Hello, all! I know it's been a while, but with everything that's been going on with the pandemic, I have been getting work done at home, which just piles on, but whatever. I hope you are all staying safe and careful out there. Now, I will be either updating every week or every two weeks if I fail to post within a week, so that is how things are gonna be.

So, on to the reviews' response:

-GhostGypsy: I am glad to be portraying Rebekah so well for you, since I get nervous when writing characters with established personalities. I also love her character and always looked forward to seeing more of her, so we'll be seeing a lot of her for quite some time. Thanks for the support.

-xenocanaan: Well, she couldn't be a secret forever, LOL. I just want the reveal of what she is to be as organic as possible and not just say it out loud or people guessing. Thanks for the review!

-Fidjie: Thanks so much. I have more characters to introduce, which is hard to juggle, but I'm hoping to keep the story going strong. And don't worry, 'cause I'll tell you guys when I'll be posting the first story, just need a bit more time to get it all set up with no missing chapters, since the computer they were in was glitchy. And OMG, you're gonna make me cry with your compliments, so thank you very much!

-OnyxWrting: Thanks! I hope you continue to enjoy. I will also keep trying to do my best.

-Love . Fiction . 2020: Awesome!

-aish: Yeah, don't worry, I will be posting it again after I take care of some changes I wanted to implement, so stay alert.

-Malou23: Thanks for the review! And yes, I will post it as soon as possible, so stay tuned.

-ArtemisLuna85: I am so glad you're loving it and will continue to do so. I appreciate the love and support, so thank you!

Disclaimer: I own nothing belonging to the Vampire Diaries and claim no ownership over anything pertaining to it. I only own my characters and whatever else that is not from the show.

the remnant

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Stefan hissed as his shirt rubbed against the tender skin of his chest that had yet to heal. While he was better and only felt a bit sore, there was still some vervain on his chest that rubbed against the fabric of his shirt, which made his movements a bit painful as he worked on unfolding the sheet that he would use to wrap Gloria's corpse in. He was a bit annoyed that Katherine had been of little to no help, which left him to take care of Gloria as she cleaned up the area, including the items and herbs the witch had been using. Since they planned to make it look like Gloria left town, the two vampires were covering up everything, which would throw Klaus off. Still, Stefan knew he was testing his luck.

Katherine stretched her arms upward before rolling her shoulders. "I've been thinking about your diabolical plan," she said as she stared down at Stefan with her hands on her jutted hips, watching him place the sheet over Gloria's body.

"Oh," Stefan said with a mocking tone as he looked up at her. "Do tell."

"Well, you must know that Klaus is too paranoid to ever fully trust you," Katherine began, explaining her guess as to what she thought Stefan's plan was. "But the sister, she loves you like it was yesterday." She smirked with pearly white teeth showing, realizing she was on the right track by a look that passed in his eyes. "She's the easier mark, but you can't just pretend to care," she continued. "Klaus will know better, so you do the opposite. You bond with him and make her feel left out." She nodded, impressed if that was his plan. "That will only make her want you more."

Stefan nodded as he stopped wrapping Gloria's corpse in the sheet. "You mean to say that I'm taking a page out of the Katherine Pierce playbook." He sighed heavily. "It sounds like a good plan, but I've barely been able to spend much time with Klaus recently, so you're not exactly accurate."

"The only question is why, Stefan?" she asked him, frowning because she was still unable to figure out the answer to that question. She failed to see why Stefan was trying so hard to try to fool both Originals. "I mean, I get it. You want to keep Klaus away from Mystic Falls, but what else do you expect to get from it?"

Stefan chuckled as he stood up to stand in front of her after finishing up with his task. "You know what's funny?" He smirked at the older vampire. "You keep talking to me like I trust you enough to tell you anything about my diabolical plan."

Katherine rolled her eyes at him. "Oh, come on, Stefan, we're beyond that." She gestured to the witch's dead body with a wave of her hand. "I saved you from Hilda, the high voodoo priestess."

"Okay." Stefan nodded, deciding to at least tell her something for having helped him. "I knew them, back in the twenties," he explained, referring to Klaus and Rebekah. "They were running from someone." He could now clearly remember the look of fear on Klaus' and Rebekah's faces when he last saw them in Chicago. "Someone who scared them." He could practically see the gears turning in Katherine's head.

Katherine took a moment as she recalled whispers of the one Stefan was talking about. "The Hunter," she said with narrowed eyes as Stefan nodded with a hum. "I heard stories about him centuries ago."

"Don't you want to know why an Original vampire who can't be killed is afraid of a vampire hunter?" Stefan asked her rhetorically.

Now, this piqued Katherine's interest. "If you're planning on making a move against Klaus, I want in."

"That's good." Stefan placed his hand on her arm with raised eyebrows, giving her a comforting squeeze, but his tone of voice told her he was speaking with sarcasm. "It's good to want things, Katherine."

"Stefan," she tried to argue with him, desperate to find a way to get rid of Klaus and be freed of always living in fear for her life, even if it had a small chance of success.

"Katherine," Stefan grunted as he picked up Gloria's body, throwing it over his shoulder with effortless strength. "I'm in this alone." He stared at her. "If you're looking for a diabolical partner in crime, I suggest you look elsewhere."

"You can't just leave me without giving me something else, Stefan," Katherine grumbled, her eyes following him as he began to make his way out of the bar. "That can't be all you found out about him during all that time you spent with him," she scoffed. She was becoming annoyed with Stefan for failing to get more information out of the hybrid.

Stefan stopped but didn't turn around to face her, debating on what else he should tell her. The only reason he decided to tell Katherine anything was to ensure that somebody else knew what he learned about Klaus so far, so he should also tell her everything else…just in case. "There is something else that could be odd. It's certainly strange for Klaus." He turned around to face Katherine, adjusting Gloria's body to be in a better position. "Have you ever heard of faeries?"

"Of course. They are mythical creatures craved by all," Katherine huffed with a shrug of her shoulders. "I know witch covens are obsessed with them, mostly old ones. It's because of them and vampires that they're all gone." She sighed with a slight roll of her eyes. "I wish I could have gotten a taste of one. I heard that their blood is like a drop of heaven."

"Klaus has one," Stefan told her, causing her eyes to widen in shock. He tapped the body on his shoulder. "Gloria told me a bit about her."

"But they're extinct. Many people have tried to find any stragglers without any success," she argued, frowning.

"It seems like this one is what's left of the faeries," he explained. "She's half-human, half-faerie."

"How the hell did he get his hands on one?" she asked in complete disbelief. "It's been decades since I've heard of one still alive."

"I tried asking him, but he was vague about it. Whatever their story is, he's certainly secretive about it," Stefan answered, recalling how protective Klaus appeared to be when he was introduced to Gwen. "I couldn't learn much about their relationship, but I think he cares about her to some extent."

Katherine gave him an incredulous look before a throaty laugh left her mouth before she calmed down. "You have got to be joking," she huffed, her eyes showing nothing but disbelief. "Klaus doesn't care about anyone but himself; he's probably forgotten how. He carries his family around in coffins because he can't kill them, so storing them up is the next best thing."

"The people in the coffins are his family?" he asked her, having not known that. During all the time he spent with Klaus, he never really bothered to ask what was inside the coffins, not that Klaus was sharing more than what he wanted to share.

Katherine was tempted to roll her eyes due to Stefan's lack of investigative skills, but she managed to steel herself. "Who else?" she said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Did you really spend a whole summer with him?"

Stefan shook his head and told her, "Take my word for it, Katherine. He cares about that girl in some way."

The older vampire shrugged. "Doesn't matter. It just means that she's someone no one should be stupid enough to mess with, but that is if he does give a damn about her. I really can't stress that 'if' enough." She gathered her things and approached him. "Klaus isn't someone who can afford to have weaknesses, which would be what she is. I think you're just seeing things, Stefan." She shrugged her shoulders. "She's probably one of his plans to outmaneuver an enemy or something."

"I'm telling you, Katherine," Stefan insisted. "He does care about her."

"That's information that I cannot use," she told him with a shrug of her shoulders. "It's pointless." She walked past him to leave the bar, leaving him to finish cleaning up.

Stefan should have expected that from her, given that Katherine wasn't one to risk herself on a mere hunch about some girl she knows nothing about. "So, what are you going to do now?" he asked her, not really expecting an answer from the other vampire. "Are you gonna stick around?"

Katherine stopped at the front door and looked over her shoulder to tell him, "I'm just gonna go and find myself a diabolical partner in crime elsewhere." She glanced around the bar one last time. "I recommend you start making tracks now that Gloria's dead. Klaus isn't someone you can outsmart, Stefan." She then disappeared into the night without a trace.

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"Klaus, wait!" Juniper called as she tried to keep up with the hybrid's long strides with Gwen beside her. The three of them were headed to Gloria's bar after a fuming Klaus stormed out of Juniper's store, ignoring them as he focused on what he'd do to the witch and vampire who betrayed him.

"What is it?" Klaus asked as he stopped to turn around and face them, standing in the middle of the sidewalk and ignoring the people around them. "Can't you see me filled with murderous intent?" He looked between both girls. "I have a mess that needs cleaning up, people who need to be murdered, and problems that are still not fixed."

Juniper sighed as she rolled her eyes. "Look, do you actually have a plan?"

"I do," he answered, noticing the uncertainty in the eyes of both the frowning witch and young hybrid. "I know I can seem like a temperamental lunatic, but I do have a plan."

"Then what is it?" asked Gwen, giving him an inquiring look.

"It's quite simple, really," he began to explain, motioning for the girls to follow him to stand in the mouth of a nearby alleyway, away from prying eyes and ears. "Gloria is no longer of any use to me, so it's best I end her unnecessary existence before she becomes a nuisance in the future."

Gwen reminded him, "But you said that you needed a witch, and you have said that there aren't many witches who are fond of you."

Juniper raised an eyebrow at Klaus in question when she saw him give her a look. She knew what he wanted to ask her, but he turned his gaze away from her without uttering a sound. "Oh, for the love of," Juniper groaned in irritation, giving Klaus a look filled with annoyance. "I know you're an immortal hybrid, but you can ask me to do you a solid like a normal human being."

"I need the services of a witch," he told her, still refusing to meet Juniper's eyes since he knew that she wore a smug grin on her lips.

Juniper hummed with an eyebrow raised inquiringly. "Are you asking me something?"

"I may require your help," he told her, forcing himself to lock eyes with her. "If you are willing."

"See?" She chuckled. "Why is it so impossible for you to ask for my help?"

"It's like making a deal with the devil himself," he scoffed, hoping he didn't just make a mistake.

The witch grinned. "It's more like a deal between two devils."

"What about Stefan?" asked Gwen. "You can't kill him. He should know where the necklace you're looking for is and who might have it."

"You're right, but I might already have an idea about that," Klaus said with a sigh. "As much as I would like to separate his head from his shoulders, I can't kill him yet, not until I'm sure." He fished his phone out of his pocket, his mind already working out a plan. He looked up his sister's contact and sent her a text, warning her to stay put in the warehouse where the coffins were and to watch out for Stefan.

"Do you have an evil scheme for everything?" Juniper asked him.

"Almost everything," said Klaus, stepping out of the alley with both girls following behind him. "You're still alive."

Gwen rolled her eyes. "You really shouldn't be insulting the person who's giving you a hand."

"I never asked for it," Klaus countered.

"She's still helping you," argued Gwen.

"I am not repeating myself," said Klaus.

"You're unbelievable," Juniper remarked.

Klaus smirked at the witch over his shoulder. "I know."

Juniper gave the back of his head a halfhearted glare. "That was not a compliment."

The group of three arrived at Gloria's bar just after sundown, but they were confused when they found that the place was closed with every window closed. By that time, the bar was booming with music and people having a good time, but the place appeared to be deserted, which did nothing but worsen Klaus' mood. Nothing had been going his way, not since he broke his curse.

Klaus turned to Gwen, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I think it's best that you went home."

Gwen scowled, appearing like he just slapped her across the face. "Are you serious?"

"Look, I never intended to involve you this much into my problems," Klaus began to explain, glancing at Juniper behind Gwen. He saw the witch lift a hand up with a scoff before it fell back to her side. "I just don't want…" he paused, unable to come up with a convincing argument to turn her away. And he was also thinking that he couldn't leave her on her own after others found out about her existence, so his options were limited.

"Don't want what?" Gwen asked him, eyebrows furrowed.

Klaus groaned, believing that he was going to regret what he was about to tell her. "Fine, fine," he heaved, knowing that he might regret his decision.

Gwen frowned, needing more confirmation. "Fine, what?"

"You can come along," he told her, but then raised a finger to stop her from speaking as a smile appeared on her lips. "But you will do everything I say without a whisper of an argument. You have yet to experience the dangers outside of the comforts of home, so I need you to listen to whatever I say to the letter." His eyes were steely as they stared into Gwen's hazel-green ones. "Have I made myself clear?"

"Crystal," Gwen said as she nodded with an unwavering gaze.

"What about you?" Juniper asked Klaus.

"What about me?" Klaus asked, frowning.

Juniper chuckled. "You're quite the danger yourself, so I think she has a good idea of what danger looks like."

Gwen smiled at that. "I think she's right."

The hybrid couldn't help but roll his eyes at both grinning girls before standing in front of the bar's entrance. He grabbed the door handle and broke it, allowing him to shove the door wide open with ease. Nothing but silence and emptiness was found, and this unnerved Gwen as an unpleasant chill went down her spine. She grimaced when the whispers began once more, but she recognized that the voices were coming from one person, which meant that death was present in this place. It sometimes bothered her that she had no control over this.

"Something bad happened here," Gwen whispered, but she was still heard.

"Bad for who?" asked Juniper.

Klaus focused on his senses, trying to see if there was any sign of life, only to come up with nothing. "Gloria's not here," he said as he stepped inside first.

"Do you think she might be at home?" Gwen asked as she looked around, but there was nothing she could find out of place.

Juniper closed the door behind her after they all entered the bar, her eyes scanning the area. "This place is practically her home." She checked the time on her watch that was around her right wrist. "She wouldn't be anywhere else at this hour."

Gwen stepped further into the bar, looking for something, but she didn't know what it was that she was looking for since it was more of an inkling that was driving her. While Klaus went for the bar and Juniper went to the back, she opted to stay on the floor where the whispering was louder until she noticed something odd. There was one table that appeared to have been used with the chairs pulled back instead of being placed on top of the table. She put down her taupe purse on a table when she saw something on the floor that caught her attention with the whispering intensifying. She crouched as her eyes narrowed on a dark stain on the floor. "I think I found something," she called over her shoulder, glad that she no longer heard any voices ringing in her ears.

"What is it?" Klaus asked, walking over to Gwen before his eyes fell on what she was looking at, which had him frowning. He immediately recognized the substance that was on the floor. "That's blood." He took a moment to take a deep breath, his lycanthrope sense of smell being a better skill, which now helped him get through the scent of bleach that clouded the place. "This place reeks of it."

"Not just that. Someone was having fun with an old type of spell," Juniper said as she came back to the front, gaining her companions' attention. "Someone was cooking up a spell with vervain." She lifted her hand that held the plant that was toxic to vampires. "Gloria was probably torturing a vampire that could have had a beef with her."

"Can you tell what the spell was for?" Klaus asked her as he approached her with Gwen by his side.

Juniper was doubtful and it showed on her face. "It'll probably take a lot of time since I don't know what other ingredients were used. You'd probably get faster answers from the vampire that was here."

Gwen frowned. "There was a vampire here?"

"His essence is all over this place," Juniper explained as her eyes looked around the establishment. "I can tell that the spell she used was an intrusive one on the vampire's side, and he's not dead."

"How do you know that?" Gwen asked.

Juniper placed the vervain on the bar's counter before taking a seat on a stool. "Well, the essence is faint," she explained as she waved her hand in the air. "If the vampire died here, it would have had a stronger presence. All deaths leave some type of mark, which is why I am picking up a lot of Gloria's essence. And this place looks like someone just tried to cover up a murder scene."

"So, Gloria's dead?" asked Gwen.

"Yes, but her body is nowhere near here," said Juniper.

"Can you tell me the name of the vampire?" Klaus asked Juniper, but he already felt like he knew the answer. While there are a lot of vampires in the city, not many hung around when they caught wind of him. Besides, he already had some suspicions about Stefan before, but they started to take root when the necklace was mentioned and there was a shift in the younger vampire's demeanor.

"I can't get a name," said Juniper, but she lifted a hand to silence Klaus when he opened his mouth. She closed her eyes, focusing on gathering the essence the vampire left behind to get an image or a clue. "But he has dark blonde hair and dreamy, green eyes." She opened her eyes. "Know anyone like that?" She couldn't get a name, but she was able to manipulate the vampire's essence to create an image of his appearance in her mind's eye.

Klaus's face darkened since he could only think of one person. "Oh, I certainly do."

.

Stefan stepped inside the warehouse where he and Klaus stopped by when they first arrived in Chicago to drop off his coffins, and it was also the place where he reunited with Rebekah. He knew that he could be on borrowed time, knowing that he couldn't keep fooling Klaus forever. He needed to find out who Klaus was running from back in the twenties, especially if there was a weapon involved that could kill the hybrid. And this led him to stand in front of one of the many coffins, debating between manipulating the information out of Rebekah or taking his chances waking another member of Klaus' family to get the information he needed, since he figured they wouldn't all be as forgiving as Rebekah for being daggered, not even Elijah. Just as he reached out his hand toward one of the coffins, he retracted it when a voice reached his ears from behind.

"You're back," Rebekah greeted as she leaned against the metal of a pallet rack, smiling at Stefan as he turned to face her. "Finally." She lifted her hand, showing her phone. "Nik went to check on the witch." She kept her face schooled as she approached Stefan, noticing how tense he was when he crossed his arms over his chest at having been caught snooping around the caskets. "Dreary, isn't it?" Her eyes went to the coffin that Stefan had reached for. "The family cargo."

Stefan hummed while nodding before looking back at her. "Why don't you un-dagger them?"

"Because…" Rebekah began with a deep exhale, "he would hunt me down and kill me." She paused and tilted her head with pursed lips. "Not really kill me, but he has his way of making you want to be. He's a vindictive little bastard, my brother." She felt an unpleasant shiver go down her spine at the very thought of the dagger's cool steel being stabbed into her heart.

"But you still care about him." Stefan frowned at her, prodding her for more information. "Why?"

"Well, I hated him for a long time," she mumbled, recalling the many times Klaus had wounded her heart over the years to the point of being beyond repair on more than one occasion. Still, he was her family. She went and sat on top of the coffin Stefan was standing next to. "It was exhausting."

Stefan sat down next to her. "You know, when I met you two, you were both on the run."

Rebekah smiled at Stefan, keeping her brows from furrowing. "That's also exhausting," she told him with a steady voice.

"Who were you running from?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" she asked, alarms going off in her head. It felt like her undead heart almost froze over once more.

"The last night I saw you, a man was looking for you," he elaborated, seeking to have her open up to him. "You both seemed afraid." He shrugged his shoulders to appear nonchalant. "I just wouldn't think Klaus would be afraid of anybody."

"No one in this world is truly fearless, Stefan," she told him, raising her eyebrows. "Not even Niklaus."

"Who was that man?" asked Stefan, eager to get an answer.

"I can't." Rebekah shook her head as she stood up, unable to even think about doing something that would invoke her brother's wrath, let alone put their lives in danger. That was something she would not risk doing ever again. "If Nik knew we were talking about this, he would–"

"No, no, no," Stefan cut her off, standing up to face her. "I'm sorry." He placed a hand on her arm, smiling down at her. "Just forget I asked. Okay?" He recognized that pushing her any further would do him no good. "But I am a bit curious about his…'friend'." He opted to go another route to get off-topic. "I never knew him to be the type to have any."

"You mean Gwen," Rebekah clarified, receiving a nod in response. "Yes, my brother likes to collect his fair share of rarities."

Stefan nodded, playing dumb. "I caught a bit of her scent. It's like nothing I've ever encountered before."

"I have," she told him, explaining further when he raised an eyebrow at her. "Before the New World was discovered, her species was what made the land truly flourish with magic and miracles. They were our neighbors and doctors and teachers."

"What would Klaus want with one now?" asked Stefan.

Rebekah shrugged her shoulders, now looking at her nails. "Not sure, but I wouldn't worry too much about that."

"Is she like his girlfriend or something?" Stefan pushed further, wanting useful information. He was starting to lose his patience with the older vampire, and he prided himself in his tolerance, having thought he had enough practice with Damon for a brother.

"Goodness, no." Rebekah's eyes scrutinized his face, feeling once more that he was not the same man she knew back then when everything was right between them. It was upsetting for her, since she tried and failed to find the Stefan she had come to love, only to be met with a man with the same face but different eyes. "Speaking of...Nik told me about the girl you loved. The one that died."

"The one he killed," he corrected, releasing a heavy sigh.

"Yes, that one." Rebekah noticed something fleeting flash in his eyes. "He also told me that you're only with him because he saved your brother."

Stefan cleared his throat while glancing away from her for a moment before meeting her eyes once more. "It's true."

"I think he secretly admires that about you, how you'd sacrifice anything for family," she told him, and it was no lie. Even though Klaus dragged her and the rest of her family around in boxes, she knew her brother's greatest weakness was his love for his family. "Don't tell him I told you that." She whispered that last part, smirking.

Stefan chuckled with closed lips. "Your secret is safe with me." He began to turn around and leave, but he was pulled back before lips met his with a passion he tried to return. He cupped Rebekah's face with delicate hands before pulling away from her since he could only picture a brunette's face.

"Do you think you'll love anyone like you loved that girl?" she asked him, their breaths mingling with how close they were to one another.

"One day, maybe," he told her with a small nod.

Rebekah smiled at him, but she was filled with nothing but disappointment at having been proven wrong. While she had craved nothing more than to be in Stefan's warm arms, she only felt cold in his embrace. "I can always tell when you're lying, Stefan."

"What?" Stefan frowned at this, his body becoming tense. "I'm not–"

Rebekah slapped away his hands when he tried to reach for her. "Don't bother, your kiss already gave you away." She scoffed while rolling her eyes. "I can't believe he was right about you, but here we are. I'm never going to hear the end of this."

Just then, the door to the warehouse was slammed open, the sound echoing throughout the near-empty space. "Gloria's gone," Klaus bellowed as he made his appearance with Gwen and Juniper behind him. "It appears like she cleared out."

"She's gone?" asked Rebekah.

"Yes, but it looked like someone was trying to cover up the fact that she's dead," said Klaus, glancing at Stefan. "I do wonder what could have happened."

"Do you need another witch?" asked Rebekah, keeping her eyes on Stefan.

"Already got one," Klaus said as he pointed at Juniper, the latter waving a hand in greeting.

Rebekah smiled at the girl, remembering her from when she had awakened. "I remember you."

Juniper nodded. "Yeah, I'm the one you almost made a snack of."

"I do apologize for that, but I think we can blame Nik," Rebekah told her.

"That's fine by me," said Juniper.

Rebekah's eyes landed on Gwen. "Hello, pet."

"Hey, Rebekah," Gwen greeted.

Stefan cleared his throat as he looked at Klaus, keeping calm. "What happened to Gloria?"

Klaus smirked, but the air around him was enough to tell the vampire that the hybrid was in a terrible mood. "Like you wouldn't know."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Stefan said, feigning a frown.

The hybrid was itching to shove his hand into Stefan's chest. Klaus was very much surprised that he managed to hold himself back from putting his hands on the young vampire, but he still needed his former friend. "Rebekah, dear," he turned to his sister. "Is it required of me to tell you that I was–"

"You were right, Nik. There is something wrong," Rebekah interrupted him, annoyed with the smug look he was giving her. "He was asking about Mikael."

Klaus's grin disappeared as his face darkened. "What?"

"'Mikael'?" Juniper looked at Gwen for answers. "Who's Mikael?"

Gwen's eyes had widened a bit, remembering the name due to Klaus having spoken about him before. "You mean the vampire hunter."

Juniper's own eyes widened. "You mean the freaking vampire hunter?" She released a weary sigh. "This day just keeps getting better and better."

"He's not with us, Nik," Rebekah told Klaus. "I can sense it."

"She's wrong," Stefan said as he approached Klaus.

"If she's not," Juniper spoke up, drawing Stefan's attention to her, "you wouldn't mind telling us what happened to Gloria."

All eyes fell on Stefan as he began to fidget, unable to come up with anything when his mind became blank. He turned to Klaus, pleadingly saying, "Klaus–"

In a mere blink of an eye, Stefan was on the floor with a broken neck and a seething Klaus standing over him, having caused Gwen and Juniper to gasp in surprise. "That made me feel a little better," he sighed.

"What do we do now?" asked Rebekah, completely unfazed by what just happened and looking more bored than anything else.

Klaus glanced at Stefan's prone form. "What did you pick up from him?"

"Something in him shifted when I mentioned that girl you killed," Rebekah answered, her eyes looking at her former lover. "It's like something from that town you told me about is still keeping him there, and it's not his brother. His behavior is too odd for someone who lost his lover and saved his brother."

"Wait, wait, wait," Juniper piped up as she approached both vampires. "Who did you kill?"

"His girlfriend," Klaus replied.

"Really, Nik?" Gwen asked, unsurprised and unimpressed. "And you thought it was a good idea to bring him along with you?"

"I thought he wouldn't be so hung up on one human girl," Klaus argued.

Juniper rolled her eyes. "You know that's not how it works. Vampires are not impervious to falling in love, so it's no surprise that he'd be plotting to kill you." She shook her head. "I mean, you killed your supposed friend's girlfriend. You went far beyond of betraying the bro code."

"Is it so surprising?" asked Klaus, looking at the women around him.

"No," Rebekah said while shaking her head.

"Not really," said Gwen.

"Very normal of you, actually," said Juniper.

"What now?" Rebekah asked Klaus.

"Start packing," Klaus said as he reached down to grab Stefan's arm, dragging him away.

Gwen tilted her head, curious. "Where are we going?"

Klaus grinned as he glanced at the three women. "To a little town called Mystic Falls."

.

Things were moving fast for Gwen. It was only a few days ago since Klaus arrived in Chicago, and now she was packing all her belongings to move once more after she left the warehouse with Rebekah and Juniper. It wasn't anything she wasn't used to, since living with Klaus required to be prepared to be on the road. This meant that she couldn't settle down anywhere, given that they never stayed for more than a year or so in one place. And that was why she found it easy to pack her things, which mostly consisted of clothes, shoes, accessories, and some art supplies. Every other comfort in her apartment had been supplied by Klaus, so there wasn't much else that she needed to take with her.

Gwen looked around her room, making sure that she didn't forget anything. Once she was sure that everything was packed, she closed her suitcases that were on her bed before placing them on the floor and pushing them out into her living room where Rebekah was sitting on the couch watching television.

Rebekah looked away from the TV and glanced at the suitcases Gwen was wheeling out of her bedroom. "Are you nearly done, pet?" she asked, turning off the TV. "I imagine Nik's desperate to get going."

"Yeah, I think I'm almost done," Gwen answered as she looked around the room. She looked at the canvases she had painted and decided that it was best to leave them behind since she could have Klaus deliver them to wherever they were going to settle down next. "I seem to have everything on me." She picked up her purse from her dining table to make sure her things were there.

"What about the witch?" asked Rebekah.

"Um," Gwen hummed as she inspected the contents of her purse before she checked her phone to see if Juniper had tried contacting her. "She had to go back to close her store and leave things taken care of." She found a text from the witch asking where they were going to meet up. "All we have to do is wait for Nik to call."

"Is she someone we can trust?" Rebekah asked as she stood up from the couch, walking over to the young girl.

Gwen looked up at Rebekah after replying to Juniper, finding the vampire looking at her with narrowed eyes. "Um, yeah, of course." She was a bit uncomfortable with the blonde's intimidating demeanor. "I mean, she figured out that Gloria lied about the necklace and that Stefan knew more than what he was saying."

Rebekah perked up at this, her eyes widening. "Wait, she found out where my necklace is."

Gwen nodded. "June said that it's in this town we're going to."

"That's good. I'll get my necklace back and wring the neck of whoever has it," said Rebekah, now eager to get going to get her necklace back. Ever since the dagger was pulled out of her chest, her hands always twitched whenever they tried to seek out the piece of jewelry that she always wore but was no longer there. "I just can't wait to get it back."

"Why does that necklace mean so much to you?" Gwen couldn't help but ask since Klaus only wanted the item to get his answers concerning the creation of his hybrids, but Rebekah appeared to be attached to it.

The blonde vampire took a deep breath as she walked over to the dining room's table, sitting down on a chair. "It used to belong to my mother," she said, her eyes falling on her hand that was lying on the edge of the table. "It's the last thing I have of her. I've never parted with it, so I feel like something's missing."

"We'll find it," Gwen told her as she also sat down on the chair next to Rebekah's, playing with her necklace. "I can understand why you want it returned to you." She looked down at the pearl that hung from the thin chain around her neck. "I don't know what I'd do if I lost mine."

"Who gave it to you?" Rebekah asked, truly curious.

Shaking her head with a small smile, Gwen said, "It was with me when Nik found me. He said that it belonged to my mother, so I always keep it on me. I feel like I have her with me if I do, even though I never knew her or have any memories of her." She smiled at her necklace. "She must've felt something for me if she was capable of going through a storm for me."

"I don't think that matters," said Rebekah, gaining Gwen's attention. "Even if you never knew her, you still feel like you love her. It's an unexplainable bond that is there ever since a mother finds out that she's with child and vice versa, or that's what I like to think."

"I think it's nice," Gwen agreed. Although she lost her mother before she could have any real memories of her, she still felt like she was connected to her. Just as Rebekah said, Gwen liked to believe her mother had to love her in some way, even if there was a possibility that it was only wishful thinking. "I only wish I had a memory of her."

Rebekah couldn't help but smile. "Here we both are, two orphaned girls missing our mothers."

"What happened to your mom?" Gwen asked since Klaus never really liked to talk about his mother.

"Nik never told you?" Rebekah countered with a question, raising an eyebrow.

Gwen shook her head with pursed lips. "He doesn't really like to talk about it, so I steer clear from that subject. I know she died sometime after your family was turned into vampires, but that's as much as he was willing to share." Her eyes became downcast when she remembered how he sometimes snapped at her since his mother was a sensitive subject for Klaus, and she always felt such intense grief and guilt from him whenever the topic was mentioned. "It's something we put in the do-not-discuss pile."

"Well," Rebekah began as she released a deep breath, "she was killed by our father." Gwen's eyes widened at this revelation. "He tore her heart from her chest as Nik watched. We fled our home not long after our father went on a rampage, destroying everything in his path."

"And he's been hunting you and your family ever since," Gwen stated, recalling how Klaus always became tense and alert whenever his father was mentioned.

Rebekah nodded. "For almost a thousand years."

Gwen found it hard to believe that a father would go as far as to hunt down his own children throughout centuries, regardless of the reason. "It's kind of hard to believe."

"Well, not so much," said Rebekah. "Even before we were turned into vampires, our father was…quite a terrible man. And after becoming a vampire, everything that made him terrible was heightened." She gave Gwen an empty smile. "He truly is a monster."

"It's a good thing that there hasn't been any word of Mikael," Gwen told the blonde.

Rebekah frowned at this. "None?"

Shaking her head, Gwen said, "None whatsoever. Nik said that it's been quiet for some time."

"Good riddance," hummed Rebekah, not at all interested to know where her father was or what he was up to. She hoped he never entered their lives again.

Gwen's phone began to ring, drawing the attention of both girls to it. The young halfling reached into her purse and pulled out her phone to find that it was Klaus. She answered the call and placed the phone to her ear, greeting him with a, "Hello, Nik."

"I have everything ready," Klaus responded. "I'll send for you and Rebekah."

"What about June?" asked Gwen.

"I already took care of that," Klaus answered.

"Okay. We'll see you in a bit," Gwen said before hanging up and standing from the chair. "It's time to go."

Rebekah jumped on her feet, stretching her arms upward with a deep exhale. "Oh, good. Getting out of this city will do us some good."

The Original vampire helped Gwen by taking one of the suitcases and leaving the apartment, which left Gwen to look around her temporary home one last time. She didn't feel too attached to the place, since she lived there for only a year. It was like any other home Klaus moved them to, and where they were going to now would be no different. Except that, unlike every other time she had to bid farewell to a place, she felt uncertain when reaching for her apartment's front door to close it behind her, feeling like things would be different this time around.

End of chapter!

I hope you guys enjoyed this kind of filler chapter. It was a bit hard to write and I just kept making changes until I was satisfied enough to post it, but I hope it was decent.

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See you all in the next chapter!