『Chapter Twenty-Four』
『new friendships and new issues』

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William Woodford never thought that he would be in a situation where he was panicking the way that he was. Of course, he had been in situations where he was worried—but this was different. He knew that he probably shouldn't find Rebekah attractive, but he couldn't help it. He knew that if he ever shared his thoughts about Rebekah to Klaus that there was a large possibility that he would kill him, which was why he was panicking quite a bit. As much as he knew that it was a stupid thought, that he should just ignore the things that go through his head, but it was the one thing that stayed on a constant loop in his head.

He tried to avoid any conversations with either Stefan or Klaus, partly because of that reason, but partly because he felt like he couldn't contribute to any conversation that the pair shared. Even with Rebekah there, it strongly felt like that he was some form of outcast from them all, knowing that the three spent quite a deal of time with one another. He didn't know why it mattered to him quite a lot to fit in, he supposed that given the amount of time that he spent around Klaus, it would feel natural to him—but clearly not.

He knew that he should find a way, but at the same time it seemed hard to him. It wasn't like how it was when he was with Bodie and Henry—that was something that came easy for him—but this was something else. It made him wonder if the relationship that these three had with each other was like the relationship that he had with the others.

He shook his head slightly, knowing that there was no good in overthinking anything, that he should just pay as much attention to all of this, just to make sure that he doesn't miss anything of importance. He knew that sooner or later, Klaus would say something about his distance before threatening the life of his brother.

"William," Klaus called. Shit, well, guess he'll have to deal with exactly that. "This, my dear sister, is William."

Oh, he completely missed the entire introduction between himself and Rebekah. Guess, that's what he somewhat deserves after being in a world of his own. He forced a smile onto his face then. "Hi."

"Goodie, more eyes for clothes," Rebekah said with a smirk. She grabbed hold of his arm and dragged him inside the clothes shop with her. Apparently, Will missed out the entire conversation about them all taking Rebekah shopping. "Who turned you? Don't tell me it was my brother."

Something about that made Will smile. "No, it was your old friend, Bodie. Klaus doesn't let me say his name much considering that—"

"—That's quite enough," Klaus cut off. "Sister, go." He shooed her to look around which she shrugged and then done exactly that.

Klaus compelled the shop assistant and those that worked there to help his sister and aid them in whatever was needed. Though, it was clear that Klaus was shooting Will daggers which made Will wish that he could just rip his eyes out without consequence.

He wasn't sure how long they were sat within the ship waiting as Rebekah tried on clothes, but it felt like an eternity and that alone made everything within Will realise that he was not fit for clothes shopping at all. The only good thing about being here was the fact that they were getting champagne which Will wished that the woman serving them the drink would just leave multiple bottles here for him to just drink by himself—a glass wasn't enough for him.

"There has to be more to this dress," Rebekah complained after a moment within the changing room.

"There's not," Klaus stated.

Rebekah came out of the changing room then wearing a pair of shorts and a black dress. Will found himself staring at Rebekah—as he had been for quite some time, but he felt like that it was becoming a problem for him just as a whole. He didn't want Klaus to rip his heart out or anything just because he was checking Rebekah out.

"So, women in the 21st century dress like prostitutes, then." Rebekah stated. Klaus somewhat rose his champagne glass up at that. "You know, I got dirty looks for wearing trousers."

"You wore trousers so women today could wear nothing." Klaus stated.

Rebekah looked around in disgust then which Will found amusing. "And what is this music? It sounds like a cable car accident."

"It's dance music," Stefan cut in before anyone else—Klaus—could come back with anything.

"People dance to this?" Rebekah asked, clearly not amused at the thought.

Stefan hummed as if to respond it with a 'yes,' though Will would admit that today's music was nothing to what it was before, though he supposed that nothing could last forever.

"Are we done?" Klaus asked.

Rebekah walked over to her brother then. "And why are you so grumpy?"

"I needed one thing from you for my other witch to find out why my hybrids are dying, one thing." Klaus told. "Your necklace. And you lost it."

"I didn't lose it," Rebekah argued. "It's just been missing for 90 years." She then looked towards Will and Stefan who'd been sat beside one another. "So, what do you think?" She turned around on the spot then to show off her whole outfit.

"I like it," Stefan told while Will put his thumb up to say that he liked it. In all honesty, Will was never that great when it came to clothing or style—unfortunately, that all went to Henry. Rebekah gave the pair of them a look. "What? I said I liked it. Will put his thumb up."

"I can always tell when you're lying, Stefan." Rebekah said. She then turned around and headed back into the fitting room.

Klaus somewhat sighed then. "Nice one. Good work."

"You're the one that pulled the dagger out of her," Stefan shot back.

"I heard that." Rebekah said from inside the dressing room.

Stefan moved then. "All right. I'm going to get some fresh air." He then left the three of them.

A part of Will was somewhat glad that Stefan left but at the same time he didn't want to be left alone with either Mikaelson siblings.

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Bodie was laying on the floor of their living room, staring up at the ceiling. He'd been like this since he woke up a few hours ago and at some point, Henry joined him though Henry was laid on the sofa looking up at the ceiling. Neither of them spoke of anything for nothing needed to be said. After Bodie came back from Chicago, Bodie explained everything within detail about what happened with William and after that the pair of them fell into a heavy silence.

At some point Caroline came knocking though shortly left when Henry told her that he wasn't in much of a talking mood just as a whole—that neither of them were in the mood to talk and that they'd come to the town thing that was happening later on today and then Caroline left.

That was it, those were the only words that were spoke just as a whole. Neither of them wanted to talk about what happened with William because there was nothing that they could think of saying just as a whole. And as much as Bodie would hate to say, there was a part of him which wished that Henry went instead of him knowing that there was more of a chance that he would have convinced Will to come home. Though, as much as Bodie wished that, he knew that he would've worried about Klaus harming him.

All that went through his mind was the fact that he hated that small voice inside of him that reminded him of how nice it was to feel Klaus' touch on his skin once more. It made him want to punch himself knowing how long he'd been angry at Klaus for what he done to him. He should have known that seeing Klaus again would have made him act up in some way and it was the one thing for him to let Klaus have some form of hold over him knowing that he was meant to do something that was more beneficial for Henry more than anything.

He didn't know what to do with himself anymore right now, he felt like he failed Henry in some way for not bringing Will back. He really thought that he would have been able to get Will to come back himself, but he guessed that he should have listened to Henry. Henry could have brought Will back better than him, but he supposed that even still, there was a chance that Klaus would have either killed Henry or would have done something a lot worse. He knew that he should have used Henry to his advantage, but he didn't want to lose Henry in the process.

As much as Bodie was annoyed at himself for so many reasons and there was a part of him which wanted to get Henry to just throw him around to see if that helps at all, but he knew that it wouldn't be all that helpful. Bodie was meant to get William back and he failed, and he hated that he failed. He felt like that he should have done more to get Will back and the fact that he didn't made him feel shitty about himself more than he knew he would.

Bodie regretted a lot of things within his life, but he never thought that this one thing would have hit him the most, he thought that it wouldn't affect him in the way that it has, but he supposed given that it was connected to Henry—of course, he was going to feel guilt over it.

"Bodie," Henry began, "what are we going to do if Will keeps refusing to come back? I mean, this has been the longest that we've been without him, do you think that he prefers being without us?"

Bodie found himself shrugging. "I'm not sure, Henry, I just think that he's doing something that would mean that he's safe. Staying on Klaus' good side seems like a good idea, but I think that there's a part of him which might want to come back to us. That is if there was no consequence."

"So, we get rid of Klaus." Henry suggested. "We get Klaus out of the picture, then William comes back with us."

Bodie found himself sitting up and staring at Henry with disbelief. "You cannot be serious, right now. Killing Klaus? Fucking hell, do you want a death sentence? What if someone manages to un-dagger his siblings and they find out what you did, huh? You'll have a group of pissed off and vengeful Original vampires on your ass the minute that they realise that you killed Klaus."

Henry shrugged. "I mean, given that all Klaus has done to them is dagger them, I'm surprised that they'd even get revenge on whoever kills him."

"They're the Mikaelson's, Henry, of course they care about each other. Even if they show it in the worst way," Bodie stated. "They'll care if you decide to slaughter Klaus."

Henry crossed his arms then and flopped back on his seat. "Then I'll kill them all."

"No, you're not." Bodie countered. "They'll kill you first. You wouldn't be able to be able to kill any of them without the white oak stake."

Henry huffed. "Then I'll split it all up just to kill them all."

"Henry," Bodie said. "No. As much as I know that you want to get back at Klaus just to have your brother back, we can't kill him or the rest of them. We have to be smart about all of this, if we want to get back at Klaus for what he's done, then we've got to be better and smarter."

Henry was silent for a moment as if he were thinking over what Bodie just said and was trying to think of something to say in response. After a moment, Henry's eyes widened and he moved to stare at Bodie, there was a smile forming on his lips then which made Bodie uneasy. "Your secret. The one that you've been hiding since you were turned."

Bodie could feel the way that his face dropped at that. "No." He shook his head then. "No. I'm not going to tell them what I've been hiding from them! It'll break them and then they'll come after me. As much as I know how strong I am, I'm not going to be able to fight off five Original Vampires and another Original Hybrid. They'll slaughter me, Henry, and fuck knows what'll happen after that. They might come after both you and Will just because of the off chance that you two know."

"Oh no, what a shame," Henry sarcastically stated with his arms crossed. "Shame that I don't care. I want my brother back."

Bodie's jaw tensed then. "No. And that's final. If I find out that you've told anyone about my secret, then I'll show your brother what your heart looks like."

Henry scoffed at that. "Like hell you would do that."

"I would if you dare tell anyone that I killed their brother," Bodie stated.

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Between the time that Stefan decided to leave them, Will had felt incredibly awkward when it came to knowing that he was left with two of the Originals. He knew that he spent time with Bodie, but that was different, at least with Bodie he didn't fear that one of them was going to kill him, now he feared that he might say the wrong thing or might do something that might offend them that might end in his life.

Though, even with his fear, Will found that he was liking Rebekah's company a little more than what he expected. By the time that they were done with Rebekah and clothes shopping, they went back to Gloria's, and it was one of the few times that Rebekah payed a little bit of attention to him. She linked their arms with each other, and Will found himself panicking a little.

"You were turned by Bodie, correct?" Rebekah asked.

Will took notice of the way that Klaus tensed. "Enough, Rebekah. I don't want to hear his name."

Rebekah looked towards her brother then with some form of distaste then. "Oh, come on, did Bodie break your ice-cold heart again?"

"Oh, more like Bodie triggered his curse because Klaus shoved a dagger in his heart and Bodie felt the need for revenge," Will explained, cutting anything that Klaus would have said. "So, yeah, I take it that Klaus is still bitter about it."

Rebekah seemed to tense at the mention of Bodie triggering his curse. She looked between the pair then. "Bodie triggered it? He's a hybrid?"

Klaus sighed, clearly annoyed. "Yes, he is."

By then, the three arrived at Gloria's and the conversation of Bodie being a hybrid seemed to almost die, though there was this look written on Rebekah's face which made Will want to ask if she was okay, but he kept his mouth shut, feeling like his opinion wasn't needed much.

Gloria was sat at a table with candles unlit and a tome laying on the table, she looked up at the three when they entered and gave them three a once over. There was something about the way that Gloria looked at him which made him wonder if there was anything that he could have done to help Gloria as a whole when it came to the spell. He wanted to help, but he didn't trust himself or his magic at the moment.

"Sit over there and be silent." Gloria instructed the three while she pointed towards the bar. "You, William, do me a favour and light the candles."

Will nodded, taking note on the slight confused look written on Rebekah's face. Will closed his eyes for a second and muttered something under his breath before opening his eyes once more to see that the candles are lit. "Do you need anything else? Perhaps another witch to channel or. . .?" He trailed off then, taking notice of the look.

"Your magic is chaos, William, perhaps when this is done, I can aid you with the issue you have with your magic." Gloria told, which was enough of an answer for him.

Will smiled then before joining the two Mikaelson's at the bar. Rebekah was sat on the bar itself while Klaus was beside her already looking bored.

When Will sat down, he took notice of the look on Rebekah's face then as if Will hid some valuable piece of information from her. Will wanted to shrink back into himself then, not wanting to be under either of Klaus' or Rebekah's gaze. He never liked the way that Klaus would look at him sometimes, but to have both siblings look at him like they were expecting something out of him was something that he didn't like at all.

"What?" Will asked.

"When were you going to tell me, you were a witch?" Rebekah asked, leaning back on her hands.

Will stumbled over his words for a moment then, not sure on what to say just as a whole. "I. . .ugh. . .didn't think it was relevant enough."

"But you're a vampire." Rebekah stated. She then looked towards Klaus who shrugged. "Nature wouldn't allow a vampire to be a witch."

"I've never owned magic myself before I became a vampire. And I suppose, nature didn't care enough when it came to me being able to access my own magic source by siphoning myself," Will explained. He wasn't sure why, but to be questioned by Rebekah was something that he found hard when it came to explaining what he is. "My old coven are the only coven that can produce the kind of witch that I am. From what I heard there's a chance that there's others like me but I'm not sure I could deal with my old coven yet."

"Surely your coven would have prevented you in being this," Rebekah stated.

"Oh, they were going to," Will informed. "My brother and I had Bodie. You see, Bodie had a lot of respect in comparison to Klaus—no offence, before you decide to murder me—and was somewhat liked when it came to the witches. But, Bodie was fond of my brother and I which was why we asked him to turn us." He somewhat smiled at that. "He did, and when my parents found out about what we became, they were going to put us in an alternative prison world for however long, but Bodie—being Bodie—he threatened them all and let us siphon him enough that we could take them down long enough for us to get away. He saved us from our family and our coven, so my brother and I stayed with him for the past seven hundred years—until forty years ago, I'd never left my brother's side."

Rebekah looked as if she were about to say something, and Klaus looked as if he hated life at the moment. Will knew that it was because he mentioned Bodie more than what he would have liked which only made Will want to mention Bodie a lot more than anything else. He wondered how much time he would have left to live if he continually mentioned Bodie in front of him. It was a challenge that he didn't want to go through with despite how tempting it might be.

Right then, the door for Gloria's opened and Stefan came walking in. It was only then that Will took notice of the way that Gloria had already started her spell or was halfway through the spell. Though, the one thing that Will took notice of was the way that Stefan looked a little disorientated—or a little out of it.

"You left us," Rebekah commented from her place on the counter.

"Yeah, sorry," Stefan apologised. "Retail therapy was making my head explode."

Klaus rose his drink to his lips then. "Tell me about it."

Stefan looked towards Gloria then with slight confusion. "What's she doing?"

"She's failing." Klaus stated.

"It's hard to find something when you don't have anything to go on." Gloria told. That was something that Will knew to be true, the amounts of times that Bodie would ask him to either track or contact someone of which Bodie didn't have property of was something that always made Will debate his existence.

"So, use me." Rebekah suggested as she leaned up properly then. "I only wore it for a thousand years." She slid off the bar counter and strode towards the table Gloria was at.

"See? Now this one offers a solution," Gloria said. Rebekah sat on the table then. "All right, give me your hand sweetheart."

Rebekah did exactly that, she gave Gloria her hand and Gloria cupped Rebekah's hand.

"She's, uh, she's looking for the necklace, huh?" Stefan asked. There was something about the way that Stefan asked that which made Will almost suspicious of Stefan as a whole. He had a feeling that there was something that Stefan was hiding but there was nothing that he had that could prove it. Plus, Will thought that he was going crazy.

The three were now stood beside each other with their arms crossed as they watched Gloria do her spell. As much as Will wanted to help—and god, did he wish that he could help—all that was going through William's head was what Gloria said when it came to Will and his magic. He shook his head slightly, realising that now wasn't the time or place for him to debate on what someone said when it came to his magic.

"I can sense something," Gloria said after a while.

Stefan took a few steps forward then, which made Will more suspicious of Stefan as a whole. He knew that it was stupid to be suspicious of a guy that he just spent the summer with, but over the past few weeks, something's been off that Will couldn't place, and as much as Will wanted to find out what it was, he knew that whatever it was, it would come out soon enough.

Gloria chanted a spell under her breath, one that Will thought to be somewhat familiar to him, but he couldn't put his finger on it as a whole. Will tried to ignore it—like he'd done with a lot of things over the past forty years—and just focus on what was going on.

For a moment, it was just Gloria chanting the spell under her breath and the look of worry that was clear in Stefan's face and body, and then Gloria dropped Rebekah's hand and looked towards the three guys waiting to see what Gloria had to say.

"I found it." Gloria told.

Will found himself smiling, there was a part of him which told him that there was a chance that Stefan didn't want to know where the necklace was. Will wanted to know where the necklace was just to see what kind of reaction that Stefan would have had. There was a lot going through Will's head when it came to where the necklace could be, but wherever it was, it was clear that Stefan didn't want Klaus to know as a whole.

"So where is it?" Rebekah asked.

"It doesn't work like that, doll." Gloria told shaking her head. "I get images. There's a girl with her friends—"

"—Yes, a dead girl with dead friends, if I don't get my necklace back." Rebekah cut off, somewhat impatient.

"Well," Gloria told, "I'll have to dive back in to get the details."

"So, dive," Klaus instructed while he came closer to Gloria.

"I need more time," Gloria insisted. Klaus came over to her side and leaned on the table that she was sat on. "And space. You're harshing my juju."

"We can wait," Klaus informed.

"I'm sure you can." Gloria said. "But that's not what I asked."

"Hey." Stefan cut in. He came over to Klaus and patted his back then as if to get his attention. "Hey, you know, why don't we just come back later. I'm hungry anyway. I'll let you pick who we eat."

Stefan then started to make his way towards the door before looking back to the three vampires, Klaus then gave both Rebekah and Will a look then as if they were meant to have a secret conversation between looks. And it was only then that Klaus moved to follow suit with Stefan—which resulted in Rebekah and Will following the pair. Will had found himself at Rebekah's side like he felt somewhat safer if he was at her side.

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Bodie and Henry had been invited to the Lockwood mansion for a party that the pair had no interest in, but they still went considering that Henry received a text from Caroline informing him of something happening to Elena's necklace and there being the off chance that Bonnie might need his help. So, Bodie and Henry ended up rushing around to get ready for the party that neither of them had the energy for but knew that it might be better for them to just get out of the house.

By the time that the pair of them got ready and left, they were sure that Bonnie, Caroline, and Elena would want Henry's help anymore. So, they both just hoped that they got there in time for them to aid the three with whatever the issue was.

Bodie was the one to drive them to the Lockwood mansion, Henry was telling him where to go and making small comments here and there that Bodie didn't really listen to considering that Henry looked as if he was in a daze. It didn't take them long to get there, though before Bodie could even park the car, Henry jumped out of the car with his phone in hand to call someone.

Bodie would have said something, but he found that it was just better to just ignore it and tell him off later on. In all fairness, Bodie was surprised that Henry was still somewhat talking to him after he denied his idea of killing the Mikaelson siblings. In fact, he was more surprised that Henry didn't threaten Bodie into throwing him—Bodie—out the window for denying him the idea of killing them.

"Bodie," Henry called out when Bodie closed the car door behind him. "Caroline told me where they are, follow me. Oh, and, Bonnie doesn't know that I'm a hybrid, and I don't want her to know like how Elena knows, so can you please not bring it up please?"

Bodie shrugged. "Okay. Whatever you want, you little shit."

Henry shot him a look, but he didn't say anything. Henry turned on his heel and Bodie followed him to wherever Caroline, Elena, and Bonnie was. Turns out that the three girls were away from the party and were sat on a bench that was on a slight hill, and the fact that they were totally surprised over the fact that Bodie decided to join Henry.

Bodie took notice of the way that Caroline and Elena tensed the second that they saw him which made Bodie wonder as to what made them tense just because he showed up. Maybe they just expected Henry to show up and that being that, but he wasn't going to leave Henry alone knowing that his idea of fun was to go and make plans about killing Klaus.

"Henry, hi!" Caroline greeted, smiling up at him. "Bonnie, this is the great Henry we were telling you about."

Henry turned his attention to Bonnie who sat beside Caroline. "Hi, it's nice to finally meet you."

Bonnie smiled at him almost as if to return the look on Henry's face. "You too." She then took notice of Bodie standing there awkwardly given that he just realised that he chose to spend his time hanging out with students rather than drink as if his life were falling apart. "Whose this?"

"Bodie Erikson." Bodie told. "I take care of Henry—even if he doesn't need it."

"Hey, I only keep you around to keep my shit safe. No one's gonna steal from me when I have a hybrid asshole living here." Henry commented.

Bodie was about to say something before Bonnie cut him off. "Before any of this gets out of hand, Henry, I found an identification spell that I was going to use for Elena's necklace to see what kind of magic affected it. Do you mind?" Elena had already given Bonnie her necklace by the looks of it.

Henry nodded. "Yeah sure, we'll do it together."

Both he and Bonnie ended up sitting on the floor, though Henry looked up at Bodie then. "Make sure to tell us if anyone's coming."

Bodie nodded at that, as did the other two girls. Bodie really wanted to drink though he wasn't sure what kind of drink he wanted—human blood or alcoholic. He wondered how long this would take given that Bodie wondered if Henry would have wanted anything, maybe he should have asked before he decided to do this spell with Bonnie or before they left their place.

It was then that Caroline turned to Elena then. "So, you're not, like, switching Salvatore's are you?"

Bodie stared at Caroline for a second, wondering if he really got in between teenage drama that he didn't need. He wondered whether or not he should just leave, and he really wanted to—Henry would be alright without him, right? Henry wanted to be here, so he wouldn't mind if he left, right?

Fuck it. "Henry, I'm gonna head inside, be the ears for the inside just in case something pops up."

Henry waved his hand. "Whatever."

Bodie shrugged and made his way inside, as much as he wanted to be with Henry, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to listen to the drama of whatever was going on. He knew that he had a tendency to thrive for drama, but this was something that he rather not listen to, so he supposed going to where the party and the people were, was a way to ignore that others have issues for now.

He really wasn't sure as to why he decided to agree to come with Henry to this, for starters he didn't know anyone other than the selected few that he met because of Henry. The closer that he got towards the crowd of people, the more that he realised that he wished that he weren't here. He wondered what Will was doing and what Klaus was doing, he knew that it was the thought that he shouldn't entertain, but it was the only thing that he could think of which would distract him enough from the party.

He was about to walk towards the table of food only to see that Alaric and Damon were standing just a bit away having a conversation with one another about something that Bodie didn't care enough about. Though, the one thing that Bodie didn't expect to see was that half-way through their conversation, the sheriff—or what Bodie presumed to be the sheriff—came behind Alaric.

"Uh, the mayor just called the council meeting," the sheriff told. He wasn't sure on what this council meeting was, but Bodie was sure interested with it as a whole. As much as Bodie knew that the only family members that were included in these meetings were the Founding Families—Henry told him all this when he was asking stuff about the town—which Bodie somewhat disliked the thought of. Those families founded nothing which made Bodie think that maybe he should just join for fun. He lived in Mystic Falls before it was claimed by those Founding Families, he thought that he had every right to just join.

Maybe this was the reason why he always had someone by his side, he thinks that the most random activity should be something that he should join. As much as he knew that he made poor choices, he knew that anything would be better than walking around and talking to people that he didn't care for or like—at least if he joined the council session, he would have Damon to piss off with his existence. At least, he thought that it was Damon going to the meeting, by what Henry told him both Stefan and Damon lived here before they were turned. He found himself smiling to himself then. He hadn't crashed something in a while.

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The four had already taken their humans to drain for food and taken them all back to the warehouse where Klaus' siblings laid all daggered. Despite the fact that Will somewhat missed the taste of blood, there was a part of him which wondered as to what would happen to him if he un-daggered all of Klaus' siblings. He knew that if his brother were here, Henry would want to do it and try and convince him to do it with him—Will supposed that he missed the way that Henry would go towards his impulsive thoughts at times.

Will already drained the woman that he was feeding on and was laying on the floor in his thoughts, Rebekah had too, though she was sat on a crate that Will was lying beside. He wanted to strike up a conversation with her multiple times though found that the words wouldn't come out, he wondered if he always had an issue with talking to people he found attractive, but he managed to talk to Bodie when he first met so he was sure that this would be easy for him.

"My girl's dead," Rebekah said. "I'm bored."

Stefan and Klaus were still draining their people, though it was at the sound of Rebekah that Klaus pulled away. "You weren't kidding about being hungry."

"Yeah," Stefan said when he pulled away from his person. "It's been a long day."

"Try being related to her," Klaus said, indicating Rebekah.

"You're being mean," Rebekah said. Stefan laughed then which made Rebekah sit up straighter. "And why are you being mean? You used to love me."

"It's been ninety years, Rebekah." Klaus reminded her. "Give him a minute."

Rebekah somewhat glared at Klaus then. "Why are you taking his side?"

"Because, my dear sister," Klaus stated, "I feel pity for any man who doesn't give you what you want."

"Will you stop making me out to be a brat?" Rebekah asked. "I am not a brat!"

"A thousand years of life experience says otherwise." Klaus countered.

"Well, you're no picnic, either." Stefan added towards Klaus, "I mean, I've only spent one summer with you, and I feel like I want to blow my head off."

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to agree with Stefan with that." Will spoke up. "I've spent forty years with you, and I've never wanted to kill someone more because of how much of a brat they are."

Rebekah laughed at that. "Fantastic."

It was then that Stefan moved the dead girl he was feeding from onto the ground and moved to stand. "I need to go." He walked away then, wiping his bloody lips.

"Where's he going?" Rebekah asked after watching Stefan leave them.

Klaus turned to look at Rebekah then. "To write a name on a wall. It's a long story."

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Bodie managed to follow Damon and the sheriff—Liz—within the Lockwood mansion. He managed to get an invite within the home within the first few days of him being here thanks to Henry who wanted to make sure that they knew a few of the important people. He had a feeling that Damon knew that he was following them given the fact that Damon kept turning around and glaring at him like he didn't want Bodie to follow them.

He didn't care, though, all he wanted was to hear what the council knew about this world. He wanted to know if some of these people would be a threat towards him or not, he convinced himself that although he was being nosy, he was concerned whether or not they would threaten Henry's life despite the fact that few know what he truly is.

He followed them up to what Bodie presumed to be an office for Mayor Lockwood—Carol, though before Bodie could get a good look, Damon closed the door behind him, glaring at Bodie while doing so. There was something about the way that Damon looked at him which made Bodie more worried about the safety of Henry in this town, at least with himself, he knew that he couldn't die—unlike Henry who could die easier.

From what he could hear, nothing massive had come up yet which only worried Bodie more than anything else. He knew that he was overthinking it all quite a bit, but he couldn't help it. He worried more about Henry than anyone else—aside from Will, but Will was always more sensible than Henry was.

"I believe that we do have an incident of some folk with memory loss," Damon brought up from inside. "As we know, vampires are able to do mind control, which makes me believe that a new vampire has set foot into town."

Bodie found himself tensing quite a bit. He had a feeling that Damon was about to say something that might put either himself or Henry in danger and that was something that he couldn't take. He didn't want to kill a bunch of council members without anyone to cover it up.

He heard the way that the council members mutter in confusion then wondering as to what the hell Damon meant. Bodie wanted to know what Damon meant and whether or not he needed to get involved before anything worse happened, though he knew that his presence might make everything worse.

"Do we have any idea on who it could be?" Carol asked.

Bodie heard the way that Damon moved in what sounded like a leather chair. "I have no idea, but I don't believe that this vampire means any threat to us or its residence. If they have, then they would have made their presence more known within our town."

"So, no big incidences of question since spring," Liz Forbes said. "We'll need to look more into this new being, but even still, it's been somewhat quiet."

"Is there anything that anyone else would like to add?" Carol asked the group.

By that time, Bodie somewhat zoned out of the conversation, he'd taken notice of an older man who joined him into listening into the conversation within the office. Bodie found himself smiling at the man, though the man didn't return his smile. Bodie then found himself to feel a little awkward to know that he probably seemed like a fool listening into a conversation that he wasn't part of.

Bodie wondered whether or not he should just leave, but it was then that he realised that there were people walking past him. People that once were in the council meeting. It made him realise that the meeting was over and that there was no one else in the room other than Damon, Carol, and Liz.

It took Bodie another small moment to realise that the dude that joined him in listening to the conversation decided to walk into the room. "I have a question," said the man.

"Bill," Liz said as if she was surprised that he was there. So, this must be Caroline's father, he remembered Henry somewhat mentioning him.

"Do you three think that everybody on the council is clueless—or just stupid?" Bill asked.

Bodie found his way beside Bill then with an amused look on his face. He knew that he shouldn't be amused as a whole, but he couldn't help himself. Now this was the kind of drama that he needed in order to distract himself when it came to his thoughts about Klaus. He knew that there was a chance that Henry was going to slap him just because he got into drama that wasn't needed, but he couldn't help it at all.

"Mr Erikson," Carol greeted despite her shock over what Bill just said. "What are you doing here?"

Bodie found himself grinning then, mainly towards Damon. "I believe that I'm just here to take into account that I wanted to listen as to what Damon would say about me."

Bill flapped his hand as if to dismiss the topic. "The main issue, here, is the fact that this town has been overrun with creatures like you." He pointed to Damon then. "And if this issue isn't addressed then I think it's about time that these disgusting beings get what they deserve and deserve to be outed for what they are. The council has been compromised due to your need to protect them, Liz, it needs something new, someone who will do something about these vampires."

"Bill," Liz started. "What about our daughter?"

Bill was silent for a moment. "She's not. Not while she's like this."

"Then, what do you propose, Bill?" Bodie asked. He took notice of the way that Damon glared at him as if he shouldn't get involved in any of this.

"The only way to keep the people in this town safe from those creatures is to put vervain in the water," Bill suggested.

Bodie looked at Damon with this overly happy expression. "You know, this is a grand idea, it might help the council find out who's a vampire and whose not. It'll protect the people of this town a lot more than what you've done already."

"Mr Erikson, I don't think that this is a conversation that you need to be involved in." Liz tried to usher Bodie out of the room then.

Bodie looked between Damon and Liz then, a grin was growing on his face then, feeling the way that his true face was showing, he took notice of the way that Damon took a step forward as if to prevent Bodie from doing anything, though Bodie just turned to Liz then. "I think I have every right to be involved in this conversation. Given that my brother is one of the people living in this town, I think that his safety should be something that I need to considered. Plus, I've lived in this town longer than what you can fathom, after all, I think that I have a right to be involved in the council and the safety of the people in it."

"Bodie, I think we both need to leave," Damon told. He came over to Bodie then, grabbing the collar of his shirt and dragging him out. By the time that the pair came out of the room, Damon let go of him and turned to him. "I don't know what your problem is but coming into the council meeting was not it. Do you understand the risk for all of us if vervain is added into the water?"

Bodie tilted his head. "Do you understand that there are other people in the world and not in this silly little town? Come on, Damon, use your brain. Let the man have his way of putting vervain in the water system, we're vampires, we learn to adapt."

Just as Bodie went to walk away, Damon caught his arm. "I don't know what you're playing at, but if I find that you're planning something to hurt—"

Bodie rolled his eyes and pinned Damon to a wall, cutting off anything that he was about to say. "You know, in all my years on this earth, I have never experienced such disrespect from such an egotistical young vampire like I have with you." He flashed his other eyes then. "I've debated for a while on what I should do with you, and I think that the better punishment for such disrespect is the only thing that I can cure."

Just as Bodie was about to go to bite Damon in hopes to let him suffer with a werewolf bite for a while, the door to the office—the room that the council was having their meeting was in—opened, and Bill and Liz came out of the room. Bodie backed away from Damon, giving him a glare. As much as it was tempting to just run around and slaughter as many people as he could, he didn't want any of that to fall back onto Henry. He had to think about Henry and how anything that he might do would affect him.

"Count your days, Damon," Bodie hissed before walking off.

He walked downstairs to try and find Henry in hopes to find Henry at all. He wanted to go back home and drink, the last thing that he wanted to do was deal with anything Damon anymore. He needed a break from this town already.

By the time that he got downstairs he took notice of Elena and Alaric and followed them when they went outside. "Elena!" Bodie called, causing the pair of them to look around. "Where's Henry?"

Elena stumbled on her words for a minute. "He. . .he went back to mine with Bonnie to look more into my necklace. Jeremy is with them both as well."

"Cool tha—"

"Wait, wait," Damon cut him off as he came running outside. "We have a problem."

Bodie found himself rolling his eyes. God, when was he going to get a break from the world's most annoying vampire.

"Where have you been?" Elena asked.

"Managing Bill Forbes." Damon told. He then looked at Bodie. "And dealing with an Original Hybrid that likes to threaten."

Bodie forced a smile on his face then. "Well, if you weren't so fucking annoying, I wouldn't feel the need to leave you for dead with a werewolf bite."

Damon made a sound. "Anyway, Bill's apparently impervious to compulsion."

"How?" Alaric asked.

"People can build up an intolerance to things." Bodie explained, before Damon had the ability to give nothing into the conversation. "Not sure how a human managed to do it—I'm guessing not on vervain."

"Great to know," Damon bitterly said. "He threatened to out me, Bodie was there. Don't get me started on the irony of that."

"What did you do to him? How do you know the compulsion doesn't work?" Elena asked. She looked at Damon though she then shifted her gaze towards Bodie as if she suspected Bodie in doing something.

"That's not the most important piece of information I mentioned, Elena." Damon stated.

"Well, what does he want?"

"He wants to control the council," Bodie added. "Says it's been compromised." Elena gave him more of a look then as if wondering as to why Bodie of all people would be at a council meeting. As much as Bodie wanted to mention something about the looks—he found that he lacked energy to do as such.

"It has!" Alaric agreed to that.

"He wants to put vervain in the town's water supply," Damon added.

"Maybe it's not a bad idea. I mean, given that Bodie's here," Elena said. Bodie glared at her, though he restrained himself to not hurt anyone. She then looked towards Damon then. "Plus, it'll help you keep yourself in control now that Stefan's not here to—"

"—To what? To keep me in check? Make me behave?" Damon asked, making Elena stop in her tracks, which almost made Bodie trip over her considering that he'd been walking just a little bit behind. "I should have killed him this morning."

"He's Caroline's dad, Damon," Elena pointed out.

"Yeah, and when I kill him, she'll have one more parent than we do," Damon said, almost mockingly.

Alaric stepped forward then. "Oh, come on, Damon!"

"You're repeatedly killing my buzz today, Ric." Damon said. "Step aside."

"Yeah, it's not going to happen," Alaric defended.

Damon looked down at Alaric's hand which was just inches away from his chest, and then looked at Elena and back at Alaric with his lips pressed together. "Your temporary funeral." He then killed Alaric by snapping his neck.

Bodie tried everything within him to not laugh at the thought that Alaric—poor human Alaric—thought that he could go against a vampire, though, even still, Damon was pissing him off entirely, so he guessed why anyone would want to go against Damon.

"Damon, no!" Elena yelled. "What is wrong with you?!"

It was then that Damon left. Elena glared at the back of Damon's head. Bodie was close in just leaving Elena to deal with Alaric's body, but he knew that Henry would yell at him for not helping out at all which was something he was slowly starting to regret just as a whole.

Bodie and Elena shared a look, she gave him a look as if to ask if he was going to help. He ended up sighing annoyed—he just wanted to go back home, he didn't want to deal with any of this. He'd rather leave Alaric here than help drag his body somewhere. God, why did he get dragged into things that he didn't ask to be dragged into? He could be anywhere in the world, but no, he decided to follow the breadcrumbs of notes that magically popped up just because Will is indecisive when it comes to the sides he wants to be on.

"Let me call Caroline," Elena muttered, fishing out her phone. "Do you mind taking him back to mine?"

"I. . .I don't have an invite into your house, Elena," Bodie stated. "Would you like me to leave him on the porch?"

She gave him a look as if she weren't amused by his comment. "Henry is at mine, he can help you."

Bodie found himself forcing out a laugh. "Yeah, okay. And risk getting yelled at?" He shook his head slightly. "I didn't realise that I was meant to gift dead history teachers to a bunch of teenagers on a random porch."

If it weren't for the fact that he valued how much Henry cared about these people, he would have killed everyone in this town and moved on. But no, he let Henry make friends and now suddenly care about people's lives that Bodie could no longer just kill the random person without someone crying about it.

He let out a small, annoyed groan before dragging Alaric over his shoulder. He'll call Henry when he's on his way over, he at least wants Henry to meet him outside of Elena's house. He left Elena there with her phone pressed against her ear as she briefly explained to Caroline about what happened and what she thinks might happen.

He made his way to his car that he was thankful that Henry didn't take it. He knew that Henry had a thing for stealing his stuff at times, so he was a little surprised that he hadn't stolen his car as well. As much as Bodie was glad that Henry had friends that weren't just him, it made him realise just how much of a heart Henry had—and how annoying Henry was now that he had other people that he cared about. Of course, Bodie was happy for him, but not when he was carrying a dead history teacher to his car.

He unlocked his car, opened up the back door and somewhat threw Alaric's dead body into it before going into the driver's side. There was a part of him which wondered what would happen if he just drained Alaric, would any one care? He was a little hungry, so the temptation to just drain someone of their blood was high, and Alaric was right there, so would it matter?

He then tried to remind himself of Henry and how Henry would feel about it him killing someone that didn't seem to have any importance. He shook his head, trying to rid himself of any thoughts that he has about draining Alaric, the last thing that he needs in his life is a beating from Henry—who might literally follow through with his throwing-someone-out-the-window threat.

He drove to Elena's house where on the way he called Henry to tell him about what happened. At first, Bodie thought that Henry might accuse him of snapping Alaric's neck, but he didn't which somewhat surprised Bodie more than anything. He supposed that Henry knew Damon enough that it sounded more like Damon than anything. Henry told him to just meet outside of Elena's house and to take them back to the Salvatore house where they'll just dump Alaric's body for Damon to find.

He wasn't sure how long it took him to get there, but all Bodie knew was the fact that he was so goddamn hungry that the temptation to drain someone was higher than anything else in his life. He was so close in just draining Alaric and calling it a day, but he knew that Henry would have been annoyed him for doing such a thing, so he knew that it might be best to wait until after they got all of this sorted.

What ended up snapping him out of his thoughts was the sound of his phone ringing. It was Henry who'd called him. He was confused at first before he decided to answer it.

"Henry?" Bodie greeted.

"Bodie, what the fuck?" Henry asked. "You just drove back, what the actual fuck?"

Bodie really didn't know what the fuck Henry meant but when he looked around, he realised that he had driven past Elena's home—therefore mistakenly driven past Henry. "Oh fuck, sorry. Catch up."

Henry huffed. "Fine."

Bodie stopped the car and waited for Henry to catch up to him. He waited for Henry to catch up to him, though he wasn't sure as to how long he was waiting for Henry, but he didn't mind. He was more than willing to wait for Henry for as long as needed to be, though there was a part of Bodie that wished that he turned around and just because of his need to feed.

Though not that long after they hung up the phone from each other, the passenger side door opened, and Henry hopped in. The first thing that Bodie took notice of was the fact that Henry smelled like fire which somewhat concerned him.

"Did someone try and burn you alive?" Bodie asked. He knew that if he let Henry die, Will would kill him, though not before he—Bodie—killed whoever tried to burn Henry.

Henry gave him a confused look. "What?" He looked down at himself before looking back up to Bodie. "No. The grimoires that Bonnie and I had went up in flames. I think some of the fire caught onto me, but don't worry I'm fine before you go onto your rampage." He somewhat grinned then and looked back towards the dead Alaric. "Come, let's get him to the Salvatore house."

⋅⋆✯✼⋆⋅

Will was dragged to Gloria's bar with Klaus considering that Klaus wanted to do an update with Gloria to see what she would say about the necklace. Klaus trusted Rebekah to stay behind in the warehouse and wait for Stefan who decided to leave them for a long period of time—it was long enough that it made Klaus suspicious. Klaus thought that he should just be more direct when it came to asking Stefan on where he was, but it wasn't until Will mentioned that it seemed like Stefan was hiding something from him and that he should wait until Stefan breaks.

Of course, Klaus seemed to like that idea, more so when Will brought up that maybe if they went back to Mystic Falls, Stefan might admit something. It felt like one of the few times that Klaus liked his ideas which made Will feel like that he was finally being taken seriously by Klaus, which was something that he hadn't expected just as a whole.

Anyway, the pair walked into Gloria's bar to find that Gloria was nowhere to be found. It looked as if there'd been a ritual previously before Gloria left which made the pair of them stop in their tracks. Klaus looked as if he were about to slaughter half of Chicago because of it, though Will thought that the only way to prevent something like that was to do something that might actually help.

He tried to use his magic in hopes that it might give him clues on what would have happened. He shut his eyes for a moment, mumbling a spell under his breath. All he wanted to do was see if there was something that he could see in hopes that it would give him a better idea on what happened. He just wanted to make sure that whatever he finds might help Klaus in some way that he wouldn't kill his brother because of his incompetence.

He could feel the way that Klaus stared at him as if Klaus expected this of him. Though, even still, Will felt like that there was something wrong, though he couldn't tell if it was his magic or the fact that whatever happened within Gloria's bar was the thing that was wrong. He couldn't tell.

He continued to chant his spell under his breath, though his head started to spin like him doing the spell was causing him pain. He kept pushing through the pain that he felt, thinking that there was a chance that it might just be nothing—or the fact that there's a chance that the pain meant something, if only he could push through more. He wanted to find out the truth for his own sake and for Klaus to keep his anger aside.

He tried, all that he wanted to do was make sure that Klaus got the answers that he needed when it came to where Gloria went. He wanted nothing more than to find out the very thing that Klaus needed. He knew that this was important to Klaus to find out as to why he couldn't create hybrids, he wanted to do this for Klaus—to help him move a little forward in life.

There was nothing. As much as Will tried to look into what happened here, he couldn't see any clear images, just the feeling of pain—though he couldn't tell if it was his own pain or the pain of someone that was here. He didn't know what to do, he could taste blood that he presumed came from his nose, his head was pounding as if he got a headache. He felt almost sick as if everything within him wanted to come out.

He couldn't continue with the spell, the pain got too much for him. He found that he dropped to his knees with his hand wiping away the blood at his nose. His head was still buzzing with pain that it was almost hard to process anything that was going on—he almost didn't hear Klaus' demand about what was happening and why he didn't finish his spell.

Will groaned. "Can you be quiet for a second, please? My head's pounding."

Klaus didn't seem to like that response as a whole. "I need to know where Gloria went, William, I'll have you know that it's important that we find out."

Will massaged his temples then. "I think there was someone in pain. I didn't get any clear images, just a feeling, though I can't tell if it's something from my magic playing up or from what happened here."

"Oh, well, that's very useful," Klaus somewhat sarcastically said. "I need more. Or do I need to motivate you in another way?"

Will waved his hand almost dismissive. "There's no need for threats, Klaus. I can't continue with my magic unless you want the only witch by your side to die. Just believe me, please Klaus. Someone was in pain. She had someone here before she left, I don't know who it was, or if there was someone else here."

"Great." Klaus muttered under his breath. He rubbed his brow then as if he were already annoyed at Will for trying his best.

"We need to get back," Will told. "See if Stefan's back and to figure out our next move."

Klaus sighed annoyed. "Fine." He moved towards Will and dragged him up. "Come on."

With that the pair of them made their way back to the warehouse where they originally left Rebekah. Will wasn't sure how long it took the pair of them to get there, but when they did, Stefan was already there in the middle of a conversation with Rebekah about something that Will couldn't be bothered to listen to.

All he could think about was the pain that he was in. He didn't understand as to why his magic hurt him, he never normally had an issue with it before until recently. He wondered whether or not it was something to do with him being away from Henry but in all honesty, it was something that he couldn't make sense of just as a whole. It was an issue for another day.

"Gloria's gone. She's cleared out," Klaus stated. "We need to find a new witch immediately." He then paused and looked at the pair of them, and it was only then that Will looked up and realised the look that was written on Rebekah's face. "What's going on?"

"Something's wrong," Rebekah stated. "He was asking about Mikael." Klaus looked between Stefan and Rebekah then, and briefly looked at Will. "He's not with us, Nik. I can sense it."

"She's wrong." Stefan told, walking towards Klaus a little. "Klaus. . ."

Klaus gave Stefan this look, one that Will was somewhat familiar with before charging at Stefan.

⋅⋆✯✼⋆⋅

Bodie and Henry dropped Alaric's body at the Salvatore's house just as Damon arrived. The three didn't speak at all before Bodie and Henry left which was something that the pair liked. On the way back to their place, the pair decided to quickly get something to eat. The pair compelled some humans to come back to their place where they could have a little session without anyone bothering them.

Come morning, Bodie almost couldn't remember what happened from the minute that they left the Salvatore home as if someone had completely wiped his memory. He found himself groaning and sitting up from the bed that he laid in only to realise that there was a half-dressed guy laying in his bed—his sheets inked with blood.

Bodie pulled a face, then, realising that his sheets were going to be a pain in the ass to clean. That and the fact that he was really confused as to why there was a guy laying in his bed. He wondered what happened before realising that he doesn't care that much, if he couldn't remember what happened the previous night, then he was sure that something good happened. He hoped that something good happened.

"Henry!" Bodie called out. "What the fuck happened last night?" He paused and for a moment he thought that he could hear Henry about to answer. "Actually, never mind. If it's something bad, I'd rather not know!"

"Whatever!" Henry called out though his voice was faint. Bodie wasn't sure why, but he found himself smiling, knowing that Henry sounded just as fucked as he felt.

It took Bodie a moment to process what the day was. "Weren't you meant to meet up with someone?"

"Probably," Henry weakly called out. "Can't be bothered anymore."

Bodie found himself smiling at that, though he didn't say anything. For a moment, Bodie debated on whether or not he should go back to sleep or not, but when he looked towards the body on his bed, he realised that the last thing that he wanted to do was let a dead body stay put in his bed, so he reluctantly got out of bed. Of course, it took him a while to get out of bed just as a whole considering that sleep was a need for him and that he lacked energy to get rid of the body,

By the time that he managed to stand beside his bed, he was sure that it'd taken him like ten minutes just to get up. Though the one thing which Bodie didn't expect more than anything was Henry just coming into his room with this look written on his face like he'd just witnessed his coven do something horrible.

"What?" Bodie asked.

"He's here." Henry whispered. "He's in Mystic Falls."

Bodie gave him a confused look. "Who? Who's here?"

Henry looked at him then, pressing his lips together for a moment. "William. I felt his magic. He's here. He's back."

Bodie thought that Henry would have been happy to have Will back in his life, but he felt like that this wasn't a situation to be happy about. He knew how much Henry missed Will and to know that Henry didn't look pleased at all made Bodie realise just how fucked all of this might become. He wanted to protect Henry and he would even if he dies trying. And even if it's from his own brother or the man he kept going back to. No one was going to hurt Henry.