In the morning

Rose and Freya arrived in New York. Elijah texted that he would follow eventually.

Soon they met the Parker witch, who secured the penthouse once again with powerful magic.

In Mystic Falls, for some rude awakening followed.

Caroline opened her eyes and looked stunned at the man sleeping beside her. She was in a luxurious room of a boutique inn.

"OMG"-she got up as if something stung her.

The man woke immediately and greeted her.

"Ok."-all that happened the night before came flashing back to her, playing billiards with Tyler, dancing, having a fight with Bonnie. Meeting this guy at the bar and leaving with him, as well as a hot night of incredible sex. It wasn't unusual to have a one night stand with guys from college, but she vowed that she would not do it anymore and yet it happened again.

"You said you would probably regret it in the morning, I guess, this is you regretting it!"-he said watching her get dressed.

"Ahm...yeah...sorry... I ...have to go!"-Caroline said and walked out of the door as fast as she could.

Klaus smirked and went to the shower.

Caroline looked at her phone and there were several missed calls from her mother and voice mails.

She wrote a quick message to her saying she was fine. Then she called Matt asking him to pick her up.

****

In the lake house, Elijah was exchanging messages with Rose about further developments. As he finished, he looked at Elena, who was sound asleep. They had spent talking nearly to the dawn.

Flashback

"I suspect that Katerina Petrova had survived"-Elijah said.

"Why do you think that?"-Elena said yawning a bit.

"Klaus had always used the dark magic witches, and by now they would have found it. "

"Maybe a white magic witch keeps it somewhere safe"-Elena said.

Elijah's eyes smiled a little. But that simple notion could not be far from the truth.

"Then I would have found it?!"-he said.

"Yeah, I guess you would. You played Sophie."

"In some ways."-Elijah admitted.

"You can take whatever you want. You could have had my blood for your sister and be gone. Or killed me or imprisoned me and Klaus would never have found me, but you are here... What else do you need from me?"

"Nothing else!"- Elijah replied.

He now looked at her. She had caught him off guard somewhat, being so straight forward. He had not expected her to be so direct. He felt like she had pierced through his coat of armor into his very soul. 

Her toughness and cleverness reminded him of Katerina. Even Tatia possessed the same quality, but there was something about Elena that he couldn't quite grasp. And it surprised him. She looked exactly the same as the other two doppelgangers, and yet Elena seemed so pure and innocent. Life had also dealt her a harsh card. But it was the curse of being the person of mystical blood.

Then a message of his informants he had employed to keep watch over everyone connected to Elena buzzed in-

"Niklaus has arrived in town!"

"And so it begins!"' Elijah thought to himself. He then walked over to Elena and gently brushed  his cold hand over her arm. Elena moved a little and opened her eyes. At first it wasn't clear to her where she was. 

"We have to leave!"- Elijah said calmly.

Elena then sat up straightening her hair with her hands and looked at him saying- "What happened?! What time is it?"

"9:37... Klaus is in town."- Elijah said.

"I have to call Jenna!" Elena then took her phone and pressed the speedial.

She told Jenna what she had just heard.

"How do you kno...OMG...you are with the vamp!?"-Jenna then said.

"I am fine! And yes! I am with Elijah! Can we just drop it?!."-Elena said slightly angered.

Jenna hated when she was backed in a corner and when she wasn't calling the shots. And Elena being completely defiant wasn't helping the matter.

"We will come to the lake house!"-Jenna said.

Elena saw that Elijah wanted to suggest something so she pressed the loudspeaker.

"I don't think it is a wise move. He would be watching you! I suggest Elena leave for New York with me!"-Elijah said.

To Jenna this was incomprehensible.

Everything turned upside-down, she thought. There was silence.

Elena knew that there was no time to be stalling, so she simply said looking at Elijah-

"I think that it is best if I go to New York?!"

Both Elena and Elijah now heard Sophie take the phone.

"Go, Elena... I will meet you there."-Sophie said and hung up.

Elena looked at the phone and sighed a little. She knew that Jenna wasn't happy about any of it. Her gut feeling told her that Elijah could protect her, at least till she figured out what to do next. She quickly texted Bonnie about where she was going and what was happening, telling her to come to New York herself.

Elijah waited patiently for Elena to freshen herself up in the bathroom and soon they were good to go.

They set out in separate vehicles.

In her SUV she had now the privacy to talk to Bonnie.

"Elena...all right. I will get Caroline. She went off with a guy last night. She just doesn't get what is really happening."-Bonnie said worryingly updating her friend.

"We thought this year is the beginning of our post-graduation lives-we are free from school. I was going to open my own shop. And I am driving with a vampire to New York?! Go figure!"-Elena added.

"I am mad at Caroline for taking off but you also do mad shit."-Bonnie said.

"He is ... so normal! I could talk to him...like I've known him forever!...and I want to know what really happened to my parents!" -Elena said.

"What do you mean?"-Bonnie asked surprised at what Elena said about her parents.

"My dad kept a diary. He called it a vampire diary. Jenna gave me the diary the night she told me about being the doppelganger...anyway, Jenna believes it is the Old ones who killed them -and in the diary-  the last thing he mentions are the 12 witches and he said the witches spun a web!"-Elena then said.

"You think that the witches killed your mom, dad and Jeremy?!"-Bonnie said.

"What I now know about the witches... those dark magic witches-yeah- I think my dad knew something he shouldn't!"

"And you think Elijah will help you get the answers?!"-Bonnie concluded.

"Yep! There is so much more to all this... please be careful!"-Elena said.

"I will see you soon. You be careful too!"- Bonnie said and hung up.

Elena confidently looked straight to the road and muttered-"I will find out!"

She then put the radio on. The song that was playing was so one she knew so well'

"Arsonist's lullaby"- Elena uttered.

'All you have is your fire

And the place you need to reach-'

****

In the Gilbert house, Sophie now talked to Jenna about leaving Mystic Falls.

"Everything is a mess. When it came down to making sure that I kept Elena safe I couldn't do it. I mean- she goes off trusting a vampire?! He must have compelled her or his witch has done something?!?"-Jenna tried to reason with Elena's decision to leave with Elijah.

"She was not compelled. She can't be. compelled. The magic in the ring wouldn't let it."-Sophie reminded her.

"And you are really sure. He is the old one!"

"This is an ancient spell I first learned when they started teaching me witchcraft!"-Sophie confirmed.

"I know...huh... I am losing it...great help I am. Why am I having such a melt down?!"

"Because for the first time you couldn't completely control the situation?!"-Sophie stated.

Jenna was aware of it, but her emotions got the better of her. Elena was her niece,  but ever since she became her guardian, she loved her like she was her own daughter.

"I have to go hiding now?!"-Jenna said looking at the witch.

"You do. You are now a liability. Klaus will use you to get to Elena?!"-Sophie stated the obvious.

Jenna sighed. The women the agreed where she would go.

"You will have to promise me that you will look after her as if she was your own family?!!!"-Jenna then said to the witch.

"I promise! You are my best friend, which makes you also my sister!"-Sophie said.

Soon the women packed and Jenna left.

Sophie went to meet up with Liz and discuss John and Marcel, who were still held captive in the caves.

****

In the meantime, Bonnie found Caroline and they skipped the whole argument about the night before and now discussed Elena leaving for New York with Elijah.

"Her parents and Jeremy were killed by crazy witches?!"-Caroline said as Bonnie updated her on Elena's suspicions and motivation to leave with Elijah.

"It's like weird Pandora's box got open and things are just popping out from all directions!"-Bonnie commented.

"Actually, New York sounds great! There's too much to deal with here..."-Caroline said and went to her room to take essentials.

"Shopping is what I need anyway."-she muttered to herself.

Bonnie waited for her in the living room. She agreed with Caroline about them needing distance from all they had been confronted with in the last couple of days.  Life was strangely taking the most bizzar turn on them.

They both were on their way to the airport.

Caroline called her mom letting her know she was skipping town and found herself amazed that Liz agreed with the decision.

Putting her phone in her jacket pocket her mind wondered to the blond guy she had spent an amazing night with.

In the Mystic Falls Inn, Klaus got all information from his witch, Genevieve about Caroline.

"Clairemont bloodline!"-he said amazed at the revelation.

"She is royalty!"-Genevieve said.

"Her forefathers killed my father!"-Klaus said.

"Being a werewolf of a royal bloodline, she is the werewolf needed for the sacrifice!"-Genevieve reminded him.

"And I thought she was just a random beauty with werewolf scent!"-Klaus said pensively.