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Chapter three - Bargaining Chips

A satisfied smirk made its way across Gwen's face and she released the front of Alaric's shirt, letting him slump to the floor with a low moan. She nudged him backwards out of the way with the heel of her boot and she watched a brief flicker of panic appear in the vampire's crystal blue eyes before it disappeared behind a cool indifference.

"Now personally, I'd always thought breaking into someone's house and trying to eat them was considered rude in most social circles." He started onto the first stair slowly, keeping his blue eyes focused on Gwen. "But maybe that's just me."

Gwen shrugged lightly, "I didn't break in, he invited me." His eyes narrowed and he took another step but Gwen wagged a finger at him warningly, "Uh uh, not so fast. You would be Damon Salvatore I presume?"

Damon paused and examined her warily with his piercing blue eyes that Gwen found a touch unsettling. "Okay, so you know my name, how about you return the favor?" He walked up another step, watching her intently as if she was about to bite. Gwen's smirk turned into a sneer as she crossed her arms and snorted.

"Yeah, I don't think so." Like hell she was going to tell him anything.

Damon shrugged casually, like it as no big deal to come to his friend's house and find said friend laying in a pool of his own blood. "Fair enough, have it your way then."

Gwen raised her eyebrows and was about to respond when he blurred up the rest of the stairs, momentarily catching her off guard and much like she had down to Alaric minutes before, slammed her into a wall, pinning her down by her throat.

She hissed as her hip crashed into a wooden table but otherwise she wasn't wounded terribly. The table on the other hand was destroyed, a bit of a shame really, it was a rather nice table.

Damon let out a little growl and his grip tightened around her neck, shaking off her thoughts of the broken table. So, he planned on beating her using force; well she was older and that meant she was much, much stronger.

Gwen didn't even bother prying his fingers off her neck, she just gave him a punch to a jaw that sent him flying down the stairs and if he was human, probably would have killed him. But she didn't give Damon a chance to recover because as soon as she picked herself up off the ground she dashed down the staircase and landed square on his chest.

The other vampire let out a low groan and she smiled to herself.

"Oh come on, surely the famous Damon Salvatore can do better than that." She pouted in mock disappointment before a proud grin burst through onto her face.

Damon grunted and struggled to pull himself up but found it to be a bit difficult with the redhead still straddling his chest, "So my reputation precedes me. Can I at least know who I've offended this time?"

Gwen chuckled, wondering how it was even possible that Klaus hadn't already disposed of these…children. But Klaus had said there were two brothers. Perhaps this was just the stupid one…

In any case, she decided to humor him.

Gwen leaned forward so her red curls were tickling Damon's nose and her mouth was right by his ear. "I believe you're already familiar with him." Her voice became low and husky and when her lips brushed his ear, she would have sworn that he licked his lips. "Klaus sends his regards."

As soon as she breathed the Original's name, Damon was up in a flash, knocking her off his chest and into the railing, no doubt leaving an indent in the old wood.

Okay, so maybe he wasn't as weak as she originally thought, but she was still more powerful.

"Are we really going to do this again?" She sighed as he rushed at her, the younger vampire probably assumed that he could surprise her again but she easily dodged his attack, as if he were nothing more than an annoying housefly.

He continued to glare at her, showing no sign of backing down until she pounced on him, slamming his lean body into a wall, her hand on his neck in the exact same position that he'd locked her in before. "We both know that I could totally kick your ass. Why don't you just give up now?"

She raised her eyebrows until he held his hands up in a sign of defeat.

When she stepped away and dropped her hand, he cleared his throat and rubbed the red mark she'd left on his neck.

"Well, I guess we could be civil about this." Damon straightened himself up and straightened the collar of his shirt, "What does Klaus want?"

Gwen shrugged lightly and smiled calmly at him, "Who knows?" She picked some lint off her blue sweater and peered over at him through her lashes, "He's a bit crazy that one, but I got to hand it to him, he's very dedicated to his cause. Whatever it is."

Damon snorted and crossed his arms, giving her an disbelieving look. "Like you have no idea what he's planning. I bet you helped him organize this whole little scheme."

Gwen sighed and brushed a stray curl out of her face. "Believe what you want. I'm only doing what I'm told." And as soon she got Elijah back she would tell Klaus exactly what she thought out him ordering her around like she was one of his servants.

"Uh huh, sure. And Klaus gave you specific orders to eat Rick?" His was sneering but his blue eyes flickered over to where the history teacher lay at the top of the stairs, ruining his poker face.

"Nah, he just got in my way." Gwen smiled at Damon, silently daring him to just try and do the same. "Klaus wanted me to talk to you actually."

This peaked the vampire's interest and he edged towards her curiously. "Oh yeah? What about?"

The redhead sat down on the staircase and stretched lazily, careful to avoid the splinters of wood that had broken off during their fight. "You know it seems to have escaped my mind at the moment."

Damon stopped walking to glare at her suspiciously, "How convenient."

She just smiled up at him serenely.

"Alright, I'll bite, what do you want?" he walked over to the railing and leaned his elbow on the post, staring down at her.

Gwen pretended to look insulted, "Who says I want anything? I'm just the messenger."

He leaned down towards her and whispered, "Well I believe in shooting the messenger, so why don't you just get on with it?"

Gwen groaned and stood up, pushing him out of her way. These Mystic Falls people weren't any fun; she still couldn't see why Klaus bothered antagonizing them at all.

"Fine!" She leaned against the opposite wall and painted on a bored expression, "Klaus is under the impression that you have something that belongs to him and I've come to find out where you've hid it." She flashed him a charming grin. "So fess up."

The black-haired vampire stiffened, "I don't know what you're talking about." Gwen sighed and gave him a brief glare. Really, they were going to play this game? He couldn't just spit out the location of whatever the hell Klaus was looking for and make everything easier on everyone? He was being selfish really.

"Well, that really is too bad." She pouted and examined her fingernails. "I was hoping you'd tell me before Klaus had to send a hybrid all the way out to North Carolina. It's a rather long drive after all. "

Damon's blank expression was replaced by one that he probably thought was menacing; he bared his fangs and the veins around his eyes grew but she wasn't convinced so she continued, "Turns out that deputy you compelled couldn't resist Klaus' natural…charm."

"Where is Elena?" The other vampire spat out, coming towards to her slowly but Gwen's smile only grew larger.

"She won't be harmed, Klaus wouldn't risk something happening to his precious doppelganger." She paused for effect then added," but I might want to check in on your witchy friend if I were you."

Gwen dashed past him to the couch where her coat had been laying abandoned and paused by the she ducked out, she gestured to the man laying at the top of the stairs. "And I wouldn't forget about poor Rick over there, he's lost a lot of blood."

With one last smug smile, she sped away, leaving Damon by the door scrambling for the phone in his pocket.

Once she made it far enough away from the Gilbert house, Gwen tugged her own phone from her pocket and dialed the number Klaus had given her, impatiently listening to the dial tone.

Sometimes technology was a marvel but other times it just wasn't fast enough.

"Come on, come on…" She muttered, scowling at the screen that insisted that it was still connecting.

"Guinevere," Klaus answered after what felt like years, " I was wondering when I'd be hearing from you."

She snorted, "Yeah, I bet you were anxiously waiting by the phone." She paused, glancing up at the sky to the approaching sunset, momentarily distracted. She shook her head and started talking again.

"So…. I met Damon Salvatore and he really doesn't seem so bad. I bet in another life, you two would be great friends. Why is it you want to kill him again?"

Klaus' deep chuckle vibrated through the phone line and Gwen felt a pit begin to grow in her stomach. She was reluctant to find out what put him in such a happy mood. Usually nothing good ever came of him getting what he wanted.

"You're awfully chipper this evening. May I know what's got the ever-gloomy Klaus happy as a clam?" She'd always been fond of that expression and so she was quite happy to find a chance to use it. Gwen smiled a little.

"Well my dear, I'm just one step closer to getting what I want." He sounded extremely proud of himself, "which means you're closer to getting what you want."

Gwen sighed, her patience was starting to wear thin with all the vague answers she'd been getting. "Do you know where Elijah is or not, Niklaus? I'm beginning to think you don't have a clue."

And she would not be happy if he was leading her on a wild goose chase. No… If Klaus was using her, she'd make whatever the Salvatores did to him seem like a child's prank, a poorly planned, insignificant, child's prank.

"And I'm beginning to think you've forgotten who you're talking to." Klaus snapped and Gwen frowned. He really needed to be knocked down off his high horse.

"I'm not one of your hybrids Klaus, you can't just order me around." Gwen snapped at him warningly, not about to be threatened.

"Either way, you're going to help me with something else." Klaus informed her, showing no sign of hearing her last comment.

"Oh, and what would that be?"

At that particular moment, a white moving truck pulled off the side of the road she was walking along, scattering gravel everywhere. A blond hybrid was sitting in the driver's seat and as the truck drove up beside her, he flashed her a grin that she supposed was meant to be charming but she wasn't impressed in the slightest.

"You're going to with Elliot and… pick something up for me. I'll be waiting for you both back at the mansion." Gwen bristled, who was he to order her around? No she was done, she wasn't going to get involved in whatever ridiculous scheme he was planning.

"I don't think so-" She started, letting as much venom as she could leak into her voice.

"Thanks love, see you soon." And with that, Klaus hung up, leaving her staring at her phone with her mouth open like a fish.

It took much more of her restraint than she would be willing to admit, to hold herself back and refrain from chucking her phone at the nearest tree.

But her fuming was interrupted by two honks from the truck and when she turned around to glare at the hybrid, his blond head was hanging out the window. "Come on, we gotta go!"

Gwen swore under her breath as she stomped over to the waiting truck, glaring at the hybrid with her emerald eyes as if she could make him explode by staring at him hard enough.

"Calm down, sweetheart. You won't have to deal with me for very long." The young man chuckled as she climbed into the cab of the truck.

She shot him one last withering look before kicking her feet up on the dashboard and reclining in her seat. If she was going to play delivery boy with this sorry waste of space, she might as well be comfortable.

Gwen heard Elliot's quiet inhale, like he was preparing to speak and she held up her hand, effectively cutting off whatever optimistic words of encouragement she was sure he was about to spew out.

"Don't talk to me, don't look at me, don't even think about looking at me." She snapped, not bothering to gage his reaction. "I'm not here because I want to, I'm not bonded to Klaus, I find no pleasure whatsoever in helping him with his sadistic little scheme." She huffed and stared out the window, a little breathless from her rant. "Whatever it is anyway."

Elliot whistled under his breath and shook his head but Gwen acted like he was invisible and continued to do so for the rest of the twenty minutes she was trapped in the truck.

As they got father away from Mystic Falls, Gwen's mind began to wander; imagining all sorts of things that Klaus would be desperate to recover. Maybe some weapon that would be able to kill an Original? She instantly brightened at the prospect, her life would be significantly more enjoyable if she didn't have to keep looking over her shoulder every hundred years or so. Then logic kicked in, Klaus would sooner destroy such a weapon rather than hold onto it on the off chance it fell into the wrong hands.

Or the right hands.

Either way, whatever Klaus wanted, probably wasn't a weapon. Gwen sighed and rested her head on her elbow as she stared out at the fields rolling by.

"Are we close?" Gwen asked quietly, peering over at Elliot through the corner of her eye.

He didn't appear startled when she finally talked to him but he did break out into another face-cracking grin that instantly set the female vampire on edge.

"We're here." Elliot turned the tuck up down a pathway that had almost been covered with long, dry grass and for a few seconds, Gwen didn't get it. Then she saw it. The colonial style house that looked as if someone had been at it with a flamethrower.

"Alright," she turned to glare at the hybrid. "What's in the abandoned house?"

All she got in response was a cheeky grin that made her grind her teeth together.

Fine, he wanted to be like that, well then she'd just have to take matters into her own hands. Gwen hopped out of the tuck, landing nimbly on her feet despite it being a bit of a long way down.

Once her feet were firmly on the ground, she set off at a brisk pace, ignoring the protests from Elliot as he clambered down out of the truck in an attempt to catch up with her.

"Annoying hybrid," Gwen muttered to herself and using her supernatural speed, dashed into the house and slammed the door in Elliot's face, feeling a childish satisfaction in doing so.

But the moment she entered the old house, she felt a cold chill creeping up her spine.

She knew, somehow, that she wasn't wanted here. But she continued walking, searching for whatever it was that Klaus had sent them to get.

Gwen reached out to grab a decrepit looking door handle and just as she touched it, the main door flew open and Elliot stormed in, looking incredibly pissed off.

"What the hell?" He seethed and marched over to where she was standing.

"I couldn't stand your presence any longer. Your smell was beginning to bother me." Gwen's hand itched to pull open the old door and see what was inside but she felt a tugging on her arm and she looked down to see Elliot's pale hand.

"What do you think you're doing?" She snapped and snatched her arm away like the hybrid had a deadly disease, she eyed him quickly and shuddered delicately, he probably did.

" We need to go downstairs. We aren't supposed to wander around; get in and get out, that's what Klaus said." The blond's eyes darted around nervously and Gwen figured that she wasn't the only one who the house put on edge.

"Well it's a good thing I don't have to do what he says then isn't it?" She smiled and moved towards the door handle but once again was interrupted by Elliot.

She sighed and turned around to glare at him, he really was starting to get on her nerves.

"Don't you want to see Elijah again? You won't if we don't get what Klaus wants."

Gwen stiffened like she had been jolted by an electric current and she stared at the hybrid in shock. All she could mutter was a surprised, "What?"

Elliot shrugged casually and gave her a sly smile. "I know a lot more than most people would think. Klaus trusts me." As he finished, his arrogant smirk turned into a proud smile, like a young child after they've tied their shoes for the first time. It could only be endearing if she cared and right now she really didn't.

All she could focus on was how she planned on murdering Klaus for having mentioned Elijah's name to this disgusting half-breed.

"Oh, so you think you're special?" Gwen advanced towards him, her fingers curling into claws at her side. "You're expendable, replaceable, nothing but a means to an end." The look of doubt that crossed his face didn't make up for the fury she felt when she heard his pathetic voice say Elijah's name.

He had no right.

She brought her face close to his and hissed, "And if you ever even breath his name again, I'll prove it to you. I'll rip out your heart as he watches, and before you die, you'll see just how little he cares." By the time she finished speaking she was practically snarling but her little rant did the trick, Elliot was thoroughly terrified.

She pulled away and gave her curls a quick flounce, "Now you said we needed to go downstairs?" She flashed him a sweet smile and marched off to where the staircase was tucked away and eagerly descended.

A reluctant anticipation was creeping into her mind, and despite her borderline hatred of Klaus, she wondered what it was he'd just won back. The curiousity that had gotten her into trouble so many times before made a guest appearance and propelled her forward.

When she entered the first room she was surprised to find candles scattered around the room; some were still smoking as if someone had just extinguished them but aside from that, the room was empty.

Gwen frowned and swung around on her heel to rip into Elliot for bringing her to the wrong place but when she turned around she came face to face with the hybrid himself. "Well?" She snapped, scowling and putting her hands up on her hips.

Elliot ignored her and stepped into the middle of the room, and he when he took in the empty state of the basement her chuckled. For a brief second, Gwen wondered if he could see something that she couldn't.

"You made a deal with Klaus," the hybrid called out in almost a taunting way to some invisible force. "If you go back on your side of the bargain, I would be more than happy to help him carry out his threat."

All of a sudden the candles flared to life and Gwen couldn't help her small gasp.

Witches. It had to be.

This time it was her eyes that darted around nervously, searching for the source of power, yet, there were no witches that she could see lurking about in the shadows of the basement.

She'd never gotten along well with witches in all her years as a vampire but she'd been able to tolerate them until the late 80s when she'd made the mistake of insulting some witch's grandnephew or some other kind of relative and she'd come home to find her luxurious townhouse burnt to the ground.

She would have scowled at the memory but her train of thought was disrupted when three mahogany coffins appeared in the room, looking undisturbed, as if they had always been there and her mouth fell open with a soft popping sound.

Elliot laughed at her expression but she was too amazed to form a sharp retort, she could only stare in wonder.

"Now aren't you glad you came along for the ride?"