Chapter 30: Born to Die
"Klaus wanted to sacrifice Katherine so she ran but her family was killed because of that?" I went back over what Elena said.
Elena let out a sigh as I heard some sound of rustling on the other side of the phone.
"Right, and now I'm freaking out because it's like I'm cornered."
"Why don't you just take your family and run? I know a place you guys can hide out." I suggested. It was a sound plan. The Gilberts were fairly wealthy too. Jenna would also understand if Elena told her a convincing lie.
"And how long am I going to hide, Ava?"
"As long as it takes. I don't know why you think it's so difficult, the world is a big place and besides Katherine only had help from Trevor and Rose. You have us."
"Well they weren't the only ones."
"What do you mean?"
"She mentioned someone else. Apparently there was this noblewoman who was supposed to be a friend of Klaus and Elijah." Elena paused, trying to gather her thoughts. "Her name was Kamilah. She helped Katherine."
"What? Why would she do that?"
"I don't know. I asked Katherine and she didn't go into detail. What I do know is Kamilah told her to warn her family to move and that Katherine shouldn't go back home."
"Obviously Katherine didn't listen."
"Nope she found her entire family dead—that might be Jenna and Jeremy if I'm not too careful."
My heart dropped when I heard her words. I knew Klaus was dangerous but to go as far as killing Katherine's entire family was terrifying. All she did was run for her freedom.
I was scared but so was Elena. I couldn't let her know I was scared too. "Don't say that, okay? We'll figure this out." I tried to reassure her.
"You don't get it Ava, we're all in danger. Not just me, you too, except you have the choice to run." Her voice cracked mid-speech and it sounded like she was going to cry soon. "Katherine gave me a warning for you."
"Let me guess, another 'get out of town' warning?"
"Yeah. I think you should listen to it. I don't want to lose you or want you to get hurt because of me."
"Thanks for worrying about me."
"And covering for you." She seemed tired and I know I need to hang up soon. "If anyone asks, you're at Bonnie's. Caroline is also in, Bonnie was a little skeptical at first but she came around. Be careful."
"I'm just worried Damon might come back to check on the tomb considering my uncle's not in town."
If what I suspected was true I didn't want him to find out at all. I'd seen his obsession with Katherine and it honestly scared me, almost reminding me of Isaac.
"And Stefan too, right? You want me to keep this from me too."
I made a sound. "Not exactly. Slater got a call last night from his contact who's apparently also his roommate and turns out we need the moonstone so Stefan, Bonnie and I talked. I said I'd tried to convince Katherine to give me the moonstone."
"That's not going to work. Katherine wouldn't agree to that."
"Yeah well, I have a secret weapon—Kamilah."
"The one who helped Katherine escape. Wait. You know her?"
"Not exactly. I've been reliving her memories for the past few weeks."
"Oh, speaking of—how are you?"
I snorted. "Terrible." I answered honestly.
"I don't get why you can't just tell Damon about this."
"I don't know why you didn't tell Stefan about your trip to the tomb." I fired back.
"Point taken."
"Look, I'd rather not think about stuff like that right now, I'll see you at school." I finished talking, hanging up and parked my car.
Without another word, I hung up and got out of the car. I went to the trunk and picked up a few bottles of animal blood I had leftover from a previous hunt and stuffed them into a bag. I nodded to myself checking off the checklist in my mind before closing the trunk and making my way to the old church ruins.
The dimly lit tomb was cold and musty. I felt suffocated just being there but I pressed on. Carefully I descended down the old ruined stairs, making sure to grip the crumbling stone walls for extra support in case I slipped. The only sound was the sound of my footsteps and the aftermath of the rain seeping through the cracks.
I paused when I reached the last step. This was a bad idea. I knew it was. Katherine Pierce was someone you could never trust. I knew that from my ancestors' journals, from the Salvatore brothers and from experience. I still couldn't help myself.
"Elena? Stefan?" Katherine's weak and breathy voice echoed throughout the old tomb.
I shivered involuntarily as a chill passed through me. I swallowed the urge to kill and stepped into the light.
"Guess again." I said with feigned confidence.
I watched in silence as Katherine picked herself off from the ground and pushed herself against the boundary of her prison to get a better look at me. Her dull eyes squinted in the dim, flickering lights trying to see me.
I held out my hand and dusts of light danced in front of her before forming into small orbs, illuminating the cave. She watched the lights in awe and fear before glancing at me. "I was wondering when I'd see you again." She seemed a little better than last time I had seen her.
"Here I am." I stated simply before standing right across from her. "I brought a present." I took out a bottle of blood from my bag and waved it in her face.
She laughed. Her laughs turned to violent coughs as her voice morphed into a monstrous one. Dark veins appeared underneath her eyes, her sharp fangs came out in an instant and she flashed up the barrier, only to be pushed back by the boundary spell.
Her monstrous appearance was exactly what I had seen when I glimpsed into Lydia's memories.
"Is this a joke?" She hissed.
"Unfortunately, I'm here to talk, not to joke around."
"Yeah...yeah. Of course you are, why else would you be here?" She sat back down and pushed an empty blood bag away from her. Elena's attempt at research no doubt. "So what do you want to know? My tragic past. The sacrifice. 1864. Take your pick. It's not like I'm going anywhere."
"I don't care about 1864, I already know enough from then. I want to know about the sacrifice and your past."
"You could just ask Elena." She disappeared and reappeared in a second with a book.
The 'Petrova' book Damon and I had found at Duke. I remembered to ask Vanessa for Isobel's notes instead while Damon was busy looking around so I had the condensed but more detailed version of things along with a bunch of photocopies of the pages of the book.
It still wasn't enough.
I needed more.
I needed to know if this sacrifice would do more than just kill Elena. I also needed to get the moonstone but first I needed to make conversation. I needed to get her to trust me, lower her guard and give me the moonstone.
"I did, it wasn't really helpful." I placed a clean towel on the ground and sat down in front of her. "I know everything you told her was to make her afraid and drive her into a corner."
"Not everything." She opened the old book. "You really are the smart one in that stupid little group." I stared at her unimpressed while she stared at me, curiously. "I told her what she wanted to hear. She wanted to be a martyr, so I gave her a reason to be."
"This is not going anywhere." I muttered under my breath and took out my journal. "You know since you love playing games. Let's play a game of truth or false." I sat down across from her, cross-legged and took out my journal and a pen. "You were born and raised in Bulgaria? True or False."
"True."
"You were exiled for having a child out of wedlock. True or False."
"True. Again. I already had this conversa—"
"You fled to England where you met Klaus."
"Not the best time in my life but true."
"You stayed with him until you discovered 'the sacrifice' and that you would be killed as part of it."
"Hey! In my defense, he was very charming but it's true. I also met Elijah. Sweet Elijah, how he fooled me so easily."
"Right…" I stared at her as she seemed lost in a daydream. "Moving on. You killed yourself rather than dying as sacrifice—which by the way makes no sense. You could've just taken vampire blood before the sacrifice. You'd be here either way."
"Maybe. But do I look like someone who would go down like that. I'd be damned if I let anyone else take me out."
What little admiration I had for her diminished.
She was kind of stupid. Literally everyone would've been happy if she just took some vampire blood and was sacrificed. I mean she did end up killing herself with vampire blood in her system. It would've been a win-win situation. She would be a vampire, Elena would be safe.
Heck, she could've even found her child and rode off to the sunset with whoever was insane enough to want her.
'You're not as smart as you pretend to be Kitty-Kat." I remarked, grabbing a bottle of animal blood and sliding it to her.
"And you are smarter than you look." She remarked, hungrily taking the bottle of blood from where I left it. I watched in silence as she dove right into blood. She paused and started coughing violently. "Animal blood." She muttered, wiping her mouth.
"Consider being on a new diet." I shrugged as she glared at me fiercely. "Anyways, back to our little game." I said, folding my arms around myself.
I picked up my journal again and glanced at her quickly to make sure she was paying attention. "You went back home to Bulgaria after you became a vampire." I stated before glancing at her again. "True or false?"
Katherine's fist tightened around the blood bag and an unreadable expression crossed her face. Her eyes were unfocused. Her jaws clenched as she swallowed thickly, shaking slightly. If I focused hard enough I could see that there were tears in the corner of her eyes threatening to spill out.
So Katherine Pierce had emotions after all.
"...True." She spat out.
"—Where you found your family slaughtered by Klaus?"
She started shaking a little but composed herself to stare at me with a false confidence."...True."
I nodded and glanced back down at my notes in my journal. It was very much the same as what Elena had told me. But there was something missing. I readjusted my sitting position and inched closer to Katherine.
Looked back down at the journal and read the notes again. And again. Bulgaria. For some reason, Katherine's family being slaughtered for her mistakes made sense but at the same time…
"Katherine…" I began, still staring at my journal. "Weird question. You ever tell Klaus and his followers where exactly in Bulgaria you were from."
She scoffed, pausing her binging session to stare at me. "You really think I was that gullible. No. I didn't. Klaus just happened to be a sadistic bastard who loved getting even…"
It didn't make sense. My family couldn't find her family during our research and we searched hard. There were too many Petrovas but none of them fit.
"It doesn't make sense then."
"What doesn't make sense, sunshine. That's what Damon calls you right. I'm still curious about the nicknames."
I ignored the latter part and focused on her. "It doesn't make sense that Klaus found out exactly where you were born and raised just to punish you. Like think about it."
I looked up from my journal and pushed myself off the ground. "You have the scariest, oldest and most powerful vampire in the world. Klaus. Taking his sweet time to find your birthplace and family...just to punish you." I said as I started pacing back and forth in front of Katherine.
"This is Klaus, we are talking about. Nothing makes sense when it comes to him." Katherine pointed out.
"No. Even if it is the biggest baddest vampire, it doesn't add up. Why go through all of that trouble just to find your birthplace."
She coughed again. "You...you don't know Klaus. He was a sadistic bastard. Who knows why he did what he did but thank you for your interest. Most people look at me in pity when they find out about my family...for like five seconds before they remember it's Katherine Pierce."
I stopped pacing and stared at her with my hand under my chin in deep thought. I nodded. Katherine didn't want to talk about her family and I had nothing to gain from agitating her.
"And now Elena is going to die and her family too."
"Oh no! Poor little Elena's loved ones are gonna die. Wonder what that feels like." She muttered, squeezing the last drops of blood from the blood bag and dropping it.
Her face seemed livelier, her eyes were now a little focused. The animal blood had helped a lot. Katherine proved herself to be somewhat useful. For her usefulness, I should give her something back. Some human blood for her usefulness but I quickly shot that down.
"Katherine…" I began gathering my things. "I'm sorry for what happened to you. I'm sorry your child was taken away from you. I'm sorry you were forced out of your country. I'm sorry for what you became." I paused.
Katherine's lips trembled as tears returned to her eyes. She gave the slight impression my words were what she wanted to hear all along but never had the opportunity to hear. She swallowed back her sudden rise in emotion and smiled at me. I was almost moved.
But then I remembered, she was Katherine Pierce. She's killed people with no remorse or reason.
"But." I shut my journal and gazed at the doppelgänger. "I only pity Katarina Petrova, not Katherine Pierce. Katherine deserves no pity. Katarina does. A shame you killed her."
"For a minute there you had me fooled." She picked herself off the dusty ground and pushed herself to lean against the wall of the tomb. "But thank you for pitying Katarina. She never had anyone's pity or love."
"I'm sorry no one fought for Katarina Petrova the way people are fighting for Elena Gilbert. She deserved to live as well."
Katherine gaped at me. She stumbled a little and quickly caught herself from falling by grabbing on to one of the stone pillars at the entrance of the tomb.
She tried to speak, opening her mouth and closing. Looking confused, sad and happy all at the same time. She didn't know what to say. I did catch her by surprise. She expected me to show her only pity not to sympathize with her.
I got up from the dirty floor and dusted my blue jeans off any dirt or dust and straightened my black blouse. Giving Katherine one last look, I turned around and prepared to leave the tomb or pretend to.
"At least you'll be safe from Klaus in there."
Before I could go any further. Sad laughter echoed throughout the tomb. I stopped, craning my head towards her. Did she finally lose whatever sanity she had left or what?
I raised my hand to click my fingers and take out the orbs of light but Katherine's voice stopped me. "Wait…" Her words slurred a little. A crazed smile on her face as she stumbled around her prison. She sobered quickly to give me a cold and bitter smile. "I lied."
"About?" I slowly walked back to where I was sitting before.
"Not having anyone to help me back then. There was…someone." She leaned on the stone wall, staring at me tiredly. I took another bag of animal blood and poked it with another straw before tossing it to her. She caught it with ease and took a few sips. "You remind me of her."
"By any chance…is her name Kamilah?"
She stared at me blankly, her face now devoid of all emotions. "Elena spilled."
"Maybe, take a guess."
She sighed, leaning against a stone column. She gestured behind me. "She used to say that all the time whenever she talked about something she shouldn't have known about."
"Like your family?" She laughed a little.
"Like my family." Katherine confirmed with a wistful look, sipping the animal blood I gave her. "It's funny. You know she saved my life—she also ruined my life. I mean I should've seen it coming since she was friends with Klaus but she saved me. She was the one who told me about the sacrifice—how I was just a lamb being prepared for slaughter."
"Rose and Trevor…"
"Trevor was being manipulated by her. She got inside Trevor's head and used him as bait while manipulating Klaus and Elijah. Rose was just unfortunate enough to get caught in all of this."
"Wait. Did she manipulate Trevor or—"
"No. She compelled—or as she used to say she 'mesmered' them." She looked up at me and came right to the threshold. "Kinda like what you do."
I fidgeted on my spot and turned away, ignoring the sudden comparison. "Why would she do that?"
"I don't know. She used to say she was like me but I don't know if I ever believed her." She admitted, taking a seat in front of me on the stone floor. "You know what the most ironic thing was; she was the only friend I had. The only one who was there for me"
"Her family had also abandoned her like yours did."
Katherine gazed up at me in surprise. "You know her?" I shook my head and she deflated. "Of course you don't." She sighed and stared down at the half finished bottle of blood.
I placed the towel back on the floor and sat down. "Tell me about her—about Kamilah."
"Kamilah was—a mystery even to me but I knew a few things. One, she was not human, not a vampire or witch either. She was a faery or fey."
"I'm sorry what?" I looked at Katherine in disbelief but Katherine wasn't grinning or anything, she seemed tired and upset. "You're not joking…"
"I have no reason to." She croaked out, shakily bringing the blood bag to her lips. "She was like me. Unlike me, her parents traded her for a dying human child and left her behind in that child's place because she was different…somehow along the way Klaus and Elijah found her. I don't know much about her and those two. All I know is she saved my life, told me to run and that Klaus shouldn't be trusted so I ran."
"That explains how and why you faked your death and the whole tomb situation. Good plan."
She nodded her thanks and let out a sigh. "It was until Damon's obsession with me ruined everything. Over a hundred years of peace, gone down the drain because he couldn't get over me."
Suddenly I felt bad for her. She ran for hundreds of years and finally managed to find some peace only for an obsessive ex to ruin it all. Yet at the same time, I couldn't completely bring myself to sympathize with her knowing she ruined Stefan and Damon's lives and countless more.
"You know she was actually here in Mystic Falls in 1864 with me."
"There's no accounts of you coming with another person."
She snorted. "Please, you think an all powerful faery like her would leave behind a trail—believe me she was really powerful. You're like Tinkerbell compared to her."
"Gee thanks Katherine." I rolled my eyes and wrote down a few things she said in my journal.
"You know," Katherine was lost in her memories. "It was her idea to fake my death. She knew Klaus was coming for me. I don't know how but she just knew, maybe she was in contact with him. I don't know but she always looked out for me and I looked out for her. Guess I'm not as selfish as everyone thinks I am."
"Was Kamilah also on the run with you?"
"Yes and no. At first she helped me out, helped me find a witch for a daylight amulet and adjust to being a vampire then she'd disappear. Klaus and Elijah never knew what she did."
"She fooled them and she got away with it." Katherine nodded. "So whose idea was it to turn Stefan and Damon? Yours or hers?"
"At first it was mine but I backed out. I knew what it was like and I only wanted Stefan. "
"But Damon—"
"Was her idea. I don't know why. She didn't even know them. She was always too busy watching either Emily, the Gilberts or your ancestors and another family I don't remember."
"Why? What was so important about them?"
"I don't know, she said they were important for the future. I was even going to make Damon forget me completely but Kamilah insisted it had to be both. The two were destined for something more than being the heirs to the Salvatore family. I never asked what it meant. I didn't really care."
"You were too busy screwing up the lives of Stefan and Damon and terrorizing my ancestors." Katherine shrugged and I fought off the urge to attack her. "When was the last time you saw her?" I asked without thinking. Maybe her friend could help me figure myself out and what I was.
Katherine stilled, thinking. "Grove Hill, Virginia in 1979. Last time I saw her, she had a family of her own, a husband—a doctor—and two young daughters. It was nice. She got the white picket fence life I always wanted."
I sat up straight. There was an odd buzzing in my head and a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. I felt sick for some reason. "Did you just say Grove Hill?"
She scrunched up her face in confusion. "Grove Hill, it's not that far from here, come to think of it, Isobel grew up there."
"I know that." I snapped, taking Katherine aback with my sudden change of tone. "Those girls were t-they were her own daughters?"
"Had to be. Her youngest was a near duplicate of her mother even down to the magic..."
I nodded and scrambled to get my bag. I could never remember Kamilah's face in my dreams. She always seemed so familiar. I almost emptied my bag rummaging through it for a picture. I felt around the leather bag and finally pulled out a small picture.
Pulling it out of my bag, I flipped it over in my hand carefully. An orb of light gently flew down close to me, illuminating the slightly faded color photograph.
The photograph was of a family of four, the parents and their two young daughters. It was the last picture my mom had taken with her family before they were found murdered a week after. I turned it over and there in black ink was scribbled some information about the picture.
'The Shaik Family, March 1988'
I smoothed out the picture, trying to get rid of the creases. I dragged myself over to Katherine, being careful not to cross the boundary. "D-Do you recognize them?" I said, holding up the picture close to her as far as I could. The orbs of light following my every move.
Katherine pushed herself off where she sat and came close to the boundary of her prison, almost pressing her face to the invisible fall. She squinted hard, studying the picture.
A flash of recognition went through her gaze and a wistful smile appeared on her face but it was quickly gone just as it had appeared.
"Where did you get this?"
"So you know-knew them…" I breathed out.
"Of course I do. That's her! That's Kamilah or as she started to go by—"
"Mila." My hands were shaking as I gripped the photo in my hand, hard. "Oh my god."
The world really was small.
I felt sick then I felt nothing, nothing at all. Maybe I'd feel a little emotional but somehow there was nothing. I never really knew her. My mom barely ever talked about her own mother.
Though I wish I never asked Katherine for confirmation. It made sense now. It all made sense why I was suddenly going through her memories. Oh god. My grandmother, it was her. She was Kamilah. She knew Klaus, she stopped the first sacrifice. Saving Katherine damned Elena. I couldn't help but laugh.
The world was really small.
"What's so funny?"
I shook my head, trying to stop myself from crying. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing." I answered, standing up and gathering my things.
"When was that picture taken?" She tried to reach out from her prison.
"1988. It was their last family photo."
"Last picture? You said last. No. No. Please don't tell me."
"30th March 1988, three members of the Shaik family were found dead by the oldest daughter of the family." I recited the headline of that year's newspaper from Grove Hill with a blank face but teary eyed.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she let out a choked gasp and fell to the floor. "You're lying." I didn't move. "No. No. No—you're lying. You're lying! She's not dead. She's not." Katherine kept shaking her head. She ran straight to the boundary of her prison and bashed her body against it before she bared her teeth at me. Dark veins appeared underneath her face as she hissed at me. "Stop lying! STOP! STOP! STOP!"
I didn't flinch. I just stood there as tears rolled down my face. "I have no reason to." I croaked out, echoing her own words from before.
She stared at me before she stumbled back, falling down to the floor. "She's gone." Katherine cried out. "She's gone. I was so busy running—I didn't even—I—"
I wiped away my tears. I wasn't crying because I sympathized with her, no. I was upset that my own grandmother was the reason why everything in my life was so screwed up.
She's the reason why everything had happened from the so-called Sacrifice to the screwed lives of the Salvatore Brothers.
She manipulated everything.
Katherine kept silently crying. Her muffled cries echoed in the empty tomb while she tried hard to come to grips with the death of her only friend. "That photo—" Katherine stared at the photo in my hand.
"I can't give it to you. It's the original and my mom won't be happy if I lose it."
She scoffed and glared at me. "Why would your mother care ab—oh. Oh my god." It was then she realized why I was asking her all these questions and how I knew so much but so little about Kamilah.
She looked at me like she was seeing me for the first time ever and she stood up, walking up to the boundary of the tomb.
"Your mother—she was the survivor and you're—I'm-I'm so sorry."
"You weren't sorry when you threatened to kill me or when you killed one of my friends. You're only sorry because you found out that I'm the granddaughter of your old dead friend."
Like a broken record she kept mumbling 'no' under her breath, too stunned to speak properly. I was already turning around and on my way to leave for good this time.
"You have to leave Mystic Falls! Klaus, he-he'll come for you too. Get out! Get out!" She cried out with a sudden desperation that appeared too foreign on her face.
For a moment there, I could see Elena in her face, only for that moment, the two really mirrored each other.
I had to get it now, the moonstone. I felt a little bad for doing this after breaking her down but after what she put us all through I was only getting even. "You know if you're really sorry then help me, Katherine. Please."
"I am trying. I am telling you to run."
I stood my ground and refused to move or even listen to her. "I need the moonstone." I finally blurted it out. "Please. I really need it."
Katherine stilled. Her eyes darkened. "...No."
"Katherine…"
"Let me guess. It's for Elena, isn't it? Saving Elena isn't worth it. If it's not her, it'll be her descendent and then what? It's a cycle."
"You mean it's not fair for you but you said it yourself, you weren't alone. My grandmother helped you. Heck, she's the one who stole the moonstone from Klaus and it's only fair you give it to me!"
For a moment, she didn't speak. Silence hung in the air. I stared at her but she didn't look at me. She couldn't look at me. "...I can't give you the moonstone." She croaked out.
This was absolutely useless. All I got was nothing. No moonstone, no useful information. Nothing.
"Goodbye Katherine." I clicked my fingers and orbs of light shattered into the air, plunging the entire tomb into darkness.
I left with more questions than answers.
Leaves rustled against under my feet as I made my way out of the tomb and back up to the ruins of the church. It was still the same despite its frequent visitors, the ruins of the old Fell church still looking abandoned. The sprawling ivy on the old crumbling stone walls and the moss covered floors, were all still the same.
No one would know at first glance that underneath the ruins was a five hundred year old vampire. Hopefully no one. I turned my back to the ruins and wrapped my arms around myself to keep myself warm, silently cursing myself for leaving my jacket inside my car.
I slowed my pace when I found Stefan leaning against my car. "So? Did you get it?" He asked.
Sighing, I shook my head. I was disappointed but I didn't know what to expect, to make Katherine sentimental enough to hand over the moonstone? Yeah, right. I was being too optimistic. "I just wasted my time." I passed him one of the bottles of animal blood and leaned against the car, next to him. He traded the bottle of blood for a cup of iced coffee.
"So we're back to square one."
"More or less. I guess I did confirm something."
"Oh. Is it about…"
"Yeah. Turns out I'm not insane."
"Never thought you were."
"No, you're too nice to say it outloud but I know—the memories of Kamilah and the reason why I was seeing her around and her memories and even Katherine. They were all connected."
"She helped Katherine escape. Maybe she can help Elena."
"About that."
He groaned and took a sip of his drink. I did the same. "I don't like the sound of that." He breathed out.
"Kamilah…she's dead. She's been for a while."
"Great. Another dead end. So Klaus killed her."
"I don't know. Neither did Katherine or the police." He shifted in his spot and from the corner of my eyes, I could see his eyes were on me, not on his drink. He was waiting for me to continue. I hesitated for a second, not knowing if I should actually tell him. "Kamilah…is or was my grandmother, from my mother's side."
"The one who was murdered back in 80s with the rest of her family except your mother." I nodded. "Isobel—she knew your grandmother too. This complicates things."
"Very. Katherine keeps saying that maybe I should leave town."
"Maybe you should."
"Ouch. What happened to the mutual trust we had, Stef."
"I trust you. I do. I know what you're capable but we don't know if Klaus is real and if he is—"
"I think he is."
"Let's say he is real. If he comes to town, it'll be for the Sacrifice. We know Elena is going to…die if he gets his way but we don't know what he'll do to you. Maybe he'll…kill you too or…something worse. We don't know. It's better for you to just run while you can."
"What about Elena? She needs leave too."
"I suggested it but she's too afraid after her visit with Katherine."
"There's no point in me leaving. Let's be honest, at this point, you guys need me."
"Can't say we don't. Thanks to you, we at least have something on Klaus. Slater has been surprisingly helpful. Apparently, Lexi also knows him and vouched for him."
"Small world."
"You tell me."
"My grandparents and aunt's death anniversary is coming soon. I'll be out of town for the next two days. I'll still be here tomorrow and after that I'm gonna be in Grove Hill. If you need me—"
Stefan exhaled loudly, signaling that he wanted to ask me about something or make a request. "I'll call. I know this is me asking a lot." He began, handing my back the empty bottle of blood. "But can you—I don't know—dig up some stuff about your grandmother's past? She went against Klaus and survived."
"That was the plan and it's not exactly like she went up against Klaus. Stefan," I sighed. Realizing Kamilah was my grandmother was not easy and now it was a little hard for me to plan my next moves. "She was friends with them. She had their trust so obviously it was easy for her to slip under their radar and do what she did. Honestly my grandma was not a good person."
"I'm sure she had her reasons for befriending them. Maybe survival."
"Or maybe she was insane. Stefan, you don't understand, she was pulling the strings."
"What do you mean?"
"Not only did she help Katherine but she was here in Mystic Falls in 1864. She…" I hesitated, breathing in and out, trying to calm myself. "She's the one who convinced Katherine to turn you and Damon."
"What? Why?"
"I don't know. Katherine didn't know either. There must've been something." I didn't want to think about it right that second. That was a problem for future me. "I'll look into that later but for now let's focus on the Sacrifice and Klaus."
"I'll drive you back home."
"Thank you and I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault. You didn't know."
"No, but one side of my family exposed you guys to the council and the other actively made sure you guys would turn into vampires. I do feel sorry and terrible."
"But you're not the one who did it. Besides I understand why Eddie did what he did. Damon wasn't exactly kind to Lydia after their engagement fell apart. He tried his best to hold onto her but he couldn't." I knew that. I unfortunately had the privilege of seeing it too which made things a little difficult for me. "Be careful" He stopped the car in the driveway and I got out. I was being careful.
Despite everything going on with Elena, Sacrifice and the Originals, I still had to attend school and I wasn't about to skip without a reason. Not to mention, Dana had suddenly announced she wanted to step down from her position because of Aimee and Sarah's death, understandable but it was so last minute that I had to drag Caroline in to replace her on the Council.
Unsurprisingly, Caroline was happy to be called and instantly accepted. The two of us were mostly back to normal and with Bonnie busy with spending time with Jeremy and Elena busy overthinking, we were back to hanging out more and more just the two of us.
I sighed, loosening my braid before pulling it apart and letting my hair cascade down my shoulders. "What's got you down?" Caroline asked, getting out of my car.
"Nothing just, someone tried to break into my house last night."
She let out a laugh. "No way your place is like Fort Knox." But I didn't laugh. "Oh you're serious. Did they get in?"
"Obviously no. The security alarms went off at three in the morning. I was up and ready to fry someone. Like you don't know how scary that was."
"Right, your uncle's at Duke." I nodded. "What about the maids and the other staff?"
"Well they were sleeping in another building."
"I keep forgetting just how big your place was."
"Unnecessarily big. It was so spooky." She giggled. "It's not funny Care. Someone tried to break into my house and if that wasn't enough, the alarm system randomly turned off by itself without calling the cops."
"That is freaky."
"Right, if I didn't wake up. I don't know what would've happened.
"Nothing happened and you're like Buffy and Tinkerbell wrapped into one pretty package anyways."
"Tinkerbell?" I questioned.
She shrugged. "Your grandmother was faery and that makes you a faery. Honestly it makes sense, that's why you're so short." She let out a laugh as I playfully punched her. "Kidding. I just realized, I can never go into your house again." She said as I opened my locker to put my stuff in.
I sighed. I got what she meant, I really did but it wasn't like I had control over that. "Well it's not just my place. It's technically my family's too." I pointed out. Aunt Evelyn already disapproved of everything I did—I didn't need to give her another reason to hate me. One more step out of the line and maybe she'd petition to get me disowned. "As much as I love you I'm not allowed to compromise our family's security like that and yeah it applies to all vampires. Good or bad."
"That sucks. God, couldn't Katherine pick someone else other than me—like I'm not trying to be mean or anything, it's just so sucky that it had to be me of all people. Why not Tiki? Or I don't know Dana."
"Caroline." I chastised and she shrugged, not caring if her words were mean or not. "I kinda agree but honestly if it was Tiki, I wouldn't even hesitate to stake her."
"Ouch. That's a little harsh."
"So is her voice but whatever. No offense but she's so annoying as a human, imagine her as a vampire."
Caroline chuckled. "Speaking of Katherine." I groaned and looked away. "Don't make that face. You're the one who filled me in about this and I did say we were going to talk about it in detail or you can hear me complain about Mason bailing on Tyler or Matt ignoring me."
"I'll take Katherine."
She beamed. "Good choice. Now—how are you? I mean you just found out your own grandmother who you never knew was BFFs with the 'Katherine Pierce', not to mention she sabotaged the Sacrifice and turned the Salvatore brothers."
I sighed and pursed my lips.
How did I feel?
Like shit. I couldn't sleep and it didn't help that Stefan and I were too busy making sure Damon didn't accidentally annoy Bonnie again. Without uncle Nate around, Bonnie was the only witch we had. There was also Elena. She had suddenly decided to be a martyr, so not shocking for me but Stefan was upset, rightfully. Damon found it all amusing but he still decided to stop her.
"Honestly," She leaned against the locker next to me and focused all her attention on me. "I feel terrible but it helps that I hardly knew her so it's like someone who I share blood with is potentially a terrible person."
"She's still your grandmother."
"Who I never met." I pointed out. That was the only way I was coping with all of this by distancing myself from this woman I had never met. It was what my therapist told me to do. "Look, I feel like if I fixate too much on the fact that Kamilah is my grandmother and I actually let myself care about the people she mixed with, I'm not gonna get anything done. It's gonna be like I'm Elena."
"And we don't need another Elena—no offense to her, it's just so freaking hard. I don't understand why she thinks Klaus won't come after her loved ones even if she is sacrificed."
I nodded. "See that's what I pointed out." Stefan and Damon backed me up but Elena was adamant about her decision much to my disappointment. She was the emotional type which was getting a little hard to deal with. "I mean, no offense, but Katherine came after us just to hurt Elena."
"Exactly. I don't get why she doesn't see that."
"I don't know. I just don't know what to think about it too much. At the end of the day, it's her choice. I literally told her—I could pull a Kamilah and help her get away along with moving Jenna and Jeremy."
"Let me guess, she said 'no' because it's too risky—according to her at least."
"Yep and she acted like she was fine. Jeremy was down for my plan."
"Speaking of Jeremy. Have you seen…"
I rolled my eyes, already knowing what she was going to say. Bonnie and Jeremy. It was a hot topic between Bonnie, Caroline and me. Elena was too busy contemplating Katherine's words unlike me who stopped thinking about it after talking to Stefan. "I have and no, we're not getting involved."
Caroline pouted and made her eyes wide, trying to appeal to me. "Come on. Bonnie's our best friend. Apart from Jeremy, there's also that cute warlock she befriended."
"Warlock?"
"His name's Luka Martin and he just moved into town with his dad. Both of them are warlocks like your uncle."
"Really? Weird. I didn't know about this."
"Bonnie must've forgotten to tell you." I shrugged. "So team Jeremy or team Luka."
"I'm team 'let-Bonnie-be-happy'."
Caroline scoffed and stood up straight just as I closed my locker. "Ugh. You're no fun." She groaned. "So Da—"
"No." I quickly shot her down and turned away, already walking away. Caroline quickly caught up to me. "That's in the 'do-not-discuss' pile." I added, folding my arms around myself. She was the one person who was up to speed about the whole thing and the person who actually knew what was going on. I didn't want to talk about it.
Caroline caught up to my pace and walked alongside me, matching my pace. "Come on, you can't avoid this topic forever."
"I can and I will."
She snorted, shaking her head. "No, you won't. Look, I'm happy you're still standing up for me and for the way Damon treated me—heck, you and maybe Bonnie were the only ones who gave Damon enough grief for the way he treated me and I'm happy for that but I feel like I'm the reason why you' two are no—"
I stopped in the middle of the hall. Someone almost collided against me but they managed to stop themselves and go around me. "Being alone isn't bad for me and besides, it's still too soon especially after you know what happened at Spring Break." An involuntary shiver passed through me when I recalled Isaac and whatever I could recall from that break which honestly wasn't a lot.
"Isaac." She quietly guessed and I nodded. "But Damon's not Isaac."
I gave her a pointed look and she backed down. "No, he's worse." Damon had a century over Isaac. Who knew what he spent that century doing? I didn't want to think about it.
"He's at least trying his best."
"And I'm happy for him but now's not the greatest time, Carebear. It's complicated—remember, he was engaged to my ancestor, Lydia?"
"Shoot, I forgot about that." She gave me a look of sympathy and breathed out loudly. "Well, at least I know you're not completely oblivious." Funny how she suddenly felt bad for him. I got where she was coming from, I did but I just couldn't bring myself to deal with that, not with the threat of Klaus looming overhead.
I rolled my eyes. "It's better to pretend to be oblivious than lead him on. Besides, I already told him I wasn't ready for anything serious. If he's smart, he'll take the hint." I said with a sigh, coming to halt outside the student council room. I motioned my head towards the door and she pushed it.
On the other side of the door, Dana was waiting with her hands folded in front of her. She got up from her seat on the table and welcomed Caroline into the room before greeting us. "Hey you two are here." She gestured to us to come in before closing the door.
"Are you sure about this, Dana?"
"I need some time off but I don't want to leave."
"We understand."
"What's going on?" Jeff asked, standing up from his seat.
Will and Dana shared a look as Dana clasped her hands together in front of her. "I'm officially stepping down as the student-body Vice President." She stated. Murmurs filled the room as Dana nodded her head, listening to them complain. "I…uh…need some time off, Aimee and Sarah, I need time off for them. I'll still be a part of the council but just not the VP."
"Then who's going to take over from you?"
"Caroline will. She's already head of the Prom committee and has filled in for me before, working with Ava on various projects."
"I hope you all don't mind." Caroline smiled brightly at the other members on the council.
"Not at all. We're glad to have you." Will shook Caroline's hand and smiled. He was one of the few people who was happy to see Caroline on the student body council.
Dana was organized but Caroline was a whole different story. Everyone knew how efficient and ordered she really was, she was famous for it. If anything this change helped us all.
The rest didn't put up a fight but simply agreed to the change. Caroline and I quickly left the room. She was happier than before and I could tell she was going to enjoy being part of the student council officially.
"We should get some cake later on to celebrate." I said to Caroline.
"After school?" She asked, her smile not fading until my phone started buzzing and Matt's name appeared. "Oh. You should take that."
I let the phone finish ringing before sending Matt a quick message. "Eh, it wasn't that important." I replied just as my phone went off again.
'Can you meet me in front of the Boarding House?'
- Lena
"What is it?"
"I guess I'm skipping school today." I said, turning my phone off and heading towards the doors leading.
"Elena?" Caroline called out and I nodded, hurrying out. "Have fun."
I was already gone and rushing through the parking lot when I accidentally collided with someone. I quickly got up and apologized to him.
"No worries, I'm Luka Martin. I just moved here." The boy held out his hand for her.
Hesitantly I took his hand and shook it. "I know, I heard about you." He was a warlock alright. I felt warmth when I touched him but at the same time, I felt something burn me and I instantly recoiled, taking my hand back.
"You're friends with Bonnie."
"Yeah…" I examined his hand, trying to find what burnt me. The small burn mark was still there, it was like when I was burnt by Jenna's silverware. "I'm Ava…Ava Fitzroy, Student Body President which reminds me—welcome to Mystic Falls High and Mystic Falls. I hope you enjoy your stay here."
"Cool, I was wondering if you could—"
I cut Luka off before he could finish talking. I know it was rude but I had to run. "Do you mind asking Bonnie or one of our classmates. I have to run—it's an emergency." I quickly read another one of Elena's messages before waving to Luka.
Elena had amazing timing. She really did. I sighed, carefully driving to the Salvatore Boarding House. I found her standing outside, pacing around.
"You made it." She said, stopping in front of the front door.
I waved at her in greeting before getting out and locking the car. "What are you up to 'Lena?"
"Nothing." Her smile was strained and her mind was buzzing with different thoughts. I could make out "Slater" along with "Katherine" and "Klaus". She was still very much worried about Katherine's words. "Shall we?"
"I have no idea what we're doing here."
"I need to talk to Slater and maybe Rose. The two know something about Klaus."
"Yeah, I know. The question is: why are we doing this behind Stefan and Damon's backs?"
"Because you know how overprotective they've been lately—Damon, not so much but Stefan doesn't trust me."
"You can't exactly blame them considering your plans."
"Are you reading my mind?"
I glanced at her and shook my head. "No, of course not." I was not trying to read her mind. "Where the hell are they?" I muttered.
I heard some footsteps from one of the corridors nearby, Elena and I turned to see Rose in a night robe. "Are you still mad at me for last night? I already apologized for trying to...oh." Rose stopped in her tracks when she saw us. Her face paled when she made eye-contact with me. "Ava." She stood there staring at me for a while before noticing Elena. "Sorry I thought…"
I rolled my eyes. I had a small guess to what almost happened—I decided to keep it civil. Who was I to feel jealous? "I don't know what went down last night but we need to talk to you and Slater." I decided to take charge while Elena was still reeling in from the quiet shock.
"I'll go get dressed and call him down." She disappeared, leaving me and Elena alone in the corridor.
Elena carefully moved closer to me. "You know Damon and her probably—"
"Ellie, I do not care." I cut her off. "I'm sorry but we have bigger problems to worry about then…you know."
"Okay. I'm just saying. Are you okay?"
"Perfectly fine. Why wouldn't I be?" I was in fact lying.
There was this strange pain in my chest now when I recalled Rose's words. Nothing probably happened but somehow I felt a little hurt—I know it was silly. I wasn't jealous. No, I wasn't. I was just weirded out. Yeah, that was it.
Slater came downstairs with Rose behind him. He seemed a little tired. "Ava, hey." He brightly greeted me before turning to Elena. "Holy shit. You and Katherine Pierce do look alike."
Elena gave me a face. "Yeah I know. I'm a doppelgänger." She pointed out with an awkward laugh.
"Right, of course you are. Um," Slater clapped his hands together. "So how can I help you guys today?"
"Well, we'd like to know everything about the Sacrifice. I mean you mentioned the moonstone holding the curse and the curse could be removed."
"Technically it was my good friend and roommate Andrew who told me about that—he's obsessed with the Originals."
"So you don't know anything?"
"I know a lot of stuff but unfortunately this is not my area of expertise…not to mention all my stuff is at my place. I do have stuff on the Originals…I did help Rose contact Elijah."
Oh no. I knew what was coming before Elena even asked. "Maybe we could make a trip to your place, we could look through your stuff. Your roommate, could he tell us more?" Elena offered.
"No." Rose and I said at the same time, surprising each other. She and I glanced at each other before I carried on. "You know it might not be safe." I pointed out, crossing my arms.
"Why not?"
"Because it's a terrible idea."
"Please." Elena tried again. I shook my head. I wasn't about to give into her demands. "Ava, we need this. You're the one who says the more knowledge we have on something, the more prepared we are."
I just stared at her and blinked. "That's what I said for our history test, not…this."
Slater chuckled hearing me but quietened when Rose glared at him. "This is a bad idea." Rose pointed out.
"Slater had information on Klaus back at his place. You, Damon and Rose gave up before you guys got it." She didn't move and kept her gaze on me before turning to look at Slater and Rose.
"Well because the coffee shop we had a meeting at blew up. The windows shattered." Rose stated. Elena wasn't there, she didn't see how those vampires ran and screamed when the sunlight hit them.
"There's more to learn. We just have to find it."
"How about—I go back to my place and grab my stuff and come back?" Slater offered.
"No, that won't be enough." Elena shot him down and that's when I sat up. That was the most logical solution. I didn't understand why she shot it down. "You owe me, remember?" She said to Rose. "One word for me, and Damon and Stefan could have you killed for kidnapping me." She threatened.
Rose scoffed. "Need I remind you, I'm older than both of them and Katherine. Your threats mean nothing to me."
"Fine, then Ava will kill you." I snapped my head towards her. "I don't know if you know but Ava's capable of turning vampires to dust."
Slater jumped from his seat. "Wait. Wait. What?" He was panicking. "I don't remember the Fitzroy family having this ability."
"I'm an exception." I drawled out.
Rose ignored Slater and me. "I know. I've seen what she's capable of and we both know she won't do it." She sighed again. "You know they wouldn't want you doing this. Their moonstone caper gives you a chance to sneak away and I'm just surprised you brought her along considering how vocal she's being."
"We're having a disagreement and Ava's the middle-ground between me and them. They're willing to risk everyone that I love, and I'm not."
"Sure, by taking an even bigger risk." I interjected as Rose nodded along. "Elena, this is a bad idea."
"Everyone's only trying to protect you." Rose added.
"I know. I also know you don't care whether I'm protected or not so we're back to square one, you and Slater are taking us to his place.
Rose looked at me apologetically, sighing loudly before she took a seat next to Elena. "What do you plan to achieve with this?"
"How'd you two like to be able to walk during the daylight?"
Oh no. Bonnie wouldn't play along with Elena at all. She was reluctant to give Caroline a daylight ring, I can't imagine Rose. Obviously, she'd say no.
Rose was interested and I felt bad because Elena was lying. On the other hand, Slater apprehensively observed at Elena. He didn't believe her at all. He was younger than Rose but he had more common sense to know not to trust Elena's words.
"I've been a slave to shadows for 500 hundred years. What do you think?"
Elena grinned a little and for a second there, she reminded me of Katherine. "I know a witch who's willing to do whatever it takes to help, if you're willing to make a deal." Except Bonnie wouldn't do it.
"Fine, we'll go to Slater's apartment." She avoided my gaze, heading for the door.
Slater awkwardly followed, mouthing a 'sorry' to me. I had no choice but to tag along and make sure, Elena didn't do anything dumb.
"This is a terrible idea." I said following Rose and Slater up a set stairs.
Elena shrugged. "Hey, you're the one who said if I was going to be reckless and stupid I might as well have you or Caroline around." I know I said that but did she have to go through with reckless stuff in the first place? Of course she did, she's Elena. "And we both know Caroline can't keep a secret to save her life."
"Still this is a terrible idea." I repeated, stopping at the top.
Slater stood in front of an aged door with peeling white paint. He pointed to the door and took out his key. "Here we are. This is my…place." The door unlocked with a quiet click but when he tried to push it, it wouldn't budge. "Huh. Weird."
"Oh no. I guess we're not going in after all." Rose said, glancing at me to back her up.
Elena narrowed her eyes at me, shaking her head. "Mmm. We didn't come here all the way for nothing." She went towards the door and tried to push it.
Slater moved her out of the way before he pushed the door once and the door gave away. "Strange, there was a chain here." He examined the fallen metal chain.
"Your roommate's strange." I commented and he shrugged, too tired to explain.
Elena examined the apartment before going in with Rose and Slater. "Ava, coming?"
"Yeah!" I yelled out before taking out my phone and quickly texting Stefan.
'Lena and me are at Slater's apartment in Richmond'
- Ava
'What are you guys doing there?'
- Stef
'Long story. DO NOT COME HERE!'
- Ava
'Why not?'
- Stef
'Because Lena doesn't know I told you. I'm only telling you in case of an emergency…just be prepared'
- Ava
'Okay. Bonnie says she can get into the tomb and Jeremy volunteered'
- Stef
'DONT LET JEREMY INTO THE TOMB!'
- Ava
'Damon put him down'
- Stef
'Good. Don't let Bonnie drop the spell until I'm back, I can let her channel me else she'll get herself killed'
- Ava
'I'll try, no promises'
- Stef
'Be careful'
- Ava
'You too and keep me updated. Keep an eye on Rose'
- Stef
'Gotcha. Talk to you later'
- Ava
I turned my phone off and followed Elena into the apartment. Slater had disappeared while Elena and Rose explored the living room. Elena gave me a strange look. I avoided her and tried to find Slater.
"Slater!" I called out and he popped his head from the bedroom.
"I can't find Andrew or any of my paperwork." He came out with a box of files. "These are just my thesis stuff." He dumped the box on the floor in front of me and walked away, going into his office. "Oh my god. Andrew!" He cried out.
All of us rushed into the office where another vampire was laid out dead. There was a stake sticking out of him. His skin was pale, ashy and gray. He had been dead for a while.
"What do we do now?" I paced around the living room. "Your paperwork is gone. Your informant dead and we're back to square one."
But Slater wasn't listening to me. "That could've been me." He kept muttering.
"Slater!" Rose went up to him and shook him. "Snap out of it!" She shook him harder.
"I mean we're both knowledgeable and skilled and…oh god. I'm gonna die soon."
I groaned. I snapped my fingers and orbs of lights appeared out of thin air, floating above me. "Well, if you want to die so badly? I can make that happen." I threatened.
Slater snapped out of his daze and gaped at the orbs of light in awe. "What…are you?" He asked, looking back at me.
"Oh good. You're back. I wasn't actually planning to kill you." I said, snapping my fingers and orbs shattered into dusts of light which flowed back to me. "As for what I am, I have no idea." I did have an idea.
"Andrew's dead and I could've been the one." And he was gone.
Rose let out a deep sigh. "You two were walking vampire almanacs, it was bound to happen."
"Not reassuring."
Elena paced around the entire living room. "Well I'm sure there's something useful in here? You have something useful too, right?" She was losing her temper now.
I took out my phone and texted Stefan.
'Slater's roommate and contact are dead. His paperwork was destroyed'
- Ava
'We walked into a dead end'
- Ava
'Are you and Elena okay?'
- Stef
'Elena's upset and I'm annoyed but we're okay'
- Ava
Suddenly, we heard sounds from the apartment. The four of us stared at each other. I quickly put my phone away and looked around. Rose and Slater took the lead, walking towards the source of the sound as I held out my hand, dusts of light gathered around my hand.
Carefully Slater opened the door where the noise came from. He took a step forward before a woman in a little black dress ran into his arms.
"Alice?" He said, wiping away the tears of the weeping woman. "Hey, hey it's me."
Alice engulfed him in a embrace and started sobbing into his chest. Slater patted her back, waiting for her to stop. "Andrew…hic…he's dead" She cried.
"Thank god, it's not Slater."
"Oh. I can still be…a vampire."
"Andrew's dead. Oh god."
"Vampires do die."
I shook off the thoughts of Alice before motioning Elena towards the kitchen. I pulled her away into the kitchen, leaving Rose and Slater in the living room with Alice. I took out a few cups from the cabinets while Elena boiled some water.
"How is she?" Elena asked as Rose walked into a kitchen just as I was getting the tea leaves.
Rose smiled lightly, watching us make tea. "Overreacting. Bigtime." I mirrored her look and passed her a cup of tea.
Elena made a sound. "She just walked in on the dead body of someone she knew. There's no thing such as overreacting."
I scoffed, grabbing a cup of tea for myself and adding a bit of vervain from my bag. Rose watched me as I did so, surprised I kept vervain with me. "You know she doesn't really care about that." I remembered her thoughts—they weren't exactly depressing or sad.
"She doesn't? Wait." Elena's eyes widened. "You didn't."
"I couldn't exactly help it."
Rose glanced between the two, missing what we're talking about. "I'm a little confused." She commented.
Elena sucked in a breath and stared at me. I rolled my eyes. "I read Alice's mind." I said, taking a sip.
The older vampire nodded, taking a sip of her drink as well before stopping. "What?" She put down her cup. "You did what?"
"I read her mind. It's not a big deal and no, I can't read the minds of vampires."
"So you know…" She was looking at the sobbing Alice in the living room. "That she…"
"She's only with Slater because she wants to be a vampire." I finished, taking a cup of tea for Alice.
"Oh you're good."
"Wait." Elena stood up and she was so confused.
"Those tears weren't for her. Those are tears of happiness and she was only dating Slater to see if he'd turn her."
"Which I won't." Slater took the cup from my hand and looked back at Alice. "She's a little too emotional to be one of us."
I snorted. "Tell that to Katherine and Damon."
Slater shook his head, not wanting to take the risk. "I'm gonna try to find some stuff from my computer. Can one of you handle Alice?"
"We'll do it." Elena volunteered and Rose followed but not before giving me a secretive look which I didn't really understand.
'Think Lena might do something reckless'
- Ava
Slater led me to his computer screens. They were all locked. "It's a good thing, Andrew and I shared a computer." I nodded along as he entered his password. I couldn't help but giggle seeing him type out his password. "Laugh it up." He grinned while the computer logged on but his face fell. "Shit."
"What happened?" Rose was next to him in a second.
"They wiped it out. Everything's gone."
"Your friend Andrew must've done it. No one else knew the password."
"Yeah but why?"
I remembered the stake, sticking out of Andrew. If I touched it, I would try and see something.
"I don't know." Slater was already moving past the problem. "Lucky for you guys, I'm a paranoid person so I've got backup."
"Nice. Andrew didn't know about the backup?" I questioned.
"Nope." He grinned. "Like I said I was paranoid. I've got a remote server with everything on this computer and more."
"Kristen Stewart?" I spelled out the password he typed. "Bella Swan wasn't enough?"
Slater pretended to cover his screen. "Privacy."
"Well his girlfriend is called Alice." Rose pointed out, looking back at the sobbing Alice who had partially calmed.
The screen loaded and folders of names appeared. "These are all leads to vampires?" Elena asked.
"Yep. I'm pretty meticulous." Slater stretched his fingers before typing something. The two of us shared a look before Slater started searching for something. "Cody Webber." He muttered under his breath before clicking it.
"The guy you exchanged emails with about Elijah?" Rose loomed over his shoulders and Slater nodded.
"Can you call him?" Elena carefully asked, without looking at me. "Tell him we're trying to send a message to Klaus."
"No, we're not." I interjected, narrowing my eyes at Elena and grabbing my phone. My finger hovered over Stefan's name.
Elena ignored me and carried on. "The doppelgänger's alive, and she's ready to surrender."
I pressed it and waited but he didn't pick up. "I've gone along with this so far but here's where I'm drawing a line. Elena snap out of it." I put my phone away and gently shook Elena.
She pushed me away and glared at me. "I'm doing this for us. You know Klaus will also come for you."
"Exactly and you're not doing me any favors here Elena. If he sacrifices you then he's gonna come for me and then maybe he'll come for our loved ones. Think for a second!"
"You would do the same for your family."
"Don't! Don't you dare compare me and you!"
"Ava—"
Furious, I couldn't even think straight and walked away. I could hear Elena calling me. I couldn't think straight. My mind was a mess. I was so angry at Elena. I couldn't even blame Katherine for this.
This was all Elena.
She wanted to be a martyr. It didn't matter if I went down with her or what Jeremy and Jenna thought. Nothing mattered as long as she thought we were safe but we weren't going to be safe at all. Klaus might still come for the rest of us even if I chose to run. Katherine's family were all the way in Bulgaria but they still died. Something wasn't adding up and it was making me even more annoyed that I couldn't figure out this stupid curse.
Slater handed me another cup of tea and stood next to me. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize what your friend was trying to do."
"What would you have done?"
"Nothing, I guess."
I sighed and took a sip of the tea. "What do you think about the curse after reading my and my family's research?" It would be nice to hear the opinion of someone else who wasn't Vanessa or my family.
"It makes sense—the theory about it being a scheme for the Originals. I did my own digging, the curse suddenly appeared out of nowhere and like your research stated, it was the exact same thing and the exact same ingredients. The moonstone and doppelgänger."
"You know what I don't understand, the doppelgänger part. I'm sure there's probably another set of doppelgängers out there but why does it have to be a particular bloodline."
"I was thinking the exact same thing. Unless…"
"Unless—"
I was cut off when I heard a knock on the door. "Can we please talk?" Elena peered her head into Slater's office.
Slater looked at me, without a word, he left. I loudly sighed and put down the cup to face her. "What exactly do you want to talk about?" I kept staring down at my phone. Stefan hadn't called back or replied in a while and I was getting worried.
"Look I'm sorry I didn't tell you about my plan but you have to understand me."
"Oh I understand you." She let out a sigh of relief but she froze when she noticed the tired look on my face. "I understand how shortsighted you are that you can't even see that we don't have all the details of this stupid curse and here you are jumping into conclusions based on the little grains of information we have."
"What else am I supposed to do? Wait? Wait for Elijah or Klaus to come for my family?"
"I don't know. Maybe. Maybe don't jump into conclusions and do stupid things."
"Well I'm tired of Stefan, Damon or you making decisions for me."
Taken back, I let out a laugh. She was not being serious. "I have never ever made a choice for you. I've always asked you what's best for you and the fact that you think I haven't—really hurts. It's like you don't know me at all."
"Ava." Elena reached out for me and I pulled back. "I'm sorry." Her eyes trembled and it seemed like she was about to let out a cry.
I didn't feel bad at all for making her cry. All this time she was thinking about us but I didn't think that. If she was thinking about us, she would've told us her plan. Caroline and Bonnie had no idea of this neither did Jeremy.
Suppose her plan did work, Klaus would still come after me. Stefan and Damon weren't exactly safe either and neither was Caroline. Those three would definitely take revenge for Elena. Bonnie would be caught up in this mess somehow and Jeremy too. Her plan had too many holes in them and I knew she knew but she didn't want to face the truth.
I couldn't look at her. Her plan infuriated me and I had never felt so angry, so helpless in my life. "You know if I wanted to make your choices for you I could've forced you to do things the way I wanted to and you wouldn't even remember." She stiffened. "But I didn't because I care about you…"
"I care about you too." She breathed out.
No, she didn't.
She cared too much about playing hero than actually saving people. Saving people was more than sacrificing yourself. It was about being careful first and making the best decision for everyone second and sacrificing yourself wasn't it, not all the time at least.
Alice walked into Slater's office. She had a big smile on her face much to my sudden surprise. "Cody's on his way and he's really excited to see you." She announced.
My heart dropped and my face paled. I felt sick hearing Alice speak. I felt a dull ache form in my head, making me want to crawl into a ball. It's like things couldn't get any worse.
Slater was in the room within seconds of hearing her. "Alice what did you do?" He grabbed his girlfriend by her shoulders and pulled her close, facing her.
"I called…Cody?" She was a little confused at Slater's reaction. "Isn't that what you wanted to do?"
"Yes. Thank you." Elena said.
"No." Rose, Slater and I said. "Alice, why would you do that? I didn't tell you to do that." Slater let go and started pulling his hair.
"Because…I thought you'd like it."
I breathed out tiredly and hurriedly called Stefan again. "Oh god." I swallowed and waited. "Pick up. Pick up. God dammit Stefan. Pick up the phone." But he didn't pick up.
Slater followed me while Rose disappeared elsewhere. "Who are you calling?" He asked, running around.
"What're you doing?" There was a bag on the floor with piles of clothes and papers shoved in. He ran between the bag and to his office.
"Packing up and backing my stuff to another remote server that Alice can't touch." He answered. "Who are you calling?"
"Elena's not-boyfriend boyfriend." I answered, hurriedly texting Stefan. "He's not picking up."
"I am so sorry about this. I really didn't know Alice would do something like this."
"Well you need to erase her memories." I spoke so fast, thinking of solutions to get out of this problem. "We have to get out of your apartment." Slater nodded vigorously and hurried his pace.
Suddenly I stopped. My head was lightly spinning like I was about to get a vision but then nothing happened. Slater gaped at me in confusion and I was confused as well. Something was not right. My mind was screaming at me to hurry.
Where was Rose?
I couldn't see her anywhere.
The sun had set. Slater and I planned to leave hours ago but Alice and Elena made it difficult. Turns out Alice was on vervain so she couldn't be compelled, I was a little hesitant about compelling her myself. Rose was still missing. I wouldn't blame her if she made a run for it.
Elena came back and she had taken off her jacket, making herself at home at Slater's place. "Can we talk?" She asked again.
"If talking means us leaving then sure, otherwise forget about it."
She grabbed my arm and pulled me towards her. "Please. I need you. You're my best friend."
I couldn't look at her knowing how her stupid plan was going get us killed. Slater rushed out of the room, leaving the two of us alone.
"Elena don't do this." I begged. "Please, it's not going to end well."
"Did you see…something?"
"If I say yes, will you call it off?" She went silent and I got my answer. "Your plan is going to get us all killed and you don't even see it." I mumbled under my breath. I felt a cold deathly chill run down my spine.
Half-expecting Slater or Rose, I turned around, only to be surprised by Damon. My eyes widened when I noticed his presence. He grinned at me but I couldn't smile or anything.
"What are you doing here?" Elena asked. She started panicking before looking over at me.
"What are you doing here?" Damon echoed back. "And you even roped sunshine over here."
Elena didn't answer him but gave me an accusatory look. "I didn't call him or tell him. I was actually calling and texting Stefan which doesn't make things better with you but at this point I don't care."
Damon made a sound and for a second, I could've sworn I saw him disappointed from the corner of my eyes. "Seriously? You and Stefan were in contact but not me?" I shrugged. "What happened to our little partnership?"
"I don't know. I'm tired. She's getting on my nerves and someone's probably going to die but not me because I'm out." I ranted, grabbing my navy blazer. I was so done with all of this. Maybe I should get out of town.
"We are out." Damon corrected me and I rolled my eyes.
Elena didn't move. "Well if you didn't call him, who did?" She asked.
"I did." Rose finally appeared after a long time. She appeared guilty though she shouldn't be, she did the right thing and I guess I could partially forgive her for kidnapping Elena earlier.
"You called him? You said you understood."
Rose and I shared a look and suddenly it made sense. She probably thought I knew she was in contact with Damon but I was actually talking to Stefan. Well, at least the end result was almost the same.
"She lied." Damon remarked, reaching out for me. He grabbed my hand and I let him hold onto me while we waited for Elena to be done with her little show. I was honestly getting tired of her.
Alice just had to come into the room. Oh god. What bad news did she have for us this time? "Damon Salvatore!" She squealed in awe.
"Get rid of her." Damon said it to Rose and Slater who started to take her away. Known g Damon, getting rid of someone meant killing them and I'd rather not have another person dead.
"Alice," I called out to her and she stopped, completely trapped in my trance. "I want you to forget Slater, vampires and all about meeting us." With a blank face, she bobbed her head up and down. I clicked my fingers and she jolted awake.
"Wait. What am I doing here?" She asked, looking around the room.
"Leaving." I answered and she nodded, leaving the room.
"That was so cool." Slater commented.
Damon ignored him and turned to Elena. "Come on, we're leaving."
"No," Elena stood her ground and glared at Damon, sparing a glance at me.
"I said we're leaving."
"I'm not going with you."
"You don't get to make decisions anymore."
"When have I ever made a decision? You and Stefan do that for me. Now, this, is my decision."
I let out a deep sigh, catching Elena's attention. She clicked her tongue, realizing we were back to our conversation earlier. "We're not having this conversation again because you're proving to us that you are incapable of listening and cooperating."
"Can you guys at least respect my decision?" Elena retorted.
"Who's gonna save your life?" Damon asked.
"You're not listening to me, Damon. I don't want to be saved."
I dropped Damon's hand and took a step towards Elena. "Please tell me you're not actually going through with this."
"Klaus is gonna kill every single person that I love and that includes you, Ava. I can't take that risk."
"He might kill us either way." Damon glanced between the two of us before his gaze settled on me. He gave me a secretive look that I knew too well. "No, I'm not doing it." I quickly shot his silent suggestion down. Even if Elena was being difficult I had a hard time forcing her to follow us.
Elena glanced between me and Damon before she puffed up her chest, acting brave. "Ava went to see Katherine earlier." She blurted out.
I looked at her with wide eyes. "You promised you wouldn't tell!" I stared at her and she shrugged.
"Seriously?" Damon narrowed his eyes on me.
"Stefan knew as well." She carried on.
"Elena!" I hissed.
Damon glanced between me and Elena before stepping between us. "That's it. We're leaving right now before this turns into a cat fight." He craned his neck towards Elena. "Get your ass out the door before I throw you over my shoulder and carry you out." He grabbed Elena and Elena shoved him off of her.
Elena glared hard at him and avoided my gaze, her eyes were teary and she was furious. I didn't care. "No." She spat out before attempting to throw a punch at Damon.
"Stop." I yelled out and she stopped mid-motion. She craned her head towards, eyes wide with betrayal. "Enough. You're not sacrificing yourself. I'm sorry for doing this but this is for your own good."
Her eyes shimmered a pale gold. I felt her mind desperately fight against me, making my dull headache throb even more. I fought against it and willed her to calm down. If she carried on the way she did, Damon would hurt her and I could tell he wouldn't even hesitate. Just the way he was shooting daggers at her told me how done he was with her suicide mission.
I left her there to check on Alice. Elena was still in control of her thoughts and behavior. I just made her a little bit calmer and less emotional temporarily. I couldn't deal with her and Damon fighting or her fighting to kill herself in such a dumb way.
"Time to go." Damon came out of Slater's bedroom. "Alice's sleeping soundly, she won't remember a thing and Ava wiped most of her memories along with you."
Slater seemed upset but he understood what Damon was saying and nodded. He knew Alice didn't love him, still I didn't understand why he was so sad.
The doors to Slater's apartment burst open and three vampires marched in.
Shit.
"We're here to meet the doppelgänger." One the vampires announced.
Elena being Elena, came forward. I almost regretted not completely taking over her mind. "Thank you for coming." She said but Damon grabbed her and pulled her back.
"I will break your arm." Damon hissed.
"Damon." I lightly warned.
He rolled his eyes and shifted his focus to Cody and his group. "There's nothing here for you." He and I shared a look before he motioned Rose and Slater to take a step back.
"Sorry you had to make this trip." I said with a bright smile.
Lights started blinking wildly and a quiet buzz filled the air. I pulled the dusts of light together into a big orb of light before firing it off into the direction of the vampires who had come into the room.
The vampires ducked but one of them couldn't dodge. The orb of light went straight through him blowing a hole into his chest. Rose let out a quiet gasp of horror seeing that.
The other two cried out and they took a stance to attack me but before they could, someone walked into the room. He stepped over the dead vampire on the floor, looked me straight in the eye and smiled, impressed at what I did.
I gasped.
Oh no.
Damon rushed towards me and pulled me back, pushing me behind him. I couldn't take my eyes off of him, no matter how fast he moved. Oh god. I felt so cold and my head throbbed in pain begging for some relief.
Elijah.
Elijah was alive, not burnt or decaying. He was alive and perfectly fine. He met my gaze and softly smiled at me, giving me a knowing look. It was like he could read my mind. I swallowed my fear and let the dusts of light form smaller orbs above me, ready to attack but it was like my fear was holding me back or something. The small orbs broke and the shards of light rained back to me.
Without a warning, Rose ran off with Slater, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire and lose another friend. Damon, Elena and I were left behind.
"I hate being right." I mumbled under my breath and I could've sworn I heard Elijah laugh quietly.
Damon pulled at my wrist and tugged me back. "I killed you. You were dead." Damon said.
"For centuries now." Elijah retorted calmly.
The two remaining vampires took their attention off of us and glared at Elijah. "Who are you?" Elijah asked
"Who are you?" One of the vampires stupidly asked back.
"I'm Elijah." He answered.
The vampire who asked was taken back with fear. "W-we were gonna bring her to you for Klaus." He managed to get it out without much trouble, glancing back at Elena. "She's the doppelgänger, I don't know how she exists but she does. Klaus would wanna see her."
"Is that all?" Elijah wasn't looking at Elena. He was looking at me. Somehow I felt more afraid than before, afraid of the unknown.
"Is there supposed to be something else?"
Elijah didn't take his eyes off me, not even when Damon covered my vision, blocking me from his sight.
"Not at all." Elijah answered, almost pleased with his answer. Obviously, I couldn't see much. I had to rely on my hearing.
"Does anyone else know you're here?"
"No."
"Well," I could hear the sudden happiness in his voice and I didn't know if that should reassure me or something. We should've left before. "Then you have been incredibly helpful."
I heard a loud squelching sound and I peeked out from behind Damon to see Elijah plunging his hands into the chests of the two vampires. He pulled out their hearts and let them fall before dropping the hearts in carefree manner.
Elena gasped out. I was too stunned to react. Damon and I shared a look. He wanted me to take Elena and run. It was a bad plan but honestly it was the only plan we had which was something. I tried to calculate our chances of surviving by running and it was slim. Oh god. We were screwed.
Damon took a step forward ready to give us a head start. Elijah calmly observed Damon before eying Elena and me. His gaze lingered on me before he was gone like he was never there.
"What…just happened?" I croaked out. My throat was dry and I felt like my heart was about to jump out of my chest.
Elena shook her head in disbelief. "I don't know." She breathed out.
Without a single word, we left the apartment. I just wanted to get back home. Elena and I didn't speak the ride back while I tried to text Stefan. Damon noticed. His expression changed and he wanted to say something but was hesitating. I had a feeling he was trying to pick his words carefully and not start an argument.
Elena ran out of the car, still annoyed at Damon and the fact I was ignoring her. She sighed and turned to me. I was leaning against Damon's car, not wanting to go up to her place.
She stared at Damon and Damon shrugged. He didn't want to get involved in this at all. I respected that. "Are you still mad at me?" She asked, standing in front of her door.
I rolled my eyes. "What do you think, 'Lena?" I retorted, walking up to her porch.
"I'm not sorry for what I'm doing."
"Of course you're not. You don't even see your choice is about to hurt me and a lot of people."
"Ava…I'm sorry but I'm not changing my mind."
"You should." Damon decided to speak then. "Stefan might also get hurt because of you."
"He won't." She whispered, gently shaking her head. "Thank you for dropping me off, Damon and I'll see you later Ava." She said, trying to end the conversation and call it a night but unfortunately luck wasn't on her side.
Jeremy stood at the door of the Gilbert house. There was a bloody bandage on his neck and he appeared beaten up. He and I made eye-contact. He turned away guilt written all over his face. That's when I knew Jeremy screwed up. "Stefan…tomb." I heard his thoughts and I froze. Stefan didn't reply to any of my other messages or calls.
"What happened to Stefan?" I asked before Jeremy had a chance to speak.
Jeremy hesitated to speak, his sight on his sister who had wide eyes open at the mention of her boyfriend. "I made a mistake." He said.
Elena gasped and she ran out of the porch, back to Damon's car. I followed her. Damon was silent throughout.
"Why didn't you tell me?" I quietly asked, rushing to follow Elena.
Damon didn't say anything for a moment. "...I don't know." Was all he said before I blinked and he was gone, probably down in the tomb.
I grunted curses under my breath and waved my head in a circular motion, drawing up the dusts of light. I ran down the stairs and lights followed me down.
Elena was already down in the tomb calling out Stefan's name among the flaming torches. She was about to walk into the tomb when Damon grabbed her from behind and pushed her against a stone wall.
"Don't hurt her!" I yelled out, running to Elena's defense.
"Relax." Damon tried to calm me down.
But Elena wasn't listening. "Stefan's in there." She mumbled, tears falling down her face.
"So is Katherine!" I reminded her.
"How could you let this happen Damon?" She ignored me and started to shake with anger.
Damon scoffed loudly and craned his neck to give me a look. He was done with Elena's temper tantrums. "Maybe because I was too busy saving you from your kamikaze mission that almost took out you and Ava!" He spat out.
"You didn't even have to go after the moonstone."
"It was the right call, Elena."
"Right call? How is any of this a right call?"
I snorted and crossed myself around. "Oh like what you're doing?" I said.
"This isn't about me."
"But it is!" Damon and I said at the same time.
She yelled out in anger. "Let go of me, Damon." She turned to me. "Ava, do something."
"Enough!" I yelled and the torches flickered wildly, moving side to side, almost extinguishing. I didn't want to do this but I had no choice but to do this again. "I want you to calm down."
Her eyes widened when she realized what I was trying to do. She shook her head side to side. "No. No. No, not again. You promised…you wouldn't ever do this to me." She cried out.
"You left her with no choice." Damon let go and watched as she slowly calmed down. With a deep sigh, she walked off. "Is she going to be okay?" Damon questioned.
"I hope so." I answered, watching her leave and let out a sigh. "Oh Stefan, you just couldn't stick to my plan, could you? But then again I can't exactly blame you."
No, I couldn't. Jeremy and Bonnie were getting too close, I should've seen this coming and realized that Jeremy might become a liability even with all the training.
I gazed at Damon who gazed sadly at the tomb where his brother was locked up with. Katherine was also there. I patted his shoulder in comfort and went off to follow Elena.
Damon dropped Elena off at her place. She was more docile than before but mad as ever. Her thoughts were flaring up and it was giving me a massive headache like she was doing that on purpose. The two of us sat in silence as he drove us through the empty roads of Mystic Falls back to the Fitzroy manor.
"You okay?" He got out of the car and followed me to the front door.
I sighed and turned around to face him. "I should be the one asking you that, your brother's in the tomb."
"I know. Not his best moment." He appeared miserable, more upset than he'd ever admit. I felt bad for him. If I didn't tag along with Elena, I could've done something. "I'll ask you again: how are you?"
"Terrible. Happy?" He cracked a smile and I smiled too. "Elena's getting to me and then Elijah shows up alive. I'm just…"
"Overwhelmed." I nodded. "I'm sorry."
"Well it's not your fault, I don't know what you're apologizing for."
"I didn't kill Elijah for good."
I chuckled. It was cute how he thought he and my uncle could take on an Original and actually kill him. It was a miracle he lived. "You know my uncle helped you take Elijah down right? So you weren't the only one who screwed up."
"We should've done a better job."
"Please, the guy's an Original—we can only imagine how old he really is. Obviously taking him down would've taken more than a wooden coat hanger through the chest and torching a house."
"Are you trying to comfort me?" He teased with a light grin on his face.
I scoffed but I couldn't help but smile. "...No, I'm not but if my words comfort you then it's…comforting."
He nodded, his smile even wider but it dropped when his phone started ringing. He took it out and frowned before showing it to me. It was Stefan, he had his phone back, one of the few things he had in that tomb.
"You should take that." I said, heading to the door.
He pursed his lips and nodded, a little disappointed somehow. He left after I was already inside my house. I watched him drive away and only closed the door after he was gone.
"Miss Fitzroy, you're back." Gina greeted me with a smile as I hung up my coat and dropped my keys in their place. "There was a package for you at the front door."
I nodded. "Who was it from?"
"I don't know, I just found it on the porch."
"I'll take it up with me to my room." I answered politely.
There was a faded rose-colored box in Gina's hands. A gift box. It was even tied up neatly with a rose-colored ribbon. She passed me the box and left to call it a day.
I wonder who that could be from. My birthday was not close yet. It was in August and we were in March.
I rattled the box and I heard a quiet noise, nothing to give it away. Thinking nothing of it, I carried the box into my room and left it on my bed. I almost forgot about it, taking a shower and then getting changed into a satin rose-colored pajama set before I remembered about it when I was about to head to bed.
Carefully, I placed the box onto my lap and pulled at the silk ribbon. It came undone in one pull, falling to the floor. I paused when I heard a noise and felt a cold bitter chill run down my spine.
Putting the box to the side, I slowly walked over to the balcony, summoning an orb of light. With a deep breath, I pulled the curtains off the double glass doors, only to see nothing. There was no one there.
Against my judgement, I walked onto the balcony. The chill grew deeper when I stepped into the balcony. I felt like I was being watched.
Looking around, I found no one except there was a strange shadow of a man in the distance, past the boundaries of the garden and near the private trails of my family. At least I thought it appeared to be a silhouette of a man, when I checked again there was nothing there—must've been my imagination.
I locked the balcony doors, pulled up the curtains and went back inside. The box was still there where I left it, reminding me of its existence. It was strange how the box was in my favorite color with no name or address of the sender, just my name and address.
Somehow that made me anxious. Taking in a deep breath, I opened the box. A glimpse of the inside made me freeze.
There in the middle of a deep red velvet fabric was an arrow but not just any arrow. It was my arrow, near the tip I'd carved my initials out to differentiate it from Alaric's arrows. It was the arrow I shot Elijah with.
My breath caught in my throat and dropped the arrow back into the box. There was a note inside the box. I picked it up with trembling hands, I already knew who the sender was—I didn't want to know what he wanted from me.
I hesitated reading the note, turning the card over in my hands before finally reading it when the clock struck two in the morning.
'You left something of yours with me. Now I return it to you in hopes we may meet again.'
-Elijah
Author's note: I'm still a little ill but I managed to finish this. Thanks for all the reviews and just reading this so far through all the changes. I really can't thank you all enough for everything.
As a little thanks, here's a little idea of what the next chapter will be like; Ava's out of town, things fall apart in Mystic Falls and she might meet someone familiar in Grove Hill.
