A/N: Hey guys, follow me and join my forum about the Charmed Reboot- tell me what you do and don't want to see.
Chris stared at the girl he had known was Elena; a carbon copy of the woman he had been charged with protecting while he gathered enough intelligence to take Klaus out. She held herself differently from the other girl; less attitude and more grounded.
Still, there was something about the older Petrova that hit a chord with Chris and he knew he would never be able to confuse the two. They may have come wrapped in the identical cases but the two girls couldn't be more different. The ten years Katherine had spent as a human certainly helped to differentiate her as a woman; a beautiful woman at that.
"Katherine has information I need, as well as a ton of contacts," Chris answered. "Since she's human I've been charged with looking after her. When we were attacked I orbed here but when we landed Katherine took off and I needed to be healed."
"Why doesn't it surprise me that she's involved in this," Stefan asked. "Not for nothing, it's her fault any of this is even happening. She was the one who told Klaus to go to New Orleans because a witch was plotting against him."
Phyl shrugged her shoulders and turned to stare at her twin. No tension there, her mind reached out until she felt her cousin and Payton stifled a giggle.
"Yeah, well the trouble is the fact that he's immortal and we all know you can't kill an immortal being," Denny said snidely.
"But there are ways to get around killing him," Chris said. "Besides, if we can get the witches to ban together and fight than we might not need to immobilize him although I prefer to have the back up plan because I've heard Klaus tends to be ten steps ahead. "
"What do you mean by, 'there are ways to get around killing him,'" Damon questioned.
"If you can't kill an immortal being you can always change them into something else that's immortal," Chris explained. "The aunts did it when they went up against that demon who pretended to be a satyr to trick the nymphs into letting him drink from the fountain."
"That's right," Payton nodded her head as the vampires looked on in confusion. "The demon couldn't be killed so the aunts turned him into a tree."
Phyl laughed. "At the park where aunt Piper used to take us on picnics. You can still see his face in the tree," she imitated the face and threw her hands up as if she were the demon forever trapped in the oak tree.
Stefan looked at her with a smile and furrowed brow, not sure how to react to her impersonation.
"You want to turn Klaus into a tree," Caroline asked.
"We want to back him into a corner where he has no choice but to release the witches from servitude," Chris explained, "but if he's as much a mad man as the Elders think he is then we have to settle for whatever will keep him from doing any more harm. I just wish I could get a read on where Katherine is," he digressed. "I haven't been able to sense her and its been over an hour now since we were attacked."
"And she didn't know who the vampire was who attacked," Elena asked. "Katherine has a lot of enemies but that girl has a mind like a diamond. You think Klaus is ten steps ahead? Who do you think she's modeled her entire existence after," she saw Chris's face tighten and felt bad for yet another nice guy falling to their doom at Katarina Petrova's feet.
Bekah looked in the rearview mirror and fixed her hair. She had been that close to killing the doppelganger bitch when that man had mysteriously vanish with her. The only consolation was in knowing that Katherine wasn't aging well; Bekah could see her pores from a mile away.
Now, hunger and vengeance having not been assuaged, Bekah stopped at a restaurant for nourishment. Her phone told her this was the best restaurant in San Francisco.
Walking in, she found the décor wonderfully antiqued and walked over to a table and began inspecting it. The inlays were fabulous and Bekah remembered her delight at having a piece like this back in the early 1800s.
"That's an antique," a deep voice sounded off behind her and Bekah turned to stare at the Adonis it came from. He stood taller than even her late brother Finn and had eyes the color of the most beautiful ocean.
"I could tell," Bekah couldn't gain her composure. "A George Bullock from around—"
"—1817," the blond answered. Smiling, he crossed his arms and gave her another once over. "And where's your date this evening? May I seat you near the fireplace or would you like to sit out on our porch?"
"No date," Bekah answered; her usual flirting suddenly vanished and in that moment she was just Rebekah as she had once been before her mother's spell had changed her into an eternal teenager.
"Well, I would say that's a shame but I would be lying. I just finished my shift," he told her. "Would you like to have dinner with me?"
"I don't even know your name," she said in awe of him.
Laughing, he ran a hand through his short blond hair. "Wyatt," he told her. "Wyatt Halliwell."
"As in 'Halliwell Manor House'?"
"Yes, it's my mother's restaurant. I work here as head chef to give my mom some much needed time off."
"A man who cooks? Well, it's a good thing we found each other. I'm famished."
Wyatt chuckled and walked her over to the fireplace, holding out her chair before seating himself. "And your name?"
"Rebekah," she smiled. "Rebekah Mikaelson."
"I never thought that sending you out here would have you working hand in hand with the vampires," Chris went on. "I thought you would do some research, find Charlotte's homestead and set up shop. That's why I convinced the aunts to give you a list of contacts; not just so you could get a better grasp on other kinds of magic but so you could reach out and get them to your side so we have more numbers against Klaus."
"Yeah, well next time you might want to actually tell us about your plans so we can coordinate better," Denny snapped. "Besides, I think we've been doing just fine. We have Bonnie making contact with the witches and since we've found out we're related to the Bennett witches we already have a dozen witches helping us with our plans."
"Besides," Payton jumped in, "now that we have an in with a group of vampires that Klaus knows we can use that to our advantage."
"Just one question, though," Phyl scrunched up her face in thought, "how exactly were you planning on breaking all of this to the aunts? You realize we're going to eventually need them, right?"
Chris pursed his lips. "It'll be fine. Besides, Mom can't blow me up and she knows that. I won't come back like Dad used to."
"Blow you up," Caroline asked.
"Yeah," Chris drew out and winced, "when your mom is the strongest witch of her generation she tends to be a badass. It's one of her powers and you don't want to be on the opposite side of it."
Damon leaned over to whisper in his brother's ear, "I'm not so sure I want to meet these witches," causing Stefan to laugh.
Piper smiled as she stepped out of the kitchen to see Wyatt sitting by the fireplace enjoying his night off with a girl she didn't recognize. She saw the blonde throw her head back and laugh at something her goofy son said.
Piper headed back to her kitchen when Mel came up to the bar and ordered a coke. "Baby," Piper wrapped her arms around her before taking a seat at the bar and ordered a glass of red wine; her sous chefs could handle everything for a few minutes while she rested with her daughter.
"Hey mom, what's up?"
"Have you heard from your aunt Phoebe in the past week or so?"
"Why," Mel laughed, "she's still not speaking to you? You know aunt Pheebs will get over it. Besides, anyone can see she's driving a train wreck. You were just looking out for Denny."
"I just feel bad. It's not like I was trying to tell her she's a bad mother; I just wanted her to get a real idea of what she's doing to that girl. It was hard enough watching Prue being forced to give up her entire life, I don't want to see that happen to her namesake."
"Aunt Prue got it together eventually, and so will Denny," Melinda reminded her mother.
"But it was too late for Prue," a tear ran down her face. "Just when she was finally feeling free and didn't have to bare the weight of caring for our family alone anymore, she was gone. She only had months of being the person she wanted to be, doing what she was meant to do, before it was all over."
"That wasn't your fault," her daughter took her hand and held it.
"But part of it was. We had it easy; all we had to do was be there. And I let her do that; while I was going after my dreams of becoming a chef I let her support me. I let her fight my battles and lose her own.
"You know," Piper continued, "I always thought she had it all. She was the captain of the cheerleading squad, and student class president; homecoming queen and popular. I forgot about what she was giving up to be with us and raise us. And I don't want Phoebe to have to feel that way about what she's doing now."
"Mom," Mel leaned in until their crowns were touching and Mel rubbed her mother's back, "everything is going to be fine. Trust me, I'm a psychic."
Laughing, her mother wiped her tears from her face. "I always forget how much you truly see."
"Yeah," her daughter hissed and mushed her lips together. "And right now I see my brother having dinner with a vampire," she pointed and Piper looked back to her son.
"Oh, no…"