Out of the Ordinary

Liana hadn't slept past six o'clock in the morning for the past several years, and the morning brought no exception or reason for her to sleep in. Her store was meant to open at nine, so it gave her more than enough time to do her own things – whatever she decided that meant that day. Usually she had very little to do, what with her craving for things that would use more of her energy but often being left to waste time on things like films or making silly crafts for her equally silly store. At least, she mused, the cover was protected that way. She could go on and waste time, then go for runs or work out or pretty much anything that didn't involve sitting about in her flat.

When she caught sight of the time, Liana bounced up and down on her toes as she gathered her sweater and then took the stairs two at a time to make it downstairs in time to unlock the front exactly on time. She had become a creature of habit, in some ways, but there was always that thrill of adrenaline that she craved, even if it was only in such things as barely opening in time. She loved the drama of it, when in reality she wished she could have been on some kind of mission or watching out for someone instead. At least she would have felt useful. In such a job as this, all she really wanted was a reason for her to be doing what was required of her. How many people really thought very much of a shop owner like her?

The fits of pride she sometimes had seemed to show up in the small things she did. When at the gym, she would be sure to go longer on her machine than the lady or bloke next to her. She always managed to make a sale or keep her store safe. Sometimes just the desire to be better at what she did than the person next to her or the next store over got to her. It never happened when she was on a case, because all that mattered was her asset, her subject. But she hadn't been on a mission since Noah.

With the door unlocked and the sign turned to open, Liana ambled about the store, checking displays and the like and trying to make herself busy. In the end, she plucked a book off of the shelf – one of which she had multiple copies – and settled herself behind the payment counter to read until someone showed up. What else did she have to do, after all?

It had been a long night for Angus. It had been cold and he had managed to thwart James Blood from getting into the Lupin house and had chased the beast from the estate.

Blood had made a real mess out of not just the Lupin household but a good many others, and, as the grandson of a werewolf slayer, Angus was not about to lose the chance to try to find where the monster's den was.

So the chase had gone on for hours, and Blood was getting angry that he hadn't been able to shake Angus. They'd been through the village near the estate, on northward to Hogsmeade, and then back south again to Diagon Alley, and then into muggle London.

When the werewolf got into muggle London, Angus could tell James was weaving his way through the city, and it seemed to be with a specific destination. A deliberate path he was taking. Was he heading back to his pack? Was he looking for reinforcements to try to off Angus?

Rather than feeling defeated, Angus was feeling successful. Every bit of his training, all the lessons about back up, got pushed to the back of his mind when he thought about the damage Blood had already done, the lives already taken, the irreparable damage.

He didn't realize that the cold and the fatigue was dulling his senses or his judgement. He saw the sun was up, and knew Blood would be desperate to retreat now out of sight, so he closed in on James.

A wand blast hit him along the side of his face like a sledgehammer. It blinded him for a moment, stunned him, and it took him a moment to regroup. He tried to shake off the pain and looked up to see James doubling back on him, looking to kill him.

Angus looked for his wand and saw it broken in half on the ground. Damn. He spun around and flew down the street, hoping to lose him. He raced through an alley and into the first shop he saw. A quirky little place with books and crafts. He sighed. He was going to lose his post for dashing into a muggle shop and risking losing their world. How much worse could it get?

He saw the blonde behind the counter. How the hell could he explain this. With all the aplomb of an adolescent, he flashed an awkward smile at her.

"Hi," he said breathlessly. He saw a huge dark hulking shadow out the corner of his eye and saw Blood looking in the window of the shop. Their eyes met. Angus knew a moment later Blood would be upon them.

He saw a huge fern in a brass pot on a shelf. He grabbed it hastily, casting the blonde a look that was some odd combination of an apology and a silent request for permission to borrow it.

The werewolf flung open the door and seemed to roar into the store. Angus hit Blood full on with the planter, and Blood remained unphased, his huge hand plowing again into the side of Angus's face, tossing him into a bookcase. Angus was stunned momentarily, with a cold feeling of dread creeping over him with the knowledge that not only was he going to die, but so was the innocent woman who ran the shop.

”Excellent!” I cried. “Elementary,” said he.

It was perhaps a bit of a cliché that Liana's favourite book series would be that of one Mr. Sherlock Holmes and his crime solving with his best mate. It stood to reason that she would be particularly interested in a series involving catching the criminals and going through the thrill of the chase. If she couldn't experience it personally, it would definitely not bother her to read about it. The idea, originally, had been thrilling and seemed particularly brilliant.

Now, however, she wasn't so sure.

Just as Sherlock was giving his monologue on the reasoning behind his deduction for the case, the door flew open, making her gasp and jump in her chair. The man gave her a quick, albeit strange, smile before glancing around.

“Morning...” She replied slowly, marking her page with the envelope she used for a bookmark; she wasn't about to go folding the corners of her pages like some schoolboy with little to no interest in the novel. No, she was far more careful and was hoping to sell the book eventually (just, maybe after all the other copies had sold. This one was quite diverting).

“Sir, I-” she attempted, staring at him as he lifted her pot and swung it at the next person to walk in the door. Was he barmy? Of all the things, breaking her decorations-

The second entrant to her store didn't seem the least bit phased, though, as his fist connected with the other man's face. Liana's jaw dropped. This most definitely could not be a good idea. And yet, she was thinking it, wasn't she? Wondering which one she ought to help? The real question, however, was how much she could get away with. Her wand was tucked into her boot, but something told her these men wouldn't react as usual Muggles would in the face of magic. Usual Muggles wouldn't fail to be phased by a planter whacking them across the face.

She slowly set the novel down and stood as he men stared each other down, both seemingly waiting for the sign to move once more. Luckily, it wasn't the first time Liana had been left to her own devices in the store – she knew full well that she would end up getting thirsty at some point, so had started stashing drink bottles under her counter. Plucking a glass bottle – one of those you might find Coca-Cola inside – she crept from behind the counter and held it at her side.

Years of training had, of course, prepared her for the idea that someone would be equally as trained in stealth situations as she, so Liana didn't waste the time of inching her way over. Instead, she took a couple cautious steps around behind the second man, then lunged and brought the bottle down towards his head, praying he wouldn't turn and make her miss. She couldn't say why, exactly, she had chosen to help the bloke who busted her planter, but something about him shouted 'good guy', while the man apparently alright with punching others certainly did not shout the same thing.

She didn't exactly expect the hit to knock the man down or even stun him, but hopefully it would do something. Distract him, even. At least she had training where the man she was helping might not. Even if the man had training of some sort, he almost definitely didn't have the training she had.

She had risen to the occasion. How odd for a muggle, Angus thought. He hadn't expected that of her. The glass bottle crashed down on James's head, and Angus was hoping it would slow him down.

Instead, the werewolf rose to his full height and seemed to be summoning up his extraordinary strength to strike back at her. When James wanted to, he seemed to be able to terrorize anything within radius just by virtue of being so ungodly big. And right now the over 7' muscular frame of the beast was looking even bigger.

"No!" Angus shouted. "She's an innocent! I'm the one you want."

"I rather like blonds, you know," James said in a sinister tone. "What if she's the price you pay for thinking you could track me tonight?"

"I won't let you touch her," Angus said in a deep, angry tone.

James laughed, amused. "And just how are you going to stop me, Boy? Wand's gone, you know. Splintered in the alley. Looks like the best you had was that flower pot."

"You don't know who I am," Angus seethed.

"Of course I do. Grandson of Edward Donohue. But that doesn't make you him, now does it?" James laughed. He drew his own wand and aimed it at the blond woman.

"Are you out of your mind!" Angus said, trying to come up with a quick secondary plan. In point of fact, his battle improvisation ability seemed to be temporarily on the fritz.

"Completely," he grinned, planning on firing at her. "What's one less muggle, anyway? Except food for my pack."

Liana’s life was literally hanging in the balance as the men spoke, and she couldn’t help but wonder if she could get away with doing magic. Would the NSA find out? Where would then send her, then? Somewhere without a Wizarding community? She couldn’t handle the idea of changing her name again, of changing her story again. This man’s wand wasn’t working, but he certainly seemed sure of himself. If only Liana had let herself learn magic more properly. Here she was, trained in physical combat, up against a man who could easily end her – and she didn’t even know most of the spells he most assuredly did. They should have prepared her for this. Her talent may have been there somewhere, but she neither knew the spells nor trusted her minimal abilities to save her from the man – or was he something else? He was terrifyingly tall – sending her a massively wicked grin.

Deciding that surprise might be the best plan in the end, Liana feigned a frightened expression – truly, it wasn’t as difficult as it should have been for someone so used to engaging in battles. Unable to come up with anything else, Liana lifted her foot and reached for it in one swift motion, pulling her wand from within and pointing it back at him.

She was going to be in so much trouble.

Glare set on her face, she allowed a momentary glance at the man trying to protect her. She couldn’t use the wand well, but maybe he could. She was massively tempted to try and see if he could manage his typical abilities with someone else’s wand. The real challenge would be getting it to him, if he even figured out her plan or wanted to go with it.

“Definitely not a Muggle, dude.” Liana growled out, eyes narrowing. It wasn’t the first time someone would have to learn about her being from America. She tended to use language and slang they didn’t expect just as these men hadn’t expected her to be a witch with a wand stashed in her boot.

ooc: despite what angus tells you, please don't kill james. wounding, though, is entirely permissible.

A wand! A witch! The relief was instantaneous for him. James, on the other hand, seemed to be merely amused. He grinned at her, always seeming to be looking for a new opening for mayhem, death, and destruction. Everything was an opportunity to him, it seemed.

"Kill him!" Angus urged her.

"Not so fast," James said calmly. He looked at Angus. "If she does that, just how do you think you'll get your client back? You do want her back, I presume. That is why you were tailing me, or trying to. If you tell her to kill me, then I can't tell you where I'm keeping your woman."

She wasn't his woman. His client, but not his woman. And, yes, it was why he'd been following Blood. They were running out of time to find her.

"Now why would I believe a nice psychopath like you?" Angus spit out the words bitterly.

"Because you don't have a choice," James said. "So, here's how its going to go. I'll give you a head start. And then I'm going to come after you, and the little blond morsel you dragged into this against her will." He grinned at her sarcastically and said to her, pointlessly, "You do look like you'd be rather tasty, though."

"A head start for what?" Angus asked.

"To see which one of you will outrun me, and which one of you will die, of course. Now--I'll give you a moment, but no longer." He fired a massive fireball into the woman's bookstore, at the shelves, the neatly arranged merchandise. Angus was wide eyed and appalled. James looked at Angus and the woman and spoke to them in an eerily quiet tone. "Run."

Ooc: lol She couldn’t even if she wanted to. Magic level? Not so hot.

Liana’s heart stopped. Kill him? She couldn’t even if she wanted to. Mind, she was tempted, but that was definitely against the rules the folks in charge had given her. Her eyes flicked back to the man whose name she actually hadn’t caught – she didn’t know either of their names, actually. It really didn’t matter, though, because she hadn’t managed to throw him at all. How disappointing. Then again, with Muggles it was much more affective. A strange woman pointing a stick at them? Like, how often did that actually happen in their lives? Never.

She scoffed as the taller of the two directed a particularly snide comment. Werewolf, was he? Even better. He could easily outrun the both of them. What would he do if she just apparated away? Because that held some potential. What if she splinched them? The man who was apparently on her side in all of this didn’t have a wand, so it could potentially be up to her.

Liana couldn’t quite handle all of the frustration she felt building up inside her. It wasn’t getting her anyway. Keep calm, you crazy. She chided herself silently,

Run? Yeah, she could probably handle that. The problem? He’d set her bloody store on fire. Her things were upstairs. Merlin, she wouldn’t know how to explain this to her superiors. Would they even give her another place? She wasn’t banking on it. She was in far more trouble than she realized.

Gripping her wand more tightly, Liana didn’t wait to question anything; that had never worked out for her before. It was a shame she didn’t know the man this werewolf was after; she might have just let him go and settled for her fate. But she didn’t know him, and her gut told her she didn’t need to give in. They could both get out somehow. She didn’t glance back to see if the second man was actually giving them the start he claimed.

Grabbing the sleeve of the man who had broken her planter, Liana yanked and pulled him outside. Stuffing her wand into his hand, she led him to the right and away from the window of the shop. “Apparate. Now.” She didn’t have time to explain that her magic would more than likely just get them into more trouble; he had to get them out immediately.

Angus was not disappointed in the least to find a wand in his hand. Apparate? He could handle that. No problem.

"No!..." James made a swiping reach towards Angus, and all Angus could think about was the most remote place in James' limited little brain. He flicked the wand and apparated, realizing he had no idea where the hell he was sending himself and the girl to.

He found himself, a moment later, standing with her in the living room of a very upscale flat. He could smell coffee brewing, and in the background, he could hear a shower running and smelled a very masculine shower soap.

"Whoever you are, you've got 3 seconds to identify yourself or I'll fry your ass!" an irritated American voice called.

"Oh, bloody hell," Angus muttered. Then he called. "Don't shoot. It's Angus. We're going to drink your coffee."

"Do you need bandages or something?" the voice called back.

"Not yet," Angus replied. He looked at the girl, released her arm, and handed her wand back to her. "Sorry about that. But we are safe for the moment. The chap who lives here is a friend, despite how unhappy he sounds at having his morning routine invaded. The werewolf who tried to kill us is James Blood, and right now, he's one of the most deadly, out of control creatures in England. James doesn't know this place exists. Not so far as I know--so I think we can breathe at the moment. Coffee? I could use some. Its been a long night."

He made his way to the kitchen and got out some coffee mugs and put them on the counter.

"Sorry about your shop," he said. "I'm Angus Donohue. I'm an auror. We'll take care of the damages."

dp--sorta....

now that I wrote that post, it dawns on me that she's American, and I just sent them to Lee Shepherd's flat in London. Lee is Robert's equivalent in America. Should I presume he would either know her or know of her?

ooc: I seriously doubt it. She dropped magic before she was Hoggies age, being taken in by the NSA. So she doesn't know much about the Wizarding World in general. Hence her not knowing about the werewolf issues or the laws, I suppose.


Liana closed her eyes as she was torn from her spot on the street and taken across space to some flat she of course couldn’t recognize. If he had taken her into the Wizarding bit of London she could be in more trouble than she already was. They weren’t supposed to know about her. She’d only been placed close by so that the NSA could send one of their own in when something went wrong. So that person would have a place to stay. Now there was no flat for them, and she wasn’t even there.

The landing wasn’t harsh, but the greeting was. But they were American! Who was this person? The man at her side – Angus, apparently – replied and apparently calmed down whoever was in the other room. Liana stuck her wand back into her boot as it was returned to her and he started explaining. Her superiors really should have explained all of this. Pushing her hair out of her face, she frowned but nodded in agreement. Coffee would probably help. She could feel herself starting to register the weariness she felt, her adrenaline starting to fade.

Of course he was an Auror. It would’ve been too easy if she had happened upon someone average. Then again, he wouldn’t have been likely to have a werewolf after him if he were average, would he?

“Honestly, I wouldn’t worry about it. Um,” she began, trying not to fidget. It had been ages since she felt the adrenaline that the interaction had caused. Liana didn’t realize how much she had missed it until it had faded into her being tired. “See, it would be better if I just found somewhere else.”

How could she explain that her superiors would find her some other city to live in as fast as they could? That she wasn’t supposed to know him, and he wasn’t supposed to know about her?

She really had no choice but to go ahead and tell him. At this point, it couldn’t get any worse. She would keep the bit about her real past to herself, though, she decided. No need to complicate things even further.

“My name’s Liana Rommily, and I’m supposed to keep up the façade of being a Muggle. I worked with America’s NSA, but… well, identities were discovered and I was moved here. So, I really shouldn’t be here. I’m not supposed to go any closer to your bit of London that that store. It won’t be long before they move me somewhere else. Really, don’t worry about it.”

She frowned, registering the fact that she really just wanted to be able to stay put for once. If her employers didn’t find her, could they move her? She was massively tempted to take it back and ask him to keep her somewhere they wouldn’t know about. But this man whose flat they lived in could easily tell whomever was in charge of moving her that she was here. It would be up to Angus what happened next; her say in things was truly very small.