Book Two: Aquiver (A. Saltzman)

Chapter Sixty

"You mind turning that down?" He asks Katherine, she uses the remote to turn down the music.

"Why so grumpy?" Katherine asks him.

"Well, this body has outlived its usefulness." Klaus admits.

"Do you want a drink?"

"No, Katerina, I don't want a drink."

"Come on. It might loosen you up." Katherine offers him the bottle. He takes it and throws it against the wall, smashing it. Diana takes a breath watching them.

"What I want is for you to sit down and shut up." Klaus compels Katherine. Katherine sits down on the couch. Maddox arrives. "Maddox, what took you so long?"

"You've got a lot of luggage." Maddox answers as two men enter with luggage, and a woman follows them in. Diana takes in as much as she can from where she is.

"Greta. Finally."

"Hello, love. Nice body. You ready to get out of it?" Greta asks Klaus just as two other men arrive with a giant wooden crate. Katherine looks at them and then at Diana.

..........

Maddox and Greta are on their knees casting a spell. There are lit candles all around them. Klaus/Alaric is standing next to the box, his head bowed and eyes closed. Katherine is looking at them. They stop and look at Alaric. He opens his eyes and looks at Katherine.

"Elena?" He collapses, Diana pushes against her barrier.

"Ric" Diana whispers sadly. Maddox stands up and opens the box. Klaus walks out of it and looks down at Alaric.

"Now that's more like it." He smiles. Klaus looks at Diana who glares back at him.

...........

Elijah converses with Elena and Stefan in the boarding house library.

"Tonight is the full moon. We should assume that Klaus is prepared to break the curse." Elijah informs them.

"Elena said that the Sun and the Moon curse is fake? That it's actually just a curse placed on Klaus." Stefan asks him.

"Klaus is a vampire born of a werewolf bloodline. The curse has kept his werewolf aspect from manifesting. But if he breaks it...He'll be a true hybrid." Damon joins them.

"Then why are we letting him break the curse? We can kill him today. With Bonnie." Damon points out.

"Damon..." Stefan warns.

"No. Bonnie can't use that much power without dying." Elena reminds them.

"I'll write her a great eulogy."

"It's not an option, Damon." Elena scolds.

"What about Diana?" Damon asks them. "Are we going to leave her with Klaus?"

"Neither of us can get into the apartment" Stefan reminds him. "And whilst Katherine is there, it's not safe to send a human in to get Diana out...suggestions?" Stefan asks Damon who lets out a breath and looks away from them, because no, he does not have a plan or a suggestion to save either of his friends. Stefan turns to Elijah. "All right, how do we break this curse?

"Well, the ritual itself is relatively straightforward. The ingredients, so to speak, you already know." Elijah informs them.

"The moonstone."

"A witch will channel the power of the full moon to release the spell that's bound within the stone. After that, Klaus, being both werewolf and vampire, will sacrifice one of each."

"And where do I fit into it?" Elena asks him.

"The final part of the ritual." Elijah takes a wooden box from the shelf. "Klaus must drink the blood of the doppelgänger...to the point of your death." Damon looks at Elena. Stefan takes Elena's hand. She looks at him. Elijah opens the box and takes a jar from it.

"And that's where you come in."

"This is an elixir that I acquired some 500 years ago for Katerina. It possesses mystical properties of resuscitation."

"So I'll be dead?" Elena asks.

"And then you won't." Elijah counters.

"That's your plan? A magical witch potion with no expiration date?" Damon asks then looks at Elena. "You know Diana would not be okay with this"

"Diana isn't here" Elena argues. Damon clenches his jaw.

"You want to come back to life, what about John's ring?" Damon asks.

"Those rings only work on humans. The doppelgänger's a supernatural occurrence. Odds are, the ring won't work." Elijah answers.

"I'll take those odds over your elixir. What if it doesn't work, Elena?"

"Then I guess I'll just be dead." Damon looks at Stefan. He shrugs. Damon looks at Elijah and leaves. "Do we know if Klaus has everything he needs to do this? Does he have a werewolf?" Elena asks.

"Klaus has been waiting to break this curse for over a thousand years. If he doesn't already have a werewolf, my guess is by tonight, he will."

..............

Later; Elena joins Elijah in the library.

"You'd think he'd understand why I'm willing to do this." Elena mumbles implying Damon. Elena touches the elixir bottle and lifts it upright.

"Why are you?" Elijah asks her.

"I'm the key to breaking the curse. Klaus is here because of me. If I don't stop him, then he's going to hurt people. It's that simple." Elena answers.

"You know, there's a possibility this elixir won't work. I don't want to mislead you."

"I know the chance I'm taking." Elena assures him. They then hear Jenna and Alaric near the front door so they go there.

"Get out!"

"Jenna, Jenna!"

"Get out!" Jenna has a crossbow trained on Alaric.

"Jenna, put the crossbow down, okay? It's me."

"Stay away from me." Jenna snaps. Elena, Stefan, Damon and Elijah join them.

"What's going on?" Elena asks.

"It's me, Elena, I swear, okay? He let me go. Klaus let me go." Alaric begs of her.

"Prove it." Damon demands. Alaric is thoughtful and then lets out a breath.

"Okay...." He glances at Jenna and then the others trying to figure out what to use here. "Urm...B26" he tells them, they all frown at him. "It's the number of song on the jukebox that was playing when I first met Diana at the bar on the campus of Whitmore College....the song...it was Happiness by the Fray"

"There's no way we can know if that's true" Stefan points out.

"Just get Diana, she can tell you" Damon and Elena share a look. Alaric notices this. "Where is she?" he asks them.

"Klaus has her" Damon answers. "We're working on getting her back....but for now....Katherine's watching over her."

"Cause that makes me feel so much better about this" Alaric points out. "My girlfriend and my children's life is in the hands of the psycho who started this all" Alaric looks at Jenna. "Jenna, I swear...it's me" She narrows her eyes at him. "When I asked you for permission to ask Diana to marry me....you laughed so hard you...." He points out.

"Okay, so it's him." She interrupts him as she lowers the crossbow.

"Why did he let you go?" Stefan asks him, Alaric frowns a little and then remembers.

"He wanted me to deliver a message." He answers, they look at him waiting. "The sacrifice happens tonight." He finishes. "Now how are we going to get Diana back?"