Rebekah decided to continue laying low for the time being, not yet ready to face her brother though a couple times she had thought about killing Elena, so I would either talk her out of it or distract her somehow. She didn't want to go to school either, reasoning that she could just compel the teachers to give her good grades if she wanted to graduate, but right now school wasn't on the top of her priority list. So she ended up living at my house and after I explained to my parents that Rebekah needed a place to stay because she had had an argument with her family, they had been more than willing to open up our home to her.
Being welcomed once more and treated so normally, Rebekah found herself growing to love and appreciate my parents as she learned what it meant to be treated like a regular teenaged girl. My folks told her that she was always welcome here, and I think them being so open and kind was what brought Rebekah to think of them so fondly. She enjoyed the peace and quiet, not having to worry about the outside world as she dealt with the truth of her mother's loss and simply lived as a human girl to her heart's content whilst I brought her news of the outside world.
About a month or so had passed already since the dance, and tonight I had the joy of being brought along with my parents to another founder's party where we were raising money for the old Wickery Bridge to be renovated. Although my parents weren't one of the founding families, we were closely integrated into the society which was why we always went to these things. Dressed in a smart shirt, blazer and skater skirt, I checked out the miniature model for the new bridge out of curiosity then grew bored.
There was literally no one else here my own age and I barely knew anyone, so I just kept to myself. I'd brought something to read as well as my sketchbook to keep myself occupied in case I couldn't stand the dull conversations of adults any longer. Walking by a flower arrangement, I noticed that the flowers had started to wilt and lose their colour, browning at the edges of the petals which were becoming dry and crispy. It was unlike Carol Lockwood to overlook something like this, she was usually such a perfectionist.
Glancing around me, I made sure no one was looking before delicately touching the flowers and feeding them with my magic to make them come back to life. Immediately it took effect, the flowers perking up and returning to the point when they were full of life as I then received a strong floral scent from them, making me smile softly. "Careful love, anyone could have seen you exposing your true nature like that." Feeling the warm breath of Klaus against my ear, I stayed very still as I suddenly became very aware that he had appeared behind me. "Though it shouldn't come as a surprise that a druid such as yourself has a fondness for nature. A particular favourite, perhaps?" He inquired lightly as he reached out and touched one of the roses.
"I don't have a favourite, if that's your subtle way of asking." Carefully slipping free of him, I turned around to face him. He literally popped up out of nowhere, most days. At least several times a week I would run into him, either at the Grill, the park, the library, even sometimes when I'm just out, he'd show up and trail after me, trying to get me to engage in conversation with him like it was some kind of game. Shooting him a look, I pointedly turned and started to walk away, but with a blur he was then in front of me again, still smirking that obnoxious smirk which literally infuriated me sometimes.
"Drink?" He offered me, despite the fact we were in a room full of adults and I was technically still under the age limit to drink. Eyeing the whiskey, I suddenly felt my stomach clench and lurch, remembering just how drunk I'd become last time and I visibly paled at the sight of it and made a sound of disgust and nausea which only made Klaus smirk all the more. "Or perhaps you are still feeling tender after your last jaunt of merrymaking." Draining the drink himself, I glowered at him unhappily.
"Now that was just mean."
"I couldn't help it, remembering you so completely blathered has provided many an hour of amusement for me. Honestly I was impressed you could even talk at all. According to eyewitnesses, you put away enough alcohol to knock out an elephant." Wincing from humiliation, I groaned as I then hid my face in my hands, silently begging for the ground to just swallow me whole. I definitely wanted to forget all about that, however Klaus seemed to take an exceptional amount of pleasure in reminding me.
Over the past month or so, something had shifted in our dynamic. He was no longer urging me to join him, neither did he seem threatened by me and had simply accepted that I existed, and now chose to just irritate me whenever he got the chance. Whereas Elijah and I had used to enjoy lengthy conversations whenever we had crossed paths, Klaus would tease me over things that embarrassed me and often would have to run away before I could set him on fire just to teach him a lesson. There was a strong banter between us, each one circling the other as we tried to figure out both who was the dominant power in Mystic Falls, and whether we were dangerous for the other.
I liked to place my bets on myself, even without the bias. Still, I guess I had become so used to Klaus just being around that he didn't even bother me anymore. "So who have you come with tonight, love? I noticed you have no partner to speak of, are you really so sad and lonely as to not even have a male companion?" What a dick.
"For your information, I came here with my parents and immortal hybrid or not, if you mention anything about anything to my parents, I will skin you alive use your wolf hide as a rug." Perking up, Klaus immediately started to look around with keen interest.
"Your parents are here? I should very much like to meet them."
"No."
"Why not? I am considered to be quite the charming man, perhaps you can even introduce me as your boyfriend." Ugh, now I know he was messing around. Punching his arm as he laughed jovially, I rolled my eyes and warned him not to get any twisted ideas. Unfortunately, my dad just so happened to come over at that moment with my mom following a second later and her eyes quickly fell on Klaus and I standing together talking, though she missed the fact that I was hissing at him.
"Honey? Who's your friend?" She asked me, coming over with a smile and before I could speak, Klaus charmingly smiled and held out his hand.
"Niklaus Mikaelson, but please, call me Klaus. You must be the illustrious Mrs Jones." He greeted and just like that, he totally won my mom over. I just gaped at him as my mom giggled, reaching to shake his hand but he took hers delicately and kissed it, fully succeeding in winning her good opinion. Oh god, I'm so massively screwed.
"Oh my, aren't you charming? Are you a friend of Lia's?"
"I would like to think so." He responded, shooting me a knowing smirk so I rolled my eyes at him as my dad eyed him suspiciously, a little more standoffish and wary of any charming man who was within five feet of me and pointedly anchored himself at my side, placing his hand on my shoulder. "Ophelia tells me that you are both upstanding members of society. Mrs Jones, you are a professor, yes?" Affirming that she was, my mom kept on sending me suggestive looks which Niklaus was fully aware of and made me want to just die on the spot. "Mr Jones, a pleasure." He shook my father's hand, but only earned a grunt in reply.
"Ron dear, don't be rude. Carol told me that this young man is a very generous benefactor of this project."
"He has money, so what? You're very close to my girl, young man, and I don't know who you are. Make sure to watch yourself." My dad warned in a deep voice, making mom begin to panic and she hastily scolded him and started to pull him away.
"You two carry on, don't mind us. Klaus dear, it was wonderful to meet you." As my mom breezed away with my dad, I just stood there blankly, staring off into space like I'd just been hit with a brick. Meanwhile, Klaus was barely containing his laughter, grinning from ear to ear until I swatted at his chest and told him to shut up.
"I think your parents like me, I could tell your father and I had a bonding moment." He joked as I again gripped my face in my hands and struggled to keep myself from blushing from embarrassment. "In particular, I believe your mother seemed impressed with me. I imagine she was already planning a wedding in her head."
"Okay, as charming as you were, please refrain from trying to seduce my mother ever again. I feel like I need to go vomit." Shaking my head I stalked off, wanting to be alone for a few moments but almost immediately I found myself crossing paths with Damon of all people, which only made my mood plummet all the more. "Oh great."
"Nice to see you too, carrots." I hated that nickname already. Damon really pissed me off and he could tell from the look on my face which only seemed to make him want to gloat. "What, no witchy-woo today? No fires or storms?"
"Don't tempt me Damon, just get out of my way." Making to move around him, Damon purposefully blocked my way again which made me huff in annoyance. "I said move."
"Not until you tell me something, carrots. How come the big bad wolf is always hanging around you, huh?" He asked me, lowering his voice as he swirled the drink in his hand. "I get that you're some sort of…mystical tree hugger than can set people on fire, whip up a couple of storms or make an earthquake or two, but what does he want? Are you on his side now? Is that what's going on?"
"For your information, this 'mystical tree hugger' doesn't need to take sides, and even if I did, I probably would choose not to be on yours, Damon, because you annoy the hell out of me." I growled at him darkly, a couple of lights flickering as my magic naturally began to integrate itself with my surroundings. "And what Klaus wants with me is the same thing you guys want. My power. Other than that, he has no further interest in me."
"Didn't seem like it to me." Damon noted smoothly, taking a sip of his drink as he perked his eyebrows at me suggestively. "The guy practically hovers over you like some kind of stalker. I saw you two just now, all friendly and close."
"You're delusional." I retorted, drawing myself up to my full height so that I was almost directly eye to eye with Damon. "And if I were you, I'd be more worried about your brother who is currently upstairs and about to decapitate a hybrid's head in the middle of a party, and the fact that pretty soon your best friend and my history teacher is going to start murdering founders people during blackouts." I revealed, making Damon's eyes widen slightly as I then patted him on the shoulder tauntingly. "Little heads up from your local druid oracle. Have a pleasant evening, Mr Salvatore." Choosing to take my word for it, Damon rushed upstairs to deal with his brother as I exhaled deeply.
For a while I just aimlessly wandered around, seeing that the sky had grown black and velvety, hoping that I could go home soon and get out of these restrictive clothes when my phone started to buzz. I answered it after finding somewhere quieter to talk, putting the device next to my ear. "Mattie?"
"Lia, I'm so sorry to be asking you this, but you're the only one who might be able to help." Matt said to me with panic and worry in his voice. Strangely, I never minded when Matt called up to ask a favour, it was like I could never refuse him, so when I quickly gathered that something had gone wrong, I told him to calm down and explain to me what he needed. "Tyler bit Caroline, she's dying Lia and Klaus's blood is the only thing that can save her. Klaus made him do it, it's that dumb sire bond thing and now she's…I don't know who else to turn to Lia. You're the only one who can face him. He's afraid of you, or he respects you or something, if you ask he might give you the blood."
"It's going to be okay Mattie. Where are you now? Is Caroline with you? What stage is she at?"
"I'm taking her home right now, she's unconscious but she keeps on talking, I think she's hallucinating. Please Lia, it's her birthday. She can't die on her birthday, she doesn't deserve this." Understanding what's at stake, I softly told Matt to take a deep breath, and that I would be over there soon with the blood so he could tell the sheriff not to worry. "Thank you, thank you Lia I…I know I shouldn't be asking you this, but I…"
"Mattie, you are literally the only person who can ask anything from me, and I'd probably do it. I'll be there soon. Just keep her comfortable and warm." Cutting the call I sighed heavily before taking off, striding to go find Klaus. Along the way I picked up an empty glass, tucking it in tight as I focused on the energies of the people around me before locating the hybrid I was after who happened to be with Damon. I strode into the room with a burst, breezing through like a storm as I then kicked the door shut and held out the glass. "I need your blood." I announced clearly, focusing on Klaus who tipped his head to the side and smirked at me. God I hate that smirk.
"Steady now love, at least buy me a drink first before we get personal." He joked but I wasn't in the mood, Damon frowning at me as I glided over.
"You had Tyler bite Caroline, now I need your blood to fix this. Hand it over. Don't make me take it from you." I warned him darkly but this only made Klaus's face darken, completely averse to being threatened.
"I'd give her what she wants." Damon chimed in, for once actually being helpful. "She has a habit of setting people on fire. It hurts." His eyes flashed. "A lot."
"You are in no position to be making demands of me." Klaus told me coldly, the temperature in the room dropping below freezing as he and I faced off, Damon smartly stepping back and out of the way. "We had an agreement. You stay out of my business, and I won't come after you or your family. Do you really want to break that deal over one little vampire?" Feeling a flash of fury, I drew in a slow, steady breath. The pressure in the air around us began to intensify as my magic began to spiral, the lights dimming after a flicker as I drew upon the shadows and the stagnant air in the room rose, lifting the wild tousles of my hair as I showed Klaus exactly what I was capable of.
"You are in no position to threaten me, Klaus. We've been dancing around each other for the past couple of weeks, but all it will take is a snap of my fingers to end you. The only thing that keeps me from doing it is the fact that I don't want to kill anybody. Push me, and I might be forced to rethink my morals." My power was unquestionable, both Damon and Klaus barely able to breathe as the staggered under the weight of my magic power as I allowed it to ripple around us, demonstrating only a small portion of what I was capable of before I drew it back in. The shadows dispersed and the air settled, the atmosphere becoming light once more as the lights switched themselves back on and I thrust the glass against Klaus's chest. "Now fill the damn glass."
As if it caused him physical pain to bend to my will, Klaus pulled back his sleeve and bit into his wrist before holding it over the glass, allowing blood to drain into it and begin to fill the crystalline glass with the bright scarlet rush of blood. Once his wound closed up and there was no more blood to be given, I allowed myself to relax, satisfied that I had retrieved what I needed. Klaus looked like he wanted to tear my throat out, so I figured some saving grace was in order. Closing the distance between us, I rose up onto my toes and lightly kissed his cheek, slowly and leisurely to carefully observe his reaction before then turning my lips towards his ear. "Thank you." Whispering lightly, I then stepped back and without warning, shot my hand out at Damon.
Dragging him over to me, my hand splayed across his face to cover it entirely, Klaus retracting in surprise and concern for his own well being as Damon began to cry out in protest but was forced into silence, eyes glazing over as I used my magic to mess with his memory, removing any trace of the past few minutes so that it was completely wiped clean then let him go, leaving him standing there with heavy lidded eyes. "What did you do?" Klaus demanded, warily standing with a slight drop in his stature ready to defend himself as I turned my head towards him.
"I just manipulated his memories a little, made him forget I was ever here. It's no different to you using compulsion, but I know he's on vervain so it wouldn't work you trying to do it." I answered him before lifting the blood filled glass. "I figured I'd save you some face in return for this. He'll wake up in a second like this never happened." His eyes continued to burn like cold wildfire towards me, jaw clenching as his lips pursed in anger still.
"I do not require you to salvage my reputation."
"No, but it also wouldn't hurt you to be force fed some humility every once in a while. If all you do is make enemies wherever you go, you're going to spend the rest of forever looking over your shoulder. A favour here and there won't hurt, Klaus, they still want you dead because they figure they're safer without you around." I warned him, trying to give him some friendly advice as I started to leave, breezing away as briskly as I had arrived, pausing at the door as I opened it. "You're never going to have the life you want unless you learn how to live alongside everyone else. Something you should probably think about." Then I left, and the moment I slammed the door shut, I sensed Damon wake up from within the room.
Hiding the glass of blood from view, I called my parents telling them that something had come up with a friend and I needed to go check on them, so I needed to borrow the car but I'd come straight back to pick them up after the party. They were fine with it, saying they hoped my friend was okay and I was given a free pass to leave. Using magic to keep the blood from clotting, I brought it to the Forbes residence, knocking on the door where Matt answered. "You made it, did you get the blood?"
"Here." I handed him the glass, giving Matt a small smile. "Just do me a favour, don't tell anyone I brought it here."
"What? Why not?"
"Because I don't want anyone to feel like they owe me something. Besides, bringing that here got me out of that party so it worked out for me too." I told him, glancing over his shoulder towards the door where Caroline's room lay, light pooling out and spilling across the landing. "Just…make sure she gets that, okay?"
"I will. Thank you so much Lia, I don't know how you got him to give you the blood but…"
"Let's just say I didn't exactly give Klaus much of a choice." Smiling warmly, I gave Matt a hug before telling him to take care of himself, turning back to my car and going to fetch my parents. When I got home, Rebekah was waiting in my room, halfway through a movie though she paused it in order to listen to what had happened, seeing my face all screwed up and all I had to do was mention her brother before she rolled her eyes.
"Alright. What has he done now?" And so, I let off steam by ranting about how infuriating her brother Klaus was, and that he was lucky I had a policy against murder because he seriously pushed the boundaries. She let me rant, listening to everything that Klaus had done to piss me off in only the past hour before suggesting we binge eat to take care of our troubles. That meant ice cream for me, and ice cream with a little blood for her, and I was totally cool with that.