Chapter Seven: Destruction

"To attempt the destruction of our passions is the height of folly. What a noble aim is that of the zealot who tortures himself like a madman in order to desire nothing, love nothing, feel nothing, and who, if he succeeded, would end up a complete monster!"

-Denis Diderot

Elena –

At least she had the state of mind to stop off at a Walmart to pick up supplies on the way home. Caroline really would skin her after she'd ditched her friend for an hour to sit next to Elijah and then also forgot ingredients. As it was after she stopped the car she had an angry blonde vampire heading her way. Elena opened the trunk to get out bags.

"Are you okay? Why didn't you answer your phone? I was worried about you, where did you go Elena? Bonnie is inside, you didn't answer for her either. Are you all right?" Caroline was looking her over. Direct as the blonde could be, and as annoyed as she sounded Caroline was a good person and Elena reminded herself of that. All the while wishing her friends would start singing a different tune, she'd heard the same sentiment too much today.

"I'm sorry Caroline, I turned my phone off earlier cause Stefan and Damon wouldn't leave me alone. I stopped to see Elijah since you said he looked sad. Before you start getting the wrong idea, we're just friends." Elena was quick to point out. Letting Caroline take some of the bags before she shut the trunk, "Let's go inside and I'll turn it back on, I probably have four dozen messages to go through from the angry wonder twins."

"You still haven't made up with Stefan?"

Elena should have known that Caroline would start if she mentioned anything that related to her now non-existent love life. Elena set bags on the counter and smiled to Bonnie, who was munching on a piece of apple pie. "Caroline, I know you want to believe we're some sort of fairy tale but Stefan and I am not going to get back together. He doesn't want to and I'm not waiting around for him anymore, he made his choice to end this not me. I'm just going to respect it. I don't want any relationships right now. I have to worry about managing to do enough school work to actually graduate, boys aren't really on my 'to do list' right now."

"Boys are always on a 'to do list' Elena," Caroline replied with a cheeky grin as she started separating all the ingredients on the pumpkin cookies recipe. Elena couldn't help but smile a little despite her concern for Elijah.

He'd left after receiving a text message and told her he would contact her later tonight or tomorrow. She'd just nodded and told him he could call any time. It was already after one, so she was going to be pulling an all-nighter before school tomorrow. Not good since it was the second to last day before the end of the semester and a couple of her finals would be happening…

"Aw Elena, you forgot the cans of pumpkin." Caroline said in disappointment, picking up her car keys. "I'm going to go get some, no falling asleep on me girls."

"Elena…" Bonnie said more seriously as she went to putting away the groceries after Caroline left. She was moving the few things that needed to be in the fridge there. "I…the spell mostly worked…then Esther. She was gone when we came out of the house. You should know Elena, when an original dies, its entire line goes as well unless they were protected somehow at the time."

"Like what you did for the originals that survived?" Elena asked curiously, not making the connection immediately to the threat it posed to her other friends.

"Yeah, something similar anyway," Bonnie confirmed. "I had to make some for Damon, Stefan, Tyler, and Caroline. I know you'd want them safe. We couldn't know what line they were a part of. Best I can tell they made it, they're suspicious of me but they kept the items on them like I asked. We can't let it get out, our part in what happened, just being involved makes it dangerous for us if someone discovers. As it is all of them will probably figure out I had a part in it once the news of death's happen."

"I know Bonnie." Elena nodded, glad to hear Bonnie had protected everyone they knew that could have been at risk. Then sighing as she started to pack up the things she'd already made. No reason to let them go bad, digging out containers as she spoke. "Do you think things are over for a while at least? Maybe all these supernatural problems will calm down now."

"I hope so." Bonnie replied with a shrug of her own, she didn't seem willing to get her hopes up. All of them had become paranoid as a result of the last year. "Who knows? I guess it depends on if Elijah sticks to his word."

"I'm less worried about Elijah than his siblings, or some new thing entirely, seems like the moment we solve one problem the next comes along immediately." Elena shook her head after the statement. Finally remembering to dig out her phone and turn it on. "Let's try to be positive though, can you measure these, I should check my messages. Turn off the phone for a day and everyone goes crazy."

Bonnie grinned at her friend and nodded, taking over while Elena stepped out of the room; she was on the seventh message of fourteen. Not listening to more than who it was before deleting it if it was either of the Salvatore's voices. The door opened and Elena started to speak, expecting it to be Caroline. "Can we just bake tomorrow, it's late and I have parts of finals tomo…oh sorry Alaric, I thought it was Caroline, are you okay?"

He had blood on one of his arms; it didn't look like it was his since he wasn't injured. It seemed as if it had splashed there from some outside source. That wasn't a good sign at all. The dark expression creasing his face was what frightened Elena, she slid the phone shut a moment before it went flying away from her. He had gotten across the room in an instant, his fingers tightening around her throat even as he lifted her fluidly from the ground. Her feet dangling helplessly as she stared wide-eyed at the hateful expression of her 'guardian'.

Elijah –

The unwanted text eventually came from Rebekah, asking where everyone was and saying Kol would be back to the manor shortly so if Elijah wanted to speak he should return now. He bid a short farewell to Elena and told her he'd call her the next day. She insisted he could anytime so he said he might later but he didn't plan to. She had school and she'd already expressed concern as to her ability to finish it. Instead he'd left and driven back to the manor where they'd been celebrating the reunion of their family under mother's false pretense only the night before.

Rebekah looked concerned and Kol wasn't far from that; his expression grim.

"What's going on Elijah?" Kol was the first one to speak. "We can't get in contact with Mother, Finn, or Niklaus. His hybrids are missing as well. The cufflinks you gave me earlier? They sank into my skin. What sort of game are you playing?"

"They're dead Kol." It was three simple words; the effort was in saying them without his voice breaking. As it was his voice altered from the normal unconcerned tone to be colored lightly with melancholy, "Mother killed them, and I killed her."

"What?" Rebekah was staring; clearly she was attempting to put what he'd just said into some sort of context. Likely hoping, then immediately realizing it was not, a joke, it was not in Elijah's nature to jest about such. "Elijah, what happened to them? What do you mean they're dead? We can't die."

"You know that's not true Rebekah," Elijah replied with a single shake of his head. "Mother cast a spell at the ball to bind all of us together; it was all a curtain to distract us from her goal. Earlier tonight at the full moon she finished her spell. I watched Finn stake himself which would have killed Klaus."

, I was hard pressed just to protect us."

"The cufflinks," Kol was the youngest, but he was still as quick as any of the siblings. His tone remained grim, his usual cocky smile had been wiped clear, "I thought it was unlike you to give gifts…why didn't you just tell us?"

"The necklace…" Rebekah commented, frowning as well when she reached up and it wasn't there. She'd been distracted with Matt, she hadn't even noticed the small dolphin figure had gone missing until Kol mentioned a gift. "…why didn't you protect Klaus!?"

"There wasn't time; because he was a hybrid there the spells involved were too much for the witches I had available. I couldn't stop Mother's plan. Only make sure she died so she couldn't continue to try and kill us. I was hard pressed to rescue even us from her wrath." Elijah explained. He didn't have to pretend when it came to the pain; it was quite evident the deaths of his family affected him deeply.

Rebekah nodded slightly and then was next to him, she'd started to cry and he put his arms around her pulling her close as he continued to explain. "Before you ask, I didn't tell you because there was nothing you could do. One last day of ignorant bliss was the best I could offer you both. I only managed to arrange your safety by agreeing we wouldn't attack the people here in Mystic Falls. We need to be careful beyond even that."

They were silent for a long while except for the sniffles and muffled tears of Rebekah. Kol and Elijah shared a short glance; though each of them had moisture in their eyes as well they didn't let them fall. That didn't mean the sadness didn't exist even for the male heirs. There simply weren't more words for them to exchange. Elijah knew his siblings would be wary, but in the end they wouldn't hate him forever. It was the best he could hope for that they never learned the truth.

"Do you know if she did anything else?" Kol got control enough of his emotions to speak first. "Mother is clever, she must have known if any of us got wind of what she did that we would try to thwart her. She could have had other back up plans."

"I don't know." Elijah retorted honestly, patting Rebekah's hair as she withdrew from his chest. Elijah paused long enough to hand her the handkerchief from his front pocket, which she silently accepted. They continued to speak around her light sniffles, "we shouldn't remain here however, and if she has already planned something else this place isn't safe. I've arranged another few houses in the area that will be as safe as we can expect for the time being. I have a somewhat powerful witch in the area that will be aiding us."

"The witches were trying to kill us, why would one help us?" Kol asked.

"Not all witches belong to the Bennet bloodline." Elijah retorted with a tiny shrug. "Even those that do built the protections that kept you alive. The witch that came by my request is from another line entirely."

"We should still kill the Bennet's, they helped mother kill Niklaus right?" Kol mentioned, focusing on hate, putting blame somewhere.

"No Kol, we're only here because they helped us. Their safety was part of the agreement for ours." Elijah insisted. "I agreed to keep them safe in return for our survival."

"You and making deals for the rest of us…" Kol snorted, clearly distasteful of Elijah's decision. "Fine, I won't kill them but you need to st…someone's here."

Kol was on his feet even as Rebekah and Elijah's stances stiffened, they sensed someone just before the sound of the door being kicked in downstairs and a flaming bottle crashed through one of the windows where it caught flame to the carpet.

Several things were happening at once, the door opened and Alaric Saltzman knocked over a lamp as he rushed across the large area. There was barely time to react; the intruder only paused when Elijah interrupted his assault. The oldest Mikaelson brother had shoved the youngest out of the way. Kol slamming into the floor as the white oak stake intended for the youngest Mikaelson's chest went clear through Elijah's palm.

The crash of the lamp a moment after that was the least of the sibling's concerns.

Kol was scrambling to his feet and Rebekah seemed to just be catching up with what had happened as Elijah hissed. His face contorted with pain. Normally it hurt when he was stabbed but he'd grown fairly used to taking hits through the centuries, it was nothing like this. His entire hand felt like he'd shoved it into lava and the burning sensation was swiftly making its way along his arm. It was up to his elbow when he twisted his hand to get the dangerous weapon out of the history teacher's grasp. It shifted in his flesh more than it should have, but the wood caught on one of his bones and Alaric released it, instead of reusing the stake he followed up with a kick.

Elijah took the boot square in his sternum, flying several feet backward he could feel that several of his ribs had been broken with the impact. At least three had snapped, more damage than anything but another original should have been capable of dealing him in a single strike. His usual stoicism replaced by astonishment as he reached over to pull the white oak stake from his hand. The burning was nearly up to his shoulder, though it thankfully vanished when the offending lumber was removed from his flesh. Just holding the weapon did no damage but the hole it had left in his palm wasn't as closing as quickly as it should.

Kol hadn't wasted time while Elijah was down, though the blows he landed didn't seem to be doing anything to Alaric as he was now; clearly not human. As Alaric pulled a second stake of the same pale wood material he had made the mistake of forgetting about Rebekah. The blonde charged him and shoved him straight through a window while Alaric was still trading blows with Kol; the entire pane of glass shattering, sparkling innocently in the house lights around the falling vampire. The entire exchange hadn't lasted more than ten seconds. "We have to get out of here! I think we just met mothers back up plan. Come on."

She vanished, Kol and Elijah speeding after her a moment later, they didn't have time to linger at the estate when someone possessed stakes that could offer them their final demise. There was no knowing how many of the dangerous weapons he possessed since he hadn't seemed concerned about losing the first and had easily drawn a second.

"What did you do mother?" Saltzman hadn't been someone Elijah particularly admired, but he hadn't deserved being turned into a vampire. What else could mother have done? Was this her only back up? She'd only been awake a few days and most of her absences in that time Elijah had been able to account for. Hopefully this was the last of her tricks, but even if it was. It remained a uncomfortably dangerous threat until dealt with.

Elijah paused in the forest near his siblings after the run from Niklaus' manor, looking at his hand, the wound was still healing but it was slow, there was blood running from the open gash down his wrist and soaking into the fabric of his suit. It was far more painful than any other weapon that had pierced his flesh in his long lifetime. His hand still tingled and even as the wound steadily re-knit itself there was black puss oozing from it. Perhaps some sort of poison being purged from his system, similar to the times he'd taken a werewolf bite. If it did that to him as an original he could only imagine what it would do to a normal vampire.

"Are you all right?" Rebekah was looking at his hand, her frown half disgusted.

"I'll be fine, it's already healing. We need to find out where he got white oak, and how much he has." Elijah retorted, back in poker face mode. "We'll need to warn the Salvatore's, if he's out to destroy all vampires, they'll be on his list before long and we could use them to our advantage. Rebekah, be so kind. Kol, you've met Caroline?"

"Yes." Kol nodded, looking the most agitated between the trio. He was the least accustomed among them to being hunted, and it was his heart the stake had been seconds from plunging into.

"Contact her, we may need every set of hands available, like them or not the vampires here have proven incredibly resourceful in the past." Elijah had to remain strategic; he couldn't go losing the few pieces on the board they might be afforded. "There are three of us and one of him Elijah. Let's just go kill him." Kol finally said, growling. "He tried to kill me, and..."

"Don't be stupid Kol." Rebekah snapped in annoyance. "Did you see what he did to Elijah? He's not a normal vampire, you're lucky Elijah was there to take the hit for you."

"No fighting, not now." Elijah let his voice rise in volume as he corrected them. Perhaps enough memory of him being the eldest brother got them to be silent; perhaps they only recognized the truth of his words. The reason didn't matter, they'd gotten quiet and that's all he wanted. "Go, now. Find them and bring them with you, I'll be retrieving people as well. Meet me at the farmhouse north of the city near the cliffs in two hours."

Kol pulled out his phone to call Caroline it seemed, Elijah and Rebekah ran in different directions toward their separate goals.

He needed to speak with the witch he'd called to the city but more than that he wanted to warn Elena as to the new threat. With Alaric acting as her guardian Elijah knew she wouldn't be aware of his new nature yet.

Elena –

The fingers were tightening around her throat, they hurt but less than the burning in her lungs that had started as she continued to stare at Alaric. Her and Jeremy's temporary guardian was a vampire now? When had she missed that? Why was he attacking her but not drinking from her?

As much as she wanted to breathe her mouth and nose couldn't draw in the air, Alaric's hand was stopping her ability to do so. She scratched at his arm but she couldn't budge it, she kicked him but that too was futile. As the world started to grow dark spots his grip wavered and he dropped her, she started to gasp for breath as Alaric held his own neck. Gritting his teeth and muttering curses as he stumbled away from where he'd dropped her unceremoniously to the hardwood.

Bonnie came around the corner, she was about to ask a question about baking when Alaric rushed from the home. The young witch blinking in surprise before she noticed her friend and rushed over. Putting a hand on Elena's back, "That was Alaric…what happened?"

"I…" Elena barely managed even just that, it only came out as a raspy whisper. Her tiny breaths doing little despite her desperation to refill her lungs with the oxygen they had been deprived. Her neck had an uncomfortable ache that she feared was worse than it currently felt, that her body might not have caught up to what had happened. Or adrenalin was keeping her from fully experiencing the pain she expected to arrive soon.

"Elena?" Bonnie helped put her back against the wall; Elena was having a hard time moving at all. The grimace on Bonnie's face when she saw Elena's bruises wasn't faith inspiring. Elena knew it was really bad. The statement she followed up with clinched the seriousness of the assault. "Elena I'll call an ambulance, hold on…"

"No need." Elijah's voice was the last thing Elena expected to hear. He was in front of her a moment later, though his face was blurry with her still spotty vision. She heard him break the chain of her necklace, letting the talisman with vervain fall away. Then he caught her eyes. "When I move your head back and hereafter do not move, do not even shutter, and do not pass out. I'm going to give you blood, drink Elena, until I tell you otherwise. I apologize in advance, this will hurt."

He bit his own wrist before tilting her head back; at first she didn't recognize that he had given her a compulsion. The movement was accompanied by a sickening crackle and flashes of agony through her skull. It was only the compulsion that kept her from losing consciousness, though she choked out a broken whimper as more of her air passage opened. Tears were falling along her face when the blood was pressed to her mouth. It was thick and sickly sweet, the aroma of copper filtering up to her nose as the liquid trickled to the back of her throat. It slowly began to gather there, coalescing slowly as her mouth started to salivate.

Elena made the most painful swallow of her life. The movement was enough to make her wish he'd of just let her go into unconsciousness, she'd never felt this sort of agony. The second swallow was just as bad as the first, each tiny twitch of her throat nothing but misery. She let out another choked sob, her body only still thanks to the supernatural power of the command he'd given her. Otherwise she would not have been able to continue.

Alaric must have shattered the vertebrae in her neck when he'd choked her, within her body her eardrums picked up the echo of her bones scraping against each other. They were starting to repair themselves with the aid of vampire blood. By the third drink the pain was slightly lesser, by the fifth she had let her eyes slide closed.

"What's going on? Why did Alaric attack Elena?" Elena could hear Bonnie speaking but there was a welcome numbness washing over her. The rush of Euphoria the blood brought on was starting to wash away the pain as she sucked weakly at his wrist.

"My mother I assume, he's been turned into a vampire, stronger than an original. He attempted to assault my family only a short while ago. I feared he might attack Elena because of her unique position as doppelganger…I'm not sure why he left her alive."

"He looked disoriented when I walked in…does she need that much?" Bonnie was still quite wary when it came to vampires, she was glancing between Elena and Elijah's wrist with occasional looks at the vampire himself. It was to her credit that she kept the disgust from her face.

Elijah followed the witch's glance to Elena's face, wiping away one of the tears staining her cheek. His voice uncharacteristically gentle, "Elena, stop."

It was the only order he need give, she let go as he pulled his wrist away from her, seeming to remember that she still didn't have much oxygen as she started gulping in heavy breaths. Her esophagus healed enough to allow the much needed air to travel to her lungs.

"Elena, are you okay?" Bonnie leaned forward, looking at her friends face more closely. Watching the bruises steadily vanish from her skin; like water evaporating off a heavily heated surface. "Should I still call the hospital?"

"No, I'm fine…don't, don't call anyone. I just need a minute…" Elena spoke clearly though unevenly as she was still trying to catch her breath. "Can you get Jeremy? Tell him to pack, we can't stay here."

"Of course," Bonnie nodded and headed up the stairs two at a time.

Elena looked up at Elijah, opening one eye as he stood from kneeling next to her. He'd just saved her life…

"Elijah…thank you…" Elena knew it couldn't quite cover what he'd just done for her, but she had to say something. "…if you hadn't been here…"

"There will be time for such discussions later, get any things you need. Alaric could return at any moment and I do not believe I could stand against him alone." Elijah told her, walking back over to shut and lock the front door while she still recovered on the ground. "Whatever mother turned him into; he's stronger than I and my family. He's no longer the Alaric you knew."

Elena nodded once, her neck wasn't even sore, the blood he'd given her had worked quickly. Still leaned heavily on the wall as she picked herself up from the ground; moving slowly out of fear that she might faint otherwise. She'd just reached the bottom step when she realized what had happened. "Alaric…he dropped me…then he held his neck. We're connected, like your mother connected all of you."

Elijah frowned at her. "Are you certain of this?"

"The way he acted? I remember when they connected me to Katherine. I didn't know what was happening. I just wanted to run away, he must have left me alive because he realized." Elena said, more certain of her hypothesis the more she thought about the way he'd dropped her, as though he was suddenly dizzy from a lack of air. Then he'd grabbed his neck in the same place where he'd choked her.

"For the moment, keep it to yourself Elena, such spells are difficult to cancel. Though Bonnie should be able to make you a protection trinket." Elijah commented. He appeared troubled by the information, following her up the stairs as Elena headed for her room. "Let's get you what you need so we can be on our way. I have a safe house where many of us will be meeting."

"I…don't want to impose on you Elijah. You've already done so much to help me…" Elena said, though she wasn't sure where else she could go. Alaric had been invited in to most of the places where she could stay. Elena had seen Alaric in Bonnie's house at the wake for her grandmother so he'd been invited there, she didn't know as far as Caroline's but given he and the sheriff had spoken a few times she couldn't put it past the realm of possible.

"I believe this is where I am supposed to say 'that is what friend's do for one another'." Elijah retorted dryly, looking at the pictures around her vanity's mirror. "Just be swift Elena, as I already said, now is not the appropriate time for such discussions."

Elena hurried after the second urging. Wondering how he had time for his drab sense of humor, maybe he didn't sense Alaric nearby. She dug a suitcase from under her bag that was half packed already. Then she grabbed a few things extra, tossing them in her bag with little effort in keeping them organized. She paused at the vanity and picked up a make up bag and her hair brush, she'd gotten used to needing to leave quickly. Vanishing into her bathroom to get other things she needed, most were still packed from her last emergency. She added those and tossed in her book for the book report due a few days after the Christmas holiday would end. So much for starting finals tomorrow, she would be lucky if she got her friends to let her attend at all. It was a little after three A.M. she wasn't sure how well she'd do on her tests even if she did make it into the building.

"Good, I'm good." She said, more for herself than Elijah, following when he headed out of her bedroom at the self announcement.

Jeremy frowned as he watched them descending the steps toward where he and Bonnie were waiting with his overstuffed backpack and plastic bags full of containers with the baked goods. At least all her effort wouldn't go to waste.

"What's he doing here?" Jeremy asked in immediate mistrust. It was going to be a long night.

End Chapter

Chapters just keep getting harder to write. This wasn't as difficult as the last chapter but still pretty close. Action has always been difficult for me, so usually it takes me a long time to get it out. Even when it's short (as I figure most action actually is between vamps) I went over and over this chapter; I spent way too many hours on it. I hope it at least ended up semi-okay. Next chapter there should be a little more humor, particularly at the beginning.

-Aura

To my reviewers:

Lilylulurose – Thanks for the encouraging words. I look at it like Elijah even when he's being brutal or somewhat humorous he still retains that noble air. I figure he'd still do it when he was sorrowful as well.

LysCat – I think Elena to a point would understand, she's lost a lot of family lately in her life. To a point that's why I like them so much as a couple; both put such an importance on that part of their lives. Kol an Rebekah weren't exactly told everything, nor did they have time to be severe against Elijah. Things are moving too quickly for that.

Bitumz – I'm glad you liked it. I figure the hurt/comfort parts of their relationship are the most logical way to build them as a couple. I always think it's sort of weird when people write them as just jumping each others bones after hanging out for five minutes XD