Pain shoots through Seth, jolting him awake. His jaw hurts, his stomach hurts. Hell, his entire fucking body hurts. He opens his eyes and realises he's in the passenger seat of a car, Richie driving next to him.

"You okay?"

Seth casts a brief glance at his brother. "I'm sore."

"No kidding. You look like you got hit by a mack truck."

"Might as well have. Those asswipes were ridiculously jacked." Seth rubs the back of his neck. "How the hell did I get here?"

"Your ex-ball and chain called me. Lucky for you, I was close to the mansion. Took care of the rent-a-cops while they were hauling you out."

"Where's Vanessa?"

Richie ignores the question. "I knew it'd be a bad idea to have her go with you. You go full retard around her. All you had to do-"

"Hey, leave her out of this. It wasn't her fault I screwed up."

"So whose fault was it then, Seth?"

Seth contemplates not saying anything but knows he could never keep this from his brother. "Kate was there."

Richie swerves the car over to the side of the road, slams on his breaks.

"Jesus Fucking Christ, Richard!" Seth gripes, unlocking his belt.

"Kate? Our Kate?" The cold arrogant mask Richard always wears is gone; in its place is a man lost and frantic at the mere mention of a name. "What was she doing there? How is she? Where is she?"

"She was there for the dagger."

Richie stares at him, confused. "What? Why?"

"It doesn't matter. She has it now."

"We have to find her."

"Richie, we can't. She hates us, remember? And she has every reason to." Seth shakes his head. "I thought we were doing the right thing letting her go."

"We did."

"No, Richard. We didn't. Because she said the attacks got worse, way worse, when she came home. You know what that means, Richie? We fucking left her to deal with all that shit alone! When she needed us, we bailed on her."

"How's that possible? That doesn't make any sense."

"She blames you for the attacks, thinks you did something to her. But that can't be true, can it, Richie?" Seth glares at his brother. "You didn't do anything, did you?"

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Tell me what happened that night you were with her."

"We don't have time for this shit."

"I want fucking details, Richie!"

Richie runs his fingers through his hair, desperation brimming in his eyes. "She wanted me to feed from her, said it would connect us or something like that. I was drinking her blood when she passed out on me. I didn't even take that much from her, but she was out cold. I thought I hurt her, I thought she was dead. She barely had a heart beat!"

Seth realises there's no way Richie's lying. While his brother can be a real son of a bitch at times, he also knows how much Kate means to Richie, the lengths Richie will go to keep her safe.

"I had to do something," Richie whispers, his voice frantic. "So I gave her some of my blood. It's supposed to accelerate healing, and it did! It worked. Her heart started beating again, she came to for a minute and then went right back to sleep. She was fine. I swear!"

Seth pulls his brother in for a hug, consoling him so that Richie stops shaking. "I believe you."

"We have to find her. I need to explain-"

"I don't think that's a good idea."

Richie shoves him away, glaring at him. "Why the fuck not?"

"Because all we've done is fuck up her life!" Seth exhales a long breath, his chest squeezing with pain. "I saw it in her eyes tonight. She hates me, hates us. Can't really blame her after everything we've done."

"I have to see her."

It's pointless to argue with Richie when he's made up his mind about something. "Fine, you do what you need to," Seth mutters.

"Come with me," Richie pleads.

"No! Fuck that. I'm not going. I need to make sure Vanessa-"

"Are you fucking kidding me? You're gonna blow me off, blow Kate off, for her? When are you gonna get it through your thick skull you two are a fucking disaster?"

"That's rich coming from you, asshole!"

"It's not even like you love her."

"Shut up, Richie."

"When are you gonna man up and admit the truth?"

"And what truth would that be?" Seth fires back.

"You don't want to see Kate because you're terrified. You're in love-"

"Fuck you!" Seth storms out of the car, slamming the door behind him. His body protests in pain but he ignores it.

"Fine. Walk away. Pussy!"A minute later Richie pulls up the car next to Seth. "You look like you're gonna pass out any second. Get the fuck in."

"Only if you keep your mouth shut. I'm getting real sick of you blabbering all the time." Richie cocks his eyebrow in defiance but remains quiet. Seth slips back inside. "Drop me off at Vanessa's. I need to let her know we're leaving."

His brother flashes a smug grin.

"Wipe that fucking smirk off your face, Richard. I'm not going with you to see Kate."

"Sure you're not, bro."

Seth wishes he had the energy to punch the asshole.

Kate gets out of the bathtub and wraps herself in a towel, wincing with pain. Thanks to the two vampires that caught her by surprise an hour ago, her body is black and blue with bruises. She ended up killing them soon thereafter, but not before they got a few good shots in. Gazing at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, she studies her arms; the wounds will heal quickly, but until it does it feels like her nerves are on fire, screaming with agony.

Her phone rings, bringing her out of her reverie and she picks it up from the bathroom counter. It's Ranger Gonzalez returning her call. "Hi."

"Kate, you alright? I just got your message."

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she assures. "How's the little munchkin doing?"

"Growing up too fast. She's running around all over the place, getting into things she has no business being in."

Hearing the fatherly pride in the Ranger's voice, Kate smiles. "I think she gets that from you."

"That's what her mother keeps saying." He clears his throat and Kate can hear him drifting into quieter surroundings, probably away from his family so they don't hear their conversation. "What's going on, Kate?"

She contemplates telling him about Seth's return, but decides against it. Ranger Gonzalez hates the Gecko brothers, probably even more than she does, and he wouldn't hesitate to leave his family behind to make sure Seth is dead. While that thought is somewhat comforting, Kate doesn't want the Ranger involved in any of this. She may have lost everything but he still has a beautiful family who need him, and Kate doesn't want to jeopardize that. Besides, Seth is probably in a cell somewhere - assuming Richie hasn't busted him out yet. "Everything's fine. I just... I need you to go to the bruja for me."

"For the potion?"

"Yeah."

"I thought a hit was good for a year."

"They've been wearing out of my system faster than usual. These last few weeks, I don't know, it's been crazy. The vamps have been crawling out of the woodworks."

"Why? Has something changed?"

She swallows an audible breath. Seth was at the mansion three nights ago which means Richie must be around too; instinctively she realises that's why vamps have been chasing her down again - because of the Gecko brothers. "No, everything's normal," she lies.

"Kate, I get the feeling you're keeping something from me."

"I'm not."

"If you need help-"

"All I need is for you to send me the potion from the brouja. One hit of that and I'll be the invisible woman to all vamps again."

"Promise me you'll call if you're in trouble."

There was a time when she would never have made false promises, but not anymore. "I will. I swear."

"Okay, fine. Where you staying?"

"At a hotel downtown."

"Text me the address."

After the conversation ends, she puts her phone back on the counter, grabs a bottle of lotion and flicks the bathroom light off. All of a sudden, she hears the door shut. Someone's in her room. Light on her feet, quietly as possible, she grabs the stash of poison she keeps in the bathroom. One shot of the venom renders vampires immobile, weakening them for hours. The only problem is, she has to get close enough to inject it.

She tiptoes out of the bathroom and finds a looming figure standing in the far end of the room, his back turned to her. She doesn't need to see the face to recognise who it is. The long, lean length of his frame is answer enough. Richie. Her heart starts beating erratically, her stomach twisting into knots.

A part of her wants to run and hide, the other wants to storm over and kick him in the balls and hurt him as much as he's hurt her. Instead she stands there, still.

He turns around.

Eyes locked, both frozen, they simply stare at each other for a long while before he finally breaks the silence. "Kate," he whispers.

In one quick stride he closes the distance between them. Standing directly in front of her now, he watches her intently.

"I missed you."

His words are exactly what she needs to hear at that moment. With the small needle still curled up in her hand, she quickly reaches up and slams it into Richie's neck.