Vampire Diaries 1. Introduction

**Introduction:**

_Ellyse Gilbert, fraternal twin sister of Elena, lives her life far away from the manic Mystical Falls in the Windy City. After the death of her parents a year before she took off on her own, leaving her relationship with her twin in ruins. Elena thinks that having her sister far away from home is leaving her out of danger but little does she know, danger has already found Ellyse on its own. _

I awoke to the sun streaming down directly on my face. I groaned as I rolled over and pulled my pillow over my head to block out the sun. My alarm clock started trilling promptly at 8.00am as it was meant to and I screamed into the pillow.

"I'm a stupid, stupid girl." I cursed myself as I pulled myself into the sitting position. I hit the off button on my clock and bit back another groan as I stumbled into the bathroom adjacent from the main bedroom where I slept. Even though the apartment wasn't technically mine, the owner had graciously left me with full control of it. And it wasn't like he was coming back anytime soon anyway.

After my shower, I was feeling much more awake. I plugged my iPod into the speakers the turned the volume up and sang along with Katy Perry. I was dancing around the bedroom in a towel looking for clothing when the sweet voice of Taylor Swift clashed with Joan Jett's Bad Reputation, indicating a phone call. Walking over to my speakers I lowered the volume until I couldn't hear it and answered the phone without looking at the caller ID.

"Hello?"

"Hello, beauty. Miss me?" A familiar British voice asked me. I could feel a huge smile immediately appear on my face at the sound of his voice. I hadn't heard from him in months, but it felt like just yesterday that we had said goodbye.

"Are you kidding me? You're lucky I even remember who you are." I teased him, making him laugh.

"I am lucky. So, tell me how you are?" He replied. I fake pouted even though he couldn't see me. I jumped back on the bed and laid my head down.

"Lonely." I sighed. A pang went through me as I said that, mostly because it was part true. Even through I went to school and had friends, after leaving my home town, and effectively my friends and family, a year ago I had been somewhat lonely. The man on the phone had greatly relieved that loneliness but he had been gone for months now.

"Now you're just being mean, love." He sighed back.

"Fine." I laughed. "Why did you call?"

"Can't I just call to check in?" He asked, making me roll my eyes.

"You can, but you won't. Now what did you want?"

"Guess where I am?" He asked randomly. I frowned in confusion and rolled over.

"Okay, I'll play along." I told him. "Paris? Rome? Tokyo?" I guessed in an increasingly excited voice. "DisneyWorld? If you are, I want a T-Shirt!" I demanded. He laughed at my request and sighed dramatically.

"Nope. Guess again." He ordered me.

"Or you could just tell me." I replied.

"No."

"Fine." I sighed dramatically this time. "Two can play that game. Guess where I am."

"I know where you are." He pointed out to me with a chuckle. "It's my apartment."

" I could have moved." I defended myself.

"Better not have moved, because that would ruin my surprise." He stated, only succeeding in confusing me more.

"What are you talking about?" I asked him. Suddenly there was a knock at the door and I was fully prepared to ignore it.

"That sounded like the door." He said, and gasped, surprised that he could hear it but then remembered that as a vampire he had super-power hearing. "Better answer that." He ordered before hanging up, effectively cutting off my argument. I groaned into the phone and threw it on the bed before grabbing my robe and wrapping it around me as I headed for the door. I threw open the door, prepared to yell at the person on the other side. My voice was cut off as surprise overwhelmed my body. On the other side of the door stood a tall blond-haired man with his hands behind his back. A cheeky smile on his lips showed off his dimples. I finally got over my surprise and let out a tiny scream before jumping into his arms.

"Nik!" I practically shrieked.

He caught me on instinct and laughed as he spun as around and into the apartment. My legs wrapped around his waist and he kicked the door shut behind us. I looked into his blue eyes and saw mischief dancing in them. I shook my head and kissed him passionately. When I pulled away, he tried to say something but I shook my head again and kissed him.

"Uh ah. No talking." I commanded. He smiled at me and kissed me as he moved us into the bedroom without having too be asked.

...


	2. The End Of The Affair

**The End Of The Affair**

"So I happen to remember that missed your birthday." Nik said nonchalantly as we strolled down the street, hand in hand. I smirked up at him.

"I believe what we did last night, and again this morning, was more than enough of a present and an apology." I told him huskily as I remember what had transpired once we were united the previous morning.

"Well, maybe you'll be gracious enough to accept my gift anyway, since it is in returnable." He replied with a smug smile on his face. I frowned at him in confusion.

"Let it never be said that I am ungracious." I joked. Nik smiled down at me and pulled me after him a little faster. I giggled as I jogged to keep up with him. The busy streets emptied as we neared an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of Chicago. "Oh, Nik! You got me a sweatshop."

"I know how much you hate retail." He played along with my teasing. Finally, he pulled me to a stop outside one of the many warehouses surrounding us. I looked around in confusion.

"Seriously, Nik, why are we here?" I asked him. He smiled at me lovingly before beginning to explain our field trip.

"A few months ago, when we started seeing each other, before you knew I was a vampire." He started. "You were questioning, me about my family."

"Right. But then I found out they were all vampires, and daggered so they could be carried around in coffins." I finished pointedly. We had had this conversations before so Nik just rolled his eyes at me and continued.

"Well, today I will be undaggering one of them." He announced with a twinkle on his eye. I knew this twinkle. It was the same look he got when ever he spoke of his younger sister, Rebekah. I smiled at him.

"You're undaggering Rebekah?" I asked him, dumbfounded. Although, I don't know why I was so surprised. He had always said he would undaggering them once the curse placed on him by the Original Witch was broken. Maybe it was surprising since I thought he would wait until to found a solution to his hybrid turning problem. Nik raised an eyebrow in silent question, asking me how I knew it was Rebekah he was undaggering. I shrugged my shouldered nonchalantly. "You get this look when you speak of your sister. It's rather adorable actually." Smiling, he grabbed my hand again and lead me into the building where a man was waiting impatiently. I could tell immediately that the man was a vampire but I wasn't afraid. I knew without a doubt that Nik would keep me safe.

"Stefan, come introduce yourself." Nik commanded the other vampire in the room.

"Let me guess. Stefan?" I teased the handsome vampire. He smirked in response and held out a hand for me to shake.

"Stefan Salvatore. You look familiar. Have we met before?" He asked me.

"I don't think so. I definitely would've remembered you." I flirted back lightly. Nik place an arm around my shoulders in effectively marking what he saw as his. I smile slightly and let him do it without causing a fuss. It was strangely flattering to have the most power being in the world proclaim you as his.

"I'm Ellyse Gilbert." I traduced myself politely. Stefan looked taken back at my name.

"Gilbert?" He asked in shock. Nik chuckled lightly at his expression and I smirked as he recognised my name. Nik had already explained to me who Stefan was to my twin sister, Elena. He had told me what had happened in order to broke the hybrid curse. At first, the thought of never seeing Elena again shocked my and I was understandable unset, but then I remembered all the horrible things that she said to me the last time saw her and the effect that her words had on me.

"Hmm, yes. I'm Elena's fraternal twin sister." I explained but he just looked at me with a blank look. "She never mentioned me? That's about right." I mumbled the last part. Nik must have felt my sadness because he tightened his grip on my shoulders in comfort. Stefan smiled at me lightly and turned to Nik.

"Is Rebekah awake yet? We need her for the spell." Stefan asked him. I raised an eyebrow in question and crossed my arms over my chest.

"My birthday, huh?" I mocked. He turned to me and held his arms up in surrender.

"I might also need her for a spell so that Gloria can contact the original witch and I can find out what the hell is happening with my hybrids." He defended himself. I rolled my eyes and walked further into the building. I looked into the open coffin and smirked at the sight.

"Honey?" I called over to Nik. He walked without Stefan so he must have told him to wait outside. He came over and looked into the coffin and scoffed.

"Rebekah... Come out, come out where ever you are!" Nik called out into the warehouse. I looked around and saw the body of a dead security guard laying to the side.

"Well, she's awake." I said and looked around again. Suddenly, someone came flying out of nowhere and I jumped back automatically. A blonde girl in a flapper dress was in front of Nik and plunging a dagger into his chest. I knew that it couldn't kill him but it still unnerved me a little.

"Go to hell, Nik!" The woman, who I assumed was Rebekah spat at him. Nik gasped and pulled out the dagger and I muffled my laughter at the siblings spat.

"Oh, don't pout. You know it wouldn't kill me." He huffed and threw the dagger on the ground at his feet.

"Yeah, but I was hoping it would hurt more." She pouted and crossed her arms over her chest. I giggled out loud at that and Nik's head snap around to me.

"And don't you laugh." He said to me but I just shrugged at him.

"You deserved it. You did dagger her and leave her to rot for 90 years." He defended myself. Nik rolled his eyes at me and turned back to Rebekah, who was looking at me with interest.

"90 years?" She asked Nik. "What year is it anyway?"

"2012." I answered and walked closer to them both so that's was next to Nik.

"And who are you?" She asks me in her pretty British voice.

"Rebekah, this is Ellyse Gilbert, my girlfriend. Ellyse, this is my sister Rebekah."

"Charmed." Rebekah said with a smile. I held out my hand with a smile of my own.

"Nice to meet you, Rebekah. I've heard lovely things." I said and she and Nik both chuckled. Rebekah looked back at Nik in disgust and I moved over to the side so that I wasn't in the way. Especially if there was going to be more violence.

"I understand that you're upset with me, Rebekah... So, I brought you a little peace offering. You can come in!" Nik called out and I turned and watch Stefan walk into the warehouse. Rebekah's eyes widen when she saw him.

"Stefan." She breathed softly. Nik watched over to a confused Stefan and looked deeply into his eyes and knew he was compelling him.

"Now you remember." He ordered Stefan. I watched as comprehension dawned on him and he remembered the time he spent with Nik and Rebekah in the 1920's. Nik had told me about his last time in Chicago the night before. Stefan looked over at Rebekah in astonishment and then over at Nik.

"I remember you." He said so quietly that I nearly didn't hear him. "We were friends."

"We are friends." Nik corrected him and I smiled because I knew how important his friendship with Stefan was. He turned back to Rebekah. "And now for the reason you're here. Besides being a birthday present for Ellyse." He said with a glance in my direction. "Gloria tells me you know how are contact the original witch."

"The original witch?" She asked, confused because the original witch was dead.

"What did you have that Gloria needs?" Nik asked his sister. Rebekah gave Nik a look and reach up to her neck.

"Where's my necklace?" She demanded loudly."What you do with it? I never take it off!"

"I don't know. I didn't touch it." He replied in an exasperated tone.

"We need to find it, Nik! I want it back now!" She screamed at him. I watched the two of them in growing concern. She went back to the coffin that she had been kept in for 90 years and searched for it.

"Tell me that's not what you need, Rebekah!" He yelled back at her. Rebekah screamed and flipped the coffin over and kicked it. I watched her angry tantrum and Nik ran his hands through his hair. I want to go over and calm him down but knew that what he needed right then was to calm down on his own. I saw Stefan look the ground nervously and wondered what he knew.

...…


	3. Disturbing Behaviour

**Disturbing Behaviour**

The next day the four of us had taken control of a clothing boutique in the middle of Chicago. Rebekah and I were trying on clothes and Nik and Stefan were impatiently waiting in the main store while drinking champagne. I walked out of my dress room to look at my reflection. I heard Rebekah's voice coming from the dressing room next to mine.  
"There has to be more to this dress." She exclaimed. I heard her high heels clack as she stepped out into the main room to model the short black dress that she wore.  
"There isn't." Nik told her from his spot on the couch.  
"So women in the 21st century dress like prostitutes, then. I got dirty looks for wearing trousers."  
"Hey!" I complained teasingly. Bec glanced at me apologetically and shrugged it away.  
"You wore trousers so women today could wear nothing." Nik responded as he gave me kiss on the cheek as I looked in the mirror. I smiled at him and walked back into the dressing room to get changed into my own clothes.  
"And what is this music? It sounds like a cable car accident." Rebekah continued, ignoring Nik's comment.  
"It's dance music." I explained to her with a laugh.  
"People dance to this?" She exclaimed in disbelief and I laughed again and soon she joined in. I stepped back out and sat next to Nik when I was back in my own floral dress. Nik passed me a flute of champagne and I smiled in response and gently kissed his lips. Nik sighed at Rebekah as she spun in her new cocktail dress. She turned on him with her hands on her hips.  
"Why are you so grumpy?" She asked him.  
"I needed one thing from you for my witch to find out why my hybrids are dying, one thing. And you lost it." He explained to her. Not wanting to be involved in their sibling squabble in moved over to look at shoes. Hearing Nik and Rebekah arguing only reminded me of Elena. I didn't want to miss her. I hadn't missed her in nearly a year, but I suppose that was before the option of seeing her was taken away. In the back of my mind, I had known that Elena was alive and living in Mystic Falls happy and oblivious to the real world around her. But now that I knew for certain that she was gone, it felt like a part of me was missing.  
"I didn't lose it." I heard Rebekah snap at him. "It's just been missing for 90 years."  
"Same thing." Nik retorted with a roll of his eyes, as I sat back down and threw my legs over his knees. He placed his hand in my thigh and Rebekah turned her attention on to her long lost love, Stefan. "What do you think, Stefan?" She asked him of her dress.  
"I like it." He lied. Bec glared at him and he held up his hands in surrender. "What? I said I liked it."  
"I can always tell when you're lying Stefan." She told him and then strutted back into the changing room.  
"Nice one, good work." Nik mocked him.  
"You're the one who pulled the dagger out of her." Stefan accused in return and I slapped his arm, hard.  
" I heard that!" Bec yelled and Nik and I chuckled as Stefan cringed. His gaze shifted to the window of the boutique and sighed.  
"I'm going to get some air." He announced and Nik just waved him away. I followed him with my eyes as he left. Something was up with him and it bothered me.

….…xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

After our shopping expedition we returned to the bar that Nik's witch Gloria owned. Rebekah and I were sitting on the bar, drinking scotch while Gloria worked on a spell to find the location of Bec's missing necklace. She sat at a table in between the door and the bar, surrounded by white candles. In the middle of the table a massive book sat as she read it, trying to find a spell. After talking to Gloria, Nik came back to us at the bar. I silently handed him my glass and he drank it in one gulp. He leaned against the bar between my knees and rubbed circles on my right knee. I was about to say something when Stefan entered the bar. Rebekah sat up straighter at the sight of him.  
"You left us." She pouted.  
"Yeah, sorry. Retail therapy was making my head explode." He apologised as he came over to the bar and poured himself a drink.  
"Tell me about it." Nik muttered. I slapped his arm playfully.  
"You didn't have to come. You could have gone and done something else and just left us with your credit card." I pointed out to him. He turned his head and frowned at me.  
"Last time I left you alone with my credit card, you brought a Ferrari." He reminded me, making Rebekah and Stefan laugh. I simply shrugged my shoulders.  
"You did say to buy whatever I wanted." I giggled while saying. "I wanted a Ferrari." He just rolled his baby blue eyes at me. Stefan sipped his drink and pointed over at Gloria.  
"What's she doing?"  
"She's failing." Nik answered loudly so that Gloria could hear.  
"It's hard to find something when you have nothing to go on." She told him with a pointed look. Nik huffed in impatience and Rebekah rolled her own eyes.  
"Use me. I only wore it for a thousand years." She suggested and walked over to Gloria's table and sat down on top of it.  
"See? Now this one offers a solution." Gloria said, indicating to Bec with a wave of her hand. "Give me hand, sweetheart." She said before closing her eyes and mumbling something in Latin under her breath.  
"She's, uh, looking for the necklace, huh?" Stefan asked Nik, and he just nodded his reply, focusing on Gloria and Rebekah. I shot an incredulous look at Stefan.  
"I can see something." Gloria murmured and Nik took a step forward. Still at my place on the counter, I watched Stefan take a step backward as worry distorted his face. I frowned as I watched his reaction to the news that Gloria had found the necklace and wondered why he didn't want it found. "I found it."  
"Then where is it?" Rebekah asked her, and I could see the hope shining in her eyes.  
"It doesn't work that way, doll. I get images. There's a girl with her friends..."  
"Yes, a dead girl, with dead friends if I don't get my necklace back." Bec interrupted Gloria impatiently.  
"I'll have to dive back in to get the details."  
"So dive." Nik ordered the witch menacingly.  
"I need more time. And space. You're harshing my juju."  
"We have time."  
"I'm sure you do, but that's not what I asked."  
"Hey, hey, we'll come back later." I interrupted before Nik would rip her head off. I jumped down off the counter and walked over to Nik. I placed a hand on his arm to try and calm him down. Stefan joined me next to the others.  
"Yeah, I'm hungry anyway. Lets go eat. I'll let you choose who we eat." He tried to persuade them. Nik grabbed my hand silently and began leading me out the door and Stefan and Rebekah joined us as we left Gloria alone so she could work on the spell.

...…xxxxxxxxxxxx

We were back in the same warehouse that had stored Rebekah before being undaggered. The three vampires were feeding on the humans that they had found and I was lying on one the many boxes with my laptop, trying to block out the sound of their feeding. A body thumped to the ground as Rebekah dropped a dead human girl at her feet. She walked over to me and sat up next to me. I closed the laptop and turned to her with a smile.  
"My girl's dead. I'm bored." She announced with a pout and I giggled at her. Both Nik and Stefan ignored her and continued to feed until both the other humans were dead also. I pushed my laptop over to Bec so that she could watch Americas Next Top Model. I had shown it to her the night before and was starting to regret it.  
"You weren't kidding about being hungry." Nik said to Stefan in amusement as the younger vampire wiped blood off his lips.  
"Long day." Was his only response.  
"Try being related to her." Nik joked with a head nod to Rebekah. Stefan laughed out loud and Bec head snapped up from the laptop.  
"You're being mean." She frowned at her brother. He smiled and she turned her frown back to Stefan. "And why are you being mean? You used to love me."  
"It's being 90 years, Rebekah. Give him a minute." Nik defended Stefan, and I smiled.  
"Why are you on his side?" She asked her brother, annoyed. She looked at me then. "You're on my side, aren't you?" She asked me and I nodded in response because I didn't think I could answer without laughing.  
"Because, my dear sister, I feel pity for any man that doesn't give you what you want."  
"Would you stop making me out to be such a brat? I am not a brat!"  
"A thousand years of life experience says otherwise."  
"Well you're no picnic either. I mean, I've only spent one summer with you and feel like I want to blow my head off." Stefan responded, making Rebekah and I both laugh out loud. Nik glared at both of us.  
"Aren't you going to defend me, beauty?" He asked me. I snorted in amusement.  
"Why? It's probably true." I replied with a smile. Nik moved over to me and kissed me passionately.  
"Fantastic." I heard Rebekah say faintly in disgust.  
"I need to go." Stefan said and left the the warehouse. Nik pulled back and smiled at me lovingly. He wiped my lower lip with his thumb. Rebekah pretended to gag and I laugh at her.  
"Alright, Sunshine. You are with me." I told her as I jumped down from the box I was sitting on. I put my laptop in my bag and stood up straight.  
"Where are you going?" Nik asked us incredulously. I smirked at him and linked my arm with Bec.  
"Girl bonding." I simply said. I blew a kiss at him and us girls left the warehouse.  
"Now that he is gone, where are we going?" Rebekah asked me.  
"Shopping." I replied with a smile. "It will be so much more fun without the boys looking over our shoulder and complaining nonstop."  
"How do you expect to do that without any money?" She asked me and I snort in response.  
"Even if I didn't have a way, which I do, you are an original vampire with the power of compulsion." I laughed, and she joined in with me. "But luckily, Nik must have forgotten that he gave me a credit card months ago." I said as I waved around the credit card that I had stashed in my wallet. Rebekah linked her arm with mine and we walked to a clothing boutique. Bec immediately compelled all the staff so that they served our every need. As we looked through a clothing a rack, Rebekah looked back at me with a confused look on her face.  
"What is it?" I asked her.  
"Why are you with my brother?" She asked as she came closer. I looked at her in confusion so she kept going. "You're human. You should be living a human life."  
"You don't chose who you love, Bec." I told her with a smile. She smiled back at me and nodded.  
"How did you find out he was a vampire?"  
"I knew from the beginning." I told her as I sat down on the couch. Rebekah sat next to me and waited for me to continue. I sighed and recounted the story of how I met Nik for the first time nine months ago.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx...

_I was walking ago a bridge outside of Chicago. The wind blow my auburn hair wildly and I pushed it back roughly. Tears streamed down my face but I didn't care. I ran to the edge of bridge and climbed up onto the ledge. I had chosen that bridge especially. It was outside of Chicago so that anyone could interfere and it closely resembled the Wickery Brigde that my parents had died on months before. I slipped my coat off, took a deep breath, let it out and chucked my shoes onto the road beside me. I closed my eyes and jumped. I felt weightless as I fell fast. As I hit the water, my body crashed against the cold water. My brain screamed at me to breath. To get out of the water. My eyes closed. The weightless feeling that I experienced when falling overtook my body again. A searing pain stabbed my leg and my eyes opened again. I screamed and instead of air I took in water. My lungs burned as the water reached them. Suddenly, the water was replaced with air and I gasped in big breathes. I opened my eyes and saw a man with gorgeous blue eyes starring down at me. _  
_"Are you okay?" He asked in a British accent. I nodded my head mutely. I looked around and saw that I was laying on the edge of the river I was just in. I shook my head and looked back at the stranger that had saved me. I pushed him off me._  
"_Why?" I screamed at him. I struggled to my feet and wobbled on my shaking legs. He looked confused that I was screaming at him instead of thanking him. _  
_"I think the words you're looking for are 'thank you'." He replied, making me scoff. _  
_"Why did you pull me out!?" I yelled at him, tears running down my face freely. I slapped him as hard as I could. His eyes flashed with anger and he put his hands on my shoulders to hold me still. I was surprised at his strength. He sniffed the air and looked down at the cut on my leg. I followed his gaze and saw a piece of wood sticking out of my calf. I reached down and pulled it out. Ignoring the mans warning not to. The blood poured out the wound rapidly. I started feeling faint and sunk down to my knees. I looked up at the man who had saved me and saw that his eyes were now black and the veins around his eyes were black as well. I gasped in surprise. _  
_"You're a vampire." I stated plainly and he looked down at me in surprise. _  
_"You know about vampires?" He asked me as he sunk down next to me. I nodded, momentarily forgetting my bleeding leg. _  
_"My father told me." I said with a small smile as I remembered when my birth father, John told me about vampires. _  
_"Well, then you know that vampire blood can heal." He said with a smile and he bit down on his wrist. He offered my his wrist and I looked at it with suspicion. "Oh, come on, love." He murmured before bring his wrist to my mouth and forcing me to drink his blood. I threw his wrist back at him and stood up. My leg and my dizziness was perfect now that I had vampire blood in my system. _  
_"Why?!" I shouted at him. "Why do you think I jumped off the damn Brigde!? I didn't want to be saved!" _  
_"You can't die yet." He said simply in his defence._  
_"And why not?" I whispered as he stepped closer. He pushed a strand of my wet hair behind my ear. _  
_"Because I don't know you yet." He said softly._

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx..._

Later that night Nik and I went to check on Gloria's progress. Nik was growing impatient waiting for news of the necklace. He stopped suddenly and I nearly ran into the back of him. As I about to scold him, he held up a hand to silence me and I complied and glared at his back instead.  
"Something's wrong." He murmured softly. We walked into the bar and found it completely empty. Nik looked around the place and I went to the bar and grabbed one of the remaining bottles of scotch. Taking a sip straight out of the bottle, I watched as Nik came back angry. "She's gone." He told me.  
"Then we find another witch." I said firmly and held out the bottle of scotch for him. He smiled at me and walked over to join me. He pulled me into a kiss and lost myself in the feel of his lips on mine. I smiled as he pulled away. I jumped up onto the counter and smirked as I looked around the empty building.  
"You know, there is one good thing about Gloria leaving." I stated as I took a sip of the scotch.  
"And what pray tell is that, beauty?"  
"We are all alone." I whispered huskily into his ear. He chuckled and planted a kiss on my neck. He kissed my lips again and our loving kiss quickly turned passionate an hungry. My shirt was off in seconds and soon all of our clothes followed suit.

...xxxxxxxxxx

We walked into the warehouse to find Rebekah and Stefan and let them know that Gloria was gone. When we arrived the ex lovers were standing awkwardly in the middle of the room.  
"Gloria's gone. She's cleared out. We need to find a new witch immediately." He said before taking note of the awkward tension in the air. "What's going on?"  
"Something's wrong. He was asking about Mikael. He's not with us. I can tell." Rebekah answered her brother. Nik looked at Stefan was a mixture of disappointment and curiosity.  
"She's wrong. Klaus…" Stefan started but got cut off by Nik breaking his neck.  
"He was worried we were going to find the necklace." I told them as I walked closer, stepping over Stefan's dead body in the process. Nik and Rebekah both looked at me expectantly. "He knows where it is."  
"I think I trip to Mystic Falls is in order." Nik announced and I frowned at the mention of my home town. He looked back at me and I met hiss gaze. Rebekah must have felt the tension in the air because she felt the need to go and pack for the trip. After she left, Nik walked up to and held both of my hands in his.  
"You don't have to come." He told me. I smile slightly at him.  
"I want to come. Unless that was a thinly veiled attempt not to get me to come." I joked, making him smile and shake his head.  
"I definitely want you there with me."  
"Then I'll come. It will be nice for me to see the looks on the faces of all the people that abandoned me when they see that I'm no longer the scared ugly duckling." I explained to him, but in reality I was scared of going home. Who knew what awaited me home in Mystic Falls.


	4. The Reckoning

Rebekah and I drove into in comfortable silence as we neared Mystic Falls. I had been fine the whole road trip, even played stupid driving games with Bec, but as we neared my hometown I felt as if I was about to drown in the memories of my past. The small town held so many reminders of people I knew I would never see again. My mother, my father, my aunt Jenna, my biological father, John. And Elena, my twin.

"It sure looks different from when I was here last." Bec commented as we drove past The Grill. She looked at me out of the corner of her eye and I knew she was trying to distract me with silly conversation.

"Last time you were here was a thousand years ago." I reminded her with a smile. "If everything was the same, then we'd have a problem."

"That's true."

"Anyway, I happen to think that it looks better with plumbing and electricity." I joked and she smiled as she pulled into the spot next to the moving truck that Nik was driving. I knew that the coffins that held his remaining daggered family were stored in the back of it and that they currently had Stefan to keep them company. Nik had already been here a day and a half trying to work out what went wrong with the sacrifice.

"How is it that you are driving a sports car and I still bet you here in a truck?" Nik teased me when we stepped up to him.

"Well you didn't have to teach someone who has been dead for 90 years how to drive." I explained before going up on my tiptoes and giving him a kiss. He smiled at me and then turned back to Rebekah with a serious expression.

"I need you to babysit your boy toy, love." He told her. "He shouldn't give you any trouble, seeing as how he currently has a broken neck."

"Fine." She huffed. "And where will you be?"

"I found what went wrong with the sacrifice." He growled. "Apparently the doppelgänger is still alive."

"Elena's alive?" I repeated, shocked. Nik nodded and I frowned and looked away.

"When he wakes up bring him over to the high school." He instructed Rebekah, who nodded and climbed up into the trunk with Stefan's dead body. "Come on, beauty." Nik said as he tugged on my hand.

-––-

About twenty minutes later, I was waiting in the high school gym behind the bleachers. I didn't want any of the students currently filling paper cups with water to recognise me, even though that probably would be been impossible. After I left Mystic Falls I did everything I could think of to change who I was. My naturally strawberry blond hair was auburn and I now wore green contacts over the muddy brown I was born with. I changed my hair and my sense of style and didn't regret a minute of it. I few minutes later I heard the gym doors open and two people walk inside. I peeked around the corner and Nik come in dragging Elena behind him.

"Attention, seniors. You have officially been busted. Prank night is over. Head on home." He called in a faked American accent that made me giggle. He noticed two students that lagged behind the moaning teens. "You two. I remember you." He says in his normal British drawl.

"I'm sorry. Who are you?" the girl asks.

"Oh, don't worry, I wasn't in my right head last time we met." He states. "Lift your foot up, please, Dana." He compels her before turning to the boy standing next to her. "If she drops her foot, Chad, I want you to beat her to death. Understood?"

"Don't, Klaus. You don't have to hurt anybody." Elena pleads with him, uselessly.

"Oh, come on, love. Of course I do." He replies with a smirk. I take that as me cue and walk out from behind the bleaches.

"There's a difference between having too and wanting too." I point out with a smile, which he returns.

"Not really in regards to me, beauty."

"True." I conceded with a shrug. I look over to Elena, who is looking at me with a confused look on her face.

"Do I know you?" she asked me. I smile at her and shake my head sadly.

"No, Elena. You don't know me at all." I answer truthfully. I walk over to the bleaches a sit down so I can watch what's going to happen. When Nik told me that Elena was still a alive I felt a pang of something that might have been relief, but when she didn't recognise me, her own twin, that pang you relief formed into a pit of anger.

"Keep it up." Nik said and I looked over to see who he was talking to. The girl that he had compelled, Dana, was wavering on her right leg. Nik let go of Elena and she moved away, closer to Dana and chad, while Nik came and sat next to me.

"Where's Stefan? What did you do to him?" Elena demanded from her seat on the ground.

"Stefan's on a time out." Nik stated.

"He was a bad boy." I added with a pretend pout, which turned into a smile when Elena glared at me. The doors to the gym opened again and we all turned to see Elena's best friend Bonnie Bennet and her ex-boyfriend, Matt Donavan enter the gym.

"Bonnie, get out of here!" Elena calls when sees them.

"Ah, I was wondering when you'd show up. Now we can get started." Nik said as he blurred closer to the young witch. He looks at Dana.

"Ah, Dana, why don't you relax? You and Chad sit tight." He compels them and they crumble to the ground in tears. Nik turns back to Bonnie for an explanation.

"I assume you're the reason Elena's still walking around alive"

"That's right. If you want to blame someone, blame me."

"Oh, there's no need for blame, love. Just your witchy interference seems to have caused some undesirable side effects. And since you caused the problem, I'm going to have you find the fix." He chuckles. Just then the doors open once more and Rebekah enters with Tyler Lockwood. I immediately sit up straighter because Tyler and I used to be friends and I had no idea he was a werewolf.

"I'd like you all to meet my sister Rebekah. Word of warning... She can be quite mean." Nik says, gesturing to Bec.

"Don't be an ass." We both say at the same time. Rebekah throws Tyler into Nik's arms and Elena calls out.

"Leave him alone!"

"I'm going to make this very simple... Every time I attempt to turn a werewolf into a vampire hybrid, they die during the transition. It's quite horrible, actually." Nik says to everyone in the room, ignoring Elena. Then he bities his wrist and makes Tyler drink his blood. "I need you to find a way to save my hybrids, Bonnie. And for Tyler's sake... You better hurry." He says to the young witch and then snaps the werewolf's neck. Elena, Matt and Bonnie are shocked at what just happened.

"He killed him." Matt state lamely from next to Tyler and I roll my eyes.

"He's not dead. Klaus's blood will turn him into a vampire." Elena explains.

"And if Bonnie's successful, he'll live through his transition. Go on, then. Go and fetch your grimoires. and enchantments and what-not. I'll hold on to Elena... For safe-keeping." Nik said with a smile at the witch before grabbing Elena arm. Elena nods bonnie and her and matt quickly leave the room. I walk up to Nik's side at Tyler dead body.

"If he dies, you're getting the silent treatment for a week." I say casually. Nik turns to me with a frown.

"And why is that, beauty?"

"Because he was a friend once upon a time." I state and move back over to my spot on the bleaches while Nik just frowns at me and Elena looks at me curiously again. I smile at her and she fidgets uncomfortably. Rebekah looks at Elena and circles her like a predator.

"So this is the latest doppelgänger." She states of obvious. "The original one was much prettier." She says, making me laugh out loud.

"Enough, Rebekah. Take the wolf boy elsewhere, would you?" Nik asks her and she nods. I jump down from my seat and walk over to Bec and Nik.

"I'm going to go too." I tell him. "As much as I'm okay with her dying, I'd not watch you kill my twin." I say as I walk out the door with Rebekah and Tyler's body. The last thing I hear is Elena's questioning voice call out.

"Ellyse!?"

Rebekah and I are sitting in one the hallways at the high school and Tyler's dead body is lying next to the dead body of Caroline Forbes. Rebekah is playing with Caroline's cell phone and she's surprisingly good at it. Especially considering I only taught her how last night.

"We'll need to get you your own phone." I comment as I play Angry Birds on my own iPhone.

"We didn't have mobile telephones in my day. Would have made life a whole lot easier, I suppose." She admits to me with a smile. Rebekah aims the phones camera and we take a phone together just as Caroline wakes up.

"Where's Tyler?" is the first thing she asks us.

"He's dead. Ish." Bec tells her matter-of-factly. Caroline looks around and spots him lying a few feet away.

"What did you do to him?" she cries as she rushes to his side.

"Think of it as he's having a nap. When he wakes up, he'll be a hybrid." I explain to her with a smile. I never really liked Caroline. Rebekah giggles and looks through the photos on Caroline's phone.

"Ugh. Vomit." Rebekah comments and I look over her shoulder and see a photo of Stefan and Elena together. I scrunch my nose up at the phone, in silent support of Rebekah. Bec looks at the photo intently. "Is that my neck..." she drifts off and zooms in on necklace around Elena's neck. She gasps and shoves the phone in front of Caroline.

"Why is that doppelgänger bitch wearing my necklace?!"

Rebekah and I leave Caroline and Tyler's body and rush back to the gym where we see Stefan feeding Chad and Dana's dead boy. Rebekah ignores all of that and runs straight at Elena, still wielding the cell phone.

"Where is it?! Where's my necklace?" she screamed to Elena.

"What is she talking about?" Nik asks me as I walk up next to him.

"She has my necklace. Look." Bec says before I have a chance to explain the situation. She gives him the phone so he can see the picture of Elena and Stefan.

"Well, well. More lies." Nik says to Stefan.

"Where...is it?" Rebekah asks Elena again menacingly.

"I don't have it anymore." Elena stammers but Rebekah takes another step forward.

"You're lying!" she screams before vamping out and biting Elena on the neck. I take a step back, not wanting to be involved the dispute. Nik throws Rebekah off of Elena and the doppelgänger falls to the floor.

"Knock it off!"

"Make her tell me where it is, Nik!" Bec demands and I have to control myself from laughing because seeing a thousand year old vampire throwing a tantrum. I thought Bec might have even stamped her foot. Elena had her hand pressed up against the bite on her neck and I can see the fear in her eyes as Nik crouches down to eyelevel.

"Where's the necklace, sweetheart? Be honest." He asks her pleasantly.

"I'm telling the truth. Katherine stole it."

"Katerina. Of course. Well, that's unfortunate." He replies as he stands back up. "If we had the necklace it would make things a whole lot easier for your witch, but since we're doing this the hard way, let's put a clock on it, shall we?" he asks rhetorically as he walks over to the score board and switches it on and the number 20.00 appeared on the board. He directs what he says next to Stefan. "20 minutes. If Bonnie hasn't found a solution by then, I want you to feed again. Only this time, I want you to feed on Elena. You know you want to."

"No, Klaus! Don't do this to him!" Elena cries. She turns to me. "Please! Make him stop, Ellyse."

"I would, but I really don't care either way. So why bother?" I say with a smile and walk over to a smirking Rebekah.

"You're my sister!" Elena calls out and I feel rage flood my veins.

"Sisters?" I scream at her. "When you want something we are sisters, but when I needed help where were you?"

"Why are you acting like this?" she cries and I really want to hit her. Bec puts her hand on my back and its only then I notice the tears running down my face.

"No one leaves. If she tries to run, fracture her spine." Nik tells Stefan and then the three of us walk out the gym door. Once we're far enough away, Nik turns to me with a concerned expression. "You okay, love?"

"I'll be fine." I say with a smile and I confident nod. Nik smirks at me and kisses my cheek.

"Rebekah go find the werewolf and put him in a classroom. Don't any unwanted attention."

"Fine, but I'm taking Ellyse with me." She compromises. Nik gives her a sceptical look and she continues. "I don't want her in there with the doppelgänger bitch and I'll be bored if I'm alone." She explains and I laugh at her assessment of Elena but entwine my arm with hers and we stroll back to where we left Caroline and Tyler. When we reach them we see that Tyler is still dead and Caroline is still crouched over his body. I open the nearest classroom door and make sure that it's clear before signalling Rebekah. She pushes Caroline in first and then strolls in carrying Tyler's body as if it weighs nothing. As soon as Rebekah puts Tyler down on a vacant table he sits up and gasps. Caroline rushes over to her boyfriend and Bec and I get comfortable on the teacher's desk.

"Where am I? What happened?" he asks, gasping for breath.

"Tyler…" Caroline starts warily.

"Don't be shy about it." I say and Rebekah laughs.

"What's going on?" he asks again.

"Klaus is turning you into a vampire. A hybrid. You're in transition." Caroline tells him sadly.

"Don't leave out the hard part, sweets. You'll only survive if your witch is successful. If not..." Rebekah informs him.

"You're pretty much dead." I finish a little sadly and Tyler starts to panic.

"You're going to be ok. Ok? It's going to be ok." Caroline tries to calm him down.

"I wonder how she's doing." I say offhandedly and Rebekah looks at the time on Caroline's phone that she still had.

"Tick tock goes the gym clock." She comments, making me smile. Tyler looks at me curiously.

"Ellyse?" he asks. I smile in response and Caroline's head snaps around to look at me.

"Hi, Ty." I say with a grin. "I really hope you don't die."

"Thanks." He says with a smile his own and Caroline just glares at me.

"What the hell happened to you?" she snaps. I just shrug in response.

"People change, Caroline. Hell, you're a vampire. Tyler's a werewolf. Slash maybe vampire." I finish with a confused frown and Bec and Tyler both laugh with me. Caroline just scowls at me and I shrug my shoulders, not really caring about her opinion.

Nik walks into the classroom not long after that and I was thankful because I was getting sick of Caroline scowling in my direction.

"Well, the verdict's in. The original witch says the doppelgänger should be dead." He announces and Rebekah jumps down from the desk.

"Does that mean we can kill her?" she asks happily and I smile at her enthusiasm.

"No, I'm fairly certain it means the opposite."

"What?!" Rebekah asks, put out that she doesn't get to kill my sister.

"Call it a hunch..." Nik drifts off as he pulls out a test tube filled with blood. Nik walks closer to Tyler and Rebekah grabs hold of Caroline when she tries to protect him. "Elena's blood. Drink it."

"No! No, no, no, Tyler, don't!" Caroline cries from Rebekah's grasp.

"If he doesn't feed, he'll die anyway, love. Consider this an experiment."

"If he does die, I'm going to silent treatment your ass." I remind him and he frowns up at me while Rebekah laughs in delight. Tyler struggles in Nik's grasp but finally drinks the vial of Elena's blood.

"There we go. Good boy." Nik practically coos as if talking to a puppy not a werewolf and I can't help a giggle. Tyler suddenly jumps from the table and rolls on to the floor in pain. He screams and groans and writhes on the ground while we all watch in awe. He holds his head and screams but his face finally changes. His eyes are yellow, he has fangs and veins under his eyes. "Well, that's a good sign."

Nik, Rebekah and I are waiting out the front of Mystic Falls hospital where Elena is 'donating' her blood.

"So the doppelgänger isn't the problem. Her blood is the solution." I comment from my spot in Nik's arms.

"Seems so." Nik says as he kisses my cheek. Rebekah is sitting on the hood of a car and frowns down at us.

"How did you know?" she asks her brother.

"Well, you know how much the original witch hated me. Do you honestly think I would do anything other than the opposite of what she says?" he explains to us.

"A thousand years in the grave and she's still screwing with you." Rebekah laughs out loud at her brother expense.

"Well, it makes sense if you think about it from her perspective. It was her failsafe in case I ever broke the hybrid curse. The doppelgänger had to die in order for me to become a hybrid, but if she was dead..."

"Then you couldn't use her blood to sire yourself a new species." I finish for him when he drifts off.

"Leaving me alone for all time."

"Is that what this is about? Your obsession with hybrids. You just don't want to be alone?" Rebekah asks incredulously. I look at the ground because I've already asked this question before.

"What I want is to take my girl, take my doppelgänger, and take my hybrid the hell out of this one pony town. You know, why don't you, uh, why don't you get the truck? I'll get Elena." He tells her avoiding answering the question, just like every time I had asked him. Rebekah slides down from the hood and frowns at him.

"I'm going to go with, Bec. She's not the world's best driver yet." I explain with a chuckle. Before I leave I turn around to face him and kiss him passionately.

"So, where are you heading now?" I ask him with a coy smile.

"Portland." He answers me with a smile of his own. I scrunch my nose up at his answer and he laughs at me. "Oregon not your cup of tea, beauty?" he asks.

"No way." I say as I wrap my hands around his neck.

"Going to head back to Chicago?" he asks as he walks me backwards into the bedroom.

"Think I might stay here in Mystic Falls." I reply after thinking about.

"Why?" he asks, confused. I smile up at him.

"Because it will annoy Elena and all her friends." I say with a chuckle, making him laugh as well. "Plus, Stefan and Tyler are here so it'll be safe." I assure him. Nik just nods and lifts me into his arms and threw me onto the bed, making me laugh out and reach out for him. If I wasn't going to see him for a while, I was going to make the time we had together count.


	5. Smells Like Teen Spirit

**Smells like Teen Spirit.**

It was 8.30am when I arrived at the Salvatore boarding house. At the front door I walked in without knocking, knowing that Stefan was expecting me anyway.

"Uh-oh. Alexandra, left hand, please." I heard Stefan say as I entered. There are two dead girls on the floor when I turn the corner. I smile and laugh as I see Stefan and three girls in only bras and panties play twister in the living room.

"Morning, Stefan." I chuckle as I step into the room. Stefan turns his head to look at me from his spot on the couch and two out of the three girl smile at me in greet while the remaining one openly glares. I lean on the entry way and watch as one of the girls giving Stefan her left hand to bite into.

"Good morning, Ellyse. Hope this doesn't bother you." Stefan asks as he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Not at all. But I do want to play." I admit as I strip out of my jacket and rip my shoes off and then make my way over to join the girls. Stefan laughs at me but continues to spin the twister board.

"Hey, the two brunettes on the staircase owe me a Persian rug." An unfamiliar male voice saying from behind me and I turn my head to see a handsome, black haired strange who I know immediately is a vampire.

"You mean they owe us a Persian rug? It's my house, too, brother. Ooh! Would you like a spin?" Stefan replies with a cocky smirk, making me and the other girls laugh.

"So this is what Klaus had in mind when he compelled you to protect Elena?" Stefan's brother, Damon, asks him. a smile part of my internally flinches at the mention of my twin sister.

"These ladies are helping me be all that I can be." Stefan jokes with a patronising smile.

"Not me." I correct him with a smile and move my left hand to yellow. "I'm doing this for fun."

"Who the hell are you?" Damon asks rudely. I glance over my right shoulder and chuckle at his annoyed expression.

"I'm Ellyse Gilbert. Your new roommate." I answer with a smirk of my own. Damon looks stunned at the news that I'm Elena's sister and that I'm living here at the boarding house.

"You're staying here?" he asks dubiously.

"Well, as Stefan says, it's his house too and he's already okayed it. Right, Stef?" I ask him to confirm and he salutes me with his glass of blood. Before Damon can question me anymore, there's a knock at the door and Damon moves to answer it. I look over my shoulder and see Rebekah enter with handfuls of shopping bags so I stand up straight.

"Where's Stefan?" she asks Damon in her British voice.

"Who the hell are you?" he replies, asking the same question for the second time that morning. Rebekah walks straight past him and spots Stefan and I in the lounge room.

"He left me here. My brother actually left me here." She complained.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Your tone implies that I'm actually supposed to care." Stefan replied to her and I just frowned in sympathy.

"You're Klaus's sister?" Damon asked sceptically.

"Rebekah. Pleasure, I'm sure. Which one's my room?" she asked.

"You're staying here?" I asked at the same time Stefan said, "You're not staying here." She then looks at Damon but he doesn't say anything.

"Rude. Both of you. I'll see to it myself." She says and then goes toward the stairs and I follow her so I can choose my own room. Rebekah slows down so I can catch up once we're up stairs. She goes into the first room on the right and puts her shopping bags on the bed. "Are you going to high school?" she asks me randomly.

"Yeah." I respond as I jump up on the bed as she sorts through her clothing. "I'm still a senior and plus it will piss off Elena and her friends."

"That is a plus." Bec agrees with giggle. "I'll be joining you."

* * *

Once I'm at school, Rebekah ran off to actually enrol and I made my way to the main hallway. I smirked to myself as I noticed all the attention is on me, boys and girls alike stop and stare at the newcomer. In front of me I see Stefan and walk over to him.

"Hey, Stefan." I say with a smile as I lean back on the locker next to his open one.

"Hello, Ellyse." He greets me with a smirk.

"I have a question." I start and he waves his hand to say 'go on'. "Do you protecting Elena mean we can't have any fun with her?"

"I'm pretty sure it means the opposite." He says with a smile and his green eyes light up in anticipation. I rub my palms together like a villain and he laughs at me. Suddenly, his face turns serious and I look around in confusion but then he turns back to me with an evil smile. "I can hear her. Come on." He says before grabbing my hand and pulling towards the restroom. The door opens just as we reach it and out comes Elena.

"Hello, Elena." We say at the same time. Elena turns to us in surprise and I smile back while Stefan smirks at her.

"What are you doing here?" she asks us suspiciously.

"What do you mean? I'm going back to school." He replies and then we both pump our fists and say, "Go Timberwolves!"

"What? Why?"

"Klaus wants me to keep an eye on you. I'm just doing what I'm told." Stefan answers for himself. Elena turns to me for an explanation and I just shrug my shoulders.

"You can't put a price on a good education." I state with a straight face and then burst out laughing when I can't hold it in anymore. Next to me Stefan chuckles and Elena just rolls her eyes.

"I'm going to be late for class." She says and tries to get around us but Stefan grabs her arm and stops her.

"Oh, class is this way."

"Let go of me, Stefan."

"Elena, do you think I want to be a senior for the 100th time? No. But if I don't have a choice in the matter, then neither do you."

"I said let go of me." Elena replies, trying to keep her voice strong but I can hear the underlying fear. Just then a sandy haired man in his late twenty's appears from behind Stefan.

"Let her go." the unknown man says. Stefan pushes him against the locker in response.

"Stefan, stop it!" Elena cries and tries to grab his arm but he's too strong.

"Stefan!" I say in the same voice I use on Nik when he's being difficult. Stefan turns at the sound of my voice and raises an eyebrow. I nod at him and he sighs and puts down the man.

"You're not gonna want to get in my way. Okay Ric? I will see you both in history." Stefan says and then lets him go walks off. Elena openly glares at me and just smile back at her because I know that my calm, faux friendly attitude is going to piss her off more than if I act defensive. I feel a little wave of guilt as I notice her hands shaking but I take a deep breath and push it down.

"Why are you doing this? What did I do to you?" my twin asked me desperately. I thought about it for a minute but couldn't think of an appropriate answer.

"I honestly don't know, Elena. All I know is that I hate you. I have no idea why I do, but I hate you with every fibre of my being." I told honestly, with a confused frown on my face. I frowned at her again and then turned on my heels and practically ran down the hall.

"There you are." I hear Rebekah say from behind me. I turn and smile at my blond friend. She hurries over and links out arms as we walk through the nearly empty school hallways.

"Get everything okay?" I ask her and she nods her head.

"Yes, and I heard a rumour that there's two spots open on the cheerleading team. Interested?" she asks and I can see that she really wants to do it because her eyes light up. I sigh in defeat and nod my head as we near our classroom.

"Okay." I agree and she claps her and making me laugh with her.

"Welcome back, seniors. Let's turn our brains back on, starting with this country's original founders... the Native Americans." We hear the teacher say and we walk into our history class where the teacher is the sandy haired man Stefan assaulted.

"What about the Vikings?" Rebekah asks as we walk in and make our way to two vacant seats. Tyler, Caroline and Elena look at us as we sit and we just smile back at them.

"There's no evidence that Viking explorers actually settled in the United States. Who are you?" the teacher, Mr Saltzman asks us.

"I'm Ellyse Gilbert and I just transferred back."

"My name's Rebekah. I'm new. And history's my favourite subject.

* * *

After classes, Rebekah drags me to cheerleading practice with her after getting changed into shorts and a tank top.

"Has anybody seen Dana?" we hear a cheerleader ask as we approach the squad.

"Sounds like you have an opening on the squad." I say to no in particular and Bec nods her head in agreement.

"What are you doing?" Caroline growls at us. Rebekah stretches but Caroline is still standing next to us. "Hey. Hey. You can't just come here and infiltrate all of our lives."

"I'm only interested in yours. Your spunk, your popularity." Rebekah tells her as she standing back up. She looks over at Tyler, who practicing over with the football team. "Maybe even your boyfriend." She smiles and I chuckle as Caroline glares at her.

"And what about you?" Caroline snaps at me.

"I look really good in a cheerleading uniform." I joke and Bec laughs. "And anything that annoys you is good enough for me."

"No one wants you here." She seethes. Rebekah looks over her shoulder at Tyler who is compelling the football coach.

"You might want to control your boyfriend." She states matter-of-factly. Caroline follows her gaze and then run over to Tyler. I giggle at her expense and turn back to Rebekah. I shrug my shoulder and start stretching. Rebekah makes impressive gymnastic moves and end with a split. She looks at Caroline with a mocking smile.

* * *

Later that night at the back to school bonfire, Stefan and I were talking when we saw Rebekah trying to work the keg. We both laughed at her failed attempts and went over to help.

"You all right there?" I ask her as we stand around the keg. I take her empty cup and fill it up for her and she smiles at me gratefully.

"I thought Tyler would be here." She explains her grumpy mood.

"You're into Tyler now? That's kind of fickle." Stefan tells her.

"When you're willing to give me the time of day again, then we'll talk. Until then, a girl has needs." She responds and I groan.

"Can we please not talk about your needs?" I ask and they both laugh.

"Fine, but only because I refuse to talk about your needs. They do involve my brother." She says and then shudders, making Stefan and I laugh. Elena arrives then and pours herself some beer

"Excuse me." she says and she pushes me out of the way.

"Elena, hi. What are you doing?" Stefan asks her.

"I'm having fun, Stefan. You have a problem with that?" she says before drinking the whole cup of beer at once.

"All right, take it easy. We both know you're kind of a lightweight." Stefan tells her as he reaches for her cup but she pulls her hand away.

"Uh-huh. Really? You think I'm going to let a blood addict tell me how to drink?" she says before she leaves. Rebekah and I look at Stefan and burst out laughing. Stefan walks away after playfully glaring at us and we make our way over to a secluded camp fire. I grab sticks and a bag of marshmallows and sit down on a log next to Bec.

"Okay." I say to myself as I put the marshmallow on the end and Rebekah watches in fascination. After show her how to do it, she tries one herself but it keeps melting in the fire. Soon, Damon come sauntering over to us and sits next to Rebekah on the log.

"What? No friends your own age?" she comments.

"Like you can talk." He responds with a smirk.

"Is this supposed to be fun? I've been through 10 of these." She complains to me but before I can tell her anything, Damon speaks over me.

"No, you're just looking at it all wrong. This is a little rough on the outside." He takes the burn out of the marshmallow. "But the inside... Yum." He makes her eat the marshmallow. She looks at him and he sucks his fingers. I roll my eyes and look away from them.

"And I'm leaving." I say to myself as I standing up and dust off my jean shorts but neither Damon nor Rebekah replied.

"Mmm. It's good." Bec said.

"Yep." I heard Damon say as I was walking away. As I'm walking away from the camp fire I hear a groan and turn around to see Rebekah stabbing Damon in the stomach with her marshmallow stick. I fight back a grin at the sight of him ripping out the stick.


	6. Ghost World

**Ghost World: **

I woke up to the sound of my cell ringing. I rolled over and fumbled for it on the bedside table blindly. My hand finally found the cold phone and I held it up to my ear without opening my eyes to check the caller ID.

"Somebody better be dead or they soon will be." I growled into the phone and someone chuckled at my warning.

"Don't be like that, beauty." Nik said to me through the phone and I smiled a little at the sound of his voice.

"You're interrupting my beauty sleep, Niklaus." I said jokingly as I sat up on the bed. He chuckled in my ear and it brought a smile to my lips.

"You don't need beauty sleep, Ellyse. You are already stunning."

"How are you?" I asked him tiredly.

"I'm missing you. That's what I'm doing."

"That's very cheesy, Nik." I pointed out with a laugh. I heard a noise in the background of the call and Nik growled impatiently at the person talking to him.

"I'm afraid I have to go, beauty. I'll call you later." He told me apologetically.

"It's fine. I miss you, Nik." I said to him with a sad sigh.

"I miss you too, Ellyse." He said before hanging up the phone. I sighed as I rolled over onto my stomach and buried my head into the pillow. I lifted my head up and glanced at the alarm clock on the bedside table. I groaned when I saw that it was seven thirty and I didn't have school today. I knew that once I was awake I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep so I got out of bed and decided to go for a run. I walked over to my closet and got changed into some comfortable running clothes. I was walking downstairs when I heard someone groaning in pain in the living room. I hurried down the rest of the stairs and then burst out laughing when I saw Damon Salvatore tied to chair in the middle of the room. He looked up when he heard my laughing and glowered at me.

"Well, this is kinky, isn't it?" I asked rhetorically as I walked closer to him with my hands behind my back.

"Are you just going to stand there or are you going to help me?" he asked me rudely and I smiled back innocently.

"Why would I help you?" I asked him and he just continued to glare at me. I shrugged my shoulders at him as he tried to intimidate me into helping him. "I'm dating Klaus, Damon, you don't frighten me."

"Help me." he ordered and I glared back defiantly. I crossed my arms over my chest and looked him over.

"Ask nicely." I demanded and raised an eyebrow at him when he scoffed at my request. When he didn't say anything after a moment, I shrugged and turned on my heel. I was at the door when I turned back and smiled at him. "Well?" I asked again but he still didn't say anything to me. I blew him a kiss and walked out the door. At the end of the driveway, I took for in a run. I was heading towards the forest at a brisk pace. I sighed happily as I ran. In Chicago I used to run all the time and it was nice to get back to something at was considerably normal for me. The air in Mystic Falls was different to the big city. It was somehow fresher and crisper. I started to slow down as I entered a small clearing in the middle of the forest. I came to a complete stop and put my hands on my knees to calm my breathing. I heard something move in the trees and my head snapped up. I looked around the clearing, looking for signs of movement. I could feel my heart racing but I didn't know if it was from nerves or from my run. I breathed a sigh of relief when I didn't see anything and turned around. I gasped in surprise and jumped when I saw a figure on the other side of the clearing. They figure took a step closer and I could finally make out their features.

"Isobel?" I asked in a shocked whisper. I shook my head to clear it because I was obviously going crazy. "No. No. No. No." I repeated over and over again as tears formed in my eyes. My birth mother smiled at me gently and took another step closer to me. I knew that my bottom lip was trembling and I was on the verge of crying but I tried to hold them at bay. When I had first left Mystic Falls, Isobel found me in Chicago. We had gotten quite close before she had to go on a business trip and never came back. She had been killed while working. I knew that she was vampire as well but that didn't really bother me. Especially, since I was dating one.

"Hello, Ellyse." Isobel greeted me as she reached up and wiped a tear from my cheek. I closed my eyes at her touch and finally let myself believe that she was real. I couldn't help it anymore so I pulled her into an embrace. I buried my head into the crook of her neck as I sobbed. Isobel chuckled softly and stroked my hair. "I've missed you too sweetheart." She whispered in my ear and I finally looked up at her. She smiled at me gently and I smiled back and choked out a laugh.

"What are you doing here? You died." I said sadly and she nodded in agreement.

"I have to make sure you're safe." She explained and I frowned in confusion.

"What do you mean?" I asked her curiously as I cocked my head to the side, a mannerism I had picked up from Isobel. Isobel smiled at me sadly and caressed my cheek one more time. I took a surprised step backwards as her face transformed in a vampiric mask. I swallowed roughly and looked at her with wide eyes. Using her vampire speed, she rushed at me and bit into my neck. I screamed mostly in surprise and pain as I felt my blood being sucked out of me. It was different to the feeling I got when I offered my blood to Nik. This time all I felt was pain and betrayal and fear as Isobel's teeth latched onto my neck. She let go of me fast and I collapsed onto the ground as she dropped me. I pressed my hand to my neck and gazed up at her with wide eyes. I watched helplessly as Isobel bit into her own wrist and then moved it to my mouth. I protested as she forced me to drink but she was stronger than me. I tried not to swallow any of her blood but I couldn't help it. I felt the metallic liquid run down my throat and I gagged on it. Isobel pulled her wrist away and I coughed trying to get the blood back up but it was pointless. I broke down crying on my knees and Isobel knelt down next to me.

"Why?" I asked her through my sobs. My birth mother tried to sooth me as I cried.

"It needs to be done, sweetie." Isobel whispered to me. I looked up at her and she smiled slightly. The next thing I heard was a snap and then all I knew was black.

* * *

_"When you see my face, hope it gives you hell, hope it gives you hell. When you walk my way, hope it gives you hell, hope it gives you hell. If you find a man that's worth a damn and treats you well, then he's a fool, you're just as well, hope it gives you hell, I hope it gives you hell." I sang along with you radio in my car. I had just had an argument with Jeremy and had decided to go for a drive in my car. Ever since our parents had died in a car accident, Jeremy had been hostile to me and Elena. It really was driving me crazy that he was being so bratty. It was driving at night and wasn't really watching the road. I looked out to the road and saw a black silhouette in the middle of the road. I leaned forward and squinted, trying to see what it was. I got closer and gasped when I when I recognised the silhouette as a person. The person didn't move as got closer to them. The headlights hit them and I pulled the car over in my shock. I stumbled out of the car and slammed the door. _

_"Elena?!" I yelled out to my sister. She turned to look at me, cocking her head to the side. She looked different then she did when I saw her an hour ago at home. She was wearing a different outfit and her hair was curly when it was normally straight. I walked closer to her and grabbed her arm carefully. She looked down at my hand and then back up at me. "Are you okay, Elena? What are you doing here?" I asked her concerned. She looked at me and smiled a little. _

_"Oh, Ellyse. You remind me so much of myself. Well, the human version of myself." Elena said, confusing me greatly. I frowned at her and she smiled at me in pity. "You are so kind and sweet and yet you have the seductive and manipulative streak in you as well. True Petrova fire." _

_"Elena, you're freaking me out." I told her with a little laugh as I hugged my arms around myself against the cold. I looked around the road and noticed that we were still in the middle of nowhere. "We should move." _

_"I like you, Ellie. So, I'm going to do you a favour." _

_"Elena, you're scaring me." I told her sternly. _

_"I'm not Elena." She told me, and I eyed her in confusion. "My name is Katherine." _

_"Elena, stop being stupid." I said to her and shook my head. Katherine tilted her head to the side again and smirked. She looked so different from Elena at that moment that I almost believed her. I watched in morbid fascination as her pretty features transformed into the face of a demon. Her eyes turned black and the veins around her eyes became more prominent. Her teeth transformed into fangs and I sucked in a sharp breath as I backed away. "Oh, my god." I muttered to myself as I turned to run away. I shrieked a little as Katherine suddenly appeared in front of me. I knew that tears were running down my cheeks so I wiped at them harshly. I didn't want to be any weaker than what I was. Katherine took a step closer to me and I immediately stiffened at her proximity. She grabbed hold of my face and tilted my head so that I was looking into her eyes. I saw her pupils dilate and I couldn't look away from her. _

_"You're going to get in your car and drive. You're going to leave Mystic Falls behind and not come back. All you'll know is that you hate Elena and you had to get away from her. She said horrible things to you and you hate her for it. Someday soon your uncle John is going to come and see you. He is going to tell you all about vampire and you're going to believe him immediately. Once you get in the car, you won't remember meeting me." Katherine ordered me and I absently nodded. "Good girl." She said as she kissed my cheek and then she was gone. I looked around for her but she was just gone. I slowly walked back to the car, looking over my shoulder as I did. I climbed in the car and turned on the engine. _

_"Why am I pulled over?" I wondered to myself out loud. I shook my head and pulled back onto the road. I didn't have a destination in mind but I just had to get the hell away from Elena. _

* * *

I awakened with a gasped as I sat up.

"Oh my god. Oh my god." I cried to myself. I pulled my knees up to my chest and rocked back and forth as I cried. I looked around for Isobel but she wasn't anywhere to be found. My stomach was growling but I didn't know what I craved and then I remembered. Blood. I wanted blood.

* * *

_I walked around the room, smiling softly to myself when I saw a stack of photos on the counter. I glance over my shoulder even though I knew that Nik was out today. I grinned cheekily to myself as I picked up the photos and skipped over to the bed. I sat down cross legged and got comfortable. I picked up the first photo and saw a beautiful blonde girl around seventeen smiling at the camera. I noticed the similarities to Nik immediately and guessed that this must have been his younger sister Rebekah. I flipped the photo over and saw Nik had written one word on the back, Rebekah, confirming my suspicions. I put that photo to the side and picked up the next one. It was a smiling Nik with a handsome man, both dressed in twenties clothing. I smiled at the picture and flipped it over to read the words, me and Stefan. Setting that picture aside, I picked up the next one and gasped when I recognised the girl in the photo._

_"Elena?" I whispered to myself before I flipped the photo over in confusion so that I could read the name on the back, Katerina. I felt my eyes go wide as I read the name because I remembered Nik telling me that the last doppelgänger's name was Katerina Petrova. I dropped the photo in shock as I realised that Elena was the doppelgänger. My twin sister was the key to reversing the curse put on Niklaus by the Original witch and turning Nik into a hybrid. _

_"No, no, no, no." I muttered to myself as I gathered the photo and stood up to put them back where I found them. _

_"What's that, beauty?" I heard a charming British voice say from the doorway behind me and I gasped and turned around in surprise. I swallowed nervously and licked my dry lips. _

_"Nothing." I lied to him, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. His eyes narrowed at me and I instinctively took a step backwards as he stalked towards me. I hated Elena but she was still my twin sister and I didn't want any harm to come to her. I especially didn't want her to be sacrificed by my boyfriend. _

_"You're lying to me." Nik accused me and I frowned up at him in confusion, wondering how he had known. I laughed nervously and tried to walk past him. _

_"No, I'm not." I lied again and tried to get to the door but he stepped in front of me and grabbed my arm toughly. I looked down at my arm where he still had a hold of me in shock because he had never been tough with me before. I looked up into his eyes and he put one hand on my cheek to keep me from turning my head. _

_"I really hate having to do this, Ellyse." He said to me with a small smile and I frowned at him. I watched as he eyes narrowed into slits and my mind became blank. "What were you just doing?" he asked me and I couldn't help but reply honestly. _

_"Looking at your photos." _

_"Why did you lie to me about it?" _

_"I didn't want you to know that I recognised one of the people in the photo." I stated honestly and he frowned in confusion. He let go of my face and walked over to the photos. I watched him sort through them and bring back two, the photo of him and Stefan and the one of Katerina. He held up the two photos and locked gazes with me again. _

_"Which one do you recognise?" he asked me. _

_"Katerina." I told him sincerely and he frowned. _

_"You know Katerina?" _

_"No." I said to him and his eyes widened in surprise and once the shock had worn off he looked delighted. _

_"Who is it?" he asked me excitedly. _

_"My twin sister, Elena." I told him and he frowned again. He looked away from me and started pacing the room as I just watched him nervously. Every now and again he would look over at me but I just looked anywhere not at him. After a good five minutes, he stopped pacing and came to stand in front of me again. He placed a hand on either side of my head and looked deep into my eyes. _

_"I never wanted to do this to you but I've been waiting one thousand years to reserve the curse placed on me by my mother. I want you to forget that you found the photos today. All you'll know is that Elena has to die in the sacrifice and you are okay with that. You understand why it has to be done." He said softly and then placed a kiss on my forehead. As soon as he dropped his hands from my face and I shook my head and smiled up at him. _

_"Hey, I'm going to start dinner. Do you want anything special?" I asked him happily as I walked out of the room. _

* * *

_I cried to myself silently as I packed a suitcase. I needed to move quickly because I didn't want to run into him on the way out. I knew that he would try to stop me from leaving. I grabbed clothes from the closet and stuffed them into the suitcase. I froze when I heard the front door open. "Crap!" I swore to myself and quickened my pace. I threw in anything I could get my hands on. I wasn't paying attention to what I was putting into the suitcase because I knew that I could get new clothing anytime. I took a deep breath and rubbed the tears off my cheeks harshly. I closed the suitcase and picked it up. I walked out of the room as confidently as I could but I knew that my heart was racing. I almost backed out of leaving when I saw Nik standing in the kitchen with his back to me. He turned around when I walked further into the room. His charming smile that normally calmed me fell when his gaze landed on the suitcase in my hand. I took a deep breath and walked towards the door. _

_"Ellyse, where are you going?" Nik asked me as he walked around the kitchen island and came to stand in front of me. He went to reach for my arms but I took a step back because I knew that if I let him touch me my resolve would fall and I would end up staying with him. I licked my bottom lip nervously and looked up at him through heavy eyes. _

_"I'm leaving, Nik." I told him, trying to keep my voice from shaking. He took a step backwards and shook his head at me furiously. _

_"No." he said matter-of-factly and I frowned at him as he started pacing in front of me. _

_"It's not up to you." _

_"No, you aren't leaving." He growled at me and my calm demeanour cracked and I started to get angry that he was trying to control me. _

_"It's not your decision! I'm leaving!" I yelled at him and he stopped pacing to glare at me. His hard gaze pierced into me and stood up straighter. "I can't keep doing this, Nik." I said softly. _

_"Doing what, Ellyse?" he asked me and I could hear the anger in his tone. _

_"Coming second best." I said plainly with a shrug of my shoulders. I could tell that he knew exactly what I was talking about because his lips pressed together in a hard line. _

_"You can't leave me!" he screamed at me and took a step forward in anger. _

_"What are you going to do, Nik!? Put a dagger in my heart? Trust me, I won't wake up like your siblings!" I yelled straight back at him. I took a deep breath to calm down and frowned when I saw tears trailing down his sculpted cheeks. "I'm sorry." I said to him softly and I turned around. I had just reached for the doorknob when I roughly turned around to face him. My gaze locked with his before I could look away from his hypnotising blue eyes. _

_"You can't leave me, Ellyse. I love you. I know that it is selfish to let myself love you. I know you are human and deserve a human life but I am selfish. You already know that. I want you to forget that you were leaving. You are going to remember that I love you more than anything and you will stay with me." he said softly and I blinked rapidly as he looked away. I frowned in confusion as Nik took a step away from me. I looked down at the suitcase in my hand. _

_"Why am I carrying a suitcase?" I asked my boyfriend in confusion._

* * *

I gaped as I woke up from another memory and I shuttered at the sensitivity of my skin as a leaf flew past me. I groaned as my stomach cramped up and I keeled over onto myself. I didn't know what to do. I was in transition to be a vampire. I didn't know whether or not I even wanted to be a vampire. I took a deep breath to try and calm down. I fumbled to get my cell phone out of my pocket. My hands were trembling as I searched through my contacts. I found to number I was looking for and hit the touch screen with shaking hands.

"Hello?" a familiar British voice said over the line.

"Rebekah? I need help." I admitted in a small voice.

* * *

A couple of minutes later Rebekah arrived at the clearing and approached me slowly. As soon as she was in arms reach, a collapsed into her, sobbing uncontrollably. She stroked my hair and made cooing noises to calm me down. The next thing I knew I was at the boarding house in my bedroom. Rebekah laid me down on my bed and sat down next to me as I explained to her what had happened to me.

"Are you going to turn?" she asked me softly and I wiped my cheeks now that I had stopped crying.

"I don't know." I admitted equally as soft. My friend just smiled gently at me and held my hand in silent support. "Can you please get me some water, Bek?"

"Sure, I'll be right back." She replied as she kissed my forehead and left the room.

"Damon?" I heard a familiar voice call out from down stairs and I cringed at the volume because I wasn't used to the sensitive vampire hearing yet. I closed my eyes against the pain. I took a deep breath through my nose and instantly regretted it. A froze as the smell of blood hit me. my jaw started aching and I knew that it was because of my new fangs. "Damon?" Elena called out again and gripped my fingers into the bed sheet to stop myself from going to her and sinking my fangs into her neck. I heard her footsteps get closer to the room I had taken over and turned to see her stopped in the doorway. I saw her eyes widen in shock and then her lips started moving, shaping words but I couldn't hear her. All my attention was on her jugular. I watched intently as the blood pulsed through her veins. I so was hungry in that moment. I couldn't help it any longer. I used my new vampire strength to run over to my twin sister and push her up against the wall next to the door. I sunk my fangs into the thick vein along her neck. I savoured the delicious taste of blood as it hit my taste bloods. I moaned in delight as I experienced a kind of euphoria I had never experienced as a human. I felt someone stronger than I pull me away from Elena and I struggled against them, wanting to go back to feeding. Someone grabbed my shoulder to keep my still and tilted my head up so that I had to look them in the eye. I focused on the green eyes peering at me.

"Take a deep breath through your mouth." Stefan demanded softly and I did as I told. The pleasure I had taken in the feeding was immediately replaced by guilt and I broke down sobbing in his arms. He wrapped strong arms around me and I sunk it the floor with him. I felt someone sit down next to us and stroke my hair out of my face. I looked over my shoulder and saw Rebekah sitting there so I smiled softly at my friend and she returned it. I glanced over at Elena, who was standing over pressed up against the door in Damon's arms. She had her hand pressed against her neck to stop the bleeding but I couldn't focus on that right now. I saw the fear and hatred in Elena's eyes a broke down sobbing again.

I was now a vampire but I had forever lost my twin sister.


	7. Ordinary People

**Ordinary People:**

I blinked my eyes against the light that was streaming in through the bedroom window. I groaned and closed my eyes again as I rolled over. I instantly collided with another body and I opened my eyes again with a frown. I leant up on my elbow as I looked at the flood of blonde hair on the pillow next to me. I gently wiggled my finger in front of the person's face from behind and they rolled over to reveal their face to me. I smiled brightly when I realised who it was.

"Rebekah…" I whispered as I leaned in close to her ear. She made a groaning sound and buried her face in her pillow, making me laugh silently at her. "Rebekah…" I repeated and she rolled over suddenly. The movement knocked me backwards and I landed on my back. Rebekah used her vampire speed to straddle me, pinning my wrists above my head to stop me from reacting.

"Just what do you think you are doing?" Rebekah asked me in mock outrage.

"Whatever do you mean?" I asked her innocently as I smiled up at her. She looked at me suspiciously and lessened her grip on my wrists. I took advantage of her momentary distraction to use my new vampire speed and strength to flip our position so that I was straddling her instead. I raised an eyebrow at her as she huffed and blew some stray blonde hair out of her eyes.

"Well, this looks interesting." Damon said suggestively from the doorway where he was leaning on the doorframe. Rebekah and I both looked over at him, unimpressed and then I climbed off of Rebekah as she sat up in the bed.

"I don't believe we invited you into the fun, Damon." I replied with a smirk and he just raised an eyebrow at me.

"I'm going out. Don't destroy the house." He warned us and then left the room. I glanced over at Bec at the same time she looked over at me and we both started laughing uncontrollably. After we had exhausted ourselves laughing, we both leaned back on the bed. With a sigh, I looked over at the alarm clock on the bedside table.

"You need to get to school." I told her with a gentle smile. I knew that she wasn't happy about leaving me at home alone so soon after I had turned into a vampire. I stood up from the bed and started to make my way over to the closet to get dressed. I got about halfway across the room when my whole body started burning. I screamed in agony at the intense pain and used my vampire speed to zoom over to the corner of the room. I panted as the pain started to reside. Rebekah appeared next to me and handed me a blood bag that she must have gotten from the mini fridge in her room. I smiled at her appreciatorily and she smiled back softly. I greedily sucked the delicious blood from the plastic bag and had to stop myself from moaning in pleasure. Once the blood was gone and my body was all healed, I turned to Bec and frowned thoughtfully.

"Are you okay?" she asked me in concern.

"I'm fine." I assured her as I threw the empty blood bag in the trash. "I forgot about the sun."

"I might have a fix for that." She said with a cheekily smile but both I could do more than frown in confusion she had disappeared from her spot next to me. I turned towards the door but before I could make a move towards it, Rebekah was back and holding her hands behind her back.

"What's that?" I asked her suspiciously and she just shrugged her shoulders innocently. I narrowed my eyes at her playfully and tried to lunge towards her. She giggled and side stepped me, making me gasp playfully at her.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" she taunted me and I laughed at her teasing. Rebekah glanced at the alarm clock and sighed dramatically in displeasure. "I'm afraid I do have to get to school so you can have your present."

"Ooh! Present!" I exclaimed and clapped my hands together excitedly as Rebekah giggled at me. She pulled her hands out from behind her and held them out to me. I stepped closer to her and saw that she held a beautiful vintage bracelet in her hand. I gaped at the delicate thing and gently touch the gemstone pendent that hung off the silver chain. "Wow." I breathed out lightly.

"It's yours." Bec told me and my gaze snapped up to meet hers.

"What?"

"The bracelet has been spelled so that you can walk in the sun." she explained me to with a shrug. "Nik would want you to have it and so do I."

"Rebekah…" I trailed off, unsure of what to say to her because thanks just didn't seem to be enough. "It gorgeous." I said softly and smiled at her.

"Have you spoken to Nik?" she asked me softly. I frowned thoughtfully, avoiding her eyes as I thought about her question. I was still really angry at him for compelling me to forget that I tried to protect Elena and for making me staying with him when I wanted to leave.

"Ah, no. I haven't yet. I just can't talk to him at the moment. My emotions are still all over the place because of the transition."

"Okay." She said softly, already knowing my reasons for not talking to her brother.

"Put it on." I demanded her to change the direction of the conversation as I held out my wrist for her to place the bracelet on. She chuckled at me and clasped the bracelet onto my wrist.

"Pretty." Bec agreed as she took a step back and I held my hand up it inspect my new accessory giddily.

"Thank you." I squealed to her as I threw my arms around in a hug. She laughed at me but hugged me back tightly.

"I better go to school. I'll be back after cheer practice." She said as she headed towards the bedroom door.

"Okay. Have fun." I called out to as I ran over to the window. I smiled widely as the sunlight cascaded into the room and I stood there just soaking up the rays. I mentally vowed to myself never to take the beauty of sunlight for granted ever again.

* * *

I was sitting in the living room reading one of the novels I had found in Damon's room drinking a glass of blood when I heard the front door slam open and then shut so I glanced up in concern.

"Bec!" I called out in concern when Rebekah came storming into the room in a huff.

"Your sister…" Rebekah said threateningly as she came over and started pacing the length of the room at human speed. I watched her in confusion and put my book and glass down on the table next to the couch.

"What did Elena do now?"

"Mikael." She hissed dangerously and my eyes widened as I leaned forward. Nik had told me all about Mikael, his father. He was a vampire that hunted other vampires and every vampire was terrified of him.

"What did Elena do?!" I asked her in a low voice as I stood up from the couch. If Elena and her friends were going to wake Mikael it would be very bad for everyone. Bec froze in her pacing and looked at me with terrified eyes, brimming with tears. "They're going to wake him, aren't they?"

"Elena came up to me at cheer practice and started asking questions. She threatened to wake him up and they know where he is."

"Okay…." I said softly as I started pacing as well. I bit my bottom lip as I thought about how to handle this situation. Rebekah sat down on the couch and watched me pace nervously. "Okay!" I said brightly as an idea came to me and if froze in my pacing.

"What is it?" Bec asked me hopefully.

"Invite Elena over for a chat. Tell her just enough of the truth so that she knows that waking Mikael would be a very bad idea."

"Really?"

"Yeah, if she gets the truth, well half the truth, she won't want to wake him up." I explained to her and she slowly nodded in agreement.

"Alright, that's a good idea." She said as she pulled out her cell phone and sent a message to Elena to come over. She sighed in defeat as she but the phone away and I smiled in sympathy as I went and sat down next to her.

"Other than that, how was school?" I asked her cheerfully.

"Homecoming is soon." She replied, perking up a bit at the thought of a dance. "I'm going to need a dress."

"Ooh! Yay!" I squealed happily and jumped up off the couch. "Aren't you going to ask what I did today?" I asked her mischievously.

"Aright, if I have to." Rebekah said dramatically. "What did you do today?"

"Come on down girls!" I called loudly up the stairs and Rebekah frowned in confusion as she turned her head to watch six girls come down the stairs wearing different cocktail dresses.

"What's this?"

"I heard about homecoming and thought that you might need a dress for the big night." I replied cheekily as the compelled girls lined up in front of us. "By the way, I worked out how compulsion worked."

"I can see that." Rebekah laughed as she got up off the couch. "We need champagne."

"Hmm." I agreed in a hum and then went down to the basement where the Salvatore's kept a fridge full of their good alcohol. I had discovered it when I searching the house earlier in the day. I grabbed a bottle of good champagne and brought it up to the living room where Rebekah was waiting for me. we both heard the front door open and stiffened as the smell of human blood filled the house.

"Elena." Bec said quietly and I nodded in agreement. Rebekah took the bottle from me while I grabbed some glasses. We walked into the foyer and saw Elena looking around the cavernous room.

"Hey! What's up?" I said cheerfully to my twin when I saw her. Rebekah followed behind me and set the champagne down on the table so that she could pour us some. Elena glanced at me but then turned her attention directly to Rebekah so I rolled my eyes at her.

"You invited me over? To talk?" she asked Rebekah as the blonde handed me a glass and I smiled at her gratefully.

"All right girls, have at it!" Rebekah called out, ignoring Elena just as Elena ignored me. The six girls that I had compelled walked out and lined up to model the dresses I had chosen.

"Okay, now twirl please." I ordered politely and they did as I asked.

"You compelled your own private runway show?" Elena asked in disgust.

"Actually, I did." I admitted with a shrug as I sipped my drink.

"I need a Homecoming dress. So, what do you think? Pick one." Rebekah said to Elena.

"I'm not here to help you shop. I'm here to talk about why you don't want me to wake up Mikael." Elena protested and Bec rushed over to one of the girls. She stood behind her and grabbed her neck as she vamped out and put her teeth near the victim's throat.

"I said "pick one", Elena."

"The... red one." My twin said hesitantly and I gasped in delight.

"That's the one I chose!" I pointed out happily.

"There. It wasn't so hard, was it?" Rebekah asked rhetorically and then turned to the girls. "Go away. Remember nothing." She compelled the models and they walked out of the room. "You do not threaten me. You'll learn what I allow you to learn. Is that clear?" Rebekah warned Elena as she turned back to where we were waiting.

"Aren't you going to warn Ellyse?" Elena asked spitefully, shooting a glance in my direction.

"Ellyse already knows this story." I answered in third person. Elena nodded in agreement to Rebekah and I tilted my head at her. Bec walked passed us towards the stairs and I jumped off of the table I was sitting on to follow her. The three of us walked into Stefan's bedroom and I immediately went over to the closet to snoop while Rebekah headed for the bedside table. Elena stood near the door and glanced around nervously as if Stefan was going to appear out of nowhere and object.

"How fun is this...?" Rebekah asked us with a giggle and I laughed as I opened the closet and peered inside.

"We shouldn't be here..." Elena said disapprovingly and I turned back to look at her.

"'Course we should! Come on, like you've never wanted to snoop. I go through Nik's things all the time." I admitted and Bec snorted in amusement.

"How are you still alive?" she asked and I smirked at her over my shoulder. I looked over at her as she held up a pair of Stefan's underwear. "Boxer briefs. A lot has changed since the twenties."

"Are you gonna root through his stuff all night or are you gonna start to tell me your story?" Elena asked impatiently.

"Ah... you really are no fun. What do you want to know?"

"Well, Elijah said that your father was a landowner in Europe. How did you guys end up here?"

"My parents had just started a family, when a plague struck their homeland. They lost a child to it. They wanted to escape and protect their future family from the same fate." Rebekah replied as she continued to go through Stefan's drawers. I turned back to the closet and started looking through it.

"So, how did you end up here? This part of the world hadn't even been discovered yet." Elena said and Rebekah and I both laughed at her naivety.

"Not by anyone in our history books." I said with a chuckle as I pulled out a vintage leather jacket.

"But my mother knew the witch Ayana, who heard from the spirits of a mystical land where everyone was healthy... blessed by the gifts of speed and strength; that lead my family here, where we lived amongst those people." Rebekah continued with her story as I tried on the leather jacket and modelled it in the full length mirror.

"The werewolves?" Elena asked after a pause.

"To us, they were just our neighbours. My family lived in peace with them for over 20 years, during which time my family had more children, including me."

"You make it sound so normal."

"It was." Rebekah and I said at the same time. I shook off the jacket and threw it on the bed as I went back to closet to snoop. "And that was the beginning of the end of peace with our neighbours…" Rebekah said after telling Elena the story of Henrick's death. During the story I had moved away from the closet and over to where Bec stood, lost in thought. "And one of the last moments my family had together as humans." She concluded as I gripped her hand in comfort. Elena's cell phone rang and Rebekah snapped out of her memories.

"You better get that. That'll be Damon checking up on you." I told Elena and she pulled her phone out to answer it.

"Hello?" Elena said into the phone.

"Hey!" Damon greeted her through the phone and I could hear him clearly because of my new vampire hearing.

"Damon, where are you?" she asked so I assumed she would hear the music playing in the background.

"No idea, but I'm pretty sure, I'm overdressed...Still standing?" he asked and I snorted in amusement.

"Yes, I'm fine, but I can't talk right now."

"I'll be at the bar." I heard Stefan say in the background of the phone conversation and I frowned I confusion because I hadn't seen Stefan in a few days.

"Is that Stefan?" Elena asked Damon, in outrage.

"Yeah, I kinda went off a bit. Don't worry - I know what I'm doing." Damon insisted.

"Damon! How could you let him out?" Elena asked him and Rebekah and I shared a look of amusement.

"I got this back, Elena." Damon said and then hung up the phone.

"Oops." I said with giggle as I climbed up onto the bed and started bouncing up and down. Rebekah grabbed one of Stefan's diaries and lay down on the bed that I was bouncing on and started reading through it.

"Did you get your fill of snooping yet? Can we get on with the story?" Elena asked us impatiently and I stopped jumping to sink down to my knees as Rebekah got up. I watched as she picked up a photo of Elena and Stefan from a table and looked at it.

"Honestly, I don't get you two as a couple. I get Ellyse and Nik or even Ellyse and Stefan." Rebekah said and I grinned at her as she smirked at Elena over her shoulder.

"Why would you? You don't know anything about who he really is."

"I know exactly who he is. He's a vampire. We're a predatory species. We don't have time to care about humans and their silly little lives."

"Is that why you did that runway show earlier? 'Cause you don't care about the Homecoming Dance... You know what, I'm just gonna go." Elena said as she threw her hands up in defeat.

"You haven't even heard half the story." I said teasingly from my spot on the bed.

"And you are not going to tell it. You're just bored and looking for someone to push around. Find someone else to play with...maybe you can compel yourself a friend." She said to Rebekah and I frowned at her as I climbed off the bed.

"She has a friend." I declared to her and she looked at me in the eye for the first time since she arrived at the boarding house. Elena blinked back tears as she turned around to leave the room.

"The necklace wasn't Stefan's to give. It belonged to the Original Witch." Rebekah announced to Elena and she turned around to look at us.

"The one who put the hybrid curse on Klaus?" Elena asked for clarification.

"Not just the hybrid curse." I told her as I sat down on the side of the bed.

"She's the one who turned us into vampires." Rebekah finished as she sat down next to me. Rebekah then told Elena the next part of the story.

"I'm thirsty. Do you want a drink?" I asked them after Rebekah had finished. I stood up with Bec and we walked out of the room towards the library with Elena following behind us.

"So, vampirism was a form of protection?" Elena asked as we reached the living room.

"What else would it be?" I asked her in confusion as I tilted my head to the side.

"A curse?" she suggested.

"My parents only saw a way of keeping their children alive." Rebekah informed her.

"Yeah, but why stay, if they were so afraid of the werewolves? Why not... leave?"

"Pride... My father didn't want to run anymore. He wanted to fight and be superior to the wolves. Where they could bite, we had to bite harder. Where they had speed, we had to be faster. Agility, strength, senses..." Rebekah said and then launched into the next part of the story of how the originals turned.

"In her hands? How could she do anything?" Elena asked in confusion after Bec was done.

"Because my mother was also a witch."

"What?" Elena asked, completely shocked while I just sat there smugly.

"The witch of the Original Family. The Original Witch?" I said mockingly as we entered the library.

"Where do they keep their best vintage?" Rebekah asked no one in particular as she searched through some shelves. I walked over to her and pulled a bottle from the shelves and handed it to her with a satisfied smile on my lips. "Thank you, darling."

"No problem, sweets." I replied as I walked over to the couch and got comfortable on it.

"But if your mother was a witch, then..." Elena said, leaving the question out.

"Am I? No, a witch is nature's servant; a vampire is an abomination of nature. You can either be one or the other, never both. My mother did this for us. She did not turn."

"How did you turn?"

"She called upon the sun for life, and the ancient white oak tree, one of nature's eternal objects, for immortality. That night, my father offered us wine laced with blood. And then he drove his sword through our hearts."

"He killed you?" Elena asked in a stunned whisper while I just looked at my friend in sympathy.

"And he wasn't delicate about it either." She said as she opened the wine bottle I had handed her. Rebekah poured a glass for me and handed it over as she told Elena about how she had woken up after being turned. "It was euphoric! The feeling of power was indescribable... but the witch Ayana was right about the consequences. The spirits turned on us, and nature fought back... For every strength there would be a weakness... "

"The sun became an enemy." I filled in with a gentle smile.

"It kept us indoors for weeks and though my mother found a solution, there were other problems. Neighbours who had opened their homes to us could now keep us out. Flowers at the base of the white oak burned, and prevented compulsion. And the spell decreed that the tree that gave us life could also take it away so we burned it to the ground. But the darkest consequence was something my parents never anticipated. The hunger. Blood had made us reborn and it was blood that we craved above all else. We could not control it.

"And with that, the predatory species was born..." I trailed off as I sipped my wine.

"Why did Mikael start hunting Klaus?" Elena asked us and Bec and I shared a glance.

"When Nik made his first human kill, it triggered his werewolf gene. With that, he became his father's greatest shame." I told her honestly.

"Yeah... Elijah told me this part of the story. Your mother had had an affair with one of the werewolf villagers. Klaus wasn't his son."

"She tried to make it right. She put the hybrid curse on Nik to suppress his werewolf side, and then she turned her back on him. But Mikael's greatest weakness as a human was his pride. As a vampire, that was magnified. He went on a rampage and killed half the village. Then he came home and killed her." Rebekah said emotionlessly but I could tell much it hurt to talk about her mother.

"Mikael killed your mother?" Elena asked in a stunned whisper.

"He said she broke his heart so he would break hers. He tore it from her chest as Nik watched. Afterwards, my father took off in a rage, and the rest of my family scattered. Nik stayed, so he could help me bury her. He knew I had to say goodbye to my mother."

"Always and forever... even though he locked you in a coffin for 90 years?" Elena asked Rebekah after having been told the story of the Original Witch's funeral.

"We're vampires. Our emotions are heightened." I stated with a shrug.

"I'm stubborn, Elijah moral, and Nik... Nik has no tolerance for those who disappoint him. Over a thousand years as a family we've all made that mistake at least once. I've made it several times." Rebekah told my twin sadly and I grabbed her hand in silent support.

"I told him that was wrong." I told her playfully and she smiled back at me.

"But you still love him?" Elena asked her.

"He's my brother. And I'm immortal. Should I spend an eternity alone instead? You've heard the story, it's time to go." Bec said after a second of pause. Elena didn't move from where she stood so Rebekah stood up from the couch and took a threatening step forward. "I said leave, Elena! I don't know what you're up to, but I'm no longer playing along."

"I'm just looking for one good reason why we shouldn't wake Mikael."

"And we've given you a thousand! But you will anyway." I hissed at her as I stood up and joined Bec.

"I know you want him to help you kill my brother, I'm not stupid." Rebekah told her as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"It's no secret that I want Klaus dead. He has a hold over Stefan's life, and over mine." Elena nearly yelled at us.

"Do what you need. Wake Mikael at your own peril. But make no mistake, if you come after my brother, I will rip you apart. And I get my temper from my father. Now leave!" Rebekah yelled at her and Elena glared at us one more time before leaving the boarding house.

* * *

I was sitting on the couch giggling at something Bec had said while she poured us each a glass of Damon's scotch. I turned my head to see Elena enter the room holding some papers. I frowned in confusion as I stood up from the couch and walked over to where Rebekah stood near the make shift bar.

"I thought I told you to leave. Twice." Rebekah said to her and I smirked in amusement.

"How do you know that Mikael killed your mother?" Elena asked point black and I cocked my head to the side.

"Nik was there. He told me." Rebekah answered her nonchalantly with a shrug of her shoulders.

"He lied to you."

"And how do you know that?" I asked in amusement as I sipped my scotch.

"The cave where you carved your family's names is covered in symbols." Elena said as she showed us and the photos from the cave. "The story of your family: how your parents arrived, how they made peace, the spell that turned them into vampires, and this. This is the symbol for hybrid. It's a combination of the werewolf and the vampire symbol. And this is the one for your mother."

"Her necklace." Bec breathed out quietly as she reached up to where her necklace used to rest.

"And this is the story of her death. The hybrid killed the Original Witch. Not Mikael. Klaus." Elena said and I felt tears running silently down my cheeks as I looked over the symbols.

"No! No, he wouldn't." Rebekah protested and shook her head in denial.

"She put the curse on him, made it so that he would be the only one of his kind, and then she rejected him. With the werewolf gene comes aggression and violence... when he turned, all of that was heightened. He killed her, Rebekah. And then he made up this entire lie about your father, so that he wouldn't lose you."

"These mean nothing! They're just stupid drawings, done by stupid people who had no idea who my family was!" she screamed as she picked up the photos, tore them into pieces and then threw them into the fire.

"Then why are you so upset?"

"Why are you doing this to me? I've done nothing to you!"

"Klaus killed your mother. He has a hold on you, on me, on everyone. He has for a thousand years. We have to make it stop!" Elena yelled back at her and then Rebekah grabbed Elena by the throat and pressed her up against the wall as she vamped out. I ran up to them and tried to pry Bec off of my sister.

"Shut up! Shut up! Don't talk anymore! Nothing!" Rebekah screamed at Elena and then let her go so that she dropped to the ground. I wrapped my arms around my friend and she gasped before falling to her knees. I went down with her and silently held her as she cried in my arms. I looked up at Elena and glared at her.

"Leave, Elena." I told her pointedly and she hurried out the front door without a backwards glance. I rocked Bec back and forth as I made nonsense soothing sounds.


	8. Homecoming

**Hello, readers!**

**I'm so happy you guys are liking this story. And if you're not, either stop reading or suggested how I can make it better. **

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**- Why Are You My Remedy?**

**- Until the World Ends...**

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**- BehindGrayEyes x**

* * *

**Homecoming:**

I stood in front of the full length mirror just staring at myself in my thigh length purple cocktail homecoming dress. Rebekah and I had chosen this dress for me out of ten choices because she said I needed to look gorgeous for the first time that Nik had seen me still being turned into a vampire. I had argued that I still didn't know how I felt about Nik at the moment. I was still extremely upset that he had compelled me on a number of occasions. I looked down at the daylight bracelet on my wrist and sighed audibly.

"You beautiful." Stefan said from the doorway and I looked up at him in the mirror. He was leaning against the doorframe and smirking at me. I smiled back at him with a light chuckle but nervously bit my lip and tucked a stray piece of hair behind me ear.

"Really?" I asked him nervously. I wasn't used to people even noticing me because they were normally doting on Elena. I was always the forgotten one. Stefan chuckled from the doorway and ducked his head in amusement before sauntering into the guestroom I had claimed as my own. I turned to face him as he came closer to me. I raised an eyebrow at him in question as he moved over to the closet and pulled out a box that was in there. I knew that the box was in the closet I hadn't ever gone through it because I didn't want to invade anyone's privacy. He searched through the box until he found what he was looking for and pulled out a wooden box with a gold clasp.

"Ah ha!" he exclaimed as he blew dust off the box.

"The teeth of victims, Ripper Stefan?" I teased him as I walked over to join him at the vanity table he approached with the box. He chuckled lightly as he turned to face me with smirk.

"It's not teeth." He assured me.

"Finger bones then." I stated knowingly with a nod and he shook his head in amusement as he smiled slightly. Instead of commenting, he just grabbed the box off the table and held it in his hands. He opened the gold clasp for me to see what was inside and I leaned forward to get a good look inside the box. My mouth fell open when I saw what was in the wooden box. "It's beautiful." I whispered as I gazed at the necklace inside. It was a row of diamonds with the occasional purple amethyst. I gently ran a finger over the diamond, afraid to touch the gorgeous piece of jewellery. Stefan placed the wooden box down on the desk and I watched as he reached into the box the pulled out the necklace. I frowned in confusion as he did so.

"Turn around." He ordered me and I backed away from him with wide eyes as I realised what he was doing.

"No. No way. I can't be trusted with something like that." I told him honestly as I shook my head rapidly at him.

"Yes, you can. Come on." He said with a roll of his eyes. I was still hesitating to wear such an expensive piece of jewellery so Stefan used his vampire speed to rush behind me.

"Ah!" I called out in surprise as I laughed as he appeared behind me in the mirror with a smug smirk.

"I'm older than you so don't even try attacking me." he said teasingly and I laughed rolled my eyes playfully as I giggled. Stefan reached up to move my hair to the side and I bit my lip at the feel of his skin on mine. He placed the necklace around my neck and clasped it shut. I gently reached up to stroke the beautiful piece as I looked at it in the mirror. My eyes shot up and I locked gazes with Stefan, who was smiling smugly.

"Thank you." I whispered seriously as I looked at the image of me in the mirror.

"It needed someone equally as gorgeous." He replied and I smiled softly as I looked down.

"Thank you." I repeated to him and he gave me a half smile before leaving the room. I turned back to the mirror and smiled at the reflection. I wasn't used to actually being happy with my appearance but today I was feeling beautiful. I stripped out of my dress and hung it back up before I took off the necklace Stefan had placed on me. I got changed into some jeans and a shirt before I went over to Rebekah's room to see how she was.

"Getting a head start, huh?" I asked as I walked in and saw her standing in front of a full length mirror in the red homecoming dress we had chosen much like I had been earlier.

"Embarrassing truth? This is my first high school dance." She admitted with an embarrassed smile.

"Ever?"

"I never really had time for high school before. Nik and I were always moving around, running. Anyway- I didn't want to leave anything to chance." She told me and I nodded in understanding. After Rebekah had cried her eyes out the night she found out the truth about Nik killing their mother, she had decided that when he got back she was going to leave him up his own devices and go about on her own for the first time in a thousand years. "How do I look?" she asked me as she spun around in a circle for me.

"You look amazing! But you're missing one thing." I said teasingly and she raised an eyebrow at me in question. I pull Elena's necklace out of my bra and held it up for her to see look at.

"My mother's necklace. You hid it in your bra?" she asked in amusement and I just shrugged shoulders in response.

"You should wear it tonight. May I?" I asked as I walked up behind her and she nodded her consent. I placed it around her neck and clasped it shut.

"Thank you." She said sincerely and I smiled back at her. There was a knock at the door and we both turned to see Elena standing in the doorway.

"Can I speak to Rebekah for a minute?" she asked politely and Bec nodded in agreement so I stepped aside. "Is that my necklace?" Elena asked and I snorted in amusement.

"Finders keepers is not a thing, Elena." I informed her as I walked towards the door.

"I might go to the school early so I'll just meet you there!" Rebekah called after me as I walked out of the room.

"Okay!" I called back to her as I walked down the stair and decided that I should probably go for a hunt before going to the homecoming dance where so many humans were going to be.

* * *

I was in my room at the boarding house, looking in the mirror at the reflection of myself in my homecoming dress much like I had earlier that morning, except this time it wasn't Stefan whose voice broke into my silence marvelling.

"You look exquisite." Nik drawled from his spot against the doorframe. At the sound of his voice I immediately stiffened and froze where I was. All the pain and anger I had felt at him since my turning into a vampire faded and all the longing and desire that had been building in me since he left erupted. I turned around and used my new vampire speed to fly into his arms. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he lift my off the ground so that my legs wrapped around his waist. My lips were on his instantly and our kiss was filled with all the passion that we had been missing out on since he left. Nik used his own speed to push me up against the nearest wall and I gasped in surprise. It was different doing this as I vampire. In the past Nik had been worried about injuring me with his strength but now I was more durable. His talented lips moved down my neck and I closed my eyes in pleasure. "Ellyse." He whispered my name into my neck and his voice snapped me back to reality. I was meant to be pissed at him for compelling me when I was human. I used my strength to push him away from me and he dropped me in surprise. I landed on the floor and scowled at him as I stood back up. Before he could ask why I had stopped him, I sped over to the coat rack in the corner and broke off one of the hooks. I ran back over to Nik and used the wooden hook as a stake as I pressed it into his heart. He gasped in surprise and pain as I smiled maliciously in satisfaction. I pulled the make-shift stake out of his heart and then jammed it back in sharply. He growled in pain again and put a hand on his shoulder to steady myself before taking the stake out one last time and then slamming it into his chest and stepping back with a victorious smirk plastered on my lips. He fell to his knees in pain and grimaced as he pulled the stake out of his heart with a groan. I watched with narrowed eyes as he stood back up and glared at me.

"You deserved that." I declared as I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him. He sighed dramatically and walked over to sit on the edge of my bed.

"You want an explanation, I suppose?"

"Not really. You're just a dick." I stated with a shrug of my shoulders and he smirked at me from the bed.

"Language." He scolded me and I narrowed my eyes at him, not amused in the slightest.

"Nik, I'm done. And don't even think about compelling me again." I said slowly as I let the betrayal of what he had done leak into my voice.

"Ellyse…" he started to protest but I closed my eyes and held up a hand to stop him before I continued.

"But I have an eternity to forgive you and I can. But not just yet because it's still hurts to know that you could do that me." I told him and opened my eyes to look at him. His blue eyes were filled with sadness that I could only guess mirrored my own. He stood up from the bed and walked slowly over to where I stood near the door.

"If time is what you need, Ellyse, then time I can give you." He said softly as he cupped my cheeks in his hands. I closed my eyes and leaned into his gentle hold as I put one of my hands over his. One single tear ran down my cheek and Nik used his thumb to brush it way. He leaned down to gently kiss my lips and I kissed him back just as softly. He stepped back from me and cleared his throat before walking towards the door. I watched him go sadly but raised an eyebrow in surprise when he stopped in the doorway. He turned back to me with his signature smirk in place. "Oh, the homecoming dance has been moved to the Lockwood Mansion. You really do look stunning, Miss Gilbert." he told me with a wink before sauntering out of the room. I breathe out in relief as he heard the front door of the boarding house close. I walked back over to the mirror and quickly putting on the necklace Stefan had given me that morning. I looked in the mirror at my completed outfit and smiled softly at the person in the mirror that I didn't even recognise as myself.

* * *

I arrived at the Lockwood Mansion to the homecoming dance in full swing and after making the rounds of the crowded room, I still couldn't catch a glimpse of Rebekah. I decided to ask Niklaus if he had seen her since he had been back so I headed over to where I had seen him playing beer pong earlier. I looked around the room as I walked and noticed that half the people here didn't go to our school. I smirked when I realised that these people must have been Nik's new hybrids. I strutted over to the beer pong tournament and leaned against the side of the table near Nik.

"Having fun?" I asked him with a smirk.

"I am actually. How about you?" He replied to me with a smile as he concentrated on the match in front of him.

"It's okay. Far too many hybrids for my taste." I teased him as I glanced around the room.

"I'd get used to that, love."

"Hmm. How you seen Rebekah?" I asked him in concern, finally getting to the reason I was here.

"Nope. I'm sure she around somewhere. Probably falling in love with every man that glances at her." he said and I slapped his arm hard as I frowned at him. I looked over my shoulder when I heard the quick footsteps approaching us.

"You have a visitor." A male hybrid said urgently to Nik.

"Well, tell his visitor he's on the brink of victory here." I said smoothly and Nik chuckled at my speaking for him.

"He said his name is Mikael." The hybrid told us and I stood up straight and looked at Nik in shock and panic.

"Then we mustn`t keep him waiting. Move everyone out back. I`m gonna have a little chat with my dad. Tony, you know what to do." Nik replied easily and I looked at him with wide eyes. Nik stood up from his game and started towards the door but I grabbed his arm with a questioning look. He looked back at me and put one hand on my cheek in reassurance. He grabbed my hand and pulled me with him towards the front of the house. A good looking middle aged man stood just outside the front door and Nik guided me to the side of the room so that I could still see but I was far enough away not to get hurt. He kissed me cheek before leaving me and walking over to stand just inside the door facing Mikael.

"Hello, Niklaus." Mikael greeted him with a scowl.

"Hello, Mikael. Why don`t you come in? Oh, that`s right. I forgot you can`t." Nik taunted him and I rolled my eyes at his childishness.

"Or you can come outside if you want." Mikael countered as he gestured for him to step outside.

"Or I could watch my hybrids tear you limb from limb." Nik sneered at the older man.

"They can`t kill me." Mikael replied confidently.

"True. But it`ll make a hell of a party game. All I have to do is rub these two fingers together and they`ll pounce."

"The big bad wolf. You haven`t changed. Still hiding behind your playthings like a coward. You only forget. They may be sired by you, but they`re still part vampire. And they can be compelled by me." Mikael reminded him and then a female hybrid pushed Elena at Mikael and my nerves jumped up a notch. I grabbed onto the banister next to me to stop from rushing over there. "Come out and face me, Nikaus. Or she dies." Mikael threatened.

"Go ahead. Kill her." Nik replied and I whimpered a protest pathetically.

"No, Klaus. He`ll do it." Elena pleaded and I felt tears fill my eyes.

"If she dies, this lot will be last of your abominations." Mikael told Nik.

"I don`t need them. I just need to be rid of you." Nik replied easily but I could hear the pain in his voice.

"To what end, Niklaus? So you can live forever, with no one at your side? Nobody cares about you anymore, boy! What do you have other than those whose loyalty you forced? No one. No one." Mikael yelled at him and Nik's gaze but over to me for a second before looking back at his father.

"I`m calling your bluff, father. Kill her."

"Come outside and face me, you little coward. And I won`t have to."

"My whole life you've underestimated me. If you kill her you lose your leverage. So go ahead. Go on. Kill her. Come on, old man. Kill her. Kill her!" Nik screamed and I pressed my lips together in a straight line to keep from crying out or screaming in protest. Mikael started laughing and I frowned in confusion.

"Your impulse, Niklaus. It has and will forever be the one thing that keeps you from truly being great." Mikael said before stabbing Elena with a dagger.

"NO!" I screamed and turned to rush forward but Stefan grabbed me around the waist. Elena was laying on the ground dead and all I could do was looking at her fallen body. Damon appeared out of no way and stabbed Nik in the stomach with a dagger as well. I was frozen in Stefan's arm in shock as I watched in horror with my mouth open. Elena jumped up off the floor and I watched in confusion.

"Katherine..." I heard Mikael say and my mouth opened in surprise.

"Kaboom." Katherine said with a smile. She held up two grenades in her hands and threw them at the hybrids surrounding her. Damon was about to stake Nik in the heart with a white oak dagger but Stefan dropped me abruptly and hurried over to them. Stefan knocked Damon off of Nik and held him down on the ground.

"What are you doing?!" Damon cried out loudly but Stefan's attention was on Nik. Nik stood up and pulled the stake out of himself and drove it through Mikael's heart. Mikael's mouth opened in surprise as he burst into flames before dying. "What the hell did you do?" Damon yelled at Stefan as he stood up from the floor.

"He`s earned his freedom. Thank you my friend. You no longer have to do as I say. You`re free." Nik said as he uncompelled Stefan. I stood there in shock as to what just happened.

"What the hell just happened?!" I shouted at the two of them.


	9. The New Deal

**The New Deal:**

The day after homecoming, I still hadn't seen Rebekah since the day before and was starting to worry a little about her. I decided to go down to the Mystic Grill drown my sorrows in alcohol. When I walked in I immediately felt eyes on my and I turned to see Elena and Damon playing darts to the side of the room. I smiled at them slightly but continued on my way to the bar. I jumped up onto one of the vacant bar stools and smiled at the male bartender that came to take my order.

"Vodka tonic." I ordered with a flirtatious smile since I was still technically underage. The bartender just nodded with a smile and left to get my drink. He brought it back almost immediately and I smiled at him before he walked away. I sipped my drink and decided to listen in on Elena and Damon's conversation with my advanced vampire hearing.

"Not everyone. He still has you." I heard Damon say to her and I frowned before it was obvious they were talking about Jeremy.

"You okay?" Elena asked him in concern.

"What makes you think I'm not okay?"

"Well, you're day drunk. It's not exactly your most attractive look."

"Hmm- what is my most attractive look?" Damon said flirtatiously and I rolled my eyes at him.

"Aha, I'm not saying you have any attractive looks. I'm saying this is my least favourite one..." Elena corrected him.

"Noted. See if I can make any improvements."

"Don't mind me." I heard Niklaus' voice join in the conversation and I spun around in my seat so that I could watch and listen.

"Klaus." Elena said deadpan.

"You gonna do this in the Grill? In front of everyone? It's a little beneath you, don't you think?" Damon taunted Nik and I rolled my eyes again at his stupidity.

"I don't know what you are talking about. I just came down to my local pub to grab a drink with a mate." Nik replied with an easy smile as he gestured to a male hybrid behind him. "Get a round in, would you Tony? And make sure Ellyse over there has everything she needs." Nik requested as he gazed at me and I smirked at him as I raised my half empty glass in the air.

"I'm surprised you stuck around town long enough for happy hour." Damon said, breaking the silence that was growing.

"My sister seems to be missing. Need to sort that out." Nik said and at that I jumped up from my stool and sauntered over to them because I was interested in getting Bec back as well.

"Yes, that's something I'm interested in as well." I said to them with smile as I stood to the middle over the two groups.

Cute blonde bombshell, psycho. Shouldn't be too hard to find." Damon commented with a smirk.

"Truth is I've grown to rather like your little town. Think I might fancy a home here. And this is where my girl calls home." Nik said as he glanced at me and I just glared at him.

"I'm not your girl." I told him matter-of-factly as I crossed my arms over my chest.

"I thought you two were together." Elena said in confusion.

"Nope." I said and popped the 'p'.

"Ellyse has decided we aren't together at the moment." Nik informed her with an eye roll. "She's being dramatic."

"You compelled me. Three times!"

"Dramatic." Nik said in a singsong voice and I rolled my eyes at his childishness. Then Nik turned his attention back to Elena and Damon. "Oh I imagine you're wondering how does this is affect you. The answer is: not in the slightest. Unless I get what I want and everyone behaves themselves you can go on living your little lives however you choose. You have my word."

"What more could you possibly want?" Elena spat at him.

"Well for starters, you can tell me where I might find Stefan."

"What did Stefan do?" I asked in confusion.

"I'll explain in a moment, love."

"Stefan skipped town the second he saved your ass." Damon told him.

"Well you see that is a shame. Your brother stole from me. I need him found so I can take back what's mine."

"That sounds like a Klaus and Stefan problem." Elena said to Nik and I felt a little proud at her trying to be confident. Nik took a step closer to Elena but Damon stepped in between the two of them, making Nik and I both smirk.

"Well this is me broadening the scope, sweetheart." Nik said to her and then grabbed my hand to lead me towards the bar. Once we were at the bar, I waved at the same bartender as before to bring me another drink.

"What's going on, Nik?" I demanded of him as I sat down on a stool.

"Stefan stole my coffins." Nik answered darkly and I choked on my drink. I looked up at him in shock and he just nodded his head in confirmation.

"Wow." I muttered as I sipped my drink.

* * *

"Hello?" I said in greeting into the phone.

"Elena has something concerning my coffins. Come with me to meet with her?" Nik asked me and I thought about it for a moment.

"And why would I do that?"

"It might have something to do with Rebekah." He said as enticement and I narrowed my eyes even though it wasn't there.

"Fine." I ground out reluctantly and then hung up the phone without saying anything more. I was at the grill still, drowning my problems in alcohol. I quickly finished off my vodka and tonic before walking at human speed out of the grill. Once I was out of the public eye, I utilised my vampire speed and ran over to the boarding house. Nik was waiting outside for me and smiled when I slowed down enough to walk at a human speed. He knocked on the door and we waited silently for Elena to answer it. I could feel his gaze on my face but I ignored him the best I could. Elena opened the door and her face was surprised when she saw me standing there with Nik but she quickly masked the shock with confidence.

"Thank you for coming." Elena said in a strong voice and Nik and I entered the house.

"I trust you have news of Stefan." Nik stated instead of asked her.

"I couldn´t find him. But I have something else." She told us and then started towards the cellar in the basement. We followed her downstairs and Elena opened the heavy door to reveal Rebekah lying desiccated on the floor. She was still wearing her red homecoming dress. The dagger was sticking in her heart and I rushed to her side immediately.

"My poor sister. I can´t turn my back on her for a moment." Nik said to no one in particular.

"You have Rebekah. A deal is a deal." Elena told him sternly as she folded her arms over her chest and I glanced up in confusion because I had no idea what they were talking about.

"The life of my sister in exchange for your brother? Yeah I´d say that´s a bargain. Consider him spared."

"You should know I was the one that daggered her. When she wakes she´ll come after me." Elena said and I stood up to face.

"I wouldn't worry about Rebekah, it's me you have to worry about." I snapped at her and took a menacing step forward but Nik blocked me with an arm around the waist.

"I can control Rebekah. And Ellyse. Besides I still need your help finding Stefan." Nik said to Elena and I just glared at him and pushed his arm away from me in a huff.

"I told you I don´t know where he is." Elena said to him and Nik gestured for me to undagger Rebekah. I grinned as turned to my friend's body and then I pulled the dagger out of her back.

"You´re lying. Fortunately you have no shortage of loved ones. If I don´t find my family the question you should be asking yourself is who´s gonna die next! Bonnie? Caroline? Damon? It´s only a matter of time before Stefan gives me what I want."

"He doesn´t care about me anymore. You made sure of that. You turned him into a monster. Now he´s your problem. And just so you know I´m not the only one that Rebekah wants dead. She knows what you did to your mother. She knows that you killed her. You can let yourself out." Elena snapped at him and then turned around and left the room.

"Who did you try to kill?" I asked him curiously as I tilted my head to the side.

"Jeremy." He answered me simply and I froze in horror. Jeremy was the one person from my old life that I still gave a damn about and Nik knew that. Nik picked up Rebekah's body and carried her out of the room with the dagger in hand. I knew that Nik didn't plan on undaggering her now that he knew that Rebekah knew the truth about the Original Witch's death. Now that I knew that Rebekah was safe, I had no reason to help Nik with his coffins. If he was going to kill my family, then it was time to repay the favour. My blood boiled as I thought about how Nik had tried to kill the one person I cared about. How could he do that? I was pissed as I went up the stairs with tears blurring my vision. I had an idea where Stefan would be keeping the coffins. I headed straight for the old witches house knowing that was where Stefan would have taken the coffins so that the witches could use magic to help him hide them. I entered the house hesitantly, not knowing whether or not the witches would respond well to me being there. When I wasn't immediately given an aneurism, I walked slowly further into the house. I went down to the basement where Stefan was sure to be hiding. I found him pacing the length of the room.

"Why did you steal the coffins?" I asked him from where I stood leaning against the doorframe. He jumped a little in surprise but then turned to face me in suspicion.

"Because Klaus´s family is one weakness I can use against him." he explained to me with narrowed eyes and I nodded slowly in understanding.

"Use against him to do what? You´re not gonna kill him, you know how I know? ´Cause there was only one way to kill him and you blew." I said to him with a raised eyebrow as I crossed my arms over my chest.

"You´re wrong Ellyse. Klaus isn´t just get to just live forever. There´s another way. There has to be."

"Fair enough. But whatever you´re doing I´m on in." I told him as I straightened up.

"I don´t need your help."

"Really? Last time I checked you´re hiding in a haunted house." I said to him as I gestured around the dusty room.

"I´m in this alone Ellyse." Stefan tried to tell me but I shook my head as I walked forward into the room. I walked up so that he could see the pain and sincerity in my eyes.

"He tried to kill Jeremy tonight. Jer is the one person from my old life that I still love more than anything, Stefan. I don't take the attempt on his life lightly. I might not want to kill him like you do, but now that I know Rebekah is safe, I want Niklaus to pay for what he did to Jeremy, to Jenna, to Elena and to you." I told him honestly and he just looked into my eyes as if to judge my honesty. Finally, he nodded his head in agreement and I smirked slightly in anticipation.

"Have a look." Stefan said as he gestured to the room in front of us. I looked around but couldn't see any coffins anywhere.

"What? Klaus is allergic to dust?" I asked him mockingly and he glared at me playfully.

"Hm... Look again." He instructed and I rolled my eyes but looked again. Suddenly, there were four coffins in the room with us and I grinned. "Witch spirits hate Klaus as much as we do. They´re using their powers to hide the coffins."

"So even if he comes in the house... " I started to say.

"...he won´t be able to find them." Stefan finished.


	10. Our Town

**Our Town:**

I was lying on one of the coffins containing one of Klaus and Rebekah's brothers as I watched in interest as Bonnie chanted in Latin in front of the locked coffin. The young witch was trying her hardest to open it with her powers. I cocked my head to the side as she finished chanting and watched as she smiled slightly and tried to open the box. She frowned instantly when it still wouldn't open for her.

"Why won't you open?!" Bonnie screeched angrily and I frowned in sympathy at the girl. When I was human we hadn't been that close but I had seen how the supernatural had affected her. The magically coffin disappeared and I slid down off the coffin I was sitting on as Bonnie and I both looked around the room curiously. I heard a creak come from upstairs and glanced up towards the roof. "Hello? Someone there?" Bonnie asked and I motioned for her to stay where she was and she nodded. I walked up the stairs and when I reached the parlour, I glanced around uncertainly. I heard a squeak from the stairs and turned to face Bonne, who was waiting at the bottom of the staircase. I smiled at her reassuringly and pressed a finger to lips to keep her quiet. I stepped quietly from the stairs and listened intently. I saw a figure walk out the front door of the house and sped out after them. I saw that the figure was a hybrid that had vamped out and was about to take a bite out of Stefan. I ran up behind them and thrust my hand into his chest as I let my finger curl around his heart. He grunted in a mixture of surprise and pain as I ripped his heart out of his chest with a satisfied smile on my lips.

"These hybrids, really bringing the neighbourhood down." I quipped as Stefan and Damon both stared up at me and I smirked as I dropped the hybrids heart on the ground at my feet.

Once again I was sitting on the coffin in the abandoned witch house, watching as with a smirk as Damon hit the locked coffin fiercely with a shovel.

"You're wasting your time. It won't open." I commented to him just as Stefan walked into the basement.

"Did you bury the body?" Damon asked his brother as he ignored me. Stefan came to stand next to me and crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned on the coffin.

"Yeah. Any sign of our little hybrid buddies?" Stefan asked me as I slid off the coffin and stood next to him.

"Nope, just the dead one." I replied to him with a smirk that he returned.

"Alright, Klaus has 6 siblings. Rebekah is now with Klaus. There was one dead kid in the old world, one dead kid in the new world, which leaves Elijah and two others. Three sleeping originals, four coffins. So, who is in the locked box?" Damon asked me and I shrugged my shoulders.

"No idea. And the other brothers are Finn and Kol." I told him.

"But whatever is in here, Bonnie seems to think will help us kill Klaus. So, the sooner she can get this open, the sooner we will know if she's right." Stefan said to us and I pursed my lips in concentration.

"Oh, you think the spirits of a bunch of dead witches that can make the coffins invisible would have figured out how to open one." Damon said as he tilted his head towards the ceiling as he addressed the spirits. "Fine, don't help."

"You shouldn't talk badly about a bunch of powerful witches, Damon." I scolded him with a scowl and he rolled his blue eyes at me.

"You know, none of this is going to do us any good if Klaus' hybrid friends find our hiding place, right? They need to go away." Stefan said to us and I nodded in agreement with him.

"Oh yeah, that's a great idea Stefan. Why don't you just ask them to pack their bags and take a long rest while we are at it. How about try to keep the peace? Don't attract attention to the real thing we are trying to hide." Damon suggested sarcastically.

"Well, I'm not gonna play defence when I have what Klaus wants. He does what I say, or I dump his family to the bottom of the ocean."

"Bar Rebekah." I added and Stefan rolled his eyes at me.

"And then he kills you and everyone you know like, I don't know... me!" Damon said to his brother.

"No, he's bluffing. His family means more to him than anything else." I told them both nonchalantly.

"You sure about that?"

"Well I don't know Damon. I mean, I guess there's only one way to find out, right?" I asked with a sweet smile.

"Call his bluff." Stefan added as he wrapped an arm around my waist comfortably.

"The only way to call someone's bluff, Stefan, Ellyse, is to be willing to lose everything if you're wrong." Damon said spitefully as he pointed at the two of us. Stefan and I shared a knowingly smiled before we both smiled at Damon and turned to leave the basement. We both walked up the stairs and out onto the front porch. I leaned up against the pillar and Stefan leaned against the opposite one from me.

"I'm going to go see Klaus. Want to come?" he asked me with a smirk.

As Stefan and I entered the mansion that Klaus was currently renovating we could hear him in one of the rooms.

"Sweet dreams Rebekah. Show her to her room, would you, love?" I heard him say to who I could only assume was one of his hybrids minions.

"Sure." The hybrid answered just as Stefan and I walked into the room and we saw Klaus leaning over a table with blueprints on it.

"I'm surprised you're still in town. I gave you your freedom, you could have gone anywhere." He said to Stefan without turning around.

"I live here, Klaus." Stefan replied as if it was obvious as I leaned against the doorframe and watched as Klaus turned around to face us. He flashed a smile in my direction before looking back at the youngest Salvatore.

"Well, if we're playing this game, then... I was here first." He quipped and I giggled softly. The sound of my laughter made him smirk in my direction but I just rolled my eyes at him before looking back at the other side of the doorframe.

"You know, I don't like your hybrid friends. They're everywhere, kind of like fleas. I want them gone." I told him as I waved a hand in the carelessly.

"Yeah, well I kind of like having them around." Klaus said to me with a shrug. He paused for a moment and turned his attention back to Stefan. "You know, I'm hurt. I hoped that when I freed you, we'd pick up where we left off. But here you are, guzzling vervain like the rest of them, I'm sure. So much for friendship. And you, beauty, I suppose you are doing vervain shots as well?"

"I much prefer the acid down my throat than the betrayal of having my boyfriend compel me." I spat at him venomously and he held up his hands in mock surrender.

"Friends don't strip friends of their free will." Stefan shot back.

"Okay, granted, that was a little extreme, but I get a little moody. Just ask Ellyse or any of my siblings. Speaking of whom, isn't it time you handed them over?"

"Klaus, get your hybrids out of Mystic Falls or I will remove them myself."

"You see, if you continue to threaten me, I'm gonna be forced to retaliate. Kill people. And it will get messy again."

"Do whatever you want, I don't really care. Or you know what? Maybe I do. Maybe I care so much, that I'll drop Elijah in the Arctic."

"Well, maybe I'll be willing to lose one brother if it meant killing yours."

"Try me, let's find out." Stefan taunted him and I lolled my head back against the doorframe in boredom. I watched as a hybrid wandered into the room from the opposite door way from me.

"Is everything ok?" the hybrid asked Klaus with a raised eyebrow.

"Everything is fine, Mindy. Stefan and Ellyse were just leaving after failing to make a point." Klaus told the hybrid without looking away from Stefan. I sighed dramatically from my spot before rushing over to the hybrid, Mindy and using all my strength to knock her head clean off her shoulders. I smirked at the headless hybrid body and then glanced up to see Klaus looking at me dumbfounded and Stefan smirking at me.

"Well, one down. You may want to send the rest of them away before it gets messy, again." I told Klaus as I sauntered out the door without looking back.

I walked into the founder's party wearing a cocktails dress and smirked to myself as I number of heartbeats instantly picked up at the sight of me. Being a vampire was doing great things for my self-esteem. I glanced around the room quickly and smiled when I saw Klaus speaking with the mayor Carol Lockwood. I strolled over just as Damon approached them the other side.

"Look at what the cat dragged in. Nice vest." Damon said to the Original Hybrid in greeting and I chuckled lightly as I came up to the group.

"'Cat'. I see what you did there." I said to Damon as I chuckled at the pun and he winked at me. Carol gave me a bright smile as she took in the sight of me.

"Ellyse! Tyler told me you were back. It's so good to see you, honey." She exclaimed as she pulled me into a hug. I scrunched my nose up at the overwhelming smell of Dior that came off of her in waves.

"Hello, Carol. It's good to see you as well." I told her sincerely as I pulled back. Carol had always been like a second mother to me because she didn't have any daughters of her own.

"Thank you very much, good to see you, Damon. Carol and I were discussing about whether you would be the other big benefactor." Klaus said politely to Damon as he tried to wrap an arm around my waist but I elbowed him in the ribs.

"What do you say Damon? Klaus has made a very generous pledge. You know how we're chomping at the bit to begin the renovation." Carol said to Damon with a bright smile.

"Carol, don't take this the wrong way, but do you realize that you've been kissing the ass of an immortal hybrid who ruined your son's life?" Damon asked her sarcastically.

"Oh, come now. Some would say that I saved him from all that nasty full moon business. I've never had to go through it myself more than twice, to be honest, but still, I'm very sympathetic." Niklaus said to me and Carol.

"It's true, Damon. I heard from Tyler and mason that it's very painful." I told him with a sympathetic grimace.

"Klaus has promised to protect Tyler, Damon. And our town." Carol intervened sternly.

"From who? His hybrids are the one the town needs protection from." Damon argued.

"Well, I'd have no use for them if your brother and Ellyse would kindly return my family." Klaus pointed out and I snorted in amusement.

"Not gonna happen." I said as I smiled up at him innocently.

"That's what I thought, which is why I've come to an agreement with the Mayor. You and the Council stay out of my hair, I stay out of yours. Your town gets protected, my hybrids get left alone and everybody will be happy. All you have to do is to get Stefan to stop decapitating my friends."

"That was me that decapitated your hybrid. Full disclosure, I also ripped ones heart out as well." I told him as I bit my bottom lip.

"Please Damon, just get your brother under control or the Council will be forced to take action against him." Carol said to Damon as she ignored that I was part of the problem.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Damon exclaimed.

"Oh come on mate, give peace a chance." Klaus said jokingly.

"Yeah, God, Damon." I scoffed at him as I turned on my heel and left the huddled group in search of the bar. As I was making my way over to the bar for a drink and I spied Stefan creeping around the edges of the party and hurried to catch up to him. I tapped him on the shoulder as I got closer and he spun around so fast it made me smile in amusement.

"Hey." He said to me and I quirked an eyebrow in silent question as to what he was doing. He sighed audibly and leaned back against the wall behind him. "I'm gonna make a statement to Klaus."

"Ooh! I'm in." I cried happily as I clapped my hands together in front of me. I pursed my lips together as I looked around the room. "Ah!" I exclaimed happily as I discreetly grabbed a long knife from one of the tables and motioned for a smirking Stefan to follow me down a vacant hallway. I saw a hybrid go upstairs and into a room so we silently followed him and closed the door behind us. The male hybrid spun around when he heard the door close and Stefan sped around to grip his arms behind his back so that I could stab him in the stomach with the knife. The hybrid grunted in pain as I pulled the knife out and pressed it against his throat. Stefan pulled his head back to expose his neck more and just as I was about to cut his head off someone pushed me to the side and I crashed into the wall. I looked up just in time to see Damon push his brother up against the wall opposite me.

"What are you doing?" I asked the older vampire as I moved over to stand next to them.

"What are you doing? No dead hybrids at the Founders' party!" Damon scolded us like children and I rolled my eyes as I leaned on the wall next to the brothers.

"No, we told Klaus to get his hybrids out of town, he didn't listen, so we're gonna say it louder." Stefan explained as he pushed Damon off of him and straightened his jacket.

"You don't think there's ten more where that came from? And if you kill them, Klaus won't make 20 more? Have you forgotten about Elena's part in all of this? Or do you not care if she is a human blood bag for the rest of her life?"

"I really don't care." I answered in a bored tone as I picked at the blood on my nails.

"Protecting Elena is your problem now. See, I'm not compelled by Klaus to do that anymore." Stefan agreed with me with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Don't give me that no-humanity crap, you can't just flip your switch! Your switch is fried, Stefan, just like your brain! You want to take Klaus? You want to beat the villain? You've got to be smarter." Damon said to us and I smirked at him as I pushed off the wall.

"No, to beat the villain, Damon, you have to be the better villain." I corrected him as I walked passed him. Stefan smirked at his brother as he clapped him on the shoulder and followed me out of the room. We walked out of the house and into the woods so that no one would overhear us.

"I have a plan." Stefan said suddenly and I stopped in my tracks. I turned around and looked at him expectantly.

I was standing by myself near the bar as I sipped my vodka and people watched silently. I felt a familiar presence come up beside me and I rolled my eyes as I supressed a grin.

"What do you want, Niklaus?" I asked him haughtily.

"You know, our anniversary is coming up." He replied conversationally and I turned to give him a incredulously look.

"We aren't together." I reminded him pointedly but he just waved a hand in the air dismissively.

"Technicality."

"That's not a technicality, Nik! It's a freaking major detail." I corrected him in a stern tone but he just gave me a full blown grin in response. "What?"

"You just called me Nik." He pointed out and I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from hit my forehead.

"Shut up." I growled as I looked away from him with a grimace but he just chuckled at my antics.

"We need to talk." Damon said as he rushed over to the two of us. Without waiting for an answer he grabbed my arm and started pulling my away from the crowd and into an empty study. I turned my head and saw Klaus following us into the room.

"What now? You just pulled me away from a fascinating conversation about the future of my relationship." Klaus said to Damon as he went and leaned on the study. I rolled my eyes at him as I sunk down on the couch in the room.

"Stefan just grabbed Elena." Damon informed the Original Hybrid and then all eyes were on me but I just started playing with the end of my hair.

"Well, you two are getting desperate." Klaus said to me and I just smirked in his direction.

"You'd know all about that." I shot back and he gripped his heart in mock hurt as I glowered at him.

"He's gonna try and use her against you. Do what they say, get rid of your hybrids." Damon instructed pointedly.

"Or what? Stefan would never dream of killing her. And I had to compel Ellyse to let me kill Elena for the sacrifice." Klaus reminded the elder Salvatore and I bit my tongue to keep from saying anything.

"You sure about that? They just tried to behead someone in the middle of a Council party. Stefan's operating on crazy right now."

"Well, crazy or not, that kind of love never dies. He's bluffing."

"Maybe he is, maybe he isn't." I said in a sing song voice from my spot on the couch and then smiled innocently as the two men glared at me.

"If you don't want to believe him, believe me. I know my brother better than anyone, and right now, I don't have a clue how far he is willing to take this. So if he says blink, I suggest you blink." Damon said to Klaus just as the hybrid's phone rang in his pocket. He took the phone out of his pocket and checked the caller ID with a smirk on his lips. He answered the phone and put it on loudspeaker so that we could all hear clearly even though we could already her with our vampire hearing.

"Stefan, how nice to hear your voice." Klaus greeted the younger Salvatore brother pleasantly.

"Tell your hybrids to get out of town, Klaus." We heard Stefan's voice respond.

"Well that's not gonna happen until I get my coffins back."

"Okay, well then I'm gonna drive your blood source off Wickery Bridge."

"I don't believe you Stefan. You won't kill her."

"No! No! No! What are you doing?" I heard Elena splutter pitifully in the background of the phone call.

"What's going on?" Klaus asked and I could hear the concern in his voice.

"I just fed her my blood. No more hybrids if she's a vampire." Stefan taunted him.

"Ellyse won't let you turn her twin sister."

"Why not? Then I can have my sister forever." I intervened from my spot on the couch.

"You won't do it." Klaus said to Stefan confidently after sparing me a quick glance.

"Really? Try me, because your coffins are next to go. Say goodbye to your family Klaus."

"Stefan, slow down! Stefan! Stefan ,stop it!" Elena screamed.

"Fine, I'll send them away, you win." Klaus said in defeat.

"Stefan! Stefan, stop!"

"Stop the car, Stefan!" Klaus screamed angrily.

"Ellyse?" Stefan asked me for my opinion and I bit my lips as I thought about it. I locked gazes with Niklaus and made my decision.

"Stop the car, Stefan." I ordered softly but I knew that he could hear me because we could all hear the car screech to a rough stop. Klaus hung up the phone furiously and left the room without a backwards glance. I locked gazes with Damon for a second before I sped out of the house without a word.

I walked into Stefan's bedroom later that night and found him sitting silently on the end of the bed with a glass on scotch in his hand. I went over to him without a word and sat next to him. I took the glass from his slack hand and finished it in one mouthful.

"Elena hates me." He said emotionlessly.

"Elena loves you too much to ever hate you." I replied confidently as stood up and walked over to the makeshift bar in the corner of the room. I grabbed a bottle of vodka for me and the bottle of scotch for Stefan. I smiled at him as I handed him the full bottle and he smirked back at me a little. I took a pull of the vodka and relished the burn as it ran down my throat. I skipped over to the radio and fiddled with the dials until I found a song I liked. "Ah! Yay!" I cheered as I danced back over to Stefan and pulled him to his feet. He struggled a little bit before I mock glared at him and he started loosening up a little bit. The rest of the night was full of music, drinking and laughter as we held our two person party alone in Stefan's room.


	11. The Ties That Bind

**The Ties That Bind:**

Stefan and I entered the abandoned witch house and the first thing we heard was the voice of my twin sister.

"So, these are the rest of his family?" we heard her say to who I assumed was either Damon or Bonnie since they were the only other people that knew we were keeping the coffins here. Stefan and I looked at each other with wide eyes before speeding down the stairs to the basement.

"Yeah. Elijah and two others. This one... is the one we can't open. We don't know who is in it, or what's in it, only that I think my dream's telling me it'll help us kill Klaus." Bonnie said to Elena just as we entered the room at full speed.

"What the hell are you doing?" I asked her harshly as I pushed Elena roughly away from the locked coffin. Elena scowled at me as I get her go but I ignored her and kept my attention on the young witch in front of me. Stefan leaned up against one of the coffins with his arms crossed over his chest and I saw that he was trying to avoid Elena's wounded gaze.

"I needed her to know about the coffin." Bonnie defended herself calmly but I just frowned at her as I jumped up to sit on the coffin that Stefan was leaning on.

"And we needed you to keep her out of it, Bonnie." Stefan told her pointedly as he wrapped a hand around my ankle comfortably. I saw Elena's jealous gaze lock onto where his hand was resting and smirked to myself.

"So what are you gonna do, Stefan? Are you gonna kidnap me, so that I won't tell anyone?" Elena snapped at her ex-boyfriend and I narrowed my eyes at her dangerously.

"Don't tempt me, Elena." He threatened her with a smirk.

"I think I know who can open the coffin, Stefan. And I need Elena to help me find her." Bonnie explained as she stepped in between the feuding couple.

"Find who? What are you talking about?" I asked her as I tilted my head curiously.

"I couldn't place her face at first. Then I realized..." she trailed off as she showed Elena a worn candid photograph.

"Oh my god, Bonnie." Elena breathed out sympathetic and my interest perked up. Bonnie passed the photo to Stefan and I looked at it over his shoulder.

"Bonnie…" I whispered sympathetically as well when I realised who I was looking at.

"Who is this?" Stefan asked out loud to no one in particular.

"It's my Mom." Bonnie explained with a frown on her face.

* * *

Stefan and I entered the Salvatore Boarding House to find Klaus sitting comfortably in one of the armchairs in the parlour as he nursed a glass of bourbon.

"What are you doing here, Klaus?" Stefan asked the hybrid in an irritated tone as we walked further into the room and I sat down on the couch across from Klaus while Stefan perched on the arm of the couch.

"Enjoying our stalemate." Klaus drawled casually as he eyed the two of us.

"What do you want?" I asked him nonchalantly as I examined my manicure.

"The question is what you want? My hybrids left town as you demanded, so please tell me what I need to do to get my family back."

"I, personally, don't want anything." I informed him dismissively and he glared at me in irritation.

"Then why on earth are you helping Stefan with this suicide mission of his?"

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."

"Hmm. And you, Stefan, what do you want?" Klaus said to Stefan with a mock polite smile on his handsome face.

"Well, see... Klaus...I'm not negotiating." The youngest Salvatore answered him.

"And you understand that holding them indefinitely is the same thing as dropping them in the ocean?"

"No, No. You leave Mystic Falls and then give me call in a few years and we'll talk."

"I can give you another chance. Just one more. Let's make a reasonable deal."

"Or what? You make one move and I will drop..."

"Yes, right. Crazy Stefan." Klaus interrupted his threat with a laugh. "How is that working out for you? Any friends left?" he asked sarcastically before standing up walking towards the door of the boarding house. He patted Stefan companionably on the shoulder as he passed and smirked at me before leaving. The two of us sat in silence for a minute to make sure that the hybrid had left and we could speak freely without being overheard.

"I'm to head over to Elena's house and see if I can find out where Bonnie's mother is hiding out." Stefan informed me with a determined look on his face. I nodded absently as I threw my legs up onto the couch. I vaguely heard Stefan leave the building but I was too caught up in my own thoughts to pay much attention. I knew that at some point I was going to have to swap sides. Even though Niklaus had compelled me and threatened to kill Jeremy and was still in love with him. I was aware that when push came to shove I wouldn't be able to stand by and allow him die despite what he had done to me. I made my decision and pushed myself up off of the couch I was sitting on. I grabbed my purse and rushed out of the door. Using my inhuman speed, I ran to the Grill and smirked to myself when I saw the person I was looking for. I walked at a human pace towards where he was sitting at the bar. My vampire hearing could make out the phone conversation that was taking place between him and an unnamed third party.

"How's life on the road?" I heard him asked the other person.

"Scenic. How's life in Mystic Falls without any hybrids?" a slightly familiar masculine voice answered him.

"Boring." Klaus replied just as I sat down on the stool next to him. I could feel his eyes on me as he added. "For now."

"If you want any of us back, you just have to say the word."

"There's no need. I've been making friends with the town civil servants. There's a deputy, obnoxiously chatty, but useful nonetheless. You're clear, what you need to do?"

"I got it covered." The third unnamed party said before hanging up the phone. I wave at the bartender and he nodded in my direction.

"Hello, beauty. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Nik asked me as the bartender brought over my usual order of Vodka. I shrugged my shoulder nonchalantly as I took a sip of my drink before turned my body on the stool to face him. My knee bumped into his and I cursed the shivers that ran threw me at the simplest touch.

"I've re-evaluated me allegiance." I explained lightly and he smiled at me brightly.

"Ah, come to join the winning side?"

"No." I replied shortly as I shook my head at him and his smirk dropped from his lips. "This was never about winning or losing for me."

"And then what was it about then?"

"Punishing you. I know how much your family means to you. You killed my aunt, my twin sister and you threatened to kill my little brother. I want you to feel a minuscule amount of what I felt so I helped Stefan take them away from you but I would have given them back after a while. I would never have let the Salvatore's actually kill you. This is what they're trying to do, FYI." I said honestly in a soft voice as I looked directly in his pale blue eyes. He gazed back at me as if judging my sincerity and hen abruptly looked away and back to the glass of scotch in his hand.

"And where does this leave us?" he asked me softly as he peeked at me from the corner of his eye. I took a sip of my own drink before placing it down on the counter and standing up.

"I don't know." I told him as I shook my head sadly to myself and then held out one of my hands for him to take with a teasing smile. "But come with me and I'll take you to your coffins." I said to him as he placed his hand in my smaller one with a chuckle.

* * *

Nik and I walked down the steps towards the basement of the abandoned witch. On the way to the house, he had gotten a text from one of his hybrids telling him where the coffins were anyway and I couldn't help feeling like the minion had stolen my thunder. We got to the last step and I saw Damon standing in the middle of the room with cocky smirk on his lips.

"What took you so long? Hiding behind your witchy friends. And in squalor no less." Nik taunted him and I just rolled my eyes as I ran my hand through my hair. Nik started gasping in pain as he clutched his head and I smirked at the sight of the big bad hybrid trembling in pain.

"Insulting a bunch of dead witches... not smart." I commented to him in humour and he glared at me.

"I made the exact same mistake first time I came in here." Damon told us with a shrug.

"Well, you know, the funny thing about witches is, that living or death, they care about their own. A hundred dead witches have a thousand living descendants... And I have no problem, killing every last one of them, if I don't get my coffins back. As we speak, my hybrid friend is prepared to end the Bennett line." Nik said to threateningly to the witch spirits and all the candles that had lit when the magic started died down. Nik straightened up now that he wasn't in pain and shook his head to clear it. "Now... please... show me the coffins." He instructed calmly and the witches revealed three of the coffins. I looked around in a panic because I knew that the forth one had been here only hours before. "Here we are. Where's the fourth? Show me!"

"Well, here's the thing. They can't. It's not here."

"What did you do?" I asked him darkly as Nik seethed angrily next to me.

"Well, Bonnie gave me the heads-up. I didn't have enough time, to get all four, but I did have time to get one."

"I will tear you, limb from limb. And only then, when you're a riving mass of blood and flesh, will I rip your heart from your chest." Nik threatened him dangerously as he took a step forward towards the eldest Salvatore.

"Sorry. The same rules apply. You know, leverage and all. I know you want your family back. But something tells me, you want what's in that coffin a lot more." Damon replied with a smirk and I had the distinct feeling that it was going to get worse before it got better.

I was sitting on the couch in Nik's newly renovated mansion with a glass of wine laced with blood as Nik paced the length of the room. A hybrid pressed the last of the three coffins into the room silently.

"You've got your family back. Finally. You gonna open them?" I asked Nik curiously as I took a sip of my wine.

"Not quite yet. I still have some unfinished business to take care of." He told me absently as he continued pacing and I rolled my eyes at him because I knew that he only paced when he was worried about something and he wouldn't stop worrying until he told me about it. But he had to go through the motions instead of just talking to me forthright.

"What business?" I asked him gently to trying and get him to open up to me before he wore a hole in the new rug. He stopped pacing immediately as he turned to face me but my attention was on the hybrid that had started to squirm and then dropped to the floor suddenly. I gaped at the tall elegant man in the wrinkled suit that was standing over the dead hybrid with their heart in his hand.

"So, Niklaus..." the man said in a smooth voice and I was about to stand up next to Nik when he spoke.

"Elijah?" Nik asked in a whisper and I looked up at the shocked expression on his face before turning my attention back the man, Elijah, Nik's older brother.

"What did I miss?"


	12. Bringing Out The Dead

**Bringing Out The Dead:**

Klaus and I both looked at the newcomer with wide unblinking eyes as we realised the implications of Elijah being there. Someone had obviously un-staked him for a purpose.

"You look surprised to see me. So it wasn't you that removed the dagger from my chest?" Elijah said calmly in his melodic voice and I quietly sipped my blood-laced wine. The older Mikaelson's oak coloured orbs flashed in my direction momentarily but quickly darted back to Niklaus.

"You look like you could do with a drink. And we have a lot to discuss, so shall we?" Nik said cockily as he moved towards the make shift bar in the lounge room we were sitting in. I jumped slightly when Elijah moved forward rapidly and attacked Nik. I rolled my eyes at the boy's behaviour as I continued to sip my wine. I looked up when I heard the unmistakable sound of smashing glass and frowned when I saw Elijah tackling Nik into the glass window separating the two rooms.

"Easy. We just finished renovating. Take the fighting outside." I scolded them as I stood up gracefully from the couch I was resting on.

"You know you have every right to be mad at me. But I kept my word, I reunited you with our family." Nik taunted his older brother as they both ignored me. Elijah ran at Nik again and they thought each other into the next room. I slowly walked over so that I was leaned in the doorway to the next room so I could see exactly what was going on. In the mist of the fight, Nik had managed to open up one of the coffins that were in the room. I watched with a frown as he pulled out the white oak dagger from one of his other family members and positioned it over Elijah's heart. "Don`t make me do this to you again Elijah!"

"Come on. Use it. I dare you. You'll have Kol to deal with." Elijah spat at his younger brother and I stood on my tip toes to get a look at the young man in the coffin next to the two them.

"Mikael is dead." I said calmly from my spot at the door and the two brothers stopped to look at me with wide eyes.

"What did you say?" Elijah asked me in disbelief as he pushed Nik off of him and straightened his suit.

"I killed him. With his own weapon. He's gone Elijah. Forever." Klaus clarified for his brother as he fixed his own shirt which had gotten messed up in the fight.

"Why do our family remain in these coffins? Finn for over 900 years, Kol for over a century." Elijah spat at Nik in outrage and I smirked at my ex smugly when he glanced over at me.

"Someone agrees with me." I muttered under my breath in a song sing voice as I looked away from the two of them and tried to appear innocent.

"Because of Stefan Salvatore. He holds the one thing keeping me from freeing them. There are things that you do not know about our past, Elijah. Our mother's death. Things I never wanted you to know but I`m ready to tell you now. I only ask that you remember the oath of loyalty you once swore to me." Nik said to his brother as he ignored my comment.

"What are you doing?" Elijah asked in confusion as Nik replaced the dagger into Kol's heat again to stop him from waking up.

"Always and forever. I need you to stand by my side. Be my brother. Help me destroy Stefan and I promise you our family will be whole again." Klaus said to Elijah as he closed the lid of Kol's coffin securely.

"If you're done with the dramatics," I interrupted their staring match as I stepped into the room and both their eyes darted over to me. I smiled slightly as Elijah took in my presence before gracefully walking towards me.

"Excuse our rudeness, Miss …? " Elijah stated questioningly as Nik glowered at his back and I smirked slightly at the shock my answer was going to bring.

"Gilbert. Ellyse Gilbert." I stated as I held out my hand for him to shake and watched as the eldest Originals dark brown eyes widened slightly at the information. He recovered quickly from his shock and placed his hand in mine only to bring it to his lips. I raised an eyebrow at the old fashioned gesture as Niklaus glared at his brothers back.

"I wasn't aware that Elena had a sister."

"A twin, actually. Don't feel too bad, apparently she didn't inform the Salvatore's either."

"Not that I'm complaining about the presence of a beautiful woman, but what are you doing here with my brother?" Elijah asked me politely in confusion as he crinkled his eyebrows together slightly.

"She's my girlfriend." Nik drawled pointedly from behind him and Elijah raised an eyebrow in question.

"Ex-girlfriend, actually." I corrected him with a glare but he just rolled his eyes at my words as he walked towards me and Elijah.

"Whatever you say, beauty." He murmured as he pressed a chaste kiss to my cheek as he past me. I smiled once more at Elijah before I turned to follow Nik into the main living room with Elijah trailing behind us.

"I'm going to head home and let you two talk in private." I told them as I walked over to the couch I had left my purse on.

"No, I don't want you at the Salvatore's now that they know what side you're on." Nik said softly to me as I collected my purse. I paused at his words and contemplated what I was going to do because I knew that he was right.

"You're right. Damon isn't going to be happy with me. I guess I'll head to a hotel for the night and organise a house tomorrow." I said mostly to myself even though I knew they could both hear me with their vampire hearing.

"Nonsense. You'll stay here." Nik told me as though it was obvious and I turned to face him with a frown on my face as I crossed my arms over my chest.

"I'm not staying in your house, Nik."

"Technically, it's our house." He informed me with a cheeky smile and I frowned at him in confusion.

"I think I'm going to go and find a change of clothes." Elijah excused himself and quickly left the room but my attention was solely on Nik.

"What are you talking about?" I asked my ex as he tried his best to look innocent.

"When I bought the house, I put both our names on the deed." He explained as he shrugged casual and I felt my eyes widen automatically as I looked around the massive mansion we were in.

"You brought us a house." I stated quietly as I smiled softly at him and he looked at the ground because I knew he was uncomfortable with people, even me, seeing him vulnerable. I pressed my lips together as I looked at the handsome man in front of me because I didn't want to let out the sob that threatened to escape. I silently cursed my stupid emotion because ever since I had turned they had been all over the place. Nik lift his head so that I was looking into his crystal clear light blue eyes and I used my vampire speed to go over to him. I quickly grabbed hold of the back of his neck and smashed his lips down onto mine.

Later that evening, I was upstairs in the master bedroom that Nik had built for us getting ready for the sit down dinner Elijah had organised with the Salvatore's in order to get the mysterious fourth coffin back. I looked up from my reflection as the doorbell rang downstairs but I didn't rush to get it because I knew that Elijah was already down there.

"Ellyse, Niklaus, our guests have arrived." I heard Elijah call from downstairs and I quickly looked at myself in the mirror to take in my appearance. I tugged gently on the clingy blue material of my dress as I bit my lip in apprehension. I shook my head to clear it of the self-doubt knowing that logically it was only my heightened vampire emotions that made me even more self-conscious than when I was human.

"Damon. Stefan. Elijah tells me, you seek an audience. Very bold. Let's discuss the terms of our agreement like civilised men, shall we?" I heard Nik greet our guests as I walked down the stairs and into the dining room that had been sat up for the dinner.

"It's better to indulge him." I told them as I smirked playfully at Nik and strolled past the other three into the dining room. Nik smiled at me as he pressed a kiss to my cheek before pulling out a chair for me to sit in.

"I didn't come here to eat, Klaus. Fact, I didn't want to come here at all. But I was told, I had to cause you would hear us out." Stefan said calmly as he walked into the dining room with his older brother and Elijah.

"Well, we can sit and eat or I can reach down your throats and pull out your insides. The choice is yours." Nik compromised with a grin and I rolled my eyes at him as I watched the other three men sit down at the table. Elijah sat on my other side as Damon sat next to him and then Stefan on the last seat in between Damon and Nik. A little while later we were all enjoying the food that I had order from a catering company for the evening, except for Stefan.

"Thank you, love." Damon said mockingly to one of the blonde human waitresses that came with the company as she poured him some wine.

"You lost your appetite." Nik commented as he watched Stefan just stare at the food in his plate in front of him.

"Eat. I thought we agreed that we would leave the grumpy Stefan at home." Damon told his younger brother and Stefan rolled his light green eyes before pointedly eating a forkful of food as I chuckled softly at the scene.

"That's the spirit. Isn't it nice? Five of us dining together? Such a treat. Is this what you had in mind when you pulled the dagger from my brother?" Nik asked Damon tauntingly as he continued to eat and I shook my head at his childish antics.

"Well, I know how he felt about you, so I figured the more, the merrier."

"Well, Elijah and I have had our share of quarrels over the century. But we always make it through."

"Kind of like you and Rebekah, right? Where is she, by the way? Last I checked she was still daggered because you were afraid to face her." Stefan said to the Original Hybrid and my grip on my fork tightened at the mention of my friend.

"If you're referring to the fact that Rebekah knows I killed our mother, I've already come clean to Elijah."

"Hey, Stef, remember when you killed dad? Might want to dial down the judgment until dessert." Damon scolded his brother with a frown and I raised an eyebrow at the fact that Stefan killed his father.

"We're here to make a deal, Damon. Doesn't mean we need to kiss his ass for seven courses." Stefan pointed out and I laughed as I sipped my wine and Stefan flashed me a smirk.

"I'm just saying we have a long evening ahead of us. Pace yourself."

"Stefan. Where is the lovely Elena tonight?" Elijah asked the younger Salvatore and I bit my lip to stop from laughing at the now awkward topic.

"I don't know. Ask Damon." Stefan spat out calmly and I smiled in amusement as Nik laughing lightly at the comment.

"I'm sorry, you've missed so much. Uh- trouble in paradise." Nik explained to a confused looking Elijah as he tried to stop laughing.

"One more word about Elena and this dinner's over." Stefan said to us as Nik continued to laugh silently.

"You know what, probably best just to keep Elena in the do not discuss pile." Damon told us with a tight fake smile and I nodded as I tried not to laugh at the two of them.

"You're probably right." Nik agreed as he nodded jerkily though his laughter and placed a hand on my upper thigh under the table. "It's just the allure of the Petrova doppelgänger, still so strong. What do you say, brother? Should we tell them about Tatia?"

"Now why should we discuss matters long since resolved?" Elijah said calmly as placed a napkin on the table and I rolled my eyes at the topic of Niklaus' first love. I had heard the story before but that didn't mean I wanted to hear about my boyfriend's exes at the dinner table.

"Well, given their shared affection for both Elena and Katerina, I think our guests might be curious to learn about the originator of the Petrova line."

"Well, we're not going anywhere Elijah. Please, do tell." Damon said with a smirk as he sipped his wine.

"When our family first settled here, there was a girl named Tatia, she was an exquisite beauty. Every boy of age desired to be her suitor, even though she'd had a child by another man. And none loved her more than Niklaus." Elijah started the story as we all listened intently to his melodic voice.

"I'd say there was one who loved her at least as much." Nik interrupted with a smile in his brother's direction and I smiled at them both in amusement.

"Wait a minute, so you both loved the same girl?" Stefan asked them in amusement as he pointed a fork in between the two Originals.

"Yep. One that looks exactly like my twin sister. Isn't that something?" I asked rhetorically as bitterness laced my voice and I took a greedy sip of my wine. Nik squeezed my upper thigh in silently reassurance and I immediately felt myself relax.

"Our mother was a very powerful witch. She sought to end our feud over Tatia and so she took her. Klaus and I would later learn that it was Tatia's blood that we consumed in the wine on the night where our mother performed the spell which turned us into vampires. Tatia wouldn't make a decision between the two of us, so for a time Niklaus and I... grew estranged. Harsh words were traded, we even came to blows, didn't we, brother?" Elijah continued with the story before looking at Nik for confirmation.

"But in the end we realized the sacred bond of family." Nik concluded with a smile at his brother and I placed my hand over his that was on my thigh.

"Family above all." Elijah said as he raised his glass to his brother and Nik copied his action as we all looked on.

"Family above all." Nik echoed his brother's sentence as they clinked their glasses together.

"So, why don't we move this evening along and discuss the terms of this proposal?" Elijah suggested as he placed his glass back on the table in front of him.

"That's very simple. Klaus gets his coffin back, in exchange, he and the Original extended family leave Mystic Falls forever. Me, Stefan, and Elena live happily ever after. No grudges." Damon said with a smile as he spread his arm out to gesture to him and Stefan.

"The deal sounds fair, brother."

"I don't think you understand, Elena's doppelgänger blood insures that I will always have more hybrids to fight those that oppose me. I will never leave her behind." Niklaus stated to them as he got up from his seat and began pacing length of the dining room as we walked him silently. "Let's say I do leave her here, under your protection, what then? How long before one of you turns her into a vampire? Or worse, how long before she dies caught between your feuding? You see, each one of you truly believes that you're the one that can protect her, and that is simply a delusion. Gentlemen, the worst thing for Elena Gilbert is... the two of you." He finished we had pointed between the two Salvatore brother's and I silently agreed with his assessment.

"I'm gonna get some air." Damon stated as he got up from his sit and head towards the front door.

"Let me deal with this." Elijah said to Klaus as he got up from his seat and followed after the eldest Salvatore.

"All this talk has made me thirsty." I stated with a pout on my lips and Nik smiled at me lovingly as he motioned for one of the blonde human waitresses to come into the room.

"What do you say Stefan, can I interest you in a little after dinner drink?" Nik offered to the youngest Salvatore brother as I stood up and walked over to where Nik stood with the waitress. As I got closer to the human woman I could feel the bloodlust build up and I could hear the _thump thump thump_ of her beating heart. I smiled at Nik once before I let the bloodlust take over and my fangs elongated so that I could sink them into the blonde's neck. I moaned slightly in pleasure as the fresh, warm blood filled my mouth and danced on my tastebuds. I vaguely saw Nik bite into the other side of her neck but all my focus was on the waitress's delicious AB negative blood. After we had drained all the blood from the blonde, I released my hold on her at the same time as Nik and she fell to the floor limbless.

"Delicious." I said as I wiped the blood from around my mouth before walking back over to my seat and sitting down elegantly.

"Aged to perfection." Nik agreed with me as he smiled over at me before walking to stand next to the roaring fireplace.

"Well, I guess the only reason you agreed to this evening, Klaus, is to drive a wedge between me and my brother." Stefan said to Nik looked over at the dead body in disgust.

"Oh no, you're doing that well enough on your own. Because of Elena, you're gonna lose your brother and you'll only have yourself to blame." Nik said casually as he shrugged his broad shoulders and I chuckled softly as I rolled my eyes at him. My attention was diverted to the doorway as Damon and Elijah re-entered the dining room.

"What do you say, Klaus? It's time for you to put something on the table. We've made our offer, now you counter." Damon said calmly as he stood behind the seat that he had been sitting on previously.

"Oh, I'm not the one who'll decide Elena's future." He told them matter-of-factly as he strolled over to retake his seat at the table and both Salvatore's faces morphed into a mask of confusion at his words.

"Then who will?" Damon spat out spitefully as I chuckled lightly and I stood up from my seat when all the eyes in the room turned to face me.

"That would be me." I said to them as I shrugged my shoulders delicately and walked over to stand behind Nik's chair. "Okay. I offer Elena's future happiness. You see, what she needs right now is to be rid of you lot. And to fall in love with a human."

"Maybe that nice football player, you know the blond one?" Nik suggested helpfully from the fireplace and I smiled at him over my shoulder.

"Matt Donovan? Really?" Damon asked in a voice filled with contempt.

"Yeah, why not? He's hot. They'll marry, live a long and fruitful life, and pop out a perfect family." I told them with a smirk on my lips as I looked in between all the men in the room.

"And continue the Petrova bloodline. Every few hundred years, you'll have a new doppelgänger to drain and never run out of hybrids, right Klaus?" Stefan asked the hybrid as he glared at him heatedly from his seat.

"It was Ellyse's idea actually. Isn't she brilliant? Consider it a small return on my investment in her wellbeing. See after you hand me back the coffin, I'll ensure her safety for the rest of her natural life, you know it's what's best for her." Nik said to them as he stood up and walked over towards Stefan. "So, what do you say Stefan, do we have a deal?"

"What are you doing?" Damon asked his brother in a hiss as Stefan stood up and walked closer to Klaus. Nik held out his hand to Stefan with a small smile and the younger vampire clutched his hand in his.

"Nice try, Klaus. But no deal." Stefan said cheerfully and Nik's smile transformed into a frown as he broke Stefan's hand. I watched with my head tilted as Nik pushed Stefan's hand into the fireplace and he started to burn. Damon attempted to rush over and help his brother but Elijah pushed him up against the wall to stop him.

"What are you doing?" Damon asked Elijah quietly before turning his attention to his injured brother. "Stop!"

"Now, bring me my coffin before I burn him alive." Nik said to Damon casually as he kept Stefan's hand in the fire.

"I'll get it." Damon said in defeat as Elijah let him go and he straightened his leather jacket.

"Go with him, brother, you keep him honest. And when you return, I will make good on my promise to you and I will hand over our family." Nik said to Elijah and he nodded before following Damon out of the room to go and get the missing coffin.

"Go ahead and kill me, I know you'll do it when he brings the coffin." Stefan said to Nik in defeat after a minute of silence and I looked up from my nails when I heard them speaking. I watched as Nik pulled Stefan out of the fire and frowned at his old friend.

"You really have given up, haven't you? Where's the fight? Where's the ripper?" he asked as he pushed on Stefan's chest and Stefan pushed him back as I rolled my eyes at the boy's behaviour.

"Behave boys, or no one gets any dessert." I drawled jokingly from where I was sitting at the table and they both looked up at me as though they had just remembered that I was in the room with them.

"Elijah... why haven't you left?" Nik asked in confusion and I looked up in surprise to see Elijah in the doorway with Damon and a blonde waitress.

"Where are you manners, brother? We forgot dessert." Elijah said calmly as he pulled the cover off of the silver plate the blonde was holding and I frowned in confusion. I stood up to get a better view and gaped when I saw the two daggers on the platter.

"What have you done?" Nik asked him quietly as he looked at the daggers in shock.

"What have you done? You see I've learned not to trust your vulgar promises, Klaus. We're doing this on my terms now." Elijah spat at his brother just as a young man I recognised as Kol strolled into the room from behind Elijah.

"Kol." Nik whispered quietly and I frowned slightly because I knew that this was not going to be good.

"Long time, brother." Kol said cheerfully in his slightly British accented voice as he approached his brother. I watched as Nik tried to back away from his youngest brother but another vampire suddenly appeared and stabbed a dagger through Nik's hand.

"Finn, don't!" Nik said with a grimace as the dagger plunged into him and he turned to run through the other open doorway but Rebekah appeared out of nowhere and blocked it. I smiled at the sight of my friend as she glowered at her brother. "Rebekah?"

"This is for our mother." Rebekah spat at him as she stabbed a dagger through his stomach and he crumbled over it. I smirked at his back because I had told him numerous times that there were consequences for his actions. Nik fell backwards into Kol's arms as Elijah looked over at Damon and Stefan in the doorway.

"You're free to go. This is family business." Elijah told them as he looked over at his brother and I frowned at him slightly as walked further into the dining room.

"Screw that, Elijah. This is my house." I scolded him playfully and he smirked in my direction but nodded his head at me.

"Ellyse?" I heard Rebekah ask and I turned to face my blonde friend with a smile on my face.

"Bec!" I cheered as I approached her and wrapped her in a tight hug. "I missed you! I swear I had no idea what they were doing. I tried to find you but they hid you. When I did find you, Nik wouldn't let me kill Elena."

"It's okay." She assured me with a smile as she looked over my outfit in appreciation before she looked up to meet my gaze solemnly and I frowned at her in concern. "Listen, Ellyse, we're all leaving Mystic Falls, maybe even America. My brothers and I are leaving Nik for what he's done. I know that you wanted some time away as well so I want you to come with us."

"Are you sure you want me there, Rebekah? You haven't seen your brother's in a very long time."

"I'm sure." Rebekah told me determinedly as she glanced over her shoulder at her brothers and I smiled at her reassuringly. "I should get back." She said reluctantly and I nodded in understanding as she left to go over to her brothers. I sat down in one of the now empty seats and watched the Mikaelson family reunion.

"I like what you've done with the new place, Nik." Rebekah said as she picked up a vase and threw it at a painting on the wall.

"I wanted it to be for all of us. A place we could all call home. A place we could all be a family. None of us would ever have to be alone again." Nik explained without looking up from the ground as Rebekah moved over to stand beside her brothers.

"Well you're right, none of us will be." Elijah said to him calmly.

"You're staying behind." Finn added from his brother's side.

"We're leaving you, Nik. Ellyse and I are going travelling right after I kill that doppelgänger wench, then you will be alone. Always and forever." Rebekah told him as she threw a glance over her shoulder at me and I smiled slightly at her in confirmation that I would go with her.

"If you run, I will hunt all of you down." Nik threatened them and I stood up to walk to stand on Rebekah's other side.

"Then you'll become everything you hate. Our father." Finn told him and all the other's nodded in agreement.

"I'm the hybrid! I can't be killed! I have nothing to fear from any of you."

"You will when we have that coffin." Elijah stated with a shrug just as we heard the front door open and we all turned around to see who it was breaking into my house. I frowned slightly when I saw a beautiful blonde woman in her late thirties enter the room in an old fashioned dress.

"Mother?" Rebekah whispered in shock and I felt my eyes widen in surprise as I looked at the Original Witch in front of me. Esther looked over her children with a slight smile on her lips before she turned her attention to Niklaus with a frown.

"Look at me!" she commanded sternly and he looked open with tear filled light blue eyes. I felt my heart swell in pain at the defeated look in his normally mischievous eyes. "Do you know why I'm here?"

"You're here to kill me." Nik stated to her and I frowned as I gripped Rebekah hand in mine. I felt like we both needed it at that moment.

"Niklaus, you are my son and I am here to forgive you. I want us to be a family again."


End file.

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