Irene peered out the window at the night sky, letting out a sigh and dropping the curtain. Four days remained until the full moon began. Lee wasn't sure what would happen - she'd spent so long being furry that she hadn't even tried to change during the last week or so. While she hadn't voiced her worry, Lee was dreading the few days she'd spend in her were form this week. She couldn't remember ever having been afraid of it before, which only made her anxiety intensify.

Irene cracked open the guest room's door, checking in on the werewolf. Lee slept unsoundly, face buried in a pillow and hugging it tight. The witch had done what she could to soothe the nightmares Lee dreamed up every night, but most of the nightly frights came from her own memories: Irene couldn't make those go away.

She gently shut the door and walked up the hall to her room, closing her door behind her and getting settled into her bed. She took a deep breath and rested a palm against her forehead, fingers just grazing the top of her head. With a whispered spell, the memory strands she'd pulled from Lee wrapped around her fingers before slipping inside her own mind. Irene gnashed her teeth, hissing at the unpleasant sensation of memories that weren't hers pushing into her head. She regretted putting this off as long as she had - the longer she took to peruse memories, the harder it was to dive into them. She'd certainly never waited three days to try this before.

The last of the tendrils faded and her eyes closed, falling into an immediate and unnatural sleep. She lay entirely still, breathing so faintly anyone who looked at her would think she'd died in slumber.

She certainly had wished for that a few times.

When she opened her eyes, Irene didn't recognize the room, or the cot on which she rested. She sat up, examining her ethereal form - barely a wisp of shape - and wrinkled her nose. I have an hour to figure this out then. Fine. She sighed and walked through the doorway. 

It was somewhere south - deep South if the structure resembled the old plantation mansions she'd only ever seen in films. Being in one of these buildings, even if it were only a memory of such a place, made her skin crawl. Old portraits hanged on angles on frayed wire and loose nails, plaster fell from the ceiling a few times as she walked up and down the many halls. It felt pointless - what if the memories had already degraded so far she couldn't see anything? she worried. She'd waited too long. Damn it-

"You-!" 

Lee's roar rattled the house, window panes shaking in their cracked casing as Irene spun around. 

"You did this!" 

Wood splintered under the form of a body being slammed through a nearby wall, a burly and surly man who got to his feet without trouble. Irene stared at him - she recognized nothing about him, not his face or his voice as he laughed at the werewolf on the other side of the broken wall, "Of course I did, Sage! And every dying breath was music to my ears!"

Tears streamed down Lee's face as she bared her teeth, skin rippling as she stepped forward. Each step, she grew taller and furrier, clothes tearing at the seams. "You're going to pay for killing my pack-" A weird noise akin to high-pitched radio static made Irene clamp her hands over her ears, missing the the man's name. Shadows passed over the scene and she realized this was where the memory had been corrupted. Clever bastard. "-tear you apart!!!" 

Another flash of light blinded Irene momentarily and she blinked until she could see. The entertainment room had been trashed, smashed, torn apart and decimated. She stepped forward cautiously, glad her incorporeal state meant she couldn't really feel the blood underfoot, or the bits of flesh between her toes. She shuddered anyway at the mental imagery.

Next to a crumbling hearth, the werewolf wheezed as she got to her feet, grabbing the fireplace mantle for support and looking at the mess she'd made. Footsteps in the other hall leading to the room made Irene and Lee both turn toward the sound, but pitch darkness flooded the room, blinding Irene. A howl, a scream, filled her ears - Get back here! Don't you run away! Finish the-

"Irene!" 

Her eyes snapped open, staring at Lee over her head. The werewolf looked terrified and backed up a bit where she sat, biting her lip. Irene sat up too, wincing at the soreness of her back; sometimes she just couldn't avoid the discomfort of laying too still for too long when she had to do this sort of magic. "What?" Irene asked warily.

"You were screaming." Lee lifted a hand as though to touch Irene's shoulder but just rested it on one of Irene's knees instead. "I woke up to you screaming and I thought you- I thought something had gotten into the house."

"No, I... I'm fine." Irene touched her face, feeling tears drying on her cheeks.

Lee watched her for a few minutes in silence before reaching over and cupping her face in a hand. "If we're going to work together, we need to be honest with each other, Irene."

"I know. I'm sorry." Irene rested her hand over Lee's, leaning into it a little. "I can read through people's memories. It's why I can't dream, it's sort of a trade-off." She cleared her throat and sat up straight, pulling Lee's hand away. "Do you remember the person you saw?"

"Just bits and pieces. There were two people, a really short beefy guy that was easy to tear to shreds... and... and-" Lee shuddered involuntarily and clamped her hands over her face for a moment, inhaling sharply. "Every time I try to think of their face, I just- freeze."

"Would you recognize them if you saw them?" Irene rested her arms on her knees after pulling her legs up to her chest.

"I'd hope so. Otherwise I'm probably walking next to them on the street or buying groceries from them." Lee gagged.

"Whoever it is, they're linked to one of the Covens in Louisiana or Mississippi. You were in a mansion on a plantation." Irene rubbed an eye. "I'll put the information forward to my mother so she can have the High Council investigate more discreetly. It might be one of our own that's doing this and that's going to turn more than a handful of heads."

"I'd imagine." Lee sighed and stood up, crossing her arms behind her head to stretch her back out with a hard yawn. "What's the plan for us then?"

"I keep working on your head to loosen the memories, get them back in working order." Irene sounded hesitant.

Lee winced. "... No more. Please. I might actually go mad if you do."

"Fair enough. We have the memory we need anyway." Irene wiggled the fingers of a hand. "Now it's just a matter of cracking it wide open. That's on me to do now."

Lee rested her hands on her hips as she tilted her head. "Does this mean we're done?"

"Huh?" Irene blinked.

"I mean, you just had me around to figure out who thralled me, right?" Lee asked hesitantly. "I'm overstaying my welcome otherwise."

"You can stay." Irene stood up too. "There probably isn't a safer house in Wodenton than here."

"I can protect myself." Lee wondered if she really could though.

"Lee." Irene took her hands in hers and squeezed gently. "Please stay here until this is all over. We- I'm going to need your help to resolve this mess. If I let you go without correcting the damage done, they can do that to you again. If we confront them while you're technically under my command..." She let the thought trail off, hoping Lee would pick up the trail.

"... they can't use their power on me again." Lee's eyes widened and she grinned, nodding. "I get it! I didn't think about it that way."

Irene chuckled. "And if I remember right, you also promised that you'd have my back. Going back on that deal?" she teased.

"Never. Guess I'm sleepier than I thought." Lee smiled sheepishly at her. "Forgive me?"

"Of course." Irene lifted a hand up and poked the tip of Lee's nose, making her cross her eyes and make what was simply the most offended noise Irene had ever heard another person make.

"What have you done!? Why are you like this!?" Lee laughed, rubbing her nose with the side of her hand.

                                                         -----

Somewhere in the forests of Vermont, in a quiet cabin secluded and hidden from prying eyes, a figure looked up from their spell book. No matter how hard they tried, reconnecting with Sage seemed impossible. Something blocked every attempt. 

With a grimace, the witch snapped the book shut. They kicked aside a bearskin rug and pulled up on a trap door, dropping inside with ease. "Now," the witch asked, voice echoing in the stone room as they stepped forward, "who wants their freedom the most?"

Snarls and growls met their ears, a slow grin forming on their face as they watched the dozens upon dozens of captured werewolves in the cages.

Oh, when they finally destroyed Wodenton, it would be glorious.

                                                         -----

Irene's eyes opened slowly the next morning, shutting briefly to squeeze the sleep out before she sat up. An arm was wrapped around her tight and she chuckled, looking down at Lee with a smile on her face. The werewolf and the witch had stayed up until the wee hours, talking plans and strategies and what-ifs... eventually the talk strayed to childhood memories ("One time, I burst my spleen riding an ATV!" "I turned my father into a newt once. He got better."), favorite movies ("Hocus Pocus." "Same! It's so unrealistic though."), and most loved food ("Chinese food for days." "Homemade chicken soup, you heathen."). 

Lee was older - much older - than the two had assumed. Whatever the assailant had done, they'd done immeasurable damage to Lee's brain and scrambled at least five decades' worth of memories. The last chronologically correct memory was that Lee had been twenty-two when she'd been bitten by a werewolf. Everything after - from her changing life to the pack she'd lost - was a blurry mess.

Lee slept soundly on the full-size bed, buried under the mass of blankets she'd dragged into the room. Compared to the last few nights, the peace on her face made Irene smile... and made her heart skip a few beats. She lifted a hand and gently pushed some of her hair behind an ear, freezing when Lee cracked an eye open to look up at her.

"W'time is it?" the werewolf asked drowsily. 

Irene glanced at her alarm clock. "Ten in the morning."

"Shit, we have to open the shop." Lee started to get up but Irene just patted her head. This had the unanticipated effect of making Lee relax and more or less sink back into her comfy nest.

"The world won't end because I didn't open my shop today. We both need a break after the last week." Irene thought about getting up to make breakfast but reconsidered it, instead scooting back down into the comfortable warmth and grabbing her cell phone. 

Lee didn't quite catch what she said on the phone, even with her excellent hearing, and she tilted her head. "What was that about?"

"Ordered some food in. Nothing wrong with breakfast in bed." Irene grinned at her as Lee looked confused. "What? Don't like Chinese for breakfast?" The confusion on her face changed to glee and she hugged Irene tight, burying her face in her shoulder.

"God, I think I love you," Lee chuckled, and Irene giggled too, hugging her back. "I'm serious! You're just- You're so good and cute and perfect and you remembered my favorite food-"

"Pssssh, what are friends for?" Irene teased, ruffling Lee's hair and making one of her legs twitch. Oh, right, werewolf.

"I'd- er, I'd like to be more than friends, one day," Lee said, a little nervousness in her voice. "I know- um, I know this isn't a good time, we barely know each other, but- I do like you."

"I like you too, Lee." Irene smiled at her and rested her head against hers. "We don't have to rush. We'll live for a long time, remember?"

"I keep forgetting about that." Lee smiled contently and hugged her closer.