Chapter 15: I See a Storm Bubbling Up From the Sea

Elena was driving home, her thoughts still trying to process how Dan Humphrey of all people became Rebekah's pet. They seemed awkward together. She was always talking and he was always rolling his eyes to the back of his head. Yet it still looked very… natural. Normal, even, if she took away the fact that she was an original and he was a werewolf.

Serena was with Bonnie. They decided to spend some time together at the grill, probably with Caroline too. She ducked out, leaving them with the homework excuse. She didn't expect them to buy it, but somehow they let her go. They probably thought it was a Stefan thing. She wished it was, but Stefan disappeared after class.

He, too, has been different since he came home. Everyone has been. Damon most especially. Whatver he shared with Blair… it made her feel off. She knew she should be happy that Damon finally found someone… but that was just it. He didn't finally find someone. She's been his someone longer than anyone else had. Longer than Katherine… longer than her.

Elena shrugged and shook her head. She shouldn't have been thinking of that. She was never Damon's, and he was never hers. No. It was wrong. Stefan was home. That was what's important. That was—

A figure appeared before her, causing her to step on the breaks as hard as she could. Luckily her bumper barely touched the girl who now she realized was the one person she feared most. Blair smirked at her and walked towards the passenger's seat. She got inside her car. Elena could feel her skin crawl. What did she want? Was she there to hurt her? Did she get away from Klaus?

"Nice town you got here, Elena," Blair said, "drive now please."

She did as the vampire told her, her fingers trembling. The last time she actually had contact with Blair was when her hand was wrapped securely around her throat and Damon had to peal her off of her. Who knows what she could do with no one insight for miles?

A small chuckle escaped Blair's lips. It annoyed Elena although she didn't know why. "What do you want, Blair? Where's Klaus?"

"I find it amusing how I could effectively alter the rate of your heartbeat." I find it amusing how you suddenly showed up in the middle of the highway. Elena took a deep breath and shrugged. She had to show no sign of weakness, especially fear. Not with her here. "What, Elena? Are you scared of me?"

"What do you want? Where's Klaus?"

"You shan't worry yourself with Niklaus' whereabouts," she smirked, "I'm here for a different reason."

"Damon?" She hissed, unintentionally. She didn't know why or how Blair all of the sudden was irritating her but she was and the last thing she wanted was to be anywhere near her.

"So you're catching along, this is good improvement. But yes, I'm here about the Salvatore."

"He's been going crazy trying to plot your rescue, and here you are, free."

"I'm not free, Elena. I never was and I probably never will be." She snapped, yelling. It made the other brunette jump in her seat. Realizing how terribly horrified Elena was, Blair laughed. "Tell him to stop and move on with his life."

"You can't just expect me to do that—"

"Yes you can! You'd love it. Don't lie, Elena. I know girls like you."

"What?"

"You like him. You like how he showers you with his comfort and protection. You love that two men, brothers, are falling on your feet, fighting your every battle for you."

"You don't know me."

"Or do I? Believe me, Elena. As much as you despise Katherine, you're exactly like her. Except she owns up to her selfishness, unlike you. And this actually makes her better than you."

Elena glared at her and tried to focus on getting home, but that only meant bringing Blair with her. She stopped the car abruptly in the middle of the road.

"First of all, you don't have the right to judge me—"

"I have every right to judge you—"

"Second, you can tell Damon to move on yourself. And finally, get out of my car. I need to get home."

Blair gave her a once over and then rolled her eyes. She didn't see this coming. But Elena was still wrong. Everything she was doing was wrong. This whole martyr thing… it was wrong. She shook her head and got off the car.

"Stop being selfish and choose, Elena, because by not choosing you'll only end up hurting them both and having neither."

x x x

Elijah was alone, finally. Rebekah decided that Dan needed to go out more so they went to the local grill. Mostly he thought it was to show him off to the Rhodes witch, but he let her be. She was his sister after all and it delighted him, seeing her be a teenager again—human again.

He leaned back on the arm chair in front of the fire with a drink in hand, relishing his moments alone before Blair and Niklaus come back from their small trip. Just when he thought he'd have the darkness of the night to himself, his brother suddenly appears in the corner of his eye.

"Niklaus," he started, "you're home soon. Where's Blair?"

"She went out to get a bite to eat. How are things? Bekah?"

"She's out with her new pet wolf at the local pub. They're getting along as expected." Elijah took a long swig of his drink.

"I could only assume it's not going pretty well," Klaus made his way to the wet bar just behind the old Victorian couch that came with the house and fixed himself up a drink. Elijah's eyes shifted as his brows furrowed in confusion. His brother was calm. Too calm.

"Is anything the matter, Niklaus?" he asked.

Klaus considered the question, contemplating on whether he should tell his brother or not. The subject at hand was quite sensitive. And he didn't want to tear their growing bond. He was even surprised he wasn't the least bit angry when he undaggered him. He was level headed and perhaps just over it.

"It's Blair," he sat on the armchair beside Elijah's and mimicked his position—slouched and tired. "She's different."

"Well of course she is, Niklaus. It's been centuries since you've been with her."

"No," he shook his head, "it's different. She's… stronger. Stronger than the last time I've seen her."

"She's grown up. She's rebuilt herself."

"She demanded that I must not lay a hand on anybody in Mystic Falls," the frustration in his voice was evident. A muder-less town? With Niklaus in it? That was just not acceptable. "Not even Elena Gilbert."

"Did she say why?"

"She said… enough blood has been shed. If I do kill another human then she'll leave. Forever."

Elijah pulled himself out of the mold he's created on the chair to study his brother's face. Could it be? His brother was breaking down? Of course. It was Blair. Niklaus has never loved anyone other than her.

"And you won't have that?"

"Of course I won't," Klaus exclaimed. "I can't lose her… the thought of her… no. Not again."

"Then I would suggest not harming anyone in Mystic Falls,"

"But that's unacceptable, Elijah. I need to kill the doppelganger. I need to break the curse."

"What for, Niklaus? You have your family. You have Blair."

"I—" he opened his mouth to say something to defend himself, but there was nothing that he could say. Nothing he could say out loud, at least. Not to Elijah.

"Did I miss anything?" A voice behind them startled Elijah, causing him to jump out of his seat, ready to pounce on whomever it was invading their home. He immediately froze upon seeing the vampire before them.

"Stefan," Klaus announced, smiling, "glad you could finally join us." He rose from his seat to approach him, but Stefan stepped back, defensive.

"What is this, Niklaus?" Elijah asked.

"Why are you keeping me? You made a deal with Blair. I should be free."

Klaus chuckled and emptied the contents of his glass into his mouth, taking his precious time, after all, time is all they did have. Why hurry such a petty case?

"Oh Stefan," he smirked, "but I'm not done with you yet."

"You made a deal!"

"But you neglected to tell me one very small, very important detail, Stefan. The doppelganger is still alive."

"Don't you dare—"

"Oh, don't worry. I swore to my love that I won't touch anyone in Mystic Falls. But…"

"Niklaus," Elijah warned.

"She didn't say anything about you though," Klaus smirk suggested that an apocalypse was about to happen. And it was probably true. He was wicked as wicked can be, despite Blair's return in his life. Somehow this dismayed Elijah. He thought he had his brother back. The Niklaus he grew up with. He should have known he was wrong.

x x x

After her altercation with Elena, Blair decided she needed a drink before going home. The only place that offered actual alcohol in Mystic Falls was their little grill. Surely enough, it was a long run from the site Elena dumped her in to the crowded bar. When she got there she didn't expect to see Dan chugging down a bottle of beer with Rebekah by the pool table, playing pool. Heck, she didn't expect to see Dan and Rebekah out period.

She nodded to Rebekah when she spotted her and went to the bar to get herself a drink. She could feel eyes on her, following her moves, but she didn't want to risk anything by seeing who it was. She'll catch sight of them eventually.

"There she is," she heard someone whisper.

"What should we do?" It was Serena's voice. Serena? Her head snapped to the direction of the forming conversation. There she was. The blonde witch was sandwiched between Caroline and Bonnie.

They all held their breaths for a minute as she stared at them. She considered approaching them, but it was too risky. There was Rebekah and she had questions and she's been avoiding questions. That impatience plus Blair's ignoring her was a bad combination. She raised her glass to the girls and walked over to the pool table that Dan and Rebekah occupied.

"Blair, nice of you to join us." Dan announced, leaning against the table as Rebekah sat on top of it beside him.

"How have you two been?" Blair asked Rebekah, ignoring Dan completely. She found that it was easier if she just ignored Dan all together than to face the fact that she wasn't capable of saving him. Not any time soon, that is.

"Bored. Doesn't your wolf know any tricks?"

"I apologize if his uncanny ability to quote Fitzgerald and Poe doesn't seem to amuse you."

"It doesn't. And he talks back."

"That's just how Humphrey is, I suppose,"

"I'm still here—"

"Shut it, Daniel. Go get us something to eat, will you? I need to have a talk with Blair."

"I need to have a talk with Blair too, you know."

Rebekah jumped off of the pool table, grabbed Dan by the shoulders and pointed him to the direction of the bar. "Ladies first, wolf." She gave her a light shove and he started walking aimlessly towards the bar, her eyes glancing at Serena, whose gaze was glued on him. All he wanted to do was to run to her and get away from this web that Blair's gotten tangled in, but somehow he knew that wouldn't be the smartest move to make considering the circumstances.

Blair quirked a brow at Rebekah, "You do know we can't talk here, right?"

"I'm aware. I don't care. What's going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't play coy, Blair. Him. I told you to stay away from him. You told me he was just a bed warmer. What happened? Did you snap and suddenly turn him?"

"No! I would never do that, Rebekah, you know that. I would never turn anyone."

"Then why is he here? You know Nik's going to kill him if he finds out."

"Don't tell him Bekah," Blair said rather too quickly, giving her emotions away. "Please. Don't."

Rebekah stared at Blair as if she didn't know the person in front of her. She was her best friend—her sister, maybe not by blood but by bond. But Niklaus was her brother. The only family she had left with Elijah.

"You did have feelings for him, did you?" Could she really blame her? She was abandoned, lost, disregarded. If she put herself in Blair's shoes she'd probably do a lot worse. When her friend responded with a deep sigh, she knew it was true. She loved this Salvatore boy. Maybe even more than she loved Niklaus.

"We should go home," Rebekah announced, placing her pool stick atop the table. There was no way she was going to have Blair admit her feelings. Not about his one boy, definitely. But she was going to find out eventually, somehow. She won't rest until she does.

x x x

"How cute," Katherine commented on the photograph that lay idle atop a stack of books on Damon's desk. She has stared at it for the longest time before she made her comment. Obviously there was bewilderment for her that someone got to Damon before she did. She had to admit to herself that Waldorf was a real player in these games. Not a decoy. Not bate. This time, she was the prize.

"Though, I hate this stupid smug grin on your face like you had the world," she continued, flipping the photo. She walked fluidly to the armchair just beside the desk, watching Damon as he sat on his bed. He wasn't the same somehow. She's only been gone two days and here he was, not the same Salvatore she's come to know.

"I didn't need the world," he sighed, still staring at the blank space before him, "I had her."

Katherine scoffed, her eyebrows furrowing. "When's Stefan getting home? You're an absolute bore."

"Why are you even here, Katherine?" Damon asked, annoyed now that she's mocking his feelings. Feelings, he scoffed in his mind. Since when did Damon Salvatore have feelings?

"I need to talk to you about something and you must trust me."

"Trust you? Have you met yourself?"

"Damon, believe me when I tell you the information I have is worth considering."

"Alright, what is it?"

Katherine took a moment to listen for anyone around. There was dead silence. It was safe. It better be because she didn't want to get killed just because of this. She took a deep breath and trained her eyes on Damon.

"Mikael. He's not to be trusted," she started, her voice low.

"What?"

"I know I've heard of him from somewhere, and then it hit me. Pearl knew a person named Mikael. He's a vampire who hunts other vampires. Damon, he's dangerous."

"He's helping me get Blair back. And if he is a vampire hunting vampire then wouldn't that mean he'd know how to kill Klaus? Two birds with one stone."

"No, Damon, you're not listening. He's dangerous. No vampire that comes across him makes it out alive."

"Blair made it out alive."

"Ever think that maybe they had an affair of sorts? Or did you ever think that maybe she's running away from him? Think, Damon. Have you lost the ability to think?"

"He's the only link I have to her."

"No, Damon! If you actually were thinking, which I assume you really have lost the ability to do so, you'd know that the only link you need is yourself."

"Why are you doing this, Katherine? Is this some part of your elaborate plan to ruin my life?"

Katherine took a moment to scoff and roll her eyes. "Yes, Damon. You caught me. I'm here to make your life a living hell. Blah blah blah…" she got up from her seat and started walking towards the door to leave. Why was she helping them? There wasn't anything in it for her, except maybe the potential killing of Klaus. But that was a long shot. Why should she stay around?

"Just don't wait for the day when I tell you I told you so," she hummed, walking out of the door and down the hall slowly, waiting for Damon to maybe follow her, but he didn't. He couldn't care less. He was stuck in this phase of self-pity and it was pathetic.

She was just rounding about the corner at the bottom of their stair case when she felt hands all over her, one secured tightly around her waist and one clasped around her mouth. She tried to scream, but her voice was muffled. She tried to get out of the man's grasp, but she couldn't, he was too strong. And when he snapped her neck, the last thing she saw was Mikael's face.

A/N: jdflskafjlksd I know, I know. My updates are getting slower and slower, but believe me when I tell you I have good reasons. 1.) I have school. 2.) I'm contemplating on starting a new fic. 3.) I really don't have a three but I figured just two things aren't enough. And I know this doesn't really lead to anything, but you'll see soon. I think I just wanted to put danbekah there to splurge myself. Anyhow, I really really really must say that you guys are awesome. If you ever have any questions, I think it's best if you contact me via tumblr :} Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this and you still stay tuned. XOXO.