XXVI - 𝔥𝔲𝔫𝔱𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔥𝔬𝔬𝔡

INSTEAD OF THE SURPRISED LOOK LILURA WAS EXPECTING, ALARIC MERELY RAISED AN EYEBROW.

"You too?" He inquired, rolling himself back onto the cott after discarding the drink.

"I guess making me - essentially - have kryptonite for a day every month isn't enough. She's got to screw with my brain too."

"How long?"

Lilura shifted on her back, laying beside Alaric and staring at the basement ceiling.

"About a solid month. At first everything was fine and then I started getting these headaches. It's like -"

"- white fire scorching your brain," Alaric stated blankly.

"Yeah."

"Blacking out is next," Alaric informed the siren. "Moments in time where you don't remember what you were doing or who you were with."

"Just like college," Lilura chortled.

"I was mostly in the library," Alaric replied, coughing, "Well then I guess it's good you're in here."

"But don't tell anyone," The enchantress said. "Not yet at least."

Alaric swung his amused gaze to her. "Especially Klaus?"

"Especially Klaus."

---- Δ ----

"An alter ego is a person's secondary or alternative personality," Judas mumbled. "Therefore they present the contrasting version of themselves."

"In Alaric's case," Bonnie paced. "His personality is a vampire hunter who doesn't necessarily hunt vampires. In fact, he drinks and laughs with them."

"So, his alter ego is a bitter vampire hating hunter with the insanity and skills to back up whatever crime he deems necessary in the destruction of the vampire race."

Bonnie followed Judas' train of thought aptly. "Lilura is a siren built upon loyalty and family, which are the two things that drive her actions. Her ability to care so much but also show so little points to her sheer control and strength in dealing with emotions. For those that fall under her matriarch wing, she loves them with all her heart, regardless of the mistakes they make."

The last observation elicited a small laugh from the boy, "Basically, my mother is a cold bïtch with a big heart. It runs in the family, B."

Bonnie ignored the nickname, but her heart did flutter at the nonchalant use of it. No one ever really cared enough to call her anything other than Bonnie (her given name) and BonBon (courtesy of Damon), so when a boy with dazzling blue eyes and the smile of a prince did, all Bonnie could do was blush and avoid his gaze.

Thankfully, Judas Mikaelson was too busy looking at the text to notice his instructor's flustered expression.

"So by contrast, Lilura's alter ego will target family...which are all the Originals, which means our arses are fried if we accidently aide in the massacre of a species."

"I think we'd be doing humanity a favor, as a matter of fact," Bonnie said. "But we can't. Unfortunately," cue her sheepish smile.

"I may know a way to stop this." She got up shortly and beckoned with her hand. "Come on Romeo, we've got work to do."

---- Δ ----

Klaus soon appeared at the Salvatore Boarding house.

"Well this is depressing," The Hybrid commented, entering the cell door with a swagger in his steps. His blue gaze settled on Lilura. "Fancy meeting you here."

"I thought I'd spend some time with our resident psycho," She retorted without a pause.

"I may be crazy, but I can still hear you," Alaric interjected grumpily, wiping the sweat from his forehead. He had opted to stay reclined throughout the entire hour.

Stefan Salvatore had joined the duo, and now he was standing erect, hostility carved on his face.

"Oh, and I found this," Klaus grinned, shaking the white-oak stake in the Salvatore's face, "upstairs. Now, by my count, there should be one more."

"Yeah, well it's gonna take a little more time," mumbled Stefan.

Klaus laughed darkly, "Why? Because we're waiting for that one to pass out?"

The hunter raised an eyebrow at the pointer finger in his direction.

"No thanks," Klaus shrugged his shoulders, "I think I'll just kill him."

Stefan mimicked Klaus' gesture and pivoted to the other's direction. Now they were identical in both stature and expression.

"Well, then you won't know the location of the other stake," Stefan replied in the same exact tone as Klaus, evidently mocking the Original.

Klaus turned to Lilura as if to say can you believe it?

He licked his lips, "I can live with that."

"Well, I can't. When we staked Finn, we discovered that killing an Original vampire killed its entire bloodline. Now, I don't know which one of you I'm descended from, but I'd really rather not find out by dying, so why don't we just find the stake, destroy it, so we can all be safe?"

That explanation warranted a cold laugh from the siren. "So, the fate of the entire vampire race depends on you finding a stake?"

Stefan did not answer.

"And to get it we need you to pass out," justified Klaus, fixating Alaric with scrunched lines on his forehead. "Which means that I feel totally justified doing this."

And then he snapped Alaric Saltzman's neck.

"There. Sleeping like a baby," Klaus grinned. "I'm starving," He continued. "Want to grab a bite, Li?"

The enchantress swung her gaze from Stefan, who didn't care, to Alaric who was temporarily dead. No one was going to bail her out this time.

"I really don't think-"

"Nonsense," The Original interrupted. "Whatever you need to do, stop. Relax. Let me do this for you."

She sighed, "I can't say no, can I?"

"I'll pay."

A wide smile spread across her face. "Sign me up!"

----- Δ ----

"So... do you come here often?"

Lilura stopped mid bite. "Arwuserioose?"

"Love, you have cheese hanging from your mouth. "

Lilura slurped it up and grinned toothily, "Sexy, huh? Just your type."

The Original shook his head with a certain fondness in his blue eyes. "Just finish the bloody pizza."

The siren laughed and shoveled two more slices in her mouth.

---- Δ ----

"Welcome back," Stefan greeted sourly upon Alaric opening his eyes.

"What happened? Did I uh..?"

"No, you pretty much laid there dead for half the night. But on the uh- on the plus side, I did almost finish reading Moby Dick," The vampire showed him the bookmark.

Alaric slowly got up. "This is stupid. Evil me or whatever you want to call him, he's not gonna make an appearance. Why would he? I mean, the best hiding place is the one where you can't find the person who hid it."

A sigh, "I know."

"So, how do you want to do this?"

"I don't want to do any of this," Stefan replied, rubbing his face with a blank look in his eyes.

"Well, that makes two of us. But I don't think we have much choice in the matter," Alaric slipped the Gilbert ring from his finger.

Stefan raised his eyebrows, "Wait, wait, what are you doing? You need that ring."

"No, what I need is hope that my alter ego doesn't have a death wish. So, I'm taking bets that my dark side has a sense of self-preservation. So, let's see if he defends himself against death."

Stefan stepped back. "Look, Alaric, I'm not gonna kill you, okay?"

"If we have any chance at this, Stefan, you're gonna have to try".

Stefan stared at Alaric and then struck his arm out, quick as light.

He punched the unresponsive hunter again, but stopped at the frown on Alaric's face.

"You're not putting enough into this."

Stefan laughed grimly,  "If I put any more into it, I'm gonna break your spine."

And then he hit Alaric again. The older man was now lying flat on the floor, no different from the time he spent lounging and waiting for the psychotic break. However, this time the blood poured out of his mouth when he smiled, and Stefan couldn't help but stiffen at the rancorous satisfaction of it all.

It seemed not only Alaric's demons had come out to play.

The viens slowly started to protrude from Stefan's undereyes.

"Well don't back down now," said the human.

"No, no, no, no, no, I can't...the blood."

Alaric slowly eased himself up. "Come on, you're past that," He said.

"No, I'm not," Stefan cried woefully.

"Then use it! Give into it! Try and kill me, Stefan. Come on!"

The blond backed away. "Not like this, Alaric."

Alaric threw his hands up, wincing when one hit his lip. "Yes! Like this. You're gonna have to want to kill me for me to believe that you will."

"If I go this far, I may not be able to stop."

"If you want the answers from my darkest side, you're gonna have to tap into yours. So, don't back down, don't fight it. Just do it. Do it!" At the last statement, Alaric began shaking Stefan roughly.

Burning with wrathful bloodlust, Stefan finally vamped and threw Alaric against the wall.

Silence, and then the hunter pulled himself up with a new-found vigor. He cracked his neck, and from where Stefan stood, Alaric's eyes flashed sordid silver.

He laughed, slow and silently."You're so weak."

Stefan stood, completely transfixed by the new man in front of him.

"Look at you, one of nature's most hideous creatures and you can't even get that right."

"You," Stefan whispered.

"Me," said Alaric.

———— Δ ————

"What's up your sleeve, Mr. Mikaelson?"

Klaus sent Lilura a quizzical glance.

"You've just finished treating me to a 5000 dollar dinner, and you mean to tell me it was without for something in return?" She flicked the hair out of her eyes. "Ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous."

"Li, I compelled the waiter. Technically, I did not spend a dime."

Lilura chuckled and threw her head back. Klaus watched the enthralling woman in all her moonlit glory.

He was lucky, he thought. Oh so lucky.

"I know you did," She confessed.

"But I was under the impression you were always quite busy," She winked teasingly. "I'm merely thankful you had the time to take me out. Lord knows how long it's been since I went out on an actual date."

"Well, I'd do anything for you," Klaus said. "To the ends of the earth, the sky, and the sea."

"And I you," She whispered, "To the end of eternity, I'll keep you with me."

Klaus hid his smile. "Sappy," He mumbled, snaking an arm around her shoulder.

"I beg to differ. That was quite poetic. Do you think I could give Shakespeare a run for his money?"

"Not a chance, but I had a drink with him once. He was only the literate god when he was piss drunk," Klaus said. The two sat down on a park bench as the breeze blew past ebony black and golden light hair.

"Oh?" Lilura hummed, gently laying her head on his shoulder.

"Tell me, have you ever gotten a drink with Marie Antoinette or maybe even—"

She stopped mid sentence and clutched her head. Klaus quickly supported the enchantress' body which had gone high temperature wise.

"Li!" He said, quickly scooping her up bridal style. "Li, tell me what's wrong."

"Saltz..."

The Original furrowed his eyebrows but quickly began to jog, careful not to disturb the Siren. "Alright, I'll bring you to him."

"Call..." She croaked, blue-green eyes.

"Call who?"

He was in front of the Boarding House now, one hand on the handle and his leg swiftly kicking off his shoes.

"Don't close your eyes just yet," Klaus whispered urgently. "We're almost there. Don't—" He grumbled almost incoherently, trying in vain to shove open the door with Lilura in his arms.

A volatile laugh echoed through the night air.

"And you call yourself the Big Bad Wolf," Lilura spoke suddenly, making Klaus' halt his steps.

He looked down, and her eyes glinted an unblinking taunting navy. But that was not what made Klaus gasp in tormented terror.

It was the silhouette of an unmistakable stake in her manicured hands.

"What?" Klaus managed.

"Maybe you should run," She offered. "Go on, run. Let's see how big and bad you are now when little red riding hood decides to play with her food."