Elijah looked to the younger Salvatore brother, and though he kept his face impassive, unease stirred within him. He'd given his word to the newest doppelganger that he would aid her and her friends in their quest to kill his brother. However, the moment Niklaus had said that his siblings weren't lost, he knew that he could not follow through with it. Elijah knew that he could not trust his younger brother, but if there was the smallest of chances that he could reunite with his family, he would do anything.
"You understand how important family is, or you wouldn't be here. My brother gave me his word that he would reunite me with my own."
"And so I shall."
Immediately after his brother spoke, he heard a crash and turned around to face the noise. The scene before him was entirely bizarre.
Niklaus was pinned to the wall, a short figure holding his wrists tightly against the wood. Elijah could only see the back of the person, and was confused by what he saw. Clearly female, she wore a black flowing dress that reached the floor, tattered and muddy. Her hair was dark, a matted mane of waves and curls that reached just past her hips. Before Elijah could say anything, or even formulate a sentence, the woman reached for Niklaus' right hand, and Elijah noticed the dagger for the first time clutched tightly in his brother's grasp. Plucking the weapon seemingly easily from his grasp, she carelessly tossed it to her side and shook her head as if chiding the hybrid.
"Niklaus, pu reior seggr, paer munu pu geta tyna?" the woman before them asked in a flat tone.
The immense anger Elijah had seen on his brother's face gave way to absolute shock. The woman holding against the wall was speaking in flawless Old Norse, their native tongue. He hadn't heard someone speak the language in centuries. However, after the shock left Niklaus' face, only fury remained. He threw the girl off of him, propelling her to the opposite end of the room, where her head loudly collided with the wall. Instead of crumpling to the floor, she quickly stood, smoothed down her dress, and let out a deep sigh. It seemed… exasperated.
Elijah didn't know if he should intervene, so he decided to allow his brother to finish off the creature and simply observe. He noted that the younger Salvatore and Katerina seemed to have reached the same conclusion, both backed against the wall farthest from the fight and watching with wide eyes. Just as the girl seemed to regain her composure, Niklaus had her in the air, gripping her throat tightly while his eyes had turned yellow. Instead of flailing about, or struggling at all in his hold, the girl narrowed her eyes and seemed to size him up, trailing her eyes from his feet to the hand wrapped around her neck. Unfazed, she reached toward him and encircled his wrist with her hand.
The sound of his brother's wrist bones being crushed was audible to even human ears. Roaring in pain, his brother dropped the girl, who landed lightly on her feet, which Elijah now noted were bare.
She spoke in a somber voice, and he noted the authority that seemed to resound in her words when she said, "Sva vel letta, ek gera at vilja vega."
Ignoring the girl's words, Niklaus charged at her, extending his arm in an attempt to tear out her heart. The move was easily avoided, and he then shot out his foot toward her knee to incapacitate her. However, rather than merely sidestepping the move, the girl disappeared. Niklaus' eyes widened in an emotion Elijah hadn't seen often; fear. A moment later, she appeared directly behind him, and before his eyes could find her she pressed her hands his temples.
The effect was instantaneous. Niklaus fell to his knees and his mouth fell open. Elijah began to rush forward, guessing that she was working some sort of spell, and not desiring to see his brother dead at her hands when he had much to answer to yet. But when he was five feet from them, he was repelled and could not get any closer. Her spell was unlike anything he had ever encountered. The girl's eyes were closed lightly, and black veins seemed to spread across her skin from the places her hands touched his brother's skin. A grey mist left Niklaus' mouth and she parted her own lips, seeming to breath it in. Her eyes shot open, and to his horror, her eyes were entirely black, giving her a truly demonic look.
Just as quickly as she had seized him, she released her hold and Niklaus's head fell forward, his chest heaving noticeably. She stepped back and walked around him until she was directly in front of him. She lightly grabbed his face and tipped it up. He seemed to still be in a trance and his face deceptively calm, though Elijah could only guess the rage his brother was feeling.
Staring into Niklaus' eyes, she whispered "Stundar akafr, stundar dreyrugr, pu vili fagna ek heita." With a quick twist of her hands, she'd snapped his neck.
The girl stepped back from the body now lying on the floor and turned to him. The dark veins spanning across her arms, chest, and face faded and the black film covering her eyes receded until only her pupils and irises were stained. Knowing that the thing before him could overpower him easily, he decided to simply stay where he was and hear what she wanted from them.
Instead of the list of demands and threats he expected, she nodded at him and said in a polite tone, "Gaman finna pu skapgoor, Elijah. Ek heyra mjok ykkr drengskapr."
She then turned to Katerina and Stefan, who had remained immobile since the chaos had erupted. She walked up to them slowly, almost casually. Her stride was not graceful or light on her feet, it was ambling and uneven, unnervingly human. When she turned to Katerina, she spoke quickly but confidently.
"Go, Katerina. Your time approaches."
The vampire doppelganger gaped at the girl in front of them before slowly walking to the door of the apartment, not taking her eyes off of the unknown creature. When she reached the threshold, she hesitantly reached her hand out, and when she discovered that somehow Niklaus' compulsion had worn off when it passed through uninhibited, she disappeared in a flash.
The girl then walked into the kitchen, reaching into a cabinet and pulling out a glass. She walked over to Niklaus' body, and when she pulled out a small knife from a hidden pocket of her dress Elijah attempted once again to approach her, but the repelling force remained. He knew that his brother's blood was powerful for many spells, and he feared that the woman would be extremely dangerous with it in her possession. Unable to do anything, he watched as she dragged her blade across his palm, dripping the blood into the glass.
When the glass was half full she placed his brother's hand back onto the floor, and approached the younger Salvatore. She extended her hand and he took the glass hesitantly, an unsure expression on his face as if trying to discern what she was about to do. A moment later, however, Elijah watched as the vampire's face transformed entirely into a look of shock and confusion.
"Vivienne?"
The single word was said with an incredulous tone, and Elijah wondered if the young vampire somehow knew this being. He studied her face closely, looking for any reaction to the name, and found none.
"Yes, I was," she responded easily, her voice impassive, apparently unaffected by his recognition.
He saw a look of doubtful hope cross the young man's face as he said, "But you had no heartbeat, you were dead."
In the same tone she responded, "Yes, I was."
Before he asked the girl any more questions, she cut him off quickly.
"Go now, use this to save your brother. Damon Salvatore is not meant to die today."
He watched the vampire begin to speed off, stopping at the door way and casting one last look over his shoulder. When he vanished, silence fell on them. She stood still for a minute and Elijah did the same, wary to do anything that would invoke her anger. She finally moved, striding toward Niklaus' body, but before he let fear for his brother's life seize him, she passed it and bent down, grasping instead the discarded silver dagger that Elijah had forgotten about in the last few minutes.
Not wanting to dwell yet on his younger brother's intended betrayal, he stared, allowing himself to closely inspect the woman now trailing her fingers lightly over the blade back and forth. After a minute more of inspecting the weapon, she snapped her head to him, meeting his eyes.
"Pu fyst English eda Norroen?"
Elijah kept his face blank and maintained a steady voice as he politely responded, "English, please."
The woman nodded and let out a hum of acknowledgement, before reversing her direction yet again to wander to the kitchen of the apartment. She trailed her fingers over nearly everything, lingering on the appliances. Just as she appeared to move on, she stopped short and turned slowly to the sink. She slowly reached for the faucet and turned it on. She seemed enraptured by the stream of water, narrowing her eyes as if it required constant monitoring.
Elijah could no longer take the frustration of not knowing why the creature was here, and the feeling of being in danger was not one he was accustomed to.
"Pardon me, but may I enquire as to what will proceed?"
She turned off the faucet and tucked the silver dagger into her pocket, an action noted by Elijah, who resolved to more carefully track where the weapon was at all times. She did not seem angry at his question, nor did she seem excited, as he had seen many feel when they were given a chance to explain an elaborate plan.
She remained equally polite when she answered, "Let us wait for talk of motives until Niklaus has awakened, he will be unhappy."
TRANSLATIONS OF OLD NORSE TO ENGLISH:
Pu reior seggr, paer munu pu geta tyna: You angry boy, when will you be able to forgive?
Sva vel letta, ek gera at vilja vega: Please stop, I do not wish to fight
Stundar akafr, stundar dreyrugr, pu vili fagna ek heita: So vehement, so anguished, you will be happy, I promise
Gaman finna pu skapgoor. Ek heyra mjok ykkr drengskapr: Pleasure to meet you. I have heard much of your nobility.