Author's Note: Sorry, guys. I know I've been MIA for ages. On the plus side, I got the first draft of my book wrapped up and I have a couple of weeks before I go into editing. I'm hoping to wrap this by then, but I don't know if it will work out that way or not. Also as a side note, I have slightly adjusted the history in this story to reflect the revelations in the last two episodes of this season, but the majority of this story, including Bekah's Nature was planned from the beginning as were the major plot points of this story. It was just crazy lucky that they ended up being so similar in some ways! Anyway, this is a major cliffhanger that will lead to some major events in the next chapter. Hope you like it.

Chapter 21

The morning sickness was getting vicious as early pregnancy combined with my anxiety about all the stuff that was coming to a head all too soon mounted. I continued to go to work, but knew that Damon was always skulking nearby, unable to trust that I'd be safe even at school.

The school year wrapped up without incident leaving Elena and all of her friends as incoming Seniors. They should have been on top of the world, looking forward to ruling the school and enjoying their last year of frivolous youth before they moved on to more and more responsibility, but none of the kids that I now knew so well showed even the slightest inclination to celebrate.

On the final day of classes, the rest of the school was raucous with excited energy as kids rushed out of the door to escape for the summer, more than one humming Alice Cooper's School's Out For Summer as they dashed by the quiet group of newly minted Seniors. I observed the shades of envy in their eyes as they watched their carefree counterparts escape to spend the next ten weeks or so by swimming pools and going to parties while they were walking into what they knew could very well be their deaths.

As the last of the kids filtered out, they all turned with new purpose to follow me into my classroom to help me pack up for the summer and remove all of my personal belongings so the room would be ready to greet the teacher replacing me in the Fall. It made me sad to be leaving so soon having really enjoyed teaching in Mystic Falls, but my life wasn't really going to allow that anymore. Everything was going to change. Either my life was going to end or it was going to become a lot more dangerous…either way, school was not the best place to spend the majority of my time and risk everyone around me, not to mention my desire to spend as much time as I could with the baby growing inside me. Perhaps sometime, somewhere, I'd get to exercise my love of teaching again, but until then I was retired.

Damon showed up moments before the first box was packed, wrapping me in his arms and kissing me soundly before beginning to help me load my knick knacks that personalized my desk into the cardboard box. Less than an hour later, everything was squared away and the boxes were loaded. I thanked my friends before climbing in beside Damon to allow him to drive me home while Stefan and Elena went off to help Jenna with something at the Gilbert house. We were halfway home when a figure standing in the road forced Damon to come to a screeching halt. I swallowed hard as I stared out at the man who fathered me, the one and only Elijah, but where I expected to see more anger, instead I found something akin to smug pride.

Damon reached over to try to stop me as my hand reached for the handle. I turned back to him with a sad smile, resting my hand on top of his.

"It's okay, Damon. He can't hurt me even if he wanted to, but I don't think he's here to hurt me."

Damon's brows were deeply furrowed as his bright blue eyes flickered between both of mine before he let out a sigh. "Just please give me a couple of seconds to get out and open your door. I want to be by your side at all times."

I nibbled my lower lip. "You sure? I mean, remember last time we were face to face with him? He almost compelled you to kill me."

Damon's eyes narrowed, his lips quivering slightly as they mashed tightly together. "I thought you said he wasn't here to hurt you."

I let out a breath. "I don't believe he is, babe, I just thought…well, I don't want to run the risk of you blaming yourself if I was wrong."

Damon's eyes flashed, his nostrils flaring before he disappeared from his side of the car with a loud slam only to appear at my side of the car an instant later, lifting the handle to free me from the vehicle. He reached a hand out to me as his eyes remained trained on mine. I smiled slightly before taking his hand and letting him help me out. Hand in hand, we moved to stand before the still smiling Elijah. Before I could find any words to address him, Elijah took a half step forward with glinting eyes.

"You've done far better than I anticipated, my daughter. I was angry before I realized what was really happening. There are a few details of which you are ignorant, but now that you have already begun to make the transitions, you are ready to hear the whole truth and nothing but the truth."

I sucked on my teeth, gripping Damon's hand harder. "Plan on swearing to that on a Bible, pops?"

There wasn't even the slightest flash of anger in his reaction as he chuckled, his eyes dancing with some inside joke that only he was privy. "Please Rebekah, come to my temporary abode and allow me to explain the situation in its entirety. I have no doubt that once you know all that there is to know, you will understand everything much better."

I glanced at a glowering Damon before looking back at him in confusion. "After what you pulled last time, you seriously expect me to just waltz off with you to parts unknown? I don't think so buddy! You trashed my car, tried to haul me away, threw a steering wheel at me, and tried to get my husband to kill me. This isn't a very encouraging track record. There's no way in hell I'd follow you to some random location, just as there's no way I'd ever invite you into our home. Somewhere public…say the grill...in two hours. I get the slightest hint that you've compelled anyone there and I'm gone. End of story."

Elijah's smile widened further. "I would expect nothing less. I know you do not understand now, but you, my dear, hold more power over me and those around you than anyone else and I could not be prouder. I would not dare cross you now, my precious, perfect offspring. I shall see you at the dining establishment at the established time."

With that, he disappeared leaving Damon and I both staring in bewilderment at the spot he had just been standing. "And what exactly do you think he meant by that?" Damon asked through the side of his mouth as he quirked a single brow.

I shook my head. "I have absolutely no idea."

We dashed home to unload the car and gather a few supplies before pacing the floor waiting for the time to pass until we were supposed to meet Elijah at the grill. A disheveled Elena and Stefan walked in about half an hour before we had to leave, freezing as they took in the shape we were in. Stefan immediately rushed to Damon's side demanding to know what was happening while Elena came to me with worried eyes. It didn't take long before we decided that they would be coming along as well.

Ten minutes before the appointed time, Stefan, Elena, Damon, and I walked into the grill. Damon walked up to the bar slipping some cash and a little bit of compulsion into the manager's hand, giving us sole access to the glassed in party room in the back corner of the building. The glass would allow us to be seen, which would hopefully allow some level of protection from attack during the meeting, yet gave us the privacy needed in order to speak openly. We moved into the room, adjusted the chairs, and grabbed drinks to sip before settling in to wait for Elijah.

Ever the consummate gentleman, Elijah was exactly on time. He floated into the room almost as if on air and slid into the seat across from us with a nod toward the others before focusing on me.

"I did not intend to have such a large audience. I expected your," his lips twitched into a crooked smile before he smoothed out, "husband, but Elena and Stefan were not supposed to be part of this meeting."

I rolled my eyes and shifted in my chair so I could cross my arms and legs. "Elena is the doppelganger. Of all the people in my life, she deserves to hear this more than anyone. This is non-negotiable so just spill it and get this over with. I'm pretty sure I was thoroughly indoctrinated before coming back to the states, so what new could you tell me?"

His lips quirked in a half smile. "How about the fact that everything you think you know is a lie?"

I could feel my facial muscles drawing up in all kinds of ways as I shook my head. "What? No, I mean. How could it be? Almost everything I know has been backed up in several different historical accounts."

Elijah's eyes danced even more. "When you've lived as long as my brother and I, you find ways of shaping the world to match your desires. For instance, when you don't want people to know the real story but need certain artifacts to come together at just the right time to break a curse, it's amazing how much easier that is when you trick two entire races of beings into believing that those items have the ability to free them from their fates. Suddenly a moonstone and a doppelganger are much easier to locate in this vastly populated globe."

"So there is no curse?"

Elijah chuckled. "Oh there is a curse all right, but it has nothing to do with the sun and the moon. Those things are inherent to the natures of each species, a natural safeguard as it were to protect humans. No amount of rituals will ever change that for the sires of the original Vampires and Werewolves. No, this is a curse that applies to Klaus and Klaus alone. Here's the real issue though, where he's been cursed to restrain the part of him that would make him most powerful, you, my dear, have already begun to manifest and no curse will bind it. Unfortunately, once the transition is complete, it will force you to lose the child you carry, but there will surely be others once you learn to garner control over yourself."

My hand flew to my stomach protectively as Damon growled beside me. Elijah just smiled sadly as he lifted his hands in surrender. "In all honesty, I truly am sorry. I'm certain that your child would be the most magnificent creature ever to be borne of a live birth given your unique nature. It truly would have been a sight to behold, but there is no changing this. The transition will happen next Friday night and there will be no way for you to stop it until you've had it happen and learned to control it."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Damon boomed beside me as his hand slammed down on the table. "Stop talking in circles and just SAY what you mean for a change!"

Elijah cleared his throat as he shifted in his seat again. "Friday night is the next full moon. At that time, Rebekah will transition for the first time into a new, more powerful, most beautiful breed of werewolf/vampire hybrid."

Everyone at the table gasped as a strangled 'no' escaped my lips, the tears already flowing down my cheeks as I gripped the material of my shirt tightly in my fist. Damon turned to check on me and by the time he turned back to get his hands on Elijah, he had disappeared, leaving the four of us alone to attempt to digest the latest news and the heartache that appeared to accompany it.