What's At Stake, Part Nineteen

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The best-laid plans of mice and men...

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Elena rolled her sleeve back down as Elijah capped the third vial of blood he had drawn from her and placed all three in a small, padded wooden case. "So, you're putting my blood into the tranquilizer darts, and Alaric is going to shoot Klaus with them?"

Elijah nodded. "We don't want to give him the opportunity to ingest enough of your blood to be effective, but we need to put a certain amount of it into his system and bind it to his blood if we're to weaken him enough to make him vulnerable."

"Why didn't you say anything about this before?"

"This was on a need-to-know basis."

Elena nodded, her expression rueful. "Which means no one knows the whole picture. Except you."

Elijah acknowledged the comment with a small smile. "It's best to keep everyone focused on the task at hand, rather than have them worrying about what others are doing."

"Or, you don't trust everyone in the group, and this way no one can give the entire plan away, even if they want to."

Clever girl. "There is that."

Unable to keep still, Elena opened the silverware drawer and closed it; straightened the magnets on the refrigerator so they were all in a straight line; and rearranged the fruit in the fruit bowl, oranges at the base, apples on top, and bananas circling around the edge. "All week I've been wishing and wishing today would just get here so it could be over with, one way or another. Now that it's here, I'm suddenly dreading it."

"You're worried we won't succeed?"

"I guess, in a way. I'm not even sure what 'success' means. Stopping Klaus isn't going to feel like much of a victory if the people that I care about are killed trying to stop him."

"That's not going to happen, Elena."

"You can't promise that," she said, meeting his gaze head-on. "Remember what you did promise me. If it comes down to it – "

"I do, and it won't." He took her hand, where it was bouncing a spoon against the counter, to still it. "If it comes down to it, I'll use the dagger on him myself, if that's what it takes to protect you." He raised her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it before giving it a quick squeeze and releasing it.

"I want to call Jenna," she said suddenly.

Elijah frowned. "You'll see her tomorrow." If all goes well.

"I'd like to talk with her now. Just in case."

"Elena, if you call her with some in-case-I-die speech you're only going to drive her mad with worry – "

"Please."

He waffled for a few moments, then decided he would more quickly get Elena out of the house and keep her cooperative if he complied with the request. Taking out his phone, he dialed Marcus. "Put her on the phone," he said, without preamble, when the other vampire picked up. When he heard Jenna's tentative "Hello?" he passed it to Elena without speaking. What in the world could he have said to Jenna at this point that would be of any help in this situation?

Elijah left the kitchen to give Elena at least the illusion of privacy, hoping that she wouldn't say anything to upset Jenna too much. Not that there wasn't reason to worry; there was just nothing that Jenna could do about it.

Jeremy pounded down the stairs, showing off a couple of the moves Elijah had taught him as he hit the bottom. Elijah glanced at his hand to make sure he was wearing his ring. God knew he would need it. "Are you ready for this?" he asked the boy, though privately he knew the question was rhetorical only.

"Yeah. Totally. Although... will I just look like Katherine to everyone else, or am I gonna look down and... you know, look like a chick?"

Elijah put a finger to his lips, glancing toward the kitchen where Elena was still on the phone with Jenna. "The latter, I would imagine. Try not to get too distracted," he said drily.

Jeremy grimaced. "Naw, that would be too weird. I mean, Katherine looks just like my sister, and I don't look at my sister's..." His expression grew thoughtful. "This is not a conversation normal people have."

"Well hopefully, after today, you will all have the opportunity to return to 'normal.'"

"Yeah. Normal. Except with witches and vampires and werewolves."

Elijah's lips twitched. "Oh my."

Elena joined them in the living room, passing the phone back to Elijah. "I trust you didn't alarm her overmuch?" he asked, sliding it back into his pocket.

"I think she's a little numb to alarm right now."

No doubt. He was not at all looking forward to the inevitable conversation with her, post-ritual. He gathered the box and a few other items he would need. "Come. We should head to the Salvatores'. Everyone will be gathered shortly."

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Everyone had arrived by the appointed time, in varying stages of nervousness. Thanks to a text message he had sent on the way over, Damon and Alaric were waiting outside when he arrived. After sending the Gilberts in ahead of him, he passed the box to Alaric. "There are three vials," he told him. "My first inclination was to tell you to put it all in one tranquilizer dart. However, it would perhaps be wiser to split it between two or three, in case you miss a shot."

"Your faith in me is overwhelming," Alaric snarked at him.

"Let us hope that your aim with a rifle is as good as that with a dagger," he told him pointedly.

Alaric gave him a smart-ass look and walked around to the passenger side of Damon's car. The two would leave early, in advance of the others, to get Alaric set up in a sniper's perch before the arrival of Klaus's cadre. Elijah turned his attention to Damon. "Are you ready?"

Damon scoffed. "I was born ready. I got this."

"Jules will already be there, in her cage. Try and show a little restraint."

"Yeah yeah, don't kill the werewolf until after the big hoorah. Got it." Damon took his keys out of his jacket pocket, tossed them up in the air and caught them a couple of times, scuffed at the gravel with his foot. "Thanks," he said at last.

"For?"

Damon rolled his eyes. "You know. Look, we don't need to make a big chick-flick moment out of it or anything." Damon got into the car and rolled the window down. "Later."

Elijah waited until Damon had started the car and put it in gear. "Damon? You're welcome."

Moving inside, he took a few minutes reviewing the plan, at least the publicly known version of it, then sent most of the group outside to load up the vehicles. Once they all got moving, Elijah went out to the terrace to wait for Andie to perform the glamour spell.

Katerina was the first to follow him out, leading to an awkward silence, given what had happened the last time they were out there alone. He waited for the inevitable taunting to start, but Katerina was unusually quiet and subdued. "What will you do?" she asked at last.

"Pardon?"

"After. When he's dead. What will you do?"

Elijah shrugged. "Much the same as I was doing before I came here, I suppose. Return home, look after various business interests..." He studied her more closely. "What will you do with your future, now that you won't need to run anymore?" he asked her. As though he intended her to have a future.

She took a moment before answering. "I don't know. I always figured I would run until I couldn't anymore. Then I'd die." Katerina pulled herself up to sit on the stone wall. "I never really imagined just... having a life. I'm not sure I even know what that means."

"Probably that you should get a job," he said drily.

She tilted her head and raised her eyebrows at him. "Let's keep the discussion within the realm of possibility, shall we?"

Elijah smirked. "Very well."

"Do you ever wonder where the differences came from?" she asked suddenly.

"Differences?"

"Irina. Me. Elena. The spell was supposed to make us copies, but we're not. Obviously. Don't you wonder how Elena and I came out differently, from her and from each other?"

He shifted, not altogether comfortable with this conversation. He had, of course, wondered that many times. It had been such a deep shock to see her when Klaus had brought her home, a perfect twin to Irina. As he'd watched her, seen what she was like, shock had turned to disappointment, disappointment to disillusionment, and so forth until the whole thing had become a deeply personal affront to him, painful and bitter, with a veneer of regret over it all that things couldn't be different. When he had looked at her he had ceased to even see her, really; he had seen only his own pain.

Oh yes, he had certainly wondered. Had he known then what he knew now, about her bastard, about her exile from her childhood home, would that knowledge have changed anything between them?

He cleared his throat. "I presume the causes are environmental. An interesting footnote in the argument of nature versus nurture. Something that shifted, something that got broken along the way." He studied her, sitting there, so unaccustomedly introspective. "Who broke you, Katerina?"

She narrowed her eyes at him, and he saw some of that banked fire come roaring back to life in them. She hopped down off the wall and approached him, arms crossed in front of her, stopping only when she was directly in front of him, toe to toe. "If I'm so broken, why is it that I'm the one who's still standing?"

The appearance – finally! – of Andie and Jeremy put an end to the conversation. Andie made quick work of the glamour spell. When she was finished, he had to admit, inwardly, to being impressed. Had he not known, he... well, wouldn't have known. He hoped that the glamour he had asked Bonnie to do had been just as impressive. "Remember," Andie warned, "don't say any more than you have to on the way over. Though your voices will be disguised, as well as your looks, your words could give you away."

With that, Elijah sent Jeremy and Katerina out front, toward the vehicles. "One moment," he told Andie, stopping her from following with a hand on her arm. "I assume that Klaus has been fully informed on tonight's plan," he said, once the others had disappeared around the house.

He saw her swallow once, though she didn't let any reaction reach her eyes. "What are you talking about?"

Elijah put his hands on her shoulders, a friendly gesture on the face of it, but with an implied threat underneath. "Andie, Andie, Andie. I'm not upset with you. I counted on you sharing our little bait-and-switch with Klaus. However, before the rest of the evening proceeds, there is a little tidbit of information I should share with you." He leaned in, close to her ear. "I have your son."

Andie jerked away from him, shocked and suspicious. She shook her head. "You're lying. There's no way."

"Granted, I had to call in quite a few markers to pull it off. But I assure you: the boy is under my jurisdiction now." She crossed her arms, clearly in doubt. Elijah sighed, pulling out his phone and dialing. "Sean. Let the boy talk to his mother, please." When he heard the little voice say hello, he passed it to Andie.

She snatched it out of his hands. "Baby, is that you?"

"Hi, Mommy. I'm eating waffles!"

Andie pressed a hand to her mouth, tears filling her eyes. "You are, huh?"

"Uh-huh. We're at the ocean. I made a sand castle today. Are you coming home soon? You should come here. I can show you how to make one too."

"I will, baby. I'll come real soon, okay?"

"Okay. I'm gonna go eat my waffle now."

"All right. Mommy loves you, more than anything in the whole wide world."

"Love you too. Bye Mommy."

Andie ended the call and held the phone out to Elijah, stricken. Two tears escaped as she looked up at him, trembling. Elijah pocketed the phone. "I suggest you consider your actions tonight very carefully. Because they will determine what happens to him from here on out."

She wiped the tears off of her face. "What do you want me to do?"

"Just what we planned. Help Bonnie with the spell work. Counter any spell Klaus's witches try to perform. And tell me whatever you know about Klaus's plans."

"I don't know anything, other than that he'll be there and he'll have his own witches with him. He didn't tell me any details. I don't think he trusted me that far."

"No, I don't suppose he would. But just so we're clear: If I don't check in with your son's sitters tomorrow, they've been ordered to kill him. If you step out of line at any time, I will send them a signal and they will kill him on the spot. Please don't think I'll hesitate to do it. Understand?"

"Yeah."

"Good." He gestured her forward. "Then we're ready."

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The burial grounds were no more inviting now, just before nightfall, than they had been during the middle of the day. What little conversation had been taking place was quickly silenced as they marched down the path toward the clearing, Elijah carrying Caroline, who was playing possum as though unconscious, the supposed vampire sacrifice. Elijah had that same sense of being watched and whispered over as he had the first time, and every now and then he'd catch something out of his peripheral vision, something that wasn't there when he turned and looked in full. Judging by the silence and the general nervousness of the rest of the group, he surmised that he was not the only one.

They had all donned long, hooded robes, the better to conceal their identities, at least from a quick glance. Elijah knew that, thanks to Andie, Klaus would know who all of the players were, and that they truly had no intention of breaking the curse. But he also knew that Klaus would not be able to resist the gathering of all the necessary components, even though he expected to walk into an ambush. He would think himself well-prepared for it, having been briefed by Andie on what to expect. Which is why Elijah hadn't shared the important details with her.

When they reached the clearing, Elijah bound Caroline to a tree with a pre-weakened chain; when the situation warranted, she would "wake up" and break free of it. Elena, as though compelled to do so, walked to the altar and lay upon it. From the confines of his cloak, Elijah pulled out the dagger and handed it to Jeremy, in his Katerina guise. To Katerina, he handed a large syringe of the concentrated vervain oil. Jules, still knocked out from the wolfsbane infusion, lay in her cage, unconscious; every now and then, her body would twitch violently, starting the transformation without waiting for her mind to realize it.

With everyone in position, he waited until the sun had disappeared below the horizon, then took his place beside the altar. A piercing cry split the air as Jules jerked upright in the cage, her spine rippling as her body started the more active phase of the transformation. During that momentary distraction, Klaus stepped into the clearing.

Elijah nodded to him. And we're underway at last. "I wondered if you would make it."

"Oh, I wouldn't have missed it for the world." He glanced around the circle at the figures standing, shrouded in cloaks. "Did you bring refreshments?"

"Perhaps later." A sickening crunch came from the cage, followed by another scream as one of Jules's legs broke and reassembled itself. "I think the time has arrived. I hope you enjoy the show."

With a mock bow, Elijah walked to the altar, standing to one side of it as Bonnie took her place across from him, on the other. He removed the moonstone from an inner pocket of his coat and placed it next to Elena on the altar, then withdrew a large knife. As Bonnie began to chant, Elijah raised the knife up and prepared to plunge it into Elena's chest.

"You know," Klaus called, before he could bring the knife down, "I've never really been much of a spectator. I prefer to take a more... participatory role."

A wall of force hit Elijah and sent him crashing into the tree line. Four figures, Klaus's witches he presumed, rushed into the circle. The sounds of struggle in the woods told him that Damon was handling another couple. He jumped up to rush back toward the altar, but bounced off of an invisible barrier. Glancing around wildly, he saw one of the four witches who had made it into the circle chanting, arms raised. Across the way, Damon bounced up against the barrier from the other side. Alaric, perched in a tree outside the circle, had no shot at Klaus now.

Inside the circle, Klaus moved in a blur to stand directly in front of 'Katerina.' "Good evening, my dear," he purred, and cupped 'her' face in his hands. "How lovely to see you again." A split second later, he snapped Jeremy's neck.

"NO!" Bonnie shouted, leaving off her show of chanting. She made a rush toward Klaus, only to be grabbed and forced down by another witch. Elena sat up on the altar and would have hopped down had Klaus not noticed and sped over there, slamming her back down on her back with a hand to her chest. Elijah cursed inwardly. The damn fool boy must have clued the girls in on the switch, probably not wanting them to panic if something had happened to Katerina while she was in the guise of Jeremy. Now they faced just the situation Elijah had hoped to avoid.

In the center of the circle, Klaus picked up the knife Elijah had dropped and raised it over Elena. Another of his witches stepped up to the other side and began chanting in earnest. Elijah recognized her from photographs: Greta Martin. Contrary to what Jonas had believed, she looked to be a willing accomplice to Klaus's plans.

Caroline, picking her moment, chose the wrong target by rushing Klaus instead of taking out his witch. Klaus swatted her away as though she were a fly. "Secure that vampire," he called to one of his warlocks, who held her pinned to the ground by some sort of magic. Turning back to the altar, Klaus raised his arms, then brought the knife down and plunged it into Elena.

Elijah hurled himself uselessly against the barrier, the scene before him taking on an almost surreal quality as his mind drifted back and forth from what was in front of him to an oh-so-similar scene a thousand years ago, when he had tried again and again, without success, to save Irina. He could see Damon, across the clearing, doing the same thing in a frenzy to get to Elena. Klaus bent and drank from the wound, blood smearing his lips and chin when he stood back upright. Greta took the moonstone from the altar, smeared it in Elena's blood, and started her spell.

Pressed as he was against the barrier, its sudden disappearance sent Elijah sprawling forward. He was back on his feet in an instant, searching the circle for Andie, who had just downed the witch who had put the barrier in place. He caught her eye and tilted his head toward Bonnie, indicating that she should go and help her so that they could wrest control from Greta of the spell that would bind Elena's blood to Klaus's.

Stefan charged toward the altar in an attempt to get to Elena, but a whir of grey whipped in from the tree line and bowled him over before he could get there. Elijah glanced at the cage, but Jules, in wolf form, was still trapped inside. Stefan struggled to keep the wolf's jaws from closing over his throat.

Elijah searched for Katerina in her Jeremy guise, and found her writhing in a piece of the chain that had held Caroline to the tree. The chain, controlled by a warlock, had snaked itself around her like a boa constrictor; struggle as she might, she couldn't get the necessary momentum to snap it.

As Elena lay dying, as Katerina and Caroline battled the two warlocks, as Stefan struggled against an uncaged werewolf, as Bonnie and Andie fought Greta for control of the spell, Elijah made a dash for Jeremy's body, which still looked like Katerina, even in his death. He knelt and started rummaging through the pockets of his cloak, looking for a way – any way – to salvage the situation. Hearing someone behind him, he whirled to see one of the warlocks standing over him. "Looking for this?" he asked, and plunged the dagger into Elijah's heart.