It must have been three in the morning, maybe later, when Aeria Velothys found herself driving cross country to reach the small West Virginian town her niece, nephew and god daughters lived in. Driving down the long stretches of road before entering the state, she was tired from hours of driving and it had just started to rain heavily onto the road ahead. Her black Chevrolet Impala was warm inside as she upped the heating and had just enough fuel to reach the quiet town.
It was midnight when she awoke from her alcohol induced slumber with a vision of one of her god daughters. It had been a few years since she had visited her family in the supernatural magnet which was Mystic Falls, even longer since she had seen her brother. Of course, she used to speak to Caroline every day but for the past few months, her calls and messages had been shrugged off and put off. Her suspicions towards her god-daughters behaviour had been raised for a while, but the lack of communication from her other god-daughter Bonnie, and her niece and nephew, Elena and Jeremy, as well as the missed calls she'd sent her younger sister, it was safe to say Aeria had been worried about her family's state for a while.
Unfortunately, the eldest of the Velothys siblings had been busy for a while in her search to find a way home and had maybe, slightly, ignored those issues for just too long. But, when she awoke to a vision of Caroline Forbes as a vampire, which she assumed was less of a vision of the future and more of a past memory, she knew then, her family needed her home. And she needed answers as to why her family had been keeping these secrets from her... God knows Jenna and Miranda were going to have hell to pay when she got there.
It was roughly 4am when an old black car pulled into the driveway of the Forbes household, slamming the doors to the vehicle as the woman walked up to the doorway with purpose. Stuck outside in the poor rain, she was drenched as she hit the door hard with her fist, loud enough to probably wake the neighbours.
Aeria could hear thumping from upstairs as the two inhabitants woke up from their sleep. Muttering was heard from behind the door as her soaking body was met with the tired and annoyed eyes of Sheriff Liz Forbes.
Standing there in shock at the woman she had known since she had her daughter, she grinned at the thought of what had most likely bought her here in such a state.
"Where is the little brat?" Aeria growled as her eyes bore into the blonde woman.
"Mom, who is it?" She hears from the top of the stairs as the girl she was here for dragged herself down, still in her pyjamas and blonde hair sticking up everywhere.
"When the hell were you going to let me know you were know a vampire?" The woman spoke, looking like something out of a horror film as Caroline took in the slightly ripped clothing and worn shoes, the rain ruining her usually voluminous curly hair. The only thing that looked put together were the golden eyes her god mother had. The eyes that right now were staring into her like she was on her list.
"Ria..." Caroline managed to say as said woman made her way in and shut the door behind. "You didn't tell me you were visiting."
"Oh, don't bullshit me you little brat." Aeria said as she dried her jacket out and placed it on the coat rack near the doorway. "When were you, or your mother, or any of you idiots here, going to tell me that you were now a creature of the night?" She exclaimed as her golden eyes let loose their anger towards them all, making them slightly fearful of the temper she was known to have. "I mean really Care! Why didn't you tell me?"
"I..." Caroline started before looking to her mom for help.
"Don't look at me like that. I told you all you should have let her know about all the shit you've gotten yourselves into." Liz said as her daughter then glared at her herself.
"Uh what? Liz..." Aeria then asked as she calmed down slightly, "Are you telling me theres more to this than just Carolines new undead status?"
Liz laughed as she turned to the kitchen, going to make some strong coffee for the conversation about to be had between them. Aeria grabbed the young vampires arm as she dragged her after her mother, cursing under her breath at the stupidity of the people in this town.
Pushing the blonde vampire into the chair, she stood opposite her and her mother, back against the wall as she waited for the girl to start spilling her secrets.
"How do you even know..."
"That you're a vampire? Come one Care, you honestly thought I wouldn't find out? I woke up to a vision of you with fangs. That's how I know."
Looking at her hands carefully then, Caroline took a deep breath before looking up at her godmother. "It's a long story..."
It was roughly 6am when Caroline Forbes was dragged into Aeria's car after the woman had sworn the sheriff to not say anything to the rest of them just yet. Getting slightly thrown into the vehicle by her god mother, she was wondering where they were going and just what mood she was now in. To say she had been happy after being told everything was an understatement. Never had she seen her aunt so angry, and especially not at her. Caroline Forbes felt incredibly guilty at the fact, and worried if maybe she had lost the trust of the woman in the driving seat next to her.
"Ria..." She started to say as she wanted to apologise but was cut off quickly.
"DON'T... you dare try to apologise to me now Caroline Forbes." Her aunt said as she raised her hand. "It has been well over a year, almost two, that Miranda and Grayson have been dead, and not long after Jenna in that mutts sacrifice to finally be able to howl at the god damned moon. And YOU of all the people here, declined to tell me this fact. Then, I find out you're now a vampire and Elena's essentially that bastards blood bag for his fucking hybrids." She ranted as she sped up slightly towards wherever they were going. "God, I hate Klaus..." She whispered to herself, but with her new vampire hearing, Caroline picked up on it and it seemed as if Aeria... knew Klaus Mikaelson...
"You know Klaus?" Caroline asked, as Aerias golden eyes flipped to look at her quickly.
Grumbling to herself, Ria begrudgingly added, "Yeah, I know Klaus and his family. Doesn't help that they're all out of those coffins too now..." Looking over at the girl, she sighed as she spoke again. "It's a long story, one that I'll tell you when I'm less pissed at you..."
Sighing, Caroline gave up in trying to gain the womans favour back as she settled for setting her head on the window and watching the surroundings as she drove to somewhere unknown.
It wasn't even five minutes later when she noticed them pulling into the graveyard where she knew the Gilberts were buried and the car had stopped. Opening the door, she saw her aunt waiting for her to move and so she automatically started making her way towards the graves.
At the end of the large graveyard, on the edge near the forest, the two woman stopped at four graves. Miranda Gilbert, Grayson Gilbert, Jenna Sommers and John Gilbert.
Aeria whispered a quiet prayer to her family before kneeling in front of Jennas grave and placing her hand on the earth. Caroline watched as the dirt beneath her hands gave way and the coffin which held the youngest of the four Velothys siblings rose up to the surface.
"You're certain Miranda died in a car accident?" Aeria whispered quietly, the slightest hint of grief seeping through as Caroline nodded her head. Steeling herself, Ria nodding then, whipping her hand forward to uncover the coffin, revealing to her Jenna Sommers, also known as Jenara Velothys. Walking to be beside her head, she held her hand over her heart and slowly breathed in and out as dark tendrils of smoke latched onto the dead heart until a faint beat was heard by Caroline and she watched closely as she saw the grey veins retreat from Jennas face and a sudden breath taken in as she shot up, grabbing onto her sisters shoulders as she looked around wildly.
"Aeria, you're here." She whispered hoarsely. Coughing at the lack of moisture in her.
"Shhhhh, haedar... Let's just get you out of here now. The last thing I need is someone seeing this." Looking around, Ria held onto her sister as her other hand reached out for Caroline and with a crack, the three found themselves in the closely parked car, the grave now seemingly untouched. "How are you feeling?"
"Like I was dead?" Jenna sarcastically added from the backseat as her sister handed her a bottle of water.
"Drink this, it'll help."
"Oh just to let you know. Klaus is..."
Cutting her sister off, Aeria spoke "Yeah I know. You know it's been months since you died?"
"What?!" Jenna shouted before coughing at the dust still in her lungs. "Why haven't you brought me back before this?" She demanded as she glared at her.
"Don't look at me like that Jenara Velothys. You can thank our idiotic niece and nephew for that. I only happened to find out cos I saw this idiot..." she said as she pointed to Caroline in the passenger seat, "was now a vampire."
Shaking her head, Jenna stretched as she then grinned and said, "Does this mean Lena and Jeremy don't know you're in town?"
Smirking towards her sister then, Caroline groaned as she saw the wicked look in both their eyes. "No. But I do think we should pay our dear family a visit don't you sister?"
Starting the car, Caroline felt the urge to warn Elena, Jeremy and Bonnie about the lectures coming their way but figured, if she had to deal with a lecture from Ria, then so did the others. "God help them." She muttered as the two sisters chatted about how stupid they all were.
It was still early when they arrived at the Gilbert household and, after letting themselves in and forcing Caroline to call Bonnie to force her to come over, they made their way into the warm house and Ria decided to make a family breakfast. Caroline gladly volunteered to help as Jenna sat at the table, the three not staying quiet.
This noise is what woke up the two Gilberts and Alaric Saltzman, all three looking at each other on the landing as they slowly made their way down to the chatter downstairs. "That voice... why do I know it?" Jeremy muttered as he trailed the group and at Alarics shouts of 'Jenna', he finally understood why. "Hey aunt Ari." He waved as his stomach made him forget all survival instincts and went straight for the coffee his aunt had made until a slap on his head made him wince and he remembered just who he was dealing with. "Aunt Jenna, Aunt Aeria... I take it Caroline snitched then?"
Raising a hand to him but Jeremy luckily missing it, Jenna swore at her nephew as he came around to hug her and she felt herself melting slightly. She never could stay angry at the two kids of the family. Her sister on the other hand had no issues with such a thing.
"Really Jenna. A sentence and you forgive the little shits?!" She exclaimed. Shaking her head of brown curls, she pointed the spoon she was using to make eggs with at the two and pointed at the seats, both Gilbert quickly following the instructions. "Caroline, watch the food." She spoke as the blonde did so to hopefully come out of this unscathed. Raising her golden eyes to the blonde man stood in the room, watching Jenna with his mouth wide open, she rolls her eyes as she waves a hand in his direction, causing Alaric to fall to the ground in sleep.
Jenna goes to argue as she moves closer to her ex's now unconscious body but her sister quickly speaks, "This is family business Jenna, I don't need your latest flavour involved just yet." At that, the doorbell to the Gilberts house rings and Jenna rolls her eyes as she goes to open the door after moving Ric to the side and a more comfortable position. "Bonnie Bennett," Aeria states as the young witch sheepishly walks into the room. "Sit now."
The three teenagers sat at the kitchen island as their aunt stood on the other side. Jenna and Caroline silently started plating the food as they waited for Aeria to speak.
"You are fucking idiots you know that." Aeria started as her hands fled to her hair to tug at the curls in frustration. "You literally have me, an utter powerhouse, in the family who you only had to call to deal with that mutt Klaus and all of your problems would have been dealt with but no. YOU THREE decide that you with the total age of less than 54 between you all, are more than capable of dealing with a 1000 year old psychopath with major daddy issues, paranoia and a more dysfunctional family than the Kardashians who has literally half of the supernaturals worlds biggest players indebted to him. And not only that, you fail to tell me that as a result of this towns fucking ridiculous attraction to the supernatural, she..." she points at the young blonde currently plating up bacon, "is now a vampire and Bon here has finally come into her powers as a witch."
Elena goes to explain before she finds herself incapable of speech, realising what her aunt had temporarily done. "And not only all of the shit that has happened in this town with vampires, witches, werewolves and dopplegangers but..." Aeria quietened down as her eyes closed tightly. "You fail to tell me that my sister died in a car accident. One that almost took you two Elena."
Looking at the three kids in front of her, Aeria's disappointed at their lack of faith in her. She could have handled all this without any of the fuck ups happenings. "You all have a fucking nerve..."
Feeling her voice return, Elena clears her throat before speaking. "You were busy with finding a way back to Valyria." She added as her aunt watched her closely. "We didn't want to distract you from. We know how important it is to you. And we thought we could handle it all."
"Obviously, we were wrong." Jeremy pointed out as he looked down in guilt at the thought of upsetting his aunt.
"We're really sorry Ria." Bonnie added on, "We wanted to tell you but you were dealing with so much already. We didn't want to be a burden."
"Sighing to herself, Aeria slumps a little as she shakes her head before looking at the three. "You could never be a burden. Valyria can wait, you're always my priority. All of you. From now on, you'll tell me about this sort of stuff."
Nodding their heads, they all quickly agreed as their aunt shook her own. "This doesn't mean you're forgiven... Far from it. But for now, eat your damn breakfast." Waving her hands, the four perked up at the pause, for now, in their lecture. They all jumped out of their seats then as they bombarded the woman with hugs, laughing to themselves at their aunt they had all missed these last few years.
"Get off me will you all. I need to sort out Jennas toyboy. Eat your food." Ria says as she shakes off the teenagers who all giggle before digging into the plates of food made.
Walking towards Jenna who was already in the process of waking up Ric, Aeria rolled her eyes as she just snapped her fingers and the man on the floor woke up looking at the two woman with confused eyes as he saw the four kids at the table laughing and eating their breakfast.
"What? Jenna...you... alive... who?" Alaric stuttered as Ria rolled her eyes.
"I'm Jennas sister, I have what you'd call magic which allowed me to bring her back to life." Sticking a hand out for him to shake, "Name's Aeria. Now if you don't mind me, I'm starving. I'll let Jenna explain."
Aeria turns then towards the food as Jenna takes Ric upstairs to explain everything to him. She takes a seat between Elena and Caroline as the blonde passes her a plate of all her favourite food, a giant stack of pancakes dripping with syrup and streaky bacon.
Sitting to eat, she finally relaxes as she takes in her family and how she was just glad they were all still safe.
"Our family is reunited Niklaus.. what are you so worried about now?" Wonders Elijah from his seat opposite his brother, a glass of bourbon in his hand.
"They still have her, brother. She's still in their hands. Excuse me for being worried about the well-being of my WIFE!" Klaus exclaims at the end as he paces the room, desperate to do something but unsure how to go about it.
"Yes, your wife. The same wife who betrayed you 700 years ago." Elijah spoke calmly, carefully managing his younger brothers wild tempermament. Although at the mention of betrayal, Niklaus turns to glare and growl at his brother as his hybrid eyes come out.
"We do not speak of that." The hybrid growls as his sister and other brother, Kol, walk into the room.
"Why shouldn't we?" Kol wonders, smirking at his brothers. "It's not like you had any intention to undagger the whore anytime ever, so what harm could her being in Stefan Salvatores hands really do?"
"And what if they undagger her?" Niklaus mentions quietly, memories of himself and his beloved wife flashing through his eyes, all the way up to her betrayal.
"And what if they do Nik?" Rebekah exclaims, hands thrown in the air. "She cheated on you. Chose another man over you after 300 years of marriage. She betrayed you. Left you." She screams as she sees her brother flinch at the words. Even after 700 years, the mention of his wifes... involvement with that man, still is the only thing to visibly get a reaction out of the hybrid king. "She doesn't love you Nik. Maybe once she did, but she certainly doesn't anymore. It's time to let her go.
"Enough." Klaus demanded. "You all will help me in retrieving her coffin from the Salvatores or I'll throw you back into your own."
"Stop with these dagger threats." Kol exclaimed as he fell beside Elijah on the long sofa. "Haven't you learnt any other threats in your thousands years on this earth?"
Shaking his head at his siblings temperament towards his wife, he ignores them as he thinks of a plan to retrieve the one coffin he can't live without from his enemies hands.
"Kol, that's enough." Elijah announces. "Of course we will help you Niklaus."
"Good, brother." The hybrid states as his eyes turn golden in anger. "The Salvatores need to be taught a lesson about disrespecting our family once and for all."
It was sometime after 4pm when Bonnie led Aeria Velothys to the witches house where the last coffin was stored and she was meeting both Damon and Stefan Salvatore. Elena had wanted to explain the whole story to them herself first before they, meaning Damon, did something stupid to piss off her famously short-tempered aunt.
"So, you're saying Klaus' mosts valuable coffin is supposedly empty and he has no idea about it." Aeria smirks as she trails the young witch, Caroline clinging onto her arm as she notices that same smirk that always happened when they had mentioned the hybrid.
"Yep." Bonnie added, unaware of the vampires thoughts. "We don't where or who it is. But we're sure that the spare drawings Ric found in the caves will help us."
Aeria laughed quietly then, just enough for Bonnie to miss but not Caroline who looked at the woman imploringly as their eyes met and mischief shone in her golden eyes. Excited for whatever was about to happen, she hurried the woman along to the witch guarded house where the Salvatores, Elena, Ric and Abbie Bennett all stood.
Walking in, Aeria glanced at her niece before first looking at Abbie Bennett and glaring slightly at the witch. She had never been a fan of Bonnies mother, having abandoned her at a young age for such a stupid reason. She'd thought Bonnie had always been better off without her.
"Abbie Bennett. Surprised you've turned up for a change." She quipped as the witch rolled her eyes at woman and ignored her for the time being. "Ric, sorry for that this morning. I just needed to lecture these idiots first before introducing myself."
Chuckling to himself, Ric spoke, "No worries. I'm glad someone finally got into their heads."
"And you two must be the Salvatores." Ria said as she walked forward to stand in front of the two. Looking them over with a calculating gaze, she decided they weren't really worth her time just yet before turning to her niece. "So, the coffin?"
Glad her aunt had left the two brothers alone for now, she started explaining, "We think it's another Mikaelson, but we couldn't find another sibling apart from the originals and Henrik on any of the drawings. We're hoping the witches can help though but Abbie..." Elena mentions as she points to the older witch and Aeria catches Bonnies mistrustful gaze on her mother. "Thought we should ask you before the witches?" Elena finished curiously, wondering just what her aunt knew.
"Oh yeah. It's my coffin." She casually says as she goes to take a look in the specially built coffin her husband had unknowingly had made for her centuries before her daggering.
She suddenly feels a pressure on her neck as she is turned and pinned to the wall by the elder Salvatore, his fangs showing as he threatened her as Elena shouted at him and Stefan just looked at her with a weird expression.
"Damon, let her go." Elena insisted, not noticing the lack of action from Bonnie and Caroline, who were closer to her aunt than she herself was.
"She's hiding something from us Elena. I said you couldn't trust her."
Ignoring the argument between the two, black tethers of smoke wrapped around his head slowly from behind, causing his brother to take a step back at the strange power Elena's aunt seemed to hold. Suddenly, the vampires hand dropped from her throat as he felt his body burning with fire that burnt cold.
"If you'd let me speak boy, I'd explain it to you properly." Aeria said calmly before letting the vampire go when Elena slid between the two in warning. "Now, if I may..."
Turning to stand near the coffin once again, Aeria started to tell the story of how she met the Mikaelsons. "How much has Elena told you about our family?"
"Just that you're crazy powerful and not human." Damon exclaimed. "You know, the basics." He sarcastically said.
"Well, I should really explain it to you fully then... Millennia ago, long before the originals or the first immortals existed. There were two races of magically gifted beings. The first and the one you're familiar with are the witches. Servants of nature. The second, are what my family are. They called us Valyrians. Back then, the witches hated the Valyrians for their power and hunted them down for their blood as it was a powerful source for their magic when used correctly. This division is what led my people to leave your world for another, far away from Earth among the stars. Our family were among the Valyrians that made it to our new home. But millennia after we fled the Earth, a new species, an alien species, began to threaten us. Wanting our resources for themselves. A war happened unlike any war you've seen here but that isn't exactly that important to you. The basics of it are that our father and a few others had managed to send a few of our people away to Earth for safety, to ensure our species didn't go extinct. But the ritual went wrong, and instead we were sent to different places and time, seemingly all on Earth.
"This was how myself and my fathers brother, Nerio, found ourselves in North America, almost 1500 years ago. We travelled the land for a while before finding ourselves here. 500 years after we first arrived and ending up in what is now Mystic Falls. The village we came across had a young woman who my uncle ended up falling for and so we stuck around for a while. My uncle had 3 children after this. Two boys and a girl. The girl being the Petrova doppleganger used in the Mikaelsons ritual, Tatia. This is where I met Niklaus, years before he became what he is now. At this point, I'd spent 500 years wandering the earth with no luck and I had given up on returning home and so I settled. I fell in love and over time, Klaus Mikaelson and I were married.
"They knew me as Lea Mikaelson, and i had never told any of them, Klaus included, about my past and what I was. The only one who knew was Ayanna, a part of the Bennett line. Then, the whole werewolf situation happened, and in her grief, Esther made us into vampires. All of us. And then we ran. Mikael hunted us down for his wifes indiscretion with Klaus' father and for three hundred years we ran.
"At the beginning I loved Klaus and his family like they were my own, but soon the bloodlust changed them. Created the monsters you know now. And I, having lost my powers in the transition, were lost too. Until one day, somewhere in Europe, we were hiding from Mikael when I bumped into someone in the street. Someone I immediately recognised as my twin brother, Ardrian. It turned out that he was also sent here but ended up in a time 800 years after my uncle and I had ended up here. It wasn't long after Klaus found and killed him, bringing me my own twins head before daggering me into this very coffin." Ria said as she stroked the coffins sides and the rings still inside where she had dropped them seven centuries ago.
"Why he did it, I have no idea. But my brothers safety was more important to me than staying with a man I couldn't stand anymore. So, about two days after my daggering, my powers undaggered me, my 'magic' somehow triggering the reverse of the daggers effect which allowed me to resurrect my brother and we fled the area. I had always assumed Klaus would one day work out I wasn't daggered and that I'd just be nowhere near for him to catch us but obviously, he hasn't a clue still to this day."
Shaking her head as Caroline came up beside her. "Anyway, you haven't got to worry about my relationship with Klaus." Aeria said as she stared into Damons eyes. "My family is more important to me than that psychopath."
"So... you'll help us kill your ex?" Damon wondered as Elena glared at him.
"Kill Klaus?" Ria wondered as she looked at the blonde vampire by her side. "Look, I'm all for killing him but you can't just yet."
"Why?" Stefan announces, "So you can have a little catch up first?"
Sighing to herself, Aeria turns to face them all. "When I first saw my brother again, I saw an Original Vampire. As you can see, I no longer am." She says as she waves over herself. "Our family were different amongst Valyrians as we were known for a gift."
"The ability to bring back the dead..." Elena finished as she spoke her own thoughts.
"So, Elena and you can bring back the dead..." Ric asked.
"Not quite. Elena, just like Jeremy, isn't fully Valyrian. This means that any abilities they may or may not have, have to be accessed through a ritual. To keep them safe, we haven't done it yet for them. But even so, Jenna and I can bring back the dead. It's how I bought back my sister. But Jenna can only do it once, whereas my twin and I can perform the miracle three times in total."
"My brother Ardrian bought me back, in a way, and it cured me of my vampirism. It was the same day that Klaus would then dagger me and kill him..."
"Nice throwback and all, but the point?" Damon sniped. "If you don't mind."
"When my vampirism was reversed, any vampires that I had sired and they themselves had sired and so on, died." Aeria finally stated, as Caroline worried next to her.
"So, you're saying," Bonnie spoke up, "If we kill Klaus, there's a chance that Caroline, Stefan and Damon might die too?"
Nodding her head, Caroline added. "So, we need to work out if Klaus is our sire then?"
"No, he definitely is." Aeria mentioned. "I can tell, there's a certain feel to all the individual sire bonds the originals have."
"So, we can't kill him?" Elena asked as Damon just looked annoyed.
"Ri, could we not just break the sire line?" Bonnie asked as she thought it through. "Like how Tyler did with the hybrids?"
"You could, but vampirism isn't a matter of will like the hybrids. There's a ritual for it, a spell. I just don't know it." Aeria mentioned as she confirmed Bonnies own thoughts.
A complex spell was needed to break the sire bond to Klaus, leaving him then, fully susceptible to their magic. "Does he know?" Stefan asked, "that he's linked to every vampire he's made?"
"They know. But it was a secret. Something they haven't told others. It guarantees their safety if needed."
"So Bonnie just needs to work out how to break the bond and then what?" Ric asks as he watches the woman in slight awe.
"I'll kill him." Aeria adds, "You have my word."
"And how do we know you're not just lying?" Damon asks.
"Elena is my niece. He's making her life hell and left alone, will get her killed. So, killing the mutt is number one on my priorities right now... Plus he tried daggering me and quite obviously has no intentions of letting me out. So, this is personal, yeah."
Seeming satisfied with her answer for now, Damon goes on to ask about the plan. "So, while Bonnie is doing that, what do we do?"
"We wait."
It's back at the Gilbert house when the door bell goes and Elena opens the door to see no-one but an ornately handwritten letter with her name on it. As the doppleganger turns around and shuts the door, her aunt and the two Salvatores are already there.
"What is it?" Damon asks as he cranes his head to get a better look.
Opening the letter, she says, "It's an invitation. 'Please join the Mikaelson family, this evening at seven o'clock. For dancing, cocktails and celebration.'"
"It's not bad enough they're moving into town, now they want a housewarming gift?" Damon exclaims, shocked at the fact their enemies were having what is essentially, a ball.
"Elena, there's a note on the back." Ria mentioned as the girl turned it over.
"'Elena, I think it's time we finally meet, Esther.'" Elena reads as Damon and Aeria both scoff. "If Esther wants to talk to me, maybe I should find out why."
"No you fucking won't." Aeria spoke as Damon added, "Well that's a dumb idea, she already tried to kill you once." At that mention, Aeria turned her head to the elder Salvatore as he nodded at her silent question.
"No, Elena is right. Bonnie was led to open that coffin for a reason. I think there is more to this than just some family reunion." Stefan mentioned as the other two bore daggers into his head.
"Bonnie was led to open that coffin because Esther wanted her to." Aeria said. "You forget I'm the one here who actually knows the bitch. She will kill Elena."
"Can we go back in time where the old Stefan cared if Elena lived or died?" Damon implored cockily.
"What for? It's your job now." Stefan muttered as Aeria quickly rolled her eyes.
"Oh, grow up the both of you." She warned them. "Elena isn't going to see Esther."
"Stefan has a point though." Elena said as she watched her aunt. "I should find out what she wants."
"You can't protect yourself." Damon added as he watched the girl with growing annoyance at her lack of survival instinct.
"Aeria can be there." Elena mentioned. "Esther's no match for her." Turning to her aunt, she says, "You can't tell me you're not the least curious about what she wants."
"Of course I am. But that doesn't mean I'm okay with you going anywhere near her."
"Then you be there with me. You and Damon." The doppleganger begs.
"And what if she wants you alone?" Damon questions.
"Aeria can cloak you." Elena asked as the vampire looked at Aeria in confusion. "I've seen her do it before."
"Say I can..." Aeria asks. "I know what you're like, Elena. You don't listen."
"I'll do whatever you tell me too. But it would be good to know where she stands."
"Ugh, for fuck sake." Aeria utters under her breath. "Fine." As her niece then begins grinning, "But, either myself or this idiot" she points at Damon, "have to be with you at all times."
Quickly, Elena agrees, slightly excited at the thought of a real ball and was about to start asking about dresses her aunt may own when the front door is barged open behind her and in the doorway is a furious Caroline Forbes.
"You will never believe what the Originals are doing." She said as she held a box and a letter similar to Elena's invitation. "They're throwing a ball!" Throwing the box onto the coffee table and falling into the couch. "An actual ball! Who do they think they are?"
"What century do they think it is?" Damon wonders as he chuckles at the blondes dramatics.
"The Mikaelsons are still stuck in the 11th century." Aeria said as she rolled her eyes and picked up the invitation Caroline had. "'Save me a dance. Fondly, Klaus'" Aeria reads as Caroline freezes.
"I'm not going to go, Ria." Caroline says without missing as beat. "He's a married man and a weirdo and I'm not going anywhere near that psycho."
"Care, I wouldn't care if you did." She admitted, sitting next to the girl.
"But... He's your husband?" Caroline asked quietly.
"Care, he hasn't been my husband in a long time." Aeria said as she pulled the girl into her. "The only thing that would piss me off is your lack of taste, not the fact he's my ex."
"Lack of taste? You're the one who married him..." Damon muttered.
"But he's technically cheating on you?" Caroline adds.
Laughing to herself, she adds, "I'm well aware of my 'husbands' indiscretions. They happened before I was daggered, I'm certain they happened after it."
"He cheated on you before your daggering?" Elena exclaimed as she joins the conversation.
"What a prick." Damon sarcastically adds as the girls all roll their eyes.
"It was 700 years ago girls. I'm over it."
"Good. You can do much better than him." Caroline added. "Hey, I have an idea." She said as she turned to Elena and Aeria. "Come as my plus one?"
"Me?" Aeria wondered before nodding. "I mean, I have to go see the in-laws at some point..."
Grinning, Caroline grabs her aunt and the doppleganger, proclaiming they were going to the grill to talk about their dresses and makeup for tonight.
Aeria, Elena and Caroline were all sat around a table at the Grill as the two younger girls grilled their aunt about what they were wearing to the ball.
"Oh, come on Ri. You're like... ancient. You must have a few ball gowns somewhere." Elena implored as her aunt scoffed.
"Word of advice. Calling me ancient won't get you anything, kid." Aeria pointed out as she ate a handful of fries. "Jenna says she's already picked one out for both of you. That is..." she turns to Caroline, "if you don't want to wear the one the dog picked up."
Looking as if she was about to throw up, Care looked offended before muttering. "I will not be caught dead in that dress... Anyway, why would I wear that when I can wear one of yours...?"
Rolling her eyes at the girl, Elena mentioned, "It's all so weird. The Originals are throwing a ball. Like an actual ball."
"It's some twisted Cinderella fetish is what it is. And why does the Evil Witch want an audience with you?" Caroline wondered as she stole a few fries from Aerias hand.
"I have no idea. But we'll find out later." Elena said. "I just don't really want Damon to be following me around all night."
"Well, I think a Salvatore would look good in a tux. And by that I mean Stefan." Caroline uttered.
"Uhh, I can't deal with either of the Salvatores right now. Whatever Stefan is feeling, he is channeling it all against Klaus. And Damon...it's just not a good idea." Elena said as her aunt looked at her carefully.
"Why, cause you two made out? Bonnie spilled the beans." Caroline announced, causing Aeria to take a long sip of her coke. If there was something about Aeria that people knew, was that she loved a good bit of drama and gossip.
"I was gonna tell you. Just, after everything happened with your dad..." Elena said guiltily.
"Elena, when you and Matt kissed for the first time freshman year, you called me the second it happened. And now I don't hear about this til now, and from somebody else." Caroline reminded, Aeria just happy she wasn't involved in this.
"I'm sorry. It's just I, I don't even know how I feel about it yet. All I do know is that it just used to be so much easier." Elena added before Aeria speaks up.
"Well, I, for one, much prefer the older Salvatore for you." She said as she watched her nieces face go red at the mention of her love life.
"Ria, what the hell?" Caroline exclaimed, "We're team Stefan over here." She says as she hits her aunts arm.
"No, Care. You and Bonnie are Team Stefan. Jenna and I are fully on Damons side." Aeria mentions as the girls look at her in shock.
"Really?" Elena asks, "You and Jenna prefer Damon?"
"Stefan's boring." She says as she devours her remaining fries.
"What the hell Ria?" Caroline says shocked.
Suddenly, a voice form behind the group speaks up, "Careful Caroline. It's all well and good until she stabs you in the back." Rebekah Mikaelson stands behind the group, not noticing just who was the third person sat with the doppleganger and the young vampire.
"What are you doing here? I know your mom's rules. No hurting the locals." Elena adds carefully, waiting until her aunt speaks up.
"Get over yourself Elena. It's not all about you." Rebekah says but as she's about to turn away, the third person on the table speaks up.
"It's nice to know that in 700 years you're still a major bitch, Beks." Aeria mentions as she turns to face her sister-in-law. The blonde original stands in shock before a curtain of anger falls on her.
"So you undaggered the whore?" She says, directing it at the two girls beside her.
Caroline starts to get up but Aeria just keeps her in her seat. "We didn't undagger her." Elena says, angry at the way she was speaking to her aunt.
"Whore? If I recall correctly, it was your brother who whored himself out during the entirety of our marriage..." Ria added as she sipped the last of her drink.
"Nik?" Rebekah said darkly. "Nik did no such thing." The three girls rolled their eyes at that.
"Of course. Klaus can do no wrong in the eyes of Rebekah Mikaelson. Even after he keeps her daggered for decades at a time and slaughters and man you show an interest in."
"Oh please Lea." Rebekah says before directing her attention to the others. "Don't believe a word she says. She threw away 300 years with us for some harlot."
The three girls look at each other with confused expressions before Caroline bursts out laughing. "Oh my god. Ri, I know why he daggered you and tried to kill Dri..." Caroline mutters out as she tries to stop laughing.
"Ri?" Rebekah asks but is ignored as the girls wait for Caroline to calm down.
"Klaus thinks you cheated on him with Ardrian." She manages out as Elena burst out in laughter and Aeria looks as if she's about to throw up.
"Uh, what?" Aeria says. "He's my brother!"
"Wait, what?" Rebekah then questions as she stands there confused. "You didn't cheat on Nik?"
"Cheat?" Aeria says as she ignores the two girls. "No. Of course not. He did. A few times but I never cheated on Klaus. The guy he killed, that was my twin brother." She tells her sister-in-law as the realisation hits the youngest Mikaelson. "Is that what he thinks happened?"
"I..." Rebekah stutters. "I'm so confused."
Suddenly, Aerias golden eyes harden over. "So, you're telling me. He killed my brother over a fucking mistake. And was completely fine with never undaggering me even though, he whored his way through our whole marriage?"
"Go off Ria." Caroline cheers.
"He's a fucking hypocrite." Aeria says as she stands up and makes her way to leave the Grill, the three girls following her.
"I haven't seen her this angry since Jeremy broke her motorbike when we were 12." Caroline whispered to Elena as the two giggled.
"12?" Rebekah questioned as Elena noticed her.
"Yeah, well. Like I said, we didn't undagger her. She undaggered herself." Elena explains as she slows down to speak to the original.
"Yeah. Seven centuries ago Beks!" Ria screams from the front, marching to god knows where.
"Her name's not really Lea. It's Aeria Velothys, she's my mom's sister and Care and Bon's godmother." Elena explains as her aunt and Caroline stop and turn, waiting for her to reach them. "It's a long story but she'll be at the ball later if you want to speak to her. Right now, her tempers gotten the better of her and I think she needs to rant to Jenna." At that, Rebekah stays back as Elena reaches the other two. She wraps her arm around Aeria's outstretched one and with a crack, thew three disappear, leaving the blonde original standing there confused but knowing she needed to go home quickly.
At the same time, the three girls appear with a crack in the Gilberts kitchen. Jenna and Jeremy are sat around the room as Aeria starts ranting to her sister.
"Jenna, you won't believe this." She starts. "The bastard thought I was sleeping with Ardrian! Ardrian! My own twin brother! And then... THEN! He has the nerve to dagger me for it and keep me daggered for at least 700 years! If it wasn't for me not being a vampire anymore I'd still be in that coffin!"
"I'm sorry." Jenna says as her blue eyes narrow towards her sister. "He daggered you because he thought you slept with him! Even though," Jenna says as she starts waving her hands. "He literally cheated on you, all the time."
"He's dead."
"Only after we torture him for eternity." Jenna adds on. The two sisters hyping each other up in their anger.
Behind them, Caroline looks as angry as the two aunts while Elena and Jeremy roll their eyes at the two woman. "They're going to be bitching about him for hours." Elena mentions to her brother as he grins at the sight.
"You know what Jenna and Ria are like. They're each others hype man, and they take these things way too far." Jeremy mentions. "And she," he points at Caroline who's gone to join in on the bickering. "Just makes what was once a pair of bitchy girls, a trio of bitchy girls."
"He has some nerve in treating you like that!" Caroline shouts.
"He won't have any nerves working when I'm finished with him." Jenna exclaims as the girls all nod.
"Oh, that has pissed me off. He's such a fucking hypocrite." Ria says as Caroline chimes in.
"He's a psycho."
"He's going to get a slap tonight." Jenna says. "First, he fucks you over with some shitty relationship, then he terrorises Elena, kills me, goes back to terrorising Elena and now he's got the audacity to invite your god-daughter as his date to some stupid ball like we're in the 16th century."
"What a fucking freak." Caroline says as Ria starts to speak up.
"Bonnie better undo that sire link soon so we can rip him apart the proper Valyrian way."
"The two Gilbert siblings roll their eyes as the three continue to bitch. "It's going to be a long night, sis." Jeremy adds as they begin to dread the drama that's about to unfold thanks to the three woman in front.
After dropping off Matt's invitation, Rebekah Mikaelson hurried home to speak to her brother before tonight and to tell him off the familiar face she's just seen. Lea, or more accurately, Aeria, apparently, was nothing like the woman she used to know growing up and in their first few centuries as vampires. The Lea Mikaelson she knew was a quiet woman, who rarely strayed from her brothers side. A woman who loved the Mikaelsons fiercely yet never let her vampirism change her from the quiet, shy and kind woman she was as a human.
This... Aeria, was completely different to the version Rebekah knew. Lea was once her brothers wife. Nothing more, nothing less. She'd be lying if she said that her and Lea had ever been close. Nik always kept her to himself, and so it seemed, the family never really knew the woman.
This version of the woman, was headstrong and confident and bitchy. She also seemed to have the young vampire her brother had taken a liking to and the doppleganger of Klaus other love interest at the time hanging onto her every word. They were family according to Elena Gilbert.
And the news that she had been undaggered for seven hundred years was something the original didn't know how to feel about. Back when she was just the simple quiet wife of Nik who betrayed him, she would have wanted nothing more than for her to be daggered for eternity.
But after hearing what Elena said about the way her brother treated his wife, whoring around while Lea was faithful all this time... She felt guilty over the words she had said about the girl before.
It was these thoughts that led to her stopping in the front room of the mansion her brother had built. Her brother, a hypocrite and a cheat. The very man who had robbed her of her happiness so many times...
Smirking to herself, she grabbed her dress and heels and the accessories she would wear tonight and decided to visit the Gilbert household instead. She owed Nik nothing. And she would revel in the shock on his face tonight when he saw his beloved wife look at him with such hatred.