Jeremy was asleep in my passenger seat.

Open road stretched ahead of us, and I didn't even know which direction we were headed. Bonnie had texted the boy's phone, said that she'd strengthened the cloaking around the both of us and that she didn't know how he found us in the first place.

They were updated on the situation, that any text from me would be from Jeremy's phone and not my own.

Kol still had it, and I'd been too petrified to ask for it back.

All I could think about was how pissed he was going to be when he discovered we were gone. It's like I had a death wish or something- betraying the original brothers to keep Jeremy safe.

The little shit had grown on me in the six months I'd protected him.

His phone rang and I risked answering it while I kept my eyes on the road. We were going dangerously fast.

"Where are you now?"

"Sorry, Salvatore, can't tell you that. Kol found us far too easily, even with the wards."

"You can't just kidnap Elena's brother."

"I'll keep him safe until you guys say it's clear in Mystic Falls." There was a muffled voice over the line and suddenly I was hearing someone else.

"Trust me, you don't want to make Klaus chase you." It sounded like Elena, but it also didn't. "The smart thing to do would be to beg his forgiveness while you still can."

"And face both his and Kol's anger? No thank you. I've already had Klaus' hand through my chest. I don't want a repeat."

Another shuffle over the line. "Just come back. Our plan failed and it's safer in numbers."

"Tell that to the pack of hybrids he slaughtered by himself. You know he's gonna make me spy on you guys, right? Like I'm not going to have a choice."

"You don't have to stay, just bring Jeremy back."

I bit my lip. Maybe he was right. "Fine. I'm not, by the way. I finally have free will again. I'll bring him back and leave." I didn't know how much I'd miss it until it was gone, ripped away from me when Klaus invaded my pack.

The line went dead, and I leaned against the headrest.

It would be weird without the kid. I'd been protecting him for six months.

But he needed to be back with his sister.

I would give almost anything to see my baby brother, to hear his laughter or taste that gods awful cooking.

We all needed people.

"We're going to see Elena?" Jeremy yawned, and stretched as best he could in his seat.

"Yeah. But by we, I mean you are."

"You're not staying." It wasn't a question.

"No can do, kiddo. Gotta draw those nasty Originals away from you and your sister."

"And they're gonna want you more than Elena?" Especially since she wasn't human. I think it had more to do that they'd annoyed Klaus into staying, just to make their lives miserable.

Either that or he had a way to turn her back.

"That's the idea. If I piss them off enough, they might come running." Hopefully. Though I doubted I was more important to them than the doppelgänger. "Give your little squad a reprieve."

"What happens when they catch you?"

"Love the confidence." I deadpanned. We needed to find a town soon so I could figure out where the hell we were. "I'll be fine. Klaus can't make any more hybrids, and I'm his last one. He's not gonna kill me." He will make it as painful as possible.

I had little money and even less resources. It wouldn't take long.

Perhaps death would be the better alternative.

I'd sooner take my own life than go back to how it was before Tyler intervened. I hated how we were treated. It was serve Klaus or be killed.

Lone wolves didn't make it long anyway.

"Yeah but to have the oldest vampires in history coming after you, that's gotta be scary."

"Oh believe me, it's preferable." I still couldn't get that feeling of Klaus squeezing my heart out of my head, even after months. He could easily force me to agree to anything with that kind of tactic. And Kol had implied some things that I'd rather not think about. "At least I get to travel a bit."

The gas icon flashed at me from my dashboard.

"I don't like it. You're as much apart of the group as I am."

"Don't overestimate my importance little Gilbert. Elena cares about you, she doesn't care about me. To them I'm disposable." I pulled into the first gas station I saw. "I'm okay with it, I have little loyalty beyond protecting you."

Jeremy was silent as I got out.

"I'll get some snacks, keep an eye on the meter please."

He nodded.

The man inside the store was flipping through a magazine, a bored expression on his face. "Welcome in." He drawled. "We have the best products this side of the Mississippi River.

So we were in Mississippi.

At least we were headed East. That made things a little easier.

The door bell chimed behind me and I fought the paranoia bubbling in my chest. There was no way it was an Original. Not in this small town gas station.

A squelching sound was my only warning before I was bodily pressed against the glass fridge door, a bloody hand wrapped around my throat. "You really thought you could escape me?"

I clawed at his hand, desperate for the air that was taken so suddenly. "-Please."

Kol's eyes darkened. "I'm not going back in a box because you want freedom." He growled.

Jeremy, where's Jeremy?!

He was going to kill me, I was going to die in some random place in the middle of fucking nowhere.

"You broke your deal with Niklaus, do you want to know what he intends to do to your friends?" He released my throat just enough for me to breathe, and I inhaled greedily, coughing violently.

"But I thought-" My voice was already hoarse.

"As entertaining as it is to watch them try and kill my brother, he's grown tired of the game."

So why make the deal in the first place?

"The doppelgänger is little more than an annoyance to him now, which means we get to have a little fun." He grinned sadistically.

Then his brow furrowed and he looked down at his chest in clear confusion. Kol Mikaelson fell to the floor as his face began to turn an ashy sort of grey with a stake in his back.

Jeremy stood behind him, pale and shaking.

We needed to move.

But the sight of an Original on the ground, was shocking, to say the least.

"H-he's not dead. Just temporary."

That seemed to pull me out of my stupor. "Let's go, before he wakes up."