Caleb was sitting at the bar chatting with a bartender about family when Pogue tapped him on the shoulder. "You mind sticking around for a while?"

Immediately curious, Caleb smiled. "Why? You going to get lucky?"

Pogue smirked. "No more than you." When Caleb raised his brows, Pogue watched the waitress walk away before sitting beside Caleb. "Branwen and Aria are off in about half an hour. We've been invited to hang out at their apartment after work."

Caleb almost fell off his stool. "You got us passage into the promise land?"

Rolling his eyes Pogue looked out over the crowd. "Your name almost got the invitation revoked but Branwen said as long as you don't bother Aria then you can come."

"I'm no bother." Caleb smiled.

"Yeah, sure."

Caleb laughed and took a drink of his beer. Thank god for finally being twenty-one. "So where's Aria? I didn't see her anywhere."

Pogue pointed across the room at the next level up and Caleb looked over to see a tall, beautiful figure serving drinks to older, professional looking men. He knew those legs. And he knew he didn't like it when one of the heavy set old lechers admired them.

Because of exams coming up, Caleb had needed to cut back on the time he spent looking for Sarah and the more days that went by, he realized he wasn't as motivated to go out and look for her. He had come to Sinsations, though. He'd only caught sight of Aria once but he had immediately felt the change in his body. He stood a little straighter, he walked a little taller and his heart sped up in hopes she just might see him too.

Her words had gotten to him. She thought he was a horrible person. And rightfully. He had been a horrible person. But he liked that she was the kind of person who wouldn't accept someone who was a jerk to their mother. He didn't like people who were jerks to their mothers. He didn't like himself much right now. He had begun to catch himself using big magic. Little magic was little magic, but if he kept using big magic, well then he was only going to fall into an addiction his brothers already thought he had.

"You back?" A bartender said and Caleb turned around, not understanding her. He hadn't been here very often lately. "I thought you gave up."

Pogue turned and smiled. "Hi Sass. No, I actually gave up a while ago and then ended up running into her at school. You could have told me coming here every night was pointless because she was on the day shift."

The woman smiled. "I don't know who you're talking about."

Pogue smiled. "Right."

"Can I get you something to drink?" She asked.

"No, thanks though. Your shift just start?"

Sass smiled. "Yep. Late night shift here I come." Pogue nodded. And she tilted her head at him. "You sure you don't want even a water or something? I mean, you're sitting at the bar."

"No I'm fine. I told Branwen I'd wait for her here. When she gets off work we're going to go upstairs and hang out."

Sass smiled. "You really did get your foot in the door. I'm impressed. I love her to death but that girl has some trust issues."

Caleb frowned. "You know her well?"

Sass looked from Caleb to Pogue. "This is my friend, Caleb." Pogue said. "He knows the girls too. They spent Thanksgiving at his house."

Sass's smile faltered and she turned to Caleb. "You're the broody jerk, huh?"

Pogue chuckled and Caleb glared at him. "I was an ass, yes. But I'm trying to make up for it."

"Well," she said, "In answer to your question, I've only known the girls since they started working here but I consider them good friends. I've gotten myself into trouble a couple times and they've always been there for me. Sometimes I question their priorities with all this school stuff but they're good people, and I think that's the only thing that really matters."

"You won't let on you know them for months and now you spill your guts?" Pogue asked.

Smiling, Sass patted his cheek. "I'm a woman, don't try to understand us. Just accept that we're awesome and you couldn't survive without us." She gave Caleb a smile and walked away.

"She remind you of someone?" Caleb asked.

"Yeah. Her and Reid would get along famously until they had to talk about themselves and then there would be war."

Caleb laughed and turned back to watch the VIP section. He couldn't see Aria so she must be above him. He didn't need Sass to tell him Aria was good people. Or Branwen, for that matter, but he also didn't need anyone else to tell him that there was something about the girls that they held back. Something they didn't trust people with. Caleb would like nothing more than to know what that was before he got in too deep but he doubted they were going to give it up before things got deeper.

"Hello Caleb." Caleb looked over and saw a girl standing there and for a moment her eyes threw him. But when he felt Pogue stand Caleb saw past the contacts and mask to Branwen.

"Hey, Branwen, it's good to see you again."

"You too." She looked past him to Pogue and motioned to the far end of the bar. "There's a set of doors at the end of the room. They say office on them. Just tell Brendan, he's the guard, that I sent you and he'll let you in. You can head up the stairs. Aria and I just have to change and we'll be up."

Pogue nodded to her and when she left to go change, Caleb smiled at him. "Shall we?"

Rolling his eyes, Pogue started walking and Caleb followed.

Aria followed Branwen out of the change room and through the staff hall to the stairs. Branwen had told her Caleb was coming and Aria had felt every muscle in her body seize. Not because of fear, but embarrassment. For weeks Aria had been having very vivid, very detailed dreams about Caleb and she honestly didn't know if she was going to be able to keep a straight face and act like a normal, functioning human being when confronted with him. Right now all she could picture was him lying on her bed in a rather compromised position. One she didn't entirely know if the real Caleb would be man enough to try.

When they reached the top of the stairs, Aria steeled herself and did her best to be distracted by anything but Caleb. They were standing outside Roger's door and Branwen laughed. "We're over here, boys."

Aria continued around the corner and used the excuse of digging in her purse for keys to avoid Caleb's eyes. When she finally got the door open, her hands shaking so much she almost dropped her keys, Branwen told the boys to grab a beer from the fridge and make themselves comfortable.

Branwen and Aria went to their rooms to put their bags down and get cleaned up. Not knowing what kind of 'hang out' this was going to be, Aria slipped into Branwen's bedroom. Branwen looked over her shoulder to make sure it was Aria before letting her robe fall.

"I thought you were Pogue coming to catch me in my bra. That boy is incorrigible."

Aria smiled. "So you're not going to give him an early Christmas present."

Branwen frowned. "We're just friends."

Aria rolled her eyes. "And denial is just a river in Egypt." She sat on Branwen's bed and sighed. "Are you forgetting I was present for that kiss? There was nothing friendly about that kiss. He wanted to devour you and you were looking a little hungry yourself."

Branwen looked over her shoulder, raising a derisive brow. "You don't want to talk about this." She said, pulling on a tank top. Aria realized Branwen was going with pyjamas and figured she might need to change.

"Of course I want to talk about this." Aria said, walking over to Branwen's closet and pulling out some yoga pants and a sweater.

"No you don't." Branwen insisted. "Because if I have to talk about my denial then you have to talk about yours regarding Caleb. Wednesday night I got up to go to the bathroom and you were moaning his name in your sleep."

Aria felt her face heat and not just from putting on a sweater. "I did not. And I don't remember this rule about fair play."

Branwen laughed. "Yeah well that's because your brain is full of information for your exams. Now I warned Pogue Caleb had to play nice, but you have to as well."

"He was the jerk who was rude to his mother and got addicted to his powers."

"And you're the jerk who's holding something over his head he doesn't know you know about. If you can't tell him why you're being a bitch then you can't confuse him by being a bitch."

"I don't remember that rule either."

"Yeah well if he doesn't know you have a reason to be upset with him then you being upset with him without reason makes you the jerk in his eyes and I don't want you to give him any reason to think he's better than you."

Aria bristled at that idea and Branwen laughed. Sighing, Aria conceded. "Fine. I will be nice and try to forget that we are entertaining a dying man and his intervention planning best friend who are both supposed to be our enemies."

Branwen glared at Aria. "You just had to remind me of that, didn't you?"

Smiling, Aria opened the door. "Of course. Payback's a bitch."

The boys looked up as they entered the room. Branwen grabbed them both bottles of water before sitting in the chair, forcing Aria to pick the loveseat with Pogue or the couch with Caleb. Gritting her teeth she sat as far from Caleb as she could on the couch.

"You guys ready for exams on Monday?" Branwen asked, trying to end the awkward silence.

Pogue shrugged, looking up from the vacant seat beside him and Aria smiled. That boy would drive Branwen up the wall and Aria was going to enjoy every minute of it.

Caleb, who was also smiling at Pogue and Branwen, took pity and picked up the conversation. "I don't know if I'm ready but if I try and retain anymore information I'm going to have to find a bigger brain."

Aria smiled. "Shouldn't all men do that as a general rule?" Branwen's eyes shot to Aria and Aria realized she'd spoken out loud. She clamped a hand over her mouth and looked around but both the guys smiled.

Caleb narrowed his eyes. "Not all of us can be geniuses. Some of us have to settle for being mere humans. You might reach for some more benevolence though, your highness."

Oh no he didn't! "This coming from the guy who invites people over for Thanksgiving and then disappears for half the weekend. Yeah, your manners don't need work at all."

To Aria's annoyance, he smiled at her. "Miss me, did you?"

She narrowed her eyes at him before finishing her water bottle and getting up. Throwing the bottle in the recycling, she went down the hall to the bathroom. She didn't really have to pee but she needed to collect herself and any excuse would do.

Leaning against the counter, she looked at herself. She was angry. Even if she didn't know the girl in the mirror she would know that girl was angry. Her face was pink with heat, her chest was rising and falling faster than normal and her green eyes had grown brighter, something they often did before glowing. She was so angry her magic was responding and she had to calm down before she did something stupid.

Like castrated him magically. They might realize Branwen and Aria had powers if Aria did that.

Slowing her breathing and resisting the urge to smash something she wondered why it was so easy for him to infuriate her. She'd had people pick at her and she'd had people drive her to distraction but with Caleb, when she wasn't fantasizing about fucking his tiny brains out, she wanted to punch him in the face. Where was the happy medium? The polite chatter and small talk? Not once since they met had there been a moment when they weren't flirting or making cracks at each other. She didn't do that with anyone else.

And that was a problem in itself. She didn't want him to be special in any way. After all, he was a Son of Ipswich.

Now she sounded like Branwen with all her excuses to not date the guy she liked. Was that what Aria was doing? She was attracted to Caleb. She knew he could be charming and caring and devoted. She knew that he could inspire loyalty because Branwen said he'd always led the Sons' coven. You couldn't do that without their loyalty.

So was Aria doing the right thing, pushing Caleb away the way Branwen pushed away Pogue? Branwen didn't even have the excuse of Pogue using his powers, so really, shouldn't Aria be more entitled to keep Caleb at arm's length? Pogue seemed to have let that go. Maybe something had changed.

When it came down to it Aria didn't know what to do but she knew she couldn't sleep a night through without having hot dreams that made her question if reality could measure up. She wanted the chance to one day see if it might. So maybe she should stop pushing so hard. Arm's length was far enough for now.

That decided, Aria opened the door to go back to the living room and came face to chest with Caleb. And it was definitely not at arm's length.

She looked up at him and he gave her a little smile. "I'm sorry I was being a jerk. And I'm sorry I was a jerk at Thanksgiving. I have no excuse for being one then. My excuse now is that I really like you. And I really like fighting with you."

His eyes looked so lost, like not even he could believe he was saying what he was. He searched her face for her reaction and she had to admit that it wasn't what she thought it would be. Instead of biting his head off for cornering her outside the bathroom, away from the others, and yelling at him for standing so close, she found herself admiring his perfect full lips. And before she could stop herself, she had levered herself up against his chest and met his lips with her own.

Even while he turned her and leaned her against the linen closet door she couldn't believe what she was doing but the demanding pressure of his lips kept her body oblivious to her inner scolding. Before long the scolding just disappeared and she pushed off from the wall and walked them backwards into her bedroom. When she heard the door click, Caleb having shut it, and she felt the bed behind her knees, she allowed herself to fall backwards, Caleb slowing their descent to the mattress.

She knew, despite her enjoyment, she wouldn't let things go too far, but she was going to take advantage of the time she had without a voice in the back of her head telling her she was crazy. And she took advantage of it for a good long time.

She woke up Sunday morning fully clothed still, but cuddled into Caleb's side. She didn't usually cuddle, but he was so big and strong and so freaking warm. Massachusetts was cold in the winter and they had never gotten under the blankets.

Still, she didn't want to wake him, so she stayed still and just tilted her head up to observe him. His face was turned slightly towards her and she smiled at how he looked younger in his sleep. Not as young as he should, mind you, but his dark lashes feathered against his cheeks and his delicious lips were slightly parted.

She thought it might be wonderful to kiss him awake, but as she turned herself to get to a proper angle, a shrill scream lit the air and both Aria and Caleb shot up in bed. Aria's heart jumped into a rhythm a staccato drummer couldn't match and she wasn't sure if it was from the scream or the soul-less black of Caleb's eyes.

And at that moment she understood why the coven called them 'The Hollow Ones'.