Jeremy somehow confirmed Klaus's suspicions.

After the service, the entire group had been asked to meet them at the Boarding House, where Connor had been knocked out and placed in the cellar.

"Woah," said Jeremy when he poked his head in and saw him. "That dude has some nice ink."

"He has what?" said Maddy, not sure what the hell he was talking about.

Jeremy pointed at his arm. "His tattoo. I think it's really cool."

"What are you talking about?" asked Damon loudly. "He doesn't have a tattoo."

The younger Gilbert frowned. "Are you guys messing with me? How can you miss it? It's huge."

"There's no tattoo, Jer," said Elena awkwardly. "I have no idea what you're seeing, but..."

Klaus narrowed his eyes. "Jeremy, aren't you a bit of an artist?"

He nodded. "I mean, I sketch, I don't paint like you."

"Then draw the tattoo. In case it is not clear to you by now, you are the only one who can see it."

"Um... okay." He dashed off to get paper and a pencil.

"Why can Jeremy see this invisible tattoo?" asked Elena.

"Maybe because it's only visible to humans?" suggested Stefan.

"Not the case," piped up Jenna, who had been more than happy to join the fray when she learned there might be something new happening to distract her from her pain. "I can't see it."

Bonnie moved forward, taking Connor's arm and waving her hand over it. She muttered a few words. "Do you see it now?"

"No," said Maddy. "Do you?"

"I can. That's weird."

"Perhaps," suggested Klaus, "the witch who originally created them was a Bennett."

"Time out," said Damon. "Who's 'them?' Is this dude part of some creepy cult?"

Klaus didn't respond. Jeremy returned, and sat down in front of Connor, starting to draw.

"In the meantime," said the hybrid, "I must speak with my siblings. I shan't be long."

Maddy raised a brow at him, but he didn't explain anything even while noting her confusion.

"Hey Mads," said Damon, "think you can tell your boyfriend to be a bit more vocal?"

She shrugged. "I don't know what this is about. I don't think he's ready to tell us yet. Could be something dangerous. He made me promise not to kill this guy. Said we'd have problems if we did."

"Hold on," asked Caroline. "Does he mean like we, as a group, will have problems if we kill him, or you two will have a relationship problem if you kill him?"

"I think he meant us, as a group. Which makes me worry about who this guy really is."

Connor had woken up before Jeremy had finished drawing the tattoo. Damon kicked him into the wall, sending him back to sleep. At last, Jeremy held up two pieces of paper, showing off what he saw in Connor's arms. Strange branch-like ropes leading up toward his shoulder, though they stopped suddenly after his elbow, as if there was more to it, but he hadn't yet gone to the shop to get the rest done properly.

"That mark on the back of his hand," observed Tyler. "It's like the marks on the bullets."

Someone cleared their throat in the back, and the crowd parted to let Klaus through. Once he saw the tattoo, he let out a light sneer. "We have our work cut out for us," he said. "I will question him. The rest of you, leave."

"Excuse you," said Damon. "This isn't your house. You don't get to tell me to leave."

"No, mate, it isn't my house, but I happen to be the only one who knows a bloody thing about who this man is. I will handle it."

"Hey," said Maddy. "Let's not be rude. Nik, can't you just tell us what this is about?"

"If you wish to be present when I question him, then you can be. But you will need to tell the others."

"Okay," she said. "It's settled. Everyone else, go rest, we're going to babysit Connor." She waited until they were all gone to cross her arms, looking at Klaus reproachfully. "Damon's just starting to warm up to you, don't be rude. I know you're used to being in charge of everything but we try to work as a team here."

Klaus huffed. "Your brother is difficult."

"So is your sister."

Klaus drummed his fingers against the bench as he sat down beside her. "Tyler broke his sire bond."

Maddy's heart jumped. "What are you talking about?"

"You didn't know?"

"I knew that he contacted Bill Forbes with the idea that Bill could help him break the sire bond. But I had no idea he actually managed it. How do you know?"

"When I died, Bonnie placed me temporarily in his body. On the way in, I saw a few of his memories. I knew he'd broken it, somewhere in the Appalachian Mountains."

Maddy was impressed that Tyler wasn't dead. "And you're not going to kill him for it? Wait— let me rephrase. I don't want you to kill him, but I figure you would've done it as punishment."

"For starters, I can't quite kill him when he hosted me involuntarily, thereby keeping me alive. Secondly... I knew you wouldn't forgive me for it."

"I appreciate you showing restraint. Tyler just wanted to be free, Nik, he accepted your blood willingly but he didn't want to be your servant. You did have the hybrids doing renovations on the house initially... even though they deserved more freedom than that."

He sighed. "I know. My hybrids seem more eager to help me now that they have an option to be away from Mystic Falls. I don't like it, in all honesty... I'd rather they be here. But you insisted I loosen the leash, so I did."

"Thank you for that."

Connor gave a cough, and sat up. Klaus wiggled his fingers at him in greeting, and the man leaned back into the far wall.

"I'm not telling you anything," muttered Connor. "And if you think that if you kill me, it's gonna be over... know that there's another waiting to take my place."

Maddy raised a brow. "Did you not hear him," she gestured to Klaus, "saying that you're to be kept alive?"

Connor remained silent.

"Let's cut to the chase," said Klaus. "You're one of the Five. Congratulations, you're now worth more to me alive than dead."

The man was confused. "One of the Five?"

Klaus seemed intrigued by the fact that he didn't recognize this terminology. "You don't know your own history? Hmm. Let's just say it's made you the most well-protected vampire hunter in town."

He grabbed Connor's head, slamming it against the wall and knocking him out yet again.

"The Brotherhood of the Five," Klaus began, sitting back with Maddy, "was a group of highly skilled vampire hunters. We crossed paths with them in Italy, in the twelfth century. Specifically in Tuscany, 1114. My siblings and I had followed the Normans as they conquered the South. Feeding, turning people as we went. But with the bloodshed came exposure. Word of the Originals spread, and the Hunters made themselves known. My sister even fell in love with one of them. He told her all his secrets."

"Woah," said Maddy. "These hunters have been around for that long? That's... nine hundred years."

"Apparently," said Klaus. "Though our friend here is the first I've seen since then. Kind of makes you wonder what they've been up to all these years." He pressed his fingertips together. "I need to speak to Rebekah. She will know more. But to do that..." he checked the time and rolled his eyes. "We'll need to wait until tomorrow, after she finishes school. I don't see why my little sister enjoys pretending she's a high school student."

"That's right, school," muttered Maddy. "They all have school. It must be so easy to forget about that when one lives in this world. For the rest of them, at least, everyone who still aims to graduate. What do we do until then?"

"Wait here, monitor him. I suppose it means we'll be spending the night."

"We can stay in my room if you want. Unless you literally mean... wait here. On this bench."

"It's safest if we remain in this room where we can react quickest if he tries anything. Besides, even if we do spend every night sleeping beside one another, I doubt your brothers will be too happy to know we're in your bed together."

"Let me get us something to eat and drink," she said, getting up. "And some blankets. No reason we shouldn't be comfortable."

They did what they could with the space they had. Bundled in blankets and each with a few blood bags and bottles of scotch, they chatted all through the night.

"Hey," said Elena, coming down to check on them before she went to school. "You two alright here?"

"We'll be fine," said Maddy. "Are you ready to go back to school? You can compel yourself a week off if you need more time."

"I'm ready. Stefan, Caroline, and Tyler will be there to make sure I don't lose control. I'll be okay, Maddy." She smiled slightly. "Is um... Rebekah going to be there?"

Klaus realized she was asking him and not Maddy. "I would think so."

"Hang on," said Maddy, getting to her feet. "Elena, if you don't want to face her yet..."

"I can handle it," said Elena confidently. "She killed me, but... a part of me understands the pain she felt, in that moment. She lost one member of her family and was scared she'd lose more, and her own life as well. I can't forgive her, but I can definitely sit through one class with her and not lose my mind."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure, Maddy. I'll see you later."

Maddy watched her go, and sank back down beside Klaus.

"Kol's going to be busy today," said Klaus, holding up his phone. "Apparently he's taking Bonnie to see her grandmother's old colleague at Whitmore College. Meanwhile, Elijah's already beginning to prepare for our move to New Orleans."

"You told your siblings about this guy, right?"

"I told them there was a suspected Hunter of the Five. I gave no other details. Rebekah may come and see him later."

She arrived at three-thirty, narrowing her eyes when she saw Connor. "Is this a trick? How do you know he's one of the Five? Where's his bloody tattoo?"

"Oh, the tattoos aren't visible on this lot like they were on the last," said Klaus. "Maddy here would like to hear more about Alexander. He was a nice chap, foregoing the obvious issues."

Rebekah looked uncomfortable with this topic of conversation. "Hang on," said Maddy cautiously, "if she doesn't want to talk about it..."

"Love, it's important you understand the full extent of the background here."

"Well, yeah, but—"

"It's alright," said Rebekah quickly. "Continue, Nik. You're obviously going to want to tell the story."

He smirked. "Alexander was looking for creatures of the night, which is why we felt quite safe around him wearing our daylight rings. He informed us that he had the ultimate weapon, one which no vampire could survive."

"Not just any weapon," muttered Rebekah.

"Rebekah, love," said Klaus, "don't get ahead of the story."

"In order to find this weapon," mentioned the blonde, "we need to solve the puzzle. Which seems to have disappeared. The tattoo is incomplete."

"Why does that matter?" asked Maddy.

"It's a map, leading us to its treasure." He nudged Connor, who was pretending he was still asleep. "Tell me, mate, why don't you have the full tattoo?"

"I don't know," he muttered.

"Now that's a fib. You know something. Tell me, or I'll go into your mind."

Connor huffed. "Years ago, I met someone with the mark. Claimed he had this intense desire to kill vampires, like it was ingrained in his DNA. He told me that if I could see the mark, I was a potential."

"A potential hunter," mused Maddy. "That's why Jeremy can see the mark. Who was this other Hunter?"

Connor shrugged. "Just a guy I served in Iraq with. I lost track of him and then one day, the tattoo just showed up on me. It started on my hand, but the more vampires I killed the more it spread like... like it was trying to tell me something. I just don't know what."

Klaus seemed satisfied with this. "My sister's suitor was unwilling to tell us anything about his tattoo, despite it being complete. Rebekah, however, was more than willing to investigate. That was how we first came across the silver daggers and white oak ash. My sister's boyfriend threw a slumber party that night. He and his brothers put us all down in our sleep. Elijah, Kol, Finn, and me."

"Nik," said Maddy, noticing the way Rebekah stared at the floor. "She doesn't want to—"

"How was I supposed to know?" interrupted Rebekah, glaring at Klaus.

"Wait," said Maddy, "I'm confused about how they even daggered you in the first place. Don't the daggers not work on you?"

He smirked. "They don't. I killed all five of them. Then, I marched right to Rebekah to inquire about her findings, after I undaggered her, of course. Go ahead, Rebekah. Tell her. Tell her what the hunter told you the tattoo leads to. What is this great weapon that could bring about the end of the vampire species?"

"A cure," said Rebekah quietly. "He said there was a cure."

Maddy frowned. "A cure to what? Vampirism?" Rebekah nodded. "But then, if there was a cure, wouldn't you all have found it already?"

"When the Hunters drew their final breath that night," explained Klaus, "the marks disappeared from their body. The map was gone, the Brotherhood of the Five extinct. For nine hundred years, there was not a whisper of another hunter, until our friend here showed up in town."

Rebekah crossed her arms. "Well, now we have the map, what do we do next?"

"We don't do anything," said Klaus. "The map is useless without the tool to decipher it— the sword. We do not have that, and you can't be trusted, little sister. You'll be blabbing this secret to the first boy who calls you pretty." He faced Maddy, grinning as if what he was saying was funny. "I mean, it's pathetic, really, isn't it? How she continues to hand her heart to any man who shows her a hint of affection. You'd think she would have learned by now from the endless cycle of disappointment and deception."

Maddy slapped him across the face. Even Rebekah was shocked that she'd done it.

"Do you even hear yourself?" said Maddy in disbelief. "Do you realize what you're even saying to her? She made a mistake, it wasn't her fault! What did you say to me, when you found out Damon slut-shamed me? That's right, you said, 'Your brother is being a rude and selfish git and he ought to be dealt with.' It's hypocritical that you can be downright murderous hearing my brother say that to me, and yet, you'd do the same to your sister."

Rebekah seemed to stand taller, hearing this. "You never complained about me not ending the cycle, Nik. Because it meant I stayed with you and let you leech every moment of happiness from my life. You know," she told Maddy, "at least I fared better than Finn— Klaus left him daggered because he was tired of his judgment."

"No, Finn was a dullard," snapped Klaus. "He was more interesting lying in a box."

"Mind your tongue, he was your brother! And he is dead now! Don't disrespect him! You want the cure for Elena, don't you, Nik? So you can go back to mass producing your hybrids. You know what? You can shove your cure."

She stormed off, and Maddy started to gather the blankets to leave the room.

Klaus was shocked by the turn of events. "Wait a minute, she's made your life miserable, and now you're angry with me, and siding with her?"

"Yes, I am siding with her," said Maddy irritably. "How could you be so disrespectful to your own sister? Don't you ever stop to think that maybe the reason she loves so easily is because you've made her feel like she's unlovable? And that's why she grows flattered whenever someone starts to make her feel good? Because for a moment, she feels safe with someone else? Someone who doesn't threaten her with daggers the instant she starts to spread her wings just a bit? It sounds to me like you've been toward her the way Damon's been to me. It's wrong, Nik. Don't you dare treat her that way, she doesn't deserve it, no one does. Rebekah is my family now, too, even if she hates me. This relationship with us can't work if there isn't honesty, loyalty, and respect. To respect me properly, you first have to respect those around you. Those closest to you. How do I know you won't turn around and judge me the way you do her the instant I do something you don't like?"

"Love, I would never say such things to you..."

"Then why would you say them to her? We're both women. Both your family. I didn't even realize until now that she'd told me about this moment. Told me about what you did to her."

"We were in Tuscany for quite awhile," Rebekah had said when she had kidnapped Maddy with the intention of killing her to get back at Klaus. "My brother got around quite a bit then. He was with a different woman each day. Sometimes multiple in one day. That was how we came to learn about the daggers. During that time, he killed a man I loved. Granted, he betrayed us, but Nik was quite violent, leaving his body there for me to find. He yelled in my face, shook me with rage, thinking it was all my fault that we were attacked. That day, I imagined he might strike me. He's hit women before."

"I don't want to believe that you'd ever hurt me," said Maddy. "I want to believe that you're better than that. But this? I've never seen you be so rude to her before. I know that it was probably terrifying to think you all could have died that night, but you didn't. You're still here, and it's in the past. You can't change it. Don't keep holding it against her. If you're going to be this rude, I'd rather not have any part in it."

Klaus's heart dropped into his stomach. "Love," he said, trying to rush after her. "Love, don't go—"

"I just need to be somewhere else right now," she muttered. "I'll be back later."

Had she been blind to it before? Or had it genuinely not happened in her presence? She couldn't remember. All she knew was that she needed to put her foot down a lot harder. She had a wild thought of what kind of father Klaus would have been if they'd been able to have children together. If they'd had daughters, would he be just as controlling and misogynistic with them?

"You defended me."

She turned, seeing Rebekah standing behind her as she entered her room. "Yeah," she murmured. "I didn't like what he said, it was mean. I'm sorry about that. I don't recall seeing him being like that with you."

"He's careful about it. You're precious to him and he knows that as loyal as you are, there are points where he might take it too far and lose you. He's possessive... my brother. He'd do anything to keep you around. It's why he dotes on you so much."

"I thought he did what I asked of him because he knew it was the right thing to do. There's some good in him, there has to be."

"I didn't believe that before. But now... perhaps yes. There may still be a shred of good in my brother. You help him see other ways of approaching a situation. Where he thinks to respond with only violence, you keep him considering who he hurts. It's a start."

Maddy beckoned her into the bathroom, and turned on the shower and the sink tap to keep Klaus from overhearing anything. "He wanted you present because you apparently know something he doesn't. What is it?"

"One question first," said Rebekah. "Why do you want the cure?"

"For Elena and Meredith. I can't even face Meredith because I'm so ashamed of what I did to her. If there's a way to undo it... to allow both of them to be human again... I want to have it. I like the idea of Elena being a vampire, I really do... it means I would get to have my best friend forever. It means Elijah would have her forever, too. But it's not what she wanted. And if there's a way to undo it... I want to get it for her. I want there to be an option for her to undo this before she inevitably loses control and kills someone."

Rebekah sighed. "I really did believe Alex when he said he loved me. He promised we'd be married. We even picked out a church. San Vittore in Brienno. I buried him. Even after everything. I laid him to rest, with his sword, in the place where we were to be married." She bit her lip. "Before this, I would have called in my favor. The one you owe me. I would have asked you to get the cure for me, no matter what it took. But... I suppose I'll have to work with you, so that we can all share it. Go on. Tell Nik where it is and go with him to fetch it. I'll tell everyone else what they need to know."

"Are you sure?" she asked. "Rebekah... what if it doesn't go your way and you can't get the cure?"

"Then... I don't get the cure."

"But you obviously want it."

"In this family, one cannot always have what they want. Just go and tell Nik. Before I change my mind and kill you."

Maddy made a face and quickly rushed down to where Klaus was. She dragged him out of the house, taking him to her car and beginning to drive them to the airport. On the way, she explained to him what Rebekah had told her, which led him to make a phone call to schedule a private jet that would take them to Italy.

"You remain cross with me," he noticed, when she sat on a completely different aisle of the plane, toying with the earbuds they'd given her.

"I can't be with someone who doesn't respect me," she hummed. "I know I'm nowhere near as strong as you, but I have to be your partner, Nik. Your equal. You can't see me as a toy you can wind up whenever you wish. You can't see me as being beneath you, someone you can control."

"I don't see you that way, love, I swear it."

"But you see your sister that way. I get it, she's a brat, maybe she makes bad decisions sometimes, all younger siblings do it. Even we make mistakes. But it doesn't give anyone the right to say such horrid things. You can't keep ruining her relationships and claiming it's to protect her. You're just hurting her more. You make her think she's destined to be alone and unhappy unless she remains by your side. There must be someone out there who's good enough for her. Someone who will share her dreams and treat her like the queen she is. But she can't find them if you keep criticizing her and holding her back."

"She fancies that commoner, Matt," muttered Klaus, spinning his glass of airplane champagne in his hand. "My sister has always wished she could become human again. She wanted to have children, to grow old. Perhaps he's the one for her. If he ever forgives her for killing his friend."

"It's up to them. Don't get involved unless you hear that Matt is somehow hurting her. She's a grown up, Nik. I know she's your baby sister but she needs space to do what she wants, no matter the consequences. Be there for her when she needs it but don't hold her back. You can't respect me while you disrespect her. You need to value our strengths as women just as you'd value the strengths of any man. We're clever, we care, and there's nothing wrong with that. Not everyone needs to be an unfeeling mastermind to survive in this world. Being emotional is okay. You're allowed to be emotional, Nik. I know that Mikael made you feel that being emotional was too feminine, and that being emotional made you weak. But that simply isn't true. It's normal and it's good and I will love you even if you break down. I'll be there to help you back up. But the truth is, I won't be able to love you if I feel that at any moment, you'll say something to me like you did to Rebekah."

Though his lip trembled and his hand shook with the shame of having to admit that he did something wrong, he brought out his phone after making sure calls were allowed. Maddy watched proudly as he dialed Rebekah's number, and when she answered, he said, "Sister, I'm calling to apologize."

A/N: Happy 400 pages! Comment for more :) If you have any questions please let me know, I love answering them!!