Chapter Thirty Three.

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"Were you aware that our dear friend Rayna was turned into a Vampire by Klaus?" Damon asked Stefan the next day.
Stefan looked awfully confused.
"Neither thought to mention. Must've slipped their minds." He smiled as though it were nothing.
"Ya know, I'm really starting to get annoyed at this grey area humanity thing you've got going on. At least react to the things I tell you, Stefan." Damon exclaimed. "And I'd also appreciate it if you informed me that our former best friend was back in the picture."
"Why? It's not exactly useful information right now, brother. So what she got sired by our current worst enemy. Last I checked, that's ancient history and so is the fact that she's here." Stefan shrugged.
"Well, here's the thing." Damon started, gulping down some blood from a hospital blood bag. "I'm pretty sure her and Elijah have some sort of 'ancient history', as you put it, of a slightly different kind."
"And what could possibly make you think that?" The younger brother asked.
"Well considering she got so worked up about not knowing his whereabouts yesterday that she snapped my neck and left me on the floor over there, I'd say there was something." Stefan looked thoughtful.
"And you'd be right. Elijah and I are very old flames." Rayna said, leaning on the archway to the sitting room.
"Ah, speak of the devil and she shall appear." Damon raised his arms in the air as though he were praising some sort of God.
"Good morning, Damon. How's your neck?" Rayna smirked, moving to sit on the couch next to Stefan.
"Sore. Thanks." Damon gave an arrogant and annoyed smirk.
"So tell me about this whole ordeal with Niklaus. He seems rather reluctant to give the whole truth because he knows what happened the last time I spoke to him about Doppelgangers." Rayna said, patting her thighs in anticipation. "I'm assuming that's what this is all about, anyway."
The brothers glanced at each other.
"Well basically, Klaus performed the ritual, he's now a Hybrid and has made his own army using the local and not-so-local Werewolves. So there's that." Damon shrugged.
"So what's with the stalemate you've got going on with him and the coffins containing his family?" Rayna questioned.
"You know them better than we do. What do you think will happen if we gave them back to him?" Stefan asked.
"Rebekah and I no longer have a good relationship, so I'd be a little biased to answer that one. Kol, Niklaus' younger brother, he's unpredictable. He'll pick and choose sides with whoever he thinks will win. He also doesn't care who he hurts or he makes collateral damage. Finn, the oldest brother, I've never officially met. He's been daggered for the better part of a thousand years because Niklaus thought he was boring." Rayna explained.
"He daggered his older brother for being boring..." Stefan muttered.
"And what about dear older brother Elijah?" Damon asked.
"Elijah will always choose Niklaus. But I'm willing to bet that - should I take sides with you – I could persuade him to at least try and talk Niklaus out of war."
The brothers nodded, taking in all the new information in.
"So will you take sides with us?" Stefan asked.
"It certainly looks that way..." Rayna sighed. 

"Who thought it best to leave out the minor detail that Elijah is in your damn basement?" Rayna shouted, making her way through the house as Damon walked through the front door.
"Hello Damon, how are you? I'm fine thanks, Rayna. Totally didn't just almost get murdered by Klaus when he found out that I hid his mysterious locked coffin, even though I was decent enough to give him back the other three. Yeah, I'm great, how was your d-" Damon cut himself off when he saw the dagger in Rayna's hand. "What have you done..."
"Freed my former lover from his death sleep. He should be up any minute now. Pour three Bourbons, would you?" Rayna smirked. 

In the cell in the basement, Elijah woke with a start.
Seeing a blood bag next to him, he picked it up and drank with desperation.
Once he felt ready, he made his way upstairs.
"Good morning, my love." Rayna said, swirling the Bourbon around in her glass as she slouched on the couch.
"Rayna?" Elijah looked entirely confused.
"I'll assume by your surprise that no one cared to mention that the Salvatore brothers and I have a history." She raised an eyebrow.
"No. They didn't." Elijah replied as Damon offered him a Bourbon.
"I'm going to see my brother."
Rayna looked to Damon, who didn't seem to care.
"I'll go with you." She said. 

At Niklaus' mansion, one of his Hybrids; Daniel, was moving the last of the coffins into a room, under the Original's close supervision.
"You've got your family back, finally. You're gunna open them?" Daniel asked.
"Not quite yet. I still have some unfinished business to take care of." Niklaus replied.
"What business?" Daniel questioned.
Just as he finished his sentence, Niklaus watched as he began to squirm and then fall to the floor, revealing Elijah with Daniel's heart in hand.
Niklaus looked shocked to say the least.
"So, Niklaus." The older brother began.
"Elijah!" The Hybrid exclaimed.
"What did I miss?" Elijah smirked just as Rayna appeared from round the corner.
"You look like you could do with a drink. And we three have a lot to discuss, so shall we?" Niklaus beckoned to move to the sitting room.
In a fit of sudden rage, Elijah attacked Niklaus, throwing him out of the window behind him.
"Easy!" Niklaus growled, the smug look on his face still not faltering as he appeared on the other side of the broken window. "I've just finished renovating."
Niklaus rushed at his brother in Vamp speed, causing Elijah to land on the table, practically obliterating it.
Rayna watched on, leaning against one of the coffins with an awfully bored look. She was glad her family were dead, at this point.
"You know you have every right to be mad at me. But I kept my word; I reunited you with our family." Niklaus pointed out.
Rayna put two and two together.
Niklaus originally daggered Elijah...
Elijah ran at Niklaus again, knocking him against one of the coffins.
The Hybrid opened the coffin next to him, revealing Kol, and undaggered him. He then Vamped back towards Elijah and held him against the coffin Rayna was leant against, holding him by the throat, ready to plunge Kol's dagger into the older brother.
"You two are so bloody childish, it's unreal." Rayna sighed, going to the sitting room to find the Bourbon and wait for it to be over.
"Don't make me do this to you again, Elijah!" Niklaus shouted, both brothers totally ignoring their Heretic friend.
"Come on. Use it. I dare you. You'll have Kol to deal with." Elijah spat.
Niklaus lowered the dagger.
"Mikael is dead." He told him, releasing his brother's throat.
Rayna listened in from the other room.
She had only heard of Mikael from when she had helped dagger Kol back in Spain three hundred years previous. She knew why he was hunting the family, Niklaus in particular, and she knew why him being dead was such a big deal.
Elijah looked at his younger brother, wide eyed with shock.
"What did you say?" He asked.
"I killed him. With his own weapon. He's gone, Elijah. Forever." Niklaus replied.
"Why do our family remain in these coffins? Finn for over nine hundred years. Kol for over a century." Elijah was trying to process all of this information, attempting to catch up with lost time.
"Because of Stefan Salvatore. He holds the one thing that keeping me from freeing him. There are things you do not know about our past, Elijah – our mother's death – things I never wanted you to know, but I'm ready to tell you now. I only ask you to remember the oath of loyalty you once swore to me." Niklaus said, walking over to a small table, where an Urn stood.
He opened the Urn and dipped Kol's dagger in, revealing it to house White Oak ash.
Elijah watched as he redaggered the youngest Original brother.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
"Always and forever. I need you to stand by my side – be my brother. Help me destroy Stefan I promise you our family will be whole again." Niklaus spoke as he closed the lid on Kol's coffin.
Rayna walked back into the coffin room.
"Could you at least try not to kill him, Niklaus?" She asked, sipping her Bourbon.
"He needs to be taught a lesson and made an example of. No one crosses me and puts my family at risk and lives." Niklaus argued.
Rayna looked to Elijah with pleading eyes.
"Perhaps, brother, we could set up a meeting. Find some neutral ground and make a deal. That way, we get the last coffin back and they may get to live." Elijah suggested.
Niklaus seemed awfully reluctant to even respond.
"Niklaus, please. They're my friends. If not for Elijah, do this for me." Rayna begged, knowing that'd get the answer she wanted from him.
Niklaus sighed deeply. "Fine."

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