SUN peaked its way in and hit Klaus directly in the face. He groaned slightly and rolled away from it. When his arms made contact with something other than the silky sheets, he opened his eyes to see Ingrid peacefully sleeping next to him and beamed happily. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer so that her back was pressed firmly to his chest.
Klaus planted a soft kiss on her bare shoulder before resting his chin on the top of her head and closing his light blue eyes.
Ingrid felt his warmth and snuggled closer with a smile crossing her face subconsciously.
The couple fell asleep in their embrace and the only sound filling the room was that of their shallow breathing.
When late morning came, Carol Lockwood had asked Klaus to contribute a painting to the charity event for that night.
Klaus was in the parlor painting on a canvas while Ingrid was reading one of the Twilight books. She wrinkled her nose in disgust and glanced up at her husband. "This portrayal of vampires is laughable. I assume the reason they sparkle is because she continously references their skin to be translucent and hard as stone however I feel it has been applied poorly."
Klaus glanced passed his canvas to look at her with an amused expression. He was about to comment back when Stefan walked into the room and looked at the painting. "Looks like a giant snowflake."
"I prefer to think of it as an expression of postmodernism." Klaus answered with a proud smile. "It's my donation to the Winter Wonderland charity event."
Just then, Adrian entered the room and looked at Klaus. "You said it was urgent."
Klaus directed his attention to the hyrbid and pointed at the painting. "Yes, take this to the Mystic Grill immediately."
"You want me to be a delivery guy?" Adrian questioned in disgust, hoping to be ordered around for more than a simple task.
Klaus walked forward and closed the space between him and Adrian. "What I want is for you to do whatever I say. Without the attitude."
Adrian grimaced and walked.over to the painting. He picked it up and started to leave the room as Klaus called out to him. "And be careful with that. It's still wet."
"Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves, you know." Stefan commented with a pointed look.
Klaus smirked at him and raised an eyebrow. "What is the point of my hybrids being sired to me if I can't maximize on the benefits of free labour? What are you doing here?"
Stefan walked down the stairs, further into the room with an upset facial expression. "Elena is sired to Damon."
The couple glanced each other with unreadable expressions before Ingrid stood up from her chair and approached the Salvatore with an amused face. "Actually... she is sired to me." She said calmly while closing her book and setting it down on one of the tables.
Stefan glanced at her in confusion and shook his head, rejecting her statement. "No. She listens to everything Damon tells her to without question."
"Because I told her to." Ingrid explained with a small smirk.
"She's sired to... you?" Stefan questioned as his face began to slowly turn into one of realization. "You told her to stop struggling and she stopped. You told her to listen to Damon and now she does everything he says. Which means..."
"She's actually in love with him? Yes. Her feelings for Damon are real." Klaus answered with a wide, devious smirk.
Stefan sneered at them in anger and recklessly sped toward Ingrid, who caught him in his place and held him by the throat. She glanced at him with a displeased face and rolled her eyes. "You really are so predictable. It's become tiresome." She then pushed him away from her as he seethed in rage. "Listen, I never gave an order that was horrendous or cruel. I never ordered her to love Damon. She did that all on her own. It's time to face the music, Stefan. She's just not that into you."
Klaus let out a loud laugh causing his dimples to peak out from their hiding place and glanced at Ingrid affectionately. "Come on, love. Don't be so harsh."
"I'm not being harsh." She replied while putting a hand over her heart. "Honesty is the best policy. I would never lie, especially about this, Stefan."
Stefan rolled his shoulders back and glared at them before getting to the reason why he even came. "I need to find the cure now more than ever and yet here you two are, dicking around, making postmodern snowflakes and reading Twilight."
"Were we supposed to be doing something else?" Ingrid questioned in confusion, raising an eyebrow at him.
"We've delivered." Klaus said, walking away and grabbing a cloth to wipe the paint off his hands. "We retrieved the Hunter's sword from Italy which we'll use to decipher the map hidden in the Hunter's mark. You're the one who is supposed to deliver the Hunter and his mark."
"Well, Jeremy is the hunter, and he has to keep killing vampires to complete his mark, but we can't quite figure out how to keep him from killing us." Stefan informed them in exhaustion.
"Sounds like quite the chore." Klaus commented in amusement, knowing it wasn't their problem. "Which is why I feel perfectly justified doing a little charity work."
Stefan narrowed his leafy green eyes and mused lowly. "Hmm, or maybe you're lying about having found the sword."
"When have I ever lied to you?" Ingrid questioned him with an awaiting look on her face.
"Why would I lie to you, Stefan?" Klaus asked as well then strode passed Stefan and toward a vault in the other room. "We're in this together."
"I'm not." Ingrid remarked honestly while following him. "I want nothing to do with this cure."
Stefan followed them into the other room with a hesitant expression on his face. Klaus turned the dial on the vault and opened it up before pulling the sword out. "The hilt acts as a cipher which we'll use to decode the marks on Jeremy's tattoo when he's killed enough vampires to complete it." Klaus placed the sword down on a table then took a seat on the sofa and propped his feet up on the same table.
Ingrid walked by to sit next to him but her pulled her down into her lap causing her to giggle in surprise. Stefan ignored them and picked the sword up to examine it.
Klaus placed a hand on Ingrid's thigh and glanced at the younger vampire in curiosity. "I heard you moved out of your house." Stefan looked up at him and Klaus smirked. "Bit of a martyr move, hm?"
"I'm not here to bond, Klaus." Stefan remarked in a bitter tone and placed the sword back on the table.
Klaus laughed and sat back further into his seat. "Oh, on the contrary, I think right now I'm the best friend you've got."
After Stefan stormed out of their house, Klaus turned to Ingrid with a smile. "Would you come to the charity event with me tonight?
She shifted in his lap to face him completely and nodded her head with a happy smile. "Of course."
He grinned and resting his hands on her hips. "I love you."
"I love you." She replied honestly and leaned forward to kiss him on the lips before pulling away and cuddling up to his chest.
Later that night, Ingrid was getting ready for the Winter Wonderland charity event in their room. Klaus had to leave a bit earlier than her to set up his exhibit for the art showing and she intended to meet him there. She was doing her makeup when her phone vibrated against the marble counter, signalling that she had recieved a text message. They have Caroline distracting me again. Be cautious. ♡ -K
She snarled at the text and slammed the mascara wand down on the counter before storming out of the room. Ingrid walked down the stairs and sensed Stefan's presence in the room where they kept the vault.
Stefan ripped off the handle from the vault and gently placed it down next to him. He opened up the vault and noticed that the sword was no longer in there. He growled in frustration and harshly closed the vault door. He was about to call Damon when Ingrid sped toward him and snapped his neck in one swift motion. She dropped his body to the ground and dialed Klaus' number on her phone.
He answered after two rings and greeted her in worry. "Are you alright, my love?"
"Oh, I'm fine." She reassured him calmly with a smile then sneered at Stefan's unconscious body. "Stefan was attempting to break into the vault. How surprising." She mused sarcastically and rolled her eyes.
"I'm assuming he's already been taken care of." Klaus replied knowingly with a laugh.
"Well, much to my disappointment, he's not dead. But yes." She grumbled, unsatisfied, then kicked the Salvatores body to roll him over. "I'll meet you in a few minutes."
"I'll be here waiting." He affectionately remarked before hanging up the phone.
She slipped the phone into her purse and crouched down next to Stefan. "You are really starting to get on my nerves." She paused when his phone chimed in his pocket and tilted her head to the side, intrigued. She reached in the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out his phone before going through his texts. Ingrid grew furious from what she read and crushed the phone on her grip then dropped the remains onto Stefan's body.
She then stood up straighter and walked out of the house, leaving him behind.
Ingrid walked through the crowd of people in the town square and met Klaus by the fountain.
"You're stunning." He beamed when she approached him and reached out for her hand.
"You don't look half bad yourself, darling." She complimented back and gladly took his hand, intertwining their fingers together and grinning up at him.
Stefan, now revived, walked through the town square and spotted the couple. He watched as Ingrid turned her body away from his sight and pressed closely to Klaus as she whispered quietly to him. He didn't know exactly what she was telling him but Stefan had a gut feeling that Ingrid was telling Klaus about the hyrbids' plans.
He watched as Klaus' happy smile turned into an enraged snarl and decided it was time to face him. Stefan made his way through the crowd and approached them with his hands in his pockets. Klaus glanced at him, amused. "Where have you been all day?"
"I've been around." Stefan answered simply and shrugged his shoulders.
Klaus narrowed his eyes and tilted his head to the side, seeing right through him. "I'm not interested in vagary, Stefan. You've been dodgy and Caroline's been lovely, which I've come to recognize as a tool of distraction, now, do you have something to share with me or should I compel it out of you?" He angrily questioned.
"I broke into your safe to look for the sword." Stefan reluctantly answered and spared a glance in Ingrid's direction.
Klaus, having already known this, smirked bitterly and pushed the subject further. "Why?"
"Because I don't trust you." Stefan answered honestly.
"That makes two of us." Ingrid remarked back in a harsh tone.
"I showed you the sword. I explained its value. I've been on your side the entire time. What do you want from me?" Klaus questioned sternly then got an idea and smirked widely. "A secret brotherhood handshake?"
"I found the letters." Stefan commented suddenly, hoping to drive a wedge between the Original hyrbids. "You've had a few pen-pals over the centuries."
Klaus smile smugly at his attempt "Well, is keeping my victims' letters really so different from writing their names on a wall? Like you did, Ripper?"
Stefan didn't respond so Klaus smiled even more smug. Suddenly, Klaus saw Adrian over Stefan's shoulder and his face fell. He let go of Ingrid's hand and pushed passed Stefan, toward him but stopped midway and turned back to the vampire. "Loneliness, Stefan." He answered honestly, directing his gaze to his wife, and Stefan turned to face him. "That's why you and I memorialize our dead. There's the briefest of moments before we kill where we literally hold their life in our hands and then we rip it away. And we're left with nothing. So, gathering other peoples' letters or writing their names on a wall is a reminder that in the end we're left infinitely and utterly alone."
Klaus gave Ingrid a sad look then turned around again and walked off with Adrian as Stefan watched them go. Once he was gone, Stefan turned to Ingrid with a frantic expression. "What did you tell him?"
"All of it." She answered bluntly then slowly smirk in a devious manner. "You helped seal their fate." Ingrid spotted Tyler talking to Hayley in a panic and her face dropped. She turned to Stefan with a polite smile and pardoned herself. "Excuse me, Stefan." She then stormed toward Tyler before Stefan could stop her and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "Hello, Tyler." She greeted with an angry smile.
Ingrid then dragged the Lockwood along side of her as she made her way toward the woods. He struggled against her grip but it was no use, Ingrid was stronger. "If you're going to kill me, just do it already." He snarled at her impatiently.
She stopped in her tracks and turned him to face her. "Oh, honey, I won't be the one who kills you." She remarked with a sweet smile then continued on with her journey. When she arrived at the small clearing in the woods, Ingrid threw Tyler down to the ground and he landed face to face with Adrien, who was dead with a hole in his chest.
Tyler stood up slowly to see that all of the hyrbids were dead and gaped at them sadness. She watched him slowly sink to his knees again and weep the loss of his friends. Smirking, she circled him while tapping her finger tips together. "When will you realize there is no stopping Niklaus? There is only pain and death or loyalty. You played for the wrong team and now there are consequences. You get to live with the guilt. You are reason all your friends are dead."
He stood up and sped toward her but she foresaw this and threw him into a tree. Tyler fell to the ground in a pained heap and struggled to pull himself up from the grass. Ingrid walked toward him and turned his body to face her with her high heel. "You were born nothing and you will always be nothing." She then took a tree branch and staked him in the heart with it. Tyler groaned in pain before becoming temporarily neutralized.
She stood up straighter and walked out of the woods, leaving Tyler surrounded by the fallen hyrbids.
In the town square, Carol Lockwood was leaving a voice message for her son. "Tyler, honey, you're supposed to be my sober cab. I think I drank half the party." Carol then hung up her phone and sat down on the edge of a stone fountain. She put her champagne glass down next to her and took her shawl off.
Klaus approached her, his clothes and face blood-spattered. "Good evening, Carol. You're looking for Tyler. I'd like to have a word with him myself." He remarked in distraught and held a bottle of champagne clutched in one of his hands.
Carol looked up at him, terrified and intoxicated. "Klaus, please, don't hurt him. He's my son. He's all I have."
"And you're all he has. There's a beautiful symmetry to that, don't you think?" Klaus rhetorically questioned and grabbed Carol by the back of the neck. She screamed in horror and he dunked her head into the water surrounding the fountain. Carol struggled to fight Klaus off but he continued to hold her head under until she finally took her last breath and the life left her eyes. Klaus removed his hand off her neck and walked away, leaving Carol's dead body in the fountain.
---
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-the1andonlytifftiff