Thunderstorm

The New Deal

Walking through the woods, Aspen comes along the abandoned witch house. She slowly walks inside where she begins to hear indistinct whispers. She goes down a hall as the whispers get louder and she heads down into the basement. Arriving she sees 4 coffins sitting in the room and she goes over to where one is positioned higher than the others. Opening the coffin she sees Klaus laying inside with the original witch necklace around his hand. She goes to grab it but a hinge squeaks behind her, making her gasp which ultimately wakes her up and she pants for breaths.

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Elena: "I think I'm going crazy. I'm totally paranoid all the time."

Bonnie: "You have a right to be. Klaus is sill out there, and he knows you tried to kill him."

Elena: "Why hasn't he made a move? There's been no sign of him, nothing. Just my slow spiral into insanity."

Aspen: "Join the club. Every time I close my eyes, I have that nightmare on repeat."

Elena: "The same dream?"

Aspen: "Yeah. 4 coffins. Klaus is in one of them. It's weird."

Bonnie: "What if it's not just...some dream? What if it's, like, you know, a witch dream?"

Aspen: "It's just stress. I'll figure it out." she shrugs, waving them off

Bonnie: "What about Stefan? Has there been any sign of him."

Elena: "He betrayed us, Bonnie" she shakes her head "The Stefan that we know is gone."

Bonnie: "How is Damon handling that?"

Elena: "Damon is...Damon." they look over at where Damon is sitting at the bar with Alaric, surrounding by alcohol bottles

Aspen: "Yeah well, I'd take any version of Stefan as opposed to Damon."

Elena: "You still mad at him?"

Aspen: "He knocked me out and tried to get Mikael to kill my mother. And you wanna know what his apology was. "Well she didn't die did she?" she shakes her head with a scoff

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Klaus: "Don't mind me." his voice calls out from behind where Elena and Damon are standing by the dart board

Elena: "Klaus." she breathes and he smiles at the scared look that comes over her face

Damon: "You going to do this in the grill, in front of everyone? It's a little beneath you, don't you think?"

Klaus: "I don't know what you're talking about. I just came down to my local pub to grab a drink with a mate. Get a round, then, would you, Tony?" he nods to the man who Elena instantly recognizes from her morning run and Klaus smirks

Damon: "I'm surprised you stuck around town. Long enough for happy hour."

Klaus: "My sister seems to be missing. Need to sort that out."

Damon: "Cute, blonde bombshell, psycho. Shouldn't be too hard to find."

Klaus: "Truth is, I've grown to rather like your little town. Thinking I might fancy a home here" he moves forward, taking the dart from Damon's hand and moving to stand in front of the board "I imagine you're wondering how does this affect you. And the answer is, not in the slightest. As long as I get what I want, and everyone behaves themselves, you can go on living your little lives however you choose. You have my word."

Elena: "What more could you possibly want?"

Klaus: "Well, for starters, you can tell me where I might find Stefan." he points the sharp end at her and Damon steps forward