Chapter 65: Rebekah's Awakening - Part 1
POV: Sam Barton
The warehouse feels different this time—less like discovering secrets and more like standing at the edge of a cliff about to jump.
Elijah approaches Rebekah's coffin with the reverence of someone handling explosives, which I suppose he is in a metaphorical sense. My Mind Shield and Defensive Shield clones flank me on either side, ready to catch whatever fury an awakened Original vampire decides to unleash.
"Last chance to reconsider," Elijah says quietly, his hand hovering over the dagger embedded in his sister's heart.
"We're out of time," I reply. "Klaus wakes in three days regardless. Rebekah needs to be conscious and informed before that happens."
Stefan and Caroline stand near the exit—close enough to help if things go catastrophically wrong, far enough to run if they go worse than catastrophically wrong.
Elijah grips the white oak ash dagger, takes a breath he doesn't need, and pulls.
The effect is immediate and terrifying.
Color floods back into Rebekah's desiccated form like watching a corpse reanimate in fast-forward. Her blonde hair brightens from dull gray to shining gold. Her skin shifts from mummified to flawless porcelain. Her body fills out as vampirism reactivates, healing ninety years of suspended animation in seconds.
Her eyes snap open—gold and absolutely furious.
She moves faster than I can track, blurring across the warehouse to slam Elijah against the wall with her hand around his throat.
"You daggered me!" Rebekah snarls, and her voice carries centuries of rage. "You swore you'd never—"
Then she notices my clones.
Rebekah freezes mid-sentence, her gold eyes tracking the five shadowy figures positioned defensively around the warehouse. Her grip on Elijah loosens slightly.
"What are those?" she asks, her fury temporarily displaced by confusion.
"Protection," I reply calmly, though my heart's racing fast enough that she can probably hear it. "And proof that the world's changed while you've been sleeping."
Rebekah releases Elijah, moving toward me with predatory grace. She circles like a cat assessing prey, studying my clones with fascination that's somehow more terrifying than her anger.
"You're human," she observes. "But you command... shadows? Dark magic? Some witch's familiar?"
"Something like that," I deflect. "My name is Sam Barton, and before you kill anyone, you should hear what's happened since 1920."
"1935," Rebekah corrects bitterly. "Klaus daggered me in New York after I tried leaving with a sailor he deemed 'unworthy.' Ninety years ago."
The pain in her voice makes Caroline flinch sympathetically.
"Your brother Klaus is daggered," Elijah explains rapidly, stepping between Rebekah and me despite the futility—if she wants me dead, Elijah can't stop her. "He's been imprisoned for months. Sam Barton has unique powers and has built an alliance to manage Klaus's return peacefully."
Rebekah's laugh is harsh. "Manage Nik peacefully? He's an Original Hybrid who's spent a thousand years perfecting cruelty. What makes you think anything about his awakening will be peaceful?"
"Because he broke his curse," I say, and that stops her cold.
"What?"
I gesture for Caroline, who approaches carefully with her phone displaying images we've prepared—photos of Klaus's art that Stefan remembers from the 1920s, references to the hybrid ritual from Rose's historical documents, evidence of Klaus's success.
"Your brother triggered his werewolf side," I explain. "He's free to be what he always wanted—a true hybrid combining vampire and werewolf strengths. We're not trying to cage him. We're trying to prevent him from creating an army of hybrids that would threaten everyone, including your family."
Rebekah examines the phone like it's a magical artifact, which I suppose to someone from 1935, it basically is.
"Nik succeeded," she whispers, touching Klaus's art on the screen. "He finally broke mother's curse. Then he can be happy now. He can finally—"
She cuts herself off, centuries of disappointment apparently teaching her not to hope too much.
"If we handle this right, everyone survives," I say carefully. "Your family reunites, Klaus gets freedom and respect, and Mystic Falls doesn't burn. But that requires cooperation."
Rebekah attempts compulsion—I feel the mental pressure slam against my Mind Shield clone's defenses like a battering ram hitting fortress walls.
"Well, that's inconvenient," Rebekah observes when I remain uncompelled. "What are you exactly?"
"Complicated," I reply. "But useful. And potentially your ally if you'll listen."
Rebekah studies me for a long moment, her expression cycling through emotions too quickly to track—fury at being daggered, hope about Klaus's success, suspicion about my motives, curiosity about my clones.
Finally, she extends her hand. "Tell me everything that's happened. If you're lying, I'll know, and then I'll kill you slowly."
"Fair enough," I agree, shaking her hand carefully.
We spend the next two hours explaining: Klaus's ritual, the doppelgänger Elena Gilbert, my intervention that both freed Klaus's hybrid nature and prevented immediate massacre, the months of alliance building, Bonnie's power development, the approaching timeline for Klaus's awakening.
Rebekah absorbs it all with the sharp intelligence that must have been necessary to survive a thousand years as Klaus Mikaelson's sister.
"You're either brilliantly brave or catastrophically stupid," she concludes finally.
"Both, probably," I admit, and she laughs—genuine amusement that transforms her from terrifying Original vampire to someone who might actually be reasonable.
"I'll help," Rebekah decides. "Not because I trust you, but because Nik deserves a chance at happiness after a thousand years of suffering. If your alliance can give him that, I'll support it. If you're manipulating him for your own ends..." She lets the threat hang unfinished.
"Understood," I reply.
[QUEST PROGRESS: THE ORIGINAL SIBLINGS]
[REBEKAH AWAKENED - NEUTRAL STANCE ACHIEVED]
[EXPERIENCE GAINED: +800]
[LEVEL 30: 3,200/4,000 TO LEVEL 31]
[MIND SHIELD MASTERY: 40%]
Rebekah leaves with Elijah to "catch up on a century of missed history," promising to return tomorrow for Klaus's awakening.
After they're gone, Caroline practically collapses against me.
"You just negotiated with a thousand-year-old vampire and survived," she says, her voice shaking slightly. "I'm equal parts proud and terrified."
I exhale shakily, adrenaline finally fading. "One Original awake and not hostile. Two more to go, then Klaus. We're running out of time."
"Then let's not waste what time we have," Caroline replies, kissing me with desperate intensity that has nothing to do with strategy and everything to do with processing fear through connection.
We drive back to Mystic Falls as sunset paints the sky, and I can't shake the feeling that we've just set events in motion that will reshape everything.
Klaus wakes in three days.
And somehow, I need to convince the Original Hybrid that peace is more valuable than vengeance.
To supporting Me in Pateron .
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