbell weights which was balanced on its side. It was far harder than it looked, the weight obviously wanting to roll side to side or topple over. Maddie had to use all of her core strength to stay still and even then she wobbled violently every so often as her legs were still numb. Zach walked around her as she balanced, as if inspecting a fine statue. He had pulled out a small notebook from his pocket, which he had also been using during the first task and was writing down notes as he observed her. He hadn't specified how long she was to stay there and she soon began to sweat. Her clothes were still soaked and were awfully uncomfortable. He hadn't even allowed her to change them, saying it was yet another part of the challenge.

Thankfully, this task didn't last as long as the first and Zach eventually informed her to stop. Maddie practically fell of the weight, only just breaking her fall with her arms. She had managed to get through that task without falling and despite her pain, was oddly pleased that she had succeeded.

'Now for task three,' announced Zach, yet again giving Maddie no respite time. 'This one is going to require a little magic.'

'You can do magic?' puffed Maddie, out of breath and struggling yet again to get to her feet.

'I am a reasonably good warlock yes,' nodded Zach. 'Now pick up that barbell there and hold it above your head.' Maddie looked at the barbell he was talking about and saw that it currently had no weights on it and she looked at him sceptically. 'The maximum weight we can put on that with the weights we have would be far too easy for you, even in your current state,' clarified Zach. 'Hence the magic.'

Maddie nodded, apprehension sweeping over her. How much weight was he planning on adding to this thing? Nevertheless, she walked over to the bar and picked it up, holding it above head easily despite her exhaustion.

'Good,' he nodded. 'Your objective is to keep the bar above your head as I gradually increase the weight until you have to drop it.'

Maddie nodded and Zach lifted his hand and snapped his fingers. She felt the bar slowly and gradually get heavier in her hand, but it was still easy to hold there at first. In fact, it was several minutes before the weight began to be classed as even a challenge for her. Ten minutes must have passed before the weight was heavy enough to cause her to break out in another sweat and begin to breath heavier. From this point on the challenge became much more difficult. Soon Maddie was making grunting noises with the effort to keep the bar above her head and her numb legs began to shake. It felt like something was trying to crush her from above. Eventually, her legs gave way and she fell to her knees although she kept the bar raised above her.

She glanced at Zach, expecting him to tell her to stop but he didn't and she realised that she didn't need to stay on her feet to fail this task. The weight continued to grow heavier but still she persisted, gasping for air as her heart felt like it was going to burst with the pressure. Then she felt her back begin to bend forward under the strain and was forced to place her other hand on the floor to support herself. She was close to caving, her right arm was now also numb and was shaking violently, but she was determined to not give in until the last moment. A scream left Maddie as she held on a few moments longer, her whole body shaking until she couldn't take it any longer and threw the bar down in front of her with a clang.

She gasped and collapsed onto her stomach, coughing and choking for air. It had felt like the weight above was squashing the air from her lungs. A sudden and intense pain shot through her right arm and make her cry out. Her body was a mess, she didn't even think it was possible to push a slayer this far. Was this treatment entirely necessary?

'Well done!' called Zach, actually sounding impressed for once. 'The weight you were holding was the equivalent of about three large trucks.'

Really?! Maddie had no idea she had that strength within her. Perhaps these challenges could reveal more about herself than she ever imagined. This time Zach held his hand out to her to help her up which she took. However, she snatched her hand away angrily once she was upright, the modicum of joy she had felt from doing so well was overshadowed by her intense agony. Her head had even begun to throb with a new headache and she winced, rubbing her head and squeezing her eyes shut.

'Now for the combat tests,' chirped Zach and she heard him approach the weapons cabinet.

Maddie groaned, wishing the day was over. It was now approaching teatime and she realised she hadn't had any lunch and her stomach quickly growled in response to this thought.

'I need to eat something,' she bit out, struggling to form long sentences.

She looked over at Zach who shook his head. 'I'm afraid not,' he said. 'This is yet another part of the challenge.'

Now Maddie understood why he was happy she had stuffed herself at breakfast while she could. Then she remembered Tommy's message from this morning, how he should be home by late afternoon. As yet there was no sign of him or any of the Shelby's and she began to worry a little, making her stomach feel even more empty. She didn't have much chance to dwell on this and was distracted by Zach suddenly throwing a sword at her which she narrowly managed to catch with her painful right arm.

The next exercise involved the use of all of Maddie's various weapons. Zach used his magic again to conjure several false attackers who looked like faceless mannequins to come at her as he barked orders to use specific moves to take them down. The pain in her body made it virtually impossible but yet at first she managed to not be hit by the skin of her teeth, although not without stumbling and more often than not missing her counter attacks entirely that it took her far longer to defeat her enemies than it would have usually. It took another few hours to get through this process using all of her weapons, including her bows. Her accuracy had suffered terribly as a result of her previous tasks, and she had to dodge and strafe around her enemies in order to retrieve her arrows as she had used them all before taking them all out.

When that task was finally over, Maddie could barely think straight and sank to the floor again in exhaustion. She had managed to kill all the conjured attackers, but it had taken her far longer than it should have. After the first round, she hadn't been able to avoid being hit and had obtained a few nasty looking cuts and bruises, blood staining her shirt where numerous tears had ripped the fabric apart. Her ribs and back felt particularly battered, her skin throbbing and stinging at the same time. Nevertheless, she had made it through the ordeal alive which she assumed was a pass. She flicked her gaze up to the clock on the wall; nearly eight o'clock. Where the hell was Tommy?

'I… I need to… to find out-,' mumbled Maddie, trying to get her knees underneath her so she could at least crawl when she felt something strike her back hard, cutting her off and making her collapse onto her stomach again with a grunt. Maddie looked up to see Zach holding a quarterstaff in his hand and realised he had just hit her with it. 'What… are you…?' she stuttered before he swung the staff down and hit her over the back again making her yelp.

'This is your final task,' he explained. 'When you are at your weakest, it is then that your enemies will try to strike you down. You must dig deep now to succeed.'

Zach hit her again as she began to lift her weight up. She wanted to kill him, to rip him limb from limb for the torture he had put her through, but her body wasn't responding, all her strength had left her and she was powerless to stop him. The next strike hit Maddie across the face as she lifted her head up and she screamed followed by a small sob.

'STOP!' she managed to scream but Zach didn't listen and instead whacked her again. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to connect herself to whatever power was left inside her.

Then there was a loud bang, making Maddie look up, as the door to the room flew open and Tommy, John and Arthur appeared in the doorway, looking furious at the scene before them. In that moment, she heard the tell-tale whistle of the quarterstaff moving through the air about to hit her again and she felt her muscles re-awaken and connect to whatever power she was trying to find. Tommy and the others were shouting angrily and had begun to run toward them as Maddie's hand flew up and caught the quarterstaff mid-air.

She looked up at Zach, a murderous look in her eye and she saw his face drop. She jumped to her feet and snatched the quarterstaff out of his hands before swinging it upwards to hit him on the underside of his chin, making him stumble back and fall onto his backside. She dropped the staff and just like that, her small burst of adrenaline was snuffed out like a candle, and she collapsed to the floor again.

'Maddie?!' she heard Tommy yell in a panicked tone. He appeared above her, and he lifted her up a little in his arms, his expression a picture of concern. His face was bruised, and his lip was cut, and she knitted her eyebrows together in worry.

'What happened?' she asked weakly, attempting to reach up to brush her fingers against his face but he took her hand in his and shook his head wordlessly.

Maddie could hear angry shouting and the sounds of a scuffle going on over by where Zach was and then made out the voices of John and Arthur swearing at the top of their voices. Then Ada suddenly appeared, looking considerably worried, joining Tommy and kneeling next to her. Tommy looked over his shoulder in the direction of Zach, his expression a whole new level of murderous. He stood, leaving her grasp and Ada took over and helped sit her up slightly.

Arthur and John had a considerably terrified looking Zach pinned against the wall, looking at him like they wanted nothing more than to cut him into small pieces.

'What the fuck were you doing to Mads?!' yelled Arthur, pulling his pistol out and pressing it up against Zach's bruised chin.

Zach didn't respond, just looked terrified as all colours left him. Tommy reached him and pushed his brothers off Zach roughly before pinning him against the wall himself by his collar.

'That was a clever trick you pulled,' growled Tommy, making Zach's eyes widen slightly before he swallowed. What was he saying, what trick?

'I don't know what you're talking about,' he stuttered, although his eyes shifted nervously.

This seemed to anger Tommy who responded by taking off his cap and holding the blades sewn into it close to Zach's eye, ready to cut it out.

'Don't!' called Maddie, making Tommy stop and turn his head slightly in her direction, Arthur and John also looking back at her with confusion. 'If you kill him… we'll have the entire council after us,' she panted.

Tommy lowered his cap but continued to glare at Zach before addressing her, 'Maddie, Zachary organised the burglary on the betting shop.'

Huh? Was that true? But… why would he do that? Maddie turned to Ada who nodded once in confirmation.

'But… the Italians?' she gasped, a sudden wave of pain rippling over her bruised body.

'A clever ruse to send us on a wild goose chase around the city,' said Tommy. 'He paid some of the Italians to break in, knowing it would draw us all away from the house, leaving you alone.'

'But why?' asked Maddie. None of this was making any sense.

'That's what I'd like to know,' said Tommy, shoving Zach against the wall again roughly. 'I assumed he did it to kidnap you or kill you but instead we get here to find this.'

Zach huffed and finally plucked up the courage to push Tommy away, making John and Arthur step forward to pounce on him but Tommy signalled for them to stop.

'Of course, I wasn't trying to kill her,' said Zach, rubbing his chin painfully. 'Once I discovered that she was engaged to you, I realised the feelings you had for each other would mean you'd put a stop to what I had planned today so I made it so I would be confident you couldn't interfere.'

'Tasks?!' yelled John advancing on Zach so that they were almost chest to chest. 'What kind of fucking tasks? Look at the state of her! You're supposed to train her not torture her almost to death!'

Zach glanced over at Maddie then and their eyes met. A small flicker of guilt passed over his eyes, as if he had only just noticed how battered she was, before he replaced it with a look of defiance.

'She was never going to die,' he explained. 'The tests were to push her to the edge, find her limits, and I have done that. Maddie made it through with no permanent damage.'

The day had been awful, that was true, but Maddie knew she had passed the tests and had even gotten a small amount of revenge by hitting Zach across the face. The looks on John and Arthur's faces was a mixture of disbelief and fury. She could not see Tommy's face as his back was to her although she imagined he did not look impressed. Ada was gently stroking her head, and she could feel the pain in her body getting worse and couldn't help but whimper slightly. Tommy's body visibly stiffened in response to hearing her pained little noise and he clenched his fists at his sides.

'I suggest you leave, now, before me and my brothers cut you up into so many pieces the council will spend the next century trying to find them all,' said Tommy darkly. Maddie had never heard that tone in his voice before and felt her spine shiver in terror even though the threat wasn't directed at her.

Zach turned drip white, a tremor shaking him before he decided he had better not antagonise Tommy further. He nodded sharply and began to walk away toward the door, neatening himself out as he did so. Tommy, Arthur and John watched him leave; their eyes boring into him silently until he disappeared down the corridor.

Tommy was back at Maddie's side in a flash, pulling her to him. John and Arthur joined and crouched around her, and it was then that she noticed that they were also sporting several cuts and bruises of their own.

'Fucking hell Mads,' said John. 'You look like you've fallen of a cliff.'

Maddie chuckled but Tommy shot his brother a displeased look.

'She's soaked to the bone and filthy,' uttered Ada. 'Looks like there's several cuts and bruises too.'

'What the hell did that that fucker put you through?' asked Arthur, who looked the most banged up out of the three brothers.

Maddie went to reply but Tommy cut her off, 'No, she needs to rest, can you walk?'

'My legs are numb,' mumbled Maddie, the pain intensifying again making her feel faint, her eyelids fluttering.

Tommy didn't hesitate and scooped her up into his arms and stood but the sudden movement made her hiss in pain. Tommy's expression was conflicted between fury and panic. She gave him a look to say she was fine, and he steadily made his way out of the room with Ada, John and Arthur following. When they made it to the foyer, he turned to Arthur.

'Take her upstairs,' he ordered before handing Maddie to Arthur who looked scared he might break her. 'Ada, take care of her.'

'Where are you going Tommy?' asked Maddie, not wanting her knight in shining armour to leave her side.

'I have phone calls to make.'

That was all he said, his face now ghostly and expressionless, before he turned and marched off in the direction of his office. Ada, John and Arthur all looked at each other tensely before turning to make their way up the stairs. Was he going to call the Council? Maddie wasn't even sure Tommy knew how to contact them, but she knew he would find a way to when he was this angry.

Arthur carried Maddie into the bedroom as Ada asked John to gather some things together. Arthur put Maddie down on a chair that John had brought into the bathroom before helping him and Ada gather towels, clothes and first aid equipment before he and John took their leave.

'Let's see what the damage is shall we?' asked Ada with a small smile.

Ada helped Maddie strip herself of her clothes which were still wet although she was sure it was mostly of sweat by now and dumped them on the floor. She took Maddie's necklace off, removing her ring and passing it to her to put back on her finger.

'I'll take you shopping tomorrow,' said Ada with a cheerful smile. 'You barely have any clothes left now. You can spend the money you have left from yesterday.'

That idea made Maddie smile widely, the thought of some retail therapy easing her pain a tiny bit. She remembered Zach and wondered whether he would return tomorrow despite the threats from Tommy and figured that it was possible, although she was not planning on staying at Arrow House tomorrow to find out.

Once naked, Maddie glanced over at the mirror and saw that externally she had in fact looked a lot worse. All of the damage the day's trials had caused her was on the inside, mainly her muscles which felt like they had been pulled, stretched and rubbed with a cheese grater.

'I don't think any of the cuts need stitches,' said Ada as she gently prodded Maddie's skin. 'Let's get you cleaned up in the bath and then I'll dress the wounds.'

Ada went to run the bath, filling it with steaming hot water and Maddie sighed as the hot steam billowed around her. This was exactly what she needed. Ada didn't put any soap in the water but instead put a handful of salt in to act as a disinfectant and Maddie hoped it wouldn't make her wounds sting too much. Ada helped Maddie to stand, the small woman not as strong as her brothers and couldn't lift her as they had. She hooked Maddie's arm around her neck and supported her as Maddie's numb feet awkwardly tried to walk her forward. They got her to the rim of the bath and sat her there so she could swing one leg over and into the water then the other.

Ada grasped her hand as Maddie lowered herself into the hot water, clenching her teeth as she bit back a scream. The heat made her sore muscles come to life suddenly, causing them to spasm violently. The salt in the water stung her cuts and made the spasms worse so that eventually she couldn't help but let out a pained scream and swear loudly before bursting into tears. The pain had finally overwhelmed her and she didn't know whether to get out of the bath or just surrender and go limp. Zach had pushed her body to its absolute limit, a limit that Maddie prior to today, was unaware even existed.

'What is it? Are you in pain?' asked Ada, sounding concerned. Maddie could only manage to nod. 'Just lie back, the water should start to feel soothing after a minute.'

Ada gently coaxed Maddie to lie back in the tub and she closed her eyes, willing for the pain to finally stop. She tried her best to relax and eventually the spasming stopped and the stinging subsided.

'Better?' asked Ada and she nodded.

Ada spent several minutes cleaning Maddie's face and arms where most of the cuts were before instructing her to sit forward so she could do the same to her back and sides. There was one long cut across her thigh which Ada did last before declaring she was finished. Maddie managed to stand and climb out of the tub, the water now rosé coloured, and Ada wrapped a fluffy towel around her. Just then there was a knock on the door and Tommy entered, looking irritated but like he was making an effort not to look it.

'I'll take over from here Ada,' he instructed, approaching Maddie and kissing her on the forehead.

'Alright,' said Ada. 'Shall I ask Esther to prepare you something to eat Mads?'

Maddie nodded eagerly, remembering how famished she was. Ada smiled and left the room and Tommy guided Maddie to sit back on the chair before pulling the towel down enough so he could see her shoulders, arms and back. He remained silent for a few moments as he sat on a stool next to her and began drying her wounds. At the same time, she traced the bruises on his face and brushed her thumb over the cut on his lip which had scabbed over. She debated whether to ask him what happened today, but his expression told her he wasn't going to trouble her with his own pains. From the state of him and his brothers, they must have gotten into a pretty rough fight.

'Tell me what happened today,' Tommy eventually said, his voice authoritative and not in the mood to play games.

Maddie sighed, looking back at him pleadingly. She didn't see much point in telling him what had happened when it would only prove to make him angrier. However, his piercing stare didn't waver, and she was forced to look down and nod in defeat. Maddie went through all of the tasks Zach had made her do, Tommy's mood becoming even sourer with every word she uttered. He began to press on her wounds a little too hard and she flinched, forcing him to apologise and pinch the bridge of his nose for a moment before going silent again as she finished her recount of the day. Once finished, Tommy didn't reply, just flexed his jaw angrily as he continued his work.

'Who did you call?' asked Maddie softly, worried that he now wasn't in a good enough mood to talk.

He sighed and looked Maddie in the eyes, 'The council.'

Urg, this can't have ended well, thought Maddie. 'What did you say?' she asked tentatively.

'I said that if Zachary tries anything like that again we'll kill him, and I made it clear that I have the resources to make their life very difficult.'

'And they backed off, just like that?'

'I've been doing a lot of digging on the Council Maddie. I have access to many of their secrets that they'd rather keep hidden. They ensured me Zachary will behave but I'm still not going to let the two of you alone again,' said Tommy, falling silent again and giving her a look to say the matter was closed.

Maddie swallowed and nodded. Since when had Tommy known so much about the Council? Then she remembered that Arthur had been the one to accidentally kill Mr Travers and guessed Tommy must have done a lot of information digging around that time. Maddie nodded and didn't pursue the topic further; she was exhausted enough as it was.

Once Tommy had finished bandaging the cut on Maddie's leg, he helped her get into a nightie and walked her back to bed. The bath had helped bring some strength back into her body and she was able to carry her own weight again. Esther brought her dinner on a tray which she ate eagerly, now finally beginning to feel better. After he meal she felt a sudden wave of tiredness and felt her eyelids beginning to close. Tommy shut the curtains before undressing, Maddie spotting a few bruises on his torso, and getting into bed next to her, pulling her to him and pressing his lips gently to her shoulder before she felt herself fall asleep.

Maddie felt herself gently shook awake in the morning by Tommy and awoke with a yawn. Wait… I can feel my legs again! Maddie wiggled her toes and stretched her legs out and felt that she could indeed feel them again along with the rest of her body. It also looked like her cuts had mostly healed and all that was left was some yellow bruising and slight ache in some of her muscles. Tommy looked considerably relieved but was hesitant to agree to Maddie's idea to go shopping for the day. She insisted she was recovered and made the case that if she was away from the house, Zach wouldn't be able to find her if he was brave enough to stop by. Tommy couldn't argue with this logic and offered to drive Maddie and Ada to the city on his way to the office. Zach's stunt had left a lot of damage at the office apparently which he needed to oversee repairs of.

After breakfast, the three of them left for Birmingham, John and Arthur had already left earlier that morning. Ada asked what had happened the previous day, which Maddie was reluctant to recount again but gave her the abridged version. Despite the fact Tommy had already heard the story once before, she could see his knuckles turning white as he gripped the steering wheel tighter as she spoke.

'Are you sure you're up for today?' asked Ada doubtfully. 'You went through a lot yesterday.'

'I'm fine!' replied Maddie hastily, not wanting to give Tommy a reason to drive her back home to rest. 'I'm a little tired but you know me! Slayer healing cures everything!'

Maddie knew she was trying too hard, but Ada smiled and nodded all the same. She cast a glance at Tommy who was eyeing her in the rear-view mirror suspiciously but eventually turned his attention back the road. A few more hours in bed would have done her some good, she admitted, but as per her usual, she didn't want to feel weak and pathetic for longer than was necessary. The conversation turned to more pleasant topics for the rest of journey until Tommy dropped the two women off at the Bull Ring, stating he'd send someone to pick them up in a few hours. She gave him a fleeting kiss before getting out of the car and he pulled away and disappeared out of sight.

Maddie and Ada had a whale of a time that day. Maddie spent pretty much all of her money on a plethora of items, not being overly cautious over what she bought. She made sure she bought a supply of slaying appropriate clothes but otherwise she allowed herself to buy on impulse. Items included dresses and skirts, pretty embroidered blouses, several pairs of shoes including a rather garish beaded pair of heels that didn't really go with anything she had bought. She purchased at least five winter coats, remembering the cold chill of the day before signalling winter was on the way again. A fresh supply of hosiery was purchased along with new underwear; some plain and practical although the majority of the lingerie was delicate and sensual and chosen with Tommy in mind. They took lunch at a café, Maddie stuffing herself with tea and cakes, wanting enough energy to keep their shopping trip going. They visited even more shops afterwards, buying new jewellery, makeup, hats, scarves, gloves and bags. Ada made a few purchases for herself but was vastly enjoying helping Maddie pick out her hundreds of purchases.

By four in the afternoon, Maddie's purse was empty, her leftover winnings from the races gone. The timing was good, as it was time for them to meet whoever Tommy had sent to pick them up. Luckily, that person was Isiah, who greeted them with a smile before spotting the mountain of bags they were carrying and frowning with apprehension. Maddie had had to carry the majority of the bags, having slayer strength and all, but as a result she looked like a small donkey carrying a load twice its size.

'Spent enough money ladies?' asked Isiah as he came over to relieve Maddie of some of her bags, making a face as he realised how heavy they were.

'Too much probably,' she admitted although she had exactly zero regrets. 'I'll have to go back to the office and start earning some more wages.'

As they were piling things into the boot, Maddie didn't notice the brief look Isiah and Ada gave each other in response to her comment. The vast number of bags filled the boot as well as the back seat, so Ada was forced to sit in the front with Isiah whilst Maddie managed sat in the back beneath a mountain of purchases. When they got home, Isiah helped them take the bags inside before excusing himself, saying he was expected back at the office. Poor Esther nearly had a heart attack upon seeing the volume of things Maddie had returned home with but soon cheered up when Maddie offered to model all of her clothes for her as a way to take a break and have fun.

It took Maddie a good hour to try everything on again, parading as if on a runway for Ada and Esther who applauded enthusiastically. After each outfit, Esther took the clothes and hung them up in the wardrobe in an organised manner. She had learned that Esther was rather OCD when it came to tidiness and felt slightly guilty at giving her more clothes that she needed to ensure were kept clean and organised. By the time they were finished it was teatime, and they went downstairs just as Tommy arrived home looking his usual indifferent self.

'How did it go?' asked Maddie as they walked into the dining room. 'With the office?'

'We should be back in working order by the morning,' he mumbled grumpily, and Maddie could tell he was still pissed at being deceived by Zach and she felt her own anger boil inside her. How the man thought it was a good idea to cause such costly damage to Shelby property she would never know. This was for sure, he would be treading on thin ice from now on.

'Well, that's good,' replied Maddie. 'That means I can go to the office tomorrow, maybe even help out at the track and start earning some money again since I've spent all that I had today.' This time, Maddie noticed Ada flick her eyes towards Tommy awkwardly and he let out a long breath through his nose, stubbing his cigarette out in the ashtray. She looked at the two of them confused. 'What? Did I say something?'

Ada remained silent and sipped at her wine, giving Maddie a sympathetic smile as Tommy turned to her and took her left hand in his so he could look at the beautiful ring he had put on her finger.

'You're going to be my wife now Maddie,' said Tommy in a matter-of-fact tone.

'Yeah… so?' replied Maddie, not sure where he was going with this. 'What does that have to do with me going to the office?'

Tommy sighed and looked at Maddie in the eyes.

'No wife of mine will be working, especially not on the racetracks,' said Tommy. 'The family earns more than enough money to support you.'

Maddie blinked, totally unprepared for what she had just heard. Was he expecting her to become a dutiful housewife or something? She enjoyed that job, particularly helping out at the racetracks, and being able to earn her own money had been the main reason she enjoyed it. The office work was dull, and she wasn't entirely bothered about doing that part. But now he wasn't going to let her do any of it anymore? Just like that? I suppose it was silly to want to do those jobs for the money when Tommy was the one who paid her in the first place, but at least it made her feel useful in his world.

'But… but I like doing my job!' complained Maddie, snatching her hand out of Tommy's, her face turning red. 'I know it's stupid for you to continue to pay me now, but you can't stop me working. Especially since I will be an official member of the family soon!'

Tommy closed his eyes, his jaw tense as he ran his hand over his face and through his hair. Maddie couldn't believe he wanted to kick her out of the business. She knew her talents didn't lie in bookmaking or logistics, but surely, she could be of some use. She folded her arms across her chest indignantly, waiting for him to respond.

'Maddie,' he began, trying his best to sound patient. 'Once we get married, everyone will know your face and who you are and if you continue to do your bodyguard duties with John and Arthur, it will create a scandal we could do without.' Maddie swallowed. He had a point there. 'You won't have to work to earn money, but you will have other responsibilities once we're married.'

'Like what?' asked Maddie cluelessly.

'We've gained a lot of influence over the past years. As the news spreads that we are engaged, people's interest in you as my future wife will surge. That means more charity balls, official dinners, and events. Some institutions will be begging you to become an official member. That plus your slayer duties which you'll have to make extra effort to keep secret will be more than enough to keep you occupied.'

Maddie gradually felt her blood freeze in her veins as Tommy spoke. Of course, he already thought this through, down to the last detail. She on the other hand had not gone past daydreaming about her wedding dress and what flowers she was going to choose for her wedding. She had forgotten who she would marrying and the increased responsibility that would put on her shoulders. He was firing her because she would be taking on so much more and Maddie now saw that he looked slightly guilty about it.

'He's right Mads,' interjected Ada who gave Maddie a small smile.

'Well…' Maddie murmured. 'When you put it like that...'

Maddie pictured the women she had encountered from the War Widow's Institute at the orphanage and shivered. Those would be the people she would have to learn to be around and talk to without embarrassing herself at every opportunity. Maybe she would be expected to organise events like that, remembering Tommy mentioning to her once that Grace often filled her time doing that when she was alive. Then there was the issue of the watchers and Zach. His evident displeasure at finding out she was engaged would likely mean he would make every effort to deter her from her new role. Perhaps even he had realised that this would be her new life before she did. She didn't regret saying yes to Tommy exactly, but she was now certainly feeling more apprehensive knowing it wasn't going to be the dream walk in the park she thought it was going to be.

'Don't worry Mads,' said Ada, sensing Maddie's apprehension. 'I'll help you through it. We'll likely be invited to a lot of the same things now.'

'Okay,' nodded Maddie, her voice sounding uncharacteristically small. She turned to look at Tommy again and she snaked her hand back into his for comfort. He gave her a small smile and kissed her on the forehead before pressing his forehead to hers so they're noses were touching.

'Don't worry, eh?' he whispered so only she could hear. 'There's a reason I asked you to marry me. You're the strongest woman I know.'

Maddie couldn't help but smile, letting out a little giggle like a love-sick teenager. This didn't seem to repel Tommy however but in fact made his pupils blow and a hungry look flitted over his features, which she knew wasn't for food. He connected his lips to hers suddenly, making her gasp into his mouth and he took the opportunity to push his tongue into her mouth. She felt her nipples begin to harden under her blouse and a wetness form between her legs, making her squirm in her chair.

A sharp clearing of Ada's throat burst their little bubble; Maddie had forgotten that she was even there she had gotten so carried away. She pulled away from Tommy, blushing all over her neck and cheeks and gave Ada an apologetic smile. Tommy gave his sister an annoyed glance and Ada rolled her eyes at him and lit up a cigarette before changing the topic of conversation.

During dinner, Tommy decided to play his old games again, and was feeling Maddie's leg under the table. The kiss had evidently cheered him up considerably as he was trying hard not to smirk at her attempts to swat his hand away as she tried to engage in conversation with him and Ada. He had an uncanny talent to able to keep up conversation whilst doing something else at the same time. Well, he barely says anything anyway, grumbled Maddie to herself. His annoying aversion to food meant she didn't get any respite either as he ignored his own meal in order to begin pulling her skirt up to her knee. She threw him a warning glance that he ignored, concentrating on his whiskey glass as he nodded at Ada politely.

Maddie knew Ada was no fool and would soon notice something was going on and excuse herself with some smart comment about how they needed to learn that there was a time and place etc etc. Tommy's hand slowly glided up her thigh, caressing it with his thumb, making Maddie reach for her wine to distract herself. In honesty, although she didn't want Ada to leave, his teasing was turning her on something fierce and she didn't have the will power to stop him. He moved his hand further up until he met the wetness of her underwear. Her breath hitched in her throat and she looked over at Tommy who's eyes turned dark again whilst the corner of his mouth twitched in a smile. As if she had no control over her body, she let her legs fall open slightly so he could press his fingers against her pussy, making a full-blown smile spread across his lips.

Ada, noticing Tommy smile for seemingly no reason paused mid-sentence and looked over at Maddie who looked away from her bashfully. She must have looked as red as a tomato. Tommy, with his cruel sense of humour, took this moment to find her clit under the silk of her underwear and pinch it harshly. She squeaked and jumped back in her chair and finally made herself grab his wrist and push his hand away. Ada pursed her lips at them, more in disappointment than anger, placing her glass on the table.

'I'd better get going,' she said standing up. 'My mistake for thinking I was in a dining room not a bedroom.'

Maddie realised it was a good job that Ada didn't know that she and Tommy had fucked in pretty much every room of the house, including on the very table they were sat at.

'I'll come and see you out,' said Maddie, getting up to follow Ada who had reached the door.

Tommy also got up and walked out next to her as they walked several paces behind Ada. She looked up at him and smirked, pushing him playfully.

'You did that on purpose,' she hissed, and Tommy raised his eyebrows in fake ignorance causing Maddie to think up of a way to tease him back. 'Now you don't get to see what I bought today to surprise you,' she said sweetly, smiling victoriously to herself.

'What did you buy?' he asked, his remaining sliver of boyish curiosity getting the better of him.

Maddie smirked and stood on tiptoe so she could whisper into Tommy's ear as they walked down the corridor, purposefully brushing her lips against his earlobe. She described the sexiest piece of lingerie she had purchased, how the material was so thin it didn't conceal anything underneath. A low growl rattled his chest as she teased him, and he responded by grabbing her ass aggressively and giving her a dangerously lustful glare.

Esther was in the foyer and was quick to get Ada's things together as Maddie and Tommy said their goodbyes, trying to not sound impatient in their eagerness to go upstairs. However, their night was not to be the lustful, hazy evening of sex and pleasure that they had planned, as a knock at the door interrupted them. Maddie's instincts kicked in and made her muscles tense painfully, telling her exactly who had the gall to call the house at this hour.

Esther gave Maddie a worried look and they looked at Tommy who had an expression that could freeze hell over. Esther swallowed and went to open the door, peering through a crack to see who it was before opening the door fully to let them in. In stepped Zach, confirming Maddie's suspicions and she felt her jaw clench. She knew he would have returned to the house eventually, but the day after faking a robbery at the office so he could put her through hell and nearly losing his eyes for it was brave indeed. He looked somewhat nervous, but his jaw was set confidently as he met Maddie's glare.

'You've got to be fucking kidding,' said Ada in disbelief. 'You have more balls than I gave you credit for.'

Zach ignored Ada's comment and addressed Maddie directly. 'Apologies for the interruption but I'm afraid I was forced to return so soon after…' He trailed of, not being able to refer to the previous day in words, flicking his gaze to Tommy and quickly looking away again.

Maddie stole a glance at Tommy and saw that he was practically boring holes into Zach with his eyes and she put her hand on his arm in an attempt to calm him and felt that his entire body was tensed like a steel cable.

'What do you want?' asked Tommy, unable to keep the impatience from his voice.

Zach's jaw opened and closed a couple of times nervously before he finally spoke again, 'I'm afraid something has come up. It's quite the emergency. An emergency the slayer must deal with.'

Maddie sighed and groaned internally. These things really did have excellent timing. Poor Tommy was going to have to live with blue balls for the rest of night it seemed. Zach wouldn't have risked Tommy's wrath if it really wasn't an emergency, especially after the threat Tommy had given him yesterday.

'What kind of emergency?' she asked stepping forward, preparing herself for whatever catastrophic thing he was about to describe.

'A large one,' sighed Zach. 'An apocalypse.'

'So… when you said 'apocalypse',' said Maddie with annoyance, using her fingers to make quotation marks in the air. 'What you actually meant was 'small-scale disaster'.'

'I hardly think the possible destruction of a sizeable chunk of Birmingham is small-scale,' protested Zach.

Since Zach's announcement of a pending apocalypse, they had decided to sit in the living room to discuss said disaster. Ada had delayed her departure to offer her insight and Tommy had insisted that he call Arthur, John and even Finn and Isiah over to join in the planning and were waiting for them to get there. Maddie was sure he didn't trust Zach not to try and get her alone again and wanted his brothers there mainly to intimidate him. Hewas yet to actually describe whatever evil it was that was threatening Birmingham and had only provided annoyingly large amounts of exposition and spoken mainly in fucking riddles. She sat back in her chair with a huff and folded her arms over her chest.

'Just tell me what I need to fight so I can get back home and… enjoy my evening,' snapped Maddie, casting Tommy a knowing look which he returned with a devilish smirk. Zach sighed, looking disappointed in her attitude, before reaching into a bag that he had brought with him.

'I had hoped to do more training with you before sending you out on a mission like this,' he said as he pulled a large book out of the bag and opening it onto a bookmarked page. 'But I'm afraid I'm going to have to trust that you have the skill to handle this.'

He held the open book out to her, and Maddie scoffed at him. What kind of slayer did he think I was? I've faced more apocalypses than he's had hot dinners; whatever it is I can handle it. She took the book and looked down at the page, expecting to see a simple block headed demon of little challenge. But of course, she was wrong. She couldn't help but widen her eye's slightly at the illustration in front of her and swallowed dryly.

'Oh…' she murmured and Ada shuffled closer to her to look at what she was looking at.

The image was of some monstrous creature with six long arms with tentacle like fingers. It looked like an aquatic type of demon, it's eyes large and black and its skin smooth and scaly. Maddie skim read the description underneath the image and saw that the creature was approximately seven feet tall and strong enough to lift several tons. Her long silence must have concerned Tommy enough for him to get up from the sofa he'd settled into and take the book from her hands. He looked at the page, his face remaining stoic before passing the book back to her.

'I suppose you expect Maddie to face that thing alone?' asked Tommy, the question sounding more like a warning.

'She must,' replied Zach. 'That creature is fast and strong. And it is only the foot soldier, the guard for the thing you really need to kill.' Maddie looked at him aghast, this thing wasn't the big bad?! 'Look on the next page,' instructed Zach.

Maddie swallowed, her heart thudding nervously, before turning the page slowly to face whatever horror was on the next page. What she saw indeed reminded her of a Lovecraftian leviathan that would cause any onlooker to go mad at the mere sight of it. It looked like some kind of spawning monster, embedded in rock with tentacles that sprouted out from it and a mouth surrounded by sharp curved teeth. Oh boy, was she in for a hell of a night.

'That creature we think feeds of the pollution that ends up in the water of large cities, hence why it's currently living in the drainage system of the Birmingham canal system,' said Zach. 'The industrial smog and waste from a city like Birmingham make it the perfect habitat for it.'

Maddie looked at the name of the beast and saw it was called a 'Groich' demon and it's seven-foot bodyguard was called a 'Grogan'. Tommy took the book from Maddie again, this time virtually snatching it out of her hands. He looked at the demon and she watched his jaw twitch nervously. She could have sworn that he was being more protective of her since their engagement, but then of course that made perfect sense. He didn't want to lose yet another wife.

'She's not going in alone,' said Tommy, slamming the book on the table making everyone jump. He knew he couldn't stop her from going in at all, which Maddie was sure he would prefer if it were possible, but he seemed adamant that she wouldn't face this danger with no back-up.

'Mr Shelby,' sighed Zach, meeting Tommy's stare with a newfound confidence. 'These creatures are out of any of our leagues. You send someone with Maddie, that bodyguard will target them and make her life more difficult as she will be forced to protect them. She has a better chance alone.'

'A chance?!' roared Tommy with such volume the walls shook, and Maddie jumped with freight. Zach blinked and sat back in his chair in shock. 'And what kind of chance does myfuture wifehave exactly?'

Just then there was a rush of footsteps from the corridor outside and Arthur, John, Finn and Isiah burst into the room, guns drawn. They must have heard Tommy's shout and assumed there was a fight going on. They put their guns away as they realised there was no fight.

'What the fuck's going on in here?' asked Arthur, stepping into the room and setting his eyes on Zach furiously.

No one answered Arthur as Tommy continued to stare at Zach, expecting an answer from him. Zach stared back at him, somehow managing to hold his glare as he debated the wording of his answer.

'She is a slayer, she hasn't got much choice,' said Zach. 'Human lives are at stake here.'

Tommy huffed once in disbelief and shook his head, 'Wrong answer.'

He reached for his gun and Maddie quickly stood and grabbed his arm to stop him.

'No Tommy don't!' she yelled. 'He's right I have to face this thing. Alone. If it means I keep the rest of you safe.'

Maddie had listened to what Zach had said and although she didn't want to admit it, he was right. The slayer within her was feeling the call to action, to take up her responsibility to protect not just her home but the people who lived there. This creature had the capability of growing to such a size that it could cause the tunnels beneath the city to collapse making the factories and homes above it to cave in. Not to mention the carnage the seven-foot beast could cause if it decided to visit the surface. She put her hand on Tommy's cheek, blocking out everyone else in the room, and made him look at her. His eyes were stricken with worry despite his features displaying fury.

'Tommy,' she whispered. 'I have to do this. He's right… if any of you come along it'll just make my job harder.' He looked into her eyes, shaking his head in protest.

'No,' he said, and she could see his worst fear as if painted on his face. The image of finding her body mutilated in the dark, damp cavern beneath the city. 'I can't risk losing you Maddie.'

Maddie shook her head, 'I've faced worse things than this alone before I met you. Remember all the stories I've told you?'

Tommy paused for a second and closed his eyes and she could see he was fighting back tears. He was remembering all the stories she'd told of the monsters she'd defeated, most a lot scarier than the Groich. Maddie knew this fight wouldn't be easy, but she wasn't lying when she said she could handle it. She planted her lips to his in a soft kiss making him open his eyes. He regarded her for a moment before sighing and nodding in defeat.

They turned back to the room and saw that John and Arthur were stood over Zach, staring him down threateningly.

'Human lives?' said Arthur eventually. 'I'm guessing Mads doesn't count as one of those lives?'

Zach looked back at Arthur sourly and Maddie thought it best to intervene before Zach decided to make the whole 'when one slayer dies, another is called' speech which was sure to get him shot in the head.

'Guys, leave it, its fine,' said Maddie walking over to Arthur to pull him back a step before turning to Zach. 'Let's figure out a plan.'

Maddie tapped her foot nervously on the floor of the car as she sat silently next to Isiah who was driving in the direction of Birmingham. She gripped the handle of her favourite axe; a weapon Zach had agreed would be the most ideal to fight both the Grogan and the Groich. The plan had been debated and argued over for a good couple of hours before an agreement was made. The majority of that time was spent by her convincing Tommy he didn't need to escort her to Birmingham himself. She didn't want to risk him being so close to the two monsters but mostly she didn't trust Zach to be left alone with the others which made him finally cave and ask Isiah to escort her instead. She only hoped he wouldn't kill Zach whilst she was gone. She had kissed him passionately on the doorstep before giving him a confident smile, telling him she'd be back before he knew it. His expression had been doubtful, but he nodded reluctantly.

The strategy was a classic sneak in unnoticed technique, take the Grogan by surprise, taking it out before killing the Groich. Despite knowing she was capable of winning this fight, Maddie was still nervous. She had learned not to take fights she could seemingly win for granted; things could always take an unexpected turn for the worse.

'How are you feeling Mads?' asked Isiah, looking nervous.

'I'm fine Isiah,' she said not very convincingly. Isaiah nodded but didn't look like he was done asking questions.

'Mads… why are you letting that Zach tell you what to do?' asked Isiah, making Maddie glare at him dangerously and he swallowed in regret and hurried to clarify. 'It's just that… I thought you hated them watchers and how they gave orders to other slayers. But you're going to fight these things cos he said so?' Maddie considered Isiah for a moment before nodding, seeing his point. 'Even Marie told me how much-.'

'Marie?' cut in Maddie, a smile lighting up her face. 'You've been in contact with her?'

Isiah blushed bright red and smiled bashfully. 'I gave her my address before she left and we've written to each other a few times. I told her about Hallan possessing you and she scolded us for not calling her back to help,' Isiah chuckled, and Maddie rolled her eyes. 'But she also told me how much she admires your bravery to stand up to the watchers. She's grown up having to take orders from them and wishes she was a brave as you. Mads, please don't fight this thing just because he's told you to.'

Maddie blinked a few times, fighting back the tears at hearing what Marie had said about her. She looked down into her lap and thought for a moment. No, she wasn't doing this for Zach. One way or another she would have found out about the Groich and its spawn without Zach, only maybe too late when the city had caved in causing many innocent lives to be lost. She still didn't like Zach on account of his attitude and treatment of her yesterday, but she was beginning to have a little more respect for him. Hopefully her proving herself this evening would make him have more respect for her.

'Isiah,' said Maddie with a sigh. 'If Zach wasn't in the picture and I found out about a big sewer dwelling monster underneath Birmingham by myself, what do you think I would have done?'

Isiah knitted his eyebrows together in thought before shaking his head in realisation. 'You would have gone down there to face it alone. Probably without even telling Tommy or any of us.'

They know me so well now, thought Maddie proudly.

'Exactly,' she replied. 'I'm doing this because it my duty, not because some man told me to.'

Isiah smiled and nodded, happy with Maddie's answer. They continued the drive in silence, the journey only lasting another ten minutes before he pulled up to the location Zach had specified during the planning meeting. It was a large boat yard that seemed almost abandoned, large rusting canal boats surrounded them and casted large shadows in the moonlight. Maddie spotted the large grate in the water drainage pipe in the ground he had described and turned to Isiah.

'Alright,' she said. 'I'll try to be back within an hour.'

'Tommy told me to call him if you weren't back out by then,' said Isiah nervously. Of course he did, grumbled Maddie and she spotted a phone booth a few yards away on the street

'Fine. But in that case tell him not to panic yet, this thing may be more difficult to kill than I originally thought,' she said.

Isiah gave her look to say that Tommy would still panic no matter what he told him and she shrugged in response. All she could do was try her best to get back on time. She got out of the car with her axe in tow and made her way over to the grate. The bars were made of heavy iron and she tucked the handle of her axe through the bars to act as a lever to lift the cover off the drain entrance. She looked down into the hole and couldn't see the bottom and kicked a small stone into the pipe. There was a worryingly long amount of silence before she heard a plop as the stone hit water somewhere below. She wasn't confident that the water down there was deep enough for her to jump so she tucked her axe through the belt of her trousers before lowering herself into the hole.

Maddie braced herself with her feet, hands and back against the damp slippery walls of the drain that were coated in slimy moss and gunge. Why did slaying always have to be so gross? As steadily as she could, she began to shimmy down the pipe, the sliminess making it extremely difficult to not slip. The abyss below her was pitch black and she wished she had brought a torch however torches in this time period were stupidly large and heavy and didn't mix well with water. She continued her decent, hoping she was nearing the bottom when her foot slipped on the wall, and she lost her grip of it. She fell, her stomach lurching as she let out a short scream. She fell for what luckily only felt like twenty feet before she hit the water below. She was glad she hadn't jumped as her backside hit the bottom although there was enough water to break her fall from that height, so she wasn't seriously hurt.

The water however was freezing, and Maddie emerged from the water with a splutter and quickly looked around for danger, sure all the noise she had made had drawn unwanted attention. She began to shiver as the freezing waist-high water chilled her to the bone and she decided she needed to get out of the water before too long. She squinted into the darkness around her for a minute before eventually spotting a dim light in the distance. Bingo.

Taking her axe from her belt, Maddie began to wade through the water toward the light, moving as silently as he could in water. She realised that the Grogan was likely an exceptional swimmer and could sneak up on her easily in the water and she picked up her pace, worried she would be ambushed. As she got closer to the light, she felt a little calmer, realising then that her heart had been beating out of her chest. Thankfully, she could see that the pipe she was in began to angle upward and out of the water and she was soon out of the freezing water. The light was coming from a flaming torch on the wall and Maddie spotted another ahead of her, lighting the path ahead. If experience had taught her anything, it was that ominous torches usually lead the way to danger.

Gripping her axe tighter, Maddie followed the torches deeper into the tunnels, listening hard for any sign of the Grogan or the Groich. Eventually, she approached the opening to a larger room and slowed her pace and snuck up at a crouch until she was able to see into the room.

There it was, the Groich. It was nestled into the low ceiling of the opening, which Maddie could now see was a junction for all the underground water pipes. Its tentacles were at least five feet long and it teeth as long as her forearm. One of its tentacles was reaching into a channel of running water below it and was drinking up the dark polluted water hungrily. It hadn't noticed her yet and she took a moment to try and spot the Grogan which must have been close by, however it was not in the room. Then Maddie heard a sound behind her, a low watery gargle followed by a hiss and whipped round a fraction too late. The Grogan hit her in the chest, so hard that she was thrown back into the cavern and skidded on her back along the floor so she was directly beneath the Groich. The creature made an awful screeching sound, its long teeth rippling angrily before one of its tentacles reached for her.

She rolled to the side, avoiding the attack and jumped out of the Groich's reach just as the Grogan approached her. It towered above her, its six arms extended threateningly as it also screeched at her. It swiped for Maddie and she ducked out of it way before back kicking it in the side. The monster stumbled and screeched at her again angrily before diving for her, arms extended. She dodged again but failed and the Grogan's three left arms hit her at the same time, sending her flying into the wall before she fell to her knees on the floor. She heard the heavy footsteps of the Grogan stomping toward her again and this time she paused in wait.

Once the it was close enough, Maddie stood and swung her axe up in a clean cutting motion. The axe sliced through two of the Grogan's right arms, which fell to the floor with a thud. The Grogan scuttled backwards in pain, screeching even louder than before. The Groich above them went ballistic and swung its tentacles around furiously, however the Grogan wasn't distracted for long and soon approached her again only even more furious.

They fought violently, Maddie narrowly avoiding the reach of the Groich's tentacles as she parried the swings of the Grogan's remaining arms. It swiped her across the face several times, using its tentacles like whips which left deep gashes in her face. She eventually found an opening and sliced the it across its belly, making it bleed profusely. This pissed the creature off considerably and it turned on her again, Maddie raising her axe in readiness to finish it off. However, the Grogan pulled out a trick which hadn't been in the book Zach had shown her. It opened its slimy tentacle filled mouth and vomited a pungent green slime at her, covering her in the stuff. It went into the cuts on her face, stinging like hell and she was forced to shut her eyes and step backward, but the slime was slippery and she few backwards and landed with a grunt on her back, dropping her axe.

Before she could regain her wits, the Grogan was upon her and it grabbed her by the neck and lifted her off her feet. Maddie flailed as she struggled to free herself from the Grogan's grasp, its tentacle hands wrapping themselves around her neck. The Grogan began walking toward the Groich as she continued to fight to no avail. She glanced up and saw the Groich's huge mouth appear above her. It was going to feed her to it. Her heart leapt in freight, and she screamed, but one of the Grogan's tentacles snaked itself over her chin and forced itself into her mouth and down her throat chocking her scream from her. Maddie spluttered as she choked on the disgusting tentacle which tasted of sewage and was now blocking her airway.

The Grogan began to lift Maddie up toward the Groich's mouth and her eyes widened. Was this it? Was this going to be her end? Then an image flashed through her mind, an image of her and the Shelby's laughing together, and she decided that no, she wasn't going to die down here. She suddenly reached her arm up and grasped one of the Groich's huge teeth before pulling it out sharply, making the creature screech angrily. Before the Grogan could react, Maddie stabbed the tooth into the top Grogan's skull as hard as she could. The giant wailed and released its grip on her, the tentacle in her throat withdrawing and making her wretch. She collapsed to her knees gasping for breath as the Grogan gripped at its head, stumbling around disorientated.

Maddie heard the Groich make another grab for her with one of its tentacles and she rolled out of the way toward her axe, grabbing it and getting to her feet. She ran toward the Grogan and swung the blade at its neck. Its head flew from its body, the Groich's tooth still embedded in it, and rolled along the floor. A geiser of dark black blood spurted from the creatures neck, spraying over her before its huge body fell with a thud to the ground.

Now the Groich was really pissed, its tentacles whipping around violently as it screeched like some kind of leviathan at seeing its child decapitated. But Maddie was more pissed off, and she turned to face the creature unafraid.

'Alright Cthulhu,' she hissed angrily. 'Now it's your turn.'

Maddie leapt forward dodging, one of the Groich's tentacles before hacking at it with her axe dismembering it. She did the same with the other tentacles until the monster was completely tentacleless and looked up at the writhing mass of flesh above her which was shuddering angrily as the stubs of its arms recoiled in on themselves. Maddie, with one final swing, dug her axe blade into the fleshy body of the Groich above her and sliced it open with an angry scream. The creatures' toxic guts poured out of it, showering her in foul smelling innards as the Groich let out its last scream and stopped moving. Once the outpour had stopped, the smell was so bad that she couldn't stop herself from vomiting violently. It was like nothing Maddie and ever smelled before, the mixture of demon guts and polluted sewage making for an unholy combination.

It took Maddie a minute to stop herself from retching and get herself to her feet. She had done it, if only by the skin of her teeth. Tommy was right, she should have brought back up. That had been too close for her liking and that realisation made her stomach turn. Did she have this in her anymore?

She didn't have time to dwell on this now and she looked around her and saw the Grogan's head in the corner and went over to pick it up. She remembered Zach had asked her to bring proof that she had killed the beasts. The head should give the guy a nasty shock, the thought bringing a smile to her face; and the guts she was currently covered in was proof enough that the Groich was dead. The smile stretched her face muscles and made the cuts of her face throb agonisingly and it was then that she felt a large split in her lip and that her left eye was beginning to swell and close up. Great, I must look a bloody picture of beauty, though Maddie bitterly.

Maddie figured she wouldn't be able to exit the way she came in through the slippery pipe so she headed down a pipe that she could see was slanting uphill. She followed it a short way until she neared the surface and could feel a blast of cool air blow in from manhole cover above her. She opened the manhole and climbed out into another shipyard. The coast was thankfully clear, and she replaced the manhole cover before finding her way out of the yard onto the road. She realised she was a short walk away from where Isiah should be and made her way quickly in that direction. It must be nearing an hour since she had gone into the tunnels and the last thing she wanted was for Isiah to make that call to Tommy. She felt the slime and guts covering her begin to dry to her clothes and skin, the cuts on her face stinging painfully. God did she need a bath.

She rounded the corner and spotted the phone booth in the distance, the small light inside illuminating Isiah inside who was holding the receiver to his ear. Shit! Maddie started running toward him, her axe in hand and the Grogan's head tucked under her arm. Isiah must have heard her approach and squinted into the darkness in her direction. Maddie raised her axe so that he could tell it was her and she saw his face relax and begin talking urgently into the phone. By the time she reached him he had put the phone down and got out the booth to meet her. As soon as he was within a few feet of her he recoiled, spotting the head under her arm before covering his nose and coughing with disgust. Oh dear, this was going to be unpleasant car ride home.

'Don't even bother asking,' grumbled Maddie. 'Just please… take me home.'