I wake up, and immediately feel pain. I groan and open my eyes to the dark room. I'm tied to a chair by my wrists and waist.
"Kai?" I automatically call out.
"Behind you."
I can guess that Kai's in the same position as I am and we're tied back to back. But why tie us up and hold us captive if the Sirens can just take over our minds? They could easily get us back on their sides.
"Looks like we're done running." I note.
"I'd rather die than be Sybil's little bitch again." Kai responds.
"How about option 3?" I hear Sybil say in the darkness.
I squint in the direction of the voice, unable to see anything. Finally, Sybil walks into view, with Seline following just behind.
"Tell me more." Kai says.
"You aren't going to work for us, you'll take our roles. And then we will be free."
"I'm confused." I express.
"Me and my sister, Seline, we don't just harvest the souls of the wicked for fun." Sybil smiles. "We do it because we have to."
"We work for Arcadius. A.K.A the devil. In exchange for youth, beauty, and immortality, we give Cade evil souls— provided that we feed on the flesh of mortals for eternity."
"So you want us to do that instead?" I ask.
"We don't have to eat people do we?" Kai questions.
Sybil narrows her eyes. "That's all up to Cade."
I hear Seline's heels clack away into the darkness, followed by the switch of a light.
I close my eyes to avoid the brightness and then slowly open them, blinking rapidly as my eyes try to adjust.
From what I can see we are in a room with some sort of indoor pool— the school, maybe. I notice an unconscious girl laying on the floor— luckily someone that I don't know.
"Where are we?" Kai asks.
Seline starts to untie us, and ignores Kai's question.
I get free first and immediately stand up out of my chair, turning to face Kai as he does the same.
I shake my head to tell him not to do anything stupid. If we fight now we are wasting our energy.
"The last step." Sybil says, lighting a match. She holds it against one of the wooden pool chairs, and it lights on fire.
In front of us, a man appears— out of thin air. He is facing Sybil and Seline, so his back is towards me and Kai.
"Ladies, do explain why you have summoned me." The man says.
"We have a deal to propose." Sybil smiles.
"Is that so?" The man— who I presume is Cade— responds.
We have to get out. If we have to work for the devil, we'll never get out.
I'll never see Katherine again— I wouldn't be able to die.
God I hate to say it, but I wish Klaus would show up right now.
Sybil points at us, and smiles. "We'd like to..." Sybil's voice trails off as I come up with a plan.
Slowly, I grab Kai's hand and squeeze. He looks down at me, confused.
Siphon, I think, as if he could read my mind.
I squeeze his hand again. Then mouth the word magic.
Kai's lips part and he stares at me undecidedly. I nod my head. Please.
Kai takes a deep breath and looks to Cade and Sybil, who are still talking. He then closed his eyes and I feel him start to siphon from me.
I try to hide the pain as best as possible as to not give away the plan to the others. It's our only chance at getting out.
As he continues, the pain gets worse, and cover my mouth with my other hand. I close my eyes and squeeze Kai's hand as hard as I can. Then I feel him stop.
I shake my head. "Kai, don't stop, you have to do this!" I say out loud.
He starts again and now Sybil, Seline and Cade are all watching.
Kai finally lets go and I collapse, completely out of energy— but he didn't let me pass out.
Then I hear him say "motus." In a completely calm and collected tone.
The sirens go flying against the wall, and before they can even get up, Kai used more magic to snap their necks.
Cade, unaffected, smiles. "We'll I can see now why I should consider her deal."
How is he still here? I use my remaining strength to get up to my feet. I look around at the burning chairs surrounding the pool. Well once Sybil lit the fire, he appeared, so if we put it out, maybe he'll go away.
"Kai..." I breath. "Put out the fire."
He doesn't hesitate to cast a spell and the flames disappear in an instant. Cade disappears with them.
Thank god.
I start to feel weak again and my legs give out, but before I hit the ground Kai catches me, trying to get me back on my feet.
"You did it." I say weakly.
"They aren't dead. So we have to leave." Kai responds.
"Blood. I need blood." I say, before passing out in Kai's arms.
— —
I wake up to the smell of blood and slowly open my eyes.
"Stella? I got us blood from the hospital."
I glance at Kai, and see him holding a blood bag. I quickly grab it and start drinking. It felt like it's been years since I've had it.
"Where are we?" I ask, looking out of the car window at the dark street lights over an empty parking lot.
"I'm in the back of the parking lot at Mystic Falls Hospital. In a random car." Kai answers. "I didn't know where to go— where should we go?"
The first thought that comes to mind is Klaus.
Does he hate me? Yes. But will he be able to help? Probably. And he's strong.
"Drive to Klaus's." I blurt.
"Stella? Are you joking?" Kai asks, stunned. "He sent me to the prison world, which led to me turning off my humanity, which led to Katherine's death. So I have no clue how that's your first thought."
"Just do it, Kai, okay? Trust me."
"Fine— only because we have nowhere else to go. But if he ends up sending us straight to the devil somehow, don't blame me."
— —
I knock on Klaus's apartment door, hoping it's where he is at the moment.
I hear footsteps coming closer and take a deep breath.
"Just don't aggravate him." I tell Kai, who's standing next to me nervously.
"Whatever." He sighs.
The door opens and I look up at Klaus grimly and he glances between me and Kai.
"Klaus—" I start, but he interrupts me.
"I didn't know you two could still be around each other." He gives a fake smile.
"I've been with him for the last couple weeks now..." I say, and Klaus doesn't shift his angry expression away from Kai.
I push Klaus out of the way and walk inside, Kai following shortly after and sitting down on the couch. Klaus closes the door. "So are you two back together or something?"
I head straight for the liquor cabinet and grab a bottle. I glance at Kai and he looks at me, and more memories of us start to rise. I shake them off and look away. "No, I wouldn't do that, Klaus."
I take a sip from the bottle. "Let us explain."
"I guess it makes sense as to why I haven't seen you anywhere lately."
"After we had drinks— the last time you saw me—"
"Since when do you and Klaus have drinks together?" Kai interrupts judgmentally.
"Since you killed my girlfriend!" I respond angrily. "Now that's not the point."
"After I went outside, I was kidnapped by the armory. There, there was a vault of an unknown creature, and they needed me to open it."
"Why would they need you?" Klaus asks.
"They used me to find Bonnie and only she could open the vault since it was spelled shut by a Bennett witch in the past."
"So after they opened the vault, Kai found me and helped me escape the armory, except we didn't quite escape." I glance to Kai, who now has his own bottle of alcohol.
"Bonnie spelled the armory building shut with us and the creature inside. We tried to get out, but the creature lured me into the vault and that's the last thing I remember before waking up and escaping."
"The creature is a siren." Kai explains. "She took control over us and had us do what we she wanted. Until we figured out a way to sever the connection between us."
"On the run, a different siren found us, and kidnapped us, and tried to hand us over to the devil." I say.
"What? The devil?" Klaus questions. "What does the devil have to do with sirens?"
"Apparently the sirens work for him. So they tried to use me and Kai as their replacements. So that they would be free and we would have to work for him instead." I answer.
"That's when we escaped and Stella insisted that we come here." Kai says.
Klaus thinks for a moment. "You think I can help?"
"I didn't know where else to go. Running isn't going to work anymore."
"Fine, you can stay here until we come
up with a solid plan." Klaus says, grabbing a jacket. "Don't move. I'll be back."
He leaves and closes the door behind him. I finish my bottle and set it on the table. "He can help us. I know it."
"You do remember what terrible things he has done to the both of us, right?" Kai asks.
I shrug and nod.
"So what's to stop him from handing us right over to the Sirens. Or worse— right to Cade."
"He wouldn't do that."
"I think I have a better plan..." Kai says as I sit on the couch across from him. "But you may not like it..."
"What is it? I'd do almost anything."
"We offer Klaus instead of us."
My mouth opens in the shock of his words. It's honestly pretty brilliant, but I wouldn't even wish that on my worse enemy— yes, not even Klaus.
"Stella?" Kai says.
"Um... I think that can be our last option. We should see what Klaus comes up
with first."
Kai nods. "Okay, we can do that."
I stab up, feeling lightheaded, and stumble to the door. "I need a real drink."
I open the door and try to step out, but I can't. I push against the invisible wall. "Kai, he trapped us in here!" I yell.
He already found a witch to put up a boundary spell on his apartment. I guess that's his way of protecting me.
Kai comes up to the open door and tests to see if he can get through, but he can't either.
"Still don't wanna do my plan?" He asks, closing the door.
"No, he's just trying to protect us. I'm guessing nothing can get in or out."
"Okay. Whatever you say." Kai says sarcastically, walking back to the living room.
"Don't get mad at me. You asked what I wanted. And I don't want to do that." I say sternly.
"When we don't have any other option, I don't get why you can't just suck it up and let Klaus get what he deserves!" Kai yells back. "It's not just you, it's my life you'd be saving too if you just went with my plan."
I stay silent, looking down at the floor. I didn't really think about it that way. It's probably going to come down go Klaus's life or Kai's.
"Stella," Kai says softly, walking up to me. "I'm sorry—"
"Don't be. You're right. It's what we have to do." I look up into his baby blue eyes. "Now we just have to figure out how to summon Cade by ourselves."
"Are you sure you don't want to wait? We can sleep on it and see what Klaus comes up with tomorrow." Kai suggests.
I slowly nod, looking away. I don't want any of this. I wish we could just find a way to kill the Siren bitches. Then it would all be okay.
— —
"Hello, sweetheart. I see you've escaped that hell." Klaus says.
I smirk. "I wouldn't call it hell."
"What are you talking about? Why wouldn't you?" Klaus asks, his smile fading.
"Because I was there." Kai walks in from behind Klaus.
I can see Klaus' whole mood change as Kai comes to my side.
"I don't see how that makes things any better for you, Stella." Klaus says, clearly angry.
"Well, instead of total isolation, I got to have fun. Yes, fun, with Kai."
Keeping my eyes on Klaus I turn my body to Kai and he faces me, putting his hands on my hips. I lean in, glaring at Klaus before closing my eyes and kissing Kai.
— —
I quickly sit up, out of breath. I glance around Klaus's bedroom, and notice the light flooding the room.
Sybil is trying to reach me again. I can't let her. Everytime I close my eyes, a memory of me and Kai resurfaces.
I get up and comb my hair, when Kai knocks on the door. "Come in." I say.
He opens the door and I can tell something's up.
"What's up?" I ask.
"I think the Sirens are trying to get us again. I had another memory of us last night."
"I did too." I say. "What was yours?"
"It was when we got out of the prison world." Kai says, sitting on the bed.
"And we kissed in front of Klaus to
make him mad." I smile, finishing his sentence.
"Yep. Good times." Kai reminisces.
I set my comb down and look to Kai. "Well this means we have to be careful."
"There's no way to escape this apartment so she can't make us do anything bad like before." Kai points out.
"Debatable." I mutter, turning on the shower.
Kai gives a confused look and I tilt my head at him.
He smirks and gets up. "I'll leave you to your shower."
— —
After I find a decent sweatshirt I walk out of Klaus' room and see Kai putting bread in the toaster.
"I guess we are just going to have toast for every meal, because Klaus doesn't have any groceries whatsoever." Kai says.
"Shouldn't he be back by now?" I ask, sitting at the counter.
Kai leans on the counter directly in front of me and shrugs. "I bet he's going to come back and say he took care of it all. Without informing us of anything."
"I just asked for his protection, not for him to do everything for me."
"He's Klaus. He likes to take the wheel."
The toast pops out of the toaster and Kai hands me a piece. I examine it, seeing green spots all over.
"Kai this is moldy." I grimace.
He laughs. "Eat it or don't."
Kai's eyes advert to behind me, at the door, and his eyebrows furrow.
I quickly turn to look, seeing a thin, old looking book half under the door. Kai walks over to it and slowly picks it up, and I follow him.
"What is it?" I ask. I quickly open the door to see if anyone is around, but whoever left this is gone without a trace.
"It's a spell." Kai says.
I close the door and turn to Kai who's reading the book.
"What kind of spell?"
"Klaus must've dropped this off. Look." Kai says, pointing to a sentence in cursive.
Sever the siren connection
"So Sybil can't get into our heads anymore?" I clarify.
"Yeah, he must've got it for now to keep Sybil away." Kai says.
"That's progress." I smile.
He flips the page, studying every word closely, as he moves to the living room.
"What can I do?" I ask.
"We need a candle... and I think that's all."
I go into Klaus's room, and search the drawers until I find an old candle.
I come back out and hand it to Kai before sitting on the edge of the couch. He sits on the coffee table so that he's directly in front of me.
He reaches out his hand, and I place my hand in his. He siphons just a little power, and whispers "incendia."
The candle lights up.
He sets it down at his side, and grabs a knife from his other side.
"We just need a little bit of our blood." He says.
He hands me the knife and holds his hands out palms up.
I cut into both his palms and then he takes the knife back, doing the same thing to my hands.
He then grabs both my hands in his and squeezes. I wince. Blood oozes from our hands.
"Close your eyes." Kai demands, closing his.
I shut my eyes and take a deep breath, hearing Kai chant someone sort of spell.
Suddenly, like a movie, I see me and Kai together... in the prison world. We are having fun and falling in love. The feelings I had for Kai— I can feel them again now.
Next, I see memories of when we get back and try to stay away from Klaus. Memories of my hotel room where we would stay all night. Blissfully in love and together.
More clips of us keep playing in my mind, over and over, and I try to make it stop but I can't. I'm drawn into them.
I miss how much fun and pure love me and Kai had together. I miss him. I miss him so much it hurts.
The memories feel never ending— but I don't ever want them to stop. I want to go back in time and be that Stella again. She was happy.
Suddenly everything stops and my dark blue eyes open to Kai's light blue ones. I can't help the tears that start falling down my face. I jump into Kai's arms and wrap my arms around his neck, never wanting to let go.
Kai hugs my back tightly and buries his head into my neck.
"I miss you so much." I say, calming down.
"I never stopped loving you, Stella." Kai responds, and my heart flutters.
I pull out of the hug to look at him, and he uses his thumb to wipe away a tear from my face.
Suddenly, and very slowly and carefully, he leans in and kisses me. His lips brush mine just barley, as if he's scared one wrong move may stop me.
I lean towards him and kiss him back to reassure him. I forgot how much I missed him. He made me the happiest I've ever been.
I pull his shirt up over his head and toss it to the side, and he takes off my sweatshirt with a smile. His smile immediately brings a smile to my face, and I quickly connect our lips again.
We continue to kiss each other hungrily as he picks me up and walks to Klaus's bedroom, closing the door.