Chapter 1
It was the end of summer when Joey Ocean finally got the voicemails her younger cousin back in Virginia had been leaving her for months. When she finally got to the phone he had the number for, she opens the screen of the old burner to see handfuls of messages, voicemails and missed calls. With all of them being sent over the summer, Joey Ocean was shocked to see what she had missed. Trying to get in touch with her own dad and their aunt Debbie, she received no reply.
This is what led to her jacking an old Toyota and driving to the small dull boring and monotonous town of Mystic Falls.
Growing up, she always hated the rare few times her dad or aunt had decided a visit to the rest of the family was in order and she never wanted anything less than to never step foot in the town again. The visits were slightly better when her youngest cousin, Jeremy, got a bit older. The kid always adored his criminal leaning family, even if his sister or his parents didn't.
But it was now, as she pulled up to the Gilbert household in the beaten up, stolen Toyota Yaris, that she wondered just what had been happening in her extended families lives. Knocking on the door, she looked around suspiciously out of habit as she waited for someone to answer. After a few minutes of no answer, she grabs a bobby pin she hides in the back of her thick curly hair and picks the lock. Opening the now unlocked door, she walks into the familiar house and looks around as she notices the bareness that never used to be there.
Phoning her cousins phone as she goes to make herself a coffee, she listens as he sends her straight to voicemail and after repeating the same with Elena, she decided that she wasn't patient enough to wait until they get home to get answers. After the messages Jeremy left, she needed to know just what happened before telling her dad and aunt about the news.
Grabbing her laptop from her bag, she opens it up on the kitchen countertop while munching on some biscuits she found hidden in a cupboard. Assuming they were a part of Jenna's secret stash, she helped herself.
In no time, she triangulates the position of both cousins to the local high school, and thinking it was extremely late at night to be at the school, not that she herself had ever been to one, she decides its worth a look, to curb her curiosity but if she was being honest to herself, she wanted to see Elena to annoy and piss her off a little.
Elena Gilbert was one family member Joey Ocean wouldn't mind never seeing again…
Quickly, she leaves the house, locking it again and gets into the shitty little Toyota she now had the pleasure of driving until she ditched it. She drove around the town a little, trying to find the high school until she comes across the building and pulls in before jumping out the car and strolling into the dark and empty building.
Not trusting the darkness, she feels for her handgun in the waist of her black Levi's jeans, and slowly moves along the wall as she looks for her cousins. She starts shaking her head at her paranoid mind before she hears a scream coming from the left, and shouts following it. Widening her eyes, she keeps the gun out of view as she turns the corner and sees her cousin Elena on the floor of the gym as two others stand, one of the men has the other up with a grip on his neck.
"She means nothing to you? Your lies keep piling up." He says as Joey notices a strong English accent.
"Let her go! I'll do anything you want," The second speaks as he looks the man in his eyes, desperately not looking at her cousin. "You have my word!"
Joey slowly makes her way into the light just enough for Elena to see, and her cousin widens her eyes as she sees Joey come forward with a gun pointed at Klaus. She pulls a finger to her lip as she signals Elena to be quiet and aims her gun at Klaus as she announces herself to the group.
"Put the guy down English." Joey states as her eyes zero in on the hybrids own blue ones when he turns his head and eyes widen at the girl in front.
"Joey, get out of here!" Elena screams from the floor as she pulls herself up.
"Elena." Joey exasperatedly says as she refuses to break eye contact with the Brit. "I'm the one with the gun here."
"Who are you?" He breathes out as he stares at the woman. He notices his sister behind her in the shadows silently but tells her to stand down.
"Me?" Joey asks, "If you used your brain, you'd know she just called me Joey."
Smirking, Klaus drops Stefan slightly and compels him to not move quietly. Walking forward a few steps, he introduces himself. "The name's Klaus Mikaelson, love."
"Yeah, I don't care." Joey mentions. "But you move forward one more step, and I'll put a bullet in between your eyes." Narrowing her eyes at him, she shakes her head to Elena. "Lena, where's Jer?"
"Joey, get out of here, we don't need you here!" Her cousin angrily states.
"Oh fuck off Gilbert. It seems like you need me right now." Joey shouts back as Klaus chuckles and begins walking towards her at a normal pace.
"Now, now love. Let's just put the gun…" Three bullets find themselves lodged in Klaus chest before Joey finds herself slammed against the wall of the gymnasium and face to face with a red veiny eyes and a mouth of fangs.
"What the fuck!" Joey shouts before she falls to the floor as the thing that attacked her is thrown across the room by the Brit she just shot.
"Are you okay love?" He says as he suddenly is in her face.
Looking him up and down, she takes note of the blood staining his shirt and her eyes widen as her brain tries to work out just what happened. "But…I…I just shot you…. Three times." She whispers as her emerald green eyes meet his pale blue ones.
"She doesn't know about any of this Klaus." Elena says from her spot. "Don't hurt her."
"Hurting her is the last thing I want to do." Klaus says offhandedly as he pulls up Joey.
"Who the hell are you?" The thing that attacked her speaks up from her new spot next to the Brit. "I haven't seen you before."
Steeling herself, she walks over to her cousin, ignoring the looks from the others. "Lena, what the hell is going on?"
Ripping her shoulder from her hands, the Gilbert girl glares at her cousin. "What are you doing here? You're not welcome Joey."
Rolling her eyes, Joey turns to the two watching the exchange with looks of curiosity. "Shut the fuck up you little bitch. I'm here because Jer's been hounding me for months about whatever happened to Jenna and Miranda. And I walk in to see this shit show, so someone better explain shit to me before I get really pissed." Throwing her hands up in the air, she catches the smirk from the blonde girl and the guy beside her. "I know my thick cousin here is Elena bloody Gilbert… You're Klaus." She points to the hybrid. "What's your sisters name?"
"How do you know we're siblings?" The blonde asks.
"Anyone with a brain could work that out, I can see the family resemblance." Joey points out. "Of course, I doubt the idiots in this god forsaken town would notice."
"Rebekah." The blonde speaks up as she watches the girl closely. She notices her brothers gaze transfixed on the doppelgängers cousin and watches as he forces himself to stay still and not move closer.
"And the broody guy in the corner?" She points to Stefan.
"That would be Stefan Salvatore." Klaus pipes up. "Your cousins boyfriend."
Spinning around to look at Stefan then, she casts a calculating gaze over him before speaking, "And what's wrong with you that you decided my arse of a cousin was a good choice for that?"
"Oh, I like her Nik." Rebekah mentions as she walks to move closer to the girl. "So, Joey Gilbert is it?"
"I ain't a Gilbert." "She's not a Gilbert." The cousins both say as Elena glares at the new arrival.
"Joey Ocean." She adds. "Now, care to explain how he's not dead after I shot him multiple times."
"We're vampires darling." Rebekah adds as Klaus speeds closer, shocking Joey slightly. The girl watches them with a close look as she realises they aren't lying and turns to see the truth in her cousin and her boyfriends eyes. "I can prove it. Nik, she has my necklace." She pulls out a phone with a photo of Elena and her friends.
"Well, well. More lies." Klaus chuckles as he moves an arm around Joeys. waist and pulls her in closer. "How long have you been in town then love?" He asks as his sister screams at the doppelgänger.
"Uh, I just got into town like 45 minutes ago." Joey says as she moves away from the hybrids grip, not missing the disappointment on his face.
"Where… is it?" Rebekah screams as her cousin screams back. "I don't have it anymore."
"You're lying!" Rebekah screams before vamping out and biting. Elena's neck before her brother pulls her off and to the side.
"Knock it off!" Klaus warns before catching eye of the girl his wolf keeps pulling him to.
"Make her tell em where it is Nik!"
"Where's the necklace, sweetheart? Be honest." Klaus asks.
"I'm telling the truth. Katherine stole it."
"Katerina. Of course." Klaus growls slightly. "Well, that's unfortunate. If we had the necklace it would make things a whole lot easier for your witch, but since we're doing this the hard way, let's put a clock on it, shall we?" He puts on the clock before going over to Stefan. "Twenty minutes. If Bonnie hasn't found a solution by then, I want you to feed again. Only this time, I want you to feed on Elena. You know you want to."
"No, Klaus! Don't do this to him!" Elena screams.
"No one leaves. If she tries to run, fracture her spine." At that, the two siblings walk out, Klaus dragging Joey along with him by the waist again. "Rebekah, go and see how our werewolf is doing."
Rolling her eyes, Rebekah speeds off as Joey questions Klaus. "Okay buddy. Can you just wait a sec and tell me everything?" Joey demands as she forces Klaus's arm off her waist.
Walking into a classroom, he leans against the desk as Joey follows him in. "Where do you want me to start love?"
"You and your sister are vampires?" Joey wonders as she leans on the desk across from his.
"Rebekah is an original vampire, while I am the original hybrid." Klaus says as he looks at the girl.
"THE original hybrid?" Joey mocks, "and what's that? A cross between a vampire and a werewolf?"
"Exactly, love."
"And, the original means the first?" Klaus nods to the question. "And how, theoretically, would one go about killing a vampire or werewolf or hybrid?"
"Well, myself and my sister can't be killed by anything but the white oak tree but that doesn't exist anymore. Vampires can be killed by a wooden stake to the heart, decapitation or burning. Sunlight is lethal if they do not possess a ring such as this." He shows her his daylight ring.
"I take it the lapis lazuli has something to do with it?" Klaus eyes her in wonder at the connection. "You, your sister and that Stefan fella all have them on, I just assumed."
Proud of the human he was now subconsciously calling his, he continued, "Vampires can also compel others to do their bidding, unless you're wearing or have recently consumed vervain."
"Werewolves only turn on the full moon, but can be killed like any other human apart from their adverse reactions to wolfsbane and their bites as wolves are lethal to vampires. My blood being the only antidote to the poison."
"Because you're the OG hybrid?" Joey asks as she spots her gun in his jacket pocket.
Noticing her gaze on the weapon, he hands it over slowly, "Hybrids aren't affected by the sun and can change at will with or without the full moon. Vervain affects them just as wolfsbane do, but they're stronger than vampires. The ultimate predator."
"Thanks," she says as she takes the gun off him and checks it over before tucking it away into the back of her jeans again. "What about my cousin? How did she get wrapped up in all of this?"
"When my mother first made my siblings and I into the first vampires, it was discovered that she had an affair with a werewolf from the neighbouring village." Klaus mentioned as his eyes turned sad.
"And I take it you were the product of that?"
"Correct love. My father was furious with the thought of my mother's affair and as punishment, they both cursed me so that my werewolf side would be locked away. They used the blood of a girl called Tatia Petrova in the spell. A girl who your cousin looks identical to."
"Was she a backstabbing bitch too?"
Laughing to himself, he carries on "You're not a fan of your cousin are you? To break the curse, I had to sacrifice a vampire, werewolf and the doppelgänger, Elena, beneath a full moon. But dopplegangers aren't very common, so I waited 1000 years to finally break my curse. I thought I did but when I left to turn wolves into hybrids, I found they all became rabid and died soon after. That was when I found out Elena had survived. Hence why I'm here. Her witch friend is trying to find if her death is what's needed."
"So, you think Elena being alive is stopping you making more hybrids?" Joey says as she moves desks to sit next to him as she thinks to herself.
Delighted at her new position, he silently rejoiced in the closeness as he added, "I'm not sure yet. I'm hoping the Bennett witch figures it out soon though. But tell me about you?" He questions, desperate to know more about the girl who has his wolf begging to come out.
He watches her as she curls her hair around her fingers in thought, taking note of her little actions. "Your mom hated you, didn't she?" She asks, as she turns to meet Klaus blue eyes.
"Yes, she did."
"Well, she went to all that trouble of cursing you, and she must have known that you'd break it someday… and you had to drink doppleganger blood to turn into a hybrid…."
"What are you trying to say love?"
"Look, I don't know anything about the supernatural but, if I was her, I'd make sure any hybrids you wanted to turn had to drink the blood of the doppelgänger to do so. The very doppelgänger you would have killed in the sacrifice." Joey mentioned as she saw the realisation come to the hybrids eyes.
Jumping up, he smiled at her widely as he kissed her forehead and grabbed her hand, pulling her to the gym once again. On the way, they bump into Elena as he says, "We've got to stop meeting like this.", then drags the cousins into the gym, one by her arm roughly, and the other by her hand gently.
As Stefan stakes himself in the stomach with a wooden broom to stop the compulsion, Joey's phone begins to ring and looking at it to see her aunt Debbie, she looks up at Klaus who's waiting for her to speak.
"I gotta take this."
"Of course love. In the meantime, we'll test your little theory." Klaus says as Rebekah drags in what Joey assumes is the werewolf and the blonde who she recognises as Caroline Forbes.
Walking out of the room, she makes her way outside to the beat up Toyota before sliding in and answering the call.
"Aunt Debs, hey." Joey says shakily as her emotions finally catch up to her.
"Kiddo, hey. What's up?" Her aunt questions as she hears the shaky intake of breath.
"I… I'm in Mystic Falls." She admits as her aunt questions why.
"Why? You hate it there."
"Jer has been trying to get in touch for months, I finally saw and decided to come up. Something to do with Miranda and Jenna, although I haven't a clue at what."
"Have you told your dad?"
"Last I heard, him and Tess were in the Maldives on vacation, he ain't answering." She uttered before speaking again. "I'm gonna wait til I see Jer but I'll keep you updated Debs."
She sees Klaus and Rebekah with Elena in tow then, she quickly ends the conversation to see what happened. Opening the door to the car, Klaus announces to her that she was right in her thoughts before.
"Love, it seems you were right about the dopplegangers blood." He says as he hugs her suddenly. "We're going to take her to the hospital for a blood donation. You go home and rest. I'll be there later."
"Joey, don't let him take me." Elena pleads to her cousin desperately.
Looking at her cousin, she turns to the hybrid in front. "Will you hurt her or kill her?"
"She'll be protected. I just need her blood. Then we can leave town." Klaus says as he hopes she comes with him. His sister watches as she smiles at the to, now realising what they were to each other.
"Leave town?" Joey questions, "As much as I hate this town, Elena's home is here. You can't just steal her to use as your blood slave." She accuses as her hand goes to her gun.
Seeing this, Klaus' eyes flash with betrayal before just disappearing with Elena and his sister. Standing there, annoyed at the disappearance of her cousin, she's about to go into the school again as she sees Elena's friends coming out. The new hybrid speeds off, after Klaus as the other four look at Joey with glares.
"What are you doing here Joey?" Caroline snipes as she speeds towards the girl who now has her gun raised at the two vampires, witch and human. "Your gun won't do much Ocean."
"Where's Elena?" Bonnie demands, as the group glare at her. Elena's friends or the rest of the town had never been fans of the Oceans.
"Klaus took her to get blood. I…" At that, they all speed away, leaving her here with her stolen car. "For god sake."
Shaking her head, she decides to go to the Gilbert house, hoping she can see Jeremy at least while she plans in her head.
It's late by the time anyone returns to the house, as Joey makes herself comfortable. The first to arrive is Jeremy who enters the house cautiously after seeing the unknown car parked outside. Walking in to his cousin deeply engrossed with some horror on the tv is not what he expected though.
"Jer, fucking finally. Where's Elena got to? Klaus hasn't run off with her, has he?" Joey wonders as she throws a chip into her mouth.
"Joey! What the hell?" Jer asks as he hugs his cousin before realising she said Klaus. "Wait, Klaus?"
"I came here earlier but no one was here so I tracked your phones and both were at the school. I met the supernatural scooby gang and Klaus explained everything to me." Joey explained.
"So, you know…?"
"About vampires, witches, werewolves, hybrids and doppelgängers? Oh yeah. Klaus told me everything. I think he has a thing fir me. He was very touchy feely." She mentioned as she thought of the slight possessiveness shown by the hybrid.
"WHAT?! Don't let him anywhere near you Joey." Jeremy exclaimed, worried his sisters mess had now dragged in his cousin.
"Don't worry Jer. I think i'm pretty safe."
"He's a murderer Joey." Jeremy tried saying, realising there was still a lot she didn't know.
"Yeah, and so is everyone else in this town… now, where's Jenna and your mom Jer?"
"Mom and Dad died about a year ago cuz." Jeremy said as tears pricked his eyes. "And Klaus killed Jenna in the sacrifice. She was his vampire."
Suddenly, she saw red as she realised he had forgotten to mention his hand in her aunts death. "He what?" She spoke lowly, as she plotted against the supernatural creatures in the town.
"Joey. You need to leave town." Jeremy admitted. "It's a shit show here and Elena… she'll end up getting you killed."
"And will you stay?" Joey sarcastically said.
"She's my sister, I have to."
"Even if she cares more about that Salvatore than you?" Joey added as she saw the truth in her cousins eyes.
"There's 2 Salvatores. Brothers, both in love with her, both being manipulated by Queen Elena." Jeremy told her as she rolled her eyes.
"Jer, I ain't leaving you here! It's dangerous." Joey explained. "Which is why I'm going to finally let you in on the family business." She smirked.
Smiling to himself, he added, "I don't think a heist is suitable for Mystic Falls Joey."
Shaking her head, she leads him to the couch where papers are laid out in front of her. "While I've been waiting for you, i've been doing research. I'm working on a plan to make us the safest and most protected humans in this town. But, I need your help."
"What's the plan?" Jeremy asks before the door opens and Elena and some older guy walk in. Quickly moving the papers away, Joey greets them.
"Hey cuz, Klaus didn't kill you I. see?" Joey smirks as Elena throws her a glare.
"You let him take me?!" She screams. "I don't want you in this house. Get out."
"She's staying here." Jeremy argues as Joey rolls her eyes.
"The guys a thousand year old hybrid Elena. I shot him three times and it didn't affect him. What was I meant to do?"
"Stop him?" Elena argues as Alaric asks if she really shot Klaus.
"She's family Elena. She's staying." Jeremy states as he glares at his sister.
"Fine, but I'm going to stay at Stefans." She storms up the stairs to her room as Alaric then comes forward.
"I'm Alaric Saltzman." He says as he shakes her hand, "You must be Joey Ocean. Elena slagged you off the whole car ride back."
"Ha. I'm sure she did." Elena came rushing down the stairs and out the front door as she stormed out.
"Well, make yourself at home. But I'm gonna head up. I'm tired. Night guys." Ric said as he himself headed up to bed.
"So, what plan is this?" Jeremy whispered as his cousin smirked at him.
"Jer, from this day forward, you're now an honorary Ocean. But you need to know the rules first."
"Joey, I know the rules." He laughs. "Never speak to the cops, never sell someone out and never go against you."
"Looks like you do know them." Joey smirked. "Klaus mentioned vampires need to be invited in, right?" Jeremy nodded his head. "And am I safe to assume that every vampire in town has been invited into this house?"
"They all have free reign." Jeremy admitted. "We can't stop them from coming in."
"If the houses ownership changes, will said vampires have to be invited in again?" Joey asks as she formulates the plan.
"Well, yeah. But Elena won't ever agree to changing the house owner." Jeremy mentioned.
"She doesn't have to agree Jer, she just has to sign." Joey added as she waited for her cousin to click onto the plan. When he did he laughed as he got excited. Jeremy had always secretly wanted to be more ocean than Gilbert. "Now, you know more about the supernatural than me. Is there a way to stop witches, werewolves and hybrids in too?"
"Hybrids will be the same as vampires but for witches and werewolves, i've never heard of it." Jeremy says, "But I can try and find out. It's probably a good time to mention I can see ghosts."
"Okay… that's weird…" Joey whispers. "Ask your ghost friends if they know anything. The quicker we can keep this house safe from all supernatural creatures the better."
"You'll need vervain too. To stop compulsion." Jeremy mentions. "The Salvatores grow it for the council but with them being wrapped around Elenas fingers, they won't give any to you." He says. "They won't give any to me to ingest, just a shitty bracelet that they take off me when they want to force me into something."
"Council?" Joey asked as she googled vervain on her laptop.
"The founding families are all a part of a secret council who hunt vampires."
"And they don't know the Salvatores are vampires?" Joey laughs. "Okay, well we need a supply of vervain and the fastest way I know to get some is to steal it from the Salvatores. Once we get Elena's signature, me and you can go steal their vervain kiddo."
"It's about time you did your first robbery Jer."
The two cousins laugh together as they discuss the further plans. All Joey Ocean knows now is that Mystic Falls won't know what hit them…