Elena sat with Caroline at the kitchen table in the home she shared with Elijah. It had been a few weeks since she moved in with him. She had been adjusting pretty well, better than she'd expected. That had a lot to do with the fact that Jeremy usually spent at least one night during the week with them and most weekends. She would also be going to stay with him and Jenny that upcoming weekend. Elijah had kept his word in regard to letting her spend as much time as she wanted with Jenna and Jeremy.

Elena's magic was going well too. She'd been using the breathing exercises Elijah taught her, and she was meditating daily, so she didn't lose control too often anymore, although it did occasionally happen.

Currently, Elena was showing Caroline her grandmother's grimoire. It was the first time she got to show her, as the last few weeks had been hectic. They were actually supposed to be studying for a test Ric was giving tomorrow, but this was much more interesting to both girls.

"Wow. This is really cool. Bonnie would love to see this. Oh, sorry," Caroline said when she realized her mistake. Elena and Bonnie had not spoken in weeks, although not for lack of trying on Bonnie's part. Elena wasn't allowed to see Bonnie. Even at school, Elena avoided her and walked away whenever she approached her.

"It's okay. You know, I keep finding myself wishing I could show this to her. You're right, she would love it. I keep wishing I could talk to her about all of this. She's one of my best friends and she's a witch. I should be able to get her advice on it, but I just can't be around her right now," Elena said. It wasn't even just because of Elijah anymore. She found that her life was so much less stressful without Bonnie pressuring her and trying to make her feel like it was somehow wrong for her to care about her own father.

"I know. I've been kind of distancing myself a bit too. I love Bonnie, but all she wants to talk about is getting you away from Elijah, and I want no part of it. Plus, it just reminds me of how she feels about vampires. I just hope she can get past her feelings about vampires, so that we can all be friends again," Caroline said.

"Me too," Elena said.

"So, have you tried any of these spells yet?" Caroline asked.

"Yeah, Elijah let me do a couple of simple ones, but I've spent most of the time trying to get in control of my powers, like telekinesis. Let me try to find one of the spells I've tried though," Elena said before sifting through the book. She stopped when she saw a ritual that interested her. It was the first time she saw this particular spell. She was still exploring the grimoire. "Woah."

Caroline frowned. Her friend seemed to be awed by a blank page. "What is it? You're staring at a blank page."

"No, it's not blank. Some of the spells in here can only be seen by a witch of my grandmother's bloodline. I think I found the curse she used to suppress my uncle's werewolf side. This sounds absolutely brutal," Elena said. Esther had made notes. She noted the pain it would cause Klaus when she performed the spell. It was awful.

Just then, Elijah came into the room. "Ladies, I believe you're supposed to be studying for your history test."

"We were just about to start," Caroline said.

"Yes, I can see that," Elijah said with a chuckle as he looked over his daughter's shoulder. "Given that that page is blank to me, I hope I don't need to remind you that you're never to use it."

"I would never want to do this to somebody," Elena said in disgust. "This is the spell your mom used on Klaus. How could she do something so evil? Uh, sorry, Elijah."

"You don't need to apologize. I agree with you. I loved my mother, but she did some very terrible things with magic. That's why I want you to be careful with your magic. It's very easy to go down dark paths without even realizing you're doing it. However, I am glad to hear that you have an understanding of where the line might be," Elijah told her.

"I just don't understand why witches think the way they do about people like me and Klaus," Elena said.

"Good. I don't want you to understand. The fact that you don't understand means you know that it isn't okay, and I'm glad to hear that. Now, I think it's time you put this away and get to your studying," Elijah said before closing the grimoire and pushing it away before sliding Elena's history book towards her.

Elena sighed before opening her textbook. No offense to Ric, but she considering studying magic much more interesting than studying history. "Fine. We'll get started."

Caroline grabbed her book too, as well as the study guide they were given.

"Excellent. I will be up in my office if you need anything. Caroline, there are some blood bags in the fridge if you'd like one," Elijah told her.

Caroline smiled at him. She didn't know what Bonnie and Stefan's problem was. Elijah was nice, albeit strict. "Thank you."

Elijah smiled at them both before heading out of the room.

"You okay? That spell seemed to upset you," Caroline commented to Elena. She couldn't see the spell, but she did see the disgusted look on her friend's face.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It was just really disturbing. Esther knew she was going to cause her son pain, but she did it anyway. It just reminds me of Katherine," Elena said. She could actually empathize quite a bit with Klaus. They had similar histories. They were both hybrids that were considered abominable, and they both had mothers who set out to hurt them. They were also both bound. The only difference was that Elena's magic was too strong to substantiate the magic blocking her forever.

"You don't really talk about Katherine much," Caroline pointed out.

"Well, it's not a very fun topic for me. I hated Katherine, and I knew from the moment I met her that she didn't like me, but finding out she was my mother and that she wanted me dead made it different. It made it a whole lot worse," Elena admitted.

"I can't imagine how awful that was," Caroline said.

"She's gone now. I'd rather not dwell on it anymore. We should get to work before Elijah comes back down," she said. The two of them immediately turned to their books and notes and began preparing for their tests.

The two of them studied for a couple of hours before Elena turned away from her work and rubbed her eyes. "Alright, I can't look at this for another second. Let's take a break. I'll get us some drinks. Blood?"

Caroline nodded. "Yeah, thanks."

Elena went to the fridge and grabbed a soda and a pint of blood for Caroline.

"Have you ever tried it?" Caroline asked as she pointed to the blood bag. Elena was part vampire, after all. She knew her friend didn't crave blood like she did, but that didn't mean she couldn't drink it.

"No. I've thought about it a few times, but I've never had the courage," Elena said. She was too afraid she would hate the taste. The thought of blood didn't appeal to her, but that could be because she'd never attempted to drink it.

"You should try a little, see what happens. Just take a sip," Caroline urged.

"Okay," Elena said a bit hesitantly. She sat down and opened the blood bag up and tentatively took the tiniest sip. "Wow. This doesn't taste bad. It actually tastes really good."

"I guess we know that you can drink it then," Caroline said with a chuckle as she watched her friend suck down half of the blood."

"Woah. It feels like I just drink half a pot of coffee," Elena said. Her energy level peaked to the top from drinking the blood. She felt like she could run a mile and not be tired. "This is really cool. Is this how it feels for you?"

"Definitely not," Caroline said. Blood did make her feel energized, just as normal food would for humans, but not to the extent that Elena was describing.

"Oh, I should get you a new one, since I drank half of this one," Elena said. She got up and proceeded to go back to the fridge, which she managed to do way too quickly for a human. She turned back to Caroline. "Did I just…"

"Use vampire speed? Yeah. It looks like blood fuels your vampire side," Caroline said.

Elena opened the fridge. Before she could grab another pint of blood, one flew into her hand. "Okay, I didn't mean to do that."

"It might be increasing your magical abilities too," Caroline said.

Elena barely moved her hand before the entire drawer of blood flew out of the fridge.

Caroline went over to her friend. "Okay, let's get you back into a chair. I think you're high."

Elijah came into the room just as Caroline was getting Elena back into a chair. He'd heard them from upstairs. He tried to tune out most of their conversation to give the two girls some privacy, but he caught a couple of things that left him concerned, and rightfully so. When he got to the kitchen, there were bags of blood on the floor, and Elena looked very jittery. "What happened?"

"Uh, I might have drank half of a blood bag, and it had some affects," Elena said.

"I see. Are you alright?" Elijah asked.

"Yeah. I feel good actually, kind of wired. Sorry for the mess," she said.

"No need to apologize, although, I wish you had told me before you began experimenting," Elijah said. He wasn't upset that she tried blood. It was natural that she'd be curious, but he probably wouldn't have let her try so much at once.

"That might have been a good idea. Does this mean I can't drink it? It tasted good," Elena said.

"No, it doesn't mean that. However, I think you need to build a tolerance in your system if you're going to drink regularly. We can try a little at a time. Tell me though, do you crave it now that you've had it?" Elijah asked. He wanted to know if she was going to have the same problems as a normal vampire when it came to human blood.

"I don't think so. I liked it, but I don't think I need it to quench hunger. It didn't exactly feel like I was feeding myself. It was just kind of like a preferred drink," Elena tried to explain.

"Okay. Why don't you two go into the living room and watch TV for a while? I don't want Elena doing anything strenuous for the next few hours," Elijah said before he began picking up blood bags off the floor.

Both girls nodded, and Caroline helped Elena to the living room.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Klaus was intrigued when he was told that a witch wanted to see him. Normally, he wouldn't have even bothered with whoever it was. He would just have his underlings kill the fool, but this witch intrigued him. For one, he was impressed that he found him, and for another, this witch was the father of one of his witches. He was curious as to what Jonas Martin thought he was going to do.

Klaus was sitting on the couch with a drink in his hand when the witch was ushered in. He immediately smirked at the man. "Jonas, correct? What can I do for you, and what gives you the nerve to show up at my door?"

Jonas took a deep breath and tried not to show his fear. He was a powerful witch, but he knew he wasn't a match for Klaus. He might be able to kill him if he used every ounce of power he had, but it would kill him too, and that wouldn't help his daughter. Then again, he was pretty sure he was dead either way. If Klaus didn't kill him, Elijah would for what he was about to do. "You know what I want."

Klaus chuckled. "Yes, the lovely Greta. She's been such a great help to me. I must thank you for that."

"Let her go!" Jonas snarled.

"And why would I do such a thing. She's invaluable to me. Tell me something. You didn't come here simply to demand her release. Surely you knew you'd more than likely end up death for your troubles. Tell me what it is you think you have that gives you the upper hand," Klaus said.

"I have information you would find interesting. Let my daughter go, and I'll give it to you," Jonas said.

Klaus laughed. It was amazing how often people confused him for his deal making brother. "I'm afraid you've got the wrong original, mate. I don't make deals."

"You will for this! I've found a living doppelganger," Jonas lied. He hoped to kill two birds with one stone by sending Klaus after Elena Gilbert. He could get his daughter back, and hopefully that girl would be destroyed. She shouldn't exist. She needed to be taken out before she became all powerful. If Klaus thought he could sacrifice her, hopefully he'd kill her before he learned the truth.

Any amusement Klaus felt was gone. He was out of his seat in moments and had Jonas by the throat. "Do not play me! There is no human doppelganger. The Petrova line ended with Katerina Petrova. I saw to that." In hindsight, he might have acted rashly there. He wanted to punish Katerina, but he might have doomed himself in the process by illuminating the possibility of a future doppelganger being created.

Jonas gasped for breath. "It's not true! There's another one! I'll tell you where she is, but you have to let Greta go."

"You'll tell me or I'll rip out your throat," Klaus threatened.

"I'm dead one way or another," Jonas said. He'd betrayed Elijah. One way or another, he was going to be dead soon. He knew that.

Klaus squeezed his throat for a few moments before letting him go and watching him fall to the ground. "I'll tell you what. If your information pans out, Greta can do as she pleases." He neglected to tell the idiotic witch that he'd never forced Greta to do anything for him. She could already do as she pleased."

Jonas stared at him for a minute, as if trying to decipher whether or not he could trust him. "Her name is Elena Gilbert. She lives in Mystic Falls, Virgina."

Klaus slowly began to smile, as the dream of ending his curse finally became visible again.