The majority of people who reviewed seem to be pro-Klelena or anti-Klaroline. I'm leaning towards Klelena at the moment but it could still go either way. I'm probably just going to write the story and see what flows. Honestly any romance with Klaus is set firmly on slow burn, no matter who it's gonna be with, so don't expect anything to develop quickly.

In other news I do not like this chapter. It gave me difficulty from start to finish. So short chapter this time around.

Replies to reviews will be at the end.

The last month had been stressful to say the least. Elena had thought that finding the identity of the hunter killing vampires in the area would help, but it just made things worse.

She was at the Salvatore house to tell Stefan and Damon about her encounter with the Hunter,

Mikael. She honestly had no idea who he was or where he had come from. All she knew was that he was terrifying.

He had shown up on the porch of her house after she came back from a date with Stefan and politely introduced himself to her.

It was almost funny. That ten minute conversation with Mikael had left her more terrified than a month under Klaus's thumb. The interaction had been almost congenial, but Elena wasn't stupid. The only reason an ancient vampire would show up at her home would be to make a statement.

For whatever reason, Mikael was interested in her, was confident enough in his own abilities that he didn't care if she knew that he was behind the deaths, and he knew where she - and more importantly- her family lived. Elena had received the message loud and clear.

At least with Klaus she knew what he'd wanted from her.

After Mikael had left, Elena had called Azalea. If anyone knew who the ancient vampire was it would be her. Oddly enough, they had become friends. Elena only texted her for information about the ghosts first, but it evolved into an unexpected camaraderie. They had an unspoken agreement to not discuss any Originals Business. Azalea didn't offer anything about thing, and she didn't ask. Elena was quite happy to keep it that way.

Azalea's reaction had not made her feel better. The mere mention of Mikael was enough to make the normally unflappable woman audibly terrified.

So, yeah. Things had been stressful.

Her phone binged, breaking Elena out of her thoughts. It was a text from the woman herself.

Just drove in. You have time to talk in person?

Yes. Where?

Mystic Grill in an hour sound good?

Yes

"Who was that?"

She looked up on her phone to see Stefan and Damon giving identical questioning looks. Even though Elena knew that it would only start an argument with her boyfriend and Damon, she answered truthfully.

"Azalea"

"Elena, you can't trust her."

There it was.

"Why not?"

Damon jumped into the rapidly brewing argument. "Are you forgetting that she helped get you killed?"

Elena had not, in fact, forgotten that. But she also didn't forget who had brought her back. Azalea had helped keep her captive out of love for her brother. Yes, Elena was still terrified of Klaus, but she could understand devotion for family even if she didn't see what the other woman apparently saw in the hybrid. With that in mind, she retorted.

"Klaus got me killed. Azalea made sure I came back."

Not to mention, Elena honestly liked having a girlfriend who didn't have an opinion on her relationship with Stefan and Damon. Seeing both brothers open their mouths to object again, Elena cut them off. "Look, even if you can't trust her she's the only one who knows anything about Mikael."

At that, a confused expression crossed Stefan's features. "How do you know Mikael?"

Elena froze, the beginnings of trepidation rising. Why would they know who Mikael was? She hadn't meant to say the ancient vampire's name, it had just slipped out in the moment.

"He showed up at my house. How do you know Mikael."

The brothers exchanged a look, before Damon answered her.

"Mikael is the only one strong enough to kill Klaus."

Elena slowly stood up, the words curling in her mind. They knew that Mikael was in Mystic Falls before anyone else had. That meant that they may have led Mikael to Mystic Falls.

"You both led Mikael here?"

"Klaus needs to die, Elena."

That as a yes.

They had willingly and knowingly endangered her family and friends for revenge on Klaus. Stefan had done that without saying anything to her. And she hadn't noticed anything off about him. She turned away from Damon and faced her boyfriend.

"Why does Klaus need to die, Stefan?"

"Elena, he killed you."

"He killed me. That means getting revenge is my choice, not yours. And I don't want that."

"We don't know what he'll do next. He already killed you. I'm trying to protect you!"

She ignored Stefan's words.

"You led Mikael here, put Bonne and Caroline in danger, put Jeremy and Jenna in danger. Don't lie to me and say revenge isn't part of it."

Damon spoke before Stefan could, his words earnest.

"You know what he's done. He needs to die."

He had a fervent light in his eyes as he said those words. Elena wasn't blind to the fact that Damon was attracted to her. If she was being honest with herself, she felt a pull to him as well even though she was with Stefan. But the look on his face...it was only one she had seen when he had talked about Katherine. It had never been directed at her before now. At the realization, she felt something heavy settle on her chest. Stefan looked at her that way. She'd always thought that it had been love, but now she wasn't so sure.

"Because of what he did to me? Or to Katherine?"

But he didn't answer. Neither of them did. She felt something break a little, within her. She had hoped that… well. It didn't matter anymore. In the silence that followed her question, Elena left the boarding house with the beginnings of tears welling in her eyes.

There was a harsh tugging in her chest, pulling her towards the Salvatore house. Elena ignored it, her sense of betrayal still stinging.

It wasn't that they had brought Mikael to Mystic Falls, it was that they hadn't talked to her. Katherine- Elena resolutely ignored the pang in her chest at the thought of the woman - aside, she knew at least part of their motivations had been because of her. But she hadn't wanted to go after Klaus because of what he had done. What had happened, happened and Elena wasn't one for vengeance.

But it was more than just that. There had been four dead vampires just this month, and Elena had been terrified that Stefan, Damon or Caroline would be next. Damon, Elena could understand not saying anything, even if she didn't like it. But Stefan not saying anything hurt. She loved him and he knew what the uncertainty was doing to her more than anyone else did, save Caroline and Bonnie.

Jenna still didn't know about the supernatural and Elena wanted to keep Jeremy as far away from the Originals as possible. The less they were involved, the safer they would be and Elena needed them out of harms way more then anything.

Then there was Katherine. Elena shook her head, refusing to go down that road. She had to figure out what Miakel would do, she could deal with that later.

She pushed open the door to the Grill, and spotted Azalea in one of the booths after a quick search of the room.

She was with Sage. Elena wasn't surprised. She had never seen the woman without one of the Originals or the ancient vampire within earshot. Azalea looked up, apparently sensing Elena's stare and beckoned her over.

Elena slid into the seat across from the women.

"Hey, Elena."

"Hi."

Elena looked over at Sage who just regarded her silently with a raised brow. Any awkwardness died before it was born as a waiter set down two glasses of tea at their thanked him before turning back to Elena, eyes intent.

"So you ran into Mikael."

Elena decided to ignore the sole vampire at the table.

"Yeah."

Even if she was angry with both brothers, she wouldn't tell why Mikael was in mystic Falls. She couldn't risk Klaus or one of the others knowing why Mikael was here.

"Are you alright?"

Elena snapped back to the present at the words.

"Elena?"

She was giving her a concerned look. Elena was well aware of how perceptive the other woman could be, so she went with a portion of the truth

"I'm ok. I just had an argument with Stefan."

Understanding flashed across Azalea's face before she nodded and thankfully turned back to the subject of Mikael.

"What do you know about Mikael?"

"Not much. He's a vampire that hunts other vampires, right."

She saw Azalea exchange a loaded glance with Sage.

"He's an Original."

"What?"

"Specifically, he's Finn, Elijah, Kol, and Rebekah's father. And he hates Klaus with a passion."

Elena sat back. That meant Damon and Stefan had led an unkillable immortal into Mystic Falls.

"Elena… would you mind speaking to Rebekah about this?"

"What!?"

She had absolutely no desire to speak to any of the Originals about anything at all. She was just about to say so when Sage spoke up for the first time.

"If you want help against Mikael you will have to speak to one of them."

Azalea spoke again before Elena could say anything.

"Over the phone, Elena. Not in person."

Over the phone. Elena knew that the only way that there was a chance to beat Mikael was to have the help of his children, especially since he was an Original as well.

"Fine."

"Alright. Then we should take this outside."

Azalea slid out of the booth and left the money for the drinks on the table.

They walked a ways away from the Grill in an increasingly tense silence, until Azalea stopped and pulled out her phone. Azalea abruptly stopped dialing as Sage's head snapped up. Elena felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise. There was a growl to her left and Elena turned just in time to see an unfamiliar werewolf leap towards Azalea, only for Sage to get in the way. He sunk his fangs into the vampire's arm. Sage hissed in response and plunged her hand into the werewolves chest, ripping out his heart.

Two more 'wolves prowled in front of the vampire, their predatory features enhanced by their anger over their packmates death. She saw Sage shove Azalea behind her, and Elena back away from the display in front of her. She froze as she bumped into a hard body.

Elena whirled around to meet the gaze of Mikael, who tore off her ever-present vervein necklace before he commanded her to sleep.

Thank you to LoveDarkHina, 16, Raven R. Mahmood, Jalissa12213, ArtemisLuna85, NotRob, Sirius-Black's-LoveChild, musa22lbl, Guests, Kay, and hexandvex for reviewing.

Raven R. Mahmood - :-)

ArtemisLuna85 - That's part of the reason I'm leery towards Klaroline

NotRob - I always like Elena more when the Salvatore's are out of the picture as well. And yes, I also kind of want them to suffer

Sirius-Black's-LoveChild - I'm still figuring out how Kol/Jenna would work but I definitely want to make it happen. Klaus will 100% not be with Hailey. That relationship was absolutely a wreak from start to finish. I feel the same about Caroline. Caroline not appreciating Klaus is another reason why I'm on the fence about writing Klaroline. I actually haven't watched much of The Originals so I only know about Camille through Fandom Osmosis.

musa22lbl - Thank you so much for the compliment!

Guest - Jenna definitely deserves better. And she'll be showing up in the story soon too. I always liked the fandom portrayal of Claroline more than the show portrayal of it.

Guest - I see that you are on to my possible schemes. Seriously though, a Doppelganger/Hybrid mix would be magical catnip. More so than Hope, all things considered.

Kay - I don't really know if I can match up to the onscreen chemistry with Klaus an Caroline because I really don't have a good grasp on Caroline's character. I tried writing some scenes with her and it did not go well for me. There will be no Klaus/Elena unless Elena's character develops in the way that I want it to. I think Elena is bland as well so I'm trying to make her more interesting. So I'm gonna do the go with the flow thing.

Anyways Midterms are coming up for me as well as several projects so I will either get out some short chapters or I'll wait to update over my winter break with a few much longer chapters.