I woke up from my dreamless sleep from music blaring and my phone ringing. I look over at it to see Rebekah calling me. I yawn and answer the phone, "Yellow?"

"Hey Marina, meet me at school in 10, I wanna show you something."

"'Kay," I yawn, "Be there soon." I hang up and flop back in bed.

After debating whether I should get up or not I grudgingly get out of bed and pick out an outfit. I decide on black tights with high waisted jean shorts, a blue and white striped tank top, and a sky blue cardigan. For jewelry I decided on an anchor necklace and a blue string anchor bracelet.

I grab my phone and Hurricane and put them in my pockets. grabbing my leather ankle boots I walk into the living room and turn on the TV. I place my boots on the ground and go into the kitchen and make some cereal.

After the cereals done I walk out and place it on the coffee table. Once I'm done eating I put on my boots and head for the door finishing my side braid in the process. At the door I grab my bag off the ground and keys out of the bowl.

On my way down the stairs a second floor room has music blaring. I figured I should go and tell them to keep it down.

Going up to the door, I knock and none other than Damon Salvatore opens the door, "Ugh, it's you," I start off.

"Yeah, love you too."

"Mhmm," I hum.

"Well why are you here?"

"I'm here to say that the music is frickin' annoying and woke me up, so could you turn it down."

"Sorry Marina," Elena says from behind Damon. My eyes widen and I look between them.

Damon starts smirking while Elena keeps shaking her head, "Damon, who's at the door?" I hear Alaric ask Damon from somewhere inside.

"It's Marina, Ric."

"I'm coming in," I say as I walk into the room, "What are you guys even doing?"

"Well, Damon is teaching me to defend myself against a vampire, and Alaric is trying to translate Viking runes," Elena informs me.

"Are you serious?" She just nods her head, "Well if it was Ancient Greek or Roman I'd be your girl, but sorry I don't know Viking, and Elena I could help you learn to fight."

Damon and Alaric both snap their heads at me, "You know Ancient Greek?" Alaric asks being the history buff he is.

"To me, Greek is easier than English."

"How does that work," he asks.

"I'm dyslexic probably did something with my brain," I tell him and he nods his head in understanding and gives me a sympathetic smile.

Damon catches my attention by saying, "You think you can teach Elena how to fight, a vampire at that?" I just nod my head and with that he speeds at me.

I pause and wait for the right moment. I grab his arm and flip him over me to the ground. He's now on his stomach, with his arm pulled behind him and my boot on his back, "There," I let go of him, "You really need to work on your speed."

Elena and Alaric are staring at me in shock and Damon is full on glaring at me. Alaric shakes his head at me and looks back at the Viking runes, "These images at the very least might tell us what that weapon is."

"Then all we have to do is find out what they mean," Elena says full of optimism.

"She's very optimistic," I comment, directing at Damon. He nods his head in agreement.

"Well, fine. Fine," Damon starts, "If I'm being irritatingly optimistic like you two. How do you suppose we do that?"

I stand in the background a little confused about what's going on. Since I'm clueless I decided to zone out the conversation. Remembering I forgot to pack my grimoire I make sure no one's looking and quickly Vapor Travel to my room. I quickly grab my grimoire and Vapor Travel back to Alaric's apartment, getting back right before they turn back around.

All I heard of the end of the conversation is, "Then we go straight to the source."

"Welp, bye," I get ready to leave but Elena cuts me off.

"Bye," Elena says turning around to face me, "Is that a-"

"Yes," I answer her question, "It is a grimoire."

"You're a witch," Damon points out the obvious.

"No dip Sherlock," I respond, "Any other questions?" No one does anything, "Like I said before, bye."

[At School]

I'm drawing in my notebook random things that've come to mind. Currently I'm thinking about Percy.

While I'm thinking about my half-brother and staring off to space, I'm absentmindedly drawing a portrait of him.

Moments later I get snapped out of my thoughts we I see Rebekah do back handsprings down the yard, and stops in front of Elena. I roll my eyes, getting annoyed with her and look back at my notebook.

I see a lifelike portrait of Percy, with a smile on his face and happiness in his eye. I have no idea how I even was able to show his joy and childness in a picture, but I did. I smile at the picture and wipe away a traitorous tear that came from the corner of my eye.

Curious of what's happening between Beks and Elena, I walk over to them. I stand next to Beks and hear what's going on. "You," is the first thing Beks says to Elena, "Goody."

I nudge her in a way that says be nice please, "I was hoping we could talk," Elena tells her. Good luck with that.

"About what? Stefan?" Oh, okay so yeah they both dated Stefan. Awkward, "Don't worry. I'm off him until he starts treating me better. In fact, you should probably take a page out of my book, if I'm being honest."

Elena doesn't respond she just starts looking through her bag and pulls out pictures of the Viking runes, "Actually, I'd rather talk about this," Bekah glances at the photo of her name carved into a cave wall, "I'm curious why you and Klaus have spent a thousand years running from your father."

I give Rebekah a look telling her she better explain what's going on, "I better get back to the girls," Is all she says, and starts going back to the cheerleaders, "Homecomings right around the corner."

"Then maybe I'll ask Mikael when we wake him," Elena threatens.

I was gonna follow when I had a sinking feeling. Wonderful, just what I need. Monsters, "Bye Beks, Elena," is all I say before I sprint off to the woods by the school. I look around until I see giant black dogs.

Hell Hounds.

"Hey guys, how are you?"

I quickly uncap Hurricane and charge at them. They're in a pack of twenty. I can do this. I get into a fighting stance and the hounds growl and charge.

Fighting is almost like dancing. You have to stay on your toes and never lose focus, which with ADHD is very helpful. I slice at the hounds, cutting off heads and stabbing hearts. I killed all of the hounds, I thought.

But, sadly I was wrong, I hear a low growl and turn around to see one more left. I get into a fighting stance waiting for it to attack, and it does. It's just before I could even get a cut at it, it exploded into golden dust.

I stand up confused, and look around. Looking at the ground I see a black dagger, and I smile.

"Nico, I wanna hug," I yell into the woods.

Suddenly I feel arms wrap around my waist from behind. I squeal in surprise which causes my cousin to chuckle, "How are you fish breath?"

"I'm good Death Breath, you know I was just attacked by Hell Hounds. But hey!"

He turns me around and holds me at arm's length, "Listen to me," I look at his dark brown almost black eyes, "How are you? You know, being back in the world and all."

"It's fine," I say as I start tearing up, "I just miss everyone, mum, the seven, Thalia."

"Hey. Look at me. It's not your fault, there's nothing you could've done," he lifts up my chin, "Okay, and you know being a demi-god and all means we're bound to die earlier than everyone else."

I just nod my head and wiped my tears, "Well cousin, would you like to come to school?"

He laughs, "Why not? Do you even pay attention in class?"

"Nope," I pop the 'p' with a goofy grin on my face, "But I'm covered in monster dust so...." I trail off and create a little storm above me that gets be soaked and washes all the dust off me. After it's all off I destroy the storm and will myself dry.

"That'll never get old," he says as he picks up his dagger and puts it back into a skull ring, and places on his middle finger, "Now off to school?"

"Yup," and I start walking back to school.

"Ooh, I have an idea," Nico states looking at me, "How about we go hang out instead of school?"

I smile brightly at him, "You are a genius I tell you!" We laugh and I lead him to my truck, "Hop in the passenger's seat," he nods and gets in. I start the truck and we pull outta the lot.

"So, where we going?"

"We are going to the number one hangout spot, the Mystic Grill."

"Very original name."

"I know right."

We pull up at the Grill and I look over Nico's outfit, he's wearing a black leather jacket on top of a black t-shirt, black jeans, and black rubber boots. His sword is in the form of a silver skull ring, and he has a thick brown leather bracelet with a black string skull bracelet.

"You my baby goth cousin," I tell him which makes him chuckle as we head inside.

I walk over to a table in the corner of the Grill so no one will be eavesdropping. We order our food and talk all day.

[Hours Later]

Nico had to go back to camp so we went to the alleyway behind the Grill. I give him a goodbye hug, "Bye Death Breath." I let go of him and he walks to the shadows.

"Bye Kelp Head," he says and Shadow Travels back to camp.

Right after he left I get a text from Beks.

From Diva:

Come over for a chat

From Greeky:

Where?

From Diva:

Salvatore Boarding House

From Greeky:

Where is it?

Beks quickly tells me where it is and I walk to my truck. I get in and start driving to the address.

Once I get there I'm in complete awe, the boarding house is huge. I hope out of my truck and notice Elena pulling up. She gives me a look of confusion and I just shrug my shoulders, not understanding what's going on.

She gets out of her car and walks over to me, "What are you doing here Marina?"

"Bekah told me to come over to talk about something. Same reason you're here?"

"Yeah. We're gonna talk about Mikael, I don't know why you're here though."

"Well, in my opinion you shouldn't wake up Mikael."

"Why's that?"

"Well from what I understand he is the vampire that hunts vampires. You have a lot of vampire friends," I say as we reach the door and walk inside to hear music playing.

We walk into the parlor where we see Rebekah with three glasses of champagne, "Hey, what's up?" She asks us.

"Oh nothing," I tell her.

"You invited us over to talk," Elena says.

"Oh yeah, that," I realize.

"All right girls," Bekah says while still looking at us, "Have at it," a group of six girls in different dresses walk out into the room, "Okay, know twirl please."

"You compelled your own runway show?" Elena states more than questions.

"I need a homecoming dress," Bekah defends.

"Well, you could've gone shopping at the mall and tried on all the dresses," I tell her, "I've always hated the idea of compulsion."

She looks over at me, "So what do you think? Pick one."

I look over all the dresses then back to Rebekah, I think the red one would probably look best on her, "I'm not here to help you shop," Elena says annoyed, "I'm here to talk about why you don't want me to wake up Mikael."

Rebekah speeds over to the blonde in a blue dress and gets ready to bite her neck, "I said pick one, Elena."

"Well, as much as I despise what you're doing right now I think the red one'll look good on you, Beks," I tell her.

Elena stills answers her question and picks one, "The red one."

"There. That wasn't so hard, was it?" Bekah asks us.

"Bekah stop being mean," I whine like a five year old and stomp my foot. She just smirks at us.

She turns back to the girls, "Go away. Remember nothing." The compelled cheer squad turn around and walk away. She then picks up a champagne glass and walks over to Elena, "You do not threaten me. You will learn what I allow you to learn. Is that clear?" She says the last part looking at both of us.

"Yerp," I say whilst Elena just nods.

Rebekah walks past us and I quickly follow from across the room dragging Elena with me. When she stops we're in a bedroom in the attic, "Who's room is this?" I ask Elena.

"It's Stefan's room," she tells me and looks over to Rebekah, "We shouldn't be here."

"Of course we should," she counters, and starts looking through his drawers and pulls out a pair of boxer-briefs, "Come on. Like you've never wanted to snoop. Boxer-briefs. Now that's a change from the twenties."

Oh yeah, I remember Rebekah told me this the day before the ghosts came back. She and her brother, Klaus, were in Chicago in the 1920's and Stefan was with them as a ripper. Um, Rebekah fell in love with Stefan and wanted to leave Klaus, so he daggered her in a coffin. Now 90 years later she's free.

Elena starts getting annoyed while I watch in amusement, "Are you gonna root though his stuff all night or are you gonna tell us your story?"

Rebekah sighs, "You really are no fun."

"Agreed," I say. Rebekah gives me a smile whilst Elena glare, "What? It's true."

"See, Marina agrees," She pauses and looks at us, "What do you want to know?"

"Well, Elijah said your father was a landowner in Europe," Elena starts.

"How did you guys end up here?" I ask, gesturing to the room.

Rebekah starts looking through Stefan's stuff again and starts telling us her story, "My parents had just started a family when a plague struck their homeland. They lost a child to it. They wanted to escape and protect their future family from the same fate." She pauses and looks at us.

"So how did you end up here? This part of the world hasn't even been discovered yet," Elena asks being impatient.

"You know Elena, the whole point of the story is to listen. She was probably getting to that," she glares at me again, "What?"

"Thank you Marina. Now on with the story and no interruptions please," Rebekah says, "It hadn't been discovered by anyone in your history books Elena. But, my mother knew the witch Ayana who heard from the spirits of a mystical land where everyone was healthy, blessed by the gifts of speed and strength."

"Werewolves," I say, and look at Rebekah who nods in confirmation.

"That led my family here, where we lived amongst those people. Werewolves, to us they were just our neighbors. My family lived in peace with them for over 20 years, during which time my family had more children, including me."

"You make it sound so normal," Elena says.

"Well to them it probably was," I tell her.

"Yeah, it was," Rebekah confirms while she stares out of Stefan's window, "Once a month our family retreated to the caves beneath our village. The wolves would howl through the night and by morning we would return home," she pauses, remembering what happened, "One full moon, Klaus and my youngest brother Henrik, snuck out to watch the men turn into beasts. That was forbidden. Henrik paid the price."

I had tears in my eyes. Rebekah lost her youngest brother to a werewolf, my kind. I'm happy that I haven't killed an innocent and activated the curse yet, and I never plan to. No one needs to know I'm part werewolf, unless I become a werewolf.

Rebekah continues her story, "And that was the beginning of the end of the peace with our neighbors. And one of the last moments my family had together as humans," Elena's phone starts ringing, bringing Rebekah out of memory lane, "You better get that. That'll be Damon checking up on you."

Elena answers the phone and you can hear music in the background, "Hello.........Damon, where are you?.............Yes. I'm fine, but I can't talk right now..............Was that Stefan?" At this Rebekah looks at Elena curiously and I hop off his bed that I was previously jumping on.

"Don't tell Stefan I was jumping on his bed!" I yell at Damon. Rebekah smirks at me and Elena just rolls her eyes.

"Damon, how could you let him out?!" Elena says getting all worried.

"Elena calm down, if things get out of hand we just stake him," she looks at me like I've grown two heads, "It's fairly simple."

Elena glares at me and huffs. Damon must've hung up.

Rebekah keeps looking through Stefan's diaries when Elena says, "Are you done with your snooping now? Can we get on with the story?"

Rebekah rolls her eyes and gets off Stefan's bed, where she was next to me. She walks over to Elena a picks up one of her and Stefan, "Honestly, I don't get you two as a couple."

"Why would you? You don't know anything about who he really is." Elena responds.

"Whoo, that's harsh Elena," I tell her with a disappointed shake of my head.

Rebekah smirks and puts down the picture. She bends down and leans closer to Elena, "I know exactly who he is. He's a vampire. We're a predatory species. We don't have time to care about humans and their silly little lives."

"I'm insulted," I yell from my spot on the bed reading through one of Stefan's diaries.

Rebekah looks back at me, "Except for you." I smile brightly at her and start reading the diary again. It's taking me ages because of dyslexia.

"Is that why you did that runway show earlier? If you don't care about the homecoming dance? You know what. I'm just gonna go," Elena says.

"You haven't even heard half the story," Rebekah says with a please leave now voice, I giggle at her obviously bored voice.

"And you're not going to tell it," Elena reasons, "You're just bored and looking for someone to push around. The only person you don't push around is Marina, and that's because your friends. Find someone else to play with. Maybe you can compel yourself a second friend."

I'm taken aback by what Elena says. I mean seriously, I thought she was nice. I frown forms on my face and I can feel little anger bubbling through me because Elena was pretty much bullying Rebekah. I was getting ready to splash her with water when Bekah talks.

"The necklace wasn't Stefan's to give. It belonged to the Original Witch," Rebekah tells her, and I can practically hear Elena smirking in success.

I glare at Elena and close Stefan's journal, "The one who put the hybrid curse on Niklaus?" I inquire.

"Not just the hybrid curse," she tells us. This gets me to sit up and get off the bed, "She's the one who turned us into vampires. I'm thirsty. Do you want a drink?"

I nod my head and run down the stairs to the parlor, "So vampirism was a form of protection?" Elena asks from ahead of me.

"What else would it be?" Rebekah asks.

"A curse," I tell her.

"My parents only saw a way of keeping their children alive," Rebekah tells us.

"Yeah, but, why stay," me and Elena ask at the same time. Elena continues, "If they were so afraid of the werewolves, why not leave?"

"Pride. My father didn't want to run anymore. He wanted to fight and be superior to the wolves," Rebekah starts, "Where they could bite, we had to bite harder. Where they had speed, we had to be faster. Agility, strength, senses. Everything would be heightened. Ayana did not want to go against nature, so Mikael put it in my mother's hands."

"In her hands?" Elena asked.

"How could she do anything?" I continued.

"Because my mother was also a witch," Bekah told us.

"What?" Elena and I asked in unison.

"The witch of the Original Family, the Original Witch," Rebekah clarified. We continue to walk until we reach the parlor, "Where do they keep their best vintage?"

"If your mother was a witch, then-" Elena starts.

"Am I? No, a witch is nature's servant. A vampire is an abomination of nature. You can be either one or the other, never both," she says as she picks up a bottle of alcohol from the cabinet, "My mother did this for us. She did not turn."

"How did you turn?" Elena asks.

"She called upon the sun for life and the ancient oak white tree, one of nature's eternal objects, for immortality. That night, my father offered us wine laced with blood. And then he drove his sword through our hearts. And he wasn't delicate about it either," she pauses, "We had to drink more blood to complete the ritual. It was euphoric. The feeling of power was indescribable. But the witch Ayana was right about the consequences. The spirits turned on us, and nature fought back. For every strength, there would be a weakness. The sun became our enemy. It kept us indoors for weeks. And though our mother found a solution, there were other problems. Neighbors who had opened their doors to us could know keep us out. The flowers at the base of the white oak burned and prevented compulsion. And the spell decreed that the tree that gave us life could also take it away. So we burned it to the ground."

She looks around the room and continues, "The darkest consequence, my parents never anticipated, the hunger. Blood had made us reborn, and we was blood that we craved above all else. We could not control it. And with that the predatory species were born."

"Why did Mikael start hunting Klaus?" Elena asked.

"When Nick made his first human kill, it triggered his werewolf gene. With that, he became my father's greatest shame."

"Yeah. Elijah told me this part of the story. Your mother had an affair with one of the werewolf villagers. Klaus wasn't his son," Elena said.

"She tried to make it right. He put the hybrid curse on Nik to suppress his werewolf side, and then she turned her back on him, but Mikael's greatest weakness as a human was his pride. As a vampire, that was magnified. He went on a rampage and killed have the village. Then he came home and killed her."

After Rebekah said her dad killed her mum, I walked up to her and gave her a hug, "I'm so sorry, Beks."

"Mikael killed your mother," Elena points out the obvious.

"He said she broke his heart, so he would break hers. He tore it from her chest as Nik watched. Afterwards, my father took off in a rage, and the rest of my family scattered. Nik stayed so he could help me bury her. He knew I had to say goodbye to my mother. Elijah stayed as well, and we made a pact. Always and forever."

"Always and forever. Even though he locked you in a coffee for 90 years," Elena asked.

"We're vampires, our emotions are heightened. I'm stubborn, Elijah's moral, and Nik....Nik has no tolerance for those who disappoint him. Over a thousand years as a family, we've all made that mistake at least once. I've made it several times."

"But you still love him?" Elena asks. Duh, of course she still loves him, they're family.

"He's my brother, and I'm immortal. Should I spend an eternity alone instead?" she pauses and looks around the room, "You've heard the story. It's time to go," Elena didn't move, "I said leave, Elena. I don't know what you're up to, but I am no longer playing along."

"I'm just looking for one good reason not to wake Mikael," Elena says.

"And she's given you a thousand, Elena," I tell her.

Rebekah continues for me, "But you will anyway. I know who want him to help you kill my brother. I'm not stupid."

"It's no secret that I want Klaus dead," Elena says, "He has a hold over Stefan's life and over mine."

"Do what you need," Rebekah tells her, "Wake Mikael at your own peril. But make no mistake, if you come after my brother, I will rip you apart. And I get my temper from my father. Now leave," Elena quickly leaves and I stand awkwardly behind Rebekah.

"You okay Rebekah?" I ask her.

"Yeah I'm fine," she tells me.

"Did you ask me to come for moral support?"

"What kind of person would I be if I didn't invite my best friend to hear my origin story?"

"An even better one if Elena wasn't here to ruin it."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," she laughs.

"Tomorrow I'm going shopping for homecoming dresses, you wanna help me pick something out?"

"Sure," she smiles as I lay down on the couch.

I wake up to Rebekah yelling, "These me nothing! They're just stupid drawings! Done by stupid people who have no idea who my family was!" I open my eyes to see Rebekah throwing pictures in the fireplace.

"They why are you so upset?" Elena asks with fake innocence.

"Why are you doing this to me!" Bekah yells, "I haven't done anything to you!"

"Klaus killed your mother," Elena tells her, "He has a hold on you, on me, on everyone. He has for a thousand years. We have to make it stop."

She keeps rolling up Beks and making her up angry and upset, which is doing the same to me. The werewolf gene isn't helping at all, "Elena, shut up!" I yell at her, pissed off.

"Just shut up!" Rebekah continues, and backs Elena up to a wall and vamps out, "Don't talk anymore! Nothing!"

After a pause Bekah lets go of her and backs up to the middle of the room. She starts to break down crying and I run up to her and crush her in a hug. She hugs back and cries into my shoulder. "Shhh," I tell her, "It's gonna be okay," I coo.

I turn around and glare at Elena, I give her my toughest glare, and growl at her, "Get out, Elena!" She nods her head and scurries outta the house. I quickly turn back to Rebekah and comfort her the best I can.

"Hey, Rebekah, it's okay."