See, I didn't abandon you guys or this story! :) Thanks so much for your reviews as well, the support means a lot.
Okay, so last chapter we left off with Alaric turning into that enhanced (why do I nearly always wanna type 'enchanted'? xD) Original. I hope you like it and will leave your thoughts in a review. :) I had to change quite a bit of what happened in the episode that this is supposed to be following to make it gel more with my Klamon canon, but I think it flows nicely *shrugs* guess I'll find out, won't I? :) And I couldn't resist adding Wolf!Klaus and Crow!Damon again, hehe.
And to anyone interested, I have the prologue up for another Klamon story I've got in mind. It needs reviews to flourish; kinda like a baby needs milk, ya dig? ;P
Impulsively, Alaric shot towards Klaus, brandishing the stake. With a grimace, Damon flung himself in front of him, knocking Alaric to the ground and simultaneously smacking the stake far away from him. He was knocked onto his back, all the air squeezed out of his lungs as Alaric's hand clenched around his throat.
The first punch stunned him, allowing several more to rain down on his face - cracking his nose and splitting his lip wide open - before he came to his senses and managed to grab Alaric's fist in his hand before it could burst an eye socket. He threw Alaric off him and he flew through the air, thankfully becoming too winded to get up straight away.
Damon was immediately hauled to his feet by the scruff of his shirt, the graveyard spinning around him, as did Klaus' concerned face, that became reprimanding as Damon could focus properly again.
"Do you really think that was a smart idea, Damon?" he asked with narrowed eyes, the way he showed his concern almost angry in the way he brushed the dirt off his shirt.
"Hey, don't start Mother Henning," Damon ordered sharply, pushing Klaus' hands away from his face as he starting prodding around the bloodied and swollen areas. "I'm fine," he insisted.
"Can't I show some concern?" Klaus said with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes," Damon smiled wryly. "When I'm dead," he added bluntly, Klaus scowling at him.
"Might be sooner than you think," Klaus said quickly, looking over his shoulders.
Damon barely had time to dodge the punch that seperated him from Klaus' grip, feeling his bones turn into liquid and soon feathered wings spread out and he was flying well above Alaric's head. Soon, he was joined by a wolf as Klaus, with a crackling of leather, transformed for the second time that night.
Crying out sharply and distracting Alaric from the large wolf at ground level, Damon swooped down and latched onto his face, pecking and clawing at his eyes and successfully gaining his full attention.
He sunk his talons in deeper to his eyes keep his hold on him as Wolf!Klaus leapt on him with a voracious snarl, those wicked daggers of teeth piercing and shredding what flesh he could trap between them to pieces. Alaric howled in pain as the two animals attacked him, blood staining his clothes, as well as the two of them.
With a loud yelp echoing into the night, Damon took flight again before Alaric could get him off as well. He spotted Klaus getting to his feet, his amber eyes dripping with malice as he stepped forwards from the remains of a grave that had been smashed to smithereens.
As Alaric's vision began to no doubt clear as his eyes healed, Damon closed his eyes, focusing all his power on one certain thing, feeling it pushing out of the tips of his feathers.
Fog began swirling around the graveyard and Wolf!Klaus took advantage, slinking around a confused Alaric's ankles. Damon made out amber eyes in the mist and pointed a wing towards Alaric. Klaus jumped onto Alaric, knocking him down once more and Damon dived into the fog, clawing into his hair as his beak stabbed into his flesh over and over again.
Wolf!Klaus growled over the sound of Alaric's screams and crushed his jaw between his teeth, fresh blood spurting over both animals and Alaric's face. He jerked his head to the side, tearing the flesh off Alaric's face and simulatenously - thankfully - breaking Alaric's neck and incapacitating him.
The graveyard went silent, the fog disappating into nothing, revealing the shocked and marvelling expressions of Elena, Bonnie, Jeremy and Matt. Damon fluttered down besides Klaus, this time letting the wolf nuzzle him protectively and brushing some blood off his nose with his wing.
The two of them regained their full height as they transformed back - only Klaus' jeans stretching slightly at the seams - into their vampire forms. Damon leant against Klaus heavily, catching his breath and spitting blood out of his mouth. He groaned in disgust as he realised Alaric's flesh was stuck under his fingernails, but was then unable to hold back his laughter as he saw Klaus having to pick it out of his teeth.
"You two okay?" Matt called over to them.
"We'll live," Damon responded, cracking his shoulder back into place with a wince. He then turned his attention to Bonnie; barely conscious and bleeding out over the grass.
He knelt down beside her, biting into his wrist and holding it to her mouth. She could barely respond to him, but he held his wrist there nonetheless. He wasn't about to let their one shot at taking Alaric down - because if even Klaus struggled to stand up against him, they were all in trouble - die on him.
Elena gasped, taking in the sight of Alaric's body, along with the gravestones that had been shattered in the fight, and Bonnie. "Oh my god..."
"Save the shellshocked for later, Elena," Damon said hurriedly, voice pinched briefly with irritation. "We've gotta move," he added, seeing her nod, her eyes glistening over with unshed tears that would no doubt fall in Niagra Falls style once they were out of there.
"Come on, Bonnie, I'm not carrying you all the way back," he added distractedly to the semi-unconcious witch, watching her still struggling to take his blood into her mouth. Jeremy rushed over and Damon stood up as he pulled a groggy Bonnie up from the ground.
His face, overwhelmed with horror for a moment, lit up suddenly. "He won't be able to get in to our house," he called to them, rallying Elena's help in supporting Bonnie. "C'mon!" he said hurriedly, making his way out of the cemetery.
"Before he wakes up again..." Matt muttered under his breath, stealing a long glance at Alaric's temporarily incapacited body before running off alongside Bonnie, Jeremy and Elena, helping them support her weight.
Damon pulled out his phone and dialled Stefan's number, not even giving his brother a chance to speak before the words erupted out of his mouth; "Stefan, we've got a problem; like end-of-the-world-catastrophic," he said hurriedly, eyes flickering between Klaus and Alaric's body. "I really can't explain right now, but just meet us back at Elena's house, okay?" And with that, he hung up.
He huffed out a breath and he and Klaus made their way out of the cemetry at a run, not once looking back. They were royally screwed; they were going to have to go up against the unkillable. Whereas Klaus had his weakenesses - as much as he hated to admit them - the super-vampire-vampire hunter Alaric didn't have a single one. Except sunlight, and maybe vervain, but how were they going to help them if he couldn't be killed anyway?
They all made it back to the Gilbert's house a while later, the sun beginning to peak over the horizion and - hopefully - helping in providing extra protection against Evilaric, if he was crazy enough to come after them all so soon, and something told Damon he would be.
Once he was inside the house, Damon doubled back, upon hearing a disgruntled noise, and saw Klaus standing outside the doorway. "What's the matter?" he asked; they really didn't have time to fuck around right now.
Klaus switched his neck in annoyance. "I can't get in," he stated plainly, pressing his palms against an invisible barrier and raising his eyebrows at both the human inhabitants.
"Good," Jeremy said with a smug smirk, folding his arms and staring at Klaus icily.
"Jeremy," Damon sighed heavily, looking at him imploringly.
"Fine, whatever," Jeremy gave over, rolling his eyes. "Come in," he said dismissively, beckoning him in.
"Thank you," Klaus said in a clipped voice, stepping over the threshold and emphatically shouldering Jeremy backwards into the banister as he walked past.
"I'm gonna go get changed," Elena spoke up in a quiet voice, motioning to the staircase before heading up them. Jeremy stared after her wistfully, sympathetically, before following the rest of them into the kitchen.
Thankfully, Bonnie was starting to regain some feelings in her legs and could support her own weight slightly, but Damon was still having to press her own hand over her wound to staunch the blood flow. He pulled up a chair and sat her in it, kneeling down beside her.
"Hey, get Bonnie a towel, will you?" he said to Jeremy, turning around and watching him. "She's dripping blood everywhere," he said in displeasure, Bonnie managing a dazed glare.
He outstretched a hand for the towel and took it from Jeremy, pressing it over Bonnie's wound and then her own fingers. He stood up, lightly keeping his fingers there; he motioned to Jeremy. "Here, you take care of that," he said dismissively, taking his hand away and Jeremy nodded.
"Right now, I'd say 'screwed to Hell' is an understatement," Damon muttered snidely as he walked over to Klaus. "What did you do to piss your Mum off so much she felt the need to create an enhanced vampire hunter?!" he wondered out loud, throwing his hands up in exasperation and pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Aside from ripping her heart out, nothing too serious I can think of," Klaus said with a light-hearted shrug, grinning at him.
Scowling, Damon picked up the washcloth on the countertop behind him and whipped Klaus round the back of the head with it. Klaus spun on his heels with a wry smile, Damon instantly dropping the cloth and innocently batting his eyelashes.
"If you want to keep that handsome face of yours, Damon, I wouldn't recommend doing that again," he warned, his voice so steady and calm it actually sent a shiver down Damon's spine. Klaus smirked at him and patted his cheek.
The front door opened and slammed again as Stefan rushed into the kitchen, eyes flickering worriedly between Jeremy and a bleeding Bonnie, to Klaus and Damon, and widening slightly when he noticed Elena's absence from the scene.
"Hey, I'm here. What's going on?" he asked in concern, looking at Damon expectantly.
Damon licked his lips and looked at Klaus, who nodded, almost solemly. "Alaric turned," he got out finally.
Stefan's nostrils flared in annoyance. "What do you mean, he turned?!" he asked incredulously, storming up into his personal space confrontationally.
"Precisely that, Stefan," Damon said with a roll of his eyes, shoving Stefan back a pace. "He got turned into a super vampire hunter who's eternally pissed off with vampires, thanks to his crazy alter-ego," he explained snidely, growling to himself.
"I thought you and Klaus were there!" Stefan went on, his voice rising with panic and frustration as he run a hand through his hair.
"We were!" Damon shot back, Klaus nodding beside him. "Blame Bonnie the bloodbank" - he lightly backhanded her on the arm - "she witchied us and fed him," he grumbled, folding his arms.
Bonnie gave an indignant noise of protest. "I had no idea what was happening, okay?" she insisted, turning round to glare at him briefly, before looking at Stefan with a much softer expression. "The witches led me there. They wanted me to feed him so he would turn," she said apologetically, although it was too late for apologies.
"So, where's the stake now?" Stefan asked.
"Oh, you mean the white oak one? The one that can kill me and my siblings and thus wipe out an entire line of vampires, one that may include both of yours?" Klaus cut in with a sarcastic snort of disbelief, Stefan raising an eyebrow.
"That we don't know," Damon finished for him with a venomous stare at Bonnie. He really wasn't liking the whole one-Original-dies-their-bloodline-dies-too scenario that was going on, especially since there was a one in four chance he'd die if Klaus or any of his remaining siblings did.
"If you are so upset with me, why did you feed me your blood to save my life?" Bonnie retorted in a tired voice, now able to hold the towel over her wound on her own.
"Because I do stupid things, Bonnie," Damon shot back with a raise of his eyebrows, narrowing his eyes. Jeremy rolled his eyes from the sidelines and walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs, probably to check on Elena.
Stefan stared after him for a split second and then pinched the bridge of his nose. "Alright, so how do we kill him now?" he asked.
"I've been trying to figure that out," Bonnie replied, although she sounded uneasy. "A witch can't truly make an immortal creature, there is always a way to undo a spell," she explained with certainty.
"So, what's the witchy work around?" Damon asked, leaning on the table.
"That's the problem. I don't know," she admitted with an aplogetic shrug.
Klaus' eyes darkened suddenly and he leaned in towards Bonnie, causing her to shrink back into the chair. "Well, you'd better hurry it up and figure it out before I decide that you've outlived your usefulness," he warned in a low growl, Bonnie trying to scowl at him in retaliation, but her lip only trembled.
"Guys?!" Jeremy hollered from up the stairs, his voice promptly being followed by a loud thump! as he ran down the stairs, jumping the last few, his eyes widened in alarm.
"You okay?" Bonnie asked from her chair, standing up and walking over to him.
"No, Elena's gone," he said worriedly, being met with Bonnie's look of sympathy.
Stefan's face fell and his brows furrowed. "What? Where is she?" he asked.
"I don't know, she was just here a few minutes ago getting changed," Jeremy said in panic, teeth worrying his lower lip. He didn't wait for a response from anyone else and shot back up the stairs.
Damon leaned against the dining table with a look of puzzlement, folding his arms. How had Elena gotten out without any of them seeing? There was no way she could have climbed out the second story window, and there were several supernatural beings in the house, all with enhanced hearing. Then of course the other nagging question was; why had she left the house? She was Alaric's biggest target if he was going after vampire sympathisers, and now she was practically offering herself up on a silver platter by going out with no protection. Elena was a lot of things, Damon deicded, brash and stubborn being some of them, but stupid wasn't one of them.
Frantic footsteps thudded on the celing above them, raining down fine particles of dust on everyone's heads, before they became much louder as Jeremy all-but hurled himself down the stairs.
"Hey, guys?" he called out, the lot of them poking their heads around the kitchen door and watching Jeremy walk down the landing, seeing he was holding a phone.
"What?" Stefan asked, eyebrows raising expectantly, moving towards him.
"There's a message on her phone," he said in elation, walking fully into the kitchen. He held the phone up and switched over to Elena's answerphone, putting the phone on speaker so they could hear it.
"Listen closely, I'm at the school, I have Caroline, and if you want to keep her alive, I need you to get in your car and come down here right away. If you tell anyone where you are going, I will kill her." The message ended with a click and Jeremy shut the call off with a worried, but determined, look on his face.
"Well, that's smart," Damon said in slight amusement. "She technically didn't tell us," he added with a smile, looking at Stefan, who nodded determinedly. Damon couldn't help but roll his eyes, but what choice did any of them have this time?
"Let's move," Stefan said hurriedly, clapping Jeremy on the shoulder and the two of them, followed by Bonnie, and a relucant Damon made to leave the house.
"Please tell me that you're not asking me to walk into a certain death?" Klaus asked, looking pointedly at Stefan, stopping in his tracks and also halting Damon's movements by grabbing hold of his arm. He looked at him in bewilderment.
"I really wish we could," he said lightly, Klaus glaring at him, "But unfortunately, if Alaric kills you there's a one in four chance that we die too," he said gravely, shrugging his shoulders.
"I'll take those odds," Damon pitched in. It was better than having an invincible vampire killer running around trying to eliminate the entire vampire species, wasn't it?
Stefan looked at him. "And a hundred percent chance that Tyler dies," he reminded him.
"I'm good with that too," Damon continued as if he hadn't heard him. What did he care about Tyler anyway?
"Why don't we just figure out a way to put Alaric down?" Stefan said brashly, waving him off, before it could descend into a full-blown argument. "Since I'm not liking the odds either way?" he added, looking particularly at Damon, who just held his hands up in surrender.
"Okay, how about Damon sneaks in and distracts Alaric, while Stefan grabs Elena and carries her to safety?" Klaus suggested, looking between the two of them.
"Yeah, that's a great idea," Damon agreed sarcastically, heavily rolling his eyes. "What's to stop me from getting killed instantly?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Nothing," Klaus said with a nonchalant shrug. Damon narrowed his eyes and a wicked smirk spread across his face.
He turned towards Stefan, Bonnie and Jeremy. "Hey, do you guys know that when he's a wolf, Klaus really loves-"
He dissolved off into muffled laughter as Klaus quickly wrapped a hand around his mouth to stop him from talking. Stefan and Bonnie looked at them strangely while Damon managed to shove Klaus off him, snickering and promptly getting punched in the arm.
"I might have an idea," Bonnie said suggestively, stepping forwards. "My mum used a desiccation spell on Mikael that immobilized him for over fifteen years, If I can get it, I might be able to use it on Alaric," she explained.
"'If' and 'might'?" Klaus repeated with a sigh. "Oh, Bonnie, your words inspire such confidence in me," he said with exaggerated thanks in his voice, before glaring at her.
"I'll get it," Bonnie corrected herself, nodding towards Klaus. "But even with the spell, we'll need a lot of vampire muscle to take him down. Including yours," she said, although Damon knew he really didn't have a choice in the matter of helping them. Not if he had anything to say about it, anyway.
"Just so we're clear, the sun sets at around 4pm," Klaus said, raising a hand, "If we don't succeed before then, Elena will be dead, I'll be gone, and the rest of you will be left to fend for yourselves," he said in a clipped tone, folding his arms.
Damon rolled his eyes in Klaus' direction. "I can just feel the love."
In the space of time it took for the grandfather clock to indicate it was one in the afternoon, Damon was becoming increasingly bored - he didn't want to know how Stefan was feeling having been left to babysit the youngest Gilbert - Klaus looked like he already was and had taken to repeatedly throw and catch the top of an old wine decanter Damon had lying around, and Bonnie kept looking expectantly in the direction of the door whilst she paced up and down.
"Well, this is promising," Damon said dryly, glancing over to Klaus, who raised his eyebrows in agreement. He huffed out a breath and crossed his arms.
"Relax, Abby will be here," Bonnie said reassuringly, although she didn't actually sound all that convinced herself.
"I'm sorry, I forgot about her stellar track record in the dependability department," Damon shot back snidely, getting up off the sofa and striding over to Bonnie.
"Jamie said she was coming, okay?" Bonnie said gently, almost impaitently. "Just give her time," she pleaded, Damon rolling his eyes.
"Well, time is the one thing we don't have," Klaus chimed in from where he was still laying, not bothering to look at her. Bonnie narrowed her eyes; they were all very aware of that fact, but still, she wasn't the one who could die if an Original did.
The bell rang suddenly and Bonnie rushed off to answer the door. Damon snorted and called after her; "Don't get your hopes up! Might be a Girl Scout."
He sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose. He headed over to his wine cart, opening his favorite bourbon and pouring some in a glass tumbler. He turned back around and leaned on the cart, seeing Klaus sitting up and staring at him.
"How can you drink that?" Klaus asked, eyeing the golden liquid with disdain.
"Like this," Damon said, tilting the drink back down his throat with a grin. "Sorry it's not fancy Parisian wine, or whatever it is you drink," he added with a chuckle, Klaus rolling his eyes at him.
"Don't suppose you know where your siblings are right at this moment, do you?" Damon asked, looking at him expectantly. He was praying none of them - aside Rebekah who was already here - were stupid enough to come back to Mystic Falls.
"When we were all unlinked, I stopped worrying about them," Klaus said, almost too nonchalantly for Damon's liking, but then a flicker of worry came across his face. "With any luck, they're as far away from Mystic Falls as possible," he said quietly, looking down at the floor briefly.
"So why don't you just leave?" Damon asked. It seemed so simple to him; just leave, run and hide where Alaric wouldn't be able to find him.
"Because I would prefer my eterntal life not to be overshadowed by a homicidal vampire-vampire hunter," Klaus said with a forced smile, standing up from the sofa. "Again," he added in a clipped tone, gritting his teeth in annoyance.
Damon's response was cut short as Bonnie re-entered the parlour, Abby trailing hesitantly behind her. Klaus walked over to the two of them.
"Good, you're here," he said with a pleased smile. "Perhaps this plan won't be such a bloody epic failure after all," he added, although Damon could see he was trying to keep his optimism to a minimum.
Klaus then walked over to Damon. "If this plan does work, I want a front row seat when we drop that bastard in the Atlantic," he muttered in his ear as Damon grabbed a blood bag from underneath the cart.
"Done," Damon said with a conspiratory smile, pouring the blood into a glass. Klaus clapped him on the shoulder and went back over to the sofa.
"Why didn't I have to be invited in?" Abby asked.
"Only vampires live here," Bonnie explained and she nodded.
"We had signed over the deed to Elena, but she died," Damon said, glancing at Klaus with the last few words, who just shrugged with an innocent looking smile. "The seal broke, very long story," he said off-handedly, waving a dismissive hand.
He crossed over to the sofa and stretched out across it, propping his head up on Klaus' knees. The hybrid raised a quizzical eyebrow.
"Really, Damon?" he asked incredulously.
"You are the sole reason Alaric is now a super-charged vampire hunter," Damon pointed out, jabbing a finger dangerously close to his face. "I think you can handle being my pillow for a few minutes," he said with a cheeky smile, not really giving Klaus a say in the matter.
"We called you here because I need help with a spell," Bonnie said to Abby, walking over to her.
"Esther created a vampire that can't be killed; I want to desiccate him like you did to Mikael," she revealed, Abby's face paling slightly as she shook her head.
"Bonnie, it's too dangerous. Your magic comes from the Earth. It's pure," she explained, reaching out to touch Bonnie's shoulders. "This spell asks you to tap into dark places. Places of temptation, places you can't handle," she added gently.
"You turned your back on me for sixteen years, you have no idea what I can handle," Bonnie shot back with determination, Abby sighing with slight frustration.
"Gotta say I'm team Bonnie on this one," Damon called from over on the sofa. "How hard can it be to parch a vampire?" he asked, throwing his hands up in the air.
"The spell allows you to stop a vampire's heart," Abby went on hesitantly, Bonnie motioning intently that she go on. "The blood will stop flowing and his body will desiccate," she explained.
"That's exactly what we want to do," Klaus piped up, Abby turning to look at him. "With the teacher desiccated, I can place the white oak stake where no-one will ever find it, and my siblings and I can get on with our lives without fear of dying," he said with a forced smile at her.
Abby faced Bonnie once more. "Bonnie, to stop a vampire's heart, you need to find a balance among the living," "Can you handle that?" she asked, looking at her with concern.
Bonnie looked thoughtful, pondering it for a moment, before her eyes widened in horror. Damon had no idea what any of that meant, but by Bonnie's expression, it was not good.
"Bonnie, Klaus and I don't speak witch," Damon said impatiently through gritted teeth.
"I have to stop a human heart," Bonnie said in shock, taking a breath. Abby nodded sympathetically.
"That's it?" Damon asked nonchalantly, both him and Klaus raising their eyebrows. The former witch and her daughter just glared at them.
The four of them pulled up to the school in Damon's camaro - with Matt having been ordered to stay behind by Stefan - and got out. Bonnie huffed out a breath and Damon looked at her expectantly; so help her if she was getting cold feet...
He then turned his attention to Jeremy, seeing the youngest Gilbert fiddling with his ring. He held out a hand for it. "Hand it over," he demanded.
Jeremy looked at him incredulously. "I'm not giving you my ring. Let me do this," he insisted, and Damon clenched his teeth. Why were all Gilbert's so goddamned stubborn?
"By my math, you've already bit it once, this will be twice, wearing that thing and if for some reason, Bonnie can't restart your heart and you do indeed die, then before you know it, we have another psycho alter ego case on our hands, which is bad, so give me the ring," Damon demanded, flicking his finger in an indication.
"This is my ring, Elena's my sister," Jeremy argued back with fire in his voice. "No-one's gonna fight harder for her than me," he said resolutely, standing his ground.
Damon muttered something under his breath and left Bonnie and Jeremy by one of the tables and caught up with Klaus.
"If we make it out of this alive, Klaus, I'll kill you myself," he said in passing, going to join Stefan by the entrance, his only answer being a resounding chuckle.
A few minutes later, after going over the plan with Jeremy, Bonnie met up with them, producing a small vial and holding it up.
"Drink this," she said quickly, handing Damon the vial. He regarded it quizzically. "It's my blood. It bridges us all together so that when I stop Jeremy's heart, you'll have the power to stop Alaric's," she explained as Damon began uncorking it. "You need to make a physical connection to his bloodstream; a vein, artery, something connected to his heart," she finished.
Damon nodded in understanding and drank a little out of the vial, handing it to Stefan, who looked from him to Klaus, before raising the vial to his lips.
"If one of us gets a clean shot, take it, the other two; hold him down," he said firmly, eyeing the both of them before he took his drink of the blood and passed it to Klaus.
"Before we all walk through these doors, let's get on the same page, shall we?" Klaus began, Damon really not liking the tone in his voice. "I was the one who created your vampire bloodline, therefore I am responsible for your lives and Tyler's life, Damon's life-"
"I'm fucked then," he interjected with a roll of his eyes. It just had to be the one Orginal that was walking into the school with them?! Why couldn't it have been Kol who had probably tucked tail and ran to the Bahamas?
"-and of course, Abby's life, should anything go wrong," Klaus finished with a smile in Bonnie's direction, ignoring Damon's outburst.
"Or you're just lying to save your ass," Damon said pointedly, cocking his head in the hybrid's direction.
"I'm not lying," Klaus said simply, shrugging. "But go ahead, call my bluff, let the teacher kill me. You'll all be dead soon thereafter," he added, giving Damon a merry smile and reaching up to pat his cheek.
He narrowed his eyes with a scowl. "I hate it when you do that," he muttered bitterly as Klaus drained the last of Bonnie's blood from the vial.
"Let's just get this over with, shall we?" he said in a tired-sounding voice, leading the three of them into the school while Bonnie slipped off to take Jeremy elsewhere.
Once they were inside the building, there was a loud, resounding echo of a thud against metal. They rushed towards the source of the sound, to see Elena pinned against a locker by her throat, with Alaric glaring her down with the eyes of a demon.
"Do it! Kill me!" she yelled fiercely, the fire in her eyes challenging him to do so.
There was an eerie pause as Alaric looked to be seriously contemplating it. Instead he relaxed, his eyes reverting back to normal as he released Elena from her grasp, the girl falling into a crumpled heap on the floor and rubbing her throat, coughing air back into her lungs.
Damon shot a quick glance at Stefan and the two of them charged towards Alaric at super-speed, grabbing a hold of his arms tightly and restraining them behind his back before he could react or realise it was them.
"Klaus, move it!" Damon yelled to him, feeling his grip already beginning to loosen as Alaric twisted and struggled in their hold.
With a harsh shove, Damon went flying backwards into the ground, hitting his head against the marbled floor, and Stefan's arm gave a sickening snap as Alaric wrenched it from his own.
He pinned Stefan up against the lockers, yanking one open and then slamming it back down on his arm, pushing through the bone and squishing the flesh. Stefan roared in pain, trapped and unable to move, Alaric hissing with sick satisfaction.
"Stefan!" both Damon and Elena cried in unison, sharing a mutual glance of horror as Stefan panted for air, trying to get his arm out of the lockers.
"Damon, behind you!" Elena called to him frantically, Damon whipping around to see Alaric stopped mid-charge, as Klaus kicked him into a wall, pushing him backwards and managing - but struggling - to get his hand over his heart, Alaric screaming in pain.
In retaliation, Alaric broke Klaus' hand and tossed him to the floor. He rushed over and pinned him down, the two of them engaging in a struggle as Alaric was trying exceptionally hard to plunge the white oak stake into Klaus' heart.
Damon glared and charged forwards, kicking Alaric off of Klaus and back down the hall. He helped him up, baring his fangs in a defensive hiss as Alaric got up, heading straight for Klaus once more.
Throwing himself in the way, Damon felt Alaric pin him to the ground, the two of them rolling over and struggling until Alaric got the upper hand. Damon grabbed his wrist before he could stake him and huffed out a breath; Alaric really was super-juiced!
He grinned spitefully up at Alaric, the latter confusing him enough for him to shove him upwards and Klaus - who had been advancing on him - to get a hold of him and throw him through the air, Alaric colliding head-first with the fire-axe display case.
Grimacing to stop himself from yelling out, Damon snapped his leg back into place and got to his feet, him and Klaus squaring off against Alaric as he turned towards them with true malice in his eyes, yanking a shard of glass from the side of his head, the wound healing instantly.
Snarling furiously, Alaric charged at Klaus again, but the hybrid was ready; he easily bypassed Alaric and threw him in Damon's direction, the elder Salvatore managing to flip him to the ground.
However he didn't count on Alaric still having hold of his arm and found his back cracking against hard concrete. Damon, with great effort, wrenched the white oak stake from Alaric's grasp and stabbed it hard into his stomach, blood spurting up between the two of them and splashing onto their faces.
"Fuck... you!" Alaric ground out, trying to tug the stake out of his stomach.
"Feeling's mutual," Damon hissed and spitefully twisted it in deeper and pushed Alaric down, pinning him underneath him and strangling him with all his might, snarling loudly in his face.
He felt his nose break and his head spin as Alaric reached up and smashed his head against Damon's face, sending him back a few feet through the air. He collapsed against a row of lockers, feeling all the energy drained out of him; unable to fight back as Alaric stalked closer to him, ripping the bloody stake out of his stomach and raising it high in the air...
Only the blow never came. Klaus had leapt onto Alaric's back and sunk his fangs into his neck, attacking him with relish and ensuring his venom would be transferred into Alaric's system when he tore his fangs away, forcing him to the ground with a powerful knee to his ribcage.
Alaric screamed out in agony as Klaus' venom began to burn through his body, Damon able to physically see it manifesting under his skin - the latter attack not being able to kill him - and he lashed out in recoil, knocking Klaus to the ground and jumping on top of him once more, holding the stake above him as Klaus grit his teeth in determination.
"Stop!"
The three of them looked up at Elena's cry, Alaric's brows furrowing in confusion at what she was doing, and then horrific realisation as he realised what she was holding to her throat - a scapel.
"Let them go or I'll kill myself," she threatened in an ice-cold voice, Damon noticing Alaric's grip on the white oak stake trembling slightly.
"Elena, what are you doing?" Damon asked incredulously in her direction, having to cough some blood out of his lungs, but he got no response, she just continued to stare at Alaric, eyes burning into him.
"Put it down, Elena," he told her simply, like telling a small child not to climb on a counter top, staring Klaus down, but thankfully he was preventing the stake from going anywhere near his heart.
"Why? Because you still need me alive?" she shot back with a hint of a sneer in her voice, tightening her grip on the scapel. "There's a reason why Esther used me to make you, isn't there? She didn't want you to be immortal, so she tied your life to a human one," she said, almost in wonder, "Mine," she said through clenched teeth, Alaric's eyes widening in horror.
"That way you have only one life span to kill all vampires and then you'll be gone," she went on, her voice rising with some sort of elation. "So, when I die, you die too. That's it, it has to be!" she said, her eyes lighting up. Klaus and Damon's eyes met through the gap in Alaric's arms, the both of them sharing a mutual look of confusion.
"You're wrong," Alaric chuckled, although Damon could see he was caught out; his fear had been realised and now Elena wasn't backing down.
"Am I?" Elena challenged him, tilting her head to the side.
And with a deep breath, she steeled herself and began to drag the scapel across her neck, blood pouring from the cut.
Alaric's eyes widened in horror and he made to get up and stop her, but still tried to hold Klaus on the ground. "Stop! Stop! Stop!" he cried frantically as Elena winced in pain.
"Leave, now..." she ordered in a hard, but faltering voice, the scapel nearly all the way across her throat and her shirt beginning to stain with her blood.
Gritting his teeth, Klaus kicked Alaric off him with ease and got to his feet, glaring him down with deadly amber eyes. A muscle twitched in his jaw and Alaric eyed Elena with venom, before disappearing in a rush of air.
Elena gasped in relief and dropped the scapel, pressing a hand tightly over her throat and running over to Stefan - still trapped in the locker - while Klaus walked over to where Damon was collapsed, sliding down next to him with a chiding look on his face.
"Don't look at me like that," he said with a dismissive roll of his eyes, waving Klaus away. "I totally saved your ass," he said, grinning proudly. Klaus smirked and leaned back against the wall with him.
Damon took a deep breath, finally able to relax. "When this is over, I'm so high-tailing it to Paris," he muttered to himself, pulling his knees up to his chest.
"Why Paris?" Klaus asked with furrowed eyebrows, regarding him strangely.
"I'd pick the Antarctica over this town, if you wanna get technical," Damon rectified with a snide grin, Klaus chuckling at him.
A screeching wrench of metal and a simulatenous grunt of pain and effort told them both that Stefan was finally free; Elena managed to stop him from collapsing on the ground and clung onto him worriedly, eyeing the way his shoulder was hanging much lower than it should be.
"Stefan, are you okay?" she asked, gingerly touching a large bloodstain on his shirt. Stefan grimaced.
"I'm fine," he said reassuringly, showing her his arm as it began to heal before her eyes.
Suddenly, before Damon could even comprehend it, Stefan had sped over to Klaus and trapped him against the wall, one arm barred across his throat and his free hand pressing hard on his chest. Damon was instantly on his feet at the sound of Klaus' growl of pain and indignation, hands wrapped around Stefan's arm, ready to break it again.
"Stefan, what are you doing?!" he asked incredulously, eyeing his brother like he was insane. Alaric was the clear bigger problem, not Klaus. What the Hell was he doing?!
"He's gonna take Elena if we give him the chance," Stefan said through gritted teeth, a severely weakening Klaus still fighting against him. "I can't let that happen," he added.
Damon opened his mouth to protest, "But-"
"Damon!" Stefan yelled loudly, the tone in his brother's voice causing him to recoil and take his hands away from his arm as though he had been burned. "Go and help Elena," he ordered in a hiss.
Damon swallowed hard and backed off relucantly, but he didn't make a move towards Elena. He could only stare as Klaus yelled in pain when Bonnie's spell began to take effect. His skin greyed almost instantly and his veins protuded grotesquely beneath it. Damon could have sworn he saw the glisten of tears in his eyes - directed at him - before he went completely still, unable to fight back.
He growled angrily as Stefan laid Klaus' body on the floor, having the nerve to reach over and close his eyes like he was doing some sort of favour; Damon wished that Klaus' eyes would snap open, prove himself stronger than the spell, and snap Stefan's neck, but it never came.
Forcing his eyes up from Klaus' dessicated body, Damon glared icily at Stefan, who had the audacity to look at him with pity. If looks could kill, Stefan would be dead.