chapter three, the tale of a woman

     OPHELIA HAD FORGOTTEN HOW PAINFUL IT IS TO BE ALIVE. It wasn't the ache in her body, the barely standing legs, or the deep, forced breaths igniting life back to her organs, reminding of the hunger, of the thirst, of the need to sleep. No, it reminded her of the void in her chest – always aching, always there. Of the burden on her shoulders which she had no one to share with. Of the loneliness even if she always used to be surrounded by people. Living is painful.

And now that she looked at her brothers, in a house she has never been before, she felt dissociated. Ophelia never believed in ghosts, even if the town she grew up in was full of dark stories that scared her before sleep. But she never expected to see her brothers again. Even in death, there was no peace for her – just the same, repeating nightmare. But she found them here. In ways she didn't understand.

The Salvatore siblings were silent. They were looking at each other as if to understand if this was real. Ophelia was doubting. The other two knew it was real. But it wasn't easy for them to see their sister like this – on the edge. Clearly, she was risen up from her rest for some sort of revenge. The witches talked. Even when they were dead.

The image of her brothers' dead bodies flooded her brain, but now, in front of her, they looked fine – a bit strange and unusual, but the clothing didn't change the fact that it was Damon and Stefan. Blue and green. Ocean and forest. And there was her – fire, brown eyes clouded by sadness, but holding so much rage. Not for them, for life.

The light in the house was making her slightly squint her eyes – it was unnatural and too bright. It wasn't compared to the warm light of candles. But she couldn't take her eyes away from her brothers, afraid they will disappear if she will turn away. She won't be able to handle that. And yet, she didn't know what to say. Was there anything to say at all?

"You're safe, Ophelia. No one will hurt you here," Stefan softly reminded her, not moving an inch closer. He didn't want to scare her. He already noticed that she was hanging on by a thread.

Ophelia slowly nodded, clasping her hands together, clearing her throat slightly: "I do not know—what happened, I swear." Her voice was silent. She couldn't talk any louder as the aching throat reminded her that it wasn't used for God knows how long and she was unbelievably thirsty.

"You don't how to explain yourself," Stefan reassured her, slightly extending his hands in a calm manner. He always did that when they were children—he'd always push his hands slightly out as if opening himself to her so she would trust him. Ophelia was a really sensitive child when growing up and there was no one else to blame but father. He didn't want a girl.

As a matter of fact, she always had to explain herself – where she was, what she was doing, with who she was and why. Women had no rights and always had to be chaperoned. When she was with her brothers, it wasn't as bad, but when she was watched by her father...

Damon looked at his little sister with pure sorrow. He never thought of seeing her again and he didn't know what to say. It would be foolish to ask how it all happened as he learned to just not ask this question anymore. He didn't know how he was a vampire until this day, none of them will know how his sister woke up from her slumber.

"I can't believe this," Damon whispered before he rushed to his sister and wrapped her in his arms. Slightly squeezing her, he made sure that she was there. Alive. Breathing. She was shivering from fear and cold, so he just hugged her tighter, his lips curling into a smile as ocean eyes filled with transparent tears. His little sister was alive.

Ophelia froze for a second, but she closed her eyes and let herself drown in the warmth of her brother. They were her family and ever since she was sentenced to death, her last vision was of them and their mother. The hug felt nostalgic as it reminded her of times when her brothers, well, weren't involved in courting the same lady.

Damon pulled away, hesitantly, "I'll get you something to eat and to drink, yeah?" Then he looked at his brother and slightly nudged up with his head and Stefan nodded.

Stefan extended his hand to Ophelia, "Let's get you cleaned up and dressed."

Ophelia looked at them both and slowly placed her icy hand in her brother's and followed him through the house. This house oddly reminded her of their house, but this one was far more furnished with books. Father didn't really see the need to have books in every corner and he never let her in his private library that wasn't very big. She'd get her books from her maid and from her brothers.

As Damon watched his siblings disappear from the view, he rushed to the basement where he has instructed Elena and Jenna to be as soon as he found out that the ritual failed. None of them could risk having Ophelia near a vampire in transition and Elena has kindly agreed to stay in the basement.

Entering the basement, he found Jenna on the cold floor, devouring a third blood bag already. Rushing to her, he took it away from her and slightly shook his head: "Not all of them at the same time. We don't want to become greedy now, do we?"

Jenna only furrowed her eyebrows, but she was too overwhelmed with pulsing senses that she didn't have time to express her anger. She almost got sacrificed and now she was a vampire. From what she understood, she didn't die by pure accident and now she will have to deal with a whole new world.

"How is she?" Elena asked, crossing her hands, meaning the woman upstairs.

"Shaken. It's not every day you get woken up from the dead." Damon explained, putting the used blood bag into the freezer and taking the empty ones off the ground. His mind was buzzing with so many thoughts and he was feeling overwhelmed: his sister was back from the dead, he'll have to deal with a new vampire, Klaus will be raging about this ritual and...

"I didn't know Stefan had a twin sister."

And Elena didn't know about Ophelia.

No one knew about Ophelia after her death. Throughout their vampire years, there had been many conflicts between Stefan and him, but on one thing they agreed – they didn't tell anyone about their sister as they wanted to honour her death and let her rest in peace as they roamed the world. It was easier this way, it was easier to live this way. Especially for Stefan. Because Damon had a theory that the whole ripper thing had to do something with him losing his twin. But it was just a theory.

"We never talked about it." Damon simply answered and slightly shook his head: "What exactly happened there?"

Elena slightly shook her head: "After killing Jules, suddenly something changed. The witch lost her magic and everything changed when your sister appeared. The moonstone broke. The fire died out. And Klaus got mad—I don't know." She slurred out.

"It has to be a job of a witch," Damon concluded.

"Was your sister a witch?"

"No," he shook his head. He didn't know. But there was simply no time for Ophelia to even be a witch, considering she was always under someone's watch. "Call Bonnie. Get her here."

The doppelganger shook her head, "No, Klaus can't know that she's alive."

"Too late for that. The ritual failed. We need a witch. Call her and get her here as soon as possible." Damon was beyond serious. He didn't want to take any risks when it was his sister they were talking about. They had to do something before Klaus came knocking on their door. "As for you," he turned to Jenna, "you're gonna be on your best behaviour as if I even see you try to have my sister for a meal—"

"Damon!" Elena angrily interrupted him. "She will be fine."

Jenna only breathed out deeply and closed her eyes. "I think it's better if I stay here for a while. I don't wanna come back home since there is Jeremy and I can hurt you too, Elena."

"No, Jenna, it will all be fine," Elena squatted down, taking her aunt's hand. "I'll get Caroline too. She'll know how to help."

All of them suddenly heard a set of knocks on the front door, loud and rhythmical and Damon rolled his eyes: "Great. We have an Original at the door."

He quickly vamped upstairs and opened the door to see Elijah, standing at the doorway, looking quite concerned: "I believe we have a problem."

Damon leaned his hand on the door and grimaced: "Are you here with a magical solution or are you here to tell us that Klaus will kill all of us?"

"My brother is having—a difficult time to understand what happened. I am afraid that your sister might be the new moonstone."

Elena appeared near Damon and furrowed her eyebrows, crossing her arms: "What do you mean the new moonstone? The ritual can still happen?"

"Without the moonstone, the ritual cannot happen and as we saw just a few seconds ago—we don't have it anymore."

"Does that mean Klaus cannot unleash his werewolf side anymore?" Elena asked, feeling slightly relieved.

The Original vampire uneasily smiled: "I'm afraid so."

"Afraid so? That's—that's great! I mean..." Elena exhaled happily as it wasn't easy for her to be constantly persecuted by supernatural creatures.

"He means that my sister becomes the scapegoat for Klaus' anger." Damon wasn't delighted. It was good to hear that Elena for the first time in quite some time was safe, but now everything fell on Ophelia. And she was supposed to be dead.

Elijah nodded, "It means that Niklaus will not give up until he finds out what has happened and how he can fix it. Don't underestimate my brother's will to not give up."

"Can't you do anything about him? Can't you tell him to sit on his ass tight because he can't actually believe that Ophelia is some sort of mastermind behind the witches?" The Salvatore frustratingly asked.

The Original vampire stood still, "Ophelia," he gently said her name, trying out how it worked on his tongue, before continuing: "convinced me that she isn't involved. But Niklaus is not convinced and witches are capable of making someone else do their bidding."

"Is there someone who could do this—ruin the ritual and make Klaus suffer?" Elena asked.

"I believe the list of such people would be incredibly long."

"But you have to understand that Ophelia has nothing to do with this," Damon defended his sister even if he wasn't at the ritual.

"Perhaps. But why don't I come in and have a little chat with her myself?"

Damon quickly blocked the entrance into the house and slightly shook his head: "Listen, I know you are trying to be the better brother in this case, but my sister is upstairs after more than one hundred years of slumber and she doesn't know where she is and what is going on. I don't want you to get in here and scare her to death."

Elijah couldn't help but smile, watching the way Damon got protective over his sibling. It reminded him of him in some ways, as he was always so keen to find where his siblings were and reunite them once again. But this failed ritual only meant that Klaus won't tell him where his family was, if they weren't already at the bottom of the ocean.

"It's quite refreshing to see the Salvatore brothers be so worked up not because of a woman," his stare moved to Elena and back to Damon, "and because of family. I am a man of family myself and it is the dearest thing to me. Only for that reason, I'll try to hold Niklaus back and give you time to tell your sister what is going on. However... You won't have much time."

Damon wanted to say something, but Elena pushed him away from the doorstep and looked at Elijah with gratefulness: "Thank you, Elijah. We'll try to figure something out."

Elijah gave Damon one last look before disappearing from his doorstep. Damon closed the door and angrily scoffed: "What are we supposed to do now?"

"I'll get Bonnie and Caroline. Maybe Bonnie will be able to tell us what is going on—she can contact her ancestors, remember? Maybe it was their doing after all."

The man looked at her suspiciously: "Why are you acting so nice? I made you drink my blood, remember?"

Elena only deadpanned, grimacing, "I haven't forgiven you for this, but there are more pressing matters right now. Your sister, in ways she probably doesn't even understand, saved my life and saved you from me becoming a vampire."

"Always so righteous..." Damon mumbled.

"You should try to be righteous as well. Maybe you'll like it," Elena said before she turned around and walked back into the basement to Jenna, to call Bonnie and Caroline and get them here.

Hello, my lovelies,

I have so much fun rewriting this book - I do believe my insights about writing and the TVD universe overall have deepened. I really want to hear how you feel about this version!

The Salvatore reunion actually is so heartwarming, stop.

-sunny