Hey guys! New chapter for you, I hope you enjoy it. Please leave a review and let me know your thoughts as well as any ideas you might have for season 4! xx
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"Hey," Elena said shaking Brenna awake.
"What?" she groaned.
"Jer, wake up," Elena said to their brother. They'd all fallen asleep on the couch together.
"What's going on?" Jeremy asked.
"I couldn't sleep," Elena sighed.
Brenna rolled over and checked her phone, "it's 4 am, Lena."
"I think we should do something. All of us together. I was thinking we could paint Ric's old room. I figured it would help us, closure and all."
"I'm in," Brenna nodded. "Let's do it. Jer?"
"Yeah I'm in," he agreed.
"Awesome!" Elena cheered. "Let's get started.
"Woah Lena, no," Brenna shook her head. "We can get started in 4 hours at a reasonable hour. Just get back on the couch okay, we need to take it slow."
"Don't spill it," Brenna cautioned Elena as she poured paint out onto a tray.
"I won't," Elena smiled.
"Think we're ready?" Brenna asked looking around. "We've laid down sheets, we've got the paint and we've taped up the edges. I think we're good to go," she smiled holding out a paintbrush to her brother and they all set to work.
They'd been painting for an hour when Stefan let himself into the house and came upstairs. "Going darker huh?" he asked as he looked at the walls. Jeremy and Brenna instantly exchanged looks. The last thing they needed right now was vampires. Brenna had been ignoring Kol's calls all morning, this was a family day.
"It's the only colour we had," Elena smiled and Brenna and Jeremy both rolled their eyes at each other.
"That's what happens when you decide to paint your dead-guardians room in the middle of the night," Jeremy said looking over at Elena.
"I don't suppose anyone tried to talk you guys out of doing this so soon," Stefan asked concerned.
"Yeah, well we convinced Elena to hold out until 8 am, rather than starting at 4 am," Brenna scowled.
"We have to keep moving, otherwise we'll start thinking," Elena said as she walked to grab a new brush.
"You want a hand?" Stefan offered. Brenna looked at Jeremy and audibly scoffed in annoyance.
"I know," Jeremy scowled back at her before he turned around aggressively. "So are you two, like, back together or something?"
"What? No," Elena said quickly. "We're just…"
"Uh, I was just checking up on you guys," Stefan defended. "Seeing how you were doing after, uh… after everything."
"We're fine," Jeremy snapped. "But if you are trying to be the good guy again, why don't you do the right thing and give us one day," he said putting down the paint can and walking towards Stefan. "Just one day without any vampires in it." He then looked behind at Brenna before turning back to Stefan, "I mean, I'm not an idiot. I've heard Brea's phone ringing all morning and she hasn't answered it once. It's about being respectful," he said before storming out and over to his room before slamming the door.
"He's right you know," Brenna said looking between Elena and Stefan before stomping off to her room.
As soon as she shut the door she pulled out her phone and considered calling Kol. Before she could do anything, Nik called her and she immediately declined the call. When the call disappeared she saw he'd already called her 5 times in the past 3 minutes. She was meant to leave town with him today. She couldn't. She promised Ric she'd stay in town until she finished her senior year. She sighed before she dialled Kol's number.
"Darling, there you are, I've been so worried. I spoke to Nik and Bekah earlier this morning, I heard what happened. I'm so sorry I wasn't there, I'm getting on a plane now. I'm going to be there so soon and then we can leave. I'll take you away from there. We can go anywhere you want, just you and me," Kol said before she could even say hi.
"Kol… I," Brenna started to say when Elena came running into her room and shut the door behind her frantically. "I have to call you back," she said hanging up the phone before looking up at her shaking sister. "Are you ok?" she asked.
Elena shook her head and then pulled her phone from her ear and pointed to the screen. Alaric was calling her and Brenna frowned, who would pull a sick joke like this? Elena put it on loudspeaker. "She's here," she said.
"Perfect," Alaric spoke and Brenna's eyes widened. Ric was alive. That meant he turned. All the Originals were in danger.
Brenna stood up quickly next to her sister, "Ric?"
"Surprise," he taunted. "Listen closely. I'm at the school. I have Caroline. And if you want to keep her alive, I need you both to get in your car and come down here right away. If you tell anyone where you are going, I will kill her," he said before hanging up.
"Oh my god," Brenna breathed.
"We have to go," Elena whispered. "He'll kill Caroline."
"He already tried to kill me once. What's to stop him doing it again?" Brenna hissed back frantically.
Elena nodded. "I'll go. You stay here, where it's safe."
"No way, I'm coming. He has Caroline! We'll take your car."
"Yours is quieter."
"I'm meant to be leaving town with Nik today. He's been calling me but I haven't answered. He'll come here sooner or later. If he can see my car is still here it'll slow him down at least."
Elena nodded. "Let's go," she said and they left Brenna's room and crept down the stairs, sneaking out the door as quietly as possible before sprinting to Elena's car and driving off.
"They'll be in his classroom right?" Brenna asked nervously as she and Elena walked through the halls of the school. Elena nodded softly. "Elena I'm…" Brenna said grabbing onto her sister's arm.
"I know. Me too." As they walked around a corner they heard coughing and groaning. They both instantly recognised it to be Caroline's and their eyes widened and they ran towards Ric's classroom. Coming into the doorway first, Elena froze.
"What?" Brenna asked, coming round the other side."Oh my god!" she exclaimed in shock. Ric's way of holding Caroline down was barbaric. She had a pencil through each of her palms, nailing her to the desk and a cloth tied around her mouth.
"Caroline," Elena whimpered. "Let her go, Alaric," she pleaded and Brenna turned to see Alaric sitting in the chair behind his desk. His eyes were cold and hard. This was not Ric.
"Free her yourself," he offered. Elena hesitantly took a few steps before she ran towards Caroline. Brenna stayed planted in the doorway staring at Ric. He terrified her. After a moment, he stood up and walked towards her. "I need you for later," he smirked before running towards Caroline and Elena and shoving the pencil that Elena had removed, back into Caroline's hand.
"You said that you would let her go!" Elena yelled as she stood up.
"Care," Brenna cried, running towards her friend, she stroked her hair trying to comfort her.
"How many times do I have to tell you, Elena? Stop trusting vampires!" he snapped. "Come here," he said, roughly grabbing Brenna and yanking her away from Caroline. "Now sit down!" he yelled as he threw her onto the ground. "Get in the seat and shut up," he snarled pointing to the desk next to Brenna. Shaking, she pulled herself up and sat at the desk beside Caroline. "I need you alive, not unharmed," he snarled before looking at Elena. "You sit down too," he growled and she slowly sat in the seat behind her sister. "Here's where the fun starts," he mused and pulled out his phone. "Stefan," he said into the phone. "I have Elena, Brenna and Caroline at the school. I'll kill all three of them unless you can get Klaus to hand himself over to me. You have until sunset," he said hanging up the phone.
"You're using me for them," Brenna realised. "Like Esther said last night. I'm your lure."
"How about we reapply, hmm?" he suggested to Caroline, ignoring Brenna, before walking over and ripping off her gag, making her scream in pain. "Top up the vervain," he said as he dipped it into a beaker full of vervain.
"No. I don't want to. Please no more," Caroline cried as he approached her again.
"Alaric, stop," Elena protested as she stood up.
"Sit down," he snarled as he shoved her back into her seat. "This keeps the vervain in her system," he explained as he put the gag back on Caroline. "It's like inhaling razor blades with every breath," he said as she screamed.
"Why are you doing this?"
"To make it easier on you when you put her out of her misery."
"What!" Elena gasped. "No!"
"Ric, she's good, she's kind, you know her. You can't want this," Brenna pleaded as Caroline started to cry.
"Isn't this what you wanted Elena? For me to teach you and Brenna how to kill a vampire? Well, here's a vampire Elena. Kill her," he said holding out the stake to her.
"This isn't what I want," Elena hissed.
"Of course it is. All those hours you spent training, getting stronger. You had more drive than your sister. You could be a hunter, Elena. But you've never actually staked a vampire through the heart." Brenna was partially ignoring Alaric, she was too transfixed in staring at the stake, this was the white oak stake, the stake that could kill Kol. "Don't think about it," Ric snarled, putting the stake away in his jacket pocket and turning to look at Brenna. He came towards her and reached out, ripping her out of the seat. His grip on her arms was so strong, that he lifted her so her feet were no longer touching the ground. "Sit down or I will hurt her!" he yelled at Elena who had gotten up to defend her sister. He turned back to Brenna when he saw Elena sit back in her seat. "Now, you're going to make yourself useful and pull out your phone and make a few calls for me." Brenna, too scared to speak just shook her head and his eyes went dark. He viciously flung his arm out, sending her body flying into the teacher's desk.
All the air left her chest. It was agonising. The edge of the desk had slammed straight into her stomach before she crashed to the ground. Her vision was spinning, blurring in and out as she desperately tried to suck in a breath.
"Pull out your phone and call Kol Mikaelson."
"He won't answer," Brenna choked. "He's on a plane."
"Coming back into town, perfect," Ric hummed, making her eyes go wide. Kol was walking into a trap. "Call Elijah." Brenna slowly sat up and looked at Caroline who nodded. Brenna slowly pulled out her old phone she'd taken to replace the one Esther destroyed last night. "Call him." Brenna bit her lip before she slid the phone quickly across the floor to Caroline and Caroline used what little energy she had left to stomp on it, shattering it, and making Ric grow in anger.
"You can't kill me," Brenna spat as he turned to her. "You'll lose your leverage over the Originals. They won't come if I'm dead."
"Klaus may have already called Elijah," he hissed. "Rebekah was in town this morning, Klaus will come to save you, Kol's headed to town. I just need Elijah."
"Klaus won't come for me. He won't risk his life."
"Come on, you're not stupid. You know how he feels about you."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"You do. He loves you," he said as he walked circles around her. "He loves you and he has for a thousand years. He's coming for you. Sit back down," he ordered. Brenna silently let tears fall as she grasped onto the desk and hauled herself up. She stumbled as her eyes glazed over with stars and she slowly made her way back to her seat. She couldn't afford to pass out now.
"It's ok," Elena said quietly reaching forward to put her hand on Brenna's shoulder. "Why are you doing this?" she asked Alaric.
"Because you need me. Because you're an 18-year-old girl without parents or guidance or any sense of right and wrong anymore. She," he said pointing at Brenna, "lost her morals the second she decided she'd love them as monsters. She's been lost for a thousand years, you still have a chance, Elena. A chance to do the right thing."
"Look at you. How is this right?" she scoffed pointing at Caroline.
"She's a murderer. She told me she killed someone and liked it. Now, how is that right? Listen, Elena, yours and Brenna's parents led the council. It was their life's mission to keep this town safe. They weren't dead six months before the two of you undid it all."
"You don't know anything about them," Elena hissed.
"Why, am I wrong? I know how much you care about family Brenna," he said bending down to her eye level. "So tell me, do you actually think they'd be proud of either of you?" he asked. Brenna's face fell. Maybe he was right. Allowing vampires to infiltrate this town only led to suffering. "If you both don't side with the humans, you're just as bad as them. Now kill her," he said holding out the stake to Elena. "Or I'll do it for you, and I'll make it hurt, and then I might just turn on your sister." Ric then lunged forward and pulled Elena from her seat. "Get up!" He grabbed Elena's hand and put the stake in it before taking a small step back. Elena looked at Brenna, she had a plan. Brenna moved to the edge of her seat, ready to go help Caroline. Elena took a deep breath before she swung the stake backwards towards Alaric. He caught her arm easily, "I thought I taught you better than that."
"You did," she hissed before she grabbed the beaker filled with vervain and smashed it over his head. As soon as she did this Brenna jumped out of her seat and yanked the pencils out of Caroline's hands while Elena untied the gag.
"Run, run!" Brenna yelled at Caroline when she was free.
"Get help," Elena called out as Caroline ran out of the classroom.
Elena and Brenna were running right behind her when Alaric zoomed in front of them, cutting them off in the doorway. "Not so fast," he taunted. He looked behind him, it wasn't worth him chasing after Caroline. "Plan B it is," he smirked before grabbing Brenna's arm.
"No!" Elena yelled as he dragged her sister through the halls. "Let her go," she begged as she pulled on Alaric's arm. As they rounded the corner, Brenna reached out to hold onto the lockers, trying not to get dragged along further.
"Stop struggling," Ric hissed before he growled in anger and grabbed her other arm, making her scream, before he spun her and threw her headfirst into the glass window of the fire extinguisher cabinet.
"BREA!" Elena screamed and she ran to her while Brenna slid to the floor. "Oh my god Brea," Elena cried as Brenna groaned and lifted her hand to her head, there was a lot of blood.
"Oh my god," Brenna breathed and began shaking on the floor in shock. Elena screamed as Ric grabbed her arms and pulled her away from Brenna. "Elena!" Brenna groaned but the shock prevented her from being able to lift her body.
Ric flung Elena into the lockers before he wrapped his hand around her throat and lifted her as she gasped for air. "I should kill you. I should gut you like Brian Walters, Bill Forbes and all the other cowards I plan on ripping apart. Brenna and Meredith got away last time, they won't be so lucky this time. You and your sister are the worst offenders of them all, Elena. Neither of you deserves to live."
"So then why am I still alive?" Elena asked. "There's obviously no humanity left in you. So, what's stopping you, Alaric? If you want me dead, then kill me."
"Elena," Brenna groaned in protest at her sister's stupidity.
"Do it! Kill me!" she yelled.
Alaric growled before he released Elena, making both her and Brenna frown in confusion. "I won't kill you. But I will kill her," he said before he turned around to face Brenna his face morphing into vampire mode.
"No," Elena protested.
Brenna was still unable to lift herself up and she let out a cry as Alaric took a step towards her and clenched her eyes shut. Before Alaric could attack her, she heard a struggle and opened her eyes to see Damon and Stefan grabbing his arms, stopping him from getting to her.
Elena ran around them and slid down to Brenna's side. "Oh my god," Elena cried as she placed her hands above Brenna, nervous that touching her would hurt her. "It's going to be ok."
"Do it now!" Damon yelled at Stefan. Before either of the brothers could do anything, Alaric shoved Damon off him and spun around to Stefan, snapping his spine, temporarily killing him. Damon then tried to grab Alaric but Alaric snapped his neck with ease. Before Alaric could make another move, Nik appeared and shoved his hand into Alaric's chest, causing Alaric to scream in pain.
Brenna heard Elena gasp from beside her. "I've worked it out. I've worked it out," she breathed in relief and ran away from Brenna and towards the shards of glass left lying behind her and began rummaging through them.
Before Brenna could ask her what she was doing she heard a scream and snapped her head back to the action to see Alaric snapping Nik's hand and throwing him across the hall. Alaric stalked after Nik and Brenna began to panic. Alaric had the white oak stake. He could kill Nik for good. Brenna's head had cleared a bit from the earlier impact and she was able to pull herself off the floor. Alaric had the white oak stake poised above Nik's heart and Nik was struggling to hold Alaric off.
"NO!" Brenna screamed and she ran towards them, fruitlessly throwing herself on Ric's back, trying to unbalance him so Nik could gain the upper hand. Alaric only growled in response and used one arm to throw Brenna off him and headfirst into the lockers. Following the second impact, Brenna could no longer keep her eyes open and everything went black.
Brenna groaned as she slowly woke up. "Be careful," a kind voice spoke.
"Hmm," Brenna groaned as she opened her eyes to see a nurse standing over her. "What happened?"
"You hit your head. You have a concussion and I've just finished stitching up the cuts on your head," she smiled. Brenna began to panic as she felt pressure on her head "It's ok, it's ok," the nurse cooed, "it's just a bandage. There," she said. "All done."
"Where am I?" Brenna asked.
"At your friend Klaus' place."
Brenna looked around the room and nodded as she recognised this was her room in Nik's mansion. "Where is he?"
"Downstairs with the other patient. I'll go tell him you're awake."
"No need love, I'm right here," Nik said from the doorway.
Brenna tried to sit up to see him and gasped, slamming her hand onto her head as it began throbbing in pain. "Lie down, you need to take it slowly," the nurse coached as she pushed Brenna's shoulders back down onto the bed.
"Leave us," Nik said as he came to the side of the bed. The nurse silently nodded before leaving the room.
"What happened?" Brenna asked. "How did we get out of there?"
Nik took a seat in the chair next to her bed and explained. "Your sister managed to distract the history teacher briefly, giving me a chance to escape. I grabbed you and ran you out of there."
"Elena? Is she ok?"
"I left her with the Salvatore brothers at the school," Nik said after a moment's hesitation.
"Alaric, he didn't follow?"
"He doesn't have a daylight ring, so we have until sundown until he's free to roam the streets, but I don't think he'll be a problem."
"The nurse said something about a patient downstairs?"
"It's nothing to worry about."
"Is it Caroline? Did she get out?"
"She got out. I saw her on my way into the school."
"So who's the patient then?"
"You saved my life before," Nik said, changing the topic. "Thank you."
"How did I save you?" she asked.
"He was about to overpower me, I couldn't hold him off much longer. When he threw you off, it was one of the most terrifying moments of my life, watching you hit your head like that, but it gave me time."
"We should get out of town. Ric will come straight here."
"It'll be ok."
"Nik…"
"All I care about right now is your health. You were knocked out cold for an hour, Brenna. You need to rest… and shower, you're covered in blood."
"Where's Rebekah?"
"She fled town the second she saw the teacher was alive."
"We should go too. Nik, he'll kill us both. We can't stay here."
"You need to trust me, Brenna. We'll be fine."
"Is there a witch cloaking us or something?"
"No."
"Then how will we be safe? We're sitting ducks here, Nik."
"Do you trust me?"
"Of course."
"Then trust that we'll be ok."
Brenna nodded reluctantly. "I need you to swear something to me."
"What is it, love?"
"If Alaric gets a hold of me again. Don't come to save me. That's the only reason he wants me. He wants to use me to draw you all out. He'll slaughter you, Kol, Rebekah and Elijah the moment you come for me and then he'll just kill me anyway. You have to swear to me if he gets me, don't come. Don't let any of them come. He'll kill me and I'll just be reborn so what's the big deal."
"Love, don't think like that, I told you not to worry."
"I know, but it'd make me feel better if you promised."
"I wouldn't be able to stop Kol coming for you even if I wanted to. Have you heard from him?"
"I haven't spoken to him since this morning when he said he was getting on a plane. I had Caroline smash my phone so Alaric couldn't call Elijah on my phone. Help me up?" Brenna asked and Nik nodded, standing up and supporting her back as he helped her into a sitting position.
"How are you feeling?"
"Woozy. But I'm ok. I'm going to have a shower and get all this dried blood off me."
"Okay, I'll leave you to it, love. Do me a favour, when you're out, don't go wandering around the house. Just yell out for me ok?"
"Why?"
"I've just got a lot of boxes lying around. Might be a little dangerous for someone with a concussion."
"Right, right, yeah, that makes sense," Brenna nodded with a small smile, he was acting strangely. "Ok, get out and let me take a shower," she smiled as she slowly pulled her legs out of the bed.
"Are you sure you're ok love?" he asked as he watched her wince.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm good. Just a wicked headache," she smiled as she slowly stood up, pressing her hand to her temple.
"You're not going to fall in the shower are you?"
"No, trust me, I've hit my head worse than this before. I'll be fine Nik," she smiled.
"Alright, call out when you're done," he smiled before leaving the room.
After a long warm shower, Brenna got out of the shower and dressed in some fresh clothes from the wardrobe. She heard the door open and close behind her and she turned to see Tyler quietly enter the room. She tilted her head confused, and went to speak when he ran over to her and covered her mouth with his hand. He gently let go of her and held his finger to his lips and she nodded. He frowned and gently placed his hand on the side of her forehead, inspecting her injuries, only to quickly remove his hand when she flinched with pain. He looked frantically around the room before spotting her desk in the corner and he ran over to it, grabbed a pen and opened her notebook and began writing.
He's listening out for you, so we can't speak. The witch linked Alaric's life to Elena's. If Elena dies he does. Klaus has Elena downstairs, he's draining her blood to kill her.
Brenna's eyes went wide and her heart raced as she looked at Tyler in shock.
He thinks I'm still sired to him, I'm not. I have to get her out of here. He'll kill her.
Brenna grabbed the pen from him and wrote.
How can I help?
Tyler shook his head and took the pen back.
It's too dangerous. You're already hurt.
Brenna crossed her arms and glared at him until he relented. "Ok fine," he whispered. "Don't get in the way. We'll need to move her quickly. Hopefully, Stefan and Damon won't be too long. They said they were on their way."
Brenna nodded before sadly whispering. "He lied to me." Tyler grabbed her hand gently before jerking his head to start to move.
Tyler and Brenna crept down the stairs and into the drawing room. Brenna sucked in a breath as she took in the sight of her sister, tied down to a chair with a needle in one arm draining her blood. Tyler and Brenna both ran forward as quietly as they could, Tyler ran behind her and untied the rope at the back before racing over to one arm and untying that, whilst Brenna gently pulled the needle out of her arm.
"What are you doing?" Elena groggily groaned, she also thought Tyler was still sired.
"Shh," Tyler urged before he ran over to Brenna's side and undid the rope holding that arm in place.
"Tyler," Elena warned breathlessly. Tyler and Brenna followed her line of sight only to see Nik glowering in the corner.
"You weren't in your room. I got worried, only to come here and find you with my hybrid," Nik said to Brenna before turning to Tyler. "So much for that sire bond," he scowled.
"I'm not your little bitch anymore," Tyler snapped, stalking forward.
"How did you break the sire bond?" he asked as he walked towards Tyler.
"By breaking every bone in my body 100 times for the girl I love."
"Ouch," Brenna muttered quietly.
"That's impossible," Nik hissed.
"Is it? Or maybe real love is stronger than fake loyalty. But what would you know about that?"
"You know, you should be thanking me. I gave you a gift, I took away your misery."
"You didn't give a crap about me!" Tyler yelled. "You just didn't want to be alone." Tyler turned back to the twins and gently picked up Elena. "Come on Brenna," he ushered.
Before they could make a move, Nik ran at Tyler and shoved Elena out of his arms, causing her to fly across the room and land hard against the wooden outskirt of the fireplace. Brenna screamed as she watched her sister land. "Brenna, I'm…" Nik said as he reached out for her, but she shoved his arm away and ran towards her sister who was lying unconscious on the floor. "Oh my god, Elena! Wake up, wake up," she urged her unresponsive sister.
"Goodbye Tyler," she heard Nik say and turned to see he had slammed Tyler against the wall and was about to rip his heart out.
"NO!" Brenna yelled, causing Nik to momentarily flicker his eyes over to her. Tyler took advantage of this momentary lapse in concentration and snapped the arm Nik was using to hold him. Before Nik could make another move, Stefan and Damon appeared to help Tyler subdue Nik. Stefan plunged his hand into Nik's chest making him scream in agony. Brenna knew this couldn't kill him and she made no move to help him. She looked down at her sister and brushed the hair out of her face before looking up again to see Nik was desiccating. This must've been what they were trying to do to Alaric before. Nik was staring straight at Brenna and she looked away and back down to Elena, who was beginning to stir.
Damon saw Nik wasn't going anywhere and moved over to the girls, gently grabbing Elena's shoulders he helped her sit up. "Hey, you ok?" he asked her and she nodded. "Come on," he said as she started to stand. "Brenna, your head," he said, his eyes widening. He checked that Elena was stable on her feet before releasing his hold on her and moving over to Brenna.
"Bad Ric," she explained sadly.
"I'm so sorry," he said before gently pulling her in for a hug. He knew how important Ric had been to her. After a moment, Brenna released him and turned to watch the last seconds of Nik's desiccation. He was still watching her but she just shook her head at him as her eyes filled with tears.
Nik slowly collapsed to the floor and Stefan looked at the twins. "You both ok?" They nodded and he looked over to Damon. "Get them in the car. We need to get them home before the sun sets. We'll find a coffin to put him in and load him in the car. They need to sit down."
Damon nodded. "Let's go," he said gently to the two girls as he guided them to the car. On the way out, Brenna noticed Nik's phone sitting on a table and grabbed it. She'd need a new phone after today's events. When they got to the car Damon opened up the door to the backseat and helped them in. "You ok with what just happened Brenna?" he asked.
Brenna nodded, but she had to bite her lip to suppress tears. "It had to happen," she said sadly before groaning and resting her head against the headrest. "What happened to your neck?" Brenna asked her sister, noticing a huge slash across it.
"I figured out Esther linked my life to Ric's when I was trying to help you on the ground. I couldn't understand why he'd hurt you so bad but leave me. I found a decent bit of glass in the mess just after he knocked you out against the lockers. I told him if he didn't stop I'd kill myself. It was a gamble, I wasn't sure it would work. But it did. As soon as I started cutting myself he screamed at me to stop."
"Gamble paid off."
"Yeah," Elena groaned.
"How's your head?" Brenna asked.
"Well I figured my twin gets knocked out, then so do I," she laughed gently. "I'm so sorry Brea."
"It's not your fault."
"It is. I helped conspire to open that coffin that released Esther. It's my fault," she said and Brenna sat there quietly, she wasn't wrong.
They pulled up in front of the Gilbert house and Brenna and Elena got out of the car and made their way over to their house, closely followed by Stefan and Damon. Elena snickered. "You two are really going to walk us all the way to the door, aren't you?" she asked.
"You both lost a lot of blood today," Stefan reasoned.
"There's that and the fact that we know there's a crazy, alcoholic vampire who is just dying to get his hands on the both of you," Damon said in jest. "Sun's about to go down and Ric's going to be able to terrorise the streets any minute."
"He can't hurt me, it's you three that we should be worrying about," Elena said annoyed.
"Nah," Stefan dismissed. "He won't be able to find us. As long as you stay in the house, Brenna, you should be ok. I'd assume he's going to look at taking Klaus out before he comes for the rest of them, so if we can prevent that happening he might leave you alone."
Elena opened the door and walked into the house with Brenna behind her, Brenna turned to look at the Salvatore brothers waiting expectantly in the doorway, "I'll give you guys a minute," she said awkwardly walking up the stairs to her room. She pulled out Nik's phone and hovered over Elijah's name. She had to call him. He deserved to know. He would be the most understanding out of all the siblings, he would negotiate a good deal for everyone. Before she could dial, there was a knock at her door and Elena came in.
"Are you ok?"
"Yeah, it's all stitched up," she smiled.
"I wasn't talking about your head. I meant about Klaus."
"He's done so much damage, Elena. I love him so much, but he deserves to be neutralised for a while. He's done it to all his siblings, it's his turn. I promise I'm fine."
Elena smiled and pulled out her phone. "Jeremy needs help with dinner," she sighed. "Come on."
"That kid can't do anything. Useless," she joked as they made their way into the kitchen. When they got into the kitchen the twins both jumped in surprise. Jeremy didn't need help with dinner, it was a ruse. The kitchen was filled with their friends, Bonnie, Matt, Jeremy, Tyler and Caroline were all standing around laughing.
"What are you guys doing here?" Elena asked with a wide smile.
"Welcome to our victory party," Caroline said excitedly before looking over at Brenna cautiously. "Or wake, whatever you feel comfortable with," she said, making Brenna laugh.
"What victory?" Elena asked. "We failed, Alaric's still out there."
"Oh come on Elena," Brenna said nudging her sister and moving towards the kitchen bench. "Isn't it obvious?"
"We know," Bonnie smiled. "But we've been trying to get rid of Klaus forever and now that we've managed to get rid of him without actually killing him, it's a win all around," she said smiling at Brenna who smiled back. "Caroline convinced us to enjoy it, for a night."
"I spy tequila," Brenna said looking over at Tyler who was pouring shots.
"You spy right," he laughed.
"Put down the bottle," she demanded before she walked up to him and pulled him in for a hug. "I missed you so much," she sighed.
"I missed you too," he said.
Brenna pulled back and lightly slapped his arm. "You've run out on me twice now, let's not go for the third."
"Wouldn't dream of it," he smiled, handing her a shot.
"I'm a little disappointed none of you asked me to help take him down," Matt joked as he came and threw his arms around Brenna and Tyler's shoulders.
"Yeah, he would've taken you right down to the hospital, bro," Tyler mocked.
"Please, I'm more stealthy than that. I'm like a ninja," he laughed.
"Remember the other week when you woke me up because you walked into the wall? Yeah, some ninja you'd be," Brenna laughed and Matt smirked before gently placing his hand over her mouth.
"Give me your hand," Tyler said to Brenna and she lifted her hand and he dropped salt on it for the shots. "You should probably only have one. You hit your head I don't think it's good to drink," he smiled.
"Look at you being all responsible," Brenna laughed. "Who are you and what have you done to Ty?"
He smiled before walking off. "Your face looks like Frankenstein's monster," Matt smirked at Brenna and she laughed before gently elbowing him.
"Rude," she giggled.
"You look like you could do with some cheering up," he laughed.
"You know if I said that you'd beat me up," Jeremy complained from beside her.
"Yeah well, that's because if you said it, you'd mean it," Brenna glared at her brother.
"All right, let's drink," Caroline called out.
"Yes!" Brenna cheered.
"I do not condone this by the way," Elena said, eyeing her siblings.
"Brenna survived Alaric, you survived Klaus. Make an exception," Jeremy smiled. "You can go back to being responsible tomorrow."
"Responsible Elena always picks on us though," Brenna whined and Elena glared at her in amusement.
"Ok," Elena agreed.
Brenna leant over to Jeremy and whispered. "We really shouldn't tell her about drinking last night."
"Agreed," he whispered back.
"Hang on," Tyler interrupted before people could drink. "Do you guys hear that?" Everyone looked around, not sure what he was talking about. "That is the sound of a Klaus-free life."
Everyone laughed. "To a Klaus-free life," Elena agreed, raising her glass. "And to all of you. My family."
"Cheers," everyone called out, clinking glasses before downing their drinks.
"Hey," Caroline said gently pulling Brenna to the side. "You're not still going to leave town are you?" she asked and Brenna tilted her head, confused as to how she knew. "Klaus told me at the dance."
"No," Brenna answered. "I was going to, but Ric, the real Ric, he made me promise to finish school and stay in town until then, so that's what I'm going to do," she smiled. "He left the deed to his apartment to me so I could stay there with Kol and feel safe."
"That's really nice of him."
"Yeah, it was."
"Where is Kol?"
"He went to go talk to some witches in Prague. He got on a plane home this morning so he should land in a few hours. I just have to make sure he doesn't come to Mystic Falls," she said sadly.
"I'm sorry," Caroline said placing her hand on Brenna's arm.
After a couple of hours, everyone had cleared out and the Gilbert siblings had just finished cleaning up. "Should we do some more painting?" Elena asked.
Jeremy and Brenna just looked at her incredulously before bursting into laughter.
"What?" Elena asked.
"Are you serious?" Jeremy asked.
"Yeah."
"Elena, do you even remember the day that we had?" Brenna laughed. "I think we've got the go-ahead to have a chill night. Pop on a movie maybe?" she suggested. Elena just looked at the two of them with puppy dog eyes. "Fine, we can paint," Brenna gave in and Jeremy groaned.
"Thank you," Elena smiled.
"Seriously, it's not even fun. This is why we don't let you paint. When we were 15 remember, you insisted on painting everyone's bedrooms and the whole place stank so much we had to split up and stay at different people's houses?"
Elena smiled at the memory. "Well lucky for you it's only one room this time."
"Alright, I'll meet you guys up there. I'm just going to check under my bandage," Brenna rolled her eyes as she walked over to the medicine cabinet.
"You need help?" Jeremy offered, desperately trying to delay helping their sister.
"Nope," Brenna laughed and Jeremy groaned before he headed upstairs.
"Hey, hey," Caroline said running through the front door. "Sorry, it's just me. I left my phone," she said grabbing it off of the dining table.
"Here, I'll walk you out," Elena said as she walked with Caroline.
When Brenna heard the door close and knew Caroline was out of hearing range, she pulled out Nik's phone and called Elijah.
"Niklaus," Elijah greeted.
"Not quite," Brenna replied.
"Brenna. I haven't heard from you in a while. Why do you have Niklaus' phone?"
"Esther destroyed my phone last night and then Caroline crushed my phone earlier so Alaric couldn't use it."
"Yes, Niklaus did fill me in on the history teacher problem. Why were you with him? Were you injured?"
"Not badly. I'll be fine, just classic, slow human healing is all. Elijah, they desiccated Nik. Elena's life is connected to Alaric's. If she dies, so does he. Nik found out and tried to kill her so the Salvatores managed to desiccate him using magic. They're going to dump his body in the Atlantic or something. I thought you might like to put your excellent negotiation skills to use."
"Well," he sighed, "it sounds like you've had an interesting day. I'm about 2 hours away. I'll start driving now. I promise I'll get Niklaus back."
"Elijah… she's my sister. No matter what she's done, she's still my sister. She can't…"
"I know. I understand. I'll consult with Rebekah and Kol, they will both know you won't want her harmed. She should be safe from them but I'll get their word on it. I'll be there soon. Stay safe Brenna."
"I will, Elijah, make sure you stay hidden ok? Alaric almost got to Nik, he's strong, too strong. Don't be seen."
"I will be discrete. I'll see you soon."
"Bye," Brenna said hanging up before she quickly called Kol's phone only to get his voicemail. "Hey, I know you're still on the flight, I'm hoping you get this when you land. Don't come to Mystic Falls. Alaric is still alive and he's strong. You need to stay out of town. I'm ok, I'm in a house he hasn't been invited into. He won't come for me unless he suspects you're nearby, so trust me, please. Stay in a hotel, don't attract attention. Just call me when you get this ok, I love you," she said before realising she was calling from Nik's phone. "Oh yeah, this is Brenna, by the way, not Nik, call me back on this phone," she said hanging up.
Just as she hung up she heard yelling from upstairs, Jeremy was yelling, "Brea! BREA! Help! Get up here!"
"Jeremy?" Brenna yelled before she started running. "Jeremy! Are you ok?" she yelled as she got to the top of the stairs.
"It's Elena!" he yelled panicked as she ran into Ric's old room.
"Oh my god!" Brenna gasped, freezing when she saw Elena lying unconscious on the floor with blood flowing out of her nose. "Oh my god," she said running to Elena. "Call 911!"