Chapter 53: The Ties That Bind
October 20, 2010
Elena's little stunt had more ramifications that she'd obviously anticipated. The day after Caroline's birthday, Jenna had gotten called to her school ungodly early. By the time she'd gotten back home, Jeremy was already gone. Neither Ellie nor Jenna had gotten to say goodbye to him. Ellie had stayed over at Caroline's after she'd been healed by Klaus' blood. She didn't know that Elena was sending him away so soon, if she had, she would have stopped her. It didn't really surprise Ellie that sending Jeremy away was Jenna's breaking point.
Never once had Jenna really yelled at anyone. She was the chill one. Jenna was the one that you could talk to about anything without her really judging you for it. But sending Jeremy away had been the last straw. She'd screamed, had actually raised her voice at Elena and Alaric, for their disregard to whatever her opinion might have been. It had been a big betrayal of trust. Clearly, like Ellie, she hadn't really forgiven them for lying about Isobel.
There was no way that she could have when she'd been upset and hurt enough to break up with Alaric. When she'd done it, Alaric had been trying to grab her arm to calm her down and he'd recoiled from her like he'd been burned. Neither Elena nor Ellie had expected that to come out of Jenna's mouth, but she'd said it with certainty. He'd tried to plead with Jenna, but she wasn't having it. Ellie and Elena watched in silence as Jenna reigned in her anger before telling Alaric to take his stuff and go.
They all knew that Jenna had hurt him when she'd told him that he wasn't the parent of the house, that she was, and that he'd had no right to make such a decision about one of her kids without her. Alaric had finally seemed to realize how badly he'd messed up as Jenna's expression went blank, concealing her emotions from them. He'd given in and packed his things and then left.
With the departure of both Jeremy and Alaric, an uncomfortable silence had taken hold of the house. Ellie didn't last two days before she'd sought the reprieve of Elijah's apartment. She and Jenna had been enraged at Elena's action, which meant that they'd both given her the cold shoulder. Good intentions or not, she'd had no right to do what she'd done. During their workouts with Katherine a couple days later, Jenna confessed that she too had left home and was once again staying in her dorm the way she had when Alaric and Elena had lied about Isobel.
Katherine hadn't been shy about her amusement of the situation. Well, she was amused by Elena getting the cold shoulder at least. "It's about time she gets a wake up call." Katherine said idly as she filed her nails. Ellie had spent most of her time with Katherine since Caroline's birthday.
She was still upset with Klaus for what he'd done to Alaric and Caroline, and for what he'd nearly done to Jeremy. Thankfully, though, he hadn't pushed her to spend time with him and had seemed sincere when he apologized for what he'd done. At the very least, he'd seemed more sincere than when Elena had apologized for all the lies she'd told. "You just hate her." Ellie commented as she inspected the collection of nail polish that Katherine had.
"You are absolutely right. I really do." Katherine confirmed with a grin. "It's not like she doesn't deserve it. She's as bad as me but acts like she's some innocent victim."
Ellie wasn't inclined to disagree, if she were honest with herself. Katherine never had any trouble stating her opinion about Elena, and typically added a comment reminding Ellie that she was Katherine's favorite. "What is it about her that has you hating her so much? Because you hated her before you ever really interacted with her."
Katherine shrugged as she leaned back on her couch. Apparently, Katherine had, at some point, acquired herself a house on the outskirts of town. It was nice and modest, very un-Katherine of her, but that also made it less likely for anyone to find her here. "Maybe I just hate her because I have the amazing ability to tell when someone isn't that great of a person." She said.
"Or… maybe it's because Stefan's in love with her and you're in love with Stefan?" Ellie commented casually and watched as Katherine tensed.
"What did you say?" Katherine was a bit stiff, and had paused in the middle of her movement.
"You're in love with him? Right?" Ellie asked as she carefully kept watch of her tone. She didn't want Katherine to think that it was an accusation.
"Now why would you think that?" Katherine questioned as she kicked her feet up onto her coffee table.
Ellie walked over to the couch and pulled her feet up as she observed the vampire. "Because, you're terrified of Klaus. You wanted nothing more than for him to die because of what he did to you and your family five hundred years ago. You even went so far as to stand in for Elena so that nothing went wrong and I know you'd love to see her dead. And yes, while you might have loved Damon at one point, and you probably do still care about him to some extent, I don't think that alone is enough for you."
"Mmhmm…" Katherine nodded as she hummed.
It was clear she was trying to feign nonchalance, so Ellie continued. "But you loved Stefan back when they were human. Enough to turn him into a vampire. I think that the thought of Stefan losing the only family he has, the thought that it would hurt him… I think that's why you agreed when I asked you to. I think you still love him and because he loves Elena you hate her, because you think she stole him from you."
"You sound very confident in that." Katherine replied.
"Because I think I'm right." Ellie told her. "There's nothing wrong with it if that's why you hate Elena. It's honestly a pretty normal girl thing in all honesty. But we're friends, right? You can talk to me about it."
Katherine sighed heavily. "It doesn't matter. He's in love with Elena. What's the point of wanting someone that doesn't care about you?"
Ellie lit up. "So you do still love him!" She said in excitement. "And who says he doesn't care about you?"
"What makes you think he does?" Katherine asked.
"Like I said the night of homecoming, he followed me and Elena around for months because we looked like you. That's got to mean something, right?" Ellie asked. "Plus, you're the one that got him on our side. He listened to you when you warned him. I think his humanity is back on, he's just got it dialed to hate."
Katherine felt conflicted. It was true that she did still love Stefan. She'd come back to Mystic Falls for him and had been enraged to see that stupid human Elena had taken his heart from her. She wasn't so naive as to think he'd spent all this time still in love with her. No, that had been Damon. But it didn't mean that her feelings had changed. Stefan had been an innocent love. He had wanted nothing from her but her love and affection. He'd taken things at her pace, never pushing for more than she was willing to give.
While she'd enjoyed what she had with Damon, and he'd been the more aggressive of the two brothers, there was something about Stefan. It wasn't like she was something fragile, but Stefan had treated her with a gentleness that she was not accustomed to. No one in her five hundreds years had treated her with such reverence, not even the man she'd loved enough to bear a child with. Stefan had treated her like she was the most precious thing in the world to him. While she wasn't sure if she had been his first or if she'd even been the first girl he'd held an affection for, he had treated her like she was everything.
When Klaus had courted her, it had been because he wanted to sacrifice her, because he'd wanted her blood. When Elijah had courted her, while it had seemed like he'd truly cared for her, what he felt for her wasn't enough to protect her from Klaus. Even if Elijah had cared for her as much as he'd made it seem, he'd loved Klaus more than he would ever love her. She would never come first for him. When Damon had courted her, it had been caused, in part, by an undeniable sexual attraction. He'd lusted for her, and that had turned to love.
But Stefan, with Stefan he'd been satisfied just to be graced by her presence. He'd been happy just to walk through the gardens and speak with her. Even the most fleeting of touches had made him happy. When Damon had been off at war, she and Stefan had spent time in the parlor discussing books. He'd always encouraged her opinions. They'd spend ages walking across the property as they discussed their hopes and dreams. He'd had a light in him. It was special and pure and bright and as cruel as Katherine could be, she'd have done anything to keep that light from going out.
Katherine had been through enough to not be so foolish as to let herself hope, but she trusted Ellie enough to know that the girl would not reveal the nature of her lingering affections to anyone. "Well, I suppose time will tell what Stefan actually feels." She said lightly, as if it wouldn't bother her either way. "But what about you and Stefan?"
Ellie tilted her head in confusion. "Me and Stefan? What about me and Stefan?"
"Don't think I didn't know how close you guys were before we ended up back in Mystic Falls." Katherine told her. "You haven't fallen for his charms now, have you?"
Ellie couldn't help the unladylike snort that came from her. "No, I haven't 'fallen for his charms'." Ellie assured the other girl. Her laughter died down as the reason for her closeness to Stefan pushed itself to the front of her mind. "Do you wanna know why Stefan and I are closer now than we were before?"
"Of course." Katherine said, though it was without her usual sass.
"After the sacrifice, I was struggling. John was dead, I'd had to leave my family, and a woman who had done nothing wrong died because I saved Jenna." Ellie said as she pulled her knees up to her chest. "And while Klaus wasn't nearly as bad as I thought he'd be, there were times that our search got really difficult for me."
"What do you mean?"
"Klaus never made me watch the murders, but sometimes I couldn't get far enough away fast enough and I'd still have to hear them scream. There was one night that we'd been searching and they had this girl. They were trying to get information out of her. Klaus sent me away when they'd gotten what they wanted and she screamed for me. She'd called me by my name. I had to listen to her beg me for help before the pain got to her and all she could do was scream and scream and scream."
"Ellie…" Katherine had reached over to take a hold of one of Ellie's shaking hands.
"We'd been in a hotel and Klaus had gone off somewhere. I had a panic attack. It was like I couldn't focus on any of my surroundings. It felt like I was drowning. Stefan was there. He was so good. I remember him grabbing my face to force me to look at him. He kept talking until I could actually hear him. He kept going until it didn't feel like my heart was going to explode. Once my breathing was somewhat normal, the horror kind of set in. I broke down in tears. He just held me as I cried." Ellie explained, the words tumbling out of her mouth like she couldn't stop it even if she tried.
"Jesus Christ." Katherine said softly. She knew there was no way that Ellie would have made it out of being stuck with Klaus unscathed. She wasn't sure if this was worse than what she'd expected to happen, or better.
"After that, Stefan was worried about me. He tried his best to make sure I was ok. Klaus was more focused on Stefan becoming the Ripper than focusing on me." Ellie confessed. "I figured out Stefan's tells. I knew when he was struggling and I wanted to make it better for him like he'd done for me. It's kinda hard to not be close when Stefan was the only one I could trust without reservations."
"You were lucky to have him with you." Katherine agreed. "He was lucky to have you." She had been worried about the two of them in all honesty. She had to keep a careful distance so that she wouldn't be found out by Klaus, but she'd watched them from afar. Knowing what she did now, it made a lot of sense that she and Stefan were close. Ellie had the same light in her that Stefan did. There was something pure about them both, even when they'd done and seen bad things.
Ellie scoffed slightly. "I don't think I'd be able to tell Elena that." She admitted. "I think she would somehow find something to judge. God knows it seems to be her favorite pastime."
"Which is funny, because even with all the bad things I've done, I wouldn't have compelled my little sister away." Katherine told her.
Ellie had just gotten home from Katherine's when her phone rang. "Hello?"
"Hey, Ellie, are you busy?" Sheriff Forbes asked.
She placed down her bag as she sat on the arm of the couch. "Not really, I just got home. Is something wrong?" She asked worriedly.
"No, no, nothing like that. I think this might actually be a good thing. Do you think you could come by the house? I'm at work and I think I might need you to play mediator." Sheriff Forbes replied.
"Mediator?" Ellie asked curiously. "For what?"
"Tyler asked me to call Bill. He wants to break the sire bond because he hurt Caroline. I don't know how she's gonna react to them at the house. I figured you could help." She explained.
"Yeah, of course. I'll head over there now." Ellie promised.
"Thank you so much. I have to get back to work, but thank you for helping me out."
"Anytime, Sheriff." It was only after Ellie had hung up that she realized that she'd called Elijah's apartment home. She startled slightly at the realization. Instead of trying to understand why she'd thought of the apartment in such a manner, she grabbed her things and headed out. When she arrived at Caroline's there was only one car in the drive. It was unfamiliar, so she assumed it was most likely Bill's. "Hello?" She called as she walked inside.
Tyler appeared from the living room. "Ellie!" He called in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"Sheriff Forbes asked me to come play mediator." Ellie replied. She noticed Mr. Forbes standing just behind Tyler. "Hi Mr. Forbes. It's nice to see you again."
She hadn't seen him since he'd divorced the sheriff. "It's nice to see you too, Ellie."
"If I could ask, why exactly did Tyler go to you for help?" Ellie asked. At his surprised expression, Ellie added, "I haven't exactly been kept in the loop lately."
He nodded his head in understanding. "Ah yes, Tyler mentioned it. He said they were worried about where you stood with Klaus." Mr. Forbes said as she jolted slightly in surprise. They were worried about that? Did they actually think that she'd let Klaus hurt them? "Tyler asked for my help to break the sire bond because I have the ability to resist compulsion."
"You can… how can you do that?" Ellie asked in shock.
"With training." He said confidently. There was the sound of a car pulling in the drive. "That'll be Caroline. Let's give her and Tyler a moment, shall we?"
Ellie allowed him to lead her into the kitchen as the front door opened. "What are you doing here?" Caroline asked as she spotted Tyler.
"I came to apologize." Tyler replied.
"Apologize?" Caroline asked in disbelief. "You bit me. I could have died. I think we're way past apologies, Tyler."
"That's the problem. Klaus told me to do it and I said no. And then, it just happened anyway. Like it was completely out of my control." Tyler explained. "That's why I had your mom call him."
"Daddy?" Caroline asked softly.
"Hi, Caroline."
"I thought since he could resist compulsion, maybe he could teach me to resist a sire bond." Tyler added.
"Can you help him?" Caroline questioned.
"I'm gonna try."
"Why?"
"Because he made a mistake. And now he wants to make good. And I understand that." Mr. Forbes said. It was obvious that he was referring to something specific, but Ellie didn't know what.
Ellie, who was going to do exactly what Sheriff Forbes asked and play mediator, stepped towards Caroline before turning back to her dad. "So what exactly are we going to do?" She asked.
"We're going to go to the Lockwood cellars where we won't be interrupted." Mr. Forbes explained. Caroline looked skeptical, but she didn't protest. When they arrived at the cellar, Ellie could guess what the plan was as Tyler pulled off his jacket and shirt. "To break the bond, Tyler needs to shift."
Caroline was clearly unhappy at the thought of it. "How do you know this is going to work?" She asked her father as he helped chain Tyler up.
"It's a process. It took decades to train myself to resist compulsion. The brain's like a muscle. The more you use it, the more it can do. A sire bond, at its core, is about one thing… gratitude. If you believe you owe Klaus your life, ask yourself why?"
"I was cursed." Tyler replied. "Every full moon, I had to change into a wolf. It was torture. Klaus took that away."
"He freed you from your pain and you feel indebted to him. To break the sire bond, you've got to make yourself turn. Own your pain, then you'll owe Klaus nothing and you'll be free." Mr. Forbes said.
"But how can he turn?" Caroline asked. "It's not a full moon."
"He doesn't need one. You're a hybrid now, right? I mean, you can turn at will or not, am I right?"
"Yeah, but I don't know how to just… start." Tyler confessed.
"Now you're making excuses."
Mr. Forbes tightened some of the restraints holding Tyler. "You don't understand! When I turn, I break every bone in my body."
"You asked for my help. This is the only way." Mr. Forbes said sharply before leaning close to Tyler. "How badly do you want your freedom?"
Tyler turned to look at Caroline and the sight of her seemed to strengthen his resolve. "Ok." He agreed.
"Ok." Mr. Forbes repeated as he stepped away from Tyler to stand next to Caroline. Tyler backed away from them, yanking on the chains to check that they were secure. There was a pause before he started to breathe heavier and his eyes shot wide open, his natural brown replaced with an unnatural yellow. Ellie flinched as Tyler's arm twisted at an odd angle. It cracked as he cried out in pain.
"Oh my god." Ellie said in horror as she listened to his bones break sharply. She'd seen it happen before, but somehow with it being Tyler it was worse. She stepped closer to Caroline, holding the girl close as she struggled to watch him suffer. Tyler collapsed to the ground and so did Caroline. The blonde was biting her nails anxiously as Tyler cried.
"I can't. I can't." Tyler panted.
"Try harder." Mr. Forbes said coldly.
"Can't he just rest for one second?" Caroline asked as she stood up.
Mr. Forbes was focused on the task at hand and snapped, "We're doing this my way, Caroline. If you can't handle it, you should go."
"He's right, Caroline. Just go." Tyler insisted.
"What? No! Tyler!"
"Go, Caroline. Ellie you too." He told them.
Ellie looked over at Caroline before looking at Mr. Forbes' pleading expression, before pulling the blonde towards the door. "You've got this, Ty." Ellie said encouragingly before pulling Caroline away. "Come on."
Caroline let Ellie pull her away and they sat down not far from the entrance. "This is awful."
"Yeah, yeah it is." Ellie agreed as they heard Tyler cry out again. "What was your dad talking about when he was talking about knowing where Tyler was coming from, about fixing a mistake?"
Caroline tensed slightly before it drained away. "When Mrs. Lockwood found out that I was a vampire, she called my dad. He um, he tried to force me to be able to resist the desire for blood." She stuttered slightly as she stumbled over her words.
"Force you… how?" Ellie asked worriedly.
It seemed like Caroline didn't really want to answer before she sighed and confessed, "Something similar to this, but a step closer to torture."
"Caroline." Ellie pressed.
"He took my daylight ring and opened a window when I couldn't control myself."
"Oh, Care…" Ellie said softly as she reached out to hug Caroline. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"You'd spent your summer with a psychopathic hybrid that was killing people left and right. I guess it just didn't seem as important. You were going through a lot, I didn't want to make it worse." Caroline told her.
Ellie pulled away sharply and waited for Caroline to look at her before she said, "Caroline Forbes, you are my best friend. Don't ever think that you can't talk to me. There is nothing that I could go through that would make me not want to be there for you. You got it?"
Her expression must have been ridiculously intense, because Caroline ended up smiling. "Yes, I got it." She agreed. "I love you."
"I love you too." After that, they sat together in relative peace as they waited. There weren't as many cries of pain coming from the cellar, but the ones that they heard were desperate and pain filled. Somehow a more painful cry was worse than several cries.
"I can't stand to listen to this." Caroline confessed as she stood.
"Your dad probably meant for us to leave." Ellie told her. "They can just call us when they're done, and we can come back and pick them up." She suggested.
They'd been at Caroline's for a while when Ellie's phone began to ring again. "Hello." Ellie said as she answered the call.
"Hello, love." Klaus greeted. Something had him in a good mood, the tone of his voice gave it away. "How would you like coming on a trip with me?"
"A trip where?" Ellie asked tiredly. "You had Tyler bite Caroline and nearly killed my brother if not for Alaric. You did kill Alaric. We're not exactly best buddies at the moment, Klaus." She reminded him.
"Would I earn back a bit of your favor if I told you we were going to go get Elijah?" Klaus asked.
"What?" Ellie said in shock as she looked over to Caroline. It didn't seem like Caroline knew what he was talking about either. "What are you talking about?"
"I've just discovered the location of Elijah and the rest of my siblings. It's clear from the way you speak of my dear older brother that you hold him in high regards. I was simply curious as to whether or not you'd like to tag along as I go to retrieve them." Klaus told her. His tone was so smug that she could just see him smirking even though she wasn't there.
It took a moment for her brain to really process what he'd told her before she replied, "Yes. Yes, I want to go."
"Where are you? I'll come pick you up."
She looked over to Caroline for permission before saying anything. Once Caroline nodded her head to let her know it was alright, she told him, "I'm at Caroline's. I'll come out to the car to meet you. There's no need for you to piss her off with your presence."
"Fair enough. I'm on my way." Klaus said before he hung up the phone.
"How did he find out where they were?" Caroline asked curiously.
"I have no idea." Ellie confessed. "Do you know where they are? Or where Stefan is?"
The blonde shook her head. "No, if the others knew anything, they never said anything to me about it." After a pause, she added, "Thanks for telling him not to come to the door. I really didn't want to see him."
Ellie gave her a soft smile. "I didn't figure that you would after what he did. I'm sorry about that, by the way. I had no clue that he'd told Tyler to do that. I would have tried to stop it if I had known."
"You can't control Klaus. You're not responsible for his actions either; I know that. You're just in a weird situation that you got into because you saved Jenna. I'd be a pretty crappy friend if I just ignored that and gave you the cold shoulder or something." Caroline shrugged.
"That means a lot to me, Care. It really does. I feel like Elena somehow thinks that I'm like blindly loyal to Klaus or something now. You know she basically told me nothing about the whole plan with Klaus. She daggered Rebekah and didn't even tell me." Ellie huffed. "She doesn't tell me anything anymore as if I'm the irrational one."
"You're still mad at her for what she did to Jeremy." Caroline said, though it came out more as a statement than a question.
"Yeah, I'm really mad. I don't even know where he is, Care. She didn't tell me, and it's not like I've actually wanted to be at home lately, so we haven't really had much time to talk anyways." Ellie explained.
"I don't blame you for being mad. I might not have said anything during my birthday, because I was moping, but she was out of line and definitely shouldn't have done it without telling you or Jenna." Caroline replied. "You're right to be angry. I know I haven't been the best best friend lately, but I'm still on your side."
Ellie smiled softly at Caroline before reaching over to hug her. "You're the best best friend in the whole world. Don't you ever doubt that." Ellie assured her. The girls broke into laughter at her statement, and enjoyed their few moments of peace before they heard a car pull into the drive.
"That'll be Klaus." Caroline said as she and Ellie stood. "You gonna be ok?"
"Yeah, I will be." Ellie promised. She headed outside and quickly slid into the passenger seat. "Where are they?" She asked him curiously as he pulled out of the drive. "How did you find them?"
Klaus was grinning. "I have my methods, love. Pesky little witches love to intervene." He told her. "Stefan wasn't as crafty as he thought." It wasn't long before Ellie recognized where they were headed, but she didn't mention it. She should have known that the witches would have helped Stefan hide the coffins. They hated Klaus as much as Stefan did. "Let's go. It seems like no one is home." He told her.
"Yeah." Ellie agreed as she followed him inside. It was dark, but Ellie could feel the presence of the other witches and their magic. They headed down to the basement, but there were no coffins in sight. "Where are they?"
"We'll find out." Klaus said darkly. "Come." He pulled her into the shadows and they waited. It wasn't long before they heard someone enter. Damon appeared a moment later, looking around the basement with wide eyes. "What took you so long?" He asked as they walked out of the shadows. "Hiding behind your witchy friends and in squalor, no less."
The flames of the candles shot unnaturally high as Klaus dropped to the ground, screaming in pain and holding his head. Ellie couldn't help but snort slightly. The witches took great offense to being insulted. Even Damon was grinning. "Insulting a bunch of dead witches… not smart. I made the exact same mistake the first time I came in here." Damon informed him.
"Well, you know the funny thing about witches is that living or dead, they care about their own." Klaus said before he groaned as the flames shot higher. "A hundred dead witches have a thousand living descendants…" A guttural scream came from him as Ellie felt the magic whipping around them. "And I have no problem killing every last one of them if I don't get my coffins back." He threatened as he forced himself to his feet. "As we speak, my hybrid friend is prepared to end the Bennett line."
"What?" Ellie asked him as the candles died down.
Klaus ignored her, walking over to Damon and getting in his face. "Now, please… show me the coffins." It felt like a veil dropped and with the blink of an eye, three coffins appeared out of nowhere. "Here we are." Klaus said in pleasure before he stopped. "Where's the fourth?" Damon just grinned. "Show me!" Klaus demanded.
"Well, eh, here's the thing. They can't. It's not here." Damon informed him.
"What did you do?" Klaus asked.
"Well, Bonnie gave me the heads up. I mean, I didn't have enough time to get all four, but I did have time to get one." Damon confessed.
There was something going on that Ellie didn't know about. "I will tear you limb from limb." Klaus threatened. "And only then, when you are a writhing mass of blood and flesh, will I rip your heart from your chest." It was the first time in a while that Ellie was reminded of how dangerous Klaus really was, but Damon seemed unbothered.
"Sorry. Same rules apply. Leverage and all. I know you want your family back, but something tells me you want what's in that coffin a lot more." Damon said smugly. "See you later, Sabrina." With that, Damon was gone.
"What's in the fourth coffin?" Ellie asked curiously.
"It doesn't matter." Klaus snapped irritably. "We need to get these coffins out of here." He whipped out his phone and sent a text to someone. "The truck will be here soon. We'll take them home." There was a sudden curiosity about his other siblings, and she was tempted to open the other coffins, but resisted the urge. Now that the fourth coffin was missing, it was possible Klaus would be in a mood and she didn't feel like having him get angry with her.
A blonde hybrid was there not long after Klaus said that he was on his way. "I've got the truck just outside the house but it'll take a minute to get them up the stairs without damaging them." He explained.
Klaus turned to Ellie. "You can help speed along the process, can you not?" He asked.
"Yeah, I can. Just tell me where to take them." Ellie said. With a wave of her hand, the coffins began to float. The hybrid walked up the stairs first with the coffins floating carefully behind him and Ellie and Klaus at the back. "Where do you want me to put them?" She asked once they were all outside.
The hybrid instructed her on where to place the coffins and once he and Klaus were satisfied, they pulled the truck closed. "Let's go then." Klaus said. "We'll meet you at the house." The hybrid went ahead and drove off carefully as Ellie and Klaus walked back to where he'd parked the car. Ellie wanted to ask him again about the fourth coffin but knew it wouldn't go well.
When they arrived at the mansion, the hybrid was already there and was coming outside with trolleys to take the coffins inside. She followed Klaus inside and watched as the hybrid brought them in. As he brought in the last coffin the hybrid said, "You've got your family back. Finally. Are you going to open them?"
"Not quite yet." Klaus said with a smile.
Ellie whipped around and looked at him with wide eyes. "What? I thought you were going to undagger them." She asked.
"I still have some unfinished business to take care of." He told the hybrid. Ellie felt annoyance settle in. She shouldn't have been so stupid as to think he'd actually undagger them.
He started to walk off, and Ellie rushed after him. "What business?" The hybrid asked curiously.
Klaus turned, most likely to tell the hybrid off when the hybrid let out a groan of pain. Ellie turned to look at him but watched as he fell to the ground. Her jaw dropped as she spotted Elijah standing just behind the hybrid, a bloody heart in his hand. "So Niklaus…"
"Elijah?" Klaus actually looked fearful as Elijah stepped towards them.
"What'd I miss?"
Author's Note:
Sorry for this being a little late, wasn't letting me get onto my profile. Since we've had a couple issues before with being able to post, would you guys like it if I made a twitter account so that I could let you know about any site errors that could mess with posting? It would also be another way for us to interact and for me to be able to give you updates about upcoming chapters or other things? As always, please leave a review and let me know what you thought.
To Kipppling: I can't remember if anyone's asked either, but the way I think of it is that Klaus holds Ellie in a higher regard than he does Elena, which makes it easier to treat Elena as a blood bag. Plus, as of right now, Klaus hasn't tested the theory of whether or not Ellie's blood would work to make hybrids. He kind of sees them as Ellie being his witch and Elena being his blood bag. I'm glad their reactions are realistic but I agree that it gets tiring to deal with. She's absolutely annoying.
To xenocanaan: Lol, you're probably right! I agree honestly, but I think making her as moral as she is will make it all the better when she's pushed to her breaking point. But I agree that Stefan needs to stop letting them drag him into their messes. Unfortunately, Jeremy did leave, but it was necessary.
To RiaChan: I'm glad you enjoyed. Klaroline is one of the best ships period. Elena really is annoying, I can't stand her.
To brigitm28: Yes, her being able to protect herself was something completely necessary. Yes, she really compelled Jeremy to leave without Jenna's knowledge. Ellie exploding on Elena is always so much fun to write and you're right, it's not like she's being unnecessarily cruel and saying things that aren't true, she's just being honest. Caroline deserves the world. While Klaus is developing, there are still some royal fuck ups in the future.
To animefreak112097: She's really not.
To Guest: I know what you mean, sometimes it is a little slow, but I'm glad the pace picked back up for you! The wait is over! Elijah has returned!
To flawsome4ever: Someone absolutely needs to put Elena in her place!
To Hayley: Yes, this is true! Klaus just hasn't tested the theory yet to see if it actually works. Currently the way he sees it is that Ellie is his witch and Elena is his blood bag.
To Oz: I know what you mean! But Ellie still loves Elena even when she's mad at her and she was really scared that she was going to die. I definitely agree though that they'd be better off without being around Elena and her drama all the time. You were right on the money with Jenna breaking up with Alaric though! Oh, Ellie's definitely going to ship it, but it's going to take time because there's still going to be moments where he really fucks up. Hopefully, when we get to Hayley, I can write her in a way that you like! Movie night would be so much fun! It's still going to be a while, because Katherine doesn't want to get murdered by Klaus. I'm currently writing in season four right now and other than Jenna, she hasn't really interacted with the others. Elena is definitely the weak one. Elena probably is bitter. I could see her being even more bitter if Stefan started siding with Ellie.
To RiRi: Elena told Bonnie and not Ellie because she knew that Bonnie would give in and do as Elena told her. Ellie wouldn't have. Jenna's currently working on her college degree, and so she's had to be at school a lot for her work, which is why she isn't always at the house. Her telling Elena that would surely piss Elena off lol. Stefan is messing up a bit, but don't worry, Ellie isn't going to give up on him like Elena did.
To lolistarkiller: Lol, I know I answered this in your pm, but she didn't know it was them because identifying a witch's magic signature is an incredibly hard feat to do. Klaus, while he's getting better, hasn't reached that level yet, but don't worry, they'll be back soon. Probably, at some point, Bekah and Kat will have to put their differences aside to help Ellie, I just don't know when that'll be.
To Guest(2): Lol, they were definitely getting all the tea.
To TheVulcanNora: I can't wait for the Originals to be awake either! As for the show, I don't think I'm going to do the Hollow arc, I haven't seen it all, but if that's what kills the Originals, then no, I won't be doing that. I also have some plans for like Ellie's relationships with Marcel and Davina. I have plans, but I won't spoil them all lol.
To Guest(3): Ok, I'm absolutely obsessed with that idea. I literally love it and will most likely incorporate that into the story at some point! I think I just figured out how that shift could happen. I've already written into season four, so you'll likely see it some point in that season. Thank you for such an amazing idea!
To skyellebaby: They're definitely going to be bonding more. A lot of their bonding has come not necessarily from them talking about stuff, but just the way they are around one another. Klaus and Ellie are definitely going to end up acting like siblings, which means Klaus will be making mistakes with her as well. Oh I've written out full on fights between Ellie and Klaus now, so she will definitely tear him a new one at some point! I'll have to write in more Jer and Ellie bonding, she's just been so busy that she hasn't gotten much time with him.
To cocobyrd87: Lol, she's definitely going to get put into her place more than once! The fact that you had to stop watching the show, but you still enjoy this story makes me so happy lol.
To AdiraBraelynn: I love their sistership too! You get a bit more of this chapter will Kat kind of opening up about her feelings for Stefan. Oh, Jenna's pissed at Alaric and there's definitely going to be moments where Jen takes on a more serious parental role when Elena messes up. They really do need someone that has their backs! I love the Mikaelsons. Elena gets on my nerves too lol. Honestly, Damon and Elena do need their asses kicked. Klaus is learning, but there's still a few big mistakes that he's going to make. Elijah is back! And we'll be seeing a lot more of him next chapter! He's definitely turning into her calm anchor. Kol and Ellie are so much fun together I love writing them together.
-Madame Magic
Posted: 1/30/21
