A/N: Hey everyone! Thanks for reading! I have changed something in the Prologue (Mystic Falls is now magic free) after doing some deep thinking about where this fic will go, sorry if that's annoying! If you have the time, please, please review; they have been getting less and less as the chapters go on, and I don't know if that means my writing is getting worse or something, but please let me know! Again, not been 'beta-d' so sorry for any mistakes. Happy Reading, Burnee x

Chapter 3

Damon's POV

I sigh and run a hand through my hair.

"Well that completely rules out the possibility that I may be in heaven" I mutter, staring at the young original. I give him my trademark sarcasm, accompanied with my trademark smirk.

"And what makes you say that, darling?" he replies in his oh so annoying voice.

"You're here" I state, looking at him directly in the eye.

He scowls and walks further into the clearing, glancing at Bonnie before sitting on the tree stump I had just vacated and crosses his ankles. I turn to her, a questioning look on my face.

"Witchy explain please" I ask bluntly, before beginning to walk around the circle, keeping my peripheral on Kol at all times.

She shuffles on her feet and squints at him, trying to work out why he was here, the cogs visibly turning in her head. Of all the people to be stuck in a purgatory with…. Why him? He wears jeans and a jacket; the same thing he wore when he died too.

"I don't know" she sighs. "I don't know why he's here" she speaks a little louder, frustration seeping into her words.

Confusion furrows her brow and she takes a step towards Kol, so that she is clearly addressing him.

"How did you get here? Who saved you?" she asks

He smiles smugly and rises, uncrossing his feet and gestures slightly to the surroundings with his hands.

"Now that is the question isn't it?" he takes a small step towards her, testing her fear.

Bonnie remains exactly where she is, not moving, unafraid and fixes him with an expression that demands answers.

"Okay fine" he sighs. "The fun is over I guess…"

"Just answer the damn question, Rumpelstiltskin" I turn to face them from my stroll around the circle, glaring.

"The answer to your question is; I don't know. I don't know who saved me. I can't imagine that anyone would want to, so you probably have a better idea than I have about what the hell is going on!" he raises his voice through the last half of his explanation, the tough façade braking ever so slightly, and I can't help but jeer him on.

If he was here, and we were here, then it must because we have something in common. Bonnie's Gramms must have saved her, there is no other explanation. I must have just hitched a lift, but that doesn't explain why Kol is here. Who would save him? If he does know, he isn't telling.

"Now now Kol, we can't be in hell because she is here" I look pointedly at Bonnie. "If it were just me and you, then maybe that could be possible, but…" I smirk at his livid face. Bonnie takes a step forward.

"Please can you two just stop? I don't know what is going on and that terrifies me. At the moment it's just us three, but who knows who else is out there? Or if we could still die in this place, if we aren't dead already? If you stop your immature bickering then we may be able to figure stuff out!" she breaths deeply and lets it out slowly, short on air after her rant.

I share a look with Kol for a second, reaching a mutual, silent agreement to shut up. And yet, I need to have the final say; because that's the kind of idiot I am.

"Just so you know, I don't like you. You compelled me to kill Elena's brother. Dick move. You see, Karma is a bitch. You tried to kill Jeremy and then he eventually killed you. Twice, actually…" I turn away from them and continue on my circuit.

A minute of silence passes, before I catch a glimpse of the look on Bonnie's face. If looks could kill…

"Okay, I'm done! Please continue."

The look remains. I sigh- I seem to be doing a lot of that.

"Sorry… But he di-"

"DAMON!" she nearly shouts, cutting me off.

I raise my hands and look out towards the forest.

"Maybe if you just weren't so insensitive, then I could actually understand why Elena likes you!" she grumbles, voice still raised.

I may have been angered by her comment, if not for the crunch of feet on leaves that could be heard to my right, very faint even for my hearing. The other two clearly couldn't hear it, yet.

"Sshhhh" I whisper yell, batting my hand downwards in a 'be quiet' gesture.

"Don't you shush me!" she whisper yells back.

Suddenly Kol looks alert, concentrating for a second, and vamp speeds over to where I stand. At that Bonnie snaps out of her 'anger mode' and quietens down, enough so that we can get an accurate reading on where the person, or thing, is coming from.

"What is it?" Bonnie asks.

I bring a finger to my lips in an attempt to silence her again, keeping my eyes locked onto the forest, but turning my head so that she can see my warning. It's her turn to sigh, although credit to her, she doesn't get annoyed.

"Look, guys I can't hear anything. I don't have freaky sensitive hearing" she says a lot quieter.

This time Kol responds.

"About 100 metres north-east of where we stand, someone is coming this way."

She nods her head slowly and sits on the tree stump, legs hanging above the ground, trying to listen to the footsteps that we vampires have no problem in locating. She tries to peer around our wide shoulders into the forest, but is apparently unsuccessful; noticeable by her exhale of breath.

I motion to Kol, moving my hand to indicate that I want him to go left, and that I will go right. We crouch down on either side of the slight opening out of the trees and wait. I gesture for Bonnie to get down, to shield herself from the oncoming object. This time I am prepared and I am not about to let another supernatural being sneak up on me. The footsteps are a lot closer, close enough so that Bonnie can hear them. The noise suddenly stops.

I see an outline of a person through the branches, although any significant detail is still hidden. They pause and take a step forward into the light. Without waiting to see who it is, I leap up at the same time as Kol. He sweeps them off their feet, and so, off-balance, they stumble slightly. In the blur, I grab their throat and heave them up against a tree, so that the bark scrapes their back.

She clutches at her neck for a second before coming still. Not dead though, her eyes just focus in on me and she smiles.

"You" she whispers, amused.

"So you died too. Interesting" her calculating voice hovers.

Kol takes a step forward and shoves me out of the way, before taking my place; hand enclosed on her neck. He looks into her calculating eyes as he speaks.

"Who are you?"

I stand, silent, but when I see Bonnie attempting to move forward, I motion for her to stop. I am still not sure what this new comer's motives are. I don't know why any of us are here, but now there is an added complication. The woman chuckles, reaches up to grab a hold of Kol's hand and begins to remove each finger from her neck, prying them away until she stands on the ground, back no longer against the hard wood of the tree.

"Don't touch me" she threatens and walks over to Bonnie.

"You're no longer the anchor… The other side is gone. Right now, I hate you, but we have things to do" she says it all so off hand, emotionless; the crazy spark in her igniting.

"What are you doing here?" Bonnie asks, taking a step back.

"I guess you could say that this is my own little world. I created it just before the other side collapsed. The basic idea is that it is a seatbelt; for those that I need" she looks at Kol, "those that were saved a seat" she looks at Bonnie "and for those that…" she looks distastefully at me "are just here…"

"What do you mean?" I ask.

She glowers at me.

"Sheila came to me with a proposition; she knew that I had power, but not nearly enough to do this, to escape death" she looks around the clearing.

"She told me that her and her ancestors would provide me with that power… If I saved you" she says all this looking at Bonnie.

She begins to walk slowly, measuring her paces until she reached the Original. She brings a hand up to his face, not in a loving gesture, but in a controlling one.

"You are my bargaining chip. But, then again, it all depends on how much your siblings really love you"

Kol frowns, but stays in place, something close to fear is simmering just beneath the surface of his eyes. The woman wanders over to where I stand and looks me up and down.

"You are here by accident" she says curtly.

I cough at her bluntness.

"Never thought otherwise" I mutter.

She stand in the centre of a triangle, each of us at a different point. Bonnie looks wary, Kol looks as if he is about to cry- although I don't feel like poking fun at him anymore- and I… probably look my usual dashing self.

She reaches down and runs a hand over the grass. Loopy as ever.

"And to answer your question, little original" she mocks the title that the Mikaelsons had given themselves a thousand years ago "the name is Qetsiyah, the true original witch"

Then she winks at him.

"But you can call me Tessa"