Lucy woke slowly the next morning, her lover's arms wrapped tightly around her as he pressed kisses to the back of her neck. She smiled. "Good morning."

He hummed and kissed her again. "Good morning, kitten."

She turned so she was facing him and snuggled into his chest. "I need to find Elijah today. Klaus daggered him."

"If the hybrid wants him daggered, maybe we should just leave him daggered."

Lucy leaned back to look at the other vampire with an arched brow.

"Not forever. Just for now," Damon said, trying to placate her.

"Not gonna happen. Elijah is our best hope for everyone surviving his brother's attentions." She shrugged. "Besides, he's family. We don't abandon family."

Damon sighed. "We'll need a distraction. I'll talk to Stefan."

She pushed herself up on her elbow and smiled at her boyfriend. "You do have your moments of occasional brilliance, Mr. Salvatore."

"Why, thank you, Ms. Williams."

***

The most logical place for Elijah to be was Ric's apartment so they headed there first. Music blared from behind the door, undoubtedly pissing the neighbors off. Lucy glanced to Damon in question. She had a hard time imagining Klaus rocking out in the apartment while he waited to do the ritual. Damon only shrugged in response. He had no idea what was going on either. He tried the knob to find the door locked. He solved that problem with a sharp twist of the wrist and pushed the door open.

Katherine was dancing around the room, liquor bottle in hand. She jerked to a stop when she saw them. "What are you two doing here?"

"Well, it's certainly not to visit you," Lucy said.

"What are you doing?" Damon asked.

The doppelganger guzzled from the bottle and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "Having a party. What does it look like?"

"Klaus is toying with her. She's been compelled." Lucy looked at the woman in question again. "I think I liked it better when you were stabbing yourself. Maybe you should go back to that."

"Listen here you little—"

"Now, now," Damon interrupted. "You wouldn't want to make me angry would you, Katherine?"

Lucy ignored them and stepped around the couch to find Elijah laying on the floor, dagger in his chest. "You've really got to quit getting yourself in these situations," she muttered even though the Original couldn't hear her.

There was a blur and suddenly Katherine stood between Lucy and her uncle. "Klaus wants the dagger to remain where it is."

"You act like I give a shit. Move."

She shook her head as she crossed her arms and widened her stance. "I'm not going anywhere."

Lucy shrugged. "Suit yourself." She pulled out her gun with the vervain darts and shot the other woman three times.

Lucy shoved the doppelganger's body off Elijah and pulled the dagger from his chest. She sat in a chair near him to wait for him to wake.

Damon looked between her and Kathrine with wide eyes. "You shot her."

She smirked and held the gun out to her boyfriend. "You want a turn. It's fun."

He shook his head as he chuckled. "I'm good, thanks."

It didn't take long for Elijah to sit up with a gasp. Once he regained his bearings he looked between the others in the room. "Lucy. Damon. What happened this time?"

"Klaus," Lucy answered and Elijah nodded.

"We should go." He stood and straightened his suit. He glanced at Katherine and nudged her with the toe of her shoe. He looked to Lucy and she showed him the vervain gun. With a hum, he bent and collected the three darts from Katherine's chest before handing them over.

Lucy hopped up and kissed his cheek. "Thanks."

***

That evening found everyone gathered in the living room of the boarding house. Elijah and the Salvatores, including their girlfriends, sat on one side of the room while Cult Elena took the other. The Original explained the history of the doppelgangers and what exactly Klaus's plan was for Elena. He had just finished telling them of the elixir that would bring Elena back to life.

"And what if your elixir doesn't work?" Jeremy asked.

Elena shrugged a shoulder. "Then I stay dead."

Matt tensed beside her. "Are we seriously all going to pretend we're okay with this?"

Ric sighed. "Of course it's not okay. None of this is okay, but it's not like we have a lot of options here."

"Alaric is correct. The choices available to us are limited," Elijah said. "Trying to stop Klaus from undoing this curse will only lead to limitless death. Not only will he kill you, he'll kill anyone that ever meant anything to you."

Lucy's phone buzzed in her pocket and she pulled it out with a frown. Klaus. "Shit." She clenched her jaw as she answered. "Hello."

"Hello, Love. I believe you took something that belongs to me," the heavily accented voice drifted over the line.

"Sorry, I never learned to share as a child," she responded. It hadn't taken her long to realize the best way to communicate with the hybrid was a little flippancy mixed with just enough respect. He seemed amused by her. She'd take that as long as it kept her alive.

Damon sent her a glare but Elijah's lips twitched as he tried not to show his amusement.

Klaus chuckled. "And if I told you to dagger him again?"

Lucy's eyes darted up to Elijah. "You really want to use your last task for that? Plus I'd be dead, so..."

He hummed in thought. "Good point, love. Once again I see why my brother is so attached to you."

After a moment of silence she said, "Was there something else you wanted?"

"Yes, actually. Your last task will be keeping any of your little friends from interfering with the ritual tomorrow."

"I'll do what I can."

"See that you do." With that he hung up.

The three other vampires in the room had their eyes locked on Lucy, obviously having heard both sides of the conversation. "What did he want?" Elena finally asked.

"He wants her to keep anyone from interfering with the ritual tomorrow," Caroline explained.

Lucy looked between the others in the room. "Actually, he didn't say anything about me interfering."

***

They talked until late into the night trying to come up with a plan to avoid the ritual but failed miserably. Now they were sitting in the living room explaining to Ric what had happened while Klaus had control of his body. Elena excused herself and left the room, Lucy's eyes following her movements.

Elena was in some serious denial about the severity of her situation. It was breaking Caroline's heart and annoying the piss out of Lucy. She'd thought about forcing the teenager to drink her blood so she'd at least come back as a vampire, but she really didn't want an eternity of Elena.

Lucy followed the girl into the kitchen.

She rolled her eyes when she spotted the vampire. "What do you want?"

"You know, you could at least pretend like you give a shit if you die. It would make your friends feel better."

"They should be on their knees thanking me because I won't let anyone suffer because of me."

Lucy pinched the bridge of her nose. "So when you die, no one will suffer? Is that the thought process we're going with?"

Elena fisted her hands on her hips. "Of course, they'll mourn me if I die but that's just the way it is. At least I'll be remembered for more than spreading my legs for some man whore of a vampire."

Lucy immediately vamped out and stepped forward. Suddenly, Stefan stood in front of her, hands on her arms as he kept her from the human.

"Get out of my way, Stefan."

He shook his head. "Nope. No killing the teenager."

She focused on him instead of the trembling bitch behind him. "I'll only kill her a little bit."

"I am afraid that I cannot allow you to harm Elena before the ritual," Elijah said calmly as he gestured for Caroline to remove the sacrifice. "Are you going to behave yourself if Stefan releases you?"

Damon stepped up beside her and pulled her from his brother's hold. "Hands of my girl, Stef." He glanced to the Original. "Kitten here is going to be on her best behavior. Aren't you, kitten?"

Lucy grumbled an agreement as her face returned to normal.

Elijah smirked and shifted his attention back to Damon. "Perhaps you should take her out of the house for the time being?"

Damon nodded and led his girlfriend outside. "Alright, baby, whatever shall we do to keep you distracted?"

She blinked. "Well, since we apparently aren't allowed to run everyone out of the house with obnoxiously loud sexual activities, to the grill, Salvatore. I need a drink."