When Isabella woke up, she was still in the truck but felt something in her pocket.
She pulled it out and it was a new phone.
"What the hell?" She mumbled.
She opened it up and there was a text message already sent to it.
"I'm sorry I never said goodbye. I'll explain everything in a few days. Be safe and don't get in too much trouble. Text me if you need me, that's why I bought you a phone.
-Nik"
**
Rebekah dragged Isabella into the Salvatore Boarding House.
She knocked on the door and Damon answered.
"Where's Stefan?" Rebekah walked past him.
"Who the hell are you?" Damon asked.
"He left us here. Our brother actually left us here."
"Oh, I'm sorry, your tone implies that I'm actually supposed to care." Stefan said
"Your another one of Klaus's sisters?" Damon said.
"Rebekah. Pleasure, I'm sure. Which one's our room?"
"You're not staying here."
"Rude, both of you. I'll see to it myself." Rebekah had lots of bags in one hand and Isabella's hand in her other.
They walked up stairs and put their things in 2 separate rooms.
**
Rebekah apologised but left Isabella there by herself as she went to school.
Isabella was in Rebekah's room watching a movie, laying in her bed.
She pulled out her phone and hovered her finger over Klaus's number.
She was about to call him but instead texted him.
"rebekahs left me in a house with damon and dead girls. I'm bored -Bella"
She put her phone away and watched the movie a bit more until her phone buzzed.
"Where is she? -Nik"
"i don't know. school I think."
"You okay?"
"yeah i guess"
"Call me if you need me. I've compelled Stefan to protect you but he's probably watching over Elena."
"Okay xx"
**
Rebekah came back home but she soon left again to go to some Bonfire Party.
Isabella didn't like how she kept running out on her but she headed downstairs to look around.
She saw Stefan on the couch, drinking a glass of blood.
"Where's the blood?" She asked.
"Downstairs, in the freezer." Stefan said.
"Thanks." She said and headed downstairs.
**
It had been a few days but Alaric and Damon found a cave thanks to Mason Lockwood.
"According to this wall, these werewolves have been here a lot longer than that." Alaric said.
"How long?" Elena asked.
"Long. It gets better, show her Ric." Damon said.
"Names. And they're not native. They're written in runic. A Viking script." Alaric said.
"Vikings? This name here, when translated, reads Niklaus." Alaric said.
"Klaus." Elena stated.
"And Elijah. And Rebekah. And Isabella." Alaric said, shining on each other the names.
Rebekah was carving her name her name into the wall with a knife. Klaus and eight-year-old Isabella were watching.
"Rebekah, let me have at it." Klaus said.
"Quiet, Niklaus. I'm to have my concentration if I'm not to slice off a finger." Rebekah said.
"Father will not like you handling the blade." Klaus said.
"If I want to wield a blade, I shall wield a blade. Father need not know."
"He will find out. He always does."
"That is because you always tell him, Niklaus." Isabella said.
"I agree with Bella."
"I cannot help it. He frightens me."
"He frightens us all. That is why we stick together as one. Always and forever. Right, traitor?"
"Right."
She held the blade towards him, "here, you finish. We're to help mother with the meal."
"Yes, go tend to dinner and leave the blades to the men, little sisters." He held out his hand and Rebekah pushed the blade into his hand, "Agh, Bekah."
"It is just a little blood. Be a man about it." Rebekah said
Isabella pouted, "I want my name on the wall."
"I will do it. The next time you come in here, your name will be up there." Klaus smiled and Rebekah picked her up and walked out of the cave.
"These are the names of the Original family?" Elena asked.
"Carved into a cave that's been here since way before the founding of Mystic Falls. Or even the entire New World, for that matter." Alaric said.
"Okay, this has got to be one of Klaus's fakes." Elena said.
"That's what I said." Damon said.
"Well, that could be true. Except the last name up here made us think otherwise." Alaric said.
"What's the name?"
"Mikael."
"Mikael. Mikael, as in the vampire hunter who knows how to kill Klaus?"
"Yep. I now like to call him Papa Original.
**
Rebekah was spending more time with Isabella.
She woke up in Rebekah's bed seeing as she couldn't get to sleep the night before by herself.
"Bels, I need to go to school." Rebekah said as Isabella was laying on her arm.
Isabella rolled around and Rebekah got up and ready.
**
Isabella was watching a movie when Rebekah came home, more angry than usual.
"What's wrong?" Isabella asked.
"Elena Gilbert is asking about father." Rebekah said.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm gonna get her to come over." Rebekah said.
**
Isabella was sitting on the couch, watching as Rebekah poured her self a drink.
Elena walked in, "Hey, what's up?"
"You invited me over. To talk." Elena said.
"All right, girls. Have at it." Rebekah said and a group of girls, all with different dresses on entered the room, "Okay, now, twirl please."
"You compelled your own private runway show?"
"I need a homecoming dress." Rebekah said.
"Ooo, can I go to that?" Isabella stood up.
"Of course." Rebekah said. She looked at Elena, "what do you think? Pick one."
"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 said.
Rebekah smiled but then vamp-sped behind one of the girls and put her fangs near her neck.
"I said pick one, Elena." She said.
"The red one." Elena said.
"Good choice, I was going to say that as well." Isabella said.
"Go away. Remember nothing." Rebekah said and all of the girls walked off.
Rebekah picked up her champagne glass and walked over to Elena, "you do not threaten me. You will learn what I allow you to learn. Is that clear?"
Elena nodded in a little fear and Rebekah turned around, "come on sweetie."
Isabella walked towards her and they walked upstairs together, Elena slowly following them.
Rebekah led them into Stefan's room, "How fun is this?"
"We shouldn't be in here." Elena said.
Rebekah looked in his drawers and Isabella walked over to his journals.
"Course we should. Come on, like you've never wanted to snoop? Boxer briefs. Now that's a change from the '20s" Rebekah said.
"Are you gonna root through his stuff all night, or are you gonna start your story?"
Isabella took a journal of the shelf, lay on his bed and started reading it.
"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?"
"Our 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."
"So how did you end up here? This part of the world hadn't even been discovered yet."
Rebekah laughed, "not by anyone in your history books."
Isabella finally looked up from the book, "our 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 led our family here, where we lived amongst those people."
"The werewolves?"
"To us, they were just our neighbours. Our family lived in peace with them for over 20 years during which time my family had more children. Including me and Izzy."
"You make it sound so normal."
"Because it was." Isabella said.
"Once a month, our family retreated to the caves beneath our village. The wolves would howl through the night. By morning we'd return home.
"Come on Izzy." Rebekah laughed as she pulled her younger sister towards all of the necklaces.
"They're so pretty." Isabella said.
Rebekah touched one but it burnt her.
"What happened?" Isabella asked.
Rebekah turned around and saw Ayana looking at them.
"Ayana, you burned me." Rebekah said.
"That is not your to touch." Ayana said.
"Mother!" They heard someone shout.
"Is that Niklaus?" Isabella asked.
"Something is wrong." Rebekah said as she grabbed her sisters hand and ran towards Klaus.
They saw Henrik laying still in his arms.
"Henrik!" Rebekah said.
"Mother!" Klaus shouted again, laying Henrik on the floor.
"Once full moon, Klaus and our youngest brother, Henrik, snuck out to watch the men turn into beasts. That was forbidden. Henrik paid the price."
Isabella fell to her brothers side and soon Esther, Elijah and Kol came running towards them too.
"No. No. No." Esther said.
Kol took Isabella way so she didn't have to see her brother dead.
"What happened?" Esther asked.
"Wolves. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Klaus said.
"We must save him. Please, there must be a way." Esther said.
Ayana touched his face, "the spirits will not give us a way Esther. You're boy is gone."
Esther began to cry, saying "No" constantly.
Rebekah comforted Klaus as they stared at their dead brother.
"And that was the beginning to the end of peace with our neighbours. And one of the last moments our family had together as humans."
Elena's phone started ringing, "you better get that. That'll be Damon checking up on you." Rebekah said and Elena picked it up.
Rebekah looked at Isabella who was still remembering that day as she had tears in her eyes.
"Hey. I'm sorry. I know you don't like remembering that day." Rebekah quietly said.
"It's fine." Isabella said.
Rebekah nodded and lay next to her, "so, what are we reading?"
"Seems like his sappy love life with Katherine." Isabella said.
"Oooo, let me see." Rebekah snatched the book out her hand a started reading it.
"Did you get you fill of snooping yet? Can we get on with the story?" Elena said.
Rebekah rolled her eyes and gave the journal back to Isabella.
"I've made up my mind." Isabella whispered.
"On what?"
"I like Tatia more than Elena."
"Didn't think you would ever say you like Tatia." She laughed and walked closer to Elena who didn't hear the conversation.
She picked up a picture from of Elena and Stefan, "honestly, I don't get you two as a couple."
"Why would you? You don't know anything about who he really is." Elena said.
"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? Because you don't care about the homecoming dance? You know what? I'm just gonna go." Elena said and started walking out.
"You haven't even heard half the story."
"And you're 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 doesn't need to do that. She has me." Isabella smiled.
"Oh, right because being best friends with your sister, half your age is fun." Elena said.
"Whatever." Isabella rolled her eyes and Elena started walking out.
"The necklace wasn't Stefan's to give. It belonged to the Original Witch." Rebekah said.
"The one who put the hybrid curse on Klaus?" Elena asked.
"Not just the hybrid curse."
"She's the one who turned us into vampires." Isabella said and Elena's eyes widened.
Rebekah was sitting down, outside listening to the conversation between her parents and Ayana.
"Please, Ayana, I implore you. You must call upon the spirits before the next full moon." Mikael said.
"I will not. It is a crime against nature." Ayana said.
"Ayana, we have already lost too much. We cannot lose any more. The spirits can help us find a way to protect our children." Esther said.
"I'm thirsty. Do you want a drink?" Rebekah said as she walked out the room.
Isabella shut the journal and followed them.
"So vampirism was a form of protection?" Elena asked.
"What else would it be?" Rebekah asked.
"A curse." Elena said.
"Our parents only saw a way of keeping their children alive."
"Yeah, but why stay? If they were so afraid of the werewolves, why not leave?"
"Pride. Our father did not want to run anymore. He wanted to fight and be superior to the wolves. Where they had to bite, we had to bite harder. Where they had speed, we had to be faster. Agility. Strength. Senses."
"Everything could be heightened. Our family could live forever." Mikael said.
"At what cost? This magic you speak of breeds consequence. This is the making of a plague, Esther. The spirits will turn on you." Ayana said.
"Please, Ayana." Esther said.
"I will have no part in it." Ayana said as she walked away.
"If she will not protect our family, then it is your hands alone, my love." Mikael said.
"In her hands? How could she do anything?" Elena asked.
"Our mother was also a witch." Isabella said.
"What?"
"The witch of the Original family. The Original Witch." Rebekah said.
"Duh" Isabella said.
"But if you're mother was a witch-" Elena started.
"Are we? No. A witch is nature's servant. A vampire is an abomination of nature. You can 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." Rebekah said
"And then he drove his sword through our hearts." Isabella said, tears in her eyes as she remembered the scene of that night.
"He killed you?" Elena said
"And he wasn't delicate about it, either."
Isabella woke up a few hours later, she saw all of her family around her, blood staining their white outfits.
"No. No!" She shouted, hovering over Rebekah's body.
Rebekah gasped awake and look at her sister, engulfing her in a hug.
"What's happened?" Rebekah said.
"Father. He did something to us. All of us." Isabella looked down at her dress to see a patch of blood.
Soon, one after another, Klaus, Elijah, Kol and Finn woke up. Each of them asking what had happened.
Isabella was in Klaus's arms when Mikael re-entered the room.
"What's happening?" Kol asked.
Mikael scowled at his children, before bringing a women into the room as well.
He slit her wrist and Klaus put his hand over Isabella's eyes and forced her to look away.
"Drink!" Mikael shouted to Rebekah.
"What?" Klaus quietly said.
"Drink!" Mikael repeated.
Kol took Klaus's spot in hugging Isabella as Klaus tried to push his father away from Rebekah but instead Mikael pushed Klaus away from them and forced Rebekah to feed on the blood.
One after another, Mikael forced each of his children to drink from the woman, even his 10 year old daughter.
"When I drank, 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 our enemy. It kept us indoors for weeks. And then our mother found a solution but there were other problems. Neighbours who had opened their homes to us could now keep us out. The flower 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 our 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."
"Why did Mikael start hunting Klaus." Elena asked.
"When Nik made his first human kill, it triggered his werewolf gene. With that, he became my father's greatest shame."
"Yeah, Elijah told me this part of the story. Your mother had an affair with one of the werewolf villagers. Klaus wasn't his son."
"What we have recently found out is that my mother did it again, therefore making Bella. I do not think Mikael knows that still. 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."
"Mikael killed your mother?"
"It was a few weeks after Bella disappeared, everyone was angry and we all tried to look for her but Mikael 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. We promised each other that we would be there 'Always and Forever'."
"Always and Forever. Even though he locked you in a coffin for 90 years?"
"We're vampires. Our emotions are heightened. 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."
"But you still love him?" Elena said.
"He's my brother. And I'm immortal. Should I spend an eternity alone instead?" Rebekah said.
"Think about it, would you ever want to kill your own brother? Would you turn your back on him?" Isabella asked and Elena stayed quiet. "That's what I thought."
"You've heard the story, it's time to go. I said leave, Elena! I don't know what you're up to but I'm no longer playing along."
"And I'm just trying to find one good reason why we shouldn't wake Mikael." Elena said.
"I've given you a thousand. But you will anyway. I know you want him to help kill our brother. I'm not stupid."
"It's no secret I want Klaus dead, he has a hold over Stefan's life. And over mine."
"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 said and Elena walked out.
"Why was she asking? Why does she want to wake him?" Isabella asked.
"They're all dumb, that's why." Rebekah walked over to her and kissed her head, "go to bed, yes?"
"Okay." Isabella said as she walked upstairs.
**
Isabella was woken up from shouting from downstairs.
She quickly stood up and sped downstairs.
Rebekah was crying next to the fireplace.
"What's happened?" Isabella asked.
"Nik- Nik. He killed mother." She cried.
Isabella's breathing hitched.
"No, no, he didn't." Isabella said.
"I actually think he did." Rebekah cried.
"W-why?"
"I-I don't know."