Nik and I were walking through the halls of the one place no one my age wanted to be, especially tonight.
"Nik what are we doing here?" I asked him, worried for my family.
"Finding out why other people are here." he told me. Suddenly the double doors opened and a girl walked in laughing. She turned to us surprised.
"There's my other girl." Nik said.
"Elena..." I whispered, my heart dropping.
"Klaus!" She said. She tried to run but he stopped her.
"You are supposed to be dead. What are we going to do about that?" he asked before grabbing her arm and dragging her to me. "Did you know?" he asked me, anger in his eyes.
"I do whatever it takes to protect my family, Nik. That includes you but also her." I told him. He growled and grabbed my arm, dragging the both of us with him.
"What's tonight? Why are there student's here?" Nik asked.
"Senior Prank Night." I told him.
"So all the seniors from your classes are here?" he asked.
"I guess so." I told him.
"You two put a rather large kink in my plans, sweetheart. The whole point of breaking the curse and becoming a hybrid was to make more hybrids. I haven't been able to do that. Now my bet is, it has something to do with the fact that you're still breathing." Nik told Elena.
"If you're going to kill me, just do it!" Elena told him.
"Nik, please no!" I begged him.
"Not until I know I'm right. But I do have ways of making you suffer." Nik told us as we walked into the gym.
"Attention, seniors." Nik called out in an American accent, "You have officially been busted. Prank night is over. Head on home." He noticed two of the student. "You two." he said pointing out Dana and calling in is normal voice. "I remember you."
"I'm sorry. Who are you?" Dana asked him.
"Oh, don't worry, I wasn't in my right head last time we met." Nik told her. "Lift your foot up, please, Dana." He compeled before looking at the boy, Chad, and compeling him also. "If she drops her foot, Chad, I want you to beat her to death. Understood?"
"Don't, Nik. You don't have to hurt anybody." I told him.
"Oh, come on, love. Of course I do. You spent most of nine months with me, you know me." he told me.
"You're right I do know you, and I'll say it again: you don't have to hurt anybody. People might help you if you're nicer to them." I told him. He just looked at me before looking at Dana.
"Keep it up." he called to her.
"Where's Stefan? What did you do to him?" Elena asked him.
"Stefan's on a time out." Nik told her and she looked at me.
"He broke Stefan's neck when he learned the Stefan was hiding something from him. I turned when I heard the doors open and saw Bonnie and Matt enter.
"Bonnie, get out of here!" Elena called to her.
"Ah, I was wondering when you'd show up. Now we can get started." Nik said.
"Nik," I said and he looked at me. I looked at Dana and Chad then looked at him again.
"Ah, Dana, why don't you relax? You and Chad sit tight." Nik told them before looking back to Bonnie and Matt. "I assume you're the reason Elena's still walking around alive?"
"That's right. If you want to blame someone, blame me." Bonnie told him.
"Oh, there's no need for blame, love. Just your witchy interference seems to have caused some undesirable side effects. And since you caused the problem, I'm going to have you find the fix." Nik said as Rebekah entered with Tyler.
"Get off of me!" Tyler demanded of her.
"Hush now." Rebekah told him.
"I'd like you all to meet my sister Rebekah. Word of warning... She can be quite mean." Nik introduced her as she walked to us.
"Don't be an ass." Rebekah told him as she threw Tyler into Nik's arms.
"Leave him alone!" Elena ordered him, but he didn't listen to her.
"I'm going to make this very simple... Every time I attempt to turn a werewolf into a vampire hybrid, they die during the transition. It's quite horrible, actually." Nik said biting his wrist and making Tyler drink his blood. "I need you to find a way to save my hybrids, Bonnie. And for Tyler's sake... You better hurry." Nik broke Tyler's neck and the other looked shocked at him as he smiled. Dana and Chad sat on the floor away from us as we all sat next to Tyler.
"He killed him." Matt said.
"He's not dead. Klaus's blood will turn him into a vampire." Elena explained to him.
"No it won't, it'll turn him into a hybrid." I corrected.
"And if Bonnie's successful, he'll live through his transition. Go on, then. Go and fetch your grimoires and enchantments and what-not. I'll hold on to Elena... For safe-keeping." Nik said, grabbing my sister's arm and looking at her. Elena nodded to Bonnie who left with Matt. Rebekah walked up to Elena and looked her over.
"So this is the latest doppelgänger. The original one was much prettier." Rebekah said.
"There are two of us, dear." I reminded her.
"You look more like her, act like her." she told me and I smiled.
"Thank you." I said. Elena gave me a look and I shrugged at her. "What? This is my kid's aunt and father." I reminded her and she just rolled her eyes at me.
"Enough, Rebekah. Take the wolf boy elsewhere, would you?" Nik asked her. Rebekah took Tyler by the ankle and left with him. "Just ignore her. Petty little thing." Nik said. He let go of Elena and she went to go comfort Dana. A little later, Stefan walked into the gym.
"Stefan..." Elena said looking at him.
"Klaus." Stefan said ignoring her.
"Come to save your damsel, mate?" Nik asked him.
"I came to ask for your forgiveness. And pledge my loyalty." Stefan told him. Nik looked at me and nodded him head to the bleachers and I went and sat down.
"Well, you broke that pledge once already." Nik reminded him.
"Elena means nothing to me anymore. And whatever you ask of me... I will do." Stefan told him.
"Fair enough. Let's drink on it. Kill them." Nik ordered pointing at Dana and Chad. "What are you waiting for? Kill them."
"No! Stefan, don't. He's not going to hurt me. He already said..." Elena tried telling him but didn't get to continue since Nik hit her so hard that fell on the floor.
"Elena!" I called out as Stefan rushed to Nik, his fangs out. Nik grabbed him by the throat nad kept him away.
"She means nothing to you? Your lies just keep piling up." Nik said.
"Let her go! I'll do whatever you want, you have my word!" Stefan told him.
"Your word doesn't mean much. I lived by your word all summer, during which time I never had to resort to this..." Nik said before looking the younger vampire in the eyes. "Stop fighting." Nik compeled.
"Don't do this, don't do this." Stefan begged him.
"I didn't want to. All I wanted was your allegiance. Now I'm going to have to take it." Nik told him.
"Don't...Don't..." Stefan kept begging him.
"You will do exactly as I say when I say it. You will not run, you will not hide, you will simply just obey." Nik told him.
"No. Stefan!" Elena called out.
"Now kill them. Ripper." Nik ordered and Stefan vamped out before rushing to Dana and Chad, killing them. "It's always nice to see a vampire in his true element. The species has become such a broody lot."
"No. You did this to him." Elena said.
"I invited him to the party, love. He's the one dancing on the table." Nik told her smirking. I got up from the bleachers and walked to her. Suddenly Rebekah walked in and rushed to us.
"Where is it?! Where's my necklace?" Rebekah asked.
"What are you talking about?" Nik asked her.
"She has my necklace. Look." Rebekah told him before showing him a phone with a picture on it.
"Well, well. More lies." Nik said.
"Where...is it?" Rebekah asked her.
"I don't have it anymore." Elena told her.
"You're lying!" Rebekah yelled at her before vamping out. She pushed me away from Elena into a wall and bit Elena.
"Knock it off!" Nik yelled at her and pulling her off of Elena.
"Make her tell me where it is, Nik!" Rebekah ordered him in tears. Nik turned to look at Elena who was covering her wound.
"Where's the necklace, sweetheart? Be honest." Nik told her.
"I'm telling the truth. Katherine stole it." She told him. He let go of Rebekah and walked to me, helping me up.
"Katerina. Of course. Well, that's unfortunate. If we had the necklace it would make things a whole lot easier for your witch, but since we're doing this the hard way, let's put a clock on it, shall we?" Nik asked her taking our a remote and putting a time limit on Bonnie. There was a buzzer sound when the clock appeared on the board behind us. "20 minutes. If Bonnie hasn't found a solution by then, I want you to feed again. Only this time, I want you to feed on Elena. You know you want to." Nik told Stefan.
"No, Klaus! Don't do this to him!" Elena begged him.
"No one leaves. If she tries to run, fracture her spine." Nik ordered before taking me in his arms and leaving with Rebekah behind us. Nik took us to the nurses office and set me down on one of the beds.
"Are you alright, love?" he asked me.
"Yeah, I'm alright." I told him trying to sit up and bit and wincing in pain.
"Nicole, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you." Rebekah told me and I smiled at her.
"I know you didn't Rebekah, you got angry. It happens." I said trying to down play what had happened.
"She could have killed you and the baby." Nik said getting angry.
"She was upset because something precious to her was taken by someone." I said.
"Rebekah, go keep a close eye on my wolf." Nik ordered. she gave me a quick look before turning and leaving.
"You don't have to be so mean to her." I said.
"You could have been killed." he said again.
"I should be hurt worse, but I'm not." I said, surprised.
"What do you mean?" he asked me.
"An original vampire just threw me into a wall, and I'm only in a little pain?" I asked him and I saw him thinking the same thing I was. "I'm not supernatural except for being the doppleganger, but that's doesn't come with strength to walk away from that."
"So how did you?" he asked me. I looked down to me pregnant stomach before looking back up at him.
"Do you think?" I asked.
"It's possible." he told me before hugging me close to him. "No matter the reason, I'm happy you and our son is okay." he said and I smiled at him.
"As am I." I got off the bed, wincing a bit before we started walking again.
"From the witch that put the hybrid curse on Klaus. She said that Elena shouldn't have survived Klaus' ritual. The hybrids can't transition because Elena's still alive." I heard Matt say as we walked by the pool. Nik and I poked our heads in and listened to the rest of the conversation.
"Tyler..." Bonnie said.
"He's going to die, isn't he?" Matt asked her.
"I wouldn't be too sure about that." Nik told him. "Given the choice, doppelgänger or a hybrid, I go hybrid every time." He walked out while grabbing my hand, pulling me with him. A door opened in front of us and Elena ran into Nik.
"We've got to stop meeting like this." Nik told her before grabbing her arm and pulling her with us to the cafeteria. We watched as Stefan made a stake and drove it through his body. "Now this is fascinating. I've never seen this before. The only thing stronger than your craving for blood is your love for this one girl. Why don't you turn it off?"
"No!" Stefan told him.
"Come on. Your humanity is killing you. All the guilt must be exhausting. Turn it off." Nik ordered again, letting us go and walking to him.
"No!" Stefan shouted at him.
"Stefan..." Elena said and I held her hand.
"You're strong." Nik said removing the stake from Stefan's body. "But you're not that strong. Turn...it... Off."
"No!" Stefan repeated, pushing Nik away. Nik pushed him against the wall.
"Turn it off!" Nik shouted, compeling him.
"What did you do?" Elena asked Nik as we watched Stefan's face change.
"I fixed him. But I think a test is in order, don't you?" Nik asked her. He sped behind us and I looked at Stefan nervously.
"Ripper... Perhaps you'd like a drink.. From your doppelgänger's neck?" Nik asked and Stefan's face changed before he rushed over to Elena and bit her neck, making her scream.
Nik and I walked back into the classroom Rebekah, Tyler and Caroline were in.
"Well, the verdict's in. The original witch says the doppelgänger should be dead." Nik said as I walked to Caroline and gave her a hug.
"Does that mean we can kill her?" Rebekah asked happily.
"No, I'm fairly certain it means the opposite." Nik said.
"What?!" She asked him.
"Call it a hunch..." Nik said showing everyone a test tube containing blood and giving it to Tyler. Rebekah grabbed Caroline's arms so she couldn't move to do anything. "Elena's blood. Drink it."
"No! No, no, no, Tyler, don't!" Caroline told him.
"If he doesn't feed, he'll die anyway, love. Consider this an experiment." Nik told her. Tyler struggled, staring at the blood, before he finally drank it. "There we go. Good boy." Tyler suddenly screamed and groaned and writhed on the ground. He held his head and screamed but his face finally changed to where his eyes were yellow and he had vampire fangs with veins under his eyes. "Well, that's a good sign."
Nik, Rebekah, and I were in front of the hospital that Elena was in.
"So the doppelgänger isn't the problem. Her blood is the solution." Rebekah said.
"Seems so." he told us.
"How did you know?" I asked him.
"Well, the original witch hated me. Do you honestly think I would do anything other than the opposite of what she says?" he asked smirking at me.
"A thousand years in the grave and she's still screwing with you." Rebekah said.
"Well, it makes sense if you think about it from her perspective. 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..." Nik said and Rebekah picked up the dropped sentence.
"Then you couldn't use her blood to sire yourself a new species."
"Leaving me alone for all time." Nik said and I gave him a curious look.
"Is that what this is about? Your obsession with hybrids. You just don't want to be alone?" I asked him.
"What I want is to take my girl, take my hybrid, and take my doppelganger the hell out of this one pony town. You know, why don't you, uh, why don't you two get the truck? I'll get Elena." Nik said. I kissed him deeply before getting off the car I was sitting on.
"I love you." I said, smiling.
"I love you." I left with Rebekah to get the truck ready for us to leave.
"Well, isn't this cozy?" Stefan said as we walked into the Salvatore house, him pulling me by my arm.
"What are you doing here, brother?" Damon asked Stefan.
"Last I checked, I live here. Klaus is gone, but he's asked me to keep watch on you and Nicole until he returns. From now on, you two are under my protection." Stefan said looking at Elena and I. Damon and Elena turned to me surprised.
"It's true." I answered the question in their eyes.
"Mmm, by all means. Carry on." Stefan said dragging me upstairs to an empty room and putting me inside. "This is your room until Klaus comes back." he said before leaving. I went to the window seat and sat down staring out into the distance.
