Hi!

Yes, I know and I'm so SO sorry, I know I made you wait for SO long and I feel horrible. After the first two months, I wanted to blame my best friend's dad, because he made me do one challenge, but after that even I don't have an excuse. I was busy with school plus this chapter was super-hard for me to write, so,... yeah, that's it. All I can say is that I regret my actions and hope that this chapter was worth the wait.

Love you, guys.

Peace out!

Not-Yet-Relatives

6. Don't Forget Your Herbs

"He was gloating, like actual gloat!" Elena was describing events of this morning and I was trying really hard not to throw up. Or die of embarrassment. Either one of those.

Damon slept with Rebekah...

Wow!

My cheeks burned a dark red. I wasn't used to sex talk. I mean: yes, I did talk about the sexual life of others with my friends, that wasn't what was weird for me, the thing was that I never once talked about the sexual life of my aunt. It was just... Eww. But it wasn't as if I could tell them this to make them stop, so, instead I looked down on the sheets of the bed I lied on and pretended not to be here.

Elena didn't mind. She didn't notice at all as she kept venting about Damon and pacing around the room. Bonnie and I were sitting on the bed, me rolling from one side to another, trying to find a comfortable position, while Bonnie had her eyes closed and her brow furrowed with concentration. She was holding a herb in her hand, trying to figure out, how did the privacy spell work. Elena told us before, that Esther burned sage to prevent any vampire from listening. Bonnie was fascinated and decided to learn it.

She's been trying for over an hour and a half - unsuccessfully. So, while she tried over and over again, Elena's task and mine were to talk and Caroline's to listen from behind the door, to make sure it's working.

I myself couldn't find a topic to talk about, but fortunately, there was always Elena and she was - How to say this nicely? - pretty talkative. Especially when something angered her, which Damon definitely did. Except for occasional "Hmph..." I kept silent because I wasn't needed. She did all the talking herself.

"...Like he was proud of himself for sleeping with her." Elena continued with her ranting about Damon's - The Demon's - sexcapade and my eyes unintentionally rolled upwards. There was only so much a girl could take.

Finally, Bonnie saved me, when she opened her eyes, breaking her concentration, and asked: "Is it working?"

"It's not working," Caroline stated the obvious when she opened the door. She had an annoyed expression on her face, ever since they told her to go outside and test if the spell works. "I can hear every word you're saying about Damon, the vampire gigolo." I sniggered. That was a much better nickname than mine.

Bonnie sighed. "I don't know. It's a tricky spell."

"When Esther did it, she kept the sage burning. There was a lot more smoke." Elena tried to explain and I had to suppress a laugh at that. It was funny to watch the one who taught me this spell in the first place, trying to figure out how to do it. I gave her some time to figure it out herself, but eventually, I thought: What's the harm? I can teach my own teacher. Mentor my own mentor. It'll definitely be one hell of a story when I come back.

"Your hand needs to touch the flame," I interjected making all heads turn to me.

"You know how to do it?" Caroline's voice was filled with disbelief. "How?"

I pointed at my chest. "Witch, remember?" Every one of them knew I was a witch - Bonnie even knew about the future thing, except the whole I'm Caroline and Klaus' daughter mess - but they all seemed to forget it. They treated me as if I was a child who knew all about the supernatural but had to be protected.

This time-traveling spell was seriously messed up!

But also pretty adventurous.

I turned towards the witch and started explaining details about the spell. "You need to burn your finger a bit for it to work. You don't have enough experience to do the spell by yourself, so, using a bit of your DNA is like... a shortcut. I believe in due time you'll be able to make the sage burn without it."

Elena gaped at me. "And.. and... you know how to do this spell? Do you know other spells?"

I nodded. "I know a few. I'm not as powerful as Bonnie here, but I had an excellent teacher." I winked at Bonnie mischievously and she gave me a confused look, not realizing that she, in fact, was the one I was talking about.

"All right. Try it." Elena ordered and I rolled my eyes again. Elena always needed to be center of the attention. She seemed nice at first, but as I got to know her, I grew more and more tired of her. She would sacrifice herself to save one of her friends, but she wasn't able to accept the fact, that she wasn't the most important person in the room. As if Bonnie couldn't do it without her permission. She took another sprig of sage and held it close to the candle, while Elena directed an expectant look towards Caroline, who was leaning against the doorframe. Mom rolled her eyes, annoyed at Elena's behavior, and closed the door.

Bonnie hissed when the flame licked her fingers and quickly pulled her arm back. The sage was now smoking a lot and when we called for Caroline and she didn't answer, I went for the door to let her in. She nestled onto the bed between us. "Ok, this privacy spell is totally working. I couldn't even hear your heartbeats." She turned her head at me. "You're good."

"Thanks," I beamed. "I know."

"If you know even the spells that Esther performs, then what is it you said you needed Bonnie's help for?" She raised one eyebrow in suspicion and I let out a nervous laugh. My beam immediately died down and I mouthed "Help!" towards Bonnie.

Fortunately, she understood and fulfilled my request. "Speaking of Esther," she started, leading the conversation elsewhere for which I was thankful, "you should know she came to see me and Abby this morning." Everyone's (including my) eyes widened and Elena quickly turned around to look at Bonnie.

"And all this time, you let me vent about Damon?" She plopped down on the bed and I was forced to move, to make a place for her. I turned to Caroline and patted on the bed, signaling her to sit down with us.

"Who is Abby?" I asked in a hushed tone.

"Bonnie's mom," Caroline whispered back and I nodded in understanding.

Elena ignored us both and continued with her questions. "Ok, well, what did she want?"

Bonnie shrugged. "She wanted to introduce myself. She's channeling our entire ancestral bloodline for power."

I raised my head in alarm. "What did you say?" I asked even though I heard perfectly.

"And... Is there a way to stop her from channeling you?" Elena asked at the same time. Of course Bonnie answered her and not me.

"Even if there was, why would I want that?" The Bennet witch pondered. I couldn't help but give her a death glare, which she didn't see, because her eyes were fixed on the doppelganger.

"I just keep thinking..." Elena sighed tiredly as if she wasn't sure what to do. "Before the sun and the moon ritual Elijah found a way to keep me alive. And now I'm in the exact same situation and I'm just gonna let him die? It just doesn't feel right." Tell me about it. That's my family you're talking about.

Caroline, who was quiet till now, broke the silence and added her opinion to the debate. "Elena, you are not doing this. Esther is doing this."

Okay, I like the future version of my mom better.

"There's no time to change your mind, Elena." Bonnie had a sympathetic look on her face which would make me want to punch her if I hadn't stopped Esther's plan already yesterday. "He'll be dead by the end of the night."

"What?" Exclaimed Elena.

"It's a full moon. Esther needs to harness the energy of a celestial event. She's gonna do the spell tonight." She gulped. "They're all going to die."

Oh, you have no idea how wrong you are...

Caroline left about half an hour ago.

She offered to wait for me, but I told her that Bonnie will give me a lift. I needed to talk to her, so I thought I could do it on my way back to Forbes' residence. We said bye to Elena and I sat on the passenger's seat next to Bonnie, who was already seated, observing my every move.

"So, how is 2011 treating you?" She asked with a little smile playing on her lips. Normally I would smile along, but after what we were just discussing, I couldn't.

"Amazingly," I replied sarcastically with a scoff. Bonnie gave me a questioning look, but I shook my head and changed the topic. "So, have you figured out, how I can return back?"

Bonnie paused with keys in her hand and turned to me. "I don't know for sure yet. Although... I thought about what you said earlier - that you did a spell to get here. If you're right, then there is no way to make you come back, until you do, what you're intended to."

I nodded lost in thought. "Yeah, I thought so too." I knew what I needed to do, but there was also something else. "It's just... In the future - from where I'm from - I know you, guys. You, Elena, Matt, Caroline..." I exclaimed affectionately, throwing my arms in the air. I was probably overreacting a little bit, but I didn't care. "I know you, and I was just thinking. I mean in the future - you are the one who teaches me everything about magic..." I stopped for a while when I saw Bonnie's face. "Oh my, I'm rambling again, aren't I?"

"A little." Bonnie giggled and that heartfelt sound made my heart ache.

I returned her smile, while nervously playing with a strand of my blonde, barbie-like, hair. "What I'm trying to say; Even though I came here to change the past, there are some things that should happen without me intervening and I wanted to ask you if..." I stopped when I noticed a movement in the corner of my eye.

"What's...?" Bonnie started but I shushed her and pointed towards the door to Elena's house. She didn't understand at first, but I could tell the exact second she did. Her eyes widened when they wandered to the person standing on the porch and the air around us vibrated with hardly contained magic.

She used to do this often. Every time she felt angry, scared or threatened she lost control and the magic touched the surface. She was a novice to all of this, supernatural and stuff. She hasn't been taught and prepared for this ever since she learned to walk. I was.

Never, in my whole life, I have ever felt more mature than right now. I've always been this little girl who would look up to her family and admired every one of them. True, I was self-confident (I was a Mikaelson after all). I knew I was strong - even more so once I'd trigger my werewolf curse - but it has always been just a pretty thought. I've been surrounded by people who were all stronger than me, more experienced, at all times. I didn't know this feeling. Power.

I liked it, actually. I liked it a lot.

I took Bonnie's hand in mine and already could feel the magic concealing itself as she calmed down. Her rigid breathing slowed down just by the reassuring touch of my palm. "Don't," I warned her.

"But he's going to hurt Elena!" She protested frantically and her eyes didn't leave the man at the front door, who acted as if he didn't notice us yet, but we knew better. Quietly I reached into Bonnie's backpack, that was lying on the back seat, pulled out the remains of sage and burned it. I had a feeling this would take a while. Elijah could wait.

"He won't." Corners of my mouth moved upwards. "I'll go talk to him."

Her hand whipped to my arm, preventing me from leaving the car. "No! Are you crazy? He'll kill you!"

I gave her a hard look and jerked my hand out of her grasp. I got angry. Hell! I got bloody furious! She doesn't know half of what I do but still believes, she is in the right. "Hey!" I snapped. "I get that you're trying to help, but you aren't helping! I know so much more than you. You all..." I pointed to all the directions around me. "... you are all children playing in an adult world."

"You are younger than all of us!" Bonnie argued and my blood boiled. "You are a child!"

"Yes, I am!" I screamed so loud, Bonnie was taken a bit aback. The car plunged into silence as I exhaled to calm my rapid breathing. I looked her straightly in the eyes and refused to be intimidated by those (scary) green eyes. "And you know what? That's what makes me more mature than all of you combined." I raised my voice again. "I don't think he would hurt me anyway."

"You don't know them as we do!" I snickered at that, but she was too immersed in her thoughts to notice. "They killed thousands of people over the years. Why do you think an Original standing on the porch of the famous doppelganger - who is, by the way, our friend - would do anything different than what he's used to? Kill and hurt?"

"How can you hate them so much?" I asked silently, evidently hurt, although I was sure, she would never figure out why.

"How can you not?!" Her scream was so loud, it shook the vehicle itself. Elijah turned his head towards us despite the smoking herb in my hand and stopped his hand a few inches from the door. Instead of knocking he decided to watch us argue, which irritated me even more than I already was. "After all the stories we told you. How? Just because you're from the future doesn't mean you know more than we do."

"Yes," I opposed boldly, "actually it does."

Bonnie inhaled and coughed, because of the smoke from the sage that filled the car with an unpleasant smell of burning grass. "Alright, I'll put it differently. Just because you're from the future doesn't mean you're always right."

I gave her my dimpled grin. "But it doesn't mean the opposite, either."

She said nothing.

I uttered a sigh. "Look, you just need to trust me in this. Back home - in the future, I mean - you're my family. You taught me everything I know and I would never do anything to endanger you." As soon as the sentence left my mouth, my heart sank, but Bonnie was too overwhelmed with what I said before.

"Family?" She asked breathlessly, all the fighting suddenly forgotten.

"No! Not what you think. You're like an aunt to me, but we aren't blood-related - well, except when Kerra and I took that blood oath to be best friends forever, so, I suppose you could say that I have some of your blood since me and she exchanged it..."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Bonnie stopped. "Who is Kerra?"

I bit my tongue and looked at her with a pang of guilt in my chest.

"You can't tell me, can you?"

I nodded.

"I'm guessing it would mess with the balance?"

I nodded again.

"Okay, I can live with that." She let out a sigh and I gave her a peck on the cheek.

"Now that we'we cleared this up can I...?" I pointed awkwardly at Elijah, who raised his eyebrows but otherwise stayed completely motionless. I knew he couldn't hear a thing we said because of the spell, but I still didn't feel comfortable with talking about all of this barely hundred feet from him. "Can I maybe talk to him? I promise I'll be safe."

Bonnie didn't seem quite convinced, but my pupils penetrated her until she involuntarily agreed.

"Thanks, could you maybe cover for me? Like, tell Caroline that I'm safe and I'll come later?" My face brightened with an innocent smile playing on my lips.

She watched me with a sympathetic look in her eyes. "You think that I'm not going to figure out a way to send you home, don't you? You fear you'll get stuck here. And that's why you want to talk to Originals. You know that if there's someone who can help you, it's them." She was looking down when she told me this and I rolled my eyes annoyed by her lack of self-confidence. Unfortunately, I couldn't just tell her: Oh, well, you know, 'Lijah is my uncle because Klaus is my dad and my mom is one of your besties Caroline and I'm sure you believe me and still want to help me, right?

"No, it's not that."

"What then?" she asked and the determination in her voice reminded me of Kerra.

Instead of tears that threatened to escape my eyes, I shook my head. "I can't tell you. It would..."

"Mess with the balance?" she guessed.

"Yep."

"Thought so."

I waited two whole minutes to make sure she was gone before I approached Elijah.

He had a calculating expression on his face as he watched stop in front of him and do a little curtsy from sixteenth century (which I learned from him and never thought that the knowledge of decorum of past centuries would be any use for me, but it worked well to make fun of my not-yet-uncle), successfully surprising him.

His surprise didn't last long. "Miss Eli," I cringed my nose that he addressed me as 'miss' again. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" His eyebrow rose up in a curious manner. "I came here with intention of talking to Elena, however, I do believe you are going to be a much better source of information, concerning matters of yesterday. Am I right?"

I sneaked a glance at the windows to Elena's room and was glad when I saw no one. "Sure," I answered absent-mindedly. "Just... Could we take this somewhere more private? I know how much Damon loves hovering around this house and I don't feel like spilling all of my secrets."

"Very well then," he agreed and led me towards his car.

We spent the whole ride in silence. It was a bit awkward but at least I had some time to think through what I'm gonna tell him. Not that I did, actually. I just sat there, kept my mouth shut and watched houses and later the trees speeding behind the window. Finally, 'Lijah stopped the vehicle and we got out of the car.

The awkward silence was interrupted by Elijah, who looked around nostalgically and breathed in the air, he didn't need. "I forgot how much I missed this land."

I didn't expect him to deviate from the topic, but I went along with it. "You lived here a thousand years ago, right?"

"You know, your school was built over an Indian village, where I saw my first werewolf." Elijah was pointing all around us as he led me between trees to who-knows-where and I felt like on a museum tour. I never really liked those.

"This is all very interesting," I started trying to get him to stop. I had enough history lessons from back home. That's the problem when most people from your family remember middle ages - you get lectured a lot. "However, I have to point out that it is not my school. I'm not from here."

"I'm aware of that." His eyes finally found mine and I took in a ragged breath at the coldness I found in them. Only now I realized that I wasn't talking to my loving uncle, but a deadly Original, who wouldn't hesitate to kill me if he thought I posed a threat towards his family or him. I should be scared, right? "Unfortunately, what I'm not aware of is from where you actually are; hence I would like you to tell me."

"Yeah, about that..." I bit my lower lip, wondering how I could keep beating around the bush. I was worried about how it will turn out when I tell him and I felt that avoiding the topic as long as I could, was the safest option I had. "I suppose you wanted to talk to Elena about yesterday?"

He nodded - well, he moved his head barely an inch but with him, it was like a nod. "I wanted to ask her why she lied to me yesterday."

"Lied about what?" I asked with a little smile playing on my lips, that unsuccessfully covered my nervousness.

"When I asked her what our mother was up to I suspected that she covered the truth. There was no way she forgave Niklaus that easily. But it was merely a suspicion until you confirmed it." He raised his eyebrows at me trying to look all-knowingly but I knew him too well to fall for it. He didn't like being kept in the dark - another Mikaelson quirk I inherited. "Would you mind to enlighten me why you prevented me and my siblings from drinking the wine?"

I took a deep breath and took a step closer to him. The absence of recognition in his eyes was unnerving. "Elena and the gang were contacted by Esther and helped her with her plan. Unfortunately, it didn't go the way they wanted it to, resulting in me having to endure hours of Elena questioning her morals and others telling her that it's a good thing, that they will finally get rid of you." His irises flashed with a dangerous gleam as he understood but I intended to be one hundred percent clear. "It's not just Klaus that she wants to kill."

"She wants to kill us all, doesn't she?" My uncle pursed his lips and averted gaze, to keep his calm. I pitied the poor tree, which wasn't spared his angry glare before he turned back at me. "She wants to undo the evil she created." I nodded quietly and waited for his reaction. He was contemplating something for a moment before asking: "Do you have means to stop her?"

Now it was time for my wide, toothy grin. "I already did."

He looked at me, clearly alarmed.

"She put the spell into the champagne," I started explaining. "She mixed doppelganger's blood with other ingredients to link you with each other. Quite clever of her, huh?" I raised my hand to tuck a disobedient strand of hair behind my ear and continued. "Unfortunately for her, I was able to sense it and stopped you before it had a chance to affect you. Your mother, however, along with Elena, Bonnie, Caroline, and the Salvatores, does not suspect a thing." A mischievous grin crossed my face and I was sure that my blue eyes twinkled with amusement. "So, you know, I just thought, why not let her think she has the upper hand?"

For a moment Elijah contemplated what I told him. "I admit your plan sounds promising, yet I can't seem to figure out the question why are you helping us?" He took a step towards me. His hazel brown, ice cold eyes were observing me. Measuring me. Watching my every move. "And, as you kids say nowadays, what do you get out of it?"

I replied with a slight shrug. "Nothing. Can't I help someone out of goodness of my heart?" An unwavering, expressionless mask plastered on his face was enough to make me stop joking. My gaze stayed fixated on those black holes in his eyes, called pupils (He was my uncle! Why was I scared of my own uncle?), to persuade him into believing me. "I am being genuine with you. I mean you no harm and I really just want to help you." A humorless laugh escaped my lips. "Bloody hell, why would I lie?"

"I know a fair share of reasons. To trick us, perhaps." He offered and my eyes unintentionally rolled upwards at his obliviousness. Does he really think I would do that? The answer was obvious: Yes, he does. Why should he trust me when every other person in this freaking town tried to kill him or his siblings?

But... a little voice in my head, the emotional (read: irrational) part of my brain, protested, I'm his niece. He used to read me fairy tales. Why does he act this way?

"I... I really am telling you the truth," I insisted. "I wish I could prove it to you somehow."

"You know, one thing I've learned in my time on this earth... be careful what you wish for." He crossed the space between us and in a matter of seconds, he was grabbing my shoulders, crushing them in his strong grip.

His pupils dilated..."Who are you? Where are you from?"...and my heart stopped.

I've heard about compulsion, of course.

I knew what it was. I knew what it could make you do. I knew that every single vampire roaming this Earth was able to compel others. And - of course - I knew that my family was all vampires. I just…

I never thought that I should protect myself.

I can be compelled, it shouldn't come as any surprise, yet nevertheless, it did. Back in the future, everybody knew who I was and people either feared me or respected me. Nobody dared to invade my privacy like that. And I never thought someone would. I admit it - I let myself be lulled into a false sense of security. Or maybe it wasn't false, maybe I just didn't think of all the possibilities. 'Like traveling to the past and a younger version of my uncle's distrust' sort of possibilities.

So, now, as I was standing in front of him, unable to move and cursing every non-existent deity there was for the fact that I was stupid enough not to take vervain, I regretted it deeply. Because just now I finally realized how vulnerable I really was.

Sure, I was a witch. But… That was all.

My mom was a vampire, my dad an Original hybrid and my grandma a witch, but very soon after my birth, my parents figured out that although I had a werewolf gene - which will stay suppressed until I kill someone - and apart from the fact that I healed faster than any human or werewolf - probably because of the vampire blood I shared with my mom when I was still in her womb - my abilities were those of an average witch (And yes! I was still seething whenever I remembered that it was how Esther called me. An ordinary witch? Urghh! A bit of a Mikaelson ego! Hello!).

Nevertheless, I could be compelled.

Which really, REALLY, sucked!

It was the one thing I haven't thought through. Except that I had it all planned. I just needed to make him trust me and then I could save uncle Kol's life and go back to living my idyllic, carefree life in the future. Because I figured that's why the spell brought me here. Because my uncle died in Mystic Falls years before I was born, aunt Bonnie tried to revive him. Because she overestimated herself, she died due to exhaustion. Because she died, Kerra went on her murderous power trip. Because of Kerra, I was here.

If I stopped Kol from dying I could undo all of those bad things.

But no!

Here comes my other uncle who is obsessed by family and thinks that I'm going to hurt them, so, he not only invades my privacy, he also makes me tell him the truth no matter the future consequences. I cannot tell him! He cannot know! It could change the whole future for the worst.

Am I rambling? I think I'm rambling. Can you ramble in your mind?

I wriggled and squirmed and dug nails into my palms trying to beat the urge to spill everything but it was stronger than me. Those words: " Who are you? Where are you from?" resonated through my mind and I found myself answering: "My name is Elisabeth Mikealson. I'm from New Orleans 2063."