"Hi, Daddy!" Laura greeted Elijah good-naturedly as she strolled through the door that he opened. "Love the outfit. You look good in jeans!"

"Really?" Elijah asked, an eyebrow raised. "Your brother was incredibly uncomfortable when he saw me like this."

Laura studied him. He was wearing socks this time, and he'd trimmed his facial hair a bit, but he still wore torn jeans and a shirt that didn't button down the front. "Let me guess," she said flatly. "It was Gregory who was freaked out by you? He would be. But you don't look bad at all. You look...relaxed. I like it." She smiled.

Elijah chuckled. "You know, you're the only person who's reacted well to the change in me. I even think your mother is unnerved by it."

"Well, seeing as how working for Grandpa has kept her on her toes, it's reasonable she's straightened up a bit," Laura replied. "It's nothing you need to worry about, I'm sure."

"So, how are things with you, then?" Elijah asked.

Laura sighed. "Charlie and Elizabeth are together now, and the other day, Elizabeth didn't call to tell Katherine where she was, so Katherine's solution was to come over and punch me in the face. And pull my hair. And give me a black eye."

"Did you hurt her too?" Elijah asked.

"No," Laura shook her head. "But I wish I had."

Elijah put his arms around her. "I know that for both you and your mother, Katerina is a big pain, but I'm proud of you for keeping yourself in check."

"You mean if I had actually hit her, you would have been disappointed in me?" Laura asked. "Even though she hit me first? Even Edward, who was just as dismayed by the whole thing as you are, said that since she hit me first, I could hit her back if I chose."

Elijah sighed. "I don't think I should be taking sides in this feud between you and Katherine," he said. "I know you're my daughter and I love you, but you're old enough to deal with this yourself. Whatever you feel needs to be done with her, I can't stop you from doing it, regardless of whether or not I approve of what you're doing."

Laura nodded. "I'm sorry to drag you into this mess," she said. "I know that it just upsets you and I don't want that. So we won't talk about it anymore. How are things around here? Anything new other than your looks?"

"Well. your brother Ethan is still very close friends with that Jeffrey boy he seems to be fond of," Elijah replied. "He invited him over for dinner at some point soon. And your brother wants to cook. Your mom is trying to think of recipes to teach him. Simple ones, of course."

"Would you like Edward and I to come on the day the dinner happens?" Laura asked. "So you don't have to be by yourself? I mean, Mom will be there, of course, but...do you want Edward and me to be there too, is my question."

Elijah ran his fingers through his hair. "I would love that," he replied. "You're a darling, Laura."

"It's my pleasure," Laura replied and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "It's something that will keep my mind off Katherine. Charlie goes to her house all the time, you know. I have to start offering to let them come over to our house. I don't know if they'd take me up on it, but I think I might try."

"Good luck," Elijah smiled. "Keep your head up, darling."

"Thanks," Laura nodded. "I'll do it."

"Our English teacher is making us read Dracula," Charlie complained to Elizabeth as the two of them sat at Gregory and Katherine's kitchen table after Charlie returned from school one day soon after. "Do you think I can opt out of it by telling her that it's offensive to Vampire Americans such as myself?"

Elizabeth chuckled. "You're a vampire-werewolf American," she corrected him. "It's really not such a bad book. I had to read it last year when I was in that same class. I mean, yeah, Dracula might be cartoon-ish and campy and nowhere near what a vampire is actually like, but it's fiction, for heaven's sake. And even if it wasn't, you know Mr. Stoker wasn't talking about vampires like us, right? He's talking about stereotypical vampires."

"And what's the difference between us and stereotypical vampires?" Charlie asked. "And remember, you yourself are not a vampire."

"Well, Grandpa is a member of the first family of vampires," Elizabeth said patiently, ignoring his last remark. "The spell that created them didn't require them to die first. It just made vampirism part of our DNA. Then, to balance things out, the vampires that were created by blood-sharing had to die in order to transform, so they couldn't bear children and vampires would overrun the earth. And yes, I realize that I am not a vampire myself, but I like the collective 'we', okay?"

"And you know this how?" Charlie asked in amazement.

Elizabeth shrugged. "Dad knows things. We talk. That's how I know these things."

Charlie opened the book and tried to read a few pages before he had to stop. "This book is so dumb!" he cried and threw his copy of Dracula off the table. "It's complete garbage. There has to be some way to make it interesting!"

Elizabeth thought a moment and then went to get Katherine. "Mom," she said, "I need your help."

"Sure," Kathrine replied, standing up. "What's going on?"

"Remember when I was having to read Dracula for school and I didn't want to, so to make me feel better about it, you told me those stories about Elizabeth Bathory and Vlad the Impaler? Well, not Vlad exactly, but close enough. Can you tell them to Charlie? Please? The book's just not doing it for him."

"I suppose I could share those stories with him," Katherine nodded. "He's not the type to get nightmares, is he?"

"No," Elizabeth shook her head. "Or at least I don't think." She led Katherine to the kitchen where Charlie was stomping on the book.

"Wanna take a break there?" Elizabeth asked. "Mom's got more exciting stories for you."

Katherine nodded. "I do. Granted, I don't know the one about Vlad the Impaler as well cause he was born even before my time, but not long before. Transylvania is in the country right next door to mine. So I heard the real stories from people, believe me. When I had to leave, it was one of the first places I went."

Charlie's eyes widened. "You're lying!"

"No, I'm not," Katherine replied, her fangs showing. "Wanna bet?"

"No," Charlie replied, leaning back a little. "I think I'd rather not. But if your stories are better than some idiot going to Dracula's castle and being murdered because Dracula has the hots for his fiance, lay 'em on me."

"Harker wasn't murdered!" Elizabeth said.

"Well, thank you for telling me the ending," Charlie said. "I'm very much obliged cause now I don't have to read the book!"

"I did meet a man who the locals claimed was a vampire," Katherine said. "Granted, he wasn't Dracula, but rather a weirdo with a blood obsession, but it was still very strange."

"Were you a vampire already when you met him?" Charlie asked.

"Oh, yes," Katherine nodded. "I had Elizabeth's sister Nadia in the early 1490s, then I was booted out of Bulgaria and on the run. I ended up in England in 1492, where I met a man named Trevor who I thought had feelings for me, but really, he just wanted to bring me to your grandfather so he and your uncle Klaus could use my blood to make Klaus more powerful."

"Obviously that didn't happen," Charlie replied.

"Nope," Katherine shook her head. "Trevor was repentant and showed me the way to a cottage of a friend of his named Rose, who he said would help me. But she was just as treacherous as he had been once, ready and willing to hand me over to your uncle, even though I was an innocent. So I did the last thing I could do: I hanged myself in the cottage after I forced her to feed me her blood, and became a vampire, and thus useless for your uncle to use in his stupid ritual. Of course, that meant I had to have a spell done that gave your grandma Selina the privilege of being his bait, but we all do what we have to do, and I say it worked out pretty well for her in the end."

"When was that spell done?" Charlie asked.

"Early fifteen hundreds, I believe," Katherine replied. "After that, I thought it would be best if I got out of England, and I was feeling a little homesick, so I went home and found that your uncle had slaughtered my family. After that, I ran again, this time, to Romania. Not having many options, I took a job as a serving woman at a tavern, but I didn't have to endure that humiliation long before a man named Count Andrei entered my life. He had a habit of monopolizing my attention, taking it away from the other men, but as he was not boorish like the others, and treated me with some measure of respect, I allowed it. That, and the fact that he had lovely gray eyes and flowing dark hair didn't hurt either."

"So you let him...court you?" Elizabeth asked. "Or whatever they called it back then?"

Katherine sighed. "Yes. Despite my bad experiences with Klaus and Elijah, I decided to take a chance with Andrei. He took me away from the tavern life and set me up at his castle in the mountains. It was a very isolated place, and as I strode toward the castle entrace for the first time, an elderly woman came from the fields, took my arm in a clawlike grip, and told me to go as far away as I could because Andrei was the devil, and a vampire. Knowing that, being what I was, I would probably be able to handle whatever Andrei dished out if he was what the old lady claimed, I shook off her warning and went inside. When he saw me, he asked what had kept me. I told him about the old lady and he just laughed.

"'All the peasants are superstitious around here, Katerina," he told me. 'Do not pay attention to them'. I nodded and he showed me to my room, introducing me to my personal maid, Melita, who couldn't have been more than thirteen or fourteen, and then leaving so I could dress for a dinner he had the servants prepare.

"The girl helped me dress, and as she did my hair, she brushed it a little too hard, which caused me to cry out in pain. Upon hearing that, the girl dropped the brush and burst into tears before running out of the room. Confused, I picked up the brush and finished brushing my own hair before I met Andrei for dinner. The atmosphere was tense and I ate very little, as did he. When I asked him why, he assured me that he would be fine, and that he would 'eat later'. He then addressed the matter of Melita. 'I hear she hurt you quite badly'," he said. 'Not to fear. She will be dealt with'.

"I didn't want to ask what he meant by 'dealt with', but my fears were confirmed when I heard the screams that night, even from several floors down. Afraid for Melita's safety, I followed the screams until I heard them coming, clear as ever, from behind a locked door. Managing to get it open, I found myself looking at a horrifying sight: Melita was chained up, and was being whipped and beaten. I could only look for a few seconds before I cried out for him to stop. He turned around and looked at me, his eyes jet black. When I could finally look away from his powerful gaze, I ran back to my room and shut the door, crying into my pillow. I'd told myself after Elijah that I would be strong...but seeing a girl that young, that innocent, being abused by such monster...it was too much for me to take.

"When Andrei came to bed that night, I was ready for him. 'I know you saw what I did to Melita," he said. 'Usually, anyone who sees doesn't live to tell the tale. You're lovely, Katerina, but you will not be the exception to the rule'. That was when he pinned me to the bed and produced a knife, cutting my throat with it, then licking the blood off the knife before taking more from my neck wound.

'Are you supposed to be a vampire?' I asked him, becoming less frightened by the minute. "I don't believe you are. I believe you're an insane man who likes to be cruel. That this vampire guise of yours is just an act to keep your servants and the villagers in line.' I pushed him off me, then grabbed his collar. 'Now if you'd like to see a real vampire,' I said, 'I'd be more than happy to oblige'. I then sank my fangs into his neck and sucked him dry, cleaning both him and myself off the best I could, then stabbing his body a few times before I called one of the servants to tell him that his cruel master had been killed because he tried to rape me.

"The servants were all so happy that I'd freed them from their abusive master that they proposed I stay as long as I wanted. I took them up on their offer and was queen of the castle for as long as I dared be before I decided I had to take off again, telling all of them to begin their own lives when I departed."

"Wow," Charlie's jaw dropped a little. "That's amazing. That Andrei guy does sound a lot like Dracula."

Katherine nodded. "I only saw him at night, you know. We reached the castle at night, that's when he came to get his drinks at the tavern, he was an awfully pale man...for a lunatic, he did a pretty good impersonation of a vampire. Except for the fangs. You really can't fake those."

"What about Elizabeth Bathory?" Elizabeth asked.

"She lived in Hungary, which was close to Romania," Katherine replied. "I heard about her while I was living in Andrei's castle. The servants would warn me about going out because the Countess had a tendency to kidnap young women and bring them to her castle so she could bathe in their blood."

"Did she kidnap you?" Charlie asked, much more fascinated than he should have been.

"No, she never caught me," Katherine replied. "At least not entirely. I was out and about one night despite the servants' warnings and that's when her men caught me. They took me to her castle, but when her men tried to drain me, I killed them instead."

"So what'd she do with you?" Katherine asked.

"Well, I told her my story, and as twisted as she was, she agreed to protect me the best she could if I would help her find young women. I agreed, and every night I would go out with her guards and help them find women for her to kill."

Elizabeth's jaw dropped at this. "Mother, that's terrible!" She cried.

Katherine rolled her eyes. "You said the same thing when I told you this story before," she said. "But you know me! I was always more concerned with my own survival than anyone else's. Until I married Gregory and we adopted you, of course. Don't judge."

"Fine," Elizabeth sighed. "Sorry."

"I left the Countess when she was confined to her castle for all her murders in 1610 and moved on to the next place," Katherine finished. "I got out of that neck of the woods and headed for France, which was having a very good period. But as that has nothing to do with Dracula, I don't think I need to go into it."

"Now I feel even less incentive to read this book," Charlie replied, staring at Dracula again.

"But since you have to," Elizabeth said, grasping his arm firmly, "Let's go to the store and get it on tape. What do you think? Would that be more tolerable?"

"Yes," Charlie nodded. "I think it would."

Elizabeth had just gotten out of the shower the following Friday when she heard the doorbell ring insistently. Knowing that she was the only one who could answer it because her father was checking on things at the shelter and her mother was out shopping, she secured a towel around herself and went to answer the door. When she opened it, a stunned Charlie stood on the other side. "Hello!" She smiled. "What can I do for you?"

He looked her over, then smiled. "Do you answer the door in a towel for everyone?" He asked. "Or am I just lucky?"

"Well, I wasn't specifically answering the door this way for your benefit cause you're supposed to be in school," Elizabeth chided. "Why aren't you?"

Charlie shrugged and came inside. "I skipped it today," he replied. "It's almost the weekend, after all."

"Not more problems with Dracula," Elizabeth groaned. "We got you the tapes so it would be easier. It's like you were always telling me with math: it doesn't matter how much you hate it, you have to do it anyway."

"I know," Charlie nodded. "This is the only time I'll skip, I swear." He looked her over. She was dripping wet still and trying to refasten her towel, which was about to fall to her feet. "Say," he said, coming so close to her that their chests were touching and she was backed against the coat closet. "Are...are your parents home?"

"No," Elizabeth replied, her voice breathy as heat pervaded her body and she reached up to trace his lower lip with her finger. "They're...out for the day." She smiled then, and before Charlie was adequately prepared, she dropped the towel.

Charlie looked her over and a low, guttural moan escaped his throat. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?" He asked, pulling her into his arms. "Remember what happened last time."

"Yes, but I'm not bleeding now," Elizabeth replied, gasping as he kissed her neck. She felt one of his hands cup her bottom while the other went between her legs, rubbing her gently before he entered her with his finger.

"Yes!" Elizabeth cried, holding his face between her hands so they were staring into each other's eyes before she kissed him long and hard. Then, moving his hands, he pushed her away so he could unzip his pants and let them drop around his ankles before he picked her up, her legs wrapped around his waist, and he braced her against the wall before pushing into her.

It was only as an afterthought, when they were both dressing again, that he said, "I hope you have pills or something. I don't want to get you in trouble."

"Oh, I have pills," Elizabeth assured him. "And stern warnings about men, and so many frightening sex gone wrong stories you wouldn't believe it. When you have a mom who was a pregnant teenager, you hear all of that."

"Well, good," Charlie replied, flushing a little now that he seemed to have calmed down. "Cause I don't want to get you in trouble."

Elizabeth smiled. "Don't worry," she told him. "Even if I would have gotten in trouble, you're totally worth it."

Charlie chuckled as she covered herself up with the towel again. "Maybe I should take days off from school more often, at least til we're done with Dracula."

"Don't you dare," Elizabeth replied. "There's no way I'd allow that, even if the sex is good. You wouldn't let me take the easy way out, and I won't let you. At least more than I can help."

He then gave her a long kiss after zipping himself up. "I'm gonna go," he said.

"Yeah, you better," Elizabeth replied. "Who knows when Mom will get home?"

"Bye," Charlie replied and sped out the door.

"Bye!" Elizabeth called after him, then leaned against the door with a smile on her face.