Getting everyone, and by everyone Eloise means Katherine and Damon, wrangled into the living room isn't too hard. Katherine is oddly pleasant as she takes up residence on the sofa and Damon's not too keen on leaving Eloise and Katherine alone together in the same room so he follows after them looking like he's just swallowed a lemon. Which is fine by Eloise, if Damon's paranoia makes him easier to handle then so be it, Eloise would love to have an easy day after the shitstorm that was yesterday. Taking a seat in the plush chair next to the fireplace allows Eloise a good look at the expectant expressions on Katherine and Damon's faces. They both want her to get to the reason she's gathered them but Katherine looks far more pleased than Damon does, which isn't surprising considering they're not exactly friendly witch one another and Katherine loves seeing Damon squirm.
"Look, we can all reasonably agree that last night was an epic fail." She says after a moment. "Elijah's alive, and I'm happy about that, but it's clear that you and Stefan can't be making decisions anymore."
"Says who?"
"Says the thousand year old vampire I talked down from killing you and everyone else who was involved with his attempted murder last night!" Eloise snaps at the dark haired vampire lounging across from her.
"John's a piece of shit." is all he offers in response.
"And you're no longer in charge."
Across from her Katherine stretches out across the sofa, all seductive lines and wicked little half-smiles and Eloise finds herself wishing that she were as easily seductive as Katherine. The woman must bathe in sex appeal because there's nothing about her that isn't attractive. Honestly, if it came down to Elena or Katherine she'd probably go with Katherine.
"Klaus is coming to Mystic Falls no matter what, we know this, and I doubt any of us are going to be able to kill him so we need to figure something out that gets us all what we want. A happy hybrid original is a less murderous hybrid original."
Katherine snorts, a very condescending sound when paired with her scathing, "That's not going to work, Ellie."
"Forgive me, Katerina, but I've faced far more dangerous men and women than Klaus Mikaelson." she swallows the rage burning in her throat, "Besides, I'm not the one who ran away from him. I'm going to be the woman who gives him exactly what he wants."
Fingers curl around her throat, not dangerously tight but certainly tight enough to cause discomfort as Damon's face looms over her own. Unphased by Damon's inability to see past his irritating need to defend Elena, Eloise flicks her fingers at Damon - hand still resting lazily on the plush armrest - and watches coolly as his body goes sailing across the room and into a wall, the plaster splintering around the point of impact. She waits until he's up and glaring at her before saying anything.
"I didn't say we were going to kill Elena, Damon, but if it came down to it do you honestly think that I wouldn't have a plan to make sure she doesn't stay dead?" Damon's eyes narrow and Eloise presses her lips into a firm line before muttering, "And here I was thinking you were smarter than that."
Tinkling laughter fills the room, genuine and warm and familiar because Eloise spent an entire day entertaining Elena so she should fucking remember the sound of her laughter. Eloise is starting to understand why everyone's fooled by Katherine prancing around acting like Elena. A sharp look is sent the Doppelganger's way by both her and Damon but the brunette doesn't seem all that bothered, instead she eyes Eloise curiously then smiles as if she's realized something. Eloise can't help but feel a bit panicked despite knowing there's no way Katherine could know. No one in her family has ever directly interacted with the Doppelganger - before or after her transition - despite the powerful nature of her blood, and with as careful as her family is - had been? - there's no way Katherine would know who Eloise is... so why does she look like she's got everything figured out? Natural reaction? A way to make people think she's one or two or three steps ahead of the game?
"Where'd you find this one, Damon? Branching out a bit are we? Acquiring new tastes?" Katherine asks blithely, but Eloise hears the underlying tension and bitterness.
Katherine's territorial and she sees the Salvatore brothers as toys, while she may not play with them anymore she still considers them hers and what child likes other children playing with their toys without permission? Unfortunately for Katherine, Eloise knows all about territorial displays. Kather's threatened by her presence, Katherine is lashing out, Katherine thinks that she can bully and snip and rend the bond between Eloise and Damon but it's not going to work because Eloise is meaner and more possessive than Katherine has any hope of being.
"It's not like they can get any worse than you," Eloise remarks, casually giving the curly haired doppelganger a once over as she continues, "At least Elena has a genuine personality as opposed to whatever you're hiding behind."
Something feral lights in Katherine's eyes, paired with the slight upturning of her eyes and the sharpness of her cheekbones she looks almost like an enraged animal. It makes Eloise snort as she turns her attention to Damon, who's watching everything go down with a look of deep satisfaction.
"I have a plan for Klaus but I need some time to get everything together." She tells her friend.
"And does this plan involve sacrificing Elena?"
"Worse case scenario, yes."
Damon's face twists but he doesn't move to grab her again, "No one can ever say you're not honest about your intentions."
"I don't want to kill Elena but if I can't figure anything else out it might be the best way... If we can get into contact with Klaus we could negotiate a deal of some sort."
"Which involves what exactly? Sacrificing Elena on an intricately carved alter while dancing naked under the moonlight?" Damon bites out.
"I was going to say I'd see if I could get rid of the curse or in the event that that fails, negotiate Elena's life and freedom." Eloise says, calm in the face of his quiet rage.
One would think after all Katherine did to him and his brother Damon would stay away from the Doppelgangers. Elena's not a bad person but doppelgangers aren't meant to live a long, fulfilling life. Being a supernatural occurrence whose blood can be used in very powerful magic doesn't allow for grand feats of happiness or whatever, which is unfortunate and part of the reason Eloise does't just want to have to kill Elena... or, you know, leave her dead. Killing her isn't exactly the issue, it's the staying dead part that Eloise is a little leery about considering Elena's been nothing but nice to her and is apparently a hell of a lot better than Katherine. Eloise has no problem killing Katherine. Of course, none of this means she'll stick around if shit hits the fan. She'll negotiate for them, bring Elena back for them, but if any of the Scooby Gang decide they want to fuck with the Mikaelson family then Eloise is out and they're on their own. End of discussion.
"I don't see why we can't just kill Klaus." Damon says as he crosses his arms over his chest like an angry child.
"Ever heard of something called a sire line?" Eloise asks, recalling the rather juicy bit of information Miranda had sent her.
"No."
"Well basically it means that should one of the Originals die die then the rest of their line will die with them. So let's say you killed Klaus, what happens if you come from his sire line? You've essentially slaughtered an entire group of innocent people who haven't done shit to you as well as you're own little group of friends. Kind of defeats the point of making enemies doesn't it?" Eloise asks when Damon's face shifts from the ominous promise of violence to something very akin to dread.
They can't kill Klaus. Well, technically, they could. Eloise just doesn't know how or which sire line Damon and all of her other vampire friends are part of, and knowing their luck Damon's tied in with Klaus. Could Eloise break the sire line? No, not by herself in any case and not without a shit ton of power behind her. That's not the question, the real question is whether or not she would and the answer is no. This is the only way Eloise can ensure Damon and the rest of them won't do anything stupid. All she needs is a little time to convince Klaus that he needs Elena alive for his hybrids and then hopefully all of this tension just kind of smooths over after a few hundred years or so. Eloise drums her fingers against the armrest and wonders whether or not Elijah would be any help in figuring out how best to negotiate with his brother. From what Eloise has heard Elijah's the calmer of the two, more level headed or something of that ilk, which means Klaus will be ten times more difficult to talk to without it somehow resulting in violence. It's part of the reason she'd like to get into contact with him as soon as possible... Which leads her to a possible spell that might be able to help her locate the hybrid.
"So you want to negotiate with Klaus Mikaelson?" Katherine asks bitterly, "It'll never work. He's too paranoid to listen to anything you have to say and too full of himself to boot."
Eloise bites back the truly nasty retort on her tongue but manages a waspish smile as she says, "Maybe. But I'm sure he's dying to get his hands on you, Katerina."
And Katherine's sudden, desperate scramble is halted by the invisible force that keeps her tethered to the couch. Eloise and Damon watch as she tries to lunge for either of them, only making it a few inches before being yanked back to the couch where she's left panting and near desperate. It's understandable considering the past five hundred years of her immortal life she spent running are about to be for nothing. Fangs and delicate blood vessels snap out as Katherine attempts one more attack on Eloise in the hopes that her death will mean the releasing of her person from the couch and just like that Eloise feels nothing but distant pity for the half-mad creature currently struggling against her magic.
"I put that spell on you this morning," Eloise tells the vampire after a moment, "all I needed was for you to settle somewhere for more than a few minutes."
Katherine's rage turns to true fear as she twists to look at Damon as she says, "Please, Damon! You can't let her do this! Klaus will kill all of you! Please!"
"You're sure Klaus wants her?" Damon asks, ignoring Katherine's pleading and promises and eventual threats.
"Wouldn't you?" Eloise sighs quietly before saying, "I don't know if it'll be enough to save Elena outright but at the very least Klaus will be willing to talk to me when I turn Katherine over.
"You're just going to pop over for breakfast with Katherine and offer her up to Klaus and hope he's feeling chummy?" Damon asks, unimpressed.
"I'm just going to pop over for breakfast with Katherine as soon as I find him to offer her up and hope he's feeling charitable."
"We're going to die."
"When you've got skin in the game, you stay in the game, but you don't get a win unless you play in the game." Eloise tells the dark haired vampire currently regarding her with cold indifference.
Katherine's responding laugh is shrill, full of panic, and apparently more than Damon can handle at the moment before he snarls before speeding over to the curly haired doppelganger. She barely has time to realize he's moved before she's slumping back against the cushions, neck twisted at a truly disturbing angle. When she's not awake Katherine almost looks like a decent sort of human being, she'll always be lovely but when she's not awake she's not snarling or smirking or ridiculing people so her features don't twist up in the weird way that makes her look vicious. Unconscious, Katherine Pierce looks like anyone else. A faint twang of guilt forces Eloise to look away from the Doppelganger and back to Damon.
"Miranda's looking for a way to contact Klaus but I can always ask Elijah for a favor." She says to which Damon rolls his eyes.
"I doubt he'd be willing to help us after last night."
"Considering we've already talked I think he's more than willing to help."
Damon makes a noise in the back of his throat which earns him a sharp look from Eloise. Clearly he doesn't like the thought of Elijah being part of their group but he doesn't have much of a choice. Elijah might not kill Klaus but Eloise doubts he'd let anything get too bloody between his brother and her people so long as they're all within the bounds of their deals. Klaus wants his curse broken, which is totally understandable, and Eloise has always been one to root for the underdog. So, ok, yeah, maybe she thinks the whole superiority mentality witches tend to have over other supernatural beings is shit, maybe she's trying to do some justice for the vampires and werewolves and whoever the fuck else have been stomped on and abused by witches, and she's totally for fucking with pissy old dead hags who think it's fine to fuck with people as long as they're not other witches. It's bogus. Complete and utter horse shit but witches aren't exactly raised to be humble. Eloise is self aware, ok, she knows her faults. Aggressive, a little too mean, a little too willing to cause serious damage to people, quick to anger but slow to forgive, and prideful. Shit, is she prideful. But never once in Eloise's life has she ever thought she was any better than the other supes roaming the world... Tends to happen when you're a murderer. Kind of hard to judge things that kill to survive when you yourself are just as guilty of taking a life. Eloise doesn't understand why most other witches ignore that.
Something nudges her fingers and when Eloise looks she finds a glass of bourbon being pressed into her grip. She takes the drink from Damon with a smile and sips at it while Damon checks on Katherine and returns to his seat.
"So, you and Elijah."
"We spoke yesterday. He's willing to help so long as I'm the one calling the shots."
"And why are you calling the shots again?"
Eloise stares at Damon for a long few seconds before saying, "Because you called me and because if you do this your way Elena's going to end up worse off in the long run. I won't lie to you and say I approve of your relationship with Elena but I'm not one for mindless violence. If I can help you help Elena, I'll do it, but only for so long. With me making the decisions there's less of a chance of not only innocent people dying but myself."
"Self preservation? Really?"
"Don't try and shame me, Damon, I'm not the dumb ass who tried to kill an Original Vampire." Eloise rises and finishes off her drink, pressing the glass into Damon's chest with a little more force than necessary. "My goal is to make sure as many people walk out of this as safely as possible, ok? You and your bullshit would have only gotten someone hurt in the end and we both know it... At least this way I can keep you and me and everyone else we care about safe."
"You're such a bitch."
"Takes one to know one." Eloise looks at Kather's slumped form. "Help me get her to the basement? I think some desiccation might actually do her some good."
And that's how Eloise finds herself spelling a locked cell door to prevent anyone from letting Katherine out before Eloise has set up a meeting with Klaus. Damon seems all too happy to watch as Eloise seals his ex into the cell but Eloise doesn't blame him. After all the shit Katherine's put him through Eloise can't say she feels much pity for the vampire. A quick glance shows that Katherine is still sleeping, slumped against the chair Damon had dumped her in and still looking absolutely fabulous. With a roll of her eyes Eloise finishes up her spell and steps away from the door. She's quick to blow out her candle, smiling as the hum of power flares up around the door. At least this way no one will be able to get in or out of that cell, meaning Katherine will be forced to spend the next couple of days thinking about her actions and what's going to happen to her when Klaus gets here. A form of torture where Eloise gets to keep her hands somewhat clean. It's the least Katherine deserves anyway.
A sharp ping makes her jump before she goes to pull her phone out of her pocket. The number's unknown but it doesn't take long for her to figure out who just texted her.
I've located a vampire, where would you like me to deliver him?
Eloise excuses herself from Damon, who merely waves her off and disappears, and sends him an address to put in his GPS.
Putting a werewolf and a vampire in the same room together might not be the best idea but Eloise has no problem cramming one of them in the cage. Probably the vampire. At least he'll survive without food. Kind of. They'll probably have to feed the poor bastard before the sacrifice if Eloise can't break the curse on her own but that's a bridge they'll cross when they get to it.
The drive to the camper is a long one and when Eloise pulls up next to the contraption Elijah is already waiting for her by the front door, a body slumped at his feet. He offers a thin sort of smile as Eloise makes her way closer and offers to get the door for her when she's close enough by reaching for the handle. Eloise stops him before he can open up the door and potentially put them in harms way. The werewolf inside hadn't taken too kindly to being trapped so it's unlikely she's going to let them enter the camper without some sort of a fight.
"I've got a werewolf inside." Eloise says before turning to the door, palm pressing firm against the metal as she mutters a few phrases in Latin under her breath.
When she's certain that the werewolf won't be able to escape she steps aside and motions for Elijah to go ahead of her because realistically he's the only one of them that can walk away from being stabbed in the throat with a shard of broken mirror or something. It's not a piece of mirror that the werewolf attacks them with, instead it's a nasty looking knife that flashes as it catches the light. Eloise probably wouldn't have made it, the speed the werewolf's moving at is epic, but Elijah isn't her and he grabs hold of the werewolf girl's wrist without so much as flinching at the knife that stops mere centimetres from the center of his chest. There's a moment in which the werewolf stares at Elijah with horrified eyes before the vampire rips the knife out of her hand and sends the werewolf flying into the bars of the cage, which are still spelled. Her shrieks of pain fill the camper for a few seconds before she manages to rip herself away from the cage and to the other end of the camper, where she cowers against the wall holding her charred hands to her chest.
"Jules, is it? I seem to remember you leading the attack against Damon Salvatore the other evening." Elijah remarks rather blandly, causing the werewolf to drop her eyes and flinch further back.
"Stop it. There's nothing she can do right now, let her have her desperation." Eloise says as she hauls the temporarily dead vampire to the cage where she locks him up, then she turns to Jules. "You touch this cage to let him our or you try to kill him and I will turn your organs to mush."
"A rather slow way to die I should think." Elijah says.
"Takes me a few minutes to liquefy each organ and I normally start with the ones that won't kill someone immediately." Eloise says and Jules blanches a sort of terrible ash-white before she disappears into the bathroom, presumably to escape from the vampire and witch keeping her hostage. When Eloise hears the water in the sink begin to run she turns to Elijah. "Ready to go? I need to find out a way to contact Klaus?"
Elijah watches her for a long moment, Eloise thinks she sees something akin to panic dance across his features before he's wearing a mask of indifference. "You wish to speak with my brother?"
"Well, yeah," Eloise exits the camper but keeps talking, "I think his whole curse is a shit way to punish someone for something they didn't do and getting rid of it would not only help him but help me appease him... kind of. You know, better to be the right hand of the devil than be in his way, or something."
The camper door shuts with a heavy thump as Elijah says, "Klaus has many witches at his disposal, all of whom he's had try and break his curse, why would a Brathwaite be of any use to him?"
Blood turns to ice in her veins.
Eloise hasn't used her last name in years, has rarely ever given anyone one anyway but when she's been forced to she always calls herself Eloise Jordan and calls it a day. Jordan is a pretty common name and it carries the added benefit of not sounding suspicious like Smith tends to. Point is, she hasn't used her name in years. Eloise paid good money to make it so that anyone looking for her or trying to find out about her would have one hell of a difficult time. Obviously, she'd never thought she'd run into a curious Original vampire in a killer suit. Eloise swallows the lump in her throat and turns to Elijah.
"How much do you know?" She asks, because she's not going to play coy with a man who could know every little thing about her, about her family, about what she can do.
"Not enough, I'll admit. My contacts have had a very hard time finding anything about you worth knowing." Elijah says, tone casual, "I had them begin looking into you the day you released Stefan from the tomb but aside from quite a bit of information involving your current educational status and your business there hasn't been much for them to find... Until this morning, of course, they gave me a name."
Which means it's only a matter of time before he finds out the rest.
So what does she do now? Come clean and tell him everything? It would probably be for the best considering Eloise's family history and her own history isn't squeaky clean. Elijah may be more willing to continue dealing with her if she's honest but that's not why Eloise is actually considering talking to him about this... The truth of the matter is this: Elijah found out, Eloise doesn't know how he did but he did. He knows her name and it won't be long before other people in the supernatural community figure out that there's a Brathwaite in Mystic Falls, in Chicago. What does that mean for her? Not much aside from the fact that she left home to escape her family and all of the shit people they were involved with. While her family won't - might now? hard to say after the way they left things - kill her, others will certainly try to. Could telling Elijah offer her protection? Could it save her? Eloise is a powerful witch in her own right but even powerful witches can be murdered. Slaughtered, really. Eloise doubts the people who come after her would kill her quick.
"Maybe this isn't a conversation we should be having here? Know someplace quiet where no one will overhear us?"
"I have an apartment in Whitmore."
"Kind of risky don't you think? What with Augustine being there and all?"
"Augustine? I'm unfamiliar with them."
Another thing they're going to have to discuss apparently. But not here, somewhere quiet.
"Ok, well, can we go to your apartment then and talk? We have a lot we need to discuss and I'd feel better doing it somewhere we can have some privacy." Eloise says, uncomfortable but unwilling to be too obvious about it.
Elijah nods slowly before gesturing to his car, "I'll drive. You can tell me about Augustine on the way."
With a baleful glance at her own car Eloise makes for the Lincoln MKZ parked off to the side of the drive path. It's a nice car don't get her wrong, but Eloise is a little hesitant to get in a car with someone who might try and kill her. She has to remind herself that Elijah hasn't killed her yet and she's already done some pretty iffy stuff that might have made him want to. So at the very least she's safe until they get to the apartment. Once she's in the car Elijah guides them back out to the main road and begins the trip toward Whitmore. Every once in a while he'll send her a glance but Eloise tries not to think about it too much. While satisfaction might have brought the cat back it's curiosity still got it killed. Eloise doesn't want to look into the hooded glances and wondering expressions too much because the thought of Elijah being - maybe, kind of, hopefully? - interest in her makes it hard to concentrate on anything other than the concerning pounding of her heart. Besides, she's too embarrassed to look at him so what's the point of trying?
"Scared?" Elijah's voice is warm, amused even, and it nearly makes Eloise jump out of her fucking skin.
"Hardly." She says and does her voice sound breathy? Please don't let it be breathy?
"You've nothing to fear from me, Miss Brathwaite." Elijah says as he turns onto another road and then he offers her a way out, "I believed you mentioned an Augustine?"
And so Eloise falls into telling him about the rumors. About the society of people at Whitmore college snatching unsuspecting vampires off of the street and experimenting on them. She'd met Damon because of Augustine. He'd been hunting for some food, trying to curb the urges that twisted fuck Wes had left him with, and Eloise just happened to get caught in the middle. Being a witch had saved her that night and somehow they'd kicked it off well enough to remain friends. She'd been fifteen then. Feels like a lifetime ago. But Eloise doesn't tell Elijah that, but she does tell him about the vampires being experimented on and how Augustine is trying to find a way to eradicate the species. After she finishes talking they're closer to Whitmore and Elijah's knuckles are white from the grip he has on the steering wheel and it makes Eloise feel... good. Because if Elijah's angry then maybe something's going to be done about Augustine, maybe no more innocent people will end up dead because of them. Who knows. By the time they roll up to an outrageously expensive looking apartment complex Elijah has promised to look into Augustine and Eloise is feeling a little better about where the two of them stand. Hopefully, it won't change in the next few hours. And with a heavy sigh Eloise exits the vehicle to follow Elijah into the building, aware of the fact that in the next few minutes she could very well end up having her entire carefully crafted life go up in flames.