Every cloud was sweeping briskly across the faded blue of the sky. Winter hadn’t yet cast its gray tinge to the horizon, but the autumn sky had lost the vividness of summer. The air was crisp, like kicking off a warm blanket in the night and having the cold air grab you. The shadows on the ground had already changed their positions as October was winding down and November was getting dressed and ready to start its reign. The leaves were turning gold and orange now, and everything around was bursting in warm colors to shield against the coming cold. Yasmine and Seth were walking through the woods of the Blanchard property, marveling at the beauty around.

  Seth took notice of his intended as she stood beneath the branches full of fall color. “You look pretty enough to marry.”

  “Oh, you’re not my type,” she quipped.

  “And just what exactly is your type?”

  “Skinny. Latino. Or older, maybe. Yeah, old man. Rich enough to give me a carpet of gold to walk over.”

  “You want carpets of gold?” Seth smirked.

  “I wouldn’t turn it down.”

  He kissed her softly. “I love you. I love you so much, you ridiculous little idiot. And you should have carpets of gold.”

  Seth raised his arms to the sky and brought them down with a whoosh to his sides. Yasmine stood in bewilderment as a splendorous sight began. A gentle wind came by, loosening the leaves from the many trees above them—loosening only the leaves of yellow and gold. Slowly each leaf dwindled its way down, fluttering to gently fall upon the path before them. Above her, leaves of red and orange still clung to their limbs like a canopy of rich color. At her feet, stretching out down the path, lay her carpet of gold.

  She laughed. She leaned into the chest of the man she loved as he wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his face into her neck. “I sometimes forget I’m marrying a witch. To me, you’re just my stupid cousin—that I’ve been in love with all my life.”

  “I promise to stay stupid for you.”

  She jerked around, as if realizing something for the first time. “My children will be witches.”

  “Yeah,” Seth nodded. “You just figuring that out?”

  “I never really thought about that before,” Yasmine said. “How do I discipline a child that can hurl me across the room?”

  “You’ll have me to whoop their ass if they do that,” Seth smirked.

  They walked along the golden path a while, holding hands. Yasmine stopped after a few yards and asked, “Are you sure you want to marry me? You’re a full-blooded witch. I’m just a regular person. Your kids’ powers will be diluted by me. What could your children be like if they had a witch for a mother?”

  “My kids would probably be thoroughly unhappy because their dad would be miserably married to someone he didn’t love.”

  Yasmine began to cry. “Seth Blanchard, you can sometimes be the sweetest man on this earth. It shocks me every time.”

  He took her in his arms and kissed her passionately. “Yaz, I’d do anything for you. The idea that I get to spend my entire life loving you, teasing you, making love to you—I don’t know I got that damn lucky. I don’t care about witches and family blood. I’d bind my powers in a second and run off with you and be just normal people working at a Waffle House, if that’s what it took to get to spend my life with you.”

  She was definitely crying now. Crying and smiling and laughing as he held her tightly against him. “Seth,” she finally said looking up into his eyes with her tear-stained face. “I’ll meet you at the gazebo next week. I’ll be the one in the veil shaking, because I’ll be getting everything I have ever wanted in this life.”

  Walking into the kitchen after their romantic stroll, Seth and Yasmine were still lost among each other and paying very little attention to anything they were walking into. It was only when they heard the words coming out of Demitra’s mouth that they pulled apart and listened to what was going on.

  “There’s been another murder,” Demitra grimaced. “In Cottondale this time.”

  Yasmine’s joy disintegrated and replaced upon her face was a look of concern. “That’s only about twenty minutes from here.”

  “Patric is still around then,” Seth said, now pacing the floor.

  Beryl was looking out the window, but not at anything in particular, her thoughts were strictly cerebral. Then something occurred to her. The possibility of it had come before, but she’d dismissed it. Now, it seemed worth imparting. “It doesn’t mean it’s Patric,” she said to the others.

  “Not Patric?” Seth cried. “Then who?”

  Turning from the window to face them, Beryl asked, “Don’t you remember? You’re the one who pointed it out. It could be that patient I had who was attacked. Lana Leighton. Last night the moon was full. It could have been her.”

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “What do we do?” Seth asked.

  “I don’t know,” Beryl said. “Do we have the right to go after her? I am a doctor. My job is saving lives, not ending them. And we aren’t the police.”

  “But the police can’t stop a werewolf,” Demitra offered. “I think it is actually our job to go after her. This could become an epidemic if left unchecked. I think it’s our duty to protect the Natural Order by stopping this creature—both creatures.”

  Beryl knew she was right. True, she was sworn to an oath to save lives and do no harm--but that was meant for people. A werewolf was no longer people, and her obligations as a witch were just as important as her obligations as a physician.

  “If we could find them,” Beryl said. “I can get her address from the hospital record.”

  “Get it,” Seth suggested. “You, Yazzy, and I will pay a little visit to your patient.”

  Acquiring Miss Leighton’s address was simple. However, the moment Seth pulled the car up to the little house on Matthews Street, Yasmine recognized it immediately. She’d run from that house just a few weeks ago after sticking a fork into the leg of the man she’d been dating when he got just a little too aggressive.

  “What the fuck Yaz!” Seth shouted from the driver’s seat as Yasmine quickly told them the story. “Why am I only now hearing about this? Jake tried to rape you!”

  “I handled it,” Yasmine answered. “I got out of here and got back home.”

  “You handled it,” Seth huffed. “You handled it. This man tried to rape you, and you stabbed him with a fork?!”

  “It worked,” she smiled meekly.

  Seth Blanchard was livid. He wanted to kill Jake and he wanted to shake Yasmine for being so naive and endangering herself. “A man like that is crazy, Yasmine!” Seth yelled. “What makes you think he won’t come after you again? Hell, he’s probably really pissed now. This is shit you should have told me!”

  “Could you two fight over this later?” Beryl called out from the back seat. “Yazzy is fine. She took care of herself like all women have to do at some point or another. Let’s just focus on the task at hand.”

  “Don’t you think it’s a mighty big coincidence that Yaz’s boyfriend lives here with your werewolf patient?”

  “Let’s just go knock on the door.”

  When Jake came to the door, Beryl opened her mouth to ask for Lana. Unfortunately, before she had an opportunity to ask anything, Seth’s fist landed squarely into Jake’s face, knocking him backward into the house. Seth charged in and wasted no time in targeting a barrage of blows at the man on the floor.

  “Seth! Seth stop!” both Yasmine and Beryl pleaded.

  Seth did not stop. Jake’s bloody face looked upon them in stunned disbelief as Seth pummeled him. Finally, Yasmine flung herself onto her fiancé’s arm in an attempt to prevent mortal injuries. Seth pushed her off but stopped punching Jake, who now laid covered in his own blood on the floor of his living room.

  “You touch Yasmine again and I will kill you, you sorry son of a bitch!” Seth roared. He turned to Beryl and, still heaving from rage, said, “Ask him your fucking questions.”

  Jake said nothing. He simply laid in place, frightened--seething with a mixture of outrage and pain. He wiggled two of his now broken front teeth, pulling one out completely. Beryl stepped forward and tried to act like nothing crazy had just taken place.

  “Hi, Jake,” she smiled in an unfruitful way to soften the mood. “I am Dr. Blanchard. I am looking for a patient of mine who left the hospital last month. Her name is Lana Leighton. This was the address listed on her insurance information.”

  Jake was still in shock at the recent chain of events. After innocently opening his front door, he had been violently attacked by his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend. He didn’t respond to Beryl’s question. Still wriggling his one remaining front tooth and simultaneously choking on blood in his throat, he looked up at them in disbelief.

  “Answer her!” Seth screamed charging back towards him.

  “Wait! Wait!” Jake stuttered. “Give me a second.” His “s’s” made a whistling sound now when he spoke, thanks to the missing tooth. “Lana moved out a while ago. I don’t know where she lives now.”

  “How do you know her?” Beryl asked.

  “We were together for a while. We moved here together. But she left when we broke up.”

  “Did you used to mistreat her, too?” Seth growled.

  “Seth, stop,” Yasmine said.

  “I don’t know where Lana is,” Jake repeated. “I haven’t seen her since Yasmine and I went out.” He looked up at Yasmine, who was standing behind Seth, gripping his arm. “You’re marrying your fucking cousin, huh?”

  Seth charged forward again, pulled back by Yasmine. “Talk to her one more time! I fucking dare you. Say one more word to her!”

  “Let’s go,” Beryl demanded.

  “I’m gonna have you arrested!” Jake yelled at Seth. “This is assault.”

  “What you tried to do to me was assault, too,” Yasmine yelled back.

  “But you can’t prove it,” Jake shouted. “Look at my face! I can get your asshole boyfriend/cousin put in jail a long time for this. Then I’ll get you, you little tease bitch!”

  Suddenly Seth jumped loose of Yasmine’s grip and bounded on top of Jake again. There was not a surface of the room that Seth did not either toss Jake’s broken body into or punch him up against. When the fight, (if you could call one man beating another man almost to death, a fight) was over, Jake laid on the floor, bones broken, face crushed in by Seth’s relentless blows. Jake was dying. Beaten and torn, his flesh split open across his face from Seth’s knuckles. Seth stepped aside and allowed Beryl to come forward. She laid her healing hands upon Jake’s body and within a few seconds, her power restored him to his pre-brawl condition. He lay on the floor, astounded by the events. His clothes and the carpet around the room were drenched in his own blood which had poured from wounds that were no longer there. Even his teeth were back in place in his mouth.

  “There goes your evidence,” Beryl grinned.

  Jake lay there, unable to comprehend what was happening. Something from within reached up and gripped him. A paralyzing fear of what all had just taken place. These people were not normal. Were they even mortal? Never at any time during his relationship with Yasmine had he any hint that her family were superhuman. Seth just nearly killed him, and then Yasmine’s other cousin inexplicably wiped his injuries away. How was this possible? What kind of power had he just tangled with?

  “What-what are you people?”

  “You walked away without a mark this time,” Seth warned. “But I think now you know what’ll happen if I ever see you come near Yasmine again. Next time, my cousin won’t be around to fix you.”

  Seth grabbed Yasmine by the arm and led her back to the car. Beryl glanced around the battlefield of the living room. A wooden chair that might have previously been a rocker, was now a broken mass of spindles, a seat, and one in-tact curved piece. A set of glass shelves lay toppled over. Broken shards sprinkled like glass snow over the knick knacks which once sat atop them. Blood dripped from furniture upholstery and a tiny section of window drapes. Beryl looked down to the man she had just healed.

  “If you see Lana, will you please ask her to contact Dr. Blanchard at Daihmler County Hospital? Thank you so much.” She shut the door behind her, and the Blanchard cousins pulled away from the curb.