AN: Thanks to Booth-Bones4life, guardian music angel, Niffer01, and native-kitten (I'm so sorry ;) ) for their reviews.

I'm sorry this Chapter took so long, I'm not very happy with it, not because it's bad, it's just a little...boring. Unfortunately, updates are going to take a little longer at the moment, due to uni. I have an essay due on the 16th that I have to study for (it's worth 30 of my final score) then I have a final essay, but as of the 31st of May, my course is offically over, and my next one doesn't start 'till Febuary next year (weird huh?). So come June, I'll have much more time, just be patient.

I've posted a link on my page for a YouTube video. Watch it and think of Jess.

Happy birthday to Wendy Crewson!

Review and Enjoy!

She had been right about Pogue, Alex thought as she drove her VW Bug into town to meet her cousin. He was hot, he knew what he was doing and boy did he have stamina! A smile curled her lips as she remembered the previous nights activities. Pogue was definitely a catch, hansom, smart, funny, with good taste and a really, really nice…

She shook her head, focusing on the road. It was obvious he was still hung up on his ex though. Kate Tunney was an idiot to let him go. If Alex were at all interested in anything serious, she'd be sorely tempted. As it was, she couldn't afford to get that close to someone. It was pointless.

After almost four years at Spencer, she was finally making some friends, although admittedly the situation was a little…bizarre. Jess and the Sarka's were nice, and they didn't seem to mind what she was. It was nice to finally meet someone who didn't look at her with disgust or sympathy.

She frowned, thinking of her cousin. Ophelia was one of the few family members who would acknowledge her existence, although she still looked at Alex like she was to be pitied, and Alex hated pity more than she did the disgust. Others would look at her like she had some contagious illness.

It was why, from a young age, she'd been happy to go off to boarding schools, staying at them for as long as the schools would allow, going home only when she had to. Now she was eighteen, she didn't even have to do that. Her parents would pay for school, and for university when the time came, out of guilt, and they'd send her money for necessities, probably so she won't come home and embarrass them again.

Her parents didn't care, preferring her 'perfect' younger sister, tipped to be the next Maiden of their clan. As far as Alex was concerned, Gracia could keep her perfect life. Alex got along well enough, although she did get lonely sometimes, craving someone she could really talk to, someone to share all her secrets with, someone who wouldn't judge.

Ophelia was okay, but as a pacifist by nature, she had always followed the family's wishes and kept her distance. Alex knew that she would help if she could, probably more for the missing girls than anything else. She hoped she could, the idea of a witch powerful enough to alter a shifter's memories was a scary thought, although she reluctantly admitted that in all likely hood Pogue had the same power. At least he wasn't going around killing young women.

Pulling up outside Ipswich's only Starbucks, she entered the bustling café, assaulted by the smell of roasting coffee. Spotting a dark-skinned woman in her mid-twenties waiting on one of the cushy looking couches, she waved then pointed towards the counter, receiving a nod of understanding. Heaping some cinnamon in her once-plain hot chocolate, she went over to join she cousin.

Ophelia's father was her mother's older brother, and her mother was Brazilian. She had been raised in New Mexico, just like Alex. She was currently studying at Harvard, choosing, like Alex, to live one of the few places in the world without an established Witch community.

The Witches had fled Massachusetts during the trials, and had stayed away, the psychic echo of so many dead sisters too painful for most to bear, even after so many centuries. Being a Void, Alex didn't have to worry about it, and although Ophelia was talented in other fields, her psychic skill was next to zero. There were a few others floating around, but most came to places like MA because they wanted to avoid there own kind, so they weren't exactly the sociable type.

"Alejandra, it's so good to see you again! How are you? I hope nothing's wrong. I must say I was quite surprised when I got your call. I spoke to that shifter guy, I didn't know you were working with the Council," she rushed, nervous as always.

"I'm not. The Sarka's are…friends of mine, I offered to help. Did Will tell you the problem?" Alex replied, sitting back on the opposite couch and taking a sip of her spicy hot chocolate.

"Not really, just that it had something to do with the missing human girls everyone has been gossiping about," Ophelia answered, sipping her tea.

Alex nodded. "That's why I wanted to talk to you first. They've been tracking a shifter that they think is responsible. Talia, Will's younger sister, fought with him here, but we found out he's working with someone local, possibly a witch. The thing is, the witch managed to mess with her memories of the fight." Alex looked pointedly at her cousin.

Ophelia blinked. "That's…that's not possible!" she exclaimed, shocked.

"Yeah, well, this guy doesn't sound like your average witch. Anyway, I though you might be able to take a look at her, try and remove whatever barriers are in place. It's possible that the rogue shifter said something that might help them stop him. They also might need you're help trying to find out what exactly his partner is," Alex explained, not mentioning the other four, and their link to Collins.

If Ophelia found out, she would do her duty and report it to her Clan leader, and then there would be a whole jurisdiction argument over who should be handling the case for the Council. They had sent in a shifter team because a shifter was responsible. But if it was found out that a witch was directly involved, the Clans would want a witch team sent in instead. The Council already knew, and they had decided that the Sarka's could handle this case, but if they came under pressure from the Clans, they might just change their minds.

"Of course, anything I can do to aid the Council."

Jess was bored. She'd been going stir-crazy for weeks, not of their motel room, she'd been able to get out enough times and have some fun, but stir-crazy of her human body. She needed to change, to feel it ripple over her, freeing her from the restrains of her human form. So she had.

She was currently hanging from the shower rail by her claws, after climbing up the curtain itself. She'd fallen three times, but now she was up there, she didn't know what to do next. She was really bored. Tal and Will could change when they wanted to, no-one thought it was too strange to see a wolf walking around the forests of Massachusetts, but a red panda was another thing entirely. If someone saw her, there would be zoo officials running around trying to find the 'escaped' animal.

Tyler hadn't called yet, granted it was only 11AM, so it wasn't like he was blowing her off, just waiting for a polite time. Still, she wished he'd call, because obviously, as the girl, she couldn't call him, and she really wanted to hear his voice. She was mildly surprised at that, but filed it away to talk to Tal about later.

There was a sudden scrabbling sound from the open window, and distracted by the sound, Jess lost her grip and fell to the floor. Ow.

As Tal pulled her large form through the small window, Jess gathered herself up and stepped back, not wanting her small form to get squished. As Talia noticed her presence, she froze, and it took a moment for Jess to realise why.

She reeked. Not a bad scent, just not Tal's. She smell of Reid, and not just 'He gave me a hug and now I smell of his aftershave'. No, Tal smelled of Talia, Reid and Sex!

Tal sat, watching her friend, waiting for a reaction. Jess walked forward, her small nose gently sniffing. Reaching her friend, she stood on her hind legs and gave Tal a playful swipe on the ear. Stepping back again, Jess quickly changed, and standing naked, warned her friend, "Shower quickly, Will's due back any minute, and I don't think you want him to catch you like that."

Tal ducked her long face in acknowledgement, and Jess left her to it, shaking her head in amusement. Only Tal would be crazy enough to lose her virginity in the middle of a murder investigation with a former suspect. Laughing, she quickly pulled on her discarded clothes, turned on the T.V. and waited for Tal to finish so they could gossip.

Ten minutes later, Tal emerged wrapped in a towel, skin red from scrubbing. "Well?" Jess asked impatiently as Tal began to dress.

"Well what?" Tal countered feigning innocence.

Jess rolled her eyes, "How was it?"

Before Tal could answer, the door opened and Will asked, "How was what?"

"The party after I left," Jess replied smoothly, winking a Tal so Will couldn't see it.

"It was okay, a little after you left, the cops busted it up, but everyone got away fine," Tal replied nonchalantly.

"Yeah, well you should have Jess last night, making out with Simms on the door step. Not exactly professional, is it?" he grumbled.

Jess just grinned a Talia, teasingly wiggling her eyebrows.

Not noticing, Will continued, "Alex just called me, she'll be arriving any moment with her cousin. Are you ready for this?" he asked his sister, concerned.

Tal nodded, sobering at the thought. She didn't know what she'd remember, but she did know that there was a reason why she woke up in a cold sweat each night.

"I think I can do it," Ophelia stated a short time later as she examined Talia, her hands on either side of the wolf's head.

"Think?" Will asked suspiciously.

"Yes. Don't worry, if it doesn't work, it won't do Talia any damage, it just won't work," Ophelia replied, smiling reassuringly.

"What about you?" Talia asked quietly.

Ophelia's eyes snapped towards the younger women's in surprise, she did not expect such concern from a shifter. Blinking away her surprise, she smiled again, "I'll be fine too."

Talia nodded, "Do it."

Ophelia closed her eyes, feeling for the taint of magic in Talia's mind. On finding it, she reached with her mind for the tail-end of it, giving a gentle tug while whispering words of power, and just like a slipknot, the tangle of magic unravelled, flooding Talia's mind with memories. Ophelia gasped, quickly removing herself from the wolf's mind, the brief taste of fear and pain more than enough.

Talia sat still, her eyes moving rapidly beneath her closed eyelids. Her breathing quickened, and then she gasped in pain. Her breathing came in ragged pants, and she was whimpering in remembered pain. Suddenly her eyes snapped open.

"I remember."

"Power," Talia said, after recounting the events, "He said the power was the key to everything. That Collins understood that, and that they had 'an arrangement'."

They were silent for a moment, thinking it over. "Do think maybe it's got something to do with the dead girls? There are stories of old magics where you can absorb someone's chi by killing them in a specific way. I don't know how a shifter would manage it though," Alex remarked, her brow furrowed in thought.

Ophelia nodded in agreement. "I was always told they were just legends, old magic lost to time. But from what you've said, the magic this Collins guy is using is like nothing I've ever seen," she paused a moment, thinking. "I can try and find out more, if you give me more information."

Will looked from her to her cousin, "Alex?"

Alex watched Ophelia, trying to see if she was planning to trick them. "If you tell the Clans, you know what will happen."

"Yes. That's why I won't tell them," Ophelia replied. "Look, I won't lie to them if they ask me directly, but I won't report you, either. I have access to Clan records, I can find out things it would take the Council weeks to get their hands on. Any information you give me will make it quicker," she looked at Alex. "I know you think I'm just a…a goody two-shoes or something, but I want to help."

Alex nodded slowly.

"What do you need?" Will asked.

"The photos of the cuts he made on the girls, anything they have in common, and anything you have on this Collins guy," Ophelia replied. The other four gave each other nervous looks. "What? What aren't you telling me?"

"You're telling me that your boyfriends are the same kind of not-witches as Collins?! I thought you two were professionals!" Ophelia exclaimed. Alex worried that she might change her mind about helping them.

"They're not exactly our boyfriends," Tal said defensively. "I mean, neither of us has actually been on a date yet, it's…complicated," she sighed.

"Yeah, well, you haven't seen what they look like yet!" Jess grinned.

"Jess, that's not helping," Alex replied quietly.

Ophelia looked at her suspiciously for a moment, eyes widening in understanding. "Which one?" she asked.

"Pogue," Alex replied, not looking at the others.

"What?" Tal replied. "You hardly know him!"

Alex gave her a pointed look, "And how long have you been here?" Tal ducked her head, grinning. "Pogue's just a friend, nothing more," she shrugged.

Ophelia startled everyone by smiling. "Okay,"

"Okay?" Will asked dubiously.

"Alex trusts them enough to be…friends with them, and I trust Alex," Ophelia replied, as if it was a no-brainer.

Alex was surprised, she never seen her cousin like this. "You do?"

Ophelia smiled shyly, looking at her hands. "Yeah. I always admired how strong you were, even on your own. You're the only one I know that doesn't play the stupid power-games. You're the only one in the whole family that's never lied to me. I always wanted to be like you, and defy the family, but I never had the guts."

Alex blinked in surprise. "I think you're doing just fine," she replied after a moment, grinning.

The older woman glowed. "I'm glad you're doing okay, Alex, I'm glad you've got people now, I always hated how alone you were," she said.

Alex opened her mouth to protest, to say that they weren't her people, that she was just helping them out, but she looked up to see them smiling at her. Somehow, these strangers had accepted her where her own family could not. They had never cared that she was a Void, it simply didn't matter.

Wow. She thought. I have people.