Elena's eyes snap open. It's a switch: nothing, and then suddenly - everything. And all she sees light, painful light, searing her eyes and her brain, after she's adjusted to the absence of it.
Before - when she thought of her resurrection, after Elijah first gave her the elixir - Elena expected that she would be dead, and then she wouldn't be, and Bonnie would be there, waiting for her. They would embrace, in relief and love and giddy with it, and Elena would be ifree/i. She'd be free to go back to school, and graduate, and go to college, and choose a career for herself.
Elena would be free to ilive/i her life. (And maybe, to figure out what "forever and always" means to her.)
After - after Elijah betrayed his promise, and chose his desire for revenge against Klaus over Bonnie, over iElena/i and everything they could have been - Elena expected that she would be dead, and then she wouldn't be, and she'd be all alone, Elijah's blood in her veins, and craving more. Elena would complete her transition, and find Bonnie, and figure out a way to live her un-life. They would still embrace, and there would still be relief, and love. But there would also be sadness, for her human self, and everything Elena would never get to experience.
But still, Elena would be free to live her un-life.
In the last few days, Elena has come to realize that, for all that she's been worn away by the world, by igrief/i, she can be worn away yet further. When she died - Klaus's arms cradling her close, his fangs in her neck, drinking her blood, taking her ilife/i - if Elena thought of it all, she expected that she would be dead, and then she wouldn't, and Klaus would be there, waiting for her. Maybe he would kiss her, or maybe he would want more; and somehow, Elena would figure out a way to keep him - if not happy - then amused, entertained, isatisfied/i.
But Klaus isn't there.
Isobel is.
Elena looks at her - this woman that gave birth to her, and made the decision to give her up, and then, years later, made the decision to become a monster - and feels… nothing much at all. She's numb to emotion. To everything.
Her body doesn't feel quite like hers, even as the realities of it return to her. A heart beats in a chest; blood rushes through veins; lungs fill with air. A mouth is dry, and a stomach is empty. Elena reaches up, to touch a neck, where Klaus's fangs pierced deep. A bandage covers where the wound should be.
She feels no pain.
Isobel hands her a glass of water, and Elena reaches out to take it. A hand - iher/i hand – shakes. Water spills onto skin. The glass is cold; Elena grips it tightly with both hands, just to ifeel/i something.
Elena takes a sip. She realizes just how thirsty she is the moment the water hits her lips. (This is iher/i body: her lips, and her mouth, and her throat.) She drinks quickly. When the glass is empty, Isobel refills it. Elena drains it again.
Isobel refills it again. And again. And again. Until eventually, Elena can't drink any more.
She realizes she is about to throw up only a second before she does. Elena jumps to her feet – and they are iher/i feet – and the world spins around her, and she barely leans over before the water comes back up, all over the floor. There's nothing else in her stomach: just water, and bile. (But it is iher/i stomach. And her throat, burning. And her mouth, her tongue, hers, hers, ihers/i. She's ialive/i.)
Isobel helps Elena back into the bed, and then hands her another glass of water. Elena stares at it for a moment, but doesn't take it. She doesn't think she can drink another sip.
Elena looks around the room, and realizes she recognizes it: it's one of the guest rooms in the Salvatore Boarding House. She gets up, more slowly this time. Her legs give under her; Isobel catches her, steadies her, until Elena can stand on her own two feet.
Elena stumbles to the adjoining bathroom, Isobel shadowing her steps. She finds a bag of toiletries, sitting on the counter as if waiting for her. Isobel supports her as Elena stands on shaking legs and brushes her teeth, until her mouth no longer tastes like death. And then Isobel helps her strip off her clothes (the clothes Elena idied/i in), and get into the shower, turning the water on almost as hot as it will go. Elena can't stand on her own, so she sits under the spray instead.
Isobel leaves the bathroom when Elena asks. And Elena just sits there, alone, for a long while - until the water washes the stench of death off her skin and down the drain. (There's no one else there to say, if the water also washes away tears, leaking from Elena's eyes.)
By the time the water runs cold, Elena thinks she might just be herself, again. She stays there a little longer, shivering under the icy spray hitting her skin, just to be sure.
Eventually, Isobel enters the bathroom, and wraps Elena in a big fluffy towel, and helps her get dressed. In clean clothes. New clothes, that she's never seen before. (Not the clothes she died and came back to life in.)
"Why are you helping me?" Elena asks Isobel, sitting on the bed to pull on her shoes and socks. She doesn't entirely trust her balance, yet.
"I'm to see to your needs until Klaus returns for you," Isobel tells her. Her voice and expression seem normal enough, but there's a certain blankness in her eyes that indicates to Elena that she's being compelled.
"Where did Klaus go?" Elena asks her. She's surprised he isn't here. She's iglad/i he isn't here, to see her weak and shaking; to observe her as she remembers herself. (She's relieved, to be able to come back to life without the constant weight of his eyes on her.)
"After the ritual was completed, he transformed into a wolf and ran into the woods," Isobel responds. "We're to wait for him here until he returns for you."
Elena stands up again, and Isobel catches her before she tips over, helping to support her as they step around the mess Elena left on the floor, and walk into the empty hallway. Elena peeks into Stefan's room – empty.
"Where's Stefan?" Elena asks, remembering his eyes, shining with tears as he watched Klaus kill Damon. She wonders if Stefan is dead now, too.
"Klaus compelled him to remain in the clearing, until Klaus permitted him to leave," Isobel informs her. Elena reads between the lines: Stefan is still in the clearing, perhaps still looking at Damon's dead body, because Klaus did not release him from the compulsion.
It's cruel.
It's iKlaus/i.
Isobel helps Elena walk down the stairs; perhaps it would be more honest to say that Isobel carries her, than that Elena walks. Elena directs Isobel to help her into the living room. It's late July, but Elena asks Isobel to light the fireplace anyway. She hopes the fire will help to ward off the chill, deep in her bones; at the same time, she's sure it won't because she thinks that chill (the chill of ideath/i) is mostly in her mind.
After Elena settles on the sofa, Isobel brings her an elaborate meal. Elena can barely look at the food, and asks instead for toast; Isobel brings her toast, without protest. "Is Greta here too?" Elena asks, unsure if Klaus would want to keep the witch close.
"Greta did not survive the ritual," Isobel tells her. Elena closes her eyes. She thinks she should be struck with sadness – for Luka, for Dr. Martin. She doesn't feel it, quite yet.
Death follows her, not ready to say goodbye.
Elena sighs, and curls up on the sofa. She stares into the fire, watching the flames; just as she had when Klaus consumed her. iKilled/i her.
Eventually, Elena starts to feel the heat of the fire. She sweats, her body reacting to the too-warm air even if her mind doesn't fully register it quite yet. "Did Klaus say when he'd be back?" Elena asks Isobel, who just stands there and watches her, as if waiting for another request.
"No," is the only response. (Elena wonders if Isobel – if the ireal/i Isobel – is screaming somewhere within her, under Klaus's layers of compulsion.)
This time, when Elena closes her eyes, it is the darkness of sleep that greets her; it feels too similar to the darkness of death.
When Elena next opens her eyes, the fire has died down, and Elena no longer feels so tired. She sits up – and Bonnie is next to her. "What are you doing here?!" Elena asks, startled.
"You're alive!" Bonnie cries, throwing her arms around her. Elena can't help but hug her back; it is so good to hold Bonnie close again, but as she does, her surprise at friend's appearance gives way to fear for her safety.
"I'm alive, Bonnie," Elena murmurs into her ear, squeezing her eyes shut tight against the tears bubbling up. "But you aren't safe here. I don't know when Klaus might come back."
"I'm safe, I promise," Bonnie assures her. "You're still asleep. I'm not really here - I'm projecting into your mind. I needed to see you again, to talk to you, but I'm not going to be able to maintain it long." Bonnie pulls back just slightly, so they are facing one another. Elena does her best to memorize the details of that dear face.
Bonnie looks so, so sad. (Elena is sure she is reflecting that same sadness back at her.)
"I love you, and I miss you," Elena tells her. "I hope you have a wonderful life, Bonnie Bennett. But I can't see it – not if I'm going to keep you safe. Klaus… he's dangerous, Bonnie. You need to stay away from him."
"So do you!" Bonnie replies, her voice fierce. "But I know it isn't that simple. Jonas told me that Klaus is obsessed with you." Elena swallows. She can't deny it. Bonnie continues: "I'm sorry, I don't want to waste any time fighting. I love you and miss you too. I want you to know that I'm safe; I'm leaving town with Luka and his dad."
"Do they know that Greta died?" Elena asks. Bonnie nods, and they move on; there's no time to waste. "It's good that you're leaving," Elena tells her, unable to hold the tears back. "I tried so hard to keep Klaus's attention away from you, but he knows who you are to me, and he knows you're a witch."
Klaus would see Bonnie as both leverage over Elena, and a threat. Just the thought lodges Elena's heart in her throat. Bonnie is crying too, now, and then they are clutching each other close again. "I'll find a way to save you," Bonnie murmurs into Elena's hair.
"No!" Elena replies, pressing their foreheads together. "I don't want to be saved; not if it means you paint a target on your back for Klaus."
"Klaus isn't invincible!" Bonnie protests, her cheeks wet with her tears.
Elena looks at her friend, so brave and strong and igood/i, and her heart breaks. "Bonnie – he won't let me die. Don't do something stupid and sentence me to an eternity of misery without you."
Bonnie doesn't argue, but she has that stubborn look on her face that means she isn't giving in, either.
"Bonnie…" Elena sighs. Her friend shakes her head.
"I don't want to fight," she repeats. "I figure there's a good reason you aren't answering your phone?"
"I turned it off," Elena tells her. "Klaus doesn't leave me alone – not for a second. I was trying to keep his attention away from you. I don't – if I can, I'll get in contact, but only if it's safe for you."
Bonnie nods. "I can feel Jonas pulling me back now," she says, a faraway look in her eyes. Elena sobs, and they hug each other tight. And then…
She wakes up, and Bonnie is gone. Isobel asks her if she needs anything; Elena just shakes her head and hides her face in her hands.
If Isobel smells her tears, she doesn't comment.
The next time Elena wakes up, Klaus is there, and Isobel is gone. "My darling girl," Klaus greets her, pulling her into his arms and kissing her gently. "I hear you've had a rough time of your resurrection. Are you feeling better, now?" He smiles broadly, dimples showing.
He's igiddy/i. Elena won't say or do anything to disturb his good mood.
"Much better now," Elena tells him, though that is perhaps an overstatement. She's still exhausted, to her very bones. "The ritual worked, then?" She knows it did – Isobel told her that Klaus transformed into a wolf; and besides, Klaus wouldn't be so happy if it hadn't worked.
But Klaus likes to crow over his victories. It can only benefit Elena to let him.
And crow, Klaus does. Elena listens, and keeps her eyes on his face, pasting an attentive look on her own. Thankfully, he doesn't require much more participation from her than that, because she's still so tired that Elena doesn't think she can give it. (She doesn't let her horror show when Klaus tells her that he encountered some campers, during his time in wolf form. She doesn't let herself wonder whether she knew them; she tries not to imagine their bodies, strewn over the forest.)
"Thank you, Elena," Klaus tells her again, his hand gently cradling her face, his thumb brushing against her bottom lip. Elena stares into those blue eyes, and wonders how he expects her to respond.
"It was my destiny," Elena tells him, because it is the truth, but mostly because "go to hell" would be counter-productive. Her answer pleases him, and – still smiling – he leans down to kiss her again. Elena kisses him back, looping her arms around his neck and letting him feel her tremble.
Klaus pulls back – and there's something almost like worry in his eyes. "What's wrong?" he asks. Elena rests her head on his shoulder, and her weight against him; his arms encircle her (icage her in/i) as he holds her close.
"I'm still tired," she murmurs into his neck, letting her eyes flutter shut so her eyelashes brush against the skin of his neck.
"You should rest in a comfortable bed," Klaus tells her, as he lifts her in a bridal carry. He carries her up the stairs at human speed, and through a door into a bedroom – not to the guest room where Elena woke up earlier, but to the room that Elena knows was once Damon's. She's never been inside before, but she guesses that it is likely the best one in the Salvatore Boarding House; Klaus only chooses the best. Klaus lays her down gently, and then gets into bed with her, gently smoothing her hair back from her face. "Rest," he murmurs.
Elena does.
When Elena wakes up next, she's somewhere else. "Where are we?" Elena asks Klaus, looking around the unfamiliar hotel room.
"Florida," Klaus tells her, with a smile. Elena remembers – with terrible clarity – Klaus telling her that he would need werewolves, after the ritual.
"How long have I been asleep?" Elena wonders.
"Most of the day," Klaus tells her. "I had a doctor examine you – you're anemic. Isobel took note of his recommendations, and will make sure to follow them."
There's a threat in Klaus's voice, but it isn't meant for Elena. She turns her head – and yes, Isobel is standing in the doorway, observing them silently.
She has a tray of food in her hands – steak and spinach and rice. But first, Isobel hands Elena a pill, and a glass of water. Elena looks at Klaus, and finds him staring at her expectantly. She takes the pill, swallowing it down with the water, without asking what it is. Klaus nods, as if satisfied, as Elena tucks into her meal.
"Isobel will watch over you while I'm out," Klaus tells Elena, ignoring Isobel as if she isn't there. (Isobel doesn't protest; Elena thinks that she almost certainly ican't/i.)
"How long will you be gone?" Elena asks. She doesn't want to sound clingy, or anger him by asking for details he doesn't want to give. But she hopes that Klaus might tell her more, if she can just get him talking again.
"Not long, love," Klaus responds. He leans down and presses a kiss to her forehead, perhaps not wanting to interrupt her eating her dinner. "Don't miss me too much."
Elena smiles at him, glad her mouth is full and she can't be expected to respond. Without even a dismissive glance at Isobel, Klaus sweeps out of the room. Elena watches him go, just hoping that whatever Klaus's business is, Tyler survives it.
"You need to be careful," Isobel tells Elena, later, as she takes the mostly-empty tray away and hands her another glass of water, a bit spilling on the blanket covering Elena's lap.
Elena doesn't think Isobel is warning her about spilling her drink. But she doesn't know what Klaus has compelled Isobel to say, or do, or report back, so she just wipes at the water with her hand and says she'll try.
Elena rests again after her meal. She isn't sure why she's so tired; maybe it's a side effect of the elixir, or the anemia. Maybe it's just that humans aren't supposed to come back from the dead.
The next time she opens her eyes, Klaus is lying next to her, staring fixedly down at her face. Elena can't help but startle, not expecting anyone (not expecting ihim/i) to be so close.
Klaus smiles when he sees that she's awake. "There's my girl," he murmurs, as their eyes lock. "I've got a surprise for you." Elena smiles, and hopes it isn't something terrible.
Her hopes are dashed.
It's iTyler/i, unconscious on the sofa in the other room. Elena does her best to keep calm as she examines him with her eyes – not daring to approach him, not with Klaus standing right there. She barely dares to look at him too long; as soon as she reassures herself that he's still breathing, Elena looks up at Klaus.
"I found him alone," Klaus tells her, his tone conversational. "The rest of the pack will look for him; and if they don't find us here, he'll tell us where to find them."
Elena wonders if this is a test. What did Katherine tell him? What did Isobel? She reminds herself that the safest course is to assume that Klaus knows everything.
"Tyler and I grew up together in Mystic Falls," Elena murmurs, resisting the urge to glance at Tyler again, instead focusing entirely on Klaus. "I'm sure his Uncle Mason will be looking for him."
Klaus smiles, dimples flashing. "Good," he says. "Why don't you freshen up, before our guests arrive?"
Isobel appears at Elena's side, as if by magic, and helps her into the bathroom. Elena convinces her that she can shower by herself. Isobel looks at her skeptically, but leaves when Elena tells her to.
When Elena walks back into the living room, Tyler is still unconscious, and Klaus is murmuring something to Isobel too low for Elena to hear. Elena watches as Isobel nods, and then flashes away.
"You look beautiful, my dear," Klaus tells her, looking Elena up and down. She's wearing a simple white sundress, laid out on the bed for her when she got out of the bathroom. Klaus's eyes fix on her neck; Elena knows exactly what he's staring at.
She removed the bandage after her shower, revealing two small scars, already healed over: the exact shape and size and distance apart as Klaus's fangs. Because they were ileft/i by Klaus's fangs, when he killed her.
Elena smiles, and pretends that she doesn't see his fixation, and accepts the compliment prettily. Klaus holds out his arm, and Elena goes to him, leaning against his side. (Klaus holds up most of her weight, and Elena tries not to be grateful for the support.)
Elena would almost call the silence companionable. Almost. If Klaus were anyone else. If Tyler weren't knocked out on the sofa.
"Why do you need werewolves?" Elena asks, hoping Klaus will tell her something - ianything/i - that she can use to save Tyler.
"Werewolves run in packs," Klaus responds, his eyes fixed on Tyler. Elena doesn't mind the break from the weight of his stare. "And yet, I am singular. Werewolf, but also vampire. The Original Hybrid."
The iOriginal/i Hybrid. Elena remembers Elijah's warning: Klaus wants to make imore/i. Her mind races.
"You want to make more hybrids. But…" she starts, uncertainly, before purposefully trailing off. This catches Klaus's attention. (It was designed to.)
"You have a question. Ask," Klaus commands, his blue eyes staring down at her.
"Tyler has already activated his werewolf gene," Elena states the obvious. (She tries not to think of poor Caroline; but she can't not, when she thinks of Tyler triggering his curse.)
"Yes?" Klaus asks, clearly waiting for her point.
"You didn't activate your werewolf gene until iafter/i you transitioned into a vampire," Elena states the obvious again. Klaus doesn't seem to make the connection, so she spells it out for him. "If you were going to replicate how you became a hybrid, shouldn't you look for someone from a werewolf bloodline who hasn't activated his curse yet, turn him into a vampire, and ithen/i activate his curse?" (Elena pushes away the thought that she is advocating for more people to die; she's trying to save iTyler/i.)
Klaus tilts his head, obviously considering her words. "You make a good point," he concedes. "But I already have a pack of werewolves at my disposal. If they don't properly turn, then we'll try your way next."
Klaus is determined; Elena knows she won't dissuade him. But… iTyler/i. She doesn't want to watch him die. She ican't/i.
"Are you planning to turn them all at once?" Elena asks, trying to keep her tone conversational. She's pretty sure she doesn't succeed, by the way that Klaus looks at her.
"You want something. Make your request," Klaus tells her. Thankfully, he's mostly amused by Elena's attempt to seem uninterested, if the smile playing on his lips is any indication.
"If it isn't too much trouble, maybe you can just turn one of the werewolves, to see if it works, before you try with the others?" Elena asks, making her voice as tentative as possible, careful to phrase it as a request – never a demand.
Before Klaus can respond, Tyler jerks awake. He looks terrified. "Elena?" he asks, his eyes latching on her face desperately, as if she'll reassure him it will all be okay. It's a mistake – Tyler's focus on her. Klaus doesn't like that, as evidenced by the way he steps between them, shielding Elena with his body.
Before Elena can say or do anything to calm the situation down, Tyler moves – and then so does Klaus, easily pinning him to the floor. Elena can only watch with wide eyes as Klaus holds Tyler down with one hand, rips into his other wrist with his teeth, and then forces his blood down Tyler's throat.
"No!" Elena says, unable to stop herself, as Klaus snaps Tyler's neck. She stares at him numbly. She couldn't save him. Why couldn't she isave/i him? She should have been smarter; she should have anticipated this. (Elena tries not to think about Jeremy; she reminds herself that this is about iTyler/i.)
"Don't cry, love," Klaus tells her. That's when Elena realizes her cheeks are wet. "I took your idea. Your ifriend/i Tyler is as good a test subject as any."
Elena swallows, tearing her eyes from Tyler's slack face to focus on Klaus. It's unmistakable: Klaus is ijealous/i. Of Tyler.
Suddenly, Elena realizes that, in trying to play down her friendship with Tyler, she aroused Klaus's suspicion. She isn't sure whether Klaus thinks there is more than friendship between her and Tyler. It's possible that Klaus is jealous even of Elena's simple, platonic affection for her friend. But Elena doesn't think that's quite it: Klaus didn't seem jealous of Bonnie, although Elena loves her far, far more than she'll ever care for Tyler.
Elena wipes her tears away. "He is my friend," she admits quietly. "But that's all."
Klaus examines her closely, not seeming entirely satisfied with Elena's response. "Perhaps I have not been clear," he says, his tone too relaxed: it's all menace underneath. "I expect your affections to be mine. Exclusively."
"I understand," Elena reassures him, moving closer, until she can rest her hand on his shoulder. She tilts her head, just slightly, baring her neck: drawing Klaus's attention to the scars he left on her skin. "I'm yours."
It isn't a lie, even if Elena means for Klaus to read into that statement much more than she means.
Thankfully, he does. Klaus smiles, his mood shifting like the wind, and he reaches down to hand her hand. Elena doesn't resist as he brings it to his lips, wondering if Klaus is going to bite her again. He doesn't – instead, Klaus presses a kiss to the tip of each finger, and then to her palm, before he holds her hand to his cheek.
"You're mine," Klaus repeats, something like wonder in his voice. "And I want no other."
Elena notices what Klaus doesn't say: he does not promise exclusivity back. It shouldn't bother her, but it does. If Elena is going to devote her entire life to him, doesn't she at least deserve the courtesy of his fidelity? (Distantly, she wonders if she is being stupid; perhaps it would be better, for Klaus to divide his attention.)
"We're exclusive, then," Elena says, staring up into those blue eyes. She allows a little possessiveness to creep into her voice: he's iher/i monster, just as much as she's his victim. She wonders if she's pushing it.
By the way Klaus dimples at her, clearly thrilled, she's pushing just hard enough. "Yes, Elena," he murmurs, agreeing, before ducking his head to kiss her. But before their lips connect, Tyler gasps awake behind him.
Klaus sighs, as if Tyler's presence – and transition - isn't the result of his own actions. "We'll need to get you some human blood. I'll call room service," he says off-handedly, as if he isn't talking about ordering a person for Tyler to feed on.
"You can use my blood," Elena offers, though she doesn't move to take even a step towards Tyler. Elena has never seen a vampire transition before; although Klaus doesn't seem worried, she isn't sure how quickly Tyler will die again, if he doesn't drink human blood. But she's very careful to phrase her offer as one to iKlaus/i, and not to Tyler.
"I appreciate the offer, darling," Klaus tells her. "But iI'm/i the only one who gets to sample that delicious blood of yours." He turns to pick up the phone.
Tyler apparently doesn't read the warning in Klaus's tone; in a blink, he has her arm in his hands, his teeth piercing her wrist. She gasps in pain: Tyler's bite hurts much more than Klaus's did, tearing into her without any of Klaus's finesse.
Klaus is there immediately – grabbing Tyler by the back of his neck with one hand, and sticking the fingers of his other hand between Tyler's lips and Elena's skin to force Tyler to release his bite. "That's enough!" Klaus growls, clearly enraged. Once Tyler's fangs are out of her wrist, Klaus lifts Tyler away from her with the hand around his neck.
Elena watches as Tyler struggles frantically – but he is like a butterfly flapping his wings against a hurricane. He has no chance.
Suddenly, Klaus's other hand plunges into Tyler's chest. Tyler iscreams/i in pain. Klaus – smiling viciously – seems to relish it. But before he can pull back his arm – and Tyler's heart with it – Elena reaches forward, and presses her front to his back.
She doesn't reach for his hand – that would be a mistake. Too demanding. Instead, she wraps her hands around his waist, and leans up to whisper Klaus's name into his ear. Elena tries to sound plaintive, but not too desperate. Klaus knows that Tyler is her friend: but she can't seem itoo/i anxious for his safety.
Somehow, it works. When Klaus pulls his hand back, it is covered with Tyler's blood – but Tyler's heart remains in his chest. Her friend falls to his knees, gasping and holding his chest, clearly in pain.
But he'll survive.
"Very well. I suppose it would be counterproductive to kill my test subject," Klaus admits, as if it were entirely his idea to spare Tyler. Elena doesn't contradict him. Klaus turns and holds her close, uncaring that he's leaving handprints of Tyler's blood all over her white dress.
Klaus frowns when he realizes her wrist is still bleeding, torn open from Tyler's fangs. Now that some of the adrenaline has passed, Elena is starting to really feel the pain. She thinks of the vial of Elijah's blood, tucked into her bra – but of course, Elena can't reveal to Klaus that she has it, and she should save it for a real emergency.
It does give her an idea, though.
"Perhaps you might share a drop or two of your blood with me?" Elena asks, her tone teasing. Klaus catches her gaze, surprise flashing over his face for just a moment.
"Of course, love," he tells her, biting open his own wrist and offering it to her.
Elena – still staring into those blue eyes – bends her head, and drinks. By the time Elena's lips touch Klaus's skin, he has already healed over; she licks his blood away, revealing flawless skin underneath. She watches as Klaus's pupils dilate, clearly aroused by the sight of his blood on her lips.
She tilts her head back, and offers him a kiss. Klaus takes it, without hesitation, licking his own blood from her lips, before moving to deepen the kiss.
And then Tyler stands up – like an idiot who can't recognize that Elena is itrying/i to chum the water to lure the shark away from him.
Klaus's blood is like electricity through her veins, chasing away her exhaustion. (Elena doesn't think of Elijah, and the way his blood made her feel; was that only a month ago, somehow?) But still, Elena sighs, and rests her weight against Klaus; he holds her close, holds her iup/i, and as long as Klaus's hands are on her, they aren't killing Tyler.
Elena's wrist doesn't hurt anymore. She pulls back – just slightly – from Klaus, to turn her arm over in between them, revealing her wrist. The wound left behind by Tyler's fangs is gone, but her skin is still covered in her own blood. Klaus's eyes fix on it; Elena raises her wrist in offering.
Klaus's eyes flash gold, and he bows his head to accept, gently licking her blood from her wrist. Elena runs her other hand through his curls - and then quickly shoots a warning look at Tyler over Klaus's head, where Klaus can't see. Tyler's eyes widen when they catch her own, and he tilts his head submissively.
After Klaus has licked her wrist clean, his thumb tenderly caresses her now-healed skin. Elena is glad to see that Tyler did not leave a scar: not for her vanity, but because she does not think that Klaus would abide it.
Klaus presses a light kiss to her wrist, and then turns to face Tyler. "Tell me where the rest of your pack is," he commands. She doesn't think Klaus is compelling him; Tyler has still yet to look up and lock eyes with him.
If Elena were Tyler, she would refuse – would fight, and die, rather than give up her family and friends. Tyler isn't Elena, though; perhaps she shouldn't be surprised by how quickly he betrays his pack to Klaus.
"My Uncle Mason and most of the others are away, looking for our Alpha," Tyler tells him quietly, still looking at the floor. "The rest are in town, but we weren't supposed to meet tonight. If they realized that I've been taken too, they probably gathered at the Alpha's house."
And then, not only does Tyler answer every one of Klaus's questions, but when Klaus tells Tyler to text the pack a location to meet, Tyler does.
Without hesitation.
Elena can tell that Klaus thinks nothing of Tyler's cooperation. He takes it as his due.
"Wait here, love. Isobel is around if you need anything," Klaus tells her, dropping a quick kiss on her forehead before he leaves again, Tyler trailing after him like a puppy.
The next time Klaus returns, Elena is awake. The door slams open, and Isobel takes one look at the fury on Klaus's expression and clears out of the room in a flash. Elena turns off the television just as Tyler walks in after Klaus; he looks idevastated/i.
Klaus growls, and grabs a glass from the mini-bar, and throws it against the opposite wall with a crash. Elena can't help but jump a little bit; Tyler icowers/i.
"Something went wrong," Klaus tells her, pacing back and forth. "iThis/i one," he points to Tyler, still cowering, "changed without any problem. But the others – they rejected the transition, somehow. Bled out of every orifice in their body as they died a second time."
Suddenly, Tyler's devastation makes terrible sense: he lured his pack to their deaths. (Elena is glad for Tyler's sake that Mason wasn't here to be lead to his death.)
Elena would remind Klaus about her theory regarding turning potential werewolves into vampires ibefore/i triggering the werewolf curse, but it doesn't fit, because Tyler was able to transition successfully. But why? How did Tyler survive, where the others rejected the duality that Klaus tried to impose on them?
It comes to Elena in a flash: Tyler drank her blood, and the others didn't. She watches Klaus's eyes light with realization: he makes the connection at the same time as Elena.
"You're the solution, my darling Elena," Klaus whispers, a smile spreading across his face. Somehow, Elena forces herself to smile back.
Her blood. Her human Petrova doppelgänger blood. The blood that Elena already offered to Klaus, in exchange for his agreement that she could use the elixir to come back human. That same blood is the key to making his hybrids.
The thought hits her, suddenly: even if Elena bores him… even if she angers him, or hurts him…
Klaus will never let her go, now.
