Chapter 35: The House Guest
April 8, 2010
The past few days were eventful to say the least. Filling Jenna in on the whole thing with Elijah had gone rather smooth. His involvement had definitely caught her off guard. But still, Jenna had taken it well. And no matter what Ellie had been prepared for, Katherine getting out of the tombs hadn't been one of them. The duo had spent a good bit of time together when Ellie wasn't with the others. But no matter what, Katherine wouldn't give up Elijah's location. On the bright side, the school day flew by. "So, how did the big reveal go?" Katherine asked curiously as they walked through the square.
"Not as dramatic as you'd have liked I'm sure. There wasn't any blood drawn." Ellie replied. "I didn't mention that we were friends though."
"We're friends?"
Ellie shot her a funny look. "Aren't we?" She replied. It was a funky friendship, but she did like Katherine. "It would make Elena mad if we were friends." Ellie reminded her.
Katherine grinned. "You're right. We are friends." She agreed as she looped her arm through Ellie's. "So how come you never told me you were in bed with Elijah?"
Heat rose to Ellie's cheeks. "Not like I could, but I didn't tell him we were friends either." Ellie said. "But you're the one not telling me where he is now."
"Sorry gorgeous, no can do. I'm supposed to be helping Damon and Stefan and they think Elijah is a threat." Katherine shrugged.
"What do you think? You have the most history with them." Ellie asked.
Ellie let Katherine pull her into a booth at the back of The Grill. "Honestly, when I knew them, Elijah was always a reputable man. He was kind to me when I was just a girl that had been thrown out of my home into a foreign country. Klaus had been kind too, and I thought he was nice, until I found out he wanted to drain me dry."
"Do you think daggering Elijah was the right call?" Ellie inquired. That had been the one thing Katherine would tell her. Apparently there were these daggers that could be dipped in specific ash from a specific tree that could put an Original into a coma like state, but would also break the compulsion on anyone they'd compelled.
"Hey guys, what can I get you?" Matt asked as he walked up to them. "Haven't seen the two of you here together in a while."
Katherine gave him a stunning smile. "Just the usual, Matty." Katherine told him. "We've just been a bit busy."
Stefan was right. Katherine had gotten a bit too good at playing Elena. "Elena's right. We figured we'd have a sister's day." Ellie added.
"The usual for you too Ellie?" Matt asked.
"Sounds good." Ellie confirmed.
Matt started to turn away before asking, "Uh, are you guys gonna be here tonight for the live show? They're supposed to be really good." He explained.
"Oh! Yeah I saw the posters for it today at school. Yeah, we're having girl's night tonight with Caroline and Bonnie. We'll probably swing by to see the show." Ellie confirmed. Matt looked a little uncomfortable at the mention of Caroline. "Matt, about Caroline…"
"I'll get those drinks right out to you guys." Matt said as he cut her off, quickly walking away.
Ellie just sighed heavily as he walked away. "What's going on there?" Katherine inquired as she adjusted to a more comfortable position.
"Caroline broke it off with Matt because she doesn't know how to express her emotions and she was worried about hurting him because she's a vampire." Ellie confessed. "None of it wouldn't have been a problem had you not decided to murder her."
Katherine quirked up an eyebrow at the reminder. Ellie honestly sounded more frustrated than actually mad at what she'd done. "I'll admit, I could have picked someone else. But Caroline was a good way to get the point across, and come on, you can't tell me she isn't better off as a vampire now."
"That doesn't make it ok."
"So you agree? That Caroline's better off now?" Katherine asked with a knowing smile. "Listen, we both know I'm not a saint. So I'm not going to apologize for something I'm not sorry for. But, if it makes you feel any better, I'll refrain from killing any of your other friends or loved ones."
Ellie snorted. "Even Elena?"
It was no secret that Katherine really didn't like Elena. "No promises when it comes to Elena. But as long as none of your friends try to do something stupid to me, I'll leave them alone." Katherine promised.
She grinned warmly at her lookalike. "That's all I ask." Ellie agreed. Matt brought their drinks a second later. "Thanks, Matt."
"No problem." Matt told her, but he left quick enough that she couldn't pry about Caroline.
Katherine was observing Ellie as she stirred her drink. Something was bothering her lookalike. It was a bit annoying to realize that she actually cared for Ellie. Elena could choke for all Katherine cared, she would prefer it actually. But Ellie was another story. The young witch was decent enough and it was refreshing to talk to someone that didn't want something from her. "What's wrong?" Katherine questioned as she raised her drink.
"Nothing." Ellie denied, but Katherine could hear the uneven beat of her heart.
"Liar." Katherine said bluntly. "Now, tell me what's wrong."
Ellie thought about insisting that she was fine, but being able to talk to someone that wouldn't immediately take Elena's side was refreshing. "Ok, so you know how I said that the reveal wasn't as dramatic as you would have probably liked?"
"Mmhmm." Katherine agreed.
"Elena and I kinda fought. She was judging me for working with Elijah and I called her out for doing it when she left me at that house with a supposedly dead Elijah and a headless Trevor." Ellie confessed.
Katherine's eyes widened in surprise. "She did what?" Ellie had definitely never mentioned that before. "They just left you there?"
"Yeah." Ellie confirmed. "And she said she was sorry but it doesn't particularly make me feel any better. And I don't know how to address the fact that my trust in her doesn't really exist anymore. I mean at least you don't act like you've never done something bad. But she constantly acts like she hasn't done anything wrong."
Their conversation paused as Matt brought their food. Once he'd left, Katherine replied, "I could have told you that about her, but damn, even I wouldn't have left my sister behind like that." If she hadn't hated Elena before, the crappy treatment of Ellie would have ensured it. "No one seems to agree with me in my reasons for not liking her because everyone in this god forsaken town seems to be way too far up her ass."
Ellie sighed in annoyance, but she didn't disagree. "But on a less depressing note, what are you still doing hanging around?" Ellie inquired. "Shouldn't you be a million miles from here to get away from Klaus?"
"I made a deal to help protect you and Elena in return for me getting out of the tomb. Plus, I kinda like you." Katherine shrugged as she ate. "It'll be interesting to see how this turns out."
After Katherine had gone back to the boarding house, Ellie made her way to Elijah's apartment. She might have agreed to work with them because she didn't want anyone to die, but that didn't mean that she wasn't going to try and find Elijah. The lady at the reception desk just smiled at her as she walked in. Making her way up to Elijah's apartment was easy, but getting in was a little trickier. She didn't know if there were any protection spells up, so she cautiously unlocked the door. Telekinesis did have its perks.
The complication with a locator spell would come in the form of her not knowing if a regular locator spell would work on a, for all intents and purposes, dead body. She'd never done a locator spell in a situation like this before. If she had to guess, they would keep his body close. The closer he was, the easier it was to make sure no one else got him. But how close? After Ellie locked the door behind her, she made her way to the kitchen table. If she were going to attempt to do a locator spell, she was going to need something of Elijah's to try and channel.
Given, that meant going through his things. If she were lucky, he wouldn't be too mad that she went through his stuff. It would probably be safest to start in the living room and kitchen, although she knew that there probably wouldn't be much in the way of importance in those rooms. She just felt kinda rude going into his bedroom, even though she was just trying to help.
Her search in the living room and kitchen proved fruitless, as she expected. But she did discover that he did have a very large selection of alcohol. She swallowed her discomfort and made her to what she assumed was his bedroom. Opening the door, she was greeted with a bedroom that looked like it was straight out of a fancy magazine. Like one of those bedrooms you see on tv shows that looks so carefully crafted, but not actually lived in.
It was perfectly cleaned and Ellie felt like she was going to mess something up if she weren't careful. He had a jacket carefully laid over the back on his chair, and books on his desk. She went over the dresser and opened the first drawer, only to forcibly slam it shut when she saw underwear folded inside. "Ok, not doing that again." Her cheeks were burning even though there was no one around to know what she did.
She shook her head as she went to just take the jacket that had been draped across the chair. Ellie closed the door on her way out before she came back to the kitchen table. She put his jacket down before pulling out a map of Virginia and putting it down. The candles were placed onto the table next and once she had everything out, she started to put the candles on the floor in a circle. Just to have a bit more to channel, she went and filled several bowls with water and placed them around the circle.
Once she was satisfied with the placement of everything, she picked up the knife she'd grabbed and dragged the blade across her hand, letting the blood spill onto the map. She quickly muttered the healing spell Emily had taught her under her breath before she took a hold of Elijah's jacket. Then, she began to chant, "Phasmatos Tribum, Nas Ex Veras, Sequitas Sanguinem. Phasmatos Tribum, Nas Ex Veras, Sequitas Sanguinem."
She watched as the blood traveled steadily towards Mystic Falls and stopped there. That much she had assumed, but starting on a bigger map seemed like the smarter thing to do to make sure that she wasn't wrong. Once she wiped up the blood from that map, she replaced it with one of Mystic Falls. The knife made its way across her palm once more and she watched it flow onto the map. To her credit, she barely even flinched.
After her hand was healed, she once again began to chant. "Phasmatos Tribum, Nas Ex Veras, Sequitas Sanguinem. Phasmatos Tribum, Nas Ex Veras, Sequitas Sanguinem." At first, it was traveling easily, but then she watched as the blood stuttered and stopped on the map. It was such an odd thing to watch as the blood shook and tried to continue but it was almost like it couldn't lock on to the location.
Ellie watched in fascination as the blood started to separate and make a circle around part of Mystic Falls like that was as close as it could get. It wasn't a cloaking spell, that much she knew, because Dr. Martin had taken away Bonnie's magic before they'd daggered Elijah and from what she knew, they didn't have any other witches. It was, however, entirely possible that she didn't have a strong enough link to Elijah to pinpoint his location.
Despite her best efforts, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get the location any closer. It was better than nothing though. She put out the candles and set them on the table, before going to pour out the water and putting the bowls away. The only thing she could really do now, was continue on with the plan Elijah had. Which meant focusing on alternative methods of keeping her and Elena alive should they end up sacrificed. She'd made a note of where the circle was, and it gave her a decent idea as to where to start looking for him.
She had to be careful about it, so that the others didn't realize that she was trying to find him and undagger him. So she would bide her time until she could manage it. If she tried to make a move too soon, or if she didn't know exactly what she was going to do and messed up, they would move his body and she probably wouldn't get another chance. The last thing she needed was for Klaus to arrive and she didn't have any backup.
Time flew by as Ellie searched the grimoires for help. So much so, that she almost missed the sound of her phone ringing. "Hello?" She asked.
"Ellie, hey, are you still coming to girls' night?" Caroline asked. Ellie hadn't even realized that it was Caroline calling.
"I… yeah, yeah I'm still coming." Ellie told her, though she didn't sound particularly excited about it.
Caroline let out a sigh of relief. "Oh good, that's good. I was worried that you were going to change your mind and bail."
"That is a very tempting idea." Ellie said honestly.
"No, no it is most definitely not a very tempting idea." Caroline insisted. "Look, I know you're like super upset with Elena, and you have every right to be because she should have told you about everything, especially about John, and because she left you. But you and I haven't spent good quality time together in ages, and Bonnie's said she really misses you because the two of you haven't had good quality time together in a while either."
"Caroline…" Ellie sighed.
"Listen, if things get too tense, you and I can leave and we'll go do something else together. I promise. I'll play buffer and so will Bonnie. Please? Pretty please? Pretty please with a cherry on top?" Caroline pleaded and Ellie couldn't help but laugh.
In the past few days, Caroline, Bonnie, and Ellie had nearly been joined at the hip. They'd been filling each other in on what they'd missed. Caroline had explained how Bonnie had been distant with her once Caroline had turned because of her stance on vampires. Bonnie had filled Ellie on the struggles that she'd had with being a witch, especially after Miss Sheila had died. Ellie had explained the loneliness she'd felt when she couldn't tell any of them anything and her frustrations at being lied to. "Because I love you, I'll come. But you better follow through with the promise of leaving if things get too tense."
"Cross my heart and hope to die." Caroline swore.
"You're already dead, Care." Ellie retorted as she closed the grimoire she was reading through.
Caroline's surprised laugh was so loud Ellie had to pull the phone away from her ear. "Nice, Ellie." Caroline replied, but Ellie knew from her tone of voice, she hadn't taken offense. "But really, I won't let her do anything stupid. I'll fight her if I have to."
Ellie smiled softly to herself at Caroline's sincerity. "Thank you." Ellie told her. "I love you."
"I love you too. Now hurry up, Bonnie and I are already at your house." Caroline said.
"Huh? You're already at the house? What time is it?" Ellie asked as she stood from her spot and started gathering her things.
"Ellie, it's like eight." Caroline informed her. "Honestly, where on earth have you been? I texted you ages ago and you never responded. If you hadn't answered my call, I would have started to get worried."
"Sorry, sorry, I was just reading and I lost track of time. I'm about to head home now." Ellie apologized. "I'll see you soon."
"Ok. See you soon." Caroline replied before hanging up the phone. Once her phone was back in her pocket, Ellie placed the grimoire on the table next to her spot. Since Elijah was currently unable to come home, she figured it would be fine. After she was sure that she had all of her stuff, she walked out of the apartment, but she used her magic to lock the deadbolt since she'd locked the knob before walking out.
The ride home left Ellie feeling anxious. She didn't particularly want to be anywhere near Elena at the moment, but for Bonnie and Caroline, she'd deal with it. Maybe if they were lucky, Ellie could talk Dr. Martin into giving Bonnie her magic back. It would be beneficial for them to have as many witches ready as they could. It would give them a better chance of survival. She'd been giving him time to cool off after the whole roofie incident before she asked.
Not that she was excusing the roofie incident. She'd given Bonnie more than an earful about it. At the very least, Bonnie had been sincere when she'd apologized to Luka about being out of line. The arrival of Klaus had been taking up the majority of her thoughts. He was dangerous, more so than Elijah. At least Elijah didn't want to kill them at the moment. Even Katherine, who was terrified of Klaus, respected Elijah.
Ellie pulled into the drive as she pushed out her fears of Klaus. Bonnie and Caroline must have come together since only Bonnie's car was there other than Elena's. She could hear the three of them giggling and talking as she walked in. "Ellie! Perfect, you're here just in time. We were about to decide on what to eat." Caroline said brightly as Ellie walked over to where she stood. "Chinese food or pizza?"
Elena just laughed as she replied, "Like you have to ask."
"I will get it." Caroline said as she pulled out her tablet to order food.
Bonnie and Ellie both noticed the moment Caroline's smile faded and straightened up to see the picture of Matt and Caroline that Caroline had put as her background. "I'll do it." Bonnie offered as she pulled the tablet from Caroline's hands.
"Do you believe that Jonas is being sincere?" Elena asked as she placed cups down on the counter.
"I don't know what to believe." Bonnie confessed as she typed away on the tablet. "I think he's at a loss. He's not sure who to trust."
"Join the club." Elena replied.
"Wait, do you believe he's being sincere about what? Did you guys talk to him or something?" Ellie asked in confusion and she watched as both Caroline and Bonnie shot Elena a look.
"I thought you were supposed to tell her." Caroline said as she frowned at Elena.
Elena paused from where she'd started to go back to the cabinet. "I never saw her after school, so I didn't get the chance." Elena replied.
"I have a cell phone, Elena." Ellie said sarcastically. "How am I supposed to trust you if you're not telling me anything?"
At the very least, Elena looked like she felt bad. But it wasn't much. "I'm sorry. I promise, no more forgetting. I'll keep you informed on what's going on. Please, please, I don't want to mess tonight up over something small like this." Elena pleaded.
Ellie glanced over to the others and Bonnie shrugged but Caroline made eyes for the front door. It seemed that Caroline was dedicated to keeping her word about them leaving if it got too uncomfortable for her. But she also knew that Caroline and Bonnie really wanted the night to go well. "Fine, I'll let this slide, but it's the last time. Now, is there anything else you've neglected to tell me?" Elena shook her. "Alright." Ellie told her before asking, "So, what are we going to do about a movie?"
Caroline looked excited as she suggested, "What about 'The Notebook'?"
"Caroline, how many times have you seen that movie?" Elena asked with a grin as she placed down a bag of chips.
"That is so not the point." Caroline shot back as they laughed.
"Well, yeah, I mean…" Elena trailed off as Jenna walked into the room. "Hey."
"What's goin on?" Jenna asked curiously.
"Girls night." Ellie informed her. "We haven't had one in a while."
As Jenna nodded, Elena broke the awkward tension and asked, "How are you doing?"
"You heard about my fight with Ric." Jenna deduced.
"He feels terrible." Elena added in his defense.
"Is this some kind of disguised attempt to cheer me up?" Jenna inquired.
All four of the teens shook their heads in denial as Elena assured her, "No, no, this is about us girls hanging out. And, you know, we'll be here if you happen to want to talk, or…"
"Because I am a winner when it comes to successful relationships." Caroline added.
Jenna made a face. "You too?"
"You have no idea." Caroline replied.
That was all they needed to get her to agree. "Ok then." Jenna said as she walked around the counter to get to the fridge. "It's this whole Isobel thing. He's hiding something from me."
"To play devil's advocate, maybe there is a great reason why he's not telling you." Caroline suggested as Elena nodded in agreement. "Maybe he is just trying to protect you."
"Well, that's not his call to make." Jenna told her. "I mean, I deserve the truth. Everybody does." Ellie and Jenna shared a knowing look between them. They'd not yet told the others that Jenna knew the truth.
Caroline looked a bit upset as she replied, "Well, sometimes it's harder than that."
"Not if it's somebody you care about, it isn't." Jenna said as the awkward silence started to creep back in.
"You know what we need?" Caroline asked and all of the girls perked up as she said, "Dancing. There is a band at The Grill."
Bonnie didn't even hesitate as she said, "I'm in."
"In." Jenna agreed.
"In." Ellie and Elena said together before Caroline clapped her hands together excitedly.
Everyone moved to pull on their jackets as Ellie asked, "Are we all going in one car?"
Bonnie nodded. "Everyone can fit in mine. It'll save gas." She confirmed as the girls made their way out of the house and into Bonnie's car. Elena took the passenger's seat and Ellie took the seat between Jenna and Caroline. The car ride was blissfully relaxed. Whether Elena was keeping herself in check because Jenna was there, Ellie couldn't be sure. But she was going to enjoy having fun with her friends for as long as possible.
The car ride was filled with excited laughter as they pulled into the surprisingly packed parking lot of The Grill. Jenna opened the door and Ellie's eyes went wide at the sight of all the people there. "Holy crap this place is packed tight!" Ellie commented as they walked in. "I don't think I've ever seen this many people here."
"I know! It's great!" Caroline said excitedly. She was practically glowing with her good mood as they walked arm in arm towards the band.
Ellie and Caroline were bouncing to the beat of the song until Jenna leaned towards Ellie and said, "I need a drink." A quick glance in the other direction helped Ellie spot Alaric.
She turned back to see Matt walking towards them. "Hey, Matt." Caroline greeted him with a hopeful smile, but he just continued past them.
Caroline deflated as Bonnie said, "Things just got real awkward."
Ellie squeezed Caroline's hand to try and reassure her. "You could go and talk to him." Ellie suggested.
"No, I can't. I don't know what to tell him." Caroline sighed.
"Care, just because you can't tell about the vampire thing, doesn't mean that you can't tell him how you really feel about him." Ellie had been careful to keep her voice low when mentioning vampire, but with Caroline's enhanced hearing, she understood Ellie just fine.
Bonnie nodded in agreement. "She's right, Care. He said the ball's in your court."
"Yeah, but I can't do anything about it." Caroline denied.
"Why not? All you do is talk about how much you care about him. You could tell him that." Bonnie reminded her.
"Yeah, but I am still keeping so many secrets." Caroline reminded them.
Elena was staring at the bar as she told Caroline, "Alaric's in the same boat with Jenna and maybe that's our mistake. We're trying to protect the people that we love by keeping them out of it, but in the end, we're hurting them anyway." Ellie wondered if Elena was actually starting to understand how she'd hurt the people around her, or if she was just saying that.
As the song ended, Caroline turned back towards the band. A second later, she got a determined look on her face as she started to pull off her jacket. "Hold my jacket for me." Caroline said as she passed it to Ellie.
"What are you doing?" Ellie asked curiously.
"Where are you going?" Elena called after the blonde as she made her way towards the stage. "What is she doing?"
"I have no clue." Ellie replied as the three girls moved closer together as Caroline jumped up onto the stage.
"Hey, everybody." Caroline greeted the audience with a warm smile. "Let's hear it for the band! Weren't they awesome?"
Jenna returned to the teenagers and said, "This isn't going to end well." She downed the rest of her drink in a single gulp.
"So there's this guy." Caroline started as the audience quieted down. "And, uh, he told me to tell him how I feel about him." Ellie and Elena spotted Matt as he turned to face Caroline as she chuckled nervously. "Like it's so easy. Um, you know, just cause I talk a lot doesn't mean I always know what I'm actually talking about. Like now, I'm feeling loopy and I don't really know how to express myself." The singer of the band tried to take the mic back but Caroline quickly said, "I can sing."
"Sing?"
"Yeah! Yeah, you know what, I'm gonna sing." Caroline said with determination.
Ellie took a hold of Bonnie's hand and prayed that this went well. The four girls knew that Caroline was compelling the singer from the way they both went incredibly still, but it was harmless in this case. A moment later, the band started to play and Caroline started to sing. It had been a while since Ellie had heard Caroline really putting her heart into a song, but she sounded just as beautiful as Ellie remembered. "She's good." Jenna praised.
"Yeah." Elena agreed. The more Caroline sang, the more comfortable and confident she became and everyone started to sway to the music. In the middle of Caroline singing, Matt jumped up onto the stage and kissed her.
The audience cheered loudly as Ellie and Bonnie bounced in excitement. The crowd went wild again when Matt dropped Caroline into a low dip and kissed her again. It was only a few seconds before the couple disappeared off the stage and into the crowd where Ellie couldn't see. "That went well." Ellie said as she grinned.
"That it did." Jenna agreed as she took a drink of her beer.
Ellie lost Elena and Bonnie in the crowd, but luck was on her side as she spotted the two of them together near the bathroom. Elena was walking away, cell phone pressed to her ear, as Ellie approached. "Is everything all good?" Ellie asked as she pointed to her twin's retreating form.
"Oh, yeah, Stefan just called her." Bonnie said easily. "But uh, can I ask you something?"
"Of course."
Bonnie looked incredibly nervous. The witch wrung her hands together as she worked up her courage to ask, "Would you be ok if I wanted to date Jeremy?"
Ellie's eyes went wide in surprise. Had she really avoided everybody for so long that she didn't even recognize that one of her best friends and her baby brother were developing feelings for one another? It makes sense now why Luka had described him as being so defensive of Bonnie when he confronted them. She didn't know if it was the best idea, because she wasn't sure if Jeremy was really over Anna's death yet, but it wasn't her place to intervene. "Bonnie, you deserve to be happy and so does Jeremy. If being together is what makes the two of you happy, then by all means, you've got my blessing."
The witch pulled Ellie into a near bone crushing hug. "Thank you! You don't know how much that means to me." Bonnie said sincerely.
"Just treat him right ok? And I'll make sure to remind him to treat you right too." Ellie asked.
"I promise." Bonnie agreed.
When Ellie's phone began to vibrate in her back pocket, she pulled it and she was more than a little surprised to see Stefan's name displayed. "Hello?"
"Ellie, where are you right now?" Stefan sounded nearly frantic.
"I'm near the bathrooms." She told him as she walked closer to the bathroom and farther away from Bonnie. Oddly, the lights shot out, plunging The Grill into darkness.
"Go into the bathroom and wait for me and Elena. Right now." Stefan insisted.
"I'm going. Stefan what's going on?" Ellie asked as she rushed towards the bathroom. As she pushed the door open, she saw Stefan standing there with Elena and Caroline. She hung up the phone as she asked again, "What's going on?"
"Jonas is here and he's after Ellie and Elena." Stefan explained.
"What? Why?" Ellie asked in confusion.
Elena looked so sad as she revealed, "Luka's dead, Ellie."
Caroline supported Ellie's weight when her legs gave out from under her. "What? No, no, no, no, no, no what happened?"
"It's complicated and I'll explain later, but Ellie right now you and Elena are in a lot of danger." Stefan told her. "Now, we have a plan, but I have to get the two of you out of here."
"What can I do?" Caroline asked as Ellie managed to stand on her own.
"Stefan, Ellie, and I are gonna go out there and I'm gonna get his attention. Once he's got all of his focus on me, you can take him down." Elena explained.
"No! She can't kill him!" Ellie protested.
"She doesn't have to. All we need is for her to buy us enough time to get out of The Grill without him knowing which way we're going." Stefan promised. "She doesn't have to hurt him."
Caroline squeezed her hand in reassurance. "I won't hurt him, Ellie, I promise."
Screams broke out from outside and Ellie knew they were out of time. "Come on." Stefan said as he took a hold of both Ellie and Elena and pulled them from the bathroom.
Outside was chaos. Everyone was run and a fire was burning brightly across the bar. They pushed through the crowd to get to the older witch. "Dr. Martin!" Elena called. "I'm so sorry about Luka. I never wanted that to happen, but at least let us help you get your daughter back." She pleaded.
"Only Elijah can do that."
"You don't need Elijah." She told him. In response, the flames shot farther across the bar, growing hotter. Stefan pulled Elena closer to his chest and reached behind him to make sure that Ellie was also in his reach. Before Dr. Martin could do anything else, Caroline jumped out of nowhere and tackled Dr. Martin to the ground.
Stefan pulled them into an alley not far from The Grill. Damon and Katherine were already there waiting when they made far enough inside the alley that they wouldn't be seen. "What's going on?" Ellie asked as she looked over to Katherine.
"Jonas is more than likely gonna head to your house to try and ambush you there." Stefan explained. "He doesn't know that Katherine is still in town."
"So I'll be taking precious Elena's place to make sure the scary witch doesn't get her." Katherine's tone was clearly meant to mock Elena. "So I'll be needing that necklace."
Elena looked like she was going to protest, but Stefan didn't give her the chance. "She'll give it back Elena, and we need to make sure that nothing happens to the two of you." Stefan told her and she handed over her necklace reluctantly. "Elena, go with Damon. Ellie, you'll come with me and Katherine back to your house and Damon and Elena will be there not long after."
"But it's dangerous. Ellie could get hurt!" Elena said in protest.
Katherine scoffed at Elena. "You realize she's a witch that took Damon down with ease right? Which I find hilarious by the way." Katherine said with an amused grin.
Stefan gave Katherine a funny look but nodded. "She's right, Elena. Ellie will be fine and I'll be right there to make sure of it." Stefan assured her. "But we need to go." Elena looked reluctant, but finally nodded in agreement. "Come on, let's go." Katherine and Ellie followed after Stefan towards his car.
Ellie crawled into the back and let Katherine take the front seat as they headed home. Luka's death was weighing heavily on her and it was starting to feel like she was drowning all over again. Something in her heartbeat must have given her away because Katherine looked back towards her with something akin to worry in her eyes. The others still weren't really aware of Katherine and Ellie's friendship, and so it meant a great deal to see Katherine display concern when Stefan was right there.
They pulled into the driveway and relief flooded Ellie to see Bonnie's car parked in front of them. When Katherine opened the door, Ellie spotted Jeremy and Bonnie sitting at the table. They both walked over to the three of them as Katherine told them, "It's not over yet."
"What's going on?" Jeremy asked.
"He'll explain." Katherine said as Stefan shut the front door and she started to head upstairs.
"When did you guys get home?" Stefan inquired as Katherine disappeared out of view.
"A view minutes ago." Bonnie informed him.
Stefan did a quick glance around the room. "Did you check the house?"
"Why would we check the house?" Jeremy asked.
Ellie gave him a look. "Because you have a grieving father that happens to be a very powerful witch that has already broken into this house before like it was nothing." She said sarcastically. Stefan tugged on her sleeve slightly before he snapped his attention upstairs. "Oh god." She knew he heard something and she took off up the stairs as quickly as she could.
Stefan and Bonnie were running right behind her and they all stopped in the doorway of the bathroom where Dr. Martin was laying on the floor with a neck wound and Katherine stood licking her lips. "You're welcome." She told them.
Bonnie followed behind Ellie as they carefully stepped into the bathroom to kneel next to his body. "You didn't have to kill him!" Bonnie said as her eyes watered.
"Yes, we did." Katherine corrected.
Bonnie moved forward to close his eyes when Dr. Martin jerked upright and grabbed her face. Bonnie and Ellie both screamed in surprise as Katherine jerked Ellie into standing behind her. "No!" Ellie cried as Stefan snapped Dr. Martin's neck. "Dr. Martin…" Ellie struggled to control her tears.
"We need to get the mess taken care of before Jenna gets home." Stefan said as Bonnie left the room without another word. Katherine agreed, but Ellie remained silent. "Ellie, are you alright?"
She wasn't alright, but she didn't really want to talk about it at that moment either. "I think I need to sit down." She confessed and allowed Stefan to help her over to the stairs so that she could sit. Before he left, she grabbed his wrist. "Please be respectful of his body. He didn't deserve this."
"I will, I promise." Stefan assured her. She wasn't sure how long it was before Stefan was tapping her on the shoulder to tell her that he and Katherine were done. "Everything's taken care of." Stefan announced to Damon and Elena as they reached them.
"I'm guessing you're going to want this back." Katherine said sarcastically as she yanked the necklace off and dangled it in front of Elena. "But your pretty little outfit is gonna need a good dry clean."
Elena snatched the necklace away from the vampire before ignoring her entirely to say, "You're going to have to get her out of here before Jenna gets here."
Katherine looked mildly annoyed at the dismissal. "Is that all you have to say to me?" Katherine questioned.
"This doesn't change the way I feel about you." Elena told her.
"I don't much like you either, if we're going to be open." Katherine sassed and Ellie couldn't help but grin a little. "And frankly, I'd be happy to see you dead, but if we're gonna try and take on Klaus, we kinda need you to be alive. So I'm not a threat to you, Elena. If any of you are going to believe anything, believe that."
"You all should probably get going so that Jenna doesn't suspect anything." Ellie said but she shot Katherine a look that she was sure the vampire understood.
Damon nodded in agreement. "We probably should." It was probably the first they'd agreed on other than their dislike of John. Ellie wasn't even sure where Bonnie and Jeremy disappeared to.
Once the vampires left, Ellie didn't say anything to Elena, despite her twin calling to her. Her breath caught in her throat as her mind flooded with images of Dr. Martin's dead body. "Oh my god." She choked.
Ellie nearly screamed when hands grabbed at her, but when she saw Katherine before her, she collapsed into the vampire's arms and cried. "You have to breathe." Katherine said softly as she held the witch tightly. The last time Katherine had comforted someone like this was when her father had killed her younger sister's favorite horse as a punishment for spending too much time with one of the village boys. That had been before she'd ever gotten pregnant.
"They're dead. They're dead and I couldn't save them." Ellie sobbed as she buried her face into Katherine's neck. "They weren't supposed to die. He just wanted his daughter back. Klaus took her, they just wanted her back." Katherine tried to soothe the young girl, but even she knew that this would be something Ellie would probably just have to cry out.
"I'm sorry." Katherine apologized, and for once it was sincere. Maybe she wasn't necessarily sorry that they were dead, she would do what she had to do if they were a threat. She was, however, sorry that it hurt Ellie as much as it had. Katherine hadn't realized that Ellie had cared about them so much. "What can I do?"
Ellie took a few shaky breaths as she tried to think. Slowly, she pulled away just far enough to look at Katherine. "I want to bury them properly." Ellie finally said. "They don't deserve to be buried in an unmarked, shallow grave in the woods. They deserve respect."
In that moment, with a red nose and tear stained cheeks, all Katherine could see in Ellie was her little sister who came crying to her over the death of her horse. She might be Katherine's doppelgänger, but her mannerisms were so similar to Malina. "Of course we can bury them properly. Tomorrow we can go and I'll make sure they have what they deserve. But for now you need to calm down and breathe before you get sick."
"Will you stay a while?" Ellie asked as she hiccuped.
"Of course." Katherine agreed. They settled onto the bed and to Katherine's surprise, Ellie curled up around Katherine just the same as Malina once did. Maybe it was just the way little sisters curled up when they wanted comfort. Ellie was struggling to catch her breath, and to her surprise the act of comforting came back to her with ease. She stroked Ellie's hair as she sung the old Bulgarian lullabies her mother used to sing.
Slowly, but surely, Ellie's heartbeat slowed back down to a regular rate before she commented, "That sounds pretty." She looked up to Katherine and clarified, "The lullaby, it's pretty."
Katherine nodded in agreement. "My mama used to sing it to me and my sister when we were little. It was Malina's favorite song."
"Malina had good taste in lullabies." Ellie said softly.
"Yes, she did." Katherine confirmed. She started to shift away from Ellie as she asked, "Are you going to be ok? I should probably get back to the boarding house." Despite being upset, she knew that Katherine had stayed a good while.
So Ellie moved to stand as she said, "Yes. Thank you for being here though. I should go get cleaned up." Katherine gave her a small smile before she disappeared through the open window. Ellie went to the bathroom and tried to keep the images of Dr. Martin out of her head. Just as she was exiting the bathroom, the doorbell rang.
That was odd. It was pretty late, and there shouldn't be anyone coming over. She made her way to the bottom of the stairs as Jenna opened the door to reveal a somewhat familiar looking woman. "Hi, you must be Jenna." The woman said as her gaze shifted over to Ellie. "I'm Ellie and Elena's mother."
Her gaze shifted once more to something behind both Ellie and Jenna, and they turned to see Elena staring her down as she said, "Isobel."
Author's Note:
So, Dr. Martin and Luka are dead... it's unfortunate, but necessary. Also we got to see a different side to Katherine that I hope you all enjoyed. But please leave a review and let me know what you guys thought!
To Guest: Unfortunately, Elijah.
To RiRi: Honestly I don't understand why he stayed friends with Damon after everything he'd done. In all honesty, I do like Dalaric, but Damon's done a lot of stuff he never answered for. For the potential rape thing, I don't think he compelled her to have sex with him either, but he did compel her to not be afraid and to like him. And so I think if she was sleeping with him while he was influencing her opinion of him then it might classify as rape. Same goes for Andie, and we know he was sleeping with her while she was compelled. It is a bunch of bs saying it was an accident, but we all know how Elena is. They did dagger him, and at the very least Stefan does feel bad. Having Care, Jer, Jenna, and Kat going to New Orleans is a very interesting thought!
To Bronzelove: Lol, it won't be the last time she stands up for herself either.
To Oz: I'm glad you love her, and you're right, whether Elena realizes it or not she was manipulating everyone. I don't have any big things set in stone to change yet, it just kinda comes to me as I'm writing. Honestly her saying that was really a moment for everyone to intentionally be like wtf Elena. If you mean Bonnie getting her powers taken, no she absolutely deserved it. Yes! They are going to regret the mistakes they made with Ellie, and it'll probably be seen in Stefan first. I'm not trying to make the brothers like unforgivable villains, but they have made mistakes. And it's not written but I could definitely see them warning Elena so she doesn't lose Ellie.
To Daynesky: I'm glad you enjoyed it! I hope you liked this chapter as well.
To Guest(2): I'm not sure if it'll go extremely AU or not, I've not written that far ahead.
To afralmazouei: The confrontation was a long time coming, and won't be the last. I hope you enjoyed this new chapter, your reviews mean the world to me!
To Guest(3): They should be ashamed. And it's ok to not feel sorry for Bonnie, she messed up badly and had to pay the price. I didn't feel sorry for her when I was writing it, because Ellie and Luka are so close. Unfortuantely, I couldn't save Luka with the way things turned out. It was bad, but necessary.
To Mimi: It's partially because Ellie doesn't like him and they're mostly just butting heads. And Damon can be a bit arrogant, and so her hating him, for very valid reasons, just leads to him being worse to her. Honestly, I think Stefan went for the wrong sister, but it is what it is. Lol a lot of people have been saying for her to get the deed to the house so they can't get in. It's tempting.
To GreenTeaHoney: You're right. Ellie is very forgiving, but she definitely isn't going to just blindly trust them again. There's definitely going to be a scene where Ellie gets pissed enough at Damon to do something about it. It's coming, just you wait. Stefan's going to feel guilty about what he did, and it will eventually get addressed. She does have a small group that she absolutely trusts, and they will stick with her. Speaking of Ellie and Kat getting closer like sisters, I hope you enjoyed this chapter with their moments. I do intend for her to bond with the three Originals yes. Oh my gosh you definitely don't have to apologize for a long comment, I honestly love getting long comments, it means someone's really passionate about whatever they're talking about. As of right now, Ellie and Elena both have straight brunette hair. Thanks again for such a great review!
-Madame Magic
Posted: 10/10/20
