Black Star I am glad that you enjoyed the latest chapter, I kinda knew that the baby part was a bit cliche but I had so much fun writing it that I didn't want to delete it. Glad that it was fun enough to make up for the cliche-ness off the scene!

I appreciate you pointing out how she would have called Camille, I made sure to reflect that more in this chapter.

Also I was hoping that by this time the readers had forgotten about what Keira had said that the ring could only be taken off willingly so I was hoping that by Klaus giving the ring to Elijah would indeed catch the reader by surprise after so long of it being passed only after the current master had died.

A Surprise Attack

She was in the living room watching yet another session of her master and Camille's therapy. She didn't see much sense of talking about one's past demons, but apparently both felt that it was necessary. And who was she to argue about humans and their strange ways if her master felt it was necessary.

She felt a sudden and painful tug that caused her to stand, trying to make sense of the sensation, wary of an attack. She was about to look outside to see if Finn was there, possible trying to sneak in an attack when a strange weariness overtake her, the kind that she had not felt since the great battle that pitted her master against the kingdom. The ring had drained her in order to keep protecting The Master from all of the magical attacks coming his and her way. The ring was powerful enough to protect against normal spells, but the amount used against him that day was too much, and it had forced the ring to compensate. On top of that she had been exhausted from all of the fighting that had went of for what had felt like forever at the time.

"The ring." She said realizing that it was the ring yet again that was causing her unnatural weariness now. Unable to keep standing She fell to her knees and braced herself one handedly against the table, the other was braced on the floor. Her strength kept Elijah from feeling anything of the spell as the ring drained even more her.

She suddenly felt as if someone just drained the last of her energy so, no longer having the strength to keep fighting, she fell into the welcome arms of darkness, her sole true friend throughout her entire life.

Finn frowned down at his spell, he could tell by his magic that something was not right. With the antler Elijah should have been hooked, but it seemed he was somehow able to draw considerable power from a dark object to combat it. No matter, with his parents to draw power from and his own he could overcome whatever was protecting Elijah. He just needed to channel more power. He concentrated even more power on the spell, and this time when he did the spell with the concentrated power Elijah was drawn into the spell.

Just as suddenly as the spell had taken ahold of Elijah it left him, and he found himself jerking awake. He looked around to make sure that he was back in the real world and saw to his relief that he was. He noticed right away though that Keira had not fared so well. She was just lying on the ground, motionless, her skin grayish, and the veins in her face prominently visible. Elijah had never seen Keira so motionless, and it worried him for some strange reason. His worry eased when he saw that the color was coming back to her face, and the lines were receding.

Cami, after making sure that Elijah was alright, knelt down next to Keira worried for her.

"It is alright, Camille." Elijah assured her. "She will wake up soon." Though he was not sure himself just how soon she would be waking up.

The Cursed One left the comforting embrace of the darkness, and instead she found herself in a strange world. A world that was carefree and full of happiness, and, for one of the few times since Keira had brought her into existence, She felt fear in this alien world.

A child's giggle filled the air "catch me daddy!" His laughter followed behind her, running after her in the field. He caught her throwing her high in the air and catching her as she fell back to earth. Her squeals of laughter echoed throughout the valley, and his booming laugh echoed back. When he let her go she ran off again "You'll never catch me this time daddy!" She yelled dashing off. Her father watched proudly as she ran, his wife coming alongside him and putting her arm through his.

"I never thought that I could ever be more happy then the day that you agreed to be my wife." He said, turning so that he could hug her fully. "But seeing our daughter running and playing, full of life." He stopped, overwhelmed with happiness. His wife smiled and kissed his cheek. "Better go catch her before she finds her way into some mud that you are going to be the one cleaning up!" She said, poking his chest. He smiled and kissed her, Soon they were both almost breathless.

When they pulled apart for air his wife laughed and pushing him away. "Go get her! There will be plenty for that tonight when she is asleep!"

Keira ran until she found the perfect hiding spot, right behind a thick bush. She giggled, waiting for her father to try to find her. Unaware of the dark haired woman who was watching her.

"Hello little Keira, I have found you at last." The woman said, smiling in triumph.

The Cursed One jerked awake with a gasp, not sure just where she was for the moment she scrambled back and looked around wildly. She could see that Elijah had already woken up, and she could see the releif in Camille's eyes at her recovery. She felt weak, and she did not like this feeling of weakness, nor did she like being this weak in front of anyone.

A quick glance at her master showed that he was alright, and glancing around once more she saw that everything looked normal in the house. Her mind scrambled trying to make sense of the memory, but it was slowly fading away till there was just faint memories of pure happiness, of terror, and a voice that called for Keira.

She preferred not to be around anyone while she was so vulnerable, a hard lesson learned so many years before. So after shifting to her wolf form she found a secluded spot on the property and rested, aware enough to come to her master if called, but otherwise just remained hidden. She slowly gained back her strength throughout the rest of the day and the next. The ring had been drained trying to save its master, so it was currently gaining strength from both the magical elements around it, and of her own regaining strength.

Her being out in nature seemed to allow her to regain her strength faster than if she had remained in the house, and by the late afternoon of the next day she had regained all of her strength. Though She stayed outside, still in her wolf form, preferring the outdoors to questions that Elijah, or worse yet Camille might have at her continued absence. Questions which the woman had no business knowing.

Even if they did not ask questions but were content to let things be, after being her own sole comfort for centuries She found that she still preferred it that way. Essentially withdrawing to lick her wounds, and to get her focus back. Not even the cries of Hope could coax her out of her hiding spot before She was ready.

She spent her time outdoors trying to forget what it felt like to be happy and content, for that was not her world. It might be the world that Keira had come from, and one day she might return to it. But for The Cursed One, who was brought into this world full of rage, of blood, of fire and of vengeance, there was no other life for one such as her. Pain and rage was all that she knew, she was born into it, and it was all she knew. There was no coming back from the dark deeds that she had done. Keira might have a chance at it, but She well knew that she did not. She had accepted that, it was time to put such thoughts behind her.

She knew that something was out there, something terrible, and it was coming this way. The Cursed One didn't know how she knew, but she did. She could not afford to be unsettled by some long forgotten memory, she had to remain focused to face the battle that was coming.

I know that it took a quicker time for Finn to hook his brothers into the spell than what it took for Keira to go down, but I took some creative license to make the scene more dramatic, and I thought that with the strength of the dark objects of the ring and The Cursed One that would be enough to cause a delay.

Please review and let me know what you think!