𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐃𝐀𝐘

𝐞𝐩 𝟎𝟏

              𝐴𝐷𝐸𝐿𝐴𝐼𝐷𝐸 frowned as she made her way into the bar in Tulley. It was the bar they had been told about by the two girls in Tennessee. The plan was for her to go in first and distract Ray Sutton. Hence the reason she was wearing a dress. It wasn't revealing or short as Klaus didn't want her to go full out with the whole flirting business, but it was a pretty dress and made her look stunning. In Klaus's eyes it did anyway. She had her black leather jacket on and a pair of high heeled boots she had seen over the summer and had forced Klaus to get her. That was one good thing about this whole experience. She had been able to use Klaus's credit card as if it were her own. He spoiled her in a sense. This however, was not how she had expected her eighteenth birthday to go like. Not even one Happy Birthday. She saw who she assumed was Ray sat at the bar, and made her way over to stand beside him, ordering a drink while trying to catch his attention.

"On me." She heard the guy beside her say. She turned and smiled at the guy who she assumed was Ray, batting her eyelashes flirtatiously.
"Thanks." She grinned.

"No problem. Now, what's a beautiful girl like you doing in a place like this?" She blushed slightly at the beautiful part. She wasn't used to people calling her that.

"Ray? Ray Sutton?" Just as Adelaide was about to respond she felt Klaus's presence behind her. She smirked as he snaked an arm around her waist. It hadn't been his queue to greet Ray yet.

"Who wants to know?" Ray glanced down towards Klaus's arm around Adelaide's waist before looking straight forward.

"I've been looking everywhere for you." Klaus chuckled. "We started in Florida, Pensacola. I met a young chap there who you worked with before you moved to Memphis. Now he directed me to two lovely young women. And they led me here. To you." Klaus explained as if they were found memories of his. Some of them were... when he got to spend time personally with Adelaide without a brooding Stefan following. He had loved taking her shopping in Florida - seeing her face light up when he offered her his credit card. Adelaide didn't need Klaus's money. She hadn't ever been a split brat and she still didn't think herself as one now, but she was going to take advantage of the money Klaus had offered her because he was a pain in her ass that she just couldn't get out of her head.

"I think I'll be going." Ray began to stand up, knowing it was best to leave.

"Not so fast, mate." Klaus stopped him, a hand on his chest as he also got up. "You only just got here. Now your type are very hard to come by." Klaus told him, talking about werewolves. Ray tried to turn the other way but Stefan appeared, stopping him. Adelaide sat at the bar, facing forward as she downed the drink in front of her.

"Vampires." Ray caught on.

"You're swift swift, Ray." Klaus smirked. "Yes, my friend here is a vampire. He's compelled everyone in the bar, so don't look to them for any help. I, however... am something else. A different kind of monster." Adelaide furrowed her eyebrows at Klaus's last sentence. Sure, some people would describe him as a ruthless monster, and in some aspect he was, but over the summer she had grown to realise that he did have a soft side too. "I've got some vampire, I've got some wolf." Ray had a look of fear spread across his face.

"A... what?"

"A hybrid, Ray. I'm both. You see, I want to create more of me. Now, you being the first werewolf I've come across in many a moon, pun intended, Ray," he let out a small laugh, "I need you to direct me to your pack." Adelaide handed Klaus a beer, which he took with a small smile sent her way. She nodded, ordering herself another drink before reaching over and just taking the bottle instead. Bourbon. It reminded her of Damon.
"You can't compel me, it won't work." He shook his head, not willing to give away his pack's location. He was going to end up dead then.

"I need a scotch on the rocks, please." Stefan then asked the bartended. "I'll tell you what Ray. We're going to play a little drinking game." Adelaide looked at Stefan, slightly curious as to what his idea was - but she was sure she wasn't going to like the outcome nevertheless. "Something I like to call truth or wolfsbane." Stefan unravelled a cloth he held in his hand, a first full of the plant that harmed werewolves.

"Oh, this is going to be fun, Ray." Klaus smirked at Stefan's method to getting the werewolf to talk.

Adelaide sighed before ordering a burger and fries.

· • ☽ • ·

Adelaide was on her second bottle of bourbon by now, and was not tipsy in the slightest, meaning whatever supernatural creature she was either couldn't get drunk or it took a lot of alcohol for her to get drunk, which was kind of a buzz kill seen as though she was bored out of her mind and spending her birthday watching Klaus and Stefan torture a werewolf. She made her way over to Klaus with a plate of fries, sitting down beside the hybrid. Ray had been chained up in front of the dart board and for the past hour Stefan had been throwing darts laced with wolfsbane at him. She watched as the Salvatore stirred the wolfsbane into the scotch, making it go a slightly green colour. She tried to block out the werewolves grunts of pain as darts littered his body. Stefan threw another dart, landing it right in Ray's shoulder, which sent made him yell out in more pain, panting heavily.

"Ray, you can end this right now." Stefan called to him, as Klaus smirked. "Just tell me where your pack gathers for the full moon." Stefan stood in front of him, taking one of the darts out.

"I can't."

"I know, I know, you live bye a code and all that. But see, he's not going to let me stop until you tell me. And I do whatever he says. That's the way it goes around here." Klaus seemed impressed with Stefan's comment. Adelaide watched as a woman walked up to Klaus.

"Hello Mr. Klaus." He put his feet back down on the ground after having resting them on the table, as he leaned forward so she could whisper in his ear. "I have some information for you." Adelaide and Stefan both listened in, distracting Stefan from Ray and Adelaide from her food at the moment. "You told me to tell you if I saw anything. I saw that guy's brother, Damon, at the farmhouse." Adelaide sat back, her hands planted on the table as she shared a look with Stefan.

"Well, thank you, Claudine. You just tell your friends to keep up the good work with the neighbourhood watch, huh?" Klaus compelled her, standing way too close for Adelaide's liking.
"My brother's still on our trail?" Stefan asked Klaus as he made his way over to the now standing hybrid.

"He's getting closer. I'm going to have to deal with that." Adelaide looked up at Klaus, alarmed.

"Klaus, don't." She shot at the hybrid, getting defensive of Damon.

"No, no, no. Let me handle it." Stefan quickly stopped him, speaking quickly.

"Why should I let you leave?"

"Cause you know I'll come back." Stefan shrugged.

"Do I?" Klaus raised his eyebrows.

"You saved my brother's life. I'm in your service." Stefan didn't show any emotion.

"Oh, it all sounds so tedious and indentured. Aren't you having the least bit of fun?" Klaus asked, turning back to gesture to Ray and the wolfsbane coated darts, while chuckling.
"I'll make sure that my brother doesn't bother us anymore." Stefan just said before walking past Klaus, who let him go. Adelaide watched as he left, a heavy sigh escaping her lips.

"What's a matter love?" Klaus walked back over to her.

"Oh, nothing." She rolled her eyes, sarcasm dripping from her mouth.

"Now that's a lie." She looked up at him with a 'seriously' look.

"So what? Why should you care?"

"Believe or not Adelaide, I don't hate you." Klaus chose his words wisely, knowing that saying words such as 'care' could be then used against him. Adelaide could be used against him, and he didn't want her to be put in a position where she could get hurt.

"Wow, what an honour." She teased the hybrid, a smile lifting onto her face.

"It got you to smile, didn't it?" They sat in silence before Klaus spoke up again. "I have something for you." Her head quickly turned to him, shocked.

"What?"
"And I thought you had supernatural hearing." He smiled as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a flat but long black box. "I believe a Happy Birthday is in need." Adelaide felt her eyes go wide.

"How did you know?" She asked, shocked he knew that today was her birthday.

"I have my ways, love." He smiled at her before handing the box out for her to take.

"Klaus, you didn't have to buy me anything." She told him, hesitant to take the box.

"I didn't." She slowly took the box out of his grip before taking the top off and putting it behind the bottom part of the box. She unravelled the paper on top to see a beautiful necklace.

"Klaus-" she breathed, not knowing what to say. She sent him a smile as she took the necklace out of the box, letting the thin gold chain dangle from her finger as she lifted it up to the light. It was smile but beautiful. The chain was thin and a golden colour while a bright white diamond hung from the middle.

"It was my mothers. She's not around anymore so I thought it best to give it to someone who could wear it, instead of letting it gather dust."

"Thank you." Shocking him, she reached over and brought him in for a hug. He took a while to respond but as she began to pull away, feeling embarrassed and awkward, he wrapped his hands around her tiny waist. She pulled away before Klaus grabbed her hand which held the necklace slowly taking it from her. He turned her around gently as she moved her hair out of the way so he could clasp the necklace around her neck. She blushed as he turned her back around to face him, complimenting her.

"You look beautiful. Happy Birthday Adelaide."

· • ☽ • ·

"Okay, it's a three step process, Ray. This is step one." Klaus began to explain to the seriously injured werewolf who was now pinned down to a table. "I want you to drink from my wrist." Klaus instructed as he walked around the table.

"I already told you where to find the pack." That was true, Klaus and carried on with Stefan's methods, although he was a lot more violent in doing so and had eventually got Ray to tell them were his pack would be during the full moon. "What more do you want from me?" He gasped through the pain.

"Have you been listening to a word I've been saying, Ray? I have great plans for you." The knife Klaus was going to use to cut his wrist, was suddenly pressed up against Ray's throat, making him shrink back in fear. Klaus pulled away and slit his wrist open, so blood pooled out. He shoved it against Ray's mouth making the blood go down the werewolves throat. "He'll thank me later," Klaus chuckled looking at the compelled people watching them. "There we go, that a boy." Klaus took his wrist away when he noticed Stefan walking back into the bar. Adelaide looked up and followed Klaus's eye line as she noticed that it had gone silent.

"What are you going to do now?" Ray asked Klaus as Stefan stood beside the table.

"It's time for step two, Ray." Klaus then snapped his neck.

"You're back." He breathed out, focusing his attention of Stefan.

"Did you doubt me?" Adelaide was able to read Stefan like a child's book. She saw the look of guilt and remorse shining through his eyes, however hard he tried to conceal it.

"Not for a second. I knew you'd past the test. You still care for your brother, for your old life." Klaus recognised.

"Nah, I don't care about anything anymore." Stefan lied, smirking.

"You put on a good show, Stefan. I almost believe you." Adelaide watched Klaus wearily as he followed Stefan over to the bar. "Let's hope, for your brother's sake, he does." Klaus threatened. "You never stop caring about family, do you? But every time you feed, the blood makes it easier to let go." Adelaide listened to Klaus using her supernatural hearing, she glanced down at the table, fiddling with the diamond that hung from her neck with her fingers. It had shocked her that Klaus knew that today was her birthday and it shocked her even more when he had given her his mothers necklace. She got up and walked over to the two of them just as Klaus walked away, smirking. She sat down beside Stefan and brought him in for a hug. He wrapped his arms around her and rested his face in her shoulder. The Salvatore brothers had grown to love Adelaide like their own sister.

"Happy Birthday, Adelaide." He whispered to her. She smiled softly even though he couldn't see her.

"Go call Elena," she whispered back, trying to muffle her whisper in his shoulder so no one could read her lips or hear her, other than Stefan of course. "She loves you Stefan, don't forget that." Adelaide stood up, and patted his shoulder slightly, before making her way back over to Klaus, taking the drink in his hand and downing it - still not feeling drunk at all. 

· • ☽ • ·

⧫ 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝟐𝟑 // 𝟎𝟓 // 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟎 ⧫