"What do you mean something happened to Kristy?" Emily echoed. She wasn't sure what emotion she was supposed to be feeling in that moment and was trying not to let spite win out. Which is why she didn't say, And why does it concern me?

Matt pushed past her to enter the foyer, looking rather harried. "She took a break from the market to go for a swim, but after an hour and a half, she still hadn't come back and I started to get worried. I called her cell and a male voice answered and said – and I quote – 'Get Emily and call back'."

Emily's mouth hung open for several long moments as she digested this turn of events.

He extended his phone towards her and waited for some action on her part. When none ensued, he gestured more urgently. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Are you going to call or not?"

She really didn't seem to know what to say in response to that because, really, why did this concern her? "I, umm... I don't... I'm not..."

"Emily!" Clara snapped. "Help the poor man!" She punched Emily in the shoulder, which was significantly painful with all her rings.

Emily shot her a frosty glare. "Don't you have a coven meeting to get to?" she growled. When Clara scuttled off, Emily turned back to Matt. "I'd like to help, but I'm not sure how I..."

"Emily, a word?" Alex said quietly from the living room. When Emily joined her, she insisted, "I know it's quite uncomfortable to help your ex's husband, but it sounds like her life could be in the balance here. You can't just do nothing..."

She hated it when Alex was right...but she was. So, very reluctantly, she returned to the foyer and extended her hand for the phone. "This is Emily," she said by way of answering.

"Hello again, Emily..." a familiar voice greeted. "As I'm sure you've been informed, I have a friend of yours. And I'm sure you're quite eager to see her returned to her family safe and sound..."

"I don't see what this has to do with me," she said. She had enough law enforcement training to know she needed to keep the person talking.

"It has everything to do with you," he insisted. "My instructions are simple: I'll give you a set of coordinates. You'll travel there alone and tell no one where you're going. You won't involve law enforcement. Once you've arrived, I'll release Kristy Simmons."

Emily glanced from Matt to Alex and back. "And if I don't?"

"Then I kill her." And with that, he hung up.


Emily arrived at an abandoned warehouse and, not for the first time, wished she still had her CIA issued weapon and accompanying holy water doused silver bullets, capable of stopping everything short of a troll.

She pushed open a heavy iron door, screeching on rusty hinges, to enter a barren cavernous space, empty but for an old-fashioned claw foot bathtub, in which a barely conscious Kristy lay, blood dribbling from an open gash on her forehead. The bathtub was half filled with water, keeping Kristy between seal and human form, thereby preventing her from running away.

She crossed the room and checked Kristy's pulse, grateful to find it strong and steady. "Hey, Kristy, you've got to wake up," she urged in a whisper. "I don't know how much time we've got before..."

From behind her, the captor spoke, "Get her up."

Given that Kristy was still only semi-conscious, Emily struggled to help her climb out of the tub. The transition back to human wasn't happening as fast as either of them would have liked, webbed feet making the task all the more difficult.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled to Emily, a note of urgency in her voice as if she needed to get the words out as quickly as possible while she still had the chance.

"Don't apologize," Emily said with a faint smile that she hoped was more reassuring than it was ominous. "This isn't your fault." She helped her to stand, then covered her with her coat as she shivered, cold water dripping from her soaked sundress.

"Now, give her your keys and your phone."

She opened her mouth to protest, but Kristy shook her head in a silent plea not to argue with their captor. She'd seen what he was capable of... With a heavy sigh, Emily passed Kristy the requested objects, along with a silent urge to call for help as soon as she was safe.

"Now, leave," the voice commanded.

Kristy seemed uncertain, but Emily nodded once, reassuring her that it would be okay, though she had serious doubts it would be... Kristy squeezed her hand tightly, then half-limped, half-stumbled towards the door.

Once she was gone, Emily turned to stare down one James Blake. "I'd say it's nice to see you again," she said, "But that would be a lie. So, I'll just ask why I'm here." She did her best to stare him down without a flicker of fear in her gaze lest she unwittingly give him the upper hand by betraying her anxiety.

Instead of answering, he commanded, "Get in the bathtub."

She raised a brow. "Why?"

"Because things are going to get messy and I'd really prefer not to waste anything."

"What..." she started to question. But she didn't get to finish because, with one blow, he'd knocked her off her feet and sent her stumbling into the tub. "Fuck..." she hissed, pain coursing through her.

James towered over her, the lone bulb overhead casting a greasy yellow glow over him that threw his features into sharp relief. "If you insist on acting like a monster, I'll make you one."

She didn't have to ask what he'd meant by that. She didn't have the chance. He sliced open his forearm and pressed it to her lips, forcing her to drink from the oozing wound.

The effect was almost instantaneous.

Emily could feel her body struggling to fight the vampiric virus, working hard to try and counteract it, all the while knowing it was a losing battle.

She was becoming a monster.