Chapter 23

The next morning Klaus got up early and fixed breakfast for Jeremy getting him fed and keeping him quiet while the others slept in.

"Where's mommy and daddy?" He asked as he ate some french toast.

"Asleep." Klaus said. "How about you tell me your favorite story in your book and I'll read it to you while everyone's still asleep?" The boy grinned at him and Klaus grinned back.

"I like the lonely huntsman," Jeremy said.

Klaus grinned and began to read that one.

VVVVVV

The lonely huntsman ran as fast as he could, past the White Oak forest before he stumbled upon a herd of deer. Readying his bow, with the precise aim of a skilled hunter, he let go of the string and a few deer were killed. As he took his kills back to his camp, he looked up at the starry sky and made a wish for him to find his perfect match.

He didn't care how long he had to wait.

VVVVVV

"...the end of that story." Klaus sighed.

"I think that one is you," Jeremy said.

"I think so too buddy." Klaus told him. "I think that's me."

"But it's not right because you found Caroline. You found your princess," Jeremy added.

Klaus had no idea how to explain to him that Caroline wasn't even in the storybook.

"Oh okay...it's fixed now..." Jeremy pronounced and sure enough there was a new page detailing how Klaus met Caroline and an illustration of the two of them together.

Klaus was staring at it in shock. Well, whoever is in control of this storybook-he was going to thank generously.

Klaus and Caroline weren't the only ones with new pages. Kol and Bonnie as well as Elijah and Elena got new pages also.

"I wonder if they show everything that's happened so far." He said as he flipped through it with glee.

It showed the progress of the characters in the book but nothing else. His mother, father and Finn were curiously absent from the book though almost everyone else in town was featured.

He had a raised eyebrow as he read how Elena and Elijah ended up going for coffee with a smirk before he saw that Caroline and Rebekah had helped them along.

"Now that's interesting." He was smirking at the pages.

"What have you discovered?" He looked to see Rebekah there.

"The reason why mother and father are doing this." He looked and patted the seat next to him as he had Jeremy in his lap. "The monster they wanted Kol to become isn't in here-which is a godsend, I should say-but they believe that Elena…they hate her and when she told off our mother who asked to use her blood, when she refused her she sent out a kill order to people who wouldn't question her."

"There's got to be more." Rebekah whispered. "Otherwise our mother has lost her freaking mind."

"They believe that she's a…" he ended up whispering to Rebekah. "Scarlet woman. I know that I can't remember anything about that time but in the stories-she's only ever had eyes for Elijah. She gave him her innocence on their wedding night! Until that point she was still pure!"

"Who did Mother send? We have to find them before they find Elena!" Rebekah worried. "Elijah is so happy now that he has her."

He sighed.

"The first person she sent to kill Elena was Hayley-or as she was Andrea Labonair- but because they bonded...there was an order out on her." He looked and sighed. "She has Finn after Elena now. If he succeeds in killing her and Hayley..."

Rebekah put a hand to her mouth as she felt sick.

"What can we do Nik?" Rebekah worried. "Our own mother seeks to betray us - to take away all of our future happiness..."

He ran a hand over his face.

"I still say we use her magic and kill her with it but at the same time...what would that make us? Two wrongs don't make a right in that case but that's the only thing that I can think of." He shook his head. "Wait till our siblings are awake and we ask them them what we should do."

"Come help me make pecan sticky rolls Nik?" Rebekah entreated and it was as though a thousand years melted away. Soon they were in the kitchen laughing and playing as they fixed pecan sticky rolls for everyone else.

Jeremy was watching them and wanted to help but because he was too short, he was relegated to watching them because they were afraid of him getting burned in the kitchen with the oven being on.

"We need to upgrade the kitchen for them." Klaus told Rebekah as the oven looked to be a few years old. "I think it will be a good 'welcome back to the family' gift."

"What do you think about Kol and Bonnie?" Rebekah whispered. "I mean obviously Elijah and Elena are already together and family..."

"I think she's good for him and she's the key to him retaining his humanity." Klaus admitted.

"I think they're cute together," Rebekah grinned, "and I think Kol's falling hard for her. She's already smitten with him! You can hear it in her heartbeat."

He laughed as he realized the truth to that statement. He had witnessed it last night before going to bed. Looking over at his nephew who was eating a pecan with a smile on his face, Klaus had to grin.

"There are new stories in the book-I read the new Elena and Elijah one." He began chuckling. "You and Caroline make a great team! Setting them up for a coffee date was genius."

"We are good aren't we?" Rebekah grinned. "So you're saying there is stuff in the book that wasn't there before? Is there anything else new?"

"Apparently how I met Caroline, Kol and Bonnie, things like that." Klaus told her.

"Caroline is part of your story?" Rebekah's eyes grew large with delight as they put the rolls in the oven.

"It's one of the new stories." He explained to her. "But essentially, yes, she's a part of mine but mother, father and Finn weren't in the book and have their own stories."

"So there's no way of using the book to know what they're up to," Rebekah sighed.

"None whatsoever." He agreed. "Though if we can keep finding ways of playing interference with them to stop them from going after certain couples...well, that can help us figure out what their next plan is, especially if we annoy them enough."

"You want to annoy our parents and elder brother?" She asked.

"Definitely." He smirked.

"I'm in," Rebekah grinned, "my mate is safe..."

"Your mate is in Georgia still." He told her. "Though Stefan said that he would like to come back. What do you want me to tell him as you still haven't texted him."

Rebekah blushed.

"I didn't think he'd be interested in his best friend's little sister." She whispered.

"He's interested in you," Klaus grinned. Rebekah blushed deeply.

"I like him Nik - a lot," Rebekah said.

"How about you send a text his way?" He asked slyly. "I'm sure that he'd be happy to hear from you."

"What do I say? Does he know?" Rebekah asked.

"He doesn't know so just say hi and ask him how his training is going." Klaus told her with a smirk. As Rebekah raced off to do that, Jeremy looked up at him. He hadn't been paying attention as he was eating most of the pecans that they had.

"Where's Auntie Bekah going?" He asked.

"She's going to text her prince," Klaus tried to explain.

"Really?" He looked wide eyed. "Does he like her like daddy likes mommy? Like Uncle Kol likes Aunt Bonnie? Like you like Miss Caroline?"

Klaus choked.