Klaus wiped his hands of his brother’s blood, normally he would simply lick them clean as his other captives watched but even he was not so callous. Allowing himself a moment to close his eyes and listen to the thundering heartbeats of the remaining occupants he allowed himself a small genuine smile, now they understood.
Opening his eyes again he let his gaze wander over towards his next guest, with all the others it was so simple, even Elijah, he was tempted to just skip Rebekah claim the show to be her punishment and move on to the other doppelganger but he knew it was his soft spot for her that had allowed this to happen in the first place. No he could not afford to be weak, he would be strong and in time she would be the better for it. Even knowing that when he took a step back into the main part of the cellar and Rebekah turned her fearful gaze towards him his heart broke.
This had been the same beautiful, foolish, loving sister who had stuck by him throughout their never ending existence, always loving and forgiving him in turn. He hated what he was about to do but again he reminded himself that she had done this to herself, he was just helping her to understand where she had gone wrong in her life before now and showing her the way to correct her behavior.
Shaking his head he knew he couldn’t handle this yet, he needed a drink before he continued to rip his family apart. Walking up the stairs to find his scotch he tried not to think about his next steps, despite what people might believe of him this was not an easy task, but it had to be done and he would not shirk his duty to his siblings. They needed to learn and he would teach them, their punishments would not last forever but he would see that they lasted just long enough.
Rebekah hung limply quietly weeping while everyone else raged on about their situation. She couldn’t bring herself to care about anything else when her brother had been mutilated and locked away. She’d always known Nik had a temper that was at times too easily provoked, but they were family. Always and forever, it seemed, had lost all meaning not just to Nik but to them all.
Elena’s voice rasped through the room bringing her out of her thoughts, though she would have preferred hearing from anyone else she was glad of the distraction.
“What the hell is he playing at?” She could hear the terror in her quivering voice and she understood it completely. If Nik was enraged enough that he was even attacking his siblings they were all in danger. While it was true that Nik had daggered each of his siblings in the past he’d never deliberately caused them to suffer, family was everything to her brother, or at least it used to be. Now she wondered if he cared about anything at all, besides himself.
“Nik is beyond furious with us all. I’ve never seen him this coldly angry before. If he could do that to Elijah…” She didn’t finish her sentence, couldn’t, and thankfully she didn’t need to. They all understood exactly where they stood at the moment. They were screwed.
“The only thing I can suggest you do is stay calm, do not react, and for the love of god do not provoke him further.” The room erupted with frantic voices, but she ignored them and simply shut herself down to conserve her strength, she doubted Nik would be feeding any of them, while she didn’t know what her brother had planned for them all she knew one thing for sure, it would be horrible.
Hearing the stairs momentarily creak she knew he was coming back from wherever he had vanished to so suddenly. She tried to take a page from her brother’s book and gave Nik her best Elijah face. Her ‘I don’t care what you do to me’ face apparently needed some work because all it did was make Nik grin. Giving up on being stoic and silent she just stared at him and did what little sisters did best when things weren’t going their way. She pleaded.
“Please, Nik you don’t have to do this.” She knew she should be strong in the face of such fear, but she just couldn’t. Nik would never kill her, no more than he would kill Elijah or any of them, but there was a difference between not dying and living and she had already lost so much of her life to her brother’s temper. Nearly a century gone to a dagger and she didn’t want to lose anymore when she had only started to live again. She had friends now, she had love again, she had a future to look forward to, she would do anything to prevent their loss.
“Oh, but you see little sister I do. You dear sister have a problem and I am going to help you rectify it. Do you know what your problem is sister? Your problem is that your heart is continually convincing you to choose fleeting romantic love over your family. You did this when you allowed your infatuation with Alexander to cloud your judgement in the 12th century. You did it again when you called on our father to run me out of New Orleans so you and Marcel could try to play happy homes together. Oh yes, I am aware of how deep and vast your treachery runs. Again you allowed yourself to be led astray in Chicago when you tried to leave me in the face of Mikael once more for the rippah. Never fear though I know just what to do to help you with this failing of yours.” With a snap of his fingers a witch came down leading a docile obviously compelled Matt behind her.
NO! Oh no, not this anything but this. She could already feel her heart breaking, she knew she would have been able to hear it shatter if the room wasn’t already filled with the pleas of the others. She could not stay silent, swallowing she tried to speak through the pain and the dread.
“Nik please, he hasn’t done anything!” Matt was simply a nice, human boy who had shown her kindness when he didn’t have to.
“Hasn’t done anything? Hasn’t done anything! What about his part in our dear brother Finn’s demise? Or the fact that you continue to choose him and others like him over your own family. Over me. Hasn’t done anything? Why, he’s done everything sweet sister, and now he will pay. Don’t worry though since he was only ever a pawn and never a real player in this game I have no interest in watching him suffer, in fact I wish you both well in your new lives I have provided for you.” He looked so smugly pleased with himself like he was offering her a present he knew she would adore. That look had never seemed so sinister to her in the past as it did now.
“New lives?” What was he talking about? He wouldn’t just let them go, it wasn’t in his nature more likely this was just another twisted trap like the one he wrapped around Elijah and the trollop.
“Yes I have purchased a house for the two of you on the outskirts of town not far from my own home. The two of you will remain there for many years to come. I have had it specially made just for the two of you once the carpenters were done I had my witches working day and night to make it just so.”
“Witches?” Witches could cast any number of spells over a dwelling, some helpful other agony and she knew just the type her brother would pick in his mania. He could have them burn her skin like the witches who guarded their coffins had done to any vampire who came near their home. He could have her vampirism stripped from her completely for as long as she remained within the house. He could do any one of a hundred things, and knowing him he likely did something she had never even thought of before, he was creative like that.
“Well yes of course, I had to ensure your safety you are my darling sweet little sister after all. They have poured nearly all of their power into making sure your new home is sealed so tightly that nothing shall ever penetrate its walls to harm you. In fact the entire house shall be sealed so that no window or door shall open without my blood helping it along. Don’t worry though Bekah I did remember that your new roommate is human and I had it stocked full of enough food for him to live comfortably for several years.” Yes Matt was human, and she was a vampire, no one human could ever hold enough blood to sustain a vampire long term, not if they were in a place like he described.
“Nik please-” Blood loss was tricky in humans, if given enough rest and care after losing blood they could recover fairly quickly but not quickly enough for a vampire to feed every day. As an original she could go long stretches of time without feeding but that would eventually wear on her control and it would not take long for her control to snap entirely and for her to kill Matt in a haze of bloodlust.
“Now Bekah isn’t this what you’ve been pleading for nearly since the moment we were turned. A nice boy to settle down with in a human home, a chance at the human life you lost. I am granting you everything your heart has ever desired and this is the thanks I get? Tears.” She wished she were better at fooling him, but she also knew that whatever ruse she managed to create would be seen through instantly. Her brother had put time and considerable creativity into planning out these punishments, he knew exactly what he was doing to them and she knew he would not be denied his reward of seeing them suffer.
“Nik-” She knew he wouldn’t listen to her but she had to try. She, like the rest of her siblings, had never focused much on self control, they were the oldest, the elite they didn’t have to control themselves whatever they wanted they deserved to have. She had never regretted her lack of control more than in this moment, it would be the end of everything.
“I almost forgot, young Matt here was responsible for the death of our dear brother Finn, he should have some punishment for that shouldn’t he. What should it be, don’t worry dear sister I shan’t be overly harsh with him. Oh I know, Matt be a good lad and cut yourself just a quick little knick every day in remembrance of my dear brother. It’s only fair that you remember the life you took after all.” Oh no, the smell of blood surrounding her constantly would destroy any self control she could manage to cobble together. She would be able to hold back for a month maybe a little longer, she only hoped that something changed before she killed him.
She knew she cared about Matt but that would not be enough to save him, nothing could change the nature of what she was. Not even love.
Bonnie looked around the basement and her insides grew cold with dread. There were only her friends left, he had taken care of his family first and she wasn’t fool enough to believe that he hadn’t gone easy on them. They had been together for centuries, there was no way he had unleashed his worst on his siblings, which meant he was saving it for them. She tried to guess the order of things and found she couldn’t, she didn’t know Klaus well enough to even try to guess at the way his mind worked. There was really only one certainty and that was that there was no way Klaus would ever give Tyler the mercy of going anything but last, as sad as that was it was still a bit of a comforting thought in its own way. As messed up as it was she knew that if she was saved for last she would lose her mind before the end came.
Elena was special to him, just look at what he’d done to Katherine for the crime of becoming a vampire and depriving him of her blood and she hadn’t even plotted against him personally the way they had. He would save her for later, she was sure of it and where Elena went the Salvatores were sure to follow two by two and if Tyler really was last that meant she was likely next.
Normally the thought of something this disturbing being almost over would have filled her with relief, but now that she’d seen the kind of punishment being handed out she just knew she didn’t want it to be her turn any time soon. None of them had slept since this all began, was it hours ago or days now she couldn’t tell, they were all too wired and afraid to close their eyes. She kept trying to summon her magic, to do something, anything! But there was nothing there, she could feel it but she couldn’t touch it. She was useless, all she could do was wait and hope. The only problem was she didn’t know if she should be hoping to be right or wrong, not that it mattered; it wasn’t like her hope would do her much good in this hell.
Klaus sat in his comfy chair sipping his cognac enjoying the silence. Where there had once been bluster and loud shouts and demands now there was only silence and thundering heartbeats. It was bliss.
Reaching out his hand he moved Caroline’s golden curls away from her eyes, soon it would be time to wake her, but not until they reached the end. Then the games would truly start.
Kasey1939 