AN: In which everybody is just a little bit nuts... Thanks so much for reading and replying! Hope you enjoy!

Chapter Nine – Mental as Anything

Jeremy woke with a start, blinking at the moonlight streaming through the window of a nondescript motel room in eastern Missouri. The room was quiet and, aside from Bonnie and Alaric's even breathing, seemingly peaceful. Lying perfectly still, he glanced around, catching a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. Certainty and annoyance cut through him as he dragged his hand over his face. Something had pulled him from his dreams. I'm so not in the mood for this.

Jeremy pushed the covers back slowly and eased out of the bed, trying not to wake Bonnie. He dressed quickly, making sure to grab the old school metal key from the top of the television and slip it in his pocket. He unlocked the door, holding his breath and praying the noise wouldn't wake Bonnie or Alaric. They didn't know about his little problem and he planned to keep it that way, at least until the latest crisis had been averted. Bonnie already had enough to worry about.

Jeremy leaned against the closed door, surveying the concrete parking lot. The night was cool, but not uncomfortably so, and there was no sound, no signs of life, not even a breeze to move the leaves in the scraggly trees lining the sidewalk. Cautiously, he made his way barefoot to the back of the black SUV and sat on the bumper. Waiting.

"Alright, I'm here," he muttered aloud, closing his hands into fists to hide their slight tremor. "You woke me up, now show yourselves."

Nothing happened at first, leaving Jeremy to wonder if he'd been wrong. Maybe the strange something that had yanked him from sleep had been nothing more than an unfamiliar noise in an unfamiliar place. Then the air thickened around him and a sudden breeze lifted the hair from his forehead, even though the leaves of the trees remained eerily still. A second later, they appeared, and while he knew by now they couldn't hurt him, couldn't even touch him, Jeremy started, pressing back against the tailgate.

Anna and Vicky stood before him, their forms solid, challenging his certainty that they weren't really there. That he was being haunted by the ghosts of his dead former girlfriends.

"Hey, Jeremy," Anna smiled.

Vicky grinned, placing a hand on her hip. "Did you miss us?"

"Sure," Jeremy replied after a long pause. "I just…can't get enough of being haunted by my dead ex-girlfriends."

"Don't talk like that," Anna protested, her smile faltering. "It took a lot of work to find you all the way out here."

"Yeah, we had to ask around," Vicky agreed, sidling next to Jeremy and leaning against the vehicle. At least it looked like she was leaning. Could ghosts actually lean? "There are some seriously shady ghosts in Kentucky. You should have told us you were leaving."

"Oh yeah, sure," Jeremy nodded. "Next time, I'll pull out the Ouija board and give you directions." He paused. "Wait, what do you mean you had to ask around? Ghosts talk to each other?"

"Of course," Vicky rolled her eyes. "See? Hi, Anna."

"Hey, Vicky," the petite brunette replied brightly before dissolving into a fit of laughter. "What did you think, Jeremy? We all just die and go toward the light? There's a whole world of beings out there on the Otherside. "

"We're just like you, Jeremy. We laugh, we cry, we go on road trips and ask directions… We just don't, like, have bodies," Vicky laughed, wiggling fingers that weren't really there in Jeremy's face before joining Anna in another round of giggling. Frowning at his lack of amusement, Vicky huffed. "God, why do you hate fun?"

"I don't hate fun," Jeremy said, raising a brow at her pouting countenance. "I like fun. I even love fun. What I don't love is being woken up in the middle of the night so you two can talk in circles and never tell me what you want."

"Jeremy, we're haunting you," Anna said, reminding him of the only bit of real information they'd given him in their half dozen visits since he'd returned from the dead. "We don't want anything. You're stuck with us."

"For how long?"

"I don't know," she shrugged, offering him a sympathetic half smile even though she delighted in tormenting him just as much as Vicky. "Until Fate decides we're done, I guess."

"Right, so you might as well suck it up and enjoy the company," Vicky said, poking a finger at him. Although she didn't touch him, Jeremy flinched.

"Fine," he shrugged, conceding to circumstances beyond his control. Whatever Bonnie had done to bring him back had caused this and until he was ready to tell his current girlfriend he was spending his nights with his ex-girlfriends, he was – as Vicky so delicately put it – going to have to suck it up. "Tell me about the Otherside."


The Camaro fishtailed wildly in the loose gravel as Damon fought with the steering wheel. Elena squeezed her eyes shut, clinging to the seat with one hand and her seat belt with the other, braced for the sickening impact once the heavy classic car collided with the figure in the middle of the road. Damon couldn't possibly avoid hitting her, she knew this with certainty, they were too close and driving way too fast.

Suddenly, the Camaro's back wheel hit a soft spot and instead of the collision Elena had been expecting, momentum threw her against the passenger door as the back end of the car spun off the road into the tall grass. The gears screamed in protest as the wheels locked, and the vehicle plowed through the underbrush, before finally grinding to a halt in a cloud of dirt and dust.

In the sudden silence, Elena tried to calm her racing heart, eventually opening her eyes after a few peaceful seconds. Letting out the breath she'd been holding, she noted with surprise that the engine was still running. Glancing to her left, she met Damon's scrutinizing gaze.

"Are you okay?" she asked, forgetting their fight in the panic of the moment and intense relief that, at least from her perspective, he seemed fine.

Damon narrowed his eyes fractionally, hesitating just a moment before nodding. "You?"

"I'm fine," Elena swallowed, turning the opposite way and peering out her window. Miraculously, they hadn't hit anything and only the Camaro's back tires were off the road in the level grass. Unless the ground was nothing but mud, they shouldn't have a problem getting the hell out of there – which Elena wanted to do very, very badly. Fifty feet away, the figure in white still stood in the middle of the road as if nothing had happened. Clearing her throat, she asked. "Wh-what was that, Damon? Who is that?"

"Landis," he muttered rolling his eyes as he killed the engine and pocketed the keys. He issued an order before climbing out of the car. "Stay here."

Elena didn't argue, following his reflection in the rearview mirror as he walked around the vehicle. The latch on the trunk had released during the spin and Damon paused for a moment before slamming it shut with a scowl. Her eyes went wide and she braced herself yet again as he lifted the entire back end of the car off the ground and out of the tall grass, returning all four wheels to the road.

Nonchalantly, as if he threw classic cars around every day, he came to her side, opening the passenger door for her and holding out his hand. Elena stared at him. He wasn't even winded.

"Come on," he ordered, opening the door wider when she hesitated.

His body blocked the figure in white from her view, but Elena knew the woman was still there. Her skin broke out in goosebumps beneath the long-sleeved v-neck and leather jacket she wore. Shaking her head, she tried to smile. "I'll, um…stay in the car this time."

"You can't," Damon said, offering her a rueful smile.

Elena's stomach turned, but she began unbuckling her seatbelt anyway. "Damon-."

"I need you to stay close to me," he explained, forgetting his strength and pulling her to her feet too quickly. Elena lost her balance and would have fallen on her face if he hadn't locked his hands around her upper arms, steadying her. She stared up at him, her palms resting flat against his chest. If she'd needed a sign that her sudden apprehension was legitimate, the intensity in his gaze would have clued her in as he continued in a low voice. "If I leave you alone, you won't live through the next fifteen minutes."

"I've heard that before," she tried to joke, desperately needing Damon to quit being so serious so she could quit being so scared.

"This is different," he explained, pulling her fractionally closer. "Landis is…different. I didn't tell you everything about him."

Her gaze wandered toward the woman in white as she curled her fingers into fists around his t-shirt. "So, tell me now."

"Landis was a sociopath. As a human," Damon said, releasing her arm so he could take her chin and make her look at him instead of the freakishly still figure. "His body count was probably higher than mine before he turned sixteen. As a vampire -."

"Everything's magnified," Elena finished, ignoring another wave of nausea at the implications. "Stefan told me, but how do you know this has anything to do with him?"

"Trust me, this has Landis written all over it," Damon grimaced, scanning their surroundings. "I'm sure Greg let him know we were coming. Elena, if you ever plan on doing what I say without question, right now would be the time."

"I will, I promise," she replied, bobbing her head as if the more vehemently she agreed, the safer she'd stay. Damon held her gaze, studying her for a moment longer before releasing his hold on her and turning toward the lone woman standing some fifty feet away. Before he made it two steps, Elena slipped a hand into his and wrapped the other around his upper arm.

"You said stay close," she replied, responding to his questioning look. Damon smirked faintly and Elena was so relieved to see something of his usual self, she grinned.

Gravel crunched under their feet as they made their way down the lonely road. Elena's heart was pounding so hard against her ribs, an entire bottle of whiskey wouldn't have calmed it. The moon shone brightly overhead, casting their surroundings in a pale light. Despite all the life threatening situations and dangerous creatures she'd faced since meeting the Salvatores, Elena had never been this terrified.

They drew closer, details about the figure in white emerging with each step. Elena's initial assessment had been right, it was a woman wearing an ankle length, white dress with butterfly sleeves and an Empire waist. The woman's hair was long and so blonde it nearly matched the dress, blending with her equally pale skin. Elena bit her lip, noticing the woman's bare feet were dirty and bloody – a stark contrast to the serene expression on her face.

"She's been compelled?" Elena guessed, wishing her necklace hadn't disappeared as she brought a hand to her bare throat.

Damon had moved closer to examine the silent woman and he looked back at Elena sharply. "Are you still taking vervain?"

Gulping, Elena nodded.

"Good," he said, returning his attention to the frozen statue. The woman didn't acknowledge their presence, didn't move, didn't so much as blink to signal a living soul existed behind her vacant green eyes. Elena watched Damon, clinging to his hand as she counted the seconds until they could return to the car and get the hell out of there. Compulsion terrified her more than the threat of being bitten or even death. She still had nightmares about Jenna stabbing herself with a kitchen knife at Katherine's behest.

"Beautiful, isn't she?"

Elena screamed, clapping a hand over her mouth as she leapt away from the owner of the voice that had crept up behind her and suddenly whispered in her ear. Damon caught her before she could take more than a few steps, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her close. Her back hit his chest as she trembled in his arms, staring at the smirking blond vampire.

"I've got you," Damon promised, his lips brushing her ear. Raising his voice, he addressed the new arrival. "Nice entrance, Landis."

"Damon Salvatore," Landis grinned, showing off his descended fangs. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his black pants, bouncing on his heels. "I was beginning to think you wouldn't find me. Then again, better men have tried and failed."

"Yeah, yeah, you're a regular Houdini," Damon replied, rolling his eyes as he shifted his hold on Elena. He slipped his hand beneath the flap of her open jacket, stroking his thumb over her hip. He won't let anything happen to me, she thought, closing her eyes and doing her best to slow down her ragged breathing.

"Do I make Katherine Pierce nervous?" Landis asked, genuinely surprised. Elena's eyes flew open as the vampire cocked his head, closing the distance between them to mere inches in a fraction of a second. She tried to recoil, but Damon held them both perfectly still. Up close, Landis' grin was even more terrifying. "I was wrong. Not Katherine, but the equally famous, Elena Gilbert. I had it on good authority you were dead."

"I was," Elena managed, lifting her chin to meet his eye even though everything in her wanted to look away.

"Told you he'd notice," Damon muttered softly, earning him a glare. She wanted to elbow him in the ribs, but fear that he might let her go kept her from moving.

"So, the rumors are true, Damon," Landis replied, dismissing Elena. He strolled casually to the woman in white, studying her like a museum piece. "You've gone soft on humans."

"Not humans," Damon clarified. "Her."

"I'll forgive you," Landis offered graciously, smiling again. "I like humans, too."

The vampire lowered his mouth to his compelled victim and bit delicately into her neck. A thin line of blood trickled steadily down her throat, staining her pristine white dress. The woman didn't move, but her eyes widened and Elena realized with sudden horror that she wasn't oblivious to her surroundings.

"Damon," she whispered, clutching at the arm around her waist. "She's awake. She knows what's happening."

"I know."

"What? Why don't you-?"

"Quiet," he ordered, taking her hand and squeezing it. "We're not here for her."

Landis tore himself away from torturing the poor woman and looked at Damon quizzically, proving he'd heard every word. "Why are you here, Salvatore?"

"Come on," Damon sneered. "You expect me to believe the keeper of all our secrets doesn't know why I'm here? Please."

"Fair enough," Landis acknowledged, moving behind his prey and taking a moment to bite the other side of her neck, deeper this time. Elena couldn't tear her gaze away from the steady stream of blood running down the woman's arm. "What makes you think I'll tell you anything?"

"My eternal optimism and your eagerness to help your fellow vampire."

Landis laughed, the bright sound clashing sharply with the macabre surroundings. Blood continued to run down the woman's right arm, dripping off her fingertips and staining the ground black. Landis raised a brow, taking the woman's wrist and delicately licking the blood from her fingertips. Catching Elena's eye, he winked. "Wouldn't want to waste it."

Elena gagged and brought a hand to her mouth, fighting not to throw up.

"How about…because I asked. Nicely. And you know I don't ask twice," Damon countered, dropping the playful banter as he maneuvered Elena behind him, out of the safety of his arms. She stayed close, keeping her hand on his shoulder just for the physical contact. She wanted to look at him, to judge for herself just how much trouble - if any - they were in, but she couldn't look away from the woman in white, her eyes were growing wider and more horrified as her life literally drained slowly from her body.

For the first time, Landis looked less than amused, turning away from his plaything to glare at Damon. "Is that a threat?"

"Yeah," he replied, raising a brow. "Want to test me?"

"Damon, what are you doing?" Elena whispered through clenched teeth, finally looking at him. "Why are you taunting him?"

"Yes, Damon…why are you taunting him," Landis parroted, casually sauntering closer, his black eyes the only sign of his rising temper and slipping control. "You're scaring your pet."

"She's not afraid of you," Damon said, scoffing at the other man. "She pities you."

Scowling, Landis turned his back on Damon for the first time, blurring around to the other side of the woman in white and snatching her wrist. With savage fury, he bit into it, causing blood to actually gush from the wound. Elena closed her eyes, hiding her face against Damon's shoulder. Before they left, they had to save her.

"No one, especially not a human, pities me," Landis snarled, sending shivers down Elena's spine as she wished she was back in Damon's arms where she was safe instead of standing behind him where anything could creep up on her.

"Oh, but they do, Landis," Damon continued, undaunted by the feral animal growling before him. "Everybody pities you because-." Suddenly, Damon moved behind Landis, twisting the younger vampire's arm behind his back and bringing him to his knees in front of Elena. She gasped, backpedaling as Damon wrapped his other hand around Landis's throat and squeezed.

"Because you have never learned your place," Damon continued, his voice casual, yet chillingly cold as he jerked on the arm. The sickening crunch of bones shattering echoed in the night and Landis screamed. "You think you're invincible because you're psychotic, but I could kill you right now without even breaking a sweat. I'm older, I'm sane and my threats aren't empty. I will break every bone in your body and stake you to the middle of this road to burn in the sun if you don't smile and tell me what I need to know, understand?"

"What do you want?" Landis gasped, spittle and blood dripping from his trembling lips.

"Where's Klaus?"

"Savannah," the vampire said, attempting to straighten and gurgling in agony as Damon's grip crushed his windpipe.

"Savannah?" Damon raised a brow, letting go of Landis' throat and hoisting him off the ground. "What the hell's in Savannah?"

One long coughing fit later, the blond vampire's throat had repaired itself and he gasped. "All I know is he had his properties along the coast prepared for him. All the way to Savannah. Half the vamps in this area have joined his entourage. He's looking for someone, but he didn't say who."

"Wait-you talked tohim?" Elena suddenly blurted out in a moment of courage. Stepping closer, she stopped as Damon glared at her and shook his head. "You saw Klaus?"

Landis barely flicked a gaze her way, curling his lip in disgust. "Of course I saw him. Him and his little lap dog."

"Stefan," Elena murmured, missing her boyfriend desperately in that moment and sickened by the fact that Stefan's sacrifice had led him here, to this animal.

"That's all I know," Landis said, twisting in an attempt to look at Damon, and for once Elena was content to be dismissed and ignored. "Now let me go, you bastard."

Landis slipped further out of control, pulsing, black veins standing out around his eyes. Elena had seen the mask slip before in other vampires, plenty of times, but something in Landis' expression scared her on a deeper, more primal level. There was no humanity left in him - if there had ever been any to begin with. He was a predator, nothing more, and humans were prey.

"Get behind me, Elena," Damon ordered, holding the writhing vampire as she immediately darted around him and started backing toward the car. The woman in white caught her eye, pleading wordlessly with her eyes for help. Elena froze, tears of pity flooding her eyes.

"Landis…always a pleasure," Damon said, pulling on both arms and dislocating the other vampire's shoulders. Landis screamed and fell to his knees yet again even as the joints began healing of their own accord. Damon wrapped an arm around Elena's waist, half carrying her toward the car. "Time to go."

"Damon, no," Elena argued, once again trapped by the scene of torture before her. "We have to help her."

"No," he replied curtly, leaving no room for argument.

"Please, Damon," she clutched at the hand digging into her side with bruising intensity. "He's gonna kill her."

"I know," he admitted as they arrived at the Camaro. He opened the passenger door, nearly wrenching it off the frame. "Get in the car."

"No!"

"Get in the fucking car," he demanded. Elena refused to move, blinking furiously as tears of anger and fear blurred her vision. Sighing, Damon pushed her roughly inside, slamming the door and blurring around to the driver's side before she could fully comprehend what had happened. As the car roared to life, he gave her one last order. "Do yourself a favor and don't turn around."

Horrified, Elena did exactly that, catching the moment when a fully restored Landis plunged his hand into the woman's chest as he drank from the pulsing vein in her already abused throat. The woman's mouth opened in a silent scream as he yanked his arm back, holding her still beating heart up to glisten in the moonlight.

Not even the dust and gravel kicked up by the tires as Damon pushed the accelerator to the floor could dull the bright sheen of blood gushing out of the hole in the woman's chest, turning the white dress a deep, dark red.


Stefan arrived back at the safe house in Charleston fully sated, as close to peace as possible out of Katherine's presence. Trunks stood by the main entrance, waiting to be loaded into a truck for transport. With a shake of his head, he marveled at the preparations as he automatically traveled the familiar path to Klaus's office. They'd complete the trip to Savannah in a fraction of the time it took to pack.

The second floor was empty, but the door at the end of the hall stood open, spilling light onto the plush red carpet in the hallway. He paused at the top of the spiral staircase, hearing a low, intense voice that he identified a split second later as belonging to Klaus. Despite his super-sensitive hearing, Stefan was halfway down the hall before he could make out the words.

"You needn't look at me like that," Klaus said, chastising whomever he was talking to with gentle reproach. Stefan was familiar with that tone, usually hearing it right before the Original ripped out the heart of a minion who had disappointed him. "It won't change my mind."

After a short pause, he was surprised to hear Klaus speak again, answering a question Stefan hadn't heard. "Now, you know why," he insisted, anger building with each syllable. "I must be free from my sins once and for all if I am to ever father and lead a new race."

A flare of annoyance cut through Stefan's calm as he stopped a few paces away from the open door. The damned hybrids. Promise be damned, Stefan had no plans to help the Original succeed in his goal of creating a nearly invincible creature that could kill his kind with a simple well-timed scratch.

"I told you, never speak of my father," Klaus said coldly. Stefan tensed as something heavy was dragged across the hardwood floor inside the office. A shadow passed over the expanse of floor he could see and footsteps echoed within, coming to a stop on the far side of the room. Stefan eased forward, his boots sinking into the carpet. "Or Elijah. That soft-hearted sod lost his sense of purpose long ago."

Stefan frowned, pressing his palms into the wall as he leaned his head back against the wood paneling. Klaus hadn't spoken Elijah's name since they had left him in Pennsylvania. Irritation coursed through him as he concentrated, straining to hear the other illusive voice within.

"Honestly, I don't know if it will be painful for you," Klaus replied absently, pouring liquid into a glass, the sloshing sound reminding Stefan of the tumbler of blood he'd been looking forward to upon his return. The Original's next words, however, banished the thirst from his mind. "You will be inhabiting Ms. Petrova's body, so I imagine it might."

Inhabiting Katherine? Stefan's interest suddenly sharpened to concern, curling his hands into fists as his entire being rejected the idea of anything harming her. He edged closer, ignoring the risk of alerting Klaus to his presence in favor of hearing more.

"Oh, Liliana," Klaus sighed, setting his glass down with a loud thud. Liliana, Stefan mouthed the name silently, hunting through everything he'd ever learned about the Original for a reference, but coming up empty. Klaus's next words, however, froze the new blood in his veins. "Your fate is linked to the doppelganger's. Nothing you do will change that. She will die…and so, at last, will you."