15 | denver is compelling

WHO SAYS NEFARIOUS ANYMORE?










Clementine was in a bad mood and she wouldn't tell any of her friends why. She was silently brooding in the Grill, not contributing to the conversation that Elena and Bonnie were having.

"Every time I close my eyes, I have that nightmare. On repeat," Bonnie complained.

"The same dream?" Elena questioned.

"Yeah! Four coffins," she said, making Clementine tense up. "Klaus is in one of them. It's weird."

"What if it's not just some dream? What if it's like... you know... witch dream?" Elena suggested.

Clem refused to tell her why she was having the dreams. It would just put her closer to waking Esther, which was the last thing they needed.

"It's just stress. I'll figure it out," Bonnie reasoned. "And what about Stefan? Has there been any sign of him?"

Elena rolled hr eyes. "Still AWOL, and Caroline's mom says he's leaving bodies all around in the surrounding towns. The Stefan that we know is gone."

"How is Damon handling it?"

"Damon is... Damon," Elena huffed, looking at the vampire at the bar with Alaric. "But I don't care about Damon. I care about why Clemmy has been pouting all day."

"I'm not pouting," she mumbled, a pout on her pretty lips. Bonnie and Elena shot her skeptical looks. "I'm not!"

"Is it Enzo?" Elena asked, trying to get to the root of it all.

"No, he's perfect," Clem sighed. "It's Klaus — well, Stefan, actually. I got, uh, a vision. He stole something that belongs to Klaus and Rebekah, and they're pissed. I think he's gonna start hurting people if Stefan doesn't give it back."

"Great," Elena muttered. "We finally have some kind of peace, and Stefan screws it up."

"How mad are we talking?" Bonnie asked, fearing the worst.

"Like slaughter everyone Stefan's ever met mad. And we're people that Stefan's met," she mumbled, looking down at the peanut butter milkshake Elena bought her. "Ugh, and I have work soon."

"You love work," Elena reminded her.

Clementine managed a smile, thinking of the baking she'd get to do. "Yeah, I do."

"Elena," Alaric said, coming up to them and getting the girl's attention. As he did so, Damon moved to the dartboard nearby.

"Hey, Ric," Elena greeted. "What's up?"

"Um, Jeremy, uh, got fired," he told her. "I didn't know if you and Jenna knew yet."

Elena tensed up, clearly not knowing that. "Oh, my god. I knew he was slacking too much!" she exclaimed before digging out her phone to call him. Of course, he didn't pick up. "Jeremy, the minute that you get this, call me!"

Then she looked at Clem with helpless, brown doe eyes. "Unbelievable."

Clem got up and watched as Elena paced, trying to calm her down. "You are feisty when you're mad, Lena."

"It's not that I'm mad. I'm just - I'm worried," she mumbled.

Clem came up to her and wrapped her arms around her. "Remy will be okay. He got fired — not attacked by a blood-sucking monster. He'll survive."

"He is spiraling," she told her. "Ever since Bonnie broke up with him, he is moody, he is not really talking to anyone."

Of course, she didn't know Jeremy's spiraling was due to him trying to talk himself out of having feelings for Clem. He wanted to do everything to make Elena happy, even give up the girl he knew he'd always love.

"That's because Bonnie is a goddess amongst us mortals. I'd kill myself if she dumped me," Clem said, not even exaggerating. It made both Bonnie and Elena laugh, which was what she wanted. "He's being a typical teenager."

"Who was seeing ghosts and lost his parents," Elena reminded her.

"But he still has you, Jenna, and John — even though he's a dick," Clem said before going to join Damon in the game of darts.

That was when they noticed the brooding look on Damon's face. He looked like his brother normally did.

"You okay, Demon?" Clementine asked him.

He shrugged. "What makes you think I'm not okay?"

"Well, you're day drunk," Elena told him.

Clem nodded. "Not your most attractive look."

Damon smirked at her, leaning in close. "What is my most attractive look?"

Clementine rolled her eyes and pushed him back, much to Elena's pleasure. "I'd rather gnaw off my hand and use it to play fetch with Nik."

"I find that a bit demeaning, love," Klaus said, coming up to them, a smirk on his face.

"I really don't feel like being threatened today," Damon complained. "Come back another day."

"I don't know what you are talking about. I just came down to my local pub to grab a drink with a mate," Klaus said, nodding to the hybrid that'd come inside with him. None of the three recognized him. "Get a round in, would you, Tony?"

"I'm surprised you stuck around town long enough for happy hour," Damon muttered, wishing he'd just leave town.

"Truth is I've grown to rather like your little town," Klaus told him. "Think I might fancy a home here. Oh, I imagine you're wondering how does this affect you. The answer is: not in the slightest. As long as I get what I want and everyone behaves themselves, you can go on living your little lives however you choose. You have my word."

Elena raised an eyebrow. He already had her blood and cooperation — and Clementine, though she didn't voice that. "What more could you possibly want?"

"Well, for starters, you can tell me where I might find Stefan."

"Stefan skipped town. Haven't seen him since the night he got back," Damon said as Klaus started throwing darts, getting a bulls-eye.

"Well, you see that is a shame. Your brother stole from me. I need him found so I can take back what's mine," he said.

Elena glanced at Clem before crossing her arms. "That sounds like a Klaus and Stefan problem."

Klaus smirked and moved toward Elena, only for Clem to step in front of her protectively. "Well, this is me broadening the scope, sweetheart."




☽︎




Though Elena invited her, Clementine opted to not be there for the talk everyone was having with Jeremy. By everyone, of course, it was just her, Jenna, and Alaric. Instead, Clem met Enzo at the Boarding House with Damon.

She was sitting on Enzo's lap, running her fingers through his hair — it was getting long again — while he and Damon talked about whatever. Clem was verging on a nap and didn't really care. Enzo was just so comfortable.

But that nap was interrupted by Klaus, who made an unwanted appearance for the second time that day. And he had Rebekah with him this time.

"I think it's about time we had a drink, don't you?" Klaus asked, looking at Damon, who'd been in the middle of fixing a bourbon.

"I'd say we're overdue," Damon muttered, getting a drink for him as well.

"Well, you've been so busy with all your plotting and scheming," Klaus said, knowing Damon had tried to work with Katherine to find Mikael, only to learn he was already dead. They didn't quite believe Clem when she said an entire sire line would die if you killed an Original.

"You know me," Damon said while passing by Clem, ruffling her hair. "Never miss a chance to plan an epic failure."

"That's my Angel," Enzo said with a smirk. "Poking holes in your stupid nefarious plots."

Damon narrowed his eyes at his friend. "Who says nefarious anymore?"

"Where's Stefan?" Rebekah asked impatiently, crossing her arms.

"Well, you know those little siblings. They always do the unexpected."

Klaus rolled his eyes and came to sit next to Enzo and Clementine, who smiled at him while Enzo glared. He was the reason he'd been forced to kill Clem, after all.

"You know, we've actually got a lot in common, you and I," Klaus told Damon.

"Really? Well, yeah. Maybe we can bond over our mutual loathing of my brother. Why are you so mad at him? He stole something?"

"My family, the Originals," he explained. "I had them daggered, boxed-up awaiting the day when I saw fit to wake them. And he went in and pinched the bloody lot."

Damon's eyes went wide over the fact that Klaus kept his family in coffins. "Of course, he did. Such a buzzkill, my baby bro. Well, I'd love to find him. Just the trouble is, I sure as hell don't work for you."

Klaus eyed him, clearly displeased. "You know, your drink stinks of vervain, so I can't compel you. There'd be no point in killing you because you're actually the one with the most hope of getting me what I need. And yet it would seem a demonstration is in order. Perhaps I wasn't clear enough when I told you to find Stefan. Well, it seems you people respond best to displays of violence. Why don't you take this as an example of my reach?"

"Klaus," Clementine said in a warning tone, sitting up straighter. She couldn't remember what he was doing but she knew it involved Jeremy.

"It's fine, love," he lied before making a call. "There he is! So, that thing I told you to do...why don't you go ahead and get on with it?"

Clementine huffed and got off the couch, dragging Enzo with her.

"Where the hell are you going?" Damon asked, not wanting to be left alone with the Originals.

"To check on Remy!"




☽︎




Jeremy was fine, but only because Alaric pushed him out of the way and got hit by a car instead. A car that Tony was driving. Shortly after Clem and Enzo arrived, so did Damon.

Clem was doting on Jeremy, cupping his face and looking him over for any wounds. And Jeremy just let her, too tired to be embarrassed by her behavior. Besides, he liked how her warm hands were on his cheeks.

"How is he?" Damon asked, worried about Alaric. Jenna was sitting next to him on the floor by the couch, holding his cold hand and waiting for him to wake.

"He's dead, but he had his ring. Klaus' hybrid hit him. Now we just wait," Elena explained.

Damon nodded before looking accusingly at Jermey. "Jeremy, why aren't you wearing vervain? Where is your bracelet?"

"I don't know," he muttered.

"It was Tyler! It had to have been," Elena guessed. Even though Tyler had chosen to be a hybrid, he still had to deal with Sire Bond. This was the first time Klaus had abused it. "That's why he was hanging out with you. To get you off the vervain."

"Klaus is trying to send us a message. He wants us to find Stefan who stole his coffins full of his dead family members."

Elena froze, thinking of Bonnie's dream. "Coffins?"

"Yep! So all we have to do is find four coffins and voilà! No one else on your family's Christmas list needs to die!"

"Wait," Jenna said, standing up. "That's your big plan? To steal back four dead Originals so this evil hybrid doesn't kill my kids and everyone else we know?"

"You got a better idea?" Damon asked, raising an eyebrow.

Jenna sighed and looked at Elena and Jeremy. "Yeah! You two need to get the hell out of town."

"She's right," Jeremy huffed, getting upset. "It's not safe for us no matter how friendly they were pretending to be for the last few weeks."

"Remy," Clem said softly, "try and calm down."

"No, no! I'm not gonna calm down, Clementine! This happens every time, no matter what we do! They get on my case about school and work — who cares? None of us are gonna make it out of this town alive!" he shouted before storming out.

It was silent for a moment before Jenna looked at Clem, a desperate look in her eyes. "Have you seen anything?"

After a moment, she caved and nodded. "I don't know where the coffins are, but Bonnie is going to help Stefan hide them."

"Her dream," Elena realized.

"I know that everyone hates Klaus. I get it. He killed Lena. He almost killed Remy today. But if we don't get those coffins to him, it's gonna get so much worse," Clementine told them, hoping they'd believe her.

"How much worse?" Damon asked, needing to know if it was bad enough to listen to her.

She huffed and began pointing down the row at them. First was Elena. "Vampire." Then Alaric's body. "Evil emotionless vampire that kills other vampires and then dead." Finally, she landed on Jenna. "Dead before finishing graduate school."

"So," Damon said, breaking the horrified silence, "what I'm hearing is that I'll be fine."

"No, because you're from Klaus' sire line."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "And you're sure about that little fact."

"One hundred percent positive, Damon. I know it."

"Yeah, you know it," he said, rolling his eyes. "How do you just know shit?"

"Same way you just naturally make people wanna kill you," she shrugged. "Which will be accomplished if you don't listen to me and convince Bonnie and Stefan to stop."

"I don't know," Elena murmured. "Bonnie's... she's getting those visions. If her ancestors want her to help Stefan, there may be no stopping her."

"Then we're fucked because no one is as powerful as a Bennett witch."




☽︎




Things got complicated. When Alaric's ring didn't heal him all the way, they had to get him to the hospital. But Tony go in the way, so Jeremy ended up killing him. Now, Clementine was helping Elena clean up all the blood as Damon entered with Enzo.

Enzo came up behind Clem and held her close, resting his chin on the top of her head. Elena tried to swallow her jealousy as she looked at Damon. "Did you get rid of him?"

"Yeah. Tony the headless hybrid is down at the bottom of Steven's Quarry," he replied.

"What about Alaric?" she asked, worried for the teacher.

"Took care of him, too. Jenna's with him. He'll be fine. How are you?" Damon then asked.

"Clemmy helped me get most of the blood odd the porch," she mumbled, looking at the floor.

Damon sighed and touched her shoulder. Clem found herself glaring at his hand, blaming it on the fact that she knew Elena didn't care for his advances. "Elena. Look at me. It's gonna be okay."

"My brother just chopped off someone's head!" she reminded him. "It's not right. It's not fair. He's sixteen years old. He shouldn't have to live like this."

"Elena—"

"There has to be another way. We have to fix it," she mumbled before continuing to rinse the blood out of a rag.

But then Damon came over and grabbed her face in his hands. Clementine looked away, something unfamiliar bubbling in her chest at the touch.

"We will! Hey...Elena. Hey. We will. Okay?"

Except Clementine hated the way they were going to fix it. She tried to argue against Damon, and she'd almost persuaded Elena to not listen to him, but at the end, she thought the safest way to keep Jeremy safe was for him to not be in Mystic Falls anymore.

With a deep frown on her face, Clem followed Alaric and Elena up to Jeremy's room. The door was already open, so Elena just knocked.

Hey. Can we talk?"

Jeremy rolled his eyes, expecting another lecture. "Ahh, what did I do now?"

"I've been thinking about what you said earlier. About how we should pack up and go..."

"Elena, I didn't mean any of that," he told her. "Neither did Jenna. We were just scared."

"But you were right," she told him. "You shouldn't have to give up a normal life just because of me."

Jeremy glanced at Clementine, noting that she wouldn't meet his gaze. "What's going on?"

That was when Damon entered the room. "Your sister thinks we should have another one of our talks," he said, sitting on the side of his bed. Then he looked Jeremy in the eye and compelled him. "Here's the thing, Jer. You're gonna go out of town for a while — a long while. You're gonna stay with some nice family friends in Denver, you're gonna be at a new school, you'll meet new girls, living girls. You're going to drink a few beers, take an art class. You do whatever you want."

"Tell him he's gonna leave Mystic Falls behind and never think twice about it," Alaric murmured.

Damon looked to Elena for confirmation, who nodded in agreement. "You're gonna leave Mystic Falls behind and never think twice about it. You're gonna have a better life, Jeremy."

Tears streamed down Elena's face, who turned to hide in Clementine's shoulder, who, for once, didn't want to comfort her. She was furious that they were taking Jeremy's choice away — and they hadn't even consulted Jenna.

So, Clem had to pass Elena off to Alaric, who held her tightly. Then she replaced Damon on Jeremy's bed, who'd finished stating in a monotone voice that he was deciding to leave Mystic Falls.

"Not without a goodbye for me," Clem said, her eyes watering a bit.

Jeremy's vision went back into focus as he looked at Clem, tilting his head. "It's not forever, Clemmy. I'll be back, probably."

"Probably," she said, laughing humorlessly. Then she sniffed and wrapped her arms around Jeremy in a tight hug, which he happily returned, not feeling nearly as sad at their goodbye because of the compulsion.

"You can come to Denver and visit," he told her. "I can show you all the exciting sights."

"It's fucking Denver, Remy. What exciting sights?"

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