𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐂𝐇 ━━ KLAUS MIKAELSON

17

EMERY SAT ON THE bed with her head pounding. Her heart was beating so fast that she could practically hear it– as could Klaus.

He stood there and stared at her for a few seconds before vamp-speeding out of the room.

Emery stared at the door through which he just disappeared with a frown at her lips. However, before she could think much into it, he came back holding a something in his hands.

A sketchbook.

He slowly approached her with an unsure look on his face. Emery thought that looked rather nervous and it was the first time she was seeing him being so. It was almost funny. She would've laughed if the circumstances were different.

He extended the sketchbook to her, "here, I bought this for you earlier."

"When?" She took it from him and placed it on her lap with her fingers still holding it, "we got here like an hour ago."

"Eight, actually." He informed, staying on his feet as he stared down at her, "you were sleeping. It's noon."

"Oh," she mumbled, running her fingers mindlessly over the flat brown leather surface. It was almost similar to her previous one except this one had a sort of chain hanging on it.

"It's pretty, thank yo—" she was cut off with a familiar sensation in the back of her throat. She was quick to place the sketchbook aside and stand up before rushing towards the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

Klaus stared at the closed door with furrowed brows, confused as he stood there and waited for her to come out.

Inside, Emery began coughing, blood spurting out of her mouth, staining her teeth, lips and chin as she did so. Her throat felt dry and was beginning to hurt as she kept coughing, her hands gripping the edges of the sink on either side tightly.

Klaus could hear all the noises from behind the door and to say that he was getting worried would be an understatement. He didn't know why but he was. That led him to walk towards the door and brought his hand up into a fist. Then he knocked, "Emery? Are you all right in there?"

"F–Fine," she replied back, her voice scratchy which didn't go unnoticed by him, "I'll be out in a second."

The hybrid said nothing as he waited for her to come out which she did after a minute or two. He narrowed his eyes at her face which had become visibly paler.

"What's wrong?" The question flew out of his mouth before he could stop it. It was a stupid question to ask, he knew that. Emery only sighed in response, "nothing," both of them knew that was a lie yet they said nothing about it. The smell of blood was strong in the air, and the witch knew he could smell it. She was grateful he wasn't prying.

She walked over to the bed and sat back down again, her head lifting to look at him, "have you slept?"

"No," he shook his head, "we have to leave now."

"Already?"

"Yes," he muttered, his hand going to his dirty blonde hair before he ran his fingers through them, "I was just waiting for you to wake up. We went to that bar to find our werewolf, he's in the car right now– already told us where his pack is and all. We need to leave."

The witch nodded, "just give me like ten minutes. I'll shower real quick." Without bothering to wait for a reply, she walked in the bathroom.

**

THEY HAD TO ABANDON the car since the pack was in the mountains, Klaus said that they couldn't drive there. Emery was walking beside Klaus with a packet of chips in her hands. She glanced at Stefan who had an unconscious Ray thrown over his shoulder, "want some?"

"No," he grunted out in response. She furrowed her brows at his tone, "okay, chill. I was just asking."

"You okay?" Klaus asked, his voice taunting, "is Ray getting heavy?"

"I'm fine."

"You sure about that? You know, we've been walking for quite some time now. If you need some water or a little sit-down—" Klaus was cut off by Stefan, "— you know, I get that we're, uh... we're stuck together, but if we could maybe just skip the chitchat, it'd be great."

"So much brooding," Klaus clicked his tongue, "your self-loathing is suffocating you, my friend."

"Maybe it's 'cause I'm a little tired of hunting werewolves," Stefan replied with a hint of sarcasm in his tone, "we've been at it all summer."

"Thanks to our pal Ray, we found ourselves a pack," Klaus's steps haltered as did the others. He pointed to a particular area, "there."

Stefan entered their camp making everyone look at him. He placed Ray on the ground and a woman rushed over to him, "Ray! Oh, my God." Her face was filled with horror, "what's going on? Who are you?"

Emery followed Klaus who decided to show himself to them with a smug smile on his face, "The important question is who am I. Please forgive the intrusion. My name is Klaus."

"You're the hybrid," the woman muttered, her eyes widening in realization.

Klaus smiled, his ego definitely boosted, "you've heard of me. Fantastic." He turned to the witch, pointing to a log, "go sit down."

"What? Why?"

"This is going to take a while," he responded, staring at her, "you look like you're about to fall unconscious. So, go sit down, Emery."

"Go sit down, Emery," she rolled her eyes and mimicked harshly under her breath as she walked over to the log, "motherfucker's talking to me as if I'm some chi—" she cut herself off when she noticed his glare on her. Pursing her lips, she decided to fix her eyes on the pack in front of her.