CHAPTER THIRTEEN
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KLAUS FINDS HIMSELF lying naked in the forest. He looks up at the sun with a grin on his face. Clothes are suddenly thrown at him. He looks back down, meeting eyes with his brother.
"You've been busy." Elijah speaks.
Klaus lets out a laugh, "That was amazing. How long has it been?"
"Almost two days. Full moon came and went. You remained wolf." The older brother responds as Klaus stands up and gets dressed.
"I can change at will, then," the smile never leaves Klaus' face, "It's good to know. I remember every single kill."
Elijah nods, "Yes, I've been cleaning up your little mess along the way."
"Just like old times, brother." Klaus begins to look around the woods, as if he was waiting for someone.
The eldest brother cocks his head, "Looking for your girlfriend?"
Klaus gets up in his face, "What did you do with her?"
"You've had your fun. I believe we have a bargain." Elijah smirks.
"That's right. Now, what was it again? Oh, yeah. Wait. I remember. That's it. You wish to be reunited with our family." He teases him with a snide look on his face. "Now, where's my girl?"
Elijah speeds off and comes back with her. She immediately smiles, putting her hands on Klaus's cheeks.
"How was it? Was it amazing? You did so great!" Hadiya speaks enthusiastically with a huge grin on her face.
He chuckles softly, "It was spectacular. Thank you, my dear."
"Always," The girls eyes trail over to his brother, "Thank you, Elijah. For saving him. Oh, and me."
She wraps her arms around Elijah's shoulders, pulling him into a hug. The older Mikaelson's eyes look up to his brothers with disappointment.
"You need to lighten up," Klaus says, "I'll bring you to them soon enough."
—
STEFAN ENTERS ALARIC'S apartment. Katherine is sitting on the bed.
"Hello, Katherine." He greets, causing her to get up.
"Two days, I've been waiting. I'm supposed to be free of Klaus' compulsion by now. He's supposed to be dead!" She shouts angrily.
Stefan shrugs, "We ran into complications. Doesn't really matter. I just need to find him. Do you have any idea where he might be?"
Out of nowhere, she pushes him against the wall and motions for him to be quiet. They hear footsteps walk through the door. Two people's footsteps.
"Klaus, you're back. Look who decided to come for a visit." She pulls Stefan by his shirt, showing him to the hybrid.
"You just keep popping up, don't you?" Klaus lets out a dry laugh.
"I need your help, for my brother." Stefan's eyes remain on Klaus.
"Well, whatever it is, it's gonna have to wait a tick. You see, have an obligation to my brother that requires my immediate attention."
Elijah looks at Stefan, "You understand how important family is, or you wouldn't be here. My brother gave me his word that he would reunite me with my own."
"And so I shall." Klaus stabs a dagger through Elijah's heart, temporarily killing him. The hybrid pushes Stefan against the wall. "Now, what am I going to do with you?"
He puts a stake through Stefan. Stefan groans and buckles forward but Klaus holds him up. "Do you feel that? It's scraping against your heart. The slightest little movement and you're dead."
"He's just trying to help his brother." Katherine says frantically.
"The witches said you had a cure. Make me a deal. Just give me the cure, and I'll do whatever you want." Stefan pleads.
Klaus takes out the stake. Stefan falls on the floor. Klaus walks over to the counter, puts the dagger on it, and pours himself a glass of blood.
"Trouble is I don't know if you'd be any good to me the way you are now. You are just shy of useless." He sighs.
Stefan is still on the floor. Klaus has a glass of blood in his hands and crouches down to speak to him. Katherine is watching them.
"I heard about this one vampire, crazy bloke, always on and off the wagon for decades. When he was off, he was magnificent. 1917, he went into Monterrey and wiped out an entire migrant village...A true ripper. Sound familiar?"
Stefan sighs, "I haven't been that way in a very long time."
"Well, that's the vampire I can make a deal with. That is the kind of talent that I can use when I leave this town." Klaus says as Stefan gets up, "Katerina, come here."
Katherine gets closer. He takes her arm. His face changes, his eyes are yellow. His fangs sink into her arm.
"Aah! Aah! No. No...No. No. No." Katherine shouts, clenching her arm. Klaus bites his own wrist. He makes Katherine drink his blood. Her wound heals. Klaus looks at Stefan.
"You want your cure? There it is." Klaus states.
Stefan nods his head. "Your blood is the cure."
"Gotta love mother nature," Klaus puts his hand on Stefan's shoulder, "Now... let's talk. You and I."
Klaus squeezes a knife blade tightly, and blood is pouring from his hand into a vial. Stefan is looking at him. Katherine is in retreat, looking at them.
"There it is. You want to save your brother? How 'bout a decade-long bender? And I have big plans for you when we leave this town." Klaus suggests with the vial of his blood in his hand.
Stefan shakes his head, "I'm not like that anymore."
"Well, that's too bad. You would've made a hell of a wingman." Klaus begins pouring his blood into the sink and down the drain.
"Wait." He stops.
"Now that's more like it. I want you to join me for a drink." Klaus throws him a blood bag along the counter. Stefan takes it. He watches while drinking his glass of blood. Stefan takes a sip from the blood bag. "Finish it. All of it. You do everything I say, and I save your brother. That's the deal."
Stefan drinks all of it. Klaus throws him another blood bag.
"Again."
Stefan obeys.
After a while, there are four emptied blood bags on the floor. Stefan is sitting on the floor finishing drinking one. He grunts, and looks up at Klaus who is standing nearby.
Klaus smirks, "You're very cooperative. It's almost as if you're enjoying it."
He throws another blood bag on the floor next to Stefan, "No more. Not until you give me the cure."
"Not until we make a deal. It's your choice, Stefan. You can either remain here living your life in Mystic Falls, or you can embrace what you truly are, leave town with me, and save your brother's life." Klaus crouches down, picks up the blood bag and offers it to Stefan. Stefan snatches it and drinks vigorously.
"That's the spirit." Klaus takes the vial of his blood and looks at Katherine.
"Sweetheart," His eyes begin to dilate, "Take this over to Damon and come right back."
"You want me to leave?" Katherine asks with shock.
"No!" Stefan shouts.
"Yes, and if I were you..." She takes the vial and rushes out the door at super speed. "I'd hurry."
Klaus takes a seat in a chair.
Stefan sighs, "She'll never take it to him."
Klaus cocks his head in a gesture of indifference. Stefan looks down and whispers to himself, "She'll never take it to him."
—
ELIJAH IS LYING IN A COFFIN. Klaus is looking at him. Two men are standing nearby. They are in a warehouse filled with wooden crates.
"I suppose, brother, you've been reunited with our family," He closes the coffin and looks at the two men, "Put him with the others. We're leaving town tonight."
They put him with other coffins. Stefan is standing nearby and receives a text reading "Damon's okay. Where R U?".
"So... did Katerina make it in time?" Klaus asks, already knowing the answer.
Stefan puts his phone away, "You won't be seeing her again, you know."
"Because she's on vervain? I've been around a long time, Stefan. I rarely get played for a fool. Besides, she won't get far. You'll help me see to that."
Stefan walks up to him, "What is it you really want from me?"
"All will be explained in time. Once we leave this tragic little town." Klaus replies.
The vampire sighs, "Then are we done here? Can we go?"
"Not quite yet," A grin grows on Klaus' face, "You see, I have a gift for you. Come on out, sweetheart."
A face Stefan hasn't seen in over a century in a half walks out from behind a crate. His jaw goes slack as his lips part.
"Surprise! You must be Stefan, right? The vampire who tried to save his girlfriend from inevitable fate at the sacrifice. It was sweet, yet very stupid." She sticks out her hand, "I'm Hadiya."
He says nothing, remaining still. She lowers her hand awkwardly. It is taking everything in him not to crash his lips into hers, not to hold her and spill about how much he has thought about her over the past 146 years. He physically can't because she has this look in her eyes telling him that he's a stranger to her.
"Hello? Are you—" She looks over to Klaus, "Is he okay?"
"Looks to be in a bit of shock to me." Klaus answers with a fickle laugh.
The Salvatore's hand slowly leads up to the girls face, caressing the apple of her cheek gently. An image flashes through her mind as she's entranced in his eyes for a split moment. She snaps back into reality and smacks his hand away. Hadiya gives him a weird look before stepping over to Klaus's side.
Stefan's hand falls to his side as he bites into his lip harshly. He does not recognize her. This is not the girl he once knew in 1864.
"Now we can go."
onto season three we go
~c