Leila snickered. "Oh, I don't know. It might be a little soon for me to be adopting a vampire. I mean, I haven't even looked up the owner's manual yet."

Katherine couldn't hold back any more, she started laughing.

Of course, Katherine's laughter set off Leila, and she started laughing too. It was just too funny.

"Can you imagine the look on his face?" she gasped.

"Easily," Katherine replied between giggles. She smirked. "Of course, I could get the collar onto him if you wanted me to. I could probably overpower him long enough."

That made Leila laugh again, although she wasn't just amused by that thought. Hey, Carlos was fairly attractive, and she wasn't totally immune.

"You think about that for a while," Katherine teased as she heard Carlos coming back. He must have cleaned up somewhere after his meal, because she couldn't smell any blood. He jogged into view a moment later.

Leila grinned. Oh yeah, she was in a good mood now. But then she looked at Carlos, blushed faintly, and managed to mostly fight it down again, looking away.

Carlos raised an eyebrow and glanced at Katherine. Katherine just gave him something of a flat look, and he raised his hands in surrender. He wasn't going to get in the middle of what had clearly been girl-time.

Leila got to her feet again when she saw a car heading towards them, yawning briefly. She wasn't really tired, but it had been a long day, and she was trying to find a schedule she could settle on.

Carlos noticed the yawn, and nodded a bit.

"I hear that," he agreed. "Daylight's coming. We wasted a lot of the night with that scuffle in the city. Dawn's a couple hours away."

"No wonder I'm tired." Leila grumbled. "Man, I'm not going to want to get up..." Again. That was quickly becoming the norm for her.

"We'll find a happy balance for you," Katherine said, shooting Carlos a Look. Carlos had the good sense to at least look contrite. Sort of.

Leila nodded. She figured it would take a while, but it would be better than nothing. Hopefully she'd adjust quickly.

It didn't take long for the car to get there, and Katherine easily packed the bags into the trunk before herding Leila into the back seat. It was a spacious car, so she was able to get in as well and still put room between herself and Carlos. For now, she wanted to get back to the castle and settle in.

Leila settled in there, resting her head on Katherine's shoulder. She was still kind of sleepy, but not enough to actually sleep. She just wanted to get comfortable for the ride.

Katherine let her get comfortable, shifting slightly so they fit together more evenly. It was quiet in the car, and she was savoring it. Carlos was, as well, and he leaned back in his seat as he settled in. Oh yes, he would fall asleep quickly once the sun rose.

It took them longer than Leila liked to get back to the castle, and then she staggered inside and up to Katherine's rooms. Yeah, she was definitely ready to sleep now.

Katherine let her go, and went to tell Uncle they were back. She tracked Vlad's scent to his study, and knocked softly on the door.

"We're back, Uncle," she said. "Lei and I, and Carlos."

Vlad nodded, looking over at her. "Back so soon? Did something happen?" He frowned a little, looking her over quickly.

"Did you give Bucharest to the loup-garou?" Katherine asked. "They chased us out." She hesitated for a moment. "Leila and I were cornered by a group of them. I hate to say it, but I'm glad Carlos showed up when he did."

Vlad was quiet for a moment. "I had not," he said quietly. "I kept Bucharest. The last I talked to them, their territory ended not far outside of Bucharest on the other side. I will have to talk to them about this... oversight."

"We weren't sure if you had or not," Katherine admitted.

Vlad shook his head. "I had not. Thank you for letting me know." Because now he could chase them out of Bucharest.

Katherine nodded.

"Leila is already asleep, I think, so I'm going to see about bedding down for the day as well. I'll start searching tomorrow for some way to break what happened to her." Going over, she kissed his cheek. "Good night, Uncle."

Vlad smiled faintly. "Good night, kitten." He would have to think about that problem, too. It wasn't something that happened often, so he figured she'd like the help.