Twisted Bonds

by StephanieKay

Summary:

After losing her adoptive parents, she gets adopted by some distant relatives of said adoptive parents. They lived in the town of Mystic Falls. Even though she had already been exposed to the supernatural world, she is thoroughly surprised by the amount of supernatural bullshit that goes down in the small town. What surprises her more is that a certain group of vampires are drawn to her. Not only that, but she finds herself drawn to them as well.

Chapter 1: Sanctuary

No One’s POV

Birds chirped in the trees around a house on the outskirts of McKinley, Virginia. A young girl of the age of twelve can be seen running around in the timber behind the house. She walks towards a place she visits often. Once she sees a small, flowing creek she knows she’s in the right place. She sits against the trunk of a downed tree right next to the creek and takes a deep breath of fresh air.

She needed this. A trip to her own little sanctuary. Escape her adoptive parents who expect far too much from her. She just got done with an argument with her mom. She ran out with tears of anger in her eyes. Her feet instinctually brought her here. A place for her to unwind.

Even after running all the way here, the young girl still felt rage bubbling up inside of her. This argument had been one of the worst ones she’d been through so far. Her hands balled up into fists and she squeezed her eyes shut. She was so lost in her angered thoughts that she didn’t notice the ground around her was trembling. In a fit of rage, she got up onto her knees and punched the ground with all her might as she yelled out her fury.

Silence filled the space around her. Feeling a little better, she opened her eyes. There was a big hole around where she punched the ground. She looked down in shock. She made no move to lift her fist out of the hole.

Once she was done staring down in shock, she lifted her hand and examined the hole. The hole looked to be about two feet deep. She looked at her hand. It looked relatively unscathed. No split knuckles, no cuts or bruises, no nothing.

Seconds passed as she looked between her hand and the ground. The argument with her mom was long forgotten as her mind tried to make sense of what she was seeing. Is this real? Is this a dream? Her mind ran a mile a minute coming up with questions that she needed to find answers for.

Minutes passed. Once she confirmed that she was, in fact, not dreaming, she decided to run a test. Moving over a bit, she got into the same position she was in when she was about to punch the ground. Standing on her knees, right fist raised in the air ready to come barreling down onto the ground. She took a deep breath and rammed her fist down onto the ground with all the strength she could muster.

She looked at two similar looking holes in the ground. The second one was not as large as the first one, but still very noticeable. She looked at her hands in awe. Why do I have this power? Did my birth parents have powers? Is my power passed down from them? I wish I remembered more about them. I decided to brush aside the questions about my birth parents. There was no use thinking about them. They died when I was three and there was nothing I could’ve done about it. Besides, I wanted to know what else this power of mine could do.

A couple of hours passed by before she heard her father’s voice in the distance. “Emma, where are you? Supper is ready!”

She ran through the timber towards the house. She didn’t want anyone finding her hidden sanctuary. Especially now, with many unnatural holes and small chunks of uprooted earth scattered all around where she had just been.

As the weeks pass, young Emma goes to her hidden sanctuary to practice with her newfound power. In the months to follow, her power grows and she finds out that she can not only manipulate the earth around her, she can also control water, air, and even fire. When she first found out about her fire manipulation power, she left many trees in her sanctuary scorched. She was lucky that she had already found her water power. That could have been disastrous. She tested out many different things. She found that although she can manipulate the dirt and rocks around her, she cannot control or change the plants that grow out of the ground. She tells no one of her power; making a vow to herself to never use her power in public.

Chapter 2: Whitmore House

No One’s POV

A year had passed since Emma had discovered her powers. Her parents were about to go to some event at the Whitmore House. Emma asked if she could come along. She didn’t want to be cooped up in her house all night. Her parents gave each other apprehensive looks before reluctantly agreeing. They told her to hurry up and get into some nice clothes so that they could go.

After a fifteen minute drive, they made it to the Whitmore house. The moment Emma stepped inside, she felt strange. She felt as if something dark was looming over the house. She didn’t like it. Not one bit.

Emma decided against voicing her concerns. It’s probably nothing. Just some nerves about being in an unfamiliar environment is all, right? She thought as she followed her parents around the main part of the house; quickly finding that she was the youngest person there.

A couple hours had passed and Emma found herself needing to find a bathroom. She tapped her mom’s arm to get her attention. Her mom turned towards her with a questioning gaze. She leaned towards her mom’s ear to whisper to her. “Do you know where the bathroom is in this place?”

Her mom nodded and motioned for the hallway on their right. “Go down that hallway. Turn left at the end of it and it should be the first door on the right.”

She mumbled her thanks and weaved my way through a bunch of people to get to the hallway. Thankfully, her mom’s instructions led her straight to where she needed to go.

Emma finished her business and intended to return to the event. As she exited the bathroom, she felt something pulling her towards the door at the end of the hallway. She tried to ignore the feeling, but as she took a few steps away from the bathroom, the pull towards the door got stronger. Something was telling her that something, or someone, needed her. And that something, or someone, was behind that door.

Not being able to resist the pull, she slowly made her way to the door. She planned on just taking a small peek to see what was in there. She opened the door and found a set of old stairs leading down. Sighing, she made her way down the stairs, being sure to close the door behind her. She didn’t need anybody knowing that she was snooping around.

She reached the bottom of the stairs and looked around. It seemed like she was in some sort of small lab. She saw what looked like old blood stains on a metal table. What the hell?! She thought as she made her way to the next room.

All that was in the next room was a desk, a chair, and a set of keys hanging on the wall. There were journals, some old and new, sitting on top of the desk along with a few loose papers strewn about.

What she saw in the next room was a sight she almost wished she could forget. It was a large room full of cells. One of the cells held a person whose clothes were covered in blood. Emma gasped at the sight.

The man in the cell looked up as her mind raced. What the fuck did I just walk into?!

Chapter 3: Man In The Cell

Emma’s POV

My body froze. My mind was having trouble trying to comprehend what my eyes were seeing. Why is this person locked up? Why is he covered in blood? Oh god, is he being tortured?

As the man stood up and approached the bars, my body seemed to finally start working again. I made my way over to the cell as words started to fly out of my mouth before I could stop them. “Are you okay? Why are you trapped down here? What is this place?”

Once I forced myself to shut my mouth, the man in the cell began to speak. “Please, can you let me out? I think he keeps a set of keys in the room over there.” he said as he nodded his head towards the room I just came from.

I noticed that he had a faint accent, but I brushed that thought away as I made my way back to the room with the desk. I spotted the keys hanging on the wall. I quickly grabbed them and made my way back over to the cell that the man was stuck in. I never once stopped to think about my actions as I fumbled with the keys to unlock the cell.

Once my trembling hands finally managed to unlock the cell, I took a few steps back as he pushed the door open and stepped out. “Thank you, young one, for freeing me.” he said with a relieved look in his eye.

“Um, yeah, no problem…” I mumbled as I awkwardly stood there, looking at everything except him.

“You seem like a kind young girl. So I must apologize to you for what I’m about to do.” he said sincerely as he slowly made his way over to me.

My eyes snapped over to him in concern before I felt something sharp dig into my neck. A startled yelp escaped me before my vision started to blur. The world around me faded as my body fell to the ground.

When I finally regained consciousness, I was in what had to be a hospital room. I squinted as the bright white lights blinded me. Once my eyes adjusted, I looked down and saw a small device placed right next to my hand. It had a call button on it, so without a second thought, I pushed down on the button.

A minute passed before I saw a couple of nurses enter the room. One of them approached the bedside and looked down at me. “Hey hun, how are you feeling?” she asked me in a sweet tone.

As simple as the question was, I didn’t know how to answer. I didn’t even know why I was here. I tried to think back to the last thing I remembered, but after walking down to the basement of the Whitmore House, everything went blank. I couldn’t remember anything after that.

Instead of answering the nurse’s question, I asked one of my own in a scratchy voice. “What happened?”

She looked at me with a pitying expression. The beeping on the monitor sped up slightly as I saw her expression. Worry took over my head as I asked another question I was afraid to know the answer to. “Where are my parents?”

Chapter 4: Faith And Gideon

Emma’s POV

The nurse told me that my parents were dead. Apparently, everybody at that event was dead. I was the only one that survived whatever attacked the Whitmore House. I didn’t know how to feel about it. Part of me told me to be grateful that I survived, while another part told me that I would have been better off dead with everyone else at the event.

I couldn’t stop the tears from escaping my eyes. I lost the only two people that gave a shit about me. I had no friends, we rarely ever met up with any other family members, I had no one left. The nurses left the room to let me cry out my emotions.

Later that day, a police officer came in to question me about the event. I couldn’t add much to the investigation. My mind seemed to block out the events leading up to the attack. After he left, I decided to sleep. I was still healing and was too emotionally drained to deal with anything else.

I was in the hospital for another couple of days before I was deemed well enough to be discharged. On that day, before I was discharged, I saw a couple of people I hadn’t seen in what had to be three years. Faith and Gideon. They were my mother’s cousins.

When they came in, Faith came in and gave me a hug. “Oh Emma, I’m so sorry to hear about what happened to your mom.” she said with sympathy in her voice.

I silently hugged her back. I tried to hold them back, but a few tears fell from my eyes. I didn’t think anybody in my mom or dad’s family cared about me. We hardly ever saw any of them. It felt nice to be hugged. My parents weren’t big on hugs. Not that they didn’t care about me, they just preferred to avoid physical contact with others.

I tightened the hug and buried my face in her shoulder to try to hide the fact that I was crying. I didn’t like crying in front of others. I hate how emotional I am. A simple hug had me bursting into tears.

Eventually, I pulled back from the hug. Faith sent me a small, comforting smile. I tried my best to smile back, but I’m sure it didn’t look very convincing. After the small exchange, Gideon made his way over and stood right next to Faith. They shared a look, nodded, and turned back to me.

“Emma, we need to ask you something.” Faith started.

I sent them a questioning look. “Um, alright, what?” I asked.

Faith and Gideon shared another glance. Gideon spoke up next. “We know that you just lost your parents, and that you're going through a tough time. I know that we can’t replace all that you lost, or be as great as your parents were, but, if you let us, we would like to adopt you, Emma.” he finished.

I looked at them in shock. Adopt me? They want to adopt me? Why? “If I may ask, why do you want to adopt me? You hardly even know me…”

“I may not have visited you or your mom much in recent years, but your mom and I used to be very close. We were practically sisters when we were kids. But, when we became adults, we drifted apart. I really do care about you Emma, and I’m sorry I didn’t visit you as much as I should’ve. So, if you’ll have us, we would be happy to adopt you.” Faith explained.

Silence enveloped us as I thought it over. I didn’t have to think for very long. My options were very limited. Knowing I had nowhere else to go, I gave them a small smile and agreed.

Chapter 5: Enzo

Emma’s POV

Eight weeks had gone by since my parents’ passing. I’m finally settled in Faith and Gideon’s home in Mystic Falls. Summer break was just starting here, which means I had missed the last two months of school in Whitmore. Faith said she’d talk to the principal before classes start back up again to see if they’d let me into ninth grade even though I didn’t technically finish eighth grade. She can try, but seeing as my grades weren’t the best before my parents passed, I think they’ll have me retake eighth grade.

A couple days after getting completely settled in my new home in Mystic Falls, I decided to go for a walk. There were a few trails in the woods near the house that I wanted to check out. So, I let Faith know that I was getting some fresh air, and stepped outside. A quick fifteen minute walk later, I was at the entrance of one of the trails. I made my way in, hoping not to get lost. If I stay on the beaten path, then I should be fine.

Five minutes later, I felt like I was being watched. I was in the middle of the forest. No one should be watching me. I tried to shake the feeling away. But as I was continuing my walk, I heard something rush behind me. I quickly turned around, only to see nobody. Then I heard a twig snap a few feet to the left of me. Again, I see nothing. I decided to turn back, opting to check out the trails another day.

As I turned back, I almost bumped into someone who definitely wasn’t there before. I yelped and took a few scrambling steps back. He didn’t make any threatening advances towards me. He just stood there, looking at me, probably waiting for me to calm down.

Once my mini heart attack was done, I took a good look at him. He had short, combed back black hair. He looked to be just under six feet tall. He wore a black shirt along with black jeans. I took a closer look at his face and something in my mind clicked. This was the man I found in the basement! He was in a cell. He…

Everything that happened before I blacked out that night suddenly came back to me. My heart rate sped up and my breaths became quick and short. Just as I turned around to run, he yelled out. “Hey, wait!”

I stood still, took a shaky breath, and turned back around to face him. If he tried anything, I was going to run. If that doesn’t work, well, I guess I’ll get to see how useful my powers are in an actual fight. The man held his hands up in surrender. “I’m not going to hurt you, I just want to talk. Is it alright if I come closer?” he asked.

I took a deep breath and gave him a nod. He made his way over slowly, so as to not scare me. Even though he said he wouldn’t hurt me, my whole body tensed up as he approached me. Once he was a couple steps away from me, he stopped. “First off, I want to thank you for letting me out of that cell. Before you let me out, I had been stuck there for sixty years.” he said. My eyes widened.

“Sixty years?! You don’t look nearly that old!” I exclaimed.

“So, you don’t know yet…” he mumbled. He looked to be internally debating something.

Once it seemed like he had made up his mind, he spoke again. “Would you believe me if I said that I was a vampire?”

I opened my mouth to say something, but it seemed like my mind had shut down. It took a moment for my thought process to return. A vampire?! They exist? I shouldn’t be too surprised, seeing as I have some supernatural powers of my own. “A vampire? You’re telling me they exist!?” I questioned shakily.

He nodded and began to explain himself. He told me about a vampire’s abilities. He even told me about why he was in that cell. About the experiments he’d had to go through. He told me that everyone in that house knew and supported the capture, lock up, and experimentation of vampires. Everybody knew, but me.

I stood there, baffled. My head was spinning. Within a couple of minutes, the way that I viewed my parents had drastically changed. “Oh, I see. I’m sorry all of this happened to you, um…” I just then realized that I didn’t even know his name.

“Oh, I apologize. I never did introduce myself. My name is Lorenzo, but please, call me Enzo.”

Chapter 6: Raffle

Emma’s POV

Over a year had passed since that day. Enzo and I became friends. I introduced him to cell phones. He calls from time to time to check up on me. He doesn't have a permanent home as of yet. He wanted to travel around a bit before settling down anywhere.

I’m fifteen now. I’m a freshman in the high school here in Mystic Falls. So far, I haven’t managed to make any lasting friendships. My only friend is Enzo. It’s not like everyone here is mean. Most people here are actually pretty nice, with a few exceptions. I just haven’t really managed to connect with anyone. I think the only people I have anything in common with in this school are Elena and Jeremy. We have dead parents. Not exactly a good topic to connect on.

At the moment, I’m at home finishing up some homework. It was sunset, but I didn’t want to stay in the house tonight. Maybe I can go to the grill. I thought as I left my room.

When I made it downstairs, I found Gideon in the living room watching TV. “Gideon, is it alright if I go to the grill tonight?” I asked as I looked for my shoes.

“Yeah, that’s fine. Please be back before midnight.” he requested as I grabbed my purse.

“Sure thing…” I said as I walked out. I made the twenty minute walk to the grill and made my way in. It was busier than usual. I went up to the bar and asked for some fries and a pop.

As I sat there snacking on some fries, more and more people started to crowd in. I overheard someone say that there was some sort of raffle going on tonight. I watched as more and more people shuffled in.

Eventually, the actual raffle started. Five bachelors stood on a small stage. Carol introduced each one. I only really recognized two of them. Alaric Saltzman, my history teacher, and Damon Salvator. I only recognized Damon because he’s in here a lot. I’ve never really spoken to him. I’ve never really spoken to his brother, Stefan, either. Just the occasional nod in greeting in the halls.

I watched the introductions. Damon verbally jabbed at Alaric during his own introduction. I feel bad for whoever’s ticket gets drawn for him. He seems like a self centered jerk.

After the raffle, I polished off my fries and asked for the check. I paid the bill, left a tip, and left. As I walked out of the grill, I saw a man get hit by a semi. I looked at the body in horror. I quickly took out my phone and called the authorities.

After a quick talk with an officer about what I had witnessed, I walked straight home. I made it home at around 10:30PM. I was getting pretty tired, so I went up to my room and got dressed into some comfy clothes before getting into bed.

As I laid there, I thought about what I had witnessed not even an hour ago. Sure, accidents happen, but this didn’t look entirely accidental, maybe for the driver, but not for the person that got hit. I could have sworn I saw him purposefully step out onto the road as I opened the door to the grill.

It looked like he was talking to Stefan and Elena before he got himself hit by that semi. Stefan, ever since he and Damon rolled into town, weird things have been happening. There had been more ‘animal attacks’ than usual.

I wasn’t stupid. I had noticed that every ‘animal attack’ included some sort of wound on the neck. Could Stefan and Damon possibly be vampires?

And then there’s Elena. I noticed that Elena had been acting off. It seemed as if she was really stressed out about something. Is she aware of the supernatural world?

Eventually, all of these thoughts began to die down as my eyes began to feel heavy. As I was falling into unconsciousness, I silently prayed that I wouldn’t get dragged into any of the supernatural bullshit that seems to be going on in this town.

Chapter 7: Bumping Into Bonnie

Emma’s POV

A couple days had passed. I had been actively avoiding both Salvatore brothers. I didn’t have concrete evidence that they were vampires, but judging on how Elena was acting, and my gut feeling, I was pretty much convinced. They may not be bad vampires. They could be like Enzo, but I really don’t want to be pulled into any supernatural drama. Getting sucked into that could put those I care about in danger. I couldn’t have that.

I walked into my first period classroom and found my desk. I set my stuff down on my desk and made my way back out of the room. I still had ten minutes before class started. More than enough time to use the restroom. I finished my business and quickly made my way out of the restroom. In my haste, I accidentally ran into someone, knocking both of us down. “I’m so sorry! Are you okay?” I asked frantically, offering her my hand after I quickly picked myself back up.

The girl had darker skin and long black hair. I recognized her. She was in Elena’s class. I think her name was Bonnie. “No worries. I’m fine.” Bonnie said as she reached for my hand.

As our hands met, she let out a slight gasp and gave me a weird look. She shook her hand and let me help her up. “Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked. Her gasp made me think that she did indeed hurt something during the fall.

“Yeah, I’m okay. Hey, your name is Emma, right?” she asked as she got herself balanced on her feet.

“Yeah, why?” I questioned. I was surprised that she knew my name. We had never really had a full conversation before. Not that I never wanted to; I had a feeling that she was a really good person. In fact, I could feel that we were somewhat similar. In what ways, I had no clue. I just never got the chance to talk to her since we weren’t in the same class.

“Oh, um, nothing.” she responded awkwardly before walking away.

Huh, strange. I thought as I made my way back to class. My classes went by without a hitch. When I got home, I tossed my backpack into my room and immediately made my way back outside. I made my way to a spot in the forest a little ways away from the trails. It was similar to my little sanctuary I had back in McKinley. It was a small clearing with a small stream flowing through it.

This was where I went to practice with my powers. In the last couple years, I had gotten really good at controlling my powers. I could now confidently manipulate large sums of water, move huge chunks of earth, start, move, and extinguish big fires, and even create whirlwinds that could shake the big branches on the top of the trees. And just like any other day, I was in the clearing, practicing with my powers. The only difference about today was that there was someone watching me, and I had no idea.

Chapter 8: Chat With A Friend

Emma’s POV

I was in the clearing, lifting a large chunk of earth from the ground. I broke smaller pieces off of the large chunk and threw them at a tree I had marked as a target. I was totally oblivious to the person watching from the trees. “Well, this is certainly a surprise.” I heard someone speak from behind me.

I whipped my head around in shock. I looked at my one and only friend. Enzo. What the hell is he doing here?! When did he get here?! Why is he here?! I hadn’t told him about my powers. Mainly because I saw no need to. “Enzo, hey…” I managed to peep out. “I didn’t know you were coming to visit.”

“I thought I’d surprise you. Instead, you surprised me. So, do you want to tell me what all of this is?” he questioned as he gestured at the mess of earth behind me.

My mind was scrambling for a way to tell him what was going on. Damn it, how the heck am I supposed to explain all of this?! Thankfully, he doesn't look mad or upset. “So, I have powers…” I slowly started.

“Yeah, that much was obvious. I’m gonna need a bit more than that.” he responded as he walked towards me.

What the hell, I’ll just tell him. “So, basically, I can manipulate earth, water, air, and fire. I first discovered my abilities when I was twelve and have been practicing with my powers ever since. I don’t know where my powers came from. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, I just want to keep it a secret. Absolutely nobody knows about them and I would like to keep it that way. So please don’t tell anyone.” I rushed out.

“Hey don’t worry, I won’t spill your secret. I’m just shocked that you have a power like this. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.” he said.

I deflated a bit at that. “So, you have no idea what I even am? I’ve been trying to find out what exactly I am and why I have these powers. My birth parents died when I was really young, so I have no way of knowing where these powers came from.” I admitted.

“Sorry Emma. I wish I could help. I genuinely have no clue what type of creature has powers like this. So, do you want to show me what else you can do?” Enzo asked, trying to lighten the mood.

“Sure! Just wait until you see what I can do with my wind ability!” I responded excitedly, ready to show him what I’ve got.

Chapter 9: Questions

Emma's POV

After thoroughly amazing Enzo with my powers, I called it a day and went home. The rest of the night went by quickly and before I knew it, it was the next day. I walked to school like any other day. The day was flying by. Lunch came around, and something unexpected happened. I sat down at a table, expecting to either eat alone or eat with another lonely soul. I heard two people set their trays down on the table. I looked up to see Bonnie and Elena taking a seat right across from me.

I found this weird. I took a quick look around the cafeteria. There were still tables open. Huh, well that's strange. Why are they sitting here with me? I quickly shook my head. I shouldn't let something small like this bother me. And it didn't, until I noticed that they were looking at me. "Um, hi..?" I said, raising a brow.

"Just what are you?" Bonnie asked quietly.

"Um, what do you mean?" I asked innocently. I was starting to get a little worried. They couldn't possibly know, right?

"When I grabbed your hand yesterday, I felt something. You're not entirely human are you?" Bonnie said. When she saw fear spread across my face, she continued. "Look, we're not gonna tell anyone. I'm a witch. I can sense when someone isn't human. We just want to know what you are."

Wait, witches exist? I shouldn't be surprised. Vampires exist, why not witches. What's next, werewolves? "To be honest with you, I'm not sure what I am. I've never met anyone else like me." I responded meekly.

"Wait, wouldn't your family know? Parents, grandparents, anybody with a blood relation?" Elena questioned.

"None that are alive. My birth parents died when I was three." I explained.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring something like that up..." Elena stammered. I knew she didn't want to bring up a sensitive topic like that.

I sent her a soft smile. "It's okay. It was a long time ago. I just wish I knew exactly what I was. I have these abilities, and I don't know why I have them. I don't know if it was passed down from my parents or if it's because of something else." I rambled on.

"What if I told you I know someone that might be able to help you figure out what you are?" Bonnie told me with a smirk.

Chapter 10: Grams

Emma’s POV

After school, Bonnie took me to her grandmother's house. She said that she may know what I am. If not, there could be something in one of the grimoires. I was excited! Finally, someone who might be able to help me figure out what I am! Bonnie knocked on the front door. The woman who answered had darker skin, much like Bonnie’s, and short, curly hair. “Hey Grams!” Bonnie said in greeting.

The woman sent Bonnie a warm smile. “Hello Bonnie. Who’s your friend?” the woman inquired.

“This is Emma. I wanted to introduce her to you. I think you might be able to help her.” Bonnie replied.

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you!” I said with a smile. I held out my hand for her to shake. I was eager to see if this woman could help.

I examined her reaction as she took my hand. The moment our hands made contact, her smile turned into a face of slight shock, which then morphed into confusion.

“I can see why you brought her to meet me...” the woman said, looking at Bonnie. She turned her gaze towards me and withdrew her hand. “And what did you need help with?” she questioned.

“I was hoping that maybe you can help me figure out what exactly I am and why I have these powers.” I responded nervously.

The woman nodded and stepped aside to let us in. We walked inside the house and I followed Bonnie to the couch. The woman came in and sat beside Bonnie on the couch. “Now, I’m not entirely sure what you are; I would think your family would be able to answer that for you.” she paused before continuing. “But, if you had a way to contact your family, you wouldn’t be here right now, would you.” she finished.

I nodded once to confirm her suspicions. I was losing my hope on figuring out what I was. She already openly stated that she didn’t know what kind of creature I was.

“From what I could feel, you have a connection to nature, much like us witches. I would assume that long ago, your kind would have been an ally to the witches. Witches are servants of nature. What I would like to know is, how are you connected to nature?” the woman asked.

After a moment of deciding how to briefly explain what I could do, I nodded to myself and responded. “I can manipulate the elements, for example…” I trailed off and I leaned forward and lit a candle on the table in front of us with my finger. After a couple of seconds, I flicked my hand towards the flame to let out a small gust of air to put out the candle.

“Bonnie, I believe you have found yourself a very powerful friend.” the woman said. She turned towards me once again. “You must tell no one of your power. If the wrong people find out about the power you hold, you and the people around you could get hurt, or even killed.” she said in a serious tone. Well, that’s worrying.

Chapter 11: New Friend

Emma’s POV

After a lengthy talk with Bonnie’s grandmother, who I knew by then was named Sheila, Bonnie took me back home. On the way back to my house, I asked Bonnie not to tell anybody about my powers. I made it known that I didn’t want to get mixed up into any supernatural business.

She said she understood. She also showed a great interest in my abilities. She expressed how she would like to see what else I could do. I told her to meet me at my house after classes the next day if she really wanted to know what else I could do with my powers.

The next day rolled around, and just like I told her, she met me at my house after school. I led her to my usual spot in the forest. I could tell that she immediately noticed how beat up the ground was. She stared rather wide eyed at a large hole in the ground.

She looked up at me, and pointed to the hole. “What..?” she started. It seemed she couldn’t quite find the right words to ask what she wanted to.

“I did that with one of my abilities.” I said, answering the question she was struggling to ask.

“You did that using one of your abilities?” she asked, shocked.

Instead of answering verbally, I decided to lift a large chunk of earth, showing her that, yes, I did do that with my abilities.

She looked on in amazement. A smile formed on my face as I watched her jaw drop. This is gonna be fun!

We stayed there for hours. I showed her what I could do, and in return, she showed me a few things a witch could do. Once we finally decided to call it quits, I led her out of the forest and back to my place. While we exchanged goodbyes, we also exchanged numbers. It was an overall good day, and I was happy that I finally made a friend in this town.

A few days passed by, and I didn’t see Bonnie. I texted her, asking if she was alright, since I didn’t see her in school. When I got no answer, I sought out Elena. I asked her where Bonnie was. She told me that her grandmother died. That immediately saddened me. She was the one who gave me any sort of clue as to what I was. I made a reminder to myself to give Bonnie my condolences the next time I saw her.

While I was talking to Elena, I asked her if Bonnie had told her what my abilities were since she already knew that I was some sort of supernatural creature. She confirmed that Bonnie did tell her what my abilities were. I wasn’t too upset, since she already knew I wasn’t exactly human, but I told her to not tell anybody what I could do. She nodded and told me she wouldn’t tell anyone.

A few more days passed by, and Bonnie finally returned to class. I gave her my condolences and told her if she ever needed anything to not hesitate to ask. She thanked me.

I could tell that she had changed. She wasn’t openly avoiding Elena, but I could tell that she was trying to distance herself from her. I didn’t know what was going on. Despite not being friends with Elena, I felt kind of bad for her. I felt bad for Bonnie, too. As much as I cared for both of them, I didn’t want to get involved; determined to stay out of any supernatural drama. Although, being friends with Bonnie, I should have known that I would have eventually gotten dragged into it at some point…

Chapter 12: Stefan

Emma’s POV

A couple days passed by and Founder’s Day was quickly approaching. I don’t know how she did it, but as soon as Caroline found out about Bonnie and I being friends, she got me roped into helping her with the Miss Mystic float for the parade. Caroline and I had barely even talked before, and after one single conversation with her, she had me helping her with something that I couldn’t care less about.

I walked to where the floats were being built. Bonnie and Caroline were already working on it. Bonnie helped to get a basic visual of what the float was going to look like. I helped out with some of the minor decorations of the float.

While I was taking a short break, I spotted Elena. She was talking to a woman with dark brown, almost black hair pulled up into a ponytail. I had no idea who she was, and Elena did not look comfortable talking with her. I watched the woman point over to a float that Matt was working on. I heard Elena shout before I saw a man jump onto the trailer, causing part of it to collapse, right onto Matt’s arm.

I immediately ran over to try to help lift the trailer off. I saw a gap right by Tyler for me to jump into, but before I could, Stefan jumped in. Immediately, the trailer was lifted off of Matt’s arm. That pretty much proved it to me that Stefan was a vampire. The trailer wouldn’t move an inch before he jumped in.

Caroline quickly ran to Matt’s side. She could handle Matt, I just wanted to quickly get back to work on the float and pretend that I didn’t see what I just saw.

When we finally got the float done, I made my way to leave. I decided that instead of going home, I decided to practice with my powers to work all of this nervous energy out of me.

After an hour and a half of messing around with my powers, I heard a stick snap behind me as I was creating a small whirlpool in the stream running through the clearing. I quickly turned around, hoping to just see an animal.

Some sort of higher being must hate me, because standing right behind me was none other than Stefan Salvatore. What the hell is he doing here?! At this point, I just wanted the ground to swallow me whole. Actually… I made a hole in the ground just big enough for me and jumped in. Before I could move any sort of earth over the top of the hole, Stefan sped over and pulled me out of the hole. After thwarting my escape plan and keeping a tight grip on my arm, he started questioning me. “Who are you, and, more importantly, what are you?”

I was looking for a way out. I could easily set him ablaze, but that would be wrong. Should I just set his hand on fire? No, I don’t have enough control with that power to not burn myself in the process. Should I try to throw a small chunk of rock towards his head and hope I don’t get hit in the process?

He interrupted my planning by grabbing my chin and forcing me to look him in the eye. “Who are you?” he asked once again.

“Asking the same question twice isn’t going to make me want to answer it. Besides, why should I tell you? I have no intentions of hurting Elena or Bonnie if that’s what you’re worried about.” I responded snarkily.

“I had to at least try it…” he mumbled.

“Please, just forget you saw me here. I don’t want to get mixed up in any vampire drama.” I said, pulling loose from his grip. “Nor do I feel like getting drained today, so, if you’ll excuse me…”

“Wait, I’m not gonna hurt you. Could you at least tell me who you are?”

Chapter 13: Flames

Emma’s POV

I saw no way out of the situation. Running away didn’t work, and I didn’t want to attack him relentlessly since he has yet to hurt me. This was an unavoidable conversation. “My name is Emma.” I said.

“Well, Emma, would you mind telling me what you are? I’ve never seen anyone control the elements like that before.” Stefan questioned.

“If I could tell you, I would. I’m not even sure what I am. These powers just showed up one day and I have no family to guide me on how to use them.” I replied. “What are you even doing out here?”

“Well, based on a previous comment, I’m sure you know I’m a vampire, but I don’t feed on humans. I sustain myself off of animal blood. So, I was hunting.” he said.

“Oh, okay…” I said, not knowing how to respond. “Was there anything else you wanted to ask me?”

“Just one more question. Who all in this town knows about this power of yours?” he questioned.

“So far, just you, Bonnie, and Elena, and I would like to keep it that way. Can I trust you to keep my secret?” I asked.

“Your secret is safe with me, don’t have to worry.” he responded. I hoped that he was being sincere.

“Alright, is that all you wanted to ask me?” I asked, just wanting this to be over as soon as possible.

“Yeah, that’s all.” he said.

With that, I walked out of the clearing. When I looked back, Stefan was gone. Vampires and their spooky vampire speed…

The next few days flew by. Founder’s Day had come. I watched the parade and saw Elena and Caroline on the float I helped build. They both looked beautiful. I sent a small wave their way. They spotted me and sent a smile and a wave back.

Nightfall came. The mayor had just gotten done with a short speech and the fireworks had started. Soon after they started, a noticed a few people drop, holding their heads. What the hell was happening. I broke away from the crowd and looked around and hoped that I could find out what was happening. I watched as Elena and Mr. Saltzman pulled a weak looking Stefan down a set of steps; away from view. Does my history teacher know about vampires? I shook the thought out of my head and I quickly followed. They had to know what was happening. I made it down the steps and approached them. Mr. Salzman looked understandably surprised, but I ignored him. “Hey, what’s going on? I saw some people all of a sudden go down.” I said.

Once Stefan had recovered from whatever the hell just happened, he explained the situation. How Bonnie pretended to unspell a device that was a weapon against vampires, and how Damon had gone missing. Mr. Salzman pitched in and told us that he saw the deputies dragging the vampires into an old building belonging to Elena’s family. I let them lead the way to the building. Stefan, with his vampire hearing, concluded that the building was set on fire. We bumped into John Gilbert on our way to the building and he, somewhat proudly, revealed to us that Damon was with the rest of the vampires in the building. Stefan led us around the side of the building where a utility door was. As Stefan was about to go into the building, Bonnie appeared. She warned Stefan that the fire would take him out if he went inside. He didn’t seem to care, and ran in anyway. I debated whether or not to go in after him. Doing so would reveal my secret to Damon. “Damn it…” I mumbled and went in.

I spotted Stefan trying to open the door, but getting burned by the hot handle. I noticed my approach and looked at me in surprise. I could sense the flames behind that door and imagined them getting extinguished. I was hoping that it would work, since I haven’t ever tried to put out a fire that I couldn’t see. I told Stefan to try to open the door again, and he did, surprised to see that the flames leading down the stairs were extinguished. He quickly grabbed his brother and led him out. Right when they left, I set fire to the stairs again and followed them out, hoping I made the right decision.

Chapter 14: Katherine

Emma’s POV

I decided I’ve seen enough vampire drama go down tonight, so I went home. I could tell that Damon had a few questions for me, but I could talk to him another time. So, I asked Bonnie for a ride home. On the way home, I realized that by running into that burning building, I’ve put myself right where I didn’t want to be. I was swirling right in the center of all of the supernatural bullshit; and it was impossible to get out.

I texted Bonnie the next day to see if I missed out on anything, and oh boy did I miss a whole lot within the previous few hours. First off, Elena’s evil vampire doppelganger, Katherine, made an appearance and tried to kill John Gilbert. That was the first time I had even heard of this ‘Katherine’ girl. Second, the mayor died in the fire the previous night. Apparently, the device affected him that night, and it seems to run in the family, because, thirdly, Tyler heard the device go off and got into a car crash. Caroline got badly injured. She was in the hospital, but Damon gave her some vampire blood, so she should heal up in no time.

I made it to the Lockwood mansion with my parents. Tyler was at the entrance. We quickly gave him our condolences and entered. I split from my parents, wanting to find Bonnie. While I was looking around, I met someone strange. I was just approaching Elena when someone bumped into me. He quickly apologized. Something about this man felt…wild. I didn’t know how else to explain it.

I quickly shook myself free from this strange feeling. “Oh, no worries. I’m fine, uh…” I didn’t know this man’s name.

“Mason. Mason Lockwood.” he finished for me.

“Lockwood?” I asked.

He nodded. “I was Richard’s brother. I don’t live here in town. I just came back for the funeral.” he answered my unasked question.

“Ah, got it. My name is Emma, by the way. It was nice to meet you.” I said.

“Nice to meet you, too.” he replied before walking off.

When I turned back, I couldn't see Elena. Where did she go? She was just here. I eventually found her and called out to her. “Elena!”

As I approached her, I felt that something was off. Something felt…ominous. Then it hit me. This wasn’t Elena. Well, it’s too late to back out now. “Hey, I found out what happened to Caroline. Are you doing alright?”

“I’m doing alright. I hear she’s doing a lot better, so that’s good.” Katherine replied, acting like Elena.

“That’s good. I hope she heals up fast. Anyways, see you around Elena.” I said as I made my escape.

I need to find Bonnie! I looked around for Bonnie. I knew I had to warn her that Katherine was here. I eventually found her and quickly approached her. “Hey Bonnie, I was looking for you. Can we talk somewhere in private?” I asked. She nodded and led me to a secluded room. Once I was sure that we were alone, I quickly started. “Katherine is here. I just met her. I mistook her for Elena at first, but something about her felt ominous.”

“She’s here, now?” she asked, concerned. I nodded. “We need to call Elena.” she said. Before Bonnie had the chance to pull her phone out, I felt that weird ominous feeling again.

“No, let’s not call her.” Fear shot through me as I saw Katherine standing in the doorway. “And you…” she said, pointing to me. “Just who are you?”

Chapter 15: Carnival

Emma’s POV

“Who are you? Isobel never mentioned you, yet you know who I am. So…” Katherine said as she closed the doors and stalked towards us. “Who are you?”

I saw no escape route, and she was the last person I would tell my secret to. But, I saw no way out. All of the sudden, Bonnie stepped in front of me. She used her powers to try to stop Katherine’s approach. Katherine cried out and grabbed her head.

A moment later, she released her head and smirked at Bonnie. “Did you really think that would work on me?” she said as she shoved Bonnie towards the wall. As Bonnie attempted to recover, Katherine turned back towards me. “Now, where were we? Oh, that's right! You were about to tell me who the hell you are!”

“My name’s Emma.” I said, backing away.

“You see, you’re gonna have to give me a bit more than that.” she said as she quickly closed the distance. She had me up against the wall; her hand around my throat. She squeezed, but her grip was loose enough to let me get in just enough breath to choke out an answer. “I’m friends with Elena and Bonnie.”

“Still not enough.” she said through clenched teeth. Suddenly, Bonnie jumped back onto her feet and the doors flew open, letting the people outside the room to see inside. Katherine immediately released my neck; letting me take in a much needed breath.

“Clever witch…” Katherine said. She slowly walked out of the room, leaving just me and Bonnie.

“Are you okay?” Bonnie asked frantically.

“I’m fine, just a little shaken up.” I replied. “Thank you for the help.”

“No problem.” she said with a small smile.

I gave her a small smile back and looked outside of the room. “I’ve been completely sucked into this, haven’t I?” I said with a sigh.

“Afraid so…” Bonnie replied. “We’ll get each other through this whole mess, I promise.” she added on.

I decided to go find my parents to go home after that. I just wanted to take the rest of the day to relax. I didn’t risk going to the clearing. I knew that I should avoid using my powers while Katherine was running around town.

The next day came around, and it was the day of the carnival. Since Caroline was out of commission, Elena took up the job of getting everything together. I helped set up the karaoke booth. I knew a thing or two about the equipment since Gideon used to DJ at small bars around the area.

So far, the carnival was a success. Everyone looked like they were having fun. I ran into Elena and Bonnie and asked how things were going for them. They said everything was running smoothly.

Since I was only on set up duty, I stuck next to Bonnie for the rest of the night. We just walked around and made sure things were running smoothly. After a bit of time, I caught sight of Stefan and Elena. They looked worried. I nudged Bonnie and nodded towards where Stefan and Elena were. Bonnie and I exchanged concerned glances and followed them.

We lost sight of them for a little while. We were near the parking lot when we stumbled upon a scene that shocked both of us. We found Stefan and Elena, but we also found Damon and Caroline. Caroline had blood smeared across her face. Caroline was a vampire.

Chapter 16: Calm Down

Emma’s POV

“Caroline?” Bonnie said with shock and hurt written all over her face.

“Bonnie…” Caroline started.

“You’re not, no, you can’t be…” Bonnie said with an expression that I was surprised to see on her face. Disgust. She grabbed Caroline’s arm to confirm what she was seeing.

“Oh God, Bonnie…” Caroline quietly cried as Bonnie walked past her. Tears fell down her face and she left with Stefan to go get cleaned up.

I stayed with Elena and Bonnie. We took a moment to process the new information. “I can’t believe this is happening.” Bonnie said.

“Come on, don’t pout about it. We’ve got a body to bury.” Damon said as he approached us with a shovel. “I thought you were calling the shots. No? Sucks to be you, buddy.” Damon quipped before yelling out and clutching his head.

“I told you what would happen if anybody else got hurt.” Bonnie said as a faucet turned on its own; creating a river of water.

“Bonnie, it wasn’t his fault. This wasn’t his doing…” I pleaded with her. I may not like Damon, but I knew he didn’t deserve to die over this.

“Everything that happens is his fault, Emma.” Bonnie replied. She wasn’t letting up on her assault towards Damon. Suddenly, the river of water caught on fire. It was crawling towards Damon. I knew that if I didn’t do something she was going to kill Damon.

“Bonnie, calm down! Stop it, you’re killing him!” I yelled as flames engulfed Damon. He screamed out in pain and fear. I need to step in with my own power. I extinguished the flames.

Bonnie looked over at me in anger. “Why, why do you do that?! Why did you stop me?!”

“Because this isn’t right! Caroline’s turning is not his fault! You have to see that!” I yelled out. Elena came over and led Bonnie away. I turned towards Damon and helped him up. “You good?” I asked.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be fine.” He replied. “Hey, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something…”

I knew this was coming. He asked about my powers. I explained all that I knew about my powers to him. Turns out, he also didn’t know what I was. I made him promise to never tell anyone about my powers. I also told him who all knew about it already. After all of that, I decided to head home.

A couple days had passed and I was informed that we may have a werewolf problem on our hands. It would explain why the Lockwoods reacted to the Gilbert device. Mr. Saltzman, Elena, and Damon were going to head to Duke to take a look through Isobel’s research. Even though I knew it was a long shot, I asked them if they could look to see if there was any research done on any other supernatural creatures other than vampires, werewolves,and witches. It could lead me to finding out what I was. That same day, Bonnie was going to try to make a daylight ring for the newly turned Caroline. Stefan was also going to take her out into the woods to try to teach her to hunt and feed on animals.

Just as I expected, none of Isobel’s research was going to help me on my quest to find out what I was. I decided not to let it get me down. I went for a short walk on the trails. I may not be using my powers, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t spend some time in the woods. If only I knew what was going to happen. I would’ve stayed home.

Chapter 17: Fear

Emma’s POV

While in the woods, I ran into the last person I wanted to see. “Katherine, what are you doing here?” I asked uneasily.

“You never did answer my question from the other day. Who are you?” she asked and she approached me menacingly.

“I already told you. My name is Emma, a friend to Elena and Bonnie.” I said, trying to hide my fear.

“And I thought I told you to give me a little more than that.” she replied. Katherine started to circle me as if I was her prey. “You were able to tell me apart from Elena almost instantaneously. You didn’t even have to touch me to figure it out. I would like to find out why. Care to clear that up for me?”

“Nah, rather not. Goodbye now!” I said. I tried to make a quick escape. Before I could make it two steps, she gripped my arm. I should have known that it wouldn’t work, but I had to give it a try.

“I don’t like being told no. You should know that I could easily take out one of you little friends, and I’m not known for being patient or merciful. If you don’t tell me what I want to know, you might just find someone you care about getting hurt, and it would be entirely your fault. So, for the last time, I ask, how could you tell me apart from Elena so quickly?”

“Just a feeling I guess. Plus, Elena doesn’t like wearing her hair curled.” I replied. I hoped that was enough of an answer.

“You see, I feel that you’re not telling me the entire truth.” Katherine said.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I said in a calm voice. I hoped she couldn’t feel how rapidly my heart was beating.

“Oh, you will be sorry.” she hissed out. “I know you’re lying. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” I heard her whisper before she was gone. I sighed in relief. Damn, that was scary! I continued my walk around on the trails. I was processing what had just happened and trying to calm myself down. Bonnie will be fine. She can protect herself, and Elena has Stefan. Stefan will keep her safe. Even Damon is willing to protect her. They will be fine.

I walked around for a while longer before checking the time. The short walk I had planned had turned into a long one. I’d been out here for nearly three hours. I should probably head back for the day. I made it back home and walked in the door. Without looking up I called out to my parents. “Faith, Gideon, I’m home!”

I got no response. I was puzzled. I remembered them saying that they’d be home today. I looked at the counter. Looks like they left me a note. I picked up the note and my blood ran cold.

I don’t like being lied to. I did tell you that someone would end up getting hurt. I did warn you. Also, I’ve been invited in. Hope you don’t mind.

-K

I looked up and saw a sight that made fear shoot through me. I could see a part of the wall in the living room. There was a splatter of something dark red. No…

I sprinted into the living room and nearly collapsed. “No, no! Faith! Gideon!” I yelled out, tears forming in my eyes. They were lying on the ground; their upper bodies covered in blood.

I ran over to Faith, my mom. “No! Faith, please, wake up!” I cried out as I tried to shake her awake, as if she was just asleep. Her skin wasn’t as warm as it should’ve been. I turned to Gideon, my father, who was lying right next to her. “Gideon!” I tried to shake him awake, too. He, too, wasn’t as warm as he should be.

“No, please!” I yelled out, clutching my head. “This has to be a nightmare. I’m sleeping, I’ll wake up any second…” I tried to convince myself. I couldn’t handle what was right before my eyes.

I pulled at my hair, crying out. “No, no! This can’t be happening! Faith, Gideon! Faith, please wake up! Please! I can’t lose you! I can’t lose either of you! Please!” I yelled, tears pouring from my eyes.

“MOM!!!” I screamed.

Chapter 18: Tears

Emma’s POV

I was hysterical. I don’t know how long I was crying and begging my parents to wake up before I gained the sense to call the authorities.

The sheriff was the first to arrive along with one of her deputies. I heard other sirens in the distance. The sheriff quickly rushed inside, finding me on the ground in tears. She knelt next to me. She tried to console me, but it was like I was numb to what was happening around me.

I saw the sheriff look at my dead parents. Her eyes lingered on their necks, her face going slightly pale. She knows…

I managed to find the energy to speak. “I know what did this…”

“You do, huh?” the sheriff asked, seeming to know what I was about to say.

“Vampire.” I whispered.

More cops and an ambulance showed up. It was too late. My parents were dead. There was no saving them. If I had just stayed home today, this wouldn’t have happened. I knew something like this would happen. If I didn’t get involved, they’d still be.. I couldn’t handle these thoughts. I couldn’t handle them because they were true. I could’ve protected them!

Once the tears had slowed, I was questioned by the sheriff. I told them that I found my parents right after I got home. I didn’t tell them about the note. They couldn’t do anything. Besides, I saw no need to pull them into this mess.

After the initial questioning, she took me to her office to talk more in depth about what had happened, and what was to happen next. There was a brief conversation about what I had mentioned when she first arrived. I knew that she knew about vampires, and she knew that I knew. She told me to not get involved in this sort of thing. If only I had listened to myself when I said the exact same thing.

She also told me that I needed someone to look after me until something more permanent could take place. I had no family. Any family members Faith had were either dead or distant. I’ve never even met any of Gideon’s family. I had nowhere to go.

“So, you have no close family around here. Are there any friends that could take you in?” Sheriff Forbes asked.

“I could ask Elena if it would be alright with Jenna for me to crash there for a while.” I mentioned.

“Good. I can call them for you if you want.” she offered.

I nodded. I didn’t have Elena’s number. I would have had to call Bonnie first for her number, and explain the situation. I didn’t think I could do that without breaking down.

I stayed silent as she called Jenna and explained that my parents were dead and that I would need a place to stay. I wonder what the official report would say. They can’t just write down that a vampire attacked my parents.

After the call, the sheriff said that Jenna agreed to take me in for the time being and that they would be here in a few minutes. I thanked her. She asked if I needed anything else from her. I shook my head. All that there was left to do was to wait.

Jenna eventually showed up. Elena was with her. As soon as Elena saw me walk out, she dashed towards me. She engulfed me in a big hug. Tears sprung to my eyes and I hugged her back. “I’m so sorry this happened to you.” she whispered. I tried to keep my sobs quiet as I cried into her shoulder. After the day I had, I really needed a hug.

Eventually, I pulled away and wiped my eyes. I followed them out to the car and got into the back seat. Once we were all settled in, we were off. During the car ride there, Elena informed me that she called Bonnie and that she’d meet us at the house.

We pulled into the driveway of my temporary home. I got out and followed Jenna and Elena inside. The second I stepped into the house, I was nearly tackled into a hug by Bonnie. Again, tears formed in my eyes. I didn’t think anyone was capable of crying so much in one day. I thought all my tears had been used up while I was still at my house. My old house.

“It’ll all be okay Emma. I’m here for you, no matter what. We’ll get through these dark days. We’ll get through them together.” Bonnie said. I could hear the sincerity in her voice. When did I get such kind friends?

Chapter 19: Plan

Emma’s POV

I got a week off of school. I offered to sleep on the couch at Elena’s place since my stay here was temporary. It took a while for me to convince Jenna that the couch would be fine for me. A couple days after the death of my parents, I went back to my old house to grab my things. Jenna, Elena, and Bonnie all helped me pack up everything that I wanted to keep and move it to Elena’s place. Elena let me keep some of my things in her room for the time being since I didn’t have a room of my own yet.

Jenna offered to hold the wake at the house. It was a day of tears, condolences, and shared memories. I walked around as if I was on autopilot. My mind was keeping me numb to avoid having a breakdown in front of all of these people. People that I hardly even knew came and gave me their condolences. I just thanked them as the next person came up to me to say the same thing.

Jenna said that I’m taking the death of my parents well. Truth was, I wasn’t. I just waited until late at night, when everyone was asleep, to break down. I didn’t have my own room, my own space, or privacy. So, in order to have a private moment, I had to wait until no one was around to see me like that.

The days crawled by. Elena kept me updated on the supernatural shenanigans. I didn’t really care all that much. I just told her to be careful when it came to Katherine. She was currently pretending to fight with Stefan. She wanted Katherine to think she was winning so that she wouldn’t hurt anyone. Well, anyone else.

The day of the masquerade was almost here. Elena was put on the decoration committee. I’ve never really been one to be into wearing elegant dresses and going to events like that. I didn’t have much of a reason to go.

A couple days before the masquerade, I got a call from a number I didn’t recognize. The ring effectively woke me up from my nap. With a grumble, I answered. “Hello, who is this?”

“Well, hello to you, too, little miss ball of sunshine.” I heard Damon’s voice over the phone.

“Damon? How did you get this number?” I asked.

“Not important. What is important is what is going down at the masquerade.” Damon said.

“Huh?” I said, lost.

“The others didn’t want me to tell you, but I feel that you have the right to know and…join in if you really wanted to. We’re coming up with a plan to kill Katherine. You want to join in on the fun?” Damon asked.

A way to get revenge? Sounds interesting… “Killing Katherine? That does sound fun. What would you have me do?” I asked, intrigued.

He explained the plan to me. My part was quite simple. When Caroline leads Katherine to the spelled room, I push Katherine in if she doesn’t walk in by herself. Katherine knows to look before running into things. She would likely drag Caroline into the room with her if she thought something wasn’t right.

After the phone call, I told Jenna that I wanted to go to the masquerade. I told her that I thought that it would be a good distraction for me and a good way to prepare going back to school. Jenna smiled and immediately took me out to help me find a good dress and mask. For the first time since my parents died, a small, genuine smile formed on my face.

What was so far a good day turned into a nightmare later that night. Elena had just gotten home. Jenna was on the phone with someone. When Elena walked into the room, Jenna handed the phone to her and turned back to continue cooking. I watched as Elena’s face contorted into a look of concern and fear before she dropped the phone and ran towards Jenna. “Jenna, no!”

I turned around and saw Jenna with a knife in her stomach. Elena, Alaric, and I all dashed towards Jenna. Elena and Alaric knelt down next to her while I stood and looked at her in shock. Eventually, I grabbed the dropped phone and called for an ambulance.

The morning of the masquerade ball, Jenna was discharged from the hospital. Matt helped her inside the house while I opened the door for them. “I walked into a knife. How does somebody do that?” Jenna said as Matt eased her down onto the couch.

“It was a freak accident. It happens.” I said as I followed them into the living room. Matt joked about how he’d done the same thing several times before at the grill to lighten the mood a little.

Elena and Jeremy walked into the kitchen with a bag and some flowers someone got for Jenna. I stayed in the living room with Matt and Jenna. I heard Elena and Jeremy having a hushed conversation. Probably about Katherine.

“I’ll be back!” Jeremy said as he walked out the door. I knew that he was heading to a ‘kill Katherine’ meeting at the boarding house. I already knew my part of the plan and I wasn’t gonna back out. If the plan changes, I’ll get a call from Damon. I was ready for the battle that tonight would bring.

Katherine is going down!

Chapter 20: The Masquerade

Emma’s POV

I was wearing a beautiful green dress with long sleeves. My mask was a matching shade of green with two fake jewels by the eyes. I didn’t feel like doing anything fancy with my hair, so I left it down. “Emma, you look amazing!” Elena said from behind me.

“Thank you, Elena.” I responded with a smile.

“Emma, Caroline’s here!” I heard Alaric yell from downstairs.

“On my way!” I yelled back as I made my way out of Elena’s room. I gave her a quick wave goodbye before I made my way downstairs and out the door. Caroline was taking me to the masquerade ball. I hopped into the passenger seat and we were off.

The plan was in action. I was in a room across from the room Bonnie had spelled. Caroline should be executing her part of the plan any second now. As if on cue, I heard two sets of footsteps making their way towards the room along with Caroline’s voice. “Why do you keep dragging me into this? I don’t want any part of it.”

“Shut up. Which room is it?” I heard Katherine say. They stopped walking right in front of me. I didn’t think Katherine knew I was here yet.

“It’s that one.” Caroline admitted as she nodded to the one right in front of them.

Katherine continued to drag Caroline by the hair into the room. I’m up! I quickly stepped out of the room. Katherine noticed me instantly. She immediately released Caroline. “Oh, Emma, how’s mom and dad?” she mocked. Caroline and Katherine were separated. Good. I pushed Katherine back, trying to get her into the room. She stumbled back a bit, but she wasn’t within the barrier of the room yet. “Really, that's all you can do to respond? Push me?” Katherine said, unimpressed.

If that didn’t get her in, this will. I created a massive gust of air and aimed it at Katherine. The gust was powerful enough to push her into the middle of the room. Katherine did not look happy. She tried to rush towards me, but the barrier stopped her. “What the…” Katherine gasped out in surprise. Realization crossed her face as she turned around. “Stefan?”

“Hello Katherine.” Stefan said as he stepped into view.

“Goodbye Katherine.” Caroline said as she walked away.

“Can you handle this?” I asked. Sefan nodded at me. With that, I followed Caroline back downstairs. “Hey, would you mind giving me a quick ride home? I was only here to execute my part of the plan.” I asked Caroline once I caught up to her.

“Sure! On the way there, you can explain why you didn’t tell me about your powers.” Caroline said.

I gave her a small smirk. “Deal.”

True to my word, I told Caroline that I didn’t want people knowing about my powers. I explained that I wanted to stay out of the vampire drama, but I got sucked in anyway. When we got back to the house, Caroline followed me in. We made it up to Elena’s room so that I could change. While I was changing, I told Caroline what my powers were and how little I knew about them. Once I was completely changed, I told Caroline to enjoy the rest of her night at the ball. While she was walking out the door, I went into the living room to check on Elena and Jenna. Jenna was asleep on the couch and Alaric was watching TV, but I didn’t see Elena.

“Alaric, where’s Elena?” I asked.

It was then that Alaric noticed my entrance. “Hey Emma, she went to bed a while ago...” he said.

“She wasn’t in her room, I was just in there.” I said. I realized that she must’ve figured out what was going on. I quickly went outside. Caroline was still there. I also looked for Elena’s car. It was gone. I should’ve noticed.

Before Caroline could drive off, I stopped her and explained the situation. I got into the car and we raced back to the mansion. Once we were there, I told Caroline to go back to the party and that I could handle Elena. I searched for Elena. I found her with Bonnie. She had blood on her shirt. I ran up to them. “Elena, what happened?” I asked frantically.

“Long story short, a witch linked Elena and Katherine together, they’re now unlinked, Katherine is defeated, and now I’m helping Elena heal.” Bonnie said. I nodded, thankful that Elena was okay. I waited there while Bonnie did what she could with Elena’s wounds.

Once Bonnie was done healing her, Elena went to have a quick talk with Stefan before heading out to her car. I followed her to make sure she got there okay. Despite Bonnie’s healing, she was still hurt. I noticed someone in a full mask following us. “Elena!” I tried to warn. Before I could say anything else or react, the person in the mask hit me in the head with something hard. My world went dark before my head even reached the ground.

Chapter 21: Rose And Trevor

Emma’s POV

I woke up on an old couch with a raging headache. “Ow…” I whispered out, clutching my head. Once my headache had died down a bit and my vision stopped spinning, I took stock of my surroundings. I was in what was a large, and obviously abandoned house. I heard voices coming from somewhere in the house. With a quiet grunt, I got up, hoping to find a way to escape. While I was getting up, I heard something crumple under me. I looked and found a piece of paper. I uncrumpled it, and on it was a message.

Stefan and Damon are coming to get you.

-B

My plans to escape were halted when I saw the note. I sighed in relief. It was then I heard one of the voices in the next room. It was Elena. For a split second I was confused. I wondered why she was here. But I quickly remembered that I was following Elena out to her car when I was struck over the head. Getting up and staying hidden, I tuned into the conversation. “What do you mean the Originals?” Elena asked.

The Originals? “Again with the questions. Haven’t the Salvatores been teaching you vampire history?” the unknown woman began to question. Well, it’s not like they hold classes for it.

“So you know Stefan and Damon?” Elena questioned back.

“I know of them. A hundred years back a friend of mine tried to set me up with Stefan. She said he was one of the good ones. I’m more of a sucker for the bad boys though, but I digress.” the woman responded.

“Who are the Originals?” Elena pressed.

There was a pause before the woman responded. “Trevor and I have been running for five hundred years. We’re tired. We want it over. We’re using you to negotiate ourselves out of an old mess.”

“But why me?” Elena asked.

“Because you’re a Petrova doppelganger. You’re the key to breaking the curse.” the woman responded.

Wait, she’s the key, not the moonstone? “Curse? The Sun and the Moon curse?” Elena questioned.

“So you do know your history.” the woman responded.

“What do you mean I’m the key? The moonstone is what breaks the curse.” Elena said, confused.

“No, the moonstone is what binds the curse. Sacrifice is what breaks it.” the woman corrected. Wait, sacrifice? Elena has to be sacrificed? My blood ran cold.

“Sacrifice?” Elena questioned quietly. I barely even heard it.

“The blood of the doppelganger. You’re the doppelganger. Which means in order to break the curse, you’re the one that has to die.” the woman said.

So, what I’ve gathered is that some very powerful vampires are coming after Elena, to kill her, to break the curse. What the hell… There was a pause in the conversation before Elena spoke up. “Tell me more.”

Suddenly, another voice spoke up, startling me a little. “Captivity’s made her pushy, eh? What do you wanna know, doppelicious?”

Doppelicious? “Who are you running from?” Elena asked.

“The Originals.” the man, who I guessed was Trevor, responded.

“Yeah, she said that. What does that mean?” Elena questioned.

“The first family. The old world. Rose and I pissed them off.” Tevor said. The woman, who I knew by then to be Rose, made a small noise, and Trevor corrected himself. “Correction, I pissed them off. Rose had my back. And for over half a millennium, they wanted us dead.” he paused before he spoke again, louder. “Also, to the person hiding in the other room, we know you’re there, so you might as well come in and join the party.”

Shit…

Chapter 22: Elijah

Emma’s POV

There was no use in hiding anymore. I made my way in, but I kept my distance from the vampires in the room. Elena mouthed ‘Are you okay?’ I nodded. Soon after, the conversation resumed as if I wasn’t even there. “What did you do to anger the Originals?” Elena asked.

Trevor looked to Rose to answer that question. “He made the same mistake countless others did. He trusted Katerina Petrova.”

“Katherine…” Elena mumbled.

“The one and only. The first Petrova doppelganger.” Rose said.

“I helped her escape her fate and, now, I’ve…sorry, we’ve been marked ever since.” Trevor added in.

“Which is why we’re not gonna make the same mistake again.” Rose said as she looked at Trevor with a pointed look.

“So, does anybody wanna tell me why I’m here?” I asked hesitantly.

“You just happened to be in the crossfire. We didn’t mean for you to get captured, too. If anything, you’ll be a nice little snack for him.” And now I feel really uneasy. With that, they left the room, leaving only me and Elena. I led Elena back to the room I woke up in. I made sure that the vampires weren’t looking before handing Elena the note. She looked at it and gave a sigh of relief. She quickly crumpled the paper and hid it in the cushions of the couch.

After sitting down for a bit, Elena filled me in on what I had missed while I was out. The only thing I missed was that the guy they called was a vampire named Elijah. One of the Originals. Elena and I stayed on the couch and hoped that Stefan and Damon would make it here before this Elijah guy arrived.

It seemed fate wanted to fuck with us, because somehow, this Elijah guy got here before the Salvatore brothers did. “He’s here. This was a mistake.” Trevor said, panicked.

No, I told you I would get us out of this. You have to trust me.” Rose responded, trying to get Trevor to calm down.

“No! He wants me dead, Rose!” Trevor exclaimed, still panicked.

“He wants her more!” Rose said.

“I can’t do this! You give them to him, he’ll have mercy on you. But I need to get out of here!” Trevor told Rose.

“Hey, what are we?” Rose asked.

Trevor took a couple of deep breaths before responding. “We’re family. Forever.”

Right after that heartfelt moment, three loud knocks echoed throughout the house. “You’re scared.” Elena commented. Well no shit, Sherlock.

“Stay here with them, and don’t make a sound.” Rose said as she left the room.

“Emma, get behind me.” Elena whispered.

“Huh, why? You stand no chance against this Elijah guy. I have a better chance of taking him down than you do.” I whispered back.

“I know, but he wants me alive. I’m no use to him dead. But you, he’ll likely see you as a tasty meal. So, get behind me.” Elena quietly demanded. I nodded and did as she said. I’ve never seen Elena be so brave before. I heard his footsteps before I saw his face. I know that most vampires are attractive, but damn, this guy is on a whole new level. Leave some beauty for the rest of us.

This guy, Elijah, froze momentarily when he saw Elena. He seemed surprised to see her. He used his speed to rush towards her. I stumbled back a couple of steps, but Elena stayed rooted in place. She seemed determined to be brave. Determined to protect me. Like an older sister. Elijah leaned down to sniff at her neck. Way to be creepy, dude. “Human. It’s impossible.” he said. Obviously not, she’s standing right in front of you. “Hello there.”

I took a step back. I stepped on something, probably broken glass, that crunched under my foot. God damn it! Good going Emma! The man snapped his head towards me. On instinct, I froze. My body seemed to think that if I didn't move, he might not see me. Of course he sees me! He’s right fucking there, staring at me.

Seconds go by, and he’s still standing in the same place, observing me. We made eye contact. Something about the look in his eye threw me off. He didn’t look mad, or hungry. At least, not hungry in the way I’d expected. What is up with this guy?

Chapter 23: Goodbye Trevor

Emma’s POV

Elijah was the first one to make a move. He made slow steps towards me. “And who might you be, my dear?” he asked, stopping right in front of me.

“Emma.” I whispered out, barely being able to meet his eye. My heart was beating out of my chest.

“Emma…” he said, as if testing it out. He hummed before speaking up again. “We have a long journey ahead of us. We should be going.”

“Please, don’t let him take us.” Elena pleaded with Rose.

“One last piece of business, then we’re done.” Elijah said, turned around, stalking towards a trembling Trevor.

“I’ve waited so long for this day, Elijah. Truly very sorry.” Trevor said while Elijah slowly walked around him, like a predator.

“Well, no, your apology is not necessary.” Elijah said in an eerily calm voice.

“Yes. Yes, it is. You trusted me with Katerina, and I failed you.” Trevor responded, still trembling.

“Well, yes, you are the guilty one. Rose aided you because she was loyal to you. That I honor.” Elijah said as he stopped walking around Trevor, turning towards him. “Where was your loyalty?”

“I beg your forgiveness.” Trevor whispered.

“So granted.” Elijah responded. A moment passed before Elijah quickly beheaded him with his own hand. I gasped and stepped back. Rose cried out as she started an advance towards Elijah. “Don’t. Rose. Now that you are free.” Elijah warned, stopping Rose in her tracks. Rose cried quietly. “Come.” Elijah said, turning towards us. No, Stefan and Damon weren’t here yet.

“No, what about the moonstone?” Elena quickly asked, trying to buy time.

“What do you know about the moonstone?” Elijah questioned.

“I know that you need it, a-and I know where it is.” Elena stated.

“Yes.” Elijah said, telling her to go on.

“I can help you get it.” Elena said.

“Tell me where it is.” Elijah demanded quietly.

“It doesn’t work that way.” Elena responded.

Elijah took a step towards Elena. “Are you negotiating with me?” Elijah asked, looking almost amused. He turned his head towards Rose.

“It’s the first I’ve heard of it.” Rose recovered enough to say.

Elijah turned back to Elena, staying silent for a moment. He glanced down at her necklace. “What is this vervain doing around your neck?” he asked before ripping the necklace off of her. He grabbed the back of Elena’s head, forcing her to look him in the eye. “Tell me where the moonstone is.”

“In the tomb underneath the church ruins.” Elena said robotically. Wait, Katherine is still alive? I thought Stefan and Damon had killed her. Whatever, she can’t hurt anyone if she’s trapped down there. That’s all that matters.

“What is it doing there?” Elijah asked, continuing the compulsion.

“It’s with Katherine.” Elena responded without hesitation.

“Interesting.” Elijah said before stopping the compulsion. Suddenly, we heard glass breaking from somewhere in the house. “What is that?” Elijah asked. It’s Stefan and Damon. It has to be. Thank god.

Chapter 24: The Rescue

Emma’s POV

Elijah looked at Rose questioningly. “Who else is in this house?” Elijah asked. When Rose stated that she didn’t know, he grabbed both Elena and I and pushed us towards the stairs. “Move.” For some reason, I felt a tingle race through me when he grabbed me.

The four of us made it to the entrance of the house. Two vampires were running around, attempting to confuse the other two vampires with us. Elena and I knew that Stefan and Damon were here to rescue us, or at least try to. Elijah pushed us towards Rose so his hands were free to use if need be. “Rose?” Elijah questioned.

“I don’t know who it is.” Rose replied to the silent question.

“Up here…” a voice, Stefan’s, called from up the stairs. Elijah rushed up there to try to catch him.

“Down here…” a different voice, Damon’s, could be heard from the bottom of the stairs, right behind Elena, Rose, and I. Suddenly, a stake flew right into Elijah’s hand. With an annoyed expression, Elijah pulled the stake out of his hand. The wound it left quickly healed up. When Elijah tossed the stake aside, Elena and I were quickly pulled and rushed away from Rose.

Damon held me against the wall out of sight of Elijah and Rose with a finger over his mouth, silently telling me to be quiet. I quickly nodded and tried to quiet my panicked breaths. I assumed Elena was with Stefan also out of sight from the other two vampires in the room.

“Excuse me, to whom it may concern, you’re making a great mistake if you think that you can beat me. You can’t. You hear that? I repeat, you cannot beat me. I want the girls on the count of three, or heads will roll.” Elijah said. I could hear the sound of wood snapping as he spoke. “Do we understand each other?”

Elena’s voice sounded from the top of the stairs. “I’ll come with you. Just please don’t hurt my friends. They just wanted to help me out.”

I could hear the wind of Elijah rushing up the stairs. Elena let out a loud gasp. “What game are you playing with me? And what about your friend, Emma? I’m not leaving here without her.” Elijah informed. Why does he want me? As far as he knows, there’s nothing special about me.

Seconds later, a loud explosion sounded from the stairs followed by a loud, pained yell from Elijah. Soon, the yelling turned into growling. I could only imagine how scary and angry he looked.

I heard his slow footsteps marching up the stairs. Soon, I heard shots being fired. I guessed Sefan is using some sort of stake launcher to shoot stakes at Elijah. But a handheld launcher can only hold so many stakes, and he was shooting one after another, wasting what little amount of stakes he had.

Soon, the shots stopped. I then heard two bodies tumbling down the stairs. Before I could blink, Damon was no longer in front of me and pushing what looked to be part of a coat hanger into Elijah’s chest.

Damon pinned Elijah to the wall with the quickly made stake. I felt a twinge in my chest as I watched Elijah’s skin turn gray and veiny. Rose looked at the dead Elijah with wide eyes before rushing off. Damon was about to follow her when Elena spoke out. “Just let her go.”

Elena quickly made her way down the stairs. Stefan came up to her and hugged her. “Hey, come here. You hurt? You okay?” Damon looked a little hurt when Elena chose to hug Stefan instead of him.

“Hey, thanks for saving us.” I told Damon as Stefan and Elena reunited.

“You’re welcome.” Damon responded. “Now, why didn’t you use your powers to help Elena and yourself escape sooner?”

“Because, none of my powers are really stealthy, and if we did manage to get away, Rose would have informed Elijah of my powers. Then he would’ve come after me to either kill me or force me to use my powers for his gain. So, I waited for you and Stefan to arrive to save us. If you guys started to lose against Elijah, I would’ve stepped in.” I explained to Damon. He accepted my answer.

Hours later, we made it back to Mystic Falls. Elena and I walked into the house. “Elena?” I heard Jeremy call from upstairs.

Elena and I climbed up the stairs to be met with Jeremy and Bonnie. Bonnie ran over to hug Elena. “You okay?” Jeremy asked.

“We’re okay, now that we’re home.” I responded. Bonnie soon released Elena and came over to hug me. When I was released from the short hug, I spoke up again. “We got your message.” I told Bonnie.

I looked over to Jeremy to see him lurch forwards to embrace his sister. Bonnie and I smiled at the heartwarming scene. Afterwards, we all had had dinner before deciding that enough had happened that day and called it a night.

When I was about to settle onto the couch for the night, my phone started to ring. I answered. It was Stefan. “Hey, Rose stopped by the boarding house tonight.”

“Wait, Rose is there?” I asked. I thought she would run off and we’d never see her again. Why did she follow us back to Mystic Falls?

“Yes. She said that the whole situation you guys were in isn’t over. She said that the Originals would come for Elena, and maybe you, since Elijah was determined to take you, too.” Stefan replied.

“So, you’re saying that all of this isn’t over, and that it’s only just beginning." God, what did I get myself into?

Chapter 25: Nightmares

Emma’s POV

I had a hard time falling asleep that night. Hearing something like that right before I went to sleep was not what I needed. I managed to get about three hours of sleep, if you could even call it that. I had a nightmare that the Originals killed my friends. I shot up from the couch.

Once I calmed down enough to realize that it was just a bad dream, I hugged my knees to my chest. Tears escaped my eyes. I’ve already lost three pairs of parents, I can’t lose anybody else! I won’t!

After a while, I dried the tears and decided to get up for the day. The sun was just barely starting to rise, but there was no way I was going back to sleep after that nightmare.

A couple days passed. I wasn’t having the best time sleeping. The previous night, I got less than four hours of sleep, and the nightmares didn’t let up. Unfortunately, Elena noticed the heavy bags under my eyes. I admitted to her that I was having trouble sleeping, but I reassured her that it’ll probably fix itself in a few days.

It was evening when Elena and I exited her room. We made it downstairs to find Jenna rummaging through one of the closets. “Hey, what are you doing?” Elena asked.

“Oh, perfect timing!” Jenna said as she handed a box over to Elena.

“Um, what is this stuff?” Elena asked.

“Your mom’s files from the historical society.” Jenna replied as she handed another box over to me.

“I got roped into helping Mrs.Lockwood. And by roped, I mean very excited to participate.” Jenna said as she closed the closet door. Elena and I both gasped as we saw Elijah standing on the other side of the door. Elena had told me about her little suicide trip to Richmond, so I knew that a normal stake wouldn’t be able to kill Elijah.

Elijah smiled as he saw Elena and I. “Hey, I’m Elijah.”

“Elijah’s in town doing research on Mystic Falls.” Jenna said, taking the box that Elena was holding.

“It’s a pleasure.” Elijah said, shaking Elena’s hand. He sent me a smile, unable to shake my hand due to me holding the box Jenna handed me.

“So, you know, you’re welcome to stay here and rummage through this stuff, or Elena, Emma and I could help you load it into your car.” Jenna suggested to Elijah.

“Yeah, or I could get someone to pick it up tomorrow.” Elijah replied.

Jenna hummed. “Also a good plan.”

“Thank you so much for inviting me into your home, Jenna. And Elena, Emma, I hope to see you two again sometime soon.” Elijah said.

I quickly moved to the kitchen to set the box on the table before racing upstairs. I saw Elena already knocking on Jermemy’s door. Elena was about to reach for the handle when I reached her.

As Elena was about to open the door to Jeremy’s room, Elijah rushed by and stopped her. He put a finger in front of his lips to tell us to not let Jeremy know that he was there. Jeremy opened the door soon after. “What is it?” he asked.

“Um, Jenna was just asking me to get you to help her with the boxes.” Elena lied.

“Oh, yeah.” Jeremy mumbled as he made his way out of his room to do just that.

“That’s a wise choice.” Elijah commented once Jeremy was out of earshot.

“What do you want?” Elena nervously asked.

“I think it’s time you and I had a little chat.” Elijah said to Elena.

“I’ll go help Jenna and Jeremy with the boxes.” I said, sensing that Elijah wanted a private conversation with Elena. I made my way downstairs.

I helped Jenna and Jeremy move all of the old boxes out of the closet. I didn’t mention a word of what was happening to Jeremy. He didn’t need to be worried. I knew Elijah wouldn’t try to hurt Elena tonight.

A few minutes later, Elena came downstairs. She approached me and told me that Elijah wanted to speak to me and that he was waiting in her room. I let out a shaky breath and gave her a curt nod.

I walked up to Elena’s room. I stopped in front of the door. What could he possibly want from me? I took a deep breath to calm myself and walked in.

Chapter 26: Captured

Emma's POV

I walked in to see Elijah standing by the window, looking out. When the door closed, he turned towards me. I had no clue why he would need to talk to me. He knew nothing but my name and my relationship with Elena. Despite my nerves, I decided to speak first. "So, what did you and Elena talk about? Did you reach some sort of agreement with her?"

"Yes. When the time is right, she and I will draw Klaus out, and in return, I will protect those she cares about, along with freeing Stefan from the tomb." Elijah responded.

"Those she cares about, but not her? Is there no way for her to survive the sacrifice?" I asked, deflating at the thought of losing somebody else that I cared about.

"There may be a way for her to survive it, but I do not wish to divulge that information as of yet." Elijah replied. "Is there anything else you wanted to ask?"

Finally, a chance to get some answers! "Why were you so determined to take both Elena and I back when you first met us? There's nothing that special about me. So why try to take me, too?" I asked.

Elijah paused. He seemed to be thinking about how to answer the question. "Let's just say that, to me, you are someone important. Someone that I wish to protect, even outside of the deal I made with Elena." he replied.

"But why am I important to you?" I asked, even more confused.

"You'll find out in due time. For now, it's safer for you to not know. Just know this, you have nothing to fear from me." he said.

I blinked in confusion, and once I opened my eyes, he was gone. Important to him? Someone to be protected? What the hell does he mean by that? I left Elena's room with more questions than answers. I decided to just call it a night, hoping to actually get some much needed rest.

A couple days later, I heard news that Rose had died. She was bitten by a werewolf, and had to be killed since she had started going rabid due to the werewolf venom. I felt kind of bad for her, but it didn't hurt too much since I didn't know her well. I was told this over the phone with Elena while I was in the car with Caroline. We were on our way to the town square for a memorial service being held for those that, apparently, Rose had killed during her rabid rampage.

I decided to stick near Caroline the entire time. I wasn't really a social person, and I felt comfortable with Caroline since she and I had been getting closer since she found out about my abilities. I only split with Caroline for a few minutes to say hi to Bonnie.

Nightfall came quicker than expected and Caroline decided that it was time to drop me off at home. On our way to her car, we heard Matt call from behind us. He and Caroline had a short conversation. They made plans to meet up at the grill the next day to talk out whatever had been going on between them lately. When Caroline was about to unlock her car, someone else approached us. "Excuse me." we heard a woman say from behind us. "Caroline, right? I'm looking for Tyler. Have either of you seen him?"

Caroline shook her head. "Nope, not since earlier. Sorry." Caroline responded. I, too, shook my head, indicating that I hadn't seen him at all that day.

Caroline turned around and unlocked her car. When we were getting in, the woman spoke up again. "I know you're lying."

Caroline looked so done with this conversation, but responded anyway. "Really? How? Is that one of your little wolf tricks?"

Wolf, so this must be Jules. I remember Damon mentioning her in a conversation. "Actually, it is." the woman, Jules, responded.

Caroline turned around and responded. "Well, I have a trick, too." Caroline turned back around to face Jules with what I like to call her 'vampire face.' Jules, though, looked unaffected and sprayed what had to be vervain in Caroline's face. I rushed over to Caroline to see if she was okay. Some guy approached us and he shot Caroline before she could fully recover. Before I could react, Jules knocked me out from behind.

I jolted awake when I felt unbearable pain run through my shoulder. I screamed. What they hell is going on. "No!" I heard Caroline scream.

"Maybe now you'll answer me. Don't want me to shoot your little friend again, do you? She doesn't heal up like you do." I heard a man speak. I managed to crack my eyes open to see that we were in a cage built into what looked like a camper. "I'll ask again, how many vampires live in Mystic Falls?" he asked as he looked at us expectantly. Neither of us answered. He shot me again, this time at my leg. I screamed again, trying to cover both of my bullet wounds.

"Why are you doing this to us? Why?!" Caroline cried out. I looked her over. She had blood on her head, hands, and one of her legs.

"You're a vampire, and she is a friend to vampires. Why not?" he said before he blew small, sharp wood chips at her. "I'm sorry, what was that?" he said as Caroline cried out in pain.

"Get us out! Let us out!" she screamed as she started kicking at the bars, desperate to get out. I just focused on keeping my hand on my bullet wounds, trying to slow the bleeding. He spent hours torturing us. Caroline took most of the hits since she could heal faster. I, thankfully, wasn't shot again, but I had sharp wood chips blown at me a couple times. I didn't bother removing them. I kept my hands firmly on my bullet wounds.

They left briefly, I assume to talk to Jules. "Stefan, Tyler, and Damon are here." Caroline said from next to me when that guy left.

"They are?" I asked, relieved. We're saved!

"Yeah, but there are a lot of werewolves-" she was cut off as the door opened. It was Tyler. "Tyler! There's a latch! There's a latch on the door and I can't get to it!" Caroline exclaimed, wanting out. Tyler hesitated. "Tyler? Tyler, please! Tyler?"

Finally, Tyler made up his mind and helped Caroline open the door. He held it open while Caroline helped me crawl out. Every movement made my bullet wounds burn. Caroline helped me outside since I couldn't walk with a bullet lodged into my leg. Not that I had the strength to, anyways. My strength was fading fast due to the blood loss. The moment we were outside, Jules pushed Caroline and I against the side of the camper, not doing any favors for my wounds.

All of the sudden, the remaining wolves started yelling out in pain. Jules released us as she clutched at her head. I collapsed when Jules released us. I didn't have the strength to hold myself up. I managed to look up to see what was happening. Two figures emerged from the forest. One being what had to be a witch, and the other being Elijah. We all watched in confusion.

"I made a promise to Elena. We're here to keep it." Elijah said.

Chapter 27: Heal

Elijah’s POV

While Dr.Martin had a word with the Salvatore brothers, I made my way over to Emma. She was on the ground, and looked deathly pale. I had to get her away from here, and fast. I knelt down to her to pick her up. “Hey, what are you doing?” the female vampire, Caroline, asked.

“I’m gonna take her somewhere to get her all healed up.” I said. Caroline didn’t seem to trust me, so I continued. “You have my word that she’ll be safe with me. I’ll bring her home myself once she’s all healed.” Caroline still looked reluctant to let her go, but nodded and backed away. I picked her up and immediately felt the tingling sensation caused by the soulmate bond. I couldn’t wait for Dr.Martin to get back to the car. I had to get her to a secure place quickly. I sped all the way to Dr.Martin’s place while Emma buried her face into my chest.

When we finally got to the apartment, Emma’s breaths were labored. She was losing way too much blood. I laid her down on a table and looked down at her. Her eyes were starting to droop. “Emma, I need you to stay conscious, okay?” I told her. She responded with a quick nod, and I continued. “I need to get the bullets out before I heal you up. It’s gonna hurt but it’s necessary.” I told her.

Again, she nodded, indicating that she understood. She closed her eyes, probably not wanting to see me digging into her bullet wounds. I went for the wound in her leg first. I held down her leg with one hand and reached for the bullet with the other. She screamed out, tears escaping her closed eyes. It hurt me to see her in so much pain. But I kept going, knowing that I had to do this quickly.

I managed to pull the bullet out of her leg. Emma took a shuddering breath and opened her teary eyes. I could tell that she was having a hard time staying conscious. “I just need to get the bullet in your shoulder out, okay?” I said. Emma nodded slightly and closed her eyes. I held her upper arm down and dug for the bullet in her shoulder. She screamed again. Her voice gave out after a while, not having the energy to do it anymore. I quickly searched for the bullet. I pulled it out the moment I found it. I quickly threw it aside and bit into my wrist. Her heartbeat was fading quickly. She needed my blood immediately.

I put my bleeding wrist to her mouth. She took a couple small sips. Her heartbeat immediately became stronger. Once I saw her bullet wounds healing, I removed my wrist. She wasn’t completely healed yet. There were some small wood chips sticking out of her. I found some tweezers and got to work on plucking the wood chips out of her skin. She winced a bit as I did this. The small wounds immediately healed as I took the chips out. I set the tweezers down once I was sure I had plucked all of the wood chips out of her. She was all healed up, but looked utterly exhausted. “How are you feeling?” I asked her.

“The pain’s gone, but I’m tired.” she responded, looking up at me with droopy eyes.

“Then rest. I can take you home in the morning.” I told her as I picked her up. I gently set her down on the couch. No more than five minutes later, she was asleep.

Dr.Martin soon came back. He noticed her passed out on the couch. “How’s she doing?” he whispered.

“She’s all healed up. I’m just letting her get some rest.” I whispered back. He nodded and left it at that. I pulled a chair up to the couch and sat down. I looked at her, peacefully resting. I reached out and softly stroked her cheek. “I won’t let anybody else hurt you like this ever again, I promise.”

The next day, I took Emma back home. Right after that, I got ready to go to the ‘High Tea’ event run by this town’s historical society.

I was talking with Carol Lockwood when I noticed Damon Salvatore walk in. Once he spotted me, he made his way over. “Damon.” Carol greeted with a smile on her face.

“Carol, hi.” Damon replied with a grin.

“What a surprise. Elijah, I would like you to meet Damon Salvatore. His family is one of Mystic Falls’ founding families.” Carol stated.

“Mm-hmm. Such a pleasure to meet you.” Damon said, shaking my hand.

“No, pleasure’s mine.” I managed to bite out.

Damon led me to a private room, away from the rest of the guests. Once the doors were closed, I questioned him. “What can I do for you, Damon?"

“I was hoping we could have a word...” he responded.

“Where’s Elena?” I asked.

“Safe with Stefan. They’re laying low, you know. Bit of a werewolf problem.” Damon responded.

“Ah, yes. I saw that.” I replied.

“Yes you did since it was you and your witch that saved the day.” Damon said.

“You are welcome.” I added.

“Which adds to my confusion of exactly why you’re here.” Damon said.

“Why don’t you just stay focused on keeping Elena and Emma safe and leave the rest to me?” I suggested as I turned around to leave.

Damon apparently didn’t want to stop talking yet and sped in front of me to stop me. “Not good enough.”

I, on the other hand, very much wanted this conversation over. I grabbed Damon by the throat and pinned him to the wall. Damon tried to fight back. He tried grabbing my throat, but I easily pulled his hand off of me. “You young vampires, so arrogant. How dare you come in here and challenge me?” I spat out.

“You can’t kill me, man. It’s not part of the deal.” Damon tried to reason with me.

“Silence.” I said as I stabbed a pencil into his neck. Damon cried out and clutched his wound. “I’m an original. Show a little respect.” I said as I wiped my hands off with a handkerchief before handing it to Damon. “The moment you cease to be of use to me, you’re dead. So, you should do what I say. Keep Elena and Emma safe.” I advised as I walked out of the room.

Chapter 28: The Call

Emma’s POV

When Elijah dropped me off at home, I almost didn’t want him to leave. I felt completely at ease with him, safe. His voice sent shivers down my body. And every single time we touched, I felt tingles ripple through me. Fuck, I must be going insane.

I sent a text to Elena, letting her know that I was home. She texted back saying that she had gone to the lake house with Stefan for the weekend. I texted her to have fun. I was home alone. Jenna was at the ‘High Tea’ event at the Lockwood's, and I could only assume that Jeremy was at the grill.

I took a shower and found some clean clothes to put on. After that, I needed a distraction. A wandering mind would mean disaster for me with everything that had been happening. A mental breakdown was not what I needed. I flipped through channels on the TV. I found nothing worth watching. Well, that’s just great.

When I thought that all hope was lost, my phone started ringing. I froze when I saw the caller ID. It was Enzo. I completely forgot! I haven’t talked to him in weeks! Not since right before my parents died! So much happened in so little time that I forgot to call him!

In my panic, I fumbled when I tried picking up my phone. I took a deep breath, and with shaky hands I picked up the phone. “Hello?”

“Hey Emma, you haven’t called me in a while. Thought I’d check in to make sure everything’s okay.” I heard Enzo say through the phone.

“Hey Enzo, sorry I haven’t called. There’s just been a lot going on lately and I completely forgot to fill you in.” I responded, trying to keep the shakiness out of my voice.

“Really, like what?” Enzo asked.

“Well, you see…” I said shakily. I filled him in on everything that had been happening. He stayed quiet until I was done filling him in.

Once I was done speaking, he finally decided to speak up. “So, your parents were killed by a bitchy vampire named Katherine…” Enzo started.

“Yes…” I said.

Enzo continued. “Then you were kidnapped by two vampires who wanted to deliver you to an original vampire named Elijah…”

“Yep…”

“Then Elijah told you that you are important to him for some unknown reason, and refused to explain…” Enzo went on.

“Uh-huh…”

“Then you were captured by a pack of werewolves, and then saved by said original vampire…” Enzo said.

“Yeah…”

“And you didn’t tell me!” Enzo exclaimed.

“I’m sorry! Everything happened all at once! I’ve been too busy trying to make sense of all of it to call you…” I said, trying to justify not calling.

I heard Enzo take a deep breath before speaking again. “I’m coming back to Mystic Falls. Someone has to keep you safe.”

“Enzo, don’t! I don’t want you mixed up in all of this! I don’t know what I would do if you got hurt!” I pleaded.

“Emma, you almost died yesterday! You can’t expect me to stay away and pretend that your life isn’t constantly in danger. You lost your parents, you were kidnapped twice, you were threatened and tortured, all within the last few weeks! Who’s to say that the next time something happens that you won’t end up hurt again! Hell, something could happen tomorrow, and you’d end up dead!” Enzo nearly yelled through the phone.

“Enzo, I can’t have everybody that I know be involved in this! The farther away you are from this town, the safer you are! Please Enzo, I can’t lose you!” I said, close to tears.

There was silence on the other end for a few seconds before I heard Enzo sigh. “I’m coming to Mystic Falls…” he said. I was about to speak up before he continued. “But I won’t get too involved if you don’t want me to. I’ll try my best to stay away from everything that’s going on. I just want to be close by so that I can instantly be there when you’re in trouble."

I let out a sigh of defeat. “I guess I can live with that. Do you promise you won’t get involved unless I want you to?”

“I promise.” Enzo said.

Soon after that, the phone call ended. Enzo told me that he’d be back in Mystic Falls in three days. He said he’d get a motel room in town and try to find an apartment to rent nearby. I knew that he would eventually run into some of the supernatural residents of this town, but as long as he kept his distance from them whenever possible, he could remain unscathed. Speaking of, I wonder if he knows any of them.

I knew that once he showed up in town, I’d give him a rundown of who’s who. Who knows about my power, and who doesn’t. Who’s aware of the supernatural, and who isn’t.

Later on in the day, Jeremy came back. He told me about what he and Bonnie did. What they had done to Luka. Needless to say, if I had been there, I would have tried to stop it. What they did was morally wrong. I know that they want to protect Elena, but I’m sure that there are other ways of doing so.

The end of the day came. As I was laying down on the couch waiting for sleep, I processed all that had happened today. Overall, it was a pretty quiet day. That is if you compare it to how the days have looked recently. If no one ended up dead, kidnapped, or fatally wounded, then it would be considered a quiet day. After about an hour, sleep finally swept me away.

Chapter 29: Girls' Night

Emma’s POV

Scratch that, yesterday wasn’t as quiet as I thought. I got a call in the morning from Damon. The leftover member of Jules’ werewolf pack attacked Damon last night. Chained him to a chair and everything. Elijah saved his ass, again. I hope he took great pleasure in killing those werewolves.

Not only that, but Dr.Martin found out what Bonnie and Jeremy did to Luka. Right after he found out, he found Bonnie and took away her powers. I felt bad for Bonnie. I knew that she loved using her powers. It’s a part of her, and it made her feel closer to her grams.

The day went by rather quickly. Nothing major was happening, or at least nothing major as far as I knew. I thought I was going to have a somewhat normal day. A day just lounging around at home without a single fear. And I did just that. That is until I felt a sharp pain in my chest. It was similar to the pain I felt when I watched Elijah get staked. They better not be trying something stupid.

When I felt the pain in my chest for a second time that night, I decided to call Elena. The phone rang for a rather long time before I got an answer. “Hello?” I heard Elena answer.

“Elena, hey, did anything happen tonight? I got this weird feeling and I just want to make sure that everything is alright.” I explained.

“Oh, um, yeah, Elijah was killed tonight. Quick tip, don’t remove the dagger.” Elena replied.

“Dagger?” I asked, confused.

“Yeah, to kill Elijah, we had to use a special dagger along with some white oak ash. Sorry for keeping you out of the loop. I didn’t even know that there was an attempt to kill Elijah until about half an hour ago.” Elena said, clearing a few things up.

“Got it, but, is it really a good idea to kill Elijah? I mean, he’s saved some of us multiple times. If something else were to happen, his witches wouldn’t be inclined to help us.” I said.

“Emma, if we went with Elijah’s plan to kill Klaus, I would have died. Do you really want that to happen?” Elena asked.

I was silent for a moment. Should I tell her that Elijah found a way to keep Elena alive after the sacrifice? Screw it, I’ll tell her. “Elena, Elijah didn’t tell me how yet, but he told me that there was a way to keep you alive after the sacrifice.” I informed her.

“What?” Elena asked.

“Yeah, I’m not sure how, but if anyone knows how to bring someone back from the brink of death, it’d be him.” I said. “Though, I highly doubt he’d tell us how now. Seeing as how you guys killed him.”

“If I'd known…” I heard her mumble. “Well, there’s nothing we can do about it now. If we woke him now, he’d most definitely take me and kill everyone involved in his death.”

“Yeah, probably…” I said, not knowing what else to say.

“Well, we can’t worry about that now. I would like to enjoy the rest of my weekend with Stefan. No more vampire drama.” Elena said.

“Alright, well, have fun Elena. Talk to you later.” I said, ending the call.

Soon, the weekend was over, and I had to go back to school. Surprisingly, even with a few absences, I kept up with my schoolwork. It was the only part of normalcy I had left. The supernatural bullshit seemed to take a small pause while class was going on.

Classes went by surprisingly fast, and I was back at home. Elena had invited Bonnie and Caroline over for a girls’ night. I was included and we were talking about ordering a pizza and watching a movie. Caroline of course wanted to watch The Notebook, but I wasn’t really in the mood for a romance movie.

Soon, Jenna joined our group and we completely ditched the plan of pizza and a movie. We decided to go to the grill. A band would be playing there. Once we managed to all squeeze into Elena’s car, we were off.

Okay, so, apparently, stage fright is not in Caroline’s vocabulary. After the band finished one of their songs, she went up on stage, and sang a song to Matt. Evidently, it healed their relationship. So much so that Elena caught them making out in the restrooms.

The night was going great! No supernatural drama, no attacks. Looking back, I should’ve known that something was bound to happen. Dr.Martin came storming in, looking for Elena. Luka had died, and in a fit of rage, he shattered most of the light bulbs in the room and set the bar on fire. He wanted to take Elena away from us so that he himself could draw Klaus out.

Of course, when he set the bar on fire, I put it out as discreetly as I could. I couldn’t let the place burn, but I couldn’t let people see me use my powers either. Dr.Martin was getting frustrated with his flames dying out each time he set fire to the bar. Eventually, he gave up on the fire and continued searching for Elena. I knew that I had to find her first and get her out of here.

Thankfully, I got Elena and Jenna out of there. Caroline said she would find Bonnie and get her out. We waited in the car for Caroline and Bonnie. Elena eventually said that she’d drop Jenna and I off at home before going back for Bonnie and Caroline.

Later on that night, I was in the kitchen with Jenna eating ice cream. I let her vent about Alaric. How he was hiding things about Isobel’s death. Elena had told me everything that had happened with Isobel since it all happened before I had joined the group.

I felt bad that we couldn’t tell Jenna. At this point, it would be safer for her to know about the supernatural. She’s sitting right in the middle of all of it and she doesn’t even know what is going on all around her.

“If I go to bed right now, there’s a chance I’ll wake up hangover-free.” Jenna said as Elena walked into the kitchen. Elena joined us in eating ice cream.

The moment didn’t last very long. We heard the doorbell ring. “Who’s that?” Jenna questioned. She got up to go answer the door and I followed her. She opened the door, and who I saw there put me in shock.

“Hi, you must be Jenna. I’m Elena’s mother.” the woman standing before the door said.

“Isobel.” Elena mumbled from behind us.

What the hell is she doing here?!

Chapter 30: Look Who's Back

Emma’s POV

“Hello Elena. It’s nice to see you again.” Isobel said.

Jenna, understandably, looked back at Elena in shock, disbelief, and betrayal. “Again?” Jenna managed to peep out.

“So you’re the woman who’s dating my husband. I need to speak to Elena. May I come in?” Isobel asked.

No! No, don’t…don’t invite her in.” Elena sputtered out.

“I need to talk to you Elena.” Isobel said.

“No!” Elena shouted as she shut the door in the woman’s face.

“You knew she was still alive?” Jenna asked, heartbroken. Elena didn’t respond. “Ric, John, did they know?” Jenna pressed.

“I can explain everything, Jenna.” Elena said, trying to calm the woman down.

“No.” Jenna firmly responded and left for her room.

“No, Jenna, please. Jenna, please. Wait. Jenna, Jenna, please, wait!” Elena begged as she followed Jenna upstairs. I just stood there in total shock. Does this mean we have to tell her everything? I know she has the right to know, but to find out like this… I felt really bad for both Jenna and Elena. Personally, I would have told Jenna by now, but refrained from doing so because telling her would be up to Elena and Jeremy, not me.

The next day rolled around. I woke up the sound of voices coming from the front door. I got up just in time to see Jenna walking out the door with several bags in hand. I looked to Elena and Alaric for answers. It was then I heard a voice from behind me. “Let her go.” I turned around to find John Gilbert standing behind me. “It’s better that she’s not here, what with everything that’s going on.” John continued. “But, maybe had you been a little more honest with her from the beginning, this-” Before John could finish, Alaric punched him in the face. Don’t laugh. This is a serious moment! Don’t laugh!

Both Elena and I looked at Alaric in pure shock. “Sorry, Elena.” Alaric whispered as he walked out the door. Elena couldn’t contain her amusement, because a small breathy laugh could be heard from her.

“You know this is your fault, right?” Elena accused John.

“Right.” John mumbled. There was blood dripping down from his nose. That’s gonna leave a nasty bruise.

Elena and I both continued to get ready for school. At some point while I was getting ready, Stefan had come over. Right when I was about to ask why he was here, John entered the room. “Elena, can you come downstairs, please? I need to talk to you.” John asked.

“I have nothing to say to you.” Elena responded.

“Please? It’s important. Emma, Stefan, you guys, too.” John urged. Reluctantly, we all made our way downstairs. When we were making our way to the kitchen, we were greeted by an unwanted sight. Isobel, inside of the house.

“I asked John for a do-over.” Isobel stated.

“You invited her in?” Elena asked, upset.

“She has information about Klaus. Please, just listen to her, okay?” John said.

“Alright, what do you know?” Stefan stepped up and asked.

“Since I was last here, I’ve been doing everything possible to find Klaus. We knew our best chance was to find him before he could find you.” Isobel started.

“Best chance at what?” Stefan pressed.

“Keeping Elena alive.” John pitched in.

“You don’t get to talk, okay?” Elena said. “Not after everything you’ve done.”

“Were you able to find Klaus?” Stefan asked Isobel.

“No. Nobody knows where he is. But there are these rumors flying around that a doppelgänger exists.” Isobel continued.

“Which means any vampire that wants to get in favor with Klaus will be lining up to capture you.” John added on.

“I’m not buying any of this. The last time that you were here, you made it clear that you didn’t give a damn about me. Now all of the sudden I’m supposed to believe that you want to help?” Elena questioned.

“Isobel’s been helping all along. Klaus has been obsessed with finding Katherine for centuries. All it would take was any one of those 1864 tomb vampires to spread the word around that Katherine was still alive, and bring him straight here to Mystic Falls where you were bound to be discovered. So we killed them.” John said.

“And almost killed Stefan and Damon in the process.” Elena responded bitterly.

Before things could escalate, Isobel stood up. “I have a safe house that I can take you to. The deed is in your name. No vampires can get in without your permission. Not even me. Let me help you.” she said. A safe house, if it isn’t from you, then it wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Chapter 31: New Skills

Emma’s POV

Elena didn't trust Isobel, so she kicked her out. I may not trust Isobel, but the idea of a safe house was a good one. If we could get Elena a house under her name, she would be a lot safer. After Isobel left, we left for school.

During my first class, I got a text from Enzo saying that he just got to town. I sent him a text back saying that I'd meet him in the clearing after school. He sent a thumbs up back before I closed my phone and focused on schoolwork.

After my classes, I got a ride home from Elena before immediately making the fifteen minute walk to the start of the trails. I easily navigated my way to the clearing. Entering the clearing, I saw my old friend standing by the small stream. He must’ve heard me coming, because he turned around at my approach. He smiled at me, and I smiled back. When I reached him, I gave him a tight hug. It was at this moment that I realized how much I missed him. He was the only constant in my crazy life. He returned the hug, holding me just as tight.

When we separated, I quickly started to tell him the details of what had been going on. When I had told him about saving Damon from the burning building the night the Gilbert device was used, he stopped me. “Wait, Damon? His last name wouldn’t happen to be Salvatore, would it?” Enzo asked.

“In fact it is. Why? Were you two friends at one point?’ I questioned back.

“You could say that…” he responded. I noticed a look of rage in his eyes. Something definitely happened between them.

“You don’t like him very much, do you?” I said it as more of a statement.

“Nope.” was all he replied.

“Would you mind not killing him? Despite what Elena says, she really cares for him.” I asked nervously.

“Fine, but that doesn’t mean I have to cooperate with him.” Enzo reluctantly complied.

“Of course.” I said. I continued with the explanation of what had been going on. When I finished and had answered his questions, I decided to show him a few tricks I had picked up with my powers since I had last seen him to lighten the mood.

“Have you tried to turn rock into magma?” Enzo asked.

“Huh?” I asked, confused.

“I want to see if you could use your fire ability on the rock to turn it into lava.” Enzo explained.

Now, that’s an interesting idea. I lifted a chunk of rock from the ground with my power. I tried to focus my fire ability onto said chunk of rock. After a couple of minutes, I was about to give up. But then, I realized part of the chunk started to light up. I watched the rock begin to break, lava seeping through the cracks. I kept my concentration, not wanting to drop the liquifying rock.

Soon, the solid chunk of rock turned into a glob of hot magma. I could feel the intense heat it gave off. I decided to stop heating it up with my fire ability. The lava began to darken before it turned into a charred lump of stone. I dropped it and threw some water over it to make sure it wouldn’t set the grass aflame.

I looked back at Enzo. He smiled broadly at me. “I didn’t know I could do that.” I mumbled out.

“Well, now that you know you can, why don’t we try something else. Let’s do the same thing to water and create steam and fog.” Enzo suggested. I smiled and took a few steps closer to the stream.

Mission complete. There was a sheet of steam and fog covering the surface of the stream. “Try using your air ability to help control the fog. Create a fog patch somewhere in the clearing.”

Turns out, doing so was easier said than done. I had trouble controlling the fog. Creating it was easy, but moving it around was a different story. Using my water ability to control the smallest particles of water was proving difficult. I had never had to do anything like this before.

After a solid ten minutes, I finally managed to create a small patch of fog between Enzo and I. I released my hold on the fog and it moved around before dispersing. “Hopefully, that will become easier with practice…” I said.

“Try doing the opposite.” Enzo suddenly suggested.

“What?” I asked.

“You can also extinguish flames, right? Can you take the heat out of something? Like turning water into ice?” Enzo explained.

I thought about it. Whenever I extinguished a flame, I always had to see the flames. Always, except for…when I had to save Damon from the burning building. I had to imagine the flames being extinguished instead of actually seeing them.

I lifted a small ball of water out of the stream and closed my eyes. I imagined the ball of water as a flame that needed to be extinguished. I imagined the flame getting extinguished. How it would look, how it would feel. The heat energy being pulled from the flame. I opened my eyes and saw a solid ball of ice floating above my hand. I smiled triumphantly at Enzo.

We spent the rest of the afternoon messing around with my powers. After thoroughly exhausting myself, I used the last bit of my energy to get back to the house. The minute I walked into the house, I collapsed onto the couch.

The next day came by and I was approached by the bubbly blond known as Caroline. “Hey Emma! I just wanted to know what you are wearing for the decade dance.”

“Actually, I’m not planning on going.” I admitted.

“What? Why not? It’s gonna be so much fun!” Caroline tried to convince to go to the dance.

“Because dances really aren’t my thing. Besides, I have no date to go with. You, Bonnie, and Elena all have a date to the dance, so I don’t have a group I could go with. And going alone won’t be any fun for me. I’ll just end up sitting on the gym bleachers the entire time waiting for someone to ask me to dance.” I explained.

“What? That won’t happen! I’ll even let you borrow Matt for a couple dances if you’d like. You can’t spend your entire high school career sitting at home. So, I’ll take you dress shopping after school. See you later.” Caroline said while she walked away, not even giving me a chance to respond.

Well fuck. Guess I have no choice.

Chapter 32: DJ

Emma’s POV

Just like Caroline said, after classes were over, she took me dress shopping. After looking around for about an hour, I picked out a plain, light blue sixties style dress that went down to my knees, while the sleeves went down to my elbows. For accessories I picked out a white pearl necklace along with a white bow to tie into my hair.

By the time dinner rolled around, I was already at home. I told Elena that I was going to store my dress in her closet before going downstairs to make myself some food.

Soon, the day of the dance was upon us. The halls were buzzing with excitement. I heard people talking about their outfits as I passed by. When I was putting my backpack in my locker, I was approached by Caroline. “Hey Emma, I need to ask you something real quick.”

“Alright, what is it?” I questioned back.

“So, the DJ I had for the dance bailed last night. We still have the equipment from the carnival, and I was wondering if you could maybe come to the dance early to help me set up…” Caroline asked.

“Fine. When do the doors open for the dance? I should be there about an hour and a half early to set everything up and do a sound check.” I agreed.

“The doors open at six tonight.” Caroline stated.

“Alright, I’ll be there a little after four.” I said as I closed my locker. As Caroline turned to walk away, a sudden thought hit me. “Wait!” I exclaimed as I caught up to the blond. “When you got the call last night, did you make a playlist of sixties songs for the dance?” I asked.

“…no…” Caroline admitted.

I froze. This was a major problem. I could have just used a playlist from YouTube or Spotify, but then I would have to deal with a bunch of ads and I couldn’t have that. I didn’t know how many sixties songs the computers from the carnival had on them, but I was pretty sure it wasn’t enough. That would mean we would have to rely on whatever was already on the computers and any CDs we could find. I voiced my concerns to Caroline.

“Caroline, I need you to find as many CDs with sixties music on them as you can and bring them in tonight when I set up the equipment.” I told her.

Caroline quickly nodded. “I will.”

I made my way to my first class. Before class started, I sent texts to Bonnie, Elena, Stefan, Damon, and even Enzo telling them about the DJ situation and to find as many sixties CDs as they can and to give them to me before the dance. I didn’t wait for any responses. The bell rang and class was about to start.

My first class went by without a hitch. My second class was American History with Alaric. I walked in and immediately felt like something was off. I didn't know why, but something wasn't quite right. Despite the strange feeling, I took my usual seat in the first row.

The bell rang and Alaric walked in. He took a quick look around the classroom. Once his eyes landed on me, he looked to be in a state of shock. I was confused. I didn't know why he was so surprised. He knew I was in this class and knew where I usually sat. He seemed to shake himself out of his shock and started class.

Usually, he'd have a lesson plan for the day. But today, it looked like he hardly even knew what he was doing. He was all over the place. On second, he’d be talking about the late sixties, then he'd be talking about something random that happened in the early sixties the next. Maybe everything going on with Jenna was taking a toll on him.

During lunch, I sat with Elena and Bonnie. We were talking about the dance coming up tonight. I told them how stressful it was to put together a playlist of songs I hardly knew. A playlist that had to last at least five hours. I also reminded them to look for CDs I could use for tonight.

While we were talking, this girl I’ve never talked to before came up to our table. “Hey, Emma, there you are!” she said as I gave her a confused look. “Okay, this is gonna sound freaky, but this totally hot guy just asked me to ask you if you’re going to the dance tonight.”

Huh, well this is new… “Tell him if he wants to take me to the dance to ask me himself, and that he’ll have to help me make a playlist for tonight.” I responded.

“Could you at least meet him? He’ll be at the dance tonight! Look for him! His name is Klaus!” the girl said.

My blood instantly ran cold. Klaus!? He’s here?! Hoping I heard her wrong, I asked her to tell me his name again. “I’m sorry. Um, what did you just say?”

“His name’s Klaus. I know the name’s stupid, but I swear he’s hot!” she said.

“Where is he, is he here?” Bonnie asked.

“I don’t know.” the girl said.

“Compelled.” I muttered.

“But he wants to know if you’ll save him the last dance. How cute is that?” she said before she walked away.

“I’m calling Stefan.” Elena said as she put her phone to her ear.

The last class came around and I got a text from Damon. I was required to attend a meeting at their house. Are you fucking kidding me? I have shit I have to do!

Elena and I both made our way to their house right after school. We walked in to realize we were the first ones there after the Salvatore brothers. We still had to wait for Bonnie and Alaric to make an appearance.

“I hope you know I have to make my way back to the school in less than an hour, and I still have to get ready before then.” I mentioned. “Did you get my text from earlier?” I asked Damon.

He sped out of the room and returned seconds later with a stack of fifteen CDs. He handed them to me and I looked them over with a quick ‘thank you.’

While we were waiting for the rest of the team to arrive, I looked at the list of songs that was usually on the back of CD cases. A few of the CDs were of The Beatles, one of the ‘Hairspray’ soundtrack, a couple albums of The Beach Boys, and some other odd CDs with sixties music.

After about fifteen minutes, Alaric still hadn’t shown up. “Can we start this already? We can fill Alaric in later.” I said, eager to leave to get ready.

“Fine…” Damon said.

Chapter 33: Setting Up

Emma’s POV

“So we go to the dance, we find him.” Damon starts.

“Really? How are we going to do that? We don't even know what he looks like.” Stefan responds.

“Something tells me he's not going to be sixteen and pimply.” Damon snarks.

“He could be anywhere at any time. He compelled someone at school.” Stefan said. He looked over at Elena, Bonnie and I. “It's not as safe as you guys thought, huh?”

There was a quick knock on the door before Alaric walked in. “There you are.” Damon said.

“Sorry I'm late.” Alaric said. I got that weird feeling again as Alaric walked into the room. I didn't voice my concerns, though. I thought it was probably the stress messing with me.

“Hey, I need you to put me down as a chaperone at the dance tonight. Klaus made his first move.” Damon said to Alaric.

“Okay, so we find him, and then what, hmm? What's our plan of attack?” Elena asked.

“Me. I'm the plan. He has no idea how much power I can channel. If you can find him, I can kill him.” Bonnie responded.

“That's not going to be that easy. I mean, he's that biggest, baddest vampire around.” Alaric added.

“Alaric has a point. I mean, what if he…” Damon started before he rushed towards Bonnie.

This didn't phase Bonnie one bit. Before Damon could reach her, she used her powers to throw him into the bookshelves across the room. “Well, I was impressed.” Stefan said, amused.

“It doesn't matter if he's an Original. I can take down anyone who comes at me. I can kill him, Elena. I know I can.” Bonnie said. And with that, the ‘Let’s Kill Klaus' meeting was over.

Elena and I made our way back to the house. On our way home, I got a text from Enzo saying that he didn't own any CDs with sixties music. I texted him to not worry about it.

Elena helped me do my hair for the dance. It was lightly curled to give it more volume. I tied the bow into my hair before quickly changing into my dress.

Once I was ready, I grabbed the CDs Damon gave me and Elena drove me to the school. Before I exited the car, Elena stopped me. “Bonnie and I will come to the dance early with any sixties CDs we find.” she said. I gave her a quick nod before running into the school.

I walked into the gym at 4:15PM. I saw Caroline and a couple of guys carrying in the heavy DJ equipment up onto the small stage. I made my way onto the stage and took a look at the equipment. There were two speakers, a speaker holder, a table, a computer case, and a large tote. I looked down and saw a sub being rolled into the gym.

Once the sub was carried onto the stage, I took the pipe and cord out of the pouch and pulled the covering off of it. I told one of the guys to flip the sub off the wheels so that I could screw the pipe in.

Once the pipe was secured, I showed Caroline and the guys the hole on the bottom of each speaker, meant for securing the speakers onto either the pipe on top of the sub, or onto the speaker holder. I had one of the guys lift one of the speakers onto the pipe I had screwed into the sub. While he was doing that, I set up the speaker holder and had one of the guys put the speaker onto the holder. Once they were done with that, I pulled the computers out of the case. One main computer, and one spare computer. I turned them on. The computers weren’t new by any means, so it would take a few minutes for them to boot up.

While we waited for the computers to turn on, I opened the big tote. I pulled out the mix board and the various cords and power strips that we would need to hook everything up. I closed the tote once I was sure I had grabbed everything that I needed. I grabbed the computer case and pulled out the computer chargers along with the cords I would need to hook the computers onto the mix board. Once I had everything out, I put the computer bag, tote, and sub cover under the table.

Now it was time to hook things up. I plugged everything in. I made sure that the sub and the speakers were plugged into different outlets. It was never a good idea to plug them into the same power strip. I hook the sub up to the mix boards. I tethered the two speakers together and hooked them up to the mix board. I hooked the sub and main speaker together and turned the sub and speakers on.

Now for the microphones. The microphones were wireless. There was a small device I had to assemble to get the mics to work. Once I had it assembled, I grabbed the cords I needed and hooked the two channels I needed up to the mix board. Next, I made sure the computers were charging before hooking them up to the mix board as well.

Everything was plugged in, hooked up, turned on and running. Time for sound check. I tuned up the line on the mix board for the main computer first. I pulled up the downloaded songs and picked one to play. I turned up the line for the sub. Sure enough, the base was coming through loud and clear. I turned down the line for the sub and turned up the line for the speakers. The music played through them just fine. Then, I turned up the line for the sub so that both the speakers and sub were playing. I messed around with the volume a bit until it was all good and balanced. I paused the song and turned down the line for the main computer. Time to check the spare computer. I turned up the line for it and played one of the already downloaded songs. Everything was sounding good, so I stopped the song and turned down that line.

Time to check the mics. I turned up the line for the first microphone. I turned on the mic connected to channel A. “Check one two. Check, check.” I said into the mic. It sounded alright, so I turned it off and turned up the line for the second mic and did the same thing. It, too, sounded just right. Sound check complete.

Alright, time to come up with a good playlist for tonight. I scrolled through the songs already downloaded onto the main computer. I managed to pull thirty sixties songs into a playlist. It was time to go through the CDs Damon gave me. One by one, I inserted the CDs into the computer and pulled some of the songs into the playlist. When I had gone through all of the CDs Damon gave me, I noticed that I had seventy songs in the playlist. I looked around for Caroline. She was across the gym talking to someone on the decorating committee. I turned on one of the mics and called over to her. “Caroline, your assistance is needed up at the DJ booth.” I said into the mic with a grin on my face.

She made her way up to me. “Hey, did you bring any sixties CDs?” I asked her.

She nodded. “Yeah, give me a minute. They’re in my car.” she said.

While I was waiting for her to get back, I decided to sort through the songs I had on the playlist. I made sure that most of the songs were fun, fast songs while spacing out the slower songs throughout the playlist. A couple minutes later, Caroline appeared next to me with a small stack of CDs. I thanked her and looked through them.

Once I had gone through all of Caroline’s CDs, I had ninety songs on the playlist. I was almost there. Just a few more songs and the playlist would be complete. As if on cue, Elena and Bonnie came strolling in, each holding a small stack of CDs. Perfect.

Finally, I had enough songs on the playlist to last the whole night. Now just one problem remains. Am I gonna have to be the DJ the whole night or did Caroline convince one of the students to step up and do it? I wouldn’t mind being the DJ, but I want to stay close to Elena in case Klaus decides to make an appearance.

I brought the issue up with Caroline. She told me that she talked Dana and her date into taking over as DJ.

“So, Dana and her date are DJing? Are they here? I need to go over a few things with them and teach them how to use the equipment.” I told Caroline.

“Yeah, they should be here. They were on the decoration committee. Hold on, let me find them.” she said as she walked off. While she was out looking for them, I made sure that the spare computer was connected to the internet. I opened up a YouTube tab. I knew that once someone requests a song that we would likely have to look it up on here to find it.

Once I had everything set up and ready, Dana and her date walked onto the stage. I started explaining what they would need to do. “Alright, so I already have a playlist made for the night. Now, if somebody requests a song and it’s not on the playlist, you’ll have to search for it here on the spare computer.” I said, gesturing to said computer. “Now, when you search for it, make sure that the line for the spare computer is turned all the way down. When you find the song, let the computer play out the ad that’ll likely play before the actual song. It won’t matter. At that time, the main computer will still be playing music and no one will hear anything on the spare computer. Now, once the ad plays out and the video is buffered, let the song that is playing on the main computer finish before pausing the playlist. Turn the line for it down, turn on one of the microphones and announce the request. Turn up the line for the spare computer and let the song play. Once it’s done, turn down that line and turn up the line for the main computer again and continue the playlist.” I explained.

Alright, everything is set up, the DJs know what they’re doing, the gym is fully decorated, it was time to open the doors. Let the decade dance begin!

Chapter 34: Surprise

Emma’s POV

So far, the dance was going great. Stefan, Damon, and Jeremy showed up just as the first slow song ended. I was standing next to Alaric since I had no dance partner. I still had that weird feeling when I was near him. And I still had no idea what the hell it was.

The song ended and the music came to a halt. I saw Dana turn on one of the microphones. Maybe there was a song request. “Thanks for being here, everybody!” Dana said through the mic. The sound of applause echoes around the room. “We have a special shout-out tonight. This next song is for Emma…” What… “...from Klaus.” …the fuck?

The song that started playing was ‘Dedicated to the One I Love’ by The Mamas & The Papas. I was mortified. A song dedicated to me, from Klaus, and all I could do was stand here by Alaric, who was acting very weird.

Elena, Stefan, Bonnie, and Damon made their way over to me. “That was a lame, cheap shot. He’s just trying to bait us.” Damon said.

“I recognize everyone here. But one thing is bothering me, why single me out? I don’t get it.” I said.

“Maybe he’s not here. He just wants us to believe he is.” Stefan said, ignoring the last thing I said.

“It’s a party, people. Blend.” I would if I could. “Let him come to us.” Damon suggested.

“Good idea.” Bonnie said. To you maybe. You have a date to dance with. All I can do is awkwardly stand next to Alaric.

“No, no. I really don’t feel like dancing.” Jeremy responded.

“Too bad…” Bonnie said while dragging him away.

“Well?” Stefan said. Elena nodded. Stefan led her away to an open spot on the dance floor.

“Special dedication, huh? This guy’s a little twisted.” Alaric said.

“I’m not impressed.” Damon replied.

“No?” Alaric asked.

“You two let me know if you see anything out of whack.” Damon said as he left to go look around.

“This is weird. First Elijah, now Klaus…” I said.

“Elijah?” Alaric questioned.

“Elijah singled me out, too. He told me that he wanted to protect me and wouldn’t tell me why. It was strange.” I told Alaric.

He went silent after that. He seemed to be deep in thought. After a while, he left, leaving me to stand alone. Great…

The dance went on. Time was ticking by at a snail’s pace. God, I just wanna leave… I spotted Bonnie and Elena talking. Elena looked worried. I made my way over to them to see what was going on.

Bonnie and Elena made they’re way outside, I followed them. Before I could reach them, however, Alaric ran up to them. I couldn’t hear everything they said, but I heard them mention something about Klaus and Jeremy. Well, this can’t be good.

They ran way back inside, not even sparing me a glance. I groaned and followed them. I followed the group through various hallways, seemingly with no specific location in mind. “Okay, so where are you taking us?” Elena asked.

Alaric whispered out an answer, but I wasn’t close enough to hear what he was saying. Elena and Bonnie started to slow down. Elena mumbled something before coming to a complete stop. “Where’s Jeremy?” Bonnie asked.

Alaric laughed. “I just had to get away from that dance.. The sixties, ugh. Not my decade.” Something is seriously wrong. “I mean, who’s call was that, anyway? I much prefer the twenties. You know, the style, the parties, the jazz.”

“Alaric, are you on vervain?” Elena asked.

“Now, why would you ask me that question, Elena?” Alaric questioned. I was hiding around the corner, listening in. “He’s being compelled.” Elena said.

“Nope, try again.” Alaric answered.

“What's going on?” Bonnie questioned.

Alaric sighed. “Okay, I’ll give you a hint. I am not Alaric.” he said.

There was a pause. Elena and I seemed to come up with the same conclusion. “Klaus…” Elena whispered out.

“Surprise!” Alaric, no, Klaus said.

“No, it’s not possible.” Elena mumbled.

“Just relax, Elena. I’m not here to hurt you. You’re not on my hit list tonight. But you are.” he said. I assumed he was referring to Bonnie. Oh, hell no! You touch her, and I’ll send you to hell myself! I rounded the corner just as Bonnie threw Klaus into the wall.

“Now, did I mention that I know a witch?” Klaus said as he got back up. “You’re gonna have to hit me a lot harder than that.”

“That can be arranged.” I said as I made my way over, making my presence known. I shot a massive wind blast towards Klaus. It sent him flying all the way to the end of the hall and into a trophy case. Glass shattered all around him. Elena and Bonnie gasped and gawked at me.

Alaric let out a pained laugh. “Now, I must admit, I wasn’t expecting that. Today is just full of surprises…”

Chapter 35: To Channel Enough Power...

Emma’s POV

“No matter. By all means, fire away! If you kill this body, I’ll just get a new one. Maybe Jeremy.” Klaus said as he stood up.

“Go. Run. Run!” Bonnie yelled. We ran away. We didn’t have to run far. We saw Damon when we rounded the corner.

“What happened?” Damon asked.

“Klaus is in Alaric’s body!” Elena panted out.

“What?” Damon asked, clearly confused.

“Like he’s possessing it or something.” Bonnie tried to clarify.

“Go find Stefan. Now. Now!” Damon told Elena and I. With that, we ran off.

I followed Elena back to the dance. We looked around for Stefan. “Hey, are you two okay?” Caroline asked.

“Uh, yeah. I’m just…” Elena stopped to catch her breath. “I’m looking for Stefan.”

“Seriously, what’s wrong?” Caroline pushed.

“Just, um…” Elena tried to come up with something. “Just stay with Matt, okay?”

When I spotted Stefan, I tapped Elena’s shoulder. “Over there.” I said and pointed him out. We made our way over to him.

“Stefan, we have to get Bonnie and leave!” Elena said.

“Why, what’s going on?” Stefan questioned.

“This is going to sound crazy, but Klaus is possessing Alaric's body, and if Bonnie kills him, she’ll die!” Elena siad, shocking me.

“Wait, die?! What do you mean she’ll die?!” I asked, shocked.

“If she channels too much power, she could die!” Elena said. I can’t let that happen.

The three of us ran through the halls. We ran into Damon. “There you are.” he said as he spotted us.

“What are you doing? Where’s Bonnie?” Elena asked.

“She’s doing what she has to do.” Damon said. No…

“What?” I asked frantically.

“Where is she?” Stefan asked.

“Stefan, let her do this.” Damon said, blocking our way.

“Damn it, Damon, where is she?” Stefan yelled out.

Before he gave an answer, we heard some crashing sounds coming from the cafeteria. Elena and I ran over to the doors leading into the cafeteria, Stefan hot on our tails. We saw Bonnie and Klaus there. Klaus was writhing on the ground while Bonnie stood over him with a bloodied nose. She’s using too much energy! “Bonnie, no!” I yelled out as I tried to run in there. The doors slammed shut right as I was about to enter.

Stefan tried to use his strength to force the door open. Nothing was working. “Stand back!” I told them. I sent multiple massive wind blasts towards the door. Again, it wouldn’t budge. Before I could try anything else, I saw Bonnie collapse to the floor. “No!” Both Elena and I screamed.

The doors opened and we ran in. “Oh God, Bonnie!” I yelled out as I crouched down next to her.

“Bonnie, hey, hey!” Elena cried out. “Stefan, she’s not breathing! Stefan! Stefan, I can’t…I can’t find her pulse! Stefan, do something please! Stefan, please! Just give her blood, do something, please!” Elena cried out desperately.

I couldn’t say anything. All I could do was sit there and let tears fall from my eyes. The world around me faded. Why couldn’t I do anything? I could’ve found a way to kill Klaus myself! This wouldn’t have happened if I had stepped up and done something. Bonnie wouldn’t be dead! I wouldn’t have lost anyone else if I had just…done something! This could have been prevented! God, why am I so useless!?

I didn’t come back to reality until Stefan started to pull us away from Bonnie’s body. “No, Jeremy. Oh, my God, Jeremy! What about Jeremy?” Elena cried.

“I’ll find him.” Stefan said.

I just let them pull me out of the cafeteria. When I was about to be dragged outside, I stopped. Stefan looked back at me. “I have to stay. I need to help take down the DJ equipment at the end of the dance.” I said, my voice hoarse from crying.

“Damon and I can take care of that. I’ll take you and Elena home.” Stefan said.

Stefan took us to the boarding house and helped us inside. I sat down on the couch and curled myself into a ball, hugging my legs. Stefan left and went back to the dance to take care of things there.

The next couple hours went by in a blur. Stefan and Damon came back. I was still curled up on the couch. I snapped back into reality when a harsh slap sounded in the room. Elena had slapped Damon. Damon hardly reacted. He just took a deep breath and calmly started to speak. “You need to listen to me, and prepare for what I’m about to say…”

“Bonnie had to die. Klaus using Alaric’s body was a total surprise. She wasn’t prepared for that, and he wasn’t going to stop, and we weren’t gonna be able to stop him until he knew she was dead. He had to believe it.” Damon started. Wait, so, Bonnie’s… “She cast a spell. Bonnie’s okay.”

Bonnie’s okay, she’s not dead! She’s alive! Thank God!

Chapter 36: Waking Elijah

Elena’s POV

After a video call with Bonnie, I felt a lot better. But after everything that had happened, I wasn’t feeling confident in our ability to take on Klaus. If only we knew what he was going to do next. That was why I quietly started to make my way down to the cellars. There was one person who seemed to know a lot about Klaus. If we could get him to trust us again, we might actually stand a chance against Klaus.

“Elena?” I heard from behind me. I turned around to see Emma standing there. She had changed out of her sixties outfit. She wore one of the spare outfits I had stored here. “What are you doing? Are you going down into the cellars?” she asked. I opened my mouth to say something only to find that I had no words to speak. No way to explain the situation. She wouldn’t be able to understand why I needed to wake him. “Are you going to wake him? Wake Elijah?” she asked.

I took a deep breath and nodded. There was no use in lying to her. “I’ll go down with you.” she said.

“You’re okay with it?” I asked, confused.

“I never wanted to kill him in the first place.” she responded.

We made our way down to the cell Elijah’s body was being kept in. Without skipping a beat, Emma walked right in and pulled the dagger from Elijah’s chest. When that was done, she walked over and handed me the dagger. I gave her a questioning look. “You told me you were the last one to kill him. If it’s you that gives him the dagger, then he might be willing to trust you.” Emma explained. I nodded at her and took the dagger.

We spent hours in that cell. Morning had come, and he still hadn’t woken up. I was beyond bored, but I knew that I had to be here when he woke up. Emma was still here, too. She had stayed down here with me the entire night. We were both tired, and we both probably looked the part.

All of the sudden, Emma seemed to snap at attention, eyes staring at Elijah. He didn’t look any different. Still looked completely dead. But a moment later, his back arched. He was finally waking up. He opened his eyes, panting. “Elijah.” I said, trying to gain his attention.

“Katerina…” he mumbles out.

“Elijah! It’s me, it’s Elena.” I said.

“Oh, my God.” He breathes out.

He shuts his eyes for a moment. I inched closer to him. He spasms before getting up and gasping for air. Emma and I knew that this wasn’t normal. I glanced over at Emma. She looked like she was getting worried. “I can’t…I can’t breathe! What’s happening to me?!” Elijah gasped out.

He rushed over to the door but slammed into the doorway. Emma ran over to him to hold him up. She helped him out of the cell. I followed. “I can’t…I can’t be in this house.” Elijah managed to get out between his gasping.

When we made it to the stairs, it hit me. “You’re not invited in.”

“I need to get out of here.” he managed to say before gasping again. When the door leading to outside was in sight, Elijah rushed to it.

When he made it outside, he collapsed to the ground and was panting for breath. When he looked our way, he got up and tried rushing to us, only to be stopped by the barrier. “What happened?” he growled out.

I shushed him and pointed upstairs. I didn’t need Stefan and Damon to know what I was doing. “I’ll tell you. Not here. Can I trust you?” I whispered out.

“Can I trust you?” Elijah whispered back. He has a fair point. I was the one who shoved the dagger into his chest. Speaking of… I handed the dagger over to him. He took it and put it in a pocket on the inside of his ruined suit. That seemed to help the situation.

“I’ll go grab you some blood bags.” Emma mumbled out quietly before retreating back out of the room. I led Elijah out to my car. I sat behind the wheel while Elijah made himself comfortable in the passenger seat.

Moments later, Emma joined us in the car. She handed Elijah three blood bags. Once we were all settled, I started the car and drove away from the boarding house.

Once I was sure that we were somewhere Stefan and Damon wouldn’t find us, I pulled over and put the car in park. I looked over at Elijah. “You look better.” I stated.

“Where did you get the dagger?” he asked.

“We’ll tell you everything.” Emma nodded at my statement. “But we have to work together, Elijah. I need your word.” I said.

“Your ability to make demands has long passed.” Elijah stated.

“No demands. We’re offering you help. And in return, we want yours.” I compromised.

“And why should I even consider this?” Elijah questioned.

“The same reason you haven’t killed us yet. You need our help to kill Klaus. And we need you.” I said.

“No, I haven’t killed you because I need you alive. I haven’t killed Emma because she hasn’t made any moves against me.” Elijah corrected.

Before I could think of a response, my phone buzzed. It was Stefan. I answered the call and put it on speaker. “Where are you? Are you okay?” Stefan’s voice rang through the phone.

“Yes, I’m fine.” I responded.

“Where’s Elijah?” Stefan asked.

“He’s right here.” I replied.

“Where? I’m on my way.” Stefan said, clearly worried.

“No Stefan, Elijah, Emma and I need some time to talk.” I told him.

“Wait, Emma is with you?” Stefan asked. “Never mind that. Listen to me. He can’t be trusted, he’ll use you to get to Klaus.”

“Elijah is a noble man, Stefan. He lives by a code of honor. We can trust him. He knows that it’d be incredibly stupid to betray him again. By removing the dagger, Emma and I have proven ourselves.” I said, looking at Elijah.

“You two can’t do this by yourselves.” Stefan said.

“It’s our decision, Stefan. Please respect it. And make sure that Damon doesn’t do anything stupid. I’ll be in touch.” I said before ending the call.

Chapter 37: The Original Family

Emma’s POV

Once Elena ended the call with Stefan, Elijah held out his hand. Elena huffed and gave him her phone. He puts it in pocket before turning to me and doing the same thing. “Really?” I asked.

He nodded. I sighed and gave him my phone.

Once he had procured our phones Elena spoke up. “He’s here.”

“Klaus is here?” Elijah asked.

“He’s taken over Alaric’s body.” I added.

“Of course he has. One of his favorite tricks.” Elijah replied.

“Well, what are his other tricks? What is he going to do next? You’re the only one who knows him.” Elena said.

“Yes, I do.” Elijah said.

Elijah said that he really needed to change his suit. He suggested the Lockwood mansion. We were confused, but Elena drove there anyway.

Once there, the three of us walked up to the door. Elijah knocked and Carol answered. “Elijah, Elena, Emma, what are you doing here? What happened?” Carol asked as she looked us over.

“I’ve had a bit of an incident, Carol. I’m hoping you could help.” Elijah replied.

“Well, I’m on my way to a meeting, so I..” she abruptly stopped.

“It won’t take but a minute of your time.” Elijah compelled.

Carol flashed him a smile. “Of course! Anything you need.” Carol said, stepping aside to let us in.

“Thank you.” Elijah responded. The three of us make our way inside,

‘Well, first things first. I’m going to need a change of clothing.” Elijah told Carol.

“Well, we can try one of my husband’s suits. I haven’t boxed them up yet.” Carol suggested.

“Wonderful.” Elijah said. Carol nodded and made her way upstairs.

Once she was out of earshot, Elena decided to speak up. “How did you know she’s not on vervain?”

“Cause I’m the one who got her off it. Right before you and your friends killed me. If you’ll excuse me. I’ll be down in a moment.” he told Elena. He made his way upstairs.

A few minutes later, Elijah came back downstairs in a fresh suit. He made a trip into the Lockwood’s kitchen to make himself some tea. Once that was done, we made ourselves comfortable in the living room. “So I assume that the Martin witches are no longer with us.” Elijah stated.

“No. I’m sorry.” Elena replied.

“And Katerina? She would have been released from my compulsion when I died.” Elijah asked.

“Klaus took her. We don’t know what he’s done to her.” I answered.

“Well, I can assume that she isn’t dead yet. That isn’t his style. Death would be far too easy for her after what she did.” Elijah said.

“I don’t understand. You say that you want Klaus dead, but you still made Katherine pay for betraying him.” Elena said.

“I have my own reasons for wanting Katerina to pay. There was a time…I’d have done anything for Klaus.” Elijah told us.

He started to tell us about the first time he had met Katherine. It was at a party for Klaus. Or, Niklaus. That being his full first name. He also mentions that Klaus is his brother.

Elena and I looked at him in shock. Klaus is Elijah’s brother? And he wants him dead? Elijah picked up on our shock. “Yes. Klaus is my brother.” Elijah states.

“I heard that. I’m still processing.” Elena said. As am I.

“Yes, I’m a little behind on the times, but I believe the term you’re searching for is ‘O.M.G’.” Elijah said as a small amused smile lit up his face. He took a sip of his tea.

I let a quiet laugh escape me at that. I was pleasantly surprised. I wasn’t expecting Elijah to crack a joke. He seemed to be the type that was serious all the time.

Elijah continued to tell his story. He mentioned something about other siblings.

“There’s a whole family of Originals?” I asked.

“My father was a wealthy landowner in a village in Eastern Europe. Our mother bore seven children.” Elijah informed.

“So your parents were human?” Elena asked.

“Our whole family was. Our origin as vampires is a very long story. Just know…we are the oldest vampires in the world. We are the Original family, and from us all vampires were created.” Elijah stated.

“Right, but Klaus is your brother. And you want him dead?” Elena questioned.

“I need some air. I’m still feeling a tad…dead. Come.” Elijah said as he gestured for us to follow.

Chapter 38: Soulmates

Emma’s POV

Elijah led us out the back of the Lockwood mansion. “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 informed.

“That’s where the white ash for the dagger comes from.” Elena said.

“Yes. The witches won’t allow anything truly immortal to walk the earth. Every creature needs to have a weakness in order to maintain balance.” Elijah said.

“So the sun can’t kill an Original. Why is Klaus so obsessed with breaking the sun and moon curse?” Elena questioned.

“Right. “The Curse of the Sun and the Moon’. It’s all so…biblical sounding, don’t you think?” Elijah asked while cracking a smile. I was confused.

“What’s so funny?” Elena questioned.

“Let’s just say that the Aztecs weren’t the ones who actually drew the Aztec sketches. The one who did that was my brother.” Elijah told us.

“I don’t understand. So Klaus drew the Aztec sketches about the curse?” Elena asked.

“Roman scrolls, African tribal etchings, and any other culture or continent we felt like planting it in.” Elijah said.

“But why?” I asked.

“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 said.

“So it’s not Aztec at all?” Elena asked.

“‘The Curse of the Sun and the Moon’...is fake. It doesn’t exist.” Elijah dropped on us before starting to walk away, leaving us frozen still in shock.

“What?!” Elena and I yelled once we recovered from the shock. We chased after him.

“Klaus and I faked the sun and moon curse dating back over a thousand years.” Elijah informed us.

“But if there’s no curse…” Elena started.

“There is a curse, Just not that one. The real one’s much worse. It’s a curse placed on Klaus.” Elijah said.

“What are you talking about?” Elena asked.

“Klaus has been trying to break it for the past thousand years. And you are his only hope.” Elijah told Elena. Elena’s phone can be heard vibrating in Elijah’s pocket.

“What is this curse?” Elena asked. Elena’s phone kept on vibrating.

“Your phone will not stop its incessant buzzing. Answer it, please.” Elijah said, annoyed. He handed Elena her phone.

Elena answered the call. “Stefan…what’s wrong?” Elena started, looking worried. “No. No, no, no, no. Okay, I’ll be right there.” she said before she hung up.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Klaus went after Jenna. We have to go to her.” Elena said.

“I’m afraid that wasn’t part of today’s arrangement.” Elijah told us.

“She’s family, Elijah. We have to. We’ll be back. You have my word.” Elena begged.

“One of you goes, and one of you stays to ensure the other actually comes back.” Elijah said.

Elena looked at me with pleading eyes. “You can go. I’ll be fine here. Help Jenna.” I said.

“Thank you.” Elena whispered. She ran off to her car. I watched as she drove off, leaving me with the Original vampire.

When her car had disappeared into the distance, I sat down on one of the benches scattered about in the yard. Elijah joined me. “I actually wanted to talk to you about something, alone. Something I was going to talk to you about before Elena and her gang killed me.” Elijah started.

“What did you want to talk about?” I asked.

“First of all, I want to ask you, do you believe in soulmates?” he asked.

I looked at him confused. Soulmates? Why would he want to talk about something like this? “Um, well, personally, I believe that soulmates are a myth. But the idea of it seems nice” I started as a small smile crept onto my face. “Having someone just right for you. Someone who will love you unconditionally.”

“Well, in the supernatural world, such a thing actually exists. Although somewhat rare, some supernatural beings do have a soulmate.” Elijah said.

“Supernatural creatures, so that includes witches and werewolves?” I asked.

Elijah nodded. “Vampires are the ones who usually find their soulmate, seeing as they can walk the earth far longer than any witch or werewolf, but I have heard of a few cases where witches and werewolves find their other half.” Elijah informed.

“Which leads me into what I really wanted to talk to you about.” Elijah told me as he turned towards me.

Elijah took my hand in his. I felt warm tingles shoot up my arm. He looked me in the eye as he told me this next part. “Do you feel that? This feeling you have, the tingling feeling, I have it, too. It’s an indication of a soulmate bond.”

“Wait, what?” I whispered out. I was afraid of what he was about to say. This can’t be right. There’s no way he’s about to say what I’m thinking.

Elijah held both of my hands in his grasp, having the unmistakable tingling feeling run up both of my arms. “Emma, we’re soulmates.”

Chapter 39: Feelings

Emma’s POV

“We’re…soulmates?” I asked.

Elijah nodded. I was in a state of absolute shock. Not only do soulmates exist, but I’m mated to someone. An Original vampire at that. What? I don’t know how to deal with this…

I opened my mouth to speak, but then immediately closed it. The shock I was in wouldn’t let me speak. My mind was still trying to process this impossible situation.

“Emma…” Elijah started after a while.

I shook my head at him. “Elijah…I can’t…I…I don’t…” I was struggling to find the right words. My mind was too busy trying to sort out what exactly I was feeling. Am I scared of having this type of bond with the Original? Am I sad that I would eventually have to leave my friends? Am I happy that I found someone who will love me no matter what?

The only feeling that was sure about was the confusion. The future I thought I had was completely shattered. I had no idea what was going to happen. I didn’t know why the world paired me with the Original.

“Do I have to leave my friends?” I suddenly asked. My head was still spinning, but this was one of the most important questions on my mind.

Elijah sighed. “After this whole situation with Klaus, I don’t plan on sticking around this town, and I would very much like it if you would come with me. But, I also know that you see your friends as your family. I won’t force you to come with me. As long as I’m sure that your friends will protect you while I’m gone, I will allow you to live out the rest of your teenage years here among your friends if that’s what you wish. I will give you a way to contact me if you need anything from me. Eventually, I will come back and ask you again to come with me.” he told me.

At least I won’t be forced to leave immediately… I stayed silent. I wanted to ask what exactly a life with him would look like. I wanted to know if and when he planned on turning me. I didn’t even know if I wanted to turn. I knew that these questions would be answered at some point in the future. But do I even want this?

“I don’t know what to say. I don’t even know what to feel. I’m torn.” I admitted. “Part of me doesn’t want anything to do with this. But another part is…almost excited to go on this adventure with you. I just…I’m afraid of what the others will think. After Katherine killed my previous parents, I made a vow to myself that I wouldn’t lose anyone else. And if they find out that you’re my soulmate, I’m afraid I will. I don’t want to lose my friends. Whether it be losing them to death, or losing their trust.”

When I didn’t hear a reply from Elijah, I chanced a look his way. His expression darkened a bit. Does he not like the fact that I might not leave with him right away?

After a few more seconds of tense silence, he finally spoke up. “Katherine…killed your parents?” he asked in a dark tone.

His harsh tone scared me a bit, even though it wasn’t necessarily aimed at me. “Um, yeah, she did.” I said a bit shakily.

“Rest assured, if Klaus hasn’t killed her yet, I will make sure she pays dearly for what she did to you.” Elijah said, his voice still carrying a dark tone.

I looked down. I didn’t know how to respond to that. I didn’t know if I even should. So, I stayed silent.

I felt him gently grab my hand, once again sending tingles up my arm. With his other hand, he lifted my chin so that I could look him in the eye. “Thank you, for being open and honest with how you feel.” he told me.

I sent him a weak smile as he released my chin. At that moment, I started having another internal debate. Should I tell him about my powers? I mean, he’ll find out eventually, right?

With a sigh, I solidified my decision. I was going to tell him. “On the subject of honesty, I suppose I should tell you something else.” I started.

He looked at me. “And that would be..?” he inquired.

I took a deep breath. I brought forth my fire manipulation ability. I brought one of my hands up. When I opened it, flames emanated from my palm. After a few seconds, I closed my hand, extinguishing the flame. Elijah looked at me in wonder.

“I have a set of abilities. I’ve never met anyone else with this particular type of power. I’m not a witch, but since my abilities are connected to nature, I could be something related to a witch. But that’s all I’ve managed to gather.” I told him.

“Wouldn’t your family know what you are?” Elijah questioned.

“My birth parents died when I was three.” I told him.

“I’m sorry to hear that.” he apologized.

“It’s okay, it happened a long time ago.” I said.

“If you don’t mind me asking, at what age did you discover this power?” he asked me.

“I discovered my powers at the age of twelve. I’ve been experimenting with my powers ever since. I’ll have to show you everything I can do one of these days.” I said with a slight smirk.

“I’ll be looking forward to it.” he said with a smile.

Before the conversation could progress any further, Elena’s car could be seen pulling up. Looks like this conversation has to end.

A cool breeze blew by. I shivered slightly. “Why don’t we continue this inside?” Elijah suggested.

I nodded. I followed inside. He led me to a room with a fireplace. He quickly got to work with lighting it. I took a seat right in front of it.

Once he got the fireplace lit, Elena walked into the room. “How’s Jenna?” I asked her.

“A little shaken up and confused, but otherwise okay.” Elena responded. I gave her a slight nod.

“Welcome back.” Elijah said.

“So tell me, what’s Klaus’ curse?” Elena immediately asked.

Elijah gestured to the seat right next to me. “Please.” he said as he sat in a seat near Elena and I.

“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.” Elijah told us.

“A war between species?” Elena questioned.

The vampires…and the werewolves.” Elijah revealed.

So that’s how the war started? And it never ended? Talk about holding a grudge…

So that left me to wonder, what kind of curse could be placed on someone with a relation to two different supernatural species?

Chapter 40: Klaus' Curse

Emma's POV

"So Klaus' real father was from a werewolf bloodline? What does that make Klaus? A werewolf? Or a vampire?" Elena asked.

"He's both. A hybrid 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.

"That's the curse that Klaus wants to break?" Elena asked.

"He wants to trigger that part of him that's a werewolf. If allowed, Klaus would sire his own bloodline. He would build his own race. Endangering not just vampires, but everyone." Elijah explained.

"But you helped him?" Elena questioned.

"I helped him because I loved him. That's changed, now he must die." Elijah stated.

"We have the dagger, We can stop him." Elena said.

"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 said.

What, are you saying that Klaus can't be killed?" Elena asked.

"There's one way to kill any supernatural species...at the hands of the servants of nature themselves." Elijah told us.

"A witch. If they could channel that much power. But it would kill them." Elena concluded.

"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 said.

"What if I told you we knew a witch that could channel that much power?" I pitched in.

"Then I would tell you there's one more thing that you should know..." Elijah started. "Back in 1492, I had the witches create an elixir that could save the life of the doppelgänger." Elijah told us.

"You found a way to save the life of the doppelgänger?" Elena asked.

"Yes, Elena. I did. But unfortunately, Katerina took matters into her own hands first. I believe you already know how that played out." Elijah said.

"You cared about her, didn't you?" Elena asked.

"It's a common mistake, I'm told. Well, do you two have any more questions?" Elijah asked.

Elena and I looked at each other. I shook my head at her. "No, I don't think so." Elena said.

"Well then, I do believe I have told you everything you need to know. I may leave." he said, handing Elena her jacket and me my phone.

As we began walking out of the room, Elijah spoke up. "Oh, Emma, would you mind staying back for a minute?"

Elena looked my way, confused. "I'll meet you in the car." I told her before turning back and making my way towards Elijah.

"I would like you to have my number. Don't hesitate to call if you ever need anything." He said as I made my approach. He told me his number and I saved it. Before I left, I sent him a quick text so that he, too, had my number. As I walked off I gave him a smile and a short wave.

I made my way outside and hopped into Elena's car. "Ready to go?" she asked. I nodded at her, and she started the car. She drove us back to the boarding house. On our way there, my mind drifted to what Elijah and I talked about when we were alone. About how we were soulmates. I still didn't entirely know how to feel about it. But one thing was for sure. My life from here on out was going to be far from boring.

When we made it to the boarding house, I immediately looked for Jenna. She was on the couch talking to Stefan. I approached them. "Hey Jenna. How are you holding up?" I asked her.

"Well, my mind is still trying to process everything, but I think with a bit of time, I'll be okay." she said.

I nodded. "Yeah, it's a lot to take in. Um, did Elena tell you anything about me when she was explaining things?" I questioned.

Jenna shook her head. "No, why?" she asked.

"It turns out I have powers of my own." I told her.

"Powers?" she questioned.

I closed my eyes and brought forth my wind ability. A gentle breeze swept through the room. When I opened my eyes, Jenna looked at me in awe. "I can manipulate the elements." I said.

"Woah...can you show me what else you can do?" Jenna asked.

I smiled. "Maybe some other time. I need a lot of space to show you all that I can do." I told her.

I made my way upstairs. Once the boarding house was officially under Elena's name, I was given one of the rooms upstairs if I ever had to stay the night for whatever reason. And I was starting to like it here. I mean, sleeping on a bed is better than sleeping on a couch.

After a while, I heard some voices downstairs. Having gotten bored messing around on my phone, I went downstairs to see what was going on. "...how to save my life. I told you I'd find another way. And I did." Elena finished speaking as I entered the room. I saw Elena, Stefan, Damon, and Elijah. I sent Elijah a small smile when I saw him.

"Is that true?" Damon replied to whatever it was Elena was talking about.

"It is." Elijah confirmed.

Damon turned to Elena. "And you're trusting him?" he questions.

"I am." Elena said.

"You can all go to hell." Damon seethed as he left the room.

"He's angry with me right now. But he'll come around." Stefan said, looking towards Elijah.

"Perhaps." Elijah responded. Shortly after, Elijah made his leave. Having no clue what was going on, I decided to grab something to eat before calling it a night.

Chapter 41: Hanging Out With Enzo

Emma’s POV

I woke up the next day to the sun shining on my face through the window. I knew that the full moon would be coming soon. Not that night, but the following night. I knew that the day would be spent stressing out about what was to come the next day. What a good way to spend my sixteenth birthday…

I didn't want to spend the day hiding in here. I wanted to do something, but I didn't want to force anyone to celebrate today when Elena would be used as a sacrifice tomorrow night. Not that anyone knew it was my birthday anyways…. Maybe I can ask Enzo to go to the grill with me today. I pulled out my phone to do just that. I opened my contacts and selected Enzo's name. I put the phone to my ear and waited for Enzo to pick up. After a few rings, he finally picked up. “Hello?”

“Hey Enzo, do you want to go to the grill with me today? I don't want to spend the entire day stuck inside.” I said.

“Yeah, sure, what time?” he asked.

“Does noon work for you?” I asked.

“Yeah, that works. See you then!” he said.

“Yep, see ya!” I said before I hung up. I glanced at the time on my phone. I've got an hour to kill.

I went downstairs to see what everyone was doing. The only one I saw was Elena. “Hey.” I said as I approached her.

“Hey Emma, what’s up?” she asked.

"Nothing much. Hey, do you think you can give me a ride to the grill? I have to be there at noon.” I asked.

“Yeah, sure. What for?” she questioned back.

“I just don’t want to stay cooped up in this place all day. That and I’m meeting someone.” I answered.

“Oh, who are you meeting?” Elena asked.

“A friend from McKinley. He’s in town and he wanted to say hi.” I answered.

“Okay, but be careful. Klaus is still out there. I don’t want anything to happen to you.” Elena warned.

“I know, Elena.” I said.

After spending some time on my phone, I got ready to meet Enzo. Elena met me downstairs and we went out to her car. She dropped me off at the grill. “Call me if you need to be picked up.” she said as she left.

I walked in. I saw Enzo sitting up at the bar. I walked up to him and took the seat next to him. He smiled at me when he noticed my approach. I smiled back. “Hey.” I said.

“Hey.” he said back. “How have you been? What have you and the gang been up to?”

"I’ve been doing okay. Don’t freak out, but remember when I told you about Elijah?” I asked.

“Yeah…” he replied.

"Elena and I kind of…woke him yesterday…” I admitted.

“You what?” he asked in a darker tone.

“Enzo, Klaus is in town, and he’s the only one who could tell us what we needed to know in order to beat him. We wouldn’t have a chance if we knew nothing about the guy.” I reasoned with him.

“Emma, he could have killed you. I’m sure after being dead for an unknown amount of time he would be, understandably, upset with anyone associated with his death.” Enzo replied.

“Well, I wasn’t associated with his death.” I told him.

“But you’re associated with the people associated with his death. Some people don’t see the difference.” Enzo told me.

“Elijah is different. He is cool and calculated. He doesn’t let his emotions fuel his decisions. He can see past the fact that I’m close with the people who tried to kill him. He had no ill will towards me.” I said.

“Still, what you did was dangerous. I can’t have you getting hurt, Emma.” Enzo replied.

“I know Enzo. I’ll try to be careful.” I told him.

“Hey, what can I get you?” the bartender said as she made her approach.

“Can I have a coke and some fries?” I asked.

“Sure thing. And for you?” the bartender asked as she turned to Enzo.

“Captain coke please.” Enzo ordered.

“Coming right up!” the bartender said as she walked off.

“Whatever happened to you trying to stay out of all of this?” Enzo asked.

“That immediately ended when Katherine killed my parents and I started to live with Elena and her family.” I responded.

“Can you at least try to stay out of it?” Enzo asked.

“No can do. If I tried, I’ll eventually be dragged back into it. Besides, if I did stay out of the Klaus business, I would be dragged into something else immediately afterwards.” I admitted.

“What do you mean?” Enzo questioned.

“Um, well…” I started. I told him about the conversation Elijah and I had when Elena left. About how Elijah and I were soulmates. After the explanation, he didn’t respond. He just looked at me in shock. “Enzo..?” I asked nervously.

When he shook himself out of his shock, he said something that greatly confused me. “We need to get you out of town.”

What?

Chapter 42: Elixir

Emma’s POV

“What?” I asked, extremely confused.

“Emma, the Originals have a lot of enemies. If it gets out that you are the soulmate of one, you could be in a lot of danger. The further you are from them, the safer you are. So go home, pack a couple of bags, I’ll-” he started, but I cut him off.

“Wait, hey, no! I’m not leaving my friends! Enzo, I know you care for me, but I can’t just suddenly leave! I’m not doing that to them!” I said. I took a deep breath. “Look, I know you’re just trying to keep me safe, but I can protect myself. I have my powers. I can knock back anyone who comes at me. Besides, Elijah will no doubt come and find me once he realizes I’m missing. We can’t hide from him forever. When he finds us, he will probably kill you for trying to take me. I appreciate you being concerned for my safety, but we have to take into account your safety, too.” I told him.

The bartender came over with our drinks. Once she left to take care of other patrons, Enzo sighed and spoke up. “I understand. I’m just worried about you. In the few months, you’ve lost your parents, you’ve been kidnapped twice, and you’ve been fatally wounded. You’ve been in multiple situations where you could have died. If you were out of town, you would have avoided all of that.”

“I know. But I’m needed here.” I said.

“I know.” Enzo said. “Hey, if there’s anything I can do to help, let me know, okay?”

“Sure thing!” I responded.

My fries came out. Enzo and I talked a bit while I ate.

Once the fries were done and we couldn’t find anything else to talk about, I opened up my purse to grab some cash for my food. Before I could pull anything out, Enzo had put out ten bucks for my fries and drink. “You didn’t have to do that.” I told him.

“Well, I wanted to. So…suck it up.” he responded.

I sent him a small smile. “Thanks.” I mumbled.

Once everything was all paid for, we headed out. He offered to give me a ride home, but I wanted to work on a few things with my powers out at the clearing. It was only a twenty five minute walk, and it was nice out. I sent him a short wave as I turned around. “Bye Enzo.” I said.

“Bye.” he said back. “Oh!” he said, which caused me to stop in my tracks and turn back towards him. “Happy Birthday Emma.”

I beamed at him. “Thank you, Enzo.” I said. And with that, he hopped into his car and drove off.

I made the walk out to the clearing. I spent a lot of the time working on moving around the fog I made with air and water. It was one thing I kept struggling on and I really wanted to get better at it. I didn’t know if I would ever use it for anything, but the more control I had over my powers, the better.

By the end of the power session, I was a little more confident in my air and water abilities. There were still things that I could work on, but I knew that I couldn’t be missing from the boarding house for too long.

On my way back to the grill, I called Elena to come pick me up. When I finished my walk back to the grill, I saw Elena’s car pulling up. I hopped in and we were off.

“It didn’t look like you were coming from the grill.” Elena commented.

“I took a walk to the clearing that I like to go to in the forest. It’s where I practice with my powers.” I told her.

“Oh…” Elena started. “If I make it through the sacrifice, you've got to let me tag along one of these times. I’ve never really seen you use them before.”

“Alright, sure, why not?” I replied.

We made it back to the boarding house. The rest of the day went by as normal. I knew that the next day was going to be hectic with the sacrifice taking place. I knew that Elijah would be coming over. I was almost excited to see him again, and I finally knew why.

Eventually, the next day did come around. I woke up feeling nervous, just like everyone else in the house. After I got ready for the day, I went downstairs. I got started on making breakfast. Eggs were sizzling in the pan when Elena and Jenna walked into the kitchen. “What’s on the menu?” Jenna asked.

“Eggs and bacon. Want some?” I asked as I flipped the eggs.

“Yes please.” Jenna and Elena said in unison.

“Coming right up.” I responded.

While I was washing the dishes, a knock sounded at the front door of the boarding house. Elena got up to answer. Soon, Elijah’s smooth voice flowed through the house. I couldn’t help the small smile from forming on my face. When I finished the dishes, I joined the others in the living room. “Tonight is the full moon. We should assume that Klaus is prepared to break the curse.” Elijah said.

“Elena said that the sun and moon curse is fake? That it’s actually just a curse placed on Klaus.” Stefan asked.

“Klaus is a vampire born of a werewolf bloodline. The curse has kept his werewolf aspect from manifesting. But if he breaks it, he’ll be a true hybrid.” Elijah informed.

Damon joined us in the room and spoke up. “Then why are we letting him break the curse? We can kill him today. With Bonnie.”

"Damon…” Stefan tried to reason.

“No. Bonnie can’t use that much power without dying.” Elena said.

“I’ll write her a great eulogy.” Damon responded.

“Absolutely not, Damon.” I told him,

“Alright, how do we break this curse?” Stefan asked.

Elijah explained how the curse would be broken. During the explanation, he grabbed a wooden box. “This is an elixir that I acquired some five hundred years ago for Katerina. It possesses mystical properties of resuscitation.” Elijah told us.

“So I’ll be dead…” Elena started

“...And then you won’t.” Elijah finished.

“So that’s your plan? A magical witch potion with no expiration date?” Damon asked, not liking the plan. He looked at Elena. “You want to come back to life, what about John’s ring?”

“She’s a doppelgänger, odds are, the ring won’t work on her.” I said.

“I’ll take those odds over the elixir. What if it doesn’t work, Elena?” Damon asked.

“Then I guess I’ll just be dead.” Elena responded. Damon angrily left the room. “Do we know if Klaus has everything he needs to do this? Does he have a werewolf?”

“Klaus had been waiting to break this curse for over a thousand years. If he doesn’t already have a werewolf, my guess is by tonight, he will.” Elijah said.

Well, this is going to be an interesting night.

Chapter 43: Kiss

Emma’s POV

Elijah and Elena left the room. I decided to leave, too. I went up to the room I was given.

I was laying on my bed when I heard a knock on the bedroom door. “Come in!” I called out.

The door opened to reveal Elijah. I immediately sat up on the bed. “Hey.” I greeted with a smile.

“Hey Emma.” Elijah greeted back. He came over and sat beside me on the bed. “I want to know how you’re processing the situation.”

“Which situation? The sacrifice situation or the soulmate situation?” I asked.

“Both…” he said.

Let’s start off easy. “I’m a little nervous about tonight. I know that Elena’s survival may not be definite, even with the elixir. And I know that if there is any sort of kink in the plan that everything could go south very quickly. I just hope it goes as planned.” I told him.

Elijah stayed silent for a moment. After a few seconds, he grabbed my hand. Tingles shot up my arm. “And the other situation?” he asked me.

“I’m still not sure how to feel about it. I’m still confused and a bit scared…” I started. “But I don’t want to be. I know that there’s danger that comes from being the soulmate of an Original. But I can’t help but feel somewhat excited.” I tightened my grip on his hand. I looked up at him with a small smile. “I can’t help but smile when I see you.”

A gentle smile graced his face. It made my heart feel warm. Gazing into his eyes, I can see the love and adoration he holds for me. Before I knew it, he started leaning in. I, myself, couldn’t help but lean in as well. Before our lips touched, he stopped briefly to ask me something. “Is it alright if I kiss you?” he asked gently.

“Yes.” I whispered out.

Once he had my answer, he didn’t waste another moment. He closed the little distance between us. The kiss itself felt electrifying. It was a gentle kiss, but I could feel sparks fly through my body. It was absolutely euphoric.

When we pulled apart, we both smiled. “Wow…” I whispered.

The moment was ruined when we heard shouting coming from downstairs. We both dashed out of the room. When we made it to the entrance of the boarding house, we saw Jenna aiming a crossbow at Alaric who was standing just outside the door. “Jenna, put the crossbow down, okay? It’s me.” Alaric pleaded with Jenna.

“Stay away from me!” Jenna spat out, the crossbow still trained on Alaric.

Elena, Damon, and Stefan joined us at the door. “What’s going on?” Elena asked.

“It’s me, Elena, I swear, okay? He let me go. Klaus let me go.” Alaric told Elena.

“Prove it.” Damon demanded.

“Okay, uh, the first night you and I spent together, Jeremy walked in right when I was about to-”

Jenna cut him off before he could finish. “Okay, it’s him.” Jenna lowered the crossbow.

“Why did he let you go?” Stefan asked.

“He wanted me to deliver a message. The sacrifice happens tonight.” Alaric announced. The boarding house went silent.

Everyone except for Damon moved to the living room. Stefan was the first to speak up once we were all settled. “Do you remember anything that happened while Klaus was possessing you?”

“No. It’s like I blacked out and woke up three days later. Katherine was there.” Alaric answered.

“She’s under compulsion. Damon snuck her some vervain, but she can’t leave until Klaus tells her she can.” Stefan told him.

“Where is Damon?” Elena asked.

“I saw him go upstairs.” Jenna replied. Elena gets up and leaves; probably to go find Damon.

“So what did I do?” Alaric asked.

“You were hellbent on ending Bonnie’s life. After getting your butt kicked, you succeeded in your mission. Beforehand, Bonnie cast a spell that would help her come back after she died.” I answered.

After a few more questions, we heard Elena yell from upstairs. Stefan used his vampire speed to rush upstairs. The rest of us dashed after him.

I was the first one after Stefan to arrive. I saw Elena with blood on her face and Damon had a few drops of blood on his wrist. No… He didn’t…

“Go ahead. Wish me an eternity of misery. Believe me, you’ll get over it.” Damon spat at Stefan.

Stefan rushed at Damon and harshly pushed him. “Stefan!” Elena yelled.

Damon got up and pushed Stefan against the wall. “Admit it. You just wish you had the balls to do it yourself.” Damon spat back at Stefan.

Stefan started punching Damon’s face. One of the punches had Damon falling to the ground. Damon quickly recovered and drove a piece of wood through Stefan’s abdomen. I decided that enough was enough. I used my wind ability to throw Damon away from Stefan. Elijah, Jenna and Alaric arrived just in time to see me throw Damon against the wall. “What the hell’s going on?!” Alaric shouts out. Appropriate reaction.

“Just get him out of here!” Elena demands while gesturing to a still recovering Damon.

“I’ll go grab some blood bags.” I said as I made my way out of the room. I returned a minute later with two blood bags. I handed them over to Stefan. He immediately opened one and started drinking.

Once the blood bags were emptied, he handed them back to me. “Thank you.” he said to me. I gave him a short nod and left to dispose of the bags.

After everything that had just occurred, I needed to get out of that house. I wanted to go to the grill. But seeing as I had no car or license, and Elena was off somewhere with Stefan, I decided to just endure the hour walk there.

When I made it there, I sat at the bar and ordered a pepsi and some cheesy fries. Not long after I ordered, Damon and Alaric came in. They noticed me there and sat with me. Alaric to my right and Damon right next to Alaric.

Alaric and Damon ordered the same alcoholic beverages. Once their drinks came, Damon spoke up. “I screwed up…”

“Yeah. Yeah, you did.” Alaric confirmed.

“Now, why so glum?” we heard an accented voice say from behind us.

“Ugh, Klaus I presume.” Damon said while we all turned around.

“In the flesh.” Klaus responded. Well, damn, I guess all of the Originals are gorgeous. It’s so not fair…

Chapter 44: Meeting The Hybrid

Emma's POV

I gaped at the gorgeous man in front of me. Well, now I'm curious. Are all of the Originals absolutely gorgeous? Because the only person I can think of that can rival this man where looks are concerned is Elijah. The gorgeous man turned his gaze to Alaric. "Thanks for the loaner, mate."

Damon got up out of his seat. "Any reason you stopped by to say hi?"

"I'm told you and your brother fancy my doppelgänger. Just thought I'd remind you to not do anything you'll regret." Klaus said. A little too late for that advice.

"Ha. Thanks for the advice. I don't suppose I could talk you into a postponement, by any chance, huh?"" Damon asked.

"Are you kidding?" Klaus looked at Alaric. "He is kidding, right?"

"No, not really." Alaric told him.

"I mean, come on, what's one month in the grand scheme of things?" Damon said, only half trying to convince the hybrid to change his mind.

"Let me be clear...I have my vampire. I have my werewolf. I have everything I need. The ritual will happen tonight. So if you want to live to see tomorrow, don't screw it up." Klaus warned. Klaus sent a frustratingly handsome smirk my way. "Emma, I hope to see you again soon."

Klaus turned around and walked out of the grill. "What did he mean by that?" Alaric asked while sending me a curious look.

"I have no idea..." I replied back.

"Well, that was fun." Damon said, completely ignoring the last thing Klaus said.

"You're going to screw it up, aren't you?" Alaric asked.

I raised an eyebrow and sent Alaric a look. "It's Damon. Of course he is." I told him.

Damon, ignoring our short conversation, spoke up. "You think if I took his werewolf out of the equation, she might...get over the fact that I tried to turn her into a vampire?" Damon asked, proving my point.

"See?" I mumbled to Alaric.

Alaric smiled at my remark before responding to Damon. "I think it won't matter, because you'll be dead."

"But without the werewolf, he can't perform the ritual tonight, which means I would have bought her one month before the next full moon." Damon said.

"And you'll still be dead." Alaric pointed out.

"Are you gonna help me or what?" Damon asked, turning to us.

Alaric and I looked at each other. "I'll help, buI want you to stay out of it." Alairc said to me.

"You don't think I can help?" I asked, a little offended.

"It's not that. I just want you to stay out of it. You'll be safer that way." Alaric clarified.

"Fine..." I mumbled. I stayed long enough to eat my cheesy fries and pay before I walked out. I thought I might as well get some practice in before tonight.

I was practicing with my fire manipulation ability when I heard something behind me. I quickly turned around to see what it was. I didn't see anything. Must've been my imagination playing tricks on me.

I went back to practicing. Not thirty seconds later, I hear something again. "Hello?" I asked as I turned around. Again, I saw nothing. Is Enzo pulling a prank on me? No, he'd just tell me if he was here. Is Damon messing with me? No, he's out messing with Klaus' plans. I decided to stop practice for the day and leave.

As I was making my way back to the trails, I once again heard something behind me. Instead of turning around, I quickly broke off a huge chunk of earth from the ground and chucked it towards where the sound was coming from.

"Woah! Easy there, love. No need to take my head off." I heard Klaus' voice say as he just barely managed to dodge my attack.

"What are you doing here?" I asked while getting into a defensive stance.

"Just looking for a good location to have my ritual. I certainly didn't expect to see you here, Emma. And it seems you can use more than just wind." Klaus said as he started to walk towards me. "Now, tell me, what else can you do, love?"

"You don't need to know." I said as I got prepared to bolt.

As he continued his advance, I began to back up. I wasn't going to let him get anywhere near me. I knew that he probably saw me as a threat. He tried to kill Bonnie because she was powerful, I wasn't going to let him kill me, too.

"Calm down there, love. I'm not here to hurt you." Klaus tried to tell me.

"And why should I believe that?" I asked, still backing away.

Klaus quickly closed the distance with his vampire speed. He grabbed my arm. I felt something that I had only felt once before with Elijah. Warm tingles run up and down my arm. Knowing what this probably ment, I paled. No... This can't be. Two Originals?! I'm mated to two of them!?

Before I could properly think, I pulled my arm free of his grasp and knocked him back with a wind attack and ran away as fast as I could. Once he was out of sight, I created a large hole in the ground and jumped in. I covered the top and hid there in the dark. I had my phone with me, but I wasn't going to call for help. Everyone was already busy preparing for tonight.

I stayed there for half an hour before I decided it was safe to come out. I uncovered the top of the little hole in the ground and climbed out. I looked around before I started my trek towards the trails. I decided to not tell anybody about my discovery. Hell, most of them didn't even know about Elijah and I. And I intended to keep it that way until I was ready to talk about it.

I made the long walk back to the boarding house. It was late afternoon. Evening would be fast approaching. In a few short hours, Klaus would come for Elena. Elena and Stefan were still out doing...whatever the hell they were doing. I didn't know what they were up to. All that I knew was that they wanted to enjoy Elena's last day as a human. That is, if no one could find a solution to keep her human. I kind of assumed that Damon's plan to delay the sacrifice wouldn't work. A lot of his previous plans failed. I didn't think this one would be any different.

I was sitting with Jenna when she got a call on her cell phone. She answered it and a shocked expression formed on her face. When she hung up, she quickly got up and started to get ready to leave. I followed her. "Hey, who was that? What's going on?" I asked.

"Elena called me. She's scared and she really needs my help. I have to go." she said.

I stopped her from leaving. "Jenna, Elena is with Stefan. Plus, she would probably call Damon or Bonnie if something was seriously wrong. Think about it, Jenna." I told her. I stopped to think of why she would call Jenna. Unless it wasn't Elena... "I think it was Katherine. Klaus probably forced her to call you to lure you out for some reason."

Jenna halted her movements. "That makes sense. When she called me, she didn't tell me what exactly was wrong. But just to be sure, I'm going to give Elena a call." Jenna said as she pulled her cell phone back out.

One quick call later, my hypothesis was confirmed. It was not Elena who called her. Elena and Stefan were on their way back from their little trip. Jenna came up to me. "Thanks for stopping me. I'd probably be dead by the end of the night if you hadn't stepped in."

"No problem. I suggest that you stay here for the rest of the night, okay? Let us supernatural people take care of all of this chaos." I suggested.

"Alright. Thanks again, Emma. And don't you dare die on me, you hear?" Jenna told me.

I chuckled a bit at that. "Sure thing, Jenna." I told her.

Jenna and I went back into the living room and sat on the couch. We talked to keep our minds off of what was inevitably going to happen tonight. We talked until we heard a knock on the door. Jenna and I got up and walked to the door. I opened it to reveal none other than Klaus.

Chapter 45: The Ritual

Klaus’ POV

My little mate was the one who opened the door. Jenna stood right behind her. They both looked displeased to see me. Of course, I couldn’t blame them. I was planning on killing young Elena tonight. But I was hoping that my little mate would be a little more understanding.

I pointed at my little mate. “You caused me some trouble tonight. I already suspected that someone would save the first vampire, and you decided to go and prevent me from grabbing my second choice.” I said.

“So that’s why you tried to lure Jenna out.” my little mate concluded.

“Correct. Once I I gave up on Jenna, I had to improvise. I nabbed one of the first people I saw out and about. I grabbed a young adult named Hannah. Hope you didn’t care about her.” I told her.

“Why didn’t you just use Katherine?” I asked.

“Because her punishment is far from over. Death would be too kind for her. Now, I’m here for Elena. Where is the young doppelgänger?” I asked.

“Not sure. She hasn’t come back yet.” Emma replied.

“Well, you see, that’s a problem. I need her now. The ritual is about to start.” I told her.

“Well, I don’t know where she is. Goodbye now!” she said as she slammed the door in my face.

I turned away from the closed door and smirked. My little mate’s got some fire in her. I decided to wait for the doppelgänger to come back. I had a feeling that she wasn’t stupid enough to try to run.

My patience is rewarded when I see Stefan driving down the driveway. When they got out of the car, I appeared behind them. Stefan immediately noticed my appearance. Once they both turned around, I spoke up. “You got me all nervous. I thought maybe you’d done something stupid. You ready, my dear?”

“I’m ready.” she said, easily accepting her fate.

Before she could make her way to me, Stefan tried to stop her. “No...” he stated.

“I wouldn't.” I warned him. “No reason for you to die, too.”

Elena turned around to face Stefan. “No, Stefan, hey, hey, it’s fine.” she tried to coax him. “No one needs to get hurt. There’s no reason for you to get hurt.” she finished before she kissed him. “I love you.”

“I love you.” Stefan said back. They kissed again.

“Close your eyes.” she said. “Close your eyes.” she whispered again.

Stefan reluctantly complied. The second she made her way over to me, we were off. I took her to Greta. She would lead her to the quarry I had chosen for the ritual. I had to make a quick stop at the apartment.

I opened the door to the apartment, expecting to be met with Maddox, but he was nowhere to be found. “Where’s Maddox? He should be back by now.” I voiced my thoughts.

“I don’t know.” Katherine responded. I opened my computer to check on my backup werewolf. “What are you doing? Where’s Elena?”

“I sent her off with Greta.” I said as I watched my werewolf start her transition. “It’s almost time.” I was interrupted by the door opening. I frowned as I watched Damon walk in like he owned the place. “I wasn’t aware you’d been invited in.”

“I’ve come here to tell you that you have to postpone the ritual.” Damon said.

“Didn’t we already have this conversation?” I asked, frustrated with the older Salvatore brother.

“Yeah, but that was before I rescued your werewolf and vampire and killed your witch.” Damon proudly stated.

I angrily stood up. I suspected that he would find Caroline and Tyler, but I didn’t know that he would be stupid enough to kill Maddox. “Excuse me?”

“And you can kill me for it. I don’t care. It was all me.” he boldly stated.

“Katerina, give us a moment.” I said. She slowly got up and left the room. “I’ve heard about you. The crazy, impulsive vampire in love with his brother’s girl. I knew one of you would try to stop me. It was just a 50/50 guess on who.” I said as I showed him the live feed of where I was keeping my backup werewolf. “The nice thing about werewolves is they tend to travel in packs. Need a closer look?” I asked as I tossed him the phone that also showed the live feed of the werewolf.

“Jules…” Damon stated, annoyed.

“When you spend a thousand years trying to break a curse, you learn a thing or two. First rule…always have a backup. Backup werewolf. Backup witch.” I started.

“Backup vampire.” Damon finished.

“I’ve got that covered, too.” I said as I left to go to the quarry.

I showed up to the quarry to find my vampire, my werewolf and the doppelgänger successfully trapped inside rings of fire. It seemed that Elena and Greta were having a conversation. “Greta, witches are supposed to maintain the balance of nature. It’s your duty to them to keep this curse sealed.” Elena tried to convince my witch.

“My duty is to Klaus! The new order.” Greta stated confidently.

“Glad to know I still have a dance partner.” I said as I made my presence known. Greta sent me a smirk.

“Hello, my lovelies. Are we ready?” I asked. I didn’t receive an answer from any of them except for the occasional scream or groan from my slowly transforming werewolf.

Greta and I made our way up and to the edge of the small quarry to start the ritual. “I’ve got the moonstone. I spent five hundred years looking for this. Hate to part with it.” I said as I handed the small stone to Greta.

Greta took it and looked up to the sky. “The moon has passed its apex. Remember everything you need to do?” she asked as if I hadn’t repeated the steps multiple times in my dreams.

“I remember.” I told her.

Greta dropped the moonstone into the stone bowl. The bowl lit up into flames. Sparks flew as the moonstone was destroyed. Greta began chanting the spell. I approached the rings of fire trapping all of the sacrifices. I looked at my werewolf moaning in pain. The ring of fire surrounding her disappeared. Her eyes turned yellow as she tried to attack me. I easily pinned her to the ground and took her heart out of her chest.

I headed back up to the edge of the quarry holding the heart of the werewolf. I held the heart over the bowl as I squeezed the blood into the flames. “Does that mean it’s working?” I asked, making sure that everything was still going smoothly.

“It’s working.” Greta confirmed before she continued chanting.

I made my way over to the remaining rings of fire. “Hello, young one.” I said as I approached the still, very confused newly turned vampire. The ring of fire trapping the vampire disappeared. She looked up at me in fear. Just like with the werewolf, I pulled her heart from her chest.

I repeated the steps with the vampire’s heart. I squeezed blood into the bowl. Greta continued to chant the spell. Greta gave me a signal to tell me that she was ready for the next step. I made my way down to Elena. The ring of fire keeping her there disappeared. Elena looked up at me disdainfully. I extended my hand towards her to help her up to the edge of the quarry. She got up by herself and bumped into my shoulder as she made her way up to the altar.

I chuckled to myself and followed her to the edge of the quarry. I grabbed the doppelgänger’s face in my hand. “Thank you, Elena.” I said.

“Go to hell.” she spat back. I couldn’t blame her. This would likely be her last night on earth. Without hesitation, I sank my fangs into her neck and drained her of her blood. Once I heard her heart stop beating, I dropped her lifeless body to the ground and prepared myself for the transformation. Finally, it’s happening! I’ll be a true hybrid!

“I can feel it. It’s happening!” I yelled out excitedly. I felt my bones starting to crack and change shape. “Yes, yes!”

My exciting moment was cut short. Suddenly, I was thrown through the air as pain encased my body. I looked over to see someone who I believed I had killed. Bonnie came forth, chanting a spell to keep me down as my body contorted painfully. “No! You were dead!” I screamed at her. How? Why? Right as my curse is broken, why?

Chapter 46: The Gift Of A Family

Emma’s POV

Soon after Klaus left with Elena, Bonnie called me telling me that she found a way to keep Elena human. Or rather, John showed up with a solution. Never thought I’d ever be thankful for that man…

Despite not necessarily being needed, I met everyone at the old witch house. I never went inside. I waited outside. Just, being observed by a hundred dead witches sounds…creepy. I can control the elements. I can throw a huge boulder with the flick of my wrist, and I’m scared of fucking ghosts. Wow Emma, so brave…

Everyone was starting to make their way outside. Apparently, Bonnie thought it wise to trap Jeremy and Alaric inside of the witch house. I mean, they’re human. If something goes wrong, they’d be defenseless. I could see that Bonnie wanted to keep them out of harm’s way.

Bonnie was the first to make her way to the quarry. Elijah and I started to follow her soon after. We watched from a distance as Bonnie used her powers to bring Klaus to the brink of death. Something in me didn’t like watching this. Klaus could very well be another soulmate of mine. Has anyone ever had more than one soulmate?

Once Bonnie’s part was done, Elijah went in to finish the job. As he plunged his hand into Klaus’ chest, I felt something very uncomfortable in my own chest. I looked away. I couldn’t watch Elijah kill his own brother. I couldn’t watch Elijah, my soulmate, kill Klaus, my other soulmate.

I heard Klaus yell something to Elijah. He told them that he didn’t drop his siblings’ bodies out at sea. That their bodies were safe. He told him that he’d take Elijah to them if he let him live.

When Elijah contemplated his decision, Bonnie threatened to take them both out if Elijah decided to spare his brother

Elijah used his speed to get Klaus away from the quarry. Emma could see that everyone felt as if they had just lost. Elijah had betrayed them, and Klaus was still alive. They had lost their only chance at killing him.

Everyone gathered at the witch house. Even I went inside. I could almost feel the witches staring at me. I ignored that feeling. We waited for Elena to wake. If the spell was successful, Elena would wake up as a human, and not a transitioning vampire.

Eventually, Elena gasped and shot up in her spot. I looked to the Salvatore brothers for confirmation that she was human. They should be able to sense whether or not she was human. Once it was confirmed that she was still human, everyone sighed in relief.

I immediately left the witch house. I made the trek back to the boarding house where Jenna was waiting for news. I told her what all had happened. She was just relieved that Elena was okay. Even though it was morning, I decided to go up to my room to get some rest.

A day later, we all got ready for John’s funeral. Elena wasn’t a complete mess, but she wasn’t in her best mood, either. She had lost both of her birth parents within a matter of a couple of weeks. I knew that it wasn’t an easy pill to swallow.

While at the funeral, my mind wandered back to my birth parents. I only have a couple of short memories from my time with them. I can’t even remember their faces. The only thing I remembered was clinging to both my mom’s and my dad’s hand as they swung me into the air.

My mind went back to my two sets of adoptive parents. The death of Faith and Gideon was still fresh in my mind. Tears pooled in my eyes as I thought of them.

After John’s funeral, I broke free from the others. I went to Faith and Gideon’s grave. They were buried right next to each other. I sat down in front of their graves. The tears that I had been holding back all day finally broke free. Tears streamed down my face. I still felt as if their death was my fault. If I had just told Katherine what she wanted to know, they’d still probably be alive.

Once evening came around, my tears had dried. Instead of heading back to the boarding house, I decided that I wanted to stay at Jenna’s house, even though I had to sleep on the couch. I walked into the house to see Jenna sitting down with papers scattered around the kitchen table. “I thought that college was done for the semester…” I said as I walked in.

“Oh, it is. This is something else.” Jenna said. “Do you want to come sit down with me for a bit?”

“Um, sure.” I said. I took the seat right next to her. I looked over the papers. I saw my name printed on almost all of them. As I started to read through one of the papers, realization hit me. My eyes widened. “Wait, are these…” I started. My throat closed up before I could get the question out.

“Yes. These are your adoptive papers. I haven’t signed anything yet. I wanted to talk to you first.” Jenna said as she turned to me. “I know that the sheriff won’t let you stay here forever with no real guardian. I need to make sure that it’s okay with you. I know that I can’t replace your old parents, but I really want you to see me as someone you can look up to. I understand if this isn’t what you want. Just say the-”

I cut her when I leaped over to hug her. “Of course this is what I want.” I said as my recently dried eyes became filled with tears again.

When I pulled back, I could see Jenna holding back a couple tears, as well. We called Elena and Jeremy and told them what we were wanting to do. They immediately came home and sat with us as Jenna filled out the adoption forms.

When Jenna came back after dropping off the forms, she came up to me and hugged me. “Welcome to the family, Emma.” she said.

I smiled wide and hugged her back. Of course, the moment I pulled away from Jenna, Elena pulled into a hug of her own. Jeremy and I shared a hug after Elena finally decided to release me.

Afterwards, we all decided to get dinner at the grill as a family. We all piled into Jenna’s car and took off.

We talked and laughed with each other as we ate our food. Even with everything that was going on, the fact that we could still have times like this was amazing. Just one night to just let go and spend time with those you love. Having a family like this is a real gift.

That night, instead of sleeping on the couch, I slept in Elena’s room. Her queen sized bed was more than big enough for both of us to fit on.

When morning came, Elena and I made plans to move stuff around so that two beds would be able to fit in this room. Soon after we had a good idea of what we wanted the room to look like, Elena got a call from Stefan. She had to leave, but she said that she'd be back by that night.

Jenna and I made plans to go out and find a bed for me the following week. Until then, Elena and I were going to share a bed, unless Elena decided on staying over at the boarding house.

Later that night, Elena came home looking worried. “What’s wrong?” I asked when I noticed her expression.

“The night of the sacrifice, Tyler bit Damon. Damon is suffering the effects of a werewolf bite. We don’t know anything about a cure. Bonnie said that the old witches at the witch house may have an answer.” Elena explained.

“Damn, is there anything I can do to help?” I asked.

“Not that I can think of.” Elena answered. She took a deep breath. “Honestly, I just want to call it a night.” she admitted.

“Okay, we can do that.” told her.

We both started to get ready for bed. I put on a tank top and some comfy shorts before climbing into bed. Elena climbed in shortly after. We didn’t say a word to each other. Eventually, once I was sure Elena was asleep, I allowed myself to fall into unconsciousness.

I woke up to the sunshine shining on my face. Elena had already gotten up for the day. I got up and got dressed for the day. I got a text from Elena saying that the witches told Bonnie that Klaus has the cure for a werewolf bite and that Stefan decided to go see him to try to get him to give us the cure.

I texted her back saying good luck. I knew that Klaus wouldn’t give us the cure for free. It would come at a hefty price.

Later on in the day, I decided to go to the clearing to get some practice in. I asked Jenna if she wanted to tag along since she had the day off. She, of course, agreed to come along. I did tell her that I’d show her what else I could do.

While we made the trek there, I told her what I knew of my powers so far. While I explained what I could to her, she started making a list of things she wanted to see me do.

When we arrived at the clearing, she immediately wanted to see me make a hurricane of wind around the clearing. I nodded and motioned for her to stand beside me. I didn’t need her behind swept up in the wind.

I spent all afternoon showing her the different things I can do with my powers. I even showed her how I can make lava by combining my earth manipulation power and my fire manipulation power.

On our way back home, she was excitedly sharing every thought that crossed her mind. She asked me if Elena had seen me use my powers. I told her that she hadn’t seen my powers in action yet. In fact, hardly anyone had seen the full extent of my powers.

When we got home, Jenna and I fixed ourselves some food. While we ate, she asked me about how I had discovered my powers. I told her about the first time I had discovered my first power. About each time I came across a new power.

After dinner, I texted Elena asking how Damon was doing. She texted back saying that things weren’t looking too good. She told me that he had started to hallucinate.

I knew that Damon only had hours left. Stefan better be back soon.

I kept my phone close by so that Elena could keep me updated on Damon’s situation. I spent the rest of the night flipping through channels on the TV.

It was getting late and I still hadn’t heard from Elena. I texted her what was going on. I got no response back. That was weird, she almost always responds back.

Okay Emma, don’t panic. She probably just forgot to tell you when Stefan came back with the cure. She probably decided to fall asleep over there.

I was desperately trying to keep my eyes open. But, during the early morning hours, I lost my battle, and fell asleep.

Chapter 47: Summer Depression

Emma’s POV

I woke up the next day in the same place I fell asleep. On the couch, where I was watching TV waiting for Elena to text me back. I checked my phone. There was a text, but not from Elena. I got one from Enzo.

The text was saying that since Klaus was leaving town, he deemed it safe to go see some of his friends in Arkansas. He told me that he’d be gone for about six months and if I ever needed anything to give him a call.

I got up and ventured into the kitchen. I saw Elena quietly talking to Jenna and Jeremy about something. Their hushed conversation came to an immediate halt as I walked into the room. “Oh, hey Elena. You never texted me last night. Is Damon okay?” I asked.

“Um, yeah, he’s fine. Katherine came by with the cure.” Elena told me.

“Katherine? She’s free?” I asked.

“Yeah. Stefan has to follow Klaus and Elijah around for the next decade to make up for it. For some reason, Klaus wanted his help to make hybrids. They’re already on their way out of town.” Elena said. She avoided making eye contact with me.

“Elena, are you okay?” I asked. I could tell that something was really bothering her.

“Why didn’t you tell me that you’re the soulmates of two Originals?” she asked. Actually, it was more like she was accusing me of something.

My eyes widened. Elena continued. “Katherine picked up on a rather interesting conversation between Klaus and Elijah. Apparently, on the way back, they talked out some issues and found out that they both had a soulmate bond to you. Were you hiding this from us? Were you planning on betraying us?” Elena asked, getting louder and louder the longer she continued talking.

“Woah, Elena, calm down. I wasn’t even completely sure that Klaus was my soulmate. I-”

Elena cut me off. “But you knew that Elijah was your soulmate, and you didn’t tell me?!”

“I didn’t tell you because I was afraid you were going to react harshly to it, just like you are now! I can’t help that they are my soulmates. I didn’t want you to hate me, Elena!” I shouted.

“Your soulmates with Klaus! He drained me of my blood just a couple days ago! He kills without remorse! Since you’re mated with him, you must have some of his traits, none of which are good! Emma, I don’t know if I can trust you!” Elena yelled back.

Hearing her say that hurt. I took a deep breath and tried to soothe her. “Elena, you can trust me. I won’t do anything to hurt you. Hell, I didn’t intervene when you guys tried killing Klaus.”

“Because you knew that Elijah wouldn’t be able to do it.” Elena replied.

“I didn’t intervene because I care about you Elena. Why can’t you see that?” I asked.

“Do you care about them? Would you help Elijah or Klaus if they asked you to?” Elena asked.

“I won’t lie. A part of me does care about them. I-”

Elena cut me off again. “Then I can’t trust you, Emma.” Elena told me. Before I could reply, she left.

My mouth hung open. I turned my gaze to Jenna. “I’m gonna…go grocery shopping.” Jenna said.

“I’m going with her…” Jeremy said as he followed Jenna out of the house.

Tears pooled in my eyes. Did I just lose my family?

I had to call Bonnie. She’ll still believe in me, right?

I called Bonnie three times before she finally answered. “Emma, I can’t talk to you right now.”

“Huh, why not? Are you busy?” I asked.

“...Elena told me. About you and Klaus and Elijah being soulmates. I…” Bonnie started. I heard her sigh. “I need some time to process it.”

“Bonnie, you can trust me. You know that by now, right?” I asked.

“I don’t know what to think right now, Emma.” Bonnie admitted.

“Bonnie-” Bonnie hung up before I could say anything else. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I fell to my knees. Tears spilled from my eyes. I didn’t know how to cope with losing the trust of those closest to me.

I ran out the door. I ran all the way to the clearing. I was panting by the time I made it there. But I didn’t stop. I took out my emotions on the world around me. I threw around huge chunks of rock, I sent air blasts every which way, I threw balls of fire at trees only to put them out with water seconds later. I probably caused a small earthquake right there in that clearing.

A couple of hours later, I had expended all of my energy. The clearing looked as if a bomb went off inside of it. There were several large holes and huge piles of rock and dirt scattered all around the clearing. Many trees surrounding the clearing had either fallen over from giant chunks of earth flying into them or had multiple scorch marks from the fire blasts I threw around. A few of the scorch marks were still smoking.

I just barely managed to get myself back home. I was sure that I looked like a total wreck, but I didn’t care. I collapsed on the couch and took a nap.

When I woke up, it was dark outside. I checked the time to see that it was just past ten. I hadn’t eaten yet, but I couldn’t care less about it. I dragged myself into the bathroom to take a shower. I took off my clothes which were covered in dirt due to my earlier activities. I stared blankly at the ground as water from the shower ran down my body. What am I supposed to do?

Weeks went by in a depression filled haze. Jenna had signed me up for driver’s ed since I already had my permit. So most of my days were spent at the school or at the clearing. The only thing I could do when I wasn’t at driver’s ed was train for hours on end. I couldn’t stay in that house. It was just a reminder of what I had lost. I had no idea what Elena was up to. Whenever we ran into each other, she’d just send me a glare and walk away. Jeremy barely said anything to me these past few weeks. I was barely able to hold a conversation with Jenna. I could tell that she still cared a bit for me, but she cared about Elena and Jeremy, too. I hated that I was probably making her feel torn.

Over the past few weeks, I gained more control over my powers. As I gained more control, my powers grew. At this point, I could lift chunks of earth three times larger than the chunks I could lift before this whole mess started. Each of my powers were growing with each passing day as I did nothing but train.

I would only come back home to sleep. Hell, sometimes I wouldn’t even eat, because most times when I go into the kitchen, I would run into someone. So, I started avoiding the kitchen when others were home. And because of that, and because of the long hours of training, I was losing weight. I knew it wasn’t healthy, but I stopped caring about my own well being a long time ago. No one else seemed to care about it, so why should I?

Since I hardly ever ran into anybody, no one really noticed my rapid change. Nor did anybody care to ask about my powers. I was sure that they didn’t know about how strong my powers were getting. If they knew, they'd be keeping a closer eye on me. To them, I was still the untrustworthy mate of the Originals.

Enzo still called from time to time. He seemed to be the only one who seemed to care. I don’t say much when he calls. I didn’t tell him about everyone turning on me nor did I mention anything about my depression or my weight loss. I didn’t want him to have to leave his friends. He seemed to be having fun with them. I didn’t even tell him about me being mated with Klaus. I didn’t want him to turn on me like everyone else did.

Speaking of the Originals, they never checked on me. I knew Elijah had my number, but I guess he and Klaus were busy making hybrids. But still, it would be nice to hear his voice.

I even debated calling him at one point. It was one of the harder days where I was desperate to talk to someone who still cared about me. But I decided against it. I didn’t want to bother him. I wasn’t worth anyone’s time.

Everyday was the same. Wake up, go to driver’s ed, come back to grab a couple water bottles and maybe a granola bar from the kitchen before heading out to training. Train through the rest of day, come back home, shower, eat if no one’s home, then crash on the couch.

Today was like any other day. I woke up, grabbed water and ate a granola bar on my way out to driver’s ed. Afterwards, I trained with my continuously growing powers. Instead of creating a small hurricane of wind around the clearing, I condense all of that power to small points on the bottom of my feet to help me levitate. It was still a work in progress. I still needed to learn how much air to expel to lift myself off of the ground, but not so much that I blast myself several feet into the air. I almost died the first time I tried it. I launched myself twenty feet into the air. If I hadn’t cushioned my fall with a perfectly timed air blast, I probably wouldn’t be here today.

After I successfully managed to levitate myself and float around the clearing for several minutes, I let myself take a break. I sat down under the shade of a barely standing tree and took several gulps of water. I only allowed myself a couple minutes to rest before I got back to training.

Next, I trained with water. I used my power to take water out of the stream and walked a little ways into the forest, but still close enough to where I could see the clearing. I condensed the water into sheets as thin as I could make them and froze them. I threw the thin, condensed sheets of ice into the air towards some thick, low lying branches. I easily sliced right through them no problem. The sheets of ice didn’t even crack.

I developed multiple new ways to use my powers. I used them in ways no one could even imagine. I even used my water manipulation power to pull water from plants. I tried controlling the water inside of plants to move the plants around, but that was still a work in progress.

I trained throughout the rest of the day. I trained well into the night. The light of the moon kept it just bright enough to keep training. But, eventually, I called it a night. When I made it back home, it was 11:20PM. I spotted Elena talking to Damon in the kitchen. I decided to skip the meal. I showered before calling it a night.

A few more weeks went by. I passed driver’s ed with flying colors, but I still had no car. It didn’t bother me. I was already used to walking everywhere. Now, day in and day out I would be at the clearing. School would be starting back up in about a month. From what little I had gathered, I concluded that Elena and Damon were still trying to track down Klaus and Elijah. Because where they were, that was where Stefan was. I also noticed that Jeremy was acting weird. If he ever decides to talk to me again, I’ll ask him what was wrong.

Another two weeks crept by. Elena and Jeremy still refused to talk to me, and I would only have a couple of short conversations here and there with Jenna. Bonnie never reached out. I’d pretty much given up in the friend department. I knew that I would start the school year off as a loner.

I was still in bad shape. Still losing weight, still doing nothing but training, and still barely talking to anyone. The only difference was now I was having trouble sleeping. Just what I needed. Another problem to add to the growing pile. Jenna had started to notice my weight loss. I could tell that it was starting to worry her. There wasn’t much I could do to hide it. It was summer, I wasn’t going to wear loose sweatshirts everywhere. And just like any other day, I was coming home late after spending all day at the clearing. I really overdid it. I could barely even move. I forced myself to take a shower and put some sleep clothes on. I never made it to the couch. On my way into the living room, I collapsed. Before the thought of getting up could occur to me, my world went black.

Chapter 48: Healing Conversations

Emma’s POV

I woke up to the blurry figure of Jenna kneeling over me. She was saying something but all I could hear was a ringing in my ears. As I tried to sit up, black dots entered my vision. I closed my eyes as one of my hands came up to clutch my head.

When I opened my eyes, I could see Jenna looking at me in worry trying to tell me something. Eventually, the ringing in my ears died down and I could hear what she was trying to say. “...you hear me? Emma, answer me, can you hear me?”

I nodded my head but immediately regretted it as my sight went blurry again. “Emma, are you okay? What happened?” Jenna continued to question me.

“Don't know. Just collapsed.” I answered.

“Can you stand?” She asked. She offered me her hand.

“Let's find out.” I said as I reached for her hand to help me up. The second I was on my feet, I swayed. I felt dizzy and my vision went black for a moment.

I completely froze as I waited for my vision to come back. “You okay?” Jenna asked.

“I’m fine. Just stood up too fast is all.” I responded.

“I’m gonna make you something to eat. You need it.” Jenna stated as she went into the kitchen.

I sighed and followed her into the kitchen. I sat down at the kitchen table while Jenna cooked. I hated the fact that I was making Jenna worry for me. I knew that she didn’t know what to do about Elena and I, and to be honest, I don’t think anybody would be able to give us the answer. There was nothing I could do to prove to Elena that she could trust me. She’s clearly already made up her mind about me, along with the rest of the group.

Speaking of the devil, Elena made her way into the kitchen. She glared at me when she noticed I was there. Jenna turned around and noticed Elena’s arrival. Jenna sighed. “Elena, you can’t hate her forever.” Jenna stated.

“I sure as hell can try.” Elena snapped.

“Still can’t see why you hate me when I did absolutely nothing wrong.” I said. That was probably the first time I had talked to her in weeks.

“You’re soulmates with two ruthless vampires.” she spat at me.

“A bond of which I have no control over. So please, enlighten me, how is that my fault?” I questioned.

That seemed to shut her up. She just grumbled and grabbed something from the fridge before leaving.

“Well, that went well.” Jenna said sarcastically. She set a plate of scrambled eggs down in front of me.

“Could have gone worse.” I stated. I started to nibble at my food.

“Guess that’s true. But you two could have at least tried to be friendly with each other.” Jenna said.

“I just asked her a question. If she would have given me a good answer, then I would have thought about being nice to her. She ran away from the question because she knows I’m right. Besides, she made everyone in the group turn on me. She doesn’t deserve my kindness.” I replied.

“Well, maybe you have to be the bigger person to start healing your relationship.” Jenna said.

“How am I supposed to approach her with kindness when all she does is glare at me and walk away? Besides, I’m not the one in the wrong.” I said.

“I know. But, honestly, I don’t see her approaching you with an apology anytime soon. She’s afraid. In some twisted way, I think she’s trying to protect herself and her friends from Klaus by staying away from you.” Jenna said.

“She has no reason to be afraid of me, though. I wish that she could see that.” I said, looking down.

“Maybe one day she will. But that will take time.” Jenna started. “And until that happens, you have me in your corner. You’re not alone. Never forget that.”

“Thank you, Jenna.” I said. I gave her a gentle smile.

“No problem, hun. Now finish your food.” Jenna told me while she fixed herself up something to eat.

Jenna told me exactly what I needed to hear. That I wasn’t alone. That I mattered to someone. That someone in this town gave a damn about me.

Things started looking up after that. Starting with that night. I finally got a call from Elijah. The second I saw that name pop up, I answered it. “Elijah, hey!” I said a little too excitedly.

“Hey Emma, sorry I haven’t called. Klaus has kept me really busy for the past couple of months. How are you doing?” I heard Elijah say. I really missed that voice.

“A little better now that you’re calling. It’s been a rough summer.” I admitted.

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. Why didn’t you call?” Elijah asked.

“I didn’t want to be a bother. I knew that you and Klaus were busy.” I responded.

“Emma, you could never be a bother. I wish you would’ve called. I would’ve dropped everything and left if you needed me. I’m sure Klaus can handle things by himself from now on.” Elijah said.

“Woah, you don’t need to do that. I’ll be fine, okay? I promise I’ll call you if I need you.” I replied.

“Alright. I’ll be by to see you sometime soon, okay?” Elijah told me.

“I’ll be looking forward to it. I’ll see you then. Goodbye Elijah.” I said.

“Goodbye Emma.” Elijah said back before the call ended.

I sighed and smiled. I needed that. I really needed that.

Over the next two weeks, things were steadily getting better. I was starting to put on a little bit of weight. I’m nowhere near where I was before everything fell apart, but, slowly and steadily, I was getting there. I was sleeping a little better, too. Things with Elena hadn’t changed much. She still refuses to talk to me, but she stopped sending me hateful glares each time she spotted me. So, maybe there’s some progress there.

I was still going out to the clearing almost everyday, but I’m not there for hours on end. I knew that my body needed a break from the constant training. I started to spend more time taking care of my needs.

The last night of summer break came by. Elena left for senior prank night. I was at home making sure I had everything I needed for school. When I was putting everything back into my bag, I heard a knock on the door. “I got it!” I yelled out to Jenna as I walked up to the door and opened it. Standing before me was none other that Elijah himself. “Elijah!” I said as I beamed at him. Before I could stop myself, I hugged him. The contact made my whole body feel warm and tingly.

Elijah wasted no time in hugging me back. “I’m guessing you missed me.” he said as we pulled apart. He was giving me a gentle smile.

I stepped aside to let him in. “Maybe a little…” I admitted with a slight blush. I closed the door behind him.

His smile faded as he took in the state of my body. My body hadn’t had the time to fully recover. My eyes no longer held heavy bags under them, but I still looked really thin. Too thin to be considered healthy.

I noticed the change in his demeanor. “You okay?” I asked.

“I should be the one asking you that. I thought you said you’d be fine.” he said. His eyes held genuine concern.

“I am fine. I’m doing better now.” I told him.

“You’re saying it was worse than this?” he asked.

Shit, I shouldn’t have said that.

Chapter 49: Rebekah

Emma’s POV

“Hey, it doesn’t matter, I’m doing okay now.” I said, trying to calm the Original vampire down.

“It does matter. Emma, what happened over the summer?” he asked.

“Right after you left, Katherine told Elena that I had a soulmate bond with you and Klaus. Elena and the rest of them turned on me after that.” I told him. “I became clinically depressed, and, well, you can clearly see the effect it had on me. Jenna was the only one who gave a damn about me.”

“That’s more than just a ‘rough summer’, Emma.” Elijah said.

“I know. I just thought that I wasn’t worth anyone’s time, but I see now that I wasn’t thinking clearly. Sorry to worry you, Elijah.” I apologize.

He pulled me into another hug. “You have nothing to feel sorry for, Emma. If I would've known this would happen, I wouldn’t have left. That, or I would’ve taken you with us.” Elijah said.

Once we separated, I had to ask him the question that had been burning inside of me all summer. “So, is it true? Am I Klaus’ soulmate, too? I did feel tingles when he grabbed my arm one time, but I could have imagined it.”

Elijah sighed. “It’s true. You’re his soulmate as well.” he confirmed.

“Is that even possible? Having two soulmates?” I asked.

“I’ve never personally heard of such a case, but apparently Klaus has. He heard of a case like that a couple hundred years ago. But that was the only time something like that had ever happened as far as we know.” Elijah informed.

“Are you okay with it? Not having me all to yourself?” I asked.

“Well, I’m not excited about it, but as long as you’re happy, I’ll learn how to share with my brother.” Elijah said.

I nodded. Silence fell over us for a moment. I wanted to ask something, but was afraid to. I didn’t want to sour his mood any more than I already have.

In the end, I decided to ask. “So, did Klaus stay true to his word? Did he reunite you with your family?” I hesitantly asked.

“He did, and I wanted to immediately wake them, but Klaus stopped me. He knows that our father is still out there.” Elijah said.

“Your father?” I asked.

“Yes. Since Klaus is not his real son, he wanted Klaus dead. He’s been hunting him for years. He has a weapon that could end an Original’s life, permanently.” Elijah told me. My eyes widened. “Klaus wants Mikael dead. So, he wanted my help in creating hybrids. Hybrids are stronger than any vampire or werewolf. So, he thinks that if he has an army of hybrids on his side, that he’ll have no trouble at all in killing Mikael.” Elijah informed.

“So, how was that going? Did you guys find any werewolves?” I questioned.

“We did, but for some reason, his attempt at making hybrids failed. They all died shortly after they turned. Neither of us have any idea why. We sought out a witch that we thought could help us. But, she mysteriously left right when we thought we were getting close to an answer.” Elijah said. “Shortly after the witch disappeared, Stefan started acting weird. Rebekah confirmed that he was hiding something big from us. So, we’re back in town to see if we can find out what it is.”

“Who’s Rebekah?” I asked.

“My little sister.” Elijah told me.

“Klaus woke up your sister?” I asked.

“Yes. We thought she had something that could help us contact the Original witch that made the curse. But, it turned out she lost it the night Klaus daggered her.” Elijah said.

“Would I be able to meet her? I want to become well acquainted with her since I’m bonded to two of her siblings.” I said.

“Sure thing, Klaus and her are at the school right now. Do you want to go?” he asked.

I smiled and nodded. “Yeah. I just gotta let Jenna know that I’m heading out.”

“Okay. I’ll be waiting outside for you.” Elijah said. I nodded and left to find Jenna.

I ended up finding her in her room. “Hey Jenna, I’m gonna head out for a bit. Is that okay?” I asked.

“Yeah, that’s fine. Don’t stay out too late, okay? School starts tomorrow.” she said.

I nodded and made my way out of the room. “Okay Jenna. Thanks!”

I went outside to see Elijah standing in the middle of the driveway, waiting for me. “Where’s your car?” I asked.

“I didn’t bring one. I used my speed to get here.” he told me. He walked up to me and picked me up bridal style. I blushed. Pleasant tingles rippled through my body. “Looks like I’ll have to carry you.” he said, smirking down at me.

“You don’t look too upset about it.” I observed.

He just chuckled at me. Before I knew it, we were off. The wind whipped at my hair. My eyes couldn’t keep up with how fast we were going, so I hid my head in Elijah’s chest. Less than a minute later, we were at the entrance of the school. When he set me down, I had to take a moment to steady myself. My body wasn’t used to traveling that fast. Elijah let me hold onto his arm until my legs stopped shaking.

We walked into the school. Elijah led me into the gym. “Well, I guess Klaus found what you were hiding.” Elijah said. Elena and Stefan were in the gym, but no sign of Klaus or Rebekah. The gym clock for some reason had a timer ticking down. What is going on?

Elena and Stefan turned at our arrival. “Emma, tell Klaus to stop what he’s doing, he’ll listen to you!” Elena told me.

“You glare at me and ignore me all summer, and then you think you have the right to demand my help? You have no right to order me around, Elena.” I told her. “Klaus and Rebekah aren’t here, let’s go.” I whispered to Elijah.

We wandered the halls looking for either one of his siblings. Suddenly, Elijah stopped. Then, he grabbed my hand and led me into a random classroom. In there I saw Caroline, Tyler, and a blond woman I didn’t recognize. That must be Rebekah.

“Tick tock goes the gym clock.” the blond woman said as we walked in. Everyone in the room turned towards us. The blond woman smiled. “Hey Elijah!” she chirped. “Who’s this?” she questioned as she noticed my presence.

“Rebekah, this is Emma. Emma, this is my sister, Rebekah.” Elijah introduced us.

“Hi.” I said with a shy smile and a short wave. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too. So, you’re the one mated to my brothers. You already seem nicer than this lot.” Rebekah said.

“Rebekah, do you mind filling me in on what’s going on?” Elijah asked his sister.

“The doppelgänger is alive and still human. Klaus thinks that may be why his hybrids are failing. So, he wants Elena’s witch friend to find a way to speak to the Original witch to confirm his suspicions. And to motivate her to do so, he’s turning Tyler here into a hybrid. And to make things a little more fun, he put a time limit on it.” she explained as she showed us the timer on the phone she was holding. “Once the clock hits zero, Stefan is compelled to feed on the doppelgänger.”

Once Rebekah finished, Elijah turned to me. “Emma, why don’t you stay in here with Rebekah while I go find Klaus?” Elijah suggested.

I nodded and went to sit down next to Rebekah. When Elijah left the room, Rebekah spoke up. “So, Elijah mentioned that you have powers. What can you do?”

“I can manipulate the elements. My birth parents died a long time ago, so I have no idea what I am. I don't suppose you know what I am, do you?” I asked.

“Afraid not.” Rebekah replied. The phone went off, indicating that the clock had hit zero. “Looks like Stefan’s about to have a tasty treat.” Rebekah said.

“Why aren’t you helping us? How could you side with them?” Caroline accused me.

“I literally just got here. I didn’t ask Klaus to do all of this. Besides, if anybody else were in my situation, they would have sided with them a long time ago, because you guys have made it abundantly clear that you don’t give a damn what happens to me.” I said back as I sent a glare at Caroline.

If you guys wanted my help, maybe you shouldn’t have dropped me over something that is out of my control.

Chapter 50: First Day

Emma’s POV

Before the conversation could turn into an argument, Klaus made his way into the room. “Well, the verdict’s in. The Original witch says the doppelgänger should be dead.” Klaus announced.

“Does that mean we can kill her?” Rebekah asked a little too excitedly.

“No, I’m fairly certain it means the opposite.” Klaus told her.

“What?” Rebekah asked. She seemed a bit disappointed.

“Call it a hunch.” Klaus said while kneeling in front of Tyler. “Elena’s blood. Drink it.”

“No! No, no, no, Tyler, don’t!” Caroline yelled out. She tried to make her way to Tyler, but Rebekah grabbed her before she could make her way to him.

“If he doesn’t feed, he’ll die anyway. Consider this an experiment.” Klaus said. “It’s okay.” Klaus whispered to Tyler, trying to soothe the panicking teen.

After a couple moments of hesitation, Tyler grabbed the vial that held Elena’s blood. “There we go.” Klaus said. Tyler drank the blood within the vial. “Good boy.”

The moment he swallowed the blood, Tyler collapsed onto his back. He groaned in pain. Caroline started to panic. She tried to go over to them, but she was still being held back by Rebekah.

After a few seconds, Tyler got back onto his hands and knees. He clutched at his head and yelled out. When he lifted his head, we could all see that his eyes were yellow, like a werewolf, and the veins under his eyes darkened, like a vampire. His fangs were out on full display. A hybrid.

“Well, that’s a good sign.” Klaus said with a grin.

Once we were all sure that Tyler wasn’t going to die, we all parted ways. Klaus and I were the last ones in the room. Before I made my leave to go find Elijah, Klaus stopped me. “Emma, can I speak to you for a minute?”

I sighed and nodded as I turned towards him. I gestured for him to start speaking. “I assume Elijah had a conversation with you about soulmates, correct?” he asked.

I nodded. “Did he ever get the chance to tell you that you’re my soulmate, too?” he questioned.

“He did. He talked to me before we made our way here.” I confirmed. I tried to keep my breathing even. I may have powers, but he can still kill me before I have time to react.

“I’m sure that you’ve heard about some of the things I’ve done. But, I want you to know that no harm will ever come to you by my hands.” he said. He took a deep breath before continuing. “I know that I’m probably not your favorite person, but would you be willing to give this a chance? Give this bond a chance to grow?” he asked.

I thought it over for a few seconds. Despite everyone completely ignoring me all summer, I couldn’t deny that a part of me still cared about them, and Klaus being here was dangerous for all of them. With my mind made up, I met his eye and spoke up. “Would you be willing to not kill those I call my friends?” I asked.

“If it would make you happy and willing to give this a shot, then yes.” Klaus agreed.

“Then I’d be willing to give this bond with you a shot.” I told him.

Klaus’ face lit up in a bright smile. Seeing him smile like that made it too hard for me to hold back a smile of my own.

Eventually, I made my way back home. Elena wasn’t home yet, but I assumed that she was going to spend the night over at the boarding house. She probably wanted Damon to protect her from both Klaus and Stefan, what with Stefan having gone off the rails with his humanity switch flipped.

I took a quick shower and got dressed for bed. I set an alarm on my phone and plugged it into the nearest outlet. I settled onto the couch and closed my eyes. After letting my mind wander for a while, unconsciousness slowly crept up and swept me away.

Before I knew it, the alarm on my phone started going off. I let out an annoyed grumble and got up to turn it off. Reluctantly, I made my way over to the bathroom. I grabbed my brush and got to work on trying to straighten out the unruly bedhead I had.

After a tiring battle, I managed to brush through my hair. After that, I searched for an outfit. I settled on a pair of black jean shorts and a tight fitting dark blue shirt.

Once I was dressed, I made my way into the kitchen. Jenna was already up and brewing some coffee. I made my way to the fridge and pulled out a package of bacon. I cooked up some bacon for Jenna and I.

“Are you ready for the first day of your sophomore year?” Jenna asked me as she munched on some bacon.

“Yeah, I guess. I’ve got everything I need. It just sucks that I’m starting off the school year as a loner. I thought this year was going to be different.” I told her.

“Maybe it will be different. Who knows, you might make a new friend.” Jenna said, trying to lighten up my mood.

“Jenna, you know more than anybody how antisocial I am. There’s absolutely no way that I’m going to make a new friend on the first day.” I said.

“At least try to have a positive outlook on today. With a positive outlook, you’re more likely to have a positive day.” Jenna told me.

“Okay, I’m positive that I’m not gonna make a friend today.” I said as I got up and grabbed my bag.

“That’s not what I meant!” Jenna yelled out as I walked out the door.

I walked up to the school. I saw some of the usual groups hanging out together outside of the school. The football players, the cheerleaders, the band kids. All of these groups, and I don’t fit into any of them.

I walked through the school doors. The halls were already flooded with students. A lot of friends catching up with each other, people talking about what classes they had. I made my way into the office to grab my schedule.

I just kept my head down and made my way to my locker. They better not have done anything to my locker last night. I opened my locker to find that it was spared from the pranks that were supposed to happen last night. I put my bag in there and took out one of my binders that held three sets of notebooks and folders as well as a pencil bag.

I slid my schedule into the clear face of my binder. After taking a look at the schedule, I headed to my first class.

My first three classes went by without a hitch. It was lunchtime, and, just like before, I found an empty table to sit at. It’s strange, sitting at an empty table feels weird. I guess I got used to sitting with Elena and Bonnie.

I took a deep breath before I started eating my meal. I heard someone sit across from me at the table. Probably a fellow outcast. I took a quick look to see who it was. To my absolute surprise, it was Rebekah who sat with me. “Rebekah? I didn’t know you were interested in going to high school.”

“Well, Klaus left me in the dust, so I thought I might as well. I’m just glad I have someone to sit with. Elena and her friends weren’t very welcoming.” Rebekah told me.

“Yeah, I bet not. Well, you’re more than welcome to sit with me. You should’ve signed up as a sophomore. That way, we would’ve had some classes together.” I responded.

“I wish I would’ve thought about that before signing up as a senior.” Rebekah said.

“Well, at least we’ll have lunch together.” I said. “So, Klaus left town?” I asked.

“Yeah, but Elijah and I stayed. I’m sure Klaus will be back after he makes a few hybrids.” Rebekah responded.

Rebekah and I talked all throughout lunch. We immediately became friends. Well damn, Jenna was right. Somehow, this little antisocial outcast made a friend.

The rest of the school day blew by. Soon, I was walking back into the house. Jenna was there waiting in the living room. “Hey Emma, how was your first day?” she asked.

“Not that bad. You were right. Surprisingly, I made a new friend.” I admitted.

“Well, look at that! I told you! You should never doubt me.” Jenna said with a grin. “So, who’s your new friend?”

“The sister of my soulmates. Rebekah. We both aren’t fans of Elena.” I told her.

“Well, at least you bonded over something. I bet Elena isn’t too happy about it.” Jenna said.

“Eh, who cares what she thinks about it. She kicked me out of her friend group, so why shouldn’t I make a friend group of my own?” I said.

“Well, she shouldn’t stop you. You deserve to have some friends, Emma.” Jenna told me with a small smile. I gave her a smile of my own. This school year is starting out better than I thought...

Chapter 51: Power Move

Emma’s POV

Later on that day, after dinner, a knock was heard at the door. “I got it!” I yelled out. I opened the door to reveal Elijah. I smile lit up my face as I saw him. “Hey.”

“Hey Emma. How was your first day?” he asked. I let him in.

“It went surprisingly well. Rebekah and I are friends now, though I wish she was a sophomore like me. I only get to see her at lunch.” I replied. I led him to the couch in the living room and we sat down.

“Well, it’s good to hear that you and Rebekah get along. She hardly ever got the chance to make any friends in the past. I’m glad that her first friend here is you.” Elijah told me while giving me a dazzling smile.

I smiled wider at that. I felt heat rush to my cheeks. I just knew that he could see the blush on my cheeks and hear the rushing of my heart.

“Anyways, I really needed to talk to you about something important.” Elijah said.

My smile dropped a little at that. “Okay, what is it?” I asked.

“It’s about my father, Mikael. Klaus came to me last night. Apparently, Damon told him that he knew where Mikael was, and that Mikael now knew where he was.” Elijah said.

“So, he left because he knew that Mikael would come here looking for him?” I asked.

“That’s part of the reason. He left with a couple of pints of Elena’s blood to make some hybrids.” Elijah told me.

“Hybrids who could help him take out Mikael.” I mumbled.

“Yes. But, since we know that Mikael is coming, I’m concerned for your safety.” Elijah told me.

“Why? Do you think he’ll come after me to get to Klaus?” I asked.

“I think that Mikael will try anything to get a chance at killing Klaus.” Elijah told me. “To me, your safety is my top priority. You may not be safe in this house. I have an apartment here in town. The only people who know about it are my sister and I. No one else knows where it is. It would make me feel at ease if you were to live there with Rebekah and I just until we can take out Mikael.” Elijah said.

“I highly doubt Jenna would let me live with you. Besides, I’ve got my powers. I can protect myself.” I said with confidence.

“I’m sure that if he asked about you, Damon would tell him about your abilities. Besides, they might not be strong enough to stop him. He’ll have a way to combat your powers.” Elijah said.

“What if I told you that my powers have gotten exponentially stronger over the summer?” I asked.

“How much stronger?” he asked.

“Well, it’s hard to explain since you’ve never seen me use my powers, even before this summer, but I could show you. It’s dark out now, but you could pick me up from class tomorrow and I can show you then.” I suggested.

“Does anybody else know how strong your powers have gotten?” he asked.

“No. I’ve kept it to myself.” I replied.

He thought for a moment. “I’ll give it a shot. But, if I think that you’re not strong enough to look after yourself, then you’ve got to at least try to convince Jenna to let you stay with me for a while.” Elijah said, coming up with a compromise. He stood up from the couch.

“That sounds fair.” I responded, getting up as well. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow.” I said.

“Yes, I’ll see you then.” he said. We both said our farewells. The rest of the night went on as usual.

The next day came around. I talked to Rebekah. I asked her if she wanted to come to the clearing with Elijah and I to get a good look at my powers. She excitedly agreed to it. So, after classes, we found each other and walked out of the school together. We saw Elijah standing in the parking lot leaning against what must be his car.

“So, I take it Rebekah will be joining us?” Elijah asked as we approached him.

“Yes, I am. I’ve been wanting to see her powers in action ever since she’s told me about them.” Rebekah answered.

“As have I. So, are we ready?” Elijah asked.

“Yes.” we both said in unison.

Like the gentleman he is, Elijah opened the car door for me and closed it once I was in. As we drove, I gave Elijah directions. I led him towards the trails. Once I saw the entrance to the trails, I told him to stop. “We walk from here. We follow the trails for about half a mile before we stray from the path.” I told them. I led them through the trails I took to get to the clearing. Once we reached a tree I marked the trunk of, I led them away from the trails. I guided them through the trees on an invisible trail only I could see. A little over a mile off of the trails, we finally reached a really messy looking clearing.

“Excuse the mess. Training with my powers doesn’t always leave this place the cleanest.” I said. Elijah and Rebekah took in the missing pieces of dirt, all of the downed and beat up looking trees, the numerous large scorch marks littering the area, all of the evidence of my training. “So, what would you like to see first?” I asked.

We started with fire. I sent a massive fire blast towards a strong looking tree. The blasts now had all of the force of a grenade. I incinerated the tree upon impact. Like usual after using my fire ability, I used the water from the stream to put out any straying flames.

That led me nicely into what I was going to show them next. My water manipulation ability. I took some water out of the stream and led them into the forest. I condensed the water into thin sheets of water and froze it. I swung the thin sheets of ice through multiple branches. I even spit a smaller tree in half.

After that, we went back into the clearing. Next up was the wind ability. I showed them a variety of things with my wind ability. I showed them my strong wind blasts, strong enough to break branches off of a tree. I showed them the precision it took to get me to levitate off of the ground. To end it off, I decided to show them the tornadic type winds I could create. I urged them to stay near me. There was no need to sweep them up in the winds. Then, all around the edges of the clearing, the winds picked up. Soon, a cyclone of wind swirled around the clearing. The winds got strong enough to pick up the heavy branches from the ground and hurl them into the air. I let the winds die down and let Elijah and Rebekah know that it was safe to roam again.

Lastly, I showed them my earth manipulation ability. This was the power that had grown the most within the past couple of months. First, I threw a large chunk of earth at a tree, effectively knocking the tree to the ground.

Next, I used both my fire ability and my earth ability to turn a chunk of rock into lava. I condensed the glob of lava into a small, round figure resembling a bullet and let it harden. With an immense amount of force, I sent the makeshift bullet into a tough looking tree. It went straight through the tree. But it didn’t stop there, it went through two more trees before getting lodged into the fourth tree it came into contact with.

Then, for the grand finale, I decided to do something that I had only been able to do a total of three times so far. First off, I stopped the flow of the stream by lifting large pieces of earth and placing them on either end of the clearing in the stream to block the flow. Then, I took a deep breath and prepared myself for the feat that I was about to attempt. All around the edges of the clearing, cracks formed. Soon, the outline of the clearing was traced. Then, with a tremendous amount of strength, I lifted the entire clearing. I could only lift it about a foot into the air, but it took a massive amount of power to do so. “Holy shit…” I heard Rebekah mumble. I kept the clearing lifted for about twenty seconds before I had to let it drop.

I lost my balance during the drop. I would’ve fallen down if Elijah hadn’t rushed over to me to catch me. Once I was upright again, I looked at Elijah and Rebekah. They both held faces of shock and disbelief.

“Well..?” I asked, looking at Elijah. They both turned towards me. “Do you believe I can protect myself?”

Elijah stood there completely speechless. So, Rebekah decided to answer for him. “I think I speak for the both of us when I say that you are more than capable of protecting yourself.”

With the afternoon coming to a close, I led them out of the forest and back to Elijah’s car. Elijah, ever the gentleman, opened the car door for me. Once we were all inside, we drove off. “You know, I never did ask, how old are you?” Rebekah asked once the car started moving.

“I’m sixteen.” I replied.

“Do you have your license yet?” she asked.

“Yes, I do.” I replied.

“And you still walk to school?” she questioned.

“I don’t have a car.” I responded.

“Ah, got it.” she said.

We pulled up to my house. Elijah quickly got out and opened the car door for me. He held out his hand to help me out of the car.

I grabbed my bag and let him help me out. “Thank you.” I said. Tingles shot up my arm at the contact.

“You are very welcome.” he said back. He followed me up to the porch. I turned to him. “Thank you for easing my worries today, and sorry for thinking that you weren’t capable of protecting yourself.” Elijah said.

“It’s alright. I mean, I don’t exactly look strong. I know that you were just trying to look out for me.” I replied.

“Still, I shouldn’t have underestimated you.” Elijah said. “Anyways, have a good night, Emma.” he leaned down and kissed my cheek.

That sent pleasant tingles down my spine. I blushed. “You have a good night, too, Elijah.” I said as I walked inside.

Chapter 52: The Death Of Mikael

Emma’s POV

A couple of weeks went by. Rebekah dragged me out of the house to have me help her with dress shopping for homecoming. We went to a higher end place out of town to shop.

“Okay, how does this one look?” Rebekah asked as she walked out of the dressing room. She was wearing a nice looking yellow dress.

“The dress looks good, but it doesn’t really suit you. The dress needs to be a darker color.” I suggested.

“Okay, well, what color should I look for?” she asked as she walked back into the changing room.

“I don’t know. That purple dress didn’t look too bad. So, let’s look for some blue dresses, or maybe a darker red dress.” I told her.

A minute later, she walked out of the dressing room. “Okay, let’s keep looking.” she said.

Another couple hours went by. Rebekah walked out of the changing room in a beautiful red dress. “I really like this one, what do you think?” she asked.

“This one beats out all of the other dresses. You have got to wear it.” I told her with a smile.

“Okay, I’ll get it. Hey, why haven’t you tried on any dresses? Do you already have one picked out?” she asked.

“No, I’m not going. Dances aren’t really my thing.” I admitted.

“What? No, you have to go! I want my best friend there when I become homecoming queen!” she demanded.

“Do I really have to? I don’t have a date, and I don’t want to go alone.” I said.

“Yes, you have to! You just need to find a date.” she told me.

“Well, it’s not like I can take Elijah. Walking in with someone who is clearly an adult wouldn’t look good.” I told her.

“Well, maybe you, Matt and I can go as a group. I’m sure Matt won’t mind. Now, come on, let’s find you a dress!” Rebekah said.

“Woah, can’t we go somewhere else? I can’t afford anything here!” I told her.

“We can use Nik’s credit card.” she told me.

“Is that really okay?” I asked her.

“I’m sure he won’t mind. You are soulmates after all. Now, come on! Let’s go look at some more dresses!” she urged me.

I settled on a dress far quicker than Rebekah did. It only took me about an hour. I picked out a deep violet colored dress. It looked surprisingly good on me, and it had pockets. It was a really nice dress.

The night of the dance came around. When we arrived at the school, we found out that the gym was flooded. The homecoming dance was canceled. Suddenly, Tyler came strolling up to us. “Hey, we’re moving the event to my place. Are you coming?” he asked.

“Yeah, sure, sounds fun! You guys in?” Matt asked as he turned to Rebekah and I.

Rebekah looked at me and I nodded. “Yeah, we’re in, let’s go!”

When we arrived, the mansion was packed. I didn’t even know that this many people went to our school! This really is not my scene…

I looked over at Rebekah when a thought hit me. “Hey, when were you invited in? I don’t believe you’ve ever met Carol…” I said, confused.

“I’ve been here once with Elijah. He compelled Carol to let me in. He believed that I should be invited into any place he has access to. And since you’re living with Elena, one of the founding families, he believes that one of these times, Jenna will drag you out to one of the events for the founding families. Many events that are held here.” I nodded at her answer.

I stayed close to Rebekah and Matt. I was in no means a social butterfly. I felt so out of place. I had never been invited to a party like this before, nevermind going to one. I had no idea what I was supposed to do.

Eventually, we made our way outside. There were even more people out there. There was a stage set up where a band was playing. When did he have the time to set this up? You usually have to book a band months in advance.

“Enjoying the party?” I heard a familiar voice say from behind me. I turned around to be face to face with Klaus.

“Klaus! I didn’t know you were back in town! Did you make any hybrids?” I asked.

“Yes, in fact, I did! I have a couple dozen of them with me now. I’m back in town because Stefan was trying to convince me that my father, Mikael, is dead. He’s been hunting me for centuries, you see, and I feel that this could be another plot to try to kill me.” he told me. “Stay close to Rebekah tonight, love. I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“I will.” I assured him.

He gave me a handsome smile. “Now, enjoy the rest of the party, love.” he said.

For the rest of the night, I did what Klaus told me to do. I was practically Rebekah’s shadow at this point. I kept an eye out for anything suspicious. Just like Klaus, I felt that something was going to go down tonight.

After a while of pretending to have fun, I was getting bored. I didn’t feel like playing beer pong. I didn’t feel like watching the band outside. I just didn’t want to be there anymore. I was about ready to go home.

“Hey Rebekah, any chance you can take me home? I’m starting to get tired.” I asked the blond.

“Yeah, sure, let’s go find Matt to tell him we’re leaving.” she said.

We searched all over the mansion. He was nowhere in sight. “Maybe he already left.” I suggested.

“Maybe he did. Let’s just go.” Rebekah said.

We made our way to the front of the house. The closer to the front door we got, the thinner the crowd became. When the entrance was in sight, we noticed Klaus standing there. He was talking to someone. Rebekah grabbed my arm. “That’s him. It’s Mikael.” she told me.

I looked up to see fear in her eyes. “It’s okay Rebekah. He’s out there, and we’re in here. He can’t get in.” I told her.

Rebekah took a deep breath. “You’re right. We’ll be okay.” she said.

Suddenly, I saw somebody push Elena over to Mikael. Is this their plan? To lure Klaus out of the house?

I couldn’t quite hear what they were saying. I tried my best to tune into the conversation. Right then, Mikael started to speak up. I could hear what he was saying. “Nobody cares about you anymore, boy!”

I was seething. How the fuck could he say such a thing to Klaus?! People care about him! I care about him! I wanted so bad to go up and give him a piece of my mind, but I stayed put. I knew Klaus wanted me to be safe.

I tried to shake off my anger and tried my best to hear the rest of the conversation. “Kill her. Come on, old man. Kill her. Kill her!” Klaus yelled out.

Mikael said something to Klaus before stabbing Elena. I gasped. He dropped her body to the floor. Elena and I may be at odds right now, but that doesn’t mean I wanted to see her dead.

“Out of nowhere, Damon came speeding in. He stabbed Klaus with a steak. Klaus let out a scream of pain. If he’s screaming that loud, that stake must be able to kill him! I concluded with absolute fear. Damon pinned him down.

As I was about to run in to help Klaus, I saw Elena quickly stand up. No, not Elena. Katherine! This wicked little bitch is back in town! She threw what had to be wolfsbane grenades at the hybrids.

I decided to ignore what was going on outside and try to help Klaus. Right before I was going to throw a wind blast at Damon, Stefan rushed in and tackled Damon off of Klaus, making him drop the stake in the process.

Damon quickly pushed him off. Both Klaus and Damon rushed for the stake. I shot Damon back with a wind blast. Klaus quickly grabbed the stake and launched himself at Mikael. He dug the stake straight through his heart. Mikael screamed as he burst into flames.

Mikael was dead. His burning body was the proof. I sighed out in relief. Klaus is safe. Mikael can’t hurt him anymore.

As Klaus walked back inside, Damon glared at Stefan. “What the hell did you do?” he seethed.

“He’s earned his freedom.” Klaus said. He walked right up to Stefan. “Thank you, my friend. You no longer have to do as I say. You’re free.” Klaus compelled. Damon quickly sped out of the room, and the whole fiasco was over.

Chapter 53: Coffins

Emma’s POV

Stefan left quickly after Damon. I looked over at Klaus. I went over to him and hugged him. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” I whispered. He hugged me back.

I looked up at him. I could tell that some of the things Mikael had said had hurt him. There was a dried tear streak and his eyes were still slightly red. “Don’t listen to what Mikael said. There are people who love you. Don’t forget that.” I told him. I know I’m kind of reusing what Jenna had said to me, but it really helped me. Maybe it can help him, too.

He hugged me tighter. “Thank you, love.” I said.

Rebekah took me home that night. I got changed for bed right when I got home. After the night’s events, I just wanted to sleep.

The next day, I got a call from Enzo. I decided to come clean with him. I told him about Klaus being my soulmate along with Elijah. I told him about the struggles I faced during the summer. And I caught him up on what all had happened.

He scolded me for not telling him sooner, but he did tell me that he was glad that I was doing okay now. He told me how things were going in Arkansas. He was having fun with his friends. I was glad that he was having fun. I missed him, but I knew that in a couple months, he’d be coming back.

Later that day, I got a call from an unknown number. Despite being highly confused, I answered the call. “Hello?”

“Hello love, Elijah gave me your number. I hope you don’t mind, but I wanted to talk to you.” I heard Klaus say.

“Oh, Klaus. Yeah, no worries. I completely forgot that you hadn’t gotten my number yet. So, what did you want to speak to me about?” I asked.

“Stefan decided that it was a good idea to steal the coffins I had my family in. I wanted to free them now that Mikael is dead, but I can’t if I can’t find them. Do you know where he could be keeping them?” he asked.

“I have no idea where he or the coffins are. I’m sorry. I wish I could help.” I told him.

“It’s alright, love. I can take care of this on my own. If any ideas pop into your head or if you see Stefan, call me, okay?” he told me.

“Okay.” I said.

“Alright, well, have a nice rest of your day, love. Goodbye.” he said.

“Goodbye Klaus.” I said before ending the call. I saved his number into my phone and went on with my day.

A couple weeks went by. I had officially gotten up to a healthy weight. I looked, and was, a lot stronger and healthier. I came home after spending some time in the clearing to find papers scattered around the kitchen table. I saw a bunch of papers with information about different people named Abby Bennet. Bennet. Were Elena and Bonnie looking for one of Bonnie’s ancestors? Why?

I decided not to worry about it too much. I didn’t care enough to find out what they were up to. It was probably nothing.

Later that day, I got a call from Elijah. “Hey Elijah!” I said as I answered the phone.

“Hey Emma. How are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m doing alright. What’s up?” I asked.

“I called to let you know that Klaus and I retrieved the coffins that held the rest of our siblings. Although we are grateful for that, the Elena gang managed to hide the one that contained our mother.” Elijah said.

“I thought that your mother wasn’t a vampire.” I said.

“She’s not, but her body has been preserved. Her body has been locked in a coffin ever since. If they open that coffin, it could spell disaster for Klaus. Our mother was a powerful witch. She was the one who turned us into vampires. Apparently, Klaus had been the one to kill our mother all those years ago for being the one who placed the curse on him.” Elijah told me.

“So you're afraid that she may try to kill Klaus for what he did to her.” I concluded.

“Yes.” he said.

“I wish I could tell you guys where they hid her coffin. I’m not exactly in the loop anymore.” I told him.

“I know, but I thought I’d at least let you know what was going on.” he told me.

“Well, at least you got your siblings back. Are you guys going to wake them?” I asked.

“Yes. We are waking them tonight. Klaus will be out of the house for a bit. We have a feeling that our siblings will be seeking revenge on Klaus for daggering them.” I said.

“Yeah, Klaus has some apologies to write, doesn’t he.” I said.

“Yes he does.” Elijah replied.

“So, how many of you guys are there? How many siblings are still daggered?” I asked.

“Only two. Their names are Finn and Kol. Kol was daggered a little over a century ago, and Finn had been daggered for about nine hundred years.” Elijah told me.

“Nine hundred years?! Damn, it’s going to take him a while to adjust to the times. Does he even know english? I have no idea how long English has been a language.” I admitted.

“He knows bits and pieces of very old English. English has changed a lot over the centuries. So the little English he does know isn’t used much today.” Elijah explained.

“Yikes, so he has to learn a whole new language...” I said.

“Yes, it’s going to take a while for him to get adjusted.” Elijah said.

“So, any chance I can meet them?” I asked.

“Maybe tomorrow, if they had calmed down by then. I’m sure they’ll be happy to meet you.” Elijah said.

“Sounds good! I can’t wait to meet your siblings! I’m sure they’re amazing people.” I said.

Great, so I’ll call you tomorrow?” he asked.

“Yes, see you tomorrow. Bye!” I said.

“Goodbye Emma.” Elijah said before the line went dead.

The call left me feeling giddy, nervous, and concerned. I was excited to meet his siblings, but the news about their mother concerned me. I just hope that they don’t open that coffin.

The next day rolled around. I woke up that morning feeling excited. I got ready for the day and waited for a call from Elijah.

That afternoon, I finally got the call from Elijah. I immediately answered it. “Hey Elijah!” I said in a cheerful voice.

“Hey Emma, do you still want to meet my siblings?” he asked.

“Yes, of course I do!” I told him.

“Then come outside, I’m in the driveway.” he told me.

I quickly went to the door and looked outside. Just like he said, he was pulling into the driveway. I ended the call and ran outside. The moment the car stopped, I hopped in.

Elijah looked over at me and spoke. “Are you ready to meet my siblings?” he asked.

“Yes!” I said in excitement. And just like that, we drove off.

Elijah took me to the place Klaus had built for his family. It looked beautiful, and it was massive. I could only imagine being rich enough to live in a place like this.

When we parked, Elijah quickly got out of the car. He rushed over to my side and opened the door for me. I thanked him and stepped out of the car. We made it to the doors of the mansion. I smiled at Elijah as he held the door open for me. I stepped inside. The inside looked just as beautiful as the outside.

“They’re in the living room. This way.” Elijah said as he led the way. I was excited yet nervous. I hope they like me.

Chapter 54: Four Soulmates

No One’s POV

Emma and Elijah walked into the living room, where the Original siblings sat. At their arrival, all heads in the room turned towards them. Emma noticed that Klaus was in the room. She concluded that Finn and Kol had cooled off enough to be around Klaus.

“Finn, Kol, this is Emma. Emma, this is Finn…” Elijah gestured to the older looking Original. “...and Kol.” he finished as he gestured to the Original that looked closer to Rebekah’s age.

“It’s nice to meet you two.” Emma said. She smiled at the two recently awakened Originals.

The two Originals looked at her in wonder. Kol sped up to Emma, startling her, who hadn’t been expecting it. Kol held his hand out. Expecting a handshake, Emma grabbed his hand. Instead of a handshake, Kol brought her hand up to his lips to kiss the back of her hand.

Emma felt tingles run through her. The same tingles that she felt with Elijah and Klaus. She stared at Kol, shocked. Kol smirked at her.

Kol could feel those wonderful tingles run through his body. Kol knew what this meant. He knew when Elijah introduced her to him. The way she looked, her intoxicating scent. It’s her. It had to be. His soulmate.

“Pleased to meet you, my dear.” Kol said.

“Emma is the soulmate of Klaus and I.” Elijah announced.

Kol was greatly confused. “What?”

“I feel it with him, too.” Emma spoke up.

Elijah’s eyebrows furrowed. Emma looked back and saw his confused expression. “The tingles you feel when you make physical contact with your soulmate…” she started. She looked over at Klaus as she finished her statement. “I feel it with Kol, too.”

The statement surprised everyone in the room. Finn didn’t know exactly what was going on. In fact, all he could focus on was the young woman Elijah had walked in with. Her scent sent pleasant shivers down his spine. His fixation was unknown to the others in the room who were reeling from the new information.

Emma looked back at Elijah. “Is this even possible?” she whispered, but the question was heard by everybody.

“Kol, do you believe that Emma is your soulmate?” Elijah asked.

“Yes. Her scent, the tingles, it all points towards that. Emma is my soulmate.” Kol stated.

Finn finally made his move. He got up and sped over to Emma. He grabbed her free hand in both of his. He felt tingles rush up his arms at the contact.

Emma’s eyes widened even more. “How…” she choked out.

“Don’t tell me…” Klaus said, frustrated.

“Him too?” Elijah asked Emma.

Unable to form words, she looked to Elijah and nodded.

“Oh, you poor soul.” Rebekah said to Emma. She knew that Emma had to try to keep all four of them in line.

“Sálufélagi minn.” Finn said.

Everyone in the room except for Emma knew what he had said. He had said ‘my soulmate’ in his mother tongue.

“What did he say?” Emma asked.

“He just called you his soulmate.” Rebekah answered.

“So, I have four soulmates..?” Emma asked.

“It would seem so.” Elijah said.

“Okay…” Emma paused. She tried looking for something else to say. “I don’t know how to deal with four soulmates…”

“I don’t think anyone does.” Rebekah pitched in.

Kol and Finn were both still holding her hands, sending continuous waves of warm tingles through her body, making it harder for her to think.

“Why don’t we all take a seat and talk about this?” Elijah suggested.

Everyone else in the room, except Finn, nodded.

Throughout the meeting, Klaus translated everything they talked about to Finn. Everyone agreed to not fight when it came to Emma. They knew it would be a learn as they go process. They knew it would take some work, but agreed to do whatever it took to make this whole four soulmates thing work.

After the conversation was done, Elijah took Emma home. Kol and Finn wanted her to stay, but Elijah understood that Emma needed some time to let everything sink in.

After dropping Emma back at home, he went back to the mansion. Kol went up to him and started asking about Emma. So, Elijah, Klaus and Rebekah sat Kol and Finn down and answered their questions to the best of their abilities.

They asked about her family, which stumped all three of them. They knew that Jenna had adopted her after Katherine had killed her previous parents, but knew nothing about her birth parents. Emma hadn’t even told them about the parents she had before Faith and Gideon.

When they brought up the fact that Emma had powers, Kol immediately perked up. He asked question after question about Emma’s powers. They answered what they could. There were still a lot of unknowns when it came to her power.

After all of the questions about her powers, Kol made a promise to himself that he’d help Emma find out what she was. He knew of a few people and groups who would be able to help him get started. But that was for later, after they knew how to make this whole situation work.

They asked about her age. They told them that she was sixteen, but they knew that they would have to have a very serious conversation with Finn to tell him what was and was not acceptable.

While the Mikaelsons were having a conversation about Emma, Emma was debating on whether or not to tell Jenna what was going on. She was sitting down on the couch, deep in thought.

Jenna walked in and saw the contemplative expression Emma held on her face. “Emma, you okay?” she asked.

“I’m fine, Jenna.” Emma said back.

“Emma, I can tell that something is on your mind. You want to talk about it?” she asked.

Emma sighed, making her decision. She gestured for Jenna to sit down next to her. Once they were both comfortable, Emma started speaking. “You know how I’m the soulmate of both Elijah and Klaus, right?”

“Yeah.” Jenna responded.

“Well, I should tell you what happens when you meet your soulmate. So, for supernatural beings with enhanced senses, they know pretty much right when they meet you. The way you look and your scent draws them in. For everyone else, you have to make physical contact with that person. When you do, you will feel tingles run through your body. The other person will feel the tingles. too.” Emma told her.

“Okay, why do I need to know all of this?” Jenna asked.

“Elijah, Klaus and Rebekah woke up their siblings last night. Their siblings being Finn and Kol. I just met them earlier today. Jenna, when Finn and Kol took my hands, I felt the tingles. I have four soulmates. Elijah, Klaus, Kol, and Finn.” Emma told her.

“So, you’re telling me that you are mated to four of the five Original siblings…” Jenna said.

“Yes.” Emma said.

Jenna kept her face neutral, but her mind was running at a mile a minute. She wanted to protect Emma, but there was no way she would be able to tell four Originals that she would kill them if they ever hurt Emma. They wouldn’t take her seriously.

Emma gave Jenna time to process the new information. She knew that this wouldn’t be an easy pill for her to swallow. She knew that Jenna wanted to be able to protect her, but in a world full of supernatural creatures, there was very little she herself could do to protect Emma.

“Do you feel safe around them?” Jenna asked.

“Yes, I do.” Emma said back.

“I want to meet them. I want to make sure that they won’t hurt you.” Jenna said.

“That can be arranged.”

Chapter 55: Meeting Over Cheesy Fries

Emma’s POV

The next day, I called Elijah. “Hello Emma.” he said once he picked up.

“Hey Elijah! So, I told Jenna about what happened when I met your other siblings.” I told him.

“Oh, alright, how did she react?” he asked.

“Well, it was a lot for her to take in. She wants to meet them. She wants to make sure that none of you guys have any harmful intentions when it comes to me.” I told him.

“Oh, I suppose we could set up a meeting with her, but it might have to wait a bit. I want Finn to become more accustomed to everything first.” Elijah said.

“That’s fine, just let me know when you guys are able to meet, okay?” I said.

“Of course, Emma. Is that all you needed to talk about?” he questioned.

“Pretty much. Anything new going on over at your place?” I asked.

“Nope. We’re just trying our best to teach Finn modern English. He’s only just started learning the language, but he’s picking it up faster than I thought. It won’t take him long to be able to hold conversations with people.” he told me.

“That’s great! How’s Kol doing?” I asked. “I know he wasn’t daggered for nearly as long as Finn was, but I’m sure that some things came as a shock to him.”

“He’s doing fine. He’ll be fully adjusted in a couple days or so. Klaus is currently out getting him and Finn a phone, although, we won’t give Finn his phone right away. We want him to become more used to the English language first.” Elijah explained.

“That makes sense. Can you give me their numbers once Klaus gets back?” I asked.

“We’ll put your number in their phones right away.” he assured me.

“Awesome! So, I’ll talk to you soon to set up a date for the meeting.” I said.

“Yes, I’ll talk to you then. Goodbye, Emma.” Elijah said.

“Goodbye, Elijah.” I said before hanging up.

Jenna soon came home with groceries. I helped her put things away while I talked to her about my call with Elijah. “So, we have to wait for one of them to get adjusted to the times before I can meet them?” Jenna asked.

“Yes.” I confirmed.

“And how long until that happens?” she asked.

“Well, I don’t know how long it’ll take him to learn an entire language,” I said.

Just as Jenna was about to ask something else, the ring of my phone interrupted her. I took it out to see who was calling. It was an unknown number. I answered it. “Hello?” I asked.

“Hey Emma!” I heard someone say over the phone. It took me a second to place the voice.

“Kol?” I asked as I finally discovered who it was. Jenna sent me a surprised look.

“That’s right, my dear.” Kol said. “These ‘cell phone’ things are so cool! I can call whoever I want, whenever I want, and I don’t even have to remember their numbers! I just have to save it into the cell phone!” Kol went on.

I let out a breathy laugh at his excitement. “Well, I’m glad you’re enjoying this time period. So, how are you adjusting so far?” I asked.

“Put him on speaker phone.” Jenna whispered.

I put him on speaker phone. “Well, I’m sure there’s more for me to see. But so far, I like how much technology has advanced. Tomorrow, they’re gonna take me out of the house to let me see for myself how much has changed. We’re going to the grill tomorrow afternoon. Do you want to come?” Kol asked.

“Sure, I’d love to!” I told him.

“Can I come?” Jenna asked.

“Who’s that?” Kol asked.

“That was Jenna.” I told him.

“She’s the one that adopted you, right?” Kol asked.

“Yep.” I confirmed.

“Sure, she can come. Wow, after only two days, I’m already meeting your guardian!” Kol joked.

I laughed lightly at that. I even saw Jenna crack a smile at that. “That, you are.” I said.

“So, I’ll see you tomorrow?” he asked.

“Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow.” I said.

The call ended. I saved his number before I closed my phone and helped Jenna put away the rest of the groceries.

The next day came around. It was early afternoon and Jenna and I were heading out. We drove to the grill. We didn’t know exactly when the Mikaelsons would be at the grill. Kol had only told me that they’d be there at some point in the afternoon. So, to avoid missing them, we made it there just past noon.

We selected a booth that had room for more people to join. Matt came up to take our order. We each ordered a soda and a basket of cheesy fries to share.

We were about to polish off the cheesy fries when I saw three of my four soulmates walk in. Kol spotted me immediately. I smiled at him. He grabbed his brothers and brought them to the booth Jenna and I were in. We scooted in to give them some more room. Kol snagged the seat right next to me, Elijah sat next to Jenna, and Klaus pulled up a chair from a different table to sit down on.

“Hello, my dear.” Kol said once he was all settled.

“Hey Kol.” I said back.

Kol then looked at the woman in front of me. “You must be Jenna.” he said.

“That I am.” Jenna said with a curt nod. She put on a brave face, but I could tell that she was a bit uneasy about being in the presence of three Original vampires.

I reached out and grabbed one of the few cheesy fries out of the basket. “Hey, what’s that?” Kol asked, gesturing to said basket of cheesy fries.

“Cheesy fries. You want to try some? I can order more.” I told him.

“Can I try them first?” he asked as I munched on the fry.

I nodded and gestured for him to go for it. He grabbed one of the cheesy fries. His eyes lit up when he ate it. He immediately grabbed another one.

I smiled at him. “I’ll go order some more, then.” I said. Got him to scoot out of the booth to let me out. I went up to the bar and ordered some more cheesy fries for Kol.

As we continued to chat, Kol munched on the cheesy fries I got for him. Occasionally, Klaus or Elijah would grab one. And each time they did, Kol sent them a glare.

The meeting was going great. I could tell that Jenna had started to relax around them. By the time the meeting was over, about half of the cheesy fries were gone. “Can we take the rest of these home? I want Finn to try them.” Kol asked.

“Yeah, you can, you just need to ask for a box for them.” I said. I saw that Matt was coming over to clear the table right next to us. “In fact, hey Matt, any chance we could get a small box for the rest of these fries?” I asked.

“Sure, just let me clear this table first.” Matt said as he forced a smile.

Once the fries were packed into a box, Matt came by with the bill. I offered to pay the tab, though I had to work to convince Klaus that I could indeed pay for it.

I went up to the bar with the bill and some money. I ended up leaving Matt a twenty dollar tip. I knew that he and the other employees here had it rough in this town. I’ve witnessed Damon compel the bartender to let him drink for free on several occasions. I was sure that the owner of the place had noticed all of the missing liquor and probably scolds the staff whenever they have employee meetings.

As we left, I took a peek back and saw the employee that I settled the bill with talking with Matt. The employee made a gesture towards me. Matt looked over at me with a look of surprise before my sight of him was blocked by the door closing behind me.

Chapter 56: Mother

Emma’s POV

A couple weeks had gone by. I’d get a call from one of my soulmates almost everyday. I even got to have a short conversation with Finn when Klaus called me last week. He still had a ways to go, but the brief conversation showed me that he was putting in a lot of effort in learning English.

No one had called me for the last three days. I didn’t know what was going on or if I should even be worried. I decided that if a week had gone by and no one had reached out, that I would reach out myself.

It was evening by the time I got home. After classes, I had decided to go to the clearing. I had to keep up with training. I walked in to a wonderful smell coming from the kitchen.

Jenna and Alaric were cooking. Jenna smiled at me when I came in. Alaric still seemed to be a bit wary around me, but he forced a smile, as well. “Hey Emma, are you hungry?” Jenna asked.

“I became hungry the second the smell hit my nose. I hope you’re making enough for me.” I replied.

“Of course we are! It’ll be done in a few minutes.” Jenna told me.

“Do you guys need any help?” I asked.

“No, it’s almost done. Just needs to be heated up and stirred.” Jenna said.

Right when I was about to take a peek into the pot to see what it was they were cooking, my phone rang. I took it out and looked at the caller ID. It was Elijah. I just smiled and answered it. “Hey Elijah!” I greeted.

“Emma, hey, how are you doing?” Elijah asked.

“I’m okay. How are you? No one’s been calling me.” I responded.

“Well, do you remember me talking about a locked coffin that Stefan and Damon had hid?” Elijah asked.

“Yeah…” I said, already starting to see where this would be going, and I didn’t like it. I walked out of the kitchen so that the call would be a bit more private.

“Well, they managed to open the coffin. Our mother is back.” Elijah revealed.

“How is she back? She isn’t a vampire, is she?” I asked.

“No, she isn’t. She’s a powerful witch, and she knows a lot of powerful witches from the other side.” Elijah informed.

“Well, are you guys okay? Is it a happy family reunion, or is there something else going on?” I asked.

“She came in claiming to have forgiven Klaus and wanting to be a family again. But Finn told us that she went to him. She knew that Finn despised his very existence before meeting you.” Elijah started. Finn hated existing? After he finishes learning English, I’ll have to have a talk with him. I won’t force him to talk to me about it, but I want to let him know that I’m here to listen if he ever does. “Apparently, she hasn’t got a clue that he found a reason to keep living. Finn tricked her into believing that he would help her with what she is plotting.” Elijah told me.

“Well, do you guys know what she is doing?” I asked.

“Yes. She wants to kill us.” Elijah told me.

“What?!” I screamed. I didn’t care if Jenna and Alaric heard me from the kitchen. I was downright pissed. I walked outside so I wouldn’t bother them with my yelling. “She wants to kill you guys?! I won’t let her! If she even tries to hurt one of you, I swear I’ll-” I started shouting.

“Hey, calm down. Now that Finn has her fooled, we can stop her from doing so.” Elijah said, trying to calm me.

I took a deep breath, but I was still fuming. Just the thought of one of them being killed made me go mad. “Do you guys know her plan yet?” I asked him.

“We don’t know the details yet, but we know she is going to try something at the ball.” Elijah said.

“The ball?” I questioned.

“She wants us to host a ball once the finishing touches on the house are done. She probably thinks we’ll be too distracted to figure out that she’s planning something.” Elijah said.

“When is the ball?” I asked.

“In about a week. The invitations aren’t done yet. We’ll probably be handing them out last minute. Speaking of the ball, you don’t need to worry about buying a dress. Rebekah and Klaus are out right now, getting you the perfect dress.” Elijah told me.

“Please don’t let them go overboard! I really don’t need anything too fancy or expensive.” I told him.

“Emma, you don’t need to worry about how expensive something is when you’re with us.” Elijah said.

“I’m just not used to it. I’ve never really been the type of person who would buy expensive dresses.” I said.

“I know, but I know for a fact that you will look absolutely beautiful in whatever they pick out for you.” Elijah told me.

Just hearing those words made my cheeks heat up. “I sure hope I do…” I muttered.

“I know you will.” Elijah said.

A soft smile spread on my face. When I was thinking up a response, I heard Jenna yell from inside. “Dinner’s ready!”

“I have to go. Jenna and Alaric just finished dinner.” I said.

“Okay. Have a nice night, Emma.” Elijah said.

“You, too. Bye.” I said.

“Goodbye, Emma.” The call ended. I put my phone away and made my way back inside and into the kitchen to eat.

Days later, the day of the ball had arrived. That morning, the invitations were given out. My invitation came with a box. The box contained a beautiful dark blue dress. It was a long dress. It would go all the way down to my ankles. There was also a slit that would run up the left leg. Just the feel of the fabric told me that it was an expensive dress.

Soon after examining the dress, I got a call from Rebekah. “Hey Emma! How’s the dress?” she asked excitedly over the phone.

“It’s absolutely gorgeous, how much was it?” I asked.

“That is none of your concern. Anyways, I called you to go over what we know of mother’s plan. So, we know that she sent an invitation to Elena with a little note. If Elena decides to show up for the ball, then mother will use some of Elena’s blood for a spell.” Rebekah started.

“She plans to use Elena’s blood to link all of you together. She will put the concoction into the special champagne everyone will drink before the first dance.” I continued for her.

“So, all that we need to do is not drink the champagne.” Rebekah finished.

“Yeah, but you’ll probably need to pretend to take a drink. Your mother will be watching you guys. Just don’t let any of the liquid enter your mouth.” I said.

“Got it.” Rebekah said before sighing. “I sure hope tonight goes smoothly…”

“Yeah, me too. So, what does your dress look like?”

Rebekah and I kept talking to each other. She said she was going to go check on the boys. They were all getting suits made for them for the ball. She put me on speaker as she entered the room.

As she walked in and sat down, I heard Kol talking. “Rebekah, tell me how handsome I am.”

“Oh, Kol, you know I can’t be compelled.” Rebekah said back. A giggle slipped out of me at that.

Of course, since I was on speaker, every vampire in the room heard me. A chorus of greetings flew through the phone. “Hey guys!” I greeted them back.

“Do you like the dress Rebekah and I picked out?” I heard Klaus ask.

“Yes, it’s absolutely beautiful, thank you!” I told him.

“Do you have shoes to go with it?” Rebekah asked.

“I have a pair of wedges that I’m gonna pair it with.” I told her. “Well, I need to get ready. I’ll see you guys tonight!”

The call ended. I took another look at the dress in the box. I took it out and set it on the couch. It really was a beautiful dress. I looked like it was made for a celebrity instead of someone like me. The thought of me wearing something this expensive made me nervous.

I shook myself out of my thoughts. I walked into the bathroom and started getting ready for the ball.

Chapter 57: Mikaelson Ball

Emma’s POV

Jenna gave me a ride to the ball. When we parked, I fidgeted my hands in my lap. “Are you nervous?” Jenna asked.

“Yes, very…” I responded, not meeting her eyes.

“Don’t be. You look absolutely gorgeous. I can guarantee you will outshine everyone in there.” Jenna told me.

“Really?” I asked.

“Yes. Now get in there! Show everyone how beautiful and amazing you look!” Jenna told me.

Hesitantly, I reached for the car handle. With a deep breath, I pushed the door open and stepped out. Before I closed the door, Jenna called out to me. “Call me if you need a ride home.”

I looked at her and nodded. With one final shaky breath, I willed myself to move towards the doors of the mansion. I shivered as a cold breeze blew past me, reminding me that the warm summer nights were over. I should’ve brought a jacket.

As I walked into the mansion, I looked around. They sure went all out on the decorations. I searched for one of the Mikaelsons, but after taking a quick look around, I couldn’t find them.

I noticed that I caught the eyes of quite a few people. I kept my head down and pretended that I didn’t notice. I’ve never been the type who wanted to be the center of attention. When I was looking for a secluded corner to sit myself in, someone grabbed my arm.

I quickly turned around to see someone I had not expected. I saw someone from my class. Isaac Forbes, Caroline’s cousin. “Emma? Is that you?”

“Isaac, hey, I didn’t know you were coming…” I replied, not knowing what to say. Isaac and I have never really spoken much. He was part of the popular crowd. He was on the football team, although he was on junior varsity.

“I didn’t know you were coming either. But, wow, I’ve never seen you look like this. You look hot.” he blurted out.

I was flabbergasted. Never in my life had anyone ever called me hot. “Uh, thanks…” I muttered out. “You don’t look too bad yourself.” I said, trying not to be rude. I was totally lost and didn’t know how to react.

“Thank you. So, why don’t you ever look like this at school?” he asked.

“I prefer comfort over style.” I stated bluntly.

“If I had known you could look like this, I would’ve dated you way sooner.” he said. He still had my arm in his grasp. I was starting to feel uncomfortable with the way he was looking at me. I could practically feel his eyes as his gaze stopped at my chest.

“Well, if you’ll excuse me, I have to find my friend.” I said as I tried to pull my arm from his grasp.

He wasn’t having it. His grip tightened on my arm. “You mean your blonde friend? She seemed to be busy with Matt. She won’t mind if you hang with me for a bit.”

I was becoming really uncomfortable. “Well, I have other friends that I need to meet up with here. So, please, let go of my arm.” I told him as I tried to yank my arm free.

His grip tightened to a painful degree. I winced. “Oh, please, the only one I’ve seen you talk to recently is that blonde chick. So, why don’t you just hang out with me tonight. I can show you a really good time.” he said with a wink.

I’m gonna be sick. I knew that if he said that to one of the other girls in the popular crowd, they may have fallen into his grasp. But not me. “Well, I’m already spoken for. You’re too late. So, release my arm, your grip is starting to hurt.” I said with more force.

I managed to twist my arm out of his grip. I quickly started to walk away, but he followed me and grabbed my arm again. “Leave me alone! Let go of me!” I demanded.

“Come on, just one night.” he said. I was tempted to smack that stupid smirk right off of his face.

“She said let her go.” I heard someone say from behind me. I knew that voice all too well. I looked behind me to see both Klaus and Kol standing there.

Isaac finally did the smart thing and released my arm and backed off. I sighed in relief. I looked behind me to see that both of them were still glaring at Isaac. “I’m killing him.” Kol said.

“Kol, don’t. Just leave him.” I told him before he could walk away.

“But he touched you. You told him to let you go and he didn’t.” he told me.

“No killing my classmates.” I told him. He gave me a small pout. “And pouting about it won’t change my mind.”

We chatted for a while. We noticed Elena walking down the staircase. So, she’s met with Esther. Time to start avoiding the champagne. I glanced over at Finn. He gave me a nod in confirmation. I sent a glance to each of the Mikaelson siblings to make sure that they all knew what was soon to happen.

Apparently, Esther just couldn’t wait to set her little plan into motion. We heard glass clinking to get everyone’s attention. We looked up to see Esther standing at the top of the staircase. “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Waiters are coming round with champagne. I invite you all to join me in raising a glass. It provides me with no greater joy than to see my family back together as one. I’d like to thank you all for being a part of this spectacular evening. Cheers!”

“Cheers!” we heard people say around the room. I looked at my soulmates and my best friend as they all pretended to take a sip of their champagne. The liquid never reached their lips. It never reached mine, either. I didn’t feel comfortable with Elena’s blood entering my system, no matter how small the amount was.

Elijah stood on the staircase as he gazed at the audience below. “Welcome! Thank you for joining us.” Elijah said as their mother made her way down to him.

“That’s our cue, brother! We’ll be right back.” Kol said. The Mikaelson siblings all gathered on the staircase.

“You know, whenever my mother brings our family together like this, it’s tradition for us to commence the evening with a dance. Tonight’s pick is a centuries old waltz. So if all of you could please find yourselves a partner, please join us in the ballroom.” Elijah said.

All four of the Mikaelson brothers raced down the staircase. Finn managed to get to me first. He held his hand out to me. “May I have this dance?” he asked with practiced words.

I smiled wide and nodded at him. I took his hand and I let him lead me out to the ballroom. I was a little nervous. I had no idea how to dance, let alone waltz. I just hoped Finn knew what he was doing.

I made sure to keep an eye on those around me as the dance began. I copied the steps everyone was doing. It was surprisingly easy. “You look beautiful, Emma.” Finn said. I could feel my cheeks heating up.

“Thank you, Finn, and you look very handsome in that suit.” I told him.

As I got more comfortable, Finn and I held a simple conversation. It was surprising how quickly he was picking up a new language. I knew it would be a couple more weeks before he would be fluent enough in the language to meet Jenna, though.

The song picked up slightly as everyone in the ballroom switched partners. I was spun into Elijah’s arms. He smiled gently down at me and looked me over. “You look absolutely stunning in that dress, Emma.” Elijah told me. I blushed at that.

“Thank you, Elijah. As always, you look handsome in a suit. No wonder you’re always wearing one.” I said back.

Soon, I was spun into the arms of Klaus. “My, my, Rebekah and I sure chose the right dress for you, love. You look absolutely ravishing!” Klaus said. The blush I already had darkened.

“Thank you, Klaus. You look quite charming in a suit.” I told him.

“Thank you, love.” Klaus said as he sent me a smile.

Eventually, I was spun into Kol’s arms. “Damn, Rebekah and Klaus sure know how to choose a dress. You are outshining everyone in this ballroom. You look perfect, Emma.” Kol told me.

“Thank you! You’re looking quite dashing yourself, Kol.” I told him. He gave me a dazzling smile.

The dance soon came to a close. We made our way over to Rebekah and Matt. “Hey Rebekah!” I said as I approached her.

“Emma, hi!” Rebekah said back. She observed me. “I can see I was right about the dress, it looks absolutely marvelous on you.” she told me.

“Thanks for getting it for me! And your dress is gorgeous, too.” I told her.

“Isn’t it?” she said as she spun around.

The rest of the night was spent either talking to Rebekah, or being stolen by one of my soulmates for a dance. I’ve never been much of a dancer, but the way they led me made every step seem so easy. I was really enjoying myself.

At some point during the night, Klaus showed me his art room. I looked around in awe at all of the amazing paintings. I approached a table to see countless sketches. I saw a couple of me and I smiled.

Later on, something happened between Kol and Damon. Damon nearly snapped Kol’s neck, but luckily Finn and I were standing near the door. When we heard something going on outside, we ran out to see what was going on. I noticed Damon on top of Kol. With a huge burst of air, I knocked Damon off of my soulmate. I put a little too much force behind the blast. I knocked him all the way towards the back of the parking lot. Luckily, I didn’t hit anyone’s car.

Eventually, people started to leave. Time flew by and I didn’t even realize what time it was until I noticed that a lot of people were leaving. It was almost midnight. Good thing I’m not Cinderella. I don’t want to leave quite yet.

Well, there’s still people here, so it isn’t over yet! I took a look around us. There were still a fair amount of people still here. I looked around and noticed that Elena and her gang had long since left. Matt was still here, but it looked like he was about to leave as he was talking to Rebekah right by the door.

An hour later, most of the guests had left. The few that were left were thanking the hosts for a wonderful night. I really didn’t want to leave yet. I knew I’d had countless dances with my soulmates, but the night still seemed so short.

I was with Elijah as the last of the guests left. “I guess I should leave. We wouldn’t want your mother getting suspicious.” I said.

“You’re right. Would you at least let me give you a ride home?” he asked.

I nodded. Once I said goodbye to the rest of the siblings, Elijah led me out to his car. He brought me home.

Chapter 58: Desiccate

Emma’s POV

The day after the ball was the day that things fell apart. My soulmates and my best friend confronted their mother. Klaus wanted her dead, but his siblings wanted to try to reason with her first. Sure, she wanted them dead, but she was still their mother.

Come to find out later, confronting her was the wrong move. Not only was Esther good at magic, but she was quite the actress, too. She pretended to be swayed to their side. Acted like she believed them when they said that they were going to be better, not only as vampires, but as people, since they now had a reason to be better.

Esther, of course, asked what they meant by that. Kol, not thinking anything of it, revealed that he, Finn, Elijah, and Klaus had a soulmate. A shared soulmate, who Rebekah found a really good friend in. Elijah, suspicious of his mothers sudden change in beliefs, didn’t reveal the name of their soulmate. He wanted to take some time to observe their mother to make sure she meant no ill will towards them and their soulmate.

Elijah, after the conversation, immediately called me and told me everything that had happened. I, of course, thought it was smart to hold off on the celebration until they were sure that Esther meant them no harm.

Of course, at the time, we had no idea that she would make a move against them so quickly…

The Elena gang still wanted them dead, along with Esther. Esther had a lot of witches from the other side fueling her. Those witches turned out to be the ancestors of Bonnie. As long as the long line of witches wasn’t severed, then she could continue to draw power from the Bennet line, both dead and alive.

With the power of a line of witches that spanned back over a thousand years, the amount of power she could draw was tremendous. She knew that she wouldn’t shy away from dark magic if she needed to use it.

She decided to desiccate her children. With them desiccated, it would be easier to kill them, even if she had to kill them one at a time.

With the power of numerous witches on her side, she used the spell that Abby had used to desiccate Mikael five times over. Of course, she couldn’t do the spell by herself. She had Damon compel five random humans to their chosen spot for the spell, for she needed to stop the hearts of five different people during the spell.

Next, she needed to find five different vampires who were up to the task of helping her. Of course, Damon and Stefan were eager to participate. It took some convincing, but Caroline decided to join in. They needed two more vampires. They called Tyler back into town to help. They just needed one more vampire. They managed to get in contact with Katherine. Elena didn’t want Katherine anywhere near her, but they were out of options.

With the five volunteers all gathered, she placed protection spells on all of them. With the task that they needed to do, they would need the extra protection. She gave each of them a vial of her blood to drink. And with that, her plan was set into motion, and none of her children knew what was about to happen.

With a spell, she located her children. For the desiccation spell to work, one of the vampires would have to make contact with the bloodstream of the Original they were after. Then, Esther would stop the heart of one of the humans, that would in turn stop the heart of the Original. Since they were not linked, they would have had to do this one at a time, and very quickly.

So, all at once, the vampires went to their respective targets. It was not an easy task for them. None of the Originals were alone. They first had to separate them. Then, preferably simultaneously, make contact with their bloodstream. And, to everyone's surprise, it worked.

One may wonder how I knew all of this. Well, the answer to that was right in front of me. I felt the desiccation of my soulmates. It was painful. The first person I tracked down who I knew was involved with the horrible pain I felt in my chest was Caroline. I grilled her for answers. I didn’t hurt her. I knew that she didn’t want to do this. But it did take longer than I wanted to get the answers I needed.

I arrived at the old witch house. Esther’s chosen place to perform the spells. I didn’t run in demanding my soulmates and Rebekah back. Esther may have just used a lot of magic within the span of a couple hours, but I knew she held the power of many witches. I needed a plan.

I watched from afar behind a tree. But once all of the desiccated bodies of Originals were carried to the witch house, I knew I was running out of time. I knew that if I didn’t act right now, I could lose one or more of my soulmates, along with my best friend. I needed to distract her somehow.

An idea popped into my head instantly. With my earth ability, I shook the ground all around me, including the ground around the witch house. While she was looking around, clearly confused by the sudden earthquake, I crept closer. Unfortunately, I wasn’t aware that Damon was still inside of the witch house.

He stepped outside, and with his enhanced senses, he immediately spotted me creeping closer. He shouted out in warning and sped towards me. Once I knew that sneaking in and taking my soulmates wasn’t an option, I prepared for the fight of my life. It was time to put my powers to the ultimate test.

I easily created a sinkhole underneath Damon. Before he could jump out, I covered the top of the sinkhole with a hardened layer of earth so he would have a hard time getting out. Now, it was a one on one battle. Me against a witch harnessing the power of an entire line of witches.

“If you don’t wish to die, hand over my soulmates and my best friend.” I said in a calm, yet deadly voice. I was downright pissed. I’ve never imagined killing anyone, but I thought that the sight of Esther in a pool of her own blood would be a good one.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that. I may love my children, but they are abominations. They always have been and always will be just that. I must correct the mistake I made a thousand years ago.” Esther responded.

Looking back, I should’ve known it wouldn’t be easy. I trapped her in a sinkhole. Doing the same trick on her as I did Damon was too easy, and I should’ve seen that. And for a few seconds, I thought it worked. Trapping her underground would do the trick, right?

It was stupid of me to think that. The moment I had the earth swallow her up, I went up to the Mikaelson that was closest to me. As I was coming up with a plan to revive them, Esther was easily able to blast her way out of the sinkhole I put her in.

Before I could launch another attack, she quickly chanted something. It was like my whole body went still. “I truly am sorry that I must take your soulmates. But, if you are mated to them, then you must be as bad as them.”

Suddenly, pain radiated throughout my body. Bruises appeared all over my body. Cuts opened up on their own. It became harder to breathe. “Allow me to spare you the misery of living without your soulmates, by taking your life along with theirs.” Esther said between her chanting.

I couldn’t move. My body became more battered and bruised with each passing second. I screamed in absolute agony with the little breath I could take in. I needed to find a way out of this situation, and fast.

I had been practicing a new technique with my water ability. I wasn’t anywhere near confident enough with it. I had only tested it on small animals, but it felt wrong each time I did it, but it was the only idea my panicked mind could come up with.

Latching onto the idea, I brought forth my water ability. Just like I had with the animals that were unfortunate enough to stumble into the clearing while I was practicing the new technique, I took a hold of the water inside of Esther’s body.

The chanting stopped. The beating my body was taking came to a halt. I was still frozen, but when I forced Esther’s eyes shut with my ability, I was able to move again. If she couldn’t see me or speak, she couldn’t cast any spells. She did try to set me on fire, but I only suffered a few burns before I used my own abilities to put it out. When I was released from her hold, I fell to the ground. The little strength I had I used on keeping my hold over Esther’s body. If I could control the water inside of her body, I could control her every movement. It felt wrong to use my ability like this, but it was the only plan I had that would work.

I managed to crawl my way over to the nearest desiccated body. It was Finn. Without any hesitation, I brought a rather large cut on my arm to his mouth. If they were desiccated, blood should be able to revive them.

Ten seconds later, his skin began to form color. He was slowly coming back. Once he could move his arms, he used them to hold my arm over his mouth.

Once he opened his eyes, he stopped drinking. He looked around and took stock of the situation. I explained to him to the best of my ability that I was using one of my abilities to keep her body still. He seemed to understand what I was trying to convey to him. He immediately went over and snapped Esther’s neck. We didn’t know if that would keep her dead, but if anything, it gave us enough time to revive the others and come up with a plan.

I crawled over to Klaus. Right when I was about to put a cut from my arm to his mouth, Finn stopped me. He shook his head. “I need to bring him back.” I told Finn.

“You need to heal first.” he said as he pulled me to his body. Before anything else could happen, Damon broke out of the sinkhole I put him in. Finn jumped, surprised to see him pop out of the ground out of nowhere. While Finn was distracted, Damon, with a look of fury on his face, sped over to me.

I could barely move, let alone find a way to fight back. Damon pulled me away from Finn and sank his fangs into my neck.

Black dots entered my vision as Finn ripped Damon off of me and threw him into a tree hard enough to knock him out. Blood was pouring out of my neck and all of the wounds on my body. I could feel myself fading. Right before I could lose consciousness, Finn’s bleeding wrist appeared over my mouth.

Without thinking, I took a few gulps. The wounds on my body immediately began to heal. Cuts began to stitch themselves back together, burns healed over, bruises disappeared. Once my body was healed, Finn pulled his wrist away from my mouth.

Once I was aware and alert again, I noticed that I was pulled tight into Finn’s body. We stayed like that for a moment. Neither of us wanted to move. We both basked in each other’s presence.

Eventually, I pulled away. “I need to bring your siblings back.” I told him. He, reluctantly, nodded and released me.

I went over to Klaus as he was the one closest to us. I realized that with no open wounds, there was no way for the blood to escape. I looked over at Finn who was coming to the same realization.

He came over to me and grabbed my arm. He brought it up to his mouth and looked at me, silently asking if what he was going to do was okay. I nodded at him. I winced as he bit into my wrist. I quickly brought it to Klaus’ mouth.

Just like with Finn, Klaus’ face began to gain color. Once he was fully revived and awake, he let me pull my arm away from his mouth. With Finn’s blood still in my system, the bite mark healed.

Klaus took a long look at me. I could tell that the blood stained clothes worried him. “Love, are you okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine. Finn healed me with his blood.” I told him.

“What exactly happened?” he asked.

I explained what all had happened. About the desiccation, about the fight with his mother, about Damon biting me.

Klaus glared over at the still unconscious Damon. “I should kill him.” Klaus growled out.

“Nah, let him live. Let him wonder why we let him live. Once the time is right, cash in the favor he owes you for letting him live.” I told him.

Once I was able to get Klaus to calm down, I moved onto the next desiccated body. It was Rebekah. Finn was already by my side. He brought my arm to his face and bit into it. I repeated the steps with Rebekah. Then Elijah. Then Kol.

Once everyone was awake and alert, we all huddled together. We needed to come up with a plan to make sure that Esther couldn’t try this again.

Finn had my body pulled against his once again as we talked. We came up with a plan that was simple enough. Klaus would call one of his witch contacts. The witch would seal Esther into her coffin. After that, they would throw said coffin into the ocean, never to be seen again.

Once the plan was set, we all got up. I really didn’t want to move. I was very tired. The night’s events really took a toll on my energy. But, reluctantly, I got up.

Elijah took one good look at me and realized how exhausted I was. “Emma, are you okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine. Just tired.” I said as I let out a yawn.

Finn immediately picked me up. I blushed at this. “You really didn’t have to…” I started.

“Let me, please.” Finn requested. I sighed and nodded at him.

“Are we all ready to go?” Elijah asked.

We all nodded. I wrapped my arms around Finn’s neck and laid my head against his chest. I closed my eyes as they all used their speed to rush home.

Before I knew it, I was laying down on a bed in the mansion cuddling with Finn. I was still in my bloody clothes, but he insisted that it was okay and to just sleep. I didn’t argue with him. I knew I didn’t have the energy to get cleaned up. I closed my eyes as Finn wrapped his arms around me. Before I fell asleep, I felt him place a kiss on my forehead. “Goodnight, my sweet soulmate.” he whispered.

A small smile was on my face as I finally let sleep take me.

Chapter 59: Argument

Emma’s POV

I slowly woke up the next morning feeling comfortable and warm. I opened my eyes to see that I was still snuggled up next to Finn. I looked up to see that he was already awake. “Good morning.” I mumbled as I gave him a sleepy smile.

“Good morning.” he said back.

I knew that I eventually had to get up, but I felt so comfortable and safe laying here with Finn. With a great deal of effort, I pushed myself into a sitting position. I noticed that I was still in yesterday’s clothes. Blood stains and all. Right, I had no energy left to get cleaned up.

“Hey Finn, can you ask Rebekah if I could use some of her clothes for the day? I’m gonna go take a shower.” I asked Finn as we got up.

He nodded and walked out. I made my way to the bathroom connected to his room. I turned on the shower and peeled off my bloodied clothes. As I was taking off my pants, I noticed that my phone was, miraculously, still there. I picked it up and set it on the sink before I stepped into the shower to get cleaned up.

During the shower, there was a knock on the bathroom door before the door opened. “Is it safe to come in?” Rebekah asked.

“Yeah, the curtain’s closed.” I said back.

“I’m setting some clothes for you on the sink. I also brought you a brush.” Rebekah told me.

“Okay, thanks Rebekah.” I told her before she walked back out.

After my shower, I stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. As I was drying my hair, I took a look at the clothes Rebekah brought me. Sitting on the sink was a simple pair of sweatpants, a shirt, and a sweatshirt. No bra, since we weren’t the same size. I should bring a couple outfits over in case I stay over again.

I brushed through my still wet hair and got dressed. I gathered my dirty clothes and my phone as I walked out of Finn’s bathroom.

Once I put my dirty clothes into a bag Finn got me, I opened my phone. Seven missed calls and two text messages from Jenna. Shit, she’s probably worried sick about me.

With a deep breath, I called Jenna. She immediately answered. “Emma, where are you?! I’ve been trying to get a hold of you since last night! Why didn’t you come home last night?” she shouted into the phone.

“Woah, Jenna, calm down! A lot happened last night. I’m sorry I forgot to call you, but I’m fine, okay?” I tried calming her.

I heard Jenna huff. “Well, what happened last night that caused you to not give me a call?” she asked.

I explained everything that happened the previous night. From my soulmates being desiccated, fighting Esther, almost dying, and reviving my soulmates. “...and I was too tired to call you afterwards. I was even too tired to get cleaned up. I spent the night at their place.”

“Wow, that’s…a lot. Are you sure you’re okay?” Jenna asked.

“I’m okay Jenna. Finn’s blood healed me all up. Not even a scar of it remains.” I said.

Okay…” Jenna started. She sighed. “How did you get pulled into the middle of all of this?” Jenna muttered.

“Kind of hard not to when you’re the soulmate of four Original vampires.” I replied.

“Fair point. So, are you coming home today or are you staying over there for another night?” Jenna asked me.

“I’m coming home soon. I’ll have Elijah drive me home.” I told her.

“Okay. Call me if you need me. I’ll see you later.”

“See you later. Bye!” I said before hanging up.

I left Finn’s room and eventually found Elijah. He drove me home. When I entered the house, I was met with yelling coming from the kitchen. “...could have been out of our lives for good, and she ruined it! How could you side with her?!” I heard Elena yell as I opened the door.

“They are her soulmates! Did you even consider how she would feel about it?!” Jenna yelled back.

What’s going on? I closed the door and set down the bag that held my bloodied clothes. “Is that her?” I heard Elena say before she stomped into view. She was livid.

“Hey Elena.” I said, pretending not to notice her angered state.

“Why would you save them?!” she shouted at me.

I thought that the ‘why’ was obvious. “Because they’re my soulmates…” I stated.

“They are all evil, especially Klaus! He killed me for some stupid ritual…” she started.

“And yet here you are, still breathing…” I said.

Elena ignored me. “...he forced Stefan to turn off his humanity…”

“That he currently has back…” I added.

“...and he uses my blood to make more hybrids!” Elena spat out.

“Heaven forbid you have to donate blood every once in a while. It’s not like he’s taking out too much whenever he does.” I said.

“Still, he’s evil! They all are!” she screamed at me.

“Have any of them tried to hurt you recently?” I asked.

“Yes!” she shouted.

“When?” I asked.

Elena struggled to come up with an answer. A small smirk formed on my face. I knew I was right. Elena muttered something under her breath before stomping out of the room.

I walked into the kitchen to see a very proud Jenna. “I thought that I would have to step in. Glad to see that you can hold your own.” Jenna told me.

“Not that hard when you have logic and common sense by your side.” I said as I looked for something to eat.

Jenna chuckled. “Those are both things that she hasn’t had for a while.” Jenna added.

I laughed at that. “Yeah. If she just opened her eyes and let go of the past, she’d be able to see things differently, but she’s so narrow minded. She needs to see things from a different perspective.” I said.

“You got that right. I love her, but she needs to see that the world doesn’t revolve around her.” Jenna said.

I was about to respond when my phone rang. I pulled it out and checked the caller ID. It was Enzo. “Excuse me.” I said as I left the room to answer the call.

“Hey Enzo, what’s up?” I asked.

“Hey Emma, nothing much. I just wanted to let you know that I’m coming back to Mystic Falls soon. I’ll be back by the end of the week. So, has anything interesting happened lately?” he questioned.

“Yes, but I’ll tell you everything once you get back. When you're back in town, give me a call and we can go to the grill.” I told him.

“Okay, sounds like a plan. See you soon, bye.” he said.

“Bye.” I replied and ended the call.

“Who was that? One of the soulmates?” Jenna asked from the kitchen.

“Actually, no. It was an old friend.” I told her.

“An old friend? Do I know this friend?” she asked.

“No, in fact, no one in the Elena gang knows who he is.” I replied.

“Sounds mysterious. He’s a normal human, right?” she asked.

“Uh, no.” I said. Jenna emerged from the kitchen with a confused look. “He’s a vampire. I met him when I was thirteen.” I told her.

“Wait, you’ve known about vampires since you were thirteen?” she asked, shocked.

“Yes. It shouldn’t be too surprising. I mean, I’ve had my powers since I was twelve. Discovering my powers was more of a shock than learning about vampires.” I said.

Jenna stayed silent for a few seconds before speaking up. “Would there be a way for me to meet him?"

Chapter 60: Meetings

Emma’s POV

It was the end of the week. Klaus called me saying that we no longer had to worry about his mother. Enzo was coming back from Arkansas. Finn was almost done learning English. Everything was going great.

When Enzo called me telling me that he was coming back, I asked him if he was okay with meeting Jenna while we were catching up. Thankfully, he was cool with it.

When Jenna and I entered the grill, I saw Enzo sitting up at the bar. I smiled and led Jenna to where he was sitting. I sat next to him and Jenna sat next to me. “Welcome back!” I greeted him.

He turned to me and smiled. “Good to be back!” he replied. His gaze shifted over to Jenna. “And I’m guessing you’re Jenna.”

“That’s me, it’s nice to meet you.” Jenna said.

“Likewise.” Enzo replied.

“So, how was your time in Arkansas? Did you and your friends wreak havoc?” I asked.

Enzo chuckled. “You bet! You’ve got to meet them at some point. They’re a bit crazy, but so much fun to be around.” he told me.

“I’m sure they are.” I said.

“Anyways, what’s been going on around here? You said something big happened.” Enzo inquired.

“Yeah, so, remember when I told you I was mated to the Mikaelson brothers?” I asked.

“Yeah…”

“So, their mother, Esther, somehow came back to life, and plotted to kill them and Rebekah.” I told him.

“Sounds like a shitty mother.” Enzo commented.

“You got that right. So, their mother teamed up with Elena’s gang. Somehow, she managed to desiccate all of them. I found out that something was wrong the moment I felt a massive pain in my chest. I managed to track down Caroline, who helped with their little plot. I had her tell me what was going on. The moment I knew where Esther was, I went there. So, after a massive fight, and nearly dying, I incapacitated her. I revived Finn and he immediately snapped her neck. Damon, who I trapped when I arrived, broke out of the hole I put him in and tried to drain me.” I told him.

At the mention of Damon, Enzo growled. I continued. “I was already badly wounded, but thankfully, Finn knocked him out and healed me. I revived the rest of the Mikaelsons. We came up with a plan to keep their mother from coming back and trying to kill them again. A plan that was just executed a couple days ago.”

“So, their mother, if you could even call her that, is gone?” he asked.

“Thankfully.” I said with a short nod.

“Good. So, is killing Damon still off of the table?” he asked.

“For now, yes.” I said.

“Damn…” he mumbled.

Jenna decided to start a new conversation. “So, Emma told me that you guys met when she was thirteen. So, how did you two meet?” she asked.

Enzo and I glanced at each other awkwardly. “Huh, this will be an…interesting conversation.” Enzo said. “Emma, I think it would be best if you told her.”

“Fine. Well…where do I start…” I mumbled as I gathered my thoughts. “Back when I still lived in McKinley, my parents back then were invited to some event at the Whitmore house.” I started. I noticed that Enzo, understandably, had an uncomfortable look on his face. “I ended up going with my parents to the event. I was, by far, that youngest person at the event. I didn’t even know what the event was even about. Anyways, later on in the evening, after using the restroom, something inside of me guided me down into the basement. Down there, trapped in a cell, and covered in blood, was Enzo.”

Jenna shot Enzo a worried glance before focusing back on me. “Shocked and worried, I let Enzo out, not knowing that he was a vampire. In fact, at that point, I didn’t even know that vampires existed. When I let him out, he thanked me, but then immediately apologized before he bit me.” I said.

Jenna looked at Enzo in confusion and frustration. I nudged her leg with my foot to get her to stop looking at Enzo before I continued. “I woke up in the hospital. My parents, along with the people at the event, were all dead. I was the only survivor. While I was healing, Faith and Gideon adopted me, and I moved to Mystic Falls. Once I was all settled into my new home, I took a walk through some of the trails in the forest. That was when I met Enzo for the second time. He thanked me for freeing him, and explained that he was a vampire and told me why he was in that cell. Apparently, the people at the event supported the capture and experimentation of vampires. And Enzo had been trapped in that cell for sixty years before I freed him.” I explained.

Jenna’s confused and frustrated look turned into a look of pity. “After running into him a few more times, we became friends.” I finished.

I looked over at Enzo and saw that he was looking down with a dark look on his face. I knew that he was probably remembering some things he'd much rather forget. I reached over and gently grabbed his hand. He looked up at me and I sent him a small smile.

He smiled back and lightly squeezed my hand. Just then, a basket of fries was set down in front of us. “Here is your order, sir.” the bartender said. She then turned her attention over to us. “Hello, do you ladies want a drink?”

“A coke, please.” I said.

“Same for me.” Jenna said.

The bartender nodded and walked off. Enzo pushed the fries over to me. I smiled at him and started munching on the fries.

After half an hour of chatting and munching on fries, my phone started ringing. I pulled it out and checked the caller ID. Unknown caller. “Excuse me guys.” I said as I stepped away from the table.

I answered the call. “Hello?”

“Hello Emma, it’s Finn.”

“Finn, hey! I see they gave you a cell phone.” I said.

“Yes, they did, and it had your phone number in it already!” Finn said excitedly.

“So, I take it you know enough English and you’re fully adjusted?” I questioned.

“Yes, I am.” he said.

“Do you want to meet Jenna? She’s been wanting to meet you.” I said.

“Yes, I would like to meet her. What time would work with you?” he asked.

“Right now is fine. We’re both at the grill at the moment. Would you like to join us?” I asked.

“I would love to. I’ll be there soon, Emma.” he told me.

“Okay, see you soon. Bye!” I said.

“Goodbye.” Finn said. I ended the call and saved his number as I walked back over to Jenna and Enzo.

I sat back down and turned to Jenna. “That was Finn. He’s fully adjusted and is done learning English. He’s on his way here now so that he can meet you. I hope that’s okay. I know that you’ve been wanting to meet him...” I told her.

“Yeah, that’s fine, I can’t wait to meet him.” Jenna said.

“Well, that’s my cue to leave. I’m not quite ready to make myself known to them.” Enzo said as he got up to go pay for his bill.

“Okay, it was nice to see you, Enzo.” I told him.

“It was nice to see you, too. And it was nice to meet you, Jenna.” he said.

Enzo paid and left. Jenna and I finished off the fries Enzo got us and ordered some cheesy fries. The cheesy fries arrived right as the door of the grill opened to reveal three of the Originals.

I looked back and saw Finn, Rebekah, and Elijah. I waved them over. Finn sat next to me, Rebekah sat next to Finn, and Elijah sat next to Jenna.

A chorus of greetings were exchanged. “Emma, is this Jenna?” Finn asked as he glanced at the woman sitting next to me.

“Yes. Finn, this is Jenna. Jenna, this is Finn.” I introduced the two.

“It’s nice to finally meet you.” Jenna said.

“It is nice to meet you, too.” Finn said.

Soft conversations were shared within the group. Finn was eyeing the cheesy fries. I pushed the basket towards him to let him eat some.

The small meeting lasted about an hour before coming to an end. Jenna went up to pay for the bill. “It was great to see you again, Emma.” Finn told me.

“It was nice to see you, too.” I said with a smile.

Just then, Finn hugged me and kissed my temple. Warm tingles rippled through my body. “Goodbye Emma.” Finn said as he pulled back.

“Goodbye Finn.” I said back.

The other Mikaelsons said their goodbyes before they headed out. I was left with Jenna as I waited for her to finish paying the bill. I was happy everything went well today. It seemed like things were finally starting to calm down.

Chapter 61: Sage

Emma’s POV

A week passed by with no incidents. Maybe peace between Elena’s gang and the Originals was possible. But, of course, with this town, things don’t stay quiet for long.

I was spending the night at the Mikaelson mansion. Elena had really started to get on my nerves. She still hadn’t forgiven me for stopping Esther from getting rid of the Originals. She would start an argument with me almost every time we ran into each other. And since we both lived in the same house, it was hard to avoid her.

I needed a break from her, so I called Rebekah and asked if she was down for a sleepover at her place. That was the night that the short period of peace ended.

Rebekah and I were about to watch a movie. Rebekah was in the living room getting the movie set up while I was preparing a bowl of popcorn for us. I heard the doorbell ring. I glance in the direction of the door. “Rebekah, do you want me to answer the door?” I called out.

“Yeah, sure.” she called back.

I approached the door and opened it. Standing in the entrance was a woman who looked to be in her late twenties or early thirties. She was over five and half feet tall. She had red hair that was lightly curled and fell just below her shoulders. Something about her seemed…off. “Hello, can I help you?” I asked the red headed stranger.

She looked to be slightly confused at me opening the door. She lightly shook her head and answered my question. “Hi, um, do the Mikaelsons live here?” she asked.

Should I tell her? She doesn’t seem to be a threat to them… “Yeah, why? Are you friends with one of them?” I asked.

“I guess you could say that. I’m close with Finn. Is he here?” she asked.

“I think he’s here. Let me just see if I can find him. Come on in and wait here.” I said as I stepped aside to let her in.

As I walked away, she called out to me. “Wait! Who are you? I didn’t think the Misaelson’s would have a human living with them.”

“Oh, I don’t live here with them. Well, not yet, at least.” I said.

I tried walking away again, but the woman sped in front of me. “What do you mean by ‘yet’? Just who are you to them?” the woman asked.

I could sense something in her shift. Her friendly persona was long gone. She seemed irritated. Just how close was she to Finn? Were they lovers at some point? I knew that if she knows Finn, then that would mean that she is a very old, and very strong vampire. Angering her is the last thing I would want to do. “Well, I’m best friends with Rebekah.” I said. It wasn’t a lie, but it wouldn’t be the main reason for my eventual move in.

“Emma, I have the movie all set up. What’s taking so long? Who was at…” Rebekah started as she walked into the room. “You…what are you doing here?”

“I’ve come for Finn. I’ve been waiting centuries for him to wake up so that we could be together.” the woman said.

What she said confirmed what I had thought. It’s a good thing I didn’t tell her about being soulmates with him. If she waited this long to be with him only to find that he had a soulmate, she would’ve ripped my throat out.

“Emma, go find one of my brothers.” Rebekah told me. I nodded and headed out of the room.

The first one I found was Elijah. I told him of the situation and led him to where I had left the woman and Rebekah.

We walked into the room. By getting a proper look at the both of them, I could tell that they did not like each other. “Sage, what a surprise. Why have you come?” Elijah asked.

“The same reason you’re probably thinking of. I’ve come for Finn. Where is he?” the woman, Sage, hissed out.

“Sage, this isn’t going to be easy to hear. Finn has found another he cares about. He has found his soulmate since being awake.” Elijah told her.

“What?! Who?! Who has stolen Finn from me?!” Sage yelled out. It was then that she locked eyes with me.

Before I could blink, she had me pinned to the wall by my throat. My head hit the wall so hard that my vision blurred. I couldn’t breathe. “It’s you, isn’t it! You stole Finn from me!” she screamed at me.

Elijah tore Sage off of me. I collapsed to the floor. I coughed and tried to regain my breath. I couldn’t seem to get a good breath in. I was still struggling to breathe. I coughed again, and blood came out. The world around me was spinning.

Rebekah came up to me and started shouting, but in my panicked state, I couldn’t catch everything she said. “...er windpipe!” was all I managed to catch.

Rebekah bit into her hand and brought it up to my mouth. I could feel her blood, as well as my own, run down my throat. Seconds later, I was finally able to take in full breaths.

No longer panicking and finally able to breath, I took in what was happening. Rebekah was kneeled next to me making sure I was okay. Elijah had Sage pinned to the wall next to me.

“How dare you hurt her.” Elijah said in a dangerously low tone.

Sage, struggling to breathe, answered. “Why the hell do you care? She isn’t your soulmate. She’s Finn’s.” she choked out.

“She just so happens to be my soulmate, too. Even if she wasn’t, I’d still protect her. Being Finn’s soulmate would make her family.” Elijah growled out.

Rebekah helped me to my feet. “Are you okay?” she asked.

I nodded at her. Just then, someone else walked into the room. It was none other than Finn. “What is going on here?” he asked as he examined what was happening in front of him.

“Finn, my love, tell Elijah to unhand me!” Sage told him.

“Elijah, let me speak to her.” Finn said.

Reluctantly, Elijah released Sage. “Sage-” Finn started only to be cut off.

“Finn, I’ve come for you! Now that you are awake, we can be together!” Sage said.

“Sage, I have found my soulmate. I am sorry, but we can not be together.” Finn said, letting her down.

“So, it’s true then? She’s your soulmate?” Sage questioned.

“Yes, she is.” Finn confirmed.

Sage’s face shifted from sadness to anger in less than a second. She tried rushing at me again, but this time I was prepared. I knocked her back with a wind blast. Her body slammed into the wall before falling to the ground. Elijah and Rebekah pinned her to the ground. “Finn, lead Emma out of the room and go find Kol and Niklaus.” Elijah ordered.

Finn nodded and quickly took my hand and gently pulled me from the room. He led me to his room. “I will be back later, okay?” he told me.

“Okay.” I said. He left the room.

I was left in that room for longer than I was comfortable with. It made me worry what was going on with Sage. I just hoped that nothing bad happened to any of the Mikaelsons.

Eventually, Rebekah came in. “Sage has been taken care of. Do you still want to watch that movie?” she asked.

“Yeah, sure. I’ll finish getting the popcorn ready.” I replied.

Rebekah and I watched the movie. Then another. And another. We eventually fell asleep while watching the fourth movie.

I was woken up by the doorbell ringing. I groaned and forced my eyes open. It was still the middle of the night. I took out my phone and checked the time. Who the fuck is visiting at one in the morning?

I nudged Rebekah’s leg to wake her up. “Rebekah, there’s someone at the door.” I managed to mumble out.

“Then go answer it and tell me who it is.” she grumbled out. She still had her eyes closed.

“What if it’s another Sage situation? At least come with me.” I asked, a little more awake.

“Ugh, fine.” she groaned out.

We both reluctantly got up. We dragged ourselves over to the door. I opened it and looked at the man standing behind it. I had no idea who this dude was. Just a man with brown hair. “Who the hell are you and why are you here at this ungodly hour?” Rebekah asked, clearly annoyed.

“Sorry to bother you, but has Sage been here lately?” the man asked.

I instantly became more awake. I didn’t know how to respond. Thankfully, Rebekah did for me. “Why? Are you one of her friends?” she asked.

“Yes. She told me she was going to see Finn and never returned. Where is she? Is she still here?” he asked.

“You won’t be finding her around here. Emma, close the door. We’re going back to sleep.” Rebekah told me.

As I was closing the door, the man grabbed it and prevented me from shutting it. “I’m afraid I’m not leaving until I know where she is. This is the last place she was before she disappeared. So, I ask again, where is Sage?” he asked with a firm voice.

This guy was starting to irk me. “Can’t this wait until morning?” I asked, just wanting to go back to sleep.

“No.” the man answered bluntly.

“Well, I’m really not in the mood for this. So leave before we have to force you out.” I demanded.

“I’m not leaving this place until I know where Sage is.” the man stated.

I wonder if anyone would mind if I just set this guy aflame…

Chapter 62: Work

Emma’s POV

Rebekah sped over to the man to grab him and throw him out. The man, seeing what she was about to do, dodged her and sped over to me.

Sluggish from being tired, I didn’t react fast enough. He pulled me in front of him and wrapped an arm around me. I struggled to get my arms free from where he had them trapped at my sides. He leaned down towards my neck. He was close enough that I could feel his breath. “You don’t want your little friend to get hurt, do you? Now, tell me what happened to Sage.” he demanded.

I’m so done with his bullshit. Time to put a new skill to good use. I took a deep breath and turned my head. Once his head was in view, I blew fire right at his face.

He screamed out and immediately released his hold on me. He backed away and held his face. Unfortunately, he didn’t keep burning. The fire was quickly put out. Once he started healing, he glared up at me. I glared right back at him. I was done with his crap.

He tried speeding to me again. I knocked him back with a wind blast. He tried to speed over to me a couple more times. I knocked him back again and again. Eventually, I said to hell with it and took control of the water within his body. It may feel wrong, but I was done dealing with him and just wanted to go back to sleep.

I guess we were making too much noise, because I heard Kol’s voice as he approached the room. “What the hell is making all of that noise?”

He came into the room and saw the frozen body of the man I had in my grasp. “This asshole disrupted my sleep because he’s looking for Sage.” I told him.

“A friend of Sage, huh?” he said as he stared at the man. “I’ll go grab Finn and we’ll take care of him. You and Rebekah can go back to sleep.”

Once Kol dragged Finn out of bed to help take care of the man, Rebekah and I retreated to her room to get some much needed sleep.

I ended up waking up before Rebekah. I quietly slid out of bed and went into my bag to grab a fresh set of clothes, my hairbrush, and my toothbrush. I tiptoed over to the bathroom to change.

When I emerged from the bathroom, Rebekah was getting out of bed. She didn’t bother changing clothes and headed downstairs with me to get something to eat.

To my surprise, Finn was at the stove cooking up some eggs. Klaus was sitting at the kitchen island sipping on a glass of blood. “Good morning, love.” Klaus said as he saw Rebekah and I step into the kitchen.

Finn turned around and shot us a smile. “Good morning! Are you two hungry?” Finn asked. We both nodded and took a seat at the island. I sat to the right of Klaus while Rebekah sat to his left.

Finn made scrambled eggs for all of us. While we were eating, Elijah walked in. As usual, he was wearing a suit. When he saw me, a smile spread across his face. “Good morning Emma.” he said as he approached me.

“Good morning.” I replied with a soft smile.

Elijah sat down next to me. “How did you sleep?” he asked.

“My sleep was disrupted last night when someone came in looking for Sage. Kol and Finn took care of it. But after that, I slept like a baby.” I told him.

He briefly glanced up at Finn before focusing his gaze back on me. “Well, I hope you and Rebekah had fun last night.” he said before kissing my cheek.

“We did.” I told him as I felt my cheeks heating up.

Eventually, it was time for me to go back home. I packed up my things. I left a couple of outfits in Rebekah’s closet in case I ever had to stay over again without having the chance to pack.

I came back to a peaceful house. I found Jenna in the kitchen preparing herself some lunch. “Hey, how was the sleepover?” she asked as she saw me walk in.

“It was good, other than the part where someone almost killed me…” I said.

“Excuse me, what?” Jenna said as she looked at me with wide eyes.

I told her about Sage along with her friend waking Rebekah and I up in the middle of the night. She looked shocked when I got to the part where I had to be healed by Rebekah because Sage had damaged my throat so bad that I couldn’t breath.

“Are you okay?” Jenna asked after I was done telling what had happened.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I told her.

Jenna and I talked while Jenna ate her lunch. Soon, Jenna had to leave. Her and Alaric were going to hang out at the grill. I told her to have fun on her way out.

The week went by slowly. Elena had finally stopped picking fights with me. Jeremy and I don’t speak often, but the times we do aren’t nearly as awkward. So, it was progress.

Despite everything that was going on, I was keeping up with schoolwork. It was the only consistently normal thing going on in my life. Going to school was boring, but it was a break from all of the craziness in my life.

But it seemed that things were starting to go back to normal.

The following weeks passed by in a blur. Nothing big had been happening. The Elena gang and the Mikaelsons weren’t declaring war on each other. Things were good.

Before long, winter was here. I spent Christmas Eve with the Mikaelsons. I gave them their presents and they all loved them. At the end of the night, they led me outside to give me the final present. They said it was a present that they all had a part in buying.

They had bought me a car. I was in shock. That was the biggest present anyone had ever given to me. I thanked them profusely before squealing and running up to the car to take a closer look at it.

I spent Christmas at home. Elena and Jeremy were forced to spend time with me. Thankfully, no arguments or fights started. In fact, I even managed to make Elena and Jeremy laugh.

Eventually, after the holidays, school started back up again. It felt great to finally be able to drive myself to school instead of walking or asking Jenna for a ride. Now that I had a car, I could go anywhere in town without having to walk.

Despite it being winter, I still went to the clearing often. With it being cold, it was a good time to truly test out my fire ability. I used my fire ability and my wind ability to try and warm up the clearing. It was difficult to do and required precision, but eventually, I was able to do it. I didn’t know if I would ever get any use out of this new skill, but I always enjoyed practicing with my powers.

Eventually, the gas costs of driving everywhere started to bite back. I knew that I needed money if I wanted to keep on driving everywhere. The Mikaelsons told me that they would have no problem in helping me pay for gas, but I told them that I was more than okay with looking for a part time job. I ended up applying for a job at the grill.

After an interview that happened not even a week later, I got hired to work in the kitchen. The guy who trained me was a junior that I vaguely recognized from school. His name was James and he was on the football team and the track team. Since it was winter and the track team hadn't started practice yet, he was able to be there almost every night.

He told me he was relieved I was starting to work there. One reason was because he wouldn’t have to worry about requesting nights off once track season started. Another was because someone who used to work there with him had recently quit. Apparently, the day that I put in my appreciation was the day that the other person had quit. I guess that's why they hired me so quickly.

I picked up on everything fairly quickly. It helped that there was a copy of the menu in the kitchen so I didn’t have to memorize the entire thing. Within a couple of weeks, I was starting to work by myself in that kitchen on slower nights.

On some of the busier nights, James and I would both be in the kitchen. One of us would focus on the grill, and one of us would focus on the fryers. Whenever things started to slow down, we would either work on the dishes, or we would portion some of the fryer food.

The pay wasn’t too bad. I was even getting paid more than one of the new bartenders, but that was because the kitchen staff didn’t get any of the tip money that people left behind. Because we don’t get tips, our starting pay rate was higher than the bartenders or wait staff.

Since I had a job, I couldn’t get out to the clearing as often as I wanted. But I still made it out there at least a couple times each week.

Winter had started to melt into spring. Since spring was starting, that meant that the track season had started. James only came in on weekends if he didn’t have any track meets. He had track practice every single day after school, so I was left alone in the kitchen on those nights.

Despite track season just starting, I managed to get Elijah’s birthday, Klaus’ birthday, and Finn’s birthday off. For Elijah’s birthday, we went out for dinner at a higher end restaurant out of town.

About a week later, for Klaus’ birthday, we ended up going out to see a movie before going over to the mansion to hang out for the rest of the night.

A couple weeks later, it was Finn’s birthday. All that he wanted to do was spend the day with me. So, we watched some movies and cuddled on the couch all day. That night, we ended up sharing our first kiss. When our lips connected, I could feel pleasurable sparks flow through my body. It was a short kiss, but it was amazing.

After that, work carried on as usual. Most Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays were pretty slow. Wednesdays can be busy from time to time, but for the most part, they were easy to handle. Friday nights were a different story. Most track meets landed on Fridays.

Sunday through Thursday nights, the kitchen closes at ten. But on Friday and Saturday nights, the kitchen stays open until eleven. Track meets usually end between nine and ten. So, after every meet, everyone usually wants something to eat before they head home. And the only place in town open that late would be the grill. So during the last hour of my shift, I would get bombarded with orders. Being in that kitchen alone and having orders coming in left and right, it can get pretty hectic. On top of that, I can’t leave until the dishes and the entire kitchen is stocked and clean. So, some nights, I don’t leave until after midnight.

I was at work at least five days a week since James and I were the only ones on kitchen staff at night. With James having track practices and meets, I was usually the only one scheduled to work. Every once and a while, the owner would schedule themself to work in the kitchen if I needed a break.

With me spending most of my time either at school or at work, I had very little time to spend with the Mikaelsons. Rebekah and I would always talk at lunch, but that was pretty much it. They couldn’t visit me at work because most of the kitchen isn’t visible from the bar or tables.

Working at the grill isn’t all bad, though. Everyone is allowed to have a snack during their shift. During my time working there, I had tried every appetizer that place has to offer. My top two are the cheesy fries and the mac and cheese bites.

Every Wednesday night was taco night. The daytime kitchen staff would make a bunch of taco meat in a couple of instant pots. Whenever it looks like there’s gonna be a lot left, I would usually make myself some fries with cheese and taco meat. One night, I made some for Matt. Now, every Wednesday night, Matt and I would share some taco fries.

Every once and a while, the boss would hire someone, usually someone from school, to help out in the kitchen. But they usually don’t stick around too long. Once they realized how stressful busy nights can get and how warm it could get in there, they usually quit within a month. Some don’t even last a week.

One particular night, I was working with a new hire. He had been there for a couple weeks at that point. I had him take charge of the grill since he still needed some experience with it. It was a Friday night. It was one of the busiest nights I had seen since I had started working there. Ever since the dinner rush started, there had been no time to breathe.

The dishes were piling up and the orders were coming in fast. About two hours into his shift, he got so frustrated and angry that he quit and walked out. He had left multiple burgers and tenderloins on the grill. I had no idea how cooked each item on the grill was. So, I temporarily abandoned the fryers to check on the grill. Thankfully, the kitchen had a thermometer we used specifically for meats. So, I carried on where he left off along with trying to keep up with the fryers. All the while the orders were continuing to pile up. That was one of the hardest nights I had ever dealt with at work.

Since Matt and I see each other almost every single day at work, we grew to become friends. He would even sit with Rebekah and I at lunch every once in a while. After being abandoned by Elena’s gang, I never thought that my friend circle would ever grow beyond Rebekah. I was pleasantly surprised with the new friendship.

Elena’s graduation day was fast approaching. Despite barely being on speaking terms with Elena, I helped her and Jenna plan her graduation party. It was set to happen the weekend after my birthday. Not that anyone was going to remember my birthday. The only one who remembered last year was Enzo. Since then I had mentioned my birthday a couple times to Rebekah.

Rebekah decided against having a graduation party. She didn’t see the need for one. Sure, she liked a good party, but she wasn’t all that excited about graduating.

I managed to get the day of the graduation ceremony, my birthday, and Elena’s graduation party off. Soon, it was the last day of school for the seniors. The rest of us still had a couple more weeks of school.

Since Rebekah and Matt were part of the graduating class, I sat alone at lunch for the last two weeks of school. I was so used to having lunch with someone. Having lunch alone again felt lonely.

The graduation ceremony happened about a week after the senior’s last day. And shortly after that, track season ended. With James back at work, I only worked four days a week. I had a little more free time.

My birthday landed on the last day of school. No one at school had a clue that it was my birthday. I wasn’t surprised. My only two friends had graduated. During lunch, I got a call from Rebekah. She asked me if I was free to hang out tonight. I told her I had no plans. So, she told me to come over at around six.

When I got home from school, I couldn’t find Jenna anywhere. I briefly wondered where she was before getting ready for tonight. I had no idea if I was going to be staying the night or not, so I packed an outfit. Before long, I was off to the Mikaelson mansion.

Chapter 63: Birthday

No One's POV

The people in the mansion were busy setting everything up. Rebekah had informed her siblings of a certain birthday weeks ago. Since then, they had been planning on throwing a party for the girl since she hadn't done anything for her birthday last year due to certain circumstances.

Rebekah had also called Jenna and Matt to join in on the fun. They were currently here helping with the preparations. "Did you guys get candles?" Rebekah heard Jenna call out.

"Yes, they should be in one of the bags on the counter." Rebekah called back from her position on the other side of the large room setting up streamers.

The final preparations were being made. Emma had texted Rebekah that she was on her way over. The decorations were all put up, the food was cooked, and the cake was prepared. Everything was set up. Rebekah did one last check to make sure everything was perfect.

Everyone was gathered in the kitchen when the doorbell rang. Everyone quit talking. Rebekah nodded at everyone and went up to answer the door. She opened the door to reveal none other than Emma. Rebekah smiled at her. "Hey! Glad you could make it! I was hoping we could watch a few more movies and hang out." Rebekah told the girl.

"Sounds like a plan. Do we need to buy some more snacks?" Emma asked.

"No, I already have that covered. Come on, I put them in the kitchen." Rebekah said as she grabbed Emma's hand and led her to the kitchen.

As the girls walked into the kitchen, the others in the room yelled out. "Surprise!"

Emma looked at them in surprise. She turned her head towards Rebekah. Rebekah beamed at her.

Emma's eyes lit up and a smile crossed her face. Klaus was the first one to come up to Emma. "Happy birthday love!" he said as he hugged her and kissed her head.

Everyone else followed the example and came up to her. Birthday wishes and hugs were exchanged.

Once the cake was cut and presents were open, it was time to eat. As suggested by Matt Donovan, an instant pot was filled with taco meat mixed with nacho cheese, and several orders of fries from the grill were brought over. We all sat together and shared stories while we all munched on the taco fries.

During the party, Emma's phone started ringing. It was Enzo. She excused herself and walked out of the room to answer her phone. "Hey Enzo."

"Hey Emma, just calling to wish you a happy birthday." Enzo said.

"Aw, thanks Enzo!" Emma replied.

"So, are you doing anything for your birthday?" he asked.

"Well, if you had asked a few hours ago, the answer would have been no. But the Mikaelsons along with Jenna and Matt threw me a surprise party! I'm currently at the mansion celebrating and eating my weight in taco fries." Emma told him.

"Surprise party, huh? Well, that beats last year's birthday celebration of hanging out with me at the grill worrying about Elena's life." he said.

"I guess it does. But I do miss hanging out with you, but with school ending, I suspect that I will be working more hours at the grill. But, eventually, the boss will have to let me have a day off. So, when that day comes, do you want to hang out again?" Emma asked.

"That works, or we could hang out during your breaks. You get breaks there, right?" he asked.

"If it's slow and I work more than six hours, yes. But if it's busy, then I'll usually end up having to work through my breaks." Emma told him.

"Well, how about I come in when it's slow and you can spend your break hanging out with me?" he suggested.

"That sounds good, but I'm warning you, Damon comes to the grill quite often. I know you would rather avoid him." Emma said.

"I'll risk it." He told me.

"Well then, it's usually slow on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays." Emma told him.

"I'll see you then. I'll talk to you later. Bye." he said.

"Bye Enzo." Emma said. Once she ended the call, Emma walked back into the room.

"Who was that?" Rebekah asked.

"A friend from McKinley wishing me a happy birthday." Emma told them. No more was said on the matter.

A few hours passed and night fell. Matt and Jenna didn't leave until midnight. Emma decided to stay the night since she had packed an outfit. The brothers took care of all of the clean up while Emma and Rebekah got comfy on the couch and started watching a movie.

The two girls quietly chatted as the movie started. Their conversation fizzled out as they became invested in the plot of the movie. Despite the movie catching their attention, they both fell asleep before the movie's end since it was already late.

Emma woke up the next day to the alarm on her phone going off. Since it was now summer break, she was scheduled to start helping out during the day. She was scheduled to help Matt open that day. So, reluctantly, she pulled herself up from the couch.

Her alarm seemed to have woken up Rebekah, because Emma heard her groan while she was getting up. "Why did you set an alarm on your phone?" she asked.

"Because I have to work." Emma told her.

"But you always have to work. Call in or find someone to cover for you so we can hang out more." Rebekah said as she sat up.

"I can't. If I start doing that, then I'm afraid it'll become a habit." Emma said.

Rebekah yawned. "How late do you have to work today?" she asked.

"They have me scheduled until five, but if it's busy, then I'll end up having to stay and help James, our cook for tonight." Emma told her.

"What days do you work this upcoming week?" she asked.

"Well, after today, I have to work, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and again Saturday. We're short staffed, so they may end up calling me into work Thursday if someone calls in." Emma told her.

"Do you ever get weekends off?" she asked.

"Not usually..." Emma said.

"Well that sucks. Why don't you take our offer to let us pay for your gas?" she asked.

"Because it wouldn't feel right. Plus, having a job is probably the most normal thing I have going on in my life right now." Emma told her.

"Well, once you get tired of being normal, let us know." Rebekah said as she made her way upstairs to her room.

Emma made her way to the nearest bathroom, with her bag that contained a hair brush, her toothbrush, and a fresh set of clothes, including her work shirt. She quickly got ready for work and made her way out to the car.

Emma drove to the grill and made her way up to the door. The door was unlocked, indicating that Matt was already there getting everything set up. Emma made her way in. She and Matt greeted each other as Emma passed him to get to the kitchen.

Once Emma was clocked in, she got to work. She turned on the kitchen lights and turned on the grill. Once it was set to an appropriate temp, she turned on and set the temp on the fryers. While the oil in the fryers was heating up, she flipped on the exhaust fan.

Once everything in the kitchen was set up, she went into the main bar to see if Matt needed any help. It looked like he was taking the last of the chairs down.

About fifteen minutes before opening, the main bartender for the day walked in. She clocked in and looked over all of the liquors to make sure she had everything and made a note of what she was low on. She was low on a couple different types of bourbon.

Once everything was ready, they turned on the neons and flipped on the open sign. Emma tied her hair up and retreated to the kitchen.

Not even fifteen minutes after opening, the first few lunch orders came through. The kitchen receipt printer seemed to never stop going off. Once Emma was almost done with one order, another two would come through.

The lunch rush was in full swing. Multiple tickets were hanging in front of Emma as she worked over the grill. Multiple fryer baskets were down cooking the fries, appetizers, and anything breaded.

Things slowed down during the afternoon. Slow enough to where she could take a break. She walked out of the hot kitchen and into the cool bar and sat down at an unused table. She looked around and noticed Damon and Alaric at their usual spot drinking up the town's supply of bourbon. Other than the people she worked with, she didn't know anyone else in the bar.

Eventually, Emma had to get back to work. She sighed in relief to see that no orders came through while she was on her break. She knew that the peace wouldn't last long since it was a Saturday.

Emma's prediction came true when the dinner rush started early. It was nearing the end of her shift, but she knew that if the dinner rush continued on like it was, she would have to stay and help James until it slowed down.

James came in for his shift and took over the fryers. The dinner rush was still in full swing, so Emma stayed to help James until it slowed down.

It seemed like the dinner rush would never end. But, after working for an extra three hours, Emma was finally able to clock out and go home.

Elena's graduation party happened the next day. A bunch of people showed up for the celebration. It seemed like the whole town came up in support of Elena.

People were crowded around Elena the entire time while Emma appeared to be invisible. The only one who took the time to talk to her was Matt.

The week went by as usual. Enzo ended up coming in on Monday to spend some time with Emma during her break. It was good to hang out with Enzo again. But her fun ended far too soon when she had to get back to work.

With it being summer, the grill was always busy. There were a few slow moments on weekdays, but they never lasted long. Emma was always hard at work while she was on the clock, and it didn't go unnoticed.

Once the six month mark of Emma's employment passed, Emma got a raise. It wasn't a huge raise. It was just twenty cents more an hour, but Emma appreciated it.

The summer seemed to go by at a snail's pace. Emma didn't particularly like school, but she was getting tired of being at work. James had recently quit, so there were many times where she had to work a double shift at the grill, and she would rarely get a day off. Emma would come in at ten in the morning, and leave at eleven at night. Sometimes she wouldn't get back home until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. Then she'd have to get up at nine the next day and do it all again.

Those that care about her were concerned about how much she was working. By the end of summer break, two new people were hired, and it seemed like they were going to stay. Sadly, by the time they were trained, it was time for Emma to go back to school, so Emma had no extra time to rest. Emma didn't let that get her down. She held her head up high and walked right into the school for her junior year.

Chapter 64: Movies

Emma’s POV

About a year had passed. I finished my junior year of high school. Not much had happened over this past year. Just a couple of highlights that I found enjoyable. The funniest one being Damon seeing Enzo. I was there when it happened. He was hanging out with me during one of my breaks. The look on Damon’s face was absolutely priceless.

Another funny thing about that was that he didn’t even see Enzo when he first walked in. Enzo thought it was time to make himself known to Damon. That, and neither of us could wait any longer to see his reaction. So, when Damon sat down at the bar, Enzo came up and sat a couple seats over from him. When Damon finally looked over at him, his eyes became as big as saucers and he paled. I didn’t even know that vampires could pale.

Soon after that, he let me introduce him to the Mikaelsons. They seemed to get along nicely. I was thankful for that. I didn’t want my soulmates and my first friend to hate each other.

About a month after that event, I quit my job at the grill. Junior year was a lot harder than sophomore year, and working a job on top of trying to keep my grades up was getting hard for me to handle.

Things with the Mikaelsons were great. All of the brothers had little nicknames for me at this point. Finn calls me ‘darling’. Elijah likes to call me ‘elskan’. To be honest, I had to look up what that meant. Kol calls me ‘my dear’. And, like always, Nik calls me ‘love’.

Earlier this year, Klaus had told me that he prefers the name Nik over Klaus. So, since then, I had been calling him Nik.

Recently, Jeremy graduated. His graduation party happened just a few days ago. He had it the day before my eighteenth birthday. So, that weekend was one big celebration.

Summer break had just started, and I was enjoying it. I wasn’t dealing with the loss of my friends, I wasn’t working every single day, it was the first summer break in a while where I could just relax. Without a job, I had a lot more time to practice with my powers. I could spend more time coming up with new ways to use my powers.

Over the last couple months, I’ve been spending more and more time over at the Mikaelson mansion. Elena was back from her first year of college. She didn’t hate me anymore, but we hardly ever speak. Whenever we do, it feels so forced and awkward. So, to make it easier on both of us, I spend more time at the mansion than I do at home. But, at this point, the mansion is my home now.

I was lounging on the couch with Finn. He had me pulled up onto his lap with his arms around me. We were watching a movie. I was hardly paying attention to the movie. I was focused on the warmth and comfort Finn’s embrace brought me.

I opened my eyes to see the ending credits rolling on the TV screen. I hadn’t even realized that I had fallen asleep. I looked up to see Finn’s head tilted to the side with his eyes closed. Well, at least I wasn’t the only one.

I carefully moved Finn’s arms so that I could get up without waking him. Once I managed to pry his arms off of me, I carefully slid off of his lap. Once I was successfully off of his lap, I took the blanket from the couch and draped it over him before heading into the kitchen to search for something to eat.

Kol walked in while I was washing my dishes after eating. “Hello my dear.” he said as he hugged my waist from behind.

“Hey Kol.” I said back. I continued washing the dishes.

“I was hoping to take you out for lunch, but it looks like you’ve already eaten.” Kol said as he watched me wash the dishes.

“Maybe for dinner.” I suggested.

“Does seven tonight work for you?” Kol asked.

“Yes.” I told him.

“Great! Be ready to go by 6:30. See you later, my dear.” he said. He moved some of my hair and kissed my neck. A blush lit up my face at that.

Kol walked out of the room. I didn’t see his face, but I could sense the arrogant smirk he probably had as he walked away.

Soon enough, the early evening hours rolled around. I was in my room in the mansion. I was getting ready for the date. Kol didn’t tell me what kind of place he was taking me to. He was kind of a wild card. You never know if you’re going to an expensive restaurant or just some diner.

I was never one to wear dresses, so I decided on a pair of jeans and a nice blouse. I grabbed my purse and phone and made my way downstairs. There was still a little time before we had to leave, but I saw Kol waiting for me at the entrance. He wore casual clothing, so that means nothing too expensive.

Kol took me to a place a little outside of town. Nothing fancy enough to have to call in ahead of time to reserve a table. We walked right in and were seated at a table for two.

The date with Kol was amazing. He told me hilarious stories of his past and told him about mine. “...and every year, without fail, she would get hit in the face with a water balloon.” I told him.

A quiet chuckle left him. “If she kept getting hit in the face, why would she keep participating in the water parade?” he asked.

“Because, other than getting a balloon to the face, we would still have fun.” I told him with a smile.

“That sounds like a fun event. If you’re up for it, we could go there next Independence Day.” Kol suggested.

“That would be so much fun! But if we’re going, we’ve got to stay until the fireworks. Their firework display is one of the best in the state.” I told him.

“I can’t wait.” he told me with a soft smile.

Our date was a success. We both had a lot of fun sharing memories of our past. It was especially fun to hear some of Kol’s witch stories.

Kol and I decided to go back to the mansion and watch a movie after our night out. I went to my room to change into some more comfy clothes. I settled on some sweatpants and a large tshirt before leaving the room to find Kol.

Instead of the couch, we went to his room. He had a large flat screen mounted on the wall across from the bed.

We were snuggled on the bed watching Iron Man. “I find it hard to believe that the first thing someone would want after being freed from captivity would be a cheese burger.” Kol said as he watched Stark eating a burger during a press meeting.

“Well, I would assume that any food he got during captivity was gross and stale. That is if they were even feeding him properly.” I told him.

“Well in that case, I would ask for cheesy fries, not a burger.” he said.

I looked over at him. “You and your cheesy fries.” I said with a smile.

We finished the movie. It was safe to say that Kol had thoroughly enjoyed watching it. While the credits were rolling, I climbed out of Kol’s bed to the little stack of movies I had pulled from the vast collection the Mikaelsons had. I knew that Kol enjoyed action movies, so I decided to introduce him to Marvel movies. “Alright. What do you want to watch next? Do you want to jump right into Iron Man 2? There’s also The Incredible Hulk, Thor…” I said, listing off the movies to choose from.

“Can we watch Thor next?” he asked.

“Sure.” I said as I picked up the case. I put the movie in after the little clip after the credits had played.

Kol held me close as he watched Thor and his team fight the frost giants. His eyes were locked on the screen. I found it cute that he could get completely sucked into a movie.

When the movie ended, we eventually decided it was time to go to sleep. I ended up just staying in Kol’s room. It wasn’t anything new to end up staying in one of the Mikaelson’s rooms instead of my own. But that’s all it was. Just sleeping. We’ve never done anything more than make out, and I’ve never expressed any interest in doing anything more yet.

I woke up the next morning in Kol’s arms. I opened my eyes and saw that he was already awake. “Good morning, my dear.” he said once he saw my eyes open.

I smiled sleepily at him as I replied. “Good morning.”

After a couple minutes of internal debate, I got out of bed to get ready for the day. I went to my room and picked out an outfit for the day before getting cleaned up.

Soon, I emerged from my room in a clean pair of sweatpants and a comfy shirt. I wasn’t planning on going out today. I knew that everyone except Kol had left that morning to take a short trip to Charleston, South Carolina to meet with some allies they have in that area. They said they’d be back later on tonight. They didn’t want me to go because they didn’t want anyone to know about me yet. They didn’t want to put me in any sort of danger.

I walked downstairs to see Kol in the kitchen preparing our breakfast. The smell of eggs wafted through the air. I made my way over to him to see him cooking a pan full of scrambled eggs.

After breakfast, Kol decided on watching another Marvel movie. We decided on Iron Man 2. Once again, we decided to just watch the movie in Kol’s room.

Not even ten minutes in, we’re already enjoying the jokes being told. Out of the Marvel movies I had seen, the Iron Man movies had to be my favorite. The comedy within the movies were spot on in my opinion.

While the credits were scrolling down the screen, Kol spoke up. “I think it’s time you officially move in.”

I looked up at him. “Well, this is coming out of nowhere. What brought this on?” I asked.

“You’re already spending most of your nights here. I just think it’s time for you to move all of your stuff over here and make it official.” Kol told me.

“I don’t know how Jenna is going to take it, though. I’m not even out of school yet. I still have my senior year to go.” I said.

“But you’re legally an adult now. You’re old enough to move out. Will you at least think about it?” he asked.

“I’ll think about it. But I will talk it over with Jenna first before deciding on anything.” I told him.

He accepted my answer and kissed my cheek. We turned our head back towards the screen as the ending clip played.

Once the movie was officially over, I hopped out of bed towards the DVD player. “So, what do you want to watch next? The Incredible Hulk, or Captain America?” I asked.

“Let’s go with The Incredible Hulk.” he said.

I popped the DVD in and jumped back in bed with Kol. We cuddled under the blankets as we watched the opening scenes.

After that movie, we took a break from movies to get something to eat. While we were eating, Kol decided to speak up. “So, what’s next on the list?”

“Next, we have to watch Captain America. After that, it’s on to the first Avengers movie. Then, we would need to watch Iron Man 3, but I’m not sure if you guys have it. I’ll have to look. If we watch all of those, maybe we’ll be able to catch the next Thor movie in theaters. If not, we’ll have to wait until it comes out on DVD.” I said as I got up to wash my plate.

“That’s only three more movies. We can finish them by tomorrow if we keep going.” Kol said.

“True. I’ll go get Captain America set up and try to find Iron Man 3.” I said as I left the room.

After successfully tracking down Iron Man 3, I went back to Kol’s room and set up the next movie. Kol came in while I was putting the DVD in.

“Did you manage to find Iron Man 3?” he asked.

“Yeah, I found it. If you’re up for it, we can binge watch the last three movies and go watch the new Thor movie sometime later this week.” I suggested.

“Sounds like a good plan to me.” Kol said as he climbed onto the bed. I climbed in after him. Kol pulled me to his chest as the movie started.

Chapter 65: First Time

Hey everyone! So, this is a smut chapter. If you're uncomfortable with that, skip this chapter. You won't be missing anything major. For those of you who are staying, I should tell you that I've only written smut one other time.  So, sorry if this isn't very good. I tried my best.  I'm not too confident when it comes to writing smut, so that's why it took me a little longer to write this chapter. I'm planning on using the remainder of this book to practice writing smut so that I can get better at it. So, I hope you're looking forward to some more smut chapters in the future. With all that being said, enjoy the chapter!

Emma’s POV

The movie was almost over. I knew that I would soon have to move in order to put in the next movie, but I was too warm and comfortable. I was sitting in between Kol’s legs as he hugged me from behind.

As the last scenes of the movie played out, I felt Kol place a kiss on my neck. I let out a relaxed sigh and leaned back onto him. He kept leaving butterfly kisses down my neck. “You’re making it really hard for me to get up and change the movie.” I commented.

“We can take a little break from movies.” Kol said back.

Kol continued kissing my neck and started rubbing his hands up and down my sides. “I guess taking a short break wouldn’t hurt.” I responded.

When Kol kissed a spot near my pulse point, I inhaled sharply. He paused, and I felt him smirk against my skin as he kissed that spot again. I let out a quiet gasp.

Kol began nipping and sucking at that spot and eventually left a very noticeable hickey. Once he was done, we changed positions. I was laying down on the bed with Kol hovering over me. He sat up and admired the work he did on my neck. I blush lit up my cheeks.

Kol leaned down and kissed me deeply. He flicked his tongue against my lips, asking for entrance. I complied and opened my mouth. He quickly dominated my mouth as his tongue explored the new territory. As he did this, one of his hands tenderly stroked my cheek.

Once we parted to breathe, Kol sat up and took off his shirt. I couldn’t help myself as my eyes roamed down his perfectly toned chest to his abs. Kol smirked as he noticed my eyes taking him in.

His head dove back down to my neck and trailed kisses down one side of my neck. When he reached the collar of my shirt, he gave the shirt a small tug, silently asking for permission.

I lifted my arms and let him take the shirt off. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he kissed down to my collarbones. He nipped at a couple places as he continued to kiss around the upper part of my chest. All the while his hands lightly skimmed up my sides, leaving a trail of goosebumps behind.

As his hands ran up my body to where my loose sports bra was, he leaned his head up towards my ear. “Are you okay to keep going?” he whispered.

I nodded my head. I had no intention of stopping. I wanted this. Every touch felt electric. Every kiss sent pleasure rippling through my body. Everything about this moment was perfect.

“I need your verbal consent, my dear. Are you ready for this?” he asked.

“Yes, I’m ready.” I whispered back at him. That was all he needed to hear before he helped me take off my sports bra.

Once the bra was thrown to the ground, Kol leaned up to take in the view. I blushed heavily as his eyes raked over my bare upper body. No one had ever seen me this exposed before. I turned my head away.

He gently cupped my cheek and guided my head back to look at him. He looked me in my eyes and gave me a smile. “You look absolutely beautiful, my dear.” he said.

I felt the corners of my lips lift into a shy smile at the compliment. Kol lifted his head from my ear and began to trail kisses down my chest. He started at my collarbones and kissed his way down to my now unclothed breasts.

His lips wrapped around one of my nipples as one of his hands massaged my other breast. A gasp slipped past my lips at the unexpected action. There was now a pulsing in between my legs.

Kol’s mouth and hands switched breasts to give equal treatment. Moans fell freely from my lips as he continued to pleasure my body like no one else has before. All of this was uncharted territory to me, and I was nervous yet excited to explore it.

Once Kol had decided he was done with my breasts, he kissed down my stomach. When he reached the hem of my sweatpants, he hooked a finger underneath the waistband and pulled them off along with my underwear. Now fully exposed, my face burned a bright red.

Kol briefly pulled away to take off his own pants before climbing back over me. He kissed me before leaning back down towards my ear. “Is this your first time?” he quietly asked.

“Yes.” I whispered out. My heart was hammering quickly in my chest.

“It’s a pleasure to be your first.” he said. He kissed my cheek. “I’ll be gentle.”

Kol ran his hands up my legs. His hands inched closer to the pulsing between my thighs. Meanwhile, Kol was getting to work marking my neck with hickies.

When his hand finally got to their destination, he ran a finger up my slit. My body shivered at the feeling. When he slipped a finger into me, I froze. It didn’t hurt, but the feeling was just so foreign to me. I didn’t know how to react.

Kol noticed me stiffen up. “Are you okay?” he asked quietly.

I nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. It just feels a bit weird.” I admitted.

Once my body started to relax, he leaned down and kissed my neck as he started to move his finger in and out of me. Soon, the weird feeling started to dissolve into pleasure. I let my fingers play with his hair as he continued to kiss my neck.

As the pleasure grew, I moaned. Kol started pumping his finger faster into me. My heart rate and breathing began to pick up speed.

When he added a second finger, my mind began to get hazy. I could feel something start to form in my abdomen. It felt almost like a coil, getting tighter and tighter as the pleasure increased. My moans grew louder the tighter that coil got.

His lips captured my mouth once again as he started to scissor his fingers inside of me. Any moans that tried to leave my mouth were muffled as he kissed me deeply. Unknowingly, my hands began to lightly tug as his hair and the pleasure continued to course through my body.

Suddenly, he pulled his fingers out of me. A whine escaped my mouth before I could stop it. The haze that my mind was in began to lift. I notice Kol looking at the slick shine on his fingers. I looked away sheepishly.

Kol moved off of me for a moment to take off his boxers. I caught a glimpse of what was in store for me. There it was. Standing tall and proud. I grew nervous as I noticed the size. How is that supposed to fit?

Kol lined himself up with my entrance. My nervousness must’ve shown on my face, because before he pushed in, he leaned down and whispered soothingly into my ear. “This might hurt at first, my dear. Just remember to breathe, okay? If at any moment you want to stop, just tell me and I’ll pull out.”

He pushed into me slowly. I could feel my walls struggle to stretch around him. I leaned up and hid my face in his chest as I swallowed down a cry that tried to climb up my throat. Tears began to form in my eyes, which were clenched shut.

“Just breathe.” he whispered into my ear. “Try your best to relax. The pain will go away soon.” he coaxed. He landed a gentle kiss on my cheek.

Once he was fully in, he held still to let me adjust. I kept my face hidden in his chest as I took in deep breaths and tried my best to relax. The more I relaxed, the less it hurt.

Once the pain died down into slight discomfort, I lifted my head and looked at him. “It’s okay to move now.” I said.

As promised, he started off gentle. His pace was slow. I was still getting used to the feeling of him inside of me.

His hands found mine. Our fingers intertwined as he continued. Soon, the discomfort started to melt into pleasure. A moan escaped my lips at the feeling. I soon started to feel that familiar coil forming in my abdomen.

His pace began to speed up. That coil in me started to tighten.

Each thrust sent a jolt of pleasure through my body. Each kiss placed upon my skin sent warm tingles coursing through my body. I closed my eyes and let myself get lost in everything I was feeling.

Kol sped up his pace even more. The coil was becoming uncomfortably tight. It was becoming painful. I could feel tears wanting to form in my eyes.

I opened my eyes when I heard a growl from Kol. I looked up at his face to see the dark veins wanting to climb down from his eyes. He was fighting the urge to bite me. I remembered Elijah saying something about blood sharing between couples. He said that it was extremely intimate.

Remembering this, I turned my head a bit to give him more access. “Do it.” I managed to whisper out between moans. He looked into my eyes and I gave him a small nod.

With a little hesitation on his part, he bit into me. I didn’t feel the pain I was expecting. In fact, it added to the pleasure already coursing through my body.

As my walls began clenching down around him, he lifted his head from my neck. I knew my end was near. Kol’s movements were becoming erratic, so I assumed he was reaching his end, too.

All of the sudden, the coil snapped. Kol looked right into my eyes as I began to unravel from under him. All that I felt was absolute euphoria. My eyes rolled back as loud moans fell from my mouth.

After a few more thrusts, Kol reached his end. He spilled his seed into me as I saw throw his head back. A loud moan escaped him, too.

Once we came down from our highs, he pulled out and pulled one of his hands away from mine. He bit into his wrist. He placed the wound over my mouth and I took a couple sips to heal the bite on my neck. Kol then laid down beside me and waited for me to catch my breath. One of our hands was still intertwined.

Once my breathing and heart rate started to slow, Kol looked over at me. “Are you doing okay?” he asked.

“Never better.” I said as I smiled at him and gave his hand a small squeeze. He smiled back at me. He picked me up and carried me into the bathroom. I got myself cleaned up while he put fresh sheets onto his bed. While in the bathroom, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. The hickies that Kol gave me were already starting to fade. Probably because of the vampire blood. I made my way out of the bathroom and made a quick trip to my room to grab some clean clothes. I decided to put on some sleepwear.

We decided to continue watching movies. We only had two left. I put in The Avengers and pressed play. I climbed into bed and Kol pulled me close as the movie began.

Kol was silent for the first part of the movie. He was completely sucked in, and I couldn’t blame him. When I first watched the movie, nothing could bring me out of the world that was on the screen.

Kol got excited when Thor showed up. For some reason, he had enjoyed Thor the most out of the first few movies. I’ve concluded that it was because the movie was about a god that he had heard about during his time as a human. That it reminded him of a simpler time.

Kol laughed as Coulson shot Loki and said a line that I remember from the movie. “So that’s what it does.” I said with the man on the screen. Even when there’s someone dying on screen, the writers still manage to make you laugh.

During the action, there were short comedy scenes that we both laughed at. There were some lines that I even remembered. “...given that it’s a stupid ass decision, I have elected to ignore it.” I mumbled out as Nick Fury said it on the screen.

Finally, the scene I had been waiting for came up. “I am a god you dull creature, and I will not be bullied by-” Loki was cut off as The Hulk grabbed him and slammed him on the ground a total of five times.

I felt Kol’s chest constricted with a barely contained laugh. “Puny god.” The Hulk said as he walked away from a whimpering Loki. Kol and I laughed our asses off at that. That scene was absolute perfection.

“That was awesome.” Kol said as we watched the credits. We knew all too well to wait for the ending scene.

“So, is Iron Man 3 the last one we have to watch before hitting the theaters?” Kol asked.

“Yep.” I said as a yawn escaped my mouth.

“It looks like the last movie is gonna have to wait until tomorrow.” Kol told me.

“You can watch it if you want to. I’ve already seen it.” I suggested.

“I want to watch it with you.” Kol replied as he grabbed the remote to turn off the TV. I yawned again as I laid down next to Kol. Kol pulled me into his chest. “I love you.” he whispered into my ear.

A small smile spread across my lips. “I love you, too, Kol.” I said.

That small smile stayed on my face as I drifted off into sleep.

Edit: So, I made a few edits because some of you made it very clear that you did not like how the chapter turned out.  I'm sure it's still not up to some of your standards, but I hope it suffices for now.   Please let me know what I can do to improve this chapter, because I am completely lost when it comes to this kind of stuff.

Chapter 66: Rumors

Emma’s POV

I opened my eyes the next day to see Kol already awake. He was looking down at me. “You're staring.” I said.

“I'm admiring.” he corrected.

A soft smile formed on my face and I let out a huff of amusement. All of the sudden, there’s a knock on the door. “Kol, are you up yet? We need to talk to you.” I heard Rebekah say from the other side or the door.

“I’ll be out there soon.” Kol responded.

I sigh escaped my lips. “Does this mean we have to get up?” I mumbled.

“It seems so, my dear.” Kol said.

With a slight grunt, I got up. As I made my way over to the bathroom, I noticed the lack of an ache that should have been between my legs. That magic of vampire blood, I suppose.

I stopped in front of the mirror. The hickeys were completely gone. The only proof of last night were two tiny scarred over pin pricks of Kol’s bite. You wouldn’t be able to see it unless you knew what you were looking for and where to look. I brought my hand up and touched the bite and blushed as the events of last night played over in my head.

Once I was done with my business in the bathroom, I walked out and saw Kol now dressed for the day. Since I didn’t bring any proper clothes down last night, I decided to stay in my sleepwear until after breakfast.

Kol and I walked out of the room and into the kitchen. I saw Finn preparing breakfast. Rebekah was sitting at the kitchen island. I made my way over and sat across from her. Kol took a seat next to me. When he took his seat, he leaned over and kissed my cheek. I looked over at him and gave him a warm smile.

“So, what did you need to talk to me about?” Kol asked.

“I’ll tell you when everybody gets here. This conversation has to do with all of us…” Rebekah started. She then looked at me. “...including you.”

I raised my eyebrows at that. Me? I thought that they just had to talk to one of their allies. That it was nothing important.

Finn set a plate of eggs down in front of me. I smiled up at him and he leaned down to give me a small peck on the lips.

I was reaching for the salt when my other two mates walked into the kitchen. They both made their way over to the island. They each gave me a peck on the cheek as they passed by.

Once everyone was settled, Rebekah spoke up. “We really need to talk about what we learned while we were in Charleston.”

“Right.” Nik said as he took charge of the little meeting. “Apparently, rumors had been spreading around about us having a soulmate. Which means, someone in this town had let the information slip.”

“Or someone from our past had tracked us down and followed us.” Elijah chimed in.

“Either way, this could be a major problem moving forward. If the wrong people hear of this, you could be in danger.” Rebekah said as she looked at me.

“Do you think Elena leaked the information?” Kol asked as he turned towards me.

I shook my head. “No, I don’t think so. We may not be close, but we smoothed things over a long time ago. I don’t think she would do something like this.” I said.

“Never mind how the rumors started, what are we going to do about it?” Elijah asked.

“I hate to say it, but maybe it would be better if she stayed over at Jenna’s house for now. As long as she and Jenna are careful about who they invite in, she’ll be safe there.” Finn suggested.

“We have more than just vampire enemies. There’s also quite a few witches after us, as well.” Nik said.

“Then one of us should stay with her at all times. I’m sure we’re all in agreement that no one will touch her as long as she is with us,” Rebekah said.

That doesn’t sound like a bad idea.” Finn said.

Are you okay with that elskan?” Elijah asked me.

Once again, I nodded. “I’m okay with it. Do you think it’ll be safe to go out alone by the time school starts up again?” I asked.

“If not, I could enroll there. Physically, I’m eighteen, so I don’t think anyone would bat an eye at a new kid coming here for his senior year.” Kol said.

“Alright, so it’s settled. One of us will accompany her whenever she leaves the mansion until we feel that it is safe for her to go out alone again.” Nik stated as he looked around to make sure no one had anything else to say on the matter.

“Would it be alright for me to tell Jenna all of this?” I asked them before the group dispersed.

“Sure, darling. Are you going to call her or do you want to pay her a visit?” Finn asked.

“I should probably go visit her. It’s been a few days since I’ve physically checked in on her.” I said.

“We can go after breakfast.” Kol told me. I gave him a nod and continued eating my eggs.

About an hour later, we made it to Jenna’s house. Jenna’s car was the only one in the driveway, so it was just her at the house. I walked up to the house with Kol trailing close behind me. I rang the doorbell and waited patiently for the door to open.

Jenna answered the door and smiled as she saw me standing outside. “Hey! It’s about time you returned home for a bit.” she said. She looked behind me and saw Kol. “And you brought Kol. You know, you might be soulmates, but you are allowed to go out by yourself.” Jenna said.

“I’m afraid that right now, it can’t be helped.” I replied. Jenna gave me a confused look. “We need to talk to you, can we come in?” I asked.

Jenna gestured for us to come inside. We all made our way into the kitchen and got settled. “So, yesterday, most of the Mikaelsons took a trip to talk to some friends in Charleston. They had me stay at the mansion with Kol since they don’t want anyone knowing about me yet. If one of their many enemies caught wind of the Mikaelsons all sharing one soulmate, there would be people lining up to either take me or kill me.” I started.

“Somehow, there’s rumors flying around about us having a soulmate. We have no idea how the word got out or if people actually believe the rumors. But, until we believe that it is safe, Emma will have at least one of us with her at all times outside of the mansion.” Kol finished.

Jenna took a minute to take in the information. Once she collected her thoughts, she spoke up. “So, I assume you’re staying at the mansion until further notice.”

“That’s what it looks like.” I said.

“You might as well grab some more of your clothes then. A lot of it is still here.” I nodded and led Kol upstairs. I grabbed a suitcase and started to pack up some of my clothes. With Kol’s help, it only took a few minutes to fill the suitcase with clothes. I still had some more clothes in the closet, but I wanted to keep some here for when this whole thing eventually blows over.

We made our way back downstairs. Jenna was still in the kitchen, this time with a mug of coffee. We went into the kitchen to tell her that we were heading out. “I packed what I could into one suitcase. We’re about to head out.” I told her.

“Okay. Call me everyday. I want to make sure you’re okay.” Jenna said as she set down her mug. She made her way over to me and hugged me. “Stay safe.” she whispered to me.

“I will.” I whispered back as I hugged her back.

We eventually pulled apart. She smiled at me before she turned her attention towards Kol. “If she gets hurt under your watch, I’ll kick your ass.” Jenna said.

“Don’t worry Jenna, we’ll keep her safe.” Kol said with a grin.

“You better.” Jenna lightly warned. “Well, if you ever need anything, feel free to come back. You know that you always have a place here, right?” she asked me.

“I know I do, Jenna.” I said with a smile.

Kol and I made our way to the front door. “Don’t forget to call me!” Jenna yelled out before we were out the door.

“I won’t. Bye Jenna!” I yelled back.

“Do you really think she’ll find a way to kick my ass?” Kol asked on our drive back to the mansion.

“Well, if there’s a way for her to do it by herself, she’ll find it.” I replied.

“I highly doubt there’s a way for her to hurt us by herself.” Kol said.

“And I believe that she highly doubts that you guys will let me get hurt while I’m under your watch.” I told him.

I could see the corners of Kol’s lips twitch upwards. “Do you really believe she thinks that?” he asked.

“I really do.” I responded.

A smile lit up Kol’s face. “I really hope you’re right. I want her to trust us.”

“And I’m sure she does. She knows as well as I do that you guys want to keep me safe.” I said.

The rest of the drive back to the mansion was pleasantly quiet. Kol followed me inside with the suitcase he insisted on carrying. We made our way to my room in the mansion and put everything away.

After that, we decided to watch Iron Man 3. Instead of watching it in his room, we decided to watch it out in the living room. I put in the movie while Kol got the popcorn ready. Once Kol came in with the popcorn, he set the bowl on the coffee table in front of us and sat down. We cuddled close before I pressed play on the movie.

Ten minutes in, and Kol and I were already enjoying the movie. There was already a perfect mix of serious and comedic. Kol chuckled at the Dum-E ‘dunce’ hat scene.

We’re both sucked in by the time the attack happens. I managed to tear my eyes away from the screen long enough to see that Kol was snacking on the popcorn like there was no tomorrow. I knew that the popcorn would be gone before the movie was over.

Finn walked in at about the halfway point. On the screen, Tony was getting prepared to break into the Mandarin’s base. Finn got sucked in during the whole break in scene. And another one gets sucked into the MCU. And as for the popcorn, I was correct. It was gone with over half an hour left of the movie.

I saw Finn put on a face of confusion when Jarvis mentioned something about ‘House Party Protocol’. Even though nothing about it had been said, I could see that Kol had an idea about what it was. All eyes were glued to the screen during the final battle scene.

“What movie was that?” Finn asked as the movie ended.

“Iron Man 3.” Kol answered. “You’re joining the Marvel party pretty late there, brother.”

“It‘s alright, I’ll catch him up. That is, if you want me to.” I said. He smiled and nodded at me. “We can start with the first couple movies later tonight.”

Chapter 67: Movies With Finn

Emma’s POV

I made myself some chicken alfredo that night for dinner. I made extra in case anyone else wanted some.

Elijah walked in while I was eating. “What did you make?” he asked as he walked over to the still half full pot.

“Chicken alfredo. I made extra. Want some?” I asked.

“I would love to have some.” Elijah said.

He served himself a plate and sat across from me on the kitchen island. “How did it go with Jenna?” he asked.

“It went alright. She wasn’t too upset about it. She understands the situation and realizes that it’s for my own protection.” I responded.

“That’s good.” he said. “Oh, I need to let you know that Niklaus will be out of town for a few days. He’s going to try to track down who started the rumors.”

“That’s good. Does he have any ideas on who started them?” I asked.

“He has a few ideas, but nothing confirmed until he finds them and asks them about it.” Elijah answered.

Elijah and I finished our dinner while keeping up the small talk. I washed the dishes while he put away any leftovers we had. He kissed my cheek before he left the kitchen.

True to my word, Finn and I watched a couple of Marvel movies that night.

Of course, I made a big bowl of popcorn for us to share. We started with the first Iron Man movie.

Like everyone else I’ve met, he appreciated the humorous aspect of the movie. And just like Kol, he was immediately sucked into the story being told on the screen. It felt good knowing I had some other MCU fans that I could watch the movies with.

We also ended up watching The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man 2 that night. So far, it seemed like he liked Iron man the best, but we’ll have to see how he likes the other movies when it comes time to watch them.

The next day came around, and I was planning on going out to the clearing to get some practice in since it had been a few days since I last had the chance to. Knowing I had to have at least one of them with me, I asked everyone, minus Nik since he was still out of the house, if anyone wanted to accompany me to the clearing.

Elijah ended up volunteering first. So, after breakfast, I changed into a sports bra, tank top, a pair of shorts, and some tennis shoes. I threw my hair into a braid before walking out of my room.

I met Elijah near the entrance. I saw his eyes look over my body hungrily.

I’ve noticed that the Mikaelson brothers have been less and less discreet about it when they let their eyes roam up and down my body.

I blushed as I noticed his gaze. It doesn’t matter how many times I catch one of them looking at me like that, it never fails to make my face heat up. I don’t think I’ll ever really get used to it.

“Are you ready to head out?” I asked as I reached him.

His gaze finally shifted up to my eyes at my words. “Of course!” he said as he opened the door for me. “After you.”

A short time later, we were at the clearing. On the way there, we decided I should practice with water and earth.

A while ago, I discovered that I could feel vibrations in the ground if I had a direct connection to the earth and focused enough. So, I was toeing off my shoes and socks once we stepped into the clearing.

I stood at the center of the clearing. I pulled water from the stream and had it flowing around me in a circle. I closed my eyes and tried to focus on the earth beneath me.

The plan was for Elijah to speed around the clearing, trying his best to sneak around me and not get hit by the water spikes I was going to send out if I sensed him nearby. I was going to keep my eyes closed the whole time and use the vibrations in the ground to sense where he was.

It took me a minute to fully focus on the earth around me while also keeping the stream of water flowing around me. But once I did, I did a small nod to tell Elijah that I was ready.

For a moment, I didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary. I could sense everything going on around me. I could feel the branches on the trees moving in the light wind, I could feel the blades of grass swaying in the breeze blowing through the clearing, but I couldn’t feel anything else.

Until I felt something thump on the ground a few feet to the left of me…

I quickly sent a spike of water that way. The only thing I felt it hit was a tree, and whatever was there wasn’t there anymore.

I focused back on the vibrations on the ground, ready to act the moment I felt something shift.

I felt something scurry past me behind me. Again I shot a water spike towards there. It didn’t hit anything. I missed.

This time, I felt something run around the clearing a few yards in front of me. Predicting they’re movements, I sent a water spike towards where I assumed they were going to be.

I hit the target. I smiled and opened my eyes.

In front of me was Elijah with a partially wet form fitting shirt he decided to wear today. Not only did I hit my target, but I also somehow managed to slightly rip the shirt with the water.

I couldn’t help but look at him. His now wet shirt was sticking to his body, leaving very little to the imagination. That along with a bit of his skin showing through the rip I had accidently made was making it hard for me to look away.

When I looked up, I could tell that Elijah was trying to hide his smirk. I blushed as I realized he saw me checking him out.

Trying to play it cool, I managed to open my mouth to speak. “Sorry about the rip. I didn’t know that I would be able to without freezing the water first.”

“It’s quite alright, elskan. I don’t mind.” he said, giving up on hiding his smirk.

I kept working on my powers with him in the clearing. Eventually, we decided to call it quits. It was midday and the heat was beginning to become unbearable, so we headed back to the mansion.

Right when we got back, I immediately took a shower. When I walked out of my room freshly showered and dressed, I was approached by Finn. He asked if I was free to watch a couple more Marvel movies.

I didn’t have anything else going on that day, so I happily accepted his request. He smiled at me and said that he’d grab the movies while I gave myself the job of getting the popcorn ready to go.

Once the popcorn was ready, I walked in and sat the bowl down on the table in front of the couch. Before I could get comfy in my spot next to Finn, he pulled me into his lap. He pulled a blanket over us and put the bowl of popcorn onto my lap before he pressed play on the movie.

I munched on the popcorn as I watched a movie that I had just watched a few days before with Kol. Just like his brother, Finn couldn’t tear his eyes away from the screen. He held me tight against his chest as he became more engrossed in the movie with every passing minute.

Finn really enjoyed watching Thor and immediately got up to put in Captain America after the ending credits scene played out.

There was still a good amount of popcorn left, so the only thing I did while he prepared the movie was grab drinks for the both of us.

Once again, he pulled me into his lap as he started the movie. Despite watching the movie just a few days ago, I still got sucked in.

I knew everything that was going to happen, but I still really enjoyed watching. There’s something about some of the Marvel movies that just sucks you in no matter how many times you have seen the movie.

We were about halfway through the movie before I realized something. Has Finn learned about the second world war? Did he learn about past events after waking up?

Not only was the movie entertaining him, he’s also learning a few things about a major event in world history, even if it isn’t much. But the movie is meant for entertainment. Most who watch it already know some about the war, like the concentration camps and such. The movie doesn’t mention anything about that. But if Finn asks about the second world war, I’ll tell him what I know.

By the time the movie was over, I decided that it was time to make some dinner. I decided on making some spaghetti.

I grabbed a pot and filled it with water before setting it on the stove to boil. I grabbed a pan and ground beef and started cooking it to add to the sauce later. While I was breaking up the chunks of beef in the pan, Finn came up behind me and hugged my waist. “What’s on the menu tonight?”

“Spaghetti. Can you ask the others if they want any?” I requested. He nodded at me and sped off.

The sizzle from the pan sounded around the room. I kept stirring and breaking up large pieces of beef as it continued to cook. Checking the water, I could see bubbles forming on the bottom of the pot and steam starting to form above the heating water.

Once the beef was cooked and the grease was emptied out, I checked on the water again to see that it was just starting to boil. Just as I was grabbing the spaghetti noodles, Finn came back in and told me that Elijah, Kol and Rebekah would be joining us. With that information, I grabbed two boxes of noodles and poured it into the water.

It was time to add the sauce to the already cooked beef. Thankfully, they had some canned spaghetti sauce, making it easier on me. I poured the sauce in with the beef while the noodles continued cooking.

Once the sauce started to simmer, I turned the stove down to its lowest setting to keep the sauce hot as I checked on the noodles.

After I strained the water out of the pot, everything was cooked. I decided to keep the noodles and sauce separated so that everyone could add however much sauce they wanted. “Dinner’s ready!” I yelled out.

One by one, they each filed into the room. “Thank you for cooking dinner, elskan.” Elijah whispered in my ear as he walked by.

Soon, everyone was grabbing their share of spaghetti and sat down at the kitchen island. I was sitting with Rebekah on my right and Elijah on my left. Finn and Kol were sitting across from us.

Light conversations were shared between everyone while we all ate. I turned my head towards Rebekah since she was being pretty quiet. I noticed her looking at my neck. Not in a hungry way, but it looked like she was inspecting something.

“Are you alright Rebekah?” Finn asked. He was looking at her with a raised brow, likely noticing her weird staring like I did.

“Yeah, it’s just…” she trailed off as she squinted, still inspecting my neck.

I brought my hand up to my neck. I wiped it and pulled my hand up to reveal nothing. What is she staring at?

She brought her hand up and brushed it over a spot on my neck. It was then what I realized she was looking at. I glanced over at Kol, and saw that he also realized what she was looking at.

“Did someone bite you?” Rebekah asked.

“Um…” was all I managed to say. I felt my cheeks warm up slightly as I remembered that night with Kol.

I looked over at Kol with pleading eyes, hoping he would take charge of explaining everything.

He froze as he locked eyes with me. His eyes widened as he looked over at Elijah, who I assume was starting to connect the dots.

Elijah spoke up, his voice low. “You got something you want to confess, Kol?”

Chapter 68: Time To Hide

Emma’s POV

Both Kol and I were frozen. Elijah’s question hung in the air. Each silent second felt like an eternity.

I may not have been looking at him, but I’m sure Elijah has a death glare pointed at Kol. Rebekah looked between Kol and I, mild shock written on her face as she finally put the pieces together. Finn was right behind her. A glare of his own pointed at Kol once he had pieced it all together.

I wondered if I should intervene. I didn’t want a fight to break out between them. Especially since it was consensual for both of us.

“You know how intimate that is. Something -”

I cut Elijah off. “It was consensual. For both of us.” I told him, hoping to calm him down.

“But still, he shouldn’t have done that unless you specifically ask for it.” Elijah said.

“I was the one who asked for it.” I declared

Both Elijah and Finn widened their eyes at my statement. “You asked him to?” Finn asked.

“Yes. I asked him to. While we were, well, you know, he was holding himself back from biting me. He wasn’t going to do it unless I told him to.” I told them.

“Was he at least gentle?” Elijah asked.

“Gentle about the bite, or-” I trailed off, knowing they already knew what I meant.

“Both.” Elijah said.

“He was gentle, all the way through. A perfect gentleman.” I said, smiling at Kol. He sent me a thankful look.

“Did he at least take you out on a date beforehand?” Elijah asked.

“Well, we were actually watching movies when it happened. It was while you guys were in Charleston.” I admitted.

Elijah and Finn sent Kol admonishing looks. Kol shrank back at their looks.

“Her first time should’ve started with a romantic date.” Finn told Kol.

Elijah sighed. “Even though I’m still upset with it, I’m glad that you were gentle and treated her well during the act.” Elijah said.

“I’m a little offended that you would ever think differently.” Kol mumbled just loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Niklaus is not going to like hearing about this.” Elijah said.

“You’re not gonna tell him, are you?” Kol asked nervously.

“We have to. He deserves to know.” Finn said.

I heard Kol curse under his breath. It was true that Nik needed to know. Kol should be happy that he isn’t here right now. Elijah or Finn will probably call him later on tonight or tomorrow. It should take him a while to get back home and give him a chance to cool off.

“I’ll make the call.” Elijah stated as I pulled his phone out.

“Wait, we’re doing this right now?” Kol asked.

“It should happen sooner rather than later.” Finn said as he watched Elijah scroll through his contacts.

Before we knew it, Elijah was calling Nik. He put it on speaker so we could all hear and say our part.

I could see Kol getting more and more nervous with each ring. I, too, was a bit nervous. We all knew that Nik’s temper was nearly unrivaled.

Eventually, Nik answered the call. “Elijah, this better be good. My hybrids and I are close to finding out who started those damn rumors. We chased whoever it was all the way to Georgia.”

“I apologize for interrupting the search, but we just found out something that Kol did while we were in Charleston.” Elijah started.

“What did he do this time?” Nik bit out.

“You’re acting like I broke something.” Kol said, looking a bit offended.

“He’d probably be less mad if you had just simply broken something.” Rebekah said back.

“What did Kol do?” Nik repeated, sounding a bit more frustrated.

“He gave our dear Emma her first sexual experience.” Elijah stated.

“He did what?” Nik siad, his voice dangerously low, just barely being able to keep himself from shouting.

“And gave Emma her first bite.” Finn added.

“He WHAT!?!?!?” Nik was now shouting over the phone.

We didn’t hear much else before Nik hung up on us. Silence surrounded us. No one knew what to say.

Finn was the first to break the silence. “I’d find a hiding spot if I were you, brother.” he said, looking at Kol.

“That may be a good idea. Just until he calms down.” Elijah said.

“Where the hell would I go where he wouldn’t find me?” Kol asked.

“Wherever it is, you better find that spot by tomorrow morning.” Elijah told him.

Kol cursed under his breath before getting lost deep in thought, probably trying to think of a good hiding place.

After dinner, Rebekah helped me wash the dishes. “Why didn’t you tell us about your night with Kol sooner?” Rebekah asked.

“Because I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. It was bound to happen eventually.” I told her.

“I’m sure they never mentioned it to you, but they’ve had conversations of who would be your first. I don’t know if they ever came to a decision, but I’m sure the only one who wanted Kol to be your first, was Kol.” she said.

"Well, you’re right about one thing. They never told me that there was supposed to be some sort of order.” I admitted.

“Like I said, I don’t think they had an official order yet. They might have told you when they had agreed on an order.” Rebekah said.

“They should’ve told me about those conversations. I mean, I should have a say in it, too, right?” I asked.

“I guess that thought never crossed their minds.” was all Rebekah responded with.

It was getting late. I was climbing into bed when there was a knock on my bedroom door.

“Come in.” I said to whoever was at the door.

Kol opened the door and walked in. “Hey, how are you feeling?” I asked when I saw his nervous face.

“Not the best. My brother is on his way back and I’m sure he is absolutely fuming.” Kol started. “I’m sure there isn’t a cave on this planet I could hide in where he wouldn’t eventually find me.”

“I don’t think he’ll go too hard on you. After all, he can’t hurt you without hurting me. I’m sure he’ll remember that.” I told him in an attempt to calm some of his nerves.

“That’s what’s making me nervous. I’ve faced his wrath before, so it’s nothing new to me. But I don’t want you to get hurt because of his actions.” Kol said.

“Well, I’m sure you’ll be able to find a spot to hide in for a little while. You don’t have to hide forever, just enough for us to calm him down.” I said.

“Did you forget he locked me in a box for almost an entire century?” he asked.

“I did not, but I’m sure in a couple days, he’ll calm down enough to see some sense. I know for a fact that he’ll never want to hurt me. We just need to give him some time to cool off enough so that we can reason with him.” I told him.

Just then, the sound of the front door banging open was heard, followed by a very angry voice. “Kol!” Nik’s voice boomed from downstairs.

“Looks like he came home early.” I said.

“And that’s my cue to leave. See you in a few days, hopefully in one piece.” Kol whispered to me before giving me a quick peck on the cheek.

I blinked and he was gone. I saw the window open, the window that was definitely closed just a minute ago. He actually jumped out of the window…

I got up and closed the window. Just as I was getting back into bed, Nik ran into my room. “Where’s Kol?” he demanded to know.

“I don’t know. If I had to guess, I’d say he’s halfway to Wyoming by now.” I told him.

“Don’t sass me right now, love.” Nik said. He lifted my chin and moved my hair away from my neck, no doubt looking for the bite mark.

Once he found it, he turned away and growled out some incoherent words, no doubt planning Kol’s demise.

Once he left the room, I sighed and closed the door. I fell onto my bed with a huff.

I sure hope you found a good hiding spot, Kol.

Chapter 69: Date Preparation

Emma’s POV

I woke up to the sun shining through the window. After a minute, my brain fully wakes up and immediately drifts to what happened yesterday. I finally had the time to fully absorb the information.

Most people would be shocked, or even appalled at what I had just found out. The brothers were coming up with an order on who would have me first. Or, at least, they were before Kol decided to go against whatever they had planned.

I somewhat understood why they wanted an order. Or, at least talked about who would have me first. They’re vampires, meaning they have enhanced strength. I would guess that either Elijah or Nik had the patience and control to hold back their instinct to use their full strength during an act like that, especially for me, who hadn’t done anything like that up until then.

Just because I understood their views on the situation doesn’t mean I was too happy about it. They should have approached me with this sooner. We should have talked this through a long time ago. It wouldn’t be a pleasant conversation, but it would be a necessary one.

I’ll give Nik some time to cool down and wait for Kol’s return. Once everyone is in the same house, I’ll call a meeting for all of us. This is a conversation all of us should have.

The thought of an order just doesn’t sit quite right with me, especially since things went just fine with Kol. I wanted them to know that. I wanted to get that out into the open, along with anything else any of us needed to say. Communication is key for relationships like this.

After laying there for a few more minutes, I finally got up to start the day.

After brushing my hair, teeth and getting dressed in a comfy outfit, I exited my room. I didn’t have anything planned for the day. I went down into the kitchen to see Finn about to start preparing breakfast.

I greeted him and sat down at the island. We chatted while he got started on making what looked like pancakes. Before long, Rebekah walked in and hopped in on our conversation.

“So, how are you taking everything that happened last night?” Rebekah asked once the previous conversation came to a close.

“I’m doing okay. I’m a bit worried for Kol and Nik, though. I don’t want Nik to try to kill Kol over what we did.” I admitted.

“Nik’s being a child over it, though I do understand his distress, considering what I told you last night.” Rebekah said.

“Yeah. Once Nik cools off enough for Kol to make a safe return, I’ll have to sit everyone down and talk about it.” I told her.

“That’s not gonna be an easy conversation.” Rebekah responded.

“Sure, it’s not going to be a comfy conversation, but it’s a needed one.” I said.

“A conversation about what?” Finn asked as he set a plate of pancakes down in front of me.

I looked over at Rebekah. She gave me a nod, telling me it’s okay for me to tell him.

“Rebekah told me that you guys had conversations about who would be my first.” I told him.

Finn sent a quick look over at Rebekah before responding. “It’s true. Some of us are more in control of our instincts than others. We wanted someone who could control their urges in such circumstances to be your first, just to be safe.” Finn admitted.

“And that’s a conversation I felt I should have been included in.” I responded.

“I know, and I’m sorry for not telling you about it sooner.” Finn said apologetically.

“Apology accepted.” I told him.

He gave me a small smile before turning back to the stove to prepare himself a little something to eat.

Once I finished my breakfast, I left the kitchen to head up to my room. I didn’t have any plans for the day. Maybe I should go to the clearing later, with company, of course.

I nearly ran straight into Elijah while I was stuck in my thoughts. Just barely managing to stop myself from smacking right into him, I looked up at him.

I quickly regained my composure. I was about to ask if he would be willing to accompany me to the clearing again. Before I could open my mouth, he spoke first. “Emma, I was about to start looking for you. I was wondering if you had any plans for tonight.”

I shook my head. “Not yet, why?” I asked.

“Will you give me the pleasure of taking you out on a date tonight?” he asked me.

A light blushed formed on my face at his question. Trying my best to keep the blush from growing any darker, I answered. “I would love to go on a date with you.”

He sent me a charming smile at my answer. “Please be ready tonight at 7:00. I’m taking you to an expensive restaurant, so wear something nice, even though I know you’ll look amazing in pretty much anything.” he said before leaning down and kissing my cheek. “I’ll see you then.” he whispered in my ear before walking away.

I couldn’t help the pleasant shiver from running down my spine as the feeling of his lips seemed to linger on my cheek. I couldn’t help the small smile from forming on my face. The blush stayed on my face as I finished my trip to my room.

I spent some time in my room listening to music. I was feeling antsy. I couldn’t stop thinking about what I should wear on my date with Elijah.

I didn’t own too many dresses. Just the dress from the ball and dresses from past school dances. I had three dresses in mind that could work, but didn’t know which dress would work best.

There was only one thing I could do at this point.

Ask Rebekah.

I got up and made my way to Rebekah’s room. Once I made it, I knocked on her door and waited for her to open it.

After a few seconds, the door opened to reveal a bored looking Rebekah. “Hey, what’s up?” she asked.

“Hey, I was wondering if you could help me pick out a dress for my date with Elijah. I have it narrowed down-”

I was abruptly cut off as she grabbed me and pulled me into her room. She closed the door as she dragged me over to the door leading to her closet. She opened the door and practically pushed me in as she started to look over some of the many outfits she had stored in here.

Her closet was absolutely massive and full of clothes. It was basically a small store. I looked around and noticed her already starting to pull some dresses out to get a closer look at them, occasionally taking a brief look at me before returning her gaze to the dress. “We’re about the same size, right?” she asked, still looking over some of the dresses she pulled out.

“I mean, you’re at least a couple inches taller than me, but other than that, I would say we’re close to the same size.” I answered back, still confused as to why she pulled me in here.

Eventually, she walked back over to me carrying a few dresses. She handed them to me and pointed to a curtained area. She actually had a changing area in her closet.

As she was ushering me over to the changing area, I spoke up. “I already had a couple dresses in mind…”

“You don’t have nearly enough dresses in your closet. Let me do this.” she told me.

Before I knew it, I was in the changing area. She took this as an excuse to dress me up, didn’t she?

After nearly three hours of trying on dresses, we decided on a beautiful green dress. “What time is it?” Rebekah asked as we made our way back to my room, dress in hand.

I opened up my phone and took a quick look. “4:30.” I answered.

“When is your date with Elijah?” she questioned.

“He told me to be ready by 7:00.” I told her.

“Well, there’s no time to waste! Go take a shower. I’ll help you with your hair and makeup once you’re out.” she said as she ushered me to my bathroom.

Following her orders, I quickly hopped into the shower. I washed every inch of my body and even shaved, wanting to look and feel my absolute best.

Walking out of the shower, Rebekah had me sit down in front of the vanity. She plugged in the hair dryer I assumed she grabbed from her room and started to dry my hair since my hair would usually take hours to fully dry.

She lightly curled my already wavy hair. She took a small chunk of hair from either side of my face and loosely twisted it around my head and tied it in the back for a simple, yet elegant look.

She did my makeup next. She didn’t do much, opting for a natural look rather than a face full of makeup.

Once she was done, she told me to get changed and handed me the dress. I returned to the bathroom and quickly slipped into the dress.

I walked out of the bathroom. Rebekah’s eyes landed on me. She smiled at me and made a hand gesture; telling me to spin.

I slowly twirled around to give her a full view of the dress. Her smile turned into a prideful smirk. She was obviously proud of her work.

She pulled me in front of the mirror. I took a good look at my reflection.

I could still clearly make out that it was me staring back, but I looked different. It looked like I belonged in a wealthy family, which, technically, I do.

Out was the casually dressed girl, and in came the elegant young lady who looked like she was ready to dance the night away at a ball.

I’m glad Rebekah chose to not cake my face in makeup. If she did that, I don’t think I would recognize myself. In the event that I do wear makeup, it would always be light. I never really liked the look that came with putting on layers of makeup.

“Well? Tell me how much you love the work of art looking back at you.” Rebekah said, gesturing to the mirror.

“Wow, I actually look amazing. I never knew I could look so elegant.” I said as I gawked at the woman staring back at me.

“You’re sure to send my brothers into a frenzy once they catch sight of you.” she said, still smirking. “In fact, if you pass by anyone other than Elijah first, they may just try to take you for themselves tonight.”

“The last thing we need is another fight to break out between them.” I said.

“I know, but I’m sure you’ll handle it. You’re mated to them, so you’ll be able to handle their tempers one day.” she responded.

She walked over to my closet. “Now, for one last touch…” she said as she pulled out a pair of shoes.

It was the wedges I wore to the ball.

“I’m sure these will pair nicely with that dress.” she said as she handed me the wedges.

I put them on and stood back up, feeling a couple inches taller. With them on, I was almost the same height as Rebekah. “Perfect..” I heard her mutter behind me.

“It’s almost 7:00.” Rebekah announced. “Have fun on the date.” she told me before she started pushing me out of the room.

Chapter 70: Date With Elijah

Emma’s POV

I walked downstairs and towards the entrance of the mansion. I saw Elijah already there, waiting for me.

His head turned towards me as I walked down the stairs. A soft smile lit up his face when he saw me.

I couldn't help but smile back at him. He was wearing an expensive looking black suit with a white undershirt and black tie. Like always, he looked handsome.

Once I made my way up to him, he spoke up. “You look absolutely beautiful, elskan.”

Blushing from the compliment, I replied. “Thank you. You look quite handsome yourself.”

Elijah offered me his arm before leading me out to his car. We drove for a good half hour before stopping outside of an astonishingly beautiful restaurant.

We walked in and the inside looked just as beautiful as the outside did. It was obviously a very high class place that was most likely run by a very well respected chef.

Once we were settled in our seats, a waiter walked up to us with menus in hand. He handed the menus to us while introducing himself. “Welcome to Trummer’s Restaurant! My name is Oliver and I will be waiting on you tonight. What can I get you to drink? We have a wide variety of wine listed on the back of the menu.”

Thankfully, Elijah took care of ordering our drinks. I knew nothing about wine. I wasn’t even legally allowed to drink yet.

The waiter didn’t even ask for my ID, which I found a bit strange. Most of the time, if you looked young enough, the person serving you would ask for an ID. If you were caught serving someone underage, you and your place of employment would get fined, maybe even shut down. So, seeing a waiter at a high class place not even asking to see my ID after ordering some wine somewhat baffled me.

I assumed that this place didn’t get many younger couples making reservations here. That, and I must look a bit older than I actually am.

Quickly brushing off any other lingering thoughts, I turned my full attention to the menu in front of me. There were a few things on the menu I didn’t know how to pronounce. After looking for a few minutes I managed to find something that I both liked and knew how to say.

As if the universe was guiding the waiter, he came back with a bottle of our chosen wine and poured it into our wine glasses. “There you go! Are you two ready to order?” he asked.

Elijah took a quick look at me in silent question. I gave him a quick nod to signify I knew what I wanted. “Yes, we are.”

“Alright, let’s start with you, sir. What would you like?” the waiter asked.

“I would like the cioppino, please.” Elijah told him.

I would have gotten that if I knew how to confidently pronounce it.

“Okay, and for you, ma’am?” he asked.

Wow, I’ve never been called ma’am before. It makes me feel old. “Um, could I have the seared rockfish?”

“Of course! I’ll be back soon with your orders.” the waiter said before walking away with our order.

Once the waiter was out of earshot, Elijah and I fell into quiet conversations. While we were talking, I tried the red wine Elijah ordered for us. I had never had wine before, so I decided to take a small sip, just to see if I would like it.

Elijah knew me so well. It tasted like strawberries. I loved strawberries. So this is what strawberry wine tasted like. I’d have to ask Elijah what type this was so that we could have it again at some point.

Of course, without my permission, the song ‘Strawberry Wine’ ran through my head. Knowing me, it’ll be stuck there for at least another two weeks. Resisting the urge to hum the damn song, Elijah and I continued our conversation.

“So, do you have any plans for the summer?” Elijah asked.

“Kol and I talked about going somewhere for the fourth of July. There’s a small town near McKinley that I used to go to with my first adoptive parents. The population of that town is less than one thousand people, so it’s really tiny, but the fireworks show that they host there is one of the best in the state. So, on the fourth, the streets are flooded with people from all around the state.” I explained enthusiastically.

“Oh, that sounds like it would be fun! Would you like my siblings and I to tag along with you and Kol for this?” Elijah asked.

“Sure! We could make it a family trip! But if we go, we have to be there early if we’re going to the ballpark to watch it. It’s not a big place, so it fills up quickly. If we get there early enough, we might find a spot to set up a small canopy and lawn chairs. I would like to be there by two, though, because that’s when the water parade is.” I told him.

“Water parade?” he questioned.

“Yeah! It’s a small parade that the town puts on. Since it’s in the middle of summer, they put on a water parade. Everyone stocks up on water balloons and fills small pools, totes, anything they can find to hold water for water guns to prepare for it. At two, the parade starts. It usually starts with fire trucks.” I started to explain, fighting with my excitement to keep my voice quiet.

“They would spray anyone participating with water while everyone tries to either throw water balloons at them or spray them back. Then, anybody else who wanted to be in the parade would roll on through, Busses, trailers, even trucks carrying a couple people in the back would drive through the route around town while anyone on the sides of the streets would throw water balloons or spray them while those in the parade would return the favor.” I continued.

“Overall, it’s a fun event on a hot day.” I excitedly explained.

“Sounds like you and Kol would have a fun time at that.” Elijah said.

“You don’t want to join?” I asked.

“I’ll watch the parade from a safe distance,” he said.

I shrugged. “I guess it isn’t for everyone. I’ll still have to think about where we would set up, though.” I said, getting lost in my planning.

“Sure, the parade goes by the ball park, but only one corner of it, and there would probably be people claiming that spot long before we get there. My old parents knew a couple families in the area who would let us join them for the water parade. I could find a way to contact one of the families and ask. Unless we get a truck or have someone pull a trailer for us if we want to be in the parade.” I mumbled to myself, trying to plan everything out.

“We can worry about that at a later date. It’s still a month away. But for now, let’s eat. It looks like our food is coming.” Elijah said.

As if summoned, the waiter came up to us carrying a tray. “Alright. We have the cioppino…” he said as he set Elijah’s food down in front of him. “,,,and the seared rockfish.” he finished, setting my plate down in front of me. “Is there anything else I can get you?” he asked, tucking the tray under his arm.

“No, thank you.” Elijah answered. The waiter nodded and walked away.

Elijah and I ate our food in comfortable silence. As expected, my food tasted phenomenal. Fresh ingredients and expertly prepared. It made me wonder what the check was going to look like. Of course, I knew Elijah would be paying for it, and that he wouldn’t blink at whatever was on that check.

I managed to get a peak of the check as the waiter handed it to Elijah. It was a good couple hundred dollars more than I would ever be comfortable spending on a meal.

The car ride back was filled with me telling Elijah more about the plans for the fourth of July. I told him all of my good memories connected to the holiday.

The entire way back, Elijah had a fond smile on his face as I happily rambled on.

We pulled up to the mansion. Like the gentleman he is, Elijah opened the door for me and helped me step out of the car. We kept our hands connected as we walked back into the mansion.

Once we were inside, Elijah started to lead me up to his room. I had only been in his room a few times before. I’d been in everyone else’s room more times than I had been in Elijah’s. I have movie nights with Kol in his room, I have girl talks with Rebekah in her room, I occasionally have afternoon naps with Finn in his room, I’ve been in Nik’s room more times than I’ve been in Elijah’s.

Every step we took closer to his room, my heart rate became faster and faster. It wasn’t of fear. I could never fear them. Part of it was from excitement, but also from anxiety.

It wasn’t hard to guess what he had hoped would happen by the end of the night once I realized where he was taking me. I had only done this once before with Kol, and it was amazing, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to be nervous each time I had my first time with each of them.

The only reason why I wasn’t as nervous with Kol was because I didn’t exactly know it was going to happen until it did. It was during one of our movie nights. He started kissing my neck, something he had done multiple times before, then things got heated, and one thing led to another, and it just…happened. I didn’t have the time to become anxious. It wasn’t all planned out. It was a movie night that turned into something much more, and I loved every second of it.

Now that I knew what was likely to happen, my anxiety and doubt had plenty of time to build up. It’s not that I don’t know he will stop the moment I feel uncomfortable, I know he will immediately stop the moment I say something, and that he won’t be upset if I do, but I was in no way confident when it comes to this kind of stuff.

I barely managed to stop myself from running right into him once he stopped right outside of his bedroom door. My heart was hammering against my rib cage as I walked into his room, him walking in behind me.

I had no idea what to do. I nervously started to wring my hands together as I stood there in his room. What should I do? Do I go over towards the bed? Do I wait for him to tell me what to do? Should I turn a-

My thoughts immediately halted as I felt him wrap his arms around me from behind. “Do you mind telling me what’s going through that head of yours?” he asked, leaning down towards my ear.

I immediately stopped wringing my hands as my eyes widened slightly in surprise. I turned my head, trying my best to look at him through my peripheral vision.

“Your breathing and heart rate started speeding up the second we walked back into the mansion. I can tell that something’s wrong.” he explained. “Do you not want to do this tonight? We don’t have to. I don’t want you to feel like I’m pressuring you into anything. Just say the word and we can go to your room and just cuddle.”

“It’s not that. I really want to do this, it’s just…I’m nervous.” I admitted, looking down at my feet.

“Would it be at all possible for you to tell me why? I want you to be as comfortable as you can be tonight. So please, walk me through your thoughts.” he gently suggested.

“I…it’s just…” I stuttered. I was having a hard time trying to find a good way to articulate my thoughts and feelings; not used to being this vulnerable with anyone.

With a deep breath, I gathered what was left of my courage and started again. “I don’t have a lot of experience with…this kind of stuff. I know that you’ve had a lot of, I don’t know…practice…with this sort of thing and know exactly what you’re doing. I know that you’ll make this a perfect night for me but…” I stopped, trying to find the right words to finish my thoughts.

“...I’m not confident in my ability to do that. I want this to be a perfect night for you, too, and I don’t know how to do that for you.” I finished as I started wringing my hands again, waiting for him to respond.

I didn’t notice when he removed his arms from me or when he walked around to stand in front of me. I was looking down when I saw his hands grab mine, immediately halting their movements. He moved one of his hands up to lift my chin, tilting my head up in the process.

When my gaze finally met his eyes, I could see love and adoration swimming in them. “Just the fact that you’re here with me has already made tonight a perfect night. I have waited a thousand years to find you and have you in my arms. I already know that I will look back on this night with love and happiness until the end of eternity.”

He let me lower my head slightly as he lowered his own until our foreheads touched. I closed my eyes as he continued to speak. “I don’t care about your abilities on this. Tonight is already perfect because I am here with you. Right here, right now, you are perfect.”

My heart melted at his words. “How did I get so lucky as to end up with you?” I whispered.

“I should be asking myself that. How did I get so lucky as to find my soulmate; my elskan? I love everything about you. Whether it be the sound of your giggle…” he started, pulling back slightly to place a kiss on the top of my head.

“...you’re beautiful hazel eyes…” he continued, kissing my temple.

“...your cute little dimples…” he said as he kissed both of my cheeks, right where my dimples would appear.

I opened my eyes and looked up at him. I gave him a warm smile. “...or your smile, that could light up any room.” he finished before he leaned in to place a soft kiss on my lips.

That kiss told me everything else I needed to know. He didn’t care about my inexperience. I was here with him, and that was more than enough.

I felt my anxiety and doubt diminish the longer I was here with him. My heart still pounded in my chest, but now for completely different reasons.

It was beating with exhilaration.

It was beating with excitement.

It was beating with love.