Chapter Three

The Grill Is Where Everything Happens


Alex's SUV pulled up outside a place called The Mystic Grill. Alex guessed since there was a high population of supernatural creatures in this town that everyone, that was human, was on vervain so without many options Alex decided to let Klaus find her. But first she needed a drink and since night had fell The Mystic Grill felt like a good enough place.

Alex compelled Jason to drive around the town and find a place that he knew she would like but something that was also low-key. While Jason searched the town for that special place Alex entered The Mystic Grill, or The Grill as everyone called it.

Alex walked straight towards the bar deciding to order something stronger than beer, although getting drunk would take a lot more than one drink. But Alex's intention was not to get drunk, although that would help with the fact she had lost her brother.

Alex had been turned after her 24th birthday which made it easy for her to order a drink from the bar without question. Alex sat at the bar alone drinking her alcohol as she waited. A small town with a high population of supernatural creatures meant something would happen and Alex got the feeling that The Grill was where everything happened.

Alex sat and listened to everyone's conversations until she came across a conversation that interested her greatly. Alex watched as the blonde girl in a green dress spoke with blonde young man that sat at the same bar Alex was sitting at.

"Hi," she greeted. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Well, let's see," he replied. "I went to a dance and got my hand crushed. Found out that I don't have health insurance, so I just needed a minute to myself."

Alex glanced at the couple and noticed how the clothes they wore were of a high standard which led Alex to believe she had missed that ball Klaus had invited her too. Alex didn't care because in all honesty she never wanted to attend anyway. Plus it's not like Alex drags dresses with her everywhere she goes and the chances of her being caught in a dress are very low.

"Well, I thought maybe I'd buy you an apology drink."

"Maybe you could just leave me alone," he replied.

"Look, I'm really sorry about Kol. He's a lunatic."

"Look, Rebekah, you're really fun and pretty and all… but I really need you to leave me alone," he replied before he stood and left.

Alex ordered another drink and continued to eavesdrop on Rebekah's continuing conversation only because Alex had nothing better to do.

"Burn," a dark haired man said as he approached the bar. "Rejected by the captain of the football team. Welcome to adolescence," he added.

"Shut up, Damon," Rebekah replied as they both leant against the bar. "I knew I should have killed him. Mother wouldn't let me," she added.

After Damon casually retrieved a bottle of alcohol from the bar, as if he didn't care if he got caught, which led Alex to believe they were both vampires and whoever this Kol person was possibly also a vampire.

Klaus was right about the high population of supernatural creatures. Alex was unsure how she felt about that yet.

"Well… never let people tell you what to do," Damon said as he poured both himself and Rebekah a drink. "Besides, you would have broken him in a second," he added.

"Are you suggesting I can't be gentle?" Rebekah asked.

"No. I'm just saying you should find someone a little more durable, that's all," Damon replied.

Alex rolled her eyes and finished her drink before noticing Jason by the front door. She had told him to return once he found a place where she could stay. Once inside her SUV Jason informed her that he found a low-key house that had plenty of room and few windows and above all had the most important thing, only one person living in it. Alex smiled at how talented she had left Jason before ordering him to take her to this house.

Although Alex feared everyone being on vervain Alex had to take a stab in the dark with the owner of the house Jason had found. After tricking the middle aged woman, who called herself Susanna, into stepping outside her house Alex easily compelled the woman to invite her inside and never to invite anyone else in. Although this tactic would be useless against humans this town still had a high population of vampires.

Alex and Jason secured the house and blocked all the windows with curtains with whatever they could find. Luckily for them the doors were solid wooden doors with no panels of glass in them, so Alex and Jason had less work to do. Once they were done they sat down for dinner, which Susanna prepared for them.

When daytime finally came around Alex was fast asleep falling back into her routine of sleeping through the day. She chose the basement as the perfect place to sleep in case some freak accident allowed sunlight to break into the house. Alex's first year as a vampire was not a pleasant one and she often learned the pain sunlight gave her. So Alex was determined to never feel that again.

Alex woke an hour after the sun had set and after making sure Jason was set she left Susanna's lonely house and took her SUV back into town and to the town's square where Alex returned to The Grill again. Although returning to the same place was dangerous Alex didn't have a choice. She was yet to find Klaus and with the restriction the sun gave her she didn't have the time to search the entire town in one night for him.

Her best plan of action was to wait until someone said something about him or he found her. He found out she was in Charleston so waiting for him to find her wouldn't take long, especially if she kept returning to the same place every night.

Instead of sitting at the bar, which could lead to the bartender questioning her presence Alex ordered a drink and made her way to one of the corners of The Grill so she could watch everyone that entered and left. Alex stood nearby the pool tables but kept a low profile and ordered food as if she was a regular human customer.

Alex causally listened and watched for anything relating to Klaus or why Klaus would even want her in this town. Although most of the conversations being had inside The Grill were mundane and human there was one conversation that peaked Alex's interest especially when the word vampire was mentioned.

So there were humans that knew about the vampires in this town, but not everyone knew. As Alex watched and listened to the conversation about a vampire attack on one of those in the conversation she failed to notice those entering and leaving The Grill until his voice entered her ears.

"It's the obvious conclusion," she said.

"Oh, come on, now," Klaus said as he approached the bar.

Alex looked up to find it was indeed Klaus. But he wasn't alone standing with him was another vampire.

"Let's not go blaming the new family in town just because you lost have got yourselves a killer at large," Klaus added. "Don't mind us," he said. "My brother and I are just here to let off some steam," Klaus said as he looked towards the second vampire who was his brother. "Right, Kol?" Klaus asked.

"Right," Kol replied.

Alex slowly nodded as she realised who Kol was. He was indeed a vampire and now Alex knew he was Klaus' brother and if his words were not a lie then he had other siblings in this town. Alex didn't know what sort of situation she now found herself in so she decided to stay back and just wait it out.

Alex remained in the darkest corner she could find because getting involved with anyone right now could prove deadly. Fighting a single werewolf was one thing but fighting several vampires at once, while easy in the past, could prove troublesome, which is not something Alex felt like testing.

Alex stopped ordering alcohol, especially when its effects on her didn't start showing, she ordered more food and casually listened to everything she heard making sure that she truly wanted to stay here. Although Klaus was her only hope at finding her brother she wasn't going to die trying to get the information she needed.

"Yeah, no, they're still here," Alaric replied.

Spending a few hours in the same place made it easy to learn people's names, which was either a good thing or a bad thing. Alex hadn't needed to remember names since the early 90's and even then it wasn't by choice.

"They've, uh, drank their way through half The Grill's liquor supply," Alaric added as he spoke to Damon.

"Good," Damon replied. "It'll be easier if they're wasted," he added.

Alex started to become a little curious. It was clear that this Damon guy had a plan against Klaus and his brother Kol and although making sure Klaus survived this plan was very important to Alex for her own personal reason she decided to see how invincible Klaus actually was. If all this plotting and planning couldn't kill Klaus then Alex knew where her chances at doing the same lied.

"So, what's the plan?" Alaric asked.

"Divide and conquer," Damon replied referring to separating Klaus and Kol. "First we'll need a little blonde distraction," he added with no clue Alex was listening to their entire plan.

Alex looked up in time to see the so-called blonde distraction enter The Grill. It took Alex a few minutes to realise how this particular girl could be a distraction until Kol and Klaus started talking about the very girl that entered the bar.

"I remember her from last night," Kol said. "She looks like a tasty little thing," he added.

It wasn't until Klaus replied with a threat did Alex realise that this girl was a distraction for Klaus. Alex was glad he was distracted because honestly the last thing Alex wanted was him finding her. Although that had been the reason why she came to The Grill, the night was starting to become interesting and Alex preferred to wait and watch.

The blonde girl walked towards the bar before walking past Klaus and Kol as if she was there for another reason when Alex knew the truth.

"Caroline," Klaus said gifting Alex the blonde girl's name.

"Oh, it's you," Caroline replied.

"Join us for a drink?" Klaus suggested.

Caroline hummed at the offer.

"Hmm, I'd rather die of thirst. But thanks," she replied.

Caroline turned and left The Grill as planned. She was definitely a distraction for Klaus. This is why Alex didn't get involved with people, romantically, because they either broke your heart or worse, tried to get you killed.

Caroline stepped outside and Klaus quickly left following after her. Alex on the other hand remained a short distance from the pool tables and Alaric. No one seemed to notice her sitting there watching and listening to everything that was happening around her.

Alex sat in comfort and watched as Kol became distracted with the woman that had accompanied Alaric to The Grill. Kol attempted to persuade and seduce the woman but she would never fall for it because she was distracting Kol on purpose, it was a part of Damon's plan, for some reason.

Eventually Kol took it one step too far causing Alaric to return from elsewhere and step in like a jealous boyfriend while Kol didn't care. It was clear Kol often got what he wanted and it was clear that night he wouldn't get what he wanted. Alex was yet to learn what exact roles Alaric and his female friend, whose name Alex had yet to learn, played in Damon's plan but she somehow knew it was important.

"Pretty sure, I don't care," Kol replied before he turned to face Alaric.

Alaric suddenly stabbed something into Kol's chest. Alex noticed it was made of metal so it shouldn't have harmed a normal vampire but this particular dagger did. But as Alaric and his friend dragged Kol outside Alex noticed how Kol appeared. The life was drained from his body as if he had truly died with a wooden stake to the heart. But this whole situation made little sense to Alex until she remembered Klaus' words when they first met.

He had mentioned the words An Original as if that was a type of person. It didn't take Alex long to realise that it was possible that Klaus' family were these Originals he spoke of. Alex didn't want to think about it any further because the only thing that came to mind was the fact they were the original vampires, the first.

Alex wasn't sure how she felt about that because she didn't know what that meant. Alex knew who she was turned by because they had made that very clear to her during her first year as a vampire but as for who turned that person she had no idea.

Alex became a little panicked about what she had walked so she quickly decided to leave, The Grill at least. She stepped outside and noticed Klaus and Caroline in the distance. Klaus was yelling at Caroline demanding to know what she had done. Caroline honestly replied by saying she hadn't done anything because honestly she hadn't, that was Alaric.

Klaus realised that it was Kol who had been targeted and he shortly disappeared after that. Caroline was left standing in the town square and Alex must have been a little too obvious because the blonde girl looked directly at her. Alex tried to play it cool and walked away instead of running away or disappearing.

Alex considered returning to Jason and Susanna but she froze when her ears heard his voice. It was like she had heard it before. It was familiar but yet she couldn't remember when or where she had heard it.

"Leave him," he said.

Alex turned towards the voice but before moving she checked for Caroline. The last thing Alex wanted was to have to deal with Caroline. Although Alex had spent eighty-five years as a vampire and she could easily kill Caroline, Alex wasn't in her right mind. She had been invited into town by An Original vampire, or rather hybrid, known as Klaus while his brother Kol, another Original had been attacked and stabbed with a special dagger. Then there was this voice Alex knew but didn't know.

Luckily for Alex Caroline had disappeared, probably to find one of her friends or someone else. Alex was left with a decision. Find out what was happening and whose voice was ringing through Alex's head or leave and let this all settle. Alex decided it was for the best to find out what was happening now, while it was happening and Alex knew the best way was to get an advantage. So after checking for anyone she jumped straight up before silently landing on the roof of The Grill.

"We still need him, Niklaus," he said.

Alex moved closer to the voice while remaining quite. The last thing she wanted was to be discovered. All she wanted was to know what Klaus had dragged her into before it was too late. If there was going to be decision to regret this decade Alex knew listening to Klaus, or rather talking to him to begin would be it.

"What did Mother do?" Klaus asked. "What did she do, Elijah?" Klaus repeated giving Alex a name to the voice stuck in her head.

But even still the name and voice remained unknown. She knew his voice from somewhere but couldn't remember. She almost hated this more than the fact she couldn't find her brother.

"You tell me where the witches are or I'll have my sister kill Elena right now," Elijah threatened Damon.

"You told me we had until after 9," Damon replied.

"I'm sure Rebekah would be more than happy to start her work early," Elijah said.

So Rebekah was Elijah's sister and from Klaus' words about his mother Alex got the feeling that Elijah was also his brother since they seemed to be working together against their mother. This made Kol, Rebekah, Klaus and Elijah siblings and with their mother they were technically a family, although it didn't seem they liked their mother that much.

Alex shook her head as the brothers Damon and Stefan left shortly later followed by Klaus and his brothers Kol and Elijah. Alex was left standing on the roof of The Grill wondering why she even bothered coming to this town. It was because her brother went missing. Alex had tried searching for him herself and failed, she tried tricking others and failed and she even made a deal with a witch and failed. Gordon had been her last chance and he was gone and most likely dead.

Klaus was Alex's final chance at finding her brother. Without William Alex would be lost. William was her only remaining family. Her parents died before she was turned, her uncle shortly after and as for her own family she had no idea what happened to them and she didn't want to because she had betrayed them, her husband and her two children. She fell to temptation. She didn't deserve to be a part of that family anymore, although she continued to carry her husband's surname, Winchester.

Alex was dragged out of the past and back into the present where she found herself alone. Damon, Stefan, Klaus, Kol and even Elijah had disappeared. Alex was sort of glad but this left Alex without a clue what to do. She wanted to leave town before she was dragged into this but she needed Klaus' help to find her brother.

Alex jumped down from the roof of The Grill and waited in the town square for someone to step out of The Grill. She was taking a bigger risk now but she needed to know where Klaus was staying. Luckily for her the human that left The Grill was vervain free which made compelling him easy.

Alex quickly learned where Klaus was staying and that his surname was Mikaelson. After making the unnamed man forget her Alex set out for this mansion before the sun rose into the sky. When Alex reached the mansion she found it empty which meant Klaus and his brothers hadn't returned here, not yet. But guessing they would return Alex remained and searched for answers to her questions about Elijah but found nothing that helped.

Even though the plan was to stay and wait Klaus out that sort of fell to pieces when they all returned. Although Alex now knew all their names she didn't know them, only Klaus. Well, technically she had only shared a conversation or two with Klaus, which was more than his siblings since she had yet to share any words with his siblings, although deep down Alex wanted to speak with Elijah.

Alex was left trapped inside that mansion while Kol momentarily stayed before leaving, Elijah stayed but made it clear he intended to leave and Rebekah and Klaus shared a heartfelt conversation about family. Alex listened to Rebekah and Klaus' conversation while she avoided Elijah's ears because being found by him was the last thing she wanted.

"Come to brag about your skills as a torturer," Klaus asked.

"Look at the images on the wall behind Elena. The natives told the story of our history. Look at the images on the far wall," Rebekah replied.

"What is it?" Klaus asked.

"A native worshipping at the great white oak tree," Rebekah said.

"And we burned that tree to the ground," Klaus added.

"Look at the markings that precede it. That's the native calendar."

"This can't be right," Klaus replied.

"A white oak tree 300 years after we fled back to the Old World. There must have been a sapling, a new tree to replace the old. That tree could kill us. It's not over, Nik," Rebekah said peaking Alex's interest.

This whole situation had become interesting and confusing. With the information Alex had learned over the past few days she did not doubt that Klaus and his family were the original vampires, the first. And as the original vampires then they must be stronger, clearly because they have been around for so long, which meant this news about a white oak tree had to be true since Rebekah was clearly frightened. Alex just couldn't help but wonder what position this left her in. She was only here for herself and if she wanted to succeed in that then she needed Klaus to remain alive.

Alex waited until Rebekah had left in search of more information on this white oak tree that had them both so worried. Once she had gone it left only Klaus inside the huge mansion so Alex made her presence known.

"You know," Alex started. "When you said mansion I wasn't thinking this big," Alex said. "Then again maybe I should have," she said as she entered the room.

Klaus suddenly turned to face her, as if surprised by her presence completely. Whether this was a true emotion or him pretending to be surprised, Alex didn't care and it didn't matter.

"How long have you been in town?" Klaus asked clearing curious.

"Long enough," Alex replied. "To know you've got a lot of explaining to do, Mr-Klaus-The-Original-Hybrid-Mikaelson," Alex added.

"And here I thought you didn't do small towns," Klaus replied.

"I don't," Alex honestly said. "Although I have to admit I've had more fun tonight than I have in a long time," Alex added. "Did you dump sweet Caroline?" Alex asked when noticed that a drawing of Caroline was burning in the fireplace.

"It would be wise if you didn't mention that name right now," Klaus replied.

"Sure, fine, whatever," Alex said.

She honestly didn't care about Caroline. She just noticed the drawing and brought it up because she could. Eventually Klaus filled in the gaps, or at least the gaps he was willing to fill in. Alex had been correct when she thought his family were the original vampire as in the first vampires. They had been turned by their mother and now their mother wanted them dead.

"So why did you invite me here?" Alex asked. "I'm nobody," she added honestly believing her words.

She was just another vampire with her own problems with family and immortality. She was nothing special, although there were a lot of questions that had to be answered.

"You're not exactly nobody," Klaus replied.

"That's half true, I guess," Alex said as she relaxed further into the lounge she was currently sitting on. "But that doesn't answer my question," Alex pointed out.

"True," Klaus replied. "So I used to have all these hybrids, which are half-vampire and half-werewolf, like myself, but they had to leave so I was looking for someone to have a little fun with."

"Hybrids," Alex questioned. "I still don't get it. We hardly know each other and I'm not a hybrid, so…"

"But you are," Klaus cut in.

"I'm what?" Alex asked a little unsure what he meant.

"You were born into a werewolf bloodline and then you were turned into a vampire before you triggered the curse that would have made you a werewolf. So when you killed for the first time you became a hybrid," Klaus informed. "You are…"

"It's not possible," Alex replied.

Alex knew she was from a werewolf bloodline but she had always thought and believed that didn't matter to her. Alex knew her brother was a werewolf because their father was one and since his father before him was one Alex was led to believe that it was the male line of her family that gained the whole werewolf curse.

Although what Klaus said was absolutely possible Alex didn't want to believe it because she had always believed she was a vampire. She couldn't be a hybrid. Then again her eyes changed like Klaus' had. No, she wasn't a hybrid, she couldn't be.

"It would explain what happened to your brother…" Klaus started.

"Don't you dare bring my brother into this," Alex hissed as she stood and pointed her finger towards Klaus.

Alex could feel her fangs in her mouth. They once again cut into her bottom gums and although there was pain Alex easily ignored it. No one talked about her brother like that. She was not to blame for her brother's disappearance. It was not her fault. Afraid to learn that it was her fault Alex fled the Mikaelson mansion and returned to Jason and Susanna.