Chapter Thirty-One: Realizations

By the time Kiara and Stefan got back to the store, Klaus and Rebekah were gone. After checking the hotel and finding it empty, they headed back to Gloria's hoping to find them there. They were silent the entire time. The tension between the two of them kept them from saying anything. After all, Kiara knew that not only was Stefan keeping the location of the necklace from Klaus, he was doing so because he knew that Elena Gilbert was alive. A fact that Kiara didn't plan on keeping from Klaus if she could help it. There was only one problem: Stefan.

He threatened to put Klaus on Katherine's tail if she said anything. And Kiara wasn't about to let anything happen to her, especially not after she warned her about the new level of danger she was in.

"You left us," Rebekah said as soon as they walked in. She was sitting on the bar top, her legs crossed, her feet on one of the stools. It was hard to believe she was lying in a box with a dagger in her chest only yesterday.

Kiara could tell by the look in her eyes that Rebekah was worried that something was going on between her and Stefan. Little did she know how much they disliked one another. Meanwhile Klaus was sitting in a stool next to her looking gloomy as Gloria sat across the room with her hands hovering over a large ancient looking book.

"Yeah, sorry. Retail therapy was making my head explode," was all Stefan said in response as he made his way down the stairs of the club.

"Tell me about it," Klaus said, downing a shot. One of many it seemed. No wonder Rebekah looked so bored.

"What's she doing?" Stefan asked, nodding towards Gloria.

"She's failing," Klaus said.

"It's hard to find something when you don't have anything to go on," she told them.

"So use me," Rebekah suggested. "I only wore it for a thousand years." She stepped off the bar and made her way towards Gloria.

"See? Now this one offers a solution," Gloria said, reaching out a hand for Rebekah to take. "All right," she said as Rebekah said down on the table in front of her. "Give me your hand, sweetheart."

"She's-uh-she's looking for the necklace, huh?" Stefan asked, trying to appear disinterested and failing miserably.

"Obviously," Klaus mumbled. His eyes met Kiara then. He raised an eyebrow at her. "You alright, love? You seem… tense. You both do, actually. Something you want to share?" His eyes flicked from Stefan to Kiara and back again.

Kiara pressed her lips together. "Yeah," she told him. "But we can talk about it later."

"Let's talk about it now," Klaus said, leaning forward in his seat. His eyes fixed her with his signature demanding stare.

"I can't talk about it right now," she told him. Her voice firm. Her eyes worried. "We're in the middle of this. Let's just concentrate on one thing at a time, okay?" Kiara said, turning her attention to Gloria as she began chanting in Latin.

"Anta Cotis Syrum," Gloria said repeatedly. It took a few minutes, but finally she put Rebekah's hand down and looked at Stefan. "I found it," she said. Though she didn't look happy about it and Kiara didn't need to see Stefan's expression to know that he didn't either.

Impatient and probably annoyed with the dramatics, Rebekah leaned towards the witch and said, "So where is it?"

"It doesn't work like that, doll," Gloria said, shaking her head. "I get images. There's a girl with her friends—"

"Yes, a dead girl with dead friends," Rebekah nodded. "If I don't get my necklace back."

"Really starting to see the family resemblance…" Kiara muttered under her breath. Rebekah's eyes snapped up to glare in her direction and Kiara rubbed that back of her neck awkwardly. "What? Just making an observation."

"Well, I'll have to dive back in to get the details," Gloria told them.

"So dive," Klaus said, walking past Stefan and towards Gloria.

"I need more time," Gloria said, like it should be obvious, but Kiara could feel the deception rolling off her tongue. Klaus leaned his hands on the table Gloria was sitting in front of. "And space. You're harshing my ju-ju." She waved him away.

"We can wait," Klaus said with a grin that he quickly dropped.

"I'm sure you can," Gloria nodded. "But that's not what I asked."

"Hey," Stefan made his way to Klaus and put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, you know, why don't we just come back later?" He looked up at Rebekah to find she was already looking at him. "I'm hungry anyway." Then he leaned towards Klaus's ear to say, not too quietly, "I'll let you pick who we eat." He patted Klaus's back and stepped back a little before turning to leave.

Kiara sighed, not really looking forward to watching ripper Stefan feed with his friends, but she wasn't sure how comfortable she felt being alone with Gloria now that she knew about the bounty. The woman was a witch after all and she clearly wanted something that didn't include helping Klaus.

"The succubus can stay," Gloria said before any of them could get too far and Kiara's stomach dropped.

Klaus glared at the back of the witches head. "Oh?"

"They're supposed to be great amplifiers for spells," Gloria shrugged. "Might help quicken the process."

"She's not some ingredient for one of your spells," Klaus told her.

Gloria looked over her shoulder at him. "I'd only need a little bit of her blood."

"Yeah. What's the problem, Nik? If it helps us find my necklace?" Rebekah asked.

Not sure of the answer himself, Klaus looked at Kiara who had paused following him up the steps. He kept his voice low, clearly not wanting Gloria to hear when he said, "Something's wrong. You need to tell me."

But Kiara couldn't bring herself to say anything. Not in front of Stefan or Gloria. If she knew about the bounty and didn't say anything, she was probably a threat. On the other hand, if she didn't know, Kiara didn't want to risk telling her and have her decide to turn on them. She shook her head. "I don't want to bother you with this right now. We can talk about it after we find the necklace."

"Sorry," Klaus said, not looking away from Kiara's green eyes. "You'll have to do without the succubus. She comes with me." He took Kiara's hand and pulled her out of the club. And she was relieved. Despite herself, she felt safer by his side than anywhere else at the moment. Once they were outside, he turned to her. "You're shaking," he pointed out. "Why?" When Kiara shook her head, avoiding eye contact, he turned to their companions. "Leave us."

"What?" Rebekah frowned. "Why?"

"I need to speak with Kiara alone. You go. We'll catch up."

Kiara could feel Stefan's eye on her as they made their way down the street.

"Now, love," Klaus said, leading her down a nearby alleyway for more privacy. "Tell me everything."

"You have to promise not to freak out."

"Why?" Klaus said, slowly with suspicion.

"Because I have a lot to say and you're not gonna like any of it." When Klaus simply stared at her. She tried to figure out the best place to start. "Well first of all… when Gloria said she needed time earlier. She was lying. She's been lying this whole time actually. She doesn't want to help you make more hybrids."

"Why wouldn't you have said so earlier?"

"She has information about my mother," Kiara told him. "I know it was selfish, but I was still hoping she might tell me more about her. Now that I know there's whisperings out there about a bounty on my head…"

"Wait, go back, what bounty?"

"Yeah I probably should have led with that, huh?"

"I would say so. Yes." Klaus's face looked deadly serious now. "Is it your father?"

"Must be," Kiara shrugged. "And I don't know how far his reach goes…"

"You think Gloria might be aware of this bounty?"

"I don't know. Maybe. But it doesn't really matter if you need her help."

Klaus placed his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eye. "There's plenty of other witches," he told her. Kiara just nodded. "There's something else you aren't telling me," he said. "What is it?"

Kiara's heart kick started at the question. "You have to promise not to get mad at me."

"You're asking for a lot of promises, love."

Pursing her lips, Kiara studied him for a moment before finally spitting out the words. "Earlier… when I went to get coffee, I was meeting Katherine."

Klaus's eyes widened and he took a step back from her. "She's in the city?"

"She came to me last night when you went to get Rebekah," Kiara quickly explained. "She said she had something important to tell me. I knew she wouldn't risk running into you unless it was life and death."

"She's the one who told you about the bounty."

Kiara nodded. "She risked her life to warn me. I'd rather you didn't go after her or hurt her in any way." She kept eye contact as his eyes searched hers. "She's my friend."

"And that matters to me because?" Klaus asked through a clenched jaw.

"Well, for one, I remembered something else about that night on the mountain and I won't tell you if you plan to hurt her," When he didn't respond right away, she added, "It's about the hybrids."

Klaus rolled his eyes. "Alright, fine. What is it?"

"You remember how Damon broke my neck that night?" She asked. Klaus nodded. "It was because I saw someone there with him. Someone he wanted to protect."

"Who?" Klaus blurted out, losing his patience.

"Elena Gilbert."

Klaus's eyes widened. "That's impossible. I killed her."

"No," Kiara shook her head. "Think about it. It's the only thing that makes sense. Why else would you not be able to make hybrids? Something went wrong when you broke the curse. It's Elena. She's alive."

Anger coursed through Klaus like never before, but Kiara stayed where she was. Finally he said, "Not for long."


Sorry this one took me so long to post. I got caught up with some work stuff. I know this is a short one, but I'm already working on the next coming chapters so please be patient with me.

Also I appreciate all of your feedback and I am making note of all your suggestions. Thank you for reading. :)