Fandom Would You Take My Regrets?---Vampire Diaries {Private}

[Insanity Awakened 18]

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Denise couldn't help squinting her eyes slightly at Ryan's words. He seemed nervous about something. She wasn't sure if it was because of what happened yesterday or because she happened to show up where he was staying. Either way she thought that it was very amusing. As she listened to his nervous explanation, she casually rested her head on his shoulder for a moment, a fake yawn escaping her lips as she looked up at him. "Should have known your lumberjack friends would take a little more convincing." she said, following his gaze as he looked to Jeremy before meeting his gaze once again as he was now practically begging for her help. She would be lying if she said she wasn't interested in seeing how long she could draw this out, and had the younger hunter hadn't been with her, she probably would have.

"Its adorable to hear you plead like that, so I guess I can help you with your less than gullible friends. Only because I'm so nice." Denise said, letting out a cute growl as she playfully nipped the end of his nose before she removed her head from his shoulder, bringing her arm back to her side. "You stay there and I'll go get my friend." she said before turning and walking towards Jeremy. She could tell that he was wrapping up his conversation, she stood to the sideline, allowing him to finish and doing a little eavesdropping.

Jeremy was relieved to hear that things were okay on Bella's end. He knew that this was a dangerous situation for her and Stefan to be in, so he couldn't help being grateful that Denise and he were the ones to find the hunters from yesterday. As the two of them wrapped up their conversation, he couldn't stop the slight smile coming to his face as she requested he be careful.

"I-we will. You be careful too." Jeremy said, mentally kicking himself for fumbling the way he did as he hung up the phone, a heavy sigh escaping his lips as Denise was linking arms with him once again, snickering slightly. "How long were you listening?" he asked, looking to the demon as she gave him a slight shrug.

"Long enough." Denise said, glancing in Ryan's direction before looking back to Jeremy. "He got the message through, but his friends apparently need extra convincing about what's happening. According to him they're outside loading up a van, so before the poor sap starts begging, I figure we could help him out." she said, watching as the young hunter gave the man in question a skeptical look before looking back towards the demon.

"We can't risk any of his friends saying anything about what they saw, so we should probably go with him. If anything happens, Bella and Stefan are already on their way here." Jeremy said, saying the last part loud enough for Denise to hear. With that, the pair walked back over to where Ryan was standing. Keeping her arm linked with the young hunter, she linked arms with the nervous hunter as well before they headed outside. She and the young hunter were unaware of the trap they were walking into, but if she knew what was happening, she would have fed the nervous hunter to her hellhounds in a heartbeat.

Damon couldn't help being curious about the trouble Stefan had roped himself into. He had been more than vague when it came to the details of what happened at the bar. He assumed it was safe to say that Bella and Jeremy walked way unscathed by Denise, but when his brother quickly left the next day, he knew he had to follow him. Sure enough, he watched as his brother and the blonde vampire made their way to the Best Western. Naturally he thought that the two of them had other intentions in mind when venturing into the drab hotel, but as he hung back to wait and see what happened, he narrowed his eyes as he watched a group of hunters eventually start blocking off the entrance.

'Oh little brother. The things I do to save your ass.' Damon thought to himself, using his stealth to sneak toward the entrance, rolling his eyes once he was close enough to listen to what one of the hunters said to Bella and Stefan. Had he still been human, he was sure his eye roll would have been hard enough to snap his own neck, but rather than focus on those details, he knew he had to do something. Before anything else could be done, in the blink of an eye, he was standing behind two of the hunters there, using his strength to punch through their spine and close his hands around their hearts.

"You guys talk way too much." Damon said before he quickly yanked out their hearts, watching as the two hunters in question fell to the floor. While still having the hearts in his hands, he couldn't help shooting a cheeky smile in Bella and Stefan's directions. "Bells, brother. Time to put playtime on pause and take care of these rednecks hmmm?" he asked, his sights turning on the hunters as their attention was how shifted to him. Before any of them could react, he had dropped the hearts in his hands before he stood in front of one of the other hunters, savagely biting into his neck. He was sure that his brother and the blonde vampire would take care of the other hunters, but once the mess was taken care of, he was going to want to know exactly what was going on here.

 

[Saltwater Bound]

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When the silence was broken by two hunters falling to the floor and Damon popping up behind them with a big grin on his face, Bella thought her jaw was going to hit the floor too. Oh my god – Damon Salvatore to the rescue. She looked to her side; Stefan clearly hadn’t seen that coming either. As the other hunters turned to face the vampire who was still holding their buddies’ hearts, Bella and Stefan both snapped out of it and started tearing into the other hunters. Bella knocked one to the ground, biting down on his neck so hard that she didn’t even have to check to know that he was a goner. Stefan’s eyes turned the same crimson red as the aforementioned hunter’s neck, and he started ripping out hearts left and right. Barely a minute later the last hunter fell, with now Bella popping up behind him as she held a bloody heart as well. She shook her head, dropping it with a wrinkled nose.

“Okay, so either of you, c’mon.” Damon wiped his hands on the plaid shirt of one of the hunters closest to him. “What the hell is this mess that I had to fix for you?”

Now Bella’s jaw did drop to the floor. “What the – are you for real?” She wildly gestured at the dead bodies around them. “This is your freaking mess! This is exactly what I told you would happen thanks to your stupid list! And now you made me kill!”

“Oh, boohoo. Afraid that human boytoy will judge you now?”

Stefan quickly grabbed Bella’s arm before she could launch herself at Damon and the body count would go up even more. “Damon,” he said warningly.

Bella glared at Damon and turned to Stefan. “If they were waiting for us, they were definitely waiting for the actual demon they’re looking to catch. Holiday Inn, now. Screw reversing the compulsion – clearly, the cat is out of the bag on supernatural beings,” Bella added, pulling Stefan away from the receptionist and towards the car.

After more of her nerve-wracking and yet somehow still sexy teasing, Ryan slowly exhaled from relief when the demon seemed to believe his story about needing her to talk more sense into his buddies. He nodded when she went to get the human who was with her. For a moment, he wondered how the hell that even happened. How do people become friends with these creatures? Why? Doesn’t this guy realize they can rip his heart out without breaking a sweat? That they live on actual human blood? And that was just freaking vampires – he didn’t even know what horrors actual demons were capable of.

The pair of them linked arms and came his way, and Ryan nodded again before turning around to lead them outside. He nervously wiped the sweat from his forehead as he headed into the small roofed parking lot, painfully aware of how close the demon was walking behind him. If she realized it was a trap… oh, god. Ryan bit his lip and kept a steady pace, relieved that she could only see his back.

They reached the van, and it took every ounce of self control Ryan had not to look up at the ceiling, where he knew the hunters had drawn the sigil. The two biggest guys were standing by the back of the van, as they’d discussed beforehand, pretending to load in the last piece of luggage; another was already in the driver’s seat. Thank the lord that clairvoyance did not appear to be a demonic power.

As soon as the beautiful black-haired girl stepped into the devil’s trap, seven hunters stood up from their hiding places behind the surrounding cars, all aiming rifles at the demon and her human friend. “DO NOT MOVE IF YOU WANT TO LIVE!” the two guys by the van barked in unison as they grabbed Denise and slammed handcuffs with another devil’s trap on her. Simultaneously, the armed hunters closed in on Jeremy, handcuffed him as well and shoved both of them into the vehicle. “GO!” they barked again as they all jumped in and shut the doors; the driver immediately tore out of the garage, leaving only Ryan behind.



And just as the van left the garage, Stefan’s Porsche pulled up; in the blink of an eye Stefan saw plaid and enough guns for a small nation and he immediately turned his car around. “We’re not fast enough in this thing,” he said grimly as he chased the vehicle in front of them, glancing at Bella.

Bella simply nodded; Stefan slammed the breaks, they jumped out and in a matter of seconds, Bella and Stefan were standing on the small country road, blocking the van. The large vehicle slowly came to a halt and they walked up to it. Bella placed her bloody hands on the hood and stared at the hunters behind the glass. “Let them go or end up like your friends,” she said. “Now.”

The hunter on the front passenger seat gestured something to the others in the back of the van; suddenly, a familiar face appeared and the hunter in the front put his gun to Jeremy’s head. “Move, or he’ll be even more dead than you are. Yeah, that’s what I thought,” he added as the little color she had left drained from Bella’s face.

They were behind glass and metal; there was nothing she could do that took less time than pulling a trigger. Staring at Jeremy, Bella took a step back and to the side; so did Stefan. The van started moving again, and Stefan started cursing as soon as they were out of earshot. “I didn’t even see Denise – who knows what they’ve done to her. What do we do now?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Damon’s voice piped up behind them. As soon as both eyes were on him, the older brother smirked, his hand firmly placed on the neck of another guy in plaid. “This is Ryan, and he’s going to tell us exactly where they’re taking our beloved friends.”

 

[Insanity Awakened 18]

Damon wasn't sure what was happening to Denise and Jeremy. If they were being taken anywhere like the place he had been experimented on, something told him he didn't want to know. Once he got back to the Salvatore Manor with Bella and Stefan, however, he knew that was something they would have to get out of Ryan. "Oh don't you worry. This will hurt you a lot more than it will hurt me." he said as he smirked down at the nervous hunter. After tying him down to a chair, he was sure that they wouldn't be able to compel the information out of him. With that in mind, he left their pathetic hunter tied up to one side of the room as he walked over to where his brother and the blonde vampire stood, crossing his arms in front of himself.

"So, how do you two want to do this. Its pretty obvious what method I want to use, but we wouldn't be able to find Denise or Jeremy that way." Damon said with a slightly cheeky grin. "I guess all that's left to figure out is who should try to get information out of him first." he continued, letting his gaze shift towards Ryan for a moment, a smirk playing on his lips before looking back to Bella and Stefan. The only reason he was involved in this was because Jeremy was Elena's little brother, and if she found out what happened, he had no doubts that she would flip her shit. Not to mention Denise was the one who got his brother out of his Ripper phase in the first place, so the faster they got their information to help the two, the better all of this would be.

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Jeremy had been just as shocked as Denise was when Ryan ended up luring the two of them into a trap. The two of them remained still, however, as the handcuffs were put on them and they were shoved into the back of a van. After everyone jumped into the van, the young hunter had managed to wedge himself between the demon and the others. He knew that the both of them were clearly outnumbered, and considering the two of them were defenseless, he couldn't let something happen to her. They were here for her after all, so he would try to keep her safe until they got to where they were going. Even with that in mind, however, that didn't stop the demon from being a bit of a smart ass.

"Don't you guys think the handcuffs are a bit much? I mean I guess I could see some of you being into that, but it still won't stop me from hurting any of you if you aren't careful." Denise said with a cheeky smile. Without so much as a warning, one of them pulled out a bottle of holy water and had been about to splash her in the face. Before any of them could react, Jeremy found himself moving slightly more in front of the demon as the van slowed down before stopping completely. He wasn't sure if they reached their destination, but if they had, he had a plan to try and give the demon a chance in escaping. What he didn't expect was to be pulled to the front of the van with a gun held to his head. He wasn't sure why they thought this was necessary, but as soon as his gaze fell on Bella, his eyes widened slightly. He was grateful to see that she was alright, but as he watched her step to the side, he felt his heart sink before he was pushed to the back of the van once again.

"We're going to be alright. Bella and Stefan will come for us." Jeremy said in a low tone as he was sitting beside the demon once again. The demon beside him shifted slightly, glaring at the handcuffs on her wrists before turning her head towards him.

"They'll be coming for you, little Jerbear. If this van is headed where I think it is, only one of us has a chance of making it out of this." Denise whispered to him, warily looking to the hunters that were surrounding them. She suspected that they might try to convince Jeremy to join their lumberjack dream team, but she knew that they would want to keep a close eye on her. Especially if they were looking to conduct experiments on demons like herself. Either way she knew that she'd try and make sure that the young hunter next to her got out of this alive.

 

[Saltwater Bound]

“Let’s just try good cop, bad cop, and if that doesn’t work, I will go full vampire on his ass,” Bella said, her impatience palpable. “Klaus and the others are getting the first flight out, and I want to be able to leave as soon as they get here.” Bella had called her old friend and explained everything: from the supernatural hit list to the group of hunters infamous for kidnapping, torturing and experimenting. As soon as she got to the part where two of them had actually already been kidnapped – one of which a freaking demon – Klaus had interrupted her. We’re on our way, love. Text me your address so Bekah can dump her without a doubt unnecessary amount of luggage. Despite the fact that Bella knew perfectly well what Klaus was capable of, as a friend, he was beyond loyal.

And she’d never forget all that he had done for her after the accident that turned her.

“Ready?” Stefan asked, interrupting her train of thought.

Bella nodded and they headed over to the hunter together. “Look, I get it,” she said, interlacing her fingers as she looked down on Ryan with a smile. “You were raised to think a certain way, and that’s why you do what you do. But now you need to cut the crap, act like a human with some freaking humanity and tell me where my friends are, or I swear to God I will rip your head off!”

“Guess we know who’s going with bad cop,” Damon muttered.

Stefan forced a smile on his face. “Okay, Ryan, breathe. Calm down man, c’mon,” he said with a deep sigh, patting the young guy – who seemed to be on a verge of a full-fledged panic attack – on the back. “What my friend here forgot to include in that deal was that we’ll protect you from any blowback from your hunter buddies. We won’t tell anyone it was you. Additionally, if you tell us where they are, you get a plane ticket, enough money to last you at least ten years…“

“And you get to keep your head,” Bella reminded him.

Stefan’s smile, now more genuine, widened. “And you get to keep your head,” he confirmed. “So what do you say?” Stefan continued as his eyes darkened, his fangs grew visible and he leaned in. “Are you going for option A: lose your head, or option B: keep your head and get a handsome reward? Please note that we will decide for you if you don’t make a choice in three, tw—”

“Oh my God, fine, I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you!” Ryan cried out.

Bella flashed both brothers a grin. “Let’s wrap this up so we can start working on our rescue mission.”






Later that day, when all traces of Ryan were gone and the sun was setting, the Salvatore boarding house once again seemed like an actual boarding house – although back in the old days, the guests probably weren’t quite as loud and outwardly opinionated.

“Can you stop suggesting different ways of mass murder? No matter how great the concept is, in this case we’re trying to get people out alive,” Damon interrupted one of the aforementioned guests, crossing his arms as he glared at Kol; the Mikaelson merely rolled his eyes, crossed his arms and managed to lean back into the couch even more. “We can’t just ‘torch the place’ or ‘smoke them out and start biting.’”

“Thank you, Damon,” Bella said a little unsure, mostly due to the fact that she never thought that particular combination of words would ever leave her lips. “So, to go back to what we were discussing before Kol started sharing his morbid ideas – Stefan and I went to check out the address from afar and it’s a freaking fortress. Security is insane. Checks at the gate and at the door, and if there are that many guards outside, then there’s going to be a ton of them inside as well.”

Klaus smirked. “While I’ve generally experienced that people around here respond best to violence, it does sound like we have got to get creative in this particular instance. Truly creative, since I wager to guess that very few witches will be lining up to help us free a demon.”

Bella pointed at Klaus with both index fingers and nodded. “Exactly. So my idea is as follows: we go to the local hospital to get lab coats, credentials and some clipboards; then to the store for some phony glasses. Then we go in – as neurobiologists hired to experiment on vampire brains.” The smirk that was now lighting up Kol’s face told her that he was about to open his mouth again, and Bella held up her hand. “My husband was a neuroscientist, a talkative one. I still know enough to convince anyone who isn’t actually a neuroscientist themselves,” she said, and Kol once again sank back into the couch. “Either way – we say that we’re there for brains to study back at our university, where we have the correct equipment. Then, hopefully, they won’t make a fuss when we leave with two body bags.”

“I like it,” Klaus said as he stood up. “It’s especially appropriate as I could talk my way out of hell, and should that skill fail me today, then I’m still the most powerful being in the world. Do I assume correctly that once we have found your friends, no one will object to me killing anyone standing between us and freedom?” He looked only at Bella; after all, the other person joining them on their mission was the Ripper of Monterey.

Bella bit her lip as she recalled the look in Jeremy’s eyes when she had to step aside and he was pushed back to the back of the van. “Yes. No objections.”

 

[Insanity Awakened 18]

xxx

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Jeremy knew that Bella and Stefan would come up with something to get Denise and him out of this situation. At the same time, however, he knew that he couldn't rely on the two of them to do all the work. He would have to work together with the demon to get them out of the facility they were brought to as well. The moment they reached the building in question she had tried to give him an opening to use in which to escape, which only resulted in getting doused with holy water and they ended up catching him anyway. After they were brought into the building, the two of them were separated almost immediately. While he didn't want to think about where they were taking the demon, he was brought to a separate holding cell, being told he would stay there until he could 'calm down' and speak to the man in charge. At least he didn't have to worry about the handcuffs anymore, but as soon as he was left on his own, he started to scan the room he was in.

The cell Jeremy was left in was similar to that of a college dorm room. It had a single bed with a dresser and a nightstand. Other than that the room itself was rather plain. After doing a sweep of the room, he didn't find anything that would be able to get him out of there. There was nothing he could really use to force his way out of there when they came to check on him either. Not to mention there were bars on the window as well, so that option was out. Even if the bars hadn't been there, from what he could see, he was at least three stories up. Unless he had something to lower himself to the ground, that option was out as well. As much as he hated to do so, he would either have to wait for Bella and Stefan to show up or think of a way to talk himself out of this. Either way, he knew one thing for sure; he couldn't leave this place without trying to get Denise out of there too.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
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The room that Denise had been left it wasn't anywhere close to the room that Jeremy was left in. There was a single bed, but nothing else. Not to mention there was a huge devil's trap on the ceiling which prevented her from escaping. Not only that, but they had opted to leave her handcuffs on her. She had attempted to get them off herself, and after letting out an irritated sigh, she made her way over to the cell door, knocking on it a few times. "The handcuffs were cute at first, but I think I'm ready to get these damn things off." she said, pausing for a moment before she knocked again. "I know you can hear me out there." she added, only to be ignored a second time. After letting out a slight huff, she kicked the door slightly before walking over to the bed, laying down on her back so she was facing the ceiling. She wasn't sure how she was going to get out of this, and despite the fact that she was very outnumbered, she wasn't about to let them experiment on her.

​

Damon wasn't thrilled about the plan that they had come up with. Granted he wasn't the one that would be infiltrating the scary looking fortress, but Bella, Stefan and Klaus were. He had nothing against the blonde vampire tagging along with his brother, but considering the other caused his brother to go on a Ripper bender, this is what caused him to be on edge about this entire rescue mission. If anything he would prefer that his brother stay out of it while the older vampires get their hands dirty. Much to his dismay, he knew he wouldn't be able to sway his brother to change his mind. While he wouldn't be storming the fortress with the others, however, he would make sure to stay out of sight along with Kol and Rebecca. Just in case something happened to where any of the others needed back up.

"You know, you still have a chance of backing out of this baby brother. I mean can you even pronounce half of the geeky terms that Bells needs you to tell the others anyway?" Damon asked, letting out a slight huff as he ran a hand over his face. "All I'm saying is that Denise might be a lost cause. Of course we want to get Jerbear out of there safe and sound, but for all we know they could be experimenting on her right now. I say put your focus into finding the little Gilbert and then hightailing it out of there." he added with a slight shrug. He knew that he owed the demon for helping his brother out of his Ripper phase, but he didn't want his brother to possibly get himself killed for her. She was a demon after all, so if anything she could just ghost into the next person that she found in Mystic Falls...right? Either way, if it came down to it and they had to safe one, it had to be the younger Gilbert.

​

 

[Saltwater Bound]

Stefan looked at his brother and shook his head. “You and I both know we owe Denise. She saved me. She spared you when you threw her under the bus the moment the first person started asking questions about your list, and she teamed up with us when we went after the hunters.”

“Wow. You could almost argue that it should be Damon in that cell, not a hot demon girl,” Kol said thoughtfully as he got up. “Maybe if things go awry, we can just offer a swap.” He grinned, and by the way both Stefan and Rebekah’s lips curled up, they seemed to like the idea as well.

“I sincerely doubt they will be willing to trade a demon for a run-of-the-mill vampire,” Klaus noted. “Also, I do believe he is to be our getaway driver,” he added.

Exasperated, Bella spread her arms. “Stefan is coming, we're getting Jeremy and Denise out, and Damon is our getaway driver, so stop pissing him off. Let’s go!”

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-​

After running all necessary errands to make their story as believable as possible, Klaus, Stefan and Bella headed towards the gates surrounding the facility. Bella walked in front, wearing a lab coat, a lanyard with an ID from the university hospital, stern glasses and an equally stern look. The first round of guards had let them through after they flashed their stolen IDs, but judging by the fact that said guards had started talking into a walkie-talkie as soon as they passed, they suspected a more serious check would commence the moment they set foot in the building. And they were right.

“Who are you and why are you here?” one of the angry-looking guards barked from behind a desk.

Bella held up the ID that now showed her picture. “Alison Fields, neurobiologist from the University of Richmond. The lab authorized a transfer of two cadavers tO study the molecular composition of myelinated axons in the white matter, to be executed in our lab. I’m here with my colleagues to pick up said cadavers.” She looked at him expectantly. He stared back at her, now a glint of uncertainty in his eyes. Bella sighed, feigning annoyance. “You study the undead. I study brains. I was asked by your superiors to study their brains, and since putting live vampires in an MRI has led to bloodbaths before, this is how I will study their brains for you.”

The guard seemed more doubtful, but not entirely convinced. “Look, lady—”

“It's Doctor Fields,” Bella snapped. “I am a world renowned scientist and you will address me as such. And I came all the way here after a long day at work because your boss wants to have the results by Monday. But by all means, if you don’t believe me, go ahead. Call him about my clearance. Bother him on his one precious night away from this depressing dump and let’s just see what happens to your clearance.”

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-​

As they headed down a long bare corridor, away from the guards, it took Klaus about three seconds after they were out of earshot to start laughing. “Oh my God. I am a world renowned scientist and you will address me as such. That was amazing. If lounging about in your yoga pants ever gets old, you should look into acting, love.” He grinned at her as she sent him a begrudgingly amused look, and they continued walking until they ran into an elevator and a staircase – and a floor plan, depicted on the wall that was now in front of them. Perfect.

Klaus stared at it for a while, studying the layout of the facility. “This place is larger than most of my mansions combined, so unfortunately we have no choice but to split up. The morgue is downstairs, as to be expected – let’s agree to bring your friends there. Escape-wise frankly not too convenient, but making them get into body bags in the middle of the hallway could arise suspicion.” Klaus narrowed his eyes and cocked his head as he studied the floor plan for any hints regarding who could possibly be where. “I’ll go downstairs. Those small cubes look like cells,” Klaus finally said, tapping the part of the map he was referring to. “Stefan, you start on the second floor and work your way up. Our world renowned scientist can start on the top floor and work her way down.”

Parting ways, Klaus took the stairs to the basement. He passed the morgue without even having to check; his heightened senses were able to confirm that for him. As soon as he started spotting heavy metal doors with keypad locks, Klaus knew he had been right. Cells. He also knew these weren’t the cells where he was going to find Jeremy Gilbert: this was the place for heavyweight monsters. Like him. Or demons.

After listening for any employees, Klaus started going down the cellblock, opening the tray slots of every door to peek inside the dreary rooms. Stefan had extensively described Denise – suspiciously extensive – and he had no doubt that he would recognize her. Fifteen doors in, he smirked as he looked through the small horizontal opening in the door. “Hello, love. On behalf of Stefan and Bella’s rescue mission: my name is Klaus Mikaelson, and I’m here to get you back to Mystic Falls. Even that bloody town is an improvement over this,” he added as he glanced around the cell. Then, Klaus’ eyes met hers, and he instantly looked more serious. “I suspect kicking down the door will set off the alarms, so I am going to need you to make some serious noise. As soon as they come check on you and open the door, I will be right behind them, and we will get out of here.” Klaus gave her a nod, closed the food slot back up and retreated into the shadows of the next corridor, waiting for his prey.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-​

After two floors filled with offices – all desks, computers, and fake plants – Bella walked down the next flight of stairs with a sigh. But as soon as she stepped out onto the third floor, her eyes widened at the endless rows of barred doors. Bella quickened her pace, passing door after door, all with empty cells behind them. Oh, God. What if Denise was already strapped in a chair? What if they’d decided to branch out to human experiments? Before her brain could come up with any other horrifying thoughts, she spotted movement in a cell to her left and carefully approached the barred door.

Relief washed over her the moment Bella saw him through the bars. “Oh my God, finally.” Despite the still pretty gloomy situation, she smiled, dimples on her cheeks, as she looked up at Jeremy. Trying to stay with the program, Bella then quickly took off her phony glasses, stuffed them in her lab coat and checked out the lock. Easy peasy. “Luckily, you learn some stuff through the centuries,” Bella muttered as she pulled a couple of bobby pins from her ponytail and got to work. The next moment, Bella was inside the cell with him. “Okay, first things first – are you okay?” Bella asked as she inquisitively looked Jeremy up and down for any signs of needing vampire blood. “Second, long story short: Klaus, Stefan and I got in pretending to be neuroscientists and we’re going to get you and Denise out in body bags. Alive,” she added, just in case, “but they need to think that we’re wheeling out dead vampires—”

Suddenly, the distinctive ding of an elevator arriving on its intended floor went off – followed by footsteps that seemed to be getting closer.

Shit. Shit. There was absolutely nowhere to hide. Bella quickly stepped away from Jeremy and pressed herself against the wall besides the door, quietly hoping that she couldn’t be seen through the bars from that angle. And if whoever it was came in… then she’d be in the perfect position to neutralize them.

 

[Insanity Awakened 18]

Jeremy had faith that Bella and the others would be coming for Denise and himself. He had to believe that. Anything was better than thinking about what could possibly be happening to the demon right now. Let alone what might happen to the vampires should these hunters decide to go back for them. As he paced his cell, he was thinking of how he could get out of here and possibly get to the demon. The moment he heard someone approaching, however, he stopped his pacing entirely. He found himself growing tense, having no idea who was on their way to speak to him. He thought that it might be one of the hunters from before, but when he saw who it was, he let out a huge sigh of relief. He found that he had a million questions for her, but rather than bombard her all at once, he waited for her to open the cell first, nodding slightly at her first question.

"Yeah, I'm alright." Jeremy said, double checking Bella for any injuries she might have before listening to her explain how she got there. He was honestly surprised to hear that Klaus was there, but didn't question her as she tried to explain how they would get Denise and himself out of there. The explanation was cut short, however, as he heard someone approaching his cell. He wasn't sure who it was, let alone if they would be able to see the blonde vampire, so he acted quickly. He went and stood in front of the blonde vampire, able to block anyone from seeing her as he crossed his arms in front of himself, looking down the hallway as a woman came to stand outside of his cell, a neutral smile on her face.

"I'd like to apologize about the accommodations. I'm sure you understand the precautions we have to take. Especially considering your associations with them." the woman said, pursing her lips slightly before she continued. "My name is Director Mills. I am here to offer you a choice. Surely you must know how vile these inhuman creatures can be. The purpose for our facility is to give us a chance to study them so that we can understand how to rid the world of them properly, so your choice is this. Work with us, or when we move onto the human experimentation, we'll make sure your name is the first on the list." she said, watching as Jeremy squared his shoulders before he quickly shook his head.

"No way. I can't agree to that. Especially knowing that you plan on experimenting on humans." Jeremy said, watching as the woman let out a heavy sigh.

"Very well. I suppose all your lacking is the proper motivation. We tend to steer away from dealing with too many vampires, but we just happen to know a pair of brothers who would get you to change your mind. Their names being Damon and Stefan, am I correct?" she asked, causing Jeremy to glare at her before she continued. "We'll be dispatching more of our men to locate them. In the meantime, I would reconsider your decision." she said, a curt smile plastering her face before she turned and walked down the hallway once again. He waited until she got onto the elevator again before he looked to Bella, a slight panic in his eyes.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised they know about them. If they know about them though, they might know about you too. If that's the case, we'll need to go somewhere they don't know about and try to lay low and think of a way to shut this place down." Jeremy said. He wasn't sure how or where they would go, but Klaus was really on their side, then maybe he would be able to help them come up with something.

​

Denise lost track of how long she had been in her cell. She had tried to provoke the hunters here on more than one occasion, one of which resulted in her getting a face full of holy water. She had given up since then, but as she went back to laying on the bed, she couldn't help raising an eyebrow as he heard someone approaching her cell. She thought that she might be hearing things, but as she heard the person drawing closer, she let out a sigh of irritation.

"If you boys are coming back for round two, I suggest you hurry up. I may snap your necks if you keep me waiting." Denise said, pausing as she watched the opening to the door slide open, her eyes widened as she knew exactly who she was looking at; Klaus Mikaelson. She heard enough stories from hell and Mystic Falls to know about the things that he did. Not to mention the bender he had forced Stefan on recently. Given his reputation, she couldn't help being surprised that he was there. She should have known that Jeremy was right about the others coming to rescue her and Jerbear. She thought that his plan was a good one, but before she could warn him that it wouldn't work, he had shut the food slot once again. She couldn't help letting out a slight huff as she stood up, trying to flex her still cuffed wrists before making her way over to the door. Well, if she was going to be stuck here, she guessed that one of the very first vampires would make a suitable roommate.

"Come on, what does a lady have to do to get some help around here! I know you can hear me out there!" Denise said, ramming the door with her shoulder a couple of times before she continued. "If you play nice now, I can even agree to look through the contracts boss lady Mills forced you boys into entering with the last demon." she said, listening as some heavy footsteps started to make their way down the hallway. She barely had time to step away from the door before two men opened the door, both of them taking a couple of steps into the room as they glared at her.

"We thought that you would have learned the first time to stop making noise in here." one of them said, causing an innocent look to come to her face as she gave a slight shrug.

"It's stuffy in here with nothing to do. How else am I supposed to get your attention?" Denise asked with a cheeky smile before she continued. "I was being serious earlier though. Try and get me out of here and I can guarantee that your time is extended, Mr. Williams. It runs up tomorrow at noon, doesn't it? What would the wife and kids say knowing that you sold your soul to get them. Boss lady Mills won't be happy to hear about it either." she added, clicking her tongue in mock disappointment as the man in question grabbed her cuffs, yanking on them so the two of them were face to face.

"You don't know what you think you know." he said, shoving her back slightly, a nervous look passing through his eyes before he was glaring at her again. "Keep up that talking and we'll make sure you get sent straight back to hell. From what I hear exorcisms aren't too pleasant on you." he said, watching as the demon in front of him roller her eyes slightly. She wondered exactly how much longer she would have to distract the two hunters in front of her, but when she heard the vampire in question start to make his move, she tried to make some subtle hints towards the devil's trap on the ceiling, trying to tell him that she couldn't escape the room. As entertaining as it might be to have him as a roommate, she would rather get out of there while she still could.

 

[Saltwater Bound]

When the woman left and Jeremy turned to face Bella with a slight panic in his eyes, she looked about as panicked, if not more. It was one thing to protect her friends and herself; they were immortal with supernatural healing abilities. If human experiments were on the agenda, Jeremy’s worries weren’t going to be over when they left the building. Although admittedly, that probably wasn’t going to happen anyway, considering the fact that he seemed hell-bent on being there for vampires and demons. She involuntarily smiled again. Seriously, this guy was too good for this world.

“Yeah, you’re right.” Bella bit her lip, thinking. “What with the risks involved in breaking into a place that experiments on your kind, I already checked Leo into a kitty hotel… just in case.” She didn’t think she had to explicitly say in case of what. “We should get ourselves some rooms too. After all, my name is on that freaking hit list, and clearly they’ve found out who you are.” Bella pulled out her phone and started texting Damon. “A big, anonymous hotel in a city like Richmond should work, at least for tonight. Since Damon the Getaway Driver is just lounging around in his car outside, he might as well make himself useful by booking us some nice suites.”

After putting her phone back into her lab coat and listening for any other people who worked here, Bella slowly and carefully opened the cell door. “Okay. Coast clear. Off to the morgue,” she whispered, gesturing for Jeremy to follow her to the staircase.

Klaus listened to the demon girl with a grin. Sexy, powerful and funny. He would always gladly help Bella out, even if it were just her friends who found themselves in a sticky situation – but now the situation was truly capturing his attention, which didn’t happen often. From his place in the shadows, laying in wait in the next corridor, he could see and hear two men stomping down the hallway to Denise’s cell. They opened the door, stomped in, and Klaus tried to suppress his laughter as the dark-haired demon started ripping into them in ways he would have ripped into them.

Slowly and quietly, Klaus stepped into the hallway and made his way over to the now open metal door. As his shoes hit the doorstep with his gaze trained on the two guards, he could see Denise gesturing something from the corner of his eye, towards the ceiling; something about upstairs? Klaus glanced over his shoulder at the staircase that led to the next floor up, checking to see if there were any other uniformed men headed his way, but no. He flashed her a crooked smirk. “Don’t worry, love. I got this.”

His voice caused the guards to turn around and in mere seconds Klaus was standing in the middle of the cell, ripping out a jugular first and tearing out the other one’s heart simultaneously. He had been ready to remark that they had made this far too bloody easy – but the moment he removed those two quite essential body parts and the men fell to the ground, guns and all, alarms started blaring.

“Well, we’d best go,” Klaus announced dryly, gesturing for Denise to take his hand before he rushed out the door – and slammed straight into an invisible wall. “What the…” He looked around the room, and his eye finally fell on the ceiling. Some kind of sigil. “Oh, bloody hell – you have got to be kidding me.” He turned to Denise and pointed up. “What in the devil’s name is that?”

Right as Bella, Jeremy and Stefan – they ran into the other vampire on the stairs to the second floor, nearly giving Bella a heart attack – walked down the last few steps to the morgue, alarms started blaring. Trying to stay calm, Bella slowly exhaled and listened for any other clues as to what was going on. The first thing she heard was a voice. Klaus! Bella instinctively took Jeremy’s hand to make sure he was close and quickly followed the British accent down the hallway. She abruptly halted before the open cell. “Nik, what the—”

“I’m stuck. You have to go,” Klaus interrupted her. “Bella, this is not up for discussion,” he continued as soon as he saw she was about to open her mouth again. He shook off the lab coat and threw it into the hallway. “Put that on and start running. They’re expecting three scientists in lab coats to be hurrying out right now and I doubt they’ll pay much attention to who’s inside the coats on the way out.”

Stefan took a step closer to the cell while the alarms kept blaring. “But Denise—”

“WE’RE STUCK! WE CANNOT LEAVE!” Klaus bellowed, anger rushing through him as he pounded on the invisible barrier that was between them. “So I need you to grab Bella, grab Jeremy, and go!”

Bella just stared, wide-eyed and with a catch in her breath, while Stefan handed Jeremy the lab coat and started pulling both of them towards the exit.

 

[Insanity Awakened 18]

Jeremy couldn't help being surprised to hear that Damon was there to help them. Even if he was the one who attracted the attention from this facility in the first place, he wasn't the type to put himself in any kind of danger. At least that was what the young Gilbert was accustomed to anyway, but now wasn't the time to think about that. Right now they had to find the others and put Bella's plan into action. It wasn't shortly after they found Stefan and started to head towards the morgue, however, that things took a turn for the worst.

Jeremy couldn't help tensing up as the alarms started blaring throughout the building, but as soon as Bella took a hold of his hand, he found himself gripping her hand as they raced down a nearby hallway. He wasn't sure what was causing Klaus to be stuck in the room, but even he knew better than to argue with the hybrid. As much as he didn't want to leave either of them in this place, unless they wanted to be stuck here too, they had to leave.

"Come on Bella, we've got to go. I promise we'll come back for them." Jeremy said to Bella, taking a hold of her hand once again after he tugged on the lab coat. He cast one last look in Denise and Klaus' direction before he turned to leave the facility with Stefan and the blonde vampire. Getting outside had been easier than he thought. Hardly anyone paid attention to him and the others as they evacuated the building. He took that as a good thing, so rather than call attention to themselves, they hurried so that they could meet Damon at the getaway car. It was only after everyone had piled into the car and the vampire in question started driving towards Richmond, he did a quick headcount of the people in the car before casting a look towards his brother.

"You guys seem to be one demon and one hybrid short. I thought you were all about saving the hot demon girl since we both owe her." Demon said with a slight smirk, glancing towards the backseat as the young Gilbert chimed in.

"We had to leave. The facility was going on lock down and something was stopping them from leaving the cell Denise was in." Jeremy said, deciding to leave out the part about the facility conducting human experimentation as the vampire in the driver's seat let out a heavy sigh.

"Well, it was nice knowing them I guess. Now that they have a demon and a hybrid, I doubt they are going to want to let either one of them go. I hope you all were able to say your goodbyes while you could." Damon said, having no intentions of going back there. All he did was offer his services as their getaway driver, but something told him if they tried to go back for Denise or Klaus, then none of them would be able to get away a second time.

Denise had thought that Klaus would notice her subtle warning. Alas, that didn't appear to be the case. She even gestured for him to stop, but in the blink of an eye, he had killed the two guards that were standing in front of her. While she was grateful to avoid another face full of holy water or getting a painful trip back to hell, now she and the hybrid in front of her had other problems to deal with. As he went running straight into the invisible wall separating them from the rest of the facility, she took a moment to search the guards for keys to her cuffs, glancing in his direction once she was able to find them.

"That is a devil's trap. One that I tried to warn you about before you tore into dumb and dumber here." Denise said, freeing herself from the handcuffs before watching Bella, Jeremy and Stefan were standing in front of the opened cell. She was irritated that she was still stuck in the cell, but there was nothing Klaus or she could do about it now. She watched the group as they reluctantly left, and it wasn't until they were out of sight that she went back over to the guards, now trying to come up with a backup plan to get her and the hybrid out of there.

"Well, might as well make yourself comfortable. We aren't going to be leaving here anytime soon. Not unless you can jump up there and break the damn circle anyway." Denise said, nodding towards the devil's trap on the ceiling as she took one of the handguns off one of the guards, double checking to see how many bullets were in there - if any - before stowing the weapon into a back pocket of hers. She wasn't sure if it would work, but Klaus and she had any chance of getting out of there, she was willing to try anything. After she nudged the bodies to one side of the cell with her foot, she leaned against a nearby wall next to the still open cell door, letting her gaze settle on the hybrid fully.

"Thank you for trying to get me out of here. Probably should have been a little more subtle able the devil's trap on the ceiling, but at least you tried. Can't say I'm disappointed about what happened to Tweedledee and Tweedledum either." Denise said, a grin making its way onto her face. She hadn't seen anything like that since Stefan was still in his Asshole Phase. Only Klaus hadn't ripped the heads off of either of the guards completely. It still made a mess in the cell, but at least she wouldn't have to worry about either of the guards threatening her again while they were stuck there.

 

[Saltwater Bound]

After getting into the car, Stefan had held out hope that Damon wouldn’t make jokes – but of course, that’s exactly what his older brother did. He stayed quiet and simply rolled his eyes, knowing that opening his mouth, and subsequently having to listen to Damon’s so-called witty comebacks, would only lead to more anger. And with Denise stuck in a cell, he really wasn’t in the mood. Additionally, Klaus now being there with her was both a relief and something that bothered him endlessly.

Bella sat on the backseat in silence as well, except she was only vaguely aware of who was talking and whether or not they were being witty. Both her arms and legs crossed, she blankly stared out the window. Klaus was stuck in that freaking place because of her, because she decided to call him and pull him into this mess, and the more she tried to think of ways to get him out, the more her eyes started to sting. Because she couldn’t think of anything that would hold up.

“So, Bells, you’ll be happy to hear that I booked us a sweet hotel,” Damon interrupted her train of thought. “Kol and Sexy Bex are going to meet us there – they drove back to Mystic Falls to get their baggage. I asked them to pick up some stuff for us too, so you’re welcome.”

Bella flashed him a tired smile. “Great. Thanks.”

Damon glanced in the rear view mirror with a frown due to the lack of response. “Okay, well, you will be even happier to hear that I got us adjoining suites, so we can all visit each other at any time. Like a sleepover! I heard you used to have a lot of sleepovers with Kol, so I figured—hey!” he complained, shooting forward as Bella kicked the back of his seat. “Damn. You try to do something nice for somebody,” Damon continued in a dark mutter, shaking his head with a grin still on his face as he pulled up at a large Hilton Hotel.

They headed inside and walked up to reception; as soon as the lady handed Damon the keycards, Bella immediately plucked one from his hands. “I’m going to listen to every sad song I’ve ever downloaded, on repeat,” she informed him when Damon raised his eyebrows at her, “so I can get all of my feelings out of my system and then fully focus on how I’m going to get Klaus and Denise out.” After getting Klaus in, the nagging voice in her head reminded her. She flashed Jeremy, Stefan and Damon another smile – probably not one of her most convincing ones – before turning around and making her way to her suite, where she let herself fall back on the first bed she saw, temporarily wondering why in the hell Damon got them rooms with more than one bed in the first place. Bella sighed. Oh well. Not her credit card.

“Well, that is unfortunate. Over a thousand years, traveling the farthest regions of the Earth, and yet somehow I never encountered that,” Klaus said. His gaze followed Bella, Stefan and Jeremy out the door, and his annoyance over the inconvenient sigil was temporarily interrupted by the relief he felt that Bella, possibly one of the most stubborn people he had ever met, had actually listened to him. Or maybe the Gilbert kid telling her they had to leave had been the deciding factor. After all, she only wanted to go in here for him and the demon. To Klaus’ recollection she never dated a human before, but who knows. Perhaps Bekah’s bad habits and poor life choices had finally rubbed off on her.

Klaus followed Denise’s example and leaned down to take one of the men’s guns as well. Despite their current predicament, he smirked when the beautiful demon girl thanked him. “You’re very welcome – I’m quite sorry that I didn’t succeed. I’ve always been curious about demons and the powers your kind has. And hell, of course. I can only imagine how legendary I am down there.” He stepped around the bodies that she’d nudged to one side of the cell and leaned back against the opposite side of the wall. After cocking his gun and aiming it at the open door just in case guards decided to recklessly storm in, Klaus looked back up at Denise.

“So since we’re to be roommates for the foreseeable future, tell me, love – what are some of the things that actual demons from hell can do? I’m especially interested in the things that I can’t,” he added. Unfortunately, before he could share any of his skills that he was particularly proud of, the alarms stopped completely, and the silence was immediately filled by an eerie, almost robotic female voice speaking over an intercom.

“Attention, intruder. Our thermal sensors have informed us that you are located in the basement, sharing a cell with inmate 1895.”

Klaus raised his eyebrows at Denise. “Do you think that means there have been 1894 before you?”

“As you have made no attempt to leave, we can only imagine you are also affected by the devil’s trap, and would therefore also be a valuable test subject. We ask both of you to surrender by laying down on the floor with your hands on your heads. As soon as you comply, a task force will come in to handle the situation on the ground. Thank you.”

Klaus smirked. “Probably fairly telling that they didn’t care to mention what would happen if we didn’t comply. What do you think, love? To listen or not to listen?”

 

[Insanity Awakened 18]

Jeremy couldn't help being worried about Bella. He had been hoping that Damon would keep his comments to himself as well, but alas, that wouldn't be the case. He highly doubted that he was that concerned about Denise and Klaus being left behind, but as his gaze went to the blonde vampire, he could tell that it was weighing heavily on her mind. What was it that they had used to keep them from leaving the cell? Would they be able to go back for them? What would happen to the demon and the hybrid once they found out what they tried to do? He tried not to let his mind wander to a dark place, and as he continued to tune out the older Salvatore's voice, he reached over and placed a comforting hand over one of hers, only moving his hand back to his side once they had reached the hotel.

Jeremy stood with Damon and Stefan as the former gathered up the key cards for their suites, his gaze moving to Bella as she quickly grabbed hers. He wasn't sure if the others caught onto what she said, but he couldn't help giving her a slight look of concern when she said she would be getting them out. She wouldn't think about storming the place on her own, would she? He hoped that wouldn't be the case, but as he returned her unconvincing smile with a small one of his own, he looked to the older Salvatore as he started sharing the key cards with the others. At this point the young Gilbert figured that the blonde vampire wanted to be on her own, but with the overwhelming concern he had for her, he found himself going towards her room before he could stop himself.

Jeremy made sure to ditch the lab coat in his own room, finding himself thinking along the same lines as Bella about the beds before he made his way over to her room. He had made sure to knock first, not sure if she would hear him over the music before making his way in. "Hey. I know you probably want to be on your own for a while, but I wanted to check on you and see how you were doing." he said, giving Bella a small smile before walking over to the other bed, having a seat, eventually letting the silence overcome the room once again. He could hear the others, mostly Damon, trying to distract everyone from what happened at the facility. From what he could hear he was glad to not be involved in that conversation, but as his mind wandered back to the building they had just escaped from, he let his gaze waver towards the blonde vampire once again.

"You aren't thinking about going back for them on your own, are you?" Jeremy asked, the look of concern coming to his face once again. "I'm sorry that we had to leave without them. I think we'd all be worse off if we stuck around." he said, rubbing the back of his neck before he continued. "I'm not sure how we're going to get them out, but if you are serious about going on your own, you know I'd end up following you." he added, the hint of a smile coming to his face. There was no way he was going to let her go back to such a dangerous place by herself. He knew that she would be capable of defending herself, but he wasn't willing to risk her being locked up and possibly experimented on.

Denise gave a slight shrug at Klaus' apology, not minding that this turned out to be a bust. It was irritating to not be out of the cell, but hey, at least she had some interesting company now. She hadn't met too many people that were curious about demons and what they could do, but as he mused about how legendary he must be in hell, she couldn't stop the grin from growing on her face. "Oh, you have no idea. With how much the others talk about you, it's almost as if they expect you to come visiting at any time." she told him. When she had first heard about him she had been skeptical, bu the more the others talked about him, the more she wanted to see if she could encounter the hybrid face to face. That was the whole reason she had set up business in Mystic Falls. Of course, she had ended up running it the Salvatore brothers first, and while they did make for good company, she couldn't help being in slight awe that she was was finally speaking to the hybrid she heard so much about.

Denise was interested to hear all the things that Klaus to do so she could fill him in on her skills before their conversation was interrupted. A look of amusement came to her face when they addressed her as inmate 1895, shaking her head slightly as she got ready for the 'task force' that would be rolling in. "No way they'd risk damaging their 'valuable' test subjects. I'd say we give the task force a warm welcome." she said with a grin. She wasn't sure how many people would be in this said task force, but between the hybrid and herself, she was sure that they'd be able to take them. Based on the footsteps she could hear making their way to her cell she'd say that there were at least four of them, and as they got closer, she moved so that she was standing next to the hybrid, watching as two of them had guns aimed at them while the others stood behind them.

"Drop your weapons and put your hands in the air!" one of them shouted, causing her to throw a sideways glance to the hybrid before looking back to them, letting out a light snort.

"I see boss lady Mills still hasn't you boys how to use any manners. Say please and we might think about it." Denise said with a grin. She knew that they wouldn't risk hurting Klaus or herself, but she couldn't pass up the opportunity to mess with them. She could tell that the guards were thinking about their next move as well, so as the two turned to talk quietly to the others, she turned her gaze towards the hybrid. "This task force is kind of a let down if you ask me." she said, her gaze wandering towards the ceiling for a moment, coming up with an idea. If they could somehow lure one of them in here, they could use them to break the devil's trap and they would be home free, but as she looked back to the task force still standing in front of the cell, maybe the hybrid would help her come up with something to really rile them up.

 

[Saltwater Bound]

​

Bella pulled one of her headphones out when she heard someone knocking on her door, and the other one as well when she saw who it was. As Jeremy entered the ridiculously huge suite and sat down on the bed next to her, Bella quickly patted her eyes dry with her sleeves and smiled back at him — more genuine this time, dimples and all. “Thanks for checking up on me. Frankly, I’m glad you’re here. Feeling bad isn’t going to get Klaus and Denise out of there. And I don’t know if people told you this before, but you make staying negative kinda hard,” Bella admitted with a small smile, thinking of all the kind things he’d done in the span of only a few days.

She sat up and brushed a few strands of blonde hair out of her face as she positioned herself on the bed opposite of Jeremy, facing him. “And if there’s anyone I would want to come along with me, it’s you. But you heard them about you being their first candidate for human experimentation if you wouldn’t help, and Klaus is already stuck in there because of me. I know all we could do is leave, but...” Bella shook her head. “He was only there to begin with because I asked him to. I’m gonna need a longer playlist of sad songs if the same thing happens to you.”

With a sigh Bella got up, took two tiny bottles of booze from the mini fridge, sat down next to Jeremy and handed him the tiny bourbon. “So, yes, I was thinking about going alone. However, considering the fact that we met when you were hiding in my closet because you wanted to kill a vampire to protect others, I've come to realize I’m not gonna be able to stop you from helping. Just — promise me that you’ll look out for number one in there. And that we’ll think of a really good plan.” She was about to clink her tiny bottle to his when her phone buzzed.

Bella frowned when seeing Damon texted her a link to a CNN article. “Oh, holy crap.” She held the screen up to Jeremy’s face, showing security camera footage of Stefan, Jeremy and her exiting the facility. “Who the hell are these people that they got freaking CNN to tell the world that we broke in? And how are we going to get take-out without getting recognized?” Her eyes widened. “No — how am I going to get blood now? Something tells me that breaking into a bloodbank is gonna make things worse.”

Klaus didn’t think it was possible, but his smirk turned even wider. Well, I’ll be damned. A bloody legacy down in hell. “And here I’ve been trying to rule the French Quarter in New Orleans, while I clearly should’ve been aiming higher. Well, lower, but you get me.” Almost instinctively, he looked down at the concrete door with a curious look on his face before looking back up at Denise. “After all this is over, let’s give the people down there what they want and go for a visit. I was never able to build myself a following out of my hybrids, but an army of demons would be even better.”

When she mentioned how the taak force of the facility would never risk damaging their precious research subjects, he nodded. “Cute and clever. You’re right — and they especially would not dare to mess with the opportunity to experiment on a bloody demon and the original hybrid.”

As said task force arrived — four men, by the looks of it, standing in pairs of two — Klaus gave her another nod. “I could not agree with you more, Denise. Is this boss lady Mills just sending people whom she doesn’t feel like firing to their deaths? Because if so, I would be more than happy to oblige.” With his vampire speed, it took less than a second for Klaus to move from the farthest wall to right in front of the men, by the door.

“Eeny, meeny... miney, mo...” Klaus pointed his handgun at each of the members of the taskforce in his line of sight, directly at their heads.

“Drop the damn weapon, monster!” the man of the left repeated their earlier shouting, but now with more than a hint of fear in his voice.

Which was entirely justified, because the second those words left his mouth, Klaus lowered his voice and shot him in the leg. “You’re it,” he added with a gleeful grin as the man started screaming; Klaus immediately jumped back to the back of the cell, right in front of Denise, shielding her from whatever their retalliation was going to be. As expected, the other three stormed the cell, presumably to take away their guns. And of course, Klaus was expecting them to do exactly that. He stomped two in the stomach so hard that they doubled over, moaning loudly; Klaus took away their guns and handed them over to Denise. The third he simply pushed against the wall, after which the man slowly sank to the concrete floor, sobbing. Klaus turned around, smirked at Denise and spread his arms. “Who has a task force now?”

 

[Insanity Awakened 18]

Jeremy thought for a moment that Bella was going to ask him to leave, but he was grateful when that didn't happen. In fact, she was grateful that he was there. At her last comment, however, he gave a slight chuckle as he shook his head. "You'd be the first actually." he admitted to her before watching her sit up, admitting her guilt over Klaus being stuck at the facility along with being worried for his safety. It had worried him to hear that he was the first in line for human experimentation, but before he could get too caught up in his own thoughts again, he found himself shaking his head once again.

"That isn't going to happen. Not with all of us watching out for each other." Jeremy told Bella before watching her make her way over to the mini fridge. He wasn't sure how long it would take them to get Denise and Klaus out of the facility, but he knew that they would be able to pull it off. When she took a seat next to him and handed him one of the mini bottles, he gave her a slight smile once again as he nodded in agreement with what she said. "I promise." he told her, pausing when she got the text and then held her phone up for him to see. He was shocked that there was already a report on what they had done, and while he knew that would make things significantly harder for them to break in again and make sure that she and the other vampires got the blood they needed, he knew that they would figure something out.

"That probably wouldn't be the best idea, but if you are needing blood at any point, there is something that I can do." Jeremy said, looking to her before he continued. "You can take it from me. I don't know when we might be able to get you or the others any supplies, but I'm willing to do what it takes to help. Now I won't be able to help everyone out, but I'd do that for you." he added with a slight nod. There was no way she'd be able to talk him out of it either. He was sure that the Salvatore brothers would be able to look out for themselves, along with Kol and Rebekah, so until everything managed to blow over, his main concern was with the vampire sitting next to him.

"Now as far as coming up with a new plan goes, we'll either need to think of a different way to break into the facility or think of someone else to send inside." Jeremy said, taking a moment to think out loud as he toyed with the mini bottle in his hands. He knew that if they involved the others in the conversation, they would be all for trying to organize another trade with Damon. Considering they now had Denise and Klaus though, he knew they would need more than jut a regular vampire. At the moment he wasn't entirely sure what they could do to help the demon or the hybrid, but he would make sure that the two of them got out of the facility. He just hoped they got to them before it was too late.

An amused smile came to Denise's face when Klaus mentioned paying the other demons a visit. She thought that it was an excellent idea. An army of demons huh? Maybe he'd be able to keep them in line better than their own boss. After all, loyalty among demons was a very hard thing to come by. She was sure that if they saw the hybrid face to face that would be enough to win them over. Before they could discuss the plan further, however, she knew that they would need to get out of the cell they were trapped in first.

The look of amusement stayed on Denise's face as she watched Klaus basically toying with the guards that were standing outside. She had to suppress a slight chuckle when he shot one of them, but when he was suddenly blocking her from the others, she couldn't help giving a bit of a double take. She knew he had tried to help break her out of there earlier, but it was still surprising to see him protect her from the guards. Of course, it didn't surprise her that he was able to take them out so easily. She had stored her own gun into one of her back pockets, and as she was holding onto the others, she grinned as she stowed the other guns away before giving him a light round of applause.

"Nicely done, Mr. Mikaelson. More of a one man army rather than a task force." Denise said, glancing over at the guard who was sobbing as he had been trying to slowly inch out of the room. "Oh no, you can't leave that easily. Not when the fun has just started." she said, the grin still on her face as she was now kneeling next to the crying guard, placing an arm around his shoulders as she used one of her hands to dry his tears. "You'll have plenty of time to cry later when boss lady Mills rips into you for failing at your job. What you need to do is help us out of here." she said, watching as the guard looked nervously to Klaus and then over to her as he shook his head.

"I-I don't understand. H-how could I p-possibly help?" the guard managed, causing the demon next to him to let out a heavy sigh as the hand that had been drying his tears took a hold of his chin, tiling his head so that he was looking at the ceiling.

"You see that up there? You need to break the circle. Once your done, you'll show us exactly how to get out of this place." Denise said tiling his head back down, meeting his gaze as her had rested on the back of his neck. "If your quick about it, I might even be nice enough not to feed you to my new friend." she whispered into his ear, her gaze flickering over towards Klaus before she rested her head on the guard's shoulder, feeling him tense up as she looked up at him. "Think you can manage that?" she asked, watching as the guard gave the hybrid a nervous glance once again before he nodded.

"Y-yes. I-I can do that." he said, causing the demon next to him to give his shoulder's a light squeeze, using her free hand to give his cheek an affectionate pat.

"Good boy. Now hurry up and get to it." Denise said as she stood up, watching as the guard was quick to stand on his feet, now looking for something to break the circle as she walked back over to Klaus with a bright smile. "This was more entertaining than I thought it would be." she admitted to him before looking back at the guard. Maybe it was a good thing that the hybrid showed up when he did. He still seemed to be struggling to figure out how to break the circle, but if he wanted to stay alive, she knew he'd figure it out.

 

[Saltwater Bound]

After Jeremy offered his solution to her issue of having to rob a bloodbank as a known fugitive, all Bella could do for a few moments was stare back at him, trying to detect a hint of a joke on his face. She smiled and narrowed her eyes at the same time, half expecting him to pull a pack of O-negative out of his pocket. But… he didn’t. And deep down, she knew he wasn’t joking. “Okay, not that I’m not grateful, because I am, but before I get out my fangs — a few questions.” Bella shifted a little on the bed so she was facing him completely, her eyes looking up into his. “One, are you really, really sure? I mean, it looks hot, and it kinda is, but I will be biting you and all I can give in return is my own blood afterwards. You're still gonna feel it during.” She paused to think about her second question. Honestly, she just wanted him to really think about it. The idea of feeding someone your blood and it actually happening were two very different things, and she didn't want to scare him off.

“Two, neck or wrist? Based on my limited knowledge of tattoos I think your wrist is more painful, but again, I’m biting you either way, so... do with that what you will.” Bella narrowed her bright blue eyes again as she tried to think if there was anything else. “Oh! And here,” she continued, leaning over to the nightstand to grab the room service menu and the phone. “Gotta eat well when you donate.” Bella handed him both menu and phone with a smile. “It’s on Damon’s card, so feel free to go wild. I’ll have fries and the black bean burger.” She bit her lip for a moment when she recalled why they’d been talking about him “donating” his blood in the first place. “Uh, and just tell them… to leave the food outside, because… we’re busy?” Bella made a face. “Not original, but it’ll keep people from coming in.”

Although admittedly now slightly distracted, Bella leaned back against the pillows as she returned to quietly brainstorming ways to get Denise and Klaus out. Trading with Damon was a no-go; that would be one regular vampire against a hybrid and a demon. She bit her lip as she went through different scenarios in her head, each getting a little darker. Finally, she sighed. “Honestly, as far as a new plan goes, I can only think of going in with a) heavy artillery, or b) one or more witches.”

Klaus tried not to laugh as Denise put on a show that, quite honestly, was up there with his antics when he first came to Mystic Falls. The teasing, the toying, the false sense of security by gently drying the guards’ tears before making terrifying jokes about feeding him to Klaus – it was perfect. After Denise gave him a pat on his cheek, Klaus watched the guard quickly scramble to his feet and try to find a way to break the sigil’s hold over the cell. The two other guards were still on the floor, moaning and holding onto their stomachs. Klaus rolled his eyes and nudged them with his foot. “Hey, dumb and dumber. I know that wasn’t original, but I feel it works here too,” he commented with a devious glance in Denise’s direction. “Feel free to help out your buddy in his mission to break us out of here. And by feel free, I mean you can either do so or die a horrible, horrible death.” He was happy to see that he didn’t even have to provide graphic examples; the other two guards scrambled to their feet as well. The fourth was still outside, holding his leg, but he supposed that was to be expected.

“Of course this is entertaining, love. You’re with me. Admittedly, you do have quite a bit to do with it as well, because a lot of people would not find this a fun activity at all,” Klaus said with a grin, gesturing in the guards' direction. “Vampires with all their heightened emotions can be so dramatic. Me included, of course – but in an upbeat and only slightly psychotic way.”

One of the guards was pushed forward towards the hybrid and the demon by the other two men; he stumbled over his own feet until he was standing in front of Klaus, something he very clearly did not want to do. “Okay, um, so… one of us is going to need our gun back. The, um, the sigils are burned into the ceiling, and they go quite deep, but you only need to break the circle in one spot. We can just… keep shooting… at that one spot.” He fell silent, trembling as he looked up at the hybrid.

Klaus smirked and, following Denise’s lead, patted the nervous guard on the cheek. “You are a good boy! Have at it,” he said, handing the man one gun while simultaneously holding the barrel of another gun to the guard’s temple.

The guard started shooting – the first five bullets missed, at which Klaus once again rolled his eyes heavenward – but the next five hit their target, and the following five continued to drill a hole into the ceiling where two lines of the devil’s trap met.

Klaus nodded approvingly, but continued to hold the gun against the man’s head. He looked at Denise and gave her a nod before gesturing towards the door, which they now should be able to actually use as a door. “The honor’s all yours, darling. Are we free?”

 

[Insanity Awakened 18]

Jeremy could understand why Bella might think he was joking. This wasn't something he just openly offered to do all the time. There was only one other person he did this for, and well...he didn't like to think about that. Instead, he considered her questions before taking a hold of the menu and the phone, thinking that the excuse to tell room service was more than good enough. After all, it would be just a little awkward for someone to walk in and witness the blonde vampire drinking his blood. He already knew what his answer was going to be, but as he took a moment to look over the menu, he took a moment to consider what they could do about breaking Denise and Klaus out of the facility before looking towards her.

"I think heavy artillery is out of the question. Not unless you have a secret stash hidden away somewhere." Jeremy said, letting out a slight chuckle before he continued. "As far as a couple of witches though, I know of at least one. If we're lucky, she might know how to get in touch with some others." he said, taking a moment to order room service for Bella and himself. He got the food that she wanted, along with ordering himself some fries and a bacon cheeseburger, telling them to leave the food outside the room once it was ready before hanging up and turning his focus back towards the blonde vampire.

"Now to answer your questions. Yes, I'm really really sure I want to do this. I know you'll be biting me and the sensation that comes with that, but I wouldn't have suggested if I had second thoughts about this. I hadn't thought about how hot it might be, but I guess that'll be a plus." Jeremy said, giving Bella a bit of a teasing smile before he continued. "Plus if you aren't able to go to a blood bank thanks to this report on CNN, your going to need to do something to get by." he said, taking a moment to look to his wrist, one of his hands moving to his neck before he spoke again.

"As far as where you should bite me, I think you should go for whatever spot will get you the most blood." Jeremy told her with a light shrug. "The wrist might end up hurting more, but I'll leave that part up to you. I'm not worried about it hurting anyway." he added as he looked to Bella. He knew that Damon would look for his own blood supply in his usual way, and while he was concerned about Stefan possibly going into ripper mode again, his main concern was with the blonde vampire. He would do what he could to help her first and then worry about the others later.

An amused smile came to Denise's face as she watched Klaus interact with the guards. Despite the two of them being stuck in here, she was having a lot of fun. After watching the guards scramble to help the other man as they were inspecting the devil's trap, she looked to the hybrid as he talked about how not everyone would find this fun before motioning to the guards and bringing up vampire's heightened emotions, along with his own tendencies as she let out a slight chuckle, nodding in agreement. "All the more reason why that makes you my new best friend." she said with a grin before she continued. "I'm used to the over dramatics too. Demons can be just as dramatic when they want to be." she said before letting her eyes go to the guard standing in front of the hybrid. She narrowed her eyes slightly at him until he explained how to get them out of there, and after the hybrid teased him a little, she watched as he started shooting at the devil's trap.

Denise found herself about to slap the guard upside his head when he missed, but the more he shot at the trap, the more she could feel her powers returning to her. Did that mean it was broken? She wasn't entirely sure, but as Klaus nodded for he to try it out, she walked over to the doorway of the cell, pausing for a moment as she first held up her hand, seeing if she would bump into anything before jumping out of the room completely, letting out a deep sigh she didn't realize she had been holding in as she turned to face the hybrid.

"We are free. Nicely done as well, which is why you'll be the one to escort us out of here." Denise said grinning before walking over to the other guards, placing a hand on each of their shoulders before she continued. "In the meantime, you two will stay here and clean up this mess. If anyone asks where we went and how we got out of here, you say you don't remember. Got it?" she asked, watching as the pair nodded in agreement. "Very good. Now go stand in separate corners and stay there until we're gone." she said, shooing the guards away before making her way back over to Klaus. She thought about calling Stefan to tell him that they were out, but a) she didn't have her phone and b) she wanted to make sure that the hybrid and herself were out of the building before making that call. In the meantime, she wrapped an arm around the guard's shoulders before looking to the hybrid.

"Well, time to go meet up with the others. You are going to show us exactly how to get out of here, otherwise he might make it so you can start spitting gum out of your forehead." Denise said, poking the guard in the center of his forehead while letting out a slight laugh before looking back to Klaus. "After you, Mr. Mikaelson." she said, the grin staying on her face. She was sure that the two of them would be out of there in no time. The first thing she wanted to do once they were out is check up on the others, and then while she wasn't sure what she would do after that, she imagined they would figure it out from there.

 

[Saltwater Bound]

Bella raised her eyebrows when Jeremy casually mentioned knowing a witch and checking with her to see if any other witches would be up for it. Was there any supernatural being in Mystic Falls that didn’t hang out and mingle with the humans? Oh well. At this point she had very little room to talk. As he called room service to order themselves a late dinner on Damon’s credit card, Bella absentmindedly stared at him. She was just thinking about how in the world she could convince witches to help – alternated with thoughts about how often Jeremy most likely worked out – when he returned his focus to her, and she quickly looked back up with a hopefully innocent smile. She nodded as he thoroughly answered her questions. There was no doubt about it that he’d really given it serious thought, and Bella started feeling more at ease. Still nervous, but at least less nervous than before.

“Okay,” Bella finally said after a short silence. “Well… thank you. It’s very sweet of you and I really appreciate it. And I know you said you’re not worried about how it feels, but... just let me know if you want me to stop, at any point.” She slowly closed the space between them on the bed and sat up on her knees to make up for their difference in height. With one hand on his shoulder and the other on his jawline, her fingers in his hair, Bella leaned in, biting down on his neck.

Oh my God. After all that time on blood bags – literally centuries – she’d somehow managed to completely bury how freaking amazing this felt. Bella held onto Jeremy a little tighter for a while, her nails digging into his skin, before eventually reigning herself in again. Somewhat reluctantly she pulled away when she knew it was time, and after letting her eyes and teeth return to their regular state, Bella looked back up at Jeremy as she let go of him.

Bella bit her lip when it truly sank in how close in proximity they were right now. Trying to ignore the chill that went down her spine, she smiled. “This is probably a weird compliment, but that was really... really great.” Bella leaned back, brushed her hair away from her neck and made an incision with one of her long nails. “Your turn. Or my turn, depending on how you’re looking at it. How am I doing the nervous rambling?” she questioned out loud.

After nodding approvingly when Denise proved their mission of destroying the sigil to be successful, Klaus watched her with an impressed look on his face as she compelled the guards — or whatever the demon version of compulsion was called. 1-1 on the front of mind control, then. When she was done with them, they walked over to their respective corners, staring at the wall with a defeated look in their eyes. Klaus grinned. Probably a fairly bad day at work when you get bested by a demon and a hybrid from inside their bloody cell. “Well, good luck with the boss lady. I don’t think she’ll be too excited about you not remembering any of this. Pretty irresponsible of you,” Klaus said with a smirk, waving at them with his free hand while poking the guard in front of him in the back of the head with the barrel.

“And you, let’s go. As my beautiful new demon friend stated, you’ll be getting us out of this hellhole. And in record time please, unless you’d like to join us on our travels to actual hell,” Klaus added, poking the guard in the head once again to let him know it was time to walk. The whimpering guard made his way out of the cell, past his little guard friend — who was still on the concrete floor, holding his bleeding leg — and down the long hallway. It was quiet as they walked up the stairs and out of the basement; the only sound was of their footsteps and of the basement door creaking as it shut behind them.

Something didn’t feel right.

How were there literally no guards except for those in the basement? Who the hell would not have the ground floor be crawling with people like Dumb and Dumber downstairs? Klaus frowned. Sure, he had over a thousand years of experience with strategy, but come on; you don’t get a facility this big without someone with a brain at the wheel. As the guard led them down a long, bare hallway, Klaus tightened his grip on the gun against the guard’s head. Once he was sure the gun was secure, he reached for Denise, lightly squeezing her hand. “I feel like we’re about to get a chance to show off our powers,” Klaus said in a low voice as they went through a door; he could see the next door was to the outside world. Klaus braced himself as the guard opened it and they stepped into the fresh air, and... nothing. Nothing but darkness. And just as his eyes started to adjust to the night —

“DROP YOUR WEAPONS!” someone bellowed through a megaphone. Klaus was about to roll his eyes and say this again, when several floodlights were suddenly switched on, revealing about a hundred men in a semi-circle around them, all carrying rifles, which were all pointed at them.

Klaus turned to Denise with a smirk. “Any demon tricks to get us out of this or should we pop back inside?”

 

[Insanity Awakened 18]

Jeremy hand't noticed how Bella had been staring at him while he was on the phone, let alone what she was thinking about him. Had he known, however, he would have felt a mixture of embarrassment and flattery. Embarrassment because he couldn't remember the last time anyone might have a slight interest in him, but also flattered because he may have caught himself staring at the blonde vampire once or twice as well in the duration of the last couple of days. He couldn't quite understand what he was feeling as far as she was concerned, but it was fair for him to say that he liked her. Before he could become too distracted with what he was thinking though, after he hung up the phone and made his intentions clear, he watched the blonde vampire as she considered his decision.

Jeremy thought that Bella might end up turning down his offer, but as he listened to her, he let a slight smile come to his face as he nodded at her words. "I'll let you know." he said, knowing that he would let her feed until she felt she had enough. He would be lying if he said he didn't feel himself getting nervous as she slowly closed the space between them, watching her until she bit into his neck, at which point any nervousness he was feeling completely disappeared and was replaced with something else entirely. It was strange feeling his blood being taken, but what made the experience even stranger was that he liked it. He hadn't even realized the way he was gripping her waist until she finally pulled away, a smile coming to his face as well as he let out a slight chuckle.

"N-no, its not weird compliment at all." Jeremy reassured her as he slowly pulled his hands away from her waist, his gaze moving from her face and to her neck as she made an incision. If he wasn't nervous before, he was definitely nervous now. He found himself slightly surprised to see how nervous she was getting as well, but he gave her a reassuring smile all the same. "It's okay. I'm surprised I haven't started rambling myself honestly." he confessed, feeling a chill go down his own spine as he looked at the incision that was on her neck. He knew he couldn't sit there and stare at it forever, knowing that vampire wounds healed themselves quickly, so before he could take too much time thinking about it, he closed the space between them once again, placing one hand on her shoulder and the other on the uninjured side of her neck before he leaned in, letting his mouth close around the incision.

Jeremy couldn't quite describe what he was feeling in that moment. If anything, he was feeling the same sensation he felt before. Not the strangeness that came from his blood being taken, but the fact that he liked what he was doing. Not only that, but somehow that feeling felt intensified as he felt himself bury his fingers in her hair, his other hand gripping her shoulder slightly. He wasn't aware of how carried away he was allowing himself to become until he heard someone knocking on the door leading to Bella's room, causing him to pull away from her as Damon opened up the door.

"Hey, either of you order room service? The guy dropping it off said he couldn't...remember the room number." Damon said, pausing when he smelled the scent of blood in the air. Not to mention he spotted the slight trace of blood on both Bella and Jeremy's lips, causing the corners of his own lips to curl up into a slight smirk. "Wait, I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" he asked, watching as a slight blush came to the young Gilbert's face as he shook his head.

"If its a couple of burgers, that room service is ours." Jeremy said, making a point to ignore the vampire's question as he gave a slight shrug.

"Alright. I'll just leave it outside of your room. Give you two some privacy. Easy on the hickeys." Damon said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively before he closed the door as the young Gilbert turned his gaze back to Bella, his face still a slight shade of red. He didn't regret what they did. Yes he was incredibly embarrassed that one of the Salvatore brothers walked in on them, but he guessed that was bound to happen with them sharing hotel suites like this. While it was embarrassing to have someone interrupt the way they did, he knew that it was better that it was one of the vampires rather than one of the hotel workers.

Denise thought it was slightly odd that the hallways were completely empty. Where were all of the guards? Did they only patrol the halls until a certain time? She wasn't sure what was going on here, but as she felt Klaus squeeze her hand, she couldn't help squeezing it back because she knew that he was right. She hadn't known what they were going to be facing, but when they made it to the outside world, she couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes at the amount of guards they were greeted with. "You've got to be kidding me." she said under her breath before looking to the hybrid next to her, the irritated look that was on her face now replaced with a more confident one.

"No need to go back inside. You are going to want to stand back though." Denise said before turning her gaze to the guards once again, making a point to pop her knuckles before putting her fingers to her lips, letting out a low whistle. The guards around her seemed very confused at what was happening, but as they started to hear snarls and low growls in the air, she could see them all trying to find the source of the noise. Before any of them could react, she watched as three of her hellhounds started to pounce on guards, knocking them to the ground before tearing into them. The guards obviously couldn't see what was attacking them, but the demon and the hybrid would be able to see them clear as day. As an amused smirk came to her face, she watched as the guards closest to her and the hybrid immediately turned their sights onto her, their guns at the ready once again.

"TAKE HER DOWN!" Denise heard someone bellow through a megaphone once again, her expression going from a playful one to a serious one as she raised her hands before pushing them towards the guards, sending a huge invisible force towards the guards that was enough to cause those in front of them to go flying back, not giving the others to move out of the way as they were knocked over in the process while others were still being torn into by the hellhounds. In the midst of all the chaos, a stray bullet ended up hitting her in the left shoulder. If she wasn't pissed before, she was definitely pissed off now.

Denise's eyes turned completely red as she crouched on the ground, slamming both of her hands on the ground in front of her, letting out an angry scream as flames shot from the ground in front of her and towards the guards. Whatever guards weren't still being attacked by the hellhounds now felt themselves on fire, shouting and dropping their firearms as they tried to extinguish the flames. The fight continued like this for some time with her continuing to attack the guards along with the hellhounds until the only sounds left were of her hellhounds sniffing around the bodies as she turned towards Klaus, a proud smile now on her face.

"Now that was exciting. Let's get the hell..out of...here." Denise said, a wave of exhaustion hitting her out of nowhere as she fell to her knees, swearing under her breath as her head started spinning. She never felt this worn out before. Demons weren't supposed to feel things like exhaustion, pain, anything. She imagined it was because of the amount of power she used to clear out the guards, but rather than focus on it, she found herself glaring at the spare guard that was still with Klaus. "You. One of you three standing next to Klaus. Make yourself useful and get over here." she said, watching as the guard threw a scared look in the hybrid's direction before hesitantly going over to her, kneeling next to her so that she could wrap an arm around their shoulders before they eased her to her feet again. "Hate to disappoint, but that's the only performance you'll be getting tonight. I don't have it in me for an encore." she said, watching as the guard threw a weary glance towards the wound in her shoulder. She narrowed her eyes at him, about to ask what his problem was before he turned his gaze towards the hybrid.

"The bullets that the guards have are blessed. If you don't do something for her now, she'll end up getting worse." the guard said, a hint of fear in his voice as he could feel the hellhounds start to circle him, all of them snarling and growling as she angrily punched him in the chest.

"You tell us this now?!" Denise shouted, feeling like she was going to strangle the life out of the guard until she felt another dizzy spell coming on, her left shoulder now feeling like it was on fire. The last thing she wanted to do was to go back into the facility, but given her current situation, she figured that at least one of them could still make it out of there. Between her and the hybrid, she knew the group would be happier to see him. "You should go. In the meantime useless here is going to take me somewhere I can get the bullet out." she said, smacking the guard that was holding her up once again as they started to head back towards the facility. She wasn't sure if she would be able to walk out of the facility after she got the help she needed, but if she ended up stuck on her own, she would figure something out.

 

[Saltwater Bound]

After Jeremy leaned in and placed his hands on her shoulder and neck and his mouth to the incision she had made, Bella closed her eyes and exhaled sharply. She hadn’t experienced taking someone’s blood for about as long as she hadn’t experienced her blood being taken, and both were a lot more intense than she remembered. Or maybe she’d simply buried all those feelings. Considering how freaking overwhelmingly good this was, that seemed pretty likely. But she had to admit to herself – it wasn’t just the blood sharing. It was Jeremy, from the way he kept selflessly offering to help her despite knowing her for all of two seconds, to the way he had gripped her waist earlier and the way his fingers were buried in her hair now. Her own fingers were entangled in his hair, and it took every ounce of self control she possessed not to pull him up so she could kiss him.

She was literally seconds from doing just that when she heard knocking on the door; her eyes flew open as Jeremy pulled away, and suddenly she was looking at the older Salvatore brother. Nooo, why? she moaned internally, quickly licking her lips when she saw him staring. Luckily he was gone about as suddenly as he’d appeared, and Bella sighed as she shook her head. Damn Damon. But when Jeremy looked back at her with a slightly red face, she couldn’t help but laugh. “Don’t worry. I’ve accidentally walked in on him so many times – he’s spent half his life on top of someone, usually in painfully public places.” Bella reached out and brushed her thumb over Jeremy’s lips. “There you go. No more trace of the uh, hickey either,” she informed him, trailing her fingers down his neck. She smiled and pulled her hand back, brushing a few strands of blonde hair behind her ear. “Seriously, thank you. No matter how chill you act about it, it’s a big deal and you know it. And told ya it was hot,” Bella added with a grin before getting up and heading over to the door.

She pulled it open, expecting their burgers and fries on a cart, but once again, she was looking at Damon. “What?” Bella said slowly.

“I swear I was just about to knock, I was not eavesdropping,” Damon said, hands defensively raised. “How’s the hickeys? Jeez, fine,” he quickly continued when Bella took a fork from the cart and pointed it at Damon. ”But – speaking of eavesdropping, your former boytoy Kol was, and he heard you talking about witches, and we all thought that was a pretty promising idea. So we called your witchy ex,” Damon said, making finger guns at Jeremy while Bella raised her eyebrows in surprise, “who was with Elena, and since your sister was pretty pissed about being uninvolved, now both of them are on their way. Sooo… you have, like, fifteen minutes of privacy left. Really. Sexy Bex made Kol stop listening.” Damon smirked. “But as I expect some yelling, you’ll know exactly when the girls arrive – so when you hear Elena’s delicate voice, please come over for a strategy meeting. In the meantime, don’t do anything I wouldn’t—”

Bella took the tray, shut the door and headed back to the bed, where she gently placed the food on top of the cover. “Sounds like dinner’s going to have to be fast.” She plopped a few fries in her mouth and looked up at Jeremy with a small grin. “If you're feeling faint later, you know where to find me.”

What a bloody fantastic woman. Klaus had no other words for what he was witnessing. Denise harnessing the powers of hell to save both their asses was nothing short of amazing, from summoning and unleashing hellhounds onto the lot of them, to the invisible force that sent a large portion of the men flying into their fellow guards. The hellhounds themselves were magnificent as well; the confusion mixed with the utter horror on the guards faces led Klaus to understand fairly quickly that only Denise and himself were able to perceive them in all their terrifying glory. But however much he was in awe of the demon and her powers, Klaus immediately got ready to jump in when he saw a stray bullet enter Denise’s shoulder, his eyes turning a deep shade of yellow just as hers turned into a deep red — and unlike with vampires, hers turned red entirely. Klaus saw that the guards close enough to notice her eyes quickly stumbled back, but not fast enough to escape her next move. Hellfire literally shot out of the ground and roasted everyone but them, the hounds and the spare guard who had led the hybrid and the demon outside. More impressed than he ever recalled being by anyone, Klaus mirrored Denise’s proud smile right back at her.

But then she collapsed to the ground, and he wanted nothing more than to rush over there and help her up — but they had been lulled into a false sense of security before. Klaus scanned their surroundings, quickly but carefully; his eyes, now adjusted to the darkness, scanned the woods around them for any suspicious movement. Once he was certain that they weren’t going to be ambushed again, Klaus was by Denise’s side in less than a second, shooing the guard away — who was just admitting the kind of damage the bullet was truly causing. Klaus wrapped his arm firmly around Denise’s waist and draped her arm on the non-injured side over his shoulder, holding it there by covering her hand with his.

“If you seriously think that I would even consider leaving you, I have some bad news, love — because in that case, the juju from that bullet is affecting your brain function too,” Klaus told the demon. The guard was still fumbling around to try and assist with keeping Denise up, and Klaus glared at him. “You heard the lady. Find us a safe spot so we can get that bloody bullet out. Paws off and let’s go,” he added.

The guard immediately let go of Denise so only Klaus was holding her up; he made a beeline for the facility and quickly guided them through the maze of hallways.

“I truly don’t know what impressed me the most — the hellhounds, the part where you literally blew everyone off their feet or the part where you torched the last few standing with bloody hellfire.” Klaus looked at her with a smirk on his face as they continued following the guard, his arm still firmly around her waist, his hand still holding onto hers.

Then, suddenly, the guard stopped in front of a door — one with a nameplate that said DIRECTOR MILLS — searched for the right key for a moment, opened the door and finally headed in. Klaus frowned as they followed. “When we went into lockdown, a protocol was triggered. She’s, um, not here,” the guard said, a little redundantly considering the fact that Klaud could see damn well for himself that the office was empty. “She, uh... does some experimenting of her own, so she has a lab with medical supplies too.” The guard opened up the next door and Klaus brought Denise inside, the frown on his face even bigger now.

Damn — what a psycho, and that was coming from him, Klaus thought as he let his gaze wander the walls. Rows and rows of sharp objects, from small surgical blades to frankly enormous saws. After a stunned silence, he turned to Denise again before gently placing her on the reclining medical chair in the center of the space. “I prefer not to take my eyes off that door,” Klaus said, and he warily looked at the guard as he took Denise’s hand in his. “So you better take that thing out of her like a bloody professional, or you’ll also get to witness the kind of damage a hybrid can do.”

 

[Insanity Awakened 18]

Jeremy still felt very embarrassed about Damon walking in on Bella and himself. He guessed it could have been worse, but still. He knew this was something that he wouldn't let him live down for a long time. The blonde vampire's words did help to put him at ease though. While he wasn't embarrassed anymore, he found himself struggling to keep himself composed when she brushed her thumb against his bottom lip before her fingers traced over his neck. A smile came to his own face at her words because he knew that she wasn't wrong, but before he could say or do anything, she had made her way back to the door to get their food. It didn't surprise him that Damon was still there, but what he had to say next caused him to do a bit of a double take.

Jeremy was surprised hearing that there was history between Bella and Kol. He guessed he shouldn't be too surprised considering she was friends with Klaus and the rest of his family, but it was still shocking nonetheless. Not to mention that Damon had to point out that Bonnie was an ex of his. It was times like these that he wished that the older Salvatore wasn't involved in everything that was going on, but knew that Elena would be furious after getting all of the details that happened within the last couple of days. While it sounded like he and the blonde vampire didn't have too much time to enjoy their food, at least they would have a little time to themselves, causing a slight smile to come to his face once again as the two of them started eating.

"Thanks Bella. I'll be sure to let you know." Jeremy said, eating a couple of his fries before he continued. "Elena is going to flip if she finds out how I got involved in all of this. If I'm lucky Damon won't fill her in on the details, but if she asks, I think it might sound better coming from me. Considering I lied to her from the very beginning about that stupid list that was out in the first place." he said, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked at her. "Between you and me though, I can't wrap my head around my sister being mad that I'm caught up in almost everything supernatural that happens in Mystic Falls when she is dating someone like Damon." he added, making a slight face before he went back to eating. He wouldn't outright tell his sister that she was being a hypocrite, but it was nice for him to talk to someone who might be able to see his side of things and where he was coming from.

Jeremy was very grateful that Bella and he got room service when they did, because after he got done eating, he let himself lay back on the bed someone, letting out a content sigh as he stared up at the ceiling. "That was great. If it wasn't for my sister and Bonnie coming over, I'd probably fall asleep right here and now." he said, letting out a slight chuckle before turning his head towards the blonde vampire. "There is something I want to say too. I know there might be a chance that he could be listening in, but I want to know that I said it." he said, propping himself up on his elbows before he continued. "I know that what I did was a big deal, and while I don't know when everything involving this facility is going to blow over, I want you to know that it wasn't just a one time thing. I realize that the blood bank may be your go to place for supplies, but I'm willing to do what it takes to help you. And yes, it was hot what ended up happening." he said, a hint of teasing in his last statement as he smiled at her. He couldn't believe a couple of days ago he had nearly killed her, and now here he was, enjoying room service with her minutes after he let her drink his blood. He didn't regret his decisions that brought him this far, but if he could do anything over again, he wished he had gotten a chance to kiss her before Damon had interrupted them.

Denise would be lying if she said she wasn't grateful that Klaus had ended up saying. A small part of her was paranoid that they might be ambushed again and locked up in a cell similar to the one they broke out of, but she couldn't stop the slight smirk that came to her face as the hybrid snapped at the guard before they made their way back into the facility. She couldn't help being nervous about going back inside, but she knew that they would be alright. Hearing the hybrid's praise for her actions earlier, it helped to erase whatever nerves were bothering her as she looked to him, the smirk still on her face from earlier as they continued to follow the guard. "Who has a task force now?" she said, quoting his own words back to him, proud of the work she had done before they suddenly stopped in front of the Director's office. She wasn't sure why they were stopping here of all places, but as they went front her office and to the next room, she felt her nerves coming back tenfold as her eyes scanned the room.

"Damn. This lady makes me seems like a fairy princess." Denise said, wincing slightly as the bullet sent another wave of pain throughout her. She hadn't even realized the tight hold she now had on Klaus' hand, but as he started in on the guard again, she found herself glaring in the guard's direction as well as he was now gathering up what he needed. "O-of course. I'll do what I can." he reassured the pair, continuing to gather equipment quickly as the demon looked to the hybrid. "If this guy goes any slower, I'll definitely want to see what other kinds of damage a hybrid can do." she told him with a slight chuckle before the guard seemed to get what he needed in order to remove the bullet from the demon's shoulder.

The process was a painful one to say the least. Throughout the process Denise would either start cursing out the guard or she would try to hit him. Considering she was still holding Klaus' hand, trying to hit him with her hand that was on her injured side didn't go so well. It wasn't until the bullet was out completely and she was patched up that she managed to breathe easy. "Well done, no brain. Almost makes me bad for calling you all of those names and nearly knocking you on your-" she said, stopping when she heard a commotion on the other side of the door. This caused her eyes to turn a dark red once again as she grabbed the guard by the front of his bullet proof vest.

"Get rid of whoever that is, or you going to wish that you got to witness the kind of damage a hybrid can do." Denise said, using enough force to push the guard towards the door, but not enough to knock him over. He was able to recover quickly enough before opening the door just a crack, his eyes widening at whatever was on the other side. Before anything else could be done, he was quickly dragged through the door, the screams that left him being quickly cut off as the door slammed shut behind him. The demon couldn't hear what happened next, but judging by the pool of blood that started to make its way under the door, she could only guess that it wasn't good. She doubted that she and the hybrid wouldn't be able to handle whatever attacked the guard in Mills office, but as the door started to slowly creek open, she still hadn't realized she was still holding onto the hybrid's hand as if they were about to be separated from each other.

 

[Saltwater Bound]

Bella’s eyes grew large and her eyebrows shot up. “You’re kidding. Your sister’s dating Damon and she gives you shit? That’s like... well, that’s like having dated Kol and giving someone shit for dating Damon, so... I’ll refrain from further comments on choices in partners,” Bella said, making a face as she finished eating. She was on okay terms with her most antagonizing ex, but much like Damon, Kol had a habit of knowing exactly which buttons to push — and he had even fewer boundaries than the oldest Salvatore. Despite there being no hard feelings, things still tended to get heated. “But I’m sorry. I mean, I get that she’s worried — but it’s your life.” Also clearly she was prejudiced, because if he didn’t get caught up in supernatural stuff, she’d never have met him. “If it helps to fudge a little and tell her that you came to me to talk instead of hiding in my closet with a stake,” she grinned, “I’ll have your back.”

After finishing the last bite of her burger, Bella stretched out on the bed next to Jeremy, laying down on her stomach and propping herself up on her elbows. Bella smiled at him as he spoke. “Well, feel free to crash here later. I feel like that’s why Damon got these ridiculous suites anyway — I just know he has some weird supernatural Love Island fantasy going on in his head.” Bella shook her head and looked down. “And also, that... is really sweet of you. Again.” Bella’s gaze met his, and she once again realized their lips were literally inches apart. Her mind instantly flashed back to his hands on her waist, his fingers in her hair, and she could just feel the blood start rushing through her veins again. “Jer—“

“DAMON, OPEN UP!” a voice boomed through the walls, accompanied by a fist pounding on her door, and Bella immediately sat up straight.

“Oh my God,” Bella mouthed to Jeremy, reaching for him with her hand so she could help pull him up from the bed — although she would’ve more than supported him if he’d wanted to hide under it instead. She quickly headed over to the door as the yelling continued, letting go of Jeremy’s hand just in time; a moment later, she was standing eye in eye with two girls. “Hi. I think Damon gave you the wrong room number to annoy us all even more. I’m Bella Talbot,” Bella said with her cheeriest smile as she let them in and extended her hand.

“Hey, I'm Bonnie Bennett,” the least angry-looking girl said with a smile, which dropped a little when their hands touched. After a moment, Bella remembered why. A witch can feel it if someone's a vampire — and the feeling they gave off to witches was probably not a very pleasant one. Bonnie did really seem to try to keep her face neutral, which was sweet of her. And honestly, pretty different from most witches Bella knew. “So you’re Damon’s friend, then. Hi, Jer,” she added, greeting him.

“I'm Elena Gilbert. Where’s Damon?” the other girl said warily before turning her focus to Jeremy. “Never mind, I’m sure you can answer some of my questions too. What the hell is going on, Jeremy?! All Damon said was that you need Bonnie’s help because a group of hunters kidnapped you and a freaking demon, taking you to some facility, and that after a failed rescue attempt, now Klaus and that demon are still there? Care to elaborate?” Elena crossed her arms and stared at her brother.

Behind Elena’s back, Stefan, Rebekah, Kol and Damon quietly snuck into Bella’s suite. Bella crossed her arms too, giving them all side-eye; Damon grinned back at Bella as he closed the door behind the four vampires and gave her a thumbs-up.

“I saw that, Damon. This isn’t funny and I’ll get to you later,” Elena snapped, clearly not in the mood for jokes. “But first I’d like to hear from you,” she turned back to face Jeremy, “how the hell all of this happened and why after being kidnapped, you’re not back in Mystic Falls, but once again," Elena pointed at Bella, "hanging out with another freaking vampire?!”

​

Despite the dire situation, Klaus couldn’t help but smirk at Denise when she referred to herself to a fairy princess compared to boss lady Mills. “Right? I was curious about hell before, but if this place is still earth, now I sincerely cannot wait to see what actual hell is like.” He felt the tight grip that the demon had on his hand and gave her hand a comforting squeeze. Meanwhile Klaus’ narrowed eyes followed the guard around the room, making sure the man was truly only getting what he needed to get the bullet out — as opposed to, say, gathering weapons for a coup. He also carefully listened for any suspicious sounds outside of the door, but turned his attention back to Denise and grinned when she made a joke. “Don’t you worry, love. Regardless of what happens here, if you stick with me, you’ll be seeing a hybrid in action soon enough.”

The guard didn’t quite seem to enjoy the violence-related joking and quietly got to work while consistently almost getting hit by Denise; regardless, he soldiered on, despite the sweat pouring down his face and the demon taking swipes at him.

Klaus would almost have considered paying him a compliment — but that bloody man still represented everything that was wrong with this messed up facility. As the guard finished patching her up after removing the blessed bullet, Klaus was still holding onto Denise’s other hand, pressing it against his chest — when suddenly, commotion outside the door made him look away from the demon. His eyes narrowed once again as the guard stumbled over to the door and slightly opened it to peek outside. The next moment, the man was screaming uncontrollably as he was dragged outside. “Well, sit back and enjoy the show, love,” Klaus whispered, tearing his eyes away from the pool of blood to look at Denise again. He glanced down at the demon who was still sitting in the medical chair and leaned down to press his lips to her forehead, knowing bloody well that this could end poorly. But he was Klaus Mikaelson, so he confidently walked over to the door that was now slowly creaking open, and he swiftly kicked it off its hinges entirely.

After a stunned silence, men started pouring into Mills’ lab of horrors, all with red eyes and fangs out. Quickly recovering from the shock that there were vampires on the other side of that door, Klaus’ eyes darkened into a deep yellow as his hands disappeared into the chests of the first two before ripping out their hearts. In the following second, the next man got his neck snapped and the fourth got his jugular torn out entirely. As Klaus sank his fangs in the fifth and then the sixth vampire, he realized something. These were vampires that they experimented on — despite the fact that they were faster, stronger and more vicious than regular vampires, they were still descendents from him, and how large were the odds that Mills and her crazy scientists knew about original vampire compulsion?

“STOP RIGHT THERE!” Klaus roared.

The remaining men froze immediately, and Klaus smirked. “Everyone grab a weapon off the wall and hold it to your neighbour’s throat. Otherwise, do not move a single muscle.” He gestured for Denise to come closer, taking her hand in his again. “As soon as we’re out of sight, you gentlemen can have at it — literally do not stop until your neighbour’s head is on the floor. Should you beat him to it, you get to continue working on removing your own head from your body. Good luck!” he added on a cheery note as he pulled Denise past the messed up vampires. The moment they left the room, the screams started, and Klaus quickly made his way through the facility, firmly holding onto Denise. A few moments later, they had made it outside again. “Well, I can guarantee you there’s more where that came from. Can you run?” Klaus looked to his side and smirked at her. “Or would you like me to carry you, love?”

 

[Insanity Awakened 18]

Jeremy still had a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that Bella had dated Kol. Then again, he knew he shouldn't be that confused or upset about it. He had only gotten to know her within the span of a couple of days. In the time he got to know her, however, he knew he would be lying if he said that part of himself didn't care about her in some way or another, which is why a slight smile came to his face when she was on his side about Elena's opinions. He even let out a slight chuckle when she suggested backing him up concerning how the two of them met. "Yeah, that might end up helping out." he told her, happy when the subject was changed to something else. He didn't have to guess to know what Damon had on his mind, but as he kept his gaze on the blonde vampire, he couldn't help noticing how close they were too. He probably would have kissed her too if it wasn't for his sister slamming her fist on the door, causing him to be pulled out of whatever thoughts he had as he took a hold of the blonde vampire's hand, feeling a twinge of disappointment when she let go and they were face to face with his sister and Bonnie, a slight smile coming to his face as he nodded to the latter.

"Hey Bonnie." Jeremy said, his hands sliding into his pockets as his gaze moved to Elena. She seemed very pissed about what was going on. He guessed he couldn't blame her, but before he could say much to defend himself, his gaze had gone to the vampires as they quietly sneaked into the room, his eyes narrowing slightly at Damon as well before he looked back to his sister. He was trying very hard to bite his tongue and keep his cool, but with everything that happened over the last couple of days, his felt his emotions get the better of him.

"I'm not just hanging out with her. I'm doing what I can to keep her safe and fix what I screwed up." Jeremy said, a slight look of irritation coming to his face before he continued. "The only reason all of this started was because there is a list circulating Mystic Falls that has the names of every vampire, witch, and whatever supernatural beings happen to be there. This list attracted the attention of big time hunters that are not only experimenting on vampires, but they plan to experiment on humans too. After finding that out, I knew that I couldn't go back home and that I had to try and stop them before they end up hurting my family or my friends." he told her, deciding to leave out the part that this all started because of Damon making a deal with Denise to get Stefan out of his ripper phase. That would only cause more problems. As he continued talking, however, that's when the young Gilbert found himself getting a little carried away.

"What I don't get is why your so mad at me being caught up in all of this in the first place. So its okay for you to date vampires, but it's not okay for me to?" Jeremy asked, not even noticing is own slip up before he continued. "I get that you don't want me involved in the supernatural, but like it or not I'm involved. I'm not the same screw up that I was a couple of years ago. I can take care of myself and I'm not going back to Mystic Falls until we're able to get Klaus and Denise to safety and stop this facility's experiments." he said with a hint of determination in his voice. He knew that she would try and talk him out of it, but he was determined to stay. Not only for the hybrid and demon's sake, but for Bella as well. He felt like it was his fault she was dragged into this whole mess in the first place, so if he could help protect her, he was going to do just that.

Denise was grateful that the bullet was out of her shoulder. She could still feel the affects of it, but at least they were starting to go away. Now all they had to worry about was what had attacked the guard and was hiding in Mills' office. She was sure that Klaus would be able to handle whatever was there, but she couldn't help feeling nervous for him at the same time. Not to mention she felt a strange but pleasant feeling surge through her when the hybrid kissed her forehead before going and kicking the door off its hinges. She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but the last thing she thought she'd end up seeing was a handful of crazed vampires running towards the hybrid. While she was confident in his skills, she had quickly stood up from the medical chair, ready to help him if he needed it. What happened next, however, left the demon stunned.

Denise looked from one crazed vampire to the next as they all froze after Klaus yelled at him. The hybrid was the main topic of conversation in Hell, but that didn't mean she knew about everything that he could do. She was amazed at what she was seeing, but she didn't let her shock stop her for too long as she was at the hybrid's side once again, watching with fascination as the vampires did everything the hybrid told them to. She glanced over her shoulder at Mills' office as the two of them were leaving, and once they were outside once again, she knew that they needed to get out of there while they still could. Judging from the snarls and snapping teeth she heard within the facility, they would have to get out of there now.

"Yeah, I'm going to need you to carry me. At least until we're clear of this place." Denise said with a grin. She wasn't sure how many experiments were running rapid around the facility, but considering she was still recovering from being shot, she didn't want to take her chances. As she turned her head towards the facility door, however, she could tell there were already some more crazed vampires on their heels. "Oh, for hell's sake." she said under her breath, letting out a low whistle, watching as whatever hellhounds were still lingering outside were now trying to keep the crazed vampires back. She wasn't sure how long the distraction would last, but at least it would give her and Klaus enough time to get out of there.

 

[Saltwater Bound]

“Look, Jer...” Elena brushed her slender fingers through her long, dark hair. “Just... be rational. Think about what you're doing. Even if they end up going after humans, it’s not up to you to be the hero. For now, it’s a supernatural problem that should be solved by the supernatural beings, who have powers and insane healing abilities. You shouldn’t even know about a list or a facility like that, let alone try and help.”

“And could you touch on why you can date vampires and he can’t?” Kol enquired with a smirk and the tone of a journalist conducting an interview.

Elena sent him an angry look and Bella tried to continue looking neutral, although admittedly it could be pretty funny when Kol was pushing someone else’s buttons. “Fine, Jer, if you wanna get into that in front of everyone — fine. It’s because you make bad decision after bad decision when it comes to who you date, from everything that went down with Vicki and Anna to whatever this is,” she said, gesturing at Bella again. “You think you can keep them safe and protect them but you can’t, Jer, and you end up getting hurt. Every. Damn. Time. You just don’t—”

“Okay, stop,” Bella interrupted, holding up her hand as she stepped forward. She’d really tried to keep her face neutral and her mouth shut to avoid making it worse, but she said she’d have his back — so this was as far as she was going to let it go. She had no idea who Elena was talking about, but even Damon’s face showed that he was taken aback. “I get your concern, but whatever happened in the past, he’s done nothing but protect me from the moment we met.” Which was totally true as long as you ignored the first fifteen minutes or so. “I also get that you have no idea who I am, but I have and will do everything I can to protect him too.”

“Cool, so now that’s settled,” Damon finally spoke up, although the look that Elena gave him clearly indicated that absolutely nothing was settled, “we all have each other’s backs, etcetera — what’s going to be our next move? Bon-Bon, any ideas?”

Bonnie raised her eyebrows, but the look she gave him was still more thoughtful than judgmental. “Well, I was thinking... there are plenty of spells to knock people out for a while. I just need to find one strong enough to make everyone in there fall asleep, with a workaround for the two we’re going to get out. And whatever magic was keeping them trapped in that specific cell, we’ll figure out on the go. I doubt it’ll be hard for me to break if it’s human made. If it’s a sigil, chances are they’ve broken it themselves by now.”

“Sweet. Sooo... have a timeline in mind? Because you know, tick-tock,” Damon said.

Bonnie narrowed her eyes. “Don’t push it, Damon. I’ve brought the family grimoire. I just need some time – and privacy – to look through it, and maybe reach out to some other witches if needed. How about Elena and I get a room too and we just meet up again in the morning?”

“Not a problem, love.” Klaus smirked down at her before literally swooping Denise off her feet, holding her in his arms like he was going to be carrying his demonic bride across the threshold of their home. Despite the fact that more of the crazed vampires had started pouring out of the exit, he couldn’t resist glancing back at the hellhounds just once. Amazing beasts. Who needs more bloody hybrids when you have a demon by your side who can summon and control actual monsters from hell?

After mentally bidding his favorite new creatures goodbye, Klaus turned to face the woods next to the facility. He tightened his hold on Denise and disappeared between the trees. They traveled through the thick forest at his usual vampire speed, although Klaus made sure to keep both an eye on the road ahead and on the demon in his arms; since he had no earlier experience with hunters who use blessed bullets, he couldn’t stop himself from glancing down as often as possible to make sure she wasn’t dying in his arms.

A while later, after Klaus was certain he had put a significant number of miles between them and the facility, he slowed down and started to look around for a place to stay — or at least catch their breath for a moment while they reached out to the others. Maybe have a snack or two... depending on the amount of people there. As they reached the edge of the woods and neared the highway to Richmond, Klaus noticed a small diner.

He further slowed down to walking speed, and after heading over to the entrance of the diner, Klaus carefully placed the dark-haired demon back on her feet. “Are you feeling okay? No suspicious pain that might indicate that damn bullet is causing some after-effects?” Klaus enquired, meticulously looking Denise up and down before gesturing towards the restaurant. “Admittedly, I am not entirely sure what demons live on — but we could stop here, grab a bite? Meanwhile I’ll text our getaway driver to see where they are,” Klaus added as he pulled his phone from his pocket and started texting Damon.

It didn’t take long for Klaus' phone to buzz. Klaus raised his eyebrows before handing his phone over to Denise so she could see what the older Salvatore had texted back: a screenshot of the reservation he made. “They’re at the Hilton in Richmond — look at all the suites.” Klaus shook his head. “Although considering the kind of mansion I built, I suppose I don’t have much room to talk.”

 

[Insanity Awakened 18]

Jeremy couldn't bring himself to tell Elena that he was the first on the list when it came to the facility conducting human experimentation. He was sure that would only make things worse, but as the conversation continued, it seemed like things were getting bad even without that bit of information. Instead, not only did she want him to stop helping in whatever was happening, but she also wanted to air his dirty laundry when it came to his exes. He found himself wishing that Kol had stayed quiet. Not to mention he felt hurt as his sister brought up the exes. Well, more specifically his vampire exes. His emotions would be very easy for everyone to see on his face, but before he could say anything in his own defense, he felt himself letting out a sigh of relief when Bella finally shut the conversation down. He wasn't sure if or when his sister would bring up the subject again, but as the older Salvatore steered the conversation in another direction, he silently wished that that his dating history wouldn't be brought up again.

Jeremy found himself shooting a grateful smile in Bella's direction as he listened to Bonnie and Damon come up with a suitable solution as far as getting Denise and Klaus out of the facility. It sounded foolproof enough to him, but he knew that their witchy friend would need time to prepare. As the older Salvatore got to work in getting Elena and their witch suites of their own, he turned his gaze towards Bella completely. "Thanks for standing up for me like that. I know that you said that you'd have my back, but I still appreciate it." he told her with a slight smile. With his back turned to the older Salvatore and his sister, he missed the expressions that came to the vampire's face as he was texting someone before turning to the rest of the group.

"Well, turns out Bon-Bon was right about our dynamic duo breaking the sigil that was trapping them in the facility. In fact, they should be on their way here shortly." Damon said with a grin before looking towards Elena and the witch. "Looks like we won't be putting together a rescue mission after all, but considering Jerbear failed to mention how he came to know who these human experiments will be, let alone who will be unlucky patient zero, it might not be such a bad idea for either of you to stick around." he added with a slight shrug, shooting a slight look in Jeremy's direction, to which he immediately shook his head. The older Salvatore then gave a casual shrug before looking back towards the ladies in question, watching as the older Gilbert let out a deep sigh, shaking her head.

"Fine, we'll stay and get things sorted out. Bonnie is going to get settled into her suite, but you still have a lot of explaining to do." Elena said, giving Damon a pointed look to which the vampire raised his hands in mock defeat before exiting the suite with the ladies. Once they were out of sight, Jeremy felt like he needed some space from the others. Especially considering what went down between Elena and himself, so while he had the good sense not to go wandering around outside, he did go to his own suite, sitting on one of the beds as he let out a deep sigh, putting his face in his hands. The way that his sister brought up Vicki and Anna stirred up feelings in him that he buried a long time ago. It had been years since he thought about what happened, so now that everything was out in the open, he couldn't help feeling slightly hurt. Not to mention he could only imagine what Bella would end up saying. He doubted that she would judge him for his past, but as he sat on his own, he would be lying if he said he wasn't worried.

Denise was grateful for Klaus' help getting away from the facility. Hell, she was still surprised that he had stuck around this long. Not that she was complaining or anything. It was just loyalty was a hard thing to come by when it came to demons. Not to mention it was a nice change of pace to come across someone who was impressed by what she could do. She didn't let herself get too stuck in her own thoughts, however, as the hybrid slowed down before stopping entirely in front of a small diner, one of her hands resting on his forearm briefly before she answered.

"I'm okay. I think that weird juju has cleared my system." Denise said, looking to the diner before looking back at Klaus. "Demons don't have a strict diet they have to follow, so I'm sure we'll find something here we both like." she said with a grin before the hybrid started texting Damon. She only moved her hand from his forearm when she took the phone handed to her, glancing at the screenshot before handing it back, letting out a slight chuckle as he referred to the number of suites and his mansion. "If I had access to the amount of money you guys do, I think I'd have my own mansion too." she said, waiting for the hybrid before she headed into the diner. There weren't too many people there, but after doing a quick scan around the room, she was able to spot a couple of people that she was sure would sustain the hybrid's appetite for a while.

"Go ahead and find us a good place to sit. I'll snag a couple of appetizers in the meantime." Denise said with a grin before making her way over to a couple that were seated across from each other in a nearby booth, sliding in to sit next to one of them, causing both of them to give her a surprised look.

"I'm sorry, but can we help you with something?" the woman seated across from her asked, the man sitting next to her nervously looking for one of the wait staff as the demon grinned before letting out a slight chuckle.

"You can actually. Well, more like you can do something for my new best friend." Denise said, making sure that both people seated were focused on her before she continued. "You are going to get up and follow me over to the table that handsome man is sitting at. You aren't going to make any noise and you'll do everything I instruct you to do. Sound good?" she asked, watching as the couple nodded in agreement. "Perfect! Exactly what I like to hear." she said before sliding out of the booth and making her way over to Klaus once again. "Not the best, but I'm sure they'll do until we find you something better. What do you think?" she asked as the couple walked over to be inspected by the hybrid. She heard that the hybrid wasn't terribly picky about his victims, but she had pretty high standards. She wasn't going to make the hybrid feed on just anyone they ran into. Meaning that she would make sure to pick people that looked like they didn't have any addictions that would affect their blood or anything. Not that she was aware if that would affect a vampire in any way, but considering how much the hybrid had watched out for her, she was going to do the same for him.

 

[Saltwater Bound]

When Jeremy thanked her, Bella smiled back at him. She felt a pang in her chest when she saw the hurt on his face, and was about to reach for his hand, present company be damned, when Damon’s news made everyone turn to the older Salvatore. Bella slowly exhaled, relieved beyond words that Denise and Klaus got out safely. It didn’t seem to do much for the tension in the hotel suite, but she felt like a weight was lifted off her shoulders. She realized they still had the facility itself to deal with, especially considering the fact that Jeremy was their top pick for human experimentation; the only way to keep everyone save — the entire world, really, considering those expension plans regarding human experiments — was to shut the whole freaking thing down. But at least for now, this battle was won.

Damon headed off to the reception with Elena and Bonnie to get them a room of their own; biting her lower lip, Bella watched Jeremy leave too, by the looks of it heading to his own suite. She really wanted to make sure he was okay, but what if he wanted to be alone?

“Looks like your new guy is really taking his sister’s words to heart,” Kol commented, pretending to pout for exactly two seconds before his lips reverted back to the usual diabolical grin. “How sad. Oh well.” He opened up the mini fridge and gestured towards its content. “Drink?”

Bella shot him one look before heading out of her suite and towards Jeremy’s. As she came closer, she hesitated for a moment — she still wasn’t sure if he left to get away from the others, or the others and her. Then again, only one way to find out. She knocked three times before opening the door and stepping in.

“Hey,” Bella said quietly, feeling another pang in her chest as she saw him sitting there on the bed with his face in his hands. She closed the door behind her, brushed her blonde locks behind her ears and sat down next to him. “Are you okay? Just say the word if you want me to leave, but it felt like my turn to check up on you.”

Bella’s eyes fell on the lab coat that both Klaus and Jeremy had been wearing; her mind briefly flashed back to her neuroscientist husband who’d inspired the whole plan in the first place. If her memories of an entirely different lifetime still had the ability to hit a sore spot, she could only imagine how Jeremy felt right now.

“I’m sorry for what happened in there. Kol has a very flimsy understanding of when to shut up.” After looking back up at Jeremy, Bella tentatively placed her hand on his shoulder. “If you want to talk about the things that were said, I’m here for you. And if you don’t wanna talk about it, that’s cool too.” She lightly squeezed his shoulder and with her free hand, gestured at the giant screen on the wall. “Or I can go back to my room, rent a movie and let you be by yourself.”

“Glad to hear you’re okay, love. If the one person who actually seems to be able to keep up with me dies because of a bloody blessed bullet...” Klaus shook his head, grinning back at the beautiful demon besides him. When she commented on the amount of money vampires tend to have access to, Klaus’ grin widened. “Well, when one has been around long enough and possesses the power of compulsion, it’s easy. I know better than to ask a lady flat out how old she is, but I’m sure you’re powerful enough to compel yourself a mansion for the time you spend topside. Of course, if you don’t feel like handling the upkeep... you can always stay with me.”

Klaus hooked his arm into hers and they headed into the diner, where he nodded approvingly at Denise’s suggestion to snag him some snacks while he found a good spot for the two of them. While Denise headed over to a couple in a nearby booth, Klaus kept listening as he wandered through the diner and picked out a spot in the corner by the counter, the grin still on his lips. And what a great new best friend she was. When Denise showed up with the two appetizers, he nodded approvingly once again. “Those will do just fine — as they say, dinner is about the company,” Klaus said, raising his eyebrows at Denise herself, “and in that regard, I am perfectly happy.” Klaus flashed her a crooked smirk as he gestured for the man to sit down, which he mindlessly did. Klaus’ blue eyes changed into a deep shade of yellow again, and the flickering light from the candle on the diner table hit his long white fangs right before they sank into the man’s neck.

A moment later, the woman squealed when her date/boyfriend/whatever fell over, his face white as a sheet, his pulse barely there. After licking his lips, Klaus rolled his eyes. “Calm yourself. He’ll be fine. Take a kitchen towel, apply pressure on the wound and call 911 after my partner has finished her dinner and we’re out of sight.”

The woman quietly went away, presumably to find kitchen towels, and Klaus examined the diner’s counter display. “Unfortunately, unless there’s a chef somewhere in the back, it seems your current options are pizza and pie. If you don’t have a strict diet to follow, maybe give mine a try,” he suggested with a devilish smile, nodding at the woman who was just returning, kitchen towels in her arms. “Or you could make her cook you something you like.” Klaus looked back at Denise, leaning in after placing his arms on the diner table. “Whatever is going to make you stay and properly introduce yourself to me. All I know now is you’re a demon — a very powerful one — who somehow got mixed up with the likes of Damon Salvatore.” The hybrid grinned. “And I want to know more.”

 

[Insanity Awakened 18]

Jeremy hadn't expected anyone to come and check on him. When he heard the knocks, his first thought was that it might be Elena. He lifted his head from his hands, about to tell whoever it was to leave, but stopped when he saw that it was Bella. He was feeling upset because of what was said to him, but if anyone was going to check on him, he was glad that it was her, so he found himself giving the blonde vampire a small smile as he shook his head. "No, you don't have to leave." he said, purposefully ignoring her first question as he knew he wasn't okay. He didn't think it was fair for him to unload everything that was going through his mind on her when he knew she had been just as upset. It was comforting the way she placed her hand on his shoulder, so before he could talk himself out of it, he found himself confiding in her about the things that had bothered him.

"You don't have to apologize. I just wish that everything didn't come out in front of everyone like that." Jeremy said, running a hand through his hair as he let out a deep sigh. "My sister tried to keep me out of all of this. She had Damon erase my memories just to keep me from finding out what Stefan and Damon were." he said, looking to Bella before he continued. "It started with Vicki. They took whatever memories that I had of what happened to her. They thought that it helped me, but it didn't erase any of the hurt that I had felt hearing that she had died." he said, feeling his breath slightly hitch before he continued. "Damon offered to do the same with Anna after what happened to her, but I wouldn't let him." he added. While he felt sad about mentioning the events that surrounded Vicki and Anna, he knew that he was more upset about Elena dragging all of that information out in front of everyone than anything. After letting out a deep sigh, he turned his gaze away from the blonde vampire next to him before looking to her again.

"She still thinks that she can shield me from everything supernatural that happens in Mystic Falls so I don't end up getting hurt, but its the fact that she lied that ended up getting me hurt." Jeremy said, running a hand over his face for a moment before shaking his head. "I want to say thank you though for coming to check up on me. I didn't mean to dump all of that on you, but I appreciate you staying and listening." he told her with a slight smile. At first he hadn't thought about telling her everything that was bothering him, but now that he had gotten everything out of his system, he was starting to feel slightly better.

Denise thought that Klaus brought up a good point when he suggested she get her own mansion. Demons weren't too picky when someone asked about their age, but when he suggested she stay with him, she found her interest peaked. She was already having a blast being around the hybrid, so why not stay at this mansion of his too? After she brought over the couple for the hybrid, she grinned when he seemed pleased. She rolled her eyes at the same time the hybrid did at the woman's over dramatics, but when she disappeared to grab some towels, she raised an eyebrow at his suggestions for dinner, a smile coming to her own face as she looked to the woman before looking back to him. A slight scowl passed her face when he mentioned Damon, but the smile came back to her face quickly.

"Well, considering we're going to take a trip to hell, I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you a little more about me." Denise said, looking to the woman and pointing to the chair next to her before she looked back to Klaus. "My name's Denise. I'm not the top demon, but I'm pretty damn close." she said, glancing over towards the woman when she had a seat next to her. She took a moment to lean towards her, whispering something into her ear before looking back to the hybrid once again as the woman got up and made her way back to the kitchen. "As for how I got mixed up with Damon, he came crawling to me when Stefan went into his Asshole Phase, begging me to get him back to normal. In exchange, he made up a list of supernatural beings that happen to be in Mystic Falls so he could get out of having to pay his soul to me in 10 years, which I am reconsidering very much considering he makes me want to roll my eyes so hard I snap my own neck." she added with a slight huff. She knew that she wouldn't hurt the older Salvatore because of his brother, but she was still going to kick his ass for throwing her under the bus to Bella and Jeremy in the first place.

"So, what else would you like to know?" Denise asked, glancing towards the woman for a moment as she came back, setting a glass in front of her before sitting down, her hand ghosting over the bandage she had on her wrist as the demon grinned. "Let's give this diet of yours a try." she said, taking a drink from the glass before she pulled the glass away from her lips, a curious look coming to her face as she nodded slightly. "Mmm, not bad. I brought her over here for you though remember? I might end up having some more for myself though if you aren't quick enough." she said, a slight smirk coming to her face before she downed the rest of the glass, licking her lips before letting out a content sigh. "Damn that is good." she said with a slight chuckle. Why hadn't she done this before? She knew that Damon had suggested it before, she had turned him down because most of the victims he went for were too easy. Not to mention she wasn't sure how clean their blood actually was, but now that she was sitting here with the hybrid, she was glad she decided to give the vampire diet a try after all.