Another day, another chapter! This is an important announcement btw: I just got a new laptop, and I don't have Microsoft Word on it yet, so I won't be able to upload any more chapters to my document editor. But, never fear, I can get up to chapter 14. :D Hopefully I'll get Word soon.

We got no money, but we got heart
We're gonna rattle this ghost town
This house is falling apart

- Anna Sun by Walk the Moon

"We've got it… let's go!" she said with a smile.

They left the Martin's apartment, and everyone went to their vehicles to go home. Irina was following Bonnie when she got a text from Ric.

Hey, would you mind helping me with something? -R

Absolutely. Where and when? –I

Now, in front of the Grill? –R

Sure, be there soon. :) –I

Irina put her phone back in her purse and changed route to the Grill. When she got there, she saw Ric talking to Isobel, and she got out to go see what was going on.

"Hey, Ric. What's going on?" she asked.

Isobel smiled at her. "I was just tying up my loose ends," she said as she handed Ric his phone.

"Where did you get that?" he asked.

"They're all yours," she said before walking away.

Irina was completely blindsided by the pain in her head as she fell to the ground.

Irina woke to the sound of chanting in Latin. She didn't know where she was or what was going on. She opened her eyes and, even though it was blurry, she could register the fact that the room was dark. It must be night time- how long was she out? She turned her head to the right, and saw Elena lying beside her, only… it wasn't Elena. It was Katherine- Irina could tell by the bracelet she was wearing.

Irina sat up as quietly as she could, and looked to the male witch who was standing in front of Ric's body. She didn't know what he was doing- the spell wasn't familiar to her. He was dark, and she could sense it. She made her way to Katherine, and shook her awake.

"Katherine," she whispered.

Katherine came to, and looked completely confused. Irina held a finger to her lips to make sure Katherine wouldn't say anything before pointing to the witch and Alaric. Irina helped Katherine stand.

"What is he doing?" Katherine asked, almost too low for Irina to hear.

"I don't know. I'm not familiar with it. It's different… dark," Irina explained.

Katherine looked back to the witch as he finished his chanting, and they watched as Ric stood from the chair. She looked more fearful every step he took towards her.

"Alaric?" Irina asked.

Katherine didn't waste any time before zooming to the door and trying to leave, but she was blocked. Alaric- or whomever was possessing him- took slow steps towards her. She was trapped. When he finally reached the spot where she stood, he said; "Zdravei, Katerina. I have missed you."

"Klaus," she breathed.

Klaus had seen her- after all this time, she was here. He had never stopped loving his daughter, but he always assumed she'd be a child when they met again. Now she was all grown up, and Klaus realized he knew nothing about his own child. She didn't have her memories- obviously- but he had never forgotten her. One look into Irina's eyes and he knew it was his daughter. He had all but given up hope of ever finding her again.

When he first woke up in this body, he had to refrain from pulling her into a hug like he did when she was a child. For one thing, she didn't know who he was. Her memories hadn't come back yet. For another thing, he was in the body of her teacher- can you say awkward? Then he thought to what his witches had told him- that they had sensed her when they first entered Mystic Falls. She was powerful… dangerously so.

He had banished Katerina to one of the bedrooms- he could deal with her later. He had at least five hundred years to do so. He wanted to have a conversation with his- very grown-up- daughter. But where do you begin with a conversation such as this? He studied her; long, chocolate brown hair; bright blue eyes, that looked extremely angry at the moment; the same lips as her mother had. She was gorgeous, and he felt a sense of pride at the fact that she was his.

"Can you please stop looking at me like that?" she asked.

He smirked- she had fire. "Like what darling?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes and made her way to Ric's kitchen. She pulled out a bottle of bourbon and began to pour herself a glass. Did she really think he was going to let her drink? He took the bottle and glass from her, and she looked at him in disbelief. "Seriously?" she asked.

"Aren't you a bit young to be drinking?" he asked.

"Aren't you a bit hypocritical to judge anything that I do?" she fired back at him.

He was impressed with her already- she was a firecracker. "I guess so," he relented as he handed her the glass, but kept the bottle.

She smirked at him- with the smirk his family made famous- and downed the drink in one gulp. It didn't even seem to faze her- it was like watching her drink water. He wondered if it were alcohol at all. It smelled like it, and looked like it, so why didn't it affect her. He continued to study her with interest as she rested her head on her hand. She had a bored expression on her face- like she wasn't afraid of him at all.

"So… why have you brought me here?" she asked.

"You are intriguing," he said. "I am told you are an incredibly powerful witch."

"And you want me to help you," she guessed.

He paused for a moment to consider that statement. No, he didn't need her help, but he did want her on his side. She was his daughter for goodness sake, why wouldn't he want her one his side? He had to keep reminding himself that she didn't know him yet. He wasn't even in his right body at the moment.

"No…" he said.

"No what?" she asked.

"I don't need your help. Whenever you decide to join me, I want it to be on your terms," he said.

She scoffed. "Well, it's a good thing you can't die then," she said.

"And why is that?" he asked, his eyes flashing with anger.

Her eyes flashed with the same anger, and for a moment, he saw how much she was like him. They were both quick tempered, that was for sure. "Because it will be a cold day in hell before I join you- I just want to make that clear up front," she hissed.

She seemed surprised when- instead of lashing out at her- he reigned in his anger and smirked. "Very well, my dear," he said.

She rolled her eyes and plopped down on the sofa, grabbing her bag as she went. He had taken her phone earlier, but she didn't seem to be looking for that. She took out a sketchpad and a pencil before going to work on her drawing. Klaus smiled when he realized it was just another thing that they had in common.

The next morning Irina was still pissed about being taken. She was about to go insane in this room, and she'd only been here for a few hours. She was sitting beside Katherine- who had been allowed back in the living room- as Klaus chose his outfit for the day. She felt terrible that she couldn't get a message to Bonnie or anyone else that she knew.

"Okay…" Klaus said as he returned, holding two shirts, "bad… or badder?" he asked.

"The dark colors suit you better," Katherine said.

"Oh, thank you honey!" he exclaimed.

Irina rolled her eyes and said; "And for God's sake, I hope you can do better with your English. 'Badder' isn't exactly a word. I mean, you are the oldest vampire in the world. Weren't you there when the language was invented?" she quipped.

He rolled his eyes and said; "Cute." Then, he began changing his shirt, and Irina looked away. She did not need to see her teacher like that. "Okay, pop quiz. The dagger and white ash are in the Salvatore's possession, correct?" he asked.

"The dagger was used to kill Elijah. You'll find him in the basement of the Salvatore house," Katherine said.

"Okay, that dagger needs to stay exactly where it is. The last thing I need to do is resurrect Elijah. Och… that guy is a buzz kill," Klaus said.

"Don't forget, you're on the outs with your girlfriend Jenna," Irina said.

"Right," Klaus continued. "Elena's aunt… for all the lies about Isobel. What else?"

"That's it," she said, keeping the bored expression on her face.

"Hmm…" Klaus said as he made his way to Katherine. He ran his hand along the side of her face, causing her to jump in her seat. She was actually scared of him. "Oh… so jumpy."

"Please… just kill me. I've told you everything that I know," Katherine said.

"You see… I believe that you believe that. But what would you not know? What could they be keeping from you? Tell me," he compelled.

Katherine looked at him, as if in a trance. "They were trying to see if Bonnie and Irina could find a way to kill an Original without a dagger," she said.

Klaus glanced at Irina, and for the first time she let some of the fear she was feeling show on her face, but she quickly composed herself. Klaus just ignored what she said about Irina.

"Bonnie the best friend?" he asked. "I thought you said she didn't have her powers anymore."

"She doesn't- or… didn't. I don't know," Katherine said.

"You kidnapped us, remember? We're kind of out-of-the-loop," Irina said.

"Well, we'll have to get to the bottom of that," he said.

"Please, just kill me Klaus, and be done with it," Katherine begged.

"And show you kindness?" Klaus asked. "I've been searching for you, for five hundred years. Your death will last at least that long."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife. Irina was getting frightened- would he used it on her?

"Now, I want you to take this knife, and stab yourself," he said to Katherine.

She took the knife from his hand, and held it above her leg. She brought it down, and the sound of the knife going through flesh sickened Irina. Katherine yanked the knife out of her leg, and Irina was disgusted as Klaus told her to keep doing that until he returned. She silently spelled it so that she wouldn't feel the pain of the knife. Hopefully she knew to play along. Klaus grabbed Irina by the arm and pulled her to the door.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"I am going to go lay eyes on my precious doppelgänger and you…" he said as he turned her to look at him. When he made eye contact, she knew she was going to be compelled. He must have taken her bracelet. "… you are not going to remember that I am Klaus. You will know me only as Alaric. If anyone asks where you were, say that Maddox kidnapped you, but you escaped before he took your powers," he said.

Irina woke in her bed, with no knowledge of how she got there. She remembered only that she had been kidnapped by one of Klaus' witches, and it was all Isobel's fault. She took her cellphone from her bag and dialed Bonnie's number.

Irina!

Bonnie sounded frantic, and Irina said; "Bonnie, it's me. I'm okay."

Oh thank God. I was so worried. What happened?

"One of Klaus' witches kidnapped me, but I escaped before he could take my powers," she said.

He was going to take your powers?

Bonnie sounded disgusted by that, and Irina said; "Yeah. He must've known I was powerful or something. It's all Isobel's fault though. She set me up."

Well, you won't have to worry about her. She was compelled by Klaus to take off her necklace in the daytime, and she's not around anymore.

"How's Elena?" Irina asked.

She's okay. She feels sad, but it isn't like when Miranda or Greyson died.

"I understand. So where are you?" Irina asked.

We're at the boarding house- you should get down here.

"Okay. Give me fifteen minutes," she replied.

Love you Irina. Bye.

"Bye sis," Irina said before hanging up the phone and going to shower and change her clothes.

When Irina arrived the Salvatore brothers were standing outside. "What's going on?" she asked.

"We're giving Elena the house," Damon said like it was no big deal.

"You gave her your house?" Irina asked.

Damon just smirked, and Stefan said; "Yep."

Irina just shook her head and walked inside. Bonnie and Elena were sitting and talking with a man- wearing a suit- who was explaining papers to them. When they saw Irina, they both jumped up and ran to her. They almost knocked her down with their hug.

"You're okay! Oh my gosh, we were so worried!" Elena exclaimed.

"I'm fine Elena. No worries," Irina said.

Bonnie smiled at her. "And you still have your powers?" she asked.

Irina closed her eyes and concentrated on the candles in the room. She opened her hand, and the fire was in her palms, and then the candles relit. She smiled and opened her eyes, and she saw that Bonnie looked relieved.

"Thank God you're okay. I was worried sick," Bonnie said.

"I'm fine. We should get back to… whoever that is," Irina said, and they walked back to the table.

"Okay," the man said, "sign here, and here."

Elena sighed the paper, and Irina said; "So, they just gave you their house?"

"Yep. As sole owner I'm the only one who can invite a certain type of person in," Elena explained.

"Your own personal safe house," Irina said, and Elena nodded.

"Wouldn't wanna clean it," Bonnie said, and the three of them laughed.

After Stefan and Damon were both invited in, Bonnie came back with everyone's jackets. Elena was putting hers on when Stefan asked; "Where are you going?"

"To school," Elena replied.

"No, no, no… we didn't create a safe house just so you could leave it," Damon said.

"Yeah, guys. Klaus is out there. We know that," Stefan reasoned.

"Right," Irina began. "But where? No one knows."

"Look, I really appreciate what you guys are doing, and I'll be able to sleep at night knowing I'm safe here. But, I'm not going to be a prisoner," Elena said.

Everyone looked to Damon, who seemed to have a hard time accepting this. "Your way Elena," he said.

"Don't worry, we're ready. If he shows his face, we can take him," Bonnie said.

"We know how," Irina said.

"The way I see it, next to Bonnie and Irina is the safest place I can be," Elena said cheerfully as she locked arms with the two girls and they walked out.

Stefan scoffed and looked to Damon, who just motioned for him to follow. "Wait," Stefan said. "I'm coming too."

As the bell rang; Bonnie, Irina, and Elena all took their seats in the history classroom, followed by Stefan. Elena turned to Stefan, and held up a flyer, which Stefan promptly shot down. Then she turned to Bonnie and Irina, who smiled and nodded at what the flyer said.

60's Decade Dance

"Hello class," Alaric said as he walked into the classroom. "What are we learning today?"

"With the Decade Dance tonight, we've been covering the sixties all week," Irina said.

Ric smiled at her before turning to the board. "Right, the sixties…" he said, as he wrote with the chalk. "I wish there was something good I could say about the sixties," he murmured.

Irina and Bonnie shared a confused look, but returned their attention to the board.

"Actually," Ric continued, "they kind of sucked. Except for the Beatles, of course- they made it bearable. What else was there? The Cuban missile… thing; we walked on the moon; there was Watergate…"

"Watergate was the seventies, Ric," Elena said before she caught her mistake, "I mean, Mr. Saltzman."

"Right, it all kind of mushes together up here. The sixties… seventies…. but thank you, Elena," he said before finishing his strange lecture.

He looked at Irina throughout his lecturing. It was just some bullshit, random rambling to get him through the class. He wasn't good at teaching from the books- half the time they got it wrong. He had to play the part, though. He noticed that she wasn't even paying attention to the lecture. She was just sitting there drawing in her notebook. He tried to see her picture as best he could- it looked like she was drawing a flower. She was actually quite decent, and again it filled him with a sense of pride knowing she inherited something good from him.

The bell rang and she jumped a bit as she was pulled out of her art trance. He knew what that was like- being so into something that you forget the world around you. He was willing to bet that she hadn't heard a word of his lecture- although it probably wouldn't do her any good. As she was walking up the aisle, her pencil dropped. As she bent to pick it up he noticed her necklace move forward- the necklace he had inscribed her name on in their old language. This was his Irina- if there was ever any doubts before, they were gone now.

The next period was his lunch break, so he decided to grab a bite from the vending machine in the teacher's lounge. On his way there he noticed the door to the art room was opened, and someone was humming from inside. He peeked in to see Irina with her tray of food, sitting at one of the tables. For a moment he felt his chest ache at seeing her sitting by herself, before he remembered that she had tons of friends- namely the members of the Scooby gang hell bent on killing him.

He entered the room, and she looked up to give him a small smile. "Oh, hi Ric," she said.

He smiled as he went to sit across from her. "Hey Irina. What are you doing?" he asked.

She sighed and said; "Just trying to clear my mind, you know."

He nodded and looked at what she was working on. It was a painting on a small canvas, and it looked… dark. It was depressing, but it was good. She definitely had talent. He wanted to know what could have possibly caused his daughter so much pain that her art would be this depressing. She looked so happy on the outside- was it just a mask that she wore for the world?

"So, why does it look so dark?" he asked.

She glanced at him before continuing with her work. "You know I'm a witch, Ric," she began in a hushed tone. "Well, we can speak with the spirits, right? There is one spirit who speaks to me a lot," she said.

This intrigued him, and he said; "Who is it?"

"She says she's my mother, and we look like we could be related. The thing is, that this is the same woman in the dream that I always have. Which means, if it is my mother, then she's been dead this whole time," Irina explained.

He wanted to assure her that she still had someone who loved her. He would always love her, unconditionally, but he couldn't. She didn't remember him- she remembered her mother.

"That's… intense," he said.

She laughed, but it was humorless. "Yeah, tell me about it," she said.

"But you said you talk to her?" he asked.

"Yes, but only for a short while- I can't sleep forever. I wonder why now? Why not when I was younger?" she said.

"Perhaps it's your brain's way of allowing you to remember slowly," he offered.

She seemed to mull over that for a moment, and then said; "That actually makes a lot of sense."

"Well, I do that sometimes," he quipped.

She laughed, and he found himself falling in love with the sound. It was a beautiful sound that bubbled out of her mouth from inside her. It made him smile a genuine, not-caused-by-death, smile. She turned her attention back to the painting and frowned.

"You made me feel better before this was finished," she teased.

He chuckled. "Well, maybe you should start another one," he offered.

"I probably will," she said.

"I need some art for my apartment. Will you paint me a picture?" he asked.

She smiled. "I would love to! You really like my artwork that much?" she asked.

"You are quite talented," he said.

"Well, what should I paint?" she asked.

He thought a moment. "What do you normally paint?" he asked.

"I normally paint my feelings. For example, when I think of Bonnie I think of a sister. I think of serene colors and nature tones, so if I were to paint her a picture, it would probably be abstract- and it would involve those aspects," she explained.

He nodded and grinned. She was a bright child, and he felt his heart swelling with pride at his daughter. She was so talented, and he wished he could be having this conversation with her in his own body, and not in that of her history teacher.

"So, do that. Use what you feel when you think of me to inspire your painting," he said.

"Okay then. But, it might be a while before you get it. I don't do well painting with anything other than dark colors when I'm feeling depressed," she was about to begin ranting before stopping herself. "Sorry Ric, I don't mean to dump all my drama on you- I know things are tough with Jenna right now."

"No worries, darling. I should be going anyway- I have another class… now," he said as the bell rang.

She chuckled. "Good timing," she said before returning to her drawings. He noticed her notebook had words scribbled on it in their old language. He decided he'd ask her about that later.

Irina and Jeremy were walking in the cafeteria, and he asked; "Did Bonnie tell you what it's going to take for you two to do that spell?"

"Yes, she did," Irina sighed.

"And you still want to do it!" Jeremy exclaimed.

"Yes, Jeremy. We have to," she stated.

"And did you two tell Elena?" he asked.

"No, and you're not going to either," she replied.

Jeremy stopped and turned to her. "Well, she's got to know you can't do it," he said.

"We don't know we can't. Have a little faith in us," Irina said.

"That's not fair, Irina. You can't harness the power of a hundred dead witches- it'll kill you," Jeremy said quietly.

Irina's eyes widened. "Shh! We don't know that for certain. You promised to keep our secret- I'm trusting you. We're going to go through with this, and if you tell anyone, I swear—" Irina whispered.

"What?" Jeremy interrupted. "What are you gonna do?"

Thankfully, Elena and Bonnie interrupted them before she had to answer that. "Hey, Jer. Are you okay, alone at the house with John?" Elena asked as Bonnie looked at Irina.

What's wrong? Bonnie texted discretely to Irina.

I'll tell you later, Irina replied.

"I'm late for class," Jeremy said before walking away.

Elena looked confused as she sat down beside Bonnie and Irina. "What's going on?" she asked.

"I told him he had to dress up tonight, and he got all uptight," Irina lied.

Elena smiled and rolled her eyes, because she knew how Jeremy was about dressing up. Dana was making her way to their table which was odd, because Dana never really sat with them.

"Hey, Elena! There you are, okay… This is going to sound freaky, but this totally hot guy just asked me to ask you if you're going to the dance tonight," Dana said.

The three girls smiled at each other, and Bonnie said; "Tell him she has a boyfriend."

"You could at lead meet him. He'll be at the dance tonight. Look for him- his name is Klaus," Dana said.

The three girls stiffened, and Elena said; "What did you just say?"

"His name is Klaus. I know the name's stupid, but I swear he's hot," Dana said.

"Where is he? Is he here?" Irina asked as she looked around.

"I… don't know," Dana replied.

The three girls looked at her, and Bonnie said; "She's been compelled."

"But he wants to know if you'll save him the last dance. How cute is that?" Dana said.

Elena was beginning to look extremely nervous, so Irina said; "Thank you, Dana. You've delivered your message."

Dana smiled and walked away like nothing happened at all. Irina and Bonnie looked at each other, and Bonnie said; "Elena, we need to go."

"It's the middle of the school day," Elena replied.

"I don't care- we're going. Now," Irina stated before they got up and drove to the boarding house.

They arrived at the Boarding House after calling Stefan and telling him where they were going. When they got inside, they explained to Damon what happened. He got angry and aggravated. Stefan came in and they had to explain, again, what had occurred.

"See, I told you. You three should have just stayed here," he said.

"Yes, Damon. We all know you are the all-powerful mind in this operation. We would be completely lost without your guidance," Irina exclaimed- her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Well, as long as you've realized that," he quipped.

"So, what do we do?" Elena asked.

"Simple," Damon replied, "we go to the dance and find him."

"Really? How are we going to do that? We don't even know what he looks like," Stefan argued.

"Something tells me he's not going to be sixteen and pimply," Damon quipped.

Irina huffed. "Look, he could be anywhere at any time. He compelled somebody at school," she said.

"Guess it's not as safe as you guys thought, huh?" Stefan asked.

Before anyone could respond, there was a knock on the door. Alaric entered and said; "Sorry I'm late," he said.

"Hey, I need you to put me down as a chaperone for the dance tonight. Klaus made his first move," Damon stated.

"Okay, so we find him and then what? Hmm? What's our plan of attack?" Elena asked.

"Us," Bonnie said as she looked to Irina. "We're the plan. He has no idea how much power we can channel. If you can find him, we can kill him," she continued.

"It's not gonna be that easy… I mean, he's the biggest- baddest vampire around," Alaric said.

"Alaric's got a point. I mean, what if he—" Damon began, before flashing towards Bonnie and Irina.

Together, they used their powers to throw Damon backwards- almost knocking a hole in the wall as they did.

"Well, I was impressed," Stefan said.

"It doesn't matter if he's and Original," Irina said. "We can take down anyone who comes at us."

"We can kill him, Elena. I know we can," Bonnie said.

They formulated the plan, and everyone left to get ready for the dance. Tonight was going to be epic.

"It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him."
― J.R.R. Tolkien