R e c k o n i n g

"I come bearing gifts!" announced Caroline standing at the entrance of the Gilbert home.

"Please tell me that's not chili" sighed the doppelgänger earning a big smile from the blonde who stepped aside, and Bonnie appeared with Malik, both of them had a massive smile on their faces.

"Bonnie! Malik!" exclaimed the brunette excitedly.

"We're back!" chorused the Bennett twins and Bonnie embraced Elena.

"We leave town for the summer, and everything goes to hell for the both of you" added Malik looking at the girls.

Caroline and Elena looked at each other agreeing with that statement when Jeremy came down the stairs.

"Bonnie!"

"Jeremy"

She rushed over to him; they kissed and embraced each other. Malik just stood there rubbing his temples but keeping his eyes closed, not wanting to watch his friend and sister make out.

on the floor and spoke immediately out in the open.

"Oh come here Mal" offered in Caroline and the two girls hugged the boy who just pouted and mumbled before they walked into the kitchen; the girls laughing, but they all waited for Bonnie and Jeremy to talk before the younger boy returned to his room.

"Okay, I have to ask. Is it safe for you coming back?" asked Caroline looking at the warlock. "I mean won't Klaus come after you?"

"Don't worry Care" responded the warlock as he looked at the chilli. "Before the witches cut us off, they placed a protection spell on me, making it impossible for Klaus to track me. "

"Are you sure..."

"Caroline, I stayed with my dad's side of the family all summer. Do you think that if I thought they could be in danger I would have stayed there?"

"Fair point" mumbled the blonde while Elena just shook her head with a smile.

Soon enough Bonnie joined them as well, sitting opposite Elena she began to describe their summer.

"The problem with our dad's normal side of the family is normal made for a really boring summer."

"After the last few days, I would kill for a normal family" commented Caroline while she was helping Elena decant the chilli in a casserole. "Since when did you learn how to cook?"

"Damon helped a little" admitted Elena quietly but it was impossible for the others not to hear it.

"Damon is helping you cook now?" chorused the Bennett twins immediately.

"All of you stop judging. He's just trying to be a good... ow!" hissed Elena and stepped back from the hot chilli.

"What's wrong? Did I splash you?" panicked Caroline.

"No, no, my necklace" explained Elena and she pulled the pendant of the necklace off her skin and they all saw how her skin had a burn mark where the pendant touched her skin. "It burned me."

"Maybe it's a sign you shouldn't be wearing it" commented Caroline offhandedly.

"Caroline..." warned Bonnie immediately looking at her best friend.

"What, I'm just saying. If you're going to be "cooking" without Stefan"

"Let me see it" interrupted Malik not taking his eyes off the necklace.

Elena held it out while Malik looked at the pendant and slowly reached out to it. Bonnie was quiet for a bit but the moment she was about to stop the boy he touched the necklace and the electric shock made him pull his hand back and Elena dropped the necklace on the table. They all looked at each other before Malik looked at the necklace again and putting his hand over it he performed a quick spell before grabbing it handed it back to Elena.

"It should be fine now... we need to find a way to identify what just happened to it."

"Could you not use your... you know" tried Elena pointing at him, but before he could have answered Bonnie interrupted.

"It's not safe for him to use his clairvoyant abilities, you know with the whole Klaus thing. But we have a spell for it, just need to find it. I'll see you at the Lockwood Mansion!"

The lawns of the mansion was filled with people sitting at tables at the party. Elena and Caroline are sitting apart from the party on a bench waiting for the Bennett duo to arrive and finally join them with the grimoire.

"We have an identification spell that might be able to tell me what magic affected the necklace. "Elena gave them the necklace and Bonnie continued. "It's going to take a while, so tell me if anyone's coming, okay?"

Instead of the lookout Caroline turned to Elena and began her interrogation immediately.

"So, you're not, like, switching Salvatores, are you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"As your friend who worries for you daily, what is the deal with you and Damon?"

"There is no deal. He's been just as focused on finding Stefan as I have."

"Yeah, but that doesn't make him any less Damon. If my own father, who I love dearly, can't change me. No one's changing Damon. Not even you."

"Look, why are we even talking about this?" questioned Elena, hoping to change the subject when Bonnie interrupted.

"Hey guys"

They all turned there and saw how the necklace pendant was levitating and rising slowly in the air.

"What are you doing?"

"We're not doing anything" stated Bonnie immediately.

"It has its own magic" added Malik and kept looking at the necklace.

As it was levitating Malik raised both of his hands and the necklace part rose higher than the pendant and slowly wrapped around Malik's hand until it fell into his palm making the boy look up at the girls and spoke gently.

"I believe it's best if me and Bonnie keep this for the time being. We need to make sure it won't have any more episodes like this."

Malik went with Bonnie to visit Jeremy, they wanted to spend some time together while also looking for the answers, which is why he was surrounded by Grimoires while Bonnie was also looking and Jeremy set up a few candles around them. Malik sat back at the wall looking at the necklace that seemed to be hugging his hand, Malik did not try to take it off and it seemed the necklace was comfortable there as well.

There was something about the magic imbued within it that made Malik feel calm.

"Okay, tell me if you see anything in these grimoires that involves precious metals or a symbol that resembles a necklace" instructed Bonnie looking at Jeremy who just nodded at first but suddenly asked:

"Wait, can't you just ask all the dead witches you were channelling?"

"We don't have access to them anymore. They cut us off when we brought you back to life." explained Bonnie gently. "I know I should have told you. I told Elena when it happened. I just didn't want you to feel weird about it, you know?"

"No, look, you don't have to apologize for anything. Okay? You didn't do anything wrong. "

"Elena said you've been having kind of a hard time since then" spoke Malik looking at the boy who put on a smile and he noticed Jeremy was thinking about something but then he just avoided it.

" No, I'm fine. You know, just been a little out of it lately. So should I concentrate on the older books? I mean, how old is this necklace?"

" Old" answered Bonnie and she laughed.

Jeremy sat down on the floor with them and picked up a grimoire, but Malik did not take his eyes off of him, Jeremy looked up and while Malik held out the necklace for him to memorise it's design the warlock noticed how Jeremy's expression changed. Like he noticed something next to the warlock, that was the moment when Malik felt some strange wave in the room.

The next moment all the grimoires burst into flames, surprising them, but seeing the burning grimoire in Jeremy's hand Bonnie screamed out and Malik immediately casted his spell.

"Suctas incenda!"

As the flames disappeared Malik let out a sigh and leaning back rubbed his temples while Bonnie checked up on Jeremy.

" Are you okay?"

" What the hell just happened?"

" I have no idea."

"I better go and check up on Elena and Caroline" spoke Malik seeing Jeremy's face and got up from the floor. "Jer, would you let me out?"

"Sure man" answered the boy and they walked downstairs.

As they got to the door Malik opened it but turned around and Jeremy already knew what his best friend was going to say.

"I should have told her, shouldn't I?"

"Yes... if it has anything to do with us bringing you back to life then yes... please do. Now, I have to go and check up on the girls."

It was night time, Malik once again cursed the fact he let his sister and her friends so easily convince him to join them for their senior prank.

But there he was, in the dark setting up mousetraps with all the others when he heard someone enter but before any of them could have said anything they set off the mousetraps. They turned on the lights and they all saw Matt standing there in gym clothes, sweaty and slightly frightened, but before anyone could have reacted Caroline exclaimed immediately.

"Seriously?! Do you know how long it took for us to set all this up?!"

"Forgot about senior prank night, huh?" asked Tyler with a smile.

" How could you forget? We've only been waiting for this since like freshman year" came the shocked voice of Caroline.

"Yeah, Matt. If I'm doing this, you're doing this" stated Elena immediately.

" I'm kind of surprised any of you are doing this."

" Caroline's making us" chorused Malik and Bonnie at the same time earning a look from the blonde before she turned to everyone.

"We're about to be seniors. These are the memories that will stay with us forever, and if we don't..."

"And if we don't create these memories now, then what's the point of it all?" teased Elena with a smile.

" Go ahead and make fun, I don't care."

"You're all lame. And I've got ten more classrooms to prank" announced Tyler as he got up, then he took his bag and left with a smile, Elena was about to leave too when Bonnie looked at her.

"Where are you going?"

" To superglue Alaric's desk shut. I'm making memories."

They all smiled and while the doppelgänger left Caroline shouted after her.

"I love you!"

"Alright Bonnie, why don't you take Matt with you to the pool and work your magic there" winked Malik which just made Bonnie sigh but getting up walked out and dragged the boy with him.

Malik turned to Caroline who had a big smile on her face and looking at the boy was about to speak when he just shook his head and continued to talk.

"Just go and see Tyler, I'll be fine. I'll deal with these mousetraps."

Caroline just nodded with a big smile and left, Malik stayed in the classroom and sitting on the desk he just looked around and scratching his head got up and collecting his bag walked to the door and waving his hand slowly all the mousetraps readjusted themselves. The warlock just smirked and turning off the light left the room and walking on the corridor noticed how empty it was.

He felt a cold sensation running through the air, he heard whispers around him and in an instant he knew what had happened. His eyes widened and his head began pounding but he knew it was inevitable.

Klaus was there.

He knew the hybrid did not know about him just yet but if he was in the building he would find Elena. And from there things would go down.

He began walking down the corridor and as he did so the cold feeling began to grow. As he walked ahead he got to the gym and going in wanted to address Elena when he noticed Klaus standing there with her.

"There you are!" exclaimed Klaus with a smirk and appearing in front of the warlock leaned closer.

"Leave him alone!" came the voice of Bonnie from behind them, Klaus only glanced back for a moment but a smirk still sat on his face, then returned his attention to Malik.

" I assume you're the reason Elena's still alive?" came the voice of Klaus which sent shivers down in spine.

"That's right. If you want to blame someone, I'm right here."

"Oh, there's no need for blame, love. Just your witchy interference seems to have caused some undesirable side effects. And since you caused the problem, I'm going to have you and your sister find the solution."

And just as he suspected things went down quickly.

Klaus grabbed his arm and began to take him tot h others, Bonnie stayed close to matt to protect him while Elena was worried, not sure what to do while Dana and Chad stayed on the bench hugging and crying in fear and right after all of that a blonde girl strutted in dragging Tyler with her.

"Get off of me!"

" Hush now" reprimanded the blonde girl with a smile on her face and turned towards Klaus who nudged Malik towards Elena.

" I'd like you all to meet my sister Rebekah. A little heads up: she can be quite mean."

" Don't be an ass" responded the girl and threw Tyler into Klaus's arms.

" Leave him alone!" demanded Elena immediately but the hybrid did not even acknowledge her presence.

" I'm going to make this very simple... Every time I attempt to turn a werewolf into a vampire hybrid, they die during the transition. It's quite horrible, actually" he bit his wrist and forced Tyler to drink it, making Malik step back in fear and grabbed Elena's hand. "I need you to find a way to save my hybrids, witches. And for Tyler's sake... You better hurry."

Without a moment of hesitation broke his neck and Tyler fell on the ground dead. They were all shocked and Klaus just smiled then he indicated his sister and they walked to the side and sitting there watched everyone. Rebekah enjoyed the scene greatly, but her interest got peaked even more when he noticed her brother keeping his eyes his eyes on Malik.

The boy rushed to Tyler and getting on the floor next to him put his hand on his chest but he felt nothing, just the cold eery sensation of death, making him slowly pull his hand back and stayed quiet when Matt, Bonnie and Elena arrived next to him.

"He killed him" Matt could not believe it and looked at the others.

" He's not dead. Klaus's blood will turn him into a vampire."

Klaus and Rebekah got up and strutted over to the group, grabbing Elena and pulling Malik up to him spoke.

" And if Bonnie's successful, he'll live through his transition. Go on, then. Go and fetch your grimoires and enchantments. I'll hold on to Elena and Malik... for safe keeping."

Bonnie was worried, seeing her best friend and brother with the original hybrid, but as she looked at them Elena and Malik nodded her, she slowly backed away and rushed out of the gym with Matt. Klaus turned his head towards Malik while Rebekah looked at Elena.

"So this is the latest doppelgänger. The original one was much prettier."

" Enough, Rebekah. Take the wolf boy elsewhere, would you?"

"And who is this" asked the girl and looked at Malik. "You're usually not this obsessed with witches."

"Ah, Malik here is a very special type of warlock" explained Klaus but then indicated her to move on with Tyler.

Rebekah dragged Tyler behind her by his arm and left, the trio just watched her drag Tyler's dead body out. That is until Klaus just chuckled and letting go of Elena turned towards Malik and getting close up to him looked him in the eye and spoke in a dangerous tone.

"I've had my people look for you all this time and they couldn't find you... I felt a bit hurt that you sneaked out on me."

"Shame, I was hoping it would hurt more."

"You're very brave... but that doesn't matter. Find the original witch and get the information out of her."

Malik was about to argue when he looked over the other three people in there, knowing full well Klaus would kill Chad or Dana in an instant.

"Fine" sighed the boy and began walking out of there.

Once he left he picked himself a classroom, he collected candles from around other rooms and once it was set up he lit the candles and standing in the middle closed his eyes and lifted his hands in front of him.

As he cleared his mind he began to see everything around him, everyone in the school:

Rebekah with Caroline and Tyler

Stefan murdering Chad and Dana after Klaus compelled him to do so.

Elena crying.

Bonnie running on the corridors.

Matt jumping into the pool with weights on him.

But he had to push through all of that, his only chance to save his friends was to find the answers Klaus wanted. Taking a deep breath he let it all go and suddenly everything became quiet and eery around him. He couldn't feel nature or the spirits.

He was at the edge of the other side.

Something was pushing him back, making it really hard for him to focus, opening his eyes one of them had the golden glow while the other remained normal. By being two places at once he could see the other side and his own, Klaus standing right in front of him.

"Have you found her?" asked Klaus, but there was no smugness or threat.

"I think she's trying to reject me, push me back so I cannot make contact..."

"Interesting" spoke Klaus and with a smirk continued. "Channel me, should be more than enough to break through."

Malik just gave an unimpressed look but grabbing his hand began to channel him and with a strong force he pushed through. Klaus kept looking at the boy and noticed how his other eye also turned golden. At that point the hybrid knew that Malik did not see him, his face was too calm and collected.

However soon enough the warlock began to shake and his nose was bleeding, following that blood dripped from his eyes as well making the hybrid worried.

In an instant he got into his head and saw Malik standing against multiple witches but he could not see the original witch, making him put a hand on Malik's shoulder and spoke gently.

"Let's head back little warlock. It seems my mother has other plans."

Malik just nodded and both of them were back in the classroom, the candles gone out and Malik was panting, tried to steady himself but as his legs were about to give up he was suddenly caught by the hybrid.

"There, there. I got you love" offered Klaus and wiped off the blood from the boy's face.

"Thank you..."

"What happened there?" interrogated the vampire immediately while holding onto the boy.

"They were blocking me from summoning her. I think she is trying to communicate with someone else."

"I think I know who that is" smirked Klaus and began walking out with Malik on his side, still holding him firmly.

As they walked through the corridors Klaus did not say a word, Malik just tried to keep up with him but did not make conversation either. He knew well where they were heading, he just wasn't sure he was happy about it.

Seeing Matt and Bonnie Klaus placed a hand on his mouth keeping him quiet seeing their conversation.

"It worked. I saw Vicki."

"You did?"

" She said she had a message for you. From the witch that put the hybrid curse on Klaus. She said that Elena shouldn't have survived Klaus' ritual. The hybrids can't transition because Elena's still alive."

" Tyler..." whispered the witch worried.

" He's going to die, isn't he?"

" I wouldn't be too sure about that" spoke up Klaus making the two of them turn and look at them." Given the choice: doppelgänger or a hybrid, I go hybrid every time."

Immediately they disappeared from there, after a while Klaus stopped and placing the boy down on the floor left him there and went off elsewhere. Malik had tears in his eyes, he was praying to the spirits that Elena was going to be alright.

They couldn't lose another person in their life.

As he was sitting there he suddenly felt a presence but refused to look up, not wanting to know the outcome just yet. But it seemed Klaus had different ideas. Pulling him up dragged him to the classroom, Malik only just noticed that Caroline and Tyler were in there with Rebekah.

" Well, the verdict's in. The original witch says the doppelgänger should be dead."

"Does that mean we can kill her?" asked Rebekah getting up, she clearly looked happy hearing that news.

"No, I'm fairly certain it means the opposite. Call it a hunch..." spoke Klaus and he showed a test tube containing blood to Tyler.

Rebekah held Caroline so she couldn't move but Malik's eyes widened and in an instant his mind cleared, and it all made sense to him. All the stories, the origin of the vampires. The blood that was used to turn Klaus into a vampire...

How did he not see this before?

" Elena's blood. Drink it" spoke Klaus offering it to Tyler who was clearly in pain.

" No! No, no, no, Tyler, don't!" protested Caroline.

"If he doesn't feed, he'll die anyway. Consider this an experiment. It's okay" continued Klaus but seeing Tyler's confused face Malik walked closer and putting his hands on Klaus' earned his attention and to Rebekah's and Caroline's shock allowed the warlock to take the blood and turning to Tyler spoke gently.

"It will be okay Tyler, trust me. You will feel a lot better after. This can save you!"

Caroline was shocked while the originals looked at the warlock with a surprised face but they had smiles on. Tyler looked at the boy and seeing his gentle smile took the tube and drank the blood.

"There we go."

Tyler coughed, rolled over the desk, and fell to the floor, screaming, groaning and writhing. He held his head and screamed but his face finally changed.

His eyes were yellow, he had fangs and veins under his eyes.

" Well, that's a good sign" commented Klaus turning to Malik.

Malik just nodded and let out a relieved sigh.

Yes it wasn't good in the eye of nature that now there was a way to create hybrids, but it also meant that Klaus wasn't about to kill Elena either.

The rest of their problem was irrelevant in that moment.

Klaus disappeared from there, Rebekah walked out with a smug expression and Caroline immediately tended to Tyler. Malik managed to get up and walking out of there went to find Bonnie. Soon enough he ran into Bonnie, the girl rushed to him and hugged her brother tightly.

None of them said a word, they just stood there hugging, once they let go of each other they just exchanged a look and walked towards the weight room. Matt was tying his shoelaces when they got there.

" Hey. Listen to me. I know you want to help, and I know you miss your sister. But what you did was reckless and stupid."

" I know, Bonnie. But it worked. It was worth it" answered Matt and looked at Malik, the boy just kept eye contact but Matt couldn't decide what he was thinking.

"You don't want to be a part of all this, Matt. You are the only one of us who actually gets to live your life like a normal person, no matter how lost you feel. Don't forget that."

"I get it, Bonnie. I'll be out in a minute, okay? Vicki's here. Watching me, and I just, uh, I just need a minute to say good-bye, okay?"

"Okay"

They both walked away from there to the parking lot to wait for Matt. The sun was already coming up which made them shake their head but then Bonnie spoke up.

"I wonder where Jeremy is, he's not picking up his phone"

"I'm not sure..." started Malik but his mind was flooded with images and he heard someone talk.

" How do you know that Anna wasn't tricking you?"

" This is the place. It's the oldest wing of the largest cemetery in Charlotte. She said that a witch entombed him here in the nineties."

"Jeremy" whispered Malik and the last thing he saw was a desiccated body lying there wrapped in chains until suddenly his eyes opened up and everything turned dark.