Alaric's Residence

It would be cruel understatement that he had a lot on his mind at the moment. It felt as if it had been an eternity already to Alaric/Klaus; the last time he'd been so close to breaking his curse he thought he'd finally beaten his mother and father. But in mere minutes Elena Gilbert had made him reconsider practically everything he knew of his curse. In the first century of their immortality, it was his younger brother Kol who, after digging into their mother's grimoires, had ultimately figured out all the components needed to break it.

The moonstone had proven to be fairly easy to find. A part of him had left him feeling it was the Original Witch challenging him with breaking his curse and he gladly picked up the gauntlet; but when Kol had broken the news to his older brother that the very key needed to break the curse was a woman who bore the visage of Tatia, it had sent him into a spiral of self loathing and rage.

Picking up his cell, he dialed a number long committed to memory. On the second ring, his second favorite witch picked up.

"Hello, love. Quite a sexy voice you've got, but I miss the other one," her Cajun luted voice purred.

"Greta, how are things progressing?" he pressed. Normally he was willing to banter with her, but he had too much on his mind to play along.

"I've identified an ideal place for the sacrifice. It's near an abandoned rock quarry that was flooded at some point in its past. Now we've taken care of that formality, would you care to actually tell me, Love, what you really called me for?" Greta responded, dropping all humor from her tone.

"Oh Greta, that's what I love about you, always so perceptive about my moods. Yes, I was wondering if it's possible to know if an individual might be a reincarnated soul and if so, can you perform a spell to summon that personality?" Alaric/Klaus asked.

There was only the sound of her breathing on the other end of the connection before she finally answered.

"Um… It's possible to find out and do as you suggest, but I will need to look through my collection. How important is this?"

"Can you get it done well before the full moon?"

"For you, love? It would be my pleasure I'll get back to you."

She knew better than to expect anything else and promptly disconnected.

Exiting his borrowed vehicle, he wasted no time stepping into the lift to his meat puppet's home. He smiled wickedly upon hearing the music coming from the apartment he didn't bother to muffle his approach and once the door swung open, he found Katerina sitting motionless on the drab looking couch. The smell of liquor in the air gave him an idea of how she'd spent part of her imprisonment.

"You mind turning that down?" he barked. Wordlessly, she picked up a slim remote and turned down the music.

"Why so grumpy?" she asked conversationally.

"I've finally met your Doppelgänger," he answered, hiding his emotion about the encounter.

"Dull as dishwater Elena Gilbert? She is such a nobody. So do you want a drink?"

He bristled at her less than flattering description of his Doppelgänger who, if he half suspected, was Tatia. Keeping his anger in check, he waited.

"Come on. It might loosen you up," she suggested before offering him the bottle. He took it, regarded the label of the bourbon bottle, and even he had to admit privately it was a good brand. He was tempted to take her up on her offer before finally throwing it against the wall, smashing it. He would have relished her startled reaction, but he was too preoccupied.

"No, Katerina, I don't want a drink," he almost snarled. Harshly grabbing her forearm, he compelled her.

"What I want is for you to sit down and shut up."

Having no other recourse, Katerina promptly sat down on the couch. He was tempted to compel her again just for the hell of it when his favorite warlock arrived.

"Maddox, mate, what's the word on getting my werewolf?"

"I have a viable leverage on his mother and based on the information Katerina provided, we might get two wolves for the price of one. Shall I proceed?" the Warlock asked.

"Yes, but only after you make a quick side errand for me. I wish for you to bring me something very important to me."

"Of course, Sire. What is it you desire?"

"Not it but who?" he paused, enjoying the curious expression on the warlock's face. "I need for you to go to the Salvatore Boarding House and collect my brother Elijah and bring him straight here, but leave the dagger in place."

"Witnesses?"

He smiled at the man's loyalty. He could give the man any task and he knew it would be carried out to the letter if needed. He was tempted to tell him to kill all that stood in his way, but forbearance stayed his hand. It was too soon to reveal himself.

"Get in and out as fast as you can, undetected. If you leave now you will probably have to deal with only the older brother. But if you're found just subdue only and wipe his memory of the encounter. Now go," Alaric/Klaus ordered.

Less than an hour later.

Not that he doubted the man, but even he was concerned about the well being of his older brother; buzzkill that he was, he still loved him despite their current strife. So he was angered when he saw the condition his brother was in and he wanted to kill someone. Not that fire would have done anything to an Original Vampire, but someone- most likely Damon Salvatore- had tried to burn his brother.

"Put him in the master bedroom," he paused to scribble some notations onto a sticky note before passing it to Maddox when he returned. "These are his clothes and shoe sizes and preferred style of clothing. Once you have collected them, return with them as soon as you can."

The warlock bowed and quickly departed, leaving him alone with a muzzled Katerina and his scorched brother. After grabbing two blood bags of his brother's preferred blood type. Alaric/Klaus grabbed a bit of sage his Warlock had so thoughtfully brought with him earlier. He closed the door to the bedroom, then pulled the dagger from his brother's chest. Placing the dagger back into his pocket after refreshing the ash on the blade tip. With nothing else to do but consider what he was going to say and reveal about his suspicions of Elena Gilbert, he lit the sage and waited.

He often wondered if the recovery time was related to how long his siblings had been under. If that was the case, then Finn was going to have a long recovery time after spending over nine hundred years in a box. Thankfully, it didn't take very long and his brother jerked awake, gasping for air. Momentarily confused, he understood the problem.

"Elijah Mikaelson, welcome to my humble abode. Please make yourself at home," he smiled. Tossing his older brother a blood bag who, despite his state, easily caught the bag. After draining the bag, he crumpled it in his hand before discarding it into a nearby trash receptacle. Always the orderly brother, aren't you Elijah?

"Mister Saltzman? Why do I have the honor to be so invited into your home? Why shouldn't I be tearing your heart out of your chest for your actions?"

"Now, now," he soothed, tossing the other blood bag to the irritated vampire. "Is that how you greet an estranged family member?"

His brother stopped mid rise of the blood bag to lips with a confused expression before sighing and leaning back into the bed's headboard.

"Why am I not surprised? Hello Niklaus."

A/N Please leave a Review! Let me know if you like it.