Savior | Klaus Mikaelson

Chapter 52

Damon couldn't breathe.

Which went to show just how hard Maddy was squeezing him. Even in her frail human form, she'd managed a nearly bone-crushing hug, holding him closer than she ever had before. The Salvatores weren't that big on hugging, considering that affection had been so frowned upon when they were children. This was like a hug that made up for all the hugs they hadn't really done in the past.

"Mads," he said, patting her back. "Let go."

She almost didn't want to. But she released him, and brought her hands up over her mouth as if she was praying, trying to contain a smile. "You're here. You... you're really here. But what about Bonnie? Where's Bonnie?"

"She's with Elena and Caroline. We appeared in the woods by the house... just outside of the border, luckily. We had to get to a payphone. The girls came and picked us up. Brought me here then took Bonnie to Jenna's apartment so she could shower and eat. They said you were at a doctor's appointment. What's wrong? Don't tell me that being human landed you with some illness or something."

Maddy pursed her lips. "We'll talk about that later, okay? Right now, I want to know about you." She shut the car door, smiling slightly at Klaus as she brought Damon to sit on the curb with her. "Where were you? How are you here?"

"It was strange," he mused. "We linked hands just as this white light burst out. When we came to, we were standing in the same place... but everything felt fine. We started to walk around, and we found Mystic Falls as it had been, but with older cars. We eventually learned we were in a Gemini Prison World. A repeat of May 10, 1994. Every day was the same, and an eclipse passed overhead."

"So you weren't dead? You were just in a prison world?"

"Exactly. I guess it was Sheila's final favor for Bonnie. And for me because I took her hand."

"How did you get out?"

Damon winced. "It... wasn't easy. We only recently found out how. Turns out that place was created to keep someone trapped inside of it. Some scrawny and annoying Pork-Rind-Muchin'-Freak named Kai. He's something called a siphoner, which I guess means he can suck magic out of things and supernaturals. He has to do that to be able to do magic."

"A siphoner," said Klaus suddenly. "I recall hearing of that happening. I was not in my own body at the time, I was in hiding. I could not go and investigate. A rather awful ordeal, of a boy killing his siblings."

"Yeah, that's him," said Damon. "Anyway, he had this thing called an Ascendant, which we needed to get out. That and Bennett blood. Before we learned that Kai couldn't die there, I almost ended up getting out without Bonnie. She wanted me to get out so that she could keep Kai in there. But I ah... tossed the Ascendant into the wall and it shattered and we had to fix it, and then we had to keep Kai down... and we left him there. There's only one teensy problem."

Maddy winced. "What's the problem?"

"He'd been stalking us for a while so... he knows about what we went through with Silas. He knows that there's a rock of calcified Bennett blood and magic up in Nova Scotia. If he manages to find that, he can get out. I had no issue with him getting out, honestly, I could care less, but Bonnie doesn't like him. I tried to tell her that Kol was way worse than Kai could ever be but I suppose since Kol was turning over a new leaf once he started dating her, she doesn't want to consider that. I don't know. The point is Kai might get out. So... that's probably something to discuss with the group. Bonnie thinks we should warn the Gemini Coven, whoever they are."

"I've heard that name recently," mused Maddy. "Stefan and the others were following leads, trying to find a way to bring you and Bonnie back. One of the leads was the Gemini Coven in Portland. But when Ric and Stefan went, they didn't find anything. So they just came back and called it a dead end."