"You'd think witches would be better housekeepers," Damon said as he tried to wipe a glob of sticky spiderweb from his fingers. "You know, with the brooms and all."
The candles flared dangerously high for a moment before settling down to their normal, flickering glow. "Please don't taunt the witches," Elena sighed, not looking up from the box she was rooting through. "It was your idea to come here. I don't even really know what we're looking for."
"Neither do I. But there has to be something. If there's one thing witches can't stand, it's imbalance. For every shadow, there's a light; for every fire, there's water that can quench it; for every hybrid British bastard, there's a way to kill him. It's just how the universe works," Damon said. He'd finally given up on the web residue and dived back into another pile of old papers and assorted junk. "And since Bonnie and her mommy haven't had any luck, we have to do something. If there's a clue anywhere, it makes sense it'd be in the Witch House."
"If you say so. It just looks like two centuries worth of rat's nests to me," Elena said as she tossed away another wad of old newspaper. "And I thought the witches hated you, anyway."
"Enemy of my enemy is my friend, yadda yadda yadda. Besides, even when they've been dead for a few hundred years, women still can't resist my charms." Damon suddenly clutched at his head, letting out a strangled cry. Just as quickly as the attack had come, it passed and he relaxed. "Point made, ladies."
"You deserved that one," Elena snickered.
"He usually does," a voice drawled from the stairs. Before Elena could turn to face the intruder, Damon had stationed himself in front of her, ready to strike.
"Oh, come now, we're all friends here, aren't we? I hear you two have been getting very friendly indeed. Congratulations, Damon. I thought what she and Stefan had was a forever love, but alas, forever has once again proven to be painfully short," Klaus said as he strolled down the last few steps.
"What do you want, Klaus?" Elena spat.
Damon reached back to touch her arm warningly, never taking his eyes off Klaus. "Remember what you said about not taunting the witches? Let's practice that now with Klaus, 'kay?"
Klaus laughed, full and rich. "Ah, I can see it now, how you two fit together. She is a feisty one, isn't she? Rather like Katerina, in that way."
"Did you come to offer relationship advice? Because we're full up," Damon said. Elena bit her tongue. So it was okay when he taunted the villain?
"Sadly, no. Though I believe I owe my thanks to you for the return of my dear elder brother to the world of the living. What a lovely surprise that was," Klaus said with a nasty little smile.
"You're welcome. I thought Mystic Falls had been missing that touch of Old World charm lately. Elijah fits that bill," Damon said. "I'd be happy to arrange reunions with your other siblings. I'm sure they'd be even happier to see you after—what, a thousand years in those coffins?"
"How kind of you, but I must decline. I came here to make a deal," Klaus said, circling the couple. Damon turned so he continued to face the hybrid, always keeping Elena hidden behind him. She knew it was a pointless gesture, that Klaus was faster and stronger than either of them could even imagine, but it was a kindness, all the same.
"Are we going to do that thing where I tell you I'm never giving it to you and you threaten to rip my head off and then we both realize we're at an impasse and slink away? Because that's really getting old," Damon said. His tone was light and casual, but underneath it all there was a core of steel.
"While I understand your position, you may want to reconsider." His eyes drifted to Elena, smiling that smarmy, superior little smirk. Elena had a fleeting fantasy of delivering a solid punch to that scruffy chin, but let it go immediately; she couldn't even form a fist before he'd be on her.
"Leave her out of this. We both know that Elena's the last person in the world you'd hurt. You need her," Damon said fiercely, as if trying to convince himself of the truth of his words.
"Indeed I do. You're very precious to me, Elena. Perhaps too precious to allow you to remain free range. It's a dangerous world out there, you know. Cars driving off bridges and such. It can all be over like that." He snapped his fingers for effect, moving closer. Damon still blocked his progress with his own body, but Klaus stared past him as if he didn't exist, eyes locked on Elena's. "Perhaps it'd be better if I kept you with me, drugged in bed, collecting blood from you drop by drop. Enough to last me an eternity." Klaus' gaze settled on Damon, a half smile quirking his lips. "Doesn't that sound perfect? She'd be safe as houses. Forever."
Elena's insides turned to ice. While she feared death, she accepted it. Hell, she had died, more or less, which removed a great deal of the mystery. She knew that one day, probably sooner rather than later, she'd die for real, without John there to take on the consequences. But what Klaus described was a hell beyond her wildest nightmares. To lay there in a twilight of life, helpless and senseless as her blood was used to create an army of monsters...
"You wouldn't," Damon said, but there was fear there. They all knew that this time, Klaus wasn't bluffing. This time, he wouldn't blink.
"Try me," Klaus said softly. He took a step back, all smiles and mock joviality once more. "But you two think about it. Take some time and consider what one coffin—which you can't even open—is worth to you. And then you come back to me with an answer, hmm?" He turned, climbing the stairs. Halfway up, he paused, beaming down at them. "I'd let you visit her though, mate. Who am I to stand in the way of true love?" With a little wave, he disappeared.
The pair stood frozen as his footsteps sounded above them. The slam of the front door seemed to wake them both from a trance. Damon turned to face her, his eyes wide. Too much white was showing, like a spooked horse. "I have to go get the coffin. I have to give it to him."
"There has to be another way, Damon. We'll find another way," Elena said. But she wasn't so sure they could pull out a miracle this time.
"What other way, Elena? You heard what he said; he'd do it. And there'd be fuck all I could do to stop it!" Damon slapped a box of off its shelf, sending papers wafting into the air like snow. "No. I can't see that happen to you, Elena. I can't sit by and watch you become a vegetable because of Stefan's idiotic need for revenge. I'll go get it now, I'll give it to him. And then you and I are going far, far away." He turned to the stairs, fully prepared to give it all up, to do everything Klaus demanded. But as scared as she was, Elena couldn't let him do it.
She seized his hand and he turned to her, eyes still wide with fear and rage, nostrils flaring. "Stop. We can't run into this without thinking. We've faced the impossible before, and we've always found an alternative. Klaus gave us time. Let's use that. We can still use your plan as a fallback, but he's expecting that we'll act out of fear. We can't do that."
Damon reached for her, a tiny tremor in his hands as they settled on her shoulders. "I promise you, I will never let him do that to you. I will kill you with my own hands first. You will not live like that, Elena." His voice trembled.
"I know," she said, reaching up to cradle his face in her hands, to get him to focus on her. "But we're a long, long way from that. Don't let him scare you, Damon. We'll fight this. And we'll win. One way or another, he can't touch us."
He searched her face desperately, looking for some hope or some answer in her eyes. "I want to believe you."
"Do you trust me?" Elena asked.
"Yes. But-"
"No buts. If you trust me, then believe in me enough to at least look at our possibilities. We'll survive, Damon. We always find a way to survive."
He gave her a long, measuring look. "Fine. You get tonight. If we can't figure out a solution by the time the sun rises, we go with my plan."
"Deal." She took him by the hand and led him from the haunted house.