Bonnie huffed, annoyed that Elena hadn't filled them in on Esther's plan to kill off all the Originals. Had she gotten carried away while defending Damon or had she just planned to keep them out of the loop about it. One way or another, Bonnie was not happy at the moment with Elena.

"Okay, I think that's everything," Caroline said, dusting off her shirt though it was perfectly clean. "I'm just going to help Damon look for her."

"I could just do a locator spell," Bonnie said, though she didn't feel like using up her energy on a locator spell. Plus, it would have been easier had Jeremy been there to give a bit of his blood.

"But won't that just give us the general location? We need a more exact location."

"That spell may take more time and requires a stronger connection - meaning I'd need Jeremy here."

"Then I guess it's just up to Damon and me." Caroline sighed and threw on her jacket, ready to leave.

"What else did Damon say to you?"

This caused Caroline to stop and retreat a few steps. "What do you mean?"

"I have this distinct feeling that Damon told you more and it's something you obviously don't want to tell me about," Bonnie crossed her arms over her chest, taking a slow step towards Caroline. There wasn't any distinct feeling in her gut - she could just see it in the way Caroline refused to look her in the eye.

"That's not true!" Caroline looked like a deer caught in headlights, her eyes wide with fear.

"It isn't?" The witch raised her eyebrows. She knew how to crack Caroline and it didn't take long.

"I'm not, not telling you something! Okay? Can I just go already? Wait, why am I even asking you?" and with that Caroline flitted out of Bonnie's bedroom, leaving a few sheets on her table to rustle.

It seemed Damon was right about something for once - Caroline didn't seem to be happy with Bonnie.

"Why are you doing this?"

"God, I thought Elijah already explained all the boring stuff to you," Rebekah sighed for the umpteenth time, flipping though a magazine that she had thought to bring with her. Elena had sighed in relief because it meant that she wouldn't take all her time to torment her.

"Can't you just talk to your mother? I mean, what can really happen while I'm held hostage?" Elena tried to reason with the vampire.

Another sigh of annoyance.

"Why do something yourself when others can do it for you? Elijah is currently out, waiting to catch either one of your boyfriends to tell them where you are and what we want from them. And it's going to be easy to get them to co-operate - I mean, we have you to bargain with. If that doesn't get their gears running then I don't know what will," Rebekah flipped to the next page, admiring a silver dress laden on a very skinny model.

Elena tried to swallow the lump in her throat. It was no good arguing with Rebekah. There was no way of getting out of this situation until Damon and Stefan did what Elijah wanted of them. Elena just feared the choice they were going to be given.

"But what can Damon and Stefan do anyway? They can't take on your mother," Elena tried to sit up but it hurt to move with her ankle in such a state. The pain throbbed up her leg and she winced, squeezing her eyes shut and biting her lip.

"Elijah will tell them what to do. And all you have to hope for is that they will - otherwise I get to kill you. Now, how much fun do you think I'll have with that?"

"Rebekah, please don't do it. You have nothing to gain from it!" Elena said, pleading with the blonde vampire even though it seemed fruitless.

"Nothing? Really? Still, I'm dying to kill you after you stabbed me," Rebekah put down her magazine and looked at Elena. It wasn't hard to tell that she was etching to kill Elena ever since the dagger had been taken out of her. She had felt mad at herself for thinking that Elena would actually want to listen to her story just to be nice. She had asked her about all the things that made her vulnerable and she had succeeded in literally stabbing her in the back.

She huffed and returned to reading her magazine, though Elena could see that her eyes didn't move along the page.

"Can I at least get a chance to talk to Elijah first?"

"I think you've had enough time talking to him. Don't be desperate, Elena," Rebekah said in a sing-song voice. "It's not like there's anything you can say to stop him."

"Please, just let me try!"

"Look, I don't get why everyone bends over backwards to save you constantly but know this - you can't fool me again. It may have worked once but not any more. You have no weapon capable of hazing me. And, seeing as I'm not a swine of a male, you can't use your cheap tricks on me - no doe eyes or pouty lips or sad story."

Elena blushed at the thought of selling herself in order to make deals with her enemies. Her anger flamed to life, a scowl etched onto her face. Never before had she been accused to using cheap tricks to fool anyone. Maybe she had done so back when she was younger to get into parties with Caroline and Bonnie but those days were long behind her.

"I would never do that. I'm honest and I honour my deals."

"Right, sure you do. I heard the story of how you stabbed Elijah after making a deal with him. You sure have a way with keeping your end of the bargain," Rebekah glanced at Elena from under her lashes, smiling lazily as she flipped to the next page.

"Sometimes deals just don't work out. I'm willing to stab an enemy in the back if it means my friends and family are safe."

"Well, then, you definitely better pray that Damon and Stefan come through because after I'm finished with you I might just move onto Matt. I mean, he's sweet and all but I don't feel like having your leftovers for anything more than a meal."

"Don't you dare hurt Matt!" Elena fisted her hands, her voice raspy. She would do whatever it took to make sure no one she cared about was hurt, even if it meant making a deal with Rebekah, who, it seemed, would be unlikely to strike one with her.

"No Matt for lunch? Fine, maybe that little witch will do. Or your brother. Don't kid yourself, Elena. You can't keep everyone safe when they all want to protect you - even if it means losing their lives."

Elena shut her eyes and tried to think for a moment. Wasn't there anything at all that she could do to fix this? She felt like she had to pay the price because she had given her blood to Esther. Was there any way to reverse that?

Suddenly her eyes popped open, alight with the usual fire that was encompassed in her brown orbs. She had an idea.

There weren't a lot of places that Elena was free to visit all by herself but once in a while the group decided to let her have her privacy outside of her bedroom. Sure, a lot of the time Stefan or Damon would follow Elena wherever she went but Caroline liked to think that she would at least get all the privacy she wanted when she went to pay a visit to her parents and aunt Jenna.

The graveyard was a bleak place and Caroline had barely ever been there other than to bury her grandfather a couple of years ago and her father only a few days ago. But the setting had never affected her as she thought it would Elena. For the brunette this place seemed to hold almost everyone she had held dear and that made Caroline sad and quiet. Elena had ultimately lost a lot more people than most people her age.

She had looked in every corner of the graveyard just in case Elena had decided to sit down there to mope after looking around her parents and Jenna's graves. She hadn't visited as much in the last few months while she was busy staying in the present, trying to find Stefan and bring his humanity back, and it showed; the flowers were decayed, a horrible shade of brown and yellow.

Caroline wrinkled her nose and decided that she would bring some new flowers as a caring act. She hadn't given much thought to Elena's parents after she had been turned but she remembered that they were amazing parents, even if Elena wasn't their actual child. They had been nice to her, too, always inviting her over for dinner along with her mom - hoping to give the sheriff a bit of a break from all her work.

The blonde smiled and vowed to herself that to repay them she would try her best to protect Elena.

Damon wasn't one for communicating with his enemies when it came down to it but when Elena was missing so long and he was out of options he felt like it was the only thing he could do. Of course, he could send Stefan to do it but recently his younger brother had been more stubborn and rebellious than usual, even deciding his own ideas would be much better when in fact they were monstrous compared to Damon's. So he decided that if he wanted anything done, he'd have to do it himself.

As he stepped inside the boarding house Damon picked up a scent that was slightly familiar. An expensive cologne he knew a certain Original wore.

"Well, don't just stand around, Damon," called the familiar voice. "Please, join me for a drink."

Damon stepped into the formal sitting room to find Elijah sipping on a glass of what seemed to be his bourbon.

"That's my bourbon!"

Elijah smirked as he took another sip from the tumbler. He savoured the taste of the alcohol before glancing at Damon and then at the other occupant in the room. Stefan sat in one of the armchairs with an empty glass.

"It's rude not to share, Damon. Though I'm sure the hostility comes from having shared a love interest with your brother," Elijah quipped. Before Damon could remark about the comment Elijah sat down and set his tumbler down firmly, a serious expression on his face.

Damon slowly edged forwards, glancing between his brother and the Original. "So what's this little visit about? I didn't get any memo…"

"Well, I had just arrived and was, in fact, hoping to catch both you and your brother here."

"Elijah has some important business he wants to discuss with us," Stefan finally spoke up, reclining in the armchair, seemingly not seeing Elijah as any threat.

"Oh, really," Damon strolled over to the small bar and poured himself a full glass of bourbon, grimacing when he found that the bottle was almost finished. He quickly turned back to face Elijah and addressed him again. "Pray tell, what's this important business about?"

"It's about Elena, of course," Elijah waved his hand in the air nonchalantly. This answer caught both Salvatore's attentions and they gazed curiously at Elijah. But, surely, they needn't have looked so shocked - everything they ever talked about now was Elena.

"If you want to take Elena to your crazy brother then I'm really sorry to burst your bubble. But she's staying right where she is." Damon raised his eyebrows, defying Elijah. He wasn't about to be walked all over by the vampire he had freed to have him help kill his Original brother.

Elijah chuckled. "Oh, I know she's not going anywhere right now."

"So what do you want?" Damon asked, confused as to what else Elijah could want. Did he have some plan to take down Klaus? Surely not, especially not after the big display of family unity at the ball. Unless, Damon thought cautiously, it was only a pretence.

"Damon -" Stefan was cut off before he could warn Damon to listen carefully to Elijah. The vampire may be all into honour but that didn't mean he wouldn't play around with words to get his way. He was very clever and didn't hide it.

"I presume that you've already found Elena to be gone."

"What?" Stefan looked at Elijah, surprised.

"Sorry, brother. I was going to fill you in," Damon looked over at Stefan, not in the least bit sorry, "but I got a little busy. Looking for Elena actually."

"Well, you won't find her." Elijah stood up and moved to pour himself a new glass of drink. He rifled through the bar and found a bottle of liquor to his taste, opening it quickly before pouring half a glass. "But there is, however, something you can do so that I can get her back for you."

"Did Klaus do this? Do you know where she is?" Stefan stood up, forgetting his calm façade. It was proving to be a bit harder to not show his emotions when Elena was in trouble. And if Klaus had her… Stefan didn't even want to think about the mess inside his head.

"Actually he doesn't."

"Then who? Was it Barbie Klaus? I totally got those jealous vibes from her on a few occasions," Damon clucked, rolling his eyes. He obviously wasn't as worried about this as his brother was.

"If you are referring to my sister, then no, Rebekah didn't do anything to her. She may be in close proximity to Elena but technically she didn't take her hostage."

"Hostage?" Damon set his tumbler down, confused by Elijah. Realisation dawned on his face when he saw Elijah smirking offhandedly.

"You took her." It wasn't a question but a statement. It left Stefan's lips before his thought process was even over.

"Yes, I did in fact."

"And you're admitting to this because…" Damon said, a frown etched into his face, a dangerous note to his voice.

"Like I said, she's being held hostage. And in order for her to return home safely I need the two of you to do a certain deed for me."

"And what may this certain deed be? If it's killing Klaus then let me tell you, we're not having a lot of luck in that department. Hence why we freed the whole Original family."

"No need to play ignorant, Damon. I know that you are aware of my mother's plan," Elijah sighed. From his stiff posture Damon could tell that he wasn't happy even though his expression was completely calm.

"What plan?" Stefan looked between Elijah and Damon. He'd been gone most of the day but it couldn't be that hard to pick on a phone and call him to tell him that there was an update to the Kill Klaus Plan.

"Looks like Mama Original wants to kill all her children," Damon looked away and smirked at Elijah.

"What? How come I never heard about this?"

Elijah took this as his cue to explain everything. "Last night, as you all know, my mother was anxious to speak with Elena in private. I had asked Elena to relay all the information to me when she would return. My mother then proceeded to tell Elena her plan to kill all her children - not just Klaus. Elena failed to inform me of this in time and only decided to tell me this morning - because of her guilty conscience."

"What the hell did you do with her?" Damon snarled, his brow furrowed. He felt his anger begin to slowly take control of him as he continued to stare down Elijah. If he found one hair on Elena's head missing there wouldn't be enough vampires and Originality to stop Damon from kicking Elijah into next week.

"Nothing, I assure you. I don't know what she may have done to herself, though, since I left. She may have tripped and sprained something…" Elijah had the two brothers exactly where he wanted them and could bend them against their wills. It was too easy.

"What do you want from us?" Stefan asked. "It's not like we have a problem with your mother killing all of you. God knows you've caused us enough problems," he shrugged.

"Let me say this; I am willing to harm Elena in order for you to motivate yourselves to get this task done. I want the threat of my mother destroyed."

"How do we know you're not bluffing? I mean, Elena could just be taking a long car ride to clear her head from all the trouble your family has stirred up." Stefan folded his arms across his chest, challenging Elijah.

Elijah smiled gently and looked down at his shoes, as though contemplating whether to say what was on his mind on or. In the end he decided it would be best to convince the two brothers that Elena was indeed in need of saving - yet again. He reached into his trouser pocket and took out his new phone. His thumb quickly ran over the screen and a plain ring tone soon followed.

He extended his arm and waved the phone between Damon and Stefan. "Go ahead, answer it," his tone mild.

The Salvatore brothers looked at each other cautiously before Damon stepped forward and plucked the phone from Elijah hand. His brows furrowed as he saw who was calling. Nonetheless he slid his thumb across the screen, answering the call before putting the phone up to his ear.

"Why, Rebekah, you didn't get enough of me last night?" He hoped to infuriate Elijah. After all, no brother was ever in the mood to hear about how their younger sisters get around with certain males they knew. But Elijah remained impassive, still looking at his shoes as though he was trying to clean away the invisible dirt with his eyes.

"Oh, Damon, save it for some other time. I got a request - you want to see Elena." Rebekah's voice seemed a bit distant and Damon understood that she was probably holding the phone between herself and Elena.

"Hand the phone over to her, Barbie," Damon almost growled. He hated it when people tried to use his own methods against him - he hated being inconvenienced this way.

"Everyone will hear everything anyway. So ask her whatever question you want to make sure she's here so we can be done with it." Rebekah rolled her eyes as she stared at Elena, who gulped at the stare down.

She knew Damon would just ask her if she was okay, where she was, and who exactly got her into that situation. It was all he cared about when it came down to someone kidnapping her and holding her hostage.

Damon's voice came through in a steady tone; "Elena."

He didn't sound worried or wearisome, just cold. When it came to Elena being kidnapped he went through a few stages before and after she was retrieved. First stage was almost killing the messenger, second stage was trying to find his brother in a worried frenzy, third stage was cooling off and getting into his dick mind set, fourth stage was actually getting Elena back, after which he would kill (or attempt to) whomever was unfortunate enough to be the kidnapper as the fifth stage, and finally, for the sixth stage he would just drink himself stupid.

Elena was used to it by now. She just hoped that he'd find a different way to deal with these kinds of situations.

"I'm here, Damon."

"And that would be where?" Damon cast his eyes at Elijah's figure, as he shook his head and chuckled.

"Now where would be the fun in that? Even if you find out you won't be able to get her out." A small warning hung in the air and Elijah's eyes dared Damon to step over the line and defy his orders.

Damon wasn't one for backing down, though. "We got past you twice - oh, no, wait, three times! What makes you so sure that your sister is going to be any match for us?" It was a sting to Elijah, but he knew that they only got away with it the last two times because of his deal with Elena.

"She'll kill Elena before either of you would be able to get a hand around her throat." Elijah replied smoothly.

"Klaus will kill you both then." Stefan supplied from the background.

"Stefan? Was that Stefan?" Elena's tone was that of despair. She remembered making her phone call to him this morning. Much like she had expected, he hadn't answered, preferring to ignore any and all communication with her. Even now, as he stood ten feet from Damon and Elijah, he remained silent in fear of getting Elena's hopes up.

"Well, as you can tell, Elena is perfectly alive. So far." Rebekah interrupted before Elena could call out to Stefan again.

"And to keep her that way I suggest you do exactly as I say. Elijah's eyes darted over to Stefan. He knew both brothers cared about the beautiful maiden but he needed at least one to commit to save her. He was surprised that Stefan had not yet attempted to snap his neck and everyone else's who stood in his path to rescuing Elena. "You'll need the help of your friend, Bonnie is it? That is, if you can get her to consider helping you."

He reached out and took his phone back from Damon's hand. The dark haired vampire eyed the phone as Elijah began to speak again. He ignored what Elijah had insinuated about the Bennett witch.

"Rebekah, I'll call you as soon as the Salvatore brothers have made progress. If you don't hear from me by ten o'clock tonight, you can go ahead and rip out Elena's heart."

On the other end of the line Elena was staring at the phone, transfixed by Elijah's words. Why were all the people around her doing this to her? First it was Stefan and his plan to kill her in order to make Klaus stop, and now it was Elijah. There was something darker about him, he wasn't the same as she remembered him to be.

But he's also just trying to save his family - no matter how bad they are.

"At least if they fail I'll still have enough time to kill you," Rebekah smirked as she hit the end call button and pocketed her phone.

"Why would you think that they wouldn't take the opportunity to wipe out your entire family, even at the expense of me."

"Exactly because of you. They all love you too much. I'm sure that even when Bonnie hears that you're being held hostage, she'll stop."

"Stop what?"

Rebekah glanced at Elena in amusement. "Why, stop helping my mother. Didn't she tell you that my mother approached her and asked for her help for the grand spell?"

By the shock registering itself on Elena's face, Rebekah guessed she hadn't let a word slip. She sure hoped that the brunette felt betrayed, just as she had been.

Damon put the used glasses back in their rightful places, not bothering to leave them in order to clean them later. He had too much on his mind.

"What's the plan?" Stefan stepped around an armchair and stopped in front of his brother. There was something different about him, Damon noticed. He wasn't as tense as he usually was when it came to formulating a plan to take someone down. It was the thing he hated, sitting down and figuring out how to bring about someone's death, even if it was to save Elena. It was his compassionate nature getting in the way.

"I don't know yet. The objective is to take down Esther." Damon turned away and looked for something else to fix.

"How can we do that? I'm guessing we'll need Bonnie fore that." Stefan made himself comfortable in a chair as he stared at Damon.

"How about we just leave the witch out of it, huh? She's probably not going to help at all."

Stefan looked between his brother and an invisible object, as if searching for the reason as to why his brother does anything. "Eh, last time I checked, Esther was an indestructible witch who could have us killed in five seconds. Our best options would be to call Bonnie, Damon."

Damon ignored his brother as he began to walk towards the stairs. "I'm calling Ric to let him in on our current situation." He said the last word in such a way as though to insinuate that it was Stefan's fault. As he ascended the stairs he reached into his pocket and brought out his phone.

Stefan huffed before taking out his own phone and dialing the first person he thought of.

Bonnie was on the road, heading to Denver. She had a hunch that maybe Elena had gone to visit Jeremy, even if it was to stare from afar. Maybe she had wanted to get away from all the madness and to just get a little sense of home again. Bonnie couldn't blame her if she had gone to see Jeremy. He had a calming effect on the people who loved him.

At the memory of the early morning Bonnie couldn't help but clench the steering wheel a bit tighter, the skin over her knuckle going white in colour. Esther had paid her and her mother a visit in the morning, so early that Bonnie had almost snapped at her when she swung the door open from the excessive ringing of the doorbell.

Esther had swooped in after Bonnie had nodded her head and as swiftly as possible explained her plan to the Bennett women. Bonnie had taken a few minutes to process it all but once she got the affirmed answer that all the originals would be wiped out from existence, Bonnie had agreed to help Esther. She had yet to feel any guilt.

Why?

Bonnie had always hated vampires - ever since she was a little girl she thought they were disgusting creatures. Nothing had gone far in swaying her idea, not even teenage sappy romance stories. So when she got acquainted with a few vampires and her world turned literally upside-down, her hatred for the vile monsters grew. Sometimes it was a surprise how she could be so happy to be friends with Stefan.

Speaking of which, her phone suddenly rang, blasting one of her favourite songs. She chanced a glance at her dashboard where she always kept her phone while driving, and saw that it was the very vampire calling her.

Knowing that Stefan Salvatore didn't usually just call up to ask her how she is or to invite her out - that had always been Elena's duty - she just grabbed her phone and pressed the answer button, ignoring the safety rules.

"What happened?"

Stefan sighed on the other side of the line. He knew how accustomed Bonnie had gotten over the past year to answering her phone only to hear that there was some dangerous creature on the prowl for them all. He just wished that she had never been thrown into the middle of this whole vampire thing, but he had to admit that without her they would all be dead by now. They probably wouldn't even have made it two months without her.

"We have a big problem in regards to Esther's plan. I know you know, Elijah told us."

"You and Damon, I'm guessing?" Bonnie made a turn at the appropriate time and continued driving at a moderate speed.

"Yeah. Well, he also told us that he has Elena as a hostage. If we don't do what he wants of us, Rebekah is under strict orders to kill her."

"What?" Bonnie swerved to her right and stopped the car once she hit the side dirt road. She listened intently to Stefan as he spoke.

"Elijah said that we have to take down Esther before she takes down Klaus and the other Originals."

"Stefan…" Bonnie sighed and wondered how she could explain to the green eyed vampire what exactly she had conspired to do with Esther. No words left her mouth as Stefan waited on the other line.

"Look, Bonnie, I get it. We have an opportunity to get rid of all of them but that means losing Elena as well. We can't let that happen." The old sense of love that Stefan had for Elena was received on Bonnie's end. She smiled sadly as she finally caught the glimpse of the old Stefan, so desperate to save the love of his life, even if it was only through the catch in his voice as he spoke of the brunette.

"Alright, I'll meet you at the boarding house. I might be a while, though. Get everyone else." She hung up before Stefan could reply and threw her phone onto the passenger seat. She made sure that the engine was still on before hitting the gas pedal and making a U-turn. And off she sped down the road, back to Mystic Falls.

A/N:

Wow, this took a while to update. I'm sorry about that. I was really busy with homework and tests (and there are big ones on the way, unfortunately.) I thought that I should power through and finish this because of the New Year. HAPPY NEW YEAR, by the way. Ugh, may this year see to it that I update more frequently, while magically managing all my homework and exams. I have written more for this story...but it's scenes in the future chapters. I might start putting them as little sneak peeks at the end of new chapters.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter - more to come soon enough!