Coven meetings always tended to drag on for hours, but that was because most members believed in being fashionably late. Eugenia Lucas, one of the Magistrates and Irene's mother, believed in punctuality and in arriving an hour early to prepare.

Irene and the werewolf took up seats in the far corner of the town hall. The woman sat on the floor: The chairs were too short for her long legs, she insisted as she sat down. 

Eventually, local witches and vampires started filing in, including Elias Brooks and the head of the Brooks clan. Elias threw Irene a very, very foul look before taking a seat next to his older brother. Irene just stuck her tongue out at him before settling back, crossing her arms as her mother, tall with olive skin and dark brown hair and eyes, stood at the center of the Council table.

"Now that we're all here, we can discuss the matter at hand. Two days ago, a werewolf with amnesia broke out of the Brooks family's care and absolutely trashed Irene's shop." Eugenia looked over her glasses at Elias, who sank down in his chair with a grumble. "To my knowledge, the one supposed to be guarding the werewolf was absent. Because of this grievous error, among other issues stemming from the lack of security, the Wodenton covens will be taking over the investigation into the werewolf attacks." The muttering in the room rose to shouts and arguing, and Eugenia pinched the bridge of her nose as she let the arguments commence.

Charles Brooks, the head of the Brooks clan, stood up too and called up to Eugenia, "We never agreed to this arrangement, Lucas!"

"It wasn't your arrangement to make, Brooks." The Lucas matriarch lifted a hand and cleared her throat. Immediately, the room began to quiet down as attention returned to the Council table. "If we may now turn our attention to my colleagues..."

The werewolf leaned over, whispering in Irene's ear, "Are these meetings always this loud?"

Irene whispered back, "Only when the vampires are involved. They want more say in the goings-on but every time we let them have a chance at it, they screw up. The Brooks family is the main one here in Wodenton; the smaller clans try not to step on their toes, but..." She shook her head. "Unfortunately, Charles and Elias are sort of just... jerks. After their father got staked, they took over and they've been absorbing and taking over other clans ever since."

The werewolf just stared at her out of the corner of an eye. "You're sure they're not the ones who made me lose my head?" she asked flatly, not even bothering to whisper.

Irene snorted. "Vampires can't use magic unless they channel it from an enchanted object. Whatever, whoever was tied to you was very much alive and breathing." Irene turned to watch the chaos some more. As a Magistrate's daughter, she couldn't influence the discussion - it would look like her mother was trying to manipulate the talks. There were others like her, other children of the Council, but most didn't attend the meetings - she was only there because, well, she'd bound herself to the werewolf to keep her out of trouble.

Finally, the shouting died down, and one of the others on the Council stood up as Eugenia took her seat. This man, Russell Du Bois, raised a hand to silence the remaining murmurs. "In the meantime, we have a way to track the powers that are holding these werewolves." He gestured to Irene, who cringed and shrank into her seat before standing and walking past the full seats. The unnamed woman stood up and followed without a word, even when Irene gestured for her to go sit back down. Irene looked confused at this but didn't say anything, just stood before the gathered witches and blood-drinkers.

"Evening, everyone." Irene bowed her head a bit before straightening up. "Two days ago, as you all are aware, this werewolf broke into my shop for reasons unknown after escaping from the Brooks' holding cells. The magic dampening her willpower and decreasing her intelligence was very, very old, perhaps older than my mother," she lamely joked, grinning sheepishly at Eugenia's snort and attempt at hiding a smirk. "Whoever cast this net of control on these werewolves, they aren't doing it for chuckles. There is intent- there is malicious intent - behind these mind control spells and the one on our friend here was only easy to break because the spell weakens the farther away the thrall is away from the caster."

"So it's like a bungee cord. We can use that to track the caster!" said one of the witches in the gathering.

Irene winced and shook her head. "Even if I were able to deduce the caster's location, there was an obfuscation charm keeping them hidden from me. If I had had more time, I may have been able to break through that too. As it stands now-"

"Back to square one. Lovely," said Russell.

"... we're somewhat past square one. We have her." Irene gestured to the werewolf, who was sitting on the table with one leg crossed over the other. The woman grinned toothily at Russell and waved her fingers at him in a little hello. "She may not remember anything yet, but that doesn't mean that the memories aren't in her head. We've come to an arrangement: in exchange for me fussing with her mind, she'll live in my home and have a job at my shop. If there are any that disagree with this set-up and would rather we have no leads at all, speak now or expect your next batch of tea to smell and taste like dirt for a year."

Russell looked rather aghast and stood up again. "We've told you and your family that blood magic isn't permitted anymore!"

"Tell that to the bastard attacking our people, Russ," Eugenia sighed, her head resting on a hand. "Whoever they are, they're using a far darker brand of blood rites than I ever wanted to touch and they're manipulating werewolves who don't have packs, as far as we can tell."

The werewolf nodded. "I remember the times before I lost my head; I was bitten on a truck drive to Alaska sixteen years ago. I got help from a pack in the area that wasn't related to the one that bit me, but I never stuck to a group. The other 'wolves, they were like me... didn't have packs. We were being forced into one with each other through this... what did you call it, Irene?"

"A net."

"That." The woman snapped her fingers and pointed at her new witchy friend. "That word."

The rest of the group muttered and whispered to each other after leaning back from the table, and Eugenia stood up. "We now call a brief recess to discuss the matters at hand."

Charles and Elias stood up, as did the rest of their clan. "We want nothing else to do with this, Lucas. We're through with you and your kind."

Eugenia sighed. "You'll be back, Brooks. You always are."

"Not this time," Elias snarled, grabbing his brother's arm and half-dragging him to the exit. Most of the vampires followed, leaving a handful of representatives from the outlying clans in neighboring towns. The Magistrate of Wodenton observed the much, much smaller group and bowed her head, covering her face with a hand. 

"If clans Sweet, Dahl, Burrow, and Vidal have any suggestions for the future, please rise and come up here. We shall take a vote on the resulting plans after the recess." Irene knew that minute, angry tremble in her mother's voice... and she felt fear climb up into her chest and nestle in her heart.

The werewolf nudged her, breaking her out of her worried thoughts. "Hey, let's go home. Your part's done, isn't it?" she whispered, standing up and wrapping an arm around her shoulders protectively. Irene nodded. "Then let's blow this joint. We've got enough work to do that doesn't involve playing nice." 

As the two made their way out, Irene heard the mutterings,
"... thralled the werewolf herself, what a disgusting display of power!" 

"...complete disregard for the Laws..."

"Does she think she can get away with it because her mother is the Magistrate?"

The woman wrapped her arm around her more closely and ushered her out, hearing the whispers too. "Let's get some soft-serve from the gas station next to your shop, my treat."

"I haven't paid you yet."

"... right, er, take it out of my next paycheck," she said, embarrassed as she patted a pocket. Irene smiled weakly at her. At least she tried.

-----

"Your magic politics are dumb." The woman stretched out on the pile of bean-bag chairs and pillows in the spare bedroom; conjuring a bed was a little out of Irene's skill set, but squishy chairs and pillows were easy. But, as the woman had told her, she wasn't used to beds anymore. A soft pile was just perfect.

"They always have been. Ever since Mom took the old Magistrate's place, the others on the council started pressing down harder on us. They're just scared of magic they can't use themselves." Irene leaned against the door frame, chuckling as her housemate scooted around to get comfortable. "What do you want for breakfast tomorrow?"

"Oh god. Pancakes. Or strawberry crepes stuffed to bursting." She paused and looked at Irene. "... can I pick a name today?"

"Of course. It's your turn anyway." Irene smiled at her. The crooked grin she got in return made her heart skip a beat.

"Ooo!" She rolled over onto the floor with a thump and got up, grabbing an art book from a bookshelf and handing it over after opening it to a page. "Her! I like her name. Mallory."

"..." Irene tried to stifle a laugh. "You want to be named after an alcoholic former spy?"

She paused. "... maybe as a last name? Oh dear, I thought she was just classy, all those cocktails in hand."

"We'll watch it sometime. Promise." Irene smiled as Miss Mallory perked up before an idea popped into her head. "How about... Lenora?"

"Lenora...?" She thought a bit, clearly mulling the name over. They'd shot names back and forth over the past few days but none had really stuck. So far, "Mallory" was the first, even for a last name. "... Sure! Just call me Lee." Lenora beamed at her with a giggle. "I love it."

"It-It suits you." Irene smiled back, so glad that it wasn't too obvious when she blushed.

"I always liked shorter names. I do remember that much. I had a really short nickname before. Like, four letters." She held up three fingers, then blinked at her hand and held up her fourth one. "Sorry, I guess I'm still wired funny."

"You're fine." Several kinds of fine, Irene thought with a short cough. "I'll be up around seven to cook breakfast. See you in the morning, Lee."

"See you in the morning. Wait a sec?" Lee asked. Irene turned around in the door only to be picked up in a bone-crushing hug, hearing a happy grumble come out of her friend. "Sorry, I've been wanting to hug you all day. You've been so nice to me!" Lee kissed Irene's forehead with a small muah! and set her back down, smiling at her. "Everyone else at the meeting just avoided me or stared at me. You and your folks are treating me like I'm just a normal weirdo. It's been really nice having a safe place to recover. The vampires... weren't so nice," she said more quietly.

"I know, and I'm still cross with my mother and the Council for letting them get away with what they were doing. Starving you and the others we've got under custody isn't going to give us any information... or help you guys get back to normal." Irene patted Lee's arm. "Get some sleep, tomorrow is Friday and that's our busiest day at the shop."

"It's a good thing you literally live over your shop then!" Lenora giggled and settled back down, quickly dozing off in the pile after rooting around to rearrange the pillows. Irene shut her bedroom door as she started to softly snore and kick one leg in her sleep, making the witch giggle.

Irene changed into her pajamas and got comfortable in her own bed, tugging her blankets over herself and setting her alarm on her phone. She looked over the missed calls and angry texts that loaded into her notification bar and just swiped them off her lock screen. She didn't care what the coven said - she'd done what she had to do. If these attacks kept going, her home and the other covens couldn't deflect them forever.

She had to do something.