a/n: so I've written this chapter about a dozen times and I just couldn't get it right, so if seems a little lame...that's because it is. Haha. I will make up for it soon with some really good Delena action :)

SEVEN

After we had the base of a plan made Bonnie volunteered to sit this one out. "If they know exactly where you are, I think I can try to set up wards on the boarding house, Jenna's, and Pearl's," she explained. "I'll go to Jenna's first and bring her with me. Besides, I'm the only one that can get seriously hurt."

I glanced at Jeremy and narrowed my eyes at him. He was eager to fight but he was naive. The only fights he had been in were the ones with Tyler over Vickie and those would look like child's play after this was over. "Jeremy, I know you want to help, but you need to do exactly what you're told. This isn't a fist fight in the cafeteria."

"I know that. I'm not sure what to expect, but I know it's going to be horrible," he said and my eyes widened in surprise. Apparently Anna had been sharing fights she had been in. I nodded at her as a thank you and she inclined her head. "Just out of curiosity, are you sure that you can sneak up on them?" Jeremy asked.

Everyone was looking at me with mild awe and I looked down at my hands. I swore under my breath because I was glowing. It was a dull glow, but it was still there. "It's just a side effect from having the blood of two supernatural beings so close together," I explained and hoped I was right. I could feel the difference though, my body was practically thrumming with untold power. This was definitely the best time to go after Nyssa and Balthazar.

"How do you know where to go?" Alaric asked.

"She had an image in her mind of a very large, over the top mansion outside of Richmond. I can't imagine there are too many of those. It was definitely decorated by someone who knows a lot about the Greeks." There was a moment of silence before I continued. "Well, I guess we should go."

Our order of white ash had come in last week and we had been making stakes since it arrived. There was now a rather large pile of them in one of the rooms in the basement. We all headed down and gathered as many as we could carry and then said goodbye to Bonnie. Since I was bursting with power, John and Alaric put their arms around me and I carried them as I took off through the night with the other vampires. Damon carried Tyler and I laughed before we left because Tyler was worried that Damon would try to exact revenge on him in some minor way. I led the way since I knew where I was going and in about a half hour, we were on the edge of forest in front of the gigantic mansion. It was dark outside and we were far enough away from the city that the only light came from the many lights that lined the outside of the property, casting a soft ambient glow on everything.

"How many?" Damon asked me.

I closed my eyes and cast out my mind to catch any brainwaves as far as I could manage and then answered him. "A lot," was all I could say. There were too many brains for me to count. "And if I'm not mistaken, all but two of them were human."

Everyone looked uneasy. "Human bodyguards?"

"Vervain," Stefan muttered and I nodded.

"The Originals aren't effected by it, but we are. If they use the humans as a food source, they can pump them full of vervain and it would only hurt us. I don't know if that's what they do or not, but don't feed on anyone," I speculated and everyone nodded in agreement.

We spread out around the house and entered from different points. Everyone was told to cast their thoughts out to me if they needed help or if they found something and I would take care of the rest. As I made my way to the window of the mansion, I was on alert for anyone coming to get me, and just as I reached the wall, two humans came out and ran at me. I cut both of them down in the blink of an eye and I could feel their confusion before they died. I broke the window into one room and pulled myself inside. I hurried from the room and reached out with my senses until I located two brainwaves that were filled with nothing but violence and bloodlust. I followed them through the house and just as I got close, an alarm sounded through the house and made me lose track of the Originals in the house. I heard a thud behind me and whirled around to see Damon standing over a dead guard.

"Thanks," I mumbled and we listened around for signs of people approaching. We were both in a semi-crouch that signaled we were ready for an attack. We didn't have to wait long before we were surrounded in the hallway by many humans.

What should we do? You can take them right? Damon asked.

I can, but they will take us to Nyssa and Balthazar. It would be easier to surrender. They don't know how powerful I am, I reminded him and saw him nod. We dropped our weapons and were shoved down the hall until we came to a grand receiving wing on the ground floor. The room we were shoved into was large enough to be the side of the boarding house and it was heavily decorated by an expert on Greek mythology. It was breathtakingly beautiful and it was all I could do not to get distracted and stay focused on my targets who were lounging in ornate throne chairs similar to the one Klaus had in Romania.

It had taken us only ten minutes to get in and get captured and yet it felt a lot longer. Anna was being held back by guards who had spears made of wood pointed at her and Jeremy was on his knees in front of Nyssa. She turned cold brown eyes on me as she looked me up and down. She signaled for us to be brought closer and we were shoved forward again and then pushed down to the floor. I flipped the inner switch so that my focus wouldn't be on Jeremy. It was the only way that I was going to be able to get through this. "You're the one that killed Klaus," came Nyssa's voice. It was hard and bitter and very accented.

"And I would do it again if I could."

Balthazar's black eyes lit up in amusement but his body remained stiff. "You're a new vampire," he said after a moment. His voice was almost identical to Nyssa's.

"Not that new."

I was already concentrating on the dropped weapons out in the hall. The doors had been left open, making it easier for me to get them here. "Klaus was the first of us," Nyssa said proudly. "He was murdered as though he were weak."

"He did go down pretty easily," I said and she flew out of her chair and launched herself at me.

I crashed to the floor and she had lodged her fangs in my neck. She immediately started choking and spit, giving me enough of a distraction to kick her off of me. Damon was already attacking the guards as was Anna. Unfortunately, Jeremy was being held by Balthazar. He was screaming mentally for me to help him, but I couldn't. Nyssa hissed at me and dug her nails into whatever bit of flesh that she could. I sent an SOS to my group and then tried again with the stakes even though I was fighting Nyssa off of me. She was strong and she wasn't clouded by revenge as Klaus had been over Katherine. I panicked for a moment as I thought that she was going to kill me as Anya said I was going to die. All of that fear evaporated when she collapsed on top of me and turned into the same black smoke that Klaus had.

I scrambled away from her and looked up to see John. "Did you kill her?" I asked.

"No," he said honestly, looking very, very astonished. "I was going to and then the stake flew out of my hand and into her back followed by three more. You must have done it."

"Huh," I mused. My powers must be stronger than I thought if I used them without even thinking about it. My head snapped to the side in time to see Balthazar slam Tyler's wolf form into a wall. I heard a yelp and then there was only a twitching movement from the animal on the ground.

I was about to go to his side when John crashed into me. I caught him and gently put him on the ground so I could pull out the knife that had been lodged into the back of his shoulder blade. "Go, I'll heal," he said and I raced to Tyler.

He was breathing and his eyes were open. He has Jeremy, he informed me and I felt cold all over.

He was already healing from my blood and I left him there as I searched for Jeremy and the other Original. It didn't take me long to find them on the opposite side of the wing. There were only a few human guards with him and they had the wooden spears as their weapons. "Balthazar! I shouted and they stopped to look at me.

He held Jeremy in front of him like a shield. "Are you willing to risk the life of your friend in order to kill me?" I could only stare at him while I concentrated on bringing out more stakes. "The others will be more alert; you won't get away with any more surprises. Especially with Velken."

Jeremy's face contorted in pain as Balthazar did something I couldn't see. I remembered Anya telling me each had a special talent, but I had yet to discover what any of them were. I saw something move behind them and realized it was Damon with a stake in each hand. I hoped that Balthazar didn't know he was there and I kept my attention on him. "I don't care how ruthless any of you are, you still need to be sent back to wherever it is that you came from."

"I would really like to see you try," he said and sank his fangs into Jeremy's flesh.

Jeremy screamed and the guards launched their spears at me. I moved too fast for their eyes and took them out at once. While I did this, Damon had staked Balthazar. He stepped back as Jeremy collapsed to the floor, clutching his neck to keep it from bleeding anymore until it healed. "Three down, seven to go," I said before the Original turned to black smoke made of human fear and turmoil. I looked behind me at the sound of a loud clank and discovered four guards who had dropped their weapons in horror. "I would run if I were you," I warned them. I didn't have to tell them twice.

I offered Jeremy some of my blood and he healed almost instantly. "I really didn't think I could kill them," Damon said as we went back to the main wing where the others were waiting for us.

"Anya said I was the only one to defeat them, but...I don't know. Maybe it's because you've had so much of my blood and recently?"

He shrugged, "Don't worry about it. They're dead and we're safe for now."

I stopped and he turned to look at me. "Look, we know now that their blood is lethal to vampires and werewolves, but Nyssa had some of my blood and it weakened her enough for me to get the upper hand in the situation. My blood might be lethal to them in return."

"I believe that might have to do with the essence of angel inside of you," he added and I nodded.

"Either way, it's good to know."

Suddenly, my energy and strength seemed to collapse all at once and I swayed on my feet until Damon caught me. "Elena?"

I shook my head to clear it and then gained my footing enough so that I could step away. "I'm fine. Head rush," I explained lamely and we entered the room where everyone was waiting.