"I never thought I'd come back here," Elena murmurs, looking at the empty lot where her house used to be.
Before she burned it to the ground.
With Jeremy's body inside.
"We could rebuild it if you'd like, love," Klaus tells her, embracing her from behind.
Elena shakes her head. "I've long outgrown this town," she whispers, like a secret.
A familiar voice calls her name.
Damon.
iFuck/i.
Elena feels Klaus tense behind her – a predator preparing to pounce.
"What are you doing here?" she asks her sire.
"I want you back," Damon says, staring at her with imploring blue eyes. Elena steels herself against the tug of the sire bond – weak, but still there.
Always there.
"Shut up, and take your eyes off her, before I rip your tongue out and pull your eyes from their sockets," Klaus practically growls the threat.
But Damon doesn't look away from Elena – doesn't seem to understand that Klaus's threat is quite literal.
And it is.
Literal.
Elena has seen Klaus carry that threat out before.
On multiple occasions.
(It's never pretty.)
"Go away, Damon," she says, as firmly as she can, reaching down to grab Klaus's hand for support.
(And maybe, just maybe, to prevent him from murdering her sire. Elena doesn't iwant/i to feel this way about Damon, anymore – but she can't help it.)
"Elena…" Damon says her name again, his tone pleading, and Elena tries not to waver.
It's too much for Klaus – a blink, and Damon's neck is snapped.
Honestly, he's lucky that Klaus didn't just tear his head off. Elena has seen Klaus do that with much less provocation.
"You didn't kill him?" she asks curiously.
"Sire bonds are tricky," Klaus responds, pulling her back into his arms. Elena leans against him, glad for the support. "You could have a… bad reaction, were he to die. Especially in front on you."
Klaus pulls out his phone and sends a text; almost instantly, a few of his minions appear on the street, and take Damon's body away.
Elena looks up at Klaus.
"I may not kill him, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let him get away with his blatant disrespect," Klaus informs her with a bloodthirsty smile.
Elena smiles back.
(The sire bond, writhing in the back of her mind, weakens just a little bit more.)
