I do not own Vampire Diaries, The Originals or any of its associated characters. Just Tessa and the ones you don't recognize, thank you.
Okay All, thank you for the views. This Chapter takes place over Ep. 12 of The Originals. Thank you so much for checking back and being so patient. It is greatly appreciated.
Thanks all and let me know what you think!
BTW; I wanted to say that Tessa character is modeled after a woman, who is a very pretty model that goes by the name of Ebba Zingmark. Just in case anyone was curious. Thanks all, hope you enjoy!
Thanks, guys!

Chapter 11: Sanctuary

Tessa hung up the phone quickly- luckily she'd managed to get Kol's number from Elijah, he knew exactly what the necklace was made out of the moment he saw it on her neck, so she figured he'd have to know where to find more. While Kol was not very forthcoming with the information given that he informed her of Klaus's latest rash action of tossing him back in with the vampires, he gave it to her in hopes that helping her would ease his troubled relationship with Klaus. She really didn't want to burden Klaus with this- mostly because she knew he wouldn't help. Not too mention all the other stuff they were dealing with at the moment.

"My source says that there's a small area that may still mine for it in Birmingham, Alabama," Tessa said as she glanced over at Alaric. He was feeding Ali her breakfast while Tessa did some research of her own.

"'Your source'?" Alaric asked. "That doesn't sound ominous or anything." He said to her. It was clear he was still annoyed with having to interact with Klaus the minute he got here. "This source of yours wouldn't happen to be another Mikaelson, would it?"

"His name's Kaleb Wepstall." Tessa said sharply. No need to go into details with Alaric. She thought. "And, he's a witch into this sort of thing so I'd say his information is pretty solid." Tessa's phone went off with the address Kol said he'd send her.

"Well, I was hoping we could find someplace closer…" Alaric said begrudgingly, as he set the half-eaten bowl of baby yogurt down on Tessa's island.

"Yeah, we can. I'm sure all of the witchy shops in town have crystals and gemstone you could use, but there's no guarantee that they are actually selling what they claim to be." Tessa pointed out. "Do you really want to risk your girlfriend's life on it?"

Alaric huffed with a shrug knowing she was right- while the city of New Orleans actually housed the supernatural- it didn't mean they were all creatures of the night. "Okay, so say we go to the mine, and just say that we manage to get into to it and grab some of this mystical, magical rock. What am I supposed to do with it? Give her a rock and say here's something to help you with your power?" Alaric asked.

"I don't know, Ric," Tessa said her voice cutting over his. "I'm not the one who drove 6 hours just to ask for some help finding said mystical magical rock. You did. This is what I've got. If you have any better ideas then I'd love to hear them." Tessa gulped down the rest of her coffee and tossed the container in the trash. "Who knows, if they're mining for it, maybe we won't have to go in ourselves. They could potentially sell it in stores…" Tessa pointed out.

"Yeah." Scoffed Alaric, "Doubt it."

Tessa huffed as she slid into her black leather ankle boots adorned with a silver buckle on the outside. "Now, you have any plans for Ali?"

"Plans?" Alaric asked looking over his shoulder. "I was going to wander around New Orleans til I found the thing. I figured you'd wanted to spend time with Ali anyways…"

"Yeah, I'd love to just stay here with Ali." Tessa agreed easily.

"But, given that I'm going through a friend of a friend- it's probably best if you're actually with me when we get to where ever it is we're going." Alaric finished his sentence as he lifted Ali from the couch and placed her in Tessa's arm as he cleaned up.

"So, what we're just gonna bring her with us?" Tessa asked as she put the address into her phone so Alaric knew where to drive to.

"Why not? We're just grabbing a gemstone, right?" He told her. Tessa shrugged feeling a bit uneasy but didn't see any other options. Within moments- Tessa, Alaric, and Ali were in Ric's jeep and headed on the ridiculously long drive off to Alabama.

Tessa made an attempt to call Klaus, but got no response- she hung up without leaving a voicemail. "So, so I wanna ask what changed- because the last I saw of you; you said Klaus had threatened to end your life if you'd ever come back into his city." Alaric asked as Ali babbled in the backseat.

"Unlike you, Klaus realizes when he's being an idiot." Tessa stated with a glance in his direction.
"Oh-ho." Alaric said with a slight chuckle. "Don't put that on me- you ended things, alright? I just… moved on."
"I left to find our daughter, Ric!" Tessa said with a glare.
"And, I didn't hear from you for over a month. I had everyone out looking for you, you know?"
Tessa paused looking over at him in surprise. "You-you did?"
"Of course I did. Look, I-I know that we weren't doing well and, I was moving out, but I didn't give up on us… not then anyway." Tessa remained silent unsure of what to say.
"You never did say how you got Ali back." Ric said as he turned onto the highway that would take them all the way up into the bottom corner of Mississippi, then into Alabama.

"I-. It's a long story… Mostly Esther."

"Esther?" Alaric asked with surprise.

"Yeah, she got her back. I suppose that makes sense given the control she held over the witches when she resurrected herself-."

"Her only requirement was for you to help her with her Klaus agenda." Alaric cut her off.

"Well, that and she threatened Ali's life if I didn't help her." Tessa continued. "Which pretty much catches you up to when you found me outside of Mystic Falls. Almost a week ago." Tessa said.

"You went back to New Orleans though. Back to Klaus? I just-. I don't get it. Even after he threatened-."

"I came back to take down Esther." Tessa said looking at Alaric now. "To ensure that Ali and I were safe."

A silence permeated the car now. Tessa glanced in the mirror Alaric had set up in the back to find Alarice passed out in her car seat. Tessa's mind wandered to how much she missed living with and taking care of her daughter- she'll be two this summer, and how much of her life has she already missed? Tessa asked herself. She sighed when Alaric's voice cut into her thoughts.

"Did you?" She heard the seriousness of his voice. Tessa glanced back at him as she turned in her seat.

"Well, I thought we had." She muttered her anger at Klaus rearing its head. "Klaus had other ideas. He turned her into a vampire, I mean at least now she can no longer practice magic. She's essentially useless and unable to resurrect herself again if she dies. The power she had- Klaus saw to it that she no longer had any more, and while we're safe from her, I may have added two more names to the list of threats."

Alaric sighed shaking his head, "Seems to be how it goes for Klaus and those around him."

"Stop it," Tessa said in a warning voice. "Who I choose to be around isn't of your concern."

"It is when that person is a threat to my daughter."

"Klaus is not a threat to Ali. You saw him today!"

"I saw him practically salivating at the mouth when Ali displayed her powers." Alaric said as he changed lanes.

Tessa scoffed shaking her head at him, "There's nothing I could say to you that would change your opinion of him."

"Nope." Alaric said. "He brings death and destruction everywhere he goes, so excuse me if I'd prefer it to be far away from my child."

"Well, unfortunately for you Ric. As it stands he isn't going anywhere." Tessa told him as she crossed her arms and looked out the window. The long drive to Alabama was filled with music and awkward small talk of directions. Tessa was relieved when Alaric pulled off the road into a gravel drive towards a small house sitting up on a hill.

"You sure this is it?" Ric asked with an eyebrow quirked. Tessa checked her phone but nodded all the same as he parked his jeep. She stretched as she got out before moving to grab Ali quickly. Ric stepped out as he looked up at the small ranch house before them. The maroon color of it matched the mountains of dirt and rocks behind them.

The pair headed up towards the house before knocking on the door. A rotund older man was quick to answer it, he pushed his glasses up his narrow nose and took in the site before him. "Yes? Can I help you?"

Alaric glanced at Tessa quickly. She inwardly rolled her eyes and did the talking. "Yes, sir. I believe my associate called you earlier- he told you we'd be coming to look in the mines."

"Ah, yes. Right. Right. Kol mentioned that there'd be some people stopping by." He said turning back to head into his house with a shake of his head. "Apologies, I'm getting on in years."

'Kol?' Alaric mouthed with a dark look to Tessa. She ignored him and moved to follow the older man into the house.

"Well, I'm Steven. Steven Mills. My family has owned the house for quite a while, we have a mine entrance in the backyard, I used to go explore it as a kid- but, you know. The older you get…" He trailed off.

"Does your family own the mine though?" Tessa asked wondering if they were going to be encroaching on closed-off land or anything.

"Oh no. Just the entrance- let me tell you. The town's offers to buy it up from me is pretty tempting. This way I don't get those damn kids running in and out of the thing at all hours of the night. One too many accidents if you catch what I'm saying."

Tessa could tell the old man was growing tired of the upkeep it took to remain here. "We-we just wanted to ask if the mine still retained any of the minerals or-or gems in it." Alaric asked from looking around at the collection of unique rocks and crystals the older man had on display.
"Ah, I haven't been down there in years, son. I-I honestly couldn't tell ya." Steven shrugged. "I-uh- don't imagine you'll both be going down there- not with that baby."

Tessa glanced down at Ali in her arms. "Oh no, sir. No. Just him."

"Alright then, let's get this going." Steven said looking at Alaric in a different light. "You're welcome to stay in the house, dear."

Tessa nodded as Steven opened a standalone wardrobe and began taking out some mining gear and handing it off to Alaric- before Tessa knew it the guys were stomping out of the house. She watched out of the kitchen window facing the open yard as they moved down the sloping hills towards what Tessa assumed was the mine. She sighed feeling uncomfortable being left in a stranger's house but settled in with Tessa knowing Alaric would be in and out, hopefully.

Quite some time had passed, it was growing dark around the house now and Tessa was growing antsy- she'd called Klaus. Again only to get no answer. She tried Elijah as well only to have it go right to voicemail. She thought about trying Kol or Hayley, but if there was something going on back in New Orleans she didn't want to distract them from it. She sighed as she sat down. Ali was on the floor building up the blocks that Tessa had packed for her. She watched as one of the blocks carelessly tossed behind her young child began levitating.

She knew her daughter had been levitating things according to Alaric, but it was something else entirely to see it happening before her. She remained quiet and just watched on as her daughter continued to play unaware of what took place behind her.

Tessa gasped in surprise as the block hit the floor at the same time as Ric's voice came from the backyard in a panic, "Tessa!" She was up instantly and racing to the door she had watched the two men leave from earlier. She opened it to see Alaric half-carrying the old man in the house.
"What happened?" She cried out as Alaric put him in a seat at the table she was just seated at. He was covered in blood, Alaric had blood over his face, and hands as well.

Alaric just stared down at the dead old man in the chair shock over his features. "Ric! What happened?!"

"We need to go. We need to go now." He muttered before sliding the dirty mining gear from his head.

"We can't just leave the guy-."

"That's exactly what we're going to do, Tessa. Now." Ric's voice was clear that she wasn't to argue with him.

"O-okay." Was all she said as she picked up her daughter, and grabbed up the toys to toss them messily into the diaper bag. Ric had just slid off the jacket that the old man had loaned him when an almost inhumane noise sounded through the house. It sounded like nails on a chalkboard, Tessa flinched covering her ears as she looked around in search of what was making the noise.

"Shit." Ric swore as he looked in the direction of the door. He raced over slamming his body into it just as it began opening on its own. He turned the lock and moved the nearby wardrobe in front of it. "It's too late." He muttered looking around the house.

"Ric, what is that?" Tessa asked breathlessly from her fear.

"C'mon keep moving. We need to hide now. Go."

"Ric, no just-just take Ali. I can-."

"You can't!" He said fiercely. "Not this time Tessa. You need to take Ali and hide. Now."

Confusion muddled Tessa's mind as she wondered just what the hell was out there. She quickly moved with Ali in hand. Even with Alaric being human- he didn't show fear. Not like this. It concerned Tessa with how scared he was. Tessa found the bathroom figuring it would be safer given the lack of windows in the room. Within seconds Alaric joined her as he was now holding a pickaxe.

"What the hell-?"

"Shhhh." He told her. She could see the sweat over his face- whether it was from mining in the cave- or his panic she couldn't tell.

"What's out there?" She whispered.

He groaned softly, his head turning to her, "Tessa. Shut up." His eyes looked over Ali who was looking around wide-eyed. Tessa had managed to calm her from her earlier crying when Alaric first ran in the house. The silence was gnawing at Tessa. She was growing restless against the threat looming over her and those she cared for before she and Alaric knew it the sound of wood splintering made the pair of them jump.

Tessa was able to see the point of another mining ax break through the bathroom door, she heard a man grunting before it was yanked back only to be slammed through the wooden door again. The wood splintered and broke under the force from the sharp object. Ali began to cry again, her tiny hands gripping any part of Tessa she could.

"What the hell?" Alaric muttered recognizing the figure behind the door as the very same old man he'd just seen covered in blood from an attack in the cave.
Tessa stared wide-eyed as the old man peeked through the cracks in the splintered wood, his eyes had a white cloudy film over them. She could feel the power radiating from him from across the bathroom. Tessa felt Alaric make a move lifting the pickaxe, but she yanked it from his hold and tossed it roughly behind her. It clattered against the porcelain tub.

"Tessa! What the hell-?" Alaric began but, she handed Ali off to him sufficiently cutting him off.

"You can't, Ric. If there's magic at work here, I have a better shot at it than you." She pointed out.

Tessa was pretty sure Alaric was about to reply with a snide remark, but she jumped across the room kicking at the already fragile door. It fell outwards falling over the old man. Tessa made a move to grab the pickaxe but was kicked off of him into the wall alongside the now open doorway into the bathroom.
His newfound strength took her by surprise. She knew there had to be some sort of magic at work here, he had been dead when Ric had pulled him into the house. What the hell has the power to reanimate the dead? She thought briefly. Tessa shrugged off the pain as she watched the older man make a move into the bathroom ignoring her entirely now. His sole focus seemed to be about Ali. He fought against her tooth and nail, blocking nearly every punch she threw at him until he'd slammed her head into the side of the sink. Tessa groaned her head exploding with pain from the impact. The crazed man lurched forwards, Alaric tensed in preparation for a fight, but Tessa sprung up in reaction. She grabbed the old man- Steven by the back of his shirt collar and tossed him against the wall in the hallway taking up a defensive stance in the doorway.

He stood quickly, but was bowled over by Tessa's psionic scream that threw him down the hall way.
"I don't mean to point out the obvious to you Tessa, but that's the only way out from here," Alaric said from behind her. Ali's screams were deafening in the minimal amount of space the bathroom offered.

"No, it's not." She said as she spotted a window from the bedroom to her right at the end of the hall. "Go that way." She told him.

"I have Ali!" Ric cried out, but Tessa was distracted as she saw the tired old man pushing himself slowly to his feet. She groaned tiredly but moved to prevent the man from blocking Ric's way out. You don't have a choice, Ric!" Tessa yelled back to him.

Ric stood right behind her, and the shell of the sweet older man paused his eyes pinned on Ali's little face. Tessa practically growled as anger coursed through her. At Alaric's disappearance into the bedroom, the old man sprinted down the hall at an inhumane speed. Tessa was so surprised she hesitated quickly losing her split second at getting the upper hand. She screamed again and the man was thrown to his back only to leap back to his feet and move at her again. He was faster now.
She cursed as she felt the old man's hands grip her hair and slam her face first into the wall. Kicking out at his knee she completely disregarded the possibility of the man still being alive in there. This fight was quickly becoming life or death for her, and she was prepared to die for her daughter if need be.
Tessa felt a hand around her throat as the older man slammed her back against the wall. She felt her head spin at the sudden lack of air in her lungs. Unable to utter a sound aside from gasping her hands scrabbled at the back of his hand, he lifted her from her feet and she was left dangling in the air. The older man's cloudy white eyes stared into hers, and Tessa felt a chill go down her spine.

She knew this was something bigger than she thought. Nothing- Nothing had this kind of power that she'd seen in her lifetime of hunting. She groaned as her hands released the old man's, and reached out to his neck. One at the back, and her other gripping his chin. She grunted out of exertion from the effort it took, but his neck was snapped none the less leaving her body to fall to the floor with a thud.

Tessa felt her shirt soaking up a liquid and idly wondered why her body wasn't healing like it should have been. Glancing down she found the top of the pickaxe sticking out of her abdomen. She groaned as she yanked it out of her body. She'd expected her body to begin healing, but it wasn't. Not like it should have.
She groaned as she pulled herself up from the floor using the wall to balance herself. Pulling up her shirt she found the fresh wound still bleeding. Her head tilted back as pain coursed through her. She felt as though her wound was searing hot, and burning her flesh. Since her turning, she hadn't felt pain quite like this.
Thinking quickly she moved into the kitchen and turned the gas on from the stove. She snatched the nearby box of matches of the mantle in the old man's living room before moving back through the house and setting the match a blaze pointedly ignoring the photos of the man, and his family and friends along the way. She didn't want to imagine the man having loved ones, and a life – given that how she'd just ended it so quickly. With a sigh, she tossed the lit match through the air into the kitchen before racing out at vampire speed and into the vehicle now parked a safe distance from the house.

Alaric stared open-mouthed in his rearview mirror.

Tessa stared also but was surprised to see a figure dressed all in black. A woman with long dark hair, her eyes just as dark in contrast to her pale skin. Tessa felt a shiver run through her at the sight of the woman amongst the debris of the burning house. "Go! Ric Go! Go!" Tessa yelled as she watched the woman moving slowly towards them.

Ric snapped out of his stupor and punched the gas, tires squealing as he drove the three of them to safety.
Tessa hissed in pain as her wound got worse- it was still bleeding, and was getting to the point where she wouldn't be able to hide it any longer. She pulled her hoodie in tighter around her midsection as she shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

The car remained silent during the drive. Tessa knew she was asking herself so many questions about what had taken place in the town of Birmingham that they'd just left not 15 minutes ago. Ric's silence told her he was asking similar- if not, the same questions to himself. She winced as Ric's car hit a bump in the road.
"You alright?" He asked her from the driver's side. Tessa just nodded- the burning only seemed to be intensifying when she was moving- if she remained still it was bearable. More of a dull ache.

Alaric didn't press her for more information, but she could see he wasn't convinced. Ali was quiet from the backseat as if she, too were thinking about what she'd seen, as stupid as it was Tessa was hoping she wouldn't be able to recollect the horror show they were leaving. Tessa felt her body beginning to succumb to a content sleep as they drove on south to New Orleans. To Klaus.

Before she knew it, Tessa felt the car stop. The darkness around them was being cut by the vague city lights. "Tessa? Tessa?" she heard Alaric's voice in the distance but found herself gasping awake. As she sat up quickly her abdomen throbbed in pain. Blood had begun to soak through her top to her sweat jacket now- luckily for her Alaric had pulled into her parking lot.

She was lucky Ric wasn't a vampire any longer otherwise he'd have smelled the blood all over her. She groaned in pain as she moved to get out of the car, only to quickly lose her balance and nearly fall to the asphalt. Strong arms caught her and pulled her upright. She was leaning heavily on to the person for support. A feeling of relief washed over her as she took in his scent, even with her world spinning she felt safe in his arms.

"What the bloody hell did you do?" Klaus's voice was fierce, and it rang out in a threatening tone. Tessa heard the opposite door slam shut, and Alaric's footfalls as they rounded the car. Tessa wanted, badly, to intervene, but she was simply too tired. Her arms and legs felt like they'd had weights tied to them. It hurt to simply be standing here.

"Me?" Alaric asked his voice rising- clearly not liking Klaus's tone. "You have the audacity to ask what I did?" Alaric pointed out.
"She reeks of blood. Her own blood. Or can you not tell she's hurt, you Idiot?" Klaus seethed as he pulled at Tessa's hoodie. She moved to swat his hands away, but the pain in her lower abdomen became unbearable. She gasped hunching over.

"Wha-?" Alaric asked. He'd seen the blood on her undershirt. It was clear she was still gravely injured.

"All the color has drained from her face. Did you really not notice?" Klaus asked, practically growling as he lifted her from her feet and turned to carry her into her apartment.

"I-." Alaric started but hushed quickly grabbing Ali and followed along. Tessa groaned as Klaus set her on her couch. He knelt beside her and brought his wrist to his mouth. Tessa saw the quick flash of his true face and heard the sound of flesh and veins giving way to his vampire fangs before he shoved his arm over her mouth.
"Drink, love," Klaus muttered as his other hand moved to brush her red hair from her face. She gulped in the sweet taste of his blood hoping to find some relief from the searing pain lashing across her midsection.

Klaus pulled his hand back breathing a sigh of relief. Tessa winced as she removed her sweat jacket in time to hear her door closing and noticing Alaric's figure by the white door. He placed Ali in the nearby setup playpen.

Tessa heard the two men's distorted voices as Alaric explained what happened, very briefly. Tessa felt her vision blur around the edges again. With a groan Tessa found her body rejecting Klaus's blood as she hurled it back up over the edge of the couch and to the hardwood floor.
"Whoa!" She heard Alaric's voice as well as Klaus's slight growl.

"You! What happened?" Klaus asked his head snapping to stare down Alaric.

"We-uh- We hit a snag when we went to mine for this labradorite…" Ric replied as he scratched the back of his head. As he spoke Klaus moved swiftly to his knees as his eyes looked over Tessa. Alaric stood over him from behind, his big worried eyes took in Tessa's body now. Her thin form was looking more pale than usual he noticed. He could see the darkened circles around her eyes- it was clear that whatever sleep she'd gotten in the car wasn't helping her heal now.
"What happened?" Klaus practically roared. Ali made a noise at his volume, but Klaus was more focused on Tessa now. He pulled at her shirt and found the wound. The stab was swelling and inflamed. It was hot to Klaus's touch, and he wondered how it was possible for a wound like this to seem infected, especially to a vampire. Alaric noted that it was looking worse now than it had when she'd first gotten it. Tessa cried out in pain when Klaus's fingers moved to close to it.

"It's alright, love. I've got you now." He muttered down to her with a kiss to the back of her hand.

"Here." Alaric offered as he pulled out an oversized leather-bound book.

"What good is that going to do, Hunter?" Klaus asked scathingly. "You think that book has an explanation?"

"Given that this is the book Tessa left at her house when she'd taken off to this place, I'd say it's very important. Her father's girlfriend had this book. It's all about the Fae people."

"How're you sure this is a Fae problem?" Klaus pressed as his hands moved to Tessa's forehead. She was practically passing out on him. Given the night he'd had already with Hayley wanting to put the safety of their daughter's secret with the wolf she was choosing to marry, he was in no mood to deal with Tessa's annoying and incredibly dimwitted ex-boyfriend. "You haven't even explained what happened," Klaus muttered angrily as he moved to take Tessa's clothes off.

"Hey! Whoa, whoa! What the hell are you doing?!" Ric hollered moving to stop Klaus.

Klaus reacted with a speed that Ric no longer could. Klaus had him pressed against the far wall by his throat. "If you as so much as breath wrong right now, I'd be happy to snap your neck, human. You nearly killed me once so if I recall correctly, you and, I still have a score to settle, no?" Klaus asked threateningly. At Ali's sudden cry he seemed to snap out of his rage. Alaric watched his eyes glance in her direction, and he made a valiant attempt at kicking Klaus away from him.
"She has a fever." Klaus pointedly told him before dropping the man to his knees on the floor below, "I'm going to put her in the bath." Klaus told him before. "I recommend you care for Alarice over there, because there may be a chance of Tessa's condition deteriorating over the night." With that Klaus scooped Tessa's limp body from the couch. "I quite hope for your sake that is not the case though, Alaric."

Alaric wasn't sure if that was meant as threatening or consoling, Alaric felt confident it was the latter rather than the former. Either way, He glared at Klaus's retreating form before moving towards his crying daughter.

Once Alaric had quieted down Ali, and had her sleeping at the bottom of the playpen, he began flipping through the book of Fae, there wasn't much information here on ways of controlling their powers, or binding them somehow, but there was quite a lot on what powers people had developed, and bloodlines that had been followed back through time. Alaric hadn't thought looking through this was a good idea when he was first researching what to do for Ali- he felt it was an invasion of Tessa's things, but now with her life at risk he flipped through it with a flourish. He tried to think of what had struck Tessa in the stomach, when she fought the elderly reanimated man back in Birmingham.

He'd read through the book before and, he vaguely remembered something about iron being written in here- he just couldn't remember what it was. He continued flipping through the pages as the water in the other room was cut off… Klaus gently placed Tessa in her tub- he'd taken care to remove her clothes from her gently. He left her in her undergarments providing her with some sort of decency. Her temperature only continued to climb higher and higher-, until she was almost radiating heat by the time he'd moved to place her in the filled bath.

Tessa stiffened and she groaned at the water, even in her state of half unconsciousness. Klaus had made sure to keep the water at a tepid temperature. In his long life over the centuries, he was able to pick up on how to break a fever without modern medicine. He knew the slowly cooling water would be the best way to bring her skyrocketing fever down.

Tessa's eyes flickered open slowly as she sought his figure out.

"Kla- Klaus?" She asked, her voice hoarse.

"I'm here, love." He replied moving closer to the side of the bath from his seat upon the porcelain throne. He moved onto his knees beside the bath. "I'm here."
Her breathing was labored, and Klaus could see the wound was slowly bleeding- it had started to clot up, but when she moved at the water's touch she broke it open again. The sickeningly sweet scent of her blood was more manageable with her body being under the water.

"What's hap-happening to me?"

"I don't know yet, my love." He cut her off as he moved a stray wet lock of red hair from her face. Tessa swallowed thickly as she attempted to grab his hand with hers, but her hand was tremoring. Klaus moved to clasp it in his own, steadying her hand entirely. Of all her symptoms Klaus was sure her wound was infected, but he had a hard time believing that was it, especially in such little time. She gasped in pain as her abdomen stiffened with her coughing.

"Tessa?" Klaus asked, worry broke out over his features.

Tessa gave him a weary smile. "I'm-."

"I swear to god if you tell me 'I'm fine', I will leave you to your fever in this bath, understand?" He threatened. Tessa barked out a laugh before her body radiated with pain from it.

"Darling, why didn't you call me? Or- Or, anyone? If you were in a fight I'd have been there at a moments notice-. I told you to remain here, where I knew you'd be safe." He said as he sat back exasperated.

"I know." She cut him off with her tired voice soft.

"Why didn't you?" Klaus asked her as he moved nearer. "You'd never have been injured had you called. I never would have allowed something like this to hap-."
"I didn't want-want to bother you with this, besides it was just to help-help Ric." Tessa told him slowly. It was obvious to him her condition was worsening.
"So I've gathered," Klaus said practically glowering.

"Don't- Don't blame him. He did it for Ali. He took her to safety, and I had to protect- protect her."

"Klaus, I-"Tessa began as she tried to pull herself up to no avail. She splashed back against the water with a huff. She sighed heavily before Klaus watched her eyes begin to flutter closed.

His worry spiked as he moved up to his knees again holding Tessa's face in his hands. "Tessa? Tessa? Love?" His alarm spiked as he wondered if this was it. He had never seen anything work against a creature so fast- even his bite took longer than this. "No, No, no. Stay with me." He said, his alarm spilling over into a panic. He half pulled her from the bath to his chest.

"I can't lose you now, love." He muttered to her practically pulling her from the bath. "I only just got you back."

He could hear her struggling to breathe below him. That's when Alaric rushed in, the book he'd had fallen to the tile floor.

"Klaus! It's-It's iron." He began. "She's Fae and practically deathly allergic to iron. Her body is going to shut down unless we get it all out." Under normal circumstances Klaus would have been irritated at Alaric's lack of concern for Tessa's nakedness, but as Klaus could see Alaric's sole purpose was to help as his hands moved to her wound once he'd dropped to his knees beside Tessa's body.

"This-this is going to hurt." Alaric forewarned Klaus as he pulled out tweezers from Tessa's cabinet within arms reach. "I'm gonna need you to hold her."
Klaus's glare only hardened at Alaric's command, but he did as told and gripped Tessa's wrists to prevent her from flailing. He watched as Alaric moved to straddle over Tessa's thighs, his phone out with the flashlight on to look at the wound. Klaus was surprised to see the metallic particles in the wound shine against the bright light.

"what the bloody hel-?"

"She was hit by a pickaxe." Alaric explained curtly before he made quick with his work at digging out the bits of iron in her wound.

"A pickaxe?" It occurred to Klaus then that the cutting tool had the iron on it from being mined with.

"I presume the old man is dead, already?" Klaus asked with an almost feral growl.

"Tessa took care of him- she blew up the house." Alaric told him with a nod as he focused hard on the problem before him. Klaus watched him closely, as he carefully began removing a tiny rock of iron ore. Klaus let out a stressful huff as he soon realized how lengthy this process was going to be.

"Yeah this is just the outer layer. I'll have to dig deeper to get the pieces out from underneath where her body has healed." Klaus blinked at him, but gritted his teeth and held her wrists down as Alaric broke out the nearest pair of scissors he could find.

After hearing Tessa scream, and cry out in agony from Alaric digging at her practically infected wound for the last hour and half. Klaus was relieved to see her, still slightly pale, but no longer looking as though death were waiting at her doorstep any longer- he'd fed her some of his blood, and was surprised to see her wound healing quickly. He breathed a sigh of relief as he sat back in the cushioned arm chair he had pulled up along her side of the bed, all he could do now was wait.

Thank you all so, so much for the reads.
XXTigerXEyesXX