CHAPTER ELEVEN | BRINGING OUT THE DEAD

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WHEN RILEY WOKE UP, DAMON WAS QUICK TO TELL HER WHAT HE HAD BEEN DOING WHILST SHE WAS ASLEEP. Just before Klaus had retrieved his family from Stefan, it had seemed that Damon left a note in Elijah's jacket pocket asking to meet. He and Damon had devised a plan, and part of that plan was having dinner with the Mikaelsons themselves.

"It's a brilliant plan, Riley," Damon stated followed the strawberry-blonde up to Stefan's bedroom where they were about to tell him the news. "I don't know why you're being so up-tight."

"Up-tight?" The strawberry-blonde scoffed and raised an eyebrow. "Sorry that I'm not jumping for joy at the fact that we have to endure a dinner with the damn Addams family!"

Stefan sauntered into the room shirtless and a towel over his shoulder. Damon rolled his eyes at Stefan's careless demeanor. "Get dressed. We're going out."

"Yeah, sorry, not interested." Stefan shrugged as he wandered past without a hint of intrigue about what was happening.

"It wasn't a request, Stefan." Riley's voice boomed from behind him as he turned around. "Damon, the complete and utter genius, has apparently scheduled a sit-down with Elijah and Klaus."

Damon held up two shirts and flickered his gaze between the two. "I say go with the black. It makes you look all villain-y."

"Klaus won't make a deal, Damon." Stefan shook his head.

"He doesn't have to. All we're doing is buying a little time to give our wicked witches a little time to pop the top of the coffin." Damon shrugged simply.

A small scoff left Stefan's lips. "So, that's your plan? Stall Klaus?"

"If you hadn't gone postal on his Hybrid's then maybe we'd have some options."

"So you unleash an Original to help him out?" Stefan continued with amusement in his voice.

"Damon said that Elijah wants the same as us, Stefan. After what Klaus did to him, Elijah wants him to suffer just as much as we do— if not more." The witch nodded with her arms folded across her chest.

"There's nothing smart about trusting Elijah. He screwed us over the last time he promised to help us kill Klaus." Stefan glanced between Damon and Riley with a look of disbelief on his face.

"The way you've been acting, I'd trust him about as much as I trust you." Damon glared harshly toward Stefan.

"Well, I guess that goes both ways. Doesn't it?"

"Right, well just remember, if it wasn't for your loyalty to Klaus, none of this would be happening right now," Riley growled at him. "Klaus would've been dead, but you saved him, didn't you?"

"So, get ready and get happy. We're going to negotiate a fake truce and I don't want your attitude screwing it up."

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Riley patted down the skirt of her long black dress as she and the Salvatore brother's arrived at the Mikaelson mansion for the dinner. Riley couldn't help but feel anxious, especially considering both Elijah and Klaus could end her life within a split second if they wanted to.

Elijah suddenly opened the door, and almost looked a little startled by Riley's appearance and then he straightened himself up. "Niklaus, our guests have arrived."

"Damon. Stefan. And, the lovely Riley." Klaus mused once Elijah showed the trio inside the house and into the dining room. "Elijah tells me you seek an audience. Very bold. Let's discuss the terms of our agreement in a civilized manner, shall we?"

"It's better to indulge him," Elijah told them as he sauntered past and took his place at the large dining table in the center of the room.

"I didn't, uh— come here to eat, Klaus," Stefan stated coldly with a light scoff as he stepped further into the room. "In fact, I didn't want to come here at all, but I was told I had to because you would hear us out."

A soft chuckle escaped the Hybrid's lips. "Well, we can sit and eat or I can reach down your throats and pull out your insides. The choice is yours."

Begrudgingly, the three took their seats at the table and the evening got well underway. Riley still felt like a deer caught in the headlights about the fact that they were literally eating with the enemy, but they knew they had to buy Bonnie and her Mom enough time to open the locked coffin.

"You've lost your appetite?" Klaus raised an eyebrow toward Stefan, who appeared to be standing his ground by not eating a single thing on the plate in front of him.

"Eat," Damon ordered with a glare. "I thought we agreed that we would leave the grumpy Stefan at home."

Klaus watched as the Salvatore slowly pick up his knife and fork and began to reluctantly take a bite of his food. "That's the spirit. Isn't this nice? The five of us dining together. Such a treat. Is this what you had in mind when you pulled the dagger out of my brother?"

"It certainly wasn't what I had in mind, but then again I didn't believe the right brother was daggered in the first place. Personally, I think it should've been you. " Riley gave Klaus a tight-lipped smile.

"Well, I knew how he felt about you we figured the more—" Damon paused to take a bite of the meat from his fork. "—the merrier." He shot Elijah a wink.

"Elijah and I have had our fair share of quarrels over the centuries, but we always make it through."

"Kinda like you and Rebekah, right?" Stefan spoke up again, confidence echoed in his voice. "Where is she, by the way? Last I checked she was still daggered because you were afraid to face her."

"If you're referring to the fact that Rebekah knows I killed our mother, I've already come clean to Elijah." Klaus turned his head to his brother and gave him a smile that Elijah did not return.

"Hey, Stef. Remember when you killed dad? Might wanna dial down the judgment 'till desert."

"We're here to make a deal. Doesn't mean we need to kiss his ass for seven courses." Stefan retorted with a pointed look on his face.

"Just, play nice. Please." Riley mumbled softly as she took a small sip of her red wine.

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The dinner conversation began to die down, though the atmosphere was still brimming with tension. Damon received a text from Bonnie telling him that she needed more time on opening the coffin, which meant he, Riley, and Stefan had to further distract Klaus.

"So, why don't we move this evening along and discuss the terms of this proposal?" Elijah finally spoke up as he poured out another drink for himself.

"Well, that's very simple. Klaus gets his coffin back in exchange, he and the Original extended family leave Mystic Falls forever. Me, Riley, Stefan, and Elena live happily ever after. No grudges."

Elijah nodded slowly and then glanced toward his brother. "The deal sounds fair, brother."

"I don't think you understand. Elena's doppelganger blood ensures that I will always have more Hybrids to fight those who oppose me. I will never leave her behind."

"No deal. You get the coffin and leave. Elena stays with us." Riley spoke up confidently as she saw the Hybrid smirk once he got to his feet.

"Well, say I do leave her here under your protection, what then? How long before one of you turns her into a vampire? Or worse, how long before she dies caught between your feuding. No disrespect, sweetheart, but I'm surprised you're still breathing." Klaus glanced at Riley before he continued to pace. "You see, you all believe that you can protect her and that is simply a delusion. The worst thing for Elena Gilbert is the three of you."

"I'm gonna get some air," Damon finally spoke up and lifted himself from his place at the table. Elijah followed soon thereafter.

"All this talk has made me thirsty," Klaus smirked, he glanced to the compelled blonde waitress at his side. "What do you say, Stefan? Can I interest you in a little after-dinner drink?"

Stefan noticed Riley's anxious glance at him, though didn't respond to Klaus. Upon the silence, the Hybrid forced his teeth into the blonde female's neck and fed from her until she dropped to the ground.

"What do you say, Klaus?" Damon's voice called out as he and Elijah finally entered back into the room. "Time for you to put something on the table. We've made our offer. Now, you counter."

"Okay. I offer Elena's future happiness. You see, what she needs right now is to be rid of you lot and to fall in love with a human. Maybe that nice football player. The blonde one. They'll marry, live a long and fruitful life, and pop out a perfect family."

Riley rolled her eyes as she got up from the dinner table. "Right, you mean so that she can continue the Petrova bloodline to ensure you'll always have doppelganger blood to make more Hybrids."

The Hybrid shrugged. "Consider it a small return on my investment in her well-being. See, after you hand me back the coffin, I'll ensure her safety for the rest of her natural life. You know it's what's best for her. So, what do you say, Stefan, huh? Do we have a deal?"

Damon and Riley suddenly panicked as they watched Stefan walk in front of the Hybrid, who had his hand extended. Stefan went to shake Klaus' hand but smirked. "Nice try, Klaus. But no deal."

Klaus simply broke Stefan's head in retaliation and forced it into the fireplace. Elijah pinned Damon to the wall so that he was unable to intervene, but Riley used her magic to toss Klaus against the wall and Stefan stumbled back from the fireplace.

"Bring me my coffin before I kill the damn witch!" Klaus ordered just as he slowly pulled himself back up to his feet.

Damon's gaze flickered to Riley, who nodded slowly. "I'll get it." The older Salvatore finally sighed and left the room.

"Go with him, brother. You keep him honest, and when you return I will make good on my promise to you and I will hand over our family." Though, after a few short moments, Elijah and Damon entered back into the room. "Elijah, why haven't you left?"

"Where were your manners, brother? We forgot dessert." Elijah simply spoke in a condescending tone of voice the moment he pulled a cloth off of the tray of daggers he held.

Klaus' eyes fearfully widened when he noticed the number of daggers on the tray. "What have you done?"

"What have you done? See, I've learned not to trust your vulgar promises, Klaus. We're doing this on my terms now." Elijah revealed as Kol walked in from a door behind them with a smirk on his face.

Klaus stepped backward in fear with his hands held up in surrender whilst his younger brother stepped closer toward him. "Kol."

"Long time, brother." The younger Mikaelson sibling smirked once he saw the fear he inspired.

Klaus tried lunged toward the daggers in an attempt to dagger Kol once more, but Finn appeared and took it before he had a chance. "Finn, don't." The Hybrid begged just as Finn stabbed Klaus through the palm of his hand. He then sped to the doorway in an attempt to flee from his siblings' attacks but came face-to-face with the blonde Original herself. "Rebekah." He sighed out as she jabbed a dagger into his chest.

"This is for our mother." She spoke into his ear as he crouched over in pain. She pushed him back into Kol's arms who restrained him.

"You're free to go. This is family business." Elijah told the dinner guests. Damon glanced at Riley, and Stefan and the three left the Mikaelson mansion without a second thought. The last thing that they wanted was to get wrapped up in more Mikaelson family drama.

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