𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐂𝐇 ━━ KLAUS MIKAELSON

86

KLAUS SAT ON THE couch in the living room, having taken a shower and changed into fresh clothes as he waited for Emery to get home.

He knew she would be mad at him once back but he didn't mind. Killing Carol was part of the plan, but he knew that where he stabbed her, there was no saving from that— except, vampire blood which was why he disappeared from the scene. He knew Emery would ask him to save her and he was eighty percent sure he would have if he had been there. Anyhow, he was hoping she did what he expected her to.

For a moment, he doubted she'd come back to him. He considered the fact that she might go to her own house, the Gilbert's Residence. She wouldn't, would she? After everything he did to her, the witch hadn't left him yet. Why would she now? He wondered.

An hour went by and she didn't make an appearance yet. Klaus sat still, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the arms of the couch as he waited, his patience, however, was wearing thin. Another thirty minutes ticked away and this time, he couldn't take it anymore. He stood up and stormed out of the house, going to look for her.

He stopped by the Salvatore Boarding house first. She wasn't there. He went to the Gilbert Residence. He couldn't smell her familiar scent coming from inside, so she wasn't there either. Letting out a loud sigh, he ran his fingers through his hair, gripping the locks tightly as he pulled. Where are you? Regret enveloped him like a second skin. Maybe he pushed her too far. But he just wanted to help— in his own sick, twisted way.

⎯⎯ ✧˖*°☽࿐

EMERY ROLLED HER EYES when Damon held the pizza box closer to her when she tried to back away from it as if it contained some disease.

"Come on, Em," Damon groaned, taking a bite of his own piece and moaned dramatically. "Oh, it's so good. You're missing out—"

"Give me. I'm starving." Jeremy complained as he approached them from his run. He was asked by Damon to run around the lake two times as the latter is trying to train him to become a better hunter. They were at the lake house and Matt was also there although the blonde hadn't said a word. He wasn't sure why the witch was even there.

"One more task," Damon threw a gun at Jeremy. "Unload, reload, the usual. You got five seconds."

"But I'll literally die in two seconds if I don't eat someth—"

"One," Damon interrupted, giving him a small pointed glare. Jeremy rolled his eyes and did as he was told, putting wooden bullets into the gun under exactly four seconds. "Good," Damon praised. "Now..." he removed the bullets and placed them in front of him. "Do it like your life depends on it 'cause it does."

"Don't act like you care about my life," Jeremy stood up, fed up of how he was working him up. "You care about the hunter's mark and curing Elena so she's not sired to your ass."

"Both require you to be alive," Damon said simply, "which is why I updated our relationship status to 'it's complicated'."

Jeremy said nothing. He shifted his eyes to Emery who was just sitting silently on the wooden table, her Em gaze fixed on the lake in front of her. She seemed like she wasn't paying attention to them, and she was not. "You okay?"

The witch didn't answer. She didn't hear, her mind was preoccupied with other things; like Klaus. Carol's death— she could still feel her heartbeat under her palm.

"Em." Jeremy called out to her. "Em? Emery." He lightly touched her shoulder and she snapped back to reality. She blinked, brushed her hair away from her face, "what is it?"

"Are you okay?" Jeremy asked again. The witch only nodded in response. "Fine." Her eyes flickered to Damon who waved a slice of pizza again in the air, a childish attempt to tempt her to eat it but she looked away. The mere thought of eating something made her want to throw up.

"Why are you here?" Jeremy asked as he sat down beside her. Emery glanced at him, then shrugged. He sighed, "Tyler's mom dead, I thought you'd attend her funeral and all. You guys were pretty close, weren't you?"

That did it for Emery. She cleared her throat, her eyes suddenly burning up as she looked away so Jeremy wouldn't see her face. Damon walked up behind them and placed a hand on Jeremy's arm, "I've been meaning to ask you something."

"What?"

"Have you talked to her at all?" The older Salvatore tried to change the subject, "Elena?"

"Maybe," Jeremy turned to look at him, "why? Running out of voicemails to listen to?"

"I'm sorry," a familiar voice cut in their conversation making Emery stiffen from where she was sitting. She didn't turn around, she just sat still and stared ahead when Klaus continued to speak. "Did I interrupt play time?"

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"I'm simply appreciating the sights and smells of nature, neither of which presently include rotting vampire flesh, so I'm a bit concerned," the hybrid's eyes flickered to Emery then back to Damon, "How many vampires has he killed?"

"If we throw Jeremy out into the real world right now, he's chum."

"Yeah, see, that's not a number," Klaus said, "twelve. That's a number. That's how many of my hybrids I slaughtered with my sword. Three. That's how many days it took to quell the urge to kill your brother after he knowingly watched as I walked into a death trap. One. That's the number of purposes you serve. You are here to grow Jeremy's mark, so I'll ask again. . ." He approached them, "how many vampires has he killed since he's been here?"

When Klaus had walked in there, he didn't expect to find Emery there. He went to check in on Jeremy's progress. Seeing her there was a surprise and the fact that she hadn't even turned around to as much as glance at him bothered him greatly yet he was doing a great job at proving otherwise.

"Zero," Damon's answer made him smirk. "That's a pity. I'm going to need that cure sooner rather than later. Hybrid shortage and all. How can I help?"

Instead of replying, Damon picked up the gun. "You know, now that you mention it," he glanced at the boy beside him, "Jeremy, watch and learn." With that, he shot Klaus with wooden bullets. The hybrid leaned against the closest tree, grunting from pain, his eyes flashing with fury as he stared at Damon. But he felt even worse when he noticed that the witch didn't turn to look at him even then.

"That's for Carol Lockwood," Damon muttered, then shot him again. "That's for everything else." Klaus didn't pay attention to him. He only clenched his jaw and dug out the bullets as Emery stood up and walked away, not wanting to be there any longer.

He started walking in the same direction, wanting to go after her when Damon pulled the trigger again. "Don't even think about it."

The hybrid only shot him a glare, one that was filled with fury. "I will kill you."

"Sure, whatever," Damon shrugged, unbothered, "look, the last thing she needs right now is you. Leave her be. Give her some time."