Elena, Klaus, and Rebekah found themselves in a spacious living room in a large house outside of Mystic falls. They'd already secured Mikael in the basement. Elena had added a spell to keep him contained just in case someone got to him. It likely wouldn't happen, but she'd learned over the years not to take chances.
"Whose house is this?" Rebekah asked as she looked around. It was huge. Well, it wasn't Mikaelson standard big, but it was quite big for the standards of an average person. It definitely wasn't something that an eighteen-year-old high school student could afford to buy.
"Mine," Elena said as she began pouring them drinks. "John Gilbert left this to me when he died. I didn't even know he owned a house, but it was turned over to me as soon as I turned eighteen."
"Have you been living here?" Rebekah asked.
"No," Elena said before walking over to them and handing them each a glass of bourbon. "But I have been preparing to move in. The plan was always to come here as soon as I revealed my identity. I had Jeremy make his way here as soon as I found out that Niklaus was back in town tonight."
"Does he know about you?" she asked.
"Yeah. I told him shortly after Jenna died. I wanted him prepared," Elena said before going to grab her own drink. She knew things were likely to change quickly after that event. She needed Jeremy to be prepared for when it did. She knew she would not be able to trust anyone once the truth came out, not even Alaric. That was why she'd made Jeremy come to the house tonight, just in case someone attempted to use him as bait.
"That couldn't have gone well," Rebekah commented.
"No, not at first, but he was able to understand once I told him the full story. Have a seat," Elena told them as she pointed to the large, leather sectional couch that took up a good portion of the room.
They all sat down. Rebekah and Klaus sat next to each other, while Elena sat a few feet away from them.
"Ask your questions, but be aware that you will not like some of the answers," Elena told them.
"What's your name?" Rebekah asked curiously.
"You can continue to call me Elena, or Aunt Elena, if you prefer," she said with a smirk.
Klaus snorted. "That won't be happening."
"As for my first name, it was Anora."
"Were you married to our father? Or were you, you know…" Rebekah trailed off. He didn't want to offend her by calling her his mistress, if that was even what she was.
Klaus had no qualms about offending the girl. "His mistress."
Elena chuckled. "Honestly, I'm not sure who was the mistress in this scenario. We weren't married, but I'm not sure when he got together with Esther, whether it was before he and I got together. I should start at the beginning. I grew up in a small village in Norway. I was the oldest of three daughters."
"We have another aunt?" Rebekah asked in disbelief. This was getting ridiculous. How many family members had their mother hidden from them?
"Yes. Dahlia was a few years younger than me. Esther was the youngest. I practically raised both of them," Elena said bitterly. It made their betrayal of her so much worse. She would've done anything for her sisters, and they'd taken everything from her.
"Did your parents die when you were young?" Rebekah asked.
"It's more like they weren't very parental. There's a reason I tortured Mikael the way I did, and it wasn't just because of Freya. I detest child abusers. My parents coveted power. We were all taught magic at a young age. I had an immediate affinity for it. My magic was strong from the beginning. It's how it usually works with the firstborn in our family. Dahlia was pretty strong too, and she loved learning it. However, Esther, while still powerful, was not powerful enough for my parents. She also had very little interest in learning it. My parents had little patience for her. She was often the target of her rage, or at least she would've been if I hadn't shielded her on most occasions," Elena explained.
"Our mother didn't have an interest in magic?" Rebekah asked in disbelief. That didn't' compute with her because her mother was always using magic when they were young. She'd created vampirism.
Elena nodded. "Obviously, that changed at some point. She picked up the teachings once more. Anyway, as I was saying, our parents were about as brutal as Mikael was. I didn't shed a tear when they were murdered by Vikings. Our whole village was killed, and the three of us were taken hostage."
"Why didn't you stop them? We've seen what you can do. You could've defended yourself," Klaus said.
"This was a thousand years ago. I wasn't as powerful as I am now. Being in the body of a doppelganger enhanced my power. I suppose it's the mystical blood of a doppelganger, the same mystical blood that allowed me to be reborn into this body in the first place," Elena told them.
"Mikael was terrified of you. You obviously still had enough power when he knew you," Klaus said.
Elena smirked. "Yes. I did have the power to take out the Vikings, or at least a good number of them, and they knew it. That's why they kept me isolated from my sisters. They knew what I could do, but they used Dahlia and Esther as leverage against me. They knew I wouldn't risk my sisters' lives. I had to play the long game. I had to bide my time so that I could rescue my sisters. I met Mikael a couple of years into my captivity. I decided to gain his trust."
"You used him," Rebekah realized.
"I did. I needed him to trust me. I needed him to help me find Dahlia and Esther. It was working. Mikael fell for me. We entered a relationship. I had begun to persuade him that we should leave and take my sisters with us, but things got complicated," Elena said.
"Freya," Rebekah realized.
Elena smiled at the thought of her little girl. No matter how unplanned she was, Elena would never regret her daughter. It was the only decent thing that came out of that entire nightmare. "When I found out I was pregnant, my priorities had to change. I still wanted to save my sister, but my daughter had to come first. I had to get out of that place, so I convinced Mikael to move us away. My plan was to go back for my sisters once I gave birth. Things rapidly changed after that though. I found out from Mikael that Dahlia escaped shortly after we left. I was told that Esther had fallen in love with one of the Vikings and was happy with him. Obviously, Mikael failed to mention that he was the one she'd fallen for. I should've known something was off."
"What do you mean?" Rebekah asked.
"Shortly after Freya was born, Mikael disappeared. He'd left us. I was almost grateful. I knew Mikael had a temper. I worried for Freya's safety. I would've killed him before I let him touch her in anger. When he left, I considered it a blessing. As I said, I should've known better. Mikael doted on Freya. Every time he was with her, he smiled. It gave me a little hope that maybe my fears were misplaced. Freya was two when he and Esther took her from me. They incapacitated me. They'd caught me off-guard. When I woke up, my daughter was gone," Elena said. She was close to tears, but she didn't let them fall. She'd cried so much over that night. Now wasn't the time for it. Now was the time to take back what was stolen from her.
"I thought you said they killed you," Klaus said.
"Not then. They came back with Dahlia. I don't know if she was involved with the kidnapping of my daughter, but it seems reasonable to assume she was. They knew they had to kill me. They knew I would not rest until I took back my child and made them pay for what they'd done. They also knew they couldn't do it without Dahlia's help. It wasn't just her either. There were a few other witches there to aid them," Elena said.
"Cowards," Klaus whispered. They knew they couldn't take Elena out themselves, so they'd had an army to gang up on her.
Elena smiled at her nephew. "Yes, Niklaus, I'd have to agree. I fought them, of course, but I was losing. I'd managed to take out a couple of the other witches, but I couldn't take them all, not with Dahlia added them. I did manage to slash Mikael up pretty good. I imagine Esther healed him later. Anyway, I knew I wouldn't win that fight, so I used what little energy I had left to have my soul reborn into another. I decided it was best to fight another day. Now here we are."
Rebekah shook her head in horror and disbelief. "How can you not hate us after all our mother had done? She stole your child. She murdered you in cold blood."
Elena smiled reassuringly at her niece. "I told you, my dear, I do not punish children for the actions of their parents. You are my daughter's siblings. That alone is enough for me to protect you, but you are also my blood. Esther turned dark, but she wasn't always like that. She was a loving young girl once. That girl was gone long before her death, but I will take care of the children she brought into the world."
"Or you're biding your time to plan your revenge on us," Klaus said suspiciously.
Elena sighed. "Niklaus, I know it's in your nature to be suspicious. It is something that was taught to you by the deplorable actions of your parents. However, not everyone is Esther and Mikael. Not everyone wants to hurt you. If I wanted to hurt you, I could've, and you've given me ample reason to, but that's not what I want."
"So, you say," he said.
"You don't trust me. I understand that. I don't trust you very much right now either. Trust is something we will both have to earn from each other," Elena told him.
"What happens now?" Rebekah asked.
"Now, we wake your siblings," Elena said.
"You do not decide that! You have no business making demands of us!" Klaus protested.
Elena leaned forward to look him directly in the eye. "Allow me to make myself perfectly clear, Niklaus. You will not cart your siblings around with daggers in their chests any longer. That's not how you solve a problem."
Klaus opened his mouth to speak, but Elena immediately interrupted him.
"Zip it! I'm not finished. Now, those daggers are coming out and then I will dispose of them. You can go retrieve your siblings yourself or I will. No matter how well you think you've hidden them, I promise you, I will find them," Elena told him firmly. She wasn't going to allow her nephew to control his siblings this way. She understood to an extent why Niklaus did the things he did, but it had to stop. He needed to find better ways of dealing with his paranoia and abandonment issues.
Rebekah smiled. Finally, there was a family member that wasn't afraid to put Nik in his place. She had a feeling she was going to like having an aunt around, even if it was weird that her aunt looked the same age as she did.
"You have until tomorrow morning to make your decision. "In the meantime, I'll show you both around. You can stay here for as long as you want, but you will abide by my rules," Elena told them.
Klaus glared at her. "You think you can just order us around. Being our mother's sister means nothing. You are nothing to us."
Elena pointed towards the front door. "The door is that way if you want to leave. If not, yes, I think I can order you around. You will follow the rules of this house as long as you are in it. We can go into more detail tomorrow. For now, we'll leave at that no harm is to come to Jeremy. You will not attack or try to compel him. Is that understood?"
"Yes," Rebekah said before turning to her brother. "I'm staying, Nik. You can do what you want."
Klaus said nothing, but he didn't leave either. Whether he liked it or not, he would still need Elena for his hybrids, and he was not stupid enough to think he could force her any longer."
"I'll take the silence as your agreement, Niklaus. Come with me. I'll show you around," Elena said before getting up.
Klaus and Rebekah got up as well before following Elena towards the stairs.