A/N: So, I've had this idea stuck in my head for months, and I had to get it out or it would drive me insane. Hopefully, this idea is enjoyable. The main character, eight-year-old Grace, is a triggered werewolf for reasons that will be explained as the story progresses. It will start off fairly close to canon and then start deviating as the story goes on.

Disclaimer: I don't own anybody or anything but Grace Sutton. I wish I did, but this is how my life turned out. :)

Now, I'm not sure how much time takes place between the first and second episodes of the third season, but here, it takes place in the same day. Anyway, please read, review, and enjoy! Thanks so much :D.

Update: The first time I published this, I made a bit of a continuity error when I established that Grace, as a werewolf, could bite vampires in their human forms because, at the time, I thought all werewolves could do that. I was wrong, as an incredibly helpful reviewer PM'ed me, and so I tweaked this chapter a tiny bit to drop some hints for a later reveal that Grace is not entirely a normal werewolf.

Anywho, read on! :)

Chapter 1: The Big Bad Wolf

The day I met Klaus Mikaelson was one of the worst and best days of my life. One of the worst because Stefan Salvatore murdered my father due to a botched hybrid experiment. One of the best because I now had Klaus in my corner, who against all odds, became someone I loved with everything in me.

I'd like to mention something good about him, but there wasn't much to say. Underneath all of his cruelty and darkness lay a shining heart of gold? Hardly. On the surface, he was an asshole, and deep down, he was still an asshole. But the thing about Klaus Mikaelson was that the more time you spent with that asshole, you learned to appreciate the traits you used to loathe. Not that you stopped loathing them. It was an odd dichotomy.

Klaus loved few, but he loved them with every inch of his dead, blackened heart. And that was the best thing about him. He made it damn near impossible to love him back, and yet irresistible. He sucked all the oxygen out of a room while simultaneously shining as the life of the party. When he didn't do something heinous towards you or yours, he was equally impossible not to like.

The problem was that, in all likelihood, he'd do something incredibly horrible and unforgivable to you within a month of knowing him and that was that. But damn his charisma. He could lead a lamb to the slaughter with a grin on his face, dimples displayed, and his victim would be none the wiser.

The day Klaus Mikaelson caused the death of my daddy and took me under his wing permanently changed the course of my life. For the better? I couldn't say. But he did it without regrets, as he did most things. And I learned to see who most others saw as an irredeemable monster as a friend. A mentor. A protector.

A father.

So, lean back, listen up, and let me tell you all about how I was adopted by the most dangerous and ruthless creature in the entire goddamn world, and learned to love him.

Southern Comfort, Tennessee - Late Summer 2010

My name's Grace Sutton. I'm eight years old and proud of it. My life hadn't been all that easy, but I was still livin' and breathin', and that was more of an achievement than any stupid school award.

Let me tell you something. I was real tough for a kid. Or at least it suited me to think so. But not many other eight-year-olds could say every month, they turned into a monstrous wolf and lived to tell the tale. But I could. One older boy told me that I was lying when I told him, and I tried to kick his teeth in. Daddy made us leave town after that, and made me promise never to mention my wolf heritage to anyone. That was a year ago.

My long, bright golden hair was plaited behind my back into two sloppy braids. Daddy didn't know much about girly things. Not since Mama left, anyhow. He didn't bother trying much. If it didn't have something to do with drinking or Paige's pack, he wasn't interested. But I loved my daddy and he loved me back, and that's all that mattered.

Every morning, I dressed myself and I had an excellent fashion sense. Or, so I thought at the time. Daddy let me wear whatever I pleased because it didn't bother him none, but sometimes he laughed a little behind his palm when he thought I wasn't looking.

Today, I had on my best summer dress, a canary yellow number that drifted down to my knees. The bartender, Red, told me I looked very mature, but I think he was secretly mocking me. I didn't like when people mocked me. I didn't like it at all. If Daddy hadn't been friends with the man, then I might've showed him just how much I disliked it.

Daddy was too focused on chatting away with said bartender halfway down the bar, and I tried my hardest not to glare at the grizzled fat man sitting near me, puffing away on a cigar as I nursed my glass of apple juice. He was blowing smoke in my direction on purpose, chuckling behind his coarse gray beard when it connected with my face.

"Sir," I chirped, remembering my manners. "Can you please stop blowing that smoke in my face?" He only chortled away, blowing a smoke ring at me. It broke into wisps once it met my freckled cheeks, and I bristled. "If you don't stop blowing that smoke in my face, I'll shove that cigar so far up your wrinkly old ass that it'll set your fuckin' mouth on fire." Paige's pack members taught me a whole number of choice phrases and insults. Then I remembered to add, "Have a nice day." Daddy told me to always be polite.

The old fat man's face flushed the color of a ripe plum and he choked on his cigar. "You little shit - you sound just like my ex-wife." Coming from him, I was fairly sure that was meant to be a grievous insult.

I gave him a pleasant smile. "I wonder why she left you," I remarked cheerfully before returning to my juice, sipping at it as he raged and spluttered besides me. That was a lie, though. I didn't have to wonder at all. I'd seen the man around the bar for months now, and I knew his wife left him because he was a cheating sack of shit, as one of the barmaids put it when she thought I wasn't listening. She also said that she was surprised he could "get it up" with all of his side-whores, considering how much he drank. I wasn't sure what all that meant. I asked Daddy one day, and he smacked me upside the head and told me never to say that again. I was still curious, though.

Just as the man was about to spew something vicious at me, my daddy appeared out of nowhere, standing carefully between us. Something hot and mean raged in his piercing blue eyes, the eyes he passed on to me. "Is there a problem here?" Daddy had a reputation here, so I wasn't so shocked when the man shuffled away with his tail between his legs, growling under his breath like a rabid dog. "Gracie, what'd you say this time?"

As he pressed a large hand down on my shoulder, I peered up at him innocently. "I didn't say nothin', Daddy. He got upset for nothin'." I was about to say that one of his whores must've left him along with his ex-wife, but I decided that wasn't what he wanted to hear.

He fixed me with a stern look. "What did I say about lying?"

I grinned sheepishly, shrugging my guilt away. "Not to do it?"

His hard exterior melted away and he laughed, tugging on one of my braids. He towed me along and lifted me onto a seat next to him, so he could "keep an eye on me." I thought that was a bunch of bullshit, another fun phrase I learned from Paige's pack, but I chose not to say that aloud. Still, I was happy to spend time with him.

That was when a handsome blond man entered the bar. He wasn't a regular, and he didn't look like he was from around here. There was something . . . sinister about him, a word I learned in one of my books the other day. He walked right up to Daddy, and I wrinkled my nose. "Ray? Ray Sutton?"

I didn't recognize his accent, but it assured me that he definitely wasn't from around here. "Who wants to know?" Daddy asked. This man wanted to know, obviously. Daddy was a little dumb sometimes, but I loved him anyway. Sometimes it was a bit frustrating, but he tried his best.

"I've been looking everywhere for you. We started in Florida, Pensacola. I met a young chap there who you used to work with nearly a decade ago before you moved to Memphis, and he directed me to two lovely young women. And they led me here, to you."

I tilted my head to the side, confused. Whoever this man was, he really wanted to see Daddy. I wasn't sure that was a good thing. The man noticed me for the first time, and his plump lips curled up into a smile that didn't quite reach his ocean-blue eyes. Eyes that missed nothing and knew the score. I noticed these things. "Hello, there. What's your name, sweetheart?"

Since he asked so nicely, I opened my mouth to answer, but Daddy grabbed my hand and shook his head. "Don't answer that. I think we'll be going," he informed the man, and I frowned at his rudeness.

Helping me off the stool, Daddy started to hurry to the door, but the blond man stopped us. "Not so fast, mate. You only just got here, now. Your type are very hard to come by."

Our type? Lifting me up into his strong, muscular arms, Daddy began to walk the other way, but another man stopped us. He had light brown hair that looked so soft and luscious I wanted to run my fingers through it. He was very handsome, and I blushed into Daddy's shoulder. "I wouldn't do that," he said, his expression strangely empty of any emotion. He shoved Daddy backwards into the bar counter, and I was dropped back onto my feet.

"Run," he whispered, and my heart began to pound in my chest like a hummingbird's wings. Before I could even think of fleeing, the first blond man clamped a hand down on my shoulder, sending shivers down my spine. "Vampires," he accused. "Let my daughter go."

The blond man only seemed to find that funny. "You're swifty swift, Ray! Yes! My friend here is a vampire. He compelled everybody in the bar so don't look to them for any help. I however, I'm something else, a different kind of monster. I've got some vampire, I've got some wolf." He crouched down in front of me then, completely ignoring my daddy. "And what about you, sweetheart? Will you show me more manners than your dear father, hm?"

I dragged my eyes from the blond man to the other, more aggressive one hovering near Daddy. "If you don't hurt my daddy," I said slowly and carefully, meeting his fearsome gaze once more, "then I'll say and do whatever you want."

His eyes lit up like brilliant blue stars. "You're smart!" I jutted out my chin, unable to help myself. "Stefan, she's smart!" The other man only grunted in acknowledgement. "Ray Sutton," he directed towards my daddy, "your daughter exceeds you."

"Don't hurt her," he growled, struggling against the other man's - Stefan's - firm grasp. "Please."

Rising to his feet and laying a lazy hand on my head, he replied, "Oh, I believe your young daughter and I have already struck a deal. Stefan, you handle Ray. Why don't you tell him all about how exciting hybrids are and all about my desire to create more? I think I would prefer to speak with lovely little . . . ?"

"Grace," I breathed. He beamed at my easy compliance, then reached down for my hand, leading me over to the nearest empty booth. Daddy shouted after us, and my thudding heart rose into my throat. As the blond led me away, I didn't see Stefan pull darts out of his pocket.

He sat down, and hesitantly, I crawled into the bench across from him. This was not how I imagined my day unfolding. "Well, little Miss Grace," he kept a smile glued to his lips, although I could see the darkness beneath, "I must say, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Even as a child, I hated small talk with a passion. "You said you're part wolf?" I asked, remembering his statement from before. "How can you only be part wolf? You're a wolf or you're not."

His intense, knowing eyes glimmered with interest. "And what do you know about wolves, little one?"

"I am a wolf," I replied, curling my legs beneath me, chewing on my lip.

He leaned back and clasped his hands together. "You mean you will be a wolf, when you awaken the gene," he countered, and I knitted my eyebrows together. He thought I was stupid, and that I didn't know what I was talking about. I was most certainly not stupid, and I did know what I was talking about.

"No," I drawled, as if he were stupid. His not-so-friendly smile melted away. "My daddy is a wolf, and I'm a wolf. You have to kill someone to aci - actv - acti -"

"Activate," he corrected softly, gesturing for me to continue with a flourish of his hand.

"You have to kill someone to activate the gene. I killed someone, and now I'm a werewolf. I think I would know," I finished dryly, watching his eyebrows raise to mingle with his hairline. He was surprised, very surprised.

"That's not possible."

Well, obviously it was. "I'm sittin' right here, ain't I?"

He released a long whistle. "Hmm . . ." He changed the subject after sporting a briefly contemplative look. "Who did you kill, anyhow?"

"My uncle." When he opened his mouth to likely continue questioning, I said sharply, "But I don't talk about that with strangers."

"My name is Klaus. There, we aren't strangers anymore!" Klaus grinned again, revealing two cute dimples on each side of his face. "You killed a family member. That's not something you get over easily." Was he speaking from experience? "How old were you?"

"Seven."

"Ah, pardon me - how old are you now?"

"I turned eight in March," I sighed. "It doesn't matter. Why are you here anyway, Klaus? What do you want with my daddy? He didn't do anything wrong. I would know. I've known him my entire life." I flashed him a cheeky smile, unable to help myself.

He chuckled, low and deep. It was a pleasant sound, I thought. He had a nice laugh. I wouldn't mind him laughing again. "Right you are, sweetheart. Well, let me tell you. I'm a hybrid, which is part vampire, part werewolf, but I'm the only one of my kind. I want to turn others to be like me. They have to be werewolves, and your father is the first one I've found in months. It was quite a hassle, really."

I sliced through his rambling words to the true meaning in seconds. "You're lonely," I concluded, tilting my head to one side. "You want to make others like you so you're not alone anymore."

Any traces of amusement disappeared into thin air. "That is none of your business, child," he all but growled - the sound a deep, rumbling noise from his chest.

"You came after my daddy," I said calmly, drumming my fingertips over the sticky tabletop. "You made it my business, grown-up."

Klaus clenched his jaw, gritting his teeth, which is something Daddy did when he was trying to restrain his temper. He watched me closely. "You're far too clever for your own good. Has anyone ever told you that?"

I smirked with all my eight-year-old charm. "Yes."

Klaus stared at me for a long moment, then burst out into laughter - a loud, contagious laughter that sounded much freer and wilder than before. "I like you, sweetheart. You should wear that as a badge of honor. I do not like many people, you know."

"I wish I could say the same," I snipped, merely for the sake of being a brat, but he only laughed again.

"You're a cute little thing, aren't you?"

I gave him a serene, smug little smile. "I know." Of course I knew, I used it to my advantage to get whatever I wanted. My daddy taught me most things in life, but my mama taught me how to manipulate.

"You transform every month," he mused, appraising me once more. "It's a truly agonizing process. I cannot imagine a little thing such as yourself would be able to handle it. Many adult werewolves cave under the consistency of such pain every month, yet you deal with it." I simply nodded. There wasn't much else I could do about it. I had to deal with it, or die. There was no other option, and I liked living. "How extraordinary."

I only shrugged. "It's what I haveta do." A familiar shout of pain sounded behind me, and I was out of the booth in a second. Daddy was chained to the bar wall, with a dart in his body, thrown by Stefan. "Daddy, no!" I barreled into Stefan's side, punching him as hard as I could in the stomach. It hurt me more than it hurt him, and I cradled my fist to my chest. "Leave him alone!" I shouted anyway.

Stefan hauled me up underneath my arms to his height, a bemused expression in place, and I used that opportunity to kick him in the chest. He grunted. "Klaus," he complained, "she's getting in the way of my interrogation."

Then a thought sprung to my mind; Daddy told me once about how werewolf venom was deadly to vampires. I'd never seen it in person, but there was only one way to find out. Heat traveled behind my eyes, and if I had a mirror in front of me, I knew my irises would be painted amber. "Leave him alone," I snarled, before reaching down and sinking my baby teeth into his wrist. He shouted out in a combination of surprise and pain, and dropped me.

Klaus caught me before I hit the floor, and Stefan clutched his wrist in agony. I smiled at his extreme reaction. I hoped he died. Breaking free of Klaus's loose hold, I ran straight for my daddy, gasping at his paleness. "She's a full-blooded, activated werewolf," Klaus remarked to Stefan's dismay. "That rather nasty-looking bite is fatal. Tough luck, mate."

I didn't notice at the time the way Klaus looked at me then, with poorly disguised shock and bewilderment that he played off for Stefan's sake - he didn't want to seem like he didn't know something, probably. Werewolves couldn't bite vampires in their human form; they could only activate their venom on the full moon. And I had no idea. I wouldn't know until the world came crashing around me a little while later.

I wasn't a normal werewolf.

A woman went to talk to Klaus, yammering on about someone named Damon, but I didn't care. I had to save my daddy, if it was the last thing I did. Gingerly, I yanked the dart out of his arm, and he groaned in a mixture of relief and discomfort. "I've got you, Daddy," I murmured as he slumped down into my waiting arms, my legs buckling under the newfound weight. Luckily, he adjusted himself, and wrapped his arms around me in a tight embrace.

"My brother still on our trail?" I heard Stefan ask behind me, his voice tight with hurt. I glanced over my shoulder as he checked his wrist over. Something was off, and I frowned. He didn't look like somebody preparing for death - instead, he looked inconvenienced at best.

"He's getting closer, I'm gonna have to deal with that," Klaus replied.

Stefan grabbed his arm, suddenly frantic. "No, no, no! Let me handle it!"

"Why should I let you leave?" he huffed in response.

"'Cause you know I'll come back. The little girl bit me." He held up his mangled appendage. "I need your blood, and you saved my brother's life; I'm in your service. Either way, I'll come back, Klaus."

Klaus seemed to accept that as an answer. "Ah, you sound so tedious and indentured. Aren't you even having the least bit of fun?" He gestured to Daddy with a wide grin, and I curled up my lip at him, baring my teeth. "I'll give you my blood once you deal with that pesky brother of yours."

"I'll make sure that my brother doesn't bother us anymore." Stefan walked off, leaving Klaus alone with us. Daddy shielded me protectively, his muscular arms acting as barriers between Klaus and I.

Klaus only chuckled. "Oh, Ray." He tossed my daddy to the side like he weighed nothing and lifted me back into his iron grip. "You think your fatherly bravado can stop me? I have a good idea. A great idea, really. You tell me where your pack is," his hand found its way around my neck, and a shiver ran up my spine, "or your daughter dies." His hand tightened.

I attempted to bite him too, but that only made Klaus laugh harder. "Oh, sweetheart, I'm a hybrid, remember? That won't work on me."

The hope faded from Daddy's fierce blue eyes and he nodded in defeat. I would've protested, but frankly, I wanted to live and I didn't care all that much about Paige's pack in comparison. It was kill or be killed, and I didn't plan on dying. Daddy told Klaus the location, and his grip relaxed around my throat. He set me back on my feet, smiling away. "Excellent."

Daddy placed his hands on my shoulders. "Gracie, I want you to go sit in the farthest booth and face the wall. Ask a waiter for a piece of paper, and draw somethin' nice for me. Can you do that for me? Do it for me, baby."

I wrinkled my nose, and shook my head. "No, I'm staying."

Steel flashed across his blue eyes and I knew I was in for it. "Sit in the farthest booth and face the wall, or the second we get home, I'll use my belt on you. Got it?" Scowling at the threat and flood of embarrassment, heat rising to my face, I turned away. "And don't listen, either. If I find out you listened then I'll do it every night this week before bedtime. Now go."

I knew Daddy was only saying that for my safety and well-being, but still, I didn't appreciate it too much. Klaus watched me go with an arched eyebrow, and loosed a mocking chuckle. "I didn't know you had it in you, Ray. How harsh of you."

"Shut up."

"You're a real man, Ray."

I screwed up my face in anger as Klaus continued to tease him mercilessly, wanting to punch him in the throat until he couldn't breathe. I reached the farthest booth, and felt like setting it on fire for good measure. The problem was, I didn't have any matches. Maybe I could ask the old fat man for a lighter. I was about to look around for him, when I remembered Daddy's threat, grinding my teeth together.

The bar didn't have any paper or pencils hanging around, so much for drawing a picture. Reading and drawing were my two favorite pastimes, and I didn't have means for either.

I sat still for as long as I dared, staring hard at the back wall, only for my self-preservation. Daddy was southern through and through, and he knew how to smack like his life depended on it. Especially factoring in how often I found myself in trouble and my advanced werewolf healing. Still, it sounded like Klaus was hurting him, and it took everything in me to tune them out.

Furiously, I swung my legs back and forth, reveling in the obnoxious sound my heels made as they connected with the wood of the bench. I wanted to break something. No, I wanted to break everything, and then some.

I wrenched napkin after napkin from the dispenser, then banged it onto the tabletop, connecting it with the wood over and over until it dented and collapsed in on itself. When that became boring, I tossed it to the side, and shattered both the salt and pepper shakers into a million pieces, the white and brown powder spreading across the surface.

A pair of hands shot out of nowhere, pinning my wrists together. Klaus's menacing mug hovered over me. "Stop it. You're making a scene, and it's irksome. You're lucky all of the patrons are compelled to ignore any ruckus." I stuck out my tongue at him, and his eyes flashed amber. "That's it." He tossed me over his shoulder in one fluid motion, and the breath escaped my lungs as my stomach pressed against his shoulder. "You can come down when you stop acting like you were born in a barn."

I slammed my fists into his back repeatedly, but he didn't even flinch. Stefan was back, and drinking something from a bottle that made the wound on his wrist heal - Klaus's blood, if I remembered right.

But that wasn't what mattered. A body was twisted across the pool table, and he looked suspiciously like - "Daddy!"

It took a long time for Klaus to reassure me that my daddy was only temporarily dead, and he would awaken as a hybrid who was no longer tied to the moon. He'd be stronger, faster, better. Of course, I asked him if I could be a hybrid too, since that sounded like a good deal, but he only laughed and told me I was too young.

I called him a liar, and he smacked me upside the head hard enough for me to almost fall forward into the dirt. That was where we were, a huge mound of dirt that some affectionately called a mountain. Stefan snapped at him for hitting me, even though I almost killed him, which was nice enough.

Stefan was carrying my currently dead daddy across his shoulder, and I yelled at him every time his head clipped against a tree branch. This might have been the weirdest situation I had ever been a part of.

"You okay?" Klaus asked Stefan, a smirk playing at his lips. "Is Ray getting heavy?" I gnawed on my lip hard, so I wouldn't say something that would make Klaus hit me again. My daddy's dead body wasn't something to laugh over, and if I could push Klaus off the nearest cliff, I would. Another dead body wouldn't make much of a difference, right?

"I'm fine," Stefan bit back as I stomped between the two of them dramatically. Ever so occasionally, when I tripped over a tree root or an ant hill, he'd readjust me by the shoulders. I'd be nice to him a full sixty seconds before shouting at him for mishandling my dead daddy again.

"You sure about that? You know, we've been walking for quite some time now. If you need some water or a little sit-down . . ." I rolled my eyes to the cloudless blue sky.

"You know, I get that we're, uh . . . we're stuck together, but if we could maybe just skip the chitchat, it'd be great."

"That means shut up, Klaus," I grumbled for Stefan's sake, since currently, I liked him a little better than Klaus. Klaus shot me a nasty glower, and stuck out the tip of his foot to trip me. I face-planted into the dirt, groaning. The pain was immediate and fiery.

"Whoops, sorry, sweetheart - that was an accident," he apologized, snickering. I spat out a mouthful of soil, and Stefan glared daggers at Klaus.

"She's, like, six," he complained. "You can't do that. That's not okay. I have her father's dead body draped over my shoulders, you don't need to torture her." Kneeling to the ground, he nudged up my chin to look me in the face, as unshed tears swam in my eyes. "Are you all right, kiddo?"

"She's eight, Stefan, haven't you been paying attention?" Klaus was still amused - at least until the first tear trickled down my face. I hastily wiped it away, burying my face in the crook of my elbow. "Lighten up, sweetheart, it was a joke." I didn't budge an inch, and he breathed a sharp sigh. "Oh, bother . . ." He jerked me up by my elbow, helping me to my feet, and I ripped my arm free as the tears continued to stain my cheeks. It wasn't the fact that he tripped me - well, it was, but I didn't know if my daddy would come back to life and if he did, how he would be. What if he hurt me what if he wanted to hurt me what if he hated me what if he left me what if what if what if what if -

My eight-year-old pride eating away at me, I hid my face away in my hands. I shrieked as arms scooped me up and I was lifted up, air whooshing around me. When my butt connected with hard muscle, I peeled open my eyes - Klaus had placed me on his shoulders. His mane of dark blond hair tickled my bare legs. "Better, sweetheart?"

Giggling, I flicked him on the skull as hard as I could. "Better!" He chuckled loudly himself, and the vibrations shook my entire body. Even Stefan cracked a smile. Clinging onto his head to balance myself, I found myself much more content than before. The two men continued walking, and I watched happily from my high perch.

My smile melted away once we stumbled upon Paige's pack. Stefan stepped in first, setting Daddy gently on the ground, probably for fear of my shrill voice attacking his ears again.

"Ray!" a woman, Paige herself, yelled. "Oh my God. What's going on? Who are you?"

Klaus strolled in after, his hands firmly locked onto my knees in what was probably a combination of keeping me steady and a threat to the pack. "The important question is who am I. Please forgive the intrusion. My name is Klaus."

Paige's eyes widened to the size of moons. "You're the hybrid." Then, her eyes wandered up to me and she gasped. "Grace? Oh my God, has he hurt you, Gracie?"

Klaus, ignoring the second part of her statement, smiled as wide as the Cheshire Cat. "You've heard of me, fantastic. Oh, and I haven't hurt her. But that could very well change at the drop of a hat, so . . . I would listen to me."

After Klaus sat down with Stefan, he positioned me onto his lap with a lazy hand on my skinny shoulder, ready to lop my head off if the pack made one wrong move. They all cared about me enough to stand still as statues, all eyes pinned to me. I stared down at Klaus's denim-covered knees, waiting for my daddy to wake up.

"It's fascinating, actually . . . ," Klaus remarked. "A werewolf who isn't beholden to the moon, a vampire who doesn't burn in the sun. A true hybrid."

Daddy awoke with a gasp, his chest jolting upward, and I was off Klaus's lap in a fraction of a second. "Daddy!" I skidded to his side, ignoring the sting that arose in my knees as they scraped against the dirt. I pounced on him, winding my arms around him, but he shoved me off. Hurt blossomed inside my chest as I collapsed onto my back with a soft thud.

"Excellent timing, Ray," Klaus boomed from somewhere behind me. "Very dramatic."

"What's happening to me?" Daddy demanded, and I fumbled for his hand. He didn't push me away this time. I tucked myself under his arm and squeezed him as if my life depended on it. Finally, his arm snaked around me, too. He needed me as much as I needed him. I hadn't seen him so upset since I killed my uncle Luke, and Mama hurt me back.

I ignored the conversation between Klaus, Stefan, and the others, too focused on the fact that my daddy was alive - he was warm, breathing, here. I buried my face in his shirt, breathing in his familiar scent, relieved beyond words. Daddy was here, and I was safe now. He would protect me.

A man collapsed onto the ground in front of us, his forearm oozing crimson. Derek, Paige's boyfriend. He sometimes sang to me and taught me a few chords on his guitar. I clutched onto Daddy's shirt, half-searching for assurance and half-attempting to shield him from the gruesome sight. "If you don't drink it, Ray, I will," Stefan warned. "Problem is, I don't know how to stop."

"Drink, Daddy, you'll feel better," I murmured up to him, and his deep blue eyes searched me closely. "You'll be a hybrid. You won't turn into a wolf no more, not if you don't wanta."

While Klaus manhandled Paige, Daddy dove for the arm, sinking his new fangs into the wound and suckling from it like a baby from a teat. I observed in quiet curiosity. If it would make him better, then I had no problems.

Klaus murdered Paige, and she dropped like a sack of bricks. "Okay, who's next?" he growled, his eyes glimmering amber and his fangs poking out from his gums.

Daddy covered my eyes with one sweaty, clammy palm as Klaus and Stefan killed everybody one by one. But I still heard them all, screaming until the end. At least they would come back to life stronger. Daddy was trembling against me, and I realized the tight embrace he'd pulled me into was as much for me as it was for him. "They're dead. They're all dead," he moaned into the crown of my head, his hot breath tickling my hair.

"Ah, he's through his transition. He should be feeling better soon." That was Klaus, somewhere across the campsite. Relief poured into me, deep into my very bones. As long as Daddy would be okay, then so would I.

"You're gonna be okay," I whispered into his shirt and his breath hitched.

"I hope so," he whispered back.

"So this is your master plan?" Stefan asked. "Build an army of hybrid slaves?"

My forehead creased at the thought of it. Slave? I wanted Daddy to be better than he was, not a slave. "No, not slaves," Klaus assured. "Soldiers, comrades." That was better than slaves, I supposed.

"For what war, might I ask?"

"Oh, you don't arm yourself after war has been declared, Stefan. You build your army so big that no one dares pick a fight." Daddy must've heard them as well as I did, because his breathing grew strained and ragged. Or at least that's what I thought, but I'd never been so wrong. He was hurting, and I had no idea.

"What makes you so sure that they'll be loyal?" Stefan pointed out. He didn't know my daddy, he didn't know how loyal he was. My daddy would die for me in a heartbeat. He wouldn't even blink an eye. He told me so himself.

"Well, it's not difficult to be loyal when you're on the winning team. That's something you'll learn once you shake that horribly depressive chip off your shoulder."

Stefan laughed, but I didn't see what was so funny about it. Tremors shook through Daddy's entire body, and I was starting to worry again. It couldn't be that he was scared of them - Daddy wasn't scared of anything or anybody.

Something dripped onto the top of my head, and I pulled away, frowning. I didn't get to hear Stefan's reply as I choked on my own spit. Small trails of blood were trickling from Daddy's eyes. No, no, no - Klaus said he'd be better! Why wasn't he better?! "Daddy?" I whispered hoarsely, but it was as if he couldn't hear me. He was hurting. I grabbed his arm and shook him. "Daddy, I'm scared," I whimpered as blood continued to leak like a loose faucet from his eyes.

Klaus sat next to the both of us, and looked over Daddy's face. My heart thudded so fast in my chest I thought it might explode. It was like a jackhammer. "Klaus," I tugged on his black T-shirt, and he glanced down at me. "What's happening to him?"

He pursed his plump, pink lips. "Something's wrong." Terrified, I frantically brushed away the blood on Daddy's face, the red liquid smearing all over my palms. If I could wipe it away, then maybe it would be okay. If it stopped, then maybe it didn't exist in the first place.

"That shouldn't be happening, should it?" Stefan asked somewhere behind us. He sounded like he couldn't care in the slightest, and I wanted to punch his eyeballs into his skull.

"Well, obviously," Klaus snapped back. Tears swam across my vision and I sniffled pathetically, causing Klaus to give me a long, unreadable look. I leaned into Daddy once more, and squeezed my eyes shut, pretending that none of this was happening. He was shaking like a leaf in a hurricane.

"You said it was gonna feel better," he groaned, and I clutched onto him tighter. "Why doesn't it feel better?" I couldn't hold them back any more and tears spilled down my cheeks. He had to be okay. He had to. He was all I had, and I was all he had.

"Some master race," Stefan quipped, and I was seconds away from biting him again, but this time, I wanted him to die.

"Lose the attitude," Klaus growled back as I fought the sobs racking my skinny form.

Paige woke up, gasping like Daddy had, and Klaus called to the only human of the pack, "Derek, come feed your girlfriend." He obeyed the short command easily.

Daddy snarled against me, and pushed me off him - hard. I was thrown backwards, my head smacking against the nearest rock, and pain shot like a bullet through my skull. Black spots danced before my eyes and he left me there. He left me bleeding into the dirt as I sobbed, terrified for my life.

"Go get him," Klaus ordered Stefan and kneeled down over me, pressing his hand against my temple, removing it only for blood to be caking his fingers. Commotion sounded all around me, but I couldn't see it. Klaus looked to be deep in thought and he tutted. "Oh, that looks bad, sweetheart. I would give you my blood, but on the off chance you're killed somehow, child vampires are quite unfortunate creatures - you'll heal quickly on your own." He lifted me back onto the rock, and everything spun around me. He tucked a lock of hair behind my ear as I sniffled, and I found myself leaning into his touch.

Stefan appeared back into my faulty vision - without my daddy. My throat closed up. "Where did he go?" Klaus demanded, speaking for me. I would've echoed him but I didn't think I was capable of talking.

Stefan peered down at me for a quick second before saying, "He, uh . . . got away. Forget him. Let's go." Panic swelled up in my chest like a balloon and I reached for Klaus's hand, tugging on it, whimpering and shaking my head for the lack of an ability to verbally protest.

"I agree with the spontaneously mute little girl," Klaus said, then caught a glance of Stefan's arm. I almost gasped; my daddy bit him. Damn it, he beat me to it. "We must find him. A fatal werewolf bite. Ouch. Two in one afternoon. Double ouch. It's just not your day, mate."

"Yeah," Stefan grumbled. "I'm gonna need your blood to heal me."

"Well, I tell you what. You find Ray, and then I'll heal you." A slow smile spread across my face and Klaus noticed, patting me on the head and chuckling lightly.

"Can't be serious."

"You better hurry, because that bite looks nasty." Klaus and I moved back into the campsite, and this time, I did gasp. Everyone was awake, and blood was dripping down all of their faces. This had gone horribly, horribly wrong . . .

The sun slowly set below the horizon, orange and pink streaming across the sky like broad paint strokes, until night finally settled. The entire time I'd sat on the rock, petrified, waiting for my daddy to come home safe. Klaus hadn't been much help. In fact, he'd just finished killing the only human in the campsite. He'd suggested I look away, but I watched the light leave his eyes as Klaus tore into his throat, numb to it all.

Paige stepped in front of him, heartbroken that her boyfriend was now a bloody corpse on the dirt. "Careful, love. There's only one Alpha here." And to think, it had been my daddy until today. No more.

Everyone stumbled around the camp, their eyes still bleeding without fail. I knew in my heart that they were going to die, and that terrified me. If they died, then how was Daddy any different? He had to be. He had to be different.

But his eyes were bleeding, too . . .

"Bloody hell," Klaus murmured.

He killed most of them. Some died on their own, their blood emptying out into the dirt. He made me close my eyes, but I heard it all, only able to hope beyond hope that my daddy would make it home.

My heart stopped as Stefan walked into the campsite.

". . . D-Daddy?" His limp form rested on Stefan's shoulders, unmoving. He came home all right, but not the way I wanted. The noise that erupted from my throat was not human. Stefan's green eyes widened at the sight of me, and his lips parted open, wordless. My hands began to tremble, and tears welled up in my eyes. No, no, no, please, no, Daddy, don't leave me . . .

I hadn't realized that I said that all out loud until Stefan averted his eyes, unable to look at me. He was dead - again. But this time, I knew, I just knew that he wasn't coming back.

I collapsed into a fit of sobs and pleas, pounding my little fists against the dirt and piles of moss before me. He was dead, he was dead, dead, dead -

Daddy was dead, and now I had nobody.

There was a series of strangled shrieks echoing through the campsite, and with a start, I realized it was coming from me. I beat my fists against the earth until blood trickled down my pale fingers, and kept beating them for good measure.

A hand reached forward and pinned my wrists together, and I was lifted up by a pair of arms. Distantly, I realized it was Klaus, but my head was too muddled to truly connect the dots. I continued to wail at the top of my lungs, punching and kicking and biting and spitting with everything in me. He did not let go.

"I hate you!" I shrieked, clawing at his face, watching the jagged marks heal before my very eyes in dismay. "I hate you, you killed my daddy, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!" It didn't sound too tough through my sobs, but I meant it. I wished he had never walked through the Southern Comfort that afternoon. If he hadn't, my daddy would still be alive.

Soon enough, all the fight seeped from my bones, and I lowered my head on Klaus's shoulder, feeling as empty as a bottomless chasm. "I did everything I was told," he hissed, his voice trembling, as if he was fighting the urge to scream. "I should be able to turn them. I broke the curse. I killed a werewolf. I killed a vampire. I killed the doppelgänger."

I killed, I killed, I killed . . . He sounded like a broken record to my ears. But I didn't care anymore. I didn't care about anything. How could I? The only person in my world I loved, the person I loved more than life itself, was dead and I was alone.

Soon enough, Klaus would probably leave me with the dead werewolves to die myself, and that would be that. And I'd let him. In fact, I hoped he did. Not hoped, really. I didn't have any hope left. But I wanted him to. I had no reason to live anymore. I'd be better off dead.

"You look like hell." The vibrations of his voice sent tremors through my entire body, but I didn't budge an inch.

Stefan was staring at me, I could tell - his intent gaze burned holes into my vulnerable back, but I didn't bother to turn around, content with hiding my face in Klaus's shoulder. They were both responsible for killing my daddy.

"Last I checked, I'm dying . . . and you don't want to heal me." There was a long pause before he continued, "I had to take him out." I sucked in a harsh breath once I realized who he was talking about. "I didn't have a choice. I failed you. I'm sorry. Do what you have to do."

A new wave of energy flooding through me, I glared daggers at Stefan, trying to convey every ounce of my hatred through one look. "There's always a choice. You chose wrong."

There was a long stretch of silence. Stefan could only meet my heated gaze for so long before looking away. Klaus reached for an empty bottle of beer, and drained his blood into it after biting into his hand, then gave it to Stefan. "Bottoms up. We're leaving. It appears you're the only comrade I have left." He shifted his full attention to me. "Do you have a mother I can drop you off with, sweetheart?" Frowning, I shook my head, and he sighed. "Grandparents?" Another head shake. "Uncles, aunts?"

"I killed my only uncle," I said darkly, and he nodded in remembrance, beginning to leave the campsite with me still tucked safely in his arms. "Where are you taking me?"

"You have nobody left," he pointed out, eyeing me thoughtfully. "Considering we are responsible for the death of your only remaining family member, bringing you along is the least I could do." Stefan's head snapped up in surprise and I scowled so hard my face was like to fall right off. "Hmm, yes. I suppose I have room for another comrade - albeit a much tinier one."

Wait, he was taking me with him? "I don't want to go anywhere with you." I inserted venom into every syllable until my voice was dripping with pure hate.

His ocean-blue eyes darkened a considerable amount. "Too bad, sweetheart, you don't have a say in the matter. You have nobody left. I understand the feeling. You're coming with me."

That was the day that I lost a daddy, but gained a narcissistic, murderous, thousand-year old hybrid who claimed me to be his.

And there was nobody to stop him. But after a while, I wouldn't want them to. I was his, but he was also mine.

A/N: So, what'd you guys think? Like it, love it, hate it? Let me know, I adore feedback! :D