Chapter 52

Leverage

Ava pressed her lips together trying her best to stay calm. She was praying that she was doing the right thing. She was, she had to safe Elijah. Why hadn't she been there for him when he had needed her? The truth was that she had finally had enough about his revenge obsession two years ago and left. They had been together for almost 90 years, she had waited and waited but he hadn't shown in any way that he would want to be more than friends who had sex together every now and then. Unfortunately that hadn't been enough for her anymore.

She loved that damn man more than anything but all he seemed to care about was having his revenge. She had refused to compete with that any longer and left without a proper goodbye. It had broken her heart but that had seemed like a better option than keep humiliating herself. Now her one true love's body could be in the bottom of sea… No, she refused to think about that option.

She knew for sure that Klaus had daggered Elijah but she didn't know what he had done to his body. Klaus would give her that information, no matter what. She knew that Elijah loved his brother's wife like a daughter and he probably wouldn't approve this but that didn't matter. He could be as angry as he wanted, as long as he would be alive. Ava's only concern now was whether she had bet on the right horse, figuratively speaking. Well, at least these people certainly didn't like Klaus.

The human, who apparently wanted her boyfriend back, was pretty much useless but thankfully she seemed to have a lot of friends. What a strange group they were; three vampires, herself included, a witch, a werewolf, a history teacher/vampire hunter and a human girl. They had been observing Klaus' little fortress for a while now and it was time to act. His wife certainly was important to him; she was better guarded than the crown jewels.

"Is everyone ready?" Damon asked. They were all in a van near Klaus' house.

"I think we should have codenames," the werewolf, Tyler or something, stated.

"What?"

"We're breaking into the bad guy's headquarters, we should so have codenames. Tips on nightowl."

Damon rolled his eyes.

"Why are you even here?"

"I thought we could use some backup," the blonde vampire, Caroline, said.

"Yeah dude, chill."

"What have I told you about calling me dude…"

"Alright, focus," the history teacher said. "Bonnie, are you ready?"

The witch nodded.

"Yeah, let's go."

"Be careful," Elena said.

Damon gave her a grin.

"Piece of cake."

It was too late to back down now; Ava could only hope that they would succeed. She was willing to die trying. For Elijah.

...

Damon had killed two vampires before he reached the library. Ava had killed three; she was much fiercer than she seemed to be. That was the beauty of love; it made people, or vampires to do things they wouldn't normally even dream about doing. Clearly this woman loved Elijah and she was willing to do anything in order to get him back. That was the reason why Damon knew that she would have his back, even though he would have never normally trusted someone he barely knew in a situation like this.

Hopefully Bonnie's spell would be strong enough to protect them for a little longer. When he entered the very nice looking library, he saw a woman sitting on an armchair in front of a fireplace. Her back was turned and she seemed to be concentrated on her phone. Long dark hair, that had to be her. He wasted no time to grab her and knock her out; it was easier if she wouldn't struggle. Her phone dropped to the floor and he saw a message from Klaus. That bastard was in for a big surprise.

"This is going to be fun," Damon muttered and lifted the girl over his shoulder without really looking at her. Of course he was curious to know what kind of woman would marry a sadistic monster like Klaus, but right now he had to get out of here.

"Go, go," he said to Ava while zooming out. She was right behind him and she staked a vampire who tried to attack him. Caroline was already jumping over the tall fence carrying Bonnie. Damon followed her and landed next to the moving van with his unconscious prisoner.

"Drive!" he shouted at Ric as soon as they were inside. Ava landed on the van and swung herself inside.

"That was awesome!" Tyler said excited. Bonnie seemed exhausted and she was breathing heavily.

"Are you ok?" Elena asked touching her shoulder.

"Yeah, I just need to rest."

"So that is Klaus' wife," Tyler said looking at the woman who was lying on the floor. Her long hair covered her face. "We should send him one of her fingers; that would freak him out. I saw that in a movie…"

"Shut up," Damon snorted. Why was he surrounded by idiots?

"You won't touch her," Ava said angrily looking at Tyler.

"Why do you care, this whole thing was your idea," Damon pointed out.

Ava crossed her arms and looked at him tensely.

"She's innocent."

Damon stared at her before bursting into laughter.

"You're kidding, right? She's Klaus' wife!"

"I'm not kidding," Ava replied coldly.

Damon shook his head and kneeled next to the unconscious girl.

"Let's take a look at you…"

He removed her hair and gasped. No, this was impossible…

"River…" he muttered.

"What?" Elena asked.

Damon cleared his throat.

"Nothing. How's it going Ric? Is anyone following us?"

"I don't think so," he replied.

"Good. Maybe we actually just pulled this off."

He bit his lip hoping that no one would notice his confusion. Klaus' wife was his River, the girl he had searched for years ago. He had almost immediately regretted for letting her go and tried to find her but she had disappeared without a trace. Now here she was, right in front of him. She looked exactly like he had remembered, although she was now wearing modern clothes, or almost modern. She was wearing a chaste white dress in red flower print and there was an old looking locket on her neck. For some reason Damon felt a need to open it. He saw a black and white photo of Klaus. That made him to remove the locket and threw it on the floor.

"What are you doing?" Elena asked and picked the locket up.

"She won't need it," he muttered.

"What is she?" Tyler asked. "She doesn't smell like a vamp."

"She's not," Ava replied.

"What then…"

"She's not a threat to any of us," Ava interrupted him tensely. "But her husband will be so we all need to focus."

"She looks so delicate," Caroline muttered. "How can someone like her be married to someone like Klaus?"

Damon was thinking about the same thing. He would definitely ask that when she would wake up. This was his leverage… No doubt Klaus would do anything in order to get her back. But the question was would he get her back?