The Pieces of the Past

Summary: With the anniversary of their mother's death quickly approaching, Damon and Stefan make a startling discovery about a new arrival to town that changes their lives as they know it. They always knew that they had a sibling shielded by mystery, but how entwined are the Salvatore brothers lives with their sister?

Chapter Twelve

She took a sip of her red wine and looked at her two brothers as they listened to her story; both knew how dark it was to live without their humanity and neither thrived because of flicking that switch. What intrigued Stefan the most was what kind of a vampire she was without her humanity; was she controlled and calculated like Damon or would she be another ripper as he and Lily were? He watched how she tried to come to terms with whatever she was about to tell them next, she didn't enjoy telling this story and he could see that; she had to have a reason for bringing this up.

"I have to admit that there was nothing sexual between Kade and I; even with my humanity off I still had the sense of commitment as did Kade. He still had memories of his lost love, he had no interest in falling for another person and neither did I. With our humanity off we revelled in the bloodlust, the hunt was what it was all about. For the first time in a long time, I wasn't scared about walking around in the daylight. I felt free of my fear. But that all changed..."

Edinburgh, Scotland 1994

He raised a brow at her, watching her as she scribbled something down in her journal. When she realised, he was in the room, she closed it over and crossed one leg over the other with a straight face.

"What are you doing?" he closed the door and inspected his face in the mirror, wiping a tiny bit of dried blood from the corner of his mouth.

"I was just writing something in my journal." She put on her heels and smoothed out the creases in her skirt. "I'm feeling peckish, don't wait up for me."

He grabbed her arm as she walked past him and stared into her eyes. "Is your humanity back on?"

"Why would you think that?" she pulled her arm free and grabbed her coat.

"Because I haven't seen you write in that journal the whole time we've been travelling together."

"You're not with me every second of every day... Why do you even care? Is yours back on?"

"Listen, I just want to have a good time, I'll cut you loose if you drag me down." He shrugged his shoulders and kicked off his shoes as he stepped towards his bed. "You do what you want, I'm not your guardian."

She rolled her eyes and placed her hands in her pockets. "I'll be back soon. Get your rest, we're heading to Cardiff in the morning." She stepped out of the flat and let out a breath before descending the fourteen flights of stairs that kept her from her real freedom.

Luce couldn't help but grin as she saw the back of him and when Elijah turned around, she ran into his arms allowing him to scoop her up into a kiss. She gazed up at his face, running her fingertips along the tiny bit of stubble that threatened to break onto his jaw.

"Hello Lucille, or should I call you Maria?" he said with a smirk.

"How did you know it was me?"

"I wasn't sure but there was talk all over Europe about two vampires leaving bodies left, right and centre," he took her hand and walked out of the building and took in the fresh air as they strolled down the busy city streets, "I hoped that it wasn't you but when I realised that it was, I knew your humanity was off."

"How did you know that you'd be able to get me to turn it back on?"

"I knew that the news that I carried about Zach would bring you back to your senses and if that failed, I knew that the bond that we have would've done the trick."

She smiled up at him, she was thankful that he knew her well; but there was one question that was burning away at her joy. "Does Klaus know that I'm here?"

"No, I told him that I was following a lead on Katherine Pierce. He thinks that you're somewhere in South America." He went quiet for a moment and stopped in his place. "I have something to ask you. Why don't I take you back to Mystic Falls so that you can be there for Zach when this child of his is born?"

"Is it going to be safe enough for me to be there? I don't want Klaus harming Zach or Gail."

"I guarantee you that they won't be harmed, and neither will you. You have my word." He reached into his pocket and presented her with two tickets back to Virginia. "Take my offer, we'll be there tomorrow afternoon."

She glanced back towards the building she had been staying in for the past couple of months and then looked back at her husband as he looked at her expectantly. "I just need to get my passport and then we'll leave this place." She stood on her tip toes and kissed him softly, glancing at his grey eyes before taking him back towards the building.

There was a cold chill in the air, but Luce naively put that down to the cold weather of Great Britain. She ignored that gut instinct telling her to run and stepped into the flat; all the colour in her face fading when she noticed that Kade was lying on the floor, his heart on the floor and blood covering the walls. Her eyes met Klaus' as he smirked at her from her bed; her journal in his hand. Elijah took a protective stance in front of her, holding her behind his back.

"Niklaus, what an unexpected surprise."

"Is it really unexpected, dear brother? I knew that you were misleading me, I just hoped that it wasn't true." He snapped her journal shut and got onto his feet. "I had an informant tell me that it was really Katherine that was in South America and then I thought, who would Elijah be seeing in Scotland and why would he be so secretive?" Klaus looked around Elijah's frame and locked eyes with his prey, a menacing glower covering his face. "Hello again, Lucille."

"You didn't have to kill him," she looked at Kade's lifeless body before turning away in disgust, "he did nothing wrong."

"He hid you but I must admit that I admired what he did; making you turn your humanity off and giving you an alias. The things you did were so out of character, you never were a clean killer and by the writing in your journal, I see that you like to keep track of who you've killed. I've saw that behaviour only once before."

"Why are you taunting this poor girl, hasn't she suffered enough?" Elijah interrupted.

"I think you know why." He looked his brother in the eye and removed a dagger from his jacket pocket.

"Of course, you brought that but I'm afraid I'm not going down easily." He glanced over his shoulder to Luce and mouthed 'run' before launching towards Klaus, knocking him out of the window.

She took the opportunity to get one last look at Elijah, exchanging a tearful look before sprinting out of the building. She didn't want to think about what was going on between the two brothers, but she wished for Elijah to prevail. If he didn't, then she was as good as dead.

Present Day

"We only saw each other twice before rekindling our romance, unfortunately Elijah was daggered, that I heard through the grapevine. Klaus almost got me, and in a way, he almost got me yesterday... I felt myself feeling sorry for him. If Elijah hadn't have shown up at his apartment this morning, I probably would've gone back to Klaus a couple of times. He's still as vindictive as ever. I feel like such an idiot for letting him slither his way back into my life." She looked away from Clarke's stare as he stopped writing. He couldn't help but tear up for her.

"It's kind of all makes sense now. Elijah must've been freshly undaggered when we first encountered him." Damon said to Stefan lowly.

"It's funny how you fit all the puzzle pieces together. You're answering questions that we've been asking ourselves for years."

Luce nodded and finished her wine, downing half the glass in a second. "I'm just thankful that I kept his gaze away from the two of you for a while." She stepped over to Clarke and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Give my brothers the copies of my journals and the letters I have prepared for them. Did you bring the blank envelope with you?"

Clarke reached into his pocket and presented her with the sealed envelope and noticed how dull her eyes had become. He had spent enough time with her to know that her emotions were starting to get the better of her but before he could say anything to her about it, she was in front of her brothers.

"I want you to read my journals and then my letter. It'll make more sense that way." She glanced over at her empty bottle of wine and pursed her lips together. "I'm going to get another bottle." She stumbled out of the room, holding onto the wall for support.

Damon looked at the human as he packed up his belongings. "Is there going to be anything in those that is going to shock us?"

Clarke scoffed and looked at Damon over his thick frames. "All of it will shock you." He slung his bag over his shoulder and looked between both brothers. "Your sister isn't as strong as she lets on to be. I would watch her closely over the next couple of days. Luce needs to process her guilt."

"We will, thank you Clarke. I'll walk you to the door." Stefan said, giving his brother a look as he led him to the door.

Stefan's look was an instruction for Damon to check on their sister. When he stepped into the wine cellar, he could see her empty glass, but she was nowhere to be found. He ground his teeth together and stormed back towards the foyer. Stefan raised his brow at Damon and he could tell by the look on his face that she was gone. If they were going to take Clarke's words seriously, they had to find her and quickly.

There was a knock at his door and it surprised him, he wasn't expecting anyone to visit. When he opened the door, he saw Luce staring up at him, her eyes misty and her arm propped up against the doorframe.

"What are you doing here?" he moved aside and let her into his apartment.

"I needed to see if I still felt the same about you, to see if I still got the butterflies in my stomach when you touch me." She looked at him and bit her bottom lip nervously. She feared how she was feeling; her head was all over the place.

"Lucille, what are you suggesting?"

"I want one moment with you, Elijah. If all those feelings engulf me then I'm yours forever."

He nodded and took a step towards her. "And if they don't?"

"Then open this letter. I have no idea what I'm going to do, my thoughts have been all over the place lately." She looked up at him, and handed an envelope over to him. She was usually so clear with what she wanted, she didn't even know now what was going through her mind.

He placed his hand on her cheek, feeling how hot the blood underneath her skin was; he could tell that she was heavily intoxicated. Elijah kissed her the way he knew she wanted to be kissed; passionately and lovingly. He wanted nothing more than to have her back, but it wasn't going to be as easy as this.

She pulled herself away before she got swept up in that moment she craved. He furrowed his brows and took a step back, fearing the worst for their relationship.

"What is it?" he said quietly.

"When I kiss you, I see her… Katherine." She placed her hands over her face and paced around the room. "I want to get rid of that anger, so badly. I want things to be the way they used to be, but I can't push those feelings to the side."

"What are you so scared of? Do you seriously think that I would ever be so foolish as to betray you again?"

"I'm scared of you running back to her again, I know what she's like; I know that she always gets what she wants."

"Didn't your brothers tell you?"

She looked at him, shaking her head. "Tell me what?"

"Katherine's dead. She died a year or two ago."

Learning about Katherine's death brought a smile to Luce's face but that quickly faded when she realised, she couldn't get her frustrations out on a corpse. She dragged her fingers through her raven hair and looked Elijah dead in the eye.

"I can't do this anymore."

When he took a step towards her, she took a step back. "What are you talking about? What can't you do?"

"Humanity… Emotions… I can't catch a break. I'm finding trouble holding onto hope that I'll wake up and know what I want to do and the more that I'm let down with myself, the more it eats at me. The guilt that I feel in my gut about sleeping with Klaus is overruling any rationality I had left. The hurt that you caused me has broke my heart into pieces and the only thing that I have going for me are my brothers."

"Don't turn off your humanity, Lucille. Your brothers need you, we all need your bright light in our lives." He was trying to find the right words to say to her to convince her to keep her emotions, but he could see that her mind was already made up.

"Do me one thing, tell them I'm sorry."

When she closed her eyes, the Luce that the Salvatore brothers had started to know faded and when she opened them again, the Luce that they never wanted to meet came into play. Elijah stared at her, watching as she straightened her back and replaced her sullen look with a blank expression. He had no idea how he was going to get her back; he needed to get her back.