⭒❃.✮:▹
Arabella woke up from her phone ringing. When she saw that it was Stefan, she declined. He kept trying a few more times and she finally picked up the phone when she saw Elena's name. She looked over to her brother, who was lying on the other bed of their hotel room.
"Elena, why are you calling at seven in the morning?" She asked.
"One, you said that you were gonna go to school with us." Arabella groaned when she remembered how she called the school, a couple of days ago, already regretting doing so.
"Two, Stefan called and he said that you didn't pick up, but they need to talk to us."
"About what?"
"I have no idea. He only said it was important. So I'll pick you up in an hour." Elena said.
"Fine." Arabella replied before ending the call and laying her phone back down on her bed.
An hour later
When she was about to walk though the door an hour later, her brother woke up.
Wonder how he does that, staying asleep, I made noise, a lot, and he has supernatural hearing. He's weird.
"Where are you going, Arabella?" He asked.
"School."
"Have fun." He said to her smirking.
Arabella went back to her bed, grabbed her pillow and throw it at him. "Oh fuck off."
"You were the one who signed up for school, not me."
Arabella sighed. "I was. I wanted to spend time with my new friends and my boyfriend. But now Stefan helped everyone put our sister in that tomb, not so much anymore." And she walked out, before her brother could say anything.
She saw Elena's car directly when she came in the parking lot. "Hey Lena."
"Hey Bella. We'll be fast, just see what they have to say and then leave for school."
"School, yay." She faked cheered.
"It's not that horrible." Elena said, even though everyone knows that's a big lie.
"Yes it is. My friends, minus you, tried to kill my sister and Stefan and Damon helped them. No wait Damon was the one who came up with the plan probably."
Even though Elena was more than happy that her doppelgänger was in the tomb, where she could not hurt any of her friends and family. She felt sorry for her friend Arabella, not Katherine.
⭒❃.✮:▹
Damon opened the door. "Hello Elena. Sunshine-"
Elena cuts him off. "Stefan here? He called. Said it was important."
He moved back so they could pass. "Right this way."
Stefan came into the hallway. "Hey." He said, more directed to Arabella than Elena.
"What is this about?" Arabella asked him, wanting this all to be over quickly and he moved back to make Rose visibly.
"Oh my god, you're alive." Arabella said before running to Rose and hugging her. "I missed you, so much."
"You already said that yesterday Ara." Rose chuckled while hugging her back.
"I'm sorry about Trevor, Rosie."
"Thank you." Rose smiled before letting Arabella go, only to see Elena looking shocked at her.
"Come on, let's talk." Damon said before walking away. Stefan waited for Arabella, who just passed him.
She sat down next to Elena on the couch. Stefan in the sitting chair on her left and Damon on Elena's right. While Rose just kept standing up.
"Okay, you have to understand I only know, what I've picked up over the years. And I don't know what's true and what's not true. That's the problem with all of this vampire crap. But Klaus I know is real." Arabella groaned when Rose said his name, making Rose smile softly at her.
"Who is he?" Elena asked, curious.
"He's one of the Originals." Damon said.
"From the first generation of vampires." Stefan went on.
"Like Elijah?" Elena asked and Arabella felt sad when she remembered last night.
"No, Elijah was the Easter Bunny compared to Klaus. He's a foot soldier. Klaus is the real deal." Damon rolled his eyes.
I wouldn't have underestimated Elijah. He could be just as bad as Klaus.
"Klaus is known to be the oldest." Stefan said, while looking at his girlfriend who had not said anything since she had hugged with her old best friend.
Wrong.
"Okay, so you're saying that the oldest vampire in the history of time is coming after us?" Elena asked, in disbelief.
Third oldest.
"No." Stefan said quickly while Rose spoke. "Yes."
He's in denial.
"What they're saying is- I mean, if what she's saying is true-" He was cut off by Rose.
"Which it is."
"You're not just saying this so we don't kill you."
"Which I'm not."
"Then we're looking at a solid maybe."
No, Damon, we're all fucked. Dumbass.
"Look, Elijah's dead, right?" Stefan started and moved over next to Arabella. "So no one else even knows that you two exist." Rose and Arabella exchanged looks, only seen by Damon, who eyes the two, weirdly.
Ha, everybody who wants to be friends with Klaus, knows I exist.
"Not that you know of." Rose said while making some weird eye movement to Arabella, that she needs to talk, to make them understand the situation, but she kept quiet.
"That's not helping." Damon said while glaring at her.
"Look, I've never even let anyone who's laid eyes on him." Stefan said to the two girls before turning to his brother and Rose. "I mean, we're talking centuries of truth mixed with fiction."
What am I, huh, a fucking teddy bear?
He turned back to Arabella. "We don't know what's real. For all we know, he could be some stupid bedtime story."
"He's real. And he doesn't give up. If he wants something, he gets it. If you're not afraid of Klaus then you're an idiot. He'll want you more, Arabella, you know that. More than he wants Elena."
"All right, we're shaking." Damon said sarcastically. "You made your point."
"Why would he want Bella more then Elena?" Stefan asked curiously.
Elena and Arabella both looked at each other, both done with this conversation. They nodded to the other and stood up at the same time.
"Where are you going?" Stefan asked, moving his attention from Rose, who didn't answer his question, to Arabella.
"School, we're late." Elena answered.
"Let me grab my stuff. I'll go with you."
"That's okay. We know where it is." Arabella said before turning around, arms linked with Elena's and walked out of the door.
"She's in denial." Damon spoke to Rose and Stefan turned to them. "Shut up, Damon."
As the two girls were outside, they both agreed with each other. They had to talk to Katherine.
"What does Klaus want with you?"
"I will tell you later okay?" Arabella asked and received a nod from Elena before getting in the car.
"I'm just just gonna call Caroline so she can distract Stefan."
⭒❃.✮:▹
"Katherine?" They heard footsteps.
"Hello, Elena. You come to watch me wither away?" Katherine said, as she finally appeared. "Damon know you're here?"
"We brought you some things."
"You came to bribe me. What is it that you want?" And now her eyes landed at Arabella, who she had not noticed before. "Arabella?"
"Hey big sister." She smiled sadly at her sister, getting a small smile in return.
"I want you to tell me about Klaus." Elena interrupts the reunion of the two sisters.
Jezus Lena. Calm down.
"Hmm, you've been busy." Katherine spoke and looked at her sister, who immediately looked away.
"I also brought you this." Elena said while taking a book out of the bag she had been carrying. Arabella looked interested at it. "It's your family history. It says in here that the family line ended with Arabella. Obviously, that's not true."
Katherine looked at Elena. "You think that if you brought me some family keepsake I'd open up?"
"Yes indeed Elena and where the hell did you get that?" Arabella asked her while taking the book and sitting down against the wall right next to her sister who was on the other side of the barrier.
"We got it from Duke a few weeks ago, before you were in town." Elena answered before looking back at Katherine. "I also brought you this."
Katherine lunged for it but got stopped by the invisible barrier, with the veins popping out under her eyes.
"You don't look so good. How long before your body shuts down? Ten, 20 years? Must be painful to desiccate and mummify. I can't even imagine."
Katherine gave in and sank to the floor while Elena poured some blood into a little cup. As she went to move it with a stick, Arabella grabbed it and pushed it over the barrier right into her sister's hand.
"You have the Petrova fire." Katherine spoke to Elena before drinking the blood.
"More blood?" Elena asked before taking the cup back.
"It's a long story, Klaus and I. Goes all the way back to England, 1492, after we left Bulgaria. Or were thrown out." She started.
"Thrown out?" Elena asked while looking at Arabella. But Katherine spoke and got Elena's attention back.
"My family, your true ancestors they disowned me. My indiscretions were not tolerated at that time. I had a baby out of wedlock. The shame."
"It was kept secret." Elena figured out and Katherine made a confirming mhm.
"My baby was given away. We were banished to England and I had to learn to adjust. So I quickly became English. It was there that we caught the eye of a nobleman named Klaus. I found out what he was and what he wanted from me. And then we ran like hell."
Flashback:
All three Petrova siblings were running for their lives, Arabella had it easier with the vampire speed she could use but she wouldn't leave her sibling side, not for one second. When Katerina falls, they all stay down as Arabella hears them coming near.
"They're hear. Katerina? Arabella? Victor? I know you're near. I can smell your blood. It's pointless to run. Klaus will find you wherever you are. You too Arabella, he won't stop looking for you." They heard Elijah yell through the woods, just when Trevor came to him.
"This way." He said. "There's more blood over there." And they left.
"Head east. I can't lead them astray much longer." Trevor said as he pushed Katerina against a tree.
"I can't run anymore." Katerina said, breathing heavily while the other two siblings were asking the other if they were okay.
"Never mind. There's a cottage. You'll be safe there. Go now. Go." Trevor said before vamping away again.
End Flashback.
"So what did Klaus want with you two?"
"Same thing that he'll want from you. He wants to break the curse."
"By sacrificing the Petrova doppelgänger?" Elena asked.
"He wanted to drain every single drop of blood from my body." Katherine answered but kept the part of Klaus and Arabella to herself. Arabella would tell Elena later.
"What does the Petrova bloodline have to do with Klaus?" Elena asked confused.
"It's really tedious, but the curse was bound by the sacrifice of Petrova blood. Witches are crafty with their spells. The doppelgänger was created as a way to be able to undo the spell. Once the doppelgänger reappeared, the curse can be broken."
"So you ran before he killed you."
"Something like that."
Flashback:
"Help. Please help us." Katerina screamed while knocking repeatedly at the door and an old lady opened.
"I don't invite strangers into my home." The old women replied wanting to close the door again.
"No, Trevor, he said that you'd help us."
"Damn him. Always making promises I don't wanna keep." Rose appeared.
"Rose?" Arabella asked in confusion.
"Let them in." They all quickly got inside and sat down while Rose compelled the old lady to get some food and water.
"You must be Rose. Thank you." Katerina started, already hearing the name from her sister a thousand times while she showed the moon stone. "Trevor said to show you this. To prove I am who I say. That you would help us to freedom."
"You stole this from Klaus?" Rose asked moving her eyes to Arabella.
"It was to be part of the sacrifice ritual so we grabbed it and made our escape." She answered.
"People do not escape from Klaus. Everyone who tries ends up in his grasp. Anyone who helps them dies."
"I know the risk you bring on yourself." Katerina tried but Rose interrupted her.
"I am risking nothing. I will bring you back to Klaus and beg him to show us both mercy."
End flashback.
"Rose never ended up taking you all back to Klaus, did she?"
"No but not because she had a change of heart."
Flashback:
"Where is she?" Trevor asked when he walked in and Rose pushed him against a wall while in the other room Victor snapped Arabella's neck.
"You have set us both on a path of death. I only hope Klaus sees the honor in returning that girl to him."
"He will sacrifice her." He spoke.
"Then so be it."
"I love her, Rose." Rose face softened when he said that.
"He'll kill you. He will not stop until he has all of our heads."
"Then we shall run until we die." He said. Both heard a loud noise of something falling. They went back inside the room where the three Petrova's were in, to see Arabella laying on the bed, with her neck snapped and Katerina and Victor who had hung themselves with a rope.
End flashback.
"You killed yourself?" To say Elena was chocked would be an understatement.
"Klaus needed a human doppelgänger. As a vampire, I was no longer any use to him."
"But it didn't work. You didn't really escape You've been running from Klaus ever since."
"I underestimated his spirit for vengeance. Living out of a suitcase is better than dying, so that you could have your blood spilled over some silly little rock." Katherine said. "What's wrong? Afraid I'm right? You don't wanna die? There's another way out? Better hurry. Your opportunity is going, going, going, and gone."
"Katherine." Arabella said, glaring at her sister.
"I made the other choice."
Flashback.
Katerina woke up first, and Trevor directly asked her. "What did you do, Katerina? I would have helped you live."
"You would've helped me run. That was never going to be enough." She spoke before going over to her sister.
"It was enough for me." Trevor spoke and now Victor was awakening too.
"Oh, do you not see, Trevor?" Rose asked while coming back in the room. "She used you to help her escape and me to turn them. Klaus will see our role in this."
"And for that, we're sorry." Victor said.
"As am I for this." She said while vamping to Katerina with a stake. Only she had seen it coming so she pushed the old lady in front of her so the stake ended up in her neck. So Katerina fed and gave the old lady to her brother.
"Please understand." She pleaded.
"You have just signed our death sentence." Rose spoke.
"Better you die than I."
Victor picked up his sister's body and sped out of the room with Katerina right behind him.
End flashback.
"Rose and Trevor spent the last 500 years running because you used them. Trevor just got killed." Elena said.
"Never thought he would've lasted that long." Arabella shot her sister a dirty look.
"You don't even care that you ruined their lives." Elena said. "And Arabella's and Victor's."
"Elena she wasn't the one who ruined my life. Klaus was."
"How did you die then?"
"The asshole snapped my neck." She said simply.
"I was looking out for myself and my family, Elena. I will always look out for myself and them. If you're smart, you'll do the same." Katherine interrupted the two, seeing how sad her sister looked.
With Caroline and Stefan
"Where's Arabella?" Stefan asked.
Caroline sighed. "I can't tell you."
"You can't tell me." Stefan said in disbelief. "Are you kidding me?"
"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you."
"Caroline, Arabella and Elena we're kidnapped. They could've been killed. Are you seriously not gonna tell me where they are?"
"They're not in any danger. I would not have let them put themselves in danger."
"Put themselves in danger where? What are you-?" Stefan asked. "Listen, if you're my friend like you've been pretending to be all day then you'll tell me where they are."
"Stefan, I am your friend. But I'm also Arabella's and Elena's friend. And I'm sorry but I'm not gonna tell you where they are."
Stefan scoffed before standing up.
In the tomb
"So how much of your little story is true?"
"I have no reason to lie, Elena. I have no reason to do but sit here and read and rot." Katherine said while flipping through the pages of the book which Arabella had given to her.
"Okay, assuming it's even partially true that's the reason why you came back. Because you wanted to be the one to hand me over to Klaus."
"Five hundred years on the run, I figured maybe he'd be willing to strike a deal." She answered, standing up and smirking.
"So you got Mason to find you the moonstone"
"Right again."
"What else is needed to break the curse?" Arabella asked.
"It's not just me or the stone, is it? Otherwise there would be no reason to trigger Tyler Lockwood's werewolf curse."
"Witches and their spells. So many ingredients, so many people to sacrifice. Right Arabella?"
"So you need a werewolf." Arabella said.
"Believe it or not, they're hard to come by."
"What else?" Elena asked this time.
"A witch to do the spell." Katherine answered truthfully.
"So that's Arabella or what?"
"You honestly think I'm gonna hand my own sister back over to Klaus. Mine bailed, but little Bonnie will do just fine."
"What else?"
"A vampire."
"Caroline." Arabella said.
"Could have been anyone, I suppose, but I like the poetry of Caroline."
"So you were gonna just hand us all over to be
killed." Elena asked in disbelief.
"Better you die than I."
"What were you planning to do with Arabella then?"
"I don't know, I was thinking Italy or Spain maybe."
"You would send your own sister away."
"Arabella" Her sister started. "You know you should already be out of this town. He will know. You know what he will do with you when he finds you."
"Actually he won't. Rose and Trevor kidnapped us a few days ago to hand us over to Elijah."
"Elijah knows?"
"Elijah's dead. Damon killed him." Arabella said and Katherine walked away.
⭒❃.✮:▹
"She's not coming back, Lena." Arabella said to her after standing in front of the opening of the tomb for almost half an hour now.
"Arabella." Stefan called out.
"Stefan, what are you doing here?" Arabella asked him.
"I could ask you the same question."
Arabella sighed. "Caroline told you."
"No, she kept your secret, but it didn't take long to figure out what was so important that you'd have to keep it from me."
"I knew you'd stop me."
"Listen to me. Whatever she said to you is a lie. Do not listen to her. She is a liar, Bella. I know she is your sister but trust me." Stefan spoke.
"What if she isn't? You didn't hear what she said. You don't know what happened. What she said could be true with everything I know. I believe her Stefan." Arabella argued.
"You don't have to worry. I'm not gonna let anything happen to you."
"That's the problem. You won't. But you'll die trying, how is that any better?" Arabella asked him and Katherine appeared again.
"There's nothing you can do, Stefan. I haven't even told you the best part of the story." Katherine said and Elena listened to the conversation again. And Arabella knew exactly what she was gonna tell them.
Flashback:
The three Petrova's stormed into their old family home.
"No, no, no. Papa." Arabella said while crying at seeing her father dead, with a sword true his chest.
"No, mama." Katerina cried over her mother's body and Arabella cried in Victor's arms.
End Flashback.
"He killed them. Our entire family. Just to get back at us for running." Both Stefan and Elena looked directly at Arabella, while she kept looking at her sister. "Whatever you do to escape Klaus, he will get his vengeance. On your friends, your family, on anyone that you've ever loved."
"No, look at me." Stefan said to Arabella grabbing her by her shoulders to make her look at him. "Don't listen to her. Nobody is gonna get hurt." Arabella looked at him in disbelief.
Everyone is gonna get hurt.
"Always the protector. But even you must realize that Elena and Arabella are doomed. There's nothing you can do to stop it. Unless, of course, you have this." She said while holding up the moonstone.
"What?" Elena asked.
"No, there it is." Stefan said.
"That's the ultimate lie, isn't it? You spun this whole thing so that we would have to get the stone from you." He said while stepping closer to Katherine.
"She didn't spin anything, Stefan. It's the truth." Arabella said to Stefan.
"You wanna trade that stone for your freedom? You manipulative, psychotic bitch."
"My freedom?" Katherine laughed. "That's where you're wrong, Stefan. I don't want my freedom. Because when Klaus shows up to kill us all - minus Arabella- and he will, I'll be in the tomb. Where no vampire will enter because they can't get out. I'll be the safest psychotic bitch in town. Get the hell out of it before he finds you, Ara." Katherine looked at Arabella before disappearing again.
⭒❃.✮:▹
"Arabella?" Stefan asked standing in front of Arabella's and Vitcor's hotel room.
"I can't talk about it Stefan."
"You have to. Don't shut me out. Arabella, please." Arabella let go of the door handle and set against it.
"We wanted to know the truth, Stefan, and we got it. It's not just Elena that's in danger. It's Caroline and it's Tyler and it's Bonnie. They're all parts of breaking the curse. Just because my siblings and I ran from Klaus and now innocent people are probably gonna die."
"Hey, come here." Stefan said while opening his arms for her."
⭒❃.✮:▹
"Slater? Are you okay?" Rose asked, worriedly.
"Yes, I took off, I'm sorry. I was frigging freaked."
"No, I'm sorry to involve you." She apologized to the incident from earlier today.
"Look, I want no part in any of this, but I did some digging." Damon made a gesture to Rose, to ask for more information.
"Okay. What did you find?"
"You can destroy the curse, but you need the moonstone."
"How? What do you mean? I don't follow."
"Well, can your friend gets the moonstone? You need it." Damon nodded.
"Yes, he can get it. What next?"
"We need a witch. Get the moonstone. A witch should be able to figure out the rest. Good luck, Rose." Slater said before hanging up the phone.
"Very nicely done."
"Thanks. I have a degree in theater. How can you compel me? A vampire can't compel another vampire?"
"I'm a special vampire." Elijah simply shrugged.
"What, because you're an original?"
Elijah hummed before speaking. "Now, I want you to take this and drive it through your heart."
"But that would kill me forever."
"I know. But it's necessary." So Slater did.
"Was it really?" Jonas Martin asked him.
"It had to be done. He delivered his message. Won't be long now."
⭒❃.✮:▹
Words: 3030
Posted: August 18, 2023
Be sure to comment. I love reading them and it keeps me motivated!
x Kat