It was because she had no self preservation instincts, he told himself. Her and her incessant need to redeem the monsters in her life. Be it Stefan or Damon, and now she'd set her sights on him.

It had been imperative to remind her just who he was.

He'd been there by the bar when she talked with Elijah. Could see the gears turning in her head.

He'd come to the place because Elijah and the Salvatore brothers insisted on talking about her throughout dinner. Then his sister, when she recalled how she had stabbed her. But there was no escaping her doe eyes, it seemed.

And what deceiving eyes they were.

He'd seen them before, on other women, fallen for them once, watched his brother fall for them twice, and now, perhaps even a third time.

The rage that was simmering in his chest had everything to do with the fact that she was his doppelgänger, not his mate. So when Elijah joined him, he did his best to hide it.

"Nice to see you two so familiar." He commented as his brother got his regular scotch.

"You will find I do not return the sentiment. Tell me brother, what are you doing with her?" Elijah, ever the noble brother. He smirked at him, a slow upturn of his lips that inspired great fear in even his worst enemies but only made his brother more stoic.

He really did have a stick up his arse.

"Whatever I want."

"Do not try to play me brother. What exactly have you planned? I know you cannot kill her."

"Oh, I have nothing planned." It was true, for once in his life, he really did not have anything planned. The many possibilities of what he could do were simply too overwhelming to settle on just one.

"Nicklaus."

"Are you trying to command me, brother?" He turned to him then, showing some of that rage.

"Perhaps I should bring Kol. You know the pleasure he would derive by playing with someone like Elena." Had it not been for his millennia of control, he would've had splinters of glass in his hand.

"You wouldn't. You care for her."

"As do you."

"I do not care for anyone. Love is a vampires greatest weakness."

"So you say, and yet, you are shaking with rage."

"Because you are planning to play house with my doppelgänger, again."

"Well, do let me know if you have intentions brother. I shall stop vying for her at once."

"Nonsense. Doppelgängers are like your Achilles heel. With Katerina, I knew you saw Tatia when you looked at her, tell me, who do you see when you look at Elena? Tatia or Katerina? Was there even a lick of difference between the two when you had them?"

"Must you always be so vile brother?"

"I'm just wondering brother, that's all."

That had been the end to that conversation, mostly. He kept stonewalling, while Elijah seemed determined as ever to get to him. It was for that reason that he invited her friend to the ball.

And if it inspired a jealous anger in her, then it was a only another benefit.


When she got to the hospital the next morning, it was to the sight of Jeremy with Alaric and Jenna. He smiled when he saw her and she didn't hesitate to hug the brother she hadn't seen in a few weeks.

"Hey Lena."

"Hey, how was Denver?"

"It was good, a bit boring but that was the best part." He said in amusement as he looked at Jenna, who was ready to be discharged. "Things are the same here huh?"

"Yeah, mostly." She said before moving towards Jenna while Alaric went to get the discharge papers. "Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Good, I honestly thought I was gonna die." She confessed and Elena rubbed her arm, trying to provide some comfort.

"The only advantage of having vampires around, I guess. Was it Stefan or Damon?" Jeremy asked Jenna directly and Elena bit her lip.

"Actually, it was Klaus."

"What?"

"Yeah, Elena made some kind of deal with him. Which I'm not happy about by the way." She directed the last part directly at Elena.

"As long as you're safe, I don't mind." She said as Jeremy looked at her seriously.

"So, it's true then? You really made a deal with him?"

"Yeah, but it's fine, Jer. It's nothing more than I don't already have to do." She said while Alaric called Jenna to sign some forms. Jeremy turned to her after they left.

"Elena, Bonnie told me what the real deal is."

"Oh. Well, did she also include the part where she accused me of betraying her family to Klaus as part of my deal?" She said lightly, although she still felt some residual anger over it.

"Elena..."

"Klaus saved Jenna's life last night, while no one else could even answer their phones. There's nothing wrong with the deal I made. It protects all of us while Stefan enacts his revenge fantasy on Klaus."

"Well, don't you get why Elena? Klaus ruined his life. He ruined all our lives."

"I do get it Jer, I'm the only one he actually killed you know." She said, some of her anger seeping into her words. "While I wish Stefan would give up on the revenge fantasy he has, which is pointless, by the way-."

"You don't know what's best for him."

"Oh, so by that logic, you don't know what's best for me. Which means that you're going to stop badgering me about this, aren't you?"She asked rhetorically, before continuing. "But that's not the point, Stefan can do what he likes, in the meanwhile, I need to make sure no one else gets hurt. That's what this deal is for."

She could see that Jeremy was ready to continue the argument with her but Alaric told them they were ready to leave.

When they got home, there was a letter at the doorstep, addressed to her, in an elegant script.

"Hey, what is that?" Alaric asked her as she picked it up.

"I'm checking it." She said as she opened the envelope, her eyes widening at the content. "It's an invitation to a ball."

"The Lockwoods don't keep invites like that." Jenna said as she settled into the couch, while Jeremy went upstairs.

"No, it's not the Lockwoods. It's the Mikaelsons."

"Who are the Mikaelsons?" Jenna asked.

"The original family, Elijah woke them all up last night." Turning over the card, there was a message for her, from Esther. Even looking at the script sent a shiver down her spine.


This new century was fun.

Never before had he lived in such a time before. Substances easily available, the women so forward they were the ones approaching him, fast cars and hand held devices, he really needed to thank Elijah.

And yet, there he was, stuck going to mother's stupid ball.

"Rebekah, tell me how handsome I am."

"Oh, you know I can't be compelled Kol." He was about to make some comment about it, when Nicklaus came storming in. And really, when did his brother do anything else?

He watched the scene unfold with curiosity, before getting into the fight himself. And then, mother stopped them.

"What was he so angry about?" He asked Rebekah, falling into the seat beside her. Even the couches and beds were more comfortable.

"I went after his doppelgänger." Kol smirked.

"There's another one of those around? That should be fun."

"You might want to stay away. She stabbed me in the back." Rebekah grit out.

"Does that matter? It isn't as if she could do you any harm." Kol said, turning to look at his sister, who looked a mixture of anger, embarrassment and shame. He let out an amused laugh. "She daggered you."

"She daggered Elijah too."

"Ensnared both of you with her wiles, did she?" Rebekah gave him a blank look. "Oh, come now sister, I know all about your preferences. I've heard it's all acceptable in this century." There was a reason Rebekah despised those Petrova women as much as she did.

"Shut up Kol." She said, before leaving, and he relaxed into his seat. He had never been enamoured by either of those women, he had been a few years younger than Tatia and Katerina was far too interested in his brothers. All he knew was that they only cared about themselves and their survival.

Still, that Petrova fire, that was fun to be around. And he was sure, this one would also have quite a few people tripping over themselves to protect her.

Perhaps the ball wouldn't be boring after all.


That evening saw her outside the Mikaelson residence in the blue and golden dress her aunt had given her. She was going to give it to Elena for prom, but this was as good an occasion as any.

She walked up to the door, and handed her invitation at which point she was led inside the double doors. The mansion was generally beautiful, given how much effort Klaus had put into it, but it looked even better now that it was decorated for the occasion.

"Elena, what are you doing here?" Damon asked as he walked towards her.

"I was invited." She said as she handed her jacket at the coat check. "What are you doing here?"

"I was invited too. Why didn't you tell me you were invited?" She had been worried at his reaction, knew that if she told him, he would try to control her actions.

"Why didn't you?" She countered just as Stefan walked over from the other side of the room.

"Elena, didn't know you were going to be here."

"Well, I am."

"You need to leave." Damon hissed at her and she furrowed her brow.

"Why?"

"Well, this is an original family event. One of whom tried to kill you last night."

"Yeah, and another one saved me. So, I'm going to take my chances." She said.

The three of them walked in, and she could feel eyes on her. She turned to the side to see if anyone was looking at her, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Soon, Stefan was grabbed by mayor Lockwood and Damon went to the open bar.

She was at the centre of the room, surrounded by people on all sides, yet she could feel a fear go down her spine. She was used to fear by this point, she had been afraid of Damon at first, then Elijah, Klaus, but this was something else. This fear had her rooted to the spot, while her instincts were yelling at her to run.

This fear was so rooted, it was almost as if it was flowing through her veins.

She turned around then, and was faced with Rebekah, a dark haired man accompanying her. "This is her." She told the man, and Elena frowned in confusion.

"The newest doppelgänger. I've heard you've got quite the way with brothers darling." He may have looked like Elijah, but his behaviour reminded her of his other brothers'.

"You must be Kol."

"That's right. So she's the one you tried to kill last night?" Kol asked Rebekah as though she wasn't right in front of them.

"Yes. Elijah got extremely defensive, and Nik was really angry."

"Why does Nik have such an interest in what is essentially little more than a carbon copy?" She stared at his words, wondering why he acting with hostility towards her. Maybe because she had daggered his sister.

"She's basically just a walking blood bag. Nik needs her to make hybrids."

"So, if someone wanted to stop Nik from making hybrids... hers would be the pretty little neck to snap." He was smiling pleasantly at her but she felt her skin crawl at the dark look in his eyes. It wasn't entirely outside the realm of possibility that he would try and kill her tonight.

"Yes. And look there's her blonde vampire friend now. Nik gave her everything she's wearing." Rebekah said looking at Caroline who had just entered the mansion looking radiant.

"What?"

"Oh yes. Poor, sweet Elena, your best friend is here with the man who murdered you." She watched Caroline walk to where Klaus was talking to him, before leaving for the bar, him following in her wake.

"Caroline can date whoever she likes." She couldn't let her guard down in front of them, even if it did bother her that the two of them were there together. It made no sense.

"Are you sure Elena? Because you look quite...- oh well, there's my date." Rebekah said looking towards Matt, and left before Elena could comment.

"Well, looks like it's just you and me now darling."

"Yeah, us and thirty other people. Are all your siblings planning to date my friends?"

"Oh, I certainly hope not. At least Nik is here with a vampire, Rebekah though, out with a human. Quite pathetic."

"I guess you would think that." She said, despite the calculating look he was giving her. And while it made her uncomfortable, it wasn't the fear she had felt before.

"You on the other hand, are not merely a human. So will you save me a dance?"

"No." She didn't want to know why almost everyone in their family was afraid of Kol.

"You wound me darling, just one dance." She shifted, so that she was fully facing him.

"You'll probably break my neck while spinning me, so no thanks." He let out a laugh.

"Well, this is a surprise. I was told you lacked self preservation."

"Not always."

"Is it because I inspire fear in you?" His eyes were almost dark as they were boring into her.

"Yeah, you're a thousand years old and I have no idea what you're like. So, you do make me afraid."

"And yet, you aren't running away."

"You're not going to kill me."

"Why do you think so?" She was beginning to think that lack of boundaries was a Mikaelson family trait. "Because of Nik? Or Elijah?"

"Rebekah, actually." He cocked an eyebrow at her response. "She probably wants to toy with me for what I did to her-" he let out an amused chuckle, "and you seem to be her partner in crime."

"So you think I won't kill you, because I want to torture you instead?" Not once had she ever discussed her own maiming and killing with anyone. "You're quite bright for someone who-oh I apologise, I believe I was about to make 'blonde joke'. Best find Rebekah instead." Despite the threats she couldn't help the giggle that tore out of her throat, at that thought.

Kol looked at her half in wonder and half as though she was mad.

"Sorry, it sounded like something my brother would do to me." If her intention had been to humanise herself, get him to sympathise, then no one had to know.

"Yes, well-"

"That will be enough. Kol, bother someone else, will you?" Elijah had intervened, scolding his brother almost as if he was a child. Kol looked displeased, but left without another word.

"Looks like you rescued me again." She said turning to him, with a small smile. She felt that sensation again as though someone was watching her, and looked around catching a pair of blue eyes. He was smiling and joking with Caroline a few places away, but his eyes were boring into her. She looked away quickly, hoping Elijah hadn't noticed anything.

"Yes, I would rather prefer you didn't need saving at all."

"Me too. Rebekah is pretty angry with me about me daggering her, so I expected it. But Kol..."

"Kol just likes causing chaos." Elijah looked up as the rest of his siblings began ascending the stairs. "Excuse me, Elena."

"Yeah, of course."

"Perhaps you could save me a dance later."

"Sure." Elena said partly in shock, not having expected the invitation.

She watched as the five - no six of them stood at the stairs, only two people still unknown to her.

And there it was a again. That spine curling fear. The one that felt as though it had seeped inside her bones, her very soul.

It didn't take her too long to realise where it was coming from.

Esther.

Maybe it was the Petrova blood flowing through her, but there was something deep within her, something rooted inside of her, something fundamental, beneath mind and flesh, that was afraid.


A/N : So this is the first part, I think there will be two more chaptersabout the ball. Also, bisexual Rebekah has always been a headconnon of mine.

Let me know what you think.