"Oh, come on! Please?", he grabs my hand and pulls me back when I try to walk away. "Just this one time, I need it!"

"You need it? So you ignore me all day and when you need it, you think I'll be glad to help you?"

He pouts. "Ami, I didn't ignore you. You know I've been very busy lately, I just haven't had time for you."

I scoff. He hadn't had time for me. "Bye, Eljiah. See ya tomorrow. If you'll have time for me then." I turn, roughly pulling my hand out of his. What kind of boyfriend is he? He doesn't have time for me, but when it comes down to my magic, he has all the time in worlds to beg and try to make me work for him and his stupid company? Hah, no way.

I lift my arm to twist the doorknob on the heavy wooden door, but just as my fingertips touch the metal, the door slams in my face.

I barrel into Eljiah, standing behind me, crying out loud: "What the-" Holding my nose, I peer in between my fingers at the person who just demolished my nose. I think I broke a nail, too.

"God, I'm so sorry, Amelia, was that you? Oh, heavens, look at your nose!" Claude fusses over me, grabbing my hand and examining my nose. I feel something warm trickling down. Great.

A hand comes down on mine and Claude's. Gently Elijah tugs my hand out of Claude's and holds it in front of my stomach. "Ami, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been such an asshole. I understand if you don't want to help me, and it's absolutely okay. I'll just pull an all-nighter and figure it out myself." He kisses my cheek.

I lean back, reveling the feel of his broad chest on my back. Then I look at Claude. "Did you need something?"

She smiles, relieved, and then yanks my hand back from Eljiah's. "Ami, I need your help."

Oh, God, not her too. "You don't say."

"Why would Claude storm into my private office other than for the reason of needing Amelia's help?", Elijah's voice rumbles in his chest.

Claude blushes. "This time, it has nothing to do with magic. I need your help-help." She looks left and right, even though it's a private office, and there's no one besides me and Eljiah, and whispers: "It's a boy. I need girl advice."

I grin, while Eljiah chuckles and releases me. "I'll be with you in a sec, Claude. Just let me... clen myself up.", I tell her.

After she leaves, I turn to Eljiah, hyper-aware of his closeness, and the fact that blood is still dripping down my nose. I can taste the iron-y tang of the red fluid in my mouth. It's probably all over my teeth, too. "I'll uh, go clean up."

His face softens and he smiles. "You do that, I'll begin to face that giant stack of work I have left."

The water in the sink turns a rose red shade of color when I put my whole face under the jet of water. My hair unravels from the loose braid I'm wearing and trickles down into the sink. I huff, whisking it behind my ear. I straighten and look into the mirror. My hazel eyes stare back at me. My mouth and chin still have a pinkish shade, even though I scrubbed hard enough to rub my skin off.

When I come out of the bathroom, Eljiah is standing with his back to me in front of his big bulletin-board. Faces, places and names are pinnen all over it, its green surface so full of dots it's not even green no more. The poor boy is whacking his brain over this case for weeks now, but he just can't seem to find any more clue. The evidence all leads to a certain Daniel Rose. It would've been perfect, if it wasn't for the fact that Daniel had worked twenty years at the bureau. He'd never hurt a soul. We'd already stated it couldn't have been him.

That's why Eljiah wanted to engage me in the case, using my magic to find the killer and end this case once and for all, clearing Daniel. I gladly would've helped him, but my magic has had a bit of... Problems, lately.

I approach Elijah. You know what? Screw it, I'll do it. It wouldn't hurt anyone, would it? Well, I didn't know that for sure, but with my magic I could relieve my boyfriend from a lot of weight off his shoulders. I'd just be selfish if I didn't help him. I brush my fingertips over his shoulders.

"Hey."

He swirles around, startled. I laugh. He so easily agitated. He smiles when he sees it's me, and pulls me close with his hands around my hips. I press my cheek into his chest, and he squeezes me comfortingly. "Hey, babe. Did you get the blood off?"

I grimace. "Almost. My nose and hands both still hurt, though."

"I'm sorry. Can I console you with a kiss?"

I hum, tapping my finger to my bottom lip, supposedly thinking. "It would have to be a really long, passionate kiss, to make this much pain just dissappear."

"I can arrange that for you. Would Monday afternoon at four P.M. work for you?"

"I'm sorry, I have someting scheduled at that time. What about... Now?"

"That would be...", his breath is warm behind my ear. "Perfect." The word is whispered into my hair. He drops a kiss behind my ear, on my neck, then on the crook where my neck meets my shoulder. I inhale, shuddering, and pull him thighter to me. He pulls at my sleeve, sliding the fabric down my shoulder, followed with a trail of kisses. Trembling, I draw his face back up to mine, and press my lips to his cheek. Then I brush a feather-light kiss on his nose, laughing when he tangles his fingers in my hair to tug me down. He reaches for my lips, but I pull back, teasing him.

"Ami.", he groans, "You're killing me."

I grin widely, thrilled. Then I yank him in so hard he braces himself on the wall behind me. He laughs, pressing me against the wall. I peer into his beautiful amber eyes. My mouth opens slightly, and my eyes dip to his beautiful, full lips, which are now pulled up into a half-smile. He moves closer and closer, and just as he finally presses his lips on mine, the door slams open once more.

A seething Claude is standing middle in the doorway. "So much for 'I'll be with you in a sec', huh? If you are done sucking face, I would really like to talk to my best friend!"

Eljiah chuckles. "Better go quick, Amelia, or your friend will probably eat us alive."

"Ha ha. You go and make fun of my eating habits, but you're no different, dog."

At this he seems really offended. "Hey, firstly, it's wolf, not dog, and secondly, I don't eat live animals daily."

They're facing each other, both in a defensive stance, as if they're ready to pounce on each other and rip each other to shreds. I make my way in between them and hold my hands up.

"Okay... That's enough, you both. Claude, let's go. Elijah, bye, see you soon, I guess. If I'm still alive."

Elijah chuckles while I duck to dodge Claude's hook. Then I grab her sleeve and drag her out, waving a last time at Elijah over my shoulder.

Once we're standing outside, I turn to Claude. "All right. Spill the tea.", I cross my arms and wait patiently for her to tell everything.

She puffs, setting her hands on her hips. "Finally! Okay, first thing you gotta know," she lowers her voice to a whisper, "It's not a boy. Actually it's about the case Elijah is working on. I might have found a witness, but..."

"You ate them?"

"No!", she pokes me in my upper arm. "He's kinda... dead? I think?"

I scrunch up my face. I'd heard that there were dead people communicating with the living, but only with close relatives. I've never heard of a wraith, ghost or sluagh talking to another person that blood relatives. "Ghost?", is the only word I can think of.

"No, he's not dead-dead. He's... in the middle of dead and undead, I think. He's certainly not alive."

"A deity?"

"No, he is human. Listen, just come over to my place tomorrow, and you'll see for yourself. Now I gotta go."

"Wait! You said he's a witness, but why'd you come to me, and not to Eljiah himself?"

"Ugh.", she rubs her browline, with a sour look on her face. "I don't know, just a gut-feeling." She really looked troubled, as if she was nauseous, but the way she said it betrayed there was something she was holding back. I narrowed my eyes to slits and took her arm in my hand.

"Claude, I'm here. If there's something you don't want to tell him, tell me. I won't blabber to Elijah."

"But he's your boyfriend."

"Yes, but if it's important to you...", I don't need to finish, because she interrups me.

"Fine. The killer is who Elijah thinks he is. But he didn't do it."

I remain silent, stunned. Elijah's main suspect is Daniel Rose, my father. But I knew him too well, I grew up with him. He could never have killed anybody. That was just... impossible. Claude was staring at me with a mixture of pity and suspense, as if waiting for my reaction, but already anticipating it. Instead of freaking out, which I kinda was, inside, I pinched my lips on each other and blinked, trying to clear the fogginess in my head.

Then the door behind me slams closed. Elijah is standing there, open-mouthed. Judging from his expression, he'd been there long enough to hear the last thing Claude said. Claude was still standing in front of me, but now she had clapped her hand on her mouth, staring wide-eyed at my boyfriend over my shoulder. She made a strangled noise, and fled away.

"I can't believe she'd keep that from me!", Elijah bursts out. Then he looks at my face, and in one second, he's by my side. "Hey.", he says, soflty, tilting my chin up. "Are you okay? Come on, let's sit down."

"No. I gotta find dad. Now."

"Ami..."

"Stop. I need to find him, whatever it takes. I'll use the searching spell Mariah gave me the other day. Elijah, I need you to either help me, or just go away, please. I can't use judgement or complaint."

"Of course I'll help you, Ami. You got that spell memorarized?"

"Yeah. Let's do it. You got candles?"

He looks at me like I asked if he had a tabel in his office. "Of course. I have witch girlfriend, I have candles."

I smile, and he pulls me inside after him.

It takes just a minute to set up the candles and the charcoal, but the chalk mandala-like drawing I have to make, is a bit more complicated. I start in the middle, like always, and trace big curvy lines, to match the tattoo I have on my shoulderblades. Then I sit in the middle of the circle I created, and take a deep breath, putting my hands on my knees. The most important thing of performing a spell, is being at peace with your core. If the magic in your core feels even a bit of commotion, it'll freak out. Magic is sensitive.

Elijah puts a comforting hand on my shoulder. I welcome the feel, letting myself sink in the happy memories I created with Elijah, Claude, my father, friends and family. When I feel absolute peace, I begin to chant the spell.

The foreign words, now familiar, tumble from my lips, forming a song, forming the chain what will call up the magic from my core.

Then I picture dad, and try to compel the spell to find him. Faces rush by, familiar and unfamiliar, people I've seen before in my life. Looking for that one face, I bend and bend the spell. There! In a corner of my mind, there's finally my dad's tanned face, covered by a soft white beard. He's smiling at me, or rather, the person he is with in real life. I feel happiness surge through me, relief, and then worry. No, no, no, I can't let negative emotions take over my mind. Dread settles low in my belly. God, no! The power of the magic surges through my veins, stronger than ever. If the spell goes wrong... I push away the thoughts, and think of Elijah, standing next to me, holding me, but then I realize his hand is not there anymore. I open my eyes, and frantically look around me. The words still stumble out my mouth, now a lot less precise than first. I don't seem to be in the office anymore. Instead, I'm in the middle of a storm. A big, raging, purple storm. The thunder booms in my ears, almost defeaning me. I realize it's not a storm. It's my magic gone wild. Panic shoots through my heart. My mind is reeling with worrying thoughts and fear, and I stumble over the words of the spell, repeating and repeating. The storm grows louder, wilder and the energy around me multiplies. I am full on hyper-ventilating now, my breaths becoming short and ragged, like I just ran a marathon. I look around me, from side to side, in front of me, behind me, but everywhere I look, there are the deep purple clouds, crackling with my magic. I can't let this storm grow any bigger, it'll destroy the whole city, who knows what happened to Elijah. Elijah. I stop chanting immediately, sobbing, bending in half, resting my forehead on the floor, waiting for this nightmare to just stop. Just. Stop. The wind surging through my hair gradually lies down, and all of a sudden, it's all quiet. No more thunder, no more energy sparking, no more wind sweeping in my ears. I look up, tears staining my cheeks, wetting my neck and shirt. I see Elijah's desk, everything that lay on it scattered around the office. Frantically, I search for Elijah, and in a corner I see him, slumped against the wall. He's facing away from me, but the blood on his head is very visible. I gasp, the scream catching in my chest. I did that.

I stand up, too quickly, and get dizzy, my vision going black and dotted, but I don't let that stop me. I take two steps, but then I have to stop, grabbing the edge of Elijah's desk to keep me upright. The use of magic has weakened me, and the sitting made my legs cramp. Suddenly I feel a hand clamping down on my wrist. "God, Ami, you scared me! For a moment I thought you didn't have it under control. I'm glad you're fine." He pulls me in for a hug, and I let him, sinking into his warm embrace. I rest my cheek on his chest, reveling in the sound of his heartbeat thumping against his chest. Then a thought dawns on me. I look up, at Elijah's eyes, and he looks at me fondly. But if Elijah's here with me, then who...?

I swirl around, towards the man slumped against the wall. Now I calmed down a bit, I can see that his clothes, posture and hair don't look like Elijah's at all. My boyfriends grip on me tightens.

"Ami...?", he says, hesitantly.

I breathe in, and muster the courage to approach the man. When I reach him, I turn him around... "Dad?"

Elijah makes a choking sound behind me. "Fuck.", he takes me into his arms, and turns my head into his chest once again, so I don't have to see the scene in front of me. Too bad I already saw it. My dad's face all burned at crumpled up. One of his eyes is missing, the other wide open, glassy and staring into nothing. His skin looks grey, but I can't believe it, won't believe it. Father is not dead. I did not kill him.

That's when Elijah softly strokes my hair, and that's when I crumble. I break down in heavy sobs, crying out loud into his chest, my shoulders shuddering deeply. I hear Elijah's deep voice softly talking to me, but I can't make sense of anything he's saying, because I did it. I killed someone, and that someone...

Dad is not coming back. He's gone, he passed on, he's with mom now, and I'll never talk to him again, never give him one last hug, never be comforted by his wise words, never get hear one of his cheesy dad-jokes again.

The Elijah squeezes my shoulder, and turns my head upwards. "Ami, look.", he whispers urgently. I shake my head, not wanting to say goodbye to dad just yet. I just want to drown in Elijah's arms, never wake up again, and sink into my sorrow.

But Elijah forces my head up once again, and this time he has taken one of dad's hands in his, with the wrist turned upwards.

"Look. Closely.", Elijah urges me. "Don't you notice something?"

He's right, the tattoo of the axe my father had is not there.

"That's not dad."