Immortals [Klaus Mikaelson]

3

"This is never going to work." I mutter under my breath.

The dimly lit alley behind Gloria's bar reeks of stale alcohol and garbage. It finally stopped raining, but that left the cold concrete to be a wet and uncomfortable place to sit. Yet, while Damon leaned against the back entrance to see if he can hear anything, Elena and I sit on a dirty curb to wait our turns.

With a disapproving glance at my statement, Damon leans a bit closer. I lean in as well from my spot on the ground, not to use of my boring human hearing, but to fulfill the anticipation within me.

It's not difficult to realize how hard this is for Damon. He really doesn't want to lose his brother or see him be a ripper again, just like he had been in the 20's. Elena probably things this rescue mission is fully for her and Stefan's benefit, but I think it's much more than that for the oldest Salvatore brother.

Damon and I had a lot of fun spying on Stefan and occasionally messing with him whenever we knew it would be safe for us. Even then, I could tell there was always a part of him that wasn't this merciless ripper. Thinking back on it, I can now say for sure that he was still tortured through every kill. It wasn't his fault; it was the vampire inside him who made him this way.

Interrupting my thoughts, Damon's eyes meet mine again and he quickly nods to say that they're there.

I look to Elena who is nervously waiting a few feet away from me on a different curb. She doesn't notice our interaction, or the fear in either of our eyes.

"Damon," I whisper, knowing he is the only one who can hear me, "Be careful."

He pauses, looking back at me. When he sees my worried expression, he playfully smirks and winks at me in feigned confidence. With another longing glance to Elena, he pulls open the door and steps into the bar.

I look across the alley to the brunette. Elena finally noticed Damon's exit, but thankfully didn't react very much now that Stefan knows she could be near. To avoid my questioning eyes, she examines her soaked sneakers, no doubt thinking about the mucky water that ruined my expensive boots as well.

I wonder if she knows the danger she's in by being involved with these brothers. I'm sure she does, but when Klaus is involved, humans are treated as if they are nothing. If she wasn't a useful and significant doppelgänger, I'm sure she would have been dead for a long time now.

It's hard to think of Klaus as a rabid killer. I never knew him that way, which makes our current reality all the more terrifying. He doesn't need to know I'm alive, not yet, but I could be the only person who could keep him at bay.

Before we know it, Damon is calmly slipping through the door and out of the bar the same way he went in. He looks completely normal and unscathed, so that means Klaus has not seen him yet and torn his head off.

"How'd it go? Is he going to come?" I ask, hopefully.

Before he can answer, the door swings and Stefan has Damon pressed against a car. He holds him by his collar, threateningly. I raise from my spot and take a few steps forward, ready to part the two. Elena watches my movements hesitantly and before she can copy me, I quietly shake my head in a warning.

"What is wrong with you?!" Stefan hisses, probably not trying to alert the monster inside.

Damon huffs, struggling with his brother's hold, "What is wrong with you? You kill Andie one day; you save my life the next. What are you good, bad? Pick one!"

Stefan ignores Damon's sarcasm as if it was a reflex, "Klaus almost saw Elena today. You have to get her out of Chicago."

"She's not going anywhere until she's got you checked into vampire rehab and on the mend. Trust me. I've tried."