"SO HOW DOES THIS SIRE THING WORK?" JEREMY ASKED over the phone as Charlie sat on her bed. She had gotten her mother safely to the hospital and back home the night of the ghosts after fighting off some dead dead vampires, and Bonnie had figured out how tot get rid of all of the ghosts. "You have to, like, do everything he says?"

She shook her head, even though she knew that he could not see it. She was still pissed at him for cheating on Bonnie, and she had given him crap before on it, but after that, she could not help but blabber on about how weird it was being a hybrid. Everyone else had their own problems, so she felt like he was the only one that she could talk to without being worried that they were just half listening. "I'm not totally sure. It's like, whenever he tells me to do something, I want to do it."

"That's so crazy. Do you know how to fix it?" he questioned, not wanting her to be Klaus's slave for the rest of her life.

She exhaled, having heard this question a couple of times. She had asked Bonnie about it, and she said that she would look into it and let her know. "No, and I don't want to know anything just yet."

"Why not?" he quizzed, wondering why she would not want to know how to free herself.

She shrugged to herself as she climbed out of her bed, tucking the phone between her cheek and shoulder as she walked over to her dresser to put some clothes away that were sitting on top of it. "I'm still terrified that if anyone tells me anything, I'm gonna spill it to Klaus."

"What if it has nothing to do with him?" he asked her, and she wondered what he meant by that. Maybe he had something to tell her or ask her or something.

"I don't know," she answered before leaning on the wall next to her desk and reaching up to hold her phone again. Every time they thought they were a step ahead of Klaus, they usually ended up being twelve steps behind. "He seems to be able to use everything to his advantage."

He groaned. It was really annoying how cunning Klaus was. It made trying to kill him really difficult, especially since she did not feel the urge to kill him as much as she used to. "I hate him."

"I can't hate him," she breathed out. Since she was sired to him, she couldn't bring herself to hate him. It was really irritating when she remembered all of the awful things that he had done.

"Well, I'll hate him enough for both of us."

She chuckled at his response, happy that she had someone that understood what was happening. Caroline just kept asking if she could just stop being sired to him. As much as she loved the girl, that was not very helpful advice. "Thanks, Jeremy."

"No problem," he responded, and there was a beat of silence between them before he spoke up once again, trying to change the subject to something lighter than her being enslaved to an Original vampire. "On a completely different note, do you have a date to homecoming?"

"Nope, not yet," she answered, a little scared to where he was going with this.

There was a long pause, and she was starting to wonder if he died over there. He seemed to be contemplating something, but she already knew what he was about to say. "Wanna go with me?"

"Jeremy..." she exhaled, and she felt really bad. As much as the thought of going to homecoming and having fun with Jeremy appealed to her, she felt like she would be betraying Bonnie. It was just too soon. She did not want to completely reject him though because he had just gotten dumped. He was kind of in a weird place at that moment, and she did not want to pile on top of that.

His face fell at her response on the other end of the line, and he stopped her before she said anything else. He knew what her answer was, and he did not want her to feel bad about telling him no. He knew that it was just because of the Bonnie thing. "You don't have to say anything. I get it."

"You know it's nothing personal," she told him. She really did want to go with him, and she knew that it would be fun. However, she couldn't do that to the Bennett girl — not yet, at least. She needed to let the wound heal first. "It's just that Bonnie is a really good friend of mine, and I can't do her like that."

"I know. I know. It was worth a shot. I really am sorry about Bonnie and Anna and everything. I feel so awful, it hurts," he confessed to her. She could tell that he meant it. He probably just caught up in the moment with Anna, but that was an explanation, not an excuse.

She smiled slightly, happy that he at least understood that he did something wrong and that he felt bad about it. That would not fix everything, but it would certainly be a start. "I'm not the one you need to be telling that to."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," he replied, and she could hear him run his hands through his hair.

She grinned as she sat down in her chair beside her desk and swivelled around in it as she checked her computer for any emails or anything. She was really really bored when no one told her anything. She had no clue how she did nothing all summer. It was a very dull life to live, even as a hybrid. "I always am."

"I'll talk to you later," he told her, and she heard someone talking to him on the other end of the phone. She could not tell who it was, but she assumed it was Elena or Alaric or something. "Save me a dance, okay?"

"Will do."

☾❄☽

CHARLIE WALKED TOWARD KLAUS'S APARTMENT WITH HER spirits low. He had called her to his place of residence. She knocked on the door, and it swung open, revealing one of Klaus's hybrid slaves. He stepped to the side and let her in, eyeing her up and down as she stepped in. He closed the door and went back to guarding the door.

"What do you want?" she asked the Original that stepped out of his bedroom and into the main part of his apartment. There were a ton of hybrids carrying boxes around and moving things since he was planning on moving into a mansion pretty soon. Charlie had no clue how the hell a mansion just appeared on the edge of town, and she frankly did not want to know.

He frowned when he heard her tone, probably used to happy and admiring voices all day. He wondered why the sire bond did not affect her as much as he had hoped it would. "Now, that's not how you greet someone that gave you this wonderful gift, is it?"

"I'm sorry. How can I help you?" she questioned, this time in a much sweeter and more high-pitched voice, almost like a stereotypical maid.

"That's better," he commented with a grin before taking a couple of steps toward her. She wanted to take steps back, but she did not want to show that she was afraid of him. "Now, I hear that Homecoming is coming up. Am I correct?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"And from what I've heard, Homecoming is pretty big for a young high school girl like you," he said, and she was a little nervous to see where he was going with the topic. She was scared that he was going to ask her to ruin it or something. She could not have another core memory ruined this year.

She furrowed her eyebrows at him, wondering what he was trying to say. She did not like the fact that he called it 'important' because that made her think that he was going to sabotage it. He just wanted to take all of the joy out of their lives. "Yeah, it is."

"Have you picked out a dress yet?" he quizzed, and he approached a stack of boxes that had one smaller one on top.

She had not had time yet to go get a dress, and she also did not have anyone to go with with Carline being so busy and her mom planning all of the events. "Uh, no, I haven't gotten around to it."

"Well, good, because I picked one out for you," he informed her, and he grabbed the small box and handed it over to her.

She furrowed her eyebrows as she looked down at the decorative box in her hands. It had little flowers and vines all over it, and she was a little anxious to see if he picked out a good dress. "You what?"

"I got you one," he repeated as she placed the box down on the counter so that she could open it. "I can't have my loveliest hybrid looking bad at a big event, can I?"

"What makes you think I would look bad if I didn't let you pick out my dress?" she questioned with a small smile as she pulled the top off of the box to reveal the dress inside.

She gasped softly, trying not to give him too much satisfaction. It was a dark purple dress with light ruffles. It was very simple but elegant and beautiful nonetheless. She hated t admit it, but Klaus had taste. "A simple 'thank you' would suffice."

"Thank you," she responded as she examined the dress and held it up to her body. How the hell did he know exactly what her size was? "It's beautiful."

"You know, I think my brother, Kol, would be very fond of you. You're stubborn and pretty and feisty — just his type," he explained, and she looked up at him with a confused expression.

She was pretty sure that she could safely say that she would never date anyone related to Klaus, and that was even ready to start dating again. She was not sure how long she should wait after the death of a girlfriend to start dating again. "I'm not sure how to respond to that."

"I plan to reunite my family one day, and I would be happy to introduce you two," he told her.

She smiled politely, not sure why the hell he was being so nice or why he was so eager to set her up with his brother. "Thank you, but I'm good."

"Already taken?"

She shook her head, hurt that he could not remember what he had done to JJ. It was that meaningless to him but so meaningful to her. "No, you killed my last significant other."

"Ah, yes. Sorry about that," he apologized, but he did not really seem like he meant it. He knew she would like him anyway since she was sired to him. "What was her name again?"

"JJ. Her name was JJ," Charlie reminded him, and if she could hate him, it would take everything in her not to lunge at him at that moment for being so careless.

He nodded, and his lips twisted up into a small smile as he seemed to reminisce the night that his curse was broken. "Right."

"Thank you for the dress, but I have to go."