Simon stood on the edge of the ballroom watching everyone dance and talk. He didn't know anyone and was feeling a bit left out. Deaton had introduced him to several people but they had all been at least forty years older than him and had nothing in common with him. He took another sip of his drink, punch mixed with a bit of Lily's blood, and scanned the crowd for Raphael. He spotted the clan leader talking to the leader of the London clan and two of her members. Simon liked the leader of the London clan, a woman named Alexis, she had taken him aside the second day they had been there and had talked to him about how he was turned and Simon had told her about Camille turning him. She had frowned at his story but seemed to accept it as the truth. She wasn't the only visiting vampire to have taken an interest in Simon, two vampires from the French clan had tried to get Simon to show them around the city. Simon had been willing but Lily had intercepted them before they had been able to leave with a flimsy excuse on Raphael wanting everyone to stay at the hotel. Simon flinched when a young girl appeared beside him.
"You must be Simon Lewis." She said in a sweet voice that was far too sweet and raised hairs on Simon's neck. The vampire looked to be about eleven or twelve, turned on the cusp of puberty, with long blond hair that didn't look natural and dark eyes that held a touch of something that Simon had seen on the streets. Danger. It was a look he had sometimes seen in another homeless person's eyes before they did something dangerous and often deadly. It was the look of a predator who had spotted their prey. He was the prey, Simon realized and gave the girl a shaky smile.

"I'm not sure who you are." He said and she gave a tinkling laugh

"My name's Annette Mercier, I am the leader of the French clan." She said giving him a falsely innocent smile. Simon smiled back uneasily

"It's a pleasure to meet you." He said before glancing around for anyone to help him. Lily was talking animatedly with two vampires from the Singapore clan, Elliot was chatting up a pretty girl from the London clan and Raphael was nowhere to be seen.

"I would love to get to know you more, Raphael says that you were turned about a year ago so you probably know technology better than anyone else in this room." Annette said grabbing Simon by the arm and dragging him out of the ballroom. Simon thought that she would try to drag him out of the hotel but instead she took him towards the guest quarters where Raphael had housed the visiting clans. It wasn't a long trip, taking barely five minutes to get from the ballroom to her rooms where she shoved him inside and locked the doors behind them.

"You've been a naughty fledgling and now Mama's going to have to take care of you." Annette snarled, her face warping from that of an innocent girl to something dangerous. Simon took a step away from her and further into the room.

"I have no clue what you're talking about." Simon said holding his hands up as if that would ward her off. The smaller vampire threw her head back and laughed, this time it sounded deranged and unhinged.

"Our maker of course, Camille. Tell me you haven't forgotten the vampire who gave you your life, the one who made you into something that was actually worth something." Annette said taking a step towards him which he mirrored with a step back. The look on the insane vampire's face made Simon realize this was a game to her.

"I think I need to speak to Lily. Very important that I speak with her right away." Simon said taking a gamble and pushing past Annette towards the door. She let him go and as he hurried down the hall towards his room he heard her call

"See you soon Caramel."


Raphael watched as slowly the party wound down for the morning. He had spent most the night dealing with a pair of rogue vampires that had tried to crash the party so when he walked into the ballroom he had been too tired to really notice anything was amiss. It wasn't until he realized that the fledgling hadn't had his second glass of vampire blood that he noticed that Simon wasn't in the room at all. Pulling Elliot aside he asked

"When was the last time you saw the fledgling?" Elliot frowned and thought about the question before replying

"He was standing in the corner by himself at about one but was gone at two. I assumed that he had grown tired and went to bed, he doesn't have the stamina yet to really socialize all night." Elliot said and Raphael nodded.

"I'll go check my room and then his, if I don't find him in either of those places then you need to prepare to lock the hotel down." Raphael ordered and Elliot nodded like one of those bobble-head things that Magnus was so fond of. Raphael checked the penthouse suite first, hoping to find Simon curled up on the couch or even in the bed. He wasn't in either spot so Raphael headed down one floor to room 1436 which had been given to Simon when he had first moved into the hotel. When he reached the door he heard shuffling from behind it and carefully knocked. It was a moment before the door opened, Simon looked tired, shadows starting to form under his eyes

"You missed your second feeding Bebè." Raphael said softly and Simon moved back away from the door to let his leader in

"Sorry. Got tired so I came up here but couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep." Simon said. Raphael let out a hum so the fledgling knew he was still listening as he looked around the room. It was different from the last time Raphael had been in here which had been before the banishment. Simon had taken down the posters that had once littered the walls, replacing them with shelves of books. The guitar that had once been proudly displayed was no longer in sight and the mess that had covered Simon's desk was now organized and neat. Simon's computer was up and running some sort of program that looked like an endless scroll of white numbers on a black background.

"It's fine Pequiño, I was just worried. There have been some issues with rogue vampires tonight and I no one had seen you in a bit so we were worried." Raphael said cutting off Simon's mindless babble about sleep statistics. Simon nodded and sat down on the edge of the bed

"Are you sure I can't sleep with you today? I've been having trouble falling asleep since I've had to come back here." Simon admitted looking down at the floor in embarrassment.

"Perdoname, I'm afraid that you have to sleep here until the delegations are gone." Raphael said sitting down gently beside Simon. Simon nodded and Raphael had to keep from blurting out that he hadn't been sleeping well either.

"Sometimes I fall asleep and I dream that I'm still under Her control and me escaping was the dream. The dreams are so real that I get confused when I wake up on what's the dream and what's not. It takes me a while to figure out that I'm really awake and that being captive is the dream." Simon said softly and Raphael pulled him into a hug.

"This is real Cariño, you are not there anymore. You are safe, you are home." Raphael murmured as he rubbed the fledgling's back. Simon didn't cry, simply clung to Raphael with his head tucked under the clan leader's chin.

"How do I know that though. I feel like I'm going insane sometimes." Simon murmured and Raphael pushed him away far enough to show him the trick that Magnus had taught him.

"Magnus always told me that you can't read in a dream, no matter how hard you try. Next time you can't tell if you're dreaming or not, pick up a book and see if you can read it." Raphael said brushing a lock of Simon's hair off his forehead. Simon had cut it a while back, not as short as he had had it before he had been exiled, but shorter than it had been when he first arrived back at the hotel.

"Thank you, Raphael. I'll try that." Simon said avoiding Raphael's gaze. Raphael nodded, stood and walked over to the door.

"I need to tell Elliot that I found you and you need to go to Lily for your second feeding. You're still not healthy enough to skip meals Bebè." Raphael said knowing that things had almost gotten out of hand. He still cared deeply for Simon, yes, but now was not the time to rekindle those feelings. They had to worry about the delegations, Camille, Morgenstern, and Fray before dealing with the feelings that were simmering between them. Raphael took care of the last few things he needed to before heading up to his room in the penthouse and getting ready for bed. He lay in his large bed for several hours before finally drifting off in a restless sleep.


Annette sat in her room waiting. Camille had been specific in her instructions, Annette wasn't to make a bold move until after the other delegations had left lulling Santiago into a false sense of security. She had almost messed it up but the Lewis boy had been so easy to play with and Santiago wouldn't be able to do anything to her if the fledgling had gone running to him. Annette hadn't actually hurt the baby, only threatened him a little. Put him on edge. It was her favorite game to play, toying with the mind until they stopped fighting and only then snapping the neck. Mental anguish was such a pleasant thing, body's broke way to fast but the mind always tried to find ways to cope with the stress and pain. It was much more fun to toy with, to tear apart. She knew things would begin to move faster now, the other delegates only had two more days in New York before they decided whether or not Santiago was a competent leader or not. Annette didn't get a say since she hadn't technically been invited but had shown up as a unwelcome guest. It didn't matter, Camille had no interest in leading the New York clan as it was now. Her plan was much simpler, lead the clan into a trap and then slaughter them all in order to rebuild. After all, no one keeps a dead plant in their house, instead they throw it out and replace it with a new plant that will grow the way they want it to.