"Oh good, you're finally awake."

Elena raised a hand to her throbbing head, and looked wildly around in panic. She felt a bed beneath her, and scrambled up to sit against the headboard. "Wh—where am I?" she stammered, her eyes struggling to adjust to the darkness.

"Relax. You're still in your hotel room; it would be too much trouble to drag you somewhere else."

As the room around her grew in focus, she realized she really was still in the hotel. She breathed a small sigh of relief, "And Damon…?"

"Is still next door, don't worry your pretty little head about that. He didn't hear a thing, and I would prefer to keep it that way."

"Why?" Elena questioned belligerently, "I could yell for him right now."

"You could, but you won't."

Elena frowned, raising her hand to her vervain necklace. "You can't compel me," she said firmly, tightening her hand around the pendant.

"As if I would ever compel my own daughter," Isobel gave her a twisted smile as she came out of the shadows. "Sorry about your head by the way, but I couldn't have you screaming for help. That would have ruined everything."

"Still with the cryptic talk, I see," Elena glared. "Some things never change. Who are you working for this time? It can't still be Katherine, because she's—"

"In the tomb, I know," Isobel rolled her eyes, "And what makes you think that I'm working for someone? Can't I be here of my own freewill?"

"No," Elena crossed her arms, "Because I know you. You're just like her."

"Katherine?"

"Yes. Only in it for herself.

Isobel laughed lightly, and tilted her head. "Yes," she agreed after a moment, "Petrova blood does seem to have its fair share of unpleasant qualities."

Elena perked up, "You knew? About Katherine's history? About the doppelganger curse?"

"What I know," Isobel folded her hands on her lap, "Is that you have been betrayed."

"Excuse me?"

"I've come to warn you of several things," she continued, as if Elena hadn't spoken. "Someone you trust has betrayed you."

"Who? Stefan?"

A smile flickered on Isobel's face. "Now, why would your mind immediately jump to Stefan? Would it be because he's stuck in the tomb with a certain ex-lover of his?

"Emphasis on the ex part of that statement," Elena said tensely. "Don't twist around my words, Isobel. Who are you talking about?"

"The witch. You might want to tell her to choose her friends a bit more carefully."

"Bonnie?" Elena attempted to get out of bed, but the pounding in her head only grew worse. "No, she wouldn't betray me."

"Oh, because she hasn't before? I seem to recall a certain Founder's Day incident...didn't Damon nearly die?"

"That was along time ago..." Elena hesitated, "Bonnie's reached a new understanding with Stefan and Damon now. They're friends. Sort of."

Isobel stood up to stare out the window. "I didn't say that she was intentionally betraying you. Now, the second thing I need to tell you is about Elijah."

"Elijah? How do you know him?" Elena shook her head, "It doesn't matter. He's dead. Damon staked him."

"He's not dead," Isobel corrected, "Originals are a bit harder to kill off than that."

"He has to be dead—I saw him die!"

"You saw nothing of the sort. Elijah is alive and kicking. In fact, I'm fairly sure he'll be kicking down your door in the near future." Isobel shifted restlessly around the room, and muttered under her breath, "And you're not the only one he'll be after at this point..."

"Do you know him?" Elena persisted, "How do I kill him? What about Klaus?"

"I've never had to pleasure of meeting him, nor do I want to." Isobel strode over to the window, and pulled it open. She turned to give Elena a slightly rueful smile, "I wish I could tell you more, but I can't." She hesitated, "Don't tell Damon—or anyone—that you saw me. But warn the others about Bonnie and Elijah. That way, you just might have a chance to live."

With those final words, she disappeared.

.

.

Damon tossed and turned, his eyelids felt heavy and his mind felt weighed down with some sort of presence. It was similar to the feeling of having vervain pumped into his body, but he didn't feel any of the sting normally associated with the herb. In fact, the closest he had ever felt to feeling like this was when he had been human—and subject to Katherine's compulsion.

But that didn't make any sense...he was a vampire. There was no way he was being compelled...

With that in mind, he slipped into a rather vivid dream state.

He was standing alone in black room. There was nothing else as far as the eye could see...just everlasting darkness stretching forever all around him. "Hello?" Damon called out, a frown marring his features. "Is anybody here?"

"Damon Salvatore," Katherine suddenly appeared next to him, a seductive smile on her lips. "I knew I could talk to you if I tried hard enough."

"No," Damon tried to back away, but found that he couldn't move. "This is impossible...you're in the tomb!"

"Yes," Katherine agreed, her lips curling in distaste, "But you are dreaming."

"How are you talking to me? You can't control my dreams from all the way in the tomb..." Damon trailed off, his voice becoming uncertain.

Katherine laughed as she began circling him, her hips swaying dauntingly. "Maybe not. But Elena is your weakness. Always has been, always will be."

"What does this have to do with Elena?" Damon growled, "What do you want, Katherine?"

"Elena and I, we're connected," Katherine said softly, her eyes widening with just the right amount of sincerity. "Her thoughts are my thoughts. I can speak to her, you know. Whenever I want..."

Damon's eyes narrowed, "What are you talking about?"

"We made a deal," Katherine said abruptly, "And there's nothing you can do to stop me. She wants to die, and I'll be the one to get the job done."

"Stay away from her!" Damon roared, vamping out.

Katherine only laughed again, and began backing away. She stopped suddenly, and her features changed slightly. Damon didn't know how he could pinpoint the difference, but he somehow knew that he was now looking at Elena. She smiled at Damon cruelly, "You have lost me forever."

.

"Damon! Open up!"

His eyes flew open, and he lay still in bed for a moment, his mind trying to process what had just happened. "Just a dream," he muttered to himself, refusing to believe that Katherine had found some way to converse with him from the tomb. The implications of that theory were just too horrific to imagine.

"Damon!" Elena shouted again, now resorting to pounding her fists against the door.

He instantly blurred to the door and wrenched it open, calming down slightly when he saw nothing was immediately wrong. He smirked at Elena "Is there a reason you're banging on my door past midnight? Because I'll have you know that I don't do booty calls..."

"Oh shut up," she hissed, shoving him inside the door before closing it behind her. "We need to go back to Mystic Falls. Right now."

Damon gaped at her, "Go back? It's the middle of the night, Elena! What the hell is going on?"

"Bonnie is in trouble, and so are we," she blurted out incomprehensibly, "We need to go back!"

"Whoa, calm down," Damon said soothingly, grasping her shoulders with a worried look in his eyes. Clearly, he thought she was tethering on the verge of some mental breakdown. "You've obviously had a nightmare, which is completely understandable—"

"No! I know Bonnie is in trouble or—or...she's doing something that's going to get us into trouble! Oh, and Elijah is alive, and—"

"Now, I know you had a nightmare," Damon shook his head, "Look, we killed him, remember?"

"It didn't work because he's an Original!" Elena grabbed Damon's arm. "Please," she said desperately, "You have to believe me!"

Damon frowned at her, his dream flickering in his mind. "Who told you that?" he asked carefully, "Katherine?"

"What?" she looked caught off guard, "No. Why would she tell me that?"

"I don't know," he responded suspiciously, "You tell me." He broke off when his cell phone began ringing, and glanced down at the caller I.D. With a sigh, he held the phone at his ear. "Rose, this is really not the best time...you did what? You went on a witch hunt at this time of night? What part of be safe did you not understand—I don't care if it looked like no one was home!" He scowled heavily as Rose continued talking, and then his eyes widened with surprise. "Are you sure? That's what it said? Yeah, yeah...okay, we'll be there soon."

"What's wrong? What happened?" Elena asked immediately when he slowly put down the phone. "Is Jeremy okay?"

"He's fine," Damon answered slowly. "Rose and Jeremy went to go check out that witch-family in West Virginia, and they found the house. Apparently no one was home, so they looked through the mailbox to see who all the envelopes were addressed to..."

"And?"

Damon met her gaze, "The house belonged to Lucy Bennett."

A/N: Happy Holidays to all my wonderful reviewers! if you're all realllyyy good, then i just MIGHT have a new chapter up for christmas morning ;)

p.s. Lucy is the witch that was helping Katherine in the Masquerade ball earlier this season.