The Salvatore boarding house was thick with tension. Elena sat between the brothers, still processing what Katherine had told them about Elijah's survival and inevitable return.
"How long?" she asked quietly.
"Could be days, could be hours," Damon replied, pacing restlessly. "Hard to predict the schedule of an Original who's supposedly dead."
"And now supposedly working against his own brother," Stefan added, his brow furrowed. "It seems..."
"Convenient?" Damon suggested. "Suspicious? Completely insane?"
"Katherine seemed genuinely terrified," Elena pointed out. "Not just of Vali, but of what's coming."
"Katherine's always terrified," Damon scoffed, though his usual sarcasm seemed forced. "It's her default state these days."
"No," Stefan shook his head. "This was different. When she talked about Elijah coming, about him and Mikael opposing Vali... there was something else in her eyes. Almost like..."
"Hope," Bonnie finished, entering the room with several grimoires. "She thinks they might actually be able to stop him."
"An Original vampire and the vampire who hunts Originals," Damon mused. "Working together against the biggest bad of them all. Yeah, nothing suspicious about that at all."
"We don't have much choice," Elena said softly. "If what Katherine said about the ritual is true..."
The room fell silent as they remembered Katherine's hysterical warnings about doppelgangers and ancient magic. About a dragon made of living darkness that devoured souls.
"I still can't believe I'm his doppelganger," Alexander spoke up from his position by the window. He'd been quieter than usual since Katherine's revelations. "That this face..."
"It's not your fault," Elena assured him quickly. "Being a doppelganger doesn't define you. Trust me, I know."
Before anyone could respond, the air in the room seemed to shift. The shadows deepened slightly, and an inexplicable tension filled the space.
"They're here," Bonnie whispered, her witch's senses tingling.
The sound of tires on gravel drew their attention. Through the window, they watched a sleek black car pull up to the house.
"Well," Damon said, reaching for his bourbon, "time to meet our potential saviors. Or you know, die horribly. Either way, I need a drink."
The front door opened without anyone touching it. Footsteps echoed through the hall - measured, deliberate steps that carried authority in their very rhythm.
Elijah appeared first, every bit as imposing as Elena remembered. His suit was immaculate, his presence commanding. But there was something different about him now - a weight to his shoulders that hadn't been there before.
Behind him came Mikael, his very presence making the air feel heavy with potential violence. His eyes swept the room, lingering first on Elena, then fixing on Alexander with an intensity that made everyone tense.
"Miss Gilbert," Elijah greeted smoothly, as if their last meeting hadn't ended with a dagger in his heart. "I believe we have much to discuss."
"Elijah," Elena managed, standing straighter. "Katherine said..."
"Ah yes, Katerina," Elijah's smile held no warmth. "I trust she's been... informative about our current situation?"
"You mean about your brother?" Damon asked, his hand still wrapped around his glass. "The big bad dragon everyone's so afraid of?"
Mikael's expression darkened dangerously. "Choose your next words carefully, boy. You have no idea what you're dealing with."
"Then enlighten us," Stefan suggested, moving slightly closer to Elena. "Because right now, all we have are Katherine's terrified ramblings and a lot of questions."
"Questions," Elijah repeated softly, his eyes finding Alexander. "Yes, I imagine you have many of those. Particularly you, young Alexander. It must be... disconcerting, to wear that face."
Alexander stood straighter, though his voice betrayed his unease. "Katherine said I'm his doppelganger. That nature created me to try to balance his power."
"Balance," Mikael scoffed, the word carrying centuries of bitterness. "As if anything could balance what he's become."
"And what exactly has he become?" Bonnie asked, her voice steady despite the tension.
Elijah and Mikael exchanged glances - a look that carried weight Elena couldn't quite understand.
"Perhaps," Elijah suggested smoothly, "we should sit. This... explanation will take some time."
The Salvatore boarding house fell silent as Elijah and Mikael entered. Elena felt Stefan tense beside her, while Damon's hand tightened around his glass.
They settled into the boarding house's sitting area, though Mikael remained standing, his restless energy a stark contrast to Elijah's perfect stillness.
"Before we begin," Elijah said carefully, "you should understand something. What we're about to tell you... it goes beyond your current understanding of the supernatural world."
"We've dealt with Original vampires, witches, werewolves," Damon started, but Mikael's bitter laugh cut him off.
"You've played in shallow waters, boy," Mikael's voice carried centuries of weight. "Now you're about to learn what swims in the deep."
"Start with Alexander," Elena suggested, noting how both Originals kept glancing at him. "What does it mean that he's Vali's doppelganger?"
Elijah straightened his cuffs - a gesture Elena was beginning to recognize as a sign of discomfort.
"Nature creates doppelgangers to balance power it cannot control. The Petrova line, Silas's shadow... each serves a purpose. But Alexander," his eyes fixed on the youngest Salvatore, "you're different."
"Different how?" Alexander asked, though his voice suggested he dreaded the answer.
"Because nature has never tried to balance something like him before," Mikael stated grimly. "The mark he bears... it's beyond anything this world was meant to contain."
"The mark Katherine mentioned?" Stefan pressed. "The one she said makes him truly immortal?"
"More than immortal," Elijah corrected softly. "It makes death itself bow to his will. We've seen him die - truly die - only to return stronger, darker. The mark ensures not just his survival, but his constant evolution."
"And that's why I dream of crimson light?" Alexander's hand unconsciously moved to his forearm. "Why sometimes my reflection moves wrong?"
"Nature tried to echo his abilities in you," Elijah explained. "Create a pale imitation of his power. But it failed - as it always does when trying to replicate true darkness."
"You keep talking about darkness," Bonnie interjected. "But what exactly is he? What has he become?"
Elijah and Mikael exchanged glances again - that same weighted look that seemed to carry centuries of shared horror.
"Would you like to tell them?" Elijah asked softly. "About what your son has become?"
Mikael's face twisted with something between grief and rage. "My son died centuries ago. What walks in his skin now..." he paused, composing himself. "Perhaps you should tell them about Rebekah first. About what finally made us understand what he truly was."
Elijah was silent for a moment, his perfect composure cracking slightly as he reached into his jacket. He withdrew what appeared to be an old photograph - worn at the edges but carefully preserved.
"My sister, Rebekah," he said softly, placing the photo on the table. A beautiful young woman smiled up at them, her eyes bright with life and mischief. "This was taken in 1920, three days before..." he paused, his voice tight with controlled emotion.
"Before what?" Elena asked gently.
"Before Vali took her soul," Mikael finished, his hands clenching into fists. "Not just her body, not just her life - her very essence."
"That's... that's not possible," Bonnie protested, though her witch's instincts made her voice waver. "Even the most powerful magic can't-"
"Can't trap a soul?" Elijah's smile was bitter. "You seem to forget the Other Side. After all, in essence, it functions the same, he's simply doing it more... individually.
Though, still even when he first developed the daggers that could temporarily neutralize us, we never imagined he could..." he trailed off, composing himself.
"The daggers?" Stefan questioned.
"Silver daggers dipped in white oak ash," Elijah explained. "Capable of putting an Original into a death-like sleep. But what he developed later... it was something else entirely."
"He found a way," Mikael continued, his voice thick with rage and grief, "to not just stop their bodies, but to trap their very essence. Their souls, hidden away where even the Other Side cannot reach them."
"Rebekah was first," Elijah said, touching the photograph gently. "Then Kol - his desperate attempts to regain his magic making him 'unstable' in Vali's eyes. Finally, Niklaus..."
"My children," Mikael's voice cracked slightly. "Their bodies preserved in whatever vault he's chosen, their souls trapped in whatever hell he's devised."
The room fell silent as this information sank in. Even Damon seemed sobered by the revelation.
"But why?" Elena finally asked. "Why would he do that to his own family?"
"Power," Elijah stated simply. "Each soul he collects adds to his strength. But more than that..." he paused, choosing his words carefully, "we believe he's preparing for something. Something that requires specific pieces arranged over centuries."
"The ritual Katherine mentioned," Bonnie realized.
"Yes," Mikael confirmed grimly. "A ceremony he's been planning since before your ancestors drew breath. One that requires very particular elements."
"Elements like doppelgangers?" Alexander asked quietly.
"Among others," Elijah nodded. "A Bennett witch, a werewolf, a vampire... all carefully arranged. All meant to break the final chains binding his power."
"And what happens to us in this ritual?" Elena's voice was barely a whisper.
"Death would be a mercy," Mikael stated coldly. "He doesn't just want your lives - he thereafter will want your very essence. Your souls added to his collection, your power feeding whatever he's becoming."
Thunder rolled outside, closer now, and the shadows in the room seemed to deepen. Bonnie shivered, her magical senses picking up something she couldn't quite identify.
"That's why we're here," Elijah continued, straightening his cuffs again. "To stop him. Permanently. But we'll need your complete cooperation."
"And trust," Mikael added, his eyes finding Alexander again. "Absolute trust."
"Why should we trust you?" Damon challenged, though his voice lacked its usual bite. "For all we know, this could be another game."
"Because," Elijah said softly, "we're your only chance of survival. What's coming..." he glanced at the deepening shadows, "it's beyond anything you've faced before."
After a moment of silence, Alexander spoke up,
"You still haven't explained everything," he said, his voice steadier than before. "These dreams I've been having - they're getting stronger. Last night..." he hesitated, glancing at his brothers.
"Tell them," Stefan encouraged quietly.
"Last night, I saw through his eyes," Alexander continued. "Just for a moment, but... I saw what he sees. The world looked different - like everything was made of shadows and light, and somewhere in those shadows..." he shuddered. "Something vast was moving."
Elijah and Mikael exchanged another loaded glance.
"The mark," Elijah explained carefully, "it doesn't just grant him power. It changes how he perceives reality itself. What you saw, Alexander, was a glimpse of how he truly sees the world."
"And what exactly does he see?" Bonnie pressed.
"The truth beneath the surface," Mikael's voice was heavy with memory. "I remember when it first started - when he was just a boy. He would tell us about shadows that moved wrong, about how he could see the darkness inside people's souls."
"We thought it was imagination at first," Elijah added. "Until later he could actually control it. Until the deaths started."
"Deaths?" Elena's voice wavered slightly.
"Those who crossed him would be found... empty," Elijah said carefully. "Their bodies intact but their souls... devoured is the only word that fits. That's when we began to understand what the mark truly was."
"And what exactly is it?" Stefan asked.
"A wound in reality itself," Mikael stated grimly. "A connection to something that existed before this world. Something that even the oldest beings fear to name."
Thunder cracked directly overhead, making everyone but Elijah and Mikael jump. The shadows in the room seemed to pulse with a faint crimson light.
"He's getting closer," Bonnie whispered, her witch's senses screaming. "Isn't he?"
"Yes," Elijah confirmed. "Which is why we need to act quickly. The ritual he's planning... it's not just about power. It's about releasing his true nature."
"And what exactly is his true nature?" Damon asked, though his usual sarcasm had completely vanished.
Before either Original could answer, the lights in the boarding house flickered. In that brief moment of darkness, everyone saw it - the shadows moving independently of the light, forming shapes that shouldn't exist.
"Perhaps," Elijah suggested smoothly, though his own tension was evident, "we should discuss our plan before the night grows any darker. Time is not our ally."
"The ritual requires specific elements," Mikael continued, his eyes fixed on the shifting shadows. "Elements he's been gathering for centuries. But if we can turn those same elements against him..."
"We can trap him," Elijah finished. "Permanently. But it will require perfect timing, absolute trust, and..." his eyes found Bonnie, "considerable magical power."
"And what about his siblings?" Elena asked. "The ones whose souls he's taken?"
"If we succeed," Mikael's voice carried desperate hope, "we'll free them all. But first..." he turned to Alexander, "you need to understand exactly what it means that nature chose your face to mirror his."
"The dreams aren't just dreams," Elijah explained, his voice carefully measured. "When you see through his eyes, experience that vastness in the shadows - you're feeling echoes of his true nature."
"Nature tried to create a counterweight," Mikael continued, studying Alexander's face intently. "Instead, it forged a connection."
"A connection we can use," Elijah added. "Combined with the Bennett witch's power and the other doppelgangers' blood..."
"You want to use me as some kind of conduit," Alexander realized, his voice steady despite his obvious unease.
"We want to turn his own ritual against him," Mikael corrected. "Create a prison he cannot escape."
"And what happens to my brother when you use this connection?" Damon demanded.
Before either Original could answer, every light in the boarding house extinguished simultaneously. In the perfect darkness, crimson light pulsed through the shadows like a heartbeat.
"He knows," Bonnie whispered. "He's been watching us."
"Yes," Elijah admitted quietly.
The darkness felt wrong - deeper than natural shadow, as if the very absence of light had weight. When Elena tried to speak, the words seemed to stick in her throat, like the darkness itself was pressing against her voice.
A match flared in Damon's hand, the small flame casting twisted shadows that moved independently of its light. In that brief illumination, Elena saw something that made her blood freeze - Alexander's reflection in the window wasn't moving with him.
It was watching them, eyes completely black, a smile that didn't belong on her friend's face.
"Don't look at the reflections," Elijah commanded sharply, his usual composure cracking. "Don't acknowledge what you see in them."
The match went out.
Another struck, and Elena could have sworn the darkness retreated reluctantly, as if it were alive and unwilling to give up its hold. Mikael's face looked haunted in the flickering light.
"We need your answer," he pressed, his voice urgent. "Before-"
The match died again, but this time, no one moved to light another. In the perfect darkness, they could all see it now - crimson light pulsing through the shadows like veins in a vast, living thing. The walls themselves seemed to breathe.
"The dreams," Alexander's voice sounded strange, distant. "They're not dreams anymore, are they? He's here. In my head. Watching through my-"
"Don't," Elijah cut him off. "Don't complete that thought. Don't give him purchase in your mind."
Something moved in the corner - a shadow darker than the darkness around it. When Bonnie's witch-light finally flared to life, the room looked normal again, but everyone had seen it. Everyone had felt it.
"We'll help you," Elena said, her voice stronger than she felt. "We don't have a choice anymore, do we?"
The shadows pulsed once, almost like laughter.
"No," Mikael agreed grimly. "You don't."
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(Author note: Hello everyone! Hope you all enjoyed the chapter!
Do tell how you found it.
Interesting isn't it? Elijah and Mikael seem to now be against Vali.
What do you all think of that?
How did you all find the horror element in the chapter? I try to, well, keep the same tone as the previous one, since the reception was so great.
Well, I hope you all enjoyed it, and again keep in mind I have a plan.
Hope to see you all later,
Bye!)