A.N.: I KNOW!!! You can send me flames if you want to for not updating in practically half a year, but I just lost where I wanted this to go and just found it again…

A.N.2: On another note, I've started a new fic called 'The Daughters of Ipswich' which is basically The Covenant except all genders are switched. I like it, anyway, and I'm debating whether to post a fic that has Tyler's twin-sister return to Ipswich the night Caleb (her ex) and Sarah flirt at Nicky's.

It was weird for Talli to see Lilah so…happy. Try as she might, Tallulah couldn't actually remember the last time Lilah had been so free-spirited. It had been a long time since she'd witnessed Lilah Using; she found out from Tyler, sitting at a table at Nicky's eating their way through burgers and chips, that Lilah had been Using just to taunt the kids who had been mildly bullying her—small things, like animating snooker-balls and tucking garments of clothing into underwear.

"And she lifted the curse off Reid's family-line," Tyler said quietly, munching on his French-fries. Talli glanced at him; he was, in her opinion, the cutest of the Sons of Ipswich (Lilah had told her all about the boys' heritage) because Pogue was a pretty-boy, Reid was absolutely the most gorgeous, handsome boy she had ever met, and Caleb was, aside from taken, kind of dark and brooding. She liked a boy who knew how to party, and from the few times she had been hanging out with Tyler over the last week, he definitely had a wild side buried beneath his bashfulness.

Talli glanced sharply at Tyler. Lilah had Used? She had lifted a curse? Tallulah had always known Lilah was the most powerful witch (non gender-explicit) in their coven considering she was now the only surviving person in her generation of Leaders. But since the murder of her—well, Lilah had always been reserved about Using great stores of Power. Most times, Talli almost thought Lilah wished she was normal, like everyone else, so that she would have the comfort of knowing there had been absolutely nothing she could do to prevent what had happened to…

"What do you mean?" she asked, glancing over at Lilah, where her best-friend sauntered over to her gorgeous boyfriend, offering one of the red trays of French-fries and Lilah's favourite, a grilled-cheese sandwich. Talli watched her set the tray down and Reid captured her best-friend's face in his long, clever fingers and Talli could practically see Lilah's knees going weak.

"She didn't tell you that already?" Tyler asked nervously. If there was one thing Talli knew about Tyler from the brief time they had spent together, other than him having an incurable sweet-tooth and a fetish for fun, it was that he was always second-guessing himself in his own intelligence and stuff like that. Being the youngest of all his friends, they kind of babied him, petted him. As such, he was incredibly sweet, the only guy Talli had ever met who smiled at her face and not her chest, which despite it being less attractive than Lilah's she showed off with low-cut tops anyway. Today she had gone for a more modest approach, mostly because Nicky's wasn't the kind of place that she could get away with wearing Yves Saint Laurent or Dior in: when Tyler and Reid had met them at Lilah's dorm-door, Tyler had smiled at her outfit; she wore a very simple lavender pin-tucked button-down shirt with a pair of relaxed jeans, a thin belt cinching the long tunic-style shirt at her waist, her hair loose and tousled in the style she and Lilah had long called 'recently-romped.'

"Tell me what, exactly?" Talli asked quietly, glancing at Lilah again.

"Um…well, we all know she's a witch," Tyler said quietly, glancing around and chewing nervously on his French-fries. "The guys; and Sarah. Reid said she's lifted some centuries-old curse on our families from his line." Talli sucked on her Diet Pepsi and glanced back at Lilah. Reid gave her another of those kisses that made Talli's heart clench with yearning; he was so in love with her it was obvious to everyone around them. Everyone except Lilah, and Reid himself.

"She did that?" She could not think of a single person Lilah had ever Used for. She hadn't for Niko, and that was what had perpetuated Lilah's abstinence from Using in the first place. Now she was Using again and it was for a boy? In the two months Tallulah had been away, her best-friend had changed. Tallulah had to say, she was glad. She had been tired of Lilah always putting her talents on the back-burner to please her father; could the distance between parent and child also have something to do with Lilah Using again? There was no-one to check up on her, no-one to make her feel inferior about Using because of a tragedy two years ago, no-one to instil in then-sixteen-year-old Lilah that it was her responsibility as the future Leader of their coven to set an example for everyone else.

"Why's that surprising?" Tyler asked. "She Uses all the time. Didn't she Use at home?"

"Not for a long time," Talli said quietly. Of all of their coven, Talli was notorious for Using much too extravagantly; she had gone through a phase just after Niko was…well, she'd started Using to steal designer clothing she could just as easily have charged to her mother's account, Used to trick boys into screwing her (not that she needed much help there) Used to punish the classmates who bullied Lilah after the nosedive she'd made from her usual feisty, racy, smart self to the girl who never spoke unless to an adult answering a question during lessons, wore black and never smiled. No one in their coven had suffered a loss like Lilah's and they didn't understand what she was going through; Talli was her one outlet, the only person she allowed to delve into her mind to see what utter turmoil was wreaked there.

Tallulah knew the very fine line that Lilah balanced on; Lilah wasn't mentally unstable or anything, but she was a teenaged girl who had witnessed things no person should ever see outside of a guerrilla war-zone, and though she usually appeared to be extremely mellow externally, when something set her off, Lilah could be self-destructive or murderous, depending on what had happened. Tallulah knew what set her off and everyone in their group of friends knew never to do or say specific things around her in case Lilah went off the deep end; it didn't take a lot to upset her.

Fighting was the biggest taboo in their coven.

The smash of glass alerted everyone to the jukebox: that good-looking but too-clean-cut Abercrombie bitch-boy who'd constantly been hitting on Talli all week had shoved Reid so hard against the jukebox that the glass panel had cracked behind him, and Aaron proceeded to sucker-punch him right in the gut and take a good swipe to Reid's jaw. Talli and Tyler both rose instinctively; Tyler swore, glancing around Talli supposed for Pogue and Caleb, both of whom had left an hour earlier.

Talli had to say it, though; Reid knew how to hold his own: He gave as good as he got and those slender, nimble fingers she guessed he put to good use on Lilah were stronger than they looked; one guy's nose was bloodied and another clutched his eye: as Reid and Aaron rolled around on the floor, hands at throats and other limbs doing their best to inflict as much pain on the other as they could while energised guys all around them egged them on and placed wagers. Nicky settled it, heaving Aaron in his crisp Abercrombie shirt and stylishly-distressed jeans off Reid, tossing him bodily out of the bar with a bellowed threat that he wasn't welcome back in the bar any longer; he'd started too many fights, "and you're lucky I don't call the cops!!"

She saw Lilah's expression, though, as her best-friend turned on her heel, after casting Reid a pale-lipped glower, and exited the bar in Aaron's wake. Tyler helped wheezing Reid off the floor and Talli sighed as she opened the door for them; it was better to leave now than incur the wrath of the proprietor of the bar and Talli liked hanging out at Nicky's, even if it wasn't quite up-to-scratch with what she was used to.

"Lilah," Reid called, and Talli and Tyler both followed after him. Lilah poised by her car and Reid strode up to her, and in the dim lighting of the car-park Talli could see Reid's face had softened to the utmost tenderness as he rested his hands on Lilah's shoulders, gently working them up to cradle her face.

He whispered "I'm sorry" in her ear as he worked gentle, tender kisses from her cheekbone to her lips. She remained unfazed, her jaw set; she looked pale and her eyes were wide; she had blocked him from her thoughts. She was trembling all over; he could feel it even where he wasn't touching her. He glanced towards the door of the bar, where Tyler and Talli remained, outside the periphery of their private moment. He turned his back slightly on them and focused on Lilah's face; her lower-lip was trembling. He cradled her face and tenderly pressed his lips to hers. She barely responded.

"I'm sorry," he whispered again. "I shouldn't have scared you."

"You deliberately did something I asked you not to," Lilah choked out, tears smarting from her eyes.

"He called you a whore, Lilah," Reid said quietly.

"I've been called worse."

"Not in front of me, you haven't," Reid said adamantly, keeping his voice low so the others couldn't eavesdrop across the parking-lot. "I'm supposed to just let that go."

"He was only trying to get a rise out of you," Lilah said tremulously.

"Well it worked," Reid said heavily. "He threw the first punch."

"And you sank to his level," Lilah sniffed.

"He wasn't gonna apologise to you," Reid said indignantly. If Aaron had apologised to Lilah like he'd asked, they wouldn't have had to fight; Aaron had thrown a punch instead. However she decided to look at it, Aaron had started their fight.

"And you won't stop fighting even though you promised me," Lilah choked out, fresh tears smarting from her eyes. Her pretty mouth twisted with anguish and she brushed the tears roughly from her cheeks.

"It won't happen again," Reid swore softly, pressing a gentle kiss to her lips. God, he couldn't stop kissing her; he couldn't stop defending her honour, he couldn't stop thinking how much he hated the skirt she was wearing; the creamy silk top-half of the dress meshed with the floaty chiffon red and taupe camouflage bottom-half by way of a glittery gold waistband. He couldn't help thinking that he loved her even though she wore the new dress he hated so much.

"No, it won't," Lilah replied, her lip trembling again. She glanced into his eyes and tugged the plain silver ring he had given her last week, his favourite plain silver ring that he always wore, off her slender finger. "I don't want to be your girlfriend if I have to wait around every night wondering if you're going to get yourself killed."

Reid stared at her, at the ring she was offering between her thumb and forefinger. Reid's entire body fell, not just his heart. His stomach plummeted somewhere nearer to Earth's core and he couldn't breathe. He stared at her, and at the ring.

"Lilah?" he gasped, letting his mouth hang open a little bit. Lilah's face twisted again and she took his hand; he clenched his fist, not letting her press the ring into his palm. Her eyes were glassy as she instead slipped the ring into the pocket of his jeans, sniffed, and slipped from between him and the Hummer, towards her Mini. "Lilah!" Her shoulders shuddered as she unlocked her door and she barked at Talli as the blonde programmed her number into Tyler's phone; the two Ts exchanged a wide-eyed look and Talli glanced at Reid as she hurried over to the car. "LILAH!!!"

The Mini swerved out of the parking-lot and onto Main Street. The gravel crunched underfoot as Tyler walked cautiously towards him, his eyes wide and doe-like, wary.

"What's happened?" he asked quietly. The combination of being sucker-punched in the stomach on top of a burger and fries, and the shock of Lilah breaking up with him sent him reeling, and he ran to the wall, heaving the contents of his stomach against the graffitied redbrick. Tyler's hands appeared on his shoulders, guiding him away from the pool of vomit at his feet. Reid whimpered, running a hand over his mouth and gasping; she had broken up with him.

He was in love with her and she had dumped him. Tyler didn't need telling what had happened when tears prickled painfully in Reid's eyes and his throat closed up, hot and burning, and he started shivering all over as if feverish. He guided Reid bodily over to the Hummer and helped him into the passenger seat, buckling him up and closing the door before Reid could slide out. He couldn't believe it. He shoved his hand into his pocket; no, it had happened. Tears slid down his cheeks as he held the silver ring in his trembling palm.

Tyler didn't say anything as he climbed into the driver's seat, didn't say anything as they followed probably the same path the girls were taking back to the dorms were they all lived and where they would have to co-exist together for the next year.

"What the hell did you just do that for, Lilah?" Talli half-shrieked at her. Lilah's hands trembled on the steering-wheel as they sped through downtown Ipswich. "How could you do something like that without thinking about it first?"

"He wouldn't stop—" her lip trembled and she blinked furiously as her face felt hard and pained as it twisted in internal agony. Her eyelashes clumped together but the tears wouldn't fall just yet.

"Boys fight, Lilah," Talli almost shouted at her, and Lilah winced, closing her eyes for a few seconds. "You know this has absolutely nothing to do with Reid."

"It does—"

"It does not! This is about Niko," Talli shouted. Lilah gasped hollowly, staring at her best-friend through bleary eyes. No one had said that name to her in two years, let alone brought it up in this context. "You know it and I know it. Reid isn't Niko, Lilah."

"He's doing the same exact thing Niko used to do and I'm not going to watch Reid get killed; I can't; I love him too much," Lilah burst into tears, her foot heavy on the accelerator, as their stomachs lurched and they crossed the bridge.

"Lilah, stop the—" The steering-wheel jerked out of her control and Lilah burst into tears before Talli pulled off an emergency-stop at the side of the road with her Power. She heard Talli tug the handbrake on and turn the keys in the ignition as Lilah sobbed uncontrollably, her eyes and throat hurting, her hair swinging around her face, her chest and stomach aching from her cries.

The familiar scent of Talli's Flowerbomb perfume enveloped her as much as Talli's arms did and Lilah gripped her best-friend's leather jacket as she cried into her shoulder. Why had she just done that? Why did she just break up with him? She loved him more than anything in the world. He was the one thing she would have stayed in America for and not flown the first commercial flight back to London to be with her dad.

The first boy she had ever fallen in love with.

"Okay…so, maybe you did the right thing," Talli whispered.

"Mm-hmm," Lilah choked, sniffling as tears leaked irritatingly down her cheeks. If she'd done the right thing, why did she feel like something had been ripped from her chest, leaving a great gaping, bleeding, raw and cauterised hole?

"God I hate that," Talli snapped irritably at herself. Lilah couldn't help smiling a little bit; she may be in love with Reid, Talli may love the fact that Lilah was in love with Reid, but she hated whenever Lilah was right about something, which was all the time. She sniffled and wiped her nose on the sleeve of her black cashmere jumper; Talli wiped the tears away from Lilah's cheeks and set her little mouth sympathetically.

"Feel like crying a little bit more?"

"No," Lilah said dully.

"D'you want to shout at me some more?" Talli asked, rubbing Lilah's back comfortingly.

"No," Lilah sighed.

"Do you want a pizza?" Talli asked lightly, and Lilah broke down again.

"Yes," she whimpered.

"Extra cheese?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Pepperoni?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Sausage?" She nodded.

"Anchovies?" Talli asked. Lilah inhaled quickly, setting her jaw.

"No man is worth anchovies," she declared throatily. Talli gave her a sympathetic watery-eyed smile and rumpled Lilah's glossy styled curls and sighed heavily.

"Alright, switch," she said, and they awkwardly managed to trade seats without kicking out a window or knocking the car into gear. Lilah belted herself into her seat and let her head hang as she started crying again; Talli fiddled with the iPod jack and set their 'break-up' Playlist on, beginning with Bonnie Tyler's 'Total Eclipse of the Heart.' Singing loudly and crying her eyes out to Enrique's 'I Will Survive,' Lilah allowed Talli to drive them to the nearest Dominoes for two large pizzas, a two-gallon bottle of diet-Pepsi and mozzarella-sticks, and in Blockbuster Talli picked up a new copy of Tristan and Isolde and another of Leo DiCaprio's Romeo and Juliet. Sniffling, Lilah flipped her visor down and blanched when she looked into the strap-on mirror she'd folded onto the visor; her smoky dark makeup had run halfway down her face and her nose had gone all red. She groaned and smacked the visor back up to the ceiling and started banging her head along to 'I'm Not Okay' by My Chemical Romance, the windows thrown open so she could light a cigarette stolen from Talli's bag—She won't mind.

Reid.

A.N.: I know *weeps* But it has to get worse before it gets better, as the saying goes! It will get better, I promise. In a few chapters. Review please.