Seeing as it was the full moon tonight, I had a feeling that Klaus would probably already be in town and be preparing to break the curse tonight. Let's just hope everyone walks out of there unharmed and with exactly what they wanted. Hopefully Klaus wouldn't stick around, Elena would live, and that would be the end of that. One can live and dream, am I right? Still, it was officially nothing to do with me, so I figured I'd find out tomorrow if my magic ring worked or not, though I knew it would. I'd done everything exactly as my ancestors had done before me, it wouldn't fail.
Sitting in one of my favourite spots in the Grill, I was right by the window where I had the best lighting to draw, a drink and some food in front of me barely touched from where I was sketching away in my own little world. My dream journal was really beginning to fill out, several more pages being filled with the visions from my Awakening ritual as well as drawing Klaus's portrait several times, including a close up of his eyes and drawing him from several angles. I'd already finished all of them, so I had now moved onto drawing the final scene of my vision dream, the one with my family all together and smiling.
This one I took particular care and attention with, not wanting to make a single mistake and make them as life like as possible so that I could carry that image with me forever. I took my time, almost completely forgetting about my food since I became so engrossed. In one of the rare moments that I actually put my pencil down in order to flex my hand and work out the cramp, I stretched up and looked around at the Grill. It was pretty busy and Matt was clearing several tables to accommodate new customers, so I sent him an encouraging smile which he returned before carrying on.
Over his shoulder I saw two figures at the bar, and one of them I recognised as Alaric. Seems like he's okay, which I guess is great. It means my banishment magic worked and he's completely himself again, thank god. At the very least, Alaric actually knew what he was talking about when it came to history and teaching, and took an active interest in it. Klaus had done pretty much nothing but wing it in the single lesson he'd delivered, and that had crashed and burned. Just as I picked up my pad and pencil again, a third figure joined them at the bar, wearing a black coat but I took no further notice of him, merely continued to draw.
Quite honestly I was happy sitting there and drawing on my own, but after a while I suddenly sensed someone coming towards me, someone with a strange energy about them. It was…different. Like there were two different energies intermingling with one another yet staying distinctly separate at the same time, and one was far stronger than the other as one of the energies was lying dormant, like it had been locked away. Without even looking up, I knew exactly who this person was just from his magical aura, but despite myself, I found myself looking up anyway. "Hello love." He greeted me, giving me the same predatory smirk I'd seen countless times in my dreams. For a moment I couldn't answer, just stared at him in slight wonder before I ended up murmuring his name without even realising it.
"Niklaus."
"So you know me? Word certainly travels fast around here. Please, call me Klaus." He invited as he came a little closer to my table, studying me carefully and curiously. "I have to admit, I was rather surprised that my plans here were cut short by a feisty little redhead such as yourself. You created quite the conundrum when you forced me out of the body I was occupying." For a moment I was speechless, uncertain of how to respond until I suddenly snorted and laughed. I guess from his face, this wasn't the reaction he was expecting, but I couldn't help it. Smiling broadly, I shook my head with disbelief as I set my sketchbook and pencil down, my arms resting over the page as I looked up at Klaus's face which was constantly growing with increased interest.
"You have an accent, I should have figured as much from your brother." Arching an eyebrow, Klaus decided to join me in the booth, sliding into the seat opposite me as it curved around the table before the window.
"I take it you have already met my brother Elijah."
"We've met once or twice. Is he tall, dark and handsome? Charming manners, something like a fairy tale prince, always in a suit?" Using a light and carefree tone, Klaus seemed to appreciate my humour, or at least the fact that I wasn't running scared from him as he smiled at me with amusement.
"Arguably not the handsomest of us brothers, but the rest of the description fits the bill." Klaus responded so I tipped my head in acceptance before deciding that I would just carry on drawing. I was on a roll with this picture and I wasn't going to let some dangerous almost hybrid Original spoil my mood. "Tell me, how were you able to overcome a spell that required two of my best witches to complete?" He questioned me before reaching out, tapping his finger against the table to make my eyes lift up instinctively where he attempted to compel me. "Tell me the truth, love, it's in your best interest." I just gave him a look.
"Compulsion won't work on me, just so you know. Figure I can save you time trying to figure out if I'm a witch or not." Taking in my words, Klaus gradually leaned back against the chair with a smirk, seemingly enjoying our conversation. "And to answer your question, I simply banished you out of my teacher because I realised he was being possessed. It's that simple."
"You are probably unaware, but getting in my way is not a wise decision. I could kill you, you know. I have killed many a person for much less." Klaus told me in a rather sexy voice that sounded akin to a purr, sultry like it was meant to seduce every woman who fell prey to hearing it rumble next to their ear. Too bad for him, I was already used to Elijah's accent, so his charms were pretty much ineffective. Continuing to draw, I pointedly did not rise to Klaus's warning since I knew that right now, he wasn't a threat to me. For one thing, we were surrounded by people, and even if he compelled everyone to ignore the both of us even if he ripped my head off right there and then, I could probably still take him.
"Look, I get that you're here in all your bad boy glory to try and frighten me, but it's not going to work." Sighing as I turned away from my book to eyeball him steadily, Klaus listening as I spoke honestly. "I had no idea at the time why you were possessing someone else, and quite frankly I still don't care about the reason you're here. All I saw was someone possessing my favourite teacher's body, and I wanted them out. That's all. By the way, you suck at teaching. Don't ever make a career out of it." He laughed at that, genuinely smiling at my bluntness as I returned to my page.
"What is your name?" He asked me after his laughter died away, though he was still grinning broadly rather wolfishly. No pun intended.
"Ophelia."
"Ophelia? What a wonderful name." He purposefully drew out the syllables of my name, rolling it over his tongue before flashing me another grin before he seemed to suddenly notice what I was actually doing. "You are an artist. May I see?"
"Sure, why the hell not?" Considering the number of vampires and build up of one crazy thing after another, I just went with the flow over the fact that I was sitting in a booth with possibly one of the most dangerous people on the planet and just handed over my sketchbook, completely forgetting about the fact that it was my dream journal. Crap. Bad move Ophelia. If he sees the other drawings, he'll start asking questions that I didn't particularly want to answer. For the moment Klaus just focused on the page that it had been open at, the one of my family.
"Exquisite detail, I am impressed." He complimented, carefully brushing his finger over the page. "This is your family?"
"Was. Was my family." I clarified, watching him rather worriedly as he continued to hold my precious sketchbook in his possession. "They died. This is just how I remember them." Glancing up at me, Klaus then began to work his way backwards. Almost immediately he seemed to recognise some of the symbols and drawings in the book, lingering over the alter and the symbol there of a knotted tree with interwoven roots to create a circular image. After taking it in, he then turned back another page to find his own image staring back at him, causing him to pause at the unexpected revelation. "It appears I have an admirer." He noted with a tone both of amusement and warning, making me straighten up cautiously as I continued to warily observe him. "How were you able to draw this?" Now he was serious, looking at me sharply as he turned the book around to show the pages of his portraits.
"It's…it's complicated." I started to say, trying desperately to figure out if I could lie my way out of here but I got the feeling he'd probably figure me out sooner or later. Deciding to just be quiet for the time being, Klaus continued to flick through the pages, glancing over every drawing I'd made from my dreams and visions, lingering a little longer upon the images of Elijah before he found the sketch I'd made of the five figures standing in the mist. Something seemed to flicker in his gaze, recognising Elijah and something else too.
I'd suspected it since Elijah had told Elena and I about his other siblings, and from Klaus's reaction, I may be along the right lines in thinking that in my dream, I'm seeing all the Originals. His family. Flicking through the last of the pages, Klaus then turned to me with a deadly eye. "How is this possible? Tell me."
"It's…a dream. It was all a dream." I finally cracked, deciding that it was probably within my best interest not to lie to him. "I'm a druid and I can see things, apparently. I saw Elijah before I met him and I saw you too, the others I can't see yet but they're becoming clearer every time I have the same dream." Not expecting me to be so readily honest with him, Klaus frowned at me suspiciously.
"How do I know that you are telling me the truth?"
"Because I'm a terrible liar, I mean seriously. Since you'd be able to tell there's no point in me even trying, and to be honest it doesn't really matter if you know what I am or not since it's not going to make a difference to anything." Holding out my hand, I silently asked for my book back. "It's not like you can hurt me, even as a newbie I'm still pretty strong. I could probably take you." The mirth and amusement finally returned to Klaus's eyes as he gradually returned the book to me, letting me take it from him and I quickly closed it up in order to tuck it close to me.
"You think you can take me?" He repeated with a clear show of disbelief, as if he'd like to see me try.
"Well, I can sure as hell make your day very uncomfortable at the very least." Smirking back at him at the challenge, I picked up my drink to take a sip as Klaus and I continued to remain locked in eye combat, both of us refusing to look away.
"Can I take it that you will be against me then, Ophelia?"
"No, I don't care about your ritual or anything about the curse, I don't even care about whatever it is you have planned for Elena. All I want is to stay out of it, so you don't have to worry about me making things difficult for you. I'm not going to interfere, I promise." Considering my words for a few moments, Klaus reached out and helped himself to a couple of my curly fries as I had done the same, quirking an eyebrow at him expectantly as I waited for his reply.
"You really have no intention of trying to stop me?"
"I told you, I'm a terrible liar so you know I mean what I say." This seemed to only puzzle him more.
"And yet you know that in order for me to break the curse, I will have to kill the doppelganger." Yeah, I must sound like a total heartless bitch right about now, but I honestly couldn't care less. I couldn't allow myself to be worried about Elena, not when I had Klaus sitting right in front of me and I knew enough about him to be exceedingly wary. Even if he couldn't do anything to me, he could still go after my parents or find other ways to mess with my life. It was safer to just distance myself from all of it, and let the involved parties fight out their differences.
"Elena isn't exactly a friend of mine, and I'd rather look out for myself and my family than worry about her. I figure so long as I don't do anything to sabotage you, you have no reason to come after me or my parents. Am I right?" This seemed to be enough to satisfy Klaus that he didn't have to be concerned about me becoming involved and basically ruining everything, because I probably could. Watching as that rather unnerving smirk returned to his face, Klaus inclined his head in acceptance.
"Yes. So long as you keep your distance, I can assure you that neither you nor your parents will face any danger from me." It was enough for now, though I had no idea if Klaus was as true to his word as Elijah seemed to be. "Though I find it a little hard to believe that my brother is unaware of what you are, if he has already met you, and has not already secured your assistance in attempting to kill me.
"Oh he tried." I told him openly as I took another sip of my drink. "But I said no." Now Klaus was frowning.
"You said…no."
"Exactly. Killing people isn't exactly something I intend to get into, so as far as I'm concerned, you're off the hook." Still a little confused as to what was going on, Klaus continued to try and puzzle it out before he began to scoot around the booth so that we were closer together.
"And my brother just accepted your refusal?"
"He didn't exactly have a choice. I already set one vampire on fire when he pissed me off, and I've been known to make earthquakes and storms if I'm really mad, so it's in everyone's best interest if they just leave me alone." The last part was a heavily dropped hint which Klaus did not fail to pick up on but completely ignored, giving me a grin as he moved a little closer still. With a steadily declining gap between us, I shifted a little uncomfortably, still wary about the fact that this was still Klaus right next to me.
"You know, you should consider following me instead, Ophelia. After tonight, I will be completely indestructible, one of the most powerful people in the world. If you follow me, I can give you everything." He murmured, reaching out his hand to delicately smooth aside some untamed hair away from my face, rather intimately allowing his fingertips to brush against my cheek in a rather heart fluttering manner. The guy knew how to put on the moves, I'll give him that. "Anything you could possibly desire will be yours. I can show you the wonders of this world, if you would but just devote yourself to me."
"Do you really think that a vague attempt at seduction and some temptation will ever persuade me to become one of your lackeys?" Giving him a blank stare with a turn of my head, I was thoroughly unimpressed with what Klaus had to offer, because I knew he was the kind of guy who would promise the world but extract a heavy price in return. "I don't want you to give me anything Klaus, because if there is something out there that I want, I'm going to find a way to get it myself. I don't take hand-outs, I make my own way and I don't need anyone's help to get everything I want." Packing up my things, I pointedly drained the last of my drink before getting up out of the booth.
"The offer is on the table love, think over it before you make a final decision." Klaus called after me and I could practically hear that infuriating smirk in his voice as I started to walk away, Matt looking up and glancing between me and the stranger in the booth I had been occupying.
"Hey Lia, everything okay?"
"Yeah it's fine, I just need to get out of here." I answered, pulling out the money I needed to cover my bill before pressing it into his hand. "Don't worry about the change, you keep it. Just…be careful around that guy, Mattie." Wanting to at least warn him about Klaus, Matt looked back to the booth where Klaus was still smirking at us, now stretched out and making himself at home. "He's dangerous."
"Want me to kick him out?"
"No, don't piss him off. Just keep clear if you can." I told him before smiling, promising that everything was okay before I reached up and gave his shoulder a squeeze before shouldering my bag and heading for the door, though I paused a moment before leaving, looking back over to the booth. Klaus hadn't turned his head to follow me, but I knew that with his vampire hearing, he would be able to hear me even from all the way over here. "Mattie is off limits, just so you know. You hurt him, then I will get involved, and I'll sure as hell make you regret ever putting a foot in this town." Satisfied that I had expressively banned Klaus from hurting Matt, though I doubted I looked or sounded at all threatening, I strode out of the Grill with my head held high and only released the breath I felt like I'd been holding that entire conversation when I was well out of earshot.