Chapter 22

"Morning." I said to my dad, who just walked into the kitchen.

"Morning Ric." Elena said drinking her coffee.

"Thought we had aspirin." My dad said scratching the back of his head.

"They're in the vitamins." Elena said. I poured myself a cup of coffee and added a little vervain to it.

"You're hungover." Elena said causing me to look at my dad.

"Yeah, sorry about that. It was a bit of a weird night." My dad said.

"Hey, Elena. Can I talk to my dad for a minute?" I asked her.

"Sure." She said with a sigh.

"I'll just be upstairs." She said taking her coffee and walking upstairs.

"Look, you know I have never judged you're drinking because of everything that's happened, but it's been really bad lately. And I want you to know you can talk to me." I told him.

"I know. And I'm sorry. You're right. I have been drinking a lot lately. It's just Damon's stressing me over Meredith." He said.

"Say no more. I'll talk to Damon. I'll get him off your case. But only if you promise to ease up on the whiskey." I said picking up the bottle. He sighed and nodded.

"I'm only doing this because you're my dad and I love you, you know that right?"

"Yeah. I know. And I love you too." He said giving me a side hug, kissing the top of my head. Just then, we heard a knock on the door. I pulled away from him and went to answer the door. When I opened it, Sheriff Forbes was there, holding a bag with something in it.

"Sheriff Forbes, hi. Is everything okay?" I asked her.

"Is Elena here? This requires her as well." She said.

"I'll go get her." I said. I walked up the stairs and knocked on her door.

"Elena, the Sheriff is here. She needs to talk to you." She opened the door.

"What for?" She asked as we walked down the stairs.

"I don't know. But it seems pretty serious." I said as we joined the Sheriff and my dad, who were on the porch.

"Elena, hi. Um ... this is an unconventional conversation we're about to have. So I hope you'll protect me on it." Liz said the last part as she looked at my dad.

"Of course." My dad said.

"I assume you all heard our medical examiner was murdered the night of the Wickery Bridge fundraiser." She started.

"Yeah. Brian Walters. Why?" My dad asked.

"We've been investigating. Someone drove this stake through his heart." She said holding a bag labeled evidence, with the stake in it.

"Wait, isn't that-" I started.

"Yeah. It is." Liz said. "This is one of a set from your parents' lake house." My dad said to Elena.

"That's why I'm here. I haven't told anyone but forensics ran it for prints and found only one clean set." She said. She looked at Elena.

"Yours."

"What?" Elena said in shock.

**time skip**

My dad, Elena, and I were talking to Damon on the phone.

"So you're the prime suspect, huh?" Damon said to Elena.

"She doesn't think that I did it. She's just trying to find out why somebody used one of my family weapons to kill a council member." Elena explained.

"Well why don't you just ask Ric if his dirty little doctor had access to the weapons." Damon said. I rolled my eyes.

"You're on speaker phone, dick." My dad said annoyed.

"I'm just sayin 'first suspects usually the right one. Don't get so defensive." Damon said.

"Brian Walters was killed days ago, alright? I didn't show Meredith this stuff until last night!" My dad explained.

"It wasn't Meredith." I said to Damon.

"But Brian Walters was her ex-boyfriend and Ric saw them fighting that night, Myra." Damon said.

"It's not Meredith! Okay? I refuse to believe that my dad's luck in women is this tragic." I said to him.

"Who else knows about your secret little slayer stash?" Damon asked.

"Who doesn't? Got weapons everywhere, here, the school, my loft, your car." My dad said to Damon.

"It's Klaus. It has to be, he's screwing with us." Damon said annoyed.

"What if it was Stefan? He was crazy that night. And you know he was trying to get underneath Klaus's skin, he was capable of pretty much anything." Elena pointed out.

"Ahh, make me nostalgic for the time when Stefan was a bunny snacking pacifist." Damon said with a sigh.

"It wasn't Stefan." I said causing Elena to look at me.

"Why would he take the time to set this up as if it was a murder? If Stefan had done this, we all know what it would really look like." I said with a sigh.

"She has a point. Anyway got to go, you'll know more later." Damon said.

"Hey, where are you?" My dad asked Damon.

"Tea with an old friend." Damon said hanging up the phone.

"I'm going to talk to Stefan. I just want to make sure it wasn't him." Elena said, walking out the house.

**time skip*

"Oh my God ..." I said pacing back and forth in the hospital hall.

"Stop pacing. You're making me nervous." Elena said hanging up her phone.

"Elena, someone killed Caroline's dad. That's he second person on the council. How long before it's Carol, Liz, or my dad?" I asked her.

"We're gonna figure this out." She said opening Caroline's dad's hospital room.

"I called your mom."

"Thanks." Caroline said.

"Mr. Forbes, did you see your attacker?" Elena asked him.

"I didn't see anything. Tried to sneak out the back exit and someone came up from behind." He explained.

"Look, we'll figure this out, but in the mean time we need to get you some blood." Caroline said with a sigh.

"I'm not going to drink any blood." He said. I looked at him before looking at the surprised face on Caroline.

"You have to. You died with vampire blood in your system. If you don't feed and finish the transition into a vampire then you'll die." I told him.

"I understand how it works. And that's what I'm prepared to do. Now get me out of this hospital. I smell blood everywhere." He said walking out the door.

**time skip**

Caroline and I were sitting together on her front porch talking.

"Did you hear back from Tyler yet?" I asked her.

"No. And I've left messages for him everywhere. So, does Alaric really think that Dr. Fell did it?" She asked me.

"He doesn't know what to think." I told her.

"What about you?" She asked me.

"My dad and I have been through hell and back in our lives, and I wish the girl he liked wasn't in the middle of all of this. He deserves to be happy. But yeah, she looks guilty. It's why Elena told your mom. " I told her.

"My mom's in there sitting with my dad. And I don't think they've been in the same room this long since I was ten years old. Is there any chance that Tyler did it?" She asked. I looked at her shocked.

"What?" I asked stunned.

"If Klaus was trying to mess with you and he's sired to Klaus. And, I mean, he does everything that he's told." She said with a tear coming out of her eye.

"No ... no, I don't think Tyler did it." I said shaking my head.

"I can't just let my father die. You know, I'm ... I'm gonna force him to feed." She said with a smile.

"But.he doesn't want to, Caroline. The only thing your dad has is his choice." I told her. Then, she started to cry.

"I hated him so much for what he did to me. So much. Now all I want to do is save his life." She said with a scoff.

"Of course you do, he's your dad." I told her.

"What was the hardest part for you? When you lost your mom? The first time." She asked me.

"Realizing all the things that she wouldn't be there for. The things that ... that you just need your mom for, you know? Someone to talk about boys with, someone to help you with you're make-up, someone you could always turn to. When we lost her, my dad and I didn't really talk to each other much, but eventually we did. And we healed and moved on, together. " I told her.

I scooted over to her and held her in my arms. She leaned her head on my shoulders as she sat with me. Just then, someone stepped in front of us. We both looked up and saw it was Matt.

"Hey." Matt said.

"Hey." Caroline said standing up and hugging him.

**time skip**

"Thanks for walking me." I said to Matt as we walked to Elena's house.

"Elena would've come, but she wanted to be there for Caroline. Hopefully, my dad's up."

"Are you doing okay? This has to bring up a lot for you. You're mom and all." He said. I nodded.

"We've all lost a lot. All of us, more than we can handle sometimes. But we'll be okay. We have each other." I told him. He nodded, but then scoffed.

"It's this town, it's messed up. None of us should have to live this way." He said. I nodded as we walked into the house. I tried to turn the lights on, but they didn't.

"That's weird." I said confused.

"Electricity must be out." Matt said. I closed the door, and we walked into the kitchen. I grabbed two flashlights from the cupboard and handed him one.

"Here." I turned my flashlight on.

"I think Elena has some candles in the living room." I said.

We walked to the other side of the kitchen, and I saw a puddle of blood on the floor. I stepped back in shock.

"Oh my God!"

"What the hell?" Matt said. I moved my flashlight beam to the hallway. I saw bloody hand-prints on the wall. I grabbed a knife, and so did Matt.

"Matt?" I asked, making sure he was behind me.

"Stay close." We followed the bloody footprints out of the kitchen. We went up the stairs, and there were more bloody hand-prints on the wall. We got to the top of the stairs and looked around. I then saw my dad lying in a doorway with a knife through his stomach. I gasped and rushed over to him.

"Dad! Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!" I went to pull the knife out, but my dad screamed. Matt grabbed my hand.

"No, leave it in! Leave it in! He's lost too much blood. I'm gonna call 911." He said. I grabbed my dad's face and looked at him.

"Dad.Daddy, look at me. Who did this to you?" I asked with tears coming out of my eyes.

"I don't know." He said weakly.

"Oh my God, there's a lot of blood, Matt!" I said panicking.

"I know, I know, Myra. I know." He said looking around.

"You have to kill me." My dad said causing me to look at him.

"What?" I asked confused.

"Myra, you-you have to kill me." He said weakly. I grabbed his hand and saw he was still wearing the ring.

"Wait, wait, wait, Matt, hang up, hang up." Matt hung up the phone.

"He's right. If he dies a supernatural death, then he'll come back to life and he'll be healed."

"But, how do you know who did this is supernatural?" Matt asked.

"That's what he's saying, we don't but ... I'm a witch." I said holding the knife up that I grabbed from the kitchen.

"That makes me supernatural."

"Myra! No, this is messed up!" He yelled.

"He's dying, Matt! I can't loose him." I said with a sniffle. I sighed and held the knife in one of my hands.

"I'm sorry, daddy." I said before stabbing him in the chest, killing him. I was sitting next to my dad's body, tears dried on my face. Matt came up the stairs and kneeled down next to me.

"He's still out?" Matt asked. I nodded.

"Caroline called. Her dad died. Will you stay with me? Until he wakes up?" I asked him.

"Of course." He said.

"I can't lose any more family." I told him. I started to cry again before Matt took me in his arms and comforted me.

About an hour later, I was on the phone with Liz.

"I looked into it, Myra. Meredith Fell was called into surgery six hours ago. She's been in there ever since." She explained.

"She has an alibi?" I asked.

"Iron-tight in an operating room full of witnesses." She said.

"Then who could it be?" I asked thinking about it.

"I don't know. But the attack on Alaric makes this the third member of the Founders' Council and we just cleared our only suspect." She said.

Just then, my dad woke up and started coughing. I hung up the phone and rushed over to him. I grabbed his hand and he looked at me. I smiled and hugged him. The next morning, Elena, Stefan, Damon and I are in the kitchen at Elena's.

"It was their mother Esther who was sealed in that coffin." Elena said.

"As in the Original Witch?" I asked. She nodded.

"What? How is she even alive? Thought her hybrid freak show of a son ripped her heart out a thousand years ago." Damon said.

"I don't know. I'm guessing she has a couple connections in the witching community. Elijah said that she wants to live in peace with her family, including Klaus." Elena said.

"She was supposed to be the weapon to help us kill Klaus." Stefan said.

"Well, not anymore ... at least not according to Elijah." Elena clarified.

"That coffin was the only thing stopping Klaus from tearing us to shreds." Stefan added.

"Anyone else feeling a little used right now?" Damon asked annoyed.

"Look, Elijah promised me that his family wouldn't hurt any of us." Elena said as the doorbell rang.

"I believe him." Elena said going towards the door. She came back with two envelopes.

"What is it?" Damon asked. She walked up to me and handed me one of them.

It said "Myraliana Saltzman" on the front. I opened it and removed a card.

"It's an invitation. 'Please join the Mikaelson Family, this evening at seven o'clock. For dancing, cocktails and celebration." I read.

"Who the hell are the Mikaelsons?" Stefan asked.

"The Original Family." Elena said.

"It's not bad enough they're moving into town, now they want a housewarming gift?" Damon asked. Elena turned the card over and saw there's writing on the back.

"Wait, there's a note on the back. 'Elena, I think it's time that we finally meet, Esther." Elena said causing me to look on the back. It said "Save me a dance. -Kol"

"Who the hell is Kol?" I asked out loud.

**time skip**

"So, Esther wants to meet you, and you told Damon and Stefan you aren't going.but yet here you are, getting ready for the ball." I said to Elena, while she was doing her make-up.

"Well, hopefully they won't be there." Elena said putting on her mascara.

"And thank you, for going with me."

"Of course. I kinda wanted to go anyway." I told her with a smile.

"Alright, let's get our dresses on." She said with a smile. I went into Jeremy's room and put on my dress. I then walked into Elena's room and saw her in her dress. My mouth widened, along with her's.

"Myra, you look beautiful."

"Me? You look stunning!" I said with a smile.

"Alright. Let's get out of here." She said grabbing her purse and handing me mine. We got in my car, and I drove to Klaus's new mansion. We parked, got out and walked towards the door.

"You ready?" I nodded.

"You?" I asked her.

"Not even close." We both laughed before the doors opened. Elena and I both walked in together. I looked around in awe at the beautiful home. Just then, Stefan walked up towards us.

"What are you doing here?" Elena asked them.

"I could ask you the same thing." Stefan said to Elena. He then looked at me.

"Surprise, surprise. Nice tux. You're not supposed to be here." Damon said to Stefan and then to Elena.

"Well, I am. And I'm not leaving until I find out what Esther wants. So, shall we?" Elena asked. Damon offered her his arm, and she took it. They both walked away. I looked at Stefan, who already had his arm out. I smiled and wrapped my arm in his.

"Uh, if everyone could gather, please." Elijah said from the top of the staircase. Stefan and I made our way towards the crowd. All the Originals were standing on the staircase as Elijah addressed the company. Esther, I presumed, walked down the staircase from upstairs.

"Welcome, thank you for joining us. You know, whenever my mother brings our family together like this, it's tradition for us to commence the evening with a dance."

"Do you see who I see?" Damon said standing on the other side of Stefan.

"Oh, yeah." Stefan answered.

"Tonight's pick is a centuries-old waltz, so if all of you could please find yourselves a partner, please join us in the ballroom." Elijah said.

"Evening." Someone said from behind me. It was one of the Originals.

"It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Myra. Col." He said holding out his hand. I took it, and he kissed the back on my hand.

"Ah. Now I can put a face to that name." I said with a smile, which he returned.

"Would you like to dance?" He asked. I smiled.

"Yes. I would." I turned to Stefan, who was next to me. I held out my hand for him to take, which he did. I smiled and brought him to the dance floor, leaving Kol behind us. We walked into the ballroom, and took our place for the dance. I looked around and saw Klaus standing with Caroline and Matt with Rebekah. Weird.

"You look beautiful." Stefan said causing me to look at him.

"Thank you." I said with a smile. We started to dance to the music.

"So, have you thought about what I said?" I asked him.

"Yes ... And you're right." He said.

"I have to forgive myself. But I don't know how." He said looking away from me. I pulled his face towards me, so our noses were almost touching.

"I'll show you." I said causing him to smile. We continued to dance, and I smiled, until I was turned into someone else's arms. Damon's.

"What an honor it is to dance with the master of all dancing." I said with a smile.

"Ha ha." He said dancing.

"So, you and Elena huh?" I asked him.

"I don't think she wants me." He said a little disappointed.

"Trust me, she does. You just have to work hard enough." I told him. He smiled.

"So, you and Stefan huh?" He asked. I smiled and looked down, before looking at him again.

"We're getting there." I said. He then looked around the room.

"Where's Elena?" He asked worried.

"I don't know." I said. "Last I saw she was with Stefan." He then spinned me into someone else's arms. Matt's.

"Hello there handsome." I said with a smile.

"Myra." He said returning the smile.

"So you came with Rebekah ..." I said with a sigh.

"Yeah. Caroline already got on me about this. I just didn't want to say no. She's scary." He said, which caused me to laugh.

"Don't worry Matt. I'll protect you from the big bad vampire." I said causing him to laugh. Once the dance had ended, everyone clapped. Matt went to talk to Caroline, and I looked for Stefan. I found him in the library, and an unconscious Damon on the floor.

"What happened?"

"Elena's going to talk to Esther, and she didn't want Damon in the way." He explained.

"Is she gonna be okay?" I asked.

"She'll be fine. She can take care of herself." Stefan said. He looked at me.

"What?" I asked.

"I'm so sorry for everything I did." He said to me. I sighed.

"Stefan, I forgive you." I said moving towards him.

"I know. But no matter how many times I say it, I can't forgive myself." He said looking at me. I grabbed the sides of his face, and he sighed.

"The only way you and I are moving past everything that happened is if you forgive yourself. And all you have to do is listen to me." I paused.

"I'm not okay. I don't know if I'll ever be okay. My step-mom, who I thought was my mother, left my family and faked her death, just to be the one thing I use to loath . My dad has almost died a handful of times since we moved to this town. I've almost died. My ex-boyfriend did die. I've lost the people I've let in over and over again. " A tear fell from his eye. I wiped it softly.

"But, I met you. I met you, and I felt like this was heaven on earth. You made me feel like the only girl in the world. You were there for me, through everything. And I love you. Even if I didn't know it, I have loved you since I met you. And you hurt me, really bad. But I never hated you, I could never hate you. Because I love you, okay? And if my love for you can forgive what you did to me, then you're love for me can forgive yourself what you did to me. "He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

" Hey ... look at me. "He opened his eyes.

" I love you. And when the night is almost over, you can either hold on to this self-hatred, or you can forgive yourself. It's your choice. "I said giving him a kiss on the cheek, letting my lips linger for a few moments. As Damon started to stir himself, I whispered into his ear.

" Have fun with Damon. "I said before walking out of the library.

"Good Evening, Ladies and Gentleman. Waiters are coming around with champagne. I invite you all to join me in raising a glass. "Esther said from the top of the stairs. Just then, a glass full of champagne was in front of my face. I looked to my right and saw Kol. He smiled as I sighed and grabbed the glass from him.

"It provides me with no greater joy then to see my family back together as one. I'd like to thank you all for being part of this spectacular evening. Cheers! "I clinked glasses with Kol before drinking the whole glass.

" I love a girl who knows how to drink. "He said with a smile.

" Alright, let's get this straight. You and me? Never gonna happen. Not in either of our lifetimes. "I said handing him the glass. A few minutes later, I heard something going on outside. I walked outside and saw Damon snapping Kol's neck.

" Damon! "I yelled. He looked at me.

" Damon! Are you crazy? "Stefan asked running out the door. The rest of the Originals and Elena came outside and saw what happened.

" Maybe a little. "He turned to Elena.

" Far be it for me to cause a problem. "He said turning his back and walking away. I pulled up to Elena's house, and Elena and I got out of her car. We were walking towards the door, when I heard something behind me. I turned around and saw Stefan standing there.

"Hey . "I said. I turned to Elena.

" I'll meet you inside. "She nodded and went inside. I turned back towards him.

"The Originals are linked. If we kill one, they all go." He said. I nodded. "Elena explained everything." I said. He nodded.

"Is that all you wanted to say?" I asked moving towards him. He smiled.

"No. I.uh..thought you should know I forgave myself." He said, which caused me to smile.

I ran up to him and wrapped my arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around my waist and buried his face in my neck.

"I love you, so much." We pulled away, and he immediately cupped my face and kissed me. I smiled into the kiss and let my fingers run through his hair. He moved one of his hands down to my waist and pushed me against my car, causing the alarm to go off. I quickly pulled away from him and grabbed my keys out of my purse and unlocked the door, causing the alarm to go off. I locked the car and sighed. I looked at Stefan, and we both bursted out laughing. Once the laughing died down, Stefan looked at me.

"Okay I should ... um ... get home." "Yeah. And I have to check on my dad." I said pointing back at the house, but when I turned back towards him, he was in front of me. He stroked a piece of my hair out of my face, causing my chest to rise and fall, quickly.

"I'll see you tomorrow." He said. I nodded before he gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"Goodnight." He said before speeding away. I bit my lip and smiled, before walking inside.