Ordinary People

"So, the Lockwoods really have no idea that these tunnels are underneath their property?" Elena asked as Ric led us down the tunnels.

"Careful where you shine that thing." Ric gestured to the torch in my a hand. "Bats hate the light."

I hated bats. "Wait, what?"

"Louise..." a creepy voice whispered.

I gasped and whipped around. It was a certain raven-haired vampire. "Ah! Damon!"

He grinned. "Scaredy-cat."

"Just ignore him. That's what I do," Ric suggested.

"So... you really can't get in?" I asked Damon with a smirk.

"No. Seems even the ancient Lockwood's were anti-vampire."

"What do you mean, ancient?" Elena questioned.

Damon gestured forward. "See for yourself."

We walked further into the tunnels. There was a cave with drawings on the walls. It looked like they told a story.

"Well, this is as far as I get to go," Damon said.

I took a deep breath, staring around. "What is this?"

"Well, as far as I can tell, it's a story. In simple, archaeological terms, it's a really, really old story." He pointed to the wall. "That right there, is the moon cycle." He pointed to another symbol. "A man, a wolf."

"A werewolf," Elena and I said in unison.

"Yeah, it's the 'Lockwood Diaries: Pictionary-Style,'" Damon boomed.

"But the Lockwood's came to Mystic Falls with the Original Founders in 1860s," I said, my face twisted in confusion as I looked around the cave.

"I don't know. Maybe the Lockwoods did, but according to this wall, these werewolves have been here a lot longer than that."

"How long?" Elena asked.

"Long. It gets better. Show them, Ric," Damon said.

"Names. They're not native. They're written in Runic, a Viking script."

"Vikings?" Elena inquired.

"This name here, I translated it and it reads Niklaus."

"Klaus," I realised.

"And Elijah...and Rebekah," Ric further explained.

"The Original family," I added, slightly in awe. "So these are all the members?"

"Carved into a cave that's been here since way before the founding of Mystic Falls. Or even the entire New World, for that matter," Ric said.

I shook my head. "Klaus is playing us. This has to be one of his fakes."

Damon seemed to agree with me. "That's what I said."

"That could be true, except the last name up here made us think otherwise." He looked at the name.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Mikael."

"Mikael... Mikael, as in, the vampire hunter who knows how to kill Klaus?" Elena said in complete disbelief.

Ric was taking photos of the symbols and drawings. "Yep. I now like to call him, 'Papa Original,'" Damon said.

Elena and Ric were looked at the photos as Damon helped me train in Ric's apartment. "These images tell a story... to learn the story, you have to decipher these images."

I tried to get the stake in Damon's gut, but he took it from me. "Sloppy!" he taunted.

I smiled. "Hey, I'm new at this."

We engaged in some 'hand-to-hand' combat, which I kind of sucked at. "'Ghost of Christmas Past' - Mason Lockwood set up the cave and lead us to a weapon that can kill Klaus."

"Yeah, but doesn't Mikael have a weapon?" Elena asked, her arms crossed.

"Yes. Which probably means the wall will lead us to Mikael, who we have already found... and lost." He overpowered me, his arm binding my neck. "Bang! You're dead!" He went to nibble on my neck.

I grinned and pushed him away. "These images at the very least might tell us what that weapon is," Ric said.

I walked over to the table. "Then all we have to do is find out what they mean," I said.

"Fine! Fine! If I am being irritatingly optimistic like three of you...how do you suppose we do that?"

"Well, if the story is about the Original Family living here, then we go straight to the source."

Rebekah was at cheerleading practice with the squad. She was impressive. A thousand years of training and vampire agility, how could she not be? Even the football team was impressed.

She straightened up as I walked up to her. "You! Goody."

"I was hoping we could talk," I said.

"About what? Stefan? You want me step aside so your doppelganger bitch of a sister can have him?" She smiled sarcastically. "Don't worry, I'm off him until he starts treating me better. In fact, she should probably take a page out of my book, if I'm being honest."

"Actually, I'd rather talk about this." I held up a photo of Rebekah's name in runic. "Maybe I'm nosy, but I'd like to know why you and your invincible siblings have been running from him."

Her eyes widened in fear as she gulped. "I should get back to the girls. Homecoming's right around the corner." She turned to leave.

"Maybe we'll ask Papa Original when we wake him," I said, quoting Damon.

Rebekah stopped in her tracks and whipped around. Her face was full of fear. If this Mikael guy was capable of making an almost invincible vampire quake with fear, then he must have been something. "Mikael?" I nodded. "You're bluffing. You don't know where he is. No one does."

"Oh? Who's the big bad desiccating vampire in the cemetery in Charlotte?" I asked her.

"If you wake Mikael, we are all doomed!" Rebekah exclaimed.

"Give me a reason why we shouldn't wake him," I pressed.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Why don't you want me to wake him?" I repeated.

Rebekah took a deep breath. How could someone be so afraid of their own father? Even though Mikael was probably gonna save us all, I couldn't help but hate him. My guess was that he wasn't the nicest to his family.

"I need to get back to the girls." She went back to the squad.

I walked up the stairs to Alaric's flat. I told Elena and Ric I'd meet them there to look at the symbols.

"Rebekah was terrified, Damon. She'll tell me because she has to. I'll just have to engage in a little 'mean girl' power struggle first."

"Well, make sure she doesn't power struggle you into a wheelchair."

"I can do this. My best friend's freedom is on the line. I'll do anything. How's ripper Stefan?"

"Mmm...pasty and pouty."

"Maybe he'll feel a little self-pity soon. Call me later." I hung up and entered the flat.

Ric was looking at the photos. "So, you think you can get the info out of her?"

I nodded. "She'll come around."

My phone beeped. "You're sure about that? I mean a thousand year old vampire, I'm sure, has learned the art of patience."

I looked at the text. Come over for a chat. Rebekah.

"Different rules apply here, Ric. She's a thousand year old vampire, who's a dedicated cheerleader and fits the mean girl stereo type. I dealt with Caroline a year ago, I can deal with her, no problem." I showed him the text. "Easy as pie."

I sat down on the couch in the living room. "Hey! What's up?" Rebekah boomed cheerfully, champagne glasses in her hands.

I frowned. "You said we'd talk."

Rebekah rolled her eyes. "All right girls, have at it!"

Six girls in different coloured dresses walked into the room. "Okay, now twirl please."

"You compelled them to be your personal runway girls?" I asked.

Rebekah shrugged. "I need a Homecoming dress. So, what do you think? Pick one."

"I'm not here to help you shop. I'm here to talk about Mikael," I insisted.

The blonde Original speeded to one of the girls and gripped her neck. Black veins protruded underneath her eyes as fangs ripped through her gums.

"I said, 'pick one', Louise," she demanded.

"The red one, I guess," I said quickly. "Let her go."

She let the girl go. "There. It wasn't so hard, was it?" She turned to the girls. "Go away. Remember nothing." The mindless girls left and Rebekah turned to me. "You do not threaten me. You'll learn what I allow you to learn. Is that clear?"

I nodded weakly. Rebekah went up to Damon's room and I followed her.

"How fun is this?" Rebekah started opening and closing drawers.

"We shouldn't be here," I said.

"'Course we should! Come on, like you've never wanted to snoop." She held up Damon's boxers. "Boxer briefs. A lot has changed since the twenties." She put them back in the drawer. "So, how was he? His prowess in bed is legendary. Is he romantic?"

"I really don't want to talk about my sex-life," I told her through gritted teeth.

She grinned. "Of course. Perhaps I ought to find out myself?"

A low growl came out of my mouth without my permission. "Are you gonna grill me for information about Damon's sex skills?"

"Ah... you really are no fun. What do you want to know?"

"Well, Elena told me that your father was landowner in Europe. How'd your family come here?"

Rebekah was still looking through Damon's stuff. "My parents had just started a family, when a plague struck their homeland. They lost a child to it. They wanted to escape and protect their future family from the same fate."

"But this part of the world hadn't been discovered yet."

Rebekah laughed. "Not by anyone in your history books. But my mother knew the witch Ayanna, who heard from the spirits of a mystical land where everyone was healthy... blessed by the gifts of speed and strength... that lead my family here, where we lived amongst those people."

"Ah, werewolves," I realised, nodding.

"To us, they were just our neighbors. My family lived in peace with them for over twenty years, during which time my family had more children, including me."

"You make it sound so normal."

Rebekah smiled. "It was. One full moon, Klaus and my youngest brother Henrik snuck out to watch the men turn into beasts. That was forbidden. Henrik payed the price... And that was the beginning of the end of peace with our neighbors." She took a deep, shaky breath. "And one of the last moments my family had together as humans."

My phone rang and Rebekah's dazed expression turned to a sad one. "You better get that. That'll be Damon checking up on you."

I answered my phone. There was music blaring loudly in the background. "Hello?"

"Hey!"

"Aren't you supposed to be de-rippering Stefan? Where are you?"

"No idea, but I'm pretty sure I'm overdressed...Still standing?"

"Peachy," I answered. "But I can't talk right now."

"I'll be at the bar," said a voice that wasn't Damon's.

"Stefan?" I exclaimed. "Is that Stefan?"

"Yeah, I kinda went off a bit. Don't worry - I know what I'm doing."

"Damon..."

"I got his back, Lou."

I put my phone in my pocket. Rebekah had dreamy look on her face. "He really loves you, doesn't he?"

I blushed. "'Love' is a pretty strong word."

"You're more than just a friend with benefits to him." She smiled. "I can see that."

And she had a thousand years of experience with 'love'... maybe she was right. But did I love him? I didn't know. I didn't even know what 'love' was.

"But I'll be honest." She lied on Damon's bed, crossing her legs. "I don't get you two as a couple. He might be in love with you, but he's still a vampire. We're a predatory species. We don't really have time for humans and their silly little lives."

"I'm a witch," I snapped back. "Not a human."

She rolled her eyes. "That just shows that you're even more unsuited for each other. Witches are suppose to hate vampires, not fall in love with them."

"There's nothing wrong with straying from expectations," I said. "Like you have. You're obsessed with humanity... being human. That's why you're so concerned with this homecoming dance." She tightened her lips. "You know what, I'm gonna go."

"You haven't even heard half the story."

"And you're not gonna tell me. You just want someone to push around. Find another toy, Rebekah... Maybe you can compel yourself a friend."

I made to leave. "The necklace wasn't Stefan's to give. It belonged to the Original Witch."

I turned back around. "The one who put the curse on Klaus?"

"Not just the hybrid curse. She's the one who turned us into vampires. After Henrik died, my parents decided they couldn't deal with any more loss and begged the witch Ayanna to call upon the spirits to give us strength and invincibility. She did not." A sad look crossed her face. Didn't she want to be a vampire? "I'm thirsty. Do you want a drink?"

I followed her down to the library. "Vampirism was a form of protection?"

"What else would it be?" Rebekah asked.

"Uh... a curse?"

"My parents only saw a way of keeping their children alive."

"Yeah, but you could've left. Fled from the place with the wolves and go back to Europe." She pursed her lips tightly. "Why did you stay?"

She sighed. "Pride... My father didn't want to run anymore. He wanted to fight and be superior to the wolves. Where they could bite, we had to bite harder. Where they had speed, we had to be faster. Agility, strength, senses... Ayanna wanted no part in it and told my mother that it was in her hands."

"In her hands? How could she do anything?" I asked.

"Because my mother was also a witch."

"What?"

"The witch of the Original Family. The Original Witch?" she said in a 'duh' tone. Rebekah searched through the shelves. "Where do they keep their best vintage?"

"Your mother was a witch? So, uh, are you..."

"A witch?" I nodded. "No, a witch is nature's servant; a vampire is an abomination of nature. You can either be one or the other, never both. My mother did this for us. She did not turn."

"How did you turn?"

"She called upon the sun for life, and the ancient white oak tree, one of nature's eternal objects, for immortality. That night, my father offered us wine laced with blood. And then he drove his sword through our hearts."

"He killed you?" I exclaimed.

"And he wasn't delicate about it either. But the aftermath... it was euphoric. The feeling of power was indescribable, but the witch Ayanna was right about the consequences. The spirits turned on us, and nature fought back... For every strength there would be a weakness. The sun became our enemy. It kept us indoors for weeks. And though my mother found a solution, there were other problems. Neighbors who had opened their homes to us could now keep us out. Flowers at the base of the white oak burned, and prevented compulsion. And the spell decreed that the tree that gave us life could also take it away... so we burned it to the ground. But the darkest consequence was something my parents never anticipated: the hunger. Blood had made us reborn and it was blood that we craved above all else. We could not control it. And with that, the predatory species was born."

"Why did Mikael start hunting Klaus?" I asked her.

"When Nik made his first human kill, it triggered his werewolf gene. With that, he became my father's greatest shame."

I nodded. "I heard that part of the story. Your mother had an affair with a werewolf. Klaus wasn't your father's son."

"She tried to make it right," Rebekah said. "She put the hybrid curse on Nik to suppress his werewolf side, and then she turned her back on him. But Mikael's greatest weakness as a human was his pride. As a vampire, that was magnified. He went on a rampage and killed half the village. Then he came home and killed her."

"Mikael killed your mother... his wife?" I exclaimed.

Rebekah frowned, tears in her eyes. "He said she broke his heart so he would break hers. He tore it from her chest as Nik watched. Afterwards, my father took off in a rage, and the rest of my family scattered. Nik stayed, so he could help me bury her. He knew I had to say goodbye to my mother. Elijah, Klaus and I swore a vow that day. Always and forever. Nik and I kept it."

"But didn't he carry you in a coffin for ninety years?" I said. "Doesn't that warrant for you to break that vow?"

She shrugged. "We're vampires. Our emotions are heightened. I'm stubborn, Elijah moral, and Nik... Nik has no tolerance for those who disappoint him. Over a thousand years as a family we've all made that mistake at least once. I've made it several times."

"Even after everything he's done, you still love him?"

"He's my brother. And I'm immortal. Should I spend an eternity alone instead? You've heard the story, it's time to go. I said leave, Louise! I don't know what you're up to, but I'm no longer playing along."

"I'm still looking for one reason why we shouldn't wake Mikael," I said.

"And I've given you a thousand! But you will anyway. I know you want him to help you kill my brother, I'm not stupid."

"Yeah, I want Klaus dead. He wants to use my sister as a human blood bag for the rest of her life and he's compelled Stefan, my best friend, to be a heartless, blood-thirsty monster who almost drowned me."

Rebekah narrowed her eyes at me. "Do what you need. Wake Mikael at your own peril. But make no mistake, if you come after my brother, I will rip you apart. And I get my temper from my father. Now leave!"

I met Elena, Bonnie and Ric in the Lockwood cave. They were trying to figure out the symbols on the walls.

"Did you get the information?" Elena asked me.

"Uh-huh," I said. "How's this going?"

"We, uh, filled in what we could." He pointed a stick to the respective symbols. "A Vampire, werewolf, slaughter, mayhem, etc."

I pointed to a symbol of a tree. "That's the white oak tree that was used in the spell to create the vampires... which means that was when they burned down the tree, destroying the only way that they could be killed."

"Okay. so tree equals weapon, sort of," Ric explained. "We already knew that. What we are not sure about is this... we've got the witch symbol, and what looks like a bleeding heart. Upside down figures usually signified death, of some kind."

"Mikael killed the witch by ripping out her heart. But... why is that one connected to the witch's death?"

"We don't know. We haven't gotten that far."

I stared at the symbol. It was the one for Klaus... "Oh my God," I breathed. "Rebekah... she doesn't know the real story."

"I thought I told you to leave. Twice," Rebekah snarled as I walked into the library.

"How do you know that Mikael was the one who killed your mom?" I pressed, the cave drawings in my hand.

"Nik was there. He told me."

"Klaus lied to you," I informed the Original.

Rebekah's face contorted in anger. "And how do you know that?" she said seethingly.

"The cave where you carved your family's names is covered in symbols." I showed the photos to Rebekah. "The story of your family. How your parents arrived, how they made peace, the spell that turned them into vampires, and this. This is the symbol for hybrid. It's a combination of the werewolf and the vampire symbol. And this is the one for your mother."

"Her necklace," she realised.

"And here is the story of her death," I explained. "The hybrid killed the Original witch. Not Mikael, Klaus."

"No! No, he wouldn't," Rebekah insisted, tears pooling up in her eyes.

"She put a curse on him, neglected him and made it so he was the only hybrid in existence... damned him to live a thousand years as the only one of his kind. The werewolf gene brings aggression and violence and when he turned, that was amplified. He killed her - ripped out her heart and made up this huge lie so that he wouldn't lose you two."

She glared at the photos, as if glaring at them would make them burst into flames and make untrue. "These mean nothing! They're just stupid drawings, done by stupid people who had no idea who my family was!"

She snatched the photos from my grip and tore them to pieces. Rebekah then tossed them into the fire, watching them burn.

"Then why are you so upset? You know that it's the truth!"

Rebekah was crying. "Why are you doing this to me? I've done nothing to you!"

"Klaus has a hold on you, Rebekah. He manipulates, he destroys and he doesn't care who he hurts. We have to stop him."

She vamp-speeded up to me and grabbed me by the throat, pressing me against the wall. Her face, for the second time today, turned into the predatory-vampire face.

"Shut up! Shut up! Don't talk anymore! Nothing!"

Rebekah let go of me. I gasped for breath. The blonde Original gasped and fell to her knees, clutching her stomach and sobbing openly on the floor.

"Rebekah, I didn't mean to h-"

"NO!" she yelled, her voice shaking with tears. "Just go! Leave me alone!"

I felt so guilty... I should have been nicer. Rebekah may have been a cruel, bratty, mean girl Original vampire, but beneath all that, she was just a girl who lost her mother and was still grieving.

The only thing I could do was walk away. She made it clear she didn't want to speak to me... with perfect reason. Sadness washed over me at the sight of the broken girl... and guilt. The guilt was strong.

In my determination to stop Klaus, I forgot who I was. I needed to make sure that didn't happen again.

Dear diary,

It's been years since I wrote in this. Maybe I should take a leaf out of Elena's book. So much has happened in the last few years. My parents and my aunt Jenna... they're dead. I found out I'm a witch, my brother can see ghosts and my sister's the doppelganger - an exact physical copy - of a crazy bitch vampire. And I'm not messing or insane.

I think I'm in 'love' with a deadly dangerous vampire and I think he loves me back. Maybe it's because he's the bad guy type - to an extreme - or because he actually cares about me, but there's something about him that makes me want to be with him. Even though he's crazy and impulsive, I feel safe. But there's a part of me that's saying it's for a not-so-good reason. That it's because he'll never die, that I'll never have to deal with that loss. He'll always be there.

I'm not sure where we stand. When it's just the two of us, he's caring, but still his cocky self, but when he's around others, he's cruel and over-the-top. I'm not going to change him, but I want him to change for me. Because he cares about me. Because he loves me.

No one else understands what I see in him, but I see something beneath those walls he's put up. It's not good or bad.

It's just him.

"Writing about me?"

I looked up abruptly. Damon was lying on my bed. I shut my diary and put in on my desk. "A simple text saying 'hey, I'm coming over' would be nice."

"We got Mikael."

And that made everything better. "What? How?"

"No idea. I guess Katherine came through. Plan's in motion. See, I told you I had it. Mikael's weapon is a stake... he mentioned something about that."

I tugged on the bed covers, trying to get Damon to budge. "I'm tired. I want to go to bed," I whined.

He grinned. "Stop acting like a child, Lou."

I rolled my eyes and pulled down the cover. I laid down on the duvet beside Damon. "I don't like that name. It makes me think of a toilet." I paused, thinking of the stake. "I'm guessing that stake of his is made of White Oak. He probably made it before they burned the tree down."

"So I was right. After all that, the wall lead us to Mikael."

"Led us to something else too. I think Rebekah's on our side."

"Really? What'd you learn from her?"

"I learned that beneath that Original vampire mean girl facade, she's just a girl. She lost her mother too young. She loves blindly and recklessly, even if it consumes her." I stared into Damon's icy blue orbs. "And when it's all said and done, there's nothing more important than the bond of family."

"Well, you should tell that to my brother."

"I think that you're gonna be the one to save him, Damon. Not Elena, not me... It'll be because he loves you more that anything in the world. Can I tell you the rest tomorrow? I'm exhausted."

Damon nodded and smiled kindly. "Sure."

I smiled back at him as I closed my eyes. Damon kissed my forehead gently. "Night, Lou."

A/N: Don't forget to review, follow and/or favourite! I love to hear your thoughts or suggestions!