CHAPTER TWENTY
the rescue

I stood in front of the Salvatore House, adrenaline pumping through my veins. I breathed deeply to settle my nerves, knowing they would only hinder me. A perverse feeling of excitement fluttered inside of me. In an odd way, I looked forward to entering the house. I found the danger and risk oddly compelling.

If I ever told Henrik that, he would make good on his promise to chain me up in a basement.

With one final exhale, I paced towards the house under the cover of darkness. Henrik had confirmed with a spell that nobody was home but I tried to be quiet nonetheless. I knew the front door would be locked but I checked it on the off chance that it was open. When my suspicions were confirmed, I took a step back and looked up at the house, looking for another entrance. Unfortunately, I had no experience with picking locks and I knew there was no point wasting time by attempting it.

There were no open windows at the front of the house, so I began my perusal of the sides. I'd hoped that they'd left the back door unlocked and was left disappointed when I tried the handle. Panic attempted to creep its way inside me but I refused to let it. I knew I was wasting valuable seconds.

After circling the house, I confirmed that there were no open windows downstairs. There was, however, an open window upstairs at the back of the house. It looked just about big enough for me to climb through. The only problem was it stood over five feet above me.

I could attempt to break a window, however they looked to be triple paned and I highly doubted my feeble attempts at throwing a rock at them would do any damage.

Taking a deep breath, I looked up at the open window, coming to grips with what I was about to do. I put my foot of the ledge of the window below it, wincing as I heard it creek

“Elijah, you are definitely paying for my therapy after this.” I murmured to myself as my hands gripped the window ledge above me and attempted to pull myself up.

Unfortunately, I failed since I have no upper body strength.

Refusing to give up, I let the adrenaline fill me and I used every ounce of my strength. My arms protested as I pulled myself up but I refused to give in. My foot found a hole in the erosion of the brick and I used it to propel myself upwards. I almost couldn't believe I'd done it when I managed to pull my upper body through the tight window. I stopped for a moment, breathing heavily as my legs still dangled out the window.

“God, I wish the front door had been open.” I painted as I pulled myself fully through the window and looked around. I appeared to be standing in a bedroom, evidently one of the Salvatore's. Part of me wanted to be nosey and look around but that could wait until after I had rescued my mate.

I hurried into the hallway when my phone vibrated. I pulled it out to find a text from Henrik.

Klaus is here.

I blinked at the message for a moment, both confusion and shock filling me. I dialled Henrik's number and he picked up instantly.

“Mor, is everything alright?” He said urgently. In the background I could faintly hear music as well as chatter.

“Everything is good here. What on earth is Klaus doing at a High School dance?” I asked as I hurried down the hallway and down a set of stairs.

"He's tormenting the doppelganger.” Henrik said with a sigh.

"Of course he is.” I muttered as I jogged around the Salvatore House, looking for the basement door, “So, has the plan changed?”

"No, Klaus is keeping them extremely occupied so you should have plenty of time to find Elijah.” Henrik confirmed and I sighed in relief as I came to a stop in what seemed to be their kitchen.

“Thank god, I haven't ran like this in years.” I panted and he chuckled.

“I'm going to go and keep an eye on Klaus. He's currently inside the history teacher.” Henrik said and my eyes widened in horror.

“What?” I sputtered loudly.

“He's inhabited the history teacher’s body.” Henrik said with a chuckle and I breathed a sigh in relief.

“Alright, I'll call you if anything happens.” I said and Henrik murmured a goodbye before I hung up.

I was about to leave the kitchen when I thought of something. I rushed over to the fridge. I opened it up to reveal a lot of blood bags. The sight made me wince but I grabbed one, knowing Elijah would be in desperate need of feeding when he woke.

Shoving the blood bag in the deep pocket of my hoodie, I began opening all of the closed doors, searching for the basement. I was in the corridor near the front door when I attempted to open a locked door. My eyes widened, this had to be the door to the basement.

“Of course it would be locked!” I grumbled.

The door was heavy so there was no way I was breaking it down. That left me with two options: find the key or start googling lock picking tutorials. I let out a frustrated groan as I examined the keyhole. It was old fashioned and rather big, so I guessed that they key would be the same. 

Since nobody in their right mind would carry around a key so large, I concluded that it had to be somewhere in this house. I began rifling through various draws, coming across many miscellaneous items but no keys. I continued my desperate search when my phone buzzed and I quickly pulled it out to find a text from Henrik.

They're on their way back, get out!

A jolt of panic coursed through me. This wasn't how it was supposed to go! I needed to rescue Elijah! My searching became frantic, tears threatening to fall and all my hope began to dwindle away. I was about to give up and get out when my hand found something cold and metallic.

I pulled it out to discover that it was a medieval looking keychain with several keys attached. It was possible that one of them opened the door. I hurried back to the door and tried the first key but it didn't fit. I tried the second and my heart jumped for a moment when it fit into the lock but much to my dismay, it wouldn't turn. I still had four keys left and I had to try all of them. I gritted my teeth when I heard the faint sound of crying and arguing slowly become louder.

They had returned.

I continued to try each key, a feeling of horror taking over me when each one didn't work. They were right outside the door when I slotted the final key in the lock. The door to the basement opened just as the front door did.

I hurried inside and gently shut in behind me, praying that nobody had seen or heard me. When the sound of feminine weeping passed the door, I relaxed. I waited a few minutes before finally feeling safe to move. Turning, I quietly paced down a set of stone steps to a barred cell.

Elijah lay in the middle of the cell, a dagger protruding from his chest. Tears fell as I took in his form. His skin was grey and veined and my mate truly looked dead. The suit he'd worn the last time I'd seen him was now tattered and I knew that when he woke, he would certainly not be pleased about that.

With a soft smile, I walked into his cell and bent down beside him. I stroked a finger down his cold face before gripping the handle of the dagger and pulling it from his chest with a gasp. And then I waited. Henrik had warned me that it would take some time for him to wake after the dagger was removed.

I sat with my back against the cold wall, watching Elijah's still form, hoping he'd wake soon. Pulling my phone out, I texted Henrik.

I got the dagger out. I’m hiding out in the basement with him. The Salvatore’s don't know I'm here. Please don't worry about me, Elijah will protect me and get me out of the house when he wakes.

I sat there for a whilst when the quiet sound of the door opening had me alert. I swallowed, not at all prepared for a confrontation. Gripping the dagger in my hand, prepared to use it, I silently stood and positioned myself in front of Elijah.

Elena rounded the corner and gasped when she saw me pointing a dagger in her direction. She instantly held her hands up in surrender as she blinked at me in shock. I didn't lower my shaking arm as I fixed my gaze on her.

“Morgana? Right?” Elena swallowed, attempting a smile, “I'm not going to hurt you.” When I still didn't lower my weapon, she added, “I'm not going to hurt Elijah either. I'm actually here to undagger him but I guess you beat me to it!”

“Why?” I asked my voice horse, not quite believing her, “Why would you undagger him after leaving him here to rot for weeks?”

Elena swallowed, “Klaus is here and he's the only one that can help me.”

“Oh? Why would you think that?” I asked, tilting my head at her.

“We had a deal before Damon daggered him.” She explained and my brows furrowed. If she spoke the truth then there was a lot that Elijah hadn't told me.

“Give me one good reason why I should trust you.” I said to her, lowering the dagger slightly.

“I just want to protect the people I love and Elijah can help me do that.” Elena explained and something about what she said resonated with me.

“Very well.” I shrugged as I sat back down, watching as the doppelganger sat against the opposite wall.

“How long will it take for him to wake?” Elena asked me, frowning as she watched my mate.

“I have no idea.” I replied honestly. I found it incredibly annoying that Elena planned to undagger Elijah the same night I had. If only I'd waited, I would have had to climb through a window.

I wasn't in the mood for conversation and I sensed that Elena wasn't either so together in silence, we waited.