The line went dead and Josie tried to keep calm as she dialed Elijah. He actually seemed pleased that Klaus had called, saying his direct threats were a clear sign he was desperate. Klaus hadn't directly threatened anyone in decades. How flattering, she thought. Still, the day had been awful, so she was glad someone could see a silver lining.
She knew that Klaus was definitely in Alaric's body, given he hadn't joined the Scooby meeting earlier and Damon had complained that he hadn't responded to any texts. Of course they had no idea where the real Klaus was. With Katherine falling to Klaus' compulsion and without a vision to guide her, it was impossible to predict his next move.
Elijah promised he and the Martins would keep an eye on things. Elijah doubted that Klaus would go for an all-out assault while still inhabiting the weaker, human body. His next move was likely to be more subtle, manipulative. Elijah thought the best course of action was to avoid Alaric/Klaus as much as possible, thereby drawing out the real Klaus. Josie hoped he was right.
The next day at school went by slowly. History was her class just after lunch, so she avoided Alaric's classroom all morning, thoroughly rattled by Klaus' chilling phone call the night before.
She arrived to her history class just as the bell rang and she slid into her seat behind Jeremy. Nothing much happened during class, though she thought that Alaric's eyes flickered to her more than normal, but maybe she was just being paranoid.
Finally, the bell rang and she got up with the rest of the class to leave.
"Josie!" Alaric was calling her to the front of the classroom. "Can I have a word?"
Josie plastered on a smile and walked to the desk, making sure she was the person closest to the door. The door was open, thankfully, and full of students and faculty passing.
"What's up?" she asked, trying to sound casual. Not like she was talking to the most dangerous man on the planet who probably wanted her dead for trying to make him dead.
"I heard what happened yesterday," he said in a low voice. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she said, dismissively. "If I got upset every time some vampire threatened me, I'd be upset 24/7."
Her confident words were mostly for effect, but she was surprised to realize it was true. She'd just gotten used to it, living here.
"If you want to talk about it, I'm here," Alaric said, his face the picture of empathy.
Josie internally marveled at Klaus' acting abilities. She was curious what his goal here was. Get her to lower her guard enough to reveal where the moonstone was? She really didn't want to stick around to find out. Avoid Alaric had been Elijah's advice. She agreed.
"I'm fine," she repeated, backing away. "I've got to get to Math. See ya, Ric!"
She turned on her heel and left, not giving him a chance to say another word. She saw his frown out of the corner of her eye, but kept walking, grateful to put some distance between them.
Josie was starting to breathe a bit easier as she walked to her last class of the day. She hadn't seen Alaric at all after her history class. She remembered there had been some shenanigans at the dance, but given the stern lecture Stefan and Damon had given Elena that morning, she doubted anyone would be going to the dance that night.
Of course, that was all ruined when Elena came up to her before her last class and informed her that Klaus had compelled a student to say Klaus wanted Elena to save him the last dance tonight. Elena rushed off, saying they were going to come up with a plan and they'd talk later.
Damn, she'd forgotten about Klaus' creepy message to Elena about the dance. Stefan called her as school let out, telling her they were all meeting up at the Boarding House to discuss plans for the dance. Once again, she was grateful for Elijah's compulsion of Stefan to include her in everything.
"I'm just getting in my car," she said into the phone. "I'll be there soon, Stefan."
She hung up the phone and got her keys out when she heard a voice behind her.
"Hey Josie."
She whirled around, heart pounding at the sound of Alaric's voice.
"Hey Ric, how's it going?" she asked, casually.
"Good. You heading to the Boarding house? Damon texted me. Apparently, there's news on the Klaus front."
"Yeah, guess I'll see you there," she said, opening her door.
"Can I have a ride? One of the other teachers needed to borrow my car."
Josie forced herself to remain calm. She was incredibly grateful that Alaric was only human, as she was sure the real Klaus would be able to hear her heart trying to beat out of her chest. Being alone with him in a car was completely different to a classroom with an open door, in a school packed full of people. She couldn't think of any reasonable excuse to refuse him though.
"Of course," she said, smiling. "Hop in."
He climbed in beside her. If he noticed that she kept her purse on her lap (that held her everyday weapons, including her travel-size white oak stake), he didn't say anything. Alaric was still stronger than her, but at least she stood a chance against him. If Klaus were really here…
"So do you know what the Klaus news is?" asked Alaric, as they pulled out of the parking lot.
She gripped the steering wheel and reminded herself that she was driving and it was very unlikely he would do anything to her in the car.
"He's coming to the dance tonight," she said. "Elena got a creepy message from one of our classmates at lunch."
Alaric looked confused. "The dance? Why the dance?"
Josie looked over at the face she knew so well. He looked like the same old Alaric.
She shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe because he's a creeper who wants to look at teenage girls in dresses? I mean, if he's so powerful and everything, why doesn't he just come to town and steal Elena? Why all the games?"
Alaric's face had darkened momentarily at her 'creeper' suggestion'. "Maybe he likes to play with his food before he eats it."
"Eww… Ric, really?"
Is that what Klaus was doing right now? Playing with her? His food? Had that been why Tyler's curse was triggered? Was it just a fucking game to him?
Then she had an idea. A really bad, no-good idea. But her fury for Tyler's curse being triggered hadn't abated much since last night and she realized she could play with her food too.
"Maybe all those rumors we heard about Klaus were true?" she pondered.
"Rumors?"
"Oh, you know," said Josie. "That the reason he never shows his face is because he's deformed."
"Deformed?" frowned Alaric.
Josie nodded. "I heard that he was in an accident before he became a vampire and he's like a Frankenstein or something. Plus, you know," she said, voice dropping to a whisper. "Completely impotent."
To the casual observer, Alaric looked perfectly calm, but Josie could see the subtle signs of annoyance and anger: the tightening of his jaw, the clenched fists.
"Impotent?" he asked.
"Like a Ken doll." Josie nodded casually, but inside she was wondering what the hell was wrong with her.
"Where did you hear that?" he asked, looking as though he were exerting a great deal of self-control.
Josie shrugged. "Around. I mean, who knows if it's true, but I think for sure he's got some kind of complex. Because of how paranoid they say he is? Maybe it's Napoleon, so he's like a dwarf or maybe Oedipal, something with his mother…" she trailed off, enjoying Alaric's face straining to not contort in rage.
"Anyway," she continued, figuring she'd better stop poking the beast. "The important point is that he may or may not be at the dance tonight." She paused. "Ric, are you okay? You look uncomfortable."
"I'm fine," he said, tensely, clearly his desire to blend in outweighing his anger at her derogatory comments. "Any news on Elijah?"
Josie shook her head. "Nope."
"No idea what he's up to?" asked Alaric.
Did he really think she was going to blurt out that she and Elijah were working together? The real Alaric didn't know anything about that.
"Nope. We haven't heard from him since the dinner party. Where you tried and failed to dagger him."
"But he promised to keep Elena safe from Klaus," said Alaric.
"He did."
"Think he'll be at the dance?"
"I'm not his keeper, Ric, jeez. Why are you asking me all these questions about Elijah?"
Alaric looked properly admonished and didn't continue his line of questioning about Elijah, probably because he was worried about breaking his cover. Instead he tried a different tactic.
"Too bad Klaus has the moonstone," said Alaric.
Josie shrugged. "What difference does it make?"
She knew it made all the difference in the world, but she wanted to hear what he said.
"Maybe he'd be willing to negotiate."
Josie put a confused look on her face, but inside, she was smiling. She could fish for information too.
"Negotiate for what? Elena has to die to complete the ritual."
Alaric shrugged. "Maybe there's a way to keep her alive through magic, like my ring? Klaus must know witches."
"Maybe. Too bad we don't have the moonstone, though," she said, letting out an exaggerated sigh.
So maybe he was willing to negotiate? That was interesting.
They pulled up to the Boarding House and walked inside. Bonnie, Elena, Stefan and Damon were already there.
"Hey guys," said Josie. "I filled Alaric in on the way concerning Klaus' creepy lunchtime message about the dance."
"Good," said Stefan.
"So what's the plan?" asked Alaric.
"I'm gonna need you to put me down as a chaperone tonight," Damon told Alaric.
Josie frowned. "Why? Don't tell me we're considering going to the dance. If Klaus is going to be at the dance, let's not be there."
What the hell would that accomplish? Bonnie didn't have any enhanced witch powers. Unfortunately, Elijah was still searching for the witch burial ground for Jonas. Josie, for the life of her, had been trying to figure out where it was, but couldn't remember how they'd found it in the original storyline.
"Why not?" asked Damon. "He's made a move. He has Katherine and the moonstone. We can't just sit around waiting for him to pick Elena up and carry her off to be sacrificed. No, we go to the dance and find him."
"Really? How are we going to do that?" asked Stefan. "We don't even know what he looks like."
Damon rolled his eyes. "Something tells me he's not going to be 16 and pimply."
"He could be anywhere," said Stefan. "He compelled somebody at school. Guess it's not as safe as you guys thought, huh?" He raised an eyebrow to Bonnie and Elena.
"What about Elijah?" asked Elena.
Damon scoffed. "We can't trust Elijah. Where the hell was he yesterday when Isobel was attacking us and Katherine was stealing the moonstone?"
"Jonas said he was indisposed," said Bonnie.
"What the hell does that mean?" asked Damon, rolling his eyes. "For all we know, he's been working with Klaus from the start. No, we find Klaus tonight. We stake him. He goes grey and veiny like Elijah. Then we pump him full of vervain, lock him up in the basement and figure out what to do with him later."
"What kind of a plan is that?" asked Josie, crossing her arms. "He's an Original. You're gonna stake him, just like that?"
Damon sped to stand directly in front of her and growled. "If you have a better plan, I'm all ears."
"We stay home and don't let a crazy psychopath lure us into a trap," said Josie, looking Damon in the eye and not backing down.
"No, Jo, I have to go," said Elena, coming to stand between Josie and Damon. "What will Klaus do if I don't show up? The whole school's going to be there."
Josie sighed, realizing they were not going to be deterred.
In the end, they all agreed everyone would go to the dance, armed to the teeth with anti-vampire weapons. Josie only hoped that Elijah was right and Klaus was just spying on the Scoobies, seeing how much resistance they could provide. When Josie called Elijah, he reiterated his belief that Klaus would probably just cower inside Alaric and, possibly, attempt to persuade the information out of Josie. Elijah said Luka would be attending the dance as a student, just in case.
Josie arrived at the dance with Jeremy and Anna. Annoyed at being dateless, she soon left them to find her friends. She spotted Alaric dancing along, not very well. She laughed, thinking he did not look like the biggest, baddest vampire at the moment.
After Klaus' dedication to Elena, everyone was visibly shaken. Of course, they couldn't find anyone who didn't belong, so they went their separate ways. She was hanging out with Bridget and Tracy when Damon came up to her.
He tilted his head. "Dance with me."
Josie smiled and let him lead her to the dance floor.
"You know I don't think we've ever done this," he said as he twirled her around.
She laughed. "I think we skipped this part."
Damon smirked. "We covered the most important parts."
Josie rolled her eyes. "No sign of Klaus, huh?"
"Not since his special dedication," said Damon, frowning. "How you holding up?"
"I'm fine," she shrugged.
Damon raised an eyebrow. "I know you better than that, Josie."
She sighed. "I miss Tyler," she admitted. "The whole Klaus thing is very distracting, but we were supposed to go to this dance together."
"He'll be back," said Damon, dipping her. "Only a complete moron would let you get away."
Josie frowned. "Why are you being so nice to me?"
"I need a reason?"
"Usually."
Damon smiled sadly. "I know what it's like to have the person you love just vanish." He kissed her cheek. "I'm going to go check on Elena."
Josie nodded and looked over to where Alaric was standing. She'd been keeping a subtle eye on him since she arrived at the dance, as had Luka, the only other person who knew who Alaric really was. So far the history teacher hadn't done anything out of the ordinary, just talked to some of the other teachers and surveyed the crowd.
Josie needed to use the restroom and, even though she felt a little silly, she cajoled Anna into going with her.
"This is driving me crazy," said Josie, as she came out of the stall. "There's only an hour left of the dance. When can we call it quits on Damon's ridiculous plan?"
"We have to be patient."
"Hey, how's your mom?" Josie asked.
Anna sighed. "She didn't want me to come. She's afraid I'll end up dead for standing up to Klaus."
"It's not a completely unfounded fear," said Josie, raising an eyebrow.
Anna shook her head. "I love Jeremy. And you and Elena, too. You saved my mom's life. Maybe mine too. I haven't forgotten."
Josie smiled. They were walking out of the bathroom when Alaric came up to them.
"Klaus has Jeremy. Damon said he saw him heading out the back of the school."
Anna was a blur before Alaric even finished his sentence. Josie's eyes widened in fear. Some bodyguard.
"Jeremy?" asked Josie, heading back towards the dance, knowing it was a trick and hoping she could somehow get away from Alaric.
"Josie, wait," said Alaric, grabbing her arm. "Let Anna, Stefan and Damon handle it. You don't stand a chance against Klaus."
Josie bristled at that. She didn't think she'd done bad so far.
"Jeremy's my brother." She tried to shake his hand on her arm. "Let go of me, Alaric," said Josie, daring him to break his cover.
Alaric looked conflicted and then he sighed. "Fine, but let's go to my classroom and get my crossbow."
She spewed out the first lie that came to mind. "I don't know how to use a crossbow."
"Well I want one," said Alaric, tugging her towards his classroom.
"Well you go get one, and I'll go find Jeremy."
"It's not safe, Josie, come with me."
He was still pulling at her, not letting go. She couldn't get away, Alaric was too strong, so she decided to try for the element of surprise.
"Let me go, Klaus!" she screamed.
The words had their intended effect. His eyes went wide and he released her. She ran as fast as she could, hoping that her youth would prevail over Alaric's considerably longer legs. However, as she turned the corner, she ran right into the arms of Katherine Pierce. Josie opened her mouth to scream again, but Katherine's hand was over it before she got a chance.
The world blurred crazily and she found herself inside a classroom. To her horror, she saw Luka handcuffed to a nearby desk, unconscious. Luka, the only other person who could have gotten Elijah here tonight. Fuck.
Looking down at her wrist, Josie saw she was in a similar predicament, with one cuff attached to her wrist and the other around the neck of the desk.
"Help!" she screamed. Oddly, Katherine did nothing to stop her. "Katherine, please."
Katherine just looked at her sadly. "I'm sorry, Josie."
"Come on, there must be some loophole in his compulsion!" Hadn't Damon said that at some point? Then she remembered and dropped her voice to a whisper. "Katherine, look in my purse. There's a bottle of vervain water in there."
Katherine sped over to Josie's purse and took out the bottle. She just managed to resume her previous spot, leaning against the teacher's desk when Alaric and his warlock (Maddox was it?) walked in and closed the door behind them.
"Let me go!" shouted Josie, more so the vampires in the building could hear her, rather than thinking he would actually let her go.
Alaric just smiled. "Shout to your heart's content. Maddox here prepared this room especially for tonight. Nothing can penetrate these walls. Not screaming, not locator spells. If anyone looks in, all they'll see is a dark, empty classroom."
Josie's stomach dropped. So much for Elijah's theory that there wouldn't be an all-out assault. She forced herself to breathe, but she was terrified. Klaus wouldn't hesitate to kill her. She was pretty sure the only thing keeping her alive right now was the moonstone. Of course, that was also probably why she was there.
She tugged at her handcuff. "Kidnapping me won't get you the moonstone."
"Oh are we playing the truth game now?" mocked Alaric, coming to stand in front of Josie. "Instead of pretending you don't know who I am. That you don't know where Elijah is. That you don't have my moonstone?"
Josie just looked at him stonily.
Alaric pulled up a chair and straddled it backwards, sitting directly in front of Josie.
"What was it that gave me away, hmm? Was it all the questions about Elijah? The moonstone?"
Josie decided it was safer to answer him. "Elijah told me body possession was one of your favorite tricks." She paused. "I talked to you twice today and you didn't mention Jenna once."
Alaric had a sour expression "Elijah was always a buzzkill," he said, shaking his head. "I fooled everyone else."
"Yeah, how'd you do that?" asked Josie, genuinely curious. "Everyone is on vervain. Not just wearing it. Drinking it."
At this, Maddox spoke up from the chair he was sitting in. "There are other ways to get information out of people."
Josie frowned, thinking they must have used a similar spell that Bonnie used on Luka in the original storyline.
"You didn't notice that Jeremy wasn't home last night?" asked Alaric, arrogantly.
Josie had assumed he'd been over at Anna's. She tugged on her handcuff again in frustration. She hated being tricked. She'd gotten so used to having the upper hand all the time here, having that control.
"Stay away from Jeremy, you bastard," she said, angrily, tugging and tugging on her handcuff.
"She's mouthy," Alaric remarked, looking at Maddox. "Don't think I've forgotten your 'witty' comments in the car."
Josie gulped, remembering the disparaging things she'd said about Klaus.
She tried for innocence. "I was just relaying rumors I'd heard. Don't blame the messenger." Then she had an idea. One that could help lure Klaus here. "Why don't you come to Mystic Falls and prove me wrong?"
She was rewarded with the dirtiest look she had ever seen on Alaric's face.
Josie's eyes went wide. "I meant about the deformed face!" she said hastily, suddenly remembering she'd talked about Klaus' supposed impotence. "Not about the impotence thing…"
"I can prove you wrong on both counts, you know," he said, lasciviously.
She closed her eyes and tried to remember this was Klaus and not Alaric. "Ric is my teacher. He's dating my aunt, for fuck's sake." She shivered involuntarily. "Can we just move on? What do you want?"
There was a pause in which Josie figured he was trying to decide whether or not to continue making her uncomfortable or get to his point. Thankfully, he decided to move on.
"The moonstone, of course" said Alaric, pulling off her wristwatch. "Open your eyes."
Josie did as he asked, figuring she was about to be compelled.
"Where is the moonstone?" he compelled.
"Didn't Katherine tell you I can't be compelled?" asked Josie, raising an eyebrow and looking over at her.
"She did," said Alaric, frowning. "There are some people who have been trained to resist compulsion, but I've refined my technique over many centuries."
Josie smiled meanly. "My father was a vampire hunter. He trained me from a young age to resist compulsion. My siblings never caught on like I did."
Alaric looked hard at her. "She's not a witch, is she?" he asked Maddox.
Maddox shook his head. "Nothing supernatural about her," he confirmed.
Josie's face remained impassive, but inside she was jumping for joy. Elijah had warned her about Klaus finding out her secret. Now it seemed he never would.
Alaric smiled. "Katherine told me about your claim of having visions. Obviously that was a lie to cover up your alliance with Elijah."
"He didn't want anyone to know he was involved," said Josie, feeding the lie.
"Is it he who has the moonstone?"
Josie answered his question with one of her own. "Were you being honest before? Would you be willing to negotiate?"
"Why would I negotiate when I have all the control here?" Alaric asked, smirking.
"Oh, I wouldn't say that."
Josie felt a sigh of relief at the sound of Elijah's voice. Elijah blurred into the room and before Josie could register what had happened, Katherine's neck was snapped, Maddox was thrown against the wall violently and both Luka and Josie's handcuffs were removed.
Josie got up and rubbed her wrist. Jonas came running into the room and crouched near Luka.
"Good to see you, Brother," said Alaric, eyeing the door.
"Is it?" asked Elijah, eyebrow raised. "Seems as though you were trying to keep me out of this room. Tell me, why is that?"
"I wasn't going to harm the girl," said Alaric, his eyes flickering to Josie who had come to stand next to Elijah.
Josie scoffed. "Now who's lying?"
Alaric glared at her. "I just want the moonstone."
"Then come and ask for it yourself, Klaus," said Josie, crossing her arms.
Alaric narrowed his eyes. "What do you want in return?"
Elijah stepped forward, subtly placing himself between Josie and Alaric. "You heard her, Niklaus. Face me like a man and then we'll talk."
Alaric motioned to Maddox to get Katherine.
"Leave her alone!" said Josie, moving forward, but Elijah stopped her.
"No doubt she has been compelled to return to him," said Elijah.
"Dear Katerina," said Alaric, shaking his head. "I should thank you for sending her in my path. Much like your precious little wolf."
Josie frowned. "What does that mean?"
Alaric smirked. "You'll soon find out."
Josie narrowed her eyes. She wanted to slap that smirk off his face. She'd worked so hard to keep Tyler from triggering his curse and Klaus had ruined it.
"If you hurt Tyler," Josie started for him, but Elijah grabbed her.
Alaric chuckled. "She's much more spirited than your usual fare, Elijah."
"Leave, Niklaus," said Elijah, still gripping Josie.
Maddox carried Katherine out of the classroom with Alaric following close behind.
Josie turned toward Elijah and launched herself into his arms, so relieved he was there.
"How did you find us?" asked Josie, feeling safe with Elijah's arms around her and her head buried in his chest.
"I told you I'm very familiar with all of Klaus' favorite tricks. When I heard you scream Klaus' name and then couldn't find you or Luka, well let's just say Jonas can be very determined when it comes to his children."
"You heard me? I thought you were laying low tonight? That you didn't want to scare Klaus off from coming for real?"
Before Elijah could respond, she heard a voice from the doorway of the classroom.
"Josie?"
She lifted her head from Elijah's chest and saw Elena and Stefan standing there. Quickly followed by Bonnie, Damon, Anna and Jeremy.
Josie jumped out of Elijah's arms. "This isn't what it looks like." She cringed at the clichéd statement.
"Really? Because it looks like you snuck out of the dance to hook up with an Original," said Damon, cocking an eyebrow.
"Don't be ridiculous, Damon," said Josie, rolling her eyes.
Luka's coughing distracted everyone.
"Oh my god, Luka," said Bonnie, rushing forward. "What happened here?"
"And has anybody seen Alaric?" asked Anna, frowning. "He told me that Jeremy had been kidnapped by Klaus, but he was fine."
Josie looked at Elijah. He was the one who insisted they keep everything a secret.
Elijah looked back at Josie and sighed. "I think, perhaps, it's time we all sat down together."
Josie smiled.
"Not tonight," said Elijah, eyeing the clock on the wall. "Luka needs tending to and I have a few things that need doing. I shall be at the Boarding House tomorrow at ten. Just know that Josie was sworn to secrecy at my request."
Josie felt a wave of gratitude at his last statement. Elijah nodded at Josie and then helped Jonas and Luka exit the classroom.
Everyone was silent until Elijah had departed.
"What's going on, Josie?" asked Elena. "Are you okay? Luka looked awful."
"I'm fine," said Josie. "Can we talk about it tomorrow? I just want to go home."
"I don't think so," said Damon, blocking her way out of the classroom. "Start talking. Right now."
Josie sighed. "Fine. Abridged version? Klaus is possessing Alaric's body. Anytime you talked to Alaric today, you were actually talking to Klaus. Elijah and I are… allies. Just allies," she said, looking at Damon pointedly. "I made a deal with Elijah a while ago to try and take Klaus out, but he wouldn't help me unless I kept our deal a secret."
"What deal?" asked Elena.
"How could you not tell us about Alaric?" said Damon, getting in Josie's face. "He could have killed us. He could have taken Elena."
"I'm sorry, you guys," said Josie, looking at their hurt faces and backing away from Damon. "I couldn't tell you. Alaric… I had the situation under control."
"You've got to be kidding me," said Damon, sarcastically.
"He didn't go after Elena," spat Josie. "Isn't that all you care about? Come on, you guys know I wouldn't do anything to put anyone in danger."
"How the hell are we supposed to trust anything you say?" growled Damon. "You've been sneaking around with Elijah behind our backs. How do we know you're not working for Klaus?"
At that, Josie lost it. Between being kidnapped tonight and the revelation that Klaus had triggered Tyler's curse and kidnapped Jeremy, however temporarily, she was furious. Damon just happen to be the easiest target.
"Fuck you, Damon," she shouted and lunged for him.
Stefan immediately sped between the two of them, throwing his brother across the room and holding Josie back.
"I'm the one he took and handcuffed to a fucking desk," Josie screamed, still trying to get to Damon, who was getting up from the floor.
"Stop it!" shouted Elena, her face distraught. "Both of you! Just stop! Damon, Josie is my sister. And I trust Elijah."
Josie stopped struggling against Stefan, her anger somewhat mitigated by Elena's trusting words.
Damon and Josie just glared at each other, still angry, but both unwilling to make the first move.
"Come on, Jo," said Elena, coming forward and wrapping an arm around Josie. "Stefan and I will take you home."