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"Sorry I'm late." Klaus said, wondering if they would notice that someone else was riding Alaric's meat suit. He expected some agitation, his little trick with the Compelled girl dropping his name was supposed to add some fun and spice things up.
But they barely noticed him, too busy with their argument.
"I'm going, she might be in danger Stefan and I can't just let it be."
"We can't protect you if you don't even stay on our home turf, Klaus has his ears everywhere the minute you reach New York-"
"After months, we finally found her, I can't just let it be." Elena said and Klaus was annoyed. He felt distinctly out of the loop and didn't like it at all. "Stefan, there's every possibility in the world that I might not live to see the next week, consider it my final request."
"Am I the only one confused?" Klaus asked in Alaric's well-meaning, even toned voice and the quibbling couple turned to him.
"We found her." The doppelgänger said vibrating with excitement.
"Her who?"
"Eileen, Ric, we found my twin sister!" A twin? Katherine and Isobel forgot to mention that. But he'd been in the town for a while now and heard nothing about any runaway twin. What a pity, even the slightest increase in leverage was good."She's in New York, we found her and she's...she's a doppelgänger too!"
Two doppelgängers. That took backup plan to a whole different level. Elena Gilbert might have been protected by her loving Vampires but a doppelgänger who didn't even know what she was, what the supernatural was, completely defenceless… All those years of suffering and Klaus couldn't believe his luck.
What was the saying? Oh yes, when it rains, it pours. Katerina in his possession, his interfering brother held captive, gullible wolves and vampires ripe for the picking and two doppelgängers. The very stars must be aligned for this.
He could delay his plans for the party a little bit for this.
"What are we waiting for? Let's go find your sister."
And the look of relief and gratitude on the doppelgänger's face would fuel many a future laughing fit.
When he first laid eyes on Eileen Henri, Elena's twin and another Petrova doppelgänger, Stefan almost didn't recognise her. It was ridiculous given that she looked just like Elena and Katherine. More lean and her cheeks didn't hold quite the young look as Elena's did but essentially the same.
And yet, so very different.
She looked taller than Elena because of the ramrod straight way she stood, her chin high and proud where Elena tilted hers a bit down. She walked with a dancer's grace, even the way she put her feet down on the ground was so violently different from Elena.
And just as he was struck by the differences between the twins, he was struck by the similarities between Elena and Katherine. Under no circumstance could he imagine Katherine successfully imitating this doppelgänger, it would be obvious even from a distance.
"That's interesting." Alaric said and Stefan looked at the older man. He had been acting a bit strangely, perhaps because Jenna and he were on the outs. While Kat-Elena paced the floor in the coffee shop they were in, waiting for her sister to finish talking to her friend so they could finally meet, Damon, Alaric and he were looking outside carefully observing the girl.
When her eyes met theirs through the glass Stefan was again struck by how different they seemed to those of Katherine and Elena, the slightest arch in the brow making her seem skeptical and distant. Like she was suspicious of them. And they hadn't even begun to introduce themselves, let alone explain about vampires and werewolves and doppelgangers yet.
"You must be Elena," she said politely, a slight smile on her face as she reached a hand out for Elena to shake. When Elena threw herself at her sister engulfing her in a hug instead, Stefan winced on behalf of the girl, feeling her discomfort in the awkward pats she gave Elena.
It was almost comical.
Almost.
"I can't believe it, this is amazing," Elena pulled back from the hug to look at Eileen carefully, "You look just like me!"
And again Stefan winced. His girlfriend was not making the best of impressions on her sister.
"Right. I'm Eileen Henri and you all are-?"
"Stefan, I'm Elena's boyfriend."
"Damon Salvatore, Stefan's older brother." Damon purred throwing an arm around him and Stefan was hard pressed not to throw it off.
"Alaric Saltzman, Elena's history teacher and her aunt's ex-boyfriend."
The awkward smile on Eileen's face turned even more remote. "Of course you are."
"We need to talk," Elena said seriously and her sister looked at her in confusion.
"Well yes, I assumed that's why we're meeting in a cafe." Eileen said it with complete honesty, like she couldn't imagine going to a cafe for any other reason
"No, I...not here. There's no privacy here."
"Right...I know a place."
They ended up in an empty dance studio and Stefan didn't miss the way Eileen deliberately looked up, as if startled, before entering the place. It was a move that ensured that when they all turned to see what had caught her attention their faces were caught on the CCTV cameras at the door.
Clever girl.
"So, what did you want to tell me?"
"Eileen," Elena said gravely. "Do you believe in vampires?"
"You're not trying to make me join some Dracula worshipping cult, right? Because if Gavin put you up to this-" Damon reacted quickly, showing her his vamped out face and she stopped mid-sentence, looking at his brother's face with surprised eyes. "Well, that's interesting. I think you'd better start at the beginning."
And Elena told the girl everything. Everything about vampires and werewolves, everything about Klaus and the curse and witches and Originals and doppelgängers, everything.
"So, a human doppelgänger has to be sacrificed to break the curse."
"Yes." Elena exhaled heavily. Stefan understood where his girlfriend was coming from, he too was very glad that Eileen hadn't run away screaming or calling them liars.
"And you and I, we're both doppelgängers, are we?"
"Yes, exactly."
"It doesn't need to be you, it could just as easily be me." By then even Elena had caught on to the thoughtful, calculating tone to her twin's voice. "And what if I was to volunteer to sacrifice myself in your place? Would that make things easier?"
A shocked silence followed her statement. None of them were expecting that.
"Eileen, you'd have to be sacrificed, as in killed!"
"Yes, I understood that. And in the words of Katniss, I volunteer."
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