state of grace | mikaelson men

9 | A LONG NIGHT

"Ooh," Jenna said, sipping on a glass of champagne while looking toward the staircase. "I spy a hottie with a body kissing the ass of Mayor Lockwood."

Lottie giggled and turned to check it out, only to see Carol speaking with Klaus just under the stairs. He had a charming smile on his face, and the mayor was giggling at whatever he was saying. Lottie'd hardly seen him in days and she instantly wanted to go over to him.

"That's Klaus, Jen," Lottie informed her.

"Seriously?" she asked, her eyes wide. She'd never actually seen him outside of Alaric's body. "Why did no one tell me he looked like that?"

"Well, Elijah is his brother, and you also think Elijah is handsome," she reminded her.

"True. True," she mumbled while nodding. "I get why you have crushes on both of them now."

Lottie's cheeks instantly heated up, and when she spotted Klaus' head whip over toward her from her peripheral vision, she wanted the ground to swallow her whole.

"I do not—"

Jenna cut Lottie off with a single, knowing glance. "Try that with someone who doesn't know about your cutesy summer phone calls." Lottie was taken aback by that. She thought she'd been rather sneaky with her calls — not even the vampires with enhanced hearing knew. "I've gotten a lot more perceptive since learning about all this."

"Why does it feel like you're supportive of this?" Lottie asked, frowning. She'd been preparing for shouting matches and scolding when and if anyone picked up on her deeper feelings for the hybrid. "He killed Elena. He admitted to thinking about sacrificing you."

Jenna shrugged. "Elena's alright, and so am I. And Klaus arguably wants her the safest and human the most out of anyone, so as her guardian, I don't mind so much. Ya know, he's allowing her to live here. And even when he could've killed Jeremy to make a point last week, instead, Elena said he just threatened his life unless they gave Rebekah back. So not okay with threatening Jer, but his dead sister was locked in the cellar of the Boarding House, so I kind of get it." After all that, Jenna frowned and tilted her head. "What even is my life now?"

"Better than Twilight," Lottie joked, both knowing she loved Twilight. Then she sighed. "I didn't know about Jeremy."

"He's not dead, and that's what matters. After Elena handed over Rebekah, Klaus promised to never hurt him, which is reassuring."

Lottie nodded and looked down. Klaus hadn't undaggered Rebekah, which she found odd. Yes, she knew about Klaus killing their mother, but surely she'd get over it. Even Finn got over it — sort of. And even if she couldn't, surely she'd stay in town long enough to save her family from Stefan.

"He just wants his family back, Jenna," Lottie whispered. She felt horrible about Jeremy being threatened.

"And I'd tell you if I knew where they were keeping them," Jenna admitted, squeezing Lottie's hand. "They aren't thinking about long-term peace and the least amount of casualties — just revenge."

"You're being surprisingly reasonable and level-headed about this," she noted, raising an impressed eyebrow. "Kind of suspicious."

"Yes, well, I'm much more reasonable when the villain is hot," she joked. Then her eyes spotted Damon over Lottie's shoulder, who was making a disgusted face as he listened in to Klaus kissing up to Carol. "I'm less reasonable when that one's involved."

For some reason, Damon thought talking about him meant they were summoning him. It only took seconds for him to reach the girls, but he wasn't there long. Lottie couldn't even protest as Damon took her by the arm and pulled her away from Jenna and toward the stairs.