Maddy figured that maybe Elijah could compel Elena despite being dead.

But no, that wasn't the case. She'd decided to wake him up, and had rushed off with him before any of the Salvatores woke up.

"I'm sure she's alright," said Maddy as Stefan and Damon each tried to call Elena at the same time (how was that going to yield any useful results?). "Elijah never wanted to kill her."

"Is this some side effect of having been compelled by him?" asked Damon snidely. "You defend him?"

"I'm not defending him, I'm just saying that I don't think she's in danger. He spoke to her alone before and we didn't get many details about that. Maybe she knows something we don't."

"She's a fool to trust him," said Damon, just as Elena finally answered Stefan's call.

"Where are you?" the youngest Salvatore asked worriedly. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," replied Elena calmly. "I'm fine."

"Where's Elijah?"

"He's right here."

"Where? I'm on my way." Maddy found it funny that he didn't actually move from the couch because he was first waiting for her to tell her where they were.

"No, Stefan," said Elena. "Elijah and I need some time alone."

Maddy wiggled her eyebrows, trying to find something funny in the situation. Damon and Stefan did not appreciate what she was insinuating.

"Listen to me," said Stefan. " He can't be trusted. He'll use you to get to Klaus."

Elena sighed. "Elijah is a noble man, Stefan. He lives by a code of honor. I can trust him. He knows that I'd be incredibly stupid to betray him again. By removing the dagger, I have proven myself."

Stefan was insistent. "You can't do this alone."

"It's my decision, Stefan. Please respect it. And make sure that Damon doesn't do anything stupid. I'll be in touch."

Damon was mildly offended when Elena hung up. "Did she just hang up on you—?"

"She did," said Stefan dejectedly.

Damon scoffed. "She's lost it. 'Make sure that Damon doesn't do anything stupid?'" he repeated. "Are you kidding me?"

Stefan looked at his sister. "Mads was right, she's okay. If anyone can get Elijah to help us kill Klaus, it's her."

"Bonnie's the way to kill Klaus, Stefan," snapped Damon. "He thinks she's dead. We have a chance with her."

"Bonnie isn't strong enough for this," said Maddy. "I want to have faith in her but she's willing to basically blow herself up to save us all and that's not fair, she shouldn't have to do that. With Elijah's help maybe we can get more witches involved so the burden doesn't all fall on her."

"Maddy has a point," said Stefan. "Bonnie will kill herself in the process if we go down that route. Elena's looking for another way, and we have to let her."

"Her way's going to get her killed," said Damon. "So we need to find her and stop her."

"Oh my god," said Maddy irritably, slamming her hand into Damon's chest when he got up. "When will you understand that she doesn't want you getting in her way? She's trying to keep us all from dying for her. And I think and hope that Elijah will notice that and do everything in his power to keep her alive if she helps him. He's meticulous. He doesn't kill unnecessarily. Otherwise I'd be dead. A loose end he would have tied up. I don't trust him, but she does. She's the one in the most danger, she should get to make her own choices. If you keep controlling her, you'll be just like Klaus. This is exactly what he wants to do— dictate what happens to her, kill her for his own gains. You have to give her room to control her own fate. If it goes wrong, then we step in. But this is her life on the line. No one else gets to decide what she does with it."

"Don't give me that bullshit," said Damon. "You just don't care if she dies."

"I do care. She's my friend now, and I don't want to see her hurt. But you're doing more harm by butting in when she didn't ask you to."

Damon tried to brush past her to get to the door, but Stefan stepped in front of him. "You need to back off. Look, I don't like this any more than you do. But we need to trust her. We gotta just let her do her thing."

"That might be your plan," Damon snapped. "Mine's better."

"I said back off," Stefan repeated. His phone rang, and he drew away just to answer it. "Hello?"

"Hey, Stefan, it's Jenna."

"Jenna, hey..."

"Where's Elena? And Jeremy? No one's answering their phones."

Stefan frowned. "Ah, Elena's not here at the moment. Is, uh, is everything okay?"

"She left me all these weird messages telling me to stay away from Ric. What's going on?"

He ran his tongue over his lips. "It's really hard to explain over the phone, but, um, she was hoping that you could stay on campus for a little while longer."

"Oh... that's kinda hard to do from my kitchen."

Stefan and Maddy went pale. "Wait, you're home?"

"Yeah," said Jenna. "What's going on? Where's Elena? I'm supposed to meet Ric at the Grill for lunch, to talk."

"Jenna, listen to me carefully. Whatever you do, do not meet Alaric at the Grill. I'm going to come over right now and I'll explain everything."

He hung up, and he and Maddy immediately started to leave, though they paused when they saw Damon was now pouring himself some bourbon.

"Wow," said Damon, "I'd love to lend you a hand, but you wouldn't want me doing anything stupid."

Maddy stared at him. "You are such a drama queen sometimes. I don't have time for this. Let's go, Stefan."

They sped off, trying to make it to the Gilbert House as fast as possible. Despite having done that, they were too late. Klaus was already there.

"Hey, Jenna," said Stefan once she let them inside. "Thank you so much for not going to the Grill."

"Um, Stefan," said Jenna meekly.

"Everything's going to be okay," said Maddy. "We'll tell you..." she faltered when she saw Klaus (still in Alaric's body) walking out of the kitchen.

"Hi Maddy," he said, lips curling upward. "And Stefan, of course. How's it going? You guys hungry? I was just beginning to make lunch."

Maddy figured they ought to indulge him for the moment. "Why don't you keep cooking, then?" she said unsteadily. "Wouldn't want us to go hungry, would you?"

He chuckled, and waved for her to follow him. Maddy looked over her shoulder, and thankfully Stefan understood that he ought to shield Jenna with his own body while they figured out what Klaus's game was here.

"Why don't you be a dear and help me out?" he said. "One of you should pitch in. I was cooking for two, but now there are... four in this house."

"What are you making?" asked Maddy, motioning for Jenna to sit down at the table.

"Salad," said Klaus. "Something light to balance the ah... heavy conversation that's forthcoming."

Maddy watched as Klaus lifted the largest knife in the kitchen from the magnetic rack by the sink. He gestured to the vegetables already laid out on the counter, then took the second largest knife, handing it to Maddy with the blade pointing at her.

"Where are my manners?" he chuckled when she didn't take it. He flipped it so the blade faced him, and the handle extended to her open palm. She slowly took it in hand, and went to where some tomatoes and onions were waiting.

"You know," said Klaus once he started slicing into the carrots in front of him, "I find chopping... calming. The feel of the blade in the hand, maybe."

"I'm still waiting for someone to tell me what the hell's going on," said Jenna from behind Stefan.

Klaus smirked. "Well, would you like to tell her, Stefan, or should I? Maddy's busy at the moment."

"Tell me what?" asked Jenna.

"Do you believe in vampires, Jenna? No?" He acknowledged the shock on her face. "Well, who does, right? But believe it or not, they do have a place in our history. And as a history teacher, I find them fascinating."

Jenna made a face. "Why are we talking about this?"

"Well, you've been angry with me for keeping secrets, and this is one of my secrets. I'm obsessed with vampires. There. I said it." He laughed. "There are other secrets that could be brought to light, of course, but let's start with that one."

"Are you joking?" whispered Jenna.

"Not at all," said Klaus. "How about you, Stefan? Are you a fan of vampires?"

"In literature," said Stefan carefully. "Bram Stoker. It's dense, but I appreciate it."

"Pop quiz, Maddy," said Klaus. "Who are the oldest creatures of the night?"

"Werewolves," she said. "Then vampires. It's been written many times. In many cultures. But you already know that."

"Werewolves, vampires," muttered Jenna, her hands trembling as she clasped them together.

"You know," Klaus continued, "I've read that there's an Aztec curse on both species that keeps werewolves slaves to the Moon and vampires bound by the Sun. You know, they say these creatures would do anything to have this curse broken and that they wouldn't care who they had to kill to do it." He smiled. "Done with your part, Maddy?"

He popped the carrot slices into a large bowl. Glaring at him, Maddy scooped the bits of onion and tomato in. Klaus then took a lettuce, starting to rip off chunks to sprinkle them over the rest of the pieces.

"Get the plates, will you?" he said, pointing at one of the cupboards. Maddy carefully reached for it, bringing out four plates as Klaus took the salad bowl to the table, beginning to mix it. Once she'd laid the plates out, he served small portions.

"I know this all sounds so crazy," he said, once they were sitting down with glasses of wine before their food. "But... vampires are real. Would you care for some more wine?"

"Get out," snapped Jenna suddenly.

"Excuse me?"

Her eyes were wide. "I don't know what it is you're trying to do or why you're saying these things, but... get out. Now."

Stefan got to his feet. "You heard her."

Klaus fake pouted. "I'm afraid I don't want to."

"Fine!" Jenna snapped as Klaus got up. "I'll go."

Faster than anticipated, he lifted the knife he'd been using. "You're not going anywhere."

Reacting quickly, Maddy and Stefan slammed him into the wall. Stefan caught the knife, and pressed it into Klaus's throat.

"Get her out of here," said Maddy, taking the handle from him. "Stefan, now!"

He didn't hesitate. Jenna was incredibly confused when Stefan grabbed her and sped her out of the house. The poor thing would probably throw up as soon as they got to the Salvatore House.

Klaus chuckled as she stepped back, still holding the knife. "Such hesitation. You could tear me to shreds in seconds but you know that you'd just be killing your friend. And then, you'd have to find me all over again, because I'd be in another's body."

"Why are you here?" she asked.

"To break the curse."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not asking why you're in Mystic Falls, you idiot, I'm asking why you're in this house."

"I like the idea of motivation," said Klaus wickedly. "I figured I ought to do something to remind Elena just how easy it will be for me to get my revenge if she tries to stop me from breaking this curse."

"She just lost her best friend, give her a damn break!" snarled Maddy. "All because of you!"

"Now, who was the one that didn't speak up about her concerns? That's right, it was you. Then again... my sources do tell me that you're rather new to this little group. Still haven't had a chance to get attached to them."

She grabbed him by the hair, shoving him to the ground and pressing the heel of her boot to his throat. "You're right, maybe I'm not very close to the others right now, and I can't mourn the way they do. But your pal Elijah compelled me, and because of it, I was locked in a stupid cellar for three days with absolutely no food whatsoever. Whatever you did, he obviously hates you, and now that you're here working your way into my life without my consent, it's become my problem, and I'm going to make sure we get rid of you."

She started to dig her shoes harder into his neck. "And I'm going to make sure it hurts as much as possible. You are nothing, Klaus. You appear in another's body like a coward instead of facing us as your true self. Scared we're going to get the upper hand on you like we did to Elijah?"

Klaus was obviously enjoying the position he was in. "Wow," he said. "Has anyone ever told you that arrogance kills? Because you young vampires seem to think you're so high and mighty."

"Oh, I know it won't be easy to defeat you," she said. "For some fucking reason, staking you does nothing. But we have all sorts of tricks up our sleeves, Klaus."

"Phew, you're all a bunch of sadists," he said, his arms still hanging limp at his sides, not even bothering to try and throw her off. When she realized she was probably giving him more pleasure than pain, she got off of him, which made him turn on his side and cough.

"Out," she said, pulling him up roughly and dragging him out of the house before tossing him onto the porch. Before he could recover, she sped away.

She found that Jenna was staring at the living room wall like a zombie. Maddy went to get her something to drink, leaving it on the little table beside her. Jenna didn't even seem to realize that she was home.

Stefan had already called Elena, and she was en route. When she arrived, she rushed to Jenna immediately, and began to tell her everything she knew. But it was clear that Jenna wasn't internalizing every last detail. She was in shock, and couldn't stop crying.

"This is bad," Maddy muttered to Stefan as they watched Damon and Andie chatting in the kitchen as if nothing was wrong. "And when is he going to let that poor woman go? I'm starting to think I should compel her myself. But then I'd just be doing the exact thing he did, so..."

"What'd you do with Klaus?" asked Stefan.

"Left him on the porch. Would have been a very stupid idea to linger there too long. He obviously has a witch handy and if they'd shown up to rescue him, I'd be a goner. He strikes me as a masochist. Fucking creep."

"What did he uh... mean when he said other secrets could be brought to light?"

Maddy gulped. "Doesn't matter."

"Mads, I'm not asking because I want to butt into your personal life, I'm asking because I'm concerned."

She gave him a significant look, and he figured it out on his own.

"It's your life," he said simply. "If that's what you want to do, you're allowed to. Does Damon—?"

"Of course not, I'd be an idiot to reveal that to him. He's overprotective to a very annoying extent."

"It's annoying, yeah, I imagine. You're his younger sister. Some part of him still sees you as the little girl he used to give piggyback rides to. With me, I guess it's different, we're both guys and he was the one that gave me 'the talk' after mom died, so..."

"I just feel that he's a hypocrite. Worrying so much about what I do and saying he's just concerned because he doesn't want me to get hurt. Then he turns around and literally assaults people. How does that make sense?"

"Caroline told me that he apologized to her. She was stunned to hear him sounding so... sincere. It's a step in the right direction."

"It makes me uncomfortable. How many girls do you think he did that to, that we don't know about? Just... how could a person do that? How? How do you live with yourself knowing that you violated another person that way? The guilt of being a vampire eats you alive every day but he doesn't seem to care that he assaulted a minor until I tell him that Mom would be ashamed of him."

"We're all evil in our own ways," mumbled Stefan. "You're probably the best out of all of us. You can control your hunger. And you don't assault people."

"Let's be real, Stefan, the best is you. It's not your fault you're a Ripper. You didn't ask for that. You try to control it and you do your best to care about other people. The only times you really stop caring is when your humanity is off. That's when you kill for fun. Me, well, I like killing for fun. I do it all the time."

"You've never turned your humanity off. Out of the three of us... why? Why didn't you ever—?"

She half-smiled. "Come on, if my humanity goes off, it's gonna turn into a domino effect where Damon will follow, then you. Then who's gonna get us back? I never felt it safe to turn mine off, even if I was tempted to. I worried too much about the two of you."

"If this thing pans out with Elijah, we'll be fine. If we all turn it off, Elena will just have him compel us to turn it back on. Problem solved."

"Mm, sounds really simple but I bet it actually isn't."

Stefan patted her shoulder once he saw Elena emerging from the room where she'd taken Jenna to rest for the night. Maddy remained where she was, rubbing her arms and peering back at Damon and Andie.

Just a minute later, Elena started heading for the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" snapped Damon, getting in her way.

"Back to Elijah," said Elena. "Get out of my way, Dam—"

He grabbed her arm roughly. "If you so much as try and take a step out of this house..."

"Damon, easy," said Andie cautiously from behind him.

"Stay out of this, Andie!" he snapped.

"No, Andie's right," said Maddy, pinching him so hard, he couldn't help but let go. "Don't manhandle her, you ass."

Stefan caught Damon's arm before he could grab her again. "Let her go."

"Are you kidding me?" Damon hissed. "We just got her back."

"You heard me. I said let her go."

Damon's jaw twitched. "That's twice today you've stood in my way. I wouldn't try a third."

"I'll be back soon, I promise," said Elena. "He just told me the sun and moon curse is fake. He's going to tell me the truth about Klaus." She nodded gratefully to Stefan and Maddy before scurrying out of the house.

Damon made it so obvious that he was mad at his siblings. The entire time Elena was gone, he was just shooting them dirty looks. Maddy had to get out of the house for a bit, using the excuse of taking supplies to Jeremy and Bonnie at the old witch house. When she got back, she found that Damon was still pissed, and was transferring his anger onto Andie, who he shooed out of the house as if she meant nothing to him.

"Tired of your little plaything already?" asked Stefan as he and Maddy found Damon drinking some bourbon.

"Don't start with me," the eldest Salvatore said lowly. "She's just my distraction."

"She's a person. You're victimizing her."

"You should be thankful she's here. She keeps me from going for what I really want."

Maddy gaped at him, unable to believe he just said that. "You're right," said Stefan. "Thank you for being in love with my girlfriend."

Damon set his glass down on the table. "And there it is."

"I'm sorry, what?" said Maddy, holding her hand up to keep Stefan from responding. "'Keeps me from going for what I really want?' Damon, Elena isn't some carnival prize that you can win. She's in a relationship with someone else. Our brother, Damon. Look, I'm sorry that your life isn't perfect, and I'm sorry you can't have everything you want, but that doesn't mean you can objectify her and act like this is some competition for her affections. I know this is hard to hear but these feelings... not okay."

"No, it's okay, Maddy," said Stefan. "He can be in love with Elena all he wants... If it means that he'll protect her. But I have the one thing that you never will, Damon."

"Oh yeah?" the other brother asked. "What's that?"

Stefan got right up in Damon's face before saying, "Her respect."

Maddy let out a frustrated grunt as Damon punched Stefan so hard, he flew into the bookshelf, breaking it and littering the books over the floor.

"Stop it!" she said, getting between them as they started trying to claw at each other. She smacked them over the heads, but they took no notice. "STOP! Hey—" she ended up getting hit, and she wasn't sure who had done it. She kicked Stefan back, then elbowed Damon in the face to get them away from each other. She then rushed to the bookshelf, taking a broken plank and snapping it in half, tossing a bit to each brother.

"Go ahead," she said, gesturing to the makeshift stakes. "Since you're so mad, just get it over with. Kill each other."

They did nothing. "Do it," Maddy said angrily. "You started a fight, now end it properly. I am so sick of seeing you two butting heads over a girl! Are you five? Elena is a person. She has feelings too. How do you think she feels when she sees you two like this? Do you think she enjoys that? You have had so many chances, Damon, I know that. And I'm going to be completely honest with you, you keep screwing them up. You assaulted her best friend, you killed her brother impulsively after trying to force a kiss on her, you've tried to control her as if she's your property and not a sentient entity of her own. So go ahead. Fight to the death and the winner gets the girl, since you're so intent on making it a competition. You can't even claim innocence here, Stefan, because you're perpetuating it just as much as he is."

Stefan tossed his stake to the ground. "We get it, Mads," he said. "I'm not fighting."

They both looked at Damon, who dropped his stake when he saw Elijah in the doorway.

"No," he whispered when Elena walked up beside him. "Now you've invited him in?"

"Elijah and I have renewed the terms of our deal," said Elena.

Damon was in disbelief. "Really?"

Elijah assented. "The two of you will come to no harm at my hands." He moved closer, looking right at Maddy. "I apologize for having compelled you. It was wrong of me to put you in a position where your loyalty would be questioned by your own family. I was selfish in thinking that it would grant me the greatest access to information. In my shame I could not even face you to undo it. I thought I was protecting you, when really, I only manipulated you. I am very, very sorry."

She could tell that he meant it. She nodded, offering him a small smile.

"I was going to ask you both for an apology as well," Elijah said, looking at the two brothers. "For having played a part in my death. However, Elena has made me realize that you were merely protecting her, and Madeleine. I should not have expected a different outcome given the methods I used."

"The sacrifice is going to happen," said Elena. "Bonnie will be able to kill Klaus without hurting herself and Elijah knows how to save my life. I told you I'd find another way. And I did."

"Is that true?" asked Damon.

"It is," said Elijah.

Damon's gaze moved to the doppelgänger. "And you're trusting him?"

"I am."

Damon scoffed. "You can all go to hell." He stormed out of the room, and Stefan sighed.

"He's angry with me right now," he said to Elijah. "But he'll come around."

"Perhaps," said Elijah. "Madeleine, if I could speak to you alone?"

She figured she might as well hear him out. "Sure."