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She rested a hand on her hip when she came around the corner after her brothers and froze in her tracks. Her blue eyes darted from the brunette, Elijah had referred to as Elena, to Kol and back. There was a slightly dazed expression on both of their faces. She remembered that look well; her own features had mirrored it a few weeks before Nik had shoved a dagger through her beating heart.
She dropped her gaze to Elena's wrist: 0.000. Kol's arm held the same reading.
"It didn't time out while you were asleep, did it?" Rebekah met her brother's eyes. She took another look at the girl when Kol shook his head confirming what Rebekah already knew.
Her entire belief system went flying out the window. She had thought when Katerina came into their lives and torn her brothers apart that the woman had been not a doppelganger but a reincarnation; who else but Tatia could destroy the bond between Elijah and Nik. Rebekah had thought that there would never be another because of Katerina's actions. How could her soul be reborn if she still lived?
The girl before her was human. The doppelgangers were clearly different. For a brief moment she wondered if this one would come between Kol and Elijah, she clearly knew the older brother, but the thought was quickly shaken off. Rebekah would give this 'Elena' the benefit of the doubt.
"Well," the blonde turned to Elena, "it would appear your life just got very interesting." She cocked her head to the left to better hear the thumping heart in the room. "Kol you might want to take your soulmate far from this room. Finn's waking up and I'm not sure we've got enough blood."
"I'll go get more," Elena crossed her arms to ward off a chill. She turned on her heel and walked briskly in the direction of the kitchen. Finn had to be the one from the middle ages; he was going to need a lot of blood.
Her head was reeling when she stepped into the brightly lit room and made her way to the refrigerator. She froze with her fingers curled around the handle.
"Bloody hell," he blinked at the steel contraptions lining the marble countertops. Some things looked familiar but he couldn't fathom why there were long black cords curled around the base of the objects.
Elena turned around and found that Kol had followed her from the hall. She covered her mouth with her hand to stifle her giggle. He was examining the room with a look of wonder in his eyes; she got the sense he didn't display that kind of emotion often.
"Are you laughing at me, darling?"
Elena paled. She hadn't made a sound but her shoulders had shaken slightly and he must have caught the amused twinkle in her eyes. Her insides glowed when he called her darling.
"I would never," she gasped dramatically causing him to chuckle. The sound was deep and warm.
"Don't make sweeping declarations you can't keep, darling."
A tiny thrill raced down her spine.
Stop it Elena, she scolded herself, you know nothing about him. Another little voice sounded in her head. He's your soulmate. Doesn't that mean your soul knows him? Also he's really cute… even with the dorky hair and bloody shirt.
Her eyes flickered to his chest when he came around the counter. He had buttoned his vest so most of the rust coloured stain was hidden.
"You… uh…" she swallowed and ran her thumb over the smooth handle of the fridge. "You said you wanted to kill Klaus; why?"
"Locking me in a wooden box isn't reason enough?" He cocked a heavy brow.
"That would be reason enough for me, but he get the sense he's done that a lot," she finally pulled open the door. Reaching inside she pulled out a handful of bags.
"He does make a habit of locking us away when we disagree with him," he nodded solemnly. "I don't think we've ever been down at the same time though." He watched her place the bags of blood, Elijah had shown him and Rebekah how to open them, on the countertop. "I wanted to kill him when I saw my counter."
Elena's eyes widened when she turned to look at him.
"There were only ten seconds left," his thumb swiped over the finished counter. "I thought only my siblings were in the house. How did you find yourself here, darling?" He leaned on the counter. His heart thundered in his chest when she was silent; was Nik planning on sacrificing her in his ridiculous ritual?
"Klaus kidnapped me," she held the counter and rocked back on her heels.
"Why would he do that?" Elijah held the arm of Finn when they stepped into the kitchen followed closely by Rebekah.
"I should think that was obvious," the blonde sat on a bar stool, "he wants to sacrifice her and awaken his werewolf side." She reached for a bag of blood and opened it. "I'm famished," she hummed at the thick liquid that hit her tongue. She would have preferred something a little warmer, but it sounded like Elena was the only human in the house and she wasn't about to bite the woman; Kol would have her head on a platter.
"For heaven's sake, Elijah," Finn pulled his arm free, "I'm not going to attack the woman who woke us."
The siblings looked to Elena who nodded in confirmation; it seemed that Finn had heard her after all, but judging by the looks on the other faces in the room his siblings had not.
She picked up a blood bag and passed it to him when he approached the island. His siblings were looking reasonably healthy, but he still appeared to be grey.
"It's not that," Elijah turned his gaze from Finn to Rebekah, "he already used her to break the curse." He sighed when Kol growled. "How are you still alive, Elena?"
"John sacrificed his life for mine," she blinked back her sudden onslaught of tears. He hadn't been a great uncle to her, and he had been a less than stellar father but he had been the last parent she had; Klaus had taken both of her birth parent from her.
Elena sniffled and blinked in surprise at the patterned green handkerchief that was pressed into her hand.
Elijah waited until she had dried her eyes before asking.
"Why did he kidnap you Elena?"
"If he broke his curse than what could he possibly want from you?" Kol kept his hand on the small of her back.
"He needs me," she laughed without any real humour, "because your mother was a bit of a mad genius. He had to have my blood to break the curse, but in order for a hybrid to complete the transition the first blood they drink has to be mine. I haven't left this house in a week."
"Where is Niklaus," the colour started to return to Finn's face.
"Out," she shrugged, "tracking down a pack of wolves with my humanity-less ex-boyfriend."
"Then why are you…" Rebekah's eyes widened in realization. "He compelled you so you can't leave."
"Mmhmm," Elena nodded, "I'm also not allowed to hurt myself in any way. I only went exploring today. That's how I found all of you."
"I'm not really sure what the situation was when you were daggered," Elena grabbed a towel from the linen closet and a washcloth, "did they have showers? Never thought to learn about the history of showers."
"They had them," Rebekah placed the towel on the vanity. "I might need you to show me how to work this one though."
"Sure," Elena nodded. She twisted the knobs to start off the water and showed Rebekah how to switch it from tub to shower. "I'll try and find you something to wear."
She left the blonde vampire alone to shower and slipped back into the bedroom. Crossing the floor she pulled open the closet door and flipped through the hangers. She wasn't sure the pants would fit right, and she didn't want to completely shock the blonde with an overly short skirt. Rebekah had emerged fresh from the 1920s.
Elena finally settled on a blue wrap dress that fell to the middle of her calves when she held it up in front of the mirror. The tie around wraps would make it adjustable for the differences in their figures. She was laying the blue material on the bed when there was a knock on the door.
She pushed her hair behind her ears and looked up. Her breath caught when she saw him. He was fresh from a shower and wearing what she assumed were clothes stolen from Klaus. The blood stain was a thing of the past, for the time being, and the gel had been washed from his hair leaving behind softer locks.
"Hi," she cleared her throat.
"Hello," he stepped into the room and came to a stop in front of her. "In all of the excitement we were never properly introduced." He took her hand and lifted it to his lips. "Kol Mikaelson."
Her knuckles tingled under his kiss.
"I kind of picked that up," she smirked. "Elena Gilbert."
"It's a pleasure to meet you Elena Gilbert," he grinned. There, in her presence, he felt lighter than air. It was a feeling he had never experienced around her predecessors. "Tell me darling," he lowered her hand but didn't release it, "why did you wake us? You knew nothing about any of us. For all you knew we were worse than Klaus."
"Well," she shrugged one shoulder, "technically I knew Elijah before, and nobody is as bad as Klaus. He's on a whole other level." She drew in a deep breath. "I might not have known anything about you but I couldn't leave you like that."
"How come?" Kol tilted his head and met her eyes. "Many in your position, with your knowledge, would have turned around and walked away. Waking us will not sit well with Nik, darling. He's killed for less."
"I don't think he'll kill me," her lips twisted in a grimace. "He needs me alive; told me as much the other day. He wants me alive. He wants my blood. Eventually he wants me to have a kid so he gets another doppelganger in five hundred years." She bit down on her cheek and closed her eyes for a moment to catch her breath and actually answered his question. "It didn't matter to me what any of you had done in the past; nobody deserves to have their lives stolen away from them. How long were you asleep?"
"I was last daggered in 1913," his thumb rubbed absentminded circles over her knuckles.
"Last?" Elena's eyes grew round.
"Mmhmm," he nodded, "the first time was in the year 1114; it only lasted a few moments. Then Nik and Elijah put me under again in 1702 and I slept until 1821. Nik woke me for a few weeks before I was daggered again until 1901."
Elena's eyes had grown wide with horror as he spoke. He'd spent nearly 300 years of his life in a box. That was nearly a third of his life unconscious at the hands of his brother.
"That's nothing compared to Finn," Kol murmured, "Nik never woke him in 1114. He's been asleep since then; although it seems as if he regained the ability to hear during those centuries."
Elena's knees grew weak. It was horrendous what Klaus had done to his own family. There were times Jeremy annoyed her, but the worse she had ever done was slam the door in his face after posting a sign that read 'no-boys-allowed'.
"Elena?" Kol took a firmer grip on her elbow when she swayed.
"I…" she brought her hand up to his chest and pressed her palm over his beating heart, "… I'm sorry."
"It's hardly your fault, love," he offered a small smile. "What exactly did you do with the daggers?"
"I hid them," Elena drew her bottom lip between her teeth and blushed when his eyes tracked the action.
Kol glanced around the room and rolled his eyes when Rebekah emerged wrapped in a large towel.
"They're not in here," Elena rolled her eyes. "This is the first place Klaus would look."
"Are they outside somewhere?" Rebekah picked up the dress and slipped back into the bathroom.
"No," Elena called after her. "He compelled me to never leave the house unless he was with me. They're in the house." She wasn't sure why she was telling them; all she knew was that she had no desire to lie to him. She wondered if she was even capable of it.
Of course she was; she just didn't want to. She wanted them to know because they were capable of finding a much better hiding place for them than she had.
She slid her hair behind her ear and squeezed his hand before leading him back downstairs.
"Where are you taking me, darling?" His eyes raked slowly over her features. He had imagined his soulmate many times over the centuries as the numbers had slowly decreased but he had never thought she would wear a face he was already familiar with.
He could already tell she was nothing like the others. He suspected Nik hadn't really needed to compel her not to hurt herself; she didn't seem in the least inclined to do so.
"The library," Elena pushed open the door to the hall of books. She crossed the room and lifted the antique vase. Removing the lid she turned it over and upended the contents onto the leather sofa.
Four glinting silver daggers fell.
Kol examined the vase and the shelf it had come from. If he hadn't watched her walk directly to it he never would have picked it out in the library.
"Not a terrible hiding spot," a chill raced down his spine. He absolutely hated those daggers. "Rather clever actually," he nodded, "I've a beautiful, compassionate, clever soulmate."
Elena perched on the arm of the couch and looked down when he lifted the daggers and sat beside her.
"You know," she glanced to her wrist. "A week ago I was getting ready to start my last year of school and watching the numbers go down. I thought it was going to be a new student because where else would I meet anybody. I didn't think it mattered anymore when Klaus brought me here, but…"
"It seems like that was always part of the design," he lifted the blade of one dagger and stared at the hilt. "You had to come here to wake me up; otherwise we might never have met."
"Is that possible?"
"Yes," he lowered the blade again, "Elijah's counter timed out while he was under the effects of this knife. I was certain mine was going to do the same when I bumped into you in the hall." He placed the daggers on the low coffee table and took her hands. "Thank you for taking it out. No matter how this relationship progresses I need you to know I'm grateful for what you did today."
"You're welcome," she met his earnest eyes. Energy shifted between them and made the air crackle; warmth trickled down her spine. She felt like he was looking into her soul again; she liked that feeling. That knowledge that he could see her; she wondered if he'd had any form of relationship with her doppelgangers.
He wondered how she would react when she learned of some of the things he had done over the centuries. He hadn't exactly been a model citizen; at times he had even rivaled Nik in his brutality. Those had been the times he had been trying to get his siblings attention by being the nuisance they thought he was. She certainly wasn't expecting her other half to be an Original vampire.
Next chapter should have the return of Klaus and Stefan. Stefan still has no idea who Rebekah is to him, but I can't remember if Rebekah knew Stefan had been compelled or not.
Also I planned out the rough outline for La Vie en Rose today and it's at thirteen chapters at the moment but it might get longer.