"What do you mean... dead?" I whisper into the phone.
I can see Amir and Tia's faces in the back of my mind haunting me. We had saved their loved ones even after they were killed by Finn, but nothing went wrong otherwise. Even my Adalynn, who had been wandering the other side for centuries, was resurrected after so much time had passed since her death.
And all of the sacrifices we made... only to have them die again within a week.
"No warning, nothing. Their hearts just stopped beating," Georgina's voice quivers as she speaks, "I'm on my way to Tia's mother's house right now in Minneapolis and then Mystic Falls by tomorrow night."
Klaus's eyes meet mine from yards away as he's still outside with Bonnie. I know he's not listening to her though—the concern on his face proves it.
I think of Tia's aunt, Jewel, and Amir's brother, Ivan. Both of their lives have been cut short twice now, and I might be the cause.
"Alright, I will see you soon," I hang up.
I lean against the wall wearily before looking towards my daughter. She's speaking to Stefan about something, which is good because she can't read my emotions if she's not looking at me. I don't want her to know what could be coming for her, not before I have a solution.
There must be a problem with the spell, something that we hadn't expected. We rushed so quickly into it, there must have been something that we messed up. Maybe with Georgina here, we can figure out a way to prevent whatever caused their deaths.
"Klaus, what are you doing?"
My head snaps up to look out the front door again where Damon is blocking the entrance. Klaus stands directly in front of him threateningly, but he calms when Adalynn places a hand on his bicep.
"You can't go to her," she reminds him softly.
"I- I know," he sighs, "It's just..."
Our gazes meet and his words linger off into nothing. There's something in the way he's looking at me right now that makes my heart melt, which seems impossible what with the news that already just shattered it.
"Niklaus," I say calmly, "I'm okay."
It has to be a lie because I know that I am anything but okay right now. I want answers to so many questions that are impossible to get, I want Alaric to be okay, Adalynn to stay and Klaus... I just want Klaus to hold me and promise me forever over and over again. And this time, I want to mean it in return.
With the barrier preventing Klaus from entering, Damon steps inside to talk to me. Klaus hovers at the door.
"Are you going to explain to me why you two can't go near each other?" The eldest Salvatore whispers lowly.
"No," I reply simply, "I would rather you stay out of it."
Damon looks between us skeptically. He knows there is more to the story, but he also understands that I would tell him if it's really something he needs to know.
"Listen to her, mate," Klaus advises from the door.
"Go to hell, jackass," Damon retorts, his eyes never leaving mine.
"I called Abby," Bonnie interrupts us. "She'll meet us at your house."
Klaus gives a winning smirk, "Let's go."
-----------
Jeremy, Bonnie, Damon, Adalynn and I all stand together near a picnic table outside of the high school while we wait for Stefan and Klaus to show up. Bonnie's mom, Abby, gave us everything we need to complete a desiccation spell on Alaric to put him down until we know how to either save him or kill him. Preferably the former.
"Look at this. One big, happy family," Klaus hums sarcastically when he reaches us.
He winks at me as he stops a few feet short from where Stefan ends up as a precaution. Currently, though, I don't sense any rising anger in my power with the great distance.
Bonnie holds up a glass vial before passing it to Damon, "Drink this, it's my blood. It bridges us all together so that when I stop Jeremy's heart, you'll have the power to stop Alaric's. You need to make a physical connection to his bloodstream; a vein, artery, something connected to his heart."
"If one of us gets a clean shot, take it, the other two: hold him down," Stefan instructs.
I raise my hand, "What am I meant to be doing?"
"You're on rescue," Damon answers before Stefan can. "He will probably be using vervain to keep Caroline down, so she won't be very useful until you get blood in her."
"No, absolutely not," Klaus interjects.
"Relax," Damon says, "I brought some of my own."
He holds up a blood bag and tosses it to me, which makes my magic instinctively catch it before my flimsy hands can fumble it to the ground.
Klaus grabs the vial from Stefan, but he doesn't drink it right away, "Before we all walk through these doors, let's get on the same page, shall we? I was the one who created your vampire bloodline, therefore I am responsible for your lives and Tyler's life, Caroline's life, and of course, Abby's life, should anything go wrong."
He eyes Bonnie to let her know the last bit was for her, but she doesn't need the motivation. By the looks of it, Jeremy's survival is enough to keep her from ruining the plan.
Damon scoffs, "Or you're just lying to save your ass."
Klaus shakes his head, "I'm not lying. But go ahead, call my bluff, let the teacher kill me. You'll all be dead soon thereafter."
He drinks the remainder of the blood with a smirk, but I know it's not a joke to him. He has a natural survival instinct for himself and the people he cares about, so I know he wants everyone here to take his words seriously.
When we enter the school, Klaus separates from Damon, Stefan and I as he isn't much help near me anyway. According to Damon, he can hear their voices in Alaric's classroom, but it seems that Elena is doing well on her own.
Damon and Stefan use their speed to hide at the other end of the hallway while I take the northern side. If we can draw them out of the room, we can attack from both ways. It's too risky going directly in, especially if it's a trap.
Without any coaxing, I watch Caroline run out of the room. Her clothes and face are bloody and the fear in her eyes apparent as she runs right towards me.
"Caroline," I yell in a hushed voice when she stops feet from me.
She looks at me as soon as I call her name, but there's no relief in her eyes. Instead, she bares her fangs and growls before lunging in an attempt to attack.
I hold my hands up and imagine my magic protecting me, but it never comes to that. Klaus catches her and covers her mouth with his hand to keep her from screaming.
"Shhh. It's okay, it's okay. It's me," he whispers. "We're not going to hurt you. You're safe, Elena's safe. Go straight home. Do you understand me?"
She nods, takes the blood bag from my hands and giving a short thank you before disappearing. I can tell she's a bit confused as she keeps glancing at me, but I try not to take offense to it. Klaus looks at me, but I didn't watch the exchange; jealousy mixed with magical ancestral anger is not a good combination.
"Claramay—" he tries.
"Get away from me, Klaus," I instinctively hiss.
As soon as he's a good distance away from me, my mind clears. There's no hostility or jealousy towards neither Caroline nor Klaus anymore, which just means that this situation can impact my own personal feelings much more than I originally thought.
There's a crash that grabs our attention as Alaric throws Elena into a locker. They exchange words which leads to angry screams that come from the doppelgänger, but it doesn't seem like Alaric is intent on hurting her any further. Just as Damon instructed, I stay out of their way so that they have no trouble from me during Klaus's part of the plan.
Alaric has Elena pinned by her throat, but he ends up releasing her just in time for Damon and Stefan to grab his arms.
"Do it now!" Damon yells.
Stefan's back is broken with one swift movement from Alaric, and he then proceeds to break Damon's neck. I wince, but their attempt to hold him has allowed for a split second of opportunity for Klaus. He rushes at Alaric when he is recovering and hurriedly pushes his fingers into his chest.
Both men grunt as they are forced into a squabble to try to hold on and break free from each other. Magic filters the room as Bonnie and Adalynn must be conducting the spell, but it doesn't last very long.
"Ah!" Klaus yells when Alaric breaks his wrist to get free of him. The vicious immortal hunter throws him to the ground aggressively between the two Salvatore bodies before lifting Klaus back up and throwing his body into the lockers.
"Where's your little girlfriend?" Alaric taunts him when Klaus struggles to rise from the floor.
"Right here, asshole," I scream.
Alaric and Elena turn to look at me now, but Klaus just shuts his eyes in frustration and pain. I know that he does not want me involved, but I could care less at this point. Alaric's sinister taunts are enough to fuel the fire inside of me to where I can't hold it in anymore.
"What do you want, Alaric? You've got us both here now, so spill," I demand of him.
He scoffs as if it's obvious, "I want to kill him, and I know you do too."
I gulp nervously, but I do my best to not let it show. Elena rises from the floor, but instead of hiding behind me like I thought she would, she actually stands between us. Her eyes align with mine while she holds her hands up like she's taming a lion.
"Clara, you have to fight it," she urges me. "If you kill Klaus, you will kill Damon. I know you care about both of them, so you need to fight whatever hold Esther has over you."
Alaric pushes her out of the way, and she falls to the ground in an obnoxious heap of pained moans. He then grabs Klaus by the neck and forces him to stand between us. I try to back away, but my feet don't seem to move.
"Look at him," Alaric growls, "he deserves this Clara."
Alaric pulls the white oak stake from his back pocket and hovers it over Klaus's heart. My magic is eager to help him end Klaus's life, but my heart is still holding on.
"Clara!" Klaus grunts as tries to escape, but Esther must have made Alaric even more powerful than the Original Hybrid because he doesn't even budge.
I know Elena's right and I know that my heart longs to protect all of the men before me, but I don't stand a chance against the aching need to rip Klaus's heart out of his chest. The flames of desire coarse through my veins as it pushes to take control and soon, I can barely even hear my previous reasons to save him.
"There she is," Alaric confirms excitedly when I walk towards him and Klaus without any more hesitation. "There's my girl."
"No," Klaus coughs, spitting up blood.
Alaric passes the white oak stake to me and I line it up with Klaus's heart. His eyes are red with tears as he watches me prepare to take his life, but I hope he knows it's not really me. I've lost control of myself yet again, but Adalynn is not here to pull me back this time. He's really going to die and there's nothing I can do about it.
"Stop!" Elena screams and we both turn to look at her. She has a knife to her neck. "Let him go or I'll kill myself."
"Put it down, Elena." Alaric says immediately and I look between them in confusion.
"Why? Because you still need me alive? There's a reason why Esther used me to make you, isn't there? She didn't want you to be immortal, so she tied your life to a human one. Mine." She explains, "That way you have only one life span to kill all vampires and then you'll be gone. So, when I die, you die too. That's it, it has to be!"
"That's impossible," I breathe.
"Is it?" She questions before sliding the knife against her skin so that it protrudes blood.
Alaric drops Klaus as he rushes towards her, yelling for her to stop. The Original Hybrid disappears from beneath me, so I suddenly feel like myself again. I look at the stake in disgust as it falls from my hand, but Alaric catches it before it can hit the floor.
"They're gone," he grumbles.
I look around the hallway to see that Elena and Klaus have indeed disappeared. My heart aches a little bit at the thought of him leaving me here, but I understand that he needs to get away. At this point though, I hope nothing happens to Elena now that Klaus knows she's the key to Alaric's demise.
"Damon!" I gasp as I remember her knight in dull black t-shirts who is still lying dead on the floor. He can protect her now that I am unable to. It's just a matter of getting him up...
"Can you wake them?" Alaric questions as he kicks Stefan's foot to no avail.
I shake my head, "No, I cannot."
As if on cue, Damon's phone rings from where it sits on the floor. I reach for it, seeing Bonnie's name light up on the screen, but Damon's hand grabs mine instead.
"Ouch," he groans, holding tightly onto me. "Why am I still alive?"
"You have to help Elena, that's why," I rush, helping him stand.
Stefan follows suit as he's also come back to life. They both look at me with extreme concern, but Alaric interrupts by explanation.
"Klaus is gonna kill Elena."
"Klaus needs Elena's blood to make hybrids. She's the last person that he'd kill," Stefan argues immediately, his voice is still a bit shaky.
Alaric shakes his head angrily, "The witch bound my life to Elena's. If she dies, I die. Klaus figured that out and now he's taken her. Now, I'm trapped here until the sun goes down, so you two better get doing what you do best: Saving Elena's life."
After giving his orders, Alaric grabs my bicep, but Damon still has a strong hold on my opposite hand. I can almost feel bruises begin to form as their tight grips both struggle to keep a hold on me.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Damon threatens.
"Removing the distraction," Alaric challenges. "Elena's life is actually worth something right now, Clara will just be getting in the way."
"In the way of what?" I question him, but when he doesn't answer, my voice gets louder and more threatening, "In the way of what, Alaric?"
They both stop tugging me as Damon realizes what needs to be done, and then he releases me so that Alaric can get a better grip on arm. I struggle against him, but his immortal strength is nothing compared to my pitiful human tenacity.
"Damon, come on!" I gasp. My magic is silent, which means the ancestors want me to go with Esther's immortal hunter. "In the way of what?!"
I know the answer. The facts are all there: Elena's life needing to be put before mine, my power failing me and the thing they said about me being a distraction during their rescue mission. Their damsel being Elena and their captor... Klaus.
Damon holds a pitiful look as Alaric drags me away. He is also avoiding my desperate eyes.
"In the way of us taking care of the problem."
*******
Chapter 37: 10/24/20 -- 12:32 am
I have zero time to write right now and it's driving me nuts. I'm actually really sad about it.
Damon made me sad at the end of this chapter...
What is your opinion of Damon?
Like and comment please! I absolutely love hearing your feedback!
- Mae