The Prince of Mystic Falls

41. It's All About Love

Pairing: Alaric/Jeremy (M/m) hand, references

Geneva, Switzerland

CERN

"It is ironic that I must grovel to my greatest failure, the Strix, to help destroy the evil that I abandoned them to, our father," Elijah said to Klaus in the sterile boardroom situated in the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva. The Strix had a lab here at Cern and this is the only place where they said the meeting could take place.

"Elijah, if Mikael hadn't gotten so close that time, you could have guided them more to your vision. Instead, Tristan warped them to his sick vision of power. But Brother, today we need that power. Mikael's become stronger than we knew," Klaus admitted.

"All I wanted to do was assemble minds curious about the world and eager to improve it. We had the time and circumstance. Yet today my 'elite brotherhood' is a legion of ego-maniacal sociopaths. And here we are, begging their help and protection," Elijah scoffed.

A door opened with a whoosh sound.

"Elijah, Klaus, how kind of you to join us. It has been a long time, has it not?" Tristan de Martal drawled in his upper class accent in his impeccable suit. Though, not as impeccable as his sire, Elijah's.

"Tristan, good of you to make time for us. We can see that you have become quite busy and important here at CERN. If I may ask, exactly what do you do here?" Elijah replied smoothly.

"Many, many things, sire. On the surface, we use the particle accelerator here to study how particles interact and collide on a subatomic level. In secret, we are trying to synthesize the secrets of our immortality. How do our cells regenerate? Why do we need blood to live? How do we heal? We are studying the science of the magic that binds us," Tristan answered smugly.

"Intriguing, indeed. When we spoke on the phone, you said you knew where our father was. I know you had some dealings with him some years back," Klaus commented wryly.

"As you fooled my noble father 1000 years ago, I, too, was forced to fool your father. He very nearly slayed us many times. He's a clever warrior and a ruthless killer. It pains me that my own sire would abandon me and the organization we created together and leave me for dead, so he could run like a coward," Tristan drawled glaring at Elijah.

"How dare you speak to me that way! I made you and I will end you despite how important and protected you think you are. Now either help us or quit wasting our time. We have many things to attend to," Elijah shouted standing up quickly.

Klaus was surprised that Elijah lost his temper or appeared to do so. Then, he remembered how Tristan was a bully who had to be bullied to cooperate.

"Forgive me, my sire. It would be my honor to assist you in your quest. In fact allow me to present you with your father, Mikael, the vampire who hunts vampires. Or used to anyway," Tristan finished hitting a buzzer.

Klaus and Elijah froze. They had little protection. Klaus had one stake, but would that be enough? What folly was this? Of course, Tristan would betray them.

The door buzzed open again and Mikael Mikaelson walked in.

----------------****

Mystic Falls, Virginia

Gilbert House

"Boy, are you out of your fool mind?" Alaric yelled at Jeremy.

Although Alaric had been tempted to give Jeremy a few good whacks before he even asked him what happened, he didn't. Alaric calmed himself down and listened to Jeremy's story. Jeremy told him that he had been passing by the living room when Alaric's phone beeped. He went to give it to Alaric to wake him up in case it was important and 'happened' to see Damon's message that he was stopping by. Jeremy said that his hunter mentality kicked in and he fished the keys out of Alaric's pocket and broke into the weapon cache. He laid in wait for Damon and used the vervain bolts to overpower him and drag him to the basement.