22

—22. The Birthday

ALWAYS AND FOREVER

THREE MONTHS on the road with an evil hybrid, searching for wolves and a ripper was not an ideal situation.

But because of Klaus' unwillingness to let Aurora out of his sight ever again, she was forced to tag along.

Everyone back home had been worried about them, Elena especially. She may not have been close with Aurora, but she was the Salvatore brothers sister, and they loved her.

Damon was the worst of them all, he may not have shown it, but waking up everyday without Stefan being there to scold him on his choice of meal, or Aurora to roll her eyes and make fun of him.

He needed his siblings back.

Klaus had also decided not to force Aurora to drink blood, he knew her cravings were out of control, even more so than Stefan's.

Her ripper side wasn't her letting go or letting loose, it was loosing control, and Klaus didn't want to put her through that again—especially after so many years trying to put herself back together.

"Rudy! Rudy! Come on! It's too hot to make me come looking for you!" She yelled, bending down to pick up a dog toy, jumping slightly as she noticed Aurora and Klaus in front of her, causing her to cautiously back up.

"I am so sorry. We didn't mean to scare you," Klaus said in the worst American accent.

"What the hell, Klaus?" Aurora muttered under her breath, giving him a side eye as he sent her a glare, tightening his arm around her neck, he pulled her closer to him, a silent warning.

"Can I help you?" The woman asked with an arched brow.

"Yeah. Our car ran out of gas a couple miles back," The hybrid responded smoothly.

"We've been walking, like, forever." Aurora added with an exaggerated groan, earning the woman's attention. "Could we use your phone?" She asked with a heart warming grin, one that always got her what she wanted.

"Don't you have a cell phone?" The woman asked dubiously.

"Well I did, until Nikky here decided to throw it out the window," She told the woman, patting Klaus chest mockingly. She wasn't lying, he really did throw her phone out the car window.

Klaus glared down at the vampire, before turning his gaze to the woman standing in front of him he plastered a false smile on his face, "Look, I promise we aren't serial killers."

Wrong.

"We just wanna' use your phone," He insisted.

"Sure." the woman sighed in defeat after a moment of hesitation.

"So we can come in?" Klaus smirked.

"No, I'll get the phone and I'll bring it out to you." The woman told him sternly.

"I thought you country folk were supposed to be more trusting," Klaus said at a snap, dropping the accent. He removed his arm from around the vampire causing her to pout slightly and made his way over to the unknown woman.

"I'm from Florida." The woman snapped back.

"Well, that explains it," Klaus responded snidely, grabbing the woman roughly by her neck he began compelling her. "Now show us a little Southern hospitality. Sweet pea."

"Sweet pea? Really?" Aurora snorted, Klaus and the woman trailed off inside.

Klaus looked back at her with a grin, "hush, now."

Aurora rolled her eyes as they walked around the house, only to find another woman, busying herself around the kitchen. "I bet you a hundred dollars that dog ran off to a house with air conditioning."

"Let's hope so," Aurora told the woman, the unknown woman jumped at the sound of her voice, turning around she found Klaus holding her friend by the back of the neck and Aurora stood next to them.

"What's going on?" Her voice grew shaky as she looked over at the two in alarm.

"Don't be alarmed. I was told Ray Sutton lives here," Klaus said, tilting his head.

"He's almost never here. He's on the road mostly." She defensively replied.

"But I expect he makes it home, once a month,"

Klaus grinned as her face fell. "That's what I thought. Where is he now?"

Aurora looked up due to the silence and smirked knowing that if Klaus didn't get his answers it would get extremely violent.

"If I have to make you tell me it's going to be infinitely more painful for you." He hummed but his face soon slipped into a smile as the woman tried to escape through the front door, only to run into Stefan causing a scream to erupt from her lips.

"I love it when they run!" Klaus exclaimed happily, looking at Aurora with a toothy smile.

"Okay! He's in Toll. It's near the border. A bar called Southern Comfort. It's on highway 41." The second woman cried in defeat.

"Thank you, love, now may my friend come in?"

"Yes!" She cried out, tears streaming down her face.

Klaus pushed the first woman towards Stefan, no remorse in his eyes. "Kill this one quickly." He ordered before his eyes fell onto the other woman. "And make this one suffer. We'll be in the car."

Klaus grabbed Aurora's forearm and pulled her out of the house. "Why do you always force Stefan to do it?" Aurora asked as she pushed Klaus away while they walked to the car.

"I need him at his best sweetheart, hence the more kills; therefore I get my ripper." He told her.

"Why not force me then?" Aurora asked Klaus, her brows furrowed as Klaus turned to her with a soft look.

"Because I know what happens when your on blood, and you are already your best self. Why would I want to change that?"

Aurora rolled her eyes, ignoring the way her heart fluttered, "Stop trying to flatter me, it's not going to work."

Klaus plastered an arrogant smirk on his face as he walked closer, Aurora took small steps back until she hit the car, he placed his hands on either side of her, caging her in, "Are you sure?" He leaned closer, whispering in her ear.

Auroras eyes fluttered shut as his lips grazed her neck, placing feather light kisses on her jawline—then, she realized what was happening, she pushed him away with a snarl.

"See, sweetheart, soon enough, you won't be able to resist me." Klaus said, smiling as Aurora scoffed, angrily opening the car door, stepping in and slamming it.

——

Aurora strutted into the bar, spotting Ray. Klaus and Stefan were arguing about the best way to approach the situation, so, Aurora decided to try her way.

She adjusted her top slightly, showing a little more cleavage than necessary. Wolf whistles coming from the men in the bar which she ignored as she held her head high.

She walked up to the bar, spotting the man she was looking for. "Hi," Aurora hummed, giving him an dazzling smile.

"Well, hello." He said, looking her up and down.

"Are you Ray Sutton?" Her features were still laced with the same fake smile.

"Who wants to know?" Ray smirked, accent thick.

"I'm Aurora," she held her hand out to him which he immediately took-holding it tight in his grip, a little longer than necessary.

She yanked her hand out of his grip with a strained smile when he shouted out to the bartender. "Hey Red, get me a beer," He told the bartender before winking at Aurora. "And whatever the lady's drinking."

"Whisky... leave the bottle," She nodded at the bartender.

Suddenly, Klaus appeared next to the two, narrowing his eyes intimidatingly at the werewolf. "Is this him, sweetheart?" He asked, placing his hands on her hips.

"Yep." She told him as she twisted the cap off the whisky bottle, bringing it up to her lips before taking a long sip.

Klaus smirked down at her before looking back at Ray. "We've been looking everywhere for you," He told the werewolf. "We started in Florida, Pensacola. I met a young chap there who you used to work with before you moved to Memphis, now he directed me to two lovely young women. And they led me here. to you."

"I-I think I'll be going," Ray stuttered, getting up to leave.

Klaus stood in front of him, stopping him from moving, "Not so fast, mate. You've only just got here. Now, your type are very hard to come by."

Ray tried to leave again only to be stopped by Stefan. "I wouldn't do that," the Salvatore warned, lightly pushing Ray back by his chest.

"Vampires," Ray muttered in realization.

"Yes! My friend here is a vampire. He compelled everybody in the bar, so don't look to them for any help. My girl over here is also a vampire, a very dangerous one at that. I however, I'm something else, a different kind of monster. I've got some vampire, I've got some wolf."

"My girl," Aurora snorted, platting his shoulder patronizingly. "You're funny, Klaus."

"You what?" Ray fearfully asked, referring to what Klaus had told him.

"A hybrid, Ray," Klaus deadpanned with a light eyeroll. "I'm both. You see, I want to create more of me. Now, you being the first werewolf that I've come across in many a moon, pun intended Ray! I need you to direct me to your pack. So, where can I find them?" Klaus hummed, questioning the werewolf.

"You can't compel me, it won't work," Ray told Klaus smugly, faking confidence.

"Wrong answer," Klaus told him, looking at Aurora with a smile.

Stefan and Klaus exchanged a look. "Can you bring out the darts, please?" Stefan asked the bartender. He looked back at Ray, a tight smile on his face, "Tell you what Ray We're gonna' play a little drinking game, something I like to call truth or wolfsbane." Stefan pulled out a packet of wolfsbane and crushed it in his palm.

"This is gonna' be fun, don't you think, Ray?"

——

Ray was chained to the wall, darts covering majority of his body. Small wounds scattered across his skin, crimson red surrounding the marks.

Stefan threw another dart at the werewolf, hitting him in the chest, eliciting a groan to spill from his lips, "Ray, you can end this now. Just tell me where your pack gathers for the full moon."

Aurora sat in the booth, opposite from Klaus. Watching as Stefan tortured the wolf, very obviously reluctant to do it.

Klaus' eyes travelled down her figure and back up to her face, her brows pinched together as she grimaced at the painful screams coming from the wolf.

He slide closer to her, wrapping an arm over her shoulder, "What are you doing?" Aurora asked, turning her head toward him, eyes flickering between his eyes and his hand.

"Focus on something else, love." Klaus ignored the question, rubbing circles down her arm.

Aurora attempted to push his arm off of her—key word : attempted. Klaus tightened his arm around her, pulling her closer with a smirk on his stupid, perfect face.

"What? You would rather me focus on you?" Their faces were inches apart, which neither noticed until Klaus' eyes flickered down to her lips.

"Well, that wouldn't be such a bad thing, would it?" He smirked, his eyes searching her face.

Katya cleared her throat, leaning back into his arm, realizing he wasn't letting go, "Why did you do it?" She tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

She had a feeling he wasn't going to tell her the real reason he had daggered Kol all those years ago.

One of Klaus' compelled spies walked up, breaking their eye contact, "Hello Mr. Klaus." She greeted, which Aurora snorted at. "I have some more information for you." Stefan started listening in on the conversation. "You told me to tell you if I saw anything. I saw the guys spotted Damon at the farm house."

Aurora looked up at the woman with wide eyes, she knew Damon wouldn't give up on finding them. But he really needed to.

"Well, thank you Claudine. You'll just tell your friends to keep up the good work." While Klaus answered, Aurora scooted out of his arms, taking a sip of her drink.

Stefan walked over towards the hybrid, "Our brother still on our trail?"

"He's getting closer, I'm gonna' have to deal with that," Klaus told the two younger vampires who immediately looked panicked.

"No, no, no," Stefan denied, rapidly shaking his head, "Let me handle it."

"And why should I let you leave?" Klaus asked him with an arched brow.

''Cause you know I'lI come back."

"Do I?" Klaus raised his eyebrows.

"You saved our brother's life."

"Aren't you having the least bit of fun?" Klaus asked, gesturing to Ray with a bright smile on his face.

"I'll make sure that our brother doesn't bother us anymore," Stefan firmly said, walking away.

Klaus watched Stefan exit the bar, looking back at Ray then to Aurora, "Would you like a try, sweetheart?"

"He's all yours," Aurora gestured to Ray without looking up from her hands. She was back in her little world, so Klaus decided not to bother her.

"Okay, it's a three step process, Ray. This is step one: I want you to drink from my wrist."

"I already told you where to find my pack. What more do you want from me?" Ray grunted out, shooting the Original a look of distaste.

"Haven't you been listening to a word I've been saying, Ray?" Klaus huffed out in annoyance, rubbing his temples. "I have great plans for you," He bit into his wrist and shoved it roughly into the werewolf's mouth. He looked towards Aurora with a grin as she looked up. She raised her eyebrows at the hybrid in amusement as he announced, "he'll thank me for it later! There we go, attaboy!"

Aurora smiled in amusement at his playfulness. "What are you going to do now?" Ray panted out.

"It's time for step two Ray." Klaus smirked, snapping the werewolf's neck.

"That was very dramatic." She spoke up.

"That was my intention, sweetheart," Klaus smiled tightly at her and she laughed at him. She took a seat on top of the pool-table where the dead, soon to be, hybrid was laid.

Klaus walked to Aurora and placed his hands either side of her thighs, resting on the pool table his fingers brushed against her legs at a skim. "You're back," He announced and the two turned their heads in the direction of Stefan.

"Did you doubt me?" Stefan questioned the hybrid.

"Not for a second. I knew you'd pass the test," Klaus replied, moving away from the vampire before he advanced towards the Salvatore. "You still care for your brother, for your old life."

"Nah," Stefan denied with a shake of his head. "I don't care about anything anymore."

"You put on a good show, Stefan. I almost believe you. Let's hope for your brother's sake he does. You never stop caring about your family, do you? But every time you feed, the blood makes it easier to let go."

WORD COUNT : 2531

-AUTHORS NOTE,

Thank you so much for 10k reads, so here is a chapter for my thanks.