Personal relationships outside of her family was something that Alyss wasn't very good at, as for as long as she could remember, it had been her responsibility to look for her family and since they all had a knack for getting themselves into trouble, it means Alyss had little time to socialise. She couldn't have normal social relationships like most people, vampires alike feared her and any kind of friendship with humans always had to come to an end. It was hard to maintain a relationship when one of you was immortal and the other got older by the day, venturing towards their inevitable death. Then there was the matter of Klaus, he was always good for ruining any of Alyss and her siblings personal relationships. It's why Alyss stopped bothering to form any connection with another person as Klaus had taken away everyone who she had ever cared about, except for Elijah. Ever since Kol had been daggered, Alyss had been living a rather lonely life. Loneliness was something that Alyss struggled with every day, even after all this time being a vampire, it was the one thing that even she could not out run. It was like her shadow, it was always there. It seemed to her, that loneliness was another price that came with immortality. Alyss had always believed that it was easier for her to be alone, she had made an effort to stay by herself until an encounter in a bar in downtown Manhattan had changed her life. It was in some obscure bar that Alyss had first encountered Caspian Smith and unbeknownst to herself at that time, she was making her first real connection with another human in over eighty years. Even known Alyss could still remember when her eyes met Caspian's, his straight forward and unyielding hazel eyes had looked straight at her. He wasn't supposed to have seen her, Alyss had perfected the art of remaining anonymous centuries ago. But this man with the crooked smile, strong eyes with an even stronger will had noticed her. Not because she was an Original but as a woman. Thinking back, Alyss couldn't remember the last time any one had recognised her as just being a woman, until she had met Caspian.

She was surprised how much she missed him. Alyss could honestly say that her heart ached for Caspian and even though she hated the fact that she was a slave to her emotions, it didn't change the fact that she missed the man who she refused to call her boyfriend. Ever since Alyss had left New York and come to Mystic Falls, she had missed him terribly. She couldn't remember when she had become so pathetic, Alyss was one of the oldest and powerful vampires in existence, someone of her calibre shouldn't be missing a mere human. Especially one who snored terribly when he was drunk, always forgot to put the milk back in the fridge and somehow managed to give Alyss hope for the first time in a very long time. It pained Alyss when she thought about how much she missed Caspian, to the point where she was about to break all the rules that she had set in place. With each ring of the phone that she held in her hand, Alyss knew that she shouldn't be doing this. It was too risky for her to be getting in contact with Caspian, when she had left to come to Mystic Falls, she had warned him that they would have to cut off all contact with each other for a while. But here Alyss was breaking the rules that she had set in place to protect him. She couldn't help herself, Alyss could only blame it on Caspian as she usually wasn't this needy. At least she didn't used to be. His love for her had somehow made Alyss a little greedy. So being without him, away from the comforts from her home was making Alyss a little restless. She was lonely. It was a weird feeling for Alyss, as since she had met Caspian, she hadn't had a single lonely day. Until now. The loneliness was becoming unbearable, it reminded Alyss of the decade that followed Kol being daggered by Klaus. Those days were so dark that Alyss didn't know how she had managed to survive.

"Hello?"

Hearing the low sound of Caspian's voice through the phone pierced Alyss' heart in a single minute and her heart ached even more. She wanted to go home, back to where he was and be able to talk to Caspian in person. But Alyss knew that wasn't possible, she needed to stay in Mystic Falls until this Klaus business was sorted otherwise she would never be able to go back to her life with Caspian. She would be held captive to Klaus and his demands for the rest of eternity until he was no longer a problem to anyone. A thousand years was already way too many years for Alyss to be tied to her brother, she didn't think she could survive another thousand. She could not spend another day putting her life on her hold because of the constant threat of Klaus that was always hanging over her head. Her life was not supposed to be like this.

"It's me… " Alyss quietly admitted from where she sat, the cold hard tile floor of the bathroom was just as uncomfortable as she felt, which made it a perfect place for Alyss to seek refuge when she needed to sleep. For as long as Alyss could remember whenever something had been deeply troubling herself, she would always go somewhere cold and dark to hide out in order to clear her thoughts. Even when she was still a human, Alyss would go and hide in the caves around her village, especially after Henrik died. She was always expected to be the strong one, to the pillar of strength for the rest of her family but in small and dark confines, Alyss could be the scared and lonely person that deep down she always knew herself to be. She didn't have to put on this façade in which she knew everything and feared nothing.

"Alyss? Is that you?" Caspian questioned, a small yawn following close behind.

"I'm sorry. I-I didn't mean to wake you, I know that it's late and you are probably tired after working a long shift… I shouldn't be doing this. I know I shouldn't be calling. I said that it was better off if we had no contact with each other. I-I don't know what's wrong with me." Alyss stammered, her voice going up an octave as she tried to string a sentence together. She didn't know what the hell was coming out of her mouth, Alyss hadn't even given any real thought as to what she was going to say to Caspian when she called him. All she had done was dial his number and then it was like her brain had turned off.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. I just wanted to hear your voice."

"Al, I know you may be a thousand year old vampire and perhaps the most aloof person that I have come across but that doesn't mean that I don't know when something is bothering you. How long do you think we've been together? I know you, for better and worse. Talk to me Alyss, tell me that's wrong." Caspian demanded and Alyss let out a chocked sob, somehow just listening to him made her feel a little less lonely, yet miss Caspian even more. There was no hiding from him, as much as Alyss wanted to deny it, she knew that there was only truth to Caspian's words. He knew her as best as anyone could.

"I miss you. I know that I'm not the best when it comes to emotion thing, it's something that I put down to being a vampire, years of running and being forever isolated b-but I do miss you Caspian. I've lost so many people in my life that I found it easier to keep my feelings to myself. It would hurt less that way when I lost them. But meeting you Caspian, changed everything for me… My life had come to a standstill and one day I walk into a bar and there you are Cass. You looked at me and gave me a smile, bringing colour into my dull world. Somehow you reached the deepest parts of me. The warm light that you radiate can be faintly felt by my cold dead heart." Alyss admitted, adjusting her legs so she could pull her knees up to her chest. Being this honest about her feelings terrified Alyss but not as much as the thought of never seeing Caspian again. She didn't know if she would make it out of this kill Klaus plot alive and if she wasn't, Alyss wanted to make sure that she had no unfinished business.

"Alyss, what is going on? You are acting weirder than usual and if I'm saying that, then we both know that something must be really wrong."

"I have to do something, it's pretty bad Cass and I don't want to do it. But I have to do it and it may be the worst thing that I have ever had to do in the thousand years that I've been alive." Alyss allowed herself to admit, her voice wavering every so slightly as she thought to the task that lay ahead of her. Alyss was no saint, that much she knew of. She had killed many people, she had hunted down werewolves and slaughtered them with little to no thought. But to kill her own kin? That was perhaps the worst thing that Alyss could ever do. It didn't matter that Klaus was the closest thing to evil that walked this land. It still didn't change the fact that he was her brother and she was plotting behind his back to kill him. This plan however much of a necessary evil it was, made her no better than Klaus who had daggered their siblings or even their father Mikael who they had all been running from for centuries.

"Whatever it is that you think you have to do, you don't have to do it Alyss. Come home Al, come back home to me and we can figure it out. I know, I'm no vampire but I've got a decent working brain."

Caspian's words, as much as they were filled with concern and affection did nothing to alive Alyss' anxiety over the situation. His offer was sweet and very much touching but Alyss couldn't run from this, running from this Klaus situation was what brought them all here in the first place. All this time, Alyss and the rest of her siblings had let Klaus get away with so much, by refusing to deal with the trouble he brought to this world, they were enabling him, allowing him to believe that it was okay for him to do heinous things he did to others. But Alyss couldn't do that anymore, she refused to do that. This was to be her trial by fire, no matter how painful it was. If Bonnie Bennett couldn't kill Klaus with magic, Alyss would have to kill him with her White Ash Stake and she knew she would never be able to come back from that. She would not be the same person anymore. There was a chance that Alyss would not even survive killing Klaus. To get rid of her brother, there was a chance that Alyss would have to pay the ultimate price.

"It's easier said than done Cass, I can't leave… As much as I want to come home I can't do that Cass, if I did that then I would have to go back into hiding again. I would have to spend the rest of my life hiding. I would never be able to see you again." Alyss replied, forcing herself to swallow the mother of all lumps that were sitting in her throat. None of this was fair. She just wanted to be back in New York and trying to have something that resembled a normal life. Even though Alyss knew she would never be normal, she had long ago embraced being a supernatural entity but there were times she just wanted to be like everyone else. Just for a little whole. Alyss wasn't the happily ever after kind of person, she never wanted children or

"Alyss… You are really starting to freak me out now. Tell me what's going on!"

"This was a bad idea, I should have never called, I shouldn't have dragged you into any of this in the first place… Just know Caspian that you mean more to me than words can say, I can never give back a fraction of what you've given me. Meeting you Caspian and everything that we have, it's been everything to me. I never knew that I could have something like this. I didn't think I was capable of being loved. Thank you for that."

Hanging up the phone was the hardest thing for Alyss to do, but she had to do it.

No matter how blue the sky was, or how brightly the sun shone on this early morning, there was nothing that could ease the uneasiness that was eating at Alyss today. The day that Alyss had been dreading had finally arrived. The day of the sacrifice was finally upon them. She thought they would have more time. Alyss couldn't have dreamed that things would have moved so quickly. Clearly Alyss had underestimated how fast her brother would move, it wasn't like Klaus' previous attempt to break his curse. The world had changed in the last five hundred years, news travelled a lot faster and Klaus' reach had greatly extended in the last few centuries. Knots were tugging at Alyss' stomach as she couldn't believe that this day had come so quickly. It seemed like it was only yesterday that Katerina had managed to escape from Klaus' clutches and put him into the fowl mood that he had been in for the last 500 years. Niklaus was in Mystic Falls and since there was going to be a full moon tonight, Alyss knew that her brother would want to break his curse tonight. He had waited for a thousand years to break the curse that their mother had placed on him and Alyss knew that her brother wouldn't be able to wait until the next full moon. Patience wasn't exactly his strong suit. Alyss had countless memories of Klaus lashing out because he couldn't keep his temper in check, he was hot blooded with an insatiable anger that had no limits.

The weight of the situation was weighing heavily on Alyss' mind, the world would never recover if Klaus was enable to gain access to his werewolf abilities. Vampires were already considered to be abominations of nature, so a vampire-werewolf hybrid could only be imagined to be a damnation of all that was good. Even though she was no longer a witch, Alyss knew deep in her heart that a hybrid was a step too far, her mother had made them all vampires to protect them from the werewolves. There had been good reasons behind her actions although there had been unforeseeable consequences. It was a shame that Klaus did not have the same selfless reasons for his actions like their late mother did. Looking up to the sky, Alyss couldn't help but sigh as she thought of her dear mother. If only she could see what had become of her children, Esther would surely be turning in her grave. This was not what was supposed to happen when they had all become vampires, they were supposed to stick together but instead their family had turned against each other. It was parents against child, siblings against siblings. All their happiness had been replaced with a darkness that had threatened to consume them.

"Alyss?"

Upon hearing her name, Alyss turned around and faced her brother who was looking at her with a concerned look upon his face. It was reassuring for Alyss to have her brother back as things tended to have a better sense of order when Elijah was running the show. There was something about Mystic Falls that distracted Alyss, perhaps it was her past in this town that couldn't make her see straight. She kept getting stuck in the past, her nostalgia was messing with her head and because of that Alyss couldn't focus on the task on her hand. She had been too distracted to notice that Klaus had come to Mystic Falls without her noticing. He had been right under her nose for god knows how long. It was Alyss fault. Just like it was her fault that the Martin witches were dead, they were supposed to be working together but Alyss' lack of focus had ended up getting them killed. Her head was too busy being stuck in the past to realise that Klaus was pulling all the strings in Mystic Falls without her noticing.

"Sorry Lijah, my mind wondered off there for a moment."

"Have you changed your mind about this?" Elijah questioned and Alyss shook her head, she hadn't changed her mind about the plan to kill Klaus. Her nerves were a bit of a mess, the reality of what she was planning to do was ringing in her head like a loud bell that wouldn't be quiet, no matter what she tried to. Her heart and mind were in turmoil, but there wasn't anything Alyss could do. It's not like she could turn off her humanity like other vampires, her vast age made that impossible to do and no amount of alcohol could make her forget that she was going to kill her brother tonight.

"No, I've never been more certain about anything in my life… I know that it won't be easy, Niklaus is after all our brother but there is only far blood runs especially when you think about everything he's done. The only thing that troubles me is why we waited so long to do this, if we had done this centuries ago then maybe the rest of us would still be together. Maybe Kol and Bekah would be here with us instead in some coffins in god knows what ocean. Perhaps even Finn too. How much suffering could we have prevented if we had done something sooner instead of being blinded by our blood ties to Klaus? Our brother is planning to kill three people because they are a means to an end. His madness will not end after tonight if he breaks mother's curse. I cannot help but think that this is all my fault Lijah, I should have done something about Niklaus sooner." Alyss allowed herself to admit. She carried about a tremendous amount of guilt within herself about the stuff that she had done, the stuff that Klaus had done and for her, killing Klaus meant there could be a chance for her to finally begin to atone for all the sins her family had committed.

"Alyss?"

"I can still remember what mother told me just after Henrik was born, she said that she was entrusting me with a special role… That I was to watch over us all, to keep us all safe and out of trouble. It was my responsibility to protect my siblings and make sure no harm came to them, to be the one they could always depend on. I failed to keep my family safe." Alyss grimly replied as her and Elijah stood at the foot of the Salvatore driveway.

"You wanted to protect your family." Elijah began with a small smile and Alyss could see what her brother was doing here, he was trying to comfort her over the situation. Trying to stop her from blaming herself from something that had spiralled way out of control but Alyss couldn't help herself. She was practically responsible for everything that had happened, there had been plenty of times where she had turned a blind eye to Klaus' actions, as well as Kol's. Alyss may not have much blood on her hands as some of her brothers or even Rebekah but that didn't mean that she was an innocent part. She may not be her siblings keeper but her parents had raised Alyss to be exactly that.

"At the expense of others." Alyss retorted

"We both did Alyss, if you wish to blame yourself for all of our wrong doings then there is plenty of blame we can all place on ourselves. I turned a blind eye to many of Klaus' actions, I blame myself just as much as you do. Do you not think that I feel bad that I'm still here and our siblings were idly tossed away at sea? I know that Klaus has done a lot of bad things which is why we here; to put an end to Klaus misdoings. You can't keep blaming yourself for what has happened here Alyss, it was not your fault." Elijah assured Alyss with a reassuring hand on her shoulder and looking up to her brother, she wanted to cry. He carried the burden of their family just like she did. Alyss was glad that she had her brother back as there was no way that she could have done any of this without Elijah. He was still trying to protect her despite everything, he had never wavered when Alyss had screwed up and got side tracked with her own life during the course of this mission of theirs. He was the best big brother that Alyss could have ever asked for, which is what made Alyss feel incredibly guilty for keep secrets. She needed to tell him the truth.

"I need to tell you, something that I have been keeping for you for a long time now." Alyss wearily began before taking a deep breath and reaching behind her into the waistband of her jeans and pulling out the White Oak stake. Alyss held it out to her brother and she watched as his dark eyes widened in horror as he took in the intricately carved wooden stake. It was a thing of beauty, that must Alyss would admit as well as an item of destruction.

"Where did you get that?" Elijah hoarsely asked, the shock clear as day as he stumbled back a couple of steps. It was clear to Alyss that her brother never expected her to bring something out like that. As far as Elijah had known up until a minute ago, the only White Oak Stake that existed was with their father and Mikael wasn't a threat to anyone. He was locked away somewhere safe and had been for about a decade now.

"Who do you think? I got it from Mikael."

"He gave you his White Ash Stake?"

Alyss shook her head, her brother had jumped to the first possible conclusion that could have been made but he was far from the truth. "No. It turns out that father had two of these stakes in his possession, it turns out that there was enough ash from the remains of the White Oak tree in our village to create two stakes. He gave me this one, the location of the other stake is something that I don't know, Mikael never told me and I wasn't exactly in a position to ask him. I was a wreck at the time, it had been six months since Klaus had daggered Kol for the last time. All of a sudden Mikael was there and I thought he was going to kill me. I never expected him to hand me a stake of all things. I have you to thank for that, I suppose…"

"What are you talking about Alyss?" Elijah questioned and Alyss let out a low snort and rolled her eyes.

"Don't treat me like some imbecile who doesn't know any better Lijah because we both know that I am anything but an idiot. You were the one who sent Mikael to me, I don't know how you managed to get in touch with him but you did and you sent him to Michigan to find me. Nobody else but you knew where I was, back then I was on the run from Klaus and I didn't trust Bekah with my location as I knew Klaus would get it out of me. You were the only person who knew where I was, now Mikael is a great hunter… We all know that as no matter how far we ran, he always found us but he could have never have found me without knowing where to look. This wasn't like previous times where we drew him to our location because of our theatrics. I was off the grid, in a place nobody could have found me unless they knew where I was. The only person who did was you." Alyss replied, looking at Elijah with a look that challenged him to tell her that she was wrong.

He couldn't.

"What happened with Mikael? What did he say to you?"

"A lot of stuff, Mikael was pretty much acting like a father instead of a hunter… He told me that he was not there to hurt, that he had come because he had heard of what Klaus had done to Kol and knew that I would be in terrible pain. We talked about a lot things but there is one thing that stuck with me, Mikael warned me that if Klaus wasn't stopped then one day he would complete destroy me. He had taken my heart by getting Henrik killed, he had taken my spirit when he had daggered Kol and when the day came when Klaus took my mind, he would succeed in destroying me. It was then that Mikael presented me with the dagger. I was aghast by the whole thing. As lost as I was then, even I could dream of one day being at the point where I want to kill Klaus. Mikael left not long after that, not before entrusting the dagger to me to keep.

"You've had this stake so many years Alyss and yet you've never tried to make an attempt to kill Niklaus, it took me coming to New York to convince you. What's changed?" Elijah question and Alyss forced a smile onto her face before tucking the stake back behind her, in the waistband of her jeans where it would stay out of sight until she was ready to use it.

"It seemed like father knew that Niklaus would never end with his vicious circle of tormenting us and using us as his play things. He knew that one day, I would finally snap. I know he's our brother but we both know that the hold Klaus has over us is all too much… We're supposed to be a family but look what he has done to our siblings. I never thought that this day would finally come, it seemed that my love for our brother prevented me from killing him despite all the pain and destruction that Klaus has put us through. Even then, when I was losing all patience with Klaus I knew that I couldn't do, you or Bekah would try and stop me. Deep down I also knew that if I succeeded than I risked losing you Lijah as I know how hard you've tried to keep our family together. As much as I hated Niklaus for what he did to me, the last thing I wanted to do was hurt you. But things have changed, Bekah isn't here and Klaus has left yet another trail of death in his path and it'll only continue tonight if he breaks his curse." Alyss admitted, part of her never believe that this day had actually come. She had thought that Elijah would have changed his mind a long time ago and decided to spare Klaus because he was there blood. But it seemed like there was no going back for either of them. The two of them were both willing to see this out to the end.

"Are you sure you want to do this Alyss?"

"We can't go back Lijjah, we've come too far… If Bonnie Bennett is unable to channel the power of those 100 dead witches and put an end to Klaus, then I will. I'm not leaving something this important to chance, tonight Niklaus will die. Whether or not it is at Bonnie Bennett's hands or mine, he will not shed any more blood. This ends tonight."