Elena

I feel consciousness return to me a piece at a time, but my eyes remain so heavy that I can't seem to pry them open. The nerves throughout my body are screaming in pain and my head feels woozy.

"Huh? What happened? Where am I?" I croak. My throat is so dry and raspy that I start to choke on my words.

I go to stand up, but realise that I'm tied to a chair by my hands and feet. I struggle against the ropes, but they're soaked in vervain. I'm so hungry that I'm in physical agony and just breathing takes every ounce of strength I have left. My head begins to become foggy and I feel my limbs growing heavier. I let my half-open eyes droop shut again, too weak to fight off the need for rest.

"Elena? Elena?" I hear a voice say.

The voice brings me back and I finally find the strength to open my eyes. My vision is blurry, but I can see that someone is sitting across the room from me. When I manage to focus, I see a head of blonde hair.

"Caroline?" I say. "Caroline!"

Her head is flopped back, her eyes are closed and she doesn't react to me calling her name.

"Elena?" the voice says again. It's Damon, who is beside Caroline, staring back at me, worry all over his face.

"Are you okay?" he asks.

I nod and then continue to look around the room and see that Stefan is beside me, also unconscious. He's hunched over, his body limp and I'm close enough to him that I can nudge him with my knee.

"Stefan? Stefan? Stefan!" I call in an attempt to rouse him, but he doesn't come to and so I turn back to Damon.

"He's okay," Damon says. "He's just been injected with vervain."

"Damon, wh–what happened? Who did this?"

"Shane," he says.

"What? Shane? But why–why would he do this to us?"

"Oh, there's a very simple reason for that, Elena. But why don't we wait until your little friends wake up before I get onto that?" Shane says stepping into the room.

He holds a stake in his hand and is sharpening the end with a knife. After a few more strokes he places the blade down on the table beside a pile of vampire weapons.

"Where are Jeremy and Bonnie? What have you done with them?" I ask frantically, noticing that they're not in the room. "If you've hurt them..."

"Don't worry about them, they're fine. They're all warm and cosy upstairs. Slipped a couple of harmless sleeping pills into their drink. They'll be awake in a couple of hours, completely oblivious to what happened. And anyway, do you really think you should be threatening me, given the situation?"

"I knew I should've killed you," Damon says through clenched teeth.

Shane chuckles. "Oh, Damon. You truly are a monster aren't you? I should just do the world a favour and end your pathetic life right now."

He unexpectedly runs at Damon then, the stake that he just sharpened still in his hand.

"No!" I scream. "Please, don't! Please!"

He stops when the stake is just inches from Damon's chest and then lets out a maniac chuckle. "Don't worry about your precious boyfriend, Elena. I'm not done with him yet."

I don't know Shane very well, but he all of a sudden seems like a completely different person. His features are twisted with bitterness and when he speaks he almost snarls. He seems so full of hatred and evil and I can't make sense of why. Why?

I close my eyes shut tightly, praying that when I open them again I will be tucked up in bed and this will all have been nothing more than a nightmare. I hear coughing then and jerk my eyes open to see that Caroline is awake.

"Caroline! Caroline, are you okay?"

She groans and mutters incoherently, and when her eyes fall on me, they widen in fear.

"Elena?" she says. "Oh, my god. What–? What the hell is going on? Oh my god, Stefan. Is he...?"

"He's fine," Damon says from beside her.

"Damon," she says.

"Damon's right. He's fine. He should be with us any minute now," Shane informs us, glancing down at the watch on his wrist.

"Shane?" she says, in disbelief. "What are you doing? Are you insane? Untie us now!" she exclaims.

She seems to have more strength than I as she wriggles and pulls at her ropes with impressive force, considering the debilitating vervain that is still coursing through her veins and that the is soaking the ropes. "We trusted you, Bonnie trusted you, you were supposed to be helping us! Why would you do this? Why? Oh, god. Bonnie...Jeremy...are they okay?"

She's asking the same questions as me, suffering through the same uncertainty and fear, so I know that she has no idea why Shane has done this. She's just as in the dark as I am.

"It's okay, Caroline. Just relax," I say attempting to soothe her, although I'm just as terrified as she is.

Stefan suddenly jerks his head up with so much force that the seat he's in topples forward. We all gasp in unison and Damon calls out his name. Shane rolls his eyes and goes over to Stefan, lifting the chair back up.

Stefan's eyes are glazed over and he looks around the room, taking in the scene before him. He doesn't seem to react with shock or confusion like Caroline and I. He rolls his tongue over his teeth and regards Shane with a stern look. He then looks from Shane to Damon and I can see from the look they exchange that they knew this was going to happen. The room falls completely silent for a moment, but is quickly interrupted by Caroline's frustrated groans.

"What the hell is going on?!" she yells angrily.

A pinging sound goes off.

"Ah, that will be my pizza," Shane states casually. "Why don't you fill the girls in on what's going on while I'm gone?"

Caroline and I look to Stefan and Damon. They're looking at each other again, guilt on both of their faces.

"What's he talking about?" Caroline asks.

"Yeah, because clearly you two know something that we don't," I add.

Damon sighs. "Well...when we came here today it wasn't just to help Jeremy train," he admits.

"Then why did you come?" I ask.

"Klaus came to see us yesterday..." Stefan starts.

"Hold on, hold on. Klaus? He's back? I thought he was in New Orleans," Caroline says.

"He was, now he's not," Damon says.

"And what did he say?" Caroline asks impatiently.

"I went to find Rebekah to undagger her," Stefan says.

"What?!" I exclaim. "After everything she's done to us, you were going to undagger her?"

"What the hell were you thinking?" Caroline says.

"I was thinking that she could help us find the cure. But it doesn't matter, because I went to Klaus' house and she wasn't there. When I got back to the Boarding House Klaus showed up and he knew I'd gone to find her, he was pissed."

"You're lucky to still be breathing," Caroline says.

"He wasn't going to kill us, Caroline. He wants to find the cure and he needs us to do that. But he said that we couldn't trust Shane, that his motives for finding the cure weren't what he made out. He wants to find Silas, because he wants to resurrect the dead."

I stare on at Stefan in horror. Ressurrect the dead? Over the last year I've witnessed things that I believed to be impossible, but even the notion of being able to bring the dead back to life is too difficult for me to grasp.

"Why didn't you tell us all of this before? He's been here with us for 2 days, helping Jeremy, anything could've happened," I say angrily.

"We were waiting for the right moment," Damon says.

"And you thought that moment was now?" Caroline scoffs.

"We sure do know how to pick 'em, eh, Stef?" Damon says with a smile.

"How can you be making jokes? We've been vervained and tied to a chair! Can't you save it, just this once?" Caroline snaps.

"Oh, don't pretend you don't love it," Damon says.

"Okay, that's enough," I say impatiently. "Why is he doing this now? He's been here all weekend, why now?"

Damon and Stefan shrug and then Shane re-appears in the room, a slice of pizza in his hand.

"Because Stefan and Damon were planning to blackmail me. First rule to success; always stay one step ahead of your enemy. I wasn't going to wait around for you to make your move, I had to get to you first and I did."

"How did you know?" Stefan asks.

"Did you really think after everything I went through to complete the ritual to resurrect Silas that I wouldn't take precautions to stop something like this happening? The house is supernaturally bugged."

"Ritual? What ritual?" I question.

"He killed the council." Damon says.

"What?"

"Yup, I killed the council," he states nonchalant. "That should be enough to tell you that I'm not going to let anything stand in my way."

"But why?" I ask, shaking my head in disbelief. "They were innocent."

"No one is innocent, Elena. You'd do well to remember that. Those lives were a necessary sacrifice. A sacrifice I was willing to make."

"So what next?" Damon asks. "You obviously need us for something, otherwise we'd already be dead."

"I want what I've always wanted; Silas, and I can't do that without you, unfortunately. I need Bonnie, I need Jeremy and I need Klaus."

"Klaus? Why do you need Klaus?" Caroline asks.

"That would be telling. All I can say is that he's essential to my plan as are all of you."

"Us? Why do you need us?" I ask with a frown.

"Because without all of you alive, this plan falls apart. Bonnie and Jeremy won't forgive me if anything happens to any of you and Klaus wants you alive, so I had no choice but to play it this way."

"How is tying us up part of your plan?" Damon asks. "You could've carried on playing Mr. Nice Guy and-"

"And the second you had the chance you would've found a way to blackmail me," Shane says. "I just got there first. I've been prepared every step of the way for anything that could go wrong."

"Congratulations," Damon says sarcastically.

Shane goes over to Stefan and grabs his phone from his pocket.

"Why do you need my phone?" Stefan asks.

"I need to get Klaus down here somehow and something tells me he won't come running to a text from me."

"So that's your plan? Get Klaus down here so that he can see that you've got Elena and then use that to blackmail him into working with you?" Stefan laughs and so does Damon. "Clearly you haven't met Klaus."

"He will kill you before you even have chance to blink," Damon says.

"He won't kill me, Damon. I have Elena, Jeremy and Bonnie and I have information about the cure and Silas that nobody else knows."

"Sure you're not over estimating your value?" Damon says. "Klaus has the sword and once we've escaped from you, we'll have Elena, Jeremy and Bonnie and all you'll have is some drivel from some ancient book of prophecies."

For a moment I see Shane's confidence falter and uncertainty comes across his face.

"And what makes you think you'll escape?" Shane asks, his arrogance returning.

"Because we always do," Damon replies.

"Why do you so desperately want Silas anyway?" I ask, unable to suppress the questions that are burning through my skull. "This is a lot of effort to go through just to bring some vampire back from the dead."

"Silas isn't just some vampire, he's also a witch. He can resurrect the dead and-"

"You lost someone you love," I say, finishing his sentence.

"My wife."

The emotion returns to his face and he seems human once more. In some twisted way I understand the lengths he's going to. Oh, what I would give to see my parents and Jenna again. If I had been faced with the same choice Shane has, with the real possibility of bringing those that I loved back, would I have refused? I would like to believe that I'm more decent than that and that I wouldn't kill or hurt innocent people for my own selfish wants, but when it comes to love morals can easily be overshadowed.

"But how do you know Silas will be able to bring her back? Like Damon said, all you have are what the books tell you," I say.

"That's a risk I'm willing to take," he replies.

"And what if he brings your wife back, and she can't forgive you for all of the innocent lives you've taken in the process?"

"That won't matter. Silas will be able to bring them all back. All of the innocent lives that were lost will be restored. Pastor Young understood, just like me, that sacrifices had to be made for the greater good."

Damon scoffs and says, "All this talk about 'the greater good' is really starting to bore me. Murder is murder, plain and simple."

"Ironic that you of all people should say that."

"At least when I kill I don't make excuses. I take responsibility for it, I own up to the bad stuff I do."

"Shane have you really thought this through?" I ask, my voice soft.

Unlike the others, I believe that there is a vulnerability in Shane and a deep pain that is responsible for his actions, that earns him some small shred of understanding and sympathy.

"I've done nothing but think about this. This is all I've wanted since the day my wife died. I know what I'm doing."

"No, you don't," Caroline says.

"Yeah, sorry to break it to you, buddy, but this entire plan of your sucks," Damon adds. "How do you expect to win this fight when it's 1 human against 4 vampires, an original hybrid and a witch?"

"Damon's right. You haven't thought any of this through. This is a fight you can't win," Stefan says.

"So what? Should I just let you go?"

"Yes," Damon says. "If you want to stay alive, anyway."

"Shane, you want Silas, we want the cure. Nothing's changed. Our plan has always been to work together to get what we want, and if you let us go we can still do that," I say, attempting to reason with him. "But if you go through with this, you'll lose everything. You'll never find Silas and you'll never see your wife ever again. Do the right thing. Please."

I keep my eyes locked on him, hoping that a mixture of emotional manipulation and guilt will be enough to make him see sense. His face is serious, but after a few minutes a smirk comes across his face.

"Did you really think that would work?" he asks with a giggle.

Groans and sighs of disappointment escape all of us.

"I may be one human, but I'm more powerful than any of you realise," he says. "I have Bonnie."

"No, you don't. We have Bonnie," Stefan says.

"Bonnie would never choose you over us. The only reason she's been helping you is because she doesn't know any of this," Caroline spits angrily.

"I've been spending time with Bonnie every single day, getting into her head, changing her way of thinking, just like I did with Jeremy. I have molded Bonnie to be one of the most powerful Bennett witches to ever exist. I understand her magic and she trusts me, she talks to me. She needs me."

"You don't know anything about her," I snap.

"Quite the contrary, Bonnie is a witch and you're a vampire. Her magic is something you will never understand. It defines who she is and is at the very core of her being, along with her natural hatred for vampires, who are an abomination in the supernatural world and have leeched off of witches magic for centuries. Perhaps you don't know your best friend as well as you think you do."

How dare he speak about Bonnie like that. She's my best friend, he doesn't know her, he is nothing to her. My temper rises and I start pulling my arms with force in the hope of breaking the ropes. I want to jump on him and drain the life from his body.

"Elena, calm down," I hear Stefan's voice say from beside me.

"I can't," I say through gritted teeth. "I want to kill him."

His words about Bonnie, combined with my ferocious hunger and heightened emotions, get the better of me. I can feel the ropes burning on my skin everytime I move them even an inch, but although I feel it, it doesn't hurt, because my predatory instincts have begun to take over. Stefan knows what is happening to me, because he's all too familiar with it, but his attempts at trying to soothe me fail.

"You know, Elena...I can't kill you, but there's nothing to say I can't kill one of your little friends here," Shane says, walking up to me and bending down in front of my face.

"You need us all alive, you said that yourself."

"No, I need you, Bonnie and Jeremy alive. The other three...eh, well they're disposable."

"You're bluffing. Don't listen to him, Elena," Stefan says turning to me.

Shane brings his fist down on Stefan's face causing a gasp to escape me and Caroline.

"Leave him alone!" Caroline calls.

"You need all of us alive if you want Jeremy and Bonnie to co-operate, including my brother," Damon says.

"Damon's right. If you kill even one of them, I will rip out my own heart. What will you do then?" I say, challenging him. "So, go ahead. Threaten me, tell me you're going to kill them, it doesn't bother me, because I know it's a lie. You need me and more importantly Klaus needs me, and that means that me and everyone I love are untouchable," I say, cockily.

Shane laughs lightly and looks up at the ceiling. "Oh, Elena. Dear, sweet, naive, Elena. Do you really believe that? Do you think that me killing one of your beloved Salvatore's or the blonde best friend would impact upon my plan? Because let me tell you, it won't."

He steps towards the table and gently rubs his hand over the pile of weapons.

"It didn't have to be this way. We all could've got what we wanted," he says taking a stake into his hand and examining the point of it. "But you two just couldn't leave it alone, could you?"

He looks to Damon and Stefan and Stefan snarls at him.

"So, who will it be, Elena? Your best friend? Your one true love? Your bit on the side?" he says smiling smugly. "It's your choice."

"You're bluffing," Damon says.

"Do you really want to find out?" he says ignoring Damon and looking me straight in the eye. "I'll give you 5 seconds to choose." He looks at his watch. "And your time starts now."

Panic starts to wash over me. Up until now I assumed we'd find our way out of this, but I can't see how. Shane is standing there with a stake in his hand, his eyes looking at his watch as the seconds pass by and something deep inside my gut tells me that he's not bluffing. He will use that stake without hesitation, because he's right. If he killed Caroline or Stefan or Damon, it wouldn't impact on his plan to find the cure. He could still find a way to force all of us to comply with his wishes to find the cure.

"2 seconds, Elena. Come on, now, think or I'll be forced to make the choice for you."

I can feel my heart pulsating in my chest and my body begins to sweat. I meet each of their eyes in turn and they all look anxious and I truly start to believe that this is a choice I will have to make. I will have to choose one of the three people in the world that I love most to die.

"Time's up!" he says.

He steps into the center of the room and looks at each of us in turn and then lunges toward Stefan.

"NO!" Damon, Caroline and I scream in unison.

I use all of my strength to free myself from the ropes, but it's no use, the ropes are too tight and I'm still too weak. I call out Stefan's name and beg Shane not to hurt him.

"Please! Please! I'll do anything! I'll do anything, just don't hurt him! Please! No! Please!" I plead.

All of a sudden I see Caroline rip her arms free and jump up from her seat, causing it to crash to the ground. She sprints over to Shane and tries to disable him, but the vervain is still in her blood stream and as her and Shane struggle, he manages to over power her.

"Caroline!" we all shout in a panic.

"Looks like your pretty little friend made the choice for you," Shane says.

He raises his hand with the stake in and brings it down to her chest. A shriek escapes me and my entire body spasms as the stake makes it's way towards Caroline's heart, but then the two of them disappear. I hear Stefan gasp in shock from beside me and I'm so tired that it takes me a while to register what has happened.

Shane has been flung across the room and is sprawled out on the floor unconscious, and Caroline is on the floor in the center of the room, alive. Alive.

"It's okay, love. I'm here," Klaus says reaching out and picking Caroline up from the ground.


Stefan

"Mmm, mmm, mmm. Ah." I groan, as I gulp down the last of the blood bag in one.

As the thick blood lines my throat and fills my insides, I feel my strength return almost instantly and the fog in my head clears. I look over at Damon, Elena and Caroline who are still finishing their blood bags and see the colour returning to their cheeks.

"You're all very welcome," Klaus says stepping into the kitchen.

We all look to each other with raised eyebrows. Although we're grateful to Klaus for saving our lives, none of us can bring ourselves to thank him given all the wrongs he's done us in the past.

"I need to go check on Bonnie and Jeremy," Elena says discarding her empty blood bag onto the kitchen counter.

"I'll come with you," Caroline says, following her upstairs.

"I've tied Professor Shane up in the upstairs bedroom. He should be ready to answer a some questions in a few minutes," he says.

I nod.

"So what exactly happened? Let me guess? Damon couldn't keep that big mouth of his shut?"

"Actually-"

"Shane supernaturally bugged the house," I say cutting Damon off.

"Ah," Klaus says with a nod. "And how exactly did one human manage to over power 4 vampires, a witch and a hunter?"

"He spiked Jeremy and Bonnie's drinks and he got me and Caroline with vervain grenades," Damon says.

"And you and Elena?" Klaus says turning to me.

"He...er...we were talking and he crept up behind me, caught me off guard."

"Even for you two who are incapable at the best of times, your incompetence is astounding."

"Leave it off, Klaus. We messed up, you saved the day, mini wave in celebration of you. Woo hoo!" Damon says sarcastically waving his hands in the air. "Now can we move on and figure out what we're going to do next?"

"I'm going to squeeze the truth out of him about Silas and the cure once and for all."

"And how are you going to do that?" I ask.

"The old fashioned way," Klaus replies with a diabolical smile.

"And what if that doesn't work? It might've escaped your attention, but Shane doesn't seem like the sorta guy to cave under pressure."

"Luckily, all we have is time. He will surrender eventually and when he does, we will have everything we need and the world will be free of Professor Shane."

Damon nods approvingly. "Now, that's a plan I can get on board with."

I sigh deeply. Damon's ability to see things so black and white is both infuriating and admirable. Unlike him, I'm cursed with being forever skeptical and doubtful. On paper Klaus' plan sounds simple, but I'm not naive enough to believe that Shane will easily give up the information we want. He's ambitious, cunning and his motivation comes from love. I understand with perfect clarity the hold that can have. My love for Elena is so unparalleled that there is no limit to what I would do for her and so on some level deep inside I understand Shane's reasons for doing what he's done and I can even empathise.

"Oh, Stef, stop sulking," Damon says poking me with his finger.

"Sure, Damon, whatever you say."

"If you two boys are done with your childish sniping, let's go and have a chat with our little friend," Klaus says.


Elena

"Jeremy, Bonnie." I say as I step into the bedroom.

They both lie unconscious on the bed side by side. I sit beside Jeremy and check his pulse. He's still breathing, but he's out cold.

"Bonnie okay?" I ask Caroline, who is sat at the other side of the bed next to Bonnie.

"She's fine," she informs me. "We just have to wait for them to wake up."

I nod and sigh deeply, then flop down onto the ground and Caroline comes around the side of the bed and does the same.

"How did we get here?" I ask.

She shakes her head. "I don't know."

"I've been telling myself that when we find this cure everything will go back to normal, but it won't, because Jeremy's right, this is our life. We're vampires, Bonnie's a witch, Jeremy is a hunter...There's no getting away from it. Even if we find a way to defeat Shane and Silas, there's still Klaus and there will always be someone new to come along that we have to fight," I say. "Maybe it's just time I accept the fact that this is the way it's always going to be."

"It won't always be this way, Elena. We'll graduate and we'll go off to college and we'll have each other. Even if we're vampires we're still going to live," Caroline says.

"How do you do that?" I ask, looking at her.

"What?"

"Always stay so positive."

She smiles and shrugs her shoulders. "I don't know. Maybe because I have faith."

"I wish I still had some, but I don't. Ever since I turned it's like...nothing makes sense anymore. Like I'm trying to do a jigsaw with the wrong pieces, nothing fits together."

She nods sympathetically. "That's normal. Remember what I was like when I first turned?" she laughs lightly at the memory of it. "I was a mess! I was all over the place and nothing made sense, but it gets better, Elena."

I nod and smile at her. "What do you think they're going to do about Shane?" I ask, changing the subject.

"I'm sure Klaus has some diabolical plan up his sleeve," she replies.

I nod. "I knew finding the cure wasn't going to be easy, but it's been days and we're still no closer to finding it. What if it's not even worth all of this? What if we're making a huge mistake?"

The events of the last few hours have made me doubt everything and I can't pretend to hide it. I'm apprehensive and afraid. Since the day my parents died everybody I love seems to be in constant danger, but for some reason, this time it scares me more than it ever has. I think it's because I know that I wouldn't survive losing anybody else.

"How can you say that, Elena? You want to be a human more than anything and every vampire that's out there will have the chance to start over and have the life they've always wanted. That's worth fighting for."

"I guess. So you're not...scared?"

She sighs softly. "Of course I am," she admits. "But if I gave up everytime I was scared, I would never get out of bed in the morning. Here, drink some more," she says handing me a blood bag. "We need to get our full strength back."

I take it from her and sip on it. For the most part my hunger has been satisfied, now all I can think about is what's going to happen next; to me, to Jeremy, to Bonnie and Caroline and Stefan and Damon. We've faced so many threats in the past, but this is the first time I truly feel like we could be beaten. Perhaps it's because the events that have unfolded since I've turned have left me exhausted and faithless, or maybe it's because I'm simply being realistic. Since the revelation of the cure all any of us have thought about are the positives of finding it; all of the second chances for vampires to be human, to grow old, have a family, all of the reasons that I want to find the cure, but what about the destruction and devastation it could cause if it fell into the wrong hands?

Klaus' motives for wanting the cure don't lie solely in him wanting to use me to create more hybrids, it's because it could be used as a weapon against him. He has a millennium of enemies that would love nothing more than to ram a cure down his throat and rip out his heart and if that happens...we die with him. Caroline, Tyler, Stefan, Damon, me and millions of vampires worldwide would be dead. The cure was created with intentions of love; Silas wanted to be human so as to reunite with his true love, but the cure has become so much more than that. It could change the world and whether that change will be positive or negative solely depends upon who finds it first and that terrifies me.

Fear is as familiar to me as grief, but since I've turned my ability to deal with it has changed. Fear along with compassion is what drove me through my life, it was the force that enabled me to fight back for myself and the people I love, but now...the fear that once gave me courage, cripples me and leaves me paralyzed.

Up until now the greatest threat we have faced is Klaus, but the cure is even bigger, so much so that even Klaus is afraid. My fear of death was awoken in the moment that my parents car went off the bridge, but that fear was erased when I became a vampire. I'm no longer afraid of my own death, but of the death of the ones I love. Since the moment I discovered I was the doppelganger I have been considered a prize possession and that was something I was thankful, because I was valued enough that I was able to trade myself for my friends and family when their lives were in danger, but this is different. There is nothing I can do to prevent the tragedy and danger that they will face over the upcoming days and weeks. I feel so powerless, so helpless.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Caroline asks interrupting my thoughts.

"I'm fine," I reply.

She nods and suddenly Bonnie jerks up with a gasp.

"Bonnie!" Caroline and I call out.

Her eyes are wide with panic.

"It's okay. You're okay," I say reaching out and stroking her arm.

She looks to her side and sees Jeremy unconscious beside her.

"Oh, my god. Jeremy," she whispers under her breath.

"He's fine, he should be awake soon," Caroline reassures her.

"Wh-what happened?" she says putting her hands to her temples. "Ooh, my head."

"I'll get some water," Caroline says, dashing to the bathroom.

"What happened, Elena?" Bonnie asks, reaching out for my arm and meeting my eyes.

"It's Shane," I say with a sigh.

"Shane?" she asks puzzled, her brow furrowed. "But what has Shane got to do with this?"

"He's not who we thought he was, who you thought he was. He spiked your's and Jeremy's drinks and he injected me, Caroline, Damon and Stefan with vervain and tied us up and threatened us."

"What?!" she exclaims. "Are-are you okay?"

I nod. "We're all fine."

"But I don't understand. Why would Shane do that? He's my friend, he's supposed to be helping us."

Caroline returns then and hands the glass of water to Bonnie. She puts the glass to her lips and as she tips the glass right back and takes large gulps, some of it dribbling down her chin. She finishes it in less than a second, wipes her mouth with the back of her hand and looks back at Caroline and me.

"I need to see Shane," she says thrusting the empty glass down on the ground and standing.

She's shaky on her legs and Caroline and I jump to our feet to steady her, then guide her back to the bed.

"We'll explain everything, okay?" I say stroking her hair from off her face. "But not until Jeremy's awake."

She looks over at Jeremy, a somber look comes across her face and then she nods.


Damon

We follow Klaus into one of the upstairs bedrooms and are greeted by an unconscious Shane tied to a chair.

"Let's do this," Stefan says, determination on his face.

Klaus throws a glass of water at Shane's face and he immediately rouses with a splutter and a cough. He remains disorientated for a few moments and struggles against the ropes that keep him constricted. His head rises and his eyes meet us.

"Guess I should've seen that coming," he says.

Klaus steps forward and bends down to his level. "I'm going to make this very simple, mate. You have information that we need and you're going to give it to us. So tell us everything you know about Silas and the cure."

Shane chuckles lightly before saying, "I'm not telling you anything."

Klaus turns towards Stefan and I and Stefan steps forward.

"Shane, face it, you lost. You wanted the upper hand, but you've lost it. If you tell us what you know you're still useful."

"And the second I've told you everything I know you'll kill me."

"True. But at least if you tell us what you know, you'll die with a purpose," I say.

"Enough of this," Klaus says irritably with an frustrated gesture of his arms. "I know you're doing some ritual to resurrect Silas and the first step was killing the council. What's next? And why is Silas so important? Clearly he has some value if you were willing to go to such lengths to resurrect him."

"Apparently he can bring the dead back to life," Stefan informs Klaus. "He's hoping to bring his wife back."

Klaus chortles. "And I thought you were supposed to be smart."

"Guess you were wrong. So either kill me or let me go and we all know which is the best option. You need me to find the cure as much as I need you. I just did what you would've done, what you're doing now; I attempted to use blackmail to gain control and get what I want."

"The problem is, buddy, you were outwitted," I say, with a smug smile.

I don't attempt to hide my pleasure at his unfortunate situation. We managed to escape from him, just as I said we would and that brings me such a perverse amount of joy.

"Look, if you help me resurrect Silas, in return I will help you find the cure. We'll both get what we want," Shane says looking at Klaus.

"Oh, no. I have a better idea," Klaus says reaching for a knife from the inside of his jacket. "I force the information out of you and then slit your throat."

Shane keeps his eyes fixed on Klaus, an intense loathing burning in them. I wait to see a flicker of fear as Klaus grows nearer to him, but he remains unshaken. He's overly confident and relaxed and it unsettles me.

"Does he seem a little too relaxed for a guy that's tied to a chair and about to be cut open?" Stefan whispers, reading my mind.

Klaus brings the knife down on him, slicing his cheek. Shane grimaces, but then a smile comes across his face.

"Is that it?"

Klaus scowls then and hastily cuts the ropes that bind him, before dragging him out of the room by the scruff of his neck. Stefan and I follow him into the bathroom and he fills the sink of water and pushes Shane's head into it at full force.

Panic comes across Stefan's face as he says, "Klaus, are you sure this is the best way?", his conscience getting the best of him, just as it always does when he's faced with observing someone's pain, even someone that deserves it.

Shane's body wriggles and squirms uncontrollably and a moment later there's commotion downstairs and Caroline yelling Stefan's name. Stefan and I immediately sprint down to the sounds of panicked screams and get downstairs to find Elena on the floor choking uncontrollably, floods of water pouring out of her mouth. Bonnie, Caroline and Jeremy surround her, shouting her name in terror. Stefan goes to her and falls on his knees beside her.

"What's happening? What is happening?!" he yells. "Bonnie, do something!"

"I'm trying! I'm trying!" she shouts in between incantations.

I stand by, paralyzed. Stefan's eyes find mine and I can see that he's begging me to do something, but I'm frozen. Suddenly I have an epiphany and disappear back upstairs to the bathroom. I violently throw Klaus off of Shane, whose head is still emerged under the water and Shane falls down to the ground coughing and gasping for breath.

"What the bloody hell are you doing?!" Klaus growls, getting to his feet instantly and grabbing me around the throat.

"Elena is linked to him!" I shout.

Klaus releases his grip on me and looks at me through wide eyes. Shane continues to cough, but starts to laugh in between.

"I supernaturally bugged the house, did you think I wouldn't take a precaution to ensure that I couldn't be killed?"

"Elena's a vampire. She can't be killed by drowning," Klaus says.

"Not how it works, fortunately for me. If my life ends, so does Elena's. Doesn't matter how I die. Her life is directly linked with mine. Clever, eh?"

I roll my eyes and sigh and Klaus scowls.

"Damn it!" he yells.

He grabs Shane and marches across the hall, tying him back up and I take off downstairs to check on Elena. She's still on the same spot on the floor and the water has stopped flowing out of her mouth. She's coughing and attempting to catch her breath, as her concerned friends stand by fretting over her.

"It's Shane. He's linked to Elena," I inform them breathlessly.

Stefan turns to me.

"What?"

"We can't kill him. If he dies...Elena dies."

Elena continues gasping and I look to Stefan, Caroline, Bonnie and Jeremy. Their eyes reflect the same anxiety I feel and all of us sit by Elena's side, lost for words.


Stefan

"I can't believe this!" Bonnie exclaims. "I've been so stupid."

"Yes, you have," Damon says.

"This isn't Bonnie's fault," Elena says, jumping to her best friend's defense. "No one could've known this would happen. Not Bonnie, not any of us."

She reaches out and stokes Bonnie's arm tenderly, but it doesn't seem to comfort Bonnie who continues to pace up and down restlessly.

"I almost got you killed, how is that not my fault?" she says. "He used me and my magic and I let him. He's been manipulating me since day one. He never wanted to help me, I was just a prop to him. A weapon."

Jeremy walks up to Bonnie and drapes his arm around her, pulling her into him. "Hey, it's okay. It's okay."

He has more luck than Elena as she buries her head into his chest and falls silent.

"So what do we do next?" Caroline asks.

"We do what we were going to do in the first place; we train Jeremy to kill vampires and once the mark is complete we'll use the sword to decode it," I say. "We don't need Shane to do that, we never needed him. We have everything we need and as long as we stick together, we'll be fine."

I speak with more confidence than I feel, because I can see how desperately they all need the boost. We've all lost our faith in this plan and right now, the cure seems like an impossible dream.

"Stefan's right," Bonnie says, leaning away from Jeremy to regard us. "Shane may have used me, but I'm still more powerful than I've ever been. With my magic, Jeremy, the sword and all of you...I think we can do it."

Clearly Jeremy provided her with the confidence she needed as she seems a different person than she was just a few moments ago. Jeremy beams down on her with pride and he doesn't need to speak for me to know that he agrees with her wholeheartedly.

"So are we all in agreement? We carry on with the plan?" I ask.

Caroline nods.

"Klaus?" I ask looking to him.

His eyes are on Caroline, but after a few moments he looks to me.

"If we're going to do this, we're doing it my way. I'll train the Hunter and I'll be the one to decode the map."

"No. No way," Damon objects.

"That's the deal," Klaus replies.

"Deal," I say.

Damon jerks his head towards me. "What?"

"Deal," I say again.

Klaus nods his head.

"Elena?"

She hasn't spoken yet and when I look over to her, I can see anxiety in her eyes.

"I...I..." she stammers and then takes off out of the front door. Caroline looks to me and shrugs her shoulders.

I wait a few moments and when no one follows her, I decide to. I find her standing outside, her arms wrapped about herself.

"Are you okay?" I say, stepping beside her.

She's staring out at the lake, where the orange sun is just beginning to rise and I know her well enough to know that she's afraid.

"Not really," she admits in a quiet voice. "I've lost sight of why we're even doing this. Look at all of the lies and pain and betrayal that's already happened because of it and we haven't even really begun looking yet. I just...I don't know if it's worth it anymore, not if the cost is this. If it means the people I love being used and manipulated, maybe even killed."

"What about the sire bond?"

"I don't want to be sired to Damon, but if it's a choice between that and keeping Jeremy safe, keeping all of them safe...I know what my choice is."

Since she became a vampire she's changed in so many ways, so much so that there have been moments when I've questioned whether I ever truly knew her at all. But right here, right now, I see her so clearly. She's still selfless, compassionate and even after all of the suffering she's gracious and kind.

"I know you want to keep everyone safe, but you have to realise that you can't take that responsibility on on your own. Finding this cure isn't just about you, Elena. Everybody in there has a reason for wanting to find it."

She nods. "I know that, I do. But I just...I have a bad feeling about all of this."

I sigh. "I know and I've had my doubts too. I still have doubts," I admit.

"Then why did you just say all of that in there?" she asks, turning to face me.

"Because through all of the fear and doubt...I still want to find this cure."

"Why?"

I sigh deeply and my eyes fall to the ground. "Elena...you know why."

When I find the courage to look up at her, she's gazing at me, her lips parted slightly and her eyes glistening with tears. She inhales deeply, her breath shaky.

I clear my throat. "We should...um...head back inside."

She blinks the tears out of her eyes and nods. "Um...yeah, yeah." she says and we walk side by side, our steps in perfect synchronicity.


Damon

I can just about see Stefan and Elena standing outside through the window. Conversation continues amongst the others, but I don't hear what they're saying, because all I care about is knowing what Stefan and Elena are saying.

"I have to speak to him," Bonnie says.

"Oh, no you're not," Klaus replies. "The deal was that we do this my way. You don't get to speak to him."

I break my gaze away from the window and back to the others. Bonnie has furious determination on her face.

"Speak to who?" I ask her.

"Shane."

"Whoa, no way. He's a psycho who knows what he could do," I say.

"I'm more powerful than you can even imagine. I can handle myself," she says firmly. "And anyway, we have to break his link to Elena and I can't do that without being in the same room as him."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but Damon's right, Bonnie." Caroline says. "He's manipulated you into using your magic without you knowing before. What if it happens again? Who's to say you'll even be able to unlink him from Elena? This is different magic, you said so yourself."

"I can do it," she persists.

Klaus grinds his teeth and begins pacing up and down, his patience wearing thin.

"Bonnie, we've been through enough today. We don't have to do anything right now, you can deal with him tomorrow. As long as he's up there, Elena's safe. We're all safe," Jeremy says stepping towards her.

"No, I need to see him now," she says. "Besides, he's tied to a chair, what can he do to me?"

"Fine, if you're going to be stubborn about it, then I'll just have to come with you," I say.

I see Caroline and Jeremy look to me in surprise, but I ignore them and follow Bonnie who is already heading upstairs. Shane is still tied to to a chair in the bedroom and his eyes widen when he sees Bonnie. It's the first time I've seen him look nervous and even if I'm not the reason he is, I feel pleased that he's finally experiencing some shred of fear.

"Bonnie," he says. "Let me guess, you're here to undo the spell that's linking me and Elena? Am I right?"

"You lied to me," she says ignoring his question and getting straight to the point.

"I did what I had to do."

"You lied!" she shouts.

The nightstand flies across the room and crashes into the wall with an almighty crash, causing me to duck instinctively.

"What the hell was that?" I say.

"That was Bonnie," Shane says.

Bonnie turns to face me, a look of worry on her face.

"What did you do to her?" I ask stepping forward. "Her magic is out of control."

"I didn't do anything. I just helped her to access her full power, the only problem now is that without my help, she won't be able to control it."

"What do you mean?"

"Bonnie is the most powerful Bennett witch to ever exist, but having that kind of power...it could destroy her."

"You did this to me! You turned me into this!" Bonnie screams.

I've never seen her so furious. Her temper is so harsh, that I can almost feel myself cowering away from her.

"I helped you, Bonnie. You had no one, no one that understood. Since the day you became a witch you've been used by everyone around you, I've given you the power to stop that. You never have to answer to anyone again. You should be thanking me."

"Thanking you? You've turned me into a monster!" she shouts, causing more bedroom furniture starts flying around the room. "You've tricked me into using the darkest magic there is! I trusted you, I thought you were my friend, but you...you're evil!"

Her screams grow frantic and suddenly the windows smash scattering shards of glass everywhere. I dive onto the floor and keep my head down. When I finally look up at Bonnie, she's standing firm on the spot, her face contorted with fury. The ground begins to shake and a powerful gust of wind circles around the room, causing the contents of it to go flying.

"Bonnie! Bonnie!" I yell, but she doesn't seem to hear me.

I get to my feet, run to her, grab her shoulders and turn her towards me. "Bonnie, stop!" I shout in her face.

She meets my eyes and I notice they're black, as though she's become consumed by her magic. A voice calls her name from behind me.

"Bonnie!"

It's Elena. She's at the door way, holding onto the door frame with all of her strength as she fights against the gales that are getting stronger with each second.

"Bonnie, this isn't the way! Control it! You're the strongest person I know, you can do this! You can do it! Fight it, Bonnie! Fight!"

The wind slowly eases and Bonnie's hands fall down to her side. Elena has her in her arms in less than a second and Bonnie is sobbing. The others appear in the doorway then, looks of terror on their faces. Jeremy barges through the door and goes to Bonnie, practically pushing Elena off of her.

"You're okay, you're okay, you're okay," he says grabbing her and holding her tight.

Stefan steps into the room and retrieves Shane from the rubble and places the chair upright.

"Come on, let's get out of here," he then says heading for the door.

Everyone obeys and leaves the room.

"Hey, Damon," Shane's voice says.

I stop as I'm halfway through the door, but don't turn to face him.

"Just remember what I said. Bonnie needs me if she ever expects to control her magic. Without me it will consume her until there's nothing left and that means that you need to keep me alive."

"Is that right?"

"Yes, it is. Because just think about how young Elena would feel if you stood by and let me die, knowing that I was the one that could save her best friend?"

I take in his words, but remain silent and leave the room without looking back.

When I found out about the cure I had no idea how much it would complicate my already over-complicated life. I think back to the night I spent with Elena and I wish with everything I have that I could go back to that and remain in that naive joy forever. I want to go back to before the sire bond, before the cure, before Shane, before the world turned upside down. But all I have left is the memory of it and although that memory is what has gotten me through this last week, it doesn't feel like it's enough this time.


Elena

The evening arrives with none of us having slept for over 24 hours, except for Bonnie who passed out from exhaustion after her encounter with Shane. The house has taken a hit following Bonnie's outburst and a lot of the furniture, crockery and glasses have been destroyed, so we've spent most of the morning and afternoon tidying up and have only just found the chance to sit down. The TV is on and Stefan, Damon, Caroline and me are sitting in silence, pretending to watch it. Klaus disappeared around midday and hasn't been back since. And me...I'm so exhausted that my mind for once is completely and utterly blank. Jeremy is in the kitchen making a sandwich and I get up and go to him.

"Jer, you should go and get some sleep," I say wondering over to him and rubbing his arm. "You haven't slept in over 24 hours, you must be exhausted."

He nods and rubs his eyes. "I am, but how can I sleep when all of this is going on?"

I sigh deeply. I've failed Jeremy in so many ways and here I am doing it again. This is our parents lake house, one of the last pieces of them that we have left where we can come and remember them fondly, but it's been tainted. I brought him here so that he could train to kill vampires and in the last 48 hours he's been drugged by a psychopath that is now bound and gagged in the upstairs bedroom with the pink floral wallpaper I picked out when I was 8 and the house has almost been destroyed by Bonnie's rage. Even with all of the tidying we've done, the house is still a mess and it pains me that the one happy place we had left has become consumed by the darkness that seems to follow me wherever I go. He reaches for a broken photo frame that lies on the counter. It's a photo of mom and dad on their wedding day. He doesn't say anything, he just runs his finger over it.

"I'm so sorry, Jeremy," I say, my voice cracking. "I should be protecting you from all of this."

He shakes his head. "It's not your fault. It's never been your fault, this is just the way our lives are now."

I look at his face and wonder how and when he became so mature and wise. I admire him for that, because where he can find the strength to accept what our lives have become, I still can't. Finding the cure is part of that denial, of that refusal to admit that regardless of whether I'm a human or a vampire, this is my life and it's never going to change, because I'm the cause.

"You know, they would be so proud of you," I say nodding my head down at the photo in his hands.

"Oh, come on," he says rolling his eyes.

"No, Jer, they would. I am."

A small smile comes across his face and he leans forward and kisses my head.

"I think I'll eat this upstairs and then get some rest," he says.

I nod and watch him go upstairs, then wipe the tear that has escaped my eye and head back to the living room.

"Is he okay?" Caroline asks me.

"I think so."

"He's a strong kid."

"Yeah. Yeah, he is," I say.

"How about you? Are you okay?"

I nod. "I'm just tired."

"You should head up to bed," Stefan says.

I look to him and shake my head.

"Nah. I know I won't be able to sleep," I say. "Besides, there's no where to sleep. There's only 3 bedrooms. Bonnie is passed out in one, Jer's in the other, so unless I wanna share a bed with Shane, I think I better pass."

I laugh lightly, but the others don't join in with my laughter and I wonder if it's too soon to be making jokes.

"Well, if we're staying up all night again, might as well have a drink. Who else wants one?" Damon says getting up from his seat.

Caroline, Stefan and I all call out 'me' and Damon goes to the kitchen and returns with a bottle of bourbon and 4 glasses. The drinks are exactly what we needed and it lifts our moods immediately and gets us talking. I watch the three of them drinking and laughing and talking and everything feels so surreal. Even after everything we've been through - not just tonight, but over the course of our lives - we're all still sitting here together, having found enough courage to carry on living, to carry on smiling.

Maybe it's the alcohol, but I feel a wave of gratitude and love wash over me. I'm so used to having them around that I often take them forgranted, but I realise how blessed I am to have them in my life. Even if it's a life as messed up as this one.

At around 3am Caroline turns in, too exhausted and drunk to continue.

"Where are you going to sleep?" I ask her.

"At this stage I would actually be willing to top and tail with Shane."

Stefan, Damon and I all chuckle lightly, the alcohol in our system having allowed us to loosen up and laugh at the joke that they couldn't earlier.

"Night," Caroline says.

"Goodnight," we all call back.

The smile is still on my face from saying goodnight to Caroline, but the second she's out of sight, I realise that I'm in a room alone with Stefan and Damon. The armchairs they sit on are side by side and when I look at their faces I can see that the smiles have fallen from their faces, too. There was a time when the three of us would spend most evenings alone together at the Boarding House and I regret how awkward things have become between us. Even with how hard I've tried to fix things, our issues remain unresolved and I doubt if they will ever become resolved.

"Well...", Damon says, "...this is awkward. Who would've thought there would come a day when I'd actually want Caroline Forbes to be here?"

Stefan rolls his eyes and I smile, because Damon is still Damon. He's using his sense of humor as a barrier, that's what he does and the fact that he's still doing it brings me comfort and hope that things are repairable between the three of us. I consider making some excuse to leave the room to avoid the conversation that is no doubt about to unfold, but then I realise that neither one of them has done that yet, which means that regardless of how uncomfortable it might be, they want to be here.

I sigh, set the glass in my hand down on the table and I sense their bodies become rigid with anticipation before I've even began to speak. "Look, I want to thank you both for everything you're doing to find the cure. I know you're not doing it just for me, but...thank you. You know that I want to be human again more than anything, but I want to keep the people I care about safe more. Knowing about the cure has already almost got us all killed and it's only going to get worse, so I need you to promise me something. I need you to promise me that if this gets too much, you'll walk away. Finding the cure is worth nothing if I lose you. I need...I need you to promise me that you'll come back home after all of this is over. Both of you."

"Elena...finding this cure is dangerous, you know that. How can we promise that?" Stefan says.

"Because I know the lengths you would go to to find the cure and all I'm asking is that you don't go to those lengths. It's not worth dying for," I say looking at Stefan.

He looks away from me and to Damon. Damon sighs and then nods.

"I know how messed up everything is right now, but I...I couldn't bear to lose either of you."

Their eyes are fixed on me, their expressions serious and intense.

"So, promise me."

"I promise," Stefan says.

"Damon?"

"Yeah. I...I promise."

"Good. Now if you break that promise I have permission to kill you myself."

They both laugh lightly and in an instant the tension is broken.

"Now, pour me another one of those," I say pointing at the bottle of bourbon on the coffee table.

Smiles are on both of their faces and relief flows through me. Stefan puts his glass on the table and Damon refills each of our glasses, but just as I'm about to put the glass to my lips and take a sip, someone crashes through the front door and I spill the drink down my sweater. Before I even have chance to react someone has grabbed Stefan from his seat and has him pinned up against the wall by his throat.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Damon yells.

I get up from my seat and run over to Stefan.

"Re-Rebekah?" I gasp when I see that it's her that has Stefan around the throat.

Damon tries to get her off Stefan, but she's too strong and doesn't even react to him trying to pry her hands off Stefan's neck.

"You coward! How did it feel to stab me in the back like that?" Rebekah shouts in Stefan's face.

Klaus appears then and rips her off of Stefan. Stefan coughs and rubs his throat.

"There, there, little sister. Remember what I said about keeping your cool? As I recall, it wasn't Stefan that was responsible for daggering you."

In an instant Rebekah's temper seems to fall away and she turns to Klaus with a smile on her face. "That's right. It was you, my oh, so loving brother. Over a thousand years and still nothing changes."

"When you said that you had a plan, I didn't realise this is what you meant. A warning might've been nice," Stefan says looking at Klaus.

"What can I say? I'm all about surprises," Klaus replies with a wry smile.