The New Original

Burning Bridges and Baby Blood

After I explained everything I knew about the original vampire spell and my ideas as to how we could recreate it, I was sent off to retrieve the necessary ingredients. First stop, Wickery Bridge. My hope was that the magic from the original tree and worship from the natives would be enough to harness for the spell. I already knew it was enough to kill an Original, add the extra power from the eclipse and we should be able to make one.

Once I made it to the bridge, I separated a piece of the sign to use against Mikael before chopping up and gathering as much of the bridge as I humanly could into a pile to burn. Obviously, I burned the whole thing, but I needed to collect as much of the ash as possible.

The next ingredient would not be so easily procured.

~~~~~~~

Knocking on the door of the Gilbert residence, I was anxious to confront the supernaturally aware family of their daughter's fate. Soon the door was opened by who I assumed was Miranda Gilbert, we never saw enough of her in the show for me to be sure.

" Hello. Can I help you with something?" She greeted me kindly.

" Hello. Are you Miranda Gilbert?"

" Yes..." Kindness was traded in for unease and suspicion.

" I need to speak to you, your husband, and your brother-in-law. It's in regards to your daughter." I probably could have worded that more kindly.

" I'm sorry." She shook her head. " Who are you? And what business could you possibly have with my daughter?" Well Harper, if she wasn't suspicious of you before...

" Forgive me." I softened my tone and offered her my hand to shake. " I'm Nikol, I'm Isobel's cousin. I'm afraid that when she left little Elena here with you, she might not have been aware of some very important information regarding our family and our relation to the.. well, to the supernatural." I played the caring family member card so well.

" Why wouldn't Isobel have been aware and able to tell us her family history herself? Your story seems to have some holes in it." Good, but even true the concept would be something to be cautious of.

" She was so young, still in high school. Our family prefers to wait until we're adults. No one expected that one of us would fall pregnant so young." Always play on the innocence and naivety of youth, a kind tone and the suggestion of regret.

" Right, well the boys are home. We'll discuss this in the dining room over some tea." She was obviously still wary of me, but the concern for her child had clearly won out.

" Thank you. Also, I'm glad to see you so careful with your invitations. Not to worry though, I assure you that I am very much a member of the living." For now.

~~~~~~~~~

John Gilbert's scepticism of my story was palpable.

" What could Isobel have possibly not known about her own family, that would affect Elena?"

Isobel once mentioned that you had read your ancestors journals from 1864? He nodded. " Then you know about Katherine Pierce. She would have been just short of 400 years old when she came to stay with Giuseppi Salvatore and his sons under the guise of a young girl orphaned by the fires of Atlanta."

" What about her?"

" When she was human, before she fled Bulgaria, her given name was Katerina Petrova. She was a Petrova doppelganger. A shadow self or living double of one of her ancestors."

" What does this have to do with Elena?" Even young, John clearly wasn't happy with the idea that someone knew something he didn't.

" That goes back to the reason Katerina left Bulgaria. Her family banished her to England after she shamed them by having a child, Nadia, out of wedlock. Isobel, Elena, and myself are all descendents of Katerina and Nadia. As neither of us are Katerina's doppelganger, the chance falls to little Elena. Especially since she was born exactly five hundred years after Katerina turned."

" What would that mean for my daughter?" Miranda's voice was calm but fear shown through her eyes.

" If Elena is the doppelganger, she'll be sought out. Most likely by vampires, hoping to gain favor or pardon from the Originals, or even the Originals themselves."

" The Originals?" It was Grayson who spoke this time, and knowing about his involvement with St. Augustine it took everything in me to maintain my cover.

" The first vampires. They were born human. However, after the youngest sibling was killed, the parents decided their children could have no weaknesses. The mother was a witch, she stole a spell from another witch who refused to help her because of the consequences and imbalance that would follow. The spell used the blood of a Petrova doppelganger, Tatia. But after seeing the dark consequences the spell brought on, a new curse was cast. The Curse of the Sun and the Moon, meant that Vampires would burn in the sun and it can only be broken by one of the Originals. This curse too was sealed with Tatia's blood and so only the sacrifice of the Doppelganger can break it." Half truths and dramatisation.

" How would we even know? Is there no way to protect her?" Oh Miranda, don't worry you won't live long enough to see how badly I'm screwing you over.

" I know a couple of witches dedicated to keeping the natural order and protecting the innocent. Theyll be able to use a spell my family acquired several generations ago to see if Elena carries doppelganger magic. If she does, my witches will be able to cast a spell to help protect her, should she be found. All they need is a small vial of Elenas blood to test.

" You want to take her blood. How do we know you're telling the truth and this isn't some ploy?" You don't, John, because it is.

" Did you know the great inventor, Jonathan Gilbert, never actually invented anything that worked? The compass, the rings, they were all spelled by Katherine's maid, Emily. Emily may have been loyal to Katerina but she couldn't stand by and let innocents suffer, so she enchanted Johnathon's so-called inventions. The witches I know feel that same sense of duty to protect. I stood as if to leave. I came here to warn you and offer you a chance at protecting that child. Apparently, I've done nothing but waste all of our time. I'll be back when she's older and ask her directly whether, or not she would like my assistance." Put pressure on the weakest link, leave them with a sense of helplessness and desperation. I moved to leave.

" No. Please, wait. Miranda called for me. Grayson, John, we have to do something." Wait for the fault in the chain to take down the rest.

" Go get Elena." Grayson told Miranda. " We'll go down to the clinic. I can draw the blood safely there."

" Thank you for listening. I promise I want nothing more but to give the children of this town the future they deserve." There was some truth in these words.

~~~~~~~~

After collecting the blood, I went back to the Bennett house and finished the preparations for the eclipse.

~~~~~~~~

On May 10th, 1994, the day of the eclipse, Sheila and I made our way to Steven's Quarry. The very spot where in sixteen years time Niklaus Mikaelson would break his curse. Channeling the start of the eclipse, Sheila's first step was to turn the white ash to stone. The ash collected from the bridge that was meant to one day take the life of Grayson and Miranda Gilbert, condensed into an onyx crescent. Next, she chanted over a wine goblet filled with the first half of Elena's blood, vervain, wolf's bane, and a few other witchy herbs. When the eclipse reached its peak, I drank the blood from the goblet and plunged a vervain soaked silver dagger into my own heart.

By the time I awoke from my death, it was already well into the night. On the stone altar beside me sat the second half of Elena's blood and a silver and lapis lazuli snake ring. I placed the ring on my right middle finger, and drank the last of the blood. I felt the change happening and decided to hunt a larger wild animal before I returned to the Bennett house.

One mountain lion later, I returned to Sheila, and refused her offer to invite me in. After agreeing that I needed to collect more information and form connections within the supernatural community, Sheila handed over an antique looking locket, holding the ash stone, and the small bag of belongings I had acquired during my stay. I then let her know that I would be returning a few months prior to her granddaughter's junior year of high school and set off to befriend and steal all of Niklaus's old acquaintances, as well as maybe kill a few.