“Thanks for taking us Donna!”

Grasping hands together in front of them, Donna gave Belle Starr one of those classic Italian air kisses on both sides of her face, never actually putting her makeup at risk by getting closer than about 2 inches cheek-to-cheek. "Oh it was nothing Belle. I know you and Pallas will have a fantastic time in Germany. Drink lots of beer and find some nice blonde big German boy for me… you too Pallas."

They were all standing in front of airport security at DFW Airport’s international terminal. Their Lufthansa flight still would not begin boarding for another half hour at least. Belle’s darkly garbed were-raven friend smirked, “Oh you know it. I’m going to show her all the best places to pick up men.”

“Oh sweetie the guys in the Glockenbachviertel aren’t interested in what I’ve got to offer,” Belle said playfully.

He snorted, tossing his long black hair over his shoulder, “No, but the butches are.”

She rolled her eyes, laughing, “Oh my gosh. ANYWAY… Thanks again Donna for dropping us off.”

Donna was already walking away from security, waving. “You two have a great time. We will all miss you terribly and we’ll see you when you get back! Ciao ciao!”

Pallas watched her go. His eyes were tracking her as only one who is part Raven could. His feigned camaraderie was gone. “That tramp is as fake as her tits, Belle. You know that right?”

Bell grabbed the handle of her rolling “carry-on” bag. “Pallas, honey, can we just… enjoy Oktoberfest? Please?”

As Donna exited the automatic doors; heading for the parking garage, Pallas broke his gaze and turned to his dear friend and smiled (a real one). “Natürlich. Ich werde nicht mehr sagen.”

His redheaded friend’s smile beamed, “Danke! Nunmehr, kein Englisch für drei Wochen!”

“I’m not going to stop being her friend Donna!” The speaker was a beautiful Latina that wore figure hugging clothing, and not much of it.

Donna massaged the bridge of her aquiline nose between her thumb and forefinger before replying. “Luci… we’re talking about life and death here. This isn’t high school, okay?”

Lucinda Esparza cocked her eyebrow “I never sa-”

Donna just spoke over her, “I’m not asking anyone to stop being Belle’s friend. That would be silly, she’s the nicest person any of us know. What I’m saying is… she’s compromised.”

Around the room were several of the most active members of “The Freakshow” – a loose association of talents, shape-shifters, and spell-casters in the Dallas & Fort Worth Metroplex. They were an eclectic bunch to say the least.

Taking a much softer tone, Donna, one of the more powerful spell-casters in the area, tried a new tack.

"Look, it’s no secret that for reasons I’ll never understand, for a long time Belle held a torch for the Wizard Jamie Harper. Also we know the Scoobies; but let’s just focus on three of them right now and make sure we remember what’s at stake here. One, is a Warden of the White Council. Do I need to review the wonderful "behead first and ask questions later policy" the current Merlin and his jackbooted Greycloaks have employed for the past few decades?"

Several heads in her audience shook their heads in the negative.

“Look, I don’t know about you, but it scares me witless that there’s a group of judge-jury-and-executioner wizards, with nearly unlimited resources, and backed up by some of the most powerful wizards on the planet… and they’re running around deciding who lives and dies. Plus, lucky us, the man that’s the Warden over this city is kind of a self-righteous, pompous, #$%^&*$@.”

That elicited a couple of nervous titters.

“That’s the guy that decides if you’re a Lawbreaker and whether or not you get to live or die.”

The titters stopped cold.

"Then, there’s his good buddy, Captain God-Squad. Pia, last I checked, those God-squad guys didn’t think too much about witches, right?"

A small and quiet Latina said nothing, just tried to look even smaller as several eyes about the room focused on her.

"Matt’s a great guy, but come on… he’s a clueless gomer, you’ve seen him at Atwater’s… how long before he lets something slip and accidentally brings down the Inquisition on our heads? Is it going to be him that suffers? Or the White Council Wizard that can flee back to Scotland? Nope. It’ll be us that get drowned, burned, and racked."

Santiago Martinez, a local medical professional and also a talented faith-magic based curandero, spoke up. “Gross misrepresentation! Matthew would never-”

Once again in bulldozer mode, “Never intentionally hurt us. I know. I know that. He has God on his side and he does good deeds. But last time I checked Santiago, the men that burn witches, butcher infidels, and blow up doctors are pretty sure God’s on their side too. What happens if he decides to save your soul from yourself Santiago?”

The doctor said nothing, his body language reacting far more strongly than Donna would have expected. Interesting, that looks like a direct hit. Going to need to follow up on this later, she thought to herself.

"Third, they are friends with a supernaturally aware Texas Ranger for crying out loud. Claret, you okay with that?"

The redhead mentioned by name with the intense gaze said nothing. Nothing needed to be said, amongst this group she was a known alchemist and … drug dealer.

“Santiago?” The doctor practicing medicine without a valid license also said nothing.

“What about you, Luci?” Though she was vocal earlier she said nothing now. As a fairly competent psychic, she had used her powers to gain … ‘leverage’ on several important and wealthy men in Dallas, those she called her “sugar daddies.” Some ungenerous types might consider it a form of blackmail.

"That’s what I mean by Belle is compromised. She is our friend. She will do anything for her friends. She is also their friend. All I’m saying is that we should not always go to her first with everything anymore. Her or Erica either. What they don’t know, can’t get back to the Inquisition, the cops, or the White Council. And the next time she asks us to step out and put our butts on the line against ancient magical powers, maybe we should be wise enough to say no. We have to protect ourselves guys. We have to be smart. I don’t want to wind up headless because someone wanted to be helpful, call me selfish. "

Donna was pretty sure she had them, the fear in the room was palpable. Time to drive it home.

“Look, I’ve told you guys for years that Jamie Harper is bad news. You didn’t always believe me, I know. We love Belle, we love little Erica, they always jump to defend him so how could he be so bad right?”

An aged and wrinkled Latina matron spoke up, “Si. Erica told us about the kidnapping.”

Donna smiled to herself, lob up the easy pitch, now to put it out of the park.

"Thank you for bringing that up Doña Esmeralda. I’ve done some research of my own. Care to hear it?" Then she turned over her right shoulder and called out "Raven Harper? Care to give your side of the story?"

From a back room stepped a statuesque woman in black motorcycle riding leathers. The cut of her protective clothing heavily accentuated her voluptuous figure. Short, flaming red hair in a pixie cut as well as ruby red lipstick crowned her curvacious black pillar as she walked in.

A few gasps and murmurs came from the assemblage.

“I’d be happy to Donna. Thank you for the chance to set the record straight. First of all, how could any of you my friends have believed for a minute that I’d have willingly gone with that… that… mind rapist?”

Several of the people looked away, shamefaced. In life, Eric McCulloch had been a powerful Psychomancer; a Talent specialized in mind affecting magic.

“Luci, how many times did you have to flee the room because he started looking at you with those pervy eyes of his?”

After a pause she continued, “You all knew the kind of creep he was. It’s funny. All of a sudden, he found me and as soon as I saw him I felt the urge to go to him. What’s it called when you’re forced to have sex with somebody against your will, Claret?”

The other redhead in the room just snapped “Leave me out of this Raven.”

“Fine. Santiago? What’s it called?”

The doctor said quietly, “You know it’s called rape Raven…”

“Rape. Yeah. I was raped in every way you can imagine by that creep. You know how? Because he had my hair. How’d he get my hair? Jamie gave it to a demon as part of a deal.”

She then motioned to her pixie cut. “That’s why I cut it all off. I don’t know who or what else has parts of me. That’s where I’ve been all this time, putting up protections from my psycho ex husband… you know… Dallas’s new Warden.”

She then stalked around the room, eyes glaring sparks at the others. “But that’s not all, you know why I left town? He beat me. Magically. I ran from the house and from him. I know some of you saw the cuts & bruises. The White Council’s newest hypocrite gave me those.”

Juno, from her wheelchair spoke up at last, “How do we know you’re telling the truth Raven?”

Raven just glared daggers at her, “I swear by my power that everything I just said is true.”

Again, there were a few gasps in the crowd. For a spell caster to swear by his or her power was probably the most grave and solemn words that could be spoken.

“Oh, and as for the kidnapping charge. Jake is my son. Am I wrong to want to get my only child away from that monster? Never mind Jamie’s charming personality, what happens when something comes to get back at WARDEN Harper through his son? My son. I’m not a kidnapper dammit, I’m his MOTHER!”

She looked over at Donna who had been sitting silently the entire time. “Thank you Donna for giving me this chance to tell my side of the story. I’m just sad that some of my friends were so quick to believe the worst of me and side with that, that, fascist pig. I’m going to go now, since I guess I’m no longer welcome.”

Doña Esmeralda, the oldest person in the room spoke up, “No, Raven. Please sit. Stay. There is much to discuss.”

Nobody in the room caught the quick conspiratory glance between Donna and Raven; a single glance and very slight victory smile.