SALVATORE BOARDING HOUSE

Rose watched through the slightly open doorway as those in the library talked amongst themselves; she recognized Damon, Aella, and Elena but no one else. As they spoke to one another, words that were usually so sheltered with her kind were casually thrown about; vampires, blood bags, originals, desiccation...

"They won't bite if you go in."

Rose's lips quirked at the teasing tone as she turned to face Stefan, "Haha."

Stefan merely shrugged a shoulder at the bad joke, "Sorry. It seems Aella has finally influenced my humor."

"Yeah..." Rose trailed off, looking back into the library where Aella stood with a blonde vampire. Her arms were waving about as she explained something - apparently hilarious - to the laughing blonde. Rose could see that even when Aella didn't use her magic, she gesticulated all her emotions with physical motions. "Aella is... she's unique."

Stefan snorted; it wasn't the first time he'd heard Aella described that way, "Yeah, she's something...." But nevertheless, he smiled brightly when her laugh reached him. "She's changed me in the best way. Changed us all."

"And everyone in that room knows?" Rose asked him dubiously. "Knows what we are? What we can do?"

Stefan nodded, hands going in his pocket, "They know all the good and the bad. They've seen it all, been through worse."

Rose raised a brow, "You know as well as I, the more people are let into our world, the least likely it is that they survive."

"And what's the alternative?" Stefan honestly answered her. "Mystic Falls is a beacon to the supernatural. Why? We don't know. But eventually, the lives of the people in that room would have been changed somehow. They had long before Damon, and I returned. So isn't it better they're prepared? Aware of what could happen if they're not vigilant?"

Rose snorted with bewilderment, "They're calling themselves Murder Inc. That's not vigilant, that's prosperous."

Stefan's lips threatened to smile, "It's easier than having to say everyone's names." He proudly pointed to the pin on his tee, "Plus, we get badges. Not a lot of clubs get badges."

Rose shook her head tightly, "Klaus will take your fancy badges and force them down your throats. Dead or alive."

The humor slid from Stefan's face as he stood straighter, "Klaus can try."

The strength in Stefan's voice made Rose want to cry; she felt that strong once. Before, she had to run for her life for 500 years. Then it was all about surviving. "It's a pauper's dream that you believe you can all beat him."

Stefan was quiet for a moment as he took a step closer to Rose, his eyes glancing in the room to all those that talked amongst themselves. When he looked back down at Rose, she saw firmness, "We're a team. If one of ours is in danger, we'll do everything to protect them." He smiled softly down at her, "You could be a part of that team too."

"They'd help me?" Rose suspiciously asked. "After I kidnapped their friend? Got you all caught up with the Originals?"

"Yeah," Stefan casually shrugged. "Even though we haven't been running for 500 years, a lot has happened in the last year. Things we wouldn't have survived without each other, so why would we let anyone else go through that?" He saw everyone beginning to sit, "Looks like we're starting things. You ready?"

Rose hesitated, "I... It's been a lonely 500 years. I haven't been around this many people in a while."

"They're good people," Stefan hoped to soothe her worries. He began to push open the door to let them in when he paused, looking at her over his shoulder; there was a twinkle in his eyes. "Although I'm not sure how long it'll be before you want that solitude again."

Rose choked out a laugh, and they walked in. She ignored the curious stares from others as Damon rose and clapped his hands, directing attention to himself. "Alright, people, let's get things on a roll. First le-"

"-Damon!"

Rose raised a brow from where she stood at the back with Stefan at Aella's exclamation and Damon's roll of eyes. The raven-haired vampire looked anywhere else except in the witch's direction as she seemed to stare him down. Damon's stare burned into the floor as he muttered, "I'm not saying it."

"Damon!" Aella exclaimed, sitting on her knees to higher her position as her green eyes widened with childlike innocence. "We had an agreement; if you lead the meeting, you have to say the words."

Damon's glare turned on Aella, "I'm not saying it; it's ridiculous!"

"Damon..." Aella's disappointment turned on Damon. "You promised."

Damon snorted, "I lied."

"What?!" Aella gasped, voice so high it had the vampires in the room wincing a little. Then, in Rose's opinion, too casually, Aella shot out a hand, and a book flew into Damon's face, "Asshole!" Before he could blink, the witch had jumped on his back and was slapping his head, and the blonde vampire was holding his arms to his side to stop him from hitting Aella off of him.

Rose turned to Stefan, who rubbed his own nose with a wince on behalf of Damon, who was cursing up a storm with every slap. "This is what you call a team?"

Stefan shrugged his shoulders, "It's team bonding...." He pitifully gestured to the pair as Damon tried to throw her off without hurting her. "They're bonding."

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"Welcome to the Murder Inc. meeting," Damon painfully said through gritted teeth, glaring at a beaming Aella as he lowly spoke. "Now, before we were so-" his eyes narrowed further on Aella for a moment "-rudely interrupted. Let's get on with this sorry state of affairs." He suddenly gestured to Rose at the back, "This is Rose. She kidnapped Elena, and apparently, she's now on our side."

Rose swallowed heavily as everyone turned toward her. When a specific pair of eyes narrowed further than some others, Rose soon recognized her as Elena's guardian, Jenna. "So this is the bitch who-" she was halted when the man next to her whispered something in her ear, only the vampires in the room heard, 'Jenna, she's a very old vampire.' It made Rose feel a little less nervous as the guardian seemed to pale a little before her gaze returned to Rose and smiled so wide, Rose thought her face just may break. "-who is now a part of our loving family, a family who does not kidnap anyone anymore, right?"

"Noted," Rose nodded gently.

Suddenly the blonde next to Aella squealed a little and excitedly whispered to her friend, "She's British! She sounds like Princess Diana."

Aella rolled her eyes at Caroline and motioned to Rose, "Lexi said she trusted Rose; that's enough for me. She apologized to Elena and let us know about this big bad we think Katherine was waffling on about."

"Yes," Rose smiled thinly, "Katrina seems to enjoy the sound of her own voice."

Caroline choked out a laugh, "Well, she likes Katherine as much as I do." She winked at Rose, "I like her."

Rose wasn't too sure what to do with that new information and looked to her translator, who was quick to explain, "Katherine turned Caroline only a few months ago. There's still a little... anger."

Caroline glared at Stefan, "The face-stealing psycho killed me with a pillow." She looked around the room aghast, "A pillow. I just know we will face some crazy things, and when we can eventually tell people in many, many years to come, they'll be so enthralled. And eventually, they'll ask how everyone was turned to vampires-" She pointed to Anna, "-literally was on her deathbed, and her mother raced her to be cured and was instead turned." She pointed between Stefan and Damon, "Thought they were madly in love and died defending that love." Finally, she pointed to herself, "Then there's me, killed with a pillow... how humiliating."

Aella pulled Caroline's head onto her shoulder and began stroking her blonde hair with comfort as she smiled awkwardly at Rose, "We're working through these issues...."

Rose stiffly smiled back before her eyes darted to Stefan again, and the vampire motioned to the group, "Tell us what you know, help us."

"I was only 22 when Mary Porter turned me into a vampire," Rose began telling the group. "It wasn't something I wanted," she spared a glance at Caroline and Anna before continuing. "It was a lonely life, the darkness and Mary my only companions." She smiled sadly as a sheen of tears covered her eyes. "Trevor was my first real vampire friend, he encouraged me to go further than the cottage Mary, and I resided in. Showed me the benefits of being a vampire rather than only the negatives. He showed me how to really live again."

"England, by then, was host to Klaus and his followers, Elijah his most trusted, they paraded as nobles. Of course, I wanted nothing to do with them, but Mary was obsessed with them. So obsessed, it unnerved me enough to stay far away. But Trevor could not. Like Mary, he became enthralled by Klaus and Elijah's stories, especially one...."

"The sun and moon curse," Elena uncomfortably supplied for her.

"Yes," Rose nodded. "It was told so often, even I, who never went to court, knew it by heart. In that tale, Klaus spoke of a girl obsessively, with long dark tresses, a light olive complexion, and almond-shaped brown eyes."

Damon smirked at the description, "I wonder who looks like that."

Elena and the rest of the group ignored Damon's interruption as Rose carried on, "While unsaid, it was well known Klaus was looking for this girl, and should anyone find her, they would never need for anything again. It was sheer luck that Trevor found Katrina as her ship arrived in England. He saw her and somehow knew this was the girl Klaus spoke of."

Aella frowned at Ric, "I thought Katherine was Eastern European? How did she end up in England?"

Ric nodded at her first statement, removing his arm from around Jenna to look between everyone, "From Isobel's research, Katherine was born to quite a wealthy family in Bulgaria. But her research was more centered around her time in the Americas rather than her early life."

Rose raised an interested brow, "Isobel?"

Aella casually pointed to Elena, "Crazy biological mom." Next, she pointed to Damon, "Psycho who turned said mom for funsies."

Ric leaned forward, rubbing his growing beard, "What Isobel never mentioned, and what I've struggled to find... If Katherine was turned when she was 18 or 19, unwed, from the lack of documentation. How has the Petrova bloodline continued?"

Rose raised her hand, "I can tell you that." Ric's gaze shot to her, and she quickly began explaining what she knew when she saw the excitement shining in his eyes at her admission. "Katrina didn't change much once she became a vampire; it was her indiscretions that forced her family to disown her and send her away to England."

Caroline raised a weary brow, "I've done some crazy stuff in my life, but to be disowned and banished? What did she do?"

"Easy," Damon shrugged from his position on the arm of the couch Aella and Caroline shared. "She obviously conned some innocent man out of his fortune or decided to kill one of the maids for fun."

Ric shook his head unsurely, "I think in 1400s Bulgaria, something like that was praised, not banished for."

"He's right," Rose agreed. "To the Petrova family, what Katrina did was far worse than murder or deception. She had a child out of wedlock."                

Aella's eyes widened, "She got knocked up and was banished? Harsh. No wonder she's nuts."

Ric shook his head at Aella, "15th century Europe was all about pure family bloodline and making the best connections to ensure your family was set for life. Katherine being of noble blood, a child out of wedlock was about as bad as possible."

Elena looked around the room, "Well, at least we know how the Petrova line continued."

"And how no one knew how the line continued," Jenna added excitedly. "In my studies, I've read how far family went during Katherine's time, hiding anything that could shame their family." 

Aella snorted into Caroline's shoulder, "Pffft, studies. More like your porn collection."

Jenna's eyes widened, and a faint blush appeared on her cheeks while Elena groaned into her arm. "No," Jenna laughed nervously. "I mean, studies."

Every vampire in the room heard the lie, not only in her tone but heartbeat.

"Oh," Aella not-so-innocently smiled at Jenna. It had her guardian internally freaking out. "Then, Lord of Scoundrels, as well as, The Flame and the Flower, are on your course curriculum?" She nudged a grinning Caroline, "We gotta enroll in that course when we go to college."

"If you make it," Jenna threatened through gritted teeth. The teen only shaped her hands into a heart.

Stefan cleared his throat, "As entertaining as this is, maybe we should let Rose continue?"

"Yes, please," Elena raised a hand, skin a little paler than before Aella revealed her Aunt's reading list.

"Yes," Rose nodded, very much amused. "Kathrine was banished to London and met Trevor. Trevor, ever the loyal puppet, took her to Klaus. Klaus and Elijah were besotted, and Trevor was rewarded. However, Trevor fell in love with her, and when he found out she would be sacrificed in a ritual, he helped her evade Elijah and Klaus. He sent her to the person he knew would protect her in his stead. Me. I was furious. Katerina had not only fled from Klaus and left Trevor, but she'd also stolen the moonstone. I knew then that even though Klaus had no clue who I was, he would soon, and I feared retaliation. So I locked Katerina in a room with the intention of returning her to Klaus after sunset."

Caroline smiled grimly, "Knowing Katherine, I'm sure that went down like a lead balloon."

Rose snorted, "Just about. She stabbed herself in the gut and begged for me to let her die. I couldn't, I didn't...."

"So you gave her your blood," Stefan guessed, correctly at Rose's tearful nod. "How else would Klaus forgive you?"

"What I had not yet learned of Katerina was her willingness to do anything for her to survive." Rose laughed harshly, "It was a trick, she knew from Trevor's stories how I wouldn't wish this life on anyone, and she could see my desperation at needing her alive for Klaus. So she decided to trick me into giving her what she needed to survive.

"When Trevor arrived, I left her alone to talk privately with him about what we needed to do. Katerina hung herself." Rose said this without emotion, but Aella could still see the hurt in her eyes as she remembered everything at that moment. "She completed the transition by feeding on the human owner of the cottage. From Klaus' tale, I knew that Katerina's blood was no longer viable for the ritual to break the curse; Katerina had signed all of our death sentences." Rose laughed bitterly, "Do you know what she said when I confronted her? 'Better you die than I.'"

The room was silent. They'd all faced Katherine; they knew she was pure evil. "And then she was gone," Rose wiped away the tears that now fell. "Before Trevor or I could catch her, she was just gone. I knew Klaus would be out for our blood, and I knew he wouldn't stop. Even in the 15th century, the tales of Klaus' thirst for revenge were renowned. And so we ran. We ran, and we survived. Until a few weeks ago, there was a picture in the national newspaper...." Rose looked at Elena, "You looked so like her; we never even thought of there being another doppelgänger until we read the article. Local teen Elena Gilbert. It was our moment to finally be free, and we couldn't let that moment pass us."

Once again, the room went quiet as they soaked in Rose's story. Slowly they realized that Rose was innocent until Katherine Pierce had entered her life. Elena turned to Rose, "So, what does Klaus want?"

Rose shifted, still uneasy at how much Elena and Katrina looked like one another, "He wants to break the curse."

"By sacrificing the Petrova doppelgänger."

Rose nodded, even if Elena hadn't phrased what she had said as a question, "He will drain every single drop of blood from your body."

For the third time in the space of only a few minutes, the room became silent.