A ruby, lip-shaped stain clung onto the edge of a goblet filled with a like coloured liquid. Disinterested eyes stared at it while turning its stem with gloved fingers. Those voluptuous lips, kissed by dark brown curls that hung from that beautiful head and framed that slender face, opened slightly to release a sigh that was barely audible even to themselves. Remnants from a long buried conscience were beginning to stir back to life and bring unpleasant thoughts to the fore, thoughts she would rather had stayed buried. They agitated her but they wouldn't disappear no matter how she tried to ignore them.

Something from her past told her that she should do more to help. She knew that she was in trouble enough already. He would know that she had made that call, it wouldn't go without retribution. She knew him well enough to know that it was suicide to even think of disobeying or betraying him was suicide but there was a part of her that couldn't sit back and do nothing anymore. If she did nothing now she could lose her brother, she loved him and knew that LaCroix's anger with him wouldn't last forever. Nick was his favourite.

After what seemed like seconds to her mind she came to a decision. Placing her glass on the bar with a sigh she removed herself from her perch on her barstool. Sauntering over to the other end of the bar closest to the door she lifted a hand to get her idle barman's attention. His eyes met hers instantly and he came over.

"Miklos, I'm going out. While I'm gone, you're in charge, see that our customers are well looked after." Janette purred turning on her magnetic charm.

Miklos nodded while he polished a glass, "Yes, ma'am. You can trust me."

"I know."

With a smile Miklos watched as Janette left the building. He wouldn't dream of giving her any reason not to trust him. She was over four hundred years older than him after all.

Nick had no choice. He had to do something. Doing nothing wasn't an option and yet his fear of what his father might do kept him from doing anything rash. He stood waiting for the right moment but he knew somehow that there would never be that moment. If he was going to act, now, he had to do it quickly, LaCroix wouldn't wait much longer.

"Well, what are you going to do?" LaCroix sneered, his words broken by a chuckle.

Nick held back an impulse to shrug, "You're letting your passion, your hunger drive you. You're not thinking. Remember the code? Robyn has to give her consent. You can't do this without it."

"Perhaps, but have you not considered that she might not have time to give her consent?"

"She's better off dead, LaCroix. You know that."

LaCroix chuckled dryly, "Unlike you, Nicholas, I have no concerns about what I am. I enjoy the immortality that was given to me, nothing will ever change that. What makes you think that Robyn will end up feeling like you do?"

"You. It's the way you are. You're deranged, LaCroix, she'll see that one day and will want back what you took from her. It'll happen sooner with her than me, because of Kit."

"I forgot about him," LaCroix stated in mock surprise.

Nick watched as LaCroix stood up, still holding Robyn in his arms, and walked over to a counter. He bent over briefly and pulled at something behind it. Much to Nick's immediate relief he saw that it was Kit, he was unconscious but so far his heartbeat was strong but if LaCroix had his way that could very quickly change.

The sunlight stung his eyes, he had had a window in his room but all of the light shining in it had been filtered by a dark brown tint that covered the windows. Outside in the fresh air he looked around him, it was a long way back to Lazytown but he wasn't sure if that was where he wanted to go. Lily had told him that Robyn was in a big city but she'd not said where. He wondered if she should find her, to make her tell him but he wasn't strong enough for a physical confrontation. He didn't know if it would be the last fight he'd ever get in.

A thought that the Network might be able to help him crossed his mind but he had no way of contacting them, without a phone or letter he was out of their reach. If he went in search of Greta she would send him straight back to where he was now and then he would have no hope at all. Finally he came to a decision, it was useless for him to stand around outside the hospital he was meant to be escaping from. It held no answers for him and if he didn't get away he wouldn't have another chance to leave until he was formerly discharged.

Picking a direction he started to walk, it would help him think of what to do next.

Elias put a hand to his chest as he stared into the dead eyes of his friend and colleague, Sami. With a sigh he looked back at the mangled corpse of Radboud. Two good men had been slain that night, two good men who hadn't deserved to die but had fallen in the line of duty. He hoped to the highest heavens that their deaths hadn't been in vain, that the two people his men had been seeking to protect were still alive; it was debatable whether they'd be unharmed. From what he had seen of the car window they'd escaped, at least he hoped they had, if not Cain had broken in and murdered them.

Filled with anger at the thought of the man responsible for all this death, for all the broken hearts, he stood up. In his fury he stormed over to Cain's body. He looked at it briefly before kicking it, again and again, until one of his men stopped him, he didn't struggle. Despite who the corpse was he knew that it wouldn't solve anything, it wouldn't bring back his men, his friends. They were gone and there was nothing that could change that. Before there was anything else for him to do he had to notify their families. Walking away from the crime scene, a place where he had no jurisdiction, he excused himself to Detective Schanke before going in search of a phone.

Tears stained his eyes as he tried to think of words to say to them, two wives that were now without husbands that had children without fathers. He knew that there would be a time one day when someone would struggle to find words to report his loss, for now it was his job.

With little effort LaCroix readjusted Robyn slightly so that she was almost standing with his arm around her waist, supporting her. Bending down once more he picked Kit up and put him much the same position. A truly grotesque smile curved his lips making his fangs much more prominent.

"What'll it be, Nicholas? The boy or the girl? You can only save one, which one means more? It's like that situation we had a long time ago, you had to choose between the girl and the jade cup you thought would cure you. If I remember rightly you ended up losing both in the end. Which will you choose?" LaCroix's tone was beyond mocking.

Nick was silent for a few moments until he remembered something, "Remember that Valentine's day? Remember what I said to you about Fleur? It's her innocence that draws you to her, like with Fleur, and you will destroy it. If you truly loved her you would let her go, you wouldn't destroy her."

"Very well. Your choice is made." LaCroix replied.

With a smooth motion LaCroix placed Robyn on the floor and pulled Kit closer to him before pressing his fangs to his neck.