"Mancala!" Rebekah cried triumphantly as she threw her last rock in last circle drawn on the crypt floor, causing Damon and Kol to groan in defeat.
"Damn…she's really good at this…" Damon admonished and Kol smirked as he picked up all the rocks from the makeshift game board and divided them into piles
"She's the family champion nine hundred years running," he quipped, winking at his sister
"Only because Finn was in a box for that amount of time," she said, looking over to Damon as Kol handed him a pile of rocks, then gave another pile to her, "He's the champion in the family."
"Alright, I think it's time for a trade off," Kol said, looking over his shoulder to Jeremy and holding out his pile of rocks to Elena's brother, "I'm gonna rest my eyes for a bit. Gilbert?"
Jeremy immediately jumped down from where he had been sitting on one of the nearby vaults next to a sleeping Caroline and took Kol's place as he stood.
Kaspar took in this scene across the room for a moment before turning back to where Bonnie, Misha and he had been catching each other up on events of a more 'magical' nature.
All Bonnie and Jeremy had informed the gang of upon their arrival to the Salvatore crypt, was that they had deduced from the Gilbert journals that Dominic was indeed after the compass and that after talking to Elena and updating her and Elijah on the situation—Misha hadn't been too happy to hear that—they had discovered that the compass was in still in Mystic Falls and that Elena believed it to be buried with John Gilbert.
It was only hours later, as they waited inside the crypt for the impeding dawn, that Bonnie finally pulled Misha and Kaspar aside and informed them of everything that had happened—what she saw of the binding spell in Emily's grimoir, her actual conversation with Elena and Elijah and the knowledge they had obtained about Luka's souls being trapped in the compass, not Dominic's, and the finding of the witch who had originally bound the curse to Johnathan Gilbert's compass.
"Vivienne…" Misha whispered and shook his head as he let his mind wrap around the last thing Bonnie had told him, "I can't believe it."
"She says that if we can get the compass to her, she can reverse the binding spell that she placed on it," Bonnie said, looking between the two brothers
"I have no doubt of her abilities," Misha added, "Elijah always believed in her power. What worries me is what she'll need to pull it off."
"What do you mean?" Bonnie asked, narrowing her eyes in confusion
"Well, she'll need a very powerful witch or warlock to assist her—two witches bound the souls to the compass therefor, two must release it for the balance to be upheld." Misha replied
"And don't forget about the 'One must die so that I may live' hiccup." Kaspar interjected, "We still haven't figured out how we're going to do all this without someone dying."
"To be honest..." Misha smirked, "We're running out of human sacrifices."
Bonnie and Kaspar both chuckled for a moment, then stopped before Misha's face turned solemn as he looked directly to Kaspar.
"She'll also need a doppelganger to do it," he said gravely and Kaspar took in a sharp breath
"What?" Bonnie asked suddenly, "Why?"
"Because they need a being with enormous power—someone more than human," Misha explained, "Essentially, someone who represents both the natural and supernatural worlds."
"They will anchor the spell," Kaspar added
"So she'll need…Elena…" Bonnie offered, then took in both warlock's faces as they continued to stare at each other with a grave, knowing expression, "But, Elena will be okay, right?"
"Yes," Misha said, suddenly turning to her with a small smile, "Elena will be fine."
"Because it won't be Elena," Kaspar added, "It will have to be a doppelganger who is more powerful—who has lived longer."
"And if the binding spell was cast in New Orleans in the 1860s—two guesses as to who the doppelganger was that they used for said spell…" Misha interjected, eying Kaspar, who nodded knowingly.
But, it was Bonnie Bennett who answered out loud.
"It was Katherine," she said in sudden realization, her mind journeying back to what she had read in the Gilbert journals, "Wasn't it?"
Misha and Kaspar both nodded, then watched as Bonnie's face suddenly fell
"But, if Katherine is dead…then we don't have a doppelganger with enough power."
"Yes, we do…" Kaspar said, looking to Misha who chimed in with the answer
"Have you ever wondered why Elijah and Elena had a connection so instantly?" Misha asked the witch with a raised eyebrow
"You don't mean him…" Bonnie replied in surprise, "He's a doppelganger, too?"
"Its a long story," Kaspar chimed in, "But, yes. Actually, he is one of the Original doppelgangers. One of the first products of the magic."
And at his words, Misha suddenly remembered what his mother once told him about Elijah and Liliya when he commented on their strong love and connection when he was young.
"'That is because they are written in the stars, my son,' Ayanna had said, 'The Fates designed it that way. You see, they were born with matching souls that are drawn to each other like magnets and no matter how much you pull them apart and separate them by time or distance, they are always pulled toward each other—their souls calling out for the other to find them, for they can survive, but not truly live without the other. And I imagine that long before our time and long after, Elijahs and Liliya s have been, and always will be, finding one another... to their ecstasy and quite often, their own peril.'
Of course Ayanna had no idea that Elijah and his beloved were doppelgangers. If she had, she and her sisters might not have cast the spell on Liliya that bound Klaus curse to her on the condition of human descendents through her family line.
Misha would eventually discover Elijah's true origins for himself, years later when a village oracle commented on how Elijah reminded her of someone long ago cursed to wander eternity looking for his true love.
"Will he be okay?" Bonnie suddenly asked, looking to Misha and breaking the warlock out of his trance.
Misha, nodded, then gave a fake smile off assurance that seemed to placate Bonnie.
But, the truth was that he didn't know.
All he knew was that when he had tracked Katerina from New Orleans to Atlanta just before she arrived in Mystic Falls in 1864 to live with the Salvatore brothers, she had been near death.
# # # # #
Elena whimpered as she opened her eyes and turned over on the sofa, pulling the pillow from under her head and wriggling out from underneath the purple afghan draped over her as she slowly sat up, running her hand through her tangled hair.
Then, without ceremony, she propped the pillow back into its place in the corner of the sofa and folded the afghan before tossing her finger-combed hair over her shoulder as she took in the living room, bathed in early morning light.
Suddenly, she realized that she was alone.
There was no sign of Elijah and the last thing she remembered was lying in his arms on the sofa after their talk the night before—after she had confessed to him that she would have never forgiven him if he had left her and sacrificed himself after all the time they had spent together…after all that had happened between them.
She immediately broke her train of thought as her eyes wandered to the grandfather clock in the corner of the room near the television and she squinted to take in the time in the darkness with her vampire vision—4:30 am.
It was almost morning.
She must have fallen asleep and he tucked her in on her couch.
Elena took in a deep breath as she tilted her head and opened her hearing to see if she could track him in the vast mansion.
It wasn't long before she picked up footsteps and what seemed to be muffled music coming from the second floor upstairs.
He must be in his bedroom, she deduced.
Keeping her hearing open, she stood from the couch and followed the sound out of the living room, through the kitchen and into the front hall, where she stopped for a moment to listen in the foyer, taking in the music—a big band instrumental from the 1940s or 50s with a woman's voice singing in the background.
"See the pyramids along the Nile,
Watch the sunrise on a tropic isle…"
With a small, curious smile, Elena tucked her hair behind her ear and slowly turned, taking hold of the banister and climbing the stairs.
"Just remember, Darling, all the while,
You belong to me…"
When she reached the top landing of the second floor, she looked back and forth down the long hallway for moment, then smirked when she saw flickering light coming from the slightly ajar door, the room she knew to be Elijah's bedroom, and heard the woman's voice get slightly louder as the music swelled.
"See the marketplace in old Algiers,
Send me photographs and souvenirs…"
Elena moved quietly forward and gently nudged the door open, taking in dimly lit room, illuminated only by the fire in the fireplace.
"Just remember when a dream appears,
You belong to me…"
She immediately noticed the old style wooden record player on the sofa table near the bar in the far corner of the room. The bed was made and didn't appear to have been slept in, but a large box of records and the clothes that Elijah had worn the night before made it evident that he had recently been in the room.
But where was he now?
Suddenly, the door to the bathroom opened and Elijah walked out, shirtless and wearing only a loose pair of blue jeans, drying his hair with a soft plum colored towel as he crossed the room.
"I'll be so alone without you…"
Elena suddenly found herself holding her breath as she took in the sight with soft eyes as the Original tossed the towel on the bed, then ran a hand through his dark hair before turning to the bar in the corner of the room to poor himself a drink.
"Maybe you'll be lonesome too and blue…"
He took a sip of his bourbon then twirled the glass in his hand before sitting it down on the bar.
"Come in, Elena," Elijah said softly before turning to face her with a smirk, then, after a moment, stepped forward in front of the glowing fireplace and held his hand out to her.
"Fly the ocean in a silver plane,"
"How do you do that?" Elena asked with a raised eyebrow as she slowly crossed the threshold and entered the room as she tentatively took his offered hand, the contact immediately igniting sparks between their skin that made her heart leap in her chest and her mind race.
"See the jungle when it's wet with rain..."
"Just call it instinct," Elijah replied and they shared a small smile as he quickly twirled her under his arm, then pulled her into him, their noses and foreheads touching as their eyes locked, "I always know where you are…I can feel you."
"Just remember, 'til you're home again,
You belong to me…"
Elena's face immediately softened as she took in his words and soon felt his left arm instinctively wrap around her waist, breaking eye contact with her as he closed his eyes and brought his cheek to rest against hers as he began slowly swaying with her to the music.
"I'll be so alone and without you…"
Elena suddenly stilled in his arms, bringing their slow dancing to an end as she pulled back to face him again.
"I can feel it, too," she whispered, looking down to her hands resting on his bare chest, "I always have…since the day we met. It's like…."
"Magnets?" Elijah offered, his eyes opening to study her face
"Maybe you'll be lonesome too and blue…"
Elena nodded and they stared at each other wordlessly for a few more seconds before Elena finally leaned forward and captured the Original's lips in a passionate kiss.
"Fly the ocean in a silver plane…"
Soon, Elena felt her face cradled in both of Elijah's hands as he kissed her back heatedly and she brought her own hands from his chest up to rest on his muscular shoulders, then to run though his hair as their kiss continued to deepen.
"See the jungle when it's wet with rain…"
Then, as if in an instant, she was lifted effortlessly in Elijah's arms as he carried her with the aid of vampire speed to his bed where he laid her down gently as if she was made of gold and began to worship her body with kisses and caresses.
"Just remember, darling, 'til you're home again,
You belong to me…"
# # # # # # #
Klaus' eyes fluttered open at the familiar sound of his sister's voice.
"He's over here!" Rebekah called over her shoulder before racing with vampire speed to kneel beside Klaus' crumpled figure face down on the grass and bathed in early dawn light at the far edge of the cemetery.
"Nik…" she whispered with a smile above him as she ran a gentle hand through his curly hair
Soon, Damon appeared at her side and tossed a thermal blanket over the Original's naked body.
"Time to go, Wolfman," he smirked, "We can't leave you out here to be breakfast for our hunter friend."
Klaus suddenly felt the world spin as he was tossed over Damon Salvatore's shoulder, groggily taking in the sight of his sister following close behind.
It wasn't long before the hybrid heard a large iron door creak open and found himself inside what felt like a cold stone building, surrounded by several familiar figures, who moved past him in fast motion again as he was flipped off of Damon's shoulder and laid down on something hard and cold.
"Where are Jeremy and Caroline?" Misha's voice rang in Klaus' ears
"They're retrieving the compass from John Gilbert's grave," Damon answered, "They should be back soon."
"He doesn't look well. Do you think he's alright?" Rebekah's voice suddenly sounded again and Klaus looked up through hazy eyes to see her standing over him and looking down at him with a worried expression before turning to Misha, who also studied him with a look of concern, "Usually, werewolves aren't so sluggish the morning after they turn."
"He's fine, Barbie, relax," Damon's voice interjected again from somewhere Klaus couldn't see, "He's just had a long night. We'll get him some clothes and some fresh blood and he'll be as good as new."
"I don't…" Klaus suddenly whispered, barely audible, feeling his eyes rolling back into his head and his body sear with pain, "I...don't feel… 'fine'…"
"Shhh…Nik," Rebekah soothed as she eased behind him and took his head into her lap before taking a blood bag Kaspar handed her and held it over the hybrid's face, "Just drink. You'll feel better."
Klaus struggled weakly to sit up amidst the aching pain and weakness he felt as Rebekah popped open the top of the blood bag and brought it to his lips. He drank greedily, downing nearly half the blood bag, before finally pulling his lips away and falling back into Rebekah's lap with an exhausted gasp.
After a few moments, he suddenly felt a wave of nausea come over him and before he knew it, he had shifted under the blankets and rolled on his side, vomiting up the blood he had just drank.
"Whoa!" Kol cried as he moved out of the way, grabbing hold of Damon's shoulder and taking him with him as he avoided the vomit trajectory with vampire speed
"I think we can now safely debunk my 'Klaus is fine' theory…" Damon mused in stunned surprise
"I told you something wasn't right!" Rebekah cried angrily as she tossed the blood bag away and looked down into her brother's pale face as he continued to gag and cough up the remaining blood in his throat.
Misha immediately exchanged glances with Bonnie and Kaspar before they all three sprang into action.
Misha pushed Kol aside and immediately knelt down to Klaus' side as Rebekah and Bonnie rolled him on his back again, at which time, the warlock quickly took the hybrid's face into hands, prying open Klaus' eyelids as they drooped fluttered as he fought the urge to keep himself from passing out.
"Misha…" Bonnie said in a low voice, capturing the Warlock's attention, before reaching forward and gently shifting Klaus' head to the side to show him the hybrid's left ear.
Misha quickly sucked in a breath when he saw the blue and purple veining under Klaus' skin that had started branching out quickly down the side of his neck.
Misha immediately turned to Kaspar, who had also taken in the sight.
"Check the rest of his body!" the Warlock ordered and Kaspar quickly obeyed and, with Rebekah and Bonnie's help, lifted the blanket Damon had placed over Klaus' body earlier.
Everyone audibly gasped when the blanket folded half way down and revealed the front of Klaus' pale chest riddled with the same blue and purple veining under the skin.
"Holy crap!" Damon cried as he knelt down next to Misha and took in the scene with wide eyes, "Is that what I think it is?"
"Yes," Misha breathed, himself still taken back as reached across Klaus' body and picked up his arms one by one, shaking his head as he saw the same pattern begin to appear on them as well, "Wolfsbane."
"Wolfsbane?!" Rebekah cried, looking up to Misha, "How did he ingest that?"
"And where would he have gotten it?" Kol asked, "Especially enough to do this to him?"
"He wouldn't have done this to himself. That much we can be sure of..." Kaspar answered in an angry tone as he turned to everyone circled around Klaus, then rested his eyes intently on Misha, "He's been dosed."
"Dominic…" Misha nodded knowingly
"It probably happened when he was turning back into his human form," Kaspar suggested, "He would have been vulnerable then. He would not have seen it coming and would remember very little afterward."
"Shit…" Damon cursed as he quickly rose to his feet, "Then our hunter friend knows exactly where we are..."
He was immediately followed by Kol, who suddenly took hold of the older Salvatore's arm and met his gaze with a frightening realization.
"And Caroline and Jeremy are still out there..." Kol said, his eyes widening "with the compass."
((Thanks for being patient all. Been really busy lately so I haven't posted as often as I would like and this chapter isn't all I wanted, but I figured something small was better than nothing. Enjoy. BTW, since I know some of you will ask, the song Elijah and Elena have their moment during is "You Belong to Me" by the incomparable Jo Stafford. Check her out: watch?v=berL-80EPmg))