Elijah opened his eyes and met Jonas' worried gaze.

"What happened?" Jonas asked.

"I can't be certain, but I believe Isabella's nightmares are actually memories from her previous doppelgängers. Have you found anything to support that idea in your research?"

Jonas leaned back in his seat and frowned. "No," he slowly started to answer. "However, that doesn't mean you're wrong. Although doppelgängers are technically the same exact 'person' being born over and over again in a bloodline, they don't have the same spirit or soul. The magic behind it is very hard to explain. But they are beings based in magic and it's possible, probable even, that future doppelgängers could be given important memories from the previous ones, passed down through the bloodline."

Elijah's eyes drifted back to Bella's peaceful expression. "The similar personalities with the Petrova doppelgängers," he murmured.

"Exactly. They don't have the same soul obviously since both Katherine and Elena are alive at the same time, but they could have been given the same memories and such from the earlier doppelgängers which would explain the similarities. It could also explain the interest in the Salvatore brothers- Katherine's memories echoing down through her bloodline even if she is still alive. The problem with that idea though is that, if it is true, Bella shouldn't actually be able to recall any of the memories given to her. They would be more like impression and instinctual feelings, not tangible recollections."

"An interesting thought," Elijah said, though his thoughts were on the similarities he had first noticed between Tatiana and Katerina when he had first met her. "Could the tumor have something to do with the fact that she is remembering something?"

"It's possible but very unlikely. What exactly makes you think they're memories and not just vivid dreams?"

He hesitated for a moment before slowly answering, "I recognized where she was and even the year; it was right before Katerina arrived in England. Isabella was speaking to someone I knew, which would not be possible unless she had actually met them at some point in her life."

"Which most likely couldn't be possible unless she had seen them. Sometimes, with witches and warlocks, an ancestor on the other side can contact them through dreams. I didn't recognize any of the names in her family tree but that doesn't mean that she doesn't have a magical ancestor who's trying to reach out, maybe share their story or give her some information they think is important."

Elijah would have preferred to keep Isabella's confidences but he felt it was necessary at this point to give Jonas full disclosure. "Every night she claims to dream of a different way she's died, all of which have seemingly been both painful and traumatizing."

"What kind of deaths?" Jonas asked sharply.

"Being ripped apart by wolves, being shot in the chest by a suitor, and the one tonight was of her being beaten to death on her wedding night by her husband; I managed to pull her out before he could actually hurt her but that event did actually occur. I remember the man and the fate of both he and his young bride were discussed frequently for almost a year after their passing. If this is being caused by someone else, then it is an attack against Isabella." Elijah forced himself to keep his expression blank and detached. Who could hold such a grudge against the brunette?

Bella whimpered then and Elijah's eyes snapped back to her. "I thought you pulled her out of it?" Jonas asked, alarmed at the expressions on both Bella's and Elijah's faces.

"I did." Elijah placed his hands back on Isabella's face and pushed.

Where previously her mind had almost seemed to welcome his presence, now there was a different barrier surrounding her. It felt as though a dark, thick substance was coating her shields and giving off waves of rage. When Elijah pressed against it, he hissed at the pain that shot through him and the feeling of something trying to push him back into his own mind. He growled and something changed then, shifted. He could sense Isabella, as if she had been able to hear his growl, and she was fighting the foreign substance in her mind, allowing a small gap to appear and Elijah pushed his way through.

Isabella sat in the corner the destroyed study he had left her in, tattered books scattered on the floor and every piece of furniture trashed beyond repair. "Isabella." Elijah kneeled down next to her balled form.

She slowly lifted her head from her knees. "I think," she finally said, "That you and I have very different ideas of safe."

A wave of regret washed over him. "I had thought you would be safe here; nothing should have been able to get in."

"Nothing did get in," Bella told him, moving to stretch her legs out in front of her. "Everything started shaking and I could sense someone else nearby but they were definitely not friendly so I just… the Cullen's were always talking about my mental shield and Luka had been asking me questions about it and I just kind of realized that this is my mind, my world, and if I didn't want anyone coming in without my permission then they weren't going to."

"You let me in," Elijah commented softly.

"Well, there's really no point in trying to keep you out now, is there?" Bella responded tightly. "I don't suppose the chat you had with Jonas helped shed any light and what was going on here, did it?"

"Your intelligence still impresses me," he told her with a small smile that made her blush, before he concentrated and the world around them shifted into a beautiful, open field and Bella let out a gasp as she felt the sun shine down on them.

Turning her face up, she closed her eyes and focused on the welcome warmth. "I've missed being outside," she admitted to him. "This is so nice."

"Why haven't you asked to go out?" Elijah inquired.

Bella shrugged. "At first it was because no one trusted me and I didn't want to push my luck. Now I don't because I know it would make you all uncomfortable." She turned to him and smiled faintly at the way his eyes had widened slightly at her words. "Like you said, I'm intelligent. I know that there's something going on in town that has you all in knots; if I tried to go out and about whenever I wanted to, you would all worry about the many things that could happen to me. It's just not worth it at this point."

Elijah sighed. "While I do admire your compassion for others, it's alright for you to do things for yourself. If you would like to go out, then do small things first: go with Jonas to the store to pick ingredients or to the library with Luka and choose your own books. As long as you listen when they ask something of you and stay close, there should be no issues."

She studied him for a moment with eyes far too old. "Why are you doing this? Why are you being kind now?"

Could she see him for the monster he was? "Sometimes," he finally answered. "We are forced to do things we regret in order to right our wrongs."

"When you say it like that, it makes it sound as though you don't want to stop your brother."

"I was referring to the sacrifice," he responded with a faint sigh.

Bella gave a small huff of laughter, which was tinged with bitterness. "No, you're not. I may know next to nothing about you, but I know you don't do anything you don't want to do. If you didn't want to use me then you wouldn't."

He looked as though she had stabbed him in the chest. "I see. Is that your true opinion of me?"

"Am I wrong? Are you going to tell me that you don't want to sacrifice me? That if you had another option you would use it?" Elijah didn't answer her, just studied her expression. "Why Virginia?" she abruptly asked.

"What?"

"Why did you bring me to Virginia?" she expounded. "What's so important about Virginia?"

"This field was close to our home when we were human," Elijah said and Bella could have screamed in frustration. "My siblings and I used to spend our free time here before we were turned. This is where the curse was cast on my brother."

On the one hand, he was opening up to her, which is something she wanted, but it felt like he was doing it in order to avoid answering her questions. "What is this curse? What happened to your brother and why are you working against him now? I can see in your eyes how much you care about him, so why are you trying to stop him?"

"That is not your concern," he warned.

Bella stood up and threw her arms up in the air. "You're impossible! I don't get it! You keep encouraging me to ask for things, to come to you with any questions I have, saying that I have the right to know what's going on but when I do you won't answer anything! I can't keep doing this, whatever this is. Don't I have enough going on without trying to guess which Elijah I'm going to speaking with on any particular day: the one who actually looks at me, sees me, or the one who couldn't be bothering acknowledging the existence of such a lowly creature?"

Elijah also stood. "There are some things that you do not need to know."

"And how am I supposed to figure out the line?" she shot back. "You tell me I have the right to know how I'm going to die but you refuse to tell me why. Does the why really change the story? Does it make such a difference?"

Yes. "I'm not sure what exactly you want from me at this point."

Taking a slow, deep breath, Bella closed her eyes as she let it out and tried to regain her temper. "I want you to either answer my questions or I want you to go back to the vampire who couldn't give a damn about how I was doing as long as I wasn't threatening your plans."

Considering the fact that from the very start, Elijah had always felt something for Isabella beyond indifference, it would be impossible for him to go back to being something he never was. "Niklaus is my half-brother."

Bella was glad that there was nothing in arms reach for her to throw at him then because felt like she was losing her mind. Then, his words actually penetrated her anger and she stared at him, relaxing slightly.

"Our mother had an affair with another man from a nearby village and fell pregnant. I believe she had hoped that Niklaus was actually my father, Mikael's, son but once he was born she realized that he wasn't. Unfortunately, the other man was a werewolf, the Alpha of a nearby pack actually, and she knew that Mikael would soon realize what she had done unless she took steps to prevent it.

"In order to keep my brother from triggering his curse and alerting Mikael to the truth of his existence, our mother gave him a necklace that weakened him. Mikael was a warrior and raised his children as such and Niklaus' weakness enraged him and he was often beaten because of it."

She felt a spark of sympathy for Klaus. "I know the bite of werewolf causes a human to change, how does someone who was born from a werewolf parent change?"

"A werewolf will have their first transition after they have a killed a human being."

It only took Bella a minute to realize what must have happened. "Oh god. He killed someone after you were all turned, didn't he?"

Elijah smiled and the bitterness there broke Bella's heart a bit. "You are far cleverer than you are given credit for, Isabella. During the full moon, my family would hide in a nearby cave to keep ourselves safe. One night, our youngest brother, Henrik, convinced Niklaus to go out and see the wolves with him while the rest of us slept. We were awoken the next morning when we heard Niklaus screaming for our mother, clutching Henrik's mauled body to his chest.

"Unable to bear the thought of losing any more children, Mikael insisted our mother find a way to give each of us immortality and, with the help of another witch, she managed to cast the spell that would prevent us from ever dying. While there was a bit of a, shall we say, learning curve after we were turned into vampires, things were well enough until after Niklaus killed his first human. With his werewolf gene activated, Niklaus became a vampire and werewolf hybrid and Mother's infidelity was revealed."

"What happened to Niklaus?" The guilt in Elijah's eyes made her stomach turn. "Elijah, what did your father do to Klaus?"

"He had our mother use Dark Magic in order to bind his werewolf side before rejecting him as their son," Elijah whispered. Despite everything Niklaus had done to their family, he still couldn't stop the guilt he felt over the part he'd played in hurting his brother. "Mikael then hunted down and killed Niklaus' birth father."

"So, your brother was abused as a child, cursed by his own mother, rejected by the only parents he'd known, and then had a father he'd only just found out about and who may have actually cared about him murdered. What, his childhood wasn't bad enough for you, want to make sure he's still suffering?"

Elijah reared back. "I love my brother!" he spat, his famed control starting to slip.

"Then why?! What is all of this about? Obviously it isn't the sacrifices necessary to do so since you need him to break his curse in order to stop him and I'm here, so what's the deal? It's clear you're feeling guilty about something, so what is it? Is it something you did? Or is it because you feel like you're going to be just another person who betrayed your brother?"

He didn't know why her opinion mattered so much to him but it did. "He killed our siblings. He destroyed our family and I can never forgive him for that."

Bella stayed quiet, hoping her silence would provoke him into actually explaining everything to her.

"I told you I had five siblings: Finn, Niklaus, Kol, Rebekah, and Henrik. Henrik died when we were still human and then Niklaus killed the others. I have stood by my brother for almost a thousand years, refusing to turn away from him even when our other siblings did because I knew I was partially responsible for what he turned into but this, this was unforgivable."

"Are you sure they're dead?" she finally asked.

"He told me, bragged actually, that he had daggered our siblings and tossed them into the ocean where they were never to be found."

"Daggered?"

That was clearly not something he meant to say. "As the first vampires, we are unable to be killed. The closest we can come to it is by being stabbed with a special kind of dagger."

She could tell that he'd only given her fragments of the truth but ignored it. Bella had only met Elijah, she had no real idea what kind of person Klaus was but… "What if he lied?"

"He didn't."

Elijah seemed so sure and Bella really had no leg to stand on, but she couldn't help saying, "Are you sure?"

Instead of seeming annoyed by her questions, Elijah seemed almost calm. As though by telling someone else his story, it would no longer continue choking him. "Why do you ask?"

Bella didn't answer, just stood there and stared blankly at the scenery around them. "I…" She blinked and then refocused on him. "It's nothing. I just can't imagine someone killing their whole family for no reason. I mean, it's been a thousand years. Why get rid of them now? And why didn't he try to get you?"

"Niklaus knows he's no match for me."

She stared him down. "If that was true, then I wouldn't be here, would I?"

He sighed. "I understand that this situation is frustrating for you-"

"No," she cut him off. "You don't. If you did, then you wouldn't have chosen the word 'frustrating' to describe this mess. It's not the whole dying bit that bothers me- that really is just me fulfilling my destiny at this point. My problem is that it feels like you're not accepting what's going to happen, which is super weird because you're the one in charge here. It feels like your delaying the inevitable and it needs to stop."

"I have no idea what you mean."

"Really? Okay, let me be blunt then: why haven't you contacted Niklaus yet?"

Elijah's eyes widened. "I beg your pardon?"

"You heard me. Why haven't you contacted Klaus?" she repeated. "I get why you waited in the beginning since you wanted to make sure I'd live long enough for him to get here. But here we are, I'm alive, and yet you still haven't reached out to him. Why? What's holding you back? And why are we waiting for him in Virginia? Does he have to be in the place where he was originally cursed in order to break it? For that matter, he needs me to break his curse but you claim that you have no intention of letting him do that. So, am I bait? Why do I need to be living bait if you just want to draw him here?"

"That is not something you need to be concerned with," he warned again. His reasons were his own and he didn't owe Isabella any explanations, despite what his conscious was telling him.

Bella's eyes hardened. "Then I guess we have nothing left to say." And then, with a flick of her wrist, Elijah was forcibly ejected from her mind.


Luka was laughing so hard he was almost doubled over. "I can't believe you kicked him out," he choked out. "Damn girl, I didn't think you had it in you."

"I didn't know what else to do," Bella cried, burying her face into the back of the couch. In the actual light of day, she kind of regretted her actions. She shouldn't have pushed Elijah so hard; he had his reasons and he was over a thousand years old or so, meaning he probably knew what he was doing. She had never really been good at the whole thinking ahead thing though.

"You did the right thing," he said, straightening up. "You're still a person," Luka continued, in response to her look of confusion. "Just because Elijah is a vampire and kind of a big deal in the supernatural world doesn't negate your thoughts and feelings."

"Do the thoughts and feelings of a dead girl walking really matter?" Bella wondered aloud. Then, shaking her head, she continued, "It doesn't matter. When I finally woke up he was gone and there has been no sign of him."

"He had to run some errands," Luka explained vaguely, running his hand over his head. If it had been his decision, they'd have already explained the entire situation to Bella and then he'd be able to tell her what Elijah was actually up to. Instead, he was forced to tell her vague truths, which was only slightly better than handing her full-on lies.

"Right. Did those errands have anything to do with whatever happened to you last night?"

"No," he said scowling.

Bella studied him for a moment. "Alright. But since you now seem to remember what you got up to last night, care to share with the class?"

He had walked right into that one. "I need to check on something for myself before I say anything." Luka needed to actually see and speak to Bonnie before he said something to his father; no point in worrying him if nothing had actually happened.

"Let me know how it goes in the land of denial."

Luka rolled his eyes. "It's super annoying when you do that."

"That is my entire life's purpose, Luka, to annoy you into insanity."

"And you're doing wonderfully," interjected Jonas as he walked into the living room, smiling slightly at the sight of the two teens relaxing together on the couch.

"I see how it is," Luka said with a laugh, standing up and stretching. "I'll just leave you two to plot against me."

"That'd be great; it's much easier to do that behind your back than to your face."

He reached out and tousled Bella's hair as he passed. "Brat."

"Asshole," she muttered, quickly fixing her hair.

"Language," Jonas called from the kitchen.

Luka groaned. "Leaving," he responded.

His father stopped him before he could walk out the door. "You okay?" he asked softly.

"I will be." Throwing on his shoes and jacket, Luka told him, "I need to go check on something, but we need to talk when I get back."

Jonas studied him for a moment. "Alright. Be safe."

Once Luka was gone, Bella hesitantly peeked over the back of the couch at Jonas. She didn't know if Elijah had told him anything, but she was worried that the older man would have something to say about her treatment of the Original vampire. They had only just started to get along and Bella would hate for something to come along and ruin that.

He could feel her gaze on his back but Jonas didn't say anything. He wasn't sure what exactly had happened between Bella and Elijah last night, Elijah hadn't said anything once he'd left Bella's mind and the look on his face had kept Jonas from making any comments.

"What's the plan for today?" Bella finally asked when she couldn't bear the silence anymore.

"I have some research to do," Jonas told her, turning to place two plates of food on the table.

Even though she wasn't all that hungry, Bella knew better than to try and get out of eating and went to sit at the table. "Alright, anything I can help with?"

"No," he answered, joining her. "I will need the grimoires though, so it would probably be best if you took a break from cataloguing today."

Bella looked at him suspiciously. "Why can't I help you look for whatever spell it is you need?"

"Plausible deniability," he said, smirking slightly at her. "The less you know, the less likely you are to slip up and say something."

"Hey! I am not a snitch!"

"You aren't, but your subconscious is much less trustworthy and I don't need you saying something to the wrong person in your sleep."

"Hiding things from your son, huh?" Bella sniffed, giving him an overly-exaggerated judging look. "I had thought better of you but whatever." Jonas just smiled at her.

After they were finished eating, he waved her away before collecting a stack of books. Bella settled onto the floor in front of the coffee table, several textbooks spread out in front of her as she carefully took notes. She was determined to be finished with the science portion of her GED by the end of the week and refused to let anything set her back. Even if Jonas hadn't insisted she take a break from helping him that afternoon, she had already planned on focusing only on her schoolwork for the next few days.

Both of them were moving along quickly in their respective projects until the door flew open and Luka stomped into the apartment. "We're in trouble," he told his father. Once Jonas was focusing on him, Luka continued. "Bonnie knows. She drugged me yesterday, her and Jeremy Gilbert."

Standing so quickly his chair fell over, Jonas bellowed, "What?! And you're only telling me now?!"

"I wanted to be sure!" Luka defended himself. "I had to know for sure before I said anything; I didn't want you doing anything rash."

"What's going on?" Bella asked, also standing up and moving over to the two men. "What does Bonnie know?"

They ignored her. "Do you have any idea what kind of danger you put yourself in?" Jonas asked. "One word to the wrong person and everything could fall apart!" When Luka didn't say anything, his father threw up his hands in frustration before grabbing his coat and headed to the door.

"Where are you going?" Luka asked.

"To fix this!" Jonas snapped. "Stay here and watch Bella. Do not leave this apartment until I get back."

Bella flinched at the loud bang the door made as Jonas slammed it behind him. "Where's he going?" she whispered.

Luka looked at her and Bella felt her stomach drop at the drawn look on his face. "To keep Bonnie quiet," he finally muttered.

"And what does that mean?"

Shrugging, Luka moved to sink down onto the couch. "They drugged me yesterday, probably wanting to know more about the ritual. Elijah's going to be murderous if he finds out."

Despite his best attempts to hide it, Bella saw the fear in his eyes and she sighed, moving to sit down next to him and throwing an arm around him. "It'll be alright," she said softly. "Elijah isn't going to find out. And even if he does, I promise that he won't hurt you. It wasn't your fault and Elijah will know that."

He seemed unconvinced. "I fucked up, Bella."

"Yeah, well, story of my life, Luka. Sometimes, that's just how it goes. You fuck up, everything goes to hell, and all you can do is pick up the pieces as best you can and move forward."

"That's encouraging," Luka snorted.

"It's honest," she corrected. "And trust me, honesty is always the preferable choice in situations like these. Lies get you nowhere."


Jonas came back nearly two hours later but refused to say where he had been, only telling the two teens, "I've handled it. End of discussion."

Bella, who was more used to being kept in the dark than Luka and having become slightly indifferent to the goings-on outside the apartment, just sighed before going back to her studies. If it wasn't for the dark look his father had given him, Luka might have tried to press for details but instead just went to his room and stayed there for the rest of the evening.

Once she had finished the end of chapter quiz, Bella stood up and headed into the kitchen to make herself a celebratory mug of hot cocoa. Pulling a small saucepan out of the cupboard, Bella decided to pour enough milk for all three of them and set it on the stove. As it was heating up, she went to grab the chocolate but stopped in the middle of the kitchen as a wave of panic hit her.

"Bella?" Jonas asked from the doorway, concerned at the expression on her face.

"Somethings wrong," she whispered.

"What's wrong?" he questioned, moving to her side and grasping her elbow.

"I don't know. I don't… something's happened."

"Are you not feeling well? Is it something to do with the tumor?" Leading her over to the table, Jonas gently pushed her into a chair and kneeled in front of her.

"No, it's not me. There's nothing wrong with me."

After making her describe in detail what she was feeling, and then another minute of fruitless questioning once Bella said that the panicked, aching feeling was gone, Jonas was just about to throw in the towel when the front door opened and Elijah appeared in the room.

Stunned by the vampires sudden appearance, and by the blood on his shirt, Jonas blurted out, "What happened?"

Luka hurried into the room at the noise and froze. "Damn," he muttered.

"I need you to find Elena," Elijah stated, demeanor eerily calm. "Now."

"Who's Elena?" Bella asked as Jonas strode over to the table.

The two men ignored her as Luka moved to gently tug on her arm. "C'mon, we should probably stay out of the way right now."

Bella shook him off and took a few steps towards the vampire. "Elijah, are you okay? What happened? Who's Elena?" Elijah ignored her, unwilling to take the time to answer her questions. "Elijah?"

"Go to your room, Bella," Jonas ordered.

"Don't," Luka whispered to her when she stepped forward to argue. Grabbing her by the arm, he propelled her down the hall and into her bedroom. "I know you have questions," he said after he had closed the door behind them. "I get it, but now is really not the time."

"He's hiding something," Bella argued. "You all are, and I want to know what."

"I know you do- I get it. But I've been sworn to secrecy and as much as I love you girl, I do not want to take the beatdown that would be coming my way if I started getting chatty with you."

She stared at him. "Love me? Do you mean that in the casual 'you brought me chocolate and are a beautiful human being' or in the 'I'm going to cry when you're gone' sort of way?"

Luka swallowed down the lump in his throat at the reminder that the girl in front of him would be dead soon and there was nothing he could do to stop it. "The cry when you're gone sort of way."

Bella couldn't stop the tear that ran down her face. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I didn't want…"

"I'm not." Stepping forward, Luka hugged Bella tightly, the first hug she'd had in months since Charlie wasn't really the hugging type. "This is gonna hurt like hell but no regrets."

"Moron," she sighed, resting her head on his shoulder.

It was nice, this hug. For so long, Bella had been the only one holding herself together but at that moment, it felt like Luka was willingly taking on a bit of that responsibility for himself. She loved him too, Bella suddenly realized, loved him in a similar way to what she'd felt for Emmett but this time the feeling was stronger, solid.

"Sorry I can't have your back," whispered Luka, resting his cheek on top of her head.

"Sorry for pushing you when I know you can't talk," Bella murmured. They stood there for a moment, Bella gratefully soaking in Luka's comforting aura, until Jonas opened the door and stuck his head in.

"Elijah's gone," he said evenly, studying the expressions on their faces. They both seemed a little drawn, a little weary, but not at all embarrassed at being caught together. That was comforting to him, Luka at least would have been embarrassed if he had been caught by his dad with someone he had romantic feelings for. The older warlock had the sense that it wouldn't end well if Luka found himself falling for the small brunette. "You both should probably turn in for the night."

"Okay," Bella sighed, finally pulling away from Luka and moving towards the dresser to pull out some pajamas. Softly wishing her a good sleep, the two men left her to her thoughts.

(A/N): What's this? Another update? And so soon? How shocking! What can I say guys, this has just been really flowing for me. Especially now that we're getting into the good stuff.

Next chapter will be the moment you've all been waiting for: Bella finds out about everything that's been going on and she's not thrilled. And yeah, that is a definite understatement.

I'm feeling very proud of myself right now though because I am updating all my stories right now and I'm reading for the responses to start flowing in!

This chapter has been betaed by Hannbells so make sure to send some thankful vibes her way! Hope you all have an amazing weekend! Please leave a review on your way out!