IT'S BEEN AN HOUR AND STEFAN STILL HASN'T RETURNED TO THE WAREHOUSE. Klaus has taken to reading a book and keeping Rebekah and I far apart, he scrunches his brows like he is reading something important once in a while. I sway on my feet.

"I'm going to look for him." Nik just hums in return, like he was already expecting me to say this. Rebekah sulks on a chair and braids her own hair. Nik trusts me more than he should, in his mind I am still the girl he met a century ago, still sweet and not so hurt by the world.

He forgets that it is he who made me like this, that it was his cruelty that forced me to be different, to be constantly on guard, to always leave my emotions behind first.

"Why does she get to leave and I don't?" Rebekah asks when I start to leave the warehouse, still twirling her hair with one finger.

"She's Lola my dear." Is all that Klaus answers.

I know where he is. I know he didn't go to his apartment to write his name on a wall, I know he tried to protect me once again by not telling me of where went. I know it when I smell the scent of burning flesh when I enter Gloria's bar. He has been tied to a table, her hands are on his chest and he screams. Smoke rises from his skin, vervain.

"Look who we have here," she takes her hands off Stefan and looks at me. His eyes grow big when he sees me in the doorway.

"It's Lola, or Lilyanna, or Lorelei. She doesn't even know, does she?" I don't, never have. But Stefan knows, Stefan knows who I am, even on the days that I don't.

"I won't let you hurt him." She smiles, Stefan's head lulls back into place, he might just fall unconscious like this.

"Do tell, Little Lola, what are you going to do to stop me?" I raise a hand into the air, I have to try even if it won't work, I would do anything for him. A small spark emerges from my ring finger, the heat of the fire flows through me and then my whole hand is on fire.

"Well, well, look at that." She seems genuinely impressed, but not very scared. I didn't think she would be, she's a much more experienced witch than I am, but I had to try.

"Your powers are finally starting to manifest." She walks towards me, her hips swaying. She looks like she knows something I don't, I'm so sick of people knowing things I don't.

She raises her hand and I swear she can almost touch mine, almost embrace the dancing flames on its palm. She chants something in Latin and my head starts to hurt, almost as bad as the first time I heard Klaus's name.

"This fire will consume you, Lola. And if you give it a chance, the whole world." The fire on my hands dims slowly and my body grows cold again, I let out a pained grunt.

"Don't hurt her." Stefan has gotten the chance to heal a bit, he can talk again but is still tied down with roped soaked in vervain.

"I won't kill her Stefan. She can't be killed." She takes my hands into her gently and takes a left over rope, she ties me to the silver railing underneath the bar.

A hand gently caresses my jawline, I close my eyes so I don't have to look at her. I hear her footsteps leave me and I know that she is walking back to Stefan, I try to light my hands again but the ache in my head is persistent and I can't concentrate.

He screams and my eyes open up, I see shapes everywhere, the pressure on my head is so great and I see Stefan, in so much pain.

"There you, there you go." She speaks in a sing songy voice.

"Let go of him!" I scream and struggle in my ties, she ignores my pleading.

"There's the girl with the necklace. You love her. You'd do anything for her. And you have. A lot of darkness, a lot of guilt. All to keep her away from Klaus. Why would he be interested in one girl?"

"Don't do this," he groans.

"Please don't do it." I beg of her, there might be some humanity left in her after all. If she knows of the girl waiting for him in Mystic Falls, there is no future left for Elena.

"She's the doppelgänger. She's supposed to be dead, and that's why Klaus can't make hybrids, isn't it." Her laugh is like that of an evil witch in the fairy tales, like a stereotype times one thousand.

"This is creepy." I turn my head towards the noise and see my big sister, Gloria does the same. Katherine swiftly puts a stake through her neck and Gloria falls to the floor. She puts her hands on her hips and looks at me and Stefan.

"Maybe you do need my help, after all."

My wrists are rubbed raw but I know that they will heal in not too much time. Stefan is wrapping Gloria up in a white sheet, like a ghost.

"I've been thinking about your diabolical plan." Katherine is still wearing a jacket that belongs to me, that isn't like her, it must be sentiment that keeps it on her. That isn't like her, either.

"oh, do tell." Stefan sarcastically answers as he ties the sheet off.

"Well, you must know that Klaus is too paranoid to ever fully trust you. But the sister, she loves you like it was yesterday. She's the easier mark. But you can't just pretend to care, because Klaus will know better, so you do the opposite. You bond with him; make her feel left out. You stay close to Lola. That will only make her want you more."

One of my finger nails broke off while I was fighting the ropes, a chunk has been taken out and is now letting blood flow freely. Stefan doesn't even seem to take notice today.

"Oh! So you mean, I'm, uh, I'm taking a page out of the Katherine Pierce playbook." She sits down on the bar stool besides me and crosses her long, lean, legs.

"The only question is why, Stefan? I mean, I get it, you want to keep Klaus away from Mystic Falls, but...What else do you expect to get from it?"

He smiles, "you know what's funny? You keep talking to me like I actually trust you enough to tell you anything."

"Oh, come on Stefan, we're way beyond that. I saved you from Hilda the high voodoo priestess." She rolls her big brown eyes.

"Okay." Stefan gives in, "I knew them, back in the twenties. They were running from someone, someone who scared them."

Mikael, I take a deep breath through my nose. Both of them look at me.

"What do you know, Lola?" Stefan frowns.

"I know who he is, but I cannot tell you."

"Why not?"

"I would never bring him back into their lives."

"Why do you have to be so annoying Lilyanna, just tell us." Katherine demands, but Stefan steps in.

"Lola has a different relationship with the Mikaelsons, we have to respect her wishes."

Katherine sighs, "there was a hunter. I heard stories about him centuries ago." I wonder if they get it, what the name Mikaelson means. Son of Mikael, had they never wondered of their father?

Their horrific, abusive father. I had seen him beat Klaus within an inch of his life before, and even if I wished to protect my new family in Mystic Falls I could not give them back to him.

"Don't you want to know why an Original vampire who can't be killed is afraid of a vampire hunter?" Stefan asks Katherine.

"If you're planning on making a move against Klaus... I want in. Replace my sister with me." Stefan hauls Gloria's wrapped up body over his shoulder and signs to me to get up from the stool, I do.

"That's good. It's good to want things, Katherine."

She looks almost sad, "Stefan.."

"Katherine. We're in this alone. If you're looking for a diabolical partner in crime, I suggest you look elsewhere." We leave the bar. I don't look back this time.

They are talking to each other, sitting on the coffin that I know belongs to Elijah. He's talking to her because he needs information, he needs to know of Mikael. But jealousy stings in my heart either way.

He starts to walk away, she takes his arm and kisses him, she loves him, I can see it in her eyes.

"Do you think you'll ever love anyone like you love that girl?" she talking about Elena.

"One day, maybe."

"I can always tell when you're lying, Stefan." Her stance becomes more hostile, she is suspect of something. If she thinks that Stefan wants to know of him, Klaus will surely kill us both. He will think I told, he wouldn't understand that I would never tell.

"What? I'm not.."

"Don't bother. Your kiss already gave you away."

Klaus rushes into the warehouse, he seems on edge already. This won't be good.

"Gloria's gone. She's cleared out. We need to find a new witch immediately." She isn't gone, we killed her, she knew of things she shouldn't.

He stops and looks at Stefan and Rebekah, Rebekah is in turn staring at me, I retreat back into my corner.

"What's going on?"

"Something's wrong. He was asking about Mikael. Lola told him, I'm sure of it. They aren't with us Nik, I can sense it."

Stefan tries to save himself, but I already know we are done for, "She's wrong. Klaus." He rushes over to him and breaks his neck, then he holds my mouth and nose closed until I pass out.

The truck is filled with coffins, while Stefan's neck is still broken I have long since woken up and lived under the scrutiny of Klaus's stare.

"I didn't tell, Nik. I would never."

"How dare you betray me!" he kicks me in the side of my stomach, I knew it would come to this one day.

"I didn't tell, please don't hurt me."

"I expected this behavior from Stefan, not from you my darling." He starts to pet my hair while I silently sniffle.

"You knew I would never be happy by your side, Nik. It's not where I belong." He plucks out a red hair with the speed of lighting, I almost don't feel it.

Stefan starts to rustle beside me, he is waking up in this dark truck.

"Just give me a chance to explain myself, okay?"

Nik smiles, "No need. I'm not mad, I'm just curious. Rebekah seems to think you're holding onto something. A piece of your old life. The thing is, she's got flawless instincts, borderline supernatural. So I thought I would check it out. See for myself what it is you've been hiding."

The truck stops and parks, the coffins stay neatly in their place. Nik proudly opens the back of the truck and when our eyes get used to the light we spot the clock tower.

"Welcome back to Mystic Falls."