CHAPTER SEVEN
THE NAME OF MY FOE

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Surprise followed Kate's words as everyone tried to wrap their heads around everything that she'd said. Not only was this woman a previous lover of Killian's, but she knew what they were facing and, presumably, who was behind it. Josie had to set aside the anger-fueled desire that sprang up at hearing those words to attack Kate. If she did that, they wouldn't be able to find out what she knew.

As they were reeling from what Kate had said, Regina and Eugene finally joined them and let them know that the other group was on their way. They quickly filled the two of them in on what they'd learned before turning back to Kate, waiting for her to elaborate.

"Well?" Josie said impatiently as the moment dragged on. "Do not leave us in suspense."

"Her name is Morgana," Kate said. "Morgana le Fay."

"I do not recognize that name," Josie said, turning to Henry, Regina and Robin. "Do you?"

"She's connected to the stories of King Arthur, but when we met him, no one mentioned her," Henry said.

"What do you mean by stories?" she asked.

"Remember what I said about authors?"

"Ah, indeed." Josie turned back to Kate. "The witch is called Morgana, then. Why does she have my father? Is she the one that has my father?"

Kate nodded. "She has Abraham, as well as Zelena and the baby."

"What does she want with them?"

"I... I don't know," Kate admitted, looking down. "She didn't tell me what her real plan is. When I saw her fighting the people that were with Killian, she looked... like she was willing to torture them all. And that wasn't what I signed up for."

"What did you sign up for then?" Regina asked.

"I believed that part of her motivation was truly to help me, and that bringing the two worlds together was about consolidating the magic both worlds possessed. Morgana said a single man, she called him her lover, had banished her to Nightmoor. He was the only person that she was after."

"Power and revenge," Eugene said. "Not uncommon motives."

"What does my daughter have to do with power and revenge?" Robin demanded.

"I don't know, I'm sorry," Kate said. "Perhaps she was only taken because she was with Zelena when Morgana took her. Perhaps she was only taken as leverage to get Zelena to do what she wants, for I don't believe that someone called the Wicked Witch of the West would allow herself to be taken easily. But as I said, it turns out I don't know her true plan."

"I sense a grain of truth within this lie, and also that it was fabricated to get you on her side," Josie said. "Why would she be motivated to help you?"

"After Killian and I... after we split up, I was in a dark place. Angry, full of loathing, broken-hearted. I fell into dark magic. I tried this spell and it backfired, instead of transporting me to another world where I could escape, I was trapped between," Kate explained. "Morgana's spell to bring the two worlds together saved me. As the worlds were one, I was no longer trapped, split between two different places."

"Well, it's an interesting story," Regina said, crossing her arms. "But what does it mean?"

"Kate's going to help us," Killian said, looking over at her and giving her a small smile.

"Killian convinced me that I could leave Morgana, that I should."

"Yes, but will you be of use now?" Josie questioned. "Morgana's prisoners, my father, Zelena and the baby, how are they? Are they... alive?"

Josie was almost afraid of the answer that Kate would give her to the question, but she needed to know. If Kate was the only person that knew whether her father was alive and well, she needed to know. It had to be better than not knowing.

"Injured, Morgana isn't a kind jailer, but they are alive," Kate confirmed.

"Oh, thank goodness," Josie said, leaning against one of the columns of the gazebo as the relief washed through her.

"Tell them what else," Killian encouraged Kate.

"There's something else?" Robin asked.

"Morgana doesn't know I've... switched sides," Kate said. "She just knows I took Killian and disappeared. If I go back, I might be able to let them all go."

The relief that Josie had previously felt at finally knowing that her father was alive and what had happened paled in comparison to the hope that now flooded through her at the possibility of her father coming home soon. At having a way to get him home. Tears filled her eyes and she turned away from everyone, leaning against the railing next to the column she'd fallen against and pulling in a stuttering breath.

She wasn't going to have to tell her mother and sister that she had failed both them and her father by not being able to find him alive. She wouldn't have to live the rest of her life knowing that she never lived up to her father's expectations of her by not being able to hold the weight of the responsibility that he carried every single day.

As she blinked back her tears, she felt a hand on her arm and turned to see Henry standing next to her. He didn't say anything but she could see in his face that he was asking if she was okay.

"I'm going to get my father back," she managed, biting her lip as more tears filled her eyes.

"I told you we'd figure this out," Henry said with a warm smile.

Taking a deep breath, Josie wiped her eyes and turned back to the others. Oliver and Eugene gave her a smile and she could see that there was relief in their expressions as well. They were happy that their boss was going to be okay, too.

"I'll do what I can to get the three prisoners released," Kate said.

"You can do this, Kate," Killian assured her, giving her hand a squeeze before letting go.

With a smile, Kate took a step back and with a wave of her hand, she disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving them alone in the gazebo. There was a moment of silence before they heard the sound of people running and turned to see the other group running across the park toward them.

"What happened?" Emma asked.

"Killian, are you alright?" Snow asked.

"I'm fine," Killian promised.

Nicholai pushed his way through to get to Josie, James close behind him. He read her expression easily and, without knowing what had happened, quickly pulled her into a hug. She felt herself relax in her friend's embrace for a moment, feeling further reassured.

"What happened?" Nicholai asked her.

"They— She... I'm gonna get my father back," Josie told him.

"You found him?" James asked.

"What about Zelena and the baby?" Emma asked.

They quickly explained about Kate and what they had learned from her. Everyone was relieved that they finally had a solid lead and Josie couldn't help but feel for the first time, a hunt under a blood moon had turned out good.

"I want to go look through my father's files," Josie said.

"Why?" Oliver asked.

"Morgana lured my father out of our home. Whether it was her who knocked on the door or she sent someone else, she specifically wanted to him to lure him away. There has to be a reason for that. And if I do not recognize the name..."

"You hope it's someone your father never told you about," Henry said.

"Hope may not be the word, I do not hope that my father failed to tell me about anyone he believed to be so dangerous he would chase them out of our home," Josie clarified. "But there is a part of me that believes that to be so. If there is a file on Morgana's connection to my father, it will be in his office."

"Finding out why your dad was taken might explain why my sister and Marian were taken," Regina said.

"Precisely," Josie said. "I would like to detour from our patrols and go through my father's files."

"Is that a good idea?" David asked.

"If you mean because we will have fewer people on the streets, I intend to have only two people go. Myself and Henry. Someone can join our previous group so that the two are even again," she explained.

"I don't know about that," Emma said.

"Yeah, I don't like the idea of the two of you on your own," Regina agreed.

"I routinely make hunts and patrols on my own," Josie defended. "Henry will be safe with me and as a small group, we will be able to move quickly and quietly. I would not be surprised if we encountered no dangers on our journey. Especially with two larger groups out there, attracting more attention."

"Why don't you take Nicholai with you, then?" Regina asked.

"Nicholai has no more knowledge of this witch than I. Henry, on the other hand, is the author. He knows the stories of Morgana. If I find something that does not reference her by name, I may set it aside and we will have no more information. Whereas if Henry is with me, he could recognize something and we will have more information to go off of."

"Surely anything that mentions a dangerous witch will give you an indication."

Josie laughed. "I believe you are underestimating the number of witches my father has faced and how dangerous the magic of Nightmoor can be."

"Mom," Henry said. "It's okay. I'll be safe with Josie."

Regina sighed and looked at her son carefully before looking back at Josie. "Fine. But... please be careful. Both of you. And Henry, call us if anything goes sideways, okay?"

"I will do the utmost in my power to protect him, I promise."

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Just as she had suspected, the journey to the van Helsing office was quiet and uneventful. They ran into no vampires or other creatures that would do them harm. And after a small detour to help a man that Henry knew get back to his home and somewhere safe, the two teenagers arrived at the building.

The office was locked down the way it was every night so that none with ill intentions could get inside. As Henry tried the door handle, Josie knelt down and opened her case, pulling a skeleton key out of the small, secret pocket. She reached up and slid the key into the lock before turning back to her case and closing it. Once she was standing, she unlocked the door and then opened it.

"How secure is that?" Henry asked.

"Quite, we cannot have just anyone coming in while no one is here," Josie said.

"But wouldn't any vampire be able to get their hands on a skeleton key and get in?"

"The door handle is made of silver," she explained as they climbed the stairs. "Silver is a pure metal and burns vampires when it touches them. It is also why any mirrors back in silver will not show a vampire's reflection."

"I thought silver was for werewolves," Henry said with a joking tone.

"Yes, for some of the same reasons. As a pure metal, it doesn't take kindly to most creatures. Werewolves, while not in control of their actions in their bestial form, are still considered unholy and cursed creatures. While in their human form, silver will have no effect. Most wolves that seek to control their other form construct cages for themselves out of silver. The metal will hurt them as a beast, but they can easily let themselves in and out of their cages in human form."

"Wait, werewolves are real?" Henry asked.

"Very. Though we do not hunt those that who wish to do no harm to the innocent."

"What else is real?" he asked.

"Well," Josie began as they came to the second door. "I have hunted vampires, werewolves and witches. Unrest spirits of all kinds are quite common. I helped my father hunt a nightmare demon when I was eleven. My father's specialty is vampires and they are among the most common so that is our main job."

"What about banshees?"

"They do not often require being hunted," Josie explained, sliding the skeleton key into the lock of the second keyhole. "Most often they just roam the forests, getting closer to where they sense death and screaming before it comes to pass."

Josie opened the second door, revealing the silver panel that protected the entryway. Slipping the key into her pocket, Josie reached out and, using the small handle, slid the panel up to unlock it and then pushed it back so it swung up.

"Don't break the salt line," Josie instructed, stepping over it herself.

As Henry entered behind her, Josie continued pushing the silver panel around until it hit the wall and she clicked it into its resting place. Now with them both inside, Josie pulled the door closed and hit the switch on the wall that activated the gas lamps and illuminated the entire office.

Henry was lingering near the two desks at the back of the main room and looking around, taking in the whole office. Josie shrugged off her coat and laid it across the back of one of the chairs they had in the front of the room for clients to wait on, setting her case down on the floor next to it.

"Alright, so my father's office is the one at the back there. My office is here on the right, and it adjoins to Nicholai's room. If we have need to go there, please don't be alarmed by the coffin, he prefers to sleep at the office most nights. The conference room and the bathroom are there on the left if you have need of it," Josie explained, pointing out each room.

"Nicholai sleeps in a coffin?" Henry asked.

"Believe it or not, he finds them more comfortable than beds," Josie said with a small laugh. "Now come, my father's office is where we will find his files."

Gesturing for her to go first, Josie passed him to the door that lead to her father's office and opened the door. Inside, she passed her father's desk to the cabinet on the wall behind it, pulling open the doors and grabbing the boxes of files, putting them on her father's desk for them to begin going through.

The two made themselves comfortable in Abraham van Helsing's office and began quickly flipping through the old files that were labelled as having to do with a witch. It was slow going work, but it was important nonetheless. Josie found that there were more cases that her father had never told her about than she would have thought. Though he had been a hunter from before she was born, from before he was married, she had been allowed to go through his old case files and learn from them. None had been off limits.

Or so she'd thought.

She had spent much time going through the files, not just in her training, but in the time she'd been working, wanting to be as informed as possible. Her father always said that she could go in and retrieve files whenever she wanted, even when he wasn't in the office. She had never seen some of these files.

Finally, Henry jumped up from where he'd been sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall, placing a file down in front of her, right over the one that she'd been reading.

"I think I found it," he told her, excitedly.

"Does it mention Morgana?" she asked, quickly looking over the page.

"Not by name. But it mentions a witch from another world. Your father asked her to identify herself and she listed off a bunch of names, but he specifically notes being the archenemy of both a sorcerer she helped turn into a tree and a king with a broken sword," he explained, pointing out where this was written on the page.

"Why do you believe this to be our foe?" she asked.

"Frank said she wanted revenge on those who freed Merlin, right?" he asked. Josie nodded. "Not only are Morgana and Merlin enemies in the old stories, but we met Merlin. After we freed him from being turned into a tree."

"And the king with the broken sword?"

"King Arthur, her main enemy in the stories. Merlin was a kind of advisor to him, they said. When we met King Arthur, his legendary sword, Excalibur, was broken because the end of it had been turned into the Dark One dagger."

"Frank mentioned that as well."

"Your father did know Morgana."

"But what happened when they met?" Josie questioned, looking back up at the top of her father's notes.

"It does mention that someone named Elsa Bloodstone worked with—"

A knock on the office door cut Henry off and the two of them looked up at it before exchanging a suspicious glance. Josie got up first, putting herself in front of Henry as they exited out of the office. She grabbed her crossbow from where she had put it down upon entering and, as they approached the front door, Josie ushered Henry behind her once again.

There was another knock on the door, this one just a little more impatient than the first, just as Josie reached for the door handle. Taking a deep breath, she pushed the door open, keeping her crossbow up as it swung open, revealing the figure on the other side.

Josie immediately recognized him. From the pale and almost hollow skin to the deep bags under his dark eyes and the slightly emancipated frame made more apparent by the way he stood with his hands clasped behind his back, Josie was more than familiar with this man. Part of her wasn't surprised that he was here, but part of her was, as she usually wasn't approached without Nicholai with her.

"Renfield," Josie sighed, lowering her crossbow. "To what do I owe this displeasure?"

"A message from my master," he croaked.

"And what does he want?"

"His family back," Renfield snarled.

Her expression dropped into a glare. "If he wants his son back, he should ask him himself. No matter what he deludes himself into thinking, I am not holding Nicholai hostage. He left the castle of his own accord and came to us of his own free will, as much as his father tried to stomp that out of existence."

"The Viscount isn't with you?" Renfield asked, craning his head around to see further into the office.

"Believe it or not, we are not attached at the hip."

Renfield snarled at her again and he stepped closer to the doorframe, his body language angry and threatening. Josie stood her ground, keeping her glare fixed on him.

"There's nothing to fear, Henry," Josie said, turning her head briefly to look at him over her shoulder. "We're safe on this side of the salt line."

"He's a vampire?" Henry asked.

"No, actually. Dear Renfield hasn't proven himself to his master enough to earn it. Despite his fierce loyalty to the Count, he won't turn him," Josie taunted him. "But even if he is not undead, he has still been made unholy. He can't cross the salt line."

Her talking so casually about his greatest desire which always seemed to be just out of reach made Renfield even angrier. So much so that it was almost radiating off of him in waves. Josie smirked.

"You cannot stay in there forever," Renfield snapped. "There are some benefits to not being one of the glorious undead and one of them is that the sun will not harm me. I can wait forever."

"You're not in Nightmoor anymore," Henry said, stepping up next to Josie and pulling something out of his pocket, a small item she recognized as what he'd called a cellphone. "I can call for help in two seconds. Within minutes, there'll be a dozen people here and you'll be outnumbered."

"This isn't over! My master will have what he desires!"

"Your master can rot in hell for all I care!"

With a final snarl, Renfield hit the outside of the doorframe to try and make them flinch before he turned away and disappeared from sight.