"I think the powder must have worn off." Hailey told me sympathetically as she sat on my bed. I'd practically crawled out of the bathroom, as green and as sick as ever, still clutching my stomach as the faint taste of sick still resided in my mouth. Jesus. I hated being pregnant.

"You think?" I demanded weakly, collapsing onto the pillows with a sigh of discomfort.

My stomach rolled and I tried to force it down. I couldn't throw up again. I just couldn't.

"I don't think you should go to that party tonight." Hailey continued, her Australian accent sounding more strongly in her sympathy. "It wouldn't go well if you suddenly threw up at Marcel or one of his vampires. Or you could end up drinking. Or you could accidentally harm yourself or the baby. Or you could—"

"Yeah." I stopped her. "I got the picture."

Hailey gave me another smile, this one an apologetic one.

"Sorry. I guess my motherly instincts have all of a sudden kicked in." She looked down at her ballooning stomach and the look on her face was so tender, I began to worry. I had started out with this baby effectively trying to kill it, drinking, partying, even smoking on one occasion. Yet Hailey seemed to hold so much love for her child. And though I knew I felt a connection with mine, would it ever be as strong as Hailey's was with hers?

"Its strange. I don't know much about being a mother," She confessed all of a sudden. "And I worry about how I will be with this child. But, at the same time, I couldn't give it up for all the magic in the world."

Wow. I closed my eyes, thinking in a brief moment when the nausea didn't torment me. That was a lot for her to tell me, almost a total stranger. And yet, we were linked in some way. It was strange, that we weren't jealous of each other or rivals or anything. We just had a half vampire baby in our wombs. We were connected by something more powerful than magic or friendship or love. We were connected by family.

"Do you know if its a boy or a girl yet?" I asked instead. It seemed like a perfectly normal question for one pregnant woman to ask another pregnant woman. I actually wouldn't know. But at least I was trying.

Hailey shrugged.

"No, not yet. I wanted it to be a surprise."

I sat up slowly, trying not to awaken my nausea anymore then it needed to be awakened.

"What does Klaus want it to be?"

An emotion I didn't recognise crossed Hailey's eyes before she looked back down at the bed that was suppose to be mine now.

"I don't know. We don't really talk about things like that." She finally confessed. "I imagine he wants it to be a boy. I mean, he's a power-hungry, billion year old vampire. Of course he would want it to be a boy."

"Maybe we could have one of each so everybody's happy?" I suggested, and we both cracked up giggling.

"We could dress them up in matching outfits!" Hailey laughed, reaching forward to brace her hand on my knee. And though it was a familiar gesture from somebody who was meant to be a stranger, it felt nice. Warm. Comforting.

"And get them to force Klaus to play dress up with them!" I laughed. "I think he'd make a very pretty fairy!"

With his hearing, he could probably hear us, but at that moment I didn't care. I was creating I friend. And I loved it.

Suddenly, I heard the footsteps approach from the landing. And the sickness washed over me so that, the moment Klaus's scowling face appeared in the doorway I was forced to shove past him on the way to the toilet.

"She's throwing up a lot." I heard Hailey inform him helpfully. "You can't still be thinking of taking her to the party in the state she is in!"

I slammed the door shut, having no time to lock it, and flung myself down in front of the toilet basin, grabbing it just in time before the retching and the throwing up began.

There was a sharp wrap at the door, and, before I could say anything, Rebekah stepped in. I didn't know where Klaus was, probably with Hailey talking about their baby or something. Rebekah stepped in and wrinkled her nose in disgust as she looked around herself.

"Do the pregnant women of this household always have to throw up in the bathroom that I use?" She demanded, almost talking to herself.

"Sorry." I said into the toilet bowel. "Next time I'm about to spew vomit acid all over the place, I'll try and be more considerate about where I'm spewing it."

Rebekah ruffled my hair like I was a child.

"It would be much appreciated." She told me cheerfully. "Now, do you know what you're wearing to this party then?"

Was she really and truly asking that question? I twisted my head to see if she was serious. And yes, it did appear she was.

"Rebekah," I started cautiously. "I can't go to the party tonight. I'm throwing up. If I throw up all over Marcel or one of his cronies, thats not going to be good, now, is it?"

She waved her hand about airily, like it was no big deal.

"Whatever. Just take some more of that powder stuff and you'll be fine. Marcel seemed to take a proper liking to you. We could use that to our advantage. Plus, we can always see what your power is like compared to Davina's."

Now, that did sound interesting.

"She can't take the powder more than once a day." I heard Hailey call down the hallway.

I resisted the urge to scream. Was there no privacy in this place? I'd been here for the maximum of 12 hours and I had yet to see any sign that there was.

"I'm a bit surprised it's worn off now." Hailey continued. "It usually lasts me the whole day."

"Perhaps it is because the powder was designed for a werewolf and not a witch."

Oh dear lord. I lent my forehead against the coolness of the toilet. Klaus had evidently joined Rebekah and I in the bathroom, and I was not pleased.

"Can't a girl just throw up in peace?" I begged them. I could already feel the rolling in my stomach to show it was coming back.

"Good idea." Klaus turned to Rebekah. "Get out."

I could sense the siblings staring each other down, and I couldn't even bring myself to point out I wanted them both out. I felt that if I opened my mouth at all, for anything, the throwing up would restart.

Finally, Rebekah flipped her hair.

"Fine." She muttered. "I'll get out. Just see that she's ready for the party tonight." And with that she was gone.

"I am right here you know!" I called to her weakly. "I can hear you. And what happened to all the praise stuff we had this morning?!"

Then, I clapped my hand to my mouth. Oh, dear god, that was not a good idea.

But, something changed. Though I was still throwing up, there was cool air on the back of my neck where my hair should be. One of Klaus's hands ran up and down my back in a soothing motion, just like Laura had done yesterday morning. But he didn't say anything, he just waited until I was done. And then he was gone.

-0-

"You look gorgeous." Hailey told me, looked enviously at the dress I was wearing.

"It looks like it was painted on me." I groaned. "Women of my size should not wear dresses like this. Especially when they're in danger of throwing up."

Hailey stood up behind me and move to stand behind my shoulder in the mirror, so our dark heads were close together in the reflection. I could feel her stomach pressing up against my back, and that comforted me as my own hand fell to my stomach.

"Okay, first of all, don't even talk to me about sizes. I've been wearing maternity wear for an eternity now. So don't. And second of all, you won't throw up because I thought Rebekah and Klaus went to get that extra- special powder especially for witches for you?"

I nodded, turning to the side in an attempt to smooth out my dress. Was I showing already? No, I couldn't be. It was all in my imagination. I was paranoid.

"Oh, they did. I just doubt its power."

Hailey shook her head vigorously.

"Well, don't." She told me firmly. "The witches might be desperate, but they're delighted to find out Klaus had impregnated another supernatural being. To them, it means if one pregnancy goes wrong or one of us dies or something, they have a back up plan. So they'll want to keep you around, and healthy."

I looked back at her, raising my eyebrows in what I thought to be a stunned look.

"Oh, great. That makes me feel a hell of a lot safer."

Hailey's eyes showed all the sympathy in the world.

"I know it doesn't." She murmured. "But trust me. Once Klaus starts becoming all defensive daddy, you don't have anything to worry about."

But I did have something to worry about. So many things to worry about. I worried about my sister, I worried about Laura, but at this very moment in time I worried about my baby and I worried about me.

"But what happens when we give birth?" I asked her frantically. "What will Klaus do then? What will happen to us, and our babies, then?"

For a moment, Hailey's eyes registered a genuine fear. But it was a well known fear, like she'd wondered about it a thousand times but still never come up with an answer.

"I don't know." She finally whispered. "But put it this way. I'll give birth first, so you'll see what happens then before its your turn."

I grasped her hands in mine, trying to show her the extent of my fear and worry, and for a moment I let a bit of my magic flow into her, connecting with her wolf side.

"But Hailey," I murmured. "What about you?"

-0-

Rebekah was yelling up the stairs for me to hurry up, and I could hear somebody pacing, probably Klaus.

"Katie, we do not have time to wait for you and your preening!" He finally yelled up the stairs to me.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming." I appeared at the top of the stairs, holding the wooden banister for dear life because these heels were an absolute death trap. "Jesus, excuse me for wanting to look a bit nice for this party!"

Hailey had assured me that I looked stunning, in a red dress which clung to my top half but went floaty in the skirt. I wore black tights and red and gold heels, and my thick, untameable hair had been pinned up messily at the back, with small waves of my hair loose to frame my face. Red lipstick, and my make-up had been done flawlessly, with smokey eyes. I had to hand it to Hailey (for this was all her doing) that she was so much better then I was at this whole 'Getting Ready For A Party' thing. No wonder Klaus had slept with her. Their child was going to be gorgeous.

Klaus stared up at me, before a small smirk crossed his face and he was volting up the stairs to grab my arm, hooking my hand into his elbow.

"You look lovely, luv." He told me. "Just be careful those vampires won't try to get a taste. You look good enough to," He paused, before clicking his teeth at me in a rather, I thought, threatening manner. "Eat."

Rebekah sighed, herself looking rather glamorous in a little black dress with a plunging neckline that well and truly showed off her cleavage, her long, long legs exposed and her eyes smokey.

"Yes, yes, we get it, the witch looks edible. Now, can we get going? I realize there is a thing called being fashionably late but really, Kat, this is taking the biscuit."

"I thought you wanted to make an entrance." I pointed out to her as Klaus helped me descend the stairs. "Us arriving extra-specially late will have them thinking we don't care."

They both looked at me with some kind of surprise. I rolled my eyes at them as I reached the bottom of the stairs and tugged my hand out of Klaus's elbow.

"Hello, witch? I know what happens at these types of things." I pointed out, clip-clopping my way to the door and opening it. I looked back at them, both of whom were staring with amusement at me, and gestured through the door. "Well? Are you coming?"

-0-

The party was in full swing when we arrived in the courtyard. The lights were pulsating all different colours of the spectrum, the mortals were drinking different colours of poison, unknowing, uncaring. The music was pumping, the beat loud and strong, and people's feet were hitting the floor in an attempt to match it. They weren't in time to the beat but they were in time with each other, in time with the vibrating of the building. They were singing, they were screaming, they were laughing, they were crying. Mortals and vampires and witches alike were falling on each other, crying, laughing, joined in the magic that was becoming intertwined over their heads, in between their bodys. Every so often, I saw, in a dark shadowy corner, people kissing, vampires draining the life out of a mortal, and though it made me sick, it also made me curious. It fascinated me in some sick way.

The party continued to pump as we stepped into the centre of it, and the music enticed me. Vampires caught my eye, witches, mortals. I smiled at each of them in turn, my eyes surveying everybody and everything in my surroundings.

"Are you going to be drinking tonight?" I turned my head towards Klaus, finding his neck nearer then I had anticipated. I tilted my head back so my lips were near his ear so he could hear me better.

He too turned his head to smirk down on me.

"I don't know, luv." He shrugged. "Maybe."

I turned away from him very quickly again, because his eyes were once again captivating me like they had in the kitchen that morning. I didn't want to feel that way again. The only thing that connected us should be the baby. The only thing.

I sensed him before he'd even arrived in front of us, but that wasn't a split second.

"Hey." Marcel smiled. "You guys made it. Welcome to the fun." He gestured expansively around the whole courtyard. "You like the look of it?"

I grinned at him.

"Loving it." I assured him.

His eyes slid over my body and then back up to my eyes.

"You look like you are, sugar. You taking a liking to any of my guys?" He asked now. I could tell what he was doing. This was a test, but I didn't know what for.

So I just continued to smile.

"Nope." I assured him, popping the 'p'. "Not yet. But I'm here to have some fun. I'm sure I'll find somebody."

Marcel's eyes continued to smile at me.

"Of that I have no doubt. Or maybe somebody will find you." With those slightly creepy words, Marcel switched his eyes to Rebekah and Klaus. "You two. I'm afraid we need to talk. Will you follow me please?"

What could they do? Refuse? No. They were trapped. Rebekah gave him a wide, obviously fake smile and swept past him. Klaus's eyes didn't even flicker towards me as he nodded his assent and he too followed his sister. Marcel's eyes paused on me once more.

"Why don't you go dance, honey?" He suggested in a sugary sweet voice. "I promise I won't keep them away too long. Might even give you time to meet some new people."

I nodded and watched him vanish into the crowd. I then turned back to the thumping beat and the hordes of people. Okay. I knew my mission. I squared my shoulders and narrowed my eyes on some vampires Rebekah had described to me before we left. I cracked my neck from side to side. Lets do this.

-0-

I was screaming the words along with everybody else. I didn't even know this song. I was making up most of it. I dropped a glass of purple liquid and the glass smashed, fleeing from the position it had broken and skidding under the thumping feet of the people. The purple liquid, as soon as it hit the cobbles, started to burn up until it was nothing but a bit of smoke. The people near me didn't stop their bouncing for even a minute, their necks snapping back and forth, their eyes squeezed shut. They were grinding up to people they didn't even know, snogging people they'd never laid eyes upon before, allowing creatures they didn't even believe in to bite their necks and suck their blood. Tonight, clearly, anything went.

I felt something bump against my back and start to grind against me, and I knew instantly it was the vampire I had been trying to get the attention of. Though it made me feel sick, I grinded back against him, and the other vampire I wanted to get suddenly appeared in front of me, bumping his pelvis against mine with his eyes wide and dark. Was it possible that the powder could have worn off already, and I could throw up all over these vamps?

"Hey baby." The one behind me murmured into my ear, before sucking the earlobe into his mouth. I resisted the urge to shudder. I had to find a way to get past this, to get the information I needed.

The one on front of me, Blondie (as I had now named him) also lent forward, cupping one of my breasts in his hand and squeezing it tightly as he licked a line across my collar bone.

"Looking for somebody to play with?" The one behind me had released my earlobe to whisper into my ear again. Blondie's nails were digging into my breasts and not in a nice way.

Okay, Kataleena, think. How could I get through this?

My eyes burst open when I thought about it. I couldn't possibly do that. It wouldn't work. And yet, somehow, I knew it would. This time I couldn't resist the gagging sensation that went through me.

The one behind me grinned at his pal.

"See? She's gagging for it, aren't you, baby?"

Right then. I had to internally stop myself, push down my magic and my sense of fear and my disgust, and I had to play along to their games.

"Damn right I am." I turned my head and breathed into his ear. "Baby, why don't you get me out of here and show me you're not just all talk?"

The one behind me lifted his own dark eyes towards me, and he licked his lips.

"You ready to take two of us?" He questioned, but he was already propelling me forwards through the crowd, whilst Blondie had seized my hand and was pulling me forward as well.

"Sure, honey." I purred. "I'm a really kinky bitch."

"Jesus." Blondie murmured as we started around the back of the stairs, away from the music, and he pushed open a creaky door. "She's gonna be the best we've had yet, Tony. I can feel it."

The one behind me, Tony, mumbled his agreement against my neck, where he was trailing sloppy, disgusting kisses. I couldn't help but compare it to my night with Klaus. He'd been so tender, it had all been so...perfect, as much as I hated to admit it. He'd catered to everything I'd wanted and needed and begged for. He'd held off...for me. These guys had no concept of anybody else's needs or pleasures apart from their own.

We'd stumbled into a dark room, which had obviously not been used in a long time as it was so dark, and dirty and dense. Cobwebs were in every corner of the room, I'm pretty sure I could sense a rat somewhere, and it was dusty and mouldy.

However, I didn't have much time to take in anything else, as I suddenly found myself being shoved against a cold stone wall (almost breaking my back in the process, might I add) and two pairs of lips were attacking me with disgusting sloppiness.

"There, baby, you like that, don't you?" Blondie murmured when I couldn't help a shiver of revulsion slid over me. I heard the door to the room slam shut, and breathed in and out. Okay. Now was the time. Casting my magic free and across the room, I locked the door.

The vampires, obviously, heard it and spun around to check if anybody was there. As they released me, I dropped to my knees of the tiled floor and breathed heavily, thanking God for the release. However, when they'd decided that there was actually nobody there, they turned back to me and grinned with some kind of creepy longing down on me.

"My turn first, I think." Tony told his friend with a dark chuckle.

Suddenly, I found myself back against the wall, with his teeth scraping the sensitive skin he found there. His trousers were down, and I didn't want to think about anything else I could sense or feel. Before I had time to conjure any magic, I felt a horrible pain in my neck as he bit down hard into my artery. I screamed, unable to help myself, and struggled as he greedily gulped down my blood.

Now, I was only acting on instinct. I flung both my hands outwards as I had done that morning, and the wind grabbed both vampires and flung them across the room. I dropped down again, this time onto my feet, and I took the time to readjust my dress into position and wipe some of the dripping blood from my neck and onto the back of my hand. I stared at it for a few minutes before looking back at the vampires.

"Now, thats no way to treat a pregnant lady." I murmured at them, slowing approaching them. "I guess I'm just going to have to teach you a lesson!"

Now, a faint spark of fire surrounded them in a sort of circle, and the wind in the room howled and whipped my hair around my face and their terrified expressions were all I needed to keep me continuing on my mission.

"Now, to save your lives, lets play a little game, shall we?" I suggested in a sweet voice, trying to mimic my sister's voice. "It's called question and answer. I ask a question, and if you answer truthfully, you don't get burnt. But if you don't.." I made the fire leap out at Blondie, who let out a very girly squeal. "That happens. Okay. Shall we begin?"

-0-

"I don't know, I've told you before that I don't know." I think Tony was crying blood by now, but I was too far gone to even care. I hadn't used this amount of magic in so long, and I was really enjoying the feeling it was giving me.

"Oh, I think you do. Shall I ask you one more time?" I suggested. "Davina. The teenage witch. She can sense magic. You remember her, right?" I stalked even closer to the ring of fire, and it jumped and spat at the vampires. "Where. Is. She?"

"I don't know, I don't know." Tony wailed.

I switched my attention to Blondie.

"What about you, Blondie? Do you know anything?"

He scrambled further away from me, forgetting that the fire surrounded him at all sides. He almost got burnt and had jumped right back to the place he'd been sitting before.

"No." He cried out. "No, I don't."

But, I caught something in his eyes. Something that I hadn't seen in Tony's.

"I don't think that's true, Blondie. Do you?" Now I kept my voice quiet, even though I knew that nobody would be able to hear us over the music. "Now. Where is Davina?"

There was a moment when I thought he was going to refuse me again. There was a moment when I thought their loyalty was too great for even my magic. But then, he broke. I saw the exact moment he broke because his entire face just seemed to cave in on itself and he buried his head in his hands.

"I don't know where she is, alright?!" He yelled. "But I know where Marcel goes a lot when he wants to know where magic is happening."

"Oh, do you now?" I murmured softly.

He nodded.

"Only, we can't go there. Only vampires who arrive with Marcel can get in there. All other creatures are blocked access."

For a second, I wondered if he knew any more. But the way they were both cowering and squealing, crying tears of blood like little vampire babies, I knew they knew nothing more. And besides, I was starting to feel faint from the blood I was loosing from my neck and the savage way he had just attacked it.

"And where is that?" I asked.

They both looked at each other. Then at me. And blurted it out, babbling over each other in their haste to tell me. I grinned. That was the way it was done.

Slowly, I let the fire burn itself out. Then I grabbed both vampires by the front of their shirts and allowed the wind to help me pick them up. I looked into each of their eyes in turn, capturing their life force.

"You came in here because you couldn't stand not having a bite of each other yourselves." I murmured softly, still looking into each of their eyes. Well, I could have some fun with their memory alteration. "You discovered you loved each other and couldn't hold it in any longer. You've decided to tell Marcel tonight. You have to tell him urgently. You saw nobody else tonight and told nobody else anything."

"Told nobody else anything." They repeated sleepily, their eyes dazed.

"Great. You'll wake up the moment I leave this room."

I dropped them. There eyes closed instantly. I stepped over their bodys, still in those killer heels (was I getting better at walking in those things or what?!) and got the hell out of that room.

-0-

"Kat!" Rebekah found me first, shoving people out of her way in her struggle to get to me. "How did it go? Did you get any information?"

Klaus also appeared behind her.

"I don't think Davina could sense you doing magic. Marcel didn't get any call or become agitated in anyway whilst we were with him."

"Thats great." I smiled weakly at them, but, to be honest, I was starting to feel a little faint. "Yeah, I got some information. The vampires were really easy to make squeal."

Suddenly, Klaus's eyes got dark. His jaw tensed. His entire body stiffened and he reached out his arm to touch the side of my neck that was covered in toilet roll. He very carefully, with tenderness I didn't think he could possess in front of anybody else, removed it and both his and Rebekah's eyes stared at the savaged skin they saw there.

"What?" I clasped my hand to my neck in panic. "Does it really look that bad?"

Whilst Rebekah mutely nodded, Klaus stepped closer to me.

"Did those vampires do this to you?" He demanded quietly, but harshly. When I said nothing, he stepped even closer. "Well? Did they?!"

"Yes!" I answered quickly, grabbing his hands so I could draw him away from the crowd before anybody could notice and report it to Marcel. "But don't worry. I dealt with it."

"I'll kill them." Klaus swore, clearly no longer listening to me. "I'll bloody well kill them. How dare they touch you in such a savage way! How dare they?!"

I took a step back, still leading him, a bit stunned that he felt so strongly about it. This was clearly what Hailey meant when she said he'd go all Defensive Daddy.

"Klaus, come on, it's not that bad—" I tried, when Rebekah cut me off, also helping me to lead Klaus away from the party.

"No, Kat knows it is bad, but you going in all guns blazing will only make Marcel suspicious and wreck our plans. What she needs now is some vampire blood and to do home and get some rest."

I watched as the truth of our words filtered into Klaus's anger filled brain. Finally he sighed, leaning in towards me to pick me up bridal style once more. And for once, I didn't protest, too tired to care.

"Fine." He murmured stiffly. "But this isn't the last they'll hear of this."

I thought I heard Rebekah laugh as I closed my eyes.

"Of that, dear brother, I have no doubt."

-0-

Okay, so, hey! First authors note I've made on this so please be nice! I was just wondering what you all thought of this chapter, who your favourite characters are and where you think this story is going! Whats been your favourite part so far, and what would you like to see happen?! Please tell me, because it really interests me.