Reputation | N.M

26 - plotting

"Go ahead, Rebekah, tell him. Tell him what the hunter told you the tattoo leads to. What's this great weapon that could bring about the end of the vampire species."

"A cure. He said there was a cure."

Nora and Stefan both stood abruptly, him in denial and her in realization.

"There is no cure for vampirism!" Stefan shouted, and Nora figured she'd let him do his rant first.

"I'm telling the truth, Stefan"

"Then why wouldn't you have searched for it, found it?"

"Because when the hunters drew their final breaths that night, the marks disappeared from their bodies. The map was gone, the brotherhood of the five extinct. For nine-hundred years there wasn't another whisper of a hunter until our friend in there showed up in town."

"Well, now we have the map. What do we do next?" Rebekah asked.

Klaus shook his head, "We don't do anything. You can't be trusted, little sister. You'll be blabbing this secret to the first boy who calls you pretty. I mean, it's pathetic, really, isn't it? How she continues to hand her heart to any man who shows her a hint of affection.

"You think she would have learned by now! From the endless cycle of disappointment and deception!"

"But I haven't!" Rebekah yelled back. "Instead I stay with you and let you leech every moment of happiness from my life. At least I fared better than Finn. Klaus left him daggered cause he was tired of his judgment."

Stefan and Nora made eye contact, both wishing they were anywhere else.

"No, Finn was a dullard, better off laying in a box."

She ignored him, "You want the cure for Elena, don't you? So you can go back to mass producing your hybrids. That's why you brought Stefan in cause you knew he'd help you even though he hates you guys. Naomi won't, this being something she almost left you for already, yet here we are again."

Klaus looked at her, only to see her giving a desperate look to Stefan.

"You know what? You can shove your cure." Rebekah stormed off. Nora gave a look to Klaus that read 'what the hell?' before following her.

Rebekah turned when she heard the front door slam shut, "What do you want?"

Nora held up her hands at the sharp tone. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm on your side. The cure is buried along with... something and it isn't good, okay? We shouldn't go and dig it up."

Rebekah smiled, "They need the sword to decipher the map and I'm the only one who knows where it is. I'm not helping either of them, I promise."

"Good," Nora said. "I miss you," she added quietly.

Rebekah sighed, "Me as well. I'll call you tomorrow? We can get our nails done or something."

Nora frowned, "No. lunch instead."

The original turned with a nod and a tiny smile on her face. "Lunch it is."

| Reputation |

Klaus didn't return home till late, and Nora had been waiting. His face lit up at the sight of her, "Do you want to go to Italy in the morning?"

She sat up in the bed, watching him remove his jacket and then his shoes. "What's in Italy?"

Once he was only in his boxers he crawled into bed beside her and pulled her into his lap, giving her a lengthy kiss. "Nothing," he said, pulling away. "I just thought it would be nice to get away."

She sighed and put her head on his shoulder. "You're lying." She felt him tense beneath her and it brought a tiny smile to her face. "Rebekah told me bits and pieces of the story before. Alexander is buried in Italy, along with his sword."

She pulled back to look at him, his gaze trained on anything but her. "We shouldn't go for the cure, lovey. And I have a million reasons why."

He finally brought his gaze to her, "What do you know?"

"It's not a cure for vampirism, but for immortality. Anything immortal. Remember Silas? The bad immortal who's sleeping in a cave somewhere? It's for him and to get it you need to wake him. We are not waking Silas."

"Well, he gave me you as a soulblood. Surely he can't be that bad," Klaus joked.

She shook her head, still smiling, "He is. And I'm not helping you wake that thing up."

"It's just a precaution, love. I don't want it to be used against me."

"They won't be able to even get it without you and your sister's help. Speaking of, what did you offer her, because she had swore to me she wouldn't help."

Klaus looked at her again, but remained silent. Nora pushed herself away from him, "You daggered her?"

More silence.

The huntress stood. "Unbelievable," she whispered.

Klaus moved to reach for her, but she swatted his hand. "She can't be trusted. You know how reckless she gets. She didn't want to help, so I got her out of the way. It's just until we find it."

Nora glared, one strong enough to make Klaus immediately regret his choice of words. "You still want to go after it, despite everything I just said," she yelled, exasperated.

"And me? Would you dagger me if you could, get me out of the way?!" He opened his mouth, then shut it, seemingly thinking better of saying anything at all. His eyes were desperate, and she scoffed at his inability to deny it. She grabbed her phone and whispered, "I think I'll stay in my room tonight."

She slammed the door on her way out.