Chapter 9: "The whole world is a great story, and we're playing in it (Michael Ende)."

I hear your heart beating, Elena. You can't hide", it sounded like a threat, but the original vampire was actually only angry at himself. Elijah couldn't tell when he lost control like that for the last time. Katherina, he thought and swallowed the bitterly rising bile again. Now was not the time for that. He had to find his doppelganger. "Your doppelganger?" asked his inner voice. He wasn't quite with himself since he was more or less locked up with that girl, but they couldn't go anywhere else for now. Her picture had been in all the news channels of the country. Damn, his plan wasn't quite as well thought out as he had imagined. How long did it take for his brother to get wind of it? Elijah would like to get this over with as quickly as possible. There was something about this girl that got him off his track. She seemed so different from Katherina. She wasn't wrong. The truth was always in her eyes and she would have died for the people she loved. These were all qualities that he had united in himself many years ago, but that was a long time ago. At that time he was still another person from another life. She reminded him too much of his human, weak self. Feelings were the greatest weakness of a vampire and he was not weak.

"Here," he heard her soft voice calling. She sounded feeble. Elijah wanted to slap herself the best. How could he have become weak? She was only a human being. He had met many good-tasting people in his life, but none had attracted him so much with her blood, not even Katherina. The original vampire suppressed his thoughts and took on his usual iron posture, then he flashed directly to Elena.

The brunette was standing in the middle of the blackness. She had no idea where she was. "Of course not, or do you know the area?" There was that voice again. Here, where she could not see her hand in front of her eyes, the voice made her even more afraid than usual. Her heart was still beating too fast, but it was weak. The wound on her neck was still bleeding and the loss of blood made her weaker and weaker. The brunette could barely stand on her legs. Everything around her turned. Swaying, Elena looked for support.

"I am there", strong hands embraced her arms. Panic rose again in the doppelganger. What would happen now? "I won't hurt you," promised Elijah, bit her wrist and pressed it onto Elena's mouth. She swallowed his blood, this time voluntarily, otherwise she probably wouldn't stay too long among the living." I'll take you home," promised Elijah in a soft voice, in which there was no cold for a change. Carefully he lifted her onto his arms and carried the beautiful brunette back to the house at human speed.

"Home?", her voice was barely perceptible. Her body began to heal, but all of a sudden Elena was terribly tired.

"I took you away from there and I will bring you back again sometime," he promised.

"Now you are weak," said the voice that only he could hear. "Shut up," Elijah growled so quietly that Elena couldn't hear him. His plan was still there. He would transform her in front of his brother and if he survived the fight against Klaus, he would bring her back. Why not, then he didn't need her anymore. Why should he kill her? He would kill Katherina very soon. She deserved it, but the girl in his arms was innocent. She had done nothing to him, so he would do nothing to her either. "You have already done something to her. You hurt her!" the voice accused him. Elijah would bring her back when he no longer needed her, he decided and continued his way unperturbed. Perhaps the voice would disappear if he ignored it long enough.

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Caroline heard a soft knock. "Come in," she said, and her voice sounded tired. She had managed the confrontation with Klaus and the truth.

"May I come in?" asked Rebekah, who just stuck her head in the door.

"Of course," Caroline replied and let herself sink to her bed.

"I wanted to apologize to you. I should have told you as soon as I knew, but Klaus...", she broke off.

"It's all right," the blonde brought about a smile. "Was it wrong of me to give him a chance and say that I didn't know who he was?" it burst out of Caroline.

Rebekah crossed the room and gave her new friend one of the glasses she had in her hand. "I don't know what this is between you two, but you both can't deny there's an attraction. Everyone else my brother would have torn apart in the air if he had spoken to him like that, but you...", she left her words hanging in the air.

"I don't know your brother for twenty-four hours," Caroline harshly contradicted.

"I know that, but with vampires, it's something different with love. When we fall in love, it is usually faster and much stronger than humans. I believe that you both are meant for each other and no matter what you do, you will not stop it," Rebekah explained.

"I am neither, nor will I fall in love with your brother," Caroline broke up, which brought her a smile from the original vampire.

"We'll see," she simply said, shrugging her shoulders. "My other brother Kol arrives tomorrow. He's something special just to let you know," she said.

"I think your whole family is special," burst it out of the blonde and Rebekah had to laugh.

"Yeah, but I think if you walk this earth as long as we do, you get weird at some point." Rebekah was about to start walking, so Caroline held her back.

"Tell me something about Elijah," she asked and the great vampire let herself sink onto the big four-poster bed next to her.

"As long as I can remember, Elijah was always there to take care of me. He was the oldest, he always took care of all of us. For many years he reproached himself for not being able to protect Klaus from Mikael. Mikael was our father. He hated Klaus and never missed an opportunity to show him that", Rebekah's voice was full of sadness when she spoke of the past.

"Why," Caroline asked, and somehow she felt guilty about the original hybrid. He wants to sacrifice your best friend, she remembered, and anger returned.

"Klaus emerged from our mother's affair with a werewolf. Mikael despised him for that. He did terrible things to him".

"But your brother can't help your mother's affair," Caroline interrupted the original vampire again. "Is he dead?" asked the blonde and Rebekah nodded.

"He hunted us two centuries after Mother turned us. One day Klaus tore his heart out of his chest. Elijah and he had lured him into a trap. It worked. We could live without fear of anyone. It was Elijah who kept our family together and convinced Klaus, again and again, to free Kol or me from the coffin because Klaus put us out of a whim once again. Mostly the reasons were banal. We argued and he hates it when you contradict him," Rebekah shook his head. Caroline wouldn't interrupt her now, because the original vampire's gaze was on the past. The blonde still had a thousand questions, but she could ask them at another time. "Elijah always put the family above everything else. He was good," Rebekah paused. "He also killed, yes, but he was so different from all of us. Somehow he was still the most human of us until he met Katherina. This snake looked like the deceased love of my two brothers. Tatia. They were almost hit when they saw her for the first time. Elijah was immediately blown away. Only later did the two of them hear about the double curse. Klaus stayed at a distance from Katherina the whole time. He was friendly and charming, yes, but only because he wanted to sacrifice her. After Tatia's death, he never let anyone approach him again. Elijah wanted to find a way to save Katherina and so he contacted some witches who even found a way, but she fled and since Elijah was blind from love, he went with her. Klaus was beside himself. You can't imagine how he raved. I thought he was tearing down the whole castle. He swore that he would kill Katherina as soon as he got his hands on her, how he wanted to deal with Elijah, he didn't know at that time yet. It came how it had to come. This bitch betrayed my brother and fled. Klaus and Elijah fought. It was a balanced fight as both were equally strong, in the end, Klaus won and put Elijah in a coffin for one hundred and fifty years. Kol freed him one day and Klaus raged again. He just wanted us to leave it all behind and be a family again, but Elijah swore revenge. He wanted to take revenge on Katherina and Klaus for what both did to him. He never got over the fact that his own brother pushed a dagger into his heart behind him. Since then he has been wandering the world looking for a way to take revenge on Klaus, it seems he found one after all these years", Rebekah broke off. She fought with herself and the tears.

"He'll kill his brother if he turns Elena, right?" Caroline actually knew the answer already.

The original vampire nodded sadly. "That's why I brought Kol here. I must at least try to prevent it. Elijah was always there for us, he kept getting us out, no matter what Kol and I had done. I have to try to save him from Klaus. It's probably years too late to save him from himself," she added, and now tears ran down her cheeks.

"I will help you, Rebekah. I am not an original vampire and I will have no chance against Klaus, but I will do what I can to help you," Caroline promised and took Rebekah in her arms.