My car was at my house-a Georgian at the outskirts of town-so was nowhere in my reach, especially by walking. I was at a loss what to do about the situation, when I realized I knew someone else there that night that could help me: Henry.

Although he was a junior at the University of Farmington, he'd come back for the play to see his little sister and some of his friends. If I made it an emergency, and managed to not blurt out any of my latent school-girl crush feelings onto him, he just might give me his car. Loving somebody all through your childhood had some perks-they came to mind in all sorts of situations.

He wasn't hard to spot. Taller than me, dark curling hair, and tan skin, Henry stood out against the pasty-white highschoolers that gathered around him. His sister and her friends were peppering him with questions about college and any possible eligible friends of his when I made my attempt. We hadn't seen each other for awhile, but he lit up a fraction when he saw me close in. This might be extra good. I was an escape route.

"Nor!" He smiled and nudged his way out of the gaggle of freshmen and met me. At another point in time, I would have lost my breath from just his paying attention to me. Yet tonight getting him to like me was far from my thoughts. He could tell I was upset. "You okay?"

Knowing I would lose my nerve if I delayed, I launched into the most spectacular, strange lie of my life. "I am so sorry-I know you just got home and we haven't really seen each other for awhile, but I think my friend's in trouble and yours is the only car I can think of."

"What?" He led me over to a stone bench at the edge of the park, identical to the one Suzanna had been taken to earlier to wait for the ambulance. His ice-blue eyes peered down at me like I was crazy. "What's going on? Is it Suze-you need a ride to the hospital to see her?"

"No, no, no." I shook my head and stood back up. "Suzanne was attacked by some kind of animal and I think Ray's on her way to try and find whatever stupid rabid raccoon did the damage!" Well, that certainly paid no credit to my friend's intelligence; but I had no time to come up with something better.

"Wait-so she's in the woods. If she's looking for the thing, she's probably in the woods somewhere. Just let her go...it's idiotic to be out there, but she's probably okay." He had a hand on my shoulder and rubbed it reasurringly with his thumb. "Don't worry. Really."

That plan had failed dramatically. I probably wouldn't even be able to find where she and Nik had gone. What was I doing? "Your right," I apologized. "I'm sorry-I just wasn't thinking." I started to walk off, waving goodbye while trying to think of another way to reach Ray. "Thanks, anyway."

"Hey!" He jogged after me. "If you need a ride somewhere, I can take you." I looked at him, frustrated at my failure, and a little embarrassed that I had solicitated his help in my stupid scheme.

"No that's fine. Really. I think I'm just gonna call her." I took out my phone and dialed her number, Henry watching me carefully, most likely thinking I was missing a few crayons from the Crayola box. Her ringback tone played over static, cutting out and blaring off and on. The line crinkled, and someone picked up but didn't speak.

"Hello? Ray? You there?" It sounded like she was in a car still, driving over bumpy ground. She didn't answer. "Ray?"

"Is she okay?" asked Henry, plainly concerned. I wrinkled my eyebrows, trying to listen closer to the background. Maybe her voice was just lost in the static...?

A whimper. "Ray?" On her side, the phone jostled, the line clearing of fuzziness.

A cool, English voice spoke into the receiver. "Ray isn't available right now. That was a lovely performance tonight, though. Very well done."

"Nik? Where is she?"

I thought I heard him chuckle under his breath. "Oh she's fine, trust me. You'll see her tomorrow, I assure you." Something about the way he said it assured me I wouldn't just be seeing her, I'd be seeing her dead body. Henry bristled, stepping closer.

"What is it?"

"Til the morrow..." Nik ended the call. From that moment on, all bets were off. If I was crazy, so be it; but I had to get to Ray and if I didn't, something incredibly bad would happen.

"Okay. Listen." I turned to Henry, and for once I didn't feel butterflies, or the need to be liked, or even self-conscious. "I lied." And I told him about Ray's shady new boyfriend, and how I thought he was hurting her, and that he wouldn't let her talk on the phone. How I had concocted the story because he was a guy, and probably wouldn't believe it was serious, and I was a ridiculous high school girl with friend drama. And my neighbor listened.

Henry took in my entire speech, and crossed his arms. When I finished, asking, "Am I crazy? Is this bad or just all in my head?" He said, "I don't like this. Come on."


It wasn't at all unusual for Niklaus to bring his girls home. Elijah had become quite used to it over the years, had even joined in at times, in his younger days when he was less cautious and more cruel. Nik simply had a penchant for being more mean than he necessarily thought useful. For that reason, Elijah had made it a habit to live separately from his brother. Close by, to keep an eye on him, but not too near that he heard the screams.

This seemed a little too far, though, with the girl-Ray-and this game that he was playing. Keeping her friend on the phone while he terrorized the redhead. It really wasn't fair; the girl had a teenagers body, but the trusting nature of a child. Her friend had a more developed sense of danger...

Which was why this was a poor decision on Niklaus's part. Not only was he cruel in this instance, but he was also endangering their anonymity in Rosaline. If Nor was smart enough, she would follow. This wouldn't be the first time he and his brother had been beset by mobs; yet it really would put a damper on things.

The sleepy town was out of the way, had a history. Not a bad spot to forget that you were a thousand year old vampire with a thirst for something besides the daily cup of tea. He wasn't particularly ashamed of his bloodlust, not like his other brother, Finn. He just didn't see the need to make everyone feel inferior because of his station as an Original.

Unless they asked for it. The he would show them he possessed certain skills. Benefits, you could say, of immortality.

The younger brother hugged his catch to him, a hand over the girl's mouth to stifle her crying. Niklaus was many things, but patient was not one of them.

"Brother," Elijah began. Not chiding-if you chided Niklaus, you never got anywhere. "You might want to be a little more courteous to a woman about to do you such a favor." He poured himself a drink from the liquor table they kept stocked in the old manse. It was an old property at the edge of town, not even endangered by foreclosure. "She's what keeps you alive, after all. Her youth is more fragile than ours."

Niklaus kept the girl securely in his grasp, but allowed her to breathe more freely, his hand no longer stoppering her mouth. He dragged her to his brother, reached out for a drink that Elijah placed in his hand. "Cheers."

He considered the girl he had seduced in just an afternoon, and smiled. Brushing his liquor- scented mouth to her temple in a travesty of a kiss, he set the glass down and talked to her quietly.

"Shhh, now." He cooed. "Have a care, my love. Don't want to mess your pretty face up like that." His fingers traced the mascara trail of tears on her cheeks, rosy from exertion and fear. The smudged, salty lines dripped down her neck, and he licked one.

As his tongue met her ear, the girl began to cry again, more furiously at the small violation. The older brother felt a sliver of remorse at his complicity to her situation. He crossed the threadbare carpet and tuned her face to his, a hand gentle under her chin. Her eyes dilated beneath his stare. "You are tired. There is nothing to be afraid of, so you can go to sleep, now."

Mercifully, her lids closed, the eyelashes sticky with tears and makeup. Nik let out a groan of disappointment. "E-li-jahhh." His arm relaxed, letting her drop to the ground, somnolent. "They're always useless to me after you're through with them. Knocking them senseless, like that. Just kills all the fun."

The brothers stepped apart, Nik returning to the liquor for another drink, Elijah heading towards what used to be a sit-in window. "You make me pity them, Klaus." He watched as headlights searched out the rocky path that remained of the centuries-old horse walk.

The stream of yellow was harsh in the darkness that pervaded the reclaimed landscape. It was equally unforgiving when shined upon the two humans inside the truck that provided it. The young man fought for a moment with his passenger. He slumped into his seat as she pushed open her door and stomped to the house.

Niklaus came up behind his brother, draining his second tumblr. "Looks like the fun isn't quite over yet, Eli." He slapped Elijah's back, swaggering off to throw the sleeping captive over his shoulder. In the process, the kerchief around her breast had come undone, exposing a good bit of her skin. He eyed her for a moment, and tugged the scarf that still hung about her throat, tightening it.

A second later, as Nor knocked on the door, not waiting for it to be opened before coming inside, Klaus was gone up the stairs. The older brother heard her call, bleakly noting the desperation in her tone. "Ray! Ray are you here?" He was going to regret what he had to do, now that she was here. At least she hadn't brought a significant crowd with her. Just the boy.

They would be easy to dispose of, if they saw too much.

Her uneasy footsteps fell nearer, advancing by slow and jagged numbers in her uncertainty of where to look. He felt he should make her search easier, at least.

"Eleanor." He called, barely raising his voice. "I am in here." Perhaps it would be most economical to send her away, having forgotten why she came here. Klaus's game would be ruined, but it would save them some trouble. He'd have to compel the boy, too.

"Is Ray with you?" She asked, breezing into the room-the parlor of the house. He was startled by her appearance. She hadn't changed from her costume of the night; she looked still like a beauty from a bygone era. Remarkable how accurate the town had become in recent years.

Eleanor paid no attention to her demeanor, clothes or otherwise. Her hair had fallen out of its puffy twist, and hung limply over her low neckline. In Rosaline terms, she'd be indecent.

During the car ride, she'd become furious, and only wanted to tell Nik that the police were on their way, that he was a bastard and wouldn't get away with her friend. That he wasn't smart enough to get away. Elijah was collateral damage. He'd helped so he could burn too, metaphorically. Or maybe she'd just burn their crummy house down right now...threaten to set fire to it. "Where is she?"

Elijah moved towards the antique sofa, the only piece of furniture besides the cabinet in the decrepit room. He motioned for her to take a seat. She shook her head, blowing air out of her nose in disbelief. Like an angry mare, he thought to himself. "I'm sorry, Eleanor," he said, taking a seat. "Your friend is with my brother right now." He paused, always prudent with his words, but somehow failing to deliver as well as usual while confronted by the livid young woman. "Perhaps you can wait here for her."

Nor walked further into the room, distancing herself from him with the couch. She was an intelligent one. She shrugged, her small mouth frowning in disgust. "Are you going to take turns with her?" She asked flippantly.

Aghast, but impressed that she had so nearly grasped his brother's intentions, he lowered his drink to the floor. "Do you think so poorly of us?"

"Yes," she said unhesitant. He came toward her, and she stepped back. "What? Am I next?" Again, she jumped to conclusions. But maybe that was her nature as a woman, as a human. To perceive the first threat as always sexual. Particularly when such an uncommon pair of men begin to speak to a young girl...

"Please don't mistake me: Nik is very possessive of his friends, in particular your friend-" He stepped closer.

"Ray. Her name is Ray."

He felt the corners of his lips turn up-he knew exactly what she was doing. She was instilling a sense of identity to the lost individual, a tactic that parents often used after the kidnapping of children. He used her friend's full name to convey that he hadn't forgotten. "Rayanne is under my brother's...supervision. I cannot promise that she will not be harmed. But I can assure you she will not remember." He nodded in her direction. "As won't you."

"I won't remember? I'm pretty sure Susanna remembers." She set her mouth, expecting him to fly into a rage, possibly. He was unfamiliar with the name, but could presume that the girl she was referring to was doubtless one of Klaus's other victims. However, he wouldn't have left her with any knowledge of himself.

"I must apologize for Nik. He can get carried away at times. I know, despite this, that Susanna will not be able to recall him." Elijah found himself moving still closer to Nor. It was his nature. To intimidate. To coerce the unwilling into submission, though only as much as needed.

Within a breath of her, he saw that her face-though impassive-incredibly, was streaked with tears. She was crying as she made a case for her friend. He listened for her heartbeat.

Her voice was a whisper. Throaty, finally cracking as he came near enough for her to feel impending danger. "Can't you just let her go?"

He felt pity for her, but not any more than for a doomed human, until she said her next words. "Please." Nor drew in a breath, steadying herself. "She's like my sister."

The oldest Original pulled away. Her heart was rhythmic; not flying, as a frightened animal's would be. Or as a terrified girl's. Yes, she had a great fear of him-he could almost smell it. It must have been taking an unimaginable amount of control for her to appear as she was.

"What are you doing?"

In a flash, the boy was within his grip, stilled by his eyes as he compelled him not to retaliate. Nor was frozen, against the wall where he had left her. Even as he held the boy-so valiant as to come check on her when she hadn't returned-he noticed that she didn't run. "You will go back to the car and wait until your friend comes out to you." Elijah released him.

Henry walked silently out of the room, into the foyer, and closed the door behind him as he walked back out to his car. In one smooth motion, he climbed into the driver's seat, placed his hands on the steering wheel, and waited. Alone again, the Original looked at his guest.

"Your friend Ray is not under my control. I play no part in what Nik has in store for her. You will have to ask him yourself. But I do not send you to her with any hope." He led Nor as they ascended the rickety staircase in the hall.

"You come to play, love?" Nik's voice rang through the upstairs hallway, coming from a room at the middle of the corridor. "Come on. Ray and I have been expecting you. Why don't you lead her in, Brother?"

Elijah hestitated at the door, reluctant to let her descend farther into the game. "Nik is rather unpredictable," he chose to remind her, washing his hands of the matter. Brave or not, loving or not, she was only human. A mere blip in the span of a thousand years. In a tenth of what had already elapsed of his lifetime, she would be dead regardless. There was no reason to stop her now.