forty-one. klaus
Salvatore Boarding House
A deeply concerned Rosie speed-walks down the main set of stairs of the large manor into the front hallway, searching for her best friend, "Elena!" Where could she be? Considering she doesn't find her anywhere upstairs. She couldn't be with Stefan, her ex-boyfriend, and she couldn't even stand Damon for even a moment of her life. Perhaps she already left very early? Perhaps she needs to go back home to check on her brother, considering how she remains having sleepovers here since Minerva owns the place.
Andie Star, the beautiful brand new local newscaster, is standing on the front doorway of the parlor room alone, holding a mug of steaming coffee, as she patiently waits for her boyfriend Damon to come over and join her. She turns her head to look at Rosie's main arrival for the day, smiling at her.
"Hey." Rosie casually mentioned her with a fake, genuinely tired smile before she quickly looks at the parlor room to examine it for any signs of her best friend's presence anywhere, only to find that it's simply unoccupied.
"Hey." Andie replied with a genuinely friendly smile in return, truly happy to see her at this early morning before she goes to work on the exact day.
"Have you seen Elena?" Rosie asked, hoping for a yes and an answer to that, even though she has never seen her best friend interact with Andie before. Although they must have mentioned each other once or twice, considering Elena's aunt — Jenna, to be precise — is good friends with the woman.
"Uh, no." Her genuinely friendly smile awkwardly turns into a guilty one.
Damon walks over to his girlfriend from the back kitchen from behind her, the typical smug smile present on his face, "Hi, sweetie. Oh, my coffee." He kisses her, which the caramel brunette looks away from in concern of Elena. Although he really doesn't realize that the girl has already left the house.
Andie sweetly smiles at him intimately in a loving manner, "Good morning." She adorably nuzzles the tip of her nose on his, making him smile wider.
"Mm, good morning." He sips on the hot black coffee as well, sharing it with her, with the true intention to inflict a sense of envy for his best friend now, especially considering she remains single since she broke up with his brother due to their difference of opinion once it comes to a friend's choice.
Rosie fakes a smile for him as well, "Morning, Damon, where's Elena?"
"I don't know, Rosie. I don't care." Damon looks at his girlfriend, "Oh, and how's the shoulder? Got time for a bite? I'm so hungry. Breakfast, please."
"Oh, it's really messy. Can you just use a blood bag today?" Andie preferred hopefully, completely unfazed by the fact that he has been feeding from her this entire time during their relationship, under his strong mind compulsion even though he doesn't really like to drink from blood bags. He likes it fresh.
Rosie is now on the phone in pure annoyance and looks at them together.
"I'm already late for work." Andie informed her boyfriend as she's in a rush.
"No!" Damon pouts mischievously while Rosie leaves a message for Elena.
"Hey, it's me, Rosie. Where are you? I'm so worried. Call me." She hangs up before she turns back to see Damon and Andie kissing intimately right in front of her, as if the young woman isn't already late for work by now, as if Rosie isn't even there; Rosie resists the urge to roll her big hazel eyes as she only shakes her head at her best friend's behavior towards vulnerable, unprotected humans, "What are you doing? She's not a wind-up toy."
Andie looks at her with pure annoyance, though she remains to fake a smile for the girl in front of her, "It's really none of your business, is it, Rosie?"
"Yeah. What she said." Damon nods at his girlfriend once to his own benefit.
"I have to go to work." Andie reminded him before she leans in to kiss him on his wet pink lips once more before she quickly rushes over to the foyer.
Rosie raises her thick dark eyebrows briefly at that, "Happy working then."
"Ugh! Bye." Damon waves her a simple goodbye with a cute smile on.
The young newscaster walks out through the main front door. Rosie sees from the front hallway, afar, that the door to the basement downstairs is open, clearly concerning her even more than she already is, and a truly puzzled frown shows up on her lovely face. Is Elena down there? For what, to undagger and speak to Elijah? He could possibly kill her in a second! What is she thinking? She quickly rushes over to the wide open door to investigate, deeply concerned. Damon senses concern and trails after her. Honestly, he seems to be rather curious to know where Elena is as well.
Rosie quickly makes it downstairs at the wide open cellar in the basement and finds that Elijah's not there, and neither is Elena; neither is the coated silver dagger anywhere, which means someone-- most probably Elena pulled it out of him. Damon shows up behind her soon after, "Oh my God." Elena must have a death wish to speak to a starving Original vampire alone.
"No, she didn't." Damon said quietly out of denial, tired of this chase again.
****
Mystic Falls Road, Minerva's Toyota Prius
Minerva is driving down the familiar road and simply, prudently, parks her Prius on the side of the road. Elijah is sitting next to her in the passenger seat, drinking blood from a blood bag and Elena is sitting in the back seat; both girls have concocted the simple plan as a big secret between them to undagger him in order to search for another way to cancel the sacrifice. Elena, however, remains to feel guilty for not involving Rosie in this plan since it feels like she's replacing her by starting to get closer with Minerva.
The young driver looks at him to see how he looks now, "You look better." She nods a little, closely examining how handsome he is, "Much better."
"Where did you get the dagger?" Elijah strictly though calmly questioned them; how do they even know how to neutralize an Original? From a parapsychologist? Although whoever it is must have the extreme brilliance to possess the silver dagger and white oak ash, used together against him.
"We'll tell you everything. Sooner or later." Minerva nods to assure him.
"But we have to work together, Elijah. We need your word." Elena added on as a reminder that they will have no progress if they can't trust each other.
"Your ability to make demands has long passed."
Minerva shakes her head a little, "Who said anything about demands?"
"We're offering you our help. And in return, we want yours." Elena asked.
"And why should I even consider this?" Elijah questioned for a purpose.
"The same reason that you haven't killed me. You need my help to kill Klaus. And I need you. We need you." Elena informed him of the raw truth that they can't do this without another Original by their side for the battle.
Minerva's cell phone vibrates, and she answers the phone call since it's from Stefan, who's concerned, "Where's Elena? Where are you? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, thank you. Elena's here with me." Minerva replied calmly.
"Where is 'here'? Where's Elijah?" Stefan asked even more in deep concern.
Minerva sends a quick glance over to the Original, "He's right here, with us."
Stefan shakes his head, frowning, "Where? Tell me. I'm on my way." Now.
"No, Stefan, I don't want you here. Elena and Elijah need some time to talk, and she wants me to accompany her." Minerva informed him of the secret.
"Listen to me. He can't be trusted, he'll use you both to get to Klaus."
"Oh, don't be so paranoid. Elijah is a noble man, Stefan. He lives by a code of honor. We can trust him. He knows that we'd be incredibly stupid to betray him again. By removing the dagger, we have proven ourselves."
"You can't do this by yourselves, alone." Stefan shakes his head in denial.
"It's Elena's decision, Stefan. Please respect it. And make sure that Damon doesn't do anything stupid. I'll be in touch with you." Minerva hangs up.
Elijah holds his left hand out; she gives him her cell phone and he puts it in his thick jacket pocket before Elena finally revealed to him, "He's here."
"Klaus is here?" Elijah asked the obvious, genuinely surprised by this news.
"Yes, he's taken over Alaric's body, which means we still don't know what he looks like...except you. You're the only one who knows." Minerva spoke up.
"Of course he has possessed someone. It's one of his favourite tricks."
"Well, what are his other tricks? What is he going to do next?" Elena asked, genuinely clueless by what Klaus Mikaelson is extraordinarily capable of.
"Yeah, you're the only one who knows him." Minerva shrugs the reminder.
"Yes, I do."
****
Lockwood Residence
Elijah knocks a few times on the main front door instead of using the provided doorbell; Carol Lockwood answers it, being the only one home.
"Elijah, Minerva, Elena! What are you doing here? What happened?" She mentioned about the dry blood on the young man's smart suit in concern.
"I've had a bit of an incident, Carol. I'm hoping you could help." Elijah asked, referring to kindly lend him her recently deceased husband's smart suit.
Carol nods a little, initially hesitant to lend any of her husband's belongings to someone else, even to a friend, "Well, I'm on my way to a meeting, so I--"
He effortlessly compels her, "It won't take but a minute of your time."
A genuinely friendly, warm smile shows up on her beautiful face as the powerful mind compulsion takes effect, considering he already removed the vervain from her once they met before, "Of course. Anything you need."
"Thank you." Elijah steps in through the open front door, leading their way inside of the large mansion, "Well, first things first. I'm going to need a change of clothing." He gestures at the dry blood on his expensive suit.
"Well, we can try one of my husband's suits. I haven't boxed them up yet."
"Wonderful."
She goes up the stairs as Minerva quietly corrected her, "Dead husband." The unfortunate man perished in a tragically big fire at the basement of the late Dr. Grayson Gilbert's local clinic, from what she's heard from Stefan.
"Shh. How did you know she's not on vervain?" Elena asked him in surprise.
"'Cause I'm the one who got her off it. Right before you and your friends killed me. Twice. If you'll excuse me. I'll be down in a moment." Elijah trails after the young woman upstairs, leaving the two girls alone downstairs.
Once he has changed into much tidier clothes, a fancily expensive suit which belonged to the late Mayor Richard Lockwood, Elijah is sitting on the single vintage armchair in the parlor room, along with Elena and Minerva.
He begun, "So I assume that the Martin witches are no longer with us." Unfortunately, both Jonas and Luka Martin have been murdered by a vampire-- from what he's gathered so far; in which Luka was burned to his tragic demise by Damon Salvatore in the Original's rescue and Jonas was drained of his own blood by Katherine Pierce when she was posing as Elena.
"No. We're sorry." Minerva gently spoke up guiltily, deeply concerned of what he might do, considering how unpredictable this Original can be.
"And Katerina? She would have been released from my compulsion when I died. I assume, she fooled you to think that she would remain in the tomb for eternity once I was daggered. She would do anything to remain alive."
"Yeah, Klaus took her. We think that she may be dead." Elena reported with the actual hope that she wouldn't mind Katherine to be eliminated once and for all; the presence of her doppelgänger only causes too much confusion in her life anyway, as if her life couldn't get confusing enough. Perhaps the girl deserves to die, after all, eventually after her centuries-long escape from this man, much like what happened to both Rose and Trevor.
"I doubt that. Not Klaus' style. Death would be too easy for her after what she did." Elijah effortlessly analyzed aloud, recognizing him very well.
"I don't understand. You say that you want Klaus dead, but you still made Katherine pay for betraying him." Minerva expressed her pure confusion, contemplating the great possibility that Elijah is mostly on Klaus' side.
"I have my own reasons for wanting Katerina to pay. There was a time...I'd have done anything for Klaus." Elijah admitted as an old memory from 1492 surfaces to his mind, "It was in England, 1492 when Klaus, my own brother, met Katerina for the first time. She was new to town, from Bulgaria." She was banished to England, to be precise, for having a child out of wedlock. Therefore, continuing the special bloodline of Petrova until this very day. Otherwise, Elena Gilbert wouldn't be alive today-- as the doppelgänger.
Elena and Minerva, truly speechless, share a brief look of genuine surprise.
"Wait. Um, brother?" Minerva repeated, "He is your brother? Klaus?"
Elijah nods once, patient to answer them both, "Yes. Klaus is my brother."
"We heard that, loud and clear." Minerva nods in awkward pursuit, smiling.
"Yeah, we're still processing." Elena added on in genuine surprise of this.
"Yes, I'm a little behind on the times, but I believe the term you're searching for is 'O.M.G.'" Elijah drinks some hot tea from his cup in pure amusement.
****
Gilbert Residence
Jenna opens the main front door for 'Minerva' and Stefan after a phone call from the young woman to come over. The pair step in one after the other.
"Hey, Jenna." Rosie greeted her, smiling in a genuinely friendly manner, actually glad that the young woman came back from Duke for her family because Jeremy could really use her company other than only Uncle John. The young boy actually requires a guardian without any vampire relation, considering he's pure human. Therefore, Aunt Jenna seems to be the one.
"Hey. Thank you so much for not going to the Grill." Stefan added on in relief, truly determined to protect innocent people from Klaus these days.
"Um, Stefan--"
"No, listen. We can explain." Stefan assured her.
Jenna looks over his shoulder; he and Rosie turn around and see Klaus/Alaric standing there on the front porch, "Hey guys. How's it going?"
****
Lockwood Residence
"So there's a whole family of Originals?" Minerva surmised in pure amazement of this supernaturally well-known fact — the Original family — of the oldest vampires throughout history of time. They all must be so powerful that probably nothing may kill them; they have been alive for over one thousand years, after all. They deserve their respect and reverance. Although what made them powerful in the very first place? They can't be born powerful, that's for certain. A witch, perhaps? A witch turned them?
The Original family, also known as the Mikaelson family. Very powerful, "My father was a wealthy land owner in a village in Eastern Europe. Our mother bore seven children." Elijah simply explained to them as the beginning of the raw truth regarding his family. Obviously, he could never forget them.
Seven children, including him and Klaus, "And Klaus is one of them." Minerva stated out in conclusion, wondering whether he's the eldest or not. Perhaps he is. Otherwise, why would he seem to be the most terrifying one?
Elena frowns, truly puzzled at this point, "So your parents were human?" Because their mother procreated, obviously with their human father. Therefore, these seven children must have started off as humans as well. Elijah and Klaus were humans once in the very beginning? Simply ordinary?
"Our whole family was. Our origin as vampires is a very long story. Just know...We're the oldest vampires in the world. We are the Original family, and from us, all vampires were created." Elijah announced rather proudly, which earns him their revered respect as he so-well deserves as an Original.
"Right, but Klaus is your brother. And you want him dead?" Minerva asked, truly puzzled at this part. What did Klaus ever do to him that was so horrible? Perhaps he doesn't want Klaus to earn the satisfaction once the old sun and moon curse is broken? Since the curse relates to him, after all.
"I need some air. I'm still feeling a tad...dead. Come." Elijah gets up and walks out of the parlor room, that both Elena and Minerva trail after him.
****
Gilbert Residence, Kitchen
Klaus, who remains in possession of Alaric's body, is slowly chopping some food with a big, sharp knife at the wide island while Jenna, Rosie and Stefan are closely watching him in deep concern of what he's about to do next. Although the real question would be-- what is he doing here? What does he want? Elena Gilbert, the doppelgänger. Fortunately, she's not home at the moment. Hopefully, she can distract herself with Elijah and Minerva long enough to give Rosie and Stefan the opportunity to get Klaus out of this house, leaving Jenna, Jeremy, and even John untouched by him to be safe. Obviously, he remains to act like Alaric Saltzman, being with Jenna — his girlfriend — in order to lure Elena back home here for him to capture her.
"You know, I find chopping...calming. The feel of the blade in the hand, maybe." He raises the big, sharp, shiny knife for him to closely examine it.
Rosie simply shrugs, though she played along with his act, "Maybe."
"I'm still waiting for someone to tell me what the hell's going on."
"Well, would you like to tell her, Minerva, or Stefan, or should I?" He asked in a taunting manner that he may or may not reveal about the supernatural.
"Tell me what?" Jenna averts her genuinely skeptical gaze between 'Minerva' and Stefan, who briefly share a look of concern about this.
"Do you believe in vampires, Jenna? No?" Alaric/Klaus laughs at his own question, "Well, who does, right? But believe it or not, they do have a place in our history. And as a History teacher, I find them fascinating, really." Especially when his own family started the entire vampire species, after all.
"I don't. Vampires scare me. Since when are you into this, Mister Saltzman?" Rosie shakes her head a little, playing along, to try to taunt him in return.
Although Jenna piped in instead, "Okay, why are we talking about this?"
"Well, you've been angry with me for keeping secrets, and this is one of my secrets: I'm obsessed with vampires. There. I said it." He laughs once again, which only makes the trio more uncomfortable, as if they aren't already. Honestly, Klaus did Alaric a favor by pointing this out, considering the original owner of the body is also obsessed with vampires since after what tragically happened to his wife Isobel and her entanglement with Damon. Alaric Saltzman is a vampire hunter, after all, masquerading as a teacher.
Rosie scoffs in order to lighten the mood up, "You're joking, right? Come on, Ric, you're not a believer." She slowly shakes her head, "You told us that."
"So you guys talked about this in class? With the rest of your students? With Elena? With Jeremy?" Aunt Jenna asked them all skeptically, truly puzzled.
"Uh, yeah. Sometimes, when he feels like he has no other jokes to tell, he always goes straight to vampires. Looks like he's doing it again." Rosie said.
"I think he's drunk." Stefan claimed to aid her ease the awkward tension.
"Not at all. How about you, Minerva? Stefan? Are you a fan of vampires?" Alaric/Klaus continued to ask them, only to make Jenna more uneasy.
"In literature. Bram Stoker. It's dense, but I appreciate it." Rosie nods slowly.
"Hmm. Did you know that vampires are the oldest creatures of the night? Except for werewolves, of course." Alaric/Klaus mentioned, chuckling darkly.
Rosie nods once with a tightly awkward smile, "And now he's onto wolves."
"Definitely drunk." Stefan quickly added on to make the woman feel safe.
Jenna nods, "Yeah. Werewolves. Werewolves. Now I know you're joking."
"You know, I've read that there's an Aztec curse on both species that keeps werewolves slaves to the moon and vampires bound by the sun. Isn't that right, Minerva? You know a lot of things, I know that, and they say these creatures would do anything to have this curse broken and that they wouldn't care who they had to kill to do it." Alaric/Klaus explained calmly, which of course Rosie and Stefan understand his reference of the old curse.
Jenna stares at her own boyfriend with a seriously alarmed frown. A curse? He must be joking at this point. Magic isn't real, so why should vampires and werewolves? She is not a believer, therefore nothing is supernatural about this world they live in. No vampires, no werewolves, no witches. Supernatural is only well-known in fiction; they're not real. Although what does Minerva and Stefan know that she doesn't? Does Elena know about this secret they keep hidden together as well? What about Jeremy then?
****
Lockwood Residence
Elena, Elijah and Minerva are walking side by side outside in the backyard.
"So as you've seen, nothing can kill an Original. Not sun, not fire, not even a werewolf bite. Only the wood from one tree. A tree my family made sure burned." Elijah recalled the ultimate weapon to end an Original's life — the white oak tree — in which only the remains of it's ashes are what's left now, necessarily coated with the silver dagger to only neutralize the Original. Technically, they are only temporarily dead once daggered with it. Perhaps the real, actual wood of the white oak ash tree will permanently kill them.
"Mhm. That's where the white ash for the dagger comes from." Minerva stated as a logical connection. Without the ashes, the dagger is nothing.
"Yes. The witches won't allow anything truly immortal to walk the Earth. Every creature needs to have a weakness in order to maintain the balance."
"Okay, so the sun can't kill an Original. Then why is Klaus so obsessed with breaking the sun and moon curse?" Minerva questioned him, truly puzzled. Isn't it an Aztec curse as a war between the vampire and werewolf species?
"Right. The curse of the sun and the moon. It's all so...biblical-sounding, don't you think?" A humorous smile shows up on Elijah's handsome face.
A skeptical frown shows up on Elena's serious face, "What's so funny?"
"Klaus etched a Roman parchment once, a very long time ago. In fact, his finest work remains his Aztec drawings." Elijah pointed out rather proudly.
"Huh. So he can draw." Minerva pointed out in pure amusement, smiling. Of course he can, for being over one thousand years old in this wretched world.
"Yes, my brother is a talented artist." Elijah labeled proudly once again.
"But I don't understand. So Klaus drew the Aztec sketches about the curse?" Minerva asked with the truly puzzled frown as she tries to think this through.
"Roman scrolls, African tribal etchings, and any other culture or continent we felt like planting in it." Elijah listed out, admitting that it actually begun with him and Klaus all along this whole time about the sun and moon curse.
Elena shakes her head a little, frowning, "But why?"
"Easiest way to discover the existence of a doppelgänger or to get your hands on some long, lost moonstone is to have every single member of two warring species on the lookout." Elijah simply explained the obvious; thanks to Katerina, the moonstone was lost once she stole it over five hundred years ago before she ran for her life, and she turned herself into a vampire to sabotage the entire plan to break the sun and moon curse in the first place. Therefore, Klaus, enraged by this, enacted his punishment for her by the massacre of her family back in Bulgaria as a hard lesson for her in defeat.
"So it's not Aztec at all?" Elena asked as a possible conclusion.
"The curse of the sun and the moon...is fake. It doesn't exist." Elijah starts walking away after the revelation; the two girls share a truly surprised look.
"What?!" Elena and Minerva uttered in unison as they trail after him.
****
Gilbert Residence, Kitchen
Alaric/Klaus, Jenna, Rosie and Stefan are sitting at the dining table, having dinner together, in which both Alaric/Klaus and Jenna are sitting opposite each other, along with Rosie and Stefan. Although none of them are feeling rather pleasant to be eating dinner as long as the teacher remains skeptical.
"Oh, I know this all sounds so crazy, but...vampires are real. Would you care for some more wine?" Alaric/Klaus gets up to get a bottle of wine for Jenna, who seems to have enough of his truly skeptical talk about vampires only.
"Get out." Jenna firmly ordered him in a stone cold tone, bubbling with anger. First it was Elena who truly disappointed her, and now Alaric too? Who's next? Jeremy? What is happening to everyone around her? Why?
The young man turns around to look back at her in offense, "Excuse me?"
She gets up from her seat as well to face him properly in pure anger, "I don't know what it is you're trying to do or why you're saying these things, but--"
"Jenna..."
"I said get out!" Jenna points at the open door to emphasize her firm order.
Stefan gets up from his seat in pursuit to side with her, "You heard her."
A smug smile shows up on his face instead, "I'm afraid I don't want to." He's not leaving this house until Elena Gilbert officially comes home here.
"Please, Ric, just go." Rosie played along, siding with the other two.
Alaric/Klaus slowly shakes his head with his firm response, "No."
"Fine! I'll go." Jenna moves to walk out the door, though Stefan stops her. It seems that Duke is a better place for her, after all. Unlike Mystic Falls...
Klaus/Alaric picks up a big sharp kitchen knife off the counter, which makes Rosie get up from her seat as well quickly, "You're not going anywhere." As long as he remains in this house, Jenna remains to be his very own leverage.
Stefan grabs him and pushes him against the wall with his vamp-speed and puts the sharp knife on his throat, which Rosie called out, "Stefan, no!" He can't kill him, otherwise Alaric will die along with him; Klaus will stay alive.
"Stefan!" Jenna followed suit in alarm, frowning at the display of speed; that was definitely not an ordinary speed. Therefore, how did he do it?
"Rosie, get her out of here now!" Stefan protectively ordered her in alarm.
"Rosie?" Jenna repeated in pure confusion as she looks at the exposed girl.
A wicked scoff escapes Alaric/Klaus, "You can't kill me, Stefan."
"Watch me!"
"Stefan, please don't kill him. Please!" Rosie pleaded with him desperately.
"I may not have a witch protecting me today, but if you kill this body, what's to stop me from choosing Jenna as my next one? Or Jeremy?" He taunted.
"Rosie, go." Stefan repeated himself, more firmly this time with his tone.
"Okay, come on, Jenna, come with me." Rosie nears her to aid her out.
"But you're...you...why did he call you Rosie? Minerva?" Jenna asked.
Rosie shows her vampiric face on purpose, "Because I'm not her. I'll explain it to you later, but now we have to go. That's not Alaric. Come on."
She grabs her arm and they run out of the house through the back door.
"Kill me. Just remind Elena how easy it will be for me to get my revenge if she tries to stop me from breaking this curse." Alaric/Klaus snarled at him.
Stefan punches him in the face and once Klaus/Alaric is on the floor, he kicks him in the stomach. He throws the knife on the floor and storms out.
****
Lockwood Residence
"Klaus and I faked the sun and moon curse dating back over a thousand years." Elijah admitted as a recollection of his old memories.
This truly puzzles Elena and Minerva even more than they already are; why?
"But if there's no curse--"
"There's a curse. Just not that one. The real one's much worse. It's a curse placed on Klaus." Elijah told them the raw truth with concealed sympathy for his brother; Klaus actually deserves better than what he has now.
"On just him? Alone? What are you talking about?" Minerva asked.
"Klaus has been trying to break it for the last thousand years. And you, the Petrova doppelgänger, are his only hope." Elijah labeled her as the key.
Elena's cell phone keeps vibrating in her denim dark blue jeans' pocket.
Minerva shakes her head a little to acknowledge this, "What is this curse?"
The cell phone remains vibrating in the pocket, which Elijah mentioned, "Your phone will not stop its incessant buzzing. Answer it, please."
Elena takes out her cell phone, and she answers since it's from Stefan, "Stefan...what's wrong? No. No, no, no, no. Okay, I'll be right there."
She hangs up and looks at Elijah and Minerva with a truly guilty expression.
"What's going on?" Minerva asked, genuinely curious and concerned.
A tired sigh leaves Elena, "Klaus went after Jenna. I have to go to her."
"I'm afraid that wasn't part of today's arrangement." Elijah spoke up.
"She's my family, Elijah. I have to. I'll be back. You have my word."
"That doesn't mean anything to me until you live up to it." Elijah spoke.
"Thank you." Elena is given her friend's car key by the banshee herself.
"Go. I'm staying and I'll wait for you." Minerva nods at her for support.
"Okay." Elena runs to her close friend's Prius while Elijah watches her go.
****
Salvatore Boarding House
Jenna and Rosie are waiting in the library, in which the former sits on the vintage three-seated couch while the latter stands in silence at the mini bar table. The young woman's clear hazel-green eyes are teary after the latter has simply, though carefully, explained to her about the kinds of supernatural which mysteriously lurks in their hometown, including the hidden fact that she is not Minerva, though her doppelgänger as a vampire/banshee hybrid, to be precise. Elena speed-walks in through the door.
A genuinely relieved sigh leaves her, "Oh, Jenna, thank God." She's alright.
"It's about time you showed up. It's just getting more depressing in here." Rosie mentioned as she pours herself a crystal glass of expensive scotch.
"No." Jenna shakes her head in denial of the dark truth of their hometown; this can't be real. She must be dreaming. She only has to wake up from this.
Elena comes up to her with a strong sense of guilt, "I'm so sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen." She slowly shakes her head apologetically; she didn't tell her the truth because she wants to protect her for good.
"When I was little, your mom used to tell me bedtime stories. Stories about vampires. I never thought that what she said could be true." Jenna spoke, wondering whether her sister or her brother-in-law knew about this as well. Did a supernatural entity caused their car accident which led to their death?
"It is true, Jenna. I told you that earlier--"
Elena interrupted the hybrid, "But I'm the one who should have told you. I thought that if you didn't know, you'd be safe. But then things got so out of control and everything I had done to keep you out of it, it just blew up in my face." She shakes her head a little, truly guilty for keeping all of this a secret. Jenna is pure human, therefore the supernatural has nothing to do with her. She's ordinary who should just stick to ordinary things in an ordinary life.
"Who else knows? Jeremy?" Jenna asked, hopefully expecting a no; Elena slowly nods in true guilt and Rosie rubs the woman's shoulder, "John?"
"Well, John knows a lot of things, but that's not the point." Rosie spoke, "The point is, we were just trying to protect you, for your own good."
Jenna looks at the hybrid with tears in her blurry eyes, "Protect me?"
Elena holds onto her aunt's hand, "I'm so sorry. I will tell you everything." Soon, probably after her serious conversation with Elijah about the curse.
"No, Elena, I already know everything...I am the one who's supposed to be protecting you and Jeremy." Jenna truly expressed to her niece in horror.
The genuinely guilty seventeen-year-old slowly nods, "I know, but there's nothing that you could have done. There's so much more to it--"
"No, this is-- this is so...I don't know how...it's..." Jenna continues to cry.
"I know, hey." Elena moves to sit on the couch beside her to comfort her.
Jenna glares at her, teary-eyed, "Why didn't you tell me?! I'm scared."
Elena moves closer to her aunt and embraces her in a comforting manner, "I know. I know. I know, hey. Hey. I'm sorry. Jenna, I am so, so sorry."
Stefan is alone in the unoccupied corridor outside, eavesdropping on them with hot tears in his naturally green eyes. Later on, Rosie closes the door of the library which she just walked out of, seeing Stefan present, waiting patiently for her in order for them to have a private conversation alone.
A small, guilty smile shows up on his face, "Is she going to be okay?" Probably not, considering this is a lot to digest in only one day for her.
A genuinely tired sigh leaves her, "She's in shock. I tried to tell her as much as I could, but I barely scratched the surface." She slowly shakes her head.
"I'm so sorry, Rosie, that I dragged you into this. I hate this." He truly expressed out of pure guilt that Klaus tried to get Jenna murdered earlier.
She puts on a fake smile, "You should tell that to Elena. I'm just saying, Jenna probably should have stayed at Duke to stay safe. She's human. On the other hand, I'm a hybrid. I'm always going to be dragged into this."
He raises his thick eyebrows at that briefly, "With me."
"Yes, Stefan, with you. Because whether we like it or not, we're always going to end up here...together, and you need to stop blaming yourself over this. It's getting very pathetic, and I know you don't intend to be. Anyway...Elena said she has to go back to Elijah. He's waiting for her." Rosie informed him.
A truly puzzled frown shows up on his face at that, "Wait, what? No, no."
"Minerva is waiting for her, Stefan. Who knows what Elijah will do to her if Elena doesn't keep her word? He can be very unpredictable. She promised him that she would return. She can't break that promise." Rosie explained.
"Oh." Stefan slowly nods, suddenly feeling awkward by his deep concern.
"They'll be okay." Rosie assured him with a genuinely friendly, warm smile.
****
Lockwood Residence
Elena walks in through the unlocked front door of the mansion, in which Elijah is standing inside the parlor room by the lit fireplace while Minerva is sitting on the single vintage armchair, waiting patiently for her friend to come back. He seems truly relieved that Elena kept her promise to return.
"Welcome back." Elijah greeted her, smiling gratefully for her honesty.
"Okay, unpause. Tell us. What is Klaus' curse?" Minerva questioned him as she leans forward in her seat to prove that she's truly determined enough to know about the real curse that's over one thousand years old by now.
Elena takes off her jacket and sets it down on the arm of another armchair.
"Please." Elijah gestures for Elena to sit, which she does. He sits down next to Minerva on the couch, opposite of Elena, "My family was quite close, but Klaus and my father did not get on too well. When we became vampires, we discovered the truth: Klaus was not my father's son; my mother had been unfaithful many years before — this was her darkest secret. Klaus is from a different bloodline. Of course, when my father discovered this, he hunted down and he killed my mother's lover and his entire family. Not realizing, of course, that he was igniting a war between species that rages until this day."
Werewolves against vampires, since more than one thousand years ago, which begun thanks to his raging father who was a wealthy land owner. The man practically murdered the entire werewolf clan, including the man who had an affair with his unfaithful wife which resulted in his half-brother Klaus. Therefore, him and Klaus only shared the same mother. Not father.
"A war between the species?" Elena asked, genuinely clueless and slow.
Minerva rolls her big doe hazel eyes in pure annoyance of how slow her friend can be, "Vampires and werewolves, duh. So that's why their bite is fatal. So, Klaus' real father was from a werewolf bloodline? What does that make Klaus? A werewolf? Or a vampire?" She looks at him, truly puzzled.
"He's both, as much as how Rosie is both a vampire and a banshee. Unlike her, a hybrid such as my brother would be deadlier than any werewolf or vampire. Nature would not stand for such an imbalance of power. Therefore the witches, the servants of nature, saw to it that my brother's werewolf side would become dormant." Elijah explained to them in a calm manner about the real curse placed on Klaus — the hybrid curse — by only a witch.
"Oh, I see. That's the curse that Klaus wants to break?" Minerva concluded.
"He wants to trigger that part of him that's a werewolf. If allowed, Klaus would sire his own bloodline. He'd build his own race. Endangering not just vampires, but everyone." Elijah explained as more of a great ultimatum that the hybrid race would become very unstoppable, beginning with Klaus.
The truly puzzled frown returns on Elena's face, "But you helped him?"
"I helped him because I loved him. That's changed, now he must die."
"What? No." Minerva shakes her head, having no second thoughts about it.
Elena looks at her friend in pure shock and horror, "Minerva, what are you talking about? We have the dagger now. We can stop him. Right?" They have to stop him in order to prevent him from breaking the curse at that ritual.
"When a werewolf is wounded by silver, it heals. An Original can't be killed by anything but white oak ash on a silver dagger. So you see the conundrum. The dagger does not work." Elijah pointed out the raw truth.
"What, are you saying that Klaus can't be killed?" Minerva concluded with the reverance that Klaus Mikaelson may be truly immortal, powerful indeed.
"There's one way to kill any supernatural species...at the hands of the servants of nature themselves." Elijah simply revealed to them — magic. If magic started it, then magic may also be the one to end it once and for all.
"A witch. If they can channel that much power. But it would kill them." Minerva reminded him of the drawback, the price for the rescue plan.
"The curse must be broken during the full moon. When Klaus is in transition. That's when he'll be at his most vulnerable. A witch with enough power... can kill Klaus." Elijah nods in confirmation that they should strike then.
Bonnie. A Bennett witch who channeled the power of one hundred dead witches from the old witch house deep down near the forest of their town.
"What if I told you that we knew a witch that could channel that much power?" Elena hinted at the Original with the thought of her best friend.
"Then I would tell you there's one more thing that you both should know. The night before the full moon, I have been to see the witches. They believe they may have found a way to spare the doppelgänger. Although Klaus doesn't matter whether she lives or not. He believes all humans are a means to an end, that is all; that mortal life means nothing. I begged him to consider, but he labeled me as a fool as to care for her. Love is a vampire's greatest weakness, and I am not weak. I do not feel, and I do not care."
Minerva closely studies his blank expression in disbelief, "You did once." She refuses to believe that he-- anyone even doesn't care even once in life.
"Too many lifetimes ago to matter, that was what Klaus said."
"You found a way to save the life of the doppelgänger?" Elena recalled.
"Yes, Elena. I did. But unfortunately, Katerina took matters into her own hands first. I believe you already know how that played out." Elijah spoke, referring to Katerina's theft of the moonstone and ran for her life with it.
"You cared about her, didn't you?" Minerva predicted.
"It's a common mistake, I'm told. And it's one I won't make again." Elijah gets up from the vintage couch and walks out through the main front door.
****
Salvatore Boarding House
Damon is with his beautiful, though unfortunately compelled, girlfriend Andie, in which she is gently putting a crystal glass of bourbon in his hand while she is coaxing him not to be so angry at his deeply concerned brother. Although the genuinely tired Damon only asked her to leave, which she does-- out of the room. Stefan walks into the room once he makes sure that Rosie has already left to go back home at her place, which she now owns, that was once Isobel Flemming's foreclosure house as Elena's safe house.
"Tired of your little play thing already?" Andie is simply a toy for his brother.
"Don't start with me, Stefan. She's just my distraction." Damon stated out, subtly referring to his own brother's relatable distraction once as Elena; just because they both can't get the one and only special girl in their nagging subconscious to compete for her precious affection — Rosie Kartwright. Therefore, his brother has to understand that he was genuinely tired of his own 'play thing' when he was in a relationship with Elena the previous year.
"She's a person. You're victimizing her." Stefan pointed out the clear difference between them once it comes to distraction; unlike his brother, he didn't feed on or compel Elena to be his girlfriend. She was willing to be until she found out the raw truth about the real reason why they were together in the first place — it all comes back down to the lovely Rosie.
"You should be thankful she's here. She keeps me from going for what I really want." Or who I really want. Damon begun to taunt him, his competitor, despite the fact that his brother remains broken up with her. Therefore, Stefan should feel secure if Andie is around to distract Damon.
He nods, "You're right. Thank you for being in love with my ex-girlfriend." It keeps the bitter memory of them vying for Katherine's affection fit in tact.
Damon sets his glass on the table beside him and gets up, "And there it is."
"There it is. You think you can cover it up with Elena? You can't, because I did it first. You know, you can be in love with Rosie all you want...If it means that you'll protect her. But I have the one thing that you never will."
"Oh, yeah? What's that?" Damon asked as a challenge for him to say it.
"Her respect." Stefan simply answered with a smug smile on his face.
Damon punches Stefan so hard that he flies into a bookshelf and breaks it; he gets up and quickly rushes over to his competitor in pure rage. They aggressively grab each other by the shoulders, trying to harm one another in any way they could when Elena, Elijah and Minerva walk in to interrupt this.
"Stop!" Elena shouted to break the two fighting brothers apart.
They break apart once both boys initially mistook Minerva for Rosie. Elijah is watching them as an old memory comes to mind while both Stefan and Damon are awkwardly looking back up at them, especially at Minerva. Once Elena doesn't fail to notice this, that's when realization struck her as genuinely unsurprised that they were both definitely fighting about Rosie. Because which man wouldn't? Heck, even Elijah dated the girl twice in life. She doesn't even try, and he just picks her. And she's always the one that everyone picks, for everything. Envy. She's everyone's first choice. Always. Therefore, what's to stop Minerva to have the exact fortune as Rosie?
A scoff of disbelief escapes Damon, "Now you've invited him in?"
Minerva nods awkwardly, shy to be the center of attention, "Yeah, I did."
"We have renewed the terms of our deal." Elena informed both brothers.
"Really?"
"The two of you will come to no harm at my hands. I only ask for one thing in return." Elijah requested them patiently in a calm and rational manner.
Damon asked rather impatiently for his request, "What?"
"An apology." Elijah simply answered him.
"A what?"
Stefan walks closer to them to speak up, "I'm sorry for the part that I played in your death. I was protecting Elena. I will always protect Elena."
"I understand." Elijah replied with a polite nod.
All eyes look at Damon for his part of this renewed deal.
"The sacrifice is going to happen, Damon." Minerva nods in confirmation.
"Yeah. Bonnie will be able to kill Klaus without hurting herself and Elijah knows how to save my life. I told you I'd find another way. And I did."
"Is that true?" Damon asked in a judgmental tone of his smug voice.
"It is." Elijah responded.
Damon looks at the human doppelgänger, "And you're trusting him?"
"I am." Elena replied with a nod, actually annoyed by his negative thoughts.
"You can all go to hell." Damon storms out of the room, past the trio.
Stefan looks up at the patient Original apologetically, truly guilty by this reaction, "He's angry with me right now. But he'll come around."
"Perhaps."