Ch. 17 – Rose 2x08

A/N: Here we are! I'm not going say anything until the end. Just enjoy!

Edit: 1/10/22

I wake up to being carried.

Keep pretending to be asleep. I need to figure out where Elena is. Where I am. Who has us now? Too many questions and none I can answer while being unconscious.

I'm dropped on a dusty couch. Ew, really? I can hear the footsteps receding. Thank you. I hate pretending to be unconscious. But the footsteps stop before they are gone completely. Oh god, what are they doing now? They back towards me slowly. No don't come to me. No, stay back. Or even better, leave. I need to take stock of my location, my weapons. I can't feel any, but I need something. Someone is almost touching me. Don't tense up. Don't tense up. Still unconscious.

"Trevor", someone calls. The person, Trevor I guess, leaves. Oh, god. I shudder. Thank you. I am up immediately. Okay, where am I? There's a chandelier on the ground in front of me, some stairs behind it leading to a broken door and a hallway from what I can guess, an old chair, dust and old covers on the windows and floors. I sit up and look around more.

Elena.

She's still passed out, but on the floor. I can see a bruise starting to form on her face. Well, someone is going to die for that. I get up and move her back onto the couch as best I can while in heels and trying to stay silent. I hear voices.

"Still passed out?" a man, maybe Trevor, says.

"You didn't touch her, either one of them, did you?" a woman asks. Okay, that's horrifying. Please say no. I immediately start searching my dress for anything that could be useful. Cause this may have gotten really bad. Worse than just being kidnapped but unknown assailants.

"Give me some credit," Trevor replies. I sigh a bit in relief. Well, that makes things slightly easier. Not much but still. I see Elena start to stir.

"So you called him?" Trevor continues. Elena starts to sit up. We lock eyes and they we are hugging; I'm not sure who moved first. I guess we are both just glad the other is okay. I can feel the blood stains on her back. Ugh, Katherine. I should've killed her for that. A vervain knife to the stomach was not enough.

"No. I called one of his contacts," the unknown woman responds. British by her accent. They have yet to mention her name. Also, since I am pondering information needed, who is this other guy that they are contacting. I guess we are dealing with some wayward middlemen. Hopefully this other guy isn't some big boss. I still don't have that many weapons. Elena releases me from the hug. She goes to speak, but I quickly shush her. I gesture to the voices. We need to be quiet to learn more. She nods her acceptance. "You know how this works," the woman continues.

"Did you or did you not get the message to Elijah?" Trevor asks. So, Elijah must be the big boss. Shit, where do I know that name from? I can feel Elena's eyes on me. She grabs my hand. I hold the other one up with a 'one moment' gesture. I cannot figure out who this is or why that name is familiar. I need them to reveal more.

"They say he got it," the woman responds. 'They,' wow these people must be low-level bad guys. Hopefully that means easy to subdue. And to escape; if I can make a plan to get us that far, but Elena goes to move us towards them. I try to stop her, but she is determined. The voices are moving so I guess I need to move anyways if I am going to learn more and keep Elena from revealing us.

"Wonderful. And what?" We climb the stairs to the door. Elena goes to peek, but I pull her back. The voices have stopped moving.

"And that's it, Trevor. He either got it or he didn't." The voices sound far enough that I peek around the door. Well, I was right about it being a hallway. There's broken wood panels and dust everywhere. But we have lights so yay electricity. I could kill for my laptop and a good Internet connection. Maybe not even that. Who is Elijah? I know the name. Also, if I'm asking for things 'where are we' might be the way to go. "We just have to wait." There's a door in the hallway. Elena goes to move toward it, but I pull her shirt. That's not a good idea. She shakes me off.

"Look, it's not too late. We can leave them here. We don't have to go through with this" Trevor replies. So, they are scared of this Elijah guy. Bells are ringing in my head, but I am not sure why. Who is this man? Elena continues to creep to the door. She's just lucky these idiot kidnappers are distracted and she's wearing converse. I'd like to see her creep wearing my heels.

"I am sick of running," the woman states. Oh, more ideas. I can feel who he is on the tip of my tongue, but I keep getting distracted by Elena's poor planning.

"Well, running keeps us from dying." I can see Trevor pacing. Elena is almost at the door. This is not going to be good.

"Elijah is old school. If he accepts our deal, we are free." This woman is very confident for someone on the run.

Oh no. I back up, into the room and against the wall next to the doorway. I repeat her last utterance in my head. Elijah, running, deals. I figured out why I know that name. We are so screwed.

Elena pushes the door and I hear it creak. C'mon Elena.

"You!" the woman exclaims. "There's nothing here for miles." Well, there goes that vague essence of a plan. "If you think you are getting out of this house, you are tragically wrong. Understand?"

"Who's Elijah?" Elena asks. Well if you stayed with me, I could've told you that. And honestly, you don't want to know.

"He's your worst nightmare," the woman responds. That about sums up the situation nicely from what I know. I can hear her footsteps receding, leaving Elena alone in the hallway. Okay, time to regroup.

Elena is still paused in the hallway so I take a second to feel for weapons that might still be on me. Obviously, my purse is gone, so that leaves me without most everything. But I can feel some thin stakes I left in the boning of my dress. Not easily accessible in a pinch but highly useful in situations like this. And Damon calls me paranoid and overprepared. Well, he doesn't call me that to my face. I heard him mumble it when we were planning yesterday. But this is exactly why I put those there. I also feel my garter belt holsters are still on. Lighter than I would've had them had I planned to fight Katherine, but I still have a few bottles of vervain. They are small bottles, and I can tell some have been lost due to the wetness of the holster. No glass is stuck in me, which is good. Plus, my necklace is still on so that's some more, in flower form, but still works. I bend to check out the holsters more and I find that I still have a few smaller knives, my usual silver and dipped in vervain. Can help to whittle something in a pinch. I am doubly glad this guy didn't pull anything. This should have been caught if he did any form of checking. Okay, in total I have a few knives, some vervain, and some thin stakes. None of this really helps with Elijah, but it may work on those two out there. My current stakes are too thin for any older vampires, they might catch and snap them too easily, but the chair might be an option for additional ones.

I can hear Elena following the kidnappers. Ugh, so stupid. "Why am I - Why are we here?" Elena asks. I don't know why she thinks asking is going to get her anything.

"You keep asking me questions like I am going to answer them," the woman responds. Well, that was polite. She's not attacking Elena for asking questions and she is not punishing us for leaving the room, so I take the chance and join them in the other room.

"Why won't you?" Elena asks. Jeez, Elena. We got ourselves kidnapped by someone who is treating us surprisingly decent. Stop antagonizing her. I finally get a good look at the woman. Brown hair, below shoulder length and spiky, wearing a brown leather jacket, blue jeans, and boots. She's pretty, from what I can tell with her not looking at us.

"That's another one," she replies as she lifts something over to cover the window. I take a moment to look around the room. Another chair with wooden legs, some tables covered in dusty books. Oh! There's a lot of books! On the table, the dirty floor, in quite a few places. This house must have been abandoned a while ago by the looks of things, but there are working lights so it's not so bad. Plus lots of books just in this room.

Elena moves towards the woman, "You got me … us." Wow, thanks. "It's not like we can go anywhere. The least you can do is tell me what you want with us." The least she can do was hand us in alive, she and Trevor have done a lot more than the least, especially since Elena is being a rather annoying hostage. But, since the woman doesn't seem like she is going to attack, I move towards the table and start flipping through the books.

"I personally want nothing." Well, that's not true. You just can't get freedom from us directly. "I'm just a delivery service," the woman replies as she joins me at the table. I move to the other side and we both start flipping through the books, she much more casually. What can I say? Something might be interesting.

"To who? Elijah?" Elena questions. At least, she figured something out.

The woman laughs, "Two points to the eavesdropper."

"Who is he?" Elena continues. "Is he a vampire?"

I finally take the opportunity to explain, "He's not just a vampire. He's an Original."

Elena turns to me in shock, a million questions running through her mind, "What's an Original?"

The woman interjects, "Again, with the questions. Clearly the Salvatore's are only teaching one of you vampire history," looking towards me.

I laugh, "As if." I move to the pile of books on the floor on my side of the table. Ugh, crouching is a dress and heels over a dusty floor.

Elena continues to walk towards us, focusing intently on the woman, "So you know Stefan and Damon."

"I know of them," the woman answers. "A hundred years back, a friend 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."

Elena clearly doesn't like the idea of this woman being a romantic interest in Stefan's past, despite them still being 'broken up' – at least that's what they are to my knowledge - so she continues to question the woman. "Who are the Originals?"

The woman turns to me, questioning me. I roll my eyes and shrug; Elena's determination is something I have never been able to control, and she clearly doesn't listen to me. I turn to stop Elena from the continued questions, but the woman turns to her and in a softer tone starts, "Trevor and I have been running for 500 years" Yikes, I am going to need thicker stakes if this gets violent. Also, the fact that they have been running for the same amount of times as Katherine doesn't escape my notice. "We're tired. We want it over. We are using you to negotiate ourselves out of an old mess." Oh, Katherine definitely did something, she specializes in screwing people over and leaving them with the mess. Sucks that she got them involved. The woman, at least, seems decent.

"But why us?" Elena asks.

I interject again with a sigh. "It's because you are the doppelganger. And that means that you are the key to breaking a very important curse. So important, that the Originals have been searching for years for you, probably since whenever Katherine turned into a vampire, so I am guessing about 500 years. They need a human doppelganger and here you are. I am here because I am leverage. They brought me to get you to agree, most likely to following Elijah's commands."

"Curse?" Elena asks. Of course, that is what she focuses on. "The Sun and Moon Curse." Wow, I am almost impressed by her connecting those dots. That was a little harsh. And a little oversimplified, we've only talked about one curse with her.

"Oh, you do know your history?" the woman responds semi-sarcastically. I wouldn't give Elena that much credit, but I am not gonna say something that mean. There is a lot of vampire history and she only knows about it because of our trip to Duke to learn about werewolves.

"What do you mean I'm the key?" Elena asks yet again another question. "The moonstone is what breaks the curse," she says with such confidence that I am impressed.

"No, the moonstone is what binds the curse," I respond. Elena turns to me again in disbelief. "The blood of the doppelganger in an act of sacrifice is what breaks the curse. To break the curse, you as the doppelganger, would have to die." I say looking away from Elena. I didn't want to have to tell her this, but being here, with the threat of the originals around the corner pushed us to this point. She shouldn't have to deal with this, not here and now. If all had gone as I wanted it to, first Elena would have never had to learn about the Originals, but now that we are past that point, I still can't let her die in some ritual sacrifice.

Trevor walks back in as Elena asks, "Tell me more," while looking at the woman. Hey, I am the one telling you things. What makes her think that this random vampire woman is going to be more informed than I am.

"Captivity has made this one pushy, eh?" Trevor asks as he hangs wood boards in the windows. "What do you want to know Doppel-licious?" Ooh, that's a bad nickname and I (unfortunately) spend time with Damon.

"Who are you running from?" Elena asks. Was that really a question that she needed answered. I figured it out rather early on in the conversation.

"The Originals," Trevor responds.

"Yeah, she said that," Elena comments. "What does it mean?" Seriously, it's already been mentioned.

"The first family," Trevor replies, as he kicks a random book on the ground. It comes shuffling towards me, not close enough for me to pick up from where I am. "The Old World. Rose and I" Oh, the woman's name is Rose. Finally. Good to know. "pissed 'em off," Trevor continues. Rose gives him a look. "Correction, I pissed 'em off. Rose had my back. And for half a millennium, they've wanted us dead," he finished throwing another book. My low opinion of him sinks further.

"What did you do?" Elena asks. I bet I can guess.

"He made the same mistake countless others did," Rose responds before I can guess out-loud. "He trusted Katerina Petrova."

Haha, I was right. I actually do laugh at loud at that. "Sorry," I say as everyone turns to face me. "Serves you right for trusting the heinous original Petrova doppelganger herself." Rose walks back towards the entrance of the room.

Trevor explains, "I helped her escape her fate." No wonder they've been running. And what a reminder of what could happen should any one of our friends helps us. "Now I've- Sorry, we've been marked ever since," he stresses that second pronoun after Rose give him another look.

"Which is why they have us," I reply as I stand up from my pile of books. "They made the Originals lose one doppelganger, they are trying to fix their mistake with another." Rose nods and walks out of the room with Trevor quickly following. Elena stands in silence as they pass, clearly processing the information dump from the past few minutes.

As soon as they are out of the room, I run to the chair. It's overturned with the legs sticking up, I figure the legs are smaller than the table legs and I wouldn't have to whittle as much. I try to break one, but it's not easy enough for me to do in a way that wouldn't let our captors know immediately what I was doing.

I call to Elena and I run over and give her a stack of books that are by me. "I need something to cover up the sound of me breaking this chair. Drop these when I signal you. Hopefully, it'll be enough." I run back over to the chair and brace my hands on a leg, turn and give a signal. The crack of the leg and the thud from the books occur at a close enough time that I think it worked. Well, I have one stake. I don't think I can get another one in this fashion, Rose and Trevor would catch on. I grab my now free chair leg, pull out one of my knives from its sheath, and start whittling something resembling a point, all by my pile of books that I had sorted during the conversation.

Elena takes this moment to walk out of the room, I assume back to the one we woke up in. I take a few moments to finish a rough but usable point on my makeshift stake, place it on the front of my left leg, in the holster. I gather up my stack of books and follow her.

When I get to the other room, Elena grabs my hand and pushes a piece of crumpled paper into it. I place my books at the end of the couch and face her before opening up the piece of paper. 'Stefan and Damon are on their way to rescue you. -B' Oh, Bonnie. Stefan and Damon aren't gonna be able to rescue us from this. I crumple the paper back up and Elena holds her hand over the one of mine that is holding the paper. Well, I have to start thinking of something good to get her out of here, because an Original is not going to miss out on losing another doppelganger, no matter who may try to save her.

A few hours of reading from my stack of books and Elena switching between anxiously pacing and anxiously sitting passes by with little conversation between us twins or us and our captors. Everyone is anxious and the tension has been rising steadily in the past couple of hours.

The tension comes to a peak when Trevor comes running into our room to get to Rose with the news that we've all been waiting for and dreading, "He's here."

Elena, who had been sitting on the couch immediately stands. Trevor gets to Rose, "This was a mistake." He starts moving to us.

"No, I told you I would get us out of this," Rose states as she tries to calm him down. "You have to trust me."

"No!" Trevor exclaims. "He wants me dead, Rose," he yells as he walks back around the chandelier in front of us.

"He wants her more," Rose interjects.

"I can't do this," Trevor continues still panicked. "You give her to him, he'll have mercy on you, but I need to get out of here."

Rose grabs his arms, "Hey. What are we?"

He takes a deep breath and in a calmer manner responds, "We're family." Elena and I turn to each other and semi-smile. "Forever."

The room almost calms for a second before loud knocking on the door amplifies the tension all over again.

"You're scared," Elena states as she watches the panicked vampires try to maintain any sense of the calm that happened a second ago.

"Stay here with them and don't make a sound," Rose instructs as she leaves to go answer the door. Trevor starts to pace. Elena starts to as well, a few minutes after Rose leaves, the note crumpled in her hand.

I hear the clack of Rose's boots start to come towards us. I rush up and grab Elena's hand and try to release some of the tension from her white-knuckled hand. With my back to the door, I grab her hand tightly and whisper, "It's all going to be okay." She flashes her closes approximation of a small at me, still worried about whether or not the Salvatore's will be able to save us, to save her. I stare at her, memorizing every inch of my twin's face, because if my plan goes correctly, this may actually be the last we'll ever see of each other. I want us to remember the calm before the storm, not anything that may happen in the next few minutes.

I can almost hear the tension build with every step he takes as he walks towards us. My back is still to him, but I can see the fear on Elena's face reflecting his power and his location. He flashes some of the final distance to us, Elena jumps and we both hold our breath as he leans in close to her neck and scents her, his shoulder brushing my right as he leans into Elena's left side. Our clasped hands are squeezed even tighter, I don't even know by who, but I am trying to hold onto to these last moments before Elijah is revealed to me and I to him. The slow breath in he takes seems to last longer than those few seconds it probably was. Elena switches from staring at me to staring forward, where his face will be when he is back to fully upright.

"Human," he states after a moment of being upright. I move away from him to stand at my sister's side. "It's," he starts as I turn to face him.

Our eyes lock.

…

Woah.

…

"impossible," he breaths out.

I don't even register his words for a moment. I just see deep brown eyes, brown hair swooping over his forehead and one of the most beautiful men I have ever seen. I feel my heart stop. I've never believed in that cliché until this moment. But in one instance, I feel a more intense rush of positive emotions than I have since … well, ever, I think. I can't even think. It's like a lightning strike wiped my brain completely, and every description of whatever this is come to life at once. Lights, stars, glitter, sparks … a whole ton of things flash through my brain in this one second of eye contact. Fuck. That's… intense. God, my brain is just… not working right. What?

But I blink and his words rush in. Shit. He isn't just talking about Elena anymore. He knows too. Damn. I was hoping to keep it a secret for longer.

He makes a motion that almost resembles stepping back in shock, but doesn't, and instead, focuses back on my sister. Oh, right. And that kills every thought I had about him. He's here for my sister. "Hello there," he speaks, focusing back on her. He looks to me for a split second and steps back, then faces Elena again and continues speaking, "We have a long journey ahead of us. We must get going." No, wait. Not yet.

Elena leans to face Rose who has remained on the stairs the whole time. Wow, she probably saw that whole thing. What was that? … Nothing. It was nothing. Elena pleads with her, but to no avail.

Elijah continues on as if Elena hadn't said anything, "One last piece of business." He starts to back up. Still focusing on Elena, he finishes, "Then we are done."

He walks to Trevor, every bit the powerful Original vampire. Oh…nope, not thinking right now. Just focusing. On the… situation. Trevor speaks, "I've waited so long for this day, Elijah." Elijah stalks toward him slowly. Still not thinking. "I'm truly very sorry."

"Oh, no, your apology is not necessary," Elijah replies. That doesn't sound like a forgiving statement. There we go, this is what I should be thinking about. Figuring out plans, both for me and someone else's. I should definitely not be thinking about the way that a suit fits … nope, bad brain. God, what is with me today. Trevor or whoever it was must've knocked me out harder than I thought.

"Yes. Yes, it is," Trevor continues. Elijah circles behind him, calmly but predatorily. My heart rate increases, 100% due to fear and absolutely nothing else. "You trusted me with Katerina … and I failed you."

Elijah passes in front of Trevor as he replies, "Oh, yes, you are the guilty one." He faces Rose. "And Rose aided you because she was loyal to you. That I honor." Loyalty and honor, interesting. Wait no, I knew that. Again, wait, that is a key response I should be focusing on. I have a pit in my stomach, and I am sure it because of the sense of Trevor's impending doom. I…He is definitely doomed. Elijah stops in from of Trevor, "Where was your loyalty?" Elijah asks.

"I beg your forgiveness," Trevor pleads. My heart plummets. The Originals are not ones of forgiveness.

"So granted," Elijah replies. Oh. That's not what I expected.

Then, Elijah swings his hand, and Trevor's head is on the ground, not with his body. That's not exactly what I was expecting either…but makes more sense. Yikes. That was one hard bitch slap.

Elena gasps, next to me. Oh yeah, she's still clutching my hand. Rose is crying, "You-"

"Don't Rose," Elijah interrupts. He adjusts his sleeve, and my mind goes blank again. Does not compute. I definitely have brain damage. "Now that you are free."

He walks toward us, somehow gracefully avoiding the blood pooling under Trevor's collapsed body. "Come," he says. Oh gladly. No! Bad brain! Bad!

"No, what about the moonstone," Elena cries as he walks towards us. Shit. Elena just had to open her mouth.

"What do you know about the moonstone," he asks, voice dropping deeper.

I grip Elena's hand tight in order to stop her, but she doesn't listen, "I know that you need it and I know where it is." Elijah nods and Elena continues, "I can help you get it."

"Tell me where it is," he demands calmly.

"It doesn't work that way," Elena gasps out. See, this is why I do the talking!

"Are you negotiating with me?" he asks, crossing his arms. She wouldn't be if I responded faster. He turns to face Rose.

"It's the first I've heard of it," Rose responds. Well, technically, you didn't ask, Rose. I mean, I wouldn't have told you, but still the moonstone has been mentioned.

Elijah faces Elena again, making eye contact. He does that a lot. No wait, compulsion is a thing that I remember as his eye slide to Elena's necklace. "What is this vervain doing around your neck?" he asks, his hand reaching towards the pendant.

Right, now, this is my turn. I can do this. "Why shouldn't she wear it? It was a lovely gift," I say grabbing his wrist, stopping him. He turns to face me, and we make eye contact again. One deep breath later. I can definitely do this. Not wavering. "Besides, it's rather un-gentlemanly of you to remove a thing from her body," I say as smoothly as possible. "Unless you have permission." Damn it, mouth. Was that an innuendo or just … you know what, doesn't matter. I can feel both Rose and Elena staring at me in disbelief, but I focus on the one remaining man in the room. He stares as me and I realize a second too late that I am still holding onto his wrist. I release it and he drops it. I continue with my original point for stopping him, "Unfortunately for you, that's not the only vervain on her." I take a small step forward, staring up at him. "So, unless you want to spend the time waiting for it to pass or bleeding it out of both of us, I suggest you start opening up negotiations with me."

I can feel his stare intensifying, almost as if he were trying to compel me, but I don't back down. This is my element, protecting my sister at all costs.

"Fine," he states. "Tell me what you know."

I clasp my hands tight and squeeze. Maybe I can squeeze out my nerves. "I know a lot of things. You are going to have to be more specific."

Elijah stares at me, "I should kill you and bleed answers out of your sister for your cheek." But it doesn't seem as aggressive as I expected.

"Then you not only lose your leverage with the doppelganger, but you also lose the moonstone," I stare back.

Elijah stops and tilts his head, "And why is that?"

"Only I know where it is."

He takes a step forward, "Your sister clearly said differently."

I acknowledge the accusation with a tilt of my head, "She was wrong. As if the location of the moonstone should be known to so many people. I moved it and I am the only one who knows its location."

"What's to stop me from torturing it out of you?" He moves to get closer to me.

But I move out of the way, not to escape, but the avoid him in a way that hopefully still keeps me with some form of power, "Because the magic it's under doesn't work like that. Witches are tricky, but so am I." If I keep my distance, he can't keep intimidating me with his presence. Maybe. Hopefully.

"You put it under a spell?" He gives me an odd look. Is he…impressed? No.

I tilt my head again and smirk, "I did a lot more than that."

He pauses. Like actually stops. Ok, that feels good. That's a powerful feeling. "And what makes you think I cannot find it with a witch of my own," he squints at me, like he's analyzing me.

I shake my head, "You know secrecy magic doesn't work like that."

He tilts his head slightly forward, "You know of secrecy magic?"

I stare at him, "I told you. I know a lot of things."

Elijah readjusts his suit cuffs, "And what would it take for me to acquire the moonstone?" I definitely had to force myself not to stare at his hands.

Focus, Emilia. Life and death situation here. "Make a deal with me. I can assure you it will be worth your while."

"And why might that be?"

I take a deep breath before I state, "As I said, I know a great deal of things. Specifically, I know a few things about the curse you are so desperate to break."

"Everyone knows about the Sun and Moon curse, why should I believe that the information you claim to have is worth my while?"

I stop walking. At some point, we had started circling each other. I don't think either of us had noticed until I stopped. "I will give you one secret about the curse. For this secret, you will trust my word that I have more information of value and we begin official negotiations. We both have things the other wants, I think this will work out nicely for each other."

Elijah pauses, contemplating. Based off the indescribable look he gives me, I don't think he is contemplating just the deal. After a few moments of silence and tension-filled looks in more ways than one, Elijah finally whispers, "Fine." Then louder, "tell me this secret."

I glance around the room and notice Rose and Elena are still here. Neither of the have really moved. I continue glancing around the room and notice the stack of books I had been perusing earlier. A few of them had their pages bleached from the sun over time, leaving the paper almost blank. That will work for sharing a secret that I am almost sure is not well known and less sure is actually true. This will be a big risk, humongous really, but my whole plan rides on him negotiating and I need him to trust my information, so this is what I am going with.

I turn to face the room at large, "Does anyone have a pen?"

Elijah turns to look at Rose, who jumps and quickly looks through a bag of hers. After a few moments of frantic searching, she quickly runs a pen over to Elijah and then scurries back to her safe spot on the stairs.

I turn to Elena and gesture to the stack of books. She runs over and, in her hurry, knocks a few with her foot. "Hey!" I cry in slight indignation. She stares at me with a look of 'Really?!' on her face as she picks up a few of them. "There's no need to disrespect the books," I defend, quietly grumbling more to myself. She stares at me again. "Just hand me the grey one." She stares at the stack of books, many of them faded to a grey-ish shade. "The one in your left hand, Elena." I explain. She hands me the book, walks away and is about to drop the other when I interject with, "Wait! Leave that one out, I want to keep it."

Everyone's already intense focus on me somehow intensifies with disbelief. "Well, we were waiting for a few hours for Elijah to arrive," I say with a gesture to the man himself, "and as much fun as tension-filled pacing is, everyone else was already doing it, and I decided to move on to something more interesting." Elena rolls her eyes and Rose makes a move to, but instead stares at Elijah, in fear of his reaction. Elijah just seems to continue to stare at me. I feel myself falter for a second under the heated stare (yikes, another surprisingly accurate cliché) before returning my focus to the faded blank pages of the book. 'I'm so sorry,' I whisper in my head to the book before taking a breath and ripping out a few pages and place them on the closed cover. I look back to Elijah who seems almost stone-like, just frozen staring at me. Stay on track, Emilia. "Pen, please?" I ask. He falters in his small step towards me, his gaze questioning. "I imagine you don't want this secret out and I would hate to ruin Rose's newfound freedom by jeopardizing her with such knowledge." Elijah turns to glance at Rose before returning to me and handing me the pen. I thank him before immediately scribbling the secret. Oh God, I hope this works.

I fold the paper before handing it to him. He opens it and reads my message, before suddenly flashing forward and pushing me against the wall, my hands dropping the book, papers, and pen. His right arm grips my left, tight enough to bruise. "How do you know this?" He grits through his teeth quietly.

I just react to the threat before I think it through, grab my other vervain-dipped knife from my thigh and hold it to his neck. "Let. Go. Of. My. Arm."

He stares in absolute shock at me. A look I am quickly becoming familiar with. The tension is reaching a deadly level when we hear a crash and glass breaking. He steps back to look at where the sound is coming from, my arm no longer in his grip, but I see my message still in his hand. "What is that," he asks, looking above us.

"I don't know," Rose croaks out in response, fresh tear tracks on her face.

"Who else is in this house," Elijah questions her.

"I don't know," she responds again, this time more forcefully. Elijah looks around before grabbing my arm again and dragging me to the stairs. Elena runs over and grabs my wrist as my right hand is still clutching the knife. The one I just threatened an Original with. Gotta give the Salvatore's credit for their perfectly timed rescue attempt, I was about to die for my idiocy, moonstone negotiation or not. Shit.

Elijah pushes us and Rose into the main entrance hall. He whips us twins around, right as someone flashes behind us. He pushes both of us to Rose, who is closer to the stairs, as he looks to where that person flashed. Someone else takes that chance to flash around us to the other side, causing Elijah to turn quickly to follow and allowing me to confirm that it is definitely the Salvatore's. I didn't see them when they flashed, but I recognize their brand of idiocy. And Damon's type of plan. Elijah turns to Rose, questioning her.

"I don't know who this is," she replies. One of the guys flashes down the stairs and past us.

"Up here," a voice I recognize as Stefan's calls from above us. Elijah flashes up the stairs to follow.

"Down here," Damon snarky tone calls out. Everyone turns to locate him, but then I hear the sound of one of Alaric's stake-shooting weapons fire and I am being flashed away.

I hear a clutter of a stake dropping from the main hall and I look up to see Damon shushing me while holding his other hand to Rose's face. Stefan must have Elena then. I didn't even realize she had let go of my hand. God, I'm usually more on top of things. I swear, brain damage.

"Excuse me," Elijah calls out, almost mockingly. "To whom it may concern. You are making a great mistake if you think that you can beat me." Definitely cajoling. "You can't." A few seconds pass. "You hear that," Elijah continues, and I hear wood breaking. "I repeat," Elijah continues speaking, this time less mockingly and more angry.

Oh, I hope the boys have a good plan or else we are all dead. I try to communicate this with my eyes at Damon, but he is more focused on listening to Elijah and not making eye contact with me. If Elijah doesn't kill him, I will.

Elijah continues his threat, "You cannot beat me." Damon removes his hand from covering Rose's mouth slowly. "So, I want the girls-," I think he is including me in that. My heart rate is due to the fight. And the fact that he is threatening my sister. "-on the count of three," a sound of metal being snapped off - I assume - the wood weapon he grabbed earlier "or heads will roll." Damon and Stefan are about to end up like Trevor if we don't move fast. Another sound of wood breaking and I am ready to move, but Damon holds me back, pushing against my chest. I stare at his hand, contemplating how useful his left hand will be in the foreseeable future. "Do we understand each other?" Elijah finishes.

"I'll come with you," Elena calls out. I try to run to her, but Damon grabs me before I can and holds me to his chest with his hand over my mouth. I am going to kill him after I kill my stupid sacrificial sister. That's my job. "Just please don't hurt my friends, or my sister. They just wanted to help me out." And I would help more if Damon weren't holding onto me. I hear a flash of wind and Elena gasp. I struggle even more to get to her, but Damon's grip is tight. Let me go. I have to get to her. I have to stop this.

"What game are you playing with me?" Elijah asks. I hear a small metal noise and an explosion. Oh, vervain grenade. Elijah screams. Vervain does work on Originals, good to know. I can hear the burning flesh from here and Elena gasping. Then there are shots of compressed air and stakes landing in a body, before I hear bodies tumbling down the stairs. I am suddenly released from Damon's grip as he flashes away to help Stefan.

I run as quickly as I can to follow.

I arrive just in time to see Damon stabbing Elijah with the remnants of the coat rack. "Damon, no!" I cry out. He ignores me as he pushes Elijah into the door still on the coatrack. Elijah gasps out he turns to grey. Damon has just doomed us all. Rose flashes in, sees Damon's cocky smile while holding the end of the rack, and then flashes out again. She should run while she can.

Damon starts to move after her, but Elena calls out to him, "Just let her go." I see the Salvatore's smile at Elena, still at the top of the stairs. I take the opportunity to run back into our room. Trevor's body remains along with my stack of books, Rose's pen, and my message. I rush over, grab the note and some other remaining sheets of paper and scribble another message as quick as I can. Everyone else can celebrate their supposed win, but I know this is just the beginning and we are going to need as much good will as we can get.

I rush through signing my name as Elena and Stefan walk back in. "Hey," I say while hiding the note. "I was just gonna try to snag some of these books to take with us." Elena and Stefan both giggle to each other quietly at my behavior – I guess they are back together now? - but they still come over to grab part of the stack, with Stefan carrying more than Elena's and my shares. We pass Damon in the hallway. "Hey, Damon, do you mind looking for my things. I can't find my purse." I hand my books to Elena. "You and Stefan take these to the car. I am gonna try to grab some of the loose stakes. I feel sorta naked with this few weapons." Elena laughs and shakes her head while following Stefan out. Damon just moves into a different room in search of my purse. It was a cute purse and I don't want to lose it or anything else that might be in there, including my driver's license and phone. As soon as they are gone, I rush over to Elijah, or his body, I guess. Luckily, the coatrack only pierced his shirt and I can slip my note into the pocket of his incredibly well-made suit.

I'm getting checked out by a doctor when I get home, this is getting ridiculous.

I take a moment to contemplate him for a second when Damon walks in swinging my purse from his fingers. As I grab it, he stops next to me and stares at Elijah's body for a moment. "I wouldn't worry about him anymore. He's gone," Damon states, walking away to follow Stefan and Elena to the car.

"Yeah. Gone," I quietly say as I walk away from the body to follow Damon. Still thinking about my note in the front pocket, folded so that the secret is now faces on the outside of the folds.

I know that the Sun and Moon Curse isn't real

A few hours later, we are home. I am helping Elena up the stairs, when I hear Jeremy call out, "Elena? Emilia?" We reach the top of the stairs when Bonnie and Jeremy both run out of Jeremy's room. I release Elena just in time as Bonnie crashes into her for a hug, I hear Elena gasp out in pain. Her lack of healing evident by the wince and the small bruise from Rose. Jeremy takes the chance to grab me in a tight hug of my own. Then suddenly, Jeremy and Bonnie switch, with Bonnie grabbing me into one of her bone-crushing hugs. "Are you okay?" Jeremy asks.

"A little bloody and a bit bruised by we're okay," I respond. After a few seconds and a few more hug switches I repeat, "We're okay."

When Bonnie finally releases us from the hug-switching, Elena speaks up, "I got your message." That just inspires another round of hugging, only with all of us in one group, clutching each other as tight as we can. I'm glad to be home.

In the entrance room of an old, abandoned house a few hours away from Mystic Falls, Elijah wakes up. The grey pallor and veins of vampire death recedes as his head lifts. With a quick, strong pull, the coatrack that served as his weapon and the cause of his temporary death is removed from his body. He straightens and fixes his suit. He stops, taps the outside of his pocket to check that he felt something inside. He opens the pocket to find a note. He opens it and reads.

Dear Elijah,

I would like to apologize for the actions of my friends. While often effective, their methods are not smart well-thought out. They don't realize that their attempts are only going to delay the inevitable, which is why I am still open to a deal. In exchange for the protection of my friends' and family's lives, I will guarantee you a doppelganger. In order to assure you of my validity in this deal, I will give you some more information. Katerina Petrova is in Mystic Falls; she is trapped in the ruins of the church she had been believed to have died in back in 1864. She is currently desiccating behind a vampire-trapping seal, a much more powerful one than the original that trapped the other Civil War vampires. I tell you this not only to warn you, but also to inform you that you will need a very powerful witch to access Katerina for any punishment you or any other Original may require her for. I assume that you will make your way to Mystic Falls as all the ingredients needed for this curse are there. I look forward I hope you will agree to meet with me to continue our negotiations over the moonstone. After all, I gave you my word and we are both I am not one to back down from that. Are you?

Sincerely,

Emilia Gilbert

PS. Katerina had a twin sister who died a year before she was exiled from Bulgaria. There has always been more than one Petrova doppelganger.

A/N: Thoughts?