Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Vampire Diaries in any way. I would love to but unfortunately, I don't think I would have the money to buy them even if they were for sale.
A/N: I hope everyone likes this chapter. I just let the ideas flow as I wrote this chapter. Anyway, I won't take up your time with a long author's not here. On with the story!
Chapter 7
Klaus paced across the living room of his manor. He hadn't heard from Jeremy in a while and he was beginning to worry. It had been clear to him from Jeremy's texts that he was planning to come over but he had never messaged him again to say he was on his way. He also hadn't messaged to say that he decided not to come either, which was what worried him. His mate had been careful the past week to keep him informed, understanding that they had solidified their bond that night they had been together before the hybrid had had to leave or risk being discovered.
He paused in front of the glass top table, picking up his cell phone and glancing at the screen. He wasn't surprised to see that he had no new messages but that wasn't what he had picked up his phone for. He opened his contact list and scrolled through until he came to Damon Salvatore's name. He was loath to rely on the young vampire but he knew he had no choice for no one knew of his relationship with the teenager. He pressed call and waited for him to pick up.
"What? I'm about busy right now and I have present company that should never find out that I'm talking-," Damon said immediately after answering his phone.
Klaus rolled his eyes, becoming impatient and slightly angry. "I don't have time for your attitude, Salvatore. I just want to know if you've seen Jeremy. He texted me, saying you and Elena were leaving and he was thinking of coming over but I haven't heard from him since," he said.
There was pause from Damon before he began to speak and his concealed tone of worry surprised the hybrid. "No. He was still at the Gilbert house when I left with Elena. He was playing with his phone, which is what I'm guessing you're talking about," he said.
Klaus winced at the loud sound of Elena's voice coming suddenly from Damon's end of the line. He only now noticed how annoying her voice was that she kept him from his mate. "Stay with her. If you do anything to help me find him then do so. I'll take care of it on my own for now," he said. He quickly pressed the ignore button and put his phone in his pocket. He breathed in through his nose and closed his eyes, concentrating on Jeremy. He remembered a vague mention of a hybrid being able to locate their mate's last location when they were conscious but he wasn't sure of how the whole concept worked.
A picture slowly formed in the black of his vision from his closed eyes. He recognized the houses as being on a street near his mansion. Clearly, whatever had happened to Jeremy had happened while he was on his way to see him. Before the picture faded away, he noticed Jeremy's cell phone laying on the ground, half in and half out of the shadows that covered an alley between the two houses in the picture.
He grit his teeth, understanding that someone must have taken Jeremy for his phone to be somewhere he wasn't. He flashed out of the house and to the address he had seen, slowing to a human's pace when he saw Jeremy's phone. He picked it up and immediately unlocked it then scrolled through the sent text messages. When he saw the last name listed, he snarled in anger, understanding who had his mate and what the reason most likely was. He felt angry enough to destroy the whole town but he restrained himself, knowing that it wouldn't help him to get the teenager away from Stefan.
Breathing in deeply, he tried to think where Stefan could possibly have taken his mate but he couldn't think of anything. Then, suddenly, he remembered of a place Elijah had told him about before he had daggered him and stuffed him into the last coffin that he had. The abandoned witches' house that the Salvatores and the others had his out in. He snarled again in anger, knowing that there was no way in hell that he would be able to get into that house. He hoped that they would give him time to explain about Jeremy being his mate for he knew that they wouldn't stand someone playing with another's mate, not even his.
He was about to go on his way to search the general area Elijah had told him when he heard his phone ringing in his pocket. He clenched his hand briefly before relaxing it and taking his phone out. He glanced at the screen, looking to see who was suicidal enough to call him right now. He was tempted to throw the piece of plastic at the house to his right when he saw Stefan's name flashing on the screen but he restrained himself. He would kill the vampire later, right now he had to find out if his mate was alright.
{HC}
Jeremy moaned slightly and blinked his eyes open then closed then when the light he was greeted with made them water. He waited for a minute before slowly opening them again. He blinked a couple times to make sure that he could stand the light before keeping them open. He looked around before moving, trying to get a feel for where he was.
After staring around at the rotted floor and ceiling, along with the horrible walls, he realized he was in the witches' house that he, John and Bonnie had stayed in while the Salvatores and Elena had dealt with Klaus. Slowly and cautiously, he sat up, being careful so he didn't fall through the floor or something. He looked around for Stefan but couldn't find him.
When he went to stand however, Stefan suddenly appeared in front of him, making him quickly fall back to where he had been sitting on the floor. He looked around again, trying to ignore the vampire. He soon realized that he was clearly in the basement or whatever it could be called. He glanced behind him and blinked when he saw coffins taking up the other side of the room. He whipped his head back around when he felt a hand grip his wrist tightly and yank him to his feet.
Stefan was slightly glad and yet felt some self-hate that his switch was off and he didn't feel much of anything about what he was doing. He yanked Jeremy after him as he walked to the stairs set up just in front of the coffins and shoved the teenager down into the nearest one. "Stay here, Jeremy. I don't want to hurt you but I will if you move or touch the coffins," he said. "Understand?" He was satisfied when the boy nodded to him and he quickly left the room, trusting him to stick to his word.
Jeremy looked after Stefan then as soon as he thought he was safe, he searched his pockets for his phone before getting a vague flashback to having dropped his phone when Stefan knocked him unconscious. At least, he thought that was what happened. Trying to be quiet, he slowly got up from the chair and opened the coffin on the right of him. He blinked, not recognizing the vampire laying there but from the descriptions, he took it to be Kol. He tiptoed over to the one on his left and opened it. He let out a light breath of relief when he recognized Elijah. He knew if the Original had been in one of the other coffins, he most likely would have been caught by Stefan.
He reached for the dagger and slowly pulled it out. Feeling a chill of warning go down his spine, he dropped the dagger beside Elijah in the coffin, closed the lid and quickly sat back down, trying to look as if he hadn't moved. He didn't see Stefan coming but he must be or else he would have felt the chill.
He tried to think of a way to communicate with Emily and the other witches but he couldn't think of anything that wouldn't make Stefan aware of what he was doing and stop him. He groaned softly, letting his head fall back to hit the back of the chair. He brought his head back up when he felt Stefan nudging his shoulder. He glared at the Salvatore brother that he had used to like but he was surprised to find that he now preferred Damon. Maybe it was because Damon would never exploit him, no matter how much he wanted to hurt Klaus. He wasn't sure but he did know that he wasn't going to like what Stefan was going to do next.
Stefan held out his phone, having realized when he had arrived back at the witches' house with Jeremy that he didn't have the boy's cell phone and that it must be back where he had taken him. "Call Klaus. Tell him you're fine then I'll take it from there," he said.
Jeremy reluctantly took the cell phone, not bothering to argue for he knew that Stefan could just force him to do what he wanted. He dialed Klaus's number from memory and pressed the phone to his ear after pressing call on the screen. He waited, growing nervous under Stefan's gaze every second he waited for Klaus to answer.
"Hello?"
It was Klaus, like he knew it would be, but Jeremy still sighed in relief at the sound of his mate's voice. "Klaus?" he asked, grimacing inwardly when he heard the waver in his own voice.
"Jeremy? Are you alright?"
Jeremy laughed softly, not able to help himself from being slightly hysterical since he though the situation allowed for it maybe even deserved it. "Yeah, I'm fine. Well, aside from being taken by my sister's ex-boyfriend, I am," he replied to the hybrid's worry laced question.
Before he could hear what Klaus said to that, if anything, Stefan took the phone away from him and walked away as he began talking. From where he was sitting, Jeremy could tell that Stefan wasn't going easy on Klaus and he itched to try to help his mate and get back to him but he was only human after all and there nothing he could do against a vampire. The only hope that he had was that Elijah woke up soon and would be able to tell that he was Klaus's mate or even care enough in the first place to help him.
He had no idea how long it would take for Elijah to wake up after having had the dagger taken out. He knew that it would most likely take a while but he hoped no longer than at least an hour. He tried to remember if Elena had mentioned how long it had taken when she had taken the dagger out but he didn't think she had actually timed it or bothered to look. She had just waited which was what he was now forced to do.
He jumped when the cell phone was shoved in front of his line of sight by Stefan who had a mocking look on his face that he recognized as one Damon often wore. He grabbed the phone after a pointed look from the vampire in front of him and put it to his ear. "Klaus?
"Yes, love. Don't worry everything will be fine."
Jeremy bit his lip, trying to figure out how he could tell his mate about Elijah and see if his brother would help him without alerting Stefan. "Do you remember about that person you told me about? That sophisticated one who reminded you of your brother? Whatever happened to him?"" he asked, hoping Klaus understood what he was getting at. He was in luck for there was a soft laugh from Klaus, almost in relief.
"He ended up being very useful, just as useful as my brother. However, he eventually died just like any human usually does."
Jeremy smiled slightly to himself. Then, glancing at Stefan to see him frowning, he quickly went back to the script. "Please get me out of this situation soon, Nik. Stefan just isn't good company," he said. He heard Klaus laugh and say goodbye before Stefan yanked the phone away and pressed cancel, hanging up on Klaus, which the teenager knew would annoy his mate to no end.
"Emily? Would you and the others mind hiding the coffins again? Oh, and make sure Jeremy doesn't go anyway. We wouldn't want him going back to Klaus to get manipulated," Stefan called to the air as he turned on his head and began to walk out of the room.
As soon as Stefan exited the room, Jeremy watched the coffins behind him shimmer and then disappear from sight. He knew they were still there, he just couldn't see them anymore. He tried to stand up but something stopped him before he could even move a muscle. He took a deep breath then decided that it didn't matter. He would stay down here but he wanted to be able to at least move around.
"Emily?" he called softly, feeling awkward.
There was a slight acknowledgement in the air, which he guessed was from Emily. He took a deep breath again, needing the fortification. "Klaus isn't forcing me to do anything. He's my mate. The only one who has been lying and hurting people this past week or so is Stefan," he said. He hoped Emily and the other witches would believe him. After all, Stefan was still a vampire, normally nice or not.
He could the witches' indecision in the air and he racked his brain to think of something he could use to convince them he hadn't been compelled to say that. Suddenly, his head erupted in pain for a brief 20 seconds then it went away.
There is no need to convince me, Jeremy. What I managed to see briefly in your memories, your feelings of love and devotion to Klaus and his to you, is all I need as proof. And the very fact you are still human and Elena is still free help. Also, not even Klaus would lie about something like having a mate, especially to a witch.
Jeremy blinked at the kind female in his head that reminded him of Bonnie but then again Emily was Bonnie's ancestor. He sighed in relief for he had not been able to think of anything on his own to help to prove the truth of his statement. He settled back in the chair then jumped when Emily spoke to him again.
Jeremy, you will have to let Elijah bite you. He needs blood since he has been neutralized for so long.
Jeremy frowned, thinking of Klaus's reaction but then decided that it was his blood and he would decide and that was that. He jumped again when he heard a noise from the coffin Elijah was in but then exhaled heavily, trying to settle himself and not be some scared rabbit. His history of being bitten by vampires wasn't very good. First, Vicky had tried to bite him since she wasn't able to control her hunger. Then, there was Anna but she had been alright. Last but not least, was Katherine who had actually torn his throat out, killing him if he remembered correctly. Rolling his eyes, he told himself to suck it up and stood up from the chair, opening both parts of the coffin lid to make things easier for Elijah.
He jumped back from the coffin when Elijah's body suddenly jerked, as if his legs were broken. He watched in fascinated horror as the Original jerked again, this time centered on his back. He spun around when he heard a slam higher up in the house. He cursed and quickly slammed both parts of the coffin lid closed. He scrambled to sit back down in the chair even though he had a strong feeling that it didn't matter anymore whether Stefan knew or not.
He waited tensely but no one came close to the door of the basement. He listened attentively, knowing that his hearing was horrible compared to that of the other beings in the house. He got up again but before he could go back to the coffin to check on Elijah, the lid opened on its own and Elijah sat up. He watched as the vampire looked around, disoriented, before he had to step back because Elijah was suddenly directly in front of him. He yelped slightly in pain and surprise when Elijah reached around and grabbed a fistful of his hair, jerking his head back to expose his neck.
It was only as Elijah struck like a viper, biting his neck and sucking his blood that he noticed that the Original had his vampire face on, clearly hungry to point of not being able to think. He forced himself not to move, knowing that if he did then it would most likely be more painful than it already was. He held still as Elijah continued to drink but when he began to get lightheaded, he knew that he had to stop the vampire before he lost conscious or he would probably be dead.
"Elijah, stop. Please."
Elijah seemed to snap out of it at the mere sound of Jeremy's voice and gently pulled away from the teenager's neck. He wiped the small spot of blood from the corner of his mouth and then turned his full attention to the teenager in front of him. He caught him as he started to fall and gently set him in one of the chairs near the coffins. He opened the top half of the lid of the coffin to Jeremy's right, gazing down at Kol.
After a minute, turned away knowing that if he continued to stared down at him then he would be able to close the coffin unless he took the dagger out of his little brother. He looked Elena's brother over, wondering what was going on when he suddenly caught Niklaus's scent coming from him. Frowning to himself, he tilted his head slightly to one side and tried to remember if he knew what that meant. After a few moments, he remembered the tale about a hybrid having a mate from one of the books he had loaned to Elena and the Salvatores when he had been helping them to kill Niklaus.
He found it ironic that his brother's mate was the brother of the Petrova Doppelganger but on the other hand, it made sense. He did remember him talking about feeling a pull towards them but not really feeling anything for the girls' themselves. Shaking his head, he told himself to think about it later and focus on Jeremy right now. He could tell he had taken too much but not enough to knock him unconscious or kill him. He walked over and crouched down beside the wooden chair, looking up at the teenager's face and trying to judge how he was doing. He didn't want Klaus to kill him just because he had been hungry for blood after having gone so long without.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to him and he snapped his attention to Jeremy, gripping the teenager's chin and turning his head to look at him. He wondered what was going for Klaus was definitely not anywhere around where they were. If he was, then Jeremy would not have been there when he had woken up. Klaus would have locked Jeremy away in his bedroom before letting him near a previously neutralized Original vampire. He grimaced, thinking of how much worse it would have been if Jeremy had chosen Kol.
For one, his little brother was more likely to just kill Jeremy and whoever else was in this house before looking for Klaus and trying to kill him too. Second, if Kol didn't kill Jeremy and stopped like he had when the human had told him to; Kol wasn't the type to care enough to help a human.
Sighing, he realized that finally being able to even see the rest of his family was distracting him. He pushed thoughts of them to the furthest possible reaches in his mind and focused on Jeremy who was string at with a still slightly unfocused look mixed in a nervous look as well. He decided to ask what he had intended to minutes ago and save the boy worrying.
"Where's Niklaus? And what is going?"
Jeremy swallowed, trying to relax. He knew that Elijah had most likely figured out what relationship he had with Klaus, even that he had one in the beginning.
"I'm his mate like I know you've figured out. Anyway, Stefan took you and the others to try to get back at N-… Klaus. I was texting Klaus a few hours ago, I think, but I accidentally sent the last two or three messages to Stefan without noticing since I was too busy worrying about Elena catching me with Klaus. I guess Stefan decided to take me too. That I was probably the way to hurt Klaus the most," Jeremy said.
Elijah nodded and stood up, searching his suit jacket pockets for his phone. He didn't think Klaus would have taken that and he was right when he found it in the inside pocket of his jacket. He took it out and scrolled through, easily finding Klaus's name. He selected 'send message' instead of call, finding it safer since Jeremy said that Stefan was nearby. He paused at the text message window, unsure what to write then passed the phone to Jeremy.
"Write something to Niklaus so that he knows that it is you and that Stefan isn't playing a joke on him," he explained when Jeremy looked from him to the phone in confusion.
Jeremy nodded at the explanation and took the phone. He didn't have to think at all about what to write, somehow knowing right away that just the way he phrased his texts would tell Klaus that it was him.
Nik, it's me. Elijah is awake now. If you're already on your way or here, please don't worry about me. I'll be fine. The witches will even help you now. I told them about me being your mate and they don't much like Stefan now for lying to them about that. Love you and be safe.
Jeremy winced at the last phrase that just slipped out as he typed but he couldn't erase as his hands seemed to have a life of their own as they hit the send button on the touch screen and handed the phone back to Elijah. He looked up at his mate's brother and then glanced briefly back at the other coffins.
"What should we do now?" he asked.
Elijah put his phone away and mulled Jeremy's question over. He thought about trying to take Jeremy and leave the house, knowing the spirits of the witches would take care of distracting Stefan but then decided that staying was now their only option since Klaus knew Jeremy was here and he didn't want to deal with his angry hybrid brother at the moment.
"Now? Now, we stay here and patiently wait for Niklaus to get here and save his mate, you," he said. Then he added under his breath, "Let's just hope that he doesn't take his time torturing Stefan. I doubt you're ready for that side of him right now."
A/N: Please Review! It let's me now that everyone still loves this story.
Understanding, where are you? You haven't reviewed since chapter 4! Have you read the new chapters since then?
Guest: I'm not really sure from your review whether you liked the previous chapter or not. You made it sound like you didn't but then... well it also sounded like you did.
Alena-Tera: I'm really glad you like my story! But could you say a comment about the chapter instead of prompting me to update? I don't mind, write what you want, but I want to make sure everything that I'm writing you like. Thanks for reviewing at least.
BigTimeGleekBTR: Thank you so much1 I'm glad to have someone in love with my story.
Devyn197: Hmmm... Is it cool? Well, thank you. I'm flattered.
forgivemystupidity: Is it possible to not like the series?
Thank you to everyone who reviewed. And to those I didn't say anythign to in here, I'm sorry. I didn't want to clutter this with reponses to your reviews. I just picked the people at the top of the review list. Thanks again for reading and please review.
