Lost

Claire stared at the cup of tea in front of her and waited.
She had no idea where she was, the car had been blacked out and she soon lost her sense of direction in the cramped streets of London. How long they had travelled was a mystery until she had been let out of the car into an underground car park and then to this room. The men who had taken Claire would not answer any of her questions and she had found that her magic was being blocked. That scared her, nothing mortal could stop her from working the craft or communicating with her sisters and now she wondered if the whole thing was connected to what Lilith had showed Dani and herself.
The things they had decided not to tell the boys.
The things they hadn’t even told Raven as the knowledge came from a very dark place.
Lilith’s vision had been vague in some ways but horribly specific in others. A witch would be forced into view in some way, forced to make the two realms of the mortal and the mystic meet and this confrontation had the potential to lead to the destruction of both worlds. It had been fiery and pointed very much at the witches seemingly from both prophesies that existed before the burning times and from Lilith’s dark side.
Not that Claire had wanted to share that detail.
There were still some trust issues between Lilith and her family if Claire was completely honest. Her sister expected and accepted it, not as upset as Claire herself was sometimes about the times Jimmy and Matt would cast a certain look in her direction. Zacky had become even more protective of both of them and none of them dared to draw Syn’s attention to it but Claire didn’t want to add fire to those particular flames and Raven had taken the brunt of the fallout the last time.
“Hello Claire.”
The man stared at her as he closed the door to the interview room. It was amazing and unnerving to look at the beautiful redhead in front of him. She was dressed simply in a black dress and leather jacket, no trace of what she was visible and yet he had been told that she had unbelievable power. He had also been warned that while those powers would not currently be available to her, never underestimate the witch.
“My name is Frank Iero, I work for the Ministry of Defence.”
Claire stared at the man, his mere presence irritated and she asked the only question that interested her. He shifted nervously, a young man who reminded her strangely of her lover but in a badly fitting grey suit that Zack would never had been seen in dead or alive.
“Where is Zacky?”
“I can’t comment on that at this time. We need to discuss…”
The man’s words were cut off as Claire lunged, her hand grabbing his hair and slamming his face into the table several times before letting go. He fell from the chair and grabbed his nose where she had broken it, blood flowing between his fingers and splattering onto the floor.
“You have temporarily removed my magic but I live with five extremely violent men and they taught me well. Now, where is Zacky?”
Frank stuttered and picked himself up from the floor. He knew his superiors had given him this job as a test and so far he was failing. Claire paced the room, a caged tiger and now the boy believed all he had been told.
“We never had him. We needed to talk to you.”
She pounced again, her foot around his ankle sending him crashing into the wall and Claire slammed his head into it several times until the boy lost consciousness. She was breathing hard and looked around, knowing there had to be a camera somewhere. There was both relief that Zacky was fine and annoyance that she had been fooled.
“Right, cut the crap and send in the organ grinder and not the monkey.”
There was a pause and Claire paced, kicking the boy occasionally until the door opened again and two men dragged him out. They were followed by a grey haired older man in a much better suit who stared at Claire critically. It was loathing at first sight.
“We were not stupid enough to try and take a reaper rather than a witch.”
“I am both. So you know what we are, what do you want?”
The man motioned to her to sit and Claire did so, watching him closely. He didn’t seem afraid and yet she noticed he kept his distance from her much more than the boy had. She allowed herself to picture Zacky ripping him to pieces before listening as he spoke.
“I am Charles Short, the Minister in charge of defence in the United Kingdom. I want to know about the threat that you could pose to this country.”
Claire laughed shortly.
“Threat? My family has saved your life a couple of times. We don’t need to explain ourselves to you. You’re just a mortal.”
Claire enjoyed the indignation on his face, usually it was Lilith who got to be bluntly rude and it made a nice change. He sat back and stared at her, the room seeming to close in as the tension rose.
“Just a mortal who got you here and has stripped you of your powers.”
“So you had help.”
Short flushed, he didn’t like that she was sitting so calmly and seemingly just as dangerous without the magic. That was not what he had been told to expect and he wondered if the other two witches were like that too. His contact had not been forthcoming on that issue.
“You will work for me and bring your friends in too.”
Claire giggled, her mind could still read his although he had parts that were closed off by something mystical. Parts that the man didn’t realise he wasn’t allowed to access. That intrigued her and she wished that Dani was here to tease it out of him. Or Syn to torture it out of him.
“Your kind is transient, reapers are immortal and have no allegiances to whatever government thinks its in charge. We don’t meddle with you, don’t fuck with us.”
“Great Britain cannot be held hostage!”
They stared at each other, Claire still unable to understand what he hoped to get out of this. Not like they could be forced to cooperate. The mere fact of needing them to work for the government would mean they needed them powerful. Which the reapers would not go along with. She tapped her fingers on the table.
“What is this really about?”
Short smiled thinly and the door opened behind him. Claire stared at the figure, her mind screaming in horror and a realisation that this was so much worse than she had thought as a bright red glare filled the room and her mind. She backed away, shaking her head.
“No, not you….how?”

Notes