Disclaimer: I do not own the Vampire Diaries.

A/N: Sorry for the wait, this took me much longer than I originally intended. I had tons of makeup exams and papers this past week. Many thanks for the awesome reviews! I've got some ideas brewing, plus I can't wait to reveal a certain something to you guys. R&R! (-:

Twenty

Klaus's hatred for the werewolf grew as he watched Blake struggle to stay in his human form just to continue smirking. The instinct to simply twist the wolf's neck urged at him several times, but he forced himself to stay in control. If all went well, he would get his way. AJ would be safe and he would have his hybrids.

"I have to say," Blake said, sounding strangled as he restrained another quiver of the shift, "I didn't think you'd choose her, man. I thought you were supposed to be ruthless."

"And I thought you were supposed to be a bit clever," Klaus said. "Remaining in your human form at this point hardly seems very smart. I could change you in a second."

"She's not safe out there, you know," Blake continued on, ignoring Klaus's words. Foolish wolf. "I told you I have a large pack. They like to spread throughout the forest. It's easier to let the wolf just takeover and go after whatever prey there is. That's why we come here. It's easier to kill. People don't usually come by, but…"he trailed off, his smirk growing.

Klaus remained impassive. "I'll call your bluff. Your only leverage is believing that I want to make hybrids badly enough that I might allow anyone who dares to lay a hand on her live. Even if the threat so much as passes your lips, I'll kill you. All of you." He said it louder, looking at the wolves slowly stepping from the shadows around him. There was only about seven or eight, making him doubt his own confidence thinking that Blake was lying. Packs almost always had at least a dozen.

Blake barked a laugh through his pain, sounding like a strangled dog. "Man, you are so far gone for her. Do you realize that? Besides, you can't touch us in wolf form. That means you can't make hybrids. I think you should be more worried about your girl right now than anything else."

Klaus glowered at Blake before stepping towards a werewolf to his right, his eyes trained on the supernatural creature. It looked back at him with a mixture of fear and anger in its glowing yellow eyes. Instead of holding its ground, it slowly edged back. Klaus, of course, was faster. He quickly slammed his fist into the wolf's head so hard that it howled plaintively as it fell to the ground, limp and unconscious, making the rest of its pack mates jump back. Klaus smiled.

"You see," Klaus said smugly, kicking the fallen wolf with his boot, "there's a flaw in your theory, mate. Did you know that on a full moon, being driven to pain is what truly brings forth the transformation from human to wolf? So tell me, clever wolf, what happens when one can't feel that pain?"

Blake blinked at the limp form of his pack mate on the ground. Instead of backing off, his face was a pinch of anger. "That's not possible. It isn't—"

Blake stopped short as he watched the wolf's bones reconstruct into a human's. A woman with short red hair lay on the ground, her eyes lulled back into her head.

The wolves that had begun to surround Klaus now drew back slowly, cautiously. His eyes had never left Blake's. "Did you really think you could best me?"

In a flash, Klaus had torn open the vein at the base of his wrist and crouched to the ground, forcing his blood into the woman's mouth. Blake gave a futile yelp as Klaus nimbly twisted her neck, making the bones snap like firecrackers. Leaving the body behind, Klaus advanced towards Blake.

Blake stumbled backwards, his face pale with fear. He tried shifting into wolf form as fast as possible, still struggling to speak as he did. "Elizabeth," he said quickly, his canines garbling the words. His eyes quickly flashed to a werewolf several paces to his left, seemingly stuck between staying and running. "Elizabeth, get the girl. It's our only chance, you have to get her. Now!"

Klaus chuckled darkly. The werewolf, Elizabeth, howled as she made to dart away, but he knocked her sideways into the trunk of a large tree. She slid down it, almost instantaneously changing back to human form.

"I don't think so, mate," Klaus was in front of Blake in a flash, standing before him almost with a casual demeanor. "Now what did I tell you?" Blake shifted his bones more, trying to change quickly. Klaus's look was murderous. "It seems I'll just have to make an example out of you."

Blake couldn't make a sound; he was too stunned. Klaus's hand shot forward, his fingers breaching human flesh and bone before meeting the very life-force that pumped blood through their veins. Slowly, drawing out the pain that made the werewolf's eyes fall back in his head and exposed the whites, Klaus wrapped his fingers around the organ, feeling it pulsate in his fingertips. He squeezed harder and harder until it exploded in Blake's chest. Klaus withdrew his hand. Gore blossomed at the front of the werewolf's tattered shirt like a flower and clung to Klaus's hands grotesquely.

Having gotten so caught up in the raw anger he felt, Klaus hadn't realized how labored his breathing sounded until then, how tightly his teeth were ground together, how tense and rigid he was at the thought of someone, anyone laying a hand on AJ. However, the emotional distraction had made things far worse than what they'd been.

After witnessing the viscous murder of their pack leader, the other wolves had taken to the woods. After AJ.

Somehow, the forest had grown colder in the ensuing silence. It was yet another reminder that Klaus wasn't beside her.

AJ clenched her teeth to keep them from chattering. The air she breathed out was a foggy white puff in front of her. Inside her chest, her heart was filled with adrenaline, making her senses acute. Every rattle of branches, every flutter of wings, snapping of twigs and crunching of leaves froze her in place. Something was watching her. She could feel it.

Once she realized she wasn't alone, she'd taken cover behind the large tree trunk, hiding the tresses of its shadows. It did her little good considering she was being hunted down by nocturnal creatures that saw ten times better than she did in the dark. But little good was better than none at all.

Lifting her throbbing bloodied hand to Klaus's sun pendant, she tried letting its serenity envelope her. It didn't work.

A stick broke behind her, deep inside the unbroken darkness of the forest that stretched endlessly before her. In a patch of moonlight just a foot away, she saw the crumpled rose on the littered forest floor. Petals had fallen off, mimicking pools of blood. Soon, that would be her blood.

She crouched low and tried to compose a plan. What did she have that would work as a weapon? Normally she'd go right to her boot for the switchblade she always carried—except she hadn't carried it since going on the road with Stefan and Klaus.

That left her with nothing.

Another snap! Only this time, it was closer.

Where are you, Klaus?

The silhouette of bushes in front of her rustled. She tensed and held her breath, bracing herself for what would lunge out at her.

A woman strode out, clothed only in a long sleeved shirt that went mid-thigh. AJ blinked. The woman's short red hair shone like copper in the moonlight. Her eyes fell on AJ immediately. They were swollen with bloodlust.

"Oh shit," AJ breathed. So Klaus had found a way to still make hybrids. Of course he did.

The woman grinned sickly at her before using supernatural speed to drive forward and attack. AJ saw canines flash right before they struck the skin at her neck, tearing into the flesh like white-hot metal singeing it. She didn't scream, but struggled to pull out of the woman's strong grasp. Her vision spotted and faded as she felt her blood slowly flow out of her. Death seemed imminent.

A midnight black werewolf coming to her rescue had been the last thing she had anticipated. It loped out of the shadows, its paws striking the woman hard until she ripped her fangs from AJ's flesh and fell to the forest floor under the werewolf's weight.

AJ gasped for air and staggered forward gracelessly, unbalanced from blood loss. She rounded the tree, her back facing the hybrid and werewolf as she leaned against the rough bark and tried to assess the damage. Blood coated her left side, dripping in rivulets from the tips of her red-gloved fingers to the ground.

When she heard a wolf's whimper from behind, she whipped around. Nausea rolled over her from the movement. She quickly ignored it as she took note of the fact that the hybrid had won the scuffle and the werewolf was crumpled on the ground, dead. Slowly, she backed up, placing one foot carefully behind the other. She heard another growl from behind. Freezing, she fixated her glower at the hybrid.

"You have got to be kidding me."

Throwing a glance over her shoulder, she found that she stood between another werewolf and the hybrid. Probably the now dead werewolf's friend; although this one didn't seem to be very eager to come to her rescue. From her position, she felt like they were playing monkey-in-the-middle.

Only whoever caught the monkey could eat it.

AJ considered this as both creatures rushed at her from either side. In a flash, she bent to the ground and wrapped her fingers around the thorned rose. The pain was nothing compared to what she'd felt a moment ago.

Bringing the stem up, she grated it against the hybrid's face, drawing a sheet of blood from the gash. Then she pulled the hybrid forward by the front of her shirt and ducked out of the way as it fell in bafflement to the ground.

The werewolf darted in front of her and snarled as she moved to run. Panting for breath, she stared into its mesmerizing gold eyes. The pause its bared teeth gave her was enough for the hybrid to stand and grab her from behind, pinning her arms together painfully. A sense of hopelessness descended upon her.

The hybrid leeched the blood from her neck once more. It seemed that within the werewolf's gold irises, it was reveling its victory. So it was a team effort, then.

AJ thought another hybrid was joining them before she realized who it was. Then again, he was a hybrid.

Klaus hit the woman so hard that she flew through the air before crashing to the ground further away. Blood stained the front of Klaus's shirt as well as his hands. His eyes were dark and piercing.

In a futile attempt to run, the werewolf turned its back on Klaus, giving him the opening he needed to strike it unconscious. An eerie silence followed, not even filled by crickets. He was tense, completely motionless as he assessed the scene. AJ was left staring at him blankly.

His eyes fell upon the wound at her neck and they grew infinitely darker, angrier. It only served to remind her of how weak and sleepy she felt. Closing her eyes for a brief moment, she didn't even realize her knees buckled beneath her until Klaus's hands were on her hips, pulling her close to his body. She allowed the contact, resting her head against his shoulder as her eyes drooped even more.

"Where have you been?" Her question came out somewhat slurred.

Klaus kept one arm around her waist and cradled her head with his hand so that he could look at her. "Drink," he ordered after he tore open the vein at his wrist and held it to her mouth. AJ only peeked one eye open before complying. Her mind was too groggy to fight.

When she finally pulled away, she made a face. "Do you think drinking your blood this often makes me a vampire to some extent? I feel like a vampire." Her strength slowly returned to her and the sleepiness wore off. He didn't answer her purposely tactless question, so she opened her eyes and studied him. His hair was mussed and his lips were pressed into a tight line. "Where have you been?" she asked again.

"Sending you out here alone was a colossally foolish idea on my part," he admitted after a second through clenched teeth.

"I don't disagree." She was feeling more than a little flippant. Maybe it was the adrenaline still coursing through her veins. "I bet it gave you a great opportunity to create your hybrids, though. I couldn't help but notice." Stiffly, she gestured to where the woman had bit into her neck with the driest smile she could muster. She pulled out of his touch.

"AJ—"

"Don't," she said quickly, facing away from him. She wiped her bloody hands off on her jeans. "Just don't. Please. I get it, so you don't need to explain."

"Then let me apologize."

Pressing the heels of her palms to her eyes, she shook her head. "No," she said with more force than she intended. "I just need to be able to think, okay? That's it."

He stepped in front of her and gently pulled her arms away from covering her face. "I understand, now, what you meant before we came out here."

"I'd hardly say that matters anymore."

"I disagree."

"I really don't care what you think, then."

Klaus sighed and stared at her silently, pressing her to simply speak to him. Setting her jaw, she refused to say anything for several minutes until it occurred to her that she wanted to make a point more than she wanted to be stubborn.

"Tell me something." She gazed up at him openly. "Did you turn them? All of them? Before you came here?"

He paused. "It seemed to be the best idea."

She wrenched out of his grasp again, her mouth screwed into a frown. "Right. Because it's better to have a bunch of bloodthirsty hybrids running around than werewolves. Your logic is irrefutable."

Klaus grew mildly agitated. "If you would let me speak about it, maybe you'd understand. I'm not trying to make you angry."

"I'm not angry."

"Yes you are."

"Okay, so I am," she deadpanned. "So what?"

"So you let me apologize." He almost sounded pleading. "It won't happen again."

AJ bit her lip hard, almost drawing blood. The red headed hybrid stood a distance away, watching them inexpressively. A successful hybrid—one that survived the transformation, just like Tyler had. Her heart ached when she thought of him.

"You're wrong," she said hollowly. "As long as they're around, it will happen again."

Klaus stepped up behind her, wrapping his arms around her, kissing the top of her head. She didn't pull away from him, but knew there was nothing left to say. What could she possibly say now? It's me or the hybrids? That sounded ridiculous even in her head. She simply allowed her eyes to close and leaned into his touch.

His phone rang shrilly, startling her. He withdrew it from his pocket and glanced at the caller ID. His face was unreadable.

"It's Stefan."

Thoughts? Kindly review. (Constructive criticism is always welcome, of course.)

P.S. The more I see of Kol, I can't help but think up a story for him, too. Maybe it's a horrible thing that I seem to like the most unstable guys on the show… Still, he'd make a great story! (-;

P.P.S. An update for my other stories are coming up! Just thought you'd want to know.

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