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As Adeline walked home away from the corner, she couldn't help glance back behind her, cheeks rosy from smiling so much. She caught one last glimpse of Credence on the corner, watching her. She tried to control her smile, pressing her lips together, shooing him so he wouldn't be seen.

He just backed up slowly such a sweet smile on his face, keeping his eyes on her with a look that made her stomach flutter. She shooed him again, unable to keep down a laugh. His smile got bigger before he dipped his head and finally turned around the corner towards his home.

How strange a reaction, she couldn't help thinking with the knowledge of him and Grave's relationship. But she wasn't keen to think of it too hard, and neither was she keen to admit she liked Credence a good deal.

She struggled to fish her keys from her pocket, unaware of the figure emerging from the alleyway behind her. A hand clapped over her mouth and dragged her back, the only sound she was able to make a muffled scream.

From across the street, Graves watched from the shadows solemnly.

Adeline fought against her attacker. He shoved her against the bricks and her eyes went wide when she saw it was one of her harassers from earlier. When he moved his hand away she only had enough time to gasp before his lips were pressed against hers.

She beat against his chest, shoving helplessly against him to no avail. He shoved back, her head knocking into the wall behind her. Anger flared inside of her, pushing against him now more forcefully. Blinded by the tears in her eyes, she almost didn't notice the color draining from his face, his eyes rolling back into his head.

Panicked. She struggled to pull away, constantly pushing back against him but he seemed cemented to the ground with her held to the wall. Frozen. Tiny blueish-purple veins spreading out from his mouth across his face slowly like cracks in the pavement. Another muffled, helpless cry escaped her. Desperately she pushed and pushed against him, her fist beating on him to let go. So she could let go of him.

With one final shove, the boy fell away from her, thrown to the ground in a crumble. The silence deafening. Trembling, Adeline stood taking in his body which laid turned away from her with an arm over his face. Her body buzzing with the feeling of his life she wanted nothing more than to shake out of herself, to give back to him.

She looked up at the sky, begging for help from a God she knew had turned away from her even before she had been born. Taking cautious steps forward, she touched the boy's shoulder, flinching away from him as if expecting he might wake, but also filled with terror that he would not.

With another motion she turned him over. Milky, lifeless eyes stared back up at her and something short of a wail escaped her as she stumbled backwards, sliding down the wall behind her. She stifled any sound coming from her mouth with her hand, unable to breath as reality invaded her.

She looked around helplessly, the alley situated between two buildings which hadn't been occupied in a long time. Shakily she stood to her feet, hooking her arms under the boy's and struggled to drag him to the shadowy back of the alley between the rotting wooden fence and abandoned soggy boxes. Her pulse roared in her ears, blocking out any coherent sound from around her.

The body hidden from view, she backed up with trembling hands covering her mouth, and turned and ran for home.

Graves approached the body, coming to kneel in front of it, he took the boy's lifeless face in his hand and turned it side to side, analyzing the markings on his face. He sat back on his heels, propping his arms on his knees and dipped his head for a satisfied moment, giving a low chuckle before pushing himself to his feet.

"Adeline, you really are your mother's daughter."

Adeline shut the door to her bedroom and pressed her hands to the sides of her head and sat on the edge of her bed with wide eyes. If a report of the boy's body and his injuries came up, Father would know immediately it was her. After all, how many of her were there? Not even she was sure. And if The Brotherhood knew?

Her heart pounded. It was okay. It was fine. No body else was in the city yet. She would go back tomorrow evening and handle it, she would do something. She stood, folding her arms over her chest and pressing a hand to her lips, walking to her window, then turning around and staring aimlessly at the floor.

The boy. His life.

Adeline pressed her fingers to her eyes, willing the image of his stark face out of her mind. It was his fault. You don't attack women. Tears welled up again and she muffled a cry, pressing her hand over her mouth. She was poisonous and he shouldn't have grabbed her.

Shaking her head to rid herself of the thoughts that plagued her, she went to draw a bath, desperate to rid herself of the filth she felt running through her. She stared at herself in the mirror, her complexion and eyes some how brighter, reflecting the conflicting euphoria that hid behind her distress.

Guilt flooded over her with a new thought and she turned away from her reflection.

"Oh Credence," She pushed her hair back away from her face, tears rolling down her cheeks. A second longer, would that have been him? Her lips trembled, muscles tight with the tension that felt like it was strangling her.

She had to fix this. She had to hide the body. She had to control herself.

The next morning she descended quietly from the attic just before the crack of dawn, pausing carefully to make sure Father was still sleeping and all was quiet. One of her mother's "cookbooks" clutched to her chest. Hours of searching, but not a single spell or potion could be found to hide a body. Even if she had found one, would she know how to use it? She only knew how to make her mother's tea from watching her make it.

The sound of a door banging shut downstairs caused her to jump, dropping her book. Loose papers scattered and she scrambled to gather them up, running barefooted back to her room with heart thudding.

She listened, voices were speaking outside, She pulled the curtains to her room back just a smidge to see the store front. A black 1922 Ford sat outside the shop and to her horror her father clasping hands with Uncle Xavier.

She let the curtain drop back and for a moment she felt dizzy. But she quickly shoved her book under the mattress and hurriedly got dressed before rushing downstairs. The day was growing brighter now and more people were entering the streets.

When she got downstairs she stood stupidly on the sidewalk, her senses dazed in the sudden sharpness of the sunlight and sounds of the city, Father carrying boxes from the car past her.

"Mornin' Nickles, Xavier just got here. Mind givin' a hand?"

"Of course, Daddy," She said automatically, but ice flooded her veins as she approached the other side of the car only to stumble backward away from the sharp teeth of a black dog who snarled and barked viciously. Her foot caught and she hit the ground hard, the dog's teeth snapping shut just short of her face.

Xavier straightened up from leaning into the car and chuckled, yanking the dog back on his leash. He looked down at her seemingly through his nose.

"Well, well, well, looks like I found myself a witch." He spat.

He didn't bother helping her up as he passed. The dog's milky white eyes bulging out it's head as it struggled to keep hungry eyes on her.

Adeline stayed down clutching her heart, trembling.