When Elena opened her eyes again, she was in a basement. She looked down at herself – she was tied to a chair in the middle of the big room, and as she slowly looked around, she noticed it wasn't a scary, dirty basement, but rather well-lit and clean. Was she in someone's house? But who?
Suddenly there was movement on the stairs and then someone stood in front of her. The man who had taken her from the boarding house. He smiled at her, and it wasn't a nice smile. She stared at him as she suddenly remembered –
"You're Frederick!" she exclaimed. "You were in the road!"
"That wasn't by accident," he muttered as he stared at her, really raking his eyes over her. "You look just like her…"
Jeez, if I had a nickel… "Why am I here?" she demanded, even though inside she was scared. But he didn't have to know that. He shrugged.
"You're the bait...at least, for my plans," he answered. "But when I'm done with you, there's someone else who would like a word."
"Who would that be?" Good, she still sounded not scared. He smirked at her, raising his eyebrows.
"Katherine," he answered, and she felt her insides freeze. Katherine. Would she just kill her outright? Or would it be slow and painful?
Okay, focus on the immediate danger. She could worry about her great-grandmother (how weird was that?) later. Right now…
"What am I bait for, then?" she shot back at him, and he snorted, reaching down for her. She twisted in the chair, but really, there was nowhere to go.
"The Salvatore brothers," he spat as he ripped the rope and caught her as she half-fell out of the chair, limbs asleep. He turned her around, propelling her across the basement, but she was slow as her feet tingled and refused to move. Grunting impatiently, he grabbed her around the waist and carried her up the stairs like a sack of potatoes. Before she could ask any more questions, as they reached the top of the stairwell, she heard very welcome voices.
Stefan. Damon.
But was it really Stefan and Damon? Or that other witch again?
She didn't have long to wonder; they came out into a kitchen and turned a corner into a short foyer-like hallway. At the end was the front door, and there just outside were the real deal, furiously trying to get in, but not succeeding.
"Stefan!" she shrieked, and their eyes focused on her. Frederick laughed, tightening his grip as Elena struggled to break free, but who was she kidding? Vampire strength.
"Let her go!" Damon snarled, and they tried to get in, but came up against some invisible force field. Elena realized suddenly that Bree was at the door, loitering just inside the threshold.
"This is my house," she purred, smiling wickedly at the brothers, who both looked like they were ready to kill her, and everyone else in there. "And you can't come in."
Damon's eyes narrowed as he glared at Bree hatefully. "Breeana. Didn't I kill you?"
Bree smiled an unpleasant smile. "What is it they say, lover? Payback's a bitch? So am I."
"Elena," Stefan breathed, looking past the tall witch to Elena, the most awful look on his handsome face. Elena suddenly realized that without an invitation from Bree, they couldn't enter the house.
She was on her own.
And then it got worse.
"I spent over a century in that tomb because of your infatuation with Katherine," Frederick growled, coming closer to the door with Elena still struggling in his arms like a fish on a hook, which didn't really seem to faze him. "It was your fault I suffered. Have you ever been starved? It's like being thrown into a fire, alive, and burning – for a hundred years and more.."
"She wasn't involved in that," Stefan stated in a slightly reasonable tone, though Elena could hear the fury clashing underneath. Next to him, Damon's blue gaze lasered into Frederick, but he could do nothing, just like his brother. "Just let her go, and – "
"Yeah, okay," Frederick said in a sarcastic tone. "I'll get right on that, you stupid fucks…Not until you pay for what you've done…and I think this will start the games off nicely."
Elena twisted, trying to look behind her at Frederick, and was just in time to watch his face change…his eyes grew ruby red, the veins below his eyes engorged with blood, his fangs grew razor sharp –
Suddenly she knew what he had meant, and her eyes flew back to Damon and Stefan, who now wore almost identical horrified looks, and she had just enough time to gasp out, "No – "
And then Frederick sank his fangs into her neck.
She screamed out in pain. Dimly, she could hear Damon and Stefan, but whatever they were saying didn't matter anymore. The world kind of grayed out around her, and everything shrank down to the fangs buried in her neck, and Frederick sucking out her blood. It hurt worse than anything she ever could have imagined, and she could feel her life draining away. Her eyes fluttered closed, and she slowly went limp in his arms, but he contined to feed.
Finally, he stopped, and she felt every millimeter of his fangs leaving her neck, but she couldn't bring herself to open her eyes. From very far away, she heard him say, "Delicious," and Bree laughed, but then it was like she was floating…right before she lost consciousness she heard Stefan say in a scary voice she didn't even recognize, "I'm going to kill you - "
and then she was gone...
