???????, klaus mikaelson

Chapter-Ten
trouble's coming

❝HE'S OUT FOR BLOOD.❞

Walking into the Salvatore Boarding House felt... weird.

Not bad, necessarily. Just unsettling. Like stepping straight into the pages of a gothic novel━the kind with brooding men, ominous staircases, and an eerie sense that something deeply cursed lurked beneath the floorboards. Which, honestly, wasn't far from the truth. Noah supposed that made sense. The people who lived here were vampires, after all. Might as well commit to the aesthetic. She had never stepped foot in this house before. Never had a reason to. That had always been Elena's thing━playing house with her undead boyfriend and his equally undead, more sarcastic brother. But now, thanks to this morning's phone call, Noah found herself dragged into their world, standing in the middle of their grand, overly dramatic vampire lair.

This morning. Right.

Neither of the sisters had been particularly thrilled when the call came.

The first time, Elena ignored it. The second time, Noah rolled her eyes. And then it rang again. And again. Until finally, with an exaggerated sigh, Noah had thrown a pillow at Elena's head and told her to pick up the damn phone and see what her Edward Cullen wannabe boyfriend wanted. Elena had glared but answered anyway. Then, a few minutes later, she was yanking Noah off the couch, claiming it was "important" and "not up for debate."

And now, here they were.

Noah wasn't supposed to be here.

Not just in the this-house-creeps-me-out way, but in the why-is-this-my-problem way. Two months ago, she had taken a two-week leave from work. Two weeks. Reasonable, responsible, perfectly acceptable. And yet, somehow, between Welcome Home, Noah! and Surprise! You've Been Kidnapped!, her leave had stretched into something much longer. Somewhere along the way, she had given up on pretending she was going back anytime soon and officially switched to working from home.

But even that was on pause now.

Because of course it was.

It had been exactly forty-eight hours since she and Elena got out of that nightmare, and frankly, Noah had not planned on spending her recovery time here━standing in the grand, overpriced, overly broody house of the very people who seemed to attract danger like it was their full-time job.

But Stefan had called. Again. And again. Until Noah gave up arguing and let herself be dragged along.

The older Gilbert was moving painfully slow. So slow, in fact, that Elena had resorted to tugging her sleeve like an impatient mother dragging her very uncooperative child toward the school gates. "Noah, seriously," she muttered. "Move."

Noah scowled. "I am moving."

"Like a tortoise."

"A very graceful tortoise," Noah corrected, dragging her feet toward the ridiculously dramatic entrance of the Salvatore Boarding House. "And anyway, I don't see why I have to be here. I am not emotionally invested in whatever crisis your undead boyfriend━"

"Not the time."

Elena knocked on the door before Noah could finish her sentence. Two seconds later, the door swung open, revealing a perpetually amused Damon Salvatore. "Hello, Elena," he greeted smoothly. Then his eyes flicked to Noah, his smirk widening. "And... new Gilbert."