Disclaimer:        Any character that you've seen on the show is owned by Joss, not me.

            Colleen The new slayer

            Jordan              Psychic who receives The Visions

            Holly                Half Sellar Demon

            Dawn               The Key

            Aaron               Currently exploring magicks

*****

            Mike had to fight with his dad but it was worth it. Mr. Dalton didn't think that Mike should be driving so soon after his accident. The doctors didn't advise it but they also didn't forbid it. As far as Mike was concerned that was a yes. It wasn't like he had the greatest car in the word. His Camry had seen its better days, but it was normal for Mike. After spending weeks at home and away from his life Mike was ready to get back to what was normal.

            Of course, Mike's life wasn't really the text book definition of normal. It was actually pretty far from normal. Although it didn't have to be that way, Colleen had made it very clear to Mike that it never had to be that way, Mike chose to make it that way. When Mike imagined this new world filled with danger and magic he knew that there was a risk that someone could be hurt. He knew that one of his new friends might get seriously hurt. He never really thought about what would happen if he got hurt.

            So what did happen when Mike got hurt? He completely freaked out. Instead of trying to deal with almost dying Mike decided that he would try to shut life out. Being isolated in his house with only his dad and the occasional visitor helped him to shut everything out. Mike's jock friends had only visited once each at most. It was a nice surprise when Jordan and Aaron visited Mike close to every day. Although at first it was like they were Colleen's friends Mike now considered them to be his friends.

            And then there was Colleen. Mike had really screwed up when he broke up with Colleen at the hospital. It took him a while to realize that but luckily he eventually did. He had called her and she had visited him a couple times while he was stuck in bed. During all of her visits Colleen had seemed somewhat distant and cold. Mike had apologized but for some reason Colleen still didn't seem to want to be close with him. Mike knew that he deserved it. He had been an asshole. He hoped that now that he was back at school that they would be able to work through everything.

            Mike had no clue about any of the changes that were about to take place.

*****

            Colleen sat on her porch and waited. She was biting her nails. She always bit her nails when she was nervous. It used to not be a big deal but now that Colleen actually put time and money into making her nails look nice it was really annoying. Every time that Colleen caught herself biting her nails and removed them from her mouth it wasn't too long afterwards that her nails were back where they started.

            Colleen had reason to be nervous though. She had made a mistake. She had made a huge mistake. She had sex with Eben. While Mike was home recovering from an attack that she was mostly responsible for she had cheated on him. Sure, Mike had broken up with her but he had just gone through a very traumatic experience. He didn't mean it. Colleen knew he didn't mean it. She knew that Mike had just needed time.

            None of that changed the fact that Colleen had given into her impulses. It was over a week since that night and Colleen still hadn't told anyone about it. She hadn't even told Dawn who she considered to be her best friend. What made everything worse was the next day Mike had called to talk. Colleen could have told him what happened right then and there but she didn't. Now every day that went by just made it harder and harder to tell the truth.

            Colleen looked up when she heard a car pull into her driveway. She smiled and waved at Mike as she stood up and grabbed her backpack. As she walked to the car she got ready for another awkward conversation.

*****

            After the new semester started Aaron, Jordan, and Dawn found themselves in Driver's Education instead of gym. Their school had dropped the every other day of gym class for one semester a year. Jordan was glad that Aaron and Dawn were being civil enough for them to all sit together. However, Jordan really needed Aaron to not be there right now. Jordan needed to talk to Dawn.

            Dawn had said that she wanted to wait till everything calmed down with Mike before she told everyone the truth. Today was the official calmed down day. This was the only period that Jordan would get to talk to Dawn by himself. Jordan knew that what he was about to do was completely unethical and fairly rude as well but he knew that it needed to be done. Jordan began to concentrate.

            "I'll be right back," Aaron said to Jordan and Dawn. He walked to the front of the room and asked the teacher if he could use the restroom.

            "So," Jordan said to Dawn. "Are you ready to tell everyone?"

            Dawn looked down nervously but then turned towards Jordan. She made eye contact with him. "Do you think it's a good day? I mean, it's Mike's first day back."

            "I think we need to tell them," Jordan told her. "They deserve to know."

            "I know," Dawn told him. "It's just going to be hard."

            "Aaron works tonight," Jordan reminded Dawn. "We can have a meeting at the Magic Box."

            "Alright," Dawn told Jordan. She took a deep breath. This was going to be very hard for her.

*****

            "So are you getting caught up?" Jordan asked Mike in study hall.

            "Yeah," Mike said. He pointed at Aaron. "Thanks to him I'm actually ahead in most of my classes."

            "It's no big deal," Aaron said. "Your gratitude is thanks enough, but in place of gratitude I also take cash and checks."

            "It sucks that you missed the end of the basketball season," Dawn said to Mike.

            "Yeah," Mike said. "Especially for the team. The J.V. team really sucked without me."

            "And he's so modest too," Aaron laughed.

            Jordan made eye contact with Dawn. She gave him a slight nod. "Aaron you work tonight right?"

            "Yeah," Aaron told him.

            "Are you closing by yourself?" Jordan asked him. Aaron nodded. "Okay then. I think we need to have a meeting tonight at the Magic Box. I might have some new information about the Key."

            "Research?" Holly asked Jordan.

            "Yeah," Jordan told her.

            "What time?" Mike asked Jordan.

            "Whoa," Colleen said to him. "Back up there a second."

            "What?" Mike said. "Just because I miss a few meetings does that mean that I'm out of the club?"

            "If the reason that you missed is because you almost died," Colleen told him.

            "I think that should make my commitment even stronger," Mike told her. "I almost died. Isn't that initiation for this group?"

            Aaron started to laugh by turned it into a cough.

            "Mike you had your fun but now your out," Colleen told him. "You're not getting hurt again."

            "That isn't your decision to make," Mike told her.

            "Yes it is," Colleen told him. Something in her voice gave everyone the feeling that they should probably be somewhere else.

            "I'm going to go find a book for class," Holly said as she stood up.

            "Yeah so am I," Dawn said. "Seeing as this is a library and all."

            "I'll help you with that," Jordan said to Dawn.

            "And I'll help Jordan," Aaron said. "Jordan always needs help with something."

            "So what?" Mike asked Colleen. "I get hurt once and now I'm shut out?"

            "That's the way that it was with me," Colleen said to Mike, speaking a little softly.

            "What's that suppose to mean?" Mike asked her.

            "You shut me out," Colleen told him.

            "You know I'm sorry about that," Mike told her. "You know I love you. I was just going through a hard time."

            "That's why you shouldn't be there tonight," Colleen told him. "You're still going through a hard time."

            "I'm less likely to get out now then ever before," Mike told Colleen. "Whether you like it or not I'm going to be there tonight."

*****

            "So why did we have to walk to the Magic Box together instead of driving over with Jordan and Mike?" Dawn asked Colleen as Colleen, Dawn, and Holly walked to the Magic Box.

            "Because I have to tell you guys something," Colleen said to her friends.

            "So traditionally this would be the part where you would be doing the telling," Holly told Colleen after she paused for a while too long.

            "Okay," Colleen said. "You guys know you're my best friends." Dawn nodded. Holly smiled and tried hard not to blush. No one had ever said that she was their best friend before. "So that means you guys need to be understanding and supportive no matter what right?"

            "Right," Holly said. She paused. "What do you mean no matter what?"

            "Just try not to judge," Colleen said to her friends. They looked at her expectantly. "You remember last week when we were searching for that demon?" The others nodded. "And you remember how I said I got some help from Eben?" They nodded again. Colleen took a deep breath of oxygen.

            "Well," Colleen got ready to tell them. "We were trapped in this cave and we had this kind of intense moment and then one thing led to another and we sort of…"

            "Sort of what?" Dawn asked.

            "Sort of had," Colleen really didn't want to admit this. "Sex."

            "Colleen!" Dawn exclaimed.

            "Oh my God!" Holly exclaimed.

            "I know," Colleen said. "I know."

            "How could you do that to Mike?" Holly asked Colleen.

            "He dumped me," Colleen tried to explain herself. She knew that it really wasn't working. "I know."

            "What did Mike say?" Dawn asked.

            "See for him to say something that would probably mean that I would have had to told him," Colleen told them.

            "You didn't tell him?" Holly sounded shocked.

            "I'm a horrible person," Colleen said. She honestly felt like she was about six inches tall.

            "Well," Dawn tried to find justification for her friend. "You were both going through a lot."

            "You need to talk to him though," Holly told Colleen. "You can work it out but you have to be honest."

            "So am I a turbo-slut or what?" Colleen asked them.

            "No," Holly told her. "You're just…going through a lot."

            They walked together in silence for a little bit. "So what was it like?" Dawn asked.

            "Dawn!" Colleen snapped at her.

            "Oh don't try to take the moral high ground with me," Dawn teased her friend. Dawn was just glad that the night was getting started with people admitting that they were wrong.

*****

            Dawn, Holly, and Colleen entered the store and gave Aaron a wave while he helped a customer. They made their way to a back table and sat down while they waited for the meeting to get started. Dawn tried to make small talk and get her mind off of what she had to do but it was very hard. Aaron finished helping his customer then had to go downstairs in order to restock some supplies. Colleen felt good to finally get the Eben thing off her chest.

            Holly couldn't stop thinking about what had happened. She knew that she was in love with Mike. She had been in love with Mike for almost as long as she could remember. She never really considered them ever having a relationship but it made her happy that Mike was happy with Colleen. Now, after thinking about how Mike would react when he found out what Colleen had done, Holly felt bad for Mike, especially after everything that had happened.

            Jordan and Mike walked into the store. Sometimes, being psychic, it's hard to distinguish between your own thoughts and thoughts that you are just picking up. It's especially hard when more than one person is thinking about the same thing in the same room.

            "Hey Colleen had sex with Eben," Jordan said. He stopped, and thought about what he said. Dawn and Holly stared at him horrified. Colleen's gaze switched from Jordan to Mike. Mike just looked dumbfounded.

            "Or you know," Jordan tried to cover, but his face showed that he was trying to understand this new information. "Just hey."

            "Mike," Colleen began.

            "Who's Eben?" Mike asked simply.

            "Oh you mean tall, dark and demonic?" Aaron asked as he walked up from the basement. "Demon hunter by night, model by day. I thought we already told you about him?" Aaron looked around at the blank stares he was facing. "What did I miss?"

            Colleen looked over at Mike and he didn't make eye contact with her. Instead he walked right out the side door into the alley. Colleen ran off after him as Jordan tried to apologize.

            "Mike wait," Colleen said as she grabbed onto Mike's arm.

            "Let go of me," Mike said and while he fought to get Colleen to let go of him he accidentally pushed her. He pushed her hard enough that she went flying across the alley into a wall. Mike looked over at her in concern and slightly in awe of what had just happened and rushed to see if she was okay.

            "Oh shit," Mike said as he got down in front of Colleen. "Colleen I'm sorry. I just thought that with your strength I had to work hard to get you to let go."

            Colleen looked up at Mike through bleary eyes. She was disoriented but she was very clear about something. She had the familiar tingle she got whenever there was a vampire nearby. It suddenly hit Colleen. She kicked both her feet into Mike's gut and sent him flying into the other wall.

            "What are you doing?" Mike asked her as he stood back up. Suddenly, he realized that hitting the wall really didn't hurt.

            "When did it happen?" Colleen asked Mike. "When did you get vamped?"

            "What are you talking about?" Mike asked. "I'm not a vampire."

            Colleen punched Mike in the face. She punched him hard. Mike looked at her in confusion. She moved to punch him again but this time Mike blocked her attack. Only someone with superior strength would be able to block Colleen's attack.

            Colleen fought back against her emotions enough to get the focus she needed to kick Mike and send him to the back of the alley. Mike hit the ground then looked up at Colleen. He didn't know what was going on. He did realize that he did feel strong. When he woke up this morning he had just felt like he always had, but in the light of the moon he suddenly felt very different.

            "I'm not a vampire Colleen," Mike told her. He looked behind her. "But he is."

            Colleen turned around and was in fact face to face with a vampire. The vampire caught her by surprise and took the advantage in the fight. Mike, seeing that Colleen was in trouble, ran to her side. He didn't really know how to fight, but he knew that he didn't want Colleen to be hurt. He punched the vampire as hard as he could and surprisingly, the vampire was hurt. He hit the vampire in series and soon it was up against the wall. Colleen staked the vampire, and then looked back at Mike.

            "What's going on?" Colleen asked Mike.

*****

            "Does he give you that vampire tingle?" Aaron asked Colleen. He had the table in the back of the Magic Box filled with books trying to figure out what was going on with Mike. Everyone was very curious as to what happened with Mike. It made it less awkward then dealing with the other revelation that had just come out.

            "A little," Colleen told Aaron. "Like, it's a very faint tingle."

            "Are you sure it wasn't just that vampire?" Holly asked.

            Colleen shook her head. "No. There's a definite tingle right now."

            "He has a pulse," Aaron said as he held Mike's wrist. "And he's defiantly alive. And we saw him in the day without him bursting into flame."

            "I'm right here," Mike said. "You don't have to say 'he.'"

            "Sorry," Aaron said. "Anyway, you still have vampire level strength. And you set off Colleen's radar."

            "Could this have something to do with Kaoryn's attack?" Holly asked. "She tried to sire him."

            "If the vampire blood had infected his system to give him the strength it also would have tethered his soul to the ether," Aaron said. "And that would have killed him."

            Mike's face suddenly dawned with realization. He stood up from the table and walked away form the group.

            "Dramatic much?" Dawn asked Mike.

            "My soul," Mike said. "It's mystically bonded to my body."

            "As is pretty much everyone else's," Aaron said. "I mean, I know I don't have to put on a daily dose of soul glue."

            Mike shook his head. "I never believed it." He looked at Holly. "There's something you don't know."

            Holly looked surprised. "What?" she asked.

            "The reason that our parents broke up," Mike told her. "Your mom tried to cast a spell on me. She said that it would mystically bond my soul to my body. I never really believed it or thought about what that meant. My dad freaked out when he found out and that's why they broke up."

            Holly looked shocked. She had never known that before.

            "So when Kaoryn's blood reacted with your system," Colleen began to speculate. "It transformed your body but it couldn't cast out your soul."

            "Without removing your soul a daemon couldn't be put in place," Aaron said.

            "So you're like a living vampire," Dawn told Mike.

            "The spell," Holly realized as she looked over to Mike. "That spell saved your life."

            Mike slowly nodded, letting it all sink in. He sat down at the table. It was a lot to think about.

            "It saved your life and then some," Jordan said.

            "This is really amazing," Aaron said. "I don't think I've ever heard of anything like this before. Have you Dawn?"

            Dawn shook her head. "I've heard of a vampire with a soul but never a living vampire."

            Colleen sat down next to Mike. She tried to slip her hand into his for comfort but he pulled it away. This was something that didn't go unnoticed by the rest of the group.

            "Mike I'm sorry," Colleen tried to say to him. She spoke softly so that only he could hear her. "Just let me try to-"

            "Later," Mike said as he turned away from her. He looked to Jordan, trying to change the subject. "So what were you saying about the Key?"

            Jordan looked over at Dawn. She took a deep breath and stood up slowly. She carefully looked each one of her friends in the eye. She thought about what she was about to say. She thought about all the different ways that they could react. She knew all the different ways that this could go badly, but she knew that they deserved to know.

            "There's something I have to tell you guys," Dawn said.