The Vampire Diaries(BxB)

3: The Original Story

I'm walking with Alaric, through a tunnel in the old Lockwood Cellar, holding my flashlight in my right hand. "So, the Lockwoods really have no idea that these tunnels are underneath their property?" I ask. "Careful where you shine that thing. Bats hate the light." He says, and walks past me, as I stop. "Wait. What?" I ask. "Ethan." I hear a whisper, and turn around, shining my flashlight at Damon, as he has his hands up. "Boo!" He exclaims, as I gasp, and slap his arm. "God, Damon." I say. "Scaredy cat. And to think you're not afraid of Klaus." He says, smiling. "I'm not." I say. "Then what are you afrai-. Oh." He says. "Not him anymore, either. I punched in the face, remember?" I ask. "Just ignore him. That's what I do." Alaric says, as I look at him, and nod, and back to Damon. "So you really can't get in?" I ask, and he shakes his head. "No. Seems even the ancient Lockwoods were anti vampire." He says, and walks past me, as I look at him. "What do you mean, ancient?" I ask, and he gestures me forward with his right hand. "See for yourself." He says, and we walk through the caves more. "Well, this is as far as I get to go." He says, and I walk past him, into the chamber with Alaric, and shine my flashlight against the wall, seeing a bunch of drawings. "What is all this?" I ask. "Well, as far as I can tell, it's a story. In simple, archaeological terms, it's a really, really old story. That right there, is the moon cycle." He says, shining at the pictures of the moons. "A man, a wolf." He says, shining his flashlight at the wolf, and so do I. "A Werewolf." I say. "Yeah, it's the Lockwood Journals, Pictionary Style." Damon says. "I don't understand." I say, and put my flashlight down, and look at Alaric. "I thought the Lockwoods came here with the Original Founders in the eighteen sixties." I say. "I don't know. Maybe the Lockwoods did, but according to this wall, these werewolves have been here a lot longer than that." He says, shining his flashlight in his right hand at the wall. "How long?" I ask. "Long. It gets better. Show him, Ric." Damon says, and I look behind me, and Alaric walks past me, showing more carvings. Five of them. "Names. They're not native. They're written in Runic, a Viking script." He says. "Vikings? As in.." I say, and he shines his flashlight at a name. "This name here, I translated it and it reads.." He says, and looks at me. "Niklaus." He says. "Klaus." I say, and he looks back at the wall. "And Elijah.." He says, shining at another name. "And Rebekah." He says, shining at another. "These are the names of the Original Family? My in laws?" I ask. "Carved into a cave that's. That's been here since way before the founding of Mystic Falls. Or even the entire New World, for that matter." He says, looking at me. "Ok, this has gotta be one of Klaus' fakes." I say. "That's what I said." Damon says, and Alaric turns back to the names, shining his flashlight at another name. "That could be true, except the last name up here made us think otherwise." He says. "Mikael." I say, and he looks at me. "You read Runic?" Him and Damon both ask. "Yes. Mikael, as in the Vampire Hunter who knows how to kill Klaus?" I ask. "Yep. And I like to call him, Papa Original, or, Papa Original in law." Damon says. "This family gets crazier and crazier. There's also two more names up there. Kol and Finn." I say, shining my flashlight at the another two names. "Maybe you should teach my History class." Alaric says, sarcastically. Alaric, Damon, and I are at Alaric's place, as Damon is helping me with my combat training. "These images tell a story. To learn the story, you have to decipher these images." He says, and Damon grabs my right arm, and takes the wooden stake I was using, disarming me, as I sigh. "Sloppy." He says, and puts it in my left hand. "Shut up. I'm new at this. I'm also at an extra disadvantage, remember?" I ask, stepping back. "The Ghost of Christmas Past, Mason Lockwood, said up the cave and led us to a weapon that can kill Klaus." He says to Alaric, and I kick him with my right foot, and strike at him with the dagger, and he moves his head back. "Yeah, but doesn't Mikael have a weapon?" I ask, and aim for Damon, and he grabs my left wrist. "Yes. Which probably means the wall will lead us to Mikael, who we have already found.. and lost." He says, and disarms me, and spins me around, my back to his chest. "Bang. You're dead." He says, and playfully puts his mouth to my neck, pretending to nibble, and I step forward, and push him, and he steps backwards, and I walk over to Alaric. "These images at the very least might tell us what that weapon is." He says, and I sigh, and see a bunch of pictures. "Then all we have to do is find out what they mean." I say. "Well, fine. Fine. If I am being irritatingly optimistic like you two." Damon says, and I look at him, and he's approaching us. "How do you suppose we do that?" He asks, and I look back at the pictures. "Well, if the story is about the Original Family living here, then we go straight to the source." I say, looking at Alaric. I arrive to school, and see Rebekah doing flips, approaching me, and stops. "You. Goody. My future brother in law." She says, fake smiling. "I was hoping we could talk." I say. "About what? Stefan?" She asks, and I look down, shaking my head. "Don't worry, I'm off him until he starts treating me better." She says, as I look at her, and pull the picture out of my bag with my right hand. "In fact, you should probably take a page out of my book, if I'm being honest." She says. "I know that loving someone like this can be dangerous. But, actually I'd rather talk about this." I say, and hold up the picture that says her name. "I'm curious why you and Klaus have spent a thousand years running from your Father, my Father in law." I say. "I should get back to the girls. Homecoming's right around the corner." She says, and turns to leave. "Well, then maybe I'll ask Mikael when we wake him." I say, and she stops, and looks back at me, smiling. "You're bluffing. You don't know where he is. No one does." She says, shaking her head. "So, then who's rotting in that old cemetery in Charlotte?" I ask, and she walks over to me. "If you wake Mikael, we are all doomed." She says. "So then tell me." I say. "Why don't you want me to wake him?" She asks. "To know the Father of who I'm marrying. Why don't you want me to wake him?" I ask, shaking my head. "I need to get back to the girls." She says, and turns around, and walks off. I'm walking up the stairs to Alaric's apartment, talking on the phone with Damon. "She's going to tell me. She's scared of him, Damon. I saw her face. I just have to engage in a little "mean girl" power struggle first. Well, I'm a guy. So, mean boy. Or maybe in law bonding time." I say. "Well, make sure she doesn't power struggle you into a wheelchair." He says, and I open Alaric's door with my left hand. "I've got this, Damon. I'll be fine. I have a Wedding to prepare for next month, remember?" I ask, and shut the door. "If we can figure out a way to kill Klaus, Stefan will be free of his compulsion." I say, walking over to the pictures and look at them. "So.. how does he look?" I ask. "Mm. Pasty and pouty." He says. "He'll have to get over it. Call me later and send my love." I say, and hang up, and look at Alaric. "Rebekah will come around." I say. "You're sure about that?" He asks, and my phone chimes, and I look down, seeing a text. Come over for a chat. Rebekah. "I mean a thousand year old vampire, I'm sure, has learned the art of patience. "She's a thousand-year-old vampire, who's joined the cheerleader squad." I say, and hold up my phone, showing him the text. "There is a whole different set of rules that play here, Ric. I got this." I say, smiling. I walk into the Salvatore Boarding House, and see Rebekah walking towards me, smiling, holding Champange. "Hey, what's up? Champange?" She asks, offering me a glass with her right hand, and I take it with my right. "Thanks." I say, and sip it. "Wow." I say, and she laughs. "You invited me over? To talk?" I ask, and she walks over to the table, and sets the bottle down, and walks back over to me, holding a glass in her right hand. "All right, girls." She says, and looks behind her. "Have at it." She says, and looks at me, as I see six girls in multicolored dresses, and she looks back to them. "Ok, now twirl, please." She says, and the girls twirl, showing off their dresses. "You compelled your own private runway show? Wow." I say. "I need a Homecoming dress. So, what do you think? Pick one." She says, pointing to them with her right index finger, and puts it down. "Uh.. I'm actually not here to shop. I'm here to talk aboutbwhy you don't want me to wake up Mikael." I say, and she dashes to the girl in the red dress, showing her red eyes, veins, and teeth, putting them near the girl's neck, and I step forward. "I said, pick one, Ethan." She says, and I point at the green dress, with my right index finger. "The green one." I say. "See? That wasn't so hard, was it?" She asks, as her face is normal. "Go away. Remember nothing." She says to the girls, and they walk off, and she walks over to the table, and picks up Champange glass in her right hand, and walks over to me. "You do not threaten me. You'll learn what I allow you to learn. Is that clear?" She asks, and I nod. "Just trying to have some in law bonding." I say, offering a toast, and she sighs, and we cling glasses, and sip them, and she walks past me. We walk up the stairs, and she opens the door to Stefan's bedroom with her right hand, and walks in. "How fun is this?" She asks, and walks over to his drawers, and opens them, as I'm at the doorway. "We shouldn't be in here." I say. "Of course we should Come on, like you've never wanted to snoop." She says, and holds up a pair of Stefan's red underwear. "Boxer briefs. Now, that's a change from the twenties." She says, folding them, and puts them back in his drawer, and shuts it, as I have my arms crossed. "Um.. are you gonna root through his stuff all night or are you gonna start to tell me your story?" I ask, and she looks at me, and sighs. "You really are no fun. Well, except for that Champange." She says, approaching me, and walks past me. "What do you want to know?" She asks, and I walk in. "Well, Elijah said that your Father was a Landowner in Europe. How did you guys end up here?" I ask, and she goes through some of his papers. "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 says, and puts the papers down, and I approach her, and she grabs more, and I stop. "So, how did you end up here? This part of the World hadn't even been discovered yet. Right?" I ask, and she laughs. "Wrong. Not by anyone in your History books. But my Mother knew the witch Ayana, who heard from the Spirits of a mystical land where everyone was healthy.." She says, and I approach her more, and stop. "Blessed by the gifts of speed and strength. That lead my family here, where we lived amongst those people." She says, and puts the papers down. "The Werewolves?" I ask. "To us, they were just our neighbors. My family lived in peace with them for over twenty years, during which time my family had more children, including me." She says, and walks around, as do I. "You make it sound so normal." I say. "It was. Once a month our family retreated into the caves beneath our village. The wolves would howl through the night and by morning we'd return home. 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. And that was the beginning of the end of peace with our neighbors. And one of the last moments my family had together as humans." She says. "I'm sorry for your loss." I say. "Thank you." She says, and my phone vibrates, and I pick up out of my left pocket, and see it's Damon. "You better get that. That'll be Damon checking up on you." She says, and I answer it. "Hello." I say, and hear music blaring. "Hey!" He exclaims. "Damon, where are you?" I ask. "No idea, but I'm pretty sure I'm overdressed. Still standing?" He asks. "Yes, I'm fine, but I can't talk right now." I say. "I'll be at the bar." I hear Stefan's voice, say. "Was that Stefan?" I ask. "Yeah, I kinda went off book. Don't worry. I know what I'm doing." He says. "Damon, how could you let him out?" I ask. "I got this, Ethan." He says, and hangs up, and I sigh. She's laying on the bed, reading one of his journals. "Did you get your fill of snooping yet? Can we get on with the story? Please?" I ask, and she closes the journal, and stands up, and walks over to the drawer next to me, and picks up the picture of me and him, with her left hand. "Honestly, I don't get you two as a couple." She says, shaking her head. "Why would you? You don't know anything about who he really is." I say, shaking my head, and she smiles, and setsthe picture down, and leans down in front of me. "I know exactly who he is." She says, shaking her head. "He's a Vampire. We're a predatory species." She says, and gets closer to me. "We don't have time to care about humans and their silly little lives." She says. "Well, my silly little life is connected to yours. I die, you die. I want to be your friend. Honestly. But, is that why you did that runway show earlier? Because you don't care about the Homecoming Dance?" I ask, and she straightens up, away from me. "You know what? I'm just gonna go." I say, and stand up, and walk towards the door. "You haven't even heard half the story." She says, and I stop, and look at her. "And you are not going to tell it. You're just bored and looking for someone to push around. You're looking for friendship. Find someone else to play with. Maybe you can compel yourself one. I tried to be yours." I say, and turn around, walking towards the door more. "The necklace wasn't Stefan's to give." She says, and I stop. "It belonged to the Original Witch." She says, and I turn around. "The one who put the Hybrid Curse on Klaus?" I ask. "Not just the Hybrid Curse. She's the one who turned us into Vampires." She says, and walks over to me. "I'm thirsty. Do you want a drink?" She asks, and walks past me, and I follow her down the stairs. "So, Vampirism was a form of protection?" I ask. "What else would it be?" She asks. "A curse?" I ask. "My parents only saw a way of keeping their children alive." She says. "Yeah, but why stay? If they were so afraid of the werewolves, why not.. leave?" I ask, and she walks down the steps, as I stop, and she looks at me. "Pride. My Father didn't want to run anymore. He wanted to fight and be superior to the wolves. Where they could bite, we had to bite harder. Where they had speed, we had to be faster. Agility, strength, senses. Ayana denied what my Mother wished for, so it was to be in her hands." She says, and we begin walking again. "In her hands? How could she do anything?" I ask. "Because my Mother was also a witch." She says. "What?" I ask. "The witch of the Original Family. The Original Witch." She says. We walk into the Library. "Where do they keep their best vintage?" She asks. "But if your mother was a witch, then did you used to be one?" I ask. "I had a witch bloodline. But, no. A witch is Nature's servant. A Vampire is an abomination of Nature." She says, and looks through a drawer. "You can either be one or the other. Never both." She says, and pulls out a bottle of wine. "My Mother did this for us. She did not turn." She says, looking at me, and walks past me, holding a glass in her right hand, and the bottle in her left. "How did you turn?" I ask. "She called upon the Sun for life, and the ancient White Oak 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." She says. "He killed you?" I whisper, shocked, and she looks at me. "And he wasn't delicate about it either." She says, and pulls the top of the wine bottle off, and throws it into the fireplace. "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 my Mother found a solution, there were other problems. Neighbors who had opened their homes to us could now keep us out. 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. But the darkest consequence was something my parents never anticipated.. The hunger. Blood.. had made us reborn and it was blood that we craved above all else. We could not control it. And with that.. the predatory species was born." She says. "Why did Mikael start hunting Klaus?" I ask, shaking my head. "When Nik made his first human kill, it triggered his Werewolf gene. With that, he became my Father's greatest shame." She says. "Yeah. Elijah told me this part of the story. Your Mother had had an affair with one of the werewolf villagers. Klaus wasn't his son." I say. "She tried to make it right. She 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 half the village. Then he came home and killed her." She says. "He killed your Mother?" I whisper, shocked. "Mikael killed your Mother?" I ask. "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. We made a vow, Elijah, Nik, and I, to stand together as one. Always and Forever." She says. "Always and forever." I say, and she walks past me. Even though he locked you in a coffin for ninety years?" I ask. "We're vampires. Our emotions are heightened. I'm stubborn, Elijah 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." She says. "But you still love him." I say. "Of course I do. He's my brother. And I'm immortal. Should I spend an eternity alone instead? You've heard the story, it's time to go." She says, and walks past me, as I look at her. "I said leave, Ethan. I don't know what you're up to, but I'm no longer playing along." She says. "I'm not playing anything. I just don't know why you want us to wake up Mikael? Because he was abusive, wasn't he?" I ask. "But you will anyway. I know you want him to help you kill my brother, I'm not stupid." She says. "It's no secret that I want Klaus dead. He has a hold over Stefan's life, and over mine." I say. "Do what you need. 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." She says. "And to think we were bonding. And, you do realize if you kill me, you die, too?" I ask, and walk to the door. "Why aren't you bloody afraid of us?" She asks. "I've met worse monsters." I say. I arrive back to the Cave with the drawings, and see Mark and Alaric. "We, uh, filled in what we could." Alaric says, and puts sticky notes on the symbols. "Got Vampire, Werewolf, slaughter, mayhem, etc." He says, and I shine my flashlight that's in my right hand at the picture of the tree. "That's the White Oak tree that was used in the spell to create the Vampires." I say, and move to the drawing of the tree burning. "Whhich means that was when they burned down the tree, destroying the only way that they could be killed." I say. "Ok, so tree equals weapon, sort of. We already knew that. What we are not sure about is this." He says, and shines his flashlight at the witch symbol with a heart. "We've got the witch symbol, and what looks like a bleeding heart." He says, and moves to the drawing next to it with the Sun and Moon drawing and the upside witch. "Upside down figures usually signified death, of some kind." He says, and I step forward. "Mikael killed the witch by ripping out her heart." I say, and point at the Sun and Moon drawing with my right index finger, and put it down. "But.. why is that one connected to the witch's death?" I ask. "We don't know. We haven't gotten that far." Mark says, and Alaric turns off his flashlight. "Oh, my God. Rebekah doesn't know the real story. Klaus killed the Original Witch." I say. I arrive back to the Salvatore Boarding House, and see Rebekah, as I'm holding the pictures of the drawings in my right hand. "I thought I told you to leave. Twice." She says. "How do you know that Mikael killed your Mother?" I ask. "Nik was there. He told me." She says, and I sigh, and shake my head, and begin walking towards her. "He lied to you." I say. "And how do you know that?" She asks. "The cave where you carved your family's names is covered in symbols. The story of your family, how your parents arrived, how they made peace." I say, putting the peace drawing down. "The spell that turned them into Vampires." I say, showing her the spell drawing. "And this." I say, showing her the Hybrid drawing. "This is the symbol for Hybrid. It's a combination of the Werewolf." I say, pointing at the Moon symbol with my right index finger. "And the Vampire symbol." I say, pointing at the Sun symbol. "And this is the one for your Mother." I say, showing her the Witch symbol. "Her necklace." She says. "And this is the story of her death." I say, putting the Death drawing down. "The hybrid killed the Original Witch." I say, pointing at the Hybrid symbol, and the the upright Witch symbo. "Not Mikael. Klaus." I say, and she shakes her head. "No. No, he wouldn't." She says. "She put the curse on him, made it so that he would be the only one of his kind, and then she rejected him. With the Werewolf gene comes aggression and violence. When he turned, all of that was heightened. He killed her, Rebekah. And then he made up this entire lie about your Father, so that he wouldn't lose you." I say. "These mean nothing! They're just stupid drawings, done by stupid people who had no idea who my family was!" She exclaims, taking the photos in her right hand, and jogs over to the fireplace, and put them in it. "Then why are you so upset?" I ask. "Why are you doing this to me? I've done nothing to you!" She exclaims, looking at me, and I approach her. "I'm not trying to upset you. I'm just trying to tell you the truth. Klaus killed your mother. He has a hold on you, on me, on everyone. He has for a thousand years. We have to make it stop!" I exclaim, and she grabs my throat with her right hand, and I gasp. "Shut up! Shut up! Don't talk anymore! Nothing!" She yells, as I see her veins, and she stops, and lets me go, and begins sobbing, and bends over, crying, as I look at her, sad and guilty. I walk out of my bathroom in just my black underwear, and turn off the light, and see Damon on the bed with his hands behind his head, laying down on the right side and sigh. "Seriously, Damon?" I ask, crossing my arms, covering myself. "We got Mikael." He says. "What? How?" I ask. "No idea. I guess Alex came through. The plan's in motion. See? Told you I had it. Go ahead. Kick, yell, scream. I'm sure you've been planning you're rant all day." He says, and I uncross my arms, and approach the bed. "I'm not going to yell." I say, and put my gray shirt on, and pull the covers back with my right hand, while holding my pillow with my left, and put the pillow down. "Why not I went behind you back. Freed Stefan. And you know what? It backfired. He's an even bigger dick than ever. It's ust now, he's a dick that's on our side." He says, smiling. "I'm not mad. I'm tired. I just. I want to go to bed." I say, trying to pull my covers, put he won't move. "You know, I think Mikael's weapon is a stake, because he mentioned something about it." He says. "Well, they must have carved it from the White Oak tree before they burned it down." I say. "So I was right." He says, smiling, and I roll the blankets over him, and get in, and pull them over me, laying down. "After all that, the wall lead us to Mikael." He says, and I sigh. "It led us to more than just that. I think I got Rebekah on our side, too." I say. "Really? What'd you learn from her?" He asks, and I look at him. "I earned that she's just a girl. That she lost her Mom too young, and she loves blindly and recklessly, even if it consumes her." I say, looking forward up, and back to him, as we're looking at each other. "You know, when all is said and done, there's nothing more important than the bond of family." I say. "You should tell that to my brother." He says, and I sigh again. "I'm not mad at you for letting him out, Damon." I say, and turn my lamp off with my right hand. "I think that you're gonna be the one to save him from himself. It won't be because he loves me." I say. "It'll be because he loves you." I whisper. "Can I tell you the rest tomorrow?" I ask, and he nods and smiles, softly. "Sure." He says, and I close my eyes.