Musical inspiration this chapter: Marcha Fúnebre - Frédéric Chopin
Hope you haven't eaten, dinner is on its way.
I don't own The Notebook.
Bringing Out the Dead, Wakes Up the Neighbors Part I
"You look surprised to see me. So, it wasn't you that removed the dagger from my chest?" Elijah gathered he was right from the look of shock on his face.
"You look like you could do with a drink and we have a lot to discuss, so shall we?" Klaus asks tentatively, right as Elijah attacks him, making him fly through a door. "Easy; I just finished renovating." Klaus races towards Elijah and slams him down on a table, breaking it.
"You know you have every right to be mad at me, but I kept my word, I reunited you with our family," Klaus gets out snidely, as Elijah lands a punch to his face, sending him into the room with the rest of the coffins. He takes this chance to open Kol's coffin and grab the dagger from his chest. "Don't make me do this to you again, Elijah!" Klaus yells with the dagger aimed at his chest and his hand wrapped around his throat.
"Come on, use it. I dare you," His voice is strained, but fierce. "You'll have Kol to deal with." He knew Kol was a wild card.
Klaus ponders this before releasing him. "Mikael is dead."
"What did you say?" He couldn't believe what Klaus had just said.
"I killed him with his own weapon. He's gone Elijah, forever."
"Why does our family remain in these coffins? Finn for over nine hundred years, Kol for over a century." Mikael was the reason they'd been running and if he was dead, then why was his family still daggered?
"Because of Stefan Salvatore; he holds the one thing keeping me from freeing them. There are things that you do not know about our past, Elijah, our Mother's death, things I never wanted you to know, but I'm ready to tell you now. I only ask that you remember the oath of loyalty you once swore to me."
"What are you doing?" Elijah watches as Niklaus places the dagger back into Kol.
"Always and forever. I need you to stand by my side. Be my brother, help me destroy Stefan, and I promise you our family will be whole again."
"This is an unconventional conversation we're about to have, so I hope you'll protect me on it." Sheriff Forbes starts off addressing Care, Elena, Bonnie and I.
"Is something the matter, Mom?" Caroline asks. "Why did you want all of us here?"
"A medical examiner was found staked." I blurt out in a hurry.
"Alexandra!" Sheriff Forbes yells.
"What? No point in wasting time and besides, the pancakes are gonna get cold." I grab one from off the plate.
"Now that you know our medical examiner was murdered," She glares at me. "You should also know it was the night of the Wickery Bridge fundraiser."
"Yeah, his name was Brian Walters." I drown my pancake in syrup.
"We've been investigating," Sheriff Forbes places the stake bagged in a evidence bag on the counter. "Someone drove this stake through his heart." Elena eyes widen in shock.
"That's one of ours. I mean this is one of a set from my parent's lake house." She couldn't understand how it had gotten here. Yeah the lake house was secluded, but someone would have to know where the stakes were and knew that vampires existed.
"That's why I'm telling you. I haven't told anyone, but forensics ran it for prints and found only one clean set; yours."
"What?" All four of us ask.
"So, you're the prime suspect, huh?" Damon asks Elena.
"She doesn't think that I did it, she's just trying to find out why somebody used one of my family weapons to kill a council member."
"Well, why don't you just ask Ric if his dirty little doctor had access to the weapons." Damon asks. It's too early for this, Damon…
"You're on speaker phone, dick." Alaric responds.
"Uncle Ric!" I laugh.
"Sorry, kid." This is the last time we do a conference call with Damon.
"I'm just sayin', first suspects usually the right one. Don't get so defensive."
"Shut up, Damon." Bonnie beats me to the punch.
"But Brian Walters was killed days ago, right?" Care asks.
"Right and I didn't show Meredith this stuff until last night!" Ric yells exasperatedly.
"It wasn't Meredith, Alaric." Bonnie tries comforting Ric.
"But, Brian Walters was her ex-boyfriend and Ric saw them fighting that night." Damon continues.
"It's not Meredith, okay?" Elena couldn't let Alaric think he was cursed. "I refuse to believe that your luck with women is that tragic." First it was Isobel leaving him to become a vampire, then Klaus murdered Jenna, and now it was Meredith.
"Who else knows about your secret little slayer stash?" Damon asks Ric. Why did he make it sound like porn?
"Who doesn't? Got weapons everywhere, here, the school, my loft, your car." Most teachers have confiscated cell phones in their desks.
"Well it's Klaus, it has to be. He's screwing with us…again." Care sighs, unconsciously rubbing her neck where Tyler's bite use to be.
"What if it was Stefan? He was crazy that night, and you know he was trying to get underneath Klaus's skin, he was capable of pretty much anything." Elena makes a good point.
"True, but, how does killing a random guy that has far as we know, has no ties to Klaus, prove a point?" I wasn't sold on the idea. Maybe Stefan knew something we didn't.
"Aah, makes me nostalgic for the time that Stefan was a bunny snacking pacifist," He joked, but he missed the days of Stefan being on his side instead of against him. "Anyway, got to go. You'll know more later."
"Hey, where are you?" Ric asks before he can hang up.
"Tea with an old friend."
"I bet you can't even remember what tea taste like, Damon." Bonnie snorts.
"Bye, witch," Damon mocks, before hanging up. Well that was…interesting. "Elijah, my favorite original, back from the dead. You clean up nice."
"You left something in my jacket pocket." Elijah pulls out the note.
"Oh, yeah. 'Dear Elijah, let's get together, plot the destruction of your brother, XOXO'."
"Damon." Elijah didn't have time for games.
"Was I right to undagger you or are we gonna have a problem like last time?" He challenges.
"I'm here, let's talk."
"I'll start with an easy question, any idea what kind of Klaus killing weapon could be magically sealed in a mystery coffin?"
"Slow, down!" Abby yells trying to catch up to Stefan in the cave.
"Keep up, we don't have much time."
"I didn't have a choice, Stefan." Bonnie apologizes.
"It was a choice, Bonnie, you made it and now we have to live with it. You told Klaus where the coffins were and he took them. All of them except this one." He was angry and down three coffins.
"That's the one that's sealed?" Abby questions.
"Yep. Fortunately it seems to be the one he cares about most." Stefan responds.
"Aren't you coming inside?" Abby was confused as to way he'd stopped at the entrance.
"Vampires can't get in. Damon had to compelled a couple of Lockwood gardeners to bring the coffin in."
"This is a bad idea." Abby states. This was exactly why she didn't want Bonnie or Jamie involved in magic.
"Look, if you're really the key to opening up that coffin, I think it's a pretty safe bet you're on Klaus's hit-list, so I suggest you hideout here and figure out a way to open up the damn thing." He didn't have time for apprehension.
"I told you, I don't have my powers under control, but I'll do the best I can."
"And I don't believe you. Won't be long before Klaus calls his hybrids to find that coffin and kill all of us, Bonnie included." Abby didn't like threats, especially ones aimed at her children.
"Are you threatening my daughter?" Bonnie's eyes widen. Stefan could feel a slight throb at the forefront of his temple that hadn't existed before.
"Dig deep, Abby Bennett and scrape out whatever magic you have left," He leaves the two to their work, rubbing his forehead. When he comes outside, Elena's waiting in the front of the entrance to the cave. "What are you doing here?" He hadn't expect to see her so soon.
"Bonnie told me that you guys would be here," She was unsure of how to act around him after their kiss last night. "I need to talk to you."
"Well, there's nothing to talk about. I'm just focused on getting this coffin open." And making sure a repeat of last night doesn't happen again.
"Did you kill the medical examiner?"
"Why would you think I did that?" His voice had taken on a softer tone.
"Maybe because I don't know what you're capable of anymore." The kiss wasn't helping either.
"Well, believe what you want, Elena." He didn't have to stand there and deal with answering her questions, they weren't together anymore.
"I don't want to believe any of it, Stefan." She stares at him until he shifts his focus to the side of the cave.
"But you had to ask me anyway."
"Stefan..." She needed an answer.
"Did you ask Damon... if he killed anybody lately?" If he got grilled, so should Damon.
"Damon's not the one I care about Stefan," Elena had to let Stefan know that. "He's not the one I kissed last night." Stefan wasn't ready for her bold statement.
A beat passes before Stefan walks by Elena, but he pauses and turns around. "No. I didn't kill the medical examiner, Elena." Stefan says before walking out. She stares after him.
"I'll get to you yet, Stefan." Elena says with a soft smile.
"How you holding up, Mr. Forbes?" I ask, walking into his hospital room.
"Better now that I see you have cinnamon rolls. They're my favorite!"
"Care figured you'd be tired of hospital food," I take a seat next to him. "You still didn't answer my question."
"A little sore, but it's to be expected after getting attacked by a werewolf and then almost killed by whoever attacked me." Hybrid actually, but that's not important.
"You're lucky Care decided it'd be better for you to heal on your own instead of using her blood; you could've been a vampire." Trying to force a shift on the wolf side of a hybrid, came with its risks as Bill found out. I guess they had made progress because from what Bill had told Care, Tyler had managed to snap out of his haze and bolt before he could kill Bill.
He'd got to the hospital and claimed he'd been attacked by an animal, which was true, and Meredith had been tempted to give him some vampire blood, but Care axed it; no need to add to his vampire hate. She'd discharged him late last night just so she wouldn't have to hear him threaten to get her medical license revoked. Care had come to pick him with Elena in tow, when she called his cell phone, it lead her to a medical supply room. Care and Elena had found him with knife in his stomach. Luckily, the knife had missed anything major and just enter in his large bowel, but he had ended right back in the hospital and Care hadn't left his side much.
"I know."
"You know? Because right now with everything that's going on, Care could really use her Dad right now, but it seems like you can't stand to be near her."
"My daughter is the very thing I promised I would kill," He sighs. "I love Care, she's grown up to be a beautiful, smart young woman, but..." You're still gonna leave.
"Just realize Care isn't like the other vampires you've met; she doesn't kill people for fun or compel them to do whatever she wants. She helps keep Mystic Falls safe, she risked her life just to help Tyler transition, and while you might not like it, she drinks from a blood bag instead of offing people. Hell, she even eats food, so do me a favor and don't lump her in with the bad apples." A look of surprise crosses his face.
"She eats food, why would she do that?" He knew there was no point in that; they couldn't taste it.
"Stefan helped her when she was transitioning, said it helps with the cravings. I honestly think that's one of the things that helps keep her human."
"It doesn't change the fact that she's a vampire. Once I meet back up with Tyler and help him break his sire bond, I'm leaving." Bill sighs. Can't say I didn't try.
"You're willing to risk getting attacked by a hybrid again, but you won't stay a little while longer to spend time with your daughter?" He was so goddamn unbelievable! "She's seventeen, what do you want from her, Bill?" What was he expecting from her? "The most life or death situation she had to worry about, was what kind of routine to put together for the cheerleading squad! She's still a kid, your kid, the same Care who eats chocolate ice cream and cries at The Notebook." A look of understanding flashes across his eyes as a knock comes at the door.
"Hey, Lexx. Thanks for dropping off the cinnamon roll, had to go take Mom lunch. I'm surprised you're still here." Caroline thought she'd be getting ready for the party. She would've went but she was staying with her Dad, Bonnie was trying to get the coffin open with Abby and Elena wasn't in a partying mode what with being a murder suspect; she was happy at least one of them was doing something that didn't involve coffins and hybrids.
"We started talking, but I'm about to head to Kate's party."
"That explains the hair," Care gestures towards the loose waves and small braid on either side of my head that I've connected to the back of my hair. "You're wearing that green bodycon dress I helped you pick out, right?" Care flips her hair. Bill laughs.
"Yeah." I stand up and give her hug. When I causally mentioned to Care about maybe going, she was already dragging me out the door and to the nearest store to help me look for a dress.
"Well, thank you for stopping by, Alexandra."
"No problem. See you later, Carebear."
Parking the car in front of Klaus' house, I get out to met him and Stefan.
"What are you wearing?" Damon leans against his car door taking in my dress.
"I went to a party." I shrug my shoulders as we walk.
"You went to a party with everything that's going on?" Stefan asks.
"With this life, you need a balance of normal and supernatural," I state. "It was kinda my last hurrah since Care is gonna crack the whip at cheer practice later this week."
"Nice to know you know how to prioritize." Damon voices.
"Why would I sit at home until it was time to come to a dinner I didn't want to go to, when I could be at a party where there was food, good music, and no psychopaths?"
"There's food here." So, you're just gonna ignore the part about psychopaths?
"It might be poisoned," Stefan lets out a short laugh. "Why'd you want me here anyways?" I turn to Damon as he knock on the door.
"You're here to be a second mediator in case things get out of hand," He needed her here to confirm his suspicions. "You were always the peacemaker when things got tense." Second? A man in a suit opens the door.
"Our guests have arrived." I couldn't be sure if he was a hybrid or not, but I knew I wasn't convinced by Damon's answer.
"Feels like I antagonize Niklaus sometimes." We had finally crossed the threshold and I could see a table was set with five plates.
"I second that." Niklaus remarks, his lips curved to form a smirk, when his face changes. Ookay then. Maybe it was my hair; I usually just wore my hair with its kinks and coils, but I had decided to get braids. Klaus had seen braids before right? I reach for it to make sure a piece isn't stuck to another one; everything felt fine.
"Elena being here is a no for obvious reasons, Barbie and Bonnie don't know this is happening, so that leaves you." I'm human, Damon, not a lot I can do.
"And you're okay with me being here, 'cause that doesn't sound likely." I ask Niklaus. Before I can get an answer, my foot catches on the dress. Niklaus has his hands wrapped around waist before I hit the floor. I gawk at him, not expecting him to have done that. I look at him tensely before I move out of his hands. Stefan wasn't sure what was happening with Klaus but he knew he didn't like that it included Lexx.
"Maybe he wants someone here to actually enjoy the food." Damon smirks, making his way to the table. Looked like he was shaping up to be right.
"Are you Elijah?" He fit the description Elena had given me; five eleven, brown hair, brown eyes.
"I am and you must be, Alexandra," He holds his hand out for me to shake. "I hear you're the peacemaker of the group, so your skills will be of great use tonight."
"Between the two us, I didn't have much of a choice. Bonnie would've killed Damon and Damon would've murdered everyone in town," I throw Damon a knowing look. He quickly advents his eyes to a painting on the wall. "I knew Bonnie could handle him if I left. Besides, everyone doesn't think before they act, so it was only a matter of time before I was back here and walking into a possible trap." Elijah could see Elena had surrounded herself with like-minded people.
"And you still came."
"I hear Niklaus has a far reach, why not meet him at his doorstep before he kicks my door in?" I didn't know how much time I had anyways, might has well be of help while I'm still breathing.
"The lot of you are so quick to protect one another." Klaus mocks. I ignore his insult just to spite him.
"I hear you're suppose to be the other mediator, but part of being one is being calm, and I hear you like throwing small objects at things?" He laughs. Elena had recalled how Elijah had threw rocks at the front door to the Gilbert's cabin after Damon and Uncle Ric had tried to kill him with the dagger and didn't know it needed to stay in for it to work.
"I like to make use of my surroundings and only when provoked." He replies. Klaus wasn't too thrilled with being ignored.
"Alexandra, you can flirt with my brother later," There's a slight edge to his voice. "Damon, Stefan. Elijah tells me you seek an audience. Very bold. Let's discuss the terms of our agreement like civilized men, shall we?" Klaus asks, taking his seat. I wasn't flirting, just to clear things up.
"It's better to indulge him." Elijah responds sitting down next to him. He's like a little kid throwing a tantrum.
"I didn't come here to eat, Klaus," They weren't a group of friends hanging out and enjoying each others' company. "In fact, I didn't want to come here at all. But I was told I had to 'cause you would hear us out." Stefan retorts.
"Well, we can sit and eat or I can reach down your throats and pull out your insides. The choice is yours." I can see Stefan isn't gonna move, so I make my way to the table.
"What's following one more order from a white cis male?" Before I can reach my seat, a girl with blonde hair pulls it out for me. Looking around I see there are four girls dressed as servers. I'd have to figure something out to get them out of here.
"Thank you, love." Damon thanks the brunette girl, who is more than likely compelled, as she pours his wine.
"You lost your appetite." Klaus states and I don't know if he's talking to me, Stefan, or both of us, since we're not eating.
"Eat. I thought we agreed that we would leave the grumpy Stefan at home." Damon taunts Stefan, but I know he's serious. Stefan picks up his fork and cuts into his lamb roast. I stretch my fork to the platter resigning in the center of the table and stab a stem of broccoli before placing it in my mouth. I can see Stefan trying to fight down his smile while he pays more attention than is needed to cut his meat into small pieces.
"That's the spirit," Klaus sends me a fiendish smirk. He could appreciate a good jig in his direction. Elijah is baffled at the display and more shocked that Klaus hasn't reacted violently. "Isn't it nice, four of us dining together? Such a treat. Is this what you had in mind when you pulled the dagger from my brother?" He knows damn well there are five people sitting at this table.
"Well, I know how he felt about you, so I figured the more, the merrier." Damon responds. If that's the case, why isn't Klaus dead?
"Well, Elijah and I have had our share of quarrels over the century, but we always make it through." Is that when you have him daggered or...?
"Kind of like you and Rebekah, right? Where is she, by the way? Last I checked she was still daggered because you were afraid to face her." In swoops Stefan with a possible TKO that could get his head slammed into the table.
"Stefan," If he kept this up, Niklaus was gonna stick his hand in the fireplace. "We didn't come here to talk about his sister."
"It's quite alright, Alexandra," Klaus allows. "If you're referring to the fact that Rebekah knows I killed our Mother, I've already come clean to Elijah." Niklaus recovers with a hit to the dome.
"Hey, Stef, remember when you killed Dad? Might want to dial down the judgment until dessert." And that was the sound of me choking on my water. He didn't have to be so nonchalant about it.
"Are you okay, Alexandra?" Elijah questions. I can only manage a weak smile. I'm pretty sure I'm at the world's most tense dinner party.
"We're here to make a deal, Damon. Doesn't mean we need to kiss his ass for seven courses." I try covering my snort with a cough. I accidentally make eye contact with Klaus and quickly advert my eyes.
"I'm just saying we have a long evening ahead of us. Pace yourself."
A/N: What do you think about dinner so far?