"You are lucky to be alive, young lady. You want to tell me what the hell you were thinking?"

"Can we not do this right now?"

"Am I going to embarrass you in front of your friend?"

Marcel paused and glared at Kaleb.

"Who the hell is this guy, anyway?"

"He's my friend, and he's helping me," Davina said.

"Helping you do what? Wage war on Klaus, and help me get killed in the process?"

"I just saved Klaus' life trying to protect you!"

"Yeah, from a psycho-vampire-hunter that you brought back to life—"

"Alright, enough! Well, I-I think it's enough. It should be enough. I mean, we're all friends here, aren't we?" said Kaleb.

"Stay out of this. Davina, I'm going to handle Klaus and clean up this mess you made. Just stay here until I get back."

Marcel turned to head into the building.

"No. I did the right thing, and I don't have to listen to you lecture me," Davina said.

Just as Davina grabbed Kaleb's hand and began to walk away Marcel popped in front of her.

"You're right. You don't have to listen to me lecture you. But you will if you respect me or our relationship at all, after everything we've been through," Marcel said.

Davina let go of Kaleb's hand and looked at the ground.

"That's better. Now I'm going to go to talk to Klaus for a few minutes and when I come back we're going to my place in Algiers."

"Why can't you just lecture me here?"

"Trust me, you don't want me to do it here."

Davina wrinkled her eyebrows and Marcel headed back into the building.

"Are you really going to wait here and do what that prat says?" Kaleb said.

Davina nodded.

"He protected me from the witches during the harvest when no one else would. If yelling at me for a few minutes makes him feel better, I'll take it. It won't be that bad."

"You're a crazy girl, Davina. He looked pissed. Are you sure you don't want to leave with me?"

Davina smiled.

"I'm still going to wait here, but I'll drop by the Quarter to find you later."

Kaleb stepped closer to Davina and kissed her on the cheek.

"Okay, love."

After Kaleb walked off, Marcel appeared a few minutes later.

"Good. I'm glad you waited here. I convinced Klaus to let this go, but it wasn't easy. Now let's head to my place."

Davina became uneasy when Marcel didn't talk to her for the rest of the way to Algiers. Once they arrived, Marcel jumped out of the car and ran into the building. A few seconds later, five vampires opened the door and sped away. Marcel walked back to the car and opened the door for Davina.

"Let's head inside."

Davina nodded and followed Marcel into the abandoned warehouse he had made into his home.

"Why did all of those vampires just leave?" Davina asked.

"Because I asked them to so that we could be alone."

"Thanks, Marcel. But I'm a big girl. I don't care if someone is in the next room when you scold me."

"I doubt you'll still feel that way in a few minutes. I want to know exactly why you decided to resurrect Mikael and help him get the white oak state. There better be a damn good reason."

Marcel's hands were on his hips, with his fingers tapping against his belt.

"Klaus deserves to die."

Davina walked closer to Marcel until they were only a few feet apart.

"He killed my friends," she said. "He's even almost killed you a few times."

"And what do you think killing Klaus would have done? That would have definitely killed me, Davina!"

Davina stomped her foot.

"No! I crafted a spell that would have saved you and the rest of the vampires in Klaus's bloodline."

"Unbelievable," Marcel said. He paced around. "Davina, you know spells go wrong sometimes, right? Did you test the spell at all to make sure it would work?"

"Well no, a spell like that can't be tested."

"Exactly! And what if it had gone wrong? What would you have done then, Davina? Arranged my funeral?"

Davina turned around to leave, but Marcel stopped her at the door.

"Please, Marcel. You made your point. Let me leave now."

"No," Marcel said. "I don't think I made my point because you and I both know that despite the risks, you would still do what you did again. I can't have you keep putting yourself and your friends in danger."

Marcel grabbed Davina's hand and led her to the couch.

"What are you doing Marcel?"

Marcel took a deep breath.

"I'm going to give you the spanking you deserve, young lady."

"What? I won't let you!"

Davina wriggled her arm in order to escape, but Marcel's grip tightened. Once she heard the jingle of Marcel undoing his belt with his other hand Davina panicked. Her magic sprang out of her, and her arm slid out of Marcel's grasp as she backed a few feet away. Marcel dropped the belt and grabbed his head.

"Davina," he said. "Please stop this."

Davina ran to the door. Just as she was about to leave, she turned around. Marcel was on the floor, still clutching his head. As she thought about all that Marcel had done for her, her anger started to dissipate and she felt the magic stop radiating, allowing Marcel to get up.

"I'm sorry I scared you, Davina," he said.

Marcel zipped toward Davina and caressed her face.

"I love you, Davina. And when I saw what you had done and how angry Klaus was and how dangerous Mikael looked, I was terrified. I know Klaus has done terrible things, like murdering Tim, but that doesn't mean we can always get revenge. I know that's hard. I feel like you're my daughter, Davina, and as your surrogate father I feel like I have the responsibility to keep you safe and teach you how to keep yourself safe. I know how strong-headed you are, and that's why I think a spanking is the best deterrent to keep you from doing something this dangerous again."

Tears fell down Davina's cheek, and Marcel brushed them away.

"Now I'm not going to force you to submit to a spanking, but if you don't – I want you to leave. I've had my heart broken too many times. If something happened to you because you did something like this again, I'd never be able to forgive myself because I didn't do something to stop you."

Davina thought of her mother and how she left her to die for the harvest and of her father who left the day he found about her.

"Marcel, please don't leave me."

Davina extended her hand towards Marcel, and he wrapped her in a hug.

"I could never leave you. But I need to make sure you don't do something that will cause yourself to get taken away from me or killed."

Davina nodded, and Marcel gently guided her to the arm of the couch. He picked up his belt from the floor and rubbed Davina's back before adjusting her so that she was leaning over, with her bottom in range.

"Davina, you are so brave. This is going to hurt, but then it will be over and we will move on from this. I don't want you to be scared. I won't give you more than what you can take or deserve. I'm going to spank you with my belt over your jeans unless you reach back. If you reach back, your jeans will have to come down, and if you reach back again, so will your panties. Please don't make me do that."

Marcel listened for Davina to say something but he only heard her softly crying.

"Are you ready for me to start, Davina?"

"Yes-s-s," Davina said.

Marcel took a deep breath and backed a few feet from Davina so that he could have a good swinging angle. He raised his arm to spank her, but it seemed to be frozen in place. He looked at her sobbing. How could he spank her when she was like that? But then he remembered Mikael's look of bloodlust as he was holding the white oak stake. He steeled his heart and slapped Davina's bottom with the belt.

Davina shrieked and her hands flew to her bottom.

"It hurts! It hurts!"

"I know, Davina. It's a punishment. It's supposed to hurt. Now, do you remember what I said about reaching back?"

Davina sobbed louder as she removed her hands from her bottom.

"Please, Marcel. It was an accident."

"Okay. I'll let that one go, but only because this is your first spanking."

"Thanks-s-s"

Marcel felt a tear run down his cheek, but he brought the belt down for slap two. And three. And four. Davina's cries grew louder.

"Now Davina, tell me why you're getting this spanking," Marcel said.

WHAP! The belt crashed onto Davina's bottom.

"Marcel-l-l"

WHAP!

"That didn't sound like an answer, young lady."

WHAP!

"I I did something dangerous!"

"And what was that?"

"I brought Mi-Mi-kael back and tried to kill Klaus."

Davina reached back to rub her bottom, but Marcel grabbed her hands.

"Did I say we were finished, Davina"

Davina sobbed.

Marcel took another deep breath, knowing what he had to do so that Davina would take him seriously and obey him in the future. He gently pulled Davina from the couch and started undoing her pants.

"No, Marcel! No! No! No!"

Davina frantically kicked and stomped on Marcel's foot. Marcel stopped unbuttoning her pants.

"You knew the rules when we started this, Davina," he said. "You reached back, so now you lost the privilege of wearing jeans for your punishment. We can stop now if you want but it will be as if we never started, and I'll want you to leave."

Davina cried louder. She took Marcel's hand that was now stroking her hair and placed it on her jeans. Within seconds Marcel had her back over the arm of the couch, jeans down. He started spanking with the belt again.

WHAP! WHAP! WHAP!

Davina was shocked at how much more the belt hurt on just her underwear. She felt like there were fire ants sinking their teeth into her bottom.

WHAP! WHAP! WHAP!

The belt continued to crash onto Davina's bottom, and she clung to the couch cushion so that she wouldn't reach back and initiate an even worse spanking.

Marcel felt tears fall down his face and knew he couldn't do it much longer. He looked at Davina and realized he could probably never suffer through her cries to do this again. He knew he had to make this one time count. Hating himself, he reached for Davina's underwear and thrust it down. As quickly as he could, and before Davina could react, he brought the belt down hard one final time against Davina's bottom, and then he pulled her underwear back up.

"It's all over now, Davina."

Marcel lifted her from the couch and hugged her.

"You-you took my –"

"I know, I know Davina. I needed to make an impression to make sure we never have to do this again," Marcel said.

He wiped the tears from Davina's face.

"You can rub your bottom now."

Davina sobbed as she reached back and gently touched her dark red bottom.

"I love you, Davina. You were so brave. Everything is okay between us."

Davina hugged Marcel again as she hiccupped from tears.

"I love you too, Marcel. But my bottom hurts so much."

"I know," Marcel said. "It will probably be sore for a few more days, but hopefully you'll think of this next time you do something dangerous."

Davina nodded.

Marcel balled his fists in order to increase his resolve. "And if you do something like bringing Mikael back again, you can count on another spanking, starting with pants down."

Davina gasped and promised Marcel that she would be more careful.

"Now about that boy, I want you to bring him by. If he's going to be dating my Davina, I need to at least meet him formally and warn him about how incredible you are," Marcel said.

Davina finally stopped crying and chuckled.

"Of course, Marcel. I think you'll really like him. Speaking of Kaleb, I'm late to meet him. If it's okay with you, I'm going to wash my face in your bathroom and head out."

Marcel nodded. By the time Davina ran into Josh on her way out of Algiers, her face was only slightly red from crying. Davina told him they would have to catch up later since she was late for a date. Josh smiled as he walked into Marcel's living room.

"I saw Davina on my way in. She wasn't brimming with hate for you so I'm guessing it went well?" Josh said.

"As if a spanking could ever go well. But I think it worked," Marcel said.

"Well that's what counts. Glad you did it or I might have had to. And that would have made me the worst friend ever."

"Thanks, Josh. Hopefully she doesn't think I'm the worst friend ever."

"Of course she doesn't, Marcel. She looks at you like a father, so you would at least be worst father ever."

Marcel laughed, and he smiled as he thought of Davina as his daughter.