Nothing Dark Can Stay, Either

Chapter 33

By the time they got her to turn it back on, she'd gotten herself in quite a bit of trouble.

"What do you bloody mean she turned it off?" Klaus had snarled when Elijah came downstairs to tell the group.

"Niklaus, it is not so difficult to understand that she, a vampire, turned off her humanity!" Elijah snapped.

Freya held her hands up to silence them. "This isn't going to help her at all. Has she ever done this before?"

Klaus shook his head. "She's never felt hurt like this. Never. She never had reason to. She's always been the one that works through her emotions and— and assists the rest of us."

Elijah rubbed his forehead. "Clearly, we approached this entire thing wrong."

Klaus jabbed a finger into his brother's face. "NO! This was all your bloody fault! We told you she wouldn't want to see you and you barged in anyway!" he held his hand up to stop Freya from pulling him back. "I told you all— what she needed is to let her anger out in a proper, vampire way! You think I do not know her as well as you? Just because she let you address her by her given name does not mean you reign in all issues concerning her, Elijah!"

"Do you really think that sending her on another killing spree would have done her any good, Niklaus?" he snapped. "Did you see the count of how many she killed just outside Mystic Falls, with her bare hands? Seventeen people! Seventeen men and women! Seven firefighters and ten police officers! Not to mention the mass murder of all the Gemini Coven members, and an innocent pregnant woman who was carrying twins!"

"Don't add the coven's numbers to her total!" sneered Klaus. "They imprisoned her— she had every reason to want them dead!"

"I will not condone her actions just because they were justified! We should have been there for her right away— we should have searched harder—"

"She was in a bloody prison world again, Elijah, one which none of us had access to—"

"ENOUGH!" Freya swiped her hands out and sent them both jumping back from each other. "You both claim to want to help Beatrix and yet, neither of you are willing to work together on this!"

Elijah glared at Klaus. "I do not trust him in this. He killed Gia, he left Hayley condemned as a wolf, and he was intending to send Beatrix on another spree that would have only coaxed her into more violence!"

"Brother, you best not be thinking of Hayley at a time like this," said Klaus with a fiery glint in her eyes. "After all, were it not for your infatuation with her, Beatrix never would have strayed and fallen in love with that boy. You were the one neglecting her!"

"Klaus, darling."

They all looked up to where Beatrix was leaning over the balcony, looking at them, and smirking devilishly. She was all cleaned up, her hair now cut to hang over her shoulders in delicate curls, her makeup done to match the black tank top she was wearing, with shorts that hung quite short, but loosely, over her behind.

She started to walk down the stairs, swaying her hips as she walked. "You needn't be speaking of me as if I can't hear you," she said, coming over to the group and winking. She leaned onto Klaus, looking up at him curiously. "No need to chastise him, darling, he can focus on Hayley all he wants now. What do I care? It's not like he can ever have her. She's married now. I don't want him anymore."

"Beatrix," said Klaus quietly, looking down at her. "Just where do you intend on going, dressed like that, love?"

She let out a soft giggle and put her hand on his chest. "Don't call me 'love' as if it doesn't turn you on to say it, Klaus. Or else, you'll tempt me."