a/n: Okay guys, I know I said I was done writing Delena for awhile, but I guess I lied because this idea popped into my head and I liked it too much to leave it alone. It came from thinking about the movie Daybreakers so I might be pulling inspiration from there, but for the most part, it's all original. So just like the movie, the vampires have pretty much taken over and humans are becoming harder and harder to find. They are basically becoming extinct. There will be a synthetic blood on the market, but materials to make it will start to go through shortages.

I will be explaining things along the way and I'll try to keep the relationships as close to the show as I can, but no promises. So far, I'm loving Stefan being all blood thirsty and evil-ish, so I'll be keeping him that way. The next chapter explains the original love triangle and goes more into the background of the world that they all live in.

I know my summary is a little vague, but it's completely on purpose. I have an idea of where I'm going, but you'll be finding out along the way with me :) I'm going to keep you guessing throughout. As always, feel free to message me if you have any questions or concerns. I'll be writing this and Of Different Worlds (Tyler/Elena) once I finish Fighting Fate and Written in Blood. Right now, I'm leaving you with just a taste of what's to come so enjoy!

ONE: Twenty Years Ago

He could smell the fear in the air. It was his favorite scent next to that of fresh blood. It drove him forward, sending his predatory nature into high gear as he followed the scent. It led him to a row of abandoned buildings where humans were known for hiding. He slowed down as he rounded the corner, the scent having led him to one building in particular. Cautiously, he moved forward, and just as his hand touched the door, he felt the air stir and the next thing he knew, he was flying backwards. He grunted as he crashed into the metal siding of a wall. He got to his feet quickly, looking for his assailant only to be pushed forward. He listened carefully and before the next strike, he was able to grab his attacker and toss them away. Surprise washed over him as he recognized the blonde in front of him.

"Lexi?"

"Get out of here, Damon. I'm warning you."

Damon slowly stood up straight, holding his hands out in a mock surrender. "What are you doing here?"

She rolled her eyes, but remained in an attack ready stance. "What do you think I'm doing here?"

"Why do you insist on helping the humans when you know as well as I that it's no good?"

"Because someone has to. If your precious queen lets things continue this way, the humans will be wiped out within a few years. What do you think will happen to us then, huh? What will we do without human blood?"

"I thought you didn't drink from humans?"

"I don't feed to kill," she answered flatly. "So I ask again, what are you doing here?"

"Katherine sent me as a scout. She and a few others aren't far behind me." He sighed as he looked around, using his advanced senses to hear anything. "If you and your group go now you might be able to hide from them."

That was enough to make Lexi relax. She tipped her head to the side, her eyes narrowed as she studied him. "You're helping me?"

"I'm helping Stefan," he corrected weakly. Lexi's face hardened at the mention of his brother's name. "If Katherine finds you here, she'll destroy you. I know things didn't turn out as you would have hoped, but he still cares about you." He shrugged. "That, and I really don't want to hear him whine about your death for eternity."

Her lips twitched into a brief smile only to be wiped away by a third voice. "Lexi? What's-"

"I told you to wait inside!" she snapped at the group that emerged from the building Damon had been about to enter.

Damon looked at the man and woman that had approached Lexi, desperation and fear in their eyes as they saw Damon. He admired the way they stood their ground even with him near. Then he noticed the other man in the back, holding a bundle in his arms. From the way he was holding it, Damon could only assume that it was a baby. It was then that he realized Lexi was giving the humans instructions and he tuned in at the tail end of it.

"How long before Katherine arrives?"

"Not long," he replied.

"Okay, let's move. Plan C," Lexi ordered. As she waited for the humans to move, she turned to look at Damon. "Thank you for this."

"I'll tell Stefan you're well."

It was then that a scream pierced through the air. Lexi was gone from his sight in the blink of an eye and Damon had no choice but to follow. When he arrived around the corner, one of Katherine's other scouts had caught the black haired woman and had bit into her neck. Before Damon could react, the man not holding the baby fired a crossbow and took the other vampire out.

"Go!" Lexi shouted at the rest of the group, already well ahead of Damon and the bleeding girl.

"Isobel!" the man with the baby cried.

Lexi blocked him as he tried to backtrack. "They need to get out of here," Damon warned having felt Katherine's presence very close. "Now!" he hissed.

Lexi never looked back as she wrestled with the man and eventually led him and the other human out of sight. Whether or not they escaped safely was beyond Damon's immediate knowledge. Less than a minute later, Stefan and a few other of Katherine's most trusted scouts appeared in the alley. "They went that way," Damon said, pointing in the opposite direction. Stefan nodded and took off, signaling for the others to fan out. Not one of them went in the direction Lexi had gone.

Alone, Damon pulled the girl into his lap and checked the extent of her wounds. She was bleeding badly and while it was extremely tempting, there was something about her that kept him from finishing what the other scout had started. "Isobel," he whispered, gently stroking the side of her cheek. Her eyes fluttered open and they stared at him in pure fright. She looked around for an escape and tried, but Damon cornered her. "Don't make me kill you," he muttered, hoping she heard the sincerity in his voice.

Realizing that she had nowhere to go, that Damon would kill her if she tried to run, she leaned back against the wall and slumped down. She hugged her knees to her chest and rocked back and forth while she sobbed. He knew the baby was probably hers and that that was the only thing going through her mind at the moment. There was nothing he could say to comfort her because he knew the chances of her survival were slim. If he did let her go, there was a great chance that another vampire would find her. She was safer with him, as absurd as that sounded.

Stefan was the first of the scouts to arrive back, a scowl on his blood stained lips. "They got away," he muttered, wiping the excess blood from his chin.

"But you caught some?" he asked.

"A few. They were weak and didn't put up much of a fight," he answered and then nodded in the direction of the woman. "And her?"

"She is not to be touched," came Katherine's voice from behind the brothers.

Stefan and Damon both stepped back to let her walk up to the girl. Damon saw the gleam in Katherine's eyes and the satisfied smirk as she approached. He wondered what on earth would keep Katherine from killing her, but he knew better than to question her. Stefan, however, could not contain his curiosity. "What's so special about this one?"

Katherine's brown eyes blazed with a triumph that Damon had never seen before. Unable to stop himself, his gaze returned to the girl that was staring up at them. Their eyes met and for a fleeting second, Damon had a feeling that he knew what Katherine was going to say next.

"This one's name is Isobel Flemming," Katherine said, lowering herself to the human's level.

"So?"

Katherine shot him a look and Damon swore to himself. One of these days, Katherine was going to rip his head off for his incessant questions. He scoffed at himself for that thought; he knew better than to think that Katherine would ever hurt her precious Stefan. Damon knew that if it weren't for their chemistry in bed that Katherine would have gotten rid of him a long time ago.

Katherine reached out and tilted Isobel's chin up so that she could look directly into her eyes. "Isobel Flemming is the name of my final living descendent," she announced, saying exactly what Damon thought she was going to.

"Are you sure?" Stefan asked.

Katherine scowled at him. "I have been tracking my descendants longer than you have been alive. Of course I know." She removed her hand from Isobel's face and stood up. "I told Klaus I would find them all. The prophecy can't come true if there's no blood relative of mine alive to produce a doppelganger."

Isobel's eyes met Damon's once again, full of fear, but this time, she was also silently begging for something. Damon returned her gaze before giving a curt nod. He wasn't going to say anything to Katherine about the baby that had gotten away. He looked away to see Stefan frowning. "What prophecy?"

"Shortly after Klaus made me his queen, a witch came forward. She claimed that one of my descendants would give birth to my doppelganger. That the child would be the one to lead an army of rebel humans and take back what was theirs." She shrugged as she looked back at Isobel. "Luckily, since I turned I had a fascination with tracking down my blood line. If I hadn't, I probably never would have found you."

"So every time you sent us out to scout, you were really looking for Isobel or one of your other descendants?" Damon asked before he could think twice about it.

"More or less. I always thought it would be a nice bonus if we found other humans," she added and looked at both brothers. "Speaking of, were there any others?"

Damon nodded. "There were others with Isobel, but Trey had gotten hold of her before I got here. One took a shot and killed him. I could only contain her."

She nodded and looked at Stefan. "We found a few more, but I don't believe they were from the group Damon saw. They were weak and had no weapons on them."

For a long moment, no one said anything as Katherine circled Isobel as if inspecting her like a cat toying with a mouse. Without any warning, the female vampire grabbed Isobel's arm and pulled her up. "Do you have any children?" she asked, using her compulsion.

Isobel blinked and then shook her head. "No," she answered, her voice hoarse. Katherine let go of her, satisfied with that answer and stepped back.

"Well, I can't just let you go; it's too risky, but I don't want to kill you either. You are family after all." After a moment, Katherine's eyes lit up as she made up her mind. "Damon, turn her and get her acquainted with the way things work around here. When she can handle herself, I want her to report to me," she demanded and then looked at Stefan. She beckoned him with a nod of her head and Damon tried to suppress the wave of jealousy that washed over him. In the blink of an eye, they were gone, leaving Damon alone with Isobel again.

"How were you able to lie to her?" Damon asked, curiosity getting the best of him.

With a shaky hand, Isobel reached into her pocket and pulled out a little pouch. Damon instantly knew it was vervain, but was surprised that he hadn't been able to smell it earlier. "It's weak, but strong enough to keep you out of our head," she answered.

He nodded and watched it fall from her shaking fingers to the ground at her feet. Tears flowed from the corners of her eyes and Damon knew what she wanted to ask. "I won't tell her," he promised. He had no idea what made him want to keep something like this from Katherine; at least not anything he was willing to admit at the moment.

"Thank you," she breathed, her eyes closing as she relaxed just a fraction.

"Katherine is going to keep you close, you'll have to completely forget about your human life."

Isobel nodded weakly. "I understand."

"Lexi is a good vampire. She will do whatever she can to keep them safe," he assured her as he slowly moved forward. "I'll try to make this as painless as possible."

She nodded again, tipping her head to the side. Damon leaned in and let his vampire instincts take over. The fresh blood trickled down his throat, satisfying the true thirst that he hadn't felt in a long time. As her heart slowed down, he forced himself to pull away and give her some of his blood. He gave her one last sad smile and snapped her neck, catching her as she fell. He laid her down on the ground and went in search of the humans Stefan had found earlier. After dragging the bodies to her, he sat and waited. Before he knew it, she was awake and feeding, completing the transition and beginning her new life of eternity.