A Way Out

Chapter 17

Had Niklaus and Elijah Mikaelson not been thousand year old Original vampires, the car ride would have been unbearably awkward. Elijah could feel the annoyance radiating of his brother and see it in the way he gripped the steering wheel but Klaus said not a word. Elijah, being Elijah, was loathe to break the silence. However, it had been the better part of half an hour and still Niklaus had said nothing. Elijah was a patient man but this was ridiculous. His brother had elicited his help for a venture he had no clue about, except that it involved wolves. With a sigh, he prepared himself to just ask Klaus what was going on. Klaus beat him to it.

“She was going to turn them,” he gritted out.

With a creased brow, Elijah turned to his brother and asked, “Them…the entire pack?”

“She had some of my blood and she obviously got Katherine here for doppelganger blood to complete the transition. I think she put the blood in whatever she gave Sienna to feed them at this barbeque thing they’re having.”

Elijah returned his gaze to the road before him. “Bold plan.”

“She had no emotions at the time so it’s not like she could be afraid. Had I not-“

Klaus broke off here and cleared his throat. His voice had taken a hesitant tone.

“Had I not compelled her humanity to return, she might have told me what she was up to before now and maybe some of this could have been avoided.”

Despite the gravity of the moment, a small smile pulled at the edge of Elijah’s lips. Klaus was genuinely concerned for the baby vampire’s life. After a thousand years, it was amusing on a certain level that a blonde cheerleader was the one to slip past Klaus’ walls.

“So,” Elijah said, “What is the rescue plan?”

“There isn’t one.”

“Niklaus, you can’t possibly expect us to just go in there and hope for the best-“

“I said there wasn’t a rescue plan. I never said there wasn’t a plan.”

Elijah said nothing as he waited for Klaus to explain himself.

“It would be remiss of me to pass up the opportunity to…acquire a few more hybrids. Especially for Hayley and the baby. They will need more protection as time goes on.”

Elijah shook his head, “And here I thought you actually cared about Ms. Forbes’ fate…”

Klaus pressed his lips together and breathed out. “Caroline, I think, meant for us to go in there, take them by surprise and basically massacre them when they were least expecting an attack. That is exactly what I plan to do. When they are all dead, it will be all the easier to retrieve Caroline. If slaughtering the lot of them happens to make me feel better about the fact that they kidnapped the mother of my child and are now holding my…most trusted associate…”

Klaus shrugged.

Elijah sighed and rubbed his forehead. Klaus’ obsessive need for retribution could be dialled back but never completely quashed. Then he stopped. Katherine.

“You’re going to drain her, aren’t you?” Elijah asked, surprising himself with the dead tone of his voice.

“I instructed Stefan to let the medic I sent take as many much of her blood as Caroline took from me. In the case that poor, frail, human Katherine starts to suffer symptoms of blood loss, Stefan will heal her with his blood.”

Klaus turned to look his big brother in the eyes.

“I do not intend to kill that deceitful, manipulative woman you care so much about, Elijah. Now stop thinking about her and focus on the task at hand.”