Paris, France
November 6, 2010

He watched as his younger associate acted as a enticing lure for their intended target. From his high vantage point, her posture appeared just as she was trying to portray herself as a slightly inebriated woman after a night on the town. No doubt making the infamous walk of shame back to her pied-à-terre. She was still very new to the Brotherhood, not yet a true Supernatural Hunter like he was, but still an initiate. Already she showed great promise to become hunter like he was, but he would never tell her that.

For the majority of the Brotherhood's existence, most of those who bore the Hunter's Mark were male. However, for whatever reason, in the last two decades the number of initiates who were female had been appearing on a increasing frequency. Connor personally knew four other woman hunters.

His potential initiate Renée Tremblay who had regrettably lost her entire family to a creature of the night. From what he knew of her back story, she would have died that night from blood loss if a family friend who was a hunter like Connor hadn't found her in time. Since he himself was without partner, she had been assigned to his care and training. Being the task master he had her up training after she recovered enough for the physical strain as he pushed her to her limits and then beyond. It still remained to be seen if her mark ever developed, but it was ultimately up to her to make her first kill. Which was one of the reasons they were out, from his own personnel experience until she fully activated her mark she was vulnerable. She had been particularly eager to hunt tonight, but it was almost morning.

However, there was still time, though. It was still early enough that the morning sun hadn't reached into the dark, winding streets of the supposed city of love. This particular vile creature they were tasked with taking down must be a fairly recently turned vampire. Based on their observation of its hunting patterns, it only went in search of prey after sundown and just a little after sunrise, depending on the cloud cover. It was probably a safe bet that it had yet to convince a witch to craft a daylight amulet to protect it from the harmful effects of the sun.

He waited as Renée made a show of stumbling her way down the cobbled street, her clothing made to appear as if she'd just pulled them back on after waking up in a strangers bed after a night of drinking and sex. Even Conner had to admit her disheveled appearance almost made him believe that she had been partying a little too much the previous evening. She didn't know he was keeping a watchful eye on her; she had wanted to make her first kill alone. Which had initially surprised him, but eventually he agreed. Still, she was his responsibility, so which it was why he was following her.

Connor Jordan made a mental note to advise her not to break another one of her heels, as she had for this hunt. While the effort might have been in theme with the image she was trying to convey, but it was still overkill and would make things more difficult than necessary when she attempted to stake the stalking vampire. Or retreat if the hunt started to go badly for her. He hadn't told her he would be watching he was just present encase something went horribly wrong.

He crouched low on the rooftop, looking down as she stopped, leaning against a building in order to remove her broken shoe shortly followed by the other unbroken one.

The vampire he saw was being careless in his approach. Connor shook his head disapprovingly as he watched the creature. It didn't bother to check the surroundings for potential witnesses. Whoever was his sire clearly hadn't trained the new vampire, which greatly annoyed him. He had long since learned how to control his instinctual urge to kill vampires which newly woken hunters weren't quite as fortunate. It had taken years for him to hone his need to dispatch such creatures without cause.

They have their place in the supernatural world just as the Brotherhood had its own place. If the five original vampires were controlling their sirelings better, the five witches that had created the first five hunters wouldn't have needed to do so. It had been drilled into every hunter's head that until the Original Family started taking responsibility; it was the responsibility of the Brotherhood of the Five to hunt down their misbehaving progeny.

Conner tensed when he felt another vampire presence nearby. Damn, this complicates things for this initiation hunt. He unobtrusively extracted a wood stake from its hidden sheath. Dividing his attention, he watched as the vampire Renée was meant to kill slowly approached her.

"I would have taken care of my little problem hunter. There is no need for you or your kind to become involved," a familiar cultured voice spoke softly from behind him.

"Andre, I thought you promised not to make anymore. So what happened with him?" Connor responded, keeping his voice low.

"Yes, I did promise and I will not go back on my word. Look old friend, it was an accident. I should have kept a better watch over him. But Connor, he was the last remaining relative of my family line. When I found him overdosed on some drug, I couldn't just let him die," Andre pleaded. The old vampire came to stand next to the hunter. Connor itched to drive the still hidden stake into the vampire's heart. It wouldn't be his first, but he resisted since he knew Andre was a doctor who treated the sick and the dying. The older vampire had a code he lived by and it forbade taking a human life. Which was another reason Connor wasn't already dispatching the older vampire.

"If you were just healing him, what the hell happened?" Connor asked, still keeping an eye on Renée from his vantage point. He watched as the new vampire tried to compel her not to scream. His initiate hadn't yet activated the hunter's mark so would be still susceptible to compulsion. But she should be safe after she consumed the vial of vervain for this particular hunt. For weeks, she had been learning everything she could about vampires and the Brotherhood. It had become something of a obsession for her.

"Conner, I had him under observation, but he somehow slipped out of my apartment and was gone when I returned from my shift at the hospital," Andre explained. The older vampire glanced down at his sireling and the would-be hunter.

"Why didn't you compel him to stay?"

"He is my kin. I don't compel people unless I need to. Besides, he promised to stay put until I got back. I went looking for him but found not a trace. It wasn't until four days later that I found out he had died that same night from another drug overdose, and with my damnable blood still in his system. I beg of you to spare him. I can teach him my code."

"Will your code bring back the slaughtered family which I also found, who I should add had foolishly taken him in thinking he needed help?" Connor asked.

They watched as the vampire they were discussing leaned in to draw blood from Renée's exposed neck. Connor frowned; why was she taking this approach? He would have struck after the vampire had convinced himself that he'd been compelled. What was she planning?

"No. You know I value human life-" he stopped speaking with a look of horror on his face. "Connor, your recruit wants to-"

But the Hunter cut him off with an angry wave. Cursing under his breath. His senses were better than normal humans, but even his hearing wasn't as sensitive as a vampire. But watching his initiate willing to take his bleeding wrist set him into motion. Connor quickly checked his harness and jumped over the side, allowing the tension in the arresting line to slow his descent. The Brotherhood equipped its hunters with the best tactical gear it could get its hands on. Both the Hunter and Vampire had the same thought. They needed to get on the street as quickly as possible.

"Stop! Vampire!" Connor snarled, taking an attack stance.

"No!" Renée cursed. She appeared surprised and angered that he apparently had followed her. When he got her back to their Safehold, he was so going to find out what the hell was she thinking.

"Leo, stop. You don't know what you're doing!" Andre pleaded. In a blink appearing to stand next to his sole remaining family descendant.

"She wants to become a vampire Uncle Andre. Why shouldn't I sire her?" Leo said defiantly, looping an arm possessively around her waist. Using his own speed, he moved, keeping the distance between Connor and his Uncle.

"I trusted you Renée! Why are you doing this after what happened to your parents?" Connor demanded.

"Wake up Connor! I was lied to my entire life, my parents didn't want for me to have anything to do with the supernatural, but then I found out that those same parents are from a long line of vampire hunters. Yet they never told me anything!" Renée hissed bitterness flavoring her enticing accent. Fortunately, they, or more specifically, at least for him, had kept things professional between them.

"So why become one of them? Nobody in your family history has ever had the honor of developing the Hunter's Mark."

"Hunter's Mark?" Leo asked, confused. Connor smiled at the vampire's naivete, which wasn't surprising since their existence had become a myth or the boogie man to the bloodsuckers themselves. So it wasn't all that surprising for Connor. Even though the latest Petrova Doppelgänger was born in the last eighteen years; with each generation of Petrova Doppelgänger allowing the Brotherhood's potential ranks to increase from twenty five after Katerina Petrova's birth to one hundred and twenty five Supernatural Hunters. Finding potential candidates to add to the brotherhood was challenging at best. If he hadn't been sent to investigate her parent's death and by happenstance Leo's trail of bodies, Connor wouldn't have discovered that she could see his tattoo or the start of one on her right wrist.

"The magical tattoo she has on her wrist, Leo! Merde! This is all my fault I shouldn't have given you my blood!" Andre cried. Connor inched closer to them.

"If you hadn't, I would have died." Leo pulled Renee's hands up and frowned. "Your lying Great Uncle. I didn't see any such tattoo!"

Connor glanced sideways at the older vampire who only sighed in defeat. He knew what the outcome of this encounter would be. The hunter felt sympathy for the nearly six hundred year old vampire, they both had dealings before but Andre had never stepped out of line, which was why the vampire was still alive. Conner considered his options and decided that a little honesty might get the foolish girl away from the bloodsucker.

"The tattoo you and your great uncle can't see is only visible to hunters. I wonder, has your Great Uncle warned you about us?"

"What is this, les bêtises? You and she are vampire hunters other than a few, how do you Americans say, interesting array of toys and gadgets there is nothing special about you," the younger vampire sneered.

"That is true for most amateur hunters, but she and I are Supernatural Hunters. Killing us will only trigger the Hunter's Curse," Connor smirked.

"Hunter's Curse?" Leo asked, looking nervous now, which only briefly made Connor reconsider what his vampire acquaintance might have tried explaining to his creation.

"Don't listen to him Leo, kill me so we can be together!" Renée warned. The once self assured vampire didn't seem to be listening to her instead his wide eyes blinked then flicked between his vampire ancestor and the Supernatural Hunter standing in his way. Fear edged into his eyes, and he did as Connor hoped.

Moving with speed and accuracy of a full member of the Brotherhood of the Five, Connor expertly threw the hidden wood stake, embedding it deep into his right eye. His intent was not to kill just yet, but more than a means of distracting the petulant vampire from his true intentions. The vampire howled in pain, backing away while trying to pull the stake from his destroyed eye socket. Leo released his supposed vampire sireling, but before the wounded vampire could flee Connor had barreled into him knocking his target off his feet. Producing another wood stake from a different concealed sheath, Connor didn't hesitate his aim was true.

"NO!"

The horrified solitary blue eye stared up into the hunter's expressionless gaze as the sound of bone cracking and flesh tearing marked the end of yet another vampire when the stake found a home in the vampire's undead heart. Connor didn't relish his kills like some of his fellow hunters; he simply had a job to do. Jumping to his feet he spotted that Andre had collapsed to his knees in his grief, but his initiate must have bolted. The hunter sighed. He was going to have to track her down hopefully before she killed herself and then completed her transition. If she had already activated her Hunter's Mark, turning into a vampire was no longer an option for their kind.

"I'm sorry Andre. I had to do it. We both know that he was enjoying the bloodlust a little too much, and he was not attempting to control it. If he had-"

"If he had, we might have had a very different outcome? I know, I know. It's just a little too raw for me right now. As much as I hate to admit it, you were right. Do you need any help with your wayward recruit?" Andre sighed, climbing back to his feet and watching the hunter with a weary expression.

"I'm good. Andre, I would've preferred a different outcome myself. Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you," Connor sighed, retrieving both of his stakes from the already graying corpse. The hunter watched as the vampire picked up the remains of his last remaining family descendant.

"What are you going to do with her?" They both looked in the only direction she could have fled.

"That depends on her. The Brotherhood doesn't look kindly on potential recruits that break our trust like this."

"Is it wrong of me to have wished that she had asked me instead? I would have tried to talk her out of it. Being a vampire isn't something I would recommend to anyone," Andre said sadly.

"No Andre this is on her. I sometimes wish there were more of your kind that felt the same way. It would make my job far more manageable. There aren't enough of us to go around, and our numbers won't increase until the next Petrova Doppelgänger is born," Connor sighed, watching the sun rays slowly creep towards them. Andre had a daylight necklace, so he knew the vampire was safe.

"I forget. How many will the Brotherhood get in five hundred years from now?" Andre asked, feeling curious. Connor debated about telling his friend, but maybe Andre could spread the news. The order operated under such secrecy that vampires, and even some witches didn't believe they really existed. Andre was a rare exception amongst his species.

"It's simple, really. Its mathematical powers are based on the current Petrova Doppelgänger generation. The original five to the power of the first generation permitted five Supernatural Hunters. So…" Connor described and allowed Andre to do the math himself.

"Are you telling me that in five hundred years the Brotherhood will potentially have six hundred and twenty five hunters?" Andre asked with an audible gulp.

"That doesn't count the sundry vampire hunters we routinely recruit as well. Really makes you think, doesn't it?" Connor said but didn't add that the rumors amongst the Brotherhood ranks was there might not be another Petrova Doppelgänger, if the stories coming from the States that Klaus Mikaelson had finally broken his curse was true. So far, his people didn't have any confirmation on that disturbing matter.

"Merde!" Andre breathed.


Salvatore Boarding House
November 6, 2010

Elena could feel herself slowly coming around. Maybe it was the family she was married into for the last thousand years has had a not so visible influence on her externally as far as she could tell, but internally she was not the same Elena Gilbert her friends once knew. That girl died when she was, for all intents and purposes, stranded in the past by the Spirits of Nature, and she had to forge a life for herself. She was a Mikaelson now and so she waited. Her thoughts her jumbled inside her head, but she slowly remembered that they had both drugged and vervained her, not letting the anger take root she contented herself just to listen for now.

Choosing to appear to the others no doubt in the room that she was still unconscious, Elena instead waited by listening to her surroundings. Relying on one of a person's senses wasn't something a human could do unless they had no other choice, but for a vampire it was almost too easy. Sadly, it had been during one of her Astral Projection visits with Finn when she learned that their kind could be selective with which of their enhanced senses they can concentrate on. Not that the Eldest Mikaelson had any choice in the matter.

By the heartbeats alone, she could guess that she was in the room with Tatia and her children. She was momentarily confused when she heard the rapid heartbeat of three children, not the expected two. But then that was before Ayana and Esther's words, the last few they'd spoken to her when they were still alive, came flooding back. How had she forgotten that? Of course, the last few hours she remembered of the eleventh century even now felt like a strange dream. Pushing that aside for now, Elena refocused her attention on eavesdropping on the conversation her friends were having. The more she heard the more upset she became. Thankfully Tatia was watching over her children and although she hadn't so far heard anything to counter indicate it, her friends didn't seem to be behaving that Tatia might understand them now.

"Damon, I still need either Elena's hair brush or toothbrush that you promised to get for me. It needs to be something she might have touched prior to her disappearance. I don't really care what it is, but it needs to have her essence on it for the spell to work," Bonnie explained. Elena grimaced, although from her perspective she hadn't touched any of those items Bonnie had mentioned for a very long time. Not that she could even enter her and Jeremy's childhood home as she hadn't been invited in, visiting via Astral Form wasn't the same.

"Anything you say?" Damon asked. Elena almost wretched while very tempted to give up all pretense of pretending just to let him have a piece of her mind. What was with men's fascination with woman's underwear? Considering it most likely didn't fit her anymore she was in her early twenties biologically speaking. Although she did think how her husband looked in either boxers or briefs sometimes, but that was entirely different.

"Don't be gross, Damon, just get me what I need." Bonnie huffed. A small smile formed on Elena's lips from her friend's rather appropriate rebuke.

"Alright miss Judgy, I'll be back in a few," Damon said in a sarcastic tone Elena had both hated and yet still missed when she traveled into the past. Sensing the pressure change in the room's interior, Elena could tell that Damon had just departed. Other than the sounds of her children Elena waited, hoping to hear more from the others, she wanted to know their reasoning for doing what they did to her.

"Elena, you can stop pretending, Damon's gone and with exception to him, we all know that you were awake," Stefan said from somewhere behind her. Elena's heart skipped in alarm, had they known or were they bluffing? Having nothing better to do, she rolled on to her back before opening her eyes.

Almost immediately she could see Stefan and Bonnie were carefully watching her as if she was going to do anything with her children nearby. Slowly sitting upright Elena found Tatia sitting in a rocking chair nursing her son while Astrid was wide awake in her crib but seemed more intent at looking around than wanting to be fed for the time being.

"So why did you guys first try drugging me then vervain me?" Elena asked in a rather accusatory tone. While in the back of her mind, she was trying to work out how to keep Elijah or his siblings from harming her friends. Although a dark part of her psyche was warming up to that very notion, even admitting it to herself almost scared her as well.

"We only want to help you, Elena," Stefan spoke first. Elena pointedly ignored him instead she stood up from the bed and picked up her smiling daughter cradling her to her chest. Her daughter's heart beat thrummed into her chest, helping to calm her. If Astrid and Eirik hadn't been here with her, Elena might have done something she'd immediately regret.

"Help me? Is that what you call it?"

"Elena-" Stefan started, but Elena, keeping her back to him cut him off.

"Please leave Stefan! I really don't want to see or talk with you right now," Elena spoke coldly to her former boyfriend. Was he even the same person she once tried so desperately to find a way of restoring his humanity? Their relationship started to fracture when he left with Klaus to create his hybrid army and during senior prank night when he drank from her. If Klaus hadn't been there, she would have ended up as just another name scribbled on a wall somewhere. It hurt to admit that, but it was the unbridged truth, nonetheless.

"Now Stefan!" Elena said, not intending to raise her voice but the expression he held like he wanted to fix everything no matter her feelings brought back too many memories. She tried not to spy on her friends while she waited for her coffin to be finally opened, but even she had given in. Stefan, after saving her, had watched her from afar. She always had felt that someone was watching her sleep and witnessing him stand outside her bedroom window for night after night had quite frankly been troubling enough. Intellectually, she understood he was trying to reconcile his feelings for Katherine and the then oblivious human girl he inadvertently saved.

Stefan shifted his attention to Bonnie who, with some nonverbal argument, before finally leaving for the lower floor of the boarding house.

"Before we start, Bon. How is your mom?" Elena started.

Bonnie leaned back, taken aback before her curiosity got the better of her. "How did you know- Caroline?" Bonnie asked and despite her friends actions towards her Elena had to smile at Bonnie's swift deduction on who had appraised her on Bonnie's mother.

"Don't blame Caroline. She was caught up in the moment when she let it slip from her lips. Speaking of Caroline, where is she?" Elena said while rocking her child in her arms.

"Caroline went to check on her dad and mom. Also something about making arrangements for the Miss Mystic Falls Pageant later this month. As for my mother, she is doing as well as can be expected. Although she seems to be holding something back, as if she is unsure what to say about what is really bothering her. My step brother Jamie agrees with me too."

"Sorry did you say step brother?" Elena asked even though thanks to her vampiric nature her hearing was better than perfect but her mind was still trying to process it.

Bonnie looked up at her friend and sighed. So much had happened since Elena's strange disappearance. She had to wait for Damon to get back anyway, so she decided to tell Elena about their road trip to a certain Charlotte Cemetery.


Mikaelson Mansion
November 6, 2010

"So brother, Sage, did you find anything useful regarding the actual location of the one thing that can kill all of us?" Klaus asked. While his tone was pleasant, the fire blazing behind his eyes was anything but placate. That fire quickly died when Klaus noticed the look of defeat held in his older brother's eyes.

"Do you remember how I and Kol left after our family burned the first white oak? Well little brother, I wasn't sitting idling away my time. Mother turned us all into monsters at father's insistence!" Finn's voice grated on Klaus's nerves; he really didn't need to see the self loathing his oldest brother had for what they had become. He already knew they were monsters.

"If it wasn't obvious, Niklaus, I wanted to be returned to what I once was. It took decades with one false lead or another, but eventually I found a coven of witches that were willing to help me. It was through their assistance I found a potential loophole existed in mother's spell," Finn sighed, sitting next to Sage with a glass of warm blood.

"Loophole? What are you talking about, brother?" Elijah asked, glancing up from his phone for perhaps the hundredth time.

"When mother crafted her version of the immortality spell she used the wood from the White Oak Tree as the source of our immortality. What the coven and I found out later was as long as the tree was still a living thing, then there was the means of finally reversing the immortality aspects of our existence. But then that is why mother and father burned it to ash!" Finn said, bitterness lacing his tongue. Seeing his distress, Sage reached out and took his clenched fist into her hands. His tension eased, but the horror of what their parents had turned them into weighed heavily on his soul.

"Mother and Father were only trying to protect us!" Rebekah said defensively. She had, up till now, been silent. Most of her attention was focused on her phone like Elijah but unlike her brother, she kept typing on the screen, growing more frustrated with every message she read or sent.

"Yet father chased us, or more accurately me, around the world with the very thing that could be used to kill our kind," Klaus retorted.

"Rebekah, Brothers, we aren't getting anywhere with this!" Elijah sighed, tucking his phone back into his suit pocket. "Did either of you find out what happened to the tree? Does it still stand today?"

Finn glanced down at Sage who only nodded her head as if in silent understanding of what was passing between them. Elijah opened his mouth to speak when Sage spoke first.

"No unfortunately. It seems that in the early part of the twentieth century, Mystic Falls was in a period of population growth. The surrounding land was being cleared for new housing. The two biggest providers of wood for construction came from two founding families. Anyone care to know who?" Sage explained.

"Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to enjoy hearing the identity of who either of these families are?" Klaus groaned, peering deep into his half empty tumbler.

"The Lockwoods owned the majority of the land the wood for this expansion came from. Followed by the second largest provider, the Salvatores, but it was ultimately the Salvatores who also owned the mill that would have cut the white oak into usable timber," Finn added.

"This is just perfect! Not only do they have the photographic evidence of the means to kill us but now you're saying that they might even have the very records of disposition of the bloody white oak?" Klaus asked rhetorically, shooting to his feet before pacing Elijah's private study in angry strides.

"Maybe while Ella is there she can destroy this photographic evidence and go looking for these supposed records?" Kol asked. They looked at each other and as one shifted their collective attention to Rebekah who was still busy with her phone.

"Bekah, if you're not too busy with whatever is occupying your time. Tell our lovely sister Ella to give us a status report on finding this photographic evidence of the great white oak. With that blasted magical barrier up, she is our best option of finding it while she is still there," Klaus asked with a slight growl.

"I would," Rebekah said, annoyed.

Rather than do as her brother suggested, Rebekah looked up from her phone and with a look of defiance in her eye which momentarily confused Klaus until his sister elaborated further. "Ella promised to send new baby pictures of Astrid and Eirik, but as of late she keeps coming up with these lame excuses. So I'm not sure if she will respond, but I will ask. It can't hurt," Rebekah huffed in annoyance.

Elijah didn't know why his sister's comment bothered him the way it did. Elena had sent him a rather terse text saying that their children were being fussy, but not to worry. Something felt wrong, but he didn't yet know what it was.


Gilbert Residence
November 6, 2010

How many times had he watched Elena as she slept? If anybody asked him that question Damon couldn't honestly give them a precise number. He had only manipulated her dreams in the first couple of weeks upon his own return to Mystic Falls. All just to save Katherine from her supposed imprisonment. It had never been a possibility that the very woman he fell in love with wouldn't even need his help. Katherine Pierce had ripped his undead heart out of his chest that night before he learned the truth. It still angered him the amount of time he wasted chasing after memories of a woman that had used him and his brother for her own selfish needs.

Damon smiled to no one in particular when he carefully slid the drawer back into place. He highly doubted anyone would notice his snooping; the occupant of the bedroom had never noticed her belongings being rifled through before. He had already picked up her hair and tooth brush for Bonnie. Still, it couldn't hurt to pick a few more items Elena's essence might still linger on as well. For some reason, as if something or someone was telling him to do so, Damon plucked the daylight pendant of Elena's mother from its resting spot and pocketed it to give to her later. As soon as he did so, he frowned, as if unsure what had prompted him to make an odd, impulsive manner. Shaking his head in annoyance, he reached behind the picture frame and smiled when his fingers touched the leather book binding.

Elena's journal had always been a source of entertainment for him to read until one fateful day he found an entry that she must have penned shortly after opening the tomb under the church ruins. The entry had been heartbreaking, not because Elena had originally hoped that Damon would find Katherine then leave, but it was the follow-on entry that gave him a firsthand view into how even Katherine's Doppelgänger had worried about him after learning the truth. Elena had expressed her concern for his wellbeing and wanted to be there for him as a friend. At the time, he thought her a naïve human girl, but even he couldn't discount the fact that Elena Gilbert was a compassionate person. He felt ashamed for having invaded her privacy as he had done in the past. Damon returned Elena's journal back to its original hiding spot.

Searching for anything else that might suit Sabrina the Teenage Witch's needs he clicked his tongue in annoyance when the ping of another message sounded. Muttering under his breath he read the latest text entry with a frown.

REBEKAH: Ella, why haven't you sent me any new pics of Astrid and Eirik? Elijah and Klaus also want to know if you have had any luck in finding the pictures your teacher friend took? Please let us know ASAP.

"What the hell? What is so special about those pictures?" Damon asked aloud. He hesitated, typing a response. It was only a matter of time before he wrote something that alerted them to the fact that he borrowed Elena's phone.

ELENA: Sorry, no luck finding where Damon or Stefan put them since the last time I saw them. What do you want me to do when I find them?

A full minute passed before the Original responded.

REBEKAH: Ella, are you okay? You need to destroy them! We can't afford to let the Mystic Falls Gang have access to any of them. We already destroyed the pictograms in the cave.

Damon froze. What has the Originals so worried about those pictures Ric took of those silly cave drawings? The only thing they learned from them had been the true identity of who really killed their mother, and not their father, as Klaus had lied telling his sibling he caught Mikael in the very act. Had they missed something? Something that will finally get rid of Klaus and Elijah, Damon wanted them both dead especially the so called Nobel Original. It galled him to think that Elena allowed herself to be touched by someone that had betrayed her as well as her friends. Not to overlook the plain fact that Klaus should have been dead by now.


Salvatore Boarding House
November 6, 2010

Elena's guilt for what had happened to Bonnie's mother only intensified the longer her friend explained how they found Abby and her stepson in Cemetery in North Carolina. If she had been able to do more than to warn Abby that Mikael had come for the toddler aged version of her human self, Elena would have tried harder. The fact that Bonnie had lost a little brother before he was even born was heartbreaking.

Ever since Elijah had collected her body under the ruse that he found Esther's body still magically preserved, Elena had tried to husband her magical reserves, but events since then had proved otherwise. When Abby had finally removed the obsidian dagger from her chest, Elena had no choice but to feed. While she had given Abby her own blood to recover, it also meant that when Katherine ultimately killed her, she had died with vampire blood in her system. And not just any vampire, either. Elena had no idea what or how her Original Doppelgänger Vampire blood would affect Abby's transition. Once again, her friend was suffering from what Elena connection to the supernatural has wrought on the Bennett family. It didn't matter that what had happened hadn't been malicious or other. How could Bonnie forgive her when she learned the truth?

Elena had reluctantly returned Astrid to her crib. Tatia was still watching them, Elena had to give her credit for keeping up the charade that she couldn't understand what they were saying.

"Bonnie, there is something I need to share with you, and I know you're probably going to hate me," Elena said hesitantly. She stood up and paced away in a futile effort to control the building tension in her stomach.

"What is it Elena? I know you're holding something back. I don't know what they did to you, but you don't feel like a normal vampire. I've become accustomed to its strange I-." Bonnie stopped considering her next choice of words. "When I touched you, I felt something like I do now with my mother, but while hers is more muted, yours is more intense."

Elena opened her mouth to respond, but no words came to her. It was as if her thoughts had been wiped clean. Could Abby's transition be different?

"I'll tell you in a second. Can I ask, has your mother expressed any concern about not feeling her magic since she transitioned?" Elena asked.

Bonnie looked intently at her friend, unsure why this question was so important. Come to think of it her mother hadn't yet expressed any concern of losing her magic, but she was still trying to control her blood cravings.

"No, Elena, what are you not telling me?"

"Bonnie," Elena stopped, drawing in a deep breath before slowly exhaling. "When your mom pulled the dagger out of my heart, I woke up and needed to feed. Before leaving the cave, I gave her some of my blood."

In life, sometimes there were events that time itself seemed to slow down. When Elena had woken up in the hospital, the world had slowed down when Jenna had told her that her parents had died. This was another one of those life events Elena realized.

Her witch friend's puzzled expression slowly shifted first to understanding then to anger. Elena collapsed to her knees as the capillaries in her brain started to explode like a fireworks display.

"Elena! What are you doing to her?" Tatia exclaimed in a horrified voice. Almost immediately the aneurysm Bonnie had been inflicting on her ceased.

Despite the residual pain, she felt Tatia holding her trying to comfort her. Elena cursed already knowing that Tatia had inadvertently just advertised that she could both understand and speak English.

"Bonnie, please!" Elena croaked.

"I don't know what they've done to you Elena but despite everything I will do what I must," Bonnie's voice was hard Elena was only getting to her feet when Bonnie spun on her heel and exited the room. Elena made to follow, but encountered a magical barrier at the room's threshold. Why hadn't she seen it, Elena absently wondered as she pounded on the barrier with her fists.

"Bonnie please I-" Elena repeated then stopped mid sentence she was already well aware that the damage had already been done. Their friendship had survived a lot of things in the last few years it would be a miracle if it survived this. Elena felt the tears welling up and since waking up from her near millennium slumber she let them fall. She didn't even flinch when she felt Tatia wrap her arms protectively around her here she was one of the strongest beings on the planet and her very human ancestor was there at her weakest moment. She let Tatia hold her, offering what comfort and solace she could. It had been such a long time since she let herself have a good cathartic cry.