The fog laid heavy over the clear waters, and the sun had already begun to set in the dusk further away. Katherine sat on her knees in the small rowboat, leaning over the edge to study the ocean beneath. They were starting to close in on the island, and she had begun to spot seaweed in the increasingly shallow waters. It wasn't often she was out at sea, so she liked to take in the sight when she was. It was different this time, however. She wasn't studying the water because she liked it. It was more so the fact that she had nothing better to do. Being stuck on a small boat with her greatest enemy and a half-conscious Bennet witch wasn't exactly a situation she liked to be in.
The air was moist and smelled like salt and fish and every other smell Katherine found disgusting. On top of the smell and her company on the boat, she felt icky due to the saltwater. She had only been tasked with keeping the backpack dry while Klaus rowed the boat, but she still felt drops of salt water all over her. She groaned at the sticky feeling and prayed that they would find the cure quick so she could get home and take a shower.
She decided it was already too late to try and keep herself clean any longer and reached out to touch the water, letting her fingers trail along as Klaus rowed them closer to the shore. He watched her with an amused look, raising a brow at what she was doing. She reminded him of a curious child at that moment.
"Katerina," he uttered, making her sharply turn her head towards him.
"Hm?"
Klaus nodded forwards. "We're here."
Katherine turned around to look as well, and sure enough, she saw an island approaching closer and closer. The island wasn't particularly big, but it was large enough to get lost on without a good map or a compass.
She was relieved that they had finally made it after 2 hours in silence on that boat. Having traveled all the way from Mystic Falls to this tiny island 200 miles off the Nova Scotia mainland, she was starting to get sick of Klaus's company. She was also surprised Bonnie hadn't woken up yet, considering she had been out for almost twenty hours.
Klaus parked the boat on the shore with a slight bump, and Katherine, sitting at the front, got up first. She brought the backpack and the rope and stepped onto the stone-covered beach. It was small but still stretched across the majority of the coast. At the border between the woods and the sand was tall grass covering the path to the forest. The cold wind that breezed through the air combined with the gentle brush of waves hitting the boat made for a relatively peaceful sound. The only thing interrupting the quiet was the seagulls sitting on the large rocks in the distance, talking like there was no tomorrow.
After the boat had been towed to a nearby stump, Klaus carried the unconscious body of Bonnie out of the boat and started walking into the woods. He himself was dressed in a warm winter coat as well as a scarf around his neck. The cold, early-spring weather of the sea wasn't something even an Original would mess with.
Katherine trailed after him and looked down grumpily. She had not picked the right shoes for this trip, and Klaus, of course, hadn't even told her to bring anything else. Whenever she took a step in the miry ground, her 3-inch heels sunk into the sand and made it almost impossible to walk. She groaned, the sharp stones and shells crumbling beneath her with every step she took. She shivered and pulled her jacket tighter around her, pulling out some gloves from her pockets. At least her scarf kept her somewhat warm from the freezing weather of the coastal night. As they neared the trail leading into the woods, Klaus suddenly stopped, making Katherine almost crash into his back.
"What?" she asked, annoyed at his sudden halt.
Klaus ignored her tone, looking around as if trying to spot something abnormal among those tall trees and large bushes. "I can sense something. There might be someone else here with us. Be alert."
She nodded and they started walking into the forest soon after. Personally, Katherine hadn't heard or sensed anything unusual, but she didn't doubt Klaus's intuition considering he was a thousand-year-old hybrid with super senses and all.
Klaus had already gotten the directions from Shane, spending the day before tailing him down and pressing him dry of information. They followed the already laid-out path for a couple of minutes before arriving at a narrower trail, hidden with leaves and branches, blocking it almost completely.
"The well should be this way, based on what Shane described," Klaus pointed out and nodded to the trail.
Katherine groaned in frustration. "We have to walk through that? Even as a vampire, all those branches hitting you everywhere are gonna hurt you know."
Klaus snorted, a ghost smile formed on his lips. "Well as far as I can tell there is no other route, so stop complaining."
Katherine pressed her lips together in annoyance as she reluctantly followed Klaus. Going for a hike with her greatest nemesis wasn't something she thought she would ever do, but here they were. And on top of this, they had an unconscious girl with them, who now seemed to be showing signs of waking up. Katherine wondered what had even been in that syringe for Bonnie to be stricken out for this long.
She pulled out her cellphone, trying to check if the GPS tracker was working so far in, but she couldn't get any signal even when she tried to hold her phone higher into the air. When the phone made a loud ringing sound and turned black, she figured it went out of battery. Just great. Now if she really got murdered out there by Klaus, no one would ever find her body.
As she shook her phone and repeatedly pressed the button, she took a step ahead, not really watching where she was going. Just before she got a foothold on the ground, however, Klaus grabbed her shoulders and roughly pushed her up against a nearby tree, making her drop the phone in surprise.
She raised her brows at him, both confused and irritated at the same time, but Klaus didn't even look at her. "Klaus. What the he-" she started before hearing a serrated sound that made her look to the side. She watched as the ground swiftly laced into a net that spun up into the trees above them. It was then she realized Klaus had saved her. He had saved her from stepping into the net and getting trapped, although it was a trap she could have easily escaped from using her vampire abilities. Actually, it was a trap so basic that Katherine scolded herself at how she almost stepped right into it.
"O- oh," she started at the realization. "Um, thanks."
Klaus released his grip on her shoulders and turned to the trap, going over to take a look. "Be more careful. There are traps everywhere," he warned as he squatted down by the area where the net had laid, gracing the thread with his fingers to check how old it was.
Katherine rolled her eyes, but only when he had turned his back to her. "And you couldn't warn me before I almost stepped into one?"
Klaus was about to respond before he heard a familiar female voice softly groan only a meter away from him. Bonnie let out a heavy sigh before slowly sitting up, supporting herself with her elbows on the dirt. She rubbed her eyes to adjust her sight to the dim evening before heavily looking around with a confused expression. Confused at where she was, what had happened to her, how long she had been asleep, and just about everything else.
"Ow…" was the first thing she said as she brought her hand to her head.
It was then Katherine realized Klaus had dropped Bonnie just to push her out of the way, making her raise a brow. They had technically kidnapped Bonnie to this island, so he should at least treat her with some decency.
"You're awake. About time," Klaus addressed, walking over to Bonnie to help her up from the ground.
"Don't touch me," she snarled, pulling her hand away from him harshly.
Katherine sighed at the sight, not at all surprised by Bonnie's reaction. She was sure she and Klaus weren't exactly Bonnie's favorite people. "Maybe don't drop her next time. She's mortal, unlike me."
"Maybe don't walk into traps next time, and I won't have to drop her," he responded, rolling his eyes. "Come on, Bonnie," he said, gesturing for her to follow him as he continued on the path with Katherine close behind. When she wasn't following them, he sighed, annoyed, and turned around. "Can you walk on your own? Or do I have to carry you?"
Bonnie scowled at him. "I'm perfectly capable of walking on my own. But I am not going anywhere with you until you explain why I'm here."
"Isn't it obvious? We're here to get the cure. All you have to do is oblige and we'll let you go without harm."
"Not if I can stop you first," she muttered, suddenly concentrating all her energy onto Klaus, applying her witch powers to nature to make Klaus crumble to the ground in pain.
Katherine gasped, surprised as she took a step back from Klaus, who growled and rubbed his temples. It was evident by the way blood had started running out of Bonnie's nose that she was trying to kill him, or at least immobilize him enough to get away. It made Katherine snicker at the both of them. At Bonnie for thinking she could ever outrun Klaus when even Katherine herself couldn't, and at Klaus for laying weak on the ground because of a mere witch. She couldn't help the laugh that escaped her lips.
"Bonnie..." Klaus growled, stumbling to his feet but feeling his head turn lighter as he quickly got extremely dizzy. "Stop this, or I'll have to put you down again." He started stumbling towards her, unable to use his hybrid speed.
Bonnie's hair brushed out to her sides as she only gathered more energy and took two steps back. "You wouldn't. You need me, I'm not stupid."
Katherine only stood there amused, watching the whole thing unfold. She knew Bonnie would be a force to reckon with when she woke up, seeing as how Bennet witches were always so proud and stubborn. Of course, Bonnie was no match for the two of them together, but as long as Klaus hadn't ordered her to step in, she was happy to just stand there watching him suffer.
And it seemed like her thoughts had reached Klaus because he suddenly spoke again in the very next moment. "Katerina," he growled her name. "Take care of her, there's a power-neutralizing syringe in the side of that backpack."
Katherine rolled her eyes. She knew it was coming. There was nothing she could do against compulsion, so she reached for the bag on her shoulders. Before she could act, however, Bonnie quickly turned to her as well, inflicting some of the power she used on Klaus onto her.
"Don't you move," she threatened, pointing her finger at Katherine.
Katherine quickly felt a sharp pain in her brain, rupturing a brain aneurysm over and over again as it constantly healed back. She rolled her eyes at Bonnie's attempt to harm her, starting to get annoyed at this point.
"I don't wanna have to use this on you, Bonnie," she said as she, within a quick second, pulled the syringe out of the bag and pointed it at her. "But I will. If you don't stop your tantrum. It's pointless to fight, you know. There is no way out of this island besides a little towed boat that I doubt you would be able to row alone with those weak human arms of yours."
This made Bonnie halt for a second. She had acted so quickly that she hadn't even thought about the circumstances and the fact that Katherine was right. With her powers weakened, Klaus easily sped over to her and locked her arms behind her. Katherine took the opportunity to walk closer, pointing the needle directly at Bonnie's arm.
"Besides, you should really stop complaining. If you cooperate we can find this cure within a day at most, and we'll share it with both you and all your little friends back home," she lied. She and Klaus were the only ones with the knowledge that there was only one dose of the cure, which she now fully used to their advantage.
Bonnie calmed down at her words and stopped struggling to get out of Klaus's grip. It seemed that she was heavily debating with herself on what she should do. When she finally came to a decision, she looked back up at Katherine.
"Fine, I'll help you. But that doesn't mean I trust you. If you try anything I won't hesitate next time, don't underestimate my powers."
This made Katherine snicker, and it earned a snort of laughter from Klaus as well. "Whatever you say, Bonnie," she said with a smirk as Klaus released her. Katherine's negotiation skills didn't go unnoticed with him. He wasn't surprised that she was so good at convincing and lying to people, considering all her 500 years of perfecting it.
Not that Klaus would ever tell her, but he was impressed by the way Katherine handled Bonnie. However, he was quickly reminded of how she, only seconds before his orders, had stood there giggling at him in pain, and his smile faded as soon as it had appeared.
For the next ten minutes, Bonnie gave them both the evil eye as she trailed behind them. They walked for a few moments before something suddenly appeared out of the woods, heading directly at Bonnie. Katherine snapped out of her thoughts when she saw the arrow fly past her, speeding over to Bonnie to shove her out of the arrow's reach.
"Watch out!" she exclaimed, quickly looking around to check if there were any other incoming attacks.
Klaus was already on it, speeding around to check where the arrow had come from, and found a man with a bow standing some distance away from them. Before Klaus could get over to him, however, the man suddenly fell straight forwards, lifeless. Klaus cast a look back at Katherine, who was supporting a shaken Bonnie trying to stand up. She recognized his gaze and nodded, telling Bonnie to be careful before she followed Klaus over to the man's body.
The first thing they noticed was the axe penetrated deep into the man's spine, which seemed to be his cause of death. As Katherine was about to crouch down to pull out the axe, Klaus tapped her shoulder to make her look back up. A man was approaching them, seemingly the thrower of that same axe.
"Good day, ya two. And to the girl in the distance over there," the man greeted as he neared them. "Those witches can be quite the pain, ya see," he nodded towards the corpse. "They have been appearing around here for these past couple days, apparently hired to search for some mystery liquid. 'The Cure', as they so fancily call it."
Katherine noticed the man had a strong Scottish accent and looked to be in his late twenties. With his light brown hair, clear blue eyes, and slight stubble, he was pretty handsome, actually. However, at the mention of the cure, Katherine raised a brow.
Klaus narrowed his eyes. "You know about the cure?"
The man quickly shook his head, raising his hands in dismissal. "Oh no, no. I don't know what it is. I just heard these people talk about it one time, but personally that has no interest to me. I'm just a hunter. Galen's the name. I like to travel here to hunt wild animals, an uninhabited island is way better than the mainland, ya know?" he said with a smile.
Katherine and Klaus still had their guards raised, not the first people to trust any stranger who greeted them with a friendly smile. Besides, something about this man seemed… off. Perhaps it was the fact that he knew of witches, or that he had just killed one of them without batting an eye.
"Right. Good throw earlier, you spared me from offing him myself." Klaus gave him a nod as an acknowledgment of his helpfulness. "We'll steer out of your way, our business here will be short anyway," he said as he turned to go back to Bonnie and the trail, dragging Katherine with him as he clearly wasn't interested in standing around there any longer.
"Wait. Ya'r going further into the woods are ya?" he asked friendly. Klaus and Katherine rolled their eyes in unison, turning around again to face him yet again. Neither of them was too fond of small talk, especially with strangers, and at this point, it was just pointless conversation.
"We are. Any problem with that?" Klaus asked impatiently.
"Well since ya'r already going that way, I might's well recommend a nice camping spot I like to visit myself."
Klaus pressed his lips together in annoyance, drawing a sharp breath through his nose. "Sure. Where do you recommend," he asked, clearly not interested at all, just wanting Galen to stop asking questions.
Galen raised his arm to point over to a direction a little east of where they stood. "Over there is a laid out area already equipped with things you need to set up camp. You should find it about fifteen minutes from here on foot."
As Galen pointed over to the area, his shirt hung loosely on his raised arm, revealing some of his biceps. It was there something caught Katherine's eye, and it was clear Klaus noticed it too. A hunter's mark.