(1) The Phoenix (D. Salvatore)

Chapter Ninety-Seven

Damon's screams can be heard from outside of Klaus' mansion, where Daphne is crouched against the wall. Her eyes closed as she listens. It's not exactly a warm sound that fills her with pleasure and joy. It is a sound that shatters through her. He is screaming in agony and it hurts her too. As it would if she heard any of them in pain. She lets out a breath as she opens her eyes. Determined. She is not leaving this house until she has freed Damon. That is what she came here to do and that is exactly what she is going to do. No one else seemed to want to help her. Stefan was more interested in killing them than getting Damon back. Clearly forgetting that there is at least one Original in this house. If they worked as a team, they could have done just what he wanted anyway. His loss. She doesn't need help anyway. She can totally do this on her own. She takes a deep breath and clutches her wand in her hand. She then pushes herself off of the wall and heads towards the door.

......

At the Salvatore Boarding House, Stefan and Elena enter the library where Caroline is sitting with a drink on the couch. Stefan had gone about his plan to see an Original kill and Original. He believes that it has worked. They dealt with Finn. It was their easiest option at the time and whilst he had wanted Daphne's help, and her help would have made it a whole lot easier, they managed without her. Elena moves towards Caroline.

"Hey. How's Alaric?" She asks as she shrugs out of her jacket.

"He'll be okay. I gave him a bottle of Bonnie's herbs and he went home" Caroline sets her drink down and stands, moving to join them. "Did you guys kill Finn, did it work?"

"Nothing worked until I see Klaus's dead body myself" Stefan counters. Until he is sure that each and every one of them is dead, this isn't over. Elena's phone suddenly rings and she pulls it out of her pocket to check the called ID before she answers it, setting it on loudspeaker. Not that it's necessary for the room of vampires.

"Bonnie" She greets. "Where have you been?"

"Klaus has Damon." Stefan looks across at the phone sharply, listening to Bonnie. Elena turns tense after hearing the news Klaus is still alive.

"Kl-Klaus should be dead" Elena voices. "They should all be dead, we just killed Finn" She points out, turning a panicked look on Stefan who clenches his jaw annoyed.

"Unless a certain witch decided to screw over her friends and unlink them" Daphne states from the doorway, Damon leaning against her side. Elena, Caroline, and Stefan all turn to face her. "I was in the mansion....Bonnie had the chance to help Damon, and she walked away....and she did a spell to unlink them from one another...."

"I didn't have a choice, Daphne" Bonnie defends over the phone.

"There is always a choice, Bonnie, you just made the wrong one" Daphne counters.

"He threatened Jeremy....my mom" Bonnie argues.

"We just killed an Original" Stefan points out. "They would all be dead right now" Bonnie falls silent on the phone. Daphne knows that Bonnie felt like she was backed into a corner, but if she had come to them and told them, they could have come up with a plan to protect Jeremy and Abbey and deal with the Originals. Bonnie just didn't trust them enough to do that. She didn't even try. Daphne holds out her hand and the stake Damon had hidden flies into her hand.

"Stefan, take your brother" Daphne shoves Damon at Stefan who does manage to catch him. "I'll be back" She assures Damon who nods back at her, she then apparates away. Damon groans and then looks at Elena.

"Can someone get me a drink?" He asks. "And some Chinese food, I really have a hankering for Mushu pork" Elena lets out a breath, not annoyed at Damon, but at what happened, at Bonnie, at Klaus, at everything that has happened. Every time they think they have one up on them, something happens that screws them over.

........

There is only one thing Daphne can think of to do now. Thanks to Bonnie, they've blown their only shot at dealing with the Originals once and for all. She has to deal with Klaus herself. Well, sort of. She doesn't really feel comfortable breaking yet another wizarding law by killing him. The others didn't know better with Finn, but she does. She sits in an armchair in Klaus' mansion, leant back, her wand in one hand, the white oak stake in her other. Waiting on Klaus to appear, and it doesn't take long. Moments actually. She has barely been here for five minutes before he is walking through the door to the room. Klaus rolls his eyes and lets out a breath when he sees her.

"Should have guessed it was you" He complains and then takes a step closer to her. "What do you want?"

"I'm here to make a deal" She admits and he scoffs. She holds up the stake in her hand. "Eight stakes made of white oak" Rebekah then walks into the room. Daphne smirks a little. "The part of Wickery Bridge that you forgot to burn" Klaus looks at Rebekah.

"That's impossible" Rebekah argues.

"Actually it's not" Daphne counters and then smirks. "Finn is dead" She informs them, Rebekah's eyes then darken with the news.

"You killed my brother?" She asks. Daphne looks at Klaus.

"In exchanged for the last eight weapons that can kill you....you are going to back off...." Daphne tells him. "All of you..." She taps the stake on the arm of the chair. "One wrong move...Even roll your eyes in our direction...." She stands from the chair and then drops the stake onto the table. "That's one...I will bring the rest over later...." She holds up her wand and points it at the stake before Klaus touches it to pick it up. "Geminio" She casts and the second his fingers touch the stake. It erupts into many, many, many more stakes. Klaus takes a step back. "Just so you know how easy it would be for me to make more" She offers and then swipes her wand, undoing it. All the copies vanish and Klaus can safely pick up the stake.

"I could kill you right now" Klaus threatens. Daphne hums and nods. He could.

"We both know that if you did, I will come back, and all it will have done is piss me off and made me more powerful" She folds her arms over her chest. "And you'll be the first the Phoenix comes for" Klaus clenches his jaw and stares at her. They both know that she is right. Killing her will not benefit him but his current enemies. That's not a risk he is willing to take. She's proving to be a greater threat than he imagined. She winks at Klaus and then apparates out of the mansion. Klaus clenches his jaw and curls his fingers tightly around the stake.

"You're just going to let her get away with that?" Rebekah asks. Klaus turns a glare at her. She scoffs and rolls her eyes before leaving the room. 

A/N - NOT SURE HOW I FEEL ABOUT THE WHOLE THING WITH KLAUS IN THIS.