𝟒𝟏

a/n: Charlotte's outfit for the chapter is above!

☆═━ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐘 𝐎𝐍𝐄━═☆

Charlotte, Stefan, and Elena were standing in the living room with Elijah as he said, "Tonight is the full moon. We should assume that Klaus is prepared to break the curse."

"Elena said that the Sun and the Moon curse is fake?" Stefan recalled before stating, "That it's actually just a curse placed on Klaus."

Elijah nodded, "Klaus is a vampire born of a werewolf bloodline. The curse has kept his werewolf aspect from manifesting. But if he breaks it...," He trailed off, finishing, "He'll be a true hybrid."

Charlotte turned around as Damon joined in, suggesting, "Then why are we letting him break the curse? We can kill him today. With Bonnie."

"Damon..."

"Bonnie is a kid, okay? What part of that got lost in translation?" Charlotte sucked in a deep breath as she addressed him, "A witch but still very much a kid. She can't use that much power without dying."

He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, "I'll write her a great eulogy."

"It's not an option, Damon," Elena dismissed, shaking her head.

Stefan turned to Elijah, questioning, "All right, how do we break this curse?"

"Well, the ritual itself is relatively straightforward. The ingredients, so to speak, you already know."

Stefan started, "The moonstone."

"A witch will channel the power of the full moon to release the spell that's bound within the stone," Elijah elaborated, his hands in his pockets, "After that, Klaus, being both werewolf and vampire, will sacrifice one of each."

Elena asked, "And where do I fit into it?"

"The final part of the ritual," He took a wooden box from the shelf, "Klaus must drink the blood of the doppelgänger...to the point of your death."

Charlotte looked at Elena, noticing how nervous she was getting before she mouthed, you will be okay, right? Elena nodded, taking her rubbing her friend's arm in reassurance.

Elijah opened the box and took a jar from it as Elena said, "And that's where you come in."

"This is an elixir that I acquired some 500 years ago for Katerina. It possesses mystical properties of resuscitation," He explained shortly.

"So I'll be dead?"

He shrugged simply, "And then you won't."

Damon scoffed, "That's your plan? A magical witch potion with no expiration date?" He turned to Elena, suggesting, "You want to come back to life, what about John's ring?"

"Those rings only work on humans. The doppelgänger's a supernatural occurrence," Elijah stated before clarifying, "Odds are, the ring won't work."

"I'll take those odds over your elixir," Damon claimed, turning to Elena, "What if it doesn't work, Elena?"

"Then I guess I'll just be dead...," She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly as Damon exchanged a look with Stefan and Charlotte.

"Hey, we don't have to think like that, okay?" Charlotte spoke up, turning to Elena, "It will work. You will live and everything will be fine."

Damon sighed, rolling his eyes, "That's your solution? Delusional positivity?"

Charlotte turned to him, crossing her arms, "I am holding onto hope which is better than rolling in my silk sheets and doing nothing with my life but spread hate and negativity wherever I go."

He shook his head at her before walking out of the room. Everyone stayed quiet for a few seconds before Elena questioned, "Do we know if Klaus has everything he needs to do this? Does he have a werewolf?"

"Klaus has been waiting to break this curse for over a thousand years. If he doesn't already have a werewolf, my guess is by tonight, he will."

✵ ✵ ✵

Charlotte stood in her bedroom, speaking with Serena over the phone, "No, Serena, you don't force a child to study. You convince them."

"How? She doesn't want to," Serena huffed out from the other line, "All she wants to do is play with Ginger and watch TV."

"Breaks and Rewards," Charlotte shrugged her shoulders, stating, "You tell her that if she studies you will take her to have ice cream, that's the rewards' part. Tell her that every twenty minutes of studying, you will test her new knowledge. She succeeds, she gets a break."

"How do you know all that? Are you a mom and I don't know?"

The brunette vampire chuckled, shaking her head, "No, I am not. I just watch a lot of videos online, helpful ones. That's how I got her to like studying with me."

"Wait, I will test the theory..."

"It's not a theory, it's guaranteed."

Charlotte rolled her eyes as Serena shushed her before the vampire caught on some noise outside, Jenna's, "Hey, Serena...I am going to have to call you back."

The brunette hung up before sprinting downstairs to find Jenna, holding a crossbow, pointed at Alaric, "Woah..."

"Charlotte, hey, it's me, okay?" Alaric turned to her and she raised a suspicious eyebrow, "Not you, too."

"What? I have every right to doubt you now."

Damon and Stefan rejoined them along with Elijah and Elena as the doppelganger asked, "What's going on?"

"It's me, Elena, I swear, okay? He let me go. Klaus let me go," Alaric claimed, turning to her.

Damon shrugged, "Prove it."

He looked at Jenna, starting, "Okay, uh, first night you and I spent together, Jeremy walked in right when I was about to—"

Jenna cut him, lowering the crossbow, "Okay, it's him."

Charlotte pursed her lips in a straight line before Stefan asked, "Why did he let you go?"

"He wanted me to deliver a message. The sacrifice happens tonight."

✵ ✵ ✵

They all sat in the living room, excluding Damon as Stefan inquired, "So you don't remember anything that happened?"

"No. It's like I blacked out and woke up three days later," Alaric shook his head before recalling, "Katherine was there...Paulina, too."

"She's under compulsion. Damon snuck her some vervain, but she can't leave until Klaus tells her she can," Stefan stated before Charlotte rubbed her hands together.

"And as for Lina or Paulina...whatever it is, she is helping him and yeah, that's pretty much all," She nodded to herself, concluding as Alaric looked at her then at Elijah.

"Where is Damon?"

"I saw him go upstairs," Jenna answered before Elena got up and went straight upstairs.

"So what else did I do?"

Charlotte shook her head at his question, "It wasn't you, Mr. Saltzman. Just don't stress thinking about it."

Alaric leaned back on his chair, nodding, "That's probably the healthiest thing to do right now."

No one replied before Charlotte's phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it to see a text from Serena. It worked but she doesn't want the 'reward'. she wants to see u. Think you could be here in an hour.

Charlotte pulled the keyboard on the screen but before she could type out a reply, she heard Elena's scream upstairs and out of instinct, vamp-sped upstairs just as Stefan was pushing Damon off of Elena. Charlotte picked her up, noticing the blood covering her mouth, she frowned in confusion.

"What did you do?! Huh? What did you do?!" Stefan barked out.

"I saved her life," Damon turned to Elena, standing in Charlotte's arms, "You're so bent on dying, at least this way I know you'll come back."

"As a vampire!" Stefan gritted out, "She'll come back a vampire!"

"It's better than nothing else."

Charlotte scoffed, shaking her head at him before turning to Elena, the tears already rolling down her cheeks as she looked at Damon, "Hey...it's going to be fine...I promise."

"I don't want to be a vampire," Elena shook her head, in answer to Charlotte.

Stefan pushed Damon back, questioned, "How could you, of all people, take that choice away from her?"

He looked at Elena once again, "Go ahead, wish me an eternity of misery. Believe me, you'll get over it."

Stefan rushed over to Damon and pushed him as Elena called over, "Stefan!"

Damon took a wooden stick and pushed Stefan against a wall with it, "Admit it. You just wish you had the balls to do it yourself."

Charlotte let go of Elena before walking over to them and pulling Damon away. She threw him off with enough force for him to collide with the floor, "You are not even worth the breath any of us is going to waste fighting you."

Elena rushed over to check on Stefan before she looked at Damon, "Get out of here!"

Jenna and Alaric arrived, the latter asking, "What the hell's going on?"

"Get him out of here!"

Alaric went toward Damon but he pushed him, got up, and left.

✵ ✵ ✵

Elena and Stefan left for the day, something about the important talk involving Elena becoming a vampire. Charlotte took the chance and went to the market. She bought a box of chocolate ice cream before ordering a cab to Serena's.

She rang the door's bell. Cassie opened the door and jumped up, finding her at the door, "You are here!"

"I am here!"

"And you got ice cream!" Cassie added before Charlotte sat down on her knees to embrace her, "I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too, Cassie," Charlotte replied, rubbing her back

Serena joined, giving her a small smile before bending down to pick up the ice cream box, "I will leave you two to be sentimental and go have an important meeting with that box."

Charlotte chuckled as Cassie ran after her sister, "Hey, that's my reward, remember?!"

✵ ✵ ✵

Charlotte and Cassie sat in the back yard of the Bernard's house, playing with Cassie's many dolls, "And that...I like to call her, Miss Truth."

"Hmm...very thoughtful," The vampire commented, knitting her eyebrows in slight confusion.

She shrugged her shoulders, "Good traits make good people. That applies to dolls, too."

Charlotte nodded, thinking it over, "You are a very unique girl, Cassie."

Cassie smiled at that, standing up to hug Charlotte, "You too."

She hugged her back, opening her eyes to see a blond man staring back at her behind the fence. Charlotte kept her composure and tried to stay calm before pulling back from her niece, "Hey...uh, why don't you go inside? Help Serena with the popcorn?"

"Okay, but don't forget to get the dolls."

She nodded, ushering her inside. Charlotte checked that her niece got inside the house before turning around but instead of finding the man standing behind the fence, he was right in front of her.

"Hmm...either you are a very stupid creepy guy or the Klaus..."

He smirked, replying, "Let's go with the Klaus."

✵ ✵ ✵

Charlotte sucked in a deep breath as Klaus pushed her inside Alaric's apartment. Katherine looked up, frowning when she recognized Charlotte, "Kidnapping me is not going to make tonight any easier."

Klaus shook his head, chuckling, "Oh, you think this is a safety precaution? It is not."

"Then what is it? And how did you even manage to get me in Mr. Saltzman's apartment? I have never been invited in."

He shrugged, "Lina and I had that part covered a little while ago."

Charlotte rolled her eyes, leaning back in her place. Rethinking why she didn't listen to Stefan's advice when he said that the smartest thing to do with Originals in town is to ingest vervain.

✵ ✵ ✵

Katherine had gotten to Jenna Sommers. The Bernard vampire knew that Damon would interfere with the plan one way or another which would directly put Jenna at risk, as she was the backup vampire. She sat with her head in her hands on the couch right in front of the door.

"Hi..."

She looked up at Paulina but didn't respond, wrapping her arms around herself. The Gilbert pursed her lips together before turning to Katherine, "Leave us alone."

The doppelganger shrugged her shoulders, walking inside before Paulina sat beside her best friend, "I know how you see me right now, and if I was in your shoes then I would have seen the same thing but just...trust me on this, I have a reason to why I am doing this—"

"I don't care," Charlotte cut her off, shaking her head, "I don't want to know it. All I know and care about is the only person who had been there for me since I got out of the tomb, the only person who understood me and trusted me...and she is about to die and I am locked in here and I can't do anything about it."

"I am trying to protect you. You don't know what the Salvatores may start, I don't want you getting caught in the crossfire."

She raised her eyebrows, running her tongue over her bottom lip, "Paulina...I wish you could just stop caring about me and my well-being because it doesn't do me any good."

Paulina sighed, feeling her eyes water with tears, "I am not doing this to hurt you, I swear."

"Sometimes I wake up and I wish I had never known this version of you...I wish that you died as Paulina Gilbert. A true, honest, and loyal friend. Not a shell of the girl I used to know."

Paulina rose to her feet, nodding before she walked out of the apartment as Charlotte leaned her back on the couch. Katherine walked out of the room, commenting, "Well, that was harsh."

"Shut up."

✵ ✵ ✵

Klaus entered the apartment, asking, "Where's Lina? And Maddox? He should be back by now."

"Paulina left earlier," Katherine answered before shrugging, "I don't know about Maddox."

He sat down and opened the laptop. Charlotte raised her head, hoping to see if whatever he watched had something to do with what should happen tonight. It showed a live video of Jules lying on the floor of a cellar, chained to the wall and the brunette's face paled. Backups.

"What are you doing? Where's Elena?"

"I sent her off with Greta," He stated, looking at Jules that was still transitioning, "It's almost time."

The door opened. Katherine, Charlotte, and Klaus looked at the door as the Original commented, "I wasn't aware you'd been invited in."

Charlotte furrowed her eyebrows as Damon said, "I've come here to tell you that you have to postpone the ritual."

"Didn't we already have this conversation?"

"Yeah, but that was before I rescued your werewolf and vampire and killed your witch," Damon shrugged his shoulders, claiming.

Klaus got up, raising an eyebrow, "Excuse me?"

Damon continued, stating, "And you can kill me for it. I don't care. It was all...me."

"Damon...what are you doing?" Charlotte spoke up as the Salvatore turned to face, only spotting her then.

"Katerina, give us a moment," He said and Katherine exchanged a worried look with Charlotte before walking inside, "I've heard about you. The crazy, impulsive vampire in love with his brother's girl. I knew one of you would try to stop me. It was a just a 50/50 guess on who."

He showed Damon the video of Jules, "The nice thing about werewolves is they tend to travel in packs. Need a closer look?" Klaus threw him the cellphone so he can see it better.

"Jules."

"When you spend a thousand years trying to break a curse...You learn a thing or two. First rule...always have a backup," Klaus smirked, stating, "Backup werewolf. Backup witch."

"Backup vampire."

He nodded, "I've got that covered, too."

Within a while, Klaus left for the ritual after snapping Damon's neck. Charlotte and Katherine sat down beside him, the Bernard giving him blood from a blood bag as Katherine tried to slap him awake.

"Hey. Damon," She slapped him as Charlotte rolled her eyes, "Hey. Damon!"

He woke up, gasping, "Ahh. What the hell happened?"

"He's gone. He went to do the ritual," Charlotte answered, passing Katherine a look, "But that's not it...The backup vampire? It's not me, not Katherine, hell, not even you."

"Who is it?"

"It's Jenna, Damon."

He shook his head, getting up from the floor, "Should have used me. Why didn't he use me?"

"He couldn't," Katherine shrugged her shoulders, answering, "Damon, he said you were as good as dead."

"What does that even mean?" Charlotte questioned, rubbing the back of her neck in confusion.

Katherine raised an eyebrow, repeating, "What does that mean?" She pointed to the bite on Damon's forearm, "What is this, Damon?"

"It's a werewolf bite."

"What?!" She scoffed out, "An incurable fatal to a vampire werewolf bite?"

✵ ✵ ✵