After Isa's breakdown, she and Klaus spent every second together as they traveled. Seattle, North Dakota. Oregon. The latter being where they were now. A dull dreary town, but anything was better than being in Mystic Falls again. She and Klaus alternated between making hybrids and making the hotels they stayed at give them new rooms, because, for some strange reason, their beds kept breaking. Nothing a little compulsion couldn't fix anyway.
It had been a blissful time. Rebekah even called to check up on her and the two spoke fairly frequently.
Klaus, on the other hand, was practically beaming almost all the time. Between his wife and his successful hybrids to keep her safe from Mikael, why wouldn't he be?
But, not even magic could stop it as their good time came to an end.
The ending came when she and Klaus had been turning a pack late at night and he got a phone call, from none other than Stefan Salvatore. It instantly put Klaus in a bad mood. Stefan wouldn't be calling to discuss the latest football game. It couldn't be good. Klaus knew it as well as he put an arm around Isa in support, for both her and himself. "Portland is fantastic, once you get over the whiney music, and healthy-looking people. It's literally a breeding ground for werewolves," he said in a breath, not bothered with greetings.
"Your father's dead."
They both froze.
Klaus almost dropped the phone. "What did you say to me?" he asked softly as he met Isa's eyes.
"Oh, my mistake," Stefan said sarcastically. "Not your actual father, and not dead. Mikael. Daggered."
Klaus was silent. His paranoia kicking in around now, if it hadn't already.
"What do you want me to do with the body?"
"Well, first I want you to explain to me, exactly what happened," Klaus ordered slowly as he guided Isa back towards the wolves.
Isa blocked it out. She blocked out Stefan's explanation. She didn't trust him. Even compelled she didn't. It seemed too easy. This was Mikael. This was the Original that had hunted them for millennia. The man whose hatred for Klaus was magnified a thousandfold as a vampire. He doesn't go down. At least not by the Salvatore's and the latest doppelganger bitch. Something was off.
Klaus moved away from her as he snarled. "I wanna see him. I wanna see his rotting body for myself."
"Well, he's here. Come by whenever," Stefan said and Isa didn't like the sound of his voice. Playing that one sentence over in her head she heard the tones in it. The nerves. Worry. And that last sentence reeked of eagerness and anticipation. He was hiding something.
Her husband looked at her and she shook her head. Klaus's elbow raised into the air as he held the phone and said, "If you're lying to me Stefan, your compulsion will expose you. So, answer with your life. Is what you are saying the truth?"
"It's true," his voice said through the phone. "I saw it with my own eyes."
"Bekah," Isa mouthed and Klaus angled his head as he ordered,
"I want to talk to Rebekah."
"That's not a problem. She's right here," Stefan said and there was static on the phone for a second as it was handed over.
"Hello Nik," she said, and her voice sounded shaky, nervous.
"Rebekah, love. What's this I hear about Mikael's tragic run-in with a dagger?" Klaus asked his sister.
Silence.
"It's true," she said finally. "He's finally out of our lives for good."
Klaus closed his eyes for a second, seeming to believe her. Isa was almost swayed, but she was still uneasy.
"I miss you. I'm miserable here," Rebekah hummed through the phone, voice a bit stronger now as the topic was changed.
"I'll be home soon," Klaus promised.
"Good. I'll see you then, brother."
And the call was cut.
"I don't like it," Isa said as she began pacing nervously. "I heard how they spoke. I don't like it. I don't trust them. It's a trap."
Klaus grabbed her, ceasing her pacing as his hands moved to cup her face, lips finding her forehead as he pulled her to him. "It's going to be just fine, my love."
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It wasn't fine. Isa had been right. And now, Klaus was standing inside the Lockwood Manor as his father stood outside on the porch.
"Hello, Niklaus."
"Hello, Mikael," Klaus replied, bubbling with rage, but also with sadness as he faced his father.
"Why don't you come in? Oh, that's right. I forgot, you can't."
"Or you can come outside if you want."
"Or I could watch my hybrids tear you limb from limb," he said trying to sound nonchalant.
This was his father for all intents and purposes. This was the man that Klaus had spent well over a thousand years trying to please. The man who was constantly angry and disappointed with him. The man who was here to kill him. How can one be nonchalant about that?
"They can't kill me," Mikael pointed out as they gathered behind him.
"True," Klaus agreed. "But it'd make a hell of a party game. All I have to do is rub these two fingers together and they'll pounce," he said smiling as he held up a hand.
"The big bad wolf," Mikael mused. "You haven't changed. Still hiding behind your playthings, and your pathetic excuse for a wife, like a coward."
The veins in Klaus's neck tensed in rage as his hand balled into a fist. Insults against him he could handle, but no one insulted his wife. No one would disrespect the only person on this planet who truly loved him.
"Oh, and you forget. They may be sired to you, but they're still part vampire. And they can be compelled by me," Mikael said triumphantly. And to prove his point, a hybrid came into view, dragging Elena with her. The girl was scared as Mikael held her, a knife in his free hand. "Come out and face me, Niklaus, or she dies."
"Go ahead. Kill her," Klaus said and he meant it. He didn't need Elena. He had his hybrids, mind you they were useless right about now, but he had them. He had Isa. Isa was who he needed. Who he couldn't live without. The one that had kept him sane, loved him through everything, and him her. Had it been Isa who he was holding, it would've played out much differently.
"No. Klaus. He'll do it," the girl trembled, and it was then that Klaus saw who she was.
He wasn't as good at reading people as his wife, but he'd learned a thing or two from her. And now Klaus could see how the fear in her eyes and in her voice was forced. It was an act. It wasn't Elena at all. And if he didn't care about her before, he certainly didn't care about her now when he knew that Elena was, in fact, Katherine.
"If she dies, this lot will be the last of your abominations," Mikael said.
"I don't need them," Klaus snarled. "And I don't need you," he said looking to 'Elena'. "The only person I do need is safe and away from you. I just need to be rid of you."
"Ah yes, darling Isa," Mikael said with a smile. "Well, I must pay her a visit once we're finished here. I had hoped she'd make you into a true man, after all saving her was the only decent thing you ever did. It seems my faith was misplaced."
Klaus's eyes brimmed with tears. "Isa is the best person I've ever known. Saving her was not only the only decent thing I ever did but the best thing I ever did. Having been loved by her is the reason why I'm standing here a better man than you could ever be. I am not the man standing here, who is unloved by his wife. I am not alone, Father, you are! So, go on, kill her. Kill her, Father. Do it!" he raged as he pointed to the doppelganger.
Mikael grew angry. "Come out and face me, you little coward, and I won't have to."
Klaus was openly crying now. "My whole life you've hated me, underestimated me. So, go on, old man. Come on, kill her. KILL HER!" he screamed.
Mikael began to laugh. "Your impulse, Niklaus. It's what made you marry your bitch on the spot. It has and forever will be, the one thing that keeps you from truly being great."
Mikael stabbed Elena.
The girl gasped as the knife that impaled her was twisted into her skin and Mikael let her body fall to the ground as her eyes drifted shut.
Klaus was unflinching, unmoving. He said he didn't care and he meant it as he stared at Katherine before looking up at his father who seemed furious that Klaus didn't have a bigger reaction to her death. But the hybrid was still caught off guard when Damon Salvatore came speeding up to him and stabbed a white oak stake into his abdomen. Klaus let out a truly pained scream as he was flipped onto the floor. And while Mikael was occupied by Katherine coming back to life, Isa and Stefan came speeding into the room.
Damon had been about to stake Klaus through the heart when both Isa and Stefan knocked him off, Stefan holding him down, as tears streamed down Isa's face at the state of her husband. Klaus's eyes then flicked down to the fallen white oak stake that was half covered in his blood and Isa nodded, understanding what he was trying to say to her. The carved stake was coarse in her hand as she turned and shot for Mikael, who'd just barely turned around from the whole Katherine debacle.
Mikael screamed as they flew from the porch of the Lockwood manor, the stake impaling him directly through the heart as he landed on the brick walkway. He screamed still as Isa moved off him, hands shaking as they watched Mikael desiccate and burn along with the stake.
Klaus was soon beside her, taking one of her trembling hands in his.
Isa was still shaky and her face tear-stained as they walked back inside, hand in hand, and in time to hear Damon ask his brother, "What did you do?"
"He's earned his freedom," Klaus answered, Isa not being brave enough to speak but make no mistake, the smeared makeup and tears made her look every bit the warrior she was for eliminating their biggest threat. Stefan was gaping slightly as he approached Klaus slowly who put a hand on Stefan's shoulder as he said, "Thank you, my friend. You no longer, have to do as I say. You're free."
Klaus smiled as Stefan turned to see his brother had already vanished. Klaus gave Stefan a last smile before he and Isa followed suit, leaving Stefan all on his own.
*****************************************************************
Isa was still shaking as she and Nik entered the room they were staying in, in Tyler's house. She was still shaking as she mindlessly handed Klaus a blood bag from her stash, while she went to go fill up the bathtub.
Nik had downed half the bag and was already healed when he stopped Isa in her robotic motions. He instantly pulled her into a hug, her shaking intensified as they turned to sobs, tears running down Nik's own eyes. "He's dead. He's gone. I'm here. I'm right here. You're ok. We're ok," he whispered over and over like a mantra.
"I-I killed your-your father," she cried.
Klaus pulled her face away to face his, thumbs gently wiping her tears. "You saved my life. You killed a monster that has been after us and our family for over a thousand years. You saved us," he said to her. "He was no father. Just a stubborn, prideful old man. And he's gone now."
"If-If he wasn't a father, then you aren't an abomination or a coward," she whispered in fear of her voice breaking. "You are the bravest man I've ever met. And the most caring. The things you do to keep your siblings safe. They don't know all that you do for them," she said wiping his tears away now.
He gave her a sad smile before leading her into the bathroom. Both of them gently stripped the clothes from the other before slipping into the tub of hot water, washing the blood from them before sitting contently in each other's arms. For the first time, they were both comfortable and safe.
*****************************************************************
Isa sat by the truck full of coffins as she tried and failed to call Rebekah. She hadn't heard from the girl since Oregon and she was getting worried.
"Stefan!" Klaus called cheerily as he rounded the corner of the row of trucks to see his wife who shook her head, telling him that Rebekah hadn't picked up.
"Miss me already?" Klaus asked through the phone.
"I'm just calling to thank you for my freedom," Stefan said through the phone and Isa froze instantly at his tone and at his sentence. Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong.
"Well, I like to believe I'm a man of my word. More or less," Klaus said before he saw Isa's face and his smile fell.
Isa took small steps towards him, eyes angled away as she concentrated on what Stefan was saying over the phone.
"Thing is it came at too high of a price. You took everything from me, Klaus."
Isa's eyes widened.
Her family.
She began walking furiously fast, hoping that she was wrong as her heels clinked on the asphalt and Klaus followed behind her.
"Let bygones be bygones," Klaus said, his tone still friendly but his face scowling. "Trust me resentment gets old." He watched as Isa undid the latch on the back of the truck and threw the roller door open. Her mouth dropped open as she took a couple hesitant steps back from the truck.
Klaus got there just in time to see it empty as Stefan said, "You know what never gets old? Revenge."
"No," Klaus snarled into the phone.
"What's the matter, Klaus?" Stefan asked cockily. "Missing something?"
Isa was still frozen in shock as Klaus asked, "What are you doing?"
"I'm just enjoying my freedom."
"I will kill you and everyone you've ever met," Klaus growled into the phone.
"You do that, and you'll never see your family again. How does it feel to be one step behind for the first time in a thousand years?"
Isa tore the phone from him. "Rash moves, Pet. You haven't thought your revenge through. You won't be able to hide them indefinitely. You have no one. But me? I have everyone! I have friends and I will find you. I will find my family. And when I do, I will show you why they call me the Ice Demon." She cut the call and threw Klaus's phone onto the asphalt, the screen cracking on impact as she let out a scream of frustration.
She yelled out in pure anger as she ran around the side of the truck and pushed it over in one motion, it falling on the others like dominoes. "It's one thing after ANOTHER!" she screamed as she dented the fallen truck by kicking it before stabbing her heel into the wheel, a gust of air rushing out. "Hunters. Elijah, the stupid hybrids. The bloody doppelganger!" she screamed as she ripped the wheel off and threw it. "Mikael! And now this!" She punched a hole through the undercarriage of the truck, her knuckles bleeding and probably broken but she was too blinded by rage to feel anything else. "I'm going to kill them all!"
"Isa, my love, you need to calm down," Nik said slowly and calmly.
"NO NIK! He took them all!" she screamed turning to face him, tears making her emerald eyes sparkle as they glowed with fear. Of course, she was scared. How else was one supposed to feel when their family was taken hostage and unable to defend themselves? She was scared for them, for what would happen to them, for what Stefan might do.
"I know, sweetheart, I know. But, this blind rage of yours isn't going to help get them back. I need you to calm down, Isa," he said slowly as he approached her.
She paced on the spot now, hands grabbing her hair as she blubbered, "I need to spill blood Nik. If he hurts one of them I - can't – I-"
Niklaus caught his wife as her knees buckled. "Shhh, sweetheart. You're ok, I got you," he whispered as they sat on the ground, Isa's head cradled to Nik's chest as he stroked her hair. "Don't worry, my dearest love, we're going to make it rain blood. And he's not going to hurt them. We'll get them back. I promise."