"Seriously?" Adrian asked, perfectly aware that his father and Alistair were watching him from the front seat.

"Yes," Helene whispered. "Unless you don't want to. Unless it's against your principles or something."

Adrian scoffed. "Since when did I have principles?"

"Since I had to use my magic to get you to come to Vegas with me," Helene said. "If you'd been completely unscrupulous, you wouldn't have paid any attention when you overheard Daddy say he wanted to keep me alive!"

"Hey!" Alistair objected. "I did what I thought was best at the time. And you're my daughter. Should I have just let you get married before you even finished high school?"

"Well, yeah!" Helene yelled back. "Since you knew I wasn't going to make it to graduation anyway, that would have been nice!"

Alistair frowned. "Well just a minute, young lady-"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Klaus interrupted. "Can I say something here?"

"What?" Helene and Alistair growled at the same time.

Klaus cleared his throat and looked at Alistair. "Are you sure there's absolutely no way that I can see her? Because frankly, it's creepy to watch you having an argument with thin air."

"There's a way for me to manifest myself," Helene said. "When we get to a stopping point, I'll show you."

"Okay," Klaus said. "There's an encampment up ahead. We'll stop there."

Alistair's eyes were wide. "But you will not be showing anybody anything," he said to Helene. "What you're proposing to do goes against everything witches stand for as guardians of nature."

"Dad," Helene said simply, "I'm dead. I got ripped off. Everything I wanted and loved was taken from me way too soon. Now I have a way to get it all back. Do you really think I give a rat's ass now about being a 'guardian of nature'?"

Alistair's eyes widened. "Well, I hope you would!"

Helene shook her head. "Well, what's nature ever done for me? Other than kill me, I mean?"

Klaus turned to face Alistair. "She does have a point."

Alistair just rolled his eyes.

"So," Helene began again, this time looking at Adrian. "Where are we going?"

Adrian shrugged. "Somewhere. I don't know exactly." He leaned forward. "Dad, where are we going?"

"We'll be there in a little while," Klaus said.

"But we have to stop somewhere first so I can work on making myself visible," Helene said. "Preferably somewhere with lots of people in it. Like a shopping mall or something."

"No problem," Klaus said. "There's a hospital a few miles ahead."

"No!" Alistair cried, looking horrified. "Definitely not a hospital!"

"Why not, Dad?" Helene said. "People in hospitals are practically dead anyway, so it's not like I'm doing something really bad."

"Yeah," Adrian added. "Why not? What's so bad about Helene wanting to make herself visible to everybody?"

Alistair kept his eyes on his daughter. "I can't believe you're willing to do that to innocent people...what you have to do in order to become visible to everyone, I mean."

"And just what is that?" Adrian asked curiously. "Will you tell me?"

Alistair sighed, a sad look in his eyes. "There's reason why she has to go to a place that has lots of people in it if she wants to become visible: She can add other people's life essences to her own and the more essences she takes, the longer she can be visible."

Adrian looked non-plussed. "So she has to kill people for her own gain?"

Alistair nodded. "Basically yes. But you obviously don't have a problem with that."

"Why would we?" Klaus asked. "We have to do it every day too. Did you forget that?"

"Oh, that's right," Alistair said sarcastically. "I've completely forgotten what it takes to be a vampire even though I've lived with you for years."

Adrian pointed out the window. "Look, Dad. There's the sign for the hospital right up ahead."

Klaus drove a little bit, then pulled in. "Here we are," he said."I'll come out with you."

He looked at Alistair. "Are you coming?"

Alistair shook his head. "No, thanks. I think I'll stay here."

Adrian and Helene went into the hospital. Helene wasn't visible of course, but Adrian was bleeding and sporting a severe limp.

"My goodness," the nurse at the front desk said. "What happened to you?"

Adrian began wheezing. "I was in a terrible accident. I need...help..." his eyes fluttered and he fainted dead away.

"My god," the nurse hurried around the counter and got down on her knees, trying to hold him up. When a doctor came in, she asked for a stretcher. "We need to have somebody see this young man quick!" She cried. "He's been in a terrible accident. That's all he was able to tell me before he fainted."

The doctor, a handsome young man with dark hair and dark eyes, nodded. "I'll get on it right away."

Eventually, they got Adrian on a stretcher and were wheeling him toward a room when he opened his eyes and sat up, baring his fangs. He grabbed one of the attendants and drained him before throwing him to the floor and grabbing another and another and another. He was about to go for his fifth victim when Helene appeared. "Save some for me." He nodded and handed the young nurse over to her. She put her hands on the young red head's wrists. The young woman shivered and struggled against Helene's grip, but was unsuccessful at breaking free. Then, the young woman began screaming, suddenly, her air was cut off. She began to choke. The more she tried to get air into her lungs, the more she struggled. She became paler and paler. Adrian eventually saw what Helene was doing. She was sucking the young woman's breath from her mouth, and her essence along with it. Soon, the young woman no longer moved, her skin and hair as white as marble, her eyes blank at the ceiling as Helene dropped her heavily to the floor.

Then she looked up at Adrian and grinned a wicked grin. She still looked the same as she did on prom night. "Nice to see you," she said.

Adrian grinned back. "Nice to see you."

She came towards him and put her arms around him. He felt strange tingles where she touched him, but no warmth. Then, she kissed him and it felt like he'd swalllowed an entire tube of mint lifesavers all at once. As she pulled away, she brushed his hair out of his eyes. "You have blood on your mouth." He wiped it off. She looked at him curiously.

"So, you think you've had enough for now?"

He nodded. "At least for awhile."

She nodded. "Well I haven't. I'll be back in a little while."

She left him alone and rematerialized in a ward where a bunch of children sick with bronchial infections were being kept. She went into the first room. The occupant was a little boy, of about six. He was coughing with all his might and had red rimmed eyes. When he saw her, those eyes widened. The boy struggled to get away, but she held him fast, and like the redheaded attended, she sucked the life out of him, too, then continued the process for all the kids on his side of the hallway. When she left the last child's room, she grinned to herself. She wondered what the hospital was going to tell the news crews in the morning.

By the time Adrian, Helene and Klaus got back in the car, they were all well-fed. Alistair winced at their smug expressions.

"What?" Klaus asked. "We have to eat somewhere. It's a fact."

Alistair narrowed his eyes. "I know I won't be able to make you feel shame, but," he paused and looked at Adrian. "Do you?"

Adrian shook his head. "Of course not!"

"Me either!" Helene appeared suddenly, causing Klaus to start. "Well, look who's here now!"

"Sorry I scared you," Helene said sheepishly.

He shrugged it off. "You're a ghost. Isn't that your job?"

Helene laughed. "I guess. Where to now?"

Klaus cleared his throat. "There's supposed to be a werewolf pack about an hour from here. I figure we'll start with them and see how things go from there."

A week later, Selina and Roxie were still in the woods. Selina was actually having a good time, but it was starting to wear on her daughter. Just this morning, Roxie had mentioned it over the hiker they'd caught for breakfast. "Mommy, can we go inside? I don't wanna be an outdoorwoman anymore."

Selina sighed. "All right. Let me go pack up the stuff and then when we get to the house, I'll call Uncle Elijah to come over and let us in with his key." She got up dusted off her pants. Then she looked at Roxie. "I want you to sit right on that stump and don't move, okay? I don't want you wandering off while I'm packing."

Roxie nodded. "Okay, Mommy."

Selina headed back into the woods and was folding up their tent when all of a sudden, it all but faded away. "What the hell?" She whispered. Then the bags they'd used for suitcases disappeared too. "What is going on?"

Then, she stood up. She realized that something was wrong. The trees were different here. The ground was softer. And even the light hit everything in a different way. She began wandering aimlessly around the woods, calling for Roxie when all of a sudden. somebody grabbed her hand and pulled her to them, kissing her deeply. Almost immediately, she smacked him.

"Hey!" Klaus cried, putting a hand over his cheek. "What did you do that for?"

"You have some nerve," she said. "Calling me weak and useless and then expecting me to just fall in your arms the second I see you again!"

He grinned. "Oh, come now," he told her. "I never said you were weak and useless."

"Yes, you did!" she said. "And it wounded me deeply."

He took her into his arms again. "How would you like me to say I'm sorry?"

She scoffed. "Just tell me what I'm doing here. This was supposed to be time for us to bond with our kids."

He began kissing her neck. "How could you not know what you're doing here?"

She shrugged him off then turned to face him. "I thought that's what this was about, but you know, I'm really not up to it right now."

He came up short. "But it's been a week!"

"Exactly," she nodded. "And in that week, I've made amazing headway with Roxie. I believe I've successfully turned her against you, so..." she blew a raspberry.

He grabbed her by the shoulders and captured her mouth, knocking her to the forest floor. She struggled for a little while. "Don't," Klaus whispered against her ear. "You don't want to."

Then, she heard a noise. She looked over his shoulder. "People!" she cried. "Let's go get them!"

Klaus looked at her in confusion. "What?"

She pointed. "People are coming. Let's get them before they have a chance to get away. I mean, who knows when we'll have a chance to eat again? Besides, you owe me. You interrupted my breakfast."

She pushed him off her and got up to walk toward the clearing. "But we were in the middle of something," Klaus said, running after her.

She turned. "And we can do that anytime. But not now, because I have to leave after this."

"No, you don't," he said. "Besides, I'm bored. What else am I going to do?"

Selina crossed her arms. "What if Adrian finds us?"

Klaus shook his head. "He won't. He's gone off somewhere by himself."

Selina stood up. "I'm going to go hunting now, all right? You can come with if you want, or not. It's your choice."

He followed her. "What's this enthusiasm for hunting all of a sudden?"

"Well," Selina told him, "Uncle Jake said that one of the best ways for me to bond with Roxie is to tell her about all my misdeeds. I have been, and it's made me a little nostalgic, if you get my drift."

He grinned and kissed her again. This time she let him. "I do get it," he said. "And I've missed it."

They dispatched the people successfully and afterwards, they giddily began running after each other. When Selina tripped over a log, Klaus got down on top of her. "You've missed me," he said, pushing her hair out of her eyes. "Admit it."

She took his face between her hands. "I think you're pathetic," she said, grinning. "We both know it's you who missed me."

He picked her up and brought her inside the abandoned cabin they'd been using as a hideout. Then, he removed his pants, lay her on the bed and began removing her shirt and kissing her again. "No," she said. "I can't. I have to go."

He ran a hand over her stomach. "No, you don't. Stay with me."

She was about to open her mouth to protest again when he he unzipped her jeans and removed them, then went inside her. She began panting heavily. "All right," she said. "Maybe I can stay for a little while."

Roxie was sitting on the stump and staring at a bug when all of a sudden, she heard a twig snap. She jumped as a small, wiry boy with dark hair and dark eyes came out from behind the trees. His clothes were dirty and so was he. "What are you doing here?" She asked, wrinkling her nose "Doesn't your mommy ever give you baths?"

The boy frowned and pushed her off the stump. "Get out! You don't belong here!"

Angrily, Roxie got up, pulling leaves out of her hair and punched him in the eye. "Don't you know who I am? Have a little respect!"

He growled. "I don't care. Get out of here or I'll hurt you!"

Roxie put her hands on her hips. "Oh, I'm so scared." She picked up a large clod of dirt and threw it at him. He coughed and growled, rushing her and knocking her head against the stump. She got up, a little dazed, and pulled his hair and scratched him and kicked him. He was down on the ground now and looking up at her. "What are you?"

Roxie leaned toward him. "What are you? How come you dress like a slob?"

He looked at her stained dress. "You don't look so pretty."

She frowned. "Well that's your fault. And it's also your fault that my mommy's going to yell at me. She told me to stay on the stump. But she's missing."

He smiled. "She probably got eated. That's what we do. We eat people."

Roxie frowned. "Who?"

"My family." He said. "Are you stupid, or what?"

"I'm not stupid," Roxie said. "I'm probably smarter than you. Whatever you are."

He grinned. "I'm a werewolf. And you shouldn't be in the woods by yourself."

Roxie got up in his face. "Well I'm a vampire and a werewolf, so maybe you shouldn't be in the woods by yourself."

Just then, a man's voice interrupted the boy before he was able to speak again. "Vince, where are you? I told you to stay with your sister, I..."

An older man who looked just like the little boy came to them, looking at Roxie with interest. "Have you found yourself a friend, Vince? Why doesn't your friend come with us?" He picked her up and she began shrieking as he told Vince to lead them back to the pack.

The boy grinned. "All right, Daddy."

The next morning, Selina opened her eyes and groaned. "Oh, hell!" She sat up and looked around. "What am I doing here? I can't be here! I have to go!"

"Why?" Klaus asked. "What's your hurry, love?"

Selina got out of bed and began picking up her clothes and began hurriedly putting them on. "I'm missing something," she said. She looked up at him. "Give them to me."

He pulled her underwear out from under the covers. "These are nice."

Selina growled. "Oh, shut up!" She snatched them away from him and put them on under her skirt.

He got out of bed and gave her a look. He was undressed. She looked away. She couldn't be distracted now.

He smirked. "Hide your blushing eyes. So, tell me why you can't stay again? What excuse are you going to use this time?"

Selina sighed. "Well what did you have in mind when you got Alistair to magic me here? That must've been how it happened. Was the plan to have a good night and then read the newspaper together in the morning? Play footsie under the covers?"

He pulled her to him, holding her so she couldn't move. "Not exactly what I had in mind."

They kissed again for awhile and then she pushed him away. "I have to go. I left Roxie all night. Something might have happened to her. I hope you're proud of yourself."