"How in the hell did Connor escape?" Stefan asked through the phone.
"I blame mind-numbing incompetence and idiocy," Nik answered as he navigated his way through the dig site and the excavation workers he'd compelled that his wife was currently ordering around. "But pointing fingers isn't going to help me. You're going to help me," he said.
"Well, he could be anywhere by now."
"Think Stefan. He took the hybrid's head which means that he wants werewolf toxin."
"Which means he plans to stay in Mystic Falls and kill vampires," Stefan finished.
"Which is a pity. Seeing as I'm half the world digging up a dead hunter, you'll have no access to my blood and therefore the antidote. Nevertheless, his tattoo is our only map to the cure, so your task is simple. Find him, catch him and above all keep him alive. He's no good to us dead," Nik explained as if he were talking to a child, but Isa could see his eyes drop at the talk of the dead hunter. Bad memories.
"Damon's been looking for him. If they cross paths -"
"You need to keep Damon in check," he interrupted.
"It'd be easier if I could tell him the truth."
Where Nik could've threatened Stefan, he had a much more fun card up his sleeve to play. "You'd trust Damon with the cure? I imagine he prefers Elena the way she is."
"Nice try, Klaus. But I trust Damon, a hell of a lot more than I trust you," Stefan countered and Klaus grew annoyed.
"And I trust no one but my sister and my wife and last I checked you were neither. So, either keep Damon in the dark and in check, or I'll let Rebekah have another go at Elena and I will throw that sword into the Mediterranean and we can end this quest right now. Am I understood?"Stefan hung up which Nik took as a yes as Isa came over to him and he buried his face in her neck, inhaling her scent. "I'm starting to miss the days when my father was the bane of my existence," he murmured.
"Hey!" Isa chastised softly as she tapped the back of his head. "How about we kill them nice and good when we go home, huh?" she offered a cheeky smile on her face as her hands hooked around his neck.
"Not yet. I won't have us hunting this alone when we don't know what lies between us and the cure. I need people who are expendable," he explained and Isa frowned but it didn't last long.
"They think they found it on the radar, but it'll take at least the day to excavate down and retrieve it," she informed.
Klaus's smile grew. "Then I guess we have the day to do with as we please."
Her smile grew as well as their noses brushed, lips a hairs-breath apart, his hands on her back pulling her closer. "Oh yeah? What did you have in mind?"
He trailed his nose along her cheek before his lips brushed her ear. "Well, we've already seen the sights, so, how about we enjoy the finest room that luxury can offer?"
Her eyes stayed in the direction of Nik's lips which she could barely see with how close she was to him. "I like the way you think, my love." And their lips met.
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After making several intimidating phone calls, finding the sword, and coordinating a rescue plan that went to hell, Nik and Isa were pissed as they returned to Mystic Falls. And no amount of angry sex could make up for it, not that they didn't try. First, Rebekah had called, saying she had tracked down Elijah and wanted to go and smack some sense into him for just leaving once they had found Nik's note after he'd been 'killed' by Alaric. Then they returned to Lockwood Manor to drink it dry in frustration only to argue with Tyler and Hayley and be interrupted by Caroline barging in with a box of Tyler's stuff, seeming as if they were breaking up. It had taken Isa all of two seconds to figure out that it was staged and as fake as Elena's innocence, so Klaus, Isa, and his hybrids cleared out, letting them think that they had fooled them. But most irritating of all, Connor was dead. The Hunter's map was gone and so was the cure.
Now Isa and her husband were walking towards the Gilbert house to fetch Elena. The vampire had killed for the first time and three guesses as to who she killed. And if she killed herself because of the Hunter's Curse she reaped for killing Connor, the Salvatores would never help them find the cure.
"I don't want to talk about it," came Stefan's voice as he answered Nik's call.
"I can't imagine why, what with you ruining all my plans for a hybrid-filled future," Nik retorted, the lie completely convincing.
"Well, it wouldn't have happened if you hadn't sworn me to secrecy," Stefan snapped back and Isa could taste the lie. It seemed he got shoddier every time he tried to lie to them.
Isa ripped the phone from her husband's hand. "You just lied to me, Stefan. You seem to be getting worse and worse at it. I know you told someone, and my bet is that it was your narcissistic, impulsive, sarcastic idiot of a brother. Which is going to make what I'm about to do so much more fun. How is Elena doing by the way? Have the hallucinations started yet?" she snarled through the phone before her voice became sickeningly sweet as she asked her questions.
"What do you know about that?" he asked, his heart beginning to race.
"You shouldn't be the one asking questions after you broke your word one too many times. But I'm feeling generous today, so I'll tell you. Where are you?"
"I'm at Elena's house," he answered, and Isa's grin was wicked.
"What a coincidence. So are we, " she said as Nik knocked on the door.
Stefan soon walked out the door and off the porch, expecting them to follow which they did begrudgingly.
"This would all be a lot more civilized if we were just invited inside. It's the least you could do after lying to us again," Nik said pointedly, his hand gesturing from Stefan to the door as the other gripped Isa's.
"I do so hate dishonesty," Isa said darkly as her heels clicked on the wood and then the concrete as they approached Stefan.
"It's bad enough that I'm out here talking to you," Stefan said.
"Please, like you're the good guy," Isa scoffed.
"What do you know?" he asked.
"I killed the original Five Hunters, remember?" Nik reminded him. They had never told anyone that Isa had helped him, and they planned to keep it that way. There were reasons to it, but the main one was that Nik was still ashamed of what he'd done, at daggering Isa, even after all this time and he'd rather not relive it. Isa had respected his wishes, it felt like the least she could do for the pain he had to endure without her.
"When one kills a hunter there's a bit of a consequence," Isa informed coldly, better to be cold and evil and angry now than let Stefan see her pain.
"What kind of consequence?" Stefan asked, the superior look on his face making Isa want to punch him.
"The hunters were spelled by witches to kill vampires. Prevent one from fulfilling his destiny and he'll take you down with him," Nik answered, Stefan unaware of how his grip on Isa's hand tightened, the only concession to his pain he made for the rest of him remained cold and unfeeling.
"What do you mean? Connor is dead," Stefan said and Isa sighed at his inability to read between the lines.
"They're magic, you idiot! Connor's death won't prevent him from making Elena his final vampire kill," she snapped, and Stefan grimaced.
"She'll need to come with us. If you want her to survive, we'll take good care of her," Nik said.
"She's not going anywhere with you," Stefan said as if it was obvious.
Isa just smiled. "Your choice. But by the time the day is out, Elena will take her own life," she said smiling at the look on his face.
"She's stronger than that," Stefan persisted.
"Isn't that what you said about her feeding? Yet I heard she was feeding from Jeremy because she magically can't drink from blood bags and was too scared to hurt a human by feeding on them, but she's fine hurting her own brother. From what I'm hearing, she makes a pretty weak vampire. And so do you, I mean, maybe if you had saved Matt in time she could've had a walking blood bag that isn't the last living member of her family," Isa taunted, and she and her husband revelled in the expression of anger on Stefan's face.
Before he could have the chance to retaliate, Elena burst out of her front door. Nik didn't hesitate as he sped for her and they both disappeared.
Isa laughed at Stefan. "As I said, weak vampire," she smirked vindictively to Stefan before she too sped off.
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Nik and Isa had gone on a little date to the Grill, eating, drinking and laughing together. They'd been about to head back home, that was, at least until Caroline showed up. Isa could tolerate her if need be, but not when she was talking about Tyler and Hayley in a pathetic attempt to distract them, especially when the whole thing reeked of lies.
"Caroline!" Isa yelled, interrupting her mid-rant, and Nik was thankful that she did because he was also losing his patience. "I don't care about your love life drama, especially when there is none! Now you have 5 seconds to tell me what you're doing here before I rip out your eyeballs and feed them to you," she snarled, and the girl looked sufficiently terrified.
"I came here to delay you leaving, so that Stefan could break into your house and get Elena. And please don't kill me for this, but then he lost her," she said quickly.
Isa's face was blank. Completely blank as she stood, and even Nik was slightly nervous because when she was that dangerously calm, it meant she was about to get angry. Like really angry. But just before they left Caroline yelled, "They know how to stop the hallucinations!"
Her angry calm shattered but she was still annoyed as she turned to Caroline and said, "Are you as dumb as your hair colour stereotype suggests or are you going to explain before I kill you?"
And Caroline squeaked nervously before she began talking and wouldn't stop.
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Nik had agreed to let Jeremy kill the hybrid that let Elena go. Apparently activating another Hunter ended the Curse that was enacted by the previous Hunter, and since Jeremy could see the Hunter's Mark, he was a potential Hunter. It didn't really matter anyways, they could always make more hybrids.
Isa, on the other hand, had finally figured out which way was up. She was lying in bed with her husband in their soundproof room when she told him. "That Hayley girl, she's working with Tyler to help unsire all your hybrids."
Nik sat up as he looked her in the eye, his wife still lying down. "And how do you know this?"
"I can read people, remember? That whole Hayley being involved with Tyler, and Caroline being jealous thing, is a hoax. I mean the whole thing practically reeked of deception. I knew Hayley was here for some other reason, I just didn't want to tell you until I figured out what," she explained.
"Do you know how they are breaking the sire bond?"
"They're sired to you because you freed them from the pain of having to turn. So, they just keep turning until they feel no pain. Then they have no reason to be grateful to you."
Nik's face was still devoid of emotion as he asked, "And I assume you already have a punishment in mind?"
Her smile was bashful but boasting at the same time. "Just the small one of pretending to be ignorant to what they are doing and when they are all unsired and think they are free, take away that freedom by massacring them all."
Nik raised a hand to her cheek, her skin smooth against the warm palm of his hand. "There are no words, no words, that could ever describe how truly grateful I am to have you," he murmured softly.
Isa's smile was shy. "'I love you' is a start," she said, and he kissed her softly.
"No words could describe how much I love you either," Nik said, and Isa's smile was roguish.
"No, but there are some actions that might."
Nik's smile was equally as rascally. And let's just say that it was a blessing that their walls were soundproof.