Impossible Relations

Elena knew she should be scared of the vampire that walked in with Rose, Elijah, they had said his name was. And when he first walked in, she was afraid, but her fear dissipated within moments. She didn't know why, but every instinct inside of her said that she didn't need to fear this man, despite the fact that she could tell just by looking at him that he was dangerous.

Elena wasn't even afraid when Elijah flashed over to her. She was a little startled, but she wasn't afraid, not even when he got almost impossibly close to her and looked her over as if trying to determine who or what she was.

Elijah, meanwhile, stared at the young girl in front of him as though she was an enigma. When he first entered the room and saw a young girl that looked exactly like Katerina, he was surprised, despite the fact that Rose-Marie had prepared him for it. It seemed impossible that there was another human doppelganger when he was certain that Katerina was the last Petrova. Niklaus had murdered the rest of them. Yet here she was.

Elijah was also surprised, and a little dismayed, when the girl showed no fear. What little fear she had of him, disappeared within moments. She seemed more curious about him than anything else. He would think that she would be at least somewhat afraid just by the fact that she knew he wasn't human.

The thing that surprised Elijah the most though, was that despite Rose's assertions, the girl was not human. Well, she wasn't entirely human anyway. There was human inside of her, that much he could tell, but that wasn't all she was. That also told him that she was definitely not Katerina. "What's your name."

"Elena Gilbert. You're Elijah?" she asked.

Elijah nodded curtly. "You've been told who I am. Have you also been told why I'm here?"

Elena nodded back.

"Then why aren't you afraid?" Elijah asked.

Rose wondered that herself. She'd told the doppelganger exactly what was going to happen to her. She should be terrified of Elijah. Hell, Rose herself was afraid of Elijah, and she was much stronger than this human. The human should be shaking with fear right now.

Elena shrugged. She didn't have a real reason not to be afraid. She should be afraid. "I'm just not."

"I would say that that's very foolish of you," Elijah said.

"You're probably right," Elena agreed. Again, she knew that she should be afraid of this man, but she wasn't and she had no idea why.

"Then again, you're not human, so maybe not quite as foolish as I originally thought," Elijah mused.

"What?" Elijah asked in shock.

"What?" Both Rose and Trevor echoed in unison.

Elijah turned to Rose. "Yes, it seems you were mistaken, Rose. This girl is not a doppelganger. She's not even human. Well, not entirely so anyway.

"Elijah, with all due respect, you must be mistaken. We made sure," Rose said.

"Not well enough," Elijah said before turning back to Elena. "What are you?"

"I am human," Elena said, still in shock.

"Do not lie to me, child. You will not like the consequences," Elijah said in a dangerous tone.

"I'm not!" Elena insisted.

"Elijah, we didn't know. We had every reason to believe that she was the doppelganger Klaus has been looking for. Please forgive us," Trevor begged.

Elijah sighed as he turned back to them. He'd had every intention of killing Trevor for his treachery tonight, but he now had other concerns. Besides, he might need one of them in the future. "Leave now."

"We are still free?" Rose asked hopefully.

"You are, however, if I see your friend here again, he will not leave with his life," Elijah warned.

Trevor didn't need to be told twice. He shuddered in fear and then used his vampire speed to leave.

"And, Rose, should either of you tell anyone of what you witnessed tonight, there will be nowhere you can hide," Elijah warned.

"We won't, I swear," Rose said before running after Trevor.

Elijah turned back to Elena. He couldn't trust what she was telling him, so he intended to compel her. Of course, before he could do so, he noticed the vervain she was wearing. "Remove your necklace please, or I will do so for you."

Reluctantly, Elena took off the necklace and put it down on a nearby table. She might not be afraid of him, but she also wasn't stupid. She knew Elijah would follow through with that threat.

Elijah took her by the chin and made her look at him. "What are you?"

"I don't know. I thought I was human," Elena said in a slight trance.

Elijah sighed and released his hold on her. "Well, that's disappointing."

"Why do you think I'm not human?" Elena asked.

"I don't merely think it. I can sense it. There is human in you, but there's also much more. I can't tell what it is, but it's not the simple fact that you're a doppelganger. In fact, I'm not certain you are a doppelganger at all, despite the uncanny resemblance you share with Katerina," Elijah said. The thing that unnerved him the most was that Elena didn't seem to know what she was. She truly believed she was just another human.

Elena didn't know what to say to that. She was unnerved by the fact that she was being told that she wasn't completely human. She didn't think Elijah was lying to her. He seemed inconvenienced by it. However, he also couldn't tell her what she was. "What happens now. Are you still taking me to this Klaus person."

"That would be redundant. You're useless to Klaus. He needs a human doppelganger. You're neither," Elijah told her. As for what he was going to do, he wasn't sure yet. He needed to find out exactly what this girl was. He supposed it wasn't his problem what she was, since she wasn't of use to him anymore, but he was curious. Also, he felt a slight compulsion to help her.

"I don't understand. How can I not be human?" Elena asked with a shudder. This was freaking her out. It was almost ironic. She had no fear of a vampire that could kill her and had every intention of handing her over to another vampire that did plan to kill her, but she was terrified of the prospect that she wasn't human.

Before Elijah could say anything, he heard a noise from outside. "Are you expecting anyone?"

"Maybe. I have friends who are looking for me. Please don't hurt them," Elena begged. She wasn't afraid of what Elijah would do to her, but she was afraid that he'd hurt Stefan and Damon.

Elijah contemplated for a minute. He by no means objected to a fight, but he couldn't have anyone finding out about Elena yet, especially his brother. That meant that he would have to kill anyone who was there. Again, he didn't object to that, but for the moment, he needed Elena's cooperation.

Elijah took Elena's chin once more and forced her to look at him. He spoke softly, so that no one would hear him, even vampires. "You will not tell anyone about this conversation. You will not mention my name or Klaus' to anyone, nor speak of being sacrificed, and will speak to no one but myself about not being human. Do you understand.

"Yes," Elena said before he released her. "You're just going to leave?" She didn't want him to go. He was the only one who had any clue at what was happening to her, and he had just ensured she couldn't ask anyone else for help.

"For now. I will find you soon," he assured her before running out at vampire speed.

Stefan and Damon entered the room a few minutes later. "Elena!"

Elena soon found herself engulfed in Stefan's arms. She clutched to her boyfriend. She was scared now. She was scared about what she was and what it meant. She wanted to tell Stefan, but she couldn't.

Stefan pulled away after a minute. "Are you okay? You're hurt," he said as he looked at her arm.

"It's fine," Elena said.

"Who did this to you? Who kidnapped you?" Stefan asked.

"A couple of vampires. Their names were Rose and Trevor," Elena said. She could tell them that much, but not much more than that.

"Why did they do it? Does it have something to do with Katherine?" Stefan asked.

Elena didn't answer. Her options were to either lie or say nothing. She didn't want to lie, so she just didn't respond.

"Did they tell you why they took you?" Stefan asked.

"Yes," was all she said.

"Well, tell me. What happened?" Stefan asked. He didn't understand why she wasn't saying anything.

Damon eyed Elena's neck, which no longer contained her necklace. Instead, it was on a table a few feet away from her. "She can't tell you, Stefan. They compelled her."

In that moment, Stefan realized that Elena's necklace was missing. "You took your necklace off? Why?"

"Because he would've taken it off himself if I hadn't. At least this gave me a tiny bit of control," Elena reasoned. She then picked her necklace up off the table and put it on.

"Who?" Stefan asked, but he was again met with silence. "Right, you can't answer. Is there anything you can tell us?"

"Not that I haven't already told you," Elena replied.

"Great," Damon said sarcastically.

"Can we just get out of here. I just want to go home and sleep," Elena said.

"Of course. We can figure everything else out later. Let's go," Stefan said before putting his arm around her and leading her towards the exit.