(Okay I owe anyone still reading this a huge apology. I haven't worked on this as much as I should have so to make up for it, you're getting a larger chapter than usual. Now that I have an idea of where this story is going, I can get back to working on it.)

"This better not be some attempt at setting me up on a date Lex," Rose warned while stopping the car at a red light. They were on their way back to Finn's house thanks to Lexi forgetting her wallet though Rose suspected her friend intentionally forgot it so Rose could spend more time with Finn. Lexi was a great friend but sometimes she got on Rose's nerves.

"I can't believe you think this is a good idea," Trevor said incredulously. He was on edge ever since they mentioned seeing Finn again and now was almost a nervous wreck on their way to the Original's house.

"What are you so worried about?" Lexi asked him.

"The last time I saw him he almost killed me and Rose," protested Trevor.

"Relax Trevor. He won't hurt you," Rose assured him.

"And how could you be so certain of that?" frowned Trevor.

"Because he promised me we'd be safe around him," Rose answered.

"He promised? And you just trust that?" Trevor groaned.

Lexi rolled her eyes. "If he wanted to hurt us then why didn't he do so?" she asked.

"Did Rose forget to mention that he feeds on vampires? You said it yourself he fed on one of the Strix. Maybe that was enough to fill him up and he was just playing nice until he needed to feed again?" Trevor said.

"Trevor will you just…" Rose sighed as she turned onto Finn's street. Instantly she knew something was wrong. Police cars were parked right next to Finn's house and uniformed officers were taping off the area as a crime scene. Plain clothed detectives and crime scene technicians were scouring through the yard and house searching for evidence.

"The hell happened here?" Lexi wonder out loud.

Rose got out of the car and approached one of the uniformed officers blocking pedestrians from walking onto the crime scene. He held up his hand to warn her to stop. "That's far enough ma'am," he told her.

"What happened here?" Rose ordered, staring directly into the officer's eyes as she used compulsion to enforce her demand.

"Someone shot up the house behind me, probably some kind of mob hit judging from the amount of bullet holes but we found no bodies," the officer answered. He frowned, confused why he just admitted that to a complete stranger. Rose turned and walked back to the car where Lexi and Trevor waited for her.

"Well?" Trevor asked as Rose got back in the driver's seat.

"Someone attacked his house but there's no sign of Finn," Rose spoke.

"Probably disposing of the bodies," muttered Trevor.

"He might be in trouble," protested Rose.

"He's a bloody Original! What the hell can threaten that?" scoffed Trevor.

"Maybe we should discuss this somewhere else in case whoever attacked him isn't still around?" suggested Lexi. Rose had a sneaking suspicion that it might be the Strix but she had no idea what other enemies Finn had made over the centuries.

Rose started the ignition and turned the car around. They headed back down the street and made a left to find a parked police car blocking their path. Instantly Rose felt that same suspicious feeling she had earlier. The police car was intentionally blocking the entire street and yet there was no reason it should be there. This was the same way they took to get here a few minutes ago and it was completely clear. Something else that bothered Rose was the last of any pedestrians or other traffic. Now was the perfect opportunity for someone to spring a trap. Some might call this paranoia but paranoia is what kept Rose alive for the past few centuries.

"Trevor, Lexi, get ready to run," Rose warned them.

"What?" asked Lexi whose confusion was shared by Trevor.

Two uniformed officers got out of their car and approached them. Rose gripped the door handle to either rush out the second she suspected they were going to be attacked or fight back. The two officers separated, surrounding the car. "Good evening ma'am," the one on the driver's side said.

"Is there a problem officer?" Rose asked, bracing herself. A cry caught her attention as she turn her head to see the other cop gasping before collapsing to the ground, revealing a young woman clenching a bloody lump in her right hand. Whoever this was just ripped that officer's heart out and only a vampire was strong enough to do that with just their bare hands.

Rose turned to see the cop drawing a gun but she didn't give him a chance to fire. She opened the door and thrusted it open, slamming it into the remaining officer hard enough to knock him to the ground. Rose jumped out and saw his firearm lying on the ground. She quickly snatched it up and aimed at the cop who was starting to recover. He glanced up and froze, seeing a gun pointed at his head.

"Whoa Rose what are you doing?!" shouted Lexi.

The cop suddenly rushed at her with superhuman speed, proving he wasn't human. He tackled Rose into her car but on instinct, Rose pulled the trigger on her stolen firearm at point blank range. The cop gasped, his grip on Rose weakening as his skin began to desiccate. His body dropped to the ground lifeless.

"Wooden bullets," Rose realized as she glanced at her weapon.

"How did you know he was a vampire?" asked Trevor. In the chaos, Rose hadn't even realized her two gotten out of the car.

"I didn't but something didn't add up about them," she replied before turning her attention to the mysterious vampire who killed the other cop.

Whoever this stranger was, she had been turned young. The vampire looked like she was sixteen or seventeen years though that's probably wasn't even close to her actual age. "Who are you?" demanded Rose.

"Are you friends with Finn?" she asked.

"You're not answering my question," Rose pointed out.

"My name is Anna and we need to go," the vampire answered.

"I take it these guys were Strix," commented Lexi.

"Yeah and there's probably more on the way," Anna nodded.

Rose was reluctant to trust some random stranger but she did just help them. She didn't think for a second that those vampires dressed as cops were actually going to just talk. "Get in," Rose spoke.

The four jump into the vehicle and drove off. Rose sped up, trying her best to keep some distance from there as quickly as possible.

"What's going on?" Trevor asked Anna who had taken a seat next to him in the back.

"Those vampires you saw back there were hunting me. I was hiding out when I saw your car and after watching you, I hoped you knew Finn and decided to take a chance," she answered.

"Why are the Strix after you?" inquired Lexi.

"Because I stole something from them. Something very valuable," Anna replied.

"You're the one who hired Finn to find us," Rose realized.

"Wait…what?" Anna frowned, not expecting to hear that.

"The Strix hired us to find a necklace. When we tried to hand it over, they betrayed us. Finn managed to fight them off and saved our lives," explained Rose. Then she remembered that Finn's house was shot up. "What happened to Finn?"

"They took him. They used some witch to subdue him," Anna said. Trevor and Lexi exchanged worried looks.

"Son of a…" Rose cursed under her breath. "We've got to find him."

"How? They could have taken him anywhere," Trevor grumbled.

"I might know where he is," Anna spoke up. "I compelled people throughout the city to watch the Strix. They noticed most of the vampires pulled out of LA except for a warehouse on the outskirts of the city."

"You think they're holding him there?" wondered Lexi.

"Maybe," shrugged Anna.

"Good enough for me. Give me the address," Rose said.

"Rose wait a second…" Trevor protested.

"Trevor he saved our lives back in Italy and he saved me and Lexi last night. I am not going to repay that by leaving him to die," Rose said firmly.

"But if the Strix took down an Original, what chance do we have?" moaned Trevor.

"Finn is an Original?" Anna asked in shock.

"Yeah that was pretty much my reaction," Lexi quipped.

"I'm going. None of you have to join but I'm going," Rose stated.

"I'm coming with you. He's the only one who can help me save someone very important to me," Anna said. Rose didn't know what she meant by that but decided it wasn't really important enough to ask.

"Fine. If you're going Rose then I am too," Trevor sighed. He wasn't happy about it but he was still Rose's friend and wasn't going to let her go through this alone.

"Count me in. If we don't save him, who knows how much longer until I can find Rose another date," quipped Lexi. Rose gave her a death glare but deep down appreciated it.

Finn had grown used to waking up with a massive headache. Drowning your sorrows in a bottle was a habit he had yet to break except this was the first time it happened without drinking an ounce. He woke to find himself in some kind of warehouse filled with wooden crates. Finn attempted to move but found himself frozen in place. He was bound to a chair with ropes and the fact that they stung like hell on his skin, meant they were covered in vervain. Also a ring of powder circled the chair with several symbols scribbled onto the floor inside of it. They were markings for a containment spell. Even if he could break through his restraints, there was no way to get out of the mystical boundary surrounding him.

"Comfortable?" a voice spoke. Finn turned his head to see Amelia seated on a bench. The Strix witch was sipping from a cup of tea, probably waiting for Finn to regain consciousness before she start her interrogation.

"My dear in all my life I have never killed a witch but you are testing my patience," Finn warned her.

Amelia smiled, "Well you certainly have no lack of confidence despite your circumstances."

She set her tea down on a small table next to her and got to her feet. "Now I don't want to damage that handsome face of yours but I need some information," Amelia spoke.

"You're a witch. Why are you working with vampires?" spat Finn.

"Is that disgust in your voice?" frowned an amused Amelia. "Have you looked in a mirror lately my friend because you're the same thing as them."

"The Strix are nothing more than a conclave of sadists and sociopaths. I am nothing like them," scoffed Finn.

"Yeah but they throw the best parties. Champagne, masks, sex…lots of sex," smiled Amelia.

"Spare me the talk of your debauchery and answer my question. Why are you working with the Strix?" demanded Finn.

Amelia shrugged. "My coven was so boring. Can't use magic for fun and endless chants to honor the ancestors made me want to create a suicide spell. So I left and ran into the Strix. I get what I want, when I want, and all I have to do is do a few favors for them like this."

Amelia then pulled out a knife and grabbed Finn's head. He groaned as the witch began carving symbols on his forehead, drawing blood. "Now I need to know where Annabelle Zhu is and more importantly, where the necklace is. And since you're being incredibly uncooperative, I'm just going to need to form a connection with your spirit to read your thoughts," Amelia calmly explained.

Taking the knife dripping with blood, the witch licked Finn's blood right off the metal blade. Finn found it incredibly repulsive and thought for a second that she wasn't a witch like she claimed to be. But there were so many spells and rituals that Finn wasn't aware of, maybe drinking blood was a requisite for whatever mind spell she was attempting.

Amelia closed her eyes and started chanting. Finn instantly knew something was wrong as he felt a growing migraine inside his skull. It was if his body could sense the witch's presence inside his head and reacting to it the same way it would react to an illness.

"Wow. There is a lot going on behind inside that pretty head," remarked Amelia. Her eyes remained close but they were moving back in forth behind her eyelids as if reading something.

"So many memories, it's hard to keep them all straight. You must be really old," Amelia commented. She must be using some kind of linking spell to order to see inside his head but unfortunately for this witch, Finn understood how such spells work. Amelia might be linked to him but that works both ways. Finn bite down on his tongue, hard enough to draw blood. It hurt like hell but it achieved what he wanted.

Amelia screamed as she spit blood out of her mouth. Instantly, a vampire of Asian descent zipped next to her. He had come from somewhere else within the large room and was probably just waiting to step in should the witch get in trouble. The vampires bite his wrist and placed it on Amelia's mouth, allowing her to drink his blood. Within a few seconds, the witch began to calm down as her tongue started to heal.

Amelia glared at Finn as she wiped the blood off lower jaw. "I see someone is well versed in linking spells," she grumbled.

"That kind of mental link you used can cause both subjects to experience the same pain," smiled Finn. "I must say I'm disappointed though. I'd thought our date would be private."

"Give me an hour with him and I'll make him talk," the vampire told Amelia.

"You think you know pain child? You don't know the meaning of the word," Finn mocked him.

The vampire took a step towards Finn but Amelia stopped him. "No need for that. Get me some cloth and gag him. Try biting your tongue through a shirt stuffed in your mouth," mocked the witch.

Finn was about to respond when he heard the sound of a car accelerating to full speed followed by a crash and a loud boom. He couldn't see what was happening outside but it clearly wasn't good.

"What the hell?" Amelia cursed. The witch and vampire quickly rushed away, probably towards an exit to investigate what was going on.

Normally Finn would have taken advantage of the situation and escaped but he didn't bother. Even if he could loosen the vervain ropes, Finn still couldn't get out of the containment spell surrounding him. So he just waited for his captors to return.

Someone soon came and to Finn's surprise, it wasn't the witch or any member of the Strix. "Rose?" he gasped.

"My turn to save you," Rose quipped, keeping her voice down. She crept towards Finn then came to a halt, seeing the symbol encircling him. Rose must have had some idea what it was for her to hesitate.

"Containment spell," Finn explained. "The only way to get me out of here is to get a witch to undue it or…"

Suddenly Rose screamed in pain, clenching her head. Amelia returned to the room, her right hand raised as she cast an affliction spell on Rose.

"And you complain that I brought someone to our little get together," the witch mocked. Rose cried out as she staggered towards the table with Amelia's tea, stumbling into it and knocking it over before she collapsed to the ground.

"Wait a minute. I know you," Amelia frowned, recognizing the intruder. "You're that vampire who handed me the necklace. You're supposed to be dead!"

Rose suddenly thrusted her hand out towards the witch as an object shot through the air and hit Amelia directly in the right eye, digging itself into her skull. The witch was dead before her body even hit the ground. Staring at her corpse, Finn realized that the object lodged in the corpse's skull was a fragment of Amelia's teacup which had shattered on the floor after Rose had knocked it over. The witch's spirit probably wasn't going to like tea after this.

"Normally I'd had a witty rejoinder for something like this but my head hurts," grumbled Rose as she got to her feet but not before she grabbed another piece of the broken tea cup. She then approached Finn and used the broken shard to cut through the vervain rope.

"How'd you find me?" Finn asked.

"Thank your friend Anna. Now we need to get out of here. I don't know how much longer…" Rose explained before she went silent, glancing over Finn's shoulder.

Finn turned to see dozens of vampires holding tommy guns. "Down!" he shouted, shielding Rose with his body.

The vampires opened fire and Finn cried out as hundreds of wooden bullets bombarded his body. They pierced and penetrated his skin, ripping apart his internal organs. Finn collapsed on top of Rose as the guns went silent but the damage was done. Several bullets had penetrated his heart and his skin was starting to desiccate. He tried to whisper to Rose that everything was going to be okay but could only spit blood out of his mouth. Rose screamed as darkness overtook him.

Rose was shoved to her knees, hands bound behind her back with vervain ropes. Tears flowed down her cheeks as her eyes were fixed on Finn's lifeless corpse. The body was dragged away by one of the Strix and no doubt Rose would be joining him shortly. The sad truth was that it was something she deserved. If Rose hadn't taken the Strix's offer to get the necklace, Finn wouldn't have been hired by Anna and gotten involved in all this. Now he was dead and it was all Rose's fault. Maybe it was past time she paid for all the suffering she caused. She tried to be a good person even as a vampire but she still hurt people.

Rose was even more disheartened when more vampires arrived with Lexi, Trevor, and Anna. The three were bound and shoved to their knees right next to Rose. They were supposed to cause a distraction and then escape but clearly there were more Strix in the area then they expected. Now they were going to be killed right alongside Rose. Three more reasons she deserved what was about to happen.

"Where's Finn?" asked Lexi. Rose just shook her head. That was enough to let them know what had happened.

"Annabelle Zhu. My employers have been looking for you," a vampire of Asian descent commented, glaring at Anna. "I don't know who the rest of you are and quite frankly I don't care. All I want to know is where the necklace is. The first one to tell me where it is gets to live."

"Seriously do you actually expect us to believe that? You're going to kill us all anyways," sighed Lexi.

"There are some fates worse than death," the vampire warned.

"Yeah and we've been living it for more than four hundred years so spare us the threats," grumbled Trevor.

"Well I tried to ask nicely," smiled the vampire. He nodded to the other Strix members who grabbed their captives by the shoulders and hair to hold them in place. The lead vampire pulled out a sculpting knife as he approached Rose.

"A vampire can regenerate most lost organs which is why I came up with a little game. It's called the breaking number. In it I cut out another vampire's eyes, wait until they regenerate and then cut out the new ones. I keep repeating this over and over again until finally the vampire tells me what I want to know. The record so far stands at fifty seven. That's right, the toughest killers on the planet couldn't even make it past sixty," the vampire mocked.

He slide the knife across Rose's forehead. It didn't draw any blood but she screamed in pain as it burned her skin. The knife's blade had vervain on it and simply touching it hurt like hell. "By the way there's vervain melted into the metal," the vampire added.

"Think you're so tough because you killed an Original?" snapped Trevor, probably trying to divert attention away from Rose.

"Excuse me?" frowned the lead vampire.

"Let me guess, you didn't have the guts to fight him hand to hand. You just shot him with your guns," mocked Trevor.

"Why did you call him an Original?" demanded the vampire.

"Because that's what he was. He could compel vampires as easily as you could compel a human," replied Trevor.

The Strix vampire's eyes widened, his confidence vanishing in an instant and replaced by fear. Rose was confused, Finn was already dead so why was he suddenly so afraid? Did he think that Klaus and the other first generation vampires will come after him?

The vampire turned and yelled, "Marcus? Where's the body?!"

Marcus must have been the vampire who dragged Finn's body away. Except to Rose's confusion, he wasn't answering. With superhuman hearing, he should have heard that. Assuming he was a vampire but Rose never heard about anyone else joining the Strix other than witches.

A scream caught everyone's attention. Rose turned to see one of the Strix's goons guarding Anna dropped to the ground, revealing someone clenching a bloody lump in his hand. Rose couldn't believe her eyes. It was Finn, very much alive and he looked pissed with his eyes completely bloodshot and barring his fangs.

This was impossible. Rose saw him get shot with wooden bullets, his skin desiccated from dying just like every other vampire. There's no way he should be standing right before her. Finn then rushed towards the nearest Strix vampire and decapitated him with a simple chop to the neck. The other Strix members were slow to react as they in just as much shock as their captives were.

The Strix raised their guns but Finn was faster. Before the headless corpse could drop to the ground, Finn had pulled out its pistol from the waist belt and opened fire with superhuman speed. Each shot was a chest hit, the wooden bullets killing more than half of them within a second. Taking the opportunity, Rose swung her legs and kicked the lead vampire at the back of the knee. He lost his balance and fell to the ground. Lexi, Trevor, and Anna all sprang into action as well. Their hands might all be bound but that didn't mean they were helpless. Lexi kicked one vampire to the ground, while Trevor and Anna both leaped on top of others, knocking them all to the ground.

Finn slaughtered the rest of them, decapitating and ripping out hearts within the blink of an eye. The only one who remained alive was the lead vampire. The terrified Strix leader got back to his feet but Finn was on him before he could escape. The Original bite down on the vampire's neck, drinking his blood the same way a vampire drank from a human. The Strix tried to struggle but his efforts were futile. Having taken his fill, Finn finished him off by ripping his heart out and letting the soon to be corpse drop to the ground.

The Original tossed the heart aside and turned back to his four would be rescuers. Although at this point, it seemed like he just rescued them as he untied them one by one.

"How?" gasped Rose, still in disbelief. "They shot you with wooden bullets. I saw you die."

"I did and it hurt like hell," Finn shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal.

"Wait a second. Wooden bullets can't kill you?" asked a confused Anna.

"There's only one thing in the world that can kill an Original and it's beyond the capabilities of the Strix to obtain," explained Finn.

"Okay then. Remind me to never make an Original mad," muttered Lexi.

Rose was so happy that she couldn't stop herself from approaching Finn and hugging him. The Original was caught off guard by the gesture but returned the embrace.

"Thanks for showing up when you did," Rose said as they separated.

"I should be thanking you. If you hadn't killed that witch, I'd still be tied up to that chair," Finn.

"Hey now I helped. I mean…we all helped," protested Trevor.

Finn smiled, "Then I should thank all of you."

"Well I couldn't let anything happen to you. You know how hard it is for find a date for Rose?" chuckled Lexi. Rose gave her friend another death glare.

Finn turned his attention to Anna. "I have to say of everyone who's here, you're the one I'm surprised to see the most," he commented.

"I needed your help and yes my reasons for helping you might seem selfish but you know where the necklace is. It's the only way to save my mother," Anna said.

"And it will," Finn said, making a decision. "I'm going to help you save your mother."

Anna almost looked like she was about to cry when she heard those words. "You're serious?" she asked.

"I'll come with you to Mystic Falls and free your mother from that tomb. While you get her out, I'm going to kill the other vampires trapped inside and make sure they don't escape to reign vengeance upon the town. Agreed?" Finn replied. Anna nodded in agreement.

"You better watch your backs. Mystic Falls isn't exactly safe for vampires," Lexi point out.

"We'll be fine," Finn assured her. He then turned to Rose and asked, "Where will you go next?"

"I don't know but we can't stay here. More of the Strix might come. Trevor and I normally stay somewhere in cities. Places easy to hide in and has large hospitals with large blood banks," Rose said.

Finn then started searching through the pockets of the dead Strix members and was pleased when he found one carried a pen. The Original grabbed a piece of paper that was lying on the ground and wrote something down. He handed it over to Rose who realized it was some kind of phone number.

"This number belongs to a human I compelled to deliver messages to me. I keep him apprised of where I am but compelled him to forget unless he needs to contact me. When you figure out where to go next, just call this number and I'll get your message," Finn said. Originally this was the system he set up to communicate with Mikael but he hadn't spoken or heard from his father ever since New Orleans. It was for the best as Finn hoped he never heard from the man ever again.

"I'll remember that. It's nice to finally have another friend," nodded Rose.

"And it's nice for me to finally have one. I'll wait for your call once I help Anna," Finn smiled.

Rose smiled back. "Take care of yourself," she said.