Vampire Diaries 1. Prologue

"Hello?" I try to say, but my mouth won't open. I can't find my voice. There is nothing but silence. No sound of anyone around me. Only my racing heart. 'Where am I…? Why can't I move?' The last thing I can remember… 'What do I remember?' Alaric. '...Who's Alaric? ...Who am I?' My head is pounding like 1,000 screws being drilled into my brain. The question continuously runs through my mind as the images of my life flash before my closed eyes.

"I'm Genevieve."

* * *

"I'm Genevieve," someone whispered. The voice was almost so faint that Niklaus could have sworn his mind was playing tricks on him. But he heard it. There was no other voice that could compare. He immediately ran out of his study to their room, where the love of his immortal life lay in a trance. "Genevieve?" His worried eyes fell upon the beautiful girl.  
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Her eyes were racing across her closed eyelids, and her body was covered in a layer of sweat. As he grabbed onto her clammy hands his heart broke into tiny little pieces.

She had been like this for months. After word got out of what happened at the Wickery Bridge he searched far and wide for her, and he found her lying in the middle of the woods. He immediately brought her home and put her in bed, but not even their mate bond could tell him what was happening to her.

That one small sentence was the only sign that she was okay. But it didn't calm his worry. "What is wrong with you my little vie? Please wake up," Niklaus mumbled in a shaky voice. It was taking all of his remaining strength to keep himself from breaking out into tears.

After silently watching to see if Genevieve would show anymore signs of consciousness, he let out a defeated sigh, then slowly got into bed beside her. "It's alright my little vie," he whispered with all the worry and affection he felt seeping into his voice. The eyes that she once loved to admire for their deep blue color were now brimming with tears. The spark that once only shined for her was no where to be seen. As he pulled Genevieve's thin frame into his side, wrapping his arm around her waist, tucking her head under his chin, a single tear rolled down his cheek. "I'll be right here waiting for you to wake up."

* * *

'Where am I?' I thought as I wandered around.  
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I passed through a doorway and immediately recognized it. 'I'm on the Other Side?' My thoughts are immediately answered when the woman I trusted for so long appeared before me. "Hello Genevieve," she smiled at me. The same one I've seen for over a century, as if she hadn't betrayed me, or I didn't kill her. "I am aware that you are not comfortable speaking with me. We are all aware you did not want to do what you did, but it was all necessary. Genevieve," she said then left off. Her smile immediately fell as her eyes became serious. For a moment I could have sworn I saw fear in them, but before I could be sure, it was gone. "There is a great evil approaching. You must prepare yourself."

My eyes widened in shock at the news. Not because of the news itself, but because she was telling me. "Shouldn't you be happy that something is coming?" That made her laugh. Despite the hard glare I was sending her way ,she laughed. "My dear, why should this make me happy?" "You can use it to get rid of us. So why should I trust you?" Esther let out a frustrated sigh then gave me a serious glare. "Genevieve, I am aware of our many differences. But there is something coming. If it is not defeated it will bring back all supernatural creatures from the Other Side." My jaw dropped. The mere thought of all the hundreds of evil beings returning to life was terrifying. Then someone came to mind. 'He's over there. He would come back,' I thought as a deep, hate filled growl rumbled from my throat. "Yes, he is here somewhere, and counting the days until he may see you again."

I really hated the idea of following orders from Esther. But when the stakes were this high did I really have a choice?

* * *

Inside the Salvatore Boarding house, Jeremy paced back-and-forth in the living room while Elena and Bonnie sat on the sofa. "It didn't work," he groaned while staring at his arm. Bonnie and Elena both seemed worried, but they still gave words of encouragement. "It took time for Finn's line to die off, remember? It'll work," Bonnie said with a smile. "What if it doesn't?" he asked with genuine worry and concern in his voice. "Where's that Gilbert optimism?" Damon said as he walked in with a smirk. He looked at Jeremy, glanced at me, then immediately walked over to Elena. "Hi," he said with a genuine smile as he pulled her into a hug. They embraced for a reassuring amount of time. "Sorry I missed all the excitement," he said raising his eyebrows then smirking as he let her go. "I'm just happy to see you," she said with a smile.

As they all seemed to calm a small amount, the front door opened and Stefan walked in with a giant rock in his hands. "Looks like I didn't miss much. Got the Silas headstone," he said closing the door. He strode into the living room with a bored face and looked around, but his eyes hovered over Elena and Damon. "We're just waiting for Jeremy's mark to grow," Elena said with a sorry smile. Stefan didn't return it, but set the headstone down on the coffee table. Damon and Elena both seemed to watch with pitying eyes. "Klaus is trapped in our living room," Elena stammered out to break the awkward silence. Bonnie went to her aid, "Temporarily. I drew on the new moon to bind the spell. We've got three days to find that cure-four, max." "If we don't we might as well look up Katherine Pierce and see if she wants some company in hiding, 'cause he will come after us," Jeremy said. "We'll find it," Elena almost snapped, and everyone's eyes went to her. "Now that we've got Rebekah taken care of, all we need is professor Shane, and then we'll have everything we need."

At that, Stefan's eyes shot to the floor then skiddishly moved around the room. "Yeah, I didn't, uh…" he stammered when Elena's eyes landed on him. "I didn't dagger her." Everyone's eyes widened in shock. "What? Why not?" "I didn't need to," I shrugged. "She's on our side." Everyone seemed to be okay on this matter, but Elena's face was filled with skepticism. "On our side? Did you really just say that?" she asked in shock. "Yeah. She handed over the headstone. I mean, she wants to find this cure more than any of us." "Why would you possibly think that we could trust her?" Elena yelled, and then the lights began to flicker in the room.

Everyone's eyes shot around the room, but there was nothing that was visibly wrong. "Bonnie?" Jeremy asked, causing everyone else to look at her as well. "It's not me." "No, it's me," came a familiar voice. Everyone's eyes shot to the doorway where the previously comatose Salvatore sister stood.  
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"Gene?" Stefan gasped. She gave him an acknowledging look then set her hard glare on Elena.

"Elena Gilbert," she said with a smirk as she slowly stalked towards the crowd of friends. Everyone was silent and still, and although Damon was ecstatic to see that she was alright, something inside him was screaming to grab Elena and run. "You should watch what you say. Your track record isn't so clean either." Elena's eyes widened in shock that Gene was aware of what had happened. "Yeah, I know what's been going on while I was in a coma. Carol Lockwood, Kol, they're both dead. Correct?" Everyone's eyes both fell to the floor, but Gene's stern eyes darkened. "So basically all you've been doing is destroying more lives, right, Elena?"

Everyone's eyes shot to Gene, but Elena's eyes were hurt. "No, it wasn't my fault." "Everything is your fault," Gene growled out. She quickly vamped in front of Elena, and everyone was struck with fear. 'What's happening?'' Jeremy thought.

"Well, Ms. Gilbert, things are about to change."


	2. Chapter 1

We had just arrived on a deserted island. Everything seemed beautiful, no signs of humanity, all mother nature. That alone made me feel at home, but there was a dark presence here. In the heart of the island was a large amount of energy that seemed to draw people in. I was able to physically feel the pull, but I doubt others could.  
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They probably just found themselves in the heart of this great evil without any knowledge of how they got there. I was standing with Stefan and Rebekah, who welcomed my new 'Zero Tolerance' with open arms. In total, it was Stefan, Damon, Elena, Dr. Shane, Bonnie, Jeremy, Rebekah and I, and we were all unloading our things from a boat we rode here.

Once everything was done we all separated into small groups. Damon and Elena, Bonnie and Jeremy with Dr. Shane, then Rebekah, Stefan and I. Damon was sitting on a log that had been washed up from the ocean while he whittled a piece of wood. He was carving a stake when Shane approached him. "Couldn't they have hidden this cure in Hawaii?" Damon groaned. "Where the hell did you take us?" "Two hundred miles off the Nova Scotia mainland," I said without turning around. I was standing next to Stefan with my head on his shoulder while he talked to Rebekah. "Yes," Dr. Shane agreed, "If you recall, the whole point was to hide the cure on the world's most obscure, desolate island." "Oh yeah? I thought the whole point was that no one found Silas, the oldest deadliest freak in the world." '_The world's first vampire,q'_ I thought. "Yeah, that too," Shane added as he dug through his bag and grabbed some sunscreen. "Sunscreen?" he asked Damon who gave a look that said 'really?' "Is that a joke?" "Right."

While I stood lazily with my head on Stefan's shoulder, he tied a knot in some rope, while Rebekah glared daggers at Elena. I was staring numbly at the beach when Stefan said, "You know, you're not really helping." Rebekah and I both looked at him with a look of confusion. "You're perfectly capable of tying a knot." "Mmhm," Rebekah and I both said. He let out a sigh then shook his head, "You giving Elena the evil eyes. It's not really helping." "She killed my brother, tried to get you to put a dagger in my back. She's lucky all she's getting is the evil eye," Rebekah argued. Stefan shrugged his shoulders then continued tying the rope when we heard Elena say, "You know I can hear you, right?" I let out a grunt then turned my head around to glare at her. "Does it look like we care?"

Elena's eyes filled with hurt, but she quickly turned around. Damon glared at me, Bonnie and Jeremy both seemed conflicted, Shane didn't care, Rebekah was smirking like 'yeah, that's my best friend', and Stefan gave me a frustrated look. "Can you try to control yourself? You're just making things even more awkward." I shrugged my shoulders then went back to staring at the ocean.

There was a small grunt, then Elena came vamping in front of us. She had the white oak stake in her hands, and had went to aim it at Rebekah's chest. But before she could lower it I sent various aneurysms popping in her head. Elena crumbled to the ground, hands on her head, screaming in sheer pain. But even as everyone yelled at me to stop, I stared numbly at the crying vampire that was at my feet. '_Stop,'_ someone said to me.

A haze filled my mind as I blindly obeyed the command. Elena stopped screaming, and everyone rushed to her side. Suddenly, I felt light-headed and my legs weakened. When Stefan was going to get up to check on Elena my body felt heavy, and I clutched onto his arm. His worried gaze fell on me instead as I shook my head and blinked my eyes to clear my mind. "Gene?" he asked me with a concerned voice. I couldn't answer at first, but eventually looked at him with a forced, reassuring smile. Rebekah had came to my side and had wrapped an arm around my waist, then put my arm around her shoulder. "Go ahead, try and kill me. But then you'd have to face your real problems. Like the fact that Stefan invited me here, himself. I guess he likes me again," she smirked at Elena then helped me to start walking into the forest.

Everyone was behind us, having idle chat, when I heard Jeremy ask, "Does it say anything about the hunter's purpose in all this?" That set Dr. Shane's nerdiness off. "I was wondering when you'd ask. Qetsiyah created a cure for immortality, and then she buried it with Silas, hoping that he'd take it and die, and end up on the other side with her for all eternity. But he wouldn't give her the satisfaction. So, many centuries later, her descendants created the hunters to find him, cure him and kill him. You know what? I'll explain as we go."

I was pacing in the living room of the Gilbert House. Every cell in my body was filled with a deep rage, and the fact that they left the charred remains of Kol's body lying in front of me did not help. It took every ounce of my will to keep from destroying everything in this room. I had stopped my pace to let out an angry sigh when Tyler Lockwood entered. "Morning, sunshine. You look pathetic." "Only until Bonnie's spell locking me in here wears off." I smirked, "Then I'll look different. Angrier, perhaps. Or I won't look like anything because I'll have gouged your eyeballs from their sockets." Tyler Lockwood's misplaced confidence did not waver, but instead I saw an evil twinkling in his eyes. "You and I both know you can't touch me. Gene will never forgive you."

My anger was magnified by the mention of my comatose little vie. The idea that I was not by her side at this very moment, when she could be awakening, caused my chest to tighten. I had tried to keep a neutral face, but the amount of pain that her situation caused me made it very hard. When Tyler saw the worried look on my face his eyes widened. "Wait, you don't know?" My eyes shot to him with a burning rage and a deep curiosity. "Gene's awake. She went off to find the cure with my friends."

My heart stopped. Everything in my body was screaming at me for being so caught up in my own worries that I hadn't noticed it before. I felt her. She was awake. I could feel the deep determination that was driving her to look for that cure. As I continued to reach through our bond I slowly began to realize everything that she was aware of. '_Yet another weight you try to carry alone,'_ I thought sadly then let out a sigh. "Oh, Genevieve."

We were still hiking when Shane informed us that the satellite phone lost all signal. "It's the magic," I whispered to myself, although Stefan and Bekah both heard me. In front of us Damon spoke in a sarcastic voice, "Well, that's a good sign." "Is anyone else a little creeped out?" Elena said worriedly, but no one really paid her much attention. I was grabbing a water bottle from my pack when Rebekah said, "So then leave. Out of everyone, your presence is the least necessary." "Mhm," I agreed. Beside us Stefan groaned. "Please don't start."

"I'm merely stating the facts. Jeremy has the spell on his body. Bonnie is the witch that unseals the cure. Shane is the human compass. Gene is probably the only person that could destroy this Silas. You and I have the tombstone, which does God knows what. And Elena has no point." "What about me?" Damon asked with a curious glance. "You have a nice behind," Bekah said matter-of-factly. Stefan and I both looked at each other with disgusted faces, but Damon smirked in happiness from the compliment.

Night had fallen on the island and we were still hiking. Someone had said something that re-triggered Shane's nerdiness, and now he was telling us more about the history of the cure. "Centuries after Qetsiyah died, there were these miners who were excavating a well on the island. Suddenly went mad. They bled themselves dry. No apparent reason. So, the legend spread that these miners, in exchange for a drop of their blood, saw visions of their lost loved ones in the well they were digging. The word traveled and explorers sought out the well to see if the legend was true."

Everyone seemed skeptical, but Bonnie seemed to be confused. "So, the well was magic?" '_Maybe the person inside the well,'_ I thought. Shane shrugged his shoulders. "Well, you know, some people believe the voices of lost souls were just a wind vortex whipping through the caves, and visions were caused by inhaling the island's poisonous plant life." "And what do you believe?" Elena asked. "I believe in magic," Shane said then glanced over at me. His eyes were glued and I wasn't sure what to say or do. Then he began another story and broke eye contact. "My wife and my son died within months of each other. And so… I decided to try the well out for myself. I offered up my blood and I waited. I saw my wife. I saw her eyes, her smile. My blood let me see her again." The look in Shane's eyes was of pure belief and happiness. Just knowing that he hadn't actually seen his wife made me feel bad for him.

"Yeah, got it. Don't eat the poisonous flowers," Damon said with a face that screamed disbelief. He had turned forward to continue, but before he could, Shane stopped him. "Wait. Stop. Stop! Stop." Damon turned around with a frustrated face, but Shane ignored him and turned to us instead. "Is everybody paying attention?" he shouted and all eyes were on him. He bent down and picked up a large rock. "Our first lesson in survival," he said throwing it. When it hit the floor there was a snapping sound and all of a sudden a net went flying up into the tree. "Stay together. Keep your eyes open."

Everyone continued hiking, but Jeremy fell back. I stopped walking and waited with him as he looked through his bag. "Ugh, I'm out of water." "Here, take mine," I mumbled as I pulled my bottle out of my bag and gave it to him. He gave me a small, thankful smile. "A magic well, huh?" I let out an airy chuckle and nodded my head. "I don't know. I mean… anyone that's ever lost someone. The chance to see them again? I understand." Jeremy gave me a sad smile then took a sip of water.

We were just about to continue hiking when we heard the sound of branches snapping. Jeremy and I looked at each other with worried eyes. When we turned to look where the sound came from a man with tribal face paint was aiming an arrow at Jeremy. Jeremy gasped, but the second the man released the arrow I raised my hand and stopped it. The arrow fell to the floor as the man began to reload his bow. He was raising it when he let out a loud grunt then collapsed to the floor. My eyes widened, and Jeremy walked over to me and grabbed my hand. The tribal man was lying with a hatchet in his back. "What just happened?" Jeremy asked me with a confused face. I shrugged my shoulders. "Someone just saved your life." Jeremy pursed his lips then led us towards the group.

We had been hiking for five more minutes when we reached a large clearing. "What is this place?" Stefan asked as he looked around. "According to island lore, a group of college kids came here for spring break. A few weeks later, they were all found dead, completely drained of blood," Shane said with a happy smirk on his face. "Well, tragic for them, brilliant for us. Who sleeps where?" Bekah asked as she threw her bag down on the floor. Everyone else began to place their bags down as well, but Damon was looking at us with a skeptical face. "Well, that's lovely. There's a mystery man with a hatchet lurking in the woods, and we're just gonna camp?" "We're safer here than we are hiking in the dark," Shane said as he nodded his head, and I nodded my head as well. "Let's just keep going. You know? Get the cure. Get in, get out. Where is it?"

Shane and everyone else looked at Damon with confused faces. "How stupid do you think I am?" Shane asked. "Stupid enough to raise an immortal witch, so I'd say… incredibly." "You know, I'm shocked you even want the cure, considering you've got the most to lose once Elena's human," he said then walked away. My eyes hardened as I watched Elena walk up to Damon. She started spouting nonsense about always loving him, and when she went in to kiss him I looked away. Next to me I saw Stefan watching them as well. Without saying a word, I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him. He didn't say anything, but he wrapped his arms around my waist and hugged me back.

I was sitting on the couch when I heard Caroline enter. She was shocked and somewhat frustrated by her tone as she asked, "You're still here? What are you doing?" "Gloating," Tyler replied shortly. I smirked at the tone he took with her then slowly walked toward the doorway where the living room met with the kitchen. "Hello, Caroline," I said as Tyler poured himself a drink. Caroline glared at me then turned back to Tyler. "Come home. Don't stoop to his level." Tyler looked at her with an unwavering determination, "He destroyed my life. I plan on being present for every second of his misery until I can kill him myself."

Caroline let out a sigh then nodded her head. "Fine. You can gloat and multitask," she said as she walked around the kitchen with a look of disgust. "This place is a disaster. Starting with a horrific burnt corpse." As soon as the words left her mouth my eyes shot to the burnt body. Tears had threatened to spill, but I would not let them see me cry. She walked towards a cupboard where she grabbed a tablecloth. Tyler begrudgingly got up from his seat then helped her open it out and spread it over the corpse of my little brother.  
"Tyler's mother is dead. So is my brother. We're even," I said to Caroline. She immediately turned to me with a look of shock and disgust. "Call Bonnie. Get her to let me out of here." "I will never, _ever_ help you." I smirked at her words then let out a forced chuckle.

"How quickly you forget the part where I saved Tyler from the misery of being a werewolf. Or the night your mother invited me into her home to save the life of her precious daughter." She opened and shut her mouth for a moment then scoffed. "How delusional are you? You killed his _mother_. And let's not forget that we're standing in a house where Elena's aunt Jenna used to live. Or did you think that your charm would make us forget how you killed her, too? You know what? No. I am not going to engage in this. You are not even worth the calories I burn talking to you."

Caroline had began to stand, but I quickly vamped over to a lamp in the living room with me. Before either Caroline or Tyler could realize, I stabbed it through Caroline's stomach. Tyler screamed out, "No!" but I quickly swung it and threw her into the living room with me. Before she could stand I rushed over to her and bit her on the neck. "Now, that was definitely worth the calories."

Stefan and I were sitting in front of a campfire. He was holding the headstone and I was sitting with my head on his shoulder, staring into the fire. "Well, eight of us and no one thought to bring s'mores. What are you doing with that?" Bekah asked as she took a seat on his other side. "We're a day away from finding the cure. I'm not letting it out of my sight." Rebekah was smiling and about to say something when we heard the sound of an animal screaming in the distance. My eyes shot to the sky, full of bright stars and the moon. Beside me, Bekah gasped. When I turned my head she was grasping onto Stefan's arm for dear life.

"Did you hear that? I swear this place is haunted." Stefan was groaning in pain as he put his hand over Bekah's. "Um… you're crushing my arm." Rebekah let out a nervous laugh then nodded her head. "Okay. You got me. I'm a scaredy cat." "You do realize you're an Original vampire, right?" "Which is precisely why you should stop teasing me. I'm very powerful," she chuckled as she gave his arm a slight nudge. He let out a few chuckles as well, and then they both went silent. "What are you gonna do when Elena becomes human and comes running back to you?" Rebekah rushed out. Stefan looked at her with a sad expression, and my arms instantly wrapped around Stefan's to comfort him. "You said that you'd take the cure to be with her. You'd have children and grow old. Is that still true?" "Well, why do you want to take it? Aren't you the perfect vampire?" Rebekah chuckled, "Isn't it obvious? It's all an act, Stefan. Being a vampire is miserable. I would give anything to be human. Normal." Stefan nodded his head. "If I take the cure… it wouldn't be for her. It'd be for me."

I watched silently as Shane entered a shed and turned on a light. Bonnie quickly entered behind him with a perplexed look. "I've been staring at pictures of Jeremy's tattoo and there's no spell." "Expression doesn't require a written spell. Just think of it as a way of accessing magic that already exists inside you. You just have to want it bad enough." Bonnie scoffed then shook her head. "And I'm just supposed to trust you?" "Bonnie, listen, I taught you Expression so that you could access the cure. I'll be right there with you the whole time, I promise." Then Damon entered with a look of mistrust. "You didn't answer the trust part. "Alright. Let me put it this way. You need me to help you through it, Bonnie. Because as you've demonstrated, Expression can get messy. Believe me when I say I've seen it get a lot worse." "How much worse?" Damon asked.

"As bad as it can get," I said from the corner of the shed. Everyone turned to me with surprised expressions. "There is a reason your mother warned you about Expression, Bonnie." At the mention of her mother, Bonnie's confused eyes fell and filled with regret. "Expression is an untamed magic. Any little thing can overwhelm and kill you." Bonnie's eyes filled with rage that she immediately pointed towards Shane. "You knew this and still taught it to me?" "Yeah, but look, the upside is I've learned the warning signs, alright? I can keep Expression from consuming you." "Downside is, you turned her into a bomb that only you can dismantle," Damon sighed. "Don't you think I know how this ends? I came here to raise Silas so that he could bring back the dead, but you're never gonna let that happen. The second I point to a cure, you're gonna kill me. Now Bonnie has to keep me alive so I can keep her alive."

I smirked as I crossed my arms and slowly walked towards Shane. "Unfortunately for you, Shane, that's not true. You see, I am very familiar with the effects and dangers of Expression, and I know exactly where the cure is. So, I mean really, you're useless." The smirk of victory immediately fell from his face as realization set in. And without another word, Bonnie ran up to Shane and punched him in the face. Then, Damon let out all his anger.

Caroline was panicking in Tyler's arms as he carried her to a couch. "Oh my god, oh my god, " she shouted. "Hey, hey. Look at me. Look at me. I can fix this," Tyler told her. Her eyes were filled with tears, and Tyler's eyes were filled with reassurance and determination. She whimpered slightly then kept her tears in. "How? The only thing that can heal me is _his_ blood!" she shouted towards the living room where the smirking Original Hybrid sat. "Oh my God," she groaned again. "I know. I'll fix it," he reassured her then walked toward the entrance of the living room.

"She'll die if you don't heal her," he said with a hard glare. The smirking hybrid nodded his head, then bit into his wrist. "Okay. Beg me to save her life." Tyler growled slightly then rolled his eyes. "Is this what you want? To remind me that I'm powerless against you?" Klaus raised his eyebrows, then nodded his head. "Fine. You win. I'm nothing. Now save her. Please." Klaus stood from his seat on the couch and walked to the edge of his barrier. "I'm sorry, mate. I didn't quite catch that." "Please." "Please…" "Please save her life."

Klaus pursed his lips and nodded his head as if thinking it all over. "See, now I think you're just telling me what I want to hear. I mean, you did call me pathetic earlier. And wouldn't it be more pathetic of me to help now, knowing that hours ago, you announced your plan to kill me in a manner in which you're debating because you want it to have a certain amount of flair? I'm just asking." With a heavy sigh, Tyler said, "I'll be your slave again. I'll do whatever you want. Just help her." Klaus nodded his head again then let out a sigh. "No."

Tyler's eyes fell, and all hope he had for saving the girl he loved vanished. "Get me out of here," Caroline struggled to say. Tyler and Klaus both looked at her as she continued, "I can't even look at him." Tyler nodded his head then walked over to Caroline. She weakly raised her arms and wrapped them around his shoulders as he lifted her up and into his arms. Klaus watched with a frown on his face as they left.

"Jeremy!" My mind was swimming as I tried to locate Jeremy. "Did you find anything?" Elena asked Bonnie. She let out a sigh then shook her head. "Hes not on the trail." "His gear's still here," Damon added as he threw Jeremy's pack on the ground. Stefan and Rebekah had arrived together without Jeremy, and I let out a sigh. "He's not at the quarry, either." I clumsily stumbled over to Stefan, and practically collapsed into his arms. Rebekah and Stefan both seemed worried, but no one else noticed. "Let's split up," Damon suggested.

Bonnie nodded her head in agreement, "I'm gonna stay and try a locator spell." "Fat chance that'll work," I mumbled to myself as I rested my head on Stefan's shoulder. Yet again, no one noticed. "I'll stay here and make sure she's safe." Elena looked at Stefan, Rebekah and I, then groaned. "Fine. We'll keep searching the island." Damon nodded his head, and Rebekah, Stefan and I turned to start walking.

We had been walking for a good ten minutes, no traces of Jeremy, and I was feeling worse. I was slowly trudging behind everyone, my body feeling extremely fatigued, while Elena screamed her lungs out. "Jeremy! Jeremy!" "Why don't you yell louder? Maybe we haven't drawn enough attention to ourselves already," Rebekah shushed her. Stefan ignored the two and turned to look at me. "How ya doin, baby girl?" He asked as he rested a hand on my forehead. I shrugged, "The farther away from the cure we get the sicker I feel. I don't know how much more I can take." Stefan nodded his head, as I leaned against a tree for support, and broke up the two bickering vampires. "Jeremy's obviously not here. Lets go back." "Fine," Elena said in a snooty voice.

She immediately turned in the direction she thought we came from and began walking. But before she could take two steps she set off a trap. In the blink of an eye Bekah had vamped Elena out of the way, and Stefan had pulled me back a couple of inches. "Nice catch," Stefan said to her. She was smirking, and Elena stood frozen and breathing heavily, as if she did anything. "Thank you," Bekah replied, but Elena interrupted her. "No, actually, thank you. This thing would've killed me."

Rebekah's smirk immediately fell to a controlled glare. She let out a sigh, then walked so that she was inches from being nose-to-nose with Elena. "I don't care what happens to you either way. But if you're gonna die, it might as well be epic." Elena didn't say anything, but then again, no one expected her to. We all walked back to the camp in silence.

"It's getting worse," Caroline cried in her bedroom. Tyler was sitting at her feet, eyes glistening with unshed tears, as he watched her slowly die. "I'm sorry," she cried out. Tyler's eyes immediately widened in shock and confusion as he scooted closer to her. "No. It's my fault. I'm sorry." "No. You didn't do any of this." "I unsired the hybrids and turned them on Klaus. I should've just left it alone." Caroline let out a small chuckle as small tears rolled down her cheeks. She sniffled and let out a shaky breath, "You freed them, Tyler. People put their faith in you because you're a leader. Don't forget that." He smiled softly. And then all at once, the sadness left his eyes, and they no longer glistened from unshed tears, but from an idea. "Then you trust me?"

Tyler and Caroline entered the Gilbert House. CarolIne was clutching onto his shoulders while he carried her. Without saying a word, Tyler walked to the edge of the living room and set her down at the edge of the magical barrier. "You want to be in control, Klaus? Here," Tyler gestured towards Caroline. She was deathly pale, her skin covered in a layer of sweat, and she looked up at Klaus with a helpless, hate filled gaze. His eyes were emotionless, but the bones in his jaw were repeatedly protruding while he clenched and unclenched it. "Now you get to be in control of her life. If you want her to die, fine. But then you can sit here and watch her die yourself."

With one last glance towards Caroline Tyler let out a sigh and left the house. Klaus was sitting on the couch in a relaxed position. But as he stared down at her he leaned forward, placing his hands on his knees. "Nothing personal, love. If I cure you, that means victory for him. Don't worry. It won't be long now." Caroline didn't say a word, but the room was filled with the sounds of her strained breathing.

We had just arrived at the camp to find that no one was here. Elena's eyes filled with panic as she ran around in search for either Damon or Bonnie. "Bonnie?" She ran from tent to tent in search, then went to the shed. Nothing. "Where is everyone?" Rebekah asked, but Stefan and I were as clueless as her. "Well, Bonnie's not here and her stuff is all gone," Elena sighed out. Stefan and I had sat down where the campfire once was, and Rebekah gasped. "Oh my God," she whispered to herself, then camped towards our tent. She messily searched through her bags then gasped again when she didn't find what she was looking for. "The tombstone's gone."

I stood staring out one of the Windows in the Gilbert living room as Caroline's raspy breaths echoed through the room. My eyes were squeezed shut, trying to push away the sounds of Caroline dying. "If you don't feed me your blood, I'll die," she sneezed out weekly. I didn't turn to look at her. And after a minute of insuring my voice would sound emotionless, I answered, "Then you'll die, and Tyler will have learned his lesson the hard way." She continued her raspy breathing for a moment then slowly replied, "How could you do this to him? To his mom? To me?" Her voice was full of hurt and shock, but it didn't affect me. With a slight chuckle I spoke in a light-hearted voice. "I'm a thousand years old. Call it boredom."

"I don't believe you." Hearing that, I turned around and nearly gasped at the state she was in. Her skin was white as paper and shiny from sweat. My mind immediately went to Genevieve, and how she looked so close to death. It made my heart throb. _"_Fine," I whispered, slightly choked up. I cleared my throat and then continued, "Then maybe it's because I'm pure evil, and I can't help myself." Caroline shook her head, "It's because you were hurt. Because you were scared that Gene wouldn't never wake up." I froze as the controlled smirk on my face slowly fell. I felt like a deer caught in the head lights. No one, besides Genevieve, was able to understand my actions as of now. I said nothing, and waited for Caroline to continue as she took in a few breaths. "Which means that there is a part of you that is human."

I slowly walked over to Caroline, and sat myself down on the coffee table in front of her. "How could you possibly think that?" "Because I've seen how you are when you're with her. Because... I've caught myself wishing that I could take her place." My eyes widened as I looked down at the dying young woman in front of me. Thousands of things racing through my mind, but only one thing I needed to ask. "Why would you want to be loved by a monster, like me?" "I know that you're in love with her. And anybody capable of love is capable of being saved."

My heart ached as I felt tears threaten to fall from my eyes. With a small sigh, I turned away from her to stare out the window, "You're hallucinating." Caroline smiled softly then let out a weak chuckle, "I guess I'll never know." Immediately after, her breathing began getting caught in her throat as her lungs started to give out. My eyes shot to her, "Caroline?" She didn't respond, and her breathing began to sound weak. As her breathing slowly faded I watched with a helpless face. "What do I do?" I whispered. _'Genevieve, what do I do?' _I thought through our mate bond. She didn't respond immediately, but after a few seconds I heard her voice. _'Save her.'_

I jumped up and lifted Caroline's weak body, then sat down and leaned her against me. I quickly bit into my wrist then put it to her pale lips. Nothing happened at first, but slowly I felt her fangs extend and sink into my wrist.

Rebekah had continued to rifle through her bags. The longer she searched the harder she breathed, and the more panicked she got. After a while, she had began to search other people's tents. And when she went into Elena's Elena followed. "What are you doing in my tent?" Elena asked as I slowly walked up behind them. When I entered Bekah had vamped in front of Elena and grabbed her by the throat. "Where's the tombstone? What have you done with it?" "Bekah, come on," I said in an exasperated tone. "What are you talking about?" Elena choked out. "Like it's not bloody obvious? All they ever do is betray us, Genevieve, and here they go again!" I let out a sigh as Stefan entered the tent with us. "Let her go. She didn't take it."

Rebekah groaned and let go of Elena, who started choking and gasping for air. "Was any of this real? Or was it just a ploy to distract me while Bonnie and Damon ran off with the tombstone?" she asked Stefan. He seemed genuinely hurt by her question then shook his head at her. "You think I would do that? You think I would let _Bonnie Bennett_ run off with the cure? Every single moment of my last 146 years has been ruled by the pain of being a vampire," he said as he finally came clean about how he was feeling. "This cure ends that. It ends the guilt and it ends the suffering. And you really think I would jeopardize that?" Rebekah sighed and nodded her head, "Fine. You didn't take it. But that doesn't mean I trust her."

Elena didn't say a word, just stared back at Rebekah. But letting out a sigh, she walked to a corner of her tent, bent over, and grabbed something. When she turned around she had the white oak stake in her hands. "I didn't take it, but here," she said holding it out to Rebekah. "Consider this a peace offering." Rebekah stared down at it and then rolled her eyes as she shook her head. "Don't you get it, Elena? There is no peace. We're all screwed." "Exactly, Rebekah. We're screwed. Bonnie and Damon are gone. Someone took the tombstone. Jeremy's missing. So, us four, right here, this is all we've got. So we're either in this together... or it's over. For all of us." When Elena finished her speech she held the stake out again. Rebekah stared at her for a second then grabbed it and walked out of the tent.


	3. Chapter 2

I am _SO_ sorry that I am late to update. I just became a tattoo apprentice so I have to be at the tattoo shop for long hours 5 days a week. So instead, I'll be updating on Mondays, okay?

Love, Jessy xoxo

* * *

Abruptly, I woke up. My neck was aching, so I knew it had been snapped. I let out a groan then tried to move, but was stopped by a strong burning sensation. Once I was awake I saw the Hunter I had ran into last night. He was hunched over a campfire, and he looked at me with an intrigued expression. "Something botherin' you?" I groaned, "Would you believe me if I said mosquitoes?" The Hunter let out a chuckle and nodded his head. "Aye, I would. How does it feel when a relentless eating machine is draining the blood from your veins?" "Itchy."

He laughed again and then shook his head, "Your friends from Mystic Falls think youre funny, Damon?" I wasn't surprised he knew my name or where I was from. I just shrugged my shoulders as I groaned from the vervain that was in the ropes I was tied to a tree with. "You obviously know who I am and where I'm from. Have you been spying on me?" "Aye, I have." The hunter stood from his kneeling position in front of the campfire. "You and Stefan, Elena, Bonnie, and your sister Genevieve. You need Bonnie to cast the spell written on your pal, Jeremy's hunter's mark," he said sitting back down, "the tattoo that looks exactly like this?"

I briefly glanced down at his tattoo, already knowing that it was the tattoo of the Five. "You wanna know something, just ask," I said flatly. "I've been killing vampires my entire life. Still, this thing refused to reveal itself to me. That was, until three days ago and it just magically completed for no apparent reason." "Come on, man. Do I look like I know anything about tattoos? Look at my skin. It's flawless," I said with a smirk. The Hunter's eyes flashed with a small amount of anger, but he quickly let out a forced chuckle and it disappeared.

"Ah! You're not taking me seriously," he said as he slowly approached me. "I don't blame ya. You don't know me." I nodded my head with a smirk to agree with his statement. As he approached me he raised a wooden stake he had been holding over the campfire since I had woken up. My eyes immediately shot to the piece of wood, bracing myself for what was to come. "So let me introduce myself," he said with a smirk of his own. Too quickly for a normal human to move, he raised his arm and stabbed his stake in my neck.

I kept myself from screaming out in pain. Partly from pride, and partly because i knew it would only make the fire in my neck burn stronger. I clenched my teeth with all of my strength. My eyes were burning with a deep fury as I stared at the smirking Hunter. "My name is Galen Vaughn, and you'd better start talkin'."

* * *

Klaus was boredly sitting on the coffee table in the Gilbert living room. He had been trying to reach Genevieve for the past hour, and all he got was emptiness. Not really an emptiness, but more like a muffled presence. He could feel her, he always could, but it was like there was a veil keeping him from connecting to her. It set him on the edge with worry.

He was going to continue to try and reach her when Tyler and Caroline came in. In her hands, Caroline was holding a laptop, while Tyler carried in the sword of the Five covered in a blanket. "Well, if it isn't little orphan Lockwood. Come to show how laughably impotent you are against me?" He smirked. Tyler let out a frustrated sigh and rolled his eyes as he placed the sword down on the kitchen table. "I'm just trying to help my friends find the cure."

Caroline sat down in front of the sword and began to open up her computer as Tyler uncovered it. "Found this in your attic," Tyler gloated. "And you think finding the sword brings you closer to the cure?" "You tell me," Tyler said while unwrapping the leather from the hilt of the sword. "I was playing around with the handle on the ride over, and I found this." The hilt had a circular part that turned to form various combinations.

"And what do you think 'this' is?" Klaus asked with a feigned innocent face as he walked towards the magical boundary. "It's called a cryptex." Tyler and Klaus both looked at the proud blonde with a look of bewilderment. Tyler, because he was unsure of what a cryptex was. Klaus, because he didn't think she would know about such devices. "I've seen The da Vinci Code," she said to them with an exasperated face. "You turn the different sides to the different symbols to get the translation on the other side." She quickly looked back at her laptop and turned it so the screen faced Klaus. "And with the magic of the internet, Elena sent over these," she said showing the Hunter's Mark. "So now all we have to do is cryptex away." With a smirk of pride, she sat down at the table and turned the laptop towards her to begin their work. She had began typing when she seemed to remember something, "If you happened to want to help, we wouldn't stop you."

Klaus was pleased by what Caroline had came up with on her own. It was a very well thought out plan. However, he knew there was one thing that would put a large kink in their plan. "Well, might I suggest using the magic of the internet to purchase an Aramaic-to-English dictionary from your nearest retailer." Caroline gasped and looked at him with shocked eyes, as Tyler looked between the two with a confused face. "What's Aramaic?" He asked Caroline. "It's a dead language," she said to him. "It hasn't been used since, like, biblical times."

Klaus nodded his head with a cocky smirk, "Qetsiyah's native tongue, I'm guessing. You know, even if you had the best dictionary in the world, it could take days to translate." Klaus walked back towards the coffee table and sat down, "Perhaps weeks." His smirk intensified by the look of sheer sadness that crossed Caroline and Tyler's faces. "In bas so-teen-too ara-ma-eet." They both looked at him with confused faces, but only Caroline was willing to ask, "What does that mean?" "If only you spoke Aramaic."

* * *

We had given up searching for the moment to try and contact Caroline. Bekah was walking around to try and get a cell phone signal, while I sat with my head on Stefan's shoulder as he talked to Elena. She was having a pity party. "And once again, everyone's life is in danger looking for this cure because poor Elena can't deal with being a vampire." "Not everything revolves around you," I grumbled tiredly. "Everyone's here because they want to be. Not just for you, but for themselves too," Stefan added. Elena's eyes widened for a second, as she finally realized how selfish she was being. She let out a sigh and then nodded her head.

"She doesn't look good." I grunted as if to say 'I'm fine. Worry about yourself.' "No, she doesn't. There's a lot of magic here. It affects her in ways it doesn't to us." I sighed, and Stefan put his hand on my forehead again. "You're getting warmer. We have to get the cure and leave." Elena seemed to remember about the cure and her face filled with a somber curiosity, "Why didn't you tell me that you wanted the cure for yourself?" Stefan's worried eyes immediately faded, and I could see he genuinely felt bad about wanting to be human. I gave him a small smile then threaded my fingers in his for reassurance. He let out a sigh, "I mean, why wouldn't I want to take it?" He forced a laugh then looked at Elena with serious eyes. "I've seen every side of vampirism there is. The power... the misery, the guilt. In the long run, even the good parts kind of suck, too." _'Arabella.'_

My head shot up. "Yeah, I mean, I know why you would want to take it, but what I'm saying is... why didn't you tell me?" _'Arabella.'_ Slowly, I staggered up from my position next to Stefan. "Because it had nothing to do with you," he said flatly. Elena's eyes filled with shock and hurt, but he quickly continued to take the harshness out of it. "I mean, you know how much I wanted a human life with you. Being human myself, being normal-that's something I've wanted since long before I met you." _'Come to me.'_ My mind was blank as I walked towards the forest. The closer to the trees I got the better I felt. "Well, I'm glad you told me now. "Yeah, what's a deeply buried personal secret between friends, right?" "Between friends? I like that."

I was halfway to the forest by now. The voice had stopped speaking to me, but I could still feel myself being called. "Gene? Where are you going?" _'Come to me.'_ "I'm coming," I whispered. "Gene?" _'Arabella, come to me.'_ "Arabella," I whispered. I felt a hand on mine, but nothing could stop me. I was going to drag them with me to get to the voice. "Arabella," I heard Stefan say behind me. I immediately stopped walking and blinked my eyes as a haze washed away. When I could finally think clearly I looked down at my hand. Stefan's hand was holding onto mine.

"Arabella?" "What?" I asked looking up at him. His eyes widened slightly as they filled with a deep confusion. "Gene," he said sternly. Hearing it was like a slap, and I immediately realized what was wrong with this situation. I gasped as I pulled my hand out of his. "Don't call me that!" I shouted at him. Stefan let out a small sigh, and he seemed to look relieved. Behind him Rebekah and Elena watched confusedly, but they seemed to sense that the fear Stefan had felt had passed.

* * *

I groaned as Vaughn pulled me behind him with vervain ropes. We were slowly trudging through the forest when I asked, "Mind telling me where we're going?" "At the wishing well lies an entrance to a crypt. In the crypt lies Silas. And with Silas lies the cure, which will allow me to kill Silas, bring the mission of the brotherhood of the Five to an end. You're my leverage, Damon; I use you to get your witch friend to open the passage to Silas' crypt for me." That made me stop in my steps.

"Wait a minute, you're using me to get to Bonnie Bennett?" I asked him. He pulled at the rope that was tied around my neck as he nodded his head. "Whoa, brother, ha! You picked the wrong vampire." "I guess we'll see about that," he smirked as he pulled roughly on my rope to get me moving again. With a sigh, I continued, "Here's the deal, Shrek. My witch friend will open the passage for you. No leverage necessary. We don't care about Silas. All we want is the cure, so you cut us in on your share, and we'll get out of your hair." Vaughn stopped again and looked at me with a confused face.

"You really don't understand, do you?" "No," I said with an exasperated sigh, "I don't understand, so why don't you explain it?" "Silas is immortal. I have to cram the cure down his throat in order to kill him," he said with a face that said 'duh, you idiot.' But I still didn't see his point. "Yeah, what does that have to do with me and my friends?"

* * *

Inside the Gilbert House, Caroline held the Hunter's sword in front of Klaus face so he could translate the Hunter's Mark. "Requires a powerful witch and a hunter in full bloom," he mumbled to himself as he looked between the laptop and sword. "What are you doing?" Tyler asked with skeptical eyes, interrupting Klaus in the translation process. "I don't need to tell you my reasons," Klaus snapped as he continued.

* * *

"I need to use the cure against Silas. Your friends, they can't exactly have it, now, can they?" Vaughn pushed with the same face. "So you use it on Silas, and we'll use it for whoever wants to use it."

* * *

"Silas rests on the far side, the means of his destruction at hand," Klaus mumbled next. He glanced at the laptop again. "Turn the cryptex to the right," he said to Caroline. She quickly began turning the dial until Klaus told her to, "Stop." Glancing back at the laptop, he said, "The top of the hilt reveals a key to a nautical map. Turn it to the left." She quickly turned it, then received another order, "Now turn the other piece." Once she turned it Klaus seemed almost bewildered by what it read. "There's something else."

* * *

"You don't want to share it with us?" I asked confused? Vaughn rolled his eyes then gave an exasperated face. "Even if I wanted to, I couldn't." "And why can't you share it?" I sighed out, frustrated that I wasn't being given a serious answer "So it is written."

* * *

As Klaus read out the inscription in Aramaic his bewildered face filled with a sinister amount of joy. "What does it mean?" Caroline asked Klaus, but he didn't answer. "Klaus, what does it mean?" She pushed. He simply smirked.

* * *

"There is only one dose," Vaughn said matter-of-factly.

* * *

I had returned to my spot next to Stefan when Bekah got a call. "Hello?" She asked. I listened in, curious for any news, but Elena and Stefan were too busy conversating. "Hey, it's Caroline. We have the translation of the tattoo. We're emailing you pictures of the map and instructions right now." Rebekah quickly removed her phone from her ear and checked her notifications. She smiled when she saw she had received the email, "Got it. Thanks."

"Actually, it was me," I heard a melodic voice shout. "Nik, you helped?" Rebekah asked in confusion and shock. The question made Nik laugh, sending the dormant butterflies in my stomach swarming. "You sound so surprised, little sister." "Shouldn't I be? I mean, you don't want me to be human. You don't want any of us to be human. Why would you help us find the cure?" "Maybe I finally realized the longer I stand in the way of what you want, the longer you'll continue to hate me. Perhaps I want my sister to finally know happiness." That made me smile. 'Finally being try to your feelings, are you?'

"Fool me once, shame on you; fool me a hundred times-" Bekah started saying, but Nik cut her off. "No more fooling. No more games. I hope you get to live, and die, as you wish." Bekah let out a relieved sigh then smiled softly, "So do I." "There is one more thing, Rebekah," Nik said with a clearly devious undertone. "There is only one dose of the cure. You need to find it first and take it. It's the only way you'll-" Suddenly the line went dead. Bekah and I were both left staring at each other in confusion.

Bekah was about to say something to me when I rested my arm on her shoulder. She closed her mouth and then looked up at me with sad, hopeful eyes. "You deserve it Bekah." She let out an involuntary sigh as her eyes lightly began to water. "Thank God. I don't think I could stand it if you weren't on my side right now." "Forever and always, Bekah." She quickly wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a tight embrace. Without a second thought I did the same as I rubbed my hand up and down her back for reassurance. "Alright, we best start moving again," she said with a sigh. I nodded my head. She had started walking when she abruptly stopped and turned to me with worried eyes. "Are you alright?" "Yeah," I said with a smile. She watched me for any signs of doubt for a moment then nodded her head, and we began walking.

* * *

Vaughn and I had continued walking, although he moved me in front of him. I had slowed my pace a bit to catch my breath when he suddenly shoved me forward. "You touch me again-" I growled out, but he interrupted me. "And you'll what? Threaten me? Sorry if you're upset about the cure, Damon, but we've got road to cover." I scoffed at his words, "I don't care about the cure. In fact, I don't know why anyone wouldn't want to be a vampire. You know what? If I wasn't a vampire, then I wouldn't be able to do 9 of the things I'm gonna do to you when I'm free." I turned to him with a sinister smirk only to see him glaring at me with apparent skepticism. He didn't say anything, but shoved me forward again to keep me moving. "Make that 10." "Right."

I begrudgingly continued walking after I let out a heavy sigh. "Alright, I admit, okay? My friends want the cure, and I want them to have it, and I get very upset when I can't provide for my loved ones. But tell me something, Vaughn, if all you're worried about is Bonnie the teenage witch, then why'd you save Jeremy and Gene yesterday?"

I turned to look over my shoulder at the Hunter. He seemed genuinely confused by my statement. "How did I do that?" "Big guy. White paint all over him. You stuck a hatchet in his spine." "I don't remember doing such a thing." That made me stop in my tracks. My mind raced with possible ideas aat who saved the two, but Vaughn kept walking forward. Once he got a certain distance in front of me he pulled on the rope around my neck. The tug of the rope on my already raw skin burned, but I refused to walk. "We're on a remote island. There's you, me, and a bunch of unpleasant locals. You expect me to believe that someone else took out that monster truck of a human being that went after Jeremy and Gene?" My face was painted with skepticism as he turned around and shrugged his shoulders. "I'm telling you, it wasn't me." He pushed me forward again, but we didn't move far. On the floor, blocking our path, was a man with his throat slashed. My eyes were glued to the dead body, but I averted them to give Vaughn a questioning gaze. "Was that you?" "No," he said staring at the body and then glancing at me. "You?" "No." he looked around us at the various trees for a moment then let out a sigh, "Well, I reckon there really is someone else on this island."

* * *

When we reached Stefan and Elena she immediately stood and looked at us with curious glances. "What did Caroline say?" "I don't know," Bekah immediately lied. "We lost the signal. Come on, this way," she said as we began hiking.

We eventually came to a large cliff. It was probably 30 stories down, but since we're vampires, it's no big deal. "We need to get down and across," Bekah said showing us her phone. Elena seemed scared, seeing as she's the newest vampire, but the rest of us were nonchalant about it. "Advantage, vampires: all we have to do is jump." Rebekah was about to jump when Elena stopped her, "Wait, wait. Um... maybe you should leave the map behind." Bekah immediately scoffed and gave me her annoyed look. I rolled my eyes. "In case you fall, you don't want anything to happen to the phone." "Are we doing this again? I thought we were a team?" I groaned out. Rebekah was about to add to what I had said when Stefan interrupted her. "Guys, we don't have time for this. Elena, you go first. We'll be right behind you." Her eyes widened in shock, but she slowly nodded her head. With a somewhat shaky sigh, she stepped back and took a running start to jump off the cliff. Below us we saw her land on her feet, almost falling. Stefan made to jump after her, but Bekah and I stopped him. "There's something you should know about the cure."

* * *

Vaughn and I had been hiking for 20 more minutes when he suddenly stopped. I was going to spit out some witty insult, but when I glared over at him he was staring down at his arm. When I glanced down at it I saw that the tattoo was slowly vanishing. "Looks like your witch is casting the spell."

* * *

"So you're sure that Klaus is telling the truth? That there's only one dose of the cure?" Stefan asked. Bekah and I nodded our heads with pursed lips. With a heavy sigh, Stefan ran his fingers through his hair with a disappointed face. "Well, I guess that's what happens when you're dumb enough to hold out hope." My heart clenched at the sadness in his eyes, and I ran over to him and wrapped my arms around his waist. "There's still hope for one of us. But even if I felt pity for you, if I wanted to ease your pain so I gave you the cure to take for yourself, you'd give it to Elena, wouldn't you?" Bekah's voice didn't waver, but you could hear the hope and hurt in her voice. She wanted to believe that they had gotten closer, but it was all too obvious that he still loved Elena. After Stefan didn't reply Bekah pursed her lips and nodded her head, "That's what I thought. Well, I'm sorry that it couldn't work out the way that we all wanted it to." Before Stefan could say anything I snapped his neck and caught him in my arms. Very carefully, I placed him on the floor.

* * *

Vaughn and I finally arrived in the entrance to the cavern. I was exhausted from the vervain I'd been exposed to for so long, and I could barely walk anymore. "Well, here we are. Looks like someone beat us to the punch." "That's a shame, Damon. I have no use for you anymore. Hate to kill ya," he said shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly. I did the same as a smirk began to take place on my face. "Ditto. You know, that pesky hunter's curse and all." Vaughn nodded his head. "All right. How do you want to do this?" I asked with a sigh. "I'll make it quick and painless." He pulled on the rope to try and drag me towards him, but I stood my ground. I let out a muffled groan as my skin hissed from the added pressure of vervain. Clenching my teeth, I grabbed onto the rope, "Wish I could make the same promise." Before I could pull him to me, Vaughn cut the rope in front of him and threw it at me. The rope burned my skin, but I immediately took it off from neck and wrists. "I'm gonna kill you," I growled out as he grabbed a gun. "And then I'm gonna get to that damn cure, and I'm gonna give it to the girl that I love." "Your attachment to your friends will be the end of you."

Behind me came the sound of footsteps, and both of us stopped what we were doing to see who it was. When I saw them I smirked and turned to him, "You don't know my friends..." Rebekah and Gene entered then, both looking between Vaughn and I in confusion. "Or my enemies."

* * *

Tyler angrily stormed out of the Gilbert House and onto the front porch with Caroline behind him. "Every time I think I have him, that son of a bitch gets the upper hand," he said angrily. Caroline's eyes were full of fear and sadness, but she was determined to calm him down. "We won't let him hurt you. Stefan and Elena will bring back the cure." "If they get to it first!" he shouted, reminding her that Rebekah now knew there was only one dosage. "And if they don't, Klaus kills me." His eyes were burning with rage and panic as he quickly paced back-and-forth. "I need to get out of town to figure out how I'm gonna stay alive-" he started mumbling to himself. "Wait, hang on, okay? Gosh! Before you get all doomsday, just- At least let me try and talk to him."

Tyler's eyes widened in shock at her words. He looked as if she had just said one of the stupidest things he had ever heard. "He's got nothing to lose, Care. His brother's dead, his hybrids are gone. All he wants right now is blood, starting with mine." He began to try and walk away, but Caroline stood in his path. Her eyes were quickly filling with tears, and she looked like she might collapse. "I'm not gonna say goodbye to you again, do you understand me? Let me fix this." After a hesitant moment, Tyler sighed and nodded his head.

* * *

Damon, Bekah and I were all standing on one side of the cavern, the Hunter on the other. He watched us all with careful eyes, but we didn't really care. "Are we gonna dance or are we gonna play?" Damon said exasperatedly. "You know he can't hurt me, Damon, unless he's got the white oak stake." "Oh, he doesn't," he said to Bekah, "but he's got other toys." Without saying another word, he aimed the gun at Bekah and fired 3 rounds into her chest. She ignored the shots and quickly vamped in front of him, grabbing him by the throat. With a smirk, the Hunter jammed something into her chest, and various wooden spikes stabbed through her. Bekah immediately collapsed to the floor. Damon, without any hesitations, ran at the Hunter and started fighting him while I jumped down the cavern and continued to find the cure.

When I landed below, my mind was swarmed with another haze. I could feel myself being consumed by Silas' magic. _'Arabella.'_ My head shot to my right where a single tunnel led. "I'm coming," I whispered to him.

* * *

Caroline slowly walked inside the Gilbert House. Her undead heart was racing in her chest, and her eyes were full of pain. When she walked inside Klaus was sitting in an armchair with a pleased smirk on his face. His eyes watched her as she approached, "You can't kill Tyler," she whimpered. "Not only can I, I have to. I have a reputation to uphold. Moreover, I want to." "I'm not asking you to forgive him. All I'm asking is that you let him live, somewhere far from here." Klaus chuckled, "So he gets to live a happy life after he turned all my hybrids against me, after he tried to kill me, after he made it his life's mission to find the cure so he could use it against me-" "We all want the cure," Caroline said defensively. As soon as the words left her mouth she gasped. Her eyes were wide with shock, and Klaus chuckled in amusement. "Do we? Do you?" "It doesn't matter. There's only one, so it's not like I'm gonna get it anyway." "But if you could... you wouldn't, would you?" Klaus' smirk darkened with sinister knowledge, but Caroline remained silent. "You prefer who you are now to the girl you once were. You like being strong, ageless, fearless." Caroline's eyes were shooting around the room, looking anywhere but at Klaus. He chuckled as he stood from his spot and walked towards her, "We're the same, Caroline."

"Then show me," Caroline begged. "You know how much I love Tyler. You can see how scared I am to lose him. If you and I are so similar, then show me your compassion. Show him the mercy that I would show you." "Mercy..." Klaus chuckled out, "for Tyler. Very well. Tell him to leave town immediately." He immediately turned his back to her and walked back to his seat. "And tell him to run and hide in a place I will never find him." Caroline was overcome with joy as she practically bounced with a smile. "Of course," she said turning to go tell Tyler. "Tell him that this is the mercy I extend for your sake... that I will give him a head start before I kill him." As soon as the words left his mouth Caroline stopped in her tracks. Her face was filled with terror as she whipped around to look at Klaus, but he was still facing away from her.

* * *

Before I realized it, I was standing in front of a large room. Off to the left, taking up most of the space, was a human-like statue covered in various vines, with a small box in his hands. _'Arabella.'_ My eyes widened in awe at the voice echoing from the calcified man. I was slowly inching towards it. My body was screaming at me to stop, but my mind begged me to go closer. I was about to reach out to touch it when I heard a familiar voice call my name. "Gene?" My head shot to the opening of the cavern, where I saw Jeremy and Bonnie standing. "How did you get here before us?" Bonnie asked confusedly. My eyes were glued to them as I house gut it over. _'I can't remember.' _When they saw my blank expression they walked over to me. "So that's Silas," Jeremy said. Bonnie and my eyes both wandered to the body without a word. "Is that it? That's the cure?" he scoffed. "How is that supposed to cure every vampire in the world?" "I don't think it is, Jer." Jeremy grunted in disapproval and walked over to the body to try and remove the box. He placed his hands on it and tried to pull, but to no avail.

"Jer," I said trying to get his attention. He ignored me and continued trying, "It's stuck. Help me move it." "Jeremy!" I shouted. He immediately stopped what he was doing and gave me a curious glance. "He's been frozen for 2,000 years. You can't take the box out of his hands." Bonnie gasped and looked at the statue in shock. "Oh my God." "What?" Jeremy asked. "The only way to get the cure is to wake him up."

* * *

Slowly, Caroline trudged outside. Her face was filled with a deep sorrow and Tyler's mirrored hers. She silently sat herself down on the porch swing next to Tyler. "How many times are we gonna have to say goodbye?" Tyler looked at her with a sad smile and sighed, "At least this time we have a minute to do it the right way." Caroline tried to remain strong, but the second she heard the word goodbye her resolve crumbled. Tears began streaming down her cheeks as she shook her head, "There isn't a right way." He immediately turned to her and put his hands on her cheeks. "This isn't goodbye. This is... until we find a way. We're immortal, remember? We will find a way." His eyes were watering, although he refused to let himself cry, and he was determined to stay strong for the both of them. "What if we don't?" she cried out, and for a small moment Tyler didn't know what to say. Before he could say anything she wiped her eyes. "Tell me that you'll never think of me again. Tell me that you'll forget about me, tell me that you are gonna go on and live a full and happy life without me."

Tyler's eyes widened in shock, the tears threatening to fall. He took in a deep breath then looked down to collect himself. After a minute he looked at her with sad eyes and began to speak, "I will live a happy life without you." Caroline let out a choked sob and put a hand to her mouth. He was saying what she wanted to hear, but everything in his voice and eyes screamed that he didn't mean it. "I will forget all about you. And I will never, ever, think about you again." Caroline let out another sob then nodded her head. Without saying anything, Tyler placed his hand on her cheek and pulled her lips to his. They kissed for a few seconds and then wrapped their arms around each other in a tight embrace. "Until we find a way," she mumbled into his shoulder. Tyler nodded his head and placed one more kiss on her forehead. They released each other from their embrace, and what little resolve Caroline had crumbled. She broke down into tears as he slowly walked away from her.

* * *

Jeremy was violently hitting Silas' hands with a giant rock. Bonnie was standing in front of me with her hands on both my cheeks. She was holding my face in front of hers, forcing me to look her in the eyes. "Gene, come on, stay with me. Don't let him control you." I could hear her words. I knew what they meant. But everything inside my body told me I was perfectly alright. "We need to wake him, Bonnie. He wants to wake up." Bonnie sighed and looked to Jeremy with a frustrated face, "There's got to be a way to do this without raising him." Jeremy nodded his head and was about to say something when the Hunter appeared. He ran straight to Bonnie with a knife in his hands, and I immediately snapped out of my haze. Before I realized what I was doing, I pulled Bonnie behind me. The knife cut into my chest, barely missing my heart. The Hunter groaned at me because he missed Bonnie, but turned to Jeremy. "Don't listen to the witch, boy. We have to raise Silas, and we have to do it now." "Gene?" Bonnie asked worriedly. I waved my hand to dismiss her worries then pulled it out of my chest.

"What are you doing?" Jeremy shouted at the Hunter, practically growled. "What you shoulda done already. I'm gonna raise Silas…" He walked over to Silas and slit his wrist, letting the blood slowly drip into his mouth. "Then I'm gonna kill him." When I heard him say that the haze immediately returned, and I was seeing red. "No!" I shouted as I lunged at him with the knife he plunged into my chest. He was able to block my stab, but even as a Hunter I was still stronger. I angrily pushed him against Silas' body. He let out a grunt and collapsed to the floor. He was beginning to stand when I vamped in front of him and snapped his neck.

Jeremy and Bonnie both watched in shock as his lifeless body fell to the floor. They didn't say anything to me. My eyes were glued to the dead body. Then I heard him, '_Thank you, Arabella.'_ "You're welcome, master." Jeremy and Bonnie both watched me with worried eyes. And then the silence was broken. "Well that was weird." The three of us turned to look at the entrance to the cave, and standing there was Katerina Petrova. "Hey," I whispered to her. She gave me a small smile and nodded her head for a greeting. Behind me, Jeremy and Bonnie both let out sighs of relief. "Elena," Jeremy smiled. Katerina looked at me with wary eyes, waiting to see if I would correct them. But I stayed silent. As if in a moment of epiphany, Bonnie looked at me with worried eyes. "What about the Hunter's curse?" "Doesn't apply," I shrugged.

Continuing her role as Elena, Katherine rushed to Jeremy with a feigned worried expression. "Come here. Are you okay?" Jeremy nodded his head then turned to Bonnie. "She hurt her leg getting down her. You guys have to heal her." "Okay. I just need to make sure that you're alright first," she argued. She pulled him to look directly at her, but his eyes were full of skepticism. "I'm fine. What are you doing?" I watched with emotionless eyes as Katherine nodded her head then gestured to Silas' body. "The cure. Jeremy, after everything we've been through, it's right there." Bonnie was sitting on the floor. Her ankle was pretty swollen, and Jeremy kept glancing down at her worriedly. "It'll be there after we help Bonnie," he said pulling himself out of her grasp. He kneeled down next to Bonnie when Katherine let out a frustrated sigh. "God, I forgot what a brat you were," she said as she rolled her eyes. Jeremy stiffened at her words then looked at her with hurt eyes. "What?" "I'm done playing nice."

Katherine glanced at me and nodded her head, and I vamped to Jeremy and grabbed him by the wrist and neck. I quickly sliced his wrist then held it over Silas' mouth. "What are you doing?" he shouted, letting out grunts of pain as he tried to fight me. Bonnie was shouting words that I couldn't hear, and before she could start a spell, Katherine vamped over and knocked her out. I didn't flinch at the sound of her body hitting the floor. '_More.'_ "Yes, master," I mumbled and then pulled Jeremy to me then bit into his neck. He screamed out in pain, but his neck began to gush blood. I pushed him down and held him over Silas and eventually his arms reached up and grabbed hold of Jeremy. I backed up with a pleased smile on my face. "Control it," Katherine whispered in my ear. I whipped around to face her, but she was gone. And when I turned back around to look at Silas the cure was gone.


	4. Chapter 3

"Arabella," I heard someone whisper. I groaned in response. I felt exhausted, all I wanted to do was sleep some more. But the surface I was lying on wasn't comfortable. Slowly, my eyes blinked open. I was surrounded by trees, so I knew I was still on the island. "Day?" I groaned out. The person chuckled at the sleepy tone of my voice. "No, not exactly." '_Wait a minute,'_ I thought as I finally recognized the voice. My body shot up, eyes wide open, looking around frantically. "No need to be frightened." I turned to look behind me, my eyes instantly setting into a glare. "How are you alive? Damon killed you." Shane chuckled again and nodded his head. "Yes, he did."

* * *

"How'd this happen?" Damon shouted in a hushed voice. He and Stefan were standing at the entrance to the caves while Elena stayed in the tomb with Jeremy's dead body. Damon's eyes were panicked, filled with a slight grief, but mainly fear. "It was Katherine," Stefan said with a sigh. "She must have been following us this whole time." Damon nodded his head then looked at his brother with hopeful and fearful eyes. "What about the cure, or Silas?" "If there was anything in there at all, it's all gone," Stefan said with a shrug. "Where the hell is Gene?" Damon mumbled angrily, but Stefan still heard him. "I have no idea. She ran off with Rebekah, then you said she ran into the caves alone. Bonnie said she was with her and Jeremy, but then Katherine knocked her out. And she was gone when she woke up. No trace of Gene or Silas." Damon's eyes were furious. This whole trip Gene did nothing but piss him off, and now she's vanished? He knew there was something off about her, and he was angry with her. But he could still worry.

After a moment of silence Stefan spoke, "Damon, Elena is in there waiting for the Gilbert ring to bring Jeremy back to life." "Okay, fine. I'll wait with her," Damon grumbled then made to go into the tunnels. Before he could enter Stefan outstretched his arm to block the way. "Damon, listen to me. Jeremy was one of the Five, a Hunter." Damon's face was confused for a second, but it immediately filled with realization. He let out another sigh. "He's supernatural. The ring won't work anymore." Silence fell between the two brothers again as they both thought the same thing. "She won't survive this," Damon said

* * *

"Here," Shane said as he kneeled down next to me, and outstretched his wrist to me. My eyes shot to his with a questioning glance, but he was completely oblivious to how odd this was. "You're tired, you need blood. And unless you want to find an animal to drink from, I'm your only option. I watched him for a moment, searching for any ulterior motives in his eyes. When I couldn't find any, I grabbed his wrist and sank my fangs into it. He let out a small groan as I drank, but didn't object. The second his blood touched my tongue I felt a surge of energy and power rushing into my body. The sensation was unlike any I had ever experienced.

And then all at once, I began to get flashes of visions. I saw a small village from ancient times, a young man and woman madly in love, and a woman thrown aside. The visions began to overwhelm my senses, and I detached myself from his wrist.

My eyes shot up to his face, and for an instant, I thought I saw Stefan. "How are you alive?" I asked him. "It was Silas. He helped me. You did it, Arabella. He's risen." Slowly, he reached a hand out to me. My hand moved to accept his offer, but something inside me was wary. '_No!'_ a voice shouted inside me. Before I could place my hand in his I found myself shouting out, "Get away from me!" Shane seemed shocked for a moment, but then a smirk filled his face. "I know you're angry with me, but now you'll see everything I did, all those lives lost, they weren't in vain. Silas is gonna bring them back." My eyes narrowed at him as I shook my head and stood up. "What you want to do isn't natural." I walked a small distance from him. '_Run!'_ something inside me kept screaming. I shook my head and continued to glare at him.

"You can't bring back the dead." "I think you'll change your mind now." My glare fell as a deep nervousness set inside my stomach. "What do you mean, 'now'?" "When you awoke Silas he had to feed to gain his strength. He'd been desiccating for almost 2,000 years. He needed blood. You fed him Jeremy's blood." My mind raced with memories that I had no recollection of. I felt as if someone were showing me a video of something that had happened, rather than actually remembering something I had done. As the images flashed inside my mind I saw the events that had transpired. "No," I whispered. "Silas drained him of his blood, Arabella. Jeremy is dead." The words felt like a punch to the stomach. As soon as I realized what I had done a whimper escaped my lips, and a wave of sobs poured out.

* * *

Inside the Gilbert House, Elena sat in Jeremy's room while his dead body lay in his bed. She was gently rubbing her hand against his cheek and holding his hand. Her eyes were filled with a forced calm, and she stared patiently at her brother's body.

Downstairs in the kitchen, Caroline held a large bucket of water she was using to scrub the burnt spot on the flooring from Kol's body. As she dumped it into the sink she spoke to Stefan. "How long has she been like that?" she asked him. He let out a sigh and shrugged his shoulders, "Ever since we found his body. She hasn't said anything except that she's waiting for him to wake up." Caroline' face filled with worry. Slowly she turned to Stefan, "But he's not going to wake up. She knows that, right?" Stefan immediately held a finger up to his lips to shush her, then walked over to the sink. He quickly turned on the faucet, then turned to her with a serious face. "Look. Deep down, I think she has to, but we're talking about Elena here. She feels grief more powerfully than anyone else. I think her denial is the one thing protecting her from letting it all in." "But she can't stay like that forever," Caroline argued. Stefan let out a forced sigh and nodded his head, "I know, but I don't want to be the one to break her out of it. I mean, she needs Bonnie right now, but she's a mess. And Damon volunteered to take her home." Caroline's face filled with shock, and Stefan nodded his head with a face that screamed 'yeah, I know.' "I think we need to wait for Damon to, you know," Stefan left off. "Use the sire bond to convince her that everything is okay?" Caroline finished. Stefan nodded his head with a somber expression, just as Elena entered the kitchen.

"I'm not in denial," she said as she walked over to the sink and turned off the faucet. "I know that he was supernatural, but did you see?" she asked gesturing towards the stairs. "His tattoo is gone. The tattoo had the spell that opened Silas' chamber. Maybe it being gone means that he's fulfilled his supernatural destiny. Maybe he's back to normal. It's possible, right?" Caroline and Stefan both looked at each other before worriedly looking back at Elena. "Elena," Caroline had began to say, but was cut off. "It's possible, Caroline. There's a chance. It may be miniscule, but it's hope and I'm gonna hold on to that hope with everything that I've got because there's no way that m-," Elena left off. Her eyes began to water at the thought of what she was about to say, and she had to take in a deep breath to finish. "There's absolutely no way that my brother is dead." Without saying another word she left. Caroline and Stefan both stood shocked.

* * *

After Shane told me the news I collapsed on the floor in sobs. The sheer pain I was feeling in my chest was tearing me apart. It's bad enough that Jeremy is dead, but to know that _I_ killed him? My heart felt like it was being ripped into thousands of tiny shreds. "Arabella, here. Drink this. It'll calm you down," Shane said handing me a mug. My sad eyes immediately landed on him in a hard glare, and the cup he was giving to me flew from his grasp. "I don't want anything that you give me!" I shouted as I got up and shoved past him. "Jeremy's dead. My best friend is dead," I sobbed. Behind me I heard the roaring of the campfire grow immensely. "Arabella, be careful." I heard his words, but I couldn't stop the waves of magic that flowed off me. "Don't let your magic get out of control," he shouted to me.

Behind me I heard the deafening roar of the crackling fire. My back was burning from the heat being displaced. But my heart was in pieces. Another wave of sobs racked my body and I collapsed to the floor, placing my face in my hands. '_Arabella!'_ My magic immediately got back under control, the heat burning my back vanished, but my sobs continued. "Hey," Shane said kneeling in front of me, "I am not gonna let you fall apart. I'm not gonna let you." He soothingly began to rub a hand up and down my back as he whispered into my ear, "Silas needs you. He can bring Jeremy back." My sobs stopped as I sniffled and listened to his words. "He can bring everyone back, and you're gonna help him, okay? "You're gonna see Jeremy again."

* * *

My mind raced as I paced back-and-forth in my office. I was finally free from Bonnie's spell. I should be relaxing. But every cell in my body was jumping up and down with nerves. My stomach was filled with an unsettling feeling, and there was only one reason for it all.

'_Genevieve.'_

Something was wrong. I could feel it in my very soul. She is hurt. Not physically, but emotionally, mentally. My body was shaking, and I knew it was the feeling of her sobbing. I was fuming with anger at this point. Desperate to figure it all out, figure out why my little vie was crying, who caused her this pain, and kill them for it.

But there was another feeling. A deep pain in my chest. And although I wanted someone to pay for this heart-wrenching feeling that she was experiencing, I knew that she had done it to herself.

'_What do you do when the woman you love is destroying herself?'_

* * *

Elena was standing in the doorway of her room. Her face was emotionless, and her eyes were scanning over everything. As she looked over the window seat her eyes froze on her journal. She quickly walked over to it and picked it up, then left and walked back into Jeremy's room. She was staring silently at Jeremy's face when Meredith walked in. "Elena?" she asked worriedly. Elena's face filled with confusion as she looked at Meredith with a slight resentment. "Meredith? What are you doing here?" "I came to check on your brother. May I?" Elena nodded her head and Meredith immediately walked over to Jeremy and lifted his arm to check for a pulse. "You're not gonna find any vitals. It's the same thing that Ric used to go through. He'd just be dead until then he wasn't. Once, I remember he was gone for almost an entire day. Ric died, like, 4 times before he lost his mind and Jeremy has died a few times, too- 3, I think- so we're gonna have to-" she paused her ramble and turned to look at the doorway as Stefan entered. "So we'll have to keep an eye on him because I don't want him to go crazy just like Ric did."

Meredith didn't respond to Elena, but turned to look at Stefan instead. They shared a serious glance and Stefan nodded his head. "Elena…" Meredith said gently as she slowly approached her, "it looks like Jeremy died of extreme blood loss. His neck also appears to be broken. The lack of blood explains why there's no lividity, but his muscles have tightened past the point of rigor mortis." "No," Elena immediately retorted. "If he's left unattended to, soon he'll start to bloat. Within a few hours, his skin will discolor, and-" "No. He's-Stop, okay?" Elena interrupted as she walked over to Jeremy's body. "Just stop. He's not dead." "I need you to release the body to me. We'll get him to a funeral home and prepare him for a viewing where you and his friends can say goodbye to him."

Without a word, Elena rushed at Meredith and slammed her against the wall, vampire face showing. "He's not dead, okay?" Stefan immediately ran over to the two woman and pulled Elena off of Meredith. "Elena, stop it." She didn't hear a word he said. She struggled against his grip and tried to free herself to attack Meredith. "Now you're all about science? Where was your science when you used vampire blood to save my life, huh? There is no science here. It's just magic. We need magic. We have to find Bonnie. Bonnie can fix this. Somebody just get me Bonnie!"

"Elena," Matt said as he entered the room. She instantly calmed down and looked at him with a sad gaze. But he wasn't looking at her. His eyes were glued on Jeremy's body, and his face began to crumble. "No. No. No, Matt. It's fine," she said walking over to him. "It's okay. It's okay." She slowly and gently wrapped her arms around his shoulders to hug him as his eyes quickly began to tear up. "Bonnie will fix it soon, and she'll bring Jeremy back, and it'll be all fine. Everything's gonna be fine," she whispered to herself. "It'll be fine. It'll be fine."

* * *

Shane had convinced me to take a walk with him, although I only agreed because I needed to calm myself down. For some reason my emotions were more heightened than usual, and it was getting a bit hard to control. "We got to get you home if you're gonna help Silas raise the dead," Shane said all of a sudden. My eyes shot to him in confusion. "I never said I would help him. Why can't he do it himself?" "Not everyone is blessed with the gift of being a hybrid, Arabella." My eyes fell to the ground for a moment, the voice inside me screaming again. '_Don't listen to him! Run!'_ I wanted to listen to it, but everything in my body told me to stay. "Well, Silas can't do magic. He was a witch, but after he became immortal, that ended. Qetsiyah chose to punish him by removing his magic from him. That's why I was teaching Bonnie Expression, so she could do his work for him. But you're much more powerful than she is, aren't you?"

"Of course I am, but even I can't do the kind of magic you're talking about." Shane stepped in front of me to block my path then looked at me with a serious face. "You can if you use the power of 3 massacres. Each massacre of 12 marks the earth with power, and you can tap into that power." "Three? But there's only been two," I said with a confused face. Shane pursed his lips a bit and nodded his head. "You and I are gonna complete the triangle." My eyes widened in shock as I stammered to find the words to say. "_We_?" Shane sighed, "Look, there needs to be another massacre, but it's okay. They're gonna come back. It's worth it." "I'm not helping you kill 12 people, Shane."

Shane grabbed onto both sides of my arms, and I swear on my life, it actually _hurt_. His eyes were burning with rage as he looked at me, and for a second I was scared. "Won't you, if it meant you could see Jeremy again, Alaric, everybody you or your friends have ever lost? I think you would." I was tempted to accept his offer. My heart wanted to. Being able to bring back the people we've lost was a big opportunity, but Esther's message echoed in my head. '_If it is not defeated it will bring back all supernatural creatures from the Other Side.'_ "No," I said as I pulled my arms out of his grip. I turned to run away from him, but tripped on a tree root.

"Fuck!" I shouted out, preparing to land on my hands and knees, but instead I landed on a hard chest. When I looked down at my hands I saw that they were covered in blood. And when I looked down at who I had landed on a whimper escaped my lips. "Jeremy?" I cried out. He was lying underneath me, blood had soaked the neck of his shirt, and it was smeared across his face. "Gene, it hurts," he groaned out. My hands frantically grabbed at his cheeks to prove to myself that he was real. "Jeremy," I whimpered out when I felt the warmth of his skin against my hands. "Help me." I nodded my head, "I can help you. I'll help you. I can help you," I stammered as I placed my hands on his heart to begin chanting a healing spell.

Before I could start it a strong gust of wind blew my hair into my face. I squinted my eyes as various leaves and clouds of dirt flew around, but when it stopped he was gone. My eyes widened in shock at the spot my best friend was just lying in. "No," I mumbled as I looked around for any signs of him. "He asked you to help him, didn't he? He needs your help. You can do this, Arabella. You know you can." I silently stared down at my hands that were touching Jeremy's cheeks only seconds ago. I could swear I could still feel his warmth. With a deep, shaky breath, I looked up at Shane with watery eyes. "I'll do whatever it takes."

* * *

Elena was sitting quietly at the kitchen table when Matt brought over two mugs. One for him and one for her. As he sat down, he set them both down. The sound of the glass hitting the wood knocked Elena out of a daze. "You're not dosing me again, are you?" she joked. Matt chuckled, Poison your best friend once, and suspicion follows you forever." Elena smiled at him as she grabbed her mug. "Where are Bonnie and Damon?" Matt asked. "Bonnie was torn up about what happened, so Damon offered to take her home. Matt chuckled again, "That's funny. Doesn't he hate her?" "He doesn't hate her. I think he actually kind of loves her. You're mean to people that you care about." "That's some messed-up logic." "Damon logic," Elena said nodding her head at him.

Matt and Elena were both silent, unsure of what to say, or what would be appropriate to say in this moment. She was taking a sip of her drink when Matt let out a sigh, "Listen. I want you to go somewhere with me." Elena's eyes shot to Matt with a shocked look, and she instantly began shaking her head. "I can't leave Jeremy." She was about to begin rambling, but Matt held his hand up to stop her. "Elena... There's nothing you can do right now, okay? Stefan can stay here with him. Come with me." Elena was hesitant about agreeing, and was set on saying no. But Matt gently placed his hand on hers, and looked at her with so much worry, that her resolve crumbled and she agreed.

* * *

"I'll do whatever it takes. Whatever you ask of me, I'll do it," I said to Shane. He had a sinister smirk on his face as he kneeled down in front of me. "Then you will see him again. There's just a few things we have to do first." My face filled with confusion, and Shane stood from his kneeling position and began to walk around me. "When Silas was buried by the witch Qetsiyah, she left him with the cure and two choices. Stay immortal and rot or take the cure and eventually die in there of old age." "He's been trapped in there for 2,000 years. At some point wouldn't death by old age have been better? I mean, why put yourself through all that pain?" Shane smiled down at me. A genuine smile, and for a miniscule moment, I felt safe. "Because, you see, Qetsiyah had already one-upped him. She knew that he wanted to die so that he could find peace, be reunited with his one true love. So she created the Other Side as a purgatory for all supernatural beings, ensuring that if he died, he'd end up there forever. That's where you come in."

"Why does it have to be me?" I questioned. "Shouldn't it be Bonnie? She's a descendant of Qetsiyah." "Ideally, yes, Bonnie would be the one to do it. But she isn't nearly as strong as you are. You can easily make the Other Side go away." I was silent for a moment. I tried to think of every possible outcome, all the dangers of going through with such a crazy plan. But my mind was clouded with the image of Jeremy's bloodied body asking me to help him. After a moment of trying to decide, I let out a sigh, "How?"

* * *

She was finally home. After talking with Shane, Gene got a plane and came back. Damon picked her up from the airport and brought her where everyone was.  
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She was getting out of his car when she saw Caroline hanging up her phone. She immediately ran over to Gene and gave her a hug. "Thank God. We were so, so worried." "I'm okay," she mumbled out. Damon was silent, and Gene knew what he was thinking. That she was crazy. But if he knew everything she did, he wouldn't. "Could you get Stefan out here?" he asked Caroline. Gene had already walked inside, and Caroline hadn't heard the urgency in Damon's voice. "They said that Gene knows what to do." "Caroline," he repeated in a serious voice, getting her attention, "I need to talk to my brother." "What's wrong?" she asked, but he only gestured to Gene as she walked through the front door.

* * *

"It's called an Expression triangle. I need to complete it for Silas," Gene explained to Matt, Caroline, Bonnie, and Elena as they all sat around in the Gilbert living room. "What?" Matt asked in shock.

* * *

"She's out of her mind, Stefan," Damon practically growled out. "The nutty professor's got her totally brainwashed."

* * *

"Gene, you can't kill 12 people." "I know it sounds crazy, but it's the only way to get enough power," she argued. Everyone's faces were filled with skepticism and worry. Elena's eyes were emotionless, and she stared blankly at the spot right in front of Gene's feet. "To do what?" Caroline asked hesitantly.

* * *

"I mean, the whole drive back home, all she could talk about was how she's the one that can drop the veil between this side and the Other Side." Stefan had been silently listening. But hearing what Gene had said shocked him. "Drop the veil? What does that even mean?" "What it means is, the myth about Silas being able to raise the dead is not just one, or some. It's every supernatural being over there."

* * *

"Once the veil is dropped, the Other Side doesn't exist anymore. There's nothing separating us. We're all just one."

* * *

"Three massacres, three hot spots, and the witch spell of the century, and every supernatural being over there is back with a vengeance."

* * *

"Gene, you are talking like a crazy person. You are not killing 12 people, and you sure as hell can't invite every monster who has ever died back into this world," Caroline said matter-of-factly. Everyone was shocked, but Matt wasn't quite understanding how serious Gene was. "Caroline, I think she knows that," he said to her, but Gene's eyes were set. "I can do it. I have the power. We can bring 'everyone' back- Jeremy, Alaric, Vicki." As Elena listened her mind began to swim. Her heart was beating for the hopes that it could work, but her mind was telling her that she couldn't risk the world like this. "Gene, stop it. You can't just say these things." "It's gonna be fine…" Gene reassured just as the phone rang. Elena seemed to snap out of a daze, and immediately stood to go answer it. "I'll get it." "Elena, I'll get it-" Matt offered, but she snapped back at him. "I said I'll get it."

She robotically walked to the phone and picked it up just as Damon and Stefan entered the house. "Hello?" "Elena? It's April... Young. Um, I was looking for Jeremy, his cell phone keeps going straight to voicemail." Elena's face remained emotionless as she instantly replied, "Jeremy can't come to the phone right now. He's not-" she froze as she realized what she was about to say. Slowly, she took in a deep breath then said, "I'm sorry. He's dead." She immediately hung up the phone, ignoring everyone's shocked faces, and walked up the stairs.

She had entered Jeremy's room. His body was lying on the bed, covered in a blanket. Her emotionless eyes slowly began to fill with sadness and grief as she approached his body. And with a trembling hand, she lifted the blanket away from his face and stared at him. "Elena…" Damon said from the doorway. His face was filled with sadness and sympathy as he watched the girl he loved fall apart. "He's dead," she said as tears streamed down her cheeks. "He's dead. Damon, he's dead, and he's been dead this entire time, and I-" she stopped and her hand went to her mouth, "Oh, my god." She made a clear face of disgust and turned to look at Jeremy's body. "I can smell him." She turned back around to look at Damon, "How long has he smelled like that?" "Hey, talk to me. I can help you."

"How? How are you gonna help me? How?"she sniffled. Damon's eyes widened for a moment as he struggled to find the words to say. Eventually Elena let out a sigh and turned to him with a calm face, "Okay. Okay. We-we have to-we have to take care of his body. Bring him downstairs." "We shouldn't-" Damon started, but she interrupted him. "Just carry him down, please." Before Damon could say anything else Elena walked out of the room and down to the living room.

When she walked in everyone's eyes went to her. Bonnie, Stefan, and Caroline were all worried, but Elena was only scanning the room for one person. "Where's Gene?" "We told Matt to take her home. We thought it'd be best." "Okay," Elena said as she nodded her head, "I guess we're gonna have to do this the old-fashioned way." "Do what?" Elena didn't respond, but turned to Damon as he walked down the stairs. "Put his body on the couch." Without saying another word she walked into the kitchen. Everyone watched in awe as she look through the cabinets with a strong determination. "What are you doing?" Stefan asked as he watched her with wary eyes. She didn't say anything, just grabbed a bottle of lighter fluid and entered the living room.

She had began squirting the fluid everywhere as everyone watched, "We need a cover story, right? You think I didn't hear you guys talking earlier? Well, what are we gonna say-animal attack, 'tumbled down the stairs'? No. We burn the house down with him inside of it." "Elena, stop it," Stefan said in a firmer tone. "Why?" she asked with teary eyes. "Because you want me to not be in denial? You want me to face the truth? 'This' is the truth, Stefan. I don't want to live here anymore. I don't want these sketches," she shouted as she grabbed Jeremy's sketchpad and threw them across the room. "I don't want this Xbox," she said throwing the empty bottle of lighter fluid on the floor. She let out a groan as she walked back to the cabinets and pulled out a bottle of alcohol. "not gonna need this bourbon anymore. Alaric's not here to drink it, I mean, unless you guys are willing to bring back every supernatural creature on the Other Side to get him back." With broken eyes, Elena turned to Damon,

"Would you? I know you want your drinking buddy back." She walked up to him. His eyes were full of pain at her question, but he remained stoic. "Would you, Damon? Because I wouldn't " She let out a frustrated sigh and walked back over to Jeremy's body. Her eyes were emotionless as she haphazardly emptied the contents of the bourbon bottle over his body. "I don't know, I mean, does that make me a bad person? I-I have no idea." Her voice dropped down to a whisper. Her eyes had began to water, and she carefully leaned down to remove the Gilbert ring from his finger. She stared at it for a moment then threw it to Damon. "He's not gonna need that anymore."

"Elena, stop it. You're scaring me!" Caroline shouted as Bonnie remained stunned. Elena ignored her cry and turned to the fireplace. There sat a photo on the mantle, and she walked over and grabbed it. "What else are we supposed to do with the body, Caroline? I mean, there's no-there's no room in the Gilbert family plot." Elena's face crumbled and filled with pain as a sob left her lips. She was angry that she left it escape and threw the photo on the ground. The glass shattered, Bonnie flinched from the crashing sound, and Elena continued, "Jenna and-and John took the last spots." Elena groaned again as she threw the bourbon bottle against the wall. It shattered, frightening Bonnie again, and she walked over to the mantle. Her hand slowly grabbed at a small box, and from it she removed a match.

"No, no, Elena. Stop," Stefan told her, but she lit the match anyways. "There's nothing here for me anymore, Stefan. Every inch of this house is filled with memories of the people that I love that have died-my mom, my dad, Jeremy, and Jenna and Alaric, John, even John. I mean, they're all dead. Everyone is dead. So what am I supposed to-I mean, how am I gonna-I can't even-There's nothing left for me-aah!" The candle that was lit had burned to her fingers. She flinched and let it go, and the candle fell to the floor. Before it hit the floor, Damon vamped over and caught it in his hands.

Elena didn't pay anyone any attention. The forced calm she had been experiencing up until now was disappearing. Her eyes were filled with tears, and she finally let them fall. She crumbled to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably as everyone watched helplessly. "Elena, I need you to calm down," Damon said gently. He had moved so he was kneeling in front of her, but it didn't help. She was crying so hard she couldn't see a thing in front of her. "No, no, no, I can't. I can't. I can't. I-No. It hurts. It hurts. Just make it stop. Please make it stop. It hurts," she sobbed as she gripped at her hair. Damon watched with conflicted eyes. _'What do I do?'_ "Damon... Help her," Stefan pleaded.

Damon nodded his head, and before he could think to do anything else, he began speaking to Elena soothingly, "I can help you. I want you to let me help you." Damon gently put his hand on her cheek, and the meet touch of his skin against hers sent shivers down her spine. "I can help you." "How?" she sniffles out. Damon didn't answer right away. His eyes were filled with hesitation and regret. But with a heavy sigh he whispered, "Turn it off."

Stefan's face filled with complete and utter shock. "What? No, no." Damon silently held up his hand to stop anyone from speaking any further. "Just turn it off, and everything will go away. That's what you have to do. It's what I 'want' you to do. Just turn it off."

Everyone's eyes were on Elena. Her face was filled with pain, and slowly it all disappeared. Her eyes fell, and slowly they became empty voids.

* * *

Matt and I were pulling up in front of the Mansion. When he parked he gave me a worried look. "It's going to be okay, Matty, you'll see. I'll bring him back." I could tell that he wanted to believe me, but there was so much doubt in him that he couldn't. "Get some sleep, Gene. We'll talk tomorrow." I nodded my head at him and was about to get out when my door was practically ripped off its hinge.

Matt seemed scared, but I immediately outstretched my arms. Nik's arms wrapped tightly around my waist as he pulled me into a tight hug. "Thank God you're alright," he whispered into my neck. Nik was holding me in his arms walking into the house, but before we entered I waved goodbye to Matty. "Don't ever leave me again." "Never."

Nik continued to carry me, and although I thought he would take me to the bedroom, he went straight for his office. "Nik, what are you doing?" He didn't say anything, but when I pulled back to look at him he was smirking. "Do you know how long I have waited to have you?" he whispered huskily in my ear. A roar of shivers rioted through my body.

I was instantly pinned to the wall. His lips were on mine in a second as he kissed me with a deep hunger. "I missed you," he whispered in between kisses. I let out a giggle as I reached my hands down and pulled his shirt over his head. "I can see that." We began kissing again. His hands were hungrily moving up and down my body. Then I jumped up and wrapped my legs around his waist. When I pulled him tighter against me he let out a loud groan.

Before I knew it we were on the other side of the room and I was sitting on his desk. With one quick swipe of the arm all his things were on the floor. Our kisses were deep and passionate, and just feeling his lips on mine made me want him. Nik kissed my lips then slowly started moving them downward. When his lips reached my neck he started sucking on my sweet spot. A loud moan escaped my lips as I threw my head back and clawed at his shoulder blades. I could feel my nails digging into his flesh, the groan of pleasure that rumbled his throat as he sucked on my neck, and the hardness that was being pressed between my legs. My mind was in a frenzy of ecstasy when Nik abruptly pulled my shirt over my head.

The frenzy that we were just in had quickly vanished, and now I just stared at him in awe. '_How could he possibly be mine?'_ I thought. With a radiant smile he leaned down and kissed me on the lips. These kisses weren't rushed and lustful, but slow and full of love. As we continued kissing I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, and he began to unbutton my jeans. When he finished, he expertly slid them down my waist then lifted me up as he pulled them off my legs.

So there I sat in my bra and thong. Nik was looking me over and I could see a hunger in his eyes, but at the same time he was scared. I flirtatiously bit my lip then said, "You don't have to be careful with me." As soon as I said it his lips were on mine and he was grabbing my hips, pulling me so close to him that I could feel his heart beating in sync with mine. "I need you," he whispered in my ear. His breath caused my skin to shiver and goosebumps to rise. I quickly unbuttoned his pants and threw them on the ground, then threw his underwear on the ground as well.

He was standing completely nude, his erection was standing at attention, and I wanted him. With one hop up, I slipped off my thong, because Lord knows he would have ripped it off. When I threw my thong across the room he was already pushing himself inside me. A loud moan of pain and ecstasy escaped my lips as he entered me, and my walls stretched around him. Before I could even get used to him inside me he was pounding in and out.

My mind went numb as I desperately clawed into his back to grab onto him. His hands were gripping dangerously tight onto my hips, and I knew there would be bruises all over my body later. His hips thrusted in and out of me at a fast and hard pace. "Niklaus!" I moaned out in between ragged breaths. Hearing my voice caused a low growl of pleasure to rumble out of his throat. While he slammed into me my mind was in a haze, but I grabbed onto his back, then grabbed his neck and pulled his lips down to mine.

Our lips hungrily attacked each other's. Each more passionate than the next. Then I flipped him over and slammed him down against the desk. There was a loud cracking sound, then one of the legs of the table splintered, but it held us. I smirked as I jumped on top of him and rubbed my opening against the shaft of his erection. It sent a wave of pleasure through my body as I leaned back on my hands and continued to move my hips. "Genevieve," he growled out in pleasure and frustration. His way of saying 'Stop teasing me.'

With a giggle I grabbed his erection and placed it at my entrance. I rubbed his head against me, letting out a slight moan, then positioned myself on my feet so I could bounce on him. With one movement he was inside me and I was beginning to move up and down. I let out airy moans as I leaned forward, putting my hands on his chest, and bounced up and down. "Oh god," I moaned out when Nik placed his hands on my chest. His hands were rough and demanding on my hips, but as he massaged my breasts they were gentle and giving. Then he pulled me down to him, and he began to bite and suck on my nipples. My body was going crazy with pleasure. I had forgot I was moving up and down and hadn't realized it until I felt him slamming into me again. He pounded me fast and hard, but gently nibbled on my nipples at the same time.

"I'm coming," I moaned out into his neck. He let out another growl then pulled my face to his and kissed me. Although he was already moving in and out of me at a fast pace, he started going faster. Nothing could stop the loud moans that escaped my lips. And then I reached my climax. Nik kept pumping in me regardless and seconds later I felt his hot sperm filling me up.


	5. Chapter 4

Waking up in Nik's arms was always the best feeling in the world. My cheek was resting against his chest listening to his heart, his arm was wrapped around my waist. His long, slender fingers were drawing light circles on my hip. "I love you," he whispered into my hair. Butterflies toothed around my stomach as I turned my head to look at him. _'This beautiful creature is mine,'_ I thought. Nik chuckled and nodded his head. "All yours." "I love you too."

I was leaning up to place my lips against Nik's when I got an unsettling feeling in my stomach. I froze as it did flips and lurched. "Genevieve?" Nik asked worriedly. "What is it?" I was about to open my mouth to tell him when I felt all the contents of my stomach rising. In the blink of an eye, I was in the bathroom hunching over the toilet seat. All the contents of my stomach were flowing into the toilet.

"My little vie, are you alright?" I weakly nodded my head as I swiped my wrist across my chin. "It must be the aftereffects of the island," I said as I sat myself against the wall. Nik watched me with worried eyes and placed his hand over my forehead. "You seem fine, but why don't you come to bed and rest." I nodded my head and grabbed onto Nik's hand to stand.

Once I was on my feet, however, the world began spinning before my eyes. I desperately grabbed onto Nik's arms to steady myself, but I felt like I was standing on a boat in the middle of a storm. "Nik, everything is spinning," I mumbled with my eyes shut. Before I could say another word, Nik lifted me up into his arms. "Genevieve are you sure it's just an aftereffect?" "Trust me," I said as he placed me in our bed, "I'm fine darling." Nik was about to argue with me over it when his phone went off. He let out a frustrated sigh and picked it up. His frustrated face immediately changed to a scowl, and when he was done reading he seemed angry.

"Nik?" "That was Hayley, a werewolf friend of Tyler's. She wants to meet with me." "Well, go," I said with a nonchalant face. He turned to me with an utterly shocked face and shook his head. "I'm not leaving you like this." "I'm fine. Just go." Nik stood watching me for a moment, contemplating whether he should or not. After a minute he let out a sigh and nodded his head. "Alright, but you are not to leave this bed." I nodded my head in agreement, and Nik walked over to place a kiss on my cheek. "I won't be gone a second longer than an hour." "Longest hour of my life," I joked as he slowly and reluctantly walked out the door.

* * *

It was midnight, the truck stop was dark, save for a few street lights. Everything was almost completely silent except for the sound of footsteps. Hayley was walking out of the small Food Mart alone and walking towards the empty parking lot. She was nervous. It was obvious in the way she looked around her, how she jumped at every small sound. She had just been beginning to calm down when she heard a crashing sound. The young werewolf jumped and skittishly looked around for any signs of people. There was no one there. She had slowly stopped walking and began listening for any other sounds when it occurred again. This time behind her.

Hayley immediately spun around and then gasped when she saw a man standing behind her. Without saying a word he vamped in front of her and slammed her against the side of an eighteen wheeler. She cried out in pain and was about to run, but he grabbed her tightly by the throat and lifted her in the air. Her hands immediately began clawing at his to try and force him to let go as she gasped and choked for air. The vampire growled when her nails cut deep into his skin and released her.

Hayley began coughing and gagging on the floor, and I the vampire glared down at her, snarling in hatred. He was about to kick her in the stomach when Klaus appeared and grabbed him by the jacket. His fangs began to extend and his eyes turned a golden yellow, "Have a care, mate. That's no way to treat a lady." Hayley had stopped coughing and watched in horror as Klaus bit into the vampire's neck. The man screamed in pain as he punched and kicked at Klaus. No matter how hard he fought he couldn't break free. After a few seconds Klaus them him aside then set his sights on Hayley.

"You came," she said as she staggered up. She seemed genuinely shocked he had, but she was glad. "Well, I wasn't going to, but Genevieve forced me to." Hayley's face minutely fell, but Klaus didn't pay it any mind as he helped her stand. She quickly dusted herself off and then turned to look at the groaning vampire. "Oh, don't worry about him. He'll never make it through tomorrow night." "What if there are more?" She mumbled in a slightly scared tone. The sound made Klaus chuckle, because not a drop of fear was shown in her expression.

"You were foolish enough to make a deal with Katerina Petrova. She used you to find the cure and now you're nothing but a loose end. You'll be lucky if she lets you live." Hayley growled then shoved past Klaus to begin walking away. "You said you would protect me." "And I will," he said vamping in front of her, "just as soon as you tell me everything you know about Katerina."

* * *

Nik and Hayley had arrived exactly an hour after he left. He was still worried, and Hayley was practically kissing the ground. "He drove like a maniac," she had said. And I believed her. Hayley and I were in my room relaxing together and watching tv when I got a sudden yearning for chocolate cake.  
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Hayley immediately jumped on my bandwagon and started saying she wanted some too. So Nik, being the loving and devoted fiancé he is, went to go get us some.

It was about 30 minutes later when he arrived, and he wasn't alone. "Ah, what an unpleasant surprise," I heard Nik say. I had immediately sat up to listen when I heard the tone of his voice, but Hayley didn't pay any attention. "So I just came up with a list," I heard Damon say. I instantly began climbing over the pillows, and Hayley, who _still_ didn't pay attention. When my feet hit the ground my head began spinning, and I had to grab onto the wall to keep from falling. But I kept going.

By the time I reached the stairs they had already finished their conversation. "Hey, Day," I smiled at him. His eyes were set into a glare, and he radiated frustrated anger. But the second I called him he calmed down. "Genevieve, you should be in bed," Nik said with worried eyes. He immediately walked over to me then carried me down the stairs. "Why should she be in bed?" Damon asked. "I'm fine." "What's wrong?" Damon pressed. I let out a sigh as Nik set me down in the living room. "I'm just feeling under the weather." "She threw up earlier, and now she can barely stand without getting dizzy." Damon watched we with worried eyes for a moment, but when he saw the determined look in my eyes he let out a sigh and let it go.

"So there is no way you'll let me speak to Hayley?" he asked Nik. I didn't say anything, but Nik looked at Damon with a smirk. "My hands are tied. You'll have to take that up with her." Damon looked confused, but I sat with my arms crossed. "Hayley is off limits." "But Gene-" Damon began, but I held my hand up to silence him. "Off. Limits." With a frustrated groan, Damon stormed out the house, and slammed the door.

My heart ached when Damon left, and I could feel tears threatening to fall. When Nik saw he immediately ran and wrapped his arms around me. Before I could say anything, he lifted me up and walked me to the room. Haley was watching Mean Girls when we walked in, but when she saw Nik carrying me she turned to me with a worried face. "What happened?" "Nothing," I immediately answered as I wiped at my eyes and got into the bed with her. Nik let out a heavy sigh then looked between Hayley and I with a conflicted face. "I have some business to attend to. Genevieve, if you need me I won't go." I waved my hand at him dismissively, "I'm fine." "I'll be here, Klaus," Hayley said. Nik looked at her with a skeptical face, but she nodded her head encouragingly. He let out another sigh and then nodded his head. "Alright. I'll be quick about it."

* * *

After Nik left I had fallen asleep. When I woke up, Hayley was lying next to me with her eyes closed. I carefully got up from the bed, then carefully got into a standing position. My mind began to vaguely spin, but I was able to stand on my own. A small wave of pride ran through me, and I carefully walked down the stairs. When I walked into the kitchen I remembered about the cake Nik had bought me. My mouth instantly began to water as I walked to the fridge and pulled it out. It was chocolate bread with chocolate filling and chocolate frosting.

Right as I was sitting down at the table to eat it Hayley walked in. Her eyes were still half-closed, and she was letting out a loud yawn. "That looks delicious," she mumbled. I nodded my head while holding a fork out to her, "It is amazing." We were both sitting in silence and eating our cakes when out of nowhere she placed her fork down and looked at me seriously. "How long have you been like this?" I didn't answer right away. "Since last night." "Do you know what it is?"

I didn't answer right away again. The thought kept repeating in my head, and although I wasn't upset, I couldn't say it out loud. "How'd you know?" "Well, to normal people, it's pretty obvious." "Hayley, you can't tell anyone," I pleaded. She nodded her head in a reassuring way and put her hand comfortingly on mine. "Don't worry about it… What are you going to do?" I froze. I wasn't exactly sure. I hadn't even let myself think about it. But my mind kept swimming with hundreds of terrible possibilities. "It's not safe. I mean, we live in a dangerous world. I'm not sure I'm ready." My eyes began to water from all my fears, and Hayley walked over to my side and hugged me.

"If there's anything I can do, let me know." I kept crying for a few seconds, but then an idea came to mind. My tears had slowly began to fade, and I realized that this was probably best. My heart hurt just thinking about what I would be doing. But it has to be done. "Actually… there is something."

* * *

A few hours had past since she offered to help. Everything was finished, and although my heart was hurting non-stop, my body felt 1,000 times better. "Are you sure about this?" she asked me with worried eyes. I hadn't stopped crying since we finished, despite me saying I was over 20 times. "I'll be fine. Please, just… be careful." She instantly grabbed my hand and looked at me with watery eyes. "I will protect it with my life. You can trust me, Gene." I nodded my head and pulled her into a hug. We stayed that way for a few minutes. Me crying, Hayley comforting me. When I finally pulled away I caught a glimpse of a mark on her shoulder. "What's that?" I asked as I pulled her shirt back a bit. "It's just a birthmark," she shrugged. "No, I've seen it before."

I pulled away from her, and my mind swam trying to remember where I had seen it. As I thought, Hayley watched me with waiting eyes. After a long moment I let out a gasp. "New Orleans. There was a pack of wolves that I had met there. They all had the same exact birthmark." Hayley's eyes widened in shock and hope, but I could see the immense hesitation in her. "Gene," she began, but I placed my hands on her shoulders and nodded my head. "Go. Find your family," I said with a smile. She let out a sigh and nodded her head in thanks. "But please, be careful."


	6. Chapter 5

Inside the Salvatore Boarding House, Caroline walked around with a trash can in her hands. The house was completely trashed, there were cans everywhere. As she walked around with a frown on her face she found a red cup that still had alcohol in it. With a small sigh she raised the cup to her lips and drank the last few drops, then threw it into the bin she was holding. Just as she tossed it in Klaus walked in. "Desperate times, I take it?" Caroline didn't turn to look at him as he talked, but asked, "What are you doing here?" "Not judging you, for starters. Although if you are determined to get drunk, then perhaps I might recommend something a little more sanitary?" Caroline glared at him, and in spite of his comment, she drank the remnants of another cup. "Well, then. You showed me."

Caroline rolled her eyes at him and continued picking up trash. "Shouldn't you be out chasing Tyler to the ends of the earth?" she commented and then turned to glare at him again. "Or are there still some hopes and dreams you wanna crush around here?" "Depends. Do you happen to know where the young Brutus is?" "I know where he's not-with me. And he gave Matt the deed to the house, so he's gone for good." Klaus nodded his head and slowly paced closer towards the angry blonde. She pretended to continue picking up trash, but she paid close attention to his proximity. "Tyler made it his life's mission to kill me. You can't hate me for driving him away."

Without missing a beat, Caroline turned and glared at him with all the hatred and pain she felt, "Oh I can, and I do. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to get back to spiraling, so go away." Klaus remained silent, but stared into Caroline's eyes. And although she was angry, she was having a hard time keeping up her glare. They had been staring at each other for what seemed like minutes when Stefan walked in. "Actually, I asked him to be here. We need his help. I think Silas is in Mystic Falls."

* * *

Silas and I were sitting in the living room.  
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He had came over claiming that I needed to be taught, but I doubted that. "Okay. Come on. Take a deep breath," he said while still being disguised as Shane. "Take a deep breath, and 5, 4-" "I can't do this," I said interrupting him. He gave me an exasperated look. "Bella, relax, okay? Trust me." "How can I trust you if you won't show me your real face? Don't you think it's a little creepy that you're appearing as Bonnie's dead professor?" Silas sighed then came and sat next to me, but I immediately moved to where he was sitting. He seemed hurt, and despite the aching I felt in my chest, I acted as if I didn't care. "I told you that I'm Silas, I told you Shane died on the island. I'm trying to earn your trust," he said coming and kneeling in front of me.

He seemed genuinely sad. And even though being near him, touching him, felt like home, felt safe, my mind kept telling me to run away. "You can trust me," he whispered grabbing my hands. The second his skin touched mine I felt warmth run through my hole body. The feeling made me want to wrap my arms around him and never let go. As he looked at me with hurt and love I realized just how conflicted I felt.

"All right. Look," he said then sat back across from me. "You invited me into your home, right? Why? Why'd you lie to your friends and tell them everything was fine? Why did you sneak me in? What am I doing here?" All these questions circulated through my brain, and I could barely think straight. I quickly stood up and began pacing back-and-forth with my hand on my head. "You're in my head. You're making me see things and do things." Silas stood up and grabbed both of my arms. His grip was tight, the only one stronger than mine. And while his arms were holding me all I wanted to do was collapse into them.

"Hey, now. See? Look. I'm stronger than you, right?" I hesitantly nodded my head, and he continued. "But am I forcing you to do anything you don't want to? You care about Jeremy, right?" "Yes," I mumbled to him. "But in order to bring him back…" "I need to get rid of the Other Side." Silas nodded his head and gently rubbed my arms. "You are strong, the most powerful witch of all time. Only you can complete the triangle and cast the spell." His voice was soothing and hypnotic, but I quickly shook my head to clear my mind. "Completing the triangle means killing 12 people," I shouted then turned to begin walking again. "Twelve people you can bring back," he argued. I turned back to face him and let out all my frustration but he interrupted me, "Bella, you can do this-for Jeremy."

* * *

Klaus was pouring himself a drink in the living room, while Caroline and Stefan watched with angry eyes. "So some blood went missing from a few hospitals. What about Elena? Don't vampires with their humanity off tend to overindulge in human blood, or were you the exception?" he asked Stefan. Caroline's face filled with anger at the mention of Stefan's ripper side, but Stefan took it in stride. "It's not Elena." "Well, let's say for a moment that it was Silas. I'm struggling to see how his affects me." Stefan sighed and looked at Klaus with a deep sincerity. "I hate to admit this, but he has some sort of connection to Gene." That revelation caused Klaus to freeze, and all signs of sarcasm and arrogance disappeared. "When we were on the island there were times when she seemed hypnotized. And the strangest thing? When she was entranced she would only respond to the name Arabella."

Klaus seemed to be physically shocked. His mind raced with thousands of questions, but what bugged him the most was the unsettling feeling in his stomach. "My interest is piqued," he said in a fake nonchalant attitude. He was trying to hide the worry and anger he felt, but Caroline and Stefan could see it clear as day. "How do we stop him?" he asked Stefan. "Gene said Silas needs to complete 3 massacres to do this spell. Before Professor Shane died, he convinced the pastor to blow up the council. Next, he had you kill your hybrids, and now he only needs one more massacre. So if he's here, that's what he's doing. We need to find him."

After Klaus finally agreed to help Caroline and Stefan, they all went to the University where Shane taught to look through his things for clues. "What are we even looking for?" Caroline asked. "Well, if Shane really was working with Silas, chances are he was helping him plan his next move." "Where, on his evil villain to-do list? 'Steal blood, perform 3 massacres, pick up dry cleaning?'" "Actually, not to nit-pick, but we evil villains usually use minions to pick up our dry cleaning, that sort of thing." Caroline let out a sigh as she rolled her eyes. "Why is he necessary again?" she asked Stefan.

"Well, we don't know what Silas can do, so if we do have to go head to head with him, an Original hybrid who can't die might come in handy." Caroline let out a sigh, not being able to deny the truth behind the statement. "Besides," Klaus said to add in, "Stefan and I work well together. Or at least we did in the 20's." "Well, granted my emotions were off." "And that's why you were more fun, just as Damon is probably relishing in Elena's emotionless company on their field trip to New York." Caroline, again, rolled her eyes at the blatant jab to Stefans wounds. But Stefan kept up his mask of bravery and didn't let it phase him. "My brother knows what he's doing." "Does he? Don't underestimate the allure of darkness, Stefan. Even the purest hearts are drawn to it."

Stefan stopped in his tracks to glare at Klaus. His mind filled with anger at the idea that his pure sister could love such a crazy man. Beside him, Caroline looked at Klaus with touched eyes. Her heart understood his words, but her mind scolded her for feeling something. "Still, I'm sure it'll all be fine," Klaus added. Caroline continued searching, and seemed to realize that she had something in front of her. "I-I think I found something," she said carrying a large book over to Shane's desk. "Symbolic Figures in the Dark Arts," she said as she flipped through the pages. Stefan and Klaus both walked over to her just as she gasped and pointed to a page. "Didn't Gene talk about Expression Triangles?"

Her hand was placed over a large drawing of an intricate triangle, and Stefan began to read the page that accompanied it. "In some schools of magic such as Expression, human sacrifice can be used as a focus for power. It is rumored that the addition of two supernatural sacrifices compounds the mystical energy, creating an Expression Triangle." Caroline's eyes widened as she pointed to the points on the triangle. "Humans-that was the council fire. Demons-Klaus' hybrid failure." "Well, I wouldn't exactly call it a failure," Klaus said nonchalantly. Caroline and Stefan both looked at him with faces that said, 'really?' With a shrug he said, "What's the third?" Caroline looked at the page and gasped as she raised her clasped hands to cover her mouth. "Oh, no."

* * *

"You want me to kill witches?" I asked in shock. "We've been over this," Silas said with a sigh, "It's temporary. They'll come back." I stayed silent for a moment to think it all over when a question came to my mind, "What if I'm not strong enough?" Silas gave me a look that screamed 'are you crazy' and then reassuringly rubbed my arm. "You are strong enough. Look, it won't be easy. Once they realize how strong you are, they'll channel each other one by one using spirit magic 'til they can strip you of Expression. You have to endure them until all 12 are linked as one." A wave of hesitance washed through me and I couldn't fathom what I was agreeing to. "Wait a minute," I said after coming to a realization. "Where are we going to get twelve witches from?" Silas smiled calmly at me, and I could immediately tell I wasn't going to like the plan. "We both know that they'll come if you call."

* * *

I silently walked towards a large clearing in the middle of the woods. It was night time, everything was dark, and the moon was shining brightly. "Is it just you?" I asked emotionlessly. "No, my goddess," she said then bowed down before me. My eyes watched her boredly as she continued, "Eleven others have made the journey. This place wasn't easy to find." I nodded my head and turned around to see eleven other witches bowed down in a circle around me. "I didn't want to draw attention." "It's alright, my goddess. Anything you wish will be done."

My stomach lurched at the blind obedience being given to me. I hated it so much I almost ordered her to leave, but I felt Silas show me the image of Jeremy lying cold underneath me. I let out a sigh and nodded my head, "Stand." All the witches did, and then I let out a sigh. "Do you know what you're doing?" Aja nodded her head. "I've dealt with Expression before. I know the hold it can have on you." "It will be hard. Are you prepared to do what it takes?" The witch's eyes filled with fear, but she hesitantly nodded her head. "We will do whatever it is you please, my goddess... But are you sure?" Without a second's hesitation I nodded my head. "Let's do this."

* * *

Caroline and Klaus were alone inside Shane's office. They were still examining the book on Expression Triangles, but began to study a map of Mystic Falls as well. Caroline had a ruler and pen in her hands, and she had been pinpointing the spots of the two massacres that had already occurred. "Pastor Young's farm is here, and the old Lockwood cellar, where you spitefully slaughtered 12 of your own hybrids, is here." Caroline smirked at the tightness in Klaus' jaw then drew a line to connect the two places. "According to the book, the Expression Triangle is equilateral, putting it here." She smirked in triumph as she drew a dot and then connected it to the already existing massacres. The lines she drew formed a perfect equilateral triangle. Klaus nodded his head in approval, but the smirk on his face proved that he wasn't completely impressed.

"Somebody's been skipping their geometry classes," he chuckled out. Caroline's smirk fell to a frown as he took the pen and ruler from her hands. "There are actually two places where the third massacre could be." He then began to draw two more lines, forming another triangle that was opposite to Caroline's. "Well, you didn't let me finish," she joked with a smile. Klaus smiled back at her with a _genuine_ smile. Unknowingly, Caroline found herself getting caught in the evil, inviting glint in his eyes. Her mind yelled at her for falling for such a fake smile, but her heart told her that it wasn't fake. It was real. And it was the only real smile he showed anyone besides Gene. That had to count to for something, right?

They had continued to stare at each other when Stefan randomly barged through the door. Caroline immediately turned to Stefan with a nonchalant smile. "Hey. What's going on? Did you find Gene?" she asked "No, but I talked to your mom. I think I found Silas."

* * *

I lay calmly in the center of the twelve witches. My heart was racing at the knowledge of what I was about to do, but I could feel Silas' eyes on me. My eyes were closed, but I heard the sound of Aja's footsteps approaching me and opened them. "Call out to the spirits, my goddess. They desperately wait for you to let them in." I nodded my head and closed my eyes again as I called out through my mind. Aja's hands went to both sides of my head, and with a deep breath I began chanting, "Phesmatos tribum-aah!" My body lurched upwards as a strong pain struck at my chest. "I can't," I shouted out. Not to Aja, but to Silas. "It's hurting. It hurts! You said it wouldn't hurt!"

Aja looked at me with questioning eyes. "My goddess, the Expression has consumed you. We mustn't stop! Phesmatos tribum nas ex viras..." she continued. My body twisted and lurched with pain, millions of shots being fired at my nerves. "I changed my mind," I whimpered out. As soon as I said it I felt the haze fill my mind and numb my speaking abilities. "Purgal animum sous..." Aja continued, but as hard as I tried to scream out for her to stop, I couldn't. "Obscarus!" Aja shouted louder. My body was burning with pain. My tongue felt numb. And my throat was raw. Not from the spells, but from my continuous screams of pain.

"She's too strong. I need help. Link with me. Lend me your power." Around me all the witches slowly kneeled to the ground and began chanting with Aja. "Phesmatos repallus tantian..." There were several torches lit around us. As the chanting, and my screams, continued they began to flare. Their heat radiated on my sweating skin, and the light brightened our entire surrounding. "Maltuscanum anium par vas." My eyes flew open, a wave of magic rushing through my veins. "We need more strength!" I heard her shout, but my body was on fire. "Phesmatos repallus tantian maltuscanum anium par vas." There was a war going on within my body. I could feel the spirit magic desperately trying to wash away the Expression. Both were struggling to maintain control of my body, and it tore apart my nerves.

* * *

Klaus and Caroline were walking through the woods alone. He had his phone out staring at a map, and Caroline was nagging him to see it. "I just want to see where we are." "You know, when we split up you did have the option of going with Stefan," he said in a forced light tone. His jaw was still squeezed tight, and his eyes were burning with a deep determination. It was apparent that Silas had followed Gene from the island. Klaus had no doubts about it, because just as he couldn't reach her through their mate bond then, he couldn't now. He couldn't find her, but he could feel a dull pain in his chest. It didn't hurt, but it did cause him to worry.

"Yeah? And leave Gene's life in your hands? Fat chance. Do you even know how to read a map?" "Yes," he snapped, minutely scaring Caroline in the process, "and do you know who taught me? My friend Magellan." With a heavy sigh he pocketed his phone and continued walking. "Wow! You had a friend. Was he drawn to your darkness, too?" She asked sarcastically. Klaus stopped walking, despite every cell in his body telling him to do otherwise, and turned to Caroline, "Actually, I was referring to Damon and Elena, or Genevieve and I, when I said that, but clearly it struck a chord with you." "It's because it's not true! There is no allure to darkness." "Really?" Klaus smirked. "So you've never felt the attraction that comes when someone who's capable of doing terrible things for some reason shows kindness for you?"

"I did once," she whispered admittedly. Klaus' smirk fell in shock at the truth behind her answer. "When I thought he was worth it, but it turns out some people can't be fixed. People who do terrible things are just terrible people." Klaus' shocked expression, along with all emotion, faded from his face as he stared at her. "We're here," he said looking around. All evidence of their previous conversation vanished from his demeanor as the worry he felt for Genevieve returned. "Although judging by the lack of witches, here is not the correct location."

* * *

The torches were burning bright around the witches, and Genevieve was weakly trying to fight them. If it was just the twelve of them she would have been able to break free, but Silas was still watching from the shadows and kept the haze in her mind. She was weak against their magic, despite how strongly she tried to fight. Her eyes, that were completely white, widened as her screams grew louder. The battle within her was coming to a peak, and her nose began to bleed. "Allow the spirits to enter you!"

* * *

Stefan finally arrived to the designated spot, and horror filled his body at what he saw. He immediately ran into the clearing with a hectic look in his eyes. "Stop! It's not what you think," he pleaded. Aja turned and glared at him. "This is no place for a vampire,"  
she sneered, but Stefan didn't falter. "She's working for Silas." The witch froze and turned to Stefan in utter shock. Her eyes were filled with disbelief and anger, "Silas?" "He has her under some kind of spell." Although Aja ceased her chanting, the other witches had not, and Genevieve was writhing on the ground as a steady stream of blood came out of her nose.

Aja somberly nodded her head then turned up to the sky, as if pleading for forgiveness. With a heavy sigh she turned and removed a dagger from her hip. "Wait. What are you doing?" Stefan asked in horror. He had hoped the witches would stop the spell and run away, but as Aja grabbed the knife he was struck with regret. "If Silas has her, she's lost. We can't save her." "Wait," Stefan said holding out a hand as he walked towards the witches. Before he could move a foot Aja raised her hand and began popping the blood vessels in his brain. Stefan fell to the ground while clutching at his head, and Aja smirked. "I have the power of 12 witches. You don't stand a chance!"

Stefan sent a glare towards the cocky witch and then quickly sped out of the clearing. Once the vessels in his brain stopped exploding he collapsed against a tree to catch his breath. As he finally relaxed Klaus and Caroline both appeared with worried faces. "They're linked. Gene's gonna kill them." Stefan, Caroline and Klaus all looked at each other with conflicted faces. Genevieve's screams echoed for miles, and being in such close proximity struck at their hearts. Caroline looked helplessly at Stefan. His eyes were filled with tears and his eyes were squeezed shut, the sound of his baby sister's screams physically paining him. Then she looked at Klaus. He was the exact opposite of Stefan. His eyes were burning with a frightening rage, and his hands were squeezed so tight that it seemed the vessels in them would burst.

Before Caroline or Stefan could suggest anything Klaus vanished. The two vampires desperately looked around, and they unfortunately found him standing above his tortured love. Her eyes were still completely white and her body was still writhing in pain, and that's all it took. He vamped right over to Aja and pulled the knife out of her hands. She gasped and looked up at him in terror right as he brought the knife down and into her heart. The dead witch collapsed lifelessly to the floor, and just as she had, the other 11 witches that circled Genevieve fell. One by one they all collapsed, and as Klaus picked up the girl he loved, Stefan and Caroline watched in terror.

* * *

Stefan sat silently at the edge of the bed as Genevieve slept. He had been that way since the witches had died, and nothing could move him. After around an hour of being asleep in her bed, Genevieve finally began to wake up. "Hey, how you feeling?" he asked as he scooted himself to her side. Before she could respond she laid her head against his shoulder and let him wrap his arm around her. "How did you convince him to let you wait alone?" Stefan chuckled and rubbed his arm up and down her back. "I had to pull the older brother card." His answer made her giggle a bit. "Stefan, I know what you're going to say-" "No, Gene, I have to say it. I'm sorry."

Genevieve sighed as she lightly punched Stefan in the stomach. He didn't flinch or complain about the hit, but accepted it willingly. "I'm your big brother. I should have been the one to kill them. I should have saved you. But I froze. For a second, I actually thought that I would rather you die than have to face all those people on the Other Side." Genevieve nodded her head at his words, but didn't say anything. She knew he would feel that way, knew he would regret it like this. But she wasn't angry or sad. She understood. She let out another small sigh, then sat up and faced her brother.

"Do you remember the day I was sent away?" Stefan froze and looked at Genevieve with an utterly shocked face. She couldn't blame him. She hated any discussion of their past, but lately she hasn't been feeling resentful. "Damon was making a big fuss about you leaving, and father almost killed him to get him to shut up," Stefan said monotonously. I nodded my head then continued. "You were the one comforting me while I cried, Stefan. And right before I left I accepted my fate. I thought I would never see you again, and I just wanted to make sure you would be okay. And you promised me that you would take care of yourself. As far as I'm concerned, you're fulfilling that promise." Stefan's eyes were filled with tears as he watched his little sister. It seemed like just yesterday she was chasing after him and Damon as they played in the garden. But in the blink of an eye she has matured into such an amazing woman. He was speechless. Stefan smiled softly and nodded his head, then pulled his sister into a tight hug. "I love you." "I love you too."

* * *

Klaus had been put on grave duty. Even though he was just as worried about Genevieve as Stefan, he did kill them. With a heavy sigh he finished filling the last grave and threw the shovel on the ground. "There, 12 graves as if nothing happened." He was dusting the dirt off his hands when he felt a presence behind him. It was unlike any other he had sensed, and with a strong feeling of foreboding he turned around. "Thank you. Of the three massacres, this is the one I was dreading," the man disguised as Shane said. Klaus smirked at the polite tone in the man's voice and nodded his head. "Silas, I presume." "Yes," he chuckled then got serious. "And I'm here to talk to you about the cure."

Klaus shrugged his shoulders and patted down his pockets with a fake innocent face. "I'm sorry, mate. Don't have it." "But you know who does," Shane's voice said with a smirk, "and the last thing you want is for that cure to be used on you. So you bring it to me, and it won't be. You get to live." Klaus let out a booming laugh, "Yeah. With all of my dead supernatural enemies from the Other Side. You know, you don't scare me, Silas, or Shane, or whoever you are." Shane's calm and polite demeanor vanished as a controlled anger filled his eyes. "But I think I know what does," he said pulling out the white oak stake. Klaus' smirk fell to a fake calm as his eyes filled with caution and anger. "Now where did you get that?" "Well, let's just say your sister's mind is a little easier to read than yours. So… care to reconsider my offer?"

For a moment Klaus didn't say anything, but then he vamped towards Silas. In the blink of an eye, Silas was gone. Klaus looked around with disbelieving eyes just as Silas appeared and stabbed the stake into his back. Klaus released a loud cry of pain as the one thing that could kill him scraped against his heart. "I missed by an inch, but don't worry. I'm not trying to kill you, not just yet." Silas chuckled and then broke off a large piece of the white oak stake inside Klaus' back. "Just a little something to remember me by," he said then patted Klaus' shoulder. As the hybrid fell to the floor in agony Silas walked away. Before he was completely gone, however, he looked over his shoulder and shouted, "I'll be in touch."


	7. Chapter 6

After the events of last night, everyone treated me like a fragile girl. It was infuriating. But I laid down the law, and forced Damon and Stefan to let me tag along on their drive to catch the runaway, emotionless Elena. We had been driving for hours when we finally found where they left Damon's car. The whole time he had just been complaining about how they probably totalled it, and I was surprised when he didn't run to it when we got there.  
Link: (polyvore) dotcom/ (cgi)/ (set)? (id)= (130934776)  
"If they so much as even scratched the paint on my car…" he muttered to himself as he carried two large containers that had a total of 10 gallons of gas. "Well, just be grateful Sheriff Forbes was able to track down the car after you let them, ah, you know," Stefan started. "Steal it from you," I finished.

Damon looked at both of us with a glare then let out a relieved sigh. "Remind me to send her some mini-muffins. Do we really need 10 gallons of gas, or are you making me just plug this around as punishment?" "Punishment," I immediately said, but Stefan gave me a hushing look. "Well, they ditched your car after it ran out of fuel. You gotta fill it up. Got a hundred miles before we get to Willoughby." "Yeah, well I don't remember that name from the list of places I got from New York." Stefan let out an amused chuckle. "Oh, the list? The list they stole right under your nose, after you let your guard down?" I said. "They'll be there," Stefan said to calm Damon. "Sheriff Forbes tracked down the car they stole after yours."

Damon let out a relieved sigh as he opened a container of gas and began to fill his car. "Screw the muffins. I'll get her champagne-if Elena is wherever it may be." "Willoughby. Creamed corn capital of Pennsylvania," I informed him. He rolled his eyes, not really caring for the name, but I just wanted to annoy him anyways. "They'll be there. Let's just hope we get to them before they get to the cure." An idea struck me, and my irritable mood immediately perked up. "Oh, silver lining: if Rebekah takes the cure, then we won't have to worry about it anymore." Damon smiled at me in pride and then raised his hand to high-five me. I obliged, thinking that my brother was finally getting over my bitchiness to Elena, until he spoke. "And we can just kill her right then and there."

My smile immediately fell and Stefan looked at both of us with an exasperated face, "Oh, dark cloud: Elena stays a vampire forever. Look, why don't you just table the revenge fantasies for now, and just keep your eyes on the prize. Find Katherine, get the cure, get out before you get your neck snapped-again." I pouted at the plan, but Damon nodded his head in acceptance, "Believe me, I learned my lesson. Elena without humanity is a stone-cold bitch, and I won't trust her until we get the old Elena back." "Look at that," Stefan said with a content smile, "We're finally on the same page about something." "Yeah," I mumbled with a frown. "Look at that."

* * *

We had finally arrived in Willoughby. It was an adorable little town where everyone seemed to know each other. Basically it was just like Mystic Falls. Stefan, Damon and I were walking down the street looking for any signs of Katherine, Rebekah or Elena, but there weren't really any. "Something's not right. Katherine Pierce does not hole up in Hickstown, PA." Stefan nodded in agreement, but I then spotted the missing car. "Well, this is definitely the car they stole. We have to be in the right place." "Points to them for their choice of vehicles," Damon said as he admired it. I rolled my eyes at his statement when Stefan turned to Damon with a question. "So let me ask you something. What happens when we find Elena? How do we get her back to Mystic Falls? I mean, she's not exactly gonna go quietly, and she has an Original vampire as her bodyguard." "But you have me," I said interrupting them. "Like I've said, probably a million times already, I'll drag her back kicking and screaming."

Damon nodded his head with a smirk. "We do whatever we have to do." We all nodded and then continued walking through the city in search of them. "So what happened to the guy who thought Elena should embrace being a vampire, let the chips fall where they may?" "That guy got his neck snapped in New York," Damon said in an almost growl, "and this guy is royally pissed off."

We had walked into a small diner after I used a locator spell, and found Rebekah and Katherine sitting at a table alone. "Ladies, playing nice?" I asked with a smirk as I sat down next to Katherine. Stefan took the seat next to Bekah, and Damon sat across from us on a bench. "There goes the neighborhood," Katherine sighed out, and I smacked her arm. "That was rude." "I see you got Katherine already," Damon said to Rebekah. "You're losing your touch, evil one," he then said to Katherine. No one said anything afterward and a very tangible awkwardness fell upon us.

"Where's Elena?" Stefan asked, finally breaking the silence. "She went to meet up with a friend of Katherine's." "Alright, well let's just cut to the chase. Help us get the cure," Damon said to Rebekah. After he spoke she turned to him with an unamused glare, practically stabbing daggers into his body with her eyes. "Let me get this straight: I tell you where Elena is, you shove the cure down her throat, and then I end up in a box, right? I don't think so." "What about you over there, smiley?" Damon said after he realized Rebekah wouldn't budge. Katherine had been sitting silently, but there was a large smirk on her face like she still had something up her sleeves. "Do you know where she is?" "I can give you a hint. Start by looking at the town morgue. She's probably dead."

Damon and Stefan both stiffened in shock, but Rebekah and I both sat unaffected. "She went to meet up with a friend of mine. You may know him-and Original brother, impeccable taste," she ranted with a smirk. Rebekah's bored expression immediately filled with shock as she let out a gasp. "Elijah." "Elijah's here?" I asked in joy, but no one seemed to share the sentiment. "Well," Stefan said to break the mood, "you sort of have to question Elijah's impeccable taste if he's friends with you." No one else seemed to understand what was most definitely going on between the two, but I let out a sigh and looked at Katherine in disgust. "Oh, when I say friend, I mean _friend_." Damon and Rebekah both groaned in disgust, but Stefan's face filled with a mild distaste.

"It probably took him about 10 seconds to realise that she wasn't me, at which point he probably yanked her heart right out of her chest." "Alright," I said then stood up from the table. "Let me handle this."

* * *

I boredly walked through the streets of the city, allowing my senses to lead me to Elijah. I wasn't even trying to sneak up on him or anything. So when I walked into the alley where he and Elena stood, I was surprised that I had. "Hello, 'Lijah," I said with a smile. He immediately turned to me with a bright smile and opened his arms. In a quick move I was in them and embracing him. "I've missed you," I giggled out. "As have I." We both pulled away from the embrace, and that's when I saw Elena leaning against the brick wall. "Well, I am sad to inform you that I have come to collect that person." Elijah's face filled with confusion, but he followed my line of sight to where Elena stood. "You mean Elena? I see it wasn't just her that has changed?" "There's a lot that you've missed."

Elijah let out a sigh and then nodded his head. His eyes were filled with regret, and my bored mood was instantly changed for pity. "What had she got you believing this time?" "Well, I suppose this man of honour always shared a connection with Katherine. She contacted me when she learned about the cure. We thought we could be of mutual use to one another." My eyebrows furrowed at his words and all I had thought of him slowly began to change. "'Of mutual use'? Elijah, you've fallen for the allure that is the Petrova doppelganger." "You underestimate me," he said with hurt eyes. "I know who she is. I know what she's done." "Elijah she's lied to you!"

"She didn't lie to me about Elena's transformation, or yours. Something has changed in you, as well. You are no longer that compassionate girl you were." "No," I said with a sigh. "I've learned to put my needs before the needs of others. And I've lost my best friend." When I looked at Elena her emotionless eyes were staring boredly at the wall. Just seeing her reminded me of the way she used to always make Jeremy so happy, and my eyes began to water. "Jeremy's dead, Elijah. Katherine helped me kill him." Elijah's confused eyes widened in horror at my words. Seeing the sheer shock in his reaction stabbed at my chest and caused tears to fall down my cheeks. Without saying a word, Elijah pulled me into his arms and comforted me as I cried.

* * *

Damon, Rebekah and Katherine had all left to Katherine's house in search of the cure, while Stefan went to join Gene. They had been entering when Damon turned to glare at Katherine, "No sudden moves. No tricks either. No Katherine-ing" Damon and Rebekah had begun to look around the living room, still watching her from the corner of their eyes. Katherine let out a sigh and walked further into the house. "Wow. A quilt and a fish aquarium. Who the hell are you?" Damon asked Katherine with an utterly perplexed face. "A very old lady with dreadful taste," Rebekah answered with a look of distaste. Katherine ignored the comments and then walked to a bookshelf where she removed various books to reveal a safe. She quickly opened it and reached her hand inside, but frowned. "It's gone. The cure, it was in the safe, but it's not there."

Damon and Rebekah looked at each other with expressions that showed they didn't believe her. Looking back at Katherine, Damon made a noise that imitated a buzzer. "Not falling for it. Where is it, Auntie Katherine?" "I swear it was in the safe," Katherine said as she kept up her act. "What, just like Elijah's really your boyfriend and this is really your life? And for all we know, this isn't even your house," Rebekah said. "Yeah," Damon said with a scowl as he looked around the living room. "It doesn't look like the Katherine I know." "Maybe you don't know Katherine at all," she said then turned to glare at the two disbelieving vampires. They seemed shocked for a moment, but it slowly began to fade as she continued speaking. "Did it ever occur to you that you have no idea who I really am?"

"Did it ever occur to you that you're not that deep? This whole small-town girl thing, we all know it's an act." "Where is the cure?" Damon and Rebekah said with irritated tones. Katherine looked at them with an exasperated frown, but after a moment she gave a very small hint of a smile. The look sent Rebekah over the edge, and she vamped at Katherine to hurt her. Damon quickly extended his arm to stop her, and she stopped with angry eyes. "Whoa, whoa. Hand on. We need her alive. The cure's not here. You check upstairs. I'll check down. I got this." Katherine smirked at Rebekah, who continued to glare at her. But with a reluctant sigh she walked upstairs.

"So if I was a paranoid, distrustful sociopath, where would I keep my most prized possession?" Damon asked with curious eyes. The question made Katherine giggle, "This should be fun." Damon nodded his head with a fake smile on his face, then began to look around the room "Because I'd want it to be close, but not on me. Accessible but not obvious. I'd want to keep it safe, but not so safe that it'd be too difficult to grab and run." After finishing his sentence, Damon stopped in front of a large fish tank. The idea of Katherine keeping fish was odd, but the fact that it was empty made it even weirder. "Well, that is a fancy little treasure chest in a tank with no fish." Katherine remained silent. "I think I'm gonna have to check that out.

Damon rolled up the sleeve of his leather jacket and lowered his hand to the water. The second his skin touched it he felt a strong, white hot burning sensation, and he immediately pulled it back. "Ah! Gah! Vervain water. Looks like we have a winner." Damon smirked at Katherine and then grabbed a net from next to the tank. He was about to scoop it out when Katherine vamped behind him and shoved his face in the water. His skin began to burn, and after a few seconds she threw him onto the floor. The remnants of the water still hurt his skin, causing him to writhe in pain.

Katherine quickly scooped the chest out of the water and made for the door. She was a few feet away when Rebekah suddenly appeared in front of it. "Give it to me or you're dead," the angry blonde said. "You're gonna kill me anyway. So what's more important to you, huh? Killing me or getting the cure?" Rebekah didn't answer, and Katherine held up a small pill-shaped object. The sight caused Rebekah to freeze in awe, but Katherine had gotten the reaction she wanted. She threw it up in the air as Rebekah ran to catch it, and Katherine quickly disappeared. When the small pill landed in her hands she was in complete and utter awe. "Look, Rebekah… Don't even think about it," Damon said raspily as he tiredly lay on the floor. When he didn't get an answer he spoke again, "Let's just talk about this, like the two rational vampires that we are. Rebekah?"

With a sigh Rebekah turned to glare at him, "Oh, give it a rest. Me taking this cure is the best thing that'll ever happen to you." "Don't do anything stupid." "Admit it," Rebekah growled, "You don't want human Elena running back to Stefan whilst you're left out in the cold again. Go on, Damon. Tell me why you want Elena to have the cure." Damon lay quietly on the floor, and that was the only answer Rebekah needed. "That's what I thought." With a large smile she popped the pill open just as Stefan and Genevieve walked in. "No!" he shouted as she swallowed it. He watched in horror, waiting, as did Genevieve. But Rebekah gasped and choked and then collapsed onto the couch.

Stefan immediately turned to look at Damon, who was weakly pulling himself into a sitting position, while Genevieve sat on the couch with Rebekah's head in her lap. "Did you even try to stop her?" "You forgot the part where I was bobbing for boxes in vervain water," Damon groaned out as he stood and rubbed at his face. "All you had to do was stall her, Damon," Stefan yelled. "Sorry. It's Rebekah. I didn't have a pony to distract her, Stefan." "Guys," Genevieve shouted, but it fell on deaf ears. "You let her take it, didn't you? You were never on my side. Now Elena will be a vampire for the rest of her life just like you wanted." "Stefan!" she yelled again. This time she got their attention. When Stefan said the angry glare on her face his anger diminished and he let out a quiet apology. Right after the words left his mouth Rebekah gasped for air and shot up into a sitting position.

She continued to take in deep breaths, and her face seemed genuinely pleased. Damon leaned himself against the bookshelf, and Stefan sat himself in front of us on the coffee table. "How do you feel?" he asked. For a moment, she didn't answer, but a large smile was on her face. "I-I feel good. I… I feel great. I feel alive." "Slight problem with being alive," Damon said with a smirk. "I can kill you now." I sent him a stern glare, and he shrugged his shoulders. With his vampire speed he threw a letter opener at Bekah. She caught it like nothing, and we all watched as a large gash on her hand healed instantly. Rebekah gasped in shock, but Stefan and Damon both sighed in relief. "I'm still a vampire. The cure didn't work," she whimpered out. My heart ached for her, and I immediately wrapped my arms around her in a comforting embrace. "It worked just like she wanted it to. The cure was a fake. It must've been a concentrated shot of vervain or something." Bekah remained shocked, not really knowing what to say, but Damon let out a chuckle. When I looked over at him he had a large smirk of admiration on his face, "Katherine."

* * *

Bekah and I were sitting in the trunk bed of a pickup truck as we silently watched Katherine give Elijah the cure. Once she left we jumped down and walked over to him. "You and Katherine? And I thought you were the smart brother," she shouted at him. Although he was shocked, and she did just insult him, Elijah smiled at his younger sister. "You don't have a smart brother. It turns out I'm just as stupid as the rest of you." I let out a small giggle, but Rebekah looked at him with a face only younger siblings give to their older siblings. "Why don't you just give me the cure so I can judge you silently elsewhere?" "And what could you possibly want with the cure?" he asked in a genuinely shocked face.

Bekah seemed to hesitate for a moment, but with a deep breath she said it. "I want to be human again." "How do you know that being human is the answer you're looking for? I mean, it's nothing but a romantic notion. The grass won't necessarily be greener, Rebekah." "You're probably right," she nodded in agreement, and for a moment Elijah seemed to be relieved. "But I don't care. I want to live a simple life as a normal person. And when it ends, it ends. We've had 20 lifetimes together, Elijah. Isn't that enough?" Elijah seemed conflicted with himself. Of course he wants Rebekah to be happy, but at the same time, he doesn't want to lose her. "I just don't understand. I mean, why must you always consider our family a burden? Always and forever. I mean, those words are as important to me today as they-as they ever were."

Rebekah gave a small smile and walked over to Elijah. She gently placed her hand on his arm in a comforting way, "You will always be my brother. And I will never stop loving you." With a sigh, she removed her hand and gave him a serious face. "But now it's time for me to live and die the way that I choose, not the way you and Nik want me to. Please. Please just give me the cure." Right then, breaking the serious moment, my phone went off. The two siblings looked at me, not with anger, but with a look that said 'can you get that.' With an awkward chuckle, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and answered it.

"Hello?" "Well hello, my beautiful little vie. How goes the search for the elusive cure?" Next to me, Rebekah and Elijah listened in. It wasn't rude, but I did feel a bit strange. "Let's just say that things have gotten complicated. In fact, why don't you speak to one of those complications? Here," I said handing it over to Elijah. He took the phone with a smirk, while Rebekah walked over to Elijah's car and got in. I gave Elijah a sign that said 'let's get this show on the road' and then got in the car myself. "Complication speaking." "Big brother. At last you join the fray." "Somebody had to take charge. And now that I have, I've got the cure and I'm bringing it back to Mystic Falls." "With a long list of demands, I assume." "Not that long," Elijah replied sarcastically. "Come home, brother. We'll settle this like family."


	8. Chapter 7

Tears were streaming down my cheek as I slowly approached the large headstone. I had a bouquet of flowers in my hand, and when I stopped in front of the stone I let out a small sob. "Hey, Jer," I said with a shaky voice. With a heavy sigh, I sat myself on the floor and cried in front of my best friend's grave. "Gene," I heard from behind me. My tears instantly stopped, and I hesitantly turned my head to look behind me. Standing there with the worried face I was so familiar with, was my best friend. "Jeremy?" I stood up with a giant smile and my face, but was saddened when he wasn't as happy to see me. "How are you here?" "Gene, wake up," he said in an urgent voice. My face filled with confusion as I shook my head at him, "I don't understand." "Open your eyes," he said quickly stepping towards me. "Gene, open your eyes!" He urgently grabbed my arms and shook me.

I shot up from my lying position on the couch.  
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My breathing was ragged, and I could feel my heart racing in my chest. When I looked down at my legs I saw a large fire burning the blanket that was covering me. "Oh my god," I shouted in shock. With a quick wave of my arm the fires disappeared. My heart was still racing, and I was left lying there with a feeling of fear.

Seconds later Nik, Elijah and Rebekah came in with worried faces. "Are you alright?" I weakly nodded my head and Nik came to sit with me, while Rebekah and Elijah sat across from us. "Well we do have the matter of the cure to deal with, I suppose," Elijah sighed out. Immediately after, Nik and Bekah both began shouting out that they needed it. "Elijah, being a human means a fresh start. I can grow old and have a family, and fill my days with meaning, knowing that each one matters." My heart ached at Bekah's words, but Nik let out a groan of annoyance and rolled his eyes. "Well, that was poetic." "Well, if you can provide us with a more compelling reason for wanting the cure, Klaus, please." "Silas can appear as anyone. He got inside my thoughts, convinced me I was dying. He will torment me until I give him the cure."

My body filled with shock as I sat up and looked at Nik with skepticism. "Silas attacked you? When?" "Probably in between the visits you paid him," he said glaring at me. The sight of his anger towards me set a wave of guilt and sadness through me. It was rare that he was angry with me, and I didn't like it. I let out a sigh and sat on the opposite side of the couch from him as they continued their conversation. "If we give Silas the cure he will break down the wall to the Other Side." "So it doesn't trap him there when he dies. He wants to reunite with his soul mate. You of all lovesick fools should applaud his devotion," he said to Elijah. Elijah gave Nik a scolding look, but brushed off the insult.

Rebekah let out a sigh of frustration, "He will open the floodgates for every supernatural being that has ever died." "Including our dead brothers, Kol and Finn. We'll have our family back." "Please, you hated Kol and you kept Finn in a box for most of his life." Nik sent Rebekah a glare and then turned to look at 'Lijah. "Elijah, please." With a small sigh, Elijah shook his head at Nik. "Your personal discomfort might not be sufficient reason for putting the entire world in jeopardy, Klaus. I think our sister deserves a shot at happiness." "Tell me you're joking. Tell me you're not fating me to an eternity of torture." "I made my decision."

Nik let out a low growl then quickly stood and walked to Rebekah's side. "When you're sick and dying, and you beg for my blood, I will laugh in your face and compel you to forget me." He immediately left afterward, and although Bekah tried to seem like she wasn't affected, her eyes had glazed over.

"Where is the cure?" she asked after she cleared her throat. "Rebekah, it's no secret that you are impulsive, emotional, and at times morally questionable. Prove to me this isn't just another one of your whims, that you know precisely what you are giving up here." "Fine," she agreed desperately, "Anything." "I want you to live a day as a human. This day. No vampire privileges-no strength, no compulsion, no nothing. If you succeed, if you still believe this is what you want, the cure is yours." Rebekah was speechless at Elijah's request. She didn't agree to it, but after a long while of thinking it over, she eagerly nodded her head.

* * *

After the talk over the cure, Bekah decided she wanted me to go to prom. I definitely was not on board, but after 30 minutes of nagging and begging, I agreed. "You're gonna fail. You should be locking yourself inside all day, not shopping for prom," Elena said as we walked down the Town Square towards a dress shop. "Name me a more human experience than the prom," Rebekah countered. Without a second's hesitation, Elena and I both answered, "Death." Bekah let out a groan of annoyance then looked at me with slight anger for siding with Elena. "Why should I listen to you? You don't even have your humanity." "You realize you won't even be able to compel yourself a date, right?" Elena asked, and I had had enough. Before she could notice, I vamped behind her and smacked her upside the head.

"The last time I checked, you're squatting in her house because no one else tolerates you. Don't be rude," I said smugly. Elena glared at me, but I gave her a look that said 'do something about it.' With a low growl, she turned to face forward and continued walking. "Now I want to come with you," she said to Bekah. Rebekah looked at her with a questioning look, but she shrugged. "I'll keep an eye on you to make sure that you pass Elijah's test. As soon as you've gotten the cure, it'll be gone for good and no one will be able to use it on me."

Rebekah and I rolled our eyes just as we reached the shop. As we entered a small bell jingled, and we saw that Caroline and Bonnie were standing inside. "Hey, Bon. Hey, Care," I said with a smile. They both smiled back at me, but when the emotionless brunette walked up next to me, their smiles fell. "Hey, Bonnie. Pretty dress, Caroline." "I know. You helped me pick it out months ago when we were friends-before you tried to kill me," Caroline snapped. "I thought it looked familiar." My eyes widened as I pursed my lips and awkwardly stood in between the two feisty girls.

WIth an annoyed smile, Caroline turned to the store clerk and gestured to the dress she was wearing. "Can you press this for me? I'll pick it up later." She then turned to Bonnie and gave her a look that asked 'are you ready?' Bonnie silently nodded her head, and they both walked back into the fitting room.

* * *

Elena, Rebekah and I had finally gotten ready.  
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We were all about to leave when a limo pulled up in front of Bekah's house, and out stepped my brothers. Stefan immediately walked over to me and gave me a bouquet of red carnations. "Aw, my favorite. Thank you Steffie," I said placing a kiss on his cheek. He gave me a bright smile and nodded his head. Next to us, Damon was grabbing Elena's wrist and forcibly putting a corsage on her wrist. "Wow, would you look at that. Aw," Damon said with a fake emotional face, then smiled when he finally looked at her dress. "Beautiful dress." "Thank you, I stole it," she smirked then got into the limo. They both turned to me with a questioning look, but I shook my head and got in after her.

* * *

We had finally arrived at the Prom, and it was amazing. There was a large red carpet leading into the main area, and along the walk there were giant screens that had photo slideshows. "Where's the disco ball?" Damon asked sarcastically, but Stefan gave him a silencing glare. "Caroline's been working on this for a while. It's a, ah, photo-yearbook of the senior class." We had been walking when halfway down the red carpet we all stopped. One of the large screens had a photo of Matt and Elena. "Was that freshman year?" I asked her nonchalantly. Without looking away from the photo she nodded her head. "My mom took that when she dropped us off at school."

She stayed silent afterward, and behind her and I could feel Damon and Stefan staring at each other. After about 30 seconds the photo began to change, and a photo of Elena and Jeremy smiling appeared. Elena didn't show any emotion, but at the sight of my best friend my eyes began to water. "I'm gonna get a seizure if I keep staring at these screens," Elena mumbled as she walked off.

Damon and Stefan followed after her, eager to try and bring her emotions back, but I stayed behind. I continued to watch the pictures as they changed. I had been watching with a small smile on my face when a picture of Jeremy and I appeared on the screen. His arm was wrapped around my shoulder in a brotherly way, and my arm was wrapped around his waist. As a small tear was about to roll down my cheek, Jeremy appeared next to the screen. My eyes widened in shock as I stared at his smiling face. He was wearing a tuxedo, his hair was actually done. Every cell in my body was aching to hug him, feel his warm skin under my fingers, but a small ball of doubt kept my feet firmly planted in their spot.

"Is this real?" I asked in a shaky voice. My body was swimming with various emotions, and with my magic going haywire lately, I tried to control it as best I could. "Does it matter?" he asked with a chuckle, and I laughed with him. "May I have this dance?" he asked with a gentlemanly bow. I nodded my head and slowly walked over to him. My hand hesitantly stretched out to his, and when I touched him a heavy sigh of relief exited my lungs. '_He's warm. He's not cold.'_ My worries calmed, and I stepped closer towards Jeremy and we slowly began dancing.

"You and me. The senior prom," I said with a slight giggle. "Do you miss me, Gene?" My eyebrows furrowed as my eyes filled with hurt at the question. "Of course I do." "Do you want this to be real?" "Yes," I whispered. "Then it can be. Gene… your magic can bring me back for good. You have the power to do the spell now." His words stabbed at my heart. '_Jeremy would never ask me to do this.'_ And then it hit me. "Silas," I growled out in anger. "Get away from me," I said pushing him away and then turning to walk away. Before I could get a foot away he grabbed onto my wrist and pulled me back into his chest with strength that I couldn't fight. "You need, me Bella." "I don't need you. I don't want anything to do with you. You attacked my fiance!"

Silas let out a chuckle as a jealous smirk seemed to fill his face. "How can you worry about that beast? You have no idea how dangerous you are. If I don't help you, you'll kill yourself." My face filled with shock for a minute moment, but I immediately shook it off and glared at him again. "You're trying to get in my head." "I'm just asking for your help in return for mine," he said calmly. "Leave me alone." With all the strength I could muster, I pulled my arm out of his. It worked, but only because he allowed it to. I had turned to walk away when he shouted out to me, "Wake up on fire recently?" I froze. "Did you do that?" "Please, Bella," he said with begging eyes. "Let me help you before you hurt somebody, or yourself."

My heart ached at the words he was saying. He still looked and sounded like my best friend, and all I wanted to do was pretend that he was really Jeremy. Just for a moment. With a shaky voice, I shook my head, "You don't care about me. You only care about bringing down the wall to the Other Side, and I won't do it." Silas' pleading eyes filled with an immense amount of hurt, and I almost regretted what I had said. His eyes, Jeremy's eyes, began to water as he shook his head. "You have no idea how much I care about you, Bella." My heart throbbed at the sight, and before my resolve could break, I turned and continued walking away.

* * *

I ran to Damon. He was drinking from a flask as Caroline walked away, and seemed to be dying of boredom. But as soon as he saw the panicked look in my eyes he jumped to action. "Gene, what's wrong?" he asked worriedly. I was still in an emotional state, and I had to take in a deep breath just to refrain from breaking out into tears. "We have a problem."

* * *

"It's like Jeremy was there. I could talk to him, feel him," I explained to Damon, Stefan and Matt. "Gene, that's what Silas does. You can't let him get to you again." I nodded my head with teary eyes as I took in deep, calming breaths. With a sigh, Stefan turned to Damon and Matt with a brooding face, "Look, one of us should take her home." "Normally, I'd agree, but she's safer here in public around all these people. There's no way Silas can make everyone see the same thing all at once," Damon retorted. Stefan and Matt both thought it over for a few seconds before they nodded their heads in approval. "Okay, in the meantime, how do we look out for a guy that can appear as anyone?" Matt asked.

Damon and Stefan were about to reply when all of a sudden a large spotlight shined on us. I immediately raised my hand to my eyes to protect them from the bright lights when I realized the situation. "What the fuck? I'm prom queen?" Matt shrugged his shoulders and held his arm out for me. With a small sigh, I linked my arm in his and let him lead me towards the stage.

As soon as we got on stage, April Young had crowned Matt and I, and we had to take a picture. It all seemed pretty strange for me, seeing as the school year's almost over and I attended 1 day. When the pictures were over I stealthily escaped the crowded room and went outside. There were various tents and tarps set up, so I went inside one for a bit of privacy. I was just taking off my crown when I heard an emotionless voice behind me, "Congratulations, Gene." I let out an annoyed sigh as I turned around and glared at Elena. "What do you want?" "For you to stop being a problem."

I looked at her with a confused face, but then she tried to vamp at me. I immediately raised my hand and began giving her repeated aneurysms. She crumbled to the floor in pain, letting out loud moans while holding her head. Around us I could hear a loud gust of wind sweeping through the area. Inside, I could hear a piercing electrical feedback. The longer I continued to hurt Elena, the more seductive my magic became. "Gene!" I heard Matt yell from a few feet away. My eyes widened in shock at what I was doing, and I looked at Matt with a helpless face. "Something happening to me." "Okay, just relax," he said as he slowly approached me.

"No!" I shouted to him as I backed up and then ran away.

* * *

I was walking in silence to try and control my emotions when he arrived. "Bella, wait," he said to me. Without stopping, or even looking at him, I shook my head. "Get away from me, Silas." "We can help each other." "This is what you do," I said stopping. "You wait until I lose control and then you want to swoop in and save me." "You really think you have a choice?" he asked in a serious tone. Slowly, I turned to look at him, and he seemed genuinely worried. "If you don't let me help you, your Expression will consume you from the inside out." My eyes began to water. '_Why is this happening? Why does it always have to be me?'_ "I don't want this," I sobbed out.

And then various car alarms went off around us. I jumped in shock at the sudden noise then stared in confusion as the headlights began to flicker as well. "You didn't try to do that, did you? Your magic is taking on a life of its own. You need help controlling it. Listen to me, Bella. Breathe." I took in a deep breath then shook my head. "I will die before I let you control me again." Then a strong gust of wind began circling us. Various leaves began to swirl and fly through the air. "Bella, listen to me! Control, Bella! Control!" "Get out of my head!" I shouted as I squeezed my eyes shut and held my hands over my ears to try and block him out. And then... silence. My eyes opened in shock and nothing seemed to be wrong anymore. The cars nearby weren't going haywire anymore, and Silas was gone.

I let out a shaky breath and raised my hand to my throbbing head. I was trying to catch my breath when Elena appeared and bit into my neck. A shrill cry of pain escaped my lips, and before I could act, Elena began choking. My bite mark instantly healed as I watched Elena hunch over and begin to throw up my blood. Before she could finish vomiting I glared at her and felt my magic surging. Elena's hunched figure began to contort into unnatural shapes, and she began to scream in sheer pain. "Gene, stop. Gene!" I heard Stefan's voice yell to me. My eyes were glued to Elena, with Damon now beside her, as every bone in her body began to break. "Damon, help me," she whimpered out in between screams. "Gene, you're killing her." "I know what I'm doing," I growled out. "That's the magic talking. Gene, look at me."

I didn't move an inch, and Elena continued to writhe in pain in Damon's arms. "Damn it, Gene!" Damon shouted angrily at me, but his eyes held nothing but fear. As Elena's bones continued to break, she weakly looked at me and said, "Please." Her eyes, that were emotionless as of late, were terrified. And then I realized what I was doing.

"Oh my god," I mumbled as I gasped in shock at what I had done. My stomach was lurching, and I had to continue gasping for breath to calm myself down. "Are you okay?" Stefan asked from my side. "No, I'm not okay," I said shakily as tears began to fall down my cheeks. "I'm losing it, Stefan. I killed my best friend. None of this is okay!" I sobbed out. Before Stefan could say anymore I ran.

* * *

Cautiously, I walked into the old Lockwood cellar.  
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It was deathly silent. Nothing but the sound of a distant water dripping. "Silas?" I spoke, hearing my voice echo through the open caverns. "I know you're here." "Yes, I'm here," I heard an unfamiliar voice reply. "You're not Jeremy anymore. Is this the real you?" I asked. Silence. "Why are you hiding?" "Call it Qetsiyah's revenge. When she learned that I didn't love her, she used her magic to ensure no woman could ever love me. It should come as no surprise that now I simply want to die."

I carefully observed him. He was sitting in the shadows, covered in a large cloak, and he was holding a small box. "And I want you to," I said sternly. Silas chuckled. "Even if it means bring back every dead supernatural being?" I didn't answer his question, but he knew my answer. I just couldn't bare to say it out loud. "Show me your face," I commanded. He didn't budge for a moment, but slowly he stood up. He was still in the shadows, but with a few steps forward the moonlight shined on his face. I couldn't help the gasp that escaped my lips. He was old, and hideously disfigured. '_He's a monster.'_


	9. Chapter 8

I sat with an annoyed face as I talked to Caroline on the phone.  
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She had been blowing up my phone all morning, so I finally decided to answer her. "Gene! Where have you been? I've left, like, 90 million messages," she said in an exasperated tone. I silently rolled my eyes at the worried tone in her voice, and boredly began looking through the menu for the diner I was in. "I need some time, okay?" "Look, this whole thing with Elena… it's about to get brutal, and Bonnie's checked out of all of this, and I know that she's not your favorite person right now, but I could really use you over here." I let out a frustrated sigh, "For what, moral support? Or so you and my brothers can check up on me?" "Moral support," Caroline said immediately, "And maybe just a tiny check-in. Gene, we're worried. We just want to make sure that Silas isn't playing any more pesky little mind games with you." "I'm fine, okay? Silas doesn't control me anymore. And I think I'll pass on the invite. I-I killed Jeremy. And even if she's not herself, I almost killed Elena. I'm not quite ready to forgive myself, yet. I'll call you later. Gotta go," I said and hung up before she could say any more.

When I hung up the phone I let out a small sigh and looked at the person sitting across from me. "Lying, scheming, and a secret rendezvous with _moi?_" Katherine said in a shocked tone as she flipped through the diner menu. "Not very Genevieve Salvatore-y, especially when your brothers need you for 'moral support'." I gave her a bored look that said 'are you done' before setting down my menu. "This has nothing to do with them. This is between us, Kat." "Alright, well, luckily for you I've got some spare time on my hands. You said you have an offer that I can't refuse? Well, by all means, what do you have in mind?"

* * *

Inside the Salvatore living room, Elena was fast asleep, and Damon was silently approaching her. In order to wake her, he slammed a large fire extinguisher on a table. Her eyes shot open as she jumped in her seat. "Good, you're awake. Thought you could use a little sunshine," Damon smirked. Off to the side of Elena, Stefan stood holding the curtains back slightly. Slowly, a ray of light began to make its way closer to Elena, and she immediately looked down at her hand to check her ring. "Looking for this?" Damon asked with it in his hands. Her hand automatically reached out for it, but her wrists were chained down, along with her legs and waist. "Oh, you know the rules-bad girls don't get nice jewelry."

Stefan then let go of the curtain, and the light that had seeped in disappeared. "You took my ring. I'm devastated," Elena said in an emotionless voice. "And bored. Can I go back to solitary now?" "No. I kinda like you in the hot seat. Whenever you're ready, brother," Damon smirked at Stefan. He instantly reached for the curtain again, but Elena just let out a chuckle. "Am I supposed to be scared?" "You will be. And when you are, focus on that fear. It's the key to getting your humanity back." "You're not gunna burn me," she smirked. "You don't think so?" "No," she said without a moment's hesitation. "And even if you do manage to get my emotions back, and I'll hate both of you for it." Damon and Stefan both gave each other a questioning gaze, but then shrugged their shoulders. "Worth the risk."

Before Elena could say anything, Stefan flung the curtains open. The sunlight immediately poured into the room, and Elena was engulfed in flames. Damon let her burn for a few seconds until he grabbed the fire extinguisher and put her out. "Bet that feels better, huh? How about a little gratitude, or any human emotion whatsoever, and we can stop this?" Elena was desperately gasping for breath, but she began to desperately fight the chains holding her down. "I didn't quite catch that," Damon said getting closer to her. "I said, I'm gonna kill you," she growled out angrily. "Bingo. See? There's a little rage. I should've figured that'd be the first emotion that came out of you. I tend to pull that out of people."

Elena remained silent, glaring daggers at Damon. "Elena, look at me," Stefan said as he knelt in front of her. "We don't wanna do this, okay? You can stop this right now. It's your choice." Elena let out a dark laugh as her head rolled back. "It's kind of funny, actually-you being the one to pull back the curtain. I bet part of you enjoys it, since, you know, I dumped you and all." Damon immediately crouched down in front of her next to Stefan. "Wow. That was downright vindictive. See? I think now we're breaking through that tough candy shell and getting into the ooey-gooey rich center of your humanity." WIth a smirk, Damon turned to Stefan and said, "This is good. I think we should shine some light on the subject." Without a word, Stefan walked back to the curtain. "Let me guess… 'this is gonna hurt you a lot more than it hurts me'? "Look," Stefan said with a sigh and a frustrated face, "I know what you're going through. After all you've done, you're afraid to face the guilt you'll feel if you turn your emotions back on. Only way we can help you is to make the alternative hurt even worse." Elena let out another soft laugh and then closed her eyes to await the pain she was about to experience. And then there was the sound of the curtains being pulled back, followed by a strong burning sensation, and Elena's screams of pain.

* * *

Caroline was walking towards her car with her keys in her hand. She was mindlessly searching her key ring to find the car key when they slipped out of her hands. Crouching down to pick it up, she heard the sound of a rustling nearby. She immediately stood up and cautiously looked around, but didn't see anyone. "Who's there?" she said turning to look across her car. No reply. When she turned to look back towards the Boarding House she saw a British hybrid standing there with a large smirk. "Klaus?" "Hello, Caroline."'

* * *

Katherine and I were sitting together at the table in the dinner, and I had just finished explaining the plan. She was silent throughout the whole thing, but had completely drained her coffee mug meanwhile. As a waitress stopped to refill her cup, she nodded her head and processed it all. "Okay, let me get this straight: you want me to hand over Silas' tombstone? What makes you think I even have it?" "Oh, please. Of course you have it." "So, you're working for Silas now, huh? Running errands for the big, bad immortal?" My eyes narrowed at her and she immediately raised her hands in a surrendering motion. "I'm on _my_ side. In two days, there'll be a full moon. Silas wants me to harness its power to drop the veil between our side and the Other Side. He wants to take the cure, and then he wants to die. I said I'd help him and I've been hiding from him ever since, buying time." "Time for what?" she asked with a confused face. "You don't need to worry about it. You just need to bring me the tombstone."

She let out a frustrated sigh and rolled her eyes, "It's a hunk of rock. What do you even want with it?" "The less you know, the better. Silas is psychic; he can get into people's heads, read their minds, make them see things that aren't really there. I'm taking a big enough risk just talking to you." "Okay then. How do I know that you're not him?" she asked with a cautious face. I shrugged my shoulders. "You don't. But I'm not." "And what makes you so sure that _I'm _not him?" "Because he can't get in my head anymore. Because I am the only one who can see what he really looks like." Katherine remained silent to think it all over, but after a while she nodded her head. "What's in it for me?" "Bring me the tombstone, help me stop Silas from unleashing hell on earth. Believe me, I'll make it worth your while."

* * *

Caroline and Klaus quickly walked into the woods. Klaus with a large smirk, Caroline with an impatient glare. "What do you want?" "I just wanted to stop by for a little chat." Caroline's mouth fell as she stared at the blonde hybrid in utter shock. "You just wanted to _chat_? Are you kidding me?" she shouted to him and then turned to walk away. Before she could, Klaus grabbed her arm and pulled her into his arms. All sign of anger and impatience vanished as she seemed completely surprised by the gesture. "What are you doing?" "Why are you so afraid of being near me?" The question set something off inside Caroline, and her spunky attitude returned. "Because I'm afraid of you," she said pushing away. "You don't have to be," he said with a serious face.  
Caroline watched him with hesitant eyes. She wanted to fall back into his arms and cry. Spill her heart out to him and just forget about all her worries. Just for a moment. But she silently shook her head and tried to walk away again. Klaus grabbed her arm once again. "Then again," he said with a sinister smirk. "There's so much to be afraid of, isn't there? Like what I'll do to you if Bella doesn't come out of hiding. Where is she?" Caroline's eyes filled with horror as she realized who she was really standing with. "Silas."

"Where is she?!" he shouted at her. The sound of Klaus' voice yelling at her sent an involuntary wave of fear through her body. "She's not at home, she's not anywhere. Bella is playing games with me, and I don't like it." Leaning closer towards her face, he gritted his teeth and the muscles in his jaw began to protrude. "Tell her I'm looking for her. Tell her to come out of the shadows. Tell her that this," he broke off and then quickly stabbed Caroline directly in her chest, "is only the beginning." Caroline was gasping and groaning in pain. With a large stake sticking out of her chest, she collapsed onto the ground.

* * *

Matt and Rebekah were sitting together in the Salvatore living room when the front door suddenly slammed open. "Seriously?" Damon asked in an exasperated tone as he walked to see who it was. "You can't knock?" "Sorry. I didn't realize we were standing on formalities," she said with a feigned innocent face. "What the hell are you doing here?" Rebekah growled out. "You didn't get the memo? I'm here to talk some sense into poor, emotionless Elena." Matt immediately rose from his sitting position to look at Damon in anger and shock. "Are you out of your mind?" "You got a better idea, prom king? Unless you want me to lock you up in there with her, I suggest you shut up. Let the adults handle this."

Without another word, Katherine and Damon left the room. Matt was about to follow them when Rebekah stopped him. "Well, looks like the lunatics have taken over the asylum. Where are you going?" "I'm calling Caroline," he answered while grabbing his phone. "There's no way we're letting that _psycho_ in there with Elena."

* * *

_Buzz. Buzz. Buzz._

Slowly Caroline's eyes fluttered open. Her hand immediately went to her chest to pull out the stake, but there was nothing there. She pulled herself into a sitting position and frantically looked around her. As soon as she realized that she was alone she started running towards her car. But then Matt appeared. Caroline let out a small shriek of surprise, and raised her hands to her chest to calm her heart. "Caroline! Where've you been?" "Matt, we have to get out of here," she said scaredly. "No, Caroline, wait. It's okay." "No, it's not okay. Silas is out there and he made me think that it was Klaus-" "What are you talking about?" Matt asked with a skeptical face. "He's trying to get to Gene, but he calls her Bella. Do you know where she is?" "If I knew where she was, I wouldn't bother with you," he said with a smirk as he tightly grabbed Caroline's throat.

"Now get me Bella or I'm going to kill someone. Maybe I'll start with your mother." Silas released Caroline, throwing her onto the ground, but she quickly got up and ran away. She was running towards the front door of the Boarding House when Silas appeared as Klaus in front of the door. "No one in the house can help you. Find Bella or I'll kill the person you love the most." He grabbed Caroline by the hair and tossed her through the air. She roughly landed on the concrete near her car and immediately got inside. As she shakily put the key into the ignition she grabbed her phone and called her mom. "I know, I promised I wouldn't work too late-" Liz immediately said into the phone, but Caroline interrupted her. "Mom, I need you to get home and lock all the doors _right now._" "What?" "Don't let anyone inside-not even me because I have a key so I can let myself in. Do you understand?" "What-what's going on?" "Just do it, okay? I'm on my way." Caroline hung up the phone and then quickly began to speed out of the driveway.

* * *

Katherine quietly approached the giant safe that Elena was being currently held in. With a pleased smirk, she opened the safe. Elena was standing inside with pale skin, dull eyes, and practically dessicated. "Oh, honey, you look awful," she teased, then grabbed Elena and dragged her out of the safe. As soon Katherine let go Elena weakly collapsed onto the floor. "What the hell are you doing here?" "Your boyfriends invited me. They wanna know if you still have a heart."Katherine then grabbed Elena, pushed her against a wall, and plunged her hand into Elena's chest. Elena let out a weak scream of pain as she felt Katherine's hand clasp onto Elena's heart. "There it is. Your bodyguards won't let me kill you, but I _can_ rip your throat out so I don't have to listen to you whine." With her hand still inside inside Elena's chest, she lifted Elena up off the ground. Without any warning, she dropped her onto the floor.

"But first, satisfy my curiosity: what did you tell Elijah back in Willoughby?" she asked while looking around for something to wipe the blood off her hand with. When she found something, she quickly walked over to it and cleaned her hand. "That's why you're here? He dumped you, didn't he? Now you're just looking for a scapegoat." Katherine let out a low growl at Elena's words and slowly stalked over to her. "Tell me what you said to turn him against me, or I will feed you your own eyeballs," she said through gritted teeth and pulled Elena's head back. "I didn't have to say anything. Look at you: self-obsessed, egomaniac on the run for five centuries. What good would you be to anyone? You're the definition of damaged goods. No wonder Elijah left you."

"Yeah, I've done some pretty horrible things to survive, but unlike you," she said pinning Elena to the wall again, "poor, delicate Elena, I don't turn it off. I deal with it. You wouldn't last a week as a vampire without everyone fawning over you." With an annoyed sigh, Katherine threw Elena into the safe and began to lock it. She was about to lock it completely when she got an idea. An evil smirk filled her face, "But I'd _love_ to see you try." With a sinister giggle, she left the safe unlocked and walked back upstairs.

She immediately walked into the living room and over to Damon's bourbon collection. "All that pain and torture, I've worked up quite a thirst," she said pouring herself a drink. "it didn't have anything to do with the fact that Elena called you out on your recent boy trouble, could it?" Damon smirked at her. When Katherine turned to glare at him he raised his hands in surrender with a fake innocent face. "Sorry, I couldn't help but overhear." "Did you ever think Elena would've been better off if she'd never met you?" "Are you trying to get a rise out of _me_?" he asked in a shocked voice. "'Cause my emotions are fine. I love Elena. I despise you." Katherine let out a sigh and walked over to the sofa Damon was sitting on. She lazily threw herself in the spot next to him, and rested her arm on the back of the couch to play with his hair. "mm, so romantic, so doomed to fail. You know, as soon as she goes back to her old self, she'll go straight to Stefan. That's the tragedy of you. You never get the girl."

Damon was glaring daggers at Katherine when Stefan hurried into the room with a desperate face. "She's gone," he said tiredly. "What?" "Elena's not in her cell. I'm gonna check the grounds. Find out what she did," he said pointing to Katherine and then rushing out. "Oops," Katherine said with a shrug. "Did I forget to lock her in? Let's just say I've lost interest in Elena's recovery. I'd rather watch her tear through an orphanage. Imagine trying to come back from a spiral like _that_." Matt and Rebekah then walked into the room. Rebekah wasn't very concerned on the matter, but Matt was furious. "Elena's _gone_? What happened?" "Donovan," Damon said with a genuine smile on his face, "you're coming with me." "Why should he?" Rebekah asked with a glare. Matt was a bit surprised that Rebekah had stepped in for him, but he nodded his head in agreement with the question. "Because Elena's hungry and missing. For once, his life might actually have purpose."

* * *

Caroline rushed to her front door, trying to unlock it with one hand, and holding her phone in the other. "Gene, why aren't you answering? Silas isn't going to just give up. You're the only one that can stop him. Call me." As she stepped through her door she hung up her phone. When she entered the foyer she froze in her spot. "Caroline, what's going on?" her mother asked. "Mom, don't come any closer," she said holding up her hands. Her eyes were full of fear and panic, but Liz was just confused. "What's wrong?" "I don't know how to tell if it's really you. What if this is another trick? He can get in my head, and he would've known that I called you…" "Okay, Caroline…" Liz said calmly while slowly stepping forward, "it's me, it's your mother. I don't know what's happening, but everything's gonna be okay, alright? You just need to talk to me." Caroline remained silent, but pulled her phone out of her pocket. She quickly dialled her mom's phone number and looked up patiently. Seconds later, a phone began to ring, and Liz reached to her belt and picked it up. "Hi, how's it going?" she said with a calm smile. Caroline let out a sigh of relief, and then ran to her mother and hugged her.

* * *

Elena weakly stumbled through the woods. A distance away, she heard the sound of a car approaching. She immediately turned to face it, the headlights shining brightly in her eyes, and waved them down. The car stopped in front of her, but she couldn't see who they were because she was covering her eyes. "Please, help," she said and then saw Matt step out of the bright lights. "Matt. Thank God you found me," she choked out. Elena's face quickly vamped out, her fangs extracting and her veins showing themselves. She let out a low growl and stood to start walking to him.

"Elena, stop," he said to her. For a moment, she did. "I know you don't wanna do this. I know you don't wanna hurt me." "I'm a vampire, Matt," she said weakly. "The thing about vampires is that we need to feed." She let out another growl and ran to him. Matt instantly raised his arms to stop her, taking slow and steady steps backward. "No, but you're more than that! You're my friend! You're my oldest friend. You're the girl that I've loved longer than I can remember. Whatever wall you wanna put up, I know that still means something to you." Elena's veins and fangs disappeared as she looked at him with a slightly touched face. Shocking Matt, she raised her hand to his cheek and gently caressed it. "Deep down, it probably does mean something. But I'm really hungry." Before Matt could run or say another word, Elena's face vamped out again, and she sank her teeth into his neck.

* * *

Caroline and Liz both sat in their living room. "Gene hasn't called back yet. I just don't understand why she hasn't called." Just then, their front door began rattling and shaking. Caroline and Liz both jumped in surprise and ran to see what it was. Caroline gasped when she saw Gene standing on the other side. "Caroline!" "There you are," she said with a sigh of relief. "What's going on? Are you alright?" she asked through the door. Caroline had almost reached the door when she paused. "I've been calling you for hours." "I'm sorry. I came as soon as I saw the message." Genevieve continued to rattle the door handle, and Caroline's face began to fill with fear. "Caroline, let me help." "How do I know it's you?" Caroline asked skeptically. "Silas keeps getting in my head, attacking me. He says he wants to know where you are, he threatened my mother."

"Caroline?" Liz asked worriedly as she stepped into the hallway. "Mom, just stay there," Caroline said without turning around. Outside, Genevieve saw the person who was supposedly Liz Forbes. Her eyes widened in shock. Standing behind Caroline wasn't Liz, but Silas. "Caroline, that is not you mom!" Gene yelled frantically. "What's going on?" Silas asked. Using her magic, Genevieve slammed the door open. Caroline turned around, questioning her previous belief. When she looked to where her mother was just standing she gasped in horror. "Oh my god," she whispered out.

"Did you really think you could hide from me, Bella?" "I'm here now. What did you do to her mom?" Gene asked Silas angrily. "She's right where you left her." Caroline looked confusedly towards the hallway and let out a cry of sadness. "Mom?" she asked worriedly, pulling her mom's weak figure into her lap. "Mom!" "I thought you and I were on the same side," Silas said to Genevieve with hurt eyes. She let out a sigh, "The full moon isn't for two more days. I've been gathering my strength, preparing myself." "You're the only one who can do the spell," he said walking so that he was dangerously close to her. "I can't hurt you, but I _can_ hurt the people you love. You do understand that, right?" "I understand," Genevieve mumbled out. "I'll do the spell, I'll drop the veil, and I will help you die, I promise. Just don't hurt them."

Gene's eyes were filled with tears. In the other room she heard Caroline sobbing and frantically trying to heal her mother. "Your promise is binding, Bella. If you break it, you have to answer to me." Gene's watery eyes went to Silas', and she nodded her head. "I won't break it." "Then you should leave this house right now. And the next time I come looking for you, I expect you to be waiting."

* * *

Matt was lying weakly on the floor after Elena drank from him. She was standing above him, and let out a frustrated sigh as she lightly nudged his foot. "Oh, come on, I barely drained an artery." Matt's eyes fluttered open. "Come on! Get up, I'm hungry. My head's fuzzy, I can't think straight. I need more." "Elena," Matt wheezed out. "Stop." "But you're so good!" she replied in a whining tone. She lazily leaned down and pulled him up off the ground. She was about to bite into his neck a second time when Stefan arrived and pulled her away. "Hey, hey, you're cut off." "Let go of me!" "Stop it." Damon arrived and picked Matt up off the ground. He held Matt's limp body in his arms and glared hard at Elena. "Enough! You are acting like a little spoiled brat, you know that? You think that we can't punish you. Maybe not. But I can sure punish him." "Elena," Matt said again weakly.

"Seriously? You think this-" "Shut up!" Damon yelled angrily. "I'm done playing nice. Turn your emotions back on right now, Elena, or so help me God, I will give you something to be sad about. I will kill him right here in front of you." "Damon," Stefan said with worried eyes, but he shook his head. "Don't 'Damon' me. She doesn't love anyone? Fine. Prove it. And if I'm wrong, what difference does it make? One less busboy." Elena stared defiantly at Damon for a moment then smirked. "You're bluffing." With a smirk of his own, Damon snapped Matt's neck. His body fell lifelessly to the floor, and Elena let out a loud gasp. Her mouth was hanging open in shock, and she instantly walked over to Matt's body. "How about now? You feel anything now? You angry I just turned your buddy into roadkill? Or are you sad that the guy everybody loves is just a bag of bones? Remember when he was a little kid, huh? Warm heart, big goofy smile, his whole life ahead of him. I guess it was a good idea that he was wearing this," Damon said then kneeled down and lifted up Matt's hand. On his finger was the Gilbert ring.

Elena let out a loud sigh of relief and collapsed onto her knees. Her eyes began to water as she grabbed Matt's hand. "Oh, my god, Matt," she said as tears streamed down her face. "You feel that weight lifting off your chest? That's joy, because your friend isn't dead. That's emotion, Elena. That's humanity." Elena nodded her head for a moment and then suddenly a wave of sobs shook her body. "You're gonna be okay."

* * *

Matt shot into a sitting position, desperately gasping for breaths, as he rubbed his neck and let out painful groans. On the sofa across from him, Rebekah silently watched in fascination. "I've never actually seen that ring in action before. Does it hurt?" "You mean getting my neck snapped or coming back from the dead? 'Cause they both hurt like hell. Did it work?" "Well, it looks like Elena's emotional floodgates have been burst wide open, so she'll be back to her dull, sympathetic self in no time. Here," Rebekah said with pursed lips as she passed Matt a glass of water. "It was a brave thing to do." "She saved me from drowning at the bottom of that river. I'm just doing what I can to pay her back." Rebekah let out a slight sigh. Her eyes were stuck on the ground. "There aren't enough apologies in the world for the part that I played in this. Running you off the bridge, Elena becoming a vampire to save you. If you don't want me to cheat you into college, fine. We'll do it the hard way, but-Matt, I will spend every day until graduation trying to find a way to pay you back." Matt gave her a small smile, and seeing that made Rebekah smile.

* * *

I was sitting patiently in the same diner booth we had sat in last time. Katherine was just sitting down, and I was just finishing my cup of coffee. "I am perfectly aware that tombstone isn't just a hunk of rock." "Good for you," I said with a smirk. "And it got me thinking, all big spells require a source of power, a recurring element, like… a full moon, a comet. But that tombstone is filled with the blood of the witch that cast the spell. "Indeed." "She was powerful enough to create the Other Side, so maybe if you have her blood, you don't need a full moon to drop the veil. Maybe you can do it whenever you want. The thing I can't figure out is, why do you wanna drop the veil at all?"

"I have my reasons," I shrugged as the waitress filled my cup. "And again I ask: what's in it for me?" I rolled my eyes. "You'll get the one thing you want most in this world: freedom. Survival. Never having to run from anyone again. Once I drop the veil, I can speak to Qetsiyah. She created the spell that made Silas truly immortal, invulnerable to any weapon. You'd like that for yourself, wouldn't you? I can give it to you." Katherine gave me a very devious and please smirk. "Genevieve Salvatore, we have a deal."


	10. Chapter 9

A nice, fresh breeze was blowing through the trees and through my hair. The animals were chirping and singing, unaware to what was to come. I was sitting in the middle of the woods, the clearing where the witches were killed, performing a spell.  
Link: (polyvore) dotcom/ genes(_) outfit(_) chapter(/) set(?) id(=) 131606439  
Behind me I heard footsteps. I didn't flinch or open my eyes because I immediately knew who it was. "Hello!" Katherine singsonged. I ignored her loud shouting to continue my spell, but Katherine continued on. "Could you get any creepier? Why are we here?" With a sigh, I answered her, "You want me to make you truly immortal so that nothing can kill you. To do that I need to talk to Qetsiyah, which means I need to lower the veil to the Other Side." "That still doesn't explain why you made me trudge through mud in $500 boots."

I let out an exasperated groan and got up. "A few miles that way," I said pointing my left arm diagonally from us, "twelve hybrids were killed at the Lockwood Cellar. And a few miles that way," I continued and pointed my other arm, "twelve humans died at the Young farm. And this is the site where twelve witches were killed." Katherine rolled her eyes. "Yes, I know that. But I don't understand why it matters." "It's the Expression triangle. I need to charge all three points and channel the mystical energy from Silas' tombstone. Once that happens, I can drop the veil inside the three points and just long enough to get what I need." "And what exactly do you need?" "Silas has done nothing but torment us. Now he wants to unleash hell on Earth. He's evil. In two thousand years, only one person has been able to put him down."

Katherine looked at me with a knowing frustrated face. It was the same frustrated face I had. "Let me guess, Qetsiyah?" she asked, and I nodded my head. "If I can contact her, I can ask her how to do it. Now, hand me the rock." I held out my arm waitingly, but Katherine's face began to fill with regret. "You're gonna flood Mystic Falls with dead, supernatural creatures so that you can 'ask' a two thousand year old witch to do, not one, but two favors?" she let out a chuckle, "I think I'll take my business elsewhere." I wasn't angry or upset in anyway. In fact, I had expected this. If she hadn't tried to back out she wouldn't be Katherine. With a big smirk on her face, she turned and began to walk away. But after a few steps she was stopped by an invisible force. Her face filled with a deep frown as she backed up and then tried to walk away again.

"What the hell?" she mumbled to herself. This time I chuckled. "I linked us." She immediately turned around with wide, angry eyes. "Which means you're stuck with me for the day. Silas can be anyone. If he gets in your head and figures out that I don't need a full moon to do the spell, it's over." I knew I probably looked like a smug bitch, but I didn't have time to worry about anything else but this plan. And after a moment of mulling it over, Katherine let out a frustrated sigh and walked back over to me. "Now, about that tombstone."

* * *

Stefan was entering the hospital. As soon as he walked into the lobby he saw Damon and approached him. "You just missed the doughnuts," Damon joked. "Yeah, I was with Elena, burning off a few thousand hate-filled calories. What happened to you helping me?" Stefan asked with a glare. Damon's sarcastic smirk wavered for the smallest moment, but he acted as if it never did. "Help, yes. Prolong the inevitable? Waste of my time." "Mm, you're avoiding. How unexpected," Stefan observed. Damon seemed a bit uncomfortable speaking on the subject. But it was obvious that it was affecting him greatly. Or at least to Stefan it was. "I'm not avoiding. Elena's only goal is to end Katherine's life, and that's not gonna just magically disappear with pilates and a juice cleanse."

Right as Stefan rolled his eyes, Sheriff Forbes appeared in front of them. Her face was calm, but her eyes showed that she had pressing matters to discuss with them. "Hey guys, thanks for coming." "Hey," Stefan said politely. Damon, however, got right to the point. "Why were we invited?" "Well, the hospital has kept the blood banks empty ever since they were raided last month. We thought at the very least it would help keep the vampire population away," she said quietly so no one could hear, but in her tone held something else. "It didn't?" "See for yourself," she said with a sigh as she led them into a closed off wing of the hospital, and into a patient's room.

When they entered the strong smell of decay filled their nostrils. A dead body was lying on the hospital bed, and its wrists were cut and bloodied. "Whoa," Damon commented with wide eyes. Sheriff Forbes nodded her head. "There are four other victims in this wing, each one almost completely drained of blood. You think it's Silas?" "Or a doctor with some very questionable bedside manners," Damon mumbled. Sheriff Forbes ignored his idiotic comment and turned to them with skeptical eyes, "But 5 victims? That's a lot of blood, and it's not like he can take it with him." They were all silent for a moment, until Stefan's eyes widened in realization. "Unless he's fueling up for something big." "Big?" Sheriff Forbes asked with a confused face. "Any details would be helpful, considering I'm dealing with 5 grieving families out there and a psychic killer on the loose." "Silas wants Gene to do a spell to drop the veil from the Other Side," Damon said through gritted teeth. Sheriff Forbes silently nodded her head, but after a few seconds she said, "I have no idea what that means."

"It's an invisible wall that separates our plane from the plane of all dead supernatural creatures. Now, Silas wants that to go away so he can take the cure, die, and not have to spend an eternity in a supernatural purgatory." "And when do you suppose Silas plans on doing this?" she asked them with serious eyes. "Next full moon," Damon said with pursed lips. "Tomorrow night."

* * *

Now we're walking to the Lockwood cellar where the hybrids were killed. The whole time, Katherine trailed behind me lazily, whining with each step. We had finally reached the cellar, and she let out another complaint. "Ugh, that Lockwood cellar reeks of wet dog. I'll be staying up here." I turned to her with a bored expression as I shook my head. "You obviously don't know how this works." I took one step towards the stairs and suddenly Katherine was pulled towards me. She looked at me with furious eyes, but I just smirked. Against her will, she was dragged behind me, and down into the cellar. "You realize I'm not just some wandering child in a supermarket, right?"

I let out a sigh and turned to her with a fed up expression. "Do you really think I want you here?" Her frustrated face filled with hurt, but I continued speaking. "I am about to cast the spell of a lifetime, and I have to listen to you _bitching_? I would rather kill you right now. But lucky for you, I don't have time. So shut up, and let me concentrate!" Without another word, I turned away from Katherine and closed my eyes.

Slowly, I felt everything around me disappear. It was just me, my power, and the magic lurking in the area. I took in a deep breath. As the air filled my lungs I felt the magic surging into my body. Around us the winds began to pick up and whip around us in a circle.

* * *

A middle-aged couple walked worriedly into the Grill. Outside, the sky was turning a stormy grey, and a strong gust of wind was whipping through the town. "Is it supposed to rain tonight?" Caroline asked absentmindedly as she stared outside. "Do I look like a meteorologist?" Rebekah responded. Caroline looked at Rebekah with an exasperated look as she shook her head. She was about to turn to face the bar when she noticed Elena across the room. She had a hard look of concentration on her face as she threw darts. "Well, someone needs to do something, before she explodes." With a smirk, Rebekah nodded her head, "I got this." Caroline looked at her in confusion, but Rebekah had already grabbed a bottle of liquor, a shot glass, and walked over to Elena.

"Drink. You're putting everyone on edge," she said to the frustrated doppelgänger. Elena gave Rebekah a skeptical look, but took the shot and tossed it back. With a look of bitterness she set the glass down on the table next to her and continued to throw darts. "So, what's the deal? I'm new to this whole emotional switch situation." "It's not complicated," Elena said with a shrug as she pointed to the dartboard, "See that board? All I can picture is Katherine's face." Rebekah understandingly nodded her head as Elena threw the dart and it hit the bullseye. Her eyes widened a bit at the ferocity of the throw. "So your emotions are on, they're just dialed to rage," she observed. Elena let out a sigh and then turned to her with a frustrated face. "Look, Rebekah. I get that we had our Thelma and Louise thing back when I had my humanity off, but let me make one thing clear: we're not friends."

Rebekah didn't flinch at Elena's cruel words, but nodded her head with pursed lips. "Okay." Elena nodded her head in return and went to get the darts she had thrown. When she turned around, Caroline was standing next to Rebekah with hurt eyes. "What about us? Are we still friends? All those things you said when your humanity was off-is that how you really feel?" Elena's eyes remained hard and uncaring, only making Caroline's eyes fill with more hurt. "Caroline, I really don't feel like going down memory lane." Without saying another word, Elena lined up in front of the dartboard and continued to throw them. "Well, what about when you said, and I quote, 'You're a repulsive, bloodsucking control-freak monster'? Did you really mean those things?" she pressed.

As Elena was about to throw her next dart she hesitated. With a small sigh, she lowered her arm and turned to face Caroline. "If you're waiting for an apology, you're not gonna get one. I can't let myself feel bad, because if I feel bad, then I feel everything, and... we've all seen how well I handle that." She nodded her head with a pleased face and re-lined herself up with the dartboard. She was about to throw a dart when the lights in the Grill went out.

Caroline, Rebekah, Elena and Matt all looked at each other in confusion. Outside, the strong winds continued to pick up to violent speeds. Then came the crashes. Caroline let out a shriek of surprise at the first one. They all ran outside to see what was going on, and it seemed like a storm was consuming the town. "The power's completely out!" Rebekah shouted to Caroline and Matt. The sounds of the winds practically overpowering her voice. Caroline nodded her head and began to pull out her cell phone, "I'll call my mom-maybe she knows what's going on." They all looked around for a moment longer and then ran inside as a police cruiser drove by the Grill with their sirens wailing.

* * *

Katherine and I were finally at the last massacre site. Pastor Young's farm. The small house was seemed fine from the outside, but once you went inside there was nothing but the charred remains of what used to be. "Twelve humans burned to death here," I mumbled to myself as I looked around the room. "They died in vain for Silas." With a sigh, I walked to the center of the room and took in a deep, calming breath. My eyes closed as I concentrated on the magic around me. The lights quickly went out, the sound of the strong winds from outside howling around us. "What did you do?" I heard Katherine ask from in front of me. For a moment I didn't say anything. I continued the spell. After a minute, my eyes shot open. Katherine slightly jumped when I suddenly looked at her. With a smirk I said, "I linked the final hotspot. It's time to drop the veil."

* * *

Damon, Stefan and the Sheriff were standing over a large map in Meredith's office, flashlights in hand, because the power was out. She had a sharpie in her hand and was marking three spots on the map. "The power outages originated at 3 different places in town: the Young farm, the Lockwood estate, and a blown transformer off Old Miller Road." Stefan's face changed into a frown when he saw the spots, and he took the marker from the Sheriff's hands. With a sigh, he carefully drew 3 lines to connect them. "Well, these are the locations of the Silas massacres. It's the Expression triangle. Gene must be doing the spell." "So much for needing a full moon," Damon growled through his teeth. "And there's something else: one of the power company guys has a daughter who goes to the high school. He saw her leaving the Young farm an hour ago... with Elena."

Damon and Stefan's faces both filled with confusion as they looked at each other. "But... Caroline's with Elena," Stefan said. The Sheriff's face showed that she already knew about that, but Damon's face filled with realization. His glare turned into a smirk as he let out a forced chuckle. "Looks like our little sister has a new doppelgänger friend." "So how do we find them?" Sheriff asked. "Well, they must be somewhere in the triangle," Stefan said as he carefully studied the map. They all stared at it in thought for a moment when Stefan spoke again. "My guess is that they would be right in the middle." Stefan drew a small dot in the middle of the map and circled it as Damon asked, "And where exactly might that be?" They both looked at the map, and almost in sync, they both looked at each other with knowing looks.

* * *

Stefan and Damon were driving up to Mystic Falls High School. Damon quickly parked his car, and he and Stefan got out. The winds outside were still wildly blowing, causing loud whistling and howling to block out all other sounds. They were halfway to the doors when Elena walked out to meet them. And in order to be heard they had to shout at each other. "Where's Caroline?" Stefan asked Elena. "Inside looking for Gene. I think we should split up. Damon and I can look outside while you and Caroline look inside." Stefan nodded his head, "Alright, let me know if you find anything." Without another word Stefan quickly ran inside, while Elena and Damon started walking around outside.

"Someone's an eager beaver," Damon shouted to her with a smirk on her face. Elena didn't say anything, but she walked in front of him to block his path. Damon's eyes filled with confusion, but he silently waited for an explanation. "Where's Katherine?" His eyes immediately widened in exasperation as he let out a few chuckles. "_Now_ I get it. The one brother shoots you down, you ask the other one. Great." "You know, don't you?" "Do you not notice all of the end-of-the-world crap going on right now?" Damon shouted at her with a stern face as he gestured to the world around them. Elena ignored his question and pushed the Katherine subject, "Tell me that you don't want her dead. After everything that she did to you? Stringing you along for hundreds of years?" "Elena, we don't need to list all the reasons that I hate Katherine. What we need to do is find Gene. Come on," he said as he tried to push past her. He got a few feet until she ran in front of him and blocked his path again. "I don't care about Gene. I care about killing Katherine." Hearing Elena say that made a low growl erupt from Damon's throat. He was angry with Gene, but she was still his sister. "They're together, okay? So maybe you should do a little less threatening and a little more looking," he shouted at her then walked away.

* * *

Stefan silently walked into the cafeteria with a flashlight in his hands. He had walked around practically the whole school in search for Caroline and still nothing. He was turning into the kitchen when he finally saw her. "Hey, there you are. Any luck?" She frustratedly shook her head as she let out a sigh, "I searched the whole school. She should be here." _CRASH!_ Their heads snapped in the direction of the sound. "What was that?" Caroline whispered. Stefan raised a finger to his lips to shush her, then gestured for her to follow him towards the sound.

They silently walked over to the freezer. Caroline's hand grabbed the handle as Stefan raised his hand to count down. 3, 2, 1! Caroline flung the door open, Stefan vamped inside, but there was nothing but a melting bag of ice. "Hm. Ice is melting," Stefan observed. With an exasperated sigh, Caroline shut the freezer door and turned to Stefan for guidance. "It just doesn't make any sense. This is the center of the triangle. If she's gonna do the spell, she has to do it here. _This_ is where they should be." "Actually, I think we're in the right place…" Stefan said as he looked down at the floor. When he shined his flashlight down they could see the melting ice flowing into a drain. "...just the wrong elevation."

* * *

"Okay, this is the center of the triangle," I said with a serious face. "I'm ready. Now, give me the tombstone," I continued and then held my hands out to Katherine. The annoyed doppelgänger let out a groan, then pulled a giant rock out of a bag. "The fact that this spell hinges on some crappy hunk of blood-rock does little to inspire my confidence." I rolled my eyes at the pessimistic comment and grabbed the rock. "It's filled with the calcified blood of Qetsiyah, second strongest witch in the world. It'll work."

* * *

Damon was speaking on the phone with Stefan as he and Elena finally entered the school. "If I remember correctly, I think there's an entrance to the tunnels in the basement," he said to his brother. "Well, where's the basement?" "Off the boiler room," Elena said in response. Damon turned to look at her for a moment, then continued walking. "Did you hear that?" "Yeah, I'll meet you there." Damon hung up his phone, then stopped walking. Elena continued for a moment, then turned to look at him questioningly. "What?" "You're gonna have to stay here," he said sternly. Her eyes widened in anger and shock, "Are you kidding me?" "We really need to stop Gene from doing the spell, and if you get all murderous and screw it up-" "Is that really the reason?" she interrupted.

Damon let out a sigh and ran his fingers through his hair. His face was conflicted, various emotions burning in his eyes, and he didn't know what to do about it. "As self-righteous as Stefan is, he has a point. Behind your rage, there is a tidal wave of feelings-_all_ of your guilt, _all_ your grief, every emotion you've ever put off, and killing Katherine's gonna let it all in. And if you can't handle it, then we're back to square one." "And if I can?" she challenged as she stepped in front of him. "What if killing Katherine takes away all that grief and guilt? What if killing Katherine finally lets me feel all the good things that I've lost? Damon, help me. As soon as I get over this hurdle, I'll be me. I'll be able to think clearly, I'll be myself, and everything will go back to normal." Damon's eyes filled with skepticism and hesitation. He wanted to believe in her. He wanted to help take away all her anger and pain. But he was terrified that once things 'went back to normal' she would go back to Stefan. "Katherine's strong, and crafty, and you'll die." Elena let out a sigh and silently stared down at the floor. And then, before Damon could register what was happening, she stabbed a wooden stake through Damon's stomach. His eyes widened in shock as a wave of pain filled his body, and he collapsed onto the floor in pain. "At least I'll die trying," Elena said and then ran away.

* * *

I had just finished placing torches around the room as Katherine silently watched.I let out a pleased sigh, and then walked into the center of the cave. Holding the tombstone in my hands, I began concentrating on the magic in my hands. As I continued to channel it, a warm liquid dripped into my hands. "What's happening?" Katherine asked me with a worried voice. I didn't open my eyes. I knew that the blood that was once calcified in the rock was oozing out. But the spell had to be done. "I'm channeling the Expression triangle."

Around me I heard the torches ignite on their own. The light they brought to this dark cave shined through my closed eyelids. And I knew it was done. I silently opened my eyes and looked over at Katherine with a smirk, "The veil's down."

* * *

Damon was groaning in pain as he struggled to pull himself into a sitting position. He was weakly trying to pull the stake out of his stomach when he heard the sounds of someone approaching behind him. He would have usually jumped at the person, but in his state, he could barely even turn. "Need a hand?" an all too familiar voice asked him. Damon's worry disappeared as the familiar person reached down and quickly pulled the stake out of his stomach. With a groan of relief, he turned to look at Alaric and said, "So this is either really good, or _really_ bad." His best friend crouched down next to him and let out a laugh. "It's good to see you too, Damon." "I'd say the feeling is mutual, except a lot of people aren't exactly who they say they are around here," Damon glared. Alaric's eyes widened in shock and he let out another chuckle. "You think I'm Silas? Are you kidding me?"

Ric reached his hand out to Damon, and he helped the injured vampire stand. "See, now this puts us in a bit of a pickle, because _that_ is exactly what Silas would say." Alaric stood silently for a moment in thought and then walked over to one of the lockers. He pounded his fist against the middle of it, and it opened. He pulled out a bottle of liquor and walked over to Damon with a smirk on his face. "Now, would Silas know about Locker 42?" Damon immediately grinned and pulled Alaric into a tight embrace as they both laughed. "Ah, hang on. If I can see you…" he left off then patted Ric's arm and face, "...and I can touch you, that means Gene did it. She dropped the veil." "Well, not completely," Ric said with a shrug. "It's only down inside the Expression triangle. If I step outside of it, it's back to ghost world." "Well, where is everybody? I figured with the veil down, it'd be like Ghost-a-palooza." "Well, not every ghost has a reason to come back to Mystic Falls. Just the ones like me, looking after their idiot best friends." Damon chuckled at Alaric's comment and then let out a sigh, "I'm more worried about the ones looking out for their enemies."

* * *

Matt and Rebekah were inside the Mystic Grill alone. Rebekah was lighting candles while Matt came out of the back room. "This wind is weird. One minute it was blowing like a hurricane, now nothing, not even a breeze." "Looks like something wicked finally came," Rebekah mumbled as she stared outside. "You know, you don't have to be here," Matt said to her. "I mean, technically only one of us is getting paid." Rebekah let out a giggle, and walked towards Matt. "But it's fun. And kind of cozy, with the storm outside, and the candlelight... and us," she smiled. It immediately fell, however, when the sound of the front door opening filled the room. With a slight frown, she turned to see who had entered. Her eyes instantly widened and her mouth fell in shock as she stared at the tall, brunet vampire in front of her. "Oh, my god. Kol," she whispered in shock. "Greetings from the dead. So, who fancies a drink?" Rebekah stood silently watching her brother as he walked to the bar with a smirk on his face. "I thought I'd never see you again."

Kol reached behind the bar to pour himself a drink as he rolled his eyes, "Spare me the waterworks, sister. I've already watched you grieve. It lasted a full 24 hours, remember?" "I'm assuming this means Gene dropped the veil," Matt said, breaking the small sibling moment. "Not completely, and not for long," Kol said taking a sip. "But who am I to give up an opportunity for revenge? My killer's already dead, but his sister's just as culpable, so maybe you could help me find her." Matt immediately took a step towards Kol with a hard glare on his face, "If you hurt Elena, I swear-"

He was cut off by the sound of Kol violently smashing the alcohol bottle on the edge of the bar. Matt's eyes widened, and he stopped speaking as Kol raised the bottle in his direction. "Oh, I'm going to. But please, continue. I'm curious as to where you're going with this." "You've made your point, Kol. Leave," Rebekah shouted at her brother as she stepped closer to her human crush. "First tell me where I can find Elena." Rebekah rolled her eyes, "She left here hours ago, we don't know where she is. Now get out!" "I see you finally got the quarterback to pay attention to you. How's the throwing arm, champ?" Before Matt or Rebekah could ask what he meant, Kol threw the shattered bottle at Matt's shoulder. The impact sent him flying to the floor, blood dripping down his arm, and Kol calmly walked away.

* * *

Kneeling on the ground, I focused on the Other Side, reaching out to try and find Qetsiyah. "Tick-tock, Gene," Katherine said impatiently. "Stop talking. I can't reach Qetsiyah with you breaking my concentration every 5 seconds." I could hear the sound of Katherine scoffing, but she remained silent and walked to the wall and leaned against it. It was silent for a few seconds until we heard the sound of rocks falling from a long distance. "Gene, someone's coming." "Yes, I heard," I mumbled as I tried my hardest to concentrate. "Unlink me so that I can go stall them while we wait for Qetsiyah to show up." "I'm not letting you go." Katherine let out a frustrated sigh, "Then at least give me some slack." With a sigh of my own I said, "Fine. Go. Stop them."

Katherine was gone for 5 minutes or so when I felt it. A stabbing pain, like a knife piercing my abdomen. I let out a shout of pain and hunched over. When I pulled my hand away from my stomach it was covered in blood. '_Not now.'_

* * *

Elena had dragged Katherine into the high school boiler room. The two females were groaing and growling as they fought against each other. "I let you out of your cage, and this is how you thank me?" Katherine shouted at her. "No. _This_ is how I thank you," Elena shouted as she pushed Katherine against the wall and slammed her face against a hot pipe. Katherine's skin began to burn as she let out a loud scream of pain.

* * *

I was lying on the floor, screaming my lungs out. My face was burning, and I could feel the flesh melting away. I was desperately writhing around on the floor, trying to grab onto something to hold onto to steady myself when I heard Stefan. "Gene? Gene! What's happening?" he asked as he desperately pulled me into his arms. "Katherine. Find Katherine. We're linked." "Then unlink her," Caroline shouted at me. "You go, I'll stay with Gene," she then said to Stefan and pulled me into her arms. Stefan hesitated for a moment, and I was hesitant about letting him leave. My hand was clinging onto his, but I eventually let him go. He looked at me with sad eyes, "I'll be back, baby girl." I numbly nodded my head, and he left.

* * *

Katherine was still screaming, her face was still pressed against the hot pipe, and Elena's face was filled with a sinister smirk. "You have done nothing but suck the happiness out of my life. Well, now I get to kill you." Elena was pulling her stake from her pocket, getting ready to stab it into Katherine's chest. When Katherine saw the piece of wood in her hands, her eyes widened in horror. "No, wait-please!" she began to beg, but it only made Elena even happier. "Goodbye, Katherine."

Right when she was about to stab the stake into Katherine's heart, Stefan lunged at Elena and pinned her to the ground. The stake went flying out of her reach, and she angrily looked at him with betrayal. "Stefan!" she shouted at him as she tried to fight his hold. With a smirk, Katherine brushed her clothes off and walked towards the door, "Thanks for the save, handsome." "Get the hell out of here before I kill you myself," he growled out at her. "Really? I'm your biggest problem right now?" she asked, but quickly left.

* * *

Rebekah was gently removing the glass shards that were embedded in Matt's shoulder. With each piece she removed he let out a small groan of pain. "You know I could just cure this for you easily, right?" "I'll be fine," he brushed off easily. With a sigh, Rebekah placed down the tongs she was using, and looked at him with hurt eyes, "Why won't you ever let me help you?" "It's not you," he said to calm her worries, "I just... Look, people in this town have a bad habit of turning into vampires, and I'd like to graduate high school as a human." Rebekah gave a small smile then nodded her head in agreement. "I think there's a First Aid kit in the back," Matt said, gesturing to the back room behind the bar. Rebekah nodded her head again and stood up, "Okay."

WIth a flashlight in her hands, she walked into the back room. She didn't have to look very hard though, because the kit was right in front of the door. She was about to walk back into the main room when she heard the sound of something being swiped and soft grunting. Her eyes filled with slight fear and hesitation, but she slowly made her way towards the sound. Rebekah had reached the back of the room when she saw the figure of someone hunched over. Her heart was hammering in her chest, but when she shined her light on the person she let out a sigh of relief. "Caroline, how are you still here-" she had started to say, then stopped to let out a gasp of shock. Her hand went to her mouth as she watched in horror as Caroline repeatedly cut at her wrist. "Oh my god." "I have to keep cutting," Caroline muttered in a trance.

* * *

I was lying on the floor, catching my breath, and letting my skin heal. Caroline was crouched next to me. "Gene, are you okay?" "Yeah, now that I'm unlinked from her." Caroline nodded her head, then helped me stand. Her grip on my hands was tight, and for a second a cold shiver ran down my spine. "What are you doing down here?" "Waiting for Qetsiyah," I mumbled cautiously. Her face filled with shock for a moment, but a smirk quickly replaced it. "You might be waiting a while."

Before my eyes, Caroline slowly disappeared, and was replaced by the hooded, disfigured man I've come to know as the real Silas. "Qetsiyah isn't coming, Bella." My eyes widened in shock, and for a moment I couldn't believe it. "Silas. But-I saw Caroline. How? I thought you couldn't get inside my head." "That's what I wanted you to think. I can make you see whatever I want you to see. Am I a disfigured monster?" he asked and disappeared. I quickly began turning around, searching for any sign of him. "Of course not," he said from behind me. When I turned around he looked exactly like Stefan. And then he disappeared again. Every time I caught sight of him he switched his form. He was Stefan. Then Caroline. Always switching between the two. "The monster is what I wanted you to see. That's the beauty of all this. You have _no idea_ who I am. Or what I look like. Or how deep I am inside of your head. You thought that you were more powerful than me? I am stronger than you can imagine. I defeated the Hunter's Curse in minutes. You thought that you could betray me? You can't. I will always be _one_. _Step_. _Ahead_."

* * *

Stefan finally got off of Elena, and she immediately jumped up in rage. "How could you save her? She was as good as dead." "Yeah, and so was Gene," Stefan growled out at her. Elena was shocked into silence, "Gene used a spell to link herself to Katherine. So you torturing Katherine hurts Gene, too." "How do you know that?" Elena asked skeptically, only angering Stefan even more. "Because, Elena, I _saw_ it. You are hurting my little sister." "I don't believe you."

Stefan's anger vanished as he looked at her with a look of utter shock. "Really?" he asked with a forced chuckle. "You never wanted me to kill Katherine. Why are you protecting her, Stefan?" "Listen to yourself. Your rage is making you crazy. Do you actually think I would lie about something like that?" "Do you still have feelings for her?" Elena pressed. Stefan's shocked face filled with anger and frustration. How could she possibly think that anything like that? "This isn't even about Katherine, this is about Jeremy. What, you think that killing her will take all that pain away? It won't." "Oh, but beating up cinder blocks will?" "No," Stefan yelled at her, "It's a distraction. Just like killing Katherine, just like turning your emotions off. The truth is, there are no shortcuts. You are a vampire, Elena. Loss is part of the deal." Elena was listening, but with each word he said her anger and frustrations grew. "Look, I've been alive for 163 years. I have lost more loved ones than I can count, and it hurts me every single time."

"So there's no hope? You're saying I'm hopeless?" she asked him with the hints of hurt eyes. Everything she had been forcing herself to hold back was slowly flooding her mind, and she wasn't prepared for it. She didn't want to feel it. "No, I'm saying you have to face your grief. But you don't have to do it alone-I can help you." "Oh, of course you can. God, Stefan! Always trying to help, and you're concerned for me, it's just like-" "You're transferring your rage onto me, that's good," he said to her. "I don't need to transfer anything. I can hate two people just fine," she said then tried to walk out of the boiler room. "Hey-" Stefan began as he grabbed onto her arm to stop her, but before he could say anything else, she swung around and punched him in the face. "Just like the cinder block," she said with stern eyes and then walked away.

* * *

After finding Caroline in the back room, Rebekah led her into the main room. It had been over 10 minutes now that Rebekah and Matt had tried to keep her from hurting herself, but she continued to try. Rebekah was knelt in front of Caroline, she seemed to be in a trance, only able to focus on cutting herself. "Caroline, hey, snap out of it," Rebekah said holding her hands down. "I need to bleed. Silas wants me to bleed." "Stop it, you're hallucinating!" Caroline looked blankly at Rebekah, unable to understand anything she was saying. Without a word, she reached for a sharp object that was on the bar. "Just let me do this. I need to do this," she grumbled as Rebekah pulled her hands down to her side. "You're going to cut your hands off!"

Across the room, Matt looked on worriedly as he spoke into the phone. "She's been here this whole time-that means Silas is with you," he said to Damon.

* * *

Finally in the Mystic Falls High School boiler room, Damon said, "Perfect." He and Alaric were slowly going down into the tunnels. "Yeah, it gets worse. The veil's down. Kol came by looking for Elena, and he seemed a little pissed." Damon let out a sigh and then looked worriedly at Alaric, who had the same expression. "You got any good news for me, Donovan?" "We'll handle this, just... watch your back." Damon silently nodded his head in understanding then hung up the phone. "Call Stefan and tell him about Caroline. Tell him to keep an eye on Elena. God knows he'll do a better job than me," he said handing the phone to Ric. He hesitantly grabbed it, but looked at Damon with a confused face. "Stefan? Isn't she your girlfriend?" "Who knows," Damon said outstretching his arms with in a shrug, "I know she was sired to me. I know her emotions were off. I know she's so full of rage, she wants to rip Katherine's head off." "But you have no idea how she feels about you, and now you're freaking out," Ric said knowingly. He was smirking at Damon, pleased that he still knew his best friend so well, but Damon wasn't. With a slight pout, Damon turned to him and grumbled, "Call Stefan."

* * *

When Matt finally hung up the phone, he rushed to Rebekah's side to try and help her in any way. But not even Rebekah knew what to do. "Let go of me!" Caroline shouted as she struggled against Rebekah's hold. "Have you tried compelling her?" Matt suggested. "I can't, she's on vervain." "Let me go!" With a sigh, Rebekah desperately grabbed a graduation invitation from the bar and held it in front of Caroline's face. "Look, Caroline, you're graduating and-and Uncle Bob and Aunt Mary really want you to graduate with both your hands!" "I need to keep cutting, I need to keep cutting, I need to keep cutting…" Caroline ranted unfazed. "Stop!" Rebekah shouted in her face. Her frustration was becoming apparent, and right as Caroline was going to continue chanting she razed her hand. _SLAP!_

Caroline's cheek was beet red from where Rebekah's hand had slapped her. Her eyes were wide in shock, and she had stopped mumbling and struggling. Matt and Rebekah watched with hopeful eyes for a silent moment. Slowly, Caroline raised her hand to her cheek, and her shocked face filled with hatred and anger. "Bitch!" she growled at Rebekah. All signs of her former trance, gone. Rebekah and Matt both let out relieved sighs and chuckles. It worked. During their small moment of relief, Caroline continued to rub her sore cheek. Rebekah gave her a small smile and shook her head in disbelief. "_There_ is the Caroline I know and loathe."

* * *

"Stay away from me," I growled out as I walked towards the exit. "Gladly," Silas said in Caroline's body. I was a few feet away when he continued, "Once you finish the spell. Then, when the veil is dropped completely, I can take the cure." I turned to glare at him as he pulled the small, pill-shaped cure from his pocket. "I just want to pass on, Bella. I'll even let you kill me. I'll be out of your life for good." "But every dead supernatural creature will be roaming the earth," I yelled at him. "Well, if you don't help me, _I'll_ be roaming the earth," he glared at me. The fear that rushed through my body caused a shiver to run down my spine, and I reflexively took a step back. "I was never gonna drop the veil." He nodded his head. "I'm curious: what was your plan? Pow-wow with Qetsiyah? Brainstorm ways to put me down? Qetsiyah isn't coming. She wants me on the Other Side with her - for eternity."

I was about to respond when I heard the echo of Damon's voice calling my name, "Gene? Gene?" My eyes shot to the tunnel. '_Dammit,'_ I thought to myself, realizing that now Silas could go after my brother. When I looked back at Silas his face was filled with a smirk, and I knew he had the same thought I had. "That sounds familiar." I quickly glance back towards the tunnel exit, and when I looked back at Silas he no longer looked like Caroline, but Alaric. "Maybe Damon will convince you." "I won't let you-" I began to say, "You won't let me what?" he glared at me.

When his eyes hardened I felt a sharp pain in my chest. My heart began to tighten, and my heartbeat began to slow. Underneath me, my knees buckled, and my body fell to the floor. "Silas, please," I choked out as I desperately clutched at my chest. "You feel that, Bella? Your heart stopping… barely able to live." With a chuckle, Silas walked past me and out of the cave.

* * *

Slowly, Elena walked towards the large headstone that read Jeremy's name. Underneath the years he lived, it read 'Brother and friend'. The sight made her cringe. "'Brother and friend'? What genius came up with that one?" She let out a few forced chuckles and slowly knelt down in front of the stone. "I give up, Jer," she choked out. Various emotions began flowing through her body, her voice became emotional and shaky, "I really wanted to kill her for you, but there's no point." With watery eyes, she picked up a dead flower that was placed on the headstone. "Stefan's right, it's just a distraction, and-" she cut herself off. Her voice was so shaky that she could barely understand herself. She let out a small groan and crushed the flower in her hands, then threw them on the floor.

Her hands were trembling violently as she raised them to cover her face. She stayed that way for a few seconds. Silently kneeling and hiding her face. And then she sniffled loudly. Her hands fell to the floor, and tears were brimming in her eyes. "I can't-I can't do this. I can't-I can't move on. And I don't want to. If that makes me weak, then fine, I'm weak, but... I can't handle you-I can't handle you being gone. I can't handle feeling like this anymore."

Elena finally let the tears fall, and with it came every emotion she had tried so hard to block out. And she sobbed. As she was crying on the floor she heard the steps of someone approaching. "Hello, old friend," she heard from behind her. Her tears instantly stopped, and she shot up to glare at Kol. "Pity about your brother. Guess it's just me against you now." With a smirk, he vamped at her.

* * *

I clumsily stumbled through the tunnels. Each step I took causing another wave of pain to shoot through my chest. I had probably only gotten 5 feet, but it took all I had to just move 1. "Genevieve," I heard someone say behind me. I practically jumped from my leaning position against the wall, then slowly turned around. "This isn't real, Genevieve. Feel the air in your lungs. Break through-" Bonnie's Grams said as she placed her hands on my arms to help me stand. "Silas," I growled out and pushed her away. "Would Silas try to save your life? Now breathe, child." I took in a breath. And all the pain that was disabling me vanished.

My eyes widened in shock. "There," she smiled at me with a slight chuckle. "Oh my god," I said disbelievingly, "That felt so real." "That's what he does. He makes you do and feel what he wants. That's why you have to stop him." I silently nodded my head, "We messed up. I'm sorry." "The both of you can still stop Silas." Sheila said determinedly. My face filled with confusion, but her eyes were looking at someone behind me. When I turned, I saw Bonnie. "Bonnie, what are you doing here?" I asked as I rushed to her side. "I brought him here, so I need to help you." "No," I said to Bonnie, then looked at Sheila, "We can't. Qetsiyah was able to immobilize him so he couldn't feed and get into people's heads. I don't know how to do that. I don't know how to put him down." "That's just it," Sheila said with a smile, "Together you _can_ do that. Expression is the manifestation of your will. You could do anything. I don't like it, but sometimes there are no choices. But you are strong enough. You can do this." I stared at them with hesitant eyes, but the amount of confidence they looked at me with gave me some. With a hesitant smile, I nodded my head.

* * *

Damon was walking through the tunnels when he stumbled upon Alaric. He immediately pinned him to the wall with a hard glare on his face. "Whoa, it's just me. I called Stefan, he's heading for Elena. Did you find Silas?" "Yep," Damon smirked, then hit Ric on the face with the butt of the flashlight. The blow sent Alaric to the ground. Before he could stand, Damon dropped the flashlight and picked up a chain. He quickly wrapped it around Ric's neck, and began to strangle him. "Damon, it's me!" he choked out. " "No, you're not," Damon growled. "I've spent more time in these tunnels than I care to admit, and there's no way you just came from the school. Your mind games don't work on me, Silas." Alaric continued to choke and shout as Bonnie and Gene found them.

"I may not be able to kill you, but I _will_ stop you," Gene shouted at the choking man. She then turned to Bonnie with hesitant eyes, and Bonnie gave her a confident smile. The two intertwined their hands and shut their eyes as they began to perform the spell. A strong breeze rushed through the tunnel they were in. "I will make the blood clot in your veins," Gene shouted over the wind's loud whistling. "I will make every bone, muscle and joint in your body turn to stone," Bonnie continued. "You won't have power over us anymore," they said together.

Slowly, Alaric turned away from them, and his body began to harden. His skin paled to a dark grey, and he let out loud shouts of pain. "What the hell is happening?" Damon asked in horror as they watched Silas' face began to transform. "He can't hide behind his mind-control anymore. He's becoming his true self," Gene said with serious eyes. Silas was almost completely statuesque, his hands were slowly rising to his face. And right before his body hardened completely, his face was completely covered. "Who exactly might his true self be?" Damon asked. "I guess we'll never know."

* * *

Kol violently kicked Elena in the stomach, and she collapsed to the floor. She was coughing and desperately gasping for air as he stalked closer to her. "Now this is what I've missed: two people connecting," he smirked and kicked her again. "It's lonely on the Other Side... and I swear being invisible will drive you mad. The way you couldn't see me standing in front of you, or feel my breath on your cheek as I whispered all the ways that I wished for you to suffer." Elena was about to get up to try and run away when he grabbed her throat and lifted her off her feet. "But alas, now you can." "Go ahead, Kol," she choked out. "Kill me. You'd be doing me a favor." Her words made him chuckle with sinister pleasure. "As you wish, darling."

Kol was about to plunge his hand into Elena's chest when he suddenly dropped her on the floor. As she fell he caught a stake in his hand. His eyes immediately hardened with hatred when he saw the man that had shot it at him. None other than Jeremy Gilbert. "How many times do I need to kill you?" "Jeremy Gilbert…" he smirked. "Welcome back. Now, what's the saying? 'Kill me once, shame on you. Kill me twice, shame on-'" he was saying, but was caught off by the sound of his neck snapping. When his body collapsed to the floor, Jeremy was able to see that it was Stefan who had done it. "Let's leave it at that, shall we?" Jeremy nodded his head in appreciation, and then quickly ran to his sister. "Elena!"

She was lying weakly on the ground. As Jeremy dropped to her side, she absentmindedly put her hand on his arm to help herself stand. When she actually turned to look at him, she realized what was happening. "Hey," he smiled at her. Her eyes were quickly filling with fresh tears as she looked down at her hand to confirm that she was actually touching him. Elena let out a shaky sigh, and then scrambled into a kneeling position to wrap her arms around him. "Jeremy," she sobbed out, with the first real smile on her face in weeks."

* * *

"We need to get rid of Silas' body," I said to my brothers. "Well, there's a slight problem, Medusa," Damon smirked at me, "Even though you turned him into stone, if he gets one more drop of blood he's back to his old mind tricks." I rolled my eyes at his Medusa comment, and Stefan actually said something constructive. "Alright, so let's do what we should've done to Klaus. No offense," Stefan quickly said to me. "Let's drop his body in the middle of the ocean." Damon and I both nodded in agreement with Stefan's idea as Elena silently approached us. Damon and Stefan's eyes both watched her with immense amounts of love, but all I felt when I saw her was hatred.

"Gene?" she said to me. With a slight sigh, I turned around to look at her with emotionless eyes. "I don't know what to say." "So don't say anything." "But I was so horrible to you," she said with sympathetic eyes. I didn't say anything for a moment, because what was I _supposed_ to say? Damon and Stefan were both watching, but I'm pretty sure they were just trying to make sure I wouldn't kill Elena. "Look, Elena," I said with a sigh then quickly glanced at my brothers. "I know you weren't you. But what I said before we went to the island, that was-" And then I saw him. My best friend in the whole world. He had a look in his eyes that was _begging_ me to spare her. Just this once. With another sigh, I shook my head. "It's fine." Elena gave me a small smile, and without a word or a warning, I ran at Jeremy.

He saw me coming from a mile away, and by the time I reached him he had his arms wide open. Tears were filling my eyes, and all I could do was cry and clutch onto him. '_He's here. He's real. He's okay.'_ Jeremy's arms were wrapped tightly around my waist, and I finally felt a weight lift off my chest. "It's alright. I'm okay, Gene," he whispered repeatedly in my ear. With a choked sob, I pushed him away. "It's not okay! Jer, I killed you," I cried. No one said anything. Everyone was just watching. When I looked up, Jeremy's eyes were stern. "Don't you dare," he said to me, and pulled me into another hug. "Don't you dare blame yourself for this. It isn't your fault, alright?" I continued to sob into Jeremy's arms for a moment when Stefan decided to break our moment.

"We should probably get going, baby girl." With a slight sniffle, I nodded my head, and very slowly pulled my arms back. Jeremy gave me one more tight squeeze and then did the same. "I'll be alright, okay? Take care of yourself," he said to me. "Stefan, wait-" Elena had began to say, but he shook his head at her. "Welcome back," he said to her than turned to me, "I'll see you over there." Elena let out a sigh, "There isn't enough time." "It'll never be enough time," Damon said to her. "Damon, I'm sorry that-" she tried, but he cut her off too. "_Stop_," he said to her with hurt eyes. "The most important thing right now is Jeremy, and saying goodbye," he continued, then grabbed my hand and left.

* * *

Stefan and I both walked into the Grill. There weren't many people here, so we just walked over to a booth and sat down. Stefan let me scoot in first, and then he sat down next to me. Usually I would have complained, but right now, all I wanted to do was cuddle up next to him. We had been sitting for a minute or two when Caroline noisily walked in. When she saw us she instantly walked over and sat down. "Good, you're here. We need to celebrate," she smiled at us. "Yeah, I'm not really in the mood to, ah, celebrate," Stefan grumbled. Caroline let out a disappointed sigh, then looked at me for support. I shook my head at her.

"What's wrong with you two?" she said with an exasperated face. "Silas is dead, or whatever, and you're just sitting here like bumps on a log." "Caroline, I'm about to leave my fiance to go on a long trip. I'm not in that chipper of a mood." Her face filled with understanding for a moment, but then she set her sights on Stefan for an explanation. "There was someone that I thought I would see today, and, ah... I didn't. That's all." "You better mean me," came a voice from across the room. Stefan immediately perked up and turned to look at her with a giant smile. "You've got to be kidding me," he chuckled and then stood to hug her. "Thanks for keeping an eye on this one, as always," she said to me over his shoulder. I giggled a bit, happy to see that my brother wasn't sad anymore, and nodded my head.

* * *

Damon and Alaric were both packing Silas into the trunk of a his car. "Calcified Silas is one heavy son-of-a-bitch," Damon groaned out as they finished putting him inside. When they got him in, they slammed the trunk shut, and Damon pulled a flask out of his pocket. As he took a swig, Alaric said, "I can't think of a more appropriate way to spend my last moment as a semi-living person." "Oh, I'm sorry," Damon said with a sarcastic frown, "Do you have some place better to be?" Ric let out a chuckle and shook his head, "Guess not." With a sigh, he took the flask from Damon and took a long swig. "I thought you were cutting back." "Yeah, well, I thought you were gonna take care of the children." Damon's eyes widened in shock at Alaric's knowledge of his previous drunken confession, and he let out a chuckle. "You heard that? Well, that's not creepy."

Alaric let out a chuckle, and then looked at Damon with a somber face. "I, ah-I found this," he said then held up a small box, "in the dead guy's pocket. Thought it might do more use here than, say, 3 miles below sea level." Damon's eyes widened as he stared at the cure. After a moment of just staring at it in disbelief, he grabbed it. "What the hell am I supposed to do with this?" Alaric gave him a small smile, "Get the girl."

* * *

Stefan, Lexi and I were all walking down the street. Lexi and I were standing on both sides of Stefan, and we had our arms linked in his. "She punched you in the face?" Lexi shouted with the hint of a chuckle, as I laughed my ass off. "Yep." "Take a hint!" I shouted, and Lexi began to laugh as well. "So wait, you've been back, what, 5 minutes and you're already laughing at me?" "No, I've been laughing at you for a while, you just haven't been able to see me." Stefan chuckled a bit, then let out a content sigh, "Do you have any idea how much I've missed you?" he asked her with a giant smile. Lexi nodded her head and patted Stefan's arm. "Trust me, I do. Although I see I've been replaced by another blonde?"

At her words, Stefan and my face filled with confusion, but her face was smirking with pleasure. "What are you giving me _that_ look for?" "She's cute," Lexi shrugged. I let out another laugh as Stefan shook his head, "Do _not_ start."

* * *

In the middle of the Expression Triangle, in the tunnels under the high school, Bonnie carefully arranged multiple candles around a cave. She was placing the last one down when she sensed someone behind her. "You have to put up the veil," Sheila said as Bonnie turned to look at her. "Not yet." "What are you doing, Bonnie?" "I can bring Jeremy back," Bonnie said with a sad smile. "I can keep him here." Sheila's eyes filled with horror at Bonnie's words, "No, you can't!" "Elena needs him. This was always the plan. Jeremy wasn't supposed to die." "It was the will of Nature. There is no magic in this world that is strong enough to challenge it." "I have _every_ magic! I have the spirits!" Bonnie said with a glare.

Sheila took a step backwards in shock. Bonnie defiantly raised her hands to start the spell, and the candles ignited with tall flames. "_Phasmatos ravenus on animum._" "Stop it!" Sheila yelled at her granddaughter. "I have Expression!" "Stop it, Bonnie!" As Bonnie's spell continued, dark veins started to circulated through her arms. "I have the darkness." Sheila saw that Bonnie wasn't going to listen to her, Sheila panicked and started calling out to the one person that could help, "Genevieve! Please, Genevieve, stop her!" "_Phasmatos ravenus on animum. Phasmatos ravenus on ravenus on animum. Phasmatos ravenus on animum!"_ The flames on the candles dangerously flickered. A large wave of magic surging out of Bonnie. And as the flames of the candles all of a sudden went out, Bonnie collapsed to the floor.

* * *

I ran as fast as my legs could possibly move. I heard Sheila's screams. I heard the urgency in her voice. And it scared the crap out of me. When I entered the cave, I saw Sheila standing in the room alone. My heart was racing in my chest, and a wave of anger flooded my body when the idea of her yelling so desperately for nothing hit me. "Sheila! What the hell-" I started, but she turned to me with a look so full of grief I stopped. My voice was stuck in my throat, my heart began pounding again, and tears began to fill my eyes. "It's too late," she whispered with tears streaming down her cheek. I gave her a look of confusion, but when she stepped aside I knew why she was so sad. My hands flew to my mouth as I let out a gasp. "No," I choked out. What was worse? The room was absolutely silent. No sounds of anything except for _my_ breathing and _my_ heartbeat. "Oh my god… She's dead."


	11. Chapter 10

The Mystic Falls football field. It was completely void of people, but was full of chairs, stages, and graduation decorations. Then someone came walking towards the stage. Kol. He walked straight onto the podium that was center stage. He was standing in front of the microphone, tapping it see if it worked, when a large crowd of people arrived in the seats. Every hybrid and witch that was sacrificed for the Expression triangle sat and listened. "Welcome back. It was our deaths that allowed this day to come to pass–massacres performed in the name of resurrecting the immortal, Silas. Twelve hybrids, twelve witches, the slaughter of innocents by the so-called hero protectors of Mystic Falls. They risked unleashing hell on earth for their own selfish gains. And today that's exactly what they're going to get."

* * *

Lexi was dancing in the living room to an old Bon Jovi song, while Stefan took a long swig of bourbon from the bottle. "Damon!" Stefan screamed when he saw his brother enter. "Help me celebrate my 17th high school graduation," Stefan cheered, but Damon ignored his cheer and turned off the music. "Hey, you remember my friend, Lexi, of course?" "Lexi, back from the dead. Goody." Lexi smirked at Damon and then vamped at him, pushing him against the wall with her hand on his neck. "What's up, buzzkill?" "So you are just gonna sit there and let her enact her ghostly revenge?" Damon asked. Stefan thought for a very brief moment and then shrugged. "You reap what you sow, brother."

Damon rolled his eyes, but Lexi was angry. "Let's be very clear," she said squeezing his throat, "Whatever time I have left here, I sure as hell don't plan to waste on you. You got me?" "Yeah. Got ya." With a smirk, Lexi let go of Damon, and he dropped to his feet gasping for air. "So if you and Ric and little Gilbert are all flesh-like and real-seeming, that means something went horribly wrong when Bonnie tried to put that veil up. But here you two are having dance party USA." "How selfish of me to be indulging in these precious moments with my formerly dead best friend. I should be sacrificing my own happiness for the good of others, right? I should be upstairs grooming my hero-hair."

"Are you drunk?" Damon's face was full of anger. "I don't know, mom, am I?" Stefan asked, and Lexi chuckled as she took the bottle away from Stefan, but Damon took the bottle from her. "Well, I guess that's one way to celebrate our supernatural apocalypse." Instead of stomping away like most would think, he took a long swig from the bottle.

* * *

I was still in the boiler room of the school. Bonnie's spirit had come back to life, and I didn't know what to do. But right now, she was on the phone with Caroline about this whole mess. "I hit kind of a snag," she said over the phone. "A snag? A snag is a bad yearbook picture. You hit a tsunami. Where are you?" "I'm trying to fix it, but I'm running into some trouble. I need to wait until the full moon tonight to have enough power to put the veil back up." "Are you crazy?! Ask Gene to help you!" Bonnie's eyes went to mine, and we both turned to look at her lifeless body. "Maybe we should just cancel." "No!" Caroline said determinedly, "We are not going to cancel. Graduation is the most important event of our lives, the last ceremony of our youth. It is our rite of freaking passage! Hell will freeze over before I let anyone cancel graduation."

"Can you not make jokes about hell freezing over? We're not that far off from that already," Bonnie said with an exasperated voice. "Just promise me that today is a friend day." Bonnie let out a small sigh, and her eyes fell to the floor. "Okay, I promise. I love you." "I love you, too." Bonnie quickly hung up the phone, and I let out a frustrated sigh. "Go." Her eyes shot to mine, and they were filled with shock. "I'll make sure no one finds you body. But Bonnie-" "I know, okay? I know I need to tell them, I just can't. They've been through too much already." "Don't you think I know that?" I almost snapped at her.

She flinched at the sharp tone in my voice, and I had to shut my eyes to keep from getting angrier. "I know, Bonnie. This whole time I've been bitchy? I was just trying to make sure that no one else got hurt. Just… make sure you say goodbye." Bonnie gave me a sad smile, then left.

* * *

Alaric and Jeremy were eating while Elena watched with a smile. It was silent for a moment, they were all chewing their food, when Alaric spoke through a full mouth, "Mm. Oh, my God." Elena let out a hearty laugh as she watched Jeremy and Alaric eat. "No grease on the Other Side, huh?" "You have no idea how much I've missed this," Alaric agreed and then held up a bottle of bourbon, "And this." Elena frowned at his recurring alcoholic tendencies, and took the bottle away from him. His face filled with shock, "No, hey. Hey!" Elena smirked and took a swig from the bottle. "She just got her humanity back," Jeremy shrugged. "Let her live a little." Jeremy reached for the bottle as well, but Elena frowned and pulled it away. "Hey, you wish." "I'm dead-what are they gonna do, throw me in Juvie?" "Well, at least you'd have a place to live," Alaric joked, but looked at Elena with a blaming face.

Elena's face filled with a large smile as she let out a few chuckles. "You both suck!" she shouted as she threw food at them. "Hey! Now there it is–that smile. I wasn't sure we were gonna see that again," Alaric said with a smile of genuine happiness. Elena's smile fell slightly and filled with a small amount of sadness as her eyes began to glisten with tears. "I did some pretty terrible things," she said with a heavy sigh. "Hey, no tears," Jeremy said with a frown. "If Caroline was right, we only have until tonight. We need a no-crying rule." "But the crying's good. It means that I'm finally feeling something, and right now I…" she left off and grabbed Alaric and Jeremy's hands, "I feel happy." They both smiled at her, but Elena's phone went off, ruining their small moment. She quickly pulled out her phone and checked the caller ID. "It's the Grill-it must be Matt," she said answering the phone. "Hey, you went AWOL this morning-what happened?" Elena said with a small smile. But it immediately fell when she heard the voice of a previously dead Hunter on the other line. "Hello, Elena. It's your dead friend, Connor. You remember me?"

* * *

Matt and Rebekah both watched in horror as the previously dead Hunter/lover of Rebekah, Alexander, unloaded Connor's trailer of weapons. "A hidden compartment filled with advanced weaponry. Man has evolved from his days of throwing stones," he smirked. "There is nothing we can do for you Alexander. Please, let us go," Rebekah begged, more for Matt's life then her own. "I'm not holding you here. Although, I have a feeling that exploding contraption will have a hard time parting with your handsome friend intact." Rebekah's face filled with worry and fear as she looked at the weight sensitive bomb that Matt was standing on. "Just go, Rebekah. I'll be fine," Matt urged, but she shook her head. "I'm not leaving you." Alexander ignored their small romantic moment as he examined a bottle of werewolf venom. His face was filled with awe. "The soldier, Connor, found a way to siphon venom from a werewolf." "What do you want from us?" Rebekah asked with an exasperated frown. "To fulfill my destiny. The brotherhood of hunters was created for one reason, and one reason alone."

* * *

Damon was about to walk out of the Boarding House. He was opening the front door when he stopped in his tracks. Someone was blocking his way. "Vaughn?" he asked with a shocked and confused face. Vaughn aimed a gun at Damon and shot him in the shoulder. Damon stepped back from the blow in his shoulder and groaned in pain. "Got a little message for you, laddie. Straight from the mouth of the witch Qetsiyah."

* * *

Elena was still on the phone with Connor. Her brows were furrowed with anger and fear as she listened to what the Hunter said. "We want Silas, and we want the cure." "I don't know where they are, so I guess I can't help you," she said flatly, making Connor chuckle. "Huh. Well, you know who's gonna need some help? Grandma and Grandpa Jones, in town for the big high school graduation, along with Auntie Sue and Uncle Mark…" Alaric gestured at Elena, meaning he was going to go do something. She nodded her head silently, and he disappeared. "Matter of fact, everybody here at the Mystic Grill for graduation brunch. You either give me what I want, or they die."

* * *

Damon was standing in the living room groaning in pain as he pulled the bullet out of his shoulder. Vaughn had a pleased smirk on his face as he stared at the gun in appreciation. "Yeah, borrowed it from my jarhead friend, Connor. Shoots wood like lead." "Come on, man," Damon said in exasperation, "I didn't kill you." "No," Vaughn agreed, "but you left me in that well on that island, where I starved to death. There I was, all alone on the Other Side, till Qetsiyah found me and reminded me of my supernatural destiny to cure Silas, and then kill Silas. End of story–" Vaughn was cut off. He began to gag and choke, then silently fell to the floor. Damon stared at Vaughn's dead body in shock, then looked at his brother in surprise. Stefan was standing behind Vaughn's body, holding his heart in his hands.

* * *

"Please, don't hurt anyone," Elena said over the phone. "I'll find Silas and I'll get the cure." "Good. Get it done," Connor smirked then hung up. He turned around and his smirk fell. "So, you get off on terrorizing innocent people?" Alaric asked with a frown. "And who might you be?" "The guy responsible for the 18-year-old you just threatened." "Well, that 18-year-old snapped my neck with her bare hands." Alaric let out a loud laugh, then nodded his head with a smirk, "And I'm also the guy who showed her how to do that." Connor chuckled, "That's ironic. You must not know a damn thing about fighting if you're trying to intimidate a dead guy packing C4." Connor opened his large jacket, revealing over 20 lbs of C4 lining the inside. "This is my bar, pal. Nobody's gonna blow it up."

Connor grinned and held up the detonator. He slowly pushed the button, and with a vampire's speed, Alaric grabbed him and pulled him out of the Grill. The bomb exploded outside, but caused slight damage to the front edge of the restaurant.

* * *

Matt is standing very still on the explosive plate, Rebekah right beside him, while Alexander sat on the edge of the trailer. "Go ahead, sweet Rebekah. Use your vampire powers to whisk him away. I'm sure you can survive the blast of six of these... automobiles. Can he?" Alexander teased. Rebekah was conflicted. She wanted to run Matt away from the explosion, but she wasn't willing to risk it. "Just ignore him," Matt said with a serious face. "Alright? Let's think about something else. Like graduation. What are your plans–college? Travel? Just because I'm never getting out of this town doesn't mean you shouldn't see the world." Rebekah's eyes were glued to the bombing plate, but hesitantly looked up at him to answer. "It's just been settled. I'm gonna show you life as you've only dreamt it. We'll start in Italy. There's a lovely little church-" she broke off then glared at Alexander, "outside San Vittore in Brienno." "Romantic spot," he agreed. "Popular for weddings."

Rebekah glared then turned back to Matt. "And then I'll show you the Northern Lights in the springtime, the Simatai Gorge from atop the Great Wall of China, every inch of the Louvre," she said determinedly with teary eyes. Matt gave her a small smile, "China, Paris, the Northern Lights... It's a date." "We'll see it all when we're done here because we can. We're alive," she scorned at Alexander. "We're not gonna be stuck as ghosts in misery on the Other Side." Alexander let out an angry growl, then stood up. "Alright, you're done now." Without another word, Alexander threw a dagger at Matt. Rebekah instantly caught it, but accidentally bumped into Matt. Without anything to grab onto, he began to teeter on the bomb plate. But Rebekah caught him. He immediately let out a relieved sigh as Rebekah held onto him, "I've got you."

* * *

I was walking down the empty Mystic Falls High hallways.  
Link: (polyvore) dotcom(/) genes(_) outfit(_) chapter(_) 10(/) set(?) id(=) 133125187  
My cap and gown were both in my hand, I was wearing a dress, I was ready to graduate for the millionth time. I had just passed the cafeteria when Katherine walked up next to me. "I don't think red's really your color, Gene." "And here I was hoping the ghost of _anyone _would've ran you out of town by now." "Funny, but I'm here to collect that immortality you've promised me." I let out a forced chuckle, "Funny you still think you're going to get it. I told you, Qetsiyah's the only witch who knows the immortality spell. If she was a no-show, you're out of luck." Katherine stepped in front of me to block my way, and the only reason I didn't plow right through her is because I couldn't get dirty.

"See, here's the thing, Gene I can't disagree with you, because I have been feeling out of luck lately. But you know who _has_ been getting all of my luck? My beloved doppelgänger, Elena. My shadow-self is living a better life than I am, so if I don't get that immortality, I may just have to get rid of her altogether." Hearing her words and seeing the seriousness on her face made me laugh. And she was not expecting that. The look on her face was priceless, because she thought I actually might care. "Do you think I care if you threaten her? News flash, I don't." "But you forgave her, I saw you." "I did it for Jeremy," I glared at her. She didn't say anything else, so I rolled my eyes and pushed past her.

* * *

Damon was sitting in his room rubbing his sore shoulder. Although he had already pulled the bullet out, it still hurt. He was looking in the mirror when Elena knocked on his doorframe. "Hey," she said with a small smile when he turned around. "Hey." "So I think there's some stuff you and I need to talk about," she said as she walked inside. "Yes, we do. But first," he agreed then walked to his bedside drawer, and pulled out the small box with the cure, "Consider it a graduation present." Elena's eyes widened in shock. The one thing everyone is searching for, and it's sitting in Damon's drawer? She hesitantly reached her hand out to it, but pulled it back. "Damon, I can't take that." "Sure you can. Looks like it might be cherry-flavored," he said with a smirk. She let out a small laugh, "I'm not saying I don't want it–obviously I want it. But... that's the only one. There's only one cure. And the hunters have made it pretty clear that they're willing to kill everyone in Mystic Falls until they get it."

Damon let out a sigh, then got serious. "Elena–" he said placing the small box in her hands, "take the damn thing. I _want_ you to take it." Elena looked at him with hesitant eyes for a moment, and it seemed as if she might. But at the last minute she pulled her hand back and shook her head. "I can't." "Well, I guess that answers the sire bond question," Damon mumbled. Behind them both, the floor creaked, and Damon looked up to see little Gilbert. "You gonna help a brother out, or are you just gonna lurk?" At his comment, Elena turned around and smiled at him. "Look, Elena. You're my sister and I love you, no matter what you choose." Elena smiled, happy that her brother was okay with her decision. Damon, however, rolled his eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. "How is it even when you're dead, you're the bane of my existence?"

* * *

Downstairs in the living room Lexi was crouched down next to Vaughn's dead body while Stefan poured them both a glass of blood. "So, the veil's down until tonight, he dies and goes to the Other Side, and what? Comes back all over again? How long does that take?" Stefan shrugged his shoulders and handed her her glass. "What, they don't give you a rulebook over there?" he joked, making Lexi laugh. "You know, you're missing your chance to weigh in on the Great Elena Gilbert Cure Debate." "What am I supposed to do, tell her it's her choice? Gene was right, it's pointless. You know, it's funny, those two are in there arguing about how to protect the world, and they have yet to address their biggest issue." "Enlighten me," Lexi mused as she took a sip.

"The sire bond's gone. Elena's emotions are back. She finally knows exactly how she feels." Lexi's face grew serious, and she looked at Stefan with a sad smile. "And what if whatever she feels is for you?" Stefan stayed silent in thought. After a few minutes he let out a sigh, and shook his head. "She's the love of my life. I'd go back to her in a heartbeat. But, if that's not how she feels, then maybe that's exactly what I need to hear to get my ass out the door. Maybe I will move to Australia. I can live in a yurt." Lexi laughed at his foolish comment. Not really because it was funny, but more to make him feel better. "Cheers to that," she said holding her glass up. They both clinked right as Vaughn finally woke up.

* * *

Elena and Damon were still arguing, while Jeremy watched. "Come on, we don't need the cure for Silas–he's a calcified statue," Damon argued, then let out a low groan of pain. "What was that?" Elena asked with a worried face. Damon immediately answered, "Nothing." "Take off your shirt," Elena demanded. "Elena, there are children present." Jeremy rolled his eyes at the comment, while Elena shrugged and walked over to him. "Fine." She pulled his collar down, and there was a bad wound on his shoulder. When her fingers skimmed the surrounding areas he cringed in pain. "Damon, why isn't this healed?" "Because the bullet was laced with werewolf venom, okay? The hunters are dicks." Elena's eyes immediately widened in horror, and she began to pace as she thought of a plan. "We need Klaus. We need his blood." "Klaus would rather see me die. He's not going to save me twice, Elena." "That wound will kill you!" she snapped.

Damon looked at her in a surprise when Jeremy spoke up, "What about the cure?" They both looked at him in shock for a moment, but eventually Elena nodded her head. "Jeremy's right. If you're human, the werewolf venom won't hurt you." "And here I was, so moved by your speech to save mankind," he said sarcastically. Downstairs, they could hear the sounds of Vaughn gasping for air. "Sounds like Vaughn's awake," Damon said then walked right out of the room. "Damon, wait."

* * *

Vaughn was glaring angrily at Stefan and Lexi when Damon walked in. When Vaughn turned around, Damon tossed him the cure. "Here." "The hell are you doing?" Stefan asked angrily. "Digging up Silas," he said over his shoulder as he walked towards the door. "You coming, Vaughn, or not?" Vaughn eagerly ran after him, and Elena appeared downstairs as the door slammed behind him. Her face was filled with confusion, so she turned to Stefan and Lexi for an explanation, but they both were just as confused as her.

* * *

Damon and Vaughn had both arrived at the edge of the quarry. It was a large cliff that fell down to a large mass of water. "Here we are," Damon said with a smirk. Vaughn's face was full of confusion, and just the sight made Damon want to laugh. "What is it?" "It's where I dumped Silas. Closed off to hikers, no food for animals, endlessly deep water." "I'm not following you, Damon," Vaughn continued in confusion, "Where _exactly_ did you put the body?" Damon made a fake wincing sound as he pursed his lips in 'thought'. With a large smirk, and a _very_ sarcastic tone, he began to explain the 'steps' of how he got rid of Silas. "Well, um… well, let me see. So I dragged his stone ass through here, I flung him in that general direction," he cut off as he gestured with his hand. "Then he tumbled down into those weeds… I kind of lost him in the rocks." Vaughn watched Damon with a look of pure shock. "Wait, what is it? It's, ah, distance equals velocity times time?" Damon shrugged his shoulders and then turned to Vaughn with a fake exasperated face, "Guess I should've told you to bring some scuba gear, huh?"

* * *

Rebekah and Matt were still desperately holding onto each other as they stood on the pressure plated bomb. As they tried to remain balanced, Alexander circled them with an annoyed smirk. "Don't you two look cozy?" he grunted, then walked into the trailer to get something. "So… he seems nice," Matt commented awkwardly. Rebekah let out a few giggles and almost lost her balance. She quickly fixed herself, then frowned at Matt. "Don't make jokes-I'll laugh and you'll fall." Matt shrugged lightly, then suddenly became serious. "I'm wearing the Gilbert ring. I can't be killed by anything supernatural, so maybe if you're the one who detonates the bomb, then I won't die." "Absolutely not," Rebekah said almost instantly. "You'll blow into a billion pieces, the ring with it." "There's only one way to find out," he shrugged again.

Rebekah hesitantly nodded her head in agreement. "Fine, okay. The first rule of truly living: do the thing you're most afraid of." Matt looked confused for a moment, then realization hit him when he saw Rebekah leaning in to his lips. They kissed, all the passion she had been containing, all the passion Matt had been keeping himself from showing, exploding into it. When they finally broke apart, Matt had a small smile on his face. It quickly disappeared when he realized what she had done. He was no longer standing on the bomb plate. "What are you doing?" he asked in horror. "I can't be killed and you can't miss graduation. Please, go." "No," Matt said stubbornly. "Run!" Rebekah yelled at him. He had no time to try and be the hero, and Rebekah would not let him die.

He hesitated, but Rebekah's eyes glared hard at him, begging him to run. And he did. As soon as he disappeared into the woods, Alexander emerged from the trailer. His annoyed and angry smirk immediately fell in shock. "What have you done?" "I finally chose one of the good ones," Rebekah smiled, then ran as fast as her legs could carry her, away from the bomb.

* * *

"We have to do something," Elena growled out as she paced through the living room. "If those hunters give the cure to Silas-" "They're not giving it to Silas. Wherever Damon is taking Vaughn right now, it's to stall, because Damon hasn't had time to bury Silas' body yet." As Elena stopped pacing, I walked in. I mean, was I the _only_ one ready for graduation? "What up, losers?" I asked with a smirk as I entered. Stefan, Jeremy, and Lexi looked at me with a small smile, but Elena glared at me. I didn't care. I just ignored her. "Damon is off with Vaughn somewhere, and he has werewolf venom in his system. You need to get Klaus' blood." "Well someone is sure set on pissing me off," I glared at Elena. "Elena, calm down. It was one bullet, and it was only laced. We still have time."

"Then it's settled," Jeremy cheered with a smile. Just seeing his smile made me smile, and I instantly jumped to his side and hugged him. He wrapped one arm around my waist to hug me, and with the other he extended Elena's cap and gown to her. "Gradua-no, Jer, I never even sent in my college applications." "Don't care," he shrugged, "Mom and dad would kill you if there wasn't a photo of you in your graduation getup." "Jer, no. Not if you can't be there." This time I shrugged. "Lexi will keep him company." Jeremy and Lexi both nodded their heads in agreement, and Jeremy's sweet smile changed into a serious face. "You're going." With a hesitant sigh, Elena nodded her head and grabbed her cap and gown. "Let's go graduate." Stefan, Elena and I all smiled at each other. Genuine smiles. Because this was going to be our moment to forget the supernatural drama and act like normal teenagers.

Well… sort of.

* * *

We were driving to the school, Stefan, Elena and I, while I called Nik. He was angry with me for doing what I did. When I went home to change he was yelling about me 'putting my life in danger' and 'I could have died'. I guess he's still angry? Because he isn't answering, and I keep getting his voicemail. We had finally gotten to the football field when I was leaving my 4th voicemail, and I just told Stefan and Elena to go in before me. "Niklaus, now is not the time to be ignoring me. I'm going to call you every 10 minutes until you answer!" I shouted into the phone, then let out a sigh. "Nik, please, I can't lose Damon." With another sigh, I hung up the phone and let out deep breaths to keep myself from crying.

I waited around a little bit longer, hoping that Nik listened to the 4 voicemails I left him and would call me back. But after 5 minutes I gave up hope. I was about to walk into the field when I heard the whooshing sound of something being flung at me. I nonchalantly turned to see a small ball of fire flying at me. With a small smirk, I raised my hand and the ball stopped, burned out, then fell harmlessly to the floor. "Attacking an opponent while their back is turned. That's not very honorable of you, Aja." The angry witch glared at me as her coven surrounded me. "I'm glad you remember us, Arabella." A wave of anger and disgust rushed through my body, causing a low growl to rumble out of my throat. "Do _NOT_ call me that." Aja let out a dark chuckle and was about to cast a spell when something went flying towards her and cut off her head.

My mouth widened in shock, and so did the rest of the coven's mouths. When I turned around my shocked face filled with relief. "Bonjour Mademoiselle Salvatore." I completely forgot about the angry coven of witches around me and ran to Kol and hugged him. "I missed you, you crazy idiot!" "Likewise, darling, but don't you think we should deal with the rest of these angry witches?" "Oh, right," I said finally remembering about them. I nonchalantly flicked my wrist in their general direction, and they all were incinerated by a wave of flames. It was quick. No pain, no screams. "Well that was easy," he frowned at me. He stayed that way, frowning at me for a moment, probably lost in thought. On a whim, I reached my hand up and ran my fingers through his hair. "If you're ever lonely over there you know you can come see me." His eyes finally locked on mine, and I saw slight fear run through them. "Thank you, Genevieve." I nodded my head with smile as Kol hugged me. Without saying a word, he kissed my cheek and left.

Right after he disappeared I heard footsteps approaching behind me, and the sound of a voice I knew all too well. "It seems you started without me. Pity, I was hoping to let off a little steam." "Sorry to disappoint you again," I frowned at my love. His eyes were a bit angry, but they held a deep sadness. Just seeing them made my heart tighten with guilt. "Darling, I'm sorry. I will spend forever making it up to you. I will do anything. But _please_ don't look at me like that," I choked out as I walked to stand in front of him. Letting out a heavy sigh, I prepared myself for another argument, but before I could even say a word, Nik pulled me into his arms and kissed me. A kiss that held every emotion I knew he was feeling. Anger that I didn't tell him the truth, sadness because I didn't trust him, fear that he could have lost me, love, lust. Our hearts were molding together as our lips clashed. My hands were desperately gripping on his curls, and his hands were holding tightly on my hips. If the world was going to end, I wish this would be my last moment. Every inch of my mind was being embedded with his emotions, touch and love.

When Nik pulled away, he leaned his forehead against mine and had a small smile on his face. "I don't know what I'd do without you," he whispered. My heart fluttered at his words, but there was still something we had to talk about. "Nik, my brother," I sighed out and looked at him with hesitant eyes. His eyes were closed as he kept his forehead against mine, but his smile never faltered. "I know. He's still a thorn in my side," he grumbled out, making me chuckle. "Alright, drink," he said leaning his head to the side. It had honestly been so long since I've drank his blood, that at the mere thought of it, my fangs extracted. Without a moment's hesitation, I grabbed Nik and pulled him close to me. "I love you, Niklaus Mikaelson," I whispered through my fangs. As I got on my tip toes to sink my fangs into his neck, he whispered back, "I love you too, Genevieve Salvatore."

* * *

"Welcome parents, family, and friends. What a beautiful day for a graduation. Thank you for joining us today on this special day, as we celebrate our graduates. So let's get started," Bonnie's dad announced as we all sat in the plastic chairs in front of the stage. We were all seated by last name, so we were all scattered, but I got to sit next to Stefan. There was a giant smile on my face. I was engaged to the man I love, my brothers aren't trying to kill each other, and I was graduating for the millionth time. Looking over at my big brother, I saw that he had a small smile of his own. Mayor Hopkins had continued speaking, now announcing the graduates in order by last name. "John Albrecht. David Bance. Sarah Beasley. Um, not to play favorites, but I am especially proud of this next graduate, my lovely daughter: Bonnie Bennett!" he announced. The second her name was said, I started screaming and cheering for her. Somewhere in the sea of gowned students I could hear Caroline, Matt and Elena screaming along with me. "Congratulations. I'm so proud of you, sweetie," he said then continued announcing, "Savannah Davis. Matt Donovan." Another uproar of cheers from my friends and I. "William Duncan. Caroline Forbes." An even louder uproar. As Caroline walked up the stage she sent us all looks that said 'if you don't scream I'll kill you'. "Matt Freeman. Elena Gilbert." I didn't cheer. I know she noticed, and I didn't do it to be a bitch. But when I heard her name being called I reflexively looked over at Stefan. There was a smile on my face that immediately fell when I saw his. His eyes were so happy and sad that I wanted to cry. He loved her so much, and now he's so heartbroken that he doesn't know what to do with himself.

* * *

Vaughn and Damon were still standing over the quarry, and Vaughn had finally grasped the situation that Damon was explaining to him. "What's wrong, laddie?" Damon teased in a fake Scottish accent as Vaughn held a gun to his chest. "Can't swim?" Vaughn glared at Damon, but the anger changed to curiosity when he saw a sickness on Damon's neck. "The hell happened to you?" Damon looked down to where Vaughn was looking. When he saw the poisoned veins that were steadily creeping through his body he let out a small sigh. "Oh, well, would you look at that. That is nasty." "Connor…" Vaughn laughed then looked appreciatively at the gun he was holding. "He must've laced these bullets with werewolf venom." "Ding-ding-ding," Damon said with a smirk, "Not as dumb as you sound."

Vaughn glared at Damon and shot him in the leg. Damon let out a loud groan of pain, then grabbed at his newly wounded leg. "This was all a lie, eh? You knew you were a dead man." Vaughn let out a slight sigh and pulled the cure from around his neck. "Well, you don't get this back. Where'd you put Silas?" Damon let out a small laugh through the pain of his wound, and Vaughn shot him again in the chest.

The blow caused him to fall onto his knees, and he wasn't sure if he could take anymore pain. "One more jolt of werewolf toxin, and you'll be dead within minutes." Damon didn't respond to Vaughn's threats, and he got pissed off. "Where's Silas?" he shouted as he pointed the gun at Damon's head. He still didn't say anything. Vaughn was about to pull the trigger of the gun when Alaric appeared and snapped his neck. Without a struggle, Alaric picked up the body and threw it into the quarry. "Oops." "One slight problem," Damon wheezed out, but Alaric held up the cure to shut him up." "Yes, that."

* * *

"I would love nothing more than to get out of here before Vaughn comes back to life, but Damon won't take the cure. He wants it for Elena," Ric said over the phone as he talked to Stefan. "Okay, just hang on a little longer. Gene hasn't had luck calling Klaus," Stefan replied, but I quickly grabbed his arm to get his attention. "I have Klaus' blood in my system. Damon needs to drink my blood." Stefan looked at me with wide eyes, partially disgusted and partially relieved, but Ric heard and agreed to meet at the Boarding House.

* * *

I had just finished healing Damon. Stefan, Alaric, Lexi, and I were all sitting downstairs drinking. Upstairs, we heard Elena walking into Damon's room. "Hi." "Are you feeling better?" she asked. Ric and I both looked at each other knowingly, but Damon didn't pick up on the tone of her voice. "Yeah." "So it's all healed up?" "Fresh as a daisy." "Good," she said then came the loud sound of her hand slapping Damon's cheek. "Ouch," Lexi winced, but Ric and I laughed. "Yeah, I taught her that swing," Ric smirked. "You know it's not polite to eavesdrop, right?" Stefan chastised, but we all rolled our eyes. "Hey, I'm short on time here. Don't rob me of what little joy I have," Lexi commented, and I nodded my head in agreement with her. "We're going on a road trip soon. I need to laugh as much as I can." "Anyone seen Jeremy?" Elena asked as she walked in the room. "Oh, he went to see Bonnie. He'll be back later. You know, before... well, you know." "Yeah. Stefan, can I, um... can I have a moment?" My eyes immediately went to his, and I saw the fear in them, but I gave him an encouraging smile anyways. He smiled back at me, then nodded his head, "Sure."

"This could get interesting," I mumbled. "Usually does," Alaric laughed. "So, the Other Side... Not exactly a party, is it?" "I've lived... better," Ric said awkwardly while trying to avoid my eyes. I still felt terrible for what happened. I mean I killed him, and then I killed Jeremy. Just the thought caused a wave of sadness to take over my emotions. "You know there's something else out there, right? There has to be. Silas' whole agenda was to find peace with his one true love, and whatever 'peace' is... it's out there. I figure once we've served our time for all the bad things we've done, then it's just about letting go, moving on." "And how are we supposed to do that when the knuckleheads we care about can't seem to keep their lives straight?" Ric joked then wrapped an arm around my shoulder. The light tone of his voice made me chuckle a bit, and although I was still sad, I wanted to enjoy the time I had left with him.

* * *

"So, what's up?" Stefan asked as they walked outside. "Honestly, Stefan, I just wanted to thank you. For sticking by me when I was at my worst, for believing that I was still in there. Even after everything I put you through, you... you never gave up on me." "I, ah... I kind of owed you one," Stefan sighed out. The two smiled at each other in silence for a moment, until Elena held out her hand to him. "Here." Stefan held out his hand to her, and she put something in her hand. When he looked down at it his face filled with shock, and he let out an involuntary gasp. "It's yours. I want you to have it." "No, Elena, I'm not gonna-" "Stefan. The only person worse at being a vampire than me is you. Human blood is your downfall. You got the raw end of the vampire deal. The rest of us will be fine, we'll survive. I mean, you taught us. You deserve whatever you want out of life. You deserve this."

* * *

"Niklaus!" I shouted into the mansion. "In my office!" I quickly walked towards Nik's office and saw him sitting at his desk. He had a pencil in his hand and was sketching away like the wind. I silently walked behind me to see what he was drawing. Me. It was amazing, as usual, and it made the pain of what I was about to say even worse. "You're amazing," I whispered into his ear as I leaned on his back. "You obviously don't know what amazing is. You're piano skills. Now _that's_ amazing." I let out a light chuckle as I peppered small kisses on his neck. "Thank you for that very modest, and very generous compliment." Nik let out a hearty laugh, then set down his pencil. "Finished." I admired the drawing.  
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It was flawless, and it just made me happier.

"I know what you came to tell me…" he mumbled out with a sigh. "Niklaus, I'm s-" "No, it's alright. I know you have a duty to your brothers. But please… play me a song before you leave?" My heart fluttered at the innocent look in his eyes, and I instantly nodded my head.

* * *

We were in the music room.  
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Yeah, we actually _have_ one that I never use. I walked straight towards the piano bench and relished in uncovering the keys. "Wow," I giggled out wistfully. "It's been so long since I've played." "Riding a bike, my little vie," Nik said sitting next to me. "Okay, what shall I play?" "Surprise me," he smiled as he leaned his head on my shoulder and kissed my cheek. A song immediately popped in my mind, and I began to sing. My heart melted into the song, singing with all my love, letting my fingers work their magic. When I finished, I looked over at Nik, and his face was astounded. "Amazing," he whispered to me with a sad smile. Now that the song was over, I realized that I would be leaving this man for weeks. I'm not sure that I'm ready for this, but for my brother I would do it. "I love you," he whispered in my ear. "I love you too, darling."

We stayed that way for a moment. Him leaning on my shoulder, me playing with his fingers. "I guess you best be off, then." I slowly nodded my head. "Guess so." With a sigh, I grabbed his face and gave him one last kiss. It was long, and passionate, and what I needed to get myself moving. When we broke apart I quickly got up and traced his jawline with my fingers, then left.

* * *

Damon was standing in front of the fireplace, as usual, staring into the flames. Elena walked in. She had a determined pace, and stopped right behind Damon. When he turned around he saw her glaring at him with crossed arms, and he sighed. "I wanted to apologize…" "Good," she interrupted, but he held up his hand to stop her. "Let me finish. I said I _wanted_ to. And then I realized, I'm not sorry." Elena's serious face filled with an angry confusion as she uncrossed her arms. "You would rather die than be human, and you expect me to be okay with that?" "I didn't say you were supposed to be okay with it, I just said I'm not sorry. But you know what I really am? Selfish, because I make bad choices that hurt you. Yes, I would rather have died than be human. I'd rather die right now than spend a handful of years with you, only to lose you when I'm too old and sick and miserable and you're still you. I'd rather die _right now_ than spend my last final years remembering how good I had it and how happy I was, because _that's_ who I am, Elena, and I'm not gonna change. And there's no apology in the world that encompasses all the reasons that I'm wrong for you." Elena's eyes widened in shock at his heartfelt confession. Damon watched her intently, waiting for her reaction, and shocked when she finally did react. She simply shrugged her shoulders, "Fine, then I'm not sorry either. I'm not sorry that I met you. I'm not sorry that knowing you has made me question everything, that in death you're the one that made me feel most alive. You've been a terrible person, you've made all the wrong choices, and of all the choices that I've made this will prove to be the worst one. But I am not sorry that I'm in love with you. I love you, Damon. I love y–" He quickly closed the space between them and pulled her lips to his. Everything that he had been holding back since she turned her humanity back on poured into the kiss. And every ounce of love, that Elena finally was able to prove to Damon was real, did too.

* * *

Stefan was standing right in front of the door. He was frozen in place by the heartbreaking sounds of our brother and the girl he loved kissing with an intense passion. "Steffie?" I asked in a small voice.  
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Hearing me call him shocked him out of his frozen state, and he turned to me with teary eyes. With a heavy sigh, I grabbed his arm and led him out of the house and to the edge of the driveway where we could no longer hear them. "We should go," I said to him in a serious tone. He didn't reply, but instead, weakly nodded.

* * *

Stefan and I were loading up my car with Silas' stone body. We had finally squeezed him inside when Damon came out. "Hey." "Think the quarry will be deep enough to bury Silas?" "Yeah," I immediately answered with a smile. Damon looked at me with sorry eyes before turning to Stefan and nodding his head. "I don't think anyone's gonna stumble on him there." Stefan nodded his head, then closed the trunk. "You want me to, ah–" Damon started to ask, but Stefan shook his head to cut him off. "No, it's all right. I got Gene and Lexi coming with me." Damon's eyes fell as he looked down at the ground for a moment. "Yeah," he mumbled disheartedly.

Damon was about to walk inside when Stefan called out to him. "Hey, Damon." "Yeah?" "I'm not happy about Elena…" Stefan started with a low voice, then cleared his throat to speak more evenly, "but I'm not not-happy for you, either. I just want you to know that." My heart fluttered at the sight of my brothers getting along for a moment, and a giant smile lit up my face. "Thanks, brother," Damon smiled then walked inside.

* * *

Damon and Alaric were now alone in the living room. Alaric was gazing out the window while Damon filled up two glasses of bourbon. "Moon's full," Alaric commented, but Damon didn't need to look outside to know. "Yeah." "Where's Elena?" "She's trying to find Bonnie and Jeremy. She's worried about the time," Damon said as he turned to glance over at Ric. He froze when he saw a pleased smile on his face. "What?" "You got the girl, man." Damon gave the slightest of smiles, and mumbled out, "I got the girl." "Now don't screw it up." Damon chuckled at Ric's teasing tone as he bent down to pick up their glasses. "Well, with you looking over my shoulder, how can I?" When he looked back up Ric was gone.

* * *

Lexi, Stefan, and I were all squeezed in my car and driving down the road. "New York?" Lexi suggested, but I shook my head. "That's too close." Silence. "What about Vegas?!" This time Stefan shook his head. "Ugh, no. Too touristy." That made me laugh, but Lexi was getting irritated. "Look, I know you think I'm joking, but you _are_ leaving. You just graduated for the millionth time. It's time to start living _your_ life." "What if Elena was... the one?" "She wasn't," I immediately answered. Lexi smacked my arm and gave me a look that said 'he's heartbroken, ease up.' With a sigh, I continued. "She was an epic love, but that's all it was." Lexi smiled at my way of trying to cheer him up. I thought it was fine being left as it was, but she _had_ to add to it and ruin my message. "Contrary to popular belief, there are actually multiple ones – especially for a vampire. The only way to find another is to let go, and move on." Stefan didn't say anything for a while. He was lost in thought as he stared at the road, but after two minutes he let out an airy chuckle and nodded his head. "I've never been to Portland." "Me neither," I agreed absentmindedly. When Lexi didn't say anything Stefan and I both turned around to look at her, but she was gone. "See ya, Lexi."

* * *

Elena was walking down the Mystic Falls High School hallways in search of Jeremy and Bonnie. Everything was silent until she heard a noise behind her. She instantly shot around to see... no one. She let out a small chuckle at her jumpiness and turned to continue walking, but froze. "Happy graduation, cupcake," Katherine smirked. Before she could reply, Katherine vamped forward and slammed her against a wall. She was about to jump to her feet to retaliate, but Katherine grabbed her and threw her across the hall and into a door. "What are you doing?" Elena growled out. "Would you believe I'm having a bad day?" Katherine smirked as she picked up Elena and threw her against a wall of lockers. Elena jumped to her feet, allowing Katherine to pin her to the lockers by the neck, using her foot.

"It started when Gene denied me my Silas-like immortality." "Of course," Elena choked out, "because Katherine Pierce can't be happy with good old vampire-caliber immortality." Elena quickly grabbed Katherine's foot and used it as leverage to slam Katherine into the ground. Without a second to catch her breath, Katherine jumped up and slammed Elena's back into the opposite wall. Elena was done with being attacked, so she grabbed the handle of a locker door and swung it at Katherine's face, but she caught it. "I deserved it. I never had a graduation, or a prom, or, you know, a life. But you did." Katherine slammed the locker door into Elena's face. "You have everything, and it's not because you're a good little girl who deserves happiness, it's because you stole mine." Katherine threw the door at Elena, but she ducked. The sheer force of the throw caused it to stab into the other lockers. "I stole _your _happiness? You killed my brother!" Katherine ran at Elena, but she blocked and threw Katherine down the hall. "I'll admit," Katherine said in a windy tone, "that was nasty."

The sound of Katherine's nonchalant tone infuriated Elena. Moving on pure anger, she ran at Katherine. But Katherine used Elena's blind rage to grab her arm and twist it behind her back. Using her arm, she slammed Elena into a fire extinguisher case, the glass shattering into Elena's skin and face. Katherine let go of Elena, and she collapsed to the floor. Her breathing was ragged, and it looked like she was losing her spark of anger, but Katherine was still as calm as ever. "I have nothing," Katherine said as she grabbed a broom with a wooden handle and smacked Elena with it. "But I'm about to change that." Elena was lying tiredly on the floor as Katherine smacked and kicked her. "Kicking someone while they're down… classy till the end, Katherine." Katherine let out a devious laugh, "_Your_ end." Without another word, she broke the stick in half and stabbed it in Elena's throat. Blood began gushing out of her neck and mouth.

Katherine smirked, then pulled the stick out of Elena's throat. She quickly threw it aside, then thrusted her hand into Elena's chest. Elena let out a loud scream of pain as she desperately grabbed Katherine's hands to pull them out. But in a sudden moment of realization she let go and stumbled to grab something from her pocket. "Bye-bye, little girl." Elena finally pulled out a small tube of liquid from her pocket. The cure. Before Katherine knew what she was doing, Elena stuck it in her mouth, then slammed her jaw closed. The liquid of the cure instantly dissolved into her body, and Katherine collapsed onto the floor next to Elena. "Have a nice human life, Katherine."

* * *

Stefan and I had finally made it to the quarry and were unloading Silas' body. As I helped him pull it out of the trunk, my hand slipped and the bag with his stone body crashed to the floor. Instead of one loud thud, however, it sounded like various small pieces. Stefan gave me a curious look, but when he saw that I was just as confused as him, he bent down and opened the bag. As soon as it opened, I let out a loud gasp of shock. It was full of plain, ordinary rocks. "Don't bother. I'm not there," Elena's voice said. I immediately turned and jumped in front of Stefan to defend him. "Silas. How are you alive? The spell, it turned you to stone." "That's the funny thing about spells–they're bound by Nature. Nature demands balance, so every spell has a loophole. The spell that turned me into stone was bound by a witch–a living witch. So when that witch died, the spell broke." My angry face filled with shock and sadness at the reminder of my dead friend, but Stefan was hearing it for the first time. "Bonnie's dead?"

"It doesn't matter, does it? And here's where the mystery of me comes full circle. I created the immortality spell two thousand years ago. I can never die, so Nature needed to find a balance–a version of me that _could_ die. A shadow-self–a doppelgänger." My eyes widened in shock. "So, this is finally your real face?" Stefan asked with wonder. "You're another one of them?" I spat out in disgust, but Silas chuckled at my reaction and shook his head. "Not exactly." Stefan and I looked at each other in confusion for a moment, but when we looked back at Silas, he looked like Stefan. I was stunned into silence. "Hello, my shadow-self."

In the blink of an eye, Silas vamped in front of me and threw me into the forest. I felt myself flying through the trees, various small branches and twigs piercing my skin, until I caught myself on a tree bow. Without a moment of rest, I ran back to the quarry in time to see Silas throw Stefan into the safe and into the quarry. "No!" I shouted as I ran even faster, my mind racing '_Get there. Get there. Stop him. Stefan!'_ But it was too late. I collapsed into tears at the edge of the quarry, staring down at the large mass of body below. "Don't worry about him, Arabella. You should worry about yourself." I turned to him with all of my anger and went to punch him. With each hit I threw he dodged, and with each step forward I took, he took two back. After a while of running at him in anger, I collapsed into tears.

"Why? Why do you keep doing this to me?" I sobbed out. "Because you're like me," he said as he knelt down in front of me. "Do you know why Stefan is my doppelganger?" I shook my head. "Because you, Damon, and Stefan are all my descendants. Yet, there have never, not once, been any witches amongst my blood line." My mind filled with confusion for a moment, but I didn't say anything. "All of my magic was passed on to my bloodline when I became a vampire, but there has never been any witches among them? That's where you got your magic from. That's why I am so fixated on you." "Why are you telling me this?" I sniffled out. Silas shrugged his shoulders, then gave me a small smile as he wiped my tears from my cheeks. "I feel a paternal bond with you. Yet, at the same time, I feel possessive over you." He was silent for a moment, and slowly his smile fell. "It's a shame." "What is?" "It's a shame that I've finally told you the truth, and now I'll have to make you forget it all."

My eyes widened in shock and fear, and I quickly jumped up and ran away. I couldn't hear the sound of him chasing me, so I thought I was in the clear. But when I got a few miles into the woods, I saw him in front of me. "It's useless to run, Arabella. I'm faster than you," he said as he ran at my speed. I instantly changed course, running towards home. I had ran a few minutes when I felt his iron grip on my wrist, and I instantly was pulled into his chest. The arms that I had once believed felt comforting were now a cage. This voice, the voice I grew up with, the voice that comforted my worst nightmares was now a chill down my spine. _Arabella._ The haze began to swarm my mind. _You must forget._ '_NO!' Let go of the memories. 'PLEASE, NO!' Sleep, now. Sleep._ My eyes began to grow heavy, closing against my will. My tongue felt like lead, and I couldn't speak. _When you wake up, you will remember nothing._ And then the darkness consumed me.

_Goodnight, my sweet, Arabella._


	12. Author's Note

So the story is over.

Yes, I know lol huge cliffhanger.

And I am SO sorry to say this, but I'm taking another break.

I am super busy with work and stuff.

Again, I am so sorry, and please don't hate me!


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Vampire Diaries, Romance, Supernatural