•.•.•.•.•

Mystic Falls, present day

"ALRIGHT, alright, hold on just one second. My whole damn head is spinning right now. A-Are you saying I became a-a Ripper or something?"

Klaus grimaced, hearing how she spat that word out like it left a bad taste in her mouth.

"I knew you long before you think we met, Grace. Do you remember the year 1743?"

Grace grimaced, straining her memory for a moment.

"Uh, vaguely. I was barely a hundred by then. Can you get to the point, though, before I have a mental breakdown?"

"Well, love, don't hate me. But, that was when we actually met."

Klaus was expecting another outburst, but Grace remained completely silent, not once blinking or looking away from Niklaus' eyes.

As he was about to continue, a loud ruckus was caused at the doors of the Grill. They both looked over, and a mere twenty feet away was a seemingly panicked Damon Salvatore.

In an instant, he rushed over to Grace, appearing to be fuming with anger.

"Get away from her," Damon growled to Klaus, stepping in front of the befuddled girl.

To this, Klaus simply smirked. The cockiest thing ever, yet so damn attractive. Grace shook that thought away, glancing around the room to see how many people were watching.

"You Salvatores are really beginning to be a pain in my arse. Grace has not been harmed, has she? We were having a normal conversation until you rampaged in here like a mad man."

Damon cut his eyes to Grace, who shook her head slowly.

"Can we just take this outside, please?"

Slowly, Grace stepped around Damon and took the pair each by the arm, refusing to let them go until they were away from people.

"What the hell, Damon?" Grace began, before her anger settled and she realized Damon's motive behind what he did.

Her face softened. "I mean- look, Damon. I'm fine, alright? Klaus won't hurt me, isn't that right?" she said with a daring look towards Klaus.

With a look between Damon and Grace, Niklaus merely replied, "We'll discuss once the Salvatore is gone-" "You won't do such a thing, Mr. Big Bad Wolf. I won't leave until I know she's safe. Away from you."

Grace panicked for a moment.

"Damon, don't-" "No, Grace, let him stay. I'm sure he'd love to hear about your complicated history, wouldn't he?"

The blood rushed fast through her body, rising up to anger. She would completely lose Damon's trust if he only knew... but then again, she never knew, either.

"Niklaus, if you say one more word, I'll leave Mystic Falls altogether. You can forget your stupid plan."

"What plan?" Damon asked, shockingly quiet.

Grace suddenly felt numb. She, of course it was her, who let slip the plan.

Turning back to Damon, she began to shake her head apologetically. "You- you don't understand, Damon. We have an agreement-" "You were with him all along? Klaus?"

Her heart hurt. The pain in Damon's voice, the betrayal. Grace felt a hand close around her wrist. She turned in preparation to hit, but her free hand was also taken captive.

"I've got a surprise for you, Salvatore. I don't suppose you'll mind, though, since you two aren't on good terms."

Grace tried to fight Klaus Mikaelson, but he forced his words upon her, saying, "You're going to turn off your humanity and forget you ever knew Damon Salvatore-" "NO!"

Damon wrestled Grace over, into his arms.

"Grace..." he whispered softly, staring into her cold, icy, heartless eyes.

She frowned, blinking in confusion. "Who are you?" Grace pushed him away, looking to Klaus.

"Nik. What's going on?"

He smiled, then grinned, gesturing to the girl.

"No more problems from her, then."

Grace was still unsure of what had just happened to her; she suddenly felt very hungry, however. Looking at the stranger one last time, just to make sure, she saw that he had disappeared into thin air.

"Well, love, let's go get a snack, shall we?"

Not that she particularly liked Klaus; she did not feel partially to anyone, for that matter, but Grace was quite hungry.

.    .    .    .

BACK at the Roaring Twenties decade dance, problems arose from Katerina and others. Grace could not have noticed, though. She had eaten her way through half the football team already, bloodstained from her mouth to her stomach.

Niklaus simply sat back and watched, waiting. Once she was full, they would re-attend the dance as if nothing had happened.

"Don't make so much of a mess, love. People will be concerned about your dress stains."

Grace paused, rolling her eyes cockily at Klaus. "I do what I want."

She clasped her sharp teeth around a shapeless figure of a teenage boy, taking what was left.

Nik raised his eyebrows, never recalling a time he wanted her more. Well, maybe when she had humanity again.

Meanwhile, panic arose over the missing Damon, now, as he was nowhere to be found. Niklaus only laughed at this, figuring he probably went to be angry somewhere. Or sleep with a woman.

"Grace," Klaus snapped, as if calling her to attention.

She looked up, dropping her lifeless body in front of her.

"We have to go, love. It's time to reappear at this silly little dance."

Grace wiped her mouth and placed her hands on her hips. "Yeah, um, no."

Nik turned quickly and sharply, shocked at her attitude change. He nodded a bit, then flashed over and held her to the wall.

Grace laughed, spitting a bit of blood.

"I've forgotten what you're like with no humanity. Less angry but, more attitude."

She smiled softly for a moment, meeting his eyes. "You're just so in love with me, aren't you? If only I cared," Grace pushed him away, pulling her faux fur coat over the blood.

With a glance back at Klaus, and a small wink, she said, "How tragic."

Grace strutted out of the men's bathroom, back into the abyss of jazz music. Instantly, she was greeted by Stefan.

"Hey, have you seen Damon? He told me something about going to find you-" "Who? Look, I don't really care. Excuse me."

She pushed past Stefan, hungry for more blood. That was the most amazing taste ever. Grace could have drooled just thinking about it. In another short moment, she believed she had found her target.

He was tall, with smooth brown hair, warm brown eyes, and really rather muscular for a high school student. The twenties get up suited him horribly, but who was she to judge? Grace flashed over quickly, catching his eye in an instant.

Quickly, but not too fast, she glanced away and danced a bit. She could smell him getting nearer. Closer and closer, until... a slip of her heel caused Grace to 'trip', right into the muscled arms of this fine young lad.

"Oh, I'm so sorry about that-" "No need to apologize. I'm just glad I caught you."

Grace smiled softly, the exact smile she had given Klaus.

"I, uh, I'm Jeremy Gilbert."

With a smirk, she touched his upper arm lightly.

"Grace."

He squinted a bit, then leaned over and said, "It's a little loud in here, do you want to head somewhere else?"

She looked around, so as to not get caught.

Taking his arm now, tightly wrapping hers around, she dragged Jeremy Gilbert to his likely death.

"This will be a lot of fun."


































































NOTES

lmao hiii late merry christmas or happy holidays but i'm here w an update as a christmas gift okay love y'all