Far too soon, sooner than she had wanted, his warmth was gone. She looked up to see that he had pulled away from her and was standing a few feet from away. But, before she could ask him anything, she saw a head full of blonde hair coming towards her and then Caroline was helping her off the cold ground. She shivered slightly when she saw Esther's body, a hole in her chest. All she could see in the moonlight, was the distorted feature of shock on the witches' face.

Her stomach was in knots when she tore her eyes away from the body, and stole a glance at him. His expression was unreadable, guarded, and she wondered what was going on through his head.

"Elena….are you okay?" Caroline asked and she nodded, not trusting herself enough to speak just yet. "The others are back at the clearing." She nodded again, her body seemingly working off its own accord even as emotions threatened to overwhelm her. Esther had given her the most unexpected news, and she wasn't sure what to do with it.

"How is Alaric?" She asked, her voice softer, more vulnerable than she intended, and all she wanted to do was to just close her eyes and find some respite. No matter how selfish that made her feel.

"He's in transition." Caroline knew, Elena realised somewhere in the back of her head, she knew what it was like, she had been in this exact situation just a few weeks ago. She knew the weight of what was happening, and what it might mean for Elena and her family.

Unexpectedly, she felt warmth around her shoulders making her look up at Klaus, thankful for the jacket around her shoulders, and Caroline's grip tightened.

"I'll take care of her body."

"You better," Caroline's voice was cold and she saw his jaw twitch, "this whole mess started because of your family feud."

"Which wouldn't have happened if you hadn't opened her bloody coffin." He said, his voice rising with every word, steadily getting accusatory as he spoke.

"That's your fault, if you hadn't been such an ass and used Stefan-"

"Stefan came to me, begging me to save his brothers life and that Caroline, was because of Tyler."

"No, if you hadn't just taken Tyler for the sacrifice-"

"It doesn't matter," Elena's voice cut through their argument. "I want to go see Alaric. What about Matt and Jeremy? Esther was…."

"They're fine, they were able to hold her off for a little while." Caroline said and Elena finally moved ahead, hissing when she felt a sharp pain go through her leg and her hips.

She could see that the two of them wanted to help her, but she walked ahead through the pain, not really caring about it.

When they reached the cemetery she saw…everyone.

She felt a sinking sensation in her gut as she walked ahead. Before anyone could even say anything, she knew that this was goodbye.

Ric wasn't going to complete the transition.

She saw Jenna first, and before she knew it, she was hugging her aunt so fiercely her ribs hurt. It was Jeremy next, and then she saw Alaric behind him. She embraced him next, and he murmured an apology in her ear.

It felt wrong for him to apologise to her, after everything that had happened, and she said as much. She watched, keeping her distance, as Jeremy tried to persuade him to complete the transition, while Jenna looked on stoically, clearly wanting Alaric to stay with them, but also wanting to respect his choice. She saw Damon in the distance, and wondered if he would go back to his usual behaviour and force Ric to drink blood.

It scared her when a small part of her hoped he might just do it.

Once the goodbyes were over, Damon planning to stay with Ric till the end, and Jenna had bid a tearful goodbye, they left.

Elena went straight to her bedroom, after Jeremy did, and as she took off the jacket and her now blood stained dress, she looked at herself in the mirror. She looked the same as she had that morning. Her skin was still as smooth as ever, her body the same as always, but it wasn't, not really.

It wasn't even hers anymore.

Not if Esther was right.

If the witch was right, there was a life growing inside of her.

It was such a stunning realisation - that her body wasn't her own anymore, that there was someone growing inside her. She could feel her heartbeat quicken, out of nerves rather than fear this time, as she ran her fingers over the smooth contour of her stomach.

She was pregnant.

Apparently.

Her whole life flashed before her eyes. Everything she was, a daughter, a sister, a niece, a friend, but now she could be a mother.

Her eyes burned as tears pricked her, although she wasn't sure why. She felt overwhelmed, unlike anything she had ever felt before. She couldn't think straight, her feelings seemed to be crushing into her.

Fear, shame, apprehension, uncertainty, more fear, nerves, hopefulness, hopelessness, guilt, more guilt about feeling guilt, love, and somewhere buried deep under the mess, a small flicker of happiness. It was as though a tornado of emotions was swirling around her, and she was struggling to just remain upright.

She sat down at the edge of her bed, not even noticing when Bear climbed onto the bed next to her. He snuggled against her side, for his comfort, or hers, she wasn't sure, but she huffed out a hysterical laugh when she realised a child would be a lot needier.

God, she couldn't think like that. Not if she wanted to function.

No, she'd get a test first, and then she'd worry.


She woke up sometime in the middle of the night, feeling the cold air on her bear skin and got up to take a shower. She scrubbed herself clean, before brushing her teeth and dressing for bed. She slid in between the covers, pulling them up to her neck, as she dozed in and out of a restless half asleep state.

When she woke up again, the sun hurting her eyes, she saw that it was past ten, and wearily dragged herself out of bed. She felt too tired to move, leaning against her open closet a few moments later, half heartedly pulling out a black top and dark jeans. She could hear conversation coming from downstairs, and went through her routine quickly, leaving her room to go into the kitchen where everyone was.

Jenna's eyes were red rimmed, and Jeremy stood with his fists clenched at his side. Damon's jaw was set as he lightly glared at Bonnie who was sitting with an ice pack to her head.

"What's going on?" Her voice shook as she talked, and Bonnie looked up at her.

"What's going on is that witchy here decided to feed Alaric her blood." Damon said and Stefan sighed from his place against the counter, his arms crossed over his chest.

"I didn't decide to, the ancestors forced me" She couldn't focus on any thought in particular anymore, she knew what it meant. Alaric was alive, and he was a vampire hunter. One that had the ability to kill an Original.

And she knew who he'd go after first.

"So….what are we going to do now?" She asked after a pause, and could see the uncertainty in everyone's faces.

"Nothing," she looked at Jeremy in surprise, she hadn't expected him to speak. "We're not going to do anything until he does something. And I don't think he'll hurt us."

"Yeah, it's the Originals he wants to kill." Stefan said.

"Which will kill you." She said more forcefully than she wanted to.

"So you keep saying." Damon drawled with his eyes fixed on her, "and anyway, we don't know who originated our sire line."

"It doesn't matter, they're are all still linked." She said, and Bonnie nodded at her words.

"So if you're right," Damon started and she held in a sigh, "killing one original will kill every vampire ever created."

"Yeah." She saw Stefan and Damon exchange a look, and she knew what they were thinking, that it was too big a risk.

She felt her phone buzz in her back pocket, and pulled it out. She frowned when she saw that it was a message from Alaric, and barely held in a gasp when she saw a rather gruesome picture of Caroline.

She started uncomprehendingly at it, everyone's voices buzzing around her ears, as she opened the attachment. She blinked at the picture of Caroline, tied and tortured, and then her phone rang.

Alaric.

"Elena?" She looked up at Stefan, taking a steadying breath, feeling eyes on her.

"Yeah?"

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I am. I'm fine. We don't know where Alaric is, do we?" She asked to no one in particular. She wondered what Alaric was doing, this went beyond vampire hunting, he kept Caroline alive, and if the others didn't know where she was, then this was a trap.

"No, we don't even know what he wants." Jeremy said.

A trap for her.

"He wants to kill the originals. Esther turned him into a Hunter, like Mikael." Jenna let out a strangled sound, and Elena grabbed a cup of coffee, downing it like it was water.

"I'm going to take Bear on a walk." She said as she placed the cup down, and Damon looked at her as if she had proclaimed she was planning to start stripping for a living.

"Are you kidding me? We have a problem here." Damon said incredulously, looking at her strangely.

"You just said that it wasn't a problem, and he's a dog, he needs a walk Damon. Everyday." She said a little more purposely than she usually would, making Bonnie look at her through narrowed eyes. She left after that, making sure she tied Bear in the yard, before finally checking her phone.

She had one voicemail, from Klaus, and three missed calls from Alaric.

She called back.

The phone was picked up on the second ring. "Whoever this is, it's not funny."

"Hello, Elena." Her breath hitched at his voice, and she was glad, because she knew he'd hear it.

"Alaric…?" She should've been scared of how easily she could act shocked, but it didn't really matter anymore.

"Did you see the picture I sent you?"

"No…I…"

"Check it now." He said, and pulled her phone away, going through the motion of pulling up the grotesque picture. She gasped appropriately, and when she spoke the next time, her fear wasn't fake.

"What are you doing with Caroline?"

"You want to save her? Come to the school, alone, and don't even try to warn anyone." He hung up before she could answer and she looked around. She walked to her car, getting in the front seat, looking at the voicemail from Klaus.

She played it as she backed out of the space, pulling onto the road.

She almost hit the break when he talked about how he knew about Alaric being alive, Rebekah had seen him, and how he wanted to leave Mystic Falls immediately.

She knew he would, he'd spent a millennium running from Mikael after all. A feeling of heaviness surrounded her heart when she thought of him leaving, without her most likely, because she couldn't just leave her family to fend for themselves. Part of her wondered if he would stay for her, if he would stay and help her, even though she couldn't ask him to. Not when his entire family was at risk as well.

She tried not to dwell on how him leaving would crush her, because she was scared to admit just how much she wanted him, needed him.


Over the last few years, she had gotten used to seeing some really grotesque images.

Nothing could've prepared her to see Caroline in the state she was in.

Still she tried to focus on her surroundings, the blinds shut on the windows, the various weapons on the teachers desk Alaric had kept.

She wished she hadn't used the Gilbert device back in New York, it may have hurt Caroline, but she was almost certain it would've worked well against Alaric.

"Let her go," she knew she wasn't in any position to make demands, but seeing her best friend tied up, with a makeshift gag in her mouth made her heart ache in a way unlike before.

"Sure, why don't you untie her?" Alaric asked almost casually and Elena couldn't keep the suspicion out of her eyes as she looked at him. "Go on, untie her."

She walked in unsurely, but she also didn't want to waste the opportunity in front of her. She sat down in front of Caroline, planning to carefully remove the pencils he had used to stab her hands into the desk.

She had just removed it by an inch when Alaric was suddenly in front of her, pulling her away from her friend.

"Haven't you learned yet, Elena? You can't trust anything a vampire says." He was mocking her, his form getting closer to her. "Kill her."

She felt her blood run cold, sure that her disgust was evident on her face.

"What?"

"You came to me, earlier this year. Wanting to learn how to fight vampires, well, your training won't be complete till you kill one, so kill her."

"No," she emphasised, shaking her head, her footsteps moving behind almost on autopilot.

"Oh, come on, you wanted to kill a vampire, so kill her." She couldn't hold back her look of disgust as she looked at him. He was gone now, she could tell, so she just backed away from him.

"No."

His eyes bore into her as he let out a disappointed sigh. "It's alright, we've got all day before I can leave the school, I'm sure I'll be able to convince you by then." He smiled coldly at her, making fear creep up her spine.


He cursed when his call went to voicemail for the fifth time. He could only hope it meant that she was sleeping in after the last night, and nothing else.

It was Rebekah who had told him about the teacher still being alive, how he had survived they didn't know, but they knew he was an Original, and that he had the last of the white oak. His sister had already left, calling each of their brothers as she did, it was high time they were unlinked, and they needed Finn for it.

He sighed as he debated calling again, but decided against it. He'd go over there, and see if he could talk to her in person instead.


It seemed as if there were insects crawling inside her, making her want to jump out of her own skin. The sight of Alaric stabbing Caroline over and over was nauseating, and she wanted nothing more than to look away. They had been at this for hours, she was sure of it now, the sunlight that was creeping in from the edges of the curtains had changed colours.

Alaric kept telling her to kill Caroline, and each time she had given him a look of disgust, not wanting to believe how he had changed this quickly.

"Look at her Elena, she's a monster, don't you want to kill her?" Alaric asked in a slightly different way this time.

"You're the one who looks like a monster right now," she bit back, making him walk towards her. His eyes were cold and hard, giving her a childish urge to look away. She stopped herself, but just barely; she wasn't sure if she had ever said it aloud, but Alaric was the closet thing she had to a father, and seeing the disappointed look in his eyes made guilt bubble up inside her.

"Don't you ever feel ashamed?" His tone was icy, while his words cut into her soul, but only because she knew there was truth in what he was saying. "You're parents led the council, and yet, here you are, protecting vampires when you should be protecting humans. You know she's a monster, just like the rest of them are. Kill her, and then maybe you can help me get the rest of them. Don't you want your revenge Elena? You can finally get rid of all the beings who ruined your life - Damon, Stefan, Katherine, Klaus."

He knew.

She wasn't sure how, but her doubt was confirmed when the suspicious look in his eyes turned to one of disgust. She got to her feet, holding her hand out for the stake he was offering her, and grabbed it tightly before moving in front of her friend. She turned towards Alaric within a second, knowing he'd catch her hand before she could do any real damage.

"Really Elena, I thought I taught you better than that."

"You did." She crashed the glass of vervain against the side of his head, making sure it would get in his eyes. She didn't even wait to hear his yell of pain, just removed the vervain soaked rag from between her friends lips, and removed the pencil that had been stabbed in her hand.

"Get help." She said to Caroline, and ran back towards the window, pulling the curtains open so that the sunlight would hit Alaric. It had the desired effect, his skin started burning, and she ran out of the room, trying to get away from him. So when she felt herself being pushed into the lockers, she was taken by surprising, letting out a yell when her back collided with the metal.

She saw the hate in his eyes when she looked at him, his skin burning hot when his hand wrapped around her throat, cutting off her air supply.


A/N - So I've been gone for a while, I'm extremely sorry for the delay, especially considering where we had left the last chapter. It might still be a while before we get to Klaus' reaction about the big elephant in the room.

Having said that, I really wanted to thank everyone who's read this story and taken the time to leave just the best comments on it. I've had a bit of a tough month, a close family member passed away, and I didn't get a chance to say goodbye. Through all of that, the only thing that inspired me to keep writing was some of the amazing reviews that people posted on here, so thank you very much for that.