Author's note: Thank Impulse control and my desire not to keep you hanging…this chapter answers all of the 'what is she' questions. :) Thank you for the reviews and hope you enjoy. Also thanks to my prereaders MissSherrie and Elohcin

Chapter 4

At nine on the dot, there was a knock at the door. I opened it to find Damon leaning against the jamb, arms crossed and that cocky smile on his face. It annoyed me how it both made me want to slap it off his face or kiss it off, and I still hadn't sorted out which I wanted to do more.

"Hi, Damon, make yourself at home."

He pushed off the doorframe and sauntered into the apartment, plopping back down on the couch in the same place he had been earlier that evening. Stretching out, he laid his arm on the back of the couch and smirked over his shoulder at me.

"Aren't you going to play the hostess and at least offer a beverage or something. I smell alcohol, so I'm assuming you have something around here worth swilling."

I scoffed, moving to the kitchen to pull out two glasses and the bottle of merlot I had uncorked earlier that evening. He gave me a look that held every drop of sarcastic mockery possible at my choice of alcoholic beverage before shrugging and pouring two glasses. He handed one to me as I stood across from where he sat before lifting his cup to his lips and downing the drink immediately. I tried not to watch the seductive way that his throat flexed as he guzzled and failed. Thankfully, a knock at the door saved me as I dashed over to greet Elena and Stefan.

After they turned down my offer to get them something to drink as well, Elena and Stefan settled on the couch together, my niece settled between the two vampires who loved her. I swear if this was a movie I was watching, I would laugh at the ridiculousness of it all, and yet, this was my life. Elena and Stefan watched me curiously as I moved to sit cross legged on the floor against the wall across from them, guzzling what was left in my glass before trying to begin. After a few fumbled words, Damon moved closer and filled my cup again with a knowing smile and wink. I guzzled the second glass, thankful for the fuzzing warmth that took the edge off before clearing my throat and beginning my tale, unsure how my poor niece was going to take it.

"I'm not really sure where to start with all of this. It's a very complicated story. I…um…I guess I should start with Grayson and Miranda's funeral, since that is where it all really started for me. I had picked up on things in the past and a few more things had come to light right before that time, but it wasn't until I discovered something in Grayson's papers while looking for a deed for Jenna that I knew the real truth behind the lie I once believed was my life."

Elena frowned, but there was an understanding in her eyes and I realized that what I was about to share was more akin to what she had recently gone through learning about her true parentage than I had originally considered.

"In with the papers was a bundle of documents labeled Rebekah Grace Gilbert, and among my birth certificate and various other official records there were numerous lab test results and notes on dozens of papers that indicated that the results showed that while my mother was Victoria Gilbert, my father was not William Gilbert. I never really knew my mother as she died giving birth to me, but I knew enough of her life with my father to know that she didn't have an affair. I was disturbed and confounded, searching further and further into the notes, I found mentions of blood irregularities and the such before things started getting really surreal. The script moved from my father's handwriting to Grayson's and John's and at that point, there began being frequent mentions of vampires and the Incubus myth, and even a single name, Elijah."

Elena's eyes shimmered with unshed tears as she watched me while the boys stiffened in their seats and observed me with confused eyes.

"That same day, a registered letter came to me from Romania. It was an invitation mixed with a not so veiled warning. I left that next day for the safety of everyone here and to find out what the truth really was about me and this odd parentage situation."

I sighed, handing my glass to Damon who utilized his vampire speed to have it back in my hand within seconds. I guzzled my third glass in ten minutes before setting the glass down and gripping my knees to my chest. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, resting my forehead on my knees.

"If I had known the world I was stepping into, I would have run to the opposite end of the earth…not that it would have done any good as their reach is everywhere. There I discovered the Originals waiting for me in a small castle that gave way to a large underground labyrinth of corridors. There five Originals live and manipulate the world from their subterranean palace. It was like the stuff out of my worst nightmares, but that was nothing compared to the truths I learned about myself."

I lifted my head to face Elena, tears streaking my face and dripping onto my knees as I rested my chin there. "Grayson and John were right in their Incubus theories. Elijah came to my mother thirty years ago, compelling her to lie with him so that she would give birth to me."

"That's not possible," Damon growled, frowning down at me in confusion. "Vampires don't reproduce."

I scoffed, "Yeah, they don't walk in the daylight, do die with stakes to the heart, and stay dead when you finally are able to kill them, but those rules don't always apply to Originals, as apparently, the procreation rules do not either."

"But why?" Damon asked, looking completely befuddled.

"From what I gathered before I escaped and came here to try to divert Elena's fate at the hands of Klaus, Elijah had a theory that there was more than one way to end the curse. I was his experiment on an alternative sacrifice to the doppelganger since one had not been born in many centuries and Klaus was becoming impatient."

"But how? Only Petrova blood can break the curse…Petrova blood found in the doppelganger." Elena whispered quietly, trying to process my declarations.

I sighed and moved to grab my glass, which had at some point mysteriously refilled itself…thank you Damon.

"It's all about the bloodlines and the existence of the impossible. Mythical anomalies have an ability to disrupt the natural flow of power in the universe, combine that with the right blood mixture and you have a potential alternative to the doppelganger option. The sacrifice cannot be done until you, Elena, are the exact age of the first sacrifice in order to offset the spell. You have another year if what I discovered is correct. Everything that has happened to this point has more or less been to herd you into the position Klaus wanted you. With the same token, and I'm not sure how they know this, thirty is my magic number when I'm supposed to be able to render the curse void. Klaus would rather use me as a last resort though, since I not only free the vampires from the curse of the sun, but also the werewolves from the curse of the moon. He would much rather keep them slaves of the moon so they are easier to take out when they are weakened between zeniths, but he prefers the option of my sacrifice to being trapped in the dark unless wearing a daywalker ring. I was created as the backup plan."

By this time, I was sobbing. Elena dropped to sit next to me, wrapping her arm around my shoulder and running a hand down my hair. It was the first time anyone had soothed me in years. I never had a mother to soothe me. The closest thing I ever had to a mother was Miranda and Jenna's mom, Beth, who treated me like one of her own daughters, and the nanny who had raised me until the age of ten and then suddenly disappeared. In all my life, they were the only ones to ever comfort me until that moment. I broke down even further as Elena attempted to comfort me.

After what seemed like an eternity, I finally regained control, wiping at my eyes with my sleeve before rasping a little more through my sob wearied voice.

"My creation and existence killed my mother so I could be born some weird monster to fulfill someone else's purpose. That was why my father and brothers hated me. I just thought it was resentment that my birth killed our mother, but it was more than that. It was a hate for all I was and all I stood for, and I really can't blame them. If roles had been reversed, I probably would have felt the exact same way."

The room was quiet. What could they say? It wasn't like they could deny it…any of it. I was created like Frankenstein's monster, and from that point on, I cursed and hurt those around me by my mere existence. If it weren't for the belief that I could possibly save Elena, I would never have come back to curse them all with my presence.

I hadn't even realized I'd been talking out loud until I realized Elena was crying beside me, asking me never to say that again and it wasn't my fault. She kept telling me that none of it was my fault, and that the choices that caused all the pain were not my own. I was an innocent victim in Elijah and Klaus's great scheme, but no amount of excuses would change the reality of who and what I was.

It wasn't until a voice came from the other side of me before I even felt the physical presence that I looked up to meet anyone's eyes. The blue of his irises were so bright they entranced me immediately.

"No. You listen to us. Of all the people on this planet, the three of us would be able to recognize the truth here. I don't bullshit; you've already figured that out, so you know I'm telling you the truth when I say that you are not at fault. You understand? You are not at fault any more than Elena is at fault for being born the doppelganger. Stefan and I, we made decisions to be what we are. We took human blood to sustain our transition, and we chose to kill after our change to further sustain that life. Your being born was not a choice, and thus it makes you innocent."

He paused and just stared at me with soft, but serious eyes. "Nod if you understand me."

I blinked slowly before lifting and lowering my head just enough to respond. He smiled sadly at me before reaching out to run a hand down my hair to my shoulder where he ran a couple of soothing circles over my shoulder blade. "Good, now don't let yourself believe that ever again. Can I ask you something though?"

I gave another small nod in response.

"How is it that you break both curses when Elena only breaks one?"

I huffed out a breath and shook my head. "Stupid founding family royalty crap has had the families of Mystic Falls blending several times over the last hundred or so years. In the papers was also my mother's family tree. Apparently, her grandmother was a Lockwood and her great, great grandfather was a Flemming. While it's not as strong as it is in Elena, some of the Petrova blood is in me as well as the Werewolf curse. Like I said, I'm an impossibility that has the ability to negate it all."

"How?"

I turned to him with serious eyes.

"How do you think?"

The silence in the room was deafening for a split second before all hell broke loose.