Disclaimer: Refer to the first chapter please :)
The End of the Affair
It had only been a few days since Damon, Elena, Alaric, and Amelia had feebly attempted to track down Claire and Stefan in the woods, but they hadn't gotten anywhere closer to finding out where Klaus had taken them afterwards. Late at night, after Amelia had gone to bed and Damon was up all alone in the big, quiet Salvatore house, he poured himself a nightcap just to think for a moment. Of course, that was when he heard the annoying blaring sound of his phone going off, an unknown caller interrupting his peace.
"You're interrupting my drink," he stated grouchily. The woman on the phone giggled.
"You miss me?"
Damon's lips turned down into a frown as he recognized the voice over the line. "Katherine. Where are you?"
"Lurking outside your window...pining away."
"What do you want?"
"I'm homesick. What have I missed?"
"Well, Stefan and Claire are still Klaus' prisoners and Elena and Amelia still think they can save them and...no one's thought about you since you left."
"And what about you? I'm sure now that you've realized that Clarissa could care about you less since she took off with Klaus and your brother, you've kept yourself busy with dozens of lucky ladies while gradually giving up on her?"
Damon scoffed at the ridiculous (yet somewhat true) suggestion by his former love. To prove a point, he told her his version of the truth; but truth be told, if she'd asked Amelia the same thing, there would be a chance she would say something different. "I would never give up on Claire...or my brother, for that matter. I just don't know where they are."
"Hmm..." Katherine trailed off, as if biting back information she waited for him to realize she had. Damon's eyebrows knotted together as he frowned into the phone.
"But you do. Are you trailing them?"
"A hybrid who wants me dead, his sidekick who's off the rails, and a bitch I can't stand? I couldn't be further away."
Damon smiled and walked over to the couch with the glass of bourbon steady in his hand. "Which means you know exactly where they are."
"All I know is that Klaus pitched a fit when his hybrids didn't work. Now he's looking for some answers."
"How do you know that?"
"Spend 500 years running, and there'll be a few people along the way that are looking out for you."
"Is that what you're doing?" Damon asked, slightly bitter in his tone of voice. "Looking out for my brother and my girlfriend?"
"Whoa, whoa. Easy, tiger. Does Claire know she's your girlfriend yet? I think not." He rolled his eyes and listened as Katherine sighed, almost too dramatically. "And I'm conflicted. Now that Christopher's dead, I have no one to keep me company at night..."
Damon cut her off, refusing to hear anymore. "Where are they?"
Klaus pushed open the door of the blacked-out SUV as it pulled into a warehouse, Stefan and Claire following right behind him. The three vampires stepped outside and, as Klaus shut the door, he looked at his two acquaintances.
"Welcome back to Chicago," he announced. Stefan looked around the abandoned warehouse with a grimace.
"What are we doing here?"
Klaus walked over to the door of the warehouse and opened it to reveal the bright city lights of the city that surrounded them as a whole. A truck pulled into the lot in front of the warehouse, carrying whatever it was he wanted to drag around with him. The hybrid smiled to himself.
"I know how much you two loved it here. Bringing back memories of the good old Ripper days."
Claire scoffed. "'Loved' would be a bit of a stretch. I don't remember much of it...which was sort of odd."
"I think we blocked out most of it, Claire," Stefan muttered to her as he looked around the lights of the city. "A lot of blood, a lot of partying. Both of us. The details are all a blur."
"Well, that is a crying shame." Klaus whispered dramatically. "The details are what makes it legend. Word was, the Ripper of Monterrey got lonely, so he escaped to the city for comfort. It was Prohibition, everything was off limits then...which made everything so much fun!"
Claire and Stefan shared a glance at each other and the two of them tried to remember what it was like back in that dark time of their lives.
Prohibition rooms and tunnels spread like an epidemic through all major cities; Chicago amongst the most famous. Although the streets seemed bare and quiet, the life underground echoed with cheer and booze. After wiping his mouth clean of his dinner, his delectable 20-something flapper he left to rot in the car, Stefan trotted through the prohibition tunnel until he finally came upon his scene—the underground life that made his life simple. In the dimly lit room, he saw the women dancing on the floor to the sweet sound of the jazz voice singing softly through the speakers, the men taking shots at the bar, and couples gathering everywhere in the room as if they weren't seen. It was a glorious sight.
"Guess who my eyes have just spied, ladies!" the singer on the platform cooed as she stared right at Stefan. "Looking for a good time, Mr. Salvatore?"
"Save me a dance, Gloria!" Stefan called out as he descended the stairs down onto the dance floor. Right as he reached out to grab a glass of wine a waiter was bringing around, he felt it snatched right out of his hand and turned to see a beautiful pale blonde woman he had never before laid eyes on. He cocked an eyebrow. "Ooh, help yourself."
"Oh, I always do," she retorted with a smile. He cocked his head at her, a flirtatious gleam in his eye. He merely hummed to the tune of her voice before watching as she stepped forward, narrowing her eyes. "Careful, Mr. Salvatore..." the beautiful woman trailed off underneath her breath. She leaned forward, merely inches away from his lips, but instead of kissing him, turned her cheek to whisper in his ear, "You're still wearing your date. She's lovely."
Immediately, Stefan was taken off guard. The woman turned to leave, but he caught her arm gently and pulled her back, shaking his head.
"No, no, no. Who are you?"
Instead of answering, the beautiful and mysterious woman held a finger to her lips and walked away without giving him any satisfaction whatsoever. As Stefan stared after her, he felt someone brush his shoulder and, though he thought nothing of it, was snapped out of his trance as the anonymous person beside him held out a glass of wine.
"Careful, Stefan," Clarissa warned him as she locked eyes with the Salvatore one moment and then looked off in the direction of the girl who had just captured his attention. "You have a strange look on you. Dare I say...a dangerous one."
He watched as Clarissa smiled, drank her wine, and descended into the heart of the party.
"Chicago was magical," Klaus filled in, turning his head to look at Claire, who caught his gaze for a moment with a curious glance. Stefan was too preoccupied staring off into the lights to really notice.
"Yeah, well, I'll take your word for it. Like I said, I don't remember most of it."
Klaus watched as Stefan turned and walked inside, disregarding the city at his fingertips. With a frown, he shut the door.
"Down to business, then?"
"Why are we still with you?" Stefan inquired abruptly, crossing his arms over his chest as he and Claire stood against Klaus. "We had our fun, your hybrids failed, I mean don't you want to move on?"
Claire and Stefan knew what this was really about. Although Klaus was in the dark about what had happened after the ritual, they knew that there was a very distinct reason that the hybrids were not able to stay alive, and because of that, they wanted to deter Klaus for as long as they could. Hopefully it worked, but something in the back of their minds told them that Klaus's stubbornness and resourcefulness would eventually prevail. But they had to give themselves enough time to come up with a plan.
And of course, Klaus was relentless in his endeavors, as he announced, "We're going to see my favorite witch. If anyone can help us with our hybrid problem, it's her."
Amelia walked out of the shower, merely a towel wrapped around her body, singing the chorus of "Hey Soul Sister" by Train, which had been stuck in her head since she had woken up early in the morning. As she left the bathroom to change in her room, she quickly noticed Damon was standing at her dresser, rummaging through the drawers. Amelia gasped.
"Damon! What the hell are you doing in here? I was showering!"
He turned around and looked at her with a confused expression. "So...did you just decide to move into my brother's room without giving him a choice or is there a legitimate reason you can't stay in any of the other six rooms in this house, excluding mine and Claire's?"
She sighed frustratedly at him. "Did it ever occur to you that I miss Stefan so much that I just would like to be close to him, even if this is as close as I can get? Where's your sense of romanticism, huh? I know you have some."
Damon shrugged and inhaled sharply as he pulled a pair of bright pink, lacy underwear out of her top drawer. He spun around and held it up for Amelia to observe. "Amelia King! You dirty, dirty girl! You know, I don't think Saint Stefan likes hot pink all that much..."
"Give me those!" Amelia snapped as she flashed up to the childish vampire and put her underwear out of his sight. He snickered to himself and moved out of her way as she kept her back against the dresser and tapped her hand impatiently. "And what is the point of this incessant torture?"
"Pack a bag, Blondie." Damon winked at her. "We're going on a road trip."
"Why?"
"To bring our siblings home, of course."
Amelia's eyes widened. "Wait, what? You know where they are?"
He nodded. "Windy City."
"He's in Chicago?! How do you know this? Did Sheriff Forbes give you another lead?"
Damon opened his mouth to respond, but he thought about it for a moment before smiling and announcing, "It came to me in a dream. I was naked. Claire was naked. It was—"
"Bleh! Damon, stop!" She moved to cover her ears and shut her eyes while Damon smirked at her. When she didn't hear him continue, she opened her eyes and straightened with a sigh. "Is he okay?"
Damon shrugged. "Let's just say he's not there to meet Oprah. I'm serious though, Blondie. Chop, chop, let's move. I'm assuming you want to tell Elena about our little adventure?"
Amelia opened her mouth to say yes, but after a moment, he watched her shut it closed and noticed the contemplative look on her face. Her eyes lowered to the ground, almost ashamed that she was thinking of something else, and after a while, Damon laid a grin on his lips that stretched from ear to ear.
"Look at you, Blondie," he muttered as he walked out. "I think that's the first time I've seen you be truly selfish. Look at that. I'll be sure...not to tell Elena, then."
Amelia watched as he left the room, but she didn't protest to what he had decided. Running her tongue along her teeth, Amelia turned back to face herself in the mirror and she thought about it for a few seconds more before realizing that telling Elena would only cause more trouble. It would be best if she could just bring Stefan home and they could sort it out from there.
And, although she felt guilty, she pushed it away, held herself high, and did as Damon told her to. As a result, it was less than an hour that they were both speeding down the highway at the maximum speed of Damon's Camaro racing towards the Windy City. Most of the car ride was silent, that was until Damon reached behind him and pulled out an antique journal he had stolen from Stefan's collection earlier in the morning while he was rummaging Stefan's room.
"Read this," Damon instructed the vampire next to him. "Paints a pretty little picture of Stefan's first experience in Chicago."
Amelia scoffed down at the journal that Damon had passed to her. "You want me to read Stefan's diary?"
He shrugged. "It's the only way to prepare you to deal with him when we get there. You know, Stefan's a completely different person when he's on human blood. He's—"
"A Ripper. Yeah, I know. Damon, we're all controlled by the blood, it's what makes us who we are. I don't need to read his diary to know that." She shoved the journal back at him and turned her head, unaware that he had just taken it from her and opened up to a random page.
"Here's one," he quipped. She turned her neck to see him as he sighed and began to read, "March 12th, 1922. 'I've blacked out days. I wake up in strangers' blood in places I don't recognize with women I don't remember.'" Suddenly, Damon gasped. "I'm shocked! Stefan's not a virgin?"
Amelia scowled and reached forward to snatch the journal out of Damon's hands. "You know, you just fixed this car up after my sister crashed it before the ritual. I would hate for it to get smashed again because you were so focused on invading your brother's private thoughts."
Damon snickered. "And now you're judging my driving skills? Tsk, tsk! Well, I guess I'll just have to find some other way to keep me entertained. Tell me if you see a Florida plate."
But Amelia was barely listening. She looked down at the journal in her hand and couldn't help but read one of the lines, taking her back to Stefan's 1920s experience in Chicago.
"Looks familiar, doesn't it?"
Klaus waited and watched as Stefan and Claire both entered the bar and looked around. Stefan nodded as he recognized the venue he had spend most of his time in during the 20s, reflecting back on what little memories he had with immense nostalgia.
"I can't believe this place is still here," he admitted.
"Why can't I remember anything about the 20s?" Claire muttered, catching Klaus's attention from beside her. She didn't notice him, however, as he watched her while she strained herself thinking about it. "I never really thought about it before, but I really...I really can't remember most of it. Which doesn't make sense because...well, because I know I wasn't emotionless then, I had just joined Stefan because he convinced me to have a little fun. I was trying something new, that much I remember, but...but I forgot all the rest."
Klaus finally caught her gaze as she looked up at him and waited for an explanation, but he just shrugged, hiding a smile under his lips. "Maybe something will jog your memory, love."
Suddenly, a door swung open, and there was a voice behind them all.
"You've got to be kidding me!"
Behind them, Gloria—the singer on the platform from way back when—stood before them with snow-colored hair but still looked as if she were 20. Klaus's smile spread like a contagion over his lips.
"So, a hybrid walks into a bar, says—"
"Stop! You may be invincible, but that doesn't make you funny." She walked forward and nodded at Stefan. "I remember you."
"Yeah." He knotted his eyebrows. "You're Gloria. Shouldn't you be old and dead?"
"Now if I die, who's gonna run this place, huh?"
Klaus leaned over to Stefan and whispered to explain, "Gloria's a very powerful witch."
"I can slow the aging down some...herbs and spells, but don't worry. It'll catch up to me one day."
"Stefan. Clarissa." The hybrid turned to his companions and nudged them towards the bar. "Why don't you two go fix us up a little something from behind the bar?"
Stefan was quiet for a moment before realizing he had no choice and nodded with a scoff. "Yeah, sure thing."
Klaus turned to Claire next, and she stared at him with incredulous eyes. "Do I look like your bartender, Klaus?"
"No. Perhaps you'll go get something for yourself, darling. Your bloodstream seems to be running low on tequila since our last liquor stop." She stared at him with stone-cold eyes before not-so-discreetly flipping him off and storming over to where Stefan was behind the bar. Klaus, meanwhile, sat down with Gloria to talk about what was happening with his hybrids, and Stefan and Claire discreetly listened in.
"Obviously you did something wrong," Gloria mentioned to the Original as they conversed. "Look, every spell has a loophole. But a curse that old...we'd have to contact the witch that created it."
"That would be the Original Witch. She's very dead," Klaus told her, almost proudly.
"I know. And for me to contact her, I'll need help."
While Claire continued listening in and pouring her shot at the same time, Stefan, who had been a good slave and was making a drink for himself and for Klaus, looked up to find something absolutely disturbing staring him right in the face. Suddenly, he could care less about the conversation between Gloria and Klaus the world as he knew it came to a devastating crumble.
"What is this?" Stefan demanded from behind the bar. Klaus did not seem surprised, but rather as if he'd waited for Stefan to ask.
"Well, I told you, Stefan." Klaus stood from his chair. "Chicago is a magical place."
"What?" After she downed her shot, Claire tossed the glass and turned to look over Stefan's shoulder at whatever he was holding in his hand. When she saw what it was, her eyes widened and she felt as if everything she knew just...suddenly didn't make sense.
"But this is me...with you."
Stefan looked up at the hybrid and shook his head as he extended the picture, which was old, crumpled, but clear as day—Stefan and Klaus in a friendly embraced, posing as they sat at Gloria's bar waiting for the picture to be taken to hold the moment forever.
"Katherine and I were in Australia during the 1920s," Amelia remembered as she and Damon approached Stefan's apartment. "So I don't know much about what it was like in the states during prohibition and everything, but I gotta say...this is a pretty shitty place to live for someone with Stefan's lifestyle."
Damon shrugged. "There used to be an all-girls high school around the corner but it shut down for attendance issues."
"Is that supposed to make me want to run under my bed covers and cry to my dead mommy? Because my boyfriend murdered a bunch of high school teenagers?" Amelia prompted him. Damon smiled.
"Come on, Blondie. You know I love pushing your buttons."
"Yeah, only because Claire's not around! God, you know, one of the reasons I'm fighting so hard to get her back is so I don't have to deal with you picking on me all the time! I should give her more credit. I would hate to be her."
Before he responded, he pulled off the doorknob on the locked apartment door to let them inside the dusty, untouched apartment. "Yeah, but then again, think about the benefits."
"Ew. Is your mind always in the gutter?"
"All day, every day." Instead of walking around in the parlor, Damon went straight to the wall beside the fridge lined with food that, if he were apt to guess, was probably only a few decades younger than he was, give or take. Feeling around the edges, he found the latch that opened the fake wall into a door that led to a smaller room, and Amelia raised her eyebrows at it in curiosity.
"What is this?" she asked. He nudged her inside, but all she noticed was the booze on the wall, typical for the prohibition era. But without saying anything about it, she walked into the secret room with Damon and looked around, finally noticing what he was pointing her towards. It was a wall with a list of names scribbled down in Stefan's handwriting.
"A list of names," he told her as she stared at the wall. "More specifically, Stefan's victims. All of them, starting with our father. Of course, I'm sure his recent endeavors haven't made the roster."
She sighed. "I had no idea he tortured himself so badly."
Damon nodded as he left the small room and sighed to himself. "That's Stefan, you know? Even when he's emotionless, he still feels guilt. It's the damnedest thing."
Amelia looked at the list for a few more seconds before leaving the secret room and eyeing the dark-haired Salvatore brother. "So what'd you do in the 20s? Claire said she was with Stefan and, I'm assuming at some point before the decade ended, he left her here and you swooped in and...well, we both know what happened after that."
Damon smirked to himself, but didn't elaborate. "I was around. Chicago's a big city. Stefan was a cocky Ripper douche, but I could avoid him and still...indulge in a few Daisy Buchanans of my own."
"Never liked her character," she confessed and watched as Damon turned to leave the apartment. With her eyebrows raised, she asked, "Wait, where are we going?"
"His old stomping ground." Damon turned around as he reached the door and shook his head. "And you're not coming with me. While I go and try to find them, I need you to stay here and brainstorm some plans. We need to get this done as fast as possible."
"But—"
"Happy planning!" he shouted as he shut the door behind him, leaving Amelia in the empty apartment to think of ideas.
"This doesn't make any sense!" Stefan shouted as he and Klaus walked through the warehouse they had been in earlier. Stefan was still reeling over what had happened at Gloria's. "Why don't I remember you?!"
"You said it yourself, that time had a lot of dark holes."
"But the dark holes don't make any sense, Klaus!" Claire replied sourly as she and Stefan desperately tried to keep up his pace. "I told you, I wasn't emotionless. I don't black out when I feed and I still don't know why I don't remember any of this! I would've known!"
"If you knew us, then why haven't you said anything?" Stefan urged, but Klaus shook his head at him as he power-walked through the warehouse with a bitter tone.
"I'm a little busy right now. Memory lane will have to wait."
But Stefan was too impatient, and it escalated extremely quickly from there. Stefan reached forward and grabbed Klaus's arm with a brutal force and spun him around to face him with intent in his eyes. Claire came to a stop between the two, witnessing the situation and on guard in case it got worse. Stefan's voice was low.
"What the hell is going on? Answer me!"
Klaus's black eyes burned with fury, but he only calmly answered, "Let's just say we didn't get off to a brilliant start. To be honest, I hated you."
Stefan's fangs barred and pierced the creamy white skin of the willing human in front of them. He sucked on her neck, looking as innocent as a dirty kiss to the unknowing humans around him. The human under his fingertips moaned in immense pleasure, but it was only just the beginning. The beautiful, mysterious woman with whom Stefan had been going back and forth with for nights leaned over and barred her own fangs to join in on the fun with the Ripper next to her. The two sucked the sweet-tasting blood out of the dark-haired girl before Stefan reached over, pulling both him and the woman off of their meal's neck, and looked into the beautiful blonde's eyes. The next thing he knew, they were locked in a passionate embrace and his hot lips burned from her lips all the way down to her chest, where he picked up her necklace with intrigue.
"It's beautiful," he noted. The woman smiled.
"A witch gave it to me. Supposedly it's magical."
"And is it?"
"It brought me love, didn't it?"
They kissed again, but this time, they were interrupted by a brute hand coming down on the woman's shoulder, alerting the lovers in their embrace.
"It's late, Rebekah, we're leaving."
"Get off me!" Rebekah snapped at the man. Stefan rose himself up from the booth and faced him bravely.
"Who is this guy?"
"Stefan, don't!" Rebekah warned him as she got out of the booth and brushed past the man to Stefan's side. "He'll kill you. He's a lot stronger than he looks."
The man stared at the two in front of him with a small, slightly annoyed smile. "So this is the famous Stefan Salvatore I've been hearing so much about. You're right, he does have funny hair." The dapper young man turned back to the woman with his mouth turning down into a hard line. "I'm bored. I want to go."
"Then go without me, I'm not your girlfriend."
"No, you're my sister." He grabbed her and held her to him, unwilling to let her out of his grasp. Stefan was about to intervene, but he could see the murderous tendencies in the man's eyes before him. "Which means...you have to do as I say."
Right as the woman was about to say something, perhaps in protest against him, or maybe Stefan was going to step up to defend her honor, another warm body interrupted them. Everyone's attention turned from the intense situation to listen to the cheery, ignorant voice that joined their tiff.
"Stefan? What happened to you? You disappeared from all the fun!" All three vampires turned and watched as a young, enthusiastic, delectable blonde joined them in their meeting. The woman, whose name was unknown to the two strange vampires in Stefan and Clarissa's company, looked over at the blonde woman Stefan had been with for the past few nights and tilted her head at the man holding her, as if about to force her away. The unknown man had stopped cold, his eyes transfixed upon the pretty young intrusion, who returned his gaze skeptically. "And who is this?"
Stefan, although momentarily quite enraged at Rebekah's brother in front of him, replied, "Clarissa, this is—"
"Niklaus." The dapper man pushed his sister off of him and into Stefan's arms as he smiled at the young blonde. "Clarissa, is it?"
"It's what they've been calling me for a while now." She gave no thought to him at all, but knew immediately how interested he was in her. Weren't they all?
"Beautiful name."
"I wish I could say the same. Yours is..."
Niklaus grinned. "Archaic?"
She shrugged. "Actually, I was going to go with...strange."
He chuckled to himself, bowing his head for just a moment before looking up at her over his eyelids, contemplating his next move. Clarissa stared, biting back a smile, not sure whether she was amused or intrigued. In the snap of a hat, he looked over at his sister and shrugged.
"Alright, Rebekah, I suppose we can stay a bit longer. But only if Miss Clarissa agrees to accompany me to the bar so I may buy her a drink. On a night like this, your glass shouldn't be so empty." He nodded to the near empty wine glass in Clarissa's hand, and she looked down at it for a moment before looking up at Stefan, who was urging her to say yes because he wanted more time with Rebekah.
The thing was, she didn't really care what he thought. She turned back to Niklaus on her own agenda and just stared for half a moment, then turned on her heel and walked back down to the dance floor where everyone was enjoying the party. His lips turned down in an enraged expression until he watched her turn her head and prompt him to join. Rebekah and Stefan witnessed as Niklaus smiled and went after her in the crowd. When he reached her, he held out his arm for her to take, and Niklaus led her to the bar.
But as they walked, she leaned close and whispered into his ear, "It's not wine."
Claire cocked her head for a moment, confused. "So...you have a sister?"
Klaus stared down at her, scoffing. "Out of all of that, the only thing that remained was the fact that I have a sister?"
She looked up and paused for a moment, but when Claire realized he was serious, her eyes widened. "I'm sorry, I was actually supposed to believe the part where we went and got a 'drink'? I thought that was put in there for dramatic effect..."
Stefan and Claire watched as Klaus's jaw squared and he turned away sharply towards the coffins that he had followed him around all summer. Claire smiled behind his back, enjoying his torment. "If you can't handle what I have to tell you, then don't ask."
At the very center of all the coffins in the room was the one he was looking for, and he pulled the lid up carefully to reveal the desiccated body of his essentially-dead sister. As the light shone upon her grey, creased face, he looked down at it with nostalgia, leaning down to caress her cold skin. Stefan and Claire both stood over the coffin, and Stefan desperately tried to rack his memory for her face, but he couldn't find it. Neither could Claire for that matter.
"I don't recognize her," Stefan confessed. Klaus chuckled.
"Well, don't tell her that. Rebekah's temper's worse than mine." He reached forward and yanked the dagger out of her chest with a dramatic, "Time to wake up, little sister." But minutes passed and still, Rebekah remained desiccated. Eventually, Klaus had grown impatient. "Any day now, Rebekah! She's being dramatic."
"Look, why don't you just tell us what the hell is going on," Stefan suggested, turning to Klaus with his arms crossed over his chest waiting for an explanation. "I mean, obviously you want me here for a reason, right?"
"Well, you have many useful talents." He spun around with a finger held up as if a light bulb had gone off in his head. "In fact, I learned some of my favorite tricks from you!"
"So, Stefan, enlighten me," Niklaus began as he, Stefan, Clarissa, and Rebekah all sat around in a booth drinking fine wine and engaging in light conversation. The booth seemed to be divided in two with the couples on either side, Rebekah and Stefan close together and Clarissa and Niklaus as well. "What makes you worthy of an original like my sister? She's pure vampire and you're no more than a diluted bloodline."
"Don't listen to him, Stefan. Nik's an elitist," Rebekah shot.
"No, no. It's okay." A twinkle shone in Stefan's eyes as he leaned forward and looked between Niklaus and Clarissa. "You know, Nik, I could say the same for you. I've known Clarissa my entire life, so what makes you think you're worthy of her either? She's from the blood of kings!"
Stefan raised his glass at the notion while Clarissa giggled to herself.
"According to Stefan, then, the only man worthy enough would be a king," she proclaimed, perhaps annoyed. Niklaus chuckled under his breath before using his strong hand to bring her attention to his eyes, where he breathed slowly.
"If it is only a king you are worthy for, I suppose I'll have to become a king." Stefan and Rebekah watched as Niklaus leaned forward and brought her into a time-consuming kiss, one that wouldn't have been appropriate for human eyes. Stefan and Rebekah looked at each other with a smile for a moment before Rebekah turned and snapped.
"Nik, we happen to be in public!"
He broke away from the beautiful blonde, who was flush at the overwhelming intensity of the act. Niklaus smiled at his sister innocently. "Don't be so chaste, Rebekah. I let you have your fun as well."
"You two may be having too much fun," Stefan suggested under his breath, hiding a smile from his best friend. Nevertheless, Clarissa chuckled at him and threw an accusing finger up in his face.
"Oh, really? And who was it, Stefan, that was the one that convinced me to come to Chicago and have 'fun'? Had I not been persuaded—"
"You underestimate yourself, my wonderful friend, you are essentially the life of this party!" He raised his glass as she did hers, and the both of them tapped each other's wines and drank from them. When they had finished their toast, Stefan turned to Niklaus. "So, Nik, where's the rest of your family?"
"Well, let's see. Um, I killed most of them," Klaus admitted.
"But not all," Rebekah corrected. Stefan looked at her, confused.
"And you're okay with that?"
"Well, we all had the chance to choose a side. And I chose the right one...eventually." Rebekah reached forward and grabbed her brother's hand with a soft smile. Just as Nik smiled back at his sister in a touching sibling moment, the vampires were interrupted when a loud voice came upon them as a human stomped over to their table to demand answers.
"Where the hell is my wife?!" urged the irate man. All the vampires looked at each other with a shrug while Stefan took the initiative to look up and reply.
"I don't know...I give up."
"You think you're so tough? Hiding in your bar, drinking your liquor? A telephone call to Chicago P.D. might set you straight!" the human threatened. This only earned tentative laughs across the table from them all, mocking the human who had so bravely confronted them. As they laughed, Stefan reached forward and called out to the woman standing not so far from their table.
"Lila? Lila, please! Come here for a second."
The man turned around, relieved to see his wife alive, and sighed in ease before wrapping an arm around his wife and turning her towards the exit. "Oh, thank God. Come on, we're leaving."
"Oh, no, no, no, no!" Stefan objected, stopping the man with just the power of his stare. "You're sitting."
The human, unable to refrain from the compulsion Stefan had chosen to indulge in, mystically sat down next to Klaus as he and Clarissa scooted into the booth further, Rebekah and Stefan doing the same so Lila could sit beside him opposite of her husband. Without removing his eyes from the brave human who dared to raise his voice against the all-powerful Ripper, Stefan took off Lila's glove and produced a knife from inside his jacket. Rebekah smiled.
"Stefan, don't be mean," she chastised.
"What the hell are you doing?" asked the confused man, but no one answered him. Niklaus looked at Stefan with intrigue, quite curious himself as to what Stefan had in mind. Stefan pressed the knife's blade down into Lila's pale wrist, creating an incision that caused a flow of blood to pour down into the glass underneath her hand. A smile spread onto Niklaus's lips as he watched and Stefan merely mocked a moaning sound as he filled the glass to the top. When he was done, he tapped Lila on the cheek cutely.
"Thank you so much, Lila. Why don't you go and bandage that up?" Lila lifted herself from the booth and Stefan slid the glass of blood over to the man sitting next to Clarissa. He grinned. "I'd like you to join me for a drink."
The man stuttered, his eyes wide. "W-What kind of s-sick freaks are you?"
"I said, drink!" Stefan repeated lively, this time drawing the compulsion in. He gestured to the glass and the man, unable to rip his eyes from the soulless vampire in front of him, reached forward and took the glass in his shaking hand. The human took a small sip, practically gagging from the taste. Immediately, Stefan leaned forward. "I didn't catch your name..."
"G-Go to hell!" the human snapped. All the vampires at the table laughed while Stefan proceeded to torture the human.
"Do you want another sip?"
"Liam! Liam Grant," he rushed out hurriedly, desperate to say or do anything but drink the blood of his wife again. Stefan leaned back with a nod.
"Liam Grant! Have another sip, Liam!" Niklaus reached forward and tapped his glass to the shaking human's as Stefan urged him to finish the blood of his spouse without a single hint of remorse for his twisted schemes.
Klaus walked in the other direction after remembering the brilliant moment that never left his mind. He had no time to wait around for Rebekah's theatric revival.
"I was your number one fan," Klaus informed Stefan, knowing that he and Claire were keeping up right behind as they always did. Stefan, however, was not convinced.
"Why should I believe any of this?"
But the hybrid did not respond. Instead, he turned to the guard watching the entrance and pointed back to the coffins he had just left. "When she wakes up, tell her to meet us at Gloria's bar then volunteer your carotid artery and let her feed until you die."
"Where are you going?" Stefan asked as Klaus took in another direction.
Without turning, Klaus replied, "You think I'm lying, Stefan, you and I knew each other. You trusted me with one of your secrets and now I'm gonna prove it to you."
"How?"
"We're going to your old apartment."
Gloria's bar looked even better than Damon remembered it, yet he still couldn't find the will to want to stay. For some reason, he just never liked the upbeat bar, perhaps because it reminded him of times when all he could think about was presenting an eternity of misery to his off-the-rails brother. Nevertheless, Damon's eyes scanned the bar to find any trace of the hybrid who took his brother and his girlfriend.
Of course, they were nowhere to be found, but there was one person that might know if they were out and about.
"Well, look what the wind blew in!" Gloria exclaimed as her eyes settled upon Damon from behind the bartop. "Last I heard, you hated this place."
"Gloria. Damn! If I knew you were gonna age like this, I would've stuck around."
The witch chuckled. "I always did like you better. But I see your brother and his friend are still running in the wrong crowd."
Damon tried not to be too thrilled at the mention of the two people he was desperate to find. "You've seen them?"
She nodded as she grabbed a glass and poured him a hearty dose of bourbon to start his night. "With Klaus. Bad combo, those three."
"You know where they went?"
Gloria looked up at him, suddenly realized that he didn't stop by the bar for just a quick chit-chat and a glass of liquor. Hesitantly, she told him some of the truth. "They'll be back later tonight. They're out running a little errand for me."
As she slid forward the glass of bourbon, Damon covered her hand with his and gave her a charming smile. "Gloria, don't be a tease. What kind of errand?"
She chuckled and ran her fingers along his skin. "Mm, I don't think so. You may be cute, but you're still a vampire."
A wave of rejection washed over Damon as the dark-skinned witch tore her hand from his and walked away to greet other customers at the other side of the bar. Damon watched her, slightly peeved, but also satisfied that he had gotten somewhat of the answer he wanted—Claire and Stefan would be back at the bar later tonight, which meant that they had a little time to come up with a plan.
April, 1922
It was so sudden. I never saw it coming. Clarissa must have grown weary of all the things we did over the last few months, as she called Lexi behind my back and had her come and take me away. Lexi believes she can make me care again. I refused to see Clarissa after her betrayal of me, so much so that she has stopped coming to greet me. I believe Lexi said something about it being for the best.
Amelia read over Stefan's scribble from the 1920s, knowing full well that it was wrong, but she couldn't help it. After seeing Stefan's wall, she knew that merely seeing Stefan wouldn't be enough to pull him back. She had to learn from the best. She had to learn what made him tick.
June, 1924
Lexi's driving me crazy. More animal blood, more misery...
Amelia flipped past the pages so fast, she didn't read all the words. She just needed the basics.
December, 1935
Cravings are there, but it's easier. I've seen Clarissa twice in the past month, as I stopped trying to force her to bring me blood. Lexi has let her help me, and she's somewhat helped Clarissa, even. Regardless, Lexi's onto her next project—getting me to laugh.
Before Amelia could flip to another page, she heard footsteps out in the hallway. The journal was closed in her hand immediately and she flashed to another location, desperate to hide until whoever it was who entered the apartment decided to be gone.
"What a charming little homestead," Klaus mused as he brought the two vampires with him to Stefan's old apartment. However, upon reaching the door, he realized that it had been broken into, which made a frown settle upon his weary lips. "Do you feel that? Is anybody here?"
Claire brushed past the threshold as Stefan walked cautiously back into his apartment. She rolled her eyes at Klaus. "You know, you're like a paranoid old man. Stefan and I haven't been back to this place in forever...and this is Chicago. People break into places all the time."
"Why'd you bring us here?" Stefan pushed as he let nostalgia flood back into his head looking around his old apartment, an apartment from a whole different life that he didn't remember much of. Klaus paced in the living room.
"Liam Grant—the one who drank his wife's blood—I never could figure out why you wanted his name...and then you told him your little secret. It was all part of your special little ritual."
Amelia, who was listening from the hidden prohibition closet Damon had showed her earlier, suddenly realized that she chose the wrong spot to hide in. I knew I should've climbed out the window, she cursed herself, but then remembered that there were bars on the window which would've taken too much time to bend. She listened as Stefan remembered what Klaus was saying.
"To write it down," Stefan finished.
"And relive the kill. Over and over again."
Klaus walked over to the wall pantry, found the latch on the closet door, and opened it. Amelia stayed perfectly still and out of sight as Klaus turned his head and looked at Stefan with a grin.
"You believe me now?" he prompted. Stefan walked forward and into the closet just to remember all that he had missed back in the 20s. Though it was fuzzy, he did remember the list, but he wanted to see it again. Only, when he stepped inside, not only did the see the list, but he saw the golden-haired girl as her eyes widened in surprise upon finally seeing Stefan's face. Stefan froze in an instant, but he didn't have much time until Klaus realized that there was someone else with him. Luckily, Klaus was a little too busy with Claire outside to really notice why Stefan had been in the closet for so long.
"Okay, so you know where Stefan hid his dirty little secret." Claire crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes at Klaus. "The rest of your story is bullshit. You've had the hots for me ever since you killed me. Let's not pretend for one second that this trip down fake memory lane with a bunch of stories about how you and I were together is nothing but a lame attempt to make me feel something I never felt. It's clever, but I'm not that gullible."
Klaus looked up at her with a soft smile. "Don't worry, sweetheart, you'll get your proof soon enough."
"I'm not you're sweetheart."
"Well, you were." Claire snuck an annoyed glare at him, but it only made Klaus's smile widen. "And perhaps you will be again...soon enough."
Before she had a chance to answer, there was shout from within the closet that Stefan had been instructed to look into. "Look what I found!" Amelia, partially on her guard preparing to flee as fast as she could, watched as he reached forward and grabbed a bottle of bourbon off the shelf in front of her without batting an eye. Stefan turned around and looked at Klaus and Claire. "1918. Single malt."
He stepped out of the hidden closet to divert attention and held up the bottle to Klaus, who nodded.
"My favorite. Let's go and find something to pair it with."
Klaus turned and walked out of the apartment, and Claire watched as Stefan locked eyes with her in an alarming moment before shutting the door of the secret closet without a single word. She knew something was off, but she also knew he couldn't say anything in front of Klaus. The secret would have to wait.
"So what's the plan, Super..." Damon trailed off as he entered the apartment with a scowl on his face. "Woman? Does that work? Eh, it's an off day. What do you got, Blondie? Let's hear it."
She lifted herself from the bed and raised a sigh in her chest as Damon put down a garment bag onto the couch. "I don't know, Damon, okay? I was a little too preoccupied with the hybrid, my boyfriend, and my sister paying me a surprise visit."
Damon plopped himself down on the couch and sighed. "Yeah, it was a good call not bringing Elena. Despite the fact that you did it just because you didn't want her to see Stefan—"
Amelia shook her head and refused to acknowledge the last part of his comment. "What's in the garment bag?"
"Oh, this? It's your outfit for tonight. Figured you could use something a little edgier, you know to seduce your boyfriend into coming home and all. I know where they're gonna be tonight." He looked up at her and stared in thought. "I'm guessing our foolproof plan is for me to get Stefan and Claire alone, you try and convince them both to ditch and come with us, and I'll distract Klaus."
The blonde was quiet for a long time before shrugging. "Yeah, that sounds like a pretty good plan to me."
"Must I do everything for you...?" He sighed and lifted the garment bag, throwing it into her hands. "Go on, Amelia, get changed. And there can be absolutely no dillydallying tonight. You either convince Stefan to come with us or you take him out...once Klaus knows I'm here, it's only a matter of time before he tries to kill me."
She nodded, he nodded, and they both realized what they had to do.
Gloria stared at Klaus irritably as she set two beers in front of Klaus and Stefan. Claire sat on the other side of them, having decided to indulge in one of her lesser favorite drinks, a gin and tonic.
"Where's Rebekah?" Gloria asked impatiently.
"She'll be here. Can't just conjure her on demand." He looked to the side and saw Stefan hunched over the bar, deep in thought. "What's with you? I thought Chicago was your playground."
Abruptly, Stefan lifted his head and gave a pointed glare at the hybrid next to him. "So this is why you asked me to be your wingman? Because you liked the way that I tortured innocent people?"
"Well, that's certainly half of it."
"What's the other half?"
"The other half, Stefan," Klaus began as he poured them both two shots of the single-malt whiskey they had brought back from Stefan's apartment, "is that you used to want to be my wingman."
Niklaus caught the shot glass Stefan slid to him with ease and listened as the enthusiastic vampire explained his thoughts to him.
"They're jealous!" Stefan exclaimed while Nik tipped the alcohol back into his throat. "Your family wants you dead because they can never be what you are!"
"What? An abomination?"
"No. A king!" Stefan reached forward and clapped a hand down on the vampire's shoulder. The two of them laughed at the inside joke before Stefan added, "A king who I have deemed...somewhat suitable for my best friend. However, hurt her or break her heart, and an abomination will be the least of your worries."
Klaus chuckled. "I make no promises. Yet, somehow, I find it quite impossible to believe that Clarissa is the type to be hurt easily. Let alone have a heart that rests broken."
"I would be lying if I said I was never surprised by her resilience. It's as if she prefers never to have loved at all than to have mourned a loss. She's quite special."
"Special, indeed." Niklaus looked over Stefan's shoulder just to get a glimpse of the beautiful girl who was on the platform, singing with Gloria on stage as if she were a queen. He didn't doubt for a second that she was in spirit. Then, he realized that Stefan was doing the same, only to his sister. Then again, it seemed only fair, as Clarissa was like a sister to Stefan. "My sister fancies you, you know. But...I should warn you, Rebekah doesn't do anything half-speed, and that includes falling in love. So just be careful. She's totally mad."
The half-drunk Klaus erupted in laughter as Stefan joined him, chuckling, "I appreciate the advice."
"And when the point comes where she inevitably leaves you—she can't help it, it's just who she is—don't let your heart do anything stupid." Niklaus looked at Stefan seriously and Stefan nodded, taking the advice with stride. He inhaled deeply.
"You know what? You're a good friend, Nik." He raised his shot glass. "I'm glad I met you."
Stefan watched as Klaus held up his shot glass for a toast. "To friendship."
In a sort of trance, the young Salvatore hesitantly tapped the small shot glass and the two vampires tipped their heads back, knocking the liquor down their throats with ease. And that was only the beginning. Drink after drink, glass after glass, shot after shot, it all went down with stride. Clarissa was beside them, still straining herself to remember those darkened nights in the speakeasy when Klaus claimed to have known them. Of course, Stefan asked the questions on her mind for her to allow her to think.
"So, I'm confused!" he exclaimed, half-drunkenly. "If we were such great friends then, why do I only know you as the hybrid dick who sacrificed my best friend and my ex-girlfriend on an altar of fire?"
Beside them, Claire raised her glass dramatically. "Amen! Would it happen to be because this story is nothing but a pile of horseshit?"
Klaus stared at both of them for a moment before admitting, "All good things must come to an end."
Niklaus was so transfixed on Clarissa's smile as they swayed back and forth to the soft jazz music in the background. Stefan and Rebekah did the same just a few feet away, but they weren't focused on them. For a few moments, it felt like the room was empty and just their presence was enough. Clarissa softly laughed under her breath.
"Staring for too long becomes extremely strange Nik," she warned him, leaning forward just a bit to whisper as he hid a smile. "Sort of like everything else about you."
"I'm only strange because I'm something new, Clarissa. Something different."
"That you are." She leaned back and ran her blue eyes all over his face, as if searching for something beneath the surface. He was transfixed, on the curiosity in her eyes, and it damn near broke his heart—well, it would if he'd had one. "I can't figure out who you are, Niklaus. The man behind the mask remains...a mystery."
"I could say the same, Miss King." He clutched her closer and spun them around in a circle. The laugh in his ear was melodic. "You know, you remind me of someone I used to know."
"Oh?"
"Yes. Someone I knew a...long time ago." Suddenly, she watched as the smile on his lips faltered for a moment, and as she watched the sadness overcome his features, she moved one of her hands from his shoulders to gently touch his face. Niklaus's eyes closed just for a moment, the touch of her skin like silk on his cheek.
"Trust me, Niklaus. We both have plenty of skeletons in our closets." His eyes opened to watch as she gave him a reassuring nod. "We don't have to know everything about each other right this moment. Isn't that the point of all of this? Stefan dragged me to Chicago so I could experience the present instead of living in the past. We have the rest of eternity to dwell."
Niklaus scoffed. "It must seem so easy to someone so young. Eventually, sweetheart, the past catches up to you."
Clarissa's mouth twitched into a sad smile. "Did she break your heart?"
"Yes. No. It's..." Nik sighed, "...complicated."
"Sort of like everything else about you."
Clarissa giggled, and for a moment, he forgot about the pain that surrounded his memories. They were quiet for a long while after that, and while they merely moved back and forth to the slowest jazz song ever invented at the time, both of them were snapped out of their silence by a bright flash next to them. Niklaus and Clarissa both squinted up at the photographer, who gave them a big, goofy smile, informed them that their picture would be developed for sale at a later time, and disappeared into the crowd to capture more memorable moments. When he was gone, the moment officially gone, Niklaus took Clarissa by surprise by pulling her out of his arms, spinning her under his arm, and pulling her back to him and bending down so that their noses were almost touching. While frozen in that position, Niklaus's breath was hot against her lips.
"Run away with me."
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm not too keen on running away with someone I only met a few days ago, that's why."
Niklaus pulled her back up to a level head and continued dancing, even though he was slightly peeved. "A few days, a lifetime. What does it matter? I could give you everything, Clarissa. The world, right there at the will of your precious touch. Don't you want that?"
Clarissa chuckled softly. "Look, I already flew spontaneously for Stefan's enjoyment. I would prefer not to have to make another spontaneous decision for a while, if that's not too much to ask. Let's reassess in a few weeks, see how I feel." But still, she remained laughing, and squeezed Klaus's hand. "I didn't take you as the 'let's run away' type. You continue to surprise me."
Before he was able to say anything, to change her mind or whatnot, the Chicago Police stormed the speakeasy, crashing all glass and windows, and shot blindly at the strangers in the club. The nightclub erupted in a frenzy, women and men screaming and attempting to flee. Niklaus shielded Clarissa's body with his own, taking them to the ground on one knee. He looked around with a growl.
"Damn it!"
Clarissa's eyes widened as she looked around, wondering whether to be intrigued or scared as hell. "What? What is it?"
"He's found us," Klaus hissed.
"Who found us? Nik—"
"Never you mind." Niklaus's hand came up to pull her chin up to eye level, where he didn't want to, but he had no other choice. "I must go, Clarissa."
But, stubborn as she was, Clarissa refused to take that as an answer. Her teeth gritted down as she demanded, "Niklaus, what the hell is going on?"
He didn't answer. Instead, Niklaus leaned down and kissed her quickly, without any sort of explanation at all. However, she barely kissed back, more enraged at the secrecy than fancied with the kiss. When he pulled away, he stared into her eyes and snapped, "Until that happens again, you are not to remember myself or my sister. All this time you've spent with us will be erased from your memories. You will not lose sleep over your loss, but I will find you again. I promise you that."
No matter how much he hated to leave, he didn't have another choice. He stormed the crowd, shouting out for Rebekah, and when he found her, he did the same thing he had done to Clarissa a second time to Stefan, telling him that until he said otherwise, he would not remember any of the time he or Clarissa spend with him and his sister. Seconds later, Niklaus and Rebekah were gone, all traces of the two of them erased.
"You compelled us to forget?" Claire scoffed as she took a sip of her gin and tonic. "What a dick move."
Klaus turned his cheek and bit down. "It was time for Rebekah and I to move on. Better to have a clean slate."
"But why?" Stefan prompted, feeling as if there were more to the story that was merely left out. "You shouldn't have to cover your tracks...unless you're running from someone."
Klaus's face turned absolutely stoic as he growled bleakly, "Storytime's over."
Stefan watched as Klaus just turned his cheek, refusing to say anything more, and from the corner of his eye, Stefan caught movement that was familiar to him. His brother stood up by the door and urged him outside silently, and with a sigh, Stefan leaned back and finished his glass heartily.
"I need another drink. A real one." Eyeing Klaus one more time, he lifted himself from the bar and threw a look over Klaus's shoulder to Claire, who realized that he wanted her to go with him. She nodded quietly and finished her gin and tonic, lifting herself from the bar as well.
"I think I'll go with him. Liquor's not really holding my appetite—" Before she could leave with Stefan, Klaus's hand clamped down on Claire's arm to hold her back. Blankly, he turned his head to her and shook it.
"I think Stefan will be okay on his own. He can bring you back a bite."
Claire hesitated, throwing a look towards Stefan, who realized that they were about to be in a hell of a lot of trouble. Clearing her throat, she yanked her arm back from Klaus and smiled at her friend. "Find me a pretty one, then, please."
"Will do." Stefan shielded his eyes and walked out of the bar to follow Damon's instructions. Claire turned back at Klaus, but hardly made herself comfortable as she just crossed her arms and stared at him from her place a little to his left.
"So what now, Klaus? You tell me how you've spent the last few decades pining after me and how you brought us here and told us this story so you can win me back?" She rolled her eyes and continued sarcastically, "I don't know if you remember this, but you sort of killed me. I think sex is off the table now."
"Well, I would be more than happy to have it on the floor instead—"
"Not what I meant and you know it." She glared at him as he turned his head slightly so that he stared at her over his shoulder. A devilish smile appeared over his thick lips.
"I know this may be hard for you to believe, considering that I did kill you and all..." Klaus lifted himself from his chair, sliding up so close to Claire that she could feel his breath on her neck. She didn't move, not because she liked it but because she wouldn't dare show him how uncomfortable she was. Therefore, she remained disillusioned as his voice dropped to a husky whisper. "But I think you may reconsider."
"What are you gonna do? Compel me?" Her eyes narrowed, as if she were ready to accept the challenge.
"I don't have to do anything but this."
Before she could get a chance to object to whatever the hell he was about to do, he reached forward, grabbed a fist full of her long, golden hair, and forced his lips on hers.
Damon stood out in the warm summer night, waiting for his brother and Claire to follow him out like he had asked. He was waiting for a moment or two until unexpectedly, he was thrown up against the nearest car door by the collar of his shirt with a growling Stefan all up in his personal business.
"What is wrong with you?!" Stefan hissed.
"What is wrong with you?" Damon retorted, shoving his brother off his chest. "Where's Claire?"
"She's preoccupied, Damon. Let it go." Stefan shook his head. "I told you before, she doesn't want to see you. What don't you understand?"
"The part where she saved my life in the woods! Or did she not tell you that? You kill Andie, she saves me. What are you two, good cop bad cop? It's real tiring, let me tell you that!"
"Tell me you didn't bring Elena here," the younger brother snarled. "Klaus almost saw Amelia today. If he finds out that you two are still tracking us, he's gonna get real angry real fast and then he'll go poking around in Mystic Falls again, where he cannot find Elena!"
Damon shrugged. "Well, brother, I'm not going anywhere until I get Claire back and your Amelia's sure as hell is not gonna let you go back, either. What do you care about Elena, anyways? I thought you switched girlfriends."
"She is the key to everything!" Stefan explained, poking at his brother's chest heatedly. "Klaus can't know she's alive."
"What are you talking about?"
"She was supposed to die in the sacrifice and she didn't! Now Klaus can't create any new hybrids. His witch is seconds away from figuring it out! Tell Amelia to go home and forget about me because I'm not gonna put Elena in danger."
Damon stiffened and jerked his head to the side. "Tell her yourself."
Stefan backed away from his brother and looked up to find Amelia standing just a few feet away, having heard their entire conversation, waiting for an explanation.
"Get the hell off of me!" Claire shouted as she pushed Klaus away and got up from the bar without hesitation. All of the memories had flooded into her mind with one kiss, everything that had happened in the 20s. It was like the whole gap in her memory had instantly been filled with a sixty-second embrace she had no control over. Klaus stared at her, as if waiting for her to be swept off her feet and kiss him again. Instead, her teeth gritted at him angrily. "You sick son of a bitch! What did you do to me?"
"You wanted proof. I believe that should satisfy it," Klaus pointed out. She hesitated for a moment, and although he couldn't see it clearly, he knew she was flustered. A few agonizing seconds went by before she nearly growled at him.
"I need a goddamn moment alone."
He watched her as she left, but he heard Gloria announce the final call for the night. So, with a hearty sigh, he moved back to his chair and reached forward to drink his alcohol without reservations and would wait until Clarissa would come back back to scold him some more per her usual. And then, Klaus became suddenly aware of someone who had been standing there the whole time—someone who sat down at the bar with a hiss.
"Ooh. Ouch. She really didn't take that well. Better step up your game, man." Damon tried to hide the jealousy in his voice, and Klaus could tell. The hybrid smiled.
"I see they've opened the doors to the riff-raff now."
"Oh, honey, I've been called worse."
The hybrid twirled an umbrella toothpick in his hand as he sighed at the lonesome vampire beside him. "You don't give up, do you?"
"Give me my brother and my girlfriend back...you'll never have to see me again," he offered.
"Well, I am torn. You see, I promised Stefan I wouldn't let you die...but how many freebies did I really sign up for? Really, I've been itching to kill you, but Clarissa would be quite upset...however, clearly you want to die...otherwise you wouldn't be here, so..."
Damon shrugged. "What can I say? I'm a thrill seeker."
Abruptly, Klaus reached beside him and grasped Damon by his throat, holding him up with the squeeze of his fingertips, a murderous gleam in his eyes.
Stefan walked forward and looked at the blonde vampire standing in front of him, partially avoiding his eyes but also aching to look at him. He tried to remain as detached as he could. "You shouldn't be here, Amelia."
"But I am."
"What do you want? Damon won't be able to distract Klaus for long."
"How can you ask me that?" she asked quietly, stepping forward to put a hand on his face. "Stefan, I'm here for you. I spent a century looking for you and when I found you...I didn't want to have to look anymore. I need you to come home, Stefan, not just for me but for everyone. Please."
He stared at her without speaking, for he didn't know what exactly to say. Instead, he just stood in front of her as she reached forward and pulled him into her arms, attempting to persuade him to come back. But as she felt the limp body of her boyfriend in front of her, she realized that it wasn't an option anymore. She could tell by the look in his eyes that he wasn't going to come willingly, she could tell by what he had said to Damon that it wouldn't be enough for her to just ask him. So discreetly, she raised a vervain dart in her hand and moved to inject it into his skin.
But Stefan caught her, his fist circled around her wrist as he knocked the vervain dart to the ground. She fought against him, managing to release her arm and pick up the vervain dart once again, but he then flashed them over to the nearest car, knocking the vervain dart away again, and he shook her shoulders furiously. Amelia turned her cheek as she felt his wrath.
"How much clearer can I make it? I don't want to come home!"
Damon struggled against Klaus's grasp, but there wasn't much more he could do. His feet were high off the ground, making it ten times harder to breathe with the addition of Klaus's sausage fingers tightened around his neck.
"Oh, dear, what was that?" Klaus tsked while he held up the wooden toothpick to Damon's throat. "I'm a little boozy, so you'll forgive me if I miss your heart the first few tries."
He chuckled sarcastically and stabbed at Damon's chest, where Damon groaned out in pain from the small little stab. Klaus shook his head.
"No, that's not it..."
He tried again, just near the heart. Damon shouted out in pain yet again. "Ooh! Almost!"
Damon reached up and tried to pry Klaus's hand off of his neck, but it was useless. Squeezing out through his weakened breaths, Damon growled, "You think this whole scheme of yours is so clever...get her away from Mystic Falls, from me, and make your move? We've been through hell together, we can get through a hybrid."
Klaus's sadistic smile dropped from his lips and he threw Damon across the room so he landed on top of a table, breaking it in pieces. Quickly, Klaus broke away a leg of a toppled chair, twirling the stake in his hand with a grimace.
"I'm sure my 'scheme' will work after I kill you," he commented, kneeling over Damon as he brought back the stake and moved to strike, only he felt a force vying against him. When Klaus looked up, he saw Claire as her eyes shone a different breed of fury.
"Get off of him. Now."
"Or what?" Klaus growled.
He saw the red twinkle in her eye for a split moment before she brought her heel up and kicked the hybrid so hard, he went flying back. She held the stake in her hand to prepare as Klaus snarled and flashed up onto his feet, suddenly knocking the wooden stake behind the bar as he rammed Claire into the counter, causing her to grunt in pain. No matter how hard she tried, he was a mixture of her blood and the strength of a werewolf and vampire—virtually unbeatable.
"I have been extremely patient with you," he reminded her. Damon rolled over onto his side, the soreness from being thrown into a table impairing his ability to stand up. "I knew you weren't quite over your life in Mystic Falls from all your sulking around. You still remained reserved whilst I asked you to do what I want, and I was patient before, Clarissa. But no more! Your feelings for Damon are becoming a liability."
Claire nearly laughed at the pathetic low-blow. "Yeah? Well, Klaus, your 'feelings' for me are becoming a pain in my ass, too! And yet I stay. I stay because I made a deal to save his life! Nothing you can do will change that!"
Lowly, he growled, "Let's see about that."
She didn't understand what he wanted until the look in his eyes, the look of sheer anger, told her what he was about to do. She knew what it meant instantly after recognizing the idea forming inside of his head. He hadn't been afraid to compel her before, and he wouldn't be afraid to do it again. Like something had snapped in her, she fought against him with every fiber of her being, but he refused to let her go, grabbing onto the back of her head to force her head up so he could look into her oceanic blue eyes. She screamed on the top of her lungs, but it was no use. As soon as Damon saw what was coming, he stumbled to lift himself up from the ground.
"No!" Damon shouted as his stomach sank when he knew it was starting. It was too late. Klaus captured her eyes and wouldn't let her go.
"You no longer care for Damon Salvatore. You no longer think, no longer pine, no longer wait for him. You lose no sleep over him whatsoever. Damon Salvatore is a person, a name, a face that resonates nothing with you but pure, unadulterated hatred."
Right as he finished, Damon tackled him to the ground, where Claire stumbled back and watched as the hybrid and the Salvatore fought at her feet, but she was too disoriented. Damon managed to get a few punches in until suddenly, he started to scream when he felt enormous pain in his head from some unknown force. Gloria was behind them, shaking her head.
"Take it outside," she growled. Damon clutched at his head for a moment while Klaus leaped onto his feet and loomed over the dark-haired Salvatore.
"You believe you can get through anything? I believe, Damon, that hatred is perhaps too big of an obstacle for you to overcome."
Wiping his mouth free of blood from Damon's blows, Klaus walked towards the bar and left Damon on the floor to realize what he had done, virtually stomping on his heart with every footstep.
Stefan backed away from Amelia and ran his tongue over his teeth angrily. "Klaus is obsessed with siring his hybrids. If leave with you, he'll come after me, and he'll find Elena. The second he knows she's alive, he'll figure out why it's not working."
She frowned at him with her back still against the car. "We can keep her safe, Stefan! Anything is better than you being with him for the next hundred years and lose yourself all over again you...you can't do that to yourself."
"It's already done, Amelia!" he shouted, spinning around at her with a sharp snap. "It will never be the same after this!"
"You don't think I know that?"
"No! I don't think any of you know that! Claire and I have done things that we can't come back from. I've left bodies scattered from Florida to Tennessee. Innocent people. Humans. The only people who are able to bring me back from that are either dead or in the same situation! I can't come back from this. Not this time."
Amelia hesitantly stepped closer and grabbed his hands. "Stefan, I don't believe that. I know what it's like to lose control, but I think that if you just came with me then—"
"You can't help me, Amelia. You can't help either of us."
This infuriated her. She dropped his hands from hers and threw them up in extreme frustration, her entire face turning tomato red as she screamed at him, tired of the run around. "Well what do you suppose I do then? Huh? Give up?"
Stefan was unfazed. "Yes. What's done is done and...and you need to stay as far away from me as possible." He stepped back and squared his jaw. "I'm done with Mystic Falls, and I'm done with my past. I'm done with you. I don't want to see you, I don't want to be with you. I just want you to go."
There was nothing for her to say. Stefan turned around and headed back into the bar, leaving Amelia absolutely speechless, unable to process whoever it was that she had just been talking to. Because it certainly couldn't have been the Stefan she knew. The Stefan she remembered.
No. It wasn't Stefan at all.
Damon and Amelia didn't talk, they both just got into the car ready to make the trip back home. Amelia stared ahead of her, her head in her hand as she processed what had happened earlier. Damon was defeated, absolutely crushed, knowing what Klaus did to Claire. When Klaus had walked away from him earlier, Claire had slowly come up to hover over him, where he looked into her blue eyes hoping for some sort of hope that shone through. Instead, she let out a sadistic scoff and walked away, leaving him on the floor to fend for himself. It was a sight that broke his spirit, crushed his soul, and blackened his heart for the worst.
"You okay?" Damon muttered to the blonde next to him. She let her eyes wander over to the other side of the car to look at him.
"Are you?"
He didn't reply. Instead, all he did was put the key into the ignition and sped off, wishing he'd never taken the call from Katherine in the first place.
Thanks for reading! Please review!
adela: Here you go! Sorry it took so long!
NicoleR85: Thanks! Here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoyed it!
RHatch89: Thank you :)
Tvd2014: Thanks so much! Aw, yeah, I know what you mean but they'll be reuniting soon and now it got like 10000x more intense so it'll be fun to see them journey on from here. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
grapejuice101: Thanks! Lol nope, especially now that she doesn't have a reason to go back to Mystic Falls. But things will get a whole lot more interesting after "The Reckoning", and I'm already about 3/4 of the way through the next chapter so we'll get to it soon. Sorry it took me so long to update! Hope you enjoyed this chapter.
SomebodyWhoCares: :)
klandgraf2007: Sorry for the wait! Here's the chapter, hope you enjoyed it!
Karma3825: Here's the next chapter! Hope you enjoyed it. Sorry for the long wait.
Guest: Here it is! Sorry for the wait.
Gigi: Here you go! Sorry for the wait!