Katherine is a vampire.
While Rebekah has always thought Elena more of a friend, they're kind of a package deal, and she wouldn't have wished this fate on either of them. For a moment she just stands there, hand on her hip, looking confident as ever.
"Kathy?" Stefan asks, taking a step forward, but Rebekah reaches over and grabs his arm.
"I have a message," Katherine says, looking only at Stefan. "From Kenneth. He says, 'we're going to have so much fun together.'"
She's gone in a blink, leaving them both stunned.
"Elena," Stefan mutters, breaking the moment. "Oh god, what are we going to tell Elena?"
She doesn't know what to say, only reaches for his hand and finds it shaking.
"It's my fault," he goes on, still staring at the spot where she stood. "If I hadn't asked-"
"She'd be dead," Rebekah finishes.
"Isn't she now?"
That she has no answer for.
/\
The dream shakes her awake, ever fading visions of a life not lived, eyes opening to a blur of white cotton.
"Bad dream?"
"Mmm," she mumbles onto his chest, open palm sliding up his side, trying to snuggle her way back to sleep.
A second later she bolts upright from the bed, halfway across the room before turning back to him.
"Kenneth," she says glaring.
"Morning sunshine," he replies with an easy grin.
"What are you doing here?" She asks. "Didn't think I'd see you again so soon after running away that night on the porch."
"Now is that anyway to say hello?" He replies with a pout. "Manners."
For a moment she considers the options. All possible escape routes are cut off by the simple fact that he's faster than her. Same for attempting to grab a weapon. She doesn't move as he rises from the bed, nosing around the room, and idly poking at her things.
"Tell me what you're doing here," she reiterates. "Please."
"That's more like it," he replies, fingers running along the spines of her books. "Maybe I missed you."
"I find that hard to believe."
He comes to a stop a few feet away, hands clasped in front if him. "Don't be that way, Bekah."
"No," she says shaking her head. "Only Caroline calls me that."
"Not even your gentleman in wait?" He shoots back.
She only glares harder.
"I do understand the appeal, those devastatingly handsome features, how could you resist?"
"You came because of Stefan."
He taps a finger on his nose. "Too true. It's not every day you hear there's another doppelgänger running around. With your sister no less. My, my, how tawdry."
"It isn't like that."
"Oh no? If the other night told you anything, it's that old times are new again."
He moves closes enough to play with the ends of her hair, she stands frozen.
"You needn't worry about me, darling girl, I'd still destroy the sun and moon for you."
/\
There's a dead man on a flatbed truck.
Elena kneels on the pavement, tears streaming down her cheeks, mixing with the blood that stains her mouth. Bonnie stands a few feet away, too afraid to go near her friend, anguish and astonishment etched on her face. Stefan has no such hesitation, kneeling down and wrapping his arms around the dark-haired girl.
"No," Bonnie says. "You aren't, you can't be."
Elena looks up, the fear in her eyes striking Rebekah in a familiar way, that first kill a choice never you never had. Bonnie turns to Rebekah, the pain ripping her skull in two, collapsing to the ground and clutching wildly at her temples.
"Bonnie stop!" She can hear Stefan shout, sounding so far away.
"How many people Stefan?" Bonnie asks. "How many have to die so they can live?"
"She didn't do this! It's not her fault!"
"It's all their fault."
The world disappears in a growing orange glow, heat and pain consuming her, mouth opening to scream but no sound escapes. One hundred and forty-five years and she could never see the end until this moment. Then suddenly a reprieve, all the fire and agony gone in an instant.
Eyes open to see Stefan with his arms around Bonnie, breaking her concentration, Elena frozen in the same spot watching it all unfold.
"Why did you stop me?"
"You were going to kill her!"
Rebekah tries to push herself up, stumbles, and tries again. Stefan lets Bonnie go, moves over to her, grabbing the crook of her elbow to hold her steady.
"Elena," she says, walking over to her and offering a hand. "Come with me."
/
The girl doesn't say a word, only stares blankly at the blood stained reflection in the mirror, while Rebekah grabs handfuls of paper towel trying to wipe away the mess as best she can.
"Am I dead?" Elena asks softly.
Rebekah gets more water, dabs more and more across her chin.
"In a way, yes."
"I killed that man," she says. "I didn't mean to. I didn't even think about it. He just smelled so good and I..." Letting out a shaky breath she looks as if she'll cry again. "How could this happen?"
Rebekah pulls her into a hug, chin on her shoulder, hands smoothing out her hair.
"Kenneth is a monster," she offers. "Bloodshed and mayhem are games to him."
Elena pulls back, a look of confusion on her face.
"Who's Kenneth?"
/\
"Seriously?" Caroline exclaims, throwing both her hands in the air. "Both of them?"
Rebekah sits on the couch next to Stefan, watching her sister pace about the room. Elena sits in one of the chairs, glass in hand, sipping the B Negative given to her from Caroline's private stock.
"It's not as if we have enough problems," she goes on. "What with our psycho ex running around. But now two baby fresh vamps, one living it up for all it's worth and the other looking like she wants to drown herself under the Wickery Bridge, to deal with?"
If Elena takes offense to the bridge comment, she doesn't show it, taking sip after sip and staring at the floor. Stefan's concern radiates off him in waves. She might be a little jealous were the circumstances any different, even if she's never had to worry about this particular Gilbert sister in the romantic sense, their closeness is something of a wonder.
"What's his plan?" Stefan asks. "I mean, there has to be more to it than just showing up and stirring the pot."
Rebekah casts a sidelong glance at him, resisting the urge to trace her finger along his jaw. They've hardly had a moment alone since Kenneth's return and the madness that ensued. Bumping her knee against his, she smiles softly when he takes her hand in his, thinking it rather funny just how easily he sits in a room full of vampires.
"Plan?" Caroline scoffs. "Kenneth is a kid with an ant farm. Shake it up and watch it go."
/\
There's a tomb underneath the ruins of an old church, where the bones of twelve dead vampires lay. One hundred and forty-five years ago, they tried to break a curse that bound them to the sun, and it failed catastrophically. Missing just one essential element.
"The doppelgänger," Stefan says quietly, his gaze weighing heavy with the revelation.
Sheila Bennett is full of surprises this afternoon, showing up on Rebekah's doorstep unannounced, sharing all this information out of the kindness of her heart. Caroline stands off to the side, arms folded and face blank against this new lore.
Both she and Rebekah know the church in question, remember it burning down mere nights before Kenneth turned them.
"Why are you telling us this?" Rebekah asks. "Why now?"
"Because there are signs too strong for me to ignore," Sheila explains. "Because despite no longer being human, the one who made you was still drawn to this place."
Drawn to this place, Rebekah thinks. 1864. A boy in a tattered uniform shows up on their doorstep, not knowing where he is, or how he got there. So charming. So persuasive.
"It's happening again," Caroline announces to the room. "Got your doppelgänger right there, Kenneth coming back, and all the vampires flocking here like it's freaking Mardi Gras."
"You're absolutely sure?" Rebekah asks, to which Sheila only gives a knowing smirk.
"Just because a witch dies, doesn't mean she runs out of things to say."
/\
"This is so stupid," Caroline mutters, trying to shake the cobwebs off her hand.
"It would be stupid not to look," Rebekah replies.
"Oh, I'm not questioning Sheila's intel," Caroline assures. "If she says some stones are down here, they're down here. We're going in blind, that's all. If this thing is as big as she said, we're not going to be the only ones scouring around."
"How long have you know her?"
"Met her in '67. So full of piss and vinegar. She was one Bennett witch you didn't want to mess with. Still isn't."
Rebekah casts a quick look behind her, making sure Stefan is still there. He is, just oddly quiet.
"Are you all right?"
He feigns a reassuring smile, difficult to see in the encroaching darkness, ever for her.
"I can feel something," he says. "Something calling me."
"Yeah," Caroline pipes up. "Tons of witchy hoodoo in this hole."
A few minutes later they find it, a door, seemingly out of place among the walls of rock and looks anything but welcoming. Stefan brushes past them, placing his palm flat against the surface.
"You're right Caroline," he says. "Others have been here."
"How do you know that?"
"They never made it in though," he continues as if she hadn't said anything, running his hand back and forth until a distinct click echoes throughout the cave.
Rebekah's instinct causes the hair on her neck to rise, wanting to reach out to him and keep that door from opening, but is too late when he pushes it inward.
"Don't follow me," he says suddenly.
"What?" She exclaims the same time as Caroline's "hell no."
"If you do," he continues. "You're not coming out."
He steps inside before either can stop him, both freezing at the entrance, unhappy about the circumstances but still willing to heed his warning.
Ten minutes pass and Rebekah hasn't moved from the doorway, occasionally calling after him and getting no response.
"You're going to drive yourself crazy," Caroline sighs. "You're driving me crazy."
"Forgive me for worrying," Rebekah fires back, still staring into the tomb. "It happens when you love someone."
"He's stronger than you think."
"Is that why you kissed him?"
Rebekah doesn't have to move her head to know how uncomfortable she's just made the space.
"I kissed Kenneth."
"Who you thought was Stefan."
"Are we really going to talk about this now?"
"If it were up to you we wouldn't talk about it at all."
"Duh."
"Caroline-"
"Fine. I'm kind of in love with him. Which you already know, by the way. You're just making me say it so you can have a reason to hate me again."
"I've never hated you," Rebekah sighs. "No matter how horrible you were to me."
"Yeah," Caroline clucks her tongue. "Sorry about that. Issues."
Rebekah shakes her head.
"You really have no idea how much I missed you. How much I wished that one day you'd just show up and it would be like it was. We can have that again, Caroline. Really. I'm not going to let your feelings for Stefan take that away, do you understand?"
Caroline doesn't reply, and Rebekah manages to tear her eyes away to look back.
"Is this the part where he hug?"
"My god," Rebekah laughs. "You'll never grow up, will you?"
"No fun in that, Bekah." Caroline says with a grin. "No fun at all."
They're quiet a moment.
"You don't have to worry," she offers. "I mean, I'm not going to-"
"Thank you," Rebekah cuts her off.
Footsteps in the darkness, making their way toward her, as Rebekah's head snaps back to the door. Stefan's form slowly reveals itself against the black, a look of wonderment on his face, two stones seemingly aglow in his hands.
One as pale as the moon.
The other, bright as the sun.