VII: This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things

"How long is this going to take?" Elena paced in her living room, one hand around her torso, the other rubbing her chin. Her face was knitted in, tense with worry. Anticipation. "It's been—"

"—five minutes." Reese waved her off. "Give him time. You know how dramatic vampires like to be. They probably inherited it from him."

Elijah's dead body was once again propped up on Reese's sofa, this time without the dagger stuck in his chest. The gray veins were slowly but steadily disappearing.

Elena let out a shaky breath, stopping in her tracks. "Tomorrow's the full moon."

"Mhm."

"Reese—"

"Ooh," Reese said, in a sing-song voice. "I sense a sentimental goodbye coming up."

Elena sat down next to Elijah's dead body. She spared him a wary glance and scooted toward the end of the sofa.

"I just wanted to say," she began, pinning her eyes on Reese. "Thank you. You're not exactly the easiest person to . . . get along with. But you are my friend, and even though you made it difficult, you did help me. And I will . . ."

"Miss me?" Reese offered. "Hm. I suppose you might go to the Other Side. Doppelganger is a supernatural entity, at the end of the day. It'll be lonely."

"Right." Elena had been given a crash course on the Other Side a few minutes earlier. "Stuck alone. For all eternity."

Reese nodded. "Yeah. Or you never know. You might find peace. Though I doubt it."

"Thanks for making me feel so much better," Elena said sardonically. She looked a bit green in the face.

"You're welcome."

They were waiting for Elijah to wake up. Reese had suspected Elena would want him back now that Nik was here. Better the devil you know than the devil you don't, yada, yada, yada. She'd knocked outside her door early this morning, and after a refreshing chat about death, Reese had called Sam and gotten him to haul Elijah out to the living room.

As for how Reese was feeling . . .

Well, Elena was right. The full moon was tomorrow. She was anticipating Caroline being taken, especially after those proclamations about Reese having a soft spot for her from Damon that Nik had been witness to.

Their conversation at the Decade Dance had been rushed. The music was loud and intruding; he'd been inhabiting Alaric. It was difficult for Reese to take him seriously like that. She'd let him go after the Mystic Falls gang, and now he was under the impression that Bonnie — their only weapon against him — was dead.

Part of Reese would always revel in beating Nik.

They'd started out like that — a delicate game of thinly-veiled lies and malicious intentions. He wanted to kill her and stomp out any possibility of his mother's vengeful spirit returning to haunt him. She welcomed the distraction and danced along with it.

Given the circumstances, she'd be better off choosing his side. He could hurt her more than they could. But she liked that he thought Bonnie was dead when she wasn't, and she liked that he would spend every moment leading up to the sacrifice in muted fear that she might do something.

Beyond Elijah, even now, it was a game between the two of them.

She was his only competition.

And she liked that, too.

Elijah let out a gasp. Elena immediately bent over him, relief coloring her face.

Before Reese could give her a warning, Elijah's eyes flew open. His hand shot out and he grasped Elena's neck, saying hoarsely, "Katerina."

Reese rolled her eyes, waving her hand to restrain Elijah till he came to his senses. "So dramatic."

Elena gingerly brushed her fingers against her neck, horrified. "What the hell."

"I told you." Reese guided her to an armchair a fair distance from Elijah, shaking against the magic's hold on him. "Inherently melodramatic. And narcissistic. You should get used to it."

"Reese," Elijah gritted out, voice croaky.

She whirled around to face him, lifting the magic.

"Welcome back, Elijah. How was your nap?" Instead of answering her, he tried to speed to Elena, only to be pushed back by an invisible force. "No. If you want to kill her, you're going to do it outside."

"What happened?" He asked.

Reese beamed at him. "Betrayal. Lies. Deceit. Murder."

She tossed him a blood bag from the collection she'd accumulated for the purpose of helping and/or manipulating vampires. He caught it, clenching it in his hands as a passive-aggressive expression of his discontent.

Elena noticed it, and rushed to say, "I want to renegotiate the terms of our deal."

"You are in no place to—"

"Elijah," Reese interrupted, excitedly. "I even got you a suit. I don't think the tattered clothes do much for the scary but diplomatic act."

She was happy to have Elijah back, despite how it would complicate things. He'd been sticking his nose in, trying to murder Nik . . . a plan she was certain he'd be abandoning the second Nik told him the truth. Was he a hindrance? Yes. But was it worth it to have him around? Debatable, but . . .

After he changed and rejoined them in the living room, prim and proper, Reese decided that yeah, it was worth it to have him around.

"Perfect," Reese clapped her hands. Elijah and Elena sat on opposing armchairs, the table in between them, while Reese was perched on the sofa in the middle, playing negotiator. Or the non interventionist party. "Now, let's not dally. Elijah, while you were dead and daggered, Nik showed up. He's in Alaric's body and attempting to terrorize me, I'm sure. The full moon is tomorrow. Elena's here because she believes you both need to work together. I suggest you refrain from any murdering or kidnapping, because that would be premature, since she's going to die tomorrow anyway."

Reese was proud of how much she sounded like Elijah.

It was both a personal achievement and a jab at him. Two birds with one stone.

Elijah sipped on his blood bag, the color returning to his face. "How did you get the dagger? Did you hand it over to them, Reese?"

"On the contrary." Reese kicked up her feet on the table, relaxing. "I was in possession of both of them before they even daggered you. I was planning on letting you come back, but then I decided it was for the best if you sat it out for some time."

Elena's face pulled into a frown. "Wait, what do you mean?"

"Reese crafted some replicas of that silver dagger," Elijah answered. "They do their work as they intend to, although temporarily."

Elena gaped at Reese for a good few seconds. "You made daggers like that?"

"Yeah, I did." She brushed off her words, trying so hard to be modest it came off as anything but. "Not a big deal. Just a few days of life-threatening spirit magic, deceit, and lying."

"Nothing new for you, as it is," Elijah commented dryly.

Ugh. "Again with the pettiness, Elijah!"

"Do they work on Klaus?" Elena asked, redirecting them. "If not the daggers you made, then the original ones."

"No," Reese said. The only thing that worked on him were threats involving his mother and the terror she and Reese could reign on him together. But for that, he'd have to really mess up. As for killing him . . . she wasn't spilling the beans on that. "Stick to Bonnie."

"You had one dagger," Elijah said. "Where did they get the second one?"

"John Gilbert." She pulled out a dagger, seemingly out of nowhere, twirling it around. "I think Nik might've set it loose. See who'd try and kill him; set an example. It's the only logical explanation. He guards them like a dog, otherwise."

It didn't matter, now that she had both of them. They were going to be useful for leverage.

"Oh, and the Martins are dead," she added as an afterthought, a little too joyfully. "Bonnie's the one carrying out your plan."

"You must've found the site of the witch massacre, then?"

Elena nodded.

"And what of Katerina? She would have been released from my compulsion when she died."

"Klaus took her," Elena said. "We think she may be dead."

"I doubt that." Elijah reached for a second blood bag. "Not Klaus' style. Death would be too easy for her after what she did."

Reese nodded. "Mhm. Right. She shouldn't have tried to save herself at all."

"I don't understand." Elena's eyes flickered from him to Reese, then back to him. "You say that you want Klaus dead, but you still made Katherine pay for . . . betraying him."

Elena's frown deepened toward the end. It was clear that she saw what Katerina did as nothing close to betrayal . . . she didn't owe anything to Nik. Reese guessed it was their shared status as doppelgangers that helped her extend that courtesy after everything Katerina had done to her.

"I have my own reasons for wanting Katerina to pay." Elijah's face turned reflective. "There was a time I would've done anything for Klaus."

Reese's eyes lit up. "I totally forgot they didn't know!"

Elena's confusion was evident on her face. "Know what?"

Before Elijah could answer, Reese smiled and said, "They're brothers. Elijah and Klaus Mikaelson."

Elijah pursed his lips. "Yes. Klaus is my brother."

"I heard that." Elena let out a shocked breath. "I'm still processing it."

"Yes, I'm a little behind on the times, but I believe the term you're searching for is 'O.M.G.'," Elijah said, then proceeded to sip on his blood bag.

Reese raised her eyebrows. "That was almost funny, Elijah."

He only shot her a discontented glare. He was clearly still upset she'd let him get stabbed in the back. God knew it subtracted from his villainous persona.

"Anything else that I should know?" Elena breathed out after several moments.

"Yeah." Reese tipped her head back. "There's a whole family of them."

"A whole Original family . . ." She trailed off. "All of them are vampires?"

"Currently, yes," Elijah took over. "My father was a wealthy landowner in a village in Eastern Europe. Our mother bore seven children."

"So, your parents were humans?"

"Our whole family was. Our origin as vampires is a very long story, Elena. Just know . . . we're the oldest vampires in the world. We are the Original family, and from us, all vampires were created."

Reese had heard both Elijah's and Nik's versions of the story. Theirs focused on their life after they became vampires, but she was more interested in the intricacies of Esther's work. She created an entire species to make her children virtually indestructible, as far as nature would allow it. Then she somehow made it so that those that came after the Mikaelsons did not share that exact degree of invulnerability. The magic passed on through some sort of link, but not as strong. She would've been working with lots of technicalities.

Then there's the matter with the blood of the doppelganger.

If Nik and Elijah's versions were to be taken as the truth, then Esther also created the doppelganger. Just to make it more difficult for the curse to be broken?

For the first time in her life, she wanted to talk to Esther, so of course, Esther turned her away. She'd been reaching out since Elijah got daggered, to no avail. A fair amount of discretion was essential when it came to Raven links. There was one way out of this — a loophole, as a spirit witch would say — that would force Esther to make space for Reese in her mind.

But it was too risky. It would put Reese in a perilous situation. Make her weak.

She half-heartedly listened to Elijah explain things to Elena. The basics of the Original story, if you will. Before he got to the part about the curse being fake, though, he inserted a portion that Reese hadn't been told.

"So, as you've seen, nothing can kill an Original," he said, clearly building up to something. "Not Sun, not fire, not even a werewolf bite."

Reese frowned and perked up at the same time. "You're going to tell her how to kill you? You didn't tell me that. I had to figure it out all on my own!"

Even then, it wasn't permanent.

"Consider your history of betrayal and back-stabbing as my answer, Reese," Elijah said. "As for Elena . . . I'm sure she wouldn't want to repeat her mistakes."

"I don't think she considers daggering you a mistake, exactly."

Elena grimaced. "Can we . . . get back to the conversation?"

Elijah gave a curt nod. "The only thing that can kill an Original is the wood from one tree. A tree my family and I made sure burned."

"The white ash," Elena finished.

"Yes. The witches won't allow anything truly immortal to walk the earth. Every creature needs to have a weakness in order to maintain the balance."

Unlike Reese, Elena accepted that explanation.

It was all too convenient.

Granted, Reese wasn't privy to every secret they had, but their only weakness being something so easily reversible? That didn't make sense. If wood from the white oak tree was out of the picture, then there had to be something more permanent. Reese's method wasn't one created by nature spirits; neither was Esther's initial plan to use her mother.

There had to be something final. Something binding.

Unfortunately, Elena left right before the big reveal, leaving the two of them alone.

Elijah helped himself to the stack of newspapers she had propped up for him; every day he'd missed out while he was daggered, and said nothing.

Reese figured he wished to express his anger, so she didn't prod.

For the first ten minutes, at least.

Then she got impatient.

She watched as he flipped through the pages of the newspaper in his hand, as if he was too immersed in them to notice her incessant stare.

"So . . .," she started, trying to get under his skin. "Anything interesting happen in your life lately?"

He put down his newspaper and picked up the next one. "Ah, if only. Not much, other than a wily little witch stabbing me in the back again."

"The third person was a little unnecessary." She huffed. "You sound like Nik."

"I suppose it must be the paranoia I've learned to garner when you're around."

"He hasn't found a way to hijack you now, has he?"

He didn't say anything.

"I meant," she harped on, "Anything in the past three years?"

"I set out to search for you," he said, "and found the doppelganger on the way."

She smiled. That was super nice. It made her feel super nice, too. "How touching. Almost makes me feel bad."

"I told you this many years ago." He peered up at her. "Calling someone a friend does not usually entail repeated murder. I'd like to add repeated treachery to it."

"Yeah, well . . . it doesn't really hurt much, though. Since you're an Original, and apparently can't die."

He raised his eyebrows. "Are you trying to imply something, Reese?"

"Mhm." She adjusted her position, sitting up straighter. "I've just had a revelation, is all. Ask me what it is."

He sighed in a distinctly Elijah-like fashion. "What is it, Reese?"

"Seemingly, there's no natural loophole that permanently kills you." She spoke in a light-hearted manner. "Which is impossible. Sure, the white ash incapacitates you, but you can just pop right back whenever . . . really puts into perspective why you'd spend so many years running from a certain vampire hunter . . ." She breezed past his sudden grimness. "I mean, of course, Mikael was Mikael. But even your hearts can grow back. Now, a stake perhaps, from this tree . . ."

"Mikael was put down years ago."

"By Abby Bennet, right? Very remarkable, I must say."

"He is, for all intents and purposes, dead."

"Exactly." She snapped her fingers. "Dead. I don't doubt his stake would be too far from him."

A heavy pause.

Elijah's gaze narrowed. "Are you threatening me, Reese?"

"Pft." She shook her head in an are-you-daft manner. "Hardly. I'm helping you find a better way to kill Nik. Of course, you probably already knew what I just laid out, so . . . something tells me you don't actually want to kill him."

Elijah sighed softly. "I would appreciate it if you'd stop your attempts to persuade me to abandon my plans. I have given both Elena and myself a promise."

"Okay. Let's say you do actually manage to kill him." She was rambling now, but if that was what drove across her point, then so be it. "What then, Elijah? What are you going to do with all of eternity? Scour the seas? Pray you find your family's coffins? What purpose will you have?"

In her experience, they'd always been at odds. But even then there was no Elijah without Nik.

After a long pause, he said, "There is hope for you yet."

"So you shift your goal from redeeming Nik to redeeming me." She'd suspected that for a while, but hearing him confess to it was worse. "I might age like a snail but I'm not indestructible, and I'm not going to be around forever, Elijah."

"You would never consider turning," he stated, the questioning tone hanging between them.

He knew the answer.

No for anyone else. Maybe for him. And she hated that she was willing to give up magic for some childish fantasy for a family. No matter how much she cared about someone and no matter how much they reciprocated it, her real family was dead.

"I'd die even sooner, then," she said. Raven witches were not very good at being vampires.

"I could help you through it," he said, though it was futile.

"You wouldn't ask that of me, Elijah." He understood better than anyone else what magic meant to her. "Anyway, this is too intense of a conversation to have right now, especially since I have full confidence you won't be killing him."

She knew something he didn't, after all.

"And I don't think he expects you to be around," she added. "I've got the minions bodyguarding Caroline, of course, but they won't be enough."

It was just a waiting game.

"Also, could you give me some of your blood?"

─────────────

As expected, Caroline was taken early on the morning of the full moon.

Reese had a single task to fulfill, and then she could high tail it out of Mystic Falls, whether she wanted to or not be damned.

She had the whole world at her disposal. Maybe she could go back to Greece — she hadn't seen much outside of Mykonos, and there would be something satisfying about evading the Ravens right under their nose.

At the end of the day, Mystic Falls was just another boring town in Virginia.

There were thousands of places better than here.

It was proving to be rather strenuous, convincing herself of that.

She was sure after she found Caroline, she'd feel better about it. She was also sure the dreaded conversation/reunion with Nik that was to follow would reverse any progress made in that department. Putting it off to the last minute was the only comfort she could give herself.

And she wasn't entirely alone in her misery, either.

Damon was in the middle of a vampire meltdown.

Attempting to mitigate the upcoming catastrophe.

Makeup for his questionable choices.

He was going through a crisis, if you will, and Reese was unsure how she felt about it, since he decided she was going to be on the receiving end as he worked through his feelings.

They were making their way through the woods to get to the tomb, Reese deliberately slow, Damon restless and brisk.

The sun was casting its dying light on them. A couple more hours before it was time for the sacrifice. A couple more hours before she could put all this drama behind her and adopt a completely new identity. After three years of being Reese Yung, high school student, ordinary girl, she'd be back to Reese Yung, Raven Witch, convicted murderer.

She liked to think the duality made up for the tragedy.

"You think you can destroy the moon?" Damon asked flatly, lip curled as they weaved around the trees. There was an uncharacteristic skittishness to his movements.

Reese stifled a yawn. "For you? Are you unwell, Damon?"

"Why not? I'm so charming."

"You think I'd just forget you tried to choke me?"

"Yeah, and then I danced with you afterwards. I'm an amazing dancer."

"Sounds like someone's deflecting," she said, recalling the conversations she'd had with Stefan where he tried to therapize her. She wanted to know what Damon had done. She also wanted to use it to get under his skin.

"I fed my blood to Elena," he confessed, as if that explained everything. He belittled his actions through his words, as if reciting an unfunny joke. "Well, more like forced it down her throat. She hates me."

So now when she died, she'd come back in transition.

It was a great idea, in her opinion. The most effective way out. Practically hassle-free. But she was a Raven witch, whose greatest fear was losing her magic, ergo, vampirism. If someone tried that on her, she would loathe them.

"If you're telling me this because you thought I wouldn't judge you . . ." she clicked her tongue. "I am judging you."

"You're telling me you wouldn't do the same?" He snapped. "If it were Caroline or someone, you wouldn't do what was in your power to save them?"

"This is different."

"Is it?"

"Look, vampirism is a downgrade from anything," she said. "From everything. Even being human. You don't think Elena would've never found comfort that for all the pain she's endured, she didn't have an eternity of life ahead of her?"

"Exactly," he jeered. "She's got an eternity. She'll get over it."

"Did you get over anything, Damon?"

He scowled. "I'm the picture of every good adjective in the dictionary."

"Sangfroid?" She raised her eyebrows.

"Whatever that is."

Reese just shrugged and started listing, "Irascible. Bilious. Dyspeptic. Waspish."

"You've got no one to impress right now, Reese, boyfriend number one isn't here."

"Actually, he taught me all of that."

"Delightful." He rolled his eyes. "Any chance he taught you how to shut up?"

Her lips pulled into a thin, unimpressed line. "Don't make me kill you again."

They arrived at the crumbling stone ruins of the church. She stopped short near the first ruin, narrowing her gaze at the seemingly empty clearing. Damon strode toward the entrance to the tomb, looking around. There should've been security . . .

"Which one are you trying to save?" A man popped out from behind them. He looked to be average, yet equipped with an unattractive amount of arrogance. Must be one of Nik's minions. "The blonde or the wolf?" He walked up to the other side of the tomb entrance. "Did you really think Klaus would leave them unprotected?"

"Ugh," Reese said, a fair distance from Damon and his stare off. "Klaus. You know, these days, just hearing his name irritates me." She circled closer to them, eyes fixed on the unknown man. "You must be his latest little witch minion. I'm sure you must've heard about me, then."

He silently reciprocated her glare.

"Oh, c'mon," Damon prompted. "Reese? Raven witch? Pesky, elusive and micro-sized?"

"Clever, sagacious, powerful," Reese corrected with faux irateness. "Not to mention devilishly beautiful."

"You mean traitorous, lying bitch?" The man offered, joining in. "Oh, I've heard of you. I've got orders to kill on sight."

How rude of you, Nik.

Reese couldn't be killed by just any witch.

"Really?" She asked disbelievingly. She spread her arms, as if surrendering. "Well, here I am. In your sights. Not dead."

"I'm loyal," he said. "Not stupid. See, the thing is, Klaus said you'd want the blonde. And unfortunately, the blonde—"

"Isn't here," Reese finished for him. "I know, which is why you're going to tell me."

She surged forward and pressed her thumbs down on his temple before he could think to attack. A wave of magic flowed through her fingertips to his head, granting her access. Flashes of images flew by her like a record on fast-forward, till she narrowed it down to the one she wanted — the memory of Caroline Forbes.

She removed her hands. The man fell to the ground, face first. Dead. Blood leaked out of his ears and began to pool around him.

"Exploding brains," Damon sighed.

"Hm," she hummed. "That was easier than it should be."

"Well, I'll take it," he said. "Let's go. Caroline isn't here."

"The werewolf is." Tyler Lockwood, most likely. He'd be the easiest to procure.

"Yeah, locked up, as he should be for the full moon."

"Originals are immune to werewolf bites."

"Good for them."

"Do you really wanna risk it?"

"For Lockwood, why not?"

"Damon. Shut up and rescue him. I'm going after Caroline."

Despite Caroline's . . . thing for Matt, with the way she talked about Tyler, Reese had chalked up there was something going on. They were friends for now, but whatever. Nik would have backups for the vampire and the werewolf, so Tyler Lockwood was expendable.

This was Reese's way of doing something nice for her friend.

Also . . .

There wasn't much time before Tyler would begin to transition. If Damon just so happened to get caught up in that, preferably receiving a nasty bite during the process . . . well, she wouldn't be complaining.

"Where's Caroline?" A new voice joined them. Their hands snapped toward it in sync. Matt Donovon stood a few feet away, pointing a rifle at them, frowning. "Reese — you're one of them?"

He looked like he'd been betrayed. Going from that, Reese assumed he was now aware of the existence of the supernatural. Caroline said she'd compelled him to forget that she was a vampire, so there must be something else. But Reese wasn't intent on mulling that over, because really, couldn't he have picked a better time?

She sighed. "You think I'm a vampire? Now that is offensive, Matt."

"Yeah, Reese isn't cool enough to hang out with us," Damon said, more intrigued than anything else. He wouldn't kill Matt for fear of pissing off Elena again. "Matt. What are you doing here?"

"Then what are you, because you're definitely not human," Matt seethed at them, jaw clenched, shifting his target from Damon to Reese; back and forth. He looked to be in the mood to take answers, and kick ass. Unfortunately for him, he was a fragile human. "And where the hell is Caroline?"

"Oh, questions, questions," Reese waved her hand. Matt's rifle was wrenched out of his grasp, made to float in the air for a few seconds, then knock him out. "There, problem solved. I'm going to get Caroline now. You're welcome, Damon."

─────────────

Reese was in a foul mood by the time she reached Alaric's apartment building.

Katerina could've told Damon that Nik had Caroline in the apartment, but she didn't. Presumably for two reasons: 1, to satiate her curiosity about Reese and Nik; 2, she was scheming and this was part of her plan to escape. The idea of her dying anytime soon, especially at the hands of Nik, did not seem very viable. Katerina would get away.

She didn't have the energy to ponder on the details of it, though, because Nik drained her of it the moment she set foot inside.

He was the first person she saw.

She didn't allow her gaze to linger, quickly averting it to the corner of the room, to Caroline, sitting on one of the stools near the kitchen island. Her face was pulled into a disgruntled scowl, eyes fearful, switching between Nik and Katerina; there was vervain-soaked rope binding her hands together, but she appeared otherwise unharmed. Other than the fact that she was stuck in a room with, presently, her greatest enemy and the vampire that had smothered her to death.

"Ah, there she is."

(Klaus, Nik, Klaus, Nik — who was he right now?)

"I told you she'd show up. Eventually."

She resisted the urge to rush toward Caroline and forced her eyes back on him.

He was himself again. His blue eyes drowned with that familiar, crude fusion of greed and rage that he always looked at her with; a smirk on playing on blood-red lips and hair almost brown in the indoor lighting.

"Nik," she said, full of spurious contempt. "Let's skip the formalities, hm?"

"Oh, Reese," he drawled, tilting his head (because he so loved to say her name), "right in front of everyone? These humans have made you shameless."

"I'm here," she said, ignoring his comments, "You wanted me here. Now, I want Caroline. Give her to me."

He raised his hands in surrender. "By all means, take her — she's very mouthy, I must say."

"Well, then maybe you shouldn't have kidnapped me," Caroline spat out, breaking her silence. She glowered at him for a moment before turning to her. There was a restless sort of desperation in her eyes; a wariness. Even though Klaus was the anchor of her mistrust, she didn't rush immediately toward Reese — her friend. Her first step was tentative.

"You have questions then, I'm guessing," Reese told her.

He must have reveled in feeding all sorts of drivel to Caroline about her.

Caroline hesitated.

"Don't tell me you're hesitating now, Caroline." Klaus' smile brightened, and his amusement thickened. Dick. "How ardently you were defending Reese just moments ago. Seems I have caused some trouble in paradise after all."

You'd think the mighty Klaus Mikaelson would be beyond causing trouble by now.

At least he hadn't killed her. Reese wasn't sure what to expect, so she didn't rule out any possibilities. Considering his history, too, it wasn't too far-fetched an idea.

Katerina had wanted to know why Nik wasn't trying to kill her, and Reese hadn't provided a straight answer because Reese didn't have one.

Why wasn't he trying to kill her?

(He looked at her like he didn't want to look at her.)

"Whatever he's told you about me, we can talk about later." Reese pursed her lips. "Go home, Caroline."

"No. You're leaving," she said accusingly.

Reese could avoid this conversation forever. "You're going home, right now."

"Even if I wanted to, I can't," Caroline said, a little haughty. "He had his annoying witch spell me inside."

"Oh, Maddox is dead." Reese stayed rooted to her spot, beckoning Caroline forward with a gesture of her head. "The spell is broken. Go home, Care."

Caroline stood in front of her, back turned to Nik. "Reese—"

"Not now, Caroline." Her voice was pleading. It was unusual to hear that coming from her.

Her face was crinkled. "Reese, I know he's crazy but—"

Klaus put a hand to his chest as if offended. "And here I thought we were getting along like a forest fire, Caroline."

Reese vaguely registered his mocking, curious stare on them, and that same rage she'd felt that night when the wolves took Caroline filled her.

Although this situation was expected, every factor constituting it was . . . mercurial, at best. Nik was angry, hurt, whatever; he did bad and cruel things in such states. She would've liked to believe he wouldn't do bad and cruel things to her, but . . .

Again, three years was a long time.

Besides, what was the worst he could do?

She drew forward and held Caroline's face, similar to the way she'd held Maddox; letting the magic flow unbound. Throat dry, she said, "Go home."

Caroline's eyes clouded over.

She sped out of the house, leaving a tense silence in her wake.

The consequences of what Reese had just done . . . well, they'd have to wait. She needed Caroline to leave.

"Well, well." Nik began to walk toward her, taking small, slow steps. He was acting normal; uncharacteristically calm. She'd expected him to try to kill her. Just for the sake of it. To put on a show and invoke some sort of fear because it always bothered him that she didn't fear him.  "I wonder how Caroline will react once she realizes what you did to her. Oh, she's been drinking vervain, so I assumed she's not a fan of being compelled."

"What do you want?" She asked him, putting a considerable amount of space between each word. She couldn't think; she didn't want to think. "You know there's nothing I can do when it comes to the curse."

It was spirit magic. He knew very well what spirit magic did to her. He'd saved her from it, after all.

Instead of replying, with his gaze still fixed on Reese, he said, "Katerina, give us some privacy."

Reese also did not spare Katerina a glance.

There was too much going on.

He wasn't doing anything, but it was too much.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?

She was waiting for him to draw closer; to touch her; to remind her of why she left him in the first place. She wanted him to be angry that she'd dared to stand in his way instead of angry that she'd run away from him. But he was as calm as he could manage; sullen, even.

Instead it felt like they were about to pick up right where they left off.

After Katerina slinked into another room, he said her name again, as if he was relieved. (But he was not, he was not, he was not, he was a thousand year old petulant angry toddler) "Reese."

"Nik." She crossed her arms, deciding that if he wasn't going to be straightforward, she was going to adopt a different approach. "How have the past three years treated you? Killed any Ravens lately?"

He raised his eyebrows. "So you did like my gift."

She smiled wryly. "You do go to such extensive lengths to gain my attention."

"Extravagant gestures for extravagant witches." He was close enough to touch now, Reese looking up at him as he looked down at her. There was nothing nonchalant about his demeanor despite the idle chit-chat they were making. "Speaking of, care to explain your newest, diabolical revenge plan to me before I—"

"Kill me?" She finished for him.

( And there it was.

She was putting words in his mouth.

Even though he wouldn't kill her.

He couldn't kill her.

It was easier to pretend he would. )

"If you think you're important enough to be included in my revenge plan, you're deluded."

He'd been so careful as to not do anything that would provoke her enough to want revenge on him.

"You see, I would believe that," he whispered, though there was no need for it, his fingers reaching up to brush against her temple, painfully slow. She remembered thinking how his voice could make everything sound poetic. Threatening, yet she felt her eyelids fluttering at his touch. "If you hadn't spent the past three years hiding from me."

"Well, I'm here now." She grasped his hand, and drew it away from her face, but didn't let it go. "You're not attempting to kill me. What are you going to do, then? Turn me, perhaps, so that I can endure what you'll call a fraction of the pain you did?"

He scoffed. "Hardly. Raven witches are not particularly good at being vampires, are they? What use will you be to me without magic and lost out of your mind?"

"What, then?"

"Is it so hard to believe that I do not wish to see you die?"

"Yes. The reason we even met was because you wanted to kill me." It was harder to accept than to believe. "You kidnap Caroline. You kill my Ravens, that I have business with. You force me to come here and talk to you, and then you act like I'm not two seconds away from ripping your heart out—"

And waiting for it to grow back. Starting all over again.

That was what it was; a game. If he tried to move past it she dragged him back.

Somewhere in between her rambling, talking had turned to shouting, and her grip on his hand had tightened. Until now they'd been treading lightly. Walking on eggshells; barely keeping at bay the argument that was bound to come. Reese couldn't handle it; she emitted the spark and lit the fire.

Nik wrenched away from her, that familiar scowl forming on his face. Even now it was more for ceremony, more of a sigh than a scowl because he wasn't nearly as affected by this reunion as she was. Which was extremely frustrating. In too normal a voice, he said, "Go ahead, scream at me for attempting to be civil with you —"

"—Nothing about this is civil! Of course the moment you know where I am you decide to ruin my life—"

"If we're listing grievances, let's not forget that you've had my doppelganger under your nose and failed to inform me for three years," he spoke matter-of-factly, as if he'd already gotten over it, and began to pour himself a glass of bourbon. "You undaggered my loving older brother and let him loose into the world. You turned your back on me to go to high school," he said, as if she betrayed him by doing so, "and make friends."

"The deal was to kill Esther!" She snapped, her voice hoarse. The scowl that grew on her face was genuine as she stalked up to the kitchen island, needing to be near him. "It's not my problem you went ahead and—"

He didn't let her finish her sentence. "Well, Esther's not dead, is she?"

"And whose fault is that?" The anger she felt around him was different; consuming; the kind that made her insides twist. It worsened because he was perfectly fine. "You've waited a thousand years, it's not like you'd die waiting a few more and let someone be happy for once."

Reese was grasping at straws here.

There was not an ounce of her animosity being reflected back to her.

He just poured another glass of bourbon and offered it to her, slow and tentative, eyes boring into her. She took it despite her predilections against drinking, leaning against the counter, the edge boring slightly painfully into her lower back.

"Do not patronize me."

He was the one making her feel patronized. Being all cool and collected when that was the last reaction she would've expected from him.

"I'll patronize you all I want."

And just like that the anger diluted to annoyance. It was their collective penchant, ever since she struck that deal with Elijah and he realized he'd been played just as much as he'd played her. Screaming, crying, hurting, and then giving in.

One would think you'd run out of things to fight about after arguing through almost every conversation for three years.

Problem was it seemed he had run out.

"Must I sit through this every time—"

"Maybe you should've just let me die then."

Silence; the worst kind.

Almost dying, was for most people, a pivotal point in their life. Reese had realized easily that it was not her being on the verge of death that had changed things, but the fact that Nik had wanted to save her. A deal was a deal, and it was about killing Esther — nothing more, nothing less. That was precisely what Reese had been in the middle of — killing Esther; dying in the process of it. With the plan they'd made, it had been a given.

She was fine with it. It was a way of coming full circle, seven years later. One of them was supposed to die during the ceremony, to complete it, and here she was. But Reese wasn't dead, and neither was Azzie.

That was the core of every problem.

That was why Nik was a problem.

He watched her for a few moments.

Reese had trouble distinguishing Nik from Klaus. Nik was who he'd introduced himself as; Klaus was who she'd known he was. But Nik was a habit. Klaus was an ally. Nik was a friend, if she left out the context for a second. Klaus was her instigator, the devil on her shoulder.

(Truth was that she knew she cared for him, whether he was Nik or Klaus.)

She begrudgingly brought the glass of bourbon to her mouth, pressing the cold glass against her lips.

" . . . I played your game, Nik," she said, taking a sip. His face was tilted toward her, gaze hooded. "You lost. Accept it, and move on."

His hand trailed back to her temple.  She swallowed thickly, cursing herself for allowing this; accepting that she wanted to feel this — whatever it was — again. The heat spreading through her body that once only Azzie had been capable of sparking and now belonged to him.

"I remember your heart," he whispered into her ear. "Steady as a thrum . . . you were toying with me." A thumb trailed across her jaw, featherlight. Reese took in a sharp breath, eyes darkening. "Not the case anymore, is it?"

The rapid pace of her heart was answer enough.

She gritted her teeth, repeating her question, "What do you want?"

"I would've liked for you to be the one to break my curse." His palm settled behind her neck. She resisted the urge to lean in. "But you killed my witch. Stole my vampire. Everything I knew you would do."

The way in which he spoke made her wary. He sounded proud; satisfied. The kind of smugness that accompanies victory.

She furrowed her eyebrows, setting down her glass with a loud clink, and turned to face him. Her eyes were beginning to feel heavy. She was familiar with that heaviness. "And what has that helped you accomplish?"

He smiled, blue eyes twinkling. "You never asked me how I managed to find those Ravens, though. How frightful. You've grown careless, little dove."

"Nik." She took a step away from the counter, only to find herself stumbling. Heaviness . . .  "You didn't . . . find them."

"A deal is a deal," he repeated her own words back to her, shrugging, speaking matter-of-factly. He smiled through his eyes; prideful and amused. "And our deal was over, so naturally I struck a new one."

"Bitch," she spat weakly.

"What is it they say?" He pretended to be deep in thought. "It takes one to know one."

"How does it feel, Klaus?" She asked, voice low and sharp. There were tingles running down her legs. One hand rested on the edge of the counter for support; the other went to fist the fabric of his shirt, tugging him toward her. He let himself be swayed by her, meeting her stare as they ended up nose-to-nose. "To know I could kill you whenever I feel like it."

"You'd die killing me." His breath fanned against her face. That smile didn't waver, though his eyes darkened. "Your victory would be tantamount to defeat, and that knowledge is compensation enough for me."

She suddenly regretted not aiding Elijah with his plan.

"Humble, aren't you?"

"As ever."

"What are you going to do to me?"

"What am I going to do to you?" He repeated, mocking. "Why would I ever do anything to you, little dove?"

"You literally just drugged me." She gritted her teeth. "You made a deal with them . . . for me?"

"Just some witchy assistance in exchange for their most elusive convict." His hand circled around her waist, keeping her upright. Her vision was getting blurrier by the second. "You have to appreciate the irony."

The man who'd helped her kill Ravens now turning her over to them.

A Raven was only as strong as her mind.

Hallucinogens did wonders to incapacitate their minds — a glaringly obvious weapon most people never realized could be used against them. Something as simple as that provided too easy a method to bring down a Raven witch. That was why it was a prized secret — if someone knew about it, nine times out of ten, it was because a Raven had told them instead of their own wit.

Nik was no exception, of course.

It was a little impressive, though, that the coven was willing to give up this secret to Klaus Mikaelson, all for Reese.

Three years was a long time. Maybe they were getting desperate.

"When I'm back," she breathed out, the energy draining from her body, "I'll ruin your life, just like you ruined mine. You'll rue the day, Klaus." She really needed to talk to Esther. "Go ahead and break your curse. I'm not stopping you."

Kill the doppelganger, Esther's voice added in her head.

"I'll pass your regards to Elijah," he said, holding her so gently. "If I understand correctly, you did intend to return my dagger to me in exchange for your Caroline."

Reese jerked away from him, slumping against the counter. She reached into her pocket for that vial of Elijah's blood, fishing it out.

"Blood won't heal you, Reese," Nik said. He grasped her shoulder.

Reese smashed the vial on the marble countertop. The glass shattered and blood spilt out, embedding into her skin and staining her clothes.

She'd taken it from Elijah to use as a medium. If Esther wasn't responding to her through their link, she was going to force her hand. Now that she was about to pass out, and sink into a series of hallucinations generated by a specially crafted anti-Raven drug, the least she could do was take advantage of it, right?

Nik didn't know.

Yet.

He'd probably figure it out soon enough.

As her eyes fluttered shut, in the final moments of consciousness, she took satisfaction in the knowledge that paranoia would creep into his mind sooner rather than later. He'd be awaiting her return, whenever that happened; wondering just how angry she'd be.

"Next time," she said, as a promise that this wasn't over.

Reese would be coming back with renewed intentions as soon as possible, so for now, she let him hold her, and welcomed the darkness.

Author's Note:

Hmm... idk I kind of hate this chapter. It's kind of rushed, even after the edits (thanks to Aster for helping me out with that).

I'm just happy to finish s2 because s3 is IT!!!!!

also love the sense of accomplishment that comes with finishing an act. first time this has happened w any story. reese rlly is special