Who Are We?

Chapter Twenty-Nine

"I'll just have the normal Dane, thanks," I smiled politely to our waiter. He nodded and left us alone to our conversation.
"Okay, so what's really going on?" Elena asked resting her arms on the table, folding them. I just stared at her with disbelief covering my hesitation to answer.
"Nothing," I laughed. She just stared with her brown eyes glaring into my soul. Why was she so smart sometimes? "Really, Elena. There's nothing going on," I smiled.
"Here are you coffees girls," Dane said coming back over to us with our mugs. "And then three French vanilla creams for Arielle," he laughed.
I laughed at his accuracy. "You know me so well, Dane," he smiled shyly and I could see a hint of pink on his cheeks as he turned and went to serve the other customers.
"He totally has a crush on you," Elena whispered with her glowing white smile.
"He's too sweet to be tangled up in my life," I sighed.
"Is it that or is it a certain leather jacket wearing vampire?"
"Oh stop," I laughed. I could feel the embarrassment coming to show on my cheeks. "Damon doesn't dictate my life," I defended.
"I'm just saying," she said leaning back holding up her thin hands in defense. "I've only seen the look he has with you once and that was when he was looking at Katherine."
"You mean your bitch of a doppelgänger?" I asked chuckling. "I've heard the stories, she sounds like a nightmare."
"Don't change the subject, Arielle," Elena snipped. "What is going on? I can tell you're on edge," she said with a sympathy coating her facia features.
Before I answered with a lie, I felt my phone vibrate in pocket. Glancing at the screen, I saw Blair's name come up.
Arielle. Come back somethings wrong. Please hurry!
I looked towards Elena with wide eyes and quickly stood up. "I've gotta go," I stated, throwing my half of the bill on the old worn out table.
"Arielle, what's going on?" She asked worried. I tried to walk away, but she grasped my arm. "Arielle," she begged.
"Elena, I really need to go," She nodded understanding it was important. "I call you later okay?"
"Okay. Just whatever is going on, please be careful. You've become like a sister to me," she smiled sadly.
     "I promise I will," I smiled as I pulled her towards me and wrapped my arms around her in a tight hug.
Pulling away, I gave her one last smile and turned to leave, but before I could even step I ran into someone.
    "Geez, sorry," I apologized.
    "I thought we were going to have breakfast together?" The person I ran into laughed holding my shoulders so I didn't fall over.
    "Hey Stefan," I heard Elena say happily even I knew she was still worried about me.
    "Where you off to, Arielle?" He asked looking at me. Great, I have to lie my ass off.
    "Blair and I are going to hang out today ya know with all the Klaus and Elijah craziness going on," I lied. Both him and Elena looked at me skeptically, but didn't say anything. "So, I'll talk you guys later,"I smiled and waved goodbye once more and left them at the grill.
     Running through the door of the Boarding House, I could hear crying coming from upstairs.
    "Blair?!" I called frantically. "Blair?! What's going-" I stopped mid-sentence at the sight that lay before me as stood in the doorway of Damon's bedroom.
Blair was huddled in the corner of the room, her knees to her chest. The sobs that fell from her mouth made my heart ache.
"What's going on, Blair?" I asked cautiously.
"I-I don't know," she cried. "There's something wrong with me isn't there?" She asked looking up at me with broken eyes.
"You're not alone, Blair. We both have something wrong with us remember?" I smiled sweetly, trying to calm her down. "We'll find a way to stop all this craziness, okay? We'll figure it out, I promise," I said wrapping my arms around and cradling her weak frame into mine. There are times when we disagree, but we're still sisters and that's never gonna change.
I don't know how long we stayed in that corner, just holding each other, but it's what we needed. We needed to know that no matter what we're not alone. Everyone in the world could turn on us or disappear and we'd still be there for each other.
"Arielle?! Blair?!" A voice called from downstairs. Neither one of us made a move to answer the person that had come inside the house.
"There you are. I've been-" Damon stopped once he saw us in the corner of the room. "What happened?" He whispered coming towards us. I looked up at him and shook my head. Blair was too upset for anyone besides me to be near her.
"Blair, lets get you back in bed okay?" I whispered pulling away from her. She nodded slightly and we slowly stood to our feet. I don't think she noticed the six-foot raven haired vampire in the room with us.
Setting her in the bed and pulling the sheets over her, I brushed some of her hair back away from her face. I looked at Damon and pointed to the hallway. We walked out of the room, and I quietly shut the door behind us.
"What is going on?" Damon whispered harshly.
"I don't know. She texted me while I was at the grill with Elena. All it said was that something was wrong. So I left, but not before I ran into your brother," I rushed. The worry becoming eminent in my voice.
"Hey, hey. It's okay, we'll figure this out okay?" He reassured me. He placed his rough hand on my heated cheek, casually brushing my loose wave of hair behind my ear.
I laughed a bit, "That's what I said to Blair," I said with a small smile.
"Great minds think alike," he softly laughed.
I don't think either of us realized he still had his hand on my face. We were just so engrossed in the moment we were sharing together. This is what happens every single time. We get so wrapped up in a moment that we forget what's around us or the inevitable crisis we'll be drug into next.
     "Damon," I whisper staring into his blue eyes. "I-" before I could finish my sentence, I heard the front door open. "Someone's here."
     Damon walked towards the staircase quietly, and glanced down to see who had just walked in. "Stay here," he told me seriously. Does he know me at all?
     "Damon? Arielle?" I heard Stefan's voice call from the front. Oh great just what we need. These lies are getting hard to keep up with.
"Sh! Keep your voice down. Blair's asleep upstairs," Damon said.
     "Arielle said they were going to hang out today? You know because of all the "Klaus and Elijah stuff" going on," Stefan remembered.
    "We were, but Blair is feeling a little sick today so she's sleeping it off," I said making my presence known. Damon turned and gave me the what-the-hell-are-you-doing look.
     Before Stefan could answer, Elena came walking in as well. "Everything okay?" She asked curious as to why we were all standing by the stairs.
     "What are you doing here?" Damon asked frustrated with all the uninvited guests.
     "Arielle left in such a hurry. I was worried," she explained glancing at me.
     "I told you at the grill, Elena. I'm fine. There's nothing wrong, okay?" I said getting frazzled with keeping the lies up. When I know in fact that there is something wrong and any minute Blair could go through another episode and all this scheming would be for nothing.
     I walked into the library to get some of Damon's bourbon, and to get away from all the questions being asked before I slipped up.
"I told you to stay upstairs," Damon whispered, turning me slightly to face him.
"When have I ever did what I was told?" I asked just as quietly so Stefan and Elena couldn't hear. Even though Stefan has vampire hearing, so he probably still heard us.
"What if something happens to Blair again?" He asked.
"I thought Blair was just sick?" Stefan asked crossing his arms. Damon and I froze. Busted.
"Okay, I'm done lying. Blair basically tried to kill me," I stated. Stefan and Elena's eyes widened, while Damon just gave me the death glare.
"What?! When?" Elena asked worried.
"This morning. It was like Klara Dragonov had taken over her mind and body, but she had magic. Blair's not a witch, so how is that possible?" I asked not to anyone in general.
     "Perhaps I could help?" A new voice with a slight british accent said joining our conversation.
     "Oh great. What are you doing here?" Damon asked sarcastically.
"I asked him to come. He can help Blair," I said defending Elijah's sudden appearance.
     I moved forward towards Elijah, but Damon grips my arm slightly. "I need to talk to you," he whispered, and motioned his head towards the kitchen. I simply nodded and followed him.
     "We'll be right back," I said to no one in particular.
     Reaching the kitchen, Damon leaned against the counter with his tense arms crossed, and then looked at me with a slight glare on his blue eyes. "What were you thinking asking Mister Fancy-Pants?" He asked seriously.
     "He can help, Damon." I answered calmly. "He knew Klara and Rayna, and he's the only other one besides Klaus and I really didn't want to drag him into this," I said looking towards the floor. "He's the last thing we need," I whispered sadly.
     I could feel Damon's eyes on me and he could see how much Klaus had affected my life.
     "We will figure out what's going on with Blair," he stated calmly, unfolding his arms. "I don't trust him, Arielle. There's got to be some hidden agenda for both him and Klaus telling you about the sisters."
    "I have to try and hear him out, Damon. It's hard to explain, but I kind of trust Elijah," Damon's eyes widened as the words fell from my mouth. "Don't look at me like that."
    "Like what? Like you're crazy?!" He asked getting aggravated again.
     I rolled my eyes at his words. "I'm not crazy. If you could feel what I feel then you'd understand," I explained. "You may not trust him, but you trust me don't you?" I asked him.
    "You know I do, Arielle," he said, his hard stare softening just a bit.
     "Then trust me with Elijah," I pleaded.
     Hesitation covered his face, but ultimately he nodded his head. "Alright."
     With a smile, I walked towards him and wrapped my thin arms around his neck. He reciprocated the hug and held me close.
    "Thank you, Damon," I said quietly with a smile.
     Walking back into the library, I saw Elijah sitting on one of the couches. Looking into his eyes as I came towards him, I could see this light appear in them. It seemed like his whole face lit up when he saw me. Ignoring the look in his eyes, I sat next to him and asked the simple question. "What is going with me sister?"
     "Klara and Rayna's souls live within you and Blair," he lowly explained. "Klara's is growing stronger somehow, and she's able to possess poor Blair," I looked at him blankly. I really didn't feel anything. I felt numb to his words. Did this mean Blair and I weren't our own people? Is there even a way to stop these two from taking us over again?
     "How can we stop them?" I asked hopeful.
     Before Elijah could speak, a new voice entered the conversation. "Maybe I can help?" We all turned to the entrance of the library and saw Elena, but with curly hair.
      "You've got to be kidding me," I heard Damon mutter quietly. The Elena look-alike gave a small, but wicked smirk at everyone.
      Realization hit me as I saw everyone's expressions. "You're Katherine Pierce."
      "The one and only."