A/N: I'm a little disappointed that none of my regular reviewers have spoken up about my new chapters. I do apologize for my absence, but it was unavoidable, life intervened. Please let me know if you are still out there and are still enjoying this story.
I do not own The Vampire Diaries. All I own is my OC Grace, and this story.
Please review and no flaming is tolerated. Thanks :)
A LITTLE SPARK OF MADNESS
"Sometimes I give myself the creeps. Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me.
It all keeps adding up. I think I'm cracking up.
Am I just paranoid? Or am I just stoned?"
– Green Day: 'Basket Case' (Dookie [1994])
Mikaelson Mansion
Night
I sat huddled in the corner of the shower with my knees drawn up against my chest and my head buried in my knees. The water, now lukewarm, still fell down on me as I whimpered in fear.
Suddenly, the water is shut off.
"Nik?" I look up in question, hopeful. My towel is shoved into my view, and I take it, remembering that I was still naked, and wrapped it around myself as I looked up at the intruder.
"Not quite," A very familiar voice responded, concerned.
"Henrik?" I stood up, seeing my baby almost brother-in-law frowning at me. "What are you doing here?" I questioned, as I stepped out of the shower bay, securing the towel around me.
"You tell me," He retorted, not unkindly. "I sensed your fear; came running." Henrik explained, as he gestured back out into Nik's bedroom. "What's going on? Why were you whimpering?" He asked, pushing me down to sit on the bed and taking a seat beside me.
"I don't know," I admitted, feeling confused and wary. "I must have dozed off while I was showering." I surmised away what I saw on my hands, which were now clear of fresh blood, and the mirror which had no traces of the word 'KILLER' written there in blood.
"Yeah, you must've." Henrik agreed, although he didn't look entirely convinced by my explanation. "Must've been one hell of a dream though, for you to scream as loudly as you did."
"Yeah… it was," I muttered distractedly, still looking nervously at the mirror in the ensuite out the corner of my eye and feeling paranoid and silly. Seeking distraction, I looked curiously at Henrik. "Where have you been all this time?" I wondered. Henrik smiled at me a little, obviously seeing my avoidance of the topic that brought him back here in the first place but playing along.
"Spending some time catching up with Kol," He replied, casually. Then he got up from the bed and started walking for the bedroom door. "Well, I'll leave you alone. You look knackered. We'll talk more in the morning." Henrik promised, and I nodded; shivering a little because of the slight draft in the room.
"'Kay, night!" I called out, and Henrik smiles at me warmly before walking through the door without opening it and disappearing from sight.
Except, I couldn't get to sleep.
I was still freaked by what I had seen earlier in the shower. I found myself lying in bed and staring at the ceiling in annoyance, wishing that I could just drift off. I turned over to glance at the time on Nik's alarm clock and groaned at how early in the morning it was. There were still hours before Nik would arrive home so I could tell him exactly what went down yesterday.
Giving up, I flipped back the duvet and got up, heading out of the bedroom and downstairs to the kitchen to get myself a drink. Pouring myself a mug of milk, I place it in the microwave to warm it up. I stood back and waited.
"Can't sleep?" I jump, not expecting to hear somebody speaking. I was very much alone in this mansion; not even any of Nik's hybrids were here. But when I look around, I don't see anyone. The microwave beeps, and I turn and pull open the door and take out the cup. Shutting the microwave door, I turn and see Connor leaning against the counter behind me.
"Holy shit!" I yell, nearly spilling my warm milk, and cursed my medium ability.
Connor blinks at me with cold eyes.
"You know, it makes sense; guilty conscience." He states, his voice as smooth as silk.
I frown at him, not believing my own eyes.
"You're not here," I stated, warily. "I've got to be dreaming."
"And how do you know that I'm not here?" Connor straightens up and starts walking towards me. I walk backwards away from him, trying to maintain the distance between us.
"Because you're…" I trail off.
"Go on, say it," Connor goaded, and I glowered at him.
"Because you're dead, obviously."
"Yes, I am," Connor confirms. "Was that the first time that you've taken a human life?" He questioned.
"Yeah, it is. But it isn't the first time I've seen ghosts, which is what you are." I retorted. "Henrik! Henrik!" I called out, waiting for my baby brother to appear. "Why are you haunting me? This should be impossible since the veil's been put back up." I pointed out.
"If I were a ghost, could I do this?"
Connor grabs me in a chokehold and strangles me.
I struggle for a moment, before getting the upper hand by thrusting my elbow into his solar plexus to release his grip. I push him, sending Connor flying across the kitchen table. He gets up and starts walking back towards me. I grab a kitchen knife from its holder and stabbed Connor in the neck out of self-defence. But when I pull the blade from Connor's neck, I instead realise that I had unintentionally stabbed Henrik, not Connor.
I drop the knife in horror, forgetting in my fear that Henrik was already dead, and I couldn't kill him again.
"Oh my God!" I exclaim, as Henrik glowers at me in annoyance.
"Ow! What the hell was that for?" Henrik growled, wincing as he firmly pressed his hand on the still gushing wound, then looked concerned when I started backing away, before turning and running from the kitchen. "Wait, Grace! Come back!"
Mikaelson Mansion
Parlour
Day
It took a bit of convincing, but eventually, Henrik persuaded me to come out of Nik's bedroom, and downstairs. I came down, as promised. But secluded myself inside the parlour, curling up on the couch with my head buried in my knees. At a loss at what to do to help me, Henrik was about to call Elijah, but I suggested Damon instead.
So, Henrik used my phone to text him.
About ten minutes later, we both hear a knock at the door, and Henrik goes to answer it.
"You rang?" Damon's voice calls out the minute the front door opens. "Well, well, if it isn't Casper the Friendly Ghost. Where have you been lately?" Damon drawls at Henrik.
There is muted muttering between them both for a few minutes before I hear footsteps approaching the parlour and I looked up a little, and frowned when I realised that the floor was covered with white eggshells that the person was walking on to get to me. I could very audibly hear the crack of the shoes crushing the delicate shell underfoot. He sat down in front of me on the coffee table, and I nearly jump out of my skin when he touches my hand. I looked up and saw a sober looking Damon looking at me with concern.
"Damon," I greeted him.
"Hey baby girl, how you holding up?" Damon questions me.
I glanced at the floor, only to react with confusion when the 'eggshells' had disappeared, like they had never been there in the first place. It allowed me to remember what had transpired last night and I grimace at the memory of what I did last night to poor Henrik, whom I vaguely see standing in the doorway of the parlour, looking at me worriedly.
"I've been better," I admitted, resting my chin on my knees.
"Want to talk about it?" Damon asked. My first instinct was to say no, but I didn't really want something like this to happen again.
So, I fessed up.
"I think I'm going mad," I admitted quietly.
"What do you mean? What happened?" Damon asked, furrowing his eyebrows.
I drew in a breath, bracing myself for a possible overprotective Damon.
"Yesterday, after you dropped me off, I decided to take a shower before bed," I explained. "But while I was washing my hair, I swear that my hands were covered in blood. And when I went to get out, someone had written the word 'KILLER' on the mirror in blood."
"I didn't see anything written there," Henrik pointed out, looking confused. Both Damon and I looked at him, waiting for my brother to elaborate. "I mean, when I found you in Nik's shower, you were cowering in the corner with the water still hitting you. But it wasn't bloody, and all that was in the bathroom were your clothes. Otherwise, nothing was amiss."
Henrik looked at me apologetically, and my mouth fell open in horror.
"But I swear, there was blood! I'm not making it up!" I stated defensively. Then glowered at Henrik, who looked taken aback. "If this is to get back at me for stabbing you in the neck—"
"Woah, woah! Hit pause on that for a second," Damon interjected, frowning at me, and looking very serious. "You stabbed him?" Still holding my hand, he half turns to Henrik, "What the hell happened after I left last night? And be specific."
Poor Henrik looked bewildered, especially because he had unknowingly jumped into a situation he had no knowledge of, as he had been out of town with Kol. I felt bad for my accusations, especially because Henrik looked genuinely concerned. From his point of view, it was like he had jumped right into the middle of a book without starting from the very beginning. Henrik walked further into the room, pausing next to the coffee table.
"Like I said, I found Grace cowering in Nik's shower," He explained. "But despite looking slightly freaked out for some reason, she appeared fine. So, I left her be and she went to bed." Henrik paused for a moment and frowned. "But then sometime last night, I heard Grace calling for me." I squeezed my eyes shut and looked down, knowing what Henrik was referring to. "She appeared to be talking and fighting someone, but before I could ask what was going on, she suddenly grabbed the kitchen knife and stabbed me in the neck. When she realised what she had done, she turned and ran." Henrik recounted, and Damon had a calculating look on his face.
"You sure she wasn't just sleepwalking?" He asked, and Henrik just looked at him flatly.
"I think I'd know the difference by now what someone who is genuinely asleep or wide-awake looks like. Grace was definitely awake." I looked away out of shame, feeling Damon's eyes on me.
"Who were you talking to, Grace?" Damon asked gently, as he squeezed my hand. I hesitated for several minutes before eventually looking at him and muttering fearfully:
"Connor."
Damon's eyes immediately narrowed.
"Not possible. He's dead, you killed him. Elena told us you did." He stated, disbelievingly. I frowned at him and pulled away my hand, just as Henrik piped up.
"Who's Connor?"
"He was a vampire hunter; supposedly your brother had met hunters like this guy before. Total psycho." Damon scoffed. Stefan had probably filled him in on what Connor was while we finished burying Connor's body.
Henrik's eyes widened.
"The 'Brotherhood of the Five'" Henrik mumbled, and I looked over at him, as he scrambled for my phone. "We gotta tell Nik." Henrik insisted.
"Why? What good is gonna come of that?" Damon demanded.
Henrik just threw him an annoyed look.
"He knows what to do," He insisted, before tapping Nik's name in my contacts.
Lockwood Mansion
Day
(3rd person P.O.V)
Hayley was standing around with the other unsired hybrids day-drinking, paying homage to their fallen friend, Dean. She was being poured another shot when Tyler walks in the room.
He rolls his eyes.
"You're still going?" He accused. "I drank enough last night and then I slept, which is what you guys should have done."
"We're just paying our respects to Dean," Chris, one of the hybrids spoke up, scowling at Tyler for his seeming disrespect for their fallen comrade. But Tyler was not intimidated in the slightest.
"That's great, Chris, but could you pay them at a bar instead?" Tyler suggested.
Hayley pouted at her friend.
"Don't be mad. We're celebrating our fallen hybrid friend," She walks over to Tyler and drunkenly pours her shot into his mouth. She wipes her thumb across Tyler's bottom lip and seductively sticks her thumb in her mouth, sucking the residue off.
"Well, don't let me interrupt."
Everyone immediately turns to see Klaus sauntering into the room, carrying a large bottle of scotch in hand. Tyler scowls at him.
"I didn't know you were here," Tyler stated.
"Clearly," Klaus snorts before taking a large drink from his bottle of alcohol. "I just popped round to celebrate Dean's successful retrieval of the vampire hunter," He stated, casually. "Yet when I arrived, I received a phone call from my brother, learning that not only was Dean unsuccessful, but that my fiancé killed the hunter."
It was obvious that Klaus was extremely pissed off about this turn of events; especially when he learned what Grace had done second hand from an extremely worried Henrik, and an agitated Damon Salvatore, whom Klaus naturally assumed was there to help her. If only those fools realised what hornet's nest they've disturbed allowing Connor's death. Hayley glares at Klaus with contempt for his accusations.
"Well, maybe if you had let Dean use force on Connor instead of sending him on a suicide mission—"
"Maybe you should mind your business, wolf girl." Klaus retorted back, icily.
"What do you care if Connor's dead anyway?" Tyler demanded. Klaus shrugged but was hiding his true feelings behind a veil of nonchalance. He was very concerned for Grace at this moment.
"I have my reasons. They've ceased to matter." He raises the bottle of alcohol into the air. "Cheers!" Klaus takes a drink. There is a sudden knock at the door, and Tyler goes to answer it.
A visibly hurt and angry Caroline walks in carrying a box of stuff.
"I brought your stuff: old laptop, your jersey, the charm bracelet." She states, and Tyler looks sheepishly at her.
"Care, this isn't a good time."
"Just take it!" Caroline snaps, shoving the box into her ex's hands. Klaus places down the bottle and walks over to her.
"Caroline," He greets her, and Caroline looks at him with disdain, folding her arms across her chest. "By the break-up drama unfolding before me I assume you've met Hayley." Caroline doesn't bother saying anything. Klaus smiles carelessly before turning to the rest of his hybrids. "All right, come on, let's go. Let's leave them alone. Your talents are needed elsewhere."
"For what?" Tyler asked.
"I think you've got more important things to deal with, mate." Klaus tells him before he and the other hybrids leave. Caroline closes the door behind them, and smiles.
"Do you think he bought it?" She asks.
"Hell, I bought it," Hayley grinned, as Caroline laughs.
"Thanks for the heads up that he was here, Hayley." She thanks the she-wolf, as Tyler approaches Caroline with a smirk on his face.
"You girls are good liars," He complimented them both before he pulls Caroline in and kisses her.
Hayley watches them, looking awkward.
Mikaelson Mansion
Day
Grace was in the kitchen getting herself something to snack on, leaving Damon and Henrik back in the parlour to wait for Klaus to finally show up, after he promised to be there soon. She had just finished plating up a simple sandwich and was filling up a glass with water when she froze. Instead of crystal-clear drinking water, blood was rapidly filling the glass instead.
Panicking, she drops the glass into the sink; like she had been holding a dangerous animal instead of a cylindrical inanimate object, and backs away, her eyes wider than dinner plates. The glass shatters, spilling water not only in the sink, but also on the counter and partially on the floor.
At the same time, Damon was pacing in the parlour, drinking some of Klaus's scotch, while Henrik sat down in an armchair, watching him warily.
"Would you quit doing that already? You're making me nervous." Henrik complained.
"Well, find something else to do. Like seeing what your annoying brother's hold up is." Damon responded snippily.
"Has anybody ever told you how much of a drama queen you are?" Henrik retorted, earning a smirk from Damon in response.
The sound of glass breaking in the kitchen alerts both of them almost immediately, and Damon blurs into the kitchen, with Henrik not too far behind him. Both look around for immediate danger, only to see Grace standing as faraway from the kitchen sink as possible, looking at the running water with abject horror on her face.
"What's wrong?" Damon demanded, when he saw nothing obviously dangerous in the room.
"What's happened?" Henrik asked also.
Grace was still staring at the running water in fear.
"Blood. There's blood..." She whimpered, and Damon went over and inspected the sink; thinking that she had accidentally cut herself on something. He frowns when he doesn't see anything and turns off the tap.
"Where?" Damon questioned, walking over, and inspecting her hands for any cuts, since he had seen broken glass in the basin.
"The tap, it was filling up the glass with blood." Grace insisted, and both Damon and Henrik look at each other with worry before Damon turns back to her and takes both her hands in his.
"Okay. Why don't you go and dry off," He indicates towards the wet patch on her shirt from the splash back she had created in her shock. "And Henrik and I will clean up in here." Damon suggested.
Grace, realising that she had been hallucinating again, nods timidly and turns to leave the kitchen to do just that. Without a word, Damon heads over to the sink with the paper towels and bin and starts removing all traces of glass from the basin. While Henrik, heads for the cupboard and retrieves the mop. They were both part of the way done, when Stefan suddenly enters the room, earning a scowl from Henrik.
"Do you mind? This is a private residence," He admonished, wringing out the mop into the bucket. Stefan merely ignores the youngest Mikaelson in favour of focusing on his brother, who doesn't turn to greet him.
"Where's Grace?" Stefan asks.
"Upstairs, changing. She got wet." Damon replied, tossing another shard of glass onto a sheet of paper towel. Henrik walks back into the room after putting back the mop.
"Or maybe she didn't want to linger in a room where she just had another hallucination," Henrik pointed out.
"Yeah, well, that too." Damon shrugged, as Stefan looked at him with confusion.
Henrik sighed in frustration.
"I'm gonna check on her." He announces before disappearing from the room. Stefan's phone suddenly rings, and he pulls it out, only to tense uncomfortably.
"It's Klaus."
"Oooh, time to face the music. Pay the piper, dance with the devil," Damon taunts him.
Stefan just glowers at his brother out of annoyance.
"You know, I'm glad you find this amusing. If he finds out I told you about the cure, he'll kill us both."
"Quit avoiding him, that means shady. Shady people get outed." Damon advises, as Stefan rolls his eyes and answers the phone.
"I don't want to talk about it," He responds without greeting Klaus.
"Well, I can't imagine why, what with you ruining all my plans for a hybrid filled future." Klaus states, matter of factly. He was at the moment, outside walking through a neighbourhood.
He knew that Grace was in Henrik's capable hands; plus, he had some things to sort out first before he could attend to her. Klaus smiled to himself as recalled fondly how much Henrik doted on his older siblings whenever they were out of sorts, despite the fact that it was technically their job to take care of and dote upon him.
"Well, it wouldn't have happened, if you hadn't sworn me to secrecy." Stefan's whining jolted Klaus back from memory lane, much to his annoyance.
"Well, life's full of ifs, Stefan. But let's accentuate the positives, shall we? The hunter was one of the five; we'll find another. It may take centuries, but we've got nothing but time, right?" Klaus questions Stefan, who frowns suspiciously, gaining Damon's attention at the sink where he was folding the glass shards up into the paper towel safely for disposal.
"You're using your calm voice today. Who's getting killed?" Stefan counters Klaus's question, curiously and worriedly.
"Not you, if that's what you're worried about. But I am concerned about Grace. Have the hallucinations started yet?" There was no amount of teasing in Klaus's tone, which caught both brothers' attention.
They both look at each other in surprise.
"What do you know about that?" Stefan demanded.
"I'll tell you. Where are you?" Klaus asked.
"Here, at the mansion." Stefan responded, then spins round when Klaus suddenly walks into the kitchen, still holding his phone to his ear. Damon and Stefan look at him warily.
"How convenient, so am I." Klaus confirms into the phone, before ending the conversation and slipping his phone into his jacket pocket. Stefan sighs heavily before hanging up his own phone, just as Klaus eyes what Damon was doing and frowns. "What happened here?" He refers to the glass shards in Damon's hands. "And what are you doing here?" He refers to Damon himself.
"Grace had an accident; another one of those 'hallucinations' you mentioned," Damon responded, frowning at him as he dumped the broken shards into the bin. "As to why I'm here; Henrik called me on Grace's behalf, after another 'hallucination' event last night."
"Is she alright?" Klaus was immediately alert.
"Depends. Physically she's okay; she just got wet when she dropped a glass into the sink and got water down her front. Mentally, it's a grey area." Damon explained, as he grabbed Grace's sandwich off the counter and placed it in the fridge for later. Stefan walks out of the kitchen, past Klaus, who follows him. They end up regrouping in the parlour.
"What do you know?" Stefan asks Klaus.
"I killed the original five hunters, remember? When one kills a hunter, there's a bit of a consequence." Klaus explains.
"What kind of consequence?" Stefan asked, as Klaus pours himself a glass of scotch; frowning at how much was left in the decanter, before realising who might've been the culprit and rolls his eyes.
"The hunters were spelled by witches to kill vampires; if you prevent one from fulfilling his destiny then he'll take you down with him." He takes a healthy sip from his glass, then pauses contemplatively. "Although, I thought that this only affects vampires. But clearly, I was mistaken. This apparently affects anybody who is supernatural." Klaus realises, much to his disgust.
"What do you mean? Connor's dead," Stefan pointed out.
"I mean, Connor's death won't prevent him from making Grace his final kill." Klaus explained, as Stefan frowns in confusion.
"But Grace isn't supernatural."
Klaus just turns and gives him a look, before swallowing what remained of his drink in one gulp and placing the glass on the wet bar. He gestures for Stefan to follow him, and the younger vampire reluctantly follows. Klaus leads Stefan down a nearby corridor, towards a row of paintings decorating the corridor walls, before stopping at one that Stefan has to look twice at. The young woman depicted on the canvas, gowned in a heavy looking, red 10th Century dress, and with long, waist-length dark brown hair, decorated with wildflowers, had the exact likeness of Grace.
"Woah, is that Grace?" Stefan questioned, shocked.
"Yes, it is. Or more specifically, a portrait of her first life; Grainne. So, quite obviously, you should realise that reincarnation has been depicted by several cultures, religions, and the like as supernatural occurrences," Klaus explains, looking rather guilty, as he remembered the events that lead to Grainne reincarnating as Grace.
"So, what happens now then?" Stefan asked.
"I'll have to lock her up, seclude her from anything that she could kill herself with." Klaus stated, looking like he'd rather do anything but this, but knowing he had no other choice until they could find a more permanent solution.
"You're not going to do that to her," Damon's voice rang out, and both Stefan and Klaus look over at him. Klaus merely eye flicks him with disinterest.
"Well, if we leave her alone, she'll take her own life before the day is out."
"She's stronger than that!" Damon insists, while even Stefan looked doubtful.
Klaus raises an eyebrow at Damon's naïve comment. Not even he was strong enough to resist the temptation to commit suicide, and Klaus was an indestructible, virtually unkillable Original Hybrid. He remembered the numerous occasions where he had tried killing himself and failed.
"Is she?" Klaus chuckles humourlessly. "Believe me, it's for her own good."
(Grace's P.O.V)
Henrik had come up to check on me, but I refused to be mollycoddled, so I firmly told him that I was all right and that I would meet him downstairs. Thankfully, he left, and I walked out of the ensuite, smoothing down my jumper of any wrinkles, before looking in the mirror to fix up my hair … only to gasp and turn around when I spot Connor standing behind me with a huge bloody cut across his throat from where I had slashed him.
"Feeling any better?" Connor asks with false concern in his voice. I start backing away from him, refusing to believe that he was standing in front of me right then.
"Leave me alone," I muttered, fearfully.
Connor ignores my plea, choosing to walk towards me with slow measured steps as he touches the gruesome wound around his throat. My eyes focus on the blood coating his fingertips.
"Tell me, did you get that tingling sensation down your spine when you did this?" Connor indicates to his throat. "Or is that none of my business?" I swallowed hard, fighting the urge to run and bring attention to myself by alerting all the vampires in this house.
"I was angry. I retaliated." I insisted, and Connor looked mystified by my answer.
"Retaliated? You were defending a vampire! A monster!?"
"Yeah, and you threatened not only my life, but the lives of three innocent people! I have the right to defend myself and others!" I retorted, feeling my anxiety climbing.
"But you still defended a vampire and are engaged to one. Both of whom deserve to die!" Connor remained stubborn with his accusations. "As far as I am concerned, you're just as much a monster as they are for siding with murderers, and you deserve to die as well. Admit it!"
"No!" I yelled and wrenched open the bedroom door, racing down the stairs in terror. I raced for the kitchen, with the intention of escaping through the back door, and see Connor standing there next to the fridge, blocking the way to the door.
"Decomposition starts in the first twenty-four hours. I am rotting in an unmarked grave because of you!" Connor accuses, and tears start brimming in my eyes.
"No!" I whimpered and started backing away.
I turn back the way I came and race for the front door, moving faster when someone started to follow me. I failed to notice Stefan, Henrik, and Nik in the parlour having a serious discussion, when I pull open the front door and run out onto the front porch. I was still in the middle of a fight or flight episode, so I immediately panicked when someone's arms wrapped around my waist like iron clamps, and I started thrashing about to get free.
"No, please! Let go! Get off me!" I pleaded tearfully. Someone removes my vervain-wolfsbane bracelet, hissing a little in pain, before gently turning me to face them.
"Shh! Go to sleep, love. Everything is going to be all right," I hear Nik's voice murmuring to me. I try to fight it, believing it to be yet another hallucination, but the compulsion was too strong and the last thing I saw and felt, was Nik's extremely worried blue-green eyes looking down at me with sympathy, followed by warm lips tenderly pressing a kiss on my forehead before darkness descended.
(3rd person P.O.V)
Damon had retreated back into the kitchen to keep himself occupied; mostly to get away from Stefan and Klaus, before he was likely to do something stupid that he'd probably regret hours later. He strongly disagreed with locking away Grace from the world temporarily, until they found a solution to this 'curse' Klaus had described to them both but knew that there was little he could do to stop Klaus when his mind was made up.
Stefan was no help either; he never spoke up when Klaus made the ridiculous suggestion in the first place, which only raised his suspicions that he was up to something with the Original Hybrid. The only question was: what the hell was it? Damon was suddenly distracted from his brood when Grace suddenly rushes straight into the kitchen and froze when she saw him standing at the fridge about to help himself to a blood bag. What really disturbed him was the fear he saw in her eyes.
"What's wrong?" Damon asked her, gently; treating Grace like she was a deer caught in headlights. She immediately turns and runs, causing Damon to swear when he realises she is hallucinating again. "Grace!" He goes after her.
Klaus and Stefan were still discussing the 'Hunter's Curse' that Klaus had been put under when he had killed the original five, with Henrik sitting nearby listening in patiently, when Grace rushes past the parlour door in terror. They hear the front door open, and Grace run out onto the porch, just as Damon goes by also.
Klaus immediately understands what's happening.
"Bloody hell!" He cusses before blurring past Damon and managing to grab a hold of his fiancé before she could run off. She immediately struggles in his protective embrace.
"No, please! Let go! Get off me!" Grace panics, and Klaus winced at the desperate tone in her voice. Seeing that he needed to act now on his plan, he gently reaches down and pulls off Grace's vervain-wolfsbane bracelet.
He hisses a little from the sting.
"Shh!" Klaus soothes, before turning her in his arms, and deliberately looking her in the eyes. "Go to sleep, love. Everything is going to be all right," He reassures her, and she resists for a few seconds more before she sags in his arms, falling asleep.
Sighing heavily, Klaus kisses her tenderly on her forehead before stooping down and picking her up bridal-style and turning to go back inside. Henrik, Stefan, and Damon were looking at them with worry.
"Gentlemen. My brother and I thank you for your assistance, but we can take it from here," Klaus dismisses the brothers, and Damon looks outraged.
"Hey! Wait a minute!" He protests, but Klaus easily ignores him.
"Don't let the door hit you on the way out!" He gestures for Henrik and summons Chris to follow him, while Stefan rolls his eyes and drags Damon out of the mansion.
Klaus carries a fitfully sleeping Grace to a windowless room he uses to preserve his artwork from direct sunlight and indicates to Henrik to open the door.
"Chris, mate. Go and get a cot for poor Grace here," Klaus 'requests'.
Chris almost refuses as he wasn't sired to him anymore but relents just this once after he had witnessed how obviously distressed his former boss's Luna really was. When he returns, Klaus dismisses Chris, before he carefully lays Grace down on the cot, tucking his folded up jacket underneath her head for a temporary pillow. He looks at her sadly, tucking back a stray piece of her hair behind her ear, as Henrik comes over and stands beside Grace, looking disturbed.
"She looked really bad, Nik," Henrik observed, and Klaus straightens up from his squat beside the cot and places a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder.
"Grace is going to become much worse, if we don't find a solution soon," He didn't sugar-coat it.
Henrik shudders at the idea.
"I don't know how you managed to cope with this, Nik. And you killed all five of these idiots," Klaus looked at Henrik with astonishment. "Remember, brother. I've been watching over you all from the moment I died. I saw everything." Henrik reminded him, and Klaus smiled a little and pulled his little brother in for a brief hug.
A short time later, Grace wakes up with a jolt and stares about the unfamiliar room with confusion, before focusing on Henrik, who was sitting cross-legged on the end of the cot and studying her with sympathetic eyes.
She frowns at him.
"Where am I?" She mutters, shifting to get up from the cot, and Henrik watches. A figure moves from the shadows, causing Grace to yell out in fear and back away to the wall.
"Breathe, sweetheart. We're not here to hurt you, we're trying to help you," Klaus reassures his beloved.
"Where. Am. I?" Grace repeats, sternly.
"It's a special room I use to preserve my artwork, protect it from the sun, hence the lack of windows. Of course, it's also to prevent you from escaping," Klaus explained, regretfully.
"You're holding me prisoner?" Grace stated, accusative and hurt.
"It's for your own good, Grace." Henrik explained, uncomfortably. "It's to stop you from attempting to kill yourself."
"I'm not gonna kill myself. I would never do that."
"Oh, but you'll want to," Klaus confirmed. "I did." Grace's eyes widened in horror. "Problem is, I'm immortal."
"You went through this?" Grace whispered.
"Yes, I did. For fifty-two years, four months, and nine days," Klaus stated.
"Good lord," Grace was horrified. "How did you stand it?"
"I got used to it … eventually," Klaus shrugged. "I was tormented, in my dreams, my every waking moment, relentless, never-ending torture. It was the only period of my life when I actually felt time."
"Oh, my God!" Grace covered her mouth in her shock. "So, you knew that this would happen if Connor died?" Tears welled up in her eyes. "Did Stefan know this too? Is this why he was so adamant in talking Connor down during the siege in the Grill instead of just outright killing him?" Klaus walked over to Grace, cautiously, so he didn't spook her in her jumpy, paranoid state.
"All he knew was that the hunter had to be kept alive."
"And yet you chose to keep this fact from me?" Grace was angry.
"Well, I wasn't exactly prepared for you being the one to kill him, love." Klaus was just as angry but was maintaining calm to avoid doing something he would regret. "And I thought that it was just vampires that were affected by this curse."
Grace turned away, tears falling down her cheeks. Klaus hated feeling helpless, especially when it was someone that he loved unconditionally who was inflicted with this curse. He backs away and heads for the door, indicating for Henrik to follow him. It was obvious that Grace needed some time to process the consequences of her actions.
"How did you make it stop?" Klaus turned to see Grace looking at him, vulnerably.
"I didn't. Eventually it just stopped. The hallucinations tend to appear in strange forms," Klaus reminisced with a grimace. Grace's face fell in disappointment, and Klaus gave in to his hesitation and came over to his frightened fiancé and embraced her. She buried her face into his shoulder. "I promise you; I will find a solution for this. I will not subject you to the torture I went through." He cups both of her cheeks in his hand and makes her look him in the eyes. "I love you."
"I love you, too." Grace responded, and Klaus kissed her before he pulls away gently and heads over to the door of the chamber, knocking on it.
Chris opens it from the other side.
"We're gonna help you, Grace." Henrik reinstates Klaus's promise, before following his older brother out, leaving Grace alone in the chamber.
Road
Day
After Klaus rudely dismisses the brothers, Damon stormed off while Stefan calmly returns to the Boarding House, assessing the situation for himself. He knew for a fact that he would be the very last person Grace expected to help her. Since the attempt on her life, Grace had been, understandably, hostile and reluctant to be alone with Stefan at any time. But he felt he owed it to Grace to at least try and help her with the 'hunter's curse' and make amends.
Plus, Stefan wanted to thank Grace, since she did attempt to defend Elena from being killed by Connor that night, despite both girls having issues with each other. With his mind made up, Stefan shrugged on his jacket and grabbed the keys to his motorcycle, before heading to the garage and speeding off down the driveway to put his plans into motion. He ended up parking on the side of the road, in the middle of nowhere, talking on the phone to Caroline.
"He's got Grace locked up in the mansion. I need Tyler to get the other hybrids away, so I can get her out. I know I'm probably asking the impossible, but—"
"Actually, you're not." Caroline confirms, much to Stefan's surprise.
Lockwood Mansion
Day
Stefan heads over to Lockwood Mansion and ends up talking to Tyler and Caroline in the living room. They were explaining the situation to Stefan.
"Hayley is the one that helped me break the sire bond," Tyler said. "She showed me what to do, how to help. When she showed up here, I thought it was just a coincidence, but it turns out she's been helping one of them, her friend Chris. And she came to help us get the rest of them out from under Klaus."
"So … you're telling me that Chris isn't sired anymore?" Stefan clarified, a little skeptical. However, Caroline nodded her head vehemently.
"That's exactly what he's telling you."
Mikaelson Mansion
Day
(Grace's P.O.V)
I was napping on the cot, strangely not plagued by more hallucinations of Connor trying to convince me that I was just as bad, if not worse, than my vampire friends and family, and that I didn't deserve to live. The door opens, and I sit up and turn to see who my visitor was, only to frown suspiciously at Chris who walks into the room carrying a duffel bag which he puts on the end of my cot.
"Clothes, toothbrush, books to pass the time." He explains, and I nodded. "Klaus sends his love." Chris added, sounding awkward.
I smiled weakly at him.
"Thanks," I acknowledged him. "Can you leave now, I wanna be alone," I requested and Chris nods before leaving. Connor appears from where he had been hiding behind the door, and I instantly go on alert.
"I can't leave," He states maliciously. "I'm going to be with you forever, a constant reminder of what you've done." Connor indicates to his slashed throat. I look away out of shame. "So, tell me, how did it feel to draw that blade across my throat like a knife through butter?"
"Horrible. I regret every moment of it," I responded.
Connor glowers at me.
"You're lying."
"No, I'm not." I insisted, defensively.
"Yes, you are. Tell the truth," Connor insisted, but I stood my ground.
"I am telling the truth."
"You're lying," Connor taunted.
I get up and walked over to him.
"Alright, fine! I liked it. It was an adrenaline rush. Happy?" I snapped, but Connor just looked disgusted by my answer.
"I'm not happy, Grace. I'm dead. Did you know I had a family? A brother, parents." Connor revealed, and instantly my bravado vanished.
"Jesus, I'm sorry. I'm… I'm really sorry." I said, sincerely.
"Are you sorry about your brother?" I froze. "It's your fault he left; you know."
It had been years since I had thought about my older half-brother. I was only ten when he left for spring break with his friends, and we lost all contact from him since. It was the same year that we left England and came over to America for Dad's job opportunity. But we had also come over because my brother had been accepted into San Francisco State; one of the few colleges he had applied for long before Dad got the job opportunity.
"How do you know about him?" I demanded.
Connor smirked at me.
"I know everything about you. Including your previous life as a Viking maiden named Grainne. What a tragedy that was, huh?"
"Don't."
"Your Viking parents moved to the Americas, in search of a new life; similar to what your parents in this century did. And what did you do to repay them for their kindness? Fell in love with a boy, who grew up to become an abomination-"
"Nik is not an abomination!" I snarled.
"—Oh, but it didn't stop there, did it? You witnessed something truly horrific, and you paid the price with your life, didn't you? His stepfather slaughtered and cursed you to return to this life. You should never have been reincarnated; you should've stayed dead!" Connor roared, and I flinched at his tone. "And I'm not going to stop until you've taken your last, miserable breath."
"I'm not going to let you do this to me!" I resisted, but Connor laughs cruelly.
"Then get rid of me," He suggests. "Kill yourself." I looked at him with horror. "You never should've been reborn to this life. Now look at what's happened to you: associating with, and loving bloodthirsty killers, and now you've become one yourself. You're a monster, and you deserve to die."
"No!" I turned away from him, covering my ears.
Connor scoffs at me.
"You don't want to listen to me? Fine." I turn back around, thinking he was being merciful and leaving.
I was wrong.
"Then how about you and I have a little chat?" I found myself staring into the brown, feline-like eyes of Katherine Pierce, who was smirking at me.
"Katherine?!"
"Did you miss me?" The doppelganger taunted me.
I shook my head in disbelief.
"But you're dead, I saw you get sacrificed. How is this possible?" I demanded as Katherine shrugged nonchalantly.
"Things aren't always what they seem." She tells me, and I felt my heart sink in my chest with dread.
Mystic Falls High School
Day
(3rd person P.O.V)
Once Stefan managed to get some backup from Tyler, Caroline, and surprisingly Tyler's friend, Hayley, to rescue Grace and help her with the 'hunter's curse', Stefan filled in Damon on the plan. They also told Elena, who was surprisingly all for the plan too, claiming she owed Grace one for defending her against Connor.
Unfortunately, it also meant getting information from 'Professor Creepy' as Damon had dubbed Bonnie's new mentor and crush, Shane. There were rumours that the Brotherhood of the Five was linked to a particular interest Shane had in one of his lectures. Damon and Bonnie went to Whitmore to attend the lecture. They walked into the room at the tail end of Shane's speech.
"You got this?" Damon asked Bonnie, who nodded.
"Yeah, I'll bring him to you." She promised as Damon immediately walks away but remained within earshot of Bonnie and Shane.
"Hey, you made it!" Shane greets Bonnie, enthusiastically, and she blushes. Damon rolls his eyes, unimpressed with how obvious Bonnie's crush on Shane was.
"Nice cautionary tale. Qetsiyah sounds like a badass," Bonnie stated, earning a chuckle from Shane.
"Nothing compared to Silas."
Mikaelson Mansion
Day
(Grace's P.O.V)
Katherine circled around me like a shark, while I tried to avoid eye contact. It was bad enough that I was inflicted with this stupid curse, but did it have to be Katherine torturing me?
"Hmmm, is it me, or are things a little chilly in here?" Katherine ponders. "I wonder how Klaus feels about this new you?"
"You keep asking me questions, like you think I'm gonna answer them." I retorted, coldly.
"Oh, but you will eventually," Katherine sounded confident.
"Maybe, but I wouldn't hold my breath," I declared with mock sweetness. "Besides, I made a mistake. In future, I will do better."
"Doubtful. You'll kill again, it'll change you and it'll keep changing you until you're just like me," Katherine boasted, and I get up and stared her down.
"How do you get through doorways with that overly inflated ego of yours? No wonder you died." I countered, earning a look of hatred from Katherine.
Mystic Fall High School
Night
(3rd person P.O.V)
Damon clicks on a desk lamp on Alaric's old desk and takes a seat. He opens up a drawer and finds a bottle of bourbon, which he takes out with a smile and props his feet up on the desk.
"You're missing all the adventure, pal." Damon holds up the bottle of bourbon in a salute for Alaric and takes a swig from the bottle. Bonnie and Shane enter the room.
"Shane, this is my friend, Damon." She introduced him, and Damon almost snorted. They were more frenemies than friends, and Bonnie wouldn't be even considering doing this to help Grace, if it wasn't for Elena's influence and persuasion. "He's kind of an expert on this stuff too," Bonnie added.
Damon smirks at Shane.
"I audited your class. Very enlightening."
"That's right, I remember you," Shane scrutinises Damon, curiously. "What's your specialty?"
"The origin of a species," Damon replied.
"Ah, I think Darwin would arm wrestle you for that distinction," Shane chuckles, but Damon doesn't join in.
"Not that species."
"Oh, you're into the monster stuff," Shane realises. "All right, awesome."
"I was kind of hoping you might have stumbled upon this at some point, maybe." Damon digs around in his pocket and pulls out a piece of paper, which he hands to Shane. He takes it, unfolds it, and looks at it. His eyebrow raising when he recognises what he sees on the paper.
"This is the Hunter's Mark. Where did you get this?" Shane asks.
"Came to me in a dream," Damon lies. "Do you know anything about the hunter's curse?"
"Why, you got a dead hunter in the trunk of your car or something?" Shane doesn't immediately answer Damon's question.
"Metaphorically speaking."
"Legend says that if a hunter is killed by that which it hunts or another supernatural being, then that person will be cursed to walk the Earth in torment until…" Shane trails off.
"Until?" Bonnie prompts, and Damon notes Shane's hesitation before he reluctantly finishes his explanation.
"Until the new hunter is awakened, and their legacy is passed on," Shane concludes. "They're called potentials." Damon pulls out his phone in the middle of Shane's explanation on what the Hunter's curse entailed for the unfortunate killer. "Listen, I have a bunch of research on it. Why don't I grab it for you?" Shane offers, and Damon nodded in agreement.
"That'd be great," He smiles at him and accepts back the drawing of the Hunter's mark back from Shane. "Thanks!"
Shane leaves the classroom, and Bonnie turns and looks questioningly at Damon.
"How are we supposed to find a potential hunter?" She wondered.
"Yeah, about that…" Damon trails off, putting his phone to his ear. "Little Gilbert, your services are needed." He tells Jeremy as he looks up at Bonnie with a sly look on his face.
Mikaelson Mansion
Night
Tyler and Stefan are let into the Mikaelson Mansion by Chris, and they congregate in the parlour room. All of them are unaware that they are being spied on by Henrik, who eavesdrops on their conversation.
"Thanks for meeting us," Tyler tells a nervous Chris, who nods at him.
"Yeah but make it fast. Klaus will be back soon," He warns them.
However, Tyler has a sly smirk on his face that Henrik does not like.
"No, he won't."
Mystic Grill
Night
At the same time, while Tyler, Stefan, and Chris were plotting behind his back and Henrik was secretly listening in; Klaus sits at the bar, brooding, and nursing a glass of red wine. He huffs in annoyance when Caroline approaches him.
"Place looks good considering your hybrid got blown up in it," Caroline makes a general observation of the place as she takes off her jacket and drapes it on the bar top beside her. She is the last person Klaus wanted to see or even talk to at that moment, but intrigued by what she was doing here, talking to him of all people; Klaus decided to humour her.
Klaus reaches for his wine glass.
"Caroline. To what do I owe the pleasure?" He inquires, politely. Caroline stands beside him.
"I want you to let Grace go." Caroline was blunt, and Klaus chuckles at her boldness as he takes a sip from the glass.
"Ah, they sent you to sweet talk me. Well, good form, but I'm afraid I can't do that," Klaus rejects her request.
"Why not?"
"She needs my help," Klaus stated. Caroline scoffs and rolls her eyes as Klaus continues. "Look, I'm not going to burden you with the gory details, I know you have enough on your plate already-"
"That's none of your business, actually." Caroline points out, and Klaus just gives her a mocking smile.
"And my business is none of yours. Take the hint," Klaus retorts.
Unfortunately, Caroline is not swayed.
Mikaelson Mansion
Night
Stefan lays down the facts to a very unconvinced Chris.
"All you need to do is get me access to Grace and I'll take it from there," He states to Chris who looks dubious. Seeing this, Tyler wades forward to help convince his friend.
"Please, man. Help us, and then you can disappear. You'll be free," He promises.
"Yeah, sure. Until Klaus sends one of his other hybrids after me," Chris scoffs.
"Hayley and I got your back. We'll make sure nothing happens," Tyler reassures him.
Eventually, the two of them manage to convince Chris, who then leads the way towards the room Klaus has locked Grace away in. He approaches two other hybrids that Klaus had made responsible for standing guard outside Grace's temporary room.
"Klaus said you two have to go to Tyler," Chris tells them both. Kimberley, one of the hybrids, eyes Chris with confusion.
"Why?" She asks.
"Something about Tyler's girl, Caroline. I'll take over here," Chris improvises.
Both hybrids look at each other, before shrugging and walking away from their posts. Chris watches them leave, before Stefan steps out from around the corner and walks over to Chris. He hands Stefan the keys, which he unlocks the door with and walks right in. Both of them discover a tired, frightened, and irritated Grace sitting on the floor with her arms wrapped around her legs.
She turns to look at the doorway.
"Grace. Hey." Stefan greets her with a small, friendly smile as he walks into the room slowly. However, Grace starts backing away, because she sees Stefan as Connor. "Hey, it's okay. It's me, Stefan."
"No, no…" Grace scrambles off the floor and continues backing away. "Stay… stay away from me!" She pleads.
But Stefan doesn't heed her warning.
"Let me help you," Grace goes for the cot and grabs a lead pipe she had hidden underneath it. She rushes at Stefan, who instinctively grabs her by the wrist, preventing him for inflicting harm. "Grace, stop!"
But Grace instead, manages to break free from Stefan's grip and stabs him in the stomach with the lead pipe, before rushing from the room as Stefan groans in pain and falls to the floor.
Henrik witnesses all of this, and immediately texts Klaus what has happened.
Mystic Falls High School
Night
Damon and Bonnie browse through the artifacts back at the exhibition in the high school. Bonnie suddenly brandishes some papers about the Five at Damon.
"How did I not know any of this stuff about Jeremy?" She demanded.
"The witch who loses her powers gets left out of the important conversations," Damon responded, much to Bonnie's irritation. Suddenly, Jeremy rushes into the room, looking worried.
"Is everything okay? Is it Elena?" He asks frantically.
"Nope. This is about Grace," Damon responds, and Jeremy looks confused. "Apparently, after saving your sister's ass, and killing Connor, Grace was affected by something called the 'Hunter's Curse,'" He explains. "Grace took a bullet for Elena, otherwise it would be her being psychologically tortured right now." Jeremy was both shocked and grateful.
Bonnie turns towards her ex.
"We figured out how to help Grace. You need to kill a vampire," She explained.
"Great, give me a stake, I'll kill Damon right now," Jeremy gave a half-hearted joke. But Damon wasn't amused.
"Easy, Van Helsing. We'll get you one. Don't worry," Damon told Jeremy. Damon's phone suddenly rings, and Bonnie jumps in to explain more to Jeremy.
"Before you do this, you need to know what you're getting yourself into." She pushes the papers into his hands. Damon answers his phone and speaks to Stefan.
"You can rest easy, brother. We figured out how to solve our little Grace problem," Damon was triumphant, but his grin falls when he hears Stefan grunt in pain, and something metallic clatter to the ground.
"Yeah, well, now we have a bigger problem. I lost her," Stefan explains.
"What?" Damon exclaimed.
"She's in bad shape," Stefan continued painfully. "I tried to help her, but she attacked me. Listen, you go find her, all right? Talk her down, she'll listen to either you or Klaus. Just tell me what I need to do to end this." Stefan requested, urgently.
Mystic Grill
Night
Caroline's phone continues pinging with text messages, making it obvious to Klaus that whatever plan Caroline was trying to distract him from, was crashing and burning. He crooks an eyebrow at Caroline, who looks at him and smiles innocently.
"So, uh, here's the thing," Caroline begins the explanation. "I didn't just come here to try to get you to release Grace."
"You don't say," Klaus's voice oozes sarcasm, making Caroline wince; especially when she realises what she was about to reveal next, was absolutely going to piss him off.
She braces herself for the inevitable blow up.
"I came here to distract you so that Stefan could go to your house and break her out, which he did. And don't get mad, but then he lost her," Caroline ripped off the metaphorical bandage, and Klaus's pleasant, if slightly bored expression immediately becomes enraged. He gets up from his bar stool in a fury, and Caroline follows suit.
"Klaus—"
"Stop talking, or I will kill you!" Klaus threatens before he turns and starts to walk off.
"They figured out how to stop the hallucinations!" Caroline blurts out in an attempt to stop him.
Klaus stops and turns around to face her again.
"Okay, you have ten seconds to tell me."
Unknown road
Night
(Grace's P.O.V)
'Get a grip, Grace. You may be hallucinating, but you're gonna make it through this in one piece. You owe this to yourself...' I found myself repeating this over and over in my head, trying to convince myself that I wasn't in serious trouble. I was walking down a random street, trying to stay positive. But it was a little difficult when you had the hallucinations of both Connor and Katherine dogging my every footstep.
"Are you ready to die yet? You know it's your only way out of this," Connor was calmly telling me, and my response to that was to increase speed in an effort to get the hell away from him.
"You know you can't take back what you did. It can never be undone. You're a monster, you deserve to die!" Katherine mocked me, and I slammed both hands over my ears to try and mute her words.
"Shut up! Shut up!" I whimpered, tearfully.
Wickery Bridge
Night
I stopped when I heard the sound of rushing water and took stock of the situation. I realised that I had somehow made my way to Wickery Bridge, and I walked over to the railing to look down into the water. I climbed up and over the railing, and perched precariously on the side, gripping the banister tightly with both hands as I looked down at the water.
For some reason, an odd sense of calm came over me.
"Well? What are you waiting for?" I looked over and saw the very last person I'd expect to see standing there and talking to me.
"David!?"
My brother just stood there, staring at me with something akin to boredom and disappointment, as he pulled a cigarette from behind his ear and used his silver zippo lighter to light it.
"You're obviously taking the coward's way out, and clearly you want to do this, so…" David sarcastically gestures at the rushing water beneath our feet. "Tick tock!" He lazily leans against the wooden banister of the bridge and exhales cigarette smoke from his nostrils as he watches me. I stare at him in bewilderment, then in anger as I shouted into thin air.
"This is low, even for you, Connor!" I yelled angrily. "If you weren't already dead, I'd fucking kill you!"
"Talking to yourself; is a first sign of insanity."
I glowered at the smirking face of my older brother, unamused.
"Newsflash, genius. I'm halfway there, in case you haven't already caught on," I sassed. "So go on, get on with it!"
"Get on with what?" David looked at me in confusion.
"Get on with trying to convince me to kill myself because I'm apparently a failure as a human for loving and associating with vampires!" I explained churlishly, but David just continued looking confused.
"Why would I do that?" He genuinely sounded shocked at the mere suggestion.
Now it was my turn to be confused.
I scoffed in disbelief.
"Huh, wow. This is a first," I observed. "Nik wasn't kidding when he said that the hallucinations appeared in strange forms."
This time, David grinned.
"Well, you're half right about that," He acknowledged mysteriously. "Only, I'm not here to convince you to top yourself, kitten."
"I don't follow you," I said.
"Let's just say, you have an anonymous ally on the Other Side trying to help you with this 'curse' you're currently under," David explained. "Simply put; I'm not actually your brother. I'm just taking the form of someone that you are likely to listen to. Your brother seemed like the most logical choice," 'David' stated, and I felt crestfallen. "Your 'ally' is trying to buy you time, so the people who are trying to save you, can."
"But can you at least tell me if my brother is still alive? Do you know where he is?" I asked, somewhat hopeful. However, 'David' merely eyes me for a moment, taking a final drag from his cigarette, before tossing the butt on the ground and grinding it into the road with the heel of his black boot.
"Look," He sighed heavily. "The only thing I can tell you about him, is that he's definitely still around, but I don't know where he is." Well, that something at least. "And I can also tell you … he does miss you, a lot."
I smiled.
"Oh, c'mon!" We both look over to see Connor standing there, looking at us with disdain. "You're not seriously believing this bullshit, are you?"
'David' glowers at Connor.
"Hey, buddy. Don't you have some afterlife to live. You know, away from here?"
"I'm not your buddy, pal!" Connor snarls.
"Who are you calling pal, friend?" 'David' counters.
"Who you calling friend, asshole?" Connor's temper was rising, and 'David's' smirk was growing.
"Certainly not you," 'David' stated.
I couldn't help but watch this with fascination. Despite being told that this 'hallucination' wasn't my brother, just taking his form; I found it very hard to believe otherwise. His mannerisms were spot on, and it made me feel both sad and nostalgic at the same time. If I somehow managed to get out of this, I fully intended on hiring someone to find my brother, whatever it takes.
"Grace," I turned my head, and saw Nik approaching me, looking genuinely fearful.
"Nik?" I glanced back and saw that both 'David' and Connor had disappeared. Upset, I looked at Nik. "How did you find me?"
Nik gave me a weakened version of his signature charming smirk.
"You should know by now, sweetheart. I'll always find you, no matter what," He reminds me. "Now, why don't you climb back over the banister, and come back onto safer ground, huh?" He reached out a hand to help me over, but I shook my head.
"I can't, Nik. I still killed someone. Whether it was self-defense or not, it still happened. I can't forgive myself."
"Now see, that's where you are wrong, darling. You're being too hard on yourself," Nik disagreed. "Let's just go talk about this before you go do something foolish, okay?" He attempted to convince me.
But I was immediately distracted by the reappearance of Connor.
"You're almost there, Grace. All you need to do is let go, and you will be free," He tried to tempt me. But then, 'David' reappeared with his arms folded across his chest behind Nik, who was watching me cautiously with a worried frown on his face.
"Or you could ignore what this guy is telling you," He indicated to Connor with a simple jerk of his head, "And listen to your fiancée."
"David…" I murmured, as Nik's frown deepened.
"Don't give in to temptation, kitten. Remember, the real me is still out there waiting for you to find him," 'David' reminds me. "Not to mention, him." He indicates to Nik, and my eyes lock onto Nik's desperate blue-green ones. "You both waited so long to find each other again, don't waste the second chance life has given you to be with him, like you both always wanted to a thousand years ago."
"Love?" Nik questioned me again, and this time, I knew that I had to make a choice.
Lockwood Mansion
Dawn
(3rd person P.O.V)
Minutes before the drama unfolding on Wickery Bridge, everyone (minus Klaus, Caroline, Stefan, and Damon) were regrouping at the Lockwood Mansion, congratulating Chris on a 'job well done' and sending him off.
"You're doing a good thing, Chris," Tyler praised him, and Chris acknowledged with a weak, nervous smile.
"Yeah, well, let's see how fast a good thing can get me out of town."
Hayley comes over and hugs Chris.
"Call me when you're safe, okay?"
"Yeah," Chris squeezes Hayley one last time before letting go and picking up his stuff. He was just about to open the front door, when Damon quickly bursts in, shoving Chris back inside.
"Going somewhere?" He asks casually, before grabbing Chris by the throat and blurring him into the staircase. "Somebody wants a word with you," Damon pulls his phone from the back pocket of his jeans, and dials a number, before putting it on loudspeaker and holding it up for Chris to hear. When the call is accepted, Damon speaks again. "Hello, you're on the air!"
"When I said, "don't let her out of your sight", what did you think I meant?" Klaus's furious voice bellows out of the phone.
"What the…? Klaus? What the hell are you calling him for?" Tyler glares accusingly at Damon, who merely shrugs.
"Didn't you hear? Klaus and I are bosom buddies now. Working together to save Grace's ass," Damon explains sarcastically. "He's currently out there looking for her as we speak."
Tyler's eyes widen in alarm.
"Shit!" He mutters underneath his breath. "It's not his fault, it's mine," He explains desperately to Klaus, trying to save his friend's life. "I was distracting you. It's my fault she got away!"
"Then maybe you should be the one to die for it." Klaus states.
Hayley steps forward, angrily.
"No one has to die!"
"Did I not say mind your business?!" Klaus bellows.
"Tyler's covering for me. I'm the one that let her go," Hayley improvises, martyring herself in the process. Tyler looks at her in horror.
"Hayley…"
"No," She stops Tyler. "You want someone dead, go ahead. Kill me. I'd rather die anyway than end up as one of your sired little bitches." Hayley offers herself up to Klaus.
"Don't tempt me, little wolf." Klaus seethes. "Chris, your existence is to serve me. To please me. Do you understand?" Chris thrashes underneath Damon's much stronger grip, but ultimately relents.
"I'm sorry," He apologises reluctantly to Klaus. "I won't fail you again."
"No, you won't," Klaus agrees. "Damon, you know what to do. I gotta go, I think I've found Grace." He hangs up, and Damon finally let's go of Chris.
"Beat it!" He orders Chris, who nods and quickly walks to the front door. However, Stefan comes through the door and stabs him with a stake through the stomach, immobilising him.
Chris falls to the ground.
"No!" Hayley yells, and covers her mouth with her hand, crying.
Jeremy casually saunters into the house, holding a meat cleaver in his hands.
"Jeremy?" Tyler says, with disbelief.
Wickery Bridge
Dawn
(Grace's P.O.V)
Nik sees the change in my demeanor and realises he needed to act now.
"Come on, Grace. No more games, you need to take my hand right now and climb back over the banister. I'm serious!" Nik insists, sternly. He starts to walk over with a purpose, while 'David' just stays where he is behind Nik, smiling at me encouragingly.
But Connor makes one last attempt to convince me to jump.
"You're almost there," He whispers, and I glance down at the rushing water.
"Don't you dare!" Nik growls. "I understand more than anyone the temptation, but we've found a way to break the curse," Both Connor and I look over at him with surprise (Me) and anger (Connor). "All you need to do is take my hand and climb back over!"
"Don't let him stop you," Connor continues whispering. "I know you want to, but you can't. Don't."
I continue to hesitate, and Nik is losing his patience.
"Damn it, Grace!" He rushes over to me, which startles me enough that I lose my balance, slip and end up dangling, clinging for dear life over the side of the bridge. I look up at a horrified Nik, a mildly worried 'David', and a smirking, triumphant Connor with terror.
"Nik! Help! Help me!" I shouted, digging my fingernails into the slightly damp wood.
Lockwood Mansion
Dawn
(3rd person P.O.V)
Tyler glares at Jeremy, Stefan, and Damon.
"What the hell, man?!" He shouts angrily at Jeremy, who pays him no mind, but instead looks over at Stefan and Damon.
Stefan looks at Tyler regretfully.
"I'm sorry," he says before Stefan nodded at Jeremy. He immediately chops off Chris's head with the cleaver, and Hayley screams and hides her face.
Jeremy looks down at his hand.
The same tattoo that was on Connor's arm, starts to grow across his own.
Wickery Bridge
Dawn
(Grace's P.O.V)
I gasp as I feel the side effects of the curse lift off and laugh in both relief and happiness. I look up and saw that Connor had vanished, and only 'David' remained.
He too looked relieved.
"Nik! Nik! I felt the curse leave. I'm free!" Then I realised that even though I was no longer cursed, I was still in mortal danger. "Oh, shit! Nik, give me your hand! Help me up!"
Nik climbed up and over the banister and reached down to grab one of my hands. Then using his considerable supernatural strength, hoisted me up into the air like I was nothing more than a ragdoll and pulled me directly into his awaiting arms.
"I got you! I got you! You're safe!" He soothed me, burying his face into my neck, as I clung to him just as tightly.
We both climbed back over the banister, and back onto safe ground, before Nik immediately pulls me back into his embrace. I looked slightly over Nik's shoulder and spotted a genuinely smiling 'David' standing there, with his hands buried in the pockets of his slightly oversized denim jacket. He raises his hand in the air and waves at me.
"I'll be waiting for you, little sister." 'David' reminds me before he turns and walks off, fading away in the early morning mist.
Mikaelson Mansion
Day
I woke up in Nik's bed later on in the morning. The sunlight was on my face, and I immediately frown out of annoyance, and shield it with my hand. Looking around, my eyes clap onto a figure sitting on the window seat, looking right at me. I slowly start to sit up when I realised it was Nik.
"Hey," I greeted him.
"Hello, love. How are you feeling?" Nik was observing me, smiling warmly.
I yawned a little before responding.
"My head's clear," I replied. "I can remember everything, but not like I lived it, like it was a really bad dream." Then I paused, as my memories of last night came rushing back, and I remembered seeing David. I smiled, bittersweetly. "You saved me. Thank you."
"I'd do anything for you, you know that," Nik told me. He gets up and takes a seat on the bed in front of me, smoothing a piece of hair that had fallen out of my ponytail, and strokes my cheek.
I lean into the touch and sigh.
"I just can't believe that I almost…" I trailed off, but luckily Nik knew what I was talking about.
"You weren't yourself, sweetheart." He reassures me, and I reach up and take his hand in mine.
"Yeah, but if it wasn't for you…" Nik looked down at my hand holding his, and I follow his gaze as well. Nik holds up my hand and rubs his thumb in circles over the back of it.
"I need to ask you something personal" Nik began, as he plays with my fingers. "Who's David?"
I look up at him with surprise.
"He's my older half-brother," I explain. "He went missing when I was ten, and my parents and I have been looking for him ever since." I paused, hesitating. "Well, we were, up until my parents…"
"… died." Nik finished, looking at me with sympathy. "Did you see him last night?"
"He tried to convince me not to jump. Said that I had an ally on the Other Side who wanted to help me beat the curse. Guess it worked."
"I remember him," Both Nik and I turned to the doorway to see Henrik had appeared in the room. "He was really protective of you, even comforted you when you had those bad dreams about Father." Henrik frowned, curiously. "I wonder what happened to him?"
"That's what my mum and dad were trying to find out, but they died before they could get any information," I revealed. "I gotta find him," I despaired, and Nik gently grabbed my hand to get my attention.
"I can help you, if you want." He suggested, and I smiled. This was the rare caring side that Nik frequently kept hidden from both his family and enemies that I enjoyed seeing, and I immediately hugged him.
"I'd like that. But I'm gonna try something first," I said, pulling away and heading over to where I had stashed my laptop.
"What?" Both Nik and Henrik questioned.
"Craigslist." I stated, earning a perplexed look from Nik.
"How on earth are you gonna find your brother on that?" Nik wanted to know.
I giggled.
"You'd be surprised. That's how Elena found you when she was seeking you out to surrender for the Hybrid Curse," I explained. "Didn't you know that?"
"No, I did not." Nik looked both baffled and amused by this.
Lockwood Mansion
Day
(3rd person P.O.V)
Hayley was lying on the couch, having cried herself to sleep. Beside her, Tyler was sitting, drinking from a bottle of scotch and well and truly in a drunken stupor. Caroline walks into the room, looking guilty.
"Tyler."
"It's just us," Tyler acknowledges Caroline. "Paying our respects to Chris." He takes a swig from the bottle.
Caroline watches this and winces.
"Tyler, we didn't have a choice," she tells him, but Tyler was too angry and upset to actually listen to what the blonde had to say.
"I told him we had his back. I told him if he helped us, he'd be free."
"But we needed to help Grace. We owed her for defending Elena, our friend," Caroline pointed out and Tyler scoffed bitterly.
"Yeah, we helped our friend by handing over another friend."
"Chris wasn't—" Caroline denied, but Tyler immediately cut her off.
"Chris was a friend, Caroline. He's like me. He's part of a pack," He sighed heavily. "All he wanted to do was be unsired by that disgusting piece of…" He cut himself off. After a moment, Tyler looks at Caroline. "How did you get Klaus to agree to give up one of his hybrids?"
"He said I owed him one, that nothing came without a price. So, I agreed to help him out whenever he needed something," Caroline shrugged.
Tyler nods and gets up to pour himself another drink and looks at her. He throws his glass against the wall behind her, causing Caroline to flinch and waking up Hayley because of the loud noise.
"What the hell is going on?" She demanded, grumpily.
"Nothing," Tyler said. "Nothing at all. Just celebrating the life of a fallen hybrid friend." He looks at Caroline, who looks back at him with fear and sadness.
A/N: Introducing a new character for this story and the sequel (and yes, I am writing a sequel to this), David Powers; Grace's older half-brother, whose face claim is a 19-year-old Kiefer Sutherland. And, just a little FYI, I also do not own this character either. Why? Because 'David' is one of the main characters of a popular 80s vampire movie. I am just borrowing him!
Please review, and I'll see you at the next chapter! TTFN xx