(1) The Phoenix (D. Salvatore)

Chapter One Hundred and Nineteen

Outside of the Gilbert house, Klaus walks over to a neighbour's house that has a white picket fence. He places his hands on the fence and looks around, clenching his jaw with his annoyance and anger at the events that are unfolding. At their nerve at being so defensive. He sees a soccer ball and then smirks. An idea coming to him. A devious destructive plan.

.....

In the Gilbert kitchen, Daphne sits at the island counter with her head in her hands. She's trying to block out everything around her to push her telepathy further than she has before. She needs to search the entire town. She doubts she would have gone further than that, though she can't really speak of Elena's motives right now. She didn't think that her sister would run off without saying anything.

"Anything?" Bonnie asks Daphne who pulls a face as she lifts her head and then shakes it.

"It's difficult" She admits. "When someone is right next to me, I can read them without much issue, but the further away they are, the harder it is. Even if Elena was at the end of the street, it would be hard for me to find her" She adds and then lets out a breath. "The telepathy is a side-effect of my curse" She looks at Damon. "It's weak because...."

"Because you haven't..." Damon starts but then stops.

"Yeah," She agrees. She would be more powerful with a fully realised phoenix inside of her. But she doesn't. So her ability is considerably weaker than it could be. She gained muted abilities as a taste, she assumes as a warning of what she could be capable of as if she needed any more warnings about how shitty the Phoenix deal is. "It will take me time" She adds to the others. "It's not a skill I use very often or to such an extent" It was a skill she wasn't pushed to expand upon at school, she understood that they were scared of it, and that she should be too. It has many questionable and dangerous implications.

"Why wouldn't she tell anyone where she was going?" Bonnie asks but none of them know. None of them have any idea what could possibly be going through Elena's head right now that she wouldn't tell them that she was leaving. Suddenly, the front door bursts open and the soccer ball flies in. Klaus walks up to the porch with two fence pickets in his hands. He hurls one of the pickets into the house and it narrowly misses Damon's head and gets stuck in the wall behind him. Stefan grabs Jeremy and Bonnie and pulls them down. Daphne jumps down from her seat and ducks behind the island counter, she curls against the cabinets and shoves her hands over her ears to block out the sound, pushing herself to just find Elena. To get it over with.

"Missed me!" Damon yells at the Original, then pulls the picket out of the wall and throws it back at Klaus. The picket just grazes over his shoulder. Klaus breaks the other picket in two and throws half of it at Damon again, but instead, he hits a picture and it breaks. "Missed me again!" Klaus aims the last picket into the house.

"I have her" Daphne states, removing her hands from her ears. "But we have a problem" Damon looks at her. "Ric," She tells him. "He called her...he drew her out to him"

"What?" He asks her.

"He took Caroline hostage" She adds. "They're at the school" The two of them share a look. He lets out an annoyed breath and then nods. This means that they are going to have to go up against Alaric now, with no plan, no spells, and nothing that is going to help them. Damon suddenly leans forward and brushes his thumb under her nose, she frowns a little when he pulls his hand back to reveal a smear of blood. She wrinkles her nose and uses her sleeve to brush away at the skin there to remove it. She didn't think she would get that side-effect from using her abilities, but she pushed her mind out further than before. But it's never happened before. Stefan stands from cover, drawing their eyes. He moves towards the front door just as Klaus is about to walk away.

"Klaus" He starts, Klaus gives him a look. "Enough"

"Come outside and make me" Klaus counters and Stefan steps outside.

"Elena's not here. Alaric has her and Caroline at the school" Klaus seems to pause at that. He glances around Stefan to look at Daphne and Damon in the kitchen doorway. Klaus lets out a breath and turns back to Stefan.

"Now, I know you're not asking me to walk into a certain death" He comments.

"I really wish we could. But unfortunately, if Alaric kills you there's a one in four chance that we die too" Stefan reminds him.

"I'll take those odds" Damon comments, Stefan gives him a scolding look.

"And a hundred per cent chance that Tyler dies" Stefan adds. Damon shrugs.

"I'm good with that too" He admits, Daphne nudges him slightly and he gives her a soft teasing look.

"Why don't we just figure out a way to put Alaric down?" Stefan asks, trying to mediate between the two of them, but that's not really going to happen considering what Klaus has done to all of them, but to be fair, they will likely need Klaus' help to get Elena and Caroline back. They need all their heavy hitters, and it is just unfortunate that he is one of them.

"Okay, how about Damon sneaks in and distracts Alaric, while Stefan grabs Elena and carries her to safety?" Klaus asks. Damon snorts and gives him a look.

"Huh, that's a great idea. What's to stop me from getting killed instantly?"

"Nothing" Klaus answers with a sly smirk.

"Caroline's in there too" Damon adds. "Don't you have a thing for her? Or did she just reject you too many times?"

"This isn't really helping too much" Stefan scolds them. Daphne hums in agreement before she cocks her head, glancing back into the kitchen at where Bonnie is listening in, sitting at the counter.

"I might have an idea" Daphne admits, turning back to look at Klaus, tapping her fingers against her arm as Pad, sitting on her shoulder, play with the chain of her necklace. The three men turn to her. "Bonnie said that her mom used a desiccation spell on Mikael that immobilized him for over 15 years" She reminds them. "If I can get it, I might be able to use it on Alaric"

"If and might? Your words inspire such confidence" Klaus complains. She scoffs and steps closer to him.

"Do not mistake me for a traditional witch" She warns him. "I have spent seven years learning how to use my magic, and whilst loopholes have failed me, I have not failed in my intent" Damon looks at her, proud of her for realising that. Whilst things have gone wrong, it has never been her or her magic, it has been the loopholes in everything and everyone else that has failed. Her magic and her plans have never actually failed, not on their side. Bad things have just happened around them and her magic wasn't always the key to fixing the problem they faced. Klaus turns around, looking up at the sky.

"Just so we're clear, the sun sets in about eight hours. If we don't succeed before then, Elena will be dead, I'll be gone, and the rest of you will be left to fend for yourselves" Klaus warns them and then walks away. It's not really an agreement for an alliance, but he's stopped attacking them. Daphne feels like he'll help them. He'll want Alaric dealt with as much as they do.