{} these brackets stand for the People's language.
*** indicates a POV change.
*word* indicates a sound effect.

 Anne was gasping for breath as she ran. 'Oh Goddess! What now? It's catching up
with me! I can't run forever!  I'll get tired, make a mistake, and then it'll kill me. I don't
know this city...'

 She dodged past a few crates in the alley way, and leapt over a surprised wino. She
didn't dare look over her shoulder at the thing chasing her. 'I just have to get a little
further! It won't dare attack me if I can get somewhere with a lot of people. _Think_
Anne. Where are you? And where are you going to find a crowded place an four in the
morning?'

 The woman fled through the narrow back lanes and twisted alleys of Chicago.
Behind her, was a being. A killer. A thief of more than life. If it caught her, it would not
only take her life, it would also steal her soul.

 As she had known it would be, it happened. She ran into a dead end. 'Oh Goddess!
Please! _Help_ me!'

 Anne spun about to face her attacker, back to the chain fence behind her. A section
of shadow detached itself from the mass blackness of the cramped back ally. It moved
forward, into the faint, collective light of the city of Chicago. Anne stared, numb with
terror at the figure approaching her. A woman, dressed as a jogger in shorts and a halter
top, faced her. She looked perfectly normal, except for the sharp glint of the dagger in her
hand. The woman smiled. Not really expecting it to do any good, but unable to stop
herself, Anne screamed.

 "H-e-e-e-e-e-e-elp!!"

 Stanley Ray Kowalsky ne Ray Vecchio gave his unofficial partner an exasperated
look. "Fraser. I can't believe you actually had an apartment in this neighborhood. It's the
pits!"

 Dief nodded to himself. 'I have to agree with that. I thought so when we _used_ to
live here. I would have been glad it burned down, except that we ended up living in the
consulate. That _really_ sucks...'

 "Ray, there are a lot of very kind people in this neighborhood. Besides, I could
walk to the consulate in seven minutes."

 "Yeah. Yeah. I know. So you've said. Though why you'd _want_ to walk,
excpecially in _this_ end of town..."

 "H-e-e-e-e-e-e-elp!!"

 Ray was only a few feet behind his partner as the two ran towards the scream.

"See, Fraze? I rest my case!"

 Dief blinked, having no clue why the two men had started running, but he was
game for a chase if they where. He sighed. 'Here we go again.' Then ran after the two
humans. 'The things I do for my pack...'

 "You realize, of course that I'll kill you." Anne was stalling. Trying to buy a few
more precious seconds of life.

 "That is acceptable. _He_ wishes you dead. So, dead you will become. My death is
an acceptable cost."

 Anne edged away from the woman, and most excpessially the dagger she was
holding. "You don't really want to die? Do you?"

 The woman gave Anne a sweet smile. And lunged forward, dagger reaching for
her heart. Anne barely managed to avoid the sharp point, and ended up with a deep slash,
from the outside of her shoulder to her elbow. The assassin, still with that angelic
expression, lunged again and again. Every time, the woman managed to score a hit on
Anne, despite all the dodging she was doing.

 "To die for my master is all I would wish. As it is all you shall _do_!"
 Anne barely managed to twist so the dagger buried itself into her shoulder instead
of her throat. She tore herself from her attacker's grasp, but collapsed from the sheer
pain. The wound seemed to freeze, so cold that it burned. She glared up at the killer
before her.

 "I am not going to die for that emotionless, heartless, _bastard_ that you call a
'master'! I am of the People! We have no masters!"

 "You will." A smirk from her attacker. Anne was trapped in a corner. No more
dodging was possible. She was going to die.

 Anne stared at the shard of glinting murder that was driving towards her heart.

 "Freeze! Chicago PD!"

 The woman spun around to face the shout. Anne blinked in shock at the sight
facing her. Of the man who had shouted, all she could see was a medium tall figure
holding, and this was the part that riveted her interest, a gun trained on her attacker. The
vague light glinted strangely from his glasses. Standing next to him was a tall man in a
Mountie uniform. The red kind. _Really_ red. And a wolf. She blinked, and then cast her
gaze up the moon, just barely visible from her prone position. 'Thanks Goddess. I owe
you big-time...' Then the darkness engulfed her.

 Dief rolled his eyes as Fraser seconded Ray's shout in his own, over socialized
fashion. "Perhaps you could consider putting down your weapon, Miss."

 The woman edged a little closer the to huddled shape on the ground behind her.
Dief growled low in his throat. He could smell the coppery sent of blood, along with the
fear of the collapsed woman.

 The woman glared at the two men. "Do not interfere."

 Dief growled a little louder. This lady was not normal. She smelled, well...wrong.
Not insane, he'd smelled that often enough in his association with Fraser. There was
something about the Mountie that just attracted Wackos. No, this was different. She
smelled...Like snow. In the middle of an August heat-wave, this lady smelled like a
blizzard. It was just...weird.

 Ray, ever to the point, ignores the lady's order. "Drop the weapon, or I'll kick ya
in the head."

 The woman glared at the two men, and then, to Dief's shock at _him_! Most
villains tended to ignore him unless he was snapping at their throats.

 "You will not stop me, {taravaae}! I will fulfill my task!"

 Dief froze, shocked beyond action. The woman had just called him by his _title_!
In the People's language!

 The woman spun, and lunged for the huddled figure, trying to plunge her blade
into the unconscious girl before Ray could shoot her. She failed. Ray's bullet hit her in the
shoulder, knocking the blade from her hands. The woman froze in mid-lunge, eerily still
for a few moments. Then, a blast of cold wind howled throughout the alley way. Dief
shuddered. Even through his fur, the blast was chilling. He hated to imagine what the two
men not so blessed felt like.

 The woman let loose with a wail that Dief could feel vibrating the ground beneath
him, then collapsed. As Ray called in the incident with his cell phone,  Fraser rushed
forward to examine the unconscious victim. Dief trotted over to the attacker with a very
cautious Ray to examine the 'perp'. She was dead. Ray blinked.

 "I didn't shoot her anyplace vital, did I?"

 "No Ray. Why?"

 "She's dead."

 "Hmm."

 Dief ignored the old 'Hmm' debate and examined the dead woman. 'Yep. Smells
like a blizzard. Weird. Also, the bullet wound isn't bleeding. That is _not_ normal. Not
normal at all...'

 Dief's thoughts were sidetracked as Fraser's face came into his line of sight. "Dief?
Could you find the weapon, please?"

 Dief sighed. He trotted around the alley, trying to find something with the
woman's 'winter' scent through the blood and typical 'alley' smells. Then he found it. The
dagger had fallen a few feet away, behind a crate. It was melting. He barked, then wined.

'This is getting too strange for me! A dagger made of ice? A woman who smells like
snow? And recognized me as one of the People, a were-wolf? _And_ knew the People's
language? What the hell is going on here?!'

 "Fraser?"

 "Yes Ray?"

 "The dagger was made of ice, Fraser."

 "Hmm."

 Dief rolled his eyes again. 'Well, _some_ things are comfortingly the same...'

 Anne regained consciousness in one fell swoop. 'Where the hell am I? What
happened?' Holding perfectly still, keeping her breathing even in case someone was
waiting for her to wake up, she tried to review the night's events. 'I was walking home
from work. I had stayed late to work on a particularly nasty bit of code. Then I could sent
her following me. A sharp tang of snow, like the wind off the tundra. I ran. She caught
me. I was wounded...then? A cop? A _Mountie_? Maybe I was hallucinating, and I'm
dead now.'

 Anne carefully tried to identify the scents and sounds around her. 'Umm, muffled
steps, intercom, people talking, air conditioning. Antiseptic, sterilize, and beneath that, the
smell of sickness...A hospital. I'm in a hospital.'

 She cautiously cracked her eyes open. The room was dark, but that  didn't really
hinder her that much. She could see very well in the dark. 'Yup. This is defiantly a
hospital. Even Hell would have a better color scheme than this.'

 A woman's voice drifted in from  the hall way. "She hasn't regained consciousness
yet, Detective. However, you can go in and see her if you like. It seems she wasn't hurt as
badly as she seemed. Mostly shallow cuts, deep scratches, probably won't even scar."

 Anne sighed. 'This is why I hate hospitals. Of _course_ I don't seem like I've been
badly hurt. You can't kill a were-wolf so easily. But it still _hurts_ damn it!'

 The door creaked open, and the sounds of two sets of footsteps. 'That would be
the cop and the Mountie, I suppose.'

 "Okay, Fraze. We're here. Now what do you think the unconscious girl is going to
be able to tell us?"

 "Oh, she isn't unconscious Ray. She's quite awake."

 Anne just stared at the two men in shock.

 Ray watched the young woman closely. He did _not_ trust this. Not at all. He'd
only gotten the briefest of looks at the girl before the paramedics had carted her off, but
she had looked like she had some _serious_ damage. Now she looked like, maybe, she'd
fallen out of a tree or somthin. It was weird. Just like the rest of this case. 'This is the last
time we go to that restaurant, I don't care _how_ good the Chinese is!'

 The woman was about twenty-five years old or so. She was blonde, and had sorta
greeny-gold eyes. A very weird color. She was currently staring at Fraser like he'd grown
antlers.

 "How'd you _know_ that?"

 Fraser got that polite 'I'm going to explain this to you in painful detail' expression
on his face. 'Oh boy. Here we go.'

 "Well, Miss. When we first entered, I noticed that you're breathing was just
slightly faster than was normal for a sleeping person, and also..."

 She shook her head and interrupted him. "Oh yeah. You're a Mountie all right.
Now I remember why I moved out of Vancouver..."

 Ray blinked. "You're Canadian?"

 She shook her head. "Nope. As of two months ago, I'm officially American. Cool,
eh?" She smiled. Then blinked and looked around. "Was I hallucinating, or was there not
also a wolf with you two?"

 "Dief's in the waiting room. Hospital raises holy hell when we try and bring him
into the sick rooms. Now, not that this isn't a fascinating conversation, but would ya mind
telling us why that nice, dead, lady was trying to kill you?"

 The woman shrugged. "She was insane?"

 "You don't know?!"

 "Nope. Never met her before this morning. It is still _this_ morning, isn't it?"

 "Yes ma'am. You've been out for about three hours."

 "Thank you kindly, Constable."

 Ray shook his head. 'This is going to get 'Twilight Zone' really quick if I don't get
things back on track.' "Would ya mind telling me a few things? Like your name, for
starters?"

 "Anne Hollows. I'm a computer programmer at Eternity Unlimited. I was born in
Vancouver, went to collage in Minneapolis, and then went back home. For personal
reasons, I moved out of Canada. Then, I arrived in Chicago just three weeks ago for this
job. I'm twenty-nine years old, my blood type is O, I'm a Cancer, and I check 'other'
under Religion. Anything else?"

 "Could you give us your address, ma'am? And any family members you might
want us to contact?"

 Anne flinched. "My family and I aren't talking to each other right now. Except for
my brother, and he's currently gallivanting about in the frozen mountains, watching
Caribou. Scientists! Weird, everyone of them. And I live in a little rat-trap in West
Rancine. Best I can do on my current salary. Besides, I can walk to work in just fifteen
minutes. Which is necessary since I don't have a car."

 "Right. Well, if you have any ideas, call this number." Ray handed her his desk
number. "And don't be leaving or anything. We'll be wanting to talk to you again later."

 Anne  grinned at him. "No problem, Detective. No problem at all." She paused,
looking thoughtful. "Umm, and who should I _ask_ for?"

 Ray blinked. Fraser jumped into the silence. "I'm Constable Benton Fraser, and
this is Ray Vecchio of the Chicago PD."

 "Vecchio? Funny. You don't look Italian." She shrugged. "Oh well." Then gave
Fraser a questioning glance. "What's a Mountie doing in Chicago?"

 "Well I first came to Chicago on the trail of my father's killers, and for reasons that
do not need exploring at this juncture, remained as a liaison at the Canadian Consulate."

 Anne stared at him. "How often have you had to use _that_ little speech?"

 Fraser's face went a little blank as he began counting. Ray rolled his eyes. "Lots.
Come on Fraze. We got work to do."

 Anne waved at them from the hospital bed. "Have a good day. After all, couldn't
get any _worse_, could it?"

 Ray glared at her over his shoulder. "Don't bet on that."

 Dief glared at the potted plant in front of him. 'This is the part of my life that
_really_ sucks! If I'd have established myself as a human instead of a wolf, I wouldn't end
up stuck in the waiting room, the bull pen, the car...Of course, I'd have to have those
inconvenient things like a job and an apartment.'

 He tracked movement from the hall. Fraser and Ray were leaving the victim's
room. 'Right. Now we go the precinct. How Fraser is going to function tomorrow I don't
know. It's enough to make me hope Dragon Lady has him on sentry duty. At least then he
could sleep standing up. Not that he would. How any human could be so utterly
responsible...'

 Continuing his mental rant, he headed off after Ray and Fraser. 'It is really
annoying sometimes. I just wish he'd relax a little. Do something for _himself_ and
all...I'm talking to myself. Oh Dief, Dief, Dief. You are a sorry individual.'

 Sighing over his current isolation, the were-wolf jumped into the back seat of
Ray's car. 'I wish I had someone to talk to...'

 Anne stood at the window of her hospital room, and watched the two men and the
wolf drive off. 'I wish I had someone to talk to...I need help in this, but I don't dare
involve them. The Shards wouldn't quibble about harming innocents. I don't want them to
be killed trying to protect me. Or arrest me, for that matter. Either one is probably equally
possible. And why on earth did that Detective look vaguely familiar? Oh well. Probably
just one of those subconscious association things.'

 Anne collected her clothes from the closet. 'They said not to leave town, but I
don't really intend to. What would be the point? The shards could find me anywhere. I
might as well stay in Chicago. However, I need to leave the hospital. I can't stay in one
place for long, or they'll catch up with me. One might be dead, but there are more where
she came from. The only way I'm going to stop the shards is to stop their 'master'.'

 Anne's breathe hitched in pain. 'Oh Goddess. Why do I have such lousy taste in
men? The first guy I really love, and he turns out to be a demonic, insane, megalomaniac
bent on murder. And I thought my room-mate in collage had a bad track record. At least
she could get restraining orders. Hell, at least all her mistakes were _human_ lunatics!'

 Anne centered herself, and walked out of the room. Holding legitimacy around her
like a cloak, she strode quickly off down the corridor. 'Humans can be so easy to fool. I
hardly have to use any power at all. Look and act like you belong, and they think you do.'
Anne exited the hospital, and slid into a darkened alley. 'Geeze. I wish it were still dark...I
could change and try hiding out as a wolf. Oh well. It's now about eight in the morning. I
have about ten hours till moon rise. I'd best use them in getting as far away from here as I
can.'

 Leaving barely a ripple in flow of foot traffic on the street, Anne vanished into the
human sea of Chicago.

 Ray just stared at Mort, so shocked he didn't even attempt to avoid looking at the
corpse of the attacker. "Okay. Could you run that by me once more?"

 "She had no heart."

 "None."

 "None."

 "So how was it she was walking around and attacking computer programmers in
alley ways?"

 "I have no idea."

 "She had no heart?"

 "Just a large lump of ice. Melted ten minutes after I removed it."

 "A lump of ice? That, that is really weird."

 Ray blinked as he realized that Fraser was being awfully quiet. "Yo? Fraze? What
do you think about this?"

 "Ray? Did Ms. Hollows look familiar to you?"

 Ray just blinked. "No. Not really. Other than that 'Thank you kindly' thing
reminding me of you. Why?"

 "Hmm."

 "Fraser. I hate it when you do that. 'Hmm' seems to be Canadian for 'I know
something really important and I'm not gonna tell you what it is'. So, what'd ya mean by
'Hmm'?"

 "Oh, nothing really, Ray."

 "Aaggh. Fraser, you're the most irritating man on earth."

 "Understood Ray."

 The two men listened to the rest of Mort's discoveries, which weren't nearly as
surprising as the first. Other than the whole heart thing, there wasn't anything really
unusual about the lady. Of course, the heart thing was a pretty big 'other'.

 "Yo. Frannie? You got an ID on the stiff?"

 "Geeze Ray, you ever hear of these things called 'manners'?"

 Ray smirked. "Francesca, sister dear, did you find out the identity of our mystery
corpse?"

 "Ray, you are a mutant. And no. She has absolutely no records. There was no
identification on her. No license, no credit card, not even a wallet. Zip."

 "So, what we got here is a woman, with no heart, no money, no credit, and no
record of her existence, who was wandering around the city trying to kill people?"

 "Pretty much."

 "Frannie, you're supposed to be _helping_ here..."

 "I did get something on the victim though. Anne Hollows. She was born in this
really eccentric religious commune or something. Really isolationist. All sorts of rumors of
what goes on there, but no confirmed wrong doings, and the whole thing is private
property, so the Canadian government just sorta puts up with 'em. Anyway, since they
ditched and moved out, Canada's been keeping a really close eye on Ms. Hollows and her
brother Johnthan, isn't that a weird spelling? Anyway, a few months ago, she disappears,
like just vanishes into thin air. And then they find this dead body in her old apartment. And
guess what? The corpse didn't have any ID, or a heart. Same thing."

 Ray stared at Francesca for a few seconds, then grabbed Fraser by the arm and
took off for the door. "Come on Fraze! She probably bailed right after we left. I'm gonna
get some answers from this lady if it's the last thing I do!"

 Francesca glared at the Detective's rapidly disappearing back. "Geeze! Don't say
'thank you' or anything!" She went back to her desk, muttering, "Jerk!"

 Dief watched as Ray and Fraser examined the empty hospital room. Ray seemed
_quite_ upset. "Damn it! Not a single trace! She didn't leave a thing."

 Dief sighed. That wasn't quite true. _He_ could smell her sorrow, fear and
determination even now, hours after she had left the room. Along with something else.

'This woman was one of the People. And I am an idiot for not noticing earlier.
Admittedly, the circumstances were a bit distracting, but still...'

 "Ray? Can we go to the consulate for a few minutes?"

 "Why?"

 "I believe that there might be something in my father's journals about 'the People'
that Ms. Hollows mentioned in the hospital room."

 "And..."

 "For Ms. Hollows to know so much about an insular and secretive people implies
that she is one of them. Besides, it couldn't hurt to know..."

 "Right. Lets go."

 Dief sighed. 'Leave it to Robert to actually _know_ something about the People...'

 Ray glared at the door to Fraser's office/room.

 'I can't _believe_ I let that lady out of my sight! She's probably half-way to
Mexico by now...'

 His thoughts were interrupted by Dief growling low in his throat. A woman's
voice drifted out to Ray from past Fraser's startled frame.

 "I've been waiting for you two. You know, Constable, you should really start
locking your window. There are a lot of unscrupulous people in Chicago."

 Ray just stared at the woman facing them in disbelief. She had come to them.
Voluntarily. Of her own free will. This was getting _really_ weird.

 "Look, lady. I want to know what's going on, and I want to know _now_!"

 Anne opened her mouth to answer, and then her jaw dropped even farther. Her
face went pale, and her eyes got huge. She looked like someone had just smacked her in
the back of the head with a board. Ray followed her startled gaze. She was staring at Dief.
He was staring back.

 'What on Earth?'

 'A {tavaraae}?! Oh goddess! What is a _Shaman_ doing _here_?! With a cop and
a Mountie?! Oh dear. This was going to be difficult enough...'

 "Excuse me, Ms. Hollows? Could you perhaps explain a few of the more puzzling
mysteries that your attack has left behind?"

Anne shook off her shock. "Let me guess, you found out about the heart thing, right?"

 "Yeah. You could say that! How is it that a chick with no heart was attacking you
in an alley-way? And your apartment?"

 Anne sighed. He was going to be stubborn about this. She had a feeling that she
was either going to really _like_ this 'Ray' guy, or else hate his guts. At the moment, she
was leaning towards the later.

 "Oh my, Detective. Don't forget the one on the train that I had to jump out of, the
one in my _new_ apartment, and most recently, the one in the garbage dump on 53rd. I
wouldn't want you to miss any."

 "Huh?"

 "These things will keep attacking me. For every one I escape, there are three more
to take her place. I was attacked twice since leaving the hospital. Soon, they'll start
descending in droves. One I can escape, five I can't. I didn't want to get you involved.
The Shards wouldn't hesitate to go strait through you to get to me. But...I don't have a
choice. Not anymore."

 "Her?"

 Anne shook her head. Leave it to a Mountie to ask an irrelevant, but important
question. "All Shards are female. There never has been a male one. Not in all our
remembered history."

 "Why?"

 Anne sighed. "There's a story among the People. About the Ice Demon. The Lord
of Storms. My nurse used to tell it to me as a bedtime story." She laughed, almost bitterly.
"Some bedtime story..."

 Ray scowled. "Would ya answer the question already?"

 Anne scowled back. This guy was being _really_ obnoxious... "I _am_, if you'd
just shut up and _listen_!"

 She watched a silently fuming Ray, and an attentively listening Fraser. Most
especially, she watched the wolf-who-was-no-wolf. 'A {tavaraae}. In Chicago. What on
earth would his reasons be...? Besides 'none of my business', of course...'

 "Anyone want to interrupt again?"

 Silence. Anne nodded, satisfied. "The gist of the story is something like this: Once,
in the beginning times, when all the peoples lived in peace with the world and each other,
before the great rifting of the tribes, a tribe of the People lived in the lands of ice and
snow.'"

 She gave Ray an arch look. "That's the Northern Territories, in case you're
wondering. Anyway,  in these lands, there also dwelled {Randalen} The Ice Demon, Lord
of Storms. And he looked down upon the tribe of the People from his mountain of ice, and
envied them. For the People could do what he could not. They could _feel_. Love, Hate,
Joy, Sorrow, all these and more they could experience. But he could not. For he had no
heart. So, he sent his storms to find him a member of the People, so that he could learn
how to feel."

 Anne could feel her voice drifting into what her brother called her 'Storytelling'
mode. She couldn't help it, really. She had been the Storyteller before she had left the
family...She really hated this part of the story too. It had given her nightmares when she
was a child. And now, she was living those nightmares.

 "I remember this part quite well. It made quite an impression on my six year old
mind. The storms found a woman of the People, no one will speak her name now, and
brought her to the Ice Demon. I can quote this bit, actually. 'And the winds dragged her
forth, around, and through the air with great speed. And her chest was as ice, and her
blood as frozen fire. Within the storm, she could hear voices screaming, and they pierced
her to her heart. And she wept, and she wept, and weeping, was brought before the
Demon.'"

 Anne shook her head, trying to clear it of remembered terror, of remembered
sorrow. She really hated this story...

 "Anyway, to make a long story short, the woman couldn't help the Lord of Storms
learn to feel. Because he had no heart, you see. So, he took hers. He stole her heart, and
placed a chunk of frozen ice in it's place. He put her heart in a crystal box, and said to her,
'Now you are mine. You will kill when I say 'kill' and die when I say 'die'. You belong to
me for so long as the snows fall, for so long as there is a winter.' And so it was. Thus was
born the first Shard. Heartless, soulless killers. They do as their 'master' tells them. And
he has told them to kill me."

 Anne bowed her head. She was fairly sure that the wolf would believe her. He was
{tavaraae}, the People's version of a shaman. He knew the story of the Ice Demon just as
well as she did. But the two human men? She quietly awaited their reactions.

 Ray stared at her for a few moments. Then he grabbed Fraser by the arm and
dragged him into the closet with only a " 'Scuze us for a minute."

 She cast a doubtful glance at the {tavaraae}.

 {They have absolutely no clue I can hear them perfectly well from here, do they?}

 Dief shook his head. {No.}

 {Figures. Do they know about you?}

 {No.}

 Anne raised an eyebrow. {You're a man of few words, aren't you?}

 Dief gave her a wolf-grin. {Yes.}

 Anne laughed a little. 'For a priest, he has a sense of humor.' {Do you believe
me?}

 {I'm not the one who matters. Fraser is. If he believes, we'll all end up doing what
he wants. You included. He has a gift for that.}

 Anne tilted her head to the side and started to listen to the closet conversation in
earnest. Ray had been venting his spleen about her apparent insanity for the last few
minutes. Fraser had finely interrupted.

 "Ray, Ray, Ray, Ray, _Ray_!"

 "_What_ Fraser?!"

 "I believe her."

 "What?"

 "I believe her. She was telling the truth. Or at least _she_ believes she's telling the
truth."

 "So, what do _we_ do about this? You want me to tell Welsh we got a bunch of
undead, assasin-sicles trying to ice a computer programmer? And most of all, _why_? I
mean, what'd she do to get them sicked on her in the first place? Eh?"

 Anne took a deep breath, preparing to answer that question. Then paused, inhaled
deeply again, testing the air. Between the scent of leather oil and ink and people, she
scented something else. Something cold. A tang of ice off a tundra, the flurry of snow
before a storm. She smelled a Shard.

 Anne shot a desperate look at Dief, then sprinted over to the window and leapt
through it. Sticking her head back through, she addressed Dief. {The lake, tonight.}

 The last thing she heard as she fled down the fire escape was the sound of a door
being blasted open. 'Please...let the Shard chase _me_! Let those two have the good sence
to leave it be...Please, let them be all right.'

 Anne stood nervously in the woods near the lake. She was sniffing the air,
constantly testing for the scent of Shards. 'Where are they? What happened? Did they get
hurt? Oh goddess, I hope not. It would be all  my fault...'

 "Anne?"

 She leapt half a foot. Standing before her was the Mountie, the Detective, and the
{tavaraae}. Anne grinned.

 "Oh! You're all okay! I was worried. Shards are good at gratuitous murder...

 "Oh, she was gonna try, but for some reason, Dief scared her."

 Anne blinked at Ray. 'Oh. Yes, as a {tavaraae}, I suppose he would scare them.'
 "Huh." Anne shrugged. "You learn something new every day..."

 Fraser sighed. "Ms. Hollows? May I ask a personal question?"

 Anne shot him a cautious look. "Ye-e-e-s...?"

 "Do you think Ray looks familiar in any way?"

 Anne just blinked at him. "Well, yes. A little. Why?"

 Fraser gestured to the lake. "If you would follow me?"

 The Detective and the girl exchanged a baffled look, and followed the Mountie to
the lake. He gestured them to stand next to each other. "If you would look at your
reflections?"

 Anne shrugged, and looked. And looked again. She shot a startled glance at Ray,
and then looked at the reflections again. "Hey?! You  look like me?!"

 Just as Ray said, "What're you doing with _my_ looks? Eh?"

 Anne raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me? My hair is better for one thing! Yours
looks like you were attacked by an unfriendly weed-wacker." She paused. " You wouldn't
happen to have a Hollows in your blood line somewhere, would you?"

 Ray shot her a disgusted look. "No."

 Anne raised her eyebrows. "Hmm."

 Ray  looked at her incredulously, and Fraser looked somewhat pained. Anne cast a
glance at Dief. _He_ was laughing at her. {What?! What?! What'd I say?}

 {Believe  me. You don't want to know...}

 "Excuse me, Miss Hollows?"

 "You have a question, Constable?"

 "Several, actually."

 "Fire away."

 She watched as the Mountie tilted his head to one side, looking puzzled, and
opened his mouth, as if to comment. She sighed. "It's a figure of speech. I meant 'start
asking'."

 "Oh.Well, the first question would be..."

 "What the hell'd ya do to get this guy ticked off at ya?"

 She raised an eyebrow at Ray. "You _sure_ we aren't related? You're just as
irritating as my little brother...Anyway, it's...well...he's sorta my ex."

 "Huh?"

 "I beg your pardon, Miss?"

 *questioning bark*

 Anne fiddled with a button on her shirt. "Well, Dalen and I were dating. I mean,
really, he seemed like a nice enough guy! He was handsome, and quiet, and really
_listened_ to everything I said. I thought things were going good. Then one day he says
'You haven't taught me what I needed, failure is unacceptable.' and tried to rip my heart
out of my chest! Can you blame me for freaking out a little? I mean I've heard of abusive
boyfriends, but I think that's a little extreme..."

 "What do you believe his motive is, Miss Hollows?"

 "Well, I personally believe he's the Ice Demon, and  I escaped 'Shard-om' by a
hairs' breadth. But if you have a more reasonable theory for the heartless assassins, I'm
willing to be convinced..."

 "No. No, with the present information, I'd have to agree with your conclusion."

 *Affirmative bark*

 "You're both crazy."

 Anne grinned. "But I notice you're still here...Who's crazier, the crazies, or the
one who's following 'em?"

 Anne watched Ray scowl at her, a grin on her face. He really _did_ remind her of
her little brother. Of course, when kids come in litters, you end up with a _lot_ of
siblings...

 Ray  had finally decided to ignore her. "So, how do ya get rid of the ice maidens?"

 "Well, I've always just run away, and let Dalen's temper take 'em out. After all,
it's the easiest method. Him and his 'failure is not acceptable' attitude. Can I pick 'em or
what?"

 "So, why do you think we can help?"

 "I don't know. I just don't know. You're what the Goddess sent, and I never look
gift rescuers in the mouth." Anne considered that phrase. Somehow, it sounded really
weird. "That didn't come out right...Anyway. You're what I got. You must be able to help
somehow."

 She carefully avoided looking directly at Dief. Who was staring intently at her. Ray
sighed. "Well, where are you staying at the moment?"

 "Umm, wherever I collapse?"

 "Come on."

 "Where are we going?"

 "My apartment."

 Anne blinked. 'Huh. Seems our Ray is a big softy at heart.' She recalled her earlier
musings on whether she liked or hated him, and grinned. 'I think the scales just tipped to
'like'.

 Ray watched as Anne seemed to carry out an earnest conversation with Dief.
"Geeze. Those two are really getting along, aren't they?"

 "Well, Ray, Diefenbaker has shown a preference for attractive, blond women..."

 "Yeah? I hadn't noticed."

 "You were somewhat distracted at the time..."

 "Oh."

 {So, he actually jumped _onto_ the train. While it was moving. With a _bomb_ on
board?}

 {Yes.}

 {Is he insane? I mean, you expect that sort of thing from a Mountie, but a _cop_?}

 Dief gave a lupine shrug. {Don't ask me, I'm just the sidekick.}

 She shook her head. As Alice had said, 'Curiouser and Curiouser...'. Anne looked
up and smiled at the two men in the living room. "I wonder if I could stop off at my
apartment for some things...?"

 Fraser shook his head. "Oh no, Miss Hollows. I fear that your apartment is
probably being watched. However, if you'd make a list, I'd be glad to get the things for
you."

 Anne blinked, and tried to envision the Mountie purchasing some of the stuff she
had in mind. She shook her head. "On second thought, I can live without..."

 Dief was laughing at her again. {Oh, shut up you!}She looked at the laughing
wolf. 'Hmm, not a bad looking specimen.' { I bet he'd be adorable as a human.}

 She blinked as Dief stopped laughing, and seemed to be embarrassed. 'What
on...Oh dear. Did I say that out loud?'

 Anne blushed. {Well! You _would_!}

 Fraser and Dief had gone for take out, and Ray had gone to check out a
'suspicious' person. Anne sighed. 'He was probably just trying to get away from me. I've
been in here for a day or so, and he's probably heartily sick of my company.'

 She blinked as a feeling, like someone had walked over her grave, rushed over her.
'What...? Oh no. Ray's in trouble. I just know it!'

 Anne slipped out the door, and started to track down the Detective. 'Come on
nose! Don't fail me now!'

 Dief's gaze went from the rapidly vanishing Anne to his concerned Mountie. He
gave the lupine version of a sigh. {I suppose you want to follow her.}

 "Yes, I am going to follow her. And don't look at me like that. You want to as
well, and you know it."

 Dief blinked. Every once in a while, it seemed that Fraser could pick up what he
was saying...Nah. Must just be coincidental. He _had_ been around Dief for a good many
years, he probably could pick up the body language. Yeah...So why was it the Mountie
only got sarcastic with _him_? Couldn't Ray pick up a little of the slack...

 Dief trotted off after his fellow were-wolf , still casting confused looks at his
friend, as they slipped into the darkness.

 The trail led to _her_ apartment. She entered with trepidation. She had a _bad_
feeling about this. She whispered into the darkness of her apartment. "Ray? Ray? Where
are you? Is Fraser with you? Dief? Anyone? Hello?"

 Ann flinched as a voice came out of the darkness. "Hello Anne. We've been
waiting for you, haven't we detective?"

 Anne reached for the lights with a trembling hand. The single fluorescent bulb
illuminated a chilling scene. Literally. The room was frosted over like the inside of a
freezer. A dark haired man was standing in the middle of the room, holding Ray hostage
with a sword. A real, honest to goodness sword. Anne shook her head.

 "Oh honestly, Dalen. Swords went out of vogue a couple centuries ago. Get with
the program!"

 Ray shot the woman a slightly panicked glance. 'Sure!' he thought, 'Irritate the
man with a sword to my throat. What do I care? Weirdo. Between her an Fraze...This was
not what I expected when they said 'Hey Ray? Ya want to be someone else for a year or
so?' Geeze!'

 "I've always been a traditionalist."

 "You mean 'anal retentive stick in the mud', don't you?"

 "Anne, you've always been too sarcastic for your own good health."

 "Never could take a joke, could ya?"

 The Ice Demon shrugged. "I'm afraid I don't have much in the humor
department."

 "Yet another thing we have that you don't, eh?"

 Ray could feel the man behind him almost vibrate. He was almost glad he couldn't
see the man's expression, judging from Anne's white-faced look, it was scary. What was
even more terrifying to Ray, was the complete lack of anger in the man's voice. He wasn't
angry, enraged, or even irked. _That_ worried him.

 Anne seemed to have recovered. Her pale look had slumped into deep sadness.
"You don't even hate me. I loved you. I hate you now, but you don't even _care_! You
_can't_ care!"

 Tears were welling up in Anne's eyes. "You're trying to kill me, worse than kill
me! The least you can do is _care_! You could at least frown a little or something!"

 The tears overflowed. Her green-gold eyes were fixed on the face behind Ray. Ray
doubted that she even noticed him there anymore. 'Oh, man! I hate Domestic Disputes!
Too much drama for me...'

 "I can't hate you. I can't love you. You couldn't teach me."

 Anne looked incredulous. "_I_ couldn't teach _you_?! Did it ever occur to you
that _you_ can't learn?! I mean, you seem to be working under this delusion that you can
learn to feel. Well you can't! Because you _won't_! You don't really want to! Because
that would mean leaving your safe, cold, frozen world! You'd have to get out into the real
world, and start feeling pain with the rest of us! And you won't do that! Because you're
afraid! The one thing you're good at! Being a coward!"

 Ray could feel the man's muscles tense. "That's not true! It's your fault! It's the
fault of all of you! None of you could teach me! None of you really cared!"

 Anne's face darkened. Her eyes, still sheened with tears, seemed to suddenly
ignite. Her face twisted, hate in every line of it. Her voice was almost a growl. "Don't you
_dare_. Don't you dare say that. I loved you. I still do, even after all you've tried to do to
me. I love you. I hate, but I love you. And I'd bet the others did too. And what did you do
for them? You trapped them into living death. You froze them into your cold, empty life,
because you were terrified to join them in their warmth! You're a coward! A fool! And
you will be alone in the empty, iced-over wasteland you call a life for eternity!"

 Ray wasn't prepared for the Demon's reaction. He found himself flung against the
wall, hard enough that he saw stars. When he could focus again, he saw the Demon and
Anne standing chest to chest, Dalen's sword protruding from her back.

 She slid off the sword, to collapse at the Demon's feet. Ray felt an invisible fist
clench around his heart. 'Oh no. Oh God, he's killed her.'

 She looked up at the Demon, and to Ray's shock, stood. She was holding her arm
to her chest, and losing blood with every breath, but she stood.

 Ray stared in shock. The woman had taken a sword _through_ her chest, and kept
moving. Oh, she didn't _look_ too good, and she wasn't moving very fast, but she was
_still_ moving. That was not normal.

 The dark haired man raised an eyebrow. "Oh dear. I forgot. I suppose I should
have used something silver, eh?"

 Despite the fact that she was losing few pints of blood a  minute, Anne gave him a
sharp toothed grin and wheezed : "Dalen, Dalen, Dalen. Getting forgetful in your old age?
Millennium catching up with you? Shame, shame, shame..."

 Ray's eyes were the only things moving. 'Shit. What the hell is going on here?'

 The Demon shrugged. "So sue me. I forgot about your 'dual' nature. It's hard to
envision you furry..."

 Anne raised an eyebrow. "I'm told I make an attractive wolf."

 Dalen smiled, and shrugged again. He turned to face Ray. "You're in luck
Detective Vecchio. You get to watch the show before you die. I'm afraid that Anne is
going to miss the best parts..."

 "Dream on! For one thing, all cops know that Domestic Disputes are the worst
things to get involved with, _Randalen_ , and second, I don't intend to miss a thing."

 "Intend or not, I never lose."

 "There is a first time for everything!"

 Ray sighed. "Anne? An explanation?"

 "This is my ex. His name is Randalen. Dalen for short. He's an nasty, heartless,
loveless, bastard of an Ice Demon. Dalen, this is Ray. He's a Detective."

 "Nice to meet you."

 Ray blinked. This was getting surreal. "Yeah. Sure. Whatever."

 "Give up Anne. You're going to live with me forever, whether you like it or not.
You can do this with your soul, or without it. Be flattered, you're the first ever to actually
get a choice."

 "I think I choose Death."

 "What?!"

 "Death. I'd rather die than spend eternity with you."

 "You said you loved me."

 "And I still do. You, however, are completely incapable of anything resembling
emotion. Unrequited love sucks, dearest. I refuse to put up with it for forever. Forever is a
l-o-o-o-ong time, ya know."

 Dalen actually looked irate. "Well, if you want to die, why the hell are you putting
up such a fight?!"

 "Because love, I'm taking you with me. I'm not going to die all by myself. You
know I hate being by myself. I am after all, a pack person at heart..."

 Ray's eyes were caught by a faint movement behind the Demon. A pale haired man
in jeans and a flannel shirt was edging silently around the two combatants. Ray's eyes
widened as he realized that Anne was trying to keep the Demon's attention on herself.

 "And how are you intending to 'take me with you'?"

 Do you know what my calling was? When I was still _welcome_ among the kin
and kind, I mean?"

 "Storyteller."

 "Right. Do you know why our People have a Storyteller?"

 "You're primitive?"

 Anne raised an eyebrow at his smirk. "If we're primitive, you're primeval. No. The
Storyteller serves a very important purpose in the pack."

 As she spoke, she limped closer and closer, leaving a trail of her own blood behind
her. She moved slower, and slower, but she moved. Until she was standing right in front
of the Demon. Her lips almost touched his. He was blinking down at her, intrigued by her
lack of fear.

 "What purpose is that?"

 She smiled up at him. "We're a Distraction."

 He blinked, and then whirled around. Too late. Ray watched as the strange man
pounced on the Demon. Anne pulled something from the Demon's belt. It was a strangely
shaped, three-bladed dagger. She knocked the stranger out of the way, and plunged it into
the Demon's chest.

 Anne stared into the eyes of the man she had been in love with. For the first time
ever, she saw an emotion in his face. Randalan was terrified. She smiled sadly down at
him. "I do love you. So I'm giving you what you want. Feeling."

 She yanked out the blade. Clasped in the center of the tri-bladed dagger, was a
large chuck of ice. She watched as the Demon screamed, and flashed into so much steam.
She stared numbly at the ice in the dagger, then looked across the way at Diefenbaker.

"Oh dear. He evaporated."

 Dief shrugged. "Actually, to go from a solid to gaseous state is sublimation."

 Anne swayed. His slightly flat voice was buzzing in her ears and everything was
starting to get swirly and grey at the edges. "I think..."

 Darkness swept over her. Anne collapsed.

  Dief watched as Ray ran over and checked her pulse. He watched the
Detective's face fall as he detected none. "Don't worry. She'll be fine in a bit."

 Ray glared up at him. "She's dead."

 "Your point?"

 "Who the Hell are you?"

 "Baker."

 "Baker what? Or what Baker?"

 Dief just grinned, then pointed down at Anne's body. Ray followed his gesture in
time to see the woman's chest heave as she gulped in a deep breath. The air hissed out of
her in a rather nasty spate of cursing. Lucky for Ray he didn't understand a word of it,
Dief figured one of them blushing fire-engine red was enough.

 Anne blinked up at a confused Ray. Dief smirked as the first words out of Ray's
mouth were : "Anne? You were dead."

 She sighed. "I don't suppose you'd believe I'm an immortal?"

 "Anne, that Dalen guy pretty much _said_ you were a were-wolf."

 "Ray. Please, promise me you won't tell anyone about this. Not even Fraser. He
can't lie to save his life. I mean, can you imagine my life if the government found out
about me? Can you say 'scientific guinea pig'?"

 Dief watched the expressions cross the Detective's face with amusement. 'She
does damsel in distress quite well. He'll promise. He never could resist pretty women
begging him for help...'

 "_Please_ Ray!"

 "Okay, geeze I promise!"

 Anne flung her arms around him. "Oh _thank you_!"

 "Hey! No blood on the jacket, please!"

 "Sorry."

 Dief slipped out of the room. Ray had things in hand, Fraser was about three
seconds away, and life was sweet.

 Ray watched incredulously as Fraser cast a chiding glance at the contrite wolf at
his feet. "You couldn't have at least left a _trail_ to the apartment?"

 *wine* *bark**wimper*

 "That's no excuse. Next time, let me know. Ray shouldn't have to face things like
that without back up."

 *wimper**wimper**yip* and a tentative tail wag.

 "Well of course I forgive you. You are my friend. I was just worried."

 *bark**bark*

 "Okay, then."

 "Fraser?"

 "Yes Ray?"

 "Do you really understand what Dief is saying?"

 "I get the gist, yes."

 "Fraser, you are a weird person."

 "Understood Ray."

 Anne's opened her eyes, and immediately thought better of it. "Damn. It isn't fair.
I feel like a morning after, without even having a night before. Rude, life. Very rude."

 "Well, it's better than the alternative..."

 She searched her mind for a face to match the unfamiliar voice. 'Let's see. It's a
nice voice. Sorta velvety. Also somewhat flat. Why...She squinted up, and resolved the
speaker into Diefenbaker. 'Oh. That explains it. He's deaf, after all...

  He was dressed in jeans and flannel. She grinned. 'Probably has to borrow clothes
from the Mountie. It was either him or Detective Grab-bag...'

 "Oh. Hi! I thought I saw you right before I died, but I wasn't sure."

 He gave her a wry smile. "You might want to check out room occupancy before
blurting out stuff like that, or your secret will be on the front of the Inquirer tomorrow
morning."

 Anne whipped her head around, looking for other people in her room. There were
none. She glared up at the grinning man. "You schmuck! What should I call you when
you're upright, by the bye?"

 "Baker. One of the benefits of a _really_ long name, eh?"

 She grinned. "Told ya you'd be hot as a human."

 He actually blushed. She grinned. 'He's nice, balanced, of the same genetic
background, and most of all, employed...I have to get back in the dating waters
_somewhere_...'

 "Hey?"

 "Yes?"

 "You want to go for a drink sometime? When I get out of here, that is? We
could...talk."

 She extended one hand in his direction. He gave her a weighing look. Then smiled
and placed his hand in hers, holding it steady. "Sure. Someone to talk to?"

 Anne smiled. She had a feeling that she wasn't going to be alone anymore. She
nodded. "Someone to talk to."