Phabel sighed as he unlocked the door, his head was thumping from a terrible morning. The blood lost from Olive's voracious feeding had left him in need of a good dose of blood. Her turn had been perfect, he just wished he had been better prepared and had stocked more blood in his fridge. At least when they arrived at the castle he would be able to feed with little issue. He unlocked the door with a smile, thinking of how she would love his world. As he swung the door open, he knew something was wrong before he saw it, he could feel the dread creeping through him. The room was empty, no Olive. On the chair where he had left her was a note, his note. He picked it up, his words were still there but below it was an addition that made him shudder. All shifters out of Loach Issralk by midnight or she dies. Phabel didn't know whether to get angry or to become a blubbering mess. He stood there shocked, unable to comprehend it. He knew there was only one way that she could have been taken, he had key locked the door which meant there was no way it could be opened from the inside. He stuffed the note into his pocket and stalked to the door, unlocking it and passing into mid jump.

'Phabel?'

He turned to a familiar voice, seeing Josephine looking at him rather confused. Phabel walked to her, he wanted to know why she was so confused. Josie was Miranda's sister, a phoenix that Phabel knew he could trust with his life. She was also a good friend, she had been there the day that Danika had been abducted and was a good dark being to have onside if things turned ugly.

'I have no idea how you did it but I just saw you like five seconds ago. I didn't think the doors could reset that quickly.' she smacked him on the chest 'Why did you ignore me like that?'

'I didn't and the doors don't reset that quickly. It wasn't me. My mate has been abducted, which gate did they use?'

Josie showed him to the gate. There was only one way to go through the gate that had just been used, it wasn't a commonly known function of the computer system that ran the gates. Being that Josie was a phoenix, she knew. She punched in the code and opened the door to a darkened world.

'Where is this?' Phabel whispered.

'I don't know.'

Josie turned to her husband Ethan who had been watching quietly.

'Go and find Miranda, give her this gate code.' she scribbled the number onto a scrap of paper. 'Tell her to hurry with help.'

With a swift kiss, they departed company. Josie and Phabel stepped into the unknown world, where they were they had no clue.

'Have you got something of hers?'

Phabel shook his head, all he had was the stupid note. He was beating himself up over it, he should have called from his office, he should have never left her alone. In his hands was one scrap of paper, tears welling in his eyes.

'Oh hun, don't worry we will find her.' she took the note from him 'You know I'm not one to give up easily.'

She sniffed the note, picking up the distinct scent of a witch on the note. Josie could also smell traces of a newly turned shifter on the note.

'Did you only just turn her?'

Phabel nodded.

'Good, I can use that.'

'How?'

'Look around you Phabel, do you think we are on Elm'nyth any more?'

Phabel knew it was far too lush to be the earth. The trees were ripe with a deep green that the Earth hadn't seen in half a century.

'So we've got a newly turned shifter who still has remnants of her human self in a world where there are no humans. Track her blood Phabel, she is your mate, surely you can detect her at any distance.'

He wiped the tears from his eyes and took a deep breath, finding her scent trail.

'I'm guessing we are in your world Phabel, no witch in their right mind would dare go into a world full of the best trackers.'

Phabel nodded, she was right. Askara'velmanti the werewolf realm was a terrible place to pick if you were planning on hiding someone. A realm full of a creature that could pick your scent from miles away just by turning their head. He thought it was definite that they were in Loach Issralk. Now he regretted not spending more time here, he had no idea about the lay of the land. He had spent such little time here, he had little to offer their search. All he could do was change into a tracking dog and search her out with his nose.

The two of them sniffed the ground, following the scent on the wind as they moved quickly through the forest. It was night time here, making it more difficult to see things but it also made it quieter which Phabel thought was a good thing. If she happened to say something, he would hear it.

**************

Olive trembled as she backed into the corner of the dilapidated and empty room, the walls were brown with wallpaper ripping from one corner. Dust had settled on the bare timber floors, the polish was worn and peeling. The night was cold, as she breathed she could see the puffs rise into the air. Olive thought about making a jump for the window but she knew she wouldn't get far, the dirtied broken glass would shred delicate skin for sure. Phabel paced back and forth, stopping to look at his watch occasionally. Olive wrapped her arms around her as she shivered, wishing that her love would wrap his arms around her and encase her in his warmth. But there was no love nor warmth in this man, he was cold and dark. She wondered if this was his true self, wondering if all of the love and grand gestures had been a ruse to fool her into falling in love with him. Olive couldn't understand why he was acting odd, why he had brought them to this place. She sobbed quietly burying her head against her knees as she wrapped her arms around them, trying to shrink herself into the corner. They offered no protection nor relief from the sharp cold that was biting at her bare skin, she thought even the pockets of cold in Lucian's castle was warmer than this. Her head rose from her knees hearing his heavy boots thumping closer, she watched as he stalked closer to her. She had never seen such a malevolent look on his face, his hands clenched tight as he got closer.

'Why are you doing this?' she cried 'Don't you love me any more?'

'Love is for fools.' he snarled as he grabbed her.

As he raised his hand to her, Olive cried knowing that her life had come full circle. From her father to her lover, all the men in her life beat her. She wished she was a bird that could fly away and never return.

'What the hell?' he snarled.

Olive opened her eyes, Phabel seemed like a giant to her. Her head darted around she looked at her arms or rather her wings. Wasting no time she flew through the room as Phabel jumped trying to catch her. She rested on a curtain rod, wondering why Phabel didn't change into a bird to chase her.

'You're not Phabel!' she screamed at him.

Phabel chuckled hard as he stopped trying to catch her. He rested his hands on his hips with an arrogant grin on his face as he looked up at Olive.

'You are a smart one little bird.'

Her eyes darted around the dreary room, seeing a mouse hole in the corner near the being that was pretending to be Phabel. She formulated a plan, thinking that she could turn into a mouse and escape this nightmare. Unfortunately for Olive as she thought about changing into a mouse, she changed. Her little mouse body fell to the ground with a thud. Dazed and confused she looked up at the giant feet of what she could only assume was a witch stomp his way over to her. She snapped back into the moment and darted over the floor.

'Get back here.' he snarled.

Olive continued to dart over the bare wood floors, barely making it to the hole in time. She thought as she scurried through the wall that it would be best not to think about animals until she knew how to control this shape shifting thing.

The brilliance of the moon in the sky was a delight for Olive, she had never felt so appreciative of it until now. She inhaled sharply as she scurried into the field that adjoined the plot of land. Her eyes darted back to the old house that she had been held in, it was a tiny house that was similar to the one that she had lived in with her father. It was in worse condition though, it looked like there was a giant hole in the roof, windows had been shattered. She hid behind the wheel of the tractor, it looked like it hadn't been used in years. It had to be an abandoned farm, but it was nothing like she had ever seen where she lived.

'Little mouse, little mouse come out, come out.' a dark menacing voice cackled.

Olive held tight, trying not to over think it. She didn't need to turn into something like a kitten. She meowed involuntarily and wanted to kick herself. The figure appeared with a chuckle, grabbing her by the scruff of her neck.

'What a pretty little kitty.' he mocked her.

She hated hearing the nasty words from this person mostly because she looked at the figure and saw her love. This witch had copied every single feature, right down to the dark ring around the exterior of his iris. The only thing he couldn't do was shape shift, which was why she knew that this was a witch. Olive tried to think of something that would tear this witch limb from limb. She tried to turn into a lion but meowed again. Olive tried hard to remember the big cats that once roamed the earth but a lion was all that she could come up with and she had failed at that. Her mind wondered if the animals she selected had to be relevant to the world she was in. She struggled to remember the animals, then she remembered reading the book that Islana had brought for her, the book about the animals in the shifter realm. She could hear Phabel's soft voice as he pronounced the words for her, telling her about the animals. A denil is a creature that you should fear Olive, it is similar to the Komodo Dragon of your world. Have you seen one of them? She had shaken her head, having never heard of it. Much like the Komodo, a denil is a lizard that has a powerful jaw, serrated teeth and bacteria in their saliva. Olive remembered the love that she had felt that night, sitting on the lounge in his arms as they read the book together.

'Holy shit.' he gasped.

Olive fell onto his body, watching as a narrow forked tongue darted out of her mouth. Fear gripped the man below her, as he tried to push her great weight from his body.

'Get off!'

Slowly the giant lizard moved onto the ground watching the man scrabble backwards. Olive was still slow in her movements as she stalked him in the field. She felt ecstatic that she had the witch freaking out, desperate to get away from her. For the first time in her life, she felt empowered. There was a mighty roar as a giant cat leaped over her and pounced onto the figure. It was the same size as a lion, though she had no clue what this creature was. A little dog trotted through the long grass, sniffing the ground. Olive became frightened at the large cat and turned into the mouse again, scurrying back under the tractor. She knew that she held little control over her shifting, one slight alteration in her mood and it would have her changing again. There was little she could do, without the education she needed, Olive had no idea how to intentionally shape shift.

From her view she watched as the giant orange cat turned into a woman. In the moons light she could see her long pink hair that fell effortlessly down her back. She swirled a red ball of what looked like gas, it had lightening striking within the ball. The woman threw it out at the false Phabel, striking his body hard. Red strands circled his body, shaking him furiously. Olive was mesmerised by it, she had never seen a witch before. Now she had seen two and clearly one was better than the other. The dog continued to sniff the ground, Olive thought it was going around in circles. She wondered if witches still had familiars. There wasn't much written about witches, everything she had read when she was in school was fictional works and nothing that made her think it could be real. Olive had read that they were nothing but make believe to scare little children into being good. The books in the school library said that the witches got around on broomsticks, had a familiar that was usually a black cat and they tried to lure bad children into their houses. Olive looked at the pretty woman with long pink hair. There was nothing old and crotchety about her, there was no wart on a pointy nose, not even a pointed black hat. In fact, this woman was quiet fashionable with her clothes. Jeans that were tight to her body and a shirt that had a sparkly skull on it.

Olive gasped as the witch threw another gassy ball at the figure, this one sent him into the air. His body thumped to the ground not far from her. She squeaked and scurried off, catching the attention of the dog. As it moved to the tractor, it bumped it's head on the front grill. Olive turned back as she reached the edge of the tractor, seeing the dog shake it's head from the bump. When it saw the mouse scurrying away it chased after it. Olive squeaked again, feeling that she wasn't moving anywhere. Her head turned to a rather large ginger cat, it's paw on her tail. 

***************

Phabel continued to search, sniffing through the grass he picked up her scent along with another scent. When he found the culprit he growled, the cat had the mouse in it's mouth. The cat snarled at him until he turned into his human-like self. Phabel barred a full set of fangs at the cat, growling at it. It hissed at him and dropped the mouse, taking off into the long grass. One little petrified mouse stared at the monster with a full set of fangs that were dripping saliva. She looked at the dozens of sharpened fangs that glistened in the moonlight, staring down at the cat that had just taken off. Olive could feel her tiny heart beating frantically, watching the monster in front of her. She didn't think that she could be any more frightened than she was, wishing there was some escape from the sickly pallor and the black eyes. The poor little creature couldn't cope with the stress any longer, falling to the ground as she feinted.

Phabel's worst nightmare had come true, Olive had seen a shifters dark side and at the worst possible time. She was a tiny mouse with serious wounds to her body. She had to be in her human-like form for him to be able to fix her. As a mouse, he was useless to her. He picked up the tiny mouse that was bleeding profusely, whispering for her to wake up.

'Olive, wake up, you have to shift back or I can't fix you.'

He placed her to the ground, tears flooding as he saw the blood on his hand. She was too little to cope with this blood loss. Josie walked over, dragging the witch behind her. There was no escape now, Josie had her so bound up in a myriad of spells it would take her a week to get through them all. Phabel pressed his finger to her body, trying to find her shifting centre.

'I can't get it.' he wiped the tears 'I can't find it.'

Josie sighed as she looked up to the sky, waiting for some kind of intervention from him. But like always, there was none to be had. Phabel and Josie were in this on their own, left to try and save a little mouse that just wouldn't wake to shift back to her human-like self.