"...And in other news, tragedy from the county hospital this morning as six children were found dead. The county coroner has not been able to pinpoint their exact cause of death, but the investigation is still pending. Channel six news will keep our viewers posted."

Helene stared gleefully at the blank-eyed, monotone news anchor. "Look Adrian, I'm on television! I can't believe they're talking about me!

Adrian looked up at her from the breakfast bar where he was playing solitaire. "Why can't you? You killed kids. Murder always makes the news."

Helene gave him a look and walked over to rub his shoulders. "What's the matter with you? You seem upset."

Adrian sighed. "I got a call from Mom. Roxie got kidnapped by a group of werewolves and they really did a number on her."

Helene choked. "Really?" She asked, sputtering. "Too bad we hadn't been there. I would have gladly sucked the life out of all of them."

Adrian looked at her in surprise. "You can do that?"

"Sure," Helene nodded. "Anything that has a life force can be used. Well, except for vampires. I can't use them because technically they aren't alive."

"Well, what about me?" Adrian asked.

Helene shrugged. "I don't know. And frankly, I really don't want to try. Do you want me to try?"

Adrian shook his head. "Of course not. I was just curious."

He watched as she began to flicker. "Wait a minute, sweetheart. I'm losing you."

Helene looked down at herself. "Oh, damn. I guess that means we'll have to go out. I mean, I have to. you don't have to go if you don't want to."

"Oh, no," Adrian shook his head. "I'll come. I'm good. Where do you want to go?"

Helene grinned. "It's a surprise. But it'll give me longevity, I promise."

Adrian narrowed his eyes at her. "Where exactly is it that we're going?"

Helene tried to put her hand on the door, but just grasped air. "Would you mind, please?"

He nodded. "Sure," and pulled the door open. "You could have just gone through the door, couldn't you? Like ghosts go through walls in the movies?"

"I could have," Helene agreed. "But I really don't want to get too attached to my ghostly powers. I won't have them too long."

When they were in Adrian's car (once again at Helen's insistence), he asked her where they were going.

"Oh, just somewhere. It won't really mean a lot to you." Her tone was flippant and that made him a little nervous. He kept his eyes on the road and didn't lok at her once.

"Are you scared of me now?" She asked. "I thought you'd be all over killing. I thought watching me die had put you over the edge. Not as much as I thought, huh?"

Now he did look at her. "There is a difference," he said bitingly, "between killing in a calculated fashion for your own gain and killing out of grief or because you have to in order to survive. Whenever I kill, I have my reasons. I would never kill just for the heck of it."

"Not even so I can be alive again? Do you even want me to come back at all?"

"Of course I do," he said shortly. "What I'm saying is that we should be looking for a new body for you right now instead of wasting all this time killing people just so you can have a few minutes visible as a ghost. There's no point to that!"

Helene saw a small knife under the seat and used her telekenetic powers to send it flying right into her hand. Then, when Adrian wasn't looking, she plunged the knife into his shoulder, causing him to cry out and veer off course. While he was panicked, some of his life energy became visible to her. She sucked it out, becoming solid enough to grab the wheel and correct him before they ran off the road and into a ditch. When they came to a halt, he stared at her, wide eyed. "What in hell did you do that for?"

She shrugged. "I had to be solid in order to grab the wheel and you're the only life source around here, aren't you?"

Adrian's jaw dropped a little."But you said...you said you'd never use me like that." He looked at the bloody hole on his shirt where the knife had gone through. "This was a new shirt! And now my shoulder's sore."

She ruffled his hair. "Sometimes, love hurts."

Adrian scoffed. "Yeah, whatever. Just tell me where we're going. All right?"

Helene rolled her eyes. "Okay, okay. Jeez. You're in a mood."

"You just stabbed me in the shoulder and almost made us crash!"

"But I knew we wouldn't," she said. "Because you're such a good driver. Now tell me, lover, why is it that you have a knife in your car anyway?" She eyed the blade with a glint in her eye. She ran her finger over it. Naturally, she didn't bleed.

Adrian was looking. "That's strange. You're not bleeding."

She gave him a look. "Of course I'm not. I'm a ghost."

"But I can see you! Aren't you solid since you stopped the car?"

Helene sighed. "Look, the rules of being a ghost are quite simple. I'm not alive, so I can't breathe, or eat, or bleed or do anything like that."

Adrian loosened his grip on the wheel a little. "Technically I'm dead too."

"Well yes," Adrian said patiently. "You have a body that's solid and functional as long as you drink blood. Ghosts just don't work that way. I mean, if there was a substance that could make ghosts work like regular living people, whoever made it up would be a gazillionaire."

Adrian gasped. "Wait a minute! Is that where we're going? To see some witch with the power to make you able to work like a regular living person?"

Helene eyed him balefully. "Don't you think if they had something like that available, my father would have found out about it and used it on me ages ago?"

Adrian shrugged. "Possibly. Unless it was dark, or illegal or something. He would never do anything dark or illegal. Even for your sake."

"I don't know," Helene said. "I've heard stories from his friends about how he was when he was growing up, and let's just say he was no choir boy."

Adrian leaned forward. "Really? Who'd have thunk it?"

Helene nodded. "I mean, when he was a kid, that was five hundred years ago, and then our fathers met and Dad got taken from his family and forced into servitude by your dad and made magically immortal, but before that, he was a badass. He was head of this neopagan tribe in Cornwall, and he got that way by staging this big insurrection that ousted the guy who was leader before him. They snuck into the guy's house one night and just slaughtered everyone who tried to stop them horribly, including the leader and then enslaved the rest."

Adrian was stunned. "Alistair? No way!"

Helene nodded. "I know, right? That's probably why he's so freaked out about what's going on now. With me, I mean. Mom told me once that the rampage he went on haunted him afterward, and that it was his fault that your father showed up and killed everyone. They said Dad brought bad luck on his people."

Adrian sucked in his breath. "Are you telling me that your father is cursed?"

Helene looked thoughtful. "Maybe. And maybe the curse is the reason why I was killed so early. The spirit of the chief and Daddy's bad karma brought me down. I never thought of that before."

"So are you giving up on this whole 'get a new body' thing and going into the light?"

Helene shook her head. "Nope! Dad had his wild times and I see no reason why I shouldn't have some of my own."

Enid was wiping the bar down and watching the little television she had on the counter. What she saw made her wince. Innocent children getting the life sucked out of them. It shouldn't be like that. They were far too young. Who would do such a thing? She looked around the room and then put the rag down. "All right," she called. "You come out here right now and explain this!"

For a moment, nothing, but then: "Explain what? Really, Enid. You're always so vague, I don't know what you're talking about. What heinous crime am I supposed to have committed now?" Vanessa appeared quite suddenly, sitting sideways on a red leather-covered barstool, her legs dangling off the side and her upper torso twisted around so that her elbows rested on the bar. She rested her chin on one hand and eyed her sister quizzically.

Enid gestured frantically. "Look!"

Vanessa looked for a moment and then looked back at her sister. "So, kids are dying in hospitals. Isn't that what they're for?"

Enid narrowed her eyes. "They aren't dying natural deaths! It looks like they've had the life sucked out of them.

Vanessa nodded. "I've heard hospitals do that to people."

Enid growled. "Oh, stop being obtuse. Did you have anything to do with those children dying?"

Vanessa looked surprised. "No, I swear on our father's life that I didn't."

Enid bit her lip. "Well, do you have any idea how they might have died if you didn't do it?"

Vanessa shrugged. "I don't know. I've heard things about malevolent spirits using people's energy to become visible, but what malevolent spirits could there be in a place like this?"

Enid shook her head. "I don't know. I'm sure there are some and I intend to find out. In the mean time, since you came by, I wonder if you could do something for me?"

Vanessa glanced at her suspiciously. "What?"

Enid went into the back room and came out clutching a bright pink cocktail. "This is one of the new concoctions I'm thinking of offering. Would you give it a try for me and see if you like it?"

A grin slowly spread over Vanessa's face. "You could figure it out for yourself, couldn't you? Whether or not the drink is good, I mean. I don't see what you need me for."

Enid still held the glass out. "Come on. Just try it."

Vanessa leaned in closer. "Why don't you try some first? And then I will."

Enid shook her head. "I don't think so."

Vanessa chuckled. "If you won't even drink it, I can't picture anyone else doing so. I'd scrap that one if I were you." As she spun the stool around to get off and walk onto the vacant dance floor, Enid grabbed her arm, keeping her still, and tossed the drink in her face.

When the liquid touched Vanessa's skin, it sizzled and she cried out. "What the hell is in this?"

"Oh, nothing much," Enid said. "Just a little essence of oak and some hazel along with a little invention of my own. That's my secret."

"Well why did you splash me with it?" Vanessa cried, wiping her face angrily. "It burns!"

Enid looked at her slyly. "I knew it would!"

Vanessa growled at the stain spreading over her raspberry colored dress. "I'm so mad, I could just-" She tried to hit Enid with a spell, but nothing happened. She walked into the wall and gave herself a black eye, when before she would have been able to go right through it. She turned angrily to her sister, clutching her eye. "What did you do?"

"Nothing much," Enid said. "I just took away your powers. You're human now."

"What?" Vaness asked in shock. "You can't do that!"

Enid nodded. "I can and I did. You've done bad things and it's time you were stopped."

"But I told you I had nothing to do with the kids dying at the hospital!"

Enid smirked. "Actually, I think you did. Adrian came by awhile back in a fit of grief and told me his girlfriend Helene was killed on her prom night."

Vanessa scowled. "Nature did that. Not me."

Enid shook her head. "He said her death occurred while they were running from a young man who was trying to kill them because Helene refused to be with him, even though he'd been promised her by a certain someone. I wonder who that someone is. Let's see."

Vanessa's eyes widened. "I didn't know he was going to kill her! I just thought he was going to finish Adrian off and then he and helene could be together!"

Enid rolled her eyes. "You're terrible with remembering the consequences of your own spell, aren't you? You made Adrian's father indestructible, and as a consequence, Adrian can't be killed either."

"Oh, right." Vanessa lowered her eyes. "So now what? Do I come live with you? Do we get to be roomies?"

"No," Enid shook her head. "You have to find your own place to live, I have enough problems around here." She whipped around quickly, putting her hand on a little boy's shoulder. He was holding a squeeze bottle of dish soap and emptying it into a bottle of lemonade. "Vince, what are you doing? You're supposed to be with Roxie."

Vince nodded, his brown eyes big. "Princess Roxie wants lemonade, so I said I'd get her some. When she comes in here and drinks it, don't say anything. Please?"

Enid opened her mouth to scold him, but Vanessa elbowed her in the gut to keep her quiet. "Sure, kid. Why not?"

He left with a grin and a moment later a pretty little girl sauntered in.

"Your lemonade's on the bar," Vanessa told her.

Roxie said nothing and studied the drink closely. "How come there are bubbles in it?"

"Oh," Vanessa said, "they're fizz bubbles. This lemonade is special, like soda pop."

Roxie eyed her suspiciously for a moment and then took a huge gulp before gagging and spitting it out all over the front of her new dress. "These aren't fizz bubbles. They're soap bubbles! Icky!"

Just then, Vince came in, laughing his head off. "That was soooo funny! You should have seen the look on your face!"

He fell to the floor and rolled around, gaffawing obnoxiously. Finally, he caught his breath and looked up at her, grinning. "I got you!"

Roxie still held the cup of soapy lemonade. She went to stand over him, took another swig, swished it around in her mouth a little, then spit it out all over his face before stalking off to another part of the bar, leaving him to jump up off the floor and root around for a towel to wipe himself off with.

Selina was glad she'd sent Roxie out for the day. Klaus was leaving again, and it was just an easier process without her around to cling and whine. Right now, Selina was the one doing the clinging, but she planned to let go...eventually. She took her head off Klaus' shoulder and looked up at him. "Don't forget to call, okay?"

He kissed her forehead. "I won't forget. Same goes for you. I want to know if anything weird happens around here."

Selina nodded. "I promise."

He kissed her one last time and went to meet Alistair. Selina sat on the window seat and waved to them as they drove away. Once they were gone, she got up and wandered aimlessly around the house and then sat down to read a book. She was nearly at the end of it when the doorbell rang.

She got up, thinking, I wonder who that is? She walked to the front door and opened it, then froze. Vanessa was standing on the other side, a suitcase in each hand. She grinned. "A little birdie told me you have rooms in your house and I need a place to stay. Do you mind?"