He swore when he lost sight of her.
He had one thing to do, as he was often reminded, and that was to keep an eye on her. And he hadn't even done that right. He broke away from the people who were dancing, cursing his luck.
If there was one thing Derek hated, other than vampires and hunters, it was socialising. He was terrible at it, he didn't like people in general, and he didn't like dancing. Still, he was stuck at the stupid ball to keep an eye on the doppelgänger.
Only, he wasn't doing a very good job of keeping an eye on her.
He almost wished he wasn't a hybrid in that moment, but he knew that wouldn't get him anywhere.
What seemed like a lifetime ago, he had belonged to a very powerful werewolf pack in Texas, until five years ago, when the woman who claimed to love him had killed them all in a fire. She was a hunter, as it turned out. Ever since, he'd moved from one place to another, a wolf without a pack. Until, Klaus had found him.
He'd brought him Eva's head and told him he wanted to make him into a hybrid. He wanted someone who wasn't just a barbarian, he'd said, but Derek could tell the man was just being classist, had known of his family's legacy and wanted a part of that.
But still he'd agreed. Klaus didn't know the first thing about leading wolves, let alone hybrids, so he wanted Derek to be his beta. Well, he hadn't used the word, but that was what Derek was. So he trained the hybrids, until Klaus came up with a strange request, ensuring the safety of the girl who was the key to turning them into hybrids.
He'd refused at first.
But then he'd seen them together and he had realised they were mates. He'd known better than to say anything to his sire, but it was obvious to anyone with knowledge of werewolf legends. So he'd essentially stalked the girl, had made sure she was safe.
And now, he had misplaced her, in a house.
He checked all the corridors and bedrooms downstairs, even scaring some middle aged ladies in the bathroom, before he'd gone up the stairs. He checked every room until he came upon the last one.
That was where her scent was the strongest.
But he knew this one was the witches and he was unsure about going in. He knew enough witches to know they were extremely powerful, and this one was one of the most powerful. But if something were to happen to the girl, he wasn't sure the town would be left standing at the wake of Klaus' anger.
And he would be dead as well.
So he opened the door, unlocked to his surprise, and went in.
"Oh no." He walked towards where the girl was unconscious on the couch with dry, caked blood on her palm. He tried to wake her, but was unable to.
He left the room to call Klaus, given that there was sage burning inside.
"What is it?" The man appeared in front of him within seconds and Derek led him into the room, shutting the door behind them, having predicted what was about to happen. Klaus was frozen, staring as if he wasn't able to believe what he was seeing.
He turned around to face Derek, eyes full of rage. Suddenly, Derek wasn't sure he would survive the night.
"What the hell happened to her?" He felt a chill go up his spine at the rage the other hybrid was emanating. "The only reason you're alive, is that I can hear her heart beating. So I suggest you start talking."
"I don't know. I came to look for her and found her like this."
"Look for her? You were supposed to keep an eye on her the entire time!" He was definitely going to die tonight.
"I was, but I was moving your brother and by the time I got back, she had disappeared."
"This has to be my mothers doing." Klaus said as she kneeled by the couch, taking her hand in his. "She did this, no doubt for some kind of blood magic. And if she kept Elena here, then she might intend to harm her again. I need to get her away from here."
"Won't she notice if you aren't at the ball?" He asked the other hybrid even as he was checking over his mate.
"I don't care." He was running a hand through his hair, while looking at her with tenderness. He seemed to be rethinking his words, because he suddenly looked up. "Take her and leave."
"Uh..?"
"It seems I have to murder my recently resurrected mother." He said with a feral grin that made Derek fearful. "Take her through the back entrance, to your house and wait with her there." He nodded in agreement as the words washed over him. He moved to pick her up, just as the door opened and one his brothers entered the room.
"Nicklaus." He took in the room first, before turning to look at his brother.
"Elijah."
"Brother, what have you done with Elena?"
"Me, oh I've done nothing, perhaps you should ask what Esther has done." Elijah shut the doors before coming into the room.
"She had requested a private audience with Elena." He could see Klaus' jaw set at the words, as he walked towards his brother.
"And you let her walk into the lions den, unaccompanied. Need I remind you that it was mother who killed Tatia, out of nothing more than spite." The anger was rolling off him in waves, as his voice was raised.
"No, you need not brother. I can recall it as perfectly as though it was yesterday. And this," he said looking around the room, "the elements of a spell, blood of the doppelgänger, sage. What exactly is mother planning?"
"I don't know, but it's probably no good. Perhaps we should ask Kol. He's devious and he has knowledge of mothers spells, he might know. Take her, I'll be there soon." Klaus said to Derek as he picked her up and left the room. "What's left of this bloody evening Elijah?"
"Just the toast, brother."
The first thing she noticed was that her head was pounding. She tried to open her eyes, making her headache worse. When she finally did, she realised that she didn't know where she was. She could hear voices reaching her from somewhere but couldn't make out the words.
She itched her skin where it had been trapped underneath her dress and tried to get up slowly.
Once she had regained her balance, she walked to where the door was and yanked it open, coming upon an odd sight.
Bonnie was in the centre of the room, Kol smirking at her, Elijah was sitting on the couch going through a grimoire, Derek was making drinks and Klaus was walking towards her.
She was hit by the sudden barrage of memories, his hands on her, his lips on hers, going to meet Esther, and then...nothing.
She could see the question in his eyes and knew it was reflected in hers, still she nodded, she was fine.
"Look who's finally decided to wake up." He said and the entire room turned to stare at her.
Everyone was still wearing their clothes from the ball even though she could see the sliver of sunlight through the gap in the curtains.
"Elena, thank God you're awake, I was beginning to get worried." Bonnie said as she walked towards her, around Klaus and stopped in front of her. "What happened?"
"I need to wash my hands." She said pulling off the remaining glove and walking towards the kitchen Derek pointed at.
Once she did, she leaned against the counter as she recounted the entire tale.
"So it's true then? She wants to kill us all?" Elijah asked with an air of finality.
"Yeah. My blood was supposed to be in the champagne last night."
"No wonder it tasted so sweet." Klaus commented absently and a little lecherously causing Bonnie to glare at him.
"And you just gave your blood, did you?" Kol asked, a dangerous hint in his voice.
"She took it from me."
"See I don't particularly care about specifics." The next moment, Klaus was standing in front of Kol, blocking his way to her.
"We need to find a way to stop our mother. Let us focus on the problem at hand." Elijah said to the others.
Both Klaus and Kol fell silent at that, and Elena could feel the glare that Bonnie was levelling her with. She frowned until she realised that she had just given away a plan to kill Klaus. But even if she hadn't wanted to save him, she wasn't sure she could kill all five of them.
No one deserved to die at the hands of their own mother.
"Well, we could always unlink ourselves." Elijah said.
"And we would need a witch for it." Kol said.
"We have one." Klaus was pointing to Bonnie who was already shaking her head.
"I'm not helping any of you."
"Come now darling, there are three originals here. You can't possibly take us all down." Kol was walking towards where Bonnie was and Elena felt protectiveness flair in her chest. She started walking towards them both, unsure what she would do.
"Yes, I can." Bonnie raised her hand, causing Kol to groan in pain for a few moments before he straightened his neck, smirking at the witch.
"No, you really can't. But please, by all means, keep trying. I haven't felt pain since the 1800s."
"You've been daggered for the better part of the last two centuries brothers, that could possibly be the reason why." Elijah said and Kol turned to face him, looking offended.
"And then there's fact that you sleep with just about every witch you see." Klaus quipped and Bonnie was staring at Elena, who was trying not to laugh at how normal they all sounded.
"Oh shut up, both of you. Weren't we talking about solving this problem?"
"Yes, do you have a solution? Other then antagonising the only witch in town?" Elijah asked Kol, who was frowning.
"The unlinking might not work, we'll have to get Finn's blood for it. Well, all our blood, but Finn's will be hard to get."
"Derek," Klaus said turning to the other hybrid, "tell the hybrids to get to it, while my brother remains unaware."
"Will he be, unaware?" Elijah questioned, "if he is working with our mother..."
"Yes, if only Nik hadn't killed her..."
"Then why isn't she only planning to kill Nicklaus?" Elijah mused and Klaus turned to him.
"Oh, thank you Elijah. I mean that is the question, isn't it, why wouldn't she just want to kill the bastard? Why the rest of you?" She almost recoiled at the vitriol in his voice, and Elijah looked concerned.
"Really brother, now we have talked about this, at length, and we have always chosen you over our murderous parents." He was talking firmly, but Elena got the distinct feeling that he was being more careful than usual. "I was merely saying that Kol, this does not just have to do with our brother."
"Fine. So she hates us all."
"Possibly. We might have to kill her."
"Oh, I will gladly do it again."
"But there is a chance it might not work. Kol?" Elijah seemed level headed in that moment, but Elena could tell that this momentary peace was tenuous.
The Mikaelsons were the definition of dysfunctional.
"There is. However, there's an easy solution to that. Mother is drawing on the Bennett bloodline, so we could just sever the tie."
"Sever the tie, you mean-"
"Oh, we're not killing her," Klaus said with finality, "she's too strong a witch, I might need her in the future."
"Then her mother, but killing won't be enough, we would have to turn her. If mother is drawing on the entire bloodline, then that means she's drawing on the dead as well. She doesn't need to be dead, she needs to stop being a witch." Elijah said and Elena turned, desperately hunting for something that might help her as she moved back into the kitchen.
There was no way she was letting Bonnie lose someone again. She still hadn't forgotten how her grandmother had died, because Elena convinced her to help them.
"Well yes, that can be done." Her heart sank as she realised it was Klaus who said it. She picked up a knife, having an idea and turned around, holding it behind her back.
"Bonnie's mother was the one who desiccated and entombed Mikeal." Elena said, trying for something, anything that might work.
"And while that maybe a point in favour of the witch, she could just as easily do it to one of us. And since we're all linked, well, you could see how that would be a problem." Kol said somewhat condescending.
"But you can't kill either of them. Or turn them, there is another way."
"And yet, this is the easiest way." Kol responded.
"Yes, but-"
"Enough, Elijah can find her mother and I can-" But Klaus never got to finish because she raised the knife to her neck digging it into her skin hard enough to draw blood.
If this was the only leverage she had, then so be it.
"No."
"Oh bloody hell-"
"Elena..." Bonnie was advancing towards her so she pressed herself against the kitchen counter.
"Give me your word that you won't hurt either of them or I will slit my throat. No more hybrids." She knew it was a gamble even as Elijah looked at her knowingly.
"Put the knife down." His face was unreadable, usually she could tell, but not here and now. She could see a hint of betrayal in his eyes, and she felt bad about having to do this, but she couldn't just abandon Bonnie. Not after everything.
"Not until you give me your word." She could, however, see the set of his jaw. But she was just as stubborn as he was, and she wouldn't give in. She couldn't.
"I'm calling you out on your bluff darling." Kol said, "Nik, let her do it."
"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure brother, she did this last year, stabbed herself in the stomach and then daggered me." Elijah informed Kol.
"Of course she did and of course it worked. You and the doppelgängers, isn't it a little incestuous at this point Elijah?" Kol said before dropping down on the couch.
While this was happening, Klaus was advancing towards her, only to find himself unable to enter the kitchen, where Bonnie had moved.
"You weren't paying attention to me, so I thought I'd cast a boundary spell." Bonnie said and if she thought Klaus was angry before, he looked livid now.
"Honestly, you need to stop with this stupidity, put that bloody thing down and come out here."
"No. I'm not going to let you or your family hurt my friend."
"And what of you helping our mother?" Elijah asked.
"I wasn't going to help her."
"My family has destroyed your life, why wouldn't you want to help her?" Elijah asked looking confused and she couldn't stop her gaze from shifting to Klaus in that moment, the unspoken truth was what was between them laid bare for him to see. Just as she could see the fear hidden behind his anger.
"Enough." He said, "you have my word, now put down that bloody knife down and come out here, so one of us can heal you."
She pulled the knife out, hissing as the blood tricked down her throat and walked towards where he was giving her a few drops of his blood in a glass.
"Oh good, once again, Nik has chosen his hybrids over his entire bloody family." Kol said in frustration as Klaus passed the glass over and she mixed juice in it. "Do you at least have a plan brother?"
"Well, of course, I do. First, we need to get a witch to unlink us all. I know someone more trustworthy than the Bennett witch who we can use. And then I'm going to kill our mother."
"Yes, that sounds quite good. Kol, if you could drop Ms. Bennett home."
"With pleasure." Bonnie was saying something to Kol, but Elena was rooted to the spot at the look Klaus had fixed her with.
"Elena?" Bonnie asked and she was already at the door with Kol.
"No, she won't be leaving with you." Elijah said, "consider her insurance, you'll get her once we're certain our mothers plan has failed. And of course, if it hasn't, rest assured Elena won't see the next morning either." Elena looked sharply at Elijah in disbelief, she had no disillusions about his priorities but she hadn't expected him to be so detached. "In the meanwhile, Nicklaus when will the witch be here?"
"Soon. Derek can go get her. Get her here instead of my house." He told the hybrid who left with Kol and Bonnie.
"In the meanwhile, I will go home and pretend as if everything is going well, and we do not have an inkling of mothers plan, I suggest you stay here and keep an eye on her."
Elijah left then and it was just the two of them.
A/N : I know this isn't much, but I decided to publish it once I realised it couldn't get better. I'm not very proud of how this chapter turned out. But I'm very excited about the next chapter. It's pure Klaus/Elena interaction.
