CHAPTER EIGHT | ORDINARY PEOPLE

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KLARA FURROWED HER BROWS AS SHE STARED AT THE PICTURES. Alaric had pictures of some Viking carvings sketched into the wall of the Lockwood cellar, however, vampires were unable to enter. So for Damon and Klara's benefit, Alaric and Elena took pictures of everything in the cellar so that Klara and Damon were able to help them piece it together.

"These images tell a story," Alaric stated. He and Klara were looking over the pictures while Damon and Elena were combat training behind them. "To learn the story, you have to decipher these images."

"Okay. And, how exactly are we gonna do that?" The blonde vampire asked pointedly, while she heard Elena groaning at Damon's remarks at how sloppy her fighting was.

"Well, the ghost of Christmas past, Mason Lockwood, said that the cave would lead us to a weapon that could kill Klaus," Damon stated once he blocked Elena's attack with ease.

"Yeah, but doesn't Mikael have a weapon?" Elena joined in, though she was still focused on her training.

"Yeah. Which means that this wall is probably the thing that will help us find Mikael." Klara swung her legs after she jumped up onto Alaric's kitchen counter and grabbed a picture from the table.

"These images, at the very least, might tell us what that weapon is."

Elena finished her training with Damon and walked over toward the table of images. "Then all we have to do is find out what they mean."

"Fine. Fine! If I'm being irritatingly optimistic like you three—" Damon began which caused Klara and Elena to both roll their eyes. "—How do you suppose we do that?"

"I mean, it's not hard, right?" Klara shrugged. She hoped someone would follow on, but everyone appeared to be clueless. "Wow. Okay. Well, they're about the Original family, so you ask an Original." Finally, she jumped off the counter and smirked.

"Rebekah." Elena nodded in the vampire's direction. "Leave it with me."

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"She's going to tell me. She's scared of him, Klara, I saw her face." Elena breathed out from the other end of the line as Klara and Damon walked into the city jail, where Stefan was being held. "I just have to engage in a little mean-girl power struggle first."

"Make sure she doesn't power struggle you into a wheelchair," Damon called, he wanted to make it known to Elena that he was in fact listening in on their phone conversation.

"I've got this, Damon. If we can figure out a way to kill Klaus, Stefan will be free of his compulsion." A breath escaped her lips. "Klara, how does he look?"

As Klara finally came close to the cell door, she looked in at Stefan. He was still very much bound to the chair and looked as if he were asleep, but she assumed that was because he was too weak to care. "Uh— I'll call you in a little while, okay?"

Once Klara slid her phone into her back pocket, Damon unbolted the cell door and pushed it wide open. Stefan lifted his head up slowly and glared straight at the two vampires who stood in the doorway. "You know, if you three are gonna keep me locked in here for the next decade, I think we can skip the routine visits."

Damon wriggled his eyebrows and then stepped forward. "You know I'm not a champion of this whole Lexi recovery plan. But Elena thinks this place is gonna weaken you out, break you down and make you feel again."

"We should all listen to Elena, right? I mean, her plans always work out so well, don't they?" Stefan scoffed. His careless eyes dropped to the blonde who silently stood with her arms folded across her chest. "What about you, Klara? Do you think I should be locked up down here, all alone."

A breath left the blonde's lips as she stepped inside the cell, and gave Damon a pointed look before she glanced back at Stefan. "I think I want you back, Stefan. You that actually cared. You know, I'm not giving up on you until you come back."

Stefan rolled his eyes out of boredom. "Go away."

"Nah." Damon left his arm rest against Klara's shoulder. She knew that Damon had a plan to deal with Stefan, she just didn't know what it was. "Nah, I thought we could hang out." He stepped behind his brother. "How you been, Stef? Huh?"

Stefan glanced between his brother and his best friend. "You know, Klaus may want to keep Elena alive, but that doesn't mean she's safe with Rebekah."

"You're compelled to protect Elena. If you thought that she was in any danger, you'd be ripping yourself apart to get out of here right now." Klara gave him a faux smile while the Ripper just exhaled, irritatedly.

"You got me. You got me." He chuckled to himself. "Klara, you're good. Congratulations. You can go now."

The small smile on Klara's face fell as soon as she saw the look on Damon's face. He looked over to his brother. "You really have given up."

A forced smile moved across Stefan's face. "Actually, this is my happy face."

As if he were thinking over his options, Damon pushed himself away from the wall and stepped toward Stefan. A gasp left Klara's lips as he yanked away the chains that kept Stefan restrained to the chair. "Damon, what're you doing?"

He turned his head feet and slowly headed out of the cell. "Screw this Lexi plan. I think we could all do with a drink."

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The three wandered into a bar with Stefan at their side. Damon had walked away from them to take a phone call from Elena, which left Klara and Stefan at the bar together. The blonde felt weird being around Stefan, considering she knew that he had no emotions. It was like looking at a stranger.

"Let me guess, this wasn't what you had in mind, huh?" Stefan asked. He noticed the awkward look on the blonde's face as she took a seat on the barstool beside him.

"Not really, no." Klara sighed out in a defeated tone. "I mean, I think Damon's come to realize that you don't give a damn anymore. That you've given up, and he's not wrong, is he?"

Stefan paused for a moment. Part of him felt something when he stared at the blonde's face, though the moment was shortlived when Damon headed over and moved himself in between Stefan and Klara. "What're we drinking?"

"Hopefully something a little bit warmer—" His eyes cast toward a blonde barmaid. "—and a little blonder."

When the barmaid that Stefan had flagged down moved over to their side of the bar, Damon leaned forward and began to compel her. "Hello, Callie. My blonde friend and I would love a shot of your best whiskey, and my brother here would love a shot of you."

Klara watched Damon grab hold of Callie's wrist. He offered it straight up to Stefan. "Are you out of your mind?" With that, Stefan immediately sank his teeth into the blonde's wrist, while Klara's eyes were drawn to the blood.

Damon noticed and grabbed hold of her shoulders. "Look at me. Not the blood, me." He warned Klara, and she did. Her eyes locked with his and the veins underneath her eyes disappeared. "Nicely done. You're getting better."

"Okay, but why are you doing this?" Klara whispered. Her head nodded in the direction of Stefan. "The whole point of this is to get his humanity back, not throw him further of course."

"Well, Goldie-Locks." Damon grabbed hold of a bottle and walked toward a table. He and Klara sat down and a smirk grew on his face. "A little bonding never hurt nobody."

Once Stefan was done, he headed over to the table and took a seat beside Klara. They spent their time playing a drinking game, and to the vampire's surprise, Stefan was pretty good at it.

"You been on this bunny diet for the better part of fifty-years. How how is it that Saint Stefan, of all people, is good at a drinking game." Damon raised an eyebrow toward his brother.

"Well, the bunny diet gave me a lot of time to practice. Wallow in despair." He flicked a coin into a shot glass. "Drown in guilt." Then another. "Regret my existence. It's precision born out of tragic boredom." He glanced toward Klara and Damon. "Drink up, both of you."

"So all those times that I've said you were boring a needed to loosen up, and here you are finally agreeing with me." Klara chuckled lightly to herself. Every time she had encouraged Stefan to enjoy himself and have a little fun, he always defended himself and insisted that he was fun. "Strange how things come full circle, huh?"

"You know, you two are worse than Elena." Stefan lunged forward and rolled his eyes. "Getting me drunk. Bonding. What, you think I'll break down, and the two of you can pull me back from the edge? Is that it?"

"I happen to like the edge, Stefan." Damon shrugged. "Your problem is your inability to resist falling over it. You're all or nothing, man. You can't just be." Callie, the waitress, headed back to the table with another bottle of whiskey and perched on Damon's lap.

"Oh, Damon. You can't judge, either." Klara flicked a coin straight into the shot glass and smirked to the Salvatore's. "Drink up, boys."

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In an attempt to curb the carvings, Klara had gotten drunk. It was Damon's idea, or at least, that was what she was telling herself. The blonde had gotten up onto the bar and began dancing with two other women and she felt Stefan's eyes on her.

The Salvatore licked his bloodstained lips and smirked toward Klara, but soon he couldn't resist the stench of blood and drank from Callie's neck once more.

"Oh Goldie-Locks, who knew you could dance!" Damon yelled out. He tapped his hand on the bar while he watched Klara grind against a brunette girl that danced behind her. "You're officially my new drinking buddy!"

Klara smirked at Damon and jumped down from the bar with a bottle of vodka in her hand. She took a sip from the bottle itself and headed off into the crowd, while Damon went to deal with Stefan's feeding habits. After all, it was his idea to free Stefan from his sober camp.

With the blonde in the middle of the room, she felt a pair of hands at her waist. When she turned around, she saw a man with a devilish grin on his face. She couldn't decide whether he looked good enough to eat, or indulge in a harmless bit of fun with.

She moved her hands around the man's shoulders while his were firmly on her waist. Before she knew it, her lips were firmly pressed against the man. She didn't care about what was going on around her, she just wanted to have fun—something she had almost forgotten existed.

Klara backed out of the middle of the room and found herself pressed against the wall by the man, who's lips had traveled down to her neck. Her hands were tangled in his hair, while her breathing became heavier.

"Well, Klara looked like she's having fun." Damon hummed while his fingers danced around the rim of his glass. Stefan lifted his eyes up to the corner of the room where he saw Klara making out with a random man.

Stefan's face hardened at the scene, though he couldn't seem to look away from Klara. "She's free to do whatever she wants." He answered back to Damon, with his eyes still on Klara. Eventually, he managed to pry his eyes away from the blonde.

"Well, if you're so unbothered by it, I might have to steal your bestie to be my new drinking buddy." Damon shrugged. He could see that something about Klara's current situation had gotten under his brother's skin.

"Do what you want, Damon. I really don't care." Stefan watched Damon lift himself up from his seat and head toward the door while his phone rang. The Salvatore assumed that Damon was off to have yet another phone call with Elena. Stefan let a huff escape his lips as he marched over to Klara and yanked the man away from her.

"Stefan?" Klara blinked in surprise. She saw Stefan's hand up against the human's neck while he was pinned against the wall. "What the hell are you doing?"

"What am I doing?" The Salvatore scoffed. "What are you doing?"

"Having fun." The blonde shoved him back a little, though his grip still remained around the human's throat. "Just because you have to turn your feelings off to enjoy yourself, doesn't mean you can come over here and ruin my fun."

Stefan gave Klara a tight-lipped smirk and turned his attention to the man in his grip. He snapped his neck with one-swift movement and the human's dead body fell onto the floor. "Whoops. Looks like your funs over, doesn't it?"

"You're a dick!" Klara spat viciously. She stepped over the man's body and headed toward the bar, but Stefan just followed her. "What is your problem? I didn't think you gave a crap what I did."

"I don't." Stefan shrugged.

"Okay, then what was that?"

"Fun." The humanity-free Salvatore tilted his head and smirked toward Klara. He felt it again, that feeling of emotion when he looked into her eyes. "Don't pout, Klara."

"Brother, would you like to explain to me why there is a dead body over in the corner of the room?" Damon gave a pointed look toward his brother. He recognized the dead body to be the man Klara was making out with earlier on.

Klara folded her arms across her chest. "Because your brother is a dick."

"That I am." Stefan nodded in agreement with the blonde. "Come on, time to fess up. What's the point of the jailbreak?"

Damon tilted his head and pouted his bottom lip. "I thought you could use a hug, Stefan."

"Come on, Damon. You know Elena's gonna hate you for letting me out, and we all know that you care about what she thinks." Stefan grabbed a shot from the bar and downed it.

"Maybe Damon just wanted to give you a taste of freedom. I mean, you've not experienced it in a hot-minute, have you?" The blonde chimed in but immediately earned a glare from Stefan.

"As long as Klaus is alive, I do what he says."

"That's our point, Stefan. You've given up. Now, you can sit around and be his little bitch, or you can get mad enough and you can do something about it."

Stefan rolled his eyes. "Damon, he can't be killed."

"Maybe I can help with that." A British voice boomed from behind the three. They turned around and came face-to-face with a man. "The Salvatore boys, I presume?"

Klara's eyes widened. "Mikael, I presume?" She tilted head her with wonder as the man nodded.

"In the flesh." He smirked. "And, who might you be?"

"Klara Adams." The blonde girl spoke out once more. "Stefan and I spent the summer with Klaus, against our will, of course. Though, Stefan here has been compelled to be his little bitch."

"I see." Mikael turned his attention to Stefan. He looked him up and down before he straightened up. "Is Klaus out of the country?"

The compelled Salvatore shrugged. "I can't tell you."

"Has he spoken to you since he left?"

"I can't tell you." Stefan nodded with a slight smile on his face.

"Alright." Mikael knew that Stefan had clearly been compelled not to divulge any of Klaus's secrets to anyone, so he had to find a way around it. "Can you tell me the last time you spoke to Niklaus?"

Stefan who looked completely bewildered, glanced at Damon and Klara before he folded his arms across his chest and turned back to Mikael. "I am compelled to do what he says, and he says to keep my damn mouth shut."

"I really hope this game of twenty-questions isn't your secret weapon," Damon spoke toward Mikael, who looked unimpressed by the Salvatore's input.

"You see, Damon—" Mikael stretched forward and placed his hand on Damon's shoulder. "—I've been a vampire hunter longer than you've been alive. It's why I found you here. It's why I'm gonna find Niklaus."

"Well, Klaus has been running for about a thousand years, so if you think you're gonna get a workaround here—" Before Damon could continue, Mikael plunged his hand straight through his chest.

"Careful. One move, and his heart's gone." Mikael spoke loudly and turned toward Stefan. "Now. Where is Klaus? Come on, what's the trick question, Stefan?"

"Mikael, he's turned his emotions off so if yo—" The Mikaelson's free hand then plunged straight into Klara's chest, too. His fist tightened around both their hearts while Stefan stood conflicted.

"Come on, Stefan." Mikael soon saw the look on Stefan's face when Klara's life was in danger. "One twist, and they're dead. Unless your blonde friend is right and you can't care. Your link to Klaus is so strong that you're willing to let these two die? Well, I guess they're both dead ends."

Mikael's hand jerked inside their chests and Stefan knew that he had to stop Mikael from killing the two people he cared about most. "Wait!" The Salvatore frantically yelled out just before Mikael pulled out their hearts. "I can bring him back. I can lure Klaus back to Mystic Falls."

Mikael removed his hands from the vampire's chests as they cried out in pain and sudden relief. "And there is our loophole." The hunter reached past Klara and grabbed a cloth from the bar to wipe his bloody hands. "Just had to rile him up a bit. Get Klaus back to Mystic Falls, and I will gladly drive a stake through his heart. Fail... I'll drive it through yours." And with that, Mikael was gone.

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