disclaimer -I do not own The Vampire Diaries.
So this is my first time writing crime/espionage. I just thought I'd let you know in advance. Hmm, what else?... this story is AU/AH. And I accept critical reviews as long as it's helpful and not just story/author bashing. So enjoy… hopefully. And please review
WARNING- This chapter does contain some violence. But, you should be okay with that since you do apparently watch the Vampire Diaries.
Chapter One: Q & A
They found her.
After 3 months of endless leads, sleepless nights, and never-ending pressure from high up bosses they found her. They found her in a small Virginian town named Mystic Falls.
At first they weren't sure. After all it seemed too easy. A rookie mistake they were warned not to expect from her,
So they spent two weeks to make sure. To check if it wasn't some trap.
It was definitely her. So they followed her; to and from work, when she went on coffee dates with friends, whilst she was a home doing mundane tasks such as cleaning or cooking.
For two weeks they were her unseen shadow. Every phone called she made was recorded, every text/emails she sent was forwarded to their headquarters to be decrypted, every person she talked to had instant background checks. For two weeks they waited anxiously, dreading that she might bolt any second. She didn't.
At exactly 5:40 on a Wednesday evening she jogged down Nicholson, A secluded stretch of road shaded by tall pine trees.
She was grabbed from behind. Felt a sharp sting in her right arm. She was unconscious before the needle was pulled out.
Elena woke up feeling drowsy, confused and disoriented. Her head felt thick, and unnaturally slow.
"You're awake." A voice spoke. A male voice; and not one she recognized. A gripping panic began to set in as she also failed to recognize her surroundings.
She was tied to a wooden chair in the middle of a room. Her arms were pulled back so tight that it was starting to numb. The thick rope that securely wrapped her wrists together and her ankles to the leg to the chair was cutting off her circulation. Her stiff back was an indication that she had been in this position a while.
The room she was in was small, cramped, and stifling. There was a fan beating softly on the ceiling, but it did nothing to hoard off the scorching summer heat.
Her dark chocolate eyes rose to meet a pair of clear piercing blue. The man spoke to her again. In another language this time, Portuguese maybe.
He reached forward and yanked the brown duck tape off her mouth. It stung.
Who where these people? What did they want with her? Her heart beat quickened, her breathing labored her pulse raced as her mind scattered to make some sense of what was happening.
"Your name?" The raven haired man asked. Elena blinked, her eyes still adjusting to the dim lighting.
"I, uh – What?" She spoke softly, still slightly disorientated. It was a simple question, but every choice, action or word she could choose at the moment, weighed on her like a ton of bricks. After all they could be her last. Who where these people? What could they possibly want with her? Did they know who she was? Her mind jumped to the worst scenarios. Horrible stories you saw on the news of young girls being abducted. She suddenly felt self conscious in the jogging shorts and tight top she was wearing.
There were two other men in the room with her. The first one, -the one who spoke to her- was probably in his mid to late twenties. His face was unreadable; his blue eyes void of emotion, his raven black hair messy and disheveled contradicted the spotless, meticulous, neatly pressed clothes he wore. The second man was taller and slightly older; late thirties-early forties, he looked tired.
"Tell us who you are. Who are you working for?" The first one, blue eyes asked.
The girl blinked slowly still looking confused and out of it. He briefly wondered for a moment if they might have been too generous with the dosage used to knock her out.
"Elena." She answered slowly, deliberately leaving out her last name. She was watched carefully, a shift in the eye, a twitch of the lips any signs of deceit or dishonesty. There were none. "Please." Elena begged. "I don't… I-"
"Do you know who we are?" She shook her head. "That's okay." The man replied. "Because we know who you are."
The coil in the pit of her stomach tightened. A shiver ran down her back.
"Katherine" Blue eyes, sing-songed as her head began to droop, he leaned forward so that they where eye to eye. "We know who you are Katherine. All we want are some answers."
"I just want to go home." Elena begged. She just wanted to be back in her own house. She didn't care who they were. Or what they wanted. Jeremy, her younger brother would be worried when he realized she was missing. She was the only family he had left. They couldn't just take her.
"It would be easier if you tell us the truth". He replied honestly. There was a pregnant pause as she gathered courage to ask the question that had been weighing on her.
"Are you going to kill me?" She asked. She looked so tiny, and vulnerable, frail almost, it made it almost easy to forget. But, he wasn't one to make mistakes. Katarina Petrova was a master manipulator, one whose trap he wasn't going to fall into.
"No. We're gonna make you talk." He promised. "Who do you work for?"
She paused for a second, the question catching her of guard. Elena frowned why they would want to know about her work. She took in a deep breath deciding that honesty here was the best policy.
"Carol Lockwood. I'm a business consultant. I, I work for a small business company in Virginia. I research…file papers, sit in meetings…. tell small business how to improve."
It seemed to be the wrong choice. The raven haired man stepped back and nodded to his friend. "If you're looking for ransom I don't have money. I don't have anybody who can pay. Please. I don't know who you are or what you want. But, please don't hurt me."
The older one stepped forward. He picked up a soaked sponge from a water filled bucket at her feet.
"This would be so much easier for you if co-operate." He says almost sincerely. She's co-operating, Elena thinks, how much more can she fucking co-operate. A small part of her seems to know what's coming. Her jaw tightens and her back stiffens as he presses the sponge to her to her chest.
"Who do you work for?" It a question she keeps hearing. One she can't seem to answer properly. She answers again and knows immediately that it is the wrong response. "I don't know what you want… Please. Please don't." She begs. The sponge is clipped to an electrical cord that is attached to a small black box at his feet. The older man turns the dial on the minimum setting to start with.
She can't hold back the piercing scream as what feels like a thousand volts courses through her. Her nerves fry and her entire body convulses with pain. An off switch is flicked and she can breathe again. She is given a moment to catch her breath.
"Katherine." He tutted, shaking his head in a disapproving manner.
"I don't know a Katherine." She breathes. He raises an eyebrow and smiles, a private joke he's not letting her in on.
"Really?" He asked. "How about the name Katarina Petrova, does that ring a bell?" Elena shook her head and immediately regrets it. The current hits her as a bolt of acid.
"See… We know who you are? What we want to know is your motive. What's next Kat?"
"I swear I don't know." The tears look authentic. "Please let me go."
"Tell us about Elijah Michelson." He changes the subject.
"I don't know who that is."
"You don't know your own fiancé?" He smirks.
"I don't have a fiancé"
"Am sure you don't anymore. Who do you report to?"
"No one. I … I don't" She screams so loud she's afraid she almost broke her vocal chord. Even when it's over the pain still lingers. "Please. Just let me go" She cries. It's a mantra that repeated in her head. I don't know. Please don't hurt me. I don't know.
"You have the wrong person. I am not Katherine. My name is Elena Gilbert. I grew up in Mystic Falls. I have a younger brother, my parents died when I was sixteen. I am not this person."
"Your cover was blown so you ran." He continued "Do you seriously think we don't know you have an agenda?"
"Please… I don't- I'm not"
"Seven years. You've been Katherine Pierce for seven years. You're not going to leave this unfinished. You never do." Elena drops her head back trying to catch her breath. "It's only going to get worse. This is the first of five levels and I've got nothing but, time." It's a lie, but there's no need to tell her that. "You're good. I'll give you that." There's still no response from her part. "Elena?" He asks hoping she'll answer to that name.
"What you're doing is illegal in all 50 states." She croaks. Her comment receives a genuine laugh.
"We have a right to interrogate terrorists as we see fitting" Her head snapped up to meet him.
"I'm not a terrorist."
"Freedom fighter… Activist? Is there a difference really."
"If am a terrorist. What does that make you?" She asked. She's tired really tired. All her tears have dried up.
"Here's the thing" Damon leaned forward brushing her hair, wet from perspiration out of her face. "You are good. But, I am also very good at what I do. So it doesn't matter if it takes 10 hours or 10 days, I am going to get the truth out of you." The dial of the black box gets turned to the second level.