Chapter One
"I'm sick of running!"
"Yeah? Well, running keeps us from dying!" Trevor snapped, trying to reason with his best friend.
"Elijah's old school, if Aailyah forgives us, he'll accept our deal, then we're free." Elena shifted nervously, wincing when the floorboard under her creaked loudly. "You!" She jumped back, nervous, when the female vampire stalked toward her. "There's nothing around here for miles. If you think you're getting out of this house you're tragically wrong, understand?"
"Who's Elijah? Aailyah?" She stuttered fearfully.
"They are your worst nightmares."
"Why am I here?" Elena demanded. Rose sighed.
"You keep asking these questions like I'm going to answer them."
"Why won't you?"
"That's another one." Rose mocked, nervously straightening up the abandoned mansion.
"You got me, okay? It's not like I can go anywhere. The least you can do is tell me what you want with me." Elena said, following her.
"I personally want nothing, I'm just a delivery service."
"Delivery to who? Elijah? Aailyah?"
"Two points for the eavesdropper." Rose laughed.
"Who are they? Are they vampires?" Elena asked.
"They are two of the vampires, the Originals."
"What do you mean, 'The Originals'?"
"Again with the questions. Haven't the Salvatores been teaching you your vampire history?" Rose asked.
"So you know Stefan and Damon."
"I know of them." Rose corrected. "A hundred years back, a friend of mine tried to set me up with Stefan. She said he was one of the good ones. I'm more of a sucker for bad boys, though, but I digress."
"Who are the Originals?" Elena asked once more. Rose finally turned to face her.
"Trevor and I have been running from them for five hundred years. We're tired. We want it over. We're using you to negotiate ourselves out of an old mess."
"But why me?"
"Because you're a Petrova doppelganger. You're the key to breaking the curse."
"Curse? The sun and the moon curse?"
"Oh, you do know your history."
"What do you mean I'm the key? The moonstone is what breaks the curse."
"No. The moonstone is what binds the curse. Sacrifice is what breaks it."
"Sacrifice?"
"The blood of a doppelganger. You're the doppelganger. Which means, in order to break the curse, you are the one who has to die."
"Tell me more." Elena demanded once more.
"Captivity has made her pushy, eh?" Trevor teased, "What do you want to know, doppelicious?" he asked with a wink.
"Who are you running from?"
"The Originals."
"Yeah she said that," Elana nodded at Rose,"What does that mean?"
"The first family, the old world, Rose and I pissed them off."
"Mhm" Rose interrupted with raised eyebrows.
"Correction, I pissed them off." Trevor amended, "Rose had my back. And for over half a millenium, they wanted us dead."
"What did you do?"
"He made the same mistake countless others did," Rose jumped in. "He trusted Katerina Petrova."
"Katherine?"
"Mmm, the one and only, the first Petrova doppelganger."
"I helped her escape her fate." Trevor explained, "In the process I hurt Aailyah, which put an even bigger target on our back. And now I've- sorry, we've- been marked ever since."
"Which is why we're not gonna make the same mistake again.." They shared a smile and left.
"They're here!" Trevor said frantically pacing the room, "This was a mistake!"
"No, I told you I would get us out of this, you have to trust me." Rose tried to sooth him.
"No! He wants me dead, Rose!"
"He wants her more."
"I can't do this. You give her to him, he'll have mercy on you but I need to get out of here!"
"Hey!" Rose grabbed his hands in her own. "What are we?" Trevor took a deep breath, trying to remain calm.
"We're family. Forever."
They all turned when they heard a loud knock on the door.
"You're scared." Elena whispered, but they both ignored her. Rose turned back to Trevor.
"Stay here with her, don't make a sound." She practically ran to the door, only to find it already open, two figures nearly blacked out by the sun.
Elena and Trevor waited nervously for their return, and stood quickly when Rose led in two figures. The first and most intimidating was a tall, handsome man in his mid twenties, dressed impeccably in a tailored suit. The man radiated power and demanded respect. Even more shocking was the woman who held his hand.
"Kathrine?" Elana blurted out, staring at her mirror image. An annoyed scowl marred her pretty face, as she turned to her companion.
"I don't understand why everyone mistakes me for Katerina. Shouldn't it be the other way around? I was here first!" She whined to the man, presumably Elijah, who smiled adoringly at her, clear indulgence in his eyes.
"Very few have had the honor of laying their eyes on you my darling, while Katerina is... less picky with those she allows in her company."
"That's a very clever way of calling her a harlot." Aailyah said, raising an eyebrow at him.
"You can't tell me I'm wrong." Elijah said, grinning cheekily at her. Aailyah bit back a smile and whacked him on the shoulder.
"Leave her be." She admonished.
"Of course, love." Elijah chuckled, kissing her on the cheek. Aailyah beamed at him.
The longer Elena looked at her, the more differences she saw. This woman was not Kathrine, in fact she seemed to be a bit older than Kathrine, around twenty one, but no less beautiful. While she had the same long loose curls Kathrine often wore, her style was very different than Katherines. While Katherines was more trendy, sexy, and dark, this woman was classy and elegant in her black pumps and lacy red dress that flared around her hips, with a sweetheart neckline and off the shoulder sleeves. The only jewelry she wore was a delicate gold anklet with a small lapis lazuli stone in the center, and a large diamond wedding ring adorning her left hand.
"You- you're a doppelganger?" Elena stuttered, flinching when their attention returned to her. She cowered under their sharp gazes, wishing she hadn't spoken at all. The older woman flashed a darling smile at her as she and her husband approached like sharks. Without word, they both sped forward, stopping less than a foot away from Elena.
"Darling?" Elijah murmured, not looking away from Elena. Aailyah hummed softly, moving closer. Elena froze, tears in her eyes and her heart nearly pounding out of her chest, as the woman lowered her face to Elena's neck and inhaled deeply, nose brushing her throat. Aailyah took a step back, ignoring her copy's shaky breath as she looked up at her husband, beaming.
"Human." Elijah nodded. For whatever reason, Aaliyah's senses had always been sharper than his, nearly on par with Niklaus'. He stepped forward, ignoring Elena's fearful step back.
"Impossible," Elijah breathed. "I was sure the line had died out with Katerina. ''
"I told you." Aailyah huffed.
"Yes, now that we've established once again that you're always right, we have a long journey ahead of us, and we should be going. Darling, are you ready?" He said to his wife, lifting his hand to brush her cheek.
"Of course love." Aailyah smiled at him serenely, covering his hand with her own and turning to press a small kiss to it, both ignoring Elena as she stepped past the couple to plead with Rose and Trevor.
"Please don't let them take me!" Elena begged, and Rose shifted, slightly guilty.
"Ahh, that reminds me, Elijah began, reluctantly turning from his soulmate to face Trevor. "One last piece of business before we go." He and Aailyah began to circle Trevor.
"I have waited so long for this day, Elijah, Aail-"
"Do not dare speak her name!" Elijah hissed, veins darkening under his eyes. "Not after what you did." he spat, clearly disgusted with the younger vampire.
Elijah's head snapped up, his eyes widening as he recognised a familiar scent. Blood, Aaliyah's blood. He took off, abandoning his crew and followed the aroma. He stumbled and collapsed on the floor next to her, seeing her impaled to the floor with a broken spear. A low, guttural growl emitted from his throat and he ripped the spear out of her heart and cradled her close to his chest, biting into his wrist and placing the bleeding appendage to her mouth.
For a moment, there was nothing, then her hand snapped up and clasped around his wrist as her fangs sank into his veins and she began to drink. His eyes closed involuntarily at the familiar feeling but he forced himself to focus as her dark brown eyes opened.
"Eli." She breathed, letting go of his wrist and trying to sit up. She winced, surprised at the pain. She hadn't been hurt, truly hurt, since they'd become vampires.
"Aailyah, darling, what happened? Who did this to you?"
"Trevor. I found Katerina, he was supposed to help me bring her back. He surprised me, stabbed me in the back."
"I'll see him dead." Elijah snarled furiously. He took a breath, suppressing his rage, and lifted her into his arms. "Let's get you home."
"What about Niklaus? We were supposed to find Katerina."
"Let me worry about Niklaus. Rest now, love."
"Calm yourself, Elijah." Aailyah soothed, placing a gentle hand on his arm before returning her attention to Trevor. "Please, continue." Though her voice showed nothing but polite intrigue, her eyes seemed to cut him like glass.
"I am truly, very sorry," Trevor pleaded. "You trusted me with Katerina, and I betrayed you."
"Yes you are the guilty one," Aailyah mused, glancing at Rose. "Rose aided you because she was loyal to you, that we honor."
"But where was your loyalty?" Elijah cut in darkly.
"I beg your forgiveness." Trevor begged Aailyah, who offered him a winning smile.
"So granted." Trevor let out a relieved breath, just before Elijah flashed forward and decapitated him. Rose screamed as Aailyah sighed.
"Eli, I do not need you to fight my battles for me. I am perfectly capable of handling myself." Aailyah scolded as she pulled a handkerchief out of Elijah's pocket and began to clean the blood from his hand.
"I know very well that you can handle yourself darling, I've seen you hold your own against Niklaus. It is, however, my honor as your husband to defend you from all...low lives who think they can hurt you." Rose snarled at that, moving forward to attack but froze at the look Elijah shot her. "Don't Rose, now that you are free. Aailyah may have forgiven Trevor, but I cannot allow him to live after he dared lay a hand on my wife." Ignoring Rose's sobs, Elijah kissed Aaliyah on the cheek and looped her arm through his own. "Come." he beckoned Elena, who stepped back fearfully.
"What about the moonstone?" Elena gasped, stumbling away from him. Both vampires cocked their heads in interest.
"What do you know about the moonstone?" Elijah asked.
"I know that you need it, a-and I know where it is." She stuttered.
"Yes?"
"I can help you get it."
"Tell us where it is.''Aailyah snapped, annoyed at her blubbering. The doppelganger shook her head.
"It doesn't work like that." Aaliyah raised an eyebrow, slightly impressed. Very few were brave enough to deny an Original anything these days, the girl was brave. Or more likely she was an idiot who didn't know who she was dealing with. Elijah let out a short chuckle.
"Are you trying to negotiate with us?" He asked, looking at Rose. The vampire shook her head fearfully.
"This is the first I've heard of it." Elijah focused on Elena, raising his eyebrows when she broke eye contact. He quickly found and removed her vervain necklace.
"What is this vervain doing here?" he mused and grabbed her hair, forcing Elena to meet his eyes."Tell me where the moonstone is."
"In the tomb underneath the church ruins." Elena said robotically, ceasing her struggles.
"What is it doing there?"
"It's with Kathrine."
"Interesting." Suddenly they heard glass shattering farther in the house, breaking the compulshen. Aailyah moved to investigate but Elijah caught her arm and shook his head. "What is that?"
"I don't know." Rose said, confused.
"Who else is in this house?" Aailyah demanded.
"I don't know." Rose said again. Elijah grabbed Elena and began to pull her from the room, both girls following him.
"Move!" he snapped at Elena, leading them out of the room. They reached the entryway and saw a chair tipped over. They heard a noise behind them and turned, barely catching a glimpse of a dark haired vampire. Elijah shoved Elena toward Aailyah, who caught her and held her wrist tightly. They heard a second whoosh near the staircase.
"Rose…" Aailyah said warningly.
"I don't know who it is!" Rose pleaded. They heard it again and turned, Elijah wandering closer.
"Eli…"
"Up here." They heard Stefan say from the top of the staircase, Elijah flashing up the stairs, not seeing anyone.
"Down here." Another voice drew, Echoing through the old mansion. Suddenly, someone fired a stake into Elijah's left hand. Aailyah moved forward, only for someone to grab her and snap her neck quickly. Elijah's head snapped up hearing it, only to find all three of the women gone. A ferocious growl ripped through the air and he removed the stake without flinching.
"Give her back." Elijah snarled, storming down the stairs. "I can understand wanting a doppelganger for yourself, they are a rare find. I can forgive that. But Aaliyah is off limits. If I find a single hair out of place, there will be no words to describe the horror my family and I will put you through. Whoever you are, you're making a great mistake if you think that you can beat me. You can't. I repeat-" he broke a coat hanger and twirled the stake restlessly.``You can't beat me. So I want my wife and the girl on the count of three, or heads will roll. Do we understand each other?"
"I'll come with you." Elena said, stepping into view at the top of the staircase. "Just please don't hurt my friends, they were just trying to help me out." Elijah flashed to the top of the staircase and growled dangerously.
"Where's Aailyah?" he demanded. Elena threw the vervain grenade at him, and Elijah screamed as his face burned. Downstairs, Aailyah stirred slightly by Damon's feet, Rose noticed and snapped her neck a second time. Elena stumbled back as Elijah advanced furiously towards her, undeterred as Stefan stepped into view and fired several stakes at him. Frustrated as Elijah dodged all of them, Stefan dropped the crossbow and tackled the other vampire down the stairs. Elijah stood, ready to kill only for Damon to appear and impale him against the wall with the coat rack he broke earlier.
"A-Alli…" Eleijah gasped before he dessicated. Damon stepped back and met Rose's eyes before she ran away. He moved to catch her but was stopped by Elena.
"Just let her go." Elena said from the top of the staircase before running down the stairs… and straight into his brother's arms. Damon looked away, trying to hide his longing, only for his eyes to land on the look-a-like dead on the floor. He plastered a fake smirk on.
"So he's dead." Damon said, nodding at the body behind him, "All that's left is the misses." Damon scooped a stake off the ground and headed towards the body, only for Stefan to block him.
"Damon, no, we could use her."
"You're kidding me right? She's a threat!"
"She has information we don't, we need to know what's going on. Besides, didn't you hear him mention his family? What if they come looking for her? We can use her as leverage."
"He's right." Elena said as Damon began to protest. "We should take her. Just in case." She looked at Damon pleadingly, making him falter.
"Be it on your head." he sighed, tossing the woman over his shoulder and carrying her out to the car and laying her down in the truck before closing it firmly.
About halfway back to Mystic Falls Aailyah jerked awake.