It was overcast in London, though that was not unusual for London. Noah was working late and James was home early because his lecture had been cancelled yet again. This time it was due to some family emergency. James had found himself mopping up the floors, dusting the shelves, even washing the windows at some point just like old times. He had opened one up and was hanging halfway out of it with a microfiber rag when he felt the air change. James usually preferred to ignore the change when he realized it was supernatural, but since his run in with the rat, he found it harder and harder to ignore the way the threads plucked around him.

Everything felt a little too tight. James slipped back inside his flat and closed the window, heart pounding. The sky was the color of a bruise and what little daylight was left would be gone in the next 10 or so minutes. With the way the air was moving, there was no chance of him regaining his focus, or distracting himself by reading a book, or preparing for next weeks lab. Instead, he went into his room and put on some sweats and tennis shoes.

He was only going for a run, he told himself.

If he ran into a monster along the way?

Magic was one hell of a drug. It was a bad habit that was hard to break and even harder to stop once you started it up again. Last minute, James dug through one of his old backpacks and found a pack of stale cigarettes, before descending the stairs and disappearing into the waning light. The streets were somehow overfull and empty. There were lots of people out, but they were concentrated in restaurant patios or lines in front of stores. The path forward was clear. James would start at Woburn Square Garden and taking Malet Street to Malet Street Garden and then Russel Square. He'd complete his triangle through Queen Square Gardens before looping back to Woburn. With a pair of wire headphone's jammed in his ears and the volume turned loud enough to cause early onset deafness, he was off.

James made it to his turn on Malet Street when he encountered a monster.

The street had become suddenly empty of people. The threads had gone slack and there the beast was. This monster was in the shape of a cat, radar dish ears and slit eyes and too many teeth. James felt a thrill run up his spine. He wondered if he had been looking for the monster or if the monster had been looking for him, attracted to the magic he'd usually be masking. After so many years of transience, of flings and short term leases, the moment he decided to settle down was when things got interesting.

The cat monster hissed an ugly sound and launched itself forward. Like the rat, it was a bloated thing, a sack of leathery flesh and puss. James had the sudden and chilling realization that this cat too had been dead.

Once was a coincidence.

Twice?

James lured the cat monster into an alleyway, his headphones still in a blasting some top 100 track from the 2010s. Something about sunglasses asking about a scar. Once in the alleyway, James turned to face the monster, watching it move uncoordinated legs. It smelled like it had crawled out of the canal which it very well could have. James pulled his headphones from his ears and wrapped them around his neck, flexing his fingers and reaching for the threads of magic that sung just for him.

He could feel them brush the tips of his fingers but they wouldn't catch. James' brows furrowed, watching the cat things head list suddenly to the right before it stumbled and caught itself. The smell had gotten worse. Wet fur and rot and sewage. James tried again to catch the magic but it kept slipping and the thing had decided now was the opportune time to pounce. James threw himself back, barely avoiding the things talon like claws. Maybe he had bitten off a bit more than he could chew here, given himself a little more credit than he deserved. Once upon a time this sort of thing would have been easy, he'd flick his wrist and the monster would explode into beams of blue light.

James was running now, properly running and he was glad that he had been prepared for it. They crashed into a busy road and James narrowly avoided being run over by a Fiat whose driver cursed at him in what could have been Arabic. James wasn't sure, his Arabic was rustier than it had been in undergrad. There were suddenly too many people around and the monster was still chasing him, not that the innocent bystanders would see anything other than a particularly mangy cat. And if they could see it for what it was that made them a magician and hopefully a kind enough one to get out of their cars and help.

That didn't happen, of course, James needed to get the monster away from people before it tried to infect them with its volatile magic. Possession of humans was rare, mostly because humans had stronger constitutions than rodents and felines, but it could happen and the last thing James needed was a monster that could think beyond its fangs. James was just starting to get winded when he came upon an empty residential street. The lights were too bright all around him and they threatened to burst like they had in the hallway. James turned on his heels but kept stepping backwards, watching the cat monster squeeze itself from the alleyway and stumble after him.

Like the rat, the cat thing had grown another head and some more eyes and teeth in places where teeth shouldn't be. James tried reaching for the magic again and it slid through his fingers. He was reminded, uncomfortably, of the feeling of his fingers running through Noah's hair.

The air changed and the monster stopped advancing, startled perhaps. James was startled too.

The threads pulled suddenly tight and charged, energy surged and the lights burst, and James was just barely in his right of mind enough to duck. The street exploded into thin threads of purple, white hot energy spiraled towards the monster and it shrieked when it was caught. This was what he was supposed to be able to do, what he failed to do more often then not.

The cat fell to the pavement with a sigh, its corpse riddled with rotted flesh and patchy fur. James stared at it, still in a daze. The atmosphere had returned to its usual state, devoid of the magic that had been there just moments ago. James wondered who would be there when he turned around. In reality, he knew the moment the world had kaleidoscoped into a purple colored lightshow.

He took the pack of cigarettes from his hoodie pocket, put one to his lip and turned to face them.

"You wouldn't happen to have a light, would you?"

At the end of the barren street stood a single person, similar in height to James though slightly thinner. They had pale skin and dark hair with dark eyes to match, inky black holes that were just as endless. This person wore an all black fencing uniform and carried a blue and white duffel bag. Conveniently, they looked as though they had just left the gym. The only hint that they weren't practicing for a fencing competition was the saber in their hand, used for stabbing not sport. They sheathed the weapon and cocked their head to the side before approaching James. They produced an oil lighter from the pocket of their suit.

Then flicked it open, presenting a small flame that James leaned to accept but then they pulled the lighter away. James became aware of how close they were, he could feel their breath on his cheek.

"You'll owe me a favor if I light your cigarette." They said, all remnants of their foreign accent had been scraped away and replaced with long German vowels.

James wiggled the cigarette in his lips, holding it between his fingers when he asked, "What sort of favor?"

The others dark lashes fluttered, small mouth tugging into a victorious smirk, "A drink?"

Of course.

Uma preferred their bad habits in a short glass on the rocks.