A/N: I know, I can't wait for Elijah's return too but I'm going to stick to the show's timeline somewhat. Have a few more plot wrenches to toss in before my favorite Original makes his grand re-entrance. That said, I do not own The Vampire Diaries.

The next morning Ryssa woke to a text from Elena asking her to meet in the woods with Alaric and she groaned. She looked around, taking in her surroundings to find that she had no idea where she was, at least until the previous night's events filtered back into her mind and she rubbed her face groggily.

Now she remembered; Klaus had ditched town after the fiasco with Stefan and Elena, leaving the ripper without his humanity and watching over the hybrid's miracle cure for his freaks. She'd gone to Damon as a last ditch effort –why was he always the one she went to for that sort of thing anyway?—and he'd let her stay to avoid her large and empty house. This meant that she had to come up with some sort of strategy to save Emma or wake Elijah. Easy…as really difficult pie, she scoffed.

Tearing herself from her sleepy ramblings, she made her way out of the house quietly and drove back home to shower and change, making a mental note to thank Damon later. It didn't take long to catch up with the hunter and doppelganger and she watched from a nearby viewpoint beside a tree as he instructed her on punching a dummy. It struck her as funny that Elena couldn't manage to eject the stakes in the wrist device and the girl flashed her a dirty look when she laughed.

"Can you do any better?" Alaric challenged and Ryssa arched a brow.

The witch raised a hand, palm up, and cracked a tree branch over head and brought the limb down. She used her magic to strip a piece of wood from it and sent it directly into the throat of the dummy with barely any effort. Elena jumped to the side, and Rick looked impressed.

"My skills aren't the ones being called into question here, sweets," she drawled. "Why am I here, Elena?"

"Alaric's helping me train."

"So I gathered, what with the stakes and dummies."

"I thought maybe you'd want to train with me," she turned pleading eyes on her and the other girl sighed and yawned.

"Whatever." She fell into step with them, half listening as they talked about his various gizmos and snickered when he tossed a vervain grenade at her. It seemed that he'd learned his lesson about challenging her because he kept on with his "vampires are bad" rant to Elena. She felt the apathy creeping in when she found herself bored with their little heart to heart about how Elena's strong for getting up. The girl had no idea what true strength was, she vented.

"I need coffee," she announced and waved a hand dismissively when Rick called out that they'd be at his apartment later to train more. Frankly she had bigger fish to fry, and little patience for teenage drama that day. She went back to the Boarding House to see Stefan playing a very odd version of Twister and vaulted over the couch to watch, waiting on the elder Salvatore to show himself.

"Want to play, Ryssa?" Stefan offered and she cocked her head to the side, not dignifying his question with an answer. "It'll be fu-un," he sang.

"Nah, you look like you're having enough fun for the both of us."

"Someone's snarky this morning."

"I prefer apathetic. Oh sorry, that's a big word huh? Means I don't care about a damn thing today," she mocked and he laughed.

"You'd make a heck of a vampire, Ryssa." He spun the wheel and Ryssa smiled, sensing Damon coming down the stairs. "Uh-oh. Alexandra, left hand, please."

"Hey, the two brunettes on the staircase owe me a Persian rug," he addressed to his younger brother.

"You mean they owe us a rug? My house too, brother. Want to spin?"

"This is what Klaus had in mind as far as you keeping an eye on Elena?"

"Relax Damon, you have a visitor," Stefan said and Damon shifted his attention to see Ryssa lounging on the opposite couch.

Just then there was a knock at the door and Damon opened it to reveal Rebekah, carrying bags in each hand.

"Where's Stefan?" she asked, brushing past Damon. "What are you doing here?" she demanded of the witch who's lips quirked up into a lopsided smile.

"Lovely to see you too, darling. What's the matter? Big brother Niklaus leave you high and dry?"

"Yes, he did actually. Where's my room?" she asked Stefan who licked the blood off his hand and smiled at her.

"You're not staying here."

"You're Klaus' sister?" Damon repeated.

"Rebekah. Pleasure, I'm sure," she replied. "And you're both rude. I'll see to it myself." She flounced off toward the stairs and Ryssa jumped up to follow. She could hardly resist getting a few digs in while the girl was irritated, could she? She winked at Damon as she passed him and found Rebekah in a room near Stefan's and leaned in the doorway.

"You know," she began mildly; "you could've just asked me."

"You'd have said yes?" the blonde scoffed, eying her.

"I'd have thought about it," she shrugged. "Fact of the matter is, Elijah bought me this big old house and I'm all alone now, what with him being daggered. Speaking of which," she stepped into the room deliberately, "I wonder if you might be able to tell me where those coffins got to?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"I love your brother's decorating skills, what do you think?" she rolled her eyes. "Seriously, if you get tired of all the testosterone, look me up."

"I thought you didn't like me."

"I don't know you enough to think that. Niklaus, on the other hand, him I sort of loathe. Bet it just burns you up that he didn't even think to let you know that he was leaving," she taunted.

"I hate you," the blonde said through gritted teeth and Ryssa chuckled cruelly.

"Oh don't get my hopes up, it's not nice."

With that, she wagged her eyebrows and went back into the library, done picking on the girl for the moment. She actually almost hoped Rebekah took her offer, if only so she could have some more fun at her expense. She was just such an easy mark, she laughed to herself. Mention her brother and she instantly got defensive. She was also very suspicious, a trait she intended to exploit if the opportunity arose.

"Ruthless," Damon commented and she grinned.

"Yeah well, that's just the mood I'm in so watch your step." She glanced at her watch and jerked her head toward the door. "Let's get out of here. I haven't had my coffee yet."

The two of them sat down at a booth in the Grill and Damon leaned back to regard her thoughtfully. "You seem different."

"How so?"

"As if you've let loose whatever it was that was keeping you down," he suggested. "I almost buy the line you sold Stefan about not caring."

"Believe it," she sipped at her drink and studied the table. Absently she poured salt on the tabletop and turned her fingertip in circles, making the grains rise a couple of inches and revolve around in the direction her fingertip went. "Klaus threatening to turn Emma pretty much broke any hold he had on me. I only joined to keep her safe. I even tried to know that monster."

"What changed?" he watched the salt with interest. Her small displays of magic interested him, at least when she wasn't directing them at him in anger. Bonnie had become their go-to witch before Ryssa arrived and the Bennett had spent a lot of time trying to kill him. He never really had the chance to appreciate a witch's craft for what it was, and it still surprised him that he and the Jackson witch had become friends compared to how they'd started out.

"Aside from the obvious of hurting me and the people I care about? He intends to destroy something that I have worked hard to make sure that my daughter has." At his curious expression, she explained with one word, "innocence."

"I'm not sure I understand."

"It doesn't matter," she sighed and the salt particles fell to the table and she swiped them off with one hand. "All that matters is that I will do whatever it takes to get Emma back."

"That's certainly a good start." He smiled and tapped his drink against hers, eyes dancing wickedly. "Where do we begin?"

"Rebekah," she decided and tapped her nails in a staccato rhythm. "She has to know something about the coffins. As far as looking directly for Em, I could try to find her but there's the matter of getting to her and getting her out from Klaus' grasp."

"So we question Barbie Klaus," he agreed. "There's a bonfire tonight in the woods, we can do it there."

"Deal. Next issue, Stefan. What are we going to do about him?"

"Good question," Damon heaved a breath. "Stefan will hopefully be busy tormenting Elena so he shouldn't notice whatever it is you're planning. But you should be careful; he can't be trusted not to rat you out."

"He could try," she retorted with a cold glint in her eye. "I promise you that I will make sure he regrets it."

"How would you do that?"

"I saw this movie once, great movie. In it, there was a guy who stabbed knives into someone's major organs. In alphabetical order. That sort of thing kind of inspires me, if you get my drift," she stated and his eyebrows rose. "I did say I was in a mood," she smirked.

"Dang, I had no idea that you could be so heartless. I like it."

"So glad you approve," she laughed. "I gotta jet, told Rick I'd stop by. He wants me to train or whatever."

"Train?"

"I blame your doppelganger," she grumbled and got to her feet. "She insists on learning to handle herself against a vampire and dragged me into it. So I get to go show off my magic," she made a face and he smiled.

"I wonder what Elijah would think about the new attitude," he said and noted the sadness cross through her eyes before disappearing.

"I think that he wouldn't recognize me," she replied quietly. "But I have to do what I must to save my family."

Damon's gaze rested on her back as the witch walked out, turning over the conversation in his mind. He thought he'd seen all of the aspects of his friend's personality but it appeared he'd been wrong. She had a hidden darkness that lingered just beneath the surface, a chill that came into her eyes when she talked of harming someone. She was definitely a force to be reckoned with, he acknowledged. And he had to admit, he concurred with his brother's assessment that she would make a heck of a vampire.


Ryssa shifted from one foot to the other impatiently, listening to the phone ringing but there wasn't an answer. Not that she'd expected one, but she had hoped. Ever since Klaus had ditched Mystic Falls, she'd been trying to reach him about his promise to free Emma, but the hybrid was dodging her calls.

She let out a deep breath and entered Rick's apartment and saw that Elena was lifting weights. She grabbed a mat from against the wall and spread it on the floor then sat lotus-style, closing her eyes and centering herself. Training began with breathing exercises, she reminded herself as she counted her breaths. Slowly, she slipped into meditation and fell inside herself, searching for the core of her power. She found it coiled in the center of her chest, the same bright red fire that she'd glimpsed years ago in her studies with Claire.

Today she wasn't going to focus on using her magic. Just knowing it, spending time speaking and listening to it. Witches tended to rely on their gifts for protection and spells and mundane things, but what they didn't always stop to realize was that each act had to be done consciously and with a degree of control. She knew the stories of how witches had taken on too much power of used too much for one spell and suffered grave consequences. Witches could only abuse their magic so much before it fought back.

Claire had taught her that she needed to understand herself and her magic before she could learn to wield it. Hours had been spent with her sitting exactly as she was now, just letting her magic speak to her. It greeted her now like an old friend, curling around her like a blanket. She remembered starting out with little spells, to warm her when she was cold or to expel a headache. It had been too long since she'd taken the time to reconnect with the inner-most part of herself and she felt her lips turn up into a smile as she did so.

A whisper of wind was her only warning that Rick had just struck out at her, intending to test her concentration and she caught his leg, snapping her eyes open and twisting it, sending him to the floor. She heard Elena and Damon talking nearby but tuned them out as an idea struck her.

"Elena, come here," she called. "Sit facing me, just like I am." Obeying, Elena looked expectantly at the witch who smiled and held up both of her hands. "Do you trust me?"

"Yes," the other girl answered and took Ryssa's hands.

"Close your eyes and focus on your breathing," she instructed. She felt Elena slip into a trance and willed a small amount of magic from her center through her hands and into Elena's and felt her jump. "I want you to clear your mind."

Once she'd felt that she'd given Elena enough time to do as she said, she opened her connection to the other girl and pushed her magic into her. What she was doing was something she hadn't tried so much as read about, but if she was successful, then she'd just given her a small reserve of her power. Elena wasn't a witch, but she was by her very existence supernatural, and she was curious to see if her experiment would work.

Elena gasped as the foreign feeling coming from the witch spread through her and pulled her hands away, opening her eyes to look into Ryssa's. "What was that?"

Instead of answering, she lifted a candle and held it up to Elena. "Blow this out with your thoughts."

"I can't, I'm not a witch."

"Hush," she interrupted her protest. She felt Damon and Rick observing from nearby but neither said a word. "Gaze into the flames, watch them dance," she said and Elena did. "Now I want you to visualize the flame going out, see it clearly in your mind."

After a moment, the flame went out and Elena's mouth widened into an 'O' of shock. "Did I—"

"Yep." Ryssa grinned in triumph and before she could lose her focus she continued, "Now relight it."

When Elena again succeeded she gaped at Ryssa, the obvious question on her face. Ryssa withdrew a crystal from her pocket and clutched it tightly in her palm, chanting under her breath as the others stared. Once she'd poured enough of her energy into the crystal she handed it to Elena and jumped to her feet.

"I just gave you a portion of my magic. There's some in this crystal as well, I'll teach you how to call on it later," she explained.

"But…how?"

"You're a supernatural being, a doppelganger. I wondered if that meant that you could use a small bit of magic and it seems that I was right." She shrugged and grabbed a water bottle, unscrewing it and taking a sip. "It won't last and you won't be able to do what Bonnie or I can, but you'll have enough to protect you if it's an emergency. With the proper training, if you're interested."

"You could teach me to use magic to protect myself?"

"The bare minimum, yes. Like I said, it won't stick around, it's only borrowed. But say you're being attacked by Stefan and you can't get a physical attack in, I can teach you to use what's in that crystal to throw him like I've done to Damon," she replied. "It'll have to be re-charged each time but we can deal with that later."

"So you didn't even know if that would work?" Damon spoke up.

"I haven't attempted it before but I have read about it and figured it was worth a shot."

"Thank you, Ryssa," Elena grabbed the witch in a hug and the girl cried out in surprise.

"You're welcome. I figure you'll need all the advantages you can get," she shrugged. "I can see about making some spelled objects or jewelry for you. Something along the lines of the necklace. To amp your strength or make you aware of another vampire, etc."

"You are awesome," Elena gushed happily, then frowned. "I don't feel it anymore. Does it always feel like that?"

"Like what?"

"Electricity."

"At first it did. I got used to it the more I practiced."

"Well, magic aside," Rick reminded Elena, "you still need to keep up with your other training." Ryssa nodded and headed toward the door. "Where are you going?"

"Home to get ready for the bonfire," she answered. "Got a plan to put in motion. Ta!"


About two hours later, Ryssa stood near a tree, watching the flames of the fire emotionlessly. She'd received the text from Damon filling her in on the plan to lock up Stefan and had no real interest in interfering. The guy needed a time-out, and if they managed it, so much the better. She'd spent some time after her shower looking through her books, debating what she could make for Elena and the right spells to use.

She bent down and picked up a rock, turning it over in her hand and considered how to go about creating a spelled object. Again, it was only something she'd read about, not tried. She could always bind the spells with runes, she pondered. Runes were the oldest branch of spell casting used centuries ago, and she knew all of the scripts by memory. Elena needed a way to give her more strength, faster reflexes possibly and of course to tell if a vampire or other creature that meant harm was nearby. It would take some work, but she could manage it with the right wording.

The witch threw the rock into the trees and wandered over to grab a drink, then sat on one of the logs, exhaling deeply. She was bored. The others were due to join the party soon, and then she would find a way to question Barbie Klaus, as Damon had dubbed her. She was risking everything to get Elijah back, to get her daughter back, but it was worth it. Maybe she had changed, she admitted, but what choice did she have under the circumstances? Elijah would have to understand that she was doing what she thought was best, and if she knew him as well as she felt she did, then he would.

Ryssa noticed Rebekah's presence first as she poured herself a beer and then Stefan's who'd walked over to her. She studied them as they talked, noticing the way Stefan acted with Elena when she downed her drink quickly. Eventually Rebekah came over to sit beside her, a marshmallow on the end of her stick.

"Enjoying the all natural high school human experience?" she asked dryly.

"Ugh, no. All of these people are boring. I thought Tyler might be here," the blonde complained.

"Setting your sights sort of young aren't you?" she commented with raised eyebrows and idly played with her hands. She felt the energy dance along her fingertips as she called and manipulated a flame between her palms, playing with her small fire ball. She was aware that the vampire was eying her closely but pretended not to, keeping her tone light.

"Why do you love my brother?" she blurted out and the witch's smile softened.

"Elijah is…well I don't have the words."

"How'd you two meet?"

"Didn't Klaus tell you?"

"No."

"He saved me from a bad situation," she supplied. "Took me under his wing and saved my life a few times. Guy like that tends to grow on you after a while."

"And why were you helping Nik?"

"If I answer, will you answer a couple for me?" she inquired and Rebekah hesitated and nodded once. "Initially because instead of killing Klaus like he planned, Elijah saved him during the ritual. To prevent the doppelganger's pet witch from killing Elijah, I switched sides. After that it was because he gave me his word that he would heal my sister who was in a coma and would return my daughter that he'd kidnapped."

"So that's what he was holding over you? Her life?"

"Yeah. I'll say this now because I'm in a talkative mood, Rebekah," she looked the vampire straight in the eye. "All I want from Niklaus is my child back. If he surrenders her without a fight, I won't kill him or anything like that. I'll walk away and neither of you will ever see me, unless me and Elijah actually do stay together a while."

"You want the coffins to wake my brother," she deduced.

"That's right. If he can help me retrieve my daughter, I'll see about getting him to not seek revenge for getting daggered. But I will do what it takes to get her back, don't underestimate me."

"You don't scare me," she scoffed.

"I don't want to," Ryssa smiled and put out the ball of fire in her hands. "I just want to make sure you get where I'm coming from."

"What's your questions then?"

"Do you know where he has her?"

"No. He never mentioned her to me."

Ryssa examined the Original, judging the sincerity in her statement and set it aside to ask another. "What about the coffins?"

"I can't tell you where they are," she shook her head. "Klaus would hunt me down and kill me if I did."

The witch tilted her head to one side and gave the vampire a teasing smirk, "marshmallows aren't supposed to catch fire," she muttered and got to her feet to allow Damon to take her place.

Hearing a scream, she hurried over in time to see Stefan go down and felt a flash of annoyance. At least someone's plan was coming together, she ranted silently. Her chat with Rebekah had been fruitless and left her feeling cross and moody again. She hated thinking too much on her and Elijah's history, and about Klaus, but it had been necessary. Now she was back at square one with nothing to show for it.

After driving around a while, she finally decided to go back over to the Boarding House, missing the company of her one friend. She liked Elena and Rick well enough but the only person that she gave a damn about in Mystic Falls was strangely the same vampire she used to dislike strongly. She smiled at the memories of their fights and random snarkiness. It struck her as funny that the one person she couldn't stand when she first came to this town was now one of the only reasons she was staying.

She found him in the main room, rolling up a rug and bent to help him, shooting him a smirk. They both glanced up at the sound of a vase breaking and she shook her head silently when his expression asked if it had been her.

"Knock it off, Stefan."

Ryssa helped him collect the shards from the vase and yelped when she felt something hard strike her head. She watched Damon fall beside her before darkness claimed her and she knew no more.