THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN normal corporate offices and the Supernatural Forces Office or the SFO, as it was called, was that it was actually helpful when it came to questions and feedback. There was a reason that people employed there were actually happy.

The SFO was first established when humans and the other creatures had first come to life. A time when everyone had lived together in peace, when no one had to hide. But, where there was too much peace, there had to be discord brewing and it lead to a war. Humans thought that they'd eradicated all the supernatural creatures when they'd all just gone into hiding, pretending to be them.

Very easy to fool, these creatures. Just do something pathetically boring and they'll accept you as a human.

But after the wars, SFO went underground. They worked secretly, making sure to keep the others safe and telling them how to save themselves.

Now, in the modern times, when so many people were going away from home, the upper bosses came up with an idea of coming up with a human business venture so that they can be inconspicuous. 

That was how the TTC or Treasured Table & Co. was born, getting traditional food packaged and imported, then selling it. Tamara had loved the particular idea, she got to eat those delicious traditional dishes.

Another good thing about all of it was that the food imported was mostly from small business or NGOs that tried to support the poor and marginalized. That meant Tamara got the dishes made by the hands of hard-working people. People wanting to support their families.

It was probably why the food was always finished in a month. And something about her missing her grandmother. But she didn't like that theory much. Too sentimental.

Plus, the SFO was very kind about people wanting to retire. Whatever they were, vampires, werewolves, witches, angels or demons or anything else. They'd be given a vial of water from the Lake of Mortality and be sent off with all the gratitude. They'd be wished all the best for their life and so many of them were living happy lives. Some of them did choose to continue work, though, just choosing to stay human and retiring in old age.

Tamara sighed about the other nine Guardians while putting on her jeans. She knew they'd take the offer. Lucian would finally get to go to med school. Grace would probably move in with Fabiola, almost every one of them knew they were an item. Maybe Hans would propose to Selena, his vampire girlfriend and they'd drink the mortal water as a celebration. Jeremiah would probably just keep running his apple cider business, Davison would ask out the hot man he kept ranting about in the group chats, probably. Jack would be able to start a family with his wife, Allison, who was a witch.

Which left only Prescott and Tamara. She didn't really want to think about him, so she just tucked in her maroon button-down shirt into her jeans. It was going to be an official meeting.

When she looked at herself in the mirror, she cringed. Beneath her eyes, there were dark circles. But her midnight black pupils were dilated and alert. And why wouldn't they be? She'd had six more cups of coffee since the first one. Her long dark brown hair was a little mussed up, so she just brushed it a little and left it open.

People think that the creatures of the night don't need sleep. All the myths about them contained one fact, that they're nocturnal. An actual supernatural creature knew that they needed as much sleep as the normal human being.

Tamara's brain was already hyperactively overworked, she didn't get much sleep anyway because her mind just wouldn't stop thinking, but when the nightmares came into the picture, her brain worked even more, leading to her having no sleep even if her eyes were closed and her face looked like she was.

It wasn't like she wasn't used to sleep deprivation. It was that because of the rarity of Before Time cases, she'd gotten used to getting at least one hour of actual sleep. Three, if she was lucky.

The nightmare had ruined her sleep and now she just wanted to fall on her bed and sleep the day away. But, there were questions to be asked, technicalities to be discussed. So, coffee it was.

She looked around the room, mentally checking off the list in her head.

Keys, wallet, phone...

"Earpods," she muttered, going out into the living room. "Can't go out without earpods."

She remembered the spot she'd left it in and re-entered the bedroom, putting on her long jacket, which had big pockets, which, in turn, meant she didn't have to carry a bag.

She grabbed the earpods case, putting them in her ears and double tapping the right one with her finger to turn them off. She usually just kept them in to avoid conversation, only turning them on when she was sitting in one place.

It was Tamara, her trauma, her coffee addiction and her music playlists against the world.

When she took two steps away after closing the door, her mind asked the question.

Did you lock the door?

She sighed and went back to check and found that she had.

However supernatural she got, her human urge of second-guessing would never go.

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When Tamara entered the SFO floor of the TTC building, she was greeted with a smile.

"Hey, Mikayla," she greeted the receptionist. Mikayla had been a vampire, she had wanted to continue to work, but not be a vampire, so she had been given a vial of water from the Lake of Mortality and now she was happily living with her husband and their pets. The first thing to be noticed was that she'd cut her hair short, which made her look pretty. "How've you been?"

"Really good. You missed the news so I'll tell you now," she said, her grey eyes twinkling with joy. "I'm pregnant."

Tamara's heart expanded into a huge balloon as her face broke out into a surprised smile. "Oh my god, that's so great! You guys are gonna do great."

Mikayla nodded, thankful for the encouragement. "So, here early to get your vial?" she asked, sitting down to enter the name into her computer.

"Not yet," Tamara replied politely. "I need to talk to Francesca, actually."

Mikayla nodded and entered her name. The computer generated a time slot and looked up at her. "She'll call you in shortly."

Tamara nodded absentmindedly, thinking of Roberta, Dane and Hunter. There was a big chance that they were the Before Time case. It was weird, but then, her whole life had been weird, so she didn't think about it much.

"So, what're you thinking of doing after transitioning to human?" Mikayla asked with interest. Tamara shrugged, even though she knew exactly what she was going to do. There was a very old witch's poison with her name on it in the back of one of her kitchen cupboards.

She'd had it custom-made.

"Well, I think you should get a nice little house and become a comic artist. You're so good at making stories and especially those romance ones. The one with the prince that abandoned his friend made me ugly cry for days."

Tamara smiled and shrugged again. "Maybe. I haven't decided anything yet."

Mikayla batted a hand and said, "Ah, well. You don't need to worry about it now. Just take a good long vacation first. You've earned it."

Tamara smiled and nodded, starting to go all weird and awkward.

Thankfully, Francesca called up the desk and called her in.

When she entered the office, Francesca looked up at her with a head tilt from her big office chair.

"I really thought you'd be the last one to come here to get the vial," she said.

Tamara let out a soft laugh. Francesca with her silver blonde hair and beautiful green eyes was a middle-aged woman, who was in reality, a two-thousand-year-old demon. She was an authoritative woman who did her job well, but even she had a soft spot for Tamara. She was one of the people who actually cared. "You did say me you'd break into my house, Frannie."

That earned her a laugh from the older woman.

"I had a dream yesterday night," Tamara said, sitting down on a chair across the office desk. Her desk was perfectly organized, one alarm clock, two pictures of her two kids, a paperweight and a fidget toy, The rest were just files. The room was a beautiful dark green color, abstract paintings hung in the side walls.

"A dream? Now?" Francesca asked, her brows furrowed in confusion, frustration and concern. Then her head tilted a bit to the side as she assessed me. "Should've guessed. You look like you've had five cups of coffee."

"Seven," Tamara muttered and the other woman looked like she was gonna smack her.

"And you're sure it's a Before Time case?"

Tamara nodded and told her about the dream.

Death hadn't really been a concept before. But, the bosses one day sent a book down to the SFO with a list of names, dates and times. The Book of Names, it was called.

The first man to die, a one hundred-and thirty-year-old man, Gregory Douglas, had walked into the office, a confused, transparent, pearly-white soul and that's when the distribution of souls into heaven, hell and rebirth was decided.

But one day in the year of 1223, nine supernatural creatures died before they were supposed to. Eight of the people's relatives, out of despair killed more people. Some people's names had been on the book and some people were there, again, before their time. It happened more and more, which prompted the waiting room to be very crowded most of the time.

After a very lengthy board meeting, they decided to give the ten creatures the power to have visions and save the people who die before their times, in turn preventing other people to die, except of course, the ones that were supposed to. They were all sent back to the living world as immortals, doomed and blessed to have dreams and save people.

"Well, I'll have to check the book. What're their names, again?" Francesca asked after Tamara finished with her description.

"Well, I don't know about the sick guy, but the other three were Dane, Hunter and Roberta."

"No last names?"

Her lips parted in surprise at the question. Last names. Of course. Had that been in there?

As she thought back to the burial part of the nightmare, she tried to remember anything else she might've missed.

"No, no, you don't need to do that," Francesca warned. "Tamara. Stop-"

She tuned her out and kept on with it. Anything that might give her a hint about the last name. She closed her eyes as a steady throb of a headache started, but pushed on.

Guardians weren't supposed to try to rewatch or recall the dreams. It caused headaches worse than those caused by whole bottles of whiskey.

The scene came back to her and instead of the three people, she looked at their surroundings and saw a nameplate in the wall beside the gate.

Tamara opened her eyes to Francesca glaring at her. "How many times have I told you not to do that? You can never just listen, can you? Always gotta do your own thing..."

She waited for the scolding to subside before saying, "Feron."

Francesca's green eyes widened a bit. "What?"

"Feron. The last name."

"Feron. You mean the richest supernatural family, big mansions and beach houses, impossibly rich Ferons?"

"I... guess?"

Tamara had never really cared to keep up with gossip. It was mostly just in the lines of someone fucking someone or fashion.

She couldn't, for the undead life of her, figure out who the hell actually cared.

Francesca took out a big copy of the book out of a cupboard in the desk. She flipped through the pages for at least twenty minutes before pointing at a name. Finding the others was a piece of cake.

"Okay, so," she said, sitting down and closing the book with a soft slam. "They all have a lot of years left. Like a lot."

Tamara nodded and leaned forward a bit. "Did you find out about the sick guy?"

Francesca nodded and said, "I'm guessing he's the oldest brother, Clifford Feron."

"So, who do I gotta save?"

"All of them."

Tamara's head snapped up at that. Her black eyes were wide and a strand of her dark brown hair was in front of them. "All of them?"

Francesca nodded, smiling softly. "Yeah. You get to fulfill your lifelong dream."

In a Guardian's missions, for saving one life, another gave theirs. Usually, the one who was supposed to die on the day/time they were given. The other Guardians didn't care about the particular fact, but it had never sat well with Tamara.

She wanted to save them, but she couldn't interfere with nature's rules. So, she just made sure they went in peace. It had always been a wish to save everyone. That for once, everyone could live.

And now, she had the chance. She could save everyone involved.

Her last mission.

Her last wish.

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