HEYO! A full month of updates! I am on a ROLL~

First, thank you to the guest that commented about Aisha being Arab not Arabic, I had thought I fixed that before posting that chapter so thank you for letting me know it was still there.

Second, Thank you to everyone that reviews, favorites, or follows. I notice and get excited about everyone. There's a few people that review every time and it makes me so happy to see people coming back each chapter and enjoying the story.

Lastly, everyone, say hello to Klaus! It's taken a while but we finally get a chapter with him, and it is a LONG scene. He's such a difficult character to write so if you think he's a OOC just let me know. I really tried to keep the interactions true to his character.

OH! I also made a pintrest board to let people know more about Lissa and who she is and helping visualize things. The link is on my profile if you want to check it out!

Previously on 'Ghost of Lifetimes Past'

Enzo, ignoring the rock that had settled in his stomach, agreed to stay and watch over everyone. He stayed on the line, just chatting and listening to her pack, trying to calm his fear at her being in danger, genuine danger, and him being hundreds of miles away. He'd told her once, she'd given him hope back. She was the reason he didn't just give up and stay in Augustine's hands after her father died. If something happened to her he didn't know how he'd continue.

It wasn't anything romantic or sexual either, despite what Damon had insinuated when the girl had gone off with Niall. Lissa had once described them as platonic soulmates and he knew that was as close as they were going to get to explain it. So her dying? That was a non-option for him.

It was an hour or two later that she finally finished and they said goodnight yet still that all encompassing fear remained. He expected it to be there the whole time she was gone.

Lissa stood in her hotel bathroom, a solid black floor length satin dress with tiny off the shoulder sleeves, her hair curled and pulled into a half up half down twisted ponytail, and black platform heels on her feet.

She both loved and hated that the art gala was formal wear. Loved it because she had always been something her and Caroline bonded over, but hated it because lord knows Klaus was going to ruin this dress before the night was over.

The plane had landed at a lovely time of 5 am and after checking in, Lissa had slept until noon today. Ordering room service, she'd spent the next 5 hours pampering herself as she got ready. She had splurged on a room, getting one with a Jacuzzi tub, at a 5-star hotel, and even went down to the spa that they had on sight for a quick facial. Might as well feel good if she was possibly going to be murdered that night.

Enzo was keeping her up to date with everything going on in Mystic Falls. So far Kennedy still hadn't slipped and killed anyone but according to a text last night it had been close. She had been strong enough to stop, sadly. Lissa was curious what the girl would do once she actually had to kill someone. Her and Enzo had a bet going on; Enzo thought she'd cry but ultimately keep her rather passive views, Lissa thought that she'd see murder wasn't that bad and lose a bit of her goody goody act. Either way, they were entertained.

Lexi had left Mystic Falls, not before getting her number if the text she'd received early was anything to go by. It was a simple 'thank you' along with an offer of help if she needed it, but she appreciated the extra connection, because with Lexi likely came Bree. And with Bree came other connections. After all, a witch bartender that served every manner of supernatural? She had to know her shit. Hopefully without Lexi dying that meant the woman wouldn't piss Damon off later and get killed for it. God knows Lissa wanted to use that connection if she ever needed it.

Other than those two things, it'd been pretty slow in Mystic Falls for the past two days. Jeremy and Enzo had been hanging out. In the words of Jeremy 'Once you got past the eating people and the fact that he's older than dirt, Enzo was pretty cool.' Lissa was just happy the two got along. Hell, apparently Enzo had even had dinner at The Grill with Caroline; both of them wanted to get to know each other since they were both her closest friends.

Thinking of Enzo, she shot him a quick 'I'm still alive' text before grabbing her clutch with her room keys, actual keys, her wallet with the ticket in it, and a tiny bottle of vervain. Not that she thought that would stop Klaus, but it was the principle of carrying it. Time to either die or completely fuck the timeline.

Waving at the concierge, Lissa left the hotel and started walking. Lucky for her, the hotel was only a couple of blocks from the gala; getting a taxi—because of course Uber didn't exist yet—would have been hell. There were even two other women walking to the gala themselves. Not wanting to draw unnecessary attention to herself by walking into an obviously adult event as a teenager alone, she struck up a conversation with the two.

The two were married from Pennsylvania, Valerie, the tall blonde hair, blue eyed one, had a painting in the gala so they'd made the drive up both to celebrate her accomplishment and to have a weekend alone. Penny mentioned that they had adopted a pair of brothers, one 2 years old the other 4, a year ago and that this was the first time they'd had a weekend to themselves since.

"Don't get me wrong I love Allen and Theodore, but they are so energetic! Us old broads need some relaxing time." Valerie laughed. "Now, what's a young girl like you going to a stuffy art gala on a Saturday? You can't be more than 18. Shouldn't you be out at a club or something partying the night away?"

Lissa waved her hand at the woman, who despite calling herself and her wife old broads couldn't be more than 45. "I'm meeting an…old family friend. And I've never been one for clubs. That's always been my best friend Caroline's territory." The amount of clubs Caroline had tried and successfully gotten Lissa into was insane. Considering she hated the things, she knew almost every club in a 100 mile radius to Mystic Falls. Each and every one of them she hated.

"Well, until you find this friend, you will have to stay near us. This is a big city and you just scream small town, who knows what would happen to you?" Penny fretted from the other side of Valerie. Her greying brown hair had a beautiful natural curl to it that made Lissa slightly jealous. She'd always loved curls, but her hair doesn't even hold heated curls for more than a night. It was a curse that had made Caroline spit words that caused her mother to sputter in shock.

Lissa smiled her agreement. The two sweet women really had solved her problem all on their own. Now she could blend in until she found the hybrid. Hopefully, them being in a very public place with cameras and the like would keep him from just straight up murdering her…and her new acquaintances.

By the time the three of them got to the gala, the sun had started setting, bathing the surroundings in a golden light. Lissa had never seen New York City in person in her last life—it hadn't ever seemed important to her—but looking at it now, she could see why people craved the packed streets. Everywhere was a different splash of culture, from the Asian corner store to the couple kneeling in a quiet patch of grass doing their sunset prayers, even the two women walking beside her. If she didn't hate being surrounded by people, Lissa could have seen herself moving here. Sadly, she was a bit too misanthropic.

Finally reaching the large brick building that was housing the gala, Lissa took a quick scope of the entering crowd. They were early enough that the line wasn't packed, but there was still a slight wait time to get into the historic place. She'd known the gala was for the elite but it really hit home once they'd come upon the people outside. Everywhere she looked was a person dressed in clothes she knew cost at least a couple thousand dollars. She was beyond relieved she let Caroline talk her into buying the designer dress now. If not she'd have stood out even more than she already did just being herself.

Even now the gathered guest gave double takes at her chalk white hair, skin, and nails. It'd been so long since she'd left Mystic Falls that she'd forgotten how, outside of the small town, people weren't used to her and her albinism. The stares told her everything she needed to know; they were unnerved by her lack of coloring and, if she'd deigned to speak to them, they would judge her. Harshly. Because she wasn't what they deemed acceptable.

Oh, how she hated rich people.

"Now don't you let those stares get you down! You are a beautiful and striking woman. They just have a stick up their asses that makes them so uncomfortable they have to make others feel the same way." Valerie spoke up, shooting a glare at a particularly judgy couple a couple yards away.

Lissa let out a humorless chuckle. "Valerie, if I let people's judgment get to me, I wouldn't have made it past my toddler years." She sent a teasing smirk at the couple. "I just wish it was people with a better sense of fashion that was judging me. I mean look at how washed out that color makes her."

The couple let out a laugh as they passed by the, now embarrassed, woman she'd commented on and into the building. Lissa gave an impressed 'ooh' at the artwork on the walls and on the art easels around the room. Each painting seemed to be a different art style. She didn't know much about what they were called—she'd never been too big into art, this life or the last—but even she could recognize that each one was breathtaking in its own right.

She gave another quick scan around the room to see if she recognized anyone that was already inside but so far Klaus was MIA. Figuring the hybrid would show up later, Lissa turned to the wives. "Alright, I can't find my family friend so, while I wait, do you want to show me your painting, Valerie?"

"Oh! I'd be delighted!" Valerie exclaimed, wrapping her arm around Lissa's and trotting off towards the back. Penny left to follow behind her excited wife and new friend. Valerie spent the walk explaining that, while known, she was still a smaller artist so her painting was put in the back with all the other 'small timers'. They stopped occasionally when Penny or either of them found a particular painting good enough to get a closer look, but did eventually make it back to Valerie's.

A mixture of warm and cool colors blended together on a canvas to create an amazing contrast between a setting sun and a dark forest in a striking painting. Above the trees was the setting sun, while the trees, so dense only a few streaks of lights broke through to highlight the bark and illuminate the moss covered ground. It was something Lissa could tell took forever and showed more talent for art than she had in her whole body.

"Whoa." Lissa sighed, awe filling her tone. "I'm not the best judge of art but I'd say that's the best one here."

At Lissa's words the older woman blushed. Despite her wife having told her many times her art was amazing, she still felt that jittery feeling of glee fill her up at strangers finding joy in the things she created. It was never a feeling she wanted to forget or lose.

Pretty soon, despite the good feelings around her and her new acquaintances, Lissa, doing a third scan of the room for Klaus, did eventually find him. He was standing in front of a darker painting. One that had very little color and the color it did have was muted and only there for something to contrast the black and greys.

Realizing what she was seeing, Lissa's heart beat just a smidge faster, from adrenalin, or fear, or excitement, she didn't know. Maybe it was all three.

Turning to Penny and Valerie, she quickly explained she'd found her family friend and wanted to surprise him. Before letting her walk off, the two grabbed her phone and put their numbers in it. Telling her that if she was ever in the area again to contact them. She was good company; kind, funny, and nothing like the snobs that normally ran in the art spaces.

Lissa smirked. "I've learned more about art from you two tonight than I have all my other years combined. I'd hope I wasn't an art snob without even knowing what to be snobby about."

The two laughed as they walked away, off to stare at more paint. With nothing else to distract her, she turned back towards Klaus.

It was time.

Mentally pulling on her big girl panties, Lissa planted a cocky smile on her face and walked up besides the cursed hybrid. "There's a diner about a block away. Wanna get something to eat and talk?"

"Love, I think you have-" Klaus' words trailed off as he turned to look at the foolish human that had come up to him. As quickly as he runs, his face filled with fury. "Katerina! You dare show your face-"

Lissa's snort interrupted him, leaving the original blinking at the audacity. "Klaus, I'd have hoped you would realize I had a human heart beat before jumping to conclusions…and that Katherine didn't have albinism."

Klaus furrowed his brows as he finally stopped and listened. Once the quick paced heartbeat of a human reached him from the girl, he felt elation at the idea he may just be able to break his curse. He'd given up hope when Katerina had betrayed him, but now some girl comes waltzing in wearing that face—even with the obvious mutations—and suddenly avenues once closed opened back up. "You're a doppelganger? This is-"

"Nope," She interrupted again, popping the 'P' as she did. "Did the original doppelganger or any of the others have albinism? Come on, Klaus. You're a thousand years old, sure, but I doubt your brain has turned to dust."

"Interrupt me again and, no matter the face you wear around, I'll rip your heart out where you stand."

"Noted." Lissa replied dryly. "Now, this is a long story and I don't particularly feel like telling it in the middle of an art gala. So, will you please come to the diner so we can talk?"

"What's to say you don't have my brother lying in wait at said diner to kill me? Huh?"

"Oh my god. I knew you were paranoid but really! At this point your picture has to be next to the word in the dictionary. I don't even know Elijah-"

"But you know his name? That's suspicious, if you ask me. My sentimental brother has always been a sucker for that pretty face-"

"Seriously? I know all your family's names! You guys are the boogeymen of the supernatural world. A lot of people know your names."

"How did you find it though?" Klaus asked, eyes narrowing as he took a step toward the pale girl. It would make sense if she wanted to kill him. If she knew about doppelgangers and his family, it would stand that she knew about the sacrifices needed to break his curse. He needed to get her under his control before she slipped from his fingers.

Lissa groaned, loud enough that a couple of people glanced over at the arguing duo before quickly turning away as she glared back. "Niklaus, I swear no one, not your brother or anyone else you can think of, is back at the diner."

"And I should just trust you? You? Some random girl that comes sauntering up with a face that's haunted me my whole life?"

Lissa stared at the hybrid for a moment. Silence surrounded them and all it did was make the already paranoid man twitchy. Finally, the pierced girl held her hand, pinky stretched out to the man. "Pinky swear."

"What?"

"I pinky swear I have no one at the diner to attack you nor do I plan on it."

"This is no joking matter! I will kill you where you stand."

"I'm not joking. Pinky swears are sacred to me." She shrugged. They were. It was a holdover from her last life with her original little sister. "I've never once broken a pinky swear. Sooo…" Lissa trailed off, leaving her hand with her pinky out to hover in front of her. After a couple of seconds her shoulder joint started aching from holding her hand and arm up, yet she still didn't put it down. She waited, staring, face as honest as she could make it. Klaus was a paranoid bastard but if she made it obvious from the get go that she was trustworthy? That would go a long way in dealing with him and the Mikaelson family. So this? This little back and forth, while fun, was really rather important.

Klaus glared, face as frightening as he could get it without going for a full vampire face, before agreeing. "Alright."

"…You have to do it." She said, shaking her hand that was still outstretched between them.

"I'm not doing that. What are you, five?"

"It's not binding if you don't lock pinkies!"

"Fine!" Klaus growled before wrapping his own callused pinky around her for barely a second before pulling it away as if she'd burned him. "Now lead the way."

Lissa grinned, before turning and as she did so her lighthearted grin turned to a smirk. Phase one was done. It was the easiest, sure. But it did bode well for the rest if Klaus continued to be this predictable.

The walk to the 24/7 50s style diner a siphoner friend of hers, Paige, told her about wasn't long and the place was just as run down as described. But it was perfect for the conversation they were going to have. With a place like this the workers wouldn't give two shits if someone was murdered in front of them let alone two weird people having a strange conversation. Especially this place if Paige's words were to go by.

Lissa stifled a smile at the look of disgust Klaus developed the minute they'd walked in. Whether it was the thousand years of playing royalty or just a general preference, he really didn't appreciate a good old fashioned sketchy diner like she did.

"You cannot be serious." He scoffed, eyes roaming from the harsh fluorescent lights to the broken linoleum tiles on the floor to the worn down booths that lined the walls, before landing on the old woman that was dressed in what she assumed was the uniform if the 50s style yellow dress was anything to go by. "I think even I would catch something here."

"As serious as a heart attack, Snobby Bobby." She laughed. "Now I'll be nice and let you pick where we'll sit."

Klaus ignored her words, already striding over towards the only decent, by the place's standards, booth in the place. Lucky for them, besides some woman that was asleep in the darkest corner of the room it was just the two of them. Once they'd sat down at the chosen booth, the old woman came hobbling over, order pad being pulled out of her apron slowly. Her name tag read 'Mary'.

"What can I get you?" She asked, voice gritty with what Lissa expected was years of cigarette smoking and age.

Klaus' nose scrunched up at the idea of eating or drinking anything here, but before he could say anything the little chit that had brought him here spoke up.

"Hm, I'll have a cheeseburger, no mustard, and some fries." She absentmindedly said, staring down at the menu embedded in the table before turning to Mary. "And can my friend get some warm blood?"

Klaus did a double take at her words. Had she just? "What?"

Mary's voice was as bored as any worker was halfway through a shift as she replied. "Of course. Does he prefer bagged, or vein? Or is he 'vegetarian'?"

Lissa turned to Klaus, who still had a rather confused look on his face, before asking. "Which is it? Vein or bagged?"

"Either," Klaus responded, looking at the two of them before coming back to himself. "What is this place?"

It was Lissa's turn to be confused. Elijah had known about vampire cafés and other supernatural run places in the show. Sure, they weren't prominent but Slater died in one so she figured they knew about them. Was it just Klaus that didn't know or did the original vampires really not know about how big the community of supernatural people were around the world? "From what a friend told me, the diner was started as a way for vampires without connections to find some and an easy way to get blood too without having to worry about feeding on living people. Since then it's grown into an all around supernatural diner so everyone from vampires to witches to werewolves to anything in between can come here. We're lucky it's so dead tonight."

Klaus looked around the place with new eyes now. He'd heard rumors of places like this but never made an effort to find out if they actually existed or not. If they were all like this dump he was happy with that decision now.

Once the waitress left, Lissa turned to Klaus, inwardly wincing at his irritated expression. "Where do you want me to start?" She inquired. If he felt like he was in charge it would make this whole interrogation a lot easier. He was already on edge just not knowing what was going on, so if she also took control of the narrative? She'd be 6 feet under faster than she could say 'oops'.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Klaus demanded wasting no time in getting the conversation started.

"I'm Melissa, call me Lissa though. And what I want is for my family to be alive at the end of you breaking your curse." She admitted. Elena wasn't her favorite person by any means, but she was her twin. Lissa wasn't going to let her die. Not permanently at least.

Klaus leaned back into the booth, shoulders relaxing as he stared at her in contemplation. "And why would I kill your family? I didn't know who you were until you came up to me at the Gala. Let alone your family."

As she opened her mouth to reply, Mary came back with the food and a white mug that, once she sat it down, Lissa could see was filled with blood. Taking a bite of her burger, she let out a surprised hum. It wasn't the worst burger she'd had. Honestly, it was kind of good, in a greasy diner type of way. As she chewed, she watched, fascinated as Klaus smelled the blood before making a 'what the hell' face and taking a sip. Even he seemed to be okay with it.

"Back to the conversation," Lissa started, "Like I told you earlier, I'm not the doppelganger, but I know her-"

Klaus shot forward, leaning across the table to get as close to her as he could. "Who?"

"Hey! If I can't interrupt you, you can't interrupt me. It's only fair."

"Well, Love, it's a good thing I'm not fair."

Lissa pursed her lips at him. She hated being bossed around but considering the guy doing the bossing could kill her with his big toe probably, she'd let it slide. Only until she felt comfortable enough to push his buttons. "As I was saying. I know her. But just having the sacrifices won't allow you to make hybrids."

"What do you mean?" Klaus growled. "You're talking in riddles. Either speak clearly or I'll follow through with my earlier promise and be done with this conversation."

Lissa sighed, throwing her hands in the air, completely over being threatened. "Fine. But you asked for it. Your mother was the biggest cunt to ever have children. And her curse on you? That was her ultimate 'fuck you'. You have to have human doppelganger blood to change werewolves. She knew you'd just kill the sacrifices without looking deeper into the curse and would screw yourself over."

Klaus stood up from the booth, his cup of blood spilling in his haste. "You lie." He hissed, veins under his eyes darkening in his anger.

Lissa scrambled back towards the window, quickly snapping her fingers on the hand tattooed Shield before holding her hands up in the universal symbol for peace. It was only luck that allowed her to get her shield up in time for his hand to slam into it. He'd absolutely been aiming to rip her heart out. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm not lying! I swear! If you have to, ask a witch you trust to verify it. But would I really come here, risk you killing me and then going for my family, just to tell you a lie?"

Klaus snarled down at the insipid girl banging his fist on the weird invisible wall that had erupted around her. She had powers and yet she still wanted him to believe her? "You swear and swear, yet you come to me knowing too much information, wearing a face that I loathe, throwing magic around, and trying to convince me my mother was an even bigger bitch than she already was?"

Lissa, unable to stop herself, sneered up at him—How dare he! She was trying to get the best outcome for everybody—before taking a deep breath. As much as she wanted to burn him where he stood, her getting angry and violent back at Klaus wouldn't help the situation. If anything it would damage it even further. She needed to be the sane and calm one this time. If not she'd probably die. Right now it was only her shield keeping the hybrid from ripping her apart, and she didn't know how long she could hold it with the amount of force he was putting into hitting the thing. Even now, her hand felt as if it was cramping up.

"Klaus…please. I'll explain what I can about how I know what I know, even about how I have this face yet aren't the doppelganger. But if you kill me you won't find any of that out." She pleaded, heart pounding as her hand and arm started spasming at the effort of keeping her shield up. She had maybe 30 seconds before it fell without her say so. "You know how much of a bitch your mother was! Would it really surprise you if she put a clause like that on the curse?"

He paused his efforts of breaking down her little wall she'd erected around herself. Focusing down at the pale imitation, he listened to her pounding heart and fast breathing as her body reacted to her fear. Yet still she maintained eye contact with him, her plea to believe her written as plain as day.

Klaus backed up.

"Explain. Thoroughly and I may yet let you live." He demanded sitting back down in the booth. The spilt blood had luckily went towards the front of the table and was dripping onto the broken linoleum. Neither of them paid it any attention.

Lissa let out a shaky breath as she dropped the shield and unsteadily sat back up. Next time she should probably think her words through a bit more and not just blurt stuff out in annoyance. "Will you not interrupt me, please? The story will sound made up and stupid, but I promise, pinky promise, it's the truth."

Klaus curled his lip up in response but agreed to her ask. He wanted answers.

"I know of A future." Lissa started, holding her hand up to stop the words she could already see spilling from the paranoid man's mouth. "Wait, I'm just getting started, just hold on before immediately refusing to listen. I don't get visions or anything like that. I'm not clairvoyant but one day I woke up after sleeping a solid 24 hours and knew a version of the future. The only kicker? The future I saw didn't have me in it."

Klaus scoffed, leaning back into the booth again. The girl, Melissa, was just insane. "You had a vivid dream and suddenly think you know the future?"

"Trust me, I really didn't. Not until I started looking into the things I'd seen. Like vampires. Like you. Hell, like everything to do with the supernatural." Lissa shrugged. This was the story she'd told Enzo many years ago. It was the best way to describe her occasional slip on knowledge. "I went to bed a normal 6 year old, exhausted from playing with her friend, and woke up knowing that the things that go bump in the night were real. So I did what I do best, I researched and I planned. Until I felt it was the best outcome for everyone involved."

Raising an eyebrow at her, Klaus gave the girl a cocky smirk. "And who are you to decide what's best? You fancy yourself a god?"

"Doesn't anyone with a bit of foreknowledge?" She tilted her head, a small smug smile flashing on her face. "But in all seriousness, that research into you and everything else made me realize I could help change things. My family didn't have a good ending in the future I saw. And it really all started once you and your family showed up. That's why I decided to come straight to you." Well that and he was, weirdly enough, the easiest for her to get in touch with. Really, while this works great, Lissa still believed Elijah would have been the easier brother to explain this all to. Like Klaus had said, Mr. You Have My Word really was weak against the face she wore.

"Your family. You've mentioned I go after them in this "future" you saw, but, without you showing up, why would I go near them?" Klaus asked. Now that he'd calmed somewhat, he could see her words about his mother made sense. It would be exactly like her to include needing human doppelganger blood to complete the transition. She truly hated him.

Lissa chuckled a bit, unable to stop herself. "You still haven't realized it yet? My sister, my twin, is the real doppelganger. I'm what I like to call Nature's Little Oopsy."

"Ah," Klaus muttered to himself. That made a lot more sense. He didn't think a true doppelganger could have such a noticeable mutation like she did. Nature's Little Oopsy was correct. "Hence the need to protect your family. If I didn't know about needing human doppelganger blood I would have killed her and left her dead. Dead for a thousand years and my mother is still screwing me over."

Lissa nodded. She'd seen her fair share of bad mothers, but his was in the top 5 of the worst. "So, you believe me now? No ripping my heart out for trying to deceive you?"

"This is either the truth or the worst lie you could have come up with." Klaus said, voice flat. "You still haven't explained the powers. From what I remember the doppelgangers aren't witchy. You are certainly witchy."

"Don't know."

"You don't know?"

"What?" Lissa asked, eating a fry. They were a bit cold now, but still edible. Since the danger of dying seemed to have passed her appetite came right back. "I'm only sixteen, I can't have all the answers."

Klaus exhaled through his nose harshly. He wasn't going to kill her, no matter how tempting. She was a wealth of information and so far wasn't opposed to helping him, as long as he didn't hurt her family. If he played this right, he'd have a powerful pawn, if powerful only in information alone. Though that shield had been one of the strongest he'd seen in a while. And done without incantations.

"Okay. I can have a witch do a life transfer spell; we can use it on your sister once I've gathered all the things needed for the ritual. That'll keep her human and you can get her to agree to play blood bag for when I have need of blood." He commanded.

"Actually…no" She winced. "See, she just learned about vampires and witches. She doesn't even know the word doppelganger, let alone that she is one. And I doubt she'd listen to me try and convince her to be at your beck and call like you want, we've never gotten along well. And it'll be even worse once she's realized I'm the one that went to you."

"She won't have a choice, and neither will you. I'll kill everyone you two have ever loved one by one until you agree."

"Have you ever thought, just maybe, the death threats were counterproductive to getting what you want?"

"No."

That was a stupid question. Obviously, he hadn't. She had to ask though, cause she was tired of them. Normally she was the one giving the threats, not getting them. She narrowed her eyes at Klaus. He'd just barked at the old waitress to clean the blood up and get him some more. "You ever heard the phrase 'you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.'?"

"I'm perfectly sweet, Love. Now, since you don't want to agree to my plan yet, what are you thinking?"

"As sweet as pickle juice maybe." She scoffed. "Whatever, and for my plan, you go back to doing whatever you were doing before, find a witch to do the life transfer spell. Give me a couple of months, I'll slowly start leaving hints about the ritual to Elena and get the moonstone."

Klaus let out a bark of humorless laughter. "If you think I'll wait that long to break my curse, you're not just insane. You're stupid."

"Oh, so you have the moonstone, a vampire and werewolf to sacrifice, and a witch to perform the ritual? While in a safe place to do it?" She snarked. She knew damn well he didn't have the moonstone. She had it after all.

She'd stolen it at a party the Lockwoods put on a couple of years ago. She'd known they had it in the safe in the mayor's office, so had snuck away and broken into it. Figuring if she got it now it would nip that whole 'where is it?' 'Who has it?' storyline in the bud. She was just lucky the safe was an older version so it was still decently easy to break into if you knew how to. It had taken her not even 10 minutes to get in, grab it, and get out. Now it sat in the storage unit she had been paying for since she was 13 to hold magical stuff she collected.

He scowled harshly across the table at her, not willing to admit she may have a point. "I'm breaking my curse."

"I didn't say you won't. I'm saying wait a couple of months, get organized, and maybe it'll go a bit more smoothly than if you rushed it." Lissa explained. She had forgotten how impatient Klaus was before going to New Orleans. Seriously, this guy had none of his shit together. No wonder Elijah could believe he would be willing to toss his siblings into the middle of the ocean. "And, considering what I know will be going down near me, I can even get you Katherine and a shitty prejudiced werewolf for the ritual. Wouldn't it be poetic to use Katherine as the vampire sacrifice since she escaped as the human one?"

Klaus contemplated her words. She was right about the Katerina thing. It really would be poetic, and a great way to punish the woman that had run so many years ago; make her live out the thing she had run from in the first place. "I'll give you 5 months. After that, no matter if your sister accepts it or not, I will be using her in the ritual and getting blood from her."

"I can work with that." She accepted, plans already forming in her head. 5 months would have him coming in around the same time as he did in the show, so if she played it right she could probably get the Salvatores to agree that her plan—to bring Elena back human and donate blood once a week for a year then slow to once a month—would be the best. Especially if the alternative was to be the portable blood bag for Klaus whenever he wanted. Lissa could even get a supernatural lawyer to draw up a contract that everyone could sign. Not that it would stop Klaus if he really wanted it different, but it may make him think twice about what he did. And she knew Elijah would follow it to a T.

"Excellent. Now hand over your phone." He ordered, hand outstretched.

"Why do you want my phone?"

"To put my number in it. Did you think I wasn't going to keep tabs on you?" Klaus snorted. Now that he was aware of the girl, there wasn't any way he would be letting her be.

Lissa rolled her eyes but did hand her phone over. She knew this was how it was going to be until he had a bit of trust—or the Klaus equivalent of trust— but damn, it was putting her on edge knowing that he'd be watching her. Not, directly, but still, he'd want to know what she was doing when it came to his "plan".

"So does that mean I can text you when I want?" She wondered, a joking smile on her face.

Without even looking up from putting his number in her phone Klaus answered a hard "No."

"Come ooon! I'm entertaining. And I bet I'll grow on you."

"Like a bad fungus, I'm sure."

Lissa gasped, hand over her heart. "How rude. And here I thought we were getting along. Maybe even becoming friends. Now you call me a fungus."

"I'm Klaus Mikaelson. I don't have friends." He replied dryly as he slid her phone back over to her. Lissa, curious if he had given himself an alias, started going through her contacts. She smiled a bit as she saw his full name 'Niklaus Mikaelson'. He was such an old man. Why hadn't he just used Klaus? It's not like it was that popular of a name. Snickering, she quickly changed it to 'Fido', locking her phone before the hybrid could get curious about what she was doing.

"My dude, even I have friends and I'm as antisocial as they come. You need at least one person to rely on." She finally said, looking up to the now standing man.

Klaus raised an eyebrow. How had this conversation gone from what it had to the pale girl telling him he needed a friend? "Don't call me dude." He sneered. "And I don't rely on anyone but myself. I'm the only one I can trust."

"Wow, that is sad." She mocked, not caring that the vampire could hear her.

Unwilling to put up with the annoying girl any longer, Klaus decided it was time to leave. "I'll be in touch. If you betray me, I'll hunt down you, your family, your friends-" He spat the word friends as if it was poison. "And just about anyone you've ever had a positive feeling for and kill them. Violently."

"Yeah, I got that when you tried to rip my heart out." Lissa waved her hand as if waving his threat away. It wasn't like she planned to betray him, nor was the threat unexpected.

"Good." With that parting word, he walked out the doors of the diner and into the night.

Lissa took a deep breath, slumping over in the booth once he was out of sight. Holy shit, that was probably the most terrifying thing she'd ever done. She half expected playing with unstable explosives to be less dangerous than what she'd just done. Klaus Mikaelson was now her tentative ally and all she had to do was convince her insanely stubborn sister to go along with the plan. And her sister's boyfriend…and his brother.

Great.

Reaching up to the table to get a bite of a fry, she scrunched up her nose at the texture. Gross, old fries were never good.

Pausing, Lissa shot up to look around the table and realized-

"That fucker left me with the bill!"

Thank you for taking the time to read! I hope you enjoyed it~