The Original vampire pulls the handkerchief out of his suits pocket and begins to clean the blood off his hand. His eyes roam around the room, pausing ever so slightly on the immortal werewolf standing behind his brother. Once his eyes land on his brother once again, his suspicions are confirmed.
"You look surprised to see me," he observes. He walks closer to his brother whilst eyeing Arabella. It seems a bit curious to him that Arabella Salvatore would know the complete truth of what his brother is like and still stick around with him. Realization hits him as he looks back at Klaus's face. "So, it wasn't you who pulled the dagger from my chest."
Swallowing hard, Klaus nervously waves a hand at his brother. "You look like you could do with a drink," he responds carefully. "And we have a lot to discuss, so shall we?"
Arabella barely moves out of the way in time as Elijah punches his brother square in the jaw. She ducks by the corner of the room as the two Originals fight, wondering why she had ever come here in the first place.
The two brothers begin to smash up the place in an attempt to continuously get back at each other. Arabella's breath catches in her throat as she watches long and hard at the two feuding brothers. Before long, Klaus is poised over Elijah, ready to dagger him with the dagger from one of his brother's boxes. "Don't make me do this to you, Elijah!" Klaus shouts.
Lifting his hands in defeat, Elijah glares viciously at his brother. "Come on, do it. Then you'll have Kol to deal with."
Slowly lowering his weapon, Klaus stares at his brother. He knows the only words that'll get his brother to stand down from his angry fight. "Mikael is dead."
Elijah gently pushes his brother off of him, looking absolutely shocked. "What did you say?"
The werewolf feels as though she is intruding on a brotherly moment, but she has nowhere else to go. Not unless she wants to head back to the house she shares with her own lying and deceiving brothers.
A large headache makes itself known to Arabella as she watches the scene. In the short span of time that her attention was divided, Elijah and Klaus's hair grew out to reach their shoulders. The walls of the house she's in look oddly similar to the house that she grew up in. Just before she could open her mouth to say something, a dizzy spell washes over her so strongly that it instantly knocks her out and causes her to crash down onto the floor.
Damon had little time to prepare for avoiding Arabella's little pranking trap. By then, however, it had been far too late for him. A pail of water rains down from the sky and washes water all over him, soaking his brand new suit.
"Ari," he groans in an upset tone. His curled hair is now very flattened from the dripping water that Arabella had used to prank him with.
She and Stefan round the corner, each of them giggling at their successful plan. A smirk widens across Stefan's face as he crosses his arm at his brother. "What's wrong, brother? Do you not like our goodbye gift?"
Arabella lets out a girlish giggle as Damon shakes his head at them like a wet dog, causing the girl to shriek in delight. "You couldn't have just send me off with a hug?"
A large smile blooms across the girl's face. "Where's the fun in that?"
The smile slowly falls off her face as Giuseppe Salvatore enters the room. He appears to be in a happy mood until he takes one look at Damon's ruined clothing. The man's face slowly turns bright red as he stares at his eldest with an accusatory gaze. "What happened to your clothes!?" He asks angrily.
The young girl presses her lips into a thin line as she brings both of her arms behind her back in the respectable position their father prefers. Fear closes around her heart as she realizes what will happen to her if the man discovers that she's pulled yet another harmless prank.
Swallowing hard, Damon tries to think of a lie to come up with to save his sister from the trouble she got herself into. "Stefan was carrying a pail of water inside and I accidentally ran into him," he lies nervously. "I wasn't watching where I was going."
Bringing his eyes towards Stefan, he lifts a brow at the young man. "Is this true Stefan?" He asks.
Immediately nodding his head, the boy who is only a year older than his sister tries his hardest to look believable. God forbid he finds out that it was actually Arabella who covered his eldest in water, even if it was an accident.
Finally bringing his gaze to his youngest and only daughter, the man analyzes her posture. Arabella has rehearsed the innocent and naïve look since their mother died. Her mother isn't here to save any of them from their father's temper anymore, so they must look out for themselves.
"Good," he simply states. "I would hate to be disappointed by Arabella, again." He turns his back on his three children. "Maybe now, she'll be able to find an appropriate suitor to ask for her hand. Instead of scaring them all away with her inappropriate behavior."
The three Salvatore children watch their father walk away, praying that he cannot see through their lies. If he knows the truth, they each will pay for their deception and the pranking separately and painfully. In a way that will not be exposed to the public.
The soft, silky sheets are not her own, Arabella knows that just by the feel of them. Where hers are old and worn, these are nice with a refreshing new, clean laundry smell. How had she gotten here?
A large pressing headache makes itself known at the base of her skull as she fully comes to. It takes her a few moments to finally get her eyes to open. When she does, the sunlight filtering into the room seems to be way too bright.
Her eyes slowly wander around the room before pausing on the Original who is sitting on the end of her bed. He stares down at her in concern, hoping that her fainting spell was a one time thing.
"You gave me quite a scare earlier," he states calmly.
Arabella releases a slight groan of pain. She hasn't felt this miserable in quite a while, so she isn't too sure what is going on. "What happened?"
Klaus stares at the werewolf curiously, wondering how he had ever come to caring about an extraordinary girl like her. Maybe it was fate that they met. "You fainted." The hybrid pauses for a moment before lifting an eyebrow at her. "Care to enlighten any theories as to why?"
The girl shakes her head, which she immediately regrets when her headache threatens to crack her skull in two. "I've been having a headache since we got back your coffins," she responds. She rubs at her temples, trying to ease away some of her pain. "It was probably the witches."
Nodding his head, Klaus nods towards a large closet at the end of the room. "My brother wants us to negotiate some sort of peace treaty with yours. They'll be here soon, and you're more than welcome to join us. If you'd like." The hybrid rises to his feet and straightens his dark jacket "There's some clothing in the closet for you, if you decide to join us."
Watching him leave, Arabella mulls over her decisions. She'll have to face her brother's sooner or later, she can't just avoid them forever. No matter how much she wishes she could.
A slight knock at her bedroom door startles her from her thoughts as Elijah enters her bedroom. As soon as he is inside, he closes the door and quirks an eyebrow at Arabella. "What are you doing with my brother?" He asks curiously.
The werewolf looks genuinely confused by the question. "Excuse me?"
Adjusting his cuffs, Elijah stares at Arabella with a strange intensity. "After all he has done to your family and others, why are you here with him? Are you compelled to be here?"
Arabella shakes her head at the Original vampire. How does she explain that despite every terrible thing Klaus has ever done, he is one of the only people who hasn't lied or kept things hidden from her?
At the core of it all, she understands Klaus's decisions. If she had to kill random people that she didn't know to break her curse, she quite possibly wouldn't even hesitate. The essence of Klaus's being is a man who looks out for himself after learning what real betrayal is like. That is something that Arabella can respect.
"I have nowhere else to go," she admits. "And in order for my brothers to ever take me seriously, I have to show them that I will leave them if I have to."
The vampire eyes her carefully. He doesn't quite understand her reasoning behind her situation, but he understands why she thinks she can rationalize what she's feeling. As if her bond with Klaus is something that can be easily dismissed. Arabella probably doesn't even know the true extent of it.
"Well, you must already know about the dinner tonight." The man examines the room Arabella is residing in, taking note of all the small and intricate details. "I'll hope to see you there."
Before she can even blink, Elijah is gone. The silence of the room allows the werewolf to think through her next courses of action carefully.
Arabella enters the dining room almost right after Damon and Elijah get back from their break. There's a mischievous grin on the werewolf's face as she enters the room in a tight black dress that stops at her mid-thigh. "Did I miss out on the festivities?" She asks with a quirked brow.
A similar grin appears on the hybrid's face as he eyes her. He's glad that he included that dress in her closet. "Of course not, love. We were just taking a break from discussing the terms of our agreement."
All ignoring the dead body on the floor, Damon raises his arms in a challenging sort of way. "Come on, Klaus. Are you gonna put an offer on the table?" He asks cockily. "We've made our offer, now you counter."
Klaus and Elijah stand on the other side of the table from the Salvatores. It seems like the two Mikaelsons wish to be as far from the chaotic vampires as possible. After a moment of staring each other down, Klaus takes a seat at the table.
"Okay," he states. He dabs at the corner of his cheeks with a napkin to wipe off any of the blood that may have gotten there. "I offer Elena's future happiness. You see, what she needs right now is to be rid of you lot. And to fall in love with a human. Maybe that nice, blonde football player."
Damon casts Klaus an annoyed look. He hates where this conversation is going. "Matt Donovan. Really?"
A smirk spreads across Klaus's face. "Yeah, why not? They'll marry, live a long and fruitful life, and pop out a perfect family."
"And continue the Petrova bloodline," Stefan adds with an empty smile. "Every few hundred years you'll have a new doppelgänger to drain and never run out of hybrids. Right Klaus?"
Arabella can tell that neither of her brothers like this plan nor will they ever agree to it. If they were smart, they'd turn their backs now and go back to plotting the demise of all the Original family instead of trying to negotiate peace with Klaus.
"Consider it a small return on my investment on her wellbeing. See after you hand me the coffin, I'll offer her safety for the rest of her natural life. You know it's what's best for her." He pauses, allowing the words to sink in. Standing from his chair, Klaus walks towards the fire place. "So, Stefan, do we have a deal?"
Much to Arabella's surprise, Stefan walks around the side of the table to speak with Klaus. He even reaches out to shake Klaus's hand, almost a sure sign of his agreement with the hybrid's plan. Arabella, however, knows her brother well enough to know that he would never agree to it.
"Nice try, Klaus," Stefan states with a stony expression. "But no deal."
Within three seconds, the Original has Stefan on his knees and his hand in a fire. Arabella releases a gasp in surprise as Damon races to help their brother, but is stopped by Elijah. Being the next line of offense, Arabella takes a step to save Stefan.
"I wouldn't," Elijah warns as he tightens his grip on Damon's throat. One wrong move and he can probably rip out her brother's heart faster than she could take a step.
"What are you doing?" He groans. "Stop!"
Klaus smiles aggressively. "Now bring me my coffin before I burn him alive." Klaus lifts Stefan's hand out of the fire.
Damon glares at the man in disdain. "I'll get it." He shoulders past Elijah with an aggressive bump in frustration.
"Go with him, brother. You keep him honest," he orders Elijah. "And when you return, I will make good on my promise to you and I will hand over our family."
Elijah looks as though he doesn't believe his brother for a second, but he leaves anyway.
Standing in the room with a glare fixed upon Klaus, Arabella wants nothing more than to punch him in the face.
"Go ahead, kill me," Stefan says. "I know you'll do when he brings back the coffin."
Ripping him away from the fire, Klaus pulls Stefan to the center of the room. The person in front of him is nothing like the vampire he had fun with in the twenties. "You really have given up, huh? Where's the fight? Where's the ripper?"
Arabella hates the way he says ripper. She hates the way he's trying to push Stefan, who once was the most passive person she knows, into becoming a monstrous beast. "Can't you see?" She begins with an angry look on her face. "The man you met in the twenties, he died a long time ago. The only thing you did to Stefan when you took away his emotions was take away his will to live."
Klaus sends the hotheaded werewolf a quick glare before spotting someone behind her. "Elijah?"
Smiling at his brother, Elijah shakes his head. "Where are your manners? We forgot dessert." He reaches over to the platter a servant is holding out for him and lifts a piece of fabric. Two daggers are revealed from the fabric, showing the ultimate surprise on Klaus's end.
Eyeing Elijah carefully, Klaus tries to reel back into reality from the shock of this surprise. "What have you done?"
"What have you done?" Elijah shoots back. "See, I've come to learn not to trust your vulgar promises, Niklaus." The Original vampire spares a glance towards Arabella's direction. "We're doing this on my terms now."
Feeling a sharp prick in the back of her neck, Arabella realizes what just happened before the effects fully hit her. "Damon," she murmurs in surprise as her older brother catches her in his arms. He had injected her with wolfsbane.
"Sorry, Ari," he murmurs. She only hears a few more muffled voices before the world fully becomes dark.
Arabella wakes up in on a chair by the fire place with a massive headache. Releasing a groan, the teenager goes to place a hand on her forehead only to discover that she is handcuffed to the metal armrest of it.
Shock courses through her as she tries to break free of her constraints. Why would they lock her up?
"Don't try too hard," Damon voice cuts through the parlor. "You might hurt yourself."
If this is some sort of practical joke that he brothers wish to play on her, she doesn't find it funny. At all.
Furrowing her eyebrows at her brother, Arabella stops her struggle with the handcuffs. "Damon, what's going on?" She asks.
Releasing a sigh through his nose, Damon approaches his sister and sits at another chair across from her. "I think it's about time that we have one of our brother-sister talks," he states calmly. A grim look appears on his face, which worries Arabella. She has never seen her brother so serious before.
Panic begins to settle deeply in her chest. There is no reason that she should be tied up if all her brother wants to do is talk. Is there? "Why do I have to be tied up for this?"
Damon eyes her carefully. "Earlier today, I spoke to Elijah. He had some interesting—" he pauses for a moment to think of the proper word for what Elijah told him. "Things to say about the relationship you have with Klaus."
Resisting the urge to laugh, Arabella shakes her head. Her silver curls bounce in the light. "Klaus and I do not have a relationship."
Looking absolutely frustrated, Damon eyes his sister's face. "Remember the story mom used to tell about werewolves? The one about them having soulmates."
Arabella's face lights up at the mention of the story. Damon hadn't seen his sister's face come to life like this in years. "That one was my favorite. Of course I remember!" She frowns after a moment. "But it was just a story, Damon. It's not real."
"In some parts, yes. In others, no." He allows the words to sink in as he thinks of ways to continue phrasing this. "Werewolves can create special bonds with those they are similar to. It's called a mate bond. It's like they're soulmates, but they can grow out of it."
Breathing through her nose, Arabella stares at her brother. She has a very strong feeling that she is not going to like his point. "What does this have to do with me?"
It looks as though Damon doesn't want to admit what he knows. As if saying the knowledge out loud will make it more real. "You and Klaus have a mate bond, Ari," he responds in a low voice.
Silver locks bouncing, Arabella shakes her head in denial. "No, Damon, that's not possible Klaus and I aren't—" She cuts herself off when she realizes just how similar the two of them are. Quiet horror fills her as she thinks the situation through. "What does this mean?" Her voice is small, almost as though she feels defeated.
"You know that he's a terrible, ugly person. You just don't care. Whether you consciously want to do it or not, your brain rationalizes what Klaus does in a way that you'd understand. You can't help it."
Her brother's words slowly sink in as she just stares at him. That's all she can do at the moment. Stare. The words he's saying are barely processing at this point.
Why is being mated to Klaus such a bad thing? The thought flies through her mind before she can even shut it down. Before she can even consider shutting it down.
She brings her gaze to her handcuffs before looking back at Damon. "Could you release me from my cuffs so I can eat away my new problems?" She asks him with a sad look on her face.
He slowly releases her, eyeing her the entire time as though she is about to go do something stupid. She carefully rubs her wrists, thinking through any and every possibility. "Is there any way to be free of it? Or does it just go away on its own?"
Damon frowns. "From what Elijah told me, it can go away on its own." He completely leaves out the part that it may be permanent in some cases, lest it gives his little sister any ideas.
The werewolf nods her head. "Alright," she murmurs as she stands. "We'll figure it all out."
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Hi guys! I've been trying to wrote these chapters as quick as possible while trying to make sure they're of quality, but school has also been occupying my time. I can't wait to write future chapters though!
Be sure to....
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