"Won't I need to be human in order for my blood to work for the spell?"
"Under normal circumstances, yes. This situation, however, is altered; your blood will work nonetheless."
"How?"
Klaus sighs. "I do not have a thorough understanding of magic, Elena, I have never wished to. Witches care for their own kind alone and are hesitant to place their trust in other supernaturals. Especially hybrids." His lips quirk into a bittersweet smile.
"That's because we've grown to hate each other. We hate each other for our differences and what's happened in the past."
He laughs. "You are truly naive, Elena. You wish to simply let bygones by bygones? The past is always with us, no matter how much we try to deny it."
Elena shoots Klaus a glare but continues. "...Witches are linked to nature, but vampires are linked to death. I can't really blame them for not trusting us. We've given them no reason to trust us. You've done nothing but manipulate them and throw them around."
He raises his eyebrows, and Elena realizes that her little speech could apply directly to her and Klaus.
"Witches are hardly innocent, if I'm not mistaken," he hints, a bit of an edge clear in his voice. He knows what they're doing with their little game of charades, playing when they both don't know what they're going to win.
"I've seen many different sides of vampires," Elena states, her gaze level with the grey road stretching out in front of her.
"Which side of them is the best? Have you figured that out yet?" Klaus asks casually, his arm draped at the back of her seat.
"I'm still trying to find out. Maybe witches and hybrids can overcome their differences one day."
He gives a low laugh. "I'd like to see that happen, love. Perhaps."
Elena laughs genuinely. "We'll just have to wait and see."
They sit in silence for a while, and Elena notices that Klaus's demeanour has changed. There is an angrier shift in his movements, as he removes his arm from the back of her seat. Staring straight ahead, he asks, "What are you doing?"
"What do you mean?" she asks, turning to face him with her innocent brown doe eyes.
"Don't play dumb with me," he snarls. "What is this act you're carrying out? Trying to become allies, then trying to be sympathetic and now being civil? What are you trying to achieve by becoming closer to me?"
Shocked into silence, Elena tries to conjure up something to say, but the words seem stuck in her throat. "I-I'm just..." She doesn't know what to say. She looks out of the window to avert his heated glare so he won't see the tears forming in her eyes. She wonders how their moods have flickered so fast, how they were playful and she was feeling somehow hopeful, and then to this burning feeling.
"It's what I thought. There is nothing to be achieved. Do not speak to me for the remainder of the time we are forced to fraternize with each other."
Something snaps in Elena and she whips her head around, the tears spilling. "Just make up your goddamn mind already!" she screams, and she can see the murderous look in his eyes intensify. "First you agree to be allies then you're on a killing rampage. Sometimes I think I see something else in you, but when I try to reach out to it, it's gone! You just go back to the same way you were! Then when I thought that you finally..."
"Finally what?" he challenges. "Finally changed? For a doppelgänger who wears the same cursed face as those damned before her? You are no different than the women before you. You are nothing but a fool, Elena."
There is a deadly silence, and Elena whispers, "Then I'm a determined fool. Don't compare me to them. You don't know me. But that doesn't matter to you, does it, Klaus? Because you'll still judge me. I may have the same face, but I'm different. Unlike them, I'm the only one who has tried to see something good about you."
"...Why?"
His voice sounds vulnerable.
Elena isn't sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing.
When their eyes meet, she finally knows the right thing to say. She opens her mouth.
CRASH
A loud impact cuts off whatever she was going to say and erases it. Elena shields her face as glass sprays everywhere and she can feel shards digging into her skin, making her hiss out in pain. The car has swerved sideways along the road but Klaus calmly brings it to a stop despite the intrusion.
Another explosion of glass erupts, more vicious this time around, and Klaus jerks Elena onto his lap, gripping onto her arm tightly. When there is no more glass left to be shattered, she lifts herself off of him. Elena removes her hands from her eyes and stares out of the broken windshield with horrified eyes.
"They're here," she whispers.
Half a dozen of witches have arrived on the scene; but this time their eyes aren't glowing with a mysterious power, and amulets aren't around their necks. Klaus calmly gets out of the car and Elena tries to do the same. In a blur she is standing beside him. She's afraid to stand by herself.
"Another fight?" Elena asks him tensely.
"Fighting isn't always the answer, love. Let me reason with them." He motions at her to stay put beside his car, but she ignores him and walks beside him to approach the witches. Klaus shoots her a disgruntled look, but Elena stares straight ahead, ignoring him once again.
"We have to work on your compliancy issues," Klaus mutters, turning his gaze away from her.
"Hmm?" she asks distractedly.
"Nothing," he drawls, a tight but charming smile fixed on his face. Turning his attention to the witches, Klaus calls out to them.
"I will not tolerate being hunted down like an animal; what is it you desire?"
A mixture of apprehension and determination forms on one of the witch's faces. She seems to be the one in control.
"You're the Original Hybrid," she begins.
"Noted," Klaus says. "That seems to be the go-to conversation starter for anyone who tries to approach me."
Elena snorts beside him.
"And you seek to raise your brother. The last thing we witches need is another Original to deal with."
"You don't understand. The Originals have killed hundreds of our kind. It would be hell just to let another one back in our lives." The witch's voice is hard and stretched with worry, and Elena sympathizes with her. She can feel her pain.
"Unfortunately you do not get to make decisions."
Klaus advances forwards to the witches, but Elena stops him, placing a hand on his arm.
"Klaus, leave them alone," she warns. "They've done nothing to you."
"A thousand years ago a witch put a curse on me. It's done nothing but harm. What difference do the lives of six witches mean to you?"
"Just because one was bad doesn't mean they're all the same." She turns to the witches in desperation. "You came here to stop him, but you have to understand that he can't be stopped. You'll only be killed if you keep trying. Please. Stop. Let Klaus bring his brother back, and I promise I will do my best to protect you."
The witches hesitate.
"Please, you have to believe me," Elena begs.
"And how do we know this isn't a ploy? You're just one vampire standing up to him. What's stopping him from killing you too?"
"I'm the doppelgänger. He needs me," Elena reasons, trying to reassure them.
The witch's eyebrows raise in recognition, and a quiet murmur breaks out in the rest of the witches. There are hushed whispers, but Elena can make out words like 'blood' and 'sacrifice' and 'curse'. She wonders what that's all about.
"They've already dented my car, I think it's time they learned a lesson," Klaus says, advancing towards the witches. Klaus's eyes begin to change to golden.
"Run!" Elena screams at them, and they do. The witches scatter in a flurry, and for a moment they no longer look like supernaturals capable of possessing unmeasurable power. They look like humans running for their lives. At least, that's what they seem like on the outside.
Klaus gives Elena a lethal look. "You shouldn't have done that." His voice is low and dangerous and velvety.
"Why?" she challenges bravely. "What are you going to do? Kill me? Put a dagger in my heart, like you did to your family?"
"No...but I can think of other forms of punishment." He smiles at her wickedly. "For instance, I could compel you to kill everyone you. Have. Ever. Loved. "
"You wouldn't."
"What's stopping me from doing so?"
"If you do that I will never forgive you. Say what you want to say, Klaus, but you need me, in more ways than one."
They both know this conversation can lead to two different outcomes. One being a heated argument and possibly a few broken bones, and the alternative being one of them backing down, avoiding chaos entirely.
Just like that, Klaus's mood changes. Humour glints in his predatory blue eyes and he smirks at her. "You're quite the symbol of determination, aren't you, sweetheart? Perhaps bringing you along wasn't quite a bad idea after all."
"You kidnapped me!"
"Both of those words mean the same to me," he says dismissively, as if brushing the matter off.
"They are not the same! Bringing is nice and civil. Kidnapping is harsh, and against my will. And it was just after Graduation. You couldn't have picked a better time."
"Out of the two of us you're the only one still bothered by this. I see no reason why." He shrugs innocently.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Instead of sounding frustrated her voice is eerily calm and somewhat gentle. She's speaking in a normal tone, choosing not to get angered so easily. She knows what that will only lead up to. Blood and tears.
"You always get what you want, no matter what it takes. No matter how many people you kill or how many people you betray. You're never going to stop, right?"
He shakes his head slowly. "That's the beauty of me," he says, a smirk flickering onto his face.
Elena sighs, turning away from him slightly. "I guess I'm going to have to live with it, until you begin to see things differently. I mean, I survived everything in Mystic Falls, including you, so I can deal with you again, right? For the time being? I mean, he can't kill me because he needs me to bring Kol back. I'm fine, as long as I don't say something offensive."
"Are you consulting me or yourself?" he asks her humorously.
She whips her head around so she can face him, her brown hair flying. "Me. So, how bad could it be?"
"Don't speak too soon, love."
Review Answer:
lapislazuli101: When I first started writing this story I had originally intended it to be more Klaus/Elena but then Kol will be added to the mix in a short time. Let's see how that plays out, shall we ;) let's say that Elena will be...conflicted...but not in the way you would think...I mean both of them are psychotic serial killers who both wouldn't mind seeing her dead, maybe she'll try to save them? Who knows. dun dun dunn
And thank you so much to everyone who reviewed: Mystic Reader 99, XxthtgirlCecexX, lovely reader, kristin, KlausxElena, kagome higurashi, lapislazuli101, TVDLover
Once AGAIN I apologize for the long delay
...Your reviews make my day :)