I looked at my bloody fist another time, my hand healed but there was blood still on it, dried onto my skin. I looked back to Colin, who was sweeping up glass that had fallen from the mirror I punched.

I was expecting him to shoot me some words of wisdom, some idea to fix all my problems, maybe a condolence or a threat to kill whoever took Becker. But all I received from him was silence and the occasional worried glance.

Don't get me wrong, I was used to the worried glances and the silence from my family. I was used to the judgement and sullen looks from them. But... but from Colin? I was partly terrified, mainly because his silence affected me this much. I understood that I more than like liked him, but he was right to say it was scary. Love is terrifying, but that's how you know when it's real. Is when you're terrified to lose the other person, when you're terrified to mess up and lose their love, when it's so strong it's scary.

However, that was only a small part of me. A tiny glimpse of my emotions. The rest of my heart was red with anger, fighting against my brain to jump up and run to Quebec. My head told me to stay calm, take deep breaths. But oh how my heart wanted to run to the fight. Somehow, my head outweighed my heart for the first time, so I sat on the armrest of Colin's deep red velvet couch in the living room.

"Can you please say something?" I snapped, looking up from my bloody fist.

He stood up and sighed disappointedly. "What do I say? Anything I say will be wrong, Everly." He sounded like a disappointed mom or a confused dad.

I narrowed my eyes. "What's that mean?"

"You're doing that thing again." He muttered, grabbing the broom and sweeping up the smaller pieces of glass he couldn't pick up. He swept it into the dustpan and tossed it into the trash, shaking his head.

I looked up at the ceiling, a small chandelier hanging like teardrops. "Doing what again? You have to be more specific than that. I'm not a genius like you."

"THAT!" He gestured to me with his arms, one hand holding the broom and dustpan, and the other one holding a bag. "When you get angry you find anything to argue over. And when you're sad everything goes, you can't argue. And right now you're angry." He said it rudely and when I went to open my mouth he held a hand up. "Everly, I really don't want to argue with you. I hate seeing you like this, is all." He said defeatedly.

"Like?" Weak? Angry? Argumentative. I had never noticed my shift in emotions but he apparently paid enough attention to see them.

He set the broom against the wall and walked to me, each hand on the side of my waist and his eyes peering into mine. "Scared," He said after a moment of contemplation. "I hate seeing you scared and distressed."

I wasn't expecting that. Maybe a sad or an angry, but not a scared. "I'm not scared, I'm a Dawn, I don't get sca—"

"And I'm a Gold but I don't like the color. Last names mean nothing. Everly, I see it in your eyes. I feel it because well... I'm a vampire. I know you're scared. And I hate seeing you like this. I'm scared too. I'm scared that what I want to say won't make a difference to you, or it will and it'll be the wrong thing." He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against mine, his breathing soft. "I'm sorry Becker is gone. I really am."

So he did have an opinion. And judging by his demeanor, I had no choice but to deduce that I wouldn't like whatever he wanted to say. My interest was peaked now anyways. "What do you want to say?" I asked.

He pulled away and I missed him being close to me already.

He exhaled heavily and ran a hand through his hair. He looked up and groaned. "Oh I hope my face is less punchable than a glass mirror." He looked back to me. "You should tell your family to call off the search for Becker." He said it quickly, fearfully. He should be scared. His face was less punchable than a mirror, but that wouldn't stop me.

I jumped up from my position on the arm of the couch. "No! I've already told you! Beck—"

"Not because of him!" Colin yelled quickly, defending himself. "I think it's a trap. A diversion. They start getting close to the kids and then suddenly Becker is gone?" He rubbed his chin, shaking his head. "It just doesn't make sense. Or maybe it does. Maybe Konrad or the Quebecian Witches wanted that."

I took a deep breath to calm myself. "Trap or no trap I'm going to find him." I said sternly. "I want to go to Quebec to help, I want Becker to be safe. I want Zach to be safe, and apparently my family needs more help than they thought."

"But isn't that what Konrad would want? If he's already risen then he can take us down, he's—" Colin froze and looked at me as if all his dreams were shattered. He had an epiphany as depressing as WW2. "If Konrad has risen... does that mean that the kids..." he didn't have to finish his sentence.

I looked just over his head at the frame full of broken glass that hung on the wall. My cracked reflection looked back at me.

"Trap or not, we need to find those kids. They're losing time." I looked at him and almost asked where the car keys were when I felt the room drop a hundred degrees, a sudden shift in the environment.

Fog seeped into the room from the hallways and from under the door. The lights snapped out and Colin grabbed me, pulling me to his chest.

An eerie blue lighting fled onto us from the moon outside, it's silvery drapes illuminating nothing but shadows.

I gulped as the TV turned on, black and white snow filling the screen. The crackle of the screen reflected in Colin's fearful eyes.

"Everly." Colin grabbed my hands and squeezed them before letting go and taking a step away. "Stay here."

I grabbed his arm, holding him to me. "Don't you dare leave me here you asshole." I threatened and palmed my knife, looking around the dark living room for anything or anyone.

The wall bent and twisted until a  figure emerged from it, a pair of familiar empty eyes and red gelled hair meeting my hateful gaze. "Oh Everly so good to see you again." His voice was like velvet, so sweet and smooth. I hated it.

"I was going to grab a knife but it looks like you have that covered." Colin said, nodding to my hand, seemingly oblivious to the monster in the room.

"Konrad. You have risen." I said and Colin followed my eyesight, but he looked too confused to understand the situation. It was like he couldn't see Konrad, or maybe he did and didn't care he was in the room.

Konrad frowned. "Oh not yet. He can't see me by the way. Only you. He doesn't share blood with someone who partook in killing me. You... you do however so I can easily torment you." He chuckled and the TV screen burst out, I let out a small scream and then suddenly I felt a wall against my back.

Colin covered my body with his, no doubt glass was pressed into his back. He winced as he took a step back. "Ah Hell." He whined and fell to one knee, blood seeping from his back onto the floor in a puddle.

Konrad clicked his tongue, stepping behind Colin. "Oh no no no, poor boy. You might want to help him Everly. While you still can." He laughed maniacally, his teeth reflecting any light in the room.

"What do you want!?" I shouted, taking a defensive step in front of Colin.

"Girl protects the guys now huh? I always hated that. Hated women. Hated weaklings. But you... maybe not you. You have peaked my interest Everly Dawn, you might be the cause of the end of your species. So funny. I like that." He didn't sound amused. He sounded bored with my entire being.

I hated it. "Give me back Becker. Give me back the kids. Or I swear—"

"Everly who are you talking to!? Help me get this— agh, this glass out of my back." Colin tried to stand but collapsed again.

"You'll what? Kill me? Becker is the most powerful supernatural in the world and he struggled to do it. Arlis, that damned fucking orphaned mutt, is probably the second most likely to kill me and he... he has more scars than he can count from a fight with me." Suddenly he was in front of me, his strange deathly scent hitting my nose and making me gag when I breathed.  "You dont look your father. Or your mother. More like Constance." He tilted his head and then began laughing again.

I drew my leg back and kicked his shin but my leg passed through him. I couldn't touch him. I was out of moves, out of plans of attack. How could you kill something that you couldn't touch, something that was already dead?

"I'll offer you the same deal I offered Becker," my attack definitely had no effect on him. On any supernatural, that could have broke bone. "Come with me. Join me. Your... vampire boy toy... can come along! Oh we'll have so much fun." He smiled.

I shook my head. "I'd die before I join you." I said through clenched teeth, my nails digging into my palms.

He widened his eyes in shock. "Becker said the same. And then I told him all the perks. You get to be powerful Everly. You can show Constance up, protect Zach, get back at Kasparov for his terrible familial skills."

I took a startled step back and shook my head madly. "Becker would never agree to be with you." I said. Maybe it was just because he understood me so well, but Colin sat back and watched me intently, not saying anything. "You can't play your tricks on me Konrad."

"Becker might have gone Atrax. Us witches can do it too you know." He smirked. "Well even though you have denied my offer, I will still tell you this. I am sending you a gift. On Christmas. In the meantime I'll be reconnecting with my son."

I glared at him, suddenly more empowered. "Becker isn't your son."

He turned and, with a half smile, nodded his head. "I know things you don't know, Everly."

"I'll track you down. I'll face off with you myself. You're a coward and a pig, a spineless bastard!" I screamed and threw my knife at him. Much to my surprise, it buried itself into his chest, right where his cold heart was.

He pulled it out of his chest, and dropped it. "Was that supposed to hurt?" He rushed at me, and I tried to dodge him but he pressed me high against the wall, his fist around my throat. "It is not wise to be foolish, my favorite saying. One passed on through the generations."

"It's dumb, just like you." I croaked out.

He dropped me and fell to the floor. I rubbed my throat, I could feel his hands cutting off my circulation still. Colin ran to my side, sliding on the floor and looking over me, panic filling his eyes.

"So immature." Konrad rolled his eyes. "Maybe it is better you didn't join. I already have to deal with Becker's jokes. Goodbye, Everly."

He clapped his hands together, the lights snapping on so brightly all I saw was white. I closed my eyes, determined to not be blinded, and when I finally opened them again, Konrad was gone.

I smacked the ground with my fists, denting and cracking the wood below me.

"We have to kill him." I snarled and stood up, pushing Colin over. "He can't just walk all over me!"

Colin stood up and brushed himself off, shaking his head. "Who— how were you talking to Konrad?"

I blinked at him and turned to where Konrad was standing just moments ago. "He... He was here... I... he wanted me to join him, to be a part of his goal." I said, spinning on my heels to face Colin.

He widened his eyes. "Did you... take him up on his offer?"

"NO!" I shouted and shook my head. "No." I whispered. "I'd never. But but..." I thought for a single second about how he said Becker joined him. I held it back. "He said he'd be sending a gift to us at Christmas."

Colin licked his lips. "What kind?"

I shrugged. "No clue, how far away is Christmas?"

He turned and took a step before falling to the ground. "Julius Caesar, Eve, my back."

I jumped and covered my mouth, running to him. "I am so sorry. I..." I bent down and ripped his shirt back, revealing the glass buried in his back. "This is going to hurt."

Vampires healed slower than us. He'd feel this. For a good long five minutes.

I pulled one shard out and he tensed, clenching his teeth. "Eve stop." He tried to stand up but I pulled him down. He needed these out.

"Oh no you don't." I ripped another glass shard out and he twitched forward, groaning.

"A week." Colin seethed out, gripping his shirt. "Christmas is in exactly a week."

***

We sat on the couch, silence consuming us like a heavy fog.

After I pulled out all the glass from his back, I explained to him what Konrad told me. Everything except that he said Becker was working with him. He'd just believe Konrad. But I knew the true Becker. Not the lies and rumors, the myths surrounding him.

He had nothing to say. I had nothing to say. But I had so much running though my head, so many ideas and thoughts.

What if Becker was working with Konrad? What could Konrad have said to make Becker want to work with him?

What if the kids are dead? What if my dad and Dallas were next? If Felix is dead, what does that mean for Fiona?

What does that mean for me? For Colin? For us?

It was hard having thoughts that scared you and tumbled you, threw you against the wall and pressured you to think it over again and again. It was even harder when you thought you already know the answer to all your problems but you refuse to admit it to others and even yourself.

Thinking was a dangerous subject. Maybe that's why I hit first think later.

I ran a hand through my hair, my fingers getting caught on tangles that I never thought to brush out.

"Do you think it'll be bodies?" Colin asked, facing me. "Their bodies? That he'll deliver on Christmas?"

I stood up from the couch and walked to the kitchen, helping myself with a glass of water. I drank it all too fast and walked back to Colin with the glass in my hand. I needed a distraction.

"Why would you say that?" I asked questioningly, curious as to how he came to such a morbid conclusion.

He couldn't meet my eyes and his leg was bouncing terribly. "Because if Konrad is rising, then he'll want his little Hunter army. If he kills those kids he can make them. Plus... you know how morals and pride work around here. The bodies are always sent back to the families." He stopped bouncing his leg. "The more I think about it the more it makes sense."

I scooted closer to him, tipping my cup back and eating a piece of ice, satisfied by the crunch.

"What if they do send back bodies?" I asked quietly.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I don't know."

"We should go to Quebec." I stated, scratching my arm nervously.

He groaned, leaned forward and rested his elbows on his legs, burying his face in his hands. "I've already told you Eve, we can't! It's trap, something bad will happen. Someone powerful is there, and they know your family is there. And Becker goes missing an—"

I pulled his arms away from his face. "We need to go."

"Then you're going alone!" He yelled back and then caught himself. "You are so strong Everly, but you just can't see the truth."

"I do see it! I'm just willing to risk everything—"

"What if you become the last one in your family? Your mom is gone, your brother, your Becker. What are you going to do if you disappear too? What am I going to do!? Please just trust me." Maybe it was his pleading voice or him in general, but I knew he was right.

I wiped my face. "Fine. But know I'm only doing this for you."

"That's fine by me." He replied. Colin reached forward to kiss me but we were interrupted once again by a stupid phone.

But this time it wasn't mine. It was his.

He picked it up. "What?" He snapped, and then corrected himself by clearing his throat. "Yeah dad... hmmm... okay... yeah she's right here." He pulled the phone away from his ear and handed it to me. "My dad wants to talk to you."

I nodded and put the phone to my ear. "This is Everly."

Clay was breathing much too heavily on the other side, he sounded like he ran a marathon twice at record speeds (even for a vampire). "Everly... it's Constance."

I stood up abruptly. "Is she okay!?"

He paused for a long minute, a minute that felt like hours. "She's with Konrad."

"What!? Help her! Get her—"

"No I mean she's with Konrad. She's siding with him." He said and my world fell like a card castle.

"Was Becker with her? Or my sister?" What if Fiona and Becker were too? What if my whole family was? Would I think any differently of them? Would that change my opinion on joining Konrad?

"Not that I know of. Why do you ask?" He sounded suspicious of me now and I mentally cursed myself.

Colin shot me a weird look too, he knew I was worried. He knew I was hiding something from him.

"Just wondering. I know Becker follows Constance and I thought maybe since Fiona wasn't found that she made the same deal." That relieved some of the stress in Colin's shoulders. And some of the stress on mine.

Clay huffed on the other side. "I'll keep my ears open."

"How did you find out? About Connie." I asked quickly before he hung up.

He was silent for a moment. "I... I'm not at liberty to say. Good bye Everly." He hung up the phone, and I tossed it back to Colin.

Not at liberty to say? What could he possibly be hiding? Did he kill a man? I laughed to myself but stopped when I realized that he very well may have killed a man.

Was he working with Konrad. "What are the odds of your dad working with Konrad?" I asked straightforwardly.

Colin shrugged. "Negative infinity. Konrad hates Vampires. Konrad creates Hunters. My dad hates Hunters and is a Vampire."

He made a good point. Maybe Clay did kill a man. Maybe he slept with someone. Maybe he found the kids.

I hated not knowing what was happening around me. I hated this sudden shift in my life. I was in the calm for a while, but now everything was loud.

As loud as the knocking on the door.

I made quick eye contact with Colin. "I'll get it—"

"We've been over this I'll answer it." Colin stated, leaving no room for argument. He walked through the door and groaned, stomping his foot.

"Who is it?" I asked.

He opened the door and a pretty red head with emeralds for eyes walked in, her short frame and chubbier weight not taking  away from her beauty. She could easily make any girl jealous.

"He's here." Was all she said before running up the stairs in vamp speed.

I gulped at the same time as Colin.