not replying to this was never an option
Elena pressed her fingers to her forehead as she breathed out, scrunching her eyes up and thinking far too hard. There was a time when she would have straight out refused, although then she also had the buffer of two vampires to prevent any threats from actually manifesting. Now, she was smart enough to realise that while Anna clearly didn't have the agenda of harming Elena, that wouldn't stop her if she posed a threat to her survival in this town. "Anna, I can't-" She swallowed, breathed again and looked at the supposed girl in front of her, barely a few years younger to look at but with so many years already behind her and an infinity more to come. "I can't just turn a blind eye if you intend on killing here. I'm sorry, I just can't. I can only agree to this if you keep up your side of these conditions too."
She watched the other very closely for her reaction. She had no real leg to stand on in negotiations. If necessary, Anna could just snap her neck and be done with it, and there really wasn't much Elena could do about that. All she could do was hope that Anna's desire for self-preservation came with at least a small amount of desire to still fit in, however marginally that might be.
"I...think I did know that, yes. I'm so sorry about what happened." And she genuinely was sorry, too. She had never wanted John to come in and start rounding up vampires. She hadn't been sorry to see the tomb vampires go, of course she hadn't been, but there were casualties of that time that were unnecessary and she wished she could have done something more to prevent that. Maybe if she had, Jeremy wouldn't be so sad. Maybe a lot of things would have happened differently.
"I just want a quiet life, Anna. I promise you. Don't hurt people, and I swear no one will ever find out. I don't want old history in this place any more than you do."