AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here's the next bit. Also, that last episode that they aired holy crap that wasn't cool! Definitely going to do some adjusting should I decide to stretch it that far. Also corrected the spelling of Rebekah and Niklaus from here on out. :-)

DISCLAIMER: No I don't own Elijah, Elena, or anything to do with that which is The Vampire Diaries series. This is just my version of it. ;-)

Bound By Blood

~Previously in Bound By Blood~

Klaus saved the look Caroline had on her face away in his memory to think back on later. He was right to not just leave her there. She was a lady and deserved to be treated as such. Plus, he liked to think she got a slight kick out of the old courtship ways. Chivalry was not lost with that girl. She flourished in it. Grinning to himself, he promised to himself that he'd check on her later. Right now he had some meddlesome Salvatore brothers to deal with and a brother to save.

Stalking towards the alley by the Grill, he let the rage return now that Caroline was out of harms way. "Salvatore's, you really don't know when to quit. Not to worry. I'll happily remind you."

Chapter 9 - Protect The Ones We Love

Smirking, Klaus flexed his hands as he watched Alaric drag Kol out of Mystic Grill. Just a little bit more... Ah! Here they are!

"Here! Grab him!" Ric panted as he started to fall under Kol's weight. Why's the small one always the heaviest?!

Eyebrows raised, Damon stepped forward. "Tell the sexy doctor good work." Shrugging sheepishly when Ric glared at his comment, Damon and Stefan moved to relieve Ric of the weight.

Stretching his back, Ric crossed his arms as he muttered, "Thank Meredith yourself, Damon. She did your dirty work for you."

Pouncing on them at last, Klaus threw Alaric against the building and onto the steps as he quickly removed the dagger from Kol's chest. Exhaling slightly when he saw the ashen look start to fade, he tightened his grip on the dagger's hilt. Snarling, Klaus backed Stefan and Damon against the opposite wall. "Going somewhere, gentlemen? I believe you just tried to kill my brother. Oh, wait! And myself, and my whole family as well. Care to explain?"

Stefan lunged for him, only to be thrown against the wall even harder than Ric before crashing to the stairs. Damon gulped slightly when Klaus turned his glare on him next. Oops.

Groaning, Rebekah rolled to her side to push herself up, but froze at the smell in the air. "Blood?" Opening her eyes, she shot up into a sitting position at the sight. "Elena!" Yanking the scarf away from the girl's neck, Rebekah felt for a pulse. "Come on..." Focusing her hearing, she tried to find a heartbeat. There! Oh thank god! It was there, but it was weak. Too weak. It has to be done.

Biting into her wrist, she pressed the gash to Elena's mouth waiting for the blood to go down. Exhaling shakily as she watched the wound on Elena's chest slowly start to heal, Rebekah felt a small bit of relief wash over her. "Don't die on me now, Gilbert. Elijah would kill me." If he doesn't already after what you've just done.

Grimacing, Elijah held his head in his hand as he slowly stood up in the alley. It was normal for them to be disoriented after a dagger stabbing, but he felt strange. Something was different now with the bond. Feeling his phone buzz in his pocket, he went to reach for it, but stopped when he heard the scuffle by the Grill. Kol! Yanking his suit back into place, he sped around from the back to avoid being seen by anyone. The pain wasn't fading fast enough. Upon hearing Damon egging on Niklaus, his face hardened to stone. They were ruining everything! "Damn you, Salvatores."

Circling the eldest Salvatore, Klaus smirked briefly when he saw Damon flinch at his closeness. "You know, Damon, you and your dear brother Stefan are quickly becoming the biggest thorns in my side. I should've killed you both by now and danced on your damn graves."

"Do it," Damon hissed, knowing he was cornered. "Go ahead. Kill me. Won't stop dear old Esther from killing you."

Growling, Klaus stalked forward. "What did you just say about my mother?" It can't be true.

"Oh, you didn't know? Your mummy and I have become great friends who happen to have a lot in common. One thing in particular really." Scowling, Damon delivered the final blow. "She hates you just as much as I do."

Lunging for his throat, Klaus froze at Elijah's voice. "Leave him alone, Niklaus. We still need him." Watching the disgust and hidden rage filter onto his brother's face when Elijah looked at Damon, Klaus felt curiosity strike him once more. Looking between the two, he inwardly grinned when he saw the blatant fear in Damon's expression when faced with a pissed off Elijah. Interesting. Best save that for later.

Turning back to his brother, Klaus knew something was wrong. "What did Mother do?" Narrowing his eyes at the worry in Elijah's eyes, he stalked to the bottom of the steps. "What did she do, Elijah?"

Ignoring Niklaus, Elijah pulled out his phone. Stomping down the steps past Stefan, he smiled softly at Kol when he saw him waking up. Elijah came to a stop in front of the eldest Salvatore. "You tell me where the witches are hiding, Damon." Pausing he removed any feeling from his face. No emotion, no weakness. "Or I'll have my sister kill Elena right now."

Scrunching his eyebrows in shock, Damon looked back at the clock tower. "You told me we had until after 9!"

Letting bitterness seep into his voice, Elijah forced a sneer onto his face. "I'm sure Rebekah would be more than happy to start her work early." While he knew the Salvatore's would believe it, he felt safer knowing Rebekah was okay with Elena now. If what happened to him happened to his sister, hopefully Elena wasn't too startled by it and just waiting for her to wake up. Little did he know, his beloved sister was currently working to save Elena's life instead.

Shrieking in frustration, Rebekah didn't know what to do. Elena was healing, but it wasn't going as fast as it should've. She wasn't waking up. Grabbing her cell, she tried dialing Elijah, but there was no answer. Dialing Kol, she once again got sent to voicemail as well. She didn't dare tell Nik what she was doing. Sending a quick text to Elijah, she dropped the phone next to her and carefully pulled Elena's upper body into her lap. Worrying her lip, she debated her options. One, sit here and wait for the wound to heal on it's own. Possibly resulting in Elena dying anyway from blood loss. Or two, take the risk and give her more blood.

Glancing over the girl's pale face, Rebekah felt empathy for her. She'd never asked to be dragged into this mess. She shouldn't die from it either. "Option two it is. Lets see how true brother's stories really are." Damn the consequences. Cutting her wrist again, she smiled when she saw the wound closing up as she gave Elena more blood. "Finally."

Grunting as Meredith pushed him back down into the armchair, Ric winced when she put the ice pack on his head. "Elena's still out there. I have to go find her."

Smiling gently at how much he cared for Elena's safety, Meredith shook her head. "Shut up and stay seated. You might have a concussion."

"That doesn't matter, Meredith. Elena's in danger, I need to find her." He went to get up again, but she just pushed him down again and tilted his head to check his eyes. "Pupillary response is normal, but you might have a cracked rib," she pointed out when he gripped his side. "Look at me, Ric. Elena will be fine, okay? She has more than enough people out there protecting her already. She'd want you to be more concerned with your own health right now."

Tilting his head, Ric arched an eyebrow at her. "What are you talking about?"

Scrunching her nose at him, Meredith was shocked. "Come on, Ric, you know Elena considers you family now. Don't put her through more stress worrying about your well-being when you're slowly on the mend."

Shaking his head, chuckling softly and wincing, Ric corrected himself. "No, no, not about that. What were you talking about when you said she had more than enough people looking out for her?"

Laughing at his obliviousness to what was going on, Meredith smirked. "Seriously? You haven't seen it?"

"Seen... What?" Ric asked feeling totally lost.

"It's not just Damon and Stefan that are hung up on Elena anymore, Ric." Seeing his confusion growing, she sighed. "I'm talking about Elijah! Original vampire or not, that man is seriously falling for her. Plus, from what I've seen of his family, if one of them cares about someone, they protect them with their lives."

Sitting there in shock, Ric couldn't even speak for about five minutes. He couldn't believe it. "What?!"

Smirking at Elijah as he watched the Salvatore brothers scurry off, Klaus knelt down and helped their brother off the ground. When Kol swayed, he gripped his shoulders to steady him. "Easy, little brother, you took quite a hit." Seeing the gratitude and confusion in Kol's eyes made him pause. You're family, Kol. We might have our differences, but you'll always be my little brother. I could never turn my back on you.

Taking a deep breath, Kol nodded and stretched his back as he shook off the remaining lethargy and stiffness of being daggered. Looking between his two brothers, he felt overwhelmed. "Brothers, please tell me something." When they shared a look and nodded for him to continue, he felt fear seep into him. They're scared. No... They're terrified! "What the bloody hell is going on?!"

Relieved Kol was back to normal, Klaus looked to Elijah for answers. "Yes, Elijah, care to tell us what Damon Salvatore was going on about?"

Elijah went to reply, but found he couldn't move when he glanced at his phone when it buzzed again with a message from Rebekah. 'Elena's hurt. Badly. Giving her blood. Be mad at me later. We need your help, Elijah.' Letting his arm fall to his side, he couldn't move. He failed again. He messed up. Again! "I told her I would keep her safe," he whispered.

Klaus felt irritation at the abrupt change in topic. "Elijah, what are you talking about?" When there was no response, he grew worried as Elijah's expression turned dark with self-loathing. "Elijah?" Glancing at Kol who looked just as baffled as he felt, they both grasped Elijah on the shoulder to share the link. Elijah? Brother, what's happened?

Looking at his brother's faces, Elijah felt fear he'd never known before mixed with anger. Elena's hurt... Rebekah's giving her blood.

Jerking back in shock, Kol was the one to have the outburst. "Has Rebekah lost her mind?! I told her what that can do to a human!"

Snarling, Elijah glared at his little brother. "She didn't have a choice, Kol! Elena could've died! She still could!"

"Elijah, what's going on?" Klaus pressed when he saw his older brother starting to come undone. He knew Elijah cared for the girl, but this was pure fear coming from his brother who'd always been the one to keep the rest of them in line. There was more going on than Elena being hurt.

Gripping his hair in his hand, Elijah laughed sadly and shook his head. "It was Esther, she... She.."

Hearing their brother use their mother's name so bitterly stunned them both. Elijah always adored their mother. Now all they heard was hate. Kol stepped in this time. "What has she done, Elijah?"

Feeling helpless and torn, Elijah hung his head. "She's planning to kill all of us tonight."

Freezing, Klaus felt his heart jerk painfully. "What? How is that even possible?! She made us this way!"

"Which means she can also undo it," Kol muttered. "Is that why you all felt it when I was stabbed? I could feel it happen to all of you."

"Yes," Elijah sighed. "Elena told me why Esther wanted to meet her at the Ball. She used Elena's blood, the blood of the Doppelgänger, to bind all of us together. From what she told her, if one of us truly dies, the rest of us will as well."

Furrowing his eyebrows, Klaus shook his head when Kol went to speak. Elijah wasn't the one they should be mad at for this. Neither was Elena. If there was one thing he knew better than all of them, it was just how manipulative and dangerous Esther really was. All they had was each other now. They had no parents. One part was still missing. "If Elena's blood was used to bind us together, Elijah... Who completed the bond? It wasn't me or you, and it sure as hell wasn't Kol. Rebekah-"

"Is protecting Elena," Elijah bit out. "She had no part in the spell, Niklaus. She was just as stunned as I was when Elena told us."

Sighing, Klaus chuckled at Elijah's quick defense of their sister. "If you'd have let me finish, Elijah, I was simply going to agree with you on that sentiment. Our sister wouldn't betray us like that. If it wasn't any of us, that only leaves one person."

Feeling a lump in his throat, Kol couldn't believe it and yet at the same time it made complete sense. "Finn. He's going to die to kill us all."

"Yes, and we have to hurry. Esther's using the full moon and the Bennett's to fuel the magic for the ritual. We only have half an hour until the moon reaches its peak. Let's go," Elijah ordered, moving to leave, but Kol and Klaus shared a look and jumped in front of him shaking their heads.

Smiling, Kol finally had a chance to tease his eldest brother. "We'll take care of Esther. You go get Rebekah and make sure the lovely Elena's alright."

"But-," Elijah half-heartedly went to protest, but they wouldn't let him.

"Go, Elijah. We protect the ones we care about," Klaus reminded him. Or love. He didn't dare say it out loud. He knew Elijah would only deny feeling anything more than concern for the girl. His brother had been forced into watching over their siblings, and his own less than honorable antics, for far too long. It was time they started picking up the reins. Their brother needed a chance at life again.

Closing his eyes in acceptance, Elijah nodded and shocked them both when he stepped forward to pull them into a hug. Thank you. Both of you. Be careful.

"Likewise," Klaus and Kol responded in unison, causing them all to laugh. They were becoming a family again.

Taking a deep breath, Elijah looked over his brothers. "Good luck. Stay alive."

"We will," Kol agreed, with Klaus saying, "You do the same."

When they vanished around the corner, Elijah turned and ran as fast as possible through the town towards the forest and the tunnels. Rebekah needed him. Elena needed him. He couldn't let her down again.

"Please let her be alright," he whispered in a prayer to whoever was listening.