ACT TWO; TARGET IN SIGHT
SCENE EIGHT; REVENGE SERVED COLD
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KLAUS IS GONE FOR A WEEK BY THE TIME SHE HEARS FROM HIM AGAIN. She wasn't worried about him necessarily– it was hard to be, knowing who he was and what he was capable of, but she couldn't quite stop the relief she felt when she saw his name pop up on her phone.

"Klaus? Is everything alright?"

"They killed my father."

Salem stops, her hand going still on the spoon she was using to shovel cereal into her mouth. His quick, to-the-point words take her off guard, because she's so used to him using their phone calls to tease her and skirt around the subject at hand. It takes her a moment to process his words, to put the pieces together with what little he'd given her.

"What? Are you– are you sure? When was your father even here?" She moves quickly, dumping the last few flakes of cereal into her sink and washing it down the drain.

"Stefan can't lie to me and he said he was staring at his body as we spoke,"  Klaus's voice is terse, clearly upset, and as much as she wants to pry she knows she'll be shut down. He won't spill his guts over the phone. "I'm coming back there as soon as possible, I'll tell you everything."

Salem nods despite him being unable to see her, but she quickly finds herself hesitant to agree with his plans. "Should you come back? It might just be safer for you to stay away."

"I need to see if it's real," His words are softer, more unsure, and she hears the unspoken fear in them. She can't help but feel the same. "I don't trust them."

"I don't either," Comes her immediate response. She stops for a moment and wonders if she really means it or not, and finds easily that she does. She doesn't trust any of them in the slightest, especially when they're all reckless and borderline suicidal in their desperation to protect Elena from harm. "What do you need me to do?"

She can hear his head shake even without seeing it. "Nothing. If Mikael is there, daggered or not, you are in danger. I can handle this on my own."

"Klaus, you don't need to–"

"Salem, please."

His plea makes her stop short in her denials of danger, and she sighs.

She argues with herself internally for a minute before deciding that arguing with Klaus would be a useless fight, and one she's not up for at the early hour, especially over such a trivial topic that is born solely from Klaus's overprotectiveness. She looks at the clock on her wall and sighs again. "I need to get to work,"

"That wasn't an agreement to stay out of this."

"I know," She tilts her head, looking down at the floor. "I'll see you when you get home."

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When she gets to work, Alaric meets her in her classroom with a flier for the dance. She silently frowns at it, looking up at him questioningly.

"Don't tell me you forgot," 

When the furrow in her brows deepen, Alaric sighs and gives her a slightly smug look. "You signed us both up for chaperoning duty last year when Caroline coerced you into being on the dance committee."

Salem groans, remembering her commitments from months ago that she regretted then, too. "Ric, no, I really can't–" 

"Too bad. You intended torture and pain for us both and you're not getting out of it, I don't care what you say." 

She rips the flier out of his hands hastily, making him laugh as he bids her farewell and heads back to his classroom. She can't help but laugh to herself as she looks at the flier, thinking back to when she signed them up for it in the first place.

Things were easier back then, for her at least. Alaric had been a part of this the moment he stepped foot in Mystic Falls, as far as she knew.

But now they were on different sides of the world they lived in. Perhaps during school they could keep things civil and joke amongst one another like everything was okay, but the moment it came down to it, she knew she would be fighting against him, not with.

Salem sighs and sets the paper down on her desk, giving a few students coming into her classroom a small smile that they returned.

Quickly she pulls out her phone and sends Klaus a text about having to chaperone the dance tonight at the school that she knows will only annoy him.

Abruptly, she remembers Klaus's phone call from a few hours ago and her eyes drift to the hallway where Elena is standing before her locker, taking books in and out with Bonnie at her side.

The two girls, no doubt, probably played a large hand in Mikael's death, and Salem found it hard to not get angry when she saw them laugh amongst each other. Whether they realized it or not, Klaus was already ahead of them.

He had a thousand years of experience and had survived much worse than high school students grasping at straws to defeat him. Salem had no worries when it came to whether or not Klaus could hold his own, but when her eyes flickered to his sister strutting down the hallway with a gaggle of people fawning after her, she couldn't help but wonder if he could win against his own family, especially when they all seemed to be against him.

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Salem can't say she's all that surprised to see Klaus walk up onto the makeshift stage at the Lockwood mansion. When she'd first arrived at the school, being met with the fire trucks and sirens outside of the gym, she'd had an inkling in her mind that somehow, it was no coincidence that he said he'd be back in town, and suddenly the school was uninhabitable.

When they were redirected to the Lockwood mansion for the dance, she had furiously texted him about her suspicions but he'd avoided every question and told her to stay home. She never even got the chance to explain that it was her job to attend the dance tonight, no matter what he wanted her to do.

"Good evening, everyone! I want to thank you for being here with me to celebrate! It's been a long time coming."

Cheers erupt and Salem furrows her brows as the hybrid walks off the stage, pulling Stefan aside with a smirk. Before her mind can wander too much, a hand rests on her shoulder and she startles, tensing defensively as she spins to face the interruption. "Sorry, do I know you?"

The man is tall, blond hair swiped across his forehead and a large grin sits on his face despite her hostile tone. "Klaus told me to tell you to wait for him inside,"

All at once, her body tenses again before she lets out a sigh through gritted teeth. "What's your name?"

"I'm Miles," The man offers a hand to her, still grinning obliviously at her frustration, and she can't help but give him a small smile.

"Salem. It's nice to meet you, Miles." She shakes his hand, making him grin even wider. She gestures for him to follow her inside the large house and he does so, albeit with a slightly confused look on his face, like he can't understand that she wants to speak to him. "So, where did he find you?"

Miles shrugs his shoulders, that spacey look in his eye making her listen closely. "I was backpacking through Oregon 'cause I took a gap year after graduation. He found me and told me he knew what I was, and made me an offer I couldn't refuse." 

Salem looks at him curiously. "And what would that be?"

"He bought me pizza, and a hotel room."

She stops abruptly, mouth dropping slowly as his words settle in. She takes in his look, the seriousness of it, and searches for sarcasm, pulling away from him when she finds nothing but truth in his words. "He bought you pizza so you let him turn you into an immortal hybrid?"

Miles nods, ignorant to her confusion. "I don't have any family, so it's not like I have anything to lose. And, I really needed a place to stay. It worked out in the end."

"You do understand that Klaus is a ticking time bomb, right? I mean, you look at him wrong and you could be dead."

For a moment, reality seems to set in for Miles and Salem lets out a short breath of relief, but it's gone quickly when he shakes his head at her. "I guess I didn't really consider that. But I'll be fine until then. No big deal,"

Salem's eyes widen and she looks at him in utter speechlessness. "Oh, dear god,"

An arm wraps around her shoulders and Salem glances to the side, meeting Klaus's icy blue eyes that are flooded with a light sheen of hostility. "Klaus, there's something seriously wrong with you. There's no way this kid even knows what being a hybrid means," 

Klaus grins, though his eyes turn defensive when he sees the grin that Miles has directed at Salem. "Yes, well, he seemed to understand that I was in charge and I was fine with that. May I have a word with you, Salem?"

His sharp eyes meet Miles' empty blue ones, and Klaus rolls his eyes. "Alone?"

Miles's face shifts with the realization, the first moment of actual awareness she thinks he's had all night. "Oh, right. I'll see you guys later– it was nice to meet you Salem!"

"You too! Be safe... please." She calls after him, fingers fluttering in a pity-filled wave before she turns and fixes Klaus with a glare that he momentarily mirrors. "You are ridiculous, do you know that?"

He huffs an empty sound that's close to a laugh, something that would make anyone rethink pushing their luck. She disregards the thought completely. "You didn't listen to me at all, did you? How many times did I tell you to stay home–"

"And how many times did I tell you that I have a job to do?" She swats at his arm, making his glare harden. "I can't just give up my career because you wanted to throw a party for your dead dad."

He huffs, nudging her towards the foyer. "I've already spoken to Stefan and Elena and I don't trust them one bit, which is why you should get out of here before something happens."

Salem sighs, wrapping her fingers around his arm. "I don't know how many times I need to tell you that I can handle myself. I don't need to be babied."

He echoes her sigh, his gaze softening when he meets hers again. "I'm well aware, despite what you may think, Salem. You've proven time and time again that you're smart enough to get out of trouble, but that doesn't mean you can–" 

"I've outsmarted you multiple times," She cuts him off, raising a brow. "And your brother, actually. That's two Originals."

He smiles, the closest thing he thinks he can get to a real, genuine grin, and looks at her with a fondness so foreign to him that he nearly thinks it's nausea that washes through him in that moment. "If you insist on staying, I insist on you saving me a dance for later."

"Just one?" She drags her fingers across his arm down to his hand, fumbling with his fingers as much as he allows her to without entirely intertwining them together. "I don't know if I'll have the time. I'm in high demand, you know."

"As you should be," He swiftly replies, shaking his head at her teasing and the fact that they both know she does it on purpose, and it only serves to delight him. "It's a shame to all those people that you won't be going home with any of them."

Even in the dim hallway, her flush is somewhat visible on her tan skin and she shakes her head at him as it floods her cheeks. "Oh, and when did I say that? What if I had plans with someone else?"

Klaus swipes at her chin, tipping her head back with a calloused finger that makes her shiver. "I'd kill anyone who dared to walk out of this house with you."

Salem's pulse flutters at the flash of yellow that flickers through his eyes, and she feels a condemning rush of emotion hit her like a freight train. She knows when Klaus looks at her in such a way that she is irrevocably screwed, and cursed to love a man who is just as screwed as she is.

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Strong hands wrap around her waist and she laughs brightly, tightening her grip on the small ping pong ball in her hand. Klaus dropped his head to her shoulder, burying his face into the junction of her neck and chest, his eyes fluttering shut contentedly.

Salem shifted in his grip, a wide smile on her face as she threw the ball across the table, easily landing it into one of the red cups on the other side. The hybrids at the other end of the table groan as she cheers, though they smile, happy to lose as long as they can continue their fun.

Salem turns her head, tilting it upwards to press a kiss to the underside of Klaus's jaw, an action that makes him smile to himself. He tightens his grip on her waist, shaking his head with a laugh as his hybrids taunt him from across the makeshift beer pong table.

His contentment is short-lived when Mindy approaches him, a blank look on her face that makes his smile drop immediately. "You have a visitor."

"Well, tell my visitor that I'm celebrating a victory with my girl here." He twists his lips in a way that is borderline threatening, but she doesn't flinch.

"He said his name is Mikael."

Klaus feels Salem stiffen in his arms and he drags his arms off of her waist reluctantly, giving her an apologetic look before he turns his attention back to Mindy. "Then we mustn't keep him waiting. Move everyone out back. I'm going to have a little chat with my dad– Tony, you know what to do."

The hybrids nod and Klaus bites out a sigh as Salem grabs his arm, not letting him go just yet as the party is shuffled into the backyard. "Let me come with you,"

He shakes his head immediately. "Mikael is too dangerous. He'd do anything to get to me and he wouldn't hesitate to hurt you if he knew it would work." 

Salem sighs softly, knowing there's no point in arguing when he'd never agree to let her face Mikael alongside him. Instead, she presses up on her toes, heels shifting on the hardwood floors, and presses a kiss to his scruffy cheek that he leans into with a nervous sigh fluttering around in his head.

He knows she can't hear the pounding of his heart as she turns and walks away, following the crowd towards the backyard, but he almost wishes she could so she would stubbornly stay by his side. He doesn't want to put her in danger by exposing her to Mikael, yet he feels unable to face his father without her next to him.

How strange it is for him to want her around even when it's better for her not to be. His stomach rolls with the possibility of what that could mean, and with a hardened facade on his face, he turns and faces his father with every modicum of confidence he could possibly have.

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Salem furrows her eyebrows when she approaches Damon, seeing him talk furiously to Elena, who just looks upset.

"It's a low blow, you know." Her voice makes them both stop, and Damon faces her with wide eyes. "Bringing Klaus's father back to life to try to get rid of him. Are you that desperate?"

"Salem? What are you doing here?" Damon's voice is frantic, and it makes her forehead furrow into deeper creases of confusion.

"It's a school dance, and I happen to work for the school," She looks at him, giving him a look that was entirely insulting. "I'm a chaperone, Damon. I had to be here."

Damon shakes his head frantically, muttering a curse under his breath. "No, no, no, you're not supposed to be here. You are not part of the plan." 

"Could you speak in real sentences, please?" She shakes her head at him, face scrunched in irritation at his panicked words. "Why wouldn't I, a teacher, be here, at a school dance?"

Damon bites out a sigh, ignoring her passive aggressive tone. "Sorry about this, Salem. I'll make it up to you."

Before she can question him, Damon lunges at her and she yells out when a stabbing pain ebbs through her chest, nearly in her heart. Salem raises a trembling hand up to the wound in her stomach and she looks at the dagger that Damon pulls from her chest with betrayal wide in her teary eyes.

Elena gasps from behind Damon as he reaches forward and catches her as her knees weaken and tremble, and Salem hears the doppelgänger scold the vampire as her vision goes black, and Damon's unsure voice saying, "She'll be fine."

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She comes to, the sound of an unfamiliar voice right beside her ear and she feels her face scrunch into a frown. Then, in a split second, the night rushes back to her and her eyes shoot open in surprise.

A pained yelp breaks from her lips and she meets icy blue eyes filled with tears on the other side of the doorway. Though pointless, she's relieved that Klaus is safe, protected by the invisible barrier stopping Mikael from storming the Lockwood home.

"Come out and face me, Niklaus, or she dies."

Salem shakes her head, not breaking her gaze from Klaus's even as refusal builds in his own. "Go ahead. Kill her."

The words aren't said with his usual fire, and they all know it. Mikael can hear the tremble hidden behind his bastard son's voice and he latches onto the weakness, tightening his grip on the half-conscious woman in his hold.

"What will you do when the only person who can stand to love you is gone? What will you do then, Niklaus?"

Salem grimaces, both in pain from the wound slowly healing on her chest and at the words Mikael throws at Klaus. "It's fine, Klaus. Please. I'll be fine."

Mikael laughs, the sound spreading chills along her spine. "You're just a pathetic little witch, I could do whatever I wish and you couldn't say a word." His voice crawls along her skin and she feels goosebumps rise in its wake, but she stiffens her lip and bares down.

The threat behind his words made her skin crawl, but she shoved the outward reaction away as she lifted her hazy eyes to meet Klaus's again. She could see behind the fear was his same realization that Mikael had no idea what she was. 

"If she dies, who's to stop me from killing Elena as well?" Mikael taunts his son, a dark smirk on his face. "To what end, Niklaus? How long will you continue this charade of bravado, all while living with no one by your side? Nobody cares about you anymore, boy! What do you have other than those whose loyalty is forced? No one! No one at all."

Salem tries to shake her head at Klaus, but Mikael's hold on her neck makes her wince in pain.

Klaus clenches his jaw, tearing his eyes away from Salem's pained look. "I'm calling your bluff, father. Kill her."

"Come outside and face me you little coward, and I won't have to." He spits venom at Klaus, and Salem whimpers through her sore, dry throat.

"Don't." She shakes her head, words hoarse. "Don't, Klaus."

Klaus's eyes harden with anger, mixing with his fear. "My whole life you've underestimated me. If you kill her, you lose your leverage. So go ahead. Go on."

Mikael doesn't move, and Klaus slams his hand against the doorway, resisting his animalistic urge to jump through the invisible barrier separating him just to get Salem away from his father. "Come on, old man, kill her. Kill her!"

Mikael chuckled darkly, the sound making Salem squirm in his tightening choke hold on her.  "Your impulse, Niklaus. It has and will forever be the one that keeps you from truly being great."

As Mikael raises his hands, twisting Salem's neck, a familiar face appears in the doorway of the mansion, pushing Niklaus away from his close reach.

"Katherine," Mikael's grip on Salem falters and she throws herself out of the way as Katherine pulls the pin on the wolfsbane grenades, a wicked smile on the doppelgänger's face as she throws them to the hybrids behind Mikael.

"Kaboom."

Mikael, taken off guard in attempts to apprehend Katherine, loses focus on Salem, who lunges into the Lockwood mansion right as Damon throws himself at Klaus, dagger drawn and at the ready to take the Original down.

"No!" Salem's exclamation is nearly drowned out in the chaos of Stefan ripping Damon away from Klaus, causing the dagger to clatter to the floor.

"What are you doing?!" Damon's outraged yell is directed at Stefan, but his wild gaze darts to Salem as she lunges for the dagger, kicking it at Klaus who picks it up swiftly.

Klaus bounds for the doorway, and tackles Mikael onto the pavement behind them, sheathing the dagger into his heart with a swift and easy push. Mikael yells out in pain, his eyes wide in outrage as fire encases his body, turning him to ash before Klaus's eyes.

"What the hell did you do?!"

Klaus turns, walking back into the house, giving Damon a sparing glance before looking to Stefan. "He's earned his freedom."

Stefan releases his hold on Damon, looking at Klaus with an empty look despite the hopefulness of his stature.

"Thank you, my friend. You no longer have to do as I say. You're free."

Stefan's compulsion visibly disappears, a weight being removed that makes his shoulders sag in relief. He glances fleetingly between the two hybrids and his brother, and disappears in the blink of an eye.

Klaus offers his hand out and Salem takes it, sagging against his side as the pain in her chest slowly dwindles with small aches in between breaths. She glares at Damon, who looks at them in bewilderment, and shakes her head.

"You're on your own now," She scoffs an empty laugh. "Good luck."

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"I promise that I'm alright," Salem squeezed Klaus's hand where it was clasped in her own, meeting his urging stare as they walked down the sidewalk. "Already healed, see?"

She pulls the sides of his suit jacket that he'd put on her when they left the Lockwood mansion, showing off the closed but tender wound on her stomach. The furrow in his brow lessens ever so slightly at the sight and reassurance, but he's interrupted by his phone going off before he can continue to prod her. 

Eyeing the caller ID, he huffs a slight laugh and lifts the phone to his ear. "Stefan! Miss me already?"

Salem gives him an amused look as he gently pulls her along with him, continuing their short trek to the moving truck.

"I'm just calling to thank you for my freedom."

Klaus gives her a bemused look, but the cockiness is obvious in the way his shoulders roll back and his jaw clenches in satisfaction. "I like to believe I'm a man of my word, more or less."

Stefan scoffs on the other end of the line. "Thing is, it came at too high of a price. You took everything from me, Klaus." 

Klaus slows, his hand dropping from hers as he comes to a stop before the large truck he'd transported the coffins in on their way back to Mystic Falls. "Let bygones be bygones, trust me. Resentment gets old."

"You know what never gets old?" Stefan's tinny voice comes from the speaker and Salem's brows knit into a frown as Klaus wraps his hand around the handle of the sliding door on the moving truck. "Revenge."

Salem gasps and she meets Klaus's wide-eyed stare with one of her own at the sight of the empty truck, barren of his family's coffins.

"No," Klaus mutters, anger and shock lacing the monosyllabic word.

"What's the matter, Klaus? Missing something?"

Klaus shifts, and Salem steps towards him, her fingers clutching his arm as he tenses from the rush of anger that courses through him. "What are you doing?"

"Just enjoying my freedom." 

Klaus jerks, but Salem doesn't let up on her grip on him, frightened of what he'd do if she let him run off. "I will kill you and everyone you've ever met!" His voice growls with the threat, and Salem thinks for a moment she sees yellow flash through his sapphire eyes.

Stefan's rebuttal comes immediately. "You do that and you will never see your family again. I wonder, Klaus, as someone who has been one step ahead for a thousand years, are you prepared for this?"

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Klaus smirks at the close proximity of Damon and Elena as he approaches them, parting from Salem's side as she goes to join Tony at the bar. "Don't mind me," 

Elena's eyes widen when she registers his presence and she takes an instinctive step away from him. "Klaus," 

Damon raises an eyebrow at him, though he can't find himself shocked at the hybrid's act of confrontation. "You gonna do this in the Grill in front of everyone? It's a little beneath you, don't you think?"

Klaus shrugs, a faux look of innocence on his face as he looks between the doppelgänger and the vampire. "I don't know what you're talking about. I just came down to my local pub to grab a drink with my girl and my mate." 

The hybrid throws a hand lazily in Salem's direction and their eyes widen when they see the art teacher sitting peacefully with Klaus's hybrid, Tony.

Elena gasps silently when she recognizes the man that had run into her that morning during her jog, a man she'd thought completely innocent until now. The thought made her spine shiver with chills, knowing now that Mystic Falls was teeming with hybrids that appeared as human as Klaus once did.

The sight of her fear makes the hybrid's smirk widen before he turns his gaze back to Damon.

"I'm surprised you stuck around town long enough for happy hour," 

Klaus heaves a sigh. "My sister seems to be missing, need to sort that out," 

Damon huffs a laugh, playing off his nonchalance as Elena shifts uncomfortably at the mention of the blonde Original she'd daggered. "Cute, blonde bombshell, psycho. Shouldn't be too hard to find."

Klaus stifles a comment, knowing that Damon's interpretation of his sister was otherwise accurate. "Truth is, I've grown to rather like your little town. Think I might fancy a home here."

At the panicked look Elena gives at his statement, he nods knowingly. "Oh, I imagine you're wondering how this affects you. The answer is, not in the slightest. As long as I get what I want and everyone behaves themselves, you can go on living your little lives however you choose. You have my word."

Elena steps forward, a brief but fleeting feeling of confidence filling her. "What more could you possibly want?"

"Well, for starters, you can tell me where I might find Stefan." 

Damon scoffed at the mention of his emotionless brother. "Stefan skipped town the second he saved your ass." 

"Well, you see, that is a shame," Klaus sighs, his frustration flaring at Stefan's sudden aloofness. He grabs one of the darts from near Elena and throws it at the dartboard, smugness flickering in his gaze when it lands a bullseye. "Your brother stole from me. I need him found so I can take back what's mine."

Elena furrows her brows. "That sounds like a Klaus and Stefan problem,"

Klaus steps towards Elena, his eyes hardening at the challenging words the teen spoke. Damon takes a step between them, the obvious defensiveness in his stature making Klaus smirk knowingly.

"Well this is me broadening the scope, sweetheart." 

─────⋅☾ ☽⋅───── 

"I think this wall should be more open, Klaus, don't you think?" Salem looks over her shoulder at Klaus as he walks down the stairs with Mindy at his side.

He stops mid-conversation with the hybrid, who simply nods dutifully and steps away as he joins her in front of the shell of the mansion. He seems to contemplate it for a moment before nodding, turning to face Mindy. "Compel the contractors to open this wall up, we need sun. I want a fortress, not a dungeon."

Salem throws a thank you at Mindy as she hurries off to do as told, and then turns to Klaus with a half-scolding smile on her face. "Why does it need to be a fortress? Why not just a house?"

He smirks, grabbing her hand to pull her against his chest. "Can it not be both? A fortress that we also use as a house?"

"No," She snappily replies, a teasing smile on her face as she wraps her arms around his waist and props her chin on his chest to look up at him. "Also, I have an apartment. I don't need a mansion." 

His eyes narrow, an unfamiliar playfulness in them as he sways Salem back and forth gently. "Then why help with the building process?"

"Because you value my opinion," She pushes herself upwards, smiling teasingly at his narrowed gaze. Her smile quickly drops, though, any sense of calm leaving as the air in the soon-to-be study is disturbed.

Klaus does the opposite, smiling widely as he shifts Salem to his side, gesturing to the teenage hybrid with a flourish of his hand. "Here he is, the man of the hour!" 

Tyler stands in the opening, his eyes shifting awkwardly between the Original hybrid he's sired to and his teacher. "So everything went okay?"

Klaus shrugs. "Tony ran down Alaric instead of Jeremy, but apples, oranges, message lands the same."

Salem gasps, pulling away from Klaus with an affronted look. "You ran Alaric over?"

"No, no, Tony did. And technically he was supposed to run Jeremy over, but your little teacher friend is always the hero." Klaus rolls his eyes, his words full of contempt for the man.

Salem huffs, moving out from under his arm as she grabs her keys and rushes past Tyler for the front door.

Tyler waits until the front door slams shut before he looks back at Klaus, who's pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation. He thinks to make a snarky remark that would most likely get him in trouble, but thinks better of it at the last minute. "I thought you were going to send them a warning."

Klaus nods, silently grateful for the avoidance of Salem's obvious anger. "And I did. An effective one! Elena's family suffers, she is motivated to get me what I want."

Tyler shakes his head. "I didn't think that we'd actually have to kill someone."

The Original sighs, shaking his head almost disappointedly as he approaches the teenage hybrid. "Tyler, mate. What you're feeling is a remnant of a guilty conscience, and I need you to get over it, okay? End of the day, human life is just a means to an end. Our means to our end. You'd do well to remember that."

Tyler hesitates before nodding, the influence of Klaus's sire bond washing over him as the man dismisses him. 

Klaus lets out a long sigh into the silence of his home, and curses Alaric Saltzman's existence for what feels like the thousandth time.

─────⋅☾ ☽⋅───── 

"Damon, move," Salem shoves past Damon into the Gilbert household, bypassing her wide-eyed students for the man lying temporarily dead on the couch. Though she knew Ric still had his ring, she wasn't sure if he'd remembered to put it back on after he'd informed her last night that taking it off seemed to make his constant headaches go away.

Her worries are short lived when she sees the otherwise gaudy piece of jewelry that she wouldn't approve of if it were anything but a life-saving thing that her best friend has utilized dozens of times now.

She drops down beside Alaric, brushing the dirt off his face with a sigh.

"I didn't think traitors were welcome here anymore, Salem," Damon shoots her a glare, though his gaze shifts when he flickers it to Alaric.

Salem scoffs. "Haven't you tried to kill Jeremy? And Alaric? And Elena?"

Damon mutters something under his breath and turns his attention to Elena, who's still reeling from Salem's abrupt arrival and the less-than friendly reminder of who Damon used to be when she first met him.

"How is he?"

Elena nods slowly, grateful for the change of subject. "He's dead, but he had his ring. Klaus's hybrid hit him." Her eyes briefly shift to Salem, who's still kneeling beside Alaric, brushing the dirty blond quaff of hair off his forehead. "Now we just wait." 

Jeremy clears his throat, announcing his presence in the room.

Damon frowns at the teenage boy, looking him up and down confusedly. "Jeremy, why aren't you wearing vervain? Where's your bracelet?"

"I don't know."

"It was Tyler, it had to have been!" Elena sighs, shaking her head exasperatedly. "That's why he was hanging out with you. To get you off the vervain."

"Klaus is trying to send us a message," Damon wipes a hand over his face. "He wants us to find Stefan, who stole his coffins full of his dead family members." 

Elena's brows knit together. "Coffins?" 

Salem huffs, looking up at Damon. "Of course he's trying to send a message, you idiot. Your brother skipped town with coffins full of Originals because he thinks he can outsmart Klaus now."

Damon sneers, a short roll of his eyes making Salem clench her fist around nothing. "So, what, you agree with your psycho boyfriend killing Alaric to get his family back?"

"Of course I'm not okay with it, but I also know that what Stefan is doing is only going to get all of you in another mess with Klaus– which I think we can all agree it's the last thing you want." 

"She's right," Jeremy shakes his head, earning shocked looks from Damon and Elena.

"What? You have a better idea?"

Jeremy nods, not letting Damon's sarcastic retort stop him. "Yeah! Let's get the hell out of here. Pack our bags and go."

Elena reaches a hand out for him, but Jeremy steps away from her. "Hey, Jeremy, calm down," 

"No, no! I'm not gonna calm down, Elena," He shakes his head, frustration boiling over. "This happens every time, no matter what we do. Get on my case about school and work, who cares? None of us are gonna make it out of this town alive."

Jeremy storms out the door, slamming it in his wake and Salem stands with a soft sigh. "I'm glad there's at least one person with common sense that hangs around you people." 

She walks towards the door, ignoring the annoyed look that Damon throws at her when she turns around. "And, Damon? Maybe instead of worrying about me being a traitor, you should worry about why Alaric still hangs around me."

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author's note; i feel like i should make it known that there will be no klaroline happening in this fic!!! klaus still makes tyler bite her and he heals it, but other than that, there is nothing going on between them!!!

edited and published; 4.18.23.

- liz