"These images tell a story," Alaric explains. "To learn the story, we have to decipher these images."
Elena, Damon, Alaric, and I are currently in Alaric's apartment, trying to decode the symbols the originals carved into a cave a thousand years ago. Well, more so me and Alaric; Elena is attempting to practice fighting Damon.
"The ghost of Christmas past, Mason Lockwood, said that the cave would lead us to a weapon that could kill Klaus," Damon informs.
Elena grunts, "Yeah, but doesn't Mikael have a weapon?"
"The wall will probably lead us to where Mikael is, but that's moot point because we've already found and lost him," I sigh.
"These images, at the very least," Alaric starts, "might tell us what that weapon is."
Damon comes up behind me and wraps his arms around my waist, hugging me.
"Then all we have to do is find out what they mean," Elena says, walking up to the kitchen island.
"Well, fine. Fine. If I'm being irritatingly optimistic like you two," Damon says sarcastically. "How do you suppose we do that?"
"Well, if the story is, in fact, the story of the originals, then we ask the same people who carved these images centuries ago," I suggest.
"I'll ask Rebekah today at school, Elena says. "Speaking of which. Ric, we gotta go."
"Hey, Alaric? Can I stay here and see if I can try to decipher these?"
"Sure. I trust you in my apartment more than I trust Damon. I'll see you two later."
"Bye," I call to them as they leave.
⇢⇢⇢⇢
Elena texts me to meet her at the boarding house to make sure Rebekah doesn't attack her when they talk. I told her "isn't that Damon and Stefan's job?" She ignored me, so I went anyways, not to protect her, though.
I get there at the same time as Elena and she doesn't say anything, just walks into the house. I follow behind her. I hear music playing and Elena and I walk into the living room to see the blonde with champagne.
"Hey, what's up?" She smiles.
"You invited me over to talk," Elena reminds her.
"I hope it's okay that I tagged along," I tell her.
"Of course, you're always welcome," she informs me. She turns around and yells, "Alright, girls. Have at it." Six girls walk into the room wearing dresses and twirl.
"You compelled your own private runway show?" Elena asks in disbelief. I've seen worse.
"I need a homecoming dress," she explains. "So 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 retorts.
"The red," I say.
"That wasn't so hard. Go away, remember nothing," Rebekah compels the girls. The girls walk out of the room and Rebekah grabs a glass of champagne. She walks close to Elena, only inches away from her. "You do not threaten me," she tells Elena. "You will learn what I allow you to learn. Is that clear?"
Elena cowardly nods.
I follow Rebekah upstairs and to Stefan's room with Elena trailing behind me. "How fun is this?" Rebekah rhetorically asks.
"We shouldn't be here," Elena says. I just sit on one of the chairs.
"Of course we should," Rebekah responds. "Come on. Like you've never wanted to snoop." She holds up a pair of Stefan's boxers. "Boxer briefs. Now that's change from the twenties."
"Are you gonna root through his stuff all night, or are you gonna start to tell me your story?" Elena inquires.
"Elena be a tad more patient," I say. She glares at me and I roll my eyes.
"Thank you, Penny. You really are no fun," the blonde tells Elena. "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," She explains.
"So how did you end up here?" Elena asks. Get some patience, for the love of god! "This part of the world hadn't even been discovered yet."
Rebekah laughs. "Not by anyone in your history books. 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 led my family here, where we lived amongst those people."
"The werewolves?" I question.
"To us, they were just our neighbors. My family lived in peace with them for over twenty years during which time my family had more children, including me," She responds.
"You make it sound so normal," Elena says.
"Yeah, for them it probably was normal," I say.
"It was," Rebekah agrees. "Once a month, our family retreated to the caves beneath our village. The wolves would howl through the night and by morning, we'd return home. One full moon, Klaus and my youngest brother Henrik snuck out to watch the men turn into beasts. That was forbidden. Henrik paid the price. And that was the beginning of the end of peace with our neighbors." I got up and hugged her, which she returned. "And one of the last moments my family had together as humans."
Elena's phone rings and Rebekah pulls away from the hug, clearing her throat. "You better get that," She tells Elena. "That'll be Damon checking up on you."
Elena answers her phone. "Hello?"
"Hey," I hear Damon say through the phone.
"Damon, where are you?" She asks.
"No idea, but I'm pretty sure I'm overdressed," he responds. "Still standing?"
Elena sighs. "Yes. I'm fine, but I can't talk right now."
"I'll be at the bar," I hear Stefan say to Damon. I thought he was locked up but that's not my problem.
"Was that Stefan?" Elena asks.
"Yeah. I kind of went off-book, but don't worry. I know what I'm doing," Damon assures her.
"Damon, how could you let him out?" She complains. I cringe at her whiney voice.
"I've got this, Elena." He hangs up on her.
Rebekah and I walk over towards his bed. Elena quickly follows. The blonde finds some of his journals and plops down on his mattress, reading one.
"Did you get your fill of snooping yet?" Elena asks her. "Can we get on with the story?"
Rebekah closes the journal and gets up. Before shuffling through stuff on one of his tables, eventually picking up a picture frame with a photo of Elena and Stefan in it. "Honestly, I don't get you two as a couple," she comments.
"Why would you? You don't know anything about who he really is."
"Elena. Believe it or not, people change over decades. I've seen Stefan change. Just because you may know who he is, or was, this past year, doesn't mean that Rebekah didn't really know him in the '20s or that I didn't know the real him when he was human in the 1800s," I tell her.
Rebekah leans over Elena who is sitting in a chair. "I know exactly who he is," she informs. "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?" Elena asks. "Cause you don't care about the homecoming dance? You know what? I'm just gonna go."
"You haven't even heard half the story," Rebekah tells her.
"And you're not going to tell it." Elena says.
"Yeah, because you've been a bitch to her this entire time. She hasn't tried to pick a fight, that was you," I explain.
"She's just bored and looking for someone to push around," Elena tells me. "Find someone else to play with."
"I think you just described yourself more than you did her," I comment.
"You're supposed to be on my side and protect me," she complains.
"I never said I would do that. I'm on Damon's side, I'm on Caroline's side, I'm on Bonnie's side, I'm on Alaric's side, I'm on Stefan's side, and maybe I'm even on Rebekah's side, but I sure as hell never agreed to being on your side. You make everything about yourself and I'm tired of it. Go pout to Damon or whoever, but I never protected you because you are important to me. I protected you because you're important to Damon."
She huffs and leaves.
"If you still feel up for telling, I'm here to listen," I tell Rebekah. She nods and smiles.
"So vampirism was a form of protection?" I ask.
"Yes. My parents only saw a way of keeping their children alive."
"Why not leave if they were afraid?"
"Pride," she responds. "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. Making us into vampires was in my mother's hands. My mother was a witch. The witch of the original family, the original witch."
"If your mother was a witch then-" I start.
She interrupts, "-am I? No. A witch is nature's servant. A vampire is an abomination of nature. You can either be one or the other, not both. My mother did this for us. She did not 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 wine laced with blood. And then he drove his sword through our hearts." I see her tear up and hug her from behind. "He wasn't delicate about killing us either. We had to drink more blood to complete the ritual. 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 though my mother found a solution, there were other problems. Neighbors who had opened their homes to us could now keep us out. Flowers at the base of the white oak tree 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. The darkest consequence was something my parents had 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. When Nik made his first human kill, it triggered his werewolf gene. With that, he became my father's greatest shame."
"Yes, Elijah told me this part. Your mother 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. 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. Elijah, Nik, and I then made the pledge to be there for each other, always and forever."
I give her a moment of silence. "I'm sorry that you lost the people close to you and your human life. I appreciate you sharing with me and if you would like me to keep any of it from others, please let me know." I kiss her on the cheek from behind. "I hope you can find happiness for good one day," I tell her honestly.
She turns around and hugs me, placing a kiss on my shoulder. "You can tell others that story. Thank you for listening to me, it's a rare occurrence."
"Of course, Bekah. Sorry, is it okay if I call you Bekah?"
"Of course," she smiles.