The Vampire Diaries: The Dead Rise

A Dilemma

It shouldn't be taking this long," I hear Elijah say. I'm not ready to open my eyes yet, so I listen.

"It shouldn't have happened in the first place," I hear Klaus say.

"I'm sorry," Damon yells, "I never meant for this to happen."

"I suppose you never meant for her to find out about Elena either," Klaus snaps.

"Stop," Stefan says, "it's not going to help anything. She never should've had to do this in the first place."

"She should've remained in New Orleans," Elijah says, "I told her I would come back, but she left anyway. She left for you."

"Please stop fighting," I say, opening my eyes, "it's getting annoying." I look and see that I'm lying on a couch in the living room of the Mikaelson mansion. The four of them are standing in front of me in a circle. They all turn to me and stare.

"Cordelia," Elijah asks.

"Yeah," I say, sitting up. I look down at my shirt and find a huge hole in it where my new heart is. Klaus and Elijah both rush to sit at my sides.

"Are you ok," Klaus asks.

I nod, "I'll be fine."

"You shouldn't be sitting up," Elijah says, "You need to lie down."

"What I need to do is kill Mikael," I say.

"We already took care of that," Klaus says.

I look to him, "what happened?"

"After you...temporarily died, I took the stake and killed Mikael while Elijah held him down," Klaus says.

"How are you out of the room," I ask, "I bound the spell to the moon and it probably only took me a couple minutes to wake up."

Elijah shakes his head, "it took you eight hours to wake up."

I stare at him, "What time is it?"

"8:30," Klaus answers.

"Why did it take me so long," I ask.

"We think it's because your body is under a lot of stress due to our mother's powers," Elijah says, "your body should get used to it after a while."

"But until then, everything that you were able to do before will be depleted in strength," Klaus says.

"So what does this mean for me," I ask.

"It means you're on house arrest," Klaus says, "You're not allowed to leave the house."

"Why not," I shout.

"It's for your own safety," Elijah says, "There are a lot of people out there who would love to get their hands on you. Without your full strength, you can't defend yourself."

"I'm a vampire and a werewolf and a witch," I yell, "if I can't defend myself then there's something wrong with me."

"There is something wrong with you," Klaus yells, "if something happened to you, then I would never forgive myself. So until then, you're going to sit here like a good little wolf and you're going to wait until you have your full strength back. Do you understand me?"

I sigh and nod, "yes."

"Good," Klaus says, "now let's address the issue of why you had your heart ripped out."

"It was because of these two gentlemen," Elijah says, looking at Stefan and Damon.

I scuff, "what were you doing here?"

"We wanted to help," Damon says.

"Do you honestly think four Originals and two hybrids need help from two vampires," Klaus asks.

"You could've gotten Cordelia killed," Elijah says.

"Nothing can kill her," Stefan says, "even in her weakened state."

"Do you think I like getting my heart ripped out of my chest," I ask them, "you should've listen to Klaus and stayed away."

"But we're your family," Damon wails.

"You're not her family," Elijah snaps, "she's ours and we're enemies. You haven't helped us in the past; you've tried to kill us. Your free visits here are over, come here again and we'll kill you."

"Please, don't do this," Stefan pleads.

"You heard Elijah," I tell them, "leave and if you ever come back, I will kill you myself." I watch in silence as the Salvatore brothers leave the room and exit out the front door. Tears start to form around the rims of my eyes, but I wipe them away hastily.

"Are you crying again," Klaus asks me.

"No," I say, without meeting his eyes, "I need to do the spell that unlinks all of you. It's in your mother's grimiore."

"Where's her grimiore," Elijah asks.

"She said she hid it away in your room," I tell him.

Elijah sighs, "I'll go see if I can find it." He gets up from the couch and heads up the stairs. I lean against the back of the couch and sigh.

"Why do you still cry over him," Klaus asks me, "he broke your heart and left you destroyed."

"Maybe because I still hope that he'll change his mind," I say.

"You could compel him," Klaus suggests.

I shake my head, "if I do that, then I become Katherine. I won't become her."

"Speaking of Katerina, what has she been up to," Klaus asks.

"Stefan said that she was the one who woke Mikael up," I say.

"She what," Klaus demands.

"I'm telling you what Stefan told me," I say, "he said that Katherine woke him up in hopes that he would kill you."

He laughs, "Katerina's last attempt on my life. I'll find her and I'll kill her."

"There's a reason we call Katherine elusive," I say, "she disappears to save herself, as usual."

"I've chased her for 500 years," Klaus says, "I wouldn't want those years to be in vain without her death."

"Katherine's death is closer than she thinks," I say, "there are more people out there who would rather have her killed than spared."

"Do you want her dead," Klaus asks, "being as she is your maker and all?"

"She put a price on my head and she's tried to kill me," I say, "multiple times. I'm done being merciful. Katherine will die and it will be by my hands."

Klaus smiles, "you're starting to sound like me."

I smile back, "maybe I've been hanging around you for too long."

"Or maybe because you feel that same connection that I do," Klaus says.

I shake my head, "uh-uh, if we're going to have this conversation, then I need to be drunk."

"We have bourbon," Klaus says.

"I can't get drunk off of alcohol anymore," I tell him, "if I get drunk, it has to be off blood."

"And I certainly hope you don't plan on killing anyone," Elijah says, entering the room. In his hand is Esther's grimiore. He hands it to me and I take it. I flip through the pages until I find the right spell. Esther's written it in Latin which makes it hard to translate, but I manage to translate the ingredients.

"Oh no," I say.

"What," they both ask.

"The ingredients for the spell," I say, "it requires the blood of the ones who are bound together."

"Ok, so," Klaus asks.

"You realize what this means," I say to them.

They both shake their head, "no."

I sigh, "It means we have to find Finn."