A/N: Thanks to Love.Always.Alice.and.Jasper, Niffer01 and guardian music angel, for their reviews of the last chapter.

I've finally given Jess and Alex last names! Also the 'Chase: Live or Die' poll is up on my profile page, but it's not just a two choice poll, so check it out. I'm not guaranteeing that I'll follow the result, but I'd like to know what you guys think. (Go for it Niffer01!)

Review and Enjoy!

"I got a call from Ophelia. She says that the cuts and the stab wounds on the victims correspond with energy points, chakras. She's certain that it's some kind of energy transfer, but she still doesn't know what kind. As for the Sons, she hasn't got anything solid, but she says that there are rumours of powerful witches in Europe who's power matches theirs, with the black eyes; but without more, she's having trouble finding anything solid without drawing attention. She says she has a few more sources she can search and that she'll get back to us then."

Silence.

"Tal, Talia!" Willem yelled, standing in front of her.

"What?" she asked, eyes focusing to find two Shifters and a witch staring at her, concerned.

"You haven't heard a word I've said, have you?" Will asked with a sigh.

"Yeah. Chakras, power transfer, European witches, few more sources, I got it," she grumbled, picking at the cheap quilt on the motel bed.

"Talia, what's wrong?" Jess asked softly, concerned at her friend's distracted mood. Talia just shrugged.

"It's Caleb, isn't it?" Alex asked softly. "He's been giving her these funny looks all week, like he's looking for something," she explained to the others.

Jess snorted. "He's probably just pissed because you drove like a maniac with Sarah in the car."

Tal gave her a weak smile. "Maybe, but it's not just that. I think Reid was avoiding me yesterday, all the guys have been a little distant."

Alex nodded a silent agreement.

"It's probably just the Gala. All their folks are going to be there, we already know Reid has parental issues; odds are the rest of them do too. I'm sure once the thing is over with, everything will go back to normal," Jess reasoned a little desperately.

"Normal? For god's sake, normal for us is travelling around the country chasing down psychotic rogues, not going to school and worrying about your boyfriend! And when this whole mess is over with, we're going back to Chicago to be with the rest of the pack. That is normal, okay?" Will was practically screaming.

Jess just stared at him, blinking back tears.

He sighed, running a hand through his dark hair. "I'm sorry Jess, I didn't mean to yell. I just want this case finished so we can all get home, y'know?"

Jess nodded, but Tal and Alex knew the real reason why she was crying. She had confessed to them the day before that she and Tyler were in love, but that she had absolutely no idea what to do. Neither of them had been much help, not sure what to do with their own guys.

"I've just got this feeling that something bad is going to happen y'know?" Tal murmured, voicing the worry that had been churning in her gut all day.

The others nodded, having felt the same thing. Jess was on edge, Will wouldn't stop snapping at people, and even Alex, who had never been involved with something like this before, could tell that something was coming.

Something bad.

Reid was outside Caleb's house, avoiding the others and waiting for Tyler to arrive with the girls. Caleb had to help his mom set up, and Reid's parents had insisted that he stay at home over the weekend, so Ty had been the only one at the dorms, and they had all decided that Talia driving in her usual style was not the first impression they wanted to make.

None of their parents knew what was happening with Chase; when it came to The Covenant, even Tyler's always attentive parents had a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy. As far as they knew, they'd be meeting Tyler and Reid's new girlfriends, and Pogue's new friend Alex. Pogue hadn't noticed, but after his statement of, "I'm not bringing a date this year, I invited our friend Alex instead," his parents seemed to be under the impression that Alex was a guy. Reid was definitely looking forward to that introduction.

He tugged nervously at the sleeves of his shirt, uncomfortable as always. Not by any planning, he and he guys were wearing similar black suits, although of them were wearing different colored shirts underneath. Caleb had gone with classic white, starched to perfection; Pogue was wearing dark brown; Tyler dark blue; and Reid had gone with black, to match his mood. All of them could pull of the look, but Caleb and Tyler were the only ones who were actually comfortable. Probably because they were the only ones not forced into their outfits but their parents.

The Gala hadn't really started yet, but all their parents were already there, a long with a scattering of other local elite. Mrs. Danvers had gone all out, having a huge covered pavilion erected behind the house, and hiring a jazz band to provide the music. There were circus performers in a smaller pavilion nearby, providing entertainment for the younger kids, leaving their parents free to schmooze. There was a lavish buffet as well as elegantly dressed waiting staff serving champagne and hors d'oeuvres.

Reid was nervous, they all were, not just because of the whole meet-the-parents thing, but also because of what Caleb had told them. As much as they didn't want to believe it, there was definiately something going on. Reid knew Caleb wouldn't lie, and his friend seemed so sure, but for the life of him, Reid couldn't see Talia as the bad guy. He didn't want to, all he wanted was to get past his damn birthday and get back to normal, with he and his amazing, normal girlfriend having lots and lots more mind-blowing sex.

Tyler's hummer arrived, coming slowly down the drive and drawing Reid out of his depressing thoughts. He watched as the girl got out, waiting in anticipation for Tal. First out was Jess, wearing a dark blue swing dress, to Baby Boy's obvious apporval. Second was Alex, wearing some kind of cream colored beaded flapper dress, her hair pinned up for once. Sarah, always pretty in pink, was wearing a empire waist chiffon dress, her blond hair loose, but pinned back.

As soon as he saw Talia though, all he wanted to do was grab Ty's keys and whisk her of somewhere, maybe lock her in a motel room for a couple of weeks. She was wearing a v-cut red dress that came to just above her knees. Her make-up was simple, like that first night at the party, but she was also wearing red lip gloss that made her lips look eve fuller, giving him all kinds of naughty thoughts. The tattoos on her arms and ankles were visible, and somehow she managed to look sexy, edgy and respectible all at the same time.

"Well, well. If it isn't Johnny Cash," Talia smirked as she walked towards him, Alex at her side.

"What? Oh, the suit. You look, uh…well…" he tried to think of something other than 'fuckable', but it just wasn't happpening.

She grinned, giving him a strawberry-tasting kiss, then asked, "Are your parents here yet?"

"Yeah," he grumbled, not looking forward to this at all.

"Well, lets get this over with then," she sighed, giving him a sympathetic smile.

"Yeah," he repeated, taking her hand and following the others inside.

"Sarah darling, you look wonderful as usual," a warm voice complimented from inside, a soon as they entered the large foyer of the Danvers mansion. Talia watched as an elegantly dressed older women gave Sarah and warm hug before turning to the rest of them with interest.

Caleb was right behind her, and as soon as she released Sarah, he slipped his arm around his girlfriend's waist, giving her a quick peck on the cheek. "This is my mother, Evelyn Danvers. Mom, this is Jess Li, Talia Sarka and Alex Quintero," he smiled.

"It's wonderful to meet you, I've heard so much aboout you all! I'm so glad you could make it. Pogue's out back, I think, along with everyone else. If you'll excuse me," she smiled, walking over to greet some more guests that had just entered.

She seemed like a nice woman, if a little frazzled. Reid had explained that she was a recovering alchoholic, and that she was still coming to terms with the death of Caleb's father. This was supposedly the first party she'd hosted since his death, and she seemed understandably nervous.

The group made their way through to the back yard, and Talia had to suppress a gasp at the stuffed leopard she spotted in one of the side rooms. Being part predator herself, the sight of it's snarling mouth and lifeless eyes made her sick. Fortunately, Jess didn't see it, and Tal wasn't about to upset her friend. She understood that a lot of these old houses had decorations like that, and she didn't hold it against Caleb or his mom, but she didn't know how anyone could live in the same house with it.

As soon as the sunlight hit her face however, she forgot her horror and switched to awe. The huge pavilion, elegant decorations and milling people took her breath away. She'd never seen anything like it before, and she suddenly felt completely, totally out of her depth. Jess didn't seem much different, although Alex seemed quite comfortable, obviously she'd grown up with such extravagence too.

As they stepped into the huge pavilion, they went their separate ways, Jess shooting Tal a sypathetic look before she disappeared into the slowly growing crowd. Reid tugged her hand and led her over to an elegant looking couple.

Standing in front of them, Reid waited until he had their attention. "Mom, Dad, this is my girlfriend, Talia Sarka. Tal these are my parents, Meredith and Joseph Garwin."

Talia looked at the two people Reid called parents. Although Reid had his mother's pale coloring, he looked more like his father, though Mr. Garwin's features were a little sharper, giving him more of a severe look that Reid.

"It's nice to meet you both," Talia replied politely, shaking their hands.

When he saw her tattoos, Joseph Garwin simply raised and eyebrow, but his wife felt the need to comment. "My, what…colorful tattoos," Mrs. Garwin remarked, surprised.

"She designed them herself," Reid informed them, his voice proud, even though he knew his parents wouldn't approve.

"Really? How novel," she remarked, sniffing disdainfully.

Talia felt Reid stiffen beside her, so she squeezed his hand, silently letting him know she was okay. Changing the subject, she inquired about their recent trip.

"Ah, yes. Vienna. Wonderful city, absolutley wonderful. I don't suppose you spend much time on the Continent?" Mrs. Garwin asked.

"Some, though I've never been to Austria," Talia replied, much to the Garwins' surprise.

"Really?" Mrs. Garwin asked, interested. "Where have you been?"

"We generaly go to visit family, mostly in Prague and Bucharest, although we have some distant relatives in Italy and Spain, too," Talia shrugged, speaking honestly.

"Really? How interesting!" Mrs. Garwin replied, blue eyes sparkling. "Tell me, how do the two cities compare…?"

Meanwhile, Alex was leaning on her elbows against the bar, facing out toward the rest of the room, wait for the bartender to get the sodas she'd ordered.

Things had been a bit awkward at first, until Pogue's father Wayne had explained that he and his wife Beatrice had been expecting her to be a guy. After a bit of relieved laughter, things had gone fine.

As, for Pogue, he'd been sneaking glances at her all afternoon, and Alex got the feeling she wouldn't be sleeping alone tonight. Actually, she got the feeling she wouldn't be sleeping at all.

Alex had offered to go and get them a drink while Pogue chatted with some business partner of his father's, but the bar was pretty busy, so she'd sat back to watch him from a distance, thinking about how hansom he looked, and trying not to think about why it made her chest ache.

Bobbing her head to the smooth jazz, Alex suddenly froze as none other than Kate Tunney suddenly appeared, throwing herself in Pogue's arms. Alex, suddenly feeling sick, ran to find the nearest bathroom locking herself inside.

As soon as she got there, the tears started following down her face, and her breathing came in great sobs of anguish. She knew that now that Kate was back, Pogue would start dating her again; he was in love with her, after all. Alex hated it, hated herself for caring, and hated Pogue because she couldn't hate him. All she really was to him was a good fuck, but that was all she'd ever asked from him. There was no way she'd be able to stay his friend, watching him with Kate and pretending she didn't care.

Suddenly, all the feelings she'd been bottling up for the last seventeen-plus years came flooding out. Anger at her parents for leaving her, jealousy of her sister for being perfect, hatred for the community that said she was worthless because she had no power, saddness that her new friends would soon be moving on, despite the fact they had said she was always welcome.

And the unbareable, aching lonliness that she had lived with, never caring, never being cared for. Because now, once again, Alejandra Quintero was truly alone.

Jess was on cloud nine. She'd been nervous when Ty had first introduced his parents, Rosalind ('Call me Rose,') and Glenn, but his parents were so warm and friendly that she quickly relaxed. Rose had that motherly smile that reminded her of her own mom Rena, whom she hadn't seen in months and missed terribly. The Simms were impressed that she had already graduated, but were also understanding of why she had decided to wait to attend University. Rose had slyly suggested Harvard, where Tyler would be going, while Glenn had laughing told his wife to let them be.

Now she was slowly dancing with Tyler, her head on his shoulder, his arms around her waist, holding her close, making her feel cherished.

Everything was perfect.

Pogue was lost. One minute, he was eyeing Alex, making a list of what he was going to do to her tonight, the next he had his hands full of squealing girl.

Pushing her gently away, he frowned. "Kate, what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to surprise you guys, Daddy flew me in last night. Surprise!" Kate said, bouncing up and down a little.

"You can't just come back here, Kate. You left without telling anyone," Pogue admoished, shaking his head.

"I know, I realise it was a mistake," she pressed her body against his, batting her eyelashes, "I promise to make it up to you."

He pushed her away again, surprised that he wasn't happy. "No, Kate. We broke up remember? You can't just expect everything to be the way it was when you left."

"Oh, come on. You know if I'd stayed, we would have gotten back together again. What difference does it make?" she pouted.

"Yeah, but I'm not sure that would have been the best thing. We were always fighting, always flirting with other people. That is nota healthy relationship, and be both know it," Pogue reasoned, realising completely for the first time, just how true those words were.

Kate stilled, her eyes growing cold. "Is there someone else?"

"Sort of, maybe. But it doesn't matter, because even if there wasn't, I can't give you what you want, and that hasn't changed. Even if you move back, we're still over, Kate," Pogue told her firmly.

She just stood there, stunned. "Have you seen Sarah?" she ground out.

"She's in the kid's pavilion, I think," he replied cautiously.

She nodded once, the disappeared into the crowd.

Pogue sighed, shaking his head. He had a feeling this was not going to end well. He turned looking for Alex at the bar, but instead he saw two fizzing sodas with no Alex in sight.

Shit!

"Sarah!"

"Ohmygod! Kate!" Sarah ran toward her friend, giving her a huge hug. "What are you doing here?!"

"I decided to come visit, see how you all were," Kate said, something in her tone warning the other girl.

"Have you spoken to Pogue yet?"

"Yeah. Who's this girl he's seeing?" Kate demanded, eyes flashing.

"Alex? I don't know that they're actually seeing each other, but they're friends," Sarah supplied.

"Alex, as is loner Alex, Kira's roomate?" Kate asked wrinkleing her nose. Sarah nodded, not liking where this was going. "How'd he start hanging out with that freak?"

"She's not a freak, Kate. She's my friend. She hangs out a lot with Reid and Tyler's new girlfriends, too. Talia, Reid's girlfriend, is my new roomate. They're all really nice," she said feeling the need to defend her new friends.

Kate definiately didn't appreciate it. "What is this? I go away for a couple months and Pogue's met an new girl, Reid's datingsome girl, and you've replaced me with the skank. Some friend you are!"

Sarah lost it. Kate was being totally unreasonable and she wasn't going to stand for it anymore. "Some friend Iam? I'm not the one that up and left with just an email, then ignored me everytime I tried to contact you! You left us! You can't just expect us to sit around mopeing until you decide to grace us with your presence. Contrary to what your Daddy might have told you Kate, the world does not revolve around you." She took a breath, watching the stunned girl. "Listen Kate, you were my best friend, and I'll never forget that, but unless you're willing to be reasonable, I think you should just leave."

And with that, she walk off, head held high, leaving Kate spluttering behind her.

As the two women talked, Reid watched his father's eye glaze over, feeling almost sympathectic for him. Reid's father had to travel for business, but his mom enjoyed seeing the world so much, she'd rather have strangers care for her own son. It wasn't that his parents were bad people, it was just that as parents, they sucked.

But Talia seemed to have them charmed, especially when, in a rare moment of silence, she made some comment about how she was enjoying the music, and it was his father's turn to light up as they got into a discussion about jazz.

When he finally managed to pry her away, he pulled her close and whispered in her ear, "That was amazing, Babe."

"Thanks," she grinned. "Maybe we should find somewhere quiet and you can show me just how grateful you are," she purred. Reid smirked, but his face fell as he saw who was struttung towards them.

Abbot.

"Well, well. Don't you just look edible," Aaron leered, oblivious to the dark glare Kira shot him from where she was clutching to his arm.

"Thank you," Tal replied, looking anything but grateful.

"You know what would make you look even better?" he asked, then continued, not waiting for an aswer. "If you were with me instead of this freak."

Reid was about ready to blow when Tal smiled sweetly at Aaron and said, "Sorry, I don't do charity work." At that, she grabbed Reid's hand and led him off to get her reward.

But before they could get very far, Reid's father caught them, wanting to intorduce a business associate on his from New York.

"Reid, Talia, this is my associate James Vargssen. James this is…" Joseph contiued, but Reid wasn't listening. Next to him, Talia had gone as still as stone, and she was staring at Vargssen with a look of pure shock. She stared dumbly at the hand he offered, then began glaring at him as if he was the devil himself.

Not liking Talia's reaction, or the dark amusemnet in the older man's eyes, he quickly made and excuse and pulled Talia away. Before he could even ask what was going on, she pulled her cell from her clutch and hit one of the speed dials. "Will, I need you to get here now. I've found him." Not waiting for an answer, she snapped the phone shut.

"What the hell is going on?" he demanded.

Before she could answer, Pogue came round the corner, frowning. "Have you seen Alex?"

Reid began to shake his head, but Talia tilted her head and answered, "First floor bathroom. Can you get her for me? It's really important. And if you see any of the others, send them our way too." Pogue nodded, unsure what was going on, but willing to do as she asked.

"Tal," Reid said firmly.

She sighed, then kissed him almost desparately. She pressed her forehead to his for a moment, then pulled back. What she said next sent him reeling.

"Reid, I know what you are."