𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣—"𝙣𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙥𝙟'𝙨"

———

𝘼𝙇𝘼𝙍𝙄𝘾 𝘾𝘼𝙍𝙍𝙄𝙀𝙎 𝙆𝙊𝙇'𝙎 𝙇𝙄𝙁𝙀𝙇𝙀𝙎𝙎, 𝙂𝙍𝙀𝙔 body as if he was helping a drunken fellow friend. Dr. Fell was beside him, sending everyone who was staring a reassuring smile and nod. So while Alaric and Clara went outside to meet the Salvatore's, she decided to stay in. The duo went out the back entrance, and were standing in an alleyway with stairs that go up to the city sidewalk.

"You knew the plan and didn't tell me!" Clara shouted, her lip curling up with anger. She felt utterly disregarded, the boys used her in order to complete their plan.

"Hey, hey, relax!" Alaric called out, struggling to keep Kols body up as he makes eye contact with Clara. But then his eyes gaze past the girl, and when she spun around there was Damon and Stefan standing side by side.

"Lara, we needed him to—"

"—Shut the hell up," Clara growled, cutting Damon off by raising my index finger. "You used me, you didn't tell me the whole plan because you knew I wouldn't be on board with it."

Damon didn't seem shocked, it's almost as if he expected this exact reaction from Clara in the first place. And that part only made her more angry.

"Clara, calm down," Alaric says, taking a step forward to place a hand on her shoulder. But she sends him a warning glare not to touch her, and he backed off.

Clara opened her mouth to say something again, but she was cut off when a blur raced past her to Kols body. Within a second the dagger was out of his heart and in someone's hand. When the man stopped, she swallowed hard at the fact it was Klaus.

He shoved Alaric back against the wall, and she swore she heard something crack, and he falls unconscious on the ground. Then Stefan races forward with his vamp speed, but Klaus knocked him to the stairs, groaning.

Damon grabbed Clara's shoulder, and pulled her where she was slightly behind him but not all the way, and his arm was in front of her. She would've normally mentioned about how sexist this was or how she was extremely pissed off at her best friend, but now was definitely not the time to bicker.

"My brother does fancy you," Klaus speaks up, his eyes trained on Clara as he adjusts his jacket. But then a mischievous laugh escapes his lips as he continued. "Well, he did, I'm certain he'll want to feed on you more than ever now."

Clara swallowed hard, she did enjoy Kols company. His presence was such a nuisance to the point he could actually be funny, although she would never admit it to him. She could almost consider his a friend, but when he would awake he would probably no longer want to be hers. And now he would think that she knew of the plan of daggering him, and she just went along with it.

"I should have killed you months ago," Klaus growls, and Damon's back straightens up as he knew the man was now talking to him.

"Do it," Damon insists, using his 'I'm the hero' voice. "That's not gonna stop Esther from killing you."

"What did you say about my mother?" Klaus's voice turns a bit darker, as a threatening tone. His smirk once filled with mischief had turned sour, fading away from his face.

"You didn't know I was friends with your mummy?" Damon tilts his head, and the infamous snarky Damon was back. "Yeah, we have a lot in common. She hates you as much as I do."

Just as soon as it looked like Klaus had enough and was about to pounce on the duo, a familiar voice interrupted us. "Leave him! We still need him, Niklaus.

Clara glances from the snarling Klaus to Elijah, who had just spoken up. The grey lines were fading from his face, and down his neck, and the blonde was waiting for Kol to recover just the same as Elijah.

"What did mother do?" Klaus asks his older brother, and when he doesn't reply he asks again, but with more tone. "What did she do, Elijah?"

"You tell me where the witches are, or I'll have my sister kill Elena right now," Elijah states, walking down the stairs as he ignores Klaus, he pulls out his phone, ready to dial.

Damon left out this part, that Elena had been kidnapped. Elena and Clara have not always met eye to eye, and sometimes she found the girl quite annoying, but the doppelgänger didn't deserve death. And her death would just bring Damon and Stefan more pain than they deserve.

"You told me we had until after nine," Damon whines heavily, glancing to the Mystic Falls clock tower, signaling it wasn't quite nine yet.

"I'm sure Rebekah'd be more than happy to start her work early," Elijah states, sending a warning glare to Damon and Clara. She didn't like this side of Elijah, he was much different compared to the man she spoke with during the dance.

Damon gives in, eventually spilling the details about how the witches would be at the old house where many of them were murdered on site.

He demanded Clara stay back, that him and Stefan would deal with Bonnie and her mother. She knew what they meant though, they didn't want her involved because then Elena would hate her just as she would hate them for what they had to do. So, as much as Clara hated the idea of staying behind and not helping, she obeyed for this one time. She needed space and time away from her best friend and the troubles that came along with caring for vampires.

And she didn't particularly want to be around when Kol woke.

•••

By now, Clara had headed home awaiting one of the Salvatore brothers to call her, or Elena wondering how she was, or even Bonnie informing Clara of her mother's doom. But no one did.

Clara was currently residing in her room at home, resting on her bed while trying to finish her math homework that was conveniently due two days ago. Trying is the keyword, because she was struggling while her mind was being distracted.

She was worried about her best friend, and his brother, and her close friends she's known since was a baby. She was even worried about the Mikaelson family, about what they might do due to the fact they knew they were betrayed.

She wondered how Kols face would've looked, how hurt he would've been when he figured out the girl was just a distraction in order to dagger himself. Just another person to add to his list of betrayals, more of a reason to not trust anyone.

Suddenly, a noise brought her attention back to the land of the living. It sounded as if the front door was unlocked, and she narrowed her blue eyes at her open door, expecting Tyler or her mother to walk by the hallway any second, but he didn't.

"Ty? Mom?" Clara called out, holding her breath as he didn't respond, nor did her mother. But for some reason tonight, Clara was more on edge than usual. "C'mon Ty, this isn't funny."

She got up carefully from the bed, it making a squeaking noise as she did so, tiptoeing softly to her doorframe. She placed her hands on the handle, and peered down the hallway. No lights were on, and no one seemed to be home excluding her. But she knew what she heard, and from previous events where such evil walked in the shadows, she didn't know quite what to expect.

She stepped out into the darkness of the hallway, folding her arms as she suddenly seemed colder. She took a few steps until made it to her steps, and overlooking the balancing she didn't see anyone. She made it down the stairs as her cold heels made contact with the wood of it, and soon found herself standing at the ends of the stairs with her eyes of the front door; which was slightly open.

Clara skipped a few steps while she shut the door, and she glanced around the room. It didn't seem like anyone was there, or visibly at all. She shook off the ominous feeling that was bugging her gut, and headed back to her room in search of her phone. She'd call her brother, and he'd make his way over just to make sure the girl wouldn't be hurt. But just as soon as she stepped back into her room, she gasped at the sight.

There, laying down on her bed with one arm resting on his stomach and another behind his head, was none other than Kol. He was wearing a pair of dark blue jeans with a loose brown belt, and a red long-sleeve v-neck. A little bit of his stomach was showing since his shirt was pulled up, but Clara's eyes seemed to linger.

"Hello, darling," he smirked brightly. "Nice pj's."

She wanted to be concerned as so many questions filled her head, but she seemed almost a bit happy to see the boy not littered with blood on his lips or clothes. She was always taught that when something like betrayal happened to the Mikaelson family, that they'd go to no end to repay the people who betrayed them.

"You look as if you've seen a ghost," Kol states, a familiar smirk starts to tug at his pink lips. "Oh, well, I guess I was daggered there for awhile."

"How did you even get inside?" Clara questioned, purely interested because she hadn't invited him in, and she didn't believe Tyler would invite him.

"Your wonderful mother let me in a few days ago, love. Turns out just a little bit of pie and some flowers could get me through the door," Kol responds, lifting his spare hand to also put it behind his neck so both hands were supporting him. "Now that your question was answered, it's my turn."

He rose from the bed, slowly making his way to where Clara was still standing in her doorframe. Once again the two were just a foot apart, and Kol heard the girls heart skip a beat at the short distance between them.

"Did you know they were were planning to dagger me?"

a/n: hey guys! yay an update :-) so i'm not exactly for sure when i'm going to update, for right now i'm just gonna update as often as i could. anyway make sure to vote & comment <3