Yes, I am still writing this story. It was on a long hiatus because I've been trying my hand at original fiction. Also, this chapter and the next aren't the easiest to write, there is a lot of talking, and not much action. Plus, Elijah and elena are spending some time apart, which is never fun for me to write. But Klaroline have a momentus scene in this, so that made it easier! I figured that the readers would dread this chapter, outside of Klaroline, so in turn I dreaded writing it. However, readership and replies won me back, and I want to thank you all for favoriting, following and replying- without that this story may have been abandoned completely as the whirlwind of real world events kept me from the exciting, fictional world of vampires and werewolves.
redbudrose: thank you for reading! I think at one point every character will have a moment where the reader will disagree with their thoughts and actions, or I hope so, anyway! I Mprefer flaws and selfishness! So thank you! I felt Bonnie was being selfish too, and I'm glad that came across!
SwanQueen: Thank you:-)
Lilylulurose: Thank you so much for your continued support! I hope you're still reading, even after this long hiatus! There is only a little of Elijah/Elena in this, as they need to consider what these memories mean. I have an epic plan for the Tatia memories mess, and I really hope you like it. If you're feeling shaken by it, just remember- I LOVE Elijah/Elena. The only couple that rivals my love for them is Klaroline!
MusicalLover: Thanks!
katniss peeta perfect: WOW! Thanks so much! I'm blushing at your reply! I'm so glad you're enjoying the story THIS much, and it was so sweet of you regale this story with such sweet compliments! I've enjoyed writing every character, old and new, in this story, and am so glad the new characters aren't annoying! I'm madly in love with Klaroline- they are everything that a couple should be and I really hope you enjoy this chapter, because they take a step in the right direction of coupledom. I hope I do them justice! The next chapter is heavy on them too. Thank you again for your beautiful comments, and I hope I can live up to them!
Another note: I had this entire story planned out before we learned a lot about Kol's history…so just ignore the show's history for Kol (whose potential the show largely squandered), please, and thank you!
Chapter Seven
History Lessons: Part One
Searing pain kept his eyes from closing with weariness. It was like his little brother knew just the right amount of pain to use to keep him in absolute agony, but not have his body shut down completely. There was no passing out for him. There was no relief….
Just a fuzzy memory, like Niklaus' mind was already trying to block it out, erase it, protect his future from this unspeakably terrifying present. But even with the dulled memory, the fire, the small but deep incisions with sharpened wood left his body screaming in agony. His arms were bound behind his back with a strong, secure rope that he couldn't quite break free of- and he wasn't sure why. His skin was raw in those places, it burned and ate at his flesh.
It was like Kol was made for torture, designed for it. He was always so pleasant and normal through it all. This was his every day face, this was who he was.
"You're lucky she came back, Nik." Kol hissed from behind. Niklaus stared forward, though his vision was too blurred to make out what he was looking at. "You're lucky she is like us now."
"But how did she become like that?" Nik smirked, "do you even know?"
Kol's grin wasn't entirely sane, "you've got some spirit left. Good. You're going to need it."
Niklaus stared at him with cold fury, "that was hardly an answer to my question."
"Do you really feel like you're in the position to get answers, Nik?" Kol drawled out.
"I feel like you're protecting a slave who is worth no more than an animal, a girl who betrayed her only friend and allowed our mother to destroy her."
"And you believe that…why? Because Mother told you?" Kol pushed him forward and Nik, with no way of breaking the fall with his hands or feet, fell face first into the dirt, sending shocks of pain through his mouth, nose and forehead while lurching his neck. An oomph sound left him and when he tried to talk, he ate dirt. Hatred for his brother burned inside of him like fire. "Listen well, Nik. You tried to end the one thing in this world that means the most to me. Now, I get that you don't understand what that really means, because the only person that matters to you is, well, you." Nik could not look at his brother, but he imagined malice in his gaze. It took some effort to turn his head so that he was no longer eating the dirt, but to further hurt his neck, while his left cheek was pressed against the unforgiving ground. "Oh, don't give me that look, brother. We both know full well why you pursued the pretty little mother. Jealousy, resentment- Elijah wanted her, and you wanted someone, anyone, to love you just a little more than Elijah." Kol raised his brow as if waiting for an answer. None came. "But one day, big brother, someone is going to matter to you more than yourself…and I will be there to take it away."
Klaus opened his eyes and pushed away the sorry young red head he had been drinking from, she fell onto the floor, almost in a heap. She barely kept her balance, and was only really able to do so by putting her hand on the railing.
He had been intending to give Caroline a show, to prove that he was badass and could hurt anyone if he wanted. That way her idea of him as something to be terrified of was reinforced. He had learned early that one display of strength was never enough, soon people would forget, they would perceive kindness as weakness and they would use it to destroy you. No. It was best to remind them regularly.
He wanted to scare her into submission…but he couldn't do it. Not because it was wrong, or because he felt badly for the mousy little ginger who was adjusting her sweater back onto her shoulder. She gave him a confused and frightened look- in truth the girl was quite attractive; even in a pair of loose black slacks and a long bulky short-sleeved cardigan that was two shades lighter than her extremely pale skin. She shook her head, looking around until her fingers touched her throat.
He couldn't do it because of the way Caroline would look at him.
When he realized this, he got so angry that he almost ripped this girl's throat out. He only stopped short when he realized the annoyance of the body. He glared at the evidence on her throat, then ripped at his wrist with his teeth and shoved it onto her mouth. She drank at it a little then pulled back, "what the hell am I-"
"You went for a walk, it was invigorating. Now walk home, and on the way? Forget me and the little bite."
"What bite?"
Klaus turned around and walked into his home after a night of binge drinking. He wore yesterday's clothes and the smell of perfume and liquor. It had been quite the wild night and he didn't envy the staff at the hotel they had abused. Since hotels were kind of like a buffet for a vampire, Niklaus always remained selective on the issue of choosing one to stay at; not that the small town had many to select from.
Wickery hotel had been the only hotel that mattered in Mystic Falls, it looked out onto its own waterfall, not the actual falls the town was named after, though it was located just outside the national park those falls were located in. The hotel's falls were smaller, and fell into the artificial lake to make the hotel a more desirable place to stay at. Of course the only other establishment to stay at was a cheap no-tell motel in the slightly less affluent area of Mystic Falls. As one who had fed on Kings and Queens, he felt that he had earned a certain style of victim, so the choice had been obvious.
Of course, as wild as the night had been, his mind was stuck on one creature and one alone.
Caroline Forbes.
He was disgusted with himself, and resolved immediately to go back to the hotel for another day and night of debauchery. Perhaps he would invite Rebekah; she did love a good party…
He had to purge Caroline from his mind. She was becoming more than a challenge, more than a mind, than a pretty face. She was becoming a weakness.
With blood still smeared over his mouth, his mind stopped as the door opened and he found himself looking into the eyes of Elena Gilbert. Her face became a scowl and she breezed past him haughtily. The reaction annoyed him, so he snaked his hand out to loops around her wrist as he spun her around and held her there with a look. He didn't get a chance to speak though.
"You're a pig." She spat out venomously. "She's in there, worried something had happened to you- and here you are;" she her free hand in a gesture that covered his entire body; "smelling like someone else's perfume, lipstick on your collar and blood all over your mouth. Just let her go already, Klaus. It's not like you really care."
He pulled her to him, pressing his forehead against hers in an invasion of space that he knew made her uncomfortable by the catch in her breath. "Listen here, blood bank;" he hissed; "you wouldn't know the first thing about me, so stop wagging that little tongue about things your pretty little head doesn't know about." He let her go and smiled, "but seeing as I made a deal. You can just walk on by and pretend we never even had this little discussion."
As he stepped aside, she passed by, but then turned around. "I won't make a deal with you, Klaus, but I'll make a promise. You hurt her in any way, and nothing will stop me from ending you."
"You end me, love, and you end your precious Salvatore brothers, as well as Caroline."
"I didn't say kill." She smiled before turning around and starting down the sidewalk to her SUV. "I said end."
XXX
"So are you going to tell me what happened between you and my sister, or do I just keep stumbling in the dark?" Jeremy asked as they hiked toward the waterfall. It was Jeremy's idea to take the walk, because Elena had not come home in two nights, and neither had Elijah.
So either they were together, or they were avoiding each other.
Jeremy had decided on the latter. There was tension when he was around either one of them, it didn't take a genius to figure out something was very wrong. "It took me a little convincing, because she really didn't want you to have to deal with any of this, but I convinced her to let me tell you everything."
"So?" Jeremy paused, "spill."
"She's been having dreams, Jeremy- dreams that don't make sense."
"Okay." Jeremy knew that there had to be more, some random bad dream wouldn't put this much tension in the air. "And?"
Elijah, glanced at him, lips slanted to the side and an eyebrow raised. "They've been memories, Jeremy- just not Elena's memories." He took a few quick steps forward and Jeremy tried his best to keep pace with him. "They are Tatia's."
"As in the Originator of the doppleganger line, Tatia?"
"Well, that's her full name, anyway." Was Elijah's dry response, "so I thought I would allow your sister space, and take some of my own while I was at it."
Jeremy raised a brow, "that is really weird. Weirder than usual weird."
"It is." Elijah nodded, "I can't quite figure out why it is happening. Why did it not happen with Katherine? She was a doppelgänger too." He tilted his head to the side, "it begs a few questions, does it not?"
It did. Jeremy couldn't help but think it more than a coincidence that all of the living Original family members being in town might have something to do with it. "Was Katherine ever around more than two of you at a time?" He inquired, wondering if his thought had any real relevance. Elijah looked thoughtful, then nodded. "How about four of your family?"
"No. She's only met Niklaus, Rebekah and myself. Never Finn, never Kol and never our mother."
"Elena's encountered all of you, even your father." Jeremy pointed out, "maybe that has something to do with it."
Elijah eyed him strangely, then broke out into an all-too-rare smile. "Brilliant. Perhaps that does have something to do with it, or, in the very least a clue can be found there. Well done, Jeremy."
Jeremy felt a little pride well up within him. He was so used to being the screw up, or the victim; unless it was with Anna, he never really felt all that smart or cool. But at the moment, he felt bright, and he felt like someone valued his opinion because it was worth being valued. That was normally how Elijah made him feel, so Jeremy felt a lot of guilt at not revealing Anna's presence in Mystic Falls, that he knew she was once Kol's slave-girl.
Yet there was a compelling reason for him not to trust his mentor on this, he was allying himself with Klaus, the man that killed his Aunt Jenna, a monster that could not be trusted. Whatever the reason for Elijah's new connection with his brother, it kept Jeremy's lips fastened. It didn't matter that Elena agreed to the truce either, after all, she trusted Damon Salvatore- and he was utterly worthless. "How should we look into it?"
"Research." Elijah replied easily, "I am going to go check a few of my sources, I do not normally tap the same informant twice, but desperate times call for desperate measures."
Jeremy nodded, "did you want me to come with you?"
"Not necessary. You should stay here and keep an eye on your sister."
"Will do."
XXX
Bonnie's phone buzzed and she pulled it out of purse and accessed the text message she received from Caroline.
Elena gave the speech we talked about, then left safely. I'll text you later with results.
Bonnie sighed a little in relief. So their plan to help Caroline had begun. Now back to her original problem- Alaric.
As it turned out, the Fells were away on business and that left the daughter- town freak Ronnie Fell- as the sole Fell to talk to. It wasn't Bonnie's first choice, because there were times when Ronnie was downright creepy, but at this point, she was desperate.
When she answered the door, for example, Ronnie's hair was tucked up into a hat that looked like it came straight out of the musical Newsies. She was wearing a white wife-beater and a pair of black slacks. Her make up- now that was the real surprise. There was very elegantly drawn spider web around her left eye, complete with glitter glistening in certain places. Her eyes themselves had huge, obviously fake eye-lashes, thick black liner and very, very light shadowing with sparkles and white eye-shadow. Her lips were a bright scarlet, and shined with gloss.
She looked ready for Halloween.
But that could be chalked up to some goth-witch-wannabe attitude, it could be laughed off. The real reason Ronnie was creepy was because of the papers she wrote for her 7th grade English class. The girl was homeschooled, but as per the school's requirements, her work had to be graded through Mystic Falls public. Although Bonnie was a grade ahead, her English teacher was the one who graded the home-schooled students papers. Mr. Bailey often let Bonnie grade papers for him during her free period. She had liked to do it, and Mr. Bailey felt that she was able to, since she was at the top of the class. Ronnie's very first paper was on what literary character from her reading history did she most identify with, but she didn't choose a character. She chose Machiavelli…the author of her literary favorites. Heavy stuff for a 7th grader, even Bonnie had a hard time keeping up with it and had to relinquish it to Mr. Bailey. It was his "she has a scary, scary mind." Comment that cemented Ronnie's weirdness in Bonnie's mind.
"Bennett." She said, hand snaking up the door, her eyes went down Bonnie, then up her.
Creepy.
"Uh, yeah." Bonnie shifted uncomfortably. "I was just wondering if you had any fresh Lavender and Rosemary? I'm trying to make some tea to rid myself of this awful headache, but I ran out."
Veronica stared at her a moment, completely underwhelmed by the greeting that Bonnie hoped would rock her. The reaction would have told Bonnie what she needed to know. But no reaction? She hadn't really anticipated that. To anyone who nothing of herbs and remedies, the idea of lavender and rosemary helping with a headache would be coming out of left field; but to someone who knew their stuff though, it would register, and Bonnie had hoped that was the reaction she would get.
But Bonnie did conclude that the girl knew what it meant, because she didn't ask, 'why would you come to me with this?' or 'Why didn't you go to the grocery store and get it?'
"Um- so do you?"
"Yes." She stepped aside, "please…come in."
Bonnie walked past her anyway and into the mansion. "So what exactly could a Bennett witch want from a Fell?"
She followed her down the hallway and into a massive dining room, with a table large enough to fit at least ten people on either side of the table. There was a damn crystal chandelier on the ceiling! "You knew?"
"You're kidding right?" Veronica snorted and shook her head, "who do you think spearheaded the movement to get your ancestor Emily burned at the stake, Bennett?" She turned around and then hopped up on the table to meet Bonnie's gaze head on. "You know what's funny about witches, Bon? They don't all come from the peace-love-and all-vampires-must-die branch, you know? There are other kinds, like my ancestor. Benjamin. He believed in power- and your ancestor Emily Bennett, well, she was standing in the way of his power. He had her removed. I mean, didn't you ever wonder how they managed to kill a witch as powerful as Emily?"
The truth was that Bonnie never even really questioned that.
However, Bonnie wasn't sure how to feel about all of this new information. Should she be angry on behalf of Emily? But angry at Ronnie? She had nothing to do with it. Should she wonder if this was Ronnie warning her that she is like her own ancestor? Should she be afraid of her?
"So, yes." Ronnie nodded, "I knew."
"Why didn't you tell me? Come to me?"
"So we could what? Do spells together? Hang out? Braid each other's hair?" Veronica asked with a roll of her eyes, "making us witches wasn't going to magically make us friends, Bonnie, just like it won't now. So just tell me what you want and, in the spirit of whatever, I'll try and help you. Then I want you to move along so I can continue about my very busy day."
Perhaps Ronnie knew how creepy Bonnie found her, and that was why she was getting this dose of attitude. "It's not really as easy as all of that. Sorry for wasting your time." Bonnie turned around and started toward the mansion door. "If an entire coven of witches couldn't figure it out, I mean- how could you?"
Her eyes snapped open and Bonnie knew she had her. After all- how do you get a genius to do what you want? Try and tell them that they can't.
"Challenge accepted. What is it that you need me to solve for you?"
XXX
When he looked up from the darkened corner, the only place in the room that light didn't hit, it was because the door had opened and Anna had come inside. She was smudged with dirt, her hair messy but cropped up to her ears. She preferred it short because of the tangles and the dirt. "Kol- what is wrong?"
He heard the pounding of her feet coming towards him, then the warmth of her hand enveloped his face and forced him to look into her eyes. "What has happened?"
"The sunlight…it burns me, everything is so….loud."
Even her heart beat- it thundered within her and almost deafened him. He tried to shield himself from it, but she was untangling his arms from around himself and trying to get a good look at him. "shhhh," she made the comforting sound, "look at me. Concentrate on nothing but my voice." It was a low murmur, and he appreciated her keeping her tones quiet, it soothed and eased some of the chaos inside of his mind. "We can fix this. We can make things better. Say it with me, Kol."
"We can fix this. We can make things better."
He found himself nodding at her as he blended his words with hers. This made sense. She was right.
"Haven't we already been through worse than this?" She asked him, but gave no pause for a response before continuing. "Haven't we always won?"
"Always." He agreed. He smiled lightly, feeling wounded but not out of control. The sunlight may burn him, but perhaps that was just a puzzle they would have to solve, perhaps the spell, like all spells, had little riddles inside of it. "Always." He repeated and stared into her eyes. There was a smile in those eyes of her, a sparkle of mischief that let him know she was figuring it out. Then her lips quirked upwards, "you have a solution."
"My name-mother won't help your mother- because of what you are. But….but I know a witch that might."
"You can't go to your real mother, Ana-Bél." He disagreed, "she hates my whole family. She despises me. Ana, she cursed me."
"And now she will make that up to you, Kolvern." Her endearment for him softened the sentence. "She's made terrible mistakes, but she is repentant. That is why she sent me to you in the first place." This sentence had been repeated to him many times, yet the person it supported had no face to match with the words. All he knew was her sins, and that she sent her daughter to him to right that wrong. He had never even seen her real mother's face. The woman that cursed him to madness.
"I wouldn't change it, you know." He confided softly, "if I could go back, make it like I was never cursed? I wouldn't do it. Because then I would not have known you."
She touched his face and smiled, "Kolvern."
"We go to her." He said, closing his eyes. His chest was tight, almost painfully so. "But what if she cannot find us an answer? What if I am doomed into darkness forever? What if the curse takes back over?"
"Then we face the darkness," She took his hands and placed them inside hers, "we embrace it and own it- together."
Of course she would stay, he did not have to question her honesty; because Anna would never lie to him. He knew that like he knew the sun's golden hues would turn into the moon's silvery glow.. "And the curse?"
"You know that will not happen."
Kol tilted his head down over the grounds of the Lockwood estate as he sat in the branch of a tree just where the woods on their property began. He preferred to seat himself in higher places, it just felt safer somehow. His head was beginning to pound with thoughts he couldn't control, that came at him from every which way, in so many different tones…sometimes he wondered if those whispers were ghosts, or some other creatures in his head.
So to try and ease the pressure, to quiet him, Kol would remember her. Sometimes that wouldn't work though…and only blood would silence it. Not just drinking it. Drowning in it.
Stop it. Stop thinking that.
So his mind wandered to an easier path to go on, a less dangerous one. He was not yet used to a world full of electricity and convenience, and he wondered if he would ever grow accustomed to it. He felt that it made the world more complicated, which always meant more of a challenge…
And he so did love a challenge.
"Kol, could you come down for a few drinks?" Beks called up, a second later he was in front of her. "You look unwell."
"I'm fine."
She regarded him skeptically, "I have the drinks inside. We'll talk there."
Kol grinned, "uh oh, is big brother in trouble?" He asked as he followed her toward the Lockwood mansion. He didn't call it home- because it was not home, and it never would be. "Did you convene with the less estranged twosome of dysfunction?"
They entered the mansion and started towards the Lockwood's personal library. It wasn't extravagant, but it had all the documentation they could gather on the Founding Families. It was beautifully furnished in Oak as the wood, and red as the fabric for the two chairs and couch in the center. "I didn't." She answered, then turned around to face him. "It's not about them. It's about Anna."
"She's not up for discussion right now, Beks"
"The hell she isn't, Kol." Rebekah cut in venomously. "We need to get her back, sooner rather than later. I get that you want to make this a game, and you want it to be like old times. But it isn't old times, Kol. It's brand new, seriously scary times. There are weapons that can kill us out there- and hybrids. Kol…there are hybrids. Okay? Lots of them. Nik keeps making more, he keeps getting more power, and no one can stop him. Nothing can kill him. Do you understand what I am saying? Every day we don't tell her who she is, will be a day closer to our brother finding her and ripping her limb from limb."
"She'll figure it out on her own, Beks. I know she will."
"Ugh. You sound so certain." She replied with annoyance, "I'm not nearly as convinced, Kol. And quite frankly, I'm getting angry. We need to protect her. Damn it, Kol. We. Not just you. You're not the only one who loves her."
Kol broke eye contact and looked down, "we did already lose Na and Finn…and father."
She blanched, feeling bitterness and resentment bubbling to the surface at the thought of him, at the thought of his betrayal. He had hunted her, for centuries upon centuries. For all that time, she lived in fear of her own father, and so did Niklaus, no matter what his bravado on the matter. "How can you miss our father, Kol? He tried to kill us."
"But running from him was a real kick. Kept you on your toes, you know?" He raised his eyebrows and then lowered them again. "Beks, you're a bundle of nerves. Calm down. She's going to figure it out and come to us."
"How can you be that ridiculously sure?"
"Because she remembers things. Ronnie said she knows facts and stories, she knows history, she knows languages." He shrugged, "and she's her."
"But she isn't, not really." Rebekah said, a twinge of pain in her voice. "And as much as I miss her, as happy as I am that she is alive, I still have this ache. Because she isn't really back. It's just her face."
Kol just smiled, "care to wager on that?"
She opened her mouth to speak, snapped it shut and shook her head, as if remembering something that suddenly made her agree with him. "Do you think she'll come with us?"
"Like this? As she is? I'm not entirely certain. I am, however, certain that something is going on with you. You're awfully expedient-minded about this situation. Is there a reason that you're in a rush to leave town?"
She met his gaze directly, "you damn well know there is, Kol. The walls close in here, this place is cursed, I swear it."
"We're all cursed." He replied easily, "who knows that better than me?"
"We need to fix it, Kol, before you get us all caught and killed." She sighed heavily, "Not that you're less annoying the other way." She rolled her eyes, "I'll go along with this fool plan of yours, but I want it noted that I don't agree with it in any way."
Kol smirked, "noted."
XXX
Caroline raised an inquiring eyebrow when Klaus stepped into his home. There was blood on his shirt, his hair was windswept and she was more than sure that he wanted her to be curious as to why he was in such a tousled state. She, however, was not going to give him the satisfaction of making a fuss over it, or even questioning it at all. "That look suits you," she joked.
"Every look suits you." He returned charmingly. It was disarming just how well he spoke, how he knew the right words to say. Sometimes she couldn't help but be enchanted by it., and found herself having to use silent reminders to bring her back to reality. He was psychotic. He had killed so many people…
But hadn't Stefan? And hadn't he changed? Could Klaus change too?
It was a thought that kept permeating the surface of her mind, despite continuous efforts to push it back. "Has Tyler stopped by?" He asked her casually, too casually.
Caroline shook her head, "No. I don't expect him to either, he made it pretty clear what he thought of…" she wasn't sure how to describe what was going on, so after a pause she finished the sentence with, "this."
"And what is this?" Klaus asked, blue eyes indecipherable.
She opened her mouth, shut it, then finally decided on, "I…don't know."
"A better answer than I thought."
She lifted her right shoulder slightly, "you'll excuse me if I'm not quite as excited. I'm not entirely used to these…confusing and complicated relationships like you are. Until I was a vampire, I was quite certain my mother was the devil and my father was the saint."
"And now?"
"Nothing is ever that black and white." She responded truthfully, "which has me wondering about your relationship with your family."
He chuckled lazily, "good luck sorting that out, luv. I've been trying to for centuries."
"It's kind of difficult to figure things out when they are all hiding from you or locked in coffins." She began with a tone that was almost pleasant, but most certainly was nothing of the kind. "Maybe if, you know, you acted like more their brother, and less like their owners they'd warm up to you." The statement shot out of her smirked lips and knowing eyes. "But before that you'd have to realize that you're not always right; and we both know that miracle will never occur. It would have already, right? You've had like a thousand years to figure out something I determined in, like, less than a year."
"Someone is feeling quite entitled today, isn't she?" He shot back, his posture and tone mirroring hers. "And confident too, eh? Considering she only knows bits and pieces of an entire story."
Caroline shrugged, "well the pieces you've revealed have been less than encouraging. Maybe a little light could be shed on the rest."
"Why, you're asking to get to know me. What's next, Caroline, a date?"
She laughed haughtily, "in your dreams."
"And here you are, assuming to know what my dreams hold." He spread his arms out, "but I'm sure we share more than a few, eh? So ask away, Caroline. I'm an open book." He put up a hand, "no wait, let me clean up and then join me on the patio for a little interview, hm? An exclusive with the most dangerous creature alive."
She rolled her eyes, "make it snappy- and remember that modesty is usually an attractive quality in a person."
"Usually it is," he agreed with a wink before starting up the stairs.
XXX
When she walked the cliffs of the fall, letting the water run over her bare feet to the chaos below, Rebekah felt a little more at home than she usually did. Sometimes when there was no one to belong to, there was at least a place to go. She had always loved waterfalls more than any other natural beauty. The way they made falling look so purposeful and meaningful.
For Nik, he had loved the strength and beauty of living creatures- as ironic as that was. Wolves, horses, foxes and even humans. For all his talk of being stronger than they were and how they meant nothing, he spent the better part of his immortality drawing and admiring them. For Elijah it was the ocean that touched him- as cold, dark and endless as his gaze could be. Within those waves were mysteries untold and unnumbered- just as there were within him. Kol loved the unpredictability and wildness of a storm, lived it like he was a storm himself, poised to destroy at a moment's notice or just rain wildly until his temper died out- and then there had been Finn, who admired mountains as immovable and domineering as himself.
She wondered if one always loved things so much like their own selves.
This thought was punctuated by Stefan, who sat at the bottom of the falls, looking up at her with some kind of a wonder. He loved the falls himself, she recalled fondly. They had always wanted to see all of the waterfalls together and planned to leave a trail of bodies all around the world on their waterfall tour. It was a good memory, and it imposed good will toward him when she realized that it shouldn't. He, like all others, got over her and left her.
They always left.
"You're staring." She scowled, having not been emotionally prepared to see either of the Salvatore brothers. In a blink she was in front of him to try and crowd his personal space. "If you were looking to stare, how about a close-up?" though he didn't step back, she most certainly startled him to a blink or two.
Somewhere deep down she knew she was terrifying- and she liked it. She liked that her presence was still one that caused trepidation in him, it soothed her bruised, rejected ego. He would deny that fear, most likely- but she saw it and there was no erasing that.
"I didn't expect you to be here, you just were- and so I was staring." He responded in, quite possibly, the dumbest retort one could have conjured. "Why aren't you with your brother?"
"Which one?" She asked crisply, "I have 3."
"The crazy one."
She quirked an eyebrow.
"Okay, fine. Kol then." He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. "Shouldn't you be making sure your brother doesn't upset those very carefully made truce efforts that's you know about, but shouldn't?"
"And why would I want Elijah and Nik on the same side?"
"Because then they aren't trying to kill each other." He answered, as if he knew her. As if he had a clue.
"I won't let any of you destroy him, you know." She told him with a cold look, "Kol is my brother as much as Elijah and Nik. I'm not as fickle as my brothers; family has meaning for me." Setting him straight made her happy, showing him that he knew nothing about her pleased her, as if easing the blows of his previous rejections.
"But human life sure doesn't." Stefan returned cruelly, "maybe because you'd have to compel yourself a friend."
Rebekah rolled her eyes, "it's not me your mad at and we're not together anymore- so find someone else to take your abuse, Stefan." She shot back with a scowl, "why is it that the world deems me so fit to be everyone's punching bag?" She stepped back from Stefan, shook her head, and turned her body towards the waterfalls. "So tell me, did Elena finally give your brother the whirl he believes he so richly deserves?"
She almost delighted in the pained scowl that touched his lips at her words, they met their mark.
It was funny, because right then she realized that despite their talk of the forest, of rivers and of waterfalls, she had never seen him in that environment when they were together. They never got that far. He'd left her with her brother, he didn't look for her, or want to help her…
He'd have never stopped looking if it had been Elena.
She noticed that he didn't answer.
"But for the record, Kol won't give a damn about your truces, your alliances, or anything else. Neither of us do. You're on the wrong side, and once you figure that out, the better off you'll be." She shrugged her shoulders lightly, "The fact that you're siding with Nik should tell you that, if nothing else."
He looked like he was considering her words, "and Elijah?"
"Elijah the honorable, you mean?" She asked, a twinge of sarcasm threading through her speech. "Well, he always keeps his word, doesn't he?" Stefan looked like he was searching her face for answers. Had something happened recently between Elijah and Stefan? Was their already trouble within that tenuous, and utterly pointless, alliance? "Wow, my brother did something underhanded. Color me shocked."
"I didn't say that."
She chuckled throatily, "Of course you didn't." Then she tilted her head ever so slightly to the right, then straightened out and pensively looked at him. "That's right. You didn't." She repeated, "which means he did something that wasn't a betrayal, that still hurt you, but not enough to turn on the group."
Stefan stared at her, keeping his face as neutral as possible. She wondered how much of a struggle it was.
"It was something with Elena." She told him knowingly, looking him up and down. "My idiot brother got sucked up into the vacuum that is Elena Gilbert obsession, hasn't he?"
"You're creating something out of nothing," Stefan argued sensibly, "nothing happened."
"I simply will never understand the obsession with that bland doppelganger twit. At least Tatia had some real power, but this Katerina? Elena? There is nothing special about them, yet men flock to their dooms as though they were some kind of siren." Rebekah shook her head, "and they are doomed to reappear throughout time, mucking things up while simultaneously being tiresome. That combination is somehow the only remarkable doppelganger trait."
When she glanced at Stefan, his eyes met hers and she could see that he did not agree with her. Poor, stupid Stefan. Poor, stupid Damon. Poor, stupid Elijah.
It reminded her, all of a sudden, of something dear Ana had once told her.
"Men rule this world, I fear that will be for quite some time, my khati, and because we have no power over our them, we fight amongst each other for whatever scraps of power and attention we can get. That is why you hate Tatia, Beks. She has the favor of your two brothers. It is her lips that move them, and no longer your own. So you fight her, but it's no good. We shall accomplish nothing if we are too busy trying to harm each other."
Rebekah looked long and hard at Stefan.
Men still ruled this world.
Just not as comfortably.
But that did not mean she had to be ruled by them, or their feelings for whatever dullard they so chose. Rebekah Mikaelson was strength, she was brilliance, she was beauty. It was about time she started acting like it. "You know what? Nevermind- the whole lot of you can rot for all I care. I have other business to attend to.
In her mind she said, screw you, Kol. I'm helping Ana.
She set out to find her.
XXX
Elena wasn't at home.
Jeremy called her, and she didn't pick up. He sighed, and decided against panicking. After all, that would just skew his thoughts and keep him from being rational. She could easily be driving, or talking to someone.
A moment later his phone rang, and he saw on the ID that it was her, he picked up the phone. "Hey sis, just checking in."
"Gotcha, Jer. Where are you?"
"The house, I think I'm going to chill here for the night. You up for a movie?"
"Maybe later," she answered, "I thought I'd stop by and see Ric."
Jeremy suddenly felt very uncomfortable, he had visited with Ric a few times and each time he felt more and more uneasy around the man. It really wasn't Ric anymore, and Jeremy felt the need to mourn him- but how did one mourn a living man? "Let me know how that goes?
"Will do."
He bit down on his lower lip, considering his next few words carefully. "Elijah told me about your memories."
"You mean her memories?" Elena corrected softly. "I wish there was something I could tell you, Jer, but there isn't. I don't have any idea why Im having them, but Bonnie and Caroline are going to help me find out."
"Not Stefan?" Jeremy wanted to know, but truly he was more interested if Damon was helping her. Neither Salvatore were enough to protect his sister, but he especially felt like Damon would doom her.
There was a pause, "I'm taking a break from Stefan, and from Damon too." She said it with such uncertainty, he had no doubt of her confusion. Jeremy doubted that these memories were going to do anything to help her state either. "I feel like I need to, you know? I just- they're too much for me right now if that makes any sense."
"I get it."
She released a relieved sigh, "Thanks for understanding, Jeremy."
"No problem. Call me if you need anything, and please stay safe."
"I will- back at you."
"Will do."
Jeremy hung the phone up and put into the pocket of his jeans. He let out his own sigh of relief, grateful that his sister was safe, that she was being cautious, and that she was staying the hell away from the Salvatores. Now if only he could help keep her safe, but not just Elena, Anna too.
But how? He didn't have enough information on anything to help.
And even if they told him something, how could he trust it? Everyone seemed to have their own agenda, and it left him clueless on who was actually being genuine when offering their help. How could he possibly trust that Kol had Anna's best interests?
Then Jeremy had a flash of brilliance. There was someone who would want to keep Anna safe no matter what. There was someone that loved Anna more than anyone….
Jeremy closed his eyes, and prayed to whatever was out there to hope that she was thinking of him. He took a deep breath and concentrated.
When he opened his eyes, he couldn't hide his smile.
But she couldn't seem to hide her frustration. "It took you long enough to call on me, Gilbert." Pearl said in a lofty tone.
XXX
Caroline made sure to arrive just a little later than Klaus to the table outside. He had wine glasses poured, the table set with little pieces of bread and some kind of dip. He pulled out a chair for her and she sat down, then he crossed the table and sat across from her, smiling smugly.
"For someone who doesn't have to eat food, you sure do love your meal-time chats."
"It's true that food tasted better as a human," he observed almost regretfully, "but there is still taste, it just is not accented by hunger or cravings any longer." She had never thought of it that way, she realized. Food did taste better as a human, that much she had known on her own, but she had never questioned why flavor seemed so tame to her now. It was that she no longer craved it. "Besides, food gives you something to occupy yourself with to make things less awkward. Now please, you can ask your first question."
His abrupt changing of subject made their meeting suddenly less casual. She was caught off guard, and forgot her game plan for the evening. She was only unnerved for a moment, but it was enough to allow him a feeling of success, no doubt. "You talked about what things tasted like as a human, and I think that is as good a place to start as any. What was life like for you…before you were given immortality."
He was nonplussed at her beginning, and she was frustrated by it. "You know the basics. I was the result of an affair my mother had, my father resented me, then later he blamed me for Henrik's death. I was close with my mother, my sister and my brother, Elijah- but not my Mikael, Finn or Kol." Even the way he referred to them was a testimony to how he felt about them, Caroline realized sadly, it was so tangled up in who he was that it even colored his very vocabulary. "But as close as I was to Elijah, I was jealous too. He was favored by both our mother and our father. Then later he was favored by Tatia, the originator of the doppelgänger line. Our relationship was somewhat strained after that, but only for a short while. Soon we were brothers again." She listened, but as she did swirled a piece of bread in the melted cheese, and nodded him to go on before she nibbled at the food. "But he had not known then that I had killed our mother. The only one who knew was Ana- a Bennett witch, and name-mother of the first made vampire."
"How do you know she was the a Bennett? And who was the first made vampire?" Caroline asked quickly after she had swallowed the first bite of her food.
He pulled a piece of bred between his fingers and examined it, "I kept track. She was powerful and I knew I would one day need that power again. She was so powerful that she was able to preserve my mother in the coffin for me. As for the first made vampire, that would be Kol's little slave. And that's actually a good lead into why exactly Kol despises me."
The dip, Caroline found, was absolutely delicious, but with some restraint, she kept herself from asking what kind it was. She was trying not to look too bored, because she had heard most of this already, but she let him continue because she felt like he needed to say all of these things. She nodded for him to continue. "She was a slave-girl that Kol fell for, or maybe trusted implicitly, or something of that variety; she had a knack for keeping my little brother from going out and ruining good meat by torturing the animals he intended on killing."
Caroline shuddered, but she noticed that Klaus really thought nothing of the actual torturing, only the waste of resources. Her knee jerk reaction was to wail on him, to try and get it through to him that torture was not necessary, but she calmed herself and settled casually on, "torture, hm? Excessive."
Klaus shrugged, "torture isn't just a part of your history, Caroline. It goes on now, and not far away either."
"So because it's popular, it's suddenly right?" She asked right back with a roll of her eyes, "please. I'm not even old enough to drink and I've learned better than that."
"Being very, very powerful comes with a few drawbacks, Caroline." He told her, sounding especially frustrated. "One of which is people constantly trying to kill you so that they can be considered the strongest. If someone betrays you, you answer it with agony and cold, damp graves. So yes, I can see how torture might get a point across that might have otherwise fallen on deaf ears."
"Maybe there was another way-"
"Like showering people with kindness so that they love you too much to kill you? I'm sorry, love- but that hardly works- is it working for Elena, or is she still constantly in danger?"
She didn't like his point, but still had a counter. "But she has people who love her and protect her because of that love. She's not dead yet."
"She's not dead because she has use to me." Klaus said through his teeth, "she lives because it suits me." He stared pointedly at her, then tilted his head to the side, "Pretend you're me. You already have a natural enemy that is more than happy to murder your whole kind. Your own father is trying to kill you and all of your siblings, and your mother is the one who damned you all to be demons in the first place. You tell me, Caroline, in a world like that, how nice could you afford to be?"
"Finn-"
"Finn's dead, before that he was in a pine box with a dagger in his heart."
"Stefan."
"Without Damon? Dead." Klaus said evenly, " Ah, how Machiavellian of us, is it better to be loved than feared?" Klaus grinned, "I never had the pleasure of meeting him, but DaVinci once told me about him. I believe Kol spent some time with Machiavelli, if I recall. Oh yes," he tilted his head sideways, "I remember chasing them out of the Vatican city- I never did find out why they were in Rome..." He looked up sharply, "but philosophy isn't our point, so I digress. Where were we?"
"Kol torturing animals."
"Ah, yes." Klaus looked pensive, "he was ruining meat, and he was mad to do it, even Rebekah and Elijah agreed. One of Rebekah's close friends went missing as well, she had never been kind to him, and so we always suspected, always feared that Kol had murdered him. Still, he was family, and one knew that family was protected. Family was most important. I suppose that is why I hated her from the onset."
"Who?"
"His slave-girl." Klaus reminded her with bitterness, "she was named after our witch, Ayanna. We called her Ana upon first meeting her. He was obsessed from the beginning, convincing our mother to let him keep her as his own, never going anywhere without her. I despised that he could love her so, love her as though she was his family instead of us." He looked long and hard at the plate in front of him, as if there was some memory there that disturbed him. Was it all an act, she wondered, this divulging of information, the troubled, almost guilty expressions? Was he trying to trick her?
Caroline didn't want to think so, and disliked that fact intensely. Klaus was all that was evil, all that was dangerous, he had destroyed so much that she didn't understand how she could feel anything but contempt for him.
"Family first, we had learned that early on. It was the only possible method of survival. We could not do it alone, we needed each other. Family first- only Kol did not see it that way. He always preferred that girl to us."
Caroline didn't bother to bring up the fact that he had daggered all of his own blood relatives, but she raised a brow at him suggestively.
"That was later." He replied to her unasked question, "after Elijah and Kol had both betrayed me. They proved their unworthiness as family, Caroline."
"Because they didn't cater to your every violent whim?"
"No. Betrayal, Caroline, that was what earned my wrath, Elijah sought marriage from a slave, inn mátki munr."
"What?" She asked, not understanding his last sentence.
His lips twitched slightly, "it means the mighty passion." A shrug followed, "we wanted the same girl, the difference was that I was not to betray my family by marrying beneath my class. I would have kept Tatia as a lover, but married into another tribe to strengthen our family. That was, after all, what marriage was for. Elijah, however, wished to betray his kin and marry her when there was no benefit for it."
"And how did Kol betray you?"
"He chose his slave over me."
Caroline wrinkled her nose, "and those are offenses punishable by death?"
"Did I kill them?" He returned evenly, "no. I did not. It was Elijah whose intentions were murderous, not my own."
"No," she exalted, "you simply put them in pine boxes to sleep for as long as you see fit."
They stared at each other, mirrors of defiance.
His expression didn't change, "the slave was clouding his judgment. He no longer cared for the good of the family, and only cared for her. I rid him of the problem, and he took offense." Klaus suddenly looked like a smug feline, bored with its prey. He leaned back in the chair and met her gaze. "He tortured me for my offense, and gave me to witches as a pet. Kol severed our familial bond, and I still spared his life."
She sucked in a deep, calming breath and leveled him with her most potent glare. "You killed her because he loved her more than you. Do you even realize how absurd that is?"
"That's not-"
"What you said?" She cut him off, and he looked surprised by it. "No. It's what you meant though." Caroline stood, she looked down at him with her head high and her back straight, "you think I don't understand you. In your mind you are this powerful, mysterious, impenetrable creature with no equal. At the end of the day though, you're just a little boy who never felt loved enough, and now you're taking it out on everyone. Well get over your daddy issues and grow up, Niklaus."
He was in front of her in a second, and it took all of her willpower and strength not to step back in fear. His nose was centimeters from hers, head dipped so that he was staring directly into her eyes. She stared back- and hoped he didn't see the fear there. "I could rip you apart."
"Then do it. End this."
"Give you the easy way out?" He smirked, "is being dead really better than wanting me?"
"I don't want you."
"But you do." He responded, his eyes wandering from her eyes to his mouth, "when you're unguarded, when you think no one is looking, I see your eyes drift to me, I see the longing, the lust." His hand hovered over her cheek, not even slightly touching, but close enough to make its presence felt. She tried not to close her eyes, tried not to imagine the touch of his skin on hers; but her body was betraying her, aching for him to close the space between them completely. This is a plan, she tried to remind herseld, tried to calm her body, this isn't real. I'm not really feeling this way. I'm just playing a game, I'm trying to win him over to keep people safe.
Her silent reminder did nothing to calm her nerves.
"Even now your skin is singing, all because I'm close to you."
She swallowed, trying to deny the words to herself, but said nothing out loud.
"And what does that say about you, Caroline? That you would want a monster like me? You've spent so much time with your analysis, let us put a mirror up, shall we?"
His hand, light as a feather, touched her cheek. She couldn't help it, she leaned into it and closed her eyes. She told herself she was playing the game, that he needed to think she wanted him. This was just her, acting like she was giving in. A tiny voice inside her cried that she was a liar. She ignored it.
"And my attentions are a breath of fresh air, are they not? You blossom beneath them like flowers in springtime. I've watched it occur, watched your desire for my attention- because I, unlike the fools in this town, see your fire. More importantly, I understand it in a way that no one else could." He leaned down against her ear, "in a way no one else lets themselves." He breathed.
It was heady feeling, being wanted by such a… man, to be his object of desire. Someone so powerful, so strong, someone who had seen so much- and he wanted her. Truly wanted her…more than Elena.
She almost cringed at how petty her last thought was, but she could deny it no more than could deny the little bolts of electricity that were going off where his skin was touching hers.
If she just gave in….just this once…it wouldn't mean anything…
She was just playing a part…
"Look at me." She snapped open her eyes, meeting his blue ones- shadows danced in them and made them almost hypnotizing. "Tell me you don't want me."
Words escaped her, even if she had planned to say it, to continue to play the game of hard-to-get, she found that she couldn't- was that fear on her face? She wondered. Could he smell it?
But the question that was first and foremost in her mind was; if he kissed her, could she stop it?
XXX
Anna wasn't sure how, but she knew he would be there.
Kol Mikaelson.
The name gave her no memory, no hint of who he was to her. Yet she knew. She followed this sense inside her, this intuition that told her whether she was going in the right direction. It landed her in front of a bar just outside of town. It was loud, she could hear the music from across the parking lot, where the woods began.
She waited outside, and surely enough he came outside, a pretty young thing walking next him in blue jeans and a wife-beater to show off his nicely sculpted arms. He had shaggy hair, and for a moment she almost thought he was walking with Jeremy. However, the guy walked differently, and so by time she had seen his face she had already been sure it wasn't him. She listened closely to what they were saying,
"How'd you know? I mean, places like this…you can't be open about stuff."
She watched as he quickly grabbed the boy, whipping him around to the side of the building and pushing him against the brick. She heard the other guy give a small laugh, "is this shadowy enough for you?" Kol asked, "dark enough to keep out prying eyes?"
"You're strong." It wasn't a complaint.
There was a long pause, "you have no idea…"
"Kol. Stop."
The words left her mouth before she was even conscious of them and she found herself directly behind him, with her hand on his shoulder. He turned, a smile appearing on his lips as he took in her face. "Hey, listen, nothing was happening here." The guy said falteringly, he looked a little fearful. It didn't take much imagination to figure out why.
To set his mind at ease, she said, "it's nice that you're covering for him. He's aggressive."
He tilted his head to the side, "he wasn't hurting me or anything either."
"It's true, I wasn't." Kol sounded smug.
She nodded, "okay."
"Uh," The stranger ran a hand through his hair and started to inch away from them, "I'm just going to let you two deal with your drama then."
"You do that, Cowboy." She said through her teeth, trying to make her irritation very apparent as her eyes never left Kol's. She tried to deny the connection between them, but its pull was about as easy to ignore as a stake through her damn heart. The stranger walked away, and Kol leaned against the wall mocking a dramatic gesture, then smiling. "You cannot just go around killing people."
"Maybe that one wasn't for killing, Ana-Bél."
"You're into guys?"
"Sometimes," he flashed a daring smile at her, "sometimes not. Eternity is an awfully long time, and life could get awfully boring, you know?"
If he was trying to shock her, he failed. She had spent some of her time wondering about eternity and what that really meant. It was the one thing about herself, and her past self, that she knew she could hold on to. Even if everybody was lying to her, even if they were manipulating her for their own purposes, the fact that she was immortal was true. So when she was troubled, which was all she seemed to be after turning her emotions on, she thought about what she was going to do for the rest of time. Sex had definitely been a factor. "Oh."
His smile never left his face, nor did he even attempt to break eye contact with her. "How did you find me, love?"
She looked defiantly back at him, but answered honestly. "I can feel your presence- since that time in the woods when I fought you…it's always there."
"We're bound by blood and magic."
It was true.
She didn't hear it, or see it, because there was nothing there about him. His face conjured no memory. But her heart and her blood screamed that she knew him, that he was special, and that she was to protect him at all costs. "I'm evil, aren't I?" She asked him softly, barely able to get the words out, "I'm like you. I just kill on a whim, 2, maybe 3 at a time." She found herself nodding, but her heart lurched into her stomach. "I'm right, aren't I? We're partners or something."
"Or something."
She didn't want to ask, but knew she had to, "or lovers?"
"Does it feel like we're lovers? In your blood? In your heart?"
She closed her eyes, and tightened her fists slightly, trying to muster some kind of answer for him. Did she feel like he was a lover? It was a question she had asked of both Kol and Jeremy. With Jeremy, she was absolutely certain that she wanted him. Whether it was love, she didn't know, but her skin sang when he touched it, and she felt alive. As she looked at Kol, she knew that she loved him- but it was not out of any kind of physical desire. "I'm just your slave then?"
"You were never my slave." He said vehemently, "if anything, I'm yours."
"That was not the description that your brothers gave."
"Do they know you're alive yet?"
She shook her head, "Jeremy told me."
Kol just smiled.
"You think he's joining you, but he isn't. He might even think he's joining you, actually, or at least considering it. But he's going to side with Elena, I'm certain of it."
Kol smile didn't fade, he slicked his hand through his hair and, for the first time, broke eye contact. "You underestimate the spell you have on that boy. It's a powerful thing to have someone you love come back from the dead. Because you know what life is like to lose them…and you never want to go back there again."
"I don't know what it's like to lose anyone." She responded, "So it would make sense that I wouldn't have that point of reference."
For a moment they just stared at each other. His smile was gone and he was looking at her with tears in his eyes like she was some kind of savior. The air was still filled with the raucous music inside, its tiny vibrations moving through her body. She imagined it was echoing inside of Kol, who was up against the wall, and she swore that she could almost feel how he was feeling it. "Why wouldn't Jeremy side with me? With us?"
"He's good." She told him plainly, "he doesn't believe in senseless killing. Besides, he has one family member left, he'll do whatever he can to protect her."
"Like Damon and Stefan Salvatore haven't done their share of killing," he waved the words away, with his free hand, "that's beside the point, it's just a small amount of time before Elena sides with us anyway."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
He hesitated for a fracture of a second, but it was enough to tip her off that she wasn't getting the full story; "it means that we're the right side to be on, love. Why they would side with Nik in the first place is utterly baffling, but alas, Elijah always was a little thick when it came to his precious brother."
"You did something to her." Anna squinted her eyes at him, "something to make sure she'd be on your side."
"Our side."
"Right." She frowned, "what did you do?"
He shrugged, "I helped her, really. She might not see that now, but one day she will say, 'that Kol, he's my guardian angel!'"
Anna couldn't help but chuckle, "Oh, I'm sure."
"You'll see." He replied, sure of himself, "or maybe you'll remember before it happens and this whole conversation will just be another chapter in our insane, eternal lives."
She searched his face for a memory, for anything to stir. It did not.
"Either way, you should just come back to Beks and me now, because it will save a lot of time, and we don't have much of that. Niklaus will kill both of us. He'll spare Beks, because he knows eventually she'll forgive him." His lips twisted wryly and he shoved his hands into his pockets as he walked towards her. "Maybe together we can survive, maybe even keep Jeremy and Elena alive too."
"You'd protect them?"
"For you? I'd do anything" He promised, putting a hand out for her to take.
She stared at it, ears roaring with thunder as she slipped her fingers through his.
It was right.
XXX
Elena walked down the steps The Salvatore mansion with a flask for Alaric. Damon and Stefan brought him his meals, took him out for bathroom breaks, and otherwise cared for him because together they could manage him even in his other state.
But Elena could talk to him outside the door, and that is what she intended to do.
What she wanted to talk to him about, she couldn't. Elena longed to discuss her situation. She needed someone to hear that she didn't even feel like herself anymore, the love that she had for Stefan kept lessening, and yet she had no legitimate cause for it. He was still beautiful, both inside and out; that hadn't changed, so why had her feelings? At first she thought it might be Damon, and her growing attraction to him. It was not, though. Her feelings for the older Salvatore didn't increase at all..
Is it because of her memories?
It had to be.
Because she started to feel this humming between she and Elijah, and there could simply be no other explanation for it. It terrified her, not to be able to trust her own feelings, and she longed to talk about that with Ric, but knew that she could not. Even if he were in his right mind, there was no telling what the hijacker inside him could hear or not hear. Did he know all that Ric knew?
She hoped that the man she was going to talk to was Ric, who in the wake of Jenna's death, became family to her; and not to the thing that inhabited him. But when she came to the door, she found herself disappointed. For the first time she could tell who was staring back at her, the parasite didn't even try and hide himself; a smug, cruel smirk lined his mouth, and a mockingly raised eyebrow marked his sinister nature. He was seated across the cell in the corner on the floor with one knee raised, the other leg flat out. He was wearing his own clothing, and it was clean, so he had been out recently. Had he been Alaric when they took him out of this cage? Or was he this…thing that had Ric's face? Was he biding time, figuring out an escape?
A chill went up her spine, and he hadn't even spoken to her yet.
As if on cue, he said, "Elena, how kind of you to join me."
She stared back at him through the bars, but not close enough for him to really reach her. "I'm not here to see you." She answered sourly, "I don't even know what to call you."
"Ric, of course."
"You're not Ric."
"I'm the sanest part of him."
"Hardly." Elena scoffed angrily, "you're the thing trying to poison him against people who love him."
"Maybe he needs poisoned, did you ever think of that?" He returned, "but you wouldn't, because you're the worst of them." He sneered, "You're a sympathizer- someone who sold out your own kind to save your own skin. Nevermind that one of them killed your own brother." He hissed through the bars, eyes gleaming. "First you trade Matt in for Stefan, and now Stefan and Damon for an even more powerful vampire. That can't be a coincidence."
"What are you talking about?" Elena asked shakily, "that's not what happened or what is happening now."
"You don't have a thing for Elijah?"
She began to shake her head, how could he have even known that something had happenedbetween Elijah and herself? "No. I don't. I just want to be by myself for a while. I'm confused-"
"You're plotting." He corrected viciously, "just like Katherine did. You're just like Katherine- if you were a vampire, you might even be worse."
"NO!" She yelled it at him, having heard enough, "I am not trying to protect just me, I'm trying to protect everyone- even you."
"Oh?" Not Alaric asked, folding his arms over his chest and tilting his head to the side, "so when they killed all those other people, you tried to stop them?"
She had tried to stop Stefan by turning him back into himself, and she was always asking Damon to stop killing, but what had she really done to stop it? It was not the first time that this question ate at her, and hearing it come from Ric's lips felt like salt on an open wound. "I want to save other people. I don't want anyone else hurt." But her voice was weak, and they both knew that he had hit his target.
"Just as long as they're your friends, right? But strangers, they don't really matter. Just look at Stefan, right? Who cares that he's a serial killer, right down to the trophies that he needs to get off on the kill. Who cares that Damon killed your brother. And he doesn't even try to change, Elena. Haven't you noticed that?" Ric went on relentlessly, each word like acid on her skin. "You're just as bad, enabling it all, batting those big eyes at them, being the big bad's blood bank to save your own skin-"
"Stop!" The word left her loudly and violently, she almost stepped forward, but then stopped herself. She'd be within arm's length if she moved any closer, and that wasn't safe. Still, anger reverberated through her like a struck drum, and she clenched her fists while protesting, "if I died who would take care of Jeremy? Who would keep him safe?"
He snorted, "like you're doing a bang up job."
"Either way, I'm all he has left, Alaric, and I won't leave him alone here. Do you understand me? I won't abandon him because you're trying to manipulate me. No, no I'm not perfect, I'm not ultimately good or pure. I'm selfish, and I put the people I love before strangers. But I've never claimed to be perfect, Alaric. But you? All that whining about how evil vampires are, and what have you been killing instead? Humans. So you tell me, out of the two of us, which one is really worse?"
He didn't get a chance to answer.
Instead his eyes glazed over, and Elena found herself turning around, despite very part of her screaming not to. She met familiar eyes, but they seemed colder to her now, possessing none of the warmth that had had tricked her before.
"Esther."