Amarice looked over at a framed picture. The picture was of two small girls. The shorter one had crystal blue eyes and short, curly blonde hair. The taller one had chocolate brown eyes and long, straight brown hair. The picture was from 15 years ago and it was of herself and her younger sister. She had not seen her younger sister in 10 years, because when she became Kindred, she cut off all ties with her mortal life, only observing and not interacting. Amarice hated watching her sister grow up thinking that her sister had died in a car accident. She was 10 years older than her younger sister. Amarice sat up with the intent on finding her young sister and getting to know her better.

Jeff rolled over and moaned. Matt looked up from his seat across the room and walked over, sitting on the bed next to his brother. "It’s okay, I’m here," Matt informed his younger brother protectively. Matt put his hand on Jeff’s forehead. He frowned. "You’re burning up again," he informed him. Matt stood and walked into the bathroom. He grabbed a washcloth and held it under cold water for a few minutes. He stepped back into Jeff’s room and put the cool rag on Jeff’s forehead. Jeff stopped moaning and fell back asleep. Matt went down into the kitchen to fetch a tray of beverages. He poured four glasses and went back up the stairs.

In Dakota’s room, Edge was sitting on the bed next to Dakota. He was stroking her hair softly, comforting her. She had stopped whining and fell quiet. Edge was frowning. Dakota had stopped sweating and her hair was matted to her head. Dakota rolled over and crawled out of bed. "Dakota, get back in bed. You are weak." Dakota obeyed and lay back down. "I’ll be right back Cody, don’t be afraid." Dakota nodded weakly and pulled her and his velvet blankets up around her. Edge went and got a cool rag. He met Matt half way and took two glasses. Edge bit his wrist and squeezed some of his blood into Dakota’s strawberry juice. He went back into the room and placed the rag on her head. She smiled faintly as Edge handed her the glass. She took a sip of it and her face turned. She crawled out of bed and made it halfway out into the hallway before the contents of her stomach came spilling out onto the wood floor. Edge leapt onto his feet, spilling his glass of water on Dakota’s dark blue rug. "Oh God, Dakota no!" he cried. He rushed over to her and knelt beside her, holding her hair back and rubbing her back to help ease the pain. Dakota looked up at him, a mix of vomit and blood running down her chin. Edge took her face in his hands and wiped it off with a soft rag that was lying on the floor. Before they realized what was going on, Dakota started crying. Edge lifted her up and into his lap, rocking her gently. He sang softly to her. "Edge, what’s happening to me?" she asked him in a soft, almost inaudible voice. Edge knew full well what was happening. His little Dakota was slowly dying. Both she and Jeff. He knew what is was from too. They needed each other, and once their bodies, minds, and souls knew that they were together again, the disease would exit their bodies and make them well again. That was why she could not ingest blood, for her body rejected it because she was not with Jeff, and it would be impossible for her to recover without him, and him without her. Edge would never tell her that. It would scare her and if she got scared, the disease would just run through her body faster. "You’re just sick Dakota, that’s all. You should be better soon, I’m going to get you some medicine." "You can’t leave me alone!" Dakota said to him. She looked at him with an expression of fear. ‘Shit,’ Edge thought. ‘just what I didn’t want to do.’ He could already see Dakota’s face flush with heat. "I’m going to leave you with Christian." "I don’t want to be with Christian. He’ll just kill me," Dakota said with a crying, child-like tone to her voice. Edge shook his head. "No he won’t, little one, he won’t." Dakota clung to him when he went to stand up. Edge put her softly in bed and pulled the covers up around her. She would not let him go. He sat down next to her and stroked her hair softly, singing softly to her. Dakota’s eyes slowly slipped shut and she fell asleep. Edge got up and walked down the hall to Jeff’s room.

When Edge entered, Matt looked up from his chair. He rose to greet him. "How’s he doing?" Edge asked him. "He’s getting worse. He used to be able to take in blood, but now he can’t. He just vomits it back up at me." Edge nodded. "How’s Dakota?" "Pretty bad. She is showing the same symptoms as Jeff. Look, I think I know what they are suffering from." "What?" Matt asked quickly. Edge explained.

When he was done explaining, Matt nodded. "Where is my brother?" "I think he is out with his girlfriend. Why?" "Because I want him to watch Dakota for a few minutes while I go and get medicine for them." "I can watch them both if you want." Edge nodded. "Dakota’s asleep, and she should stay asleep until I get back. But if not, just sing to her and she will go back to sleep." Jeff moaned from the bed. He rolled over and quieted again. "You better hurry up," Matt informed him. Edge nodded and left. Matt looked out the window and watched as Edge rode off into the sunset. Moments later, Christian stuck his head in the door. His girl followed him. "Where did Edge go?" he asked. "To get medicine for Jeff and Dakota." "Oh," Christian responded. "How is Jeff anyway?" he asked. "Like you care," Matt responded. "I do care, that is why I am asking you how he is." "He’s not doing to well." "It doesn’t seem like it," Christian said, motioning to the blood soaked pillows and sheets. "Don’t you think you might want to clean up the bed?" Christian asked with an attitude. Matt looked at Christian with a look of disgust and then to the door at the sound of crying. Matt glared at Christian. He wanted to yell at him, yell and punch him in the face. He knew that he couldn’t yell because he might upset Jeff or Dakota. He shrugged and said, "Look Christian, if you’re not going to help out with them, then don’t come crawling to us when you need our help. Dakota looked up to you most of all after her fight with Jeff and you turned your back on her. If you behaved half as well as she does when you were her age, you might have turned out caring like the rest of us did. Can’t you see Christian, you’re killing her, you and Jeff alike. She feels hated because you yelled at her, and if it was only Jeff, then she wouldn’t be as sick as she is. But because of your selfishness, she is wasting away in the other room with nothing to hold onto." "My selfishness? How do you figure?" Matt pointed at Lissy. "That’s how I figure." With that, Matt walked out the door and down the hall to Dakota’s room. He got her a glass of water and sat with her, hearing Christian and his girlfriend walk downstairs and into the living room. Matt stroked Dakota’s hair and lay down next to her, holding her close to him and singing to her. Neither Matt, Jeff nor Dakota were awake when Edge got home.