Original

Chapter 19

I woke up this morning in an empty bed freezing and alone. Stefan must already be downstairs with Elena, and I'm assuming they are on no talking terms. I put on some sweatpants, cause my shorts aren't gonna cut it with the chilly fall weather. I walked downstairs, and Stefan was nowhere to be seen.
"Good morning Elena." I said to her. She didn't really say anything back because her nose was stuck in one of the Johnathan Gilbert journals. She looks completely and utterly fascinated. "Do you know where Stefan is?"
"Dock." Was all she said to me. I thanked her, opening the door, walking outside. Stefan was sitting on the dock, skipping stones. I kept my feet quiet walking up behind him, putting my hands over his eyes.
"Guess who." I said joking with him. There is an obvious difference between my voice and everyone else's in Mystic Falls. My impervious accent, matching my siblings.
"The most beautiful person alive." Stefan said.
"I like that answer." I said, removing my hands from his eyes, sitting down next to him. My phone started to ring. Damon.
"What's going on?" I asked Damon.
"Well, I showered. I shaved. Had breakfast. Very relaxed." Damon's annoying ass voice said. I rolled my eyes.
"Glad to know you called me to tell me about your morning routine." I said to him, this caused Stefan to laugh, breaking his normally brooding expression.
"And honestly Damon that makes one of us." Stefan said.
"I did hear one piece of good news though. Tyler Lockwood ran away from home last night." Damon said.
"That's what we need. We need good news." I said, patting Stefan on the shoulder.
"How do you know he ran away?" Stefan asked his older brother, his brooding countenance creeping back onto his face.
"Well, I heard it from Sheriff Forbes, who heard it from a very distraught Carol Lockwood, thus, ending our werewolf chapter, bringing us to..." Damon quickly stopped.
"Bringing you to what?" I asked. I looked up to Stefan who look uncomfortable. "Bringing him to what, Stefan?" I asked her again. Both of them remained silent. I just stared at Stefan.
"Killing Elijah." Stefan said quietly. I know my expression fell from my good morning to my I'm gonna kill you face.
"Exactly." Damon said. I had no words to say. Stefan and Damon just continued to have the conversation.
"Well, it's not going to be easy. He's crafty." Stefan said.
"Well I have a crafty little dagger." Damon said. We were supposed to use that dagger on Klaus, not Eli.
"He's an Original. We don't know what all that encompasses." Stefan said. I rolled my eyes. Again with the whole original statement.
"Oh, trust me, Stefan. I'm gonna dot all my t's. I don't want any surprises." Damon's words made no sense but I think that was the point. Hell, I don't know with him anymore.
"Wow, Damon, tell me you're actually gonna be careful for once?" Stefan asked.
"Yes, Stefan, I've become you. How tragic for both of us. Got to run. I've a murder to plan. Busy day." Damon said, ending the call. Stefan hands me back my phone. I stand up without looking at him.
"Iris? What's wrong?" He asked me, running to keep up with my fast walk.
"Oh I don't know, maybe it's the fact that you and your brother are planning to murder my brother, and you didn't think of telling me." I said, not making eye contact with him. Stefan didn't say anything else until we got into the house. Elena closed Johnathans journal, looking at Stefan.
"Are you still mad?" She asked him.
"Yes I'm still mad." Stefan said.
"We have a difference of opinion, Stefan. We're not always gonna agree on everything." Elena said. Stefan rolled his eyes.
"Elena, you've agreed to sacrifice yourself to Klaus. To say that we have a difference of opinion is the understatement of the century." Stefan shot back at her.
"You would know." She said, Stefan looking down at the journal.
"What does Johnathan Gilbert have to say?" I asked.
"A lot. It's insane the things he wrote in his journal." She said, handing Stefan the journal. Stefan opens it to the bookmarked page. "That he kept from the founding families. Stuff that nobody knows. Stuff that...you never told me." She said to Stefan. Stefan read the pages, horror filling his eyes. I'm assuming it's part of his ripper days.
"We were, uh...We were angry at the founding families for what they did to Katherine. We wanted revenge. I didn't know about Johnathan Gilbert's ring yet. I didn't know that he would..." Stefan started, taking a seat. "...that he would survive." Yep. Definitely talking about his ripper days.
"He describes you as a monster." Elena said.
"That's what I was. I want you to know the truth...But I want you to hear it from me. In the weeks after I became a vampire, I relished in it. I took it to the darkest place I could." Stefan said.
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3rd person POV:
Flashback, Salvatore Boarding house, 1864
Damon wasn't home, but Stefan was, having a good time killing innocent women whom he happened to find attractive. Stefan would never admit it, but this was a really dark time in his life. He'd never admit it to Damon, or his best friend who he hasn't seen in ages, Iris. Stefan continues to drain the blood out of the beautiful woman before him. There were three other women in the house, who were compelled to want Stefan to kill them.
"Who wants to die next?" Stefan asked. Two of the girls stood up, while one continued to play the piano beautifully.
"Me!" The redhead shouted, causing the brunette to glare at her.
"No! Me! You promised." She said in a very seducing tone, causing Stefan to laugh, walking away from the two desperate girls. Grabbing the piano players face in his hands he says,
"What about you? You know if you don't pick up the tempo, you're going to lose your head. Snap. Snap." The woman instantly picks up the tempo, playing a song that would be used for parties. Stefan grabs the brunettes hand, spinning her around the room, then finally drinking from her neck. Stefan was so caught up in the feed that he didn't even notice that Damon came home until he said something.
"Company, brother?" Damon asked his younger brother, completely horrified by the sight. Decapitated, dead, bloodless women laying on his floor. In his house! Stefan takes a second to stop drinking, turning around, meeting the gaze of his older brother.
"I brought enough to share." Stefan said, throwing the brunette to his brother, who caught her, fighting the urges to feed on her already bleeding neck.
"Are you mad bringing them here when the entire town is hunting us?" Damon asked, keeping a level head, trying not to grow angry at his little brother.
"Damon, if you're worried about the Founding Families, please don't be. They're all dead or about to be." Damon couldn't believe the words coming out of his brothers mouth. The sweet Stefan who was so scared to talk to a female is gone, completely and utterly gone. Stefan goes back to feeding on the brunette, when Damon went up to the red head, compelling her to leave and to forget that she was ever here. Damon takes the brunette out of Stefans hands, compelling her to do the same. Anger and rage creep onto Stefans face.
"Damon, don't be like this. I'm just having some fun." Stefan said, upset that his older brother is ruining his buzz.
"Staying alive is more fun, Stefan. We have to be more careful than this. More clever. Like Katherine was." Damon said. "Like Iris is." Her name makes Stefan feel a swirl of emotion. She's only his best friend who he hasn't seen in months. Iris.
"Look where that got her." Stefan said, bothered his brother by the way he talked about the love of his life. Katherine.
"I'm done here. With you. I'm leaving town." Damon said, walking past his brother. Stefan rushes up to Damon, realizing what he's done. He grabs his shoulders and starts to plead to his brother.
"You hate me. I know. I know. An eternity of misery and on and on. I know, but you don't have to leave town. Damon, I'll do better. I promise." He said.
"No, you will get us killed. I'd rather leave you to do that to yourself." Damon said, walking out of the house, leaving his little brother alone.
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Iris' POV:
Stefan has never told me that story. Hell he doesn't really talk about his ripper days.
"For weeks I kept spiraling. I was completely driven by the desire for blood. Hunt, prey, kill. That was all I knew." Stefan said.
"How come no one caught on to what you were doing?" Elena said.
"Mmm. There was a war going on. The thing about wartime. Endless, anonymous blood supply." Stefan said. War time in mystic falls? "But there was one person who corrected me." Stefan tells the story of the woman in a hood.
"Iris Mikaelson." Stefan said.
"I know this story all too well." I said.
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       Elena spent her whole day reading the journals, taking in every ounce of information there is to take in. Personally I've always loved history, but being a lover of history is hard when you've lived through most of it, but it is fun proving Alaric wrong sometimes.
        "Johnathan Gilbert got crazier and crazier. I guess that's what happens when you spend your life obsessed with vampires." Elena said, finishing the journal, picking up a new one. Stefan and I were sitting next to one another, reading the journals Elena has already read.
      "He researched the Originals." Elena said, making my heart beat fast.
       "He what?" I asked, making sure that I heard her correctly.
       "You're kidding." Stefan asked, walking up to her, looking over her shoulder.
       "No seriously. Later in his life, look." Elena said, showing him a page in the journal. "Pages and pages of questions and scribbles." Elena said, flipping through the pages quickly until one caught her eye. Stefan looks confused.
      "The wood from one tree and one tree alone, an ancient white oak would bring death to an Original vampire. When the tree burned, all hope was thought lost." She read, making my heart stop.
      "He was trying how to figure out how to kill an original." I said, trying not to show my emotions. I really don't even know what I'm feeling.
      "But the ash from the tree was saved and witches forged a dagger to which the ash could be bonded. This alchemic bond provides the necessary poison." Elena continues to read. Stefan gets up, standing in front of her.
       "Elena." He calls out, making her stop reading.
        "I wonder if this is true. I mean, do you think this dagger actually exists?" Elena asked him.
       "Why don't you ask the original?" I asked her. She looked up at me. "I know it exists. John gave it to Damon."
      "John gave Damon the weapon that's supposed to kill Elijah? This one?" Elena asked, touching the page.
       "Yes. But I didn't know Damon was planning on killing my brother!" I said, looking at Stefan. Elena looked panicked.
       "It must be brandished by humans alone, for it will bring death to all demons who wield it." Elena read. I made eye contact with a panicked Stefan.
        "John is trying to get Damon killed." Stefan said, pulling out his phone. Stefan dialed Damon's number.
      "Why is your phone off?! Damnit Damon pick up." Stefan said.
       "What's wrong." Elena asked.
        "Damon is planning on killing Elijah tonight." Stefan said. I picked up my phone, dialing Alaric's number.
       "Hello?" Alaric's voice asked.
      "Are you with Damon and Elijah?" I asked quickly.
     "Yeah...." Alaric said slowly.
     "You need to stop Damon from Staking Eli." I said.
     "Iris, I know that that's your brother and all, but he's gonna kill Elena. And potentially Damon." Alaric said.
       "This is not about him being my brother! If Damon stakes Elijah, it will kill him. The state can only be wielded by humans." I said.
        "How do I know you're not lying to me?" Alaric asked.
       "She's not, Ric." Stefan said. Alaric sighed, telling us that he would stop Damon. Elena tried to storm off, pissy with Stefan.
       "Elena, we need to talk about this." Stefan said, making Elena stop, turn around, and point her finger.
        "What good is talking if you, Damon, and Iris are just gonna lie to me? If you don't like my decisions, that's fine. There's nothing I can do about that but if you ever go behind my back again, I'll..." I cut elenas bullshit rant short.
      "You'll do what mate?! And actually I didn't have anything to do with the whole Stefan and Damon wanting to kill Elijah thing! You really think I'd be behind my brothers murder?! I'm not fucking Niklaus!" I yelled, feeling the anger, my power surfer through my veins.
       "It's my life." Elena said.
       "Yeah, exactly. It's your life and I'm gonna do everything I can to make sure that you live it."
      "Then what? This...this...this trip through the past. You being honest. Was there any truth to that or were you just distracting me?" Elena asked Stefan.
       "I was telling you about a time when I thought that everything was lost. When I had given up because that is exactly what you're doing right now." Stefan says.
        "That is not what..." Elena started before Stefan snapped.
        "Yes, it is! Even if you don't want to admit it. You are giving up...and Iris? She wouldn't let me give up. I'm not gonna let you." Stefan said to her. His phone started to ring. I went to the kitchen, pouring myself a glass of bunny, cause Stefan told me not around him, well no human I mean.
         "Alaric did it. He's dead." Stefan said. Am I supposed to pretend that I'm okay with the fact that my brothers dead?!
         "Knowing the idiots who staked him, they didn't keep it in." I said sipping my bunny.
         "What did you say?" Stefan asked.
         "Knowing how stupid Alaric and Damon are, they probably took the stake out." I said laughing.
          "Why does that have any significance?" Stefan asked.
         "You do realize that Alaric used a regular wood stake with some ash right? It not a full white oak stake, so there for Elijah isn't fully dead. But to keep him down you have to keep the stake in."
         "I'm not understanding." Elena said.
         "We Originals believed in truth and honor. It was forbidden for a vampire to kill another vampire. So, the dagger would take both lives. And as long as the dagger stays in place, the Original, for all intents and purposes, is dead." I said. Stefans face fell. Stefan rushes to his phone calling Damon, realizing that yes Alaric took out the stake.
          "Well Elena, your friends tried to kill Elijah. Either he's super forgiving or he's on his way now." I said to Elena. "Three. Two. One." I said as rocks flew into the house, completely busting down the door. I super sped, moving Elena and Stefan out of the way. "Knife" I mouthed to Stefan. He nodded, giving me a knife. I held it behind my back
          "You know, I might not be able to enter this house...But I'm a very patient man. I'll wait you out." Elijah said. Show time. I grabbed Elena, walking out from behind a wall.
          "Hello brother." I said to him. "Expecting someone else." My brother sighed, giving me an annoyed look. My grip tightened on Elena, causing her bones to crack, making her shout in pain. "Damon and Alaric shouldn't have done what they did."
          "Well the deal is off Elena." My brother said, completely ignoring me.
        "Why are you talking to elena? Elena won't talk to you." I said, compelling her to keep her mouth shut when it comes to Elijah. For the time being of course. "Oh and I'm renegotiating the deal, brother."
          "Fine. You have nothing left to negotiate with." Elijah said to me. I laughed, pulling out the knife.
         "I'd like to see you lure our brother Klaus into Mystic Falls after the doppelgänger bleeds to death." I said simply.
          "What?!" Elena asked in panic. 
         "Stefan won't let her die. Damon won't let her die. You won't let her die."
          "No, he won't. I won't either. I'll feed her my blood, healing her. But then I'll snap her neck, turning her into a vampire, just like Katerina. Unless you want that to happen again, I say you keep your word. Protecting everyone on elenas list, no matter what they have done, or what they will do." I said to Elijah.
       "I'm sorry, Iris. I'm going to have to call your bluff." I laughed, looking at the stainless, perfectly clean knife.
         "Cant say I didn't warn you." I said, before plunging the knife into Elena stomach, making her fall. I lowered my body as hers fell. I kept my hand on the knife, making sure it stayed in her. I smile evilly at my brother.
         "No!" He screams, realizing what I've just done to his precious doppelgänger. "Yes. Yes, you can have your deal. Please, just heal her." Elijah begged.
          "Give me your word. Elijah the honest." I said, lacking the name that my mother gave him.
          "I give you my word!" Elijah shouts. I smiled, ripping the knife out of Elena, feeding her my blood.
        "I do love you Eli. I just have people to protect, and dumb and dumber just so happen to be on my list." I said, as I watched Damon stab my brother with the stake.
         "Little tip. Don't pull out the dagger." Damon said.
        "Yeah no shit." I said, helping Damon lift my brothers body to the car.
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       "Don't be mad at me elena. I just saved everyone on your stupid list." I said, bringing my things into the boarding house. Stefan and Damon were dragging Elijahs body down to the cellar. "Hey be careful. He's still my brother." I said.
        "So, that's it. I mean, as long as we keep the dagger in there, then he stays dead." Elena said.
       "Yeah pretty much." I said to her. The boys came back upstairs, Stefan wrapping his arms around my waist.
          "You know, you guys want me to fight, fine, I'll fight. But if we're gonna do this, you can't keep anything from me anymore. From this moment on, we're doing it my way." Elena said.
          "Yeah. I don't live by anyone's rules." I said. "Tell that to my brother whos currently dead in a cellar. And my other brother trying to kill my whole family." I said. Elena rolled her eyes.