This winter had been particularly harsh. The snows hadn't been a problem, instead ice had rained down from the heavens and covered their village in a constant layer of shining cold. Rebekah thought it pretty, and Elijah had reluctantly agreed with her, but Maddie was of the same mind as the rest of her brothers. She hated it. She hated when she had to break it off their roof with Kol, she hated it when it ruined Ayanna's potion ingredients, she hated it when she slipped and fell. Ice was evil and she made sure to tell the Gods that when she spoke to them in her prayers… But it had one use.
The falls had frozen over, and Maddie discovered that if she sat on her belly in the middle of the river and looked down, it was shockingly clear. If she waited long enough she could see the occasional lazy fish swim past or she could just stare down and down and wonder what it would be like to touch the bottom. It was colder than her house, but much nicer, Maddie thought. Just this afternoon her father had one of his rows with she and Henrik, though Maddie had taken the brunt of it. She couldn't remember what had set him off, not that it mattered much. When she pressed her cheek against the ice the stinging would stop and she could pretend he had never hit her.
"What are you doing all the way out here, little witch?"
Maddie jumped at the voice and the sudden crunch of ice cracking, turning to look at who had come to find her.
"Oh! Easy there Nik!" Kol laughed as his brother flailed and skidded across the frozen riverbank in his attempts to avoid the fractures heading towards him. "I hope you weren't planning on winning Tatia over with your dancing. It needs a bit of work if I'm being honest, brother."
Her brother righted himself on shore and shoved Kol in retaliation.
"You go on and fetch her, then." Klaus insisted, keeping on land while gesturing to the girl laying in the middle of the frozen river.
Kol wasn't daunted by the idea. He merely shrugged and adjusted his hood to fit more snuggly around his face before taking a careful step out onto the ice. Maddie pushed herself up onto her elbows and watched as Kol shuffled over the ice. It was slow going, but steady.
When Kol made it halfway to his little sister, the ice started to crack again. The same line that had jutted out towards Klaus crept closer and Kol froze, not daring to make a move. Once the river settled, he looked up at Maddie and found her largely undisturbed by the cracking of the ice. Kol took a closer look around and found all the splinters leading back to her little gloved hand rather than the weight of her body.
"Kol!" Klaus called, reduced to pacing the side of the river and fretting over his siblings' precarious positions. "Come back before you fall in!"
"I'm fine, Niklaus." Kol spoke slowly as the wheels in his mind started turning. He turned to look at his brother and lifted a finger to his lips. Klaus frowned but grew silent at the request, watching as Kol turned back to their baby sibling. "Darling, what did you come out here for?"
"Nothing." She curled her fists but tried to hold her head high despite the blatant lie. The ice cracked ominously, another fracture jutting out from Maddie's fingertips.
Had Maddie been a bit older, a bit wiser, she would see the crinkle of Kol's brow and the panic in his eyes rather than the wide smile or chipper tone he was sporting for her benefit.
"Well, Maddie-girl, I find 'nothing' to be much more entertaining out of the cold, don't you?" The ice didn't break and Kol slid forward another step. The ice didn't so much as sway. "Mother could make you a cup of tea." Again, nothing changed. "Father has a fire built-" The river rattled and Kol froze. Klaus called out for them on shore but Kol held his hand out for him to stop. He could see what was happening here. The problem wasn't their weight, it was Maddie's temper. "Easy, Madelyn!" He called before lowering his voice to the soothing tone again. "Take a deep breath, control yourself."
Maddie looked up at her brother and cocked her head to the side in confusion at the instruction. She didn't understand that she was the cause of their precarious situation. Her hair tumbled to the side, giving the boys their first look at the swollen bruise on the girl's cheekbone. Neither seemed particularly surprised to see it and no one dared bring it up.
"I don't want to go home." Maddie murmured, shifting to sit facing Kol and tucking her legs up to her chest as the splinters of ice grew, circling the child and Kol alike. Both of the brothers knew they couldn't dawdle outside in this cold, but they seemed to be in silent agreement to not mention that to the girl. Both for the benefit of her feelings and because Kol didn't desire going for a swim when Maddie's tantrum broke the ice.
Maddie's magic was volatile, it always had been. While Kol hadn't tapped into his magic until his tenth winter, Madelyn found herself casting spells at an abnormally young age. It was as impressive as it was dangerous. Children that young were prone to all sorts of emotional whims and lacked willpower to control something as forceful as magic. Mother called Madelyn a gift, but Father called her trouble. Hopefully Mother would be right today.
"Simple enough," Kol agreed, a smile pasted onto his face. "Just take a few deep breaths for me, Maddie-girl. Like mother showed you." Kol modeled himself, taking a large, exaggerated breath and letting out in a long, loud sigh. Maddie stubbornly crossed her arms and looked away rather than follow his lead. "Come on, just try it once for me." Kol started again but Klaus interrupted.
"Madelyn?" Both his siblings turned to look towards the shore. Klaus was crouched down on one knee, arms held open wide. Maddie's chin started to quiver, though she fought it valiantly. Klaus didn't say a word, he just waited, arms outstretched. He didn't try to fake a smile or force cheer into his voice, he just offered her what he always wanted when Father came after him.
Eventually, the little girl sniffled loudly and got to her feet, racing across the ice as if it were solid ground. The river fractured behind her, not just breaking apart but flying violently in all directions as soon as her little feet lifted off from where they had been last.
Kol scrambled and dove for the riverside, making it to dry land just in time to see Madelyn fall into Klaus' waiting arms. Klaus pulled her to his chest and silently, they reminded one another that they weren't alone.
XXXXXXXXX
"Why so quiet, sweetheart? Is breakfast not made to your liking?"
Klaus sat at the end of a long table, grinning over a plate of steaming pancakes. The rest of the room was decorated with exposed wood and drywall but the table holding his feast was a shining oak complete with a silk tablecloth. Maddie sat at the other end, her hair still damp from her shower but at least there wasn't any blood clinging to it.
"Sorry," Maddie drawled, eyeing the fancy table and its hybrid owner wearily. "I'm still trying to process the fact that I'm being 'wine and dined' by the Original Hybrid." It wasn't that sleep had brought a newfound clarity, in fact, Maddie felt she had been seeing things more clearly than ever since she woke up in the Salvatore's basement. Instead, sleep had brought the fear and trepidation that her adrenaline and anger had dulled.
"Only the best for you." Klaus lifted his glass of orange juice in a toast that Maddie didn't return before nudging a bowl of fruit across the table. "Strawberries?" When Maddie didn't so much as glance at what Klaus knew to be her favorite treat, Klaus tried not to feel a bit irked by her coldness. Had he not housed her, fed her, and even gotten her new clothing to replace the dirty set she had arrived in? Well, technically, it had been his hybrids that attended to the clothing and compelled a chef but he was the one who told them to do so in the first place, so if you cut out the middle man… "Coffee, then?" Finally, Maddie straightened up in her chair and her eyes subtly scanned the table. Klaus assumed she thought she was being subtle and chuckled at the poor attempt. "Here you are," Klaus gestured and a woman walked in with a mug in hand.
"Thanks." Maddie shifted in her seat and accepted her drink, taking a testing sip. Apparently, she deemed it drinkable because she took another sip. As she started to settle into the chair, Klaus decided he would take the chance and dive into conversation while she was calm.
"You are very welcome." Klaus picked up his cutlery and started digging into his pancakes, deciding to lead by example and hope that teenage Madelyn was just as much a mimic as she had been when she was six. "So," He began, "you aren't a fan of breakfast, I take it."
"Not when it's surrounded by compelled construction workers and Hybrids, no." Maddie responded, her eyes following a large sweaty man in a construction hat as he passed the open archway behind Klaus.
"Yes, right, about the Hybrids." Klaus turned and called for one of his minions. It was clear that brother-sister breakfast wasn't all this was cracked up to be so he was content to move on to business matters. "You remember Tess, don't you, Maddie?" The woman in question entered the room and offered a wave towards the witch.
"Yeah…" Maddie agreed, eyeing both of the Hybrids with a confused gaze before settling her eyes on Tess. Now that it wasn't the small hours of the morning, Maddie realized that her rescuer was hardly older than Maddie herself. Tess wasn't what Maddie expected when she thought of a hybrid. Everything about Tess seemed warm, she sported a wide smile and a relaxed stance.
"Excellent," Klaus praised, "she will be keeping an eye on you until this mess blows over." Klaus had hardly enough time to finish his sweeping gesture towards Tess before Maddie started her protests.
"I don't need a babysitter!" Ah, there was the temper. Rebekah had told him of such family resemblances but until last night Klaus had been unable to see the truth in her argument. Rebekah had always been the heart of their family and Klaus fancied himself the mind. She was compassionate and soft enough to see through things like logic and reason and assure herself that she had found a girl that should have died centuries ago. Klaus, on the other hand, had been so determined to see only what reason permitted that he had shrugged away her petty theories. One thing was for sure, he was down one sister, he wasn't about to let the other one get snatched up by the likes of Mystic Falls' senior class.
"Well, considering the predicament you got yourself into yesterday, I'm inclined to believe otherwise," Klaus stated, his voice hardening even as his jovial smile widened. "I believe the term 'hog-tied' was used in young Teresa's description."
"How do you expect me to get you any information with a hybrid hanging over my shoulder?" Maddie asked, her cheeks burning as she recalled yesterdays predicament. It made sense that Tess had told Klaus about what lead to Maddie arriving at his doorstep covered in dried blood and dirt, but that didn't make it any less humiliating a picture. "They won't talk to me with her around!"
"Rebekah was telling me of your little supernatural tour of the European coasts, tell your friends she's an old mate come to visit for a while." Klaus snatched up the jam and started spreading it across his toast as if the conversation was at an end. It only served to rile Maddie up more. She didn't like feeling as if she was being dismissed.
"That's never going to work!"
"Unfortunately for you, I'm not asking." Klaus turned a hard stare at the girl and resisted the urge to yell. Why were all of his siblings simply incapable of seeing reason? "Madelyn, you have approximately three uses to me." He dropped his toast dramatically and angled his butter knife towards the witch like a pointer. "If your friends figure out you are my spy, well, that narrows it down to two which is unfortunate but hardly the end of the world. If they discover your traitorous intentions and capture you, I lose my spy, my witch, and Rebekah will be buzzing in my ear all day and night upon her awakening to you gone." Maddie pulled a face but Klaus moved along before she could speak. "Now, Tess's presence will ensure that if you are discovered you will not be taken hostage and thus, I retain a powerful witch to aid in the search for my coffins and avoid future headaches once they are found."
"I'm not anyone's witch-"
"Enough!" Klaus shouted over her complaint, finally lifting himself from his chair to stare down at Maddie, even when she stood to match his stance. "You are taking her with you or I am keeping you here to practice spells in the foyer, understood?"
Tess was the one to interrupt the stare down between the two blondes. She stepped forward and leaned against the table, offering Maddie a placating smile.
"Hey, I can be discrete." She assured, waiting until Maddie tore her gaze from Klaus' to continue. "We'll tell them I'm a vampire, I'll stay out of your way." When she was sure coming closer wouldn't set either her boss or her new assignment off, she moved to Maddie's side and offered a hand. "Come on," Tess coaxed, "the longer you stand here arguing, the less time Klaus has to figure out how to keep you from going crazy."
After tutting to herself, Maddie seemed to realize Tess was right. Nothing would get done while she was caught in a staring contest with Klaus. So, with great reluctance, she abandoned her empty coffee cup, snatched a muffin from the table, and made sure to shoulder check Tess on the way out just for good measure.
"Have fun with that one, love." Klaus chuckled as he fell back into his chair and resumed his breakfast. Tess rubbed at her forehead and sighed before turning and setting off after her charge at a jog. Klaus didn't envy her, though he was curious about his new sibling he didn't need to spend much time with her to know that she wasn't going to be easy to keep an eye on. His family had a tendency to get into trouble and an even greater dislike for authority figures. Klaus hardly regretted his actions, but he would admit he had given Tess a difficult task and resolved that so long as the witch didn't end up dead or missing, he would owe Tess a reward of some sorts for her loyalty and dedication to their cause. "I want updates every few hours!"
Now to deal with his own end of the bargain.
The matter of Madelyn's memories was tricky. On the one hand it had a rather simple explanation; magic. On the other hand, Klaus was a vampire and had no way to torture a counter curse out of the witch who cast it seeing as Rebekah had already killed her. That left him stuck, though Klaus was sure he would figure out something eventually.
"Rebekah," Klaus muttered to himself, taking up the old habit of speaking to a sibling that wasn't there to answer. "If only you were here to help me." Rebekah had been investigating this for weeks. Learning about Maddie and reporting her suspicions back to Nik. Unfortunately for both of them, he hadn't been paying her stories much attention and very frequently called her a sentimental fool for having such hopes. "If I break her while trying to fix her, I lose both of you forever." Maddie to a fractured mind, Rebekah for ruining their chance at regaining their baby sister. "If I refuse to help, she might go off on her own and make a bigger mess." Klaus was no witch but he knew enough to understand that a spell like this would be complicated and as a vampire he understood how delicate the human mind was. If Maddie tried to brute force her way past the spell she could very well cause permanent damage to herself which would in turn mean Rebekah would deliver permanent damage to Nik for not stopping her.
Klaus sighed heavily into his plate and resolved to leave the witchy questions to Gloria. He would focus on the things he knew best, namely, art. Perhaps there was a clue hidden in one of Madelyn's journals and if not, well, at least Klaus could critique her work. It was nice to finally have a sibling who appreciated the finer things in life.
XXXXXXXXX
Maddie had started her search for answers with Caroline. While she could never say that Care was a particularly calming presence, as a vampire she at least seemed less high strung and she would always be Maddie's best friend so it felt like the least daunting place to begin.
As expected, Caroline was suspicious of the 'vampire' that had come for a visit, but Tess wandered off to play pool with a few of the other patrons at the Grill rather than hover, which helped. Caroline scolded Maddie for bringing a friend over now of all times, and Maddie wasn't lying when she assured Caroline that she was doing everything she could think of to convince Tess to leave.
Unfortunately, even after Caroline had settled enough to talk about their Klaus issues, she didn't seem to know much about the coffins. That's not to say Maddie learned nothing from their chat, however. Apparently, Bonnie had been having dreams for days now about coffins that couldn't open. It wasn't an answer by any stretch of the imagination but it was something, at least, that Maddie could go off of. She wondered why she hadn't been getting similar dreams. They were both witches, both involved in all of this, and she was fairly sure the spirits weren't watching closely enough to know that she had decided to help Klaus just yet. She filed the question away for later consideration and focused on catching up with Caroline until a Klaus sized reason to leave walked through the door.
Caroline dipped out the front door and Maddie dragged Tess with her out the employee exit. She didn't have anything to fear from Klaus while their deal stood, but for appearances sake (and to avoid Elena's piercing stare from following her any longer), it felt like time to leave.
"So, that was enlightening." Tess chimed as they paced down the alley. Rather than head for town square, Maddie steered them the opposite direction, knowing the woods were only a few blocks away and from there she could find some privacy to do some spell work. "So, this Bonnie girl, is she like you?"
"No one is like me." Maddie was quick to correct. Tess merely snorted her amusement at the quip and Maddie decided to offer up the information Tess had asked for. "Bonnie's a witch, yes. She's a good friend."
"Like the good friends that stuck you in a cell?"
"She had nothing to do with that." Maddie snapped offering a warning glare towards the Hybrid before continuing. "Caroline didn't seem to know anything about it either, I would have known if she did. She's a horrible liar and wouldn't have been able to keep a straight face around me. I'm guessing Elena and Damon wanted to keep it to themselves."
"You going to let them?" Tess sounded a little confused at the idea but surprisingly non-judgmental overall. It surprised Maddie, to say the least.
"I don't want to, but I doubt anyone will tell me anything if they know I got stabbed in the back last night. Either they'll assume I'm pissed-"
"Which you are."
"- and will get too suspicious to tell me anything,"
"Which they should be."
"- Or they'll side with me and Elena won't tell them anything either."
"Which leaves you with nothing, anyway." Tess finished, bobbing her head in understanding. "So, what now? We going to find Bonnie?"
"No," Maddie shook her head as she started up the stairs out of the alley. "I'm going to try and track those coffins again-"
"Maddie!" The pensive look on the young witch's face fell into a harsh frown as she heard the click of heels echo off the cement stairs of the alleyway. "Wait up, I need to talk to you!" Tess didn't bother to say anything, but her brows pinched in concern as she looked from her charge towards the fast-approaching doppelganger. Maddie didn't break her stride and never looked back.
"Screw you, Elena." The witch bit out, "You're the last person on this planet I want to talk to." The click-clack of footsteps stopped and for one fleeting moment, Maddie thought that she was going to get the peace she requested.
"Huh. In that case…" There was a rush and a growl and when Maddie turned around Tess was pinned to the wall of the alley, snapping and barring her wolfish teeth. Maddie heard a sickening crack and then Tess was slumped to the ground, her eyes glassy. 'Elena' tossed her hair back into place and offered a smile that seemed too dark to be sincere. "You might be the only person in this damn town that's happy to see me."
Maddie took a few steps back and nearly tripped over the stairs, much to the newcomer's amusement. Her chuckle seemed to shake Maddie out of her surprise and she lifted her hand in warning.
"Katherine?" She questioned, coming to the only possible conclusion to how someone wearing Elena's face had just vamp-sped across an alley to snap a hybrid's neck. This must be the infamous doppelganger that started all of their problems.
"Ding-ding-ding!" It was uncanny and more than a little disturbing to watch Elena's face twist into such different expressions. Everything about Katherine was so similar and yet the way she carried herself made it all seem foreign at the same time. Maddie was sure her face was pitched into a look of awe or maybe something more like curiosity and Katherine seemed to revel in the attention. "Given the fact that I'm not hexed or dead yet, I'm guessing your doggie friend over there already told you I saved your life once already."
"You didn't save my life." Maddie scoffed, but regardless she started to lower her hand. The girl still stood on the balls of her feet, muscle coiled with unease but she understood what Katherine was getting at. Wouldn't be smart to kill the girl you had just helped the night before and from all accounts, Katherine was nothing if not clever.
"Whatever." Katherine waved away the concern and braved another step closer, lifting herself up onto the first stair. Maddie's hand lifted again in warning and she didn't go any closer. Instead, she leaned up against the wall and crossed her arms casually. "I helped you."
"If I'm remembering correctly, Tess only referred to you as 'the crazy bitch' who snapped her neck." Katherine made a face and then shrugged as if to say 'fair enough'. Maddie felt her gaze as sharply as if it had been a blade trailing over her face. Katherine stared at her like one would a sculpture or a painting, some work meant to be analyzed. It made her skin crawl. "Why did you help me, Katherine?" She got right to the point, suddenly eager to bring this to an end. "Unless I'm forgetting more than I thought, we've never even met."
Maddie knew she had said the wrong thing before Katherine spoke. The vampire lifted her gaze to meet Maddie's and cocked her head. Her dark eyes sparkled with an interest Maddie didn't appreciate.
"Forgetting?" The doppelganger prompted.
"Answer the question," Maddie demanded with a glare.
Katherine lifted her hands in a dismissing motion and did as she was told, a playful smile lifting her lips as she fell back into character.
"I'm just a girl looking for a friend," She confessed. Maddie didn't buy that for a second.
"From what I heard, you're a pretty shitty friend." Stefan and Damon had died for her, as had most of her other accomplices over the last year. Seemed like someone Maddie wanted nothing to do with. The witch started down the steps towards town square, passing Katherine on her way. She had wanted privacy, but after irritating a known serial killer, being in public felt like a better plan. "I'll pass."
A hand gripped her elbow just tightly enough as to not bruise and stopped her from going any farther.
"You might want to reconsider." Katherine's voice was a shade darker than it had been and Maddie felt the hair on the back of her neck raise.
"Get off me." She growled back in the same low tone. To her surprise, Katherine did. The vampire strolled in front of Maddie, that appraising look back on her face as she observed the girl. "What?" Maddie snapped, crossing her arms over her chest to give herself just a fraction of cover from the piercing stare.
"Just taking in the family resemblance." Katherine answered as she started a slow circle. "I didn't notice it before, but now I see it. You have the same simmering anger as your brother."
"My brother?" Maddie's stance faltered, her arms dropping as she turned to face Katherine again. Katherine, who smiled at her reaction like the cat who caught the canary. Maddie couldn't find it in her to care what that might mean for her. "You know my brother?"
"Intimately." Katherine drawled. She reached out to touch Maddie's face with the back of her hand, and practically purred when the girl didn't pull away this time. That was how she would win over the little witch, then. Not power or friendship or money, she would win her over with family. "You look like him, a bit. The jawline is there…" She trailed her fingers down Maddie's cheek and heard the girl's heart stutter in her chest as her hand fell away. Oh. Katherine's smile stretched. Interesting. It couldn't be that simple, could it? "In fact, I met all but one of your brothers in the late 1400s… But you know that, don't you?"
Maddie shook her head no and Katherine couldn't believe her luck. She raised a brow in question and Maddie seemed to weigh her options before caving to curiosity.
"No, I don't. I can't remember anything before I got here."
Katherine hummed curiously, piecing together the girl's earlier comment on forgetting. Her eyes narrowed into a suspicious glare. This seemed too easy. The youngest Mikaelson turning up out of nowhere, still alive, powerful, and all alone. It couldn't be that easy. It had to be a trick.
"Nothing?" Katherine asked dryly. "You can understand I find that hard to believe."
"It would be a stupid lie to make up." Maddie shot back, her hackles raising to match Katherine's suddenly combative tone. She took a step back, putting some space between herself and the doppelganger. "What do you want, Katherine?"
"I told you already," Katherine replied, sidestepping into Maddie's path when the girl made to leave. "I'm looking for a friend, and before you say no again, I have a peace offering."
"Yeah, and I'm sure you'll want something in return." Maddie quipped, raising a brow. Rather than deny it, Katherine lifted one shoulder into a shrug and that sly grin crept back onto her face.
"Friends help each other, don't they?" Katherine saw Maddie's face grow dark and quickly threw out her hook in hopes that Maddie would bite. "I can help you find Rebekah. I mean, look at me," Katherine gestured towards her body with a little too much enthusiasm. "Give me a straightener and a backpack, suddenly I'm exactly the type of person tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum would talk to about an Original Corpse."
Understanding filled Maddie's face and hesitation chased after it. It was a tempting deal indeed, but did she really want to get into bed with not one but two people that had tried to ruin her friends' lives? Klaus was messy enough on his own, Maddie suspected that he would turn around and betray her if a better deal came along, plus her friends would eventually find out and that would be a mess. She was furious at Elena and had no love for the Salvatore boys but how far was she willing to stoop to get even? So far this was a necessity of getting Rebekah back, but making a deal with Katherine, well, that felt more personal somehow. Maddie didn't need Katherine's help, it would merely be a shortcut to the same ends she was already chasing. It was a bad idea. Katherine was manipulative, cruel, and hated by Maddie's friends and enemies alike.
"You'd impersonate Elena for me to get Rebekah's location out of the Salvatore boys and in return you get…" Maddie trailed off and waited for an answer. This would win her no favor from Klaus or Elena's gang, but on some level, that was part of Katherine's allure. Katherine wasn't on anyone's side but her own and Maddie respected it. Since she got back into Mystic Falls, Maddie had been asked or expected to act a certain way, work in a certain party's interest. It made Maddie long for the days that she had the uncomplicated anonymity of working in Europe, picking up spells or hunting down supernaturals at her own leisure and on her own time.
"For now? An understanding that anyone finding out about this chat would be bad for both of us and an invitation into your home." Katherine waited as the witch eyed her down, waiting for a catch that wasn't coming. Katherine had been playing this game for a long time now and knew that loyalty, trust, those things came with time or fear. Fear wasn't going to get her what she wanted, so she was playing a long game, pushing players around like pieces on a chess board. Maddie seemed weary of her, but Katherine wasn't concerned. She was sure she had the girl right where she wanted. "Most people in this town want me dead. If I'm going to hang around, I need somewhere my enemies can't get to me. Luckily, the Donovan house is still a largely vampire free zone."
"Only Caroline can get in." Maddie confirmed quietly. "It's smart… You do realize that means I'd be essentially offering up my brother as food, right?" Katherine laughed and shook her head, brushing aside the concern.
"Please," the vampire drawled, "he drinks vervain and besides, he's too cute to kill."
"Gross."
"Your brother is safe. Killing him wouldn't be very 'friendly' of me, would it?" Katherine brushed over Maddie's dramatics and got to the point. As much as she liked getting a closer look at the Mikaelson witch, she knew every minute in public was a risk and Klaus was far too close for comfort. "So, what do you say? Do we have a deal?"
Maddie stayed silent for a moment, her teeth worrying the inside of her cheek as she thought. This was a bad idea. A horrible, inexcusable ally to make. There wasn't a single person that Katherine hadn't betrayed in some way or another, and yet… Maddie supposed as soon as she had Rebekah back there would be no deal with Klaus to worry about. No deal with Klaus, and her friend would be alive again…
"Fine." Maddie set her shoulders and made a choice. "You aren't getting into my house, you could murder me in my sleep. How about, you get me information about Rebekah and I'll be your early warning sign about Klaus, throw him off your scent."
"Klaus isn't the only one hunting me in this town." Katherine pointed out.
"That's not my problem. Come find me when you have something on Bekah. Then we can talk" Maddie moved to walk past and this time Katherine didn't stop her.
XXXXXXXXX
Maddie had hoped she would only return to the manor with Rebekah at her side or a few coffins rolling behind her. She was starting to understand this would take a lot longer than she had hoped. Maddie figured that by now her hybrid bodyguard would have woken and made her way back to Klaus. It seemed wise to come to him before he found a way to confront Maddie about abandoning Tess. Besides, she needed to know how much Tess had told him about Katherine and do damage control like she had promised.
Maddie followed the trail of hybrids and workers until she started to hear familiar voices up ahead. Klaus, she had expected, but Tyler's voice caught her off guard.
"I didn't think that we'd actually have to kill anyone."
Maddie jogged the last few steps, taking up a disapproving stance in the entryway behind her new ally.
"You killed someone?"
Klaus sighed loudly and took a moment to compose himself as Tyler looked over at Maddie, his face twisting into obvious surprise and confusion.
"What are you doing here?" Tyler and Maddie had never been friends, but if nothing else, Maddie could appreciate his lack of judgement when he asked the question. She didn't expect anyone else to be quite so casual about finding her hanging out in Klaus' home.
"Right," Klaus spoke up before Maddie had a chance to answer. He lifted a hand and set it firmly on Tyler's shoulder, turning to gesture towards the young witch dramatically. "Tyler, mate, this is going to have to be one of those things you keep to yourself, alright?" He pat the hybrid on the shoulder and grinned, knowing that his word would be obeyed. "Young Madelyn, like you, is aiding me in my quest to regain the coffins Stefan stole. That is, when she isn't plotting and scheming with undead doppelgangers." Klaus' smile didn't lose any of it's cheer, but his eyes darkened, daring her to contradict him.
"I'm fine, thanks for asking." Maddie sniped, entering the room with a huff. "What was that I heard about killing people?"
"It's rather simple really, I compelled Jeremy to stand in front of a moving car." He held up a hand, silencing the wave of shock he could already see coming towards him. "The lad's fine. Alaric took the fall instead and if memory serves he has a magic ring that brings him back from the dead, so there is no need for your screeching."
"There is plenty of need!" Maddie shot back; her voice thick with outrage. "Jeremy has nothing to do with this!"
"He's Elena's brother and that makes him a weakness," Klaus countered.
"Well, if that's how you feel about siblings I'm surprised you're willing to look for Rebekah at all!"
"That is entirely different."
"How?"
"Well, for starters our siblings are a bit more durable than the average mortal."
Maddie flinched, but did not hesitate to snap back at Klaus.
"Yes, until you stick a dagger in their hearts!"
"Do not pretend to understand a thousand years you were not here for!"
They were both yelling now, Klaus in his huffy growls and Maddie with a voice like a whip. Tyler backed up, deciding that now was as good a time as any to leave.
"I'm just gonna…"
Klaus whirled to face his hybrid and pointed to him, starting up a little lecture that Maddie wasn't willing to waste time listening to. She turned to go, walking back the way she had come until wind tossed her hair and the Original Hybrid appeared in front of her.
"Don't take another step." Klaus instructed and for once, Maddie obeyed. "You came into my house and asked for my help," the man growled, staring down at the witch. "If you wanted an ally who said 'please' and 'thank you' you would not have come here. Tell me if I'm wrong."
Maddie turned away rather than answer and Klaus' eyes twinkled with understanding. Her silence was answer enough.
"That's what I thought." Klaus took a step back and gestured for Maddie to follow him down another hallway. "I've tasked a witch with looking into your memory issues. Gloria should have something for me soon enough, though I've been doing some investigating of my own." Maddie hesitated, but after a moment he heard her footsteps follow him into his drawing room. "Did you know that the Mystic Falls police department has records going back to the 1900s all stuffed into an old storage room?" Klaus lifted a file into the air and waved it around, keeping it just out of reach when Maddie made to grab it. "Fascinating, really, though I find myself more curious about how you came to be in the presence of one Katerina Petrova and why it was you thought it wise to leave your hybrid bodyguard behind after meeting with her."
"I didn't meet with her." Maddie made another swipe at the file but Klaus pulled it just out of reach, shooting her a warning glance. "I didn't! She found me, snapped Tess's neck, and then asked to chat."
"What did she want?" Klaus asked.
"I don't know, I didn't stick around to find out." Maddie forced her body to stay relaxed. She had been rehearsing this lie in her head all afternoon. "She killed a hybrid with you next door, you really think I was going to stick around after that?"
"You expect me to believe she let you walk away?" Klaus' expression bordered on disappointed, as if he had expected a more suitable attempt at a lie.
"She didn't 'let me' do anything." The witch lifted her chin and tried not to fidget under Klaus' gaze. "I told you this morning, I can take care of myself. I used my magic to mess with her daylight bracelet. She had to hide in the shadows until the spell wore off."
The pair stared one another down for a long moment. Matching blue eyes locked on one another, both searching for the first sign of weakness. Klaus ended their stalemate with a grunt.
"Fine." He offered the folder out to Maddie and ever so slowly, she took it. "What of the coffins?"
"Better news there. I talked to Bonnie and Caroline. Neither of them seems to realize Elena's boyfriends nearly bludgeoned me to death yesterday night. According to Caroline, Bonnie has been having dreams about four coffins." Maddie was more than relieved at the change in topic. She thumbed through the file, finding her name and a few colored photos of a young girl with tangled blonde hair among it's pages.
"You think it's a premonition of some sort?" Klaus pieced together, mind already whirling as he tried to piece together how best to get Bonnie Bennet to cooperate if it came to that. "I fail to see how that helps us in the slightest. If memory serves, you do not receive such visions."
Maddie startled at the confident statement and turned to look up at Klaus curiously. Had he known her that well when she was young to be so confident in what she had dreamt? Klaus seemed to delight in her surprise, a nearly boyish grin stretched across his lips.
"I don't, no," Maddie agreed slowly. She closed the file and gave her attention over to Klaus. "My dreams tend to be more… Medieval lately." Klaus hummed his understanding and lifted a picture from the table that had clearly been torn free from one of Maddie's notebooks, the village's forge and a strong young man on display. "Yeah, like that." She confirmed. "Bonnie doesn't know that, though. I encouraged her to tell me about them and from what she described I might know where they are."
"Excellent. I'll round up some of my hybrids and we can have at it, then!" Klaus pushed himself off the table he had been sitting on and made for the door, but Maddie reached out and caught his arm. Had she been anyone else, Klaus might have taken her hand off, but he supposed that wouldn't be the best way to retain his little sister's trust.
"No!" Maddie insisted. "If they are where I think they are, charging in with a bunch of vampire hybrids and an Original isn't going to help. Let me handle it." Klaus' distaste was plain to see, so Maddie hurried to reassure him before he decided to do anything rash. He had already gone after one innocent in this battle and Maddie wanted to minimize the amount of carnage he made from here on out. "I can track Bonnie. She's a powerful witch and she has no reason to hide from me. I'll do a locator spell every few hours and keep track of where she goes. Then we'll know for sure if I'm right about the coffin locations. There's this old house, a bunch of dead witch spirits haunt it, it's complicated. The point is, I'll be able to slip in and slip out with some compelled help to move the coffins. You, on the other hand, will be like a giant warning sign to the witch spirits."
Klaus sighed loudly. Nothing could be easy, could it? Now he had to rely on the very killable, very mortal, long lost baby of the family to retrieve not only his siblings but the body of Esther herself without being caught. This was exactly the type of dangerous situation that Klaus had wanted to avoid. Some of his hesitation was indeed concern for the girl, but there would always be that little voice in the back of his head warning him of betrayal. This situation gave Maddie all the opportunity in the world to take those coffins from him again, just as Stefan had. Though, Klaus reminded himself that Maddie still needed him until Rebekah returned. He would just have to make sure he had some leverage before Maddie went about this daring rescue of their siblings.
"Counterpoint." Klaus raised his hand and gestured towards Madelyn. "What happens when your merry gang of friends comes in and finds you stealing the coffins back? They've gotten the jump on you once before, and you would be severely outnumbered. Stefan, Damon, Bonnie, maybe even Caroline will be there and as previously discussed you are opposed to collateral damage."
"Then we find a way to distract them. You're good at antagonizing people, I'm sure you'll figure something out." Maddie shrugged and didn't back down. It wasn't an ideal plan, but she was confident it would work. "I can handle a few young vampires; we just need to wait until Bonnie is occupied. I won't hurt her."
For a moment Klaus seemed ready to argue but then he tilted his head to the side, listening to something Maddie couldn't hear. When he turned back to the girl, he nodded and sent her on her way.
"In that case, it sounds like you better get started." As if on cue, a hybrid appeared in the doorway and Klaus nudged Maddie towards him. "Go ahead and get Madelyn here set up in one of the studies. Make sure she has what she needs."
As she was being led out, Maddie noticed Tess lingering in the doorway. The older girl caught her stare and offered a lazy wave in return before Klaus called her inside. Aside from the greeting, Maddie couldn't catch what was being said. It was probably nothing.
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"You spoke with Elena?" Klaus waited until he could not hear his sister's footsteps down the hall to address the waiting hybrid.
Tess plopped down into one of the lounge chairs and tucked one leg under the other as she prepared to give her report.
"Tony's dead. Jeremy Gilbert cut off his head with a meat cleaver." Klaus took a moment to mourn the loss, but it wasn't so important that he didn't chuckle at Tess' monotone assurance that, "it was gross."
"Yes, well, decapitation tends to be rather messy." Klaus agreed. "What else."
"I circled back, like you asked, and Elena offered a deal." Tess explained, sitting a little straighter in her chair as she got to the good part. "She still doesn't know where Stefan or your coffins are, but she does have the next best thing."
"Rebekah." Klaus already knew from Maddie that Elena had been the one to dagger his poor sister, so this didn't come as a shock to him. "What does she want in return?"
"For you to not try to run Jeremy over with another truck." Tess explained as if it should be obvious. Klaus could tell that she, similar to Tyler, wasn't too fond of his methods. He was sure she would get over it with time, and until then her frankness was more amusing than it was irksome.
"A sibling for a sibling." It seemed a fair enough deal. There were plenty of other people in Elena's life he could use against her and Rebekah's life was easily worth a thousand Jeremy Gilberts, so suffice to say he was getting the better end of the deal. The only problem was Maddie.
The little witch had been more than clear on the terms of their alliance. She needed Rebekah back, not Klaus' coffins. Once Rebekah was awake, Madelyn would have what she wanted and without her memories to guide her sentiments towards their daggered brothers, Klaus could not be sure that the little witch would continue to help him get what he wanted. Not to mention, things were tense enough between them already. Without the common enemy or the common goal, Klaus doubted Maddie would give him even a moment of her time voluntarily. No… He couldn't risk it.
"Take two more hybrids to fetch my sister and tell Elena you agree with her deal." Klaus watched the hybrid go but stopped her at the door. "Oh, and Tess?" She turned back to her master and raised a brow. "Spread the word. The first person to breathe a word of this to Madelyn loses their spleen."
Looking a bit green, Tess nodded and left to see to her task.
Klaus collapsed into the closest chair with a sigh, but he felt no guilt over what he had just done. He needed the witch, and wasn't willing to risk her wandering off. Madelyn was right where she needed to be. With family, with Nik. Rebekah would understand. Sometimes it took her a few decades to shake off her melodrama, but she always returned to Klaus' side eventually. She would again. In the meantime, Klaus would be assembling their family. Maddie would find and return the bodies of their brothers, Klaus would find a cure to her magical ailment, and then when he decided it was time, they would undagger the remaining Originals together with the army of Hybrids Klaus had constructed to protect them all.
One big happy family… Eventually.
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Here's a new chapter! Just an FYI, with how long the chapter lengths are, I'm struggling a bit to keep up the weekly updates with work and school starting up so I've decided to move to a goal of posting at least two chapters a month, sometimes three. I know a lot of you really enjoy weekly updates, but I don't want to push myself and get burnt out again before I finish the story. I hope you all understand!
Thanks to Lavendor Queen for beta reading this chapter!
Reviews:
Thanks to Blueberry236, pendora59, Eenio, Originals101, and I love Kol Miakelson for reviewing!
Call Me Random : Elena does a lot of really shitty things, and I agree wholeheartedly that the character was severely weakened in the show because her darker actions were never explored. I hope Katherine continues to live up to your standards! She's got a role to play in this story for sure. I don't want to give anything away, so I'll leave the matter of the coffins and Klaus up to your imagination for now. Hope you liked the chapter and as always I love reading your reviews!
BlondeAli: Sorry to keep you waiting, but here's another chapter! Hope you liked it!
Viva33: I wholeheartedly agree! I love the family dynamic! Thank you for reading!
Smilin steph: Your review made me laugh! Perhaps she will lol
Livvixxx: I failed miserably with the weekly update bit, but thank you for the compliment regardless! I'm glad you like the pacing so far and you got a little Kol and Klaus this chapter so hope you enjoyed it!