Chapter 11

As had happened the day before, he felt faint and passed out.

"Uncle 'Lijah!" Hope called, still worried and pale due to fear for him.

"I think he'll be alright, Hope," Salzmann said. "Just because the wound has healed and the bleeding has stopped, that doesn't mean he's recovered from all that. He needs time and will have to be in the hospital."

"Like before," Hope said. Then she frowned as she thought that comment did not make sense. "I feel like this is déjà vu."

Alaric stared at her for a moment. "Elijah said the same thing. He told me he knew the man was coming to shoot up the school. He said it had happened 'yesterday.'"

"You mean like in the movie 'Groundhog Day'? Gayle asked. She felt as if she was in that confusing film. And more than that. There had been mention of dead people now alive and of vampires! And Elijah had drunk some of Hope's blood. This all seemed unreal and frightening. But Elijah and his blood certainly looked real.

As before, there were only two ambulances and the paramedics took care of the two wounded students needing more than first aid. No one had been killed, except the shooter. Elijah recovered from his faint, but continued to lie on the floor because he could not seem to get enough air.

"I think I have a collapsed lung with air and blood loose in my chest," he managed to say. He knew that would interfere with his breathing. It would eventually resolve, but in the meantime, he had to rest. He coughed painfully and brought up some blood, but it was not fresh bleeding.

Donovan had left the room to supervise the rest of the crime scene, and Salzmann also left the office for the same reason. He intended to use his cell phone to contact the parents of the wounded, to notify them and to reassure them. At least he did not have to tell anyone that their child was dead, something he had had to do after Anton's death.

The receptionist left also, so that only Elijah, Hope and Gayle were left in the room.

"Please lie still," Hope said to her uncle. "My blood can only do so much."

"I shall be alright, Hope. Do not worry," he murmured. "Apparently I will be admitted to the hospital as before."

"What has happened? Why do I have this strange feeling that this is a rerun of yesterday?" the girl asked.

"Because it did. Someone is playing with my existence. I have come back from the dead twice, apparently yesterday and today."

"And you were shot yesterday." A vague memory came to the girl's mind. "I shot you!"

"Accidentally, yes. There is a period of time missing. I was asleep in the hospital and then I was at the Charlottesville airport again. What happened during the morning hours? Did anyone at the hospital realize I had been there and then I was not?"

"This is strange," the girl admitted.

Gayle spoke up. "This is a hell of a lot more strange to me than to you! I can't believe you all are talking about dead, then alive. About vampires. And drinking blood. What kind of people are you?"

Elijah and Hope stared at her. He realized that he had been right. The woman had not known about the reason for the school. "Why did you accept a job here if you did not know what kind of students were here?"

"I had no idea! Special, yes. Supernatural, no! Are all the students vampires?"

"No," Hope said. "There are witches, vampires and werewolves. And a couple who are strong psychics. Dr. Salzmann must have told you that. He would never invite someone to teach here who did not know."

"I received paperwork and info on the computer, but mention of how special the students are was lacking," Gayle insisted.

"Have you then changed your mind?" Elijah asked.

"I don't know. This is frightening. I haven't had time to think this through."

"What subject do you teach?" Hope asked, but she was not impressed with this woman.

"Ancient history."

"You gotta be kidding! I don't know anyone here who would want to learn ancient history," the girl said. "Other than the history of our kind, I suppose."

Gayle looked at the girl and considered her age. Aside from having vampire blood, she was probably a typical teen with attitude. "I know nothing of the history of your kind. I suppose if I choose to stay, I will learn more than I want to know. In addition, I have never been in a school during an active shooting and I don't like it one bit!"

"Well, none of us like it either," Hope muttered. She didn't think the woman was going to fit into the school.

Alaric came back into the room. "The ambulance is back. They'll take you to the hospital. Don't give them a hard time, Elijah."

"Why would I do that?"

"I just wouldn't be surprised."

"Is Elena Gilbert at the hospital?"

"I don't know. Sometimes she is. Sometimes she's in Charlottesville," the man said.

As before, Emergency Medical Techs put Elijah into an ambulance and headed for Mystic Fall's hospital. In the Emergency Department Elijah once again had his clothing removed. This time his trousers, shorts, socks and shoes were clean, but his shirt, suit coat and tie were bloody. Although they were of good quality, he decided not to worry about having them cleaned and repaired. He would borrow clothes from someone until he could buy new ones. Speaking of money, he had to surrender the large wad of cash he was carrying and his wallet. The nurse who inventoried his possessions was not pleased to see how much cash he was carrying about. It would be locked away for safe keeping.

As Salzmann had guessed, Elijah had loose air and blood in his chest and a collapsed lung. The wounds were healed, but the other problems remained. A tube was inserted between a couple of ribs to draw off the blood and air. Almost immediately the collapsed lung inflated and the patient could breathe better.

Elijah asked if Dr. Gilbert was available to see him, but he was told she had left over two hours ago. He was disappointed. Perhaps she would come see him when she heard of the shooting. She might even have that elusive feeling that the shooting was a rerun somehow. It was possible even Damon would show up.

He was in his hospital room when Hope arrived to see him.

"You look better. Do you feel better?" she asked as she sat in a chair.

"Yes. Much better."

"How did you come back from…the other side?"

"I do not know. And no, your father did not come with me." He saw a look of disappointment on her face.

"A witch has to be doing this," the girl said. "It's a powerful spell."

"I agree, but I have no idea who it might be. Are you alright?"

"Yes. I guess so. My school grades are okay. But stuff is always happening that is dangerous. I don't mean the school shooting. That's just one more thing."

"Are you in danger?"

"I never know. I think my life takes after Dad's."

"You may be correct about that. Mayhem always followed him about, much of it of his own doing."

"Sometimes I think about the fact that I wouldn't exist if Dad had not had a werewolf side. He said his mother was to blame for it, but he never said why she did that."

"It was not a 'why' but rather a 'how.' She cheated on our father Mikael and slept with a man who was a werewolf. Then she suppressed Niklaus' werewolf trait. He never knew for centuries. When he found out, he became obsessed with removing the suppression. That meant he pursued a woman named Katerina Petrova, who later called herself Katherine Pierce. When she became a vampire, Niklaus changed his goal to a pursuit of the modern woman Elena Gilbert, a doppelganger of Katherine."

"Dr. Elena Gilbert?"

"Yes. It was her blood that helped Niklaus find his werewolf self. She has been through a lot, but now she is a normal human again. I believe she is happy as a physician. And she is with Damon Salvatore, whom she loves." He did not mention that Elena still had special blood.

He shifted his position in the hospital bed and winced.

"Are you still in pain?"

"Quite sore, but I am in no danger now. Will you ask Dr. Salzmann to bring me a shirt? Mine is ruined."

Hope agreed to do that. She stayed for some time talking to her uncle. They both enjoyed the conversation, since they had thought that they would never speak to each other again.

Later, Salzmann came to visit and he did bring a shirt for the patient. After the evening visiting hours were over, Elijah watched some television and then fell asleep. He was awakened when someone touched his arm. He partially opened his eyes, expecting to see one of the nurses who was checking his IV, his blood pressure or brought his antibiotic pills. In the dim light, he saw that it was not the nurse.

"Elena, what are you doing here this late? It's good to see you, but…"

She leaned down and put her lips to his and gave him a rather passionate kiss.

A/N What can come of this kiss? Thank you to all of you who are reading this story and also reading and favoriting some of my other stories.