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Hope's head throbbed from all the screaming. The gag was too tight and she kept getting her tongue stuck in uncomfortable angles. She tried to wiggle her fingers again, they were bound so tightly behind her that she'd lost feeling ages ago.

There was no way to tell how long she'd been down there, the twins had stopped yelling seemingly forever ago. She leaned against the damp rock, too exhausted to rub the rope against it any longer. The cave was dark and cold, her powers rendered useless within the salt circle. Hope could smell urine in the stale air and tasted the blood and tears that had soaked into her cloth gag.

Hope squinted when a flickering light approached. The gradual sharp clack of heels echoed as slow as a faucet leak. Carrying a torch was the woman who took her - the woman with Elena Salvatore's face.

"You ready to cooperate?" Nodding towards the twins who slumped against each other, she practically purred in a sing song tone, "it doesn't look like they'll last much longer..."

Swallowing hard, Hope's throat so dry it pricked and stuck together, she nodded in agreement. She couldn't make a play if she didn't enter the game, and sitting in a dark cave for days wasn't getting her any further. Surely Mr. Saltzman was searching for them by now, but even Hope had no clue where they'd been taken.

Patting Hope on the head like a dog, the woman chirped, "great! I'll just be needing a few drops of blood to rejuvenate your friends here..."

Without warning, the woman pulled a blade from her stiletto boot and sliced deeply across Hope's cheek. The pain was so sudden it caused her to shriek, the sound echoing hollowly for several seconds.

"Oops," the woman smiled, holding a vial beneath the gash, "I guess I got carried away."

A man's voice called, "now, now, Kit-Kat, you weren't supposed to do the fun stuff without me!"

Hope's eyes adjusted and she recognized him immediately from Mr. Saltzman's locked files. Lizzie and Josie's uncle, Kai, stooped to inspect the twin's slack faces. She knew Katherine's face and story from the journals and letters left behind by not only her father and uncle, but by Stefan Salvatore. The woman was pure evil and was supposed to be frying in hell along with the twin's crazy uncle.

Katherine tossed her mane of raven curls over a shoulder and observed the way Kai ran the tips of his fingers down Lizzie's cheek. Hope let out a cry of protest when he took the blade Katherine offered with a bored expression and put it to Josie's throat. Hope could see the eager sweat beading at his brow in the orange flicker.

Shifting on his feet, his cold dark eyes met Hope's wide gaze. "Oh don't worry Miss Mikaelson, I need their specific siphoning abilities before I kill them. There's still time to say goodbye."

In one swift motion, he cut the gag from Josie's mouth and grasped her by the chin to drip some of the vial. As she stirred, he repeated the action on Lizzie. He let out a gleeful cheer when the girls startled awake, looking wildly around.

"Well hello my pretties," he wiggled his fingers playfully in their faces.

Lizzie frantically took in her surroundings, eyes settling on her uncle's. Hope could see the recognition cross both girl's faces.

"Are we dead?", she whimpered.

Katherine snorted and rolled her eyes. Kai just smiled as if he were the happiest man in the world.

He twisted a lock of Josie's chestnut hair between forefinger and thumb, replying as if he were telling a story to little children. "It took a lot of work, but we made a little deal with the devil. In exchange for a return to the living, we have to open back up the gateway between heaven and hell. The amount of power that's going to take...well, it'll be tricky that's for sure."

"But don't worry..." Katherine interjected, "the Devil had some really great ideas."

Hope tried to ask what they wanted, but her gag muffled the words. Rolling her eyes, Katherine pushed off of the cave wall to grab the blade from Kai and cut Hope's gag, the torch too close to her face. She felt the heat which only fueled her panic, but the fresh breath rushing into her lungs as she gulped for air overpowered the discomfort. She tasted blood, knowing her face was deeply wounded. Healing was slow, even with her wolf curse activated.

"Let them go and I'll help you. I'm sure you know what I'm capable of," Hope stated. Her voice sounded like she had swallowed sandpaper. If she could get one or both of the twins out of here, maybe Mr. Saltzman could find her quicker.

Katherine crossed her arms over the tight leather jacket, cocking her head and smirking. "You've got one thing right...you will be helping us. But I think what you're truly capable of has yet to be revealed."

Kai let out a chuckle, shaking his head as if Katherine's words were the most clever he's ever heard. Hope glanced towards the twins. She'd never seen them so scared. She tried to give them a small reassuring smile but Kai stepped between them, blocking her view.

Turning his attention towards Katherine, he asked in a tone no different than if they were discussing dinner options, "shall we tell them now or after we've gotten them all cleaned up?"

"After. I love to build suspense before reaching the climax."

Their laughter echoed like a nightmare.

A/N: just a small fun story with two of my favorite evil characters from TVD. I'll update frequently and chapters will stay fairly short like this one. Reviews are appreciated.