𝐇𝐄𝐍𝐑𝐈𝐊 𝐌𝐈𝐊𝐀𝐄𝐋𝐒𝐎𝐍, 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫

Chapter 5

"Where is he?! He was at home when I left and now I come back and he's vanished!" Elena hissed into the phone as he paced up and down her room. She had been worried sick about her brother, especially since with all the new information that she learnt, she wasn't prepared to let him out of her sight. He had to be watched 24/7. She couldn't risk Klaus coming along and taking him away. Just the mere thought of it made her feel sick to her stomach. Stefan's calming voice filtered through the phone, making her relax immediately and feel calmer.

"It's going to be OK, we're looking for him, he'll be home soon" he reassured her. "Thanks so much, I just hope that he hasn't bumped into Klaus. Who knows what he'll do, especially since he possessed Alaric's body not too long ago," she stressed out, worrying at her bottom lip. "That's why we keep surveillance tabs on him, monitor his movements so we know where he is at all times," Stefan pressed.

Like Elena, he didn't want the teenager anywhere near him because he knew that he would try to hurt him, even if the teen was his reincarnated brother or not. Klaus had to be taken down. Elena took a step breath. "OK then, call me when you get updates," she said and Stefan promised that he would. They could have done a locator spell but they didn't want to be using up Bonnie's strengths.

Suddenly she heard footsteps come up the stairs. She rushed out of her room and gasped in relief when she saw her brother appear. "Oh my gosh, Jeremy where were you? I was so worried about you!" she exclaimed and surged forward to hug him.

Jeremy was surprised. He hadn't been welcomed home like this before so it was new to him. He hugged her back regardless with a soft smile on his face, patting her back. "Don't worry, I'm safe. I was just taking a walk to clear my head," he explained. That wasn't the whole truth. He had taken a walk but he had bumped into Klaus and they had a long chat but they eventually lost track of the time, Klaus apologising to him and saying that he needed to do something. He had found him so easy to talk to. He told him everything that was bothering him and hurting him and he just listened to him without judgement.

That's what he really needed - a listening ear especially since nobody really noticed him unless they were worrying about his sister. Since the supernatural had entered their lives, nobody really cared about him much. He was always seen as Elena's little brother who needed to be seen and definetly not heard.

He understood that he was a vampire, that explained how he was alive - but he never mentioned anything about their other siblings and he wondered where they were. He hoped that nothing horrible had happened to them. But he was a little suspicious of Elena's reaction. Surely she didn't know about his dreams? Bonnie wouldn't outrightly lie to his face and betray him like that, would she? The thought made a lump rise up in his chest and he pulled away from the hug, saying that he was tired and he needed some rest.

Elena took a deep breath of relief and called Damon. "He's home, he's okay," she breathed. Damon just hummed in agreement. "Where did he say that he was?" he asked. Elena furrowed her brows up in confusion. "What do you mean? He said that he took a walk to clear his head or something, why?" she whispered softly, a feeling of dread creeping unto her system. Damon sighed softly. "Klaus happened. We saw him in the woods as we were searching for Jeremy," he explained and Elena started to panic.

"You don't think that he bumped into Jeremy, do you?" she asked in a soft tone of voice, barely audible for the male's supernatural hearing. "So w-what do we do? We have to do something" she pleaded somewhat desperately. She couldn't believe what she was just told. If Klaus had bumped into Jeremy then that was already bad news. Klaus would definitely use Jeremy in order to get to her and she couldn't let that happen. "We just keep Jeremy where we can see him, that's all we can do for now. We have to be on alert - Klaus is dangerous and who knows what he'll do when he gets his hands on Jeremy" Stefan expressed.

Jeremy was listening from his closed door, eavesdropping on the conversation that Elena was having on the phone. His suspicions were proven to be correct. Bonnie had betrayed his trust to Elena and the others as well. This just proved that he couldn't trust anyone. He didn't know what Klaus was up to but at this point he trusted him more than her.

He said was glad that he was able to get away in time so that nobody could have spotted him. He just wished that Bonnie never went behind his back. He told her the information in confidence and she spilled everything. By the looks of it, Bonnie had recorded the whole conversation. He had been so stupid to trust her. He went to bed, angry and betrayed.

A few days later, Jenna had an accident. She had walked into a knife which gave her a nasty injury and they were going to be bringing her home after she had healed up at the hospital. "I can't believe I did that," she said with a soft chuckle as she clutched her stomach. Elena smiled softly and shook her head. "It was a freak accident," she offered as she helped her to get on the couch and arrange herself into a comfortable position. Jenna sighed softly and relaxed herself the best she could without irritating her stitches. "I feel so incredibly stupid" she groaned.

"Hey, at least you're alive, that's the main thing" Jeremy said softly with a smile. He didn't want to be losing yet another member of his family. Everyone nodded in agreement. "I'm not going to be attending the masquerade ball, I'm going to be staying with Jenna" Elena announced suddenly, making Jeremy nod his head. But he couldn't help but feel a little bit suspicious. From what he remembered of Elena's phone call conversation, she said that he needed to be watched at all times.

Surely if that were the case she would want him to do it? He couldn't let himself be troubled by these thoughts. He was already getting tired. His phone buzzed suddenly and he picked it up. "Hello, who's this?" he asked into the phone when he didn't hear anyone else on the line. Elena and Jenna looked at him confusedly but he waved them off, going upstairs into his room.

He had a little feeling of who it was and the thought made his heart skip a beat in excitement. "Niklaus?" he whispered softly. How did he get his number? Did he compel someone to give it to him? He knew that he was a vampire so that must have been one of his tricks. Klaus smiled softly at the wound of his little brother's voice on the opposite end of the phone. He had compelled a student to give the lads number to him and obviously they complied.

He hoped that his brother wouldn't disapprove because he had to do what he had to do. "It's me, little brother. How are you?" he asked. Speaking his native language was still strange for him but he knew that if they spoke then others wouldn't be able to understand what they were saying. Jeremy sighed softly. He didn't know what to say. He had been gutted at Bonnie's betrayal and he hadn't told anyone about it. "I've been having issues with family and friends".. He started off.

He didn't want to be bothering him as he must have things to do. But Klaus was interested. "What happened? You can tell me" he reassured the teen. He hoped that he would be telling him what worried him. He had time to listen to whatever was bothering him. "I think that my friend betrayed me and my aunt had an accident" Jeremy said at last. He ran a hand through his hair and tugged at it in frustration. He didn't know what was going on anymore - everything was just so confusing to him.

Nobody ever told him anything, always saying that it was too dangerous for him to understand and that he needed to stay away. He knew that Jenna's accident wasn't just like any other accident. Something supernatural had to be behind it but of course Elena never told him anything. She doubted that she had told Jenna anything either. He didn't know what to do. He was at total loss. He couldn't let the others know that he met Klaus already as Elena was already suspecting and it wouldn't be too long before they did too. 

"An accident? What happened?" Klaus asked with a raised eyebrow, even though the other couldn't see him. Jeremy debated whether or not to say anything of the details. "She cut herself badly and she had to go to the hospital but she's okay now. I'm just worried about her. I'm just sick of being lied to and betrayed" he said in a soft tone of voice, careful about his volume. He couldn't risk Elena listening in, even though she wouldn't be able to understand.

Klaus had a feeling that Katherine was involved but he didn't say anything. "What happened with your friend? They're not really your friend if they betrayed you" Klaus said softly into the phone. He knew about betrayal all too well. He was well experienced in the field, having been betrayed countless times over the centuries, (mostly by his siblings, but of course he wouldn't tell Jeremy about that, not just yet and probably not ever). Jeremy swallowed audibly and took a shuddering breath before saying,

"They know about my memories"