Chapter 12

Enzo tied up to the chair with the chains tried to release himself. "I'll kill you all, when I'll get free!"

"You don't need to be so loud. We hear you clearly."

Enzo widened his eyes as he uttered, "Damon?"

"Yes, in flesh." Damon smirked. Behind him Stefan and Alaric walked in. Alaric was holding the box with the vervain and wooden the stakes.

"What? You're working with the vampire hunter? What's wrong with you! And who's that?" Enzo shifted his head at Stefan.

"That's my little brother, Stefan."

For a moment, Enzo gazed at Stefan and Damon in awe. "I'm happy you finally patched up things between each other. I always -"

"We didn't. We just have the same goal." Damon cut in. Stefan shook his head. His eyes filled with disappointment.

Alaric stepped in. He put the box down, and took out one vervain. He waved with it in front of Enzo. "You will say everything about whom you work for, and about the vampire-werewolf hybrid. If not then..." Alaric pressed the vervain against Enzo's cheeks causing him to scream while his cheeks started to burn.

"Damon, please, let me go. We can together capture the doppelganger, and we can be free from the sun. We wouldn't need to rely on the magic rings. Your brother too. So, just kill that freaking hunter, and let's leave!"

"Sorry can't do. Stefan and I have a task to protect Elena. I also realized it's better to rely on the magic ring than to have all vampires being able to walk in the sun, not mentioning about werewolves shifting when they want."

"It won't be all vampires, and as long as we won't get into werewolves' way, we'll be fine," Enzo said. "I don't understand you, Damon. You have the opportunity to be above other vampires, and you throw it away. Worse, you waste this opportunity by working with a man who wouldn't hesitate to kill you."

Damon stayed silent. Enzo was right he had the opportunity. He could ignore the whole protecting Elena business, and join forces with Enzo. The ring hadn't been always reliable. Damon had gotten in the few situations in the past where the ring turned out to be useless for him against the sun. If he would work for this hybrid, then he wouldn't need to worry about burning in the sun.

Damon shifted his glance at Stefan. Stefan's face focused. Damon couldn't read minds, but it wasn't hard for him to figure out about whom Stefan was thinking about. Elena. Maybe, Stefan wanted to protect Elena, because he couldn't prevent Katherine's death? Damon didn't doubt that Stefan cared deeply about Elena. His feeling were different to her than to Katherine, though. Damon had to admit it, but he also liked Elena. She might be annoying, but at least, she wasn't a selfish bitch like Katherine.

Besides, Damon didn't even know that hybrid, and he sure wasn't ready to trust him.

"Do you even met that hybrid?" Damon asked.

"No."

"So, whom you work with. Is it a woman?" Stefan asked.

Enzo's face told them that their assumptions about him working for the mysterious woman were true.

"So, what's her name?" Damon asked.

"Damon, you should know already that I'm more loyal than anyone. I won't sell her out."

Alaric pushed the wood stake into Enzo's thigh. "You will."

Enzo groaned. "You can torture me all you want, but I won't tell you who this woman is."

Alaric was about to thrust another stake in when Damon grabbed his hand. "Trust me this is pointless. This guy won't betray people he cares about."

Alaric tried to push his hand away from Damon., but Damon's grip was too tight. "Let me go and don't tell me what to do." Damon sighed and release Alaric from his grip. Alaric turned to Enzo, and another stake pushed into his other thigh. "Give me the name!"

Enzo let out another groan. His eyes filled with hatred. "I'll kill you."

Alaric thrust the stake even deeper. Enzo tried his best not to scream, in vain. Damon couldn't look at this. Enzo was his friend after all. He wasn't sure if Enzo would still consider him friend, though.

"Okay, you don't want us to tell this woman's name. Tell us, at least, the name of the hybrid. If you know it, of course." Damon thought that if Alaric would get the name of the hybrid, then maybe he would stop the torture on Enzo.

"It's not important now."

Damon and Stefan turned to Alaric, surprised.

"You already know the name." Damon guessed. "So, what is it?"

"I told you it's not important right now."

"You don't trust us." Stefan concluded.

"No, I don't. And let's stop discussing this obvious thing and let back to what we've been just doing."

"It's Niklaus Mikaelson. In short, Klaus," Enzo said. "Don't look at me like that. There's many vampires and werewolves who know his name already. Even some witches know it. There's no point of hiding this from you. Also, he's an original vampire. The first vampire that has ever been turned. It also means he can't be killed. This is why I prefer to be on his side than against. Because, if you stand against Klaus, you'll end up dead."

Damon and Stefan exchanged glances, neither of them were planning on joining Klaus' side.

"You told us before you're a loyal person. Well, so do I. I'm not going to betray Elena. If Klaus kills me then he kills me, but at least I would know I died to protect someone important to me," Stefan said.

"Besides, working for Klaus, because you're afraid of getting killed is cowardice. And I'm not a coward." Damon added.


Jeremy wanted to know whether Damon, Stefan and Alaric got some information out from Enzo. Unfortunately, Stefan had told Elena over the phone, yesterday not to come, and he would tell her everything next day. It meant Jeremy also would find out today why Enzo was after his sister unless Elena decided to exclude him. Even though, she had promised him no more lies, she still thought that hiding information from him would keep him safe. Well, he would just need to make sure, he would be there when Stefan would visit Elena.

Jeremy had also spent the last night thinking about asking Alaric to become the vampire hunter. He mentioned it to Elena about it in the morning. She just nodded and told him to be careful if Alaric would agree. If. Jeremy feared that Alaric would treat him as a kid, and he would refuse. Elena probably hoped for it, but it wouldn't discourage Jeremy from trying.

After the history lesson, when everyone was out of class, Jeremy approached Alaric.

"Jeremy, if you going to ask about Enzo, then you're wasting your time. It's not my job to tell you, and I would rather you to stay out of it. It's dangerous."

This conversation didn't start well, but Jeremy wasn't going to give up on his aim.

"Some woman and Enzo are after my sister. And who knows maybe even more will come. They may even come after me or my aunt Jenna. I think it would be good if I knew how to protect myself and Elena from vampires. And I think you would be a good person to teach me."

Alaric looked at him, his eyes filled with curiosity. "Hmm, you're the Gilbert's son. I think you wanting to become a vampire hunter is in your veins." He tapped his fingers against the desk, staring at the wall. After few seconds, he asked, "Does Elena know about it?"

"Yes, you can ask her." Please, say yes.

"I'll talk first with your uncle John, and if he agrees then I'll teach you."

"Okay." Jeremy wished Alaric would say yes right away. He also hoped that Uncle John would say yes.


As Stefan promised he came to Elena's house to tell her what he had found out from Enzo. Jeremy was sitting next to her on the sofa.

"Don't even ask me to leave," Jeremy said.

Elena was tempted to do it, but she knew her brother, and how stubborn he could be.

"Okay. Did Alaric agree to teach you how to defend yourself from vampires, by the way?"

"He'll ask Uncle John, first."

Elena nodded. She doubted Uncle John would say no. He was going to be proud that his nephew would follow in his family steps. She turned to Stefan. "Okay, so, tell us everything."

"I think I first should tell you how I found out you're adoptive." Stefan started. Elena had already told Stefan that she had informed Jeremy about being adoptive.

"The first time when I saw you was in the car underwater in 23rd May."

Elena felt how her heart's beat increased rapidly. "You were there?" Her voice trembled.

"Wait, if you were there then why didn't you save our parents!" Jeremy shouted.

"Unfortunately, I was too late."

Stefan explained how he had arrived at the scene when the car had been already going down to the river. He told them how their father had asked him to save Elena first. Unfortunately, after he had returned for Elena's father and mother, it was too late.

Tears escaped Elena's eyes. They shined in Jeremy's eyes as well.

"However, when I saw you, I was completely shocked. Because – you look exactly like Katherine."

Elena stared at Stefan with her open mouth for a few seconds. "Exactly? How exactly you mean exactly?"

"Who's Katherine?" Jeremy asked.

"She was my girlfriend." Stefan took the photo out of his pocket and passed it to Elena.

Elena couldn't believe her own eyes when she looked at the photo. The woman on it looked just like her. They could easily be considered as twins.

"Wow, he was right. She looks exactly the same like you." Jeremy spoke first looking at the photo that Elena held.

"Why am I finding out about this just now?"

"For the same reason I didn't tell you that you're adopted. I know you'll get mad at me, but I just didn't want you to worry. You already had lots of things to worry about on your plate."

Elena nodded, tears still in her eyes. "So, what connection it has with that woman trying to capture me?"

"You're the doppelganger, and this makes your blood very valuable for the man that woman works for. His name is Klaus, and he's both a vampire and a werewolf. Basically, he's a hybrid. And the legend say if a vampire or a werewolf would drink both the hybrid's and the doppelganger's blood, then they would be freed from their curse. Vampires would be able walk during the sunlight without any magic ring, and werewolves would be able to shift at any time."

Jeremy stirred and bit his lip. His eyes focused.

Thought and questions gathered in Elena's head. All this new information overwhelmed Elena. After a minute, she took a deep breath, and asked the first question that came to her mind. "Is Klaus coming here to Mystic Falls?" Her body shaken.

"I don't know, but I won't be surprised if he will. But don't worry we all protect you." Stefan assured Elena.

"Wouldn't Damon want to be able to walk in the sunlight?" Elena was surprised that Damon wouldn't be interested in something like that.

"Well, I guess he considered it, but this would mean he most likely would need to be a subject to Klaus, and well, I doubt Damon would like it. Besides, we both have the magic rings."

"I'm not surprised that werewolves do exist, but hybrids?" Jeremy asked.

"I'm surprised myself, and there's also something you need to know. He's an original vampire which means he can't be killed. I hope there's some method, though. Because it's hard for me to believe that someone could be truly immortal."

The biggest thing Elena feared was that Klaus would kill people she loved if she didn't follow his orders. But, she also didn't want to be responsible for giving vampires an access to the world 24/7. Not all vampires were like Stefan. They were vampires who enjoyed killing people all the time. If those vampires could walk in the sunlight, then this would lead to a disaster. Elena didn't know much about werewolves, besides what she had learned from reading fantasy books, and watching movies, but it also didn't sound good for werewolves shifting all the time.

The best solution would be to kill Klaus, but if he's even more immortal than the regular vampire, then Elena would need to find another way. However, first she would need to make sure that Klaus wouldn't kill anyone.