SOUNDTRACK:

ARMS AND ENEMIES- THE QUIET KIND

Author's Note: I am currently re-editing all my chapters. Chapter one is re-edited so far.

Chapter One

Mystic Heat

It was a warm summer night in Mystic Falls, one of the hottest nights of the year. Elena was fanning herself, as she sat on her porch alongside her Aunt Jenna. They were drinking lemonade and trying to figure out what happened to the electricity. Jeremy informed that the power had gone out because of a fire down the street; it had caused a disturbance with the electrical wiring.

"We better make good use of these ice cubes," said Jenna.

Jeremy stepped down the porch and took off his T shirt. "I can't tell if it's hotter inside or outside." He tossed his shirt aside and ran his clammy fingers through his hair.

"I know," Elena added. "This heat is really unbearable." She took a sip of her drink and pressed the cold glass against her forehead. The watery residue dripped off the glass, onto her burning body.

"I'm pretty sure this is the worst heat wave we've ever been hit with," said Jenna. She was about to get up, when her phone began to vibrate. "It's Alaric." She answered his call. "Hi handsome-"

"Jenna, the power just went out in the entire town. Listen, I'm on my way over, I—"

"Whoa, wait. Back up… your power is out too?" Jenna looked surprised.

"Yes, the whole town's out of power from what I can see.

"Where are you?"

"On my apartment terrace," Alaric replied.

"There were fire engines crowding the block earlier. Apparently a house fire is the culprit."

"Is everyone okay?"

"Yeah, we're all fine."

"Just hang tight, I'm on my way over." He sounded worried. Jenna may have thought nothing of the power outage, but it unsettled his mind.

How come the entire town is out of power? Alaric wondered.

"Drive safe please."

"I will. I love you." He soon hung up and rushed out of his apartment. Something just didn't feel right. He wasn't sure if this was an accidental occurrence, or an evil agenda the Originals of Mystic Falls had schemed out. A power outage just seemed too convenient for vampires to come out from hiding and prey on civilians.

"Is everything okay, Jenna?" Elena asked.

"Yeah, he was just worried. The entire town is out of power."

"That's strange." Jeremy frowned. "I thought it was just us." He turned his head and looked down the street.

"Well," Jenna sighed, "it just means that we're not the only ones dying in this heat."

Elena was a bit worried. She wasn't able to call Stefan and Damon because they were still out of town and weren't returning until tomorrow afternoon. They had gone to New York to meet with a witch who claimed to know how to kill Klaus. Ever since the Originals came to town, things had been chaotic. Whatever normalcy Elena had in her life, was all a thing of the past now. It didn't make it easier for her to know that Elijah was in town as well, and he wasn't going anywhere. He was staying. From the moment Elena laid eyes on the Original, she felt an unacknowledged attraction. His presence carried and undeniable danger, despite his calm composure.

Elijah's eyes were deep and dark, and his voice always serious and modulated. A lethal killer was masked behind the noble gentleman that presented himself so confidently to the world. His personality was complex, and his expressions were eternally indecipherable.

Whenever he would hold her gaze, Elena felt as if her most intimate and private thoughts were at risk of being revealed and extracted right out of her head.

Why am I even thinking about him? She tried to shake the thoughts and stood up to stretch. Her mind often wandered in his direction from time to time.

"Is that Alaric's car?" Jeremy spotted a black SUV slowing down towards their house.

"Yes, it is." Jenna smiled.

Alaric turned into the driveway and parked.

She greeted him with a kiss on the lips and handed him a glass of lemonade. "There was ice, but it's clearly disappeared in there. Can you believe this heat?"

He drank the cool beverage in three gulps. "I don't know what's worse, dying from hypothermia or dying from humidity. I'm pretty sure I lost five pounds today." Alaric wiped the sweat off his forehead and aired out his shirt.

"How many convenient stores and gas stations are being robbed of ice cubes right now?" Jeremy joked.

"Hopefully none," said Elena.

"No, he's got a point." Alaric interjected. "In life or death situations, survival really pushes your limits. It's human instinct."

"Yes, but I don't see how stealing ice cubes is hardly due to a life or death situation. The power will be back in no time."

Alaric didn't like the idea of sitting outside, wide open and vulnerable to a potential attack. Jenna still had no idea about his vampire reality. Even though he hated keeping her in the dark, it was for her own good. "We should go inside. I'm hungry."

"I'll fix you up a sandwich," said Jenna. "You two should come in and eat as well." She then looked at her boyfriend. "We were in the middle of cooking fettuccini Alfredo when the power went out."

"Dinner time at the Gilbert's gone awry," Alaric teased.

Once Jenna stepped into the house, he turned his gaze and gave Jeremy a serious stare, as if to communicate a silent message before saying, "Come inside."

Jeremy quickly caught on and grabbed his shirt from the lawn. He paused at the doorway. "You comin' in too?" he asked his sister.

"You know, I just thought of a brilliant idea. What if we turned on the sprinklers?" She waited for a response, as Jeremy's lips curved up into a smile.

"Reliving memory lane, sis?"

Elena smiled, shaking her head. "It seems like the best alternative at the moment."

They always used to play tag while the sprinklers were on in the summer.

"Sandwiches are ready!" Jenna hollered.

Jeremy disappeared through the door, and Elena was about to follow suit, when suddenly someone grabbed her and swept her away from the porch.

He surroundings had swiftly become blurry, and by the time the ground stopped moving, she realized that the person—the supernatural being that was standing in front of her… was Klaus.

"Scream and I'll have them all massacred." He quietly spoke through clenched teeth.

Fear was rushing inside her veins, kicking her adrenaline into overdrive. Elena blinked and nodded once to let him know that he could remove the hand that was tightly clasped over her mouth.

"Good girl." His chilling tone made Elena's skin crawl.

"Where are you taking me?" Her eyes betrayed the fright that she fought to hide in her voice.

"We have some unfinished business, if you recall." Klaus stared right through her. "You have two choices, love… cooperation or consequences. Though I thought we already established the part where I say, jump, and you say, how high?" There was always a dark undertone in the way the Hybrid spoke. Elena wondered if there was even an ounce of morality in his character.

"I'll do as you say, just don't hurt my family."

"That's the spirit!" He grinned. "Now, if only everyone was this compliant—spares me from having to compel every Tom, Dick, and Marry left and right—not that it's a difficult task for me. But you know, I have a conscience too, Elena." He paused. "It's quite a burden on me, ordering people to do things against their will." And then Klaus laughed out loud. "Actually, it's not. I find it quite amusing!"

Elena's breath quivered. Clearly the Original was deranged and unstable.

"Oh, the stories I could share with you!" He grabbed her arm again and pulled her towards his car. "We would be up for years talking about it." Klaus chuckled and opened the passenger door. "See? I can be a gentleman." He gestured towards the seat, flashing a dark smile.

Elena felt sick to her stomach, as she got inside the car and buckled her seat belt. She wasn't sure if she would ever arrive alive.

~oOo~

The ride back to the Mikaelson mansion was agonizingly tense. Elena was thankful that he at least let the stereo play on low volume, but there was definitely an unspoken tension. She felt his eyes on her, even though she determinedly fixed them on the passing street lights. Klaus's cologne was pleasing to the senses, despite his personality that left no room for any kind of pleasure when interacting with him. He was capable of cruelty, murder, vindictiveness, and his malice was the driving force that motivated his lust for power and destruction.

Elena Gilbert was his doppelganger, and he truly did see her as something that was indefinitely his property. She was rightfully his because nature had deemed it so. This was his own delusional perception.

The vehicle approached a red light, and Klaus eased on the brake. Neither of them had exchanged any words, and he was surprised because he was expecting to get an earful of attitude from her.

"I never said you can't talk."

"I have nothing to say to you," Elena curtly responded.

He released a deep breath and looked at her. "I'm not going to hurt you."

She finally met his eyes, refusing to let her emotions through. "You're just going to drain me dry of my blood so that you can make more of your stupid hybrids. Where's the harm in that, right?"

He didn't find her sarcasm amusing. "Correction, I'm not going to kill you."

The light turned green and they were moving again.

As hard as she fought, tears began to fill Elena's eyes. She sobbed in silence and prayed that her friends would come to the rescue.