4 Leverage

Elena protested when Damon closed the door to Alaric's apartment in her face without letting her glimpse inside. On the other side of the door, Damon waited and listened to her retreating footsteps.

"Walking down the stairs…opening front door…and she's gone." Damon snapped his fingers at Alaric and he continued to cut up the old Wickery Bridge sign with an electric saw into neat little pieces, twelve of them to be exact.

Jenna had been patiently sitting at Alaric's kitchen counter for a couple of hours now, just watching and listening. It had been a week since her last encounter with Klaus. Whenever she tried to work her ghostly magic, it ended in a splitting headache. The only explanation she could come up with was that Klaus was currently not in Mystic Falls. In fact, the entire Mikaelson Family, save for Rebekha, seemed to have left town.

It hasn't been boring, though. A lot of things had been going on over this past week. Jenna wasn't actually there to see them all happen with her own eyes, but the people residing in Mystic Falls were only too happy to chat about it. The most interesting tidbit by far, however, has been something about the old Wickery Bridge.

Now Jenna didn't get all of the details on what exactly happened, but somehow Alaric and Damon ended up with a way to kill the Originals. She thought this was maybe something she should take an interest in, seeing how they're trying to kill her one connection to this world. Not that she had been able to make any use of this connection so far.

Alaric finished his first stake and put it aside, before getting started on the next one. Watching three men whittle wasn't very entertaining, but she had a mission now: find out how they plan on killing Klaus.

Twelve stakes meant they had twelve opportunities. There were five originals left, so the odds were in their favor. The execution seemed to be the bigger problem. Not many plans seem to ever really work when it came to get rid of an original vampire. Not the ones made by a Salvatore anyway.

While Stefan explained to his brother that the stakes needed to be much sharper, Jenna felt a tug at her heart, alerting her that something was wrong. She had experienced something similar before when Elena was about to be driven off Wickery Bridge by Stefan or at least that's what he wanted her to believe. There were one or two other times it happened and Jenna thought it had to do with what Elena was feeling then. She had been terrified, scared for her life. Somehow, if the feelings were strong enough, Jenna would sense it.

Elena was at the door not long ago, she couldn't have gotten herself into a life threatening situation this fast. The uneasy feeling inside of her grew with every passing second. If it wasn't Elena, then this meant it could only be the one other family member she had left.

"Jeremy," Jenna's urgent whisper echoed through the apartment and for just a moment all three men looked up and threw each other questioning looks. They hadn't heard anything, yet something had made them react. Damon shrugged and went back to whittling, the other two followed.

Jenna vanished out of Alaric's apartment, leaving the three men to their task, without any of them being the wiser.

xxxxxx

For the first few seconds Jenna felt disoriented. Being back at the Mikaelson's Mansion was not where she had expected to end up. But there, on the other side of the room, lay Jeremy, unconscious. The bad feeling had been right once again. Jenna ran over to her nephew and knelt down, stroking over his hair, trying to get a life sign out of him.

"Jeremy, wake up." She didn't care that he couldn't hear her, even if he would've been conscious. He didn't appear to have any serious injuries besides the bump at the back of his head. She just needed him to be okay.

"I was hoping you'd show up." Klaus startled Jenna, who spun around and gasped.

"What did you do to him?" Jenna slowly got up of the floor and took a couple of steps towards Klaus, "Let him go."

Jenna tried to sound demanding, but Klaus merely smiled at her, completely ignoring her request. Instead he launched into his own little prepared speech.

"I had a bit time to think about what it means that you're here. Now, I don't really care about the how and why, but I'm very much interested in finding out what you can do for me."

"You want me to help you?" She hadn't expected that. He stole her line. "What could I possibly do for you?" Somehow she was a little scared to ask this.

"I'm so glad you asked." Klaus smiled and moved behind Jeremy. "You see, things haven't really been going my way lately and I think it's time this changes." He grabbed Jeremy and dragged him over to a nearby chair. Once Jeremy was seated, Klaus made a point of removing his magic bring-me-back-to-life ring and watched Jenna watch him put it into his jacket.

"Please don't hurt him." Jenna almost pleaded.

"Oh, I'm afraid that won't be possible. You see, your friends just can't keep the peace and the only way to make them learn is to threaten or kill one of their own." While picking up some rope to tie Jeremy to the chair with, he turned back slightly and added, "You know, kind of like when I took you."

Now he was just trying to rile her up. Jenna couldn't help the sharp intake of breath, though. The anger was building inside of her again. Talk about unresolved issues.

Klaus, enjoying the effect his words had on the ghost before him, continued, "Did you know that I only had to kill you because Damon Salvatore freed my other choice for the ritual? Don't get me wrong, you would've still been turned into a vampire, but you would've lived."

He guessed by the surprised look on Jenna's face that she hadn't known about that, "You were merely my backup. Leave it to a Salvatore to screw things up, am I right?"

Jenna couldn't tell anymore if what he was saying was the truth or if he was lying to her. Clearly he was going somewhere with this. The only part she heard, however, was that she could still be alive. Of course she could still be alive today if she hadn't gone outside house, if she had known how to defend herself against monsters, if she hadn't become Elena and Jeremy's guardian. The words kept ringing through her head. She could still be alive. As a vampire, but still, she imagined it to be better than what she was now.

"Come on, love, don't look so sad." Klaus finished tying Jeremy to the chair. "See, this is the part where you can get back at them. I imagine you have seen and heard a lot of things lately. You certainly seemed interested in your ex-boyfriend and his new lady friend the other night." Again he laughed and Jenna got more uncomfortable by the second. "Yes, I saw you there hiding behind a wall, all googly eyed."

Jenna followed his every movement as he continued, "This could work in your favor, too. I could take care of Alaric's new friend or generally ensure your precious family stays safe. All you need to do is tell me what they're planning."

There it is, Jenna thought, he wanted her to be his little spy.

"No! You can't really think that I would do that." She almost laughed right into his face. It was a ridiculous idea. Why would she help him and betray her own family and friends like that in the process. Even if she would get something in return, something told her not to trust him on this promise.

"I think you should take some time to…" Before Klaus could finish his sentence Jenna interrupted him, "I said no!" Lights started to flicker around the room. Again with the lights, Jenna thought. Could she be any more of a ghostly cliché?

"That's unfortunate, Jenna. We would've made a wonderful team. Sadly, I think it's time for another one of Elena Gilbert's loved ones to die." Klaus yanked Jeremy's head to the side and took on his true form. Veins popped out under his eyes, his fangs extended and his eyes turned yellow. Jenna's eyes widened once she realized what would come next. Klaus bit down into Jeremy's neck and Jenna screamed out. She knew he was playing her. There was still a chance he wouldn't actually kill Jeremy. Maybe it was just a show, but damn it was a good one.

"Stop! I know what their plan is. I'll tell you, just please let him go." And before she really knew what was happening, Jenna was telling the hybrid all about the stakes made out of white oak. Word after word came out of her mouth and she couldn't stop herself. The only thing on her mind was to save Jeremy.

Klaus stopped, his face returned to normal and he let go of Jeremy. "See, you're helping already, team mate." Jenna heard Klaus leave the room, but her eyes were glued to Jeremy's bloody neck. What was she to do now?