Hi ladies and gents! I tried to get this one out sooner than I did the last one; but there was a hiccup as it ended up being 30 pages long! I cut a lot of it and am throwing it into the next chapter. It was hard deciding what to cut though! Bonus! I have most of the next chapter written because of it, lol. Maybe I'll make the next one short, so you'll get it faster.

Kol and Elena: Don't worry, Kol doesn't die in this chapter g Thanks for the reply!

DammitimmaD: Kol is creepy, lol. I am so glad you loved the chapter! Thanks!

Beverlie4055: thanks so much!

Supernatural-girl17: Thanks a bunch! I am really glad that you're enjoying the story and hope you continue to!

Merri85: Thanks! Sorry for making you wait!

Lilylulurose: Thanks for your continued readership and responses! Damon is going to continue being Damon-like, which means shallow with the occasional insight, lol! Elena's reliving of Tatia's memories shall continue, but why it is happening is the question, while what it will do to Elijah is more puzzling g Kol is crazy, but the question is what drove him that way….

Chapter Five: Personal Sacrifices

"Really? No Vervain?" Kol shook his head, smile not disappearing from his face. "Are you sure, deep down, you didn't want me to take you and tie you up?" He stood up, looking tall and terrible to her. "I knew a wonderful woman, Ruth was her name, and she loved when I would tie her wrists together. It was a trust thing…and a pain thing."

Elena only half-listened to him though. Her mind was now reeling as she tried to take in the ghastly appearance of his room while simultaneously damning herself for pausing on the vervain, in case Stefan needed her blood to get him through his current predicament. Kol's room was reminiscent of Stefan's madness when he was on human blood. Stefan kept names, Kol apparently kept drawings and pictures. They were everywhere, with little notes and arrows drawn on the wall.

But one painting, the one of Anna and Pearl on the wall from the 1860's is what really caught her attention. What was he doing with that? The rest were all of drawings of his family or pictures of the people of Mystic Falls currently. What did he want with two dead vampires? "From the look on the television, things have only gotten more exciting with time. So I think that fun people like her are everywhere now. Though I'm sure there's still a little hush about it, you know? We do like to keep our secrets."

He sat down on the bed and stared at her, still smiling, eyes still jovial and light. "I'm sure you have secrets, right?"

"Everyone has them."

He laughed, and she wondered what was so funny about what she said. "I'm so glad you're here. I mean, it feels just like yesterday that I was in this very position with Katerina. But she was such a disappointment. You though." He pulled his head to one side, but kept his eyes trained on hers. "You're the real deal, my friend. You're what I was waiting for."

"What is that? The real deal of what?"

Kol got up and squatted down right in front of her, invading any space that would have left her comfortable. "And ruin all my fun?" He asked with a laugh, "I simply cannot answer your questions. You see, I have been having such a tough time of it, and this is my main source of enjoyment right now. A distraction. You understand."

"I'm not a toy or a game, Kol. I'm a person."

He smirked, "I've never found those to be mutually exclusive."

She took a deep breath and tried another tactic, "I know you hate Tatia, but I'm not her. I'm Elena."

"Hate Tatia?" Kol asked, and he chuckled again. In a flash he was back on the bed, sitting Indian style, with his elbows on his knees and his chin being propped by his hands. "How did you come to that conclusion?"

She tried to keep her head clear and calm as she answered, all the while her eyes taking in her surroundings, looking for an escape. "Elijah told me."

"That has always been his problem. He assumes so much without having all the information. The poor lad." He raised an eyebrow, "you do too though, do you not, little dove? Right now you're looking for escape, so certain that I will not be letting you go. But, you see, I have every intention of letting you go. That, in fact, is the point." He sat up straight and folded his hands together on his lap. "Although, you could use a longer break from your life. It must be so exhausting having so many be in love with you."

"How is letting me go the point? She asked, disregarding his pot shot and going for information that might help her. "What are you trying to accomplish?"

"Of course, is it really love? I'm sure you assume it is, right? Despite the face that you share the face of the one they used to love." He drew his brows together in a mock puzzled expression. "Can you love the same kind of love differently?"

"You're talking in riddles, you're trying to confuse me."

"Do you like riddles?" Kol asked her with what Elena could only describe as giddiness. "My sister and I would play as children, but two can only trick each other so many times, and eventually there was no riddle we could get past the other." There was an aching wistfulness in the way he said it so that a well of compassion started to pool before inside her, much like the one she had felt for Rebekah….before having to stab her in the back. Elena squashed down those sentiments, just as she had for his sister. Survival demanded it. "But you," He looked at her slyly, "you wouldn't know any of my riddles, would you? No. You wouldn't have a clue; I'm an anachronism here. "

"What do I get if I know the answer?"

"The joy of solving a riddle." He answered seriously. "What other reward would you need?"

"How about if you let me go, if I get it right?"

He sighed, "I'm already letting you go, remember? If you're going to solve my riddles, you might want to pick up the pace. They're not always easy, you know."

"I'm not playing your riddle game."

"A girl and her big sister are sitting around the table chatting. 'you know, sis, if I took away two years from my age and gave them to you, you'd be twice my age, huh?" The other one states; "Well, why don't you just give me one more on top of that? Then I'll be three times your age. Tell me, how old is each sister?"

His calmness brought forth a surge of frustration, anger and fear. "Why did you kidnap me, Kol?"

"To give you a present." He didn't seem upset at her outburst, and his tone was reasonable. "It's around your neck. Always keep that stone on your person." Her hand moved to feel a flat stone hanging on a delicate chain around her neck. She let her whole hands enclose it before nodding that she would never take it off. "It's beautiful, you'll see when you look in the mirror. If one inquires about it, you bought it a few years back, you don't remember when or where. You are simply overjoyed that you found it again."

That made sense. She was always losing and finding jewelry. The only piece she had ever been specifically careful with was the pendant Stefan had given her. "It's a Laguz rune. Do you know what that is?"

"Oh. Hell. No."

Elena heard it before the door burst open and Rebekah was staring at them in horror and dismay. "Kol, what the-" She made an angry noise and scowled. "Are you daft or mad? Or is it worse, brother? Are you both?"

Ten steps seemed like one, and he was in front of her. "I wish you hadn't seen this."

"Me too, Kol, me fucking too. You know why? Because this little human happens to be the vampire drug of choice around here. I mean there are the Salvatore brothers, of course. I won't be surprised if their obsession ends rather illicitly, if you understand my meaning. Then there are our brothers, Elijah has some strange curiosity regarding her and Nik, well, we all know Elena's way to his heart." Rebekah's gaze landed on her and Elena felt a chill. She hated how this woman regarded her, but she couldn't find it in her to blame her for some reason. Elena only needed to look at Rebekah to see that something in her was very, very broken. "Not that I really blame her for the Salvatore thing, I mean they are both phenomenal in the sack."

"Lovely, Rebekah. Your manners are impeccable." He replied sarcastically and shook his head.

But Elena knew that cutting remark was not for her own brother, it was aimed at Elena, it was meant to slice through her heart. It didn't. But she was reconsidering the whole steaming hatred thing.

"My point is," She told him through her teeth, "that at the moment there is a big fucking alliance going on in this town. Elijah, Klaus, probably that annoying little witch that keeps beating Nik at his own game, and the Salvatore idiots. You know the common factor of their little coalition? I'll give you a clue. She's kidnapped and in our fucking home, Kol."

"Actually it's the Lockwood's, not ours." Kol said nonchalantly, "and don't sweat it, Beks. She's been gone less than two hours. I used that cell phone," he said awkwardly, "and I sent a message telling Damon and Stefan saying she had to write a paper she forgot about." Kol went on, but before Rebekah could interrupt with a protest, he was continuing. "Then I had our new friend Ronnie give us a paper for Elena to turn in. We changed the date and the title. Then we printed it out…and so when she gets home, no one will even question it. I even compelled her school teacher into asking for the paper from her tomorrow." He sounded so amused by what he was saying, like it was all some kind of game…but a game that he seemed very good at.

Elena needed to do something.

Then it dawned on her.

"Elijah didn't join this meeting to protect me." She told Rebekah squarely.

Kol was smiling, "oh, this ought to be a knife in the heart."

"It was for you, Rebekah." She said sincerely, "Klaus and Elijah want to protect you from him. Rebekah, they're worried about you. Look at him, he is clearly unbalanced. They're right. He could get you hurt, Rebekah, he could hurt you." She wasn't lying. Kol terrified her now. He was clearly insane and anyone around him could easily become hurt because of that. However, the truth in her statement was simply icing on the cake. She would have said just about anything to get Rebekah to help release her. No matter how many times Kol told her that he would let her go, she didn't believe it.

"Kol would never hurt me." Rebekah said in a waspish manner. She seemed certain of it, like somewhere that was written in stone. "Stop your games."

"I'm not playing games." Elena told her eagerly, "Elijah wants you back in his life, Rebekah. Klaus does too…he just sucks at everything; and I guess that includes his relationship with you."

"She's probably right." Kol sighed heavily, "You and Nik do have that really weird bond."

"You mean the one where I try to leave him, but never really can because either I forgive him or he has staked me and put me in a coffin? That weird bond?" There was no mistaking the bitterness in her voice.

"Hm." He glanced at her, "there are places that can help you with that kind of insanity." His musing came with a chortle.

"I'm not forgiving, Nik." She told Elena crossly.

Elena let her eyes settle on Rebekah though, she kept at the weakest part of the chain. "But what about Elijah? He has never hurt you in such a manner. How can you be his enemy?" Elena pressed, not willing to give up so easily. "Rebekah, think, you'll have what you want. You'll have your brothers."

She looked back at Kol and when Elena followed her gaze, she was surprised. She hadn't known what to expect from him, but would have been certain understanding was not the expression there. Yet, it was. He looked passive and agreeing, like he was about to nod. "No." She said, "maybe one day I can repair things with Nik and Elijah, but at the moment…"

"We have a common interest, you see." He glanced at her sideways for her to share the joke. She rolled her eyes at him, but smiled.

It was in that moment, when her eyes fell on the painting that sat between the siblings, that Elena's mind began working for the first time since she had woken from her strange dream. Because so far it sounds like he was obsessed with some slave girl and did anything to possess her. Damon's words were loud and clear in her mind. Then she remembered that on his rug there had been three bodies, Return her to me.

Elena looked from Rebekah, then back to Kol. It wasn't just my parents on that boat; there were different people. People that they conquered along the way, or slaves they already owned. Isn't that how Elijah put it? Her eyes flew back to the painting that had begun the whole line of thought. Ayanna.

Anna.

"She's dead." Elena blurted out unthinkingly. "Anna died. Damon watched her die."

Kol glanced behind him at the painting and smiled, "well, you're a clever thing."

"You're just mad enough to fall for her too, aren't you, Kol?"

He laughed, "Beks, you know doppelgänger isn't my type."

Elena frowned, and ignored Rebekah and Kol's arguing about her. "Damon and Stefan can't return someone who is dead."

"No, but Jeremy can." The sound of her brother's name on Kol's lips sent an icy chill down her spine.

Elena ran this over in her mind, "You want him to talk to her for you? Is that it?" She asked him, "he can't bring her back though, he can just give you messages from her." At the shake of his head, she looked to Rebekah, who shook her head.

"Are you finished here, Kol? Can we please get her out of here before we have a mob of people with torches and pitchforks outside?"

"Absolutely, Beks." Kol told her with a smile, but it faded as his gaze moved back to her. Elena felt uncomfortable in it, as though she were being sized up and found lacking. "You think it must be wonderful to be so loved; but I promise you that it is no luxury. It is a curse, Beks. She's cursed."

Finally Rebekah's gazed settled on her too, and Elena could practically see revelation wash over her face. A smile followed, "then you should rid this home of said curse, brother."

And with a toss of her golden locks, she gave him a nasty look and stalked off.

Kol leaned down so that their faces were close, "It's okay, little girl. I'm cursed too."

She could only stare back at him, mouth entirely dry, thinking that he was right. She was cursed; and at that moment she wondered if their curses were linked. She glanced at Rebekah who was looking down at her brother with sorrow and pity. She didn't dare ask about it though, for fear that her voice would betray her utter alarm. He gave her an unsettling smile, that Elena felt was almost a bearing of teeth more than anything else. "Come, little girl. Let's get you to the library before it closes. We can even have a chat; you can tell me everything I want to know. It'll be fun!"

XXX

The music was soft and light in the background. It was a live string quartet.

They had arrived shortly before Damon and Elijah left. They set up on the patio outside while Caroline had listened to the final preparations of Damon's seduction. Caroline wasn't sure she was comfortable with what they were doing, having been one of Damon's casualties in this game. She wasn't fond of Rebekah by any means, but it felt wrong somehow to be a part of this. It felt like a betrayal.

But that was preposterous. She owed Rebekah nothing and she was not one to fall victim to an overactive conscience. She was Caroline Forbes and she knew that sometimes playing fair and honest was like asking to be played.

After Klaus showed Damon and Elijah out, he glanced over at the sliding doors to the patio. "I did that for you." He told her with a sly smile, "I ensured that they would come in time for Damon to see them, in time to see my present for you."

She wished it didn't, but it brought a surge of pleasure. Petty as it was, Caroline wanted Damon to see that she deserved great treatment, that she was special. It wasn't a part of her that she was proud of, but it was there. Klaus seemed to enjoy that side of her though, and so she wasn't so embarrassed to show it then. "Thanks. The look on his face was priceless."

He chuckled lazily, and walked over to the doors. He slid one open and Caroline walked outside to see the men in their tuxes all set up. There were two violin players, a cellist, and a violist. They were frighteningly similar in appearance. All with dark hair, styled similarly with hair gel, the same tuxes and the same, equable expressions.

The patio itself was cleared off entirely outside of where the quartet was.

There were two trees on either side of the patio though and in their branches were little twinkling white lights. The lights also wrapped around the doorway to the house and the edges of the patio stone. Never in her life had she known someone who would arrange such an event for her own private pleasure, and she found herself rather enjoying the attention she was getting from him.

She looked around, then back at him. "Is it normal for a sociopath to be a hopeless romantic?" She asked with her eyebrows raised.

He smiled, "I do nothing half-way in life, Caroline. To do so would be dabbling in mediocrity."

"Heaven-forbid." She rolled her eyes.

The music began to slowly play, a tune Caroline didn't recognize. "So Miss Mystic Falls, would you do me the honor of a dance?" He offered a bow.

Smiling, Caroline gave him a slight, shallow curtsey and took his extended hand as he led her into the center of the patio. They began one of the few dances that she had learned as a contestant for Miss Mystic Falls, knowing that at least this performance would be flawless. It had been fun to learn the dance, and she had badgered her mother to allow her to take classes to learn more; but there had never been any time. "Did you enjoy tonight, Caroline?" He asked as they moved apart, then together again.

She smiled, "parts of it, yes. Damon squirming, for one."

"I thought you would appreciate me sending him on an errand of futility. He has no chance with Rebekah, you realize this, right? She handles rejection unfavorably." He moved past her to the left, as she shifted to his right, dipping her skirt as she held it. "He'll fail at this, as he will fail at capturing the heart of your friend. It was a gift for you. Did you like it?"

She regarded him thoughtfully, turning over her thoughts on how she did not want Rebekah to suffer the same fate she had. "And you're really sure that Rebekah will turn him down?"

"Undoubtedly." He scoffed, "he admitted that he held no regard for her whatsoever. She won't forgive him that."

They moved across the floor, walking side by side before facing each other while she did a mock curtsy and he a shallow bow. "Then yes. I appreciate and accept the gift. Him falling flat on his face with a woman would serve him entirely right."

He moved his hand out of the dance, so that he could smooth a strand of her hair away from her face. She allowed herself to stare into his eyes, the color of the agate stones in the bracelet Elena had given her when they were fourteen. She wondered what he was thinking as he stared back; did he want to kiss her. If he tried, was it too soon to let him? Would she give her game away then?

Was it wrong of her to want him to?

Of course it was. She admonished herself for the last thought. Klaus was evil- and what would that make her if she wanted him?

"Are you trying to buy me, Klaus?" She asked lightly, "the musicians, the gift of Damon's failure- do you think I'm for sale?"

"Mmmm, wouldn't that make this easier, love? But no." He shook his head as they walked around each other again in the dance. "No. I've done all this so I could see you smile, nothing more nefarious than that, I promise."

All this for a smile?

"And I've been properly rewarded for my efforts." He assured her, smirking, "you're practically glowing, Caroline. As it should be, of course." He stopped their dance and held her in place, looking down at her with a gentleness that she was not quite prepared for. She wet her lips, mouth feeling dry and uncomfortable as her nerves began to tense. "This is how life should make you feel, as though it is a present simply waiting to be opened. Are you ready to open that gift yet, Caroline?"

She found herself blinking owlishly at him, not knowing what to say. She felt off-put, like the game was now lost because she had no idea what to do. A moment ago she had been a valuable player and now she was relegated to a blinking school-girl on the arm of a lion. He smiled at her inability to speak, "am I the first to render such a girl speechless? I've impressed myself then, and that is quite the accomplishment."

She found her tongue, "and you are very accomplished." She said softly; "you always get what you want."

"Not always," he looked behind her into the darkness, "I don't have my family by my side."

"What a coincidence," she put in dryly, "I don't either."

He looked like he was considering her words, then tilted his head forward in what might have been interpreted as an apology. However, Caroline was just as stubborn as he, and would take nothing but words spoken. "You could bring her here," was his suggestion, "there is plenty of room, of course, and she would be safe as houses."

Caroline didn't bother responding. The explanation of him being a psychopath and her not trusting him would ruin the romantic moment and spoil the game. She didn't need a setback. She needed him to trust her, to be vulnerable, so that she could find his weakness and exploit it. Klaus needed to be stopped. She was suddenly interested in history, in how many other women had been in this same position as her. How well did they fare?

"What are you thinking about, love?"

She hadn't realized that they still weren't dancing and that she was the absolute center of his attention. Startled, she looked back up at him, certain that her blue eyes must be full of apprehension. "I can't say," was her cryptic response, knowing it would intrigue him.

Her goading resulted in the desired effect. "Are you considering my proposal of having your mother stay here?"

"I was not." She answered, "she is safe where she is, and I rest easier having her out of your grasp."

"No one is out of my grasp," he warned but his tone lacked the predatory snarl it often had when he threatened, "perhaps your entertaining thoughts on what it would be like to see life as I do? Ah, no, you're not quite ready for such a world yet. But you will be, Caroline. Trust that I know this."

"And how can you be so sure?" It was openly flirtatious and Caroline was gratified by an almost embarrassed smile, though how sincere it was, she couldn't be certain.

They were locked there in that moment, eyes fastened on each other with neither looking to change the position. If she surged to her toes, she could easily press her mouth against his generous, inviting lips. He surprised her, however, by instead of kissing her, grabbing her hand and twirling her, ending it with the perfect catch and dip. She felt a giggle burst from her throat and he smiled. "Because you borne change well." He told her in answer, raising her back to an upright position. "Look how quickly you adjusted to what you are now, it takes other years, even decades to be at the point you are." He brushed his thumb against the bottom of her cheekbone, tilting his head to the side.

There was something rousing about the fact that he wanted her, that he who had lived a thousand years and had seen so much, wanted her, and for no other reason than the fact that she was who she was. She served no purpose to him, she could be no means to an end. "I'm sure you say that to all the vampires," she teased.

But his face was entirely serious. "I don't give false praise, love-" he stopped suddenly, pushing her behind him in an easy movement and standing as though he were poised for attack. It was then that she saw Tyler on the edge of the patio, looking fit and angry. "Where have you been, mate?"

"Out of town." He responded in something that almost sounded like a growl.

Klaus made an irritated noise himself, "I don't recall allowing you to leave."

"I don't recall asking."

"And why did you come back?" Klaus asked then, sounding less than amused. "Did you decide you couldn't live without me?"

"Not you." Was Tyler's stiff and angry response. Caroline recognized that tone and her heart fluttered with fear. His temper always got the best of him, and at the moment, with Klaus, that was the last thing she could have. His lost temper could easily mean his death. "Caroline?"

She stepped forward, feeling smaller having been in Klaus' shadow. Yet she held her head tall anyway, despite the deep desire she had to run away. This was not something she wanted to face head on, because she knew that she couldn't tell Tyler the truth. The moment she told him that she was trying to play Klaus, he was going to try and intervene, to protect her, and that would only end poorly for all involved. She was going to have to lie to him…

Worse, she was going to have to break his heart, which would also break hers.

He was so handsome, her Tyler. Skin such a sweet tan color, eyes that rich royal brown. Her mind fluttered back to the times that she gazed into them, wondering what they were to each other, the excitement that beat inside of her like a drum when he kissed her for the first time and she had slammed the door in his face. Loving Tyler had become as easy as breathing, even when she wanted to beat him senseless. Now all that was to be cast aside in an endeavor to conquer an evil that was way out of her league. It's better this way, Ty. She told him silently, I am not even sure if I'm surviving this mess, I can't take you down with me. This was my choice. But those were words that she dare not utter aloud.

"I'm so sorry, Ty." Her voice trembled with sincere tears and when she stepped toward him, holding her arms open in helplessness, "I didn't' want you to find out like this."

"Find out…what?" He looked from Klaus to her, then back again in surprise and uncertainty. He didn't see it at first, how could he? But then realization started to dawn on his face, clear as the sun rose in the sky and illuminated the world for all to see. "You're…joking, right? You and him?"

"So surprising?"

"Shut up, Klaus." She hissed at him, then stepped in front of Klaus so that she would obstruct Tyler's mere view of the Original. She didn't need him worsening this situation- if it could even get worse.

Which she doubted.

Because the pain on Tyler's face, the betrayal written there plainly was worse than a stake in her heart, yet less painful than seeing a stake through his. "It just happened," she began in explanation, trying to come up with some excuse that would make sense. She came up with several, but tossed them aside due to their absurdness. Finally, after a long pause that stretched between the three of them for what felt like an eternity, Caroline told him; "he…has shown me things that I never understood before, Tyler, a new way of living." She dared another step closer to him, and his eyes snapped back up to hers as he stepped away. "Please, Tyler…"

"N-no." He shook his head in refusal. "Caroline, he killed Elena's aunt. The only thing he can show you is evil."

"That's just it, Tyler. I don't think he is evil- he's just different than you and I. He sees things differently." Now it was time for the one-two punch, the knock out that would convince him of her sincerity. "And maybe with some time he can see things more my way. We'll change each other, Ty, in good ways."

"People don't change."

"We did." She observed honestly, "how long ago was it that you were just a guy with a temper, and I was only skin deep? We changed."

He started to speak, then stopped. He looked to Klaus with a pensive question, as if examining him for worth, or maybe looking for an answer, Caroline wasn't sure. "Is it his power? His strength?"

"Tyler-"

"Because I can fight that. I'm competitive and driven. If I put my mind to it, I can do it." He tilted his head sideways, and his eyes were filled with such sincere pain that Caroline had to put all of her will into not touching his face, not bringing him into her arms and stroking his hair, not comforting him. "But if this is something else, Care, if this is deeper than that…if…you can look me in the eye and tell me that this is what is going to make you happy. I'll walk away." His voice cracked at the end, and her heart cracked right along with it. "I'd do that for you, because I want you to be happy, it's all I ever wanted."

She closed her eyes, feeling a tear slip down her own cheek. "I'm…sorry, Ty. It is…deeper."

When she opened her eyes, he was already gone.

It felt like someone kicked her in the chest, she doubled over in a noiseless sob that raked her body. Tears slipped down until little droplets fell from her face to the ground.

Hands were around her shoulders, but she shrugged them off.

"He would have waited for you, love. Why didn't you let him?"

She looked at him, feeling the malice bubble up inside her and burst out like a hot spring. "Let him waste his life waiting for me? I don't even know if, at the end of this, you're going to let me live. You put your own family in coffins, Klaus." She spat out angrily, all of the rage and sadness directing itself at him. "I did what I could so that he could move on. Because that's what you do for people you love, Klaus. You'd know that if you understood what real love was." She wiped the tears from her cheek, held her head high and then shot past him into the house.

XXX

Jean-Baptiste Lully's Ouverture played softly in the background as Elijah stuck to his hiding place in the trees and watched as the dance between Niklaus and Caroline transpired. She was by no means an expert dancer, but for someone in contemporary society, she certainly was versed enough to please Niklaus. He was, no doubt, trying hard to please her with his own effortless grace as he guided her on the floor, eradicating her mistakes with his expert footwork.

Elijah himself recognized the dance as one he had practiced many times. One moment in time, perfectly captured in his memory, was when Rebekah had stolen away from Niklaus. It had been one of her many outings from him, for they had fought often. It made sense, for how alike the two were.

"It seems you have found me, sister." Elijah bowed to her, and she curtseyed back. "Have you come to return me to our brother?"

They immediately fell into step with the others as the dance began. He knew the steps better than any other and he had no doubt Rebekah would have an even better grasp of the moves, for she lived for social activities of exactly this nature. "Nothing would please me more than to return you to him, brother." She told him as she dipped low past him, coming back up as he did with a tiny, formal smile on her lips. "He has need of you."

"Yet no forgiveness for me." Elijah walked around her as she walked around him, before falling back on the line and then stepping forward towards her. He was right that she knew the moves, and with the grace of an expert. "I feel as though if I were to return, I would be meeting my demise instead of a happy reunion, sis."

Their hands touched as they turned again, fingertips grazing each other's lightly. "Perhaps instead he will find delight in seeing you and forgiveness will come with time."

He wished for her to be right. He missed and longed for the relationship that he had with his brother. He missed the time that they spent with Rebekah. He knew better. There had been a time when he would have sacrificed all for his Niklaus and Rebekah, a time when he believed they would do the same for him. He sincerely felt that he would still sacrifice much for his sister, but he could not succumb to this one wish. "Ask me for anything else, and it will be yours." He told her, "but do not ask this of me."

"I wish for our family to be reunited." Rebekah insisted as they moved, "all of us."

"Even Kol?"

"Yes." She nodded, then turned. He turned next and they were facing each other once more. "All of us. Kol is here tonight, Elijah. I would not have found you without his aide."

As the dance finished, she gave him another curtsey and he gave her a bow. Soon she was intercepted by another and ready to dance again. Elijah left the floor to go outside and appreciate the night air. It suited him to be cloaked by darkness while he processed what she had asked.

Could he do it? Could he return to his brother? Could they all be a family again?

No. Fear kept him from such a destination. Niklaus was stronger than he was, and more likely to aim for the most vulnerable parts of him. His brother had a cruel streak that Elijah found he could not emulate. There would be no solace there for him, there would be no family that Rebekah wished.

Elijah was brought back to reality as a fight was soon laid out before him. The Lockwood boy had come to see that his love was now in the arms of the creature he despised.

This was not his drama to watch and would give him no pertinent information on his brother. Deciding that the proper action was to leave, Elijah silently slinked into the shadows and made his way back to the Gilbert home.

XXX

I went to the library instead, forgot about a paper I had to write. Could you take care of the garden?

Damon rolled his eyes before stuffing the phone in his pocket, deciding to ignore the text and request from Elena. Of course, this was the fifth time he looked at it, so maybe ignoring wasn't the right adjective. He tried to keep his focus on the scotch in his hand instead. It deserved his full attention after the day that he had, and he would give it nothing less.

Seducing Rebekah

That seemed difficult, after all, he had seduced her once for information and she knew that. Even with insider information, it seemed an impossible task, even for him. He shook his head, trying to not add to his anger by thinking of just how okay Elena was with him seducing Rebekah. Her reaction to him sleeping with her the first time hadn't gone over as well. He felt like he was losing ground with her…and all the while he didn't think Stefan was gaining any ground.

When he arrived at the mansion, he filled Stefan in on all that happened at the dinner, and how he was the main event of their "big plan." In his opinion, it was all bullshit and he said as much to his brother. "They don't even have a real plan, Stefan. So far it's just, oh, throw Damon at her and convince her to switch sides." He rolled his eyes and poured himself a brandy, "they're terrible Vikings. Why don't we just stake his ass and throw him in the ocean. Oh, look at that, problem solved."

"Elijah is not going to allow any member of his family disposed of." Stefan pointed out, "so you can just put that dream away."

Damon sat down on the arm of the chair and shook his head, "we won't convince her that the brother who wants to keep her in a coffin is the right side for her to be on, Stefan. Hell, I don't think it's the right side to be on. In fact, I think this side wants Elena dead more than that side." He made an exaggerated movement of his arm.

Stefan was nodding, looking just as dissatisfied with the situation as his brother was. "So what are you saying though?" Stefan asked, "do you think we should defect? Go see what Kol's side was up to?"

"The only side that I trust is our side, Stefan. I'm saying we play both sides."

A knock on the door took them from their conversation. Stefan walked toward the door, then stepped aside as Alaric and a rather dissatisfied Bonnie entered the mansion. She kept her eyes on Damon, with an anger in them that he felt he didn't totally deserve. After all, he had given her mother eternal life to keep Elena alive, and it was Abby who decided that she was going to keep that life.

What choice had they really been left with? It was Elijah that should hold the brunt of the witch's anger. But Damon was used to misdirected anger. Ric, however, was far more open to Damon's presence and greeted him with more enthusiasm.

In a few moments they were settled into the sitting room, around the fire place and Bonnie was explaining what she and her cousin had been trying to do to help Ric. They had been working with a coven of witches, looking for a way to help Ric banish the dark side of that kept taking control. There had been no luck, and in fact his hatred of vampires was becoming viral in the coven. He had practically convinced them to help him eradicate all vampires.

So she and Lucy had decided to take Ric back to Mystic Falls and pursue another method of assisting the history teacher. They needed help though, and more to the point of the visit, they needed a safe place to stash Ric until he was better.

Damon found that damnable room in his basement way too convenient sometimes. He agreed to help take care of his friend, and as far as Damon was concerned, that was to be the end of the conversation.

Instead Stefan began explaining the goings on in Mystic Falls. When he was finished, Bonnie glanced over at Ric who was shaking his head in disbelief. "You mean that Elena is trusting Elijah and Klaus?"

Stefan nodded at him.

"And Caroline is now living with Klaus?" Bonnie added the question with complete dismay and shock. It seemed to have shaken her so much that her disdain for them was taking a backseat to it. "But she could get herself killed that way, and is she really protecting anyone? Klaus is not exactly Mr. Honorable." She folded her hands on her lap and looked sideways at Ric, who was looking back at her with a sour expression. She turned her gaze back to Stefan and sighed heavily, "is Elena trying to do anything to get Caroline away from Klaus?"

Damon snorted, "yeah right. She's supporting her friend's decisions." He shot a dubious glance at Stefan who was spending a lot of time not looking back at him. "Which works out so well, doesn't it, brother?"

"Well we have to fix this." Alaric threw in, as though trying to divert a fight with the quickness and urgency of his tone. "We have to get Caroline and Elena away from them. When Originals are involved, it is never good."

Bonnie nodded in agreement, then looked at Stefan and Damon with a dark, though unreadable expression, as though she was contemplating something. "Then we work together. We fix this."

Damon rolled his eyes, and said sarcastically; "Oh goodie, something new."

XXX

Jeremy watched her face as she stared off into the sunset. There was a wistful smile on her lips, as she leaned back, using her arms to keep her up while her legs dangled off the rock and into the water. They had been quiet for a while. He had described Kol to her, via Elijah's description. He had told her how he had killed at least two as a human, more as a vampire, how he was frighteningly smart….and he told her about Ayanna, who Jeremy was now convinced was the very girl he himself loved.

When Jeremy had asked about the slave-girl, Elijah had not known much. He knew that she was entirely loyal to Kol, no matter how many proposals of alliance he threw in her direction, which he said had been many, the slave-girl had never strayed from Kol's side, nor her mother's. Outside of that, Elijah knew very little about her. She and eventually been sold by Kol's mother to what Elijah described as a primitive form of a brothel.

Less than a year later, once the Originals were born into their vampire life, those in that brothel were dead.

Much like when he told her about what he knew of her life before, Anna didn't really react. She passively listened, every once in a while she nodded to show that she was paying attention.

He was sitting next to her, their hands next to each other on the rock as they relaxed and waited for the sun to go down completely. The quiet was nice, comforting, and he found himself drawing warmth from it. He took that feeling where he could get it, after all, things had been so messed up for so long, that strange was beginning to feel normal.

He and Anna felt right, anyway.

He was happiest with her, or when he was with Elena and Elijah. The last few days with them had felt like a family was beginning to form. Although, to be honest, he did miss Alaric, who had felt very much like the older brother he had never had. He told Anna all of this. He poured it into her like she was an empty glass, waiting to be filled. She seemed to understand, though having no background to relate it to. "Family is important," she told him when he finished, "I'm sure you know that better than anyone, considering your parents death." He noticed that she spoke more on his life then her own.

"I've tried to contact them so many times since I learned I could talk to the dead." He admitted to her, feeling relieved to finally tell someone about the secret he had been too afraid to even tell Elijah about. Anna, however, even without her memory, was a safe place to confide. She knew how to keep a secret. "But I couldn't. I never could. I can't even talk to Jenna. I've tried."

"Maybe you can only talk to restless dead?" She offered, "or people who needs to contact you."

"Maybe." He hedged with a frown, "and I would hate to think of my parents being where you were. You were so lonely. After you walked away, I…I thought of you so many times, trying to get you back, Anna. I couldn't handle the idea of you being there, all alone…" He swallowed hard, and it went down painfully. The memory of how he felt with her gone was daunting, even with her right beside him.

She put a hand over his and he dropped his gaze to where their skin was touching. "Your parents must have moved on, Jeremy. Try not to think about it in any other fashion."

When he raised his eyes to her face, he saw a sympathetic smile, but it seemed hollow, like there was nothing behind it. It startled him, and he found himself searching for something, any trace of emotion.

There was none.

"Thanks," he said uncertainly, then tore his face from hers. Perhaps it was from the amnesia that she had no real sentiment, or was it something more? Had she purposely shut off her emotions, and if she had, why? He debated on asking her this, and wondered how he would put the question. More than that, he wondered if he really wanted the answer to the question. How had he not noticed this lack of emotion before? His Anna had been nothing if not passionate…

He hadn't wanted to see that though. He, instead, had drown in her reemergence in his life, in her sarcastic wit and her lively personality. She was fun, like she had always been and smart as she once was. He had let that blind him to what lay beneath the surface. Even now though, when he was sure she had no feeling for him, no feeling for anything, he wanted her. He loved her. He knew that there would be no one that he would ever love like he loved her either. He had experienced losing her, thinking that it held the permanence that death would hold, and that kind of ache could not be replicated, it created a vacuum of emotion inside him. Even Bonnie's willing him back to life, rejecting her ancestors to give him breath, could not stir the emotion in him that Anna did.

He looked back at her, "you don't love me."

"Jeremy-"

He cut her off with a kiss, pressing his mouth against hers as tightly as he could, as though he could will the feeling of love, or any feeling, back into her. He felt her mouth move against his, her cool lips pressing back, parting his mouth open in invitation.

He touched a smooth chilly cheek with his thumb, brushing it up and down as they kissed in a sweet manner, but she was not sweet. Her hand went through his hair, pulling slightly as she moved with lightning speed to straddle him. He was still sitting, and she sat on his lap, legs around his body, she cupped his face with her hands before bringing her lips down on his again with crushing strength. Maybe she was expecting him to crumble underneath her force, using that to absolve him of the sweetness and turn it into nothing but lust.

It didn't hurt him like he thought it would. He used as much force as he could muster to kiss her back, taking her soft waves into his palm then encircling them into a fist and tugging her head backwards as he tightened the slack grip of his arm around her waist so that she was pressed against him.

It was an exercise in futility and he knew it. As long as her emotions were off, he would never succeed in making her love him.

But this, he could savor this like a prayer, a hope, a dream and he was going to.

Because not doing this? Well...that was simply impossible. As impossible as their relationship was.

He curved in his head to touch his lips to her neck, on the pulse point where she would feed if their situations had been reversed. Her skin was so smooth and salty beneath his lips and his tongue darted out to taste more of her. It was like before she had ever went away, when there was never enough of her to sate him. He should have known then that he was doomed, but when it came to emotions, he had always been slower than the rest, he never greeted them head on like his sister had. But then her body was gone from his and she was across the clearing and into a tree- he found it odd that she always retreated to a high place. With her gone, and in her cool place the warmth of the air, he felt empty and alone. He hated himself for it, maybe as much as he loved her.

"I'm sorry, Jer. I can't do this to you."

"What exactly are you doing to me?" He asked, climbing to his feet and touching his swollen lips, "nothing I don't want."

She looked wild in that tree branch, as she should look given what she was. It was strange, but no one quite seemed like a vampire as much as she did, no one seemed as inhuman, as someone who didn't quite belong to this world. Even Elijah seemed fairly human to Jeremy. But not Anna, who looked more elfin than mortal, which was only enhanced by her perfect balance on that branch and the way her hair moved in the wind. "I don't love you."

"You turned it all off." He accused, "you couldn't love anyone right now, Anna. You turned off your emotions."

"I had to." She said so softly that he scarcely was able to make out the words. "I should go. I should leave town."

"Without knowing who you are?" Jeremy asked, not believing it. "Leaving without answers? Why?"

"Because maybe the answers aren't ones I might like, Jeremy. You may not like them either." There was no room for dramatics in her statement. Her eyes, like onyx jewels, glistened. Her face was a careful mask of calmness. "Because that terror of Kol only lasted for those first few moments…and it was replaced by something I didn't understand." She shook her head, "I don't think I was trapped by him."

The weight of what she said rested on his own shoulders and brought forth all of the thoughts that he had been pushing back since her return. It would have been stupid of him not to wonder what her connection to them was, why she returned from the dead, and why her memories were gone. He often thought that maybe she was part of their group somehow…part of them…

He stepped toward the tree that kept space between them, wanting to tell her this, to expound on all his trepidations so that at least he was being honest with her.

But whatever it was that they were to say to each other, it was trapped in his throat because now Kol stood between them, as though appearing from thin air. He grabbed Jeremy by the shoulders and it was all agony. His hands were terrible vices and, helplessly Jeremy let out a sound of pain. "So you're the little gnat in my way." Kol's teeth were large and white, Jeremy felt he looked more wolf than vampire but he knew it was the result of an over active imagination. "Well, it seems, like with most of life's obstacles, I must overcome you…does it not?"

XXX

Caroline was wrong, he knew what love was.

He did. It was others who did not. He knew how to love, sometimes he loved with everything in him until it hurt so badly that he felt like dying.

So he shut it off and he punished people for hurting him. But they didn't go away forever. Well, Finn did, but that wasn't his fault. In fact, if they had left Finn in his coffin, Klaus would still have a chance of reuniting him with the family. They could have all lived happily ever after.

Klaus paced the confines of his bedroom as he thought these thoughts, hurt and angry at her accusations.

His pacing stopped as the door to his bedroom opened and Caroline stood in front of him. She had been crying. Her makeup was gone and there were tear stains on her cheeks. She wore a long white nightshirt with little red hearts on blooming from the bottom right corner and moving up diagonally across; her hair was pulled up into a messy bun on top of her head- and she never looked more beautiful. "Yeah?"

"I'm sorry." She said in a hoarse whisper, voice rough from the tears she had spilled. "I agreed to be here with you, this was my choice and so it wasn't really fair of me to blast you like that." She pulled her arms around her, and looked away. "I just wanted to tell you that."

She started out of the room and he found his words coming out in a stream, in an effort to keep her there, to absolve himself, who the fuck really knew? But they came out anyway, all in a feverish rush like he couldn't have stopped them, even if he had wanted to. "You were wrong you know. I do know love. You think that…I put Rebekah in a coffin because she was going to leave me. I mean, in the twenties, when she wanted to go away with Stefan. I'm sure he told you. But…that isn't why. It wasn't because I was going to be alone," He tilted his head to the right in consideration, "or not all of it, anyway. Rebekah, my baby sister, is like…a caged bird. She was raised in captivity, always protected and fed, she never had to fend for herself. She never had to fight her way away from predators. " He tried to read Caroline's expression, but she was keeping her eyes from him. "If I had left her with him, Mikael would have caught them and killed them both. I couldn't have that, but she wanted freedom and she'd have nothing less if I hadn't staked her. So I did. And I was alone because of it, anyway. But what kept me sane, I guess, was that we'd together again. I would wake her up and we'd be a family."

Finally she looked at him, but her eyes were indiscernible. Her expression was passive and calm as well. She took a step toward him, then reached out and intertwined her fingers in his, giving his hand a firm, but comforting squeeze. Their gazes met and she gave him a soft, sweet half-smile that made him think of spring-time and life.

For a moment he thought that maybe she understood. Maybe she was the only one who could.

XXX

"Are you permitted to go out into the woods on your own, Tatia?" Elijah asked, falling in step beside her. She had not heard his steps, and so he startled her but she recovered quickly and gave him a smile full of mischief in answer. "Ah, I thought not."

"Are you hunting? What method do you plan on killing beasts with?" She motioned to his lack of weaponry and raised an eyebrow, "would you kill them with your bare hands?"

"Would that impress you?"

She laughed, feeling warmth at his flirtation, "you have no need to impress me."

"I want to anyway." He stepped quickly ahead of her, then turned and started walking backwards. He knew the forest well enough to evade trees and brush when needed, that did impress her, but she kept it to herself. "Are you collecting food?" He motioned to the rather large basket in her arms. She nodded at him in answer and his smile broadened. "Then I shall accompany you and hasten your work so that we might walk together."

"Have you nothing to do?" She asked back, eyes glinting, "other than aide me, of course."

He grinned, gracelessly and effortlessly turning around so that he was at her side once more. He lifted the basket from her hands, and smiled. "I know of quite a few places where the fruit is ripe and practically untouched."

"How fortunate that you found me then."

"It is fortune indeed."

Her mood had already lifted at the sight of Elijah, and it soared at the idea of him walking with her. No one would find them on this walk, and so it was safe from the prying eyes of his family and hers. They chatted idly about how the hunts were turning up less and less food, how bodies had been found in the forest, mauled by wolves and other goings on in the village. They evaded gossip, which was distasteful to them both and finally landed on the topic of Niklaus, whose affections and attentions seemed to be rapidly growing. "I allow him to think his affections for you are dearer than my own at your urging. Say the word and my lips will no longer deceive."

"You must." She stopped to press her point home and searched his warm gaze for any sign that he would reveal their secret; well, whatever of a secret there was. They had done nothing but exchange words and longing glances. She could not go further, she would bring harm to her family, to those that she loved and she could never bring such misery upon them. "Elijah, you must never tell. Promise me. You must always allow Niklaus to think his feelings are stronger, that I prefer him."

She could see the sadness in his eyes, the hurt at what she said. It pierced her own heart as well, for she felt so deeply for Elijah. He was the nobler of the brothers, he was truly everything she desired. It was so unfair that what she wanted was right before her, ready for her to grasp it and own it; yet she could not. Her fear of Esther was so pronounced that even the idea of it sent shivers of terror down her spine.

If she would have any of them, it would be Niklaus, as Esther wanted.

So she would have neither.

Sighing, Tatia closed her eyes, trying to hold back her emotions. The last few weeks with Elijah had been lovely. Their stolen moments had made her feel more alive than she had ever felt before, and she longed to share the truth with someone, with anyone. But she could not.

"I vow to never share it then," he told her, and so she could breathe again. Air filled her desperate lungs and her entire body relaxed. "Have you not figured it out, yet? I can deny you nothing. You ask it, and I shall give it to you."

At that, she laughed and was grateful for his natural ability to lighten her mood. "Then I shall ask you for a hunting lesson, so that I too can provide my family with food. I too wish to hunt with my bare hands."

He laughed as they approached the best place to pick the bright red berries that Tatia used in several of the dishes she prepared for her family. "You are mighty enough for that." He affirmed with a grin that made her heart soar. "I would watch you take on a bear."

"Do you believe yourself to be a bear?" She flirted, her eyes shining at him.

He took her into his arms and pressed his forehead against hers. "I would be whatever it is you wanted me to be."

"Then be no more than yourself." She whispered back at him, flushed at his warm breath on her face and the feeling of his skin against hers. He wrapped his fingers in hers, rubbing his thumb against her skin and bringing more heat to cheeks. "For there is no other creature that could make me smile as you do, Elijah."

XXX

When Elijah called on Stefan, looking for Elena, a large part of him did not want to help the Original find anything; but his concern for Elena was infectious and outside of a text informing him that she was at the library, he had heard nothing from her. She could easily be missing, and Stefan's worry superseded his distrust of Elijah.

His fears were slightly quelled as he spotted Elena's car in the parking lot of the library. "You see?" Came his question to Elijah, "just as I said, she's here."

"My brother is mad, not stupid." Was the response Stefan received. "He could have easily placed this car here to appease our fears and give him more of a head start." Elijah stopped right before the stone steps and turned to Stefan, "you will find Kol to be clever; that was always his gift. Perhaps it was his curse as well."

"Would you really kill your own brother?"

"No." Elijah shook his head, "we will dagger him and put him in his coffin until we've surmised a way to control him."

Elijah turned back around and started up the steps. Stefan quickened his pace, following him into the building. Mystic Falls library was large and bright, a far cry from what it had been when Stefan was a boy. But it remained in the same location, and it had simply been expanded upon by the town's historical society, and used as a museum of sorts, with journals, books and the like on display to show the town's rich history and legacy.

They worshipped their past unknowingly in this town, built their lives on blood, tears and pain. Nothing good could come of that.

Stefan was struck suddenly with the knowledge that this town…it was cursed. The feeling was dark and foreboding and it overtook him to the point that, when at first he did not see Elena, he was filled with panic that Kol did have her. That she was dead.

He was proven wrong as they approached a table where Elena sat. There were books around her, and her head rested on one of them. She must have fallen asleep while working and that was why she had not answered Stefan's texts.

Elijah approached her first, putting a hand on her shoulder and shaking gently.

She stirred, lifted her head slightly to look behind her and blinked rapidly. "Elijah?" She questioned in an accented voice, one so strange that it almost did not sound like hers at all. She reached up to him, turning in her chair completely as she brought his head down with her hand to touch her lips against his.

XXX

DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN! Let me know what ya think!