ACT ONE; INITIATE CONTACT
SCENE SEVEN; ELIJAH
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THE OLD WITCH HOUSE IS UNNERVING TO SALEM, BUT SHE STAYS SILENT WITH THE KNOWLEDGE THAT THE SPIRITS ARE LISTENING. Ancestral witches had never been a fan of her, as they considered the magic she and her mother had unnatural. Leila had always told Salem that when people are met with something more powerful than them, they either embrace it or fear it. She found that rang true, especially with witches.

"And you are?"

Salem turns at the unfamiliar voice, her face setting into a firm, but not unkind stare. Her eyes dart to where Alaric stands just barely a foot away from her, and he meets her searching stare with a nod, silently confirming the man's presence. Sniffing lightly, Salem turned back to the man. "Salem Kenner. I'm a hybrid, too, just without the whole ritual ordeal."

"A hybrid?" He echoes, eyeing her with a raised brow. "How?"

"She's a witch and a werewolf," Alaric says, coming up beside them and resting a hand on Salem's back. "The story can wait, but she's here to help us."

Elijah drags his eyes over Alaric briefly before looking back at Salem, offering her a hand she shakes steadily. "Lovely to meet you, Salem," She offers him a polite smile that he mirrors. "Elijah Mikaelson."

Salem drops his hand as she snorts, bringing a hand up to cover the amused smile she knows is entirely inappropriate at the moment. "Oh, so you're related to the asshole at the center of all of this?"

Elijah seems distantly amused as well, and he agrees with a slight nod. "That's one of many ways to describe my brother, yes. I assume you've had your own run-ins with him?"

"Of sorts," She shrugs, turning to look at Alaric as he shifts his gaze between Elijah and Salem interchangeably. Giving him an odd look, she turns back to Elijah, raising a brow. "So, uh, what all do you know about this curse your brother's trying to break?"

"The sacrifice is completed in stages as the full moon sets. First the werewolf is killed, then the vampire. After that, he will drain the doppelgänger of her blood until she dies, and after that, the curse is broken. Klaus will become a hybrid."

Stefan approaches them from the car, a furrow in his brow as he stops amidst their group. Salem spares him a brief look before she focuses her attention on Elijah, who seems to have the most useful information for her. "So, how do you plan on killing Klaus if he'll be more powerful than any of us?"

Elijah's gaze pans over the old house and he tucks his hands into his pockets as the brisk air breezes over them. "Elena's death will activate his dormant werewolf side, and he'll be vulnerable during the first transition. That's where Bonnie comes in,"

"And you're sure Bonnie will survive this?"

Elijah nods at Stefan's question. "If she can at least bring him to the brink of death, I'll finish the rest of it myself."

Stefan begins to nod, but his phone rings and cuts off any response he may have had. He pulls it from his pocket with a frown that only deepens when his brother's name lights up the screen. "Damon?"

He steps away slightly, and Alaric, Salem, and Elijah watch him warily as his face falls into one of further distress. "Cut to the chase, is the sacrifice still happening or not?"

There's a brief pause while Damon talks on the other line.

"We're sticking to the original plan. We're meeting Bonnie right now." Stefan falls silent again before his face is suddenly one of disbelief. "What?"

The vampire's green eyes land on Alaric, and the man steps forward with a frown. "What? What is it, Stefan?"

Stefan pulls the phone away from his ear, ending the call with his brother as Alaric's forehead wrinkles with his frustration. "What's wrong?"

"Klaus, he– he took Jenna. He's using her as the vampire in the sacrifice."

Alaric's hand immediately latches onto hers as he lets out a disbelieving laugh that holds no humor in it. "No," He huffs. "No."

Stefan shakes his head. "I'm sorry, Ric,"

Alaric squeezes Salem's hand tight before he drops it, running a hand over his mouth in an anxious movement. "Stefan, Jenna can't– Jenna can't die."

"I know," Stefan nods. "That's why I'm going to offer myself as the vampire instead of Jenna."

"Are you insane?" Salem asks incredulously. "Elena would kill you for even thinking of that."

"I can't let her lose some of the only family she's got left," Stefan sighs, dropping his gaze to the forest floor.

Salem steps forward, hearing Alaric's breath hitch from beside her. "That's a suicide mission, Stefan, for you and Jenna. Let me go with–"

"Nope, no," Alaric cuts in, pulling her arm lightly to get her attention. "I'm not losing you and Jenna."

"I have a better chance of saving Jenna if I go with him, Ric,"

Alaric shakes his head stubbornly. "Stefan can figure it out himself, it's his idea. You're not going, Salem."

"Okay, but I could stop Klaus now, and not have to exert half as much power as Bonnie. I could save Jenna, Elena, and whatever werewolf he's got in place of Tyler."

"How about this," Alaric sends Stefan a pointed look over Salem's head. "You come to break the news about Jenna to Jeremy, and when Stefan leaves, you can go with him."

Salem narrows her eyes at the counteroffer, but nods slowly, shooting Stefan a pointed look as she and Ric head towards the house.

They make their way into the dimly lit witch house and Salem treads lightly as they head down the rickety staircase into the basement. When they reach the bottom, Jeremy and Bonnie look up, giving her an odd look when they recognize her presence.

Salem grimaces, shrugging her shoulders back. "This is awkward, isn't it?"

Alaric clears his throat, nodding at the stairs behind them as he looks at Bonnie. "You mind giving us a minute with Jeremy? Stefan and Elijah are outside."

Bonnie hesitates, looking between them confusedly, but she nods obligingly and grabs her jacket before heading up the stairs and out of the house.

With Bonnie gone, the two adults turn towards Jeremy, who frowns at the sudden attention. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"It's Jenna," Alaric says, barely beating around the bush. "Klaus has taken her and is using her as the vampire in the ritual."

Jeremy's eyes widen and he takes a step forward, a disbelieving noise leaving his lips like a scoff. "No, no– he didn't. Why would he do that?"

"I don't know, Jeremy,"

"Okay, so– so, we call someone. Someone who can figure something else out. Or– or Bonnie, she can save Jenna, right?"

Salem shakes her head slowly, offering him a sympathetic look. "It'll kill her to try."

Jeremy's face twists unhappily and he gives them both a firm, stubborn glare. "We're calling in help."

Alaric frowns, shaking his head slightly. "Who could possibly help us with this?"

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"Where's Stefan?" Salem's voice immediately carries through the clearing, her eyes set on where Elijah's still standing near the black SUV.

"He went to try and save Jenna."

Salem's eyes widen and she scoffs. "So, he's gone to get himself killed even though I was supposed to go with him for backup."

"You would've died trying,"

Salem rolls her eyes, stepping closer to him. "You know, your brother's not the only one with the hybrid powers, Elijah. I'm more than capable of handling myself, and I'm kind of getting tired of people telling me I can't."

Elijah ignores the hostility in her voice, giving her a level look. "You're safer here, either way."

"Why do you care so much if I live or die? If Klaus kills me, at least I'll have put up a good fight."

"I'm not concerned that he'll kill you, Salem," Elijah's voice hardens somewhat, and she blinks slowly, confusedly, at his words. "I'm afraid he'd want to keep you around."

Salem is reminded of her first meeting with Klaus at the Grill, and she clenches her fists at her sides. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"My brother has a bloodlust for shiny new toys he can use and abuse to his desire, and if he knew you were a hybrid of your own bloodline with your own unique abilities, he'd torture you until you were following his every word."

"I like to think I have a little bit more of a backbone than that." Her voice isn't weak, just quieter, because a part of her knows that Elijah is right. Perhaps right to a degree he's not even aware of, because Salem hasn't been able to stop thinking about Klaus's offer since he'd said it.

Elijah shakes his head, looking grim. "That's the thing about him, Salem. Once Klaus has his sights set on you, you won't even want to think about doing anything else. He'll invade your mind and once you've fulfilled your use to him, he'll toss you out and leave you broken and vulnerable. There is nothing good that could come from my brother knowing the true power you hold, so let me keep you safe until he's gone."

Salem clenches her jaw and shoves her hands into the pockets of her coat. "Fine." She mutters the word, knowing he'd hear it anyway, and turns on her heel to walk back into the old witch house.

His words ring in her mind, though, alongside Klaus's from earlier that day. She doesn't know how to tell him that Klaus already knows what she's capable of, and that he's already got his sights set on her, if his offer was anything to go by.

She definitely doesn't know how to tell him that she's thought about it far too much to be able to confidently say her answer was no.

But she figures that maybe it doesn't matter to begin with, because Elijah and Alaric, and every other man she'd come in contact with in the past two days besides Klaus has made it their mission to let her know that she's better off not getting involved with Klaus because of what he might do to her.

And perhaps it's part of some deeper flaw, but Salem figures it's just her upbringing that makes her want to shout back, and prove them all wrong. They're all telling her that he'll break her, but they don't seem to consider the fact that Salem is just as powerful as he is, despite the lack of years he has on her.

She's more than capable of breaking Klaus, too. And she's deadly curious to know just what it would take for their combined power to make them both implode.

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"I think I know the spell you were talking about," John Gilbert's voice echoes through the mildew-smelling basement as he looks at Bonnie.

"Where's Damon?"

"Upstairs," Salem gestures vaguely with her hand in response to Bonnie. "Ric wanted to talk to him about something."

John flips a few pages that look like they've seen better days before he lifts the book and shows it to Bonnie. "This, right?"

The witch nods, looking somewhat hopeful as Damon's footsteps come down the stairs and he enters the conversation again. "Did you find the spell?"

"We found something in the Gilbert journals,"

John heaves a sigh, elaborating. "Jonathan journaled a story of a mother who called on Emily Bennett's services. The woman's baby was sick; dying. Emily cast a spell that would bind the woman's life force with her child's."

Damon's eyes narrow in John's direction. "Skip to the save Elena part."

"Well, the child died, but the mother's life force flowed through her, bringing her back to life."

"We already know Elena's coming back to life," Jeremy says, eyes flicking in Damon's direction. "She'll be a vampire."

John shakes his head. "Not if her soul remains intact."

Damon scoffs disbelievingly. "Her soul? Really? You're going to put your faith in some act of God mumbo jumbo?"

John steps towards Damon, frustration rising at the vampire's attitude. "I refuse to let Elena become the thing I've spent my life protecting her against. And you can call that God or mystical energy, whatever you want, but yes, I'm putting my faith in it."

Salem sighs, giving Damon an understanding, but irritated look. "It's a toss up, but I think that Bonnie can do it. It's worth a shot."

Damon fixes her with a disbelieving look. "Weren't you against the whole self-sacrifice thing like ten minutes ago?"

Salem rolls her eyes at him. "Yeah, well, I obviously can't stop your idiot brother from sacrificing himself so I'm not going to be able to stop John from doing it for his own daughter. It's called learning from your mistakes, Damon, you should try it some time."

Bonnie, ignoring their bickering, gestures for John to take a seat, the decision already made without Damon's entirely unhelpful input. Bonnie's low, Latin murmurs fill the room, and the flames of the candles scattered throughout it suddenly burst bright before they calm again.

Salem had always found ancestral magic interesting, from a distance. Up close, she saw it as a hindrance, mostly. There were limits, and if you pushed too hard, you'd die. Salem's magic had no limits, she didn't even know the depth of what power was inside of her because she'd never been pushed that far. For all she knew, she was invincible.

Beside her, Damon snaps his fingers, breaking a bit of the tension that'd settled amongst them. "Come on, Bonnie, we've got a hybrid to kill."

Salem glares at him, jabbing her fingers into his side and sending a shock through him that makes him let out a pained yelp. He spins and glares at her, and she raises a daring eyebrow that he rolls his eyes at.

"It's done."

"That's it?" Damon and Salem echo, the latter in disbelief rather than impatience like Damon. It seemed such a simple thing to accomplish, to bind your very life force to someone.

At Bonnie's confirmation, Damon gestures to them all as he turns out of the room. "Let's go."

Bonnie goes after Damon, but Jeremy stops her with a gentle grasp on her arm. "Wait, what do you mean?" He shakes his head at her apologetic look. "No, I'm coming. I need to be there. I need to make sure you guys are okay."

"And who's gonna make sure you're okay?"

"I've got my ring," He holds his hand up to Bonnie. "Look, I'm not taking no for an answer."

Bonnie eyes dart to Salem, who nods silently. She approaches Jeremy slowly from behind and presses a light tap to his temples that has him falling backwards immediately. She catches him before he hits the ground, and John rushes over to help her sit him down.

"Just go. I'll stay with him."

Salem pushes Bonnie out of the room, pity in her eyes as she sees the sorrow in the teen's face.

They hurry up the stairs, and Salem looks over her shoulder at Elijah and Alaric. "It's time."

Alaric sighs. "Alright. I have weapons in the car,"

"Bonnie's the only weapon we need for now."

The four of them walk out of the house, and Salem looks over her shoulder as Ric hits the invisible barrier.

"Bonnie? Salem– hey, what is this?"

"It's a safety measure,"

Alaric glares at her. "I can't stay here with Jenna out there! And I'm not letting you walk straight to your death, Salem!"

"I'm sorry, Ric."

"You can't do this! Damon?"

Damon shakes his head apologetically. "Sorry, buddy. She's right."

Alaric looks at them in disbelief and Salem gives him one last apologetic look. "I don't want to lose you either, Ric."

He shakes his head at her. "Salem, listen to me, you'll die. Okay– I know that you're strong, but Klaus will kill you."

"I'm sorry," She sighs, and quickly turns away, hurrying to catch up with the rest of them as Alaric calls for her from the house.

She bites back her guilt and staves her fear away, telling herself that if she makes it out of this alive, she'll feel every emotion she possibly can. Right now, she has to focus on making it out of this alive.

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Salem approached the witch standing at the altar from behind, tapping her shoulder as Bonnie walked past, chanting lowly as she approached Klaus.

The startled woman spun around, and Salem wrapped her arm around her neck and twisted, letting her fall to the ground at an odd angle.

"Get Elena. Get her." Salem points to the girl lying on the ground a few feet away, and Damon hurries to pick her up, careful of her bleeding neck.

Salem rushes over to Stefan as Klaus screams out in pain under Bonnie's power, and she gives the vampire an apologetic look before she plunges her hand into his back and wraps her hand around the broken-off stake lodged in him. She tears it out and throws it away, eyeing the dark red blood staining her hand, staining beneath her fingernails.

Stefan groans out in pain, but she pushes aside her concerns as she stands, walking around the burning flames as Klaus falls to the ground and Elijah approaches him.

Klaus looks up at his brother in disbelief. "Elijah?"

"Hello, brother,"

For a moment, the mad man smiles. He thinks, perhaps, his brother has come to save him. But Elijah shoves his hand into Klaus's chest, wrapping a tight hand around his heart, and Klaus's eyes go wide.

Salem watches, a sick exhibitionist of the murder of a mad hybrid. She thinks she should feel some sort of vindication, at helping the right team or something, even as her eyes drift over Jenna's lifeless body, but she doesn't. She feels bad for Elena, distantly, and for Alaric. But she knows that Elena is going to survive, and she knows that Alaric will grieve and move on. For how damning they all made it seem, Salem can't help but think it's all very temporary.

"In the name of our family, Niklaus," Elijah twists his hand around Klaus's beating heart that was as devoid of emotion as the man himself was.

"I didn't bury them at sea!"

Elijah's sneer falls in shock. "What?"

"Their bodies are safe," Klaus chokes out, hand grabbing onto Elijah's arm weakly. "If you kill me, you'll never find them."

Salem watches the man's shoulders tense, and her eyes flash as she sees the hesitation in his actions. Elijah shifts, seemingly sensing her watching the ordeal from behind him, and she sees the finality in his eyes as they lock gazes. Salem makes no move to give him approval, or whatever it is he may be searching for, instead she keeps her eyes carefully blank as she lowers her gaze, meeting Klaus's bloodshot eyes.

"Elijah," Klaus speaks his brother's name, though his eyes are piercing into her duo-chromatic ones. "I can take you to them. I give you my word, brother."

"Do it and I'll take you both out," Bonnie glares at Elijah, who quickly turns his gaze.

"You'll die,"

She shakes her head stubbornly. "I don't care,"

"No," Stefan shakes his head at the guilt in the man's gaze, fear shining in his own.

"I'm sorry,"

In a blur of fire and blood, the two Originals disappear before them. Bonnie and Stefan look at the shadows in despair, but Salem stares emptily.

She's the first one to move as she turns back towards the altar, kneeling beside Jenna's body on the cold concrete that seeps through her jeans. She grabs the stake and gently pulls it out of her chest, dropping it on the ground carelessly.

Salem lets out a pitying sigh as she pushes the strawberry blonde hair out of her graying face, and she wipes the spot of blood from the woman's mouth with her cold fingers.

Salem lifts Jenna's body into her arms and pushes to her feet, letting out a shaky breath. Turning her head, she sees Stefan and Bonnie watching her. "We need to go."

Leading them back towards the witch house, she walks silently, hearing Bonnie and Stefan follow close behind her as she heads through the woods again. The sun has started to rise, and she looks at the mildew shining on the leaves around her. The damp smell hitting her nostrils as the familiar warmth of the sun begins to shine on them again. Birds wake all around them, singing their songs that are usually a harbinger of life.

Her eyes fall to the girl in her arms, and she is reminded of the death that's surrounded her all of a sudden.

Salem's skin is cold against the sun, and her heart steadies to a calm, steady beat. Her eyes flutter owlishly in exhaustion, and the singing birds echo in her ears like a warning siren, like they were telling her; this is just the beginning.

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author's note; elijah: my brother will destroy you 

salem: what if i destroy him first 

edited and published; 2.10.23.

- liz