Mikaelson Mansion
November 20, 2010
One day until the full moon
Klaus paused, just shy of the final step landing into the basement, to listen to the cry of pain from his once close friend, Stefan Salvatore. It still amazed him, how much his perspective of things had changed ever since Elena's return to their family. And no thanks to his restored memories of his sister-in-law had made him rather self reflective, of his own actions over the last year. Especially towards year of all people. Tatia had tried to get him to talk about it to her when they were alone, but so far he rebuffed every attempt.
He didn't really know if it was just in his head, but every time he felt his siblings' eyes on him, he could get past the nagging feeling they were somehow judging him for his actions towards the person he once thought of as his Doppelgänger and nothing more.
Maybe because of the stress they were all under to get Elena back, he had a nightmare of the night before he finally unlocked his wolf's side.
For the most part, everything had happened as it had, but it wasn't until it was time for her part in the ritual that things had taken a different turn.
"Nik! Please don't! You have no idea what you're about to do!"
Her calling him by his preferred nickname didn't even deter him from his obsession of finally breaking his thousand-year curse. It was only until right after he had completely drained her precious blood from her very body that the final veil which had obscured the memories of her were fully pushed clear. Revealing the cooling body, not of Elena Gilbert, but his sister-in-law dropped so callously to the ground as if she were a piece of rubbish. Elena Mikaelson.
The subsequent terrible wail of utter agony, which frequently haunted these particular dream sequences, that escaped from his lips hadn't been from the pain of his very bones reforming. No, it was far worse because of what he had done to his sister. It didn't matter in the slightest bit that they were not even blood related. And just like history is repeating in these fevered dreams, when Elijah appears from nowhere to exact his revenge, by putting an end to his very existence, Klaus doesn't resist. Yet every time he feels his brother pulling his heart out of his chest he wakes up, guilt-ridden by what he has done. If Tatia wasn't beside him anchoring him, he didn't really know what he might do.
He, of all of his siblings, had done some rather monstrous things far too numerous to count throughout the centuries, some of them out of necessity. Their father chasing them all over the world. While others, even he was ashamed to admit, were for the pettiest of reasons. For instance, his using Jenna Sommers as the vampire sacrifice was but one of them that he regretted from the most recent past.
The gurgled scream coming from the dungeon as the youngest Salvatore and Klaus's older brother were currently residing brought him back to the present.
"Stefan Salvatore… What makes you think you can disrespect me or my family? Perhaps I was mistaken in thinking that you were the smarter brother." Elijah's voice echoed from deeper in the dungeon.
"Wh… Why don't you just kill me and be done with it, then?!" Stefan wheezed, gasping for air. He wasn't positive, but knowing his brother Stefan was now dealing with a punctured lung. All the worst made by the simple fact the offending blade was probably still firmly in place. Their bodies could expel foreign objects unless obstructed and a firm hand holding its place was more than sufficient.
Klaus moved to just outside the door to the room Finn and his sister had deposited Stefan in the day before. Stefan's clothing was a blood soaked mess and could only loosely be considered clothing with how ripped and shredded it now appeared. It seems Elijah has been rather busy for most of the morning, Klaus noted absently.
"As much as my brother would like to do that very thing, the simple truth is that Elena doesn't want that, despite everything," Klaus answered before his brother could.
"What are you doing here, Niklaus?" Elijah asked. If it were anyone else they would mistake his tone as being calm; Klaus knew better.
"I've come to relieve you and figured now was as good a time as any to have a nice little chat with my mate here."
"Niklaus."
"Brother, you have been at this for hours and I really think you need a break from it. Besides, I needed to get away from Bekah and Miss Forbes arguing about their plans of redecorating the second floor nursery before Ella is returned to us," Klaus interrupted before his brother could admonish him.
Elijah still holding the silver blade in his hand looked at the sagging body of Stefan Salvatore torn with draining the vervain from his wife's former lover. That thought alone made him twist the blade ever so slightly, eliciting a groan of pain to burble from Stefan's red stained lips as the blood foamed out of his mouth. A very sure indicator that Elijah had indeed punctured one, if not both of Stefan's lungs.
Klaus reached out to place a reassuring hand on Elijah's shoulder. The conflicted emotions in his brother's eyes tore at his soul. He knew that Elijah missed his wife. They all missed their sister, especially after being reunited once more only for her to be taken from them again.
"Go! Spend time with your children. They are only young once and I don't want you to miss a second of it," Klaus spoke gently.
There wasn't any hint of hesitation from his usually stoic brother, before there was a sudden rush of air, leaving Stefan and Klaus alone. He could have initiated their inevitable chat; instead he simply waited. Fortunately they both didn't need to wait very long.
"So, did you come down here really to give him a break, or do you have something else planned?" Stefan wheezed before launching into a coughing fit.
It took some additional searching, but it wasn't very long before Klaus had pulled out a decently sized collection of repurposed knitting needles; stabbed in various locations about the younger vampire's body. By the strategic positioning of some of them, Klaus observed appreciatively, his older brother was maximizing the possible level of pain to unprecedented levels. It was something Elijah refrained from doing unless provoked.
"No, I don't think I need to do that, mate. If my brother had been intent on killing you, he would have just carried through with it. Unlike me, Elijah sees no reason to torture someone he eventually is going to kill," Klaus said dryly.
Klaus was being partially honest. There was on one occasion Klaus watched his brother tortture before killing, and it only reminded him how brutally vengeful Elijah could be if provoked.
"Then why are you down here?" Stefan asked, genuinely confused.
At first Klaus wanted to shove his hand into his mate's chest and give his heart a little squeeze for everything he had done, before resolving to take a different approach.
"Did all of you think you would stop us from getting what, or more precisely whom, we wanted? But for now, I would like to know. Did you actually think you could get away with what you have been doing, Stefan Salvatore?"
"I don't have any idea what you think I might have gotten away with," Stefan answered. Based on the younger vampire's expression, Klaus ever so slightly just caught the first hint of doubt. Good, he thought after everything they had done over the previous summer, he never for once had considered his companion would be the one that was erasing his army one hybrid at a time.
Klaus reached into his back pocket and dropped the object he retrieved onto the stained concrete floor. Stefan froze when his vision cleared enough that he finally recognized what the Original Hybrid had literally placed at his feet. The unlocked cell phone he'd liberated from one of Klaus's hybrids.
"Would you care to discuss exactly how, and more importantly, why you have been killing off my hybrids?" Klaus said in the best conversational voice he could manage, considering the circumstances. The anger he felt after sending out a text to his hybrids and seeing the same message on Stefan's cellphone had swelled to epic proportions. If Tatia hadn't been there with him he didn't know what he would have done.
Even through the blood loss, Stefan somehow managed to keep his head up, although it was a struggle, Klaus observed.
"We did what we had to do." Stefan coughed.
"We?"
"Correction, just me." Stefan paused. "Rather ironic how the tables can turn, right? I mean, with me gunning against your family? One would wonder how much hurt I could give."
"My family you mentioned just now includes Elena and her children as well. Are you implying that you'd act against them with your foolish vendetta against me?" Klaus asked dangerously. He knew his sister-in-law could handle herself being a Original herself, but little Astrid and her brother was another matter entirely. While he might be a monster himself, he refrained from going after children. Harming a child only reminded him entirely too much of his own experiences with his father growing up. He wasn't perfect, especially when he, like his siblings, were still working to control their bloodlust.
He watched as the former Ripper of Monterey slowly considered his response to Klaus's challenge.
"You took everything from me! First Elena, then getting me hooked on human blood to save my brother, and finally taking away my humanity when you compelled me!" Stefan's voice shook, raising in volume with each second. He stepped forward allowing the manacles to dig deeper into his wrists. Klaus had to admire the tenacity of his former companion; but that admiration abruptly vanished, by what he foolishly asked next.
"How well do you think she lived with you and your family after everything that happened? After you used her as a blood bag? So tell me, are you going to use Tatia like that, too?"
Klaus's response was immediate as he thrust his hand deep into Stefan's chest his fingers already wrapping themselves around his beating heart. If it wasn't for the fact that despite everything Elena didn't want Stefan to die, he would have killed the younger vampire right here and now.
Stefan let out a strangled yell, lips trembling as his breath hitched in his throat. Klaus brought his face closer to Stefan's, his voice dropping an octave lower.
"Don't speak of my Tatia like that. Ever."
Salvatore Boarding House
November 20, 2010
One day until the full moon
Damon drained his glass and having just emptied his next to last remaining bottle of his favorite Bourbon, he regarded the empty tumbler a second before throwing it as hard as he could into the fireplace.
"Calm down, mate. We'll think of something." Enzo's voice penetrated through the red haze surrounding him. His eyes briefly flashed red as the blood filled them fueled by his turbulent emotions.
"How can I calm down? We thought of everything and yet they managed to get one of us! It was almost as if they knew we were trying to distract them," Damon yelled over his shoulder, his arms extended outward onto the fireplace mantle in abject frustration.
He knew something didn't feel quite right that night, and it was only after he encountered his former mentor Sage he really had a chance to consider it more closely. He'd rushed back and found Jeremy squared off against the very same vampire that had betrayed all of them months ago. He somehow knew instantly they had been played. Sage's arrival didn't seem connected. After all it seemed with everything else going on in Mystic Falls supernatural wise it would have attracted attention amongst all things related to their world.
It was odd, right before her departure she coyly suggested they needed to talk about something she was researching and more than that, she needed his assistance. He agreed, considering he did feel a sense of guilt for killing Stefan's and now Sage's friend Lexi. It was only after the fact he realized she seemed nervous like she didn't want to be there, like someone was looking for her, but needed his assistance in finding something only his family knew about. What a thing at the time, Damon reminded himself.
"I highly doubt they somehow knew what we were planning, Damon. We have had no contact with the outside world," Enzo pointed out.
"Trust me on this. Don't make assumptions, especially when dealing with Originals. If it isn't obvious to you every time our little gang has tried something, things haven't worked out as they intended."
It still ate at him to have Elijah of all people then tell everyone present at that time, his dysfunctional yet close knit family had successfully captured Stefan and they would hold on to him until Elena was released back to them. Before he disappeared back into the night as if he hadn't been there.
They had tried to look for his brother, but only found his bottles of animal blood abandoned most likely where he'd dropped them. Trying to help, Bonnie used her magic and, to Damon's annoyance, tracked Stefan to the same mansion Klaus had built for his family. Wanting to know more, he pushed her to find out exactly where Stefan was inside, but so far all her attempts to spy on them magically had been blocked by Klaus's witches. He wouldn't admit this, but having two Bennett witches on their side was the only thing keeping them safe from the Original Family while Klaus had, based on Bonnie's assessment, a coven of witches working for them. In the back of Damon's mind he knew they needed more allies. Perhaps Sage might be willing to help if he in turn helped Sage with her important matter.
"So where is everyone else?" Enzo asked, changing the subject. Being a vampire he, like Damon knew, precisely where everyone was at that very moment; still a distraction was needed. After learning where his brother had been taken to Damon was admittedly in a rather foul mood to be around.
"Sounds like Jamie is getting something to eat in the kitchen after his and little Gilbert's stupid Marathon video game session. Seriously, what is with kids these days? Anyway I'm not sure, it sounds like Jer is taking a nap, based on his even breathing," Damon answered, tilting his head to the side as if to listen to something, but frowned when he only heard silence.
"What?"
"I'm not sure, but if I had to hazard a guess either Abby or Bonnie have shielded themselves from being overheard. I can't even hear their heartbeats," Damon answered, his brow still furrowed. Enzo only grunted and helped himself to the Salvatore's liquor cabinet. Damon gave him a pointed look as he rooted about in the cramped confines. Stefan and he had always enjoyed their spirits ,something they both inherited from Giuseppe; their drunkard father had retreated into his study after their mother's death from consumption.
"Calm down, Damon, I wouldn't deign to touch your last bottle. Besides, I've watched you track its contents with those level markings you've inked on the bottle's side." Enzo scoffed, pulling out a bottle of Rye Whiskey. Not his preferred drink, but it would do for now.
"I wouldn't worry about them I think they are concerned as you are that someone might be listening into what we are planning. I think they are working out the spell they are going to need to recast the boundary spell to make it more permanent."
Damon grunted, then took Enzo's place at the liquor cabinet, pouring himself another drink, but with a new glass of whiskey from Stefan's private selection. A dark part of him reflected that he was breaking a truce they had established shortly after returning to their hometown not to break into the other brother's liquor, but that was before Stefan got himself captured.
"That would be nice, but unless they can find a more permanent solution to our little Original problem, we are essentially prisoners trapped inside my own damn home!"
"Try to think about something else. What are those, anyway?" Enzo asked, pointing a finger out from around his glass of whiskey before lifting to his lips.
"Something that I got sidetracked on but now since we have some free time I'm trying to make sense of it. There is something here that the Originals don't want us to find out about," Damon explained, flipping through one of Ric's cave pictures after another. If it wasn't for the sticky notes with the translations, he couldn't make heads or tails out of it, not that it helped since calling his drinking buddy earlier. Ric did warn him that there was still a good amount of guesswork on what the pictograms actually meant.
Curious, his friend joined him and started going through the collection. Picking up one of them, he thought it looked like a large oak tree. Nothing else seemed special about it. Frustrated with it, Damon tossed it back onto the pile before randomly picking out another one from the pile. Ric sure did like taking pictures, he thought grumpily.
Salvatore Boarding House
November 20, 2010
One day until the full moon
Bonnie looked up from an ancient Grimoire she'd only just found in her mother's collection with a startled expression. Her family and Elena's were more connected than she ever realized. Ever since they discovered that Elena's blood was needed for making Klaus's hybrids she'd been reading up on blood based magics, hoping to find something that would negate its usefulness. For obvious reasons, she never told anyone else, but having this new Grimoire had firmly disrupted that idea. Although it did offer a possibility that could strengthen the barrier, making it all but permanent when she stumbled across something else entirely.
"All this time! You've known about Elena's Petrova Bloodline and what it really can do?" Bonnie's voice cut through the companionable silence that had developed between them.
Abby sighed as she reluctantly resealed the spell scroll she had only just opened, already mentally preparing herself for a long overdue discussion about their family obligations.
"What do you want me to say, Bonnie? That our ancestor, for reasons out of loyalty and/or obligation to the first Petrova Doppelgänger, made a blood oath forever binding our family to their bloodline until we're released by them," Abby stated evenly. Bonnie, lost for words, could only stare at her mother from across the book cluttered table they decided looked sturdy enough to hold all the heavy tombs between their combined collection.
"How can one of our ancestors bind us like that!?"
"Bonnie-"
"No! Don't Bonnie me! Look I love Elena- I do, but sometimes- Well, I mean I don't understand how she keeps getting in these situations and all, but-"
"Sweetie, the binding doesn't mean that you're compelled against your own will; it just means you will gravitate towards anyone with a trace of Petrova blood running in their veins. Granted, the pull is stronger with a Doppelgänger, but the effects are for the most part the same."
"Why are we bound to them… I mean-" Bonnie started looking flustered by what she read regarding Elena's Petrova Heritage and her own familial connection.
"We protect their blood from being misused, more so for a Doppelgänger's blood. If it helps, I reacted the same way when your Grams told me about it. So much was lost when our ancestors were burned at the stake. I suspect that more was lost before Emily's time."
They continued to talk long into the night. Thankfully Damon was too preoccupied with his brother's kidnapping to bother them. There was a spell in the Grimoire Bonnie had been reading that would significantly strengthen the barrier, but it was a complex and time-consuming spell they would need to use. Knowing their limited time, they only had until tomorrow evening to prepare everything they needed.
"Uh… So exactly how does this 'Astral' thing of yours work?" Anna asked. Her voice sounded rather dubiously to Elena as they both found themselves peering down at Elena's sleeping brother.
Elena had really missed her baby brother for so long it hurt to even think about; it didn't matter to her that they weren't technically related. Time will only tell if he will come to terms with it just as she had.
Although in truth, Elena did have the advantage of several centuries to consider their sibling relationship. However, even before her journey back in time she had still been coming to terms with the stunning revelation that they were only first cousins, not biological brother and sister as they had grown up assuming. Thanks to her killing Jade in the past she learned more about her true parentage, which had come as an utter surprise at the time. It wasn't until some non-determinate time afterwards that she relearned the truth about who her mother Isobel had slept with around the same time she had with John Gilbert.
"Elena? Hello anybody there?"
Elena cursed under her breath. She hadn't meant to allow her mind to wander.
"Sorry, you were asking about how this will work?"
The rather annoyed look the former vampire was giving her was answer enough for Elena to continue. Taking it slow, she explained the mechanics of what she had no better term for other than dream walking. Which for all intents and purposes was exactly what they were attempting with Jeremy. Entering her brother's dreamscape was almost second nature for her. Not that she had made a habit of invading his dreams in the past, but after he was born, she had visited him just to reconnect with him in some fashion. She'd made it a point only to remove all traces of her in his dreams. This time would be different. She needed for him to remember what they were about to discuss in this dream state.
Those thoughts temporarily vanished the moment her brother's dreamscape finally manifested around them. Both Elena and Anna found themselves in something straight out of a horror movie, which was eerily similar to a particular movie Jeremy and Elena as well as her best friends used to watch before the supernatural world turned out to be something more real than previously thought.
Their parents really hadn't done them any favors by keeping them ignorant of their town's true heritage.
"Elena, where the hell are we?" Anna asked, her voice sounded oddly nervous. For once, she wasn't entirely sure. It looked like a thickly wooded forest in the middle of the night. Other than the sounds of wind moving through the branches it was hard to discern much of anything else. Thankfully the moon, or an apparition of it, hung low in the starless sky- another telltale sign they were in person's dream. There was a sporadic layer of fog that floated waist level. Even Elena had to admit the place her brother had conjured in his mind was rather disturbing.
"We're in one of Jeremy's dreams. You know it almost reminds me of a movie we'd watch-" Elena started but quickly stopped when a nerve jarring scream pierced the otherwise den of the forest surroundings.
"Come on!" Elena yelled and not waiting to see if her companion was following her, she moved with lightning speed. Along the way, she could hear the sounds of a struggle quickly followed by the sound of a handgun being fired in rapid succession. Every time the gun fired the strangled cry of a man or a woman invaded her heightened senses. Was she going to need to have an older sister talk with her little brother after everything is said and done? Elena didn't quite know yet. The horrific sounds of a battle always seemed to be just beyond the next stand of trees or rock outcropping. She didn't need to track via sound now, the metallic scent of freshly spilled blood was leading her nose to their destination.
By the time they reached what turned out to be a small clearing, Elena stood dumbstruck and by the startled gasp from somewhere behind her even Anna's reaction didn't yet begin to describe the carnage arrayed around them. Bodies of almost a dozen dead vampires littered the ground. Astral form or not, Elena, through the centuries once she regained consciousness, had witnessed similar massacres mostly instigated by Klaus for some offense or other against himself or their family. While this didn't fully compare in the sheer number Klaus himself was used to taking down, the utter brutality these phantom vampires experienced was horrific.
It wasn't seeing the bodies of the deceased vampires which disturbed her: it was the fact that her little brother Jeremy Gilbert was standing in the very epicenter of the massacre. Thankfully he wasn't facing her and a part of her found that detail somewhat comforting; she didn't think she wanted to see what type of expression his face held after witnessing the aftermath of whatever had taken place here. Dreamscape or not something felt off and Elena didn't understand why.
By his disheveled appearance, Jeremy hadn't come away from the battle unscathed himself. In fact, most of his clothing was torn to shreds, calling them clothing would only be considered in a stretch of abstract imagination. His jeans, while fairly intact, were completely soaked in vampire blood. His shirt was the worst by far. Elena could see more bare skin than cloth and two things immediately stood out to her. First being that her little brother had dreamed up a human physical physique for himself that reeked of male masculinity. The only other person she knew intimately who had muscles similar to what her brother was sporting was her Elijah. Before she could dwell on that disturbing correlation any further, thankfully her attention was refocused on the intricate design of a Tattoo that covered both of his arms and much of his upper back. Jeremy had always wanted to get a Tattoo but their parents had vehemently refused to give their consent. Ironically enough it had been their uncle, or Elena's birth father, who while supportive had simply suggested that Jeremy wait until he was older by calmly reminding Jeremy once his skin was inked it was permanent and even if he changed his mind on what he wanted, it would be too late to change.
There was something about the Elaborate Tattoo that tickled a forgotten memory and for her immortal life she couldn't exactly recall. Something Rebekah had mentioned when Elena had been watching over her family when they were still in New Orleans.
"Elena? What are you doing here?" Jeremy asked.
