Chapter eleven

Weakness

I almost wanted to leave town, because Mystic Falls had too many memories of Klaus. I wanted to head back to the apartment in New York City and pack up my things before Klaus returned- if he did- and then just disappear.

The one thing that kept me from doing so was the knowledge that that's exactly what Mina wanted. She wanted me to give up, to just run away. But she had already taken Klaus away from me, I wouldn't let her take my dignity too.

I had successfully avoided Lily since the confrontation in my room yesterday, along with everyone else. I decided to just lock myself away from the world, with nothing else but Damon's bourbon to keep me company. And the best thing about alcohol was how numbing it could be. It numbed the pain, the betrayal, the hurt, and it made me feel almost okay. Not good or great, just almost okay, enough to survive, enough to stay in that god damn town. And that was why I kept drinking until there was no alcohol left, so that I could hold on to that almost okay.

But while trying to hang on to my almost okay, I consumed enough alcohol to supply a small European country. And sooner or later, I passed out on an old armchair that was the color of cat puke.

I woke up to a pounding on my door, which instantly sent waves of tormenting pain through my head. I groaned as I sat up, my back aching from the uncomfortable pose I had slept in. "Ugh, make it stop," I moaned, standing up on unbalanced legs.

I blocked the sun from my eyes using my hand as I walked towards the door, kicking empty liquor bottles out of my way as I did. "What do you want?" I muttered as I opened the door, pushing my hair out of my face as I did.

Damon frowned at me, and I could tell that he knew almost instantly that something was wrong with me. "Good morning to you too, sunshine," he said sarcastically, looking over my shoulder to see the sea of bottles in my wake. "I see that you're the thief who stole all my alcohol."

I shifted my body to block his view of the bottles. "You have no proof," I said.

"Well, I think the fact that you smell like stale liquor mixed with hobo vomit is proof enough," Damon retorted.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Why would you want something to drink anyway? Isn't it like eight in the morning?" I retorted.

"First of all, it's two in the afternoon," Damon informed me, and I frowned at the news. "Second of all, haven't I taught you anything, Lizzie? It's five o'clock somewhere."

I didn't respond, to focused on my pounding head and the fact that Damon was talking louder than normally, because he knew how badly hungover I was. "Why are you here, anyway?" Damon continued, frowning at me. "Don't you have a hybrid with a mansion that has plenty of liquor that doesn't belong to me?"

I flinched at the indirect mention of Klaus. That almost okay I had achieved when I was drunk was long gone, and slowly the heartbreak was coming back, with each pounding ache in my head.

"Yeah, well, I thought I'd spend the night here, with my family," I muttered, looking anywhere but at my brother.

Damon's frown deepened. "What? Are you and Klaus on the outs or something?" he asked.

There was an unpleasant twinge of pain in my heart when he said his name. "We're fine, Damon, alright? Don't worry about it," I said, trying to close the door on him.

But Damon was stronger than me when I was hungover. "No, Lizzie, I will worry about it," he said, his face hardening. "What did he do to you?"

His big brother tone was creeping into his voice, and I sighed. "Nothing, Damon. Just leave me alone, I'm fine," I pushed, trying my best to close the door on my brother. But Damon wasn't having it.

"You're obviously not, Elizabeth," he said through gritted teeth. "The only time you ever get drunk anymore is when you fight with him. And this is the most hungover I've seen you in, like, ever. So obviously you're not okay. What did he do to you?" he repeated, turning into the overprotective big brother I hadn't seen in a while and really didn't miss.

"Just let it go, Damon," I hissed through gritted teeth, my eyes narrowing.

"Not until you tell me what Klaus did to you," he said stubbornly, both of us pushing onto the door.

"It's none of your business," I retorted.

"It's my business if he hurt you."

"Damon, just stop!" I snarled. Then, with a loud snap, my bedroom door broke into two pieces.

I stared down at the broken door, my teeth still gritted in agitation. I didn't want to have this conversation. Not with Damon, not with anybody.

"Elizabeth, please just tell me what's wrong," Damon said in a softer voice. "I can't fix it if I don't know what to fix."

I looked up at him. Why did men think they could fix everything? "You can't fix this, Damon," I whispered, studying my hands.

Damon narrowed his eyes. "What did he do?" he growled. "Just tell me, Elizabeth."

"No," I snapped, looking back up at him. "I don't want to talk about it."

"For the love of God, just tell me!"

"Just let it go!"

"Tell me!"

"He cheated on me!" I exploded. "Klaus cheated on me with Mina!"

This stopped Damon cold. His eyes widened in surprise. "He cheated on you?" he repeated, as if speaking it would help him understand the words.

"You were wrong, brother," I said, a twisted smile forming on my lips. Then I pushed passed him, not planning to go anywhere in particular.

"Wait, Elizabeth," Damon said, grabbing my arm to stop me from leaving.

"I don't want to hear it, Damon," I said coldly, shaking his hand off of me. "I don't want to hear how sorry you are. I don't want to hear how you're going to kill Klaus for hurting me. I don't want to hear how stupid I was for trusting him again. I don't want to hear any of it. All I want is for you and Lily to get married in two days so that I can leave this God forsaken town and never look back," I said, before looking at the broken pieces of wood on the floor. "And a new door."

Then I turned my back on my brother and walked away before he could even think to stop me.

~LGM~

All that night, Kol's words kept repeating over and over in Klaus' head."There was a reason you didn't let Lizzie get away the first time." There had been many reasons. Some of them purely selfish reasons, some of them rather pitifully romantic, and one reason he hadn't ever wanted to admit to himself. That he loved her. He couldn't let Elizabeth go because he loved her like he had never loved another.

It was ironic, how the reason he had refused to let her go before was the same reason he was letting her go now.

Still, there was a part of Klaus that didn't want to give up. He wanted to fight for his girl, and he wanted to make her believe that he had changed, that he wouldn't hurt her like he used to. And those two parts of Klaus had been waging a war all that night, a war fueled by alcohol.

If he loved her, he should let her go. But if he really loved her, how could he bare to let her go again? That was the question he couldn't seem to answer.

It had to be around noon when Klaus finally came to. He was sitting in the same chair he had sat down in after he had watched Elizabeth walk away. He hadn't left that chair in over twelve hours. Around him were glasses with just the dregs of scotch left in it. His head was pounding, but Klaus was able to almost completely ignore it.

"You know, wallowing in self-pity is not a good look on you."

Klaus' eyes narrowed in anger as he looked up to see Mina leaning against the doorway, a light smirk on her lips.

The audacity that girl had, to even show her face to him, after everything she had done.

In a flash, Klaus was pinning Mina to the wall by her throat. She let out a sigh, rolling her grey eyes at him. "I see you're still upset with me," she said, his grip tightening on her windpipe slightly.

Before Klaus could blink, Mina was out of his grip and across the room. His hangover was definitely not giving him an advantage in the confrontation. "Upset would be an understatement," he snarled.

Mina looked annoyed with him. "I did it for you, you know," she muttered. "I got rid of Elizabeth for you. So you really shouldn't be angry with me."

Klaus looked at Mina like she was insane, which he seriously thought her to be at that moment. "She's no good for you, Klaus!" Mina exclaimed, very exasperated. "How can you not see it? Elizabeth Salvatore is the absolute worst thing in the world for you. And you know what? You're just as bad for her. So I did you both a favor."

He frowned at her, his mind instantly going to Poppy and Rebekah at that moment. Why were all the blonde women that had once been in his life convinced that Elizabeth was so bad for him? Others might say she had the opposite effect.

"She's your weakness, Klaus," Mina informed him, as if reading his mind. "She's your one weakness. Your love for her makes you weak, and I just took that weakness away."

She sighed again and ran a hand over her face. "How can you not get it? The Klaus I knew would laugh at this Klaus. He would loathe how weak this Klaus is, how quickly he can't function without a little vampire girl in his life. 'Love is a vampire's greatest weakness, and we are not weak. We do not feel and we do not care.' Does that ring a bell for you? It should. It came out of your mouth a couple centuries ago."

Klaus had no words for Mina. He just turned his back on her. "You can see yourself out," he told her.

Mina was speechless. Nothing she said had any effect on Klaus whatsoever. He really had changed. "What makes her so special?" Mina asked, causing Klaus to pause before he left the room. "Why do you love her so much?"

And that had been the question Klaus had been trying to answer since Elizabeth had come into his life. "I'm not sure," he answered honestly. "But I think the mystery is a part of it."

Mina watched Klaus walk out of the room. After everything she had gone through to get rid of Elizabeth, he still didn't want her. He wanted nothing to do with her anymore, absolutely nothing.

But Mina just wasn't willing to accept that.

~LGM~

A/N: So this chapter was supposed to have a confrontation between Elizabeth and Mina, but I'm sooooooo exhausted, so we'll see that next chapter :)

Thank you to: , RealHuntress18, Storylover, DayDreamer1212, Lady Syndra, TVDobsessesion106, xxxRena, missstvd, elena-with-glasses, SomebodyWhoCares, and winxgirl1997 for reviewing!

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~Abby :)