His world had their own myth and recently he'd seen evidence that that myth was true. He had no idea if the myth held for other worlds and if the originals were truly originals, they weren't old enough for 'his' myth. Good for Elena and the others. Eric liked her because of that fight.
"I had very little choice when the vampires decided to go public. We were forced to find a niche and those of us who did got to be poster children."