A/N - Thank you so much for the reviews, likes and favourites.


"Kol," she hadn't seen the original since the pastor's house had burned down, since he had carjacked her pretty much. "What are you doing?" She asked urgently as she felt his hand at the small of her back, urging her out of the room. She tried to resist it, but his grip was strong and he grasped her wrist when she wouldn't walk on her own. "What's going on? Where's Caroline?"

"Oh this," he sounded calm but there was an edge of warning in his tone, "this is all Rebekah's plan darling, best go along with it, or she won't hesitate to attack you."

"Kol, please, I'm-" The words died in her throat when she suddenly felt her surroundings blur around her and then she was at a table in the back at the library, where Caroline, Stefan and Damon already were. Her eyes widened when she saw the blood trailing down Caroline's forehead and that staining Damon's shirt, as she was made sit between them, across from Stefan.

"What-"

"Unfortunately darling," Kol was smirking at her as he walked towards her, sinking on to his knees in front of her, making her heart race, "you don't get to ask any questions today, curious as you are." She watched through wide eyes as he pulled the vervain off her foot and then got up quickly. She tried to shrink away from him when he leaned over her. She heard Damon and Caroline's protesting voices, before his eyes bore into hers. "You won't speak unless you are spoken to," she could feel the thrum of his words reverberating inside her head, like a fisherman's net thrown onto the surface of water, "and you'll answer the questions that you're asked truthfully."

"I'll answer any questions truthfully." She'd gotten trapped into his net like some sort of sea creature and she had been unable to stop it. He dropped her anklet on to the table making Rebekah frown at it.

"Recognise it sister?" Kol sounded far too amused for her comfort, Elena thought as she looked up at him, unable to say anything.

"It's Nik's, he picked it up in Egypt from a descendent of his real fathers pack. I'll never forget the ruck he made about it." Rebekah sounded a little shocked, and a similar feeling was swirling inside her. That wasn't what Klaus had told her when he'd given it to her.

"So, who cares?" Damon asked vigorously, but she could hear some uncertainty slipping into his tone.

"I can't imagine our brother would give it to anyone," Kol was gloating with the air of someone who knew more than they let on and she barely resisted the urge to glare at him, "let alone to protect them from compulsion, given that it's one his favourite tricks."

"Well, you've compelled her now," Rebekah's eyes were narrowed and she saw the contemplative look Stefan threw her way, "we'll be able to find out after we've gotten what we want." Kol shrugged easily at that, and she wondered why he was doing any of this, what interest he had beyond wanting the cure.

She remembered the night of the Mikaelson ball then, just how volatile the combination of Kol and Rebekah had seemed, how alike they were and how openly they had threatened her, and realised what she should've a while ago. It was revenge, probably for daggering Rebekah, and Kol had just tagged along because he couldn't resist the chaos of it all.

It was confirmed when Rebekah spoke to her directly "you and I are overdue for a long chat Elena." She gulped, not liking the way the blonde was talking, preparing herself to say something now that she finally could, but Damon cut her off.

"What the hell is this about?" She bit her lip as she looked at the vampire, he hadn't been there the night that Rebekah and Klaus had terrorised them all, but she knew as well as Caroline and Stefan certainly did, just how bad this could get.

The vampires had stopped taking vervain when Pastor Young had blown up the entire towns supply along with him, and Kol had torn hers away from her, which meant they were all the originals' mercy. She didn't even have enough time to dwell on the sentimental value the piece of jewellery apparently held.

"Getting revenge, and answers," Rebekah said, her voice soured as she looked from Elena to Damon, "given that I've been daggered for more than a week." She blinked at that, "all thanks to Stefan and Elena." She wanted to speak, to defend herself, that she had nothing to do with the blonde being daggered, at least not this time, but she found herself unable to do so.

"So what if you've been daggered for a week?" Damon asked and she wished he would stop trying to aggravate the blonde further. "Who cares? It's just been a week. Haven't you been under the effects of that stupid dagger for a lot longer?"

"Do you really think that's the only thing that matters? The time I've spent under," Rebekah asked, her voice tinged in anger and masked hurt, "Nik daggered me, again, all for the bloody doppelgänger and the stupid cure. He stabbed me in the heart." The pain in her voice was obvious now, and Elena felt a little bad for her, "it hurt," Elena cursed well, Klaus, he was at least partly at fault in all this and he wasn't even in town anymore.

"So, let's get to the point shall we?" Kol asked as he pushed a chair between her and Caroline, and sat down, turning towards Caroline, "where's the cure?"

"I don't know," Caroline answered honestly and Rebekah walked behind the younger blonde before picking up a pencil from the table and stabbing it into Caroline's shoulder, making her flinch. Elena looked away from the sight; she'd seen her friend get tortured enough times to last a lifetime.

"Pity you weren't of use, or I wouldn't have had to stab you." Kol smirked at Rebekah's words.

"It's a good thing sister, it means there's a chance we'll find it first." He walked up to Stefan then, who was carefully avoiding the blonde, "Stefan Salvatore. The ripper. You know I've been wanting to meet you for a while, Rebekah's told me you can be quite a bit of fun when you allow yourself to be. And now my sister has informed me that you had a hunter, quite crafty aren't you? Where is he?"

"He's dead," Stefan said softly but Kol didn't look too surprised, it seemed as if he had already known about it and was just confirming it.

"That's what I thought." Kol remarked just as Rebekah frowned.

"How is he dead?" Rebekah asked no one in particular and Elena tried to speak, but the words were still stuck in her throat. She sighed just as Damon spoke again.

"I killed him cause he took a bunch of hostages."

"Well, what are we going to do now?" She frowned at the desperation in Rebekah's voice, remembered the way she had always longed for friends, a boyfriend, a normal life and it made her think that maybe the blonde wanted the cure for herself, to take it. It was an odd thought.

"Relax little sister, I'm sure there's something we can do. Elena," her head snapped up as she looked at Kol, "why isn't Damon out of his mind, trying to kill himself?" This time she could sense the curiosity lacing his voice, he didn't know about a new hunter then, but she couldn't even entertain the idea of lying to him.

"The curse is broken when a new hunter replaces the old one." She tried to keep her answer as short as possible, she had been told to answer whatever she was asked truthfully, not with all the details. She tried to keep that in mind, because the only other person who could help them had lost her powers.

"So, there's a new hunter," the blonde original mused, turning to Caroline again, "who is it?"

"Jeremy." Caroline threw her an apologetic look and she shook her head, not wanting her friend to feel any guilt.

"Who's Jeremy?" Kol asked his sister who nodded towards her.

"Her little brother."

"Well darling," Kol walked towards her again, his fingers sinking into her hair, running through it, "it seems as if you're in the middle of everything, again." He sat next to her again, hand running over her neck, causing her to tremble, his thumb slipping over her scar, making her flinch. She distantly heard Damon's voice asking Kol to let her go, could see that even Rebekah looked as though she might protest, but her entire attention was focused on the way Kol's skin seemed to rub against hers like sandpaper, because her scar was suddenly sensitive.

The feeling of his fingers over it was like nails on a chalkboard and it made a shiver run down her spine, made her cringe away from him.

Kol clearly hadn't felt anything amiss, but she knew he had picked up on her reaction, and it made him lean towards her in curiosity. "That was quite an odd reaction, wasn't it? Tell me, does this always happen?"

"No." She answered on auto pilot, and he let out a hum as if considering something, before pulling away from her, letting her breathe again. Caroline and Damon were both throwing her curious looks, but she worked to cover the scar with her hair instead.

"Stefan," Rebekah's voice rang out again, tinged with something sad and the younger vampire looked up at her now even though he could be easily compelled, "is Jeremy going to complete his mark?" Elena felt her heart pound at Rebekah's question, because it was obvious just how much she wanted the cure.

"Yes."

"Is that it?" Kol moved his chair back a little, so he could put his feet up on the table making Caroline's face twist in something like disgust. "Is that all they know about the cure?"

"I doubt it," Rebekah turned halfway to face her brother and Elena, "this lot always knows something."

"It's your time to shine darling," Kol's eyes were on her again and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"Of course it is. The thing I want immediately is revenge against these two," Rebekah said as she broke off the leg of a chair. "But in my way."

"You're worse than Klaus," Kol said to Rebekah, a grin across his face, "but alright, it can be arranged." He got up from his place and picked up Elena's vervain, "put this on your wrist darling." He handed her anklet to Caroline, who did as she was told. Elena cringed when she saw her friends skin burning under the effect of the herb, but he did remove the pencil from her shoulder.

There was a look of satisfaction on Rebekah's face as she turned to Stefan, and there was something between the two of them, something Elena hadn't caught before, but now that she had, it was hard to ignore. "Why did you betray me to Nik?"

"I wanted to find the cure, and Klaus offered me a deal." Stefan's words made Rebekah flinch, and Kol's posture shifted, something almost dangerous, serious in it.

"Why not make a deal with me?" There was something almost broken in Rebekah's voice now, "was anything you said to me real? Before you helped Nik dagger me?"

Oh, Elena thought, that explained a lot.

"Some of it was," Stefan said and she could see Rebekah's shoulders sagging slightly.

"Does Nik have the hunters sword now?"

"I don't know." Stefan shrugged, obviously not wanting to say anything and Rebekah turned away from him before she took the makeshift stake and stabbed him in the stomach with it. Elena winced, as did Caroline, at the pain that covered Stefan's face.

"Don't worry sister," Kol sounded a little angry, but mostly like the cat that ate the canary as his eyes landed on Elena, "I know just the way to get back at your ex."

"Elena," Rebekah smirked at her, pulling her attention towards the blonde and she was sure she could speak now, "do you remember the day we spent together? When my mother was trying to kill me and my siblings?"

"Yes," she cut herself short; she remembered the day for reasons that were a lot different than what Rebekah thought, and didn't want to spill anything accidentally. Even though she had a pretty good idea that Kol was going to make her do it anyway, especially now.

"Do you remember what we talked about?" She nodded at that, "go on then, tell everyone."

"You asked me if I thought my friends…blamed me for everything bad that's happened. If my parents would be proud of me," the words had cut deep back then, and they had the same effect on her now. She wondered just what her parents would think of her, pregnant at eighteen and lying to all her friends and family.

"And?" She frowned slightly before something cleared in her head, and she looked down.

"You asked me who I really loved, Damon or Stefan," she shook her head, biting her lip as she felt all eyes on her. Caroline was the only one who was looking at her sympathetically despite her pain. Both Stefan and Damon had looks of naked curiosity on their faces and it made something churn within her.

"Go on then, tell us all, do you love Stefan?" Rebekah leaned towards her, hands on the table, and Elena resigned herself to all the invasive questions the original might ask.

"Yes." She had known that was true, she'd never really stopped loving Stefan, but….it was also true that her feelings for him had changed.

"And are you in love with him?" There was a dangerous look on Rebekah's face, something like jealousy and possession. With her blue eyes, it reminded her of the look Klaus had given her right after Kol had bitten her and it made her a little uncomfortable.

"No," the rage in the originals eyes quelled and she smirked again.

"Ah, so it's Damon who you love?"

"No." She looked down and away from both the brothers, knowing that her answers had obviously disappointed them. She didn't think she could stand to see the look in their eyes.

"Elena," Kol addressed her directly and she turned to him, feeling the slight pull of his compulsion, "darling, now that we'e established that you aren't with either of the Salvatores, why don't you tell all your little friends who you've really been with these last few weeks?" There was a knowing tone in his voice, not exactly cruel like Rebekah's had been, but more amused and arrogant. "Everyone's curious," he wasn't even wrong, she realised, feeling all eyes on her.

She tried to resist the urge to answer the question, to bite her tongue until the metallic tang of blood filled her mouth, but it was of no use. She was going to tell them all, and nothing would ever be the same again. She had tried so hard to not imagine her friends' reactions that she wasn't even sure what they'd do anymore. She'd lose Caroline, and once Damon found out he'd tell everyone in the worst way possible….and then she'd lose them too.

She'd been so naive about her stupid dinner plan, thinking she could ever have the opportunity to break the news properly, in a controlled manner. This was what she had gotten instead, and it was so much worse than how it had happened with Bonnie.

Bonnie who was too disgusted to even talk about her, the only reason she hadn't told anyone.

Caroline would feel the same. As would Damon and Stefan, even if she had lost the latter a long time ago.

"Come on darling, answer the question, we have all day, but no one wants to spend it looking at your face. Well, I'm sure some of us might, but it'll get boring after a while."

She swallowed the small amount of blood in her mouth, almost gagging at the taste, before she cleared her throat. "Klaus." She didn't dare to look up, but she knew that everyone had somewhat frozen while Kol slung a casual arm over her chair.

"What?" She winced a little as Caroline screamed shrilly and tried not to focus on the hurt in her best friends' voice.

"Clear it up for her darling. Tell her what you've been doing."

She glared at Kol, but it wasn't his fault, not really. If she hadn't been keeping this a secret, he wouldn't have had anything to use against her at all. The fact that he'd figured it out at all, the elusive way in which he had been behaving with her in her car, she wondered if it had all led to this or if he had just decided to make use of an opportunity.

"I slept with Klaus."

"No," Damon groaned, disgusted, "tell me you didn't, are you kidding me?" He sounded so outraged that she didn't dare to look at him. Her heart was hammering wildly in her chest and she was suddenly glad that Jeremy had turned into a supernatural hunter who's death would bring agony to Damon. If he tried to kill him again.

"Ugh," Rebekah moved away from her a little, her face twisted in repulsion, "you slept with Nik, of course you did. I knew something was going on with him when he just left you here instead of taking you with us like he'd planned." She looked up then, at the blonde, not understanding what she meant. She desperately wanted to ask her, but couldn't.

"What?" Stefan asked and she finally looked up at him, to see the icy glare he had levelled at her. She felt too ashamed to hold his gaze though, and looked away.

"When Nik found out her blood was the key to making hybrids, he wanted to take her and Tyler with us. But then he changed his mind at the last second-"

"That was because of me," she felt Damon's purposeful gaze on her, as if he was trying to remind her that he had been the one to save her, to remind her, a small part of her thought unkindly, just how much she owed him. "I brought Mikael."

"No, it wasn't. He was going to take her anyway, a plaything for us," Rebekah leaned down towards the end, her chin brushing against Elena's temple, "a nice little compellable blood bag." Elena felt her jaw clench at that as something churned low in her stomach, "and then he just changed his bloody mind."

"Was it just the one time love?" Elena glared at Kol as he interrupted Rebekah's rant, not sure which of the two siblings she was angrier at.

"No." Stefan scoffed at the that, and she finally looked up at him. He did look hurt, but there was also pity in his eyes, mixed with disgust.

She had a feeling he was going to lash out at her.

"It does make sense," Stefan sounded on edge and Elena shifted in her seat, feeling uncomfortable, "he was obsessed with her all summer." She wasn't sure why he was smirking at that, the expression looked so much like the time he had his humanity turned off that it made her skin crawl, "for a month, he only killed girls who looked like Elena. Kind of like, reliving the kill." She felt a shiver go down her spine at those words, a familiar battle starting up inside of her again. But she couldn't focus on that, not if she wanted to survive this afternoon.

"I think you're even more pathetic than I am," Rebekah's harsh words were still close to her ears and she felt her nails dig into her palm, "at least I've never slept with a man who's killed me," she felt the blonde grasping her jaw, turning her face till she was looking at the beautiful features twisted into something sinister, "what do you think?"

"It's still you, what's worse than being tricked by your fiancé so he can try to kill your entire family." She wasn't sure why she said it, but she was tired of being a plaything for the blonde, when she had done nothing to deserve it, at least recently. It affected Rebekah too, because the blonde pressed long fingers into her jaw, the grip painful to the point she was worried her jaw would give out. It didn't matter though, because she was finally able to inflict some hurt on the other girl.

"Bekah, look at them, you've got your revenge." Kol said almost consolingly, like he was trying to get Rebekah to stop now, but her words had made the blonde angry, who was clearly trying to mask the hurt she felt.

She did let her go in the end.

"Maybe," Rebekah said and Elena wondered what she was going to do next, "Stefan, tell Elena why you want the cure."

"I wanna be human again. I thought if I could, then maybe I'd have a chance of being with Elena again." Her eyes widened at his words, even though his tone was cold. She wondered why he thought that, he'd burned everything between them that night on the bridge, and she finally looked up at him. It was like when she had first met him, his gaze so focused on her that it made everything else fall away.

"Why wouldn't she want to be with you while you're a vampire?" Rebekah asked him and her voice seemed distant to Elena. They hadn't talked about that night, not once since it had happened and she didn't want to talk about it now either.

"Because of what I did."

"Why, what did you do?" The original asked curiously and Elena stared at Stefan, who gazed right back at her. She could still feel her fear, like ice through her veins, could remember the almost crazed look in his eyes, the disbelief when he'd proclaimed that he would either kill her or turn her.

"I tried to drive her off Wickery bridge, so Klaus would send his hybrids away." She swallowed at how emotionless his voice sounded, and it scared her all over again, all the things he'd done, he'd said when his humanity had been turned off.

"You tried to kill her?" Rebekah's voice was tinged in amusement now, even though it was still distant.

"No, I tried to turn her."

"But my brother agreed to your demands. What if he hadn't?" Her heart stuttered a little at the question, she'd wondered about that herself more times than she cared to admit. "Would you have done it?"

"No." She couldn't even think of the implications of it before Kol moved forward, looking Stefan in the eyes.

"Why not mate?"

"I would've lost my leverage on Klaus." It was like she was stabbed in the heart, because she saw it in his eyes, he meant it. His need for revenge had overwhelmed any love he had for her and while she could understand it, in a detached way, she couldn't help but wonder why they hadn't been enough for him. Why their love hadn't been enough.

"Why try to drive her off the bridge at all? Surely there were easier ways to do it, like in her house, where my brother wasn't invited in." Rebekah sounded curious again and despite Elena's haze, she couldn't deny her own curiosity either, she'd thought about the exact same thing so many times.

"I knew it was the thing that would scare her the most, hurt her the most. It's how her parents died, how she almost died. She'd be too out of her mind to think straight, too traumatised, and it would force Klaus to know that it wasn't some elaborate act. That I was going to do what I said." She looked away from him, finally, closing her eyes briefly to hold her tears in.

She wasn't going to give anyone, especially Rebekah, the satisfaction.

"And what do you think now?" She wanted to scream at the blonde, but her words were stuck in her throat, Kol's compulsion still strong over her, and it was a different kind of agony. To sit there listening to everyone, with the warring feelings that seemed to overwhelm her, unable to express even a single one of them. Her anger, her fear, the hurt, she had to shove it all down, because it was Stefan. Stefan who had saved her, too many times to count, Stefan who had made her feel wanted, needed, in those early days, in a way no one else had. Her first love.

"I wonder how she can be so selfish." The words cut deeper than anything else had, and she wanted to scream, because Stefan had never even apologised, nothing beyond telling her that he had to do it. It was the only thing that he had done during those weeks that she actually blamed him for and he still hadn't thought to ask for her forgiveness, even when he knew how much it had affected her.

She saw, from the corner of her eye, the way Caroline's hand brushed Stefan's shoulder, trying to offer some comfort, and one part of her was glad that he had the support.

She looked down then, away from everyone, trying to focus on her breathing as Kol's amused voice rang out. "There you go sister. Isn't that satisfying enough for you?" Instead she focused on the strained quality in Kol's voice, and wondered, hoped, that he was bored of all of this by now.

"Hmm….a little. It would have been a lot more satisfying if it wasn't so macabre." She stole a glance at Rebekah, pulling at her long sleeves, and she was almost sure the original felt a little bad. "I mean trying to kill her the way her parents died, are you really this ruthless with all your exes Stefan? I get daggered, Elena gets that, I'm a little concerned."

"Leave him alone," Damon said forcefully, "he's different on human blood."

"Alright," Rebekah said as she moved towards the dark haired vampire, "for now."

"Now, back to the cure," Kol said as he turned towards her, but Elena had no desire to look at him, or anyone, Stefan's accusing eyes digging into her skull uncomfortably. "Now that we've established your little connection with Nik, I'm sure he's told you what he wants with it." She let out a breathe she didn't realise she was holding, understanding why Kol had wanted to let that particular secret out.

She tried to turn away from him then, but he grasped her chin, holding her in place. "Tell me." The earlier compulsion mixed with this one made her do it.

"He wants to destroy it. He thinks it's a weapon." Kol let her go, and Rebekah groaned.

"Of course he wants to destroy it, he can't stand the thought that I might take it." But Elena wasn't focused on that, in that moment all she wanted was to try and gain some control again. There was a hollowness inside her, and she couldn't just sit there and take it anymore. She had to try and fight this compulsion, somehow.

"Maybe, but you know him. In his paranoid mind, everything is a weapon that can be used against him. Elena," she leaned back in her chair, wrapping her hands over her chest protectively, trying to think of something. She knew the hybrids had been able to find loopholes, she needed to do the same. Twist the words until she could find a way to speak truth she wanted to speak. "Does he have the hunters sword?"

She clenched her jaw, hating that she knew, hating that she finally understood Klaus' need for keeping his secrets close to his chest, hating that she was going to divulge the one thing of importance he'd finally trusted her enough to tell her, and tried to work at it in her mind. Klaus had gotten the sword, but Kol asked if he had it with him, which she didn't know.

"I don't know." It rang true, she didn't know if he'd taken it with her, but the original looked at her intensely, eyes narrowed. She allowed, willed her heart to beat erratically, that way he wouldn't be able to tell when her fear spiked again.

"You don't know what?"

"If he has it."

"With him." Kol completed the sentence for her, and she knew he'd caught on. She couldn't look away from his probing gaze and he seemed to be in thought for a moment too long.

"Was he able to retrieve - no, was he able to get it though? Even if he doesn't have it with him right now." He'd found the right question, she thought bitterly.

"Yes."

"When?"

"He got it back three days ago."

"I see why he's so taken with you now, compelled and yet, you're still trying to find a way out. It's a nice trick darling, but I've been around for a long time." He was grinning at her and it reminded her of how easily he had talked her into letting him feed on her. "Where has he kept it?" She watched the way Stefan leaned forwards, how Damon's eyes were wide in attention, the way Rebekah was hanging on to her words, and for once, she was thankful Klaus still kept some secrets from her, because sooner or later, Kol would've found the right question to get it out of her. And while she didn't know what to care about in the moment, who to be angry at, or if she even had the right to be angry at anyone, she knew that she didn't want any of them, except Caroline, to get what they wanted.

"He didn't tell me."

"And do you know where it is?"

"No."

"Oh well, that's a shame. What about the werewolves? What does he have planned with them?" She frowned at that, unsure what he was asking.

"What?"

"The werewolf pack he was so desperate to get to." She tried to think over what he had said, that they were a different for some reason, but she didn't want to say that. She did think it was about hybrids though.

"I think he wants more hybrids." She hated this compulsion, she had never really been under the effects of it for so long. Kol finally settled back into his seat, seemingly done asking questions and she almost breathed a sigh of relief.

"Elena," Damon's voice was urgent now, tinged in anger and she looked towards him, "how could you sleep with him?" She stared at Damon, and she felt Kol's earlier compulsion take effect, he'd just told her to answer all questions honestly, hadn't specified whose questions.

"Go on then darling, tell him, even I've been curious since mothers ball."

She tried to think of what to say, and shrugged. "I guess I was attracted to him." It was part of the truth.

"No, that isn't it. You don't seem to be the type who would just give into an attraction, especially with the history you have with my brother. And you weren't with him the night of the ball, but you did get together with him. Why?"

"I'm," she tried to bite her tongue to keep herself from talking but it didn't work, and she was answering again. "His mate." Damon blinked at that while Stefan let out a scoff. Caroline was staring at her through wide eyes, and this was exactly what Elena had been afraid of.