"I think we need to get home as soon as possible," Alistair told Astrid. "I need to see Helene about that fiancé of hers before anything else happens without us knowing about it."

"Exactly," Astrid nodded. "And everyone seems to know who they are again, so it's not like we'd be going back as people who don't know anything." She paused. "But Klaus probably won't want to go back until he has his mummy."

"That's right," Alistair nodded. "So we'll just tell him next time we see him to work on that so we can leave."

But the next time they saw Klaus, he seemed really put off.

"What's going on?" Alistair wanted to know. "Would you work on getting that mummy you promised the girls so we can get back home?"

"You know, I would love to," Klaus replied. "But now I don't know how long that will take."

"Why?" Alistair asked. "What's happened? Did the government discover what you're doing and try and stop you?"

"No," Klaus shook his head. "It seems I have some competition for the damn thing: Lucien, the first vampire I ever made. I've told you about him, right?"

"You've told me about a lot of vampires you've turned," Alistair said. "I can't keep them all straight."

"But he was my first vampire!" Klaus cried, looking offended. "How could you forget hearing the story of the first vampire I ever turned?"

"Well, you have a very soothing voice," Alistair said. "And sometimes when you speak, I tend to drift off."

"Am I supposed to be flattered by that?" Klaus asked. "Cause I'm not."

"If you want to tell me the story of how you created Lucien, go ahead. I'd be more than happy to listen," Alistair said.

"No," Klaus shook his head and crossed his arms. "You don't care anyway and I have to go wrestle the mummy away from him before he takes it and runs off with it."

"Okay," Alistair sighed. "Would you like any help?"

"No, thank you," Klaus told him. "I can manage on my own." He strode off and Astrid came into Alistair's arms before saying, "We're not leaving any time soon, are we?"

"Nope," Alistair shook his head. "Sorry, my dear. It doesn't look like it. Not if I don't want to hear the end of it from Klaus when we arrive in the present, that is."

"Well, well, well, look who it is," said the voice as Klaus raced back into the pyramid. It was dimly lit so he couldn't see anything of the speaker above the waist, but he could hear his voice. "What kept you? I've been waiting all day."

"You don't seem disappointed that I came, Lucien," Klaus told him. "I thought you would take advantage of my absence, grab the mummy, and run for it."

Lucien laughted. "Yes, that would be easy, wouldn't it? Much too easy. If I'm going to beat you, I would enjoy it much more if I saw the look on your face while I did it."

"Well, if I'm here, there's no way you're going to win, don't you know that?" Klaus asked. "Come into the light so I can see your face."

"All right," Lucien said. He came out of the shadows, his lithe body lit by Klaus' torch. "Hello, creator," he greeted. "It's been an awfully long time, hasn't it? Did you just come here to get a mummy, or did you know that I was going to be here?"

"I didn't come here strictly to see you, if that's what you're wondering," Klaus told him as they both advanced toward the sarcophagus that held the Phoenix's mummy. "What do you want this for, anyway?"

Lucien shrugged. "Can't a man just collect antiques? Everyone else is and I want something to talk about at parties. Why do you want it?"

Klaus opened his mouth to say and then quickly shut it. One of the things he'd taught Lucien right after turning him was never to reveal weaknesses to anyone because they wouldn't hesitate to take advantage of them. And if Lucien knew about the girls and Amy, that's exactly what he would do. But then again, they were in the past, so the chance of him getting anywhere near Klaus' wife or daughters was very remote.

"I'm getting it for a friend," he told him. "I promised them gifts on my trip to Egypt and this is what I decided on."

"My goodness, they must be some friend to warrant such an extravagant gift from you," Lucien told him and went to stand on one side of the sarcophagus while Klaus took a position across from him with both his hands palm down on the lid. A smile curved his lips. "It's not a woman friend, is it? A lady you're trying to impress?"

"No," Klaus shook his head. "It's not. Who do you want the mummy for?"

"I'm no fool, I remember what you taught me," Lucien said. "It's my own business."

"Well, regardless, the mummy is mine," Klaus told him. "Good day, move along now."

"Oh, no!" Lucien cried, taking the other side of the lid and pulling just as hard as Klaus was. With strong grunts, they got the lid off and then scrambled to get the lid off the inner coffin. But when they got it off, they were shocked at what they saw. There was no mummy. The coffin was empty.

"You know what, friend?" Lucien said, giving Klaus a tight lipped smile as he backed away from the empty tomb. "You can have it. I'm not gonna fight you anymore. What would the point be?" He left Klaus alone in the dimly lit pyramid with the empty coffin. Klaus looked in it a few times to see if it really was empty and then when he had to concede that it was, he gave a tired sigh, headed back to Amy, and tried to think of where the mummy had gone.

"I'm sure the girls won't mind if you don't get them that exact mummy," Amy assured him when he told her what happened. "I'm sure any mummy will do. As for that one, it was probably stolen in a tomb robbery or something. That happened a lot."

"I don't think he was taken as part of a tomb robbery," Klaus told her. "I believe Alistair said this man was particularly feared in life so no one would want to go near him in death."

"What about the person that moved his burial from the really hidden place to the really open place?" Amy asked. "Clearly they had a vested interest in him."

Klaus sighed. "Well, whatever. The important thing is that the mummy I wanted so badly is gone, and none of the other ones are good enough."

"I'm sorry," Amy said and gave him a kiss. "What can I do to make you feel better?"

Klaus smiled at this and took her in his arms to carry her off to their room. "I can think of a thing or two that might ease my pain for a while, anyway." He paused. "Oh, and if you run into a man named Lucien who says he's a friend of mine, say nothing about your association with me."

"Why not?" Amy asked when he sat her down on their bed. "I find it very interesting to meet your friends."

"He's not so much a friend as the first vampire I ever made. And I made the mistake of teaching him to take advantage of people's weaknesses, which means that if he finds out about us, he'll use you against me and I don't want that to happen."

"All right," Amy nodded. "I'll be careful, I promise."

"Please do," Klaus told her, putting his hands on either side of her face and looking deeply into her eyes before kissing her deeply and easing her against the mattress to undress her. "Please do," he said before stripping down himself and then parting her legs to enter her as she threw her arms around his neck, thrusting over and over as she panted loudly. "I wouldn't want to lose you to him. That would be a nightmare."

"Do you really think that Daddy's gonna bring us a mummy?" Rosalie asked Savannah as she shook her curly red hair out of her eyes. "Cause I really, really want a mummy."

"Who knows what we'll get?" Savannah replied. "I just want it to be shiny."

"I like talking about this with you rather than Vivi," Rosalie told her older sister with appreciation. "If it were Vivi I was talking to, she would go on and on at length about how wrong it is to take mummies for our own personal amusement. That's no fun."

"Well, at least Vivi was made the boring one so you and I could have as much fun as we want," Savannah said. "Ronan's working at Roxie's tonight. You wanna go see him?"

"Sure," Rosalie replied. "I'd ask Aaron to come with us, but that place makes him nervous."

"Of course it does!" Savannah cried. "But that's what he gets for trying to sneak in there when he was still human. He was lucky you were there to save his sorry ass."

"Yeah," Rosalie smiled as she thought of her blond boyfriend. "It was totally worth it."

"Since humans are your type, I bet it was," Savannah told her before going to tell Jonathan that she and Rosalie were heading out.

"We're going to Roxie's," she said. "Wanna come?"

"No, thank you," Jonathan told her, pushing some of his dark hair out of his eyes. "And remember we have dinner with Mary and Liam tonight so please…don't drink too much."

"All right," Savannah said and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "I promise I won't. See you later."