I do not own TVD or TO.

Sorry for the delays. I had a little writer's block and wasn't sure anyone was still interested in this story for a little while there.

DarkAngelmi818 - thank you for asking, my wrist feels a lot better now.

Rebekah cocked her head, keeping an ear on the conversation happening inside the house. The majority of her attention was focused on the ground, but she could see their silhouettes through the fluttering curtains.

"I don't know what happened," Jeremy rubbed the back of his neck. He could feel the phantom hands that had grabbed him on the porch, grasping and twisting his neck sharply to the side. "I came home late and was ambushed before I got to the door."

"I got a look at him," Alaric worked the kinks from his neck, "but I didn't get much more before he killed me."

Rebekah shifted her weight onto the balls of her feet and dropped into a crouch. The ends of her fingers traced the trampled grass and small bits of overturned earth; the trail led towards the driveway. She followed it and knelt again, this time beside Kol's car. In the dark, before she had known to look for the signs, she hadn't seen them.

She flipped over a rock that had been displaced by at least two vehicles that had driven over it. There was a small bead of blood staining the stone; the smell all but gone.

Elena got to her feet, blinking when her heel came down on a gritty substance. Lifting her leg she saw the hardwood floor was spotless, so she bent her knee and stared at the crusted blood on the bottom of her foot.

A small shriek tore from her throat as the pain sliced through her sole. She gritted her teeth when her chin was tipped up and her necklace torn from her throat.

She released a shaky breath and turned her attention from the door her host had exited to the other two. The first opened to an empty closet, but the second revealed an en-suite.

She stepped onto the marble tile and quickly located the linen closet. Selecting a white wash cloth she moved to the sink and flipped on the faucet. She soaked the cloth in warm water and wrung out the excess before bracing her hip on the counter and lifting her leg to wash away the caked on blood.

The baby turned a lazy circle so out of character that Elena felt her heard stutter. Her wet heel slid over the tile as she rinsed the blood down the drain before casting her eyes to her stomach.

She was still wearing Klaus' stolen Henley and her leggings, but there was something different about the material. Her eyes quickly zeroed in on the dark stain just above her naval.

She gripped the shirt's hem with shaking fingers, willed her heart to slow down. It wouldn't do her any good to panic until she knew for sure that there was something to freak out over; so what if the baby was moving slower than normal? She might have been tired.

Her lips formed a thin line as she forced herself to breathe and drag the shirt up.

His pulse slammed in his neck, pounding wildly through his body it carried his indignation to every cell making him quiver. There would be hell to pay when he found whoever had taken her; heads would roll, blood would soak the earth, and if she was hurt – or worse – her captor would suffer endlessly.

His fingers drummed against the arm rest. The plane – racing at 575 mph – was going to slow, but it was still faster than driving or running.

She braced her hands on the kitchen counter, squinted against the too bright light. Her head was killing her, and every muscle ached as if she had run a marathon without training. She was in serious need of a spa day, but she would settle for something cold to take the pain from her gums.

"He had an accent," she murmured, swallowing, "it was faint…" she squinted, trying to summon up the hazy memory. "He had me. Elena was inside, but she came out… pushed me back in…"

"Please go on," Elijah tilted his head. He watched her tongue run along her gums.

"I… I got back up and ran outside. She was struggling and he said something to her," she bit her bottom lip, "and she just stopped. I tried to stop him and he…" her fingers traced her throat. She could still hear the loud snap. "I should be dead."

"Technically you are, darling," Kol sighed. His eyes cut to Caroline.

"It wasn't me," she held out her hands.

Jenna latched onto his words, fixing him with horror filled eyes. "I'm dead?"

They say there are five stages of grief, and they all watched as she cycled through the first four before collapsing on a bar stool.

Elijah was the first to approach her, slowly with one hand in front of him in a gesture of peace. He stopped a few steps away and ducked his head to meet her eyes.

"I understand that everyone processes their transition at a different pace, but I'm afraid I must interrupt. That man you saw, the one you fought, has Elena," he saw her eyes flash. "I'm not sure how much she told you, but the father of her child…"

"Is a colossal dick," Jeremy finished.

"I was going to say he has a lot of enemies," Elijah held back his sigh.

"I like Jeremy's definition," Kol smirked.

"I told you all I know," Jenna shook her head. "What else can I do?"

"You can let one of us," Elijah motioned towards his little brother and sister, "into your head so we can see who it is."

Rebekah leaned on the counter, braced by her elbow. She could read the confusion in Jenna's face.

"It's a neat little trick of vampires," she explained. "Speaking of… if you want to live then you're going to need to drink human blood."

Caroline moved to the fridge and returned with a bag of blood.

"That can wait a moment," Elijah murmured. He held up his hands and nodded to Jenna. "May I?"

She eyed his hands nervously and swallowed. The thought of someone in her head had never before crossed her mind and she wasn't entirely sure how she felt about the reality of it, but she didn't have time to dwell on the full extent of her situation.

"What do I do?" Her teeth sank into her bottom lip.

"Just think about last night, and I'll see it," he nodded, "with any luck I'll recognize him."

He should have killed her the second he laid eyes on her. She was the doppelganger. He knew it. He had met Katerina Petrova during the seventeenth century and heard rumors of another in Mystic Falls when Klaus broke his curse. He knew the girl was vital to any future plans the hybrid had and even if the tales of the child in her womb were unfounded she was possibly the most important woman in Klaus' life aside from his sister.

He should have killed her, but he couldn't.

There was something about her that had stayed his hand. Something that reminded him of the man he had once been before an Original had made him a monster.

She had fought him. She had struggled against him, knowing he had come for her, in order to protect the people she cared about. She had fought him to protect her baby and the last person in the world that she loved.

She reminded him of his wife. Bridget had fought him to save their child, but in the end she had not held the strength or power of the goddess with whom she shared a name. Elena possessed the same sort of fire.

He should have killed her, but he wouldn't – not yet.

He hadn't been able to stop from harming Bridget, his child, or anyone on his estate, but he could stay his hand where Elena was concerned; nobody had compelled him.

He was pulled from his thoughts when the bedroom door banged open, and turned to look at her. The fire in her eyes was back.

"What did you do to me?" Elena held her stomach protectively and stopped a few steps away – just out of arms reach.

"Tested a theory," he tipped his head to the left. "Should it prove to be fruitless you are free to go."

Elena's eyes narrow for a second before she steels her nerves and tiptoes around the counter. The first thing she sees is an empty syringe with a drop of blood clinging to the tip of the needle. The second thing she sees is an overturned foot.

Her breath comes in quick pants as she moves closer, eyes following the length of a denim clad leg. She takes the images in slowly: plaid shirt, unruly curls, and a neck bent at an awkward angle.

"You… you…" she swallowed. Every instinct told her to spin back around and keep the vampire in her sight at all times, but her legs refused to move.

"I told you I wished to prove your child's paternity," he poured a glass of scotch and took a sip. "If it is indeed Niklaus Mikaelson's child then he shall awaken soon enough as a hybrid in transition."

"You killed him!" She managed to find her voice.

"I wish I could set your mind at ease and tell you he volunteered for this, but alas I cannot," he swirled the amber liquid in the glass.

"You murdered him!" Elena inhaled sharply.

"You should be grateful for my actions," he moved closer until he was in her personal space and looked over her shoulder to the dead werewolf. "If you are correct in your accusation and this young man remains dead then he will be free from the curse that plagues his pack and you will be free to go."

She could feel her internal organs shaking, but outwardly she was calm. The only sign of her fear was the slight tremor in her voice.

"If he wakes up?"

Something dark passed behind his eyes and she tried to look away, but he caught her chin in a grip that wasn't quite hard enough to bruise.

"I'll make your death swift."

Her heart hammered. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was lying. In that moment she wasn't sure what she wanted more: for the werewolf to wake up and have a chance to live, or for him to stay dead.

"It'll be a few hours at least and I've a meeting to attend," his fingers tightened under her chin. He put down his glass, reached under her hair and unhooked the necklace in one smooth movement that was too quick for her to see until the silver sizzled in his palm.

"No," she gasped, reaching for the chain. She didn't have quick enough reflexes to reclaim it though. "No, please…"

"Relax, love," his pupils dilated. "You will not go out of this apartment."

"Not gonna compel me to not jump out the window?" She reclaimed her chin. Her feet scrambled back so fast that she tripped over the coffee table and fell into an armchair.

"There's no need for that," he shook his head, "we're seven stories up."

She sat in the armchair hours later with her arms curled protectively around her stomach, her legs folded under her body, and her eyes trained on the body on the floor.

She had never doubted Klaus when he told her the baby was his in spite of her mind screaming that he was a monster and she shouldn't believe a word out of his mouth. She had never doubted him. She hadn't been able to bring herself to do so and deny he was the father to her captor because she didn't believe it wasn't true.

She lifted her hand to her mouth and chewed on her nail. She had already checked the entire apartment. She had figured it would be too much to hope for a phone, but she had thought she might find something that would give her a clue as to where she was. There was nothing, and the apartment was too high up for her to read any of the street signs below.

She had also checked for a fire escape, but had come up empty handed there as well. There was a fire escape, but the only way to reach it was to climb out the kitchen window unto a precarious ledge that she was likely to tumble off of before she could reach the rickety ladder.

She had one chance at escape and he was lying on the living room floor.

She chewed at her nail until it was bitten down to the quick and moved on to another. She was chewing on her thumb nail when it happened.

He jerked up with a gasp and sucked in greedy breaths while pushing his chin length curls from his face.

Elena didn't know what to make of the way he stared at his hands and then the sun. She uncurled her legs and carefully placed her feet on the floor feeling the antique carpet between her toes.

"Hello," she exhaled, "I'm Elena."

He twisted around on his hip and stared up at her, rubbing a hand over his dark beard. Everything in the room was too bright and there was a throbbing in his head, under his gums.

The clouds rolled across the sky making the sun shine on his face. He could easily remember the last time the sun had shone on his features nearly a decade before.

"Where am I?" He asked, squinting.

"I was really hoping you could tell me that," she swallowed, meeting his dark eyes.

His gaze landed on the syringe still sitting on the coffee table and his fingers dropped from his cheek to his neck. He could feel the rush of the blood that had been forced into his body and the hands that had wrenched his head to the side.

"I'm sorry…" Elena trailed off, biting her lip.

"Jackson," he whispered.

"I'm sorry Jackson," she moved her hands to her knees, "but you're in transition."

"Because it's not bad enough for the vampires to persecute us," he scoffed, "now they're gonna turn us too."

Elena shook her head and tucked her hair behind her ears.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about, but transitioning into a vampire," she smoothed her shirt – Klaus' shirt – over her baby bump. "A vampire didn't turn you…" she chewed her lip, glancing down, "… my baby did, and now, because you woke up, the vampire that killed you is gonna kill me."

"Your baby…" his eyes fell to her stomach.

Elena nodded and reached for the knife she had pilfered from one of the kitchen drawers. She pressed the tip to her thumb until a bead of blood broke the skin and then twisted her hand to let the blood drip into a glass of water.

"The only way you live is if you drink my blood," she sighed, pressing a tissue to the wound. "It's your choice, but I hope you do because I need your help."

He reached for the glass without a word and stared at the clear liquid. He had felt the ache in his gums when he saw the blood on her skin; his body craved it.

"What am I turning into Elena?" He resisted the urge to down the liquid and met her eyes. "How did your baby do this?"

"You're transitioning into a hybrid," Elena took a deep breath and slid from the chair to kneel with him on the floor, "like the baby's dad."

She took a second deep breath and told him everything.

He angrily punched the answer call button as he sped through the sleepy streets of Mystic Falls. The voice that filled the car made him want to hang up immediately.

"Don't disconnect the call, Niklaus."

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't," Klaus took a turn a little too fast. The car rose on two wheels before righting itself.

"Because I have his name," Elijah sighed.

"Who?" Klaus slowed down as he passed the school and got caught in the lunch hour traffic. In that moment he wasn't overly opposed to running over the students blocking his path, but he knew Elena wouldn't like that and he didn't have time to get waste on needless accidents.

"Alastair Duquesne."

He swore loudly and punched at the steering wheel hard enough to dent the circle.

"Save your outbursts for Alastair, brother," Elijah soothed. Klaus could practically hear him rolling his eyes. "She's been abducted, and as soon as you're here Miss Bennett will perform a locator spell."

"Why hasn't she done that already?" Klaus snapped.

"She has tried, but he must have gotten a witch to cloak Elena. Kol is hoping he has not cloaked the baby as well, so calm your temper until you have an appropriate outlet for it."

"He's going to kill her!"

"How can you be so sure? Who is he?"

Klaus took a deep breath and exhaled in an attempt to remain calm, but he couldn't. He couldn't calm down. He couldn't relax. The only reason he hadn't slaughtered the entire town in a fit of rage was the belief that she was still alive. Alastair would kill her – of that he was certain – but he would not accept her death until he was provided proof of it.

"Do you recall my anger when Katerina ran?"

"How could I forget? You drew Mikael straight to us and we were forced to flee once more."

Klaus turned onto Elena's street. "I thought we needed a little distraction."

"Niklaus, what did you do?"

He could hear the exasperation in his brother's voice. After a thousand years he was more than familiar with the sound of expectant disappointment.

"I distracted Mikael," he gritted his teeth, "and now my distraction has returned to haunt me."

Kol's voice joined Elijah's over the phone.

"Nik?"

"I turned him," he admitted. "I then compelled him to slaughter his entire estate."

He hung up the phone and stepped out of the car in time to see his siblings exiting the house to stand on the porch. His eyes flickered to Bonnie Bennett and the daylight ring she was spelling in a patch of sun.

"Taking Elena seems a little more personal than that," Rebekah crossed her arms. Surprise flickered across her features when her brother actually acknowledged her statement.

"I may have included his wife and child in my compulsion."

Rebekah's mouth popped open. She snapped it closed a second later, biting back her question about what Elena Gilbert had ever seen in him; he was talking to her again and she was not going to risk pushing him away.

"Why are you making a daylight ring?" Klaus turned his full attention to Bonnie. "There is a locator spell to perform."

"It's for Jenna," Caroline poked her head out of the front door.

So Alastair's wikia page says he's a hundred + but I choose to believe he is 500. We know that the Originals were in England (adjacent to Scotland) when they met Katherine, and we all know Klaus' temper. I find it hard to believe that they would have returned to any place they had once been with Mikael on their heels so I believe that when he turned Alastair for a distraction it was because he made a huge mess after Katherine ran off. In my head he compelled him before taking off for Bulgaria to slaughter Katherine's family. He still got there ahead of her because he could travel by day and Katherine didn't have a daylight amulet yet.