Chapter 10:
After a few minutes Nettie came to, her mouth around something soft. She pulled away quickly and wiped her mouth, realizing it was Klaus that had saved her. "Eww!" She stammered, spitting into the dirt dramatically. "Gross, gross."
"Are we done here love? I really do have more pressing things to attend to." He said, trying hard to push his curiosity to the back of his mind. Right now he needed to focus on getting Elena and skipping town. He didn't need to be worrying about Nettie. That was his brother's job.
"What the hell happened?" Nettie asked, examining the blood on the back of her hand.
"We'll save that story for another time. I must be off now." Klaus told her, finding the words hard to find. But he made himself go at vampire speed, back towards the school. He left Nettie behind, in the woods; safe. At least he would know she had that.
"What do you mean, you don't know where she is?" Damon barked at Caroline. "I thought you said Klaus stepped in?"
"Elena was with me one minute, and the next she was gone." Caroline covered her face in her hands. She was so tired, all she wanted was to help her friends and leave town with Tyler. But it all went so horribly wrong. Now Nettie and Elena were gone.
"What? You guys are still in here! I thought you would be running by now." Nettle said, walking back into the classroom. "Why are you looking at me like that? Do I have something on me?" She glared down at her outfit.
"Elena's missing," Stefan said, trying to maintain his cool and calm demeanor, but failing horribly. His loved one was gone, and no one even knew where to start looking for her.
"Klaus took her, obviously." Nettie deadpanned. "He said he had important things to do, places to be bla, bla, bla. I assume he meant Elena."
"What would he want to do with... Oh..." Damon frowned deeply. "I bet you anything he's planning to skip town, get away from Alaric."
Nettie felt a small pang deep down at the news, but she shrugged it off. She knew he was supposed to be big bad Klaus. He wasn't going to just stick around and risk death for her. "Shouldn't we be happy? He doesn't want her dead.. Right?" She asked them.
"That's the only thing we can hope for right now," Stefan said. "Things are always changing with Klaus."
"Well, I'm not sticking around here any longer. Elena needs us." Damon made for the door out of the classroom.
"Where is Leila?" Nettie said, stopping Stefan as he also made to follow Damon.
"With Jeremy and Matt. We didn't want her getting hurt," Stefan told her. "Don't worry, Nettie. She's safe."
"She better be, I don't want her hurt because of your affection for Elena." She knew she had really meant Damon, but she also knew that Stefan got it. He wasn't stupid.
Leila tapped her foot on the hardwood floor, sitting in a chair beside the couch where Jeremy and Matt waited impatiently for a phone call explaining what was going on.
"This is getting to be too much," Matt said, his elbows on his thighs as he leaned forward, staring at his cell phone. "All of this is just getting to dangerous. Elena's life is constantly at risk."
Jeremy nodded. "I agree... It needs to stop."
Leila looked at the young men. "What could you possibly do about it?" she asked.
"We could lie to her. Take her out of town. She won't go willingly." Matt said.
"She wouldn't stay gone Matt.. Elena is stubborn." Leila wasn't so sure about kidnapping. It was illegal and all. But what about Elena? She wouldn't like it. She would fight it.
"It's better we tried than not lift a finger to save her from herself at all," Jeremy told Leila.
"Maybe we need to let her make the choice. Explain it to her, reason with her?" Leila asked, hoping they would come around.
"She'd never agree to it. She thinks she has so much going for herself here. She's so blind to all the bad." Jeremy sighed.
Leila looked away from the men, to the front door. Escaping Mystic Falls was probably a very good idea. It was a town filled to the brim with supernatural beings that wanted nothing more than to hurt Elena, her friends, Nettie... Leila wondered if Jeremy's and Matt's plan to take Elena away from this place was not that bad after all...
"What is this?" Elena said, the first thing her eyes landing on was an IV sticking out of her arm. Her blood dripping into a small bag below. "What are you doing to me?" She forced a yell at Niklaus who sat across from her.
"I'm draining you love. But don't worry. It won't take long. No pain." He said, smiling softly. It would be easier this way, without her. Not having to constantly go after her.
"What about your hybrids?" Elena asked, weak. She could hear it in her own voice. "You'll need more than this to create your army.
"These last few litres will have to suffice. There are other ways love." He could take his family back to New Orleans. Begin again there.
"Please, Klaus. Let me go, I won't fight you." She pleaded, pulling on the restraints.
"My family needs Alaric dead. He's the only living threat to us now... I think you understand what I'm getting at."
"Uh Klaus? I'm done packing. Where do you want this stuff?" Tyler walked in, noticing Elena. He stopped and glared at her as she bled out. He hadn't shown that he had broken the sire bond yet.. But he couldn't leave her there.
"Tyler! Tyler... Help me. Please." Elena pleaded, pulling again at the restraints.
"No. Tyler put that stuff in the car." Klaus ordered, knowing that he would have to obey.
But Tyler moved closer to Elena. "I said no!" Klaus said again.
"Just.. Just call Stefan. Please." She went on. But she was beginning to feel the blood loss.. She was getting so tired.
"Forget the girl, Tyler!" Klaus barked. Tyler bit his bottom lip, giving Elena an apologetic glance, and hurried out of the room with the luggage.
Klaus walked to the back of Elena's chair, putting his hands on her shoulders. His fingertips grazed her neck.
"Sweet dreams, Elena. It has been fun."
Elena groaned softly, struggling to get out of the chair She felt the IV tug at her arm with each movement, and the pain was immense. It was no use. She was trapped. Would it really end like this?
Tyler stepped quietly into the room, glancing around quickly as he approached her. Her started untying the ropes that bound Elena to the seat, his fingers fumbling with the restraints. He was nervous, she could tell.
"What are you doing?" Elena whimpered.
Tyler shushed her softly, pulling her free of her confines.
Elena gasped. Klaus glared in the doorframe. "Tyler."
Tyler stood up straight and turned, his gaze locking on Klaus's angry, fiery eyes.
Damon frowned deeply. The mansion was empty. No one was there... Even Klaus's car had been gone.
"Elena? Klaus?" Damon looked in each room of the large home. He found himself walking into a large room, whatever few pieces of furniture in there were covered in white sheets. There was a toppled over chair broken in three pieces strewn across the floor.
His eyes widened at the sight of Elena on the ground, unconscious. Blood streamed from her nostrils.
Damon hurried over to her and picked her up in one swift movement. He dialed 911 one his phone. "I need an ambulance." He muttered into the phone.
Bonnie, Caroline, Tyler, Matt, Stefan, Leila and Nettle sat in the large open boarding house living room. It had been a long day and they were all exhausted. "What are we going to do? We can't kill him now.. My magic isn't strong enough." Bonnie sighed.
"We can't just let him run around town trying to kill all the originals. If one of them dies, so do some of us." Stefan said. Who knew what bloodline they were attached to? It was a gamble that no one could afford to loose.
"I could just zap him a few times." Nettie said, yawning. "I mean.. I killed an original before, right?"
"You would die.." Caroline reminded her.
Nettie frowned. "That is here say."
"We'll figure something out.. We have to." Bonnie suggested. There wasn't many options. But they had to come out on top.. They had to.
Caroline's phone began to buzz, as did Stefan's. "Oh no." She muttered. "Elena's in the hospital. We should get there. Damon says it doesn't look good." Worry took over as she stood up and grabbed her bag. "Can this day get any worse?"
Leila stood outside Elena's room with Jeremy and Damon. Meredith opened it and stepped aside, so they could go in and see her. "She'll be fine," Meredith told the three. "It was just a concussion."
"But there was blood," Damon told her.
"Again, she's fine. Don't worry."
"Can we see her?" Jeremy asked. Meredith nodded and Jeremy hurried inside Elena's room.
"We need to get her out of here as soon as we can, Meredith," Damon said to the doctor. "Alaric is out to hurt us all. She's a sitting duck in here."
"I wanted to keep her for observation... But I guess it's more important she goes home. Just be gentle with her." Meredith gave Leila and Damon a small smile. "I'll get the discharge papers ready."
When Meredith walked away, Leila and Damon entered Elena's room. Leila frowned at Elena, the girl's breath a little heavy, her smile weak. Leila felt almost sick to her stomach. What if something like that happened to her? Or Nettie? What if something worse happened?
She felt Damon's arm brush against hers as he hurried past her, to Elena's bedside. He smiled softly at Elena. Leila hugged herself tight. Maybe Jeremy and Matt had been right.. They had to get out of there. Mystic Falls wasn't the safe haven it had once been.
They had all taken Elena back to the Gilbert house and made sure she was comfortable. It was the first time in a long while that they had been together like this.
The doorbell rang, making Bonnie jump in her seat. "Look.. Bonnie don't be mad. I had no other option." Damon told her, watching as she made for the front door.
"What are you talking about?" she asked. She turned the knob and opened the door wide. Her eyebrows raised high. "Abby?" Bonnie turned to glare at Damon. Her mother had already skipped town on her twice.
"Bonnie.. Look, I know you don't want me here but I think I can help you." Her eyes pleaded with her daughter.
"If we want to get rid of Alaric without killing Nettie, we'll need her help, Bonnie," Damon explained. "You said it yourself. You can't get rid of Alaric on your own."
"I know we can do this.. Together." Abby said softly.
Bonnie sighed, stepping back into the living room.
"Can I invite her in, Bonnie?" Elena asked her friend.
"Is this a great idea?" Leila whispered to Elena, the two sitting together on the small couch.
Elena shrugged. "Abby and Bonnie have had a lot of problems. But Abby is a good person. She would do anything to help Bonnie," she whispered back. Bonnie nodded, heading back into the living room. Elena invited Abby inside.
"So.. You said you could help us. How?" Bonnie cut right to the chase, crossing her arms grumpily over her chest. She didn't have patience for the woman who was meant to be her mother.
Abby smiled at her daughter. "I know a spell that can break the bond linking Alaric to Nettie."
"How could you possibly know a spell like that? I know it wouldn't just exist." Bonnie didn't believe her. "You aren't even a witch any more."
"The Elders want to protect Nettle." Abby explained. "They have told me this themselves."
"HOW?" Bonnie basically yelled. She was exhausted, and having this woman here wasn't helping.
"They came to me Bonnie.. They can still do that. I was trying to do a spell.. I miss being a witch." Abby grew sad, "They came to me. They told me how you could kill Alaric.. They told me lots of things."
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Damon asked, a bit over-dramatically.
Leila looked to Damon. She could tell he was struggling with something... Probably the fact that, even though Alaric had turned into a monster, he had still been Damon's closest friend.
"We need daylight." Abby said. "We can't rush it Damon. Nettie would need to have daylight in order to complete the spell with Bonnie."
"How? She isn't a witch." Bonnie shook her head, "This is ridiculous."
"No, she isn't a witch, Bonnie," Abby told her. "She's something so much more." Abby said softly, "We have to trust that together, you can pull this off."