Sire Lines

Chapter 24

"Amelia!" Klaus shouted her name. "Give me the stake! I know you have it!"

"That's one way to ask for something," Elijah stated.

"You only want it for your own security!" Amelia yelled from the balcony. "You're so paranoid that someone will steal it from me and kill you!"

"Any one of us, actually," Rebekah sighed, crossing her arms. "This has been going on for hours, Nik. You two are..."

"The worse and best pair in the world," Elijah finished. He poured himself a glass of wine and stuck a hand in his pocket as he drank, watching their yelling match. "I honestly don't care if she has it. She is trustworthy."

"She's been hunting us down for the past a thousand years, I don't put anything past her," Rebekah said. "But then there's Nik, daggering us and putting us in coffins."

"Why don't I act like Elijah and give you my word?!" Amelia continued. "Or is that not enough?"

"Just give me the damn stake and this will be over," Klaus replied, lowering his voice. "We would like to return to New Orleans and have a funeral for Finn and Kol."

"If I come along, would that be enough?"

"Y-yes," he stuttered. "Elena will be coming and Damon and your boyfriend Stefan would tag along because they worship her. Maybe, Katerina would come too."

"Katerina?" Elijah and Rebekah questioned.

"Are you trying to offend me?" Amelia questioned, narrowing her eyes. "I've told you a thousand times that it was nothing!"

"If it was nothing, then you wouldn't have done it in the first place, Amelia," his voice low and thick. "I've had enough of you trickery. Give me the stake, now."

"This is exactly why you're not getting it," she said, turning her back towards him as she walked away.

"I'm not letting this one slide. Give me the stake or I'm going," he said and she stopped. She turned her head not to look at him but to tell him that she was listening. "You've given me a thousand reasons to leave you and I will leave you... for good this time."

Her eyes dropped to Elijah and Rebekah who didn't meet her glance and then she looked at her jacket, feeling the key to the deadly weapon on her pocket. She felt that it was safer with her and never with Klaus or the rest of them. She felt the need to spend eternity as its divine guardian, even if it meant losing the man she loved.

She turned her head away from him and stepped further away before vamping out of the mansion. Klaus stood there, still feeling her air lingering on the hallway of the balcony. He fixed his stance, feeling ashamed that she had chosen other than him when he would have picked her first. For the first time, he finally understood where he loyalties lied.

"We should get going," he said, wiping his tear. When he reached the bottom floor, Rebekah wrapped her arms around his neck. He stood there for a moment, looking at Elijah's pity eyes, before accepting her embrace.

"It's time for you to let her go," Rebekah whispered.

"I don't-"

"No," she shook her head, cutting Elijah off. "I've seen it all. It's like you're on drugs, Nik. No matter what it does to you, you will always relapse. Move on."

"No better way to that than spending time in New Orleans," he said in an elated voice.

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"Don't you have school?" Amelia asked. Her eyes twinkled at the blond-haired boy whom she had slept with and was now lying against his chest. His blue eyes, as bright as the sky stared at her and crinkled into a grin.

"It's Memorial Day, no school," Matt responded. He looked around her loft and smirked, "You have a nice place."

"Thank you."

"And thanks for the new truck, by the way. The last one... you know what happened."

"I do," she nodded. She entwined her fingers in his and felt the Gilbert ring on him. "Please don't turn into a freak."

"I won't," he assured her. He pulled his arm out from under her and climbed over her cold body that he gave warmth to with touch. He placed kisses on her neckline and she chuckled. "Honestly... I never thought I'd be sleeping with a vampire."

"Me too. But with a human," she clarified.

"Well, that was fun," the woman in Klaus's bed spoke. She was one of Tyler's friends, Hayley, who was part of the New Orleans pack, the Crescent wolves. He knew that the young sired would be mad but he had no care in the world.

"Yes, it was fun," he agreed. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, turned away from her. After their hot and steamy night, he had gotten annoyed of her and wanted her out; but, he didn't have the courage to excuse her out of his room.

Klaus stood, naked, and went to the next room where he had kept all of his paintings in his house in the French Quarter. He had recently stolen a piece of artwork from an Italian museum and hung it in the very room he was standing in.

"She's pretty," Hayley said, waltzing in. She passed a piece of sheer clothing which he put on and denied the drink she offered. "How much is it worth?"

"It's priceless."

Hayley smirked, chugging the rum and poured another. She walked around, looking at more of his artwork and found a smaller version of the woman in painting on the wall. This one, was a sketch of her dancing with a man who resembled Klaus. She looked closer and realized it was actually him.

"Oh shit!" she whisper-shouted. "Is this you?" He didn't answer and she marched to him and waved the sketch in his face. "Klaus... who is she?"

The hybrid drew his eyes away from the painting and looked at the werewolf. "Her name is Amelia."