chapter seven

sweetheart

━✧━

JORDANNA HAD TRIED to ignore Klaus' existence after last night, she didn't like the fact that he had seen her vulnerable. Though it was very hard to do so as he was always there. Always lurking, always having something to say. Whether that be a snide insult or a flirty retort. She couldn't deal with either right now, she was too hot and looked slightly less flattering than usual. Which was . . .

Fan-fucking-tastic. 

"How the hell do people enjoy this," Jordanna panted, trailing after the two vampires in front of her. "It's not fun at all. Do you find this fun? I don't."

"JJ," Stefan groaned at his best friend, "stop complaining."

"No, Stefan," she started, tone sharp. "I might be a witch, but that doesn't mean my weak, little human legs can take all this damn walking," she cried out, stopping in her tracks, one hand on her hip whilst the other fanned her face with an irritated sigh. "And it's, like, hot. Really hot." 

She definitely didn't wear the right shoes for this.

The two vampires ignored her, rolling their eyes at the accustomed attitude the witch had and carried on walking. Jordanna cried out in frustration and pulled at her hair before hurriedly chasing after them.

"You okay? Is Ray getting heavy?" Klaus taunted Stefan, turning to him with a sly smirk on his lips.

"Shut up, Klaus."

Both men ignored her again as Stefan responded stiffly, "I'm fine."

"You sure about that? You know, we've been walking for quite some time now. If you need some water or a little sit down," Klaus snickered.

"You know, I get that we're uh . . . we're stuck together, but if we could maybe skip the chit-chat, that'd be great," Stefan told him bluntly, sparing him a quick glance.

"So much brooding," Klaus groaned dramatically. "Your self-loathing is suffocating you, my friend."

"Maybe it's 'cause I'm a little tired of hunting werewolves. We've been at it all summer."

"He is right y'know," Jordanna told the two, taking a sip out of her flask of tequila. She figured if she was going to spend however long with 'Broody McBrooderson' and a psychopathic hybrid she'd need to be heavily intoxicated. "It's extremely boring, I'd rather be spending my summer getting drunk." And having sex, a lot of sex.

Klaus chuckled, smirking at the girl, "you can still do that sweetheart."

Jordanna glanced at him with narrowed eyes at the look he gave her, it was almost as though he could read her mind, like he could hear her inner thoughts. Or maybe he was just being creepy, because with that look on his face she didn't know whether she was growing more attracted to him or just plain creeped out.

"Thanks to our pal, Ray, we've found ourselves a pack," Klaus announced as they neared a large group of people—werewolves, the rest of Ray's pack.

Everyone turned and stared as the three entered, watching as Stefan carried their alpha over his shoulder followed by a hybrid and a witch.

Not just any hybrid or witch—no, the hybrid and the Jones witch.

"Ray! Oh my god," a woman cried out and glared at Stefan as the Salvatore dropped Ray's body to the ground with a thud, a nonchalant look on his face. "What's going on? Who are you?" 

Klaus came up from behind Stefan and looked at the woman before him, "the important question is who am I. Please forgive the intrusion, my name is Klaus."

"You're the hybrid," she said lowly, backing away in caution.

"You've heard of me. Fantastic."

✧

Jordanna sat in the middle of a rock between the two vampires, leaning on her forearms, her head fell back as Klaus mindlessly talked about his hybrids. Again.

Stefan took a look at the girl and asked the question he'd been wanting to ask all day, "how the hell are you not sweating?" Klaus gave the vampire a weird look upon hearing this but nonetheless went back to hybrid talk.

"Sweating is gross, so I don't do it," she shrugged her shoulders lightly, looking up with squinted eyes as she caught the sun. 

Stefan furrowed his brows at the witch's words, "you—how?"

"Ah, Steffy, Steffy, Steffy," she tutted playfully before lifting her hand, tapping the side of her nose. "I have my ways."

"Stefan," Klaus called out, interrupting the conversation with an eyeroll, the Salvatore vampire rose to his feet after sending an apologetic look to Jordanna who merely smiled at him in response.

"Are any of you human? Your friend here needs human blood to complete his transition to a vampire, if he doesn't get it he will die," Stefan called out to the group of werewolves.

"Why don't you use the witch?" A werewolf spat out in distaste.

"Watch your mouth, asshat," Jordanna said pointing to the wolf as she stood up. Klaus caught her by the waist, pulling her into him. 

The Jones witch didn't appreciate anyone using that tone with her so — the heart of the werewolf magically went flying out of his body and onto the floor, Klaus was not happy. However, he would let it slide for how he spoke to Jordanna.

He was the only one who could talk to her like a dick, because in the end they both knew it was just their way of communicating with one another. He was a dick, she was a bitch. She'd throw something at him (most likely her shoe) and then they'd go back to being 'disgustingly flirty'—Stefan's words.

"You can let me go now," she told him with a dramatic sigh, both breathing heavily. "I'll behave," she raised her hands in surrender, fluttering her eyelashes at him with her dazzling smile.

"Go on then," he told her, patting her bare hip before he released his hold on her, watching cautiously as she took a seat on the rock again.

"If you don't drink it, Ray, I will. Problem is I don't know how to stop," Stefan told Ray who laid on the floor, withering about in pain.

Klaus glared at the woman in front of him, "it's the new order sweetheart, you join us or you die."

"I'd rather die than be a vampire!" she spat out.

"Tough shit! You don't have a fucking choice," Jordanna shouted from her place on the rock, a false smile sitting on her glossy lips.

Klaus nodded along to her words. "What she said." And with that, he forced his blood down the werewolf's throat. "She'll thank me for that later," he laughed before snapping her neck.

"Okay, who's next?" He mocked with yellow glowing eyes as he showed his fangs.

"Wow."

✧

Shoving his wrist into the human's mouth, Klaus began compelling him, "there. Good as new. Now you relax okay, mate? We're gonna' need you when the rest of them wake up."

Ray sat on a rock near Jordanna, the witch moved closer to where Klaus was stood as she did not want Ray's hybrid bloodied germs on her.

"They're dead. They're all dead," Ray shivered—blood dripping from his nose, eyes widened.

"Ah, he's through his transition. He should be feeling better soon," Klaus said.

"So is this your master plan? Build an army of hybrid slaves?" The youngest Salvatore asked.

"No, not slaves. Soldiers. Comrades," Klaus corrected him.

"For what war, might I ask?" 

"You don't arm yourself after a war has been declared Stefan, you build your army so big that no one ever dares to pick a fight," Klaus told him knowingly.

"What makes you so sure that they'll be loyal?" Stefan sceptically asked.

"Klaus," Jordanna called out, grabbing his attention as she looked over at Ray. A frown fixated on her face as blood poured out from Ray's eyes.

"Yes, sweetheart?" He responded, turning to face her. She nodded her head in Ray's direction. Klaus moved over to the werewolf, grabbing his face in his hands, "something's wrong."

"That shouldn't be happening should it?" Stefan asked, quirking a brow.

"Duh. Stefan"

✧

"You said it was gonna' feel better. Why doesn't it feel better?" Ray cried, looking up to Klaus as the Original gripped his face.

"Some master race," Stefan snickered earning a snort from Jordanna as she stood next to him, arms looped together.

"Lose the attitude," Klaus snapped. "Derek, come feed your girlfriend," he called out to the human upon seeing the werewolf slowly waking up.

Suddenly, Ray shot up with a growl and sped away from the trio. "Go get him," Klaus ordered Stefan, the younger vampire hesitated as he looked in Jordanna's direction before he sped after the werewolf.

Jordanna dramatically sighed before leaning against a tree, lighting a cigarette. "This is going swell," she told him taking a drag from the cigarette.

Klaus merely scowled at the girl.

✧

Stefan stumbled his way back into camp a little while later, staggering slightly.

"Where did he go?" Klaus questioned the Salvatore.

"He uh . . . he got away. Forget him, let's go," Stefan mumbled, still shaken from spotting Damon, Elena and Alaric in the mountains.

Jordanna eyed the vampire as he held his arm weirdly, "what's wrong with your arm, Stefano?" 

Klaus also noticed this and grabbed onto Stefan's arm, taking a closer look at it. "A fatal werewolf bite. Ouch," he said with a large, mocking smile on his lips.

"Yeah, I'm gonna' need your blood to heal me," Stefan told Klaus.

"Well, I'll tell you what. You find Ray, and then I'll heal you," Klaus taunted, a smug look on his face.

"Seriously, Klaus! Can't you find it in your cold, dead heart to do something nice for once?" Jordanna groaned as she crossed her arms over her chest. 

Walking towards the girl he threw his arm round her shoulder, leaning in to whisper in her ear "I'll have you know I can be very nice."

Jordanna looked up at him and scoffed. "You're so creepy sometimes. God," she muttered under her breath, shrugging his arm off of her shoulders. 

Klaus turned back to Stefan, still hints of a smirk evident on his face, "you better hurry, 'cause that bite looks nasty." 

Klaus turned around, soon followed by Jordanna—only to be welcomed with the sight of the dying hybrids in front of them, their mouths gaped open as the two shared a look. 

"They're not . . . they're not supposed to look like that are they?" Jordanna dumbly asked.

"No, Jordanna, they're not," Klaus snapped impatiently.

"Well this blows," she huffed out.

✧

A group of hybrids surrounded Jordanna as she was slumped against a tree having a cigarette, she looked at them with a raised brow as they let their faces transition, red spilled from their eyes and ears as they neared her. "Ladies . . . ladies," Jordanna teased, standing up straighter as she threw the butt of her cigarette to the ground. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." 

Balling her fists together, the hybrids all started screaming, crying, begging her for mercy. God, how she loved that sound. She threw them a fake smile as she jolted her closed hands and their guts spilled from their bodies. Crimson spread across the dirt covered ground as their bodies slumped against the floor.

She looked over at Klaus as she heard him mumble, "bad news, my friend. End of the road for you." Biting into Derek's neck, he drained him within seconds. A woman—another one of the failed hybrids—stood before Klaus, growling at the Original as he carelessly dropped Derek's body to the ground.

"Careful love, there's only one alpha here."

Jordanna and Klaus shared a look as they watched the werewolves stagger around the camp like zombies.

"Bloody hell."

"Well fuck," the witch whistled, turning to Klaus with a grimace. "This went to shit, didn't it?"

"Piss off, Jordanna."

"Just saying."

✧

Stefan stumbled his way back into camp, carrying Ray over his shoulders as the rest of the pack lay dead after Jordanna and Klaus slaughtered majority of them. His face was pale, small, single strands of his hair stuck to his sweaty forehead, tired eyes held exhaustion behind them.

"They went rabid," Klaus explained as Stefan looked around. "Some of them we killed. The others just bled out in the end, they're all dead."

"I did everything I was told!" Klaus yelled out, throwing his bottle of beer to the ground—it rolled towards Jordanna's feet, who kicked it away with a grimace as splashes of beer touched her skin.

After composing himself he spoke again, only in a calmer tone, "I should be able to turn them. I broke the curse, I killed a werewolf, I killed a vampire, I killed the doppelganger." Stefan flinched at this, holding a guilty look in his eyes. Though he hid it quickly, hoping no one would notice.

Only they did, she did.

"You look like hell," Klaus told Stefan, snapping Jordanna out of her thoughts.

"Last I checked I'm dying . . .  and you don't want to heal me," Stefan told him. The vampire noticed Klaus' stare on Ray and continued speaking, "I had to take him out. I didn't have a choice. I failed you. I'm sorry. Do what you have to do."

"It should have worked," the Original mumbled. Biting into his hand, he squeezed his fist causing his blood to flow into an empty beer bottle he had picked up from the ground. "Bottoms up. We're leaving," he told them dryly, tossing the bottle to Stefan. "It appears you two are the only comrades I have left," he told the pair, looking at Jordanna who was watching Stefan with furrowed brows, head tilted in thought. 

She could feel something . . . an aura around him.

A familiar one.

She could feel multiple people but couldn't pin point who exactly.

Who the hell had Stefan seen out there?

AUTHOR'S NOTE !

vote and comment my loves

also what do you think so far? 

(edited 07/05/22)