AUTHOR'S NOTE: Seeing as I'm in such a good mood, please enjoy Chapter 2! Quick thanks to AppoloniaAstria, LoveLiveLife22, and WickedlyMinx for dropping a quick review :) You guys are awesome :D
FYI, Rebekah and Kol will be daggered for the time being, and Elijah is running around somewhere because he's ashamed of Klaus. As for Bonnie, well she won't be making an appearance in here. I'm not really a fan of her so I shipped her off to the Bermuda Triangle.
As the seconds tick by, Damon and Stefan stand tense on one side of the alley while the Hale pack and Lea stand on the other. Derek and Lea stand side-by-side, Scott flanking Derek's side and Stiles flanking Lea. Allison and Isaac stand behind Scott while Boyd and Erica stand behind Stiles.
Laughter and music leak out into the alleyway, preventing their stare-off from being totally silent but Damon quickly grows bored. "So how do you and our buddy Klaus know each other?"
"It's not of importance." Lea quickly shoots him down much to Stefan's amusement.
"Okayyy." Damon rolls his eyes. "When you say you're older, just how old are you?"
"Don't you know it's impolite to ask a lady her age?" Lea deadpans as she boredly picks at her nails.
Stiles snorts as he shuffles a few steps to the side when Lea turns to glare at him. "What?" He innocently defends himself. "I've seen the way you eat. There's nothing lady-like about it."
Lea pouts at him, her pout deepening with a full blown glare when Scott snickers in agreement "I hate you." She playfully glares at Stiles.
"I like him." Damon smirks. "He's not that much of an annoying human as I originally thought he was."
Lea turns her glare on Damon but before her retort can even slip off her tongue, her entire body freezes as her gaze flickers over Damon and Stefan's shoulders. Standing there behind Stefan and Damon is Niklaus. Well, at least the person looks like her Niklaus only with a modern day hair cut, a variety of necklaces hanging around his neck, an off white henley shirt with it's sleeves pushed up to his elbows, snug fitted jeans, and black boots.
They don't speak. The two of them only have eyes for each other but the second that he opens his mouth, Lea's eyes mist over. "Look at you getting along with the times of the new age." He grins.
Lea snaps out of her gaze, her feet slowly carrying her towards Niklaus as Stefan and Damon step to the side to let her pass. Damon really wants to rolls his eyes at the cheesiness of their reunion but the sharp sound of a slap has his eyes widening at the livid Lea and shocked Klaus. The Hale Pack flinches at the sudden rage they can feel rolling off of their friend.
"You left me!" She spits out, her eyes still watery. "Why? Why couldn't you just take me with you?!"
"Ahh, lover's quarrel." Damon sighs as if he's figured it all out. "That's how she knew him." Stefan just chooses to watch on.
Lea doesn't bother correcting him, nor the Hale Pack, and Klaus clenches his jaw in anger. Looking up at Damon and Stefan, he scowls. "Leave us. Now!"
"Aw but come on-" Damon teases Klaus but when all he gets in return is Klaus' glowing eyes, Stefan grips him by the shoulder and tugs him backward. "Okay, okay. We're leaving." He tells them and with a whoosh of air, the brothers are gone.
Straightening up, Klaus rubs his jaw before he finally recognizes the wolf pack still standing in the alley way. "And who are you, mate?" He asks Derek as he takes a step towards them.
In the blink of an eye, Lea is standing in front of Stiles, her right hand reaching slightly behind her and gripping his forearm, her eyes glowing threateningly at her sire. "Niklaus." She growls softly. "They're with me. You are not to harm them."
"Please, love, call me Nik." He purrs as his gaze flickers between Lea and Stiles. His curiosity is highly piqued at how protective Lea is of the human. "And you didn't tell me you were traveling with a pack."
Lea gulps, side-glancing at Derek. "Uh, about that." All traces of her earlier anger are gone and now she's the innocent, sheepishly smiling girl that the Hale Pack was familiar with. "I need to talk to you about some things."
Noticing the change in her demeanor and emotions, Klaus takes it quite seriously. "Very well. Let's go home, shall we?" As Lea cautiously leads Klaus out from the alley, she makes her way towards her car, the Hale Pack rushing to their own vehicles. But before she can even pull open the driver side door, Klaus is already standing there. "I'm driving."
..
..
..
By the time everyone pulled up to Klaus' home, Lea's jaw was practically on the floor of her car. It wasn't a house they pulled up to with a driveway built around a fountain. No. It was a freakin' mansion with a driveway built around a lit up and fully functioning fountain! There was a big concrete archway over the front door, the front door being pushed back a couple of feet. And above the archway sat a balcony with white french doors. And there are windows everywhere!
Even the Hale Pack looks highly impressed. All except Derek who still seems highly on guard which Lea can't really blame him for that. Even she is still on guard with Niklaus and she was the one who knew him.
Inside the mansion was even more jaw dropping. The entire flooring was made of marble and as they descended a couple of steps, pillars stood circled out around them, holding up the second floor of the home that Lea could see from her position. The stairs were marble as well, two sets sitting on either side of the room to join up in the middle and proceed upward, and there were doors everywhere that opened up to another room.
To put it shortly, Niklaus' home was beautiful.
Boots stomp across the marble floor and Lea follows Niklaus on instinct to wherever he's leading them. The Pack quickly follows and they find themselves in a sitting room that has a roaring fire off to the side, one wall that was filled with books from floor to ceiling, two armchairs, and a sofa placed strategically around a black and beige rug.
Dropping himself in one of the armchairs, Klaus turns his attention to Lea with a smirk. "What's there to talk about, love?"
"Lots of things." She mumbled as she took a seat in the other arm chair, Derek choosing not to sit and his pack choosing to stand behind him. "But first, I need your word that you won't harm any of them and will protect them as you say you're going to protect me."
Klaus' smirk widened. "And why would I do such a thing like that?"
"Yeah." Stiles scoffed. "Why would he agree to protect us? He doesn't even know us!"
"Shutup." Lea spoke through clenched teeth as she narrowed her eyes on Stiles. "You're not helping your case here." Derek non-verbally agreed with her and placed a sharp jab to Stiles' ribs with his elbow. "And he will do it because he cares about me. That's why." She finished as she turned to face Niklaus.
"You sound so sure of yourself." Klaus teased her, his attention being only held by her.
Lea cocked an eyebrow at him, sitting back and crossing one leg over the other, a smug grin gracing her lips as she crossed her arms over her chest as well. "I am." She told him. "Otherwise you wouldn't have contacted me to warn me about the Council or asked me to come so you can protect me."
Klaus' smirk faltered and slowly fell but his booming laugh a split second later let everyone know that he wasn't upset. "Even after all these years, I still can't quite put my finger on why you have such a hold on me. Even when I planned to kill you," The Hale Pack visibly tensed at how nonchalantly he said this. "You managed to win me over and keep you around."
"So you won't kill them? Or plan to use them in any schemes you might concoct while we're in town?" Lea pressed.
Rolling his eyes, Klaus sighed. "I won't harm them and they're perfectly safe with me." Standing up, he walked right up to Derek. "My home is your home, mate. Niklaus Mikaelson," He held his hand out for Derek to shake. "But you can call me Klaus. Only few have the privilege of calling me Nik."
Derek held his gaze for a moment before reaching out to grasp his hand. "Derek Hale."
"Splendid." Klaus turned his back on Derek and his pack, retaking his seat in the arm chair. "Now, what was it you needed to say?"
Lea nervously bit her bottom lip, her arms falling to rest in her lap as her gaze flickered from Derek to Stiles and then back to Klaus. "Well.." She paused. "These guys aren't my pack."
"They're not?"
"No." Lea gulped. "This is Derek's pack. He's the alpha."
Surprisingly, Klaus kept his cool. "So then why are they traveling with you then?"
Deciding to be completely honest, Lea told him. "I was traveling around the States when I got a call that I needed to be in Beacon Hills to take care of some rogues. The Hale Pack picked up on the fact that vampires were taking up residence in their town and went after them as well."
"It was our fault." Derek piped up. He might as well try to get on good terms with the guy. "Half of my Pack had befriended Lea before we knew what she was. When we swarmed the vampire's hideout, we caught Lea off guard and when she turned her attention to us, the leader of the rogues had her hand around Lea's throat."
Klaus clenched his jaw at hearing this. "But you're a hybrid. You could've easily gotten out of that."
"What can I say," Lea grinned like a caught who caught the canary. "I love the element of surprise."
Klaus shook his head at her, smirking like a proud father at the girl he created. "But that still doesn't explain why they're with you."
"Ah, yes, well that bitch of a vampire thought I was a regular vampire. When she threatened Stiles and the rest of the Pack, I threatened her back and she staked me."
"What?!" Klaus seethed.
"But don't worry, after the vampires fled, one thing led to another and Stiles took the stake out, and I told them my story. We planned to take down the rogues but they attacked first, nearly killing a human pack member." Klaus' eyes roamed over the pack and Lea could practically hear him wondering who it was. "She isn't here with us. The attack traumatized her and her boyfriend took her away. Anyway, the pack took care of three of the vampires while I took the leader and tortured her for a bit." She shrugged as if it were no big deal.
"Torture?" Klaus was clearly amused. "Hmm, maybe you're more like me than I originally thought."
Lea smirked but didn't say anything on that subject. "I figured out a wolf bite was lethal to a vampire so I bit her which is totally gruesome, by the way." She frowned. "Afterward, I had to check in with the Council and when Caesar demanded my return, I refused. Now you know he threatened me but Louis had met Stiles previously via internet video call and so Caesar threatened the Pack as well. So please," She leaned forward in her seat. "I'm asking that you help us. Not just me but them as well."
Klaus took a moment to think about it, his gaze lingering on the face of his first hybrid ever before traveling over to the Hale pack. Derek was standing stock still, his gaze burning into his own before he took in the faces of everyone else. He could hear all their heart beats beating erratically as they waited for his answer but the one to catch his attention was the pale male friend of Lea's. While everyone was looking at him, the teen was staring at Lea with what looked like pity in his eyes. He could feel how much of a nervous wreck his progeny was and he wondered why the pale teen cared so much.
Deciding that he wanted to get to the bottom of it, he slowly smirked. "There's plenty of rooms upstairs. Feel free to choose whatever room you like."
That was as much as an offer of protection they were going to get out of him for the time being.