Elena was sitting in her room looking through a binder that contained a book of spells that her mom had created. She looked at them a lot to try to find ways to tweak them in order to help her. Right now though, she was looking at them because she wanted to feel close to her. This was all she had of her mother, her words written down on paper.
Elena soon heard a knock on her door. She managed to quickly shut it just before Kol walked in. She was absolutely not supposed to have this, and if Elijah caught her with it, she was sure he'd take it from her.
"Hey there," Kol said as he entered the room. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing," Elena said quickly.
Kol laughed. He'd seen her rush to hide what she was doing when he entered the room, and her facial expression was very suspicious. "You need to learn not to look so guilty when you're hiding something. If I were Elijah, you'd be screwed."
"I'm not hiding anything," Elena lied.
"Come on, you tell me. Rebekah and I are the only ones home. I won't tell," Kol promised. Elijah and Nik had gone to deal with the Salvatore idiot, and Finn had gone to feed, as he was not a fan of blood bags, not that Kol blamed him.
Elena looked hesitant, but then figured she might as well tell him. He was the least parental person there, and he might even be able to help her since he used to be a witch. "Well, my mom didn't just hide with me. She was also looking for ways to stop Dahlia. She made spells to try to stop her, particularly unlinking spells to unlink the two of them. Unfortunately, none of them were strong enough."
"And she gave them to you?" Kol asked with a frown. That seemed quite reckless. Putting spells like that into the hands of a twelve-year-old wasn't the smartest move.
"Sort of," Elena said slowly.
"And what does sort of mean?" Kol asked.
"That I sort of borrowed them when she wasn't looking and made copies at the local library. Then I put them back before she noticed," Elena said. She'd gotten lucky too. If her mother had caught her, she would've been in a lot of trouble, grounded for life kind of trouble.
Kol let out a giddy laugh. "Oh, this is great! I have my very own mini me!"
Elena grinned. Kol was definitely going to be her favorite uncle. She had a feeling he'd let her get away with a lot.
"Can I see?" Kol asked as he gestured to the binder.
Elena reluctantly handed it to him. It was private, but, again, he might be able to help her.
Kol took the book and opened it up. He flipped through the pages and began to gap in shock. There were dozens of spells, and not just unlinking ones. This appeared to essentially be Freya's grimoire. "Bloody hell! You copied an entire grimoire, didn't you?"
"Maybe," Elena said. "You're not going to tell Uncle Elijah, right? You promised.
Kol was hesitant. He had promised, but in his defense, he didn't think his niece had copied her mother's entire bloody grimoire. "Elena, some of these spells are really dangerous in the hands of someone your age."
"I'm good with magic. You've seen it," Elena said.
"I have. You're very strong. You were clearly taught well, but I also think your mother would agree you're not ready for something like this, right? You had to take this behind her back for a reason. I'm guessing she'd be very upset to know you had it," Kol said.
"Please, Uncle Kol. You promised. If you tell Uncle Elijah, he'll take it from me. That's all I have left of my mom right now," Elena said with pleading eyes.
"Bloody hell," Kol whispered as he got a look at her face. She was definitely good at the wounded puppy look. She clearly got that from Rebekah. "Alright, but you have to promise me that you will not try any of these spells. They're too advanced for you."
"But I want to help my mom," Elena said.
"I know you do, darling, but accidently killing yourself isn't the way. Listen, we're going to help your mum. We just have to find a way to do it without putting you in danger. She wouldn't want that," Kol said. They had been trying to come up with ways to help Freya, but the problem was that every one of them could inadvertently alert Dahlia to Elena's existence, which they all agreed Freya wouldn't want. They may not know here, but they knew the extreme lengths she went to in order to protect her daughter.
"I know," Elena said sadly.
"We'll find a way, I promise. Do we have a deal? If you don't promise me, I will have to take this and show it to Elijah," Kol said. He very much hated being the bad guy. He wanted to be the fun uncle, but he knew how dangerous magic was.
"Okay, I promise," Elena said.
Kol nodded and handed the binder back to her. "Good. I won't tell anyone for now, but you're not going to be able to hide if forever."
"Thanks," Elena said with a smile.
"Now, Elijah instructed me to make sure you were in bed by ten thirty. That time is quickly approaching," Kol said.
Elena groaned. That was one of the new rules. She had to be in bed at a certain time on school nights. It really sucked. She used to be able to do whatever she wanted. "I haven't had a bedtime since the Gilberts were alive."
"Yeah, I know. Rules suck, but it's Elijah's decision. He's in charge. I think you've figured that out by now," Kol said.
"Yeah, why is that anyway? Finn's older," Elena said. It had been clear from that first morning with the Mikaelson's that Elijah was in charge of her, but she didn't really know why.
"It's just the way it is. Finn's never been much of a parental time. Even when we were children, it was always Elijah that looked out for us," Kol said. There was never a question of who Elena's primary guardian would be. It wasn't even discussed, but they all knew it would be Elijah. It was a given. "Anyway, I promised to have you in bed on time."
"Fine," Elena said with a groan before getting up to get ready.
Xxxxxxxxxxx
When Elijah and Klaus made it to the Salvatore home, they found the two brothers in the living room. Elijah made no haste in grabbing the younger brother up by the back of the neck. He used his free hand to twist his arm behind his back.
Stefan yelled out in pain. He'd barely registered Elijah's presence before he was yanked out of his chair.
"Hey!" Damon yelled before standing up. Before he could do anything though, Klaus had grabbed him by the throat and slammed him into the nearest wall. Damon tried to pull him off, but the hybrid's hand didn't even budge.
Elijah slammed Stefan down onto a table face first and held him there. He still had both his neck and his arm in his grasp. "I must have been unclear. I told you to stay away from my niece! I am unsure what part of that you were unable to understand, but since you not only approached her, but also manhandled her, some part of it must have been confusing. Please, tell me what it is you misunderstood. I do hate being misunderstood.
"Ah! I just wanted to talk to her!" Stefan yelled.
"You are not permitted to talk to her. She is a fifteen-year-old child who you have victimized. You will go nowhere near her!" Elijah said coldly.
"Victimized? She lied to us," Damon managed to say even with the hand on his throat.
Klaus brought Damon forward before slamming him into the wall again hard, silently telling him to shut up.
"Do not get me started on you, Damon. The fact that you have thus far heeded my warning is the only reason you aren't dead, that and the fact that you did not know how old she was. Elena is a child who has been without a responsible parent to teach her good choice for the past few years. You are adults who targeted an innocent girl because she happens to look like Katerina. Your interest in her was far from pure, and you've done nothing but place her at risk since you've known her," Elijah said.
"You should be grateful for my brother's generosity. I personally don't care whether or you knew or not. I'd kill you anyway," Klaus said.
Elijah turned back to Stefan. "As for you. I should kill you right now, as I promised I would, but I am trying to teach my niece that there are other ways to resolve a problem besides murder. I believe in leading by example, so I will give you one more chance. You will not go near her again. Allow me to make that a bit easier for you. Your days as a student at Mystic Falls High School are done. Say you transferred or dropped out. I don't care, but you will not step foot in that school again. I would prefer you left town, but I won't demand it. However, should you see Elena around town, you will walk away. If you are so much fifty feet from her every again, you will die. Do you understand me?"
"Yes! I'll stay away from her," Stefan promised.
"Good," Elijah said before yanking Stefan's arm out of its socket before releasing him, causing the young vampire to scream. It would heal quickly, but until then, Stefan would be in quite a lot of pain. "That was for the bruise you left on my niece's arm. Consider yourself lucky that is all I do to you."
Stefan fell to the ground cradling his arm.
Elijah motioned to his brother to leave with him before heading out of the room.
Klaus let Damon go and watched him fall to the floor before following his brother out.