I heard voices, one I recognized as Scott’s sarcastic voice, and the other was a woman with an equally sarcastic tone, but it almost sounded angelic in comparison to Scott’s gruff one. The two were discussing something, but I couldn’t hear what. The only words I could hear were “mask” and “disappeared”. Opening my eyes, I saw a strange light hanging above me. It was similar to a lightbulb, but those hadn’t been invented yet, so what was it? It blinded me momentarily, before the woman whose voice I had been hearing stuck her head between me and the light. “Ahh, you’re finally awake,” she said in a calm voice, very unlike the sarcastic tone I heard earlier, before she pulled her head away.

“Where am I?” I asked, trying to sit up, but instead was met with a lot of pain in my gut. Having forgotten that I had been stabbed, I laid back down with a groan and a pained chuckle.

“I see you’re feeling better already,” Scott said sarcastically with a shit-eating grin plastered across his face.

“Well, fuck you too,” I replied as we both began to chuckle. It was now that I realized the doctor wasn’t wearing the normal clothes that women of this era would normally wear, but in fact, was wearing a dark brown suit. Was that common doctor attire in this time period, or was it a personal choice? I couldn’t tell, and didn’t really care.

The suit itself was similar to that of a businessman or a banker, except the coat was hanging on the wall and she had no tie. She was standing beside me at the bed, table, or whatever I was on whilst rolling her eyes at our attempts to laugh off the pain. Although I couldn’t see her face, due to the strong light, I could make out a slender frame that was around a full head shorter than Scott's.

“I don’t believe we’ve met. I am Lou Barrett,” I said, extending out my hand for a handshake as I was laying down. It wasn’t very proper, but I couldn’t sit up, so this was the best I could do.

“Elysif Avian,” she said, shaking my hand. “I am surprised, you’re the first person I have worked on who didn’t ask if I was qualified to heal them,” she said before turning to Scott. “You bring in some weird people.”

“I don’t see why anyone would ask if you were qualified? Should I have?” I asked with a confused and subtly worried look.

“Usually, they're concerned that a woman is a doctor,” Elysif replied with a matter-of-fact huff, before stepping away from the table-bed-thing.

“I don’t see what that has to do with your qualifications,” I said honestly. She smugly turned to Scott, revealing to me her tired and darkened eyes.

“I like him,” Elysif said to Scott with a proud look.

“Whatever, can you fix him or not? I know you’ve stabilized him already, but will he pull through?” Scott asked. I was worried now that my life was being brought up. I thought she had already taken care of me?

“I am a witch, not God. I can only heal him to a point, he will need rest to heal what I cannot,” Elysif replied.

“Okay, do what you can. Kid, I am heading to Mama Louise’s to tell her what happened, and then to Iscariot’s to see if he can track the changeling. I’ll be back in a couple of hours,” Scott said, before stepping out the door. After a few minutes of watching Elysif mix ingredients in a bowl, I decided to speak up. “I thought you were a witch. Aren’t you just practicing normal medicine and doing what doctors do?” I asked, as it was probably a normal practice for the time.

She continued with what she was mixing as she replied, “Doctors make medicine from what they find in the realm of humans, such as plants or minerals. I mix parts of magical creatures and the supernatural to make powerful cures and potions. I also throw in a little of my own magic to enhance the medicinal properties and speed up the healing process. If I wanted to, I could cure you with magic alone, but I would be so tired from it I would probably sleep for a week,” Elysif explained.

“I see… So that’s the difference. How long do you think it will take to heal?” I asked now that I understood what she was doing.

“I have already stopped the bleeding and sutured your organs back together. As for completely healing your damaged organs? It will take a splash of this potion that I am brewing and a few days of rest,” she said without any doubt in her voice.

“Well, that’s good.”

“Now a question for you. How did you meet Scott?” Elysif asked curiously.

“He saved me from some changelings, and I killed one of them, so he took me under his wing, I guess. All this supernatural stuff is new to me, so it’s a little strange,” I replied. It was the honest truth, weird as it was.

“You killed a changeling without ever knowing they existed in the first place? That’s impressive,” she said, her eyes bulging in response with disbelief.

“Yeah, well... Now I know that a ton of monsters exist, and so does magic. It’s a lot to take in,” I said with a tired sigh.

“I would expect that it would be. I was raised in a witch's coven, so I knew about all that stuff from birth. I guess I can’t relate,” she said before standing up from her workspace and sauntering back towards me. I didn’t realize it before due to the lighting, but she was quite beautiful. Elysif sported short brown hair that hung down to her shoulders in the front, with a ponytail at the back and a tanned face. Her eyes were a light brown, but seemed to glow orange in the light of whatever that device hanging above me was. Her mouth was small, and her lips were naturally a bright red that faded perfectly with her tan face. She was like an angel.

“Well, it’s not too much of a shock… Aagh—” I shrieked as she dumped the contents of her potion onto my wound. It burned like fire on a petrol soaked carpet.

“Maybe, I should have given you an anesthetic?” she asked herself aloud quizzically.

“You think!” I shrilled sarcastically as the burning sensation continued. When it finally stopped, I sat up without any pain and looked over my wound. It was gone! Why am I even surprised anymore? I found out that magic was real. At this point, I could probably meet God and not be fazed.

“You scream like a bitch,” she said, whilst poorly attempting to cover her smile with her right hand. I take back what I thought. She was no angel, but the devil.