I do not own TVD or TO.
Loopholes: she had never been the type to exploit them, preferring to follow the rules and her own moral code. But she hadn't given her word, she hadn't promised anything, she had been compelled.
She had a way out. Her eyes darted to the rippling water and squinted against the late afternoon sun; the light refracted and dazzled her.
Had it really only been that morning when she had stood in the kitchen with Kol? Mystic Falls seemed so far away. Kol was so far away.
Holding up her hand to block out the light she caught sight of her palm. The skin that had been sliced open that morning was whole; Kol's blood was still pumping through her veins.
How long before it stopped?
If she jumped in the pool would her breath cease first?
She had the thought once and found her feet wouldn't budge an inch in the direction of the water. She had always told Stefan and Damon that she didn't want to be a vampire, but in that moment she wanted nothing more than to plunge headfirst into the shallow end of the pool.
Gritting her teeth and holding in her groan she backed away from the pool and circled around to the front of the house. She spared the Grecian columns a cursory glance before pulling her hair into a sloppy ponytail with the band around her wrist and adjusting the laces of her shoes.
She used to love running, and thankfully she had worn sneakers when she finally got around to getting them. Her skinny jeans would make the process uncomfortable, but at least her feet would be alright.
Pausing at the end of the driveway she looked left and right. One way led to deeper woods and the other was the road they had taken in to the mansion. She knew if she followed it she would eventually come on the outskirts of the city, but the odds of Klaus being somewhere on the road were too high for her liking.
She turned instead to the wooded path. All roads eventually led somewhere.
An electric jolt raced up her arm when her fingers brushed Finn's leaving behind a tingling sensation that lingered under her skin. She knew the touch, but it was unfamiliar at the same time; unknown to her body, but ingrained in her soul.
Whenever their skin brushed she would look at him from the corner of her eye and be struck with a strong sense of déjà vu.
"Are you sure this will work?" Rebekah checked the bite on Kol's neck. It was still angry, but the dark streaks were marginally shorter.
"It's the best chance we've got."
Rebekah spun on her heel before Bonnie had finished speaking and faced the door. Her shoulders tensed as she prepared to strike, but her eyes narrowed when a young man no older than seventeen walked in.
"You know your kitchen door is open right?"
"This is Jeremy," Caroline cleared her throat. She had texted him with the address when they found the house. "Jeremy," she smiled, "you know Elijah," she pointed to each of the Originals in turn, "and this is Finn, Rebekah and Kol… Elena's soulmate."
Jeremy's eyes looked over Kol slowly taking in the clear resemblance to Elijah, and remembering how his sister had told him Klaus and Elijah had other siblings.
"Yeah…" he murmured, "… that tracks."
"Excuse me?" Kol's eyes narrowed.
Bonnie and Caroline seemed to follow his train of thought; he blamed the nasty bite on Elijah's neck for his confusion.
"It's just her luck," Jeremy shrugged one shoulder, "that her soulmate is the brother of the psychopath who killed her."
"What?" Kol's eyes widened. Bottled rage made his tense muscles tremble; he was going to tear out Klaus' liver when he saw him again. With Bonnie's aid it would hopefully be in a few hours. "She died?"
Jeremy's eyes flickered to his clenched fists and tight jaw when he nodded.
"For about six hours; Bonnie brought her back."
Elijah rubbed the back of his neck. He could practically feel the animosity being directed at him from Caroline and the humans in the room.
"A spell like that would have a high cost," Finn turned to Bonnie. Had she taken the life of another to save her friend?
"Her uncle," Bonnie whispered, knowing full well everyone in the room could hear her. "He was actually her dad, but that's another story; exchanged his life for hers."
The brightly lit barroom held half a dozen men dressed in leather jackets and jeans. It was the typical biker crowd; they lounged around the room drinking and playing pool looking up only to watch the door open. The daylight streamed inside and one of the men moved out of its path to the bar. Leaning on the counter he took in the woman.
Her brown hair clung to her flushed skin. Tiny scratches covered her arms where she had pushed her sleeves up, and she was breathing hard. Sweat dripped down the sides of her red cheeks as exhaustion flashed in her doe eyes.
She stumbled to a nearby table and collapsed into a chair, by the way she pressed her head into her hands it was clear she didn't care what anyone inside thought of her ripped jeans, stained and torn sweater, and flushed appearance. The only thing that mattered to her was calming her pounding heart.
Her triumphant grin lit up her face and made it clear that inside she was glowing. The spell that none of them had been sure would work was. Glittering black sand trailed across the map settling on Louisiana; the edge pointing to the Crescent city.
Elijah stepped away from the group and located the phone he had left to charge. He pressed the device to his ear and kept one ear on the conversation.
"New Orleans?" Jeremy blinked at the map. When Kol had told him Klaus took his sister and ran he had figured the hybrid would flee the country.
"That makes sense," Rebekah inhaled. She could feel the last of the fever leaving her body as the bite healed.
"How so?" Caroline glanced at Elijah as he procured a plane.
"A prominent pack of wolves calls the city home," Kol stood up and rolled his neck back. "The French Quarter is teeming with the supernatural: vampires, werewolves, and witches."
"At least it was a century ago," Rebekah nodded. In her mind she saw the face of the last witch she had encountered in the city. The well-meaning Genevieve who's spell had inadvertently sent them all running from their father's fury.
"I'm given to understand it still does," Elijah hung up his phone.
She was hot, too hot.
The air was stifling, pressing in on her lungs.
She was ready to jump out of her skin or at the very least rip off her sweater and press her skin to the nearest cold surface. The only thing that stopped her was the sudden knowledge that she was in a dive bar.
She was in a dive bar in the middle of nowhere.
She was in a dive bar in the middle of nowhere full of leather clad men.
She was in a dive bar in the middle of nowhere full of leather clad men who were looking at her.
Suddenly her heart was pounding for another reason. The blood in her veins ran cold, but it was not the cold she longed for.
Five of the men returned to their earlier tasks of playing pool and drinking; their eyes darting to her every few moments with hunger gleaming in the darkened depths.
The last man made no attempt to hide his ravenous want.
She swallowed nervously and willed her body to move, to stand, to walk right back out into the dying light of day because even the woods filled with ominous noises and distant howls felt safer than her current position, but her muscles were frozen in place. Her eyes were glued to him.
He sauntered closer as she stared, muscles bulging beneath the black leather jacket. He watched her with an intense hunger like a man who hadn't seen food in days.
The darkness in his eyes chilled her soul.
Her body finally reacted when he sat across from her and propped an elbow on her table. She regretted the move a moment later when it drew his predatory gaze to her chest.
"What's a pretty little thing like you doing in a place like this?" He plastered on a smile that she thought was meant to be friendly, but came off as feral. "Don't you know this bar has a reputation?"
"I'm not from around here," she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Really?" He looked her up and down slowly as her cheeks returned to their normal colour.
"Really," she swallowed. Standing slowly she backed away from the table. "I got a little lost, turned around in the woods."
He stood and took a long step towards her.
"Maybe I can help," he tilted his head. Holding out his hand he gave her a suggestive look. "Why don't we get you a drink? Then I'll give you a ride."
She didn't like the way he said 'ride' accompanied with a suggestive thrust of his pelvis. Her back hit the edge of another table and she brought her hands down to grab the edges. Her heart stuttered when he took a wide stance in front of her.
"I'll give you a ride…" he grabbed her waist and pulled her flush against his body.
She released a small yelp when his hand dropped to pinch her behind.
"… You can clean up, and then I'll let you use my phone." He bent closer and drew in a long breath inhaling her scent. "Would you like that, sweetheart?"
She shook her head and ducked from under his arm. The sudden knowledge that every man in the room was staring at her like she was a tall glass of water made her blood quicken.
She never thought she would long for Klaus.
"I think I'll just use the phone here," she moved towards the bar.
She gasped when a hand appeared from nowhere and grasped her elbow in an almost painful grip.
"Phone's for paying customers only and it doesn't look like you've come with any money." Hot breath fanned over the back of her neck. "Come for a ride, baby. I'll take real good care of you."
"No thank you," she pulled her arm free. She knew there were going to be bruises. "I think I'll walk."
She was at the pool table when he grabbed her again and spun her around. One moment she was looking at the bar and the next she was sitting on the top of the pool table with her new 'friend' between her spread legs.
"Let me go," she tried to scoot back but couldn't. His grip on her thighs was too tight; it wouldn't have mattered if she was able to back up or not because the other patrons were standing around the table watching her. "I've got a friend waiting."
"You're lying," a man with curly brown hair chuckled behind her, "we can hear your heart beating."
Her mouth went dry. There was only one species on the planet capable of hearing a human heart beating, and once she thought of it she realized why her stomach had trembled with fear the first time the man between her legs had looked at her.
She started shoving the man's chest until he laughed in her face and told her he liked them fiery. Her hands instantly started fumbling on the pool table for anything she might use to defend herself. Her fingers curled around the eight ball.
"What you gonna do with that baby?" He smirked at her choice of weapon.
Berating herself for not grabbing the pool cue she looked around the room frantically. Her grip tightened around the heavy ball as she spotted something she hadn't thought a thing of before.
Don't miss, she took a deep breath and drew her arm back. Aiming was difficult with the body in front of her, but she did it. With all of her strength she released the ball and watched as it flew in slow motion.
The black plastic soared through the air as the vampire lunged for her throat, but before he could reach her carotid artery glass shattered.
The last rays of sunlight streamed through the once blackened window. The light touched his skin which instantly began to blister and bubble.
With his reflexes impaired she shoved him back into the light, grabbed another ball and broke the second window. The only remaining shadow was the space behind the door where the only vampire not screaming in agony had taken refuge.
The door was not an option for escape but the windows were low, and in spite of quitting the cheerleading squad she was still in good shape. She got up a good run and tumbled through. Her hands caught the pavement outside and forced her body into a forward roll.
She knew it had to be the adrenaline that let her come up on her feet, but the adrenaline started to fade. Any idea she'd had of letting her feet pound the pavement and getting as far away from the bar as possible flew from her head as hands grabbed her upper arms.
"What did you mean by reincarnation?" Caroline's eyes darted to Bonnie. They were speeding down the freeway on route to the airport with Kol, Rebekah, and Elijah in a car behind them.
Finn turned his attention from the blurred scenery to Caroline but his eyes didn't remain on her long before finding Bonnie.
"I met my mate once, and then I was torn away," he felt her eyes on him. "She died."
"Rebekah mentioned," Bonnie murmured.
"Your soul, Bonnie," Finn met her eyes for a moment before she turned back to the road, "it moved on. I have to assume my timer reset when you were reborn, or perhaps when you died."
"Was I a witch?" Bonnie bit her bottom lip and tapped the steering wheel.
"No, you were human."
"What was my name?"
"Laura."
"What are you doing?" Rebekah twisted around to watch Kol. He had been furiously scribbling down symbols and words.
"Making plans for Nik," he didn't look up from the page.
"You've actually got a plan?" Her brows shot up.
"Yes," he exhaled. "And luckily we're headed towards everything I'll need."
"Which would be?" Elijah took the turn off for airport.
"A paragon diamond, a witch and Nik," he finally closed the notebook. Pulling one of the daggers from his pocket he touched the tip to his index finger. "The daggers don't work on him because they're silver and in spite of being cursed his werewolf side protects him from the metal."
"So what are you gonna do?" Rebekah tilted her head.
"Change it to gold," he murmured. Kol's eyes found the other car with their brother and the girls. "How powerful is Miss Bennett?"
"Where do you think you're going?"
Elena swallowed and tipped her head back to look up into the man's flashing eyes. His cap blocked out the sun and cast a shadow over her face. Glancing down to his hand she knew the sun wouldn't be an ally anymore.
"Away," she attempted to break his grip.
He tightened his hold and nodded to the wrecked windows. He could hear fire crackling inside and the pained groans of the nightwalkers.
"You do that?" Tipping her chin up he stared into her doe-eyes. "Tell the truth."
"Yes," she bit her lip.
He turned to a man she hadn't seen before.
"Save who you can; I'm gonna take her to the boss."
"No," Elena pulled with all of her might. The last vampires intent on taking her to an unnamed entity had hand-delivered her to Elijah. Odds were these men answered to an Original, and she highly doubted it was one of the ones she liked.
"Yes," he sighed.
She supposed she was grateful when he didn't compel her before picking her up and running. Although honestly, watching the world flash by in an indistinguishable blur of colour made her wish for unconsciousness so she wouldn't feel the pit of her stomach drop.
This started out as a one shot guys. And I set it aside for a bit to work on other stories. I've only got a bit of the next chapter planned and a rough idea for how the story is going to wrap up, but it might be a little while.