1849 Damon- 10 years old (Born June 18, 1839); Stefan- 6 years old about to be 7 (Born November 1, 1843)
Niklaus is immortally 25, Elijah is 27 and Finn is 28
Lillian Salvatore 'died' on June 12, 1844
15, October 1849
Niklaus Mikaelson glanced out his carriage window as it came to a stop in front of the towns' boarding house. He had come back to the old village when rumor had spread that there was many a werewolf residing here. While he may not have the Doppelganger and the moonstone yet, it would be best to keep a line of wolves on standby. As he got out of the carriage, it struck him how much the village had changed since the last time he had been there. The door to the lodgings opened, and out came a boy, no more than 12 years of age. His hair was a curly raven black while his eyes were as blue as ice crystals on a winter's morning. Niklaus refused to admit that he felt an instant connection to the boy standing in front of him.
"Mr. Mikaelson?" the boy questioned as he came to stand in front of Niklaus. His eyes narrowed as he looked at the boy, "Who might you be?" The boy glanced up at him through his eyelashes, "Damon, Damon Salvatore." He said before looking down at his feet.
Pain. All he could feel was pain as he started to come to. "Damon, Damon." Someone called out, shaking his shoulder. Groaning, he tried to force his eyes open to escape the darkness that currently surrounded him. After what felt like an eternity, he managed to crack his eyes open and glanced next to him to see Elena. Her face was filled with worry and fear as she knelt next to him. "Are you ok?" she whispered as she brushed his bangs out of his sweaty face. "E-E-Elena." He croaked out, confusion filling him as he looked around and saw they were in an old decrepit room. The windows were mostly covered in wooden boards, and they were surrounded by old books. "Damon. Damon, we have to get those ropes off you and get out of here." Elena whispered as she glanced nervously at the entrance to the room. The confusion intensified as he glanced down to see ropes covered in vervain wrapped around him. Glancing at the door again, Elena bit her lip before starting to tug at the ropes holding Damon in place. Just as she had managed to get his arms free, Rose walked into the room.
"What are you doing?" Rose asked as she looked at them before rushing over with a syringe held in her hand. "No!" Elena yelled yanking on Rose's arm only for her to throw Elena onto the couch. Just as Rose had gotten close though, Damon had gotten the last rope off himself. Knowing he was no match for her right now, Damon bolted towards the window. He scrambled to a dark corner as his skin started to burn in the sunlight. Glancing down, anger surged through him as he realized he was missing his daylight ring. "Where is it?" Damon growled as he stared at the vampire in front of him. Rose froze in place, she might be 400 years older than him but, everyone had heard about the most ruthless Salvatore brother. "You'll get it back once you leave. Until then, I can't have you getting in the way." Rose informed him, her voice filled with sympathy as she rushed towards him and injected him with another dose of vervain.
As he collapsed Rose caught him and laid him on the couch that Elena had abandoned. "I'm sorry." she whispered to him as she turned her back on the young vampire. "Why am I here? Why is Damon here?" Elena asked as she watched Rose walk away from Damon. Her one hope had been that Damon would be able to get them both the heck out of here. She knew how much vervain hurt and could only hope that Damon wouldn't wake up until it was all out of his system. "You keep asking me these questions like I'm gonna answer them." Rose told her as she faced the current doppelgänger. "Why won't you?" Elena demanded as she placed herself in between Rose and Damon.
She might not be able to do much but, if she could keep him from suffering anymore then she would do what she could. Besides, he couldn't save her if he was down for the count. Once, he woke up he would get them both out of this and get her back to Stefan. Rose suppressed a laugh as she saw the doppelganger move in front of the couch. As if she could do anything if she or Trevor truly wanted to get to the boy currently laying there. "That's another one." "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." Clearly, she had forgotten about the fact that Damon had been taken to. "I personally want nothing; I'm just a delivery service." "Delivery to who? Elijah?" "Two points to the eavesdropper." Rose said exasperated by all her pestering on the subject. "Who is he? Is he a vampire?" "He's one of the vampires, the originals." Elena's face filled with confusion at the statement. Abandoning her post in front of Damon, Elena walked closer to Rose who had been walking further away from her.
"What do you mean the originals?" "Again, with the questions. Haven't the Salvatore's been teaching you your vampire history?" Rose stared at Damon at that statement. Curiosity filled her; Did the Salvatore's even know their vampire history themselves. It wasn't uncommon for some vampires to slip through the cracks on learning about the history of the species. Some just gave up when they saw all the false lore that existed. "So, you know Stefan and Damon?" Elena glanced behind her as she finally, remembered that they weren't the only ones in the room. "I know of them. 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 the bad boys though but I digress." "Who are the originals?" "Trevor and I have been running for 500 years. We're tired, we want it over. We're using you and Damon to negotiate ourselves out of an old mess." Rose told her.
"But why me? And why Damon?" Elena asked angrily. "Because you're a Petrova Doppelgänger. You're the key to breaking the curse. As for Damon, we don't know why he's important. All we know is that he means something to one of the Originals and that is good enough for us." Rose informed her as she continued attempting to clean up the room around them. "The curse? The sun and the moon curse?" Elena asked focusing on the statement that seemed the most important to her. "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. The sacrifice is what breaks it." Shaking her head, a grimace blossomed on Rose's face. "The sacrifice?" "The blood of the doppelgänger. You're the doppelgänger. Which means, that to break the curse you're the one who has to die."
Trevor tore into the room as Elena continued pressuring Rose to give her answers to her questions. "He's here! This was a mistake." Trevor said panic filling his voice. "No, I told you I would get us out of this. You have to trust me." Rose assured Trevor as she held his hand in hers. "No! He wants me dead, Rose!" Trevor shouted his fear-filled voice echoing throughout the house. "He wants them more." Rose told him motioning her head towards Elena and Damon. "I can't do this. You give them to him; he'll have mercy on you, but I need to get out of here." "Hey! What are we?" Rose asked him softly, looking into his eyes. "We're family, forever." Trevor told her breathing deeply to calm himself down. A loud knock echoed throughout the building causing Trevor to jump as his gaze shot to where the front door was located. "Stay here with them and don't make a sound." Rose ordered as she took off to the other room.
Elena felt fear fill her as she heard voices approaching the room. Damon still hadn't woken up and she had been counting on him to get them both out of here. Of all the times he had to let her down, he chose now. At the sound of someone entering the room, Elena jumped back around to face the door. Elijah froze as he saw the doppelganger in front of him. Flashing forward Elijah leaned down to her neck, "Human. It's impossible. Hello, there." Elijah grinned as he looked at the girl in front of him. Seeing movement out of the corner of his eye, Elijah turned his head to see a young vampire forcing himself up on the couch. "Rose, who is that?" Elijah called out in earnest. "Damon Salvatore. Rumor has it Klaus has been searching for him for years." Rose informed him. Nodding, Elijah surged forward pinning the vampire to the couch. "Now," Elijah asked softly, "why would he be interested in you?"
"Get your fucking hands-off dick?" Damon futilely shoved at the hand on his shoulder. Amusement filled Elijah at the young vampire's attempt to be threatening. A flash of something under Damon's shirt caught Elijah's eye as he released him. Curiosity, getting the better of him Elijah grabbed at the chain that was peeking out from underneath Damon's shirt. "Do you not speak English. No touching." Damon spit out shoving at Elijah again effectively dislodging him from the pendant that hung from Damon's neck. Elijah felt himself go cold at the sight of the pendant around the vampire's neck. "Where did you get that?" Elijah growled out. Glancing down Damon saw the pendant but, when he tried to remember where it had come from, he drew a blank. The pendant was a white gold circle with an M in the middle. As far as he could remember, he had always had it. "None of your damn business." Damon spat at him.
Grabbing the vampire in front of him Elijah slammed the boy against the wall. "I would advise you to tell me right now." Shaking his head, Damon glanced over Elijah's shoulder and saw the fear written on the other occupant's faces. "I am waiting, Little One." Elijah informed him impatiently as he to looked over his shoulder at the other individuals watching them. His attention snapped back to Damon as he started to struggle against his hold. "I don't remember. Now get your hands off before I shove a stake up your ass." Damon snarled as he struggled to get away from the vampire. Shock, echoed through Elijah as he realized the vampire in front of him was not lying. The only explanation possible was that either Niklaus or one of their siblings had gifted it to him. If that was the case, then there was no way that he was letting the boy out of his sight.
"I am sorry." Elijah apologized before snapping Damon's neck. Catching him Elijah turned to the others. "You are going to need this, Elijah. We needed to take it from him to keep him here." Rose handed Damon's daylight ring over to him before walking back over to Trevor's side. "I would suggest you, leave. If I ever see either of you again, I will not be so lenient." Elijah nodded at Trevor and Rose who took off at the dismissal. "What about the moonstone?" Elena bargained. "What do you know about the moonstone?" Elijah asked her. "I know that you need it and I know where it is." Elena informed him. "Where is it?" Elijah started walking towards her. "It doesn't work that way." Amusement bubbled up in him at her attempts to bargain with him. Laying Damon back down on the couch Elijah tore the necklace from Elena's neck. "What is this vervain doing around your neck? Where is the moonstone." Elijah compelled Elena. "It's in the tomb." "Why is it there?" "It's with Katherine." Elena blurted out.
The sound of shattering glass filled the house causing Elijah to jump away from Elena. "Who else is in this house?" Elijah growled at Elena. Shaking, her head Elena refused to answer. She had gotten a note from Bonnie while Damon was out that Ric and Stefan were on their way to get her. There was no way that she was going to tell Elijah this though. Elijah stared at Damon for a second before dragging Elena out of the room and leaving him on the couch.
Damon shot up as a wave of pain echoed throughout his entire body. Glancing around he breathed a sigh of relief as he saw that he was in his room in the boarding house. His legs crippled from underneath him as he attempted to leave the room. The vervain must have not completely run through his system yet. Grabbing the wall, he managed to make it to the bottom of the stairs when he heard talking. "Ok, so you're saying that the oldest vampire in history is coming after me?" a voice Damon pinned as Elena asked. Damon yanked himself up and pulled himself into the room to drop onto the unoccupied couch. "Damon. What are you doing out of bed?" Stefan bolted forwards to make sure he didn't fall. "I am not a cripple, Steffy. I can do whatever I want." Damon bit out shuddering as another wave of pain hit him. "Normally, yes but not when you're filled with vervain." Stefan chided him angrily.
"Now who's fault is that?" Damon glanced over at Rose who was shuffling uncomfortably beside him. "I'm sorry. Look Trevor and I are leaving but, I didn't want to leave you in the dark. Klaus is going to come for you," Rose nodded at Elena, "and for Damon." Damon groaned as he watched Rose, "Why would he be coming for me, exactly? I've never even met the dude." Damon pushed himself up, so he was leaning against the cushions. "I don't know. Rumors have spread that he has all his followers searching for you though." Rose whispered so only the vampires in the room could hear. "What did you do this time Damon?" Stefan leaned over his brother staring him directly in the eye.
"I didn't. The most I know is that Elijah guy wanted to know where I got my pendant from." Damon held it up for everyone in the room to see. The necklace glinted in the light as it swiveled in Damon's hand. "Where did you get it from Damon?" Stefan leaned closer examining it. The same confusion from before filled Damon as he looked at the necklace that lay in his hand. "I-I don't remember."