"I told you before there are no absolutes," Blaine replied. "Are you rethinking this whole thing?"

He hesitated, "I want to at least try and get her back. I've put it off for too long already and the more I think about it, the more I feel guilty for leaving her with him when I was lucky enough to be found by you. I could be in her position at this exact moment if it weren't for you."

"Unlikely, St. James isn't into men."

Kurt glared at the count's attempt at humor and Blaine winced.

"Sorry, I suppose that was a little uncalled for, but I was trying to cheer you up."

"I want to get her out of there, Blaine, I feel like a traitor knowing where she is and doing nothing to help."

Blaine nodded, "I completly understand. When do you want to leave?"

"After I'm done eating breakfast."

"Okay, I'll give him a call and tell him we're coming over."

Kurt stared at the vampire in shock as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.

Blaine laughed.

"I'm not going to tell him why we're coming over, just that we are. Good God, how stupid do you think I am?"
////
Blaine drove the car up the dirt path and to the gates which were opened after he identified himself to the person running the call box.

They were directed to park around the back and Blaine cut the engine.

He sighed, "Kurt, what do you plan to do if we can't get Rachel back?"

Kurt shrugged, "Nothing much I can do, is there?"

"...No."

The human caught the vampire's eye and smiled grimly.

"Don't worry, it's not like I plan to make you fight him for her or something."

"That wouldn't end well. Not that I'm saying I couldn't take him, because I could," Blaine added hurridly.

Kurt rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, your unnecessary displays of masculinity are in no way juvenile and are in fact a major turn on. Now how about we go and get what we came here for?"

Kurt and Blaine exited the BMW and walked up the back drive to knock on the door.

A house servant opened the door and bowed them inside. The servant brought them to the master study where Jesse St. James was waiting for them, Rachel on his lap.

Kurt's mouth went dry as it had done the night of the celebration. Blaine sat down on the couch opposite St. James without permission, but Kurt remained standing as he tried to catch Rachel's eye.

"Anderson, what do I owe this visit to and why does your slave keeping looking at my musical angel like that, I thought he was gay too?"

"Of course he's gay. I'm sure you can tell quite clearly by his eyes that he's with me of his own jurisdiction which is more then I can say for Rachel there."

"Who?"

"Your personal human," Blaine clarified, "that's her given name even if she can't remember it."

Kurt wasn't entirly sure Blaine was correct in that assumption, however, for upon hearing the syllables Kurt had seen a flash of recognition in her eyes.

'Unless I imagined it', he thought.

St. James laughed, "And how do you think you know that?"

"My lover here, Kurt, was part of the same rebel colony she belonged to. They were probably captured the same night or, at least, close to."

St. James glanced at Kurt and Blaine's hand clenched into a fist at the probing gaze the other count directed at his human.

"What makes him so sure that she's the same person?"

Kurt answered before Blaine could even open his mouth.

"I grew up with her. Sure, you've got her in clothes she would never have worn before--she wasn't the most fashionable of people--but all the same, I tolerated her long enough to become close friends with her. Trust me, I know her."

"Fine, Anderson, tell your slave to come up with something that might jog my angel's memory of him and her former life."

"St. James, from here on out if you want to request that Kurt do something then ask him directly as he's right here and his hearing is impeccable."

Blaine smirked at the revolted look that crossed St. James's features at such a suggestion.

"What does it matter if she's the same one or not, human, I'm not going to release her mind."

Kurt crossed his arms, "I'd like to make a wager with you, vampire."

St. James cocked an eyebrow, "I'm listening."

"If I can make her remember who I am and who she is, then will you let her go and let us take her back to the Dalton Estates with us?"

St. James's lips twisted into a smile and he gave a snort of laughter.

"That doesn't seem like a very fair trade. What would I get if you can't get her to remember?"

"You get to keep her and we don't bother you again," Kurt snapped.

St. James's gaze flicked towards Blaine and then back to Kurt.

"Yes, that's all well and good, but how about we raise the stakes a bit?"

Kurt huffed, "Fine, what do you want?"

"If you can't pull her out of the hypnosis in under an half an hour or it turns out you were wrong about her identity, you stay here at the Carmel Estates and act as whore at parties?"

Blaine shot out of his seat, "No way, asshole!"

St. James faked a look of surprise, "Now hold on, Anderson, I believe you were leaving all of this up to your slave, so please keep your mouth shut and let him make the decision."

"Blaine, it's okay. Sit down."

Blaine gave him a pained look, but did as he was told without further comment.

St. James chuckled, "Wow, the human really has made you his bitch, hasn't he?"

Kurt's hand descended on Blaine's shoulder to make him stay put. Kurt could feel the vampire's muslces tremble under his hand and knew that if Blanie really wanted to he could have knocked his hand aside and St. James's head might have been detacted from his body by now.

"Think you can do it then, human, prove that she's really this Rachel person you keep talking about?"

Once again, Kurt saw the recognition cross Rachel's face as she heard her name and this time he knew it was actually there.

He nodded, "Yes, of course I can."

The vampire extended a hand, "Shake on it?"

Kurt did so with some revulsion before taking a few steps back again.

St. James leaned back against the chair, wrapping his arms around Rachel and pulling him closer to him as if she would suddenly remember herself and go over to the other human.

Blaine kept his eyes on St. James and Kurt wondered if he was searching for a subtle change of expression that meant danger for them both.

"Rachel?" Kurt said slowly and clearly, "Do you recognize me? It's me, Kurt."

Rachel narrowed her eyes at him as if trying to bring him into focus.

"We grew up together along with my brother Finn whom you dated on and off for at least three years. You and I used to get into fights all the time for solos in that chorale group we all started for something to do. You were the only one that could ever compete with me properly so I think we saw each other as a threat at first, but we're probably more alike then either one of us would ever care to admit."

He stopped for breath and the three men waited for the female to react in some way.

"Well, it looks like you were wrong," St. James said triumphantly after a few minutes. "I hope you enjoy being a house slave, Kurt. I know there are plenty of men who would love to drill you and I might have to force you into accepting some women as well."

He could hear a growl rising in Blaine's throat and Kurt quickly spoke up before the count could do anything rash.

"I'm sorry, but I've still got plenty of time left to convince her and there's something else that I'd like to try."

St. James rolled his eyes, "Fine, I don't see any harm in that."

"Rachel," he said and she looked up at him curiosly. "Listen."

He opened his mouth and began to sing, never taking his eyes off Rachel as he tried willing her to recognize him.

She straightened up in St. James's arms and the count started to look a little apprehensive as she struggled out of his lap and went to stand in front of Kurt.

Kurt felt his heart skip a beat, but he continued singing, smiling broadly as she suddenly joined him.

As the song ended and their voices faded away, so to did the clouded look in Rachel's eyes.

"Rachel?" he asked tentatively.

There was a slight hesitation, then: "Kurt?"

He laughed wildly and nodded as she threw her arms around him in a tight hug.

"Oh, I thought you had been killed! When those slavers showed up...wait a minute, w-where are we?"

"Um, it's a long story, but I'll have plently of time to explain it to you since you'll be coming back with me."

"Hang on; you can't just take her with you!"

"I'm afraid we can, St. James, those were the conditions after all and you agreed to them."

"You know I don't give a damn about that, Anderson! We didn't sign in blood, it means nothing to me!"

"To bad, the wager was made by a human and therefore a handshake is all that's needed to seal the deal."

"I'm a count!"

"So am I! This bet was between you and Kurt and trust me, I will kill you if you ever try to harm him or Rachel in any way. Now, if you'll excuse us, Kurt, Rachel and I shall be going."

Blaine ushered the two humans out of the mansion before St. James could come after them, though when Kurt looked back he noticed that the other count had not moved from his chair.

"I can't believe he's given up that easily," stated Kurt as they approached the BMW.

"Oh, I don't think he has, but he's not about to make a scene at the moment and he can't afford to get into a fight with me on the grounds of his estate. I'm sure he'll try something latter on, but it might take some planning on his part."

Blaine opened the back door of his car and ushered them inside.

"Wait, you're a vampire?" Rachel was studying Blaine as if she expected him to attack them at any moment.

Kurt took Rachel's hand, "Yeah, but he's a good one if you can bealive it. Come on, I'll explain on the way."

Rachel slide in next to Kurt and Blaine shut the door behind them before getting into the driver's seat and speeding away from the Carmel Estates.
////
"If I was a vampire's slave, then why don't I remember it?"

"Because hypnosis is just a fabrication of thoughts and emotions," Blaine explained. "St. James would have made you think you were in love with him and now that your mind's clear again everything about him has disappeared. As soon as you real memories broke through they replaced all the lies."

"But if I've been living there for nearly a month..."

"You might end up having some dreams about it. It depends on how deep the hypnosis was and we counts tend to have more strengh then other vampires."

"So are we going to find everybody else?" Rachel turned to Kurt hopefully.

"We could try. I would definitely love that and Blaine's offered to help track them down."

"I'm not saying everybody else will be easy to locate or bring back to reality though. You must understand that I can't make any promises."

Rachel nodded, "I guess that makes sense."

The three of them fell silent for a few minutes.

Rachel leanded over and whispered to Kurt, "So he's really okay then?"

Kurt confirmed that he was, a smile playing across his lips.

"You know, he is pretty hot," she said thoughtfully, glancing at the back of Blaine's head through her lashes.

"Thank you," Blaine said, glancing at her out of the rearview mirror.

Rachel blushed and Kurt laughed.

"They have exceptional hearing, remember?"