Hello! First of all I want to apologize for this chapter. I struggled with it a lot, and I am not happy with it at all... but here it is. Hopefully you won't murder me after this.

Stefan

"He's here." Rebekah's voice rings inside my skull like a bell, over and over again. At first I can't comprehend what she is saying, but then I feel it. Klaus is here. Fear immediately takes over my body, not for myself, but for Elena, Jeremy, even for my brother. I can't – no – I won't let anything happen to them. There has to be a way to protect them.

We all stare down at each other, waiting for something to happen; the only sound accompanying us is the sound of our breathing. No one even dares to flinch, make the slightest move. There's a slight change in the air, it surrounds us, making me feel like we're trapped. Klaus. I know that this is only the start of his game, to make us intimidated first, trying to break through and then attack.

Suddenly Elena whimpers beside me – "Jeremy," her voice breaks and I quickly grab her hand, stopping her from running upstairs. Damon sends her an angry look, but she completely ignores it.

"Shh, it's okay." I whisper in her ear. "I am going to get your brother." I promise, knowing that if I didn't, she would probably find a way to go to him anyways and then all chaos would break loose.

"What the hell, Stef?" I hear Damon's frustrated voice, "Klaus is here and you're worried about that boy upstairs?" his icy eyes are shooting daggers at me, "How stupid can you be?"

"He's my brother, Damon." Elena says, her voice barely audible. The shift in the atmosphere of the room is still present and I can't help but wonder when Klaus is going to show his face. I can also see that Rebekah's getting restless too, and her face is one of pure terror.

Damon grimaces, clearly agitated with the whole situation. "What are you waiting for then?" he snaps, "Don't expect us all to be alive when you get back." He nods at me, upset.

I pay no heed to Damon's words, but turn to Elena again – "I'll be back in a second, I won't let anything happen to you." I say to her, pressing my lips against her forehead and then I am upstairs, in Jeremy's room.

He is still sleeping, quite deeply by the sound of his breathing – it's relaxed and slow. I give him a slight shake, calling his name. Jeremy stirs a little, but doesn't wake up, so I shake him even harder, not wanting to raise my voice. He opens his eyes, blinks a few times, and when he recognizes my face he jolts upright, his breath coming out in a rapid pace. "Stefan, what the hell?!" Jeremy's voice is groggy, but loud enough to wake everyone up.

I cover his mouth with my hand to keep him from making more noise. I listen intently for anything, but I can't detect any movement, all seems to be well downstairs as well at the moment.

"I will remove my hand if you promise to keep quiet." I warn Jeremy, looking straight into his eyes, hoping that he'll obey. He nods, but his eyes are still suspicious. I slowly take my hand off his mouth and he keeps his word as not a sound escapes from him.

"There's a problem," I speak in a rush, "Get dressed. Now." I take the shirt and the jeans from the chair next to his bed and throw them into his lap. Jeremy opens his mouth to protest, but I silence him again, shooting him a look – "Be quick about it."

He puts the clothes on and as soon as he has his shoes on, I grab his hand and I am back in the living room again, with Jeremy. But when my eyes meet Elena's, I can see that something is clearly wrong. That is when I notice a fourth person standing next to Rebekah, sporting a lazy smile.

"How nice of you to join us, Stefan." He drawls and his grin gets wider.

"Klaus." I acknowledge his presence and walk stiffly next to Elena, holding my hand out for her, which she eagerly takes. Klaus' eyes follow the entire movement and as soon as he sees our little exchange his smile drops.

"Would someone care to explain me what is going on here?" I had already managed to forget about Jeremy.

"Jer.." Elena begins, but Klaus interrupts.

"This must be the lovely Elena's little brother. Jeremy, I assume?" he takes a step towards him, his face betraying no emotion. Elena immediately wants to go to her brother, but I restrain her, ready to jump between Klaus and Jeremy myself if he tries something.

"Yeah, I am..." Jeremy's voice is hesitant, "And who the hell are you?"

Klaus puts a hand on his chest, feigning offence – "I'm baffled, you haven't heard of me?" He looks back at us all – "I am disappointed that the young Gilbert here doesn't know about me." He gives a sinister smile – "So let me introduce myself."

Before I can even think about moving myself, Klaus flashes over to Jeremy in an instance, grabs his head and twists it violently. A resounding crack echoes and Jeremy's lifeless body falls to the ground, leaving Klaus, seemingly satisfied with himself standing there.

It takes a second for everyone to register what just happened, it's like time has stopped.

"NO!" Elena screams, panicking, trying to run to his brother, but I hold her in her place.

"Damon, take Elena! NOW!" I yell at my brother, all the while restraining Elena in my arms.

"Stefan, let me go, Jeremy...I... please, Stefan!" she begs, sobbing. Klaus is watching the scene unfold before him with the annoying lazy smirk plastered on his face again, like he is proud of what he has done.

Damon walks briskly to me, waiting for further instructions. "Get her out of here," I command him, choosing to trust him, what can I do, he's the only one left. Damon only gives me curt nod, not even arguing with me, takes Elena's hand and then they are gone in a flash.

As soon as they're gone, I stalk over to Klaus and push him against the wall, letting all of my anger control my body. "What have you done?" I shout in his face, not even thinking about the fact that Klaus is a hundred times stronger than me.

"No, Stefan, the real question is what have you done?" he spits back, pushing me off him and twisting my arm behind my back, so I am not facing him anymore. I feel a jolt of pain coursing through my arm as he applies more pressure to it, pinning me to my spot. I can now see Jeremy's body lying on the floor, he is not breathing. Dead. A thousand different emotions attack me in an instant, the most potent one is how is Elena going to survive this. He was her only family.

I raise my eyes up from Jeremy to see Rebekah still standing in the middle of the room, her eyes glued to the boy.

"Rebekah," I croak and that seems to snap her out of the trance she seemingly was in and she locks her eyes with mine. At the same time, Klaus twists my arm again, making me scream out in pain.

"Stefan..." he coaxes, "Where did your brother take Elena?"

I don't tell him anything, and even if I did know where Damon took her, I would keep my mouth shut.

"Nik, stop!" Rebekah shouts when Klaus induces even more pain when he understands that I won't say anything about Elena's whereabouts.

Klaus suddenly lets me go, and I fall on the floor. He walks over to Rebekah, and wraps his hand around her neck – "You don't get to tell me what to do, traitor."

"Nik..." she wheezes, struggling to breathe as he still holds her in his grip. She tries to push him away, but doesn't manage to do that. "I should finish you right here and now," Klaus threatens as he reaches his free hand to the inside of his navy blue jacket. Then I see it. He is holding a blade, which flashes in the sunlight that is now starting to stream through the window. I don't see much of it, but I can tell that it has some intricate carvings on it.

Klaus runs the sharp edge across Rebekah's cheek, leaving a trace of blood behind. Klaus finally releases the chokehold he had on her and she stumbles backwards.

"So what am I going to do now?" Klaus muses, looking back and forth between me and Rebekah, who is clutching her throat trying to regain her breath.

I get up from the ground, slowly, trying to think of my next move, but I come up with nothing.

"Why did you kill that boy?" Rebekah asks, her voice dry and raspy. Klaus' attention focuses on her again, so his back is facing me. I notice Rebekah making a movement with her hand, indicating for me to get out of here. It hits me that she's trying to help me by stalling him, so I could get a chance to get out of here. But where?

"To send a message, darling, what else? It seems that Stefan here has broken a few rules with the beautiful Elena, I think it's time for the Salvatore brothers to truly learn their lesson." He shoots a menacing glare at me.

"He didn't deserve it, Nik." Rebekah's voice is starting to sound like herself again. I walk over to Jeremy, deciding that I should take his body with me, I can't leave him here. I try to sense Elena, but I get nothing. Where has Damon taken her? I am starting to think that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to let Damon take her. My mind starts to race, I try to think of places where Damon could've taken her, but every option I consider is a place where Klaus could easily track them down even without my knowledge. It has to be a place Klaus can't find...

"I agree, he didn't deserve it," Klaus answers, "But it was fun." He smirks, twirling the blade in his hands.

"You're insane." Rebekah counters, taking a step backward. Klaus follows.

Then it hits me. I know where Damon and Elena are.

"No, the only one insane here, is you, sweetheart. For thinking that you can outsmart me." He glares at the woman, visibly angry and takes another step towards her.

"Stefan, now!" Rebekah suddenly shouts, taking a lunge for Klaus, tackling him. And in a heartbeat I am gone from the Gilbert residence.

Damon

I don't even know what got into me when I agreed to listen to Stefan and take Elena with me. Was it some brotherly love or that kind of shit? Who knows?

But here we are now, in the place where I spent the best moments of my life and also the worst. The house I built for Katherine and I, then only place where the archangels don't know how to look for. I made sure of that when I brought Katherine here.

The house is safe from archangels, but not from other types of angels, who knows how many of them are under Klaus' spell. And if Klaus should be led here by someone, then we are all doomed. As was Katherine they followed Stefan here.

My only hope right now is that Stefan is smart enough to figure out that I brought his girl here, for I am fairly sure that he cannot sense her here.

If he manages to escape Klaus.

That thought is extremely disturbing, to be honest. I have never thought of Stefan getting killed by someone other than me, and trust me when I tell you that I have had at least a thousand opportunities to do that, but somehow I was never able to go through with it.

My thoughts are distracted by the sudden crying beside me. Right. Elena.

"Damon," she begs desperately, clutching my hand, "We have to go back, please, please. Jeremy is there. Oh god, no." She sobs, tears streaming uncontrollably from her eyes. Elena collapses on the floor, grabbing her hair, crying her eyes out. I don't know what to do, should I say something to her? Say that everything's going to be okay, when it's clearly far from it? I am so not cut out for this.

"Please, take me back." Elena pleads, "Stefan's there, Jeremy...no..." her sobs stop her for a second. "What if something happens to him, Damon please." She wails, the tears starting to fall again.

I am getting restless here, I can't handle her crying. Where is Stefan?

"We can't go back." I say to her, knowing that she will probably not listen to me.

And I was right.

"Yes we can, please, Damon. My brother, Stefan. I need to go back to them!"

"No we can't. I am sure Stefan's okay." I lie; he should be here by now. "And I am sorry about Jeremy." Well, actually I am not, but that is what is considered polite, right?

"Jeremy..." she whispers and then she breaks down completely, her sobs racking her whole body.

Okay this is it. I can't handle it, so I walk away from her, deciding to explore the house while I wait for Stefan to return. Yeah, I know, heartless, but what can a man do? After all, I am a fallen, there's not a trace of goodness left in me, or so they say.

The house is pretty much exactly as I remembered it, except from the cobwebs hanging around everywhere. The wooden floor still creaks in certain spots like it used to and the sun illuminates the dust-covered furniture.

I brush my hand over a red sofa, making the dust swirl in the air. I recall how Katherine wanted to buy it so badly, although I found it hideous, but in the end, she won. Like she always did.

I peek through a window, which is supposed to be facing a garden, but instead there's a thick shrub with few trees dotted between the bushes. Huh, I guess time really has caught up with this place.

I check all the rooms in the house, but find nothing of interest for me. It seems like this house has been untouched since that fateful night. I decide it's time to man up and see how Elena's doing back where I left her – just at the front door of the house.

Elena's still sitting on the ground, she has pulled her legs close to her body and is now resting her forehead on her knees. The crying has stopped, but her eyes are now devoid of any emotion, empty, bottomless. Scary even. That takes me aback a little.

"Hey, Elena..." I try to get her attention, but she is unresponsive. Great, now I basically have a vegetable to deal with. Where the hell is Stefan?

I start pacing back and forth, thinking over different scenarios. If my baby bro doesn't return, I have to have a back-up plan. There is no way I am going to be a babysitter for Elena. No freaking way.

My thoughts start to wander over how I should just flee, and leave her be, when I hear a thud in the living room. I run over there and to my relief it's Stefan. With Jeremy. Great.

"Finally!" I snap, letting my frustration show, "What took you so long?"

"Klaus." He breathes, "I saw the weapon, Damon. The one that can kill him. I saw it." Stefan looks around, searching the room. "Where's Elena?" he asks.

I fight the urge to roll my eyes – "She's back there," I point my finger over my shoulder. "How does the weapon look like?" I get back onto the more important subject, but Stefan ignores me. He places Jeremy's body gently on the red sofa, which makes my blood boil and walks past me, paying no attention to me.

I give one last look to the dead Gilbert boy on Katherine's sofa and follow Stefan to the hallway.

Stefan is kneeling beside Elena, one hand over her shoulder and he is whispering something into her ear, but I can't make out what it is that he is saying. All I can see is that Elena is starting to come back to us again. Her whole body is visibly relaxing as Stefan is talking to her.

"Elena?" Stefan pulls himself away from her face, making the distance between them a bit bigger.

Elena locks her big brown eyes with Stefan's green ones and for a second I think that she's going to bite his head off, I've never seen a woman looking this angry.

"I want him dead, Stefan." She says. "I want Klaus dead."

I smile. Game on.

Until next time! Love you all! :)