"All we need to do is take that stake away from him."
The group had gathered at the kitchen table while they explained to Elijah what'd happened so far. Damon was on call while he continued to drive away with Klaus's body. "Once he's been disarmed," Elijah continued, "the weapon in my possession, my family will scatter to the ends of the Earth and Alaric will follow us."
"And you'll just run?" asked Stefan, coming closer to Elena.
Elijah nodded. "We've done it before. Klaus and Rebekah spent the better part of a thousand years evading my father. What's another half century while Elena is able to live out the rest of her natural life?"
Elena pursed her lips, looking at Esmeray as if this would grant her extra wisdom about the situation. "We've finally stopped him, Elijah. After everything that he's done to us, I can't just let you bring him back."
Elijah also thought to glance at Esmeray, but only briefly. "I give you my word, Elena. I will not revive Klaus within yours nor even within your children's lifetimes. Perhaps that will finally teach him some manners."
"Why should she trust you?" asked Matt. "All you've done is screw her over."
"And for that, I am deeply ashamed," said Elijah. "But know this— she could have been dead the instant I walked through that door tonight, so Elena, I leave it to you to make the decision whether to trust me or not."
"Not!" said Damon through the phone, making everyone look down at the table where it was placed. "Hello? Did that concussion give you brain damage?! His lunatic siblings will kill you the first chance they get!"
Elijah rolled his eyes. "Rebekah and Kol will honor the terms. If you return Klaus' body to us, Elena will come to no harm." He looked over at Elena. "Do we have a deal?"
"No!" Damon yelled. "No, no, no, no! Did I mention no?"
"Elena, it's up to you," said Stefan quietly.
"Oh, come on!" said the other Salvatore brother.
"Why do you want Klaus's body?" asked the doppelgänger.
"He's my brother," said Elijah, as if this explained everything. "We remain together."
Elena sighed before assenting. "We have a deal."
The group dispersed after that. Jeremy had returned by then, so Elijah and Esmeray moved outside.
"Is that really fair to your brother?" asked Esmeray. "I know that he daggered all of you— I don't condone that. But will he really learn patience from the same treatment? Will that help him understand that it was wrong to have done it? Or will that just irritate him more. And besides, if you do that..."
"You think you won't see him again," deduced Elijah knowingly, making her turn red. "I need to ask you, Esmeray, do you love Niklaus?"
Being put on the spot was unexpected. "I don't know if I love him romantically, Elijah," she said after nearly a minute of silence. "I know that I like him. I would like to try for some sort of relationship with him, in the future. But loving him as more than a friend? I don't think I'm at that point yet."
"I say this to you as your friend, not as his brother, and not as someone who had feelings for you before. I do not want to see you get hurt."
"Wouldn't you say the same thing even as his brother?"
"Yes, I suppose I would. I do not wish to see Niklaus be hurt, either. He doesn't deserve it."
"I know all about Aurora," said Esmeray, looking at her feet. "I wouldn't do something like that to him. I've done my best to be honest with him about what I feel and what I am and am not ready for. I haven't let us get... intimate or anything so that we don't forge a connection that will cause problems."
"Niklaus mentioned you have a bad feeling about that. Would you mind telling me about this premonition?"
Esmeray bit her lip. "It's hard to explain. But I feel this... insane amount of energy. Chaotic, in some forms. Something potentially dangerous. I see... a vision of myself with a little girl who looks like Klaus."
Elijah raised an eyebrow. "She looks like my brother?"
"Yes. Same hair. Same eyes. Even the complexion is the same. In the vision, she's painting a landscape for me... a forest and my wolf form, which scares me because I have never seen what I look like as a wolf through my own eyes— just through Klaus's memories of me when I've turned. And from this, I assume that he and I might be able to conceive a child. That makes me feel even more worried. The energy I feel makes me think that unless I'm a full hybrid in control of both my natures, I won't be able to handle a pregnancy like that. Either I'll kill the baby with an unintentional release of energy, or the baby will kill me from draining me so much of my strength. I don't know why or how but even with Klaus's vampire side, I feel certain that our wolves are drawn to each other because they seek to create someone just as powerful as us. This kid... I know this sounds far-fetched but I think that if we could make a baby together... it would be a tribrid."
It definitely sounded far-fetched to Elijah in the moment, but he knew by now to not ignore a witch's premonitions. He didn't get to answer, because at that moment, Stefan looked out and called for them to come back into the house.
"Alaric was at the Grill," Jeremy told them, tapping his fingers nervously. "He wants me to help him. This is the opportunity we've been waiting for, right?"
Elijah pursed his lips, taking it all into careful consideration. "I can wait in the woods for him. Rebekah is already on stand-by— she can go to retrieve Klaus's body while the rest of us get that stake away from him."
"Does that mean we tell Ric where Damon is?" asked Matt.
Elena and Stefan shared a look before nodding. "I'll give Damon the heads up," Stefan said. "How about— Rebekah goes to meet Damon so that she can get Klaus's body, and all of us wait in the woods for him?"
They went with this.
"Yes?" said Alaric the instant he picked up Jeremy's phone call.
"I know where Klaus's body is," the Gilbert boy replied.
There was a shuffling that suggested Alaric had sat up. "Good. Tell me."
"Damon's on his way to bury him in the woods off Route 12. I'll text you with the specifics."
"Thank you, Jeremy," said Alaric. "You're doing the right thing for your sister."
Looking Elena in the eyes, Jeremy said, "I know," before hanging up. He waited three seconds before adding, "He bought it."
After this, the group split. Elena and Matt stayed behind, since Elena was in no condition to go and try and get Alaric, and Jeremy was more likely to survive with the Gilbert ring on his finger than Matt was in just his human form.
The wait was agonizing. Esmeray thought back to her conversation with Elijah, and she internalized the fact that she was really scared she'd never get to see Klaus again once the other Originals retrieved his body. This would be payback for all the decades and even centuries they'd lost to Klaus, simply because they'd disobeyed him or had a different opinion than him.
"What are you thinking?" asked Elijah quietly while they lay in wait.
Esmeray flinched slightly, having zoned out. "I suppose about how Klaus could have done a better job of things. Handling disagreements. Daggering all of you was wrong. But a part of me doesn't blame him. If I had a way of temporarily putting down those who taunted me, all in hopes of them understanding respect, I'd have done it too. Doing it repetitively, though, was pushing his luck. He should work on his communication skills. Again, I can't say I fully blame him. He loves all of you, but you're a constant reminder of Mikael, because you are his children. Everytime he hears you opposing him, he thinks about how Mikael put him down and he just... impulsively decides to take control of the situation. His coping mechanism is that. Seizing control when he feels it's all shifting against him. He fights and acts unfairly to protect himself from pain. Really, what your brother needs is therapy. He doesn't know how to talk about things that bother him. He just daggers his problems and ignores them. That power gives him only a brief amount of peace, and he's dissatisfied with it. He doesn't let himself cry enough."
Elijah looked slightly amused. "I'm tempted to say that you know my brother better than I do."
"Well, you haven't been into his mind. I know him almost as well as I know myself. And he knows me that well, too." She perked up a bit. "Will I get to see into your mind, too?"
Elijah hesitated. Perhaps, in the past, it had been easier to promise that she'd get his memories for knowledge. Even though it hadn't been a full year since she awoke, he felt she'd grown significantly since then, and a part of him thought it really wasn't all that necessary to let her see them. But especially seeing her growing so fond of Klaus... Elijah couldn't compel her to forget certain things. And if he did, she might be able to do a Mind Spell to free herself of that compulsion. The last thing he wanted was for her to see him compelling Aurora to break up with Klaus, and for her to go running to tell Klaus. He knew that even if Esmeray fell in love with him, she would not keep such a thing secret from him.
"I do not wish to intrude in what you and my brother are building between yourselves," he said carefully.
Luckily, Esmeray interpreted this in the way he'd wanted her to. "Oh," she said. "I get it— Klaus might get jealous because it'll mean I've seen your big boy parts. His wolf really does get jealous very easily, but I think it's because he only recently unlocked it. If he'd had it since he first triggered the curse, he'd probably be more in control of his temper. I don't want to start a problem between the two of you. I imagine he'd be growling at you if he was standing here, watching you talk to me. He wanted to kill Tyler before, just for shaking my hand when I greeted him."
The Original half-smiled, but frowned when he watched her suddenly sway, nearly collapsing. He caught her before she could. "Esmeray, what happened?"
She clutched her head, feeling a significant weight leaving her. "Klaus is dead," she said quietly. "I felt him die. The memories... changed."
Elijah noticed she didn't look all that sad, just nervous. She straightened herself up and cleared her throat, and before he could stop himself, he grabbed her arm and went into her mind.
She knew exactly what he'd done, and her breath hitched as she looked up, thinking he would be angry with her. He said nothing, but put a finger over his lips, promising that he would keep the secret of the protection spell she'd done on Klaus.
"You can't tell Rebekah," she said lowly. "Or anyone else. Or else..."
The Original knew what came next: or else Alaric would go after Tyler Lockwood next.
"You have my word that it will be kept a secret," he told her.
The others were clearly freaking out, but Esmeray took no part in it. While they were all making phone calls, convinced they were going to die, Esmeray made a beeline to where Tyler said he'd be waiting, in the old Lockwood cellar.
By the time she got there, Klaus was already in his body.
"You never fail to amaze me, love," he said, coming out of the shadows and making her flinch.
"Thanks for the jumpscare, Nosferatu, you seem to forget I don't have heightened senses all the time," she said sourly, trying to calm her rapidly beating heart.
"I see Damon's rubbing off on you with the nicknames."
"And I see that even while having looked into my mind, you forget how inconsistent my wolf abilities are, and you showed your gratitude by startling me."
Klaus wiggled his eyebrows. "You weren't entirely sure the spell would work, were you?"
Esmeray turned red. "I admit, I'd never done it before, so I knew there was a small chance you wouldn't be in Tyler."
He patted Tyler's chest. "Well, here I am."
"The others are going to take their time panicking, but Elijah is with them, and he knows."
"Elijah?" Klaus frowned. "What is Elijah doing here?"
"Came to help. And to retrieve your body. He didn't know until now that I'd put a spell on you. He and Rebekah came to get your body to keep you in their possession, but since I have to revert you soon, they won't be able to keep you in whatever coffin Damon picked out for you."
Klaus grinned. "As always, my little werewitch, you are quite resourceful."
Esmeray gave him a cheeky smile. "See how competent I can be when I'm not being forced to help? The Klaus from several weeks ago could learn a lesson from this exact moment."
"Mm, I think past Klaus would be more focused on your incomparable beauty and intelligence as opposed to learning anything about being a gentleman. Present Klaus has that covered."
He moved forward, and she let out a laugh, holding her hand out to keep him from getting closer. "Hold on, no being even slightly flirty while in Tyler's body, otherwise, your inner wolf will use it to make scenarios in your head that'll wind up leaving Tyler dead."
Klaus winked, but respectfully stepped back. "What happens now, love?"
"Well," she said, pulling out her phone, "I'm going to wait just a bit for any news from the others. They're worried they're going to die, but they'll soon realize that they're still going to be alive. Bonnie's with them, and she can do any magic necessary until I get there. We're not going to be able to desiccate Alaric today, but—"
Damon started to call her, and she answered quickly. "What happened?" she asked, hearing him coughing and spitting. "Damon?! What happened?"
"Elena," he panted. "Elena— something's happened to Elena..."
"What the hell happened to you? How do you know—?"
"Ric is dead," he said, making Esmeray go rigid. "He was— he was beating me up— and then just stopped. Collapsed. They're linked, Esme—"
She was out of the cellar in instants, moving as fast as she could back into the forest. No one was there anymore. As soon as she came to a stop to see if Damon was still on the line, she found that her phone was being blown up with text messages asking her to get to Wickery Bridge.
She didn't waste any time. She was praying her supernatural speed wouldn't suddenly run out, because besides her hearing, it was one of the only consistent powers she got to have, granted the fact her heightened senses were always at an all time low.
But people could drown in less than sixty seconds. By the time she got to the bridge, Stefan was already cradling a dead Elena while Matt spluttered and coughed off to the side, wheezing and still apparently having water in his lungs. It was clear his truck had been driven right off of the Wickery Bridge.
"Matt!" said Esmeray, making him sit up. "Hold still— vatten ut!"
The water remaining in his lungs splashed out onto the pavement. Esmeray clapped him on the back, grabbing his face and looking over it to make sure he hadn't sustained any other injuries.
"Elena," he panted, trembling and looking back wildly. "Elena!"
Stefan was in shock. He had her limp, wet body in his arms, her head lolled back after several failed resuscitation attempts. It looked like her neck had been broken from how roughly he must have tried to pull her out of the car, thinking he still had a chance to save her.
"Stefan," said Esmeray, coming to his side. "Stefan, let me see her."
He shook his head, bringing her into his chest, refusing to cry. "She's dead, Esmeray, there's nothing you can do."
"Stefan..."
"Just call 911," he told her, covering Elena's face as if to protect her. "T-They need... they need to come..."
Esmeray didn't argue. The paramedics seemed to have already been on their way— Caroline or Bonnie must have called them before texting Esmeray about what had happened.
Elena was declared 'Dead On Arrival' by the EMTs as soon as they got off of the ambulance. They put her on a stretcher and covered her body entirely, driving toward the hospital with Stefan in tow while Esmeray took charge of getting everyone else out of the scene to leave so that she could try and get Matt's truck out of the water with magic.
"Esme, you don't have to," he said, holding onto the blanket that one of the EMTs had given him.
"What else are you going to do?" she said, shaking her head, pulling out her phone and telling 'Tyler' where he should go and retrieve Klaus's Original body so that she could get on with the spell soon enough. "Matt, this wasn't your fault."
"Yes it was," he said, sniffling. "It was my fault. I was driving too fast.... Rebekah came out of nowhere..."
Esmeray tensed. "What?"
"Rebekah! I don't know what the hell she was thinking, but she got in the way and I swerved to avoid her... I should have just hit her, she would have survived it, but my instinct was to move off to the side because a p-part of me thought I didn't want to r-run anyone over..."
"Matt." She came to cup his face. "Stop blaming yourself. You know whose fault this is? Mine. I should have told everyone to not be panicking after Klaus was 'killed.' Now, I can get your truck or abandon it there. What do you prefer? I'll throw in a third option— I'll use a Mind Spell on someone at the dealership to get you a new car."
Matt sighed shakily. "Get it out, please..."
So she did. They spent some time making repairs on it so that they wouldn't have to walk to where everyone else was gathering at the hospital's morgue.
Except, by the time they arrived, they found out that Elena wasn't permanently dead. In fact, she had been turned into a vampire.
"I didn't expect you back so soon, love," said Klaus, raising his eyebrow at Esmeray when she came darting back to meet him as soon as he'd told her that he acquired his body.
"Elena's got Bonnie and the others," said Esmeray. "They took her home. This is more urgent so that Tyler can be there to support her, too."
She had brought a bag full of supplies, and started setting candles up everywhere. "Drink this," she told Klaus, handing him a water bottle before opening the coffin where his burned body was.
Hovering her hands over it immediately after lighting every wick, she whistled a simple tune, then began to chant, "Hele ardet revertatur salutem, återställa tilbage helbredet forbrændinger."
Klaus watched as little by little, the charred skin began to clear, returning him to his pear-white skin. Any burned curls were regrowing, and after several minutes, he looked just as he had before he'd been desiccated.
"Put your hands on your chest," said Esmeray. Klaus was confused at first, and she sighed. "Tyler's hands on your chest." He came forward and placed the palms of his host body over the jacket that the real him was wearing. "Good. Now take a deep breath, this might hurt a bit."
She came to stand behind him, hands hovering on either side of his head. "Vende corpora tilbake, till kroppen redire återgå tilbage..."
Klaus let out a grunt of pain, shutting his eyes as he felt her placing his soul back into his Original body. He gripped tightly to his own chest before finally feeling a floating sensation. There was a thump, and when he opened his eyes, he could see the ceiling of the cellar. There was a coughing noise, and he sat up to the sight of Esmeray spitting out blood.
He was on his feet and at her side instantly. "Love, what happened?" he asked, holding her upright as she tried to cover her mouth.
"That's... more magic than I can handle as an incomplete hybrid..." she said with a sheepish grin, wiping the blood off of her face.
Klaus scowled and bit into his wrist, offering it for her to drink and replenish her strength. "What's the plan from here, love?"
"Well," she said, checking her phone and seeing that everyone was letting her know that Elena was okay. "Now it's time for me to go. We defeated Alaric. Elena will be okay without me. My part of the work is done, and I've already let everyone know that I was going to head out. They all sent their good wishes for the both of us." She frowned. "Or... were you not planning on leaving anymore?"
Klaus hesitated. "I believe I may have a few things left to resolve here. Elena's blood can no longer be used for me to make hybrids, and I believe that I would rather have my hybrids meet here instead of me having to track them down all over the bloody country."
Esmeray nodded. "Well, Anya and I can manage the ritual by ourselves. I'll be keeping in touch anyway."
"I just need to give you one last thing," he told her, offering her his hand to lead her back to the Mansion.
He helped her get her two main suitcases, containing the materials for the ritual and her other possessions, into a car that a servant would drive in order to take her to the airport.
"This," he said, handing her a notebook, "is all the information that has been gathered about the existing wolf packs in the country. I may have asked Paige and Sina to do some digging for me. They've been sending me this information little by little. They have yet to find any wolf that is aware of having even a drop of Poldark blood, but once you unlock your wolf side, this can be a useful lead to—"
She pulled him into a tight hug, catching him by surprise. "Thank you for everything," she whispered, leaning back so that she could kiss his cheek. "Really, Klaus. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't helped me."
The hybrid's cheeks became fiery. "Er— you're welcome," he said, daring to kiss her forehead before she got into the car. "Have a safe flight, love."
Esmeray had a smile lingering on her face. "I'll see you all back here once I'm a full hybrid."