Author's Note:

Disclaimer: I don't own it.

You can find Wink on AO3 and BetterInTexas!

Another longer one for you guys...

BPOV

I stared at the woman in front of me in disbelief. I'd had no idea they'd find us this soon. No warning she was coming. Maybe they did have a way around the radar, now.

"Bella. I'm alone, don't worry. Can I come in?" I didn't sense a lie from her, so I figured it couldn't hurt. If she wanted to force her way in, she could. I opened the door wider and angled myself to the side to allow her entrance.

I watched her has she looked around, taking in the house, and saw her freeze when her eyes landed on the three vampires sitting in the living room. She shot me a questioning look, and I responded.

"Not to be rude here, Holly, but I think I'm the one that should be asking the questions right now. Anything you have to say you can say in front of them. I'll tell them anyway. And don't worry, they won't eat you. Unless I ask them to."

I closed the door and returned to my seat next to Jasper, telling her, "Drinks are in the kitchen. We have your usual. When you're ready, you can come in here and explain yourself." As I talked, I sent Jasper a dose of curiosity, and he responded by sending me determination, fear, and shock. So Holly was determined, but about what? I did notice the lack of deceit.

It suddenly occurred to me that if Holly had a way around my radar, she might have a way around other things, too. Like my lie detector. Like hiding her emotions. "Holly, not that I want to doubt you - trust me, I'd love it if you actually are here to help - but I know better than to go without insurance on this. Would you mind if we dusted you to make sure?"

"No, not at all. I wouldn't expect anything less." She poured herself a large glass and took a seat in the empty recliner.

"Charlotte?" I wanted Char to do this, to be the one to touch her. She'd broken Lucy's hold over Edward, and I had a feeling she could break anything that might be on Holly, too. We still hadn't talked about her gift at all yet, and I knew she was avoiding it. With everything else going on, for now I'd let her.

I wasn't prepared for what actually happened, though. When Charlotte touched Holly, they both froze and stared at each other like they were both seeing ghosts.

It was Charlotte who gathered herself first, and said "What the hell was that?"

Holly shook her head, "We're family. I don't know how that's possible, though."

Holy fucking shit. Did that mean Charlotte and I were related, too? She shook her head slowly at Holly, but didn't say anything. She couldn't exactly refute the claim when she lacked the human memories to back it all up.

Jasper, however, was not to be deterred. "Can we figure out the family tree later? I, for one, would like to know why she's here unannounced and without warnin' before we go comparin' notes. That shit could go on for days," he finished irritably.

"I'm here to help," she said. "When I found out what they had planned...I couldn't allow it. I know now that I wronged you by helping them, even without knowing. I'm so sorry, Bella. Please, let me make it right," she plead.

"I think you're going to have to start from the beginning, cause I'm a little confused. You helped Coen and Thad try to get into my pants?"

She closed her eyes and looked defeated. "That's why you left? Oh, Bella, that was only part of it."

"Fabulous!" Peter exclaimed, clapping his hands and sitting back in a sarcastic gesture.

I ignored him. "You mean you didn't know? I could have sworn you did, when I left."

"No, I didn't know. Or, not the details, anyway. I knew there was something happening, and that it had to do with you. That's why I wasn't surprised when you bailed."

Jasper growled from beside me, "I think you'd better start making sense, and soon." I placed a calming hand on his arm. I understood his frustration here. Hell, I felt no small amount, myself. But scaring her wasn't going to get us anywhere.

"Holly, this is Jasper, Peter, and Charlotte. Forgive them their frustration, we've had a long day that looks like it's going to get a lot longer."

She smiled faintly and nodded. "If it helps any, I'm about a week ahead of them, I think. I was supposed to be helping, but I threw them off the trail any chance I got. They suck at finding people. They rely too much on the magic, and you block that."

At this, Jasper chuckled a little. "It seems vampires aren't the only ones who rely too heavily on their gifts."

"That doesn't mean you should underestimate them," Holly insisted. "They want Bella, and they'll do whatever they think they need to, to achieve that."

"They can't have her," Peter shot back, as I felt Jasper's arms tighten around me. He was angry and a little scared, and I couldn't blame him. I felt the same.

"Trust me, I don't want them to have her either," Holly said quietly, taking another swig of her drink.

"Why do they want me so badly to begin with? It's not like I can even have kids anymore," I told her.

She looked at me and shook her head. "You really don't know. That's partially my fault," she sighed and leaned forward.

"They want your power, Bella. They know what you are, and they know you're capable of more power than you let on to us. They wanted a child from you, yes, to keep that power going forward for future generations, but that wasn't the main goal."

She reached into her bag and pulled out a heavy grimoire I didn't recognize. "This came from Coen's family; they aren't related to the Swans," she explained as the flipped through the pages. "He'd kill me for taking it, but I doubt he's even realized it's missing yet."

She found the page and set the book down on the table, facing us. "Here," she tapped the page. "This is what they want."

The page was ornately written, but there were notes scattered around it in multiple different types of handwriting. It described a spell designed to absorb the power of another being, complete with warnings about absorbing too much, and ways to split the absorbed power between multiple witches. I stopped reading there. It was just too much to take.

I felt bile rise in my throat and panic gripped me. They wanted to strip my magic and take it for themselves? I was pretty sure at this point, that would effectively kill me. I didn't even know what to say. I didn't think I was strong enough yet to fight them off, if that was what they really wanted from me. I felt Jasper try and calm me through his own horror, and tried to focus on him to bring myself down from my panic.

"Well," Peter said thickly, "That is just plain diabolical. What the fuck would they want that kind of power for, anyway?"

"It'll allow them to cast without rituals," Holly answered. "It's an ability they covet greatly."

"And you don't?" Jasper demanded accusingly.

"I do. I won't lie about it. I'd love to be able to do that. But I wouldn't kill to do it. And, to be honest, I think the limitations are necessary. We'd be too powerful otherwise, it would upset the balance."

Charlotte was still reading the page, however, and spoke in a disgusted tone, "They've tried this on all kinds of creatures, even some humans and other witches. These notes describe which ones work best and give the most power."

Holly sighed and hung her head. "I swear, I had no idea. They never shared it with us."

"Explain to me how you helped them," Jasper ordered firmly.

"I was asked to keep them informed about what we taught Bella, and how she responded to it. I didn't think it was anything out of the ordinary. To me, it made sense they'd want to keep tabs - she had right to the information as family, but she wasn't inducted. I just thought they didn't trust her."

He nodded stiffly. He accepted it, but he was pissed. "Tell me, then, how you propose to help Bella now."

She sighed. "I don't know for certain. I wasn't really expecting to find her with a coven of vampires. I was hoping there was something in the journals and notes she had when she left."

Charlotte spoke, "They can't absorb from vampires. You could change her, Jasper."

He looked at me with the question, and I had no answer. We still had no idea what might happen if more venom hit my system.

"That would stop their plan, but it would also piss them off. They wouldn't just let it go."

Jasper sighed. "That's not an option, then. We can't deal with that when our magic weapon over here is a newborn."

I snorted. "I'm hardly a fucking weapon, J. Fire is nice to roast irritating fairy-wannabes with, but I doubt it's going to be as useful against a bunch of witches hell bent on absorbing a vital part of me."

"What about your bag of horrors? That shit you were thinking of throwing at my ex-wife?"

"Last resort," I shook my head. "That one kinda terrifies me."

"You never did tell me what else you have in there," he chastised.

Before I could answer, Holly cut in, "Bag of horrors?"

I looked at her seriously. "A lot has happened since I left you all. I've learned a lot, and I have materials I'm still working on. If you want to help us with that, we'd appreciate it, but I need assurance that you're on my side. Truth dust only goes so far when I know you have ways around some of my abilities. Don't think I didn't notice Joel isn't with you."

She looked stricken. "Joel has been...influenced. I can't tell if it's against his will or not. But whatever you need to do to allow you to feel you can trust me, just do it. I won't fight you. I said I'd help, and I meant it."

Jasper sent me the conviction she felt, and my lie-detector was ringing truth, but I needed more. My suspicion wouldn't die, and I didn't think it was run of the mill paranoia. Something was off, here. My spidey-sense started tingling.

"J, I need your light." He handed it to me without question, and I put it in Holly's hand. The feeling disappeared. She looked at me oddly.

"What is this?"

"Fairy bullshit," I answered. "What are the chances Coen put a spell on you? A trace or some kind of link?"

"Slim, but possible," she said thoughtfully. "I keep myself well-shielded, but if he's been absorbing magic from other beings, I don't know how effective they'd be."

Whatever it was, it had to have been strong if Charlotte's touch hadn't broken it. Then again, we didn't know the details of her ability yet.

"I want you to keep that on you at all times. And I'd like you to submit to being bound to us. It's as much for your protection as ours. We need to be able to trust each other, here."

She nodded.

"You can do that?" Peter asked. "Why didn't you do that to us?"

"We're already tied, Peter Pan. Jasper is my mate, and you and Charlotte's sire. You are my great-great-great-grandfather, and Charlotte's mate. Charlotte is your mate, and I have a feeling, based on her reaction to Holly, that we're going to find another family link there."

"Freaky," he commented. "But why doesn't the familial connection extend to Holly?"

"You're mated to a vampire?" Holly asked. "I mean, it was obvious you were together, but like, actually mated?"

"Yes," I sighed. "Why does everyone seem to question that? And to answer your question, Peter Pan, I think she's just too far away from me on the tree. Either way, let's get on with it."

I rose and went to grab the bag Jasper so lovingly called the bag of horrors. In all honesty, I couldn't blame him. Some of it was pretty horrifying. As I walked back into the room, I drew a vial containing shimmering gold dust out of it.

"This one is called Web. It'll create an unbreakable bond of loyalty so strong, betrayal results in death. It won't change anything for the four of us, except to create a bond between Holly and ourselves."

I instructed them to hold out their hands and tapped a small amount into each one. "This dust has to be self-administered, which the magic takes as being taken willingly. We all need to eat it at the same time."

I counted down, and we took all took the dust. I'd been right about the effect, and Holly wore a look of relief on her face when we were finished.

"You didn't tell me it'd break my coven bond," she said smiling.

"I didn't know," I shrugged. "You don't seem upset about it."

"I'm not. They were misogynistic assholes. I just didn't think there was a way out." She grinned. "You guys better not be fucking boring."

"Hey, bitch! I've got a coven of witches hot on my ass and very likely a coven of vampire royalty not far behind them. We've got nosy self-righteous shapeshifters a couple miles away and the mystery of our own dear Ms. Charlotte Whitlock to solve. If you were looking for boring, you came to the wrong fuckin' house. You should've shown face in Atlanta, you could've watched me torch Alice."

She busted out laughing, "Oh my gods, you did? She was such an annoying twat! 'I've seen!' 'I've seen!'," she mocked. "I wanted to light her designer threads on fire."

"Nope, Bella went for the hair, instead," Peter said proudly.

"You did not! Did you? Oh, shit!" she crowed. We all laughed for a while, and it was really good. Something we all needed.

When we were done, Jasper turned his serious face to me, and I knew I was in a little trouble. "Since you have that bag out here, little darlin' of mine, I think it's time for show and tell. No more avoidin' it." I wanted to hear that stern tone of his elsewhere, for sure. Without an audience.

"I wasn't avoiding it," I insisted. He raised his eyebrow expectantly. "I wasn't. I just got distracted," I winked at him.

"Stop tryin' to distract me, and get on with it," he ordered. He had that damn adorable smirk on his face, and I wanted to eat it. Eat him. Later, Bella. Later.

"Oh, holy hell, Bella, are there more where he came from?" Holly laughed. Damn, it really hadn't taken much for her to open up at all.

"He's one of a kind, but if it's a vampire you're after, I suppose I could have him make some calls."

"Bella! Bag!" Jasper ordered with laughter in his tone.

"Okay okay!" I grabbed the bag and pulled out the vials and lined them up on the table. "I'll explain them all, for Holly's benefit."

I pointed to the nearly-empty vial first. "Blank Slate. Complete memory wipe." I pointed next to a vial so intensely black that it seemed to be absorbing the light around it. "Null. This one eats magic, but we don't know how much. This is a last resort option." The next vial was electric violet, "This one's called Eternal Dream, and it'll force someone into a coma with a dream so wonderful they'll never want to wake up. Not reversible, as far as I know, but this one," I pointed to the slate grey vial next to it, " is. Darkness, it's called, and it prevents sensory input completely - sight, sounds, tastes, smells, and feelings. You already know about this one," I held up the gold dust we'd all just taken, and that left the last. It was deep royal blue, "This one is called Compel. It allows the user to issue commands that the victim has no choice but to obey. Another last resort."

"Christ, woman. Remind me not to piss you off," Jasper said with awe in his voice before he turned a little somber again, "That last one is especially scary. That kind of power…"

"I don't want to use it, J. It's a last resort, like I said."

He shook his head. "It's not that I don't trust you with it, it's just that if it falls into the wrong hands... You better keep a tight grip on that bag."

"I will," I promised. And I would. Another thought occurred to me.

"Holly, if we don't know what Coen had on you when I gave you that light, is there any way to know how long we have til they get here?"

She smirked. "I had my own shit on him. Set weak tracers on his jacket, his belt, those nasty ass boots he always wears, and a few other items he keeps on him. Even if he got one or two, he wouldn't get them all. As of my arrival here, he was still dicking around down south, somewhere in Florida. Even if he knew where I was, we have at least a few days 'til he shows up."

I shared a look with Jasper, then. It sounded like we'd left Jacksonville just in time.

"Alright, then, enough of the heavy tonight. We can get back to work on those journals and finding some kind of defense against these assholes tomorrow. Tonight, we are gonna party."

We got some music set up and got down to it. I don't know how it was possible that I'd never gotten drunk with Holly before, but the girl was a riot. Rosalie would love her. She was loud and crude and fit right in between us. She even helped pull Charlotte out of her shell a little, getting her to help us send another care package of glitter dicks to Denali for Esme - who I thought might appreciate it, now.

Eventually, though, the human in her won out and she passed out on the sofa. Jasper and I retreated to my old room for some fun of a different kind, while Peter and Charlotte did the same, and all in all, everybody had a very, very good night.

Holly made sure we knew it when we came down the next morning. "What the fuck was that vibe in the house last night? Don't lie to me, Bella, dreams like that don't come out of nowhere. Nor do they usually require handling when you wake up from them."

I shrugged. "Jasper's an empath. Sometimes he projects."

"You lucky bitch."

He laughed, and I felt his smug satisfaction at the exchange, but I let it go. If he ever disappointed me in that area, I'd make sure and knock him down a peg or two, but for now he could have it.

"Alright, alright, no need to be givin' the Major here a bigger head than he already had. We have work to do ladies. Well, you do," Peter grinned.

"On Jasper's big head?" Holly asked salaciously.

Peter and Jasper just about choked, which was funny, but I was getting a little annoyed with her blatant interest in my mate. I might know he'd never go for it, but that didn't mean I had to like watching someone who, for the time being at least, lived in my house make comments like that all the damn time. That shit was not happening. It was stopping right the fuck now. "Holly, do I need to find you some dick? Jasper's isn't available," I snapped.

Her hands immediately flew up and her eyes went wide. "Oh shit, I'm sorry, Bella. I don't know what the hell my problem is."

Peter smirked. "Have you spent much time around vampires before?"

"No. We knew about them but avoided them, mostly."

He nodded. "It's the dazzle effect. Jasper's my sire, so my own effect would be secondary to his to anyone but Charlotte, here." He explained to her about vampires' effect on humans while I retreated to the comfort of Jasper's arms to calm my shit. He was amused by the whole thing, and I'd have been pissed at him if it wasn't for the concern and love that ran through all of it, for me.

He seemed to grasp what I needed; not reassurance, but affirmation, and he obliged, catching my lips in a kiss that had my toes curling as he drowned me in his love. When he broke it, he leaned his forehead against mine. "Better, darlin'?"

"Yes, much," I said, giving him a quick kiss back. "Thank you." He just hummed.

"Maybe I do need to find some dick," Holly muttered behind us.

I heard Peter laugh. "If vamps are really your thing, I'm pretty sure I know a guy."

"Garrett?" Jasper asked him, without taking his eyes off me.

"Mmhm."

"Okay. He's the only one I'd trust with all this shit goin' down anyway. Hell, he's gotten himself in shit with witches before, maybe he can help us out. I don't know why I didn't think of it before."

"Oh, I think we all know why you didn't think of it before, and stop projecting, dickwad. The girls have research to do, and you're distractin' the team leader."

Fifteen minutes later, the three of us were huddled around Charlotte's computer, with notes and journals spread out in front of us. We worked until it was late, way past midnight, until Holly started to slump in her chair, but between the three of us and the new information from Ruby, we'd managed to put a lot more together than we ever would have before. Peter and Jasper, true to their word, had sat with us and paid attention, for the most part. A couple times they left to get food and caffeine for Holly and I. After a while, we put them to work looking through the already digitized notes to see if they could pick out anything they thought might be strategically useful that we'd missed. By the time Holly was toast, we had the bare bones of a plan.

After she passed out, Charlotte and I spent some time with the lights. It wasn't that Holly couldn't know about them, but it felt private between Charlotte and I, and we agreed to keep it that way, at least for the time being. There hadn't been any mention in the journals about how to access the memories stored inside the lights, so we started off just trying to identify what they did. Two were shield lights, one mental, but different than the ones I made, and one physical. One was for glamouring. Another two appeared to be some kind of bombs; the dusts inside them had no latent abilities at all, but rather damaging active ones. The bright white one took us the longest to figure out, but it was for healing of some kind. When we'd finished, Char sat back, looking a little defeated.

"I wish I knew what the memories were. Are they of me? My family? Why were they so important to whoever made these? Why do they belong to me now?" she sighed.

"I wish I knew, Char. We don't even know for sure they were intentional. That one I made that glowed, it wasn't."

"That's true, I guess."

I picked up my light, the one we'd made for misdirection, and spun it around in my fingers, staring at the swirling colors and trying to pick out the bits of blank dust in the mix. My eyes relaxed a little, and then suddenly I felt myself shift, like I was being sucked inside the glowing sphere. I was at the concert and saw Jasper, saw his shocked face when I winked at him that first time. Then I was in the living room at the apartment in Boston, chatting with him and Peter. The memories flashed by like movies, until finally, I was in the living room with Charlotte making the light, and then I was back in my seat in Forks.

"Bella? You alright?" she looked concerned.

"I accessed the memories, Char. I figured it out. Here," I handed her one of her lights, then described what I'd done as best I could. I watched with satisfaction as her eyes glazed over and I knew she was sucked in.

While I waited for her to come back out of it, I thought about things. My light had held the events leading up to its creation, but they'd also been extremely important memories to me. With the directions the journals gave, I was pretty sure I could to it on purpose now. Maybe what the lights did was less important than just having a record of things. They were like little magical home movies, but perfect in every way and not prone to the imperfections the human mind inflicted.

I decided I wanted to try. I wanted to record the last few months. While some of it had sucked big time, there were certainly experiences I'd love to be able to re-live. Just as I started to wonder if it was possible to access memories that didn't belong to or pertain to you, Charlotte snapped back, blinking. I waited for her to speak. It took her a long time.

"I saw, and I remembered. Each memory, it triggered more. My human life. I had fae blood, like you. Active, strongly active. And my family knew it. I made these," she looked at the light in her hand. "I didn't want believe any of it, Bella. I didn't want to give myself false hope."

I stood and put my arms around her in a hug. "I told you I'd help you find it, Char. I didn't know what that meant at the time, but I knew it was true."

She smiled and hugged me back. "Alright. I want to view the rest of these, and I don't know how long it'll take. When I'm done, we'll talk?"

"Of course, Char. If you don't mind, I'm going to go grab J and see if he minds a moonlight stroll. I want to find a spot to draw some energy from; I have some memories I'd like to save."

He'd heard me, of course, and was holding his arm out for me as I rose from my seat. "I know just the place," he told me. He told me to float myself once we got outside, and as soon as I did he took off, grasping my hand tightly. I'd been right before when I'd thought about this - it was fun as hell. The wind on my skin and in my hair felt exhilarating and refreshing; it was almost like a roller coaster ride. It was a feeling of pure carefree happiness, just for those few moments. When Jasper stopped short, he didn't anticipate that I'd keep going, and was so unprepared that I shot past him and he stumbled forward before I slowed enough that he could let me go. We laughed together for several minutes before I finally caught my breath and looked around.

He'd brought me to a waterfall in the middle of the woods. It was beautiful - picturesque, even. There were rocks and moss and trees, and moonlight passing through them. It pretty much looked like a fairy tale painting. "J, this is perfect," I told him. "Come on." I grabbed his hand and floated us out above the small pool at the base of the waterfall.

"Bella, do you really need me up here with you for this?"

"Are you complaining?"

"No, but I don't want to distract you."

"You're not," I told him. "We're stronger together. Haven't you got it yet? I can use your gift where it pertains to you. That means you can use mine, too. Why do you think I took your light and gave it to Holly? You don't need it; you have my shield now. We draw on each other's strengths, through the bond. I'll be able to draw more, if you're here with me."

"How is it that you always figure this shit out before I do?" he asked me. "You figure everything out before I do. Shit, you figured me out before I did." It wasn't a complaint, but there was something underlying it. Not quite doubt or inferiority, but close.

"Magical super-intuition," I quipped snarkily, and then smiled at him. "I might know shit first, but you balance out my crazy. You center me, Jasper. Keep me grounded when I feel like I might just float away. You give me a real home. Don't ever feel like you're less. You aren't. You're everything."

He didn't say anything, just drowned me in his emotions again. It was something I didn't think I would ever get tired of feeling. I grinned at him. "That's more like it. Now, you ready?"

He nodded, and I turned my attention toward the reason we were out here. I brought us down until we were standing on the water, and was glad I'd neglected to grab shoes. I felt around for the energy pulsing through the water and found it easily before beginning to draw it in waves, timing it with my breaths. I stopped when I felt the humming, tingling energy cease growing, and was pleased to find I'd been right. I could draw more now, with Jasper with me.

I let him know I was finished, and we took off back for the house. Charlotte was still engaged with one of the lights, so I pulled out the materials to begin making one, while J watched.

"What are you going to put into it?" he asked.

"I'm not entirely sure I can control what goes into it, but hopefully, all of ours so far," I told him. "You wanna help? I can tell you what to do."

"I'd love to," he grinned.

He followed my instructions while I made a light for glamours from a recipe in one of the swan journals. At the end, I had him add the blank dust, and as I sealed it, I asked him to grab my arm, hoping it would help bring the memories I wanted to the forefront. I focused my thoughts on those memories, and him, while I poured the remaining energy into the globe. When it was done, I was pleased to find that it was glowing, much stronger than the last one.

I glanced at Charlotte and found she was still in her own world, so I decided to take a look at what had been written into this globe. Jasper's hand was still on my arm as I held it up and stared until I felt myself sucked inside. This one began with the car ride to Atlanta, capturing each moment between us up until I made the light tonight. Somehow, even though I'd experienced it all first hand already, seeing the memories play out before me was something else entirely, and I came back around with a couple tears on my cheeks.

Jasper stirred a second after and spun me around. Without a word, he kissed me, less gently than before. In many ways, it felt like our first kiss, which realistically hadn't been that long ago. This time it was me who pulled away, however. "Not that I'm complaining, J, but what was that for?"

"You dragged me in with you, Bella. I saw the memories. I lived it all, but to see it like that, is something else entirely."

"I know," I smiled. "It's awesome, right?"

He laughed a little and kissed me again, lighter this time. "Yes. That's fuckin' awesome, honey."

A little while later, Charlotte finally stirred. "Bella?"

"I'm here, Char. How'd it go?"

She blew out a breath. "So, so much information. I'm not even sure where to start," she looked down and flexed her fingers.

"Wherever you want. That must have been a shock," I told her.

"No," she shook her head. "It's like I always knew it all. Jasper, could you get Peter? I want him to hear this."

He was in the room instantly at her side, and as soon as he was, she started.

"You were right, Bella, that we're family. You're going to have to dig through your family trees, because my name as a human was Charlotte Swan. The lights Ruby left me, I made. The journals she left to you were mine, too, but I didn't write them. The mental shield we couldn't find in the journals, it's from the Swan line. I have it too, in a different form."

She stopped again, and shook her head. "Sorry to just blurt all this. It's just, the pieces are still fitting into place in my mind."

"It's okay, Char. Take your time, say it how you need to."

She nodded. "Fae blood, it runs strongly in the Swan line. It wasn't uncommon for us to gain more than a single active power, Bella. You'd probably have had the same thing happen without the vampire bite. I'd say it's pure dumb luck that you got so many because your dad and Renee got together, but considering me and Peter...well, I think that might just be a little twist of fate that was meant to happen for one reason or another."

"Anyway, it was my mother who married a witch. Holly is about the same distance along the tree from my mother as Peter is from you; descended from my brother. He never manifested active fae power, but he was a powerful witch. I got the opposite. When I was about twenty, a new member's family was brought into the coven - Coen's ancestors. And they had the book that Holly stole. My brother found out about them before they found out about me, and he bound my power and memories and sent me away, so they couldn't destroy me. He didn't know I'd be turned, but that's what happened."

"So you're my relative, but not a direct ancestor," I said. Then, I sighed. This really was pretty fucking weird. Not unexpected, but fucking weird all the same.

"Right."

"And your memories and power were bound before the venom. So how did it affect them? And what are they?"

She smiled. "I don't really know. I haven't tested anything yet. But it feels like they're all right back where they should be."

"All?" Peter blinked.

"Yep," she grinned. "All."