I took several deep breaths as I heard the phone ring on the other end of the line. Please answer, please answer, please answer...

"Hello? Who is this?" My breath froze in my throat at the sound of my dad's voice.

I halfheartedly forced out "Dad? It's me." There was silence on the other end. "Dad?"

"Dani? Tell me that isn't really you." I sighed.

"Yes, it's me...I'm happy that you're so happy to hear from me." Stefan's concerned eyes drifted my way and I ignored him.

"When your cousin told me you were moving back there, I didn't expect I'd get a call from you, especially since you barely call anyway." He was right; I barely did call. But...

"That's your fault, and you know it. You should've told me something, anything about her, instead of leaving me with 20 years of silence." I sat back on the long leather couch and sighed. Every time I called my dad, the conversation always turned to my mother. It was the reason I barely called or visited.

"It was better for you to grow up knowing nothing than to know that she abandoned you."

"She didn't abandon me, you kicked her out."

"What? How can you say that?! You don't know what really went on!" I looked at Stefan on the chair and he nodded reassuringly.

"You mean the fact that mom got turned into a vampire while she was pregnant with me." There was more silence. "I found that out last week, along with the fact that I'm half-vampire. But you knew that already, didn't you?"

"Who told you? How did you find out?"

"I knew it! You knew about me and didn't say anything! How could you?"

"It was for your own good! Can you imagine how I felt having to feed you blood when you were a baby instead of formula? Or how I felt having to send you to school wearing a hat, or else other kids would know you were different?"

"I think knowing would've helped! Since I moved back here to Mystic Falls, I've been attacked, taken prisoner, been compelled, and have been fed on by Niklaus. Oh, and I've started seeing the ghost of the dead guy whose apartment I moved into. If you would've told me back then what I was, I would've moved to Ocean City or something!"

"You've been...fed on? Oh god..."

"That's great; now you're worried. Thanks but no thanks, you're a little too late."

"Dani, I'm sorry for not telling you sooner, I am...But you weren't supposed to have any contact with vampires, let alone have them feed on you."

Stefan and I looked worriedly at each other as I asked "Why not?"

"Your mother told me bad things would happen if you let a vampire feed on you. She didn't say what...just that it would be very bad."

"I thought she left right after I was born?"

"She did...but not after giving me some information first. I don't know how she knew what she did..." I took in a deep breath. I knew it was going to come to this eventually...

"Dad, what is my mom's name? I need to find her."

"Why? You already know what you are, there's no need to be involved with any more vampires..."

"But you said something bad would happen if I got fed on. I need to know what that is, or else a lot of my friends might die." My dad sighed.

"Her name was Ivy, okay? When we first met she went by Izzy too, so try that too. If you somehow find her, don't you dare tell her where I am."

"Why? Did she make you promise not to tell?" He was silent and I realized I was probably right. "Whatever...Thanks for making me wait 20 years and 20 pints of blood to figure this out." I hung up and tossed my phone down, leaning back further into the couch. "Stefan, do you honestly think we'll be able to do this?"

"Maybe...It would be a lot easier if Klaus wasn't interfering in everything though." I cringed, knowing he was also referring to Klaus still feeding on me. I'd had to tell him last week, not long after I told Damon.

"I'd rather have him interfering then taking me prisoner and preventing us from doing anything at all. Anyways...we have a name now. How do we find her?"

"Your mom would technically still be alive now, so she's probably still using her real name and information. All we have to do is go to the police station and see if Caroline's mom will look her up for us." I groaned. "I can do it if you want."

"That'd probably be best...But I might as well go into town with you, I haven't left this house since I cancelled my lease agreement." And I'd really liked the apartment too. I cleared out all of my and Alaric's things, so nobody else would have the chance to pick through his things.

It was all upstairs in the bedroom I now occupied here, and I still got the occasional visit from Alaric still. When he 'got too bored of haunting idiots that couldn't see him' were the words I think he used for it. We still hadn't found out exactly why I could see him and nobody else could.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I watched Stefan go into the police station and sat on one of the benches in the town square. I knew Elizabeth had probably heard of my news by now, and I didn't want to have to explain it to her.

It was about noon and it was a Sunday, so there was a good amount of people milling about, and just as many driving. Even though Stefan or Damon drove me everywhere now, I loathed the fact that I still didn't have my own car. I couldn't go anywhere without someone having to take me, or at least keep an eye out for me. There was the fear of Klaus taking me again, or another vampire trying to take a bite out of me.

Now that my dad told me bad things would happen to the vampire that fed on me, I was contemplating ending the agreement with Klaus. He had been drinking my blood almost every day since I'd arrived a couple weeks ago, so whatever 'bad thing' was supposed to happen would definitely happen to him.

Unless it didn't work on Original vampires, or maybe it didn't work on hybrids? I had no idea. I just knew that he'd be angry if I let him continue, knowing there would be consequences.

As if on cue, I spotted Klaus with his sister Rebekah, coming out of the Grill across the square. I twisted on the bench to get a better look and it looked like they were arguing, but they were too far away for me to be able to hear. I knew Stefan would be able to hear if he was out here.

I bit my lip, and before I could consider the cons of what I was doing, called out "Klaus!"

They both stopped and Klaus looked my way, a pleasant smile spreading across his face. He released Rebekah's arm and was immediately before me, seeming not to care if anyone saw him running at lightning speed.

"Dani, I didn't expect to see you out about this Sunday afternoon. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I didn't come here for you." He sat beside me, and Rebekah gave me the meanest look, so I turned around and sat properly. "Stefan is inside talking to the sheriff about my mother. We're trying to find her."

"You did mention something about that to me before...Why the sudden eagerness?"

"I called my dad this morning, and he told me some...disturbing things..."

I opened my mouth to continue, but was cut off by Rebekah appearing and stating "It was probably about how disappointed he is in you for shacking up with a nest of vampires. Or maybe for becoming my brother's personal blood cow?"

Klaus growled. "Now sister dear, there's no need to be rude. This is a civil conversation, so please, don't act so barbaric."

She scoffed. "Barbaric? You're talking to me about barbaric? Unbelievable..." She disappeared over to Klaus' Jaguar and yelled out loud enough for me to hear "I'm taking the car!"

I watched her get in and drive away, and hoped she didn't purposefully crash it somewhere outside of town. I actually kinda liked the car.

"I apologize. Dear Rebekah isn't used to the idea that you and I are allied."

"That's probably because she walked in on you draining my blood and trying to get your rocks off." Klaus chuckled, but I was being mostly serious. I knew she was also jealous that I was somewhat close to her brother, but I didn't say anything about it, because I knew Klaus would probably tease her about it later and only make it worse.

"Anyways love, what were you saying?"

My dad said that bad stuff would happen to any vampire that drank my blood." The arm he'd thrown around my shoulders stiffened. "You were the only one that's been doing it, so I wanted to let you know."

"What bad things, pray tell?"

I shrugged. "He doesn't know, only my mom does. That's why I'm in such a hurry now to find her. And I think..."

"Worried about me now?" Klaus raised an eyebrow and I blushed deeply.

"I'm not going into that subject. I was going to say that we should probably end our agreement, at least until we can figure out what's gonna happen to you, if anything at all."

"A sensible approach...Except we agreed that if I can't feed on you, you have to come and stay with me again." I groaned; I was hoping he'd forgotten about that. "I know what you're going to say, and no, I didn't forget. So, shall we go to the Salvatore house and get your things?"

I shook my head. "Isn't there something else, anything else, that I can give you instead of having to be your slave again?" Klaus leaned back, looking contemplative. I had a feeling I'd end up regretting my choice of words later.

"Anything, you say? That entails quite a lot, you know."

"As long as it isn't being your prisoner, I'm up for almost anything."

His grinning mouth twitched and I knew he was about to say the thing I would regret.

Klaus leaned in and whispered in my ear, and I jerked back. "You can't be serious, can you? That? Really?!"

"It's your choice love. Be mine in my home, or be mine in your sheets. I won't decide for you."

My face burned red as I forced out "They won't be happy about this. Nobody will. I feel like you're forcing me to choose between being a slave and being a prostitute!" Klaus chuckled at that. "It's not funny."

"You're not a prostitute, you're just engaging in a sêxual relationship with a very rich, powerful man...Who requests that you be in your bed wearing his favorite piece of lingerie by 10pm tonight."

I sighed. "Don't think I won't hesitate to maim or otherwise harm you."

He laughed again. "I have more faith in you than that, Dani. Ah, I guess that's my cue to leave." I looked up and saw Stefan standing at the top of the police station stairs, staring over at us. "Until tonight then."

Klaus disappeared with a gust of wind, and Stefan made his way to me.

"What was that about?"

"Him and Rebekah were over by the Grill, so I told him he can't feed on me anymore, because of what my dad said."

"How'd he take it?"

"Not good..." At least for me. "So did you find anything out while you were in there?" He nodded and handed me several papers.

"There was only one person in the state of Virginia with that name, so it was pretty easy. Her last known address is from 3 months ago, in Lexington."

"That's not that far from here..."

"So lets get going." I looked at Stefan oddly. "There's no better way to find out if she's really there than to go. We can take my Porsche and be there in less than half an hour if we want. It's up to you."

I stood and said "We'd better stop and pick up a couple of weapons from the house then...She may be my mother, but she's still a vampire." It felt almost wrong to say it like that, but it was the truth. I didn't know the woman at all, except that she was a vampire that obviously didn't want me to find her.

I wasn't going to take any chances.

When we got back to the house, I saw that there was no need to go get any weapons. Klaus was standing in the parlor and Damon had a stake in one hand and what looked like an ampule of vervain in the other.

We walked in and Stefan slowly asked "What's going on here..?"

"Hybrid boy here showed up and tried to rifle through Dani's stuff. I caught him, we argued, I got weapons, and now he won't leave. But now that super Stefan's here, I'm leaving." Damon threw the things down and grabbed his leather jacket he always wore. As he passed, he muttered "If your little boyfriend keeps showing up like this, I'm gonna drive a stake through your heart."

I groaned and went past Stefan and Klaus to the liquor cabinet. As soon as I managed to open a new bottle of whiskey, I sat down and said "Okay, now I'm ready to hear why you showed up 10 minutes after agreeing to leave me alone."

"I'm here to make sure you uphold the terms of our recent agreement." Klaus didn't elaborate further, and I looked at Stefan to see if he would ask. Thankfully, he didn't. "It's not my fault Damon failed to remember we have an arrangement."

"Okay, okay, let's please stop talking about that...Stefan and I were about to leave to Lexington; we're pretty sure that's where my mother is right now. If you'd kindly leave so we can get ready..."

"Why? I'm going with you." I stared openly at Klaus, then down at the bottle in my hands, and debated throwing at his head. It would be a waste of liquor, and he'd probably dodge it. "Even ignoring the fact that we're in our relationship, you need to be protected, and there's nobody better than me."

"I beg to differ. Stefan has done pretty well by himself, and so has Damon. I could always bring Elijah along too, since he tried to keep you from tearing my throat out with your teeth before. Oh, or there's Tyler, who's a hybrid just like you..." He frowned slightly, and I turned to Stefan. "Am I right?"

"Yes...but so is Klaus."

"What?"

Stefan sighed. "Your situation is different from anything we've encountered. I can protect you, yes, but if there's someone more powerful than me involved in this, than it would be good to have Klaus along...However unfortunate that fact may be." I stared back and forth between Stefan's dejected face and Klaus' smug one.

"You know what, I don't give a fûçk anymore. Bring him along. But I am not, under any circumstances, riding in the same car or being stuck alone in the same room with him this entire trip. Understand?" Stefan nodded and I stormed out of the house to his car.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The trip to Lexington took almost an hour, because the highway we'd needed to go down was closed for repairs. I didn't take it as an omen, just an extreme annoyance that meant I'd be stuck in the car with Stefan and Klaus for an extra half an hour.

Oh, and because Klaus came, we took his Jaguar. I was in the backseat alone, but Klaus' eyes bore into me through the rear-view mirror, and it annoyed me to no end.

When we finally came to Lexington, I noticed it was almost as small of a town as Mystic Falls was. There was perhaps a few hundred, maybe even a thousand more people jammed into the same few square miles as Mystic Falls, and there was an Outdoor World sports shop right in the middle of town. An ever-present sign that this town was right in the middle of deer country.

As we drove slowly through the streets, I remarked "This town is almost as small as back home...She probably picked it because she wanted to lay low, not like in a big city."

"Yeah, and it probably feels familiar too. A lot of vampires will stick to the areas they knew as a human after they first turn. Here..." Stefan turned into a driveway and shut the car off. "Ready?"

"Am I ever?" We got out and I looked up at the house. It was a little two-story with a garage at the end of the driveway and a couple of chairs sitting on the porch. I went right up to the door and knocked, wanting to get things over with as soon as possible.

A man that looked about 25 or 30 answered the door with a tentative "Hello..?"

"I'm looking for an Ivy Taylor...Does she live here?"

"Yeah, she's right out in the kitchen...I'm her boyfriend Greg."

Klaus pulled me aside and stepped forward. "And we don't care. You get in your car and go home." Klaus compelled him, and the man immediately went to a Honda parked on the street and sped away.

I looked at him incredulously and said "You know, I don't believe I said to compel him."

"Would you rather have a human around if something were to go wrong?" I didn't say anything. "Exactly. Now, shall we be entering?"

This time, I pushed past him into the house, and looked in the front room. It was nice, almost like my father's house had been when I still lived with him. I didn't doubt now that those furnishings had been from when my mother was still human.

I heard someone moving around in the kitchen and motioned for Stefan and Klaus to come in. They did and shut the door, and a female voice called out "Greg? Who was at the door?"

We were all silent and footsteps echoed, and a black-haired woman entered the room. She stared silently at all three of us, and I immediately started to feel uncomfortable.

"You're Ivy?" The woman looked at Klaus, as did Stefan and I. "Well? Spit it out, woman."

"Yes. And who would you and your...companions be?"

He smirked and stepped forward. "You may call me Klaus, and this is Stefan. The wonderful, silver-haired beauty you see with us is Dani Taylor." She froze. "Need I explain why we're here?"

She shook her head. "No, you don't. I assume you compelled my boyfriend to go home, so how about we sit down and talk."

"How about not. I have no intention of getting comfortable with you." I stopped, surprised by my own boldness. I stared at my mother, and seeing her stunned expression, decided to continue. "You may or may not be the woman who gave birth to me, but you're not my mother. I don't have one, as far as I'm concerned."

She looked offended now. "How can you say that..?"

"How could you leave me and my father alone for 20 years? I could understand if you wanted to leave for awhile, because being a new vampire is hard and all, but never coming back? You didn't and still don't want anything to do with me, and as soon as we find out what we need to, I don't want anything more to do with you."

Even Klaus looked taken aback after I was finished ranting. I took a deep breath and tried to calm my racing heart down, because my head was starting to spin.

"I...don't really know what to say...Except that you're right. But would you really have wanted someone for a mother that couldn't do things with you like all the other mothers?" I didn't answer and she said "I guess there's no good way to answer that then...Why exactly did you come here?"

"I didn't find out I was a half-vampire until a couple of weeks ago when I was injured by this one." I jerked my thumb at Klaus and my mother looked shocked again.

"What? Your father was supposed to tell you about me and yourself as soon as you were old enough...Why didn't he?" I shrugged.

"I called him and he said you didn't want him to tell me." Now she looked angry, but I held up a hand. "It doesn't even matter...He told me you said some things about me, and we needed to confirm them with you."

"Alright. What did he tell you?"

"That you were turned while you were pregnant, and I was born while you were in transition." She nodded. "He also said I wasn't supposed to have contact with vampires, or let them feed on me, but he said he didn't know why."

"You may wish to sit down for this part." I looked at Klaus and Stefan on either side of me, and we all went over and sat on the lone couch. My mother stood before us after checking to make sure the curtains were shut. "Sorry, I don't have one of those fancy daylight rings like you do."

I waved my hand. "Please just get on with it."

"Alright...First, I'm going to ask which of you two fed on Dani." Klaus made a noise beside me. "And what are you, exactly? You don't smell like a normal vampire."

"Oh, I'm far from it dearie. I'll assume someone as informed as yourself knows about us Originals, but I'm a hybrid as well." My mother's blue eyes, which were a few shades lighter than mine, widened considerably. "Now, would you mind telling me how Dani's blood is supposed to be affecting me? Because I haven't felt a single thing yet except for incredible strength when I taste her blood."

I fidgeted at what Klaus was saying aloud. He'd only previously said those things when we were alone in his bedroom, and it made me extremely embarrassed to hear him say them in front of others.

"You're making my daughter nervous, I would appreciate it if you would please stop." Klaus chuckled and took my right hand in his left, and I didn't pull out of his grip. I was too worried about what my mother might possibly say. "You're an Original vampire, and a hybrid one at that, so I'm not sure my daughter's blood will affect you the same way it would other vampires."

"Well, when I drink your daughters blood, it allows me to compel her. Is that one of the things you're about to tell me?" She nodded.

"As you may have noticed, that will only work if your blood is in her system at the same time. But, you just wanted to know about what Dani's blood might do to you...Well, besides the compulsion and amazing strength, a vampire may temporarily lose his weaknesses if he drinks her blood. For instance, he won't be burned in the sun and vervain will not affect him as much."

"That sounds nice...so why should I be concerned?" I squeezed Klaus' hand tightly and he turned to look at me.

"When I was in transition and discovered that Dani had not died in my womb, I found a witch that said she would help me deliver Dani safely. She did, and after Dani was delivered we found out all these new things about her, but we also discovered it has the power to turn a vampire human again."

"Human..What?!" My shout went unnoticed in the deathly silent living room.