AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well, since I've realized that no-one is really interested in my stories, I figured I'd go ahead and update this story once a day for the hell of it. Today is the only exception where you got TWO updates in one day :) Anyway, I apologize for the shortness of this chapter.
Quick thanks to WickedlyMinx, LilMissChinie, and LoveLiveLife22 for dropping a review. And, WickedlyMinx, of course it was Stiles ;) Haha.
"Wha-.. How is this possible?!" Elena spluttered.
"My thoughts exactly." Klaus agreed as he stood off to the side. "Derek, mate, I thought we were friends. Friends don't keep secrets like these." When Derek didn't give him any sign of having heard him, Klaus turned his attention on Lea and quirked an eyebrow at her.
"What?" She smiled innocently, her hybrid visage melting away. "I told you I liked the element of surprise."
Klaus throws his head back and laughs, Lea giggling with him while the vampires are still stunned. "How is this possible?" Elena repeats in a whisper.
Lea rolls her eyes at the doppleganger. "We're not here for a werewolf history lesson. We're here to talk about the vampire council that's, more than likely, on their way here."
"And why are they on their way here?" Damon finally gets control over his emotions though he doesn't let his attention wander off the wolves for too long.
When Lea notices his attention waning, she grins. "Relax. We don't want a fight." She tells him. "I didn't even want any of you to know they could shift without the full moon but I needed reassurance that you wouldn't attack." She shrugged as she makes her way towards the sofa where Stiles is sitting, his eyes sparkling in amusement at what is going on around him, and takes a seat herself. "The vampire council is coming because they're pissed. They lost their perfect little soldier, her rebelling against their demands, and now apparently she's on their hit list along with the Hale Pack."
It only takes a moment for Damon to realize that she's talking about herself. Relaxing a bit, he tucks the stakes he's holding away and smirks over at her. "That sounds like a personal problem." Looking at Stefan and Elena, he nods his head towards the door. "Come on, let's go."
Klaus watches on in silent anger as Lea lets them walk away, the wolves growling lowly when Tyler glares at them for no reason. When they're about to take their first step up towards the front door, Lea's voice stops them. "I wouldn't be so sure about that." They could practically hear the smile in her voice. "Once the Council realizes that Damon Salvatore and Stefan 'The Ripper' Salvatore reside here, you'll be next on their list. Especially your baby vampires." Her eyes dance over to Caroline and Elena. "And another hybrid," Her eyes land on Tyler. "They'll have fun whipping you into shape as their next soldier and something tells me you don't take orders well."
Caroline and Elena now actually seem a tad bit nervous, Jeremy's flickering gaze between Lea and the Salvatore brothers letting her know that he's at least a little bit curious, and Tyler still looks arrogant as if they're all beneath him. She'd never know why Klaus chose to turn him.
Stefan remains silent as Damon cocks his head to the side, eyes crinkling as he studies Lea. Shrugging, his lips twitch in amusement. "How cute. Daddy shared some bedtime stories with you."
"That's where you're wrong, Mr. Salvatore." Lea teased. "I was in charge of handing out cases to other soldiers. I was the one who came across your papers and assigned which vampire to take you out. And I'm the reason why you're still alive. Sending incompetent vampires to take out the famous Salvatores was my idea."
"Why would you do that?" Stefan asked. "If it was your job to make sure we were killed, why spare us?"
"Because you guys were new to the supernatural realm. You're allowed to kill in order to learn control on your own but when the Council reached out to you to tell you of our laws and you practically blew them off, well they didn't like it. I didn't see the harm in keeping you around for a while longer to see if you guys learned control on your own."
There was a moment of silence before Damon's eyes got a familiar sparkle in them as he smirked at Lea. "Consider me hooked." He winked and walked back into the sitting room, taking a seat in one of the chairs and waiting for everyone to follow his lead.
..
..
..
Klaus was beaming like a proud father when hours later, Lea had the Mystic Falls clan hanging on to her every word. Elena, Caroline, Jeremy, and Tyler all learned just what exactly the Vampire Council was and what it was they did. And then they all learned the whole story of why the Council was after Lea. That, of course, led to the retelling of how Klaus broke his curse back in the 1400s, Lea's turning, and how she got started with the Council in the first place.
When the Mystic Falls clan learned of Klaus breaking his curse before he even got to Mystic Falls and finding Elena, there was a whole hour of a whining and shouting Elena. She cursed and bitched at Klaus for making her life hell for no reason and Klaus took it all in stride, shrugging with indifference when she had finished. With her anger at Klaus running out, she switched gears and focused bitching about Elijah which had shocked Lea.
Lea then took it upon herself to bitch out Klaus when Elena told her that Klaus had daggered and undaggered his brother, blaming him for being abandoned and her part of working with the Council in the first place. She had demanded to know where Elijah was but Klaus kept tight-lipped and Elena was the one to tell her of Elijah leaving town because he was ashamed of how his brother was acting.
The Hale Pack stayed a tight knit group, all of them sitting close together but it was Lea and Stiles that had everyone watching them every few seconds. As Lea talked and ranted, whether she knew it not, a part of her was always touching Stiles and he touching her. There was even a point in time when Lea shifted in her seat, her legs draping over Stiles' knees, and the fingers of Stiles' right hand unconsciously trailing up and down the side of her calf. Neither of them ever noticing what they were doing.
After everyone had calmed down and it was time to leave, Damon had tried to keep them talking. His interest was now settled on the wolves who had shifted back to human form. Klaus was interested as well but he never voiced his thoughts, waiting to let Lea bring up that information on her own since every time he tried to speak, she would glare at him.
It didn't take long for Lea to convince the Mystic Falls clan that the wolves tale was a tale for later and groaning in aggravation, Damon gave in and left with his brother and friends.
When an awkward silence filled the room, Klaus gazing curiously at Derek, Scott, Isaac, Erica, and Boyd- Erica started to fidget nervously.
"Well, tonight was fun but I'm beat. I'll see you all in the morning." Erica mumbled and reached for Boyd's hand to get away from the tension. "Let's go Boyd."
As the two of them scurried from the room, Isaac started to creep towards the exit as well. "Yeah, I'm just.. I'm kind of.." He yawned, though the rest of the remaining group could tell it was fake. "Whoo! I'm sleepy so I'll be going to bed too."
Lea and Stiles' lips each twitched in amusement as Isaac practically ran from the room. Allison leaned into Scott's side, his arm going around and resting across her shoulders as she snuggled into him and Derek just looked bored.
"Well, that was-"
'Shoot me down but I won't fall, I am Titanium' suddenly blares through the room, cutting off Klaus and Allison turns beet red. "Sorry." She mumbles and digs into her front jean pocket to pull out her phone. Seeing that it's her Dad, she looks to Klaus. "It's my Dad. May I?"
"Go ahead." He nods.
Seeing that the only person who wouldn't be able to hear the conversation going on would be Stiles, Allison answers her phone and immediately clicks it over so her Dad's call is on speaker. "Hey, Dad. What's up?"
"The vampires just left town a few hours ago."
Allison's eyes widen along with Stiles' heartbeat picking up speed, and Lea tenses up. "What?" Allison squeaks.
"What?" Derek growls.
"John saw them from his window as they tried to enter Lea's house. When they couldn't, they left but reappeared an hour later on his doorstep."
Stiles visibly paled which encouraged Lea to grab ahold of his hand and squeeze. "M-my Dad is fine, right? Nothing happened to him?"
"He's fine, kid. Although I can't say the same for Peter."
"What happened to Peter?" Derek asks. Having heard the story about Peter and how they're all just starting to get along again, Lea knows that Derek is honestly worried for his Uncle.
"They beat him up pretty good. When they didn't get any answers from the Sheriff on the whereabouts of Stiles, they sniffed him out. Figuring he was part of the pack, they beat him for information but he escaped and Melissa patched up what wasn't healing."
"My Mom?!" Scott gulped. "Is she fine?"
"She's shaken up but that's only because word got out that Lea's home went up in flames."
"They set fire to my house?!" Lea jumped to her feet, her eyes flashing in anger. This time, it was Stiles squeezing her hand in comfort and Scott looking up at her with pity in his eyes.
"Now, now. Calm down, kitten. I'll buy you a new house. Whatever you want." Klaus grinned at her as she continued to fume.
"I could care less about the house." Lea spat, the veins beneath her eyes becoming more visible the angrier she got as the words tumbled from her mouth. "I had one-of-a-kind books in that house that I collected over the years. Books that had useful information in them about all sorts of creatures."
"If it's the books you're worried about, don't worry. I had those moved into my home the minute you guys were out of town." Chris Argent's voice filtered through the phone speaker. "I really wanted to see what else was out there that my family's beastiary didn't have so instead of constantly driving back and forth, I moved the books here."
Lea sighed in relief. "Thank you." She called out and let herself relax enough for her hybrid visage to melt away.
"You're welcome." Chris absentmindedly replied. "I was just calling to give you all a head's up. A fight's on its way to you. Be prepared and stay safe."
"We will." Allison numbly replied. "Bye, Dad."
The call ended and everyone sat or stood in a tense silence.
"So what's the plan?" Derek asked, cracking one set of knuckles in the palm of his hand before repeating the action for the other set of knuckles.
"We plan to fight." Klaus shrugged as it was no big deal. "None of them are going to be a match for me, Lea can take on a handful of her own, and the rest can be divided up between your Pack and the vampires of this town."
"Do you really think they'll fight?" Lea murmured, her anger at Klaus now gone. "My excuse to stop them from fleeing is pretty weak. I'm not really sure the Council would even give a damn about the knowledge of them living here anymore."
"They'll fight." Klaus tells them. "The Gilbert girl has it in her head that she must protect this town. When they realize that it's been threatened, that the Council is on they're way here, she'll get them to fight."
"Good.", was all Lea said before taking her leave from the room.