It's so late at night some might call it morning, the sun a distant glow humming just over the horizon of the far-off trees. She ain't in Paris anymore, that's for sure; no sparkling city lights to dazzle and distract from the bitter conditions of her small life, trammeled in by the men who once called her daughter and then by the Coven who's participants made her their Baby Lu, their little birdie, their caged animal.

Claudia stands on the doorstep of a stranger and for once she isn't sure if she's going to rip their throat out or offer them the sweetest side of her, so lonely is she, driven to the very edges of the world as she outruns the hot pursuit of the vampires who would most like to see her turn to ashes under the sun she's currently so desperately trying to escape.

So she inhales slowly, gathering her wits about her, trying to remember all the tips and tricks her charges once taught her about the mysteries of manipulation. Knock, knock, knock.

The door slides open. Claudia smiles, predatorial but sweet. Too smart for the age she appears to be. "I'm sorry to bother you at this hour," she says, hands folded politely in front of her. "But I've been traveling all day, and all night. Need a place to shelter, for the time being. If you might be so kind."