Elena and Jeremy followed Elijah into their house after school a couple of days later. When they got inside, Jenna was waiting, much to Elena and Jeremy's surprise. "Aunt Jenna, what are you doing here? Not that I'm not glad to see you," Elena said.
"We have to have a talk. Let's go into the kitchen," Elijah said. It was time to tell them about the Dahlia situation. He'd put it off too long already. He'd told Jenna already, and they'd both decided it was best to tell the kids together.
Elena groaned as she and Jeremy followed him and Jenna to the kitchen. "Well, this can't be good. Your double teaming us."
"Neither of you are in any trouble," Elijah assured her.
"I sure hope not. I'm already in enough trouble for us both to last an eternity," Elena said. That didn't make her feel better about this though. Something was obviously wrong for them to have a family meeting like this.
Once in the kitchen, they all sat down at the table. Elijah began speaking once they got settled. "Elena, do you remember me telling you about my older sister, Freya?"
"Yeah. You said she died of the plague before you were born," Elena said.
"Well, it turns out I was wrong about that. Freya didn't die. She was taken by my mother's sister as payment for fertility magic," Elijah said.
"Wait, so your mom sold your sister?" Jeremy asked in disgust.
"Essentially, yes. Apparently, her sister, Dahlia, has always been obsessed with power, and a firstborn Mikaelson witch has a lot of it. She wanted Freya for her power. However, it wasn't just Freya. She demanded the first born of every generation in our family," Elijah explained.
"Dad, I hate your mom a little more each time I learn something new about her. She makes me grateful for Katherine," Elena said disgusted. At least Katherine only wanted to kill her. What her grandmother had done was worse than death. She sold one child and cursed anything to suppress a part of himself. She was horrible.
"That really sucks for your sister, but why do you guys seem so worried about it. Both her and your aunt would be dead by now," Jeremy said. It wasn't that he didn't care. What happened to Elijah's sister was horrific, but Elijah and Jenna seemed really worried, as if it weren't over.
"I'm not sure that that's true, Jeremy. Finn told me that Dahlia is very powerful and obsessed with immortality. He believes she may still be alive," Elijah said.
"Does that mean Freya might still be alive too?" Elena asked.
"It's a good possibility," he said.
"Well, we have to find out. If she's alive, we have to help her," Elena said immediately. Freya was a part of her family. She was her aunt. If she was alive, Elena wanted to help her.
Jenna smiled at Elijah. "I told you her first thought would be on your sister."
Elijah nodded. He wasn't surprised in the slightest. His daughter was very compassionate and selfless. Her selflessness sometimes drove him insane. He just sometimes wished she'd worry a little more about herself. "Elena, I'm not sure you've fully comprehended what I'm saying. Dahlia believes she's entitled to the firstborn child of every generation in our family. You are one of them."
"You think she's coming for Elena?" Jeremy asked concerned. His sister seriously couldn't catch a break. First, everyone was after her because they thought she was doppelganger, now some deranged witch wanted her because of her power.
"If she truly is alive, yes, I believe she will," Elijah said.
"Well, I wouldn't be me if someone didn't want to kidnap or murder me, would I?" Elena asked with a chuckle.
"Elena, you need to take this seriously," Jenna said firmly.
"I do take it seriously, but this isn't the first time someone has been after me. We always handle it," Elena said.
"This is different, Elena. Dahlia is very dangerous. My mother was an extremely powerful witch, and Dahlia is apparently much more powerful than her. From what Finn told me, she is also very cold. He said she took Freya kicking and screaming without a care in the world," Elijah said.
"Well, that's even more reason why we need to save Freya if she's alive. We can't leave her at the mercy of someone like that," Elena said.
"I wish you would show a little of that concern for yourself. You are in a lot of danger if Dahlia finds out about you," Elijah said.
"I'm not a child that she can just carry away. I can defend myself now. I can fight her," Elena said. She didn't mean to come off as arrogant. She knew she wasn't all powerful. She even knew that Dahlia was probably more powerful than her. However, she could put up a good fight. She could try to help her aunt. That was what she wanted.
"You will do no such thing! You listen to me very carefully, Elena. You will not go looking for Dahlia or Freya. You will not pull what you did when went off with Niklaus! Do you understand me?" Elijah asked in a hard tone.
"Yes. I wasn't planning to do that, but don't you want to help Freya, Dad? She's your sister," Elena said.
"I know that, and if I can help her without putting you in danger, I will gladly do so, but you will always be my first priority. Protecting you and your brother comes before anything else. And I need you to help me with that. I need you to keep yourself safe. You will not go after Dahlia. I want your word," Elijah said expectantly.
Elena nodded. "You have my word, Dad. I promise I won't go looking for her."
"Thank you. We'll be taking some precautions to keep you both safe. First of all, Elena, I will be giving you back your phone each morning to take to school with you. You are still not allowed to use it at home, other than to speak to Jenna, so you will return it at the end of each school day," Elijah told her. After thinking about it, he decided that she needed to have it at school. As unlikely as it was that something would happen in public, he didn't want to take the chance.
"Okay," she said.
"We've also come to a decision regarding you both," Jenna said before turning to Jeremy. "Jeremy, until this is resolved, you're going to be staying here with Elijah and Elena. There won't be anymore overnights with me for a while."
"What? No. Dad, this isn't necessary," Elena said. She didn't want to stop going to her aunt's. She loved her time with her, just as she did the time she spent with her father.
"This was my decision, Elena, not your dad's. I can't protect you from a witch. You're both safer here," Jenna said.
"So, we're just supposed to live in a bubble? How long are we supposed to put our lives on hold?" Jeremy asked.
"Until it's safe," Jenna said firmly.
"You guys are overreacting. You don't even know that Dahlia is alive, and even if she is, she probably doesn't even know about me," Elena said.
"This isn't negotiable. This is what is happening," Elijah said sternly.
"Look, it's not the end of the world, guys. I'm still going to come see you. I'll be around a lot," Jenna promised. Elijah had even offered to let her live with them, but he had a house full of people already, and she just wasn't ready for it. What mattered to her was that her niece and nephew were safe.
"This is stupid," Jeremy said irritably. It wasn't that he minded staying with Elijah. He already spent nearly half his time there, but he also didn't want to be forced to leave his home indefinitely.
"You're free to feel that way if you want, but you will do as we say. It's our job to keep you safe," Elijah said.
"Fine. Can we go?" Jeremy asked. He knew better than to just storm off angrily. He'd been spoken to by Elijah in the past when he tried to do that.
"You may," Elijah said.
Jeremy immediately got up and left the room.
Elena got up as well. She wasn't angry, like Jeremy, but she wasn't happy about this either. She needed a little time to herself.
Xxxxxxxxxxx
Damon walked downstairs to find Stefan at the door with his bags. "Taking a trip, brother?"
"Yeah. Hopefully, I'll only be gone a few days. John Gilbert pointed me towards Abby Bennett, Bonnie's mother. Apparently, she did something to neutralize Elena's grandfather," Stefan said.
"Ah, still on your suicide mission then. Did you tell Bonnie about this?" Damon asked.
Stefan shook his head. "Bonnie changed her mind about Elijah. She doesn't want to interfere anymore. I can't trust her with this. She'd probably tell Elena."
"Stefan, what makes you think this plan of yours even has a prayer of working? Actually, I'm not sure you have a plan. You basically want to bring the most powerful vampire in the world here and just see what happens," Damon said.
"Elena told me that Mikael hates his kids, especially Klaus. He wants them dead," Stefan said.
"And what about Elena? If this guy kills his kids, what makes you think he'll stop with them? What happens if Elena is next on his list? There are a lot of people who seem to want Elena dead, including her own mother. What happens if Grandpa is on that list?" Damon asked. Honestly, he had briefly considered warning Elena about this, but that would almost definitely get Stefan killed. He did not think her father would take kindly to what Stefan was doing. He'd kill him before he let him find this guy. Then again, this Mikael dude could also kill him. Either way, Stefan might very well get himself killed.
Stefan shook his head. "I'm not even going to tell him about Elena. He doesn't even have to know she exists. All he has to do is get rid of Elijah and his siblings. Then he has no reason to stick around."
"Stefan, even if your plan works without a complication, which is extremely unlikely, you're not going to get Elena back. You can't kill a girl's dad and expect her to fall into your arms," Damon said. He found it a little disconcerting that he was the rational one right now. Maybe it was because he'd stepped back from Elena. He no longer had the feelings for her he once did. Honestly, he wondered if his feelings for Elena were ever even about her. He wondered if he clung to her because of Katherine. Either way, backing off had made him more rational than Stefan at the moment.
"You're wrong. Once Elena's away from them, I can get her to see the truth. She'll see I was right. I'll be back in a few days," Stefan said before picking up his bag and walking out the door.