It took weeks of searching, trying to get her hands on books that few even knew existed. Each time she had to search for a book, for the clue to a books whereabouts, it only served to make her more determined to find a way to do what she wanted.

Kate hadn?t just stolen her first husband, she?d stolen the second man she loved, her home, and everything that made her powerful. If she?d only had access to the library in the castle she would have found what she was looking for within days.

It was a vicious cycle, she wanted to reclaim her tomes and belongings, maybe even the castle, but in order to do so she had to find copies of books, fragments of spells, and somehow work it all together into something she could use.

She never found the full spell but she knew most of it and further research helped her build something new that would work.

She glanced up from the book she was looking at, her eyes moving over the body of the man she?d killed to get it. A smile started to form as she closed the book, moved to the door, and leaned out to call Edgar.

Once he entered she gestured to the man, ?Bring him with us back to the house, don?t let anyone see you.? The look she gave him was bored but behind that boredom was a warning, he wasn?t to fail her again.

?I?ll shroud the house until tomorrow morning, come back once you have him settled in the work room and grab anything that looks worthwhile.?

She reached over and lightly patted Edgar?s cheek before smiling and gliding from the room, leaving him there with the dead body.

There was no warning, no heads up, all had been quiet in Kate's world, or at least as quiet as it ever was. All the enemies were either licking their wounds, plotting against someone else, or biding their time.

And so each day turned to night, spring leaped into summer, summer finally gave way to fall, and the crisp cool of winter had settled onto Rhy Din.

She'd worked most of the night, acquiring an object for a client, at one point she'd been quickly moving across a rooftop, lost her balance, and slid down one peak, various roofing tiles and other bits of muck following her down. It was odd in that she normally didn't lose balance, normally could walk and leap across those hills and valleys that covered the buildings of the city.

It hadn't been a bad fall but it had been an odd one.

The entire incident was forgotten as she settled into bed, the shutters lowered, and the sun peeked over the horizon.

After all she'd be completely healed by the time she woke up that evening.

Ritual, habit, all the little things that make up day to day life. Even in Rhy Din and the constant shifting of the city, everyone had their things they did almost every day.

For Kate it was being out all night, hunting, working, hanging out with friends, then getting home before dawn, spending time with Lucien, and going to bed for the day.

There was comfort in the sameness of some of the bits, enough that it kept the darker bits at bay.

On this day in November she curled up in bed, like she did every morning, and went still. Normally there wouldn't be any movement until the sun set.

Normal wasn't in the cards though.

It started with just a finger twitch, nothing big, just one finger moving a little. It was something easily missed, until she rolled over onto her back, her arm dragging over her face until her head turned.

Lucien was elsewhere in the house, even though he spent his nights with her, he still had work during the day so when the inevitable happened she was all alone.

Her chest expanded in a deep, ragged, shuttering breath. Eyes popped open, going wide as muscles moved, lungs burned, and pain shot through her chest like lightning.

At first she couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't even think as everything happened at once.

Pain was replaced by sheer terror as she realized she was breathing and there was a soft thumping in her chest.

That's when she screamed.

"It's a mistake."

She was warm. She was flushed. She was breathing. It was morning, the sun was shining and she was awake. He could hear her heart pounding.

She was alive.

"It's a mistake. A dream." She looked up at him. "Kiss me, finish the dream, then I'll wake up and it'll be night and we'll both be us and that'll be it."

He leaned down and brushed a light kiss to her lips. Gone was the familiar cool of her skin, of her lips. He shook his head, trying to make sense of it all as he felt her warm breaths and warm touch at his neck. He shook his head. "It's not a dream Kate." It was no dream. She was sitting there and she was alive.

Then a thought struck him and it struck him cold. He looked her over, searching. "Are you injured? Hurt?"

Kate didn't hear him right away. She shook her head. "You wouldn't know it was a dream if you were in it." She looked down at her chest, rising and falling rhythmically and she frowned. "I'm breathing." When she finally looked up at him, she blinked a few times. He held his breath as he watched her, waiting.

"I fell last night, I was on a roof and was thrown off balance for some reason, it wasn't bad." She held up her forearm where there was a scrape. "It's not healed." Her voice went up a little bit as she spoke, her hand moving to a spot on her low back where there was a bruise and another scrape.

"It's not healed."

He let out a hushed breath. It was a mistake.

She was struggling to work through everything, to wrap her mind around what had happened and who it could have been. In the past year she'd come into contact with so many who could and would do this. She also had older enemies like Liv who, even if they didn't seem like they were capable of such a big thing, if given a push in the right direction could have figured it out.

The big question was what "It" was. Spell, virus, injury? The one place she knew she could start to work on the problem was the Castle and all the things she still had hidden there.

Apparently Lucien was on the same page because when she looked into his frowning face he was already planning their next move, "I'll get word to Gwyr to bring the team and my carriage and we'll get you to the castle." He looked down, wrapping his fingers around hers, warm and pink now. He leaned down to press a kiss to the palm of one, then the other hand. "Do I need to get word to Chris?"

"Yes, Chris should know." For a minute she second guessed herself, the Castle was her safe haven, the place she always went when things went wrong, what if that's what whoever did this wanted? "Do you think the castle is the safest place?"

He watched her quietly and gently squeezed her hands to offer some small measure of reassurance. "Whoever is responsible for this, knows you and knows you well. I don't know if the castle is the safest place or not, but it is warded and guarded. And it is your home. You are most familiar with it." He pressed another kiss to her hands. "Let me get word to Gwyr and Chris. We go to the castle and I will be there with you. If you don't feel it is safe enough, we go to the Outpost," he offered hoping having options would soften the keen edge of fear. If only for the moment.

She listened to him, nodding. "Ok." Her fingers squeezed his as she pulled him closer to her, his hands were then released and she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. "I'll fix this, somehow." She leaned up and kissed him, not knowing if she was trying to reassure him or herself.

He wrapped his arms around her and held her in his embrace. He shook his head and kissed her back. "We'll figure this out, Kate and fix it. Together, alright? I'm here. With you."

His simple statement brought the whole problem into sharp focus, "Somehow I never thought you'd have to keep me safe Bear." The good thing was it also helped her see that she wasn't alone and she did have someone other than Chris to help.

She unhooked her arms from around his neck and lightly pushed at him. "Lets get going"

A grin ghosted at the corner of his mouth and he pushed up to his feet. "Alright, Love." He brushed another light kiss to her lips, then he headed downstairs once more to get word to Gwyr along with several instructions, while she got readied and dressed.

She sat for a few seconds, not sure what to do, then she pushed herself up off the bed and pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, the boots she'd worn the night before completed the outfit. In one of the tiny drawers in her dresser she found a hairtie and pulled her hair into a pony tail. All of that done she was again at loose ends.

She sat on the bed and looked around, thinking. She kept looking at the door and the window in the room, starting to frown, wheels turning in her head. Someone had done this, someone wasn't playing fair, as thoughts started tumbling through her head she stood and moved to the window, taking a deep breath before opening the black out shades and looking out.

Amazingly the sun didn't burn her, which shocked her and made her smile. She opened the window and leaned out, looking down and around, contemplating how easy or hard it would be to climb out. The need to get out, to run, to escape again taking hold, but beyond that there was the desire to just go outside and look around, to feel the sun on not only her face but her arms as well. To walk in the daylight.

Word was quickly delivered to Gwyr with instructions to get the team and carriage over to the manor and get word to Chris at the castle what was going on and to prepare for their arrival. In the meantime, he gathered the violin he had dropped, gathered his papers and hurried back upstairs. He came into the bedroom to see her leaning out of the window. He walked to the dresser to get a shirt on. "How long as it been since you've been out in the sun?" he queried quietly as he pulled on a shirt and finished getting dressed.

One of the things she'd lost was the hightened sense of hearing and smell she'd had, so the sound of his voice behind her had her jumping a little, her fingers instinctivly gripping the windowsill so she didn't fall. Taking another deep breath she ducked her head back into the room and turned to look at him. "When I was a kid last spring, I don't know if that counts. This age? I was embraced over two thousand years ago Bear. " She glanced back to the window. "It's been a long time." Her voice was small and soft.

He pushed up to his feet and walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her, protectively and brushed a kiss to her lips. He looked out the window and the sun lit grounds, then returned his attention to Kate. "Well, once we get you settled in an home, maybe we can see about having a private picnic in the sun." A reassuring grin crooked at the corner of his mouth. "This maybe a one day deal."

"Please let it be a one day thing." She forced another smile, trying to be optomistic. "Is everything ready?"

He nodded, his grin blooming to a sympathetic smile. "Yes. Are you ready to go?"

She nodded and took a deep breath, her hand lifting to her chest again. "Yeah, lets go." For some reason the words felt ominous.

It wasn't just a one day thing.

It had been weeks and it was looking more and more like human was her new reality.

The first week was horrible. Things that are normal to everyone else were completely foreign to her. It took Lucien a few days to even get her to eat, the idea of eating dead things made her stomach crawl. Even after she'd acclimated a little to that part, she was still eating far less than she should have and it was showing in certain aspects of her life, mostly her work.

Two weeks after it happened she went back to work. She'd put off some of her more questionable side jobs for to long and she finally had to do something about it.

She knew she was weaker than she'd been when she was kindred, knew her reactions and senses were more dull but she'd made it work, with only a few bruises and scrapes. It was then she realized that she needed to force herself to eat in order to survive whatever this was.

There were a few good things, she was enjoying daytime with Lucky, she was able to travel with him and not have to worry about where they were going to be when the sun rose, and even if she at first hated the idea of food, coffee with chocolate in it was an amazing invention she couldn't deny.

There weren't any strikes at her, no attempts on her life, and while there was no proof she was pretty sure Liv was behind what had happened. That also meant that she should enjoy herself because Liv had always worked on her own schedule and she wouldn't do anything until she felt the time was right.

So she lived her life and started to relax a little.