As soon as they made it to the boarding house, Elena made a beeline for Damon's bourbon. After the day she'd had, she deserved a damned drink, especially since her day wasn't over. After she spoke to Damon and Stefan, she had to deal with Klaus. She was going to need a whole bottle of bourbon by the time she was done.
"Help yourself," Damon said sarcastically.
"Oh, I plan to, seeing as you just made my ability to keep the two of you alive about a thousand times harder," Elena said before taking a gulp of her drink. "I almost had Klaus out the door. All you had to do was keep your mouth shut for a few more minutes."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I guess I was just supposed to guess that you were a freaking vampire," Damon said dryly.
"How are you a vampire? Your necklace has vervain in it," Stefan said.
"I've built up a tolerance. It's still slightly uncomfortable, but I can handle the effects much better than other vampires," Elena said as she turned to look at them both.
"Why would you need to build up a tolerance?" Stefan asked.
"Vervain is a weakness. I intended to overcome it to the best of my ability," Elena said. There was also the fact that she had spent most of her time with vampires that could compel her, but that stopped being a worry long ago. Klaus and Elijah would never attempt to compel her or allow any of their siblings to.
"What really happened to the real Elena?" Damon said. He wasn't sure he bought that the Elena died in the car accident. He supposed it was possible, but he didn't trust this vampire right now.
"I told you what happened. Elena died from the accident she was in. She didn't die right away, but her injuries were too severe for her to live without prompt medical attention," Elena told him.
"Why should we believe you?" Damon asked.
"I have no reason to lie. It isn't as if baby vampires like you two are a threat to me," Elena said.
"You sure about that, sweetheart," Damon asked with an arrogant smirk. He then grabbed his head and screamed in pain.
Elena had raised her hand and given him a small aneurism. She stopped it after a few seconds. She didn't want to hurt him, just make a point. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure."
Stefan stared at her in disbelief. "You're a witch? That's impossible!"
"I'm a doppelganger, Stefan. That changes the rules a little," Elena told him.
"You've been lying to us since we met you," Damon said with a glare.
"Yes, and feel free to be upset about it, but don't act like you get to stand on any high ground. Your interest in me began because you wanted to mess with Stefan, and maybe a little because I looked like Katherine," Elena said before turning to Stefan. "And, you. It wasn't any different for you. You were interested in 'Elena' because she had Katherine's face. And you lied as well. You passed yourself off as human, just like I did. Neither of you are any better."
"That's not the same. I thought you were human. You knew that I wasn't. You knew I wasn't really lying to you. You really were lying to me," Stefan said.
"So, it's okay because you thought you were lying to a human? Lying to a human is okay, but not a vampire?" Elena asked.
"That's not what I meant," Stefan said.
"We were both dishonest, and while I have regrets, it was necessary for my own well-being. I have a large enemy list," Elena said. Most witches who knew about her wanted her dead on principle. They hated what she was and hated that she was able to keep her magic. She also inherited hundreds of enemies just by being married to a Mikaelson.
"Would you have ever told me the truth?" Stefan asked.
"I was planning to tell you tonight one way or another. Now, if Klaus hadn't become an issue, I honestly don't know if I would've told you. I hadn't thought that far ahead," Elena told him truthfully.
"How does Klaus know you? Was Damon right? Were you involved with him?" Stefan asked, trying and failing to keep the hurt out of his voice.
Elena sighed. She was going to hurt Stefan, and she hated that, but there was no way around it. "When I met Klaus, it was a very similar situation to the one we had tonight. He wanted to sacrifice me to end his curse."
"His curse? You mean the sun and moon curse?" Stefan asked.
"No. There is no sun and moon curse. Klaus and Elijah made that up. It doesn't matter what the curse was at this point. It can't be broken anyway. The point is is that it is tied directly to Klaus. The sacrifice of a human doppelganger was still needed though. That's why Klaus wanted me. The problem was, I was already far from human when Klaus learned about me," Elena explained.
"You were already a vampire. So why didn't he hunt you and your family like he did Katherine's?" Damon asked.
"Klaus didn't want to torture Katherine for being a vampire. He wanted to punish her for turning to avoid the curse. He saw it treachery and as a coward's way out. I didn't turn to avoid Klaus. I would've sooner let him kill me. I was a vampire before I even knew who Klaus was. He did still think of killing me. I think the only reason he didn't was because I was the first person he met that wasn't afraid of him," Elena told them.
"Why weren't you afraid?" Stefan asked.
"Because I didn't want to be what I was. Witches instinctively abhor vampirism. I was no different at the time," Elena said.
"Why'd you transition then? You had the choice to die," Damon said.
"Really? Like you had the choice to die? My story's not much different than yours, Damon, at least not after I died with vampire blood in my system. I was not given a choice in the matter," Elena said bitterly. That had a lot to do with why she was drawn to Damon. She knew what he went though when he was forced to turn. She felt a kinship to him.
Stefan looked down shamefully at the reminder of what he'd done. He would never forgive himself for what he did to Damon, yet a large part of him wasn't sorry for it. He didn't want to live forever without his brother.
Elena could see her boyfriend's guilt, and while he should feel some guilt, he wasn't like the vampire that turned her. Unlike him, she believed that Stefan believed he was helping his brother. "Stefan, you shouldn't have forced Damon to turn. That isn't a choice that anyone should make for another person. But you didn't do it out of malice. I don't think you knew what you were signing yourself or him up for. People like you are why I don't give humans my blood. You can't make an informed decision if you die with vampire blood in your system."
"You're saying you've never turned anyone?" Damon asked with disbelief in his voice.
"No, I haven't," Elena said firmly. In the almost nine hundred years she'd been a vampire, she had never turned a single human. She didn't begrudge other vampires from giving their blood if they chose to, but she would never do it. She wouldn't take the risk.
"But you were okay with Damon giving Caroline his blood," Stefan pointed out.
"That was against my better judgement, and it turned out I was right," Elena said. She'd let Damon heal Caroline because she'd come to think of her as a friend and didn't want her to die. Unfortunately, that had put Caroline in a terrible position. It was another example of exactly why she didn't give humans her blood.
"You still haven't answered the question about Klaus. Is he your lover?" Damon asked.
"No. He's my husband," Elena finally told them before turning to Stefan, who understandably looked very shocked and hurt.
Stefan could only stare at his girlfriend in disbelief. Out of all the revelations he'd heard today, that one had the biggest blow. The girl he considered to be the love of his life was married to another person. No, she was married to a man Stefan thought he had to protect her from. "Your h…husband."
"It's not what you're thinking. I'd left Klaus long before we met. It's like I said earlier, I hadn't seen him in close to a century," Elena told him.
"I…I need to go for a walk," Stefan said before walking away. He was on information overload. He couldn't hear anything else right now.
Elena didn't try to stop Stefan from leaving. She'd put a lot on him today. She understood that he needed time to process it all. Besides, it might be better if nothing else was said between them. Instead, she turned to Damon. "When he gets back, the two of you need to get out of town."
Damon looked at her like she was crazy. "Seriously? You've been lying to us for months, and you expect us to follow your orders?"
"I am trying to save your lives. You've spent all this time thinking Klaus was a threat to me. He's not, but he is a threat to the two of you. When he finds out about my relationship with Stefan, he will kill him, and probably you too just on principle," Elena warned him.
"Oh, too bad you didn't think of any of that before you got involved with us," Damon said.
"You're right, I should have. Look, I didn't intend on things going as far as they did. By the time I realized that I'd inadvertently put you at risk, it was too late. And then I tried to get the two of you to back off of the whole Klaus thing, but you refused. You got it in your heads that you could kill the most powerful vampire in the world," she said.
"Well, maybe if you told us the truth…"
"It wouldn't have made a difference, and you know it. Even now, you don't want to leave. It's all over your face. You're pissed at me, but you're not going to do what I'm asking you to. Let's be clear on something though, Damon. If you stay, it is very likely that you'll end up dead," Elena warned before walking out of the room. Now it was time for her to go deal with her husband.