Chapter Text
Of all the times Jenna had been to Alaric's apartment, this was by far the least enjoyable. She didn't like the stale feeling she was getting from the place and Damon's hesitance to touch the door - vampire or no - didn't really help. She shot him a look and knocked on the door, realizing where her place in this plan had come. She was able to cross the threshold where he couldn't. Also, her voice would be less threatening than his, should Klaus actually be there.
"Ric? Are you here?"
Her nerves hammered through her veins. Could Damon really do anything if Klaus was still in there?
Damon seemed disinterested in waiting, so he casually glanced around to be sure no one was nearby. Reaching for the doorknob, he just as casually broke the lock so the door swung open when Jenna pushed it. This revealed a young woman who looked so closely like Elena that Jenna gasped softly.
"Thank God," Katherine sighed.
"Wow… she really does look exactly like Elena," Jenna murmured, not really keen on moving any closer.
"Yeah. Thought you might be dead," Damon commented to Katherine.
"Unfortunately not," the other vampire replied dryly. "What are you doing here?"
"We came to see you," Damon answered, glancing back at Jenna. "If you're worried, you can leave. It won't be the first time I've had to walk home."
Jenna paused, looking from one vampire to the other. "Right. I'll see you back at the house." She let her eyes rest on Katherine once more before she headed out to the car again. Jenna wasn't even sure how to react to any of this anymore, especially where Katherine and Elena were concerned. She sighed to herself as she pulled out of the parking lot, not really feeling up to going straight back yet. When Stefan had come to pick her up, she'd left part of her thesis research in her room; she clearly remembered discovering a huge portion of her notes missing. Maybe she could go back to get them, even if she did risk running into John again. Pursing her lips tightly together, she turned the car in the direction of the house she had slowly come to consider hers instead of her sister and brother-in-law's. Funny how time would change things...
John was apparently gone when she got there and she was quite glad for that. She didn't want to deal with him today, too. Still, something didn't feel right as she entered the house, so she called Stefan, figuring he'd be done with Bonnie and Jeremy by now.
"Jenna?"
She didn't hear any voices with him, so she hoped he was alone. "Any word from Elena?"
At the very least, talking to someone while she looked for the rest of her thesis notes would be beneficial to her state of mind. Times like this, she almost wished she'd inherited her sister's organizational skills.
"Still nothing. What about you? Is something wrong?"
"No, I just-"
Jenna cut herself off as she heard footsteps outside her door. Ignoring Stefan calling her, she glanced through the doorway.
"I'm at the house. I wanted to grab the notes that I left."
"Jenna, it's not safe for you there."
She was starting to see what he meant as she turned back to her search. Finding the folder she needed, she grabbed it and turned to leave. A sharp yelp escaped her as she nearly ran headlong into someone and her eyes widened in fear.
"Jenna? Jenna!" her phone screeched at her, but all she could do was stare at the person in front of her.
"Isobel," she whispered, feeling her heart hammering in her chest as she backed up a few steps. "What do you want?"
"Iiii want you," the vampire responded in a sing-song voice, spending another few seconds watching Jenna back up before she sped forward. Stefan's voice had stopped yelling into the phone by then and Jenna could only hope he would make it before something happened.
Isobel was strong, stronger than anyone Jenna had come across before, and she found herself unable to wiggle out of the vampire's grip. She fought, though, as her phone and the folder of notes fell out of her hands, but it was no use. By the time Stefan arrived, Isobel had knocked her out and fled with her. All he would find were the pages scattered across the floor and Jenna's phone, right where she'd dropped them.
#
With Elijah's departure brought a new question for Elena. She frowned as she looked around the room, not really understanding what would keep her aunt away with so much noise going on, especially since Elena had brought Elijah back into the house.
"Stefan… where's Jenna?" she asked, moving further into the room after both Damon and Elijah had left.
Stefan looked away for a moment, making Elena immediately wary. He never did that unless he had something really bad to tell her. "Elena, why don't you come over here and sit down for a minute."
That really didn't sound good. Elena frowned as fear welled up in her chest. "What happened?" she questioned carefully as she sat down on the couch next to Stefan.
"Jenna went out to the house today without telling anyone," he began, sending her sense of foreboding through the ceiling. "She called me while she was there."
"What was she doing? Where is she now?"
"She wanted to find her thesis notes… but someone else found her instead."
"What?" No… no, not Jenna. Please, not Jenna.
"Isobel got her. By the time I got there, all that was left was the folder of notes and her phone."
The latter item was produced as proof.
Tears streamed down Elena's cheeks and she shook her head, not willing to accept what this meant. "No. It can't be. Not Jenna." This was all her fault… but they'd been so careful! Why was Klaus attacking Jenna now?
"She's probably taking her to Klaus."
"Then we have to go get her!" Elena cried, trying to stand up again. Stefan reached up to pull her back, dropping the phone as he did so, but she fought his hold on her. "I can't just leave her with him! He'll kill her, Stefan!"
"He could be using her as bait, Elena!" Stefan protested, not letting her go, even as she struggled and sobbed as much as she had when she'd thought Bonnie had died. "If you go find her now, that's a dead giveaway that she means the most to you. And it's a sure way to make him kill her to keep you in line."
Elena sobbed helplessly. She hated this, hated being unable to do anything and feeling like everything she did was falling apart around her.
"We have to wait, Elena, and hope she'll be all right."
Elena shook her head, but she knew he was right. She had no choice if she wanted to be sure Jenna would be okay. If her aunt really was still alive, her best choice of survival was not to be found. No matter how much it crushed Elena not to do anything. She clung to Stefan, crying onto his shoulder and hoping, hoping, that Jenna would be okay.
#
Jenna's head ached when she finally pried her eyes open again. At first, she couldn't tell where she was, but after a few minutes, she recognized the ceiling. How many times had she been in this bed, staring up at that ceiling with him? The realization of where she was brought her bolt upright, and she looked around in fear.
He was there. And so was Katherine.
Jenna scooted further back on the bed, as far as she could while still ignoring the way her head pounded. It was like having a hangover, but she knew she hadn't had anything to drink all day. Katherine shifted on her chair by the bar and Jenna took a shuddering breath of air. She didn't want to be here, not while Klaus was still inhabiting her boyfriend's body. But she felt so shaky, far worse than she had been earlier, even when Isobel had confronted her. What was going on? And where was Isobel?
"She's awake," Katherine commented, sitting sulkily on her chair. Klaus was leaning against the cabinets by the sink, but as soon as Katherine spoke, he strode over to Jenna. She didn't really have anywhere else to go, so she just pressed herself against the headboard, especially worried as she noticed he had a knife in his hand.
"Don't worry," he assured her in that same soft, husky voice he'd been using, the one that reminded her so much of Alaric. "This isn't for you."
He simply smiled at her for a moment before he sliced his palm wide open. Jenna's eyes widened in shock as blood pooled on his hand. The sight awakened a hunger she couldn't dismiss. Even as afraid of him as she was, she couldn't resist the sight or the smell as he offered her the hand that was dripping bright red liquid onto the bed. The inward battle of wills was brief, but she wasn't strong enough to stop herself from grasping his hand and digging into it, drinking his blood and savoring the taste as though her life depended on it. Somehow she knew it did and that just made her hunger worse. The blood flowed through her body, changing it, warping her senses and feelings until everything was amplified.
Klaus pulled away and Jenna suddenly realized what had happened. She remembered Isobel forcing her to drink her vampire blood before they left the house and then nothing. Nothing until she woke up here. She shook her head, unable to voice how much she did not want this.
"And now we have our second vampire option," Klaus announced to the room, walking away from Jenna and sounding way too pleased by this prospect. "Third, really, but I have other plans for you, Katerina."
Katherine lifted her chin defiantly. Still unable to fully articulate herself, Jenna scooted back against the bed, wiping her mouth off as she glared fearfully at Klaus. What did he want?
"And our other one is hiding," he continued, glancing to the other side of the apartment. "Come on out; don't be afraid, Isobel."
Isobel. Jenna sat up a little further on the bed and tucked her knees up to her chin. She did not want to be in the same room with her. Isobel stepped out of the bathroom then, a cautious look on her face rather than the mischievous one she'd worn when she'd ambushed Jenna. Maybe she didn't like Klaus, either. But if that was true, Jenna couldn't think of any reason why she would've been doing things for him.
"Now, Isobel, Katerina," Klaus murmured, breaking Jenna out of her thoughts. He looked to each of the other vampires in turn. "I don't want you going near our new guest until I tell you to, understand?"
They each nodded, apparently preferring to remain silent, though neither looked particularly pleased.
"Great. Now that that's settled… Jenna?"
Reacting instinctively to the sound of her name from that voice, Jenna raised her head and locked eyes with Klaus. His pupil contracted and she knew she was in trouble.
"It's your turn to do the hiding in the bathroom thing. Tacky, I know, but this guy'll never leave if he knows you're here and I kinda need him to go deliver a message to Elena for me." He offered her a smile. "Oh, and one more thing: Make no noise at all until I tell you to. None. You, too, Isobel." Another smile was offered to the black-haired vampire as she met his gaze again.
Jenna was starting to get pieces of memory back, memories of having been compelled once before. This felt the same as then, with the exception of remembering everything she was currently being compelled to do. She had no choice but to slide off the bed and walk into the bathroom. Isobel followed, shutting the door behind them with a soft click. Jenna didn’t like being so close to someone who could so easily kill her, but she had no choice. She was a prisoner; she had no idea how long it would last or what Klaus had planned. The only good thing she could think of now was that at least she had vampire hearing. She could hear everything that went on in that room, including the witches entering.
"Nice body," a new female voice proclaimed, sending a pang of jealousy through Jenna. She could tell from the sounds Katherine had made walking around the room that this new voice and Klaus were nowhere near the other vampire. Thus, Jenna assumed this girl was talking about Klaus and thus her boyfriend's body. She wanted nothing more than to bang on the door and yell at the newcomer to keep her eyes and hands off him, but every time she thought about it, her throat closed up. So, she just sat down on the floor with her back against a wall and listened. She was lucky that Isobel wasn't saying anything to distract her, but they'd both been compelled into complete silence. They couldn't even talk to each other.
The witches' chanting creeped Jenna out, but the end result had to have been better than looking at Alaric and knowing the person in his body wasn't him. From the sound of it, Klaus would soon get his real body back and Alaric would be free. At least Jenna could rest easy knowing he would be fine.
That still didn't make it any easier for her to listen to Alaric, the real Alaric, breathe sharply inward; say Elena's name in that confused, frightened way; and then hit the ground in a dead faint. Jenna was up on her feet like a shot, banging her fists on the air in front of the door. Her screams were completely silent, as were her sobs, and everything hurt. But nothing worked. And she was forced to stay in that bathroom, as long as it wasn't in use, until Alaric had woken up in the morning and left.
Jenna wanted nothing more than to go with him, but she could only scream silently as she heard him walk away and out of the apartment. Elena… her niece was going to be heartbroken when she found out what had happened to Jenna and that thought tore Jenna up even further. When would all of this end? When would things be okay again?