Ordinary People
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Old Lockwood Cellar
Amber, Alaric, and Sam walk through the tunnels, "So, the Lockwoods really have no idea that these tunnels are underneath their property?" Amber asks, shining her flashlight at the walls.
"Careful where you shine that thing. Bats hate the light." Ric says, making Amber shiver.
"Wait, really?"
Damon secretly comes up and whispers behind her, "Ammy." Amber turns around as Damon smirks, "Boo!"
Amber doesn't even flinch, "I'm more scared of your face than what just happened." Amber turns around and keeps walking. Sam puts his arm around her shoulder, keeping her close.
"So, you really can't get in?" Sam asks Damon.
"No. Seems even the ancient Lockwoods were anti-vampire." Damon scoffs.
"Ancient?" Amber asks.
"See for yourself." Sam, Amber, and Ric walk forward, "This is as far as I get to go."
Amber enters the chamber and shines her flashlight on the walls with the drawings, "What's all this?"
"Well, as far as I can tell, it's a story. In simple, archaeological terms, it's a really, really old story." Ric points at the wall, "That right there, is the moon cycle." He points at another drawing, "A man, a wolf."
"A werewolf." Sam nods.
"Yeah, it's the 'Lockwood Diaries: Pictionary-Style.'" Damon smirks.
"I don't understand. I thought the Lockwoods came here with the Original Founders in the 1860s." Sam says.
"I don't know. Maybe the Lockwoods did, but according to this wall, these werewolves have been here a lot longer than that." Ric shrugs.
"How long?" Sam asks.
"Long. It gets better. Show them, Ric." Damon says.
"Names. They're not native. They're written in Runic, a Viking script." Ric shows the siblings.
"Vikings?" Amber asks.
"This name here, I translated it and it reads Niklaus." Ric looks at Amber.
"Klaus..." Amber sighs.
"And Elijah... And Rebekah."
"The Original Family." Amber looks around.
"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." Ric says.
"Could it be a fake from Klaus?" Sam asks.
Damon scoffs, "That's what I asked."
"That could be true, except the last name up here made us think otherwise." Ric points at it.
"And what's the name?" Sam asks, getting impatient.
"Mikael."
Amber looks at Ric with wide eyes, "Like the vampire hunter? The one who can kill Klaus?"
"Papa Original." Damon nods, "But... we can't have him here... If he kills Klaus..." Damon looks at Amber worriedly, "He kills you too."
Sam shakes his head, "We won't let that happen. No one is hurting Klaus and no one is going to hurt my sister. Not on my watch."
Damon nods, "I agree."
Ric also nods, "Don't worry Ammy, you both will be safe."
Mystic Falls High School
Rebekah and Amber were at cheer practice stretching when Elena stalked over to them. "You! Goody." Rebekah groans.
"I was hoping we could talk." Elena looks at Rebekah.
"About what? Stefan? Don't worry, I'm off him until he starts treating me better. In fact, you should probably take a page out of my book, if I'm being honest."
"Actually, I'd rather talk about this." Elena holds up a photo of Rebekah's name written in Runic on the cave wall.
Amber stands up and grabs the picture, "How the hell did you get this?"
"I followed you, Ric, Sam, and Damon earlier." Elena shrugs and turns to Rebekah, "I'm curious why you and Klaus have spent a thousand years running from your father."
"Elena!" Amber gasps.
"I should get back to the girls. Homecoming's right around the corner." Rebekah grabs Amber's hand and turns around.
"Well then, maybe I'll ask Mikael when I wake him," Elena calls.
"You're bluffing! You don't know where he is. No one does!" Rebekah turns around in fear.
"So, then who's rotting in that old cemetery in Charlotte?"
"If you wake Mikael, we are all doomed!" Rebekah looked at Amber who was thinking.
"So then, tell me."
"Elena, drop this now!" Amber finally says something.
"Why do you want to know?" Rebekah asks.
"Why don't you want me to wake him?" Elena shrugs.
"We need to get back to the girls." Amber pulls Rebekah back, "Rebekah, go. I'll be there in a minute." Rebekah nods and walks over and starts thinking of her past. Amber walks closer to Elena, "If you wake Mikael, you won't have to worry about him, about Klaus, about anyone or anything because you'll be six feet under the ground with me standing six feet above you." Amber looks at Elena one last time before walking back to the group.
Salvatore Boarding House
Elena enters the house and hears music, while Rebekah walks into the foyer with champagne glasses. Amber was sitting on the couch, on her phone. "Hey, what's up?" Rebekah smiles.
"You invited me over? To talk?" Elena looks around confused.
"All right girls, have at it!" Rebekah calls. Six girls in various jewel-toned colored homecoming dresses walk into the room, "Okay, now twirl please." They twirl and show off the dresses.
"You compelled your own private runway show?" Elena scoffs, "Amber, you're okay with this?"
Amber ignores her and keeps looking at the dresses. Rebekah scoffs, "I need a Homecoming dress. 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."
Rebekah rushes to one of the girls, grabs her neck, and vamps out, "I said pick one, Elena!"
"Amber! Do something!" Elena freaks but turns to see Amber looking at another dress, "Fine! The... red one!"
"There. It wasn't so hard, was it? Go away. Remember nothing." Rebekah compels the girls. The girls leave and she picks up her champagne glass and walks to Elena, "You do not threaten me. You'll learn what I allow you to learn. Is that clear?"
Elena nods. Rebekah walks past her and Elena turns and watches her. Amber stands up and moves past Elena to the door. Amber opens the door and in comes Caroline and Josh. Josh groans as he sees Elena but goes to the couch and lies down. Caroline and Amber hug before sitting on the other couch.
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Rebekah opens the door to Stefan's room and enters. Elena stays at the doorway. Josh pushes Elena out of the way as he, Amber, and Caroline walk in with Rebekah.
"How fun is this?" Rebekah asks before opening Stefan's drawers. Amber and Caroline sat on his bed while Josh was looking around.
"We shouldn't be here." Elena sighs.
"'Course we should! Come on, like you've never wanted to snoop. Boxer briefs. A lot has changed since the twenties." Rebekah smirks making Amber scoff in disgust.
"Are you gonna root through his stuff all night or are you gonna start to tell me your story?"
"Ah...you really are no fun. What do you want to know?"
Elena walks into the room, "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 starts explaining making Amber pay close attention. It was her soulmate's life anyways and she wanted to know more but didn't want to be nosy.
"So, how did you end up here? This part of the world hadn't even been discovered yet."
"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." Rebekah looks at Amber.
"The werewolves?" Amber asks quietly.
Rebekah nods softly, "To us, they were just our neighbors. 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." Elena scoffs.
"It was." Rebekah nods, "Once a month our family retreated into 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..." Rebekah looks at Amber sadly. Josh finally sits on the bed with Caroline and Amber. All three of them listened closely to her story. "And that was the beginning of the end of peace with our neighbors. And one of the last moments my family had together as humans." Amber's phone vibrates, snapping them out of Rebekah's memories.
Amber looks up and stands, "I'm so sorry... I'll be right,back."
"It's okay Amber." Rebekah reassures.
Amber walks out of the room and answers Damon's call, "Hello?"
"Hey!" Damon greets, voices in the background.
"Where are you?" Amber asks.
"No idea, but I'm pretty sure I'm overdressed." Damon scoffs.
Amber laughs, "Yeah, well, you're always overdressed. Listen, I'll talk to you later. Elena is here and is making Rebekah tell her life story."
Damon sighs and nods, "Okay, yeah. If Elena gets too much, no one will blame you for killing her."
Amber sighs, "I'm seriously considering it. How's Stefan?"
"He's... Stefan... I got to go. I'll update you later." Damon hangs up.
Amber walks back into the room, "Sorry, Beks. You can continue."
Rebekah is lying on the bed, going through one of Stefan's diaries, "It's quite alright, Ams."
"Did you get your fill of snooping yet? Can we get on with the story?" Elena scoffs.
Rebekah gets up; she picks up a photo of Elena and Stefan from a table, "I honestly don't get you two as a couple."
"Why would you? You don't know anything about who he really is."
Josh laughs, "And you do?"
"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." Rebekah leans closer to Elena.
"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."
"Please do." Caroline scoffs.
"You haven't e,en heard half the story." Rebekah smirks.
"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." Elena yells and turns around to leave but finds that she can't move.
Amber stands up and smirks, "It feels nice having my powers back. Anyways, the attitude needs to stop before I break your neck!"
"The necklace wasn't Stefan's to give. It belonged to the Original Witch." Rebekah says.
"The one who put the hybrid curse on Klaus?" Elena asks.
"Not just the hybrid curse. She's the one who turned us into vampires." Rebekah reveals as Amber lets Elena go, "I'm thirsty, do you want a drink?"
Amber, Josh, and Caroline all nod, "Yes!"
They go down to the library with Elena following behind them, "So, vampirism was a form of protection?" Elena asks.
"What else would it be?" Rebekah scoffs.
"A curse?"
"My 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...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 pours everyone a drink.
After Rebekah explains, Elena scoffs, "In her hands? How could she do anything?"
"Because she was a witch. Did you not get that?" Josh asks, taking a big drink.
"The Witch of the Original Family. The Original Witch?" Rebekah walks into the library, "Where do they keep their best vintage?"
Amber smiles and walks over to the bookshelf, "Right here! Damon lets me read all of them when I come over."
"But if your mother was a witch, then..." Elena comes back to the conversation.
"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." Rebekah answers.
"How did you turn?" Caroline softly asks.
"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?" Josh asks.
"And he wasn't delicate about it either." She takes a bottle of wine, breaks its neck off with one motion of her hand, and throws it into the fireplace. "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 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..."
"Why did Mikael start hunting Klaus?" Elena asks.
Rebekah sighed and looked at Amber, "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 had an affair with one of the werewolf villagers. Klaus wasn't his son." Elena scoffs.
"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?" Elena asks.
"He said she broke his heart so he would break hers. He tore it from her chest as Nik watched." Rebekah closes her eyes. Josh looks at Amber and Amber shakes her head. They both knew that it sounded weird but they didn't want to say it out loud.
"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 ninety years?" Elena scoffs.
"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?"
"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. I said leave, Elena! I don't know what you're up to, but I'm no longer playing along." Rebekah starts getting upset.
Amber looks at Elena, "You heard her. Leave."
"I'm just looking for one good reason why we shouldn't wake Mikael."
"And she has given you thousands! Leave, Elena!" Caroline yells.
"I know you want him to help you kill my brother, I'm not stupid. You know that won't happen, right? Do you think anyone is on your side, Elena? My brother is Amber's soulmate. Amber won't let it happen. I won't let it happen. No one will let it happen!" Rebekah scoffs.
"It's no secret that I want Klaus dead. He has a hold over Stefan's life and mine."
"Stop acting like you care about Stefan!" Josh scoffs.
"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 yells.
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Rebekah was pouring herself a glass of scotch, Caroline was on her phone texting Bonnie, and Amber and Josh were playing Uno. Elena enters with photos of the cave drawings.
"I thought I told you to leave. Twice." Rebekah scoffs.
"How do you know that Mikael killed your mother?" Elena asks. Josh and Amber stop their competitive game and look at each other. They didn't like where this was heading and they knew that Rebekah didn't need this right now. Caroline put her phone down and started paying attention.
"Nik was there. He told me."
"He lied to you." Ele,a scoffs.
"Elena, enough." Caroline says, standing up with Amber and Josh.
"And how do you know that?" Rebekah asks.
"The cave where you carved your family's names is covered in symbols. The story of your family: how your parents arrived, how they made peace, the spell that turned them into vampires, and this.a 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." Elena hands Rebekah t,e pictures.
"Her necklace." Rebekah whispers.
"And this is the story of her death. The hybrid killed the Original Witch. Not Mikael. Klaus."
"No! No, he wouldn't!"
"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 Rebekah takesfamily was!" Rebekahtakes the photos, tears them to pieces, and throws them into the burning fireplace.
"Then why are you so upset?" Elena asks.
"Why are you doing this to me? I've done nothing to you!" Rebekah cries.
"Elena, leave before I rip your throat out!" Josh yells.
"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! Amber, he has a hold on you also!" Elena looks at the short blonde.
Rebekah grabs Elena by the throat and vamps out, "Shut up! Shut up! Don't talk anymore! Nothing!" She stops, calms down slightly, and lets go of Elena. She begins to,gasp, falls onto her knees and starts to sob. Caroline and Josh begin to console Rebekah while Amber grabs Elena's arm roughly and drags the Gilbert out of the house.
Amber opens the door and pushes Elena out, "If you ever come back here Elena, I will make your life a living hell."
"You know, you keep saying that, bu, nothing has happened yet." Elena smirks.
"That's because my soulmate isn't back and I'm planning on the worst things to do to you." Amber growls and shuts the door.
Amber walks back into the room to see Rebekah crying on Josh's shoulder, and Caroline rubbingback. Amber kneels down next to them, and rubs Rebekah's back also, letting her know that she wasn't alone.
Forbes' Residence
Rebekah and Caroline were sleeping in Amber's bed, Josh was sleeping on the floor. Amber walks downstairs to get some water when she feels someone behind her. She turns around to see Damon. "Damon?"
"Mikael is free." Damon looks down in guilt.
"What? How? Why?" Amber asks.
"No idea. I'm sorry Amber. He knows about you and Klaus. He knows about you... He's ready... It's not going to end well, Ammy." Damon steps forward.
"Well, we can't give up yet, okay? We'll tell Rebekah, we'll tell Klaus to stay away from here..."
"Rebekah isn't mad at Klaus?" Damon asks.
Amber sighs, "Of course she is but... Klaus is still her brother and she loves him. She'll always be on his side."
Damon nods, "Are you okay?"
Amber shrugs, "I don't know... I'm scared, that much I know."
Damon nods and steps forward, pulling Amber into a hug, "I got your back, Blondie. I'm on your side for the whole ride."
Amber nods, "Thank you, Damon." Damon smiles and kisses her head.
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I loved this chapter so much!
Word Count: 3338
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