#oc - Jemima Erikson

[swearwolf-writes]

The Paradox Masterlist - a Vampire Diaries/Originals Fanfiction

“I am the Paradox. A saviour and a murder but just who am I to you?”

The Paradox. A healer and a warrior. A servant of nature and an abomination of it. The first and last of her kind.

A witch and a vampire.

Her name is Jemima Erikson.

This is her story.

Chapter 0 || Chapter 1 || Chapter 2 || Chapter 3

[CROSSPOSTED ON: WATTPAD || AO3]

[swearwolf-writes]

The Paradox - Chapter 2

Jemma was sound asleep, comfortable and warm in her bed, her dreams for once not plagued with nightmares. The sound of an airhorn tore through the silence, violently knocking the girl from her sleep. She groaned, bleary eyed and blinking slowly, as she squinted at her phone's harshly lit screen. What do the Salvatore brothers want now I wonder? Come to the boarding house ASAP. Urgent. - SS "Bloody hell." She grumbled, clearly disgruntled about being woken before her alarm.

She sped over to the house with her school bag only to find Elena Gilbert standing outside the door. She raised her eyebrows, thinking back to the curse. She walked in the house, Elena trailing in behind her. "What was so urgent that I had to be roused at such an ungodly time? Oh - and Damon, dear friend - that means woken up." He saw (and heard) Jemma and rolled his eyes. "I know what 'roused' means Jemma. I'm not an idiot." "That is debatable." He shot his old friend a dirty look and chose to ignore her, instead focusing his attention on Elena.

"Hello Elena." "Is Stefan here? He called. He said it was important." "Right this way." He spoke quietly and let her in, being unusually quiet.

"Hey." Stefan spoke up as he walked towards her. The young girl cut him off and asked him swiftly, "what's going on?" Everyone is so serious today….” She trailed off as she spotted Rose entering the room. “You." Elena whispered as Jemma simply glared, her anger evident.

The two went into the lounge and sat on the couch beside one another, apparently in agreement about the newcomer considering how Elena eyed her wearily. "Okay, you have to understand I only know what I've picked up over the years and I don't know what's true and what's not true. It's the problem with all this vampire crap but Klaus, I know he's real." Jemma’s eyes widened a little at the mention of her old friend but she kept quiet, wanting to hear what she had to say. "Who is he?" Elena asked the question that no one wants to hear. Brave girl, if not stupid - she would do well to keep her nose out of Mikaelson business. No good comes of it. "He's one of the Originals - he's a legend." Damon answered her. Jemma pursed her lips as she avoided smiling; the irony that she, an Original, was their friend and yet they didn’t believe in them was not lost on her. Nothing’s wrong yet, wonder how long it'll take. "He's from the first generation of vampires." Stefan followed up. "Like Elijah?" "No. Elijah was the Easter bunny compared to Klaus. He's a foot soldier. Klaus is the real deal." Jemma resisted the urge to laugh at her. Eli is no foot soldier. He just happens to have more restraint. "Klaus is known to be the oldest." Stefan unhelpfully added, making her roll her eyes discreetly. Eli's older than Nik and Finn than them both. "Okay,so you're saying that the oldest vampire in the history of time is coming after me?" "Yes." "No." Rose and Stefan both reply at the same time, making her chuckle. "Actually, yes - if it really is Klaus, then he's not just coming after you, he will get you." "Sounds like you know him?" "Oh no," she quickly replied, "if he really is the oldest vampire ever created though, he'll have some major strength." "What they're saying is," Damon stood up, glaring at Rose, Jemma and Stefan, "I mean if what they're saying is true-" "It is." Rose and I cut him off. "And you're not saying it so I don't kill you-" "Which I'm not." Jemma smirked at the vampire as she repetitively cut in. Maybe she’s not so bad. "Then we're looking at a solid maybe." Jemma arched a brow. ‘Maybe’ means she's pretty much dead already. Elena swallowed hard and took a breath, naturally making Stefan attempt to come to the rescue. "Look, Elijah's dead, right? So no one else even knows you exist." Jemma squirmed silently in her seat, a part of her wanting to tell the group that Elijah was very much alive, while another part told her to keep her mouth shut because she wouldn’t be able to tell them that without exposing herself - and more importantly, her family - as Originals and that would only bring more trouble. "Not that you know of." Rose mentioned, Jemma pointing at her in agreement. "Elijah might have told someone before he got there as he knew Rose would only call him for one reason: Katerina or her döppleganger." She piped up. "That's not helping." Damon looked at the pair, once again disappointed but not surprised. "Look, I've never even met anyone who's laid eyes on him." Once again, I must resist the urge to laugh. "I mean, we're talking centuries of truth mixed with fiction. We don't know if he's real. For all we know he could just be some sort of stupid bed time story." Stefan placed his hand on Elena's shoulder, making Jemma fake-gag in the background as Rose jumped up. "He's real and he doesn't give up. If he wants something, he gets it. If you're not afraid of Klaus, then you're an idiot." Guess I’m an idiot then. "Alright, we're shaking. You made your point." Damon looked pointedly at Rose, making her smile sarcastically at him.

Elena got up without a word, shouldering her bag as Stefan watched her reach the room’s threshold. “Where are you going?” “School - we’re late.” “Let me grab my stuff, I'll go with you.” Stefan got off the sofa, walking towards her. “It's okay, I know where it is.” She left without another word, Jemma cringing on Stefan’s behalf behind him.

“She's in denial.” Damon stage-whispered to Rose, making him turn and stare daggers at him. “Shut up, Damon.” Jemma snorted at the brothers, dumping her bag on the floor as she sprawled out on the sofa. “Tell the teachers I’m sick today. I can’t be bothered going in.” She called, waving goodbye as he left the room,

----------

The sound of voices in a nearby room woke Jemma as she stumbled over to the lounge and interrupted a tense conversation between Rose and Damon.

“Don't get on my bad side.” he growled at her, his voice low. “Then show me your good side,” she replied, not missing a beat. Jemma coughed to indicate her presence but was dismissed without a word. “How do I find Klaus?” “You don't find Klaus, he finds you.” “Come on,” he turned and paced in frustration, “somebody's got to know somebody who knows where he is, right?” He turned to the eldest vampire for backup, receiving only a shrug. “Add another two hundred somebodies to that and you're still not even close.” “Humor me. You got in touch with Elijah, how did you do it?” “Through a very low somebody on the totem pole. A guy named Slater in Richmond.” “Perfect. I'll drive.” “No. You forget not all of us can do sun.” “Then you drive. Come on.” “I’m coming with.” Jemma followed the pair.

----------

The trio reached the underground parking lot, Rose parking the car as Jemma stretched her arms in the backseat.

“Back entrance. How convenient.” Damon remarked. “That's the point. We can't all have little daylight rings.” “You could just befriend a witch - I’m sure they’d be perfectly willing to help if you didn’t try to, oh I don’t know, break their necks.” Jemma retorted snappily. “Oh give over - you’re not even a witch anymore. And in any case, if a witch screwed me over, I’d drain them-” Rose was cut off by Jemma, her hand wrapped tightly around her throat as she bared her fangs. Damon sighed, grabbing her hand and pushing her away lightly.

“If you two are done, how do you know this Slater guy is even here?” “I called him. He's here. He's always here.” “Good.” He pushes her against the wall at super speed. “Just one thing. If you're setting me up in any way, I will rip your heart out and shove it down your throat.” He smiled, almost cheerfully at her. “It's something I'm very good at.” Rose grabbed him and pushed him against the car with ease, twisting his arm painfully behind his back. “I'm older than you and stronger. Don't get on my bad side.” She released him, looking at him with sincerity in her eyes. “You can trust me.”

They entered the coffee shop, Rose tugging off her jacket as she reached the windows. “What-” Jemma mumbled in surprise as the girl stood in the sun and didn’t burn. “Whoa. What about the sunlight?” Damon gestured in confusion at the wall length windows. “Double paned and tempered. UV rays can't penetrate. You see the appeal now?” She explained, smiling as she spotted her old friend, Slater.

“That and the free Wi-Fi.” The man joined their conversation, quickly being pulled into a hug by Rose. “Hey, how are you?” “Good. I saw you come, what are you doing here?” “Mmm, it's a long story but I want you to meet…” She gestured to her partners. “Damon Salvatore. Turned 1864 in Mystic Falls by Katherine Pierce aka Katerina Petrova. And…. someone I don’t know. I’m sorry, you are….?” “Jemma Erikson - pleasure.” He nodded, turning back to the more familiar face that was Rose. “So I take it I was right, what I told you about the tomb under the church was true?” “Yes. It was right. Thank you for the tip.”

He looks at Damon, putting a hand out. “It's nice to meet you,” Slater said, shaking the man’s hand, “maybe.”, he finished cautiously. “What's going on Rose? Where's Trevor?”

----------

“And you're sure Elijah's dead?” “Beyond dead.” Damon nodded, the group of four heading over to Slater’s table with coffees. “Trevor was a good man; he helped me with my dissertation on sexual deviance in the Baroque period. I was schooling for my Psych PhD.” “Slater's been in college since '74.” Rose explained. “When I was turned. I have 18 degrees, 3 master's and 4 PhDs.” He said proudly. Damon looked as if he were resisting the urge to kill him which he might have been doing but nonetheless that was how he looked whenever Slater decided to open his mouth. “The point?” “Exactly, I mean, what is the point? What should I be doing with my eternity? If you have an answer, please enlighten me.” Damon looked Jemma dead in the eyes, clearly tired of the man already. “We need your help. If someone wanted to get in touch with Klaus, how would you hook him up?” “Craigslist.” He replied with an air of faux nonchalance. “Really?” Jemma questioned him. Seems a bit mundane. “Seriously. I respond to a personal ad to get sent to somebody who knows somebody who knows Elijah, who's dead and that's where my connection ends.”

Silence sat heavily at the table till Damon leaned forward and shook his head. “Here's what I don't get: Elijah moved around during the day, which means the originals knew the secret of the day ring. Now why would Klaus want to lift the curse of the sun and the moon?” “To keep the werewolves from lifting it. If a vampire breaks the sun curse then the werewolves are stuck with the curse of the moon forever and vice versa.” Slater answered. “But werewolves are extinct.” Rose replied in confusion. “True. I've never seen one but rumor has it…” He trailed off. “Well-” Jemma interjected. “Not such a rumor.” Damon finished. Slater looked between the two of them, clearly interested. “Mystic Falls?” The pair nodded. “God, I've got to visit this place. It sounds awesome.” He added, oddly awestruck. “Awesome doesn't even begin to describe it. Can we stop the curse from being broken at all?” Damon asked. “What do you mean?” “Well, if we make the moonstone useless, would it stop the curse from being broken?” “Well, yeah, probably, but why would you want to do that?” “Tell me how.” “You think I'm gonna help you figure out how to do something that will piss off an original? And keeping them from walking in the sun?” Smart boy. “You want to walk in the sun? I can make that happen if you help us.”

Damon’s attempts to bribe the man with the possibility of a daylight ring were short-lived as all of a sudden the windows came crashing in, shattered glass all around them as screams erupted from the throats of the vampires there. Jemma attempted to cover Rose with her body as Damon looked out onto the street for the perpetrator. Despite her attempts, Rose's face was burnt, her skin still burning as Damon put a jacket on Rose's face and helped her get out the back of the coffee shop, Jemma shortly following the pair after having been pushed behind the stampede of people fleeing the coffee shop. He carried Rose to the car and put her in the back, Jemma reaching them and placing a hand on Damon’s shoulder.

“You're gonna be okay.” He looked at her almost kindly, seeming to actually care. “I know.” She breathed heavily, still wincing in pain at her burns. “Who's behind that?” “I don't know. Where is Slater?” “Iowa by now. Who the hell knows?” Rose shook her head, speaking fast as she healed, her skin regaining its normal colour. “He's not behind this, he's a good guy, he wouldn't betray me.” “Then who did it?” “It's Klaus, don't you understand? You don't know this man, we're dead, we're all dead.” She sobbed, not from pain but from fear. Fear of my old friend - of my family. Maybe Edmund was right. Maybe they truly did become monsters.

----------

Having parted ways with Rose and Damon at the Salvatore House, Jemma trudged home in silence, thinking hard at what she thought to be true. A low whistling caught her ears making her halt in the middle of the street. It was a familiar old tune that she hadn’t heard in quite some time. Her breath hitched as she looked around, trying to assess the situation. She shook her head and grumbled, ignoring the sound and filing it as a part of her imagination as she hurried home.

She unlocked the door, stepping in and scuffing her boots on the mat. “I’m home!” She called, locking the door behind her. “Family meeting, now!” She added, pulling her hair back into a ponytail as she went to the living room, flopping heavily on a beanbag. Her siblings quickly followed suit, Edmund leaning on the doorframe with crossed arms and Fran perching on the arm of a sofa.

“Where’s the fire?” Ed asked, seemingly unperturbed however his fingers tapping restlessly against his arm gave his worry away all too quickly. “Don’t freak out or anything but I think we had another run in with the Mikaelsons….?” She replied slowly, cringing a little as she waited for their outbursts about how irresponsible she was. None came. How odd. “Um, okay, well Damon, Rose and I - Rose was the vampire I told you about, the one who broke my neck - went to a coffee shop to meet a friend of hers about how to get into contact with Elijah and the rest-” “Wait, do you know how to contact him?” Fran cut her off, sitting up straight. “No - but we might have figured out a way to break the Sun and Moon Curse: all we have to do is render the moonstone useless and then the Mikaelsons won’t come to town, we won’t be exposed as Originals and there won’t be anymore annoying hunters calling for our heads - simple.” “Not simple - the Mikaelsons are killers, remember?” Edmund went over to his youngest sister, crouching down in front of her. “Look, we’ve already lost Alice to some crazy vampires and we’re not losing you too. If they don’t get what they want, they’ll tear this town apart out of spite if not necessity.” Jemma sighed, combing her fingers through her hair. “I know they’re dangerous and I know they’re not the same people they once were but I don’t trust the stories either Ed. The stories would call us monsters too simply because we’re more powerful than most vampires - those who cannot be understood are always pushed aside and portrayed as beasts and if you didn’t realise, we’re exactly like them in others’ eyes: old, powerful, secretive. We’ve all killed and while we are better than them, we are not good. But we try to redeem ourselves so what’s to say they won’t too?” “They’re not good people Jem-” “No but they were our family, we theirs and to the Mikaelsons, family is everything.” “Who’s to say they even consider us family anymore? They left us Jemima and you would do well to remember that.” “And you would do well to remember that they didn’t have a choice unless they wanted to die at the hands of their father.” Jemma and Edmund leveled their steely gazes as Fran swore from her place at the sofa.

“If you two are quite done, we should get back to the topic at hand.” She reminded her siblings, glaring at the pair of them. “Yes, well in any case, I think the Mikaelsons will be back in town at some point. They need Elena and the moonstone - both of which are right here in Mystic Falls?” “What do we do till then?” “Prepare.” Edmund answered. “How? We can’t kill them and we can’t let them kill our friends.” “We have to tell them who we are-” Jemma looked at them, her eyes imploring them to understand. “No way. We swore-” “If we don’t tell them everything, it could get them killed. We got attacked by someone at the cafe and I’m almost certain it was Elijah but I couldn’t tell them he was still alive because how would I explain to them how I know so much about the infamous Original family?” “We can’t tell them - if we do, they won’t trust a word we say. We’ve known the Salvatores for a hundred years and we didn’t tell the truth; how d’you think they’ll react to their friends having lied to them for all their lives? Right now we can help from the background but if we tell them we aren’t who we’ve said we are this past century, they won’t let us anywhere near them and we won’t be able to help at all.” Edmund reasoned, rubbing Jemma’s knee soothingly. “I know it isn’t the answer you wanted but there’s nothing else we can do.” “I hate this.”, she whispered, covering her face. “Us too.” Fran replied, sitting next to her, hugging her loosely. 

[swearwolf-writes]

The Paradox - Chapter 3

The trio of vampires, Damon, Stefan and Jemma, walked silently to the entrance of the tomb hidden beneath Fell’s Church. Jemma gave a nod to the boys and stationed herself at the doorway, listening to the sounds of the boys’ footsteps as they made their way down the spiralling steps to the tomb that was Katherine’s prison. She listened in, wondering what the weak vampire would say this time in order to convince them to release her.

“Let’s do it.” She heard Damon mutter. With a count to three, a loud grating emerges from the tomb, the stone door shifting from its place. The sound of scuffing feet echoed through the small space as Jemma narrowed her eyes. Katerina. Urgh. “Please... come on in. There’s plenty of room for all of us.” “I’d rather poke my eyes out.” A fake smile was etched into Damon’s voice. “Mmm, they’re such pretty eyes.” Katherine countered. Stefan cut their bitchy banter short. “We’re here for the moonstone.” “Feel like tossing it over?” “Tell you what, you get your little witch to hocus pocus me out of here, you can have whatever you want.”

 Jemma seethed from her place above ground. How dare that rancid bitch demand anything of anyone after all the trouble and pain she’s caused-

 “I thought you liked it in here” Stefan commented wryly. “Nice and safe where Klaus can’t get to you.” “I’ve had time to reconsider.” She rasped. “Meaning you’re hungry.” Damon translated. “I’m starving, Damon. And dirty. But above all, I’m bored.” The sound of stumbling and grasping rippled through the stone walls as Katherine moved towards the mouth of her prison. “At least running from Klaus wasn't boring - so here's the deal: you get me out of here, you get the moonstone and I'll disappear from Mystic Falls forever.”

Getting to her feet, Jemma sighed. She could her soft footsteps receding and knew the girl was walking away from them.

“Let me know what you decide.”

----------

They made their way over to the Gilberts’ house, the Salvatore brothers filling Jemma in on the things she couldn’t hear. She gritted her teeth when she was informed of Katerina’s teasing showing of the moonstone. It was so close that they could have just grabbed it right out of her hand - well, not without becoming trapped they couldn’t have anyway.

 Jemma knocked on the door loudly, standing back as Elena opened it.

“Hey. Uh, can we talk?” The youngest of the vampires asked softly. “Why?” Elena seemed confused by their presence at her home. “We went to see Katherine.” Damon informed her, his smile tense. “She was, of course, as insufferable as usual.” The Original chirped. With a short nod of her head, Elena stepped aside the entrance. “Come on in.” They filled in the young girl, watching her processing everything as they stood around the island in her kitchen, Jemma sitting on the counter across where Elena was leaning against the wall.

“You don’t believe her, do you?” She crossed her arms, looking at the group. “No, of course not.” Damon seemed almost offended as he tossed Jemma an apple and opted to instead throw an orange from hand to hand. “We just want the moonstone.” “According to Rose’s friend Slater, there’s a way to destroy the spell that Klaus wants to break.” “No spell, no dopplegänger sacrifice. Ergo, you live.” Elena seemed tired of the conversation. “How do you destroy it?” “By releasing it from the moonstone.” Stefan leaned his hands against the countertop, looking at her expectantly. She raised her hands in the air and then them fall to her sides. “How do you guys even know this is gonna work?” “‘Cause we have a crafty witch on our side.” “You discussed it with Bonnie.” She said, sighing quietly. “She agreed to do anything she could to help us.” “It’s Katherine who has the moonstone. She’s not gonna give it to you.” She shook her head, pointing out the biggest fault in their plan as she sat on one of the barstools. “We’re gonna get it from her,” Stefan assured her. “Well, what he means to say is, we will pry it from her cold, dead hands if we have to,” Damon reiterated happily. Jemma swallowed a bite of her apple and added, “She’s kinda trapped in a cave and has no allies. If we did have to kill her, which we probably should do because she’ll murder us all if she ever gets out,” she pointed out, “there’s not really a lot of places to a big white pebble in a very grey stone cave.”

Stefan nodded and leaned towards the human, trying to reassure her. “Bonnie just needs to find a way to release the seal long enough for us to get in, get the moonstone, and get out in time for her to return it.” Elena looked almost teary at this point as she fumbled with her hands. “Wow. I mean, it sounds like you guys already have it all planned out.” “Yep. We’re awesome.” He gave a thumbs up and Elena looked down at the pale wood of the kitchen island. “Except for one thing.” She looked up between the brothers. “I don’t want you to do it.” The group exchanged confused looks at that. “What are you talking about? Elena, we don’t have a choice.” Stefan objected on behalf of all of them. “What about Klaus?” Elena countered, making a point. “We’ll find him right after we get the moonstone.” “Is that before or after he kills everyone that I care about, including the two of you?” She fired back, pointing from Stefan to Damon while avoiding Jemma’s eye - it wasn’t a secret that the dopplegänger and Original weren’t exactly friends. The idea that Elena cared about him however seemed to startle Damon.

With a pointed look, Stefan again tried to sell the plan to her. “Elena, if we can de-spell the moonstone, we can save your life.” “I know. Everybody keeps saying that.” She spoke quietly as she left the room, the group once again exchanging worried looks. Jemma hopped off the counter and binned her apple core, looking at the Salvatores. “I get that this isn’t helpful but what’s to stop Klaus from trying to kill us after we deal with the moonstone? We are royally screwing him over with this whole moonstone-dopplegänger business and we killed Elijah - I highly doubt an Original is gonna forgive and forget so quickly.” She trailed off, thinking back back to her siblings’ warnings as Stefan dropped his head into his hands.

----------

Elena opened the door to the Salvatore residence and walked in, Jemma trailing behind her awkwardly. After shutting the door she looks around the deserted hallway, deeming that no one was home when Rose walked down the stairs, tying a silk robe around herself.

“It’s not nice to leave a girl naked so early in the morning.”, Rose practically purred before looking up and seeing the embarrassed face of Elena and the smirking face of Jemma. “Whoa- sorry, I thought you were….” Elena looks away, cheeks subtly turning pink. “I, uh, sorry, I-” She stammered out a response, not really knowing what to say in such a situation. “There’s no one else here.” “Actually, I came to talk to you.” Rose smiled broadly at this. “Then I should probably get dressed.” She walked back up the stairs making Elena turn to Jemma.

“Alone?” “Yeah no, no offence to Rose but I still don’t trust her.”

 Jemma sipped her drink in  silence as she watched the conversation brew between Rose and Elena.

“It’s a bad idea.” Rose objected. “No, it’s not. From what Stefan told, your friend Slater obviously has more information about Klaus. You just gave up before you got it.” “Because someone blew up a coffee shop with us in it.”, the vampire deadpanned. “Actually, they just shattered the windows-” Jemma interjected, matter-of-factly, Rose staring daggers at her. The two had clearly not got off on the right foot. “But that’s not the point-” The Original added lamely as she continued sipping her drink.

Despite this, Elena continues to press. “There’s more to learn. We just have to find a way to learn it.” “Why are you coming to me with this?” Rose’s curiosity was not unfounded, Jemma raising an eyebrow as she listened for the answer. “Because you owe me.” Elena put it rather simply. “One, word from me, and Damon and Stefan could have killed you for kidnapping me.” Rose saw through the thinly veiled threat quite easily. “Or maybe it’s because you know they wouldn’t want you to do this. And their moonstone caper gives you a chance to sneak away.” “We’re having a disagreement, okay? They’re willing to risk everyone that I love and I’m not.” “They’re just trying to protect you.” Strange. It sounds almost as if she cares for the girl. “And you’ve proven you couldn’t care less whether I’m protected or not. So, we’re back to you taking me to Slater.”

Rose sat next to Elena, Jemma moving to take Rose’s old space.

“What exactly do you hope to achieve by this?” Elena swiftly avoided her question in favour of bribery. “How would you like to be able to walk during the daylight?” “I’ve been a slave to shadows for 500 years - what do you think?” “I think I know a witch who’s willing to do whatever it takes to help, if you’re willing to make a deal.”

Jemma set her glass down on the table loudly. “And what’s to stop me from telling the boys about this little escapade of yours?” “You also don’t want people to get hurt for me and if that doesn’t work, I could always mention that always get suspicious when anyone mentions the Originals which is interesting when you think about it because we know your whole family but we don’t really know anything about you guys before Mystic Falls - I mean, you won’t even tell your age other than ‘old’.” She raised in challenge of the elder who clenched her jaw in anger at being blackmailed by a child. Nodding curtly, she stood up. “Let’s go then.”

----------

Jemma leaned against the wall lazily as she watched Rose bang on Slater’s door.

“Slater? Slater, it’s Rose. Open up!” No answer. After a brief moment, Rose looked over to Elena. “He’s not home. Sorry.” Jemma shrugged, standing up straight and tucking her hands into her pockets. “Well, guess we gotta go then-” Tonguing her cheek, she resisted glaring at the human as she cut her off. Why won’t she just drop it? If she pries too far into Original business, she might actually find something - and if that surfaces and spreads? Mikael might come after us as well as the Mikaelsons. “Mm-mm. No. We didn’t come all the way out here for nothing.”

Sighing, Rose pushed the doors open using her vampire strength. Elena peered in as Jemma lightly banged her head against the wall, shaking her head and walking in. “After you.” The younger pair walked in behind her, exchanging a look.

“Slater?”, Rose called out as she moved towards the back of the apartment. She froze. “I don’t think he’s gonna be much help.” Elena rushed over to her and gasped at the sight of Slater’s dead body. Jemma raised her eyebrows. “Hmm.” The girls looked at her, incredulous at her nonchalance at seeing a dead body. “If that happened to him, what d’you think’ll happen to us when someone finds out we’ve been snooping around? Because someone will find out.” Shaking her head, Rose dragged Slater’s body away.

Ignoring Jemma’s warning, Elena, regaining her composure, walked over to Slater’s computer desk and picked up a bunch of loose papers. “Looks like whoever blew up the coffee shop found him and killed him for his information.” “Yeah, probably to stop him from helping people like us. The guy was a vampire almanac. Knowing too much information just bit him in the ass.” “Am I talking to myself here-?” Jemma waved a hand in front of their faces. “If he was killed for his information, why are we trying to get it?”

As Elena kept rummaging, Rose pulled back the curtains, startling Elena. “What are you....?” “Tempered glass. U.V. rays can’t penetrate.” She mumbled, staring idly out the window. “I used to just come here and watch the day.” Looking from a framed picture to the vampire, she spoke in a hushed voice, “I’m sorry about Slater.” Jemma mumbled her condolences quietly, almost feeling bad about her reaction to his dead body. Rose looked back to them, mentally shaking it off. “Any luck?” Elena placed the photo back on the desk and attempted to log into one of the computers fruitlessly, Jemma leaning in to see. “Um…. it’s password protected. I can’t get in.” “No, this is fine. Let’s just go.” Rose motioned to leave when suddenly they hear a doorknob rattling from inside the apartment. “Stay here.

Rose walked past the pair at the desk and opened a set of doors. Peering into the small hallway, she saw a girl hiding behind a corner. “Alice?” “Rose!” Crying heavily, the girl rushed to Rose, embracing her. “He’s dead!” “Well technically he’s been dead for decades now-”, Jemma added dryly, cutting herself off as she noticed Elena’s look at her, “-and I’ll shut up now.”

 Rose rubbed Alice's hand comfortingly as Alice tried to regain her composure. Rose got up and walked into another room where Elena poured hot water into teacups, Jemma getting milk for the tea from the fridge. Rose sat down next to Elena.

“She found him a few minutes before we did.” “How is she?” Elena was worried. “Overreacting - big time.” “Her boyfriend just died. There’s no such thing as overreacting.”, she defended. “Those tears are for her. She didn’t care about Slater.” Upon Elena’s curious look, she explained: “She was only dating him long enough to see if he’d turn her.” “Great, so she’s a vampire groupie.”, Jemma grumbled as she finished making the tea.

Elena took a cup to the crying girl who took it gratefully. “Thank you.” Elena sat next to her as Alice looked at her with an air of familiarity. “You look really familiar. Did you know Slater?” “Not personally, no. I just knew that he kept detailed records of all of his vampire contacts and I was hoping that he could point me towards Klaus.” “Doubtful. Klaus doesn’t want to be pointed at.” “Do you know Slater’s computer password?” “Are you seriously asking me that right now? I just saw my boyfriend with a stake through his heart.” “I understand that. Do you know his password?”, she repeated bluntly. “Who do you think you are?”

Alice looked away from her and sipped her tea. Elena looked over at Rose and her eyes lit up with an idea, making Jemma tilt her head in mild confusion. What is she doing this time-? Elena looked back to Alice.

“What if I could convince Rose to turn you?” Alice looked back up at her. Rose, hearing what she said, looked over at her disdainfully. However, Jemma looked proud. I guess she does have more than half a spine. “Will you show us his files then?”

 Alice, logged into the computer, shook her head at it. All the files had been deleted. “Someone’s been here. The harddrive’s completely wiped out.” “Yeah, probably whoever killed him.”, Rose guessed. Elena ran a hand over her face and turned away. “Lucky for you, Slater was paranoid. Everything’s backed up on a remote server.”, she informed them as she tried to access the files, Rose turning back to speak softly to Elena.

“You know that she’s not going anywhere near my blood, right?” “I know. She doesn’t.” Rose smiled at Elena’s deception as Jemma masked a snort by coughing. Elena leaned down next to Alice to look at the screen.

“Kristen Stewart. God, was he obvious.” “These are all leads to vampires?”, Elena asked Alice as she continued scrolling through the files. “Slater was obsessed. Almost as much as me.” Jemma wondered why on Earth she would say that in front of two vampires. Creepy. “What about that one? Cody Webber. They exchanged dozens of emails about Elijah.” Rose pointed at the screen. “I could call him.”, Alice offered, taking the phone from Elena. Jemma tried not to scream. She didn’t think anything was actually come of this trip. Fuck.

“Tell him that we’re trying to send a message to Klaus. The dopplegänger is alive and she’s ready to surrender.” Jemma and Rose jumped up. “What?!” “I beg your pardon-?!” Jemma stared at the girl as if she was crazy. Which she likely was. “Oh my God, I knew I recognised you.” Alice stared up at her, seemingly in awe. “Get him the message, please.”

With that, Elena quickly left the room, the vampires following in suit. Elena put her hands on a table and exhaled heavily. “What are you doing?” Rose was surprised at her idiocy. “I’m getting Klaus’ attention.” “If Klaus knows that you’re alive, he’ll find you and he’ll kill you.” Saying nothing, Elena just looks back at the pair, Rose realising her plan. “Which is exactly what you wanted all along.” “It’s either me or my family.” “So this whole charade is some suicide mission so that you could sacrifice yourself and save everyone else?” Jemma locked her fingers behind her head, her eyes shut and her jaw clenched tightly as she seethed. “Forget Klaus, I’m gonna kill you before he gets the bloody chance-!”, she hissed.

Alice entered the room. “Cody is on his way and he really wants to meet you.” Rose shut her eyes and sighed. Jemma rubbed her face wearily as she swore colourfully in every language she could think of.

----------

Elena walked into the main room, sipping water. She looked over at Alice and turned around, gasping in surprise at Damon’s sudden arrival.

“What are you doing here?”, he asked her. “What are you doing here?”, she shot back.

Rose and Jemma walked in, Elena facing them angrily. “You called him?” “I’m sorry, Elena.”, Rose apologised. “You said that you understood.” “She lied.”, Damon piped up. Elena turned to Jemma. “Why would you try and help me? You don’t even like me." “Maybe not but I don’t hate you so I wasn’t gonna let you condemn yourself to whatever fate Klaus has prepared for you.” Elena looked at the group in frustration.

Alice walked up to them and froze, starstruck at Damon. “Damon Salvatore!” “Get rid of her.”, Damon told Rose. “No… way!” Taking her arm, Rose led her away, Jemma trailing behind them.

----------

Damon left the bedroom, the three girls looking at him from their seats in the living area.

“Time to go. Alice is sleeping and won’t remember a moment of this horribly stupid day.”

Suddenly, the front doors had burst open and three men walked into the apartment. Damon turned his head to look at them as the group stood up.

“We’re here to meet the dopplegänger.”, a man announced. “Thank you for coming.” Elena tried to walk towards them but Damon pushed her back. “I will break your arm.”, he whispered to Elena before looking back to the intruder. “There’s nothing here for you.”

The man in the back suddenly dropped to the floor, dead. Jemma looked at the window, seeing Elijah, their eyes meeting for a split second before she hid in the apartment, out of sight of both him and the windows for sake of avoiding her reflection giving her away. The other two vampires looked back at Elijah. Rose gasped at the sight of him and vamp-sped out of the apartment. Elijah spared a glance over to Elena and Damon.

Damon looked at him with surprise all over his face. “I killed you. You were dead.” “For centuries now.”, Elijah agreed. He looked back at the men. “Who are you?” “Who are you?”, he asked the Original. “I’m Elijah.” “We were gonna bring her to you. For Klaus. She’s the dopplegänger. I don’t know how she exists, but she does. Klaus will want to see her.” “Does anyone else know that you’re here?” “No.” “Well, then, you have been incredibly helpful.”

Elijah plunged his hands into the two vampires’ chests. They grunted as Elijah ripped their hearts out. They fell to the floor, closely followed by their hearts. Jemma gasped inaudibly from her hiding place. She knew of the things her once family did but to see them was a completely different thing. To see Elijah Mikaelson, the boy who used to charm everyone with his words and would bandage his brothers’ wounds, tear people’s hearts out was admittedly terrifying. It was like the ground beneath her was tilting. For so long she tried to believe that they weren’t the monsters they were made out to be- She snapped out of her stupor as she noticed her friend being an idiot.

Damon prepared to fight Elijah when he turned and sped out of the apartment. Jemma got up, exchanging looks with Damon and Elena, both of which looking just as surprised as her.

----------

Jemma walked to the Gilbert residence, mumbling what she’d say under her breath. “Sorry for bolting and leaving you to deal with a murderous Original-” She sighed and popped his knuckles anxiously. She avoided her siblings since her most recent adventure. She didn’t what was worse: her family turning out to be murderers or her siblings being able to say ‘I told you’? She got to the gate as Jeremy opened the front door, Elena saying goodnight to Damon. Jemma smiled and left silently - apologies could be procrastinated and said later, humans need to rest - especially after the day they’d all had.

[swearwolf-writes]

The Paradox - Previously...

991 AD

"Jemima get back here!" The young mother yelled at her second youngest to get back in line. "Come on love, be a lady-" "But I'm only 10; why do I have to-" Short hair obscured her vision, green eyes glaring moodily at the ground in front of her boots. "Because she said so. Listen to your mum Jemmie." Her father ruffled her chestnut hair, smiling kindly. "We've got to show these people that we can live with them and cause no problems, eh?" He leaned down with a twinkle in his eyes, "after they let us in we can be annoying, hmm?" He winked, making his children giggle and his wife lightly cuff him on the arm. "Erik-" The young lady glared playfully at her husband, shaking her head a little. "Mary." He smiles cheekily in return.

"Are we there yet?" A soft voice spoke up from behind the married couple. "Not yet Alley Cat," Edmund Erikson, the eldest of the four children, replied, "but we should be there soon", he added with a soft smile at the youngest of his siblings. Alice Erikson shuffled alongside her parents, the seven year old being the apple of everyone's eye, as she hummed a tune in boredom.

The group arrived abruptly, the site of the town not fifty paces from them seeming daunting. "Here already? We should be another ten minutes or so to my reckoning." Edmund rolled his eyes at his sister. If he continues at the rate he rolls his eyes, they'll fall out of his head. "Don't try to act so smart Jemima Alexandra. Mother and Father took a short cut and we all just followed along." "He's right. This is definitely the place." He looked at her, gratified that one of his sisters wasn't arguing with him. "Thank you Fran," he said, pointedly staring at the youngest twin. "Oh! So she's Fran and I'm Jemima Alexandra?" she huffs, hands on her hips, "and you Francesca Elizabeth Erikson, what happened to twin solidarity?" She pouted. The eldest of the arguing three simply sighed and looked up to the skies and heavens as if asking God 'What did I do to deserve this?'. "Fine Jemima." "I think you mean Jem." "Fine Jem." He rolled his eyes once more, making the younger giggle and run next to her sister, linking their arms. "Honestly that was betrayal." "Was not." "Was too." "Was n-"

"They're funny.", a small voice whispered, a smile slipping on the little girl's face.

Unbeknownst to the new family who were absorbed in each other's conversations, they were being watched from within the town borders, now not twenty paces from them.

A man stood there: tall with cruel eyes and a harsh smile. He scoffed, "yes. Very amusing: children squabbling." "Mikael,", a woman's voice sounded, "they're just children and new to this environment. They were simply arguing as children do. It does not do to scold them in such a manner when we know not their names nor their reason for being here."

The Eriksons looked in the direction of the voices and saw them all standing there, listening to the woman's words.

She was a pretty lady, dressed in the traditional pale green of heretics of England. A witch. Like them.

The couple were surrounded by five children, four boys and a girl.

The eldest was maybe a year older than the eldest Erikson child with the pale eyes of his father and dark hair like the bark of an old tree.

Next to him was a boy roughly the same age as Edmund, a friendly smile on his face as brown eyes welcomed the family from behind a curtain of dark untamed hair. His hand rested on a blond boy's shoulder, a shy smile on his lips as he fiddled with a small lump of what appeared to be wood. His pale eyes glanced over the new people's faces before moving back down to study that which was in hands.

The youngest boy smiled brightly, a mischievous grin spread across his face as dark eyes twinkled at them, a short nod in greeting sent in their direction, brown hair bobbing in the mild breeze of early autumn. He appeared to be around the twins' age.

The youngest, the girl who spoke up earlier, brushed her pale hair from her eyes, a sweet smile dressing her face, her age almost aligning with Alice's.

"Apologies." He spoke up, this time directing himself towards the new family. "How about we start again, hmm?", Mikael spoke. "I am Mikael. This is my wife Esther." He gestured to the witch by his side. "And these are my children: Finn," the eldest, "Elijah," the boy the same age as Ed, "Niklaus," the fair haired boy, "Kol," the child the same age as Jem and Fran, "and Rebekah.", the girl of roughly Alice's age.

The children smiled curiously at each other while further greetings were exchanged between the adults.

Upon realising who the family were, Esther smiled sympathetically. "The travel over from the Angles must not have been easy." Esther said, hugging Mary loosely, "welcome to Mystic Falls."

The children looked at one another and waved hello, Elijah amiably striking up a conversation with Finn and Edmund as Rebekah introduced the girls to herself, Kol and Niklaus. They had a feeling they were going to be fast friends.

1001 AD

They were right. From that day on they were thick as thieves, together through thick and thin for a decade. When anyone received any beatings (more often than not Niklaus) they would comfort each other. When the youngest Mikaelson, Henrik, was born, they all helped to looked after him. When they left their childhoods behind, they all celebrated together. It was how they were and how they wished always to be.

----------

On this particular night, the Erikson twins were sound asleep in their homes, when a scream tore away the silence. They woke with a start, worried beyond compare as they left the hut and set off towards were the noise had come from.

There was already a small crowd gathered, their whispers muffling the loud sobbing coming the centre. They pushed their way through the people and stopped abruptly, the sight knocking the breath from their lungs. Niklaus. He cradled a small body that hung in his arms, still and unmoving. Henrik. A sob escaped them as they held on to each other, stumbling back and bumping into Edmund who was on patrol. The two were covered in crimson, the flames of the torches illumating the true colour of the liquid as the rest laid black on the ground in the moonlight. The Mikaelsons ran past the siblings, mere seconds after their own arrival. Their lips moved and formed words, cries for their fallen one, but Jemima could hear nothing. Silent tears streamed down her face as she held her sobbing sister, for Henrik, the sweetest little boy in all of Mystic Falls, was gone.

----------

Over the next year, Esther had become withdrawn from the loss her child, frequently working till the early hours on a mysterious project the other witches knew only mere elements of, the whole picture becoming no clearer as the days went by. Except one day, everything was perfectly clear. Who were witches to say no such an proposition? If Esther was right, and her equations made perfect sense, they could grant eternal youth along with endowments of strength and speed to whomever they wished. Esther laid down her terms: the spell would be tested on the Erikson children first to ensure it was safe (without the concent of their mother who was to be kept naive about the situation) and then it would be bestowed upon her children and husband. If things went wrong with the Eriksons then her children would remain unscathed and it could all be written off as a tragic accident - if all went well, her family would have an eternity to spend together with those they love.

Things however don't always go exactly to plan.

The spell worked and it was a success - to a degree.

All that was expected occurred and more. All magic comes with a cost and apparently theirs was to be the loss of true humanity. They could no longer walk in the sun or bask in its warmth; some herbs burnt them; a weapon made of the wood from a white oak tree could kill them - immortality it seemed did not also include invulnerability. Worst of all was that in order to survive they would have to feed of the blood of the living. The hunger they felt was indescribable. As if that was not enough, they also looked different should their inhuman tendencies get the better of them. If their blood lust overcame then for even a moment, their eyes because dark, red veins surrounding the eye, with sharp, fang-like canines protruding from their gums. Even that which they were born with they lost - Finn, Kol, Francesca, Jemima and Alice all appeared to lose their ability to do magic.

The town feared them.

They were known as abominations.

Esther turned them into monsters. She turned them into vampires.

----------

Jemima was sat on her bed, avoiding both the sun, upon Rebekah's advise, and the other villagers when a loud knock on the door interrupted her train of thought. Kol's voice rang though the door, "Jemma, I have a gift for you which you will only get once you open this door." She said nothing, only rolled her eyes at his words, thinking back to the last time he had a 'gift'. He bribed her with a sugar sweet only to sling her over his shoulder and throw her in the lake. "Look," he sighed. "You and I both know I can come in whenever I want but, being the benevolent person I am, I will not. Please just open the door." She had kept quiet for long enough. "Why should I? Because you have a gift? The last gift I was given took my humanity from me - from us. We can no longer do magic or have children or walk in the sun or-" He walked in, cutting her off by hugging her tight."Some things are easier to fix than others." They broke from their embrace. "Now," he said, wiping away her tears, "I wasn't lying when I said I had a gift." He produced a ring, set with a sparkling blue stone engraved with the Erikson family crest. "Our rivalry to the sun was fixed by a simple daylight ring - a ring fit with an enchanted stone, the enchantment an adaptation of werewolves' moonlight ring spells." He explained, gently lifting her right hand and slipping the ring onto her finger. "There we go. Fits like a glove." He smiled and pat her hand. "As for the magic - I can't change much on that but maybe you can; you always were different." "You mean wrong." "I mean different." "All I could do was steal magic - I never had any of my own, not truly." A fact she was bitterly reminded of every time she attended her magic classes. "Well therefore you can't lost what you never had and your siphoning is a skill so try it on me. We were reborn by magic so it should work-" Kol babbled on about the details as he did when I came to magic, not noticing her other hand resting upon his. She closed her eyes and took a short breath, the two of them gasping in shock as she slowly siphoned off some of his magic. She lifted her hand into the air and breathed out a quiet spell. All of a sudden a small spark linked at her palm, growing in size and brightness till a ball of fire hovered in the air, its flames dancing in the air before slowly blinking out.

They sat in silence for a moment, in shock of everything. "My brilliant paradox." He smiled but his expression quickly became grave and fearful. "Look we don't have much time now. Father found out Mother had an affair with a werewolf and forced Mother to curse Nik with a suppression of his werewolf side before he killed her. We believe Mikael wishes to kill us too so we are running away from here; to where? - even we don't know. Nik has gone to give Fran her ring and Rebekah to Ed and Elijah to Alice. After saying our goodbyes we are to find Finn and leave for good." "You're all leaving us?" Kol looked at her as if she was insane. "My mother is dead, my father murdered her and is now trying to kill us and that was all that you got? That we're leaving? Woman you need to get your priorities sorted out." he stated, shaking his head at her. Tears sprung to her eyes as she wrung her wrists. "You're my best friend you numbskull, even closer to me than Rebekah believe it or not and I will always be upset when you leave us.", she explained, pulling the boy into a hug, "will you ever return?" "Maybe one day we will however I must leave soon my dear paradox but remember that we'll find you all again someday."

They sat in silence in each other's embrace, tense as they listened for the other Mikaelsons, stealing as much time as they could before the friends would be torn apart.

"Are they really doing a bloody sibling pact without two of their siblings-?" Kol muttered humorously, his eyes however tired and hurt. "Is that Eli?" Jem mumbled back, trying to discern whose voice it was. "With Niklaus and Rebekah," he confirmed sitting up properly. "I can hear them calling for me: I've got to go now. Goodbye Jemmie." he said, kissing her forehead before leaving her home and Mystic Fall with the rest of her family for around a millennium.

[swearwolf-writes]

The Paradox - Chapter 1

2009 AD

Jemma Erikson woke with a start, shooting out of bed as old memories attacked her mind. Stupid brain-, she thought to herself, blindly reaching for her phone as she rubbed her eyes. 09:00. She groaned and flopped back into bed, closing her eyes when she realised. "Wait nine o'clock-? We're late-!" She sped around the house, looking for her siblings only to realise they had already left without her. "Traitors-" She yells, hurrying as fast as vampirically possible. Not bothering to comb her hair properly, she smoothed it down and pulled a beanie, managing to get to class only 30 minutes late.

"Sorry I'm late Dr Saltzman. My alarm clock was broken and my dear siblings didn't bother to wake me.", she explained, walking into the history classroom as she sent a childish glare her sister's way. "It's fine. Just sit down and make sure it doesn't happen again." The history teacher shook his head lightly, running his fingers through his brown hair as he went back to his presentation on the Crimean War. She sat in her usual seat between Francesca and Caroline Forbes, a bright preppy blonde and the most popular girl around, thanking the heavens that she didn't get an hour of detention. She had better things to do after school than sit in a musty classroom. "Seriously? That's favouritism. If I get late, I get detention." Tyler Lockwood argued, slumping back in his chair. Alaric just smiled. "That's because you make a habit out of it Tyler." "Yeah Ty." "Carry on shouting out and you might get a detention anyway Jemma." "Yeah Jemma." "So will you Tyler."

Fran covered up a grin and the lesson passed without another hitch.

----------

Lunch could not have come slower in Jemma's opinion. She walked through the corridors with Caroline, making small talk as they trailed along.

"Hey Jemma, have you seen Elena? She didn't come into school today." The aforementioned raised her eyebrows. "A teenager not going to school? What a surprise(!)" While Elena Gilbert skipping school wasn't common, it wouldn't be odd either. Then again, as a Petrova Döppleganger she could've got herself in something she can't get out of. "What if she's in real danger? What if she got kidnapped or-" The panicked young lady was cut off by Jemma suddenly grasping her shoulders firmly. "Look I'm sure she's fine and even if she has been kidnapped, they let her go once they realise she's useless so that'll be pretty soon." "Okay that's mean-" Caroline bit back her retort but visibly relaxed. "But true - I'm sure she'll be back soon. Chin up Care-bear." She patted her shoulder and threw her a smile. "Alright then - I'm going to Sarah's locker. See you in class?" "Yeah."

----------

Jemma aimlessly roamed the hallways, peeking her head into empty classrooms till she saw Stefan Salvatore, the slightly broody but kind-hearted of the two Salvatore brothers.

"Hey Steffie." She greeted him with the usual smile and annoying nickname only for him to mumble back a short reply, oddly with no arguments about the nickname. He seemed distracted. "Where are you going?" "Alaric's classroom. Bonnie's doing a locator spell on Elena - she didn't go home last night." He explained the situation to her as they reached the room's threshold.

He turned to the two people already in the room: Bonnie Bennett, a powerful witch in the making, and Jeremy Gilbert, the human brother of the current Petrova Döppleganger, Elena. "Alright," he spoke up, successfully getting their attention, "Alaric said we've got to clear out of here within 10 minutes. I've got weapons, he stocked me up." Jemma perked up at the word weapons. "Wait, weapons? That means attack or rescue mission; I want in." "No way - the more people there are, the more likely we are to get caught." "I'm older and stronger than you and you'll need backup. I'm coming and you can't stop me." Stefan shook his head a little before nodding. "Fine, whatever."

Bonnie watched the exchange and raised her eyebrows. "Are you guys ready?" Jemma gave her a small smile and nodded. Bonnie cut the younger Gilbert's palm, blood dripping onto a map. They merged into one and moved, shifting to where the lost girl was hidden. "Here. She's there." "That's 300 miles away.", Jeremy said. "No way she's just out and about around there." Jemma added unhelpfully. Stefan ignored her and shook his head, "no, Bonnie. We need a more exact location than that." The eldest of them rolled her eyes. "That's as close as it'll get Messr Salvatore." Jeremy huffed quietly before suggesting an alternative. "Whatever. We can map it, aerial view will show us what's around there, help us narrow down the area." Stefan seemed satisfied. "Perfect. Call me with whatever you find." The pair of vampires were going to leave when- "no, no, I'm coming with you." "No Jeremy, you're not." Stefan crossed his arms and looked at the young teen sternly. "No, I'm not just going to sit here. What if she's hurt okay?"

Jemma turned her head away from the boys for a moment, her keen senses smelling blood. Bonnie's. Is she over exhausting herself? That can kill her-

"Or worse? What if she's…" "She's not." He reassured the brother, shouldering Alaric's bag of weapons. "You two go back to your house just in case. I'll call you the minute I find her." "Well you can't do this alone." Jeremy argued fruitlessly. "He's not." Damon Salvatore, the elder of the two vampiric brothers, butt in from the entrance of the classroom. "Let's go." Stefan seemed surprised at his brother's arrival. "You're coming with me?" "Us." Jemma added, letting Damon know she wasn't about to let them do something dumb on their own. "You're coming with us?" He corrected himself, earning a bored look from Damon. "It's Elena."

----------

They drove in silence for a time, Damon driving with Stefan in shotgun and Jemma in the back.

"Alaric sure likes his weapons." Jemma smiled at Damon's fake nonchalance. "Of course he does. I mean he is a hunter after all." Stefan held a small bottle of what smelt like vervain. "What the hell is that?" "Calm down Damon," she smirked. "Is a bottle really all it takes to frighten the mighty Salvatore boys?" They gave her a look, one that very clearly said: shut up. "It's a vervain bomb or a grenade launcher or something like that." "A grenade launcher launches the grenades. That is an actual grenade so how's about vervain grenade?", Jemma mumbled, laying on the back seats and trying to think of a plan. "Let's go with that for now."

"Hey,  how much further is it?" Stefan asked. Damon replied, not taking his eyes off the road, "about 80 miles." "Who do you think took her?" "Someone from Katherine's past." Of course it has something to do with Katerina. Petrova döpplegangers always seen to be at the centre of everyone's problems. First Tatia, then Katerina and now Elena the naïve child's been pulled into it, Jemma thought to herself as she listened in on the brothers. "She said she was running from someone. They got the wrong girl."

"Thank you for helping me." "Can we not do the whole road trip bonding thing? The cliche of it all makes me itch." "Oh, come on Damon.  We all know that you being in this car has absolutely nothing to do with me anyway." Jemma mentally snorted, no shit Sherlock. He's in love with your girl. "The elephant in the room lets out a mighty roar(!)" "It doesn't have to be an elephant. Let's talk about it." "There's nothing to talk about." "That's not true. I'm sure there is. Just get it out. I mean, are you in this car because you want to help your little brother save the girl he loves? Or is it because you love her too? Hmm? I mean come on, express yourself. I happen to like road trip bonding." "Keep it up Stefan - I can step out of helping as easily as I stepped in." "No, you see that's the beauty of it. You can't." She sat up in the back, looking between the brimming anger of the brothers. "Drama." She whispered under her breath, playing with one of Alaric's stakes. "Shut up.", they said in unison. Well, she raised an eyebrow at the younger vampires, at least I got them to agree on something.

----------

"We're getting close. Jeremy said there's an access road just past mile marker 6." Jemma took the blood bagout of her mouth. "Finally." Damon stole the bag from her hand and began to drink. "Hey-", she protested. "Oh don't be such a baby. After all, you're the one whose always on about how old you are.", his smile condescending. "If you want some, just ask.", he teased Stefan. "I want some." "Aw, that's so sweet. You're gonna be all big and strong and save your girl but don't worry. I've got your back. It'll be fine." "I'm not joking. I've been drinking a little everyday. I'm slowly increasing my intake and building up my strength." Damon looked back at the elder vampire as if to ask, 'is he kidding me?' "He's not kidding." Damon nodded and passed him her blood bag. "Does Elena know you're drinking blood?" "I've been drinking hers." "Hmm, how romantic." He said, drinking from another bag and thus earning himself a wack on arm from Jemma. "One: if you had your own bag, don't take mine you little shit, and two: how didn't you notice before? I've walked in on Stefan feeding and I don't even live at your house."

"Whatever. Anyway since we're road trip bonding, remember the days when all you lived for was blood? You were the guy who ripped people apart just for the fun of it." The Ripper. She smirked to herself. Much more fun but much less civilised. "You mean when I was more like you?" "Yes, Stefan, exactly. Back when you put blood into me so I could be a big bad vampire. I wonder if Elena would be so quick to open her veins to that guy? By the way, what happened to that guy? He was a hoot." "Agreed. He was a lot more fun than you but at least you have better table manners than he did.", she added. "I guess he found something else to live for."

----------

"Why are we stopping?" The car slowed to a stop. "The house should be just beyond those trees." Stefan tried to get out but Damon stopped him. "Wait," he said. "I got a lot more experience than you do with these sorts of things." "What is your point?" "My point is, whoever has Elena is probably who was after Katherine in 1864 and before that." "And?" "And it puts them at 500 years old and strong. Are you sure you want to do this?" "Yeah, I'm certain I want to do it." "Because if we go in that house, we may not come back out." How ominous. "Alright, then I won't come out." "So noble, Stefan." "I can't think of a better reason to die, but if you guys want to stay here, I'll totally understand." He left the car, Damon and Jemma following in tow. "Why are you here Jemma? You don’t even like Elena." "You didn't think I was gonna let you two have all the fun now did you?"

They walked in to the house, their footsteps echoing. It was old and slightly dilapidated yet well kept as there was furniture dotted in different places.  A thick layer of dust covered everything.

"This place is in desperate need of a housekeeper.", she said, running a finger across a fire place, creating a groove in the dust before wiping her dirty finger on her jeans. "Quit screwing around and help us come up with a plan." Damon snapped. "I have one." "What is it?" "This place has at least a few floors meaning it has stairs. We make a bit of noise near some and our mystery man will show up. Stefan will stop him from going up. You stop him from going down. I block the exits. We have him trapped with three vampires who are armed and we kill him." "Did you just come up with that?" "You guys were having bro time in the car so I started doing something productive."

They found a staircase and went to the top, Jemma quickly getting bored. "Lets see how these work then." She muttered to herself, fiddling with one of Alaric's weapons and, naturally, causing a small explosion. "Good news: I figured out how to use the vervain grenades. Bad news: the plan starts a little earlier." 

Mystery Man vampire-sped into the room holding someone, a dark blur as Damon and Stefan moved around him. He threw Elena into a woman's arms. "Rose." the man said. Two thoughts ran through Jemma's mind: why does he seem so familiar? and Rose must be the girl's name. "I don't know who it is.", she called back.

"Up here." Stefan called from the top of the stairs. The man ran up the stairs to him. "Down here." Damon taunted. Jemma threw a stake that landed in his hand. He looked down at it and pulled it out with practiced ease as she hid out of the man's line of sight. Jemma looked back and forth looking for the two girls, Elena and Rose had seemingly having disappeared when in fact Elena was with Stefan and Rose with Damon. "Excuse me. To whom it may concern, you're making a great mistake if you think you can beat me. You can't. Do you hear that?" She faltered. Could it be? No. He would never come back unless Mikael was dead and because he can't be killed... The man broke a coat rack and made a makeshift stake. "I repeat, you cannot beat me. So I want the girl, I'm gonna count to three or heads will roll. Do we understand each other?" Elena appeared at the top of the stairs. Stupid girl is out to get herself killed. "I'll come with you, just please don't hurt my friends, they just wanted to help me out." The man vampire-sped up the stairs, not giving her a chance to see his face. "What game are you playing with me?" She threw a vervain grenade at his face, burning him, only for him to heal almost immediately. He went towards her but Jemma ran towards him, she and Stefan knocking him over. Stefan tried to shoot him with a compressed air weapon which didn't work so he threw it to the ground and tackled him, resulting in them both tumbling down the stairs. The man got up straight away but Stefan wouldn't move. "Stefan get up!" She shouted at him, urging him to move because the man was going towards him but he hesitated when he heard her voice. "Jem?" He mumbled, quickly turning and facing her. "Eli." Damon hurriedly staked him, leaving him pinned to a door and dead. All of a sudden a sharp pain filled Jemma's body as she heard a sickening crack, her neck broken as she fell to the ground.

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She groaned loudly, soft sheets pillowed around her as she sat up. She left the spare room of the Salvatore Boarding House and slowly padded over to the lounge.

"Hey Sleeping Beauty, Rose got you good didn't she?" Damon said, pouring bourbon into two glasses. "Drink." He pushed the glass into her hand, Jemma scowling as she downed the drink. "'Got me good'? She snapped my bloody neck." She wrinkled her nose at the lingering flavour of the alcohol. "D'you have anything other than bourbon?" "3 glasses of scotch coming up." "3…?" She mumbled, wondering who was going to join them when Stefan walked into the room.

"Where's Elena?" Damon asked. "At home." "And you're here why?" "Because he lives here?" She suggested. "That and because she wanted to be with Jeremy." "Here." Damon passed him a glass of scotch. "Thanks. Listen, um, what Rose told Elena about the curse…." "I know, we'll keep her safe." "You know, the only way were gonna be able to do that is if we're not fighting each other. We let Katherine get between us. If we let that happen with Elena, we're not gonna be able to protect her." "Yes Stefan I heard it all before." "From me.", she reminded them. They really need to stop falling for the same person.

"Hey." "What?" "I'm sorry." "About what?" "For being the guy that made you turn 145 years ago." "Enough Stef, its late. Don't need to rehash that." "You know what? I've never said it out loud. I guess I just need to say it and you need to hear it. I'm sorry. What I did was selfish. I didn't wanna be alone. I guess I just needed my brother." She smiled at the boys. Having known them since before they were vampires, she had grown quite fond of them over the decades and she was proud of them. The rebel and the daddy's boy finally getting along as they used to. "Well," she cleared her throat. "I'd best be off - text me the details about the curse; I did used to be a witch so I might be able to help Bonnie with it all." She saluted and headed home, absently rubbing the back of her neck. Edmund will have my head.

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I hate being right. "What were you thinking?" Passive aggressiveness and disappointment was worse than anger in Jemma's opinion. "I was bored so I helped them get Elena back. No biggie." He looked at her like she was crazy - she tended to get that look a lot. "'No biggie'? Are you off your rocker? You went against Elijah! The same Elijah who was batshit crazy last we saw him and apparently only got worse. We were lucky to not have been seen back then and now you try and fight him-?" "She fought him and won." Thank God for Fran. "How do you know?" "If she lost to a Mikaelson she would be dead by now." "Oh come on. The Mikaelsons were our family; they wouldn't hurt us-" Jemma protested fruitlessly. "The Mikaelsons were once our family. But they aren't those people anymore." Fran retorted, looking at her pointedly. "And Originals aren't easy to kill - Elijah's not dead, just very pissed and he saw you with the people who tried to kill him. How's he gonna react to that, hmm?"