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

[Saltwater Bound]

Bella stared at Jeremy in silence. It took a moment to sink in that he’d actually lost two girlfriends. And as if that wasn’t traumatizing enough in and of itself, considering what he said about the supernatural circumstances, Bella couldn’t imagine those deaths being anything but gruesome. Adding to that the heartbreak of having your memories taken away and being left with unexplained pain... Jesus. When Jeremy’s breath hitched, Bella‘s hand traveled down, her fingers brushing his back. But as he went on to explain what ultimately had caused him to get hurt — the fact that his sister lied to him — Bella’s own breath skipped a beat.

“Anytime. I’m so sorry you had to go through all that,” Bella said, smiling up at him after Jeremy thanked her. In that moment she wanted nothing more than to lean in and wrap her arms around him — but instead, she pulled back her hand and entangled her fingers in her lap, Jeremy’s words on shielding people from the supernatural echoing in her head. “So I don’t know if this’ll help create more of an understanding or if it’s just gonna make you like me less, but... I should be honest with you anyway.” Bella stared down at her hands. “I did the same. I died... in a… brutal way. Bekah found me and tried to save me, but I was so injured that she accidentally turned me, and I didn’t want my family to know about either. So... I had Klaus compel everyone. He didn’t take away their memories of me,” Bella vaguely gestured to the other room, referring to Damon, “but he made sure everyone thought cause of death was something medical instead of murder, and he orchestrated a whole funeral, empty casket and all. I just... wanted them to have closure. And also...”

Bella fell silent for a moment, unsure of how to articulate why she really didn’t want to tell the truth to anyone. “When I died, I left behind a husband and a three year old daughter. And as Klaus gently explained to me at the time, a newbie vampire… can’t be a mom.” Bella bit her lip. Those words were still like a stake to the heart. “I had to stay away for her safety either way. She was only three, and I didn’t want her one memory of me to be how I was assaulted and killed by human monsters and then turned into a literal monster myself. And I didn’t want to leave my husband with that image either.”

Bella swallowed the lump in her throat as she stared at the wall, her fingers now playing with the two rings dangling from the delicate silver chain on her neck. “Maybe it’d help if you told Elena what you told me — because until just now I never thought about how lying could’ve put them in danger. I genuinely thought it was the best thing to do. They lived long and happy lives, so I never doubted it before.” Bella looked back up at Jeremy, unsure of what to expect. “I’m not trying to say it’s okay what Elena did, or what I did. I do get how you feel. But I get how Elena feels too, and I don’t wanna be a hypocrite and pretend like I don’t.”

The grin on Klaus’ face grew exponentially when Denise not only confirmed their future travel plans to her own territory, but also agreed to tell him more about her demonic self. Considering how little he knew about demons despite having roamed the earth for literally over a thousand years — frankly, his knowledge about them was pretty much non-existent — Klaus was fairly certain it was rare for demons to share. Probably especially those high up on the ladder. He snickered as the demon started telling him about how she met the Mystic Falls gang. “Asshole Phase,” he repeated with a smirk, “that is genuinely perfect. A lot less pretentious than calling him the Ripper, if you ask me — and more accurate, too, considering the never-ending sass that man gives me whenever he finds himself in his, well, Asshole Phase. Regarding his even more sassy brother who seems to perpetually be in an Asshole Phase – if Damon were to pay you with his soul, I presume that means it’ll be off to hell with him until the end of times?” Klaus grinned. “If so, I can only advise letting him off the hook. No matter what all those poor souls down there have done to end up in perdition, I cannot imagine any of them deserve to spend eternity listening to the witticisms of Damon Salvatore.”

Klaus leaned in a little more as Denise brought the glass with a taste of his diet to her lips, his arms still on the diner table and a curious look on his face. His lips curled further upwards when he saw she was clearly enjoying it. “Well, glad you like it. That’ll definitely save on the effort of separate groceries, because our fridges are mostly stocked with blood bags. Also, please feel free to indulge,” he added, gesturing towards the woman next to Denise. “I had a lot before we came to rescue you and Jeremy Gilbert. Several people’s worth.” He grinned at the woman across the table from him, who immediately whimpered and looked like she wanted to disappear into the diner bench. In all honesty, Klaus mostly wanted to make sure Denise got enough sustenance, and he had the feeling that she would be too proud to accept it if he’d explained it like that.

“And while you continue enjoying dinner, there is an endless amount of other details that I’d love to know.” Klaus looked at Denise, his blue eyes piercing hers. “For one — if you’re pretty damn close to being the top demon, you must’ve had a hell of a few centuries,” Klaus said with a smile, raising his eyebrows in anticipation. “So while I was creating the vampire race, killing hunters, chasing doppelgangers and searching for a way to break the hybrid curse my mother ever so kindly placed on me, what were you up to?”

 

[Insanity Awakened 18]

Jeremy was glad that Bella was there with him. Granted he still felt a bit embarrassed due to what Elena said in front of everyone, but still. He was just happy to not be alone. As he continued to sit with the blonde vampire, however, he couldn't help giving her a curious look when she pulled her hand away from him, suggesting that he might end up liking her less after hearing what she had to say. What could she possibly tell him that would make him do that? He wasn't entirely sure, but he stayed silent as she explained to him how she became a vampire. Whatever hurt feelings he had disappeared almost completely as he felt his heart breaking for her. It never crossed his mind to ask her how she had been turned, mostly because he thought that kind of question was too personal, but he didn't like her any less now that he knew the truth about what happened.

Jeremy kept his gaze on Bella as a silence fell over the room. He honestly wasn't sure what he could say to help her feel better, but he did reach out to her and place a comforting hand on her shoulder. He could see that she was struggling, and while he was happy that she knew the truth about the struggles he had, he now felt incredibly guilty for telling her. Especially because it seemed she had her own things she was struggling with. While he didn't know what he should say in order to help her feel better, he knew that he had to say something as he looked to her.

"I'm so sorry Bella. I had no idea you had gone through something like that. I can't even imagine how hard that was for you either." Jeremy said, keeping his hand on his shoulder as he kept his gaze on her. He wasn't sure what else he could say, but as he paused to try and think of something, he listened to the blonde vampire as she told him that he should tell Elena what he was feeling. As much as his feelings may have been hurt at the time, he knew that he was right. He would make sure that he talked to his sister before they made any plans on bringing down the facility. While the blonde vampire was with him, however, all he wanted to do was make sure she was okay.

Jeremy may have been at a loss as to what he should say, but he knew what he should do to help Bella. With that in mind, he didn't even hesitate to wrap his arms around the blonde vampire, holding her close to him. "I don't like you any less than I do right now after what you told me. After hearing your story, it helps me understand why my sister did what she did. I can understand why you had Klaus did what he did too." he said, keeping his arms around her as he continued. "I'll make sure to talk to my sister what I told you. I think for tonight though I'd like for you to stay and make sure you'll be alright." he said, only pulling away enough so that he could meet her gaze. He couldn't understand the pain of leaving behind the people he loved because of the heartless actions of someone else, but now that the truth was out in the open concerning the blonde vampire, he was going to make sure he was there for her.

Denise thought it was amusing that Klaus liked her name for Stefan whenever he became the Ripper. She thought that it was fitting too. She gave a slight nod when the hybrid inquired about Damon's soul going to hell, but when he suggested letting him off the hook, she found she was more on the fence about that decision. On one hand, she wouldn't have to deal with him anymore. On the other hand, she was sure the inhabitants wouldn't be able to deal with him for very long. Not to mention she was sure that Stefan would be very upset if that happened to. Then there was the possibility of Damon becoming a demon himself. Maybe even climbing the ranks to where he would become a crossroads demon himself. While the other reasons were good enough to let him off the hook, the thought of him becoming a demon was enough for her to think of a way to ban him from making deals with any crossroads demons now or in the near future. For now, she was going to keep her focus on Klaus and filling him in about herself.

A smile formed on Denise's face when Klaus told her to have as much as she wanted. Technically demons didn't have to eat, sleep, or do anything to keep themselves energized like anyone else might have to, but considering the way she had been shot, the blood was getting her strength back to where it needed to be. When she heard the woman next to her start to whimper, she turned her gaze towards her, giving her a reassuring smile. "Oh, don't worry. I'm not gonna take that much." she said before pushing the glass in front of her. "Go ahead and fill it up while we keep chatting." she said, looking away from the woman as she went about filling up the glass again as she met the hybrid's gaze once again, glad to answer his question.

"I haven't been doing anything as entertaining as creating a race, chasing doppelgangers, or having to break curses or anything. I've killed my fair share of hunters here and there though." Denise said with a grin before she continued. "Before I did all that though, after I got to the rank I'm at right now, I've been making connections of my own. The lower demons can be a little finicky when it comes to who they are loyal to, so most of my connections are with other crossroads demons." she said before glancing to the woman next to her as she pushed the glass back in front of her. "Thank you sweetie. Now go patch yourself up and take care of your beau over there." she said, glancing over to the man that was still on the floor before turning her gaze towards the hybrid once again.

"So, other than making deals and making sure other crossroads demons make complete idiots of themselves, I've been doing whatever I want." Denise said, a smile on her face as she took a drink from the glass in front of her. Honestly she didn't think her life was that exciting between making deals with needy people for the dumbest things, but now that she had crossed paths with Klaus, she had a feeling that things were going to get very interesting.

 

[Saltwater Bound]

Bella hadn’t been sure what to expect, but it most definitely wasn’t getting Jeremy’s arms wrapped around her and this level of understanding and empathy. Honestly, she would’ve sooner guessed she’d be asked to leave. Relieved, Bella leaned in, resting her head on his shoulder. He was so warm and comforting, and her breathing automatically mellowed. After he pulled away enough to meet her gaze, Bella involuntarily smiled and shook her head, quickly patting her eyes with her sleeves. “I’m alright, or I will be. Really. It’s been a long time. I just haven’t talked about them in forever. It actually felt... kind of nice. Cathartic.” She hadn’t expected that either, and Bella silently hoped talking about what he was struggling with had made Jeremy feel better too — and if not, she’d gladly be there for him. While it would always leave a scar, what happened to her had been centuries ago. She’d had several lifetimes to learn to deal with it; him, not so much.

“But I’d like to stay either way,” Bella added. “And I feel like I am starting to run out of ways to say thank you, so I’ll try to think of something fun we can do to cheer ourselves up.” As Bella contemplated their options — fairly limited, as they were pretty much fugitives until that freaking facility was taken care of — her thoughts kept going in a specific direction. Damn it. Based on how she’d assumed to be asked to leave after he heard about her past, she really didn’t feel like she could trust her brain with decisions related to what Jeremy was or wasn’t going to do.

Wait, no. No mas. If she was brave enough to break into a place specifically built for experimenting on her kind, she was brave enough to take the first step. Especially when she recalled what Damon walked into earlier. Bella bit her lower lip, looked up at Jeremy and smiled. “Okay — honestly, I don’t even care that we can’t go outside. There’s only one thing I want to do,” she said as she moved to sit on her knees, making up for the difference in height, before loosely draping her arms around Jeremy’s neck. Her smile turned into a grin and her slender fingers slipped into his dark hair, pulling Jeremy closer until her lips found his.

Klaus observed the woman as she quietly and timidly sat there in the booth, donating her blood to Denise via the glass on the table. That was a pretty damn clean and elegant solution if you didn’t have fangs or simply weren’t in the mood to ruin your expensive suit — he could already picture this whole thing as an addition to a dinner party. But before his mind could go from dinner party to party to full blown masquerade ball, Klaus returned his focus to Denise. He grinned as she started to describe what she had been up to. “Reversing the roles and hunting some hunters is fairly entertaining too, if you ask me.” He leaned back in the booth, thinking back to The Five, who still managed to stand out to him, even 900 years later. Rebekah hadn’t been a big fan of how he had handled that particular enemy of theirs — but it wasn’t like it was his fault that his sister gave her heart to anyone who showed her even the least bit of affection.

Klaus nodded thoughtfully as Denise continued discussing climbing up hell’s corporate ladder. “Demonic power struggles. That’s insanely interesting. I never would have thought that hell was this... hierarchical. Or organized. Most vampires are intelligent enough to fear me and my siblings, but otherwise, there's not much of an overarching power structure.” He cocked his head. “I’m going to be completely honest with you and admit that making connections isn’t exactly my strong suit. Quite the opposite — I have burned quite a few bridges over the years, certainly more than I’ve built. But if you don’t mind sharing your connections with me, it sounds like we could have a demon army like that.” He snapped his fingers and smirked; then, the bright headlights of a classic BMW pulling up outside caught his eye.

Before looking back at Denise, Klaus nodded towards the vehicle just as a middle-aged man with an ill-fitting suit and a beaten down briefcase was exiting it; the guy had clearly poured all his money into his car. “Well, if you’re feeling sufficiently better, how about we get ourselves a fancy ride to Richmond and continue the night in an even fancier suite at the Hilton?” he suggested with raised eyebrows. "We can even compel him to take us."

 

[Insanity Awakened 18]

Jeremy felt better that Bella would be alright. While he felt bad for her sharing her past like that, it sounded like it did the both of them a lot of good. Not only was she able to share something about herself that he hadn't known, but now he had a slight understanding of why Elena took the actions she did. He still wasn't happy about his memories being taken from him, but that was something he could talk to his sister about later. In that moment, he wanted to stay with the blonde vampire and forget about everything else that was going on for a while. He couldn't stop the amused smile that came to his face when she suggested coming up with something fun for the two of them to do. His mind jumped to picking a movie for the two of them to watch or possibly playing Truth or Dare, but before he could make any suggestions, it seemed that the blonde vampire had an idea of her own.

Jeremy couldn't help giving Bella curious look when she moved to sit on her knees. At first he wasn't sure what she was doing, but when she wrapped her arms loosely around his neck, the smile on his face grew as he returned the kiss without any hesitation, placing one hand on the small of her back while the other rested on the back of her neck, his fingers slipping into her hair as well. He had thought the way they shared each other's blood before was intense, and while he still did, he thought what they were doing in that moment was just as intense. The only thing that caused the moment to end this time was when he had to pull away for air, his forehead resting against hers as he panted slightly, the smile coming back to his face.

"Well, I think I'm feeling happier already." Jeremy told Bella, a light chuckle escaping his lips as the hand that was on her neck moved to rest on the side of her face, his thumb gently stroking her cheek as he gazed into her eyes. "Now you definitely aren't going to be able to get rid of me anytime soon. Think you'll be up for that?" he teased slightly, imagining what her answer would be before he found himself pressing his lips to hers once again. The two of them had met under very strange circumstances, but even with that in mind, he wouldn't have changed the way they met each other for anything because he realized she was just the person he needed in his life.

Denise agreed that it was very amusing to target hunters. She did it all the time. Well, only the hunters that tried to provoke her anyway. Other than that, she usually kept to herself. As the conversation continued, she was already thinking of what other things she could tell him about demons before they visited hell. Demons didn't care about who was on the top of the food chain or not. Most of them only looked out for themselves. She wasn't afraid to admit that she lived by that code as well, but when it came to vampires like Stefan and Klaus, the original hybrid, she would make anyone sorry if they happened to cross either of them. Granted she hadn't known either of them for very long, but from the time she spent with each of them, they were both people that she would defend no matter what, so when the hybrid suggested sharing her contacts, she allowed a grin to come to her face as she nodded.

"My contacts are your contacts." Denise said, finishing off her last glass of blood as the BMW pulled up outside of the diner. She listened to Klaus' suggestion, an amused look coming to her face as she nodded. "I can agree to that." she said, making sure the woman next to her wasn't about to faint out on her before she left the diner with the hybrid. It was easy enough to compel the man to drive them to the Hilton. Once they arrived, however, the demon didn't let him off the hook that easily. She proceeded to compel him into handing over the keys to the car, along with whatever else she felt like taking from him before making him walk down the road back to wherever he came from as she turned her gaze towards the hybrid.

"Let's go say hi to the others." Denise said to Klaus with a grin, passing her keys off to one of the workers, making sure to issue due warnings before she headed into the lobby with the hybrid. She thought that they would have to go to the suites to find the others, but when her sights fell on Damon standing next to Elena and Bonnie at the front desk with Stefan. She motioned for the younger Salvatore to be quiet, a grin on her face before she approached the group, giving the older Salvatore a hearty slap on the back, watching with amusement as he tried to keep his composure as she walked around him, hopping up and sitting on the front desk so the two of them were now face to face.

"Denise. We were wondering when you guys would get here." Damon said, his voice slightly strained as the demon grinned in response.

"We got here exactly when we wanted to. Which reminds me, we have a lot to catch up on. To be more the the point, we need to discuss how you threw me under the bus." Denise said, her eyes flashing a dark red for a moment before going back to normal, a smile adorning her features once more. "That can wait until later though. After you get us our suites, you and the others can meet us there so we can talk." she said, nodding in Klaus' direction as Damon let out a slight sigh. He finished up getting suites for the girls, the worker at the front desk trying to get the demon to get off the counter to which she compelled her to stop bothering her, the older Salvatore then getting suites for her and the hybrid as well. He seemed tense as he gave the key cards to the demon, but once he realized she wasn't going to end up killing him, he visibly relaxed before looking to his brother, hoping that he or the hybrid would be able to distract her long enough for him to escape with his girlfriend and her witchy friend.

 

[Saltwater Bound]

When Jeremy returned the kiss right away, slipping one hand onto the small of her back and the other to the back of her neck, a chill went down her spine and Bella felt like she was going to melt away right there in his arms. Kissing him was as intense and somehow made her feel even better than sharing blood with him — which said a lot, coming from a vampire. She flashed Jeremy a bright smile after he pulled away to catch his breath, her dimples making an appearance as he gently brushed her cheek with his thumb. His words made her face light up even more; Bella laughed and pulled him even closer, her arms still draped around his neck. “Are you kidding? Keep looking at me like you're doing right now, and I will literally say yes to anything.”

He kissed her again and Bella let herself sink back into the fancy hotel pillows, pulling Jeremy down and on top of her. Part of her wanted to blame the adrenaline-filled past few days for how fast her blood was rushing through her veins — but deep down she knew it was all him. From volunteering his help with the hunters and getting kidnapped for it, to then comforting her entirely on his own accord, to now this, he had managed to cause her to feel... well, a lot. Her mind was too preoccupied to disentangle all of said feelings right now, but she definitely knew that she was really glad she met him.

The image of how they met briefly floated back into her thoughts — her straddling him, pinning down his arms to keep him from being able to grab his stake — and Bella suddenly smiled against Jeremy’s lips. “I’m sorry. I just remembered how recently I was on top of you for a very different reason.” Bella grinned apologetically, brushing the back of his neck with the nails of one hand while pulling the other one back to trace Jeremy's jawline with her index finger. It was eerie how natural this felt. Bella’s gaze had been following along his jawline; she looked back up and brought her lips to his again, the next time only pulling away for air. Barely a moment later, she heard familiar voices nearing and then entering the next suite over.

“Our friends are here,” Bella whispered as she sat back up and brushed her messy blonde curls behind her ears. She may not have known Jeremy for long, but she was pretty sure he was the kind of person who’d want to check up on them as well. “One more, then we can go,” she added before placing her hands on his arms and pressing one last kiss on his lips. With a grin on her face, she shook her head. “I can’t believe I’m grateful for something that happened thanks to Damon.”

After Damon actually got the two of them two more luxury suites — his credit card company must seriously be wondering what the bloody hell was going on — Klaus hooked his arm through Denise’s. The interactions between Denise and Damon had been greatly amusing. Considering what Klaus had just witnessed when it came to Denise’s powers, he wasn’t particularly surprised that the older Salvatore brother wasn’t giving her his usual attitude; he was, however, dead set on making sure that Damon was going to give him just as much respect going forward. Another thing that a demon army should be able to assist with. “Everyone — as Damon so kindly provided both Denise and I with the only available suites left, the grand luxury ones,” Klaus paused briefly to grin at the demon besides him, “I suggest we all assemble in there to catch up.” Looking at the group in the hotel lobby, Klaus gestured towards the large staircase in the middle of the space; then he turned around and started walking, the grin on his face growing as he heard everyone fall in line behind him.

Perfect, those moments where he didn’t even need to use compulsion to get people to do what he wanted them to do.

As the hybrid and the demon started ascending the stairs, heading towards the floor where their group was now most likely occupying at least half of the suites, Stefan came up next to them, moving to walk on Denise’s other side. “So, what happened? How did you manage to get out?”

Klaus chuckled as they reached the right floor and started heading down the long hallway. “Actually — the guards managed to get us out,” he answered. “We lured them and let one shoot up the sigil that was preventing us from leaving. If we’re going to be taking them down, we’re gonna need to keep that in mind — if I were them, I’d start painting sigils all over that bloody place. If I may?” he added, addressing Denise as he gently took one of the key cards from her hands and swung open the door in front of him. Klaus waited for the group to get settled in the room; Kol and Rebekah flopped down on one of the beds, the Salvatores leaned against the wall with their arms crossed and Elena and Bonnie placed themselves by the large mahogany desk in the corner.

He frowned when he noticed people were missing, but then he realized which two — and shook his head with a grin on his face. “I suppose our Bella is finally taking a page out of Bekah’s playbook. Well then. We shall just update them when they get here.” He ignored the look Elena threw him and walked over to the center of the room, where he could address everyone. “A lot of things happened in there, but the most pressing is that these hunters are not just experimenting on our kind — they are acting like Doctor bloody Frankenstein. I fought beings in there — looked and acted like vampires, but they were insanely strong; these hunters have their own psycho vampire army. We’re lucky I’m still able to compel them — but only three of us here can.” Klaus fell silent for a moment as he looked around the room. “They’re gonna be our biggest problem when we go up against this enemy — so I’m glad to find you already recruited a witch.” He turned to the aforementioned witch with raised eyebrows. “Any ideas?”

 

[Insanity Awakened 18]

Jeremy didn't think that he had possibly smiled this much in his life. It was crazy to think that he only knew Bella within the span of a couple of days and felt such a strong need to protect her and make sure she was happy, but he was happy that things turned out like this all the same. As he gazed into her eyes, he couldn't stop the slight chuckle from escaping his lips when she told him that she'd say yes to anything he asked. Part of him was tempted to see what he might be able to get away with, but the other part of him not to push things too far until he knew they were both completely out of harm's way. With the way he and blonde vampire continued kissing each other, however, he was afraid his emotions might get the better of him.

A slightly curious look came to Jeremy's face when he felt Bella smiling against his lips, but before he could ask her what was going on, he could feel his cheeks turning a light shade of red when she brought up their first meeting, an embarrassed smile coming to his own face. "I know this is going to sound weird, but I'm kind of glad the way things happened. Well, maybe not everything, but I'm glad I met you. You know, despite what happened when I did." he said, pretty sure that his face had turned more red with the amount of rambling he was doing, but the smile stayed on his face as she traced his jawline before the two of them were kissing again. He would have been happy doing that for the rest of the night, but when he started to hear Klaus' voice going towards the next suite, he knew they would have to put a brief pause on things so they could go an talk to the others.

Jeremy definitely wanted to keep kissing Bella, but as the two of them straightened themselves up somewhat, he knew that he wanted to check up on Denise and Klaus. Even with that in mind, he didn't pass up the chance to return a brief kiss from the blonde vampire before allowing a slight chuckle to escape his lips once again. "I think that makes both of us. Sure it would only inflate is ego if he heard that though." he said as he stood up, waiting for the blonde vampire before heading out of the suite and to the next suite over, one of his hands holding hers as he let their fingers intertwine. He wasn't sure what the hybrid and the demon would have to tell them, but now that they were back, he couldn't help feeling anxious thinking about what would happen next with the facility.

========​

Denise was very happy to receive a grand luxury suite. Despite the circumstances that brought all of them here, she was going to enjoy this while she still could. She ended up returning the grin Klaus shared with her, and as she walked beside the hybrid towards the suites in question, she couldn't help shooting the hybrid an amused look. Her gaze quickly shifted to Stefan though when he came to walk on her other side, giving him a quick once over to make sure that he wasn't hurt. She was grateful to see that he was alright, she shot him a relieved smile before looking back to the hybrid, letting him take one of the key cards from her hand before everyone filed into the suite. As everyone filed into the room, she took a spot in the center of the room as well, her gaze staying on the hybrid as he explained their current situation.

Denise let her gaze wander towards the others in the room, watching as they all reacted differently to the news that Klaus shared with them. Her eyes barely shifted towards the door as Damon moved to it to let Bella and Jeremy in with the rest of them, watching as the pair went to stand on Stefan's other side before letting her gaze move towards the witch in the room as well, wondering what solution she would have to their current problem.

"If we really are dealing with some overpowered vampires, I'm going to need some time to look through the grimoire. I should be able to use a desiccation spell to stop them depending on how many of them there are. I may need to reach out to some other witches if there's more than a handful of them there." Bonnie said as Denise was already coming up with plans to reach out to her own contacts. Before volunteering that information, however, she let her gaze wander over towards Damon.

"Well, we could always use Damon as bait to lure them away from the facility while we deal with whoever is left." Denise said, watching as the older Salvatore shifted slightly while Elena shot a look in her direction. "Oh, don't give me that look. I'm only kidding. We're going to need all the power we can get." she said, only shooting a teasing smirk in the older Salvatore's direction when his girlfriend wasn't glaring daggers at her before she continued. "Between Bonnie and myself, we should be able to come up with something to bypass the psycho vampires just fine." she said before looking to Klaus with a grin. She wasn't sure how many of her contacts would be willing to face off against an army of psycho vampires, but it it ended up being just her and the witch, she was sure they would be able to get rid of the army in a snap.

 

[Saltwater Bound]

When Bella and Jeremy entered the other suite — even more ridiculously luxurious than both of theirs — they fell right into a conversation about overpowered vampires. Bella and Klaus exchanged a quick nod and a smile before they both continued listening to Bonnie, although she knew him well enough to recognize that amused look on his face; he was 100% going to tease her mercilessly later. It was like she could already read “glad you could finally join us, love,” in his eyes, British accent and all. After trying to suppress a smirk at Denise’s joke about Damon — Bella felt like she was getting enough angry glares from Elena as is — the next pair of eyes Bella looked for was Rebekah’s. As soon as they locked gazes, the beautiful blonde Original raised her eyebrows and sent Bella a wide grin. Bella’s lips curled up too and she couldn’t resist lightly squeezing Jeremy’s hand and looking up at him; upon seeing the anxious look on his face, she leaned into him a little closer.

“Okay, so for one, we have myself, Rebekah and Kol to compel them into tearing each others jugulars out. A dessication spell and a demonic showdown by Denise like the one I witnessed earlier sound like a great addition. Did you all know this one can summon hellhounds?” Klaus proudly added with another impressed smirk in Denise’s direction. “Regarding our plan of action after we reach the facility...” he paused for a moment and raised his eyebrows. “Considering the truly horrifying things we found in there, I say... let’s head over to that building right after the work day has started, kill absolutely everyone we find there and then just burn the whole bloody thing to the ground. Or maybe start with the burning and let that take care of the other issue.” Klaus glanced around the suite and smiled. “Anyone have any problems with that? Objections, comments?” A silence fell over the room. While Kol and Klaus were pretty disinterested in the moral issue of snuffing out the lives of hundreds of people, others, like Bella, Rebekah and the remaining vampires looked more conflicted; then again, it wasn’t like they were able to offer an alternative that wouldn’t end with them being dissected in a lab at a later point. And not just them. Their fellow vampires, witches and demons too — and humans as well.

Klaus finally nodded. Then, he gestured at the regular vampires in the room. “Bella and the Salvatores — you may not be able to make hellfire appear or compel other vampires or do magic...”

“Yeah, thanks — is this going anywhere?” Damon asked as he crossed his arms, sounding slightly offended; Bella, usually inclined to go with the opposite of what Damon said, raised her eyebrows at Klaus, the same question in her eyes.

Klaus smirked. “As I was about to say, but, you can still rip out some hearts and snap some necks. So how about we team up? For example, Damon with Bekah, Stefan with me, Bella with Kol, and then Bonnie and Denise can team up with their individual kind of juju. If you end up needing other witches, they can just... spread out across the teams,” Klaus suggested. The last part was mostly because he was not a fan of having a dozen witches on the loose by themselves, without vampires standing by to keep them in check; while he was genuinely grateful to Bonnie for helping them out, in his experience, witches were never truly on their side.

Bella noticed right away that Klaus had left both Jeremy and his sister out of the equation when it came to going back into the facility. She slowly exhaled before biting her lower lip, not entirely sure what to say. Jeremy made her feel safe, but in the face of an army of psycho, messed up vampires, that might not be too rational. On the other hand, she couldn’t make him sit the whole thing out if he didn't want to — not after the things he just confided in her.

Then, without a warning, all the lights in the room shut down — everything included the mini fridge besides the bed. Judging by the lack of light coming from underneath the door, the whole hotel was covered in darkness. “What in the bloody hell?” Klaus was the first to talk. When they looked out the windows, they could see the whole Richmond skyline still lit up like a damn Christmas tree; this was not just a regular power outage.

Bonnie partially lit up the room with a small flame and Bella’s eye fell on the mahogany desk. She let go of Jeremy’s hand; within a second, she was breaking off one of the wooden legs and snapped it in half, handing one makeshift stake to Elena and then the other to Jeremy. She closed his hand around it and looked up at him. She didn’t like the idea of Jeremy versus an overpowered psycho vamp, but right now there might not be a choice in the matter. Just as she moved to position herself between Jeremy and the door, multiple windows on the other side of the suite shattered simultaneously — and multiple vampires came crashing through it.

 

[Insanity Awakened 18]

Jeremy was feeling rather anxious about what Denise and Klaus might have to tell them. When he felt Bella squeeze his hand, however, he smiled as he gave her hand a light squeeze back. His gaze stayed on the hybrid as he talked about overpowering vampires. He could see the shocked looks that came to Bonnie and Elena's faces when the hybrid casually pointed out one of the demon's skills, to which a proud smile came to her face as he continued. He couldn't help being surprised as well, but he tried to keep his face neutral as they moved onto discussing what they would do with the facility and trying to shut it down. He agreed that the place should be burned down, but he didn't agree when it came to killing everyone there. He knew that with the hybrid, Kol and the demon they wouldn't care if lives were lost, but to him and the majority of the others in the room, he knew that they would disagree with that part of the plan.

Jeremy couldn't help raising an eyebrow slightly when Klaus started to rattle off all the things that Bella, Damon and Stefan couldn't do in comparison to some of the others in the room before pointing out what they could do to help. When he moved past that point and they talked about who would work with who, however, he was sure a look of confusion came to his face when Elena and himself were left out of the plans. He wasn't sure what the reason behind that was, but before he could argue with the hybrid, that's when the whole hotel went dark.

"Okay, now who the hell did that?" Denise said shortly after Klaus did, her first thought being to go and harass the staff there. When she watched Bella hand over makeshift steaks to Elena and Jeremy, however, she hung back as she came to stand next to Bonnie. "Something tell me that desiccation spell you were mentioning before would come in really handy right about now." she said, watching Jeremy exchange a look with the blonde vampire, his hand gripping the steak given to him as they tried to prepare for what was about to happen. As soon as the vampires came pouring through the windows, however, that's when the fighting really started.

Jeremy tried to keep a close eye on Bella, but at the same time, there were too many vampires for him to keep his gaze on her as he was making sure they stayed away from Elena. How many of them were there? Had they followed Denise and Klaus from the facility? Were there more running throughout the hotel? He wasn't entirely sure, but as he was momentarily distracted, a vampire took advantage of that and had grabbed him. Had it not been for the demon knocking it back, he probably would have been a goner.

"Jerbear, Elena, stay where I can see you." Denise said, seeing that Jeremy was about to argue with her before she cut him off. "There are way too many vampires in here for you to be arguing with me kid, so have your tantrum and do as I say." she said, all but yanking him next to Elena before placing herself in front of them, whistling so she could signal the hellhounds. All of which came barreling through the door of the suite, each of them going for the psycho vampires in the room.

"I need to get to the grimoire to get the desiccation spell. If there are more of them in the hotel, its our only chance of stopping them." Bonnie said, causing Denise to let out an annoyed huff as she punched through the chest of a rabid vampire, pulling out it's heart with ease before tossing it to the side.

"Fine, but we got to move fast." Denise said, now trying to get the small group to the now empty doorway. What she didn't expect, however, was for Jeremy to insist on staying there.

"We don't have time to argue. Get my sister and Bonnie out of here so she can perform the spell." Jeremy said, causing the demon to roll her eyes before she shook her head.

"You heard the man. Let's go." Denise said, Elena trying to insist on staying there until the demon grabbed her arm and all but dragged her along down the hallway. They were able to see thanks to light provided by Bonnie, but as they started to make their way to the suite with their things, she could hear more vampires making their way down the hallway. "Jesus, really?!" Denise said, a hint of irritation on her voice as she forced the girls into the room before closing the door behind them before she was met with an onslaught of vampires. She knew she'd be able to keep them back from the suite the girls were in, but she wasn't sure for how long. Either way she hoped that the witch would work her magic and quickly.

 

[Saltwater Bound]

Honestly, Bella was relieved when Jeremy insisted on staying — there was no way she would’ve been able to focus on mowing down monsters if she was unable to see what was happening to him. The darkness made her anxious enough as is. She couldn’t exactly see far, which meant she was only able to spot the vampires when they were mere feet away, their fangs bared and their psychotic eyes a fiery red. And there were so freaking many. Every time she managed to end one, the next one would almost be on top of her already. Bella could even hear the hybrid, who was fighting right besides her, panting — she didn’t think she ever heard that before. But continuously trying to kill them was the only option. There was simply no time, no opportunity to compel the endless barrage coming at them; and considering the amount of people in the room who were on their team, it wasn’t like any of the Originals could just yell general orders in a specific direction. The psycho’s were everywhere. Thank God for the hellhounds, who were ripping into them like they were freaking ragdolls.

Bella was also thankful for the fact that they were coming through the window, which meant that the Mikaelsons, the Salvatores and herself were in between most of them and Jeremy — but they were starting to slip through the cracks and Denise had already needed to knock one back.

“Nik! Bella!” Rebekah suddenly screamed, vehemently pointing at the door that led to the hallway.

Bella smacked the vampire who had been trying to wrestle her to the ground into the nearest wall and looked up, just in time to see the door shake one more time, before the whole thing caved and even more vampires came pouring in. Her heart in her throat, Bella rushed forward, tore off another leg from the heavy mahogany table and knocked down the first two vampires who were headed right for Jeremy, after which she rammed the makeshift stake into their hearts.

Klaus was right behind the blonde vampire; his long hybrid fangs out, he was creating piles of bodies left and right, blood dripping down his mouth. After he had significantly thinned out the first wave of new vampires, he grabbed Bella’s shoulder, jerked his head in the direction of the door and grimly nodded. Bella nodded back, quickly understanding that he was going after Denise and the two girls.

After Klaus disappeared into the darkness, Bella continued swinging around the now blood-soaked and splintered table leg and stabbing it into the hearts of anything she managed to smack down. Other than the fact that she continuously tried to position herself between the bulk of them and Jeremy, it wasn’t like she had to be very tactical — horrifyingly enough, she just kept on hitting rabid vampires. “Shit,” she hissed through her teeth when one grabbed the end of the stake and tore it out of her hands. Bella reached out to take it back when suddenly, a pair of fangs violently sank into her neck from behind. Barely a second later, before she could even so much as scream, she felt the vampire slump into her back.

Kol appeared before her, panting as he tossed said vampire’s heart aside before looking at her wounded neck and blood-stained top. “You good?”

Bella was about to nod when that same bone-chilling sound of fangs violently breaking through skin made her turn around — and it was like the air was suddenly punched out of her lungs. Jeremy. With one of the crazies on top of him. Kol followed Bella’s gaze and in a millisecond he was there, grabbing the vampire and flinging him away from Jeremy, straight into the chandelier hanging from the ceiling. While the Original went after him, Bella lifted Jeremy’s arm over her shoulder and held onto his hand, while wrapping her other arm around his waist. She rushed him into the bathroom, gently set him down against the bathtub and tried to shut the door — but one of the vampires was trying to get in behind them. Bella tore the silver towel rack off the wall and used it to knock him back hard before slamming the door shut, then immediately locking it, knowing damn well that it wouldn't hold them back if they really tried. She kneeled down next to Jeremy, bit her wrist and placed it on his lips, trying to keep her arm still despite the fact that she was trembling. Please be okay, please be okay, please be okay.



Meanwhile, Klaus had disappeared into the darkness of the seemingly empty hallway — unfortunately, that didn’t last very long. By the time Bonnie’s suite was in his line of sight, so was another group of the undead. He grinned when he spotted a tall metal floor lamp in the dark; his terrifyingly long fangs bared, he grabbed it and used it to effortlessly mow down the vampires, after which he tossed the lamp on top of his new pile of bodies. Klaus reached the door and let himself in, tore out two more hearts as he tried to shut the door and two vampires that were still standing tried to come in after him. He had to admit — they were loyal, or at least incredibly well-trained. It was a shame these hunters were on the other side, because clearly they could’ve been a great help with his hybrid problem.

“Hello, love," Klaus greeted Denise with a bloody grin. "How is it going in here?” he added, now addressing both Denise and the girls as soon as the door was safely shut behind him; after looking the demon up and down to make sure she hadn’t been harmed, he kept glancing at the windows and listening for any more movement outside the door. He knew perfectly well that someone like her was better equipped than any one of them to protect themselves, but he was not taking any risks — no way he was letting Frankenstein vampires coming between him and his brand new friend. Klaus turned to face Bonnie. “Is that desiccation spell still the plan? Because considering how it was going where I just came from, you should really get on it.” He raised his eyebrows. “If you’re having the same problem as we are with compulsion — that you can’t aim and will end up desiccating all regular vampires — I’d still go with it. We can feed Bella and the Salvatores to bring them back from being drained of all their blood, but we can hardly glue their head back on if those other vamps get to them.”

 

[Insanity Awakened 18]

​

Denise had her gaze on the windows until she heard movement outside of the door. She only assumed it was the crazed vampires, so as she readied herself for an oncoming attack, she let out a huge sigh of relief when she saw Klaus, grinning at him in return. "Not as bad as out there it seems." she said, forcing the two vampires away from the door before they were able to get it closed once again. She had made sure that the hybrid was okay too before making sure there were hellhounds standing guard at the windows and the door, turning her gaze towards Bonnie at the same time that the hybrid did. She wasn't sure how long it was going to take for the witch to find the spell she needed to stop the crazed vampires, but she hoped that she would find it fast. Otherwise not only would Bella and the Salvatore brothers be in danger, but so would the rest of them.

Bonnie confirmed that the spell was going to end up hitting all the regular vampires, but with her growing concern for everyone there, she got to to work on casting the spell. All the while Denise made sure that the witch and Elena stayed within her line of sight. As they waited for the spell to work, she looked to the door as the hellhound there starts snarling. She couldn't tell how many vampires were behind it, but as the witch continued with her chanting, she watched the door cave in before vampire started to pour into the room. The hellhounds that were guarding the windows immediately ran over to the door, helping the ones that were already tearing into vampires that tried to get past them. She knew they could count on the hounds, but if it took any longer for the witch to cast the spell, she wasn't sure how much longer any of them would last.

Denise had turned her attention towards Bonnie, about to tell her to hurry with the spell when more vampires came crashing through the window. "You have got to be kidding me." she said, barley able to pull Elena out of harms way before she was blindsided by one of them, knocking her to the floor. They almost bit into her neck until she watched it suddenly pull away from her, it's skin turning grey before it desiccated completely, falling on top of her. She made a disgruntled face before pushing the vampire off of herself, one of the hellhounds going to her and giving her a slight nudge to help her sit up, causing her to let out a deep sigh as she ran her fingers through her hair.

"That was great, but let's not do that again." Denise said, grinning as she finally got to her feet. "Let's go check on the others." she said to Klaus, instructing the hellhounds to stay with Elena and Bonnie while making sure one stayed close to her as she stepped through the doorway, keeping a sharp eye out for any vampires that weren't hit by the spell. So far the spell seemed to have done its job, but as she started to make her way to the suite they left the others in, all she could hope was that the others were okay.

-------------​

Jeremy couldn't believe how many crazed vampires there were. The facility was really responsible for every single one of them? How could someone do something like this? While he was having a hard time wrapping his head around it, he tried to keep back vampires the best he could. All the while he hoped that Elena and Bonnie stayed safe with Denise. He had faith that the demon would keep them safe, so in the meantime, he tried to keep a close eye on Bella. He may not have the same strength that vampires did, but he would make sure that she stayed safe. He promised to keep her safe, and he intended to keep that promise.

Jeremy was starting to get exhausted with the amount of vampires they had to fight off. He wasn't sure how much longer he would be able to keep going, but as he looked to Bella, his eyes widened as he saw one of them bite into her neck. "Bella!" he shouted, trying to make his way to her, only to be blindsided and tackled onto his stomach. He wasn't able to stop the vampire as it savagely bit into his neck, causing his eyes to widen before he yelled in pain. Before he knew it, the vampire was thrown off him and the blonde vampire was helping him up. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, desperate to keep him alive as his neck bled profusely. At this rate he didn't think he was going to make it, and as the blonde vampire gently set him down, all he could do was try to keep pressure on his neck, all the while his vision was starting to darken.

Jeremy was scared he was going to die, and as he watched Bella struggle to close the door, he suddenly found himself regretting not being able to say everything he wanted to. He found himself not being able to tell Elena how he truly felt. More importantly, he regretted not being able to spend more time with the blonde vampire. He opened his mouth so that he could speak, but found that he didn't have the strength to talk. As he felt his eyes slipped closed, that's when he felt Bella's wrist being placed to his lips. He could tell that she was shaking, so as he weakly reached out for her, he tried to drink as much blood as he could. Unfortunately for him, the moment the blood touched his lips was the same moment that Bonnie's desiccation spell not only started to effect the crazed vampires, but the normal ones as well.

"B..bella. W...what's going...on?" Jeremy weakly asked, able to open his eyes enough so that he could look to Bella. It was in that moment that he noticed that she was desiccating. In that moment he realized that he was going to die. As he felt his strength fading away for good, he held onto the blonde vampire until his eyes closed, his grip growing slack as he let out his final breath. The crazed vampires may have been stopped, but as Denise was finally able to get to the suite everyone else was in, she and the others would be shocked to see that Jeremy Gilbert was dead.

 

[Saltwater Bound]

The first one to respond to seeing a motionless Jeremy on the floor, his eyes closed and his shirt covered in blood, even in death still holding onto a desiccated Bella, was Elena. She let out a heartwrenching scream and sank to the ground; Bonnie immediately sat down next to her and wrapped her arms around her best friend.

Klaus was very well aware that he did not have a reputation for being particularly caring — but when no one came running the moment Elena broke down, he remembered that it wasn't just Bella who was temporarily dead. So were the Salvatores. He had to do something, anything. The hybrid stared down at the scene in front of him and felt a pang of guilt, something he hadn’t felt in a long time. He had been the one to insist that they ought to go ahead and just desiccate the lot of them. Of course, the alternative would very likely have been that they had lost everyone — but Klaus was fairly certain that Elena would not see it that way. From the corner of his eye, he saw Rebekah enter the bathroom and cover her mouth with her hand as soon as she realized what was going on. Klaus gestured for her to come in and help up Elena and Bonnie; his younger sister nodded, wrapped her arms around the girls and guided them out of the bathroom, into the suite next door that wasn’t littered with the undead. Klaus kneeled down next to Jeremy and Bella with a sigh before looking up at Denise, locking eyes with the demon. “Would you mind bringing Stefan's and Damon's bodies into the other suite too, love?” he enquired. “The sooner those two are able to comfort the girls...”

Klaus didn’t finish his sentence, because truthfully, he didn’t really believe this was going to get any better anytime soon. He’d seen the look on Bella’s face when she had walked in holding hands with the younger Gilbert earlier; it had been the same one he had seen numerous times on Rebekah’s. Klaus picked up Jeremy’s still body from the cold bathroom floor and carried him to the suite that Elena, Bonnie and Rebekah were in. He was followed by Kol with Bella in his arms; while the hybrid gently laid Jeremy down on one bed, Kol placed Bella on the other. Klaus then turned to his siblings. “Bekah, you go around the hotel, compel anyone necessary that everything’s fine and that there’s no need to investigate. Kol — go to the hospital down the block and get us some bloodbags for Bella and the Salvatores.”

While Klaus remained standing next to Denise, his younger brother and sister left without protest. The silence that followed was only periodically interrupted by Elena’s sobs escaping her throat; Bonnie was still holding her while silent tears streamed down her own face.

- - -​

The first thing she was aware of was a metallic taste on her lips, then in her mouth; she wanted to ask what the hell was going on, but her throat felt like freaking sandpaper. The next thing that came back was her vision; instead of darkness, she started to see the blurry outline of a face that seemed familiar, but trying to figure out who it was made her head hurt even more than it already did. Luckily, the more metallic liquid she tasted, the more her body seemed to be cooperating with her. “Kol?” Bella hoarsely asked when she finally realized who was hovering over her, feeding her blood from a bloodbag — and then she started to remember what was going on. The hotel. The rabid vampires. “Is Jeremy okay? Where is he?” She shot up and looked around the room, and just as her gaze fell on the bed next to hers, Kol grabbed her arms — partly to comfort her, partly to contain her. Bella gasped and her vision turned hazy again, but this time because her eyes were filling up with tears. “No, no, no.” Bella squeezed her eyes shut as if she tried to reset reality, the tears rolling down to her cheeks. “No,” she choked out when she opened her eyes again and was met with the same heartbreaking image. Bella tore herself away from Kol and the next moment she was at Jeremy’s side, sitting on her knees next to the bed, holding his painfully cold hand in hers. “I don’t get it,” she whispered, her breath hitching. “What happened?”

Klaus, who was leaning against the wall, slowly exhaled before looking at Bella and Jeremy again. “We found both of you in the bathroom. The wound on his neck... the desiccation spell must have set in before you could give him your blood—“

“What happened is you said you would protect him and you didn’t!” Elena suddenly exploded, angrily standing up and staring at them through her tears.

But Elena’s words didn’t really sink in; Bella was still stuck on Klaus’. Because she had given Jeremy her blood... just a few hours earlier. Oh God. Oh, God. Her eyes were wide and she slowly brought her hand to her mouth while the little color she had drained from her face entirely and her breathing became increasingly shallow. She felt hot and cold at the same time; she couldn’t recall ever feeling this torn. Jeremy was coming back, but there was no way he wasn’t going to hate her for it. Or... he might not even accept it. The tears were streaming down her face even harder now. If you don’t feed on human blood within twenty-four hours—

Kol frowned. “Bella?” he interrupted her train of thought.

“I did—give him my blood,” Bella finally answered in a choked up voice. Still on her knees besides the bed, she kept her eyes on Jeremy. “Earlier. So now...”

Klaus raised his eyebrows as a stunned silence fell over the room. “He’s a vampire.”

 

[Insanity Awakened 18]

Denise was shocked over what happened with Jeremy. She wasn't one who was shocked so easily, but as she watched Elena sobbing over the loss of her brother, she couldn't help feeling guilty as well. She should have insisted that he stay with his sister when she got the two of them to safety. She should have dragged him out of there kicking and screaming. While he would have been pissed off at her, at least he would have still been alive. Despite the guilt and shock she was dealing with, she complied with the Klaus' request, making sure that she got Damon and Stefan to the suite that everyone else was gathered in, her gaze barely wavering towards the young man's dead body as she listened to the hybrid instruct Kol and Rebekah what they should do. All the while she stayed next to the hybrid, hoping that they would be able to get the regular vampires up and moving again soon. She wasn't completely sure of what she could do or say to help him, but she stayed next to him the entire time, keeping a comforting hand on his upper arm to show that she was there for him.

Denise didn't recall how much time had passed, but as Bella started to come around, she watched her reaction learning that Jeremy was dead. She could feel her heart breaking for the blonde vampire. She may not have known either of them very long, but she could tell that the young man obviously meant a lot to her. She hardly blamed Elena for her outburst either, but as an unsettling silence fell over the room, she raised her eyebrows curiously when the blonde vampire admitted to feeding the young man her blood. Her gaze immediately moved to the young man, wondering what was going to happen next. As soon as Klaus said the words, it seemed to draw the young man back to them as he sat up on the bed, gasping for air as he looked around the room in a state of panic. Before he could do anything, the older Salvatore was quick to jump into action.

"Easy there Jeremy. Everything is gonna be alright." Damon tried to reassure him, watching as it took a moment for him to realize that everything was okay before his gaze found Bella, his panicked look now replaced by a look of complete relief.

"Bella?! I'm so happy your okay." Jeremy said, quickly sliding off the bed so that he was kneeling next to her, not hesitating to gather her in his arms. "I thought I had lost you." he said, his voice tense with emotion before he continued. "All I remember is watching you desiccate and then..." he said, pausing when he came to a chilling realization. As he did, he pulled away from the blonde vampire so he could meet her gaze. "What happened to me?" he asked, thinking he already knew the answer to the question. He had died in the bathroom before the blonde vampire could heal him, and considering her blood was in his system at the time, the answer was obvious; he was a vampire.

Jeremy head felt like it was going to split in two. How could this have happened? What was he going to do now that he was a vampire? Would he allow himself to complete the transformation? Could he let himself do something like that? He swore he felt like his heart was going to pound out of his chest. Was it possible for transitioning vampires to have panic attacks? The entire time this was happening, he wasn't even aware that he had gotten up and backed away from Bella, his head in his hands. It wasn't until he felt someone's hand on his arm. When he saw it was Elena, he quickly snapped back into reality as he backed up from her.

"No! Y-you can't be around me right now. Not while this is happening." Jeremy said, his heart breaking at the sympathetic look that his sister gave him as she tried to approach him.

"We can fix this Jer. You don't have to be scared. We can figure something out-"

"No we can't! We can't fix this Elena!" Jeremy shouted, his voice tense with emotion as he shook his head in disbelief. "It's either I complete the transformation...or I die for good." he added, trying to swallow past the lump that formed in his throat as tears started to blur his vision. "I don't want to die, but I...I don't think I..." he tried to say, only to have tears stream down his face. How could he make a decision like this within 24 hours? He wasn't sure if he could. The thought of dying terrified him, but at the same time, would he be able to live the life of a vampire? When the time came, would he be able to say goodbye to his loved ones? It felt like his emotions were on hyper drive right now, and while he could feel everyone's gaze on him in the room, all he could do was try to will his own tears to stop.

 

[Saltwater Bound]

“Jeremy, I’m so, so sorry,” Bella managed to get out as Jeremy let go of her, got up and backed away. While he and his sister started talking, she sank back against the bed. She’d had to make that same decision. Live forever without her family and rediscover the world as a non-human, or… let nature take care of things. And while that experience made Bella understand perfectly what he was going through, it still broke her heart: the sheer panic in his eyes the moment he realized what he had turned into because of her. The shock, followed by the shouting.

But then Bella heard the lump in his throat and saw the tears streaming down his cheeks, and she was standing in front of him in less than a heartbeat, cupping his face with her hands, gently wiping away the tears with her thumbs. “Hey,” Bella said quietly, “I know all the different things you must be feeling and how intense and overwhelming it all seems.” Frankly, she still remembered how completely erratic she was during her own transition. “But I’m here for you, okay? Whatever you need, I’ll be here for you, no matter what — no matter what you choose,” she added with a lump in her throat.

“When this happened to Bella, we told her to just... try it out for a day,” Klaus said after a pause. He wasn’t a very outwardly emotional person if there was anything he had to say about it, and he was incredibly glad Denise’s hand had comfortingly been resting on his upper arm. The way the young Gilbert felt about his transformation was bringing back feelings of his own that he had almost forgotten were even there to begin with. “A vampire intern, as it were, to see if she enjoyed it. Or, if a college analogy works better for you, how to be a vampire 101: what does it mean to be immortal? What opportunities does it bring?”

“Jumping to the roof of the Gilbert lake house and then somersaulting into the lake,” Damon piped up.

Kol grinned. “Compulsion.”

Rebekah smiled. “Love. Laugh and I will kill all of you,” she added in the same breath.

“An eternity of doing whatever you want,” Damon said, his grin mirroring Kol’s.

Stefan crossed his arms as he leaned against the wall. “An eternity of suppressing your worst instincts.”

Klaus raised his eyebrows at Stefan, then turned back to face Jeremy and Bella; after pulling back her hands from Jeremy’s face to dry her eyes, Bella looked back at Klaus. The hybrid’s gaze was solemn as he placed his hand on Denise’s shoulder. As someone who had to dig deep to care about most things, emotional speeches took a lot out of him, and the demon made him feel stronger, somehow. Much like how proud he felt when he spoke of her, it was a fairly unfamiliar sensation. “Jeremy — I realize very well that I may not always have been a stellar example of how one ought to use their immortality and its accompanying powers, especially during my time in Mystic Falls. In fact, often I have been quite the opposite. But the truth of the matter is that you always have a choice. It is merely that your choices have far more impact when you are a supernatural being. Again, I’m sure you have your doubts regarding my judgment, but you have sincerely always seemed like a good lad to me — so I would not worry about that aspect of vampire life too much. Just... take the day.” Klaus nodded at Bella and a smile crept on his lips. “I’m sure my former intern will gladly show you the ropes of vampirism, from leaping onto buildings and flinging yourself into bodies of water to the less fun stuff.”

After sending Klaus a small smile back, once again reminded of how grateful she was to have him in her new family, Bella looked up into Jeremy’s brown eyes. “I would. But if you... need to process by yourself for a while, that’s okay too.” She still wasn’t sure how he felt about her for putting him in this messed up situation to begin with, and she would entirely understand if he didn’t want to spend his potential last twenty-four hours on earth with her. “Either way, you‘re gonna need something to help with one of the downsides,” Bella added after glancing out the window; in the distance, the sky was changing from a dark blue to an orange hue as the night was coming to an end. She looked from the small daylight ring on her finger to Jeremy’s hand and rejected that idea right away. After reaching to the back of her neck and unclasping one of her silver necklaces, which held a rectangular piece of lapis lazuli, Bella handed Jeremy her back-up protection against the sun.

“Meanwhile, why don’t we start mapping out our counterattack?” Klaus enquired, looking around the room while he lightly squeezed Denise’s shoulder. Partly, he wanted to give Bella and Jeremy privacy without stepping into the minefield of actually telling Elena and Bonnie — the people who have known him all his life — to give their newly undead brother/friend and his vampire date privacy. But mostly, he could not wait to leave the hotel and torch the absolute bloody hell out of that godforsaken place after killing absolutely everyone in there, before they could come back to claim more lives.

 

[Insanity Awakened 18]

​

Jeremy hadn't even noticed anyone approaching him again until he felt Bella brushing away his tears. At the moment he was still trying to process everything he was feeling, but he felt very grateful that she was there with him right now. He felt terrible seeing how broken up she was with the fact that he was in transition, but it's not like either of them knew this was going to happen. He had offered to have her drink from him and vise versa, so if anyone here was really to blame, it was the director of the facility they were trying to bring down. He was about to say something to her, but when Klaus offered his two cents on what was happening, he couldn't help giving the hybrid a bit of a double take.

Klaus was the last person he imagined that would be giving him advice right now. He wondered why he was even trying to be helpful, but as he let his gaze wander over towards Bella, he knew that it was because the two of them were friends. The hybrid must have been able to tell how much the two of them cared about each other before they were attacked by crazed vampires as well, so while the hybrid had caused a lot of grief for everyone in that suite, excluding the demon, he still appreciated how he was trying to help out in his own way. Not to mention he thought it was curious how the demon was intent on helping them all out. Granted his knowledge was very limited when it came to demons, but he figured she would have dipped out once things got dangerous. Yet here she was, providing the support that the hybrid needed. They made an interesting pair to say the least, but as he took in everything that the hybrid and the other vampires had to tell him, a slight smile coming to his own face when he referred to the blonde vampire as his former intern before turning his gaze back towards her completely.

Jeremy didn't think it was a good idea for him to be by himself. Especially considering how conflicted he still was while dealing with his transition. He hadn't even stopped to consider he would need something to protect him from the sunlight, so when she handed him the necklace, a grateful look came to his face as he slipped it on. "Thank you Bella." he said, reaching out and taking hold of one of her hands before he continued. "It's going to take some time for me to decide what I want to do...but I don't want to do that by myself." he told her. He was honestly scared of what he might do if left on his own. He didn't want to admit to that, however, because Elena was still in the room. Instead, as Klaus suggested that the others start planning their attack on the facility, he intertwined his fingers with the blonde vampire and walked with her out of the suite.

"I can't believe the facility was responsible for what attacked all of us. How did they even do something like that?" Jeremy said, more or less thinking out loud as he walked with Bella towards the staircase that would lead them to the lobby. Once they got there, he found himself attempting to cover his ears with his free hand. The quietest things going on around him were now suddenly very loud. In an attempt to escape the noise, he went with the blonde vampire outside, where he found himself shielding his eyes from the sunlight. Was the transition process supposed to feel like this? He had no idea, but after he was able to take in the state he and the blonde vampire were in, he knew what they should do first. "We should probably try and get some fresh clothes and get ourselves cleaned up. Then I'll be ready to see what it's like to choose this for a day." he said, guiding her back inside so that they could go back to one of their suites. Was he supposed to feel like this during the transition process? He imagined that everything he was feeling emotionally and physically was normal, but as he continued to try and shut out the noise going on around them, he knew he would keep an open mind to whatever the blonde vampire showed them after they were cleaned up and changed into fresh clothes.

-----------​

Denise had watched Bella and and Jeremy leave the suite before turning her attention towards the others, a slight smile coming to her face as she felt Klaus squeezing her shoulder. She had placed her hand over top his as she knew what they needed to do first. "I think we should all get cleaned up before we start mapping out anything. It'll give me time to reach out to my contacts and see who I can get to help us out." she said, deciding it was best for them to reconvene in one of the suites that hadn't been totally destroyed. Once they all decided to meet back up at the only other luxury suite, which was hers, they split up, to which she flagged down one of the workers, making sure they got fresh clothes for the others, along with a couple of snacks should any of the vampires need something. Once everything was squared away, she got to work on getting herself cleaned up, knowing exactly who she would reach out to for help. By the time she and the others met up in her suite and not looking as if they walked off a set of a horror movie, she took to standing in the center of the room as she started to explain things.

"I think after the night we've all been through, we're all in agreement that we need to shut down this facility and fast. If we want to get inside without being trapped and making sure we stop their projects for good, we're going to need to be smart about this. That is where one of my good friends will come into play." Denise said, looking to a blonde young man that had been leaning against the wall near the door, raising his eyebrows before coming to stand next to her, a bored smile coming to his face as she threw an arm around his shoulders.

"This is Delacroix. He's going to provide our distraction to get inside the facility. Go ahead and show them what you can do." Denise said, causing the man next to her to let out a deep sigh as he took a vape out of his pocket.

"I didn't agree to performing like a trained monkey." Del said, flinching slightly as she shot him a warning look. "Alright damn. Easy there Dennis the Menace." he said, sidestepping the demon as she attempted to smack his arm before he took a hit of the vape, turning his head to the side as he exhaled a decent amount of smoke. The smoke itself didn't do anything at first, but after a few seconds, it would cause those in the room who started looking at it to start hallucinating what scared them most before it disappeared completely. "Ta da." he said, giving a mock bow as the demon next to him rolled her eyes before looking to the others.

"I'm sure you all get the point. Now with him running interference we should be able to get inside. Once we get inside though, we'll want to make sure that we have enough strength to stop whoever tries to get in our way. We're all strong enough on our own, but what's going to help out the most is demon blood. It will increase your natural talents tenfold and we'll be able to blow past whatever other experiments happen to be running around the facility as we speak. Now, do we have any questions?" she asked, looking to the demon next to her as he half heartily raised his hand.

"Yeah, I agreed to help get you guys inside, but I'm nobodies juice box." Del said, causing the female demon to roll her eyes before looking to the others. She didn't mind the others taking a small hit of her blood. It's not like it would end up killing her. She knew that this was going to be their best option, so if they were serious about bringing down the facility, she wanted to make sure they did it right.

​

 

[Saltwater Bound]

Bella exited her bathroom, slipped on a fresh pair of skinnyjeans and grabbed a top from the suitcase Bekah brought last night. Surprisingly enough she actually felt better — and looked better too, which probably went without saying. Getting desiccated and being covered in blood didn’t do anyone any favors. Bella knocked on Jeremy’s door and entered while still buttoning up her blouse. The moment they locked eyes, Bella smiled. “That was a great idea. Also, I’ve been thinking of all the things we could do today.” She crossed the room and pulled Jeremy down on the bed with her, crossing her legs and facing him.

“But first, honesty time.” Bella looked Jeremy straight in the eye. “One, about what you just experienced with the brightness and the noise — when you’re a vampire, everything becomes magnified. Senses, emotions, even your personality. The good news is that it mellows out with time. For example...” Bella paused to think. “Okay, so — as a human, I was already too honest and just... not subtle. As a brand new vampire, I told someone that his latest plan for world domination was literally the dumbest thing I had ever heard.” Bella flashed Jeremy a small grin. “But you live and you learn, especially when you get The Art of War thrown at your head. And two...” The grin slowly disappeared from her lips and Bella looked down for a moment. “I’m not even going to pretend like I can be completely objective about this. But I really am going to try and show you both sides. So when you’re ready to hear about the not so fun parts... just let me know.”

Then, Bella jumped up, frankly more than a little terrified that he was going to ask about it right away — she at least wanted the chance to start the day on a positive note, as far as possible. “And now, my list. Our first destination takes forever by car, but vampire wooshing will get us there in fifteen minutes tops.” Bella blushed a little when she realized she sounded like she was trying to get him to sign up for a freaking timeshare, but she just smiled and carried on. “Also, I have multiple stops in mind — and Damon suggestively texted me the coordinates to your lake house — but if there’s anything you want to do, just say the word. It’s your day.” She reached out to take Jeremy’s hand, pulling him up off the bed again. “And if you’re ready, follow me.” Bella’s smile dimpled her cheeks before she was suddenly out the door, into the hotel hallways and then into the bright daylight, every so often checking if Jeremy was still behind her. Traveling through the luscious woods that connected Richmond to Mystic Falls, it didn’t take long before Bella heard the rumbling of the waterfalls, and soon enough, they doomed up in front of her.

Using her hand to shield her eyes from the sun, Bella located the spot she had in mind, and jumped. A second later she was sitting on the cliff that overlooked the entirety of Jeremy’s hometown and its surrounding woods. And even all the way up here, the blonde vampire could spot every deer, hear individual bunnies running over the damp forest floor, and smell the rose fields two towns over. She could even spot the Grill and hone in on the music that was playing there. It was gorgeous and dreamy up here, especially with the sun rising from behind the treeline; it was the nicest place Bella could think of to start getting used to heightened senses. Her feet dangling over the edge of the cliff, lightly moving to the beat of what Matt was blasting while he got the Grill ready for business, she waited for Jeremy.

After getting himself properly cleaned up and changing into a fresh set of clothes in the bathroom of Denise’s grand luxury suite, Klaus headed back out into the living area of the room and sent his beautiful new demon friend a thankful smile and nod. With over a thousand years of bloodshed in his rear view mirror Klaus was anything but squeamish, but his mind was completely unable to see the blood-stained bathroom in his suite where Jeremy died as “a place to freshen up”. Additionally, the silver towel rack had been violently ripped from the marble wall — but truthfully, it had mostly been the former.

Klaus glanced around the room and realized that of course only his dear sister was still missing, while a strange blonde young man had made an appearance; assuming it was the contact Denise had been referring too earlier, Klaus simply leaned back against the wall as well, his arms crossed, waiting for said young man to be introduced to him. Rebekah came running in a few minutes later, after which Denise took center stage in the fancy suite. Klaus smirked. He loved a woman who could take some bloody initiative — and get an entire room of immortal beings to listen to her every word. As Denise called on the blonde stranger and introduced him to the group, Klaus eyed him even more suspiciously than he usually would. For the longest time he had considered himself the most powerful being in the world, but after witnessing Denise’s gifts, Klaus sure as hell was not going to underestimate a demon.

With a frown on his face, Klaus’ gaze cautiously followed the innocuous looking smoke — and out of nowhere, it was like he was ripped out of this dimension and thrown into another. He was lying on the floor of their old home in Mystic Falls and opened his eyes when he heard someone moving around in the room, a cold wave of fear washing over him as soon as he saw who it was. Mikael. His father was carrying a sword and walking towards him, staring down at his bastard son. Klaus involuntarily glanced down as well and realized his shirt was soaked in blood — and so were his siblings’, who were on the floor next to him, looking up at the ceiling with unmoving eyes. Klaus’ heart was racing and his gaze darted around the room, trying to figure out an escape route, only to discover that the doors had disappeared — and meanwhile, Mikael was coming closer and closer. “I’m sure you all get the point,” Klaus suddenly heard, and all of a sudden he found himself back at the Hilton, standing beside two of his siblings who were both very much alive. He glanced around the room, assuming — selfishly almost hoping — that this happened to the others as well; that no one had been able to notice how bone-chillingly terrified he had been mere seconds ago.

“Well,” Klaus spoke up after Denise asked if there were any questions, his voice as unwavering as ever, “if you are going to be our only juice box, I suggest we take the same approach as you did in the diner. I don’t trust this lot one bit when it comes to taking only a small and fair amount of your blood, love,” he added as he walked over to the mini bar and placed the crystal glasses on the dark wooden desk beside him, gesturing for Denise to come over so she could donate an appropriate amount to all who needed it. “Furthermore, I think that will do perfectly as a distraction, so thank you.” Klaus smirked at Delacroix; while it had been disconcerting to say the least, it was quite impressive and he sincerely hoped it would never be used on him again. “And after our brand new demon friend sends the guards out front into an absolute tailspin, I suggest we play the witch card and let her desiccate all potential vampires in there while the Salvatores hang back to avoid what happened earlier. Subsequently, when we go in, it’s all gonna be up to us.” He raised his eyebrows and looked from Denise to Delacroix and Bonnie. “And lastly: do any of your powers happen to be teleporting a group of people? Otherwise, I suppose we will have to meet each other there.”

 

[Insanity Awakened 18]

Jeremy felt so much better after getting cleaned up. After he had pulled on a pair of jeans and a fresh t-shirt, he couldn't help the way his hand ghosted over the spot on his neck where the crazed vampire had bitten him. He wasn't surprised to find that there was no longer a bite mark there, but as he closed his eyes tightly, he couldn't help flashing back to everything that happened. How could things have gone wrong so quickly? He had no idea, but when he heard a knock on his door, he pulled himself out of his troubling thoughts, giving Bella a slight smile as she pulled him over to sit down next to her before discussing a few things.

Jeremy was aware of the basic things that vampires went through, but it was still nice for Bella to go over those thing with him. That way he didn't feel like he was completely losing his mind during the transformation process. Not to mention he couldn't stop the amused smile coming to his own face when the blonde vampire shared her own experience of being a new vampire. He tried not to laugh at the thought of Klaus throwing a book directly at her head, but his smile faltered as well when she mentioned telling him the bad parts about being a vampire as well. He knew that he would have to hear about them eventually, but for now, he wanted to focus on the good things. As the conversation continued, he focused on the places that the blonde vampire told him they would be going.

An amused smile came to Jeremy's face once again when Bella listed the places they would be going. He was surprised that Damon would tell the blonde vampire how to get to the lake house, but he was grateful he did all the same. When the blonde vampire suggested doing anything he wanted though, he couldn't stop the nervous chuckle from escaping his lips as he shook his head. "I'm honestly still trying to wrap my head around everything that's happening, so I wouldn't even know where to start." he admitted as he stood, preparing to follow after her. The vampire speed was something he knew he would have to get used to, but as he started following Bella out of the hotel, he found that it was something he caught onto with ease.

Being able to 'vampire whoosh' to the first destination was quite the experience. Jeremy would chalk that up to one of the positive things about being a vampire, and as he sat next to Bella on the cliff, he found himself lacing his fingers with hers, a smile on his face while he took in his surroundings. "The view from here is fantastic. I had no idea this was even here. You think I would though with how small the town is." he said, letting out a light chuckle as he gave the blonde vampire's hand a light squeeze. "Thank you for having this be the first place we came to. I can only imagine how much we would have missed out on if we actually tried to drive here." he admitted with another slight chuckle. He realized they were on a bit of a time crunch, considering he was going through transition, but either way he appreciated that the blonde vampire next to him was willing to help him through all of it.

----------​

Denise had given Klaus a warm smile back before the room had been bombarded by the others. She thought that her plan on getting them all into the facility was brilliant. When Del was giving his demonstration of his powers though, she couldn't help noticing a shift in the hybrid's attitude. Had he seen something that scared him? She knew that she had told her demon friend to show them his stuff, but she didn't think he was going to scare the vampires that badly. Either way she would make sure to get after him later for it, but for now, they were discussing how they were going to get the vampires charged up for the attack on the facility, she decided it was best to shift gears as she grabbed the blonde demon by the crook of his elbow, practically dragging him over to where the hybrid stood at the mini bar, sending a warning glare in his direction as he tried to protest with her again.

"We are both going to be offering up our assistance in this." Denise told Delacroix, handing over a pocket knife to the blonde demon and telling him to fill up half the glass before looking to Klaus once again. The blonde demon gave the hybrid a half smile at his compliment, nodding towards the female demon. "This was all Dennis' idea, so all the thanks goes to her." he said, flinching when she stomped on his foot before he went back to filling up half the glasses. As they listened to the rest of the hybrid's plan, the female demon thought that it sounded perfect. He did bring up a good point about how they would get there, so when he asked who could teleport them out of her, the blonde demon and Bonnie, she and the other demon were quick to raise their hands.

"Ours do. I think I'll leave that part to Denise though." Delacroix said, putting extra emphasis on her name so she wouldn't stomp on his foot before handing the pocket knife back over to her, automatically taking a step back as he did so. This caused her to let out a light snort before she went to work filling up the remainder of the glasses. Once she was done, she turned her gaze towards Klaus completely. "I want to talk to you before we storm the facility." she said, nodding for him to follow her out of the suite and into the hallway. Once they were there, she shooed away whatever hotel workers happened to be lingering there before turning her full attention towards the hybrid.

"Are you alright?" Denise asked, a concerned look coming to her face before she continued. "It's my fault for having Del demonstrate what he could do back there, but if he made you see something that bothered you, I don't mind giving him a couple of good smacks upside the head." she added, a slight grin coming to her face. She was sure that Klaus was okay, but she could tell that something really scared him back there. She had no idea what it was either, but whatever was going on, she wanted to make sure she was there for the hybrid and help him with whatever she could.

 

[Saltwater Bound]

Bella held Jeremy’s hand and leaned her head against his shoulder, resting her free hand on his upper arm; while he was taking in the view, she realized she was trying to take in all of him, before — no, nope, snap out of it, Bella sternly told herself before looking out over the town again. “Just think of all the places you can go and the way you’ll be able to explore anything you want, whenever you want, and all the things you’ll be able to experience with those magnified senses.” She couldn’t exactly take him to Peru or the Philippines to make this point, but truthfully, his hometown was sincerely beautiful as well. She didn't move here for the burgers at the Grill. “And besides the fact that this also made for a sweet demonstration of how fast and high we can go, it serves another purpose as well.” Bella pulled her feet back from off the ledge, got up and pulled Jeremy up with her once again, walking him through a wooded area over to the other side of the cliff, which had a stunning view of the lake, shimmering in the sunlight. And there, in the distance and a few hundred feet below them: the Gilbert lake house.

“So for the next part I’m going to hold your hand. Somersault off that house Damon-style all you want, but this is a really big leap, there are a lot of trees here and now wood is one of your few natural enemies.” And there was no way that she was losing him, at least not before the end of the day. She tightened her grip on Jeremy’s hand, zoned in on the large house, started running towards the edge of the cliff and jumped.

A few seconds later, they landed right in front of the porch. Bella raised her eyebrows, staring at the house. “Wow. This is actually perfect. So pretty. I guess I’m used to Damon trying to trick me.” She turned to Jeremy with a grin. “Guess even old vampires can get more mellow and surprise you.” She stepped forward and loosely wrapped her arms around his waist as she looked up at him. Jeremy was the owner, so they could go in without invitation and, without a doubt, start the walk down memory lane — and she was going to let him take the lead on that one. This was all probably intense enough to begin with.

“We can hang out here in peace and quiet for as long as you want, or as long as it takes you before you’re ready to try and be around humans,” Bella suggested. “Then I figured we can go back to the city and introduce you to the vampire plus that is compulsion. When I was the intern, we got ourselves fancy outfits and went to this insanely lavish masquerade ball. But I was thinking — that felt more Mikaelson and less you. So I started googling and found this huge rooftop party with live indie bands, on top of the Park Hyatt hotel tonight. Credit to Damon for confirming it was music you liked,” Bella added with a grin. “If you thought the view from the cliff was good, wait til you see how we see stars and skylines. And you’re gonna get us in with your brand new mind control skills.” Her grin widened and made the dimples in her cheeks make an appearance again; her arms still around his waist, she lightly brushed his back with her nails. “And if the humans and the music and the booze get too much at any point, we can always get a room and explore the effect of heightened senses on other activities.”

Klaus couldn’t help but laugh at the blonde demon getting stomped on his foot as he tried to be even more of a smartass than Kol; he seemed to quickly accept that Denise had final say in pretty much everything, and he started donating his blood to half of the glasses. Naturally it was also Kol, accompanied by Damon and Rebekah, who were first in line for their share of the demon blood. Klaus raised his eyebrows and rolled his eyes. No matter. Despite the fact that he certainly had his standards, the hybrid usually wasn’t too picky with where his blood came from, but right now he found himself preferring to wait for Denise’s turn to donate. However, after the blonde one was finished and the beautiful demon got to work on filling up the glasses, she turned around to face him right after she was done and requested to talk in private.

Klaus returned her nod and followed her out the door, where he impatiently waited a moment for the slow hotel workers to clear out on Denise’s command. He looked away for a moment when the demon expressed her concern; although deep down he sincerely appreciated it, especially as it was coming from someone he had grown to care about over their short but intense time together, he still needed a moment to deal with the fact that Denise had seen his moment of weakness. That probably meant Del had been aware of it too, although Klaus did feel like he could gather from Denise’s words that it was a general demonstration, not specific to him: at least the others had had their own fears to deal with.

Looking back up at the demon in front of him, Klaus contemplated the risks for a moment. If Denise did ever want to hurt him, it wasn’t exactly like she needed this information to do so. Hell, from the looks of it she would only need to whistle and have one of the hellhounds do her bidding. Additionally, the perceived odds of Denise turning on him or any of his family members were getting smaller and smaller; at every turn, the demon had saved all of them, despite the fact that she had every reason to throw at least Damon under the bus, like he had done to her. Finally, Klaus sighed and closed the space between them until their faces were only inches apart, so he could speak in the lowest voice possible; he was going to share his secret, but only with Denise.

“I saw Mikael — our father. He is the one who killed us to turn us all into vampires. Of course, after I became immortal, it didn’t take long before I killed my first human, which triggered the werewolf curse.” Klaus leaned in even closer. “I was the only one with the curse because he isn’t truly my father — my dear mother slept with one of our werewolf neighbours. As you can probably imagine, new vampire rage and discovering your wife has been unfaithful does not mix well. He killed my real father and his entire family and has been hunting me ever since; his pursuit has been relentless for over a thousand years.”

Klaus crossed his arms, leaning against the wall with one shoulder while still facing Denise. “And as long as I’m being open and honest — Mikael has been on my mind a disproportial amount lately. If we have a demon army, I could seek him out and put the one person I fear to rest, for once and for all.”

 

[Insanity Awakened 18]

Jeremy was amazed at the view they had of Mystic Falls. It lead him to think of where else he could go with Bella, but at the back of his mind, he was still trying to weigh out his choices carefully. Was this something he really wanted? Would he truly be able to live out the life of an immortal? While his mind still wasn't completely made up, he still looked forward to everything the blonde vampire was going to show him. He hadn't stopped to think that the cliff side they were standing on was so close to the Gilbert lake house, but when she pulled him to his feet and led him to a different spot, he couldn't stop the smile coming to his face. There were a lot of memories tied into this place, both good and bad, but regardless he was happy that this was one of the places that the blonde vampire brought him to.

Jeremy couldn't help feeling nervous for what happened next. He realized how certain things that he had used to combat vampires would now be able to kill him. Even with that in mind, however, he knew that Bella wouldn't get him into a dangerous situation. As he tightened his grip on her hand, he ran with her off the side of the cliff, amazed when the two of them landed in front of the lake house. When she commented about Damon, he couldn't help letting out a slight chuckle of his own as he wrapped his arms around her. "I don't think I'd let Damon hear you say that." he told her, placing a light kiss on her forehead before she filled him in on the rest of their plans.

Jeremy was happy knowing that they would be spending time at the lake house. He wasn't sure how long they would stay there, but when she mentioned a party taking place that night, he couldn't help grinning when she mentioned it was music he liked. He made a mental note to thank Damon once all of this was said and done, but as soon as Bella mentioned he would be using compulsion to get them into the party. Would he be able to pull off something like that? He wasn't entirely sure, but unless he tried, he wouldn't know for sure. Not to mention the party wasn't taking place until that night, so he would have plenty of time to practice. When he felt her fingernails against his back and she offered up another suggestion should the party become too much, however, it took every ounce of restraint he had to not suggest they skip to whatever she was suggesting right then and there.

"I think spending time here until we venture into the city sounds great. I'm honestly surprised that Damon has been the most helpful through all of this, but I'm glad he told you about the lake house and what kind of music I like." Jeremy said, a slight smile coming to his face before he continued. "I'm not sure about the whole somersaulting off the roof or compelling our way into the party, but I guess that's stuff that will come with practice." he added with a slight chuckle before he reached for the front door, pushing it open. He was hesitant with his next move, remembering the last time he was there before he led Bella inside, immediately filling her in on everything he remembered about the lake house. Including the stupid things he did to try and get his way out of going there as well. It felt strange being there after how much time had passed, but if anyone was going to be there with him, he was glad that it was Bella.

Denise wasn't sure if Klaus was going to tell her what was bothering her. She wouldn't blame him if he wanted to keep that to himself. She wasn't entirely open with other people when something scared her either. She would end up channeling that fear into anger or take it out on someone else, but as she kept her gaze on the hybrid, she couldn't help wracking her brain of what might scare him. If she were being completely honest, she didn't think there was anything that could scare him. Not with how powerful he was anyway, but when he turned his gaze back to her, his face now a mere inches away from her own, she listened intently as he described what he had seen.

Denise wasn't aware of Klaus' origin story. She knew that he was an Original, but she didn't know how it had happened. She didn't even know that the man that was after him wasn't even his father, but she kept silent as she listened to everything the hybrid had to say, the expressions that crossed her face being the only thing that said how she despised this Mikael person. From what the hybrid told her, she could see why he would constantly be thinking about him. As soon as he brought up the using the demon army against his father and going after him instead, whatever expressions were currently on her face were replaced with a look of fierce determination.

"You are going to get that demon army. Once you do, I have no doubts you'll be the one putting the fear into him." Denise told him. She didn't even know Mikael, even she wanted to tear him apart for affecting Klaus, and no doubt the rest of his children, the way he did. Before she could even consider her next actions, she had closed the distance between her and the hybrid wrapping her arms around him as she held him in a tight embrace. She stayed that way for a moment or so before she loosened her hold on him, her hands now moving to his shoulders as that fierce look of determination was still on her face.

"If we weren't on such a time crunch making sure this facility is brought down, I would suggest we skip right to visiting hell so you can hunt down this asshat, but I guess it won't be a terrible thing to hunt for him later. If anything it will give you time to think about what you'll end up doing to him once you have the numbers on your side." Denise said, the slight hint of a smirk coming to her face as she gave his shoulders a comforting squeeze. "Once we are done dealing with the facility, I will help see to it that this guy never bothers you again." she promised. She knew there would be a price to pay to get Klaus his army, but she would make sure it was paid. She had grown to care about the hybrid she was with too, so with that being said, she was willing to do whatever she had to in order to ensure his happiness and safety.

 

[Saltwater Bound]

When Jeremy expressed his surprise over Damon’s helpful meddling with a smile on his face, Bella simply smiled back as she brushed a few strands of blonde hair behind her ears. He just wants you to live, she thought — but she knew the one thing worse than accidentally becoming a vampire was being pressured into becoming one, so she kept it to herself. Jeremy was smart enough to know what the others wanted anyway. “Oh yeah, the agility and everything gets better with practice. Kol once called me the most uncoordinated vampire he’d ever met, and look at me now,” she said with a big grin, gesturing at the cliff they just leaped from. “Although that was in regards to doing the waltz, which I definitely never mastered,” she admitted as they headed in. “And you can actually practice compulsion on me — I mean, as a fellow vampire, it won’t actually make me do anything unless I like the suggestion, but I’ll be able to see your pupils dilate if you’re successfully doing it.”

As they walked through the house, Bella slipped her hand into his, entangling their fingers; Jeremy told her about everything from childhood memories to the times he tried to get out of having to join, and she laughed when he arrived at those stories. “I feel you. My parents were biologists, so every weekend it was like, oh Bella dear, one of our colleagues recommended visiting this random hill three hours away because of this random bug who lives there!, and off we went.” Bella cocked her head as she investigated the content of the bookcase in the living room. “Then they got into this research project to spend five years mapping out indigenous species in parts of South America. Before we left, I was a total dramaqueen about having to come with — but of course, it was freaking amazing. I loved Peru the most. It was the first place I went back to after I turned,” she added with a smile after looking back up at Jeremy. “It’s typical how it only sinks in later how great you had it. After they passed I just wished I spent more time actively appreciating them and less time eyerolling about everything.”

Bella headed over to the window next to the front door and stared out into the woods. “But in a weird twist I ended up doing what they always wanted — traveling the world, studying new things wherever I go. Still not into bugs though,” she muttered, making a face before actually looking back outside. That’s when Bella frowned. A few feet from the porch was a girl who definitely hadn’t been there just a few seconds ago. She was tall, slender, and a waterfall of beautiful brown curls cascaded down her chest. “Jer? Do you... have neighbours?” Bella asked as she turned to Jeremy; the uncomfortable feeling in her gut led her to move to the side, standing directly between Jeremy and whoever was staring at them from outside the window. The top of her blonde head might only barely reach his chin, but at least that person would still have to go through her to get to Jeremy.

Despite all the deep and dark thoughts he had just shared with her — the kind of information that he would even hesitate to share with his siblings — Klaus’ lips curled upwards at the fierce look of determination on Denise’s face, and he sent the beautiful demon in front of him one of his rare smiles that actually reached his eyes. “With an attitude that ferocious, I would even be confident going after my father with just you by my side,” he told her as the smile turned into a grin. The terrifying hellhounds, the fire from the pit, Denise’s fiery red eyes as they stared down his father, together; he could easily picture it. “But I do suppose a whole demon army has something quite theatrical to it. And it can never hurt to have some cannon fodder,” he added. The moment after the words left his lips, Klaus found himself hoping that Denise viewed low ranking demons like he viewed most of his hybrids: soldiers, who, if necessary, must be sacrificed for the greater good.

When Denise closed the little distance that was left between them and tightly wrapped her arms around him in one fluent motion, Klaus didn’t hesitate for even a second. He immediately responded by securely wrapped his strong arms around her too, after which he rested his cheek on top of her black hair. When Denise pulled back a little and moved her hands to his shoulders, giving him that determined look again and making him the promise that she would help him make sure Mikael would never bother them again, Klaus raised his eyebrows and smirked. The fire in her eyes was invigorating, not to mention her words. “Thank you,” Klaus finally said after she comfortingly squeezed his shoulders again. “I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but I have never met anyone who was simultaneously this intimidating yet understanding and genuinely beautiful.” Klaus’ smirk grew a little wider as his mind flashed back to what she looked like with completely red eyes. “I look forward to making him quake with fear like we did with those people at the facility — like we will do again today.”

Any of the residual anguish that he had felt because of that waking nightmare thanks to Del’s demonstration had disappeared entirely — and he was fairly certain he had the demon in front of him to thank for that.

Klaus pressed his lips to Denise’s forehead, and then, after gently taking her hands into his, pressed a kiss to her hands as well before looking back up with his trademark grin. “If you’re ready to bring us all over there, I’m ready. Let’s go kill them all, love. And perhaps if we find a quiet moment in between all the killing, I can show you how I usually drink my blood.”

 

[Insanity Awakened 18]

Jeremy couldn't stop the slight chuckle that escaped his lips when Bella shared with him that Kol thought she was uncoordinated. It turned out to be in regards to her dancing, but considering this was coming from one of the sassiest of all the Original vampires, he wasn't sure how accurate that statement. "I think I might be the most uncoordinated vampire out of the both of us with my luck. Both on and off the dance floor." he admitted, not even realizing the slight slip up he had before she started discussing him practicing his compulsion, causing a playful look to come to his face. "Really? I guess I'll have to think of something good to suggest then." he teased, placing a light kiss on the blonde vampire's cheek before he led her into the lake house and started the tour.

Jeremy felt very nostalgic telling her the different things that happened there. Some time had passed since his parents had passed away, but he found that he still missed them. He found himself glad, however, when Bella started talking about her own parents. He found himself thinking that maybe he could go to these places she mentioned with her one day, and as he kept a hold of her hand, he lifted it to his lips, placing a light kiss on the back of it before offering her a reassuring smile. "I get what you mean. I'm sure that your parents knew how much you appreciated them though. I'm sure they appreciated you just as much. Despite you not liking bugs as much as they did." he told her with a slight chuckle. He was about to guide her towards the deck behind the house, but when she stopped, he couldn't help giving her a questioning look.

"What is it?" Jeremy asked before shaking his head at Bella's question. "We don't have any...neighbors." he said, his eyes widening when he saw who was standing outside. He involuntarily tightened his hold on the blonde vampire's hand, his breath hitching somewhat as he kept his gaze on the girl a few feet away from the porch. "T-thats Vicki." he finally managed to say to the blonde vampire, shaking his head as he tried to pull her away from the front porch, causing a worried look to come to Vicki's face as she walked over to the doorway, pausing when she got there.

"Jer wait! I'm not here to hurt you or her. Please just talk to me." Vicki said, causing Jeremy to pause. could he listen to what she had to say to him? What was she even doing there? He knew that he started seeing her ghost and Anna's after he died and came back, but he thought that stopped after a while. His mind was reeling with the fact that he was seeing her once again, but as he was trying to make sense of it all, he watched as Vicki pressed her hand on the screen door, a desperate look in her eyes.

"Your about to make a very bad decision. Don't go through with the transition like I did." Vicki said, tears sliding down her cheeks as she continued. "You still have time to make the right decision. If you don't give in, then you can be with me again. Isn't that what you want?" she asked, this time slamming her hand on the door a couple of times. While Jeremy was still confused as to why he was seeing her, he kept a hold of Bella's hand the entire time, now pulling her back from the front door as he shook his head.

"You need to leave Vicki." Jeremy said, hoping that if he just willed her away that she would just go. As Vicki continued to pound on the door, he turned so that he could lead Bella elsewhere. Once the two of them were out of sight of the front porch, however, he noticed that the pounding on the screen door stopped. Did that mean that Vicki was gone? Or was she still there? He wasn't sure what was going on, but if Vicki was already paying him visits out at the lake house to tell him not to change into a vampire, he knew this was going to be a very difficult 24 hours.

Denise had no doubts that between Klaus and herself they would be able to go after Mikael and end him. She had noticed the smile that came to his face, but as he continued, he brought up a good point that it would help to have numbers on their side. If he were to ask her opinion on the lower level demons, he would find that she thought them completely expendable. She was more loyal when it came to crossroads demons like Del and herself, but if they were ranked any lower than that, she would have no qualms with getting a good handful or so to dedicate to the cause of bringing down the hybrid's father. Those plans, however, would have to wait until they managed to bring down the facility.

Denise couldn't help grinning as Klaus thanked her. The compliments he had only caused the grin on her face to grow as she knew that he was absolutely right. "I have no doubts about the fear we'll be putting into people today." she agreed, the grin staying on her face as she continued. "As far as your earlier compliments are concerned, your the only one that has said something like that to me." she admitted. Most of the people that sought her out were only looking to make a deal after all, so while she knew that most of them may have been thinking that, none of them had the guts to say it to her.

Denise would be lying if she said she didn't feel some kind of spark when Klaus kissed her forehead and then her hands. She wasn't ready to storm the facility earlier, she was definitely ready to do so now. Upon hearing his suggestion of what would happen once all of the chaos was done, she felt a grin coming to her own face. "I look forward to it." she said, pressing a kiss to his cheek before going to meet up with the others. She had noticed that Del had managed to save a glass for the hybrid, so after making sure that he got a dose of demon blood like the others did, she and the other crossroads demon proceeded to get everyone outside of the facility.

Finding a place to lay low outside of the facility was easy enough. When Del was able to see exactly how many guards were outside of the facility, however, Denise could tell that he was getting nervous. Rather than chew him out in front of the others, she threw an arm around his shoulder and pulled him to the side for a moment. "If you don't think you can do this, now would be the time to say something." she said in a low tone, watching as the demon shook his head.

"No, it's not that. I just...are we going to be able to do this?" Del asked, a concerned look coming to his face as he looked to her. "You got stuck in there once before. Who knows what Nutty Professor experiments they have planned if they get their hands on either one of us." he added, causing a slight smile to come to her face.

"They aren't going to get either of us. Not with the plan we came up with anyway." Denise said, taking a moment to look in Klaus' direction, a grin on her face before she looked back to the blonde demon. "Besides, you've got the easy part. Distract the guards and then we work our magic from here." she said. She could tell that the blonde demon was still iffy about sending her back into the facility, but as she made her way back to the others, the blonde demon started to get to work. Instantly he had guns trained on him as he approached the building, but within seconds the guards were caught in their own terrifying hallucinations. The ones that weren't screaming and trying to run for their lives were firing their weapons at the other guards around them. In the meantime, the blonde vampire made his way back to the group, his gaze moving to Bonnie as it was now her turn to get rid of the vampires in the facility.

 

[Saltwater Bound]

Bella stared at Vicki, wide-eyed and in stunned silence. Of all the things that could’ve interrupted how well it was going — from smiles and actual laughing to teasing that made her feel like she could melt — she definitely didn’t expect a ghost. Bella’s gaze followed Vicki to the doorway, where the brunette remained behind the screen door. Polite ghost, Bella thought — which quickly changed when Vicki continued talking. As she began pleading for Jeremy not to transition, Bella started feeling defensive; when the brunette told him to make the “right choice” and offered up herself as the main benefit while she started pounding on the door, her blue eyes narrowed in straight up anger and indignation. What the hell? But before Bella could open her mouth, Jeremy told Vicki to leave while pulling Bella away, out of sight of the front porch. She looked up at him, impressed at how calm he seemed in spite of the things Vicki said — but Bella still couldn’t shake the unsettling feeling that something powerful was at play here, even when Vicki’s pounding had stopped. Jeremy was still holding her hand and Bella closed the space between them. “Are you okay?” she asked, her thumb brushing over his hand; he seemed calm, but she couldn’t imagine how he was feeling. “Honestly, I’m shocked, and I didn’t even—“

Movement in her peripheral vision made Bella turn — and the view made her catch her breath and stop mid-sentence. This couldn’t be real. Were they just slowly losing their minds now? The handsome dark-haired guy in front of her was looking right at her, looking like the day she left the house and never came back. Wedding ring on his finger and all. Bella opened her mouth and realized she had no idea what to say. “Alex?” she finally asked incredilously. “How...”

“Bell, I thought I would never see you again,” Alex said, a relieved smile spreading across his face and lighting up his features. “Can you guess who else is happy to see you?” He held out his hand to his left, and there she was, appearing out of nowhere, holding onto her dad. For a good second or two, Bella forgot to breathe entirely. The big blue eyes, the blonde curls, the smile with the dimpled cheeks; Rose was even more Bella’s mini me than she remembered. Maybe it had just been too painful to remember. “Rose, what did you keep asking me since the day we last saw mommy?” Alexanders voice interrupted Bella’s train of thought.

“I asked when mommy was coming home,” the three year old said, entirely innocently and happily beaming up at Bella. “Are you coming home now, mommy? If you come home you could finish reading me that book. Oh, will you, please? We never got to the end before you left.”

Bella brought her hand to her mouth. “Rosie,” she whispered. She couldn’t name the things she was feeling if she tried, but as she did her utmost to keep breathing calmly, she was relieved to realize her other hand was still securely entwined with Jeremy’s.

“All you have to do is give up being what you are now,” Alex said after glancing at Jeremy, apparently deciding not to comment. “If you volunteer to give up your immortality, you can be with us again. You can finally come home to us. Haven’t you missed us?”

“And you can finally be with me, Jer,” Vicki said, suddenly appearing beside Alex and Rose. “Don't you remember how much you wanted that? And believe me, you don’t want to be a vampire. Aren’t you starting to remember what happened to me yet, after I completed the transition? The way I attacked you at the Halloween party? The way I was killed?” Tears rolling down her cheeks, Vicki took a step towards him.

That snapped Bella out of her trance-like state and she protectively pulled Jeremy closer. "Jer?" Bella asked quietly, trying to figure out if the memories were indeed coming back before glancing at the brunette. She wanted to tell Vicki to shut up and tell Alex that she loved him dearly but to please clue her in on what the hell was going on, how, and why now — but every time her gaze would be drawn to her daughter and she just couldn’t. No matter how unsettled this was making her feel, her sweet baby Rose was right here, and Bella was terrified of getting confirmation that something wasn't right — that she would have to send her baby away.

​

After Klaus received a kiss to his cheek from Denise and she made sure he got his dose of her own blood, it was time to take off to the facility; the human work day had begun. While he was looking forward to making every person there pay for what they were doing, the timing did suddenly feel a little unfortunate, considering the tension he’d felt growing between him and the beautiful demon. And although there was the tiniest chance that it could be his ego talking, Klaus was fairly certain that Denise felt a spark between them as well. Besides, it was perfect on paper: two of the most intimidating and powerful beings in the world who were on the same page about pretty much everything so far. When he saw her looking in his direction while giving Del a sisterly peptalk, Klaus sent a smirk back.

The peptalk clearly worked, because next thing he knew, Del was walking right up to the guards. Right away, he had endless rows of guns trained on him, but it apparently took mere seconds for the blonde demon to exercise his power; with raised eyebrows, Klaus watched as the guards wildly started shooting at their colleagues. By the time Del had returned, the entire uniformed group was either dead or hysterically sobbing on the ground.

“If you could teach me how to do that, that’d be great,” Kol commented, staring at the scene in front of them in awe.

Bonnie shook her head in dismay — she was on board with the end goal, but this just seemed plain cruel, especially after experiencing Del’s powers first hand — and stepped forward, making sure both Salvatore brothers were behind her. She raised her hands high, aiming them at the building in front of them, and started muttering in Latin. Her voice grew louder as she went on, until she finally let out a scream as an invisible force seemed to blast from her hands towards the facility, making everything in a five mile radius shake. The witch turned around to face the group again. “All vampires in there are going to be desiccated, at least until someone finds out and starts handing out blood. I’m sure they have plenty on hand in a place like that, so you better hurry now.”

Kol grinned as Bonnie headed back to join them. “Also a cool trick, I guess.”

“Brother, please refrain from further commenting, at least for now,” Klaus said, his eyebrows raised. “Okay, everyone. We are missing Bella, but we have gained a demon and clearly miss Bennett can stand her ground quite well. So let’s pair up as follows, shall we — Denise and I will go in together, then Bekah with Kol, Damon with Del and Stefan can go with Bonnie. I know some of us,” Klaus gave Kol a look, “enjoy the process quite a bit, but let’s try and stay meticulous. Kill all employees you encounter. When you think there’s no more left, reach out to the others — then we shall go outside and burn the bloody place to the ground. And if you find boss lady Mills...” Klaus smirked. “Call me directly. Denise and I would like to have a word with her, don’t we, love?”

Without waiting for further input from anyone else, the hybrid hooked his arm through Denise’s arm, a smirk on his face as they made a path through the bodies of the guards that had managed to off each other for them. The building looked even more imposing in the daylight; now it was truly visible exactly how huge it was, and how many people must be in there, working on and apparently condoning horrible experiments on supernatural beings. And, soon enough, humans too.

As they stepped over the dead guard in front of the doorstep and headed down the long, abandoned hallway, Klaus looked at Denise, a grin on his face. “Do you agree that should be our main focus, find the boss lady and give her a taste of her own medicine? I was just thinking — that cell we were in was also in a long hallway. We could also have a look and see what kind of creatures we could unleash on the humans. Wreak a little extra havoc?”

 

[Insanity Awakened 18]

Jeremy had no idea what was going on. He could only imagine that Vicki was there because of how he briefly died in the hotel after the crazed vampire attack, but if that was the case, why was it that ghosts from Bella's past had shown up now as well? As he listened to her dead husband and child speak to her, he couldn't help narrowing his eyes slightly. Something didn't feel right here. He found himself momentarily distracted by Vicki's words, knowing that he was starting to remember what Damon had compelled him to forget, but he was quickly snapped back into reality when the blonde vampire spoke to him. She had already pulled him closer to herself, but as he faced the ghosts directly, he made a point to put himself between the blonde vampire and them.

"I remember what happened. I remember how much I cared about you too, but I can't let myself give up like that. Not when I have so many people I care about that are still here." Jeremy answered firmly, giving Bella's hand a firm squeeze before turning his gaze towards Alex and Rose. "I may not know that much about either of you, but I know how much Bella loves both of you. I'm sorry, but none of you are welcome here. You need to leave." he said, keeping a hold of the blonde vampire's hand before he quickly led her towards the back door, heading outside to the small deck that was there. He cast one look towards the lake house to make sure that the ghosts weren't following them before turning towards the blonde vampire with a concerned look.

"I'm sorry for doing that. Its just...something didn't feel right with the way they were talking. Not just Vicki, but..." Jeremy said, stopping himself from saying the names of Bella's dead husband and child before he continued. "I can't explain it, but I think that someone might be forcing them to say these things to us. I know how crazy it must sound, but I knew Vicki. She wouldn't have said those kind of things to me. Especially if she was able to see how happy I am here." he added as he rubbed his free hand over his face. The last thing he wanted to do was to disrespect the blonde vampire's memory of her dead family members, but as he cast another wary glance towards the lake house, he tried to think of the right thing to say as he looked back towards her.

"I don't think that's your husband or your child either. I know we didn't talk about them that much, but from what you told me, I don't think either of them would be convincing you to give up your immortality." Jeremy said as he kept a hold of her hand. "I can't explain what might be happening or who might be forcing them to say these things to us, but we shouldn't listen to them." he added as he shook his head. At this point he had no idea if it was someone from the other side or an outside force that was making them see the ghosts of their past, and while he was still trying to make up his mind about being a vampire, he knew he would regret it if he made a rushed decision based on what the ghosts had to say, he knew he would regret it.

Denise shook her head as Del looked to her after Kol's request, causing the blonde demon to give a slight shrug as he looked to the vampire in question. "I could. Got to escape the prying eyes first though." he told him, causing the female demon to shoot a warning look in his direction. She doubted that the blonde demon's skill could be taught to anyone, but even if he could, she wasn't about to let him. With his luck, he would teach someone that skill and it would case this kind of attention from advanced hunters all over again. No matter, as Bonnie proceeded to desiccate the vampires in the facility, she looked to Klaus as he announced who was going to be working with who, along with listing off their plans. A slight smirk came to her face at the mention of dealing with the boss themselves, and when the hybrid linked arms with her, she walked with him towards the facility.

Denise was sure that their plans would go off without a hitch, but as she stepped into the facility with Klaus, she couldn't help feeling tense. What if they got stuck in here like last time? What if this boss lady Mills anticipated them coming back? The demon was understandably nervous about becoming the same as the crazed vampires that attacked them at the school, but as she looked to Klaus, she knew that wouldn't happen. Instead, she found a grin coming to her face at the plans that he had regarding tracking down the boss and freeing whatever else was trapped here as she nodded.

"Those sound like fantastic plans to me. Maybe if we're lucky, we can add whatever happens to be locked up here to the army." Denise pointed out as they started to make their way through the building. She would have been suspicious if the halls were empty like they were the night they escaped this place, but as they got closer to the cells that contained the more dangerous supernatural creatures, she was able to spot the guards right away. "Let the fun begin." she said Klaus, a smirk coming to her face before they started attacking.

In total there were 5 guards patrolling the high security cells. Between Denise and Klaus, they were able to kill the guards there easily before making their way to a control room at the end of the hallway. Once they got there, she surveyed the small screens that showed footage into each of the cells. Her initial reaction was to release all of them, but as she studied each of the screens, she knew that wouldn't be the smartest idea to do. It would help them to get rid of whoever was working there, but at the same time, could they trust whatever they released not to turn on them? tapped the control panel in front of the screens thoughtfully, thinking over her decision before she started to open the doors to certain cells. Once she was done, she pressed a button that would allow her to speak over the intercoms in the hall directly

"Those of you who are free to move out of your cells, feel free to do so and make your way to the control room. Those who can't, you'll have to sit tight until we can get to you." Denise said, watching as those who could leave their cells were hesitant, but started walking out of their cells as she continued. "As you can see, this isn't a trap. I'm sure that you all must hold some kind of grudge against the workers here, so we'll offer you a choice. Help us bring this place down, or you can walk out the front doors. It's up to you." she said, pressing the button to cut off the intercom again as she watched those that ventured into the hallway thinking over their decision. In the end, the few that could walk out of their cells started making their way towards the control room, causing the female demon to look to Klaus with a grin. She had been very strategic in the creatures she had released, so between the ones she freed and the ones that were waiting for extra assistance, she was sure they would rid themselves of this facility before the day was over.

 

[Saltwater Bound]

Jeremy pulled her away from the ghosts, and the twinge of pain in her chest when Bella broke eye contact with the blonde toddler was followed by a wave of relief the moment they stepped outside. It was like the air had been heavier in there and she could finally breathe — and see clearly. Bella exhaled deeply as she raked her slender fingers through her hair. Jeremy was right. The whole thing had felt off, and despite the fact that she still somehow couldn’t shake the guilty feeling over leaving her only child behind, again, Bella knew Jeremy was right about the rest as well. She hadn’t wanted to see it — she just wanted to look at Rose, just a little bit longer. But whoever it was in that house, it wasn’t Alex and it wasn’t really Rose. While knowing that helped with the guilt, it did mean something was out to mess with them, which she could really do without today. Speaking of having something else to focus on, she thought, and quickly pulled out her phone to send Klaus a text. She had no idea what kind of being had this kind of power, but the building full of supernatural beings could be related.

Once her phone was back in her pocket, Bella rested her head against Jeremy’s shoulder as she stared out over the lake. “Don’t be sorry. I should be saying sorry — I freaking froze. You did the right thing, and you’re right. If Alex would have actually talked to me like that, we wouldn’t have lasted that long. And Rose...” Bella shook her head. “She was only three. Manipulating me into another bedtime story, sure, but not this. And she didn’t stay three — I don’t know much about ghosts, but I feel like if I ever were to see her again, she wouldn’t look like that. I was just so... they seemed so real.” Bella was lost in thought for a moment, but pulled herself out of it and looked up at Jeremy, flashing him a grateful, slightly melancholic smile. “But seriously, thank you. I don’t know what I would have done without you.” She was legitimately taken aback by how amazing he was doing, how firm but considerately he had handled that. During her transition, she recalled a lot less composed behavior. Considering how they’d spent their time together so far, it wasn’t a surprise that Vampire Jeremy would be brave and determined and protective — but still.

After turning around to check if she could see or hear anyone in the house behind them — nope — Bella sat down on the deck, her feet dangling inches above the water. “I think they listened to you and left, but if it's cool with you, I’d like to stay out here for a while.” She frowned, trying to remember something. “Did you ever read those books... they’re about these hot guys who travel all over, saving people, hunting things? A lot of their lore is legit, and I think they put down salt by all the exits to ward off evil. We could try it when we head back in. Considering how soon they found us, I doubt running is going to help much.” Bella had no issues agreeing with not listening to someone who wanted Jeremy to give up on being a vampire. Her mind wandered back to how much of a natural he seemed, too, and her smile grew a little wider as she stared at the lake before looking back at him. “Also, I swear this is not part of my sales pitch, but you’re blowing me out of the water at being a well-adjusted baby vamp. I did not do this well.” Bella’s eyes turned inquisitive as Vicki’s questions about her transition and Jeremy’s answer involuntarily popped up in her mind. She couldn’t imagine Damon would compel him without good reason. How much was he currently remembering of the night his girlfriend turned?

Working in perfect sync with his favorite demon, they were able to take on the five guards with ridiculous ease. Klaus barely had to focus and instead found himself thinking of what Denise had said just moments ago; that he could use this as an opportunity to recruit. It was a great idea. He could even put them to the test right away — use this mission against the facility to thin out the herd, so to speak; make sure Denise and himself were only accompanied by the best of the best in his fight against Mikael. That had been his mistake with the bloody hybrid army. He had given any poor old sod the opportunity to be like him. No wonder even the likes of Damon Salvatore were able to rip out their hearts by the dozen. Before he knew it, the guards were dead and they were in a control room; with raised eyebrows, Klaus stared at the footage. It ranged from cell after cell of normal looking people like them, the devils in disguise, to horribly deformed creatures he recognized from old hunter’s journals he had procured — after draining said hunters. Changelings. A creature he was fairly certain was a wendigo. Two creatures he knew were djinns: the face tattoos were difficult to miss. There was also something that looked like a rotting corpse — Klaus did not quite remember the name, but he definitely hoped Denise wasn’t going to let that one out, because it looked bloody foul. Just as his partner in crime started pressing buttons to open cells, Klaus felt his phone buzz.

Quick heads up: it’s quiet now, but we got ambushed by false but very realistic apparitions. Basically tried to convince us to join the Other Side. Could be something sent after us by creepy hunters, so be warned.

Klaus put his phone away again just as Denise finished making her announcement; he flashed her a grin. “I have mostly been living life with vampires and werewolves for the past thousand years, so I am trusting you completely on whom you just selected for our army. One quick note — our two friends outside this building have just experienced some issues with a being seemingly able to control apparitions, so just keep your eyes open for that one. I have quite a few literal skeletons in my closet; as you can probably imagine, I am not really looking forward to running into anyone who can perform that particular trick.”

Moving his focus to the door as supernatural beings started trickling into the control room, Klaus’ grin widened. Judging by the amount of completely black eyes — a few of them had completely red ones, like Denise — most were demons. Pissed off demons. Behind the creatures from hell, the hybrid spotted a small group of women with wild hair and a guy with eyes as yellow as his. The latter was most definitely a werewolf, and Klaus was just going to wager a guess that the former were witches; he meant it when he said he trusted Denise and did not bother to ask. “Excellent,” Klaus finally said when the control room had filled up. “Everyone, thank you all for joining my dear demon friend and I. Now that you are all here, let us share step one of bringing this place to its knees: we are going to kill them all.” He grinned widely as he turned to the footage again: they didn’t just show the cells, but also the places where humans congregated. The break rooms. The labs. The open office spaces. He tapped the video feed of the labs. “As you can see, the humans are working hard on their little experiments. Let’s start here, shall we?”

Klaus took Denise’s hand before he headed out the door, gesturing for the crowd to follow him; driven by hatred and a thirst for revenge, everyone did without even questioning who they were. The demon and the hybrid spearheaded the group as they walked through the building until they got to the labs. Klaus grinned and spread his arms. “Let’s make them scream like they make our fellow monsters scream.”

 

[Insanity Awakened 18]

Jeremy didn't blame Bella for freezing the way she did. If anything, he was surprised that he hadn't froze seeing Vicki's ghost again. Maybe he was handling this vampire thing a lot better than he thought he would. Granted he was still dealing with the way his emotions were very heightened, but he had been able to ignore that long enough to get the blonde vampire out of the lake house and somewhere safe. When the blonde vampire thanked him for getting them out of that situation though, he gave her a slight smile before kissing the top of her head. "You don't have to thank me. I know you would have done the same thing." he told her. He found himself wondering who could be making them see ghosts like this, but before he could get too lost in his own thoughts, he found himself sitting down next to the blonde vampire when she mentioned staying outside for a while.

"We can stay out here for as long as you want." Jeremy told her, allowing his gaze to move to the water before he looked back towards Bella. He felt his eyebrows rising in curiosity when she mentioned some stories about what he could only guess were hunters, and when she suggested that they actually try some of the tricks mentioned, he found himself agreeing. "I know what your talking about. I haven't read all the stories about these guys, but I did read most of them. Mostly because Alaric said that the stories had to be complete garbage. That no hunter in their right mind would let someone write stories about them." he said with a slight chuckle. It was the fact that the other man was against the books that got him interested. He was under the impression that the books were entirely fiction, but considering how accurate the lore was on the supernatural beings detailed in it, he wasn't entirely sure how made up the stories were.

Jeremy had let his gaze move back towards the water for a moment before looking back to Bella, an amused smile coming to his face as she praised him on well he was doing with adjusting to his new vampire lifestyle. "You really think so? Honestly I still have no idea what I'm doing." he admitted to the blonde vampire as he looked out to the water once again. He had felt like the air had been punched out of him when he saw Vicki again. That mixed in with the memories of what she acted like when she was a vampire was a lot for him to try and handle. He knew that the only reason she had been like that was because of Damon, but he didn't hate the older Salvatore. If anything, he was upset that he hadn't been able to help her. She was the first person he had allowed himself to love completely, and while he knew why those memories had been taken from him, it didn't make it any less painful.

"Bella, can I ask you something?" Jeremy questioned, allowing his gaze to wander over towards Bella before he continued. "I know you've told me a little bit about what you've went through when you first transitioned into a vampire. What were the first years like for you? After you decided to go through the transition I mean." he added as he kept his gaze on her. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I'm just curious how you were able to handle all of this." he said, reaching out to take hold of one of her hands. He wouldn't be offended if this was a sore subject for her, but he was still about her experience all the same.

Denise felt a grin come to her face when Klaus admitted to trusting the selection she had made on their temporary army. A look of confusion came to her face, however, when he mentioned someone had been targeting Bella and Jerbear. Who could have been bothering either of them? She wasn't entirely sure, but she found herself not wanting to cross paths with this person either. In the meantime, when she had left the control panel with the hybrid, she was able to give the people waiting for them a quick once over. She knew that she had made the right selection when it came to who she released from the cells, and once they started on their way to the labs, she knew that the fun was about to begin.

Denise liked the feeling of Klaus' hand in her own. When they finally reached the labs, she watched the demons lead the charge as the witches and the werewolf ran in after them. She knew this would be more or less a trial run to see who would make the final cut to joining the demon army, but that didn't stop her from wanting to join in. "We can't let them have all the fun." she told the hybrid with a grin before she joined in the fight. She wasn't surprised that they didn't encounter anything like the crazed vampires they were ambushed by at the hotel, but as they tore through the workers in the lab, she noticed how most of their candidates paused in front of a heavy metal door separating them from a back room in the labs. She could only guess that the others were hesitant to enter because that's where Mills kept her experiments, but before she could suggest moving onto tracking down the boss lady, her gaze was drawn to the metal doors as she noticed someone, or something, desperately trying to make their way out.

Denise found herself backing away from the doors as the banging on the doors got louder. She immediately whistled for her hellhounds, watching as three of them lined up in front of her, now snarling at the door. She had no idea what was trying to get out, but as the doors were suddenly knocked off their hinges, she watched as a number of crazed werewolves, witches, and a handful of other supernatural beings came pouring out. She was now partially wishing that she and Klaus left the dirty work to the others as her hellhounds tore into the crazed experiments trying to get at her while she fought the ones that were able to get past them. She had been so busy keeping one of the crazed werewolves back that she didn't notice one running straight for her until it tackled her to the ground. The next thing she knew, she watched as both of them were knocked to the side by an invisible force, causing her to turn her head to the side as one of the red eyed demons approached her, a slight smirk on his face.

"Getting slow with your moves I see. Don't tell me you've gotten rusty." the demon said as he walked over, taking a hold of one of her hands and pulling her up from the floor.

"Good to see you too Kris. We'll see whose gotten rusty." Denise said before turning and diving back into the heat of the battle. Fighting the rest of the experiments had been challenging, but once they were done, she made her way over to Klaus, wiping some blood from the corner of her mouth from where one of the crazies had gotten a swing at her. "So, ready to go and track down boss lady Mills?" she asked, glancing to the ones that they had left before looking back to the hybrid. After fighting with the scientists and the crazed experiments, the ones that they had left were the black eyed demons, the crossroads demons, one of the witches and the werewolf. She was sure that there may be more experiments lurking somewhere in the facility, but considering how they were going to burn the place to the ground once they were done, she figured they could go after the brains of the operation and call it a day.

 

[Saltwater Bound]

When Jeremy told her he’d only read the books because Alaric said they had to be garbage, Bella laughed. “My rebel,” she said with a grin, bumping her shoulder into his. Alaric probably had a point; if the boys were real and as amazing as in the books, wouldn’t they have discovered a way to get the writer to retract the whole thing? Then again, Bekah and Bella had a lot more fun just going with it. Especially considering how smoldering hot the hunters supposedly were. “And yeah. As my vampire intern, you’re making me very proud,” she added in all honesty, looking up at Jeremy with a smile. “And truth be told, we all make it up as we go along. Most of us travel. Some also like to pick random careers every few decades. Others go with causes to dedicate themselves to. A friend of mine was actually a nurse during the Civil War,” Bella added, her smile lines and dimples appearing as she thought of Lexi. “The possibilities are endless. You literally have forever to do whatever you want, and there’s more to do than can ever be done. Which is from that Lion King song, but I stand by it.”

Bella entangled her fingers with Jeremy’s when he reached for her hand and asked the question she knew was coming. She bit her lip for a few seconds. “I struggled. After my fake funeral it hit me that everyone I knew thought I was dead, but I couldn’t just shut off wanting to be there for them. Like — no such thing as life insurance back then, so I sent tons of anonymous donations. A suspicious amount, probably,” Bella added with a half smile, shaking her head. “I’d watch over the house, over Rose’s school. I’d compel the neighbours to check up on them. And I made sure that what happened to me wasn’t happening to anyone else. Basically, I turned into this weird guardian angel meets vigilante. This went on for a pretty long time, until one night, I came home, it was just Kol and me, he offers to make me a drink, then later I go to bed — and I wake up on a ship headed for South America.” Bella raised her eyebrows. Even when he meant well, his methods were questionable.

“First he let me yell at him for a while. Then he said that it may hurt to realize, but my family would eventually learn to function just fine without me, and it was time to use my immortality for good — by which of course Kol meant "fun". He also said he got Bekah to fulfil my self-appointed guard duties so I wouldn’t try to swim back. Considering the years he has on me, I don’t think that would’ve been a success anyway. And after weeks on the ship...” Bella stopped mid-sentence, turned to face Jeremy more directly and smiled. “Actually — if you close your eyes, I can show you.” Telepathy: one of her favorite vampire tricks. She took both his hands in hers and leaned in a little closer, focusing on vividly recalling the memories she wanted to share.

First, she was standing on the very top of Rainbow Mountain, over three miles high, in the heart of the Andes, cold wind blowing her long hair all over the place. Then, running through the damp, tropical Amazon, yelling in sheer panic and running even harder when spotting an Anaconda, but slowing down again after remembering, oh, right, immortal. Staring at the endless beauty of the Sacred Valley. All the insane views on the walk from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu, then finally getting to see the Inca site itself. Dancing on the town square in Cusco with billions of stars littering the sky. Ordering food in broken Spanish. Drinking on the beach in Lima during the sunset. Upbeat Latin American music pierced through all of the memories, but with each memory, the actual mood palpably lifted more and more.

“The heightened emotions can make you laser-focus. I just lived for protecting my family.” Bella’s voice came from a place far from the Peruvian coastline. “But they were moving on, and I had to, too. It got a little easier to handle every day. Time helped. Kol helped a lot; he made me enjoy myself and stop feeling guilty about enjoying myself. For me, the distance helped as well. Elena knows, so you could stay, but down the line, you can go wherever you want. Whenever, with whoever.” She fell silent for a moment. “Speaking of which — if my version is a little heavy on the Kol for you, feel free to try out manipulating my subconscious.”

Klaus wholeheartedly agreed with Denise that they couldn’t let their newfound army revel in all the fun without them. He ripped through the workers, blood dripping down his fangs within a few seconds, a grin on his face — but the grin slightly slipped when his attention was pulled towards the metal door at the back of the lab. Or, more accurately, whatever monstrosities were behind it, forcibly banging on the metal; presumably reinforced, considering the amount of noise they were making while the door refrained from budging. Before he could even open his mouth or reach out to Denise to pull her back and stand in front of her, the demon had summoned her hellhounds once more. Despite the dire situation, the ends of Klaus' lips curled up again; it was genuinely the most interesting supernatural skill he had encountered in all his years, and he’d encountered too many to count. After taking his place in between the hellhounds and the demon, Klaus made a quick mental note to ask his new best friend about the possibility of teaching others — well, him — how to summon the hounds.

And just as Klaus looked up again to scan the room for fresh recruits that he could place between Denise and the metal door, all hell broke loose. With one final loud bang, the doors were suddenly knocked off their hinges and the crazed looks on the faces of all the beings that came pouring into the room immediately made Klaus’ mind flash back to what happened at the hotel the night before. Except these weren’t just vampires — there were insane-looking werewolves with fangs and claws, witches with crazy eyes and their arms stretched out, ready to fire off spells, and a multitude of beings he could not immediately place. Since it was not exactly the time to be pondering which supernatural creature was running right at Denise and him, the hybrid simply bared his impressive fangs and charged, making sure the first batch would not even reach the demon.

Moments later, Klaus found himself wishing for the power to control hellhounds even more; these beings were even stronger than the vampires, and while he quite enjoyed a challenge, what was happening now bordered on the insane, even for him. Mills will bloody pay for this, he thought, his deep yellow eyes narrowing in anger as he continued ripping out hearts and biting through jugulars while keeping Denise in his peripheral vision at all times — which is why he immediately let go of a half-dead werewolf, turned around and stood by her side barely a second after she was tackled to the ground. Although he was eternally grateful to find Denise was not hurt, to his annoyance, bewilderment and suspicion, someone else had been even faster than him; it had been a sassy red-eyed demon who had helped her back up. Unfortunately, there was no time for more words. They all had to quickly dive back into battle — Klaus only after making sure Denise indeed hadn’t been bitten by a rabid wolf — until every last monster was dead. Well, except for them.

“I’m ready if you are,” Klaus confirmed after Denise made her way over to him; he took a step to get even closer to her, ignoring the présence of the others in the room. After lifting his hand to the demon's face, Klaus softly brushed the corner of her lips with his thumb, gently removing the remaining blood. “Is that the only place where one of them managed to get a swing at you? You keep impressing me. Ironically, I was not quite fast enough for one of the wolves,” the hybrid added with a smirk. Klaus pulled back his hand and lifted up his now blood-soaked shirt, revealing — besides pronounced abs — a large bitemark by his left hip. “It’s not healing as fast as it normally would; probably a result of whatever they did to muck the wolf up like that.” He raised his eyebrows as he took one last step, closing the distance between Denise and him entirely. “I realize you just spent quite some time trying to stop supernatural beings from sinking their fangs into you, but if you wouldn’t mind...” Klaus let go of his shirt and reached his hand up to Denise’s face again, this time trailing his fingers from her jawline down her neck to her collarbone. “If we’re going to take on the boss now, I could definitely use one more dose of demon blood. Your demon blood.”