Ha! I got it out earlier this time! I'm glad you like Lauren/Alaric. I think they are a pretty good match! And yeah, I feel bad for Jace too. That was a big blow to his ego. As for Alissa, she is dead. Unless there are flashbacks, you probably won't really see her. So, I gave you the next best thing, Maria.

Season 3 Episode 8 Ordinary People

"He saw you naked!?"

Damon was currently pacing the length of my bedroom, stomping around quite loudly I should add. I had told him all about everything that happened, including Maria trapping me into the closet and her warning. But of all the things I told him about, all he could focus on was the fact that Jace had walked in on me without any clothes.

"Half-naked." I muttered for what seemed like the hundredth time. "He didn't see anything good."

"Couldn't he knock or something?" Damon barked. "Maybe give you some time to… cover up."

I rolled my eyes. Leave it to Damon to disregard everything else, even the warning about Mikel, and freak out about the whole Jace situation.

"Can we just be glad he rescued me at all?" I asked. Damon grumbled something under his breath. I understood. If someone walked in on him naked, I might be thinking the same thing. But right now we had bigger things to focus on. Mikel was coming, and as far as I could tell that wasn't a good thing.

"You said you had to tell me something." I said, referring to how quickly Damon had showed up that morning. "So, tell me."

"Rick and I may have found a clue to a weapon that might be able to kill Klaus." Damon explained. My heart leapt. "We were going to show it to you two."

I paused.

"Two?" I repeated. Damon set his jaw, looking at me innocently. "Please don't-"

"She has every right to see this." Damon said, defending her yet again. "This is Klaus we are talking about, and no matter what you say Elena is involved in this."

I ground my teeth. He was right. The whole purpose of killing Klaus would to save Elena and also break Stefan out of his compulsion. Why shouldn't she be there? She had every right, as Damon said. But I couldn't help but feel irritated that she was coming along.

"If she's coming, Jace should come too." I said. Damon stared at me with narrowed eyes. "He's involved in this too."

"What part of 'he saw you naked'45 do you not understand?" Damon asked. His jealousy was seeping through his throat, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes. I walked up to him, putting my arms around his torso. He hesitated for a second, trying to be prideful, but eventually he put his arms around me too.

"I thought we discussed this." I said, looking deep in his eyes. "I only want you."

Damon's face softened. Regardless of what Jace had seen or what Jace felt, I only had eyes for Damon. My love for him was strong and unable to be broken. He was like my other half, the final piece to my complicated puzzle. He was the one.

"If he says anything-"

"I will hit him." I finished. Damon smirked slowly, leaning down to kiss me full on the lips. I melted into the kiss, my whole body tingling. No matter how many times we kissed, I could never get enough of how the butterflies scattered through my stomach every time our lips touched.

I couldn't believe that under the Lockwood property was this massive tunnel. How had they not known about this? Or did they and they were just keeping it a secret? Either way, it was amazing!

"This is crazy." Elena murmured, shining her flashlight all over the walls. I had to admit that she was right. I wish I had something cool under my house.

"Be careful where you shine that thing." Alaric warned. "Bats hate the light."

Both Elena and I stopped where we were, giving each other a look. Bats? Those things creeped me out. Considering my boyfriend was a vampire, those small little creatures shouldn't have frightened me, but they did.

"Elena!"

Elena screamed, whipping around to see Damon had snuck up behind her and scared her. He chuckled, while I just rolled my eyes. Elena hit him square in the chest, even though we both knew it wouldn't hurt him.

"Scaredy cat." Damon mocked her. Elena huffed, hitting him in the chest again before she moved on through the tunnel. I gave him a disapproving look. "What? Come on that was funny."

I rolled my eyes again, turning when I heard footsteps. Jace was making his way through the tunnel, holding up the rear of our group. He met my gaze and smiled, but the smile didn't last long. It turned into a glare when he saw Damon. The two hadn't spoken, but there was an obvious tension between them. I sighed.

"Alright you two." I said, standing in between them. "I know this is awkward-"

"Everything's fine." Jace said, not looking at me, but still glaring at Damon. Damon narrowed his eyes.

"Everything is not fine." Damon sneered. He took it upon himself to curl his arm around my waist and pull me to his side. I made a face.

"You need to relax." Jace said to Damon. I could feel him grip my side tighter and I could tell that he was upset by Jace's assumption. Jace on the other hand, didn't seem to mind that he was making Damon angry. In fact, by the grin on his face, I guessed that he was happy about it.

"Don't tell me what I need to do kid." Damon warned. I could hear the serious tone in his voice, the threat laced in it. I pushed against him, but Damon held firm.

"I'm the same age as Alex." Jace said, gesturing to me. "If I'm a kid she is too."

Damon glared harder. They were acting like kids themselves, and it was starting to bother me. I knew that they didn't like one another, but there was a time when they were getting along. That small moment of peace seemed to be long gone now.

"And from what I saw…" Jace said, his eyes landing on me. "She's not a kid."

"Why you little-"

"Stop it!" I ordered. I pushed away from Damon, his grip finally loose enough for me to get away. I stepped in between them, unsure of what Damon might do if he got the chance to get hold of Jace. Jace didn't seem worried, but the way that Damon was glaring told me that he should be.

"You two are acting stupid." I told them. I looked at Damon. "You need to calm down."

He huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"And you." I said, looking at Jace. His expression did not change. "Don't go rubbing it in his face that you saw me… like that."

Neither one said anything and after a moment of silence, I deemed the situation to be diffused. I could still feel the tension in the air, but I knew that for now they would stop the fighting. At least while I was standing between them.

"Guys." Alaric said. "Come look at this."

I followed the sound of Alaric's voice, Damon and Jace not far behind me. I entered the end of the tunnel into a large cave, and noticed then that Damon had stopped.

"Whats wrong?" I asked. Damon shrugged.

"I can't go any further." He said, pushing on the shield that prevented him from entering. "Seems even the ancient Lockwoods were anti-vampire."

"That's ok." Jace said, putting his arm around my shoulders. "I'll watch her for you."

Damon glared so hard, I wondered when Jace would fall over dead. I looked back up to Jace, shrugging his arm off and giving him a warning look. He was asking for it, and if he kept it up, I wasn't going to step in anymore.

"What is all this?" Elena asked, shining her flashlight onto the cave walls. I did the same, seeing crude cave drawings carved into the stone. They looked like your typical drawings, something you might see in a movie.

"Well, as far as I can tell, it's a story." Alaric explained. "In simple, archaeological terms, it's a really, really old story."

I looked around. These must have been here for years. But who could have put them there?

"That right there, is the moon cycle." Alaric said, pointing to a series of drawings. "A man, a wolf…"

"A werewolf." Jace said, staring at the drawings. So, whoever drew these knew about werewolves. That meant that they were very old, older than we originally thought.

"I don't understand." Elena said. "I thought the Lockwoods came here with the Original Founders in the 1860s."

"I don't know." Alaric said. "Maybe the Lockwoods did, but according to this wall, these werewolves have been here a lot longer than that."

"How long?" I asked. That meant that the werewolf gene didn't come to Mystic Falls via the Lockwoods. There were werewolves roaming around years, and years before then.

"Long. It gets better." Damon said from his place at the entrance. "Show her, Rick."

Alaric shone his light on another wall were different symbols were carved into the stone. It wasn't English, and I wasn't sure what they meant. I furrowed my brows.

"Names. They're not native." Rick said, looking at me. "They're written in Runic, a Viking script."

"Vikings?" Jace repeated. Alaric nodded, showing one name.

"This name here, I translated it and it reads Niklaus." Alaric said. I felt my blood go cold at the name.

"Klaus." Elena said. I swallowed hard as Rick showed another name.

"And Elijah...and Rebekah." Rick went on. Then he showed another name. I stared at it for a long time, and I didn't have to look at anyone to know whose name it was.

"Alissa." I murmured. I could feel everyone's eyes on me, as I stared. It made it all to real. Alissa was a real person, and she was dead. I guess in a sense, she wasn't, considering I was supposed to be her… I shivered a bit at the thought.

"These are the names of the Original Family?" Elena asked, looking at all of them carved into the wall. I couldn't take my eyes off the one that read Alissa, even though I couldn't understand the symbols.

"Carved into a cave that's been here since way before the founding of Mystic Falls." Alaric explained. "Or even the entire New World, for that matter."

"Okay, this has gotta be one of Klaus's fakes." Jace said, stepping in. "He's playing with us."

"That's what I said." Damon said from his place at the entrance.

"That could be true, except the last name up here made us think otherwise." Alaric said. I furrowed my brows, tearing my eyes away from the wall.

"What's the name?" I asked. Alaric stared at me with careful eyes before he sighed.

"Mikel."

I felt my stomach drop. Maria had warned me against Mikel. She said he was coming, that we were all doomed. He wasn't just coming after Klaus and Rebekah… He was coming after me.

"As in, the vampire hunter who knows how to kill Klaus?" Elena asked. Alaric nodded. I swallowed the bile that rose to my throat.

"Yep." Damon said. "I now like to call him "Papa Original.""

I turned to look at him, staring in disbelief.

"Are you saying that this Mikel guy…" Jace trailed off. "Is the Original family's father?"

"Bingo." Damon said. I could feel his eyes on me, but I stared at the ground, trying to process things.

I stood there for a second, staring at my shoes before I turned. I walked past Jace who was staring at the cave wall. I walked past Elena, who looked like she was going to reach out to me, but she retracted her hands. I walked past Damon, and he didn't make any attempt to stop me.

I needed to breathe, to clear my head. There was a lot we didn't know about Klaus and his family. And I wanted to find out.

We went back to the boarding house, and while I didn't even want to think about this stuff anymore, I knew I had to. I was training with Elena, while Alaric was settled in a desk, looking over the pictures he had taken. Jace was right over his shoulder, trying to help as best he could. Damon stood nearby, watching my movements very carefully.

"These images tell a story...to learn the story, you have to decipher these images." Alaric explained.

Elena tried to stake me, but I disarmed her easily, tossing the stake far away from her. She huffed, out of breath and sweating a bit.

"Sloppy." I told her. She crossed her arms over her chest.

"Shut up." She grumbled. "I'm new at this."

"You're never going to get better if you don't take my criticisms." I told her. I would be lying if I said I wasn't taking out some of my frustration on her. Elena was an easy target, and I still wasn't her biggest fan.

"Well maybe if you would take it easy on me-"

"If I took it easy on you, you would never learn!"

"Ok, ok." Damon said, standing in between us. "Why don't you go take a break."

I met Damon's gaze and saw both sternness and sympathy in his eyes. I wanted to protest, training was getting my mind off the looming danger ahead, but then again, I shouldn't have been taking everything out on her. I huffed, going over to look at the pictures. Damon took my place.

""Ghost of Christmas Past" Mason Lockwood set up the cave and led us to a weapon that can kill Klaus." Damon said, blocking Elena's feeble attacks.

"Yeah, but doesn't Mikael have a weapon?" Jace asked. Damon overwhelmed Elena within seconds, having his arm around her throat.

"Yes." He said. "Which probably means the wall will lead us to Mikael, who we have already found...and lost."

Elena pushed off of him and she came to inspect the pictures again.

"But Maria said that Mikel is coming here." I said, reminding them of her warning. "We don't need to find him if he's already found us."

"We need to find him to get him on our side." Damon corrected me. "If he comes here and starts killing any vampire in sight, we're screwed."

He wasn't wrong. If Mikel could kill Klaus, that made him all the more dangerous. I didn't know if Maria was correct in her assessment that Mikel was coming here, but I didn't think she would lie to me. We needed as much information on Mikel as possible.

"These images at the very least might tell us what that weapon is." Alaric explained.

"Then all we have to do is find out what they mean." Elena said, as if it were that simple. The symbols could stand for a multitude of things. It would take a long time to be able to decipher what they all meant.

"How do you suppose we do that?" Damon asked. The room was silent for a long while, then Elena spoke up.

"Well, if the story is about the Original Family living here, then we go straight to the source!"

I furrowed my brows, stepping in front of her line of vision.

"You don't mean-"

"We have to talk to her." Elena said, looking me deep in the eye. I immediately shook my head. "Alex, we don't have another choice."

"What are you two talking about?" Jace asked angrily. Both Elena and I turned back to the boys in the room.

"We have to talk to Rebekah."

The plan was to get Rebekah to tell us everything about Mikel. Truth be told, I wasn't too sold on the idea. Rebekah didn't like either Elena or I, and we couldn't make her talk. But Elena was insistent, and the next day she confronted her at school.

"How did it go?" I asked Elena when I met her at her car. I climbed in the passenger seat, while she climbed into the drivers side.

"She's scared." Elena said, pulling her seatbelt across her chest. "She will come around."

"How can you be sure?" I asked. Elena put the car in drive, but didn't take her foot off the break. She met my gaze.

"I told her that Mikel is coming." She said. "I could see the fear in her eyes. If she wants protection, she will talk to us."

I stared at Elena for a long while before she backed out of her parking space and drove toward Rick's apartment. We were going to see how Alaric was coming with the translation of the cave pictures, while Damon was checking on Stefan. I swallowed, thinking about the worst case scenario. If Stefan got free, although weak, he had no remorse, and there was no telling what he would do to Damon.

Ring.

I looked down at my phone.

"Speak of the devil." I murmured to myself. "Hey, Damon."

"Well, you sound happy." Damon replied. I could hear him walking down the metal steps. "Everything ok?"

"Yeah. Rebekah's going to talk." I told him. Elena pulled up in front of the house. "We just have to engage in a mean girl power struggle first."

"Well, make sure she doesn't power struggle you into a wheelchair." Damon warned. "I don't know what I would do-"

"I've got this." I assured him. "Elena and I will let you know what happens. I promise."

"Ok." He said. There was a long beat of silence. "Alex?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

"I love you too." I said into the phone before I ended the call. I could see Elena's eyes on me, but when I looked up she averted them. We went into the building and up the stairs to where Alaric was working. It didn't go unnoticed that there was a framed picture of my mom and him on his desk.

"How did it go?" Alaric asked. He had the pictures up on the wall. I could see he had a couple sticky notes on the ones he was able to translate.

"She will come around." Elena said. Alaric gave her a disbelieving look. "She will."

"You're sure about that?" He asked. "I mean a thousand-year-old vampire, I'm sure, has learned the art of patience."

Her phone beeped and she looked down at it. A sly smile graced her lips.

"She's a thousand-year-old vampire, who's joined the cheerleader squad…
Elena said. "There is a whole different set of rules that play here, Rick. I got this."

Rick looked at her phone and then Elena showed it to me. Come over for a chat. Rebekah.

"You aren't going alone." I told her immediately. Elena grinned widely.

"I'm glad you said that." She said. I took in a deep breath before I nodded. I turned to the door, noticing a familiar pink bra thrown onto Rick's bookcase. I turned back to him, pointing at it. His face turned a bright shade of red before he grabbed it and hid it behind his back.

"Let's go." I said, going out the door, a light shade of pink forming on my cheeks.

Elena drove to the boarding house, and there was a familiar sense to it. I hadn't really spent a night here since Rebekah and Stefan moved in. I missed this place, it was like a second home in a sense.

"Let's go in." Elena said, reaching for the door handle. I grabbed her arm to stop her. She turned to me, looking at me quizzically.

"I know you think that you are all big and tough." I said. Elena huffed. "But listen, Rebekah can kill us both without even a blink."

Elena opened her mouth but then shut it when I gave her a look.

"Neither of us can say anything stupid." I told her. "We have to be careful."

"I will." Elena said opening the door and stepping out of the car. I sighed. Elena was strong on the inside, but that couldn't help if Rebekah got any ideas. Just because Klaus needed her didn't mean that she wouldn't harm Elena. She obviously didn't care about me, so she might kill me out of spite.

I wrenched open the car door, catching up to Elena at the front door. She didn't knock, or ring the bell. She just opened the door and we stepped in. I stayed close behind her, the weapons Alaric provided strapped to every inch of my body. I couldn't kill Rebekah, but I could wound her.

"There you are." Rebekah said cheerfully as she skipped into the foyer. "What's up?"

"You invited me over?" Elena said, as if we all didn't know. "To talk?"

"Yes. I invited you over." She said, her blue eyes then falling on me. "I did not invite her."

I didn't miss the malice in her voice. I stepped in front of Elena protectively, and I knew that Elena didn't appreciate the protective nature I had. Rebekah rolled her eyes.

"Wherever Elena goes, I go." I told Rebekah. Rebekah scoffed, turning her back to us. How easy it would be to throw a wooden stake into her back, but we needed any information about Mikel as possible.

"All right girls." Rebekah said. "Have at it!"

I was surprised when six girls walked into the foyer with pretty dresses on. All different colors and heels. It looked like a fashion show.

"You compelled your own private runway show?" Elena asked, looking at the girls. Rebekah turned back to us with a sinister grin.

"I need a Homecoming dress." She replied, as if it was so obvious. "So, what do you think? Pick one."

"I'm not here to help you shop." Elena said. "I'm here to talk about why you are so afraid of Mikael."

Rebekah's smile fell, and I could see the resemblance between her and Klaus. She ran over to one of the girls, exposing her fangs a mere inch from the girls neck. Elena stepped forward, but I held her back.

"I said "pick one", Elena." Rebekah threatened. At first, Elena didn't say anything.

"Just pick one." I grumbled to Elena. I could see Rebekah smirk. I hated backing down, but Rebekah was in control right now, or at least she thought she was. If Rebekah could trust us, she would give us more information.

"The red one." Elena finally said. Rebekah stepped away, seeming satisfied.

"There. It wasn't so hard, was it?" She asked, then turned to the girls. "Go away. Remember nothing."

She turned back to us, and we were silent for a while, but then Rebekah rushed up to us. She was face to face with me, but only because I was in front of Elena. My heart beat started to speed up, but not out of fear. But out of adrenaline.

"You do not threaten me." Rebekah warned. "You'll learn what I allow you to learn. Is that clear?"

Both Elena and I nodded slowly, and after another minute of us glaring at one another, Rebekah stepped away. We followed her through the house, our final destination into Stefan's bedroom.

"How fun is this?" Rebekah mused, beginning to go through Stefan's things. I shifted awkwardly. It didn't feel right, going through Stefan's stuff. I half expected him to rip through the door and kill all of us.

"We shouldn't be here." Elena said, voicing my thoughts. Rebekah chuckled, opening up one of Stefan's drawers.

"'Course we should! Come on, like you've never wanted to snoop." Rebekah said, pulling out a pair of Stefan's underwear. "Boxer briefs. A lot has changed since the twenties."

"Are you gonna root through his stuff all night or are you gonna start to tell me your story?" Elena asked, becoming impatient.

Rebekah turned, smirking as she did.

"Ah...you really are no fun." She mused. "What do you want to know?"

I for one had so many questions, mostly about Alissa. I needed to know how she died, and what for. Why did I come to be?

"Well, Elijah said that your father was a landowner in Europe." Elena said. "How did you guys end up here?"

Rebekah was looking through one of Stefan's books.

"My parents had just started a family, when a plague struck their homeland. They lost a child to it." She said sadly. "They wanted to escape and protect their future family from the same fate."

"So, how did you end up here?" I asked. "This part of the world hadn't even been discovered yet."

Rebekah let out a laugh.

"Not by anyone in your history books. But my mother knew the witch Ayana, who heard from the spirits of a mystical land where everyone was healthy..." She said, pausing for only a second. "Blessed by the gifts of speed and strength. That led my family here, where we lived amongst those people."

Elena and I shared a look.

"The werewolves." Elena finished. Rebekah nodded.

"To us, they were just our neighbors." She said. "My family lived in peace with them for over 20 years, during which time my family had more children, including me. Including you."

I swallowed when she pointed to me. I was still convinced that I was not the same as Leah, but this story, the whole family, it just felt so familiar. Like I had already heard it.

"You make it sound so normal." Elena said. Rebekah paused for about a minute. She was silent.

"It was." She whispered. "Once a month our family retreated into the caves beneath our village. The wolves would howl through the night and by morning we'd return home..."

That would make sense. They had to hide from the wolves, otherwise they would be killed.

"One full moon, Klaus, Alissa and my youngest brother Henrik snuck out to watch the men turn into beasts. That was forbidden. Henrik paid the price..."

I felt my stomach drop. Klaus must have felt that guilt every day. He couldn't save his little brother…

"And that was the beginning of the end of peace with our neighbors." Rebekah said, bringing me back to reality. "And one of the last moments my family had together as humans."

I was so engrossed in the story, that I didn't realize my phone was ringing. I looked down to my pocket, pulling the phone out of it. I looked back up to Rebekah, as if asking permission. She blinked a few times, her eyes watery.

"You better get that." Rebekah said. "That'll be Damon checking up on you."

I nodded once, opening the phone and putting it up to my ear.

"Damon?" I said. I could hear loud music in the background.

"Hey pretty girl!" He said, speaking over the music. "You ok?"

"I'm fine…" I said. "Where are you?"

"No idea, but I'm pretty sure I'm overdressed" He said. I furrowed my brows.

"I'll be at the bar." I heard a familiar voice, it only took be a second to realize who it was.

"Is that Stefan?" I asked. Elena tensed next to me and I felt my stomach lurch. "Damon…"

"Yeah, I kinda went off a bit. Don't worry." Damon said. "I know what I'm doing."

I closed my eyes, shaking my head, as I tried to force myself not to yell at him. Of all the stupid things he had done, this had to make the list.

"How could you let him out?" I asked, my voice becoming louder even though I tried to be calm. Elena's eyes widened as she stared at me. This was bad. Really bad.

"Don't worry about it." Damon said. "I got this."

"Damon-"

But he had already hung up. I huffed, slamming the phone shut. Elena stared at me expectantly, but I waved her off. There was nothing we could do now. Damon was going to do what he wanted regardless of what I thought.

"I honestly don't get you two as a couple." Rebekah said to me. "Both of you really."

"Why would you?" Elena said. "You don't know anything about who he really is."

Rebekah chuckled.

"I know exactly who he is. He's a vampire. We're a predatory species." Rebekah said, then leaned close to Elena. "We don't have time to care about humans and their silly little lives."

I gitted my teeth. Rebekah knew nothing of love, especially mine and Damon's love.

"You're wrong." I said. Rebekah looked at me skeptically. "You don't know anything about love. Come on Elena, let's go."

I took Elena's arm and began to lead her out of the room. Elena seemed to hesitate, but she didn't protest.

"You haven't even heard half the story." Rebekah said. "Don't you want to know why Alissa died?"

I paused, releasing Elena's arm and turning back around to her. Rebekah was cocky, she knew she had to upper hand, but there was something else about Rebekah.

"You're not going to tell us." I said. "You're lonely. You just want someone to push around."

Rebekah's jaw set.

"Find someone else to play with." I said, turning back to the door. "I'm done."

I reached for the door handle.

"The necklace wasn't Stefan's to give." Rebekah said, making me stop. "It belonged to the Original Witch."

I turned back slowly. There was something in her expression, an understanding. We wanted to know why Mikel was dangerous, and she would give us those answers. In turn, she would have someone to talk to.

"The one who put the hybrid curse on Klaus?" She asked. Rebekah nodded.

"Not just the hybrid curse." Rebekah added. "She's the one who turned us into vampires."

I furrowed my brows. This original witch… she made the vampires. That was why they came here, and how it all started.

"But why?" I asked. "Witches are servants of nature. Vampires go against that."

"She did it to protect us." Rebekah said. "My parents only saw a way of keeping their children alive."

To fight off a werewolf, they needed to be stronger. In a way it made sense.

"Yeah, but why stay, if they were so afraid of the werewolves?" Elena asked. "Why not...leave?"

"Pride...My father didn't want to run anymore. He wanted to fight and be superior to the wolves. Where they could bite, we had to bite harder. Where they had speed, we had to be faster. Agility, strength, senses..."

"He had to be better." I said. Rebekah met my gaze and then slowly nodded. This Mikel guy… he didn't sound like the best father or someone who could be easy to handle. Maybe waking him up was a bad idea…

"Ayana wouldn't do the spell." Rebekah continued. "She said that magic breeds consequence. So my mother had to do it."

"How?" Elena asked, eyebrows furrowed. "How could she do anything?"

"My mother was a witch as well." Rebekah said. Of course she was. Vampires, werewolves and witches, all tied together in the Original family.

"But if your mother was a witch then-"

"Am I?" Rebekah finished Elena's statement. "No, a witch is nature's servant; a vampire is an abomination of nature. 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." Rebekah explained. "That night, my father offered us wine laced with blood. And then he drove his sword through our hearts."

"But Alissa didn't." I corrected. Rebekah cocked her eyebrow. "She was human when she died."

"That's correct." Rebekah said. "Lissa escaped. She never wanted this life."

I swallowed. Did I want this life? I wanted to be with Damon, I knew that. But would I be willing to kill in order for me to survive?

"Our father searched and searched for her. But he could never find her." Rebekah said, then smirked a bit. "She always was a crafty one."

"Then how did she die?" Elena asked. Rebekah visibly tensed and turned her back to us. I always seemed to forget that Alissa was Rebekah's sister as well. I wasn't sure of their relationship, but losing someone… that had to be hard.

"She was killed. Murdered." Rebekah said, turning back to us slowly. "By Niklaus."

I felt my stomach fall. I had considered this that Klaus had something to do with the death of his twin. However, I hadn't been sure, and now I was. That was why Klaus held so much guilt and the fear that he would always be alone. He had done something he could never take back.

"She was his first human kill." Rebekah said. I felt like I was going to throw up. "Her death triggered his werewolf curse."

"Why would he do that?" Elena asked. She gripped my shoulder, and I didn't have the strength to shrug her off.

"It was an accident." Rebekah said, sounding unconvinced. "He said that she wouldn't come home with him."

Alissa had been innocent. She tried to help her brother, and he turned on her.

"He refused and the two fought." Rebekah said weakly. "When we found them she was already gone. Nik was a mess."

She met my gaze, and I could see the sparkle of tears in her blue eyes. I swallowed back my own.

"Lissa would do anything for Nik." Rebekah said. "Even die trying to save him."

"That's awful…" Elena said, sounding very genuine. I felt a pain in my chest, like it was being ripped out. Klaus had killed his sister, and now he was trying to make up for it. That was why I was alive. He was trying to stop his own guilt.

"My mother tried to make things right. She put the hybrid curse on Nik to suppress that side." Rebekah continued. "But she was so heartbroken that she made a spell that would bring Alissa back."

Rebekah tossed her hair over her shoulder.

"In a different body, her daughter would come back." Rebekah said sadly. "And it would be a constant reminder to Nik what he had done."

"Is that why Mikel started hunting Klaus?" Elena asked. Rebekah sighed.

"Partly. But what really set my father over the edge was the realization of my mother's affair." Rebekah said. "Mikel would have killed Lissa too in the long run."

"Right." Elena said in a whisper. "They weren't his children…"

"Mikael's greatest weakness as a human was his pride. As a vampire, that was magnified." Rebekah said. "He went on a rampage and killed half the village. Then he came home and killed her."

"He killed your mother?" I repeated. She nodded.

"He said she broke his heart so he would break hers." Rebekah said. "He tore it from her chest as Nik watched."

I felt a tear fall from my eye. I thought my family was complicated, but this… this was too twisted for words. A family of vampires, torn apart, and members killed. It was too much.

"I need some air." I said and walked past both Elena and Rebekah until I was safely outside.

Shortly after I had went outside, Rebekah had had an outburst and sent Elena away. That was all we were going to get, but honestly that was more than enough. Klaus had killed his sister, his twin, his other half. Was I really safe with him? What was stopping him from getting angry and killing me? He was part werewolf, there was anger that came with that. Leah didn't stand a chance.

"Alaric, Jace, and Bonnie said they put the pieces of the story together." Elena said, looking back at the road. "Mind if we check it out?"

I shrugged. I couldn't really speak at that moment. There was too much buzzing in my mind. We arrived at the cave, and although I was greeted, I could barely force a smile. Jace patted me on the shoulder, but didn't pry. I didn't want to talk.

"We, uh, filled in what we could." Alaric said, looking me over warily. I ignored him. "A Vampire, werewolf, slaughter, mayhem, etc."

Elena looked over the symbols, pointing to a tree. The white oak that brought the Original family to immortal life.

"That's the white oak tree that was used in the spell to create the vampires...which means that was when they burned down the tree, destroying the only way that they could be killed."

"Okay. So tree equals weapon, sort of. We already knew that. What we are not sure about is this: we've got the witch symbol, and what looks like a bleeding heart." He said. "Upside down figures usually signified death, of some kind."

I looked at the symbols, all of that made sense, except the sun symbol which stood for a vampire, and the moon symbol which stood for a werewolf.

"Mikael killed the witch by ripping out her heart." Elena said. "But why is that one connected to the witch's death?"

"We don't know." Bonnie admitted. "We haven't gotten that far."

I narrowed my eyes. This was where the witch had died… a vampire and werewolf… connected…

"Oh my God." I whispered. Everyone looked to me, but I continued to stare at the drawings. It made sense… It all made sense.

"What's wrong?" Jace asked me urgently, gripping my arm. I felt like I was going to throw up… again.

"Rebekah doesn't know the real story." Elena confirmed my thoughts as she stared at it. The symbol meant hybrid. Klaus killed his mother.

"We have to tell her." I said. Elena nodded to me, and the two of us ran out of the cave and back to her car.

When we got back to the boarding house, Elena was the one to go through first. I was still shocked and at a lack of words.

"I thought I told you to leave." Rebekah said, not even having to look up to see who it was. "Twice."

"How do you know that Mikael killed your mother?" Elena asked. Rebekah turned around.

"Nik was there." Rebekah replied simply. "He told me."

"He lied."

Rebekah scoffed.

"And how do you know that?" She asked, arms crossed over her chest. Elena walked up to her, placing the photos from the cave on a table.

"The cave where you carved your family's names is covered in symbols. The story of your family: how your parents arrived, how they made peace, the spell that turned them into vampires, and this." She said, pointing to one symbol. "This is the symbol for hybrid. It's a combination of the werewolf and the vampire symbol. And this is the one for your mother."

Rebekah stared at the photos, seeming mystified that they were even there.

"Her necklace." She whispered, staring at the symbol.

"And this is the story of her death. The hybrid killed the Original Witch." Elena said.
"Not Mikael. Klaus."

"No!" Rebekah yelled. "No, he wouldn't."

"He killed his twin." Elena said, trying to reason with her. "His best friend."

"That was an accident." Rebekah insisted. "He didn't do this."

"She put the curse on him, made it so that he would be the only one of his kind, and then she rejected him." Elena continued. "With the werewolf gene comes aggression and violence...when he turned, all of that was heightened. He killed her, Rebekah. And then he made up this entire lie about your father, so that he wouldn't lose you."

"Shut up!" Rebekah yelled.

"Klaus killed your mother. He has a hold on you, on me, on everyone. He has for a thousand years. We have to make it stop!"

"Shut up! Shut up!" Rebekah yelled, running to Elena. She had her by the throat and pushed her up against the wall. I jumped in pushing Rebekah away. She hissed at me.

"Stop." I commanded her. Rebekah just stood there glaring. "You wouldn't be this upset unless you knew it was true."

Rebekah shook her head. I knew this was a lot to handle. This whole time she had been mourning, and her brother had been lying to her. She stared at me for a minute before her face returned back to normal. I could see the tears begin then, and she slowly fell to her knees.

I swallowed, carefully leaning down to her level. The tears were pouring from her eyes, and before I could talk myself out of it, I pulled her into a tight embrace. She tensed at first, but soon relaxed and held tight to me. She cried into my shoulder, and I shared a look with Elena.

This was a lot more complicated then I thought.