After Hope woke up in transition, Klaus Mikaelson's gray skin started regaining the color as his veins became less visible. Finally, he gasped awake and immediately got up, using enhanced speed. He looked around in alert and realized he was still in his art room, his paintbrush on the ground, hardened paint on the bristles and splashed paint where it had landed.
Fear and anger washed over him, and he knocked over his canvas in frustration. His expression faltered a little at the sight of the fallen painting that depicted Hope since he wasn't sure he would see her again until she was born. His first thought of who could have caused this was Stefan as he headed out of his art room, more determined to find answers about what had caused him to desiccate than worrying about his artwork. Except Stefan didn't have a way to desiccate Klaus that quickly unless a spell was involved. When the feeling had started inside of him, the hybrid had felt as though he was dying. While the Bennett witch had tried to kill him before and could desiccate him, he wasn't sure she would be able to unless she was close to him.
Someone was plotting against him. And whoever it was would have hell to pay for it.
When Klaus reached the foot of the stairs, he saw Elijah come inside the house, covered in dirt. He did not look happy at all. "What happened to you?" Klaus questioned incredulously, momentarily distracted by his current problems at the state of his favorite brother.
"I was at Elena Gilbert's house. Something went wrong, and it felt as though I was dying. And then I needed to dig myself out of my own grave." Elijah explained as he looked at the hybrid.
"Elena Gilbert's house?" Klaus questioned, frowning, suddenly wondering if perhaps she was the culprit behind what happened. But then another thought came to mind. "I felt as though I was dying as well. Whatever happened to you, it happened to me too"
"And me three" a very familiar voice said from across the room. Rebekah had just walked in through the backdoor. She plucked a piece of grass out of her hair and dropped it on the ground, not caring about grass being inside the house when her brother was already dirtying the house, covered in soil. "I was out feeding on a local. trying to sort out some thoughts, and suddenly I was desiccating. It was almost as though you had daggered me again, Niklaus. A feeling we are all too familiar with" She scowled, taking advantage of the opportunity to show how unhappy with Klaus she currently was. "Except instead of being daggered, it was death."
"And yet here we are" Elijah said thoughtfully. "Which brings about the questions of who caused what happened, if it happened to Kol and Finn as well, and how we are alive"
Klaus looked around, listening for anyone else. The entire mansion was empty beyond the three of them. The same three Mikaelsons that had made the promises of Always and Forever a thousand years before. The same three that spent time together more than the rest of the Mikaelsons with Klaus, though perhaps that was due to Klaus' continuous decisions to dagger his younger brother for long periods of time and keep his eldest brother daggered in a box for a very long time. At the thought of his eldest brother, Klaus spoke again, "Where are Mother and Finn?" Kol, Klaus expected, was off enjoying himself when he temporarily died, but his mother and the brother who he knew truly hated him were his concern.
"I'm not sure. They left earlier, while you were painting. I didn't ask what they were doing" Rebekah said.
Elijah was silent for a moment. They all were. But when the eldest of the three spoke again, his expression was concerned. "Elena Gilbert was hiding something from me in regards to the conversation we were having about if mother was up to anything. She wanted to speak to the doppelganger alone, and Elena wasn't very convincing when she told me that everything was alright."
"You think mother did this?" Rebekah questioned, looking at Elijah with a small frown, not really wanting to believe the mother that turned them so many years ago to protect them would want to kill them.
Klaus was silent, but his mind was racing. Rebekah, Elijah, and Klaus hadn't been together when they all temporarily died. It wasn't far of a leap to assume the same thing had happened to Finn and Kol as well if they were all connected. Anger washed over him once more, and he wanted to make his mother suffer, but then a thought occurred to him that sent fear through him. A fear that wasn't for himself but for someone else. Hope. Hope who wasn't an Original Vampire like they were, and Klaus wasn't sure if she could have managed to survive that like they did, if vampire blood inside her saved her or if she was dead. Suddenly, at the mere concept of his daughter, whom he had only known for a short time, being dead, a blinding rage flooded his vision, focused on one individual, his mother. If Hope was dead because of her, he wanted to tear her apart, to do far more damage to Esther than he had done the first time he had killed her. He didn't care that his siblings had been upset with him for killing her the first time. This was different. She had tried killing all of them. She had potentially succeeded in killing his daughter. All he knew was that he wanted to make her pay.
Elijah and Rebekah saw Klaus' expression as it shifted to blinding rage, and Elijah opened his mouth to try to calm his brother, whilst Rebekah was worried about what her brother would do. However, before the older of the three Mikaelsons in the room could speak, Klaus was gone.
Shortly after the news of the red sky in New Orleans, Stefan left the Gilbert household, trying to see if he could find out more about the reason they were all still alive. Were the Mikaelsons dead and Esther lying? Or perhaps somehow they had evaded death once again. Damon, with similar concerns, stayed at Elena's house, wanting to be there in case anyone showed up at her house asking questions.
"You don't have to stay with me, you know" Elena said as she carried the glasses over to the sink and started washing them. Damon walked over to her and stood on the other half of the sink, taking one of the glasses and helping her wash the dishes. "I know you're still here to be my bodyguard in case they are still around"
"Yes" Damon admitted after a moment, "but I am also here as your friend. And I thought I was going to die but by some miracle we are still here, probably because the Mikaelsons might still be alive, but either way, I'm enjoying the fact I still get to see you."
"I'm glad I get to see you too" Elena said, her voice a whisper as she slowly turned to face the older Salvatore, unable to even put into words just how happy she was that they didn't die. "I really thought I was going to lose you. All of you."
"I know" Damon said, not even noticing as he put his hand on her cheek. Elena relaxed against his hand and looked as though she was about to say something. "What is it?"
"I-We need to talk about what I said before. When I thought you were both going to die" Elena said.
Damon was silent for a long moment. "If you're going to retract it, tell me now. And we can forget it ever happened, even though I don't want to."
"I don't want to take it back. I mean... part of me does because I'm terrified of what's coming next, of what could change, but I said what I said. And its time to live with the consequences" she said, her gaze lowering to his lips for a moment. If she was being honest, she had a bit too much of Damon's bourbon. Just a little bit. She wasn't drunk, but she did feel a small buzz from the alcohol, the same buzz that had caused her confession to spill out from her mouth just an hour before. Her hand moved up to his that was still resting on her cheek, and she held it, not pulling it down. Her thumb ran over the back of his hand, and she breathed out slowly, overwhelmed by the emotions she was feeling at the moment. The unshakable pull she felt towards Damon even though her mind was trying to convince her otherwise. Even though she knew a relationship with him was risky. That it would change everything. In this moment, she didn't care.
"And what kind of consequences do you want to live with?" Damon asked her. He wasn't sure if he could take it if she chose him and then later went back to his brother.
Elena stepped closer to him, and Damon's head lowered down to hers, but he didn't move further. She needed to be the one to make the move this time. She tilted her head up automatically, but before their lips could meet, the phone rang. Elena pulled quickly away from him the sound of his phone, and Damon let out a small sigh, stepping away from her.
He walked out of her kitchen and answered his phone, forcing himself to concentrate on the call rather than what had nearly occurred. "Hello?" He was silent as he listened to the other end of the phone, and Elena wished that she had super hearing to be able to hear what was going on, what was said on the other line. "Wait- what? I'm on my way." He hung up his phone and turned to leave.
"Wait- Damon, what's going on?" Elena questioned, quickly following after him. When he didn't reply and shrugged on his leather jacket, she pressed further. "Damon?"
"It's nothing you need to worry about. I'll handle it" Damon said, turning the knob and starting to open the door.
Elena put her hand on the door, stopping him from opening it further, even though he could, and she stepped in the way. "I deserve to know, Damon. If its about anyone I care about, I have to know."
"I know you care about everyone and want to help them, but we have enough to worry about with the Mikaelsons potentially not being dead anymore. Stay inside the house. Keep your phone close, and if any of them show up, call me." Damon said.
"Damon" Elena said as Damon, started trying to open the door moor, causing her hand to drop, but she stood defiantly in the doorwau. "I'm serious. Tell me, whats going on." When he still didn't say anything, her expression softened, and she said "Please."
Finally, Damon let out a sigh. "Ric is in jail. They arrested him an hour after I left him to come see you. Liz called to give me a heads up"
"Jail? What- why? It doesn't make sense. He hasn't done anything wrong." Elena said, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion.
"People have been dying. The murder weapon is from Ric's stash. I'm guessing that was enough."
" Are they forgetting the part where Ric was a victim? He nearly died. If it wasn't for Hope, he would have." Elena eyes were wide. "I'm coming with you."
"No, you're staying here."
"He's the closest thing Jeremy and I have to a father. Damn it, Damon, I'm coming." she snapped, looking at him with a determined expression on her face.
Finally, the older Salvatore let out a sigh and nodded in agreement, and he and Elena headed to the local jail so that they can figure out what was going on. Once they arrived and reached the building, Damon turned and stepped in front of Elena, who looked at him in confusion.
"Damon, move out of my way" Elena said, looking at the older Salvatore, trying to step around him but failing to succeed because he moved as well. "What are you doing?"
"Let me go in alone. She called me, not you. I'll try to get this sorted out. Just stay here."
Elena watched him for a moment. "Alright, fine," she agreed, "but tell me everything once you get back out here. I mean it, Damon. Everything."
"Alright, fine. Stay here" Damon said before heading inside.
Elena watched him enter the building with a small frown before she pulled out her phone and messaged Bonnie and Caroline to let them know what happened with Ric. Bonnie wasn't responding, which Elena knew she might be caught up with her witch stuff. But Caroline replied quickly, sending questions faster than Elena could text. None of which Elena could really answer, so she just let her blonde vampire friend know that she would let her know once she knew anything.
Eventually, the older Salvatore brother walked outside of the police station, and Elena straightened up from the wall she had been leaning on while waiting, and she quickly followed after him towards the car. "So what happened in there?"
"Ric's fine. Sheriff wants me to stay out of it," Damon explained.
"But you're not going to. Are you?" Elena questioned, knowing how much Damon and Alaric were friends, despite anything that ended up happening between them.
The vampire kept walking past her, not even looking over at her. "Seems just as good a plan as any."
"Your friend's in jail for murder. You have to do something."
"Well, I guess I could rip out Dr. False Accusation's throat. Maybe her tongue," he said. "You know, I could chew it up into little tiny pieces and feed it to the squirrels." He mimed chewing like a squirrel.
She wasn't amused. "Stop it, Damon!"
"Guess me staying out of it suddenly sounds like a good idea, doesn't it?" Damon commented bitterly, thinking of how she had pulled away from their near kiss so quickly. How she seemed relieved by the sudden interruption like she was grateful something had prevented her from kissing him. He didn't want her acting like he was someone he wasn't, and his walls were shutting down defensively, despite the fact her words before had already hooked themselves deeply into his heart.
"Don't do that. Don't push me away. Don't push everyone away. If you do that, you're going to end up alone, and I don't want that" The doppelganger rushed in front of him and grabbed his arm, keeping him from pulling away since she knew he wouldn't forcefully make her let go, not with the grip she was holding to keep her from letting go.
He wasn't looking down at her when he said "Let go of me."
"Damon, look at me" she said softly, staring up at him. The vampire lowered his gaze down to meet her eyes. He didn't say a word, feeling a mixture of emotions: closed off so he wouldn't have to get as easily hurt by her and she wouldn't have to see it, fear that she would choose his brother, and love because despite him choosing to act a bit like a dick when his walls are moving back up, he loved her more than he could put into words. "Why are you acting like this?"
"Like what? A vampire?"
"No, we nearly kissed and now you're bringing back up your walls, and I don't understand why." Elena said. It didn't make sense to her. She had seen Damon looking so raw and vulnerable when she was about to kiss him, but now it felt as though he was closed off from everything, even though she knew it was just a show. But this was exactly why dating him would be a bad idea. It was one of the main reasons she kept burying her feelings down. "I don't think I did anything that might have upset you"
"We can talk about this later. I've got some research I need to do about the last time this was happening," Damon said. " Come on, I'll drive you back home. "
Elena shook her head. " I'm going out for a run. I need to clear my head."
"that's not exactly the safest decision" he pointed out.
"I'll be fine. Go get your research done. We'll talk about this and about Ric later" Elena said before pulling her hair up in a ponytail and starting to jog.
When Damon had clearly driven off, the Gilbert slowed to a stop and pulled out her phone and sent a text to Matt, telling him she needed his help and told him where to meet her. She chose Matt because she both knew he wouldn't stop her from doing what she wanted to do and he could enter without needing an invitation. They were going to sneak into Meredith Fell's apartment and get some answers, to see if she was framing Alaric.
It took Klaus a bit before he finally located his mother and Finn in the woods on the other side of town. Finn was suggesting they leave town to try to finish their plans. The Original Hybrid was furious when he saw them conspiring against them and even more so at the implications that this was indeed not only his mother's fault but his eldest brother's as well. Did Finn truly hate him this much? The mere thought pained Klaus and intensified his anger. He sped forward before he had the time to come up with an actual plan, ready to kill his mother for a second time, but before he was able to, his body flew backward into a tree as his mother turned to him, and excruciating pain filled his body. He yelled out and shoved himself off of the branch with difficulty before collapsing to the ground. His werewolf eyes glowed gold, and he looked up at his traitorous family members, struggling to stay even on his hands and knees with the searing pain radiating through his body.
Finally, the hybrid crumbled fully to the ground and the pain ceased. He gasped in relief as the pain stopped, despite enduring worse than this in the past, and he looked up at Esther and Finn, anger and tears of betrayal burning in his eyes. "Why?" It was only one word, but his voice was cracked, showing the pain in his eyes slowly
"You left me in a coffin for 900 years, Niklaus, daggered. Do you have any idea what that is like?" Finn questioned furiously, glaring at his brother as the memories that would never fade were immediately fresh on the surface. "At first, its like a deep dreamless sleep. But over the centuries, consciousness slowly returns and its as though you are awake again but unable to move at all, remaining desiccated, lifeless, but always constantly aware of your surroundings. And if it wasn't for the fact that we are all abominations that should not exist, I would have searched for a way to make you endure the same hell you forced upon me for nearly a thousand years."
Klaus was grateful for the long speech, despite hating the words being said. It was buying him time to recover more and prepare for yet another action against them. "We are not all abominations. You tried to kill all of us. Yourself included. I know I've prevented you from finding a way to get more accustomed to being a vampire, but it is not as horrible as you and our mother seem to believe it to be."
"You say that, Niklaus, but you yourself have killed countless people, continued to make others suffer and even more generations to suffer as a result of your behavior the past a thousand years. It is not only you. Every vampire has hurt someone, and all of the blood spilled is on my hands for creating such a species. It must end. Every vampire in existence must perish" Esther said, looking at her son.
"What about my daughter? Hope? Was she bound to the spell just as I was?" the hybrid hated having to ask, but he needed to know if his only daughter had perished in the events that had unfolded against the Mikaelson family and the vampire population as a whole.
"I needn't have bound her to the spell at all because if you die, so shall she. But I couldn't risk the possibility of her not disappearing from existence. Yes, she was a part of the binding spell. Though I am unsure of if she died and did not return like the rest of you or if she was the source of my failure and came back as humans do with vampire blood coursing through their veins" Esther explained.
'You don't know if she's dead or not." Klaus said quietly, both afraid that someone would find her dead and utterly relieved it wasn't confirmed, that there was still a possibility she was out there somewhere. Confused about what had happened to her but living life fully the way she was meant to.
"No. Though considering all of you are bound as one, I assume she survived as well. But not for long. Soon enough all of you will be dead."
At the mere thought of Esther succeeding in killing him and his daughter and his siblings again, Klaus was up in an instant at a speed too quickly to be viewed by the human eye. He pinned Esther to a tree before she could even utter a spell, and he choked her, forgetting for a moment, in his blinded-by-anger focus, about his brother that, too, played a large role in the events that had occurred and that they were planning ot have a more final occurrance once squeezed on her throat, all too ready to kill her once more. "You would think having a grandchild would change your views on our family. On what we are. Even if it wasn't by much. But you're still the same heartless woman that bound my werewolf side a thousand years ago. There was a time you were a good mother, but that ended the moment that you turned us into vampires and then hated what you created rather than loving us and treating us as the family you had tried so hard to protect by turning us into this."
Esther gasped for air that couldn't get into her lungs. She could feel her body growing a bit weaker, but her eldest son finally made his move and snapped the neck of his brother. Klaus fell to the ground, temporarily motionless. "We should go" Finn said, grabbing hold of his mother's arm. "Before he wakes up." He used vampire speed to get them out of town for the time being, not wanting her to end up getting killed by his wrathful brother.
After a short detour to the hospital, Matt and Elena went to Meredith's appartment and began searching for any evidence she didn't hand over, anything to prove it was Meredith doing these killings and not Alaric. Elena HAD to get Ric out of jail and out of this mess he was currently in. He was family even though they weren't biologically related. And she had been the one to drag him back in to everything when he wanted to quit. She owed him this.
"You're sure it's her we should be investigating?" Matt couldn't help asking as he looked around the apartment that he had broken into.
The doppelganger turned her head to look at her childhood best friend, wanting to make sure he took her seriously when she spoke next."I know him, Matt. He's innocent. And I know that Meredith's a Fell, founding family. Which means... " She opened the closet door and looked inside, searching for anything that was likely to contain some incriminating evidence. She turned on the light and continued searching until she found a hidden panel at the back of the closet. She knocked on it. It was hollow. "Skeletons in the closet. There's got to be something in there that is what we are looking for."
Matt followed her inside and pulled out the panel. He took out the cardboard box, and they both began digging through the folders inside. Elena frowned as she saw names she recognized on the names of the folders. "Brian Walters. Bill Forbes." she said, focusing on the names that had been the victims killed by the mysterious murderer.
Matt pulled out a file and showed her. "Alaric Saltzman."
Elena took the folder and began flipping through it, furrowing her eyebrows a little as she saw everything Meredith kept records of. "She's got his medical records, old court documents, and more." She finally set it down continued riffling through the box, spotting a small piece of paper folded up on the side. She pulled it out and looked down at it, skimming what she said as Matt opened up a journal. She shoved the small piece of paper into her jacket pocket as Matt spoke up.
"This is an old Gilbert journal. Why does she have one of your old family journals in her closet?" Matt questioned.
"I- I don't know" Elena said, taking it from him and flipping through it as he pulled out another file.
"Didn't you say the medical examiner's time of death was between one and three am? The county coroner's office says that's wrong" Matt said, looking down at a paper and passing it to Elena. He took the journal from her as she looked over it, and he put the journal back in the box. "What did you put in your pocket? Is it smart to take anything out of here? She'll know."
"I wouldn't if it was about anyone else" Elena said. "I'll talk to you about it later. Right now, we need to-" She stopped short as footsteps were approaching the apartment. "Oh my God." The two quickly scrambled to put stuff back in the box and turned off the light, trying to hide. Elena's heart pounded a bit as she kept quiet, not wanting to risk Meredith realizing they were there. When it sounded as though Meredith was gone, Elena let out a breath of relief and turned the light back on. When Matt opened the closet door, Meredith was standing there, clearly displeased.
While Stefan was home after getting his confirmation that the Mikaelsons were alive, he sat at his desk, pondering what to do as he flipped through his book from the 1920s, trying to ignore the regret he was feeling for everything he had done. It was easy to fill in the blanks in the diary with his compelled back memories. He was trying to decide the best way to eliminate the Mikaelsons without risking the lives of himself and every other vampire. Stefan had killed so many people in the past. He wasn't going to be responsible for killing an entire sireline of vampires, especially since he didn't know where his own originated.
"Wow. It took you all of five minutes to get back to working on your journals" A familiar voice said from the doorway. He didn't even have to look up to know it was Katherine who had made a sudden appearance in his bedroom.
"What are you doing here? I haven't seen you since-" Stefan started but she interrupted before he could finish speaking.
"-since you just walked out of the motel room?" Katherine questioned. "I'm over it. I've been doing research on Hope and staying away from Mikaelson business in town. I only came back when I heard they were dead. But it didn't take long for that to be proven false and now I'm headed out again."
"Do you ever get tired of looking over your shoulder for Klaus? You know he probably doesn't give a crap where you are. He's just messing with you." Stefan pointed out as he turned the page in his journal, uninterested in what she was doing here and wanting her to leave before he found himself feeling guilty about what happened there as well.
" I'm not taking that chance. I'd much rather be in Paris than this small town anyways. You've got nothing to do here. The malls are horrible" Katherine pointed out. "The only reason I've been here since Klaus broke his curse was to keep an eye on you two idiots that seem keen on getting yourselves killed to protect my boring doppelganger, Elena. "
"And I repeat, what are you doing here? If you want to be in Paris, just tell me what you want to tell me and go" he pointed out.
"Fine. Hope is from the future-" Katherine began.
"That's old news. She's Klaus' daughter and supposedly only exists because he can have evil spawns when he is no longer just a vampire"
"And she's extremely powerful. More powerful than anyone else in the world. Which means either she can be useful to have on your side. But she really is deadly to have as an enemy. If she comes back to Mystic Falls, you're going to need to be careful and smart about what you do when she shows up. Well, unless you'd like another Salvatore to be kept in the Salvatore Crypt. Whether it's you or Damon, it doesn't really matter. I suggest you stay clear of her. It's just better that way."
Stefan was silent as he listened to her, heeding her warning but also still focused on the problems at hand that he wasn't sure he cared if he died. It'd probably be for the best anyways. So he didn't become that monster again. But despite his many issues with his brother, he knew he needed to make sure Damon survived this.
"There's one other thing. One of my witch contacts told me that something is brewing. Something dangerous. I don't even think they knew what it was, but whatever it is, it can't be good" Katherine said. "If it does lead back to this town like everything seems to, then good luck. And don't get yourself killed"
And with that, Katherine was gone.
Soon enough, Damon arrived and headed to the library to start working on figuring some things out, but before he had the chance, his brother entered the room and filled him in on the unexpected house guest. Katherine Pierce.
"So you're telling me, Katherine came and went with just a vague cryptic warning about something brewing when something is always brewing? You'd think with her contacts that she could pick upsomethingmore useful to tell us. Maybe a bit at what that something could possibly be. As if we don't have enough to deal with: the murders and the Mikaelsons not being dead and Elena out to put herself in every possible danger. If you're going to go out and bang your ex, you might as well get something out of it besides the sex" Damon said, downing the last of his glass of bourbon.
"I didn't have sex with her this time" Stefan rolled his eyes as he looked at his brother, who always seemed to know the right ways to just get on his nerves. Talking about his hookups with Katherine was the last thing he wanted to do. Right now they needed to focus on finding a way to stop the Mikaelsons without dying and figure out who it was that had been killing people so that they don't come for Elena next.
Damon picked up a bottle of whiskey and started pouring it in his glass when suddenly everything started shaking, and the bottle of whiskey shook as well, getting his bourbon on the couch. The older Salvatore groaned as he stopped the alcohol from pouring out. "Not on the couch" he complained as he looked around, trying to figure out what could be causing what felt like an earthquake.
"What's going on?" Stefan questioned as he looked around as well.
Damon looked at him incredulously. "i don't have any idea. I doubt its an earthquake. It's probably magic related. Beyond that, I've got no clue what is going on or who is causing it."
Stefan opened his mouth to retort when suddenly a bright light flashed in the center of their library, and three teenagers appeared, two girls and one boy.
The blonde girl sighed. "Well, that was a bust" she said.
"I don't think so" The curly haired boy said as his gaze landed on Stefan and Damon. "But I don't think it worked exactly right either."
"Damon?" The word was out of the other girl's mouth before she had to stop it, clearly recognizing the Salvatores.
"And who the hell are you?" Damon demanded.