When Ruby returned, after the storm had passed, she was alone.

"Where's Henry?" Belle asked.

Ruby's face was pale, her eyes glassy. "He's with David, he's fine." She glanced over at Klaus uneasily. He got the impression there was something else she wanted to say, but not in front of him.

Which was fine. With his hearing abilities, he could easily leave the room but still make out their conversation.

"I'll be back," Klaus said, standing up and walking toward the washroom. He pushed the washroom door open but let it close again without entering, leaning against the wall and listening as the two women began to speak.

"What happened?" Belle whispered. "You don't look so good."

Klaus made out the sound of Ruby taking a seat in the booth. "I guess since Klaus wasn't marked, the wraith had no target and was just roaming around town. Regina decided the only way to get rid of it would be to send it to another world. Our world."

Klaus narrowed his eyes. Another world? What was Ruby talking about? And what did she mean by their world?

Belle gasped. "But…how?"

"It's a long story. I'm not sure if you've met Jefferson yet—he's a bit of a recluse—but he has this hat that can create portals. So Regina used the hat to create a portal, and then David, Emma, and Mary Margaret used torches to corral the wraith into it."

There was a pause, and then Belle said, "But that's good, isn't it? The wraith is gone?"

More silence, and then Ruby replied. "Yes. But Emma fell through the portal with it, and Mary Margaret followed her. The wraith is gone, but so are they."

"What?" Belle said, louder than she had been speaking thus far. "But Regina said our world was destroyed, that it no longer exists! What will happen to them?"

"I don't know," Ruby said sadly. "And I don't like the idea of the Saviour being gods know where when there's a vampire on the loose. We don't know the first thing about dealing with a vampire!"

Damn it, Klaus thought. They'd figured him out.

Well, partly.

"You don't," Belle agreed, "but after reading this, I do. And you especially don't need to worry too much, Ruby."

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked quizzically.

Klaus heard pages turning, as Belle flipped through her enormous book, and then the unmistakeable sound of a finger jabbing at a page. "You have a built-in defense system. A werewolf bite is poison to a vampire. Deadly."

Klaus couldn't believe what he was hearing. Ruby. She was the werewolf. He counted to five in his head and then emerged from behind the wall, interrupting Belle explaining to Ruby the mechanics of werewolf bites and their effects on vampires.

He pretended not to have heard what they were talking about. It was to his advantage to play dumb, act like he was unaware that they knew (half of) what he was, or that he knew what Ruby was.

"I'm going to head back to my room," he said. Then he looked only at Ruby. "How about we reschedule our dinner for tomorrow. Same time."

He could sense Ruby's hesitation. If he'd had to guess, he would have said that Ruby's learning about his vampirism was a fairly recent development. He would have also guessed it to be Belle who provided this information. Beautiful, intelligent women . . . they would prove to be his downfall one day, he was certain.

He caught a meaningful look pass from Belle to Ruby, and Ruby plastered a smile on her face before turning to face Klaus. "Works for me," she said finally.

"See you tomorrow, then," he said, turning around and walking back toward his room. He was determined to get answers from Ruby, but not the same answers he had been curious about before. He knew who the werewolf was. What interested him more now was the small matter of the existence of worlds other than his own.

If Ruby came from such a world—and it sounded like she had—would she at all resemble the werewolves in this one? In an extremely rare moment, Klaus had no idea what he was up against.

The thought excited him, and he caught himself smiling as he climbed the stairs.

###

Mary Margaret had been Ruby's closest friend for a long time. Well, more accurately, Snow had been Red's closest friend for a long time. Their curse personas had been too wildly different to ever become close. And now, the curse had barely been broken and her newly returned friend was gone. Possibly even dead.

Ruby felt her eyes burning with the promise of tears. She took a few deep breaths and then threw herself back into her work, distracting herself. It was past midnight, but Ruby was still in the diner, cleaning the kitchen. It kept her mind busy, because she had a lot to think about if she let herself. Mary Margaret, gone. Klaus, a vampire. Her, a weapon capable of defending the town against him if necessary.