“I cannot believe that I’m the only person capable of dealing with this,” protested Donna to CSIS Agent Mackie.  “The Americans must have faced the same problem, they were way more established than we were when magic faded and the mages sought to extend their lives with death magic.”

“Wait, wait... what?” protested Agent Mackie.  “How do you know all this?”

“The entity I stopped.  It used to be human.  Would you like to meet her?”

Agent Armstrong’s face went deathly pale.  “It’s HERE?”

“And contained,” noted Donna primly.  “My family lives here.  If I thought she was a threat I would have destroyed her.”

“In cold blood?” asked Gwen, pulling away from Donna on the loveseat.

“If I had to for the safety of my family, yes.  Not just for spite.  You know me better than that.”

Gwen sighed, and relaxed against Donna’s semi-crystalline form once more.  “I do.  Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize.  If what Agent Mackie is saying is true, I’m going to have a lot of blood on my soul before this is over.  I need you to be exactly that critical voice, or...”  Donna closed her eyes.  “Or I’ll become more of a monster than what we’re trying to stop.”

“Really not liking this idea, Jim,” muttered Agent Armstrong.

“Really don’t have a choice, Chuck.  Look, Donna, none of the other Thanovores have gone active the way the one here did.  The bulk of their feeding is passive, which is why we’re a bit fuzzy on just how many there are.  Do you know why it happened?”

“Death eaters?  Really?” asked Gwen with a grin.

Agent Mackie held up his hands.  “Not my idea.  But we needed to call them something.”

“Fair enough.  What do you know about them?”

“Nothing at all, other than the odd pattern of deaths.  Why did the one here start killing more openly?”

Donna got up and walked to the dining room cabinet.  “Let’s ask Brunhilde why she woke.”  She carried a small silver box by wooden handles and set it on the coffee table then gestured to Gwen.

Gwen rolled her eyes then opened the silver lid.  “Hey B.  How's it going?”

“Better now that my cage is open.  Thanks.”  The fluting voice rose from a heart shaped crystal resting on a bed of velvet.

“What on earth?”

“Agents Mackie and Armstrong, meet your Thanovore.  Brunhilde, these mostly nice gentlemen are worried about others of your kind.”

“Apprentice mages that turned to death magic to survive?  I'm not sure how much I can help.  Magic doesn’t work by the rules I learned.”

“Death magic does,” said Donna bitterly.  “And you're the only one with the most important answer.  What started the fires?  After the hospice exploded, I mean.  Not... that night.”

“You did.”

“What!”  Donna's glare made the crystal creak, until Gwen pit a calming hand on her arm.  Donna took an entirely unnecessary breath then with exaggerated calm asked, “What do you mean?”

“I was barely aware of my surroundings.  Hibernating, if you will.  Death is thin gruel when you can’t predict it, and we are all very old.  I’d rouse a little when I needed more, but I had a few puppets serving me that knew what to do.”

“There were humans complicit in your feeding?” asked Agent Mackie, jotting more notes on his pad.

“Not complicit,” said the crystal.  “Thralls.  They didn’t know they were helping me.”

“That’s alarming to hear.  Can it be defended against?”

“Silver, as always.  The one constant, other than death.”

Donna frowned in thought.  “Doctor Brown was acting pretty strangely, is that the best you can do with a thrall?”

“Best I could do, yes.  Best others could do?  I don’t know.  I was only an apprentice.”

“What happened to the masters?” asked Agent Mackie.

“They’d been using solar magic to keep themselves alive, so when it faded...”  Brunhilde sighed.  “I watched my master turn to dust, despite his best efforts.”

Agent Armstrong smiled.  “That might be the first good news we’ve gotten out of this.  So your best mages wouldn’t have made it, and we’re dealing with apprentices?”

Brunhilde agreed, describing her harrowing early days in the new world, being driven from settlement to settlement by others who were already established.  At the end of her tale Agent Armstrong asked if that meant she was one of the weaker mages who’d come to the new world.

“Not the weakest, but close.  A few challenged me for Fort Victoria, and failed.  I don’t know what happened to them.   Or to any of the others I met.  We didn’t communicate.”

“Could you have?”

“Not without magic, which we were hoarding to keep ourselves alive.”

Agent Mackie flipped back a few pages in his notes.  “Okay.  That’s helpful, in that we can deal with each one in isolation.  I’d like to come back around to your earlier comment, that Donna started this.”

Donna winced.  “I gave her a taste of power.  When I visited, some months before.  I had no idea, of course, just this sense that some dark entity was at the hospice.  I ran away.  Later, there was an eclipse of the Moon during the winter solstice.”

“And I got greedy,” continued the crystal.  “I could tell the power was out there.  I wanted it so badly, I took risks, grabbed for more power... set that damned place on fire by accident.”

“And then there were no more deaths nearby.  The dozens from that night weren’t enough?” asked Donna.

“No.  Not when there was real magic to be found.  I used that power to enslave your doctor friend, and send him out after you.”

Donna shook her head.  “The sad thing is, I’d have given you what you wanted if you’d asked.  But no, you had to kidnap and kill friends, and our fight made me this.”  Donna gestured to her crystalline body.

“Would that work on the others?” asked Agent Armstrong eagerly.  “Could we bring them around with...”

“Lunar magic?  Brunhilde, would that work?”

“I don’t know.  Maybe.  If you didn’t tease and take it away, leaving them rotting in a basement and growing resentful.”

“I suppose it’s worth a try.  So.  You have your solution.  Are we done here?”

The agents looked at each other, then Agent Mackie looked back to Donna.  “We don’t have any way to do that.”

“Nothing?” asked Donna incredulously.  “Not even any minor artifacts, like a statuette that turns people into cats?”

“There are a couple of things in the national archives that might have power.  But their keepers aren’t persuaded by ‘they might be magical, can we borrow them please’.”

“And in a vault they’d never see the Moon, and never show their power.  Lovely.  I could help the key people see that magic is real.”

“That would be incredibly helpful.  We can’t exactly call for a meeting at the Blue Vixen.”

Gwen giggled.  “What, you can’t expense it?”

Agent Armstrong laughed loudly.  “Can ye imagine?  Boss’d blow a gasket.”

“Does your boss know about magic?” asked Donna.

Agent Mackie shook his head.  “You’re looking at the entire Argent Division for British Columbia.”

“Ah.  And the rest of the country isn’t much better off?”

“There’s about a dozen guys in the Edmonton office, and Montreal has a bunch.  Other than that, we’re pretty thin on the ground.  We’ve been recruiting whoever we can, but...”

“Not a lot of magic in the world.  And hard to find what’s there.”

Agent Mackie chuckled.  “With one exception, anyway.  You’re making quite the splash.”

Donna grinned back with teeth that were suddenly much more pointy and numerous.  “I’ll be making more of one.”

Agent Armstrong shuddered.  “That’s just not natural.”

“There’s nothing natural about me, after what happened that night.”  Donna sighed.  “I don’t want to go through that again without good cause.  Can’t we just leave these things alone?”

“In the big cities, I’d be inclined to say yes.  They don’t appear to be taking an active hand in matters, there’s enough passive death to satisfy them.”

“For now,” muttered Brunhilde darkly.  “We only needed one or two a month at first.”

“Great.  So it’s better to deal with it sooner than later.  Of course,” added Donna, “they’ve been there for over a century already.  They’re not going anywhere.”

“Still,” said Agent Mackie.  “The ones in smaller centers are racking up a few kills a week.  Granted, most of those would have died within the week anyway.  The thing is, there are evil beings killing our people.  Can you really let that continue?”

Donna sighed, and shook her head.  “No.  I can’t.  So I guess this Friday’s going to be a busy night.  Whee.”

“Friday?” asked Agent Armstrong.

“That’s the night of the full Moon,” said Donna.  “It’s not actually full until Saturday morning, but trust me, Friday night is the one that matters.  Though... it’s late enough that out East, it might be Saturday night.  I’m not sure how that works.”

“More people will die if we wait!”

“There is no way I’ll even go near one of those things without the full power of the Moon backing me.  Find a few promising sites in this time zone, and I’ll see what I can do.  Next month we can expand if it goes well, or stick to one at a time if it doesn’t.”

“One a month?  But that’d take years!”

“Calm down, Chuck,” said Agent Mackie.  “They’ve been there for a century or more.  We at least have a plan now.  That’s more than we had this morning.”  He turned to Donna.  “Thank you.  I’ll prepare a list of our likely sites in the region.”

“OK.  Are you sure you can’t get help from the Americans?”

Agent Mackie shook his head.  “We have contacts with their equivalent.  But they’ve never told us anything about the Thanovores.”

“Ghouls,” corrected Brunhilde.  “Fancy names just hide the reality of the situation.”

“Ghouls, then.  They never mentioned them.  Given the recent events, we’ve tried to get information from them, but they’ve become even less talkative.  If I share what you’ve told us, it might get us somewhere.”

“Fine,” said Donna.  “Just try to keep my name out of it.”

“Fair enough.”  Agent Mackie stood, and Agent Armstrong followed him a moment later.  “We’ll be in touch.”

Robo-Duncan gave Agent Armstrong his gun back, showed them to the door, then went still again the moment the door closed.  Donna turned to Gwen.  “So.  What do you think?”

“I think you’re going to need all the help you can get.  I’m in.”

Donna stared at her friend.  “Are you sure?  After all you went through?”

“Even more so.  Those things are vicious, dangerous.  You need backup in case something goes wrong.  Someone to be your anchor to reality.”

“Thank you,” said Donna simply, reaching for Gwen’s hands.  “That means a lot to me.”

“Can I complain about being called vicious and dangerous now?” said the crystal after the silence stretched on.

“No!” said Donna and Gwen together.

Brunhilde sighed.  “Fair enough.  I was awful to you.  There’s nothing I can say that will make any of it better.”

“No,” said Donna.  “But there are things you can do.”

“Anything.”

“Tell us everything you can about what we’re getting into.  Puppets, killing at a distance, and death-bolts.  What else is in their arsenal?”

“That’s a good start.  Various other minor destructive abilities, limited clairvoyance, and compulsions.”

“How is that different from the puppets?” asked Donna.

“Give me a little of the good stuff and I’ll show you.”

Donna looked at the talking crystal skeptically, then over to Gwen, who shrugged and held up the silver lid of the box.  “I’ll keep things under control.”

“Okay.  Let’s see what you’ve got.”  Donna fed a tiny bit of power to Brunhilde, and the crystal began to glow softly.

“Ooooh.  I’d forgotten how nice this stuff is after...”  The crystal flickered briefly.  “Right.”

Donna’s gaze grew distant, and the heart shaped crystal gently rose out of the box to settle in Gwen’s lap.  Before Gwen’s wondering eyes, Donna slowly compressed to a matching heart shape, and floated over to nestle into the soft velvet of the box.

“Close it,” said Brunhilde softly.

Gwen did so, staring down at the crystal within.  “You made her do that?”

“She’s frighteningly easy to manipulate.”

“Why frightening?” asked Gwen curiously, making no move to rescue her friend.

“Because of the absurd power she commands!  The most powerful being I’ve ever heard of, short of demons, and I could tell her to do anything at all.”

Gwen giggled.  “Are you sure?  She’d probably have hopped in the box if you’d just asked.  Something she’d fight you on might be entirely different.”

The crystal’s glow focussed intently on Gwen, giving the impression of a stare.  “She... wants to be trapped?”

“Oh goodness, yes.  She spent half of the last full Moon night as a crystal on my brow, letting me use her power to transform people.”

The crystal vibrated rapidly enough to create a soft whine.  “Can I please do that one day?”

“If you ask her nicely, she might just let you.  But you’ll have to earn her trust, and leaving her in that box too long...”

“Of course.  I’m not controlling you, you can let her go any time.”

Gwen lifted the lid of the silver box, and Donna immediately flicked from heart to human shape, this time fully fleshed and dressed.  “Oh wow.  You really got me.  Again!”

“What?” asked the crystal and Gwen, together.

“I need to learn to block this, or my ghoul hunting days will end at the first one that thinks to try enslaving me.”  Donna paced back and forth in front of Gwen.  “I’ve managed to keep from granting wishes once in a while, I have to learn how to do this too.  Hit me.”

Donna was instantly a crystal heart once more, and drifting toward the box.  Halfway there, she returned to human.  “Wow.  I didn’t even feel that.  Can you try it a little slower?”

The crystal made an uncertain noise.  “It’s hard.  I’ve done this so much, it’s reflexive, and having such clean energy to work with, it’s like...”

“Asking a high performance race car to slow down while nitrous is being dumped into the engine?” asked Gwen.

“I have no idea what any of that means.  But I’ll try.  Ready, Donna?”

“Ye...”  Before she finished speaking, Donna was crystal again.  This time a sharp sliver of crystal, that aimed itself at Gwen’s chest.

“Brunhilde...” said Gwen nervously as the dagger of crystal approached.  “What are you doing?”

“Forcing her hand.”

As the point of the crystal blade touched Gwen’s skin, it suddenly melted.  The crystal became water, pooling in between Gwen’s enormous breasts.  “Donna?” asked Gwen uncertainly.

At Gwen’s voice, the water reformed into a tiny copy of Donna, who shook her head to clear it, then blinked back to full size in front of them once more.  “What the hell was that about?” she demanded.

“Your mind is fluff.  Fluff with a core of diamond.”

“A what now?” asked Donna, confused.  Then her expression cleared.  “Oh!  My family.  And Gwen.  Any threat to them...”

“Exactly.  You pitched me out so hard it hurt.  Do you remember how that felt?”

Donna nodded.  “Again.”

She turned into a stone and fell to the floor.  When Brunhilde released her, she laughed.  “Try something I wouldn’t want to be.”

The frog that croaked from where Donna was standing seemed to be grinning.  It turned into a slug, then a fish that lay on the floor, flapping and gasping.  Donna surged back to human once more.  “Okay, that worked.  At least, without a fish-tank.  Pain is motivating.”

“But that amounts to a threat to yourself,” mused Gwen.  “Couldn’t you block any of the others?  Focus on staying yourself.”

“Focus on your center,” echoed Brunhilde softly.  “Sounds like my master’s lessons.”

“Your master taught you how to resist compulsions?” asked Gwen.

“Of course.  The hard way most of the time, by making me do his bidding.  Not that I minded, he’d have me cook and clean.  I was his apprentice, that kind of work was expected to be part of the deal.  Doing it while compelled wasn’t much of a change, but said I complained less.”

“But he also taught you exercises to help resist?”

“Yes, reluctantly.”

“So?” asked Gwen.  When Brunhilde didn’t answer, she continued.  “Pass on what you learned.”

“Right!  I’m still thinking like an apprentice after all these years.”  The crystal paused to gather its thoughts.  “The one that helped me the most was imagining a crystal sphere enclosing my mind.”

Donna nodded, and her form shimmered slightly.  Her head went translucent, and a shining bubble could be seen within it, encapsulating her brain.

“I think you’re taking it a bit literally,” said Gwen.

Donna laughed.  “Maybe.  Let’s see if it works.”  She stood there and waited.  “Well?”

“I’m trying!” the gem grumbled.  “You’re a fast learner.”

Gwen got an impish look on her face, and pointed behind Donna.  “Look!”

Donna spun around, then collapsed to the floor as a swath of fabric.

“Nice distraction,” cheered Brunhilde.

Donna reformed, and rebuilt the bubble around her mind.  “I’m going to have to make this part of me, I guess.  If my attention wavers...”

“Exactly.  Boom, game over.  For everyone.”

“Try again.”

This time, Gwen’s attempts at distraction failed.  Then she brought out the big guns, setting Brunhilde back in her box and slinking up to Donna.  In mid-kiss, Donna evaporated into mist.  Gwen spun around as the glowing nimbus that was Donna was sucked toward the gem.  “What are you...”  She looked around for the silver lid, which she’d left beside the box, and cursed.  She dove for the lid but was too late.  Donna had merged with the crystal, and it was glowing brightly as the sun.

Gwen waited with the lid poised over the box, wondering if she should just close it on the both of them.  The brightness grew, and the crystal sang an impossibly high note... then shattered.  Donna reformed a few feet away as a gleaming pillar, and the crystal’s shards fused back into a heart.

“What the hell was that?” Donna demanded, voice grating like gravel.

“I’m sorry,” sobbed Brunhilde.  “The temptation was too strong.  So much power...  Too much to contain.”

Gwen moved to close the box, but Donna formed a head atop the pillar and shook it.  “No.  She’s learned an important lesson.  As have I.”

“Is that lesson ‘Don’t trust the evil apprentice’?” asked Gwen archly, still clutching the box’s silver lid.

“She’s not evil,” said Donna.  “Just hungry and heart-sick.”  She gestured to the heart, and it rose from the box once more.  It started to expand, taking on fleshy tones as it grew from a shard of crystal to a petite human female with long, black hair.  Donna’s body became human as well, and enfolded Brunhilde in a hug.  The slender woman clutched herself against Donna’s body, weeping openly.

The tears wouldn’t stop, no matter what Donna or Gwen said to soothe Brunhilde.  Eventually, through her sobs, Brunhilde asked why they were being so nice, protesting all the while that she didn’t deserve it.

Donna stroked her back again.  “Because you are not evil.  Just unfortunate.  None of what you did was with malice.”

“Without... Donna, she tortured me!”

“No.  Doctor Brown tortured you.  That was more him than her.  He was too strong-willed, and her attempt to raise him after the explosion created a monster.”

“The doctor was a zombie?”

Donna nodded around the weeping woman.  “And in death he lost the inhibitions that had kept his darkness at bay.  I’m not sure if that was death, or something that had been there all along.  It doesn’t matter now.”

“Yes.  Yes it does.”  Gwen crossed her arms over her chest, scowling.

“Come here.”  Donna voiced the request softly, but her power sang in it.

Gwen sighed and complied, letting Donna pull her into a hug that glowed with power.  “Forgive our sister as I have forgiven her.  Her heart is true, if stained and wearied.”

“How can you know?” whispered Gwen.

“Because when she tried to draw me into her, I felt everything.  She was sick, and we can make her well once again.”

Gwen nodded slowly.  Brunhilde gasped at what Donna said, then wailed, “But I’m a monster!”

“We’re all monsters here,” said Donna simply.  “I’ve done terrible things, too.  Reversible ones, but still.  I’ve erased people from existence for no reason other than a whim.”

“Erase me,” said Brunhilde softly, so softly Donna could barely hear it.

“No.  Your fate lies elsewhere.  Your punishment for your sins is to live.”

Brunhilde wriggled free of the hug and pulled herself into a fetal ball.  She rocked in place on the floor, but the weeping had finally stopped.  “I can’t stay like this.  It’s too much.  Please, make me crystal again.”

Donna nodded, and Brunhilde’s body shrunk and clarified, becoming a crystalline sculpture of a cat.  “Better?”

“Yes,” sang the crystal softly.  “I don’t deserve to be human.”

“You will.”

When Gwen picked the crystalline cat up and carried it to the box where it patently would not fit, Donna shook her head.  “We don’t need that for her any more.”

Instead, the statue was set on the fireplace in a place of pride where she would not be forgotten or ignored.  When Donna called her family upstairs, Courtney rushed to coo over the crystalline cat, petting it as if it were real.  When it meowed at her, her eyes grew bright with wonder.  “Is it real?” she asked her father.

“Real enough.  Say hello to Brunhilde.”

“Hello, Bunhill,” said Courtney, solemnly.

The crystal giggled.  “I like that name better.  Can I keep it?”

“Of course.  Welcome home, Sister Bunhill.”