(A/N): So next chapter is the Halloween chapter... unfortunately, I decided- given the length of it at the 'halfway' point, that I would have to end it a little bit earlier than expected. It still took me over two hours to type it up, so... enjoy that, when it comes out. THIS chapter is coming to you a bit later (about 11pm, on the 29th), because I was house sitting for my sister, and therefore didn't get enough sleep, and almost passed out while trying to lock her front door as I was leaving, from the heat. It was '19 degrees' today... it felt like 29.

Trigger Warning: Discussion of Grey and Sidonie's relationship, which is... quite problematic. Sidonie's harem/clan, too.

January 16th, 1966

Evie

It took me a second to be able to respond to that- to be able to think anything beyond 'fangs' and 'neck', and piece together any sort of intelligible speech. "Uhn... what else- teach?" Well, when I say intelligible...

Grey chuckled throatily against my- er, throat- and I wasn't entirely as grateful as I probably should've been when he pulled back to give me room to think. "What else are we taught?" He said it as though he was ruminating on the subject out loud, but I think we all knew it was just for me- to give me time to gather my wits, what little of them I seemed to possess. When I didn't say anything, he pushed forward. "Well, earlier, I mentioned joining Sidonie's clan- did Lisbet or Jerremyah explain that to you, already?" I shook my head.

"N-no. And honestly, I was- I caught that, and I was going to ask, but I got... distracted." He smirked at me, but I wasn't talking about what he'd just been doing to my neck, I was talking about everything he'd said about his family. It was kind of hard to ask questions about vampire terminology, when the person you'd be asking was pouring their heart out about their family trauma.

"I bet you were." Cocky, wasn't he? "A clan is- well, it depends. At its most basic, a clan is what we call a group of vampires. There are two types of clans- or, again, it depends, but mostly, there are two types. First is the more casual kind, where a group of vampires join together for the safety numbers provide. The second," He said, glancing back toward Nuria- then past her, down the hall where Lisbet and Jerremyah had disappeared. "Is a family. People- vampires- who come together because they care about each other, not just because they want protection."

It didn't take a genius to figure out what his feelings were about the two types of clans- and which he thought Nuria's clan was. "And which type is Sidonie's clan?" I asked, and I watched his expression turn dry. "I mean, you said she let you bargain, which says to me that it's more of a business arrangement- am I wrong?" He looked like he wanted to glare at me, but wasn't actually mad enough at me to do so- the proximity clause was working its magic yet again.

"Sidonie's-" He cut himself off, like he realised he'd been about to say something the wrong way. "Sidonie's clan, is complicated." I didn't have to look behind me to know Nicholai was rolling his eyes. "She's... Sidonie may be our leader, but she isn't exactly... she likes to keep her distance. She's very careful not to give us any chances to misinterpret her intentions- we know why we're there, and she knows why we're there. Nobody- well, almost nobody- falls in love with her, and as long as we follow the rules, we're free to live the way we please, under her protection." I felt my eyebrows furrow.

"What- can I ask... what sort of rules are you having to follow, to stay part of her clan?"

He narrowed his eyes at me, and unfortunately, pulled away until we were no longer hugging. Uh oh, I'd lost my good behavior insurance. "For your information," He started crisply. "There aren't many rules that Sidonie holds us to, beyond the standard ones every clan asks of their members." I glanced at Nuria, and she gave me the slightest shake of her head- right, I suppose it doesn't matter, since I wouldn't be joining any clan, let alone hers. "No sex with any woman other than her without her explicit permission, while on any of her properties," Uh...? "No falling in love with her," Grey wasn't the only one who was cocky, it seemed. "And what Sidonie says, goes."

My eyebrows shot up, and I automatically reached out to put a hand on his arm. "Grey-" This time, he did glare at me. "Feel free to tell me if I'm overstepping-"

"You're overstepping." He snapped, and I held my breath for a second before trying again- because I had to.

"I'm not- I'm not judging you." He arched an eyebrow at me as if to say, 'Well, it sure as shit feels like you are'. "I couldn't care less what you do, as long as you're happy," I stared as deeply into his eyes as I could. "Are you?" He blinked. "Are you happy, Grey?"

A crease appeared between his eyebrows, and he looked less angry now- if only because there was less room for it on his face with the two newcomers: confusion, and something that looked suspiciously like introspection. "I..." He said eventually, reluctantly. "I'm... content." Which was all the answer I needed, really- and it was all the answer I was going to get, since we were interrupted by the sound of a door opening, down the hall.

I assumed it was Lisbet and Jerremyah returning, and sure enough, they swept into the room a few seconds later. Lisbet was in front, one hand still pulling her hair out from where it was tucked into her shirt, the other serving as a tether so she could drag Jerremyah in behind her. He was also in a state of... unreadiness, and before he had the chance to pull his sweater down, I got a rather enticing eyeful of defined abdominals decorated with various tattoos- and bite marks. Once he was put back together- or as put together as Jerremyah ever was- he swooped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, drawing closer until his chest was flush to her back, and he'd laced their fingers together so he was holding both of her hands.

I made sure to meet Lisbet's eyes first, to try to get some sort of idea as to what I was supposed to do- what I wasn't supposed to say- and she gave me a soft, but not warning, look. To me, that said I was safe to say whatever I wanted- to a reasonable degree, of course. Following that, I turned my attention to Jerremyah right as he hooked his chin over her shoulder, but now I was focused on him and that area, I got to watch him press his mouth to her neck- or more specifically, to the matching bite mark he'd clearly left there. Well. That was... incredibly tantalizing.

It took him a second to meet my eyes, which I thought was fair enough, since he seemed pretty distracted- I couldn't exactly blame him, given the way Lisbet looked right now. There was a pleasant flush high on her cheeks, and her normally smooth hair was ruffled in a rather suggestive way- she looked well taken care of, and if I'd been the one to make her look like that, I wouldn't have been willing to take my eyes off of her, either. When he did meet my eyes, he blinked as if surprised to find my attention on him, then flashed me a lopsided smile. It wasn't quite his usual, but it was leagues better than when he'd left- though I don't think it could get much worse than that.

"You alright?" I asked him, trying not to put too much weight on it in case it made him feel awkward, but he merely shrugged.

"I'll deal," His eyes dropped for a second, and when he lifted them again, they were focused on Khal. Khal, who was already looking. I couldn't tell if it was because he'd foreseen it, or if he'd just already been staring because he was concerned, but I don't suppose it really mattered how it'd happened. "Khal... I know it's not your fault. You're doing your best, and I appreciate it, even when it's... uncomfortable, for me." Khal dipped his head, but apparently, they weren't done with him.

Lisbet spoke up next, wearing a penitent expression on her face. "I'm sorry for what I said, Khaldun. I know you're not... it's not fun for you, either. I just-" She cut herself off, hesitating, but Khal nodded.

"It's okay," He assured her- assured them. "I understand you're- I hurt your mate. It was unintentional, but that doesn't make it- I get it. I'm sure I'd react the same way, if I-" He pinched his lips together, and everyone in the room gave him a sympathetic look. Lisbet and Jerremyah especially, which I suppose made sense, given the fact that they were, after all, the only ones here who had a mate. "It's okay." He finished, and Nuria took my spot on the couch- between Nicholai and Minsi, which made for an odd picture- and squeezed his hand where it rested on the back of the couch.

"Khalli," She said, but when he shook his head, she pivoted swiftly, and turned to Jerremyah. "I don't know how much you heard while you were gone-"

An overwhelmingly self-satisfied grin bloomed on his face, and he interrupted her with, "Less than Lisbet did, I can promise you that." Even as Nuria rolled her eyes at him, there was a hint of relief on her face, and Lisbet's cheeks pinkened in a way I suspected was exclusively for my benefit.

"Right. Well. The long and short of it is: Khal gave Evie some advice that didn't really make sense, but did apparently reference one of her friends-"

I piped up before I realised what I was doing. "Pip!" I supplied, before recognising the fact that I'd just cut Nuria off, and shot her an apologetic look.

She returned my look with an indulgently reproachful one, then shook her head as if she was shaking the whole thing off- at least she didn't seem too mad about it. "Evie played Nicholai and Greygorry like fiddles-" I couldn't help the way my cheeks turned a red that put Lisbet's pink to shame, but she and Jerremyah simply aimed matching fond, almost proud expressions my way. "-we discussed the Statute of Secrecy, and Lisbet almost being burned at the stake-" Jerremyah's wince was much harder than Lisbet's. "-Evie found out we can smell her arousal, and has since embraced it-" Okay, I didn't think I could blush any harder, but... had Lisbet and Jerremyah been able to smell it from their bedroom? Could they smell it now, lingering? "-Khal told Evie that her demigod is going to be completely head over heels for her, and Evie picked a fight with Nicholai that turned into a fight between Nicholai and Greygorry, which I had to step in and put an end to."

Jerremyah blinked, before a cruel smirk spread across his lips. "Because you didn't want Sidonie's champion to beat the nomad, right Nuri?" I heard Nicholai growl from behind me, but Nuria just rolled her eyes in a way that somehow simultaneously conveyed relief and annoyance- a truly impressive feat, if you ask me.

"Anyway," She said pointedly, and Jerremyah grinned, undeterred. "We briefly talked about Hunters, and then Nicholai and Greygorry each proceeded to tell us a story of the sob variety." They both made offended noises, but Nuria pushed forward like nothing had happened. Not like she hadn't heard them, but like they were inconsequential. "So, how much of that did you hear?" She asked again, and Jerremyah's grin turned into a smirk once more- but before he could say anything, Lisbet brought one set of their interlocked hands up to cover his mouth.

I heard him press a noisy kiss to the back of her hand, as she spoke up in her mate's place. "Most of it. I'm sure we missed some specifics, but I'm willing to bet a lot of it was just context that we're already aware of, for Evie's benefit." Jerremyah nipped at her hand until she removed it from his mouth, and I suspected she only did so because she knew he wanted her to, rather than any displeasure at what he was doing. As soon as she released him, he opened his mouth, which told me he would've allowed her to keep her hand there a lot longer if he hadn't had a quip waiting.

"Or don't care about, like Nicholai's family, and love life," I swear, the force of Nicholai's eyes rolling physically stirred the air, but before he could say anything, Jerremyah audibly gasped as I shot him a sharp look. "Evie!" He whined. "You're supposed to be on my side!" I felt my face soften against my will but forced myself to at least try to stand my ground.

"I am on your side," His face immediately lit up. "I just wish you two could get along- and I thought you learned your lesson about not starting things with him." And now it fell, straight into a pout.

He opened his mouth again, but before he could say anything, Khal spoke instead. "Speaking of lessons," He said, and it was quite telling that everyone in the room turned to devote their full attention to him. "We've taught Evie all we can, for now." It wasn't a suggestion; there was no, 'I think', to that statement- he knew, and we knew he knew, as was the power of the seer.

"Is that your way of saying you think it's time for us to stop talking?" I asked him, half joking, and he shrugged.

"That's my way of saying your sister and friends have noticed your absence in a big way," He said, and I felt my heart sink through my stomach, down to somewhere below my knees. "And they're currently entertaining some... rather unwelcome guests."

(A/N): So I realised the other day that I had miscalculated a bit, in terms of timing for certain events. Because of that, I recognised the fact that I would have to, er... move things forward a bit, plot wise, in order to get things where they need to be, by the time I need them to be there. Technically, this plot line isn't really part of that, because it's 'in the past', but I do need to wrap up 'past Evie' to get to present Evie, and that's... on the table.