ACT THREE; MISSILES FIRED
SCENE ONE; HONESTY AND WHATNOT
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"WHERE ARE YOU GOING?"

Salem stops, turning on her heel to face Klaus as he leans in the doorway of the living room. She tightens her grip on her car keys, fighting a smart remark that would simply start another argument. "I'm going to see Alaric before I go to work."

"What's left of him, you mean."

She huffs a fake, airy laugh and jingles her keys in her hands. "I'll be back later."

Klaus steps towards her, a smug smirk overtaking his features as he crowds her space. "No, I need your assistance on some things that are far more relevant than your dead friend."

Salem glares at him. "You can survive without me just fine, Klaus. You've proved that over and over again,"

"Well, yes, obviously," He simpers, eyes glaring at her with the same anger they had been for nearly two days. "But if I'm staying in Mystic Falls, that means you're staying right next to me."

She stifles a shiver that travels down her spine as she meets his icy gaze, not letting her glare lessen in the slightest.

"I'm not your lap dog, Klaus. You made a whole army of those, and I am not a part of it."

"You aren't a lap dog, no," He cedes, nodding in agreement even as he trails a calloused palm up and around the curve of her sharp jawline. His fingers travel downward and he pushes her head back, craning her neck back as he cradles her throat in his hand, satisfied at the way her pulse flutters under his touch. "But you are my hybrid. Sired or not, you belong to me."

Salem narrows her eyes despite the heat traveling through her and flutters her dark lashes to look up at him through. She steps into his touch, wrapping an arm around his waist in an action that makes his smugness shoot through the roof.

Quickly, her other hand comes up to cup the back of his neck and she pulls his face down to her, tilting his head slightly to bring her lips beside his ear. "You know what that makes you? Mine."

She tugs on the blond curls at the nape of his neck and lets go of him, stepping away from him with a grin that's quickly hidden from the glaring Original. She smirks at him, now mirroring his long-gone smug demeanor. "I'll see you later."

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Salem pulled her knee up to her chest and rested her chin on it as she settled on the bench before Alaric's grave, sniffling quietly to herself. "I don't know what I'm doing, Ric. And I haven't, really, for a long time, but it was always a little bit easier when I had you."

She huffs, looking at the unchanging grave before her. She didn't know what she was expecting. Perhaps to somehow bring him back to life out of sheer will.

The sound of footsteps crunching in the leaves makes her tense and she snaps around, a defensive glare on her face as she registers the new presence.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't– I didn't realize you'd be here. I'll go,"

Salem shakes her head, her defensiveness weaning at the sight of Meredith Fell. "It's fine, Meredith,"

"I don't want to intrude, I know you haven't had much time to come here–"

"Meredith, sit down," Salem turns back to the headstone, her tone effectively silencing the doctor. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind us spending some time together."

Meredith nods, hesitantly taking the seat next to her as she looks at the flowers slowly starting to wilt on his headstone. The two women sit in silence for a while, longer than one would think would be comfortable in any situation, though they think nothing of it. Their minds are on the same thing, the same person.

When the silence finally does break, it's Meredith who speaks. "How are you feeling?"

"In general, or about this?" She gestures vaguely to the grave, keeping her tone neutral. "Because the answer for both would be abysmal."

Meredith smiled, silently agreeing. "I was talking about your injuries. I figured you wouldn't be back to get a checkup so I've been meaning to get ahold of you just to make sure you're alright."

Salem nods with sudden realization, looking away from the grave to glance at Meredith. "I'm fine. I, uh, healed myself. It's a pretty nasty scar, but I think that was bound to happen either way considering I was gutted like a fish."

The doctor winces, but she agrees with the harsh sentiment. "And... everything else? Are you okay?"

Salem quiets again at that, her face closing down once more as the harrowing grief returns at the reminder. "It's– I'm fine."

"Salem, I've been in a similar situation before. It's okay to feel whatever it is you're feeling right now, anyone else would do the same."

The hybrid gives her a short look before she turns her head, resting her cheek on her knee as she looks at Meredith. She took in a shaky breath, her bright eyes misting once more. "It's weird to miss something I didn't even know I had."

"It's like you don't know what to do with the feelings, right?"

Salem nodded and Meredith smiled understandingly, encroaching on her next question carefully.

"Have you told Klaus?"

She stiffens briefly, but forcibly relaxes, though not fast enough for Meredith to not notice. "No. I don't– he doesn't–" She cuts herself off with a frustrated sigh and looks away, eyes darting back to her best friend's name glaring up at her.

"What happened was... was a fluke. A mistake," Salem lifts her head, looking out into the forest blandly. "It wasn't ever going to happen. And Klaus, he barely wants to stay now, so I can't imagine how quickly he'd be gone if he knew that I was–"

She cuts herself off again when her voice breaks and she sighs, glancing at Meredith's sympathetic gaze. "I wanted it, though. As soon as I found out I lost it, all I could do was think about how much I wanted it in the first place, even if it meant he left me. I would've done it alone."

She picks at the skin around her nail, pinching small marks into her skin. "I would have done it, no matter what. And now I'll never get the chance."

"You wouldn't have been alone, you know that, right?"

Meredith's words make Salem shift her gaze back to her, finding a small sheen of tears in the woman's dark eyes.

"He wouldn't have let you do that on your own," Meredith shook her head, gesturing down to Alaric's grave. "And I think if he knew about any of it if you hadn't lost it, he would've been by your side every step of the way."

"I know," Salem whispers, blinking out more tears.

"He loved you a lot," Meredith's smile became a bit absent, almost bitter. "I know that he loved her– Jenna. But I think that you were always going to be it for him. And it killed him to watch you fall in love with Klaus, and it would've hurt him at first to know, but at the end of the day, he'd never abandon you."

Salem turned her head away, a steady stream of tears streaking down her cheeks that silently shook her shoulders. She doesn't say anything to Meredith, and after a few minutes, she feels her hand pat reassuringly on her shoulder before the doctor takes her leave.

Salem waits until she can barely hear her footsteps anymore to turn her bloodshot eyes back to Alaric's headstone, and she presses her quivering lips together hopelessly.

"I'm sorry," She shakes her head, the words barely forming on her tongue. "I'm so sorry that I couldn't save you."

She slips her hand to her stomach and presses down firmly. "Either of you."

Sitting beside her, hidden by the veil of the Other Side, realization dawns on Alaric. He listens to her cry, and he listens to her mourn, and he wishes for nothing more than to be able to hold her in his arms and tell her that everything will be okay.

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"Connor Jordan."

Salem looked up from her lap, eyes narrowing at the tall man standing beside the corner booth she'd claimed for herself. Giving him a quick once over, she rolled her eyes and looked back down at the paperwork she'd been filling out. "Whatever you're selling, I promise I don't want it."

"Oh, I just wanted to ask you some questions about the explosion at Young Farms," He slides into the booth across from her, and Salem huffs a disbelieving noise, shaking her head.

"Sure, take a seat," She looks back down at the papers, scribbling her signature and the date along one of the dotted lines. "I'm almost positive that the news reported it as an accidental explosion, so I can't imagine what you could be confused about. Or what you think I could possibly know about any of it."

"I've been getting a similar response from most people I've asked,"

Salem nods slowly. "That's probably because it's the truth. What would any person here have to do with something like that?"

"It's a little suspicious that it was only members of the founding families, is it not?"

Salem's pen halts on the page and she looks up at the man from beneath her lashes. "It's a little suspicious that you know who those families are, considering you're not from Mystic Falls, and you haven't told me you're any kind of law enforcement that has the right to know things like that."

"Is it not public knowledge that Mystic Falls celebrates its founders?"

"Not to people outside of Mystic Falls,"

He hums, a contemplative noise as he seemingly takes her words at face value. "Well, consider me an intrigued outsider."

"Right," She huffs, shaking her head. "Well, Mr. Jordan, not that this hasn't been riveting, but I am very busy filling out applications and I sat alone for a reason."

"Of course," He nods, moving to exit the booth. "If, uh, if you don't mind me asking– what are you applying for?"

Salem raises a brow, glancing at the papers before her and back to the man. "Colleges. Out-of-state colleges. I've been thinking about going to graduate school."

"I don't mean any offense, but you hardly look old enough to have graduated from college once already,"

"I fast-tracked my bachelor's," She nodded, eyes narrowing as he pressed her for personal information. "I'm an art teacher."

"A teacher," He smiles, pushing to his feet as he leaves the booth. "A noble career. I hope it works out for you."

"Yeah, me too."

He holds his gloved hand out, a charming grin spreading on his face. "It was nice meeting you, Salem."

Salem shakes his hand, feeling the firm squeeze he gives her before letting go with a seemingly satisfied nod as he turns and walks away.

She watches him go, unease settling in her stomach with the realization that she'd never told him her name.

Making a quick decision, she grabs her phone from where it was lying on the table and dials a number.

"What do you want?"

"Rude," Salem intones, quickly moving on. "Who the hell is Connor Jordan?"

There's a slight pause on the other line before Damon groans. "Not you, too. What the hell did he say to you?"

"Uh, interesting response– he asked me about the explosion, said some weird shit that he probably shouldn't know, and then shook my hand and left. Not to mention he knew my name and I never told him, so,"

"Great." Damon huffs, sounding exasperated to no end. "He's some kind of hunter. Shot Tyler at the memorial, and has been trying to kill every single vampire in Mystic Falls. Alaric made it easier when he outed all of us. I'm sure he knows exactly what you are."

Salem pinches the bridge of her nose, eyes fluttering shut briefly. "So, what, you haven't killed him yet? I find that surprising."

"Yeah, me, too. Everybody keeps interrupting me from doing so,"

"Well," Salem taps her fingers on the tabletop quietly. "Give me a call when you find the time to kill him. I'm not a fan of outsiders."

She can practically hear Damon's smirk when he speaks. "No problem, sweetheart."

─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────

"They're floating lanterns in the sky. Can you believe that?"

"I wondered if we were just having a meteor shower,"

Damon snaps around, eyes landing on Salem as she walks through the mess of headstones, plopping down beside him on the bench before Alaric's grave. "You again? What do you want?"

"Same thing as you, I'm guessing," She huffs, yanking the bottle of bourbon from his hands and ignoring his petulant grunt. "My friend."

He stops, eventually nodding in agreement with her words as he takes the bottle back from her. "A Japanese lantern is a symbol of letting go of the past. Well, here's a newsflash– we're not Japanese."

"You know what they are?" Salem brings a knee up to her chest, propping her chin on it as Damon looks at her.

"Children?"

She nods, huffing a wry laugh. "Like lighting a candle could make everything okay."

"Or even saying a prayer," Damon finishes, scoffing. "Or pretending Elena isn't gonna end up just like the rest of us murderous vampires. Stupid, delusional, exasperating little children."

"You know what Ric would say to that?"

Damon rolls his eyes, a somewhat mocking lilt to his voice. "It makes them feel better, Damon. So what? For how long? A minute? A day? What difference does it make?"

He stands, turning to face Salem. "Because in the end, when you lose somebody, every candle, every prayer is not gonna make up for the fact that the only thing that you have left is a hole in your life where that somebody that you cared about used to be. And a rock. With a birthday carved into it that I'm pretty sure is wrong."

Salem breathes out a laugh, dropping her eyes to Alaric's grave. "It's definitely wrong."

Damon gestures at her pointedly, his point proven. Heaving a sigh, he sits back down beside her, propping the bottle on his knee. "So, thanks, friend. Thanks for leaving me here to babysit. Because I should be long gone by now. I didn't get the girl. Remember? I'm just stuck here fighting with my brother, and taking care of the kids."

He's silent for a moment before smirking down at Salem. "You owe me big. Especially for leaving Salem and me by ourselves. What do you expect us to do without you? Be friends?"

Salem laughs quietly, nudging him in the side with her elbow as he passes the bottle to her. She takes a large gulp of it, wincing at the burn in her throat that dissipates slowly. "Yeah. Truly unforgivable of him to leave us to each other."

She sets the bottle down on the headstone near Ric's and Damon stands, offering her his arm. She tucks her hand into his elbow and lets him lead them away from what's left of Alaric.

The ghost of their friend watches them go, an aching longing in his chest that isn't lessened by death in the slightest.

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"Your sister is throwing a party at her new house. She was passing out invitations all day at school." Salem slips her shoes off and slides her bag off her shoulder, grimacing as she rolls the tension out of her shoulders.

Klaus looks up from where he'd been silently pondering, losing his train of thought in the swirl of the marble countertops. "Were you invited? You two are infuriatingly close."

"Students don't tend to invite teachers to parties where underage solicitations are happening," She hums, walking towards the wine shelves built into the walls of the kitchen. She grabs a bottle of red wine she's sure is devastatingly expensive, and a glass before joining Klaus at the counter again. "And I don't feel like going out."

"Well, then you can go to Tyler's with me since you're feeling so social."

"What's that look for?" Salem raises a brow, eyeing him suspiciously. "What do you have planned?"

"Oh, plenty of things, don't worry," Klaus clears his throat. "You can come in, now."

Salem tensed, eyes drifting towards the doorway as a familiar blond walked into the room. Her eyes widened and she couldn't help the slight smile that pulled at her lips. "Miles!"

"Salem, hey," He approached her quickly, wrapping her in a tight hug that made her laugh happily, pointedly ignoring Klaus's eye roll beside them.

Brows furrowing, she looks from Miles to Klaus, tilting her head. "You wanna give us a second, Miles? We can go to the Grill in a few minutes if you want,"

"Cool," He nods, grin as wide and oblivious as ever as he remains ignorant to the tension between the two hybrids as he turns to leave the room again.

Salem waits for a moment before she looks at Klaus, every bit of disbelief showing on her face. "So, what is that? A peace offering? Leverage?"

Klaus smirks innocently. "Much to my dismay, you two get along swimmingly. And even though it pains me, the boy is an idiot and wouldn't know he was a bargaining chip even if I spelled it out for him."

Salem hides a smirk of her own behind her wine glass and she chuckles, tapping her fingers aimlessly on the counter. "So, he's a peace offering posing as a bargaining chip."

"I'd be willing to take anything you offer me at this point," Klaus admits, though his tone is full of bitterness. "You've said it yourself before, when we face a common enemy, it's better to be a united front."

"And who is our common enemy right now, if not each other?"

Klaus's eyes darken, his hands briefly gripping the edge of the island as he staves off his irritation. "Tyler Lockwood seems to be pushing his luck lately. He's got it out for me, and someone else has it out for him. I'd rather not lose any more hybrids, even if this one is particularly inconveniencing me."

Salem raises an eyebrow, nodding slowly. "You mean he's mad because you possessed him and almost had sex with his girlfriend? I am also not happy about either of those things, so,"

"Caroline kissed me, it's not my fault she wouldn't let me get a word in edgewise."

"Right, yeah– so you said," She waves him off, ignoring the way his eyes narrow because he knows she's not truly that flippant about the entire ordeal. "How about I start with an apology?"

Klaus doesn't let an inkling of hope glimmer in his eyes at her words. Salem was skilled at weaving her words, but no one ever realized that. It had taken him an embarrassingly long time to realize it himself. "An apology for what?"

She leans over the countertop, cupping his jaw in her hand and bringing his focus solely to her. "I apologize for upsetting you with my decision to destroy the rest of Elena's blood."

His face floods with shock, brows raising. "You're apologizing for destroying her blood?"

"No," She drawls, a small smirk rising on her lips and reminding him of the glaring fact that she has a leg up on him right now. "I apologized for my haste in doing so– I could've said something first. And I'm sorry that my decision upset you. I'm not sorry for destroying Elena's blood. I would've done it one way or another."

"Just why were you so adamant on destroying the only thing that allowed me to make more hybrids?"

"Well," She breathes out, tone light compared to the brevity of the conversation at hand. It's a silent reminder that she is perhaps his only running mate in their sick game of life, the only one as capable of being as deadly as they are calm and concise, just like him. "I think I was just jealous."

"Jealous?"

"Yeah," She smiles, shrugging as she turns to leave. "And I'm not going to Tyler's with you. I have plans– but, I'll call you."

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Salem opens the door to the RV, her eyes immediately falling on Damon standing still with an arrow stabbing through his chest, and Meredith behind him, using a knife to cut around the arrow in his back.

"This is... interesting."

Meredith lets out a sigh of relief at the sight of Salem, beckoning her the rest of the way in with a nod. "He's attached to a bomb,"

Salem's eyes follow Meredith's, and she looks at the landmine that the trigger of the bow is attached to, eventually trailing her gaze back to Damon who gives her a slight shrug and a smirk. "This is why we don't break into people's RVs, Damon,"

"Okay, save me the lecture, Evil Hybrid #2– I need you to do your little witchy thing and maybe contain said bomb just in case it does try to explode and kill us all."

Salem flicks her wrist towards the bomb, a puff of yellow encasing it easily, earning a slightly surprised look from both of them. "Don't act too surprised, I am a competent witch. Also– don't get your hopes up. My magic's gonna go away eventually and it might still explode somewhere and possibly kill Meredith. And knowing how crazy this guy is, it's probably loaded with vervain and wolfsbane, so,"

"Oh," The doctor smiles uncomfortably, nodding. "Great."

"Can you get back to digging the arrow out of my skin? It doesn't feel great,"

Meredith rolls her eyes at his sarcasm but goes back to carving it out with the knife as Salem trails a line of her magic along the trigger wire attached to the arrow, encasing it in that same soft glow.

"So, how well did you know Pastor Young? Either of you,"

Salem shakes her head, shrugging. "I don't go to church, and I'm not a founding family. I didn't know who he was until he died."

"He was a patient of mine," Meredith says, grunting lightly at the gruesome image of Damon's injury. "He was always a nice guy."

Damon scoffs, eyeing the letter he'd written to his daughter. "Nice, crazy guy. He wrote a letter about sacrifice and war brewing in Mystic Falls."

Salem plucks the letter from his hands, eyes roaming the words as Meredith does the same from over Damon's shoulder. "You all said the same thing when the Originals showed up."

"What does he mean, 'a greater evil is coming'? Don't we have great enough evil already?"

"Right?" Salem echoed, brows furrowing as she dropped the letter back on the table, careful to avoid the wire. "I mean, God knows he doesn't need the boost to his ego, but I don't know how it gets much more evil than Klaus."

Damon rolls his eyes in agreement. "You'd think."

He heaves a sigh when his phone rings, and takes an even deeper breath when he sees the caller ID flashing Elena's name. He declines the call, and Salem and Meredith share a look.

"How'd you get stuck on hunter duty?"

"Stefan had a physics test," Damon's eyes drift to Salem briefly, curiosity shining in them as he realizes she should be at school right now if his brother is.

Meredith shook her head, a slight smile on her face. "You are a good brother,"

Damon shakes his head, a look of disgust curling at his lips. "I'm the bad brother,"

"You're strung up to a bomb while Stefan plays vampire with the girl who broke your heart," Meredith huffs. "But you are doing a very good job of acting like it doesn't suck."

Meredith grunts, dropping the bloody knife. "Okay, I think that should be good."

Salem braces her hand in the direction of the bomb, keeping her pulsating magic swarmed around it as Damon rips the arrow from his chest and drops it onto the counter.

Sighing in relief, Salem dissipates the protective swarm and looks to Damon and Meredith. "So, are we done here? Or are we gonna do something about this stupid hunter?"

"What can we even do?"

Damon and Salem share a look. "Pretty sure it goes against your oath, Doctor."

Meredith rolled her eyes at his sarcastic comment.

"I bet we can come up with something good," Salem says, looking around the RV. "After all, I'm one of the big bad hybrids. I'm always out terrorizing people and wreaking havoc, you know?"

Damon presses a hand over his healing wound, wincing slightly. "God, you are just a ray of sunshine," He waves her off. "We'll think of something appropriately diabolical, I'm sure."

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Klaus smiles smugly as he seats himself behind the desk, kicking his legs up onto it as Tyler approaches, oblivious to his presence until he speaks.

"She's quite fetching, that Hayley,"

Tyler inhales shakily at the hybrid's words, eyes widening as he looks around. "Where is she?"

"Oh, she had to run, but don't worry," He chuckles. "I had her take the back door so Caroline wouldn't see."

Tyler's shoulders straighten out, defensiveness overtaking his panic. "Whatever you think you know–"

"I don't know anything, but I've put together a pretty convincing picture. Why don't you tell me where my imagination deviates from reality?" Klaus raises an expectant eyebrow at the teenager, unable to keep the sheer amusement from his voice as he kicks his legs off the desk and approaches the hybrid.

"You went off to the Appalachians to break my sire bond. There, you met a pack of werewolves and begged them for help. Among them was a girl," He watches Tyler's rage grow with every word, and it makes his amusement rise. "She was gorgeous, with the same animal instincts as you. Emotions ran high, inhibitions ran low."

Tyler shakes his head. "Stop it."

"Then, in a moment of weakness, the thick sexual tension became something much more real."

Tyler glares as he snaps around to face Klaus, anger barely coating his fear-filled words. "I said stop."

"And Caroline has no idea," Klaus looks at Tyler, nodding knowingly. Before Tyler can say anything, the phone on the desk begins to ring and Klaus reaches for it with a smirk that widens as he sees the Caller ID.

"Hello, Damon,"

"Close,"

Klaus's eyes shine with brief surprise and he narrows his eyes, tightening his grip on the phone. "Salem. What are you doing with Damon's phone?"

"He's preoccupied right now, so he asked me to make the call. What's Tyler doing?"

He raises a brow at his hybrid, obviously listening in on the conversation. "Tyler's making big decisions about honesty and whatnot. Is there anything I can do?"

Salem heaves a sigh but doesn't argue. "We're going after the hunter, so if he'd like to join,"

"He wouldn't," Klaus answers firmly, words full of warning as Tyler clenches his fists. "I, however,"

"Right. Meet us at the hospital."

The call ends shortly after and Klaus drops the phone onto the desk with a taunting look in Tyler's direction. "I do hope you do the right thing here, Tyler. I'd hate for Caroline to find out from someone else."

─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────

"Is a hospital really the best place for a germaphobe?"

"Did I say that I was a germaphobe?" Damon steps out in front of Connor, eyes narrowing. "Sorry. I meant vampire."

Connor barely lets out a breath before he pulls his gun out, but he doesn't quite reach the trigger before an arrow shoots out, spearing his arm and making him drop the gun to the ground. When he kneels slightly to use his free arm, he's quickly shot down with a second arrow lodging itself in his leg, and he lets out a grunt of pain as he looks at the wired arrows tied to the bombs from his RV.

Damon makes a noise of faux sympathy, leaning on a shelf of medical supplies as Connor struggles. "Stings, doesn't it?"

Connor reaches forward, grasping for his gun just as Klaus appears and kicks it out of reach.

"Hello, mate,"

Connor's eyes snap from Klaus to Damon, to Salem as she mirrors Damon's stance against a shelf, lifting her fingers in a taunting wave to the vampire hunter.

"Hi, Mr. Jordan," Salem drawls his name out, grinning smugly. "Weird running into you here."

He ignores their taunts, grasping his hand around the arrow in an attempt to pull it from his thigh.

"Keep it up, buddy," Damon calls out, tilting his head as the hunter struggles. "We'll be scraping you off the ceiling."

"You're going to kill me anyway,"

Klaus holds up a hand, an upset frown twisting on his face. "Well, let's not be too hasty. I feel like we're just getting to know each other."

"Start with the basics," Damon steps forward, eyes never leaving the man. "Where are you from? What do you know? Maybe you can cue me in on this greater evil, because I've fought this guy, and there's nothing more evil than that."

"Yeah, truth be told, I'm as evil as it gets,"

Salem looks at Damon, narrowing her eyes. "I thought we agreed he didn't need the ego boost of knowing that,"

Damon shrugs, his stature nonchalant compared to the situation before them.

"I'm not telling you anything," The man scoffs, looking between the three irritatedly. "You think if you kill me it's gonna be over? There's another waiting to take my place."

"See, this is what I like to hear," Damon looks at Klaus and Salem, the two nodding agreeingly. "Vague threats, ominous prophecies, disappearing tattoos."

Connor's eyes snap up to Damon's, a gleam of surprise in them at the mention of said tattoos.

Salem watches as Klaus's smirk falls, and she feels a pinprick of unease pull at the base of her spine.

"What do you mean, tattoos?"

"Don't bother," Damon shrugs, unaware of Klaus's sudden foreboding look. "You can't see the damn thing."

Klaus leans forward, catching Connor's frustrated gaze. "There's more to you than meets the eye, isn't there?"

Connor lunges with a grunt, but Klaus moves faster, his hand a blur as he catches his wrist tightly. "Nice try, but I'm faster than your average vampire."

He wrenches Connor's wrist back, snapping it as he yanks the stake out of his grasp. He twists the wood in his hand, eyes falling on the symbol etched into the base of it.

"You're one of the five."

"The what?" Damon and Salem echo the question in unison, confusion marring their faces.

"I'm faster than your average hunter,"

They look at the man, eyes widening when they see his hand wrapped around the tripwire.

"Oh, shit," Salem's voice is drowned out by the explosion, and she swings her hands out as Damon disappears, encasing her, Klaus, and Connor in a dome of magic that bounces all of the debris and flames off around them.

Klaus looks at her with wide eyes and, she waves a hand at him, gesturing to Connor. "Grab him and go!"

Klaus nods and doesn't say anything as he rips the arrows out of Connor's arm and leg, grabbing the hunter before disappearing through the flames.

As the debris settles, Salem walks through the rubble, standing over Damon as he groans in pain. She kneels, offering him a hand that he takes easily, letting her help him to his feet again.

"Did that guy really just kill himself?" Damon's voice was muffled beneath the alarms blaring through the hospital, and the yells of doctors and nurses beginning to run their way.

Salem eyes the hallway that Klaus had disappeared down with Connor in tow, and she heaves a sigh before meeting Damon's gaze again with a nod. "I guess so."

Damon shakes his head, a gleam of disbelief in his eyes as people begin to crowd the smoking room. "You wanna wait outside? Let me handle the authorities."

Salem takes the out happily, backing away. "I'll see you in a minute."

─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────

"Everything settled?" Salem turns to look at Damon as he approaches her in the parking lot, a grim-looking frown on his face.

"Yeah. Everything's fine."

"That is not the face of someone who killed a vampire hunter today," Salem tilts her head, eyes drifting to the doors of the ER behind Damon. "What happened?"

He shakes his head, wiping a hand over his mouth. "Meredith unfortunately made some good points about me fixing things with Stefan and Elena."

Salem nods knowingly, tucking her hands into the pockets of her jacket. "Well... do you want to fix things with them?"

Damon looks momentarily confused, but he eventually shrugs a shoulder. "I... yeah. He's my brother. And it's– it's Elena."

"Right," Salem goes along with it, smiling softly. "You're not perfect, Damon. Not by a long shot. But they both know that, and they both still love you for it. I don't think you should give that up just because you're used to self-destructing."

"Wise words,"

"Yeah, well," She sighs, suddenly looking tired as she looks up at him. "Take it from me. I– I don't think there's anyone else out there who would love the kind of people we are. So sometimes we have to be happy with what we have."

Damon is silent for a long moment before he huffs a laugh in agreement. "Yeah. Yeah, I think I kinda get why Ric liked you so much."

She shrugs, a sharp smirk pulling at her lips. "I'm a good time, Damon. It's about time you realize that," She laughs at the eye roll he gives her in response and steps away, turning to leave. "Call me when you want to kill someone again, yeah? That was fun."

"Got you on speed dial already,"

She shakes her head with a laugh and heads towards her car, and Damon watches her go, a shred of confusion sliding into his thoughtful gaze.

He thinks of the fact that she was pointedly not at the school today despite it being her job, and then he thinks of how quick to help him she'd been like she was almost desperate for a distraction. He couldn't blame her there, though.

Her words ring in his mind– There's no one else out there who would love the kind of people we are. So sometimes we have to be happy with what we have.

They're true, he knows. Undoubtedly so. But he wonders just how much she applies that to her life, and how miserable it makes her.

He thinks they're probably more alike than either of them wants to admit. And Alaric probably knew that all along. He was always good at recognizing the good in people who least deserve it.

─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────

author's note; except for jeremy like getting his powers or whatever, the entire 'the five' plot line was the most annoying thing ever asdfadsf i hate it so much

edited and published; 12.14.23.

- liz