"I'm baaaack!" Victoria caroled a few days later as she walked through the door of Kai's prison cell again, her special key to get out in a secret place so he couldn't get at it. She then looked at Kai who was laid out on his stomach on his cot and staring at her with one eye.

"What did it?" He asked, sitting up. "Am I really so irresistible that you came running back?"

"No," Victoria shook her head. "James and the council are paying me lots of money to watch you so you can't escape."

Kai's jaw dropped and he looked at her in disgust. "They're paying a child to be my baby-sitter? I'm much older than I look. I don't need a minder."

"You do if you keep trying to escape," Victoria replied. And then to his surprise, she unbuttoned her blouse and showed him her chest. "And do I look like a child to you?"

"But why you of all people?" Kai asked, his intense gaze locked on her. "Just because you're not a child here doesn't mean I'll just forget you're one outside of these walls. I want someone else."

"Well, too bad," Victoria smiled and buttoned her shirt up again. "You're stuck with me. Don't worry, though. It won't be all the time."

"That's a relief," Kai scoffed. "How much am I worth to them anyway? What are they paying you? Or is it money at all? How about gummy bears? Don't little girls like you enjoy gummy bears?"

"No, it's money," Victoria told him and sighed. "I wish you had magic. It's no fun having it all by myself sometimes."

Kai then grabbed Victoria's chin. "Be careful what you wish for," he said. "You just might get it."

"How?" Victoria asked.

"I don't know," Kai replied. "But I'm working on that."

"And then once you find out how to get your magic back, you're gonna try and escape, right?" Victoria asked. "You're gonna be that predictable?"

"That depends," Kai replied. "If you're down here, and I have my powers, I might have a reason to stay."

Victoria smiled. "Am I so irresistible that you'd be willing to stay?"

"No, the thought of torturing you is so irresistible that I would stay," Kai corrected. "You and I wouldn't just sit down here, drink pina coladas and chat about life."

"Ah," Victoria nodded and began pacing around the cell. "So if you had your powers, the first thing you would do is torture me for being such an annoying little girl."

"You better believe I would," Kai nodded insistently.

"I think you're all talk," Victoria replied, zapping up a whip, a knife, and some rope, along with a pair of handcuffs. "Would you care to prove me wrong? I promise I won't fight you."

"You're joking, right?" Kai asked, his jaw dropping a little. "You're either joking or insane."

"Pick one or the other," Victoria shrugged and sat down. "It doesn't matter to me." She waited in the chair, tapping her foot with impatience as Kai tried to figure out whether she was bluffing or not. Finally, she stood up and said, "If you're not gonna pick one, then I guess I get to…"

"Sit down!" Kai ordered and brought the whip down on her hand. "Sit down and wait your turn, damn it!"

"I wonder what the people from the council would say if they knew you were hurting me," Victoria told him, her face full of challenge as she massaged her hand. "What do you think they would say?"

"I don't know and I don't care," Kai replied, and then cuffed her wrists and tied up her legs. True to her word, she didn't fight him. He was okay with that for a while, but then he got bored and released her.

"Have you always been so crazy?" He asked.

"Probably," Victoria replied. "You like it?"

"Yeah," Kai nodded. "I do."

"You wouldn't believe what my crazy daughter has done," Kol told Klaus.

"What?" Klaus asked. "Since it's Regina, I can imagine all sorts of things. Is it even worse than when you found her and her boyfriend-"

"Yes!" Kol cut him off, not wanting to relieve the experience of finding out that Regina and Declan liked to hurt each other prior to sex. "Yes, it's worse than that."

"What could it possibly be?" Klaus wanted to know.

"She's agreed to let Victoria be paid by the Witch Council to watch some horribly vicious criminal when she's not at school," Kol said. "Not that I don't think she can handle it, but for heaven's sake, the girl is only twelve years old. Wouldn't it be better for her to do this after she's grown up a bit and had more experience dealing with dark and unstable people?"

"I don't know," Klaus replied. "She's grown up in our family for twelve years. I think that's plenty of experience."

"You have a point," Kol agreed. "I hope the poor sap that she's watching can handle it."

"Well, if he's been imprisoned for being horribly vicious, I have to wonder," Klaus smirked. "That Victoria can be much more twisted than she looks, and she has you to thank for that."

"Yes, she does," Kol smiled fondly. "You know, I don't think I've ever been so proud of someone in my whole life when it comes to killing. I mean, I tried with Regina, but it was really hard to get her to reach her full potential with Margot always looking over my shoulder. She's fun when you get drinks in her, but deep down, she's really as moral as Amy."

"But at least she still likes you," Klaus told him. "Amy and I could be headed for separation any day now. I mean, I already found another way to occupy my time if that happens, but still!"

"It sounds like you need a drink," Kol told him.

"Yes, I do," Klaus sighed. "And keep them coming."

"Have things been easier for you at the office since Victoria was rescued?" Mary asked Liam. "And what's going on with putting her back with Kai again?"

"They're paying her to watch him," Liam replied. "Frankly, I don't know what was going through Regina's head when she agreed to let Victoria do that even if Victoria is wily enough to handle someone as troublesome as Kai."

Mary kissed Liam then. "Well, whatever she was thinking, it's nothing you have to worry about. You have other things to focus on. Like me."

"Oh, yes," Liam nodded and kissed her back as she played with his blond hair and he backed her up against the living room wall. "I do enjoy focusing on you. You're a very pretty picture." He then began nibbling her neck. "We don't have to do this now," she said. "It's not even close to nighttime."

Liam paused then. "You act like making love to you is some chore. I won't hear of it. I enjoy it very much."

"Yeah, I bet you do," Mary replied as he took her hand, grabbed a sleeping bag, and the two of them headed outside to a grassy spot behind his apartment building. "Change of scenery," Liam explained when she raised an eyebrow. "Are you okay with that?"

Mary chuckled. "You know, it's funny that you think you need to ask me that question," she replied. "Of course I'm okay with that."

"Good," Liam nodded as he laid the sleeping bag out on the grass. "I just wanted to make sure that you weren't one of those people who have issues with bugs that make being outside uncomfortable for you."

"You're a very sweet man," Mary told him. "Now can we please stop talking and get to the fun stuff?" She pulled off her shirt, wiggled out of her shorts, lay down on her back on the sleeping bag, and waited.

Liam stared for a while, his hot and intense gaze making Mary squirm before he finally got down on his knees beside her and threw his clothes in the pile with hers and then took her in his arms and began kissing her.

"Are you sure no one will see us?" Mary asked. "I mean, where we are is kind of public."

"If someone does see us, who cares?" Liam wanted to know. "It's not like people can actually arrest us or anything."

"You make a very good point," Mary replied and let him resume kissing her neck. "You know, you're very good at this."

"Thank you," Liam replied. "I'm glad you're happy."

She threw her arms around him then, her legs parting as he pushed into her and pulled out several times. "Yes," she said in a breathy voice. "That…that's very good."

He then began to nibble on her ear. She giggled and told him, "You don't just have to keep nibbling on my ear. You can have a bite anywhere you want."

"Remember what we said about this," Liam reminded her.

"I know, I know," Mary sighed. "You want to wait until this curse thing is over cause recovering from a bite takes time and if I want to end this curse thing, we can't take time off from fixing it. I know. I get that. I just…I wanna be bitten, nibbled on, whatever."

"Why?" Liam asked and pushed into her again.

"I don't know," Mary shrugged. "It just…it makes me feel like I'm giving back to you for all you're doing for me. That, and I might be a little kinky. That could be a possibility as well. But after years of growing up around vampires, something like this was bound to pop up in me."

Liam chuckled and played with Mary's hair. "You are a strange woman, Mary Putnam. But I like it."

"You better," Mary replied. "Cause it's what you're getting from me. So…how much longer do you wanna go? I mean, we can't be worn out before tonight. That wouldn't do us any good."

"You make a good point," Liam replied and slowly backed out of her before getting up to get dressed. "Let's go catch our breath and we can resume this fun tonight."

"Okay," Mary replied. "Sounds good to me."

As soon as they got inside, there was a knock at the apartment door. "Who do you think it is?" Liam asked Mary. "Your parents or mine?"

"Hers." Savannah called. "Can we come in, or are you busy?"

"Nope," Liam said as he opened the door. "Go ahead and come in!"

"Thanks," Savannah told him, pushing her red hair out of her eyes. "It's been some time since we heard from either of you, and we were starting to get worried."

"Well, you know that we've been busy with…stuff." Mary told her mother.

"I'm sure you are, but that's no reason to at least call and tell us 'Hello' every once in a while, Mary," her mother told her, the beginning of an angry expression forming on her face.

"You're right," Mary apologized quickly. Marriage and motherhood had calmed Klaus and Amy's eldest daughter down a lot, but she could still be very intense when angered, so the best way to deal with her in situations like this was to admit that you were wrong and apologize. "I'm sorry. So…what's new with you guys?"

"We're going on a trip," her father replied. "Susanna and Marcel have invited us to come and stay with them for a while."

"In New Orleans?" Mary asked. "Wow, how exciting! There's so much cool magic stuff going on down there. Now that I have my powers, I would love to go some time."

"I'll mention it to Susanna," her mother assured her. "She's actually been wanting a lot of face to face time with you for the longest time, but it's just never worked out."

"I hope you can manage it," Mary smiled. "And please…don't forget to bring me a present."

"I told you she wouldn't forget to ask about presents," Jonathan told Savannah.

"But of course I want you to have a good time too," Mary added quickly, feeling as though she'd erred in a small way."

"Oh, we know you meant that," Jonathan smiled and gave her a hug. "Don't worry."

"Would you guys like a drink or something?" Liam asked, getting up. "Sorry I forgot to ask you that. We got sodas and water, and blood, of course, if you need it, Savannah."

"Actually, that wouldn't hurt," Savannah replied. "Thank you. I'll take a cupful of the last thing you offered."

"And that's my cue to head to the bathroom," Jonathan replied and stood up.

"I'll try to drink it fast!" Savannah called after him. "I wouldn't want you stuck in the bathroom forever."

"Thank you," Jonathan told her dryly before he shut the bathroom door.

"Poor man," Savannah said as Liam brought her a glass of blood with some ice in it. "Still squeamish after all these years."

"Is that blood?" Mary asked. "Really?"

"Don't tell me that you need to run to the bathroom too," Savannah said flatly. "I don't know if there's enough room for two people in there." She took a big drink and her face took on its vampire appearance.

"No, blood doesn't bother me," Mary shook her head. "I think it's fascinating."

"She's been trying to get me to bite her for ages," Liam told Savannah. "What do you think of that?"

"I think it's good you're adjusting," Savannah replied. "Not every magical person married to a vampire does." She put the cup on a coaster on the table and while they were talking, Jonathan called out, "Have you finished your blood yet, Savannah?"

"No," Savannah called back. "Maybe it would be better for you to go wait in the car."

"Or I might just zap myself home," Jonathan replied, swaying a little bit at the sight of the blood-filled cup. He gave Mary a kiss on her head, said a goodbye to Liam, and then disappeared.

"What a loveable guy that Jonathan," Savannah chuckled.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Liam asked, feeling a little sorry for the guy.

"Yeah, he'll be fine," Savannah reassured him. "Once he's in a quiet place with a book and a glass of brandy, he goes right back to normal."

"This is true," Mary agreed. "I've seen it happen lots of times."

"Well, that eases my mind," Liam smiled. Then, he looked at Savannah. "So, tell me more about what you're gonna do in New Orleans. I'm very interested to know."