Vulnerable § Klaus Mikaelson

47

edited chapter

Chapter 47: Key to the Cure

{K. M}

"Could you be a little more specific about the tattoo? I get it's a map, but to what?"

Klaus acknowledged his girlfriend, shifting in his cushioned seat to stay comfortable. "Rebekah's suitor was unwilling to tell us anything about hunters and their purpose besides killing vampires. However, Rebekah was more than willing to investigate."

Three sets of eyes shifted over to the blonde who avoided the gesture, her lips pouted as Klaus continued and subtly picked on her. "He told her that in order to read the symbols on the map, we needed a sword that belonged to a hunter. Alexander and his brothers put us to sleep that night, using the dagger dipped in white oak ash when my little sister got a little too comfortable."

"How was I supposed to know?" Rebekah sensed her brothers hostility when explaining the first time their family experienced the feeling of being dagger and in a comatose state.

Klaus took a sip of his wine, holding eye contact with her. "Cheers. To my sisters uncanny ability to choose men."

Stefan ignored the sibling rivalry, having his fair share of arguments with his own blood. "I thought that the daggers couldn't work on you because of your werewolf gene."

"They don't." On Klaus' lips, a smirk formed. "—but Alexander didn't stay long enough to make sure I was really dead. I pulled the dagger out and after undaggering my siblings, I followed him back to his home. I found Rebekah in the same way as the rest. Daggered and hopeless. I was go angry at him, reveling in his work, I ripped his tongue out of his mouth and used his own sword to hang him on the wall. I left him there until Rebekah woke."

        "Nik—"

        "I know my little sister, perhaps more than I care to admit, so I knew that the reason why our family was almost extinguished was because of something that hunter promised her. He wouldn't have made a move unless she was vulnerable, and trusted him. She chose him, over me." Klaus growled, his face cold and stony. "Over our family, because he promised her something she couldn't pass up." As he continued, his voice grew louder and louder, holding betrayal and anger. "Go on, Rebekah. Tell her what the hunters mark leads to. The great weapon that can bring about the end of the entire vampire species."

She stayed quiet, her bare arms crossed over her chest, as guilt and want plagued her eyes. "A cure. He said there was a cure."

Dakota gasped slightly, wonder clear on her face. "That's not possible. There isn't a cure for vampirism."

Klaus left the table, the remaining three getting up to follow. "If there was, you would've searched for it. Found it. Why didn't you?" Stefan shouts.

"Because—" The Original poured himself a glass of whiskey. "—when the hunter breathed their final breath that night, the marks disappeared from their body."

"The map was gone."

Klaus praised Dakota's assumption with a nod. "The brotherhood of the Five, extinct. For nine hundred years, there was not a whisper of another hunter until our friend showed up in town."

Rebekah stepped closer and sighed. "Well, now we have the map. What do we do next?"

"We don't do anything. You can't be trusted, Rebekah. You'll be blabbing this secret to the first boy who called you pretty." Dakota smacked Klaus' side lightly, only receiving an innocent laugh in return. "I mean, it's pathetic, really. How she continues to hand her heart over to any man who shows her the slightest hint of affection. You think show would've learned from the endless cycle of disappointment and deception."

"But I haven't, clearly," The blonde retorts. "Instead, I stay with you and let you leech every moment of happiness from my life." Rebekah paused, recognition passing over her face. "You want he cure for Elena. So you can go back to mass producing your hybrids. You have a girlfriend now, Nik. Dakota, a woman who loves you so strongly that when she mourned your death, it made people think that when you weren't being an ass, you were worthy of her precious time. You know what, you can shove your cure."

Dakota slowly turned to face him after the door slammed shut. "Was that necessary?"

He shrugged. "I need to know where that sword is, Stefan. She'll tell you now."

"How do you know?"

Klaus smirked. "She's emotional and in need of comfort, I'm sure you can figure something out."

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          Klaus waited three hours before Stefan sent him a text explaining how he found Rebekah and how they were talking about her past. It took three minutes to make it to the Salvatore Boarding house and even less time to sneak in and listen from behind a wall.

          In Rebekah's moment of reminiscing, she had unknowingly told Stefan where she buried Alexander. "—but that's what you wanted to know, isn't it? Because I buried him with his sword."

          Stefan's green orbs welled up with tears, feeling guilty for betraying the blonde. "Rebekah, I'm sorry. But Elena really needs that cure."

          Klaus stepped out, holding the dagger and jar of white oak ash in both hands. After dipping the blade, he walked towards his little sister. "Go ahead. Laugh at the girl who loved too easily, but at least I can love."

          "I know what love is, Rebekah." The hybrid gritted out from between his teeth. The blows that Rebekah was sending about his ability to love was insulting. "I've felt love, I'm in love this very moment, but I am still right. Loving makes you strong, and although you're emotionally vulnerable, if you're with the right person, I could never be more strong."

          By now, Klaus was teasing Rebekah, the dagger touching the tip of her chest. "I don't care Nik, do it. Look me in the eye, and do it you coward."

          A tear fell down his face as his hand moved forward to push the dagger into her chest. Her skin turned grey, her veins growing dark as she took her last breath, and her heart stopped beating.