Rashel slid into the wall and down to the floor. A hand appeared in front of her face. She ignored it and sprang back up. "Real vampires don't help their victims up."

Quinn raised an eyebrow and dodged her punch, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't I a real vampire?"

She gave him a little smile and swept his feet out from under him. Setting her stake on his chest, she said, "You know what I mean."

The doors to the training room banged open, "Ugh," It was Nyala, "Aren't you two supposed to be training?" She shook her head, looking disgusted, "I leave you alone for just a few minutes and you're…" she did a complex gesture with her hands.

Quinn moved his eyebrows suggestively at her. Rashel rolled her eyes and stood up. "What is it?" she asked Nyala.

Daphne looked worried, "I…I really don't know. One of the witches asked me to get you."

"And you don't know about what?"

"Is something wrong?" That was Quinn, who'd stood up behind her.

"I meant it when I said I didn't know. She's in the kitchen."

Rashel nodded and followed Nyala. They were in a large suburban home outside of Boston. There were ten people living there, she, Quinn, Nyala, and Timmy had moved in three weeks ago. There were six other people there, three that were around her age, and Calla, the older witch who lived with, and supervised, them.

She was sitting at the table when they walked in. "Rashel, Quinn, please sit down." She had that earthy serenity that many witches seemed to possess. However, at the moment, she seemed tense. Quinn and Rashel sat down. "I have some bad news…Timmy has gone missing."

"What do you mean, missing?" Rashel asked slowly.

"We have reason to believe that he ran away. There was no sign of struggle, and some money was stolen from Dani."

"You're sure that…" Rashel slammed her fist on the table, "Damn it!" Quinn put an arm around her shoulders.

"I thought it was best if you heard it from me."

"Yeah," Rashel said dejectedly, "Thanks a lot." She stood up and walked out of the room, Quinn followed her. "I'm going to go…hit something. I just need some time alone right now."

Quinn nodded and let her go. She went back to the training room and started punching bag. All the while she was cursing and grunting, trying to make the bag explode. Anything to forget that she'd lost Timmy again.

"Rashel?"

"What do you want now, Nyala?" Couldn't people just leave her alone.

"Dani's going to pick up some dinner, do you want anything?"

Rashel looked out the window, it was almost dark, she'd been working out for longer than she thought. "A sandwich, or whatever she's getting."

"Cool." Nyala left and Rashel went to the room she shared with Quinn. Calla had put up a fuss when they'd moved in, but they were one room short in the house, and it made the most sense for them to room together. There were, however, two beds. She loved Quinn, he was her soulmate, but she'd only known him for three weeks.

She sat at the desk, her math book in her lap and the notebook on the desk. The Daybreakers had enrolled her in the local high school, and given her erratic attendance record, the administration there demanded that she keep her grades up. A few minutes later, Quinn walked in.

"Are you okay?"

She looked at him and said, "I wish an incredibly painful death on whoever invented math."

"You're a couple thousand years to late for that. I meant about the other thing."

"I know," she sighed, "It's just…" He sat down on his bed, "He was dead, and then, all of the sudden, he was alive again. And now it's like I've lost him again."

"You never really had him back, he wanted to be with Hunter Redfern."

"Nice words of comfort. But I know what you're saying. How can a seventeen year old that looks like he's four ever be with the Daybreakers. They can't deal with him, and he doesn't want to be with them. But…"

"You want the old Timmy back?"

Someone knocked on the door, "Food's here." It was Nyala.

"Okay." Rashel stood up, "Sometimes I do. I've got some type of foodstuff out there. I think I've worked on this," she gestured to the book, "For long enough to justify a break."

"Ten minutes?"

"At least five."

She went into the kitchen and picked up a sandwich. It was turkey with no mustard. She went back to her room and pretended to study while eating. Quinn was reading and she could tell that he was smiling. "I know that every teenager say it, but in my case it's probably true. When will I ever need algebra two in my life?"

"Never," He didn't even look up from his book.

"Next time I need motivation, remind me not to ask you for it."

"All right."

"What are you reading?"

"A book."

Rashel rolled her eyes and stood up. She walked up next to his bed.

"I know you're there," he said, still focused on his book. He grunted when she launched herself on top of him and grabbed his book.

"So, what are you reading?" She asked innocently.

He tried to look stern, "Shouldn't you be studying?"

"Honestly, this is much more fun."

He laughed a little, and then kissed her.

And this, Rashel though, Is even more fun.

The next morning, Rashel had to wake up at 6:45 to catch the school bus. She hadn't actually finished her homework, so she'd have to copy someone's before class. It was late March, and though the morning was chilly, it wasn't cold enough to justify wearing a coat.

The bus pulled up five minutes after Rashel arrived at her stop and she was happy to be on it. Since she was one of the last stops there were a lot of people on the bus and it was nice and warm.

She sat down in one of the empty seats and stared out the window. The bus stopped again. "You're Rachel, right?"

Rashel looked up, "No, I'm not."

"You're in first period algebra two with Matte, right? Third row over, two back?"

She raised an eyebrow, "Are you stalking me?"

"I sit behind you. I thought your name was Rachel. Can I sit here?"

Rashel nodded and made room for her. "Mr. Matte insists on calling me Rachel. My name is Rashel."

"Awesome name, I'm Candi, with an i."

Rashel made a mental note not to copy homework from anyone whose name was also something people sucked on. The girl kept talking. There was something about the basketball team and the state finals. So, are you going to try out for cheerleading next year? You are a junior, right?"

"Huh?"

"Cheerleading? Are you going to do it." Candi put her hand on Rashel's arm, as if to see if she were okay.

For a second, Rashel's vision went fuzzy. She shook her head and rubbed her eyes. "Sorry," she said, "I'm a little tired. I don't think I'll be doing much along the lines of cheerleading, I don't like skirts."

She smiled wide, "You should totally consider it!" The bus came to a halt in front of the school. "Well, I'll see you in class!"

Rashel stood up and had to shake her head again. She hadn't been this tired earlier. Giving her head a final shake, she slung her bag over her shoulder and walked into the drab, gray building.

Due to an incident the previous year wherein a boy brought a knife to the school and injured six people, students were not allowed to carry book bags to class. Rashel made her way to her locker, which was about three inches wide and four inches tall, stuffed her bag in it, and took the books necessary for math.

She was the first person in the class room. It was about fifteen minutes before the first bell rang. She lay her head down on the desk and closed her eyes.

"God, I hate this class. I just want out." She opened one eye, the voice had sounded very close to her, but it must have been a trick of sound. She shook her head a little, and closed her eyes again. "X plus three T divided by the square root of--" Rashel's head snapped up. Someone had entered the room, but she was listening to her headphones. She decided to ignore it again. Someone in the hallway was probably just being really loud. However, she didn't close her eyes again.

A few minutes later, Mr. Matte walked in. "Hello, Rachel, Mallory." The other girl in the room, the one with the headphones, was actually named Melody, but Mr. Matte was notoriously bad at names, and no one bothered to correct him anymore. The warning bell rang and students began to trickle into the room. When the boy who sat next to her arrived, she gave him a pleading look, and he handed her his homework without a work. She copied down the problems and handed the paper back to him with a smile.

When Mr. Matte started to lecture, she could have sworn that he was wearing a baseball uniform, but she shook her head, and he was wearing his normal clothes again. The rest of the class was uneventful, but when she walked into the hallway, she saw the strangest things. She saw two girls walking around in swimsuits, there was a gymnast and a guy in his football pads.

Something strange was going on.

During sixth period, she collapsed.

It was right after lunch. She was in Biology, and her partner, Cara, brushed against her arm when she was moving something. A bunch of images flashed before her eyes, too fast for her to interpret, and she passed out.

She came to in the nurse's office. "You gave us a bit of a scare there." The woman said, sticking the piece of plastic that was a thermometer into her mouth. "Hmm, no temperature." She wrote the number down on a form, "Did you eat breakfast?"

"I wasn't hungry, but I had a salad for lunch." She was feeling sick, just lying on the bed. "Is it alright if I stand up?"

"You took quite a spill. I don't think you should just yet. Now, you just had a salad, nothing else?"

Rashel shrugged, "I had some water." The feeling of sickness kept intensifying.

"Were you dizzy before lunch?"

"A little, I must have not gotten enough sleep." Saliva was gathering in her mouth, "I think I'm going to throw up."

The nurse handed her a bucket without blinking. Rashel held it in front of her, and, surely enough, a few seconds later, she did.

It was like a password, "You need to go home," the nurse said. Because everyone knows that a person isn't truly sick until they throw up.

"Calla might be at work," Rashel said, "Quinn should be at the house, though." The nurse nodded. A few minutes later, Quinn was at the school, signing her out.

Once they were in the car, she felt much better. "Did I wake you?"

"It's no big deal. If you're sick, you're sick."

"I don't really feel sick anymore, though. Now that I'm away from everybody."

"Were you faking?"

She cocked her head to the side, "The passing out, or the throwing up?"

"Don't get defensive, it was just a question."

They pulled into the house and went straight for their room. She explained what she'd been seeing all day. "You probably just need some sleep. And, of course, to lay off of the hallucinogenic drugs."

She slapped his arm and rolled her eyes. "Are you going back to sleep?"

"Since it's just a little after noon, my answer is a vehement yes."

"Okay." She picked up the pajamas she'd worn the previous night.

"Do you want to lay down with me?"

She smiled, "Well, since your offering." She went into the bathroom and changed. He was already laying down when she got back. She lay down next to him, and he wrapped his arm around her.

When she woke up again, it was almost sunset. She looked at the clock, it was five o'clock. Quinn was up and out of the room. She changed back into her clothes and went to the kitchen. Calla was there, drinking tea.

"I hear you collapsed in school today."

"Yeah, it was no big deal." She grabbed a bottle of water and turned to face the witch. Calla was covered in blood and other things. Rashel dropped the water.

"Are you alright?" Her voice didn't sound natural.

Rashel slid down the wall so she was sitting on the floor and Calla was hidden from view. The witch came around the counter and knelt in front of her. "Rashel? What's the matter?"

"You were in Circle Midnight." She whispered, it wasn't a question.

Calla froze in place, "How did you know that?"

"You were covered in blood…and worse. And, I just…I just knew. Oh my god." Rashel stood up and ran back to her room. A few minutes later, Quinn was there.

"Something's wrong," he said.

"Really? You mean physical manifestations of people's pasts aren't normal for a human to see?"

"It isn't exactly the time for sarcasm. I should probably stay away from you until we figure this out."

"Please don't." She grabbed onto his arm.

"I don't even want to think about what you see when you look at me."

"I see you. Nothing else, it probably has something to do with the soulmate thing." She wrapped her arms around him and held him close. "And I wouldn't care if I saw what you did. You're not that person anymore."

"I would care." He hugged her back. "I'm going to talk to Calla, she'll know if this is some kind of spell, or if it's something else."

"Good. I'm going to stay in here." She let go of him.

Quinn walked out of the room and back to the kitchen where Calla was waiting. "What the hell is happening to my soulmate?"

"This just started today?" Calla asked.

Quinn nodded, "As far as I know."

"I've seen this happen before. Let me give you a little Night World/Human physiology lesson. Witches are supposed to be physically weaker than the other Night World races, and even humans, but we're able to do magic. Shapeshifters are the strongest, and vampires are a mix of both. Humans are something completely different. They can't handle magic. Not normal, witch magic, the old powers are something completely different. You understand that?"

Quinn nodded.

"Rashel has been given a witch power, clairvoyance. But that doesn't make her a witch. The spell, in it's original form, enhances the powers of a normal witch, but certain witches found that it makes an excellent torture device. Pure humans can't handle it, and they suffer immense pain. Eventually the spell drives the person crazy, or it kills them."

Quinn's eyes widened, "But there's a way to undo it."

Calla looked away, "I've never heard of a way."

"You're telling me that she will go crazy, or die, or both, and there is nothing I can do about it?"

"That's not what I said."

"Enlighten me, then."

"A human cannot stand the power, but if Rashel were no longer human, she should be fine."

"Should or would?"

"It's not a common practice. I don't know if it's ever been tried before…"

Quinn slammed his fist on the table, "Should or would?"

"Would, I think."

"Then the answer is should. It wouldn't work anyway. The last time I…suggested she let me change her, she threatened to stake herself the moment it happened."

"The circumstances have changed."

"You don't know Rashel."

"She seems like a smart girl."

"That doesn't mean she isn't stubborn."

"Find out what you can about what happened before the spell took affect. I'll look into a counter spell. And you two should probably get out of town. There's a place, a few hours from here. It's more than a safe house, it's a clean house. It's ritually cleansed every time someone leaves. She should be okay there for awhile."

Quinn nodded and stood up.

"Try and get her to agree to the change. I really don't think there will be a way to undo this."

"Find a way."

He went back to the room. Rashel was standing in the middle of the room with her eyes closed.

"Can you pack a bag?" He asked. Rashel's face looked pained, but she nodded. "There's a house we can go to. It should be better there." She nodded again and continued packing.

They left a half an hour later, Calla said she would call if there were any developments. Once they were in the car, Quinn asked, "Do you want me to put you to sleep?"

"That's what you say when you kill a pet." Her voice was a whisper, "But I know what you mean. I'll be okay."

He nodded and put the car into gear. Her hand found his and she leaned her head against the window, clutching his hand in a death grip. Three hours later they pulled up to the house. It was too dark to see, but Calla said the house was miles away from anyone, and on a lake. He could see Rashel relax the moment she stepped inside.

"It's better here?"

"Nothing screams as much."

He nodded, that sounded like something good. She went into the bedroom and lay down as he brought the bags in. By the time he set the bags down, she was already asleep.

Sometime in the night, she started shaking. Thinking she was cold, Quinn put a blanket on her, but she didn't stop until he touched her. He held onto her until she calmed down. It happened a few times during the course of the night, eventually, though, she seemed to calm down.

She woke up early in the morning. "Even the animals are talking," she told him.

"Calla will fix this. I have a few things to ask you."

She nodded and sat up slowly.

"Before you started seeing and hearing things, did anything strange happen?"

She thought for a few seconds, "There was a girl on the bus, she had a stupid name. Candi with an i, I think. She asked me if I was going to become a cheerleader next year."

He grinned wickedly, "Are you?"

She smiled and slapped his arm, "Aren't you a little old for things like that to affect you?"

"With you?"

"I said no, and then, I think she touched my arm. Then my vision went fuzzy, and I just thought I was tired. I started hearing and seeing things during math, giving more weight to my math is evil theory."

"Alright, I'm going to call Calla and tell her all of that, do you need anything?"

She shook her head. He nodded, kissed her forehead and left the room.

He got on the phone in the kitchen. Calla answered on the second ring. Quinn relayed the story and heard Calla sigh.

"The spell was probably put on her when she went to school. I contacted a few…old friends last night. They said that there was no known cure. I'll be on the look out for this Candi, but my suggestion still stands."

"Call me back when you find her. I want to know why someone did this to her." He hung the phone up and went back to the bedroom.

He sat down next to her and she asked, "How bad is it?"

"Bad," He wasn't going to lie to her, "Really bad."

"Is there a cure, or a counter spell, or anything?"

"There's something, but you're not going to like it."

"Quinn…"

"Calla says that the only way to make you stop hurting is to…make you not human anymore."

She stiffened up, "No."

"I told her to look for something else. But," he put a hand on her arm, "It could be the only way. You need to seriously think about it. I don't want to lose you."

She pulled her arm away, "I can't, you know that."

"Think about it."

He left the room. Rashel hugged her knees and rocked back and forth. The noise in her head was like a cheering football stadium, and there were so many pictures behind her eyes. She was stuck between a rock and a hard place, and she didn't know what to do.

As the day went on, she started to slip in and out of consciousness. Sometime around two o'clock, Quinn came to sit with her.

She felt something warm going down her throat, and she was awake again. The pain in her head even dulled a little.

Quinn was holding his wrist tightly, "You had a small seizure," he said, "I had to see if that would help. I only gave you a little."

A tear fell out of her eye. His solution had helped, but she wasn't happy about it. "Has Calla given you any other information?"

"No."

"And I'll die if we don't…"

He nodded his head, "Most likely."

More tears fell from her eyes, more from anger than sadness. "Damn it! This is fucking bullshit, Quinn. I don't want to be a vampire."

"I think whoever did this to you knew that."

"Do it."

"What?"

She met his eyes, "I don't want to be a vampire, but I don't want to die even more. I trust you when you say that it's the only way."

"Are you sure?" He looked hopeful, and scared, and even a little ashamed.

"I'm sure." Without another word, he gathered her close, and then she felt those little pinpricks that were half pleasure and half pain. And just like the first time he'd done this, the soulmate bond flared up around them.

"You don't want this." He told her.

"I want to live."

They didn't say anything else, just floated together for what seemed like an eternity but wasn't long enough.

"Your turn."

Rashel fought back the revulsion and took the wrist he offered her. She thought of this like a challenge on one of those horrible reality television shows. But this wasn't competition for ten thousand dollars, she was earning her life back by doing this.

"How many times will we have to do this?" She asked him, using their bond.

"Once more, should do it."

He pulled his wrist away and wiped her mouth off. "I love you."

"I hope so," she replied. She was really tired, all of the sudden, but the voices were quieter, and the pictures were dimmer. So, with Quinn holding her, she fell asleep.

Sometime the next day, or what she thought was the next day, she woke up. Quinn was there with her, reading his book. "How are you feeling?" He asked.

"Weird, but my head doesn't hurt as much." It was almost like floating, but not really. For the first time in a few days, she felt less sick.

"Good. Do you want me to explain how this is going to work?" She nodded. "Calla is going to send a witch over for when you wake up next time, and you'll be able to feed on her."

Rashel nodded again, "Let's get this over with."

"If there were any other way--"

"I know, just do it."

So he did. They went through the process again, and once they were finished, she was unconscious immediately.

Two days later, she woke up, and all she could think about was how thirsty she was. But she didn't want water, or pop, or juice. She really didn't know what she wanted, but whatever it was, she wanted it terribly. Then, someone's arm was in front of her, and she knew what to do. It didn't even require thought, she bit the arm, and swallowed that delicious stuff flowing inside of her.

But then, all to soon, someone else was pulling her away, and she didn't want to stop, but whoever it was he was stronger than her. "That's enough," he told her. She knew his voice. It was Quinn, and she was Rashel, and--

Oh, God.

She wiped off her mouth, trying to feel ashamed of what she had just done. Quinn held her close and said, "It's okay, you're okay."

She looked up him and said, "I guess it's done, then."

"How's your head? Can you still…feel…everything?"

She thought for a moment, "I know that I could," she said, "But I also know that I can control it now."

He nodded, "That's how Calla said this should work."

"Do you know who did this to me?"

"It was Timmy. The Daybreakers caught the witch who did it, and she admitted that she had been paid by him."

"Did they get him? And who was the witch?"

"They're looking for him, but he's probably with Hunter Redfern by now. And, to answer your second question, it was Candi with an i."

"It just goes to show you that all cheerleaders are evil."

He smiled and hugged her, "We can go back when your ready."

"Not yet, but soon."

Things weren't perfect. Timmy had escaped, and she was now a vampire, but she had Quinn, and she could control the power that she'd been given. Things would definitely have to change, but she'd adjust. And her soulmate would be there to help her through everything.

She smiled up at him and said, "I think we're going to get through this."

He laughed and kissed her.

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