Chapter 28: Properly Squiffed

April 28, 2010

Danny laid in his bed, hands behind his head as stared up at the ceiling blankly. Part of him felt bad about the way he had treated Damon last night – he was his brother, after all. But another, much stronger part of him was still pissed off and seething with suppressed anger and rage. Could just be the angel blood talking... that, or I've officially snapped. That thought troubled him a bit, though not as much as he thought it would.

He rose from his bed, agitation and restlessness surging through him. He began pacing back and forth across his room, hands clasped behind his back as he walked. He eyed the painting of the stag that hung on his wall, debating retrieving a drink from the safe behind it. With a shake of his head, he grabbed the jacket he had worn the previous day from the back of his desk chair. Putting it on, he walked to his door, exiting it and locking it behind him. Turning around, he jumped a bit at the sight of Elijah.

"Could've done without the heart attack, Lijah," Danny grumbled, placing a hand over his racing heart.

"My apologies, Daniel, I did not mean to startle you," Elijah replied sincerely. "Stefan, Elena, and I are going to discuss our plan on dealing with Klaus. Perhaps you might like to join us?"

"Hmm...pass," Danny hummed in response, pushing past his sire and making his way down the hall.

Elijah stared after him for a moment before calling out, "And here I thought you'd be looking forward to killing Klaus."

"What the hell ever gave you that idea?" Danny questioned, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion as he turned slightly to look at Elijah. "Klaus and I aren't best buddies, but I don't want him dead. That's ya'll's deal. I'm staying out of it and going drinking."

"Are you sure this doesn't have anything to do with Damon?"

"It doesn't. But, getting away from him is a nice bonus," Danny grinned walking toward the stairs.

"It sounds like there's a story behind what he said," Elijah pressed.

"There is – ask Stefan," Danny called back as he descended the stairs.


"Wow, your brother sounds like a dick."

"Preachin' to the choir on that one, sweetheart," Danny rolled his eyes, finishing off his bourbon and gesturing to the bartender for another one.

After leaving the house a couple hours ago, Danny had found his way to the Mystic Grill and began the process of getting thoroughly trashed. Midway through, he had decided to call Kare and get an update before calling Dean and Kate. He had just finished explaining what was going down between him and his brother – after downing copious amounts of bourbon first, of course.

"You don't tell someone you know has been to Hell to go back there – you just don't," Dean added, and there was a sloshing sound of a beer bottle accompanying it.

"That's what I said! Well, that was general gist of it, anyways," Danny exclaimed, nodding in thanks as the bartender gave him another drink.

"Although, to be fair – and to play Devil's advocate a bit – you might've taken it too far. Sending him flying out of a second story balcony and slamming him into a tree seems like a bit of an overreaction," Kate told him.

"You may have a point there – but I'm not apologizing," Danny replied stubbornly, drinking his bourbon.

"Good God, don't!" the two replied simultaneously.

"You overreacted -" Kate began.

"But he was being a humongous dick -" Dean continued.

"So, it all evens out," the two finished together.

"I swear, sometimes it feels like I'm talking to the Weasley twins," Danny rolled his eyes, bringing his glass to his lips once more and pausing. "I miss Fred. Should've killed off Percy instead – the insufferable twat-waffle."

There were snickers from the other end of the phone before Dean asked what he was talking about. Kate had to explain a bit about Harry Potter and some of the characters in the story. In the midst of her explanation, Danny lamented the loss of Sirius Black – by far his favorite character in the books. Kate agreed with him, and the two had a very nerdy conversation about the books while Dean remained silent, drinking his beer.

The conversation ended when Danny's phone began to beep, signaling that it was low on battery. Danny said his farewells before hanging up, ordering another drink from the bartender. He saw movement a couple of seats down out of the corner of his eye and scowled when he saw Damon. The bartender handed him his drink and Danny downed it in one go before laying down $100 bill and rising from his seat. As he began to leave, Damon called after him, prompting the hybrid to flip him off and tell him – to put it in child friendly terms – to 'go screw himself'.

Danny jogged across the street to the park and settled himself on an empty bench. He clasped his hands over his lap and leaned his head back, closing his eyes. He inhaled deeply before exhaling slowly, trying to release the agitation that had resurfaced upon seeing his younger brother. Fortunately, something new grabbed his attention when he sensed someone sit on the other side of the bench. Opening his left eye slightly, he gave an internal groan upon seeing -

"Klaushopper," Danny stated, closing his eye. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Just ensuring that you won't be doing anything to disrupt my ritual tonight, Daniel," Klaus replied mildly.

"No worries from me, old buddy. You do you, I'll do me, and..." Danny broke off for a moment to snicker. "Okay, that was dirty, but you get what I'm saying, right?" He frowned. "Wait, what was I saying?"

He could feel Klaus staring at him before the Original stated, "You're sloshed."

Danny raised a thumb and forefinger, putting a few centimeters between them in the universal symbol of 'a little bit'. Klaus laughed at this, seeming to get a kick out of the fact that one of the possible great threats to his plan was too intoxicated to do much – at the moment, anyway.

"Yeah, no, I lied," he turned his head to look at Klaus, opening his eyes and trying – and failing – to keep the smile from his face. "I'm properly squiffed." He snickered again. "'Squiffed' is such a funny word. Whoever came up with it must have been, well, squiffed themselves."

"I don't recall ever seeing you quite so intoxicated," Klaus grinned. "I must say, I find you rather more tolerable this way."

Danny snorted. "Psh. You love me – I'm like a more handsome version of you."

"Oh really?" Klaus replied, amused. "And how do you figure that?"

"Well, we both have sexy accents. We both enjoy maiming, torturing, and killing – others, of course. Both our fathers are enormous dicks that have tried to kill us. We both hate Katherine with a burning passion and want to torture and kill her slowly. Oh, and now we each have a brother that blames us for everything – not to mention the fact that they're total wankers," Danny grinned at him widely.

"I'm assuming you're referring to Damon?" Klaus questioned, receiving a scowl in return. "You know your brother actually had the audacity to request a postponement?"

"Sounds like something he'd do," Danny shrugged. "He probably bodged something up – most likely something to do with Elena – and now needs time to fix it. Typical Damon."

"Your brother better hope that whatever he did doesn't interfere with my plans for the doppelganger," Klaus replied, a dangerous note in his voice.

"Relax, whatever he did wouldn't harm Elena – so no worries there," Danny assured him with a wave of his hand. He was quiet for a moment before asking, "Hey, do you still have Katherine?"

"Why do you ask?" Klaus asked suspiciously.

"Because I'm bored and irritated and torturing Katherine will give me something to do while you're off completing your ritual thingy?" Danny suggested. Klaus continued to stare at him suspiciously, prompting the vampire to roll his eyes and say, "I promise not to interfere in your ritual tonight, Klaus – so long as you and your...associates do not kill my brothers or myself."

Klaus scrutinized him for a moment before saying, "Very well then. I hope you have an invitation to the teacher's apartment."


The two entered Ric's apartment, whereupon Klaus immediately sensed that something was amiss. The duo spotted Katherine, who was busy pouring herself a cup of coffee and seemed surprised that Danny was with Klaus. Danny went over to Ric's kitchen area, rifling through his cabinets as Katherine asked if everything was okay. He managed to find an unopened bottle of Jack Daniels hidden in the back of the highest cabinet shelf when Klaus asked what she'd been doing. She replied that she had been making coffee, even offering the vampire some before he grabbed her by the throat, repeating his question. She responded with the same answer.

Klaus turned away for a moment before asking for her daylight bracelet. When she handed it to him, he ordered her to go over to the window and step into the sunlight. When she argued that she'd burn, Klaus reminded her that she didn't have a choice. She slowly turned and walked toward the patch of sunlight, immediately screaming in agony as her skin burned and sizzled.

"I imagine rent rates'll go down after this," Danny commented, uncapping his JD and taking a swig of it. "Ah. A good drink to accompany the sweetest sound of all time: Katherine Pierce's screams of agony." He held the bottle out to Klaus, who was leaning against the opposite side of the island, smiling and drinking coffee. "Want some?"

"You're still drinking?" Klaus asked incredulously, having to raise his voice a bit to be heard over Katherine.

"Would you rather me be cranky and sober?" Danny raised an eyebrow.

"Fair enough," he shrugged before calling out to Katherine, "That's enough."

As Katherine dashed out of the sunlight and slammed into a dark corner, Klaus said, "Hmm, guess I was wrong."

"I'd have let her go on for a few more seconds – but that's just me," Danny commented, taking another swig of the bottle.

"You'll get your turn soon enough, Daniel," Klaus informed him with a genial smile before turning back to Katherine. "All right, then. I need you to do something for me."

He then had Katherine impersonate Elena and call Jenna on the phone – luring her out in the open for him to kidnap. Before he left to go get her, he did two things. The first was to compel Katherine to do whatever Danny said – unless it involved leaving or contacting anyone. The second was to extract a promise from Danny that he wouldn't contact anyone – or receive contact from anyone outside of the apartment – until well after his ritual was finished.

When Klaus finally left, Danny stared at Katherine deviously before reaching over to Ric's knife holder. Pulling out a blade, he inspected it carefully before nodding in approval. Turning, he turned on Ric's stove before holding the blade above the flames, humming contentedly as he did so. While this was going on, he idly wondered if Ric had any power tools.


Danny heard the sound of a door slam, prompting himself to sit up quickly, mumbling that he was awake. Upon noticing that it was Klaus, the hybrid straightened himself up with a groan, propping his feet up on the coffee table before leaning his head back and closing his eyes. Though he had spent the past few hours torturing Katherine, the past few sleepless nights had caught up with him, causing him to pass out on the couch and take a nap – though only after snapping her neck first.

"Where's Maddox?" Klaus questioned. "Should be back by now."

"I don't know," Katherine stated.

"Who?" Danny inquired, squinting at the Original blearily.

Klaus ignored them both before walking over to the coffee table, sitting in his chair, and attaching his phone to the laptop. As he flipped the lid up, Katherine asked where Elena was, to which Klaus replied that he had sent her off with Greta. The sound of a woman groaning began to come from his laptop. That's either torture porn or someone turning into a werewolf. Gonna go with the latter...although, with Klaus, you never really know. Danny smirked.

Abruptly, the door opened as Damon vamped in, glancing at Danny with surprise in his eyes. Klaus informed him that he hadn't known that Damon had been invited in, to which Damon told him that he'd have to postpone the ritual.

"Didn't we already have this conversation?" Klaus asked.

"Yeah, but that was before I rescued your werewolf and vampire and killed your witch," Damon informed him.

Damon, you cocky bastard. Danny scowled, though he couldn't help but feel a tingle of pride at his brother's ability to stand up to a thousand-year-old vampire.

"Excuse me?" Klaus demanded, rising from his chair angrily and walking toward him.

"And you can kill me for it. I don't care. It was all me."

"What about me? I care," Danny raised his hand, giving a small wave from his spot on the couch.

"Yeah, right. You tried to kill me last night," Damon rolled his eyes.

"If I had been trying to kill you, Damon, you wouldn't be here," Danny informed him. "You told me to go to Hell. I took exception to that statement. I retaliated and taught you a lesson."

"Katerina," Klaus interrupted the two. "Give us a moment." When she had left the room, Klaus took a step forward and continued with, "I've heard about you. The crazy, impulsive vampire. In love with his brother's girl."

"Wait, are we talking about Damon or you, Klaus? Cause, honestly, it could go either way," Danny commented, raising his hands in surrender when Klaus glared at him.

"I knew one of you would try to stop me. It was just a 50/50 guess on who," Klaus continued.

"I laid money on Damon. Which reminds me: you owe me fifty bucks now, Klaushopper," Danny informed the Original.

With a roll of his eyes, Klaus reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. Taking out a couple twenties and a ten, he handed the notes to Danny, who pocketed them with a 'thank you'. Klaus then proceeded to inform Damon that he already had another werewolf lined up – Jules. After telling him that he had a back-up witch and vampire, he snapped Damon's neck.

"Are we going to have a problem with this?" Klaus questioned, turning to Danny and gesturing at Damon.

Danny frowned at his brother's temporarily dead body before looking at Klaus and shaking his head, saying, "Eh, I almost did it last night. Besides, keeps him out of the fire for a bit."

Klaus gave a small smile before pausing, frowning at something on Damon's arm. Rolling up Damon's sleeve, he revealed a bite – a werewolf bite. Danny's blood ran cold at the sight. No. No. No. No. NO! Damon can't die – he just can't. He – wait. A thought occurred to him as his gaze traveled up to Klaus. Klaus. When the ritual is complete, he'll become a hybrid – who knows what he'll be able to do? Maybe, just maybe, he'll be able to cure Damon.


Damon awoke an hour later, wherein Katherine informed him that Klaus would be using Jenna for his vampire in the ritual. Damon said that Klaus should have used him, and began rising unsteadily to his feet. Danny vamped over to him quickly, helping him up and steadying him. He then grabbed his brother's arm and showed him the werewolf bite, his face uncharacteristically serious.

"You've been bitten, little brother," Danny informed him.

Damon stared at him for a moment before placing his arm on the island and sitting on a stool. Katherine and Danny stood on either side of him, the former of the two seeming curious, having never seen a werewolf bite before.

"So that's what a werewolf bite looks like," she stated.

"Yep."

"It's not that bad," she commented.

"Until it's bad," Danny remarked at the same time Damon said, "Will be."

Damon then began to pull down his sleeve, covering the mark before getting up and walking away.

"So that's it? You're just going to...die?" Katherine questioned.

"Well, that depends. Either of you know anything about a cure?" Damon asked, looking at the pair.

The two shook their heads. All I have right now is a theory. I don't want to give Damon false hope in case I'm wrong. I pray to whoever – God, Lucifer, Zeus, Poseidon – that I'm not.

"Me either," Damon replied, putting on his jacket.

"145 years and no last good-bye?" Katherine asked.

"You don't get a good-bye," Damon told her, turning away. He paused abruptly, turning to look at Danny as he said, "But you do. I'm sorry about what I said yesterday. You were right, I had no right to say what I did – and I hope you'll forgive -"

Damon was interrupted when his older brother hugged him, saying, "Shut up, you're not dying. I'll find a cure, Damon, I swear. Besides, even if you actually die, I'll just bring you back."

"You can do that?" Damon questioned, hugging him back.

"Trust me, it happens all the time in my line of work," Danny chuckled, stepping back and holding Damon at arms' length. After scrutinizing him for a moment, he finally said, "Knowing you, you're probably about to leave to do something stupid and/or reckless. I know nothing I say or do will stop you, so I'll just say this: good luck, little brother. I love you."

"Love you too, big bro," Damon grinned, clapping him on the shoulder and resuming his walk toward the door.

After a brief conversation between Damon and Katherine, the younger Salvatore left, and the two were left alone. Danny gave a small sniff and cleared his throat, pushing away the emotions threatening to overcome him. Katherine hesitantly took a step toward him, placing a hand on his shoulder. He looked down at her raising an eyebrow.

"You do realize that I still hate you and I still plan on torturing you once Damon is safe, right?" Danny reminded her.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," she rolled her eyes.


April 29, 2010

Danny walked through the graveyard silently, approaching the group of people milling around in front of Jenna's freshly dug grave. It was the morning after the ritual – well after Klaus had completed it, meaning that Danny was free to leave the apartment. He had gone back to the house first, replacing his attire with a black suit – minus the tie. If he was going to a graveyard, he may as well be respectful.

He stepped up beside Damon, receiving a surprised look from the vampire when he held out his flask. Damon looked unsure for a moment before Danny nodded to his arm, mouthing 'it should help.' Damon nodded gratefully before taking a swig of whatever liquid was in the flask. He made a face, surprised to find that there was blood in there – odd tasting blood. Not odd in a bad way, though. More...crisp, refreshing, pure and clean. Damon looked at Danny, mouthing 'yours?' To which the hybrid nodded before walking toward the gate, Damon following close behind.

Stefan suddenly came behind the two, saying that they were heading back to the house.

"I think I'll skip the coffee and tea cakes," Damon informed him.

"Damon, she needs us right now," Stefan stated before he turned his gaze to Danny. "All of us."

"We're not even friends," Danny scowled.

"What's the plan after that, Stefan? The curse is broken. How does one go about killing an all-powerful wolf vamp and his two-faced older brother?" Damon questioned.

"One doesn't. Klaus is practically invincible and I like Elijah," Danny responded, leaning against the fence.

"Well, then we need to come up with something. Fast," Damon said, turning around to face Stefan.

"I'm not gonna let Elena lose anybody else," Stefan told him firmly.

"I wouldn't make any promises, brother," Damon advised him, beginning to roll up his sleeve.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Damon got bit by a furry," Danny informed him.

Damon shot a glance at his older brother before explaining, "Tyler Lockwood bit me." He showed off the growing infection on his arm. "It's actually more of a nip, really, but there it is."

Stefan grabbed his arm, examining it closely with growing concern as he said, "We'll find something – a cure."

"There's no cure, Stefan," Damon told him, looking away

"We kept Elena human, right? We found the way when there was no way. Hey," Stefan said, grabbing his brother's attention. "I will do this." He looked at Danny, receiving a nod in return. "We will do this."

"You wanna do something for me? Keep this from Elena. Last thing she needs is another grave to mourn," Damon told them, clapping their shoulders and walking away.

"You know a way to cure him, right?" Stefan asked, turning to Danny.

"I have a theory that Klaus might hold the answer – but I've got no way to contact him," Danny informed him, staring after the middle Salvatore with a frown.

"What about Elijah? He's with Klaus. Call him."

"I doubt he'll answer. Klaus has most likely betrayed him at this point and has him lying daggered in a box somewhere," Danny shrugged, looking at Stefan. "It happens all the time in that family – they're so weird."

"So, you're saying there's nothing we can do?"

"No. My blood should – hopefully – slow down the poison and buy us enough time to figure out a cure. If all else fails, we might have to look into a preservation spell or have Bon-Bon do a linking spell and link Damon to me," Danny explained, folding his arms across his chest.

"Right. How does drinking your blood help Damon exactly?" Stefan questioned curiously.

"Not sure if you've noticed, Stefan, but I'm not exactly 100% vampire anymore," Danny informed him, allowing his eyes to glow.

"So, what are you then?"

"A very long, very complicated story that we don't have time for – not if we're going to save Damon's life."


April 30, 2010

Danny stood in front of Ric's apartment door, chewing the inside of his cheek thoughtfully. After a moment, he nodded to Stefan, who unlocked the door and peeked his head inside. Upon spotting Katherine, he opened the door a bit further and the two brothers stepped inside. She complained that she had been waiting two days to leave, and that she should have been able to leave with Klaus being dead.

"Shit happens," Danny told her.

"We ran into some complications," Stefan informed her in a much nicer tone.

"'Complications'?"

"Doesn't really matter. We just need to find him," Stefan replied vaguely. "Do you have any idea where he might be."

Suddenly, Katherine grabbed Stefan, vamping over to a wall and slamming him into it. Immediately, Danny vamped over to her, pulling her off his brother and banging her against the wall instead. He gave a low growl, his irises an glowing icy blue while the whites of his eyes turned blood red, veins appearing beneath them. At that moment, the door opened, revealing Klaus and Elijah. Danny turned off the glow in his eyes – not quite ready for Klaus to know all his secrets.

"Klaus, you're back. Look who decided to visit," Katherine choked out.

"Lijah, Klaushopper," Danny nodded at the two, releasing Katherine but not allowing his face to return to normal just yet. "Pleasure to see you again."

"The two of you just keep popping up, don't you?" Klaus gave a wry smile as Elijah closed the door.

"I - we – need your help," Stefan told him, getting straight to the point. "For our brother."

"Well, whatever it is, he's going to have to wait a tick," Klaus told them. "You see, I have an obligation to my brother that requires my immediate attention."

"You both understand how important family is, or you wouldn't be here," Elijah said, stepping forward and receiving a small nod from Danny, whose face had returned to normal. "My brother gave me his word that he would reunite me with my own."

Aaand this must be the part will Klaus daggers him and 'reunites' him with his siblings. He was proven correct when, mere seconds later, Klaus daggered his brother and Elijah sunk to the floor, slowly desiccating. Katherine and Stefan looked on, shocked and appalled by the turn of events.

"Am I really the only one who saw that coming?" Danny asked, pointing down at Elijah.


A/N:

Questions, comments, concerns, criticisms, etc. are welcome. Requests for updates are not. (Seriously, gives me really bad anxiety when I see them.)

Review Response time:

msblovesdefan: I really loved this chapter very much. I really appreciate you responding to my review. Danny seems bossy, yeah, he is bossy with his siblings sometimes. It was fun to read the way he responded to Damon.

A: Thanks! I really enjoyed writing that chapter - much as I enjoyed writing this one. It's always fun seeing how Danny interacts with the Original vampires, and I'd been looking forward to writing his official reunion with Elijah and Klaus every bit as much as everyone else.

Guest (Hopefully you know who you are): Found this fanfic earlier today and I proceeded to read through it entirely! Really loved it and kudos to you for writing it!

A: Thank you! Writing this has been fun (until I get major writer's block). Glad to see you enjoyed it enough to read through it all at once (also really glad that you read through it after it had been severely edited, lol).

A lesson in English:

squiffed

/skwift/

adjective: squiffed

Meaning: slightly drunk.

I found this word and I couldn't not use it. It sounded bloody hilarious.