Damon didn't make it home until the next morning. When he woke up after having his neck broken, he pretty much knew that his plan had gone to hell. That was confirmed by the dozens of calls Stefan made to him and the messages he left screaming at him. He'd undaggered Elijah for nothing. His only saving grace was that they still had the other two coffins hidden away.
Damon had barely made it into the kitchen when he felt a hand on the back of his neck. The next thing he knew, his head was slammed face first into the table. It didn't take much for him to figure out who his assailant was. "Elijah."
Elijah smiled as he held Damon firmly in place. He brought his other hand down to the table. He held a stake in his hand and made sure Damon saw it. "Hello, Damon. I trust you enjoyed the rest of your night?"
"You're not going to kill me. I'm the only one who knows where the other coffins are," Damon groaned out.
"Ah, yes, that's quite the predicament, isn't it? You failed to mention that last night, didn't you? You failed to mention a lot of things, such as the fact that it was your hand that wielded the stake Elena was stabbed with," Elijah said.
"It was her fault. She got in the way. I was trying to protect her," Damon said.
Elijah brought Damon's head up slightly and slammed it back into the table. "I'm sorry. What was that you were saying?"
Just then, Jeremy walked into the room. He took in the scene and kept walking further into the kitchen. He wasn't too surprised to see violence at the breakfast table. Frankly, he was surprised it took someone this long to bash Damon's head in. "Morning."
Elijah turned and smiled genuinely at the teen, as though he wasn't holding another man's neck in his hand. "Good morning, Jeremy. I heard you were here as well."
Jeremy nodded. "Elena told me Damon removed the dagger. She's also seems pretty pissed at you." He'd been asleep last night when Elijah showed up, but Elena told him about it this morning.
"Ah, yes, I believe what she said to was 'he's being a bigger dick than Klaus,'" Elijah quoted. He'd heard his sister's conversation with her brother. He was fairly certain Elena knew he'd heard her. In fact, he was pretty certain she intended for him to hear it. "Elena and I are having a disagreement. I'm sure you know that siblings often fight. We will work it out eventually."
"She says you're trying to make her leave Mystic Falls," Jeremy said with a mixture of anger and fear in his voice. He wasn't an idiot. He knew that Elijah could make that happen if he wanted, despite Elena's assurances that she wouldn't go. He could take Elena away from him.
"Hmm. You will come too," Elijah assured him. Jeremy was Elena's family, which meant he was his too. He wouldn't leave him behind.
"I'm not sure if I should be pissed off or relieved," Jeremy said.
"You're not taking her anywhere!" Damon snarled as he tried and failed to get out of Elijah's grasp.
Elijah pulled Damon up once more and slammed his head down again. "My apologies, Damon. I forgot about you. What were we discussing? Oh, yes, the stake you put in my sister's shoulder. That's an error you won't live much longer to regret."
"You can't kill me," Damon said.
"Not at this moment, no. You've bought yourself a temporary reprieve by taking my brothers. Of course, that just means I will have to make your death that much more painful when I get them back, but make no mistake about it, you will die for what you did to them and to Elena. You could make things easier for yourself by telling me where they are now, but you never were the smartest, so I doubt you would," Elijah said.
"Screw you!" Damon growled.
"Yes, that's what I thought," Elijahs said before pulling Damon upright. He then slammed the stake that was in his other hand into Damon's shoulder. "That will have to do for the moment."
Damon yelled out and fell to the floor once Elijah released him.
Just then, Elena came into the room. She noticed Damon on the ground with a stake in his shoulder and Elijah a few feet away. "Hey, Damon. How did your latest plan work out for you? By the way, what was your plan?"
"His plan was for me to murder our brother before I got a chance to talk to you. He told me that Niklaus was using you for your blood and he and Mikael were playing mind games with you. It seems he was only half right," Elijah said. He definitely believed that his father was playing mind games with all his siblings. That was why he was going to get them away as soon as possible. They would already be gone, but he would not abandon Kol and Finn to Damon Salvatore's hands.
Elena stared at Damon in disbelief. That was beyond stupid, even for Damon. "How are you still alive? Seriously, how could you have lived that long with so little brain activity in your head? I thought you and your brother couldn't get any dumber than when you stole the coffins with absolutely no plan, but this even beats that. I mean, did you really think Elijah would be that stupid?"
"I mean, Damon's that stupid, so he probably did," Jeremy said.
Damon glared at them before removing the stake and standing up. "Screw all of you."
Elijah watched Damon storm out of the room before turning to his sister. "Good morning, Elena."
Elena only glared at him in response before going to grab something to eat. She had nothing to say to her older brother at the moment. She'd talk to him when he stopped being an asshole.
Elijah sighed. She was giving him the silent treatment. That was fine. It was hardly his first experience with an angry sibling. It came with being an older brother.
"Elena, are we going to school today?" Jeremy asked. He wasn't sure if they were laying low until the coffins were found or not.
Elena grabbed a banana and started eating it while glaring at Elijah. "Unless his highness has a problem with it."
"Elena, you can be as angry as you'd like with me, but it's not going to change anything. I will not leave you at the mercy of our father. I will not let him destroy you as he has the rest of us. Likewise, I will not sit by and watch the mind games he continues to play with you, Rebekah, and Niklaus," Elijah said calmly.
"Screw you, Elijah! I am not some stupid fool!" Elena yelled.
"I never said you were. I don't think you're a fool, Elena," Elijah told her.
"But you have no trust in my judgment. You just assume I'm wrong. Why? Because I'm some stupid human? Newsflash, Elijah, I'm no more human than you are," Elena said angrily.
"Stop putting words in my mouth. I didn't say any of that," Elijah said a bit sternly. "This isn't about lack of trust or your judgement. This is about an experience that we have that you do not. I understand why you want to trust our father. You see the good in people, and that is an admirable quality. The problem is that there is no good in that man. There is nothing. I spent my entire human life looking for it. It doesn't exist. There is nothing but cruelty. You can't see that because you didn't live it, and I am glad you didn't. That is why I want you away from him, before the inevitable happens."
"Yeah, what about Rebekah? She lived the same life, but she believes Mikael," Elena pointed out.
"Rebekah wants a loving parent. It's all she's ever wanted. I'm sure that's what you want as well," Elijah said.
"Why is that so wrong?" Elena asked.
"It's not wrong. You should be allowed to have that. We all should. Unfortunately, it's just not possible, not with Mikael. He doesn't have a loving bone in his body. But the rest of us will be here for you and Jeremy, always. You have my word on that," Elijah promised her.
"I won't go," Elena said firmly.
"I'm sorry, Elena, but you don't have a choice. I am the head of this family," Elijah in a firm but kind tone. He didn't enjoy this, but it was his job to protect his siblings, even when they didn't want that protection.
Elena glared at him for a minute before turning to Jeremy. "Let's go, Jeremy."
"School doesn't start for another hour," Jeremy said.
"I don't care," Elena said before heading out the back door.
Jeremey sighed before quickly following her.
"You will not do this, Elijah," A new voice said in a hard tone.
Elijah turned and glared at his father. "And how will you stop me? Are you going to kill me? Beat me bloody? That would put an end to your charade, wouldn't it?"
"It is not a charade. I understand why you don't believe me, but I'm telling the truth. And I'm not going to hurt you, but I'm not going to let you force your siblings to do something they don't want to," Mikael said.
"And I'm not going to let you destroy Elena like you did the rest of us, like you did Niklaus. You remember how he used to be, don't you, Father? He was a sweet, sensitive young boy. He was compassionate and loving. Of course, to you, that was weakness. You beat it out of him. You took everything kind and decent about him and turned him into the angry, vengeful man he is today. I won't stand by and let you do the same thing to Elena. I won't let you play with Rebekah's head. I won't let you stir up hopes in Niklaus that he still feels deep down. I will protect them from you," Elijah said strongly.
Mikael felt the guilt swell up in his body. Nothing Elijah had said was untrue. He'd done all of that. He could say that it was a curse, but it didn't change the fact that he'd destroyed his children, especially Niklaus. "I'm not going to hurt them. I love them. I love all of you."
Elijah scoffed. "I wonder if there's a part of you that actually believes your own lies. Maybe you've convinced yourself that you can love them, or at least Elena. If you really did though, you'd let them go. You'd do the selfless thing for once and put your children first. But we both know that won't happen, so I'm forced to do something that I will despise to protect my siblings. I must clean up your mess again," he said with a withering glare before walking away.