Once Elijah's speech was finished, people began pairing off to begin a dance, a waltz that was the Mikaelson family's favourite – more like Elijah's favourite as both he and Esther had planned the ball.

Elena arched an eyebrow as Kol placed a glass of Bourbon in her hand, replacing the empty champagne glass.

"Seemed like you needed something stronger than champagne."

Elena nodded her thanks, locking eyes with the original witch and downed the entire glass for liquid courage, handing the now empty glass to a passing waiter.

The human doppelganger watched as Esther climbed up the stairs and out of view, it was as if she was silently beckoning Elena to follow – why else would the witch lock eyes with her and then walk away?

"What do you think you're doing?"

Elena rolled her eyes. This was why she didn't tell Damon that she was coming – he was being the overprotective boyfriend, and he wasn't even her boyfriend!

"Esther wants to talk to me, Damon, I'm going to see what she wants," Elena whispered, turning around only to find that Stefan blocked the other side. "Can you move?"

Damon grabbed hold of Elena's forearm, dragging her, unwillingly, away from the staircase and Stefan.

"No, you're not."

"Damon, let go!" Elena hissed, fighting against his hold. "You're hurting me!"

"You're acting ridiculous, Elena!" Damon replied, glaring at her. "Why can't you just listen to me!"

"Because I am not a dog!" Elena yelled, a little louder than necessary but she was just annoyed at the older Salvatore brother. "Nor am I your girlfriend, Damon."

There was some sort of glint in Damon's eyes, an emotion that Elena couldn't decipher, she let out a small moan of pain as Damon's hold tightened.

Before he could say anything else, Finn suddenly appeared and slammed Damon into the wall by his neck, Elena fell backwards into Kol's arms as Elijah was doing crowd control.

"I believe that Miss Gilbert had asked you to unhand her," Finn growled darkly, pressing his thumb right on to Damon's jugular, smirking as the older Salvatore brother groaned in pain. "It would be best, if you or your brother do not bother her from here on out, Mr. Salvatore."

Finn pushed Damon away, who glanced towards Elena in the care of Elijah and Kol, Finn then dusted of the sleeves of his suit and turned to face Elena.

"My apologies that you had to see that, Miss Gilbert."

Music filled the air; Elijah was called away by Esther and Kol went to seek a dance partner leaving Elena in Finn's capable hands.

"Care for a dance, Miss Gilbert?"

Steading her heartbeat, Elena placed her hand in his, giving the eldest Mikaelson brother a curtsey. "Of course, it is tradition, after all."

They walked towards the dance floor, immediately Elena could see that all of the Mikaelson siblings were paired off, Rebekah with Matt, Klaus with Caroline, Elijah with a girl who's name escaped Elena – she was sure it was Audrey, Kol somehow convinced Bonnie and Ester was standing against the wall, speaking to Carol Lockwood.

Jeremy was partnered off with an unknown girl, Elena was sure she was on the cheer team but couldn't be sure.

Elena swore she could feel eyes on her, but she chose to ignore them as she began to dance with Finn.

For a vampire who spent most of his time in a box, Finn was surprisingly a good dancer, he made small talk with Elena - telling her about his short time in this century and what he's hoping to accomplish.

He had mentioned about finding his lover, Sage, who had been waiting for him all this time – a tragic love story, from what Elena believed.

From what she remembered Rebekah had called Sage 'the harlot unworthy of her brother's attention', even Elijah and Klaus agreed that Finn was better off with someone - anyone but Sage.

The time for partners to switch, Elena was spun around, stopping at the chest of none other than Stefan Salvatore.

He took her by the hand, pulling her close and moved along to the beat, both were quiet- Stefan didn't really know what to say... Well, he did.

Stefan just didn't want to apologize, because according to him, they had everything planned out perfectly – a deal was struck with Elijah and all Klaus had to do was accept and Elena had to ruin it.

The awkward moment was immediately cut short as Elijah decided to cut in, handing over his dance partner to Stefan.

Elijah twirled them away from Stefan, making Elena let out a small breath of relief, one she didn't know she was holding.

"It seemed that you were rather uncomfortable."

"I was, thank you for saving me."

Elijah twirled them again before handing her over to her next dance partner, which was Klaus and Elijah had managed to twirl away with Caroline.

They stood there awkwardly for a few seconds, before joining the rest of the dancing couples, Elena could swear that she could feel an electric spark, pulling her towards Klaus – even if she was wearing gloves.

The dance finally came to an end, Elena curtsied to Klaus, since he was her last dance partner, and felt a heaviness in her chest.

It was as if she couldn't breathe.

"I'm going to get some air,"

Finally able to breathe without the constant feeling of being stared at or judged, Elena leaned against the walls leading into the gardens, there was a noise coming from above, a couple being intimate – though from where Elena stood, she noticed that the guy was feeding from the woman's neck.

Caroline came into view, before Elena could call out and get the blonde's attention, Klaus seemed to have followed her out into the gardens, Elena knew that she shouldn't be eavesdropping on a private conversation or even feel jealous of the attention Klaus was showing Caroline– why would she?

It wasn't as if Klaus and her were a couple, plus Caroline was with Tyler and from what Elena knew, Caroline was loyal to Tyler and he was loyal to her, it was the moment he activated the 'werewolf curse' and then into the first successful hybrid, Tyler changed for the better – though, he was still quick to anger.

"You like horses?"

Elena had to stop herself from snorting at Klaus's question, he was trying to make small talk and that was his way of starting a topic?

Seriously?

"I'm not talking to you until you tell me why you invited me here."

"I fancy you. Is that so hard to believe?"

A small scoff left Caroline's lips. "Yes!"

Elena mentally applauded Caroline's sassiness.

Caroline turned to face Klaus fully, from where Elena stood, she could see all the anger and the annoyance danced across her face. "I'm spoken for, by Tyler – but let's face the facts here, Klaus… You don't fancy me."

"I do …"

"Then why were you constantly looking at Elena?" Caroline pinched the bridge of her nose; it was as if she could sense that Elena was there. "During the entire dance, you were constantly looking at her, Klaus."

"You were engaging in conversation with me and the other guests, but your mind was elsewhere," Caroline rolled her eyes. "I may be blonde, but I'm not that blonde. Do you have feelings for my friend?"

"Caroline …"

"No." She spoke, holding up her hand and slightly pushed him away. "Did something happen between you two?"

Elena almost screamed, was Caroline trying to get herself killed?

Klaus was silent for a few seconds and then immediately changed the subject.

"Did you know, horses are the opposite of people? They're loyal. My father hunted me for a thousand years and the closest he ever came was the day he killed my favourite horse. He severed its neck with a sword as a warning."

Caroline arched an eyebrow at his sudden change of subject, rolling her eyes. "Did you ever consider sitting down with your father and talking it out?"

"I'm afraid my relationship with my father was a little bit more complex than yours."

"Maybe so. But I let my father go with no regrets. And to answer your question, yes, I like horses. But I also like people, and they actually like me, so I'll be going back inside."

Caroline walks around the original hybrid to head back inside, only to stop to look at Klaus as he was running his fingers through the mane of the horse that was closest to him. "I think, before you go declaring that you fancy other women," She spoke, making him look behind her. "You really should ask yourself, if you already have feelings for someone."

It was at this moment that Klaus noticed Elena.

Busted.