Jerry dropped the, awake and perfectly capable of walking, but still bound, girl into a chair on the far side of the room, ignoring her pained grunt as she hit one of the arms. Ed cringed at the sound, almost feeling the capillaries bursting in her arm as she made impact.

"Dude, what the hell?!" He cried, helping the girl right herself in the chair. The second she was situated, however, he seemed to realize what he was doing and quickly withdrew from her, instead choosing to retreat to the other side of the room where he had previously dumped their luggage and went about making himself busy by finishing his task of light-proofing the room.

"Well I see you're back to normal." Jerry quipped, watching the younger vampire move about. Ed didn't respond, but Jerry could see his facial expression sour. Today was certainly going to be interesting. Ed was working on setting up a blackout curtain over the window to thoroughly protect himself and Jerry from any stray rays of sunlight that weren't blocked by the cheap hotel blinds, a task that would have been much easier had Jerry not placed Mel right next to the end he needed to fasten the curtain to. Jerry held back a snicker, watching Ed tiptoe around his little girlfriend, trying so hard to avoid all physical contact, and almost jumping three feet in the air when he accidentally brushed against her left arm. They both heard her sharp inhale as he accidentally touched the spot she had landed on earlier.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry, I'm sorry!" He reached out, but stopped himself from touching her, just watching her shake her head at him with a helpless expression on his face. He backed away from her and hurried to finish setting up the curtain.

"Oh, isn't this great you guys? It's like a little family vacation!" Jerry laughed, ignoring the tension in the room and pulling Ed in for a playful noogie. Of course, given the situation, neither Ed, nor their captive were really inclined to agree.

"We really should get out more often. After all, we've been so busy with renovations that we haven't had a day to ourselves in ages." He smoothed Ed's hair and released him. "So what do you think we should do tomorrow night before we go home, hm? I'll admit that the main event was rather dull, but I'm certainly looking forward to the after party." Ed snuck a glance at Melanie, who was staring blindly out into the darkness,

"You can go out, I really don't think we need to-"

"Of course I'll give you two some special time to get to know each other." Jerry cut him off, "I know a nice winery in the area and you two can finally have your perfect date that you've been going on about all week."

"Jerry, I don't..."

"Just think about it. If you don't wanna party, I will happily leave you two out of it while I go and enjoy myself." Jerry's voice got low, "But I think you're gonna want some time alone anyway so you two can talk. The wine'll just make it a little easier for her to see your side of all this." Sending a longing glance at Melanie, Ed licked his suddenly very dry lips,

"Thank you Jerry." The master vampire ruffled his childe's hair.

"I'm just looking out for ya, kid. But for now, we're gonna have to do something to accommodate our little guest. After all, it's summer and the days aren't exactly what I'd call short." Ed nodded. Out of courtesy for the human, Jerry turned on a lamp to provide some illumination before kneeling before her chair.

"Alright, girly," he started. Her head snapped up. her eyes glaring a hole into whatever he had in place of a soul. A wide, friendly grin was plastered on his face. " Here's the deal, I'm only going to explain this to you once, so listen carefully. Next door, you see, there is a lovely family of three. A daddy, a mommy, and their tiny little baby. Now, you see, the husband just stepped out to go and find someplace to eat, leaving them all alone and unprotected. Now, if you don't think you'll be able to keep yourself from screaming once I remove the gag, you'll have to let me know right now because I don't wanna be forced to kill them both just so they don't find out about you, the little runaway who is taking refuge here with your boyfriend, okay?" Ed didn't miss the way Melanie had started trembling in what could have been a mixture of fear and anger. He could definitely smell both on her.

"Nod your head if you understand me." Jerry's smile widened when the girl gave a stiff nod.

"Good, now are you going to scream?" She shook her head. "Good girl." He wiped away the single tear that had managed to escape her eyes. It was taking a hefty amount of restraint to resist biting her right now. Every time he inhaled to speak he found himself drowning in the pure raw emotion that was radiating from her. Had Ed not been in the room, Jerry would have already liked to have been buried fangs deep in her neck, among other things, but despite her small outburst earlier, she had been good so far and Jerry liked to see himself as a generous pack leader. She had earned a few more hours of humanity, something she was going to cling to for as long as she could. Jerry couldn't much blame her, nor could he really say he minded, however he made a mental note to make sure that this little favor he was doing her was repaid. Of course he was going to call it a favor when in reality it was more for his benefit than hers, though he was not going to tell her that. Just like he wasn't going to tell her that there really wasn't a little family in the room next door, because if there was, he would have already turned her and set both her and Ed loose on them for his own entertainment.

Speaking of Ed, as amusing as Jerry found his little tantrum, he needed to stop. He had already left the girl in the car unattended with the doors unlocked, there was no telling what that numbskull was going to do next. Chances were, that as soon as Jerry took his eye off of him, he'd probably hold open the door and let the girl walk right out! Jerry had already done more than enough for Ed by even agreeing on this trip, this level of carelessness this late in the game was going to result in punishment, and if anything, it would most likely be taken out on the girl by proxy.

Ignoring how she flinched at his touch, Jerry's hand gently found its way to the girl's knee, stroking her leg in a mockery of a soothing action. He gave her a sympathetic look and let his other hand stroke her cheek. Ed stood far on the other side of the room, feeling a sharp pang of jealousy stir inside of him. He longed to be the one to comfort her and tell her that everything was okay and that she didn't need to be afraid, and he should be, she was supposed to be his after all, but thanks to the events of less than twelve hours ago, she hated him, he was sure of it. But tomorrow would be different. Once she was turned she would be able to see how great it was, and how great Jerry was. Finally, staring at her face, he began to remember his fantasy. Still in her dress from last night, he began to imagine how beautiful she would look ripping out Amy's throat. Her dress was a bright red, but he was sure the dark crimson would provide a lovely accent to it. Those deep chocolate eyes that were still glaring at Jerry, filled with hate would look magnificent focused on him and filled with adoration. His eyes travelled downward to where Jerry's hand had moved up her thigh, he wondered just how soft her skin was. He was very tempted to test it out, but a sudden straining in his pants snapped him out of his stupor and made him rush to the bathroom before he had the opportunity to embarrass himself further.

Jerry snickered, hearing the bathroom lock click and smelling the scent of his childe's arousal.

"You know, maybe you can tell me why he's so smitten with you," Jerry muttered. Her anger seemed to die down a bit upon hearing that, only to rise again as the hand that was stroking her cheek ripped the duct tape from her lips. Jerry watched, amused as she almost cried out, but remembering his threat she quickly turned her head to the side and settled for sobbing quietly into the back of the chair.

"It's baffling just how obsessed he is with you. He wouldn't shut up until I agreed to drive all the way out to California to get you." Jerry stood up, "He went on for days about what a magnificent angel you were. You two hadn't even met outside of the internet and he knew he had to have you." She was too busy trying to compose herself to respond.

"Hey, it's okay." Jerry grabbed her shoulders and pulled her into a hug. "It's not so bad, you'll have so much fun with us. Everyday will be like a grand adventure." She shook her head, as much as she could, as he was holding her tightly against his chest.

"No? C'mon, what's the matter?"

"I want to go home." She whispered as quietly as she could. But Jerry heard it.

"Oh, but you are home, or at least you will be once we return tomorrow. It'll be you, me, Ed, and all of your other brothers and sisters. A big happy family."

"Please let me go," she begged.

"Go where, Sweetheart? There's nowhere for you to go. You belong with us now." If anything, the girl began to cry harder, thoroughly soaking Jerry's extra shirt. "Shh, it's okay, it's okay baby, I'm a good daddy. You can ask Ed." She began to struggle hard, "All you need to do is be good."

"Let go of me!" He let her fall back against the chair. He sat opposite her, on the bed.

"Since that's established, I can untie you now, if you would prefer." She refused to look at him.

"Would you like that?" She remained silent.

"Your loss. Though I'm going to ask Saul to find you something to eat, and actually eating is going to be a little difficult without the use of your arms. That is, unless you want me or Ed to feed you." She looked straight up at him. Tears still rolling down her cheeks, but nothing but anger in her eyes.

"Well?"

"Fine." She bit out. If possible, his smile got wider.

"Ask nicely." She glared at him. "C'mon, it shouldn't be too hard."

"... Please untie me."

"No."

"What?"

"That's not good enough."

"I asked nicely!"

"It didn't sound sincere enough for my tastes. Oh, I know, say 'please untie me Daddy'." The horrified look on her face was was enough for Jerry to know that he was definitely going to enjoy this one for a while.

"I'm waiting." She shook her head violently.

"Alright then, you can just stay there like that until your arms fall off."

"Please untie me." she muttered, adding "daddy" as quietly as she could, but of course that just wasn't good enough to satisfy Jerry.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" He feigned ignorance.

"Why are you doing this to me?" she cried, suddenly. "I haven't done anything to you!"

"I need all of my children to be absolutely loyal to me. The faster you learn your place, the better." His eyes turned black, and his smile turned wicked, "Of course, if you don't want to say it, then I can think of other ways for you to persuade me that don't involve speaking." Ah, the fear had returned. He watched as her head dropped as she tried to force herself to say the words,

"Please…" There was silence until she choked out a sob "Untie me, Daddy", it was a desperate plea that Jerry thoroughly burned into his memory. The way her voice cracked at the end, and the tears streaming down her face, made the scene so much more pathetic than it had needed to be, but Jerry wouldn't have it any other way.

"Good girl," he praised. It was hard not to think of all the others things he'd make her say… or do, sooner or later. He could imagine her, looking just like this. Her tearstained face looking just the same, but paler than it's current cherry red, or perhaps even redder. Newborns had a tendency to be rather messy.

He reached around to her back, where her hands were bound together, purposefully getting as close as possible in the process, relishing in the feeling of her warm breath, still coming out in sobs, fanning over his broad chest. It only took a small tug for the ropes to give way to his strength, and he gave an amused chuckle as the girl hurriedly brought her abused wrists to her chest and shrank herself down as far as she could fit into the chair, away from him. Undaunted by her clear rejection of his presence, he stayed crouching in front of the chair.

"Now, what do you say?"

"Please just leave me alone."

"Don't be rude, what do you say when people do nice things for you?"

"I'm going to throw up."

"Then perhaps you should stop crying yourself sick now don't you think?" His hand was on her leg again, rubbing small circles just above her knee. A gesture made even less comforting by his very sharp nails. "Ed's still occupying the bathroom and I'm sure the sound of retching will make that poor baby next door start crying, and lord knows, his poor mother surely needs her rest."

"Thank you, daddy." She bit out, hugging herself tighter.

"Now give me a kiss." For a split second, Jerry was worried as she actually looked like she was going to vomit, but of course, he didn't budge.

"You're insane."

"The general human definition of sanity no longer applies after the first century. Now, give daddy a kiss," his voice dropped down low, "or do you want daddy to give you a spanking?" More tears welled in her eyes, and she gripped the arms of the chair. He could almost see her physically having to swallow her pride, or just her bile, as she gave him a quick peck on the cheek before curling into a ball in the chair and hiding her face.

Jerry stood up straight and gave the girl a quick pat on the head,

"The others are just going to love you." He walked away from the girl and gave the bathroom door a light knock,

"I'm stepping out for a bit, you're in charge until I get back."

A full minute after he had left, the door to the bathroom slowly creaked open, and Ed, his face much redder than usual, appeared. For the longest time, he stayed near the door, in case he needed to make a quick escape, but finally,

"You know, he's not that bad once you get used to him." He dared to take a few more steps into the room. "He used to heckle me a lot too, even made me call him master for a while, until he decided it was too archaic, now he only makes me call him that when... " He stopped and just prayed she still too distressed to pay any attention to his ramblings. As he gained more courage, he took a few more steps closer.

"Are you… gonna be okay?" He was close enough to touch her now. She stayed in her little ball, but he could see her shoulders moving and hear small, breathy sobs.

"Hey, listen to me, it's going to be alright, okay? I know things didn't go exactly as planned, but Jerry is going to take care of us. He's gonna let us be together forever!" He slowly reached out but just as his fingertips brushed her shoulder she lashed out at him. He caught her arm before she could hit him and then her other arm before she could punch him in the face.

"Calm down!"

"You want me to calm down?" Her voice was rising. "I've been fucking kidnapped by two murdering psychopaths, and you want me to calm down? I don't know what he did to you, Ed, and I'm truly sorry I couldn't have been there for you, but you are not boy I fell in love with, not anymore, now let go of me!" He quickly released her wrist, only to use his free hand to cover her mouth.

"The baby." He reminded her. Immediately both of them fell still, as he tried to listen for any crying. Honestly, as far as he could tell, they were the only ones in the motel minus the manager, but he wasn't going to tell her that. He slowly removed his hand from her mouth.

"I think we're okay." She responded by yanking her hand out of his grip and relocating herself out of the chair into the corner at the foot of the lamp. Ed tried not to feel too down about it, she'd understand later that night, she'd have to. All he had to do was wait her out. He breathed in with the intention of sighing but then he froze. Again he felt that static and the electromagnetic pulse that was her life. With all of the recent excitement, Ed had forgotten how hungry he was.

The best way to remedy this situation would be to return to the bathroom, lock the door, and wait until Jerry returned; of course, there was nothing Ed would have liked to do more except for the fact he physically could not bring himself to move from that spot. He had stopped breathing altogether, not that he had really needed to in the first place, but her scent lingered in his brain. Despite being one of Jerry's oldest children, and holding the record for having the most self control out of all of them, he was still a newborn and was basically a slave to his instincts. This was especially true when he was starving.

Vampires, again, like humans, were subject to Maslow's Hierarchy, in which, if the basic needs aren't met then the being fails at seeking anything else on the higher tiers. Even the most basic of animals will defy all logic for the sake of food, vampires, especially, were not exempt. The more he tried to ignore it, the louder the sound of Melanie's blood became, echoing in his ears. Besides Saul, she was the only one alive in maybe a two-mile radius and she was so close… He could feel every breath she took, every beat of her heart, the heat radiating from her body; he wanted to rip her to shreds. She wasn't looking at him, she probably hadn't even noticed anything was wrong. In an instant he could be on her, his fangs sheathed in her flesh… Oh god he was drooling. But he couldn't even bring himself to move enough to wipe it away. But the thought of hurting her left a pang of nagging guilt in the back of his mind. Also, he doubted Jerry would be too happy with him, he reasoned. But if he didn't want something to happen, then he wouldn't have left the two of them alone, his inner beast argued back, though he doubted that killing her was the type of thing that Jerry was hoping for. For the longest time, neither of them moved.

The door burst open and in came Jerry, a container of food in his hand. He certainly didn't expect any fanfare, but he also didn't expect for both the girl and Ed to jump a few feet in the air. He could practically feel the tension in the room; this was not what he had hoped would happen while he was away, but it was something he could work with.

"Breakfast, children," he called sweetly. Neither of them moved. He sighed and placed the container on the desk.

"Okay, you," he crossed the room and seized Melanie's arm, hauling her to her feet, "don't get to sulk all day, I've had enough of that with your boyfriend here. Eat your breakfast and start thinking about what you'd like for a last meal, like all the real prisoners do, you know, since you insist on being one." He pushed her off toward the desk. "And you," he motioned to Ed, "come here." Ed didn't move, his eyes shifting just enough to see Jerry bite into his own wrist. The scent of blood filled the air and Ed gave an involuntary gasp feeling it hit him. In an instant Jerry was on the bed with Ed, viciously attacking his arm. Melanie was watching the scene in more fear than disgust and Jerry just shrugged it off as if this was a pretty normal occurrence.

"Did you want some too?" Jerry offered his other arm. Melanie's face contorted into pure disgust as she finally pulled her eyes away from the scene in front of her and stared at her food.

"You will later." Jerry sang, turning his attention to the, much calmer, Ed and quietly stroked the kid's hair as he desperately lapped up blood from the closing wound. He smirked at the sound of the girl retching at the thought. Pulling his wrist away from Ed's greedy mouth, Jerry soon replaced it with his own, before retreating just as quickly, not giving Ed the opportunity to whine about the fact that he was doing this in with Melanie in the near vicinity.

The day was spent surprisingly peacefully, with Melanie trying her best to ignore Ed despite Jerry's insistence that the two needed to kiss and make up and Ed going back to sulking and staring longingly at Mel while daydreaming. Jerry was happily enjoying the quality time together, who knew when things would be this peaceful again? Occasionally Melanie would shift about to go be human in the bathroom. She would be lying if she didn't say that she was tempted to stay in there, but she was too afraid of what would happen when she was inevitably forced to come back out. With the majority of the day spent in this strange caricature of normalcy, midday found Ed curled up on one bed, Jerry lounging on the other, languidly flipping through channels, and their captive, finally falling victim to exhaustion.

"That can't be comfortable." Jerry stated, looking down at Melanie, who was attempting to drift off in the corner.

"What do you care?"

"Now, now. I thought we'd taken care of that attitude." He chastised. She very quickly shut her mouth before it got her in more trouble.

"There's plenty of space with Ed over there on the bed."

"I prefer my corner."

"Melanie." Said girl was feeling a strong desire to rip his tongue out as his voice took a stern fatherly tone. "Go to bed."

She didn't move.

"Melanie."

"Not with him there."

"Your options are either him or me, though I guess I wouldn't mind the company." He replied, patting the space next to him. A grin spread across his face as he watched her eyebrows knit together in anger and her face contort into a weak glare, but she did as she was told nonetheless. Again, Jerry was sure that she was going to be his favorite. She was probably the most agreeable child he'd dealt with so far.

Melanie somehow managed to place herself at the far end of the bed, as far away from Ed as possible without touching him and tried to relax. Jerry could almost taste her burning hatred for him as she laid there, her eyes squeezed shut. Every so often she would twitch, her apprehension preventing her from relaxing. She would give in eventually. After all, she was only human.

But not for much longer.