Solitary
"Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying." - Arthur C. Clarke
Klaus stretched out as much as he could on the small bed after finishing the last of the blood the witch left behind. The sweet elixir had worked in earnest. Every sense was now needle sharp. It pumped through his veins…restoring him, strengthening him. He marveled at how he could have forgotten how good it felt to be him. And when that familiar twinge began in his lower back, he knew it was about to feel even better.
It had always disappointed him that the hybrids he'd created during his time in Mystic Falls, viewed the gift he'd given them as a relief from the pain of transformation; a chance to shun the wolf. He had never been raised with a pack; had only shifted once before Esther levied her blasted curse. But he still reveled in being a werewolf. To be a beast cloaked in the human condition…and to now be able to drop that cloak at will. The pain was a gift. An offering to the forces that govern the realms of the living. A reminder that life is transitory. And that the werewolf was the living embodiment of that fact.
As he felt the pressure build in his joints and the first snapping of bone that followed, he decided that before he passed sentence on the Bennett witch…
He would thank her.
When he awakened the next day, he was face down on the concrete floor. The coolness was a relief against his over-heated skin. Though he'd been unable to roam the wood; to hunt and tear and howl, it had been a good shift. A much needed shift. His body felt new…refreshed.
As he stood, he rolled and flexed his muscles, reintroducing himself to his own body. Feeling the power within him, expand and contract with each breath. He looked around the ridiculous hole the witch had deposited him in and flexed his fingers, imagining how they would feel wrapped around the her delicate neck as he squeezed the life out of her for her…
Insolence?
Disrespect?
She'd freed him from the nightmare of Tunde's blade and yet her manner offended him. He knew she hadn't done it out of the kindness of her heart. He also knew that that the witch, that witch in particular, would never call on him unless she had no other choice. She wanted something. Badly.
But the aloofness…the audacity…to be carted about like cargo and thrown blood bags as though they were sardines and he a sea lion. It was like…
Like you carted your family around for centuries?
Klaus brushed the thought aside and made his way to the door. She had unlocked it at some point in the early hours as it now lay open, allowing him access to the hallway where a change of clothing, two towels and note sat on a nearby chair.
He picked up the note and scanned it before crumpling it in his hand:
Found some clothes that I think will fit.
The showers are down the hall and to your left.
I'm outside.
B.
Klaus gathered the bundle in his arms and made his way down the hall.
The shower had been invigorating. While he had desiccated on more than one occasion, this time felt much longer than it could possibly have ever been considering his liberator. He found that his hands lingered on himself; arms…neck…chest…a brief gripping of his manhood…thighs. All this to cement the reality that he was indeed himself again.
He dried and dressed quickly, irritated that the jeans and t-shirt the witch provided felt a hair too large and were appallingly common.
What was the witch up to? She said this was formerly The Armory. He'd known of the organization for well over a century; and yet he could not help but notice that this place was completely empty of personnel. He focused all five senses to their finest point and detected no one else. Was she truly here alone?
Retracing the path they'd taken the day before, he found the cargo elevator and ascended.
BKBKBKBKB
He found her standing in a field out back. The compound was large with the Armory headquarters flanked by smaller buildings. The sun's current position told him that it was midday and Klaus couldn't help but pause for a moment and allow its rays to wash over him like a favorite memory.
When he finally reached the witch, she turned to face him and he was finally able to take her measure.
She was older than he remembered, naturally. The plumpness of adolescence had burned away, fully revealing the beautiful line of her jaw, the height of her cheekbones, and the length of her neck. Though hardened and haunted, her eyes were as he remembered: large and feline and a most curious olive green that brightened to hazel or darkened to emerald depending on her mood, if he recalled.
She wore a pair of dark grey loose fitted linen pants, but the outline of her hips and the swell of her ass was apparent along with her ironically long legs. Bare feet with toes painted blood red peeked out from beneath the hem. The white fitted tank she wore revealed smooth skin that absorbed the rays of the sun and glowed, the red and golden undertones on full display. Her ample bosom rose and fell with a calmness reflected in her stance.
But, it was her scent that gave him pause. Bonnie Bennett hopped up on the power of one hundred witches smelled like fire: smoldering embers sweetened by cinnamon and grounded by pepper. The Bennett witch sans the one hundred was earthier, bringing to mind dark moist soils and spring rains. He even recalled the sickening, cloying sweetness that had clung to her once she embraced Expression.
But this…this was different. The earthiness was there, the burning embers present as well, but there was a weight to it. A heaviness that never neared oppressive. If he didn't know better he'd swear the magic running through her was older than even he himself. Who was this witch?
Damn it. When Bonnie turned to face Klaus, she was promptly reminded that vampires had apparently cornered the market on eugenics. Was there even one unfortunate face in the bunch? The years, along with spending the past day dealing only with his desiccated remains, caused Bonnie to forget that the hybrid is handsome. Handsome in the worst kind of way. The boyishly, unassuming, intent on being your favorite mistake kind of way. His hair was still wet and it looked like the clothes she'd found were a bit too big, but here he was in the disarmingly charming flesh. His dimples weren't on display and his full lips were drawn into a grim line. The indigo blue of his eyes was nearly black. He radiated anger.
Wow he's mad, Bonnie mused with smug satisfaction at the thought. The feeling wasn't new. She'd felt it last night in his holding cell. And before that, she'd felt it as he glared at her from the wrong side of a barrier she'd put up trapping him with the smoldering remains of his brother. And before that, she'd felt it while standing in a storage unit looking down on his desiccated body; his eyes attempting to burn holes into her skull-just as they were now.
There was no way around it: Bonnie Bennett liked being able to piss Klaus Mikaelson all the way off and still live to tell the tale.
He stood several feet from her and Bonnie hoped it was a good sign that his hands hadn't immediately wrapped around her throat demanding that she explain herself.
"Explain yourself, witch." His voice had fully returned and it was strange to hear after all these years, even if each word spoken was wrapped in barbed wire.
"I figured depending on how this conversation goes, we might need a little space," she replied, flippantly. She'd been out here most of the morning thinking about how to approach this dialogue. She wasn't Stefan and she wasn't Caroline. She didn't know him.
She only knew what he was capable of.
"Like I said, I know you have questions, so we might as well get those out of the way first." Her magic was oscillating beneath her skin ready to defend at a moment's notice.
"How long?"
"About seven years. Though I believe the effects of the blade increased that number for you."
It had. Entombed less than a decade and yet he'd been fully prepared for her to blurt out some ridiculous triple-digit number.
"Where is my family?" Klaus' jaw was clenched so tightly it was a wonder he hadn't shattered it along with his teeth. He braced himself, knowing that her answer would either break her or break him.
"All I know is that Haley Marshall loaded up a semi with your daughter and your siblings and took off for parts unknown. For now, I can only assume they're still out there."
"And your reason for waking me?"
"I needed the blade. I didn't know that Marcel Gerard had sentenced you to it."
Klaus shifted his stance, folding his arms across his chest. "And why pray tell would you need it?"
Bonnie started shaking her head. "No, I'm not telling you that-."
He was on her in an instant. Hand wrapping around her neck. Squeezing.
Here we go.
A large pulse of her magic burst from her sending the hybrid flying several feet backwards into the dirt. She dropped to one knee from the sheer force of it. Klaus was on his feet and charging again. She threw up a barrier between them and smirked at the sense of déjà vu.
"One: Don't touch me ever again", she gritted out keeping her own anger at bay. "Two: I have no problem explaining the current state of affairs to you. But we are not talking about that blade. I can't afford to have anyone know that I have it or why. Just know that while your family might be safe now, they won't be for long…none of us will."
The barrier was up and holding. Klaus leaned forward, pressing his forehead hard against it, ignoring the searing pain of the action.
"This had better be good."
Bonnie released the breath she hadn't realized she was holding. "Four years ago, the vault the Armory was built upon was opened and the entity inside released. I've spent almost that long here trying to figure out how to stop it."
"Why was it released?"
"Are you going to try and kill me again?
"I haven't decided…yet." The dimples finally made their appearance, but his smile was downright murderous.
"Fair enough," Bonnie muttered as she lowered the barrier.
It wasn't until the barrier was gone that she realized how closely they were now standing. His shirt brushed against her as he loomed; eyes boring, smile still in place and she was enveloped by his presence. One thousand years of life and power wafted off the hybrid in much the same way her magic did her. It had always been overwhelming and for moment, she is suddenly a teenaged girl in his study; feeling the walls closing in on her as she stands in the shadow of Klaus Mikaelson.
But then she remembers that she's stood in the shadow of many. And that while she is still here, they are either dead, gone or have gotten their heads out of their asses. She decides that this will be no different.
She squares her shoulders and stares back at him. "We should head back to the house. One or both of us is going to need a drink." She stepped around him and started walking.
My, but this witch has spirit. It isn't something he hasn't known. He's certainly been on the receiving end of it on more than one occasion. His anger is still firmly in place, but after so many years of not seeing her eyes grow hard and dark as emeralds with it, one can't help but appreciate the sight and savor.
This witch has grown. She stands in defiance now without fear where once she stood in spite of it. And she is fearless not because of some assurance of affection or necessity, but because she is firm in the belief that she will not allow him to harm her. The boldness of it is imprinted in every detail of her face…
And it's breathtaking.
And then she's offering drinks and walking away.
He falls in step with her as she continues. "Seven years ago, the Armory tried to bring me in. The head of the organization at that time was a woman named Alex St. John who also happens to be a distant relative of my boyfriend Enzo. She was trying to bring me in because back in 2014, her sister Yvette got trapped in the vault and her other sister Virginia got my cousin Lucy to spell the door so that no one could get in or out. Virginia then killed Lucy to make sure that no one broke it."
Klaus quirked an eyebrow at this detail, but said nothing.
"Enzo managed to keep me under the Armory's radar for three years by giving me these pills that suppressed my magic. But we didn't know that the pills were made using the blood of the hunter, Rayna Cruz and that prolonged usage was fatal. There was no cure."
Exactly how many times has this witch been at or beyond death's door? Klaus wondered.
"The Phoenix Stone had been destroyed by this time and all the vamps contained within it escaped in all directions looking for any and every vampire body to inhabit. So Damon and Enzo made a deal with Rayna. If they killed all of the Stone's escapees, then she would agree to transfer her last remaining life to me."
"Her last remaining life?" Klaus knew the legend of this hunter. He knew that she was initially linked to eight shamans which sustained her.
"Yeah," Bonnie sighed. "Damon killed her a bunch of times before we found out about her link to the Everlasting."
"Of course," Klaus couldn't hide the disdain that dripped from his voice at the name of the elder Salvatore.
"Anyway, I was fading fast. Too fast for them to kill all those vampires in time. So Damon made a deal behind my back with Alex St. John. If the Armory got rid of Rayna's vamps, I would open the vault."
They re-entered the main building and Bonnie led them to a nearby staircase. Klaus took in the expanse of the Armory as he listened. He'd known that this organization founded by humans was committed to acquiring supernatural items by any means necessary but he was a bit surprised at how extensive a collection they'd procured. Just with the cursory glances he's had since he's been here, he can identify items he once believed forever lost.
He followed Bonnie up the stairs to the second floor as she explained that she had been dead set against opening the vault after being warned by her cousin's murderer of its contents.
"If this Virginia knew the vault shouldn't be opened, why didn't her sister?"
Bonnie paused in front of a door. "Some weird form of cognitive dissonance, I guess? She couldn't believe that there was something powerful and dangerous trapped in there while at the same time believing that her sister had managed to stay alive in there for years with no food and no water. People are willing to do all kinds of mental gymnastics when it comes to the ones they love." A wry smirk appeared as she opened the door to her quarters and ushered him in.
The space was large. Whoever the previous occupant had been requested an open floor plan featuring a large fireplace, a sitting area complete with oversized furniture and a king-sized bed which sat atop a raised platform. Bonnie had covered nearly every flat surface in the room with scrolls, grimoires, journals, notes, maps…the witch had been doing quite a bit of research.
"Sit wherever you want," she offered as she made her way over to a small bar. Klaus watched as she poured two glasses of what appeared to be single malt scotch. It was then that he realized that something was missing.
His anger.
Somewhere, between the moments she removed that bloody barrier and now, his anger at the witch had dissipated. He quickly replayed all of her actions to this point in an attempt to stoke that fire again, and came up empty.
She had disarmed him.
Less than an hour ago he was prepared to end her life and now here he sat. In her bedroom. On her couch. Drinking her surprisingly good scotch. Enjoying her company. Well done, little witch, he mused.
Bonnie plopped down in the chair across for Klaus. He's listening. She knew that he had put aside his ire by the relaxed way he now sank into her couch, one arm thrown across the back and the other swirling his drink around in his glass.
"Anyway, Alex was smart enough to know that just because Damon made the deal didn't mean that I'd follow through so…"
"Who did they take?" He remembered that the witch's willingness to bend for the sake of her loved ones had practically been stamped on her forehead for all to see.
"Caroline and Alaric."
"Naturally," he nodded, a bemused smirk playing around his lips.
"So as soon as I got them, Damon and Enzo out, I threw up a barrier around this whole building and that should have been the end of that."
"I would be disappointed if it were, love"
"I know," she mouthed.
"Anyway, it turns out Rayna was not the 'forgive and forget' type when it came to Damon, so she neglected to inform him that the transfer of her link to the Everlasting included her hunter's curse.
"Brilliant."
"Enzo tracked down the shaman that performed the transfer and found out that to break the curse, the Everlasting had to be destroyed. And guess where he was cooling his heels?"
"The Amory."
"Right fucking downstairs," Bonnie grimaced. "So Damon gets Caroline's girls to siphon away my magic from the barrier. He manages to get in and destroy the Everlasting just in time to stop me from plunging a stake through Enzo's heart."
Klaus looked up. "Wait…this Enzo is a vampire?"
"Yeah…so?"
"Oh nothing. I just find it amusing that the noble, self-righteous Bonnie Bennett deigned to sully her good name by becoming romantically entangled with the monsters she's fought so hard against."
"I guess that just speaks to the kind of person Enzo is, now doesn't it?"
Klaus's eyes narrowed. "Get on with your story, witch."
"Right," Bonnie sighed, rolling her eyes. "When I transitioned to hunter, I lost my magic and it didn't return even after Damon destroyed the Everlasting. And then Damon didn't come back from the Armory. Enzo went after him and then…they were just gone." She stared into her drink.
"What was in the vault, Bonnie?" She had grown quiet, getting lost in memory as it drew her out of this moment and into a past she could not change. He found he didn't like it.
Bonnie shook herself from her reverie, returning her attention to the hybrid. "All the records I've found even vaguely describing this thing's M.O. don't actually give it a name. The closest translation I have is that it's some form of supernatural blight. But it's sentient. It has consciousness. Bonnie rose from her chair and came to join Klaus on the couch, settling herself on the opposite end.
"This thing can invade a body...devouring it from the inside out. Your mind, your heart, your soul. Once you've been hollowed out, you basically become a vehicle for it to get around. It burns through humans quickly. No one human can hold it for very long so it will inhabit multiple humans at the same time until their bodies wither and die from the strain. It can inhabit supernaturals for much longer periods with the added bonus of having access to their abilities. It's been inside of Damon and Enzo for the past 4 years, keeping their bodies alive by continuing to feed on human blood.
"So Damon and Enzo are dead?"
Bonnie stilled, her glass almost to her lips. "I'm not ready to believe that yet," she said quietly before draining its contents.
Klaus studied her. "Would this be an example of those mental gymnastics you mentioned earlier?" He asked gently.
"Touché," Bonnie offered, ruefully.
She watched as the hybrid rose, taking her glass from her and walked over to the bar. He poured refills for them both, clearly ruminating over her words.
"What do you think it wants?" He asked, returning to her.
"A body. A permanent, powerful body. Caroline and Stefan have been tracking Damon and Enzo's movements and it looks like they've been rounding up solitary witches."
"Solitary?" Klaus scoffed "Whatever for?" The hybrid was aware of the fact that a solitary witch wasn't nearly as powerful as a witch who'd either belonged to a coven or was born into a family of witches. If he were in the market for a new body, he would not select one from their number.
"There is a innate magical bond that exists between a coven or family of witches. It strengthens their magic. It protects them and keeps everything else out. It's like a witch's version of herd immunity. Solitaries don't have that. They're easy pickings," Bonnie explained.
"Then its acquiring these solitaries for another purpose. Perhaps to aid it in finding its true prize," Klaus was on his feet again. This entity was in the market for a powerful, unencumbered supernatural and who was more powerful than he? The witch's interference may have pinned a large target on his back, he thought grimly.
"I'm a solitary witch, Klaus.
That stopped him. "Don't be absurd, Bonnie. You're a Bennett," he scoffed, brushing the notion aside.
"I'm not a Bennett. I'm the Bennett. When Lucy was murdered, the bond between us dissolved." Bonnie tried to stop herself from remembering feeling the bond the night she'd first met Lucy. She'd nearly been overwhelmed by the feeling of magic, blood and kinship with a total stranger. It was wonderful. And such a relief to know...to feel that she wasn't alone after all. That she had a family beyond her Grams and her never there father. Lucy had turned on Katherine Pierce and helped her save Elena. And she'd done it simply because they were blood.
A few hours later, Lucy walked away and Bonnie never saw her again.
Klaus absorbed her words. The Bennett bloodline was older than even himself. Many, including himself had profited from having a Bennett witch their back pocket. And just as many responded to their deaths with a certain flippancy...including himself. Their dwindling numbers convinced many that they could be replaced with more plentiful though less valuable options.
And now there's only one left. One with a tremendous amount of power and she was more than likely sitting at the very top of a very short list of potential residences for some ancient squatter. The witch was simultaneously a potential threat and a potential victim. The very idea was unsettling.
"Your mother-" he offered.
"-Is no longer a witch, remember?" The bitterness in the witch's voice was undeniable. And just as it had during their conversation regarding the Other Side, the uncomfortable twisting in the pit of his stomach returned. This was wrong. He did not care for the witch, but as one who appreciated the priceless, who understood the enormity of dynasty; the notion that the last scion of the greatest bloodline to ever exist—could be devoured and used in such a way felt wrong.
His eyes narrowed. "Why are you bringing this to me?"
Bonnie started up at him from her seat. "Obvious reasons are because you're the Original Hybrid and all that that implies. And because for this, I'd prefer you an ally rather than an enemy. The not so obvious reason, is because you tried to help stop me from completing the Expression Triangle. You were able to look past your own self-interest and look at the bigger picture. You'd be surprised at how many are completely incapable of doing that."
"Oh I'm quite aware, love."
"Good. Because this isn't the big picture, Klaus. This is the only picture. If I can't stop this thing, it will take me. And then it will take you. And then it will take everyone you hold dear in that walnut you call a heart right along with everyone else."
Klaus closed his eyes, accepting the truth of her words. "You have a plan?"
"Mmmm...more like the bones of a plan," Bonnie replied, rising from the couch to stand before him. "So what do you say Klaus? Do we take this back outside...or are you Team: Save the Witch, Save the World?
A/N: I hope you're enjoying this and thanks so much for the reviews and follows! Anastasia-G: Your second review made me blush like a fool and you're right, I do want this to feel like a culmination of sorts. I also have to thank you for your first review because your words really came in handy with this update. The first draft of this required a lot of self-editing because I found myself trying to put everything in at the same time, when my goal is to build. MoceJo: Your "sexy as hell badass hybrid stealing witch queen" made me laugh out loud because that's exactly what I want her to be here.