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Chapter 21 'Til Death Part 1

Are you, are you,
Coming to the tree,
Where I told you to run so we'd both be free.
Strange things did happen here,
No stranger would it be,
If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree.
-The Hanging Tree by Suzanne Collins

Elena walked into the graveyard and immediately ducked behind the nearest gravestone. Her eyes spanned the course of the graveyard, but she didn't see anyone else there. A knot twisted in her stomach as she realized the battle might have already been finished.

She moved to the next gravestone with Matt close to her side. She was just about to stand up when she heard Matt scream.

"Let go of me!" Matt yelled as he fought against the person holding him captive. Elena turned around to see him fighting against Alaric.

"What are you doing here?" Caroline gasped as she moved in beside Elena. "You were supposed to stay are your house."

"I couldn't let you face Klaus alone," Elena replied before she did stand up. "Surely you understand that."

"I do," Caroline nodded. "I just wish you were safe."

"Where are Damon and Katherine?" Elena questioned as she surveyed the area.

Caroline rolled her eyes. "Klaus decided to take a midnight ride in a marriage. Who does that?"

"Do you know where they went?"

"We know the general direction," Bonnie spoke for the first time. "We were putting a little distance between us and them so they wouldn't know they were being followed."

As Elena let out a deep breath, her mind devised a plan. "We can only go so far in a group this large," she spoke slowly. Her brown eyes surveyed the group with intense deliberation. "If any remnants of our old plan are still together, Bonnie and Jeremy will have to stay together."

Bonnie nodded, although her sadness was reflected in her eyes. "This is the only way I know to stop him."

Elena fought against her own despair. If something happened and Jeremy didn't come back, her entire family would be dead.

"I could go with Tyler," Alaric spoke up. "Which would allow Caroline to go with you and Matt."

"That sounds good to me," Caroline replied.

Alaric dug in a huge bag he carried until he pulled out a couple of stakes, a vervain dart, and two knives.

"Take these with you," he said as he handed them to Elena and Matt. Then, he winked. "Hopefully, you won't need them."

"Thank you," Elena replied before she embraced him in a tight hug. Throughout all the trials they had faced, he had become something close to family to her.

When she let go, she smiled at the entire group. They had to win.

"Where did Klaus go?" she finally asked.

"Into the forest," Bonnie replied.

"Then let's go."

Bonnie and Jeremy moved through the trees as quietly as possible. They had yet to encounter any opposition, and that worried Bonnie.

"Are the spirits still following us?" Bonnie whispered as she stepped over a fallen log.

"Yeah," Jeremy replied. His gaze lingered on the area behind them where Bonnie could feel an immense amount of power. "They're determined to stop him."

"Aren't we all?" Bonnie half-laughed.

Jeremy shrugged. "I'm sorry if I've been too hard on you over killing Caroline's mother. I know why you killed her, Bonnie. It's just…" He ruffled his shaggy brown hair. "I've lost so many people lately. The killing has to stop somewhere, you know?"

"I know," she whispered.

There was more she needed to say, but she fell silent when she caught movement up ahead of them. She motioned for Jeremy to remain quiet as she pointed a finger in the direction she'd seen the movement. She felt the power of Misao running through her own veins, and felt the energy the spirits had to offer on her fingertips. If the person attacked, she was ready.

Bonnie slinked forward and led the way. When she came to the end of the tree cover, she leaned against the bark of a tree and gazed out into the large clearing beyond. As the scene before her registered in her mind, she sunk back into the cover and tried to not feel overwhelmed.

In that clearing, there had been over fifty hybrids.

Elena leaned against a tree as she peered into the depression below. She forced herself not to breathe when she saw Greta and two hybrids in the valley. When she turned around to face Jeremy and Caroline, she shook her head sadly.

"We're outmatched," Elena explained.

"There has to be something we can do," Caroline exclaimed. "We can't give up."

"They won't hurt me," Elena said as she hid her weapons underneath her clothing. "They know who I am, and how much Klaus wants me. They'll take me to him, Caroline, and that should buy you enough time to regroup with the others and prepare for Klaus' death."

Caroline was already shaking her head, "I won't do that."

"You have to," Elena said before she hugged Caroline. "This is the only way for us to stop him."

Before Caroline had a chance to respond, Elena nodded at Matt, and jumped out into Greta's view.

Elena hoped the shock on her face appeared genuine. She even tried to scramble back into the cover of the trees. But Greta and her hybrids had already noticed her. Before Elena had the chance to go anywhere, Greta grabbed onto her and pulled her to the ground.

"I bet you wanted to save him," Greta said with a grin on her face. "You're too late. Klaus' reign has already begun." She forced Elena onto her stomach while she tied Elena's wrists together. When she had finished, she hauled Elena to her feet.

Elena was at the mercy of Greta as she pushed her into another section of the forest. When she stole one last glance at the area she had come from, Elena saw, to her horror, Matt following after her.

"So what do you say, my darling Katerina," he sang. "Will you join me?"

Damon tensed as his blue eyes glanced from Klaus to Katherine. Although no one had spoken in a few seconds, those small moments of time felt like hours. When Damon's gaze drifted to Stefan, he saw for the first time since he had entered the carriage a glimmer of the Stefan he knew so well. Whatever mask had been painted on Stefan's face had been wiped clean. Now, his expression was something close to horror.

"I completely understand what you're doing," Katherine finally spoke. "This is more than I could have ever hoped for."

"I'm glad you see things my way," Klaus grinned.

With a new found dread, Damon realized that the carriage had stopped moving.

Klaus' eyes met Damon's, and he could see the insanity that lay inside his body.

"I know that you do not understand now, Damon, but give me time." He reached and opened the door to the carriage. "Shall we?"

It was then that Damon realized he really had no choice but to follow Klaus until he came up with some form of a plan.

When he stepped out of the carriage, trees surrounded him. They had arrived at a clearing in the forest with a large marble slab in the center. Damon raised an eyebrow, and Klaus laughed.

"You will soon see the brilliance of my plan," Klaus remarked before he walked to the slab. "It was hard, to begin with, to decide how to raise my hybrids from the grave. The werewolf and vampire blood feuded in their veins and prevented them from rising from the dead properly. I was allowed to bring back my first batch of hybrids to balance nature, but I knew that couldn't happen more than once. My beautiful witch found a way around that though."

"I love to hear you complimenting me," Greta smiled as she emerged from among the trees. Her dark hair fell down past her shoulders in curls that bounced as she walked. "I didn't think I would see you again, Damon."

"I could say the same about you," Damon retorted. "I thought you were dead."

"I was," she shrugged. "That's why it's good to have powerful friends."

"Greta, my darling," Klaus began as he walked over and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "Please explain to our guests how you've managed to bring my new hybrids back to life."

She nodded as a smile crossed her lips. "The point of being a witch is to keep nature in balance. If we want someone to come back from the dead, all we have to do is send someone else back in return."

Damon tried to suppress a shudder. "How many people have you killed so far?"

"Close to fifty."

"You must be proud," Damon smirked.

"I am." She moved out of Klaus' embrace and faced the forest. "Cato, you can come out now."

Damon watched as a man came out carrying the limp form of a teenage boy. When Damon noticed the boy's blond hair and athletic frame, he tried not to groan. If Matt had been captured, something was definitely wrong. It was at that moment that he realized nothing good could come from this situation.

"I found him wandering the forest," Greta said with a tint of laughter in her voice. "I thought he would make a good sacrifice to raise our next hybrid."

Although Damon wanted to intervene, he knew better. Trying to save Matt now would cause both of them to die.

"So who are we turning into a hybrid now?" Klaus questioned with a smile on his face. "Have you brought me another pet, my love?"

"Of course I have," Greta replied. Cato had dumped Matt's body onto the stone slab, and Greta now worked to secure his hands and wrists to the marble with ropes. When she had finished, she waved her hands in a brilliant display of power. Out of the ground came a dagger covered in caked blood.

"Lane!" Greta called into the trees again. "Please bring out our next recruit."

Damon felt all his hopes shatter as the man known as Lane led the girl into the clearing. Her hands were tied behind her back, and her long brown hair was knotted from the struggle she had been through. Layers of mud covered her clothes, and a slight trace of blood covered her jeans.

The worst part was the look on Klaus' face. It held so much joy and power that Damon had to stop himself from hitting Klaus.

The only decent part to all of this was the look on Stefan's face. He looked almost normal in his longing for the girl who was held captive. And something close to regret lined his eyes as Lane pushed the girl to her knees before Klaus.

Then Klaus reached down and gently stroked Elena's hair.

"There is no need to worry now," he spoke in soft tones as he looked into the hatred filled eyes of his prey. "After tonight, we will always be together."

"If you want to be with me, then why am I being treated like a slave?"

"Of course." Klaus motioned to Lane. "Untie her."

When the ropes were loosened off of Elena's wrists, she stood up and met Klaus' fierce gaze.

Klaus eyed her with a deep curiosity. "How long has it been since all four of you have been together?" he asked as he glanced from Elena, to Katherine, to Damon, to Stefan. "Probably some time, I'm sure. And I doubt all four of you have ever really been on the same side." He stared at Elena in deep concentration. "There are so many fun games we could play now."

"I thought you were going to turn her, master," Katherine called from behind him. She didn't seem too interested in taking part in the "games" Klaus spoke of.

"There will be time for that later," he said dismissively. "The Petrova doppelgangers will eventually belong to me," he made clear. "But I wonder who they currently belong to."

Damon felt his own dread rising within him as he glanced over to Stefan. Stefan's face had gone wide with a terror of his own.

Klaus moved and sat down on the edge of the marble slab where Matt was now struggling to get free. A piece of cloth had been stuffed into his mouth to stop him from crying out. Matt's attempts to escape seemed to not even be noticed by Klaus.

"Let's start with Katerina then," Klaus grinned. "Katerina, darling, which brother do you love?"

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