Hello, all! I present to you guys with another update and a few things to say and some announcements. I will be posting this story on Wednesdays. If I miss out on posting on one, the look forward to the next one.
Now, on to the review responses:
-Fidjie: Thanks for the awesome support and love, and I will be trying to focus on how Klaus plans things out and other things that I thought should be interesting to write about that had not been shown on the series. Yes, I am focusing on Juniper for a reason, but only because she isn't the main character and I don't want to create characters and simply throw them in the back (gotta give them purpose). Also, I have already made the announcement on when and how I will be posting the original story, so stay tuned.
-xenocanaan: I am so glad you love the Gwen/Juniper duo. They're so fun to write together and they won't make things easy for anyone as the story progresses, I can assure you of that.
-GhostGypsy: Thanks! And yes, June is very sassy and just blunt, which makes it fun to write. Yes, I plan for Gwen to be a game changer as the story progresses, but I will save the spoilers for later. In the announcement, I have stated the when and how of the posting of the original story, so stay tuned.
-Love . Fiction . 2020: Thanks, love!
-Undercoverlikeaspy: Aww, I am so glad I was able to stop the wait for you, so I hope you love the story!
-PrincessMagic: There will be a lot more of Gwen and Rebekah, I promise. I am very excited to write these two together!
-Lilomaus223: The wait is over! Love your love! And you will get your wish and see a bit of her powers. I'm trying to make it all natural and just pace myself with it, since there are spoilers involved. And yes, there will be a lot of focus on Gwen and Rebekah, they're just too fun to write together and have them bond and stuff.
Disclaimer: I own nothing from The Vampire Diaries and claim no ownership over anything pertaining to it. I only own my characters.
a prank night gone wrong
.
.
.
Gwen stared up at the dark sky speckled with stars from where she sat on the edge of the back of the truck that Klaus was using to transport the coffins that held four of his daggered family members, swinging her legs back and forth. Her fingers played with the wolf charm of her bracelet that was on her right wrist, finding herself a bit bored of waiting. Instead of sitting, Rebekah stood inside the back of the truck while leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest. Silence drifted between the two ever since Klaus left with Juniper to go into the school, having assigned the job of watching over Stefan's prone body to the human-faerie hybrid and Original vampire.
"So, you've never gone to school," Rebekah stated, breaking the silence.
"Nope," Gwen said as she looked at the building in front of them from the parking lot. "Nik thought it'd be best to be homeschooled, that I would graduate quicker and have a better education."
"Or keep you holed up," said Rebekah.
Gwen nodded, unable to disagree with her statement. "That was another perk for him."
Rebekah's lips quirked up a bit, not at all surprised by Klaus wanting to keep Gwen from the world and everyone in it. "My brother is quite overprotective, sometimes to the point of sucking the life out of you." She noticed how Gwen was fidgeting uncomfortably, so she sighed. "I apologize. I shouldn't be talking about him like that in front of you when he," she paused as a smile of disbelief graced her lips, "actually took time to raise a child. I am still blown away by that."
"No, it's all right," Gwen told Rebekah, glancing at the blonde vampire. "I understand why you're upset with him. I can't imagine living the way I have with him for a thousand years and not feel some resentment, but he does try to do better."
"You sound like Elijah," said Rebekah, rolling her eyes, but in a playful manner.
"Your brother?" Gwen asked for confirmation.
"Yes, the noblest of our bunch," Rebekah answered. "He's always tried to look for the good in Niklaus, no matter how small the glimmer is." She cleared her throat and turned to Gwen. "So, on to less dull subjects. I've seen what faeries can do, but you're only half. What can you do?"
Gwen hummed as she hopped off the truck, landing on the concrete ground. She adjusted her navy-blue tank top that she had paired with skinny jeans and black booties. The young girl looked up at Rebekah. "I can't do magic like a witch, I don't use words, but the elements respond to me," she explained as she lifted a hand to her chest. "June described it as nature's power coursing through me and manifesting into whatever I need." She felt the familiar tingle and warmth of her power grow in her hand. "But I do have a power that witches don't."
Rebekah's eyes widened when she saw Gwen's hand begin to glow a beautiful array of shades of green tones with blue undertones appearing closer to her skin. The vampire's eyes squinted the more she looked at the light the halfling was emitting from her palm, something she had not seen for a thousand years. "Beautiful, yet deadly," she whispered as she stared at Gwen, feeling like her eyes would burn if she continued to gaze straight into the light any longer.
The young half-faerie closed her hand into a fist, and the light disappeared. Gwen looked up at the blonde vampire. "For some reason, I can't really get a hang of it. Every time I use my power, I feel strange, like I'll lose control." This had Rebekah frowning since she knew that faeries had perfect control of their power with nature at their beck and call. "Even June can't figure out what's wrong exactly." She placed her hand on the left side of her lower abdomen. "She thinks it has to do with my birthmark, but she's not so sure."
"It can be that you are half-human," Rebekah offered as an explanation. "While faeries have procreated with humans, it was not the norm. They always kept to their kind after so many years of persecution. You have pure fae blood running through your veins, and it might just be causing a war within your own body."
"Makes sense," Gwen mumbled, having heard of this from Juniper and Gloria before.
"Well, you can certainly harm vampires with that skill," Rebekah praised, referring to the light Gwen had created a few moments ago. "That light is as potent as the sun, and even daylight rings can be rendered useless against it."
"I can attest to that," Gwen told her, and Rebekah frowned. "I've encountered vampires before. I've never killed them, but they still burn." She could feel her fingers shaking and her breathing slightly quicken as her heart started to accelerate. She shook her head to keep herself from remembering memories that only brought her pain. "Some unpleasant memories." She rubbed her arm to seek some comfort.
"Yes, vampires have always had a weakness for faeries," Rebekah sighed, having seen more than her fair share of dead pureblood faeries die at the hands of vampires and witches. "But witches have also contributed to their extinction, thinking that a faeries power was theirs to use however they saw fit for being 'Nature's servants'." She scoffed. "Nature's servants killing Nature's children."
Gwen nodded, also recalling her encounter with a coven in Seattle. "I've also haven't had any good experience with witches…except for June. She's the only witch I know who doesn't care about what I am."
"Yes, she seems like a reliable girl. I'm liking her more and more," said Rebekah.
"Really?" Gwen smiled at the vampire. "Or do you like her because she makes it a hobby to push Nik's buttons?"
Pained groans came from behind Rebekah, causing both girls to find Stefan coming out of unconsciousness. His neck finally healed once more from having its bones broken for the umpteenth time by Klaus. He rubbed his sore neck as his eyes fluttered open but catching a glimpse of Rebekah had him sucking in a sharp breath as he became alert and sat up. He looked around, trying to remember what happened last, but he was suddenly filled with dread when he saw the familiar building of Mystic Falls High School.
"Oh, he lives," Rebekah said as she turned to Stefan, pushing away from the truck's wall.
"What happened?" Stefan asked, looking around for Klaus.
"You took a beating," Rebekah told him. "My brother's been breaking your neck all afternoon. Quite the temper."
Stefan took in large gulps of air as his body reanimated itself as he stood up. "Why did he bring us back to Mystic Falls?"
Rebekah gave him an unamused stare. "You can stop playing dumb now."
"We already figured out everything you've been lying about," Gwen spoke up.
"I haven't been lying about anything," Stefan argued, itching to get out of the truck and warn everyone about Klaus being back in town, hoping he wasn't too late. "I've done everything Klaus has asked me to."
"No, you just failed to mention that the doppelgänger's still alive," Rebekah said as she came to stand in front of Stefan. "Among other things." This silenced Stefan.
Gwen raised an eyebrow at Stefan. "And I thought I was a terrible liar, and I can't lie."
Stefan turned away from Rebekah, thinking about what his next move should be. He knew he was no match for an Original vampire, but he thought he could catch her by surprise, which would leave Gwen to take care of. "Where is Klaus now?" he asked.
"With any luck, ripping that cow's bloody head off," Rebekah replied.
Anger and desperation engulfed Stefan from within, and so he responded by rushing at Rebekah, causing both to fly out of the truck and onto the ground with him on top of her, landing hard on the concrete. Gwen had to step to the side a bit when the two vampires soared into the air to land on the ground, but she felt helpless when she couldn't think of a way to help the Original vampire.
"Rebekah!" Gwen gasped.
"Where is she?" Stefan growled at Rebekah as he secured his hands around the latter's wrists to keep her in place.
"You really do love her, don't you?" Rebekah grunted as she easily overpowered Stefan and pushed him against the truck. She grabbed a crowbar from the truck and slammed it against his head before hooking it behind his neck to pull him closer to her. "Consider me jealous," she hissed as she took the crowbar from his neck and rammed it through his stomach, watching as he fell to the ground with a groan to die until his body healed. "That was a good outlet," she sighed as she turned to a slightly shocked Gwen.
The ringing of a phone startled Gwen, so she reached into her jean's pocket to take it out and answer the call. "Hey, Nik," she greeted.
"I have the doppelgänger, but I have yet to find the werewolf," Klaus said with a sigh. "Tell Rebekah to fetch him for me."
"I'm not a dog," Rebekah huffed, having heard her brother.
"I need you to get him, please. He's somewhere inside the school, probably with his girlfriend," he said to Rebekah, now knowing that she was listening in. "It won't be long before the rest of our audience arrives."
"Okay," Gwen said before hanging up and storing it back in her pants' back pocket, not letting him say anything else.
Rebekah groaned as she began walking toward the school. "Let's go, pet," she told Gwen, the halfling quick to follow the Original. "I can't wait for this night to be over."
"Yeah," Gwen mumbled as she passed Stefan's still body. "You and me both."
Gwen and Rebekah entered the school, walking past grumbling students who complained about having been caught and their prank night being over. They walked through many hallways, many of them lined with lockers with their footsteps echoing. Gwen was inspecting everything around her, having never been inside a school before. And although it felt like they were in a maze, it wasn't long before both girls stumbled upon a couple kissing with the girl pressed against a door.
"You two are adorable," Rebekah announced herself, interrupting the teenage couple as she walked toward them with Gwen behind her.
The couple looked at the new arrivals, the girlfriend stepping up with a frown. "Uh, do we know either of you?"
"You're Caroline, Elena's friend," Gwen said as she recognized the blonde who had accompanied Elena to the Mystic Grill.
"Which makes you," Rebekah said as she looked at the boyfriend, "Tyler, the werewolf."
Caroline carefully stepped in front of Tyler in a protective stance, her eyes shifting between Rebekah and Gwen. "And who are you two?"
"Didn't you get the memo? We're the new girls," said a grinning Rebekah before her face morphed with eyes reddening and veins protruding from beneath her eyes as she sped over to Caroline, breaking the other blonde's neck.
"Caroline!" Tyler tried to reach for his girlfriend, but he was suddenly grasped by the neck with a hand twisted behind his back.
"That was easy," Rebekah said as she glanced at Gwen as she held onto Tyler.
Gwen nodded. "I thought I could have helped, but you got everything covered."
Rebekah shrugged her shoulders. "Being as old as I am, it does have its advantages." She looked at Tyler and began directing him toward the gymnasium. "Let's go, pup. We don't want my brother anymore moodier than he already is."
As Gwen and Rebekah made their way to the gym with Tyler, Klaus and Juniper were waiting for their arrival while watching over Elena. A compelled Dana had sweat coating her skin, now struggling more to stay balanced. She was beginning to lose feeling in both of her legs for staying in the same position for so long, her hands now outstretched at her sides to keep herself balanced due to the numbness making it more difficult for her to stay on one foot. It didn't help that she had Chad watching her, waiting to see if she would drop her foot to beat her to death.
"Keep it up," Klaus warned Dana.
"Where's Stefan?" Elena asked Klaus, scared to know the answer. "What did you do to him?"
"Stefan's on a time out," Klaus told her.
Juniper scoffed. "Seriously, you have two friends in danger right in front of you," she told Elena. "Worry about the undead boyfriend later."
Elena was about to argue with Juniper, but a door opening drew her attention to see Bonnie and Matt enter the gymnasium. "Bonnie, get out of here!" she found herself yelling, even though she knew that it would be pointless.
Klaus appeared behind a surprised Bonnie who gasped as she faced him, but she regained her composure and kept her back straight as she squared up to the immortal hybrid. "Ah, I was wondering when you'd show up. Now we can get started." He glanced at Dana and said, "Dana, why don't you relax? You and Chad sit tight." The hybrid's words had a quick effect as Dana crumbled to the floor with Chad's help, her legs giving out beneath her. Klaus looked back at Bonnie and asked, "I assume you're the reason Elena's still walking around alive?"
"That's right," Bonnie told him, her voice firm. "If you want to blame someone, blame me."
"Oh, there's no need for blame, love," Klaus said to Bonnie. "Just your witchy interference seems to have caused some undesirable side effects." This had Bonnie frowning in confusion. "And since you caused the problem, I'm going to have you find the fix."
Just then, the doors were opened once more to reveal Rebekah dragging a struggling Tyler into the gym with Gwen following behind. Klaus frowned when he saw the halfling, thinking that she would have stayed outside. When he locked eyes with Gwen, he could tell that she knew what he was thinking by how she averted her eyes away from his. The hybrid made a mental note to talk to her about it later.
"Get off me!" Tyler snapped at Rebekah as he tried to shake her off, but he couldn't even move an inch out of her tight grasp.
"Hush now," she told Tyler.
Klaus gestured to Rebekah and all eyes fell on his sister. "I'd like you all to meet my sister Rebekah." He opted to also point to Gwen. "And this is my dear friend, Gwen Moone." The halfling waved a hand as she walked over to Juniper. "Word of warning, my sister can be quite mean."
Rebekah gave Klaus a halfhearted glare. "Don't be an ass." She pushed Tyler toward Klaus.
"Leave him alone!" Elena said, but her words were not heeded.
"I'm going to make this very simple," Klaus said as he dragged Tyler a bit away from the group by his neck. "Every time I attempt to turn a werewolf into a vampire-hybrid, they die during the transition," he explained. "It's quite horrible, actually." He bit his wrist and shoved it against Tyler's mouth, forcing him to drink his blood while the werewolf's friends watched helplessly. "I need you to find a way to save my hybrids, Bonnie," he said to the Bennett witch. "And for Tyler's sake," he paused as he pulled his wrist away from Tyler to grab his chin, "you better hurry." He twisted the teenager's head and let his dead body fall, eliciting shocked gasps from the town's residents and a flinch from Gwen.
"That was dramatic," Juniper remarked.
Gwen sighed as she stared at the dead werewolf's body. "Did you have to kill him?" she asked Klaus as he approached her. "I thought there weren't other wolves in town. What if this one dies like the rest?"
"First of all, I thought that it was blatantly obvious that I wanted you to stay in the truck," Klaus told Gwen. "And second, this will get them more motivated without the possibility of them to look for a way to save their friend."
Rebekah appeared next to her brother. "I suggest we kill the doppelgänger. That will probably solve your problem."
"I don't think so," said Juniper, now becoming the center of her companions' attention.
"What do you mean?" Klaus asked the witch.
"It has to do with the way a witch does her spell," Juniper explained. "I'm going to need you to tell me again everything about your curse and the ritual."
While Matt crouched next to Tyler's body, Elena and Bonnie stood beside him, staring down at their dead friend. The three teenagers were trying to grasp what just happened, but they just couldn't believe that their friend had just been killed and would soon be in transition.
"He killed him," said Matt, his voice almost breaking.
"He's not dead," Elena said as she began to pace. "Klaus' blood will turn him into a vampire."
"And if Bonnie or my witch is successful, he'll live through his transition," Klaus said as he approached the teenagers, deciding it was best to get things moving. "Go on, then," he said as he looked at Bonnie before walking over to Elena to grab her arm. "Go and fetch your grimoires and enchantments and what-not. I'll hold on to Elena." Said brunette gasped when he pulled her close to him. "For safekeeping."
Bonnie shared a hesitant look with Elena, not wanting to do anything for Klaus, let alone leave Elena alone with him and his companions. She was about to argue, but Elena shook her head at her and looked at Matt before glancing at the gym's doors, a clear message telling the Bennett witch to leave with their friend. Bonnie exhaled and grabbed Matt's hand, pulling him along with her to leave the gym.
"So, this is the latest doppelgänger," Rebekah said close to Elena's ear, causing the girl to gasp in surprise. The Original vampire looked at the brunette from top to bottom with a scrutinizing gaze. "The original one was much prettier," she remarked snidely.
"Enough, Rebekah," Klaus sighed, not wanting his sister to bring things up from their past. "Take the wolf boy elsewhere, would you?" Rebekah smiled mockingly before doing as her brother asked by grabbing Tyler's arm and dragging his body behind her. "Just ignore her," he whispered to Elena while watching his sister leave. "Petty little thing."
"Klaus," Juniper said to gain his attention, motioning for him to follow her to the bleachers with a jerk of her head. The hybrid and halfling followed the witch to the seats to get out of the humans' earshot, leaving Elena to go over to Dana and Chad to offer some comfort to her frightened classmates. "Okay, let's think this through," she began as Klaus and Gwen sat down, but the witch preferred to stand since moving helped her think things through. "Your mother was the Original witch."
"Correct," said Klaus, nodding as he placed his elbows on his knees.
"She cursed you to suppress your werewolf side," Juniper continued, glancing at Klaus. "Why?"
Klaus shrugged. "She hated me."
Juniper nodded. "Okay, so she cursed you with the same ingredients you'd need to break such a curse."
"A vampire, a witch, a werewolf, and the doppelgänger," Gwen supplied. "The vampire and werewolf to represent him with a witch that binds them with the blood of a doppelgänger."
"Yes, but he's not supposed to have problems creating more hybrids, since it's the same process as a vampire creating more of their kind," Juniper rambled. "Vampire blood creates more vampires, so the blood of a hybrid should create more hybrids, unless…" she trailed off as she frowned when an idea came to her, which had her stop pacing.
"Unless what?" Gwen asked.
"Unless the witch who cursed you added another detail in her spell," Juniper said as she faced Klaus. "You said she hated you, so it's not farfetched to assume that she would make things even more difficult for you, right?"
Klaus nodded, now realizing what she was getting at.
"You mean that the Original witch made it so that Nik wouldn't be able to create more hybrids?" Gwen asked Juniper.
"Yes, but witches are required to make things fair, keep a balance," Juniper continued with her rant. "Klaus should still be able to create hybrids, but it seems that it's not that simple." She looked at Klaus. "The werewolves you've turned make it into transition."
Klaus hummed. "Yes, but they die, even after feeding on human blood."
"Okay, so your blood can still make hybrids. The problem is in the final act," Juniper whispered and began to pace once more, feeling like the answer was right there. She just needed to make sense of her jumbled thoughts to get to her answer. "Okay, so vampires originate from the Original family."
"Also created by the Original witch," said Klaus.
"When you guys were first turned, what did you drink to complete the transition?" Gwen asked Klaus.
Juniper looked at Gwen with wide eyes before glancing at Klaus. "What was it?"
Klaus sighed as he thought back to the village girl he was forced to feed on after he had been killed. "Human blood."
"Exactly!" Juniper shrieked, but she calmed down as a grin appeared on her lips.
"You didn't feed on human blood to break your curse and turn into a hybrid," Gwen said as she looked at Klaus.
Juniper exhaled a laugh, feeling rather exhilarated. "Damn, I'm good."
"So, the ritual required you to kill the doppelgänger, which would destroy any chance of you being able to make more hybrids," Gwen wondered out loud. "This is the way the Original witch wanted to punish you."
The doors to the gym were opened once more as Stefan appeared. His presence wasn't at all surprising for Klaus, Gwen, and Juniper, but Elena was shocked to see him after so long of being apart. Oh, how she longed to have him back, but under better circumstances where they would both live to see the next day.
"Stefan," Elena whispered as she stood up, her eyes trained on the man she was still in love with.
Stefan looked Elena over and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her unharmed, but he quickly turned his gaze to the quiet hybrid. "Klaus."
"Come to save your damsel, mate?" Klaus asked offhandedly, placing his chin on the interlaced fingers of his hands.
"I came to ask for forgiveness," Stefan told Klaus, slowly approaching the hybrid. "And pledge my loyalty."
Juniper raised an eyebrow at the vampire. "You can at least try to make it believable."
"I agree," Klaus sighed.
"Elena means nothing to me anymore," Stefan said, briefly looking over at Elena before his eyes went back to Klaus. "And whatever you ask of me, I will do."
"Fair enough. Let's drink on it." Klaus stood up and walked over to Elena and the shaking forms of Dana and Chad. "Kill them," he told Stefan as he pointed at Dana and Chad, causing the students to stand up in fright.
"Nik," Gwen tried to protest as she stood up, but Juniper placed a hand on her shoulder to keep her from getting any closer to where Klaus was.
Seeing Stefan's hesitation, Klaus further urged him, saying, "What are you waiting for? Kill them."
"No. Stefan, don't." Elena shook her head, giving worried glances to Dana and Chad over her shoulder. "He's not going to hurt me. He already said–"
Klaus slapped Elena so hard that she fell on the floor with a sharp cry and solid thud, his anger fueling his actions. This spurred Stefan to try and tackle Klaus with his fangs out, but he instead felt a blinding pain on his back that had him lose his footing and drop to his knees with a grunt, feeling as if scalding water had been poured down his back. Klaus and Juniper turned to a panting Gwen to see her with an arm stretched out and her hand glowing green, recognizing that she had used her power.
"It's okay," Juniper whispered to Gwen as she placed her hands on the latter's shoulders. "He's fine."
Gwen nodded as she lowered her arm, having panicked when she saw Stefan about to attack Klaus, which was something she couldn't allow to happen. "I kind of lost it," she told Juniper.
Juniper smiled. "We all do at some point."
"She means nothing to you?" Klaus grabbed Stefan by his neck, trying to keep his temper in check. "Your lies just keep piling up."
"Let her go!" Stefan pleaded through a wheeze, trying to get Klaus' hands off his throat. "I'll do whatever you want, you have my word!"
"Your word doesn't mean much," Klaus spat at the man he thought was his friend. "I lived by your word all summer, during which time I never had to resort to this." He locked eyes with Stefan, the latter's eyes widening when he realized what Klaus was about to do. "Stop fighting." The hybrid's smooth words reached the vampire's ears.
Stefan tried to look away. "Don't do this, don't do this."
"I didn't want to," Klaus retorted. "All I wanted was your allegiance, but now I'm going to have to take it."
"Don't," Stefan begged, trying and failing to change Klaus' mind.
"You will do exactly as I say when I say it," Klaus told Stefan, his compulsion already washing over the young vampire. "You will not run, you will not hide, you will simply obey." He released Stefan, who now sported a blank look.
"Stefan," Elena called him with a hand placed over her throbbing cheek, watching as Stefan's eyes focused on Dana and Chad, his vampiric features manifesting.
"Now kill them, ripper," Klaus told Stefan as he gestured to the shaking students.
Stefan's predatory eyes fell on Dana before he rushed at her and sank his teeth into her neck, drinking her blood. After the large gulps he took, Dana was dead the moment her body fell at his feet. Elena watched him do this in disbelief from the floor since her legs failed to lift her due to the shock of having been hit. She had never seen this side of Stefan before and she would be lying if she wasn't a bit frightened by him with crimson liquid staining his lips.
From afar, Gwen and Juniper watched as Stefan directed his attention to Chad, proceeding to feed on the boy. Gwen had to look away this time, having had no time to react when Stefan fed on Dana. This wasn't the first time she had been placed in a situation like this, but that didn't mean that she was comfortable with anything that was happening, which was why she became frustrated that no one was telling Klaus what he wanted to know. From her standpoint, everyone would be better off giving him whatever he wanted, and then he'd be off. She knew from personal experience that Klaus always got what he wanted.
Juniper glanced at Gwen and squeezed the younger girl's shoulder. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Gwen nodded, wrapping her arms around her middle. She looked at Klaus' back. "It's just been a while since I've seen him like this."
"I know," Juniper sighed. "But it'll be over soon."
"It's always nice to see a vampire in his true element," Klaus said to Elena from where he was crouched next to her trembling form on the floor. "The species has become such a broody lot."
"No." Elena shook her head, her cool hand still placed over her warm cheek. "You did this to him," she said with her voice wavering as she watched Stefan finish feeding on Chad.
"I invited him to the party, love," Klaus countered as he stood up with Elena managing to climb to her feet. "He's the one dancing on the table."
"You still invited him!" Juniper called, causing Klaus to roll his eyes.
"Where is it?!" Rebekah shouted as she marched into the gym with a phone in her hand, her stomping feet headed to Klaus and Elena, but her murderous intent was solely focused on the confused doppelgänger. "Where's my necklace?" Her question had Gwen and Juniper sharing confused looks.
"What are you talking about?" Klaus asked his sister. "They don't have it."
"She knows where it is," Rebekah argued as she gave Caroline's phone to Klaus. "Look."
Klaus plucked the phone from Rebekah's hand where it showed a picture of Elena and Stefan smiling together. Gwen and Juniper appeared by his sides, also looking at the picture. The hybrid's eyes went to Elena's neck on the picture and zoomed in to find what he had been looking for. "Well, well," he hummed as he handed the phone to Juniper. "There it is. We've been looking for the bloody thing for a long while."
"Where is it?" Rebekah asked Elena, her tone of voice chilling enough to send a shiver down the latter's spine.
"I don't have it anymore," Elena told the fuming vampire.
"You're lying!" Rebekah yelled before she sank her fangs into Elena's neck out of anger.
Klaus grabbed his sister and pulled her off Elena to take her a bit to the side. "Knock it off!"
"Make her tell me where it is, Nik!" Rebekah raged, but he could see in her eyes how important the piece of jewelry was to her.
The hybrid was on the brink of losing his patience with everyone, but he took a deep breath and turned to face Elena, who was cowering on the floor with a hand over the open wound on her neck. "Where's the necklace, sweetheart?" Klaus asked her as he crouched in front of her, his chin on his hands. "Be honest."
"I'm telling the truth," Elena answered, a small whimper leaving her. "Katherine stole it."
"Katherine?" Gwen asked, feeling like the name was familiar.
"Yes, Katerina," Klaus exhaled heavily. "The doppelgänger that came before this one. Well, this is unfortunate. We need that necklace, which would make things much easier to clear up. But, since we're doing this the hard way, let's put a clock on it, shall we?" He walked over to the gym's clock, pushing a few buttons that made a loud buzzing sound echo as a timer appeared on the clock. Once that was done, he walked over to Stefan. "Twenty minutes. If Bonnie hasn't found a solution to compare with my witch's, I want you to feed again," he told Stefan as he locked eyes with the vampire. "Only this time, I want you to feed on Elena." He smirked as he glanced at the doppelgänger. "You know you want to."
"No, Klaus!" Elena begged. "Don't do this to him!"
"No one leaves," Klaus said as he began to make his way out of the gym, placing a hand on Gwen's back to take her with him. Rebekah and Juniper followed behind Klaus as he pointed at Elena while walking by her. "If she tries to run, fracture her spine." He left the gym with everyone else, leaving Elena alone with Stefan.
"Do you really want to do that?" Juniper asked Klaus as she followed him like everyone else.
"Do what?" asked Klaus.
Juniper frowned. "If my theory is correct, then you need the doppelgänger alive."
"That bloody cow can rot," said Rebekah, rubbing Elena's blood from her lips.
"Nik," Gwen began as she walked beside Klaus. "You might need her alive to make the hybrids. She may be the one they need to drink from to complete their transition, like you." Klaus stopped walking to face her. "Letting her die will ruin that for you."
Klaus sighed as he rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming from the night's events. "All right." He looked at Rebekah. "Take Gwen and June. Watch over the werewolf and look for any signs of death."
"What about you?" Gwen asked him.
"I'll go find the Bennett witch," Klaus answered before taking his leave.
The three women watched him disappear when he turned a corner before Rebekah cleared her throat. "Let's go and wait for this night to end." She began to make her way to the classroom Caroline took Tyler's body. "I'm about done with this whole thing."
Gwen nodded with a sigh. "I couldn't agree more."
Juniper followed the two girls and arrived in a classroom that looked to be used as a laboratory, finding a distraught Caroline watching over her boyfriend after having placed him on top of a table. The place was silent. Everyone was exhausted after the events that took place, except for the immortal vampires who possessed more stamina and didn't get tired as quickly as humans.
"How long until time's up?" Rebekah asked Gwen and Juniper as the three of them sat on a table, giving Caroline her space.
Juniper pulled out the phone that had Elena and Stefan's picture, placing a timer on it before handing it to Rebekah. "Here, you can keep track of the timer with this."
Rebekah made a surprised sound as she fiddled with the phone. "Honestly, I am in awe with how much technology has advanced."
"Wait till you see a computer," Gwen told Rebekah, receiving a frown. "I'll explain it later. It's going to be a lot for you to take in."
"Why are you doing this?" Caroline asked, having worked up the nerve.
"Well, I am doing this to help the friend of a friend and give an old lady the best for what remains of her life," Juniper told the vampire, turning on her seat to face her.
"Helping a friend," said Gwen.
Rebekah sighed, "Helping an obnoxious brother."
Caroline couldn't accept those answers, not when her boyfriend lied dead in front of her. "Why kill Tyler?"
"Unfortunately for him, he's the only werewolf in town," Juniper answered, taking her brown hair and dividing it into three sections to put it in a braid over her shoulder. "And we need to test out a few theories." She gave the blonde girl a comforting smile. "Look, if he's able to turn into a hybrid, he won't suffer from the werewolf curse every full moon."
"But there's no guarantee," argued Caroline.
"Take it up with my brother," Rebekah told her. "He's the one who broke his neck."
Silence engulfed the whole room once more, not a single word being exchanged between the women. Caroline went back to worrying about Tyler. Juniper roamed around the room. And lastly, Gwen sat beside Rebekah, teaching the vampire how to use the phone and its many apps.
Suddenly, Tyler gasped awake and began to cough, startling Caroline and Gwen. "Where am I?" he asked as Caroline helped him sit up. He placed his hands over his chest and looked around, gasping for air, as if he had been holding his breath underwater for too long. He felt strange since his skin crawled and screamed at him that something was wrong. He felt wrong in his own body, and nothing was making sense. "What happened?" he asked Caroline after calming down enough to focus on her.
"Tyler," Caroline whispered, her eyes filled with sadness, unable to even come up with a way to begin to explain what was happening to him.
"Don't be shy about it," Rebekah spoke up, smiling at the couple.
Tyler looked up at Caroline. "What's going on?" He couldn't even remember what he was doing before darkness clouded his vision.
"Klaus is turning you into a vampire," Caroline told him, opting to be direct.
"A hybrid," Juniper corrected as she approached the couple with her hands raised in surrender when she saw Caroline's glare. "I come in peace. I need to make sure that he's not already dying." She looked at Tyler and placed a hand on his cold forehead, which was an abnormal temperature for a werewolf, but not for one who was dead. "You're in transition." Tyler's eyes widened, feeling for his heart and finding it beating. "And there's nothing out of the ordinary so far."
"Don't leave out the hard part," said Rebekah. "You'll only survive if your witch is successful or if Juniper," she said as she pointed at the witch, "is right. If not, you're pretty much dead."
"Rebekah," Gwen whispered to the Original. "You can be a little tactful."
Rebekah shrugged her shoulders with pursed lips. "It's the truth, no point in sugarcoating it."
"Please, try," Juniper told her as she sat on a stool near the couple to monitor Tyler.
"You're going to be okay," Caroline said to a panicking Tyler when she heard his heartbeat pick up. "Hey." She carded her fingers through his hair before cupping his face to have him look at her. "It's going to be okay." She helped him off the table before he placed his head on it, trying to stay calm.
"I wonder how that witch is doing," Rebekah said as she pulled up the timer Juniper had put in the phone, showing to everyone else that only two minutes remained. "Tick tock goes the gym clock." She looked at the phone and waited for the two minutes to be over. "And my necklace is still lost."
"We'll find it," Gwen said as she carefully placed a hand on the Original's arm.
"You're too kind, pet," Rebekah said, smiling at Gwen.
Just then, Klaus entered the classroom. "Well, the verdict's in," he announced, holding a vial filled with a red liquid. "The Original witch says the doppelgänger should be dead."
Rebekah perked up at this as she stood up to approach her brother with a happy smile. "Does that mean we can kill her?"
"No, I'm fairly certain that June's theory has been proven to be the correct one," Klaus said as he looked at Juniper.
Gwen stood beside Juniper, glancing at the vial in Klaus' hands. "So that means that you need her alive."
"What?" Rebekah scoffed as she grabbed Caroline to pull her away from Tyler, easily restraining the younger vampire.
"I am just too good!" Juniper laughed, patting Tyler's back. "You get to live."
"Here we are," Klaus said as he showed the tube he was carrying to Tyler. "Elena's blood. Drink it."
"No, no, no," Caroline protested as she shook her head. "Tyler, don't!"
Juniper glanced at Caroline. "He will die if he doesn't. There's nothing to lose."
"Consider this the conclusion of our experiment," Klaus said as he handed over the vial to Tyler.
Tyler looked at the tube and its contents, feeling slight disgust, but he was even more disgusted by the fact that his mouth watered when the blood's scent reached his nose. He didn't want to be a vampire, but he didn't want to die. Seeing no other option, he took the tube to his mouth and drank the blood. He wanted to spit out the blood, but he swallowed it, and then his body began to tremble and shake. The werewolf groaned as he fell to the floor, prompting Juniper to push Gwen behind her and Rebekah to tighten her hold on Caroline as they all watched Tyler scream and writhe on the floor.
"Is it working?" Gwen asked barely above a whisper.
After screaming at the sudden changes his body was going through and the intense pain that came and went, Tyler was overcome with blinding relief. He held his head as he managed to sit on his knees. He screamed once more and lifted his head with a snarl, revealing yellow eyes surrounded by black sclera and veins protruding from beneath his golden orbs.
Klaus grinned as he looked down at Tyler. "Well, that's a good sign.
.
"You know, not to brag or anything, but I am just too good," Juniper chuckled as she grinned at Klaus, who resisted the urge to roll his eyes, but he did give her a lopsided smile.
Gwen smiled at the happy witch from her spot next to Rebekah, both sitting on the hood of a car. "Are you happy?" she asked her friend. "I can't tell."
"Well, I am just excited," said Juniper as she came to stand in front of the girls with Klaus next to her. "I mean, I figured out a loophole in a spell that is a thousand years old. I see that as a total win for me." She looked at Klaus. "And I was right. I am very happy just knowing that I was right."
"So, the doppelgänger isn't the problem, her blood is the solution," said Rebekah.
"Seems so," said Klaus, placing his hands on the car.
Gwen looked at Klaus and asked, "Wait, but why did you want to know what the Original witch had to say?"
"It's something that Juniper made me realize earlier," said Klaus. "About how much the Original witch hated me, which made me think about how she would continue to punish me."
Rebekah nodded with a small smile. "A thousand years in the grave and she's still screwing with you."
"Well, it makes sense if you think about it from her perspective," Klaus explained. "It was her failsafe in case I ever broke the hybrid curse. The doppelgänger had to die in order for me to become a hybrid, but if she was dead..." he trailed off.
"Then you couldn't use her blood to sire yourself a new species," Gwen finished for him, recalling the similar statement she made earlier.
Klaus nodded as he exhaled. "Leaving me alone for all time."
"Is that what this is about?" Rebekah asked her brother, her brows furrowing. "Your obsession with hybrids? You just don't want to be alone?"
An awkward pause passed over the group with Juniper looking at her fingers and Gwen staring at Klaus, whereas the siblings stared at one another for a moment.
"What I want is to take my girl, take my hybrid and get the hell out of this one-pony town," Klaus said as he pushed himself off the car to pace for a bit before looking back at his companions. "You know, why don't you, uh, why don't you get the truck?" he suggested to his sister. "I'll get Elena."
Rebekah gave him a pointed look but did as he asked by wordlessly sliding off the car and walking away. Juniper decided that it was best to keep any comment to herself, so she turned around and motioned with her hand that she was going to go with Rebekah.
Gwen stayed behind as she also slid off the car to approach Klaus. "Are you okay?" she asked him, staring into his eyes with worry.
"Of course, I am," he assured her, but she wasn't convinced. He placed a hand on his shoulder. "I am."
She grabbed his hand and stroked it with her thumb. "You're not alone."
Klaus smiled at her. "I know." He jerked his head to the side. "Go on. Make sure those two don't kill each other."
Gwen simply nodded and let go of his hand after giving him a comforting squeeze before she began to make her way to where they had parked the truck. She threw one last glance over her shoulder and saw Klaus still smiling at her, so she turned back to face forward, eager to get back to him. There was something wrong and she didn't want to leave him for too long, feeling like she needed to talk to him, but she could wait for a few moments.
End of chapter!
I hope you guys enjoyed this longer chapter! We're finally in Mystic Falls, so a lot more will be happening...finally.
I enjoy reading your reviews, you guys have no idea how much they help me write. Also, I am so happy with the amount of Follows and Faves, and I hope more will tune in.
So, continue to share your thoughts in the reviews, Fave to your hearts content and Follow however much you like.
See you in the next chapter!