She doesn't head for the Gilbert household.
It's an obvious thing to do; go blindly into danger to rescue the fair maiden and slay the dragon. While Eloise is far from hesitant to go '07 Britney on an original vampire there's really no reason for her to act stupidly and throw herself into a situation that might not really be a situation at all. It's not like the original in Elena's room is going to hurt her.
Elena Gilbert would have been dead long before Eloise even noticed if that were the case.
Unfortunately, Elena Gilbert has a tendency to do stupid things like sacrifice herself and if the original vampire is talking to her then he's aware of that too. Which means he's probably there to make some sort of a deal, and that's why Eloise has her compact mirror propped up on the dash so she can listen in on their conversation.
Pretty boy original seems noble enough... Even if his hair cut is absolutely terrible.
Eloise smirks as she guides her car to a stop not all that far from the Fell Church where the tomb's hidden.
Just because she doesn't think the original's going to hurt Elena don't mean Eloise can't mess with him a bit. It'll be interesting to see how he reacts to the fact that a single witch, a young one at that, beat however many witches he has. Because he has them, he told Elena as much, and Eloise has always found a certain kind of satisfaction in causing a little mischief.
Whistling as she steps out of the car Eloise grabs her purse and makes her way into the tomb.
Damon's going to kick my ass, Eloise thinks as she begins descending the old stone steps leading down into the darkness.
She makes it to the antechamber first and a single spell is all she needs to bring warm golden light to the room. It enables her to catch a glimpse of the heady stone slab that acted as a door to seal up the tomb once upon a time. Eloise rolls her eyes and curls her lips at the stone. This is why she hates most witches, always willing to crawl over someone else just for being different.
Stepping closer to the entrance of the tomb Eloise clears her throat.
"Stefan? It's Eloise, Damon's friend."
Not seconds later a long legged brunette that looks way too much like Elena appears before her. Katherine. The other doppleganger. And right behind her is Stefan, looking wide eyed and mildly shocked.
"Evening, Stefan, ready to go?" Eloise asks as she moves closer to the tomb's entrance.
"What are you doing here?" Stefan demands though he sounds a bit too suspicious for his own good.
"Giving a rather attractive original vampire a rather unattractive headache."
Eloise doesn't miss the way Katherine's eyes go wide for a brief second before narrowing into dangerous slits. For a brief moment Eloise toys with the thought of letting the woman out of the tomb as well but quickly scraps that idea. After all, she needs someone to stay behind and deliver her message to the original.
Smiling widely, if not a bit cruelly, Eloise steps closer to the barrier and raises both hands to about eye level.
Stefan shifts back, Katherine shifts forward, and Eloise closes her eyes to minimize any visual distractions the two might offer as she begins chanting lowly under her breath. Channeling the full moon is easy and the surge of power that follows is a heady thing, something Eloise will never tire of no matter how long she lives. And luckily, her magic is more powerful then the magic layered over the tomb.
With careful focus Eloise pulls away layer upon layer of the spell until there's nothing keeping Stefan inside.
She opens her eyes and smiles as Stefan.
When Katherine tries to dart past her Eloise merely holds up a hand, pinning the older vampire in place without so much as a thought.
"Sorry Katherine. I need you to stay put for just a while longer." Eloise says and the resounding crack of Katherine's neck snapping like a twig echos through the tomb as the witch snaps her fingers.
"What are you doing?" Stefan asks as Eloise crouches next to the body and drags it back into the tomb.
Eloise ignores him in favor of pulling a pen and a slip of paper out of her purse, scribbles down a quick little message, and tucks it into the strap of Katherine's dress. Knowing that the vampire won't wake for some time and that someone's probably coming Eloise turns and begins making her way up the stair.
"Are you coming, Stefan?"
"Are you just going to leave her there?"
Eloise pauses and looks at Stefan.
"Katherine and Elijah have history. He won't kill her."
Not yet anyway.
Stefan casts the unconscious vampire a glance before nodding and following after Eloise who smiles kindly and nudges his ribs with her elbow.
They've never met but Damon loves Stefan. Their relationship might be strained and turbulent but there's love there, buried under one hundred and sixty some years of bitterness and rage. So if Damon can find it in his heart to love Stefan then Eloise can find it in hers to try and love him too. Who knows. Maybe they can all be one big happy family at the end of this.
Her thoughts only seem to solidify after Stefan returns her smile with one of his own.
It's a nice smile, sad, but nice.
Neither of them speak as Eloise guides them to Ric's car, only breaking the silence when Eloise opens the driver side door.
"You want a ride to Elena's?" Eloise asks even as Stefan begins to shake his head. "Alright, well, don't tell anyone I let you out, yeah? Elijah was the one who was supposed to do it. Not me."
That seems to surprise Stefan but he nods none-the-less.
"Yeah, sure. Elijah came and got me... But why would he-"
"Better ask your girlfriend that one Stefan. I'm not entirely sure myself."
Lie, but he doesn't need to know that.
The two part ways pretty quickly after that and Eloise makes her way back to the boarding house with Ric's car wondering how Elijah's going to react to her little note? There weren't any reflective surfaces in the room so it's not like Eloise can spy on him when he finds Katherine's body. Oh well, she'll just have to wait until they meet in person it would seem.
A series of sharp rings makes Eloise jump but she quickly gets a grip and digs her phone out of her pocket.
"Hello, Damon." She says as she puts the call on speaker phone.
"Where the hell are you?" Damon growls.
"What's wrong?"
Any of the amusement she'd been feeling moments ago is gone. Replaced by a cool dread that makes Eloise swallow hard and grip the steering wheel a bit harder.
"You need to get to the house. A friend of mine just got bitten by the werewolf from the bar."
"Damon, I-"
"Just get here."
Damon hangs up not seconds later and Eloise sucks in a deep breath before pushing down on the gas a bit firmer to pick up the pace. She hopes that the person who got bit isn't any of the people Damon told her about. The ones he actually cares about but doesn't admit the does. It would wreck Damon if it were any of the people he actually, you know, doesn't hate.
Getting to the boarding house is hazy but racing up the steps and into the house is not.
Eloise tosses the keys on the side table before rushing to the living room where Damon and a woman with short hair are sitting on the couch. The woman's face is contorted with fear and her shoulder is brilliantly red, covered in terrible welts.
Without prompting Eloise makes her way over to the woman to examine her wound... Or lack there of.
"When did this happen?"
"Not long ago," the woman says, "an hour or so maybe?"
The skin is hot as Eloise brushes her fingers over it. Not a good sign. Of course, being bitten by a werewolf isn't ever a good thing for vampires but Eloise has never witnessed it first hand. Pulling away from the woman Eloise shakes her head.
"You probably won't survive this. I'm sorry but I've never heard of a vampire coming out of this alive... You have options though." Eloise says.
"Options?"
"Yeah... I can ease the pain and when the time comes it'll be like falling asleep. No pain, no suffering, just sleep." Eloise meets the woman's eyes and smiles as reassuringly as she can. "But if you don't want that I can take you're spirit and I can put it in another body. There's no way I can keep you alive as you are and I don't think you have a lot of time."
The woman swallows hard.
"Can I think about it?" She asks.
"Of course... I'm Eloise."
"Rose."
Nodding Eloise makes her way into the kitchen to shoot Miranda a text message asking her to send the instructions for the body possession spell. It doesn't take long for Miranda to shoot her a series of pictures and several inquires as to why she needs to the spell. Eloise just tells her it's for a friend. Miranda stops asking so many questions after that.
Knowing that Rose probably won't chose death Eloise begins gathering the herbs and other materials she'll need for the spell while she waits for a verbal confirmation.
She doesn't have to wait long, soon enough Rose and Damon enter the kitchen and Rose swallows thickly before looking Eloise dead in the eye.
"I want to live." Rose says.
Eloise nods before turning to Damon.
"You need to find a body, living or dead, that I can put Rose's spirit in... If you get a dead one make sure it's fresh."
Damon nods before disappearing from the house.
The young witch begins mixing her herbs into a bowl.
"Will it hurt?" Rose asks after a moment.
"Shouldn't. I've never actually done this spell before but I've heard of people using it so at least we know it works." Eloise says.
"Will I be human?" Rose asks.
"Yeah, I'd guess Damon's going to find you some random woman's body. Worst comes to worst we just change you afterward."
Eloise places the herbs aside and wipes her hand on her pants.
The herbs won't really be needed until Eloise prepares the host body and so she makes her way over to Rose so that she can place her hands on the woman's shoulders. Her magic floods the woman's body, chasing away the heat of fever and the pain. The venom is still racing through her system though and Eloise hopes Damon hurries up. They don't have all that much time.
~X~
When Damon returns he's got a body slung over his shoulder.
The fact that the woman isn't moving in any way tells Eloise that she's very, very dead.
Eloise doesn't care, she just cleans off the kitchen island and tells Damon to place the body on the flat surface. When he does she takes a moment to look at the woman. She's younger then Rose, or looks it anyway, with wild brown hair and a cute button nose. Pretty. Eloise takes a deep breath before snatching the herbs off of a stool so she can sprinkle them over the dead woman's body.
Once that's done Eloise puts both her hands on the woman. One on the forehead and the other on the stomach. She finds that physical contact helps her focus her magic sometimes and right now Eloise needs all the focus she can get.
"Carama sae au." Eloise breathes as she leans down so that her breath whispers against still warm lips.
The flickering of light and the sudden tension in the air signals to Eloise that the spell worked.
"You're turn." Eloise locks eyes with Rose as she speaks and makes her way around the island to grab the older woman's hands.
Rose sucks in a deep, rattling breath before she closes her own feverish eyes.
Eloise casts a glance at Damon, notes the fear hidden behind his cool countenance, and steels her nerves.
Do it for Damon, she tells herself, just do it for him.
Pulling on her magic Eloise steps closer to Rose and rests their foreheads together. Not necessary for the spell, yeah, but the contact offers Eloise a bit of comfort and she hopes it helps Rose in the same way.
"Phasmatos Tribum. Nas Ex Veras. Raverus En Phasmatos Ex Sonos." The magic that surges through Eloise's veins is heady and familiar, comforting like an old blanket pulled fresh out of the drier on a cold day. Eloise falls into the embrace of it and continues chanting. "Resistamus Et Veram Vatus. Raverus Phasmatos Ex Sonos."
Around the room light bulbs begin to explode.
Rose suddenly goes limp in her arms, body crumpling like a sack of leaves.
Eloise allows the woman to slip out of her grasp as she takes deep, cleansing breaths.
"What was that?" Damon asks.
"Most witches would call that dark magic." Eloise mutters as she goes to check on the body spread out on the island.
She presses her fingers into the woman's neck and finds a pulse fluttering rapidly against her fingers. Sighing, Eloise moves to brush back the wild tangle of hair.
"Rose? Can you hear me? I need you to wake up now." Eloise tells the other woman, voice firm.
Moments pass before wide green eyes flicker open and land on Eloise.
"How do you feel?" Eloise asks.
Rose just bursts into violent sobs, shaking and curling in on herself even as Damon comes to hold her. She clings to him and stutters out that she didn't think it was going to work, that she thought she was going to die. Eloise can't bring it in herself to tell the woman that as she's currently human dying's still a very big possibility. Instead she just cleans up her mess and goes to the living room to pour herself a drink.
She's on to her second glass when Damon appears before her and pulls her into a tight hug.
Neither of them say anything as Eloise wraps her arms around Damon's ribs but she can feel dampness on her skin where Damon's buried his face in her neck. Eloise lets him cry it out, stroking his hair and rubbing his back to help sooth him.
Eventually he pulls away to blink at her.
"Rose is crashing in one of the guest rooms." Damon says.
"I'd give her some time before you start talking about the transition." Eloise replies to which Damon nods.
Glancing down at the bourbon in her glass Eloise swallows the lump forming in her throat.
She's not a good person. She's done some pretty bad shit to too many people to be classified as a good person but... She's never hurt anyone that didn't deserve it. Saving Rose isn't something Eloise regrets, far from it in fact, but she also isn't sure how she feels about taking someone's life away from them either. Especially when the body Rose is now inhabiting is so young looking.
Maybe not younger then Eloise but still younger the Rose's original body looked.
"Who'd you kill, Damon?" Eloise finally asks, because she needs this.
Closure, the reassurance that she didn't do anything wrong, call it what you want. Eloise needs it.
"I don't know. Teenage runaway. She had a bag with her."
"Homeless?"
"Probably."
Eloise nods before curling back into Damon's embrace.
He presses a lingering kiss to her forehead.
"Thank you, Ellie."
"Of course, Damon, anything for you."
Damon's thumb is rough as he brushes it across her cheek but Eloise doesn't mind. She's just glad that the sorrow, the guilt, that had been lingering in Damon's eyes when she got to the house is gone. Replaced with something gentle and hesitant. Eloise smiles as she moves to kiss his cheek.
"I'm going to bed Damon but if you or Rose need anything don't hesitate to wake me up ok? Especially if it's an emergency."
Instead of answering Damon just nods, takes her half finished drink, and disappears from the room.
~X~
"Eloise," Rose greets the next morning when the dark haired witch shuffles into the kitchen, "good morning!"
Rose and Elena are sitting at the island and they both offer smiles as Eloise steps closer. While the ex-soon-to-be vampires grins delightfully at her, Elena looks like she's a little bit afraid. Like Eloise is something dangerous and wild and she's finally realizing that.
Eloise ignores it in favor of pouring herself a cup of coffee.
"Good morning Rose, Elena." She turns to Rose, "How did you sleep?"
"I slept well enough considering..." The dark haired woman motions to her body.
Now that she's not focusing on saving Rose's life Eloise allows herself to appraise the new body. It's a petite thing, naturally small and dainty, Rose's head barely comes to Eloise's chin but it doesn't stop the woman from looking imposing. It's something about the eyes, big and sharp. Eloise smiles because despite everything this body fits Rose in a way Eloise hadn't expected it to.
"Good. Have you spoken to Damon about turning?"
Is it any of her business? Probably not. But if Rose wants to be a vampire again then she's going to need a daylight ring and Eloise doesn't just keep those on hand considering they're so important to vampires. Look, she needs to make money ok? Besides, not all vampires deserve daylight rings. Why would she just keep one in her pocket for just any vampire?
Across the island Rose tucks a chunk of long, dark hair behind her ear and nods.
"Yes, we've spoken. I believe he'll be back tonight to help with, well, everything I suppose."
"I'll shoot him a text then and ask him to pick up something to make a daylight ring with," Eloise goes to pull her phone out of her pajama pocket. "Do you have any jewelry preferences?"
Rose looks startled, as if she hadn't thought Eloise was going to get her a daylight ring. Which is kind of dumb considering the fact that Eloise just saved her life by shoving her spirit into a new body but whatever.
"I don't have any preferences." Rose breathes.
Eloise nods before shooting Damon a text asking for something to make the daylight jewelry out of. She thinks a necklace or maybe a bracelet would be best considering she doesn't know Rose's new ring size but it's completely up to Damon. Knowing him, he's already gotten her something.
Shoving her phone back in her pocket as she takes a sip of coffee Eloise glances at Elena.
"Babysitting duty?" She asks.
The brunette nods, "Yeah. Damon and Stefan thought it would be best if we all hung out."
"You mean to make sure Rose doesn't pop out of this body and something bad happen to me." Eloise corrects which makes Elena smile a little bashfully.
"Something like that."
Eloise nods.
"Well, we might as well make the most of it I suppose."
"What do you suggest?" Rose asks.
"Breakfast. I'm starving. Then maybe we can do fun things with magic." Eloise places her coffee cup on the island.
"Like what?"
"How would you like to go pink for a day, Elena?" Eloise asks as she reaches out to play with the other girl's silky brunette hair.
Doe eyes widen to impossibly innocent measures as Elena comprehends what Eloise has just said to her.
"You can do that?" Elena seems so surprised that Eloise can't even bring herself to be annoyed.
"Oh sugar, I can do a lot of cool witchy things."
Changing someone's hair color is child's play. All the spell really needs is intent and focus, there's not even an incantation. How is it that Bonnie's never done anything like this to her? It would be so much easier to hide Elena from people if they changed her hair color or something. Hair is such a distinct feature for people. Turning it blonde or red would make her blend into crowds a bit more.
How is it that the Bennett witch never thought of this?
Does she not know? Did no one teach her these things?
Hell, Eloise is mostly self taught herself but there had been more then a few spells that she'd been able to pick up from other witches even if just in passing.
Maybe it's because she doesn't live the same life style as I do, Eloise sips at her coffee as she thinks it over. Maybe not being truly on her own has given her a different experience.
Swallowing her mouthful of coffee Eloise adjusts her grip on her mug and turns to the two woman sitting at the island.
"I'm thinking crepes." Eloise says.
"Sounds lovely," Rose stretches her arms above her head, revealing a really pretty flower tattoo splayed across her inner bicep. "You making them?"
"Of course... And unlike Damon I won't give you food poisoning."
This prompts a loud snort from Elena that makes the other two women smile wickedly at one another.
Eloise turns to the cupboards.
"Now Elena, tell me about yourself." She commands.
And while she's making breakfast the pretty brunette tells her about her parents, her aunt, her brother, high school and friends, her likes and dislikes. She seems so incredibly human, so incredibly normal in this moment that Eloise's heart goes out to her. Because no matter how normal she seems in this moment Elena Gilbert will never live a life devoid of the supernatural. And honestly? That kind of sucks for her.