CAPTURED MY HEART, BODY & SOUL [1]

09 : BLUSH

      "Welcome back," Elijah greeted with a small smile as Elena entered the Lockwood mansion, shrugging off her jacket without a word. He himself had his blazer returned to him after he and Charlie returned inside to find it relatively warmer than the outside, which to the blonde's relief. Elena quickly noticed that Charlie was sitting on the opposite sofa than before and Elijah was standing by the fireplace next to her. She knew their hour alone together had done them justice, as they seemed more content with each other.

"Is Jenna okay?" Charlie asked her, concerned.

Elena nodded, tucking a stray of brown hair behind her ear. "Shaken up and still processing everything but she's okay and at the Boarding House with Stefan." She turned to Elijah. "Now tell me about the curse."

The Original nodded. "My family were quite close, but Klaus and my father did not get along so well. When we became vampires, we discovered the truth: Klaus was not my father's son. My mother had been unfaithful many years before. It was her deepest darkest secret. Klaus is from a different line. Of course, when my father discovered this, he hunted down and killed my mother's lover and his entire family." He paused. "Not realizing, of course, that he was igniting a war between species that continues to this day."

Elena's brows furrowed together in puzzlement. "A war between species?"

Charlie quickly realized what he meant. "You mean the vampires and the werewolves?" Elijah nodded in approval, his eyes falling on the blonde witch beside him, his smile soft. "If Klaus's father was a werewolf-"

"What does that make him?" Elena interrupted. "A werewolf? Or a vampire?"

"He's both." Elijah answered simply, shocking them both. "A hybrid would be deadlier than any other 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 remain dormant."

Charlie frowned. "That's the curse Klaus wants to break?"

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

"But you helped him?" Elena questions.

"I helped him because I loved him." Elijah told them simply, his voice empathetic, as both women understood what he meant. They were both siblings, they were both older to a younger sibling that they wished to protect at all costs. "But that's changed; now he must die."

Charlie felt herself gulp when Elijah allowed his eyes to glance down at her but she kept her own on Elena, who was watching them curiously but the moment was brief before Elena straightened her posture and an expression of determination fired onto her face.

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

The Original shook his head, dismissing the very idea. "When a werewolf is wounded by silver, it heals. An Original cannot be killed by anything but white oak ash on a silver dagger. So you can see conundrum. The dagger does not work."

Charlie leaned forward, her elbows resting against her knees as she and Elena exchanged the same worried look until the doppelganger asked whether Klaus could be killed or not.

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

She sighed, knowing the answer to that already. "A witch."

"Not you, obviously." Elijah added quickly, his eyes momentary wide as if the mere idea scared him.

"If a witch can channel that much power, it can kill him." Elena breathed and Elijah nodded once again. "But it would kill the witch too."