Elena couldn't speak for several minutes. She could barely think. Mikael's words were almost too unbelievable to comprehend, even though she had already figured out what he was going to say before he got the words out. This couldn't really be happening. She'd been down this road before. Learning she was adopted had been extremely traumatic for her and learning that John was her father wasn't much better. But this was in a league of its own when it came to paternity secrets. The first vampire to ever exist was telling her that he was her father.

Mikael sat quietly as his daughter processed what he'd told her. He didn't speak, even though he was tempted. He needed to let her come to terms with it and respond however she needed to.

After several moments of silence, Elena shook her head wildly. This wasn't possible. It truly wasn't. Vampires couldn't procreate. Mikael was either lying or very wrong. "No. That's not possible. Vampires can't have children. My biological father was John Gilbert."

Mikael understood her skepticism. He didn't expect her to believe him right away. Most did believe it was impossible for vampires to have children. Mikael was pretty sure it was still impossible for most vampires to procreate. "I didn't think it was possible either until I found out about you. I don't know how it's possible. Maybe because I was the first vampire turned and it was due to a spell. Or perhaps it's just different for originals. I don't know. The only thing I am certain of is that you are my daughter."

Elena shook her head again. "No. Having a one-night stand with my mother doesn't make you my father. John Gilbert was. He had to be."

"Yes, I thought the same thing at first. When I first learned Isobel had had a child, I was sure that someone else was the father. I thought as you did. That vampires couldn't conceive. It was almost certain that you were someone else's. However, I don't leave things to chance. I don't deal in odds. I intended to be sure. I am sure, Elena. I was given proof," Mikael told her.

"What proof?" Elena asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"I was able to acquire a sample of your blood and I brought it to a witch I was in contact with. She was able to determine a few things from it. The first was that it had vampiric properties to it," Mikael told her.

Elena shuddered. This couldn't be happening. She was not only being told that her father wasn't who she thought he was, again, but that she had vampire blood inside of her. Did that make her a vampire? No, it couldn't. She didn't drink blood or burn in the sun. She didn't have a reaction to vervain. She wasn't a vampire. This couldn't be true. This had to be some sort of sick game.

When Elena said nothing to him in response, Mikael decided to continue his story. "That alone was enough to convince me you were mine, but again, I don't leave anything to chance. The witch also took my blood and did a spell to compare them both. She determined that we were related," he explained. He decided not to tell her that he'd killed that witch right after she'd told him what he needed to know. He couldn't risk a witch having that information. He knew how witches felt about his kind and knew that his daughter would be received even worse. He couldn't risk that woman doing something to her.

Elena shook her head. "You're lying. Why? Why are you doing this? I agreed to help you kill Klaus. If that's not what you want, fine. You don't have to make up some crazy story where he's my brother. I'll back off."

Mikael sighed sadly. Again, he expected this reaction. "I'm not lying, Elena. I have nothing to gain from lying to you. If it was merely that I thought a random human was a danger to my son, I'd remove that danger in a much more effective and permanent way.

Elena said nothing. She just closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. She didn't say anything because she knew he was right about that. There were much easier ways to eliminate a threat than to lie about something like this. Mikael could kill her and Stefan and Damon if all he wanted to do was protect Klaus.

"I'm sorry, Elena. This is not how I would've chosen for you to find out, mere hours after we met, but I didn't have a lot of time. I needed you to know before Niklaus came to town. I didn't want this all to go down without you knowing the truth," Mikael said.

"I… You're trying to tell me that the man who killed me and my aunt right in front of me is my stepbrother. How the hell am I supposed to accept that?" Elena asked. That was probably the hardest part for her to accept. The rest wasn't exactly easy, but the worst was dealing with the fact that the person who destroyed her life was someone she now had to call family.

Mikael shook his head. "No, he's not your stepbrother. He's your brother. Niklaus is my son and you are my daughter. Blood makes no difference. I know Niklaus has hurt you. You have every reason to hate him for that, but it's my fault. He is the way he is because of me and what was done to me.

"I…I can't deal with this. I can't hear anymore. I can barely think straight. I need you to go," Elena said.

"Elena…" Mikael started. He didn't want to leave. He didn't want her to be alone. Plus, there was so much more to discuss, especially with Niklaus' impending arrival. However, he also didn't want to overwhelm her.

"No, please. I can't take anymore right now. Please go," Elena begged.

"Alright," Mikael said before standing up. He then bent down and picked up his stake. "You know where I'll be when you're ready to talk. I'm here for you. I want you to know that."

Elena nodded numbly.

Mikael took that as his cue to leave. Next, he needed to speak to Rebekah. That might even be a harder conversation than this one was.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

"You actually expect me to believe that garbage?" Rebekah asked her father in disbelief. He'd returned to the boarding house not too long ago and insisted she walk with him away from the house. She'd given in after endless prodding. Once they were far enough away not to be overheard, Mikael told her that he'd somehow been forced to act the he had with them their entire lives. She didn't believe that for a second.

"No. I don't expect you to believe me right away, but it's true. I don't know what made me act the way I did, but I need you to know that I would never willingly treat you that way. Violence is in my nature. I won't pretend it's not, but not with my children," Mikael said.

"You came here to murder Nik," Rebekah reminded him.

"No, I didn't. I let those infant vampires believe that, but that is not why I am here. Not a hair on Niklaus' head will be touched," Mikael said firmly.

"What?" Rebekah asked in genuine surprise. If she didn't know any better, she'd swear she heard protectiveness in her father's voice.

"He is my son, Rebekah. I love him," Mikael said.

"You what?" Rebekah asked in disbelief. Those words didn't even compute to her. Her father hated Nik. He didn't love him. He'd never said so much as a kind word to him. "What game are you playing? You hate Nik. You hated him even before you found out he wasn't yours."

"First of all, Rebekah, I'd always suspected Niklaus wasn't mine. I am not an idiot. I knew your mother wasn't faithful. I didn't care. He was still my son. I loved him, until one day, I didn't. I woke up one day and I hated him. I never knew why. It was as if a switch had been flipped. It makes me ill to think about it now," Mikael said.

Rebekha stared at her father as though she was meeting him for the first time. He seemed sincere, but he had to be lying. How was she to believe that her entire life with him had been a lie? A part of her wanted to believe it, but how could she? "I don't believe you, but say I did for a second. What do you want from me?"

"I need to talk to Niklaus, and I would like you to be there when it happens," Mikael said. He also wanted Elena to be there. With the two of them there, Niklaus might listen long enough to hear him. However, he knew that might be a bit much to put on Elena right now. "I also need to stop these idiotic children from their murder plots."

"You want me to help you protect Nik? Assuming that's what you want, why would I do that? I want him dead," Rebekah said. However, there was a voice deep inside her that said that wasn't true. As angry as she was, she didn't truly want her brother dead.

Mikael shook his head. He knew his daughter better than that. "No, you don't. You're angry with him, but you don't truly wish him dead. If he were to die as a result of this plan, you would hate yourself later."

"He killed Mother," Rebekha said.

Mikael resisted the urge to say that she deserved it. He was fairly certain that his wife had at least something to do with what happened to him. He didn't know how it happened, but he did know that some sort of sorcery had to be involved, and he knew only one woman capable of it. "I know, but that's not entirely his fault. Imagine what you would do in his position."

"I can't even believe this is happening right now. You're actually defending him," Rebekah said in disbelief.

"There's something else I need to tell you, Rebekah. About eighteen or nineteen years ago, I met a woman in a bar," Mikael started.

"You're not about to tell me about your sexual exploits, are you?" Rebekah asked in disgust.

Mikael went on as if his daughter had never spoken. "She became pregnant."

It didn't take much for Rebekah to realize what he was trying to tell her. "What you are insinuating is impossible."

Mikael nodded. "And yet, it happened. I took the appropriate steps to obtain proof. The child is mine."

"You've got to be bloody kidding me! You're telling me I have another sibling?" Rebekah asked shocked. She didn't know what shocked her more. He father's claim to not be the abusive, brutal monster she'd always known him to be or the fact that he apparently had another child. As though he hadn't done enough damage to the children he already had.

"A sister, yes. She lives in this town. You know her. In fact, she recently put a dagger in my heart," Mikael said with a small smirk.

Rebekah gasped in shock. "Elena Gilbert. You're telling me Elena is my sister?"

Mikael nodded. "She is. I know it's a lot to ask after everything I've put on you, but I was hoping you'd be willing to talk to her. She's not doing well with the news. It became too much for her. She isn't ready to talk to me any further at the moment."

"You told her all of this?" Rebekah asked.

"Yes, this morning. As I said, she didn't handle it too well. I think I managed to convince her that I wasn't lying, but she's very overwhelmed," Mikael said.

"I know the feeling," Rebekah said. She was quite overwhelmed herself. She didn't know how to begin to process any of this. She had a sister. She'd always wanted a sister. She'd often wondered what life would've been like if her older sister, Freya, had survived. She imagined having another girl around would be exciting. They could've teamed up against the boys. Now it seemed she'd gotten her wish.

"I want to respect Elena's wishes, but I don't want her to be alone. And perhaps you could use someone to talk to about this too. Will you go see her?" Mikael asked.

"Yes. I will speak to Elena for her benefit and my own, not for you," Rebekah said before walking away without giving him a chance to respond.