I woke up in a strange bedroom, lying on a large four-poster bed. I was wearing clothes that were not mine. It was a large, long-sleeved shirt. And no pants! But at least the shirt's hem went to nearly my knees.

I got up from the bed and walked into the hallway.

Am I at Klaus's?

I walked down the hall to the top of the stairs and saw how two staircases split from the top where I was standing.

I am at Klaus's. I woke up in Klaus's bed?

I tried to remember what happened. I was being held by the vampire hunter. I was tied and weakened from the vervain. It was dark. Did he take my bracelet? I looked down and saw that it wasn't on my wrist.

I guess he did.

Everything else seemed to be fragmented. The hunter… had a partner? No, he was alone. There was a crash; the door not only flew open, but came right off its hinges. Then smoke filled the room.

Or is my brain just foggy?

I was weak; not only would the hunter pour vervain onto my manacles, but he hadn't fed me.

Then C was at my side, with Tyler behind her. And Rebekah was on my other side. They tried to break off the manacles, but couldn't, because of the vervain; they got burned too.

Then I saw Klaus and everyone else seemed to disappear. He easily broke the chains and manacles, as if the vervain hardly affected him. Maybe it didn't.

Hybrids. Or maybe just the Original hybrid.

I shook the memories from my head and started down the stairs. When I was halfway down, I guess Klaus heard me because he came to the bottom of the stairs.

"You're awake."

"Barely."

When I reached the final step, I pulled him into my arms and I was hugging him, my face resting against his chest. He wrapped his arms around me, returning the hug. I expected it to be awkward — we had never hugged before and neither of us were huggers — but it wasn't. It was comforting. And for the first time since I had been captured, and maybe before, I felt safe.

I missed you.

"Come on, love," he said as we pulled apart. He took me by the arm. "You need to rest." We went to the front living room and I sat down on the couch, curling my legs up underneath me.

"I'll go get you some blood."

"No thank you. I'm not thirsty."

"Will you just appease me and drink some so I know you're regaining your strength?"

I half glared at him. "Fine."

Klaus went into the kitchen, grabbed a blood bag, and returned to the front living room in a flash.

"I'm really not thirsty."

"Just drink it." Klaus opened the blood bag and handed it to me. Once I took it from him, he sat down on the couch beside me.

"Can vampires get bed sores?" I asked before drinking the blood. I wasn't thirsty, but it still made me feel better.

"Of course. They just heal quickly."

"How long was I sleeping?"

"Just about a day."

"A day?" He nodded. "A whole entire day?"

"Nearly. You were exhausted."

"I feel fine now."

"We gave you blood once we got you back here, before you went to sleep."

I shook my head slightly. "I don't remember that. I only remember bits and pieces from wherever I was. I remember the door breaking down, presumably by you, and then you breaking the manacles. That's all."

"Maybe it's good that you don't remember it all."

"I still can't believe I slept for a whole day… No wonder I'm sore." I gasped. "Oh gosh! Caroline and Aunt Liz—"

"Don't worry. They know you're here and that you're safe. They took turns watching over you. They left not too long ago, actually. Liz had to work."

"You'd think having your niece abducted by a vampire hunter would let you miss your shift," I joked. Especially in Mystic Falls."

"The sheriff seems incredibly devoted to her job," Klaus responded.

"That's an understatement," I muttered. I set the now-empty blood bag onto the table beside the couch and turned back to face Klaus. "She's hardly ever home. I see how that it runs in the family."

"Through Caroline or your mother?"

I thought about his question. "I was talking about my mother, but C doesn't spend a lot of time at home either."

Speaking of my mother…

Looking into his eyes and sharing this incredibly nice moment with him, I knew I needed to tell Klaus the whole truth. Being abducted reinforced the fact that just because I'm supernatural, it doesn't mean I'm invincible. "Is Rebekah home?"

"No, she's at school."

"School!" How could I have forgotten that I would have obviously missed school? Being captured messes up everything.

"Don't worry, love. Between Rebekah and Caroline, they'll make sure you get all your work. We all know how much you hate to miss school."

"Good." I tried to imagine how much work I would have, but I realized I had no idea how long I was gone. "How long was I… how long was I there?"

He sighed. "Three days."

I let out a puff of air. "All that time was only three days?" I didn't know how to process that. "It felt like a week. Or more. Not… not three days." I shuddered. Klaus put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me toward him so I could lean into his side. That comforting, safe feeling washed over me again.

"This was my fault."

"No, Klaus, it wasn't."

"It was. You were taken because of your association with me."

"You're wrong. I was taken because I was vulnerable and alone and open. An easy target." For once, he didn't argue with me over his guilt.

"Did you kill him?"

"No." He sounded angry. "The hunter escaped. He obviously knew we were coming. He was prepared and he had magic helping him. But I will find him and make him pay for what he did to you, Riley. I promise. He's not the only one who can work with witches."

"I want you to teach me."

"Teach you what?"

"How to defend myself. How to take care of myself. I never want to feel that helpless or doomed ever again."

"You won't have to. I can protect you."

"Thanks, but you can't be around me 24/7."

"I could."

I shook my head. "No."

"Okay, I will teach you."

I smiled and curled even closer to him, thinking I could sit like this forever.

"Why can't you be like this all the time?"

"Like what?"

"Nice. And normal. Not all murderous and manipulative."

"I am normal and nice, but only to those who deserve it," Klaus replied, "and being murderous and manipulative has allowed me to survive. But I can be nice, contrary to popular belief. And you're one to speak, love."

"What do you mean?"

"Half of the time I spend with you is trying to prevent you from pushing me away."

I sat up, leaning slightly away from him so I could see his face. "Really?" He nodded. "I could say the same thing about you." I nudged him in his ribs. He chuckled and pulled me into his side again.

Klaus reached into his pocket and pulled something out. "The Bennett witch came by this morning with this for you." He had a ring in his hand. A daylight ring. He put it on the index finger of my left hand.

"Oh good; I was worried I'd have to stay indoors during the daytime."

"I'd never let you be constrained by the sun, Riley."

Klaus carried Riley into his bedroom and laid her down on his bed. Caroline followed on his heels. Riley was slipping in and out of consciousness. Klaus cradled Riley's head with his one arm. He bit into his wrist and held it to her mouth. Riley was conscious enough to notice the blood. He sighed as she took his blood; he was unbelievably relieved that she was going to be okay. The feel of her lips on his skin made his blood boil with desire, but also with rage that Riley needed his blood in the first place. As he felt her drink from his arm, he made a silent vow that he would protect her, no matter the cost to himself.

Caroline noticed the tenderness Klaus used when he moved the shorter pieces of hair away from Riley's forehead and face.

Rebekah entered the room a few seconds later. She had three blood bags in her hands from the kitchen fridge.

Caroline was shocked to see what Rebekah was carrying. "You have blood bags in this house?"

Klaus glared at the question but didn't answer; he never removed his eyes from Riley.

Rebekah answered for him. "Nik knows Riley doesn't drink from humans."

Klaus managed to keep Riley conscious long enough to feed all three bags to her. Caroline was obviously shocked by Klaus's interaction with her cousin, but she was a little touched too.

Rebekah spoke once Riley fell back asleep. "Why would the hunter take Riley?"

Caroline looked at Klaus. "Because of you."

Klaus rolled his eyes. "Well, obviously." He grabbed Riley's hands and wrists; then he moved her hair from where it rested against her neck. He was looking for something. "What is her daylight piece?"

"A bracelet." Caroline glared at Rebekah for answering a question about her cousin.

Klaus looked at Riley's wrists again; he saw several — she always wore numerous bracelets — but noticed that none of them had a lapis lazuli stone. "What does it look like?"

Caroline leaned over Riley's wrists, searching them as she spoke. "It's a tri-lined, silver open cuff bangle bracelet with an oval-shaped lapis stone. And it's gone." Klaus rolled his eyes at her excessive description.

"He took it?" Rebekah asked.

"Oh my god. He tortured her." Caroline wanted to kill that vampire hunter. She had spent enough time being captured and tortured; she hated thinking of her cousin in any type of situation like that.

"Seems likely," Klaus said as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and called a contact. "Bonnie." He paused for a moment as Bonnie, not so kindly, asked what he wanted. "Always lovely chatting with you. But keep quiet and listen. Riley and Caroline at in my house right now; I'm sure Caroline informed you that Riley was missing. We found her. But she's in need of another daylight piece. So hop to it. Quickly. Bring it here when you're done."

"You have Bonnie's cell number?" Caroline asked as Klaus hung up and re-pocketed his phone.

"Caroline, you'd be shocked at the amount of information about this town and its inhabitants that I have access to."

I stared at the ring. It had a wide, dark silver band with a Celtic knot on either side of the oval blue stone. "I don't understand why they took my bracelet. They never burned me."

"You were doused with vervain, sweetheart," Klaus pointed out. "You didn't exactly come out unharmed."

"I know. But I wasn't tortured. Not with sunlight. They could have; the window above my holding place would have let in plenty of sunlight. It was more like temporary holding. And Caroline said daylight jewelry only works on the vampire it was created for, so it's not like they could give it to someone else. Plus, he was a vampire hunter; he wasn't a vampire. He wouldn't want more vampires walking around in the sunlight."

"Perhaps it was a preventative measure, in case you escaped."

"They obviously underestimate the power of vervain."

" 'They'?" Klaus asked.

"Pardon?"

"You keep saying 'they.' I fought the hunter, but he didn't have any associates around."

I sat up and thought about it. "There was another voice in the room when they thought I was passed out from the vervain. I heard it more than once. He would always leave when they realized I was awake. Did I see his face?" I groaned in frustration and shoved my fingers into my hair. "It's all so fuzzy."

"It's all right, love," Klaus said as he pulled my hands away from my head. "Unless you recognized him, it doesn't matter." He still had ahold of my hands; our fingers intertwined. "I already had my doubts that he would have come to Mystic Falls on his own."

"His face…" I tried to picture it.

I gasped in remembrance.

Seriously? Could it really be him? Just my luck.

One time — only once — the second man was standing close to me when I woke up. I saw his face in profile. It was fuzzy, because I was groggy from the vervain, and once they noticed I was stirring, the man and the hunter left. But I recognized his face. It had been years since I'd seen that face, but I'd know him anywhere.

"I have to call C."

"Now?"

"Yes. It's extremely important."

Klaus let go of one of my hand — only one — to grab his phone from his pocked. He handed it to me.

I took it and dialed C's cell number.

C answered with a hesitant "Hello?"

"C, it's me."

"Ri, you're awake!"

"Yeah. I need to warn you about something. The vampire hunter. He isn't working alone."

"What? We didn't find anyone else there."

"I saw the accomplice. Trust me. He is not working alone."

"Good to know. Thanks."

"No, C, that's not my warning. I'm calling to warn you about who the hunter is working with."

"'Who'?"

"C, it's Lewis."

"What? Lewis? As in—"

I cut her off so Klaus couldn't overhear. "Yes."

"Oh my god. Ri, are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"Does Klaus know?"

I looked at Klaus while I answered C's question. "No. Not yet." I dropped my gaze away from his. "C, Lewis is someone else we have to look out for — it's no longer just the hunter. And watch over everyone else, if you can."

"Of course, Ri. You be careful too."

"Bye C," I said as I hung up the phone.

Klaus was clearly awaiting an explanation. "Well? Riley, who is Lewis?"

I let go of his other hand. I still couldn't look into his eyes. "Umm… I don't know how to say this, so I'm just going to be blunt: I lied to you."

"What do you mean?"

"Not a lie… exactly. I said something and I knew you would assume something else based on what I said and I let you believe that false assumption that I knew you would make…" Klaus didn't say anything. "Wow, that's not confusing at all, right?" I fiddled nervously with my hands as they lay in my lap and tried to explain it again.

"I didn't correct you on the false assumption I knew you would make because it was much easier to just let you believe it."

"And what was this false assumption?"

"It's about my parents." I inhaled before I spoke again. "Lewis is my father."