Plot twist coming up ;D Sooo sorry I haven't updated in, like, years. I was busy with finals then the first few weeks of summer! But I promise to write more and update Resistance soon as well.

Happy 4th of July to all my American friends! 'murica


Chapter 7

Elena rushed around the house the morning of the party not even thinking about the looming threat of an original hybrid vampire making an appearance.

"Let's go!" Caroline called from the backyard where she was setting up the cake neatly on a table. Damon groaned as he waited for the small moon bounce to blow up. Elena blew her hair out from her eyes and rushed Miranda out of the high chair.

"Sorry, Caroline, but Miranda's been our alarm clock for the past 12 months and apparently she chooses the worst day to hit the snooze." She poked the one year old's stomach playfully and she giggled. Elena smiled happily and walked outside, bringing Miranda over to Damon. He raised an accusatory eyebrow at her and she flashed an innocent smile.

"I have to go help Caroline with the decorations," She nodded towards a scurrying blond vampire and proceeded to look up at him with big brown eyes. "Can you pleeaassee watch her for a little?" He sighed and brushed his raven hair off his face, then held out his arms in defeat. Elena giggled and went on her tiptoes to kiss Damon's nose before handing the squirmy baby girl over.

Caroline smirked at her as Elena ran over to help out. "Ohh, you two are totally going to be together forever." She squealed. Elena rolled her eyes and continued to set out plates and utensils. She looked up at Damon discreetly to see him sitting in the grass with Miranda. He had found a ladybug and placed it on her hand for her.

Caroline sighed beside Elena, taking her by surprise. "Okay, now that's adorable." She was about to respond, when they heard the doorbell ring from the backyard. Damon turned his head quickly, and the thought of Klaus popped into Elena's head as well. Caroline brushed herself off and took a stress-relieving breath before walking towards the door. Elena followed her inside and looked back at Damon in the backyard, who had picked up Miranda defensively. Caroline opened the door slowly.

Elena blew out all of the air in her lungs in relief.

"Hi, is this the party for Miranda?" A lady with brown hair bobbed a girl around Miranda's age on her hip, with a gift bag in the other hand. Damon had walked in and smiled curtly at the lady, who got a dreamy look in her eye as she caught sight of the gorgeous man in front of her.

"Yes, Ms. Morris, you and Sara can follow me out back," Elena said a little too sweetly, jealousy wrapped around her words. She turned to walk out the door and the lady followed her slowly, keeping an eye on Damon. He smirked and shook his head as he handed Miranda to Caroline and walked into the kitchen.

"The party ends at seven so you can come back around then to get Sara." Elena said once they were all on the back patio overlooking the party area. She took a step towards the woman and looked straight up into her eyes, her pupils dilating rapidly.

"And let's be clear. The tall blue-eyed man you're drooling over? Yeah, he's mine." She spun around quickly to take Miranda from a shocked Caroline and put her in a playpen with Sara. Still in a daze, Ms. Morris turned around and walked towards the door, completely ignoring Damon as he made his way towards the girls with a drink in hand.

"Uh, I think you need some of this." He handed Elena his drink. She took it and gulped a mouthful before giving it back. "I thought she was your friend?" He asked her as she pressed the bridge of her nose between her fingers and sighed.

"She is. I'm just stressed right now, okay? An original hybrid is going to walk through that door any minute and the original meant to make sure everything runs smoothly is running a bit late." She muttered sarcastically.

"Actually I'm right on time." Elena let out a relieved breath.

"Thank God," Caroline muttered. Damon nodded to him politely as Elijah walked over to the playpen. He smiled down at Miranda in a wise kind of way, and the toddler looked up at him and giggled as she played with a ball in the grass.

The doorbell rang again and they tensed up, all except for Elijah. "My brother is running late. You have another human guest at the door."

Caroline walked more calmly towards the front of the house and Elena turned to Elijah. "Thank you for coming," She said quietly, her eyes drifting down to her daughter. "I just don't know how this is going to go."

"My pleasure." Elijah nodded, keeping his calm gaze on Elena. "I'm glad she's in such good care."

It took a while until Caroline came back to the yard with an annoyed look on her face. In her arms was a squirmy one year old boy who she quickly disposed of in the playpen.

"His mom wanted to stay," She explained. "I tried to reason with her but I just ended up compelling her."

"That's all the humans that are coming?" Elijah said rather urgently, closing his eyes as if concentrating.

"Yes, all but my brother and Matt. Why?" Elena asked. He turned to look at her slowly before taking a breath.

"Because I think my brother has arrived."

The four of them waited patiently until a knock at the door sent their eyes drifting around as to who would answer it.

"I'll go," Elena said shortly, and walked inside the house towards the front door. She opened it to see Klaus standing with a smile on his face.

"Hello, love," He said smoothly, pushing past her to walk inside, she followed him stiffly to the backyard where he stopped at the sliding door.

"Tell me," He spoke to her while glaring outside. "Why is my brother here?"

"He was invited." She said, brushing by him to walk onto the patio. He walked after her smirking. "Remember, love, I was invited too."

They stood in complete silence as Klaus moved over to the playpen, his eyes set on Miranda. A smile played at his lips and he looked back up at the group's glares.

"What?" He chuckled softly. "You really think I'm going to try to take her?" Damon and Elena shared a look.

"Honestly, I'm the least of your problems." He stood up to face them.

"What do you mean?" Caroline asked suspiciously, taking a step forward. He smiled at the sight of her, but his face dropped as he seemed to realize something. He turned to Elijah. "You don't know either, brother?"

"No, truthfully I'm as clueless as the rest of them. Niklaus what are you not telling us?"

"It's the witches." Klaus looked to all of them in complete seriousness. "They are planning to take Miranda."

Elena's heart dropped into her stomach and her mouth fell. Damon rushed over to Miranda and scooped her up, looking at Klaus in anger.

"What the hell are you talking about?" He asked through gritted teeth. He turned to Elijah. "You said the witches were helping us!"

Elijah looked between Klaus and Damon. "Well, I certainly had no idea this was going on. Niklaus, are you sure?"

"They said it was something about her future. They wanted to," Klaus fumbled over the next words. "experiment."

Elena barely heard the next words. Her head was pounding and she frantically looked around. Carolines words to her were muffled.

"Elena! Are you okay?"

"Yeah," She responded breathlessly, shaking her head and walking over to Damon and Miranda. She brushed her daughter's hair out of her face and turned to realise everyones eyes were on her.

"Anyway," Klaus continued, nodding at the one year old. "That's the whole reason I was coming. To help protect her."

The click of shoes on the pavement made Elena turn to see more guests on the patio. Matt shifted awkwardly, looking to Jeremy, who was shooting Klaus a suspicious glare.

"Now why does everyone think I'm the bad guy!" Klaus turned and looked to them incredulously.

"You have a history." Caroline reminded him snarkily. Jeremy and Matt walked over.

"What's going on?" Jeremy asked, continuing to stare Klaus down.

"We have a problem." Damon squinted around the sunny backyard. He quickly turned to Elena. "Didn't you invite Sophie and a few other witches?"

She nodded slowly. As if on cue, several people appeared at the back door. Sophie smiled sweetly and turned to the other witches, who murmured something in chant. A searing pain struck Elena and she fell to the floor along with the others.

"Sorry Elena," Sophie said, and approached her slowly. "But this needed to be done."

Her vision was blurred from pain. The next thing she saw was one of the witches lifting Miranda out of the playpen, while the other subdued Jeremy and Matt. Then her vision went black.