𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐅𝐅𝐀𝐈𝐑

𝐞𝐩 𝟎𝟑

              𝐴𝐷𝐸𝐿𝐴𝐼𝐷𝐸 had slept most of the journey, but when she woke up she was surprised to see that they were in a city now. Chicago to be exact. She had always wanted to visit Chicago.

"Welcome back to Chicago, Stefan." It didn't surprise her that the vampire had been to Chicago before. Being a vampire meant you had all the time in the world to travel - well, unless someone kills you with a stake. Adelaide stretched her hands in front of her, finding herself in the back, laid across the seats. Klaus must have made her and Stefan swap as she remembered she was in the front passenger seat when they left Tennessee. She let out a groan as her muscles yearned to be able to properly stretch themselves.

"I see sleeping beauty has awoken." Klaus smiled at her through the rear mirror.

"What are we doing in Chicago?" She smiled at him before yawning as she spoke.

"You'll see love." They carried on driving until they got to wherever Klaus planned for them to be. Adelaide was the first one out of the car as soon as the engine was turned off, stitching her legs out, before bending down to touch her toes, finding it relaxing her muscles. She blushed but let a smirk appear on her face as she realised Klaus was staring at her. Particularly her ass. She stood back up, before grabbing her jacket from the car, feeling cold. She walked with Klaus as he led her and Stefan to the roof top of a tall building.

"Carry me," Adelaide huffed, pouting at Klaus as she stopped on the many flights of stairs.

"We're nearly there love." Adelaide rolled her eyes before pushing past the two boys and sprinting up the stairs, wanting to just get to the top. That was strange, she thought to herself as she managed to run quicker than usual. She had always been a fast runner but that was faster the usual. It wasn't vampire or werewolf speed but it was like her speed was building up somehow - probably relating to what supernatural being she was. 

"What are we doing here?" Stefan asked Klaus as the two joined Adelaide. She didn't know why they hadn't used their super speed.

"I know how much you loved it here." Klaus responded, opening the door at the top. "Bringing back memories of the good old ripper days." Adelaide sent Klaus a stern, annoyed glance.

"Blocked out most of them." Stefan informed him. "A lot of blood, a lot of partying."

"That is actually quite hard to believe. All you ever do is brood and look grumpy." Adelaide imputed, looking out at the gorgeous Chicago landscape. She took a few steps forward so she was stood more on the roof while the other two stayed by the door.

"The details are all a blur." Stefan glared at her back because of the comment she made while Klaus just chuckled.

"Well, that is a crying shame. The details are what makes it legend." The hybrid told Stefan as he looked at the happy expression plastered all over Adelaide's face. He had found himself not being able to tear his eyes away from the oldest Gilbert many times, and while he never would admit it to anyone, he also found himself caring about he. "Word was the ripper of Monterrey got lonely, so he escaped to the city for comfort. It was prohibition. Everything was off limits then, which made everything so much fun." Klaus began to tell the story of who Adelaide was quick to assume was Stefan, otherwise why would Klaus have brought it up. She still couldn't believe that this was Stefan he was explaining however - it seemed so unlike him. But to be honest, after seeing him down all of that human blood at Alaric's apartment months ago, before the summer, it seemed more believable than before when thinking Stefan Salvatore was capable of going on a killing rampage.

"Chicago was magical." Klaus took a step towards Stefan, who was staring at the city lights in the dark.

"It still is." Adelaide sang from where she was, pulling a camera out to take a few photos. She had bought the camera a few years ago and it was one of the things she had told Klaus she had to have with her if she was to go on this trip with him and Stefan. She wanted to capture all these amazing places he was taking them, because she wasn't sure she would ever have another chance to visit them. Despite the fact that the reasons they were on this trip weren't exactly the most pleasant, she had still visited and seen some amazing places. Like the Smoky Mountains - they were beautiful, even though they were hunting down a pack of werewolves who all ended up dead in the end.
"That it is my darling." Adelaide bit her lip to stop her smile from growing at Klaus's gentle words towards her. She wasn't sure what was going on with her feelings towards the hybrid, who had killed her aunt and tried to kill her sister, he even believed her sister was killed, but she didn't hate these feelings. Thinking of her aunt and sister made her face drop however. It was then she realised she wasn't being cold enough towards Klaus. In her mind she knew she had been acting as if she had already forgiven him, but she realised that it was too soon to forgive him. Tears collected in her eyes at the thought of Jenna and John. She missed her friends and family. This was fun and all, but she was away from the people she loved most.

"Yeah, well, I'll take your word for it." Stefan sighed, "Like I said, I don't remember most of it." Stefan turned around to go back through the door.

"Ready to get down to business, then?" Klaus's voice returned to its usual low and deep tone. "Adelaide, love." Adelaide took a deep breath and blinked away the tears in her eyes before turning around and walking past Klaus who had kept the door open for her. She felt Klaus's eyes on her as she made her way down the stairs back to the bottom floor of the building where Klaus and parked the car.

She heard Klaus mention that they were going to visit his favourite witch to Stefan as they neared the car.

· • ☽ • ·

"Looks familiar, doesn't it?" Klaus asked Stefan with a knowing tone as the three of them walked into an empty bar.

"I can't believe this place is still here." Stefan gaped as he walked around.
"Do you think whoever owns this place will mind if I delve into the alcohol?" Adelaide asked with a teasing smile as she made her way behind the bar to pour herself a drink of bourbon. Lately after having had a quite a lot to drink in one day, she had realised that it would take a lot for her to get drunk, and so she was able to drink alcohol as if it was water.

"You got to be kidding me." Adelaide eyes tore away from Klaus and Stefan as all their attention went to someone walking into the bar.

"So a hybrid walks into a bar, says to the bartender..." Klaus was cut off by the woman.

"Stop. You may be invincible, but that doesn't make you funny." Adelaide laughed at the woman's response.

"I like this woman." She added, drinking from her glass while pointing at the new comer.

"I remember you." The woman smiled at Adelaide before looking at Stefan and recognising him.

"Yeah. You're Gloria." So Stefan didn't forget everything about his time in Chicago.

"Mh-hmm."

"Shouldn't you be-" Gloria cut Stefan off.

"Old and dead? Now if I die, who's going to run this place, huh?" Faire point - the bar was a nice looking bar.

"Gloria's a very powerful witch." Klaus admired.

"I can slow the ageing down some. Herbs and spells. But don't worry, it'll catch up to me one day." The witch explained.

"Stefan, why don't you go and fix us up a little something from behind the bar. Keep Adelaide company." Adelaide rolled her eyes as Stefan told Stefan to join her. She avoided eye contact with Klaus as he looked over to her, seeing annoyance written all over her face.

"Yeah, sure thing." Stefan chuckled before nodding and making his way towards Adelaide. Even though he had been sent away he and Adelaide could still hear everything with their supernatural hearing.

"You look ravishing." Klaus complimented the witch.

"Don't. I know why you're here." The witch told Klaus as the two sat down at a table. "A hybrid out to make more hybrids? That kind of news travels."

"So what am I doing wrong?" Adelaide felt Stefan tense up beside her and she placed her hand on his, reassuring him. They shared a glance with each other as they listened in to the conversation Klaus was having. "I broke the curse."
"Obviously you did something wrong." Adelaide began to worry that the witch may be able to find out why Klaus making hybrids wasn't working. "Look, every spell has a loophole, but a curse that old... we'd have to contact the witch who created it."

"Well, that would be the original witch. She's very dead." Klaus responded with a small smirk.

"I know." Gloria nodded, "And for me to contact her, I'll need help." Adelaide lost focus of their conversation as she noticed a picture stuck to the wall where she had Stefan were.

"Stefan-" her voice trailed off as she reached forward and pulled the photo down from the wall. Her finger traced over the old photo, looking into the faces of two very familiar people who she never thought would have been smiling like they were in the photo, together. It was Stefan... but he was with Klaus. He took the photo out of her hand, eyes wide as he stared at the photo.

"Bring me Rebekah."

"Rebekah. Rebekah is a bit preoccupied." Adelaide turned to look at Klaus who was still talking with the witch, talking about someone named Rebekah.

"She has what I need. Bring her to me." Gloria told Klaus in a stern tone.

"What is this?" Stefan finally spoke up, turning around as Klaus and Gloria looked their way.

"Well, I told you, Stefan." Klaus got up, "Chicago's a magical place." He said as he noticed the photo in Stefan's hand.

"But this is me. With you." Stefan breathed out lowly, shocked by the photo. 

· • ☽ • ·

⧫ 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝟐𝟓 // 𝟎𝟓 // 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟎 ⧫