Twelve hours later, Gena had to quickly refresh her memory of parallel parking. Parking spaces were scarce in Queens, and she'd driven around the block over five times before she found a spot close to the shop Hope worked in.

The drive had been long and exhausting, and at this point, all she wanted to do was get a hotel room and sleep for a week straight. Lady had slept the entire car ride and was wide awake as Gena let her out of her car.

While the dog got acquainted with the city smells, Gena walked toward Hope’s shop. It was mid-morning, but the sidewalks were still really busy and the roads had been atrocious. She’d nearly been sideswiped five times in her time in Brooklyn already. All she wanted to do was get to Hope and maybe get some answers finally.

When she reached the door, she hesitated. A part of her didn’t even want to know what had happened to her. She’d give anything to turn the clock back to a time before any of this craziness had come into her life.

But Gena was a big girl and knew there was no going back. She took a deep breath and pushed open the door to Moon Shine. She didn’t know whether dogs were allowed, but she wasn’t leaving Lady alone on the street or in her car.

As Gena entered the store with Lady at her side, her nose was immediately overwhelmed by the smell of incense. Gena wrinkled her nose at the strong scent and looked at the shelves around her.

It was everything she would expect to see at a store catering to those believing in magic and otherworldly powers. She was surrounded by different sized crystals, candles, and lots of artwork of dragons and fairies.

As Gena reached the end of one of the shelves filled with various books, the clerk noticed her.

The woman was striking. She was probably late forties or early fifties, but she had gorgeous hair that hung down to her waist. The color was probably once a mousy brown but was streaked with gray and blonde from exposure to lots of sunlight.

She wore a large peasant skirt and tank top that showed off a toned physique. This woman could have stepped out of any of the pictures depicting fairies hanging on the wall behind Gena. All she was missing was a pair of wings.

The clerk got a bright smile on her face as she saw Lady. “You brought your familiar with you!” The dog wiggled in excitement as the woman got closer, but the clerk held up one steady hand, and Lady immediately sat down and was completely calm.

The woman sat down on the floor and stroked Lady’s fur. Gena was impressed. “You’re good with animals,” she said.

The woman looked up. “They make a lot of sense to me.”

“Lady isn’t a familiar, though. I don’t do, um, I don’t really do any of this.” She motioned to all of the occult items that surrounded her.

That earned Gena a strange look. “You don’t have to practice to know the magic of a familiar. Just the idea of cats and dogs being companions is fantastical. These predatory animals are bonding with you for life, even though you have so little in common and don’t speak the same language. Yet you can still understand each other. There’s a little magic in that.”

“I can see your point.” Gena twisted the leash in her hand. She’d only been in the store two minutes and she was already in over her head.

“So if you do not do any of ‘this,’ what has brought you here this morning?” asked the woman.

“Umm, I think I know someone who works here. Will Hope be in today?”

The woman raised a questioning brow. “You know Hope?”

“Well, I’ve never met her, but we have friends in common and I have a problem I’m hoping she can help me with.”

That got a crooked smile from the clerk’s lips. “Hoping Hope can help you? Well, she’s not going to be working today. But my name is Donna, and perhaps I can be of assistance.”

Gena wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Even though Hope was in all sense a stranger, she still felt a bit more connected to her through Joy. “Can you tell me the next day Hope will be here?”

Donna shook her head. “I’m sorry, but Hope is having some family issues and is going to be out of town for a few days.”

Family issues? What was happening to Joy’s family? Realization struck Gena like a brick. She was happening. Hope’s sister’s best friend had just been found brutally murdered. It made sense Hope would comfort Joy.

“I need to speak with her before she leaves.”

Donna narrowed her eyes. “What makes you think she hasn’t left already?”

Gena squared her shoulders and looked Donna straight in the eye. “Because I know Joy just called her less than twelve hours ago, and it’s highly unlikely that someone who doesn’t own a car left in the middle of the night to go to Detroit. Please let me talk to her before she leaves.”

Donna stood and faced Gena. “Are you sure you’re not psychic?”

“Please,” implored Gena. “Just get me five minutes with her.”

Donna’s gaze raked over Gena as though trying to assess her trustworthiness. “What the hell? Hope lives upstairs anyway. Just don’t tell her I told you. The stairs are right through the back.” Donna pointed toward a dark hallway behind a display case filled with jewelry.

“Thank you.” Gena maneuvered Lady to the back of the store. She didn’t look back at Donna, but could feel her curious stare boring into Gena’s back.

Gena made her way up a staircase that had seen better days. It was also so narrow Gena wondered how anyone could ever get any furniture into the apartment at the top.

As she reached the door at the top of the stairs, someone pulled it open as much as a small chain would allow.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not taking private appointments for the next few days,” came a voice on the other side of the door.

“It’s about Joy,” said Gena. She needed Hope to at least hear her out.

One pretty gray eye surrounded by black eyeliner looked at Gena through the small crack opened by the door. She stared Gena up and down, briefly glancing at Lady, who stood patiently next to Gena. “Do I know you?”

Gena shook her head. “You don’t know me, but you have probably heard about me by now. My name is Gena Dodd. I’m really good friends with your sister and I was murdered last night.”

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Hope’s apartment was very similar to the store it was located above. Beads replaced doorways and blankets hung on the walls for decoration.

Though the decorations were a bit too new age for Gena’s tastes, the place was neat and organized and was a decent amount of space for a city apartment.

There was a kitchen and living area, a master bedroom and a second bedroom that was used as an office area for Hope for any of her “special” clients. Joy had told Gena the bulk of Hope’s income came not from working at the store, but from selling specialized potions to the high-class citizens of New York.

Gena had never thought much about Hope’s job, but she was between a rock and her own dead body lying in the morgue at that very moment.

Hope was relatively calm about the situation, but Gena was fairly sure Hope didn’t believe a word. She was just as beautiful as her sister: Tall. Naturally blonde hair dyed a shiny black. Gray eyes surrounded with beautiful and dainty features.

“Are you sure you woke up next to your dead body?” she asked.

Gena sighed in exasperation. She and Hope both sat on her sofa in the living area. Lady had made herself comfortable on the rug at their feet, and Gena was having a difficult time trying to explain the strangest day of her life to a virtual stranger.

“It’s not exactly something I would mix up.”

“I know that,” said Hope. “But you were traumatized, and seeing a lot of blood combined with having your home invaded and fending off an attack can make the mind go a little crazy.”

“First of all, I’m a nurse, so I see lots of blood all the time. Second of all, I didn’t so much fend off an attack as I attempted to stop the knife with my stomach.”

Hope took a sip of her freshly brewed herbal tea and contemplated the situation. “You have to understand that there are cases where people die and wake up again. Dozens of stories. Supernatural and natural stories. However, I cannot think of any scenario where the person wakes up with a brand new body.”

“Well, that’s what happened. Different hair, missing scars, but somehow the same couple pounds I can never seem to lose.”

Hope laughed. “It makes sense. If some power had to make you a new body, size is easy. Details like small scars or particular hairstyles are harder to recreate.”

“You think some power created a new body for me? That doesn’t make any sense.”

Hope shrugged. “I’m just brainstorming. I don’t really know what to make of you.”

“Well that sucks.” Gena sighed. “You are the only person I know who might make sense out of all of this.”

“Oh, I’m not giving up just yet,” reassured Hope. “There is an explanation out there for what happened last night. We just need to find the right trail of breadcrumbs to lead us to that explanation.”

“There are no breadcrumbs!” Gena had racked her brain thousands of times on the drive to the city. There was nothing supernatural about any aspect of her life. She explained to Hope, “I have two great and completely normal parents, above average but not spectacular grades, and nothing crazy like this has ever happened to me.”

Hope scowled. “And you are sure you’re not adopted?”

Gena nodded. “I look exactly like my mother and have my father’s eyes.”

“What about dreams? What do you normally dream about?” asked Hope.

Gena went very still. “Are dreams important?”

Hope sat up. “Sometimes they’re meaningless, but other times they can be used to communicate with spirits and see things you would be unable to see in the physical realm.”

Physical realm? Who was crazier: the person saying this stuff or the person listening to it? “Umm...I don’t really dream.”

“Are you sure?” Hope sounded skeptical. “Everyone dreams.”

“Well, I kind of dream. I get night terrors sometimes. I scream a lot, and eventually I wake up or someone forces me awake, but I can never remember anything afterwards.”

The terrors had started during her senior year in high school, and she’d nearly given her mother a heart attack. She went to one therapist to discuss them, but the therapist didn’t help at all, and, though the terrors were annoying, they only came once every one or two months and were over after a few minutes.

Gena explained this and said, “I guess it never seemed that strange.”

“On its own, it wouldn’t be considered too strange,” agreed Hope. “But combined with you magically not dying, this might be the way to discover what’s happening to you.”

“How could these dreams explain anything? Do you think spirits are messing with me?” Gena shuddered at the thought. The dreams hadn’t bothered her much, but she’d never considered that ghosts were messing with her.

“The only way we can find that out is to find out what is scaring you in your dreams. No strange images have ever come to you while you were awake? Have you ever been terrified of something normal even when you knew it was irrational?”

Gena shook her head. “I’ve never noticed anything like that. You think my dreams might affect me while I’m awake?”

“More like hoping they were. It might be a bit of a challenge to get you to remember your dreams. Maybe we can find a psychic, but they’re very rare and hard to find. And expensive.”

Gena groaned at the thought of money. “I swear, I will find some way to get my money. As soon as I let my mom know I’m okay, I’m sure she will find some way to get access to my account.”

Hope looked skeptical. “You’ve been through enough already without having to worry about finances. Joy loved you, and that’s all I need to know. I don’t have much, but you can just make yourself at home for the time being.”

Gena was so grateful for the help. If Hope had refused, she didn’t know what she might do. All she had was a bag full of belongings, a car that officially belonged to a dead woman, and a loyal dog. She just hoped she wouldn’t have to be a burden on Hope for too long.

“How long do you think it will take to find this psychic?” asked Gena.

“It really depends,” she replied. “If one of my friends knows one, it could be a week or less. However, because I’ve never heard anyone mention a psychic who they had physically seen or spoken to, I think it will take longer.”

“I can’t just stay here indefinitely. We don’t even know if this psychic will be able to help anyway,” pointed out Gena. “Isn’t there any other way? Anyone else we can talk to? You don’t have to take me anywhere. Just point me in the right direction.”

Hope didn’t look optimistic. “I don’t think—” She stopped abruptly. “You know what? There might be someone. He isn’t really easy to talk to or very friendly, but I suppose it’s worth a shot.”

Gena’s interest was piqued. “Who is he? How could he help me?”

“His name is Vlad. He is very old and powerful, but most importantly, he knows almost every potent supernatural being in the state. If anyone could point you in the right direction, he’d be able to.”

Gena breathed a sigh of relief. “When can we see him?”

Hope’s eyes shifted away. “You’re probably tired,” she said. “Let me get you a blanket.”

Gena was tired, but she still wanted to know why Hope was avoiding the topic. “When can we see him?” she asked again.

“That’s the hard part,” she said. “You see, Vlad isn’t the friendliest person. He owns some club in a bit of a trashy area, and only select people get in.” Hope got up and walked into the hallway that led to the bedroom and stopped at a small closet. She took out a few blankets.

“How select?” asked Gena, skeptically.

Hope walked back into the living area. “From my experience, if you are a woman, the less clothes you wear, the better.” Gena rolled her eyes, and Hope added, “But on the bright side, you have a really nice body, and I have gotten in before. I’m sure Donna and I can find something suitable for you to wear.”

Gena looked down at herself. She’d never hated her body but didn’t consider it “really nice” either. This was never going to work. She opened her mouth to say so, but Hope cut her off. “Don’t worry about anything. I will take care of getting your clothes, hair and makeup so badass that Vlad would never refuse you. Your main job right now is to get some sleep.”

Gena wanted to argue with her, but in all honesty, she was exhausted. Dressing trashy for one night wouldn’t kill her. Really, she’d already been murdered.

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It was about four in the afternoon when Ryan found the demon’s car. For some reason, the beast had come to New York City.

He shoved a few small white pills into his mouth. He needed to stay awake. He hadn’t slept for thirty-six hours, but he could not let the beast escape him. He was already worried the thing had just abandoned the car. His worries were lifted when the beast walked outside as the shadows started to get really long in the city.

The thing was walking Gena’s dog, but it wasn’t alone. A tall woman with dark hair walked with her. A lot of people were around now. Eventually, he’d get the beast alone. After the dog had taken care of business, the two turned and went back inside the building.

The building housing the beast was a store for witches. Ryan curled his lip at the idea of witches.

He felt at his side for his 9mm Beretta. If he stayed by the building, it was only a matter of time before the beast showed itself again. And the second he had a chance, he would put a bullet right between its fake eyes.