Hello, everyone! I've been busy at a law program at Stanford for a few weeks but I've come back and felt like writing this story for some reason so I hope you all enjoy! Don't forget to leave a review!
Disclaimer: Refer to the first chapter please :)
Klaus
"I can't believe you just did that!" Amelia nearly shouted as she argued with Elena, who was sitting on the floor of Elijah's jail cell with a disinterested look in her face. It had been hours since she'd seen Elena pull the dagger out of Elijah, but she just continued on and on. "Have you gone mental? Are you messing with us? Are you Katherine? There has to be some explanation that can justify why you would do that!"
Elena looked at Amelia with a frown. "I want answers. Did that justify enough for you? And shh, keep your voice down. Stefan might be able to hear you."
Amelia's eyes widened. "He better hear me! What kind of an idiot do you think you are?!"
Tired of arguing, Elena jumped up onto her feet and stared the vampire down angrily. "Amelia, don't you get it? Elijah has the answers to the questions that all of us are asking! He's seen Klaus before. He knows Klaus's weaknesses! He was the one who had the idea to get a witch to kill him in the first place! Maybe he has an idea that will save all of us!"
"We don't know that. This is one hell of a risk, Elena."
"We still haven't found a way to save Claire," she replied seriously, causing Amelia to immediately soften in her stance. "Look, I know you want to save your sister but...there is no way out of this for her. She's a vampire, Amelia, she has no other options. But maybe Elijah knows a way to get her out of it...t-to get someone else to be Klaus's vampire sacrifice, I don't know! I'm doing this so we can save everyone. Don't you want to save them, too? Claire, at the very least?"
Amelia stared at the human, processing her words with great suspicion and doubt. But as much as Amelia disagreed with the way she wanted to go about things, Elena happened to be right. Therefore, Elena could see the agreement starting to cloud her acquaintance's face just as they heard an extremely loud gasp from the floor, causing both of them, startled, to turn around and watch as Elijah wiggled on the floor, desperate for air. Elena rushed over to him, trying to hush the awakening vampire as she bent down and calmed him.
"Elijah!" Elena whispered. He panted for a few moments.
"Katerina!"
"No..." the doppelgänger trailed off, shaking her head. "Elijah, it's me. Elena."
"Oh, my God..." he whispered, his eyes stricken with fear. But soon after, he began to calm down and Elena relaxed. Then, surprising the two women in the room once more, Elijah abruptly rolled over on his stomach, causing Amelia to quickly reach down and pull Elena up from the floor by her elbows as they watched Elijah punch the sanded floor of the cellar and slowly stand. They thought he would attack, but instead he just gasped. "I-I can't...I can't breathe! What's happened to me?"
He toppled over as if something was physically restraining him. Elena shook her head, stammered words escaping her lips. Suddenly, Elijah flashed and ran right into the brick wall near the threshold of the door, and Amelia managed to get them both out of the way before Elijah ended up taking them with him when he slammed against the hard cement. When Amelia let go of her, Elena rushed over and tried to help Elijah up, but he simply began to pant more.
"I can't...I can't be in this house!" he gasped.
Elena's eyes widened. "You're not invited in."
"You need to get me out of here!"
But on the contrary, he slipped out of her arms, racing towards another wall in which he slammed against. Elena looked back at Amelia with shock all over her face and Amelia watched as Elijah fled up the stairs, causing them both to rush after him. For a moment, Elena's heart began to race as she realized she might've set the Original on the loose, but she luckily found him knelt over waiting at the doorstep of her home in the bright daylight.
She stiffened as she watched him give her a glare and the next thing she knew, he was at the threshold, stopped when he was forbidden to enter. She jolted just slightly, but she felt safer inside of the house knowing that he couldn't get to her. Elijah looked at her with narrowed eyes and slowly began to articulate words.
"What happened—?"
"Shh!" Elena cut him off, realizing that the rest of the vampires in the house could hear their conversation a lot better up on the first level than below. He waited as she whispered, "I'll tell you. Not here. Can I trust you?"
"Can I trust you?" he whispered, but it sounded more like a snarl. Elena took a moment, looking upstairs and realizing that what she was doing was going to piss everyone off, but she didn't care. She nodded slowly and looked back at Elijah, awaiting her answer. But he wasn't finished. He looked over at Amelia, who was giving him the death glare. With a curt nod, he ordered her to respond to the same question, but she just rolled her eyes, walked up to Elena, and yanked the dagger out of the human's hand with the blade pointed at the Original. He flinched for a moment, as if recoiling from what she would do, but Amelia bit her tongue and flipped the blade over so that the handle was to him. He took it reluctantly and let his eyes drift back up to her.
"Like you would've believed me if I said you could," she whispered quietly. Elijah gripped the dagger in his hand and looked up at Elena and Amelia, who were both waiting patiently for the next move.
It had felt like a dream. A good dream, but a dream nonetheless. When Damon came to after the little sleep he'd managed, his mind began to wonder whether or not what had happened to him was a dream or if it were real. His eyes opened slowly, as if to prolong the answer to his faded question, and it seemed to be a good choice. When Damon's eyes finally adjusted and he was able to see what was in front of him, he began to panic.
An empty bed. Tossed sheets. Naked Damon.
Shit, he thought to himself. Tell me it wasn't a fucking dream.
Then, he took a second look. That second look proved that no, he wasn't in his bed. The tossed sheets weren't his. All his clothes had been dispensed on the floor as if someone had torn them off. Not a dream, he realized with a breath of relief. But, then, another question came to his mind.
Where the hell is Claire?
"Rise and shine, sleeping beauty," Claire chimed as she kicked the door closed behind her, her hands already occupied bearing two cups of steaming hot coffee. Damon cocked an eyebrow seeing her cleaned and clothed to start the day, confused as to why she was in such a hurry. She sat down on his edge of the bed and waited as he sat up and grabbed the coffee, all with a suspicious look on his face.
"You're dressed," he noted. She smiled.
"Yes, that is typically what one does in the morning." He glared at her as she sipped some of her coffee and rose from the bed. "Oh, lighten up. I already gave you what you wanted last night, you don't expect me to give it to you in broad daylight, too, do you?"
"A man can hope," Damon muttered. Claire tried to hide her chuckle as she watched Damon set his coffee down and slip on his boxers. As Claire drank some more of her coffee and observed him, she tilted her head and sighed.
"Last night was..." She caught Damon's attention, but Claire avoided his eyes as she tried to search for the word without smiling. He waited and watched her as she shifted uncomfortably and looked back at him with a small smile and finished her sentence with one word. "Different."
Damon zipped up his jeans. "Different good or different bad?"
"Depends on your definition of good and bad," she admitted slyly, a dirty look on her face. Damon smirked and took it as a compliment as bent down and grabbed his shirt from the floor, slipping the button-down onto his shoulders before beginning to button it. As he did, he barely realized Claire put down her coffee and made her way over to him, where her hands replaced his on the buttons and she finished the rest for him. Damon looked down at her, confused.
"You regret it?" he questioned. It was difficult to read her. One moment, she was being as sarcastic as he was and in the next she was being sincere. It was hard to understand what she was really thinking. Claire sighed.
"I don't regret it," she admitted, her eyes wild for a moment before she finally looked up at him. "I'm a little confused and distraught, but I don't regret it. I only regret what happens next."
"What happens next?"
"If you meant what you said last night, Damon, you're eventually gonna want more and...who knows, maybe I want that, too." She ran her tongue along her teeth as she finished buttoning his shirt and dropped her hands to her sides with a heavy exhale. "But I don't think I can handle everything that comes with. Telling Stefan, to start."
Damon shrugged. "He's already guessed it a few times."
"And we lied to him," Claire reminded the vampire. Damon swallowed and listened as she continued her guilt-ridden explanation. "I mean, how do you think he feels? We probably made him feel crazy every time he asked about whether or not something more was going on between us. This has been on and off for years, Damon. How do we even begin to explain?"
"Hmm, you try, 'Stefan, I've been sleeping with your insanely handsome brother since the 1920s' and I'll go with 'Brother, I've seen Claire naked a few times'. That about does it."
The blonde grimaced at him. "Make jokes all you want, Damon, but this is serious. You don't understand, you've been brawling with Stefan since the beginning of time. He's my best friend and I love him."
Damon scoffed. "Don't you find it odd that he's the only one you actually do love?"
Claire laughed. "Jealousy does not suit you well, sugar."
"Sugar?"
"It's only fitting since, of course, now you're the girl in this relationship." Claire stepped forward, her arms crossed and a teasing grin on her face. "How does it feel begging a girl to kiss you? I bet it was excruciating."
Damon wagged a finger at her. "I never beg."
"Really? Because it sounded like begging last night. 'I want it all, Claire, I want you in every way—'"
Before she could finish her sentence, Damon leaned forward and planted a long, breathtaking kiss on Claire's lips, securing her face in his hands as he knocked the wind out of her. She was surprised to say the least, but he made sure he was the one driving their kiss in a desperate attempt to win back his masculinity. She practically fell into his arms, but he was too dominating to let her do anything but. The taste of his lips had been forced onto her, but she didn't object to it at all. In fact, when he pulled away, she needed a moment to regain her composure. Damon watched, satisfied, as he pulled away and grabbed the cup of coffee she had brought to him that he had set on the nightstand while she tried to recover from being taken so far off guard.
"Holy shit." Claire cleared her throat and wiped her lips, attempting to grab hold of whatever power she had left. Damon smiled smugly. "That was..."
"Hot." Damon moved to the door and winked at her before opening it. "It's okay, sugar, you can say it. I'm gonna go change now. It was your loss."
He didn't wait for her answer, but she was left watching as he walked down the hallway to his own room. Claire walked over to the door cautiously, observing as he went away, and she leaned against the threshold of her room for support as she sighed.
"Damn," she whispered.
"Claire!"
The sudden shout caused her to jump and stand as straight as military personnel when she saw Stefan storming down the hallway, looking back and forth distractedly. She wiped her mouth again, attempting to rid the guilt in her mind as she felt Damon's lips on hers and looked at his brother, her stomach sinking.
"Y-Yeah?"
"I can't find Amelia or Elena," Stefan rambled nervously. "I woke up and Amelia wasn't in the bed and then I went to Elena's room and she was gone. What if something happened to them?"
Claire shook her head calmly. "Stefan, calm down. No one can get in this house without Elena's invitation—"
"Claire," he cut her off, "they're not here."
For a moment, she debated reiterating what she had said before, but she could see the look of worry in her best friend's eyes and realized it was the look she promised never to ignore. The one that told her to believe in him even when he sounded insane. So with a small nod, Claire straightened and stepped out of her room, pulling the door shut.
"Let's search the house again," she suggested. Stefan ran a hand through his tousled hair and they sprinted down the stairs together, calling Amelia and Elena's names. When they rounded the staircase, Claire and Stefan noticed Christopher leading Andie Starr into their living room, causing the Claire to cock and eyebrow and Stefan, who was much too focused on finding the two loves of his life, to just pester them as well.
"Hey," Stefan breathed.
"Hey," Andie replied.
"Morning," Christopher nodded.
"Have you seen Elena and Amelia?"
Before either one of them could have a chance to respond to Stefan's inquiry, Claire walked up to Christopher, confused. "I thought you said you were leaving."
"Uh..." Christopher looked back and forth between Stefan and Claire as he debated which one to answer first. He looked at Andie and decided to speak to Stefan promptly. "I just invited, um, Andie, was it? Yeah, Andie. I just told Andie to come into the house so she hasn't seen Elena or Amelia and no, I haven't either." Christopher turned to Claire. "I figured it'd be useful for me to stay."
Stefan walked past them, having no more use for exchanging pleasantries as he was too busy for small talk. He whipped out his phone and dialed Amelia's number, leaving a voicemail when she didn't answer. He tried to do the same with Elena, but again, the same thing happened. Meanwhile, Claire crossed her arms and gave Christopher a friendly smile.
"Well, if it's any consolation, I'm glad you stayed," she tried sincerely. But there was a look in his eye that concerned her as she tried to be sincere and civil towards her ex-husband. He simply stared and gave her a false smile, one that she would give to someone she hated. Claire was beyond confused, but before she could say anything, Damon came rushing down the stairs.
"Hi, sweetie!" Damon boomed. Claire turned around, shifting uncomfortably, but she watched as Damon walked right past her and to Andie, where he smiled. "Oh, coffee!"
Andie smiled sheepishly. "Good morning."
"Mm, good morning." He gave her a kiss on the lips and grabbed the cup from Andie's hands. Andie wrapped her arms around Damon's waist and he let her stay there while Stefan stepped forward and tried to ignore Damon's pettiness.
"Hey, where's Elena and Amelia?"
"I don't know, they're your girlfriends." Damon shrugged and then looked back at Andie with a pout. "Oh, hey, how's the shoulder? Have time for a bite? I'm so hungry."
"Oh, it's really messy," Andie told him. "Can you just use a blood bag today? I'm really late for work."
"No..." Damon pouted again. Claire rolled her eyes at him but forced back her laughter that she could feel was rising in her lungs. While Damon made an ass out of himself with his human blood toy, she watched as Stefan called Amelia again, pacing back and forth in the foyer. As he did, Claire stepped in front of Andie and Damon and tried to follow Stefan as he began to pace in the hallway instead. But while Stefan was still leaving voicemails in Elena and Amelia's inboxes, Claire turned around and observed Andie and Damon in an embrace that only made her laugh.
"You know, Damon, she's not a wind-up toy," Claire pointed out with a scoff. Before she could turn and leave, Andie shot her a deathly glare while Damon smirked.
"It's really none of your business, is it, Claire?"
"Mm..." Claire trailed off as she backed away with a grin. "On the contrary. It's very much my business."
Damon watched her as she walked away and to Stefan who was waiting at the end of the hall. But before Claire and Stefan were out of sight, Andie frowned and looked up at Damon, confused.
"What the hell does that mean?"
"Yeah, Damon," Christopher chimed beside him, leaning against a wall with his arms crossed. "What does it mean?"
Damon looked back and forth between the woman in his arms and the jealous ex-husband beside him. Thinking of an excuse, Damon shrugged nonchalantly. "Oh, you know Claire. Woman never makes sense."
Christopher nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure that's it."
"Okay, I have to go to work!" Andie changed the subject, ripping herself out of Damon's arms as he protested. But regardless, he let her go with a goodbye and Christopher and Damon were left standing in the middle of the foyer, head-to-head. Before they could say anything, however, Damon caught the sight of Stefan and Claire noticing something peculiar out of the corners of their eyes and then they sprinted, causing Damon to put down his coffee mug and sprint right after them. All four vampires jogged down into the Salvatore cellar and fell short when Stefan stopped himself at the threshold of what used to be Elijah's holding cell but was now empty.
"No..." Damon trailed off with a growl. "They didn't."
Claire crossed her arms. "Oh, they did."
Elena pulled over the car as Elijah finished his third blood bag, finally regaining a bit of color to his recently dead face. Elena looked over at him and sighed.
"You look better."
"Where did you get the dagger?" Elijah began without wasting any time. Elena shook her head tightly.
"I'll tell you everything. But we have to work together, Elijah, I need your word.
"Your ability to make demands has long passed."
"It's not a demand." Amelia sat forward on the middle seat in the back of Elena's SUV and looked between the doppelgänger and the Original. "I mean, you can certainly think of it as a demand but the truth is, it's just people helping each other out. No demands."
Elijah scowled. "And why should I even consider this?"
"The same reason you haven't killed us." The blonde scoffed and tossed her hair over her shoulder as she tied the logic knot. "If we work together, we can kill Klaus. If we work separately, we don't stand a chance. I'm guessing that's what this one was thinking when she pulled your dagger out." Amelia looked at Elena pointedly, but it was nonetheless true.
Before Elijah could get a chance to respond, Elena's phone buzzed for the twentieth time. With a hard exhale, Elena pressed the answer button and held the phone up to her ear, immediately hearing Stefan's brisk voice.
"Where are you? Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine," Elena replied. "Amelia's with me."
"And where's Elijah?"
"He's right here."
"Where? I'm on my way."
"No, Stefan, Elijah, Amelia, and I need some time alone."
"Listen to me! He can't be trusted. He'll use you to get to Klaus."
Elena paused and looked over at the Original in the passenger seat, a thought forming in her head. She was quiet for a few moments before the words spilled out of her mouth with the upmost grace and poise she could ever have imagined.
"Elijah is a noble man, Stefan," she defended. "He lives by a code of honor. I can trust him. He knows that I'd be incredibly stupid to betray him again. By removing the dagger, I have proven myself."
"You can't do this alone."
"It's my decision, Stefan. Please respect it. And make sure that Damon and Claire don't do anything stupid. I'll be in touch."
With that said, Elena hung up the phone and looked over at Elijah in silence. From the backseat, Amelia sighed.
"Oh, they're not going to be happy about this," she muttered. After a few seconds, they could hear a buzzing from beside her, and with a groan, Amelia answered Stefan's call with a simple "what she said" and merely hung up the phone. Elijah looked back at Amelia and over at Elena and he simply extended his hand, waiting for them to place something in it. Reluctantly, Elena and Amelia both set their phones into Elijah's hand and he put them in his crisp suit pocket where he knew they'd be safe.
"Did she just hang up on you?" Damon asked his brother, an offended tone tracing his voice. Stefan nodded.
"She did."
"She's lost it."
"This doesn't have to be a bad thing," said Christopher who was standing beside Stefan with a thoughtful look on his face. "If anyone can get this Elijah guy to kill Klaus, it's Elena. And she has Amelia to protect her; she's safe."
Claire shook her head at her ex-husband without looking up at him. "You don't understand. You didn't see him, you didn't see what he was capable of."
Stefan swallowed thickly. "No, I think Christopher's right."
"Like hell!" Damon jumped up from the couch. "Bonnie's the way to kill Klaus, Stefan! He thinks she's dead. We have a chance with her."
"She'll kill herself in the process," Stefan responded. "Elena's looking for another way."
"Her way's gonna get them both killed," Damon stressed as he looked down at Claire, looking for backup. She looked up at him and watched as he began, "We need to find her and stop her—"
"No, you need to back off!" the younger Salvatore interrupted, standing up from the couch to face his brother. Damon narrowed his eyes.
"What?"
"Stefan, Damon's right." Claire slowly stood up and nodded at the dark-haired Salvatore standing by her side. "Elena could be getting herself into more danger. After what we did to him, we can't trust Elijah. We have to stop her."
"Look, I don't like this any more than you do," he said. "But we need to trust her. We gotta just let her do her thing."
"That might be your plan," Damon said flatly. "Mine's better."
He moved to leave the foyer so he could put his plan in motion, but instead, Damon felt a hard hand come up and clasp down on his elbow, preventing him from leaving. Looking back, Damon saw Christopher staring him hard in the face, unusually standing his ground for once.
"He told you to back off," Christopher said slowly, staring Damon down. Damon's eyes were full of confusion and anger as he watched the bronze-haired vampire snarl at him. "Let Elena do what she has to do. Understand?"
There was a very uncomfortable moment of tension in the room, but after that split second, Damon yanked his arm back to himself and walked off down the hallway, taking Christopher's threat with a grain of salt and leaving the rest of the vampires behind. Claire looked at her ex-husband, who looked back at Stefan with a curt and agreeing nod, but she was disgusted. With a scoff, she headed off in the same direction Damon went and caught up with him as he walked into the study.
"Well, if it makes you feel better, I agree with you," Claire murmured under her breath as she and Damon walked side-by-side into the room and towards the alcohol waiting on the lower level. Damon snorted.
"Gee, thanks. But seriously, what are we gonna do about your moronic little sister and our naïve doppelgänger?"
She crossed her arms and shrugged. "We'll figure something out. We always do."
"Mm," Damon agreed with a nod as he went to pour himself a drink from the decanter. He slid a drink to the blonde vampire waiting to be served, and the two of them toasted and wasted no time in downing the rest of the contents in the glass. Nearly ten minutes after the disagreement in the parlor, as Claire and Damon were on their second drink together, Stefan walked into the study from the hallway as Christopher walked into the room from the basement pouring a bag of o-neg into a crystal cup. Claire rolled her eyes and relaxed on the couch while Damon poured himself another drink.
"Hello?" Stefan answered his phone as he entered the study. All of the vampires in the room remained silent as Stefan talked on the phone so they could hear the voice on the other end. It was Jenna.
"Hey, Stefan, it's Jenna."
"Jenna. Hey."
"Where's Elena and Jeremy? No one's answering their phones."
"Ah, Elena's not here at the moment. Is, uh, is everything okay?"
"She left me all these weird messages telling me to stay away from Ric. What's going on?"
Stefan hesitated, but eventually he replied, "It's really hard to explain over the phone but, um, she was hoping that you could stay on campus for a little while longer."
"Well, that's kind of hard to do from my kitchen."
"Wait..." Stefan's eyes widened. "You're home?"
"Yeah. What's going on? Where's Elena? I'm supposed to meet Ric at the Grill for lunch to...talk."
"Jenna, listen to me carefully," the Salvatore said slowly, "whatever you do, do not meet Alaric at the Grill. I'm going to come over right now and I'm gonna explain everything."
Stefan promptly answered the phone, obviously in a hurry to get over to the Gilbert residence. He looked up at Damon and Claire, waiting for them to get off their asses and come with him, but Damon shrugged and drank out of his glass.
"Oh, I'd love to lend you a hand but...you wouldn't want me doing anything stupid," he said bitterly.
Stefan grimaced. "Seriously gonna be like this?"
"You and your girlfriend are calling the shots." Stefan looked between Christopher and Stefan pointedly. "I'm just...backing off. Can't speak for Miss Sunshine over there."
The younger Salvatore looked over at Claire. "Claire, are you coming?"
Claire looked between Stefan and Damon, her mouth opened but words failing to come out. After a few seconds, she sighed heavily and shook her head. "I...think I'm gonna stay with Damon right now, Stefan. Sorry."
Stefan scoffed in disbelief, but Christopher shook his head at both Claire and Damon and turned to Stefan. "Go. Make sure Elena's aunt isn't in any harm. I'll keep an eye on them."
"Thanks," he said curtly and rushed out of the house without so much as a goodbye. When Stefan was gone, Damon set his bourbon glass down and looked at Christopher with disdain.
"What are you, our babysitter now?" he scoffed. Christopher shrugged.
"Well, if we're being honest here, you two definitely need babysitting," he admitted. Claire shot him a glare, but Christopher ignored her and watched as Damon just gave him a sour smile and nodded over at the blonde waiting for him.
"Come on, Claire. Let's go." Damon downed the rest of his bourbon quickly and then rushed to the exit of the study, where he watched Andie fall short at the threshold. He smiled at her. "Hi."
"Hi," she replied, mesmerized. Claire set down her glass and stood up, confused.
"Where are we going and...why is she here?" the blonde asked. Damon turned around at her.
"We're splitting from the team. Going rogue. And we need her help, so come on." He watched as Claire slowly made her way up to the exit of the study, all the while Christopher just stood and watched while drinking his glass of blood as if nothing ever bothered him. "And I'm assuming you're not gonna do anything to stop us, right?"
Christopher only smiled. "Go ahead, Damon. I've got my own things to take care of."
Claire stepped forward. "Like what?"
He didn't respond. Christopher just looked at Damon and Claire, as if seeing all their secrets. They couldn't tell, but he knew he had them sweating. Damon's sly smile dropped from his face as he turned around and shook his head.
"Come on. Let's go before Slim Shady changes his mind."
"I don't think that this is a good idea," Andie voiced as she, Claire, and Damon approached Alaric's apartment door. Damon shrugged at her.
"You're an investigative journalist. We're investigating," he reasoned.
"Besides," Claire began, "who asked you, anyways?"
Andie gave her a dirty look, but Damon focused his girlfriend's attention on the door in front of them. He gestured to it, and with reluctance, Andie knocked on the surface and spoke aloud, trying to sound nonchalant.
"Hi, Alaric. You home? It's Andie...Starr, Jenna's friend," Andie announced herself. They could hear music playing in the apartment, but no one answered the door. Andie shrugged, not sure what to do next, but Damon looked around to make sure there were no human witnesses that could see what he was about to do. Stealthily, Damon twisted the knob of the door so hard that it snapped, causing the lock to break. He gestured to Andie to push it forward and she did, revealing Katherine standing in front of it, letting out a sigh of relief.
"Thank God," she exclaimed. Andie's eyes widened.
"Wow! You were right, she looks exactly like Elena." Andie stepped into the home as Damon and Claire fell short at the doorstep.
"Yep." Damon sighed when he realized he wasn't able to get inside. He looked over at Katherine with a disappointed smile. "Thought you might be dead."
She scowled. "Unfortunately not. What are you doing here?"
"We are here to rescue you," Andie reiterated what Damon had said earlier on the way over. Damon shook his head.
"No, sweetie. We are here to see if she deserves to be rescued," Damon corrected her. Claire scoffed and crossed her arms.
"I'm sorry, rescuing was never a part of the plan," she countered with a sigh. Katherine frowned at her. "Damon thought you were dead but Klaus...uh, Alaric..."
"Alari-Klaus," Damon helped her. She nodded.
"Sure. Alari-Klaus was fitting in too perfectly. Unless he somehow inherited all of Alaric's memories, which is highly doubtful, I figured he had to have had someone that was filling him in on this place." Claire gave Katherine a sour smile. "And you've done such a good job at recon thusfar."
"Okay, let's cut to the chase." Damon reached into his pocket and grabbed the small bottle of vervain in his pocket, waving it next to his head as if to taunt Katherine with it. Sure enough, the doppelgänger stiffened.
"Is that...?"
"Vervain? Your salvation?"
She shook her head hopelessly. "It's not gonna undo anything."
"There's always a loophole," Damon argued. "Did he tell you to stay in this apartment until he said it was okay to leave?" Katherine opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Damon gasped dramatically. "You can't say! Did he tell you to do absolutely everything he says until the end of time?"
"No!" Katherine answered quickly, originally just to prove Damon wrong but then she realized that she was allowed to speak, that she had found the way out. Damon smirked at her.
"There's your loophole." He waved the vervain again. "Drink this and prevent any further compulsion."
Katherine stomped forward, but just as she reached out to get the vervain from him, he jerked it back closer to his side of the door. The brunette vampire grimaced. "Give it to me."
Claire narrowed her eyes. "That's how you talk to the people who are trying to help you? Man, you've got some deep psychological issues."
Katherine grimaced. "I wasn't trying to prove you wrong. I don't care what you, of all people, think of me."
Claire and Katherine stared at each other, at a complete standstill. Damon watched them closely, but not close enough. Claire reached forward and ripped the vervain out of his hands, now in possession of the one thing that Katherine wanted. Katherine tried to protest and take the vervain, but Claire moved it far enough so that it was on her side of the door where Katherine couldn't reach. Katherine stared at her with extreme distaste.
"You're gonna answer some questions for me. Then you can have this," Claire demanded. Katherine crossed her arms and waited as Claire asked, "How do we stop Klaus?"
"You can't. Your witch is dead, there's nothing else you can do about it."
"There has to be another way, Katherine. There's always another way."
"If there is, I don't know it," the vampire snapped. Claire looked at her, expecting to see the lie trace her eyes, but instead she saw nothing but sheer annoyance. Claire straightened, clenching her teeth.
"And how do we save Elena?"
"Slip her some vampire blood before the ritual; I don't know. My plan was never to save that whiny little bitch."
"And me?" Claire raised an eyebrow challengingly at Katherine, who straightened and swallowed thickly. She took a moment, but after a while, Katherine sneered at her.
"You wanna know how to save yourself, Clarissa? I'll tell you how." Katherine smiled bitterly. "Run. If you're anywhere accessible by the time the full moon comes, he won't hesitate to replace you as the vampire in the ritual. So my advice? Run. He'll hunt you down eventually, but at least you'll have a few more years with you."
She shook her head. "That can't be the only way."
Katherine groaned. "I don't know what to tell you. I can't tell you what you want to hear because it's not true. So hand the vervain over, Claire."
"One more question," Damon interrupted, stopping Claire from handing the small bottle to Katherine inside of the apartment. "You double-crossed us with Isobel. Why?"
"I didn't think I could stand a chance against Klaus," Katherine admitted honestly. "I was looking out for myself."
He smiled and grabbed the bottle from Claire before turning back to Katherine with a smug grin. "And where'd that get you?" He tossed the bottle to her. "Here. Be careful with that. He finds out you have that, you're never getting out of here."
Katherine opened the small bottle and took a sip of the vervain inside, coughing once she ingested it. Damon backed away.
"You owe me. And I will collect." He turned to Andie and jerked his head. "Come on."
"Nice to meet you," Andie blurted out as she left the apartment, closing the door and heading out after Claire and Damon. Katherine stepped out of the way of the door and sighed as she clasped the lid onto the small bottle of vervain and walked back into the excruciatingly silent and boring apartment. Right as she was about to grab the bottle of jack on the counter, she heard the door swing open again. Confused, Katherine turned around, expecting to see Damon, but instead she saw Christopher standing at the threshold.
"Hello, Katherine," he chimed, giving her a small smile. Katherine swallowed uncomfortably and shook her head.
"What are you doing here?" she asked. Christopher sighed and leaned against the doorframe.
"I have a slight problem," he admitted. Katherine crossed her arms and waited for him to elaborate. "And, see, you're the only one who's been honest when it comes to this problem. The only one, besides them, who actually knows...anything about what they've been doing."
Katherine narrowed her eyes. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about Damon and Claire," Christopher said shortly. She could sense the irritation in his voice and immediately, Katherine knew the conversation was not going to be a good one. But since Damon and Claire had gotten to her first, given her the vervain, she decided to cash in her favor then.
She shrugged. "I don't know anything about what's been going on with Damon and Claire. I told you, just that one time, they kissed and I saw it."
Christopher raised an eyebrow. "And here I thought would be the perfect opportunity for you to get your sworn revenge on Claire. I guess that vervain really patched up your friendship?" Katherine stiffened and watched as he pulled out another bottle of liquid vervain. "How about I one-up them? Will you tell me then?"
Katherine paused. "Are you sure you want to know?"
Christopher frowned. "If you meant what you said before...if you really loved me...you wouldn't ask that question."
"I'm asking it because I do love you," she countered with a scoff. He shrugged.
"Fine. Then yes, I'm sure." He tossed the vervain over the threshold where Katherine caught it in her hand and gripped it tightly. "Tell me what you know."
Elena closed the door to the study, attempting to give Jenna some privacy so she could process what she'd learned. Because of Alaric's presence at her house, Stefan had no choice but to protect her in the only way possible, and that way caused her to learn about vampires. Stefan was pacing in front of the door when Elena came out with a melancholic look on her face.
"Is she gonna be okay?" he asked.
"She's in shock," Elena responded. "I tried to tell her as much as I could but...I barely scratched the surface."
"I'm so sorry, Elena," Stefan apologized. "I hate this."
"It's not your fault, Stefan. It's mine. Anyway, I have to go back." Stefan knotted his eyebrows, confused. "To Elijah."
"Wait, what? No. No!"
"Stefan, I promised him that I would return. Besides, Amelia is still there," she reasoned. Stefan sighed while she continued, "But I can't break that promise to him." He opened his mouth to say something, but he realized what she meant and realized that there was nothing he could do to stop her. She nodded at him. "I'll be okay."
"Just be safe." Elena turned around and watched Christopher come down the stairs and approach her. She nodded again. "Trust your instincts, Elena. If you feel unsafe, do something about it."
"Thank you." She moved past him and towards the door, but before she could even get five steps in, she watched as Damon and Claire came marching down the hallway as if ambushing her. She took a deep breath to handle their wrath.
"Where do you think you're going?" Damon prompted sourly.
"Back to Elijah."
Damon flashed over to her, finding it was useless with human speed as he blocked her way and shook his head. "No."
"Get out of my way, Damon—"
"Elena, why do you insist on making things fifteen times more difficult for us?" Claire tried as she approached Damon's side and stared at Elena with a disapproving glare. Elena shifted uncomfortably with the lecture. "All we're doing is trying to keep you safe! Trying to keep me safe! Why do you want to ruin this for us?"
"You said you wanted to find another way to kill Klaus," Elena reminded her harshly. "This is it, Claire! I know he knows another way!"
"And if he doesn't?"
"He does!"
"We can't take that chance," Claire responded briskly. Elena frowned.
"I'm not asking for your opinion." She looked between Damon and Claire. "Now move so I can—"
As Elena tried to move her way around Damon and Claire, Damon suddenly reached forward and snatched her arm with an incredible force, causing the human to step back into her previous position and remain still. Damon shook his head at her. "If you so much as try and take a step out of this house..."
"Damon, easy..." Andie tried from behind him.
"Stay out of this, Andie!" Damon barked at her.
"Let her go," Christopher ordered the dark-haired Salvatore from a few inches behind Elena. Damon scoffed.
"Right. Like I'm gonna take orders from you, Slim Shady. We just got her back, there's no way she's leaving his house again. She's putting everyone at danger—including Claire."
Elena shook her head. "I would never put us in danger."
"Well, you are!" Damon boomed, but just as he really got heated, he felt a hand clasp around his arm again with incredible force, and he looked beside him to again see Christopher standing forcefully and protectively, waiting for Damon to get his hands off of Elena.
"You heard me, Damon," he said lowly. "Let her go."
Damon's eyes slowly crept over to Christopher's as he growled, "That's twice today you've stood in my way. I wouldn't try a third."
"Just go," Stefan said softly to Elena as Christopher and Damon stood in the foyer in the middle of a stare down. Elena snuck past Damon and Claire, though Claire was more focused on Christopher and Damon than she was on Elena at the moment. They heard the front door close softly as a signal of Elena's exit, and when she was gone, Claire turned to the two men beside her with an angry look on her face.
"What the hell is wrong with you two?" she ordered, her voice hard and stern. Damon jerked his arm back forcefully and Christopher dropped his hand, but Claire was provoking him and he didn't know how to stop. "Christopher, you need to lay off! I don't know what you're trying to prove, staying here and picking fights but—"
"I heard you," he said suddenly, cutting her off in the middle of her sentence. Christopher's wild eyes looked back and forth between Damon and Claire. "I heard both of you last night. I heard what you did, what you said. And then I went and talked to Katherine today. I know everything."
Claire tensed, but Damon's eyes cut into him, as if threatening Christopher to be silent. Stefan, however, was making things worse. He fit himself into the conversation, looking between the feuding vampires with confusion.
"What's going on?" Stefan asked.
Claire swallowed thickly. "Christopher, don't—"
But it was too late. By the time she tried to stop it, Christopher turned to Stefan and blurted out, "Stefan, your brother and your best friend have been sleeping with each other since the 1920s. They lied to you every single chance they had. They told both of us nothing was going on; they told us they hated each other but the truth of it all is that they've been in love since they were children and they've been fucking each other behind your back since."
Damon bit down on his tongue to refrain from screaming. Instead, he snapped at Christopher, "I don't see how it was any of your business."
"What, it wasn't my business when I married her? It wasn't my business when I was trapped in a tomb for a fucking century!" Christopher shouted, his eyes fuming. Claire flinched, but she didn't let him see how much his harsh words were affecting her. But he didn't stop there. He looked over at Claire, hatred burning in his eyes. "Katherine was right about you all along. You thought she was the slut? You thought she was the one who manipulated men into getting what she wanted? You're no different, Clarissa."
He turned on his heel and walked away from them without turning back. It left Damon, Claire, and Stefan standing in the middle of the foyer with the aftershock of the bomb he'd just dropped. Damon looked at Claire, knowing her ex-husband's words were so harsh they had to have some effect, but he didn't get to say anything before Stefan looked at both of them with disgust and betrayal.
"I can't believe you two," Stefan whispered quietly, earning Damon's attention. Claire looked up at him and tried to speak, but he cut her off. "How could you? I asked you both...countless times! What, did you think I would hate you if I knew the truth? Did you think I would treat you differently? You lied to me! Both of you!"
"Stefan, I'm so sorry—" Claire began, but he shook his head and cut her off by holding his hand up as he brushed past her, intentionally brushing her shoulder and left the house, slamming the door on his way out. Immediately, Claire followed after him, but Damon tried to grab her hand and stop her.
"Claire—" Damon tried, but she shook his hand off and flashed out of the house, leaving Damon alone in the mansion with Andie by his side. He barely even noticed the human beside him and simply marched off into the study without a word.
"Stefan!" Claire shouted after him as she followed him out onto the Salvatore lawn. He was at least a few yards away from her at that point, but he had stopped in the center and tousled his hair in frustration. It gave her time to catch up to him, where she flitted so that she was standing in front of him and he had no room to escape. "Stefan, you have to understand—"
"What do I need to understand, Claire?" Stefan prompted. She waited and let him get everything off his chest. "God, I mean...you know, what you did doesn't hurt. You want to be with Damon...fine, I mean if it makes you happy...whatever. But ninety years? Ninety years! You've been sleeping with him for a century and you lied to me about it!"
"Technically..." Claire gulped nervously. Stefan watched with widened eyes. "Stefan, you knew there was stuff between us when we were human! Do I really have to get into all the details with you?"
"No! No, you really, really don't," he pleaded. She watched as he paced back and forth. "I just don't understand why you would lie."
Claire bit down on her lip. "You want the truth or the my truth?"
He glared at her. "The truth would be nice for once, thank you."
She sighed. "Stefan, it was fun. That's it, it was just...it was fun. It was fun to sneak around, it was fun to argue and throw lamps and hairdryers and then...well, do what came afterwards. It was fun. That was our truth, mine and Damon's. We thought it'd be too boring if you knew."
Stefan took a moment to process what he'd heard, but after a while, he said quietly, "And what's your truth?"
Claire swallowed thickly. "I knew that...if you knew about us, it would be real. It would mean something. I didn't want it to mean anything."
Stefan put his hands on his hips. "Does it mean anything?"
"I don't know." She thought carefully and shifted, uncomfortable. "I think...I think Damon wants it to. After what happened with Katherine and seeing you with Elena and then Amelia...I think he wants the same thing you have. But I don't know if I can give it to him."
Stefan shook his head. "Why are you so afraid of it? Your whole life, with everyone I've seen you get close to—which, I might add, happens to not be a lot of people—you just...you put up this wall. You shove them out."
"Hey!" she protested. "That's not true! I've tried to let people in. I did it with Christopher...well, you know, until he left me. Obviously that was a mistake. But it's hard with Damon, okay? With our history, everything is complicated."
"But you've never tried," Stefan pointed out. She stayed silent, realizing that he was right. Eventually, Stefan let out a big breath of disappointed air. "Look, I'm not mad. I'm...disgusted, but not mad. I'm just hurt that you didn't trust me enough to tell me what was going on. Even after I asked you over and over again. You lied, Claire."
"I know." She stepped forward. "I know, Stef, and I'm sorry. I do trust you, you know that. You're my best friend, how could I not? But I lied because...I just didn't want you to know. I didn't want anyone to know."
"How did Katherine, then?" Stefan asked, confused. She shrugged.
"I don't know. She probably spied on us or something. You know she's always had it in for me and this was her way of getting back at me for some of the things I've done to her. But I promise, Stefan, no more secrets. That was it. I swear."
Stefan was silent for a long time, thinking it over. But finally when he spoke, he let out a soft sigh. "As long as you don't try to talk about your...encounters with me, I'm fine with it. But no more secrets, Claire."
"No more secrets, Stefan." She smiled. "And, trust me, the last thing I want to do is talk to you about Damon. Though I'm sure it'd hurt his ego which would be a nice plus."
Stefan scoffed. "One second you're sleeping with him, the next you're making fun of him?"
"We have a strange relationship, Stefan. You should know that better than anyone."
"Is it true?" Andie asked softly as she set down a glass of bourbon on the end table for Damon. The dark-haired Salvatore was sitting on the couch in the study in a daze thinking about what had just happened. Anger raged inside of him thinking about Christopher, the two-faced bastard probably smirking to himself thinking about the secret he had no business sharing. It sickened Damon to his very core thinking about the words that Christopher said to Claire, words that she didn't deserve. He'd said them before and he regretted them the second they came out of his mouth, but he was sure Christopher felt no such regret. "About you and Claire? Is she the one you're in love with?"
Damon sighed at her. "Just go. Please."
"I-I know you're worried about her with everything going on..."
"Andie!" Damon snapped. The human flinched, but Damon looked up at her and just said sternly, "Go."
"Okay," she agreed softly and turned to walk out. Damon grabbed the bourbon glass beside him and swallowed some of it, relishing in the burn in the back of his throat. But he just about lost it when he heard someone's voice from the entrance of the lower level of the study.
"You know, what's the point in having her around?" Christopher wondered aloud as he stared at the moping Salvatore on the couch. "You would think you have enough, stealing my wife."
"Don't you start with me," Damon sneered at him. "Claire might've allowed you to say some of those hateful things to her but I sure as hell won't let you get away with it."
"What are you going to do to me, Damon?" Christopher snapped. Damon turned his head sharply to face him, but Christopher stood his ground again, challenging the dark-haired Salvatore. "You've taken everything I have. You let me rot in that hellhole for an entire century and the entire time you were screwing my wife!"
"She wasn't your anything! You think you can make her be someone's wife or someone's girlfriend, Christopher? You're wrong. She doesn't belong to anyone."
Christopher scoffed. "Yeah, well, a marriage doesn't lie, Damon. She belonged to me."
Damon watched as the vampire tried to leave, but he wasn't going to get off that easily. Dirty, terrible words formed inside of Damon's mind and he just couldn't help himself. The dick deserved it.
"You know, if you're gonna look at it that way, one could say she belonged to me first." Damon took a nonchalant sip of his bourbon and watched from the corner of his eye as Christopher turned around, intrigued. A small smile formed on his lips. "Because, back in the day, a woman belonged to the very first man she had sex with. And, unfortunately, that wasn't you."
Damon watched as Christopher came to the conclusion, but Damon didn't break a sweat as he set his bourbon glass down carefully and listened as Christopher then whispered, "You had sex with her before we got married?"
Damon lifted himself from the couch and stared right at Christopher, his eyes hard. "Right before I went off in the war."
"You're lying!"
"Why would I lie? What do I have to gain?" He could see Christopher fuming. "You know, you should be thankful. Now you can stop obsessing over the one woman that won't ever want you."
Christopher laughed. "Right. So I should thank you for being in love with my wife?"
"Ex-wife," Damon corrected. Christopher's lips turned down into a grimace and he walked forward, never taking his eyes off his opponent.
"You know, you can be in love with Claire all you want if it means that you'll do everything to keep her alive, just like I would or Stefan would." Damon waited for the punchline as Christopher drew closer like an idiot, right into his trap. "But you and I both know it's a lost cause."
"Why's that?"
"Well, she was forced to love me because we were married," Christopher began. "And she loves Stefan because he's her best friend. She'll love Amelia because she's her sister. But you? There's nothing forcing her to love you, Damon. And she won't."
There it was. And the moment it was out of Christopher's mouth, Damon punched as hard as he wanted to, knocking Christopher back into the bookshelf of the study so that it shattered. Clenching his fists, Damon watched as Christopher recoiled and lunged at him, wrapping his hands around Damon's throat and therefore causing Damon to do the same. The two vampires in the midst of an equal power-struggle practically shook the entire study, but it was only when they heard a stern, familiar voice that they were forced to step back.
"Stop!" Claire shouted as she walked into the study with Stefan by her side. The two had eyes wide as the moon watching the brawl take place. She looked back and forth between them. "What the hell is wrong with you two?"
"What's going on?" someone else asked, causing Claire and Stefan to look over their shoulders and find Amelia, Elena, and Elijah standing behind them, confused and awaiting an answer.
No one gave them a response to Amelia's question, but rather Damon snarled, "Now you've invited him in?"
"Elijah and I have renewed the terms of our deal," Elena told the vampires in the room. Damon scoffed.
"Really?"
"All of the vampires in this room will come to no harm at my hands," Elijah assured them in a professional manner. He looked around at them and stipulated, "I only ask for one thing in return."
"And what would that be?" Claire asked.
"An apology," he replied reasonably. From the lower level of the room, Damon knotted his eyebrows.
"A what?"
Stefan sighed. "I'm sorry for the part that I played in your death."
"I didn't play a part in your death," Christopher spoke up after Stefan's apology. Elijah looked over at him as Christopher shrugged. "But I'm sorry that they did it."
Elijah turned and looked at Claire, who was uncomfortably weighing her options. She looked at Damon, who was giving her a glare that told her not to say anything, but she felt like she had no choice. After a long-winded sigh, she walked forward and looked at Damon over the ledge before speaking to him.
"Damon, if we can help, we should let him help. The sacrifice is going to happen and there's nothing we can do to stop it." She nodded softly and then turned around to apologize to Elijah. "Elijah, I'm sorry we killed you."
That was it. One more vampire in the room had to apologize and they could all work together. But Damon was silent, and everyone knew that he was the most likely to turn on them all. Elena stepped forward by Claire's side.
"She's right, Damon. The sacrifice will happen but Bonnie will be able to kill Klaus without hurting herself and Elijah knows how to save my life. I told you I'd find another way and I did."
"Is it true?" Damon asked Elijah. He nodded.
"It is."
"And you're trusting him?" Damon asked Elena. She nodded.
"I am."
"And Claire?" Damon's eyes drifted up to Elijah, who stiffened. "You know how to save her too?"
Elijah swallowed, but maintained his professional manner. "I believe we can keep her hidden long enough for Klaus to have no other option but to take the life of a regular vampire. Once he's dead, there will be no need for her to continue to run from him."
Claire tensed beside Stefan, realizing what Elijah was proposing was exactly what Katherine had. Damon snorted at him. "That's your big plan? Let her run? That's not saving her at all!"
"Damon, it's our best option," Claire blurted out. She knew it was true, though she didn't want it to be. Damon looked at her with hard eyes and she thought he would be okay with it, she thought her agreement would make him understand. Instead, he turned on all of them.
"You can all go to hell."
He raced out of the room, leaving the rest of them to stare after in all his self-hatred. Claire sighed and looked at Elijah.
"He's bad with apologies, Elijah. He hates being wrong," she tried. "But he'll come around."
Elijah didn't bother looking at her. He just stared after where Damon had gone and said slowly, "Perhaps."
Stefan pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. "Maybe I should go check on him..."
"No, don't worry about it." Claire touched Stefan's arm softly and gave him a small smile. "I can handle it when Damon's angry. Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll try to be angry with me. That always helps."
She moved down the study so that she could go in the direction that he went, but as she tried to exit the room, she felt a strong hand come around her forearm and block her. Claire bit her tongue to refrain from yelling spiteful words as Christopher, without even looking at her, growled, "Our wedding night. Was that the first time you had ever..."
Claire raised a stiffening breath in her lungs, but slowly, she shook her head. "No. It wasn't."
She shook his arm off of hers and took off after Damon, leaving her ex-husband heartbroken and seething in the middle of the Salvatore study. Claire made sure to travel up the stairs quickly but swiftly, trying to give Damon enough time and space but also wanting to make sure he was okay. But when she managed to get up to the hallway where his room was, she heard a violent scream. Picking up her pace, she burst through the threshold of Damon's room only to witness him throw Andie down on the floor aggressively, blood dripping down his chin as he loomed above her while she cried. Sensing someone else in the room, Damon turned around to see Claire with a horrified look on her face, and immediately he tried to rid himself of the monstrous look he knew he bore.
"Claire—" he began, but she cut him off.
"How dare you?" Claire snarled. He could sense her filling with fury as she spoke, nearing closer to him. "Why do you keep doing this? Why do you make it so difficult for me to defend you? Why do you make it so difficult for me to choose you, Damon?! All day I've been choosing you! All day I've been trying to defend you to everyone but you make it so hard! And then this? She's just a human, Damon!"
"No one asked you to choose me," Damon growled at her, but fighting back was clearly not the right route for him to take.
"You did!" she shouted. "You asked me to choose you and I did! But why does this keep happening? Why do you make me hate you? I don't want to hate you! You just keep making me! You don't know the difference between right and wrong, you don't know the difference between good and bad! You were fighting with Christopher down there when you should've backed away! You should've been the better man and yet you consistently keep picking fights! And then you victimize innocent people and I just don't get it. How can expect me to love you when you keep doing this?!"
He stayed quiet and the two were at a standstill. Andie watched them through her salted eyes but she said nothing, and the next thing she knew, Claire had turned on her heel and stormed out.
"Claire!" Damon shouted after her. "Claire!"
But she didn't stop. Damon didn't bother going after her when she made it clear she didn't want to be around him. She left Damon in his room to think about her words as she stormed downstairs and met Elena at the bottom of the staircase. She instantly noticed something was wrong, but Claire didn't slow her movements. She reached up and grabbed her leather jacket from the coat rack and her car keys from the tray by the door.
"Claire, what's wrong?" Elena asked worriedly. Claire shook her head.
"Nothing, Elena. I'll be back later." And without wasting another second, she stepped outside, climbed into her car, and left the house, too stressed to deal with anyone inside of it.
She was on her third glass of bourbon when night had finally come and it was starting to be socially acceptable for her to drink. The Grill was pretty empty with the exception of a few regular customers and a few midday drinkers sitting at the bar such as herself. When she downed all of the bourbon in her glass in one shot and swallowed it whole, however, the bartender looked at her as if she were insane. Claire gave him a smile and inched the glass forward.
"Come on, Sam..." Claire groaned as the bartender looked at her with disapproving eyes. "Haven't we been through this before? I'm fine! I'll take another."
Sam leaned closer to her. "I really think you have a drinking problem."
She grinned. "It's only a problem if I say it's a problem. And it's not a problem. Another, please."
Sam sighed. "Claire, I don't feel comfortable giving you another shot unless I you give me a number I can call if you get too drunk to drive home."
"I can't get drunk, Sammy, we've been over this before. Of course, it normally ends with me compelling you to forget that we had these conversations or that I was totally wasted but—"
"Another round for the lady, please. One for me as well."
Claire turned her head and watched as a man sat beside her after interrupting her mid-sentence, but though confused, she was grateful to see that Sam had sighed and turned behind the counter so that he could pour them two drinks. Claire straightened from leaning on the bar, running a hand through her hair so that it wasn't a mess of golden strands as it was before when she was leaning up against the palm of her hand that had created intolerable frizz. The man beside her just smiled at the bartender as he handed him one glass and set the other in front of Claire. She was skeptical, but she didn't object to it.
"Thank you," she said slowly.
"You're very welcome, love."
"British, too, huh?"
He smiled. "I guess it must be your lucky day."
She snorted. "Mm, quite the contrary. I've had a very, very unlucky day. Especially when it comes to men. You know, actually, I've had a very, very unlucky year when it comes to men."
The British man smiled. Unknown to Claire since she was too focused on him to realize what was going on, whoever was to the other side of her at the bar opened a bottle and spilled liquid inside of it so quickly that, because she was impaired, she wouldn't notice.
"Well, I can see why. You're very beautiful," he flattered her. Claire laughed.
"I know. It's definitely a problem." She looked down at her glass and then, after a moment's hesitation, she looked up at him and smiled. "You know, you're not so bad yourself."
He took a sip of his drink while smiling. "I'm aware. It's...definitely not a problem."
She rolled her eyes. "Oh, and there's the ego, I see."
"I could say the same about you."
She picked up her glass and smiled slowly at him. "Yes, but it's okay with me because I'm allowed to be a hypocrite. No one else is, of course."
He shrugged. "A woman as beautiful as you does earn her rights."
"Flattery will get you nowhere..." She trailed off as she pulled the glass to her lips and drank, waiting for him to tell her his name. He waited long enough for her to take a large gulp of it, impaired by her intoxication that she was unaware that she was ingesting a mixture of vervain and a sedative that would cause her to be more compliant.
"Klaus," he answered. Her eyes widened when she realized who he was, but she barely had time to react. When she realized the vervain she had ingested and set her glass down with a slam, coughing all over the place, he jumped up from his seat and caught her in his arms as she fell over on the bar stool, coughing up the harmful substance in her throat. He smoothed out her hair, attempting to look as if he was calming her down.
"Shh, shh. It's okay, it was just a little vervain, love. Well, with a bit of an extra kick." He waited until her coughing started to become less prevalent and she began to fall slack in his grasp, the effect of the magical sedative Maddox had slipped to her. Pulling Claire away from his chest, he looked up at Maddox. "Take her. Put her somewhere safe. No one touches her, understand?"
"Yes," Maddox nodded and took Claire from Klaus's arms, slinging one arm around his shoulder so that he could walk her out inconspicuously. Klaus sat back down on the stool at the bar and smiled before holding his finger up to signal another drink.
Thanks for reading! Please review!
NicoleR85: Thank you! Here's the update!
RHatch89: Another one for you! :)
grapejuice101: Yep she definitely has a few guys wanting her. And this chapter was definitely a game-changer so the next few will be fun. Here's the update! Hope you enjoyed it!
SomebodyWhoCares: Lol yeah Elijah is pretty hot. I love Elijah like just his character is amazing lol but anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter!
HALEBTRASH: Thank you!
Anna.B: Elena and Claire are close but Elena still has doubts about Claire just because she and Elena think in very different ways. I mean, they think in the same way when it comes to morals but when it comes to strategizing, Claire is more like Damon in that way and that's what makes Elena nervous which is why she made her stand outside with Damon. I'm not the biggest fan of Christopher tbh like his character is really annoying me but I have to keep going with this because eventually he will be redeemed but he needs something to be redeemed from. Yeah, basically, they all turned on them which is another point of Damon and Claire's complexity that I like to write about. They stick together through most things but in this chapter she kind of turned on him which is understandable. She was trying really hard not to but some things that Damon does just crosses a line with her and she can't stand for it. I mean, if Elena and Christopher were to get together it would not be any time soon and that'll make more sense in 2x21. But there is a potential for them in the future but it won't really be a big deal for Claire because by then she'll have moved on with Damon and it's important for Christopher to move on as well. Though I am debating bringing someone else in for Elena for Season 3 and maybe onwards I'm not sure. Well, they focused on Claire a little more in this chapter but really I think Claire just wants everyone to focus on Elena because she believes she can handle herself. Obviously, after this last bit, she can't because she was taken by Klaus but the thought still counts. But trust me, Claire will still be a very big part of this ritual and people will die for her. No interactions with Elijah thusfar, however maybe in Season 3 she and Elijah will get to know each other better. Anyways, thanks for the review! Here's the update!
Tvd2014: Haha thanks! I thought it was pretty great poetry :) Claire's really trying here but that will eventually cause her to hit some obstacles in the future. Sorry but this was a bit of a cliffhanger! Next chapter is coming soon!
Guest: Haven't thought much about whether I'm actually gonna give Elena a sire bond or not just because of how things are going to work out that change a lot in Season 3 but yeah, if Elena were to be sired to someone, it'll probably be Stefan, Amelia, or Claire. I'll have to think about it but thank you for the suggestion! Thank you and here's the next chapter!
Guest: He's just whining because he feels entitled but Damon really put him in his place this chapter. She'll tell him that in the season finale ;) Thank you so much! Here's the next chapter!
klandgraf2007: He got tired of holding it in lol but yeah it was pretty romantic I'll say. Christopher is definitely advancing things and the rest of the season is going to be pretty hectic. Thank you! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!