The next morning Elena woke up with a smile on her face. She still ached from yesterday but Death had visited her dreams briefly to tell her that Brady would suffer for eternity for what he tried to do to her.

She checked her phone and saw a text from Rose. Turned out that Lexi and Rose were friend and Rose had gone to visit her and Lee. But Rose also wrote that Elena should call if she needed anything.

After she got dressed in a sports bra, training top, a pair of tight stretchy pants and one of Jeremy's hoddies, she bounded down the stairs and into the kitchen. She found Jenna looking through some papers at the breakfast bar and hugged her.

"Morning." Elena said as she pulled back.

"Good morning, doodle bug, how are you feeling today?" Jenna asked softly.

"You haven't called me 'doodle bug' in years." Elena laughed. "And I'm feeling surprisingly well, actually. I have some hand shaped bruises and stuff but otherwise I'm fine."

"Still want to go with me today?" Jenna looked at Elena as she grabbed an apple.

"Yes, but I think me and Stefan needs to have a talk so we're going back to the cabin after we are done with the historical thingy." Elena shrugged. "I get that he's mad at me but at the same time he's being very condescending just because he's a hundred years older than me."

"Of course, he's mad, you want to sacrifice yourself in some ritual that does god knows what." Jenna pointed out.

"You know?" Elena whispered a little scared.

"Stefan told me about you wanting to sacrifice yourself." Jenna stood up and pulled Elena into a hug. "And while I hate the thought of you dying, I also know that since your parent's accident you have grown up quicker than most."

"You not mad at me?" Elena mumbled into Jenna's shoulder.

"No, I love you, doodle bug, and nothing can change that." Jenna reassured her. "And if there was a way for you to fight back without risking your friends and family, I know you would fight like a warrior goddess of old."

"I love you too, Aunt Jenna." Elena hugged her tighter before letting go and hastily drying the tears on her cheeks.

Half an hour later Elena and Jenna met up with Elijah at the old Fell property.

"Elijah, nice to see you again." Jenna smiled.

"Jenna." Elijah nodded before he turned towards Elena and smiled as he kissed the back of her hand. "Elena."

"Shall we?" Jenna asked and smiled secretly when she saw the way Elijah looked at her niece.

"How are you?" Elijah asked kindly as Jenna started to lead them into the woods.

"Oh, you know, despite the aches and bruises from the werewolf who tried to rape me, I'm feeling pretty good." Elena shrugged. She didn't know why she had just said that but at the same time she didn't care.

"Are you alright?" Elijah looked her over to find any injuries. "Tell me who it was and I will fix it."

"I'm achy but fine." Elena felt a blush on her cheeks at the concerned look he was sending her and hoped that he would just think it was because of the cold. "And while that is very sweet of you, Stefan already ripped his heart out."

"But he didn't offer you his blood to heal you?" Elijah murmured quietly.

"No, we got into a fight when he found out that our deal didn't include me." Elena whispered back.

"You can have some of mine as soon as your Aunt isn't paying attention." Elijah told her softly.

"The old Fell property actually starts beyond that fence." Jenna gestured.

"Ah, the Fells." Elijah scoffed. "One of the Founding Families."

"Why do you say it like that?" Jenna asked.

"My research showed me that this area was actually settled almost two full centuries earlier. It was a migration of townsfolk from the northeast, um, it was Salem to be precise." Elijah explained.

"Research huh?" Elena giggled making Elijah crack a smile.

"Massachusetts?" Jenna wondered. "As in the witch trials?"

Elijah hummed in agreement, "Which means that the ever-lauded founding families... didn't actually found anything."

"Does that mean we are going to start calling them 'the founding families that didn't actually found anything' or does 'the founding not so founding families' sound better?" Elena chuckled.

"I bet that it was men who made a big deal about being founder back in 1860." Jena laughed. "Men are very territorial."

"Yes, they are." Elijah agreed even as he looked at Elena, which she was oblivious to but Jenna wasn't.

"Elijah, this is Alaric Saltzman." Jenna introduce as Ric walked up. "My significant other."

"You do know that you can call him your boyfriend, right?" Elena chirped.

"But that sounds so juvenile." Jenna smirked. "And lover just sounds like we have a lot of sex but nothing else."

"I got your message about walking Elijah through the old property lines. I thought I would tag along; you know being a history buff and all." Ric lied. "Where to next?"

"I'm pretty curious about the freed slave property owners." Elijah offered slowly. "Some say, you know, the descendants of the slaves are the true keeper of American history."

"Well, I only brought the surveys." Jenna told him. "I got the list in the car. Just give me a sec."

Jenna walked away leaving Elijah, Elena and Alaric to talk.

"So, you're Alaric Saltzman." Elijah hummed.

"Yeah and could you stop trying to charm my girlfriend?" Ric asked with a cold look.

"She's not the one I'm after." Elijah murmured as he looked at Elena through the corner of the eye, which, again, Elena didn't notice.

The rest of the time was spent looking around the old places of Mystic Falls. At one point Jenna got a phone call after Alaric had had to leave which left Elijah and Elena to talk.

"Here." Elijah quickly bit into his wrist and offered it to her.

"Thank you." Elena said as she drank gently.

"How are you really?" Elijah asked softly.

"It's not like it's the first time someone tried to force themselves on me." Elena shrugged like it wasn't a big deal and to her it really wasn't.

"What?" Elijah looked shocked.

"The history teacher before Ric had some weird obsession with me, he had several pictures and some videos of me in the shower." Elena explained. "Then after a football game he tried to force himself on me, showing his hand under my skirt and stuff, but luckily Stefan and Damon saved me."

"Where is this man now?" Elijah asked with a dark look in his eyes.

"Damon killed him and it was deemed an animal attack." Elena hummed.

"Good." Elijah nodded as Jenna came back from her phone call.

XOXOXOX

Several hours later Elena and Stefan were at the lake house. Stefan had told her about his first few months as a vampire and how Lexi had saved him as she read one of Jonathan Gilbert's journals.

"It must be brandished by humans alone, for it will bring death to all demons who wield it." Elena read out loud and Stefan grabbed the journal to look at it.

"John's trying to get Damon killed." Stefan told Elena as he pulled out his phone to call his brother. When Damon doesn't answer Stefan leaves a message, "Why is your phone of? Call me."

"What's going on Stefan?" Elena demanded to know.

"Damon is planning on killing Elijah." Stefan admitted. "Tonight."

"What?!" Elena snapped at him with glare.

She quickly pulled out her phone and tried to text Elijah a warning.

Stefan grabbed her phone and tossed it away. "You can't warn him."

"He has been nothing but kind to me Stefan so you can just fuck off." Elena stormed off in anger.

Elena had been standing on the balcony for a while trying to breath through her anger when Stefan walked over to her.

"Elena, we need to talk about this." Stefan said as he stopped beside her.

"What good is talking if you and Damon are just going to lie to me?" Elena glared at him. "If you don't like my decisions, that's fine. There's nothing I can do about that, but if you ever go behind my back again. I'll..."

"You're going to what? Hmm? What are you going to do Elena?" Stefan challenged.

"I'll never speak to you again." Elena told him coldly. "I can handle a lot, Stefan, a lot. But what I cannot handle is my best friend going behind my back."

"Do you know why I've been telling you about my past?" Stefan asked her. "It's about the time in my life when I had given up because that is exactly what you are doing now."

"I'm not giving up Stefan!" Elena shouted at him. "I don't want to die but at the same time I do not fear it. To save my family and friends I would die a thousand times over. That is not giving up, this is just prioritizing."

Elena walked back inside and picket up the journal from where she left off. She had been reading for around twenty minutes when Stefan walked down the stairs and into the sitting room.

"Elijah's dead, Alaric did it." Stefan sat as he sat down beside her.

Elena felt a hand squeeze her heart when she heard that Elijah was dead but ignored it to keep reading. "Originals believed in truth and honor. It was forbidden for a vampire to kill another vampire. So, the dagger would take both lives. And as long as the dagger stays in place, the Original, for all intents and purposes, is dead."

Stefan vamp-sped to his phone to call Damon as Elena walked towards the front door but Stefan grabbed her arm. "He's here."

Suddenly the door breaks off its hinges as Elijah had thrown something at it.

"You have to go." Elena told Stefan. "I need to talk to him alone."

"Elena..." Stefan began.

"Go." Elena ordered him.

Elena waits for a few minutes to be certain that Stefan is gone before she turned towards Elijah who was standing in the doorway, unable to get in. "Come in, Elijah."

"You tried to warn me." Elijah murmured as he walked into the cabin.

"But I wasn't fast enough." Elena looked down. "I'm sorry. I didn't know what they were going to do."

"I do not blame you." Elijah walked closer to her making her stomach tingle.

Before either of them could react, an arrow flew through the air and hit Elena in the stomach. Elijah rushed forward and caught her before she hit the floor.

"Wha..." Elena looked shocked.

"I'll have to rip the arrow out but I'll give you my blood to heal you after, okay?" Elijah looked at her.

"Okay." Elena nodded a bit dazed and brazed herself for the pain.

Elijah quickly ripped the arrow but before he could feed her his blood Alaric came up behind him and stuck the silver dagger into his chest. Elijah got a shocked look on his face before he fell to the ground, dead.

Damon rushed forward and gave her his bloody wrist. When she was healed, she looked at Damon, Stefan and Alaric with a dark glare.

Three hours later Damon and Stefan were carrying Elijah's body down into the basement of the boarding house and during this time Elena hadn't said a single word to either of them. She had tried to sneakily pull the dagger out of Elijah but Damon and Stefan had managed to stop her every time.

Elena glared at them both one last time before she stormed out of there and made her way back to the Gilbert home.