TVD - The Originals

The New Deal - 1

"Slow down!" Elena yelled at me as I ran ahead of her. "You wanted to go for a run, so run!" I yelled back as I stopped at the corner and she gladly slowed down.

It's been a week since homecoming, Klaus is out and about, so is Stefan, and Damon is being Damon at the grill, and all Elenas been doing is training and forcing me to join her.

"Yeah but it's not a marathon." She said as she checked her stop watch.

"I know. Look let's just go back, I've had enough."

We both turned to back the way we came and spotted a guy wearing a black hoodie jogging this way.

"Run?" I questioned as I jogged backwards.

"Run."

We broke into a run, looking behind us every so often to see the guy still behind us.

"Totally not creepy" I muttered as we ran faster. We paused halfway through the block and looked to see if he was still behind us.

He wasn't.

"Let's get going before we see another reason to run." I said and Elena nodded in agreement "Yes please."

We both turned around and crashed into the guy with the hoodie.

How in the holy hell did he get in front of us?!

"Excuse me." The guy said in apology as he removed his earphones.

"Should have been watching where I was going."

"Don't worry about it." Elena said to him through deep breaths.

"You have a nice day." He said before he continued to run.

"Well that wasn't creepy."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I feel like I'm going crazy. Totally paranoid all the time." Elena says as she bits her nails.

We were at the grill with Bonnie, and Damon was off drinking at the bar like clockwork.

Bonnie shrugged lightly, "You have a right to be. Klaus is still out there and he knows you tried to kill him."

"She's right" I said as I drawed in my sketchbook.

"Why hasn't he made a move? There has been no sign of him. Nothing. Just my slow spiral into insanity." Elena says and Bonnie sighs. "Join the club. Every time I close my eyes, I have that nightmare. On repeat."

I raise an eyebrow at her. "The same dream?"

Bonnie nods. "Yeah! Four coffins, Klaus is in one of them. It's weird."

Elena crosses her arms over the table. "What if it's not just some dream? What if it's like...you know...witch dream?"

Bonnie shrugs. "It's just stress. I'll figure it out. And what about Stefan? Has there been any sign of him?"

Elena shakes her head. "He betrayed us Bonnie. The Stefan that we know is gone."

Bonnie looks over at me. "How is Damon handling it?" I sigh and glance at the bar. "Damon is...Damon."

"Hey did you guys know that Jeremy got fired." Alaric said as he approached our table.

"What?!"

"He's been fired for over a week."

Elena gaped at me and I held my hands up in defense, "I swear I didn't know. I haven't been to work in a while."

"Well then guess that's my cue to leave." Bonnie said as she stood and picked up her stuff.

Alaric nodded, "Right. We'll I have more papers to grade so I'll see you guys at the house"

"Bye" I waved him off as Elena stood and started dialing Jeremy's number on her phone.

I put my stuff away and joined Damon shooting starts while Elena waited impatiently for Jeremy to answer.

"Jeremy, the minute that you get this call me!!" Elena yells in the voicemail and then hangs up.

When Damon gets a bulls-eye and I mutter a curse. "Unbelievable!!" Elena scolds.

Damon looks at her. "You are feisty when you are mad."

Elena shakes her head in refusal. "It's not that I'm mad. I'm just-I'm worried."

"But why? He lost his job at the Grill. He can survive, Elena."

Elena argues back. "He is spiraling. Ever since Bonnie broke up with him, he is moody, he is not really talking to anyone." Damon shrugs.

"It's typical teenager."

"Who's seeing ghosts and has lost everyone that he cares about." Elena says proving a point.

"Not everyone. He still has you." Damon replies back. Damon shoots a dart landing the bullseye again.

"Okay Come on!" I protest and he snickers and goes to the dartboard and retrieves his darts.

"You okay?" I ask him, knowing what his answer will most likely be. "What makes you think I'm not okay?" I crossed my arms and gave him a look.

"Well, you're daydrunk. It's not exactly your most attractive look." Elena says.

Damon approaches her with a smirk playing on his lips. "Hmm- what is my most attractive look?" Damon moves closer towards her.

"Ah, ah-. I'm saying this is my least favorite one..."

Damon nods slightly "Noted. See if I can make any improvements."

"Don't mind me." We all whirl around to see klaus.

"Klaus." Elena breaths out as I step in front of her and Damon steps in front of us.

"You gonna do this in the Grill? In front of everyone? It's a little beneath you, don't you think?" Damon questions.

"I don't know what you are talking about. I just came down to my local pub to grab a drink with a mate." Klaus turns to motion to the guy standing behind him.

I knew something was wrong. It's the guy from this morning. Of course he's a hybrid why wouldn't he be.

"Get a round in, would you Tony?" Klaus smiles, seeing that Elena is shocked.

"I'm surprised you stuck around town long enough for happy hour." Damon retorts.

Klaus looks at him. "My sister seems to be missing. Need to sort that out."

Damon raises an eyebrow. "Cute blonde bombshell, psycho. Shouldn't be too hard to find."

Klaus chuckles. "Truth is I've grown to rather like your little town. Think I might fancy a home here. Oh I imagine you're wondering how does this is affect you" He says as he takes Damon's darts.

"The answer is: not in the slightest. As long as I get what I want and everyone behaves themselves you can go on living your little lives however you choose. You have my word."

Elena looks at him. "What more could you possibly want?" She asks.

"Well for starters, you can tell me where I might find Stefan." Klaus replies.

"Stefan skipped town the second he saved your ass." Damon tells him.

Klaus clucks his tongue. "Well you see that is a shame."

Klaus throws a dart and gets a bulls-eye.

"Your brother stole from me. I need him found so I can take back what's mine."

I cross my arms at him. "No offense Klaus, but that doesn't seem like our problem."

Klaus moves toward me and I straighten up while Damon steps in between us and Klaus smirks.

"Ha. Well this is me broadening the scope, sweetheart."