A New Beginning (sequel to Coming Home)

14. What's Happening to me

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Niklaus hung up the phone, the desperation evident on his face as he reached over and took Jennifer's hand. The screams turned to painful whimpers at his touch. Acting purely on instinct Nik lay on the bed next to the tortured woman he loved and pulled her unconscious body closer to him. He placed his lips on her forehead, trying to not focus on the pain she was going through.

Nik felt something rush through his body and mind and in the next instant he was in a forest, Sophie Devereaux standing a few feet in front of him. He felt a growl escape his throat at the sight of her. "You have three seconds to tell me what you have done here before I kill you."

"I'm trying to help you." Sophie said warily, "I'm not strong enough to break the spell that has been placed on Jennifer, but I am strong enough to figure out the spell has trapped Jennifer within her own mind in a false reality. I'm also just strong enough to hi-jack the spell and bring you into her mind."

Nik could hear the exhaustion in her voice but he ignored it as he looked around. He finally realised where he was. Mystic Falls, as a matter of fact they were standing in the exact spot where he had met Jennifer, drunk, the night she moved back here to bury both her parents.

He turned his attention back to Sophie, "Why are you doing this?" Suspicion laced each word as he spoke them.

"I'm in my twenties Klaus, I don't want to spend whatever life I have left hiding, looking over my shoulder. If I help you here... now... then you and your family leave me alone. All I've ever wanted was to protect my people, and now most of them are dead."

For once Nik did not act like the feared Hybrid Klaus. For once he didn't act on anger and impulse. "If you help me save Jennifer, you have my word that not only will my family and I not harm you, but you will be protected from all supernatural beings."

Sophie's eyes widened at this, it was far more than she could have hoped for. Nik could see the relief wash over the young witches face. "Now," she explained, "you need to find Jennifer in here. But be prepared, I suspect that she won't know who you are. From what I could figure out the Bennett witch has removed any and all memory of anything supernatural in this version of reality. So you need to help her figure it out."

"Can't I just tell her the truth of what is happening?" Nik asked.

"No," Sophie rushed to answer, "the mind is such a fragile thing, and this is a powerful spell. It can only be broken one of two ways... Kill the witch Bonnie Bennet is linked to, or if Jennifer herself remembers. So find her... talk to her as if you are meeting her for the first time, allow her to put the pieces together."

Nik started to speak, to ask for more information but Sophie had vanished, leaving him on his own. Right, he thought to himself, this shouldn't be too hard. From the moment he and Jennifer first met they had connected. Even when he had compelled her in New York to forget about him she was still drawn to him in Mystic Falls.

He started to speed off when he realised something. He couldn't. He had no vampire speed. He panicked for a brief moment before he remembered what Sophie had said, here in this reality, buried deep in Jennifer's sub-conscious, there was no such thing as supernatural. This body was, for all intents and purposes... human. Well, he would do it human then. With determination in his step he started the long walk into town.

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I had been sitting in the grill waiting on Caroline, Elena and Bonnie when the pain started. It started as a niggling headache in the back of my head. I tried massaging my temple but in seconds it was like something exploded inside my mind. I felt rather than heard the screams wrench their way out of me as I grabbed my head, I didn't know what was happening to me, all I knew was that right now I wanted to die.

I couldn't cope with the pain anymore. I barely registered the fact that I was being carried to a car, I didn't realise I was then taken to the hospital. Bonnie's face floated in and out of focus in front of me as the pain tore through my head... it felt as if my mind was being shredded from the inside out. I could feel the tears streak over my tears as new screams worked their way out.

"What..." I couldn't finish the question as I clutched my face. Bonnie must have realised what I was asking though. Her voice sounded far away as she answered my unspoken question. "I'm sure the pain will pass soon. We just need to make sure certain people pay attention."

I didn't understand what she was saying, what people? I didn't have the strength to ask her though. Just as quickly as the excruciating pain started, it started to subside. I saw the look of shock on Bonnie's face as my screams turned to whimpers. I looked at my right hand, it had almost felt like someone had taken it in theirs at the exact moment the pain lessened. Of course, it hadn't dissipated completely, but it definitely was more bearable.

"Jennifer?" I could hear the surprise in her voice, "Has the pain stopped?"

For a split second she almost sounded... annoyed... that the pain had lessened, but when I looked at her all I could see was concern.

"Not completely. But it's definitely starting to lessen. What the hell happened to me?" I could hear the strain in my voice.

"I have no idea," Bonnie answered, "But I will find out. I'll be back soon."

I didn't know why I thought there was some kind of double meaning behind her words, maybe it was the pain, but something was definitely not right, and it wasn't just the pain.

I felt myself starting to fall asleep, and just as I closed my eyes, I was convinced someone kissed my forehead. I wanted to open my eyes but the pain and exhaustion won out and before I could finish the thought I had already passed out.