Kira belted the tunic of her pirate costume. With her exquisite black hair, she was perfect for the role. "Come on! The Renfair is only here for a week." Brie, however, hadn't dressed up at all today. She hadn't even put on a smidgeon of make-up. Of course, she never needed it. Her blonde hair naturally formed loose curls, and even without magic, she gave off a happy glow. "It's Renaissance. You know you'll love it."

Odette, having just finished putting her costume on, flowed into the room wearing a regal dress. Picking up immediately on the situation, she joined the argument. "Think of all the cool clothes, Brie. And the drunken singing. Can you imagine it? It'd be just like volume nine of the Smith romances." Both Brie and Odette sighed dreamily. "Besides, I hear all the sexy musicians do Renfair," Odette said as she twisted her dark hair into an equally regal braid.

Brie shrunk into her chair a little. It wasn't hard, as the chair already dwarfed her. Secretly, both of the older women worried for Brie. She hadn't been acting herself lately. There had been no screaming – of any sort – even when Kira had walked in on her in the bathroom. They hadn't had to buy icing in a week, and the cheese was perilously near to molding. There was no apparent reason for it, but with Brie almost nothing was apparent.

"My boyfriend's coming over." Brie mumbled.

The older women both let out exclamations of understanding. "Help yourself to the contraceptives in my . . ." Kira was cut off.

"WOAH! How did you go from my boyfriend coming over to us needing protection?"

Kira blinked. "You invited him over when none of us are going to be here," she stated matter-of-factly.

Brie rose to her feet, taking a confrontational stance. This was much more normal behavior for her. "That's because you guys are so yebatsya territorial! The last time I had him over, Hunter growled at him. If I invite him over while you're here, the only place we can go is my room."

The discussion was interrupted by Hunter. He poked his head in, not caring to enter all the way. His wolfish tendencies combined with his coloring only made him look more like the werewolf he was. Right now he was in a costume that matched Kira's. "I'm going to the car. Mark will be by to make sure you're coming."

The three women watched him retreat with raised eyebrows. This was the girl's parlor, specifically Brie's. The men didn't come to the wing of the house unless they felt they had to. Finally Kira sighed, "He forgot to grab money for lunch. I'll be in the car." Her jewelry jangled as she left.

Odette turned her attention back to Brie, and threw out another idea. "He could always come to the fair with us. When we get there, you two could go off by yourselves."

"No thanks, I'll just . . ." Their conversation was interrupted yet again as Mark, dressed in the regalia of a Spanish noble, walked in.

"Come on. We need to leave." As he talked, his fangs came into view. Brie had never understood how he got them, as he was perfectly normal except for them, and neither Mark nor Odette would talk about it.

Odette waved an irritated hand at Mark. "Fine, fine. I'm coming." Odette glanced back at Brie. "Don't get hurt." And they left.

Brie stood there until she heard the car start up and disappear down the street. Frowning, she mumbled to herself, "Typical. It's not 'be safe'. It's 'don't get hurt'." Brie sat back down and rested her head and arms on the desk. Filled with sudden sadness, she whispered, "I miss you mom."

It was only then that she began to feel the gnawing hunger. Brie was making her way to the kitchen when someone knocked on the door. "It's open," she called. The door was pushed open with a grunt. It was the heaviest door that they could afford to put there. Nathan, her boyfriend, stood on the front steps. Much like Brie, he was short, small, skinny, and a sorcerer.

"No invitation in?" he pouted.

Brie cocked her head at him. "I'm not an idiot. What if you're a ghoul in my boyfriend's skin? If you're Nathan, you can cross it without an invitation. We've had this conversation before."

A silly smile crept onto Nathan's face. "Ghouls are to what as I am to you?"

Brie rolled her eyes, but expression softened. "Not now riddle boy."

Nathan forced himself to look petulant. "But I love conundrums," he whined.

Brie gave him a mock glare. "Right now, it's food time." Nathan stepped through the threshold, leaving most of him power behind.

"I love food too."

"And then it'll be Beauty and the Beast time."

Nathan was horrified, but Brie smiled smugly. "WHAT? But, but why?"

"Cause we are going to have a nice, romantic day. And it's my favorite movie." Brie slipped into an English accent as she walked towards the kitchen.

Nathan slid behind her and grabbed her by the hips, nuzzling her neck. "Is this part of a romantic day?" he whispered sensually.

Brie, feeling uncomfortable, hesitated. Then she nodded. "It could be." She slipped out of his grip and into the kitchen flirtatiously. "For now, I'm baking cookies."

An hour later they sat in front of the large television Odette had paid for. They had already been snuggling when the movie started, but it didn't take long for Nathan to go farther. Belle had just refused to marry Gaston when Nathan started nibbling Brie's ear, "I wonder what kind of underwear you're wearing," he whispered sensually. "Is it that ten-buck brief style from The Wrap? Or the eight dollar thong from Bananas In Pajamas?" Nathan gave her ear another nibble as he slipped his fingers under the waistband of her jeans.

Brie had felt uncomfortable this whole time. She felt wrong. The situation felt wrong. Nathan felt wrong. Brie jumped out of Nathan's lap. " WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING!" Nathan stared at her in shock. "WAS I SENDING THOSE KINDS OF SIGNALS? Making out is fine, but I'm not a common street whore!"

"I just wanted . . ." Nathan interjected feebly.

"Oh, God. Why couldn't I see it earlier?" Brie looked at Nathan with unfocused eyes, able for the first time to see his soul. It didn't look good. "You just wanted to get into my pants. That was always the goal." His reaction confirmed what she saw. It was so dark . . . so cruel. "You're no better than the people I hunt." Tears glistened in Brie's eyes.

Nathan stood up and took a step towards Brie. "It's alright baby," he cooed. But all Brie could hear were the garbled haunting melodies coming from inside him.

"Don't touch me, you vlorgh! You were cheating on me too. How could I have been so blind?" Brie sobbed out.

Nathan's face contorted, the expression matching his soul. "You bitch. How the hell would you know that?" She saw the betrayal, swirling in his soul with everything else.

Brie's eyes focused again, and she began to glow. She was changing into her huntress form. "Get out of my house, and don't you dare to even glance back."

Nathan began to glow as well. He also tried changing into his Magus form, but even if he'd had all of his power, it wouldn't have worked. "They told me you would resist." Her snarled. Nathan was suddenly smothered. His eyes opened wide as he tried to gasp for air, but it was as if he were caught in a chokehold.

"Who are 'they'?" Brie's voice echoed eerily

A scream pierced the air outside the house.

A few hours later, the rest of the household returned from the Renaissance fair. Brie was cheerily nuking frozen crème brulee, with a spoon and a tub of icing under her right arm. The sounds of Beethoven rang through the house. Kira walked into the aromatic kitchen. "I see your date went well."

Brie's smile turned brittle. "We broke up"

Kira was taken aback. ""I'm guessing it wasn't one of those fights where you stand with your backs to each other and apologize ten minutes later, was it?"

Brie grimaced as she remembered the things she'd said to Nathan. "No, it wasn't." She quickly changed the subject. Brie had learned to deal with her own pain. "So, what do we have in the costume trunk for me to wear tomorrow?"

Revenge could be had later. Finally, her family's murderer had caught up with her. And he wasn't a random African terrorist.

He was Hamé Kare