The next morning Josie helped Rebekah do her hair and get ready. They took Rebekah to a fun boutique where they had the sales clerk bring a bunch of things for her to try on.
"It'll be fun," said Josie, pushing Rebekah toward the dressing room. "Like a fashion show."
Rebekah rolled her eyes, but agreed to go in. So far, Rebekah had been fairly nice to her. Josie wondered if Klaus had something to do with that, but didn't question it. She definitely didn't want to get on Rebekah's bad side.
"There has to be more to this dress," Rebekah called out from the dressing room as a sales clerk poured them some champagne.
"Trust me," said Klaus. "There's not."
"So women in the 21st century dress like prostitutes then?" asked Rebekah, walking out.
"Ouch," said Josie, tugging on the hem of her shorts. Okay fine, so they were a bit short, but it was summer and really hot outside. "It's hot outside."
"I think you look lovely, Josie," said Klaus, looking at the cleavage she was trying to hide.
Rebekah rolled her eyes. "I got dirty looks for wearing trousers."
"You wore trousers so today women could wear nothing," said Klaus.
"And what is this music?" asked Rebekah, not deterred. "It sounds like a cable car accident."
Josie couldn't blame her. She wasn't a huge fan of house.
"It's dance music," said Stefan.
"You would dance to this?" asked Rebekah.
She turned to Josie, who shrugged.
"Are we done?" asked Klaus, impatiently.
"I offered to go alone with her," said Josie, exasperated. "Surely Rebekah is up to the task of being my bodyguard."
"I'd feel better leaving you alone with Stefan," grumbled Klaus.
"And why are you so grumpy?" asked Rebekah.
"I needed one thing from you for my witch," said Klaus. "One thing. Your necklace. And you lost it."
"I didn't lose it. It's just been missing for 90 years. So what do you think?" Rebekah gestured toward the dress.
"I like it," said Stefan.
Rebekah narrowed her eyes at him.
"What? I said I liked it," defended Stefan.
"I can always tell when you're lying, Stefan," said Rebekah. "Josie, what do you think?"
"I'm not a fan of the material," she said, getting up. "And the hem is really weird. Let's find something else."
She tugged Rebekah back into the dressing room.
"Thanks for your honest opinion," said Rebekah, throwing an annoyed glance at Stefan.
"Nice work. Thanks for that," said Klaus.
Stefan shrugged. "You're the one that pulled the dagger out of her."
"I heard that," shouted Rebekah.
Josie helped Rebekah pick out another dress, then another. Much to Klaus' annoyance, since Stefan had gone out. Josie just wanted to make sure Rebekah had a decent wardrobe. It was every girl's right after all.
"What's wrong with this one?" asked Josie, sitting on the stool in the dressing room, holding up a dress. "You said you like red."
"Where's the back?" frowned Rebekah. "It's shorter than the first one I tried."
Josie rolled her eyes. "It's not that bad. I'll show you."
Josie put the dress on and twirled around. "See? It's much better on."
"It's really not," said Rebekah.
Josie shook her head and went out of the dressing room to look in the full-length mirror with Rebekah following.
"I wouldn't go to church in it, but it would be fine for a club or party," said Josie, examining the dress from every angle.
"It definitely suits you, love," said Klaus, eyes roaming over her figure.
Rebekah rolled her eyes. "Suddenly you have an opinion."
They stayed at the store for a little while longer and found a few more things for Rebekah. Klaus also insisted they get the red dress for Josie. Then they headed to Gloria's.
They had been there for about 30 minutes with Gloria chanting and whatever when Stefan came in.
"She's looking for the necklace, huh?" asked Stefan.
Josie bit her lip, knowing of course, that Stefan knew it was currently hanging around Elena's neck. Probably back in Mystic Falls by now, the way Damon drove.
Rebekah volunteered for necklace-finding duty as she'd worn it for a long time. So, Gloria held onto Rebekah's hand and chanted. When she announced she'd found the necklace, Josie held her breath. Then Gloria was all wishy-washy about where it was, Klaus got annoyed and Gloria told them to give her some space.
"Why don't we just come back later?" said Stefan, clapping a hand on Klaus' shoulder. "I'm hungry anyway. I'll let you pick who we eat."
Klaus smiled at that and Rebekah was all for it. Josie wrinkled her nose and surprisingly Gloria took pity on her.
"The girl can stay if you want," offered Gloria.
Klaus narrowed his eyes. "She's coming with us." He put a hand on Josie's shoulder.
Josie sat in the little café next to the warehouse while Stefan, Klaus and Rebekah ate. She was grateful Klaus hadn't insisted she accompany them into the warehouse. He had compelled a few of the baristas to keep an eye on her, but considering one good shout and Klaus would hear her, she didn't think she was in too much danger. It was a set-up they'd done many times over the summer.
She went to the bathroom after finishing her sandwich and was shocked to see Katherine Pierce come in after her. Her shock was doubled when she saw Mason Lockwood was not far behind. Katherine locked the three of them into the ladies room and turned on the sink to provide some protection against vampire ears.
"What's going on?" asked Josie as soon as the water turned on.
"We're getting you out of here," said Mason
"Information first," said Katherine, shaking her head. "We need to know everything you know about what Stefan's planning."
Josie frowned. "Stefan hasn't said anything to me. I thought you guys were the one with the plan."
"We have a plan to hide you until we can kill Klaus, but the plan to kill him is taking a little longer than we thought," said Mason.
Ah, now she understood. They had thought there would be a weapon in the cave Mason showed them. They didn't know the cave was just an arrow that pointed to Mikael. Okay, so they were still in the beginning stages of the Mikael plan. That was a relief.
Then Josie was struck with a sudden thought. Maybe she could use Mikael to her advantage. He was probably going to come anyway. His defeat might just be a big enough carrot to get her out from under Klaus' control.
"I had a vision of Klaus and Rebekah in 1920s Chicago," said Josie. "They were running from someone. A vampire who hunts vampires."
Katherine's eyes widened in understanding. "I know how we can find him."
Mason frowned. "How?"
Katherine smiled. "I never thought I'd be so glad you saved my old friend Pearl's life, Josie."
"Okay, Kat. Now that we know how to find this hunter that can kill Klaus, we have to get Josie out of here and back to Gloria."
"Gloria?" asked Josie, surprised. "I can't leave. Klaus compelled the baristas to keep me from leaving."
"We know," smirked Katherine. "They're taking a break at the moment."
At Josie's horrified look, Katherine continued. "We didn't kill them," she said with a roll of her eyes.
From Katherine's expression, Josie could tell that was Mason's doing.
Before Josie could get another word in, the world blurred and she found herself inside Gloria's a few minutes later. That was the longest she had ever travelled at vampire speed and when Katherine set her down, she felt dizzy and nearly collapsed to the ground until Damon caught her.
"Damon! What are you doing here?" exclaimed Josie, holding onto him for support.
She wasn't really on board with this rescue plan. Not unless there was a foolproof way to protect everyone back in Mystic Falls from Klaus' wrath once he discovered Josie had been taken.
"Rescuing you of course," smirked Damon. "The only way to convince Elena to go back to Mystic Falls was if I stayed."
"When is someone going to tell me what this grand plan is?" asked Josie, exasperated.
"You're going to stay with some friends of Mason's for a while," said Damon.
Josie supposed werewolves made sense. A lot of them were nomads anyway.
"First, I need to remove the cloaking spell Klaus put on you and replace it with one of my own," explained Gloria, who was walking over with a Grimoire and some herbs. "No doubt he had a loophole created in his spell so he could track you in the event you were taken."
"So he can track me right now?" asked Josie, worried.
Gloria nodded. "We have to hurry. You have some natural resistance to magic, must be part of your Oracle make-up. It might take me a bit longer than normal."
She began chanting almost immediately.
"What's the plan to protect everyone in Mystic Falls?" Josie asked Damon.
"Katherine and I are leaving to find the hunter as soon as Mason gets here," replied Damon. "When Klaus comes to Mystic Falls looking for you, he'll kill Klaus."
"That's the plan?" Josie asked, incredulously.
Seriously, no wonder so many of the Scooby gang's plans failed.
"The cave was supposed to have a weapon," said Damon, defensively.
"Why don't I just stay with Klaus until you can find the hunter?" asked Josie. "I'm not in any danger."
Damon sighed. "The hunter's not a guarantee. We were always planning on getting you away from Klaus, Josie. We would have done it sooner, but we didn't know where you were."
Josie frowned, but didn't know what else to say. She wasn't sure what to do. Go with Mason and the werewolves? Risk everyone in Mystic Falls? She didn't want to go running back to Klaus though. Her mind was swirling with all the possibilities when Gloria announced she was done and Klaus' cloaking spell had been removed.
At that moment, Mason walked in.
"That's our cue," said Damon.
Damon nodded at Katherine and the two of them slipped out the back entrance of the bar.
"Mason, this is a bad idea," said Josie, shaking her head. "I don't want anyone in Mystic Falls getting hurt. Klaus isn't the best traveling companion, but it could be worse. I can wait a little longer."
"We may never get another opportunity like this, Josie," said Mason. "Witches like Gloria aren't around every corner."
Josie sighed, realizing he, like Damon, would not be deterred.
"Why are you doing this, Mason?"
She knew Mason was a nice guy, but they weren't close or anything. She knew why Katherine was helping- she wanted to kill Klaus.
"You saved my life," said Mason. "That may not mean much to a human, but we werewolves live by a certain code. Plus my nephew's pretty fond of you. Even if you tried to dump him last night."
"We're not even together," said Josie, rolling his eyes. "And he slept with someone else."
Mason held up his hands. "I'm not defending him."
"Where is that girl with the witch hazel?" interrupted Gloria.
"And why are you doing this?" asked Josie, curious why Gloria would help her.
"Your friends promised me a talisman I've been wanting for a long time," said Gloria. "When you had that vision yesterday, I knew who you were and that there were people looking for you. When I saw this necklace hanging around your sister's neck, I was more than happy to help."
Gloria held up Esther's necklace and regarded it with awe.
"Excuse me," said Gloria, getting up. "I need that witch hazel if I'm going to do another cloaking spell on you. Where is Diana?"
"Diana?" repeated Josie.
"She volunteered to help see you safely to the wolves," explained Gloria. "A friend of a friend."
"I'll get her," said Mason, turning toward the back.
"Ah, there she is," said Gloria.
Josie looked up and to her shock, there was the dark-haired lady from her dreams that she'd met in Italy. She had a name. Diana! A million questions came to Josie's mind to ask her before they were interrupted by a horrible realization: there was no way Diana was helping Mason and Gloria. She was the one that had insisted Josie stay with Klaus.
"You can't trust her," said Josie, getting up and backing away. "She's not here to take me away."
"Diana, what is she talking about?" asked Gloria, frowning.
"I'm sorry, Gloria," said Diana sadly. "I had to."
As if to underscore Diana's betrayal, the front door to Gloria's opened and Klaus strolled in. Josie could hardly breathe.
"You know when I ask an old friend for a favor," Klaus began. "I expect it to be done."
Gloria held out her hand. "Don't come any closer."
Klaus growled at the threat. "You lied to me, witch."
"You lied to me about who this girl really was," Gloria countered, hand still held aloft. "Her gifts should never be used to serve the likes of you!"
"Well that's the problem with Nik," said Rebekah, walking in with Stefan and standing beside her brother. "He's always taking things that don't belong to him."
"You know you can't take on all three of us, Gloria," said Klaus, smiling.
Gloria's fierce expression faltered and Klaus zoomed to her, biting her, while Stefan held Mason back.
Oddly, Klaus didn't kill Gloria, just fed off her for a few seconds. Rebekah must have thought it was strange too.
"Why don't you just kill her, Nik?" she asked.
"Problem is she's still our best bet to finding the solution to my problem," said Klaus, still gripping Gloria tightly. "Tell you what, Gloria. If you can fix my hybrids, I promise I'll make it quick. I see you have the needed necklace."
Josie tried to control her breathing. She had to try and save Gloria. Mason too. Especially Mason. The time had come. It was just then that she realized Diana was gone. She had disappeared as soon as Klaus had arrived.
"Klaus…" Josie began.
"Not now, Josie," growled Klaus. "Your pleas won't sway me this time."
"I had a vision while you were gone," she said. "I know why your hybrids aren't working."
At that, Klaus zoomed to stand in front of her.
"I'm listening, love."
"Please let them go," said Josie.
Klaus tilted his head as if thinking.
"You're sure you know?" he asked.
Josie nodded. "Positive."
"Good," he smiled.
Then he sped back over to Gloria and snapped her neck.
Josie screamed. "What the hell?"
"She tried to take you from me," he said, blurring back to her. "She was already dead."
"Please don't kill Mason," pleaded Josie, looking at Mason, still being restrained by Stefan. "He was just… he owed me a life debt. You took me first, if you recall."
Did Klaus not realize the absurdity of what he was saying? Did he really think there was going to be no attempt to try and rescue her?
Klaus turned his gaze on Mason.
"Perhaps I'd be willing to spare him if he tells me who his accomplices were?"
Mason shrugged. "It was just me and Gloria."
"Loyalty," said Klaus with a slight smile. "I like that. Tell you what, love. Since his kind are in such short supply, he can be the guinea pig."
Josie could only watch with wide eyes as Klaus blurred over to Mason, fed the werewolf his blood and then snapped Mason's neck. Mason's body fell to the ground with a rough slump.
"I do hope you weren't lying when you said you know how to fix my hybrids," said Klaus, suddenly in front of Josie.
"I wasn't," she said, looking at Mason's body.
She hadn't wanted him to be a hybrid. She had wanted to save Tyler from that too. Hopefully she still could. She knew both the Lockwood boys wouldn't want to be sired to Klaus.
"It's Elena," she said, not able to meet Stefan's eyes. "They need to drink Elena's blood during the transition."
Klaus frowned. "Really?"
"The doppelganger's blood is the solution?" asked Rebekah. "Why would the Original Witch make it like that?"
Klaus tilted his head. "Well I suppose it makes sense if you think about it from her perspective. It would be a failsafe if I ever broke the hybrid curse. The doppelganger had to die in order for me to become a hybrid but if she was dead…"
"Then you couldn't use her blood to sire yourself a new species," finished Rebekah.
"Leaving me alone for all time," said Klaus.
Josie bit her lip and looked at his face when he said that. She had a flash then. Not a vision, but scenes from the show. When Klaus had been human, terrified of Mikael. When he'd found out Mikael wasn't his real father. When Esther had cursed him. When he'd discovered who his real father was only to find him dead not soon after, killed by Mikael.
Elijah hadn't understood why Josie pitied him. Pitied a monster like Klaus. This whole summer, she'd gone from hating Klaus to not hating him as much to maybe he was okay sometimes. She suddenly remembered why she had sympathized with him once upon a time.
"Is that what this is about? Your obsession with hybrids? You just don't want to be alone?" asked Rebekah.
"What I want," said Klaus. "Is to go to Mystic Falls to get some doppelganger blood in this wolf. Once he wakes up he'll have 24 hours to complete his transition. Plenty of time to get a donation from Elena."
Josie looked at Stefan and wondered what he was thinking. He obviously still loved Elena and didn't want her becoming a human blood bag for Klaus' cause. Josie wondered if they could persuade Klaus to just humanely take blood every so often and leave Elena alone. He had pretty much done that in the show, given she had two vampire brothers who would die to protect her.
Klaus led them out of the bar (Rebekah grabbed her necklace and Stefan grabbed Mason) and they headed to the warehouse to see to the coffins.
When they got to the warehouse, Klaus was on the phone with the charter company, securing them a flight to Virginia as soon as possible. He was having a difficult time as it was already quite late in the day and there seemed to be several conferences in town. Too bad compulsion didn't work over the phone. The thick walls of the warehouse blocked cell service, so Klaus stayed outside while Stefan, Rebekah and Josie went in.
Seeing an opportunity, Josie sent a quick message to Stefan, asking him to distract Rebekah.
Stefan remarked that he'd seen an office the other day and wondered if the attendant was still there to take a quick bite out of. Rebekah just smiled and followed him to the other side of the warehouse.
Josie didn't waste anytime. Heart pounding, she quickly tried the coffin closest to her. Locked. Must be Esther. The second one was Kol.
She took a quick intake of breath as she looked at the youngest Mikaelson brother. She couldn't describe the strange sensation she felt when she saw him. She didn't know why, but she reached out and brushed a stray hair away from his forehead. She gasped at the tingling sensation she felt where she'd touched his skin.
She pulled her hand away abruptly and closed the coffin. What the hell was that?
She forced herself to focus on the task at hand. She moved quickly to the next coffin and was relieved to see it was Elijah. She reached out and held the handle of the dagger. Did she dare? She wanted Elijah back so badly. It was her fault he was in this coffin. She missed him. She owed him, really. She couldn't just let him lie there forever. And he could help. Help her escape Klaus. What was the point of this whole summer if not to get a chance to undagger him?
But what would Klaus think? Do? She clenched her jaw. Screw Klaus. He kidnapped her, then had the audacity to shake his hand in fury at those that would rescue her, as if her rightful place was a servant by his side. All the lives lost this summer, all the blood that was on her hands. It had to mean something.
She felt a strong burst of anger flow through her and yanked the dagger out of Elijah's chest. She laid the dagger carefully beside Elijah and closed the coffin. She backed away and sat down on a nearby box, schooling her features in a bored expression.
A minute later, Klaus walked in.
"Where are Rebekah and Stefan?" he asked.
Josie shrugged. "Stefan got hungry or something."
"Rebekah, Stefan!" he called.
The two vampires appeared in front of him.
"We're leaving," said Klaus.
Rebekah shook her head. "Something's wrong. He was asking about Mikael. He's not with us, Nik. I can sense it."
"She's wrong," said Stefan.
Josie frowned. "Klaus…"
Klaus looked at Josie. "I suppose you have no idea what she's talking about."
Josie crossed her arms. "You think he'd tell me? He hasn't said a word to me about anything."
"Well there's an easy way to solve this," said Klaus, zooming in front of Stefan.
Klaus looked Stefan in the eye and compelled him. "Why were you asking about Mikael?"
"I want to find a way to kill you, so Josie and I can be free," answered Stefan.
Klaus looked murderous as Stefan struggled to get away from him.
"Did you talk to Josie about Mikael?" compelled Klaus.
"No," answered Stefan.
"Perhaps our time together has come to an end," said Klaus, reaching up to grab for Stefan's heart.
"Nik, please!" begged Rebekah.
"He just wanted his freedom back!" exclaimed Josie.
Klaus squeezed Stefan's neck harder.
"I suppose that's true," said Klaus, though his hand still hovered above the struggling Stefan's heart. "But I can't have a wild card going back to Mystic Falls."
Klaus looked Stefan in the eye and compelled him. "Stop struggling."
Stefan ceased his actions immediately.
Klaus continued. "You will do exactly as I say, when I say it. You will not run or hide, you will simply just obey."
Klaus looked furious as he released Stefan. Stefan, for his part, just stood there, horrified. Now under Klaus' complete control.
"I didn't want to have to do that," said Klaus. "All I wanted was your allegiance. Your friendship."
He almost looked sad as he said it, but Josie must have imagined that because the next moment he snapped Stefan's neck.
"Guess I'm still a bit upset," said Klaus, coolly. "Get the wolf, will you Rebekah?"
Klaus picked up Stefan's body and they headed out of the warehouse.
Josie glanced at Elijah's coffin one more time before they left, wondering how long it would take for him to wake up. She wasn't sure when she'd see him again or when he would show up. They were flying to Mystic Falls while the coffins would be following in a truck. That was the problem with a lot of private jets, they had oddly small cargo spaces.
As they pulled out of the warehouse parking lot, she reflected on the crazy turn this day had taken. They were on their way back to Mystic Falls to make Mason a hybrid, Katherine and Damon were after Mikael, her mystery lady had a name, Stefan was Klaus' bitch and she had felt some weird sensation at seeing Kol Mikaelson. Not to mention Elijah would be awake soon. Josie wondered what Klaus would do when he found out what she had done.
A/N: I agree about no love triangle. I did not like the Elena/Salvatores triangle. I swear they ruined Elena's character with it.