~Claire~

The dim light of the room did little to hide the disbelief on the werewolf's face. The man held up the small vile to the light, his brows pulled tight on his forehead. "And you're sure this should protect my boys from those blood-suckers from smelling them?"

Sighing, Claire nodded her head for the umpteenth time. "Yes, this will mask your scent enough that the vampires won't be able to smell you coming. And, again, the sigils I've written on all of your tags should keep your feet quiet, too."

The man nodded again but he certainly didn't look convinced. A hand on his shoulder stopped anymore questions, though. Ephram looked at the man with a brow raised. "You heard her, now get going. I thought Isaac wanted your group out of here ten minutes ago?"

Grumbling under his breath, the wolf left the room without another word. Once the door swung shut, Claire sighed heavily. She would've fell back against the table but Ephram's strong arms caught her first, holding her close to his chest.

"You're exhausted, you really need to rest for a while. Isaac has no use for a dead witch and neither do I." His chest rumbled as he spoke from where her ear was pushed against it. The warmth of his body was lulling her into a state of calm like it always did. But she had too much to do.

Gently pushing herself off him, she turned back to the table. It was littered with ingredients for the spells that Abby had sent to her. Spells that her father had left in his books for her to find. Ways to keep the werewolves quiet to hyper-sensitive ears. Help them to heal even faster than they already did. Mask their scents. So many ways to help the pack on this side of the Atlantic and Claire was the only one able to do any of it. They needed more help. They needed more witches.

Just the other day, she had spent hours charming tags that could be worn around their necks to silence their footfalls. Ephram was right — she was exhausted. But she couldn't stop. For some reason, the simple magic she was doing was taking more of a toll on her than it used to. She wanted to ask Abby about it but hadn't been able to give her a call recently. That would mean stopping long enough to actually pick up her phone.

"If I don't do this, no one will. This is the only way I can help you guys fight off the vampires. The only way I can help protect anyone. I have to do what I can." She started gathering ingredients for another batch of the scent blocker when Ephram's arms came around her shoulders. Gently, he took the bits out of her hands and turned her around.

When she was facing him again, his hands rested on her chin and lifted her eyes to look at him. Those hazel eyes that she had grown to love so much were full of worry for her. She hated making him worry. "I know, love. I know you need to help. I know you need to feel useful. But you're killing yourself. I can see it; Isaac can see it. Hell, I'm pretty sure even Abby could hear it in your voice last week when you took the time to call her." His thumbs rubbed softly against her cheeks. "You can only help if you take care of yourself, first. Hmm?"

She sighed. He was right, of course. Her own body was trying to tell her that she needed to relax but her brain wouldn't let her. How could she stop when there was so much at stake? Leaning forward, she laid her forehead on his chest and felt his arms circle her waste, holding her close.

"Time for a rest, please?"

As best she could, with her head against him, she nodded. Maybe things would look better and less bleak after she slept a few hours. But not too many hours. She'd set an alarm. Maybe two.

As they headed out of the store room, located in one of Isaac's many safe houses, she wondered if she'd even make it to the room they had been occupying. Then they walked into the living room area and all thoughts of sleep vanished for the moment.

There were Faye in the house, speaking to Isaac.

~~~

They all stood in the room, having no places to actually sit down. The living room in this safe house had become a meeting room, all of the furniture moved out. Claire couldn't decide if she'd find it stranger to have three Faye sitting on the ninety's floral couches or not.

It was clear that they had interrupted a conversation, Issac had stopped mid-sentence when she and Ephram had walked into the room. Giving them a nod, he then turned his attention back to the Faye.

The Faye in question laid eyes on her before he spoke. But even before he started speaking, Claire knew exactly who had eyes like that. Abby had told her about the man enough to paint a thorough picture.

"We've been sending ambassadors, if you will, to areas where we believe we have allies. The only way we're going to win this is by working together. Something we haven't done in quite some time."

Claire listened to him speak but inside she was having trouble believing that she was speaking to Elazar. The Elazar. The man who taught Abby everything she knew. The man who knew Abby's father and held a seat on the Council of Elders. She had heard so many stories of this man and yet she never in her wildest dreams thought she'd meet him. Ephram's hand on her back brought her attention back outside of herself.

Isaac stood with his arms crossed and a guarded expression on his face. "Yes, it has been a while. But that's because the Faye decided to shut everyone else out."

Claire cringed. Leave it to Issac to be so blunt. Expecting an outburst or some harsh words — something the Faye were known for — Claire was surprised when all Elazar did was incline his head a fraction. Although she did see one of the other Faye tense up.

"You are correct. We did seclude ourselves away and ignore the world but our mistake has been brought to the light, as it were. We have our Abigail to thank for that." It was a minuscule change, but Claire caught the way his features softened just slightly as he spoke of Abby.

She couldn't help but smile herself, "She is pretty incredible."

Blue eyes found her own but they weren't at all chilling like she had expected them to be. They were almost warm, like the waters off a tropical island. "That she is. And it appears that she's been passing on some of her knowledge to you." He gestured to one of the wolves standing off in the edges of the room, one of tags she had enchanted around his neck. "I don't recall teaching her that trick while she was my guest in the Forest."

"You didn't. She found it in the books her father left her."

"Ah," his eyes glanced at the ground briefly before lifting again, "that makes much more sense. Thaliyunn was planning for this fight long ago."

Her brows pulled together, unable to keep her confusion of the situation hidden any longer. "I don't mean to sound rude, but why are you all here, now? I understand needing to find allies — we all do — but why now?"

"Because, the High Forest has been destroyed. The Faye are at war with themselves. And the magic we all hold dear, the magic that runs through your very veins, is disappearing."

The intense physical toll it had been taking her to do simple spells suddenly made a whole lot more sense. Ephram's hand found hers, squeezing it reassuringly. "Is there any way to stop it?"

"Hopefully, Abigail is doing that as we speak, if my letter has found its way to her yet. But the only way we can bring our magic back from the brink is to stop all this useless death."

A wolf behind Isaac scoffed, "Them first."

A grumble of agreements went through the room; Isaac's brows pulled tighter on his forehead. Elazar sighed and for a moment looked much more human than Faye. "I didn't say it would be easy. But it must be done or we will be far worse off than we already are."

Meeting Ephram's eye briefly, Claire took a step closer to Elazar, bringing herself a little more between them and the wolves in the room. "I have an idea but I'm not sure it's possible and I have no idea where to even start."

A small smile played in the corners of Elazar's mouth. "Well, I'm all ears. I think some new ideas would be very useful right now."

Unable to decide if what she was about to say was actually going to help or simply make the atmosphere in the room worse, she took a deep breath and focused on Ephram's hand still in hers. "We need to find more witches. We need more help."