Imelda had a feeling the warehouse was Klaus's favorite place to hang out in. After leaving Gloria's bar, Imelda was taken to the nearest diner and was able to eat in peace.
Or, as peaceful as a human could eat with three guys dressed in suits guarding her and glaring at anyone who dared to look at her. She thought the poor waitress was going to have a heart attack when one of the men shouted at her to deal with them, not 'Ms. Fell.'
It was humiliating but Imelda couldn't get out of it. While she was alone she used that time to figure out who would want her to become a vampire, though she came up blank.
"My girl's dead." Rebekah pouted, glancing to Imelda who joined them. "I'm bored, Imelda." Without warning she jerked the human up onto the crate next to her.
"Want to hear a story of how three goons embarrassed the hell out of me?" Imelda offered, glancing to see Klaus sat on the sofa she woke up on, drinking from a brunette.
Stefan was sat on a chair, drinking harshly from black haired girl. Imelda knew it was dangerous but she hopped down from the crate and attempted to save the girl. She was stopped by Klaus who jerked her onto his lap, the girl being discarded.
"You weren't kidding about being hungry." Klaus put Imelda on his side, forcing her back to rest against the arm of the sofa and her legs to rest in his lap. He watched Stefan finish, the girl slipped to the floor and his eyes changed back to their normal, human color.
Stefan licked the blood from his lips. "Yeah. It's been a long day." He looked to Imelda who glared at him. Her eyes were glassy but she did well to not cry.
Klaus scoffed. "Try being related to her." He pointed to his sister as Stefan chuckled, earning a laugh from Klaus.
"You're being mean." Rebekah pouted, glancing to Stefan. "And why are you being mean? You used to love me." Hurt was evident in her gaze but the men seemed to ignore it.
"It's been ninety years, Rebekah. Give him a minute." Klaus waved her off.
"So?" Imelda interjected. "If you love someone, damn the time it takes to see them again. You're both being jackasses to a girl who spent ninety years in a coffin." She stood up and grabbed the ankles to the girl Klaus killed and began dragging her.
"And what do you think you're doing?" Klaus glared at his smirking sister. He looked to Imelda, annoyed she would be rude to him when he kept her from being attacked by Stefan.
Imelda glared at Stefan but spoke to Klaus. "I'm doing what I've been doing for the last two months." She looked away just as Stefan looked down in guilt.
"Well be careful." Rebekah wasn't bothered by the human's good deeds. "And, Nik, why are you taking his side? Imelda took mine, so you should as well!" She went back to pouting, pulling Klaus into their sibling argument.
Imelda didn't waste anymore time, she found the three guys that took her to eat and got them to help. To her surprise she also found out that they had to do whatever she commanded them. This made getting the three dead girls out of the warehouse a lot easier.
"Imelda?" Stefan's voice caused her to stop. She had been digging through the purses to find names or any thing else she could use to contact the family. He came to stand next to her, watching as she froze but ignored him.
"I told Klaus I wouldn't speak to you today." Imelda bit out. She found a green wallet and opened it.
"I want you to come with me." Stefan crouched next to her, he went to place his hand on her arm but he was jerked back by one of the humans under compulsion.
Imelda smirked. "And I want my sister back, sadly, we don't get what we want. Thanks Thomas." She nodded to the largest and scariest of the men told to protect her. She stood and passed the wallet to Henry.
"Dump their bodies in various lakes and call the police. Make sure the bodies and purses can be found." Imelda watched with slight satisfaction as Henry did as instructed, Chris helped load the bodies into a black van and both left. Thomas stayed at her side as Stefan looked confused.
"I've been cleaning up your mess all summer." Imelda turned to glare at Stefan. "Making sure the families had something, anything to bury. Because you know what's worse than losing someone?"
"Not having something to bury." Stefan spoke softly. It was something the twins feared after they learned about vampires.
Imelda rubbed her nose and blinked back tears. "Yeah. But, uh, thanks for the heart. I'm glad you sent that much."
Stefan winced as he heard Klaus call for Imelda. "Imelda, what I did, I did it for a reason, okay? There's so much going on that you don't know about. That Iris didn't,-"
He was cut off, completely caught off guard as Imelda tackled him. No longer did his body collide with the ground was she off of him. Klaus had rushed them and pulled her away before she could get hurt; which confused Stefan.
"Go write your name, Stefan." Klaus growled, he kept his arms tightly around Imelda as she didn't struggle, she just gripped the sleeves of his jacket and glared with hatred at Stefan.
"Iris loved you and wanted to protect you." Stefan sighed, standing up and ignoring Klaus for a moment.
"Don't you ever, ever say her name you son of a bitch!" Imelda saw red. She wasn't one for vengeance even in her moments of irate rage, but she wouldn't be opposed to the idea of Stefan being shot full of wooden bullets.
Stefan looked completely remorseful. "I'm sorry, Imelda." He breathed watching as she couldn't keep the tears back any more. They cascaded down her cheeks and dripped onto Klaus's arm. He could even hear her heart breaking.
It was just as loud as he imagined it would be. Klaus pulled them back into the warehouse, not sparing a glance to Stefan who wanted to scream from all of his pent up anger, resentment and grief.
"Shh, Love." Klaus cooed, he had lifted Imelda into his arms and carried her back to the sofa. Rebekah rushed to his side the second she saw Imelda sobbing. It had been a long time since either sibling felt so lost on how to comfort a human.
Imelda pressed her hands to her eyes. "Find Stefan, break later. Find Stefan, break later. Find Stefan, break later." She chanted, her cracked voice eventually gave way to soft whispers.
The chant seemed to work, even though it hurt Rebekah and angered Klaus. Had he known who Iris was, who Imelda was, Klaus knew he would have grabbed another girl, he never would have put Imelda Fell through this sort of hell. It wasn't often he felt regret but he did then.
"Imelda?" Rebekah spoke, sitting next to Imelda who's shoulders were still stiff and her eyes hidden.
"Why don't we talk about how big of an ass Nik is." It was the first thing that popped into her head. She shrugged as her brother glared before crouching in front of Imelda.
"Ignore my sister, Love." Klaus spoke as gently as he could. "She's the bigger pain in the ass." His lips twitched as Imelda let out a shaky laugh.
"I don't know, Klaus." Imelda swallowed and sniffled, letting her hands fall into her lap. "You're pretty annoying when you don't get your way."
"That's not the half of it." Rebekah snorted. "He's a vindictive bastard is what he is."
"And I am right here, Rebekah." Klaus glared as Imelda laughed and rubbed her eyes free of the tears.
"I guess it comes with being a hybrid." Imelda felt her lips twitch. "Part vampire, part werewolf, full ass." She repeated herself, earning howling laughter from Rebekah and a sarcastic smile from Klaus.
Klaus stood and sat in the chair Stefan had sat in. He pulled his leg up and rested it on the other. He didn't speak after that, he simply watched his sister engage Imelda in a conversation about the 20's.
The Fell girl had a thing for history, asking question after question that Rebekah was more than happy to answer. It occurred to Klaus just how much his elder brother, Elijah, would like Imelda. Even Kol, as reckless as he was, would find something in the human to actually like.
While the thought was fleeting, Klaus knew Finn and his mother would like her. It had been a long while since Klaus wondered what his family would think of someone he knew. He never much thought about them or anyone.
And yet sat there in the warehouse, watching as a human seemed to handle both him and sister so easily, he couldn't help but wish she had been with them all along. The deal came back to him, whoever was on the Other Side wanted her to be a vampire, wanted him to change her.
He didn't care about the whole, for all of our sake, portion of the message, he only cared about what he wanted and he wanted Imelda Fell to live. He wanted her to never know death and if he could, never know the pain of being alone, or at least, never know it again.
Klaus's mind was made. "Imelda. You and I are going to go back to Gloria, see if she's ready to dive back and get more details." Klaus ended their conversation.
Rebekah pouted. "No. You're going to tell me to stay here and wait all alone, for Stefan." Imelda rolled her eyes and stood.
"You don't need Stefan." Imelda finally spoke about the matter. "I know you're still getting used to everything but trust me when I say, you deserve better. You deserve someone who won't forget you, no matter how much time passes."
Rebekah blinked before lunging forward and latching onto Imelda. "I want her, Nik!" She cried, being over dramatic and confusing Imelda. She stared with glassy eyes at her brother who rolled his eyes.
"You have me and are currently squishing me to death." Imelda squeaked out. She was released and coughed.
"Thank you, but I want to go with Klaus. I want to know more about this message and who sent it to me." Rebekah pouted but nodded nonetheless. Imelda offered a small smile before following after Klaus, to her surprise, Thomas followed at a distance.
"So, what's with the three men?" Imelda jerked her thumb back to Thomas.
Klaus smirked. "I suppose you would like to know." He left it at that, enjoying the groan that escaped her lips.
"Okay. Why does Rebekah call you Nik, I thought your name was Klaus?" Imelda watched a silver Volvo drive past them. It was a near identical car to her sister's. She averted her gaze quickly, looking at Klaus to not think about Iris.
"Niklaus is my true name." Klaus offered, he could tell it annoyed her how he picked and chose what he answered. In truth, she should be glad he was answering her at all.
Imelda blinked. "I like Klaus better. Suits you more than Nik does." She looked dead ahead, watching as some people passed them by, not sparing them a single glance.
Klaus nodded. "So do I, but Rebekah is persistent. Now, about Gloria, would you like to speak with her first or shall I?" He glanced down to Imelda who coughed.
"You're giving me a choice?" Imelda was surprised by that but got over it as he offered her an annoyed look. "I just want to know who sent the message. I'm not taking the deal, by the way."
"Then you don't need to know who it was." Klaus smarted off. "I, however, am rather curious so I'll ask about who it was. As for the deal, your choice on the matter is quickly dwindling. Especially since Rebekah has now decided to claim you as her friend."
Klaus left out the part where he felt annoyed that his sister was wanting to claim Imelda in any capacity. He also left out the part where he would turn her shortly after speaking with Gloria. There wasn't any need to prolong the inevitable.
Imelda bit her tongue. "Why did you tell Stefan to go write a name?" She changed the conversation. She didn't want to be a vampire, her mind was made on the matter but something deep inside told her something was going to happen and the choice would be made for her.
"Stefan is a Ripper, Love." Klaus replied easily. "He takes the names of his victims and writes them on the wall of his home. He relives the kill over and over again." He held the door open for Imelda, they having reached the bar.
"Do you," Imelda breathed deeply and stood in front of him. "Do you think he wrote her name down?" Her voice was just above a whisper, her hazel eyes were almost pleading.
Klaus peered at her for a moment. "I won't lie to you, Imelda and I hope you won't lie to me. The truth is, yes. He more than likely has written your twins name on his wall and relives the kill. However, when he was telling you sorry, I think he meant it and you know what that means?"
Imelda let out a humorless laugh. "What does that mean?" She held back her tears, staring at Klaus somehow made her want to forget about what they were talking about and just get lost in his ocean gaze.
"It means he still has her body and will give her back." Klaus stated as simply as he could. He nodded for her to enter the bar. She rubbed her eyes and did as told. He released a breath he hadn't known he held. Imelda Fell was certainly something else entirely.
"Hey, Klaus?" Imelda called as she entered the dark club. Klaus appeared at her side, startling her but she hid it best she could. "I think Gloria dipped."
"No." Klaus growled out, leaving Imelda's side and searching the entire bar.
Imelda herself looked at where Gloria had last sat. All of the candles and bowls that had been used were gone. The bar looked perfectly clean, a little to clean in Imelda's opinion. With narrowed eyes she crouched by the table and searched the floor.
"She's gone. That old witch left." Klaus appeared at Imelda's side, watching with a dark look as she stood back up, hands on her hips and a scowl adorning her lips.
"Why?" Imelda questioned. "Was it what she saw? Did she get scared?"
Klaus scoffed. "Nothing scared her, she kept me from killing Damon, if she feared me she wouldn't have ran."
He headed toward the bar and fixed him a drink. He was seething but did well to focus on Imelda. Her steady heartbeat calmed him, his eyes watched as she took Thomas's phone and used the flashlight to look around better.
"Is this how you tracked us?" Klaus found himself wondering. She moved methodically, as if she knew exactly what she was looking for as she searched the entire space Gloria had used to perform the spell.
"You get ready to hunt a couple of vampires, you don't just go." Imelda offered. "I took a few crash courses, self-defense, investigation, first-aid. I wasn't about to just waltz across the states not knowing at least what I was doing."
Klaus nodded. "And what have you found here?" He couldn't believe Gloria would just up and leave. It wasn't the witch's style but he was so angry over losing yet another way to create more hybrids.
Imelda turned the flashlight off and handed Thomas his phone. "I didn't find anything." She was met with Klaus breaking the glass he was drinking from. She didn't flinch but pursed her lips. She joined him at the bar and peered over it.
"We're leaving." Klaus spat, leaving the bar and heading for the door but stopped when he saw Imelda still peering over the bar. "Imelda." He snapped.
"Where's the glass?" Imelda snapped back, turning to look at him. "The glass that shattered from the spell. And what about the candle wax on the floor? Or the weird plant smell that was here before we left."
"She cleaned up before she left." Klaus huffed, joining Imelda once more. "Why does it matter?"
Imelda rolled her eyes. "Look, I'm human, so I can only sort of smell the difference. Tell me what you smell."
"You." Klaus was quick to answer. At her offended look he rolled his eyes. "You used men's shampoo and body wash, mine more specifically."
Imelda blushed and moved away from him. "I meant the bar, Klaus. What smells different about the bar?" She tried to get her hammering heart to calm down but his smirk wasn't helping.
Klaus rolled his eyes. "Alight, Love. If you want to play junior detective, we'll play."
"It led me to you, didn't it?" Imelda was quick to point out, shooting down his sarcastic tone. Klaus ignored her, turning slowly as he focused beyond her and his anger. His eyes narrowed as he moved to where Imelda had been crouched down.
"Bleach." Klaus muttered. His eyes narrowed at the floor but he didn't see anything. He looked all along the floor as Imelda joined him. "This area here is cleaner than the rest."
"It's the same behind the bar to. I don't think Gloria just left, I think she got into trouble and either ran or got killed." Imelda pointed out. "And with the shitty luck you've got, I'm leaning more toward the latter."
Klaus glanced around the bar. "We're leaving. Now." He left no room for debate as placed his arm around her waist and guided her from the bar. Once out on the street, Klaus didn't remove his arm and Thomas followed more closely.
"What was it you said about Stefan?" Klaus muttered. "How he'll stab you in the back or whatever?" He had a sneaking suspicion all summer long that Stefan was hiding something. He didn't want to believe it, he truly wanted to believe his old friend had came back to him.
Imelda gnawed on the inside of her cheek. "Could, could you not kill him?" She found herself saying.
"No worries, Love." Klaus spoke darkly. "I don't kill friends."
Neither spoke as they reached the warehouse. Thomas was ordered to get their things from the hotel and meet them back here. Henry and Chris had arrived and was ordered to start loading up the rest of Klaus's family, which he quickly explained to Imelda was in the other coffins.
Imelda and Klaus entered the warehouse. "Gloria's gone, probably dead." Imelda called out reaching Rebekah and coming to a stop as Stefan stood there, his eyes pleading.
"We need to find a new witch immediately." Klaus added, standing next to Imelda just as Rebekah rushed to them. "What's going on?" He looked from his hurt sister to a panicked Stefan.
"Something's wrong. He was asking about Mikael." Rebekah looked to her brother before looking to Imelda who was confused. "He's not with us, Nik. I can sense it."
Stefan shook his head, looking at Imelda. "She's wrong. Klaus."
He was cut off by Klaus rushing at him and breaking his neck. His body crumpled to the ground and Imelda had to bite her tongue to keep from shouting. She didn't know what was going on but a small part of her felt uncomfortable looking at a dead Stefan.
"We're leaving, Rebekah." Klaus spoke simply. "Imelda, I'm going to use that pretty little brain of yours to figure out what our friend here is hiding."
"He's holding on to someone." Rebekah interjected. "And it's not Iris." She turned on her heel and left the warehouse, no doubt going to get into the SUV.
"He's not," Imelda trailed off. Klaus calmed down long enough to peer at her.
"No." Klaus picked Stefan up and followed after his sister, Imelda following him. "He's not dying before he tells you where Iris is."
Imelda blinked. "But I have to be a vampire afterward, the whole deal thing." Klaus glanced at her, smirking.
"Love, I'm going to turn you regardless." Klaus ignored the worried look adorning her face. Rather than speak, Imelda scrambled into the back seat of the SUV where she found a smiling Rebekah. Klaus climbed into the driver's seat.
"So, where are we going?" Imelda leaned forward, resting her arm on Klaus's seat as he began driving, a large moving truck following behind them. She'd have to deal with his promise of turning her later.
"If you were holding onto someone, where would you go?" Klaus eased.
"I'd go back to wherever the someone was." Imelda shrugged. "But I mean, the only thing Stefan would have to hold onto would be his brother and girlfriend, or ex since he left with you."
Imelda wasn't prepared for Klaus to slam on the breaks. Her body went flying forward, nearly flying through the window if Klaus hadn't caught her and jerked her against his chest. The car came to a stop and she gulped.
Imelda's heart beat erratically. "Okay. Seat belt. Totally need my seat belt." Her hands clung tightly to his shirt as she steadied her breathing. Rebekah was complaining but Klaus growled, shutting both of them up.
"What girlfriend?" Klaus cupped her face and forced her to look at him.
"Elena?" Imelda wasn't certain what was going on. "They've been dating ever since he moved to Mystic Falls. It was her birthday, not long ago. I told her happy birthday before Damon and I left going back to Tennessee."
Klaus laughed, scaring Rebekah and confusing Imelda. "Oh, Imelda Fell." Klaus cooed, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to her forehead. He smirked as her heart beat quickly for an entirely different reason.
"You have no idea how much I love you right now."