Ava's POV:

I awoke that night with a start. I sat upright in bed, unsure as to what had woken me. I pushed a hand through my hair sleepily and glanced down at Klaus who was still fast asleep. I was about to lie back down when I heard undistinguishable noises coming from downstairs. Frowning, I eased myself off the bed as quietly as possible - Klaus wouldn't be happy if I woke him - and pulled on a vest top and grey joggers and tiptoed out of the room and into the hallway. I stopped and listened again, there were hushed voices coming from the kitchen. More than one. I wondered if Stefan had perhaps returned home - Klaus had sent him out on some sort of job - and perhaps brought back a snack, but I couldn't hear Stefan's voice amongst those who were talking. I sped down the stairs and into the corridor leading up to the kitchen. I could see dark figures silhouetted against the windows. I wondered if they were burglars. I so hoped that they were. There was nothing more entertaining than seeing the look of shock upon burglars faces when they came across a young girl who was stronger than them. I took a few slow steps towards the kitchen when the figures in there turned. Before I could react, I was being pinned against the wall by an unfamiliar man who was poising a stake above my heart. Before I could attempt to push him off of me, one of the other men had pulled him off me and thrown him against the opposite wall."I told you to leave the girl!" Hissed a familiar voice.

I stood flat against the wall in shock, staring at the man who had tried to stake me, who was now getting up and brushing himself down with a glare in my direction.I, however, was staring at the man who had pulled the other man off me, He slowly turned around to face me and my mouth fell open.

"Elijah!"

"Hello, Ava."

I took a few steps back, looking between him and the two men he had with him. There could be no good reason as to why he was here, in the middle of the night, accompanied by two other vampires.

"Where is Klaus?" Elijah asked me, stepping forwards for every step I took back.

"I don't know." I lied. I wondered if I was fast enough to get up the stairs and wake Klaus up before Elijah caught up with me.

"You're lying." Said one of the other men.

I didn't answer, I took another step before turning and attempting to speed up the stairs in order to get to Klaus before they did. Elijah, of course, was too fast though. He caught me from behind before I'd managed to even get to the stairs. His arms went around my middle, clamping my arms down by my sides. The other two took my attempt to get away as an opportunity to slip past me and make their way upstairs.I struggled against Elijah's hold, trying to free my arms at least. I managed to turn around so I was facing him and free my left arm.

"Let go of me!" I exclaimed furiously, pushing my hand against his chest in an attempt to push him away from me.

"I'm afraid that's not possible." He said simply, bringing his hands around to grasp both of my arms.

"Why not!" I demanded, infuriated by his calm attitude.

"Because if I let you go, you'll go running off and I can't have that."

I stopped struggling and relaxed, my expression a stone cold mask.

"Ok, fine. I've stopped trying to get away, will you let go of me now?"

Elijah chuckled but didn't respond, instead he let go of my right arm but tightened the grip on my left one and began to make his way up the stairs, dragging me with him.

"What do you want with Klaus?" I asked him.

"What do you think? He killed me and my family, what else would we be here for?"

I was about to retort angrily when I heard a crash come from my room. We both looked up in alarm and Elijah dragged us both up the remainder of the stairs and into my room.

Klaus was stood over both of the two men that had Elijah had brought with him, breathing heavily. He turned to face me and Elijah as we entered the room. His eyes went straight to the hand that Elijah had wrapped around my upper arm.

"Let her go," he hissed, taking a step towards us. "This has nothing to do with her."

"I'd prefer it if this didn't turn into a fight over the girl." Said one of the men angrily, getting up. There was a gash on the side of his head that was healing rapidly.

"Do you really intend to kill me, brothers?" Klaus asked, folding his arms.

"They're your brothers?" I asked, unable to stop myself, though this was hardly the moment for me to get involved.

"We are indeed." Said the other man, getting up and joining his brother in glaring at Klaus. "But that didn't stop him from driving daggers through our hearts and shoving our bodies unceremoniously into coffins."

"Well, if you're hoping to return the favour, I regret to inform you that…" without finishing his sentence, Klaus turned and exited the room through the window without a second glance. I stared after him open mouthed, how could he just leave me! I made to follow him out of the window but Elijah's grip, which had slackened during the brief conversation, tightened again, preventing me from moving so much as a step away from him.

"Are you planning on giving me my arm back any time soon!" I asked furiously, tugging at my arm again.

"Where's Stefan?" He asked suddenly, letting go of my arm.

"Out. I don't know where, he should be back soon." I muttered, rubbing my arm where he'd had hold of it.

"Should we go after him?" Came the voice of one of the brothers who had been staring out of the window, obviously trying to see if he could track Klaus.

"No. He'll be back." said Elijah.

"What makes you so sure?" The brother asked.

Elijah said nothing, but he glanced at me and the brothers both seemed to understand.

"How did you find us?" I asked them, taking a step away from him and sitting down on the end of the bed.

"Bonnie did a locator spell."

That made sense, my old apartment was full of my things and the boarding house was full of Stefan's possessions. It would have been only too easy for them to perform a locator spell on one of us that would have led them straight here.

"What now?" Asked one of the brothers, looking at me and then at Elijah.

"We'll take Ava back to the house with us, he'll come for her."

"Wha-no! I'm not going anywhere with you!" I protested furiously. I wasn't exactly sure why I felt so strongly about it, I knew that Elijah wasn't going to hurt me and he wouldn't let the others. I would have been concerned about their plans for Klaus only Klaus had left me with them, obviously he was only concerned about his own safety. The fact that he'd bolted and left me with people who could have very easily killed me made me sick to my stomach. I'd honestly thought that maybe he felt something for me, even if it was only mere attraction. He'd saved me from Adeline's ex-boyfriend, what was so different about the situation now? It's not like they could easily kill him, it took more than a stake to the heart to do that.

"You can come, or I can force you to come." Elijah replied calmly, holding out his hand.

"What about all my stuff?"

"Bryden and Evander will see to that." I assumed that Bryden and Evander were the brothers.

Knowing that I had been defeated, I stood up, ignoring the hand that Elijah was offering and walked past him. "Where are we going then?" I asked , sulkily.

"A house a little outside of Mystic Falls. The rest of my family are there."

I felt a spasm of nerves. I wasn't exactly thrilled about being taken to a house full of Original vampires, all of whom were a hell of a lot stronger than me. It was a little intimidating, not to mention humiliating being the youngest and weakest vampire in the house.