England 1492

Elijah closed his eyes in contentment as he grabbed a book off of the shelf in the library and took a seat in a nearby chair, opening it. He tries hard to read the contents, but his mind is still wrapped around Katerina and the conversation they had earlier that evening in his quarters when he had summoned her there and presented her the personal possession Niklaus had taken from her out of anger three nights before—her family bible.

As she flipped through the pages, tears came to her eyes as she thanked him sincerely for its return. Her Mother, she said, had secretly given it to her as a parting gift to remember them by when she had to leave home. She then told Elijah about her exile. Her vulnerability and the trust that she had in him to tell him so much about her life, caused him to do the same. And before he knew it, there, sitting on his bed before dinner, he was telling her about his own pain—being vampires, breaking the curse—those things he omitted of course, but about other private tribulations he was open, including his anger toward Niklaus, his pain at losing his family and the woman he loved.

She seemed to sympathize with his plight. He was thinking of the comforting smile she had given him and how gently she had embraced him, when Niklaus burst into the library.

"What have you done?" he asked, his voice rising in an accusing tone, the anger on his face accentuated in the candlelight

This completely took Elijah back. He had not seen his brother this upset in a very long time—a record for Niklaus.

"I do not understand," he said in confusion, closing the book on his lap and setting it aside

Niklaus eyed Elijah suspiciously for a moment, before continuing.

"Katerina is gone. She has fled."

This brought Elijah up out of his chair quickly.

Katerina was gone?

Part of him was sad beyond belief, while another part of him was joyful for her release from impending death.

But, mostly, he was in shock.

"No." Elijah said in disbelief, trying to move past Niklaus. He wanted to go to her chambers and see for himself, but Niklaus stopped him by placing a forceful hand on his brother's chest.

"What did you tell her?" he asked in an angry whisper

Elijah furrowed his brow.

Niklaus had every right to be suspicious. After he saw her striking resemblance to Liliya the night of Niklaus' birthday party, Elijah had tried in vein to dissuade Niklaus from taking her life in the ritual, but he and Katerina had always exchanged polite conversation, maybe a confidence or two, he never would have been foolish enough to tell her anything like this. His first obligation was to always show loyalty to his brother. All plans to help Katerina were kept to himself. In order to keep her safe, he told her nothing of the ritual or his brother's intentions for her.

"I told her nothing." Elijah answered truthfully

Niklaus angrily grabbed Elijah by the collar and threw him up against one of the stone walls.

"Do not lie to me!" he screamed, his face changing

Niklaus had no tolerance for disloyalty or people who disappointed him. Elijah quickly knew that he had limited options.

"I will find her. You have my word." He said, staring intently into his brother's dark eyes

Niklaus studied him for a moment as he pulled back ready to challenge his brother's loyalty.

"If you do not," he said finally, raising an eyebrow, "I give you my word that you will be dead."

Moments later, Elijah moved quickly down the hallway toward his quarters. All around him he heard the shuffle of feet as Niklaus dispatched his armed guards to search the grounds and surrounding areas for Katerina.

"Lord Elijah!" a voice suddenly cried behind him

Elijah stopped only for a moment to look over his shoulder, seeing his manservant Trevor coming immediately to his side.

"What is happening?" Trevor asked in worried tone as a group of guards rushed past them in the hall, heading in the opposite direction.

Elijah kept his voice low as he started walking again at a fast pace toward his destination, Trevor close behind, "Katerina has fled."

"What?" Trevor asked in an innocent tone, "When?"

"This evening," Elijah said, pushing open the door to his chambers, "sometime after dinner."

He took a deep breath, then turned on his heel in the center of the room and nodded at Trevor and waved his hand, silently signaling for him to close the door.

Trevor furrowed his brow in confusion for a moment before finally doing what Elijah asked, closing the large wooden door with a thud.

"Niklaus has charged me with finding Katerina," Elijah said as soon as the door closed, turning and walking toward a chair in the corner of the room, "But he doesn't trust me—not completely—therefore, he will have every armed guard at his disposal looking for her as well,"

Trevor watched as Elijah reached for his belt and sword that hung on the arm of the chair and swung it around his waist.

"She most likely has a good two hour head start on us," Elijah continued, fastening the belt, "we can use that to our advantage to help her. We'll need to come up with a distraction to keep the guards occupied. If we can find her, I'll make sure that nothing happens to her."

"You would help save her?" Trevor asked stepping forward

Elijah turned back to Trevor, his eyes softening as he began removing his vest.

"Yes, I would. I owe it to someone—someone I cared about long ago."

Trevor smirked as he moved forward and retrieved a fresh leather vest for Elijah from the top drawer of the bureau and helped guide it over his master's shoulders as Elijah reached through the inside pockets of the velvet vest he had discarded from his person.

Suddenly, his breath staggered and he quickly moved out of Trevor's grasp.

"Where is it?" he asked himself under his breath. "It's gone…"

"My Lord?" Trevor asked, confused as he watched Elijah toss the empty vest aside and scan the room quickly, even the floor.

"The moonstone," Elijah said in a panic, "It's gone! That's impossible! I keep it with me always—"

Then suddenly his mind flew back to the events of the day and to him calling Katerina to the chambers—him handing her the bible— the embrace Katerina had given him, wrapping her arms around his chest...

It suddenly occurred to Elijah that if Katerina fled because she had discovered Niklaus' plot, it's likely she knew about the moonstone and its significance… she also must have known where she could find it.

Elijah's nostrils flared.

No, he thought to himself as he turned quickly toward the top of the bureau, hoping that he had somehow set it down there earlier, Katerina wouldn't do that. She wouldn't betray him like that. Use his affections and then…

As his eyes continued to wander over the gold tray where he kept his valuables, his heart suddenly dropped.

Something else was missing.

"No…" he said softly in disbelief, "No…"

His hands searched rapidly through the jewelry and coins in the tray, then to a small wooden box near the candelabra.

"NO!" he screamed, his face changing with his anger as he slammed the lid of the box down hard and threw everything off of the top of the bureau with one swoop of his arm, sending items flying in every direction and Trevor ducking to avoid being hit straight on.

Elijah brought his hand to his chest, pain crossing his face as he closed his eyes, trying to calm himself, but to no avail.

The moonstone he could forgive…he could understand…but this. He had trusted her with this—trusted her with all his being when he had told her about it and now she had used it against him, taken it from him.

Why? To hurt him? To anger him? If so, it was working.

Elijah immediately straightened and fastened his vest quickly as he moved toward Trevor, grabbing the servant by the collar and helping him rise to his feet.

"Ready torches and wake Kol. We are going out to the woods to find her," he said in a seething voice, inches away from Trevor's face.

"W—what about stalling the guards? W—w-what about helping Katerina?" Trevor asked terrified

"That time has passed," Elijah said, pulling Trevor closer as the servant cringed at how close Elijah's fangs now were to his jaw line.

Elijah pulled back and closed his eyes, finally willing himself to change his face back to normal.

"Now do as I say and wake my brother," he said coldly, releasing Trevor with a toss toward the door.

Trevor bowed shakily, trying to get his bearings and stay steady on his feet.

"Yes, My Lord," he said in a trembling voice as he opened the door for Elijah and watched the original pass.

"We are going doppelganger hunting." Elijah said angrily under his breath as he walked through the threshold.

Elijah groaned as he rolled over on his back and slowly lifted his throbbing head from where it had planted on the brick alley way behind the nightclub.

He blinked, trying to straighten his eyesight into one cohesive vision, before slowly attempting to sit up.

He reached back and rubbed the back of his neck. It was still painful where Kol had stuck him with the needle and Elijah let out a defeated breath.

So, Niklaus got what he wanted after all—his blood.

Well, this was just great.

All the effort he had put into deflecting Niklaus had gotten him nowhere and worst of all Niklaus was capitalizing on Kol's survival instincts, Finn's love for Sage and Rebekah's—well, who knows what he was holding over Rebekah—to help him save himself.

Just when Elijah thought things had changed with his brother—they hadn't.

Big shock there.

But, was Niklaus really saving himself?

If Katherine was right and Elena and her friends traced the bloodlines wrong, no one would be safe, not even Niklaus.

And so Elijah was right back where he started, where he always started, playing the big brother and saving his siblings.

It was a tiresome job-cleaning up the messes, giving encouragement, trying to see the good in them-and all the while trying to keep the outside world from killing them while they tried to kill eachother.

As Elijah rose to stand, leaning on the brick wall of the building for support, trying to ignore the pain that now coursed through his body, he suddenly knew what he had to do.

He would have to pay a visit to an old friend for some answers and trace the bloodlines before Elena and the Salvatores did.

But first, he decided, looking down to the numbers Katherine had scrawled on the palm of his hand, he would take a quick trip back to Mystic Falls and after five hundred years, finally claim what was his.