Stefan and Damon had gone to Wiloughby to track down Elena, Rebekah, Katherine and the Cure.
And even when I had been sitting at home with a drink in my hand, Klaus would not stop calling me.
I gave up and went to his mansion, walking inside. "I got you 50 bajillion messages! This better be life and death."
"Go away," Klaus told me, his voice gruff.
"Klaus?" I called. "Where are you?" I found him shirtless, sitting on the floor, walking into the room in confusion and skepticism. "What the hell happened to you?"
"I need more time," Klaus told me. "Stop hounding me!"
"I'm hounding you?" I asked. "I'm supposed to be in Willoughby trying to help Stefan and Damon from getting killed right now, and you keep phone stalking me."
"Kaylin," Klaus stated. "Is it really you?" I looked at him in confusion and surprise. Klaus tried and failed to stand. "Prove it to me."
"Okay, I don't know if this is some new way of flirting, but you still suck, and I have more important things to do," I told him, turning around, starting to walk away.
"Wait, please," Klaus told me. I sighed, slowing to a stop, but I didn't look at him. "He stabbed me with the white oak stake." I turned around. "There's a--a piece of it stuck inside me."
"Why would Silas attack you?" I asked.
"Well, I was in no position to ask questions," Klaus told me. "Suffice it to say, I'm hurt."
"Oh, no, wait, but I thought you didn't get hurt," I told him.
"Right now is not the time for your usual level as sarcasm and attitude," Klaus told me. I raised my eyebrows. "So you can understand why I called you."
I laughed. "You took my freedom, and everything from me, just to make me work to get all of it back, you've tried to kill me, and you think I'm the person to call for help?"
"If I die, you, your brothers, all of your friends die with me," Klaus told me.
I considered, walking closer. "First, you need to say it."
"Say what?" Klaus asked.
"The same thing you made me say when I asked you to call of your brother," I answered. Klaus gave me a look. "You know what."
Klaus' voice was low. "I need your help."
I stepped closer. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch that. Could you repeat it a little louder?"
Klaus took a deep breath, saying the words louder and slower. "I. Need. Your. Help."
"And cue the victory bells," I told him. "What do you want me to do?"
"Well, it's quite simple, really," Klaus told me. "I need you to cut the stake out of me."
Klaus looked down at a pair of blood-stained pliers.
I looked at them, picking them up without hesitation, looking at Klaus. "This should be fun."
****
Klaus was bracing himself against the piano.
I used the pair of pliers to try dig out the piece of the white oak stake that I could not find anywhere. "Oh, my God, you do have a heart." I clenched it, making him scream in pain through gritted teeth. "Oh, my bad. It's just a bloody rib."
"Well, I'm glad you're finding my misery so amusing," Klaus told me.
"I swear there's nothing in here," I told him. "And if you think I'm having fun, you're insane."
