ACT TWO; TARGET IN SIGHT
SCENE SIX; NEVER EVER LET GO
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STEFAN AWOKE TO THE SIGHT OF KLAUS AND SALEM SITTING BEFORE HIM WITH MATCHING SMIRKS ON THEIR FACES. He startled slightly, sitting up and pushing away from them as they watched him with mild amusement.

"Just give me a chance to explain myself, okay?"

"No need," Klaus shrugged, a saccharine sweet smile on his face that was all show. "I'm not mad, I'm just curious. Rebekah seems to think you're holding onto something– a piece of your old life. The thing is, she's got flawless instincts, borderline supernatural."

He takes in a deep breath, leaning forward to look at Stefan. "You see, it would make sense for you to be struggling to move on from Mystic Falls– from Elena, if, say, she wasn't dead in the first place."

The look of fear that crosses over Stefan's face is palpable, and he looks at Salem accusingly, betrayal shining in his eyes that makes her laugh to herself.

"And, you know," Klaus waved his hand nonchalantly. "There's the part where Salem told me the truth about everything you've been lying about."

Standing up, Klaus walks to the door of the moving truck and pulls it open, letting sunlight seep into the dark truck.

Stefan stood, realization dawning on him as an anchor of dread settled in his stomach.

"Welcome back to Mystic Falls, Stefan."

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Salem puts two fingers in her mouth and blows out a sharp whistle that echoes off the walls of the gym. The students gathered on the basketball court all startled, and then glance to her with varying levels of recognition. "Senior prank night has officially been busted!"

Groans echo through the gym, and Salem laughs lightly, mocking them. "I know, I know– time to go home and dread becoming a boring adult like me!"

"You two," Klaus's voice comes from behind her and Salem spins to look at him, her eyes widening briefly and then narrowing smugly when she sees him pulling Elena into the gym beside him. "I remember you."

Salem follows his gaze to the two students he'd stopped from leaving, and they share confused looks.

"I'm sorry, who are you?"

"Oh, don't worry, I wasn't in my right head when we met," Klaus's pupils dilate as he looks into the young girl's eyes. "Lift your foot up, please, Dana."

Nodding in satisfaction, he looks to the boy at her side. "If she drops her foot, Chad, I want you to beat her to death. Understood?"

"Don't, Klaus," Elena's panicked voice comes in a harsh whisper, and Salem finally sets her hard gaze on the teenager that was supposed to have died three months ago. "You don't have to hurt anybody."

Salem lets out a laugh that Klaus echoes, the two sharing a dark, humorous look. "Oh, come on, Elena. Of course he does."

Dana made a noise of fear as she wobbled on her one foot, losing stability by the second.

"Oh, Dana– keep it up!" Klaus scolded the girl, her whimpering mere background noise.

"Where's Stefan?" Elena put as much distance between her and Klaus as she could, shooting wary looks in Salem's direction. "What'd you do to him?"

"Stefan's on a timeout,"

The doors open behind them, and the three of them turn to see Bonnie and Matt walk into the gym, entirely unaware of the threatening situation at hand.

"Bonnie, get out of here!"

Bonnie flinches at Elena's yell, recognition hitting her just as Klaus disappears in a blur, reappearing behind her just as quickly.

"I was wondering when you'd show up," Klaus smirks, looking at the group of fearful teens. "Now we can get started. Uh– Dana? Why don't you relax? You and Chad sit tight."

The two compelled teens cling to each other, falling to the floor in relief as Salem steps closer to Elena, her eyes flashing a warning look in the girl's direction.

Klaus fixes a dark glare on Bonnie, clenching his jaw. "I've been told you're the reason Elena is still walking around alive,"

"That's right," Bonnie nods, unwavering in the face of possible death. "If you want to blame someone, blame me."

"Oh, there's no need for blame, love," He shakes his head, tone mockingly cheerful. "Just– your witchy interference seems to have caused some undesirable side effects. And since you caused the problem, I'm going to have you find the fix."

Rebekah pulls Tyler into the gym as Klaus finishes speaking, a dark look on her face as Tyler struggles against her hold.

"Get off of me,"

"Hush now,"

Klaus gestures to the blonde as she brings Tyler to stand before his friends. "I'd like you all to meet my sister, Rebekah. Word of warning, she can be quite mean."

"Don't be an ass,"

Salem chuckles at them, giving Klaus a look that he smirks at. "Don't be mean, Nik, I think Rebekah's sweet as can be."

Rebekah shoots her a grin and the hybrid rolls his eyes at the, frankly, dangerously quick friendship they had formed.

"Leave him alone,"

"Oh," Salem cuts into Elena's demands, flicking her fingers in the girl's direction and effectively silencing her with a bit of magic. "That's enough from you for now, I think."

Klaus nodded, looking at the group. "I'm going to make this very simple."

He drags Tyler before everyone, holding the boy by the scruff of his neck. "Every time I attempt to turn a werewolf into a vampire hybrid, they die during the transition. It's quite horrible, actually."

Biting into his wrist, he forces his blood down Tyler's throat, ignoring the horrified looks from the teens and the struggle Tyler put up. "I need you to find a way to save my hybrids, Bonnie. And for Tyler's sake,"

He grips the boy's jaw and twists, the sickening crack of his neck echoing a response of horrified gasps. "You better hurry."

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"How much longer are your dramatics going to last?" Salem murmured the words as she leaned in towards Klaus, though their eyes didn't leave the group hovering over Tyler's limp body on the gym floor. "Considering I have to be back in this building in, like, 12 hours."

"Well, if you never leave, you won't have to come back." Klaus hums, smirking at her unamused look. "So it seems like I can take my time."

Salem huffed, sharing an eye roll with Rebekah. "You're ridiculous."

"He killed him."

"He's not dead. Klaus's blood will turn him into a vampire."

"And if Bonnie's successful, he'll live through his transition." Klaus jumps down from the bleachers, the two girls following him as he approaches the group of horrified teens watching him warily. "Go on, then. Go and fetch your grimoires and enchantments and whatnot. I'll hold on to Elena for safe-keeping."

Bonnie shakes her head silently, looking at Elena, but the girl just nods her off, giving her and Matt the moment to leave the gym in search for the answers that Klaus wanted.

"So this is the latest doppelgänger," Rebekah's close proximity makes Elena startle, gasping softly to herself. "The original one was much prettier."

"Enough, Rebekah," Klaus groans, rolling his eyes at his sister's pettiness. "Take the wolf boy elsewhere, would you?"

Rebekah shoots Klaus a quick glare, then gives Elena an overly sweet smile before she walks over to Tyler and grabs him by the wrist, dragging him out of the gym with little care.

"Just ignore her," Klaus sighs knowingly. "Petty little thing."

Elena steps away from Klaus slowly, taking more confident steps when she realizes he's letting her go, and she makes her way over to Dana and Chad, kneeling down on the gym floor to offer them otherwise useless comforts amidst their confused fear.

Content with waiting, knowing that she wouldn't run, Salem stalks back over to the bleachers and plops down on the bench, leaning back against the row above her and crossing her arms across her stomach. After a moment, Klaus joins her, though his stature remains tense as they await Bonnie's return.

"Do you think Bonnie will figure it out?"

Klaus glances down at her, shifting as he props his elbows on his knees. "If she wants to live another day, she will."

"So impatient," She notes, eyes fluttering tiredly as he gives her a short look. She offers him a sweet smile that he rolls his eyes at, and a quiet, breathy laugh leaves her lips at his exasperation. "Do you hear that?"

Klaus nods once, eyes immediately falling to the gym door as it opens.

"Stefan," Elena breathes his name with something akin to relief, but Stefan completely disregards her, instead approaching Klaus and Salem on the bleachers.

"Klaus."

"Come to save your damsel, mate?"

Stefan shakes his head firmly, just once, not looking in Elena's direction. He hasn't looked at Salem, either, which she takes to mean as he can't or this little facade of loyalty will be dropped in a second, given that she is the one who sold him out to Klaus in the first place. "I came to ask for your forgiveness, and pledge my loyalty."

Klaus is silent for a moment, turning his head away from Stefan. "Well, you broke that pledge once already."

"Elena means nothing to me anymore," He finally spares the doppelgänger a glance, but it's no more than a split second as her face floods with hurt. "And whatever you ask of me, I will do."

Sick delight crosses over Klaus's face and he drops his glare in favor of a smirk as he gets up from the bleachers. "Fair enough. Let's drink on it."

He walks to the middle of the gym and gestures to Dana and Chad. "Kill them."

Fearfully, the two teens stand, stumbling away at the threat of their deaths. Klaus's smirk widens as he looks back at Stefan's hesitant form. "What are you waiting for? Kill them."

"No," Elena shakes her head, looking at Stefan pleadingly. "Stefan, don't! He's not gonna hurt me, he already said–"

Elena's words are quickly cut off and transformed into a yelp of pain as Klaus backhands her, and she lands roughly on her side a few feet away as Stefan rushes over to Klaus, fangs bared and at the ready.

On a dime, Klaus turns and bats Stefan's hands away, blocking his attempt to attack him before he wraps a hand around the vampire's throat, squeezing dangerously tight. Salem slowly gets up, approaching the scene with a hesitance to her step.

"She means nothing to you? Your lies just keep piling up."

"Let her go," Stefan pants out the plea through his bated breaths, struggling beneath Klaus's grip. "I'll do whatever you want, you have my word!"

"Your word doesn't mean much," Klaus glared at the vampire. "I lived by your word all summer, during which time I never had to resort to this. Stop. Fighting."

Stefan's pupils go wide with the compulsion, and he lets out a shaky, strangled breath. "Don't do this– don't do this,"

Klaus shakes his head, looking momentarily pitying, but only for his own sake. "I didn't want to. All I wanted was your allegiance, now I'm gonna have to take it."

"Don't, don't,"

"You will do exactly as I say, as I say it. You will not run, you will not hide, you will simply just... obey."

"No," Elena looked at the grim scene before her with fatal fear. "Stefan,"

Something dangerous and destructive set in on Stefan's face.

"Now kill them... Ripper."

Slowly, the veins beneath Stefan's eyes appeared and his eyes turned that faded, brownish-red color, consuming the warm green that usually took its place. Klaus stepped back, gesturing to Dana and Chad with a smirk that only grew wider as Stefan lunged for Dana, digging into her neck with no hesitation.

It took mere seconds for Stefan to let go of Dana and let her limp body fall to the ground, and he didn't wait much longer before he moved onto Chad. 

Smirking, Klaus bent down near Elena, who was looking on at the scene ghastly. "It's always nice to see a vampire in his true element. The species has become such a broody lot."

"No," Elena panted out as Stefan turned to face them, blood staining his lips and trailing down over his chin and throat. "You did this to him."

"I invited him to the party, love, he's the one dancing on the table." 

Salem made a noise of agreement, flashing her eyes down at Elena as the girl glared up at her. "He hasn't exactly been a saint this summer, Elena. It's amazing what he's capable of when you loosen his collar a bit."

Klaus smirks in agreement, but before anyone can say anything else, Rebekah's infuriated yells echo through the gym.

"Where is it? Where's my necklace?"

Klaus turns to look at his sister, brows furrowing. "What are you talking about?"

"She has my necklace," Rebekah storms up to Nik, shoving Caroline's phone in his face with the zoomed in picture of her necklace sitting around Elena's neck. "Look."

Klaus rips the phone from her hand, a scoff leaving his lips as he looks back up at Stefan. "Well, well. More lies."

"Where is it?" Rebekah bares her teeth at Elena, standing between Salem and Klaus with barely-contained rage.

"I don't have it anymore," Elena shakes her head.

"You're lying!" Rebekah lunges for Elena, fangs tearing into her throat as Elena cries out.

Klaus and Salem both reach for Rebekah, pulling her off of the girl as her knees go out from under her at the pain.

"Knock it off!"

"Make her tell me where it is, Nik!"

Chest heaving with angry breaths, Klaus bends to look at Elena as she holds a hand near the bloody mess on her throat. "Where's the necklace, sweetheart? Be honest."

"I'm telling the truth," Elena whimpers through her shaky breaths. "Katherine stole it."

"Katerina," Klaus hums. "Of course."

He stands, clapping his hands together loudly. "Well, that's unfortunate. If we had the necklace, it would make things a whole lot easier for your witch, but since we're doing this the hard way, let's put a clock on it, shall we?"

Klaus walks over to the table where the scoreboard control panel sits and jams a button down, lighting it up with blaring red numbers that read 20:00. "Twenty minutes! If Bonnie hasn't found a solution by then, I want you to feed again, only this time, I want you to feed on Elena."

Klaus fixes the doppelgänger with a dark smirk as she looks on in fear. "You know you want to."

"No, Klaus," Elena breathed out, watching the realization dawn on Stefan's face that he could do nothing but what Klaus told him under the compulsion. "Don't do this to him."

"No one leaves," He says, ignoring her pleas as Rebekah and Salem turn to follow him. "If she tries to run, fracture her spine."

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Tyler jerked awake with a gasp, chest heaving for air as Caroline hovered nervously over him, shooting hesitant looks to Salem and Rebekah across the chemistry lab.

"Where am I? What happened?"

Caroline hesitates, swallowing as she looks down at her boyfriend apologetically. "Tyler,"

"Don't be shy about it." Rebekah cuts into her attempts at quick comfort, smirking when Tyler snaps his head in their direction, looking between the blonde and Salem confusedly.

Tyler looks back to Caroline questioningly. "What's going on?"

"Klaus is turning you into a vampire," Caroline bites the bullet, spitting the words out before Rebekah can deliver it in a crass manner. "A hybrid. You're in transition."

"Don't lie to him, Caroline," Salem drawls out her words, her relaxed position beside Rebekah completely juxtaposing the dire situation. "You're in transition, but so far, all of our attempts to make hybrids have ended with death. So you better hope that Bonnie lives up to the Bennett name and pulls through with a solution, otherwise you're dead."

Caroline shoots a glare in the woman's direction before pulling Tyler's attention back her way. "You're gonna be okay, okay? It's gonna be okay."

"I wonder how she's doing," Rebekah looked at Salem, brows furrowing in a feigned frown as she turns the phone screen towards Tyler and Caroline so they can see the rapidly dwindling timer. "Tick-tock goes the gym clock." 

"Why are you doing this?" Caroline's eyes are on Rebekah when she speaks, but her gaze quickly shifts to Salem, who raises a brow at the upset look on the girl's face.

Though Salem knows the question was probably for her, Rebekah answers before she can dismiss it entirely. "Your doppelgänger is the key to everything my brother has ever wanted, and I'll do whatever it takes to help him get that."

The blonde smirks a bit, shrugging a shoulder. "It makes it easier when you're all so bad at keeping her safe."

At that comment, Salem huffs a laugh. "Now, come on, Rebekah, don't tell them that, it'll hurt their feelings. You see– they all have this nauseating quality about them that gives them the biggest hero complexes in the world, except they don't want to save everybody, they just want to save Elena Gilbert."

Rebekah echoes her laugh, giving her a questioning look. "What is it about those damned doppelgängers that make everyone around them go mad?"

"I couldn't tell you," Salem shakes her head, letting out a loud sigh. "I was lucky enough to get out of dodge just before I fell for it, too. It's like a doppelgänger curse, or something. You like one, you end up dead."

"Well, the verdict's in,"

All of them turn at the sound of Klaus's voice, and they watch as the Original hybrid walks into the classroom with a smirk on his face and some test-tube looking thing in his hand. "The Original witch says the doppelgänger should be dead."

"Does that mean we can kill her?" Rebekah stands excitedly, and Salem shakes her head at the reaction as she stands to join Klaus, too.

"No, I'm fairly certain it means the opposite," Klaus shakes his head at his sister.

Rebekah mutters her confusion, but she reaches for Caroline, holding her away from Tyler as Salem and Klaus zero in on him.

Salem twists her fingers, wrapping wisps of magic around Tyler's hands as he groans in pain, tilting his head back to look up at Klaus.

"Call it a hunch," He leans down, holding the tube of blood before Tyler. "Elena's blood. Drink it."

"No! No, no, no, Tyler, don't!"

Salem waves a hand in her direction, silencing her quickly as Klaus glances at the blonde.

"If he doesn't feed, he'll die anyway, love. Consider this an experiment."

Tyler hesitates, looking between the blood wantonly and Klaus's urging gaze. Reluctantly, he lifts his gaze to look at Salem and she nods imploringly, looking down at the vial of blood. "The pain will go away if you drink it."

Slowly, Tyler takes it from Klaus, who smirks in success as he tips it back into his mouth.

As Caroline silently struggles against Rebekah's hold, Salem's eyes watch Tyler closely as he gags against the taste of the blood, still swallowing despite his knee-jerk reaction. The boy collapses to the ground, wiping out beakers from the lab table as he clutches at his stomach, groaning in pain.

His yells echo through the small classroom and Caroline's yells quickly mix, Salem's little bit of magic wearing off as Tyler writhed on the ground, leaning onto his elbows as he gritted his teeth dangerously hard.

He clutched at his head, blunt nails digging into his scalp as he screamed in pain, and Salem watched on, bracing herself for the horror that was the previously failed hybrids.

To everyone's surprise, when Tyler lifts his head, there are veins crawling beneath his skin, right up to his yellow and red bloodshot eyes.

Salem's eyes widen and she flicks her eyes down to Klaus where he's kneeled before Tyler, and the Original briefly meets her gaze before he looks back to the boy before him, a smile growing on his face, genuine in the face of success.

"Well, that's a good sign."

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Salem's eyes have barely shut when a soft knock echoes through her apartment. Her eyes snap open and she inhales sharply, waking from the drift between consciousness and much welcomed sleep.

Groaning softly, she rolls off of her bed and drags her feet through her apartment, shoulders bumping in the door frames and sharp corners as she goes, having lost the brief familiarity of her once-new apartment with how quickly she'd left town at the beginning of the summer. Her brows furrow as she reaches her door, opening it with little care of who stood on the other side.

The furrow in her brows deepens when she sees the familiar face before her, looking like a mixture of anger and fear, and an odd dash of satisfaction.

"Klaus?" His blue eyes flicker over her, and she leans against her door as a yawn cracks through her lips. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," He shakes his head, eyes roaming over her frame. "It's nothing."

Shifting slightly, Salem shuffles to the side, gesturing to her dimly-lit home. "You can come in, if you want– um, what time is it, exactly?"

Klaus smirks slightly as he steps over the invisible barrier, his eyes roaming the carefully curated space she'd only spent a few weeks in before going off around the country with him. A few framed degrees and certificates were hung on the wall, embedded with gold seals and extravagant signatures that only made his curiosity for the woman spike, despite having spent the past 3 months with her.

The living room was otherwise simple, but her couch was overstuffed and heaps of pillows were thrown on it, a clear sign that she enjoyed comfort over cohesiveness. It was comfortable, cozy, a real home, even if she'd barely lived in it thus far.

"So, uh, are you sure everything's alright? I figured you'd be at the hospital with Elena for a while, making sure nothing interrupted the whole," She trailed off, waving her hand vaguely as she tried to fight the exhaustion from showing on her face. "Thing."

He looks amused at her failed attempts, but the expression quickly falls and he knows she spies the flicker of fear on that ripples across his face.

"Klaus..." Salem sighs, stepping closer to him and laying her hand gently on his chest, fingers skating across the fabric of his shirt gently. "Nik,"

He inhales sharply, looking down into her duo-chromatic eyes.

"Did something happen with Rebekah?"

He finds the energy to roll his eyes at the mention of his sister. "Not anything that's not entirely predictable on Rebekah's part, although she's never tried so hard to make my life easier."

"Something that I adore her for," Salem adds, smirking as he huffs petulantly.

"I don't know how much I approve of this friendship you seem to have formed with my sister. You two are dangerous enough on your own, I fear the person that upsets you both."

Salem hums, dropping her chin to his chest, still looking up at him. "Well, don't be that person and you won't find out."

He makes an incredulous noise in the back of his throat, but says nothing otherwise, and they share a brief, too-long stare that would have unnerved anyone but them, and the silent knowledge passing between them proving just how well they see through one another.

"It's late," Klaus's chest rumbles with his words, and Salem's eyes flutter tiredly at the reminder. "I should go."

"First day of school tomorrow," She notes, brows twitching. "I have to be up in the morning."

The Original gives a short nod in agreement and they step away from each other reluctantly, Klaus taking the few short steps back towards the door with Salem following after him.

"Goodnight, Salem."

"Goodnight, Klaus."

His stare lingers but eventually he turns away, stepping over the threshold and into the hallway again.

Salem's teeth nip the inside of her cheek and she quickly lunges forward, grabbing his arm in an impulsive move. Klaus swings around, eyes wide at her sudden action. "Salem?"

She moves up on her tiptoes and presses her lips to his, swallowing the noise of surprise he makes before she abruptly pulls away.

Klaus looks at her, eyes still wide in unfamiliar surprise. "What was that for?"

She shrugs a shoulder, fingers still wrapped around his leather-bound forearm. "You seemed like you needed it."

He frowns slightly, but there's something glimmering in his eyes that makes her wonder if she'd said something he wanted to hear. Or perhaps didn't say enough. As her thoughts slow, she sees the darkened shade of lust shimmer in the shadows of the doorway.

He looks at her silently, and Salem feels as if his piercing gaze can see right through her, mind, body, and soul. She knows it can. 

Before he can step away, she tightens her grip on his arm, keeping his attention fully on her despite it never wavering in the first place. "You should stay. We can just– we'll just sleep. But you should stay."

Klaus is silent, but she knows it's not a rejection and she slowly pulls him back through her door, reaching past him to push it shut.

Looking up at him, she swallows roughly, despite the ease with which she speaks. "I want you to stay."

And Klaus looks down at her, mirroring her swallow even as he murmurs back, "Then I'll stay,"

Because it's the easiest thing in the world for the two of them to want these things, but it's impossibly hard to accept the fact they want it so badly.

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author's note; i think my toxic trait is i genuinely love salem and klaus and their relationship... even knowing what im gonna do to them... 😭

edited and published; 3.30.23.

- liz