sleeping beauty [the originals]

xvi.

Isla was on her way with Stefan and Rebekah to Klaus's house. When they got inside, Isla could see a man tied up on some kind of torture machine. Klaus was talking to him. 

"You feeling all right, mate? Are the shackles too tight?" Without turning his head, Klaus dressed Rebekah. "Welcome home." Rebekah walked toward the man. 

"Is this a trick? How do you know he's one of the five? Where's his bloody tattoo?" Klaus nodded. 

"Oh, the tattoos aren't visible on this lot like they were on the last." He clasped his hands together. "Let's eat." He walked into the dining room, and the three followed him. 

A girl put some food on Klaus's plate. Classical music was playing. Rebekah and Klaus were sitting across from each other, and Isla and Stefan were in the remaining two chairs. "I could kiss the council for burning up all the vervain in town. They made my life so much easier." Klaus smiled, then noticed the look on Rebekah's face. "Rebekah, love, eat your veggies." Rebekah shook her head. 

"I'm not eating till you apologize." Isla started eating in hopes that she could drown out her siblings' arguing with the sound of her chewing. No such luck.

"For which indiscretion? There have been so many." Klaus joked. Rebekah stayed serious. 

"You broke my neck."

"You threw away Elena's blood so I couldn't make any more hybrids." 

"Cause you took me for granted."

"That's what big brothers do, sweetheart!" 

"Let me just name the million other people I'd rather be having dinner with right now." Stefan commented, which made Isla chuckle. Klaus sat back in his chair. 

"All right, fine. I'm sorry. I often forget how delicate you are. Forgive me?" Isla and Stefan looked at Rebekah. 

"I'll take it under consideration." Stefan nodded. 

"Ok, good. Ahem. Now why don't you tell me about Rebekah's hunter?" Klaus nodded. 

"Right. Alexander. Nice chap, forgoing the obvious issues. He was looking for creatures of the night, which is why we felt quite safe around him wearing our daylight rings." He started to tell the story, including the fact that the hunters had a weapon.

"So that's what this is about?" Stefan asked. "A weapon?" Rebekah turned her head.

"Not just any weapon." Klaus leaned forward. 

"Rebekah, love. Don't get ahead of the story." Stefan looked at the both of them. 

"How is a weapon the answer to all of my prayers?" When he got no answer, he leaned back. "Ok. Why don't we just skip with the theatrics and get right to the point." Klaus shook his head. 

"Not quite yet. Because in order to find this weapon, we need to solve the puzzle, which seems to have disappeared." 

"Puzzle? What puzzle?" Isla asked. Klaus looked at Rebekah, then at Stefan. 

"The tattoo." Stefan muttered. "What is it?" 

"A map. Leading us to its treasure." Rebekah sighed. 

"Fat lot of good a tattoo's going to do if we can't see it." Klaus nodded. 

"We can't, but someone else can." He turned to the girl behind him. "Why don't you tell the hybrid to bring him in, love?" The girl walked out of the room. Klaus turned back to Stefan. "You see, the hunter was so eager to get to the bottom of his mystery tattoos that he mentioned there was only one other person who could see them."

One of Klaus's hybrids came in, almost dragging Jeremy with him. Stefan immediately sped over to Jeremy, but was blocked by Klaus. 

"I wouldn't. Lucky for us, young Jeremy here is a bit of an artist." Jeremy glared at Klaus, standing his ground.

"I'm not helping you with anything." Klaus's hybrid quickly took the ring off of Jeremy's finger and tossed it to Klaus. 

"I'm afraid you are." Jeremy was led into the other room, and Klaus and Stefan returned to the table. Klaus continued to tell the story of the hunters. This part of the story included the daggers. 

"My sister's boyfriend threw a slumber party that night. He and his brother put us all down in our sleep. Elijah, Kol, Finn... and me." He looked at Rebekah. 

"How was I supposed to know?" Keeping his eyes on her, Klaus grabbed his drink. 

"Cheers. To my sister's uncanny ability to choose men." 

"I thought the daggers didn't work on you because of your werewolf side." Klaus nodded. 

"They don't." He finished the story, then turned to Rebekah. "Go ahead, Rebekah. Tell him. Tell him what the hunter told you the tattoo leads to. What's this great weapon that could bring upon the end of the vampire species?" Rebekah sighed. 

"A cure. He said there was a cure."