Chapter 25:
We left as soon as we could, driving as fast as we could without being pulled over. My brother knew I couldn't afford to get caught on the road when the moon came up.
"You sure you're going to be okay Peatrie?" Damon asked me. I was sure he could feel my uneasiness. I had just escaped my prison and here I was heading right back. I was heading for hell without Logan. My wolf was going to be pissed.
"Turn here. And Yes Damon I am fine." I shoved his shoulder roughly. Damon took Jeremy, Matt and I closer to the property as I slouched back into the seat. "Once we get there you have to stay inside." We couldn't afford to get caught outside. Or they couldn't, not with me being alone out there for the first time. I couldn't be sure what was going to happen.
"This is it, isn't it?" Jeremy asked me, ignoring what I had said moments before. "You didn't deserve this Peatrie..." His eyes bore a hole in the window. He hadn't gotten it before. No one would. Explaining it did nothing to paint the picture of my home for all those years.
"Yes I did. But I did my time. You need to follow my rules here so that all this wasn't for nothing." I told him. This wasn't easy for me.
"Couldn't you try to cast some sort of spell to keep Klaus out? You did that before right? Elena was telling me something about it." Jeremy asked.
"No. I mean yes but It doesn't always go my way. We just need to get you inside and they shouldn't be able to cross the threshold. You will be safe for a while." And if Klaus showed up, then I would know. I would be there. My phone beeped as Elena sent me a text.
We pulled in front of the cabin as they all piled out.
Elena: Klaus killed Mrs. Lockwood. Tyler's mom is dead.
Me: What? We have only been gone a few hours. What happened?
Elena: Klaus was looking for Jeremy. Killed Carol.
Me: We just got here. I will make sure he stays safe.
Elena: Just make sure to keep both of you safe. I don't need to loose my sister again.
I shoved the phone into my pocket and climbed out. Looking around, I took it in. It hadn't changed, in fact it looked like someone had been here and cleaned it up. I got what Elena had said, loosing a sibling was painful. I got that it hurt her the first time. As twins we had never been that close but I loved her and Jeremy, they were family. But the loss of my family hadn't been the most painful part of leaving Mystic Falls. For me leaving my home had been the worst of it. My parents died and I had missed their funeral. I had never really had a chance to say my goodbyes.
"This place is tiny. You slept here?" Matt asked me, pulling bags out from the trunk.
"Yep. There's a couch and a cot. Pick one." I held back on telling them about Carol. I would tell them tomorrow. I watched them head inside as I pulled my own bag from the trunk, slamming it shut. I couldn't imagine this place without Logan. It was as if I would find him here, somewhere deep in the woods. Like the old days.
But these were not the old days and Logan wasn't somewhere out there waiting for me. I was alone here, even surrounded by family and friends. To me this was the way it was meant to be. The only person who had made me truly feel alive was the one man I couldn't be around. Such was my life.
"You going to stand out here all day? Shouldn't you get ready to head out?" Jeremy called out from the small porch.
"Yep. Just reminiscing I guess. It's getting late though. You best go back inside and lock the doors." I told him. I threw him my bags, grabbing only a change of clothes before I turned and left them alone in the cabin.
I could feel the moon rising as I made my way to Logan's meeting place by the lake. It was always the same there, but this time it seemed darker. The trees cast a shadow as the wind blew them to and fro. Nothing was silent and nothing was still. It was exactly how I was feeling, unsettled and nervous.
People I cared about were in danger and here I was. The only one who could really do anything to stop Klaus and I was at the moons mercy. If I refused it then I would be unable to control myself in the days to come. I needed control. Always.
I sighed, throwing my clothes on the ground beside me. Slipping my dress over my head I got ready for the shift. Next I let my boots fall into the pile.
"PEAT! PEAT!" I could hear the screams of my brother. My hearing was always better this close to the full moon. My head snapped up instantly as I looked towards the cabin. I didn't think about it as I tugged the dress back over my head and rushed quickly towards them. I left all my belongings behind in the dirt, including my boots.
As I ran further through the woods I could feel twigs crack and needles dig into my feet. But I didn't stop. I had to get to Jeremy. As I got closer I could hear crashing noises, and a voice I remembered from a long time ago..
The cabin came into view as I rushed up the steps and burst into the small wooden room. The fire was blazing as Matt lay on the floor not moving, my brother standing back against the wall as Kol circled him slowly. It had not been to long since I had seen him last, but for him it had been hundreds of years. If I could touch his arm and make him remember me...
"Another one?" He asked, smiling at Damon. Damon was tied to a chair with a few stakes shoved through him. But he was alive and smiling right back.
"What can I tell you? It must have slipped my mind." Damon said, grinning at Kol. "I just can't get enough." He shrugged.
Rebekah POV:
"Look I can't tell you more then I know. Kol is here and he is looking for you're friends. You need to get to that cabin and help them. If he finds Peat he will kill her and anyone who gets in his way." I tried to explain to Stefan. I hadn't the best track record with him or his brother but when it came to Peat it didn't matter. She was family and I wouldn't let Kol kill her. She was vulnerable tonight and I knew he was coming.
"I don't know where they are. I wasn't told. They figured Klaus would show up and glamour me." He said, leaning against the doorway to my kitchen. He looked so damn good standing there.. It always brought back memories. Before Elena Gilbert. Before my brother staked me and left me to sleep for all those years. Klaus had ruined my chances with Stefan a long time ago.
"You didn't ask where they were going?" I stammered angrily.
"Look I get it! She has Jeremy and Matt and my brother there with her. They know what to look out for. She will be fine." I watched him as he sped towards my front door. As he opened it I knew..
"Leaving so soon?" My big brother asked him.
"Klaus." Stefan said, not really that surprised. "I don't know where they are."
"This is my room Nik. I don't appreciate you just letting yourself in!" I found it hard these days to be nice to my brother. I knew none of this helped but he never did learn to respect my privacy.
"Well I do apologize for breaking up this sorted little tryst but we do have some urgent business wouldn't you say sister?" He said, pushing past Stefan. "Or have you forgotten that our paranoid younger brother Kol is running around with a white oak stake and homicide on the brain?"
"He tried to kill me last night. I haven't forgotten." I said, pulling my robe tighter together. My own brother hated the idea that I could be human again. I wasn't on anyone's side here but my own. I wanted a family. I wanted to grow old and die. I wanted my life back. But I would protect Peat from him either way.
"Yes well unfortunately he seems to have absconded with my set of daggers." He ran his hand along the curtain, looking out the window.
"Poor Nik." I sighed, "However will you get you're way without you're precious daggers?" I asked him, I really could care less about my brothers problems. He wasn't keen on me taking this cure either. In his mind it was a threat to him and us. Give one of us the cure and you could kill us. He wouldn't risk it. Neither would Kol. "They were so handy when you wanted away from one of us weren't they?" I taunted.
"Kol's irrational fear of Silas has pushed him over the edge." He bit out. "We need to put him down before he does more damage.. Now I know you have the last dagger and I know you have some white ash. So hand it over."
"And leave myself unprotected? You can file that request under; Not gonna happen." I spat back, standing my ground. I wasn't giving in to Nik. I wouldn't give him the weapon that could put me out of this race. Now way. "Be gone by the time I've showered. Lurkers aren't welcome here."
"I need that dagger Stefan." I heard my brother go on as I slipped out of the room. If I wasted any more time standing around here then I risked loosing Peat. I had to hurry it up. "Talk some sense into her."
"Why don't you talk some sense into her? I'm headed home to help Care figure out our next move. If we have to put down Kol it will not be in the way you intended. I won't allow him to hurt Jeremy or Peat." Stefan slammed the door, leaving Klaus alone in my bedroom.
"YOU SEE SISTER! IF WE ALLOW KOL TO RUN AROUND FREE THEN THEY WILL TRY TO KILL HIM! I ONLY WISH TO SEND HIM TO SLEEP FOR A LITTLE WHILE. IF YOU WANT THAT CURE YOU WILL JOIN ME." He yelled through the bathroom door, "You need to choose a side in this battle soon. We may loose our little brother."
Peat POV:
"You can step away from my brother." I said trying not to sound panicked. Even when I had decided not to shift in the past I had learned that the moon still tugged on me. It wanted me to fall prey to it. But I could hold back and fight.
"But I was having so much fun thinking of different ways to kill you're.. Brother?" He asked me. "There do seem to be so many of you these days. I get confused." Kol has an attitude. I had never seen an evil side. He had been so friendly to me when I stayed with his family. But so had Klaus. "I would settle for ripping off his illustrated arm instead. Fun fun!"
"Why are you doing this? You want the cure for yourself?" I asked him, "You can have it! Just leave him alone so I don't have to hurt you." I warned him. But I hoped I wouldn't have to hurt him. I hoped I wouldn't have to hurt anyone most of the time. It always left it's mark on me. I never forgot.
"Why would I want the cure? You think I want to be a weak human?" He stopped cornering Jere and turned further to face me. "I want it so that I can kill that doppelganger traveler immortal who would threaten my family!" He snapped. "You are in my way. All of you!"
"The what?" I asked him. My heart stopped as he said those words. "Another doppelganger?"
"Yes. But don't get ahead of yourself sweetie. He is more powerful then you or I could imagine. It is imperative that I find this "cure" as soon as possible. Or at least destroy it." He? A male doppelganger? I hadn't heard about male doppelgangers.
"He?" I whispered. He who?
"Yes yes.. Aren't you part of this? How do you not know?" He looked at me a moment then back at Jeremy. But my brother only watched me. "Your friend Stefan seems to be like you." He shrugged. "But this Silas it different. He is the first. Or so he claims."
"The first doppelganger?" I asked him.. Stefan's a doppelganger?
"We could call a truce." Damon coughed, blood running down his chin as he tried to get comfortable in the chair.
"Why would I want that? I could kill you both and take his arm just for fun."
"Could you?" I asked him. He had no idea just how wrong he was. "You Mikkaelson's are so rude sometimes you know? I just can't figure it out. What happened that made you think you call the shots. I am fairly sure it wasn't me." I used force, throwing him away from my brother. I used magic, trying not to touch him. If we could call a truce and finish all this without another conflict that would be good. Maybe afterwards I could sleep for three days and watch movies. A long restful vacation from all this crap would do me good.
But I knew the truth. After all this was over we would all need down time.
TO BE CONT