Chapter 1

The sound of a horn honking woke me. I groaned, it's way too early for this witch to be awake. I tried to open my eyes when I suddenly realized my eyes were already open. Shit! What is going on? I looked around and found out I was in my mini cooper sitting in some sort of traffic jam. It appeared to be because of an accident, the many flashing lights were certainly a good indication. I went to turn the radio on but my arm wouldn't move. I tried again, concentrating very hard on just moving my arm and I got no response. 'Crap on toast!'

"That's an interesting choice of words." I heard myself say out loud, only I was not talking.

Oh but you aren't alone in here little witch I heard the voice answer in my head.

Swell. I did not enjoy being possessed the first time and I wasn't about to let it happen again. I tried to tap a line only to find that I couldn't.

I cut you off, wouldn't want you trying to fry your little witchy brain now.

'Get out of my head!' I screamed at the voice in my head. Laughter was the only response I received.

'Who are you?' I asked but no sound came out of my mouth.

Oh you'll find out in do time...

The traffic finally cleared and all I could do was watch as the one possessing my body drove through Cincinnati. We finally stopped in front of Juniors.

'We went through all this trouble for coffee? You have got to be kidding me.'

No. I must see if I can pass as you, Rachel.

Even better. Now my possessor wants to impersonate me. I got out of the car and walked into Juniors. Mark was working and I heard a loud sigh escape him as I approached the counter.

"The regular?" Mark questioned.

"Yes." Was all that my captor responded as she moved to the end of the counter to wait to pick up the order.

"Uh, you have to pay for that." Mark reminded me.

"Oh, yes." I dug through my purse and handed a five to Mark. He shook his head and went to make my coffee.

After I had coffee in my hand I returned to the car.

'Smooth' I told the person sharing my mind.

Shut up witch.

I snorted but the effort was ineffective since I couldn't seem to get my own body to respond. We drove back through town and headed towards the Hollows. I guessed we were going to my church to see if Ivy or Jenks would notice a difference. As we pulled into my parking spot in front of the church I wondered how much this thing knew about me or how much it was reading my mind. I wonder if there was a way I could block it out of my thoughts? As I was contemplating how to build a bubble around my thoughts we had already made our way through my church and into my kitchen.

I loved my kitchen. It had always been my favorite room in the church. Ivy was sitting at her end of the table looking over some maps she had laid out.

"Hey Rache." Ivy said without looking up from her planning, and Ivy was a planner.

"Hey. Do you have a run?" My body asked.

'Ivy! It's not me!' I screamed in my head.

She can't hear you Rachel. Might as well not scream. You'll give both of us a headache.

Ivy looked up and stared, her eyes slightly losing some brown.

"You smell different." Ivy said as she continued to stare at me.

'Yes! She knows, she knows.' I taunted the voice in my head.

My body laughed, "How so?" Ivy eyed me for a moment longer before standing. I felt my body suck in a breath. It's scared of Ivy? Ivy moved closer and finally stopped about a foot away from me, leaning against the center island of the kitchen.

"You smell like you and someone else at the same time, someone familiar. I can't peg it. Did you meet with someone before you were finished with your run?" Ivy asked.

What run? I didn't have a run. "Yeah I did. I actually stopped off at Juniors to meet a potential client but they never showed. Someone bumped into me and nearly spilled their coffee. Maybe that's it." It responded to Ivy's question.

Ivy said nothing, just continued to stare at me.

"Yeah, maybe." She finally answered, and I felt my body exhale in relief. I heard the slight hum of dragon fly wings and then Jenks popped in through the pixy sized hole in the kitchen window.

"Hey Rache" He stopped mid flight and stared at me and Ivy taking in the tense situation. "Tink's titties Rache, you stink. What is that smell? It smells almost moldy." Jenks ranted on. "Have you been playing with worm food again? You need to stay away from those ghosts Rache, they're bad news when it comes to you."

A ghost! Why didn't I think of that?

'Is that what you are?' I asked the voice in my head.

An awkward silence fell in the kitchen. Ivy said nothing and continued to stare. I felt my pulse increase and I know Ivy felt it too. Jenks was just starting to figure out something wasn't right here.

"Rache?" Jenks questioned. I laughed, or my body did. Jenks and Ivy looked at each other then back at me.

"I haven't been around any ghosts. I just bumped into some guy at Juniors that almost spilled their coffee on me. He just brushed by me. It must have been where I picked up the smell." I responded and moved my way to the fridge. My body glanced inside not really looking for anything other than a distraction.

"Leave her alone Jenks, I'm sure it was just what happened at Juniors." Ivy said as she gave Jenks a stern look. I knew what that look meant but I wondered if my unwelcome body mate knew as well.

"I've got to make a call." Ivy whisked out of the kitchen edging on going vampy. Damn, it was only three in the afternoon.

"So Rache, heard anything from your favorite elf?" Jenks smiled.

"My elf?" I responded.

Yes Rachel, your elf. That is why I am here.

Jenks just laughed. "Of course your elf, who else would I be referring to? Rachel and Trent sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n...no wait it was the kitchen!"

"Very funny, Jenks." Was all my body responded.

You do have an interesting relationship with Trenton. Tell me witch, is he your elf?

Ivy came back into the kitchen and took her seat in front of the computer. My body was anxious, scared, and I had no control. It was starting to push Ivy's buttons. She had been doing so good with Glenn being gone and it really ticked me off that this thing inside of me was getting to Ivy.

"Who did you call?" It asked Ivy.

Ivy glanced my direction "None of your business."

It smiled at Ivy. 'Now would be a good time to exit the kitchen.' I told it. 'I would like to keep my body in one piece without any new vamp bites today.'

It seemed to listen because before I knew it we were in the living room lounging across the gray sofa. I'm not really sure if it got tired because of all the energy it was taking to possess me but I felt it suddenly give a little on the hold it had on me.

"Ivy!" I screamed and it actually came out of my mouth.

Big mistake.

It crammed my hand over my mouth and it felt like we were having a struggle inside of me. I tried to pulled my hand off my mouth and in the process we fell to the floor with a thump. I was able to get my hand off of my mouth, but I couldn't get my voice to work. We were rolling on the floor with it trying to shove my hand back over my mouth. We finally turned as I heard Jenks' wings. Ivy's eyes were totally black. She had vamped out. She moved faster than it knew was possible and slammed us up against the wall.

"What are you?" She whispered. "Is Rachel in there with you?" We gurgled and Ivy let up a little so we could speak.

"She's in here. She's okay. She can hear you." was all that it said, which didn't seem to settle Ivy any. Jenks had his sword drawn but was clearly unsure of what to do with it seeing as the enemy was inside my body.

"Ivy we have to do something." Jenks whispered.

"I already have. I called Ceri. She's sending Trent over." Ivy said.

As one me and my unwelcome visitor groaned. Ivy blinked, and a little brown returned to her eyes.

"Rachel?" She questioned.

"No, but she feels the same way I do about you calling Trenton." We shifted slightly, but not fighting the hold Ivy had on us as we were still pinned against the wall.

I wasn't ready for him yet!

"I knew she smelled funny." Jenks hovered at eye level with his sword still drawn.

"What are you going to do about it, bug?" It asked Jenks.

Jenks started dusting red but didn't answer. "How much longer?" he finally asked.

"Soon." Ivy said.

We all stood in silence after that. Great. Trent was coming to save my ass again. I really was going to owe him big. Maybe I can offer to baby sit or something. I carried on the conversation in my head forgetting that I had someone overhearing everything. Somehow my thoughts drifted back to that kiss. It seemed to be on my mind a lot lately, especially when I was in the kitchen. I felt my face blush, feeling successful in the fact that the thing couldn't control that part of my body. Ivy stiffened and I think she knew exactly what I had been thinking about.

Jenks seemed to notice the faint blush also and said "Good god Rache, can't you think about anything other than sex. Get your hormones under control witch."

There was a loud bang as the front door was opened, then slammed shut. I felt my body stiffen as if in fear. Why is this thing afraid of elves? The fear hit Ivy hard and her eyes went full black again and her breathing became uneven.

"Stop being scared." Ivy told it. "I don't want to hurt Rachel."

My body laughed. "I don't care about Rachel." It said cruelly. Just then Quen, followed by Trent walked into the living room. Quen took in the situation and took a position just behind Trent. Trent walked up to me. Ivy released me but I stayed pressed against the wall. Trent stood just a few inches taller than me and was slightly bent at eye level in front of me.

"Rachel doesn't have control of her body." He could tell just by looking in my eyes? I wasn't sure if that made me feel better or worse about my situation. "How long has she been like this?" Trent questioned Ivy.

"I think just today." she whispered. "She wasn't like this when she went to bed. She left a note saying she had a run and was gone before I woke up. She came back like this."

Trent nodded and continued to observe me. His eyes were their usual bright green but he almost had a pained look behind them. He put one hand on my shoulder and my body started to tremble. Damn, and double damn this was going to hurt. I was pretty sure whatever this thing was knew it too.

"Wait!" It held out my hand. "Trenton don't do this. I won't hurt Rachel."

'You already are hurting me. Let me talk!' I yelled at it.

If I let you talk to him will you convince him not to take me out of you?

'Sure. Whatever you say.' I felt defeated. Then I felt like I had my body back. I could still feel it inside of me but I felt like I could move how I wanted, say what I wanted, breath how I wanted. The moment it let me have control back Trent put his other hand on my other shoulder.

"Rachel?" His eyes looked deeply into mine and he knew it was me.

"Trent, I don't know what's going on. I don't even know what it is. It doesn't want you to take it out." I explained gasping for breath, finally being able to do it on my own. Trent scowled but didn't respond. Then just as suddenly my control was gone. The thing was back. Trent knew the moment it returned and his grip on me tightened.

Quen and Ivy shuffled their feet nervously behind Trent.

"Sa'han?" Quen questioned. "I think I know what it is. I can see it in Ms. Morgan's eyes."

"As do I, Quen." Trent's response was flat.

"We must get it out of her." Quen looked determined to do anything he could to help at this point. He took a step forward and was almost side by side with Trent.

"I agree." Trent said as he raised a circle around us.

'Yes!' I was shouting over and over in my head.

You idiot. He's going to hurt you as bad as he's going to hurt me. I need him! It gulped.

Oh yeah, this was going to be a rough one. I felt Trent pull on the line and felt it start to go into me, just as I heard the singing. It was beautiful. I had always loved listening to Trent's voice. The rise and fall of it was so hypnotic that I didn't even realize we had slowly sunk to the floor. I just kept listening to his beautiful voice over and over tela sina templa, tessa i' uuvanimo, eithel ne sii', kela, yaara er.

Then the thing inside of me started to struggle. I felt my body lash out against Trent. I tried to stop it and it got a good punch in before Trent got a firm enough grip on me. Quen had my legs pinned to the floor as I continued to lash out. Trent stayed completely solid and kept singing as if my life depended on it.

Well it does you stupid witch. This isn't as easy as your elf thinks.

I thought about panicking but then I focused on Trent's voice again and lost all the will to fight it. As I slowly felt my eyes start to close the thing inside of me tore through me. I felt like my skull was on fire. I opened my mouth to scream but no sound escaped. It felt like someone is clawing me from the inside out. My whole body was bursting with pain. I couldn't hear Trent anymore. The thing inside of me felt weaker but everything hurt so much. I felt like I was on fire. I tried to scratch at my arms to make the feeling go away but there were hands restraining me. I couldn't hear anything other than the screams in my head that weren't my own. Fire raced through me all the way to my toes. Then everything went black.