Six long, weary months went by after the chaos died down, and everything was business as usual. Every Tuesday morning, Irene opened her shop at 8 sharp, and the clerk from the town hall apologized again and again for needing yet another tin of his favorite tea ("Turns out my wife's drinking it, not the kids!"). Each newly received package was opened and sorted, and every new bag of tea labeled neatly and put away in its designated drawer.

The only thing that had changed from her old routine was that, around noon, a tall and beautiful blond would come in, bonk her head on the door frame (as she always did), lunch in hand and smile on her face. But, this week, Lee was out driving. As much as the werewolf loved Wodenton, an old wanderlust had taken root - she thought maybe that was the reason she'd driven lumber trucks before, so she could travel. She never went far though; this was just the first Tuesday in a long time that Irene was spending her lunch alone. Usually the treks started Wednesday and she'd be home by Saturday, but this was a longer run - from Vermont to Michigan - with multiple stops.

Irene sighed and stared at the clock over the door, watching the second hand tick-tick-tick away. Her fingers tapped the counter in time with each second passing. When she realized what she was doing, she groaned in irritation and straightened up at the counter, grumbling. "Oh, stop pining, you're an adult." She paused, then sighed and tilted her head back, "You're an adult missing your love and this is totally normal, you just need to cope better."

She busied herself with the shop - dusting, sweeping, mopping spots she didn't normally have time to reach. With winter coming, her stockpile of scarves was running out, she realized - she'd have to make a few phone calls to resupply. She picked up one of the scarves to fold it and put it back and stopped a moment to rest her face against it, smiling at the warmth charm that activated at the touch. Best idea ever - scarves that kept you warm, no matter how cold winter got. She sighed happily and tucked it back into the shelf, feeling the charm deactivate when she let go, and for a moment she seriously considered buying two for herself and Lee directly from the witches who made them - maybe a large blanket, actually, Lee would love it.

The evening came soon enough and Irene finished locking up the drawer in the safe in her office, stepping out and closing the office door. When she turned to close the shop up completely, she was surprised to see Lee holding a box in her hands, looking confused outside before looking up. "Irene!" Lee laughed and pushed the door open to come inside, setting the box down on the counter and scooping her witch up into her arms. "Come here you, I haven't seen you in a week," she chuckled, kissing her happily. Irene kissed her back with a giggle and hugged her back, just glad she was home. "God, that trip took forever, got stuck in Ohio for two days. Two days! On a wasting plain of grass." Lee sat down in one of the small cafe chairs with a groan. "Blew a tire."

"Let me lock up the shop and I'll cook us something quick." Irene kissed her forehead and pulled her keys out to lock the door.

"Where'd you get a package from? I mean, it was off to the side, the delivery guy always drops a few. I hope it wasn't fragile." Lee stretched her arms over her head until she felt her shoulders and spine crack and she sighed in satisfaction.

"I didn't notice anything. I know those kids from the elementary school have been nipping some of my packages off the back porch, might be one of those." Irene sat down with two hot sandwiches from the sandwich press and two steaming mugs of chamomile tea. The witch couldn't stop a laugh when Lee pulled her chair closer to hug her tight, not wanting to let go. "You missed me just as much as I missed you, huh?"

"Of course!" Lee nuzzled against her before reluctantly letting her go; the sandwich smelled too good to resist for long. "Mmm! I love your cooking."

"I know you do. Eventually I might even learn to imitate your favorite takeout," Irene teased, poking her cheek before taking a bite of her sandwich. "Okay, okay, this is the best I've made yet, I admit it."

They swapped their weeks over dinner: During her two-day stop in Ohio, she'd met a werewolf who remembered Rocky and Alyx well. Irene had had an uneventful week, finding it difficult to find much entertainment - she'd always been easily bored, even before she'd met Lee. 

After the meal, Lee cleaned up the tiny cafe kitchen, something Irene found absolutely adorable and hysterical in equal amounts - the taller woman had to bend over to fit into the small kitchenette Irene had installed years ago. "Let's see what this box is?" Lee asked, drying her hands on a towel.

"Sure." Irene picked it up and turned the soccer-ball-sized box over, finding the shipping label but frowning. "I don't recognize the name or the address. Melinda Flowers?"

"No bells here." Lee leaned against the counter next to her. Irene just shrugged and set it down, reaching over for her box cutter and starting to cut open the tape. Inside, the box was stuffed full of curly tissue paper and she sighed, starting to dig it out. 

"I really hate people that do this. Did I order something on Etsy and forget about it?" Irene thought out loud. "It wouldn't be the first-" She froze, staring into the box, confused and afraid.

"What?" Lee stood up and looked down into the box, unable to see through the thick layers of tissue and curls.

"I hope this is a sick prank because I'm feeling skin and bone." Irene's voice shook as she pulled the object out, and she dropped it immediately with a shriek. In the box, upside down, rested the severed and dusty head of Charles Brooks, eyes wide but deflated and jaw hanging open. Dried blood coated his toothless mouth, each one yanked out. Lee picked Charles' head up and put it down, dumping the box out. The missing teeth fell out with a clattering, some spilling to the floor with a frayed note hiding in the pretty paper.

                             did you really think you could stop me

The witch turned away, feeling her dinner trying to come up her throat as she gasped for air. "O-Oh my god-!"

"Shit, shit, who are we supposed to tell about this!?" Lee stepped away from the counter, pulling Irene close and hugging her tight.

"I don't know! I don't-" She buried her face against Lee's collarbone, shaking in fright. "I don't understand, he just met with my mother yesterday about repairing the ties between the covens and his clan, I-" She choked on a sobbing gasp. "I have to call her, I have to-"

"Breathe, calm down," Lee stroked her hair and cupped her face in her hands, stepping back just enough to look at her easily. "She's fine, I just saw her leaving her office on my way into town not even two hours ago." Irene gulped down another breath and nodded, still shivering. "We need to find out where Elias is."

"He's been on a business trip to London for the last month." Irene started to calm down between taking deep breaths and forcing them out through her nose instead of her mouth and she pulled her phone out of her pocket, dialing her mother. "Mum?"

"Hey, sweetheart. I just got home. How was the shop today?" Eugenia asked as she shut and locked her front door behind her.

"I-I got a package. It's not good." Irene looked up at Lee, who shrugged.

"You sound like you're crying. What's the matter?" The older witch stopped in her front hall, more than prepared to leave the house and go to her daughter if need be.

"I need you and the council to come here as soon as  you can. Someone sent me a severed head in the mail." Irene felt her stomach lurch as she glanced at the dead, staring head of the vampire. Whoever had done it had done something to keep his head from turning to dust.

"What-?! Do you recognize the head? Don't answer that, I'm coming over now-" Eugenia dropped her bag and grabbed her keys from the dish she'd tossed them into.

"It's Charles, Mum. Charles Brooks." Irene took another shaky breath, hearing her mother's stunned silence. "The name on the box was Melinda. Melinda Flowers. I don't know anyone by that name."

Eugenia was silent. Irene almost couldn't hear her breathing.

"Mum?" Her voice cracked.

"Go upstairs. Lock your apartment up and do not leave until you know I am there." Eugenia hung up and bolted out of her house, getting in her car and tearing a gouge through her manicured lawn as she backed up and spun the wheels hard to turn.

Irene and Lee wasted no time in running upstairs, slamming the door shut behind them. Irene pushed her palm against the wood, a series of sigils and glyphs lighting up around her fingers before covering the door in a sheen of pale red light. "What did she say?" Lee asked, worried.

"She didn't. That scares me a lot more than her telling me what's going on." Irene leaned against Lee, looking outside when she saw headlights careen down the street into the parking lot of the little marketplace. Eugenia stepped out into the darkness, a short spell lighting up the area as she looked around for anyone watching before coming up to the shop. Eugenia still had her own set of keys and stepped inside to examine everything.

After a long, long silence, there was a knock on the door of her apartment, a specific rapping that told Irene it was her mother there, and she opened it after dispelling the ward. "Mum, what-" Irene stopped at the sight of tears running down her mother's face, Charles's head between her hands.

"Melinda was your aunt's alias, one of many." Eugenia took a deep breath to steady herself. "I know you destroyed her phylactery, we found its remains in the farm's ruins. But this means whoever took her under their wing has access to her resources, her memories, everything, Irene."

"But who is it, Mum?" Irene stared at her.

"I can't prove it yet, but..." She thumbed the cheeks of the head between her hands. "... I'm so, so scared that it might be the Brooks boys' father."

Lee sputtered a bit, half-choking on her beer and turning to look at Eugenia as she stepped into the kitchen. "Irene told me he died ages ago, that her dad's the main suspect." Lee looked between the two women and sat down with a sigh. "Let me guess, Papa Brooks' body was never found."

"You're correct." Eugenia sat down after wrapping the head up in a tea towel, holding it in her lap. The morbidity of the situation didn't seem to bother her - it was more the emotional toll that showed. "My husband was forced to flee despite evidence that Master Brooks only disappeared. There were no vampire ashes, no dusty bones, only bloodstains and wood ash from the fireplace." Her lips narrowed to a thin line before she continued, "I have a deep fear, a very deep fear, that he used her to fake his death. They were spending a terrible amount of time with each other even before her husband and son died. I... It wouldn't be unreasonable that he used her, manipulated her into becoming a lich, in order to create a state of being where he could use magic. Vampires as a rule can't; they don't have the essence of life itself required to do that." She looked down at Charles in her lap and more tears ran down her cheeks. "Gods, you and your brother were just boys when he disappeared, Charlie," she whispered. Irene remembered the Brooks brothers staying with her family for a time after their father's disappearance while their mother sorted the grisly details out in the aftermath. The older witch whispered, "I'm so sorry."

"What do we do, Mum?" Irene rested her hands over her mother's on the severed head.

"We can't..." She sighed. "We have to tell Elias and the Council, and the High Council too. We have no choice. But they'll never believe that a vampire did this, let alone one that's been assumed dead for so long."

"They also didn't believe Zoe was behind the feral attacks until I pulled out proof from the wreckage. The fire didn't destroy everything, remember?" Lee asked. "We'll find the proof they want. We just need time."

Eugenia nodded numbly. "I just... I promised their mother I'd keep an eye on them when she moved back to England to handle the rest of their affairs. I've let her - I've let them down."

"We'll make him pay, Mum." Irene hugged her mother tightly, and Lee joined in the hug after standing from her chair. The women sat there for some time, listening to the distant noise and howls of animals that didn't mind the cold, cold winters in Wodenton... and they tried to plan for an unknowable future.

                                                 end of season one