Sunlight filtered in through the gap in my curtains. I stretched out, groaning softly. I felt deliciously warm and comfortable. I rolled over, trying to hide from the intrusive light. Something crackled underneath me and my hand came into contact with something cold and out of place amongst the soft blankets I could feel around me.

I opened my eyes slowly. I was in bed. My blankets were strewn haphazardly around me and there was crumpled plastic on the bed. I sat up slowly, confused. My pyjamas, once white, were now speckled red and the cuffs of my sleeves were stiff with dried blood. I got to my feet and moved to the mirror. My bare skin was stained rusty brown, there wasn't an uncovered part of me that had escaped. I turned and looked at the bed, taking it in fully. The pillow was soaked with blood and I now saw that the plastic was torn open blood bags.

My breathing hitched. Shit. What did I do?

I closed my eyes and took a moment to clear my head. I couldn't let anyone find out about this. I had to get rid of the evidence. I stripped the bed and piled the bedding in the corner of the room. I discarded my dirty pyjamas in the pile before heading through to the bathroom. I turned on the shower, switching it to the hottest setting before getting in. The water burned my skin but I didn't care. I stood perfectly still, arms hanging stiffly at my sides as the water cut through the coating of blood on my skin, sending tiny pink rivulets running down to pool around my feet.

I closed my eyes. What had happened last night? I couldn't really remember. I mean, it was a fairly easy guess based on the evidence but why…? I felt like I was losing control of my body all over again and I hated it.

There was a loud knock at my bedroom door. I wrapped a towel around myself and went over, opening it a crack and peeking out. Thierry was stood there and he raised an eyebrow as he saw me.

"Bad time?"

"I was just taking a shower. What's up?"

"Marcel wants to see everyone downstairs."

"Okay. Give me five minutes to get dressed?" He nodded and turned to go. He paused in the doorway and sniffed. "Have you hurt yourself?"

"No. Why?"

"I just… never mind." He left. I disappeared back into my room and quickly pulled on some clean clothes. My eyes rested on the bundle of dirty sheets and pyjamas. He'd smelt it. I needed to get rid of them as soon as possible.

I shoved them into the back of my wardrobe and headed downstairs. Everyone was gathered, looking confused. Marcel waited until everyone was there before speaking.

"We are a community. And this community only works as long as we are honest with one another." His eyes swept the group. "We share what we have and look out for one another. But it appears that someone has decided that their own needs are more important than the needs of the group."

I bit my lip. He held up an empty blood bag, shredded almost beyond recognition.

"Blood bags are scarce. They are difficult to acquire without being noticed. This is why we hunt. These are for emergencies only. Yet someone has not only ravaged our supply, they also broke my number one rule."

A whisper passed through the crowd. I frowned.

"Last night one of our number was killed. We will not rest until the perpetrator is found and punished."

I felt the colour drain from my cheeks. Had I killed someone? I had been chewing my bottom lip to shreds and I prayed no one would notice.

"If the culprit comes forward, the punishment will still be severe but it will be lessened than if I have to seek them out myself." He eyed us all. "You are dismissed."

Everyone slipped away, clearly on edge. I hesitated. I wasn't sure what to do. If I told him, Marcel probably wouldn't believe me and it would lead to questions I didn't want to answer (and that I didn't really know the answers to). But if I said nothing and he found out… I didn't want to think about what his punishment might be.

I went up to my room and crammed all evidence of my nocturnal activities into a bag. I resolved to get rid of it today before anyone could find it. I just hoped that no one would stop me on my way out.

I took the bag and headed back downstairs, keeping my eye out for any sign of Marcel or Thierry.

Fortunately, I made it outside without incident. I headed a few streets over and went to dump the bag in a bin. I paused as I considered what I was doing. A bin wouldn't be a good idea… Someone could easily find it.

I redirected myself to the river and found a spot that was quiet. I threw the bag in and watched as it sank from view, breathing a sigh of relief. I would have to be careful not to have a repeat performance.

As I looked out at the water, I felt a peculiar sense of being watched. I turned my head slightly and saw Kol stood a few feet back, watching me.

"Go away Kol."

"No." He came over. "What were you doing?"

"None of your business. Go away."

"Elena, I'm not going anywhere. I'm not going to lose you again."

"You didn't lose me. You abandoned me. Now, if you don't leave, I'm going to stake you."

"With what? You got a pencil hidden in your sleeve?"

"Okay maybe I can't stake you but I'm sure I can find another way to make you suffer." I paused, something occurring as I watched him. "That was you I saw last night. Outside my building?"

"You mean Marcel's building. I was surprised that you went straight for another group of vampires since you seemed so adamantly against them last night."

"I wasn't against vampires Kol. Just you and your family. Marcel is the less of the evils on offer. And things were perfectly pleasant there until you decided to stake one of Marcel's guys and put everyone on high alert."

"I can't take credit for that. And come on Elena, you can't be happy here. Just come with me and we'll make sure you're taken care of."

I walked over to him until there was only an inch between us. I looked up into his eyes and took his hand in mine.

"Kol, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I am not as helpless as you like to pretend that I am. Or as you actually are." He scoffed.

"Helpless? Me?"

"Yes." I pulled off his daylight ring and stepped back. "At least I can take a little sunlight."

He looked down at his hand, realising what I'd done a second before his skin started to smoulder. He sped off to safety. I put the ring in my pocket, confident that I'd least managed to stop him stalking me until sunset.

I left the river and went to Rousseau's to find Sophie. The blonde bartender was there and she looked up as I entered.

"Good morning."

"Morning. Is Sophie in?"

"No, she has the day off. But she did say that you might stop by and left a message for you." She handed me an envelope and I perched at the bar to read it. "I'm Cami by the way, I don't think I introduced myself."

"I'm Elena. It's nice to officially meet you." I opened the envelope and quickly scanned through the note inside. It asked me to meet Sophie in two days' time in the Witches Alley. I tucked the letter away, wondering what to do with the rest of my day. I didn't want to go back to the compound in case Marcel turned his attention to me and even though I'd taken Kol's ring, I was worried he might still be lurking somewhere.

"Are you alright? You look a little out of sorts."

"Just… drama."

"Want to talk about it? Bartenders make good listeners. Especially ones who are studying psychology." I considered for a moment. It would be nice to get an outsider's perspective on things.

"Promise not to judge?"

"I promise."

"Okay. I was… involved with these guys. I knew they were bad news but I was kind of stuck with them for a long time. And I began to care about them. And then they just… abandoned me."

"Let me guess, that guy last night was one of them?"

"Yeah."

"And now you're conflicted about how to feel?"

"A little. I've been trying to stop myself caring just to make it easier. But I don't think it's working. It's easier to act like I don't care but every time I say anything to him, I just… I feel terrible after."

"It's not a bad thing to care Elena. Humans are social creatures, they need to make connections. If you try and isolate yourself from everyone, you'll just end up hurting yourself even more by being alone."

"I know that. But can't I just make new connections and find a way to block out everything to do with those particular people?"

"Unfortunately the human mind doesn't work like that. I'm sure the feelings will fade with time but they'll always linger. You just need to find a way to resolve things with him in a healthy way. Between you and me, I think he needs to do the same. It didn't look like he was over you."

"That's just part of the games they play. That one especially. They like to pretend that they care and that you're changing them into better people but really it's just a cruel trick to see how far they can make you fall."

"Hmm. I'm not so sure that's true. No one's that good an actor. And if he was trying to trick you he didn't need to come in here and drown his sorrows day after day. He only had to do it when he knew you were around to witness it."

"Maybe he just enjoys getting drunk."

"My professional opinion?"

"Professional as a bartender or a psychologist?"

"Psychologist. You need to forgive. I don't mean him, I mean yourself. You're clearly carrying a lot of anger, not just directed at them for wronging at you but at yourself for, in your mind, letting it happen. You said that you knew they were bad news but you let yourself develop feelings for them anyway. That sounds like you're blaming yourself for it."

"I guess… I mean, I did feel like I should have known better."

"Exactly. But it's not your fault. And you won't be able to even begin to move on with your life until you learn to accept that you have no control over other people and forgive any negativity you feel towards yourself."

"Hmm. And what does bartender you say?"

"Screw him, get drunk."

"Nice advice but I can't. I'm only eighteen."

"Well then I guess you're stuck listening to psychologist me." I sighed and considered what she'd said. It made sense. I'd not really thought about it before but I suppose I did feel angry at myself for letting this happen. But I'd not had a choice in the matter. I'd had the siblings forced into my head and had them manipulating my emotions.

"Thanks Cami. Is there a fee for the psychiatrist session?" She laughed.

"First one is on the house. I hope it helped."

I spent most of the day wandering before eventually dragging myself back to the compound. I was hesitant in case Marcel's suspicions had turned to me but when I went inside, everyone seemed calm. I still couldn't believe that I'd been responsible for killing someone (then again, I still couldn't remember the night before clearly) so maybe someone else had actually done it? And maybe Marcel had caught them? I didn't want to ask and provoke any questions.

I went up to my room and remade the bed with clean sheets. I perched on the bed, trying to work out a plan to ensure I didn't take any more night time walks. I tried to fashion some crude imitation ropes from my sheets but it quickly became obvious that they weren't going to hold. I wondered if Marcel had any rope lying around… but how to as without looking insane?

Well there was no way to do that.

I settled for doubling up the imitation ropes for that night and looking for some actual restraints the next day. When night fell, I made sure the room was secure so that I didn't get a visit from Kol and then carefully tied my ankles to the bedframe. Not the best thought out plan or the most efficient but it would do for the time being at least. I was getting a little annoyed that my supposed safe haven was giving me so many issues. At least in the bayou, Kol wouldn't have found me. And there were no blood bags for me to ravage.

Then again, maybe if I'd stayed in the bayou I'd have just walked to the nearest source of blood which could have been anywhere.

I slept fitfully that night, waking up whenever I turned over too quickly and the rope sheets dug into my ankles. When I eventually managed to fall into a deeper sleep, I was woken by a knock at the door. I tried to climb out of bed but forgot about my legs and fell to the floor.

"Ow!"

"Are you alright?" Marcel stuck his head around the door. "Elena… why are you tied to the bed?"

"umm… I've been sleep walking… I was trying to stop it."

"Okay… you have a visitor. I'll send them up…?"

"Thanks." He left and I quickly picked the knots around my ankles. There came another, lighter knock at the door which I assumed was my visitor. I wasn't sure who would be coming to see me. Clearly whoever it was wasn't a threat in Marcel's eyes or he'd never have let them in. It was daylight so it couldn't be Kol. Unless he'd got a new ring that quickly which didn't seem likely given the relationship between witches and vampires and the ban on magic in the quarter. But thinking about the witches, could it be one of them maybe? They probably knew where I was. Although I wasn't entirely sure that they'd brave Marcel's compound full of vampires just to talk to me.

"Come in?" I called out, hesitantly.

A/N: DUN DUN DUH! I'm so mean. Nighttime writing me likes cliffhangers.