2. Powerless

Elena's last injunction to them before disappearing had been not to leave the house. He and Stefan had immediately ignored that, though he understood why she had said it. She wanted to keep them safe. Elena had been all about keeping them safe lately. It pissed Damon off, but the worst thing was that it had been his idea to let Elena attempt to stab Elijah with the dagger. He should have known that her human reflexes wouldn't have been enough.

So this was basically all his fault.

Damon spent some time going through the Gilberts' secret stash of vampire-hunting weapons. They had everything in there: crossbows, stakes, wooden bullets, a couple of hunting rifles, dried vervain, liquid vervain; hell, they made Alaric look like an amateur. If he and Stefan had known that the Gilberts were such avid vampire hunters to this day, they might have been a little more wary about getting involved with Elena.

Well, no, they wouldn't have. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered except saving Elena, so Damon grabbed one of the sharpest-looking stakes from a shelf and sped over to Stefan in the living room. His brother was watching the sun come up over the lake, brooding as usual.

He'd have to remind Stefan what he was supposed to be doing. "Tell me Bonnie hasn't slept in."

Stefan blinked and looked at him. "Yeah, I'll call her. We need to fill in everyone else too. Tell them what happened."

"Bonnie first," said Damon.

Using the witch to cast a spell would be the easiest way to find Elena. It had worked before. Elijah would be expecting them this time, but they'd just have to cope with that. Damon leaned back against the glass door that led outside to the lake while Stefan called Bonnie. The call went straight to voice mail. Stefan sighed; Damon drummed his fingers against his leg and muttered about useless witches. Many times he had wished that they didn't have to rely on Bonnie. She was unreliable at best and tried to kill him at worst. But she was all they had.

"She's probably asleep," said Stefan. "I'll try again later."

He was still messing with his phone though, selecting a different number. Damon raised his eyebrows.

Stefan got the implied question. "Jenna will expect Elena to be back," he explained. "I'd better tell her. And Jeremy."

Jenna was apparently a morning person, since she answered sounding bright and cheerful. Damon folded his arms and listened.

"Stefan, hey. Thanks for dropping off Elena last night."

The surprise on his brother's face mirrored his own exactly. Dropping off Elena? What? Had Elijah already compelled Jenna to think that everything was okay? But Elena had been careful to make sure that her aunt was ingesting vervain since Katherine had gotten to her, they both knew that. It didn't make sense. Stefan stared at him, lost for words. Damon made a 'c'mon!' gesture at him, and his brother managed to muster up a reply.

"What?"

Not the most eloquent response in the world, but it did the job, he supposed.

"I said, thanks for dropping off Elena. I didn't see you, so I didn't get a chance to say it then. What's up?"

Stefan swallowed. "Elena's at home?"

"No, she just left for school."

"Oh. Thank you."

"Is something wrong?"

She was finally starting to pick up on the anxiety in Stefan's voice. Damon heard all this in increasing bewilderment while Stefan made his excuses.

"No, no – I just left her a message and she didn't get back to me, that's all."

"Well, she said she lost her phone so that probably explains it. I'm sure you can ask her at school."

"Yeah. Yeah, I will."

He was about to hang up when another voice interrupted in the background. "Is that Stefan? Can I talk to him?"

John Gilbert. Damon's face darkened and his hand automatically tightened around the stake he was still holding. Twice now John had tried to get him killed. Most people didn't survive a single attempt. But Stefan agreed when Jenna asked him to wait a moment, and Damon listened, still and attentive.

"You're not gonna go all disapproving father, are you?" Jenna was saying. "Because I can tell you now, you have so not earned that."

"No. Please, just give me a moment."

There was a crackling sound as she handed the phone over. Stefan grimaced. "John?"

"Stefan, we need to talk."

"About what?"

"Not over the phone. I need to speak to you in person."

The entitlement in his tone rubbed Damon the wrong way. As if whatever John Gilbert had to say was a priority after the news they'd just heard. They'd get nothing useful out of him over the phone while Jenna was there either. Damon made impatient eyebrows at his brother, who took the hint.

"Later," Stefan growled.

"It's important."

"Sorry, but I'm late for school."

He hung up, rubbing his eyes as Damon stared at him, finally able to voice his sheer disbelief.

"Elena's at school? At school?"

"I don't know. But I'll find out. Can you deal with John?"

Damon smirked. "With pleasure."

After all, that was practically encouragement from his saintly brother to do whatever he liked with John. Damon could think of a few things.

The next morning, Elena faced an unexpected problem: she had no clothes. Her bloodied items had disappeared to be washed, leaving Elena in only her underwear. She opened the wardrobe to find it full of men's clothes and bit her lip. There seemed to be an endless array of suits in there and not much else.

She pulled on a perfectly ironed ivory shirt, which hung off her small frame, rolled up the sleeves, then crouched down to search through a drawer.

"Good morning."

She started, whipping around to face Elijah in the doorway. He stepped languidly towards her and she stood up, her back against the wardrobe. She felt cornered already; he was the predator approaching and she knew that he could close the distance between them in a second if he wanted to. But he didn't. He stopped a safe distance away – and some part of her laughed at herself: safe, no distance was safe, nothing about Elijah was safe. Their deal had been her safety net. All such illusions had evaporated the moment she'd lost it.

She licked her lips, managed a note of defiance. "I need my clothes."

"Oh, I don't know," said Elijah. "You look quite fetching in my shirt."

A shiver ran down her spine. His demeanour was quite different to the night before; he seemed relaxed, in control. There was that barely-there smile as he regarded her, looking her up and down. Elena swallowed.

"These are yours?"

"Who did you think they belonged to?"

She shook her head. "Where are my clothes?"

"I'll have them brought up for you. Come downstairs when you're ready and we can discuss the terms of your living arrangements."

He turned, about to leave, when Elena stopped him. "Wait."

"Yes?"

He was watching her, polite and expectant. It was all she could do not to tremble uncontrollably. She was so frightened. Frightened of him, frightened of what she was about to ask. If he'd killed her loved ones already... She didn't know what she would do.

"I need to know. Stefan and Damon – are they still alive?"

"Yes, they are."

"Please tell me you're not going to kill them."

"I can't promise that," he replied softly, and she felt her heart wrench.

"No," she said, stepping forward, forgetting her current state of undress. "You can't do that, Elijah – you can't punish them for something I did. I was the one who betrayed you. Stefan and Damon made no promise to you. They were only trying to protect me."

God, she hoped she'd judged that right. Stefan and Damon's lives depended on it. She looked at him with wide pleading eyes and swallowed, realizing just how close he was now. It was as though the two of them were cocooned in this dark room and this was all that existed. Just this moment that she had to get right.

She couldn't flinch. She held his gaze, conviction in her voice. "I wanted to work with you. I still do, but I can't if you're a threat to the people that I love."

"I don't need you to be willing to co-operate."

"You asked for my co-operation before."

"And then you tried to kill me."

Elena closed her eyes and sighed, before opening them again. "I'm sorry. I had to. I..."

She paused, words failing her. What else was there to say? If he didn't want to strike a deal with her, then there was nothing she could do about it. But he was here. Listening. He was looking at her like... she didn't know, but she felt it, almost physically. A lump rose in her throat and she shuddered, holding back tears. He probably didn't care. Maybe he just wanted to watch her break down again and beg him for mercy.

She felt something soft brush her hand and looked down to see that Elijah was offering her a handkerchief.

"Come downstairs when you're ready."

He left her clutching the handkerchief, still trembling from their encounter. That was cruel, being kind like this. Taking everything from her and leaving her to dry her tears. It was cruel. But she steeled herself, determined not to leave him waiting for long. Every passing second more vervain disappeared from her system. She couldn't give up.

Ah, school. Dwelling place of hormonal teenagers, haggard teachers and lots and lots of rules. There were layers and layers of them; not the silly ones like no running in the corridors, no talking back to teachers or smoking pot in the grounds. No, there were social rules to navigate too. She'd been studying; she knew who her friends were supposed to be, she'd dug out a timetable and been both surprised and amused to discover that Elena actually did her homework sometimes.

First period, she walked into the right classroom and swept her gaze over the students, assessing their arrangement with a practised eye. From the smiles and passing glances directed at her, she judged where she ought to sit and acted accordingly. She pretended to occupy herself by leaning down to pull a book out of her bag.

When she straightened up, she found Stefan sliding into the seat beside her. At once her expression brightened. Exactly who she'd hoped to see.

"Hey, Stefan."

He looked bewildered. She gave him a little wave, fingers wriggling.

"Elena, what–"

"Shh." She put a finger to her lips, smirking as she indicated the teacher who had just come in.

Perhaps she'd applied a little too much eye make-up this morning, or perhaps her expression gave her away. Whatever the reason, it was so much fun to watch the dawning realization in Stefan's eyes when the penny dropped.

Katherine was back.

The house looked different in daylight. More normal. It was a silly thing to be surprised by, she supposed – where else would Elijah keep her? A haunted house? – but as Elena descended the stairs she noticed the photographs lining the hallway. A portrait that she recognized as a younger Mrs Roberts with her husband and three children. A man dressed in army uniform. Two identical girls with pigtails and frilly dresses. An awkward school photograph of a boy with crooked glasses and teeth; she recognized the Mystic Falls insignia.

This was someone's home.

She'd known that too, but seeing the evidence around her made her feel like an intruder. Almost as if thinking about it had summoned her, Mrs Roberts appeared when she reached the bottom of the stairs, wispy-haired and more wrinkled than in her portrait.

"Would you like some breakfast, Elena?" she asked. "The kitchen's this way."

Elena followed her into the kitchen, where she was unsurprised to find Elijah waiting for her. He smiled as she entered, gesturing for her to sit down with him. In this environment, with Mrs Roberts' presence as a buffer, she felt a little less nervous. And she was prepared. Elena had already decided what she wanted to say. She trembled as she sat down at the table opposite him, but she came straight out with it.

"You don't need me to co-operate, fine, I won't. I'll do everything I can to make sure that your plan fails. If you do anything to hurt my friends, I swear, I will find a way to kill myself before Klaus gets anywhere near–"

"Do you like grapefruit juice?" Mrs Roberts asked, and Elena blinked several times before she found the presence of mind to answer.

"Yes, grapefruit juice is fine. Thank you."

She wasted another minute or so being distracted by Mrs Roberts insisting that she have breakfast. Even though she knew the woman was compelled, Elena couldn't be rude and refuse her. She felt Elijah's eyes on her the whole time while he sipped his coffee and then he finally replied, very quietly.

"You won't kill yourself."

"Watch me," she retorted, and stood up to prove it. All kitchens had knives; all she had to do was get hold of one… Of course, she'd barely taken a step towards one of the drawers before Elijah blocked her way.

"I won't let you harm yourself, Elena."

She didn't shrink back. Instead, she leaned up to him and lifted her chin defiantly. "Then I'll fight you every step of the way."

"And how do you intend to do that?"

It was a good question, but she'd already thought of the answer. There was nothing she could do to hurt him. Nothing she could do to escape. He was both faster and stronger than her, but she could make herself an inconvenience. Distract him, force him to focus all his attention on her at least for the next couple of days. Then he couldn't be out there killing anyone. She'd buy her friends some time.

She turned away, walking back around the table as though she intended to sit down again. Instead, she increased her pace, but she hadn't quite made it to the kitchen entrance before Elijah appeared in front of her. Undeterred, Elena tried to go around him, knowing full well that she'd fail. His hand closed around her arm, stopping her in her tracks, but she pulled anyway.

"Elena."

"Let me go!"

She struggled fruitlessly, grimacing as his grip tightened. She aimed a kick at him which did nothing but hurt her foot, and then another, twisting and curving her body as she tried to drag herself away from him. Jolts of pain burned up her shoulder; she knew it was her own resistance causing this but she didn't care; she was going to make him stop her.

Elijah endured this for only a couple of seconds before he twisted both her arms behind her back and held her against him. He felt utterly immovable, his grip on her impossible to budge. He'd wrapped an arm around her waist, in what felt like an oddly gentle embrace, but one she couldn't escape from.

She froze as she felt his breath against her ear. "Elena, just because I need you alive doesn't mean that I can't hurt you. You can co-operate, and I promise that I will take good care of you for as long as you're here. Or you can continue to behave in this difficult manner, and suffer the consequences."

He could break every bone in her body without blinking. She knew that. She twisted to look at him, to meet the eyes of her captor only a few inches away. They were dark and unfathomable. "I don't care. If I don't get a guarantee that you won't hurt my friends, I'm not co-operating. No matter what you do to me."

"Very well."

It all happened too fast for her to process. She felt a familiar swooping sensation in her stomach, had a vague impression of rooms blurring past her, then she was back in the bedroom and something cold and hard caught around her wrist. Metal. She was sitting on the floor, her back braced against the bed. She looked around, confused and scared.

He'd handcuffed her to the bed.

Elijah was standing only a few feet away, looking down at her with a frown. She felt a sudden mad urge to ask him where on earth he'd gotten the handcuffs from – just a typical item ancient Original vampires carried around? Maybe he'd popped in to visit the sheriff. Oh, God. She didn't want to know.

"I'll release you when you've come to your senses," he told her. "Until then."

Elena could do nothing but stare at him, stricken. She listened to his footsteps as he retreated from the room. All too quickly, the house became silent. She'd lost. She'd lost everything.

Class ended and Katherine slipped her hand into Stefan's as they left the room. He shook her off as though she'd bitten him, glaring at her.

"Hey." She glanced around at the other students and pouted. "We have to keep up appearances, Stefan."

She started walking, taking care to imitate Elena's graceless human gait. Stefan followed, as she had known he would. Katherine smiled to herself.

"How did you get out of the tomb?"

"Little known fact: an Original can compel another vampire, but if the Original dies, the compulsion wears off." She spoke carelessly, as though she was revealing nothing of importance, but switched from a bored tone to a coy one as she smiled up at him. "Hey, don't we have history together? You'll have to show me the way; I'm a little lost..."

She weaved past a group of girls; a couple of them glanced over and greeted her. Katherine waved back but didn't stop. Oh, this was too easy. She paused, put a finger to her mouth as she pretended to consider.

"Was it left here? Or straight ahead? So many corridors..."

"Katherine," he said. "What are you doing here? Why are you pretending to be Elena?"

Oh, come on, Stefan, she thought. It's not like I haven't been making it a hobby for the past few months. She rolled her eyes and took a left turn, Stefan grim at her shoulder.

"You should be thanking me. Now you don't have to explain Elena's absence to Aunt Jenna."

"I'm not joking, Katherine."

"Neither am I."

He sighed. She could deflect him all day, but Katherine decided to change tactic. She wanted Stefan to stay with her and the easiest way to do that was to make him an offer he couldn't refuse.

"Look," she said, pausing to look at him, "I'm here to help you. I could have run, but I didn't. We're both on the same side; we both want Klaus and Elijah dead. So go with it. Take me to history. A whole world of learning awaits..."

She held out her arm, and Stefan took it reluctantly. Katherine nuzzled his shoulder, delighted. The game, she thought, was just beginning.

They met at the Grill. At this time of day, it was almost empty, which suited their purposes just fine. Damon slid into the seat opposite Alaric and spoke without preamble.

"Bad news, Ric. Elena's gone. Elijah took her."

He gave Alaric a moment to process this. Those were some deep creases forming on his forehead. For some reason, he looked confused rather than surprised. "But I saw her in class."

Well, that explained it.

"That was Katherine."

"Oh, God."

"Yeah."

"Katherine got out of the tomb."

"Yep. And she's taken her penchant for imitating Elena to a whole new level."

"You're kidding me." He rubbed his eyes, and then Damon's implication sank in. "Wait, what do you mean a whole new level?"

Damon spread his hands. "While the mouse is away..."

Alaric's expression was horrified. "She was at the Gilbert house? With Jenna?"

He nodded. Stefan hadn't said as much when he'd passed on the news, but Damon could work that one out for himself. It explained how Jenna thought that she had seen Elena and probably the reason John wanted to talk to them too. Apparently Katherine had decided to take full advantage of Elena's absence. She had also tricked him with her 'If you kill Elijah, I'll be stuck in here forever' speech. His mouth tightened at the thought. God, he should have seen that one coming.

Alaric shook his head. "We can't let her stay there – Katherine made Jenna stab herself, remember?"

"I remember," said Damon grimly. "If you want to stake the bitch, feel free."

"I have to warn her."

Alaric shoved his plate aside and fumbled for his wallet. As he slid the tab onto the table, Damon frowned.

"Where's your ring?"

"I gave it back to John."

"What?"

"Long story. He's been dropping hints to Jenna about Isobel, so now she thinks I'm hiding something." He gave a humourless laugh. "A couple minutes ago, I thought that was the biggest of my problems."

This was enough for Damon. "Well, then. I'm due to pay John a visit anyway. Let's go."

He stood up, walking past without waiting for Alaric, who hastily shoved his wallet back into his pocket and followed him.

"Whoa, hey. What are you gonna do?"

It was strange, Bonnie thought, how so many times over the past few months she had wished that she could be a normal high school girl – and yet now that she effectively was, she hated it. Once you had magic, you couldn't go back. She walked into school in a daze, shoulders hunched, avoiding the eyes of her classmates. Caroline appeared to console her, and as the pair of them hugged, Bonnie reflected that one good thing had come out of losing her powers: she couldn't feel the chill of death that lingered over every vampire. She didn't think any of them realized just how unnatural that felt, how every passing second she was conscious of exactly what they were.

But Caroline was her friend and today she felt so warm and so human that Bonnie couldn't help the tears leaking from her eyes.

Caroline hushed her. "It's okay. We'll fix this. It's okay."

She didn't get why Bonnie was crying, and Bonnie didn't have the heart to tell her. So she sniffed, wiped her eyes, and Caroline stayed with her, neglecting even her busy social calendar to chaperone her between classes.

She wouldn't say it and Caroline wouldn't say it, but what she really wanted to do was talk to Elena. Bonnie had texted her, but received no reply. And after first period, Elena had gone straight off with Stefan, so they hadn't had a chance to catch up.

Speaking of...

Stefan hurried up to them, alone this time. Bonnie was about to ask him where Elena was when she saw his anxious expression. "We need to talk."

His brow was furrowed; he looked deadly serious. The kind of serious that meant they had another supernatural crisis on their hands. Bonnie gave Caroline a look and they all congregated by the lockers while Stefan explained the situation. Elena had been kidnapped. The girl in class was Katherine.

"Oh my God," Caroline breathed.

Bonnie couldn't speak. Her friend, her best friend, had been kidnapped yet again, but this time she couldn't do anything about it. And they'd worked so hard to stop Katherine being a threat, only to have it all undone in a moment. There was nothing she could do. She was powerless. She blinked as Caroline nudged her. Stefan was speaking.

"Bonnie, we have to find her," he said. "Can you do a tracking spell?"

"I'm sorry." She shook her head, mouth trembling. "I can't. Please don't tell Damon about this..."

It was their turn to explain. Stefan's expression became grimmer and grimmer.

"Okay," he said finally, "then we get your powers back, we just have to find Jonas or Luka..."

"They won't help us. They hate us."

"Then we make them if we have to."

She had no idea how that would work, and looking at Stefan, she wasn't sure if he did either. Jonas was powerful; she'd felt that. She hadn't been able to fight back at all. At the time, she'd thought that it was his punishment for what she'd done to Luka, but now she understood. He'd made sure that she wouldn't be able to find Elena.

"Are you sure they're still here?" Caroline asked. "What if they left with Elijah?"

Stefan shook his head. "I don't know. But keep an eye out for them. Oh, and if you see Jeremy, tell him – I haven't been able to find him yet."

"What are you gonna do?" Bonnie asked.

"Keep Katherine from causing trouble. Call me if you find Luka."

He touched her shoulder lightly and nodded at Caroline before walking off. The two girls looked at each other.

Caroline bit her lip. "Should we start looking?"

"We'll split up," said Bonnie. "Cover more ground."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded. "I'm not afraid of him."

"Neither am I. But Katherine..."

They were both scared of Katherine, Bonnie knew that. And while Katherine had left her alone since Stefan had told her to when she first appeared, she hadn't done the same with Caroline. The apprehension on Caroline's face was something awful to see. High school really shouldn't be this dangerous.

"Stefan will take care of her," she reassured Caroline. He was the only one who could, she thought. So they agreed, and parted ways. Elena was their priority. They couldn't let Katherine distract them.

"Ugh, you're still here."

Jenna rolled her eyes in John's general direction. It was pretty much the same greeting she'd used every day since he'd arrived. He hadn't yet taken the hint.

He poured hot water into his coffee and stirred. "Did you see Elena this morning?"

"Yeah, she left early for school. Probably because she didn't want to see you."

He sighed, something of a wry look passing across his face, but whatever. Elena didn't like him and he knew it and Jenna didn't care about reminding him. She grabbed her car keys and swung her bag over her shoulder. She was all ready to go; John could hang around and watch daytime TV or whatever he did with his time here.

"Going somewhere?"

"I have a seminar. I'll be gone all day, so don't wait up."

John looked at her in that way he did when he was contemplating telling her something she wouldn't like to hear. "You know, about Ric..."

She rolled her eyes, turning away. "I don't wanna hear it, John. Save your weasel words for another day."

She left, not without a glimmer of satisfaction as she made sure to slam the door shut. She was walking around to her car when her phone rang. Jenna smiled as she saw the caller ID.

"Elijah? Sure, I'd love to meet up."

Despite everything she had learned today, it did feel better to have a mission. Bonnie's stride became more purposeful; she paid attention to her surroundings rather than turning her eyes away from it. She scanned the crowded corridors, tuning out the noise, searching for only one face. If Luka was here somewhere, she was determined to find him.

She turned a corner and almost bumped into Elena.

"Hey, Bonnie."

No. Not Elena. Even if Stefan hadn't told her, Bonnie thought she might have realized something was off. She had the clothes and the hair right, but there was something taut about her smile that was unquestionably Katherine. I don't need my powers to know what you are, Bonnie thought. She tried not to shiver as she faced the vampire. Katherine was alone; either she had slipped away from Stefan or he hadn't found her yet. But Katherine didn't know that she had lost her powers. And she wasn't about to attack Bonnie in a crowded corridor.

"Katherine."

"Elena," Katherine corrected her. "Don't blow our cover, Bonnie."

She leaned in to touch her arm and Bonnie flinched away.

"Don't touch me." She fixed Katherine with an even glare, her voice steady. "For as long as you're here, you and I have had a falling out. How's that for a cover story?"

Clutching her books to her chest, Bonnie walked off, not looking back. She thought that she could feel the vampire staring after her and her heart was pounding, but Katherine didn't pursue her.

She made it out to the courtyard at the front of the school. Life was going on as normal here, students playing basketball, hanging out in their respective groups, talking, laughing, hurrying to their next class... It felt almost surreal. None of them knew that their school was a hotbed of supernatural activity. She breathed a sigh of relief. Then she glimpsed a familiar back. Luka.

Bonnie fumbled for her phone.