Sienna coughed, struggling to take in the air she'd been denied. She felt undeniably light-headed, and her elbow was still screaming in pain, but she forced herself to focus on the onlooking trio with strength and conviction in her eyes.

Klaus' laughter subsided, and Rebekah's face twisted in concern. Elijah, stoic and unreadable, took a single step forward.

"What is your name?" he asked, his voice direct but kind.

"Sienna," she replied, and the Mikaelsons took her in. She was slightly more petite than Rebekah, with a wild, messy mane of long, curly orange-red hair. It framed her pale, freckled face and complemented sharply with her large honey-amber eyes. She squared her shoulders at them and stood straighter, trying to look bigger than she was. "Take your friend and go. You're not welcome here."

"Is that so?" Klaus replied, a mischievous smile playing at his lips. He inhaled deeply, taking in her remarkably sweet aroma. Her blood smelled divine, and yet she, too, smelled of lavender, mint, and honey. A heavenly mix of scents.

He stepped forward, ahead of his siblings. Sienna read his body language clearly and lifted the hem of her dress. She pulled a small hunting knife from a strap on her calf and held it tightly. Klaus chuckled, his excitement steadily increasing with each beat of her loud, pounding heart.

"You see, Sienna," Klaus taunted, her name delicious on his lips, "You may have bested my little brother, but I am an entirely different beast."

Her eyes narrowed. He wanted her to fight back – he was excited to fight. She looked back at his companions. They seemed much less amused.

"So, you all mean to harm me?" she asked, her question pointed at the onlooking duo.

Elijah and Rebekah shared a look, their expression soft, almost apologetic. "Sorry love," Rebekah sighed. "We're really hungry."

Sienna considered her words. "And I suppose stew isn't an acceptable alternative?" she asked. She had to try.

"Are you inviting us to dinner?" Klaus asked amused, now standing directly in front of her.

"I always prefer kindness to violence," she replied easily, "but I know that doesn't always work out."

Klaus' face fell. This was quickly becoming much less fun. "Afraid not, love," he replied coldly.

"Damn," Sienna sighed, her eyes flickering over all of Klaus' openings. Although he wasn't much older or larger than her other attacker, she could sense the power that radiated from him. He would be a far greater opponent, and she was starting at a disadvantage.

A frontal attack won't work – she could already tell. But waiting for him to make the first move could be deadly, too. Running obviously wasn't an option, either. She gripped the blade in her hand tightly, her mind flashing to Rory. She's been gone too long already. She couldn't die here. He still needed her.

Klaus took another step forward, now standing directly in front of her. He'd expected her to make a move before he got this close – but she seemed almost lost in thought. "May I ask a small favor?" she said, her voice quiet, meant only for Klaus.

He raised a brow, curious about her change in demeanor. "I will fight for my life with all I have, but if I lose… if you kill me…" she looked up at him with sincerity in her eyes. No fight, no fear, not even pleading, but rather with an earnest conviction. "Don't leave my body to be found. My little brother will find me, and he – well, he's been through enough."

Klaus paused before offering a short nod. Part of him didn't want to kill her anymore. But his throat burned for blood, his stomach empty and his body itching for it. He needed her – they all did.

He pushed her gently against the tree behind them, grabbing her chin. Her eyes met his, and for a moment, it felt as if time froze. He studied her young, beautiful face – the way her freckles danced heavily across her nose and cheeks, tapering to a soft scattering around her eyes. Small, subtle scars added another dusting of decoration to her exotic face. Long red lashes framed her golden orbs, eyes that swam with focus and resolve. He pushed a few of her stray ringlets from her face, admiring the orange hue glowing from the way the sun hit her. She looked like a sunset.

"You are beautiful," he told her.

She smiled, and it was a beautiful smile – somehow sincere and mischievous at the same time. White teeth framed by plump, pale pink lips. He even noticed the ever-so-slight misalignment of her top canines.

"Wait!" Rebekah hollered at him. "Ask for directions before you – "

Crack.

Her go-to move, Sienna took his distraction as opportunity and slammed her knee into his groin. Unlike his brother, he didn't fall, but he did waiver, giving her the opportunity to plunge her dormant dagger into his chest. He gasped, stunned, then… excited?

She cursed – she missed his heart. Still blocked against the tree, she grabbed his head and slammed it into her own. Their skulls collided with a resounding crack, which she immediately followed by tackling him to the ground. The whole thing happened so fast, the most fluid, unsuspecting, and savage combination of attacks. She fought like a man – like she had the size and mass of someone much larger than her. And while she was strong, and her hits committed, she was still a small human woman. Klaus grinned. It hurt, but it was so much fun.

For Sienna, the world was spinning – headbutting him was a really bad idea, and tackling him probably wasn't the smartest move, but she didn't exactly have a lot of options. Sienna grabbed the dagger in his chest and ripped it out quickly, raising it to slam into his chest again.

He caught her hand mid-air, a wild, excited look on his face. His nose was bleeding where she hit him, and his shirt was ripped and soaked in his own blood from the knife. His hair tussled around his sharply chiseled face, dark blue eyes wide and his smile wider. He looked absolutely wild.

And to him, she looked the same – wild. Her forehead bled where she'd headbutted him, her neck already bruising in the shape of Kol's hand, and her elbow bleeding to her dripping fingers. Her thick, fiery curls bounced in all directions, and housed sticks, leaves, and other forest-floor brush from her many falls. Her tan dress was covered in blotches of wet dirt, the bottom hem torn. Yes, she looked wild indeed, and she moved with the grace and power of an apex predator, like a lioness. Klaus liked her.

She didn't miss a beat as he restrained her hand, squeezing it so tightly that she dropped the knife. Mid-squeeze, she jabbed two fingers from her other hand into his eyes, pushing hard and fast until he threw her off seconds later.

She landed on the forest floor hard, sliding back several feet before coming to a stop. She looked up at her opponent, now bleeding from his eyes, but still smiling devilishly at her.

"Brother, perhaps we should – "

"No," he barked dismissively at Elijah. He was on top of her before she could even stand, holding both of her hands over her head with only one of his. He pinned her legs with his own – he'd seen what she could do with those when she took down Kol.

Sienna struggled against his grip. She could feel her wrists breaking slowly in his grip and fought the urge to scream. Looking at his face, she watched in a mixture of horror and amazement as his eyes – both of which she'd successfully crushed – regenerate and heal.

"I'm impressed," he told her, his vision clearing. He quite enjoyed watching her squirm under him, feeling her body – breasts rubbing against his torso, hips bucking against his – she was trying to throw him off but was only managing to turn him on.

His eyes darkened, the veins on his face contracting noticeably as his fangs sunk lower for his anticipated bite. She glared at him, not a trace of fear on her face. Then, in a last-ditch effort to rile him off, she turned her head and bit his arm – the only part of him she could reach – as hard as she could, drawing blood. She ignored the metallic taste in her mouth and ripped back and forth on his skin like an angry dog.

He laughed at the irony, barely noting the discomfort, and instead admiring her spirit to fight to the very end. With her head turned on his arm, he zeroed in on the vein in her neck, closing the distance between them.

"Sister!" a small voice cried in the distance. It was a child. "Sister, help! Father is back!"

Sienna immediately released Klaus' arm, his blood wet around her lips, her expression twisting in absolute horror as she looked in the direction of the child's voice. "Get off of me," she whispered, then louder, her voice cracking in panic. "Get off! Get off now!" she screamed, her struggling suddenly more erratic.

Klaus paused – he could almost taste her, and he was so hungry. But something fundamental had suddenly changed in her – she wasn't a warrior anymore, she was desperate.

"God damn it all, please!" she yelled, her scared eyes boring into his. "You can kill me later, okay? But right now, my little brother is facing a monster far worse than you. I have to help him." Tears filled the brims of her eyes, the gold in them glowing at him. "Please."

"No, Father, don't – !" the child's voice echoed in the distance, followed by a loud crash. "SISTER!"

Perhaps it was the familiarity of the situation.

Perhaps it was that he had been excited to drink her brave blood, and it was now tainted with newfound fear.

Perhaps he was curious – who could possibly scare her, if not him? Surely a woman this courageous has an interesting story.

Perhaps he held some level of respect for the only human who'd ever held their own in a direct fight with a vampire.

He couldn't be sure, but he found himself releasing her.

He wasn't even completely off of her before she scampered up, running towards the child's voice without looking back at them even once.

Elijah and Rebekah went to stand beside Klaus, watching her red hair disappear into the distance of the forest. "You're just going to let her go?" Rebekah asked, disbelievingly. "After all that?"

But Elijah was glad Klaus had let her go. He, too, felt the familiarity of the situation, and couldn't help but feel great respect for her strength and courage.

"The father would indeed be larger," Elijah remarked. "He would have more blood."

Klaus smiled cheekily at his brother, "Funny. I was thinking the same thing."