•|•

Elijah came back wearing one of Mayor Lockwood's suits and sat down with Isabel and Elena who were sitting in the living room.

"So I assume that the Martin witches are no longer with us."

"No. I'm sorry," Elena said only halfway meaning it.

"And Katerina? She would have been released from my compulsion when I died."

"Klaus took her. We think that she may be dead," Elena said.

"I doubt that. Not Klaus' style. Death would be too easy for her after what she did." Both girls could hear the bitterness in his tone which made Izzy wonder why he didn't like her just like many people Katherine have met.

"I don't understand. You say that you want Klaus dead, but you still made Katherine pay for betraying him."

"I have my own reasons for wanting Katerina to pay. There was a time...I'd have done anything for Klaus."

≪≫•≪≫•≪≫

"Yes. Klaus is my brother," Elijah said after finishing his tiny portion of the story.

"I heard that. I'm still processing," Elena says shocked while Isabel already knew about the Original siblings.

"Yes, I'm a little behind on the times, but I believe the term you're searching for is 'O.M.G.'" he says then drinks some tea. Isabel shakes her head and huffs out a laugh and drunk some of her own tea.

"There's a whole family of Originals?" Elena asks.

"My father was a wealthy landowner in a village in Eastern Europe." Elijah informed the girls. "Our mother bore seven children."

"So your parents were human?" Elena asked. She thought their parents may have been vampires too and passed on the gene, which obviously wasn't the case at all. The question only made her look dumb.

"No they were magically vampires too and they defied nature and had children. Of course, they were human, Lena." Isabel snapped slightly. She felt bad for sounding mean and said, "sorry that was rude of me."

Elijah hurriedly said, "Our whole family was. Our origin as vampires is a very long story. Just know...We're the oldest vampires in the world. We are the Original family, and from us, all vampires were created."

"Right, but Klaus is your brother. And you want him dead? Why?" Isabel asked actually very confused to why he would harm family. No matter what she could never imagine wanting to harm or even kill family. She would help until her last breath. Perhaps that's what made her perfect for the Original family.

"I need some air. I'm still feeling a tad...dead. Come." Isabel, Elijah, and Elena leave the mansion to get some air.

≪≫•≪≫•≪≫

"So as you've seen, nothing can kill an Original." Elijah told them as all three of them walked outside with the girls listening to him retelling a story of his. "Not Sun, not fire, not even a werewolf bite. Only the wood from one tree. A tree my family made sure burned." Elijah explained.

"That's where the white ash for the dagger comes from." Elena realized.

"Yes. The witches won't allow anything truly immortal to walk the earth. Every creature needs to have a weakness in order to maintain the balance of nature."

"Sometimes nature screws you over," Isabel said mainly to entertain herself but they both still heard her.

"So the sun can't kill an Original. Why is Klaus so obsessed with breaking the Sun and Moon curse?" Elena asks trying to understand why it would be so important to him seeing as it doesn't affect him or his family.

"Right. The curse of the sun and the moon. It's all so...biblical-sounding, don't you think?" He smiles at them, a smile that says, 'I know something you don't.'

"What's so funny?" The brunette asked with furrowed brows. She looked over at Izzy to see if the blonde knew but she just shrugged.

≪≫•≪≫•≪≫

"I don't understand. So Klaus drew the Aztec sketches about the curse?" Elena asks once Elijah finishes another portion of the story.

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

"But why?" Isabel really wanted to strangle her friend but she couldn't. It was just her pregnancy talking. She could never hurt her friends.

"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 says cheekily.

"So it's obviously not Aztec at all?" Isabel comments this time before the doppelgänger could open her mouth.

"The curse of the Sun and the Moon...is fake. It doesn't exist." He drops the bomb and starts walking away.

"Very dramatic Lijah." She muttered so Elena couldn't hear.

"What?!" Elena yells and starts following him with Isabel by her side.

≪≫•≪≫•≪≫

"Klaus and I faked the sun and moon curse dating back over a thousand years."

"But if there's no curse..." Elena trails off confused.

"There's a curse. Just not that one. The real one's much worse. It's a curse placed on Klaus."

"What are you talking about?" Elena asked. Izzy was willing to let it slide seeing as she was wondering what the curse placed on him was as well.

"Klaus has been trying to break it for the last thousand years. And you are his only hope." Elena's phone keeps vibrating in Elijah's pocket.

"What is this curse?" Isabel asks.

The phone continues it's constant vibrating.

"Your phone will not stop its incessant buzzing. Answer it, please." He hands her the phone which she takes quickly.

Elena sees it's Stefan and answers the phone for the sake of her boyfriend. "Stefan...what's wrong? No. No, no, no, no. Okay, I'll be right there." She hangs up and looks at Elijah with a pleading doe-eyed look. "Klaus went after Jenna. I have to go to her."

"I'm afraid that wasn't part of today's arrangement," Elijah stated. He definitely didn't like this doppelgänger compared to the others.

"She's my family, Elijah. I have to. I'll be back. You have my word." Elena tried desperately pleading for the noble Original to allow her to leave.

"That doesn't mean anything to me until you live up to it," Elijah said as his way of a 'yes.'

"Thank you." She runs to her car as Elijah turns to Izzy with a warm smile.

≪≫•≪≫•≪≫

"So you guys are like my protectors until I find what I'm supposed to do and in turn, I have to try and help you guys become...better?"

"Precisely." He sighed as he looked down at Izzy. "Your wolf ancestors were very strong and they were very close to my mother and our family. When we were all turned my mother tied a girl to our family. She called her our, 'parabatai.' Every 100 years or so she would be recreated. The girl - you, would be drawn to us and vice versa. You would want to help and may even catch feelings, though that's of your own accord," Elijah said thinking about the very first parabatai.

"My mother thought it would benefit both sides. You would be protected and we would have someone to care for us and try to help us through our vampirism. That was proven wrong when the girl she tied to us died when she got caught between me and my siblings."

"So it's not like I'm not a reincarnation or doppelgänger, right?" Isabel asked hoping to god she wasn't. She wanted to be original not a look alike.

"No. Not at all. You just have the same aura as her." He tells her making her sigh in relief.

"How did she die? If you don't mind me asking."

"Like I said she got caught in between. She couldn't choose. She didn't want split us apart even more. Though, she did get feelings for Kol, Rebekah, and Finn. We all fought over her and when she tried to help like she was made to do. She ended up dead. She got right in the middle." Elijah took a deep breath remembering the brunette. "Her death hurt all of us majorly. Finn bolted. Kol didn't want to be anywhere near where she died. Our father was hunting us and our mother died so we all fled. It was a very hard time. Kol he caused the most damage so we put him down, Rebekah would fall asleep crying out for her, and Niklaus would draw her and when he didn't get it right, people were slaughtered. I had a rough patch but I had to be there for my siblings."

"Wow." Isabel breathed out. "Her death did all that?" He nodded sadly and she felt so bad for all of them. "I'm so sorry."

"It isn't your fault." he paused a moment before clearing his thoughts of Danalia. "Anyway, it's your choice to be with us. It may be a little difficult to stay away though. And I'm sorry you have to be linked to my family."

"Well if I can do as I'm told maybe I can help. That's my job, right? Maybe it won't be so bad," Isabel said trying to be optimistic. "Wouldn't that be cool? I, a little girl, help the biggest baddest family out there," Isabel teased with a small smile which compelled Elijah to quirk his lips up into a small smile as well until he remembered where his brother put his family.

"I don't think you could help seeing as Niklaus put our family in the ocean." Even though Isabel couldn't say for sure she had a feeling that's not where they were.

"Maybe they aren't. Maybe he just said that. Don't lose hope. We will get them back, Elijah, I promise you." After hearing what Elijah had to say, Isabel felt like that's what she needs to do and it was the right thing.

Stopping Klaus was gonna be hard but if it helped Elijah and the rest of his family she would do what she was born to do. Help the Originals.

≪≫•≪≫•≪≫

Rebekah follows the sound of giggles into a room where she saw two little girls painting on a wide canvas with her brother.

"What is that mess?" She asks walking over to Isabel.

Isabel who was watching them the whole time with a smile turned to her blonde friend.

"I don't even know." She chuckled.

"It looks like all they have been doing is rolling in it," Rebekah says seeing all the colors that have been painted.

"Hope did make her own which she rolled in but they called this splatter paint." Izzy giggled as she looked at her youngest daughter who was covered in paint.

"She sure is Nik's daughter," Rebekah comments as she pulled the hybrid into a side hug.

"I know," she said to Rebekah before making her voice louder. "Rose!" Rose immediately sat her paintbrush down and rushed over to her mom.

"Mommy! Do you like our painting? Daddy said you might like the splatter paint." Isabel frowned slightly when Rose called Nik her dad. She didn't mind her calling him that but she did want her to know that she had another dad. She started to tear up thinking about Tyler and set Rose down but not before taking her hand.

It's been a while since Tyler was killed and she knew she'd never get over it. She missed him and sometimes she would cry at night wondering if he was watching over her and her daughter or even if he found peace. She felt bad he'd never see her grow or even Hope.

Rebekah grasped her shoulder in a calming way knowing she was thinking of Tyler.

"It's okay, Izzy. He knows you both love him." Rebekah smiles at Isabel as she wipes the tears off the mother's face.

"Let's go see the painting," Isabel told Rose who smiled up at her mom.

"Yay."

≪≫•≪≫•≪≫

Elena enters the Lockwood mansion to see Elijah and Isabel standing inside by the lit fireplace.

Elijah turned around and seemed relieved that she kept the promise to return. "Welcome back."

"Tell me. What is Klaus's curse?" She asks as she takes off her jacket.

"Please." Elijah gestures for Elena to sit before he started.

Isabel sat down on the floor as Elijah started. "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."

"A war between the species?"

Izzy figured that meant wolves considering she was one and Mason didn't seem thrilled with Stefan and Damon.

"The vampires...and the werewolves." He informs the doppelgänger.

"So Klaus' real father was from a werewolf bloodline? What does that make Klaus? A werewolf? Or a vampire?"

"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."

"That's the curse that Klaus wants to break?" Elena asks.

"He wants to trigger that part of him that's a werewolf. If allowed, Klaus would sire his own bloodline. He'd build his own race. Endangering not just vampires, but everyone."

"But you helped him?" Elena asked confused on why he would help his brother if it endangers the mundane.

"I helped him because I loved him. That's changed, now he must die." A bad feeling entered Isabel's stomach as she thought about hurting him but he was endangering lives and harmed his own family. So far nothing led her to believe he cared for anything but power.

"We have the dagger now. We can stop him."

"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." Kol was so close to making one but Marcel -Klaus' former son- took that chance away which Kol was obviously bitter about. That dagger would have been really useful right now.

"What, are you saying that Klaus can't be killed?" Elena asked puzzled with how he plans to kill his indestructible brother.

"There's one way to kill any supernatural species...at the hands of the servants of nature themselves."

"A witch. If they can channel that much power. But it would kill them, wouldn't it?" Izzy asked.

"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 without dying." He told Isabel.

"What if I told you that I knew a witch that could channel that much power?" Elena asked thinking about her best friend.

"Then I would tell you there's one more thing that you should know."

≪≫•≪≫•≪≫

After another portion of the story, Isabel asks, "You found a way to save the life of the doppelgänger?"

"Yes, Isabel. I did. But unfortunately, Katerina took matters into her own hands first. I believe you already know how that played out."

"You cared about her, didn't you?" Izzy asked noticing the look on his face.

"It's a common mistake, I'm told. And it's one I definitely won't be making again." He gives Elena her jacket and watches as she walks out before turning to Isabel. "Thank you for staying and I hope I helped you with whatever confusion. If you ever need help don't hesitate to contact me." He handed her a piece of paper and walked out after Elena. Isabel sighed and walked to the kitchen for food.

She grabbed her phone dialed a familiar number.

He answered quickly which made her smile.

"Hello." She spoke first.

≪≫•≪≫•≪≫

Maddox and Greta are on their knees casting a spell as they surrounded were with lit candles all around them. Klaric was standing next to the box, his head bowed and eyes closed.

Katherine looks at them fearing what's to happen once he's out and about.

"Phasmatos Tribum, Nas Ex Veras, Uenes Phasmatos Et Sonos. Ex Tutam Exum Lamia Matus." They chant together.

Soon enough they stop and look at Alaric. The hunter opens his eyes and looks at Katherine.

"Elena?" He instantly collapsed, knocked out from the spell.

Maddox stands up and opens the box to reveal the blonde male Original.

Klaus walks out of it and looks down at Alaric's body. "Now that's more like it." He smiles, happy to be out of that wretched body. He finally had his original handsome one.

No joke. I started crying while writing her thinking about Tyler's death. That hurt.