Disclaimer: The characters of the vampire diaries belong to LJ Smith and the CW
Damon narrowed his eyes at Klaus. "You daggered Elijah? After he literally pulled you from fire you went and daggered him as a thank you. You are one sick bastard, you know that?"
Klaus glared back weakly. "Debatable. You are as bad as I am"
"Debatable. But even if I was, sticking a dagger in the heart of your brother who broke a deal to rescue you is a low blow. And now you're going to die. Because the similarity of your brother's blood to yours is the only thing that can help you now" Damon stated somewhat smugly as he watched Klaus face pale further at the very real prospect of dying. "I'll make sure to wear a nice tux. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to my brother"
Alaric wisely kept quiet throughout the villain-to-villain pep talk. He knew Damon had done some very terrible things but he also knew that he would never leave Stefan hanging. And he knew that Damon disliked Klaus, and would be very happy if he suddenly dropped dead. But he also knew that if Klaus died and Elijah somehow got undaggered, maybe in a century or two, he would most likely blame Damon for his death. And he wouldn't put it past Elijah to take Stefan as revenge. An eye for an eye and all that. Or in this case a little brother for a little brother. It's what Damon would do if it was the other way round. And he wouldn't be there to help Damon. But he was here now, and now he could do something. He pulled Damon's arm and led him into the hallway.
"No"
"You don't even know what I'm going to say"
"You're going to tell me to find Elijah and undagger him so he can come and keep his fool brother alive long enough for Bonnie to find a counter spell because if Klaus dies Elijah would kill me" Damon recited in one rushed breath
Alaric gaped at him. "How did you..."
"Doesn't matter. Answer's still no. Even if I wanted to, I don't know where Elijah is and I'm not about to pull Bonnie out of her research to do a locator spell" Damon hissed
"You could just ask Klaus"
Damon looked at Alaric incredulously. "You think someone who just fed on himself is lucid enough to say anything about his brother's whereabouts?"
"Damon. Please"
Damon didn't know if it was Alaric's please or the way his voice broke slightly when he said it that did him in but he could feel his resolve breaking.
"Alright fine" he all but snarled. "But I'm letting you know that I'm doing this under protest"
Alaric nodded and hid a smile. Damon was such a child sometimes. Well, most of the time. "Duly noted" he spoke softly as Damon dug his phone out of his pocket.
Bonnie walked into the boarding house about twenty minutes after Damon hung up. "Where is it?" she asked, glancing sharply at Damon.
"Over here" Damon said, leading her to the living room
Bonnie sauntered over to the item on the table and started reciting a spell. "That's a piece of Elijah's jacket" Alaric mused. "Do you think it will work?" he asked Damon
"It's the only thing we have belonging to Elijah. It has to be enough" Damon answered
"I found him"
"That was quick. Where is he?"
Damon looked at his slumbering baby brother from the doorway of his room. He was loathe to wake him but Stefan needed to feed. He walked into the room and plopped himself into the chair by Stefan's bed. He watched his peacefully sleeping face and shook his head. Feeding could wait a few more minutes. This was one of the rare moments when Stefan was not coughing out his lungs and he wanted it to last a little longer. He chuckled softly as he run a hand through Stefan's hair.
"I always took care of you when you were sick. I thought once we turned into vampires I'd never have to nurse you back to health again but you just had to be you Stefan. The rules don't apply to you. Never did" he sighed. "I'm telling you now brother, you don't get to die. I swear if you die on me I'd bring your scrawny ass back and kill you myself". He heard the sound of a car outside. "Huh. Alaric and Blondie are back. Well, time to wake up now Stef. I gotta go take care of original drama and you have to feed" He bit into his wrist and held it to Stefan's lips before the wound closed, knowing the blood would wake him. Stefan latched onto his arm almost immediately, drawing mouthfuls of blood. Damon winced. "Ehhh. Slow down buddy. Can't drink too much you know that. We can only skirt around the curse so much. Damn witches. Ok, that's okay Stef, enough" he removed his hand from Stefan's mouth, the wound closing before he had time to push his shirtsleeves back down
Stefan let out a pitiful whimper at the loss, staring at Damon tiredly from under his eyelashes. He would have asked for more bit he was too tired and too weak. And Damon was right anyway. They hadn't found any particular loophole in the curse. They could only skirt around it a little. His eyes closed before Damon made it out the door.
Damon entered the living too just as Caroline came in with a coffin. She placed it in the middle of the room and excused herself. Damon didn't catch what she said, some thing to do with Elena, and frankly he didn't care. After Caroline's car was no longer heard in the distance, he looked to Alaric. "Well, what you waiting for Ric, pull out the dagger. Let's get this over with"
Alaric almost rolled his eyes at his nonchalance. He pulled the dagger out of the desiccated body and disappeared into the cellar for a blood bag. When he came back Damon was pouring a fresh bottle of bourbon.
"How are you so calm? Aren't you afraid of what he might do?"
Damon took a sip of his drink. "What will he do to me Ric? Kill me? I think Klaus is more afraid of him than anyone else cos he knows he'll be super pissed from his daggering. I have done nothing to him except in your head. Speaking of Klaus, isn't it about time you checked in on you new bestie, hmm?"
This time Alaric did roll his eyes. He knew that was Damon's way of getting him safely out of the way when Elijah wakes. He went back upstairs and not more than two minutes later-before he could fully close the door-a loud crash sounded downstairs. Elijah was awake.
Damon growled loudly when his back connected painfully to a pillar. "Oh come on. This is the thanks I get for bringing you back? And I would appreciate it if you didn't wake Stefan. It's been a rough couple of days"
"Waking him isn't the only thing you'll have to fear if you don't start talking" Elijah spoke in a calm but deadly voice, lifting Damon by the neck against the pillar."Why am I here? Are you working with Klaus?"
"Klaus is d-dying" Damon choked out
Elijah dropped him in shock. "W-what?"
"Your little brother is dying. You're here because you may be the only one who can keep him alive long enough for a cure of sorts to be found and Alaric thinks you'll kill me if Klaus dies. Personally, I just prefer him dead and take my chances"
"Niklaus is dying? How did this happen?"
Damon grabbed the bottle of bourbon he was drinking from. "I'm sure Alaric would love to tell you. There's blood on the table. Help yourself. And don't touch my alcohol or I'll kill you". With that, he turned around and started climbing the stairs leisurely, ignoring the glass he was still holding and drinking straight from the bottle, to Elijah's slight amusement
Elijah watched as Klaus slept. From what he'd been told this was the first time in the last couple of days that he wasn't throwing up blood. It turned out his blood had worked but in an even smaller amount than Damon's ration to Stefan due to the fact that he and Klaus only had the same mother. Their blood was similar but not that similar. It had been enough though to get him some relief for a while at least. According to Alaric he'd have to repeat the process every few hours. He sighed deeply and leaned back in the chair, taking the chance to fold the sleeves of the shirt he was wearing. It was Damon's, and he had been quite lucky to find one that fitted. The elder Salvatore was somewhat like his little brother. Both were quite slender and Elijah wouldn't fit into any of their clothes so it took some time to find one that was slightly over sized. The colour had not bothered him-everything Damon owned was black. The pants though had been much less if a problem. They were only a little dusty,and as much as Elijah loved to look impeccable he would rather be dusty than try to squeeze his legs into one of Damon's relatively tiny pants.
He rested his head against the backrest of the chair and wondered what would happen if niklaus awoke. They had yet to speak (well the first time didn't count. Klaus was too tired to do anything else other than his eyes widening when his big brother walked into the room. And after Elijah had silently bitten into his wrist to feed him blood he fell asleep only seconds later) and Elijah wondered if he'll forgive him for daggering him. He scoffed at the back of his mind at himself. He had already forgiven Niklaus and he knew it. Klaus could be all sorts of terrible things but he was Elijah's little brother and Elijah had never failed to forgive his sibling any atrocities. He shot up as he heard Klaus whine quietly. He was waking up.
Klaus didn't want to wake up. Partially because it was the first time in days-had it really only been days?- since he had had a moment of rest and he didn't want it to end, and also because he had to talk to Elijah. He groaned internally at the idea.
"I know you're awake Niklaus"
Klaus reluctantly opened his eyes but wouldn't look at Elijah.
"Look at me" Elijah demanded
Klaus swallowed and looked up at his brother.
"How are you feeling?"
"Be...Better" he rasped and cleared his throat. He waited for Elijah to say something but it seemed he was content to sit back and watch him burn. When he couldn't take the silence anymore he said, "Are you going to kill me?"
"You think I'll come all the way down here, feed you my blood and then kill you?" Elijah asked in what would have been an incredulous tone if the situation was not so dire. "No Niklaus . I haven't come to kill you. You're my only living family. You'll be punished sure, but I will not take your life"
"I'm not"
"You're not what?"
"Your only living family" Klaus spoke slowly. "They're alive. The others. They're all alive. I didn't kill them" he ended, trying to gauge Elijah's reaction.
There was no flicker, no spark of recognition, nothing to show that Elijah heard what Klaus had said. He just calmly bit into his wrist and put it to Klaus mouth. "Drink" he said simply
Klaus felt like crying. Elijah certainly knew how to make someone feel guilty with the least amount of effort. "Please say something" he practically begged as he pushed Elijah's arm away
Elijah watched the puncture wounds on his wrist close and simply bit into them again. This time he held it to Klaus mouth while simultaneously cupping the back of his neck to keep him in place. Klaus had no choice but to drink, not that he was trying not to. Due to the witches curse blood was the only thing he could think of, and it had taken all his willpower to shove Elijah's arm out of the way the first time. When Elijah felt he had had enough that he wouldn't die, he pulled away his arm. Then with an almost whispered 'get some rest' he arranged the blankets around Klaus more firmly, making him look even guiltier if that was possible, and made to leave the room.
"What would you do to me?"
Elijah stopped. "I haven't decided yet. But I'm positive by the end you would have learned your lesson" he said without turning around. "I said to get some rest. You would be wise to heed me". Then he was gone.
Alaric entered Stefan's room and immediately dug out his phone. This was just too adorable to miss. Besides it was good blackmail material. He inwardly flinched at the idea. Damon was having a bad influence on his thinking. Nevertheless he still took the picture. Damon was asleep curled up in the chair beside Stefan's bed. One hand cushioned his head on the chair's armrest and the other was lying beside Stefan's head on the pillow. It was logical to say Damon had been running his hand through his hair when he fell asleep. He took more pictures for quick measure before sliding the phone back into his pocket.
"Its funny how innocent they cam look when they're sleeping". Alaric whirled around to see Elijah in the open doorway. "You know he'll kill you when he wakes up". Alaric shrugged. After a short pause Elijah spoke again. "I'm told I have you to thank for my brother's life. And to an extent mine"
"I didn't do it for you" Alaric snarled
"I know" Elijah said softly. "But thank you anyway. We're in your debt". Alaric eyed him and made a move to close the door. "Have you heard from Miss Bennett?"
Alaric sighed in frustration. "Bonnie's asking the witches for help to cure vampires who have been cursed by a witch to die. She needs time and you're going to give it to her if you want your psycho brother to live. When she has something, she'll come. Until then, we give her some space"he said. Then after some hastily made excuse he couldn't remember after the door closed, he shut the door and went to sit in one of the many chairs in Stefan's room.
Despite all he said to Elijah, he was also becoming worried at Bonnie's lack of contact. Did it mean the witches didn't want to help her? As he cast another look at Damon comfortably snoozing in the chair, he hoped he was wrong.
You guys would have to help me find a suitable punishment for Elijah to dole out to Klaus but that probably won't come until the last chapter or so, so take your time. But if you do have ideas I'd be elated to hear it. Please review.