Chapter Thirty-One

At the lake house, Stefan was informing Elena on how and why he had become what was known as a Ripper. He'd made them some coffee and Elena was sipping hers gratefully.

Talking about his past wasn't something Stefan liked to do. It brought up too many memories he didn't want to think about. He had spiraled for weeks after turning. He had been completely driven by the desire for blood. Hunt, prey, kill. That was all he'd known.

No one had caught on to him because the Civil War had been going on at the time, and the thing about wartime was that there was always an endless anonymous blood supply.

Mystic Falls, 1864

Stefan was at one of the medic camps close to his home. Wounded soldiers were everywhere. He always choose the ones that were too tired or hurt to scream. He didn't want to draw unnecessary attention to himself. He had promised Damon he would do better; he needed to feed away from Veritas.

Maybe he could change Damon's mind about leaving.

Some of the men at the camp weren't wounded; some were just sick. Sometimes the sick ones had it worse. Stefan stayed away from the diseased and the nurses caring for them.

One night as Stefan was working on his second soldier he looked up to see a cloaked figure across the way from him. The figure seemed to be holding a cup up to one of the wounded soldiers' necks. That went on for a few seconds and then the cloaked person got up to walk away.

If the person in the cloak was collecting blood, he or she must be a fellow vampire. Stefan could've sworn all the vampires had been killed. Who was this new person?

Stefan began following and realized the cloaked figure was wearing a dress. He was following a girl then. He walked with his head down so no one would see the blood dripping from his mouth and down his chin.

He continued following the girl until they were pretty deep into the woods and then she stopped and twerked her head to the side as if she'd heard him behind her.

He quickly hid behind a tree, but still stood where he could see the cloaked woman. She must've become nervous because she began to backtrack.

Stefan raced behind her and was suddenly tackled to the ground by the girl – well, woman. He hadn't been able to see her face until just then. She had blond hair and brown eyes. Her hair was long and curly. Veins were protruding under her skin and her canines were elongated and sharp.

"What kind of an idiot are you?"

"I was just interested in you. All the other vampires are gone from this place. My brother and I are all that's left. Or we were."

The woman, still suspicious, said, "I heard this was a good place for vampires."

"Not anymore. They're dead. They were killed."

The woman let him up, though she still kept an eye on him.

"I'm Stefan Salvatore," he said.

"Alexia Branson. So, all the vampires have been killed?"

"Yes. The town people found out about us; most of them are dead too."

They began to walk together; Stefan was heading back toward Veritas. When they got there he offered her the chance to stay with him that night.

"The sun will be up soon," he said when he noticed she didn't have any Lapis Lazuli jewelry. "It's better than burning to death, right?"

Lexi smiled softly. "I'd say it isn't necessary to take me in, but with dawn coming, beggars can't be choosers." There was a pause and then, "Or should they be?"

Stefan had brought more girls home with him earlier. The three he'd chosen were now dead, two spread out on the floor, the other on the couch.

"I, um . . . I meant to dispose of those."

"You're a Ripper."

"A what?" Stefan had never heard the term before. He knew that ripping something could never be related to anything good.

"Well, there are good parts of being a vampire and there are bad parts. You're the bad parts."

Lexi gestured at the three dead women in the parlor. Stefan didn't know what the big deal was. He was a vampire; wasn't he supposed to eat people?

"Well . . . we're going to have to change that."

Present Day Mystic Falls

Stefan had suddenly fallen silent and Elena touched his arm. Stefan hadn't opened up to her this much since he'd attacked Rebecca.

"You okay?"

Stefan was pretty much a private person. She knew Stefan hated the "Ripper" part of himself, so it couldn't be easy for him to talk about it.

Talking about Lexi couldn't be a walk in the park either.

"Talking about this brings up things that I'd rather forget."

"Like Damon killing Lexi?"

"Yeah. She and Damon never got along. I should've kept him away from her."

Elena shook her head. "That wasn't your fault."

Damon had been different then. If he could do it over, Elena honestly thought that Damon wouldn't kill Lexi.

At the boardinghouse, Rebecca was putting the final touches on a salad and monitoring Jenna, who was attempting to make an apple pie.

"So it seems like you and Alaric are doing okay," Rebecca said, to which Jenna smiled and blushed.

"I really like him. Ever since he went to Duke with Elena he's been more open and easygoing."

"I think he just needed the closure," Rebecca said.

"Hm. How about you and Damon?" Jenna asked. "You guys seem more than okay."

"Yeah, we usually are. He's pretty much the best thing that's ever happened to me."

Rebecca put her finished salad in the refrigerator and helped Jenna with the crust of her pie. She kept an ear out for Damon and Ric, who were in the parlor. If Ric came out he'd be close to the kitchen and if they happened to be talking about him it would embarrass both him and Jenna.

"You know this is a bad idea," Ric told Damon.

"There's no such thing as a bad idea, just poorly executed awesome ones."

Damon poured both of them a drink, but Ric shook his head. He was actually too worried to drink.

"I don't like the idea of Elijah being in the same house as Jenna."

"Jenna's perfectly safe," Damon said, and Ric could tell he was being sincere.

Damon knew Ric loved Jenna, and Ric was almost certain Damon wouldn't put Jenna in danger on purpose.

"Besides, it's just a fact finding mission. It's totally harmless."

"Just a fact finding mission?"

"Yeah."

Ric watched Damon down both his drink and the one he'd poured for Ric. Ric didn't believe Damon for a minute about this being a fact finding mission. Damon didn't usually care about facts; if he didn't like somebody, he wanted them dead. End of story.

"Listen. No sneak attacks, no surprise plans. Nothin' that's gonna put Jenna in harm's way, okay?"

"Scouts honor."

"You were never a Boy Scout, Damon," Ric said, realizing he may need to lower his standards. "Just nothing in front of Jenna, okay? Can you promise me that for real?"

Damon smiled – an actual smile, not a smirk. "That I can promise."

A few minutes later Rebecca came into the parlor along with Jenna.

"Damon, you need to pick something everyone will like to drink," Rebecca said. "And Jenna needs help setting the table."

Ric nodded and quickly went to his girlfriend's side. He smiled slightly at Rebecca as he passed her. She would've heard everything he and Damon had talked about; maybe she could talk some sense into Damon.

As soon as Jenna and Ric left Rebecca shut the door behind them.

"Fact-finding mission? You're lying. I could tell."

"You weren't even in here."

"No, but your voice is different when you're lying. Only someone who really knows you would know that."

"Hm." Damon sighed. "Well, if you can get Jenna out of there after dinner, that would be great. You guys can take a little longer than necessary to get the dessert, or something."

"You want me to leave you alone with Elijah? He's older than you, which means he's stronger and faster."

"I need the element of surprise. I won't be able to do that with you there."

Rebecca sighed. "A'right. But if you die, I'm getting Bonnie to bring you back so I can beat you back to death."

"Duly noted."

She quickly wrapped her arms around him and pressed her face onto his chest when he returned the embrace.

"You better be glad I love you. I so wouldn't be doing this if I didn't."

At the Gilbert Residence Bonnie and Jeremy were sitting in the living room eating Chinese food. Chelsea was there with them, for which Bonnie was grateful. At first she'd thought this had been an unplanned date. She had come over because Jeremy had promised to help her practice her magic, but when she'd walked in there had been food on the table and some candles had been lit as well.

It was sweet – really sweet – but she needed to make sure Elena was cool with her liking Jeremy. Elena was her best friend; she didn't want to make things weird. She and Jeremy liked each other, but she had been friends with Elena first.

Bonnie's phone vibrated in her jeans pocket and she brought it out.

"Rebecca," she said for Jeremy's benefit. "Hello?"

"Hey, uh, are you busy?"

"Just eating dinner. Why?"

"I hate asking for favors, but . . . Damon is planning something that may get us killed. I need to know Chelsea will be protected if that happens."

"What's he doing?"

"Tryin' to kill an Original."

Bonnie couldn't believe that. Damon had a way to kill an Original and he hadn't said anything? More than that, Rebecca hadn't said anything either.

"Well, I can do a spell and take Chelsea off the radar for a while, but it won't last long."

"Whatever you can do . . ."

"Becca . . . if Damon can kill Elijah, Elena won't have to die for us to kill Klaus. We'll already know how to kill him."

Jeremy's eyes widened and Bonnie almost smiled at the relief she saw there.

"I know. I just don't know if Damon can do it. The information came from Katherine and the weapon came from my old Watcher."

"We can always hope."

At the boardinghouse, Elijah walked into the kitchen area just as Rebecca was taking the pie out of the oven. She'd heard him come in when Damon had opened the door for him.

"That smells delicious."

"Hopefully, it tastes the same," Rebecca quipped.

"I'm sure it does."

Rebecca left the pie to cool off on the stove. Elijah came a bit too close for comfort and she backed up a little.

"I suppose you heard my little speech?"

"I did."

Elijah had warned Damon that if he had less than honorable intentions that things would not end well.

"Well, that's good." Elijah had her backed against the wall now. "Because, you know, although Elena and I have this deal . . . if you so much as make a move to cross me I'll kill you and I'll kill everyone in this house. Are we clear?"

Rebecca swallowed thickly. She did not like this Elijah. He was threatening her; he was threatening everyone here. For a second, she forgot who she was dealing with and she pushed at his chest. He'd made her angry and afraid.

"This is my house, Elijah! You can't just come in here and disrespect me, and you definitely can't threaten the other guests! I guess that whole 'No harm will come to you' thing doesn't matter anymore because you don't need anything from me?"

She went around him and hurried out so Elijah wouldn't see the tears that threatened to fall. She had just reprimanded him for his manners, but didn't she deserve his suspicion? She and Damon were planning to kill him; well, Damon was anyway. He had every right to question her motives.

As she was leaving the kitchen she ran into Damon, who caught her by the arms.

"Are you okay?"

She shrugged and shook her head at the same time.

"He threatened me!" she exclaimed even though she knew Damon would've heard.

"I did no such thing. I was merely stating a fact," Elijah said, following her out of the kitchen. "There really is no need for tears."

"There's no need for you to threaten everyone in this house," Rebecca said. She looked at Damon then. "Is everything ready?"

"The table's set, yes."

"Good. Let's go. I'm starving."

Damon led Rebecca and Elijah to the dining room. He let Elijah pass, but he grabbed Rebecca's arm before she could get by.

"Hey. Can we talk for a second?"

She nodded and waited for him to continue.

"Are you really okay?"

She nodded again. "He just surprised me, that's all. I mean, he saved my life one day and he threatened it the next."

"Can you make it through dinner?"

"Sure. I'm fine now."

Damon and Rebecca walked into the dining room and sat in their seats. Damon sat at one end of the table, Rebecca sat at the other. Elijah, Jenna, and Alaric were already seated.

Once everyone had the food they wanted Elijah began talking about witches from Salem and how they had been the actual founders of Mystic Falls

"The lore says that there was this wave of anti-witch hysteria," Elijah said. "It broke out in the neighboring settlement, so these witches were rounded up. They were tied to stakes in a field together and, uh, burned."

"Lovely dinner conversation," Rebecca muttered.

"Some say you could hear the screams for miles around as they were consumed by the fire."

"I, uh . . . wouldn't repeat this to the historical society," Jenna said.

"Is that why you were asking about the slaves' property owners?" Rebecca asked. "Earlier you wanted a list. Many of the slaves were burned to death in this town."

Elijah smiled pleasantly. "No, I just have a healthy historian's curiosity."

"Of course," Damon said.

Damon didn't know everything, but he did know that he would have to research the slaves' deaths now, and he would have to look specifically for where the slaves had died.

Many had been burned in his own house; others had been killed at the Lockwood's mansion. In order to find the right place, he would need to find out who had been caught and burned for witchcraft.

At the lake house Elena was continuing on with the reading of the journals. Jonathan had only gotten crazier and crazier. She supposed that was what happened when someone spent his or her life obsessed with vampires.

Stefan had needed some space after opening up about his past and how he'd met Lexi, so he'd gone outside. Elena had been reading ever since. She was on the second journal now and Jonathan was even more out there.

She'd come upon an entry about the Originals Elijah had been in Mystic Falls, so it didn't really surprise her that Jonathan had known about them, but the information in the journals did give a jolt.

There were pages and pages of questions and theories about how the Originals had been made.

"Stefan!" she shouted, knowing he'd come to her, and he did. "He wrote about the Originals."

"You're kidding."

"No. Look."

She and Stefan sat there on the couch, both going through the pages until they came across a picture of a knife.

"What's that?" Elena asked, and began to read the page.

The wood from one tree and one tree alone, an ancient white oak would bring death to an Original vampire . . . When the tree burned all hope was thought lost.

Elena looked at Stefan. "He was trying to figure out how to kill an Original."

She continued reading.

But the ash from the tree was saved and witches forged a dagger to which the ash could be bonded. The alchemic bond provides the necessary poison –

"Elena," Stefan interrupted and stood up. He began to pace.

"I wonder if this is true," Elena said. "I mean, do you think this dagger actually exists?"

"I know it does because Damon has it. Diana brought it to him."

"Diana gave Damon the weapon that's supposed to kill Elijah? This one?"

Elena pointed at the drawing of the dagger, and Stefan nodded, so she continued reading.

It must be brandished by humans alone, for it will bring death to all demons who wield it.

Stefan pretty much snatched the journal out of her hand so he could read it for himself.

"Diana's trying to get Damon killed."

Stefan went for his phone just as Elena reached for hers. She knew Stefan would be trying to reach Damon; she needed to reach Rebecca. Rebecca was a vampire too. She wouldn't be able to use the dagger either.

"Why is your phone off?" Stefan said into his phone. "Call me."

Elena hadn't gotten an answer either. Something was wrong.

"What's going on, Stefan?"

"Damon's gonna try to kill Elijah tonight."

Back at the boardinghouse Damon was leading Elijah and Ric to the study for something stronger than wine. Jenna and Rebecca were going to take care of the dessert and call them when they were ready.

On the way to the study Ric received a phone call.

"I'll catch up with you guys in a minute," he said, dismissing himself and walking away.

Once in the study Damon started in on Elijah. "So let me guess. In addition to the moonstone, the doppelganger, the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe . . . you need to find this witch burial ground."

Damon went to his mini-bar and poured himself and Elijah a drink.

"Because I feel as though we've grown so close, Damon, I'll tell you yes."

Damon turned to face Elijah, who had gone to one of the many bookshelves in the room.

"Tell me why it's so important."

"We're not that close," Elijah responded.

Damon offered him the glass, and Elijah stepped forward to reach it. Once Elijah grabbed it, he stepped back to the book case.

"It's quite a collection you have here. But there's a funny thing about books. Before they existed, people actually had memories."

Elijah's back was turned. Now was the perfect opportunity for Damon to literally stab him in the back, and he would have had Alaric not distracted them by coming through the door right then.

"Rebecca said dessert's ready," Alaric said.

"Ah." Elijah sipped his drink before handing the glass back to Damon. "Shouldn't keep Miss Stone waiting."

After Elijah left the room Damon hit Alaric on the shoulder harder than was necessary. Alaric pointed at the dagger and Damon shrugged. Alaric ended up writing on a piece of paper, and Damon followed him to the desk so he could read it.

The dagger will kill you if you use it.

Damon fumed, crumbling the piece of paper up and throwing it on the floor. What were they going to do now? They had no way to kill Elijah.

He wondered, as he began walking out of the doorway, if Katherine had known what would happen if he used the dagger. In fact, he wondered if Diana had known when she'd given the dagger to him that he would die if he used it.

His answer was yes to both.

"I hope this tastes okay," Jenna said. "I helped make it, but I'm used to just unwrapping stuff."

Damon walked in then, and Ric wasn't that far behind him. Rebecca had just set the apple pie down on the table. She looked up at the two guys, who were now sitting down.

Elijah had come in first. She'd been surprised that Damon hadn't killed him. That had been the plan. Damon was supposed to have done it sometime when he wasn't around her or Jenna.

"Jenna, we're missing plates," Rebecca said softly. "Maybe milk, too. Or ice cream. We have ice cream."

"I'd love ice cream," Ric said.

"I'll go get it," Jenna said.

Once Jenna was out of earshot Rebecca looked at Elijah. He seemed to be content. He obviously didn't suspect anything. Maybe the night would end without a problem.

Rebecca started to go towards the kitchen to help Jenna, but Damon stopped her by saying, "What I'd like to know, Elijah, is how you intend on killing Klaus."

To be fair, that was a very good question. How was Klaus going to be killed?

"There are a few things we should probably get clear right now," Elijah said. "I allow you to live solely to keep an eye on Elena."

Ric sighed and stood up. "I'm gonna go see if Jenna needs help in the kitchen."

Elijah continued speaking. "I allow Elena to remain in her house living her life with her friends as she does as a courtesy. If you become a liability, I'll take her away from you. You'll never see her again."

Rebecca tensed even as she tried to remain calm.

"You can't do that," she said. "I won't let you."

Ric, who hadn't moved beyond Elijah's chair, suddenly had the dagger in his hand and was shoving it through the thin lining of the chair and into Elijah's back. His aim must've been true, because Elijah convulsed and let out a small shout as his skin began to darken into a dull gray.

Rebecca didn't react other than to cover her mouth to keep from crying out. She noticed that Damon had jumped away from the table. He must not have known what Ric had been planning.

After Elijah had stopped moving and after making sure he was really dead, Ric pulled the dagger out of Elijah's back and placed it on the table in the place where Damon had been sitting.

"Now get rid of him before Jenna comes back with the plates and ice cream."

"A'right," Damon said.

Rebecca took a deep breath and finally found her voice. "I'll, um . . . head her off, let her know Elijah had to go. Damon, put him in the cellar for now."

"Elena, we need to talk about this," Stefan said.

"What good is talking if you and Damon are just gonna lie to me? If you don't like my decisions, that's fine. There's nothing I can do about that. But if you ever go behind my back again, I'll –"

"You're gonna what? Hm? What're you gonna do, Elena?"

"It's my life!"

"Yeah, exactly. It's your life, and I'm gonna do everything I can to make sure you live it."

Stefan knew Elena wasn't mad only because of him and Damon doing something without her knowledge of it. She was mad because had they not found out about the dagger Damon would've killed himself, and he would've done it protecting Elena.

"This trip through the past," Elena began, "you being honest . . . was there any truth to that or were you just distracting me?"

"I was telling you about a time when I thought that everything was lost, when I had given up. Because that is exactly what you're doing right now."

"That is not –"

"Yes, it is. Even if you don't want to admit it!" Stefan yelled. "You are giving up. Lexi wouldn't let me give up. I'm not gonna let you."

Lexi had helped him more than anyone ever had in his life. She'd helped him feel again.

Mystic Falls, 1864

"All of these men are dead or dying. What does that make you feel?" Lexi asked.

"Nothing. I feel nothing," Stefan admitted. Though, if he were being completely honest with himself, he did feel uncomfortable with this line of questioning.

Lexi had brought him to another medic camp not only because they needed to feed again, but also because she wanted to show him something.

"Because you shut off the part of you that was human," she said. "The part that lets you feel."

"Is that not the point?"

"Well, there is a better way. You simply have to want it."

"Is it better?"

"Not at first. You can't choose what you feel. You have to let it all back in. The pain, the look in their eyes when you took their life, the cries of their loved ones."

"Why would I wanna do that?"

That sounded horrible. No one would willingly do that, willingly let themselves feel that much guilt. That was stupid.

"Because once you can hurt," Lexi said, "you can love."

She let that settle and then continued. "Love, Stefan. That's the point. Everything is intensified when you're a vampire. When we hurt, we really hurt. But when we love . . ."

Present Day

"Lexi showed me that there was another way," Stefan said to a teary-eyed Elena. "And from that day forward, I started fighting for it. For my own survival. That's all I want you to do. I just want you to fight for it."

Stefan stepped forward and cupped Elena's cheek before moving on the caress her hair. He knew Elena Gilbert wouldn't give up; it wasn't in her nature, but maybe she needed a little push in the right direction.

Stefan kissed her forehead and looked her in the eyes. This girl had been through so much in the past year from losing her parents to finding out about vampires. She was still standing; she was a fighter.

He needed her to fight now.

At the boardinghouse Damon and Alaric were hiding Elijah's body down in the cellar. Damon was very familiar with the room. He'd been locked in there to starve at one point, and Stefan had been locked in when he'd turned Ripper not that long ago. He'd even had to lock Liz in there one time. The place had held many prisoners; now it was a hiding place.

"You said there wasn't gonna be any violence," Ric said.

"Says the guy that did all the killing."

"Hey," Ric said and grabbed Damon's arm. "I took the shot because I saw an opening, not because I planned to do this with Jenna in the house. Now, you can't lie to me like that."

Damon shrugged and began to turn away, to walk out the door.

"Hey!" Ric grabbed him again. "I am your friend, Damon. And you don't have any friends. So no more lying."

Damon nodded then. He knew he maybe – maybe – should have been more careful that night, but he hadn't really broken any promises, not really. He'd promised he wouldn't do anything in front of Jenna and he hadn't. Even if his plan had worked, it wouldn't have been in front of Jenna.

"I should call Stefan," Damon said. "Let him know what happened."

Ric let him go and said, "I should go check on Jenna. Rebecca's gonna need tending to as well. As far as she was concerned, Elijah was her friend."

Upstairs, in Rebecca's room, she was on the phone with Stefan. She was telling him that Elijah had been dealt with.

"I still don't understand why a witch would spell a weapon that would kill the vampire using it," Rebecca said.

When she'd called to tell Stefan that he and Elena could relax for a little while she'd found out that Stefan had called Ric earlier to let Damon know that he couldn't use the weapon. If it hadn't been for that, Damon would be dead right then.

"Originals believed in truth and honor. It was forbidden for a vampire to kill another vampire. So the dagger would take both lives. And as long as the dagger stays in place . . . the Original is, for all intents and purposes, dead."

Rebecca's breath caught in her throat. What had Stefan just said?

Rebecca hung up without another word and began to speed downstairs. Damon met her at the bottom and caught her before she could get by.

"Whoa! Where's the fire?"

"Are Ric and Jenna still here?" she asked.

"They just left. Why?"

She could tell he was concerned now. She didn't get riled up over just anything, but she couldn't help but be worried.

"Elijah!"

She pulled herself from Damon's arms and rushed towards the cellar. She didn't know what she'd been expecting to find, but an empty room wasn't it.

"Damon!"

He was right behind her, so she turned and grabbed onto him.

"We have to get to Elena, now."

Okay, so . . . I know I've been kind of all around with updating and not having a schedule or anything with it. But I have written enough that I can update at least once a week with at least one of my stories. It might not be this one every time, but it will be more frequent than it has been. Hope you enjoy!

P.S. Elena got on my nerves so bad with this "don't do things behind my back" thing. I found it very hypocritical since she wasn't being completely honest herself.

Anyway, as always . . . let me know what you think. By the way, I only updated this because someone told me how much they liked it and they wanted an update! I don't have to get reviews to update because mostly I write because i enjoy it and it's therapeutic for me, but it did remind me that I hadn't updated in forever! So . . . whoever that was, THANK YOU!