Sorry about the long wait for this chapter, I lead one busy life I guess. The song for this chapter is by Barns Courtney and entitled "Glitter and Gold", please read, review, and enjoy!

Chapter 26: "Glitter and Gold"

"I am flesh and I am bone

Our eyes ting ting like glitter and gold

I've got fire in my soul

Rise up, ting ting, like glitter"

Isaac looked over at Allison with his eyes flashing from yellow to blue as he tried to control his anger towards Kate. Having never met the women, she was like a villain from a bygone age to him, but to Allison she was the embodiment of evil and the source of many of her nightmares. Glancing over at her, he saw all her fear harden into anger and her eyes flash straight from brown to orange. "Al, wait!" He begged in a whisper as she unlocked the car door and stepped out to face her demonic aunt. "Well, well, what a surprise! My sources seemed so sure." Her eyes glared harshly and her brown eyebrows furrowed as her mouth drew into a thin line, the likes of which her father wore when he was angry beyond belief and hiding it. "Is that anyway to greet your beloved niece? How rude." Allison taunted back and Kate's grin only widened in response at her ability to get under the girl's skin with such ease. "You're very lively for someone who is supposed to be dead, Ally." The shard of ice that had gone through his heart when she had died shot through him all over again and before he knew it he was out of the car and standing next to her with claws bared and eyes blazing gold; there was no way he was going to stand by and watch her die alone, never again.

"I thought the same of you." He growled and Kate positively grinned from ear to ear like one who was insane. "Now who is this fine piece of man? What happened to poor puppy Scott? You acted like he was your long-lost Romeo, did Scott-eo leave you to die-eo too?" Her voice reminded him of the way his father would get when drunk and on the edge of exploding because it was the same way that she taunted and tease. "But those eyes! What changed your beautiful brown eyes, hope not Derek the last of the Hales? Scott-eo would be so displeased that he as a true Alpha didn't! I've heard it's more intimate than love-making, if you survive it unlike Derek's girly." Allison, although angry, did not let her emotions get to her head like Isaac used to so easily, she was an Argent after all. "Not as displeased as you were to see what we did to your Berserkers."

That made Kate's smile falter momentarily, two could play her game but that did not make her a fan of sharing the playing field. "I can always make more, the things you learn beyond the grave!" Isaac's brows furrowed and he growled low and long in response, death was something he was never comfortable talking about, especially after his mother but after Allison's it brought fear into his heart and crowded his head with anger. "You know of such, do you not sweet Ally?" She had always hated that nickname as long as he'd known her and although Isaac had never pressed her for why, he now knew. Allison stayed silent, let her aunt think what she would, she was not as bad as her nightmares made her seem. "Some of us didn't go to Hell as a bitch like you would." It was childish and vulgar language but not out of anger, Allison made sure of that, although the fire of such anger burned hot and ready to fly from her hands.

"To call me rude and say such things! Did your mother never teach you better?" That one cut deep, Allison's hand behind her back began to flicker and she had to concentrate for a half a minute to calm herself fully. Isaac could've responded but waited for Allison to take the lead, he was not an official Argent but even an adoptee knew the rules, she was in charge. "She was not the best mother but she knew better than to trust the likes of you." Kate's eyes flashed not yellow, not blue, not orange, nor red but neon green at that and her face took on a dark pallor like a purple bruise. "This was meant to be a warning if the Nogitsune had spared your life after all, leave Beacon Hills and never return. The only thing left here for you and your kind is death!" Just like that she was gone, a ghost in the wind, leaving Allison and Isaac to stand there in front of her car looking to start a fight with mere air.

"Dad." Allison ordered as her voice merged with Isaac's as he looked at her and simultaneously said, "Chris." The two would normally have laughed at the ridiculousness of this but this was not a laughing moment. From what they had just learned from Kate, these attacks were not random occurrences but it truly was a hit list that was being ordered by someone higher up than they had thought; someone above the aunt from her darkest nightmares. "I'll drive," Isaac offered and Allison shook her head, as a mere human she might have allowed it but golden fire now ran through her veins and had a knack for burning away her fear; most of the time. That was not to say that she wasn't scared shitless by what she had seen from her formerly dead-aunt, she simply boxed it up the way she was taught and forced herself to keep moving through it. She knew once her work was done that she would be able to let it all out but now she must report and they must discuss what they're next steps would be.

Slipping back into his seat beside her, Isaac placed his hand gently on her knee and she relaxed immediately at the contact. Even though she was not allowing him to take care of her, she accepted the comfort and it soothed her anger and fear. "Ready Al?" Although she wasn't she nodded and put the car in drive with a deep sigh. So, it begins again she mused as they moved forward as her eyes flashed to gold momentarily; good thing they were ready, or so she thought. She could hear Isaac's heartbeat begin to steady even as his body buzzed with worry, the music was off and her senses were on ultra-focused mode to the point she could feel the fabric of her seat creak with her micromovements and the engine in the car responding to her pedal commands. If she wanted to focus on it, she could have heard the very blood moving in her veins and the fire that crackled alongside it. No biopsy needed, she knew it was there just as she knew her heart beat and the sun would rise the next day even if they were no longer there to see it.

With her mind thus preoccupied the drive took no time and before she could over-think the situation that had just occurred, they had pulled into her apartment parking structure and she was turning off the car. Isaac was out of the vehicle and sprinting up the stairs at light speed before she had even opened her door. Stepping out slowly, she stretched and sighed again, she seemed to be doing a lot of that today. By the time she had grabbed both their bags lightly in her deceptively strong fingers, Isaac had sprinted back down the stairs and was looking at her perplexed. "Are you sure you're okay?" Honestly the answer was no, always no when they were in situations such as these but Allison knew that to show weakness now was not the way of the Argents. Even still it slipped out unbidden from her lips, treacherous tongue and voice box of hers. "No."

One word answers were more his style but when they came from her they tended to hide something deeper or something that she wasn't ready to admit. Moving forward he pulled her into a hug startling her into dropping their bags as he held her close. "None of us are, it's okay to be scared Al." She timidly wrapped her hands around him and breathed his scent in deeply, the wildness of it that mixed with his own fear and now worry for her. Above that fear and worry was a strong will, a strength that she wished she had, and something that she couldn't define by anything other than selfless bravery. "I'm scared too, the bravest people are the ones who fear the most and know the most yet act despite it. You have been so brave for so long, just a little longer. I'll help you, you make me want to be brave." The last part he whispered, it was a secret that he knew that she knew but he had never spoken aloud before. Gently she began to smile and he could feel that strength that was always present in her began to burn yet again with a strong golden flame as her eyes flashed the same color and she pressed a light kiss to his lips in thanks. "With you, I feel like I'm brave enough for anything."