ACT THREE; MISSILES FIRED
SCENE FIVE; WHERE DO WE STAND?
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"I STILL FIND IT HARD TO BELIEVE YOU TOOK PART IN THIS PAGEANT BUSINESS AT SOME POINT,"

Salem huffs a laugh, her hand tightening where it's wrapped around Klaus's inner arm as they walk out into the dining area set up for the event. "My high school counselor suggested I try out for the court because it would look good on college applications, and they only accepted me so that people couldn't say it was for founding families only, even though it is."

"You would've had my vote," He hums, peering down at her with adoring bright eyes, and she ducks away from his gaze, silently resenting the fact that he can still catch her off guard with his charm.

A waiter stops before them in between tables and they each take a flute before he walks off in the opposite direction.

Klaus takes a sip and his face twists in disdain. "Their champagne is flat,"

"That's because it's juice, Klaus," Salem huffs at his dramatics. "Who do you take Mayor Lockwood for? A lush?"

Klaus smirks, shrugging a shoulder as Salem shifts to stand against him, her back pressing into his chest as he wraps an arm around her midriff. "It'd be more fun if she'd embrace it,"

"Welcome to this season's Miss Mystic Falls!" Mayor Lockwood's cheerful voice echoed through the microphone and Salem tapped her free hand against her wrist as a round of applause broke out.

"We are so excited to showcase our most outstanding community leaders in the making,"

Another polite applause follows her words, and the brief lull in conversation around them picks back up when she steps away from the microphone finally. From where Salem and Klaus stand in between tables but out of the way for passing waiters, it's easy to see the familiar, blonde, neurotic vampire walking around with a tight smile on her face.

She picks up two empty glasses and sets them down forcefully on one of the waiter's empty trays, her smile growing tight and not reaching her eyes. "Why am I doing your job? I said no empty glasses!"

She stomps over to the small orchestra pushed to the back of the space, clenching her fists at her side. "Can you guys pick up the tempo? This is a pageant, not a funeral,"

"I should've known you'd be at the helm of this," Klaus drawls, letting his voice carry towards the blonde a few feet away, immediately catching her attention.

She walks over to the two of them, frowning slightly but looking like she's unable to keep up her air of indifference. "Well, someone's gotta do it right and I don't trust anyone else."

"It's great, Caroline, really," Salem nods, lifting her glass in a small salute to the girl. Her eyes drift past the blonde's shoulder and she purses her lips, offering her a sympathetic smile that immediately has her turning around to follow the direction of her gaze.

Caroline huffs at the sight of Tyler and Hayley walking into the event hand in hand, and despite knowing that it's all a facade, she can't help the doubting tug in her heart at the sight of them. She knows she can trust Tyler– she hopes she can, anyway, but she barely knows Hayley. Just because they have a common enemy doesn't mean she doesn't see how the werewolf looks at her boyfriend.

Sighing, she turns back around and faces the couple with a wry smile. "I just want to get today over with,"

Caroline walks off towards the stage, plastering on her pageant-winning smile as she takes a stand at the microphone, tapping it gently to quiet the crowd. "Hi, everyone, I'm Caroline Forbes. As the reigning Miss Mystic Falls, it is my honor to introduce this year's Miss Mystic Court!"

The girls gather at the top of the stairs as Caroline begins to read out their names.

"We begin the procession with Valerie Fell, accompanied by Dylan Clark,"

The blonde picks up her dress carefully as she walks down the steps to her escort, and Salem leans her head back against Klaus's chest, watching her former students begin to line up for the dance.

"Next, we have Amber Wolverton, accompanied by Hector Linsey,"

"Are these things always so monotonous?" Klaus mutters, ducking his head down to whisper in Salem's ear.

She smiles to herself, shaking her head. "It's a lot more exciting when you actually have something to do, and you're not just watching,"

"Perhaps it's just my personal preferences, but I'm never bored when there's a bloodbath happening, and I do feel a bit peckish,"

She nudges her elbow back into his stomach, making him chuckle quietly. "No eating the pageant girls. They have such bright futures ahead of them."

"And, finally, we have a last-minute entry, April Young," Caroline's voice echoed once more with applause following it as the young girl in the red dress came down the stairs. "Accompanied by Jeremy Gilbert."

As the applause petered out, April stood at the bottom of the steps, looking around with a faltering smile in search of Jeremy.

Salem's brows furrowed in confusion and she looked around, quickly finding Elena standing amongst the crowd with a deep frown on her face at her brother's absence.

A terse silence follows her lack of escort, but Caroline quickly breaks it when Matt walks up with his hand out for April to take.

"Jeremy isn't here,"

"Bad timing," He huffs, looking around at the crowd for Stefan. "I may have had something to do with that."

"Klaus,"

"I didn't think he'd start doing it immediately," Klaus said, a lightness to his tone despite the whole ordeal. "I just reminded my dear friend Stefan that getting the map to the cure was the most important thing right now. I didn't expect him to actually listen to me, though."

Salem heaves a sigh, shaking her head. "We can't have one normal day,"

Klaus hums, tightening his arm around her waist. "You'd hate it if we did."

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"Sorry to interrupt the lovefest, but I'm going to lose my mind," Caroline's voice was borderline shrill as she walked up behind Klaus and Salem, the two turning to find her with a bottle of champagne in her hand, along with three empty flutes in her other one. "Stefan and Elena broke up and she's being totally weird with Damon now, like it hasn't even been two full days and they're acting like they're married! Is that not insane?"

Salem pursed her lips at the blonde's hysterics and she looked to Klaus for help, earning a shrug from the man.

With the distance they'd put between themselves and the rest of the event attendees, Caroline let her voice get a bit louder, knowing it wouldn't echo far enough for listening ears to overhear.

"It's just, as her best friend, it's my duty to warn her when she's making a giant mistake, right?"

"That's usually what best friends do," Salem conceded with a nod.

"Exactly! And now she's taking Damon's side on everything,"

Klaus takes the bottle of champagne from Caroline, not bothering to pour it into one of the glasses she'd brought as he brings it up to his lips for a large swig. "So, being a vampire has changed her,"

Caroline fell silent for a moment, leaving nothing but the noise of the grass moving beneath their feet as they walked around the perimeter of the lake. "But being a vampire only amplifies who you already are," She trails off, voice growing somewhat weak in her defense. "It doesn't turn you into a completely different person."

"I mean," Salem starts, grimacing slightly. "Just because it's not what you think she should be doing doesn't mean it's not what she wants. You can't deny that she and Damon have always had something going on, even when she was human. Maybe after she was turned it just became... more."

"Okay, but even then, it's– it's weird, right? Elena wouldn't just jump Damon's bones right after breaking up with his brother. Human Elena wouldn't have done that,"

"Well, maybe dying again has made her realize life is too short," Salem tries, shrugging slightly. She glances at Klaus in between her and Caroline, her brows furrowing when she sees his smirk. "What's that look for?"

The hybrid shrugs, shaking his head. "It'll all make sense eventually,"

"Whatever," Caroline scoffs lightly, taking a seat at the small table set up to overlook the lake. "Just hurry up and find the cure."

"I'm working on it," Klaus sits down, too, prompting Salem to do the same as Caroline sets the glasses on the table and Klaus finally pours them all a drink.

They're silent for a moment, far enough away that they can tune their super-hearing out and ignore the mindless chatter of the pageant droning on around them.

"Would you ever take it?"

Klaus doesn't hesitate before answering. "Now, why would I want to cure myself of being the most powerful creature on the planet? Hm?"

Caroline narrows her eyes, looking between the couple. "So, there's not one single moment in your whole life that you wanted to be human? Either of you?"

"Well, I don't think the cure would work on me considering I'm not a vampire," Salem says simply, shaking her head. "If I could've, though, it would've been when I was a kid. I used to dream about being human just so I could have a normal life and do normal things."

"That makes a lot of sense," Klaus pushes a glass of champagne towards the blonde who takes it with a nod of thanks before he turns back to Salem. "Your life would've been so much easier if you were the, uh–"

He shifts, pulling a folded up piece of paper out of the inside pocket of his suit and Salem's eyes widen, a gleam of confusion shining in them.

"Head of the Creative Arts Department in the city of Mystic Falls, and you got to travel the world to participate in art shows–"

"Oh, my god, Klaus," Salem reaches for the paper, but he stands quickly, yanking it out of her reach. "Where did you get my Miss Mystic application? Are you serious?"

Despite her incredulity, she's laughing through her words, and Klaus is grinning deviously down at her. "You volunteered at the animal shelter, really? I suppose you do have a lot in common with our four-legged friends,"

Salem reaches for the paper again, pursing her lips as Caroline laughs amusedly at Klaus's antics.

"You're ridiculous," Salem huffs, her pout making Klaus's teasing smile turn soft as he puts a hand on the back of her chair and bends down to press a kiss to the top of her head.

"You two are disgustingly sweet, and I kind of hate you for it," Caroline's sarcastic words make Salem laugh, fixing the girl with an amused look as she shrugs. "Sorry if I think it's just a little unfair that the people that are supposed to be the bad guys are like, happy and in love. Considering the state of my relationship right now, I'm allowed to be jealous."

"God, I don't miss being a teenager," Salem breathed out, giving Caroline a knowing look. "Caroline, I promise, the guy you date in high school is not your soulmate. You'll grow up and find someone better."

Caroline's smile turns wry and her bright blue eyes get a bitter gleam in them, but it's not directed at Salem. "Maybe I would've. But I'm stuck now," She bites out a humorless laugh. "Forever seventeen."

Salem's dual-toned eyes soften with sympathy. "Caroline,"

The girl seems to snap out of her brief stint into self-loathing and she pushes herself to her feet, clapping her hands together. "This was a really humbling conversation, but I have to go announce the winner. Thanks for– I don't know," She waves a hand, walking away faster than either of them could stop her.

Klaus sighs, shaking his head from where he stands behind Salem's chair. "She would be a lovely hybrid,"

Salem snorts, tilting her head to look up at him. "Too bad she's not a werewolf, huh?"

He hums in low agreement but abandons the train of thought quickly, stepping back and offering his hand to Salem. "Should we rejoin the party?"

"I suppose so," Salem sighed out, standing from the chair, taking Klaus's offered hand.

They start a quiet walk back to the main event, crossing over the small bridge that goes over the babbling creek that runs through the property.

"I have," Klaus says suddenly, making Salem look at him confusedly. "I have thought about being human before. Twice."

Salem's brows furrow and she looks at him, silently urging him on.

"Once, when I was on a trek in the Andes and a hummingbird flew up to me," Klaus smiles fondly, recalling the memory. "It just hovered there, staring at me. And I could hear its tiny heart, pattering like a machine gun. And I thought, what a thing, you know? To have to work that hard every day just to stay alive. To be constantly on the verge of death. And how satisfying every day must be that it survived."

"And the other time?" Salem questions, her voice soft in the face of his unexpected vulnerability.

He looks down at her, blue eyes meeting green and yellow. "The first time I saw you. I wasn't in my body, but, I," He trails off, breathing out a quiet, almost disbelieving laugh, the sound barely there. It barely hides the way Salem's breath hitches in her chest. "I thought, what I wouldn't give to see this through to the end– to have an end with you. And I hadn't felt like that in so long, not since that hummingbird, and I had no idea what it meant for me. I just wanted to know you,"

"Nik,"

He squeezes her hand tightly in his own, biting the tip of his tongue before he speaks again. "I just wanted to know the woman who made me feel human."

Salem shifts, trailing her free hand up his arm, squeezing it over the fabric of his suit jacket. She moves, dislodging their intertwined fingers to wrap her arms around his shoulders, pressing up on her toes to bury her face into the slope of his neck and shoulder.

Taking in a deep breath that comes out somewhat unsteady, Salem pulls her head back, meeting his eyes. There's something unspoken in them and she wants nothing more than to hear whatever it is. She can't imagine he can't see the desperation in her eyes to have the truth, the full truth of everything, but the alternative is that he just doesn't care or he simply doesn't know her well enough to know that's what she wants.

The thought makes her stomach churn and she pulls away from him slightly, letting him softly kiss her temple despite the way she suddenly feels close to tears.

"I need to go to the bathroom," She says quietly, patting his chest to get him to let her go. "I'll be back in a minute."

Salem makes her way inside, definitively not running as she dips past people chatting over room temperature drinks and finger foods. She heads down the hallway for the bathrooms she knows Carol allots for guests, but before she can make it to one and lock herself in it to ride out whatever emotion she was feeling, she catches sight of Tyler's new fling. Hayley.

Even if he hadn't cheated on Caroline when Klaus first guessed it, she wouldn't think twice about it being true now. It was obvious that Hayley had a thing for Tyler, a soft spot that the hybrid was either uncharacteristically oblivious to, or ignoring in favor of wallowing in his hero complex. 

Eyes roaming over the red dress Hayley was wearing, she watches the werewolf shift in front of her, her pale hands combing through her brown hair, pulling it off to the side.

Salem's eyes immediately fall to the pigmented mark on her shoulder, nearly hidden by the strap of her dress but not enough to conceal the cloud-like shape with a crescent moon cut out of it. Salem's breath hitches in her throat and she can't stop her knee-jerk reaction as she grabs Hayley by the arm and pulls her away, dragging her to an empty hall near the back of the house.

"Is that a tattoo?" Salem demands, ignoring her exclamations and the confusion that follows her odd question.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Why did you drag me over here?"

"Hayley," Salem clenches her jaw, swallowing roughly. "Is the mark on your shoulder a tattoo?"

Hayley's hand instinctively goes across her chest, wrapping around her arm to press into the mark on her skin. "Wh– no," She shakes her head, looking absolutely baffled at Salem's question. "It's my birthmark. Why is that such a big deal?"

Salem lets out a shaky breath and moves to pull the sleeve of her dress away, turning just enough so Hayley can see the identical birthmark on her shoulder.

Hayley's eyes widen and her jaw drops, and she unconsciously reaches out to touch Salem's birthmark, letting out a shocked noise somewhere between a gasp and a sigh. "What... what is this? What does this mean?"

"I don't know," Salem shakes her head, dropping her sleeve back into place as Hayley rescinds her touch. "But we need to find out."

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Klaus finds Salem in his study, sitting on the floor with books scattered around her. She's got one leg bent and another straightened out to the side, and she's nearly flat on the floor with how hunched over she is, pouring over a book.

"What's going on?"

Salem shakes her head, not even looking up from the book. "Nothing. I just had some questions and needed answers. Figured I'd find something in your collection somewhere,"

Klaus's eyebrows raise slightly as he bends down to look between her and the various pages she's got displayed around her. "Nothing you couldn't just ask me about? I do happen to be pretty knowledgeable on some things,"

She offers him a small smile, patting his cheek. "Don't worry about it. I didn't want to bother you, and I don't even really know what I'm looking for, let alone what I'm actually asking,"

He hesitates to leave her, unwilling to completely disregard his sprouting concern for Salem, but stuck in his determination to find the cure so he can make his hybrids again.

"Are you going out?"

Salem interrupts his train of thought and he nods, pursing his lips slightly. "I was, but I'll stay if you need me to,"

She shakes her head again simply, attention already back on the books. "Don't worry about it. I'll see you later."

"Of course," He can't help himself, tucking a finger under her chin to lift her mouth to his, and she barely tears her eyes away from the book in front of her to kiss him back for a second, only to gently push him away.

"Goodbye, Klaus,"

Moments after he's gone and the house has gone still once more, Salem purses her lips and taps her fingers against the open pages mindlessly before she hears the front door open and close.

"In here!" She turns slightly, projecting her voice down the hall as footsteps grow near, and she tilts her head back to meet Hayley's eyes as the werewolf walks into the room.

"Swanky place,"

"Klaus built it for me," She says, oblivious to the pointed look it earns her as she reaches for a few books she'd gathered. "I might have found a few things that could help. Nothing about the mark specifically, but werewolf packs and whatnot,"

Hayley nods, joining her on the floor, taking the offered book from her. "I've never heard of a pack having matching birthmarks before. Some of them get matching tattoos or something, but,"

"I've never even met another pack," Salem shakes her head, meeting Hayley's shocked gaze. "I'm not– my mom was a witch, my dad was a werewolf. From what my mother told me, which was basically nothing, his pack never approved of their relationship, and when I was born a hybrid, they saw me as a threat. A few months later, my mom ran off with me in the middle of the night. I've never known my dad, I don't even remember his name."

Hayley's brown eyes soften with pity despite herself. Hayley's got family problems, sure, she'd readily admit that. A whole boatload of trauma dumped onto the fact that she's selling out people she cares about to Atticus Shane for whatever it is he may have found out about her birth parents.

But she had a pack. She had plenty of them, any single one she could run back to at any given point and they'd accept her because werewolves relied on each other. It was a specific pain to only be this sort of monster because you've killed someone, so it was easy to find comfort in each other. Even though she had no idea what was happening the first time she turned and was left to fend for herself, she'd never struggled to blend in where she needed to get by. She had no problem striking up relationships with people, exploitative or not.

So even though she'd always been something of a nomad, she couldn't fathom never knowing what it was like to have a pack. It must be lonely.

"Do you... do you have anyone you could consider pack?"

Salem contemplates Hayley's question, looking away from the werewolf for a moment before looking back. "Klaus. Of course, I have Klaus. But, uh, I think the only other person would've been Alaric. He was my best friend,"

Hayley catches onto her past-tense and frowns. "Did Klaus...?"

"His mom did, actually," Salem chuckles incredulously. "It's a long story, but, uh, Klaus's family showed up and caused a bunch of trouble, and his mom, Esther, turned Alaric into a weird, crazy vampire so he would kill all of us, but she linked his life to Elena's, so when Rebekah killed Elena, it killed him. Unfortunately, Elena had vampire blood in her system and came back. Ric didn't get so lucky,"

The werewolf looks at her with a horrified gaze, blinking rapidly. "How are you all not insane yet?"

"What makes you think we're not?" Salem laughs emptily. "Okay– we're getting off track. I really didn't find much and I didn't want to ask Klaus because he's too nosey for his own good, but the only thing of use I could find basically says that we need to do the impossible."

Hayley raises a thin brow. "Which is?"

"Find our parents."

Hayley purses her lips, taking a deep breath as she briefly contemplates the amount of trust she's about to put into the hands of someone she's supposed to be working against. But, then again, she's working against Tyler just as much. She came here on a mission, and Salem has just joined it, even though she has no idea.

Letting out her breath, Hayley steels herself and raises her chin, trying to give Salem a look that conveys her determination. "I think I might have a head start on that already."

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Hayley wasted no time after leaving Salem's house to go to Shane's office. She hadn't told the girl much of anything, just that she'd been looking into her birth parents recently and was about to hear back regarding them. It had been just enough for Salem to encourage her and send her on her way, and Hayley tried to push her guilt about using the hybrids away, finding it easier to justify now that Salem was after the same thing as her.

She was only a tiny bit grateful when Shane finally walked into his office, if only because it allowed her to get out of her own head.

He's less than happy about her second break-in, but she pays it no mind, watching as he sets a file of papers down on the table near the door.

"You ever hear of a text? Maybe just give a guy a heads-up?"

"Adrian finished breaking the sire bond, you have your 12 hybrids. Now, where are my parents?" She pushes herself up from where she was perched on his desk, slapping her hands on her thighs impatiently.

Shane sighs. "They're dead."

Any drop of hope Hayley had been feeling dissipates at his words and she struggles to find words for a second, pushing back the sudden, unexpected emotion crawling up her throat. "You lied to me?"

"No, I didn't lie to you," The professor shakes his head. "I said I'd tell you where to find them."

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out the flash drive she's been longing to hold for weeks, and holds it up for her. "This is everything you wanted to know, including where they're buried."

Hayley lunges forward, snatching the USB out of his hand before he can take it away. "You just picked a fight with a werewolf, you know that, right?" She feels her lip curl up into a snarl and Shane holds his hands up in a placating manner that only serves to make her angrier.

"Easy, killer, alright? I'm not declaring war here," He takes a tentative step towards Hayley, making her jaw clench. "Just because they're dead doesn't mean you can't see them again."

Hayley ignores the hot tears burning at her waterline. "What?"

"This is far from over, Hayley," Shane shakes his head, a tone of breathless wonder taking over his voice. "We are the beginning."

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Klaus catches sight of Salem late in the day. She'd been up and gone before he'd even gotten out of bed and he had to finish his painting before he left the house, and he hadn't seen or heard from her since the night before.

When he finally sees her, she's standing with a group of the children gathered for the celebration in the town square, bending her head down so they can place one of the braided crowns made of holly and faux-frosted branches atop her head, setting it gently on her braids. He watches as she adjusts it slightly and then leans back, holding her hands out for the three children before her to judge, and she earns a thumbs up from all of them at once.

The echo of her fond laugh rings in his ears from the distance between them and Klaus nearly turns away to head into the Grill and leave her be, but he's too slow, and she catches his eye from across the street, her smile faltering slightly.

He ignores the way his own small, fond thing he could call a smile does the same. Ignores the way it feels like he's on borrowed time with her lately. It's getting harder to ignore, though. Even with their best moments, with the small touches they still share and the quiet looks in a room full of people, she feels like a ghost. And he hasn't been able to get her words out of his mind. In her drunken haze when she'd told him he was the reason she knew what it felt like to be wanted as an object and not a person.

He knows she was upset after the events with Connor. Knows that a part of her was just lashing out, because they knew each other better than anyone else did and it's exactly what he'd do. But it doesn't change the fact that it was true. It doesn't change the fact that now, she barely stays in bed with him long enough to sleep six hours, and she doesn't let him touch her stomach where the long scar sits from where his brother had nearly killed her. She doesn't talk to him about the things she's so clearly keeping inside. She doesn't trust him. And he can ignore a lot of things, but he can't ignore that it's all his fault.

Despite himself, despite the fact that he's been staring into Salem's eyes for nearly a minute straight, he still turns on his heel and ducks into the bar, desperate to rid himself of a feeling he doesn't allow himself to feel; guilt.

Klaus is distracted easily enough once he's inside, charming the presence of the other donors for the auction and playing nice with the oblivious humans. Distracted enough that he doesn't notice Salem enter the bar until he sees her standing before his painting, having been there for god knows how long.

He says nothing, unable to find any words to start a simple conversation. Unable to reach out and touch with such dissonance sitting in the atoms between them. Just the other day he'd told her that the very first time he saw her, he wished to be human. Now he's not waking up with her in his bed. He isn't used to existing in such abstract, unpredictable limbo.

"I suppose when you live through every art renaissance, it's hard to pick one as your preferred medium," Salem's voice breaks the odd silence between them that's somehow still violently loud despite the amount of people swarming around them, having hundreds of different conversations. "Impressionism is a good one, though. It's messy, unpredictable. A lot of it looks... unfinished. I think it can express a lot of emotions, and you know, earn a lot of different impressions."

"I'm glad someone around here is smart enough to actually appreciate art," Klaus says, a hint of amusement in his voice, laced with hesitance like he's not sure if he's allowed to joke around with her right now.

She turns slightly to look at him, catching a glare from the yellow lights that cast her in golden rays, shining on the glittering crown still sitting on her head, making her two-toned, entrancing eyes look like waves lapping at the shore. He thinks he could spend a lifetime or two trying to paint her eyes and he'd never get them right.

"Champagne?"

"No, I'm fine," Salem shakes her head, shifting away from his painting. "I saw Caroline running around a while ago looking upset."

Klaus hums, glancing around. "Is she ever not upset about something?"

"You're not wrong," She muses, leaning against a column, looking at her unpainted nails. "The hybrids are out and about today, too. They seem busy, but I don't remember you asking them to do anything."

"I haven't, but they are fully capable of doing things on their own," Klaus says lightly, earning a pointed look from Salem. "I wouldn't worry about it, Salem. Why not enjoy yourself?"

"I am," She huffs, looking away from him. "It's just hard for me to get in the Christmas spirit when we have to make fake snow just to pretend it's not any other time of year."

"How cynical of you, darling,"

She rolls her eyes upwards slightly, going to meet his gaze, but she stops when she catches sight of Hayley looking panicked as she looks around at the people gathered in the Grill. "Something's going on, Klaus. I know it."

Klaus straightens up slightly, eyes narrowing as he follows her line of sight. "What do you suppose it is this time?"

"I don't know. But none of them can be trusted."

Klaus heaves a sigh. "Well, I suppose we better keep an eye out, then."

"Yeah. Just... be careful," Salem says, pushing off the column to follow after Hayley. She doesn't wait to hear if Klaus says anything in response.

─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────

"You've been busy,"

Hayley startles at the voice behind her, stiffening when she recognizes the cadence of it. She hesitates to look away from the painting on display even to glance at where Salem has come up beside her, but she does so anyway, determined not to look suspicious.

"I'm not sure what you mean," Hayley says quietly, lifting her champagne up to take a drink.

"You're not a very good liar," Salem drawls. "And I saw you come out of the bathroom looking terrified but extremely pissed off earlier. And then I saw you talking to Tyler, who proceeded to run like he had a warrant out for his arrest."

Hayley's eyes widen briefly and she clenches her jaw, saying nothing.

"Where's Klaus?"

"How would I know?"

"Don't bullshit me, Hayley," Salem grips her arm suddenly, squeezing just on the side of too painful. "Your heart is racing, you're scared. You're lying. What the hell is going on?"

Swallowing around nothing, Hayley's defensive look softens. "I told you I'd been looking into my birth parents recently,"

Salem's eyes narrow, but she nods, still not releasing the werewolf from her hold.

"The man who's helping me is Atticus Shane," Hayley says his name carefully, seeing the recognition spark in Salem's eyes once it processes. "We made a deal. He helps me find my birth parents, I help him with a– a sacrifice."

"A sacrifice for what?"

"It's not– Klaus isn't in danger,"

"Forgive me if I don't believe a word that comes out of your damn mouth, Hayley, but you've been lying since you stepped foot in this town. Cut to the chase, or I'll melt your brain in front of all of these people right now."

Hayley stiffens under the threat, seeing no sign of the woman she had yesterday. The one that was so eager to help her, to learn about their odd birthmarks and what it could possibly mean. She'd felt sympathy for Salem and her lack of pack, but she's reminded suddenly that Salem isn't just a werewolf, she's also a witch. She's something different, something dangerous. Hayley had just let her guard down a little too much, and now she might have to pay the price for that.

"Tyler and I have unsired the hybrids," She says quickly. "Shane needed twelve of them for the sacrifice. I– it's a lot to explain, but I– nobody knew. Nobody knew what I was doing. Tyler thought I was helping him so they could kill Klaus tonight, but that's not going to happen. I already told Tyler what was going to happen, and he's probably halfway to Canada by now. I– I'm sorry, Salem. But I was doing what had to be done."

Salem briefly tightens her grip on Hayley's arm to the point of bruising, and despite her enhanced healing, Hayley knows she'll feel the bruise in the days to come. "If Klaus is hurt in any way, you won't be able to get far enough away from me. Do you understand?"

Hayley nods.

Salem pushes her away with a slight shove. "Don't pull something like this again, Hayley. I'm not always so forgiving."

─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────

"Klaus? Klaus, are you out here?"

Branches snap between her feet and Salem stops short when she comes upon the opening that leads to the Lockwood cellar, and she drags her eyes over the horrific scene before her, bodies scattered in pieces around the woods, waiting to be turned into meals by the animals in the shadows.

Salem's heart beats a bit faster in her chest and she carefully steps through the array of bodies, trying to ignore the way her hands shake at her sides as she makes her way down the crumbling steps into the cellar.

"Klaus," The shadow of his figure turns towards away from her as he turns to face her and she inhales sharply at the sight of him covered in blood from head to toe. She hurries to him, bringing her hands up to cup his jaw. "Are you okay? Did Tyler–?"

Klaus shakes his head and Salem drops her eyes down to look at the bloody sword clutched in his hand, the tip of it pressing into the ground. "They betrayed me,"

Salem nods slowly, her brows knotted in a deep frown. "Hayley told me everything. I... I don't,"

She trails off, unable to come up with anything of value. She can't bring the hybrids back to life, and make them not betray Klaus. Not these ones, or any of the others they've had to kill.

Klaus pulls away from her, putting distance between them, and Salem lets her arms fall back down, hanging uselessly at her sides. Both of them just look at one another for a moment, unable to figure out even a simple nicety to say.

Klaus breaks their stalemate to step past her, and Salem turns as he walks towards the entrance.

"Where are you going?"

He stops as she hesitantly approaches him, eyes full of concern at his state. "To make things equal,"

"Klaus,"

"Take this home," He pushes the hilt of the sword towards her and her frown deepens at the weight of it in her hands. "Conceal it. Make sure no one knows where it is."

"Klaus, are you–"

"Go home, Salem."

He turns and disappears before she can say anything else, and Salem stands in the tunnel for just a second longer before she readjusts her hold on the hunter's sword and makes her way back up the steps out into the woods.

In the tunnel, April leaves her hiding spot and hesitantly makes her way to the coffin on the ground, pushing the lid open. The sight of a rotting, vein-covered Rebekah isn't necessarily surprising, but it's certainly gruesome.

She doesn't think twice about pulling the dagger out of the girl's chest, though. Rebekah is her friend. At least she can count on her to tell the truth.

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author's note; this chapter is all over the place bc s4 is so chaotic and I lowkey hate it so bear with me

edited and published;

- liz