Clair de Lune - K.M.

c h a p t e r t w e n t y t h r e e

"Damon," I say, trying to catch up to the vampire as he leads Klaus and I out of the dance. "Damon! Where are we going?"

He doesn't answer. 

Klaus and I exchange alarmed glances as we continue to follow Damon, allowing him to lead us out of the gym and out the front doors of the school. The three of us come to an abrupt stop several yards from the front door and I look down, noticing the ring of salt extending across the ground and surrounding the school.

"Salt?" I ask as Klaus leans down to examine the substance. When I try to walk past him I'm stopped by an invisible barrier similar to the one that keeps us out of houses we haven't been invited to.

"What is this?" Klaus growls as he stands and turns around to face Damon.

"Mommy's back," Damon says and Klaus' face hardens instantly.

"I thought she was dead?" I ask.

"Apparently not," Damon responds. "She took Elena and bolted. Who knows what she's up to."

"Fuck," I mutter.

"Your witch is here," Klaus says to Damon. "Let's see if we can convince her- Pup?"

Both of them turn to look at me as I take off back towards the school, shoving people out of my way as I go. The only thing on my mind is getting out of here so that I can finally end this shit, and I don't care what it takes.

Klaus finally catches me as I walk down the hallway towards the classrooms. He grabs my wrist to turn me around and I shove him off me.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm fucking tired of this shit," I snarl. "Your mother literally will not give up trying to kill you. I'm finding a way out of here so I can find her and rip her fucking heart out."

"Bonnie is working on it," Damon says from behind me, finally catching up to us.

"She's going to have to work faster. Where is she?"

Damon leads us through the school and to the chem lab where Bonnie is already at work trying to break the spell. Jeremy and her date both watch her carefully as she chants over a table of candles while Stefan looks on from afar.

"Bonnie!"

"Already on it, Stella," she says without breaking her concentration. Everyone watches carefully as she continues to chant, beads of sweat forming on her forehead from the effort.

"She does this all the time, right?" Jamie asks after several minutes. We all ignore him.

"What's taking so long?" Klaus asks, stepping forward. "All boundary spells have a loophole."

Bonnie stops chanting to glare at him as Matt bursts his way into the room.

"People are walking right out of the dance, past the barrier," he pants.

"If Matt and I can leave we can stop Esther ourselves," Jeremy suggests. "We just have to find out where she is."

"It's suicide, Jeremy," Stefan tells him.

"No, suicide would be disappointing me," Klaus says. He obviously thinks that Bonnie needs a little motivation so he rushes forward to grab Jamie around the throat and lifts him off his feet, the boy groaning and grasping at his hand.

"Let him go!" Bonnie yells.

When Klaus doesn't listen she glances over at me, obviously looking for some kind of backup. A small voice inside my head tells me that I should tell Klaus to put him down, that I should be on her side without question, but the only thing coursing through me right now is rage. I'm so angry that Esther is still pulling shit over on us that I'm willing to do almost anything to get it to stop.