Frankie was still pretty bloody stoned when the car finally pulled to a stop, she'd been focused on her eyes, she was very aware of the way her lids moved as she blinked. Finally she realised they weren't moving and she looked up to see Klaus watching her with amusement while the seat where Stefan once sat lay bare.
"Stay in the car until I get you, okay?" Klaus told her after a moment, while he hadn't forgiven her expedition, the rage in his voice seemed to have dulled considerably. Nodding easily, Frankie went back to humming quietly to herself, she felt tired and was internally deciding whether or not she should sleep.
It took fifteen minutes for Klaus to actually return for her, by that time she'd decided against sleep, she figured instead she could probably pester Klaus to get her food from wherever they were now, she really wanted a snack.
Frankie wasn't really focused on her surroundings as she followed Klaus into the bar and plopped herself down at the table he gestured to. She was looking around for a menu when she realised what was going on, there was a man chained up against the dartboard and Stefan was throwing darts into his face.
"Oh no," she muttered as one landed in his forehead, blood trickling down slowly, "Uh-uh I don't like it."
Klaus looked down at her exasperation at her complaints but when he saw the horrified expression he sighed, pulling her to her feet he moved her a little farther away to the bar where he propped her up in a stool on his other side. He was sitting beside her with this feet up against the bar when a woman approached them, leaning down to talk to Klaus quietly.
"Hello Mister Klaus," she said, Frankie spluttered into laughter that only grew at the glower Klaus gave her, "I have some more information for you. You told me to tell you if I saw anything. I saw that guys brother, Damon, at the farm house."
"Well, thank you, Claudine," Klaus replied, "You just tell your friends to keep up the good work with the neighbourhood watch, huh."
"Mister Klaus," Frankie giggled to herself as Stefan approached them cautiously.
"My brother still on our trail?" he asked, his face blank as though he was uninterested.
"He's getting closer. You keep an eye on her," he glanced back at Frankie before moving to leave, "I'm gonna have to go deal with that."
"No, no, no," said Stefan cooly grabbing Klaus' arm to stop it, "Let me handle it.
"Why should I let you leave?" Klaus replied, he was curious now how deep Stefan's loyalty lay, would he even return once he'd had his chance to be home, see his family. Stefan knew what Klaus would do to ensure his debt was properly repaid but it was entertaining watching him flounder like this, desperate to be the one to deal with his brother.
"Cause, you'll know I'll come back."
"Do I?" Klaus was outwardly amused now, entertained by his assurance and his desperation to take care of the problem on his own.
"You saved my brother's life, I'm at your service."
"Ah, you sound so tedious and indentured," Klaus was nonchalant before spinning around to gesture at Frankie swaying and Ray pinned against the wall whimpering, "Aren't you even having the least bit of fun?"
Stefan didn't smile at Klaus' reply, his face emotionless as he replied before leaving, "I'll make sure that my brother doesn't bother us any more."
"Why are you so mean to him?" Frankie asked as Klaus returned to the seat beside her, plopping down as he pulled out his phone with a grin. She was staring at him with a frown across her face, her buzz dulling slightly with the distraction of Stefan.
"Hmm?" he didn't look up
"You know he's miserable, why do you force him to do bad things."
"I'm just trying to bring out who he really is," Klaus replied finally looking up to meet her eyes, "Who he's meant to be."
Frankie sighed and turned her head away, her worry for Stefan and the man chained against the wall was majorly killing her buzz and the mellow that had embraced her was moving into an anxious nervousness where she could feel everything. She could feel the shirt on her back and the loose thread on her shorts ticking her skin gently and the fabric of her socks pulling against her toes. She was so aware of every molecule it took her a moment to realise Klaus was still talking.
"-you knew him as well as I did, he was amazing love, worse than I ever was and he loved it. One time-" Klaus cut himself off from talking as he realised Frankie wasn't listening, a frown covering her face as her sleepy smile turned nervous, "Are you alright?"
"I need to eat," she told him firmly, "I need to eat right now."
Frankie had this before, she wasn't necessarily a stoner, but she was well experienced with getting high and she knew a bad day combined with an empty stomach, for her, resulted in an anxious and paranoid high. She knew she needed to eat before she got too in her head.
Klaus was searching around for some food now, he'd compelled a patron into returning to the diner to get her a meal but in the interim he had spotted a bag of chips hanging out the bag of one of the bartenders. Requesting it forcefully, Klaus brought it back to Frankie who took it gratefully, a smile returning to her face as she numbly ate.
"This is why you shouldn't have gotten stoned."
Frankie stared at him for a moment as she continued to shovel the chips into her mouth. She was too mellowed out to care to argue with him but she wasn't going to argue about getting high when she was getting reprimanded by Klaus. He'd kidnapped her, granted it could've been a lot worse, but he'd literally kidnapped her. She still didn't know why he'd taken her in the first place and now the food was gone that was all her head could focus on, casting possibilities on why he brought her along with him and Stefan in the first place.
"Why did you kidnap me?"
"I didn't kidnap you."
"You did."
"It's not kidnapping when-"
"We're family," she cut him off, "I know you've said that before. But we're not related, are we, so why are we 'practically family'."
Klaus stared at her for a moment before turning away, "Now's not the time, I'm going to make a phone call, don't move."
Klaus left before she could reply and Frankie sank her head down to her hands in frustration. She wasn't feeling as stoned anymore and now she couldn't pull her mind off why she was here, why he wanted her. Why she could turn sometimes and catch him staring at her as though he was drinking in every moment of her existence before she disappeared. Why his brother, Elijah, had stared at her with such surprise when they'd met.
Frankie wondered why too that he seemed so concerned with her her contacting her brother. Yes he was apparently a vampire hunter but it was clear Klaus was more powerful than anyone else she'd met so she felt sure he could defend himself against whoever and it was unlikely Alaric could somehow steal her away from Klaus. And yet, Klaus seemed so firm on his stance that she couldn't have her phone lest she call him when Stefan could just as easily give their location away.
Why was he so frightened about her getting hurt if she wasn't around him?
Klaus returned from his phone call and as he entered the compelled man did too, handing Klaus the bag filled with a burger and fries. Not that she really had the energy to argue with Klaus after the evening they'd had, but she hoped this time at least he'd gotten her a veggie patty.
The frequency with which they argued after he'd compelled her a meal only for her to refuse to eat the meat nearly made all three of them want to tear their hair out. She couldn't understand how hard it was to remember she wouldn't eat meat especially as he insisted on ordering for her half the time, while he couldn't understand why on earth she would care about the source of her food.
Food was food and the bloodier the better in his eyes.
In truth, before she'd joined Klaus and Stefan she was only an occasional vegetarian, she'd only cook vegetarian meals but she wouldn't refuse meat if it was offered to her. Her main reason was the environmental impact of mass meat consumption but after watching Klaus and Stefan return to the car dozens of times with blood still coating their lips she couldn't stomach it, each time she tried to eat meat she could only picture the animals behind it and her stomach would turn.
Klaus gave her the bag and she was delighted to see the large inscribed 'V' on the wrapper of the burger, she grinned at him gratefully and he rolled his eyes in an attempt at annoyance.
Munching on her fries she pried, "How did Elijah know who I was?"
"That's for Elijah to explain," he muttered, his fingers tapping out a response to Stefan.
"How's Elijah going to explain if you keep him daggered for a century, my life's finite you know."
Klaus still didn't look at her, ignoring her eyes that were boring holes into the side of his face, "Well aware, thanks for the update, love."
"Agh," she let out a groan of frustration, "Have we met before?"
"Not exactly," he told her, tucking his phone into his pocket as he stood, "Do you want another drink?"
"I want to know what's going on that you won't tell me."
Klaus ignored her, peeking into her empty glass and motioning the bartender over, "I'll get you more water."
"Klaus," she snapped as he took their drinks, depositing hers beside her before returning to the man they were torturing, Ray.
He didn't return to her for a while, continuing to toss darts dipped in wolfsbane at Ray until finally he conceded and answered Klaus' questions. Frankie's food was gone and she'd moved from the bar to one of the lower tables nearby, her feet were propped up on another chair while her arms were crossed over her chest as she watched Klaus work with sleep pressing at her temptingly.
Klaus had moved Ray over to a pool table now and she watched with a disgusted expression as he whimpered beneath him whilst Klaus explained his master plan.
"Okay," he told him, an insincere kindness pressing through his voice, "It's a three step process, Ray. This is step one. I want you to drink from my wrist."
Ray whimpered beneath him, "I already told you where to find the pack. What more do you want from me?"
"Have you been listening to a word I've been saying, Ray? I have great plans for you," as Klaus spoke he suddenly brought his wrist up to his face, biting into his wrist before pressing it firmly against Ray's mouth, "You'll thank me for it later, huh. There we go, attaboy."
Stefan appeared by them and Frankie felt grateful for his presence so she wasn't the only witness to this torture.
"What now?" Frankie asked disgusted, she could see the dried blood around Rays mouth while Klaus' wound had knitted itself back together. The terror on his face made her feel bad she was part of Klaus' team, her buzz was well and truly killed for the moment, the finality of the situation crashing her back into reality.
"It's time for step two," he explained. Klaus reached across, grabbing Rays head and twisting it violently, killing him instantly.
"What the fuck," Frankie spat out, standing from her seat and turning away her heart racing in surprise from the murder she just witnessed.
"You're back," Klaus addressed Stefan with a chuckle at Frankie's theatrics, watching her walk away. He didn't feel worried as she left this time, slamming the bar door behind her, knowing she couldn't go far.
"Did you doubt me?" Stefan asked Klaus.
Frankie could hear them continuing the conversation but she needed to get out and get some air. It wasn't rare that they killed people, in fact Frankie could count the number of people they'd actually left alive on one hand, but she wasn't usually staring at someone during their final moments, watching as they were murdered.
She felt lonely now, standing in the parking lot of a deadbeat bar, stuck with two murderous ancient vampires who spoke in cryptic codes. She wished she could talk to someone, anyone, she wished even that she was still with Mitch. Maybe if she'd just talked to him instead of running away, maybe if she'd explained properly, he'd have gotten it. They could've gotten through it. Then she'd still be in California, she'd still have all her friends, she could do whatever she wanted, skate whenever, do whatever, go wherever. She wouldn't be stuck on some road trip from hell, camping in motel rooms every other night, reminding them every six hours that hi, hello, a sorority student wasn't an adequate meal for her.
Stefan appeared behind her, walking to a separate corner of the parking lot, he was still for a moment before pulling his phone out. She could see he was calling someone but she didn't approach him, he wasn't actually talking, just holding the phone by his head and shaking.
Frankie made her way to the car, it was unlocked, considering they were in the middle of nowhere, and she slid in to the backseat. Tugging her jacket from her backpack, Frankie laid it over her knees and pulled her notebook out whilst she waited.
Normally her black notebook was a sketchbook, for doodles or concepts, a way for her to get ideas out of her head without loosing them but more recently it had become a journal. The pages transforming from being only illustrative to gradually more text based as she fought to establish what was going on in her life, who Klaus and Elijah were and how she was wrapped up in it all.
a.n. hi !! i hope u guys are enjoying ! jsyk this a slow book more abt her than the vampire original drama. like the drama events are there and she'll be in them but it's a story paced by her not the show. also we won't be meeting elijah for a bit sorry :( i want the sibling Klaus and Frankie bond a bit first xxxoxox