Disclaimer: TDV and TO (unfortunately) don't belong to me, No copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Author's note: Thanks everyone who read and reviewed the previous chapters! This part is mostly exposure, thus contains massive amount of information and no action.

Chapter 8 Part II

The Originals observed as her eyes lit up with something else than despair or panic, there was hope blooming in the wake of their words. But unfortunately, it only lasted for a few seconds before sadness came back under the excitement. It was twisting their cold hearts as she cruelly squashed the new hope, not daring to believe.

"How much the Bond effects my emotions, how much Damon is able to manipulate them?" Elena rapidly fired her questions at the Originals.

"A vampire's emotions are more intense than a human's, take that difference in intensity and double it. But something that is not there in the first place cannot be intensified. As for your second question, Damon can only effect your emotions through his own and you react to that, like this morning: he was angry, disappointed with you and it backfired because you had so strong feelings on the topic and my blood was in your system."

"If I hadn't drunk your blood, I wouldn't have been able to tell that Damon wanted to control me?" Elena asked, then cleared her throat. Her voice was scratchy from trying to keep in check her tears, she didn't want to cry in front of them again. In her opinion, she had shown more than enough weakness for one day.

"Yes." Elijah answered.

"It was only a few drops." Incredulity set firmly on her face.

"Our blood is extremely potent," Elijah continued to explain. "A little more and you would have been quite out of it for the rest of the day. It can have positive and very negative effects of consuming an Original's blood. But we have diverged, those few drops enabled you to distinguish the direct effects of the Sire Bond, and you wouldn't have any reaction to compulsion, it's similar to vervain."

"Though there is an exception, Elijah would have been able to compel you even more easily than the norm." Kol added his two cents, seeing the expected reaction, he couldn't help the amused smirk lightening up his face. "Oh, don't worry Elijah would never take advantage of your vulnerability in that invasive way. He is far too moral for that." Kol teased his brother. Or at least he is in Elena's case, Kol corrected in his mind.

Elena stayed quite for a little while, visibly contemplating what they said. "If I had drunk your blood, you'd have been able to compel me and Elijah not?" She asked Kol in the end and she got a nod in response. They were telling her things, she had never imagined before. She was also curious how much of these things Damon and Stefan possibly knew of. These didn't seem like everyday knowledge. What was sure that she had to tell these things to Caroline too, she didn't want her friend to experience disadvantage because she hadn't been taught properly. She remembered that Stefan took her under his wings but had no idea what the blond really knew about vampirism.

"We can talk about the side effects of drinking other vampires' blood, taking into account their age and power." Elijah said. "I will hold no knowledge back from you, although we have more important things to discuss. One last thing about the Sire Bond, if you have no further pressing questions about it. I'd like to ask you to not drink from Damon again in the next 10 or so years."

Elena tilted her head to the side, her brown tresses tumbling forward over one shoulder. For some reason, the normally cool and collected Elijah was very adamant about her not drinking from Damon. She remembered very clearly how angry he got when she mentioned earlier that she had drunk from Damon.

Elijah sighed and made a massive effort to keep the anger out of his voice as he elaborated. "You can become addicted very quickly to Damon's blood if you drink from him regularly in a short time span. As a consequence, his control over you would became even greater and it wouldn't fade with time as intended with the Bond. Additionally, human blood wouldn't be enough for you to survive you would need his too, not much but a few sips once or twice a month."

Elena snapped her mouth shut, which fallen open in horror and surprise, then blinked at Elijah. "How many times?"

Elijah understood her question perfectly well, seeing from the corner of his eyes the deep scowl on Kol's face. "Not many, around a dozen." He anxiously waited for her response, only his self-control making it possible to not fidget in his chair in anticipation.

"Once when I couldn't drink from anything but from the vein, and…" Elena averted her gaze form theirs to the white clothed table as her face got a little bit rosy in embarrassment, despite the fact that vampires didn't blush like humans do. It needed much more blood rushing into their cheeks for any colour to surface.

Extraordinarily, Kol was the one who had a too neutral expression on his face while Elijah's eyes flashed golden in his jealousy and anger. Both of them knew that Elena had drunk from the older Salvatore while they were intimate. They didn't need elaboration on the sordid details. The younger Original would bet that his brother was itching to torture the elder Salvatore. Contrary to popular belief, Elijah knew how to paint a room red with the best of them.

"Normally, I like to hear the sordid details but because I actually am fond of you Ms. Gilbert, I only ask how many times?" Kol tried to dissolve the uncomfortable atmosphere with dry humour, and thankfully succeeding as he heard Elena's nervous chuckle.

"Four times." Elena still couldn't make herself to meet either of their eyes. She would have never imagined to discuss her private life in this kind of detail with the vampire in the room with her.

"Then you have nothing to fear, just try to not drink from him when you have your rendezvous." Kol quipped. He knew that Elijah would separate the older Salvatore's head from his body before he let something like that happen. He had no doubt that Elena would never again share another's bed but his older brother's.

"Do you have any further questions about the Sire Bond?" Elijah asked a little more coolly than he normally addressed Elena.

"No." Elena whispered.

"I suggest we move onto the Five, Qetsiyah and Silas." Elijah said, he very much wanted to hear what Kol managed to find out through his most extensive connections in the community of magic users.

"And which one Darling Elena wants to hear about first, shall we start from the beginning of the story or how I stumbled upon the knowledge?" Kol directed his questions to her, while his brother most likely knew more than he let in on, though Elijah's knowledge was nowhere near his own. He smirked as he saw that Elena didn't even bother to send him a withering glare for addressing her with the endearment, which in her case was really a show of affection. He was also glad that Elena was no longer afraid of him.

"Either one…" Elena said, a frown appearing on her face again.

"Well, as I told you before I was a warlock, one with considerable amount of power if I may say so." Kol shared, watching Elena's every reaction like a hawk. "After calming down from the transition and a run in with a druid, I came to the conclusion just because I was no longer able to perform the magic myself didn't mean that I couldn't explore it, study it, expand it further. I had found it a rewarding and satisfying thing to spend my time with. In the end, I have rebuilt and in most cases developed even further the famous witches, warlocks, priests, priestesses and cultures magical discoveries." He added, unable to withhold a contended sigh at the memories that were so vivid in his mind.

"So you actually know how to make the cure?" Elena asked in complete disbelief, sitting as stiff as a ramrod in her chair.

Kol shrugged in reply. "I didn't take the effort to find out about the exact receipt of it, but I am certain that I could make it. Probably, it would take a few months but considering the time we have on our hands…"

"I'd like you to be aware," Elijah draw Elena's attention to himself. "That Kol and I promised Rebekah and Niklaus the cure if they are willing to assent to a few conditions."

Elena couldn't take it anymore, she stood up and leaned angrily on the table, fixating the eldest Original with blazing anger in her eyes.

The fiery display had Elijah aroused to an almost unbearable degree, he had never witnessed such a passionate display from Elena. Her rage made her even more gorgeous, a goddess of vengeance. He knew that his eyes flashed with golden hues for a fraction of a second in response.

"Please, calm yourself. I had not intended to retain the information from you, but I had to know what you would do without it in the picture." Elijah told her in a serious tone, braking any further argument. "I would also advise that you explore who you became or who you want to become. I only ask you to think on what turning back into a human would mean, that is not necessarily the solution for your problems."

Elijah watched as the anger slowly died down in her, her body sagging in resignation. She took her seat again with a troubled soft sigh, sending a very apologetic expression in both of the Originals direction.

"I'm sorry."

"Do not mention it, Darling." Kol instantly replied with a wink. "For now it is completely redundant of speaking about the blasted thing, because I need to collect my grimoires and that will take considerable amount of time."

Elena looked questioningly at Kol. She didn't understand what would take so long for him, when in her experience witches kept their journals very close to themselves.

"I am not particularly keen on sharing my knowledge with anyone. What I cultivated over the centuries could turn into a very dangerous weapon if it ends up in the wrong hands; so the most interesting parts I broke up into 10 journals with an encryption. Additionally, any number of them is useless without the complete collection. These grimoires were gifted to powerful individuals who enjoyed my trust; their bloodline was tasked with protecting these tomes with specific stipulations for almost every scenario that could occur over the centuries."

Elena suppressed some creative cursing. She didn't even want to imagine what kind of protective measures Kol made. The Originals was a secretive, paranoid bunch. "Collecting them together could turn into quite a treasure hunt…"

"Very accurate of you, Darling." Kol quipped. "I suggest we leave this issue and double back to the fascinating story of Silas and Qetsiyah." He could sense Elijah's impatience under his cool, controlled mask. "Once upon a time, in 63. B.C. at Baiae to a very high standing patrician family was borne a son. The new heir of the family was named Silvanus Tullius Decula, which was shorted in the family circle to Silas. The family was very rich with much power in the Senate. Young Silas was not interested in the army so he chose the other accepted and popular profession, he learned law. He climbed in the esteem of others very quickly, most importantly he was a trusted advisor of Octavian. Thus in 30. B.C he was sent to Alexandria to settle the then quite delicate situation. His interest in magic came from his many visits to the Great Library, particularly its obscure scrolls. From then on he spent a lot of his time learning about magic and myths. He travelled a lot over the Roman Empire the following year, but in 29. B.C. he returned to Alexandria at the request of Octavian and this time he met a vision with immense talent in magic, a temple slave: Qetsiyah."

For once Elena did not feel any inclination to ask questions, and just listened. The words were more than just words as Kol painted a vivid picture with his words. She could imagine everything with the utmost detail as she listened to the sound of the Originals baritone.

"Silas spent his every free time with Qetsiyah. When his father passed away, he had to return to Rome. Though, he decided to purchase the then fourteen year old girl and bring her back with him. In the first years, they had a mentor-student kind of relationship. Qetsiyah was untouchable for anyone in Silas' household. With every passing moon she became more and more beautiful. Soon Silas not only desired her knowledge but her body as well."

Kol took a sip from the finely cut crystal tumbler to think for a moment.

"She became the master's lover. And at this point I'd like to point out that she became his lover, she was not his toy as custom was between a slave and her master. Of course Silas's wife, the highborn, rich and extremely beautiful Clodia did not take well to this slight. A slave enjoyed her husband's complete devotion. More, they shared an interest that Clodia hated with a passion. When she was 15, Qetsiyah had become with child. This further enraged Clodia because she hadn't managed to become heavy with the heir yet. In her fury, when Silas was with Octavian she ordered the 7 months pregnant girl to be poisoned in the hope that both her and the child would die. Only Qetsiyah's magic saved her from certain death, but unfortunately the baby was gone. Silas only suspected the reason for the death of his child, but could not do anything against Clodia because as the mistress of the house she had the right to order Qetsiyah killed if she felt it warranted."

The absolute horror in Elena's deep brown eyes made Elijah lament on how innocent she truly was. She had learned about the American Civil War and that part of it was about freeing people. Yet it was futile knowledge in most cases; because today's people just couldn't comprehend how everyday a thing was for a master to order the death or torture for their slaves. Slaves were literally goods, mere possessions. He mourned how much they were going to destroy Elena's innocence in the coming years.

"Silas immersed himself in learning magic, slowly he was able to perform small spells. Though he could never do more complex things as he lacked the inner, inherent magic that the servants of nature have."

"Clodia after a long time had become with child and Silas didn't want to lose another child; so he started to look for ways to ensure the safe arrival of the baby. He experimented on slaves and became crueller, obsessed as time went on. Not long and Qetsiyah also became expectant again. But this time, she most likely lost the baby due to stress when she was three moons along. This resulted in her helping Silas in his quest to find a way to guarantee the life of a future child. In the meantime, Clodia gave birth to a girl, who was named Silvana. Finally, Silas was happy for the first time and let up on the cruel hold of his households, but Qetsiyah became depressed. When she got pregnant for a third time, in her fear she managed to find a way to protect the life of the child growing inside her."

The room was thick with tension as Kol reached the crucial point of this tragic story that kick started to many things in the supernatural world.

"The solution was more like a very complicated ritual. They prepared it with great care, but before they could finish it Clodia interrupted it. The result was an immortal Silas who started to crave blood aside from food and gained new abilities almost daily for the first moon of his new existence. Among other things he was able to create illusions, got better and better at mind control, got stronger and stronger… Despite his increasing viciousness, Qetsiyah still planned to go along with the ritual at the next adequate opportunity, the winter solstice. But one day, Silas found out what Clodia did due to his new ability of infiltrating someone's mind. In his rage he slaughtered his whole household, Clodia and Silvana included. When Qetsiyah got back from the Great Temple she had found him dripping with blood and decided that this cannot go on further."

"Because he killed his family Silas was tried and found guilty, though thanks to his relationship with Octavian his sentence was exile instead of execution. In her growing terror, Qetsiyah created the cure and wanted him to take it. Silas refused and sank deeper and deeper into madness. He also became more and more power hungry, starting to plot of overthrowing Octavian and taking his place as the head of the Roman Empire."

"When they arrived at their allotted place of banishment in Alexandria, Qetsiyah to protect her yet unborn child, desiccated him and with the help of the priestesses of the Temple of Isis she took Silas's body away to a secret location to imprison him till he took the cure. At this remote place, she gave birth to a girl, Aliyah. On her way back to Alexandria, Qetsiyah turned more and more paranoid in her fear what would happen if Silas managed to escape without turning back into human. This led her to fear of what the supernatural beings were capable of against humans." Kol paused for a moment. "She had a very solid belief in the afterlife and started to contemplate what spirits of the supernatural could do there. She thought that humans deserve peace if not in their lives then in death, that afterlife should be theirs. As a result, she created the Other Side for the supernatural. It should be their equivalent for a peaceful afterlife. She designed it like that a Veil separates it from the physical plane but witches can more easily communicate with their ancestors."

Elena was still in shock from what Kol said and had to force herself to concentrate on his words.

"The Five was also her idea, if she wouldn't live as long as to know that Silas took the cure. She meant for the spell to give five carefully chosen warrior with impeccable morals enchanted strength to be able to force Silas. The map to his location was a tattoo because a mere parchment could be easily stolen. Unfortunately or fortunately, she had fallen ill before she could realize all of her plans and had only time and power to create the Other Side and the Veil. As custom of the time, she had written down her knowledge and the story of what happened to Silas. These scrolls stayed in the Temple of Isis, whose servants had sent a copy of them to Rome's Great Temple."

"Aliyah was raised in the temple and was also a remarkable priestess. The story of what really happened to Silas and Qetsiyah spread but got distorted over the centuries until nothing remained but the myth of power hungry couple who created the Immortality Spell and sentenced other supernaturals to suffer on the Other Side." Kol finished and drained the remaining liquor from his glass.

"What about Silas's plan to destroy the Veil?" Elijah spoke for the first time after some contemplation.

"He simply doesn't agree with Qetsiyah and thinks that the higher beings should rule the world and if their time of death arrives they should also have the 'peace' of the afterlife allotted to every being." Kol explained with a small shrug of his shoulders.

"How could Silas know of Qetsiyah's plans if he was already desiccated?" Elena frowned.

"Desiccation of our body is not equal to us being completely unaware of the world around us." Kol wanted her to understand these differences, the problem was that to completely understand their world Elena simply lacked the knowledge and these things couldn't be told over one conversation. "A powerful enough witch could easily reach out to us in that state, it is similar to the dream sharing that vampires can do." At the term dream sharing he looked questioningly at the baby vampire on the opposite side of the mahogany table that separated them.

"Like when Damon came into my mind while I was dreaming and I remember it feels like a memory more than a dream…" Elena trailed off.

"Exactly." Elijah said calmly, though he added another point on the mental list he wanted to go over about with the elder Salvatore. He wasn't pleased at all. Usually he dealt a swift sentence but Damon was a very special case, he couldn't afford the luxury of torturing then killing him.

Elena nodded in understanding. Her head was already a mess from the mountain of information that the Original brothers rained down on her today. On one hand Qetsiyah and Silas had to deal with tragedy after tragedy in their lives. She didn't want to even imagine what it would feel like to lose a child in a way that was no one's fault, let alone in such violent way. She was not so surprised that Silas had gone mad with grief, and from her own experience she could wholeheartedly agree that heightened senses and emotional state was the worst addition to the mix.

She also couldn't help but think about the similarities between Silas and Qetsiyah's story and the Originals'. She was conflicted, when she was human she was so sure that what Esther and Mikael did, was something horrible that they should have never done. But after the many losses over the past years, she couldn't tell if she wouldn't do anything in her power to save those who she loved over the faceless strangers.

The eldest Original brother watched like a hawk for Elena's reactions, mental and emotional state. For almost half an hour now she started to seem increasingly more tired. He was nowhere near finished with this topic, he wanted to know every detail that his brother hadn't got the chance to mention yet. But Elena needed to rest, he let a small almost imperceptible smirk of amusement play on his finely sculpted lips of what the gorgeous brunette's reaction would be if he simply stated that they were finished for the day and she had to go to bed. Though, he didn't want to aggravate her, thus deciding to lead her onto a different bur quite relevant topic as a wind down. She still was immersed in her own thoughts, which no doubt run a mile a minute. He signalled Kol with a small regal nod of his head that he should stir the conversation to the Hunters curse and how he intended to help the young Gilbert boy.

For a few more seconds Kol let the poor girl process what he said. They must cover at least the basics in the most relevant topics. He agreed with Elijah, Elena as a new vampire needed almost as much rest as any human and the emotional stress she had been put through only added to that. The downside of being a relatively newly turned vampire was that they would have almost no warning sign before she would keel over from exhaustion. In the past, when they turned humans first, they pushed them to the limit, to the point that they had a total shutdown for days, then as they woke up they were uncontrollably ravenous and slaughtered dozens before they were able to calm down. Another perk of being an Original that he and his siblings had never experienced such things. But with Elena it was a real possibility. Hence the need to trade very carefully. He didn't think that any of her friends experienced this: Damon was too good at controlling himself despite outside appearances, Caroline had never been under such duress as Elena from what he understands and Stefan was a ripper, which had its perks such as having far greater endurance and limits. Even more, he doubted that any of aforementioned vampires experimented with theirs or other's lives to the cruel extent they had in the name of finding out what vampires as a whole needed to know about their own existence.

"Can I have your attention back, Darling?" Kol teased.

Elena blinked a few times, before directing back her gaze to the irritating Original. "Please continue." She answered sardonically. Her reward was an infuriating smirk, she controlled the urge to roll her eyes.

Kol lounged back in his seat and somehow managed to pull of the thing regally, elegantly which in her opinion should have been impossible.

"Now, we cannot do a lot of things about Silas because frankly he is quite safely tucked away. What we might want to concentrate on is Professor Atticus Shane and your witchy best friend." Kol stated.

Elena looked over to Elijah with worry shining in her eyes for Bonnie. She didn't want Kol anywhere near her friend with his methods of solving problems, thank you very much. Her answer was a small reassuring smile from Elijah and a little indication from his hand that she should turn back her attention to Kol.

"By the way, Sanders will come over tomorrow to deliver the results of his labour." Kol said to Elijah.

"Good," was Elijah's short answer.

They could feel the confusion and annoyance rolling off of Elena in waves. To his chagrin, his big brother decided to swiftly sate Elena's curiosity. Plus sent, an imperceptible to anyone who didn't know him well, gesture with his hand to stop messing with her.

"He is a contact whose speciality is procuring information." Elijah said.

"A private detective?" Elena asked for clarification.

"Something like that." Elijah's tone of finality made it obvious that he wouldn't shed any more light on the matter so with a small shrug of her shoulders Elena turned back her gaze to Kol.

"I take it you want to know about the Hunters and how they are connected with finding the hidden Silas." Kol continued as if he wasn't interrupted at all. "Shane for some reason currently unknown to us wants to find Silas and managed to recruit your friend. There are several stages that needs to be completed for that. One: find a Hunter, two: that hunter needs a complete tattoo, three: decode that tattoo, four: a witch powerful enough to pull off the spell required to open up that tomb." He ticked off each point in one hand. "We know that he intended to use your brother but that is no longer an option for him. Sooo, he needs to find a new Hunter which is problematic because these tattoos are no longer visible for anyone but only to the Hunters themselves and their possible heirs. His biggest problems will be that Jeremy no longer wants to co-operate with the part of the magic that drives him to complete the map by killing vampires and we very much intend to help with him controlling that urge."

"What can we do? How can we help to Jeremy?" Elena asked with desperation in her eyes.

"I have someone in mind who most likely would be willing to teach and help Jeremy. His family delved deeper into a branch of magic that concentrates on emotional, physical and mental control than any before them. My sources assured me that he continued the family tradition, actually helping any supernatural or human who turns to him for help."

"How does he help them?" Elena inquired with a deep frown setting between her brows, not wanting treacherous hope filling her heart and mind.

"A mix between meditation technics, psychology and magic." Kol explained. "I can assure you that every method he uses is discussed with his 'patients' to the letter and he doesn't let anyone jump into anything that they don't understand completely."

"How can you be so sure about this? You were in a bo…" Elena cut off her sentence, she didn't want to anger Kol who so far was nothing but helpful and kind to her since they agreed on a truce. She looked down on the pristine white table cloth in shame.

"Do not worry, Darling. You hadn't offended me." Kol said laugh obvious in his voice. "I know because despite being stowed away in a box I have excellent sources who are loyal to me, keeping my businesses straight, so my interests doesn't suffer in personal absence. Plus most doesn't dare to cross or offend our family as you and your friends." Kol sent a wink in Elena's direction when she finally looked up into his eyes.

Elijah also let his lips turn slightly upwards in amusement. The people in Mystic Falls had no grasp on how powerful they were or how they really handled things. They were monumentally lenient on all of them, indulging them in their delusions of victory. Klaus and Rebekah were both bored and this gang of youths amused them with their ignorance, so they played with them. Kol was the only one who showed them anything about how they usually dealt with matters. And he himself spared them because of his past goals and later in time because of Elena.

He immersed himself in his thoughts as Kol explained to Elena in detail how he wanted to help her brother only peripherally paying attention to their discussion. He started to shape how best to solve their current problems and most importantly how to approach Elena with his intentions. A lot of things depended on Jeremy Gilbert's and Damon Salvatore's decisions regarding the little chat they planned with them after Elena retired for the night. They would see what needed adjusting in the morning.

Elijah felt warmness at how slowly Elena started to hope for a better future for her brother and herself as Kol described the history behind the Hunters and how they could help Jeremy, reassuring her that they would succeed no matter what.

As Elena couldn't suppress a tired yawn the Originals decided that it was enough for one day. Elijah stood up and offered to escort her to the accommodations previously prepared by Selena.

Elijah only listened with half an ear as Elena chattered about her happiness that Jeremy had very good chances of getting a normal life even as a hunter with Kol and his acquaintance's help. He was too occupied with watching as the burdens of her recent life's mark disappeared from her open face. He knew that she was tense but wasn't aware of its degree until she completely unwound in front of him. It was almost unbearably hard to fight the desire to reach out and run his fingers through the brown waterfall hair that tumbled down Elena's back.

As they arrived at the door to her rooms a bright, warm smile was offered in return when he gestured for her to enter them, telling her that Serena took measures for her to have everything that she might need until they retrieved her things next day.

"Thank you, Elijah." Elena whispered with honest warmness that hadn't been directed his way since his human days.

Before she could enter her rooms, he reached for her right hand, laying a gentle kiss on it, keeping their eyes connected the whole time. The palest pink coloured her cheekbones as her mouth parted slightly in silent invitation. Elijah wanted his other hand's thumb to slid down the side of her face, touching the smooth skin filled with blood, then brushing over the full inviting bottom lip. But he would restrain himself, it was not time yet.

Elijah released her hand and let her slip into her room, the soft click of the lock sealing her away for the night. He let out an uncharacteristic sigh as he turned on his heels to go back down where Kol waited for him in the billiard saloon. It was somewhat frustrating that Elena still hadn't the faintest idea how tempting she was, nor how vulnerable. This combination aroused the eldest vampire like nothing else. He wanted Elena and frankly he wasn't used to waiting for what he wanted. He exercised a patience that he wasn't known for when it came to his carnal desires, but Elena deserved better and he would give her everything, including time.