Thank you: ADORATIO
GrapeJuice101
Susl
Da RaNdOm PeRsOn
For your reviews it means alot to me that you're supporting this story, here's chapter 52.
I also realised I'd spelled Rick wrong, so from now it's gonna be RIC lol
Chapter 52: Ordinary People
I was going into the old Lockwood cellar with Ric and Elena and we walked in a little bit, it was dark.
"So the Lockwood's really have no idea that these tunnels are underneath their property?" Elena asked as a I shined a light above me.
"Careful where you shine that thing. Bats hate the light" Ric said.
"Wait, what?" I asked frantically and I stopped moving.
"April" A voice whispered and I jumped and turned around.
"Ah!" I yelped and then seen Damon "God Damon!"
"Scaredy-cat" He said with a smirk.
"Just ignore him, that's what I do" Ric said.
I smirked "So you really can't get in there?" Elena askd.
"No" Damon said and tangled his fingers with mine "Seems to me like the ancient Lockwood's were anti-Vampire"
"What do you mean ancient?" I asked.
"See for yourself" He said nodding towards the end of the tunnel. We walked further in and I could see writing.
"Well this is as far as I can get to" Damon said, he reluctantly let go of my hand.
"What is this?" I asked touching the walls.
"Well as far as I can tell it's a story, in simple archaeological terms it's a really, really old story. That right there is the moon cycle. A man, a wolf" Ric said.
"A werewolf" Elena said.
"Yeah it's the Lockwood Diaries, Pictionary style" Damon smirked.
"I don't understand" I said "I thought the Lockwood's came here with the original founders in the 1860s?" I asked.
"I don't know, maybe the Lockwood's did, but according to this wall, these werewolves have been here a lot longer than that" Ric said.
"How long?" I asked.
"Long. It gets better, show 'em Ric" Damon said.
"Names. They're not native but they're written in Runic, Viking script" Ric said.
"Vikings?" Elena asked.
"This name here, I translated it and it reads Niklaus" Ric said.
"Klaus" I said.
"And Elijah and Rebekah"
"These are the names of the original family?" I asked
"Carved into a cave that's been here since way before the founding of Mystic Falls, or even the entire new world for that matter" Ric said.
"Okay, this had gotta be one of Klaus' fakes" I said.
"That's what I said" Damon said and I turned to look at him and he grinned.
"That could be true, except the last name up here made us think otherwise" Ric said.
"What's the name?" Elena asked.
"Mikael" Ric said.
"Mikael? Mikael as in the one who knows how to kill Klaus?" I asked.
"Yep and I like to call him "Papa original" Damon said.
Ric picked up the drawings "Let's get back to my apartment, maybe I can figure something out"
-RIC'S APARTMENT-
Ric and I were looking at the drawings while Damon and Elena were fighting.
"These images tell a story...to learn the story I have to decipher these images" Ric said.
I turned to see Damon disarming Elena who had tried to stake him "Sloppy" He scoffed.
"Shut up, I'm new at this" She said hitting him.
"Ghost of Christmas past" Mason Lockwood set up the cave and lead us to a weapon that can kill Klaus" Damon said.
"Yeah, but doesn't Mikael have a weapon?" I asked.
"Yes. Which probably means the wall will lead us to Mikael, who we have already found and lost" He then got Elena again "Bang! You're dead"
He pretended to bite her neck and she shoved him off her, I rolled my eyes. "Such children" I scoffed and turned back to Ric.
"These images at the very least might tell us what that weapon is" Ric said.
"Then all we have to do is find out what they mean" I said.
"Fine! Fine! If I'm being irrationally optimistic like you two how are we supposed to do that?" Damon asked an arm going around my neck.
"Well if the story is about the original family living here...then we go straight to the source" I said nodding.
"Who?" Ric asked.
"Rebekah" I nodded.
-SCHOOL-
I could see Rebekah cheerleading and I walked over to her.
"You! Goody!" She said with a smile.
"I was hoping we could talk" I said folding my arms.
"About what? Stefan? Don't worry I'm off him, until he starts treating me better, in fact you should probably take a page from my book if I'm being honest"
"Actually, I'd rather talk about this" I said and held up a picture of her name that was carved into the Runic "I'm curious why you and Klaus have spent 1000 years running from your father"
"I should get back to the girls homecoming's right around the corner" She said with a smile.
"Well then maybe I'll ask Mikael when we wake him" I said.
"You're bluffing" She growled "You don't know where he is, no one does"
"So then who's rotting in that old cemetery in Charlotte?" I asked.
"If you wake Mikael we are all doomed!" She said.
"So then tell me" I said.
"Why do you want to know?"
"Why don't you want me to wake him?" I asked.
"I need to get back to the girls" She said and left, I shook my head and called Ric.
"Hello?"
"Nothing. She told me nothing" I said.
"Told you!" Damon's voice said.
"Shut up" I snapped "I'm on my way back"
I drove back to the apartment and got out the car but my phone began to ring.
"Hello?"
"Babe" Damon's voice said.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I'm in the cellar with Stefan" He said.
"Ah, she's going to tell me" I said nodding "She's scared of him Damon I saw it in her eyes, I just have to engage a little mean girl power struggle first"
"Make sure she doesn't power struggle you into a wheelchair"
"I've got this, Damon" I said "If we can figure out a way to kill Klaus, Stefan 'll be free of any compulsion, how does he look?"
"Hmm- Pasty and pouty" he said.
"He'll have to get over it" I said "Call me later"
I walked into the apartment and looked to Ric and Elena. "So?"
"Rebekah will come around" I said.
"You're sure about that? I mean a thousand year old vampire, I'm sure, is not in the art of patience"
Just then I got a text "Come over for a chat, Rebekah"
"She's a thousand year old vampire who's just joined the cheerleader squad...there is a whole different set of rules that play here, Ric, I got this" I smirked and showed him the message.
-SALVATORE BOARDING HOUSE-
I walked in and saw Rebekah hold up champagne glasses.
"Hey, what's up?"
"You invited me over" I said "To talk?"
"All right girls, have at it" Rebekah said.
Girls came in with dresses on.
"Okay, now twirl please" She said.
"You compelled your own private runway show?" I asked.
"I need a homecoming dress, so what do you think pick one" She said.
"I'm not here to help you shop" I snapped.
She vamped out and ran at one of the girls and turned to me "I said pick one Aj"
"The...red one" I nodded.
"There that wasn't so hard was it?" She asked and turned to the girls "Go away, remember nothing"
I frowned and folded my arms.
"You do not threaten me you'll learn what I allow you to learn is that clear?"
"Sure" I nodded and she walked past me. "Come, well invade Stefan's room"
We walked into his room and she began lookin around.
"How fun is this..." She said and started opening drawers.
"We shouldn't be doing this" I said.
"Course we should! Come on, like you've never wanted to snoop in here before! Boxer briefs a lot has changed from the twenties" She said.
"Are you gonna root through all his stuff or are you gonna start telling me your story?" I asked.
"Ah...you really are no fun" She said.
"I can be"
"What do you want to know?"
"Well, Elijah said that your father was a landowner in Europe how did you guys' end up here?" I asked.
"My parents just started a family, when a plague struck their homeland they lost a child to it. They wanted to escape and protect their future family from the same fate"
"So how did you end up here? This part of the world hadn't even been discovered yet"
"Not by anyone in your history books" She said "But my mother knew the witch Ayanna who heard from the spirits of a mystical land where everyone was healthy, blessed by the gifts of speed and strength and that lead my family here, where we lived amongst those people"
"The werewolves?" i asked.
"To us they were just our neighbours, my family lived in peace with them for over twenty years, during that time my family had more children, including me"
"You make it sound so normal"
"It was" She said "But one full moon Klaus and my youngest brother Henrik snuck out to watch the full moon, watch the men turn into beasts, it was forbidden, Henrik payed the price"
I folded my arms again and listened.
"And that was the beginning of the end of peace with our neighbours" She said. "And one of the last moments my family had together as humans"
My phone began to ring.
"You better get that, Damon checking up on you"
"Hello?" i asked.
"Hey!" Damon said.
"Damon, where are you?" I asked. I could hear music.
"No idea, but I'm pretty sure I'm over dressed...still standing?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine" I said "But I can't talk right now"
"I'll be at the bar" Stefan's voice said.
"Is that Stefan?!" I demanded.
"Yeah, I kinda went off a little bit" Damon said "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing"
"Damon!" I huffed "How could you let him out?"
"I got this back, April" He hung up and I shook my head and looked over to Rebekah who was now lying on the bed going through Stefan's diaries.
"Did you get your full of snooping yet? Can we get back to the story?"
She got up and walked over to the dresser "Honestly, I don't understand those two as a couple"
"Why would you?" I asked "You don't know anything about who he really is"
"I know exactly who he is. He's a vampire, we're a predatory species, we don't have time to care about humans and their silly little lives"
"Is that why you did that runway show earlier? Cause you don't care about the homecoming dance?" I asked. "You know I'm just gonna go"
"You haven't even heard half of the story"
"And you're not gonna tell it, you're just bored and looking for someone to push around find someone else to play with! Maybe you can compel yourself friend"
I began to leave but she stopped me "That necklace wasn't Stefan's to give" She said and I turned to look at her.
"Which one?"
"The one with the red stone" She said "The blue stone wasn't his to give either, they belonged to the original witch"
"The one who put the hybrid curse on Klaus?" I asked.
"Not just the hybrid curse, she's the one who turned us into vampires" She said "My mother made us into what we are for protection"
"So..."
"I'm thirsty do you want a drink?" She asked.
I followed her into the library and we stopped.
"So Vampirism was a form of protection?" I asked.
"What else would it be?" She asked.
"A curse" I said.
"My parents saw a way of keeping their children alive"
"Yeah but why stay if they were so afraid of the werewolves? Why not...leave?"
"Pride" She said "My father didn't want to run anymore. He wanted to fight and be supiror to the wolves, where they could bite and we had to bite harder, where they had speed, we had to be faster, agility, strength, senses..."
"So they wanted this?"
"Yes, but the witch wouldn't do it so my father said it was up to my mother, it was in their hands"
"In her hands? How could she do anything?" I asked.
"She was also a witch" Rebekah said.
"What?"
"The witch of the original family. The original witch" She said. "Where do they keep their best vintage?"
"But if your mother was a witch, then-"
"Am I? No a witch is nature's servant, a vampire is an abomination of nature" She said "You can either be one or the other, never both. My mother did this for us, she did not turn"
"How did you turn?" I asked.
"She called upon the sun for life and the ancient white oak tree, one of nature's eternal objects, for immortality" She said "That night my father offered us wine laced with blood, and then drove his sword through our hearts"
"He killed you?"
"And he wasn't delicate about it either" She said "We had to drink more blood to complete the ritual, it was euphoric! The feeling of power was indescribable, but the witch Ayanna was right about the consequences, the spirits turned on us and nature fought back...For every strength there would be a weakness...the sun became our enemy, it kept us indoors for weeks, until my mother found a solution. There were other problems neighbours who had opened their homes to us could now keep us out, flowers at the base of the white oak tree burned and prevented compulsion and the spell decreed that the tree that gave us life could also take it away so we burned it to the ground, but the darkest consequence was never something my parents had anticipated, the hunger, the blood, we could not control it...and with that the predatory species was born"
"Why did Mikael start hunting Klaus?" I asked.
"When Nik made his first human kill, it triggered his werewolf gene. With that he became my father's greatest shame"
"Yeah-Elijah told me this part of the story, your mother had an affair with one of the werewolf villiagers, Klaus wasn't his son"
"She tried to make it right, she put the hybrid curse on Nik and then he turned her back on him. But Mikael's greatest weakness as a human was his pride, which as a vampire was magnified, he went on a rampage and killed half the village, then he came home and killed her"
"Mikael killed your mother?"
"He said she broke his heart so he would break hers, he tore it from her chest as Nik watched"
"Oh"
"Afterwards my father took off in a rage and the rest of the family scattered, Nik stayed so he could help me bury her, he knew I had to say my goodbye to my mother" She said. "I told him, as did Elijah that we would stick together always and forver"
"Always and forever? Even though he had you locked in a coffin for ninety years?" I asked.
"We're vampires, our emotions are heightened, I'm stubborn, Elijah Moral, Nik...Nik had no tolerance for those who disappoint him, over a thousand years as a family we've made that mistake once or twice, I've made it several times"
"But you still love him?" I asked.
"He's my brother. And I'm immortal should I spend an eternity alone instead? You've heard the story it's time to go" She said but when I went to speak she stopped me "I said leave it Aj! I don't know what you're up to but I'm no longer playing along"
"I'm just looking for one good reason as to why we shouldn't wake Mikael"
"And I've given you a thousand! But you will anyway I know you want him to help you kill my brother, I'm not stupid"
"It's no secret that I want Klaus dead. He has a hold on Stefan's life and mine"
"Do what you need" She said "Wake Mikael at your own peril, but make no mistake if you come after my brother I will rip you apart and I get my temper from my father, now leave!"
-OUTSIDE THE GRILL-
Elena handed me the drawings.
"It wasn't Mikael that killed his wife...it was Klaus"
"Oh...I have to show these to Rebekah if I get a break through she'll help"
"I'll go...just you go home"
"Elena-"
"Do as your told" Elena snapped.
I folded my arms and frowned "Fine"
I got in the car and drove back to the house and went in, nobody was there. I got changed into my pyjamas and went into my room and almost jumped out of my skin.
"Uh, Damon a bit of a warning would be nice" I said nodding.
"We got Mikael" He said.
"What?" I asked "How?"
"No idea, I guess Elizabeth came through, plan's in motion, see I told you I had it" he said and I frowned "Go ahead, kick, yell, scream. Sure you've had your rant all planned out"
"I'm not gonna yell at you" I said with a frown.
"Why not? I went behind your back, freed Stefan and you know what it backfired" He said "He's an even bigger dick than ever, just now he's a dick on our side"
"I'm not mad, I'm tired, I just...wanna go to bed"
"You know I think Mikael's weapon is a stake, 'cause he mentioned something about it"
I got into bed and lay next to him, staring at his face "Well they must have carved it from the white oak tree before they burned it down"
"SO I was right, after all that, the wall lead us to Mikael"
"Lead us to more than that, I think Rebekah's on our side too"
"Really? What did you learn from her?"
"I learned that, she's just a girl, that lost her mom too young and she loves blindly and recklessly, even if it consumes her, and when it's all said and done there's nothing more important than the bond of family"
He lay down further on the bed, facing me "Well you should tell that to my brother"
"I'm not mad, but Elena might be, for letting him out Damon" I said "I think you're gonna be the one to save him from himself, it wont be because he loves Elena, or because he was my friend, but because he loves you" I said "Can I tell you the rest tomorrow?"
"Sure" He said and kissed the bridge of my nose.
I shut my eyes and I felt him pull me closer to him and I drifted off into a peaceful sleep...
