~•⚜️•~
Imogen Avery followed the Salvatore brothers as music played loudly throughout the bar they were in. She didn't know where they are exactly but she knew she needed to call Elena Gilbert and tell her what Damon has done. She took her phone out and dialed the doppelgänger's number.
"Imogen? Where are you?"
"Elena! You won't believe what blue-eyed Salvatore has done!"
"What are you, what are you talking about, Imogen? What did Damon do?"
"Elena! He--"
Imogen's phone disappeared from her hand. She turned and saw Damon holding it.
"Hey!"
Damon grinned at her as Stefan stood beside the pretty noirette as they looked at the older Salvatore talk to Elena.
"Imogen?! Imogen!" Imogen heard Elena yelled her name over the phone.
"Hey!" Damon greeted the doppelgänger.
"Damon? Where's Imogen? Where are you and Imogen?"
"She's in front of me and I have no idea where we are, but I'm pretty sure we're overdressed. Still standing?" Damon asked.
"Yes, I'm fine, but I can't talk right now."
Stefan turned to Imogen. "Want to go to the bar?" he asked.
Imogen looked at him then to Damon, who was busy talking to Elena. She sighed and looked back at him. "Sure but you do know I don't drink."
"I know. It's just props. Come on." Stefan said and looked at Damon. "We'll be at the bar."
Stefan and Imogen walked towards the bar and looked back at Damon, still on the phone with Elena
"Is that Stefan?" she heard her asked.
Imogen tuned them out and turned to the younger Salvatore, who was already looking at her. "Elena's going to get mad at your brother for letting you out and she's going to get mad at me too for letting it happen." she said with frustration.
Stefan smirked. "Already replacing Rebekah? Since when did you and Elena become best of friends?" he mocked.
Imogen rolled her eyes. "No one is replacing Rebekah for anything but Elena and I are friends and I have no idea how it happened, it just happened, I guess. Weird huh?"
"Kinda. Well, Elena, Damon, Bonnie, Caroline, Matt, Jeremy, Tyler and even Alaric started to like you and trust you, not to mention even the ghosts. What did you do?"
Imogen shrugged. "I didn't do anything."
Stefan quirk an eyebrow. "I don't believe you."
Imogen stuck her tongue out. "Then don't, Stefan." she retorted, making the green eyed Salvatore.
Damon made his way towards Imogen and Stefan. "Looks like you two are really getting along, so what are we drinking?" he asked the two.
"Hopefully something a little bit warmer and a little bit blonder." Stefan said as he eyed the blonde bartender behind the bar.
Imogen seeing this, rolled her eyes. "Unbelievable." she muttered.
The blonde bartender approached the noirette and the Salvatore brothers.
"Hi!"
"Hello...." Damon trailed off and checked the blonde's name tag. "Callie. This beautiful girl, right beside me and I would love a shot of your best whiskey, and my brother here would love a shot of you." he compelled the the bartender.
Imogen turned at the older Salvatore with a small frown on her pretty face. "Blue-eyed Salvatore. I don't---"
"She doesn't drink." Stefan told his brother. "What's the catch, Damon?"
"No catch, brother. Drink up. It's on me." Damon told him.
Stefan, without second thoughts, grabbed Callie's wrist and bit her.
Imogen groaned softly. "You've gotta be kidding me." she muttered in disbelief and turned to face the customers of the bar.
"All of you didn't see anything and continue what you're doing." she said loudly, compelling everyone inside the bar before turning to Damon, who looked shock. "You're welcome."
~•~•~
"This. This is so out of my Ripper duty." Imogen muttered as she watched Damon and Stefan playing quarters while Callie was sitting on the older Salvatore's lap. She was sitting beside Stefan, across from Damon, a glass of water in her hand.
Stefan flipped a coin into the glass in the middle of the table. "Drink up brother!" he said.
Damon held up an empty whiskey bottle and looked at Callie. "You get us a bottle of this?" he asked the compelled blonde bartender.
"Yes, sir!" Callie said happily as she got up from his lap and left.
"You been on this bunny diet for a better part of 50 years. So, how is it that Saint Stefan, of all people, is good at a drinking game?" Damon asked mockingly.
"Oh, the bunny diet gave me a lot of time to practice." Stefan told him.
"Hmmm."
"Wallow in despair." Stefan said and flipped a coin into the glass in front of Imogen. "Drown in guilt." he flipped another coin into the glass. "Regret my existence." he flipped a third coin in a row into the glass. "It's precision born out of tragic boredom. Drink up, brother!"
"All that effort wasted trying to tell you how boring you are, and now you finally agree with me?" Damon said and downed his glass of whiskey.
"Damon, you are worse than Elena...." Stefan trailed off and looked at Imogen, who was quietly drinking her water as she stared at him and his older brother. "Not you, Imogen." the noirette nodded as Stefan looked back at his brother. "Getting me drunk, brotherly bonding. What do you think, I'll break down and you can pull me back from the edge, is that it?"
"I happen to like the edge, Stefan! Your problem is your inability to resist falling over it. All or nothing, man. You can't just be."
Imogen saw Callie walking back to their table with another bottle of whiskey and sat down on Damon's lap again, making her roll her eyes.
"Although, who am I to judge?" Damon said, flipping a coin and landed into the glass. "Drink up, brother!"
Damon held out Callie's arm right in front of Imogen towards Stefan.
"I'm going outside for a bit." Imogen told the brothers and stood up from her chair. "I need to take a breather."
She smiled at the Salvatores and walked away while the younger Salvatore watched her retreating figure as the older Salvatore narrowed his eyes at him.
"Uh huh?"
Stefan looked at his brother, who was looking at him in suspicion. "What?"
"You still love her don't you, little brother?" Damon asked.
Stefan rolled his eyes, ignoring his brother and bit Callie's wrist, drinking her blood.
~•~•~
Outside, Imogen took a deep breath and looked up at the sky.
'I wonder where Nik could be right now.' she thought to herself.
A lot has changed when she woke up after being daggered for 90 years and placed in a coffin by Klaus. She woke up to find that he was yet again trying to break the curse that Esther had placed on him, Stefan was a Ripper again, Gloria stabbing her with a knife and broke her neck, meeting the latest Petrova Doppelgänger, meeting Stefan's older brother, meeting Stefan and Elena's friends and lastly, finding out Mikael's on the loose still trying to kill Klaus.
"Well, I wouldn't have noticed you Imogen if it weren't for your necklaces."
The noirette's chocolatey brown eyes widen in shock as her body froze in fear. She would never forget that masculine strong voice that made her human life miserable, fearing for the lives of the Mikaelson siblings especially Klaus.
"How are you, child?"
Imogen turned and standing across from her was a tall, middle-aged man with short dark blond hair and blue eyes, similar to Rebekah's. It was no other than the very first and oldest Original Vampire, the Original Vampire Hunter.
"Mikael."
~•~•~
Rebekah was lying on Imogen's bed while Elena sat on a love seat. The two were still in the noirette's bedroom without her knowing.
"I know you've been inside this room for about a hundred times, so why are you snooping around Imogen's room like you weren't here before? Can we get on with the story?" Elena asked, impatiently.
Rebekah got up from the bed and picked up a photo of Elena and Stefan from a table beside Imogen's bed. She frowned at the photo. "Honestly, I don't get you two as a couple."
"Why would you? You don't know anything about who he really is." Elena retorted.
Rebekah rolled her eyes. "I may not know Stefan that well but I know Imogen does." she told the doppelgänger and threw the photo elsewhere. "I don't get why Stefan liked you. Compared to Imogen you're nowhere near her existence."
Elena sighed softly. "I know."
Rebekah nodded in agreement with a smirk on her face. "True." she mumble and looked around Imogen's room again.
"You know what, I'm just gonna go." Elena said, standing up to leave.
Rebekah stared at her. "You haven't even heard half the story."
Elena turned to her. "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."
Rebekah glared menacingly at her. "I don't need to compel a friend, doppelgänger." she spat.
Elena rolled her eyes. "Right. You have Imogen. You know, she's not gonna be there for you forever." she said.
Rebekah quirk an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "You know nothing about living forever, Imogen knows about it than anyone, more than you, so, don't talk as if you know everything."
Elena shakes her head in disbelief and turned to leave.
"The necklace wasn't Stefan's to give." Rebekah said making the doppelgänger stop. "It belonged to the Original Witch."
Elena turned to her. "The one who put the hybrid curse on Klaus?" she asked.
"Not just the hybrid curse. She's the one who turned us into vampires and what Imogen is today."
~•~•~
Mikael, Esther and Ayana were standing in a room lit by a fire and torches.
"Please, Ayana! I implore you! You must call upon the spirits before the next full moon." Mikael pleaded to the witch.
"I will not! It is a crime against nature." Ayana argued.
"Ayana, we have already lost too much. We cannot lose any more. The spirits can help us find a way to protect our children and Imogen." Esther told the witch.
Outside the room of Mikael, Esther and Ayana were in, stood Imogen and Rebekah. The noirette turned and looked at the blonde, who was looking at her and shared confuse looks.
~•~•~
"I'm thirsty. Do you want a drink?" Rebekah said and walked away from Imogen's room, Elena following behind her.
"So, vampirism was a form of protection?" Elena asked.
"What else would it be?"
"A curse?"
"My parents only saw a way of keeping their children alive." Rebekah clarified.
"Imogen's a vampire?" Elena asked, dubiously.
Rebekah looked at the Petrova doppelgänger as if she was the stupidest doppelgänger ever. "Imogen's not a vampire." she stated.
"Then what is she?"
"An Immortal Being."
Elena nodded. "Okay but why stay, if they were so afraid of the werewolves? Why not leave?" she said as if it was that easy.
"Pride." Rebekah simply said and turned to her. "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."
~•~•~
"Everything could be heightened. Our family could live forever." Mikael said.
"At what cost? This magic you speak of breeds consequence. This is the makings of a plague, Esther. The spirits will turn on you." Ayana warned Esther.
"Please, Ayana." Esther ignored the witch's warning.
"I will have no part in it." Ayana started to leave but stopped. "And don't you dare turn Imogen what she is not meant to be."
Ayana looked at Esther earnestly before leaving the Mikaelsons. Both Imogen and Rebekah hid and turned to each other.
"What does Ayana mean about you, Imogen?" Rebekah whispered.
Imogen shakes her head. "I do not know."
Imogen turned away from a confused Rebekah and continued listening.
"If she will not protect our family then it is in your hands alone, my love." Mikael said as he touched Esther's cheek and Esther nodded.
~•~•~
"In her hands? How could she do anything?" Elena asked.
"Because my mother was also a witch." Rebekah answered.
"What?" Elena asked in disbelief as she stared at the blonde Mikaelson.
"The witch of the Original Family. The Original Witch."
Rebekah and Elena walked inside the Salvatore's library.
"Where do they keep their best vintage?"
"But if your mother was a witch, then..." Elena trailed off.
"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." Rebekah said as she took a bottle of wine from a cabinet. "My mother did this for us. She did not turn."
"How did you turn?" Elena asked.
"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."
Elena was stunned. "He killed you?"
"And he wasn't delicate about it either. He even used Imogen to finish the ritual." Rebekah said nonchalantly as she breaks the neck of the bottle of wine with one motion of her hand and threw it into the fireplace.
"My father was proud what Imogen had become. My mother turned her to one of the most powerful supernatural, an Immortal Being. Imogen was scared and confused when she first compelled someone, a village girl."
"Why did Mikael made her compel a girl for?" Elena asked.
Rebekah smirked mockingly. "For us."
~•~•~
After Esther turned Imogen into an Immortal Being and Mikael turning his children into vampires, Rebekah and Klaus awaken on the floor with blood on their clothes.
"Rebekah."
Rebekah gasped. "Blood! What happened?" she touched her nightgown where she had been stabbed.
Klaus quickly went to his sister's side. "You will be alright! We will all be alright."
Just then Mikael entered the house with a villager girl, who Imogen compelled.
Imogen, who was quiet yet terrified, followed Mikael inside the house. Klaus looked at her worriedly.
"Imogen!" Klaus called for the noirette.
Imogen, who has her head down looked up. Her face was wet with tears. Klaus tried to go to her but Mikael stopped him by shoving the compelled village girl on her knees.
Klaus looked at his father confused and scared. "What are you doing?"
"We must finish what we started! You have to drink if you want to live." Mikael cuts the village girl's wrist open.
~•~•~
"We had to drink more blood to complete the ritual."
~•~•~
"Drink!" Mikael ordered Rebekah but she hesitated. "Drink!"
"No!" Imogen yelled as Klaus tried to stop his father, but Mikael pushed him aside.
Imogen quickly went to Klaus' side as they watch in horror as Rebekah started to drink the girl's blood. The blonde drank deeply, and dark veins started to appear around her eyes.
~•~•~
"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."
~•~•~
Imogen played with the necklaces Esther gave her as she walked beside Rebekah inside their house. Rebekah suddenly flinched and jumped away from Imogen, who stopped walking and turned to Rebekah worriedly.
"Rebekah! Are you alright?" she asked in concern.
Imogen watched as Rebekah's burnt face healed quickly. "What happened?"
"The sun." Rebekah muttered.
Imogen looked at the sunlight pouring inside the house and reached her hand out to the sun but nothing happened.
"You didn't burn?" Rebekah asked puzzled.
"I am not like you, Rebekah. I an not a vampire, I am an Immortal Being. I am still human." Imogen told her and took off her cloak and placed it over Rebekah.
With the noirette's cloak, Rebekah walked freely, protected from the sunlight.
~•~•~
"The sun became our enemy but not Imogen's. With her help we were protected from the sun. But the sun 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."
~•~•~
Imogen stood in front of the White Oak Tree.
"Burn it, child." Mikael ordered.
Imogen sighed softly. She took a deep breath before closing her eyes. As she opened her eyes and looked at the tree, the huge tree was enveloped in flames in an instant. She, Mikael, Elijah, Rebekah and Klaus watched.
~•~•~
"But the darkest consequence was something my parents never anticipated. The hunger."
Rebekah turned away from Elena. "Blood had made me and my family reborn and it was blood that we craved above all else. We could not control it, with that, the predatory species was born."
~•~•~
"Mikael."
Mikael smiled at the Immortal Being. "Don't worry, child. Like I promised, I won't hurt you."
"And make me tell where Nik is." Imogen added.
"Ah yes. Of course." Mikael chuckled. "Now, why don't you introduce me to your friends?"
Mikael turned to the bar as Imogen followed his gaze with a troubled look.
"I'm so conflicted here." she mumbled to herself.
Mikael chuckled, hearing the noirette. "Yes, child, you are. You wanted to protect the bastard boy--"
Imogen glared at Mikael, who quickly shut his mouth and raised his hands up in mock surrender.
"Yet you want to bring a certain Salvatore back from being a Ripper." Mikael continued. "How sweet and nice of you, Farien."
Imogen looked away. What Mikael said was true. She wanted to protect Nik from Mikael, himself but she also wanted to help Stefan.
"Don't call me Farien. Elijah's the only one to call me that."