She felt as if she had just been doused in cold water, every breath labourous, her skin covered in goosebumbs as her heart raced away like a jackhammer. This reaction could only be drawn out by the woman in front of her, the fear she had felt the last time she had met the witch came to the forefront of her mind, her devious ways still clear in her mind.
Esther.
She was the only person that drew such a reaction out of Elena, not even Katherine scared her the way this witch did. The rush of adrenaline was like a wave crashing against the shore, strong and sudden and shocking, later, in the privacy of her bedroom, she would know that this was the moment everything started unravelling. That it would've been better if she had done anything else.
But this was now, and right now, it was the only option she had.
"Jeremy, go inside. Get Klaus." If he was shocked at her rescuer of choice, Jeremy didn't show it, instead he took a reluctant step back, turning away even as his eyes lingered on her for a second longer.
Once she saw the back of him, she turned her attention towards the witch who looked far too comfortable.
"I mean you no harm, but willingly or not, you will come." The other woman's voice was like nails on a chalkboard, a visceral reaction forming in the back of Elena's neck as her fingers dug into the flesh of her palm to resist the urge to cringe away.
She walked across the cold ground, the night ghost quiet except for the occasional crunching of leaves under feet. Esther turned around without a word and Elena followed her. She wished she had her phone on her, she could've at least sent her location to someone.
"What are you planning to do with Alaric?"
"Nothing he doesn't want." Her voice was cold, colder than the night even, and Elena wrapped her arms around herself in a failed attempt to generate some heat.
"I somehow doubt that. People don't exactly have a choice when they're held hostage."
"Speaking from experience?" Elena stayed quiet at the question, she knew the witch didn't actually need an answer.
At the beginning, she wasn't sure where they were going, only hoping that someone could find her in time. Then she realised they were walking towards the cemetery, and her feet started to lead her there on their own, the route engraved in her head like nothing else.
It didn't take them too long to get to the clearing, Elena two steps behind Esther.
"You'll forgive me for taking you away from the dance this evening." She said after a while, and only the flood of fear inside her heart kept her from scoffing. "It was necessary , although I did make sure my son would be there." She frowned at the statement, she didn't think Klaus would listen to anything the woman said.
"What do you mean you made sure?"
"I had taken over Rebekah's body, because of which I could convince him to go." Esther paused for a minute, and Elena started removing the pins that held up her hair. "But I'm afraid that's the burden of being the doppelgänger. Your blood is a potent agent for a witch's spell."
"You were in Rebekah's body," she wondered when that had happened, it also meant that Rebekah was out there somewhere, Elena hoped that maybe she could come in time. She was sure the witch hadn't hurt her, given that everyone was still linked together. "that's how you took Alaric. Please, don't hurt him, whatever you think he's agreeing to-."
"She's not hurting me." She heard Alaric before he came into view, jaw clenched and eyes hardened, cold. His eyes ran over her, observing her just as she observed him. She wasn't sure when she knew, but she did know.
"You're not Alaric."
"Oh, I have never felt more like myself than before." Her limbs were shaking, even if she could run away, she knew she wouldn't make it far. She could tell Alaric wasn't in control anymore, his alter ego had taken over completely.
"What are you doing with him?" She asked turning to the witch, her voice steady in a way her body wasn't. It was bad enough when she thought Esther had kidnapped Alaric, but to know that it was this Alaric chilled her soul.
"I'm going to remake him."
"What do you mean?" Whatever it meant, she knew it wasn't anything good.
"I'm going to make him fast, strong. Indestructible. Like my children." Elena felt her eyes widen, taking a step back. "For one final time, I am going to tap into the dark magic I used a thousand years ago. Like my husband Mikael, I'm going to make Alaric into a true hunter."
Her eyes flitted between the two of them, and she took another step back. She wasn't going to let Esther use Alaric like this, to ruin his life so he could do her dirty work.
"No, I'm not going to help you."
"You will, whether you like it or not." Alaric came at her grabbing her wrist, and she swung a fist at him, just like he had taught her all those months ago.
She felt a sharp pain in her wrist as her fist collided with his jaw, and kicked at him, her foot connecting with his shin. She could feel the adrenaline pumping through her as she turned on her feet, when she felt a heavy weight around her shoulders, pulling her-no dragging her back into the cemetery. She clawed at his arm, her nails digging into his skin.
"This isn't you, Ric. You wouldn't want to do this if you were yourself."
"This is me." He whispered in her ear, his voice harsh as he dragged her, her feet skidding as she squirmed, her instinct screaming at her that this was a terrible idea.
Finally he dragged her into an empty room, a gold vessel in the centre along with a white oak stake.
"Now, just some of her blood." Esther said before she began chanting, and Elena struggled against the hold Ric had on her. She screamed as she felt a knife digging into her palm, some of the fight leaving her as he held her hand over the vessel, her blood dripping down into it.
The chanting went on for a while longer as she sagged helplessly, a feeling of powerlessness going through her, one she had become too familiar with. Finally, Esther stopped chanting and Alaric picked up the bowl to drink from it.
But something was wrong, there was a look of horror on Esther's face, something that she hadn't seen before, her eyes wide in some realisation, and she reached out, her hand outstretched in mid air while Alaric pulled the bowl away from himself.
Esther seemed frozen, maybe in shock or fear, Elena wasn't sure which, as Alaric used the knife, the same one that still had her blood on it, to slice into skin of his neck.
Another scream was ripped from her, her feet moving towards him instantly, until she was stopped by a strong grip on her elbow, and she found herself staring into Esther's face. She seemed to have been released from her shock momentarily, but confusion still coloured her features.
"How-" the witch seemed to be speechless as she looked Elena over, and that feeling of wariness, the instinct to run crashed into her with full force. "How is this possible?"
"How? Because of you! Alaric's dead and you're responsible." She yelled at the witch, even as she continued to look at Elena with some sort of awe and fear.
"No, not him, you- I hadn't expected this at all." The woman was speaking as though she was in a daze and Elena felt an intense irritation rise within her clearing through her fear.
"Hadn't expected what?"
"You're with child." Her voice was low, and if it hadn't been for the silence around them, the brunette would never have heard her.
"What?" She cleared her throat, her voice had been unnecessarily shrill, and looked at the witch as though she was crazy. "What are you talking about?"
"You're - this changes everything."
"What do you mean?" She let the frustration bleed into her voice as she stared at the other woman.
"You're pregnant." She stated as though in a daze.
"No, I'm not."
"Yes, you are. And the child -"
"Okay, for the last time - I am not pregnant, I think I would know if I was." She spoke through gritted teeth, the events of the night weighing down on her.
"And the child, I've linked that life to the hunter as well."
"There is no child."
"Of course there is. I couldn't sense it before, I thought it was just the effect of the bond you have with my son, but I realised it when I took your blood."
"That's impossible, the only person I've slept with was-"
"My son, yes."
Elena realised, somewhere in a long buried part inside of her, the part that used to be normal, that this was probably the weirdest, most awkward conversation she ever had.
"Exactly," she plowed ahead through her embarrassment, "and he's a vampire. Vampires can't have children."
"But he isn't just a vampire. He's a hybrid, part werewolf. Werewolves can procreate, and there's the fact that you're the doppelgänger, and it's possible. Some loophole in nature."
Elena stared at her, not wanting to believe what the woman was telling her.
"I would've known if I was….." she swallowed against the lump in her throat, her mouth suddenly dry, thinking to every sex ed class she had attended, ever lecture from her mother, every time she and Klaus had -"pregnant."
"It's too early for that, perhaps four to five weeks." That would make sense-
"What are you doing?"
"There's no precedent for this, no way to be sure that this child, if we can call it that, won't bring us all destruction." The knife flew into her hand, and Elena backed away, restless energy bursting in her as she ran outside into the cold air, only stopping when she saw Jeremy and Matt.
Holding weapons.
"Distract her." She said shortly.
"Elena-" She could hear the panic in Jeremy's voice, as she took off running towards him.
"She's going to kill me." The words slipped out as she was nearing her brother, her feet taking her further into the forest.
She could hear noises from behind but paid no attention to them, in that moment, all she wanted to do was run away, she couldn't think about anything the witch had said, or if she was even right in what she said, all she knew was that she had to get as far as she could.
Especially if Esther was right.
That's what Bonnie had said too, that there was something different about her.
A sob rose to her throat, her shins burning as her feet pounded on the forest floor, and she didn't want to stop for a second, not even to take her heels off. She could feel the air around her biting her, barely paid any mind to the thorns that had scratched at the flesh on her arms, her only thought was that of getting away.
Then -
It was as if something was shifting, maybe even the earth beneath her feet, and she was tripping over a root that she swore wasn't there before. Her hands came up to break her fall, and she grunted as she felt the ground beneath her.
She turned to see the witch advancing on her, chanting something, a burning sensation going through her body as she fought to get the root away from her foot, but the thing was almost sentient, tightening it's hold on her ankle even as she hissed in pain, her arms crawling in the opposite direction, wanting to get away.
She felt a searing pain go through her, like a thousand needles pricking into her skin, and it was like she couldn't breathe, like three years ago, when she was drowning, struggling to get air into her lungs until -
Until she could.
She felt him before she saw him, standing a few feet away from her, over Esther's dead body.
And then he was next to her, bloodied hands pulling her leg free, his eyes full of an intensity she had never seen before. He looked relieved , but beneath that, she could see the fear. His fingertips were ghosting over her face, and she pulled him in, hands clutching his jacked as she buried her face in his neck, inhaling his scent as the fear began to settle inside her.
His hands came to her sides, settling around her waist, and she wondered if what Esther said was true.
