Ch.11: Race Against Time

Katherine's POV

        It's been about a month since I killed James. Since then, I've been living back at my place and keeping Will as safe as he can be as a vampire. He's learned pretty quickly to have control over all of his vampire abilities and senses, so I don't worry about him anymore. The only thing I truly have to worry about is if any other enemies are going to be coming to town of mine or not. 

        I'm in the woods per usual, having just had some dinner, when I sense something nearby. It's not a full moon, so I know that it can't be a werewolf. Unless of course, it's the one werewolf that doesn't need a full moon. Axel. 

        "Whoever you are, you don't want to mess with me," I call out to whoever or whatever it is. Then there's someone with an arm around me from behind. I don't know her, but she's strong enough that I can't get out of her hold.

        "I beg a differ," she says.

        "Who are you?" I ask. 

        "We have a mutual Original," she states, before vamp speeding out of the woods with me. And she doesn't stop until we're in an abandoned warehouse, which is when I actually see her, once she tosses me to the floor not so nicely. I can see that she's a red-head. Since she's so strong, I assume she must be almost as old as the Mikaelsons. 

        I get to my feet and look at her. 

        "What do you want?"

        "Nothing from you, Katherine, but I'm going to make at least one of them suffer by using you," she informs me. Luckily, I'm smarter than the average vampire, so I can't be compelled if she decides to do that to me. 

        She approaches me and I watch her warily. Then she stands right in front of me, before I feel the pain of a dagger in my lower stomach, which she then pulls out. Usually, I can take pain. I rather enjoy it at times, but this is something different. 

        "What did you do to me?" I ask her, feeling weak, now on the cement floor. 

        "Don't worry. You'll find out soon enough," she tells me, before everything goes black. 

Klaus' POV

        I'm at home having a drink from a human, when there's a doorbell that rings. I turn away from the human and compel her to sit down and to be quiet. Then I go to my front door, only to find a short note.

        Klaus,

                It's been a long while. I think it's time we meet up again. That is, if you want to ever see your brunette friend again. You know how much I just love to have fun with play things. Let's see how long it takes for you to find her before it's too late for her. Let the game begin.

                Aurora,

        I go inside with a growl and set the note down. I never should have thought that she'd be safe. Normally, Katerina is always one step ahead, but we can never predict when an old enemy or, in my case, fiancee, will resurface for vengeance.

William's POV

        William is looking out the window, having been hearing his evil self's voice inside of his head. He shakes his head and goes out to get something to drink, only to see Kat gone. He looks everywhere for her, but she's nowhere to be found. He feels something off, closes his eyes, and finds her scent, following it into the woods.

Katherine's POV

        When I wake up, I find chains on my wrists, keeping me from going anywhere. I'm quite weak from whatever the hell the vampiress had on the dagger that she stabbed me with. It almost feels like werewolf venom, but probably something stronger. In a normal situation like this, I'd fight to get out of here, but I'm not strong enough. All I can do is lay here and wait for someone to find me. 

        A moment later, when I begin seeing things, I know that I'm hallucinating, making me assume that it had to be at least part werewolf venom that was on the dagger. 

Klaus' POV

        After I take care of my human blood bag, I leave in search of Katerina or Aurora or both. Then, when I get to the woods, I sense William, so I go find him. Then, in a blur, I'm in front of him. 

        "Let me guess, mate. You're looking for Katerina. Sorry to say, but we've got another enemy in town. An old foe of mine has decided to toy with Katerina, so I think it's best we work together," I inform him. "Her name's Aurora. She's been around almost as long as I. She's in Rebekah's bloodline, since Rebekah didn't want her to die back then. Now, we've all seen how much of a lunatic Aurora is. She'll do anything for payback. What do you say, mate?"

William's POV

        "Yeah, let's do it," William agrees. He then hears evil William, starting to hallucinate him. In the hallucination, he sees him behind Klaus stab him in the back. He shakes his head to come out of it and asks the Original, "What else should I know about this Aurora?" He then walks in the direction of her smell.

Klaus' POV

        I can tell that something is a little off about Katerina's friend, but I decide to ask questions later. With Aurora, Katerina can be in a life and death situation. So, as I walk next to him, following him, I tell the newbie vampire, "Well, she loves a good game of chess, so she does love to play games. Much like Katerina, but worse than even me at times. At one point in my life, back when I was more of a monster than I am now, Aurora was my fiancée. We wanted to be together forever, but when she turned and we figured out what a lunatic she actually was, we all left her behind at the castle she grew up in. If we want to beat Aurora, we need to play her game of chess, but first we have to find Katerina."

        Suddenly, I sense someone close by. Then, a moment later, she's in front of us both. 

        "If you're going to play my game, Niklaus, you shouldn't toy around with young vampires," she replies with a smile. Once upon a time, I loved her smile and laugh, everything about her really, but now I don't. I especially hate that she wants to even dare hurt Katerina. 

        "Where's Katerina at, Aurora?" I growl. 

        "Well, it wouldn't be a game of chess if I told you, would it?" she replies. 

Katherine's POV

        Throughout my hallucinations, I can tell that I'm not actually alone wherever the vampiress left me at, but I don't have any will to fight anything right now. Not even when I feel myself inside water I feel is burning me. I can only assume that the burning water has vervain in it. All I can feel is the burning water and the feeling of drowning over and over again. I'm a vampire after all, which means I won't die from drowning, because it'll happen over and over again until I'm free of the water.

Klaus' POV

        After Aurora has decided to leave us both, I soon follow what I smell is Katerina. Then, with her friend with me, I open the warehouse that has what looks to be a big round, but deep tub, a set of chains extended inside of it from the hook attached to the ceiling. There's also a couple vampires and a human. I let her friend deal with the vampires, while I knock out the human. Then I get Katerina gently out of the chains and deep tub. I'm the only one that can, since I'm the only hybrid here. Any normal vampire wouldn't be able to touch vervain physically without it burning too much. 

        I gently lay Katerina on the ground. Normally, a vampire's skin would heal from the vervain already, but she's not healed. I also see a lower stomach wound, which makes me think that something is in her system that's keeping her from healing. 

        I rest a hand on the side of her face. 

        "Katerina, luv, can you hear me?" I call to her, but nothing happens. I don't know if she has werewolf venom inside of her or not, but I try anyway. I bite my wrist and put it to her lips, making my blood go down her throat for a few minutes, before taking my wrist away, which instantly heals. Nothing happens yet, though. 

        I look over to check to see if William is finished with the vampires yet, since I know Katerina would hate for me to leave him alone. I know I need to get her back to the Mikaelson place, though.

William's POV

        William walks with him and hears what he says. He sees Aurora in front of them and goes on guard, but then sees her gone. He goes with Klaus to the warehouse and sees the vampires and the human. He sees Klaus take out the human. He then blacks out for a moment.

        The vampires are quickly taken care of by someone that blurs in and out quickly and disappears, leaving William nowhere in sight for Klaus to see.

        William comes back to consciousness and sees bodies of more vampires around him in an alleyway. He doesn't remember what happened and sees he has blood on his hands. He quickly wipes them on a bag of trash and walks away without anyone noticing.

Klaus' POV

        Since William has disappeared, I gently pick Katerina up in my arms and then blur home. I don't know why she isn't healing, so I need to figure out the reason behind it. Until then, I need to make sure she's safe from at least Aurora.

        Once I'm home, I gently lay her down in my bed and sit on her bedside, a hand on the side of her face, but not touching her burns from the vervain water.

        "Katerina, can you hear me? I need you to wake up, luv," I call to her, hoping that she'll wake up, though I doubt it.

Katherine's POV

        All I see for a long while is darkness, though I do hear Klaus trying to get me to wake up. Like me, he doesn't know what's wrong with me, but I know that he'll eventually figure it out. He always finds a way to save those he deeply cares about. I don't know if it's because I'm so weak, but I can't seem to wake up, even though I want to.

William's POV

        William follows her scent and goes to where she is, but can't come in. He knocks on the door and looks around and waits for someone to answer.

Rebekah's POV

        Rebekah is in her room reading her book, when she smells another vampire.

        "Klaus, we've got company."

        She keeps her gaze on the book.

Klaus' POV

        "Yes. You should probably get that, sister. That would be Katerina's friend. Play nice," I inform her. I have yet to inform her what has happened with Katerina, much less the fact that Aurora has resurfaced. I've been trying to keep her out of this situation, but I know I'm eventually going to have to inform her soon. And this is the right time to do so.

Rebekah's POV

        Rebekah sighs and blurs to the door and opens it to see William. She admires his body and says, "Well, hello there. You must be Katherine's friend." She looks at him.

William's POV

        William sees her and asks, "How is she since she was taken and stabbed by Aurora?" He looks at her and sees her look on her face like she's seen a ghost.

Rebekah's POV

        Rebekah hears the name Aurora and says, "What do you mean taken and stabbed by her?" She turns and yells, "KLAUS!"  She blurs to where he is and sees him on the bedside with Katherine. She crosses her arms and asks, "Why didn't you tell me that Aurora was in town?"

Klaus' POV

        I turn to look at my sister.

        "Well, it was a little bit of a race to find Katerina at the moment when she left a little note at our doorstep tonight. I was going to tell you. What we need is to find her and get her to tell us what she did to Katerina. At first, I assumed werewolf venom, but my blood didn't do anything. And I don't know how long she was in vervain water, either. I know you despise her, but maybe you can medically help her. You were a nurse in New Orleans. It seems lately that enemies have been coming to town. The first was Jackson, a wolf. Then it was James, which Katerina was finally able to kill after he almost killed her friend and tried to bite me. I think we should start being careful from now on," I reply to her. "Is there anything you can do for her?" I then look at Katerina. She hasn't moved since I got her into bed. Her skin is still burnt from the vervain, too. 

Rebekah's POV

        Rebekah goes over and looks at Katherine. She looks over her wounds and looks at the stab wound. She looks back at the burns and says, "Go find Aurora. I'll help her." She looks at Klaus.

William's POV

        William waits at the door and hears his evil self laughing again. He sees Klaus come over and pull him to the outside wall and pin him against the wall. He groans and gasps for air.

Klaus' POV

        When Rebekah tells me to find my ex, I get up from the bed. I don't need to be told twice. Though I'd love nothing more than to kill Aurora, I know I must bring her here alive. I head over to the exit, but stop at the threshold for the moment to look at Katerina, hoping for her sake and Elijah's that she'll live. I then leave the house and go in search of Aurora.

        After several hours of my searching for her, I find her and finally get her to our family home, not letting go of her until I have her chained in the basement. Then I begin to question her.

        "What did you do to Katerina? You stabbed her with a dagger. What was on it?" I demand of her.

        "Wouldn't you love to know," she replies with a smile.

        "Oh, I would. You have choices to make, dear Aurora. You can let me deal with you, which you know will be never ending torture. Or you can deal with Elijah or Rebekah. Now, what did you do to her? I need to know. My blood didn't heal her like it should have, so it can't be werewolf venom," I reply.

        "Now, why would I tell you anything? I've got everything I want from you. She will die eventually, and you'll break, knowing you couldn't save her. You may not love her, but you do care deeply about her."

        I grab her by her throat with a hand tightly in anger. Usually, I would just compel a vampire, but Aurora knows all the tricks in the book. I can't compel her. I don't know if she's on vervain or not. After all, she had plenty of stash of vervained water.

        "You better tell me right now!" I growl at her in rage, trying not to let my temper get the best of me.

Rebekah's POV

        Rebekah is trying to take care of Katherine, but it isn't working out that well. She sighs, as she stays at her bedside, waiting for Klaus to get done questioning Aurora. Despite her despisement of Katherine, no one deserves something like this.

William's POV

        William sighs and sits by the wall of the Mikaelson place, and shakes his head as he blacks out again.

        A man spray paints a message on the wall for Klaus to see, as he blurs away.

Klaus' POV

        After a long while, I finally get some kind of answer out of Aurora. She's given Katerina some kind of poison, not allowing her to heal. Aurora won't tell me what kind of poison or the cure for it, though. Since I figure that she probably is needed alive for now, I keep her alive and chained. I then exit the basement and go to the room Rebekah and Katerina are in.

        "I assume no change?" I question, since she pretty much looks the same. Then I inform Rebekah in case she wasn't listening in, "Aurora has poisoned her, but won't say what kind it is or the cure for it."

Rebekah's POV

        Rebekah looks at him.

        "So, now what, brother?" she asks, keeping her gaze on him.

Klaus' POV

        "Well, unless you know a way to make Aurora talk, we need to find someone that will be able to have the answers as to what the cure is," I reply to her. "Unless you want to go into her head and see if Katerina knows anything that can help us out," I add to her.

Katherine's POV

        As I lay on what feels like a bed, I can hear everything that they say. If I can just wake up, I can tell them the one secret I've kept from the whole Original family. No one except me knows that their elder sister, Freya, is alive and well in New Orleans. The thing is, if she wakes up, their Aunt Dahlia won't be too far behind.

William's POV

        I wake up in an abandoned hospital and look around, but can't move, because I'm chained to a bed, a tube coming out of my arm with vervain in it. As it burns me, I scream loudly.

Rebekah's POV 

        "I'll do it," I say. I then sigh and go over to where Katherine is. "Someone left you a message on the wall, brother," I inform him, before sitting on her bedside.

Klaus' POV

        "In that case, you find answers with Katerina. I'll figure out the message," I reply, before leaving the house to find which wall she's talking about. Then I see the message. 

        I have something of yours. If you want it back, come and find me.

        When I see the message, I realize that it's another enemy, but it's either Katerina's or mine or both. I can't be certain. After all, the only person an enemy would have that I would care about is family or a crush of mine. Or Katerina. And Katerina is still inside the house. 

Katherine's POV

        I still can't wake up, even though I want to, and can hear everything around me. I assume this is what it feels like for a human that ends up in a coma. You can hear everything, but you can't wake up or tell anyone anything that you want or need them to. 

        Suddenly, when I see Rebekah and find myself in the Mystic Grille, I know that she's in my head now. 

        "About time. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I might know someone that can help save me. Remember when you were all kids and you heard about Freya? When Esther told Mikael that Freya died of an illness while he was out on a viking trip, she lied. She couldn't have any children, so she made a deal with your Aunt Dahlia. The price was the first born of every generation. Since Freya was the first born, she took her away to teach her magic, but Dahlia grew power hungry for magic. Finn was there the day Freya was taken. He'd be able to vouch for that if he was undaggered. I met Freya a long time ago in a small village. She was a prisoner of Dahlia. She wanted her own life and wanted to be free of Dahlia. Now, every hundred years, she and Aunt Dahlia fall into a slumber, but Freya can be awoken. However, you will have to make sure there's no first born Mikaelson running around with magic, because if there is, then Dahlia will soon wake up after Freya and hunt down that source of power. Freya's in New Orleans," I inform Rebekah. "I kept this secret because I was helping Freya. She wants to be reunited with her family. By the time I met Freya, I knew the patterns all of you have to avoid any of you if I well please to, so I was teaching Freya the patterns so that when she wakes up, she can finally find her desired family. You don't know much about me, but your poor excuse for a brother, Klaus, slaughtered my entire family when I first turned. I'd hate to refuse someone else a real family. I never cared about my father after he tore away my illegitimate daughter and because of what he put both of us through, but I was close to my mother. I just never got the chance to kill him. Klaus beat me to it. I was already on my way to give him what he deserved, when I heard about a Bulgaria village that was all killed. I figured after quite the slaughter spree, it was probably Klaus, and Klaus being Klaus, he proved to me that it had to be him. So, go wake Freya up and save me, because we all know Elijah wouldn't forgive either of you for letting me die."

        As I tell Rebekah everything, I look at her, seated at an empty table, but now that I'm finished telling her everything, I get to my feet.

Rebekah's POV

        I sit down on Katherine's bedside and close my eyes, using my ability to go into her head, whether I want to or not. It's the only way to find out some information, in order to save her life. I may despise her, but I'm not completely heartless. Both of my brothers want her alive, which means I have to help save her life.

        Once I go into her head and create a dreamworld, which I decide upon the Mystic Grille, considering I don't know Katherine's backstory, apart from the history with Elijah and the fact of Klaus hating her for running, it seems that she's been waiting for a while for someone to do this. It seems that she was waiting around to tell one of us what we need to know. After she informs me of what I need to know, and tells me about Freya being alive, despite what our mother told our father many centuries ago, I ask her, "Where in New Orleans is Freya?" I know, after all, that we have to work quickly. If someone doesn't find Freya in enough time, Katherine will surely die for good.

Angelus' POV

*Earlier*

        I arrive to a little town called Mystic Falls, looking for Katherine. Since I don't find her, I decide to do whatever I want with who seems to be a friend of hers. It feels pretty great not to have a soul now. I always have hated when everyone tends to restore my soul. I like my freedom. I like being able to do whatever the hell I want. Only a vampire similar or just like me would understand what it's like. I'm not out to actually get Katherine. We were friends since before my counterpart met Buffy Summers, the Sunnydale Slayer. Since Katherine and I are still friends, I'm hoping anyway, I decide to play a little game with the one person back then that she called her enemy. Someone that seems to be not too different from myself. Or even Darla, for that matter. Darla sired me. She gave me a gift. Free will. After all, before Darla, I was nothing but a disappointment to my father, but then I was turned and showed him who has the power. Now, torture and killing is my way of life. I enjoy and revel in it. 

*Present*

        I stand at the threshold of the room Katherine's friend is in. Then, as I approach, I give a smile. 

        "Oh, come on. You're a vampire. You can take more than that. As Katherine has always pointed out, you're not strong enough if you can't get through the pain." 

Rebekah's POV

        Hours later, I've found Freya and gotten her home to Mystic Falls. Now, I have her working on a way to save Katherine. Apparently, they're friends, so it didn't take long to convince my elder sister to save Katherine. 

        Soon, Freya finishes the spell to save Katherine's life. Now, all we have to do is wait for Katherine to wake up. 

Katherine's POV

        When I wake up at last, I don't feel like I'm dying anymore. In fact, I feel better now. I see that I'm not alone. I can hear Rebekah and Freya downstairs. Klaus is seated on my bedside. That means that things worked out. Now, I'm saved. 

        I slowly sit up. 

        "Thanks," I say to him. "I feel much better now." 

        After a few minutes, I leave to go feed and then find out where Will is.