As Killian gently deposited David's resting form on the sofa and arranged a fleece blanket around his body, Emma made her escape from the room. She knew that by inviting the vampire into her home she had inadvertently agreed to hear his story. She just wasn't quite sure she was ready for the weight of that conversation yet.

"Do you um… do you want some tea?" she asked, as she made her way through to the kitchen and busied herself with filling the kettle. She had no idea if vampires could even drink human beverages, but it felt rude not to extend the offer to him when she was planning to make a mug for herself.

"Tea would be good," Killian agreed, following her into the space and taking a seat at the kitchen table. While Emma was busy setting the kettle onto the stove to boil and pulling out two mugs to begin preparing their drinks, Killian used the time to take in what he could see of the Swan family house.

The place was rather sparsely decorated, hinting that its owners hadn't yet fully settled into their new home. However, some pictures were beginning to make their way onto the walls. Most of them featured Emma, during various stages of her life. And it wasn't lost on Killian that absolutely none of them seemed to contain a woman that could be her mother. Which all but confirmed his suspicions that Emma's parents hadn't split on amicable terms.

Killian brought his gaze back to focus on the Slayer when she set two mugs of tea down in front of them, and then turned away to fetch a small jug of milk and a pot of sugar.

"I guess I should start at the beginning," he told her, as he reached for the milk to add a splash to his drink while Emma reluctantly took a seat opposite him. "I was turned in England many years ago. I'm not entirely sure when. We didn't really keep track of dates back then and life was so different from how it is now. I think I was a little older than you are, though. Maybe around twenty or twenty-one. A vampire attacked a village I was visiting and she slaughtered almost everyone in it – everyone but me. She liked me. She wanted to keep me for herself, so… she turned me. I don't remember much of those first few weeks. It was all just one big blur. I was dealing with this unquenchable thirst and everything else that came with this new cursed existence. Itwas completely overwhelming. But what I do know is that when I came back to myself, my entire family was dead. She told me that I'd gone back to them. Apparently, I'd tried to beg for my father's help and it didn't take him to long to realize what I'd become. He refused me entry to the house and tried to send me away. Which just made the vampire in me angry. So I lured my little brother outside and managed to persuade him to invite me in. When he did - I killed them all."

Killian kept his gaze firmly locked on Emma as he recounted the story of his past. It wasn't something that he was proud of, but he wanted her to understand the kind of person he'd been before. That way, she'd hopefully be more likely to understand just how much had changed.

Emma's heart rate sped up as she listened to him explain his past. Her eyes kept darting over to the door that lead through to the lounge, where her father was resting, and then to the one in the kitchen that would get her out of the building if she needed a quick escape. It was her Slayer instincts kicking in, assessing the house for weaknesses and exit points. As much as Killian hated that it was him they were reacting to, he was grateful that even if she wasn't consciously aware of them, those instincts were still working to protect her.

"I caused chaos in Europe for the best part of a century," he continued. "I was angry and hungry and my sire just encouraged it. I think the death and devastation was a huge turn on for her and I… I just wanted her acceptance. I'd never really had that from anyone before." Killian paused for a moment before he added, "That was also around the time that I changed Milah. She wanted to escape an abusive marriage and I wanted her. But Milah was never entirely stable and that made her completely unpredictable as a vampire. Instead of doing the responsible thing and taking her out, I just abandoned her. She's one of my biggest regrets."

Killian sipped at his drink for a moment to give Emma the time that she needed to really understand what he was explaining to her. He wanted to give her a chance to throw him out, if that was how she decided to react to his news. And he selfishly wanted to prolong admitting to what he knew came next in his story.

"As I was slaughtering my way through Europe, I heard whispers that someone was following my trail. It didn't take me long to work out who it was."

"A Slayer," Emma stated.

"Yes. A Slayer. I'm not proud of what I did to her Emma, but I was a different person back then. I… I toyed with her. I lured her into traps. Turned vampires just to watch her fight and kill them so that I could study her style. And then, when I was absolutely certain that I could best her - I confronted her. It was over fast. She didn't really stand a chance. And I took a great deal of pleasure in holding that kill over my fellow vampires. I used it to boost my standing amongst them and to finally break free from my sire."

"Did you uh… did you kill any other Slayers?" Emma had gone deathly pale and Killian watched her hands tremble slightly as she raised a mug of tea to her lips. He had never felt more ashamed of his past than he did at that moment, whispering the word, "Yes," into the space between them.

Emma's mug hit the table with a dull thud, spilling hot liquid all over the surface. Killian moved as fast as his vampire body would allow, cleaning away the scalding liquid before it could burn the Slayer who was sitting motionlessly in her chair, trying to process what she'd just heard.

"That was years ago, Emma. Well over a century. Before I became me again," he explained, as he took his seat once more.

"And what's so different now?" she finally exploded, standing up and pushing away from the table. Emma could feel that familiar punch of adrenaline filling her body, screaming for her to do something. Pacing helped ease it a little, but every instinct inside of her was still urging her to run.

"Around the end of the eighteenth century, I was in Romania. I became obsessed with this one girl. I wanted to make her mine so I planned to turn her. But she made it very clear that she wanted absolutely nothing to do with me. And that… well, that just made me angry. I wasn't used to not getting my way as a vampire and she was one of only a few to ever rebuff my advances. What I did to her… it was unspeakable, Emma. One of my worst acts as a vampire. But it was also one of my last as a mindless killing machine." He finished the rest of his tea and set the mug down in front of him, fiddling with the handle a little as he tried to work out how to word the rest of his story.

"What I didn't know back then was that this girl wasn't just some random person from the village. She was a gypsy. The daughter of a very powerful and knowledgeable man. When he found out what had happened to her, he swore that he would have his revenge. And he was very creative in how he went about taking it. You see, one of the biggest differences between humans and vampires is that a vampire is reborn without its soul. It's why we kill so indiscriminately. It's why we're so ruthless and blood-thirsty. There's nothing inside of us to tame the beast."

Killian fell silent as he gave the Slayer a few minutes to take in that information. He wanted Emma to truly understand the importance of what he was about to tell her. Because as far as he knew, his situation was completely unique.

"The girl's father wanted a fate worse than death for me - and he found it. He found a way to restore my soul. So while I survived my encounter with him, I now spend every single day of my life living with the guilt and regret for every death I've ever caused. It's the perfect form of torture for an immortal being."

"And that's why you've changed?" Emma asked, just to make sure that she understood what he was telling her.

"Yes. I haven't touched human blood since that night. I can't bring myself to do so. I… I was nothing for the longest time, Emma. Nothing but a shadow of a man, living off rats and in dirty alleyways. I used to contemplate ending things every morning at sunrise. But I was too much of a coward to make it happen."

"What's changed since then?"

"You, Emma. You're what's changed."

When she raised a brow in question, Killian took a deep breath in and held it for a moment, knowing that this would either be the piece of information that restored her trust in him, or that shattered it completely.

"I met someone. A man who called himself Whistler. He told me that the fates had whispered to him of a new Slayer. A young woman who was completely untrained and being sent to the Hellmouth to deal with one of the greatest threats this world would ever face. He took me to see you - at your old high school. I watched as you laughed and talked with your friends, and as you walked home alone every night. I watched you for months. He said that you'd need help if the world was to survive this coming evil. And he said that if I cleaned up my act, I could be that help. So… I did. That's why I'm here. It's why I'm in Storybrooke and why I have a purpose in life now… if you can call this existence a life. It's all because of you, Emma. I did it all for you."

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