"Who is this guy, Safari Sam?" Klaus in the body of the Scooby Do Gang's beloved history teacher commented as he went through Alaric's clothes.
"Okay, bad or badder," he asked Katherine who was tied up in a chair.
"The dark colours suit you better," she said. "Oh, thank you, honey."
"Okay, pop quiz. The dagger and the white ash are in the Salvatore's possession?" he asked to which she said that it was used to kill Elijah and that he was in the basement of the house.
"Okay, that dagger needs to stay exactly where it is. The last thing I need to do is resurrect Elijah. Oh, that guy is a buzzkill."
"You're on the outs with Jenna."
"Right, Elena's aunt. For, uh, all the lies about Isobel. What else?"
"Tessa. You occasionally train her, and she's been coming to you for help when she feels overwhelmed because of her problem."
"Problem?"
"She gets uneasy at times, kinda like anxiety sometimes. She gets distracted in classes and stuff, I don't know. So you calm her down and tutor her. That's it."
He stroked her hair to which she flinched, "Oh so jumpy."
After interrogating her further about Bonnie and their plans, Alariklaus made a move to leave the apartment to be stopped by Katherine's voice.
"I'll listen to you. I'll do everything you say, tell you everything I know, just-,"
"Just what? Don't kill you?"
"Please- please don't hurt Tessa. Kill me and anyone else, just don't hurt her."
To say he was surprised was an understatement, usually, he would have killed and tortured her in front of Katherine to see her suffer. But he couldn't deny it, he was curious.
He wanted to know who the girl was that even the heartless Katherine Pierce cared about.
♥
Elena smiled as she showed the poster of the sixties-decade dance to Stefan only for him to shake his head.
She then proceeded to show it to Tessa who shook her head, and bonnie who nodded hers.
"I'm sure Stefan would enjoy it though," Tessa said with an evil smile. Stefan glared at her, but she only winked at him and grinned, making his heart uncontrollable flutter.
"Hello class," Alariklaus entered the classroom. "What are we learning today?"
"With the decade dance, we've been covering the sixties all week," Dana answered.
"Right, the sixties. The eh-um sixties. I wish there was something good I could say about the sixties, but, they kind of sucked. Except for the Beatles, they made it bearable. Uh, what else was there? Th-,"
Tessa tuned the rest out as she looked at the birds from outside the window. She could feel her eyes drooping due to being locked up in the basement with nothing to eat every night. Occasionally, her mother would visit to remove her anger on her and she had to cover up her bruises from her friends.
Before she knew it, she was fast asleep in the middle of her teacher discussing the sixties in a very non-teachery manner.
"Tessa," she felt a tap on her shoulder making her groan and get up.
"Ric? Where is the class?" She asked groggily making her Alariklaus chuckle.
"Gone. You slept through the entire class, I am very disappointed," he said jokily.
She groaned and leaned in her chair, "The last thing I remember listening to was about the Beatles. And then it's just, not there. Like my brain found the table more interesting than the sixties."
"Yesterday," she continued, "I lost all focus in the middle of my chemistry experiment. If it wasn't for my partner, my hair probably wouldn't have looked this flawless today. It's like, my brain just shuts down when I need to focus on something, especially studies. God, what is wrong with me?"
Alariklaus didn't want to admit it, but he felt bad for the girl. He had felt useless like this once. Like there was something wrong with him because he couldn't do something others could.
"Nothing. Nothing is wrong with you."
The next thing he knew, she was hugging him, her face buried in his neck. And he couldn't help the warm feeling filling his heart. This was why Katherine didn't want her hurt. It was impossible for anyone to let her get hurt. She just had this aura that made everyone unintentionally love her.
♥
"What's up with him?" Elena asked as she and Tessa sat at their table.
"I told him he had to dress up and he got all uptight," Bonnie replied.
"Oh, understandable," Tessa chuckled.
"Hey, Elena and Tessa there you are," Dana said as she came to their table.
"Okay, this is going to sound freaky, but this totally hot guy just asked me to ask you if you're going to the dance."
"Tell him she has a boyfriend," Bonnie interrupted.
"At least meet him. He'll be at the dance, his name is dance. Oh and Tessa he asked if you could save him a dance."
"Me?" Tessa asked while Elena asked, "I'm sorry, what did you say?" at the same time.
"His name's Klaus and Tessa should save him the last dance. I know the name's stupid but I swear he's hot."
"Where is he? Is he here? I would love to meet him," Tessa said.
"I don't know."
"She's been compelled," Bonnie sighed.
♥
"So we go to the dance and find him," Damon said as they sat in the Salvatore Boarding House's living room.
"How are we going to do that? We don't know what he looks like," Stefan asked.
"He's not really going to be all sixteen and pimply, Stef. How hard could it be?" Tessa's voice came muffled as she had a spoon filled with ice cream in her mouth.
Stefan smiled at her before looking back at his brother. "He could be anywhere at any time. He compelled somebody at school. Guess it's not as safe as you guys thought, huh?"
Their heads snapped to the door when they heard a knock. Damon opened the door to be faced with the original in the body of his drinking buddy.
"Sorry, I'm late," Alariklaus said as he walked in. His eyes immediately softened at the sight of the brunette with ice cream around her face.
"Put me down as a chaperone at the dance tonight. Klaus made his first move."
"Okay, so we find him, and then what? What's our plan of attack?" Elena asked.
"Me," Bonnie said making Tessa look at her like she'd grown two heads. "I'm the plan. He has no idea how much power I can channel. If you can find him, I can kill him."
"And how much power is that going to drain from you, Bon?" Tessa got up from the couch, her amused and bored face now full of concern. "He's basically the oldest and baddest vamp in the world."
"Tessa has a point, I mean what if he-," Damon sped to attack Bonnie but she simply raised her hand and the vampire was thrown across the room making Tessa laugh uncontrollably.
"Well, I was impressed," Stefan said, trying to suppress a smile when Damon glared at him.
"It doesn't matter if he's an original. I can take down anyone who comes at me. I can kill him, Elena. I know I can."
"Well, now that that's settled," Damon then pointed at Tessa, "You're my date to the dance."
"No. No, no, no. I'm not coming to the dance. You guys go ahead. I'll sit at home, eating ice cream and worrying about you," she said shaking his head.
"Oh come on, you're really going to leave me with these boring kids"
"Yes," Tessa replied rolling her eyes.
"Come on, it'll be fun."
"Oh, dancing with sweaty teenagers while an old grandpa vampire tries to kill my best friend. So fun."
"You're coming, end of discussion," Tessa rolled her eyes.
♥
"Thanks for being here, everybody," Dana announced in the microphone. "We have a special shout-out tonight. This is for Elena and Tessa. From Klaus."
"That was a lame cheap shot. He's just trying to bait out," Damon said as he protectively wrapped his arm around Tessa's waist.
"I don't understand why he's targeting Tes," Elena said, slightly glaring at the arm around her.
"Me neither," Stefan mumbled looking at Tessa, worried for her safety.
"I know everyone here," Tessa said, ignoring the worried gazes of the two brothers.
"Maybe he's not here. He just wants us to believe that he is," Stefan said.
"It's a party, people. Blend, let him come to us," Damon said before grabbing Tessa's hand. "There's Ric, we'll be back."
"Special dedication, huh? This guy's a little twisted," Alariklaus commented when the duo reached him.
"I'm not impressed," Damon stated making him look slightly disappointed. "No?"
"Let me know if you see anything out of the whack," he said before walking away, leaving Tessa safe in the company of who he believed to be his vampire hunter best friend.
"What about you?" Alariklaus asked Tessa.
"It's weirdly cute. I mean what girl doesn't want a special dedication? Even if it's from a guy trying to sacrifice you," she said making him smile. "I still don't understand why he's suddenly interested in me."
"He probably just found you pretty?" Alariklaus suggested.
"Right, out of everyone, me? I may not be ugly, but I'm not that pretty," she said making him slightly frown.
"You really have no idea, do you?" Alariklaus mumbled under his breath as he looked at Tessa keeping an eye out for any threat.
"I'm sorry love, but I can't have you risking your precious life for that worthless doppelganger," Alariklaus said out of nowhere making Tessa look at him with furrowed brows before realization dawned on her.
"Oh my god, Klaus," she gasped as she took a step away from him.
"Beauty and brains," he smirked. He ripped her necklace off and looked into her eyes.
He had compelled Katherine to know more about her and discovered that she did not consume vervain because she let Stefan drink from her to control his ripper tendencies.
"Sleep, love," he compelled her and her eyes drooped as she fell into his arms.
"I've got you, love."