"Some centuries more often than others." He settled a little at the touch, the petting. "Sometimes a lover. Sometimes just a friend. Other times a trade, of sorts. There has to be trust, though. Someone who knows of us already, or who we come to test enough to tell. That makes it more rare. You can't tell every village girl you hire to be a maid what you are without compelling her to never speak of it to any outside the household, and to not be afraid and after that..." He shrugged. "It's never really fully freely given, even if it seems to be."

Especially when Klaus and Kol kept killing the maids until Elijah had to point out it was getting impossible to hire good help and make a rule about moderation with the servants.