Newt was trying to do the math in his head once he got to Manhattan. Assuming that Draculous didn't have access to a portkey, the fastest way for him to get to America was on a boat, which bought Newt and Tina a few days. He hated the idea of ______ being alone with Draculous on a boat for a few days, but he believed in her. He wanted to believe she was going to be okay.

Tina took days of work off to develop a careful plan with Newt and an unexpected ally: Roy. After Newt and _______ were safely out of the country, Tina found him and arrested as soon as possible. That's when Draculous lost the upper hand and stopped trusting private detectives entirely, preferring to do his own dirty work. Newt hated seeing him around at first, but eventually, he realized that Roy was more helpful than Newt expected him to be. Since he had dealt with Draculous face-to-face multiple times, he had insight that Tina and Newt didn't. On the day before Newt assumed ______ and Draculous would be back in New York, Tina brought him in to see if there were any holes in their plan.

"Whatever you do, you should keep ______ in the same room," Roy advised before he even glanced through the plan. "Draculous has a huge blind spot when it comes to her. He really does believe, deep down, that ______ loves him and would never betray him. Even when he found out that Newt and _______ were starting a romantic relationship, he convinced himself it was because Newt was tricking her."

"How could he really believe that?" Tina asked, shaking her head. Ever since the beginning, she hated Draculous without ever having to meet him. The way that he spoke about _______ was reprehensible, claiming her as if she was a possession and not a real person with her own feelings and freedom.

"He's obsessed with her," Roy said simply. "It blinds him, she makes him weak. If he's worrying about keeping her safe, he's not going to do anything overtly stupid. He's a brilliant wizard, but there's a hole in his heart. He thinks she can fill it, whether she wants to or not."

"He's horrible," Newt shook his head. He had no idea how he got into _______'s life in the first place, but from what he could tell, nothing good had ever come from it. "How can he say he loves her and then treat her the way he does?"

"He doesn't understand love, he mistakes it for obsession. He'll do anything to keep her," Roy stated, opening the book Tina and Newt made for their plans. "Bold to assume that Draculous is going to take her right back to his personal home."

"He kept repeating that before he kidnapped her. He was demanding that she 'come home,' so I assumed that's where he'd be taking her."

"Makes sense. He kept a room there for her, when I was assigned to look for her, that's where he provided me something to track her with. It wasn't so much a matter of finding her at to get her to come home without too much force. Looks like he abandoned that idea. I see you two are also using a personal item of hers to track her in case he doesn't bring her there, clever. Tina, I assume that you want to arrest him?"

Tina nodded, speaking up for the first time in a while. "Of course I'm going to arrest him, he's the one who murdered all of those wizards we found. Private detectives who failed him. That was almost you, Roy. Don't tell me you think it's a bad move."

"Trust me, I want him put away too, Tina. However, your case is weak, and the kidnapping charge will probably prove to be a jurisdiction issue with the Ministry. I'm going to suggest something that may seem... uncouth. Something he can't snake his way out of."

Tina raised an eyebrow. She knew her murder case was flimsy, but if Roy knew a way to put Draculous away for good, she was going to take it. "What's the idea?"

Roy looked back over at Newt. "Draculous despises Newt, and I won't be surprised if he plans to kill him. It would make logical sense in Draculous' situation: get rid of Newt, and there's no one in the way to love ______. If we get Newt to go in alone and Draculous incriminates himself by trying to murder Mister Scamander..."

"...then there's a solid charge of attempted murder, and it'll strengthen our murder case that much more." Tina caught on. She turned to Newt, a hopeful look in her eyes. She liked the idea, but it wasn't up to her. She wasn't the one they were using as bait. "What do you say, Newt?"

Newt thought for a moment. "If you use me as bait and you get him, he'll never be able to get to ______ again, right?"

"That's right."

Newt nodded, a determined look in his eyes. "Let's do it, then."

Tina smiled. "I'll tell MACUSA that our prime suspect is on the prowl again. I'll get them to his house as soon as I can, and Roy will stay out of the house and keep an eye out in case anything goes wrong."

"Looks like we're partners then," Roy extended a hand. "Sorry about all that nasty business before."

"If you betray us, you're going away along with Draculous," Tina warned him as Newt shook his hand. "So don't even dream of it. The boat arrives this afternoon, so we'll make our move tonight. Understood?"

"Crystal clear," Newt said, letting go of Roy's hand. He took a deep breath in, his mind going to ______. He knew in his heart that she was okay, and tonight was the night he was finally going to have her back and be able to keep her safe for good.

-

The second the boat went still, and passengers started getting off, Draculous grabbed _______ and apparated back to his home. "We're home, sweetie. I kept everything intact, even your room is just as you left it."

"When are you going to untie me?" _______ asked him. "Coming home doesn't really feel the same if it means that I don't get to move around."

While on the boat, Draculous ended up having to tie ______'s ankles together after she tried kicking him and running to the top deck. He caught her in time, tying her feet together and telling her next time she stepped out of line, she was going to be knocked out. He looked at her skeptically. "Why would I untie you when you've proclaimed time and time again that you're going to run away?"

______ stayed silent, unsure what to say to convince him. "If you're just going to keep me tied up, what's the point of bringing me back? We can never have a normal relationship like this."

"I'll untie you once my friend gets here," Draculous sat her on the couch, positioning himself next to her. "The one I told you about who's excellent with memory charms."

"Don't do this, Draculous," she told him. "I don't want to forget everything again."

Draculous put a hand on her head, and this time, she didn't reach over to bite him. She needed to build a trust with him enough so that he'd untie her. "You should've come back to me the second you got your memories back. Do you know how many wizards I've had to hurt to get you back, how many I've had to kill? I even went through my own men to find out which ones didn't like no-majs, just for you. Anything for you."

"I'm sorry, Lucius," she said, cringing internally. She didn't want to say any of this more than ever, but she needed enough of his trust. "I don't want anyone else to die."

Draculous smiled. "You used my name," he sounded euphoric, leaning over and kissing her on the forehead. She hated every second of it. "Just one more person, sweetie. That Newton Scamander fellow must die, and then we can start over."

She shook her head. "Please, no more deaths. I won't run away."

"Why should I believe that?" he shook his head. "Once he's dead, there's no reason for you to leave me, and there will be one less man to worry about. He shouldn't have even dared to love you."

_______ looked down, fighting back tears. "Lucius, can you at least untie my hands? My wrists have rope burn, and it hurts so much..."

He looked down at her wrists, and she was right. Her wrists were rubbed raw, and even looking at it was painful. He sighed, giving in. "Okay, okay. I'll untie your wrists, but if you even start to act out, I'm going to tie them again. Got it?"

"Got it," ______ smiled at him. He started to untie the ropes, and for the first time in a while, ______ could move her hands. She knew better than to hope that he'd use a healing spell to make her feel better. She learned a long time ago that Draculous didn't give her that mercy, he used her injuries as a way to show her that she needs to watch herself. She had only ever seen him use a healing spell once on himself when he was cleaning up broken glass after a particularly bad fight and cut himself.

Hours passed, and ______ stayed still on the couch as Draculous watched her, eagerly awaiting his friend's arrival. By seven, he was pacing, starting to worry. "Something's wrong here," he muttered. "He was supposed to be here hours ago."

Outside of the house, Newt and Roy had knocked his friend out cold the second his car pulled up. They hid him in the bushes, not knowing who he was but wanting to avoid interference. The man was finally coming to, waking up to see Newt and Roy staring down at him. "Who are you and who do you work for?" Roy asked as soon as his eyes opened, pointing his wand at him. The wizard reached for his wand, but Roy laughed. "I took it, so don't bother."

The man looked flustered. "Rockwell," he stated, giving in easily. "I'm an independent contractor, I was hired by Lucius Draculous to perform a memory charm."

"Memory charm?" Newt asked aloud, then it clicked in his head. "He's going to wipe ______'s memory."

Roy's eyes widened, checking his watch. "It's a little early, but I'll give Tina the word. Draculous will catch on that something's wrong soon. Go in, Newt."

Newt handed Roy his notebook, heading into Draculous' house. He blasted the door open, drawing the attention of Draculous and _______ to him. She could help but smile seeing him walk in. "______," he said, glad to see she was okay. He raised his wand, pointing it at Draculous. As much as he wanted to duel him, that wasn't the plan. He needed to piss Draculous off and stall, which meant he had to lose.

Draculous pulled his wand out as well, pointing it at Newt. The first thing he did was cast the disarming charm, knocking the wand out of Newt's hands. "I should've known you'd follow me," he grumbled, but smiled. "Good. I've got you right where I want you. Stupefy."

Newt fell to the ground, _______ calling out. This plan better work, were his last thoughts as his consciousness escaped him.