Gilbert Residence
November 1, 2010

Jeremy's brain wasn't fully awake as he inadvertently mimicked the walking dead gait down the stairs only sober up just enough to find a scene playing out in his kitchen that wouldn't seem out of place on the AMC TV Series, and sadly his life now in his hometown of Mystic Falls as well. He was tempted just to return to bed, but he had classes to get ready for. It didn't help that his history teacher and part-time guardian was also a semi-retired vampire hunter. So it wasn't much of a surprise for him to find Ric pointing a loaded crossbow at Katherine. Who, as far as he could tell, didn't seem phased in the slightest and based on the smirk on her face, seemed rather amused by the whole affair. Oh yes, he was definitely going to need coffee this morning and the blacker the better.

"Morning Ric, I didn't hear you come in. Did you forget something?" It still hurt that Ric had moved back to his apartment recently.

"Jeremy, that isn't Elena! It's Katherine!" Ric warned.

Jeremy didn't know what type of game she was playing, considering she was dressed up once again as his sister. He made a point of not accepting the empty mug she held out for him. As if he was going to take anything from her without really checking it first.

Reaching for his favorite mug, which sadly once belonged to his dad, and after pouring a generous amount of the life-giving hot liquid, he dug into his jean pocket to fish out a small vial of clear liquid. He then proceeded to pour a small portion of it into his coffee. Vervain laced coffee tasted off if you added milk, so he'd started to take it black and found he preferred it that way.

"I know that. She's been crashing here for some nefarious reason of hers for the last two nights. So Ric, do you want some coffee before school?" Jeremy asked. He had a rather long night last night, taking care of moving foodstuffs and other supplies for Bonnie and her mother. Bonnie had given him a protective charm to wear, but he'd forgotten to put it on. He really needed to play dumb until he could go back upstairs to retrieve it.

"Jeremy!?" Ric asked, then switched his attention back to the vampire in the kitchen.

"Did you compel him?" Ric demanded.

"Uhh… No! You did just see him put vervain in his coffee just now, right?" Katherine scoffed and pointed to the Jeremy's mug in annoyance.

"Do you take me for a fool, Katherine? You could have just as easily tampered with it too!" Ric retorted. Katherine had, until he dared to call her a fool, something she wasn't after finding her own family murdered by Klaus's hands, enjoyed the tit for tat interplay long enough and sighed. They weren't getting anywhere fast. Finishing off her cup of coffee, which she was tempted to point out to the amateur vampire hunter if he bothered to check, was also laced with vervain thanks to the presence of a certain homicidal original hybrid- she wasn't taking any chances, either. If there was a way to gain a permanent protection from compulsion, she'd jump at the chance. She found being drained of vervain by exsanguination to the point of dessication wasn't something she ever wanted to experience again in her immortal life.

"And I could just as easily have slipped his Gilbert Ring off his finger as well. Have you checked recently?"

"Huh… What are-" Jeremy started, but made the mistake of checking his finger. That was the opening she needed and she moved to put herself directly behind Elena's brother with an arm wrapped around his neck.

"Let him go!" Ric ordered.

"Lower your crossbow and I will consider it," Katherine shot back.

"Will the two of you knock it off! I really don't want to deal with this right now! Not to mention that I really need to get ready for school, for Christ's sake! Look, all I know Katherine is pretending to be Elena until she can be located and brought safely home. Then hopefully life can go back to normal… Well, normal for us, I mean! Besides, what have you been doing all week, Ric? I swear you've been distant for days. What the hell's gotten into you?" Jeremy shouted.

Ric lowered his crossbow, looking rather dumbfounded at his would-be protege. If Jeremy had to guess, his on and off again guardian must be trying to understand why was he acting like this?

"Jer?"

"Look Ric, I'm just sick of it! And seriously. Would you fucking mind letting go of me, Katherine?"

"Fine!" Katherine muttered and, acting as if nothing had really happened, she made a show of it as she sidestepped away.

Jeremy knew the instant before he heard the sound of the whoosh of air as Katherine returned to her former position behind him. Of course, he shouldn't have been surprised, considering both of them had been just waiting for an opening like this. His friend and mentor, Ric, had snapped his crossbow up and fired from the hip. Either his aim was off or, most likely, the vampire Doppelgänger of his sister was much faster than either human realized. To their amazement she easily caught the bolt mere inches away from her chest and now it was poised right at the juncture where his neck was attached to his body before she waved the lethal end around like she was scolding a pair of misbehaving children.

"Ah… Ah… Ah… Now drop your little toy and don't think of trying anything else. Or Elena's little brother is going to be late for school, considering thanks to his ring he'll be recovering from a snapped neck. Really inconvenient, I would think." Katherine said rather tartly.

To his relief, Jeremy watched as his friend allowed the weapon to fall from his grasp onto the wood floor. Once Katherine was satisfied with their detente, she released Jeremy and picked up her empty mug and placed it in the sink before returning her attention to Jeremy again, with a concerted look on her face.

"Oh! Little brother, while you're out doing your little school thingy, would you mind picking up some decent food? All you have in this place is junk food. Honestly, I don't know why you humans put that nasty preprocessed stuff into your bodies. It is going to kill all of you at some point," Katherine stated in her usual condescending tone she'd perfected over the centuries.

"Gotta run; don't want to be late for class," Kathrine beamed and before either of them could say anything, she was gone. They stood there for a minute before Jeremy sighed and looked at his mentor.

"So seriously, Ric, what the hell's been up with you lately?" Jeremy asked and after a moment of tense silence, Ric sighed and started to explain.


Salvatore Boarding House
November 1, 2010

One of the best things Katherine enjoyed about being a five hundred-year-old vampire was that, while she wasn't on par with any of the Originals in most categories, she was more than a match for her two Salvatore brothers. Her senses were far more sensitive than either younger vampire, so she wasn't surprised to hear the slower heart beat of two vampires inside the Salvatore Boarding House when she stealthily entered the premises. She was a little frustrated that her deception of pretending to be Elena Gilbert had been spoiled by her need to break her cover just to get most of Klaus' coffins back to him.

Expecting to hear the two brothers pushing each other's buttons, she just listened but discovered that she'd been half right in one of the heartbeats was a Salvatore and the other was a complete stranger. Curious, she decided to hold off revealing herself.

"So this is the place that Joseph Salvatore had renovated and essentially sold you to the Augustine Society as a lab rat to pay his debt he accumulated fixing up the place. What an utter arsehole!" a British voice spoke first. Katherine stiffen but relaxed when she quickly realized that it wasn't Klaus; she hated that she had a Pavlov induced reaction.

"Yep, the only good thing is that I managed to kill my traitorous relative before he could collect a dime from the former Doctor Westfield," Damon added. Katherine could only listen. She didn't know who this Westfield was or what this Augustine Society was, but it didn't sound like she wanted to encounter whatever this so-called society was.

"Look Enzo, I'm sorry that I left you behind like that. I know it is a pathetic excuse, but I panicked when the fire started getting worse. I did the only thing I could think of," Damon's voice changed and even from where Katherine was listening in she could hear the raw emotion in his attempt at an apology. It only served to pique her growing curiosity as to what happened between them.

"Damon, while I'm thankful that you and your friend saved me, I'm still pissed at you for abandoning me like that for all these decades. You are going to have to pay me back for the hell I've had to endure there. So for starters let's go back to calling me Lorenzo. Only my friends get to call me Enzo. Grayson Gilbert was bad enough, but when he died, his protege Doctor Wes Maxfield stepped in and he took it to a completely different level. It's a miracle I didn't switch off my own humanity, although I did seriously consider doing it more than once."

What does Elena's adoptive father have to do with this Augustine Society? Katherine wondered. She never met the man, but her former friend and descendant Isobel had once expressed, at least to her, that she'd taken an instant dislike of the man. Katherine had to talk Isobel out of her plan of killing him outright and then simply reclaiming her daughter that would have upset her own plans. So she lied to Isobel about her desire to help her protect her only daughter from the fate that had once been hers as a Petrova Doppelgänger.

"I'm still your friend Enzo. I might be an ass, but if it wasn't for me and my friend, you would still be in that godforsaken place!" Damon said. Katherine shook her head. Damon was always a reactionary person. He never took his time to consider his actions.

"Well fuck off you prat! I'm still pissed at you Damon I've been sitting in that Augustine cell for decades! Decades! Do you have any idea the hell they put me through? I almost burned to death in that fire. If it wasn't for one of those Augustine bastards rescuing me, I would be a pile of ash now! And yes, you and your friend saved me, but let me make this clear to you, Damon. We are far from even!"

Katherine considered leaving but something about this would be reunion made her stay and listen.

"I'll try my best to make it up to you. For starters I have a witch friend who can make you a new daylight ring. Speaking of my friend Ric, the person you actually met was Klaus Mikaelson. He is an Original Hybrid who has an irritating habit of possessing a person's body so he can spy or do whatever he does. I'm just relieved that you told me he tried to compel you like you did."

"Uh… No problem. I guess I initially thought your friend might have been hanging around our kind too much. I'd heard rumors that Originals can compel other vampires. It's rather ironic that Grayson Gilbert's last experiment he conducted on me has had an unexpected side effect that was forwarded to me."

"How the hell did you manage to develop a resistance to an Originals compulsion? Is what I want to know; was it intentional and can it be duplicated?" Damon asked immediately and Katherine had to give him kudos for asking a question she'd wanted to ask herself. Fortunately for her, Damon was unintentionally obliging her. That thought made her smile to herself.

"Oh… I doubt it was intentional, Damon, from what I was able to glean from overhearing Grayson talking to himself. He was exploring options and so he started a research project. I don't think that it was sanctioned by the society." Enzo started, but Damon interrupted.

"What do you mean it wasn't sanctioned?"

"Just a few hints from the things he was talking to himself about, anyway. That isn't the important part. He was growing rather concerned with the availability of vervain for reasons I'm not entirely privy too. You see, for the last sixty plus years in captivity, the Augustine researchers had to use a more concentrated dosage of vervain serum just to keep me, as they called, a compliant test subject. The problem was, the older I got, my vampire physiology started to adapt to the level of vervain in my system, so Grayson sought to take advantage of our adaptability and something called chromosomal gene splicing."

"Are you telling me that Grayson Gilbert was conducting gene therapy on a vampire?" Damon asked, dumbfounded. Katherine once again had to agree, she never heard of anyone conducting experiments like this before.

"I don't know about calling it therapy since it took several hundred very painful attempts, but somehow he isolated the part of vervain plants that is toxic to us. But once he had, he started trying to insert that into my DNA. At first it was via injections, then he found a way of lacing it into my daily blood ration. I don't know if the man wanted to be a teacher or just liked explaining things, but he passed the time trying to educate me. I think it almost made it worse to have a better idea what he was doing, but I regress. Apparently it worked and now my blood will always have vervain intermixed and it doesn't matter if it's drained out of me. The problem is that he couldn't find a way before he died to increase the concentration levels in my blood since my body was always adapting to the presence of vervain. I think whatever he did was to weaken some of my vampire traits. I have no idea if it's permanent, but the last thing he did was to confirm that the modifications were stable and for all intents and purposes permanent."

"And Maxfield had no idea?" Katherine heard the disbelief in Damon's question and almost laughed aloud. One thing that amazed her with the older Salvatore was even when he was human he was so accepting of the fact that she was a vampire but anything else he would struggle in accepting it.

"I highly doubt it… From their conversations I could listen on to, Grayson only mentioned that he would like to look into possible gene therapy based research. For obvious reasons he couldn't tell anyone he was actually already conducting an experiment on his own initiative. I managed to get an extra ration of blood for not ratting him out to his protege. Still, from what I could gather, all the research notes he had on the experiment were being kept somewhere else," Enzo answered.

"Any idea where this somewhere else might be, Enzo?" Damon asked, his voice somewhat muted. Frustrated, Katherine edged closer to the entry. She wanted to hear this particular detail. If she could find the research, maybe it could be replicated as she considered the possible ramifications. There would be risks and if she had to, she'd turn someone just to try it out before even thinking about undergoing the gene therapy herself.

"Maybe a few years ago, the Whitmore House was undergoing an upgrade of some of its electrical systems, and to avoid possible unwanted questions such as to why there was a malnourished looking person in a cage, they moved me to another building. I don't think it was at the college. The road trip to the new building was far too long for that. When I finally came to, I found that Doctor Gilbert put me in a cage in the basement of a small building. As far as I could tell, based on what I heard and the scents from upstairs, if I had to give an educated guess, it was a doctor's office. Just so you don't forget, you can't call me Enzo yet."

"Fine Lorenzo, wait. Did you say Doctor's office? How are you so sure?"

"Well mate, other than patients showing up for their appointments and Grayson chatting with them as he conducted his exam or treatments of whatever their ailments. During my stay there, I did unintentionally scare a little girl once. I think she was related to the good doctor." Enzo elaborated.

"A little girl? What did she look like? How old was she?"

"Um… Not sure why this is so important to you. Let's see, she had brown straight hair, really innocent brown eyes. Hell, mate, she was just a kid! I'm not sure how she found her way down into the basement, but her father didn't seem all too pleased that she was down there alone with me. I think finding me in a cage must have traumatized her. Really cute kid. Kinda of hard to believe that she was even related to the monster keeping me locked in a cage," Enzo explained.

"God, how many people as little Elena Gilbert met? What is this six degrees of Elena Gilbert?" Katherine muttered. She waited to listen in again when, to her own surprise, Katherine suppressed a grimace as her body smashed into a wood cabinet before Damon was straddling her with both hands wrapped around her neck.

"Katherine! I should have known you'd still be lurking around here! What the hell are you doing here?" Damon hissed disdainfully.

In answer to his question, she flipped them over and assumed the same position he'd been in only seconds before.

"Wouldn't you like to know, Damon?" Katherine smirked and, not giving the matter another thought, she snapped his neck without breaking a nail. She looked up to find a tall vampire with black hair and beard stubble, even Katherine had to admit he was a fairly attractive looking vampire.

"You must be Lorenzo, I'm Katherine, Katherine Pierce," she introduced herself, standing as she brushed off the dust from her clothing.

"You look awfully familiar?" Enzo asked with a puzzled yet amused expression.

"Yeah, I've unfortunately been experiencing that a lot in the recent months. Before you ask, we haven't met, but I think you've met my Doppelgänger." Katherine sighed.

"No, I would remember you. What the hell is a Doppelgänger?"

"A story for another time? Who might you be?" Katherine answered, not willing to reveal her connection to Elena Gilbert just yet.

"Lorenzo St. John, at your service. Mind you I'm not complaining, but was that really necessary?" Enzo said as he waved at Damon's still form.

"Ah… He needed the nap. He's been a busy little vampire lately. It sounded like you've had a daylight ring before. What happened to the previous one?" Katherine asked. If Damon's witch didn't come through, perhaps she might do him a favor in exchange for one of her own? That was a discussion for a later time, she decided.

"Why do I get the feeling you heard more of our discussion than you're willing to admit?" Enzo asked, but when Katherine didn't take the invitation to elaborate further, he added. "When the late Doctor Whitmore captured me, he didn't know what it was and when I was rendered unconscious from one of his earlier experiments, he removed my ring. I never told him its significance to our kind."

"How did you explain that you could walk in the sunlight?" Katherine asked.

"Well, lass, I was being a little too clever at the time. I lied and spun a yarn that the more blood a vampire consumes, the easier it is for them to walk in sunlight. He cut my blood ration the very next morning. Bloody sod took me for my word."

"Interesting. I need to run now, but before I do, can you pass a message to him once he wakes up?"

"Might as well. I have nothing better to do, being stuck in here till nightfall."

"Tell him that someone is going to be calling him sometime today. I strongly suggest he arrange a meeting."

"Meeting? With who?" Enzo asked, a frown creasing his brow.

"Let's just call him an old mutual acquaintance of ours," Katherine smirked and disappeared before he could ask her why it mattered so much. Enzo sighed and went off in search of the refrigerator unit that stored all of Damon's blood, feeling a bit peckish.


Mystic Falls Woodlands

Damon was really getting tired of having his neck broken. He rubbed his neck, not wanting to remember how he'd spent part of the morning on the floor in his own place yet again. When he got his hands on Katherine, he was going to do a little neck breaking of his own. The problem was that all the necks of vampires he wanted to break were far older than him. Still, he would find a way of finally getting even with at least one of them.

He walked into what seemed just another meadow, but unlike the others he'd noticed on the way, the only difference with this one was where the tree line of the forest was too distant for anyone to easily eavesdrop on his little rendezvous with his favorite Original. Katherine's message relayed through Enzo had initially confused him, but there was only one old mutual acquaintance he could think of and to his most recent recollection should still be daggered in one of the coffins he and his little brother had, until the day before, kept away from Klaus. Luckily, not everything was a total loss after last night's startling revelation, thanks to his friend Enzo. Thanks to Bonnie the Teenage Witch and her visions, she just texted him the reason Klaus had only gotten three of his coffins back. They still had the locked one and the two Bennett witches are trying to open it right now.

Considering the circumstances, he initially rejected the offer to discuss current events in Mystic Falls. Call him stupid, but even he didn't know what the ancient vampire wanted to get out of this meeting. The last time they, or more accurately Elena, had come to an agreement with the Original Vampire. Elijah had ultimately betrayed them when he sided with his brother.

"Elijah. My favorite Original, back from the dead, no less. My don't you clean up nice," Damon joked, then his face turned serious. "What's with the cloak and dagger stuff, Elijah? Do you mind telling me why we had to meet in the middle of nowhere?"

"I found a little something in my jacket pocket when I revived," Elijah explained, pulling out the folded note. He wordlessly held it out for Damon to take. After reading it, Damon handed it back to Elijah with a smirk.

"She's not very obvious about it, is she? You get a note. I get a snapped neck and a message delivered second hand from a friend of mine. I'd at least have been a little more creative about the message. Maybe 'Dear Elijah, let's get together, plot the destruction of your brother, XOXO.' Yeah, that sounds much better to me."

"Damon."

"As much as I don't understand Katherine, she thought undaggering you would help us with our Klaus problem. Or are we gonna have a different problem?" Damon questioned. He didn't think Elijah was the type of vampire to lure someone out just to take them out in the middle of nowhere. The Boarding House was as good a place as any if he wanted him dead.

"I'm here, let's talk," Elijah answered. He kept his voice neutral.

"Okay, I'll start with an easy question. Any idea what kind of Klaus-killing weapon could be magically sealed in a mystery coffin?"

Elijah's expression didn't change. Instead, he walked a little distance away to study the tree line before he turned back to Damon. "What if I told you that it is the only person I knew personally other than our father who could put Niklaus in his place?"

"Interesting, but how does this help us?"

"Damon, if I suspect who is in that coffin, my brother will have other problems to deal with than terrorizing you and your friends," Elijah smiled.

"In that case, what if I told you we have a possible lead on opening it in the near future? We just need a little time."

"Who is trying to open it and how much time?"

"That was two questions. But I'll give one of them to you for free. The Bennett Witches and as for how much I really have no idea," Damon smirked. Just for a second he thought a faint smile formed on the Original Vampire's face, but he must have been mistaken.

"Where are they doing this? Perhaps I could find a grimoire that might help them?" Elijah asked.

"That might be a problem, Witchy wasn't forthcoming on where she hidden herself, her mother, and the aforementioned locked coffin."

"Interesting. Are you able to communicate with her?" Elijah paused, watching the younger vampire. "I assume by your silence that you do not wish to disclose that detail. No matter, just as long as you can is all that matters. Perhaps we should meet in more suitable accouterments than. Might I suggest that the four of us. You and Stefan and my brother and I sit down for dinner this evening, perhaps?"

"Stefan is dancing to his own tune these days, but I will see what I can do." Damon sighed, running his hands through his hair.

"Fine, then I will call later with directions and the time for dinner. Oh, before I forget, how is the lovely Elena dealing with becoming a vampire?" Elijah asked. His expression changed when he watched Damon's smirk fall.

"I only ask because I didn't see a grave maker for her. I saw her Aunt Jenna's as well as her biological father's marker- what?"

"Do you mean that you don't know what Klaus has been up to ever since the sacrifice?" Damon asked, not bothering to hide his own incredulity. As much as he hated to admit it, his favorite Original always seemed so on top of things that he felt a small hint of superiority knowing something the ancient vampire didn't. Damon found that he sort of liked it.

"Niklaus had been somewhat evasive about bringing me up to current events since that fateful night. Perhaps Damon, you can tell me. What is this supposed item that your brother has in his possession that Niklaus claims was stolen from him?"

"Not really a what; more of a whom," Damon answered and for a second Elijah thought he had misheard the younger vampire, but he'd seen the same expression on the others through the centuries and he didn't want to hear anymore but knew he had no other choice.

"Perhaps you could enlighten me?"


Old Lockwood Cellar
November 1, 2010

This was the second time Bonnie had been in this chamber with its pictograms. The magic barrier was the perfect place to keep out unwanted vampires or hybrids. Not even Damon or Stefan knew where Abby and she were hiding. She hated vampires and not for the last time wondered why couldn't Elena see them for what they are. Granted, their best friend Caroline had unfortunately been turned into one, but that was partly her fault and Katherine Pierce's.

Caroline would've ever become a blood-sucking vampire if she hadn't been so new into her magic that she highly doubted she'd been able to save her close friend. She was grasping for anything to help Caroline and at the time, hate him or not, Damon had been their only choice. To this day, she still hadn't figured out how Katherine had learned that Caroline had vampire blood in her system. If they had known the risks or that Katherine had finally made an appearance in their hometown, they might have kept a closer eye on Caroline till Damon's blood had worked its way out of her system.

Bonnie didn't know why, but something about this particular part of the underground cave network felt, well, right to her. Although her mother hadn't said anything yet so far, she had the distinct feeling that Abby might have felt the same way.

Doing her best to clear her head of stray thoughts, she and her mother tried again. They both were standing on either side of the locked coffin. Bonnie extended her hands above the lid and waited for Abby to join hands, which Bonnie noted privately she only did so with a certain amount of hesitation. Which only increased her frustration with the woman who had abandoned her. Closing her eyes, she redoubled her efforts of clearing all thoughts that might interfere with their merged magic. The blood based unlocking spell they recreated had taken a few days to work out. Abby had been indispensable with her accumulated knowledge of spellcrafting.

Bonnie started first, "Per sanguinem familiae nostrae recludam et occulta tua intus reveles!" She extruded her magic towards her mother, waiting for her mother to repeat the chant and extrude her magic as well.

"Per sanguinem familiae nostrae recludam et occulta tua intus reveles!" Abby repeated, but when Bonnie didn't feel their joined magic, she tried again, repeating her part perfectly. Once again her mother failed to do what she was supposed to do and Bonnie briefly considered doing the next part on her own, but memories of what happened with her Grams wisely kept her from pressing on. After a minute, Bonnie pulled her hands from Abby's and looked pointedly at her.

"You're not trying! We've been at this for hours!" she rightly accused.

"The spirits are angry with me. For killing my unborn baby boy and then leaving you. Maybe they didn't want me to have my powers again."

Bonnie wanted to retort back that her mother had seemed to handle herself just fine in the North Carolina Cemetery, but knew she was perhaps being unfair. Instead, she leaned back and regarded the closed coffin, then her mother, and thought of a different approach.

"I had all of those dreams for a reason. The spirits wanted me to find you because you're my mom. It's not them, it's you. You won't open yourself up to it. You know Dad never talked about you? And neither did Grams. I had no memories of you. So you know what I used to pretend? That you were dead. It was easier to do that than to wonder why you never came back for me."

"There is no way I can tell you how sorry I am for what I did," Abby said, her eyes already tearing up from guilt ridden emotion.

"Yes there is. We can't bring back my lost brother just as I can't bring back Grams, but right here right now you can help me."


Mikaelson Mansion
November 1, 2010

Elijah took the initiative by opening the door to find Damon as he expected, but he met Stefan's cold eyes. He felt sadness for the young vampire. According to Damon, his brother initially placed himself in the service of his half brother to save Damon and to help draw Niklaus's attention away from Mystic Falls. He didn't believe that he'd ultimately stayed in the area if he hadn't learned the final part of the curse their mother had placed on him.

It horrified him to know that his own brother was essentially forcing an innocent human girl into a lifelong form of bondage for the sole reason of needing her Doppelgänger blood to create hybrids. Thanks to Damon, he had learned more than he wanted to know, but it only proved how out of control his brother was. Hopefully, once their mother returned to them, she should be able to rein him in. There was only so much he or his siblings could do. Having their mother would greatly improve their odds. Afterwards he wanted to talk privately to his long thought departed mother and plead with her to find a way of releasing the unnecessary burden Esther had thrust onto Elena Gilbert.

"Niklaus, it seems our guests have arrived."

"Damon. Stefan. Elijah tells me you seek an audience. Very bold. Let's discuss the terms of our agreement like civilized men, shall we?" Klaus spoke pleasantly, but Elijah knew his brother all too well to know better. All the Salvatore's and he had to do was stall, giving the Bennett witches time to try opening the locked coffin. So far, neither Damon nor Stefan had demanded to know who was in the locked coffin. The identity of the occupant in the last coffin was ultimately family business.

The four of them entered the dining room and although their guest tried to hide their reaction, Elijah could see that they weren't expecting the extravagance arrayed before them. The two attractive compelled servants stood ready to see to their needs. His brother always preferred to make a grand show out of everything. Elijah followed his younger brother and stood behind his seat. Stefan stood stubbornly just outside the dining room. Based on Damon's scent, he was more than annoyed with his brother, and Elijah couldn't blame him. Everything hinged on the three of them doing their part.

"It's better to indulge him," Elijah offered as a conciliatory gesture. Stefan crossed his arms and refused to move.

"I didn't come here to eat, Klaus. In fact, I didn't want to come here at all. But I was told I had to cause you would hear us out," Stefan grated out as he shifted his aggravated gaze onto his brother.

"Well, we can all sit and eat like gentlemen, or I can reach down both of your throats and pull out your insides. The choice is yours," Klaus suggested, indicating the two vacant chairs waiting for the Salvatore brothers.

They waited until Damon and Stefan picked their respective seats and only after they were all seated at the table did the two servants start serving them. Elijah forked a delicious piece of ham into his mouth and watched as everyone seemed to be enjoying their meal. Uncharacteristically, Damon seemed more than content to indulge them, but his brother refused to eat.

Elijah finished off his glass of wine but waved off the servant as she approached him with a chilled bottle of wine. Damon, taking advantage, held up his glass expectantly.

"Thank you, love," Damon smiled up at the blonde human.

"Is there anything wrong with your food, Stefan? It would be a shame if you've lost your appetite," Klaus frowned mid cut through a rather tender looking piece of meat. In response, Damon wiped his mouth and leaned over to speak to his brother- not that they couldn't hear every word.

"Eat. I thought we agreed that we would leave the grumpy Stefan at home."

After shooting another hostile look at his brother, Stefan begrudgingly picked up his fork and knife as he started moving food on his plate as if in search of a morsel of food, before he found something suitable on his plate to consume. It was like watching a petulant child being forced to sit at the family table, Elijah observed. And for a brief moment, Elijah felt the urge to reach across the dinner table and just compel the man to behave. Klaus watched as his friend slowly chewed a piece of food with a grin on his own lips. If Elijah was getting annoyed with Stefan, this dinner party Elijah had suggested might be rather entertaining, Klaus decided.

"That's the spirit. Isn't it nice? The four of us dining together? Such a treat. Katerina is many things, but I'd never think she'd do us a favor when she removed the dagger from my brother. Did any of you put her up to it?" Klaus asked.

"Well, I don't know what her motivation was for getting the four of us together, but I've figured the more, the merrier," Damon answered, leaning back in his seat tossing a wink at Elijah as if they were sharing a private secret. Elijah didn't feel the need to reciprocate the gesture. Stefan made a show of looking about and gave Klaus a suspicious look.

"Something doesn't feel quite right. Someone is missing from this little get together. Klaus, where is your sister, by the way? Last I checked, she was still daggered because you were afraid to face her," Stefan stated haughtily.

Elijah watched wearily as his brother wiped his mouth carefully before setting the cloth napkin on his cleared plate.

"If you're referring to the fact that Rebekah knows I killed our mother, I've already come clean to Elijah," Klaus answered, giving his brother an indecipherable look. The mere fact that Elijah had learned then been made to forget that fact over a century ago, but he didn't let it slip past his mask. Although he didn't appreciate having his memories altered, he could understand the reasoning behind it. So he contented himself with watching the spectacle unfold. It was just a parlor trick. The real magic was being worked elsewhere.

"Hey, Stef, remember when you killed dear old dad? Might want to dial down the judgment until after dessert. Speaking of which, Klaus, do you have a selection to choose from?" Damon said, leaning closer to his brother once more.

"We're here to make a deal, Damon. Doesn't mean we need to kiss his ass for seven courses," Stefan snapped.

"I'm just saying we have a long evening ahead of us, brother. So pace yourself," Damon fired back.


Old Lockwood Cellar
November 1, 2010

"Per sanguinem familiae nostrae recludam et occulta tua intus reveles!" Abby repeated just after her daughter and this time Bonnie did feel their magic joining, but the spell fizzled before they could shape the merged magic.

"I think we are doing it! Did you feel that?" Bonnie asked, her smile evident even in the shadowed confines of their temporary home. Abby nodded in agreement and, feeling better that they were making progress, suggested they take a break before their next attempt.

"What are your plans after we open the coffin?" Bonnie asked. She'd been trying to work up the courage to ask her mother if they had any sort of future together as a family.

"Jamie and I, we've been talking, and I think he really likes Mystic Falls. If we did move here, we'd need to either sell or rent out our home, but we are still weighing our options on that. I really doubt that your father will want Jamie and I to move in with you both."

"I understand. Well, there are several foreclosed properties you'd probably pick up for a reasonable price," Bonnie answered. She wanted her mother back in her life but she'd been gone for so long it was going to take her time to adjust. Suddenly feeling self-conscious, she glanced at the time on her phone and cursed.

"Knowing Damon, he's going to be calling asking why we haven't opened it yet. Sorry but I think our break will have to wait."

Abby sighed and recapped her water bottle. "I think we are almost there. Bonnie, we're so close I can feel it!"


Mikaelson Mansion
November 1, 2010

Elijah waited till their deserts had arrived before he decided to ask a question that he'd wanted an answer to for some time now.

"Stefan. Where is the lovely Elena tonight?" Elijah asked, masking his real intentions. It bothered him that Elena was being used as a pawn in his brother Machiavellian ways and Stefan Salvatore's need for vendetta. Neither one of them seemed to understand that a brave, compassionate, and yet still fragile human girl was involved who would likely end up dead if neither of them ceased their little war between them.

"Why should I tell you Elijah, do you want to betray her again?" Stefan sneered, and it took some effort not to stand and rush the young vampire. Elijah had no doubt he could snap the boy's neck before he knew what had happened to him.

"Hmm… This is rather entertaining mate. I mean, weren't you the one that threatened to drive her off the same bridge her adoptive parents perished at? The same incident you rescued Elena from. I've never properly thanked you for doing that. If my Doppelgänger had died before I had a chance to become acquainted with her, I would never have reclaimed my birthright," Klaus smiled at Stefan. Elijah was surprised that both Salvatore's had remained seated. Granted, they were temporary allies for the time being, even he could admit that his brother did have a knack for getting under other people's skin.

"She is not your Doppelgänger Klaus and if I had known the hell you would put her and this town through, I should have just let her die in peace." Stefan hissed.

Klaus's yellow eyes flared but quickly faded as his mood shifted to one of dark amusement. It worried Elijah how his brother had learned to hide his true feelings due, in part, to the cruel treatment from Mikael growing up. Klaus must have mistaken Elijah's expression when he shook his head sadly.

"I'm sorry, brother, you've missed so much. Ah, trouble in paradise," Klaus snarked.

"One more word about Elena and this dinner's over," Stefan said icily. But Klaus only smiled and placed a finger to his pressed lips as if in silent promise not to broach the subject of Elena Gilbert again. Elijah, on the other hand, knew his brother and how much he liked to push people's buttons. Still, he would allow the impending discussion to commence, but his brief eye contact with Damon communicated his message that he would need to keep his brother from escalating things more than they wanted or needed for their plans for tonight. He'd already collected enough blood bags to help with the revival of his siblings. The longer the period of being daggered required a larger portion of blood. He did worry about his older brother, Finn. He had been under the longest, so he prayed that he had allotted enough blood for him.

"You know what, probably best just to keep Elena in the do-not-discuss pile," Damon offered and the brief look at Elijah made him relax imperceptibly.

"You're probably right," Klaus agreed too readily for Elijah's taste. Unfortunately, telepathy was not a possibility. It took too much energy and concentration in such a short time period. Damon was unwittingly playing right into his brother's hands.

"Yeah," Damon drawled. Elijah felt the sudden urge to rub his eyes. Why was it he was the mature one? Granted he was the oldest by far, but sometimes he wished he wasn't. His brother's next statement only exacerbated the problem, too.

"It's just the allure of the Petrova doppelgänger, still so strong. What do you say, brother? Should we tell them about Tatia?" Klaus asked his brother. Elijah had no other choice than to play along for the time being.

"Now why should we discuss matters long since resolved?" Elijah questioned. It was a futile effort. He knew what his brother was trying to do and like an avalanche he was helpless to do anything but be an unwilling participant for all of them, it seemed.

"Well, given their shared affection for both Elena and Katerina, I think our guests might be curious to learn about the first Petrova Doppelgänger we encountered."

"No thank you, I have had enough of Katherine Pierce or Katerina Petrova for a lifetime." Stefan fumed.

"I wasn't referring to Katerina, Stefan. Perhaps my brother might explain it better," Klaus suggested. Damon, taking a sip of his wine, looked pointedly at Elijah.

"Well, we're not going anywhere, Elijah. Please, do tell," Damon said.

"When our family first settled here, there was a girl named Tatia. She was an exquisite beauty. Every boy of age desired to be her suitor, even though she'd had a child by another man. And none loved her more than Niklaus," Elijah started, but his brother interrupted.

"I'd say there was one who loved her at least as much," Klaus interjected, and while what he said was true, Elijah felt the nagging feeling in the back of his mind that he was missing something.

"So wait a minute! Let me get this right. You both loved the same girl?" Stefan asked. Apparently, his own interest had finally been piqued, Elijah observed silently.

"Our mother was a very powerful witch. She sought to end our feud over Tatia and so she took her. Klaus and I would later learn that it was Tatia's blood that we consumed in the wine on the night where our mother performed the spell which turned us into vampires. Tatia wouldn't make a decision between the two of us, so for a time Niklaus and I... grew estranged. Harsh words were traded, we even came to blows, didn't we, brother?" Elijah continued, undeterred by the feeling that he was forgetting something continued to plague his integral thoughts. Whatever it was, it seemed to want to dance away from his efforts to delve into its cloaked secrets, and that bothered him. Had someone messed with his memories? It wouldn't be the first time. He only just recalled how Ayana had when she possessed Maya's body. When she'd suppressed his memories of finding his mother's body in Mystic Falls back in eighteen eighty nine. When he learned that Katerina had survived and how his brother had murdered their mother and not Mikael. No wonder Rebekah was angry with their brother.

"But in the end we realized the sacred bond of family," Klaus smiled at his brother, holding up his wine glass.

"Family above all," Elijah answered back, holding his own glass up as well.

"Family above all," Klaus repeated before they clinked their glasses together in brotherly friendship.


Old Lockwood Cellar
November 1, 2010

"Per sanguinem familiae nostrae recludam et occulta tua intus reveles!" Abby repeated just after her daughter and, like the previous time, Abby felt their magic joining, but just as the spell started to fizzle, she found herself relaxing and a familiar presence filled her.

"That's it, Abby girl, you can do this."

Abby, still keeping her focus, quickly glanced up and found her mother Shelia standing with them. A quick glance at her daughter made her realize that either she was too focused on her part of the ritual, or she simply couldn't see her beloved grandmother as well. She opened her mouth to say something, but her mother shook her head with an apology written in her sad eyes.

"Hush child… You have work to do first, but you and Bonnie need to stay focused in the coming days. Now listen, don't forget this place holds a special meaning to our family's witch heritage. You will need to rediscover what was lost here so very long ago," Shelia smiled at her daughter, then watched her only grandchild's manipulation of magic. Before Abby could even think of something to say to the very woman she disappointed by her arrogance, Shelia's form faded until only the aroma of her favorite perfume Jasmine hung in the air where she had appeared.

The ritual magic caused the candle's flames to flare up suddenly, a deep rumbling echoed off the rocky cave walls, a sudden rush of a oddly musty smell filled her nostrils as if stale air had been released back into the world but after a moment the air cleared and even the candles returned to normal as everything quieted once again. Bonnie moved to open the coffin. But before she could, the coffin lid rattled. It still refused to open for either of them. Abby sighed and let out an exhausted breath.

"It didn't work," Abby said, now feeling rather annoyed with herself. She tried, but in the end she failed not only her daughter but her mother as well.

"No, it almost worked! I could feel it. We are so close now! Look, I have to call Damon, and tell him that we're getting closer. I'll be right back. I need to get somewhere where I have decent cell phone reception," Bonnie explained, pulling out her cell and thumbing the power button.

"Okay Bonnie. Ah… I'll stay here then," Abby offered, still reeling from seeing her deceased mother and the fact their ritual almost worked. What had her mother meant? What is so special about this place and why did Bonnie feel the same as she did? She contented herself with watching Bonnie's departure as her light from her once again turned on cellphone faded. She moved away from the coffin to study the cave pictograms. That was when she heard a resounding thud behind her and twisted in place back to stare at the still closed coffin. Her curiosity finally getting the better of her, she edged closer to it and reached out to open it. To her surprise, it suddenly opened on its own, just as all the candles flared to sudden life. Peering inside, she gasped at the occupant. She felt a need to reach out and grasp something. Her body was not responding to her pleas to stop. She couldn't stop what she was doing until she had completed whatever was required of her. The world turned black.

25 Minutes later:

"Abby, I managed to find a decent spot to send a text to Damon. He wants us to- Mom!" Bonnie cried as she rushed into the odd cavern. Abby was slumped against the now open coffin with a black stone looking dagger still clutched in her hand. Bonnie was at her mother's side, helping her to stand to her alarm. Her mother looked paler than before.

"Mom! Are you okay?" Bonnie pleaded. She could help recall memories of her Grams overexerting herself, anxiety of losing her mother sent her heart racing. "Mom, tell me you're alright!"

"I'm fine Bonnie, just feel sort of drained," she paused, rubbing her neck, but Bonnie didn't see anything amiss. Then her thoughts turned back to the coffin. As they both came to the same realization, they carefully peered inside. Whoever or whatever had been locked inside was missing.

"Did… Did you see?" Bonnie started, but Abby shook her head in denial. Bonnie was about to say something when a whimper came from behind them both. Reflexively she turned to face its source, ready to protect her still recovering mother, but she stopped when the light revealed who was also present.

"ELENA?!"

Her excitement abated somewhat when she finally noticed the disconcerting terrified look that marred her friend's features. Something was wrong, she felt it in the pit of her stomach. Bonnie glanced at the now empty coffin. Had her friend come from inside it? No, whatever she was carrying wouldn't have all fit inside with her, too. That would have been impossible. Something was missing and deep down she knew that she didn't yet have all the information to decipher this latest development.