The next day saw her on an early morning jog. She had seen Damon that morning, the first time since their interaction at the Grill, and he had come to talk to her about how delusional she was for trusting Klaus.
But she knew she wasn't, not after last night. He had been about to tell her something before Elijah had interrupted them. Courtesy of Damon, as she had learned.
She knew running in the forest was slightly risky, but there was hardly anyone here except for Stefan, and that was back when he used to feed on the bunnies.
She came to a halt as she spied someone beyond the tree.
Someone familiar.
"You know you shouldn't come alone in the woods, love, all sorts of creatures live out here." Klaus said as he came out from behind the tree.
And he wasn't wearing a shirt. She tried not to stare at the lean muscles she saw, the perfectly sculpted abs, and strong pect-
She averted eyes as he put on a t-shirt, smirking at her, clearly having caught her.
"What are you doing here?"
"Thought I'd take the advantage of having the ability to turn at will."
She frowned as she turned to look at him again. "You turn regularly? Caroline said it was extremely painful."
"Oh, it is, but well, I did kill you for this particular benefit, so what's a little pain." He said smirking at her, looking entirely too glib.
"Oh good. At least that wasn't for nothing then."
He raised his eyebrows at her as he openly stared at her. "What has gotten into you this morning?"
"Well, where should I start? How about what you did yesterday?"
"Yes, that was rather manipulative, wasn't it? I trust all your precious friends are fine." It was as if the last two weeks hadn't occurred at all, he sounded exactly as he always used to, cold and detached.
"No thanks to you."
"What, don't be like that love. I did leave them alive."
"Thank you so much Klaus."
"Why are you this angry? Not that I didn't risk your friends lives, but you usually take it a lot better than this." She let out a small sigh, both at being caught and at how twisted their conversation was.
"Bonnie... she thought I was the one who told you about us seeing Abby."
"So that's what this is about."
"That's not just what it's about."
"Then what is it?" This was the first time since that night they were talking, really, without any interruptions, and it was a far cry from how they'd been then. He sounded distant.
"I thought...I mean, since we-"
"Ah, I forget how wondrous it is to be young and naïve." He said stalking towards her. "You thought that since I told you a few stories about my life, saved your life because I need your blood, I cared about you."
She had thought that, she realised. She had felt something change between them, and she was sure he had too. The eyes never lied after all, and she had seen his.
"Allow me to rid you of your disillusionment, that isn't me darling." He walked forward, covering the distance between them, leaning down so he could look her in the eyes, "I am a monster. I'm the most ruthless, cruelest that has ever walked this earth." Her heart was pounding in her chest as she forced herself to look at him. "Do not mistake me needing your blood for anything else."
She couldn't believe his words, wouldn't, so she challenged him instead. To see how he would react.
"Fine, then take me." His lips parted at her words but she didn't care, she wasn't going to let him intimidate her anymore. "Take me with you, lock me away, use my blood to make your hybrids. Or get a needle and drain me dry. That's what the cruelest vampire to have lived would do. So do it."
"Be careful what you wish for love, I might just take you up on it."
"Do it, and then I'll know you that you don't care about me. I'll know that you don't give a damn about me. Like I did when you killed me."
His jaw set at her words.
"Perhaps I should," he used his hand to cradle her face, the knowledge that he could just as easily snap her neck was weighing on her heart, but she ignored it. "Take you with me, the way you said and use you for your blood. And I would. The only reason I'm not is because I can see the long term. You see, I need you to get married, have some children, so in a few centuries, I can have another doppelgänger walking around. That's the thing about you Petrovas, so easily replaceable." He said while tucking a stand of her hair behind her hair. His actions contradicted his harsh words. She knew what he doing, hitting her where it hurt, knowing how she felt about her doppelgänger heritage.
"Well, if I'm replaceable then you're alone. You're the one that lives in a massive house all alone, your family just a foot away but you can't wake them. You're afraid that if you give them a choice, they'll leave you." She could see the hurt in his eyes at her words, disappearing quickly, and felt a perverse pleasure that he wasn't as unaffected by her as he claimed.
"Well perhaps that is just our fate Elena." She felt a rush of wind next, and realised that he had left.
The day only got worse from then on. Caroline called her to go with her to the hospital where they found that her dad been killed, and was in transition. She spent the day with her friend, trying to comfort her friend, her father was choosing not to transform and would die permanently soon. She didn't know how to console her about that.
In the evening, she went home with Matt and saw that all the lights were off. The two of them searched for candles since no one was home.
Or so they thought.
"Elena!" There was urgency in Matt's voice, and she ran towards where he was shining a flashlight.
There was a pool of blood on the floor, and Jenna was lying against the kitchen counter, unconscious.
"No, no, no!" She fell beside her aunt, seeing the knife lodged in her stomach. "Jenna? Wake up, please."
"It must've been the same person who killed Caroline's dad. I'm calling 911."
"Okay, quickly, there's too much blood here." She said as she tried to look for a pulse. "Matt wait."
"What?"
"Her pulse is weak." She said as she felt it. She had been around enough vampires and life and death situations to know it would be a futile effort. "She won't last till they get here."
"Elena..."
"They wouldn't be nearly fast enough." She pulled out her phone, calling Damon first, and then Stefan. She even called Caroline but she didn't expect the blonde to answer her call.
"I'm calling them."
"Fine." She said as Jenna kept getting paler. There was another person who could help her, she realised, and she made the call, taking a gamble. She was losing hope by the end, until it was picked up on the last ring. "Klaus." She could feel Matt's eyes on her.
"What do you want? I'm a little busy. About to have dinner with the Salvatores."
"It's Jenna." She could feel her voice break at the sight of the woman who had scarified so much for her. "Someone stabbed her, and she's lost too much blood. She's going to die and there's no one here. Please, I need...I need your help." There was silence on the other end, then.
"Invite me in."
"What?"
"So we don't have to waste time."
"Okay, you can come in." She said letting out a breath and the line clicked.
"Elena. I called them."
"Just call back and tell them it was a false alarm."
"Are you sure?"
"She is." She turned around, surprised at how quick he had been in getting there.
"Hey." He moved forward, not sparing her a glance as he sat by her aunt and put his bleeding wrist to her mouth, while pulling out the knife lodged in her stomach.
He pulled his hand back once she woke up, the bleeding having stopped.
"Jenna! Hey, it's okay." She said as she sat down on the other side.
"What happened? Why-"
"You were stabbed. We gave you vampire blood."
"I...you." She turned towards him and Elena realised they had never actually met.
"Yes, you're welcome." He said, getting up.
He walked towards the door and she got up, her hands drenched in blood and followed him.
"Wait-"
"What now?" He turned around at the door, and she moved so she was standing close to him.
"Thank you. For what you did today." She knew he wanted to say something, so she bulldozed on, "about this morning, I didn't mean what I said, about you being alone."
"Don't-"
"You don't have to be." She swallowed as he looked taken aback. "You, you're not all who I thought you were."
"You don't know me, I'm not one of your Salvatores, I'm not some young sentimental vampire. I don't care about anything or anyone."
"I do. I know what you are, you're a monster. You compelled my birth mother to set herself on fire in front of me, you killed me. You cart your family in coffins. You've threatened the life of everyone I care about. But I also think that there's more to you. You were there for me the other night, and you're here now. If you're all that you pretend to be, then why help?"
He looked down, contemplating, before looking back up at her.
"You held up your end of the bargain love, I held up mine. That's all."
"It didn't include protecting me."
"Whatever you think is happening here Elena, it's not."
"It's not about anything that's happening. It's about you, I just think there's more to you than just being the evil hybrid."
He drew a breath, "I'm getting late. I have to go terrorise your boyfriends with my brother." He was gone in a gush of wind before she could say anything. And that was the second time.
She walked back in the house where Jenna was sitting, the paleness fading from her face.
"Huh, if I had seen him out somewhere, I would've thought he was just some hot guy, not a psychopath." Jenna said groaning, as she got up unsteady on her feet.
"Maybe we should still take her to the hospital Elena."
"Yeah, have Meredith Fell check up on her." She said, despite knowing that Damon thought she was the killer, she was the only one who could help them.
The three of them left once Jenna was able to move. At the hospital, Meredith wanted to keep her under observation for the night, and Alaric was going to stay with her for safety. She and Matt said their goodbyes in the hospital corridor and she walked towards where her car was parked.
She got in, and as she was backing up, heard a noise. Fearing the worst, she got out to check if she had hurt anyone, but found no one there.
She looked around, feeling the hair on her neck raise and opened the back door, grabbing the stake she kept there for her protection, dripping vervain over it.
She closed the door and the very next moment, she was pinned to the car by a hand on her neck, pressing so that she wasn't quite choking yet, but breathing was difficult.
"Drive much?"
"Rebekah."
"You stabbed me in the back, Elena. It hurt." The vampire advanced towards her, her fangs elongating and Elena took the opportunity to stab her with the wooden stake. Rebekah winced in pain. She let her go as she dug the stake out of her stomach, levelling Elena with a chilling glare.
"Rebekah, I'm sorry about what I did, I just had to be sure.."
"I don't care, Elena." The next moment she was gone and Elena turned to the side to see that Elijah had her pressed against the side of the car.
"Elijah." Rebekah sounded disappointed.
"Leave." For a moment, Elena thought she wouldn't, with the way she was looking at her brother. "Are you challenging me?"
"You're pathetic. Both of you." She was gone the next moment. Things were silent for a few seconds before he turned to her.
"I believe we have some catching up to do."
"Yeah, I guess we do." She couldn't help the small smile as he got into her car and they drove to the Grill in silence.
"Is there no other place in this town?" Elijah asked, reminding her of when Klaus had.
"There are, but it's late. Everywhere else will be closed." She said getting out of the car.
"Ah, of course. I trust your aunt is feeling well." He said as he opened the door for her.
"Yeah, she's fine." They sat in one of the tables near the pool, the place was mostly emptying out, but there were still some people at the bar.
"So you and Klaus were having dinner with Damon and Stefan?"
"Oh yes, not an entirely unsuccessful venture, as it turns out."
"What happened?" She asked as he ordered himself scotch.
"The Salvatores proved to be quite the distraction, while I undaggered all my siblings."
"Even Kol?" She asked recalling what Klaus had told her about him.
"Yes, and from the tone of your voice, I take it my brother has informed you of his...tendencies."
"That Klaus tries to keep him in check? Yes, I know about that."
"Good." The waitress placed a drink in front of Elijah and threw Elena a wink over her shoulder before leaving.
"Nice haircut, by the way."
"Yes, much more fitting for this century, I've been informed. So, shall we discuss the topic at hand?" She knew it had been coming, so she nodded at steeled herself for his questions.
"Of course."
"What deal have you made with my brother?"
"Well, what did he tell you about it?" She asked cautiously.
"Nothing really. I gathered from the hostility in Damon Salvatore's tongue." Elena winced.
"What did he do?"
"Well, there may have been harsh barbes traded. Just for future reference, coming into his home, and then threatening Nicklaus is never the best course of action." She sighed, letting her shoulders droop as she worried about what Damon did.
"Is Damon alright?"
"Yes, my brother may have burned his hand in the fireplace for a while." Elena winced. "While my brother is regularly prone to...violent outbursts, this one was entirely unexpected. And he was not as unaffected as he pretended to be. So, what is this deal you made with him?"
"He gave me his word that he would leave my family alone."
"And in exchange?" Elena was coiled and tensed, while Elijah was the picture of relaxation.
"I spend time with him."
"Yes, I suppose that does make sense."
"Elijah, do you know why..." she trailed off, unsure what to ask.
"No, I'm not sure. Although, I do have some suspicions." She frowned at him. "I'll let you know once I've confirmed them to be true."
"So, how was it? All your siblings in one place?" She couldn't keep the bite out of her voice and his composure finally broke.
"I must apologise for my actions, Elena."
"It's alright Elijah." She said with a sigh, "I understand."
"Your forgiveness is unearned, I'm afraid. But thank you." He said with a slight smile. "The gathering was a tad violent."
"What?"
"Oh yes, all of my siblings were quite angry at Nicklaus." She felt her heart stutter and almost asked if he was okay, but held her tongue. "In the end, it was our mother who stopped us."
"Your mother? I thought-"
"Quite alive now, yes. She was in the sealed coffin."
"Oh, wow."
"Yes." He paid for his drink then and she got up to leave. She remembered what Klaus had told her that morning, and figured this was as good an opportunity as any.
"Elijah?"
"Yes?" He looked up at her.
"Who is Marcellus?" The look on his face was enough to confirm her suspicions.
"My brother spoke to you of him?"
"Briefly."
"He was Nicklaus'...ward. He loved him like a son." She nodded and then left, although she was sure he had questions for her.
It was clear from Elijah's reaction that Klaus had opened up to her, that he wasn't just telling her stories, that what he had told her about himself actually meant something. At least that was real.
A/N : I know that wasn't much, but the next chapter is the Mikaelson Ball. Let me know what you think.
