26. Abigail

He wanted to drink from her. Elijah had excellent control, but he was still a vampire, and with the bleeding Elena presented before him like a gift, it was impossible not to want her. He had never tasted her blood, which only made her more tempting. He had the perfect excuse to do so. Klaus had forced his hand; he had to at least play along until their opportunity came to finally kill him.

But it was still an excuse.

"Give her to me," said Elijah, and whether the tone of his voice held some command that Klaus was used to obeying – once upon a time he had listened to his brother – or for some other reason, Klaus complied.

Silently, he passed Elena over, sitting back down on the stone wall to watch them. She was trembling violently, her eyes full of fear as she looked at Elijah; he had never seen her so shaken. If he hadn't already wanted to kill his brother with a passion that had burned in him for centuries, this would certainly have been the tipping point.

Elijah bit into his wrist with clinical precision and watched Elena latch on to him for the second time. When he had last healed her, he had been in a poor state, newly woken and starving. Feeding her had been like inflicting another injury, though a minor one. This time he felt desire stirring in him at the way her mouth felt on his skin, the spill of her hair, the smell of her blood.

Elena looked up at him, her face white, her mouth a red smear, and though she had never more closely resembled the vampires she kept company with, there was still a very human defiance in her gaze, even at her most vulnerable. Again and again he found himself admiring her spirit. It would allow her to survive this.

His eyes met his brother's. Klaus was smiling, still watching them. He knew exactly what had transpired.

"Looking forward to the sacrifice," Klaus said.

Elijah lifted Elena's arm and looped it over his shoulder, so that he could better support her. Then, with one final look at his brother, he turned away to take Elena home.

Caroline found them all in the same place: one of the upstairs guest bedrooms. It was like walking into the aftermath of a séance. Snuffed out candles were arranged in a rough circle in the middle of the room, a few of them still sending up thin trails of smoke. The furniture had been pushed aside to make room for the circle. The smell of burning wax, incense, and blood permeated the air.

Something witchy had been going on, and she didn't know what. Caroline held her breath as she stepped inside.

Bonnie, Stefan, and Damon lay sprawled inside the circle, none of them moving. She hurried over to check their pulses and was relieved to find that they were all alive. Or dead-alive, in the Salvatores' case. Caroline bit her lip as she looked around again and noticed a small glass jar next to Stefan. The jar was dirty, the glass smeared with something dark, like jam. Only not jam. It was blood. Not human, she would know that at once. She breathed in, nose wrinkling. Vampire blood.

Had they been draining Stefan's blood?

Officially creeped out now, Caroline hurried over to Bonnie, hauling her up first. She would have to take them one by one back to her car.

That was when she noticed the rings. She had slung Bonnie's arm over her shoulder so that it hung limply in front of her. On Bonnie's middle finger, there was a ring, one that she definitely hadn't been wearing before because Caroline would have noticed and pointed out how horribly it clashed with her dress.

Her eyes went straight to Stefan and Damon, and her stomach dropped. They were wearing identical rings too: slim silver bands, each set with a ruby.

That probably wasn't good.

Elena was wide awake and her entire body felt cold. She'd kicked her shoes off, and she stared down at her bare feet pressing into the bedroom carpet without feeling them. Elijah had taken her back to her room without disturbing her family. He found a dressing gown in her wardrobe and walked over to drape it around her.

Elena looked up at him. "It's a little too late to be taking care of me."

He said nothing, his hand lingering for just a fraction of a second on her shoulder before he straightened up and turned away.

"That's not what this is," he said, without looking at her.

She felt the beginnings of anger blazing within her. "Then what is it?"

He turned back, and his voice was cold. "Protecting an asset. Klaus cannot suspect that we are allies. You know that."

She knew. She also knew that she had gone to the Lockwood ball of her own volition, aware of what she might face.

"What about protecting everyone else?" she asked. "Stefan, Damon, Bonnie, Caroline. What happened to them?"

She'd taken measures to safeguard the lives of her friends, but that didn't mean that Klaus couldn't hurt them.

"Your friend, Caroline. She found them all safe."

Elena let out a breath. "So it was just me he wanted. He got them out of the way so that he could have me all to himself."

She felt sick again just thinking about it. Why was he tormenting her like this?

"Yes," Elijah said. He paused, expression uncharacteristically hesitant. When he spoke, he was so quiet that she almost couldn't hear him. "Was I too late?"

She shook her head, wrapping her dressing gown more tightly around her. "He bit me, but..."

She trailed off, unable to finish. Elijah was watching her, and Elena met his eyes as he swallowed.

"I'm sorry."

She knew that he wouldn't say that unless he meant it. He had given her over to Klaus like she was a mere bargaining chip in their murderous game – and would have to keep up this pretence, she realized, right until the moment he killed his brother.

She looked up at him. Her anger had faded, replaced by a fatigue that seemed to seep through her every limb.

"I guess I know what to expect now," she whispered. "At the sacrifice. How it's going to feel..."

"The sacrifice won't get that far," he told her calmly.

"If we can find the witches. If not..."

"Either way, it won't be long now."

"When you kill him," Elena whispered, "I want you to make him suffer."

Elijah's face was a mask of certainty. "I will."

She nodded, and then wiped her eyes, sniffing. Outside, the night was black, and her eyes were itching with tiredness. She leaned over and pulled back the bed covers, unable to muster up the energy to stand up and do so.

Then she looked at Elijah again.

"He... said some things."

She knew she was being vague, but she didn't know if she really wanted to talk about it. Not like this. Everything Klaus had told her she had yet to come to terms with – she didn't even know if it was true.

A frown creased Elijah's brow. "What things?"

"About your history," she mumbled. "About Tatia."

She heard his breath catch. When he spoke, his voice was perfectly cold. "I see."

"You never said anything."

"You never asked."

"If I do, will you tell me?"

There was a pause. "Yes," he answered finally.

"Thank you," she said. "Maybe – maybe tomorrow." She stifled a yawn, lying back to pass her hand over her eyes.

"Tomorrow," she heard him agree.

When she opened her eyes again, he had gone.

The good thing about Caroline staying at Bonnie's house was that Bonnie didn't have to call her in order to talk about anything. Instead, she woke up to find Caroline's worried face an inch from hers. She groaned. It felt like she had a hangover.

If only she had a hangover.

A few minutes later, Bonnie sat cross-legged on her bed, frowning at the ruby ring on her finger.

"It won't come off," she said. "I've tried. Did you say Stefan and Damon have them too?"

Caroline nodded, biting her lip as she watched Bonnie tug at the ring again. Bonnie could sense what Caroline couldn't, though it wasn't exactly hard to guess: the ring was enchanted. It didn't feel like it was digging into her flesh, but the moment she tried to slip it off, it was as though the metal band was part of her; it simply wouldn't come off.

"Let me try," Caroline offered.

"It won't work," Bonnie said, but she let Caroline shuffle forward on the bed and take her hand anyway. It would be easier to convince her that nothing could be done if she tried and failed herself.

"Ow!"

Caroline dropped her hand. "Sorry."

"You nearly took my fingers off." Bonnie massaged her fingers, wincing. "Even vampire strength isn't going to help. This ring, it's – it's welded on. With magic."

Caroline's brow furrowed. "Do you know who did it?"

"Greta Martin. Damon and I ran into her last night."

She explained what had happened.

"This is bad," said Caroline, which pretty much summed it up. She reached out to take hold of the ring again, running her fingers over the silver metal. "What does it do? I mean, it can't just be a decoration, can it?"

Bonnie shook her head. "I wish I knew."

Maybe there was some way she could figure out the nature of the spell, but she didn't know how. And she had even less idea how to undo it. She could think of several possibilities for the rings' purpose, none of which were pleasant.

She frowned, adding, "I don't feel any different. Did you tell Stefan and Damon about this before you left them at the boarding house?"

Caroline shook her head. "They were out cold. But I left them a note."

"Found you two with Bonnie in the Lockwood mansion," Damon read. "You were in some creepy witch blood ritual. Check out your new rings, Bonnie has one too. I'm staying with her to try and figure it out. Caroline. Kiss kiss. Look at that, she left a kiss for each of us – isn't that sweet?"

He crumpled the note in his hand and glanced up at Stefan, who didn't even crack a smile. Granted, they'd had a bad night. But Stefan had called Elena, so he knew she was safe, and no one was dead. It could have been worse.

"Bonnie might know something," said Stefan. "I'll call her."

"Mmm." Damon sank down into an armchair and tugged at the ring again. Nope. Not coming off. "You know, before we do, there's an obvious solution to this so I'm just going to get it out there now: finger chopping. It's one digit, it'll grow back... what's to lose? No pun intended."

"You think that'll work?"

Damon shrugged. "It's worth a try."

He'd recognized the rings the moment he saw his. They were identical to the one Katherine had been wearing. If Klaus was up to something that involved all four of them, however, Damon had no idea what it could be. All he knew was that he wasn't going to play along.

There were several sharp knives in the kitchen. Damon looked at his hand again, grimaced, and stood up.

"I'm fine," Elena insisted. It had barely been an hour since she'd dragged herself out of bed, and she already felt like a broken record.

Jeremy raised an eyebrow. "You know I can tell when you don't mean that, right?"

She leaned back into the couch and huffed. "He didn't hurt me, okay? He was just blabbering on about his family history."

Jenna came in to give her a mug of hot chocolate, which Elena accepted gratefully, scooting over to make room for her on the couch. It also meant that she could avoid Jeremy's eyes, because she really didn't want him to press her about this. She'd lied to him – lied to everyone, even Stefan. If they knew what had really happened, they'd all make a fuss, and Elena didn't want that. There were more important things at stake.

"So what did he say?" Jenna asked, settling down beside her. Her aunt's gaze was sharp. Elena tried not to stumble over her words.

"He was talking about the first girl, the one who cursed him. The one who looked like me."

"So who was she?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. Someone important to the Originals, I guess. But he told me her name. Tatia."

She gave them a few more details, neglecting to mention anything to do with Elijah, and somewhere in the middle of it she was struck by immense relief that she was here, now: with her family, in her home, in the warm light of day. Jenna and Jeremy were both looking at her with such concern, such love. As a family, they had never been closer. She had to hold on to these moments. Elena still wasn't sure that she'd make it beyond the next full moon.

She looked up. Someone had knocked at the door, interrupting them.

"I'll get it," said Elena quickly, thinking that it was probably Stefan.

It was Elijah.

She swallowed. "I didn't expect you so soon."

"I have something for you," he said.

"He did what?"

"Chopped his finger off," Stefan replied. "Didn't work."

Bonnie wasn't sure whether to laugh or not. She controlled herself, speaking in a measured tone. "Well, I could have told him that."

"Do you have any idea at all what's going on here? What these rings do?"

"No. I'm sorry. I'll call you if I think of something."

"Okay."

She ended the call, looking over at Caroline. They were getting ready to go over to Elena's, since Bonnie figured that if she couldn't do anything about Greta's spell, she could at least be there for Elena. Caroline was standing in front of the mirror putting the finishing touches to her lip gloss, but Bonnie knew she had been listening.

"Wish I could have been there for that," Caroline said, and Bonnie smiled at the glint in her eyes.

She tucked her phone into her bag and stood up. "You nearly ready?"

"Pretty much." Caroline paused, her eyes flicking towards the door. "You have a visitor."

"What?"

"Shh." She tucked her hair back behind her ears, frowning as she listened to whatever was going on downstairs. Bonnie felt apprehension stirring in her body. "Oh my God... Bonnie... Is that – is that your mother?"

Her stomach dropped. "My..."

Elijah had told her to expect her mother's arrival. With everything that had happened, she'd managed to bury the thought – she didn't want to raise her hopes, didn't want to believe that it might really happen...

The voices drifting up from downstairs were getting louder. She didn't need to be a vampire to hear her dad shouting. Of course he wasn't happy. And she hadn't forewarned him, hadn't told him anything – for him this was completely out of the blue.

Caroline saw the look on her face and said, "Okay, I'll just... let myself out. You go and talk to her, Bonnie. Text me when you're done."

She nodded numbly.

Caroline squeezed her arm before disappearing, leaving Bonnie alone. She stood in the middle of her room, feeling like there wasn't enough air. Everything seemed slightly blurred. It was surreal. How could something she'd been warned about come as such a complete surprise?

The answer came to her even as she took a breath and walked downstairs to face both her parents. It was because she hadn't allowed herself to even accept the possibility.

She saw her dad first. "Ten years. You disappeared for ten years, and you never left a forwarding address. You have no right to be here."

"I'm not here for you. I'm here for Bonnie."

Bonnie stared. Her mother. Abigail Bennett was finally back. She had an impression of sleek, controlled grace, but from the way her mother's lip curled and her eyes flashed, Bonnie thought there was a quick temper hiding beneath. Her mother's hair was swept back into a stiff bob, not a hair out of place, and she was wearing a matching grey skirt and business jacket, with a high collared blouse underneath. A cream scarf was the only thing that softened her appearance, tied loosely over her collar.

She didn't look like a mother. She didn't look like a witch either. She looked like a successful thirty-something professional, out of place in the Bennett family kitchen, and Bonnie felt such a lack of connection with her that she almost cried right there and then.

She swallowed, unable to speak, but her presence didn't go unnoticed. Abigail turned her head and saw her, and her dad followed suit.

Abigail stared at her, eyes bright.

"I'm here," Bonnie managed.

"Bonnie," she replied, offering a brief flicker of a smile. "Can we talk? Not here."

"You have some nerve," her dad growled. He walked over to Bonnie, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay, Dad," said Bonnie softly. "I – I want to talk to her. We can go out for coffee. Is that okay?"

It took some persuading, for her father was a stubborn man, but eventually he let her go, and Bonnie stepped forward to show her mother out of the house. Her heart was racing. She knew that they had a lot to talk about, but it was all business – all vampires and doppelgängers and curses. Would she be able to even try to form an actual connection with her mother? Did she want to?

She didn't know.

Elena invited Elijah into the sitting room, where he handed her a piece of paper with a number written on it.

"What is this?" she asked.

"A way of contacting Lucy."

He sat down, looking around at them all. Jeremy was watching Elijah with obvious suspicion. Meanwhile, Jenna was giving them the same look she used whenever Elena was with Damon, which was disconcerting.

"Lucy, as in the witch Lucy?" Elena asked, watching for his confirming nod. "This is her phone number? But why give it to me – why not Bonnie?"

After all, it was Bonnie who had met her, Bonnie who had spoken to her, Bonnie who was related to her. Elena didn't even know what Lucy looked like.

"I suspect Bonnie may be preoccupied with another visitor."

"Her mother," Elena realized. She really needed to find the time to talk to Bonnie about it. Elena was the reason that Bonnie's mother had returned to Mystic Falls – she felt responsible.

Jenna leaned forward. "Wait, what? Can you guys take a step back for a minute? What are we talking about?"

"The witches," Elena answered. "We need at least seven to take down Klaus. We already have Bonnie, Jonas and Luka. Elijah brought back Bonnie's mother, and we're going to contact Lucy. That makes five, so we still have two more left to find."

"One more," Elijah corrected her. "I heard from the Martins shortly before arriving here. They've found a witch in Chicago willing to join us. They'll be back tomorrow."

"Right before the full moon," Elena whispered. She'd been trying not to think about how close it was. The impending sacrifice...

Jeremy spoke up. "But that means there's still one witch missing. And we don't have much time left."

Elena shared a look with Elijah. She didn't really have an answer to that. Neither of them did. If they didn't track down enough witches willing to help them in time, this entire plan was a waste. They would have to go with their back-up plan instead – Elijah's original plan to let her die in the sacrifice.

Jenna bit her lip when neither of them responded. "So what happens if we don't have enough witches?"

Elijah drew a breath, but Elena held up her hand, forestalling him. "Let's just concentrate on what we have to do right now. I need to call Lucy."

"Okay," said Abby. "Start from the beginning. What have you gotten yourself into?"

They were in Bonnie's car, her mother in the driver's seat – she had said that she didn't trust any public establishment. Anyone could hear them. Instead, Abby had taken them straight into the countryside, along a long, quiet highway. Bonnie wondered if she intended to keep driving right over the border.

They might have time for that too, she thought, as she began to explain. Her mother listened intently, interrupting several times to ask questions, and the further into her story Bonnie got, the harder her mother's hands gripped the steering wheel.

"Does your grandmother know about this?" she asked at one point, and Bonnie realized with sudden horror that she didn't know. Abby didn't know that Grams was dead.

"Grams... Grams is gone," she replied thickly.

She explained what had happened. "Oh," Abby said. Her voice sounded small. For the first time, she looked lost – like her composure had gone and she was a young girl again. Their eyes met, both teary, and Bonnie felt just a glimpse of a connection, like a thread between them. Here was someone who shared her grief.

"I thought she was taking care of you," said Abby. "She was always better at that than I was." She shook her head, looking at the road again, and the thread disappeared. "You haven't mentioned Klaus. How does he fit into this?"

By the time Bonnie had finished, the sun was hanging low over the horizon, creating an orange haze over the road ahead.

"Well," said Abby finally. "That sounds like the Originals all right. Kidnapping and abusing innocent girls. You shouldn't have gotten involved, especially not on your own."

"I didn't want to. But Elena is my best friend. I couldn't walk away. And I didn't have anyone else. I was the only one who could help."

Her mother twisted her mouth, looking through the rear view mirror before pulling the car over to the side of the road. They had stopped on the verge; there was nothing around them except fields. Abby switched off the engine, then leaned back and looked at Bonnie. All tears had vanished; her eyes were as hard and sharp as flint.

"You can always walk away. Even if you think you can't – don't let yourself be beholden to anyone, Bonnie. People like us, other people always try to use. Don't be fooled."

Her words struck a chord with Bonnie, despite the way her heart recoiled. It was true. Grams had died because of it – because of the Salvatores. But Elena needed her.

"I'm not fooled," she said quietly. "I know what I'm doing. And if we have the power to stop Klaus, then don't we owe it to everyone – to the world – to do it?"

"With great power comes great responsibility?" Abby asked. "Only if you take on that burden."

"What did you do?" Bonnie's voice shook. All the questions she'd ever wanted to ask her mother tumbled out of her at once. "You left – you abandoned us, ten years ago. What happened? Why did you never come back?"

Abby sighed, looking down. "It's a long story. Maybe I sound bitter – I am bitter. The Originals have been playing a long game. Ten years ago, I got sucked in. Just like you have."

Bonnie caught her breath. So her mother disappearing had something to do with the Originals. She should have guessed that the moment Elijah had said that he knew her.

"Long story short, Elijah was looking for someone," Abby continued. "A vampire. And he thought that Klaus knew where this vampire was. So he came to me. I was... in some trouble at the time. Witch trouble. I'd played around with magic that was too powerful, attracted unwanted attention..."

"Did Grams know?"

She shook her head. "I was too proud – too stupid – to tell her. I didn't even tell your father. Then Elijah came and solved all my problems. He does that. And all he wanted was a little favour..."

"So you owed him."

"Big time. And I liked him at first, I'll admit that. He's an Original. Powerful. He promised to guarantee protection for us, if only I did what he wanted. But that didn't work out. Klaus isn't easy to fool. He found out that I was double crossing him. So I had to run – I couldn't go back home. If Klaus found me there, he wouldn't just kill me, he'd kill all of us. I thought that, without me, you would be okay. You had Grams. You had your dad."

Bonnie blinked. Her eyes were wet with tears. Her mother had vanished to protect them. And all this time she had wondered why. Her dad claimed it was a messy divorce. Even as a ten-year old though, that hadn't quite seemed right to Bonnie. What she hadn't understood was why her mother had left her too. Did her mother hate her? What had she done?

"What about Elijah?" she managed. "Didn't he say that he would protect us?"

Abby's expression hardened. "No, he said that he would protect us, if I tracked down the vampire he wanted to find. I went back to him after I escaped from Klaus. He wouldn't do a damn thing. He used me, and when I didn't turn up the goods, he turned his back on me. That's the kind of family you're dealing with, Bonnie. We're just pawns in their game, you understand? And your friend – Elena, the doppelgänger – she's fooling herself if she thinks Elijah plays for any side but his own." Abby sat up straighter in her seat, taking a breath. "I'll help you to kill Klaus," she said. "But I'll do it to protect you, and because I want that bastard taken down. I don't want anything to do with Elijah."

She stopped abruptly. Bonnie let out a breath; the silence felt thick, cloying. "Okay." She knew that she should be glad for her mother's help. But disappointment was building in her chest. Her mother had said nothing about staying, nothing about her.

Abby started the car again. They drove off, and her mother looked at her. "So. What do we need to do to kill Klaus?"