November 10th 1889 (2)

Elena stood up and dusted herself off. She stood listening at the door to make sure he really was gone before coming out from the back room in Ruby's Bar. The coast was clear and she sat herself down at one of the tables near the back and let her head fall into her hands. How was she supposed to survive if Klaus had the entire witch community and probably most of the rest of the supernaturals on the lookout for her and her sister? Where could she run? Where could she hide?

Ruby walked over to her table, pouring her a drink and handing it to her. "I will have to do it you know." She said. "Like he said, if I don't he will find out and then he will come to kill me." Elena nodded. She knew what inevitably must have been coming next, but she wanted to hold onto this moment for a little while longer. But Ruby didn't have a choice. "You can't stay here. I helped you today, and didn't tell him, to give you a head start, but have to run. I won't hide you forever. I have my family to think of."

Elena looked up at the witch. "Thank you. I know what you did for me today, giving me a place to hide and not giving me up to Klaus, I know what a risk that was for you. Thank you." In all honestly, Elena had been pretty sure that Ruby would confess to Klaus. She really had no reason to help the vampire, but to Elena's surprise and delight, the witch had kept her mouth shut. Elena could ask no more of Ruby.

Elena was about to get up to leave when a thought struck her. She turned back to Ruby. "Why did you help me?"

Ruby looked startled. It was a question she had not been expecting. She hesitated, thinking about the answer, before she replied. "It's what someone I loved dearly would have wanted me to do." Elena let that answer seep into her mind. From the way Ruby had said it, it was as if she had lost that someone about whom she was talking about, so Elena decided not to press the issue.

The door swung open, sending the bell above the door flying into the air, ringing it's obnoxious tune as it flew back down. Before either Elena or Ruby could turn to look at the new arrival to the bar, Ruby was being held up against the wall by her throat.

"What did he say?" Katherine frantically questioned. She didn't have to explain who "he" was, as the witch already knew.

"He made me promise to get the message out." Ruby choked out.

Elena pulled her twin off Ruby, the two of them stepping back, giving her room to catch her breath. Katherine only waited another second before asking her next question. "What message?"

Ruby took another gasp of air, before glaring up at Katherine. "That no one is allowed to help you. No one is allowed to associate with you. And if we see you, we need to tell him."

Katherine rolled her eyes and stepped away. "Of course that is what he would do. He has no style. Just threats and promises."

"But they are not empty." Elena offered. "Katherine, no matter how much we hate it, Klaus has control over the witches. They all know who he is, and when this message gets out, which it will," Elena glanced over at Ruby, "we will have no choice but to run."

Katherine gritted her teeth and huffed. She hated it, but she must have known her sister was right. She paced back and forth, paying no mind to Ruby as she walked back over to the bar and began serving drinks again.

The rest of the customers must have been used to this kind of thing in a joint like Ruby's because no one seemed to be surprised by all the physical violence, yelling, and threatening that had been going on. Elena found herself feeling jealous of them. They got to live their lives with violence and threats like this as only background noise in a bar they occasionally went to. They didn't have to deal with the need for blood, or the constant looking over their shoulders.

Suddenly Katherine came to a stop. "We aren't going to run. That is what we did last time. I have had enough." She looked over at her sister, a smirk of mischief and brilliance brewing on her face. "We will disappear. But we won't be hiding, we will be planning. Researching. Biding our time for the perfect moment. We've tried to take out Klaus once before, and this time, we are going to succeed."