Penultimate chapter. Enjoy! For hints and more, follow us on Twitter - Neversleepwell and Silverfoxpunk.


Chapter 7

The Juice of Lemons

"It's junk mail. Why would anyone deliver this to our suite?" He examines the envelope, it is addressed to the room. Has no postmark. It's odd.

He turns to face me, holding the offending piece of mail in his hand. The bellhop hovers in the door waiting for his tip. Klaus sighs, reaches into his pocket and pulls out a few pound coins. The boy nods and leaves.

I feel a trickle of hope prickle my skin. This has something to do with Damon and Elena, I just know it.

Klaus turns to me with a puzzled expression on his face. "Why would anyone pay to deliver a realtor ad to our room? It doesn't make any sense. I wonder if it's some kind of trick."

"Let me see." I take the letter and am aware that Klaus watches my expression carefully as I open the envelope. Inside is a realtor flyer, totally standard junk mail, offering to find the reader the ideal, affordable property in the best of locations. I screw the paper into a ball and toss it in the trash.

"Junk. I suppose they think it's worth targeting people in hotels like this. They probably assume if you have the money to stay here, then you can afford to buy property anywhere in the world." It sounds entirely plausible. Klaus pulls a face to indicate he thinks it's a stupid idea, but he relaxes.

He pulls me in for a kiss. He's feeling guilty because of last night, when he left me covered in bruises. He's getting worse. I have begun to fear he will kill me without even meaning to. I steal myself to his embrace, but this time he is gentle.

"Listen, I am going out to run some errands." He says. "Find some way to entertain yourself. I'll be back to take you to dinner. Mario will take care of you." He nods to the ever-present bodyguard outside our door who follows me around like a bad smell. He is human, but his gun is loaded with wooden bullets. I am sure he would indeed 'take care of me' if he had to.

"Sure." I say. "I'll order up some room service. Flex your plastic with some champagne and lobster." He gives me a smile, but there is little warmth in it.

"I trust you'll be a good boy." The 'or else' is heavily implied.

As soon as he is out the door I run to the trash can with vampire speed. I tune my hearing to his footsteps to make sure he won't return and I delve into the basket to see what the note really is.

I flatten the wrinkled paper on the opulent desk and examine it closely. It seems to be genuine junk mail - a flyer from a high end European realtor asking if we want to buy property in the Maldives. I pick it up and put it to my nose.

Elena! I can smell her on this. Not her fragrance, (she is too smart for that), but she has brushed her lips across the paper. I move my nose across the letter and I also smell Damon.

I look really closely, focus my eyesight on the grain of the page and I can make out my brother's deliberate thumbprint. My mind immediately pictures him rubbing that thumb over my cheek. I breathe in the flyer again, let their scent wash over me. In this single moment, I feel they are here, protecting me. I bite my bottom lip to stop a sob. If I make a noise, the guard outside will report it.

I know there has to be more. I look at the content of the flyer for codes, check the first letters and the last ones of every sentence - look for patterns. I waste twenty minutes looking at different pattern combinations, trying to crack a code that isn't there. Frustrated, I get up to make coffee.

Since coming to London all Klaus drinks (ostentatiously) is lemon tea. I see the freshly sliced lemon laid out on the delicate, china dish for him and suddenly it hits me. Of course! Lemons!

I run back to the letter, grab it, fling the curtains closed and switch on the reading lamp. My mind races back to one of the first conversations Elena and I ever had.

"Bonnie, Caroline and I have been friends forever. In First Grade we used to write secret letters to each other with the juice of lemons, so if the teacher caught us passing notes, they just saw a blank piece of paper. To see what you have written, you have to heat the letter by shining a light on the page."

I remembered laughing at her mischievous smile. She loves nothing better than to get away with something.

I hold the flyer up to the lamp and wait a few seconds. And there it is. A First Grader's trick that could save my life. Ten simple words.

WEREWOLF VAMPIRE COMBINED ATTACK MIDNIGHT SIXTEENTH. GET OUT. COME HOME.

I check the calendar, that's tonight! I close my eyes and fight the relief. I scrunch the letter back into a ball and put it back in the trash. I wipe my fingerprints off the desk and the trash can. I don't want any minor detail to jeopardize my escape attempt tonight.

I pace the room thinking what to do next. I don't have a watch (Klaus took mine away), but I switch on the TV and find the 24-hour news; apparently it's only 11am.

I lie on the bed and leave the news on in the background, hoping that Mario outside will assume I am mindlessly watching TV. I need to come up with a plan. How do I get out before midnight?

I can't help but wonder too how they did it. How did they persuade vampires and werewolves to work together? And then I think of Seattle, the massacre there. I picture Klaus tossing weres at vamps and the death and destruction everywhere. He was reckless, dangerous and a risk to both groups. It wouldn't be too hard to persuade either that he needed taking out.

But working together? That must have been hard to achieve. I suspect Elena's hand working on Tyler, and Damon would have gone to Katherine. An opportunity to take out Klaus for good would be just the perfect undertaking for her.

I grin. Sling my hands behind my head. I cannot wait for the hours to pass.

"Mario." I call out, he opens the door and leans his head in. His pallor ghostly against the black of his suit. His neck is so thick the collar cuts in.

"Sir?"

"I need blood."

"Right away, sir." He closes the door and I hear him giving instructions on his radio. I need to be strong for this evening. I need to be prepared for anything. But I know one thing for certain. This will be my only shot.


We go out for dinner. I anxiously cast my eyes over other people's watches and mobile phones trying to see what time it is. I want him to finish his tea with fresh lemons (thank God for the pretentious habit) so we can get back. He doesn't look one bit like he wants to leave. He orders a liqueur. I bite back a sigh.

I have planned for everything, except for being stuck in central London in an expensive restaurant.

"Klaus." I say. "When are we heading back to the room?" I take his hand and he looks at me a bit surprised. It's been a long time since I took the initiative.

"Soon. Why are you in such a hurry?"

"You know why. It's all your fault, you ordered me oysters and you know they're an aphrodisiac."

He laughs.

"Okay, I'll get the bill." He says and signals for it. Thank God.


11.30 pm. I have to put my plan into action fast. I pour him a drink and send Mario home. Klaus doesn't see the need for a 24-hour guard, when he is with me, he is threat enough. I move over to him and beginning kissing him hard. He responds readily and I pull back and tell him I have a surprise for him. He looks pleased.

"What have you been up to?" He says suspiciously, but pleasantly so. "Is this why you and Mario disappeared to go shopping in Soho?"

"Might be." I say, smiling coyly. I pull out of my back pocket the handcuffs I did indeed go with Mario to Soho to buy. They are cheap sex-shop ones and he laughs heartily.

"Naughty boy." He says, pulling me to the bed. "I like the way you think." I am straddling him and he reaches up and tries to take the handcuffs from me, naturally assuming he will be using them on me. I pull back, holding the cuffs above my head in a teasing motion.

"Uh-uh, this was my idea." I say. And at first I think he will refuse, so I put the key in my lips, kiss him, pass it to him with my tongue. He grins, takes the key from his mouth and puts it in his pocket.

"Okay!" He laughs. I loosen his tie, slip it around his eyes and pull it tight.

"No fair." He complains. I kiss him hungrily, push my tongue deep into his mouth, caress his dick through his pants. He stops complaining. When I pull away he actually says, "Aren't you full of surprises tonight?"

"You bet."

I keep going, I am trying to create a mood, set the stage for a sex scene that will distract him, keep his mind on the thing he loves best next to killing. I rip his clothes off, tear them from his body with vampire strength. He loves that. I kiss down his body, but it is only a tease. He twitches in response. I push his arms back, slide my hands up them as I push them towards the iron bedstead. This is when I make the switch.

What he has seen is the sex shop handcuffs I bought, and it will be these he assumes he will be tied up with. The ones he has the key for. But earlier, I had seen my opportunity and taken it. The second pair of cuffs in my back pocket are real. These are the ones I tie him to the bed with.


Getting the handcuffs had been risky. I had to be bold, as I knew this was my only chance.

On our way into London, I told Klaus I wanted to shop, this was nothing new and he left Mario and I to it. I picked a sex shop in central Soho, because I knew the area was heavily patrolled by police.

Mario didn't want to be inside at all, he hovered near the exit looking uncomfortable while I browsed. I found the sleaziest most complicated looking outfit I could find and told him I was going to try it on. He nodded. I had bought myself five minutes.

With vampire speed I shot out the back door and grabbed the cop I had spotted on our way. Compelling her was like taking candy from a baby and I quickly returned to the shop with her handcuffs.

I was gone less than three minutes by the time I sauntered out of the fitting room. The shop assistant turned to me hopefully, thinking he had a big sale.

"I'll just take these." I said. And bought the £5 handcuffs.


Klaus' hands are anchored to the bed, I have to move. We have taken a good fifteen minutes to get this far. He keeps asking me if I am going to tie his feet as well, so I find two more ties, spread his legs apart and fasten ankles to the bedposts. I kiss him one last time and leave him behind.

I walk out the front door with Klaus calling my name. "Stefan? Stefan. Come back you tease. Where are you?" He purrs, thinking I am fetching another toy for our game.

With his strength, it will take him only seconds to break free of a cast iron bedstead and police-issue handcuffs. The way I see it, as soon as he figures out he's been played, I'm as good as dead.

Unless I've timed this perfectly.

I move rapidly through the corridor, I can hear the hotel foyer filling with strangers. I run at human speed and as soon as I see my opportunity, I exit and jump to the rooftop.

I hear them attack. It is over quickly. At least fifty vampires and werewolves are now celebrating, in unison, the death of a common enemy. I almost can't believe it. Klaus is dead.

I take flight. If the victors catch me now they may not be convinced of my innocence, no matter who leads them. They are all fired up.

I pull out Klaus' credit card and smile; I'll keep my promise to flex his plastic. I will fly back to my loved ones in first-class.

My head spins with the sense of freedom.


It is midnight in Mystic; the streets are empty. I embrace the quiet and let it calm the turbulence inside of me. The taxi driver is so slow and careful that I tell him with irritation to pull over, knowing I can run faster. As soon as he drives away, I speed through the woods until I reach our grounds.

I see the facade of the boarding house, a lump comes to my throat. I have to stop running because my eyes have misted. I walk slowly to the front door as Damon flings it open. Elena runs past him, her arms spread wide.

I am home.