Eventually, she had to leave the safety of his arms. And just how screwed up that was, the fact that she felt safe with Klaus. At least she knew why though, at least she wasn't going mad.
She showered and got dressed, wearing the clothes that Bonnie had gotten her, carefully hiding the marks he had left on her neck, before going back to the living room.
Her gown was already folded and in a bag, while he had changed into something more him. The window was thrown open, afternoon light streaming in.
"I didn't realise how late it was."
"Yes, it seems our mother gave you something to put you not only in a deep sleep but a long one."
She didn't say anything to that, instead focusing on the food in the kitchen.
"Is that for me?"
"Yes, you might want to get to it before Rebekah gets here."
"Rebekah?"
"Elijah is convinced that she'll inspire a sense of urgency in your friends that none of us will."
Well, that was true.
"Oh."
"And if you are to spend an afternoon with my sister, as much as I hate thought, you might want to eat something first."
Finn had spent the last nine centuries in a box.
He didn't know when he had broken through the mental confines of the dagger, but he was quite sure now it was sometime during the fifteenth century. He had heard his brothers squabble, something about a woman named Katerina and whether to awaken Kol for help.
He had wanted to scream out then, tell them that he would be willing to help. But he'd been frozen, unable to twitch a finger, let alone use his tongue. He couldn't understand why he was the one stuck in a box while Kol and Rebekah were awoken time and again. At times for help, at times for pleasure and at times when they desired the entire family to be together.
He was never considered family.
He thought of many things as he lay suffocating in the coffin. When he was alive. There were times when the air would become thin and he would simply 'die.' Only to be conscious mere hours later.
He would think of Sage, the beautiful woman he had condemned to his fate. Wondered if perhaps Nicklaus or Mikeal had killed her. He would think of his mother and he would think of his sister. Sometimes he even thought of Elijah or Kol or Nicklaus.
He was ashamed to remember it, but he would have gladly begged them for mercy. To be let out of the coffin, to be let out of that constant state of paralysis, where time passed and the world moved, yet he remained frozen.
Over the centuries, he heard of the many exploits his family committed in that state of his. How they were all nothing more than a curse on this earth.
He felt the dark and the cold, the burning hunger in his veins and his throat, but the worst of it was the betrayal and the loneliness. Nothing was worse than being alone and all he wanted was to end it.
So when his mother said there was a chance, a chance that he could end it and rid the world of his siblings, he agreed to her plan.
He did not want his siblings dead. But he knew what they were and perhaps it was time for them all.
However, being stuck in a box made him that much slower. So when he was attacked by those vile hybrids, all working together like a wolf pack, he had been unable to defend himself.
"Mother." He said walking into the clearing where she was preparing for the spell. "They have my blood. I assume they know about the plan by now."
She frowned at him, but if there was anyone who could handle an unpredictable situation, it was her.
It didn't take long for Derek to come back with the witch Olivia and Elijah to return with Rebekah.
"Here is the spell, and all of our blood." Klaus told Olivia, slipping a paper in front of her, along with vials of blood.
"Okay, fine. But this is a tough spell, and I'll need time to perform it." The witch told the originals who seemed to be hanging on to her words.
"You have till six minutes after nine. That's when the moon will be at its peak." Klaus told her.
"Well, that's settled. Until then, Nicklaus, stay with Kol make sure you he doesn't go on a rampage as his final act. Rebekah, you stay here with Elena and should our plan fail, kill her."
Her neck snapped to meet Rebekah's gaze, cruel and unfeeling, fear rushing through her.
"Now that you're done behaving as though you're in charge brother," Klaus said, the fear inside her subsiding, "Derek you stay here, make sure my sister doesn't harm my doppelgänger. As for Kol, he's more likely to get drunk and party than kill people. And Olivia, should you find yourself free before nine, do go through that other spell I told you about."
"I'm only doing one spell Klaus!" The witch exclaimed at the hybrid.
"Ah, yes, or you could do two and then I would be in your debt." She knew Olivia was going to accept the deal before she actually did, and soon enough, Klaus and Elijah left.
"So, how was your night Elena? Mine was fabulous, given that I spent it with Damon." Rebekah said and she almost choked on the juice she was drinking. "He's quite good in bed you know, very satisfying. But I don't think it could work out for you two, you're so sweet and innocent, you wouldn't be able to keep up someone like Damon."
I kept up your brother, she thought scathingly, but it didn't say anything, knowing it would aggravate the original more.
"And Derek bring a lot of girls here? This entire house reeks of sex." Rebekah commented lightly making Derek look directly at her, and she coloured in embarrassment under his gaze.
"My boyfriend visits from time to time." The hybrid said, and of course that's why Klaus had entrusted him with her care.
"Huh."
Derek sat down next to her, and she felt relatively safe, sitting across from Rebekah who was casually going through her phone. It didn't matter much, because she had already deleted everything important after Bonnie had done the same thing to her.
"It used to be passed down the generations in my pack." Derek said handing her a leather bound book. She opened it curiously, seeing that it was about werewolf packs.
"Oh, that's great," she said in confusion, not knowing why he was handing it to her. He turned the pages, stopping near the end of the book.
Mating Rituals
Oh. That's why he had given it to her. She saw that Rebekah's attention was temporarily divided by her phone, and started reading the book.
Then there were pictures, of men turning into beasts, almost every stage recorded on the page, and instead of making her uncomfortable, she found them to be interesting. There was nothing like this, this rich history that was handed to her, about vampires. At the end she saw a full fledged wolf, her mind wondering to when she had seen Klaus' werewolf form unknowingly, and she wished she could remember more details about how he'd looked.
Then there was the actual ritual.
And of course there was a ritual because it was her and Klaus.
It was done by marking the mate with a bite.
The first mark would be given immediately before or during a full moon. The mate would have to go to the werewolf willingly, freely giving themselves to the wolf.
The second mark would be done at the beginning of a new lunar cycle, under the crescent moon. It is to ensure that the mating occurs under both a full moon and a new moon.
She closed the book abruptly, realisation dawning on her.
The night Klaus broke his curse. He had marked her, bitten her under the full moon and since she had gone willingly it worked as first part of the ritual. According to the book, mates couldn't be chosen, they were destined. Which meant that she was always supposed to be-
"Look at this, what a nauseatingly adorable picture." Rebekah said pulling up an old photo of her, Caroline and Bonnie. "Best friends, yet one of them died at the hands of your nemesis, and the other lost her grandmother because of your failed plan, right? And this one," she showed her another picture, this one with her parents, "do you think they'd be proud of you? Switching and playing between two brothers like the little doppelgänger slut you are." Rebekah said, bitterness flooding her words.
"I don't know, at least they haven't spent a millennium plotting my death though." She stated looking at the blonde who was glaring at her. Still, the words brought the memory of how easily she'd given into Klaus. Maybe she was turning into Katherine.
"You know, one of these days, if I survive tonight, I'm going to put you in a room with your precious Salvatores, and see which of them you truly love more. It'll be a nice game. I'll compel you all, perhaps, maybe even let your friends watch."
"Fine, if you're able to stop your mother from killing you, which will be because of my help of course, then sure, do it."
"You are lucky Elijah won't let me kill you before the moon reaches its peak and Nik won't let me kill you after. Otherwise, I would've tortured you for days-"
"I am trying to work, you know. To save your life." Olivia said from her place, looking up from the spells in her hand.
"And are you working?"
"I am." The witch said before she poured the blood onto the page, and began chanting. They were all looking at her, rapt in attention, but nothing seemed to be happening.
"What is it?" Rebekah asked.
"It's the spirits. They're fighting my magic."
"Well then, fight back!"
"I am, but it's a thousand dead witches, and I'm only one. There isn't much I can do."
"Just keep trying." Rebekah growled. "Otherwise, I will kill you right after I kill her." She said pointing at Elena. She looked down at her own phone then and soon, strode towards Elena, hand outstretched.
"Give me my necklace." She stated plainly.
"Why?"
"Because it's mine, and because we need a locator spell to find mother."
"It's in my bag, I don't know where that is after last night." She said but soon enough, Derek was handing her the small purse. She fished inside, giving Rebekah the necklace once she found it.
The blonde handed it to the witch who begrudgingly did a locator spell. "They're cloaked." She told Rebekah who groaned in frustration. Then, all of a sudden, she dropped to the floor, a grey hue settling over her and Elena cursed, wondering what her friends had done.
"What happened to her?" Derek asked in panic.
"I think one of her siblings got daggered." She stood up from the couch, setting the heavy book on the table and grabbed a bag of blood from the refrigerator. "Hope you don't mind." She stated, just as Rebekah started regaining her colour and Elena handed her the bag.
Instead of tearing into it though, Rebekah put it down on the table.
"There's only a few minutes left for the ritual, and the spell isn't working Elena. Which means, I get to drink from you." Rebekah advanced towards her only to be stopped by Derek, who threw her into a wall, crouching in front of her.
"You're going to pay for that." She advanced towards Derek, throwing him into the kitchen.
The hybrid got back up, charging at Rebekah and she easily threw him off. They both charged towards one another again, ready to kill, but instead of getting to each other, they fell to the floor groaning in pain.
"Enough. I need to focus."
"What's the point? You can't do anything, which means mother will murder us all." For the first time that day, Rebekah looked scared. She calmed down nonetheless.
Elena was growing impatient, Olivia was still unable to do the spell and the moon had almost reached its apex.
She was about to ask, but before she could, Rebekah's phone rang.
"You're free to go." She sounded disappointed as she turned to Elena.
"What happened?"
"Your Salvatores turned your friends mother into a vampire." She felt her heart drop to her stomach at the words. Bonnie's mom. She had to leave. She picked up the purse, got her phone and left the house in a hurry, with the intention to talk to her friend.
When she got down, she saw Matt standing outside, by his truck.
"Hey, I came to get you."
"How long have you been here?" She asked in confusion, wondering why he just hadn't told the others where she was. Maybe that could've saved Abby's life.
"A couple minutes, pretty sure Elijah compelled me."
"Oh God, Matt." She moved towards him, but he was looking behind her, and she turned around to see Rebekah.
"Let's just leave, Lena. No need to stay here any longer." They turned away from the blonde and got into the car.
"I want to see Bonnie first." She said and he looked at her worriedly. "What is it Matt?"
"Elena, Bonnie doesn't want to see you." She felt as though someone was stabbing her, twisting the knife in her. Bonnie blamed her for what happened. And why wouldn't she? Damon turned her mom for her sake, after all.
"Just take me there, I'll try to talk to her." She said and he nodded. They were silent the rest of the drive, another casualty, and Elena could feel her skin crawl. She had slept with Klaus and now...
She was driven out of her thoughts when they came up to Bonnie's house and she made a beeline for the front door. When it opened however, it was Caroline standing on the other side.
"Hey, I want to see Bonnie, Caroline." She said to her friend who blocked her way inside.
"I know but Elena, Bonnie doesn't want to see you." She said softly, trying to soften the blow.
"But I just need to talk to her, just to check up on her Caroline, just five minutes..."
"No Elena. Look, she knows it isn't your fault, she just. Damon turned her mom into a vampire to save your life. And she gets it, she's really happy you're alive, cause she loves you, but it feels as if her life and her family don't matter. Damon easily killed her mom tonight. Not to mention the fact that you told Klaus about the plan."
"Caroline..."
"You really shouldn't have done that Elena, tonight would've ended a lot differently if you hadn't." She felt tears prick at her eyes, overwhelmed by everything she was feeling. "Look, I'm really sorry, but you should go." Caroline shut the door with that and Elena felt her heart break.
In everything that had happened over the last year, Caroline and Bonnie had been her constants, her rocks. And she didn't have that anymore. They were both, at the very least, upset with her, and she couldn't blame them. While they had all raced against a clock, a timeline, thinking her life was in danger, she had been sleeping with Klaus.
She wondered, as she walked back to the truck, how they would react if they knew what she had done. And what she let Klaus do to her. How she had jumped into his arms, while everyone who cared about her fretted over her safety.
Matt wordlessly drove her home, making her feel as though she still had some shred of dignity left. But she didn't, not really, not after she had spread her legs for their enemy.
And it was true, he wasn't just her enemy, he was all of their enemy. One that she had brought into their lives. Matt reduced to this vulnerable being, Caroline a vampire, Tyler off in the mountains breaking the sire bond, and Stefan. God Stefan, who had lost whatever semblance of control he had worked so hard to get. Damon, who could walk away at any moment but didn't, and Bonnie, the person who had sacrificed everything with no complaints, not once, just for her. She was hurting and it was all her fault.
She got out of the truck, waving Matt goodbye and went home. Jeremy and Jenna were confused, worried about her well being, and they had lost so much too. Jeremy had lost his innocence.
She made excuses about being tired and went up to her room.
"Elijah." The man was wearing the same suit from earlier in the day, placing something on her bed.
"Elena."
"What do you want?" All she wanted was to be alone, crying herself to sleep felt like such a normal thing to do for a teenage girl.
"I understand your anger."
"I'm just tired. Of everything. So if it's nothing important..." it was the closet she could get to actually kicking him out.
"I did what I had to do in order to protect my family and I need you to know that."
"I do, yeah. And I understand. But you wouldn't have done it if I hadn't told you the truth. And yet, despite the fact that I was honest with you, somehow my friend, the person I care about is the one who got hurt." She was speaking more from a place of hurt than from a place of anger.
"I see, but your friends mother is alive, even if she's a vampire, whereas my family would've died. I hope that at some point, you can find it in you to forgive me."
"Forgive you? Why does my forgiveness even matter Elijah? I'm just a thing your family uses for their amusement." She took pleasure as he flinched at her words, a strange sense of pride filling her at having inflicted some of the pain she was feeling on someone else.
Centuries old vampires lashed out all the time like teenagers, she was actually one, she definitely had the right to do it at least once.
"Elena.."
"Kol because he thinks I'm entertaining, Rebekah because she's an immature thousand year old bully and Klaus-" she felt a fresh wave of anger rise within her, how he'd given her his word, how quickly he had forgotten it.
"What happened tonight, Nicklaus had no knowledge of what I had done."
"It doesn't matter, he would've done the same thing you did."
"He would have regretted having to do it. Elena," she looked up at the seriousness of his voice, "it has been centuries since I've seen my brother care about anyone this way."
She recalled the fear in his eyes when he realised he was trapped outside while she was inside with a knife to her throat.
"I do hope you can forgive me someday." He was gone before she could respond to and she sat down on the bed, picking up the letter, feeling more confused than before.
She just wanted to shut it off. To stop feeling the pain.
She headed to take a shower afterwards, to wash away the guilt she was feeling. In the afternoon, she hadn't really taken her time, but she could see now, her skin was covered in red and purple, bruises and love bites, handprints from when he'd dug too deep into her skin. If she closed her eyes, she could see him, feel him moving inside her, his hips snapping unrelentingly and she let the tears fall.
She hadn't just slept with Klaus, she had enjoyed sleeping with him, the way he made her feel, his hands over her skin, the calluses gliding over her softness, the powerful muscles she felt over his chest, how well he'd filled her up. She could feel the heat pooling between her legs, the only thing that was stopping her now was the look on Caroline's face as she asked Elena why she had told Klaus the truth. It was a simple question.
She didn't want him to die.
But she hadn't wanted Abby to die either.
Didn't want Bonnie to feel the pain of a loss she knew all too well. Hopefully Abby would at least complete the transition.
She left the shower drying herself off quickly as she pulled on some shorts with a tank top and walked back into her room.
And she wasn't alone. She could see his frame in the moonlight, his hair shining as the light fell on him, the way in which he held himself, tensed and poised, and she wondered why he was there.
A/N: I had always wondered about Finn's motivations, so I drew from every source I could find. All the Mikaelsons are interesting, including Finn, so he might make more appearances later.
I know there wasn't a lot of Klaus/Elena in this chapter, but next chapter is pretty much all about them. Let me know what you think!
