chapter three

pretty girls don't cry

━✧━

"WHAT?" JORDANNA SNAPPED as she answered her phone, which, unfortunately for her, awoke the girl from her comfortable slumber. 

"It's me," she heard the voice of the doppelganger.

"Fuck do you want?" She questioned Elena, grumbling as she moved to sit up against her headboard. 

The two used to be close, they had known one another for years. But when the Salvatore's arrived back in town Jordanna had noticed that Elena's personality had drastically changed. She couldn't say much though, Jordanna wasn't exactly a 'model citizen', she had killed more people than she could count for fucks sake! But it did put a dent on the friendship as the two girls clashed.

A lot.

She didn't know herself why she still tolerated the doppelganger, perhaps it was because she hadn't a reason not to yet, it wasn't like she had done anything to her. 

"I need you to meet me at the Boarding House now," Elena said, waiting on a response from the Jones witch.

"Why?" Jordanna inquired gratingly, rubbing a hand across her forehead in exhaust. 

"Just-" Elena let out a deep, agitated, breath. "Twenty minutes, Jordanna. Please."

Jordanna pursed her lips—she was already planning on going to the Salvatore House anyway, but at ten AM? It was way too early in the morning to be running around—especially on Elena's orders, but since she was already supposed to go down there to see Stefan, she'd see what the doppelganger wanted and would deem if it was worthy or not to stay.

"Anything else Miss. Gilbert?" Jordanna asked, sarcasm lacing her tone. "Would you like me to bring you a latte on the way? Or would you prefer an iced tea. Oh! How about I run you a hot bath and rub your feet while I'm at it."

At the other end of the phone the doppelganger rolled her eyes. "Twenty minutes, Jordanna," she reminded before hanging up.

"For fuck's sake," the witch muttered under her breath, reaching for her pack of cigarettes she got out of bed, heading downstairs to eat before getting ready to see what the doppelganger wanted.

✧

Jordanna made way her up to the Salvatore Boarding House porch just as Elijah vamp-sped outside. "Ma che cazzo?" What the fuck? She mumbled under her breath, eyes flickering between The Original and doppelganger as the latter shot out of the house.

Elena knew that Elijah might've acted hostile towards her after the daggering ( which he should, duh! ) and thought it'd be best if Jordanna was there too. Even after the events from the previous night she couldn't help but feel safer if the witch was there to 'lighten the mood'. 

Dumb idea, but okay.

"What happened?" Elijah questioned with staggered breaths as he held onto the doorframe for stability, holding a hand to his chest as he spluttered out small coughs.

"Shh," Elena murmured as she pointed up to the house. "We'll tell you. Not here. Can we trust you?" Jordanna scoffed, they daggered him if anything Elena's untrustworthy.

"Can I trust you?" He said inquisitively, his gaze flickering between both girls. 

Jordanna raised her hand sarcastically. "Well duh. I didn't dagger you, nor was present at said daggering," she shrugged, sending him a look.

Elijah smiled at the girl, having only met her a few times she made a huge impact on him—though they might've gotten off on the wrong foot at the beginning, there was something about her that itched a smile out of him every time they met. He looked back to the doppelganger who handed him the dagger as a sign of trust. 

✧

Jordanna sped down the streets as Elena's heart slammed against her rib cage. "You mind slowing down, Jordanna?" The fearful doppelganger asked.

"Mhm, mhm," the Jones shook her head. "I'm good. Besides my driving is perfetto perfect. Right Elijah?" She yelled over the booming voice of Rihanna playing unfaithful on the speakers.

"Right," he smiled at the girl as he glanced over at her momentarily.

"You look better," Elena offered The Original uncomfortably with a tight smile as Jordanna parked the car. 

"Where did you get the dagger?" Elijah questioned, ignoring her awkward compliment.

"I'll tell you everything," she replied. "But we have to work together, Elijah. I need your word," she said, almost pleadingly.

Elijah squinted his eyes, "your ability to make demands has long passed."

"No demands," Elena nodded. "I'm offering you my help and in return I want yours."

"And why should I even consider this?" He asked, turning to face her.

"The same reason you haven't killed me. You need my help to kill Klaus, and I need you-" she started but was soon cut off by her phone ringing.

The doppelganger sighed before picking up the phone, placing it on speaker-phone. "Where are you? Are you okay?" Stefan rushed out, his voice filling the space of the car.  

"She's fine, Stefano," Jordanna answered from the drivers seat with an eyeroll as she unwrapped a cherry lollipop. 

"JJ's with you?" He frowned as he heard her voice. "Is she okay? Where's Elijah?" He questioned from the other side of the phone with pinched brows, pacing up and down his room.

"He's right here and she's okay," Elena answered.

"Where? I'm on my way."

"No, Stefan. Elijah, Jordanna and I need some time alone," she told him as Elijah sat back amused with the altercation. 

"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 honour. I can trust him, he knows that I'd be incredibly stupid to betray him again." Elena said, looking towards Elijah as she spoke. 

Jordanna snorted. "Kiss ass," she sang mockingly, meeting the doppelganger's eye in the rear-view mirror. 

Elena rolled her eyes before continuing, "by removing the dagger I have proven myself."

"You can't do this alone," the youngest Salvatore frowned. 

Jordanna scoffed, snatching the phone out of the girl's hands. "Did your pea-sized brain forget that she isn't alone? I'm here. Besides, she doesn't need your permission, nor was she asking. If your girlfriend decides she wants to go on a suicide mission let her, damn it. You're not the boss of her, cool? Okay. Bye-Bye," she finished, handing Elijah the phone after she hung up.

"How the hell do you put up with that?" Jordanna grumbled, pulling out a packet of cigarettes in the compartment of her car. Obviously she and Stefan were close, but him in a relationship was the most irritating thing, like, ever!

"He's here," Elena said ignoring, Jordanna's comment. 

"O-kay then," Jordanna muttered, leaning back into her seat, inhaling the smoke in her lungs.

"Klaus is here?" Elijah asked, mouth slightly agape in shock—he wafted away the cloud of smoke that drifted in his direction with a grimace, Jordanna shot him an innocent smile.

Elena nodded, turning to face him completely, "he's taken over Alaric's body."

"Of course he has, one of his favourite tricks," the original nodded along.

"Ew, why the hell-" 

Elena cut her off yet again, "-well, what are his other tricks? What's he going to do next? You're the only one who knows him." 

Elena flinched as Jordanna turned around and smacked her on the knee, the finger holding the cigarette pointed at her, "you really need to stop interrupting me."

Elijah smiled at her but it soon faded almost as quickly as it came, thoughts going  back to his brother, "you're right, I do know him."

✧

Jordanna rang the doorbell of the Lockwood Mansion which was soon opened by Mrs. Lockwood. "Jordanna, honey, how are you?" Carol exclaimed, bringing the girl in for a hug which was returned—Jordanna grimaced over her shoulder before pulling away. 

"I'm good, thank you Mrs Lockwood," she smiled sickly sweet at the older woman.

"Elijah, Elena? What are you doing here? What happened?" She said worriedly as she spotted the two accompanying the girl—she eyed the burnt, ripped suit that sat uncomfortably on the Mikaelson's body.

"I've had a bit of an incident, Carol. I'm hoping you can help," Elijah said, sending the woman a sweet smile. 

"Well, I'm on my way to a meeting, so I-" Carol started, stopping as Elijah began compelling her. Jordanna watched quietly, leaning against the door, arms crossed over her chest. "It won't take a minute of your time."

"Of course! Anything you need," Carol smiled brightly.

Jordanna chuckles. Poor Carol.

"Thank you," he said politely as the trio entered the house. "Well, first things first, I'm going to need a change of clothing."

"Well, we could try one of my husband's suits. I haven't boxed them up yet," the older woman explained, voice quietening as she mentioned her husband.

"Wonderful," Elijah said with a smile as Carol went upstairs to retrieve the suits.

"How did you know she's not on vervain?" Elena whispered in question.

"Because I'm the one who got her off it. Right before you and your friends killed me-" he stopped as he got a hard smack on the arm from the raven haired girl, "excluding Jordanna, that is."

Sending Elena a look, he continued. "Twice. If you'll excuse me, I'll be down in moment," he told them smiling at Jordanna as he walked upstairs.

Elena scoffed at the two and turned away. Jordanna let out a smirk at the sight of the aggravated doppelganger.

✧

Elijah lead them into the living room, he took a seat next to Jordanna on the couch. "So I assume that the Martin witches are no longer with us," he said abruptly, causing Jordanna to choke on her drink.

"Nope, sorry 'Lijah I may have let my anger get the best of me and I," she told him as she ran her pointer finger over her neck suggesting that she killed them, clicking her tongue while doing so. 

Seeing the unimpressed but slightly amused look on his face she spoke again, "oh! I'm sorry, were they friends of yours?" She hummed unremorsefully, taking a sip of tea.

She preferred biscuits with her tea.

"No, I'm sorry," Elena said, answering his question regarding the Martins, giving Jordanna yet another look.

"And Katerina?" He asked as he discreetly put his hand on Jordanna's shoulder—knowing the two were somewhat friendly. "She would've been released of my compulsion when I died."

"Klaus took her. We think she may be dead." 

Jordanna shook her head at this. "No," she denied. "He won't kill her yet. Not after looking for her for five hundred years. I'll look for someone a week tops and drag it out as much as I can," she told Elena—who looked disgusted at the discovery. The thing with Elena was, now that she knew about the supernatural world she didn't really approve of how Jordanna acted—what she had done. But what she didn't understand was that it was her way of surviving.

Jordanna hadn't always been like this, a killer.

But you see, when your father who you (stupidly) look up to, brutally kills your mother right before your eyes—I'm not gonna' lie it kinda' fucks you up.

At first it was just self-defence, you know? Howard spread word of her power, out of spite, when he saw fit. She was just fifteen. 

She was just fifteen when she had to learn that she could only count on herself to keep her alive. She was just fifteen when she killed for the first time, a mere child when she met Katherine Pierce, the doppelganger stumbled across the sobbing fifteen-year-old as she buried the bodies of the men she killed.

It was merely an accident; they came at her and she couldn't control it. Katherine helped her, she helped her bury the bodies and then wiped away the tears that tainted her face. "Pretty girls don't cry," she told her.

And from then on it progressed. Simply starting off as self-defence then ( now don't call her crazy but . . . )  it became fun. She couldn't explain the adrenaline she got when she killed.

"Agreed, not Klaus' style. Death would be too easy for her after what she did," Elijah said, siding with the young witch.

"I don't understand. You say you want Klaus dead, but you still made Katherine pay for betraying him," Elena responded in confusion, brows crinkled in a frown as she looked up at him.

"I have my own reasons for wanting Katerina to pay. There was a time when I would've done anything for Klaus," Elijah said sadly before he began telling the two about his and Klaus' story from the 1400's.

✧

"I knew it!" Jordanna exclaimed, proud of herself, yet again, for being the only smart one in the group. She was like the Velma of the little 'Scooby Gang' thing they had going, only with better hair.

"Yes, Klaus is my brother," he replied, smiling at the overly excited girl.

"I heard that," Elena started. "I-I I'm still processing," she managed to stutter out.

"Yes, I'm a little behind on times, but I believe the term your searching for is 'OMG'," he said, smirking as he sipped on his tea.

Jordanna snorted, leaning back in her seat, "God, I knew there was a reason I liked you."

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

"My father was a wealthy land owner in a village in Eastern Europe. Our mother bore seven children," Elijah explained as Jordanna fixed his tie for him.

"So your parents were human?" The doppelganger stupidly asked. "Well duh, vampires can't procreate, silly," Jordanna told her.

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

Jordanna watched him in awe as he talked about his family history. It was cute, watching how his eyes would brighten at the mere thought. She wondered what it would feel like to have that.

"Right, but Klaus is your brother. And you want him dead?" Elena asked bluntly, brushing away the information about his family—wanting to get back to Klaus.

"I need some air," Elijah declared. "I'm still feeling a tad . . . " he trailed off. "Dead. Come,"  he gestured to the glass doors, walking past Elena, offering his arm out to Jordanna who kindly took it.

What a sweetheart! Why weren't Stefan and Damon like this? Assholes. Stefan found it amusing to shut the door in her face—dickhead ( cue the eyeroll ).

✧

Linking arms with Jordanna as the trio walked into the garden The Original started talking, "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." 

"That's where the white ash for the dagger comes in," Elena said as she made the connections. 

"Yes," Elijah nodded in confirmation. "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."

"So, if the sun can't kill an Original . . . why is Klaus so obsessed with breaking the Sun and Moon curse?" Elena questioned, looking up towards the Mikaelson.

"Right," the Original's lips twitched. "The curse of the Sun and the Moon. It's all so biblical sounding don't you think?"

"Whatcha' smirking at smirky?" Jordanna questioned, nudging the Original. 

Elijah began to share his thoughts with the girls.

"I don't understand. So Klaus drew the Aztec sketches about the curse?" The doppelganger questioned.

Jordanna's brows furrowed in thought and then it dawned on her. Elijah smirked at the look of realisation on her face.

Smart girl.

"Easiest way to discover the existence of a doppelganger or get your hands on some long, lost moonstone is to have every single member of two warring species on the lookout." He informed the confused doppelganger.

"So it's not Aztec at all?"

"Lord give me strength," Jordanna muttered, looking up to the sky before glancing at the doppelganger. "The curse isn't real, Elena," she deadpanned.

Elijah nodded, smirking at the girl. "The curse of the Sun and Moon is fake. It doesn't exist," he told the doppelganger vaguely before walking away, arm still joined with Jordanna's.

"That was very dramatic 'Lijah," the witch whispered up to him, receiving a laugh in response.

"What?" Elena exclaimed, running after the two.

"Klaus and I faked the Sun and Moon curse dating back over a thousand years." 

"But if there's no curse . . . " Elena trailed off.

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

"What are you talking about?" Elena inquired.

"Klaus has been trying to break it for the last thousand years, and you are his only hope." 

Jordanna was confused, she thought they knew that. She knew that.

Why the hell did she know that?

She was sure she had heard about it before . . . but she couldn't quite place where or who had told her.

Then it dawned on her. Her mother! When Mary had explained the supernatural world to the young witch she spared no details—vampires, werewolves, siphons, witches . . . etc, etc. Her mother had a friend who was a vampire, he, somehow knew about the curse on Klaus, and accidentally might have let it slip.

He told her that she was not to spread a word. And she didn't. I mean, why would she? It wouldn't benefit her in any way, so she told no one. Except Jordanna, she had told her that 'if someone were to ever do to you what they did to him, you better fight for it, Danny. Fight for your magic. Magic is a powerful thing, and when it's in the wrong hands . . . things as you know it will take a bad turn.' 

"What's the curse?" Elena asked, speaking over her vibrating phone, which was no doubt a Salvatore. 

Which one? To be determined.

"Your phone will not stop it's incessant buzzing. Answer it, please," Elijah said, passing the frustrating piece of technology to the brunette.

"Stefan, what's wrong? No . . . " she trailed off. "Okay, I'll be right there. Klaus went after Jenna, I have to go get her," Elena cried out to The Original.

"I'm afraid that wasn't part of today's arrangement." 

"She's my family, Elijah I have to. I'll be back, you have my word. Plus, Jordanna can stay here with you while I'm gone, that way you'll know that I'll come back."

Huh? Don't get me wrong the witch liked The Original and wouldn't mind spending time with him, but under Elena's command?

Bleh.

"That doesn't mean anything to me until you live up to it."

"Thank you," she breathed out, running to Jordanna's car after taking the keys from a reluctant Jordanna—her car was her baby but it was Jenna so . . .

The two strolled around the garden, talking while Elena went to check on Jenna.

"How have you been since Niklaus' return to Mystic Falls?" Elijah asked, turning to face the witch. 

"I'm fine 'Lijah, don't worry 'bout little old me," she said, grinning at him as they sat down on a bench. "Your brother . . . he's a cocky bastard isn't he? He met my baby Baz though," she beamed at the mere mention of Barry.

Elijah had laughed at this, he had also been introduced to Barry, he wasn't a fan.

"Though he did call me smart, so I guess he's alright," she shrugged as if she wasn't talking about a ruthless, psychotic vampire who's taken over her friend's body.

"Yes, I thought Niklaus might've taken a liking towards you. You both share that arrogant complex—" 

"I'm gonna' ignore that last bit," she muttered, side eyeing him. "But what can I say? I'm just that amazing."

The two sat and talked for what felt like hours, while they awaited the return of Elena. He told her about his sister, and two brothers. Rebekah, Finn and Kol, he talked about their lives before they turned, what it was like living in that time. 

And as boring as it may sound to listen to someone talk about things that happened like a trillion years ago—Jordanna found it interesting. She wished she grew up in a different century. The twenty's perhaps, she thought she'd look hot in a flapper dress.

"Welcome back," Elijah greeted the doppelganger as he watched her stroll up to the pair.

"Tell me, what is Klaus' curse?" She demanded immediately.

"Hi Jordanna, hi Elijah," Jordanna spoke, voice dripping with sarcasm as she came to a stand from the bench she was seated on. "How am I? No, I'm fine. Thank you. And you?"

Elena let out a sigh and clicked her tongue, turning her attention to Elijah. A small smile quirked at his lips before he brushed it off quickly.

"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?" Asked the clueless doppelganger.

"The vampires and the werewolves," Elijah told her.

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

Seriously?

"Both," Jordanna stated as she uninterestingly fiddled with the stick of her lollipop. 

Elijah nodded, "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, servants of nature, saw to it that my brother's werewolf side would become dormant."

That's sad, she thought.

Sincerely, for once.

"That's the curse that Klaus wants to break?" Elena asked with a frown.

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

Jordanna rolled her eyes at his theatrical tone. "I'm kinda' jealous, not gonna' lie," she muttered under her breath, imagine having the power of two species. Oh, how she envied that.

"But you helped him?" The doppelganger said, yet again ignoring Jordanna's comment.

"I helped him because I loved him. That's changed, now he must die," he said sternly as a frown appeared on Jordanna's face. She couldn't judge him for wanting to kill his brother, his family, she had no right, because she'd done it. Her father, her family. 

The only difference was Elijah spent one thousand years with Klaus, loving and hating him. He stuck by his side. Jordanna only had ten years with her father before he killed her mother and even before that he wasn't the best father. However she did love him. So sad he died, a horrible, horrible death. 

May he rest in peace. 

Only joking.

"We have the dagger now, we can stop him," Elena suggested, pulling Jordanna out of her thoughts.

"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."

"What are you saying that Klaus can't be killed?" Elena cried out.

"There's one way to kill any supernatural species . . . at the hands of the servants of nature themselves." The two turned to look at Jordanna whose head perked up at this, drawing her attention away from rolling her cigarette. 

"A witch. If they can channel that much power. But it would kill them, well not everyone," Elena said, looking at the witch who scoffed in response as she busied herself with the cigarette between her fingers.

"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." 

"What if I told you I knew two witches, one who already has the power and another who can harness it?" Elena sneakily asked.

"No," Jordanna told her immediately.

"Wha-" Elena started only to be cut off.

"I'm not doing it, neither is Bonnie, she'll die and I could lose my magic. No thank you, sweetheart," Jordanna jeered. She wouldn't lose her magic, she just didn't want to help Elena. It's a suicide mission, it's literally asking for Klaus to come and hunt her down and . . . kill her, duh!

"She said she would!" Elena snapped. She was panicking, she was running out of options—she didn't want to die, as much as she'd told everyone that she didn't want them dying for her, she didn't want to die— it was one of those situations where it was them or her. She'd chose her, who wouldn't?

It's a fickle situation you see. Because if it came down to it, and it was Jordanna, of course she wouldn't want to die. But if it was her or her friends? She'd pick them, what life would it be if she didn't have them by her side?

She couldn't lose them.

"I don't give a damn what she said, Elena. She isn't doing this, it's not an option. I'm not losing my best friend. I'm sure there's another way to do this that doesn't risk her life."

"If Bonnie doesn't kill Klaus I'll die Jordanna, and since you're not stepping up she's my only option."

"You do know you're not the star of this movie right?" Jordanna asked sarcastically. "I'm not letting Bonnie die because of you Elena, not another person needs to die at your benefit. You're not as special as everyone makes you out to be. The Salvatore's are only so hell-bent on saving you because you look like Kitty-Kat and they fell in love with her all over again, a much duller version might I add," she sneered, getting closer to the intimated girl.

She gripped Elena's face with her perfectly manicured nails, getting close to her, nearly nose to nose as she began speaking. "If I find out Bonnie is even a mile near that sacrifice you won't have to worry about Klaus," she said, dragging her nails down the doppelganger's face roughly before walking off, throwing her cigarette to the ground.

What? 

She loved a good-old-fashioned dramatic exit.

AUTHOR'S NOTE !

bit of elijah and jordanna there for u mi amore

vote and comment thanks ;) xoxo

(edited 06/05/22)