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Elijah put his hand on the doorknob and turned it slowly, but a sound caught his attention and he pulled his hand away quickly, turning. "Are you going out again?" Selina asked. "You promised me we'd stay in tonight."

He nodded. "I know I did. But there was a triple murder not far from here. Father thinks it's the work of vampires and that a bunch of them might have a house or something nearby as a base. He says that if we don't kill them now, they could cause more trouble and then people might get suspicious and come after us with stakes. Do you want that?"

"Well, no," Selina said. "But why are you two so worried? Stakes won't kill you."

Elijah walked over and put a hand underneath her chin. "But they would kill you," He said. "And I don't think I could live with myself if you were killed."

Selina frowned, her eyes becoming cold. "But what would the difference be between that and what we have now, really? Your father drags you out every night and I only see you in the morning and that's if I'm lucky. We haven't even spent any time alone since he arrived. I mean, it's fine for me because think of all the years I went without any physical connection between Aleksandr and Nicky. I can deal with that, but I'm no so sure about you. Shouldn't you be feeling a little...restless by now?"

Elijah sighed. "I admit there are times when I get overcome by urges. But then I remember that there are things on this earth more important than my own physical satisfaction. Saving innocent lives, for one." He eyed her thoughtfully. "Maybe Father was right when he suggested I give my life to the cause of killing troublesome vampires. The sense of satisfaction I get from that is much greater than anything else."

"But what about me?" Selina asked. "While you're out being celibate and saving lives, what am I supposed to do?"

He patted her on the head. "I'm sure you'll think of something," he said. "I have to go now. Father is waiting for me."

Elijah sat up in bed and gasped. The clock on the bedside table read three a.m., and Selina was sleeping soundly beside him, but he had to wake her. He turned the light on and she stirred. "What?" She asked sleepily. "Honey, what's the matter?"

"I had a bad dream," he said.

Slowly she sat up, rubbing her eyes. "You had a bad dream?" She repeated, rubbing his back. "I'm so sorry. You want to talk about it?"

He nodded and took her in his arms. "Are you upset with me?" He asked. "I know you and I haven't really been together ever since my father arrived, but-"

"It's okay," Selina said. "I know why. He hates me and doesn't want you near me so he comes up with all those late night vampire hunts so either I'll be asleep or you'll be too tired by the time you get back. It's okay. We'll just have to try a little harder." Her eyes twinkled. "How about you stay home today and we play a game? You be you and I'll be me as Lonely Heart and if you catch me, you can run me through." She winked. "After all, isn't that what your father wants?"

Elijah smirked. "I'm sure that's not exactly what he has in mind, but I'll look forward to it. It's either that or have another horrifying dream where I tell you I've decided to surrender my life to the hunting of evil vampires and become celibate."

"Seriously?" Selina asked. "No wonder you looked so freaked out!" She ran her fingers over his bare chest. "No, we can't have you having dreams like that. You were right to wake me up." She sat up and he ran a hand down her arm. "These are really nice," he said, running his hand down the arm of her rose-colored pajamas. "How come I've never seen these?"

She grinned sheepishly. "Well, I don't usually end up wearing clothes to bed, do I? At least not by morning."

"That's true," he said, "That's true."

She yawned and snuggled against him. "So the plan is that you don't go out with your father tomorrow, right? You stay in here with me!"

Elijah nodded. "That's the plan," he said. And they both closed their eyes and fell asleep again.


The next morning, they woke up to the phone ringing. "That's probably my father," Elijah said, reaching for it. Selina put a hand on his arm. "Remember the plan today? You're staying her with me."

"Right," Elijah said, taking his hand away from the phone. "I almost forgot. I'm ashamed of myself."

"Should we drop Gregory off somewhere?" Selina asked. "That might be a good idea."

Elijah nodded. "I'll go do that and be back quickly."

"My god," Selina said as the phone kept ringing. "He just doesn't give up, does he?"

"No," Elijah said with a grin. "He's very persistent."

"He wants someone to answer the phone, fine," Selina muttered under her breath. "Someone will answer the phone."

"Don't do anything foolish," Elijah warned. "Please, I'm begging you."

"I'm not gonna do anything bad," Selina said. "What could I possibly do to make him hate me more than he already does?" She picked up the phone. "Hello, Sir," she said. "How are you? Yes, Elijah's here. But I wanted to let you know that he won't be coming with you to hunt bad people because he and I are gonna stay in and have sex, all right? Buh-bye now." She turned off the phone and Elijah's eyes widened. "Why did you tell him that?"

"It's the truth," Selina said. "What else was I supposed to tell him?"

"I don't know!" Elijah said. "Just not that!"

The phone rang again and this time Elijah picked it up. "Hello, Father," he said.

"Elijah!" Mikael barked, "Why are you letting the murdering whore near your phone? And is what she said true? There is a time for fun and a time to be serious and up until now, you've had your fun."

"Yes, Father," Elijah said quietly. "I understand. I'll be ready in a little while. Goodbye."

"What the hell was that?" Selina asked incredulously. "What about our plan?" She paused, a grin spreading over her face. "Oh, I get it. You're lying to him to get him off our backs. Good idea. Now you go drop Gregory off at your mother's and be back here as fast as you can be."

Elijah looked heavenward and groaned. This wasn't going to end well for him.

But nonetheless, he took Gregory to his mother's and when he got back, his father still hadn't shown up yet. Good. He went to his room and was starting to change clothes for when his father eventually did show up, when he heard the bathroom door close with a bang. He looked up. Selina was wearing a short blonde wig and a spangly dress. "Hey, there, stranger," she said. "I've been a very bad girl. Don't you think I need to be punished?" She strode toward him, confident and smug, then pulled her to him, kissing him deeply. When she pulled away, he whispered, "What have you done?"

"That dead couple over on Winter Street? That was me. And on Walnut, and Oak and Astoria Avenue. Eight people dead, all because of me."

"Well, you better run then," he said. "Because if I catch you, you're dead."

She grinned and sped out of the room. When she was gone, he picked up a small piece of violet paper that had fallen on the floor. Hiding where the knives are. You'll never catch me!

Grinning, he ran to the kitchen, but she was nowhere in sight. He found another note that led him to the attic, then the basement, the bathroom, the garage, and finally, of all places, the laundry room. He opened the laundry room door and she grinned. "So you found me," she said. "But you have to admit I gave a good chase." He pulled out a knife he'd gotten in the kitchen. "Yes," he nodded, his eyes on her, cold and serious. "But now is the time for you to pay for what you've done." He advanced toward her and backed her against the laundry room wall. Then he dropped the knife and pulled her to him, kissing her deeply. They began moaning and pulling at each other's clothes until they were both undressed, then, as he drove into her, she let out a shriek. "No, no, don't!" She cried when he pulled out of her, preparing to enter her again. She let out a growl and managed to get herself on top of him. "You don't really want to hurt me, do you?" She asked, stroking him. "I tell you what. If you don't kill me, I'll do whatever you want."

He moaned contentedly for awhile and then they were at it again. They were so loud that they didn't hear Mikael come in. He followed the noise to the laundry room and when he opened the door, it was Elijah who let out a yell and tried to shield Selina from his father.

Mikael's lip quirked. "Well, I could be angry with you for lying to me about going out today, but I suppose every young man must have his fun."

Elijah nodded. "That's what I've been needing, I think," he said.

"Well, are you finished?" He asked. He looked at Selina. "Why don't you get dressed, my son will pay you what he owes and then we'll be on our way."

"I'm not a prostitute," Selina said. "I'm his wife."

"You're a murdering whore," Mikael said shortly. "And Elijah has better things to do than waste his time with you. You should consider yourself lucky you're even still alive!"

"Father, please!" Elijah said. "Don't talk to her that way!"

"And why not?" Mikael asked. "Who is she, really?"

"I'm the woman who got the best of you," Selina said. She dressed and then advanced on him. "You've caught every person you've gone after over the years except me. And you were so obsessed with catching me that it blinded you to the person who was really a problem. If I told you that Nicky has the person who committed the murders in Paris in '29 that you thought were committed by me tied up in his house and just ready to be killed, would you be willing to give me a bit of a break?"

"What?" Mikael asked.

"That couple who were found dead by the Eiffel Tower in '29? That was a copycat killing by her so-called 'friend' Olivia," Elijah said. "I'd pretty much gotten her over anything that was making her angry by then."

Mikael looked at Elijah in surprise. "You mean you and she were a couple even then? You've betrayed me a lot longer than I thought!"

"We were not a couple back then," Selina corrected. "We were just really close friends." She sighed. "Look, I'm really not that bad," she said. "I was just going through a bit of a rough patch."

"Some rough patch," Mikael said. "You take the lives of innocent people and now you're treating it as if it were some kind of joke? Killing innocent people isn't funny."

Selina nodded. "I know it's not. And it's not the person I am, anymore. Now I have kids and cook things and sew things...everything I hated back then. Were you paying attention at all to the reason Elijah woke you up again?"

"Well, actually," Mikael said, "I just assumed it had something to do with you."

Selina shook her head. "It doesn't. It has to do with Gregory, our son. Elijah's and mine."

Now Mikael's eyes widened and he looked at Elijah. "Is she telling the truth?" He asked. "Did this woman bear you a son to carry on our family name?"

Elijah nodded. "She did. His name is Gregory. And I'm a bit worried about him. As you know, I've made enemies over the years that wouldn't hesitate to use him for their benefit. Either my enemies or enemies of the family, who want us to forgive their wrongs against us. I thought perhaps you wouldn't mind helping to guard your grandson. That's why I took the dagger out of you."

The three of them stood in silence, and then Selina said, "Yeah, you two talk amongst yourselves. It's not really my place to be part of the discussion. I'm gonna go run some errands now. Goodbye."


"Why do you keep looking at me like that?" Roxie asked Vince, who gave her the same grin over his coffee cup that he'd given her ever since they'd gotten married.

He put his cup down. "We're married now," he said.

She nodded. "I know that. I was there. What of it?"

"Well, you know what people usually do after they get married."

Roxie nodded. "Yeah, have sex! And we've been doing that a lot! Not that that's new for us, but-"

"You do know that sex has a purpose, right?" Vince asked. "It's not supposed to be just for fun."

Roxie looked irritated. "Yeah, I know it has a purpose. But thanks to the fact that you had to die in order to become a hybrid, we don't have to worry about that purpose, now do we? I would think that after the first scare and what Dad did to you, you'd want to stay clear of that purpose at all costs."

"Well, now that we're older and married, things are different," Vince said. "Isn't there a small part of you that's curious about it?"

"About what?" Roxie asked. "Having a baby? Not really. They're all just more trouble than they're worth."

"Even if we have a little girl who's as pretty as you?" Vince asked. "You'd really be doing the world a favor."

Roxie sighed. "Fine. If you can find a way to get me pregnant, we'll give it a shot, but I reserve the right to throw a party if nothing happens. And since you want it so bad, you're gonna be the one to take care of it."

Vince frowned. "It's a baby, not a puppy."

Roxie shrugged. "What's the difference?"

Vince gave her a look. "What do you mean 'what's the difference'? There is a big difference and I shouldn't have to actually explain that to you."

Roxie smirked. "You can't think of anything, can you?"

"Well, if I'm having trouble thinking of differences at the moment, let's list similarities between babies and puppies: They're cute and a lot of work, but in the end it's worth it because they love you unconditionally."

Roxie smirked. "Yeah, right. I didn't like my mom, she didn't like her mom, you see the pattern here?"

"It doesn't have to be that way," Vince said. "And I don't think it will be. I think our kid will love you so much you're not gonna know what to do."

Roxie eyed him skeptically. "I don't know," she said.

"Think of it this way," Vince told her, light in his eyes. "There are only a few people on this planet who truly, love you and two of those people are you and me. This baby is going to be a mix of us, so it will have no choice but to like you."

"Okay," Roxie said. "I'll trust you, but I still think you're wrong."

Vince stood up. "All right," he said. "I'll go to Enid's and see what she can do for us."


"Are you and Roxie seriously considering having a baby?" Enid asked, her eyes wide. "Does she know you're doing this? Because a baby left at the mercy of an unprepared Roxie will not last long."

"We talked about it," Vince said. "She was a little reluctant at first, but I finally talked her into it. I think it will be good for her, having someone else besides me around who will love her unconditionally. And I'm prepared for all the emotional upheaval and stuff."

"When Selina was pregnant with Adrian, she tried to kill herself, just so you know," Enid said.

Vince looked over at his uncle Pete, who had the morning bar shift that day. "Is that true, Uncle Pete?"

Pete nodded. "The whole apartment upstairs was on fire and her friend Astrid got stabbed stopping her from running herself through."

"Gosh," Vince said. "How pregnant was Selina at that point? Was she almost done?"

"No," Enid said. "That was right when she first found out, two or three months in. She was freaked out because she thought the baby wouldn't like her and she'd be a horrible mother."

Vince swallowed nervously.

"Having second thoughts?" Pete asked knowingly.

Vince straightened up. "No," he said, his voice resolute. "I will deal with whatever comes along." He looked at Enid. "So how does this work?"

"I just have to make up a potion," Enid said. She went into the back room and came out several minutes later. "Drink this," she said, handing him the liquid. "This will do it."

Vince drank it, but almost spit it out. After it was empty, he said, "I better be going."

"Good luck!" Enid called after him.

Pete just rolled his eyes. "I hope he knows what he's getting into."


Selina drove up to Damon's house, knowing that she'd probably cringe when she saw how he'd been handling Lucy going away. She parked the car in the street and waited ten minutes for him to come answer the door. Finally, she jimmied the lock and went inside. "Oh, my god," she breathed. There were wrappers and napkins and all sorts of trash covering the living room floor. The dishes looked like they hadn't been washed for a week and when she found Damon, that was how he looked too. He was lying on the sofa, surrounded by empty beer bottles.

"Please don't tell me you're doing this to yourself," she said. "Not again." He took a drink of beer and burped. "Why not?" He asked. "Lucy's gone."

"It's been a week and a half," she said shortly. "You should have adjusted by now. We're not gonna have a repeat of the thirties all over again. We're not. I refuse to let you." She found a letter on the table. "This is from Lucy, I think," she said, looking at the envelope. "She probably wants to know how you're coming along. Do you really want to tell her that you've become a drunken slob?"

"Lucy didn't even write that," Damon said. "She's too busy. Mimi's gonna write letters for her. And last night, I tried to go out, you know? Lucy told me I could cause she knows I'm not a monk. I tried. I was this close. She was a busty cocktail waitress with long legs and big eyes and just as we were about to...you know, I couldn't. Cause she wasn't Lucy!"

"Stop!" Selina said. "If you're gonna start crying, I'm going back home where my father in law is. And he thinks I'm a murdering whore. What does that tell you?"

Damon gave her a weak smile and sat up. "It tells me...well, I don't know what it tells me."

"It should tell you that there are people in this world who have more misfortune in their lives than you, so you should consider yourself lucky." She paused. "Now get your ass off that sofa and let's clean this place up."

"I'm impressed, Mother," said a voice. "I've been trying to get him off the sofa for days, but he refused to move."

Selina turned to face Joshua. "Why are you here? You should be watching your brother! I can't believe he decided to go off to Europe all by himself."

"Lucy did," Joshua pointed out.

"She did not," Selina said. "She had Mimi with her. I can't imagine what trouble Sam is going to get himself into."

"I have been watching him," Joshua told her. "And in fact, he's been very successful. He and his group have a record deal and a name."

"They do?" Selina asked. "What is it?"

Joshua held out a letter. "I'll let him tell you," he said.

Selina took it. "Sammy wrote me a letter? That is so nice! I would have thought he hated me!"

"You aren't the one he hates," Joshua said, eying his father sourly.

Selina tore the letter open and read it:

"Dear Mom,

I bet you're surprised I'm writing you this letter. I know that the last time we spoke, I said some things that weren't so nice and I want to apologize for them. I was angry and I spoke without thinking. You've always done the best you could for me and if what Lucy told me about you wanting to take me to live with you when we were babies is true, then I don't blame you for how I've turned out.

I've decided to follow Lucy to Europe, although not for the same reasons, obviously. I'm in London with the band and we got ourselves a deal at a small label. We've also decided to call ourselves Lost Innocence. Since you've always been a fan of mine, when the first album comes out, I'll send you a copy if you promise to brag about me to everyone you know.

I also promise that I've been eating right and not drinking (much), and that there are no groupies wandering around carrying my baby. There'll be plenty of time for all that later.

Just kidding!

I love you,

Sammy

P.S. Lucy says hi.

Wow!" Selina read over the letter several more times. "It's amazing what a change of scenery can do for a person." She looked at Damon. "Aren't you proud of Sam?"

"How can I be proud of him if he won't tell me what's going on in his life?" Damon grumbled as he began picking trash up off the living room floor and throwing it away.

Selina sighed. "Just give him time," she said. "This thing with you and Lucy is something that is going to take getting used to for all of us. Now, how about I finish cleaning up in here and you go clean yourself off?"

Damon nodded. "Oh, all right." He plodded off to the bathroom, leaving Joshua and Selina alone. "Are things really as good as they seem with Sam?" Selina asked him. "Or is he keeping something from me?"

"At this point, things are good," Joshua told her. "I haven't seen anything that would be problematic, anyway. But doubtlessly, things will crop up in the future. We'll just have to be ready for all that when it happens."