The Red Herring Returns: A Mikaelson Love Story

Chapter 11: The Fault in Our Relationships

I slept in one of the spare bedrooms at Klaus' mansion and when I woke up Klaus was sat at the foot of my bed with a sketchpad in his hands.

"If this is the part where you draw me like one of your French girls, let me remind you that very impressionable young ladies look up to me." I said as I sat up on the bed.

"Sorry, I uh, couldn't sleep." He told me. "And you looked so peaceful, I just had to."

"Not creepy at all."

"Coming from the girl who studied my family."

"Touché." I said, laughing at him. "Okay, you weirdo, let me see."

"No!" He said, slamming the sketchpad closed.

"Why not?" I whined.

"Because it's not finished." He said with a shrug.

"I will attack you." I said, sitting up forcefully.

"I'm sorry, I thought you, the doppelganger, said you were going to attack me, the hybrid." Klaus said laughing harder now.

"Glad to see your vampire hearing is in check." I jumped from my bed and landed on top of him, stealing the sketchpad and rolling off of him. "You were saying?"

"I let you win." He mumbled.

"Sure, you did." I flipped through the pages and saw various different sketches until I came across the one he had done of me sleeping. "Oh wow. I don't really look that pretty in real life."

"You'd be surprised." He told me with a warm smile.

"I remember this book." I said, looking at him with a mischievous grin. "Yesterday you put a piece of paper in this book!"

"Wait!" He tried to yank the book back from me but I shook it and out fell the folded-up sketch. It was of me with a horse. And a message there too. Thank you for giving me the time of day.

"Oh my gosh, Klaus." I said, beaming up at him. "Why didn't you give this to me?"

"I was going to. But then Elijah told me Sean was here, and I didn't think he's appreciate it." He told me, slightly angered.

"Right, Sean. My boyfriend. Who loves me." I said with a sigh when I received a phone call from the Sherriff.

"Liz, is something wrong?" I asked her.

"It's Alaric. He went after Meredith. And then she shot him." The sheriff explained.

"Wait, what?"

"She says he's the one responsible for the attacks." She continued. "I've had to arrest him."

"I'll—I'll be right there." I got up and sighed looking down at Klaus. "Guessing you heard that."

"I did." Klaus said, standing up as well. "And I'm coming with you."

"No, you're not."

"Iliana—"

"No I get it. You want to help and I appreciate that. But—"

"But I'm the last person anyone in your family wants to see right now." Klaus said with understanding.

"I'm sorry." I gave him a kiss on the cheek and picked up the sketch. "I'm taking this with me."

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I stopped by my house and picked Sean up on the way to the station. I was gonna tell him the truth. I couldn't keep stringing him along. He deserved more than that.

"You know for a tiny town, a lot sure does happen here." Sean said with a chuckle as he sat with me in the car.

"Yeah. I'm sorry it's not what you were expecting." I told him.

"Don't worry, I've seen enough Desperate Housewives to know that tiny towns speak volumes." He said with a smile as bright as ever.

"Sean, there's something you should know."

"Can it wait?" He asked me, suddenly fidgeting about. "Because there's something I need to tell you too."

"Um sure." I smiled at him and he gave me a nervous smile back before we entered the station.

"Iliana. I didn't think you'd show up." Elena said when she saw me there.

"Yeah well Alaric is my family and Liz called me." I answered curtly. "I show up for family."

"Good to know." Elena said with a small smile. "And who's this?"

"Sean, this is Elena." I told him dismissively, but him being Sean was as hospitable as ever.

"Your twin!" He said as he brought the surprised girl into a hug. "Honestly, I should have brought Cami and then we could've done a twin thing!"

"Well we know for next time." Elena said with a smile.

"Don't hold your breath." I said, glaring at her.

"Um, Sean, do you mind giving us a minute?" She asked him.

"Sure." He gave me a peck on the cheek before wandering away. "I'll see if I can find a donut or something."

"What do you want, Elena?"

"To apologise." She said with a sigh. "I shouldn't have done what I did. I should've told you the truth. If I did, maybe Abby wouldn't be a vampire right now. But Klaus had to die and you wouldn't have been able to understand that."

"Yeah I wouldn't because there is no need." I shot back. "I kind of understand why life means so little to a vampire because of all the lifetimes they've had but you? Has being around these people changed you to the point that you don't get that we have no right to take life?"

"Neither does he!"

"That doesn't mean that we become judge, jury and executioner either." I said, shaking my head at her. "And if you can get that through your head, then I can't accept your apology."

"Can't you see that I'm doing this for you too?" She said taking my hand in hers.

"Excuse me?"

"Iliana, Klaus took you away from us. He uses our blood to make hybrids and you still love him. I wanted to end all that pain for you." She told me and I yanked my hands out of her clutches.

"More choices you want to make for me? It's not bad enough that you took Jeremy away from me, that you made me the reason the Mikaelsons are linked, the reason that Abby is a vampire but now you want to kill Klaus and pin that on me too, huh?" I raged.

"You know that is not what I meant!"

"Do I?"

"You're my identical twin." She said sadly.

"And nothing more."

A/N: I hope you enjoyed! Please vote, comment and follow! Love you as always! X