Chapter Two: Gut Instinct
Klaus groaned pacing in the large plantation home in New Orleans. The feud with Marcel was over, thank the heavens. They weren’t peachy. Not after all that had happened. But the citizens were no longer at risk for being used as bait. Besides, Niklaus had other plans he intended to perform. First was to make sure everything was going smoothly with Bonnie. He glanced anxiously at nine month pregnant Hayley, with a hand on the large baby bump and Elijah’s hand on her back. Her face was morphed into pain for a few seconds. Klaus shifted uncomfortably watching her. There was something about this… something about this didn’t seem like it would go at all right.
“How’re my doppelgangers?” he inquired with a huff of impatience. He slipped out of the room to the prison like cellar. There he found a room with burning sage. He bolted the door and thanked the cellphone service that they actually had decent connection.
“They’re just fine,” Bonnie said exasperated and irritated. If she had to hear that word one more time she was going to have an aneurism.
“Good, good,” he said with a smirk. “I’ll need the best for the baby.” Bonnie rolled her eyes glancing around.
“I’ll need to find them for the spell. The five Petrova Doppelgangers.”
“To create three new, I know, I know, you’ve only reminded me a million times.”
“Sorry if it puts everybody’s life at risk.”
“Hayley’s life is at stake and though I could care less I have a sudden need for hybrids.”
“Oh really? Isn’t the Marcel dispute settled?”
“Marcel may be fine with wine but trust me when I say that his accomplice in my almost demise hasn’t been the easiest to rid the world of.” Bonnie’s eyes widened and she tensed.
“Tyler,” she breathed. Klaus nodded with a groan.
“The little bastard that caused my own brother to turn on me and the mother of my child to accuse me of selfishness.”
“Where is he?” Bonnie asked slipping into a less crowded place. She swallowed hard her heart was racing. Tyler alive…. He could kill the doppelgangers spread around Virginia easily….
“Off the map,” Klaus said aggravated. He dug his nails into his palms. He had slipped out of his grasp once again. He had been so close. But Tyler was too willing to die. Now he was the opposite. He had gained Marcel’s trust in the feud and learned his techniques. He left without a trace afterward and now… Klaus shivered at the thought. Tyler was gone, somewhere he could not find him. Somewhere he could not keep an eye on him.
“We need to find him,” Bonnie said shaking her head. “I can’t risk their lives…”
“I’m working on it,” Klaus said. He groaned hearing a scream come from Hayley and the doorbell ring. “I shall be back. Make sure nothing happens to them.” With that, he hung up. He sped back upstairs to the front door. Opening the door a smirk came upon his lips facing a familiar face. One that represented brothership and a companion. One he had once called his closest friend.
“Klaus,” said the male in front of him his green eyes piercing as they hadn’t before. He had a stronger demeanor. He was not emotionless but he wasn’t soft. Klaus couldn’t help but give out an instinctive chuckle.
“Well if it isn’t Stefan Salvatore.”
Caroline groaned holding her laundry basket waiting outside for Elena to finally finish getting her and Katherine’s clothes together.
“Come on,” she groaned but still playful. “You’re going to make us late to class!” Elena laughed shaking her head walking out with a very full laundry basket.
“Oh calm down,” she said laughing. “Anxious to see Jesse?” Her smiled showed a tease but Caroline couldn’t help but get annoyed. She rolled her eyes and shook her head.
“You know what?” she asked. “Whatever.” She sighed shaking her head. She had given up on boys altogether. Tyler had left. Klaus was still gone. Jesse was a vampire… Matt was somewhere else. She sighed again biting her lip. Elena frowned.
“Sorry,” she said with a soft apologetic sigh. Caroline nodded immediately forgiving her. It wasn’t Elena’s fault Caroline was in such a mess. She smiled slightly.
“Let’s just hurry up,” she said. Elena nodded laughing softly walking with Caroline.
“Let me go!” Arabella screamed trying to break the iron bars with force but unable to. Damon rolled his eyes.
“Arabella just stop it,” he said. He was tired of babysitting lookalikes. He was tired of seeing his girlfriend’s face everywhere. His girlfriend who was continuously hitting on his brother. He groaned shaking his head folding his arms across his chest. He watched as Arabella struggled. She wasn’t as desperate as Amara had been but he could tell by the way she sounded she was from the North during his time. She had perhaps gone to the school in the south however. They found her unconscious in a field in west Virginia. Perhaps to another lover. Or perhaps away from Katherine herself.
“I’m not supposed to be here!” she exclaimed groaning. She had been updated on the ways of the present but she still felt out of place. She felt extremely out of place. Like there was something going on. Some sort of twist of fate. She didn’t like it. She didn’t like it at all. “If you let me go I shall repay you.”
“Repay me with what? Money you don’t have? No thank you. You need to stay here because your doppelganger isn’t here to teach some sense into you,” Damon.
“Doppel what?”
“Stefan. My brother. One inch taller than me. light brown hair, green eyes, tan complexion. You know goody two shoes Stefan? Ripper Stefan? Stefan?”
“I’ve never heard of a Stefan in my entire life,” she said crossing her arms glaring at Damon. How could she get out of this contraption? How was it legal to lock a woman up?
“Yes,” Damon replied getting annoyed. “You have. Now stop being such a dumbass and calm down!” Arabella blinked then was silent. Damon sighed in relief. He needed to get Stefan back to Mystic Falls. Once Arabella was a vampire there was no risk in letting her loose with a tether strapped onto her waist. Without vampirism Arabella would be a prime suspect. One doppelganger dead could send the entire world into a detrimental collapse. The doppelgangers alive were the only things keeping the otherside from merging with the real world. He groaned. He should probably tell Bonnie about his nightmares. Or the fact that his gut feeling had him tense about this situation. Defying nature was Bonnie’s forte, but never had it come without a price. No matter how much she annoyed him, he cared about her. She was Elena’s friend and she had saved him multiple times. She deserved respect which Damon did his best to give when deserved. He let out a sigh shaking his head.
“Arabella?” he asked quietly. She looked at him with the big milky brown eyes that Elena looked at him with. But they had more of a childlike innocence to them. They were rabid like they had been. Calm, peaceful, and placid.
“Yes?” she asked quietly looking at him slightly concerned. She had known him never truly, but she had seen him and argued with him for a few weeks. She knew that what he usually said had a level of truth to it.
“Can I ask you a question?” he asked. She unfolded her arns.
“Since when do the authorities question their captives?” she asked.
“I’m being serious,” he said.
“My apologies.”
“What if there was something wrong… with the doppelganger system?” Damon looked at her sincerely. He wanted a true opinion. He swallowed hard and Arabella swallowed hard as well. She didn’t truly understand everything but she understood well enough that a “doppelganger” was what she was and apparently she was important. So if something went wrong with a system involving her…
“The tables would turn.”
