A/N: Here's a new chapter hot off the press! I hope that you enjoy reading it!
Reviews are wildly appreciated, but no flaming please.
I don't own The Vampire Diaries. All characters (except for Grace) are owned by author L.J. Smith.
Cheers, guys xx
OF MARTYRS AND PROTECTORS
"If they stand behind you, protect them. If they stand beside you, respect them. If they stand against you, defeat them." ~Unknown.
Around 10am, I got into my car and travelled to the Gilbert's House with the intention of filling in Elena with what Damon, Rose and I had found out from Slater in Richmond. Only when I got there, I could tell immediately that something wasn't quite right. I knocked politely on the front door, and smiled at Jenna who looked almost relieved to see me.
"Oh, Grace. Thank god." She said, and I raised an eyebrow at the greeting.
"Hey Jenna." I replied, a little uneasily. "Is Elena home, I have something I need to discuss with her." I asked, stepping inside and waving absently at Jeremy who came walking downstairs and down the hallway to the kitchen.
"She's in her room. If you can coax her out long enough to talk." Jenna replied, following me to the staircase. I paused and frowned at her curiously.
"What do you mean?" I asked, concerned. Jenna looked worried.
"She came home last night with Stefan, but he didn't come in and stay like he normally would. She was in tears, and I naturally assumed that she and Stefan had had a fight." Jenna told me. I nodded, and started climbing the stairs.
"I'll go and see if she's okay." I promised, watching Jenna disappear down the hallway and I continued climbing to the second floor of the house. I tentatively approached Elena's bedroom door and knocked politely. "Elena? It's Grace." There was silence, but when I pressed my ear to the wood, I could definitely make out a rustling of bed sheets. I knocked again. "Elena, I can tell that you need to talk to somebody. Please let me in." I wheedled. I listened carefully again, and suddenly heard the sounds of somebody shifting and walking towards the door. I nearly fell forwards when the bedroom door opened and I saw Elena, standing there looking tired and with red-rimmed eyes.
"Hey Grace. Please come in." Elena invited me dully. I nodded and followed her inside, watching Elena wonder back over to her bed and disappearing back underneath her duvet. I frowned and closed the door behind me before walking over to her bed. I perched on the side.
"What's happened, sweetie?" I asked her cautiously. Elena doesn't respond at first, but then slowly she pulled the duvet off her head and looks at me with genuine sorrow in her doe brown eyes.
"I wanted to know the truth about why I'm the doppelgänger, and why Klaus is looking for me… for us." Elena explains, in a voice that is barely a whisper. I nodded, waiting for her to go on. When she doesn't, I deemed it safe to question her on the matter.
"How did you learn this?" I asked, quietly. Elena hesitated.
"From Katherine." She replied almost reluctantly. My eyes widened. "I ditched school to go to the tomb and talk with her with Caroline. I got more than I bargained for." Elena admitted. I swallowed heavily. Part of me was curious about what she had learned, and another larger part of me knew that Elena had taken a great risk in doing what she did.
"Do you wanna talk about it?" Elena fell silent. "It might make you feel better if you share it with someone else. I'll even tell you what I learned yesterday when I went to Richmond with Damon and Rose." I told her, trying to sweeten the deal. Elena farrowed her brow.
"What did you find out?" She asked. I smiled.
"How about we make a deal? I tell you what I found and then you tell me what's causing you such great pain that you dissolved into tears, huh?" I suggested. Elena thought for a moment, before sitting up and leaning against the headboard.
"You go first." She told me. I nodded and made myself comfortable on the bed.
"Damon confronted Rose yesterday when she came back to the Boarding House. He asked how we could find Niklaus, but Rose explained to us that it wasn't a matter of finding him, but more of him finding us." I told her. Elena made a face.
"That makes what I learned sound even worse." She told me.
"Well, anyway that lead us to go on a trip to Richmond where Slater, a friend of Rose's could give us information on Niklaus. But when we got there, the guy was about as useful as a headache during a critical exam." I was irritated all over again. Elena looked sympathetic.
"That bad huh?"
"He kept on babbling about his numerous degrees and how boring immortality is when you have nothing to do. The only useful information we got was that he knew all about Katherine, Damon and what we needed to do if we wanted to get in touch with Niklaus." I explained. Elena frowned.
"And how do you get in touch with Klaus?" She asked.
"Apparently Craigslist." I replied.
"Seriously? It's that easy?" Elena sounded sceptical. I nodded, pleased that she found it as stupid as it sounded also.
"That what Damon and I thought as well. But Damon also wanted to know why Niklaus would want to lift the curse, and apparently it was to keep the werewolves from lifting it. If vampires were able to break the sun curse, then werewolves would be stuck with the moon curse forever and vise versa." I relayed. Elena looked pensive.
"Is there a way to stop the curse from being broken at all?" She asked, curiously. I smiled.
"That's the same question we asked." I told her. Elena looked extremely alert.
"Well, is it possible?" I shrugged.
"Dunno. The café we were having this discussion in was attacked before we could suss out anything from him." I explained, feeling irritated. Elena's mouth fell open.
"Oh my God. Are you okay?" She asked, concerned. I smiled.
"I'm good. Damon dived over me and shielded me from the falling glass. The only serious casualty was Rose when the sunlight started cooking her skin." I told her. Elena looked at me curiously.
"Damon really cares about you, doesn't he?" She observed. I nodded.
"Yeah, I guess he does. I'm the first person that he's known who hasn't ridiculed him for being himself. Having said that, he sometimes needs to be reminded that human beings aren't his personal toys." I told her, smiling a little. I didn't bother telling her that in the process of dodging falling glass and getting Rose to the safety of the shade, I saw Elijah again. Elena looked like she was underneath enough stress. My friend let out a shaky breath when she realised that it was her turn to spill the beans about what was upsetting her like this; enough that not even Stefan was able to stay with her and comfort her like a boyfriend would.
"Katherine told me that back in 1492, she was the first known Petrova doppelgänger in over 500 years at that point." Elena eventually began her story. I blinked in astonishment. "She had first met Klaus in England after she had been kicked out of Bulgaria by her father." She told me.
"Why?" I frowned with confusion.
"Apparently, Katherine had a baby out of wedlock. After the baby was born and given away, they disowned her and banished her to England." Elena looked tired. I nodded accepting the explanation.
"That kinda explains why you exist now 500 years later, but not why Katherine couldn't be used now in Niklaus' ritual." I stated. Elena nodded.
"That's what I thought too. But anyway." Elena took a deep breath in before continuing Katherine's tale. However, she paused looking at me with hesitation.
"What?" I asked her, feeling nervous and I had no idea why.
"I keep forgetting that you knew Klaus. This might not be something I should be telling you." Elena told me. I froze, biting my lip before looking back at her with determination.
"It's alright. If we're going to be seeing him eventually, I need to know what I've missed about him." I reassured her. Elena nodded with trepidation.
"Okay." Elena sighed. "Katherine met Klaus not long after arriving in England and adapting there. He apparently courted her, until he revealed what he really was and what he wanted from her." My heart sank like a pebble tossed into a lake the second Elena mentioned that Niklaus had dated somebody else.
"Then she ran for it. And I don't blame her." Elena admitted. Then she frowned. "What the hell is courting anyway?" Elena asked, curiously. I drew in a deep breath, feeling stupid that I would be reacting this way. By the time Katherine had met Niklaus, 500-years had passed. It wouldn't be really fair of me or anybody else to expect that my love would've been celibate for this long. Even I'd go completely insane and be quite frisky too.
"Katherine meant that Niklaus flirted and expressed his intentions to develop a relationship with her." I explained confidently. Elena looked at me strangely.
"How the hell do you know that?" She asked me. I gave her a look, questioning if she had really been paying attention to me when I first explained my history with Niklaus, Elijah and the other Originals.
"I read a lot of literature: The Brontë Sisters, Jane Austen etc. Plus, I was alive a thousand years ago when Niklaus had courted me before eventually proposing. I've had firsthand experience with this." I told her, meaningfully. "What happened next?" I asked her, fidgeting with my fingernails.
"When Katherine ran away, apparently Klaus sent Elijah off to find her. But Trevor had found her and sent him off in the opposite direction." Elena said.
"That creep who kept hitting on you back at that abandoned house, and then lost his head?" I queried. Elena nodded, still looking a little sick when remembering that particular memory. "So that's why he was so panicky." I mumbled.
"Klaus wants the same thing from me that he was unable to get from Katherine." Elena told me.
"Yeah, to break his curse."
"By draining me of all of my blood." Elena went pale just telling me this. I frowned, still confused about something.
"But why specifically the Petrova bloodline? Did Katherine tell you why?" I asked. Elena nodded.
"Petrova blood was used to bind the curse to the moonstone. The doppelgänger was created as a way to undo the spell, and when Katherine reappeared as the first doppelgänger after the curse was cast, it's a sign that the curse could be broken." Yep, that was pretty much what Henrik had told me the night after we came back from Duke, and I had shown him the Curse for the first time.
"So she ran before Niklaus could kill her. Am I right in saying that?" I double checked with her. Elena nodded. "Fantastic." I muttered sarcastically. "So I can assume that because Trevor got involved that Rose was unwittingly dragged in as well?" Elena nodded again. "Sounds selfish. Definitely reeks of Katherine too." I scoffed.
"Katherine told me that Rose was going to immediately return her back to Klaus and beg for forgiveness. But before she could do this she had tricked Rose into feeding her blood and then she hung herself, making herself useless for the ritual." Elena told me. I cringed.
"I bet that didn't go down well with Niklaus." I stated. Elena looked grim and nodded, confirming my suspicions.
"No, he retaliated." Elena confirmed.
I snorted, feeling unimpressed. No wonder the rumours and stories surrounding my Niklaus seemed to strike fear into those who knew him. I'd be pissed too if my freedom was so close I could practically taste it; only for some selfish little cow to go and fuck it all up so that I'd have to wait another 500 years to have another crack at it.
Having said that though, I could see why Katherine ran also. I wouldn't have wanted to die, much less be the essential ingredient to a ritual I had no business being a part of. So why should she? I wonder how Niklaus dealt with his disappointment and anger when he realised Katherine was now useless?
"So basically Katherine threw Rose and Trevor underneath a bus to save her own skin?" I snorted. "I cannot wait to hear what her punishment was." I said, feeling a little bit vindictive at the thought and it wasn't even me who Katherine had screwed over.
"Trust me you can. I didn't even believe that Katherine was telling me the truth about all this. But I think that every word she told me was her warning me about what's to come. And it scared the hell out of me." Elena told me, looking fearful and pale. "She was even willing to tell me how the curse is broken when I asked her if she knew." I was intrigued.
"How is the curse broken?" I asked, feeling morbid but determined to understand. I was there when I saw Niklaus get cursed by his mother, Mikael and Elijah; and I wanted to know what it took to save him.
"In order for Klaus to break his curse, he needs the moonstone…"
"Which Katherine apparently still has with her in the tomb." I guessed, and muttered curses underneath my breath when Elena nodded looking equally as annoyed. "What the hell were Damon and Stefan thinking?" I wanted to know.
"He also needs a werewolf." My eyes widened as I picked Tyler Lockwood very clearly in my head. I didn't even know if the kid had broken his curse yet; but he didn't deserve to die. I felt sick at the thought. "A vampire." We had vampires aplenty in this town, I just hoped that it wouldn't be anybody I knew or called friend: namely Damon, Stefan or Caroline. "And me." Elena finished listing what was required. I shook my head, not sure if I wanted to know much more.
"But then Stefan showed up as I was trying to coax more information out of Katherine. He was angry that I had risked my life to come down to the tomb, and didn't believe that Katherine would actually tell me the truth about what she went through and what I might possibly go through." She told me, looking a little resentful.
"From what I've been told by Damon, Katherine isn't exactly renowned for telling the truth. Or if she by some miracle does, it's usually for her own benefit." I defended Stefan's actions. Elena did tend to be a little too trusting at times.
"So then why would she offer me advice then?" Elena retorted. I frowned at her, slightly confused.
"What do you mean?"
"Katherine told Stefan and me that once she had set herself free from Klaus' ritual she returned home to Bulgaria. Only she discovered that her entire family had been slaughtered." My mouth fell open. I knew that Niklaus had a very bad temper when he got crossed or when somebody disappointed him; but to kill an entire family? I started to doubt his reasoning or his sanity. "Klaus had apparently killed her family to get back at her for running. And I'm scared Grace." Frightened tears started form in her eyes. "If he did that to Katherine when she ran away from him, what is he likely to do to the people I love if I did?" She whispered.
I got up off Elena's bed and wondered over to the window, gazing outside at Elena's backyard. The way I saw it, given the evidence I've been learning all along; both Niklaus and Elena were both the victims in this situation: My beloved desired to free himself from a physically debilitating curse that hid his true self, all because of his prick of a father was smarting over his wounded male pride. And Elena was trying to survive being used to break Niklaus' curse, but at the same time protect her friends and family from being killed.
It all seemed obvious to me.
"I think the answer is simple." I told her, turning back to face her. "Don't run." Elena looked at me in shock.
"What?" She whispered. I maintained a straight face.
"When the time comes, and it will, be brave and face your fears. Accept that you will die; but be smart about it. Find a solution to protect yourself so that everybody wins." I told her. Elena frowned, letting my suggestion sink in.
"You mean find something that could resurrect me when I die?" I shrugged.
"Something like that. I can't give you the solution to your problem, because I don't know what it is." I told her. "This is just advice." Elena still looked doubtful, but I was pleased that she didn't immediately reject the idea. There was a knock at the front door downstairs, and both Elena and I exchanged glances with each other. "Were you expecting anybody today?" I asked, heading for Elena's bedroom door and opening it. Elena frowned.
"Not that I know of. It might be Stefan, he did say he would be coming over today." Elena replied. I looked at her with surprise.
"Yeah, I meant to ask you about that. Why wasn't he here comforting you?" I asked, curiously. Elena looked down at her lap.
"I just wanted some time to myself last night. The news kinda got to me." She admitted. I nodded.
"You get dressed. I'll go down and greet him." I suggested and Elena nodded pulling back her duvet and headed for her closet, pulling free what she wanted to wear today while I jogged downstairs. Jenna was answering the front door just as I reached the bottom. It was Stefan AND Damon (and Henrik) standing on the front porch; and both Salvatores looked surprised to see me standing on the staircase, while Henrik merely strode past them to stand beside me. He looked troubled. He and I had agreed that he'd go and act as my eyes and ears when he followed the brothers to the tomb; since it was obvious that Damon would pitch a hissy fit if I even suggested the idea of going with them. Henrik's current mood sparked a lot of questions that I hoped would be answered in due course.
"Good morning, Jenna. May we come in?" Stefan asked Elena's aunt politely. Jenna frowned a little protectively at him, obviously still believing that her niece and Stefan had had a fight.
"Sure. Elena's upstairs, she'll be down in a minute." Jenna told them as she turned to go back to what she was doing. She locked eyes with me, and brightened hopefully. "Any luck coaxing Elena from her bedroom?" Jenna asked me. I nodded.
"Yeah, she just needed to talk with a friend." I explained. "She'll be down in a sec." I reassured her. Jenna looked relieved.
"You are a lifesaver. Thanks." She told me, flashing me a smile before picking up her purse and leaving the house. Damon and Stefan looked at me curiously.
"What are you doing here, Grace?" Stefan asked, looking a little worried. I came down the rest of the stairs and walked over to them. Henrik remained where we was standing on the bottom step.
"It's lovely to see you too, Stefan. Damon, I trust you are well also." I replied, smiling pointedly. "And to answer your question, I was filling Elena in on what Damon, Rose and I learned yesterday in Richmond. As well as learning what she had gotten up to yesterday with Katherine." I told them. Elena chose that moment to walk down the staircase, fully dressed and surprised to see them as I did.
"Hey. Uh, can we talk? With the both of you, I mean?" Stefan asked.
"Why?" Elena asked, coming to a stop beside me (and Henrik).
"We went to see Katherine." Damon reported succinctly. I suddenly understood why Henrik looked so uncomfortable.
"And judging by the expressions on your faces, it wasn't a pleasant experience?" I queried. Both of them made faces.
"Highlight of my existence." Damon drawled sarcastically as Elena led us all towards the kitchen.
"Why did you do that?" Elena asked, frowning a little and looking a bit apprehensive.
"To get back the moonstone from her." Stefan told her. Noticing the lack of pearly white stone in their possession, told both of us that they were unsuccessful with their excursion.
"What happened?" I asked, taking a seat at one of the stool surrounding the island bench. Damon and Stefan explained to the both of us that they descended down into the pit that contained the tomb and removed the stone door from the entrance, whereupon Katherine immediately greeted them.
"Bitch decided to flirt with us both, lull us into a false sense of security to trick us into coming into the tomb with her." Damon told us. I made a face.
"That sounds desperate even for her." I remarked.
"Well, she did that; but also attempted to persuade us to get Bonnie to lift the barrier so she could get free." Stefan added, leaning on the bench beside Elena.
"Well, clearly she failed. What else did you get out of this trip?" I asked. Damon snorted.
"That it was a colossal waste of time going down there in the first place. She wouldn't give it up unless we freed her first."
"What were her terms?" Elena asked. I looked at with shock.
"You're not seriously considering this are you?" I exclaimed. Elena made a face at me.
"Well getting out of the tomb seems kinda obvious. Katherine's gotta have some other reason why she wants out of the tomb, since she told me that when Klaus ever shows up here in Mystic Falls; it would be to kill us all, except for her because he wouldn't dare go into the tomb and risk being stuck in there himself." Elena explained, logically.
"Katherine promised that if we got her out, we'd get the moonstone and she'd disappear from Mystic Falls forever." Damon told us.
"And continue running from Niklaus for probably another 500 years." I stated sardonically. "Coward." I added, disgustedly. Elena looked at the brothers, worriedly.
"You don't believe her, do you?" She asked.
"No, of course not. We just want the moonstone." Damon confirmed, confidently.
"According to Rose's friend, Slater, there's a way to destroy the spell that Klaus wants to break." Stefan told us, as Henrik laughed scornfully.
"That's bogus. There is no spell to render the moonstone useless." He told me, from where he was leaning against the kitchen doorway. I figured as much. I managed to keep my face blank as I let Henrik's words sink in and hated the fact that the only person who knew everything about this curse, was a ghost, blood related to the entity it directly related to, and only I could communicate with him.
"No spell, no doppelgänger sacrifice. Ergo, you life." Damon stated. Elena glanced at me when he mentioned this. And I was quick to realise that she was remembering the advice I had given her about not running and accepting that she had to die; provided she found a way cover herself when she went to her death. I was pleasantly surprised that Elena seemed to have taken on board my suggestion, and was actually considering it.
"How do you destroy it?" She asked. My face fell a bit.
Or not…
I was beginning to question if Elena really did have a martyr complex and if actually valued her life. Stefan smiled.
"By releasing it from the moonstone." He replied. Elena frowned, as well as me.
"How do you guys even know this is gonna work?" I asked, skeptically.
"Cause we have a crafty witch on our side." Damon responded; looking annoyed with my skepticism. Elena frowned again.
"You discussed it with Bonnie?" Elena asked, sounding a little shocked that Bonnie was actually on board with this.
"She agreed to do anything she could to help us." Stefan confirmed. Both Elena and I shook our heads.
"It's Katherine who has the moonstone." Elena reminded them.
"She's never going to give it to you." I agreed. "Unless she is 'persuaded' otherwise." I suggested. Both Stefan and Damon looked at me questioningly.
"And how do you propose on doing that?" Damon asked. I offered him a smirk.
"By threatening her with the two people who have complete power over her and her self-destructive actions. You forget who has a strong connection to those people." I reminded them of my relationship with Niklaus and Elijah. Damon immediately shut down.
"Not an option." He told me. I frowned at him.
"Explain to me why not?" I demanded. Damon offered me a condescending smirk.
"1) Because Elijah is dead. 2) It would mean bringing you to her as proof, and I'm not willing to risk your safety just to get back a worthless stone, and 3) I get the impression it still probably won't convince her to cough it up." Damon listed the facts. I bristled, something that Stefan noticed and quickly moved to defuse the situation.
"We're gonna get it from her." He promised.
"Well, what he means to say is, we will pry it from her cold, dead hand if we have to." Damon translated. I let out a low dark chuckle that drew all of their attention onto me. "What's with the creepy chuckle?" Damon demanded.
"Grace, don't do anything stupid." Henrik warned me, worriedly. I looked at him, trying to translate to him to just humour me. What I had to stay should hopefully make them re-think their plans.
"If you really think that Elijah is truly dead, then you are sadly mistaken." I told them, causing Elena to blanch. Damon looked suspicious.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"Who do you think shattered the window back at the café yesterday?" I asked him, and Damon's eyes widened in shock. Both Stefan and Elena immediately looked afraid.
"You can't be serious. He's alive?!" I nodded.
"And kicking. Probably patiently plotting his revenge as we speak." Henrik commented, pushing off of the door frame and boosting himself up to sit on the island bench between Damon and myself.
"I saw him. I think Elijah is much more powerful than you both realise." I told them.
"But I staked him with that broken coat rack, and unless it was made of steel and camouflaged to look like wood, wood + heart = dead vampire." Damon protested. I scowled at him.
"I know what I saw. Are you calling me a liar?" I challenged him. Stefan waded in.
"Nobody's calling you that, Grace. But I think we have to believe that Bonnie just needs to find a way to release the seal long enough for u to get in, get the moonstone, and get out in time for her to return it." Stefan explains. Both Damon and I backed off just as Elena chimed in.
"It sounds like you guys already have it all planned out." She observed. Damon puffed up his chest, looking immensely proud of himself.
"Yep. We're awesome." He declared.
And modest too… I thought.
"Except for one thing. I don't want you to do it." Elena tells them both. Damon and Stefan looked at her with disbelief while my mouth dropped open from shock. You could knock me over with a feather. Elena Gilbert was actually considering my suggestion after all. Wonders would never cease. Damon and Stefan exchange looks between them.
"What are you talking about? Elena, we don't have a choice." Stefan insisted. Elena frowned.
"What about Klaus?" She reminded him.
"We'll find him right after we get the moonstone." Stefan reassured her. I stepped in to help Elena with her objection.
"Before or after Niklaus kills everybody she cares about, including you two." I questioned, folding my arms across my chest and looking at them disapprovingly. Damon frowned at me.
"What about you? Aren't you afraid that Klaus will kill you to prove a point to Elena?" I snorted.
"Hardly. He's been searching for me for a thousand years." I reminded him. Elena frowned at him as well.
"I agree. Grace is his long-lost love, Damon. He's not gonna kill her." Damon looked visibly angry about this fact, and I rolled my eyes. Overprotective Damon Salvatore strikes again.
"Elena, if we can de-spell the moonstone, we can save your life." Stefan explained. Elena sighed in irritation.
"I know. Everybody keeps saying that." She grumbled. I shook my head at how foolish they were being.
"That won't help anybody's cause. You'll be signing your own death certificates if you do that." I protested. "But you're going to ignore me any way and do it, so I might as well be talking to a brick wall." I bitched. "Don't say I didn't warn you." I walked from the room, with both Elena and Henrik following after me. Elena snagged my elbow, pulling me aside. I frowned at the determined expression on her face.
"I need your help. Can you give me a lift, please?" I nodded, frowning at the fact that she had muttered this underneath her breath.
"Uh, sure." Elena sagged in relief and quickly dashed upstairs. I followed, curious about why she needed a lift when she had her own transport.
"What the hell is she up to?" Henrik blurted out, and I shrugged.
"I dunno. Guess we'll find out in due course. But something tells me it's not going to be something the brothers are gonna like; otherwise she would've asked them." I replied to him, as we walked back into Elena's bedroom. "Where am I taking you, Elena?" I asked, picking up my purse and keys from where I had left them. Elena hesitated before replying, which made Henrik and I all the more suspicious.
"The Boarding House." Elena replied, heading back out the door and downstairs. Both Damon and Stefan were still in the kitchen, deep in a heated discussion presumably about de-spelling the moonstone, despite Elena and me rejecting the idea completely.
"What could possibly be at the Boarding House that isn't currently having an argument in your kitchen?" I wondered. Then it hit me who Elena could be thinking of, and I stopped dead in my tracks; kicking myself for not thinking about it sooner. "Oh my God. You can't be serious." I muttered. Elena turned and looked at me, impatiently. "You want to talk to Rose? What the hell for, Elena?" I demanded, not budging an inch until she told me. Elena sighed and came over seizing my wrist and tugging me towards my car.
"I'll tell you on the way." She promised. I glanced at Henrik for advice.
"Wing it?" He suggested and I scowled at him.
"Lovely. I don't remember you being this unhelpful a thousand years ago, brother." I scoffed, stomping my way towards the car and unlocking it so Elena and I could get in.
"Well, we'll never know until we go along with it." Henrik pointed out. I pursed my lips and used the opportunity to smile at him sarcastically when I looked back to see where I was going when I reversed out of the driveway. This cannot end well. Once I put the car in gear and started driving back to the Boarding House, I turned my head to look at Elena for an explanation.
"Any day now, Elena." I told her, and Elena sighed.
"I want to ask Rose to help me pick up where you, Damon and she left off in Richmond with that Slater guy." She explained. I cringed.
"Jesus, Elena. Are you trying to get yourself killed? What you're thinking of is suicidal. May I remind you that Damon and I barely made it out of Richmond unscathed after Elijah blew up the coffee shop?" I reminded her. Elena frowned.
"No, you don't have to. I got it all in spades." She retorted. "So are you going to help me or not?" I exchanged a glance at Henrik in the backseat. He was glaring heatedly at Elena; probably because he knows that I would follow her to stop her from doing something foolish. I sighed.
"Against my better judgement." I reluctantly agreed. Elena instantly relaxed and a small little triumphant smile appeared on her face. The urge to kill her right where she sat was steadily creeping up like magma in an active volcano. But I resisted in favour of reminding Elena of the man Niklaus used to be, before she got any more bright ideas. "You know, you're very judgmental, Elena. Niklaus is just a man trying to get his life back." I told her. Elena looked at me incredulously, and a little offended. I could care less to be honest.
"Are you seriously trying to justify his actions to me? He's a monster who's looking for me so he can kill me!" She protested. Her childish temper tantrums were becoming tiresome.
"Like you're a saint, Elena. Like you wouldn't do the same thing if you were in his shoes?" I replied back, tartly. Elena looked appalled by what I said.
"How would you know that exactly? You barely know him." She said, rather cruelly. I looked at her sharply, causing her to recoil a little.
"I'd watch your tongue, if I were you. I know these things because I grew up with him and his family. My family if I'm being completely honest." My voice was low and quiet. "I would do anything for my family, Elena. But at the same time, I do have a conscience and I will step in if things go too far. That is why I am helping you, giving you advice. But don't underestimate the things that I will do." I warned her. Elena fell silent, obviously taking my words to heart. She looked at me curiously. "Did you lose something over here, Elena?" I asked her.
"It's weird. You sound a lot like Elijah did." Elena observed.
"Not surprising. Since you reunited with Elijah, you're becoming more and more like the Gráinne I used to know every day." Henrik piped up proudly. I smiled warmly at his words.
"My memories are returning. Which means the mannerisms I had been brought up with are returning. And the reason why I sound similar to Elijah is because he was the one who took care of Niklaus and me when we were very young children." I explained. Elena was shocked.
"You mean he babysat you?" She sounded intrigued. I shrugged at her words.
"Not at first. He was only six when I was born, and Niklaus was two." I replied, smiling at the barely remembered memories.
"Elijah is older than Klaus? By four years?" Elena breathed. "Then how come Klaus is supposedly stronger than Elijah?"
"That's a story for another time." I told her, firmly dismissing the question. "But Elijah was, and remains to this day, the older brother that I never had." Elena looked intrigued by the story.
"So, you and Klaus are childhood sweethearts? I'm having a hard time picturing that." She admitted, making a face. I sighed and at the next set of red lights, reached for my purse and pulled free my sketchbook. "Grace, the lights turned green." Elena told me, and I turned my attention back to the road, dumping the book into her lap. "What's this for?" Elena frowned, opening the sketchbook to the first page which was a sketch of a wolf baying at a full moon.
"To show you a picture of what I used to look like a thousand years ago. I've drawn a few different pictures recently." I told her. Elena eagerly flipped through the sketchbook until she came upon a new picture depicting dark-haired little boy of no more than six cradling a newborn baby girl wrapped in a blanket with a sprinkling of brunette hair on her head. Beside the boy sat a chubbier fair-haired little boy of about two trying to see the baby in the older boy's arms, while the torso and legs of an unknown older woman sat behind the six year old, helping him support the head of the baby. All three children were dressed in 11th century garments.
"Is that…?" Elena trailed off.
"Yes, that first picture you're looking at is Elijah and Niklaus when they were six and two holding me; the baby." I confirmed. I could see Elena's wide and unblinking eyes look at the picture in astonishment. "Shall I pull over and explain?" I offered.
"That would be good." Elena agreed. I immediately turned the steering wheel to pull off on the side of the road. I noted that we weren't that far away from the boarding house, so I decided to stall for a while. I noticed Henrik looking at the picture too. I had momentarily forgotten that my youngest brother had not seen these pictures either, and was looking eager to learn more too. "How do you remember this?" Elena asked, with confusion.
"I don't. This is my interpretation of what I believed might've happened." I explained easily. Elena nodded, then pointed towards the unknown woman sitting behind Elijah.
"Who's that?" She asked.
"Their mother, Esther, I expect." I answered. "If you can remember, I believe I told you that both my family and Niklaus' family came to the 'New World' to escape a deadly plague. Our families were very close." I told her, before turning the page revealing a sketch of an older (blank-faced) Niklaus having a moment with a tall brunette beauty who was smiling back up at him with such love and devotion in her dark eyes. The beauty was dressed in a Viking dress with a sweetheart neckline and long sleeves. Her extremely long dark hair was tied back in a simple thick braid.
"Is this you?" Elena asked, surprised. I nodded. "Your hair was so long!" The doppelgänger commented, sounding a little jealous. I chuckled.
"We didn't have hairdressers back then, sweetie. We had to cut it ourselves. And anyway, it was a bitch to clean and maintain. Not to mention because my hair was so thick, I used to get headaches like you wouldn't believe." I explained. Elena turned to the next picture which contained a sketch of two small pictures: one of Elijah, Niklaus and myself standing about and laughing; while Niklaus and Elijah held swords in their hands. The other was of Niklaus and myself lying in a field of wildflowers with a beautiful fair-haired girl cloud watching.
"She's familiar." Elena commented, pointing towards my sister.
"That's because it's Niklaus' sister, Rebekah. She was my best friend a thousand years ago. And I hope she still is even now." My smile fell a little. "Although, she might be angry at me for a while." I confessed.
"Why?" Elena looked up, concerned.
"She was the last person I spoke to before I was murdered." I explained sadly. "I broke a promise to her."
"What promise?" Elena was curious.
"That I would be careful and not get myself killed like Henrik did." I told her.
"Is he here?" Elena asked.
"Right behind you, looking at the picture in your hands." I confirmed.
Elena nods but doesn't say anything else as she studies the pictures once again. It is several minutes before she eventually closes the portfolio and hands it back to me. I put it back into my purse just as Elena finally speaks.
"What was Klaus like growing up?" Elena asks, sounding rather reluctant; like it was taboo to ask a simple question like this. I grinned triumphantly. She was taking the bait, just as I hoped she would the second I started showing her those pictures.
"Like every other boy: thought girls were gross except for his own mother and sister. Cheeky, playful, mischievous, disgusting…" I shuddered at a particularly memorable memory of the time he, Elijah and I were digging around in the dirt, and Niklaus had come across an earthworm; which he had plucked up from the dirt and started chasing me around with it, much to Elijah's amusement and annoyance. "And bloody annoying." I told her. "But he was also shy, charming, a real sweetheart, compassionate, incredibly insecure and paranoid as fuck." I put the car into gear and continued on our journey to the Boarding House.
"Oh, yeah. I nearly forgot about that…" Henrik groaned, reflecting upon some memories of his own. None of them good, judging by the miserable look on his face.
"Paranoid? Insecure?" Elena frowned. Both Henrik and I nodded, even though Elena couldn't see him.
"He had a rather horrible childhood and adolescence." I told her. "For years we couldn't work out why his father was so cruel to him. Niklaus would be constantly on his guard around Mikael, wanting so badly to please him or remain on his good side; just for the sake of peace. But it was all for naught. Whenever he made a mistake, even a minuscule one; Mikael would verbally abuse and physically beat him. Or if he did something to remotely piss him off, it would be like World War III started." I was getting angry, and Elena could sense it.
"That's awful. Do you think that's got anything to do with how he's been described by everyone?" She asked. I paused.
"Partly." I responded. Elena immediately stiffened. But before she could ask any more questions, we had arrived at the Boarding House. After I parked the car, I immediately get out with Henrik, leaving Elena to her thoughts as she followed swiftly and heads for the front door. I locked the car behind me and eye her cautiously, wondering if she had really thought through her plan before making me drive her here.
"We better follow her so she doesn't get into trouble." Henrik suggested and I nodded discreetly and sauntered over to her side as Elena lets herself in. I close the door behind us and we both look around the hallway. Suddenly we both hear Rose coming down the stairs, tying on a silk robe.
"It's not nice to leave a girl naked so early in the morning." Rose breaks off mid-sentence when she sees us. I smirked as both Elena and Henrik go bright red and turn away. "Woah. Sorry, I thought you were…"
"Damon. Easy mistake. Plus you don't have anything I haven't seen in the mirror every morning." I waved away the apology and walked further into the house, followed closely by Henrik who avoids looking in Rose's direction. I smile proudly at him; a true gentleman. Elena clears her throat uncomfortably.
"I, uh, sorry, I…" Elena stammered. I chuckled, earning a scowl from Elena. Rose looked a combination of both annoyed and amused.
"There's no one else here." She points out.
"We know. Damon and Stefan are back at the Gilbert's." I explained.
"Actually, I came to talk to you." Elena interjected. Rose looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
"I think Elena meant to say 'we' came to talk to you." I amended what she said. Elena rolled her eyes impatiently as Rose nodded.
"Then I should probably get dressed." She stated.
"Probably best." I agreed. Rose smiles broadly and walks back up the stairs, returning after a few minutes dressed in real clothing. By then, Elena and I had relocated to the parlour, and Henrik was picking up where he left off perusing Damon and Stefan's book collection.
"So what do you want to talk to me about?" Rose asked, taking a seat next to Elena. The doppelgänger got right to the point.
"I want to continue finding more information about Klaus, leading off from what you, Damon and Grace found out from your friend Slater in Richmond." Elena told her. Rose frowned almost immediately.
"It's a bad idea." Rose stated. I shook my head at her description.
"It's not a bad idea. It's a bloody stupid one." I corrected her. Rose frowned at me.
"Then why didn't you stop her?" She demanded. Elena jumped in before I could answer.
"From what Grace told me, your friend Slater obviously has more information about Klaus. You, Grace and Damon gave up before you got it." Elena pointed out. Both Rose and I frowned at her defensively.
"Because somebody blew up the coffee shop with us in it." Rose stated. Elena nodded.
"I know. Grace told me. But there's more to learn. We just have to find a way to learn it." Elena insisted. Rose offered me a look, as though asking me if Elena was for real. I shrugged.
"Why are you coming to me with this?" Rose asked, suspiciously.
"Because you owe me. One word from me, and Damon and Stefan could have killed you for kidnapping me." Elena pointed out. I scowled.
"You're being very presumptuous. You seriously expect that people are going to just drop everything the second you click your fingers together?" Elena scowled at me, and was about to open her mouth to presumably let fly something catty enough for me to want to rip out her tongue or throat if I would've been a vampire, when Rose unexpectedly backed me up.
"Or maybe it's because you know that they wouldn't want you doing this. And their moonstone caper gives you a chance to sneak away, using Grace as your accomplice." Rose raised an eyebrow at Elena, as though daring her to disagree. Elena flushed an interesting shade of red.
"We're having a disagreement, okay? They're willing to risk everyone that I love and I'm not." Elena attempted to defend her actions.
"And your automatic response is to martyr yourself?" I felt mystified. Rose shook her head disapprovingly.
"They're just trying to protect you." Rose explained to her. Elena immediately shut down.
"And you've proven that you couldn't care less whether I'm protected or not. So, we're back to you taking me to Slater." Elena replied, stubbornly. I groaned and got to my feet, pacing so I didn't do something that would incur Damon or Stefan's wrath; like killing Elena before Niklaus could get his chance.
"Wow, I wish I had some popcorn right now." Henrik spoke up from where he was spectating this latest batch of Elena's antics. I threw him a weird look, which he ignored as Rose sighed heavily and raked a hand through her pixie red hair.
"What exactly do you hope to achieve by this?" She asked Elena.
"How would like to be able to walk during the daylight?" Elena asked, aiming for innocence. I snorted. Both Rose and Elena ignored me.
"I've been a slave to shadows for 500 years. What do you think?" Rose replied, evenly. Elena grinned.
"I think I know a witch who's willing to do whatever it takes to help. If you're willing to make a deal." Elena told her.
I didn't have to turn round to see the tempted look on Rose's face.
A/N: Please review. The next chapter should be out within 2-3 days.
TTFN ;)