Chapter Eleven

LOOK! It's what you've all been waiting for! It's probably very anti-climactic in comparison to what some of you were expected but STILL! Thank you again for the reviews, favourites and follows – every single one is appreciated and you guys are blowing me away!

PS – I took artistic license with the compulsion, by the way.

Disclaimer – I do not own the Vampire Diaries but I do own Elisaveta Petrova/Lissa Pierce.

"What is it, Elijah? You're scaring me," Elisaveta questioned worriedly, a frown creasing her forehead as Elijah sat them both on the bench they'd first spoken on. Elisaveta rearranged her pale green dress to accommodate her positioning and gazed at Elijah questioningly as he seated himself next to her. The day was mild and it was late afternoon, meaning they were all alone in the grounds as people got ready for dinner.

"We should talk, Elisaveta," Elijah replied softly. Instead of appeasing her concerns, the words elevated them and she knew her emotions were written straight across her face. Even if they hadn't been, she knew that Elijah would be able to read her clearly – he was so good at that. So she just stared at him expectedly, shaking a bit.

"Please say something," she begged after too long a silence and Elijah avoiding her eyes. Her lover, one she adored and loved more than she had ever imagined being able to feel for someone, finally looked her directly in the eye and her breath stuttered at the sight of pain in the depths. Suddenly, she felt insecure. Up until that point, they'd been together whenever possible but Elijah's expression told her that something was about to change.

"The time has come for us to stop what we are doing. It can continue no longer." His voice was steady and cold and Elisaveta could detect no false note within it. She attempted to reign in her feelings but the hurt was as obvious as it was painful.

"W-why?" she stammered but received no answers. She jumped to her own conclusions and let him know about it. "It's Niklaus, isn't it? You fear he will use me against you, am I correct?"

All she received was a nod.

"N-n-no! Please don't let him do this to us, Elijah! I don't want him to win!" she cried, latching her fingers into his tunic in desperation so pure that even Elijah's composure broke. Klaus could not win their fight, he could not take Elijah away from her. Despite how Klaus had been with her, Elijah still feared him.

"I do not fear he will use you against me – I know he will – and I do not wish for you to die because of me," Elijah said calmly – too calmly. Elisaveta kept her hands attached to his tunic but his much older, stronger ones easily removed hers. Yet he did not let go of her but clutched her firmly.

"Elijah, do not do this, I beg of you. I cannot bear even the thought of us parting!" She was nearing hysteria but she couldn't stop. Tears fell and sobs erupted but still she did not stop begging. Elijah eventually halted her.

"Sweetheart, I will not endanger your life," he said firmly but the endearment was tainted by the stiffness of his demeanour. His hold on her hands tightened as he drew her closer, his eyes boring into hers. Her mind flashed back to when he told her of compulsion and she began struggling, fresh tears spilling over her cheeks as she fought.

"No, please, Elijah! I will run, flee if you order me to do so but please do not make me forget! Please!" she sobbed, fighting fruitlessly. Elijah encased both of her hands in one of his then gripped her jaw firmly. His eyes dilated.

"You will forget our interactions, all but small conversations of simple polite interest and that we were ever in love. You will not remember anything about the ritual or me being a vampire. We were never more than civil to each other. Do you understand?"

"I understand," she whispered blankly.

"You will continue to forget, should you ever become a vampire and this compulsion will continue." He hesitated but Elisaveta, under the thrall of the compulsion, did not notice. "You will not forget your feelings for me, just the reasoning . . . I never loved you but you loved me." The compulsion meant Elisaveta could not see the truly heartbroken expression on Elijah's normally composed face. She nodded like a puppet in response.

He was gone before she was fully aware.

Lissa snapped her eyes open, not jerking like she usually did upon awaking from her apparent memories. Damon thought she had a screw loose in believing Katerina but understood her logic. Besides, Lissa's instincts told her she wasn't lying.

"Morning sunshine," Damon greeted as he walked into the room. He stretched before looking at her and the smirk fell from his face. "What happened?" he demanded, blurring over to her side and wiping tears she had probably shed in her sleep. A quick glance confirmed that – her pillow was wet.

"I remember, Damon. I remember the day that he compelled me," she whispered, looking at him with wide, innocent eyes. His eyes flashed like they did when he was angry and he hugged her close anyway.

"Why are you just remembering now? It doesn't make any sense," he growled, pulling away from her to run a hand through his hair in a demonstration of annoyance. She shrugged in response and got up, heading over to the glass of water Damon had brought up. Silence dominated as she poured a little vervain into the glass.

Bracing herself, Lissa sipped the water and coughed at the bitter burn that she still wasn't quite used to. Once she'd choked it down, she froze and stared at the glass in her hand with realisation.

"Damon?" she asked slowly without turning around.

"What?" he snapped, still aggravated with being unable to figure out why she was remembering. She turned around to stare at him and he looked back, confused as to why she looked like she'd had an epiphany.

"How long have I been drinking this?" she questioned and he frowned in thought. She waited patiently, already knowing the answer. It took a minute but he got there.

"Around Isobel's return to town," he answered casually, obviously not seeing the connection. She sighed and handed him the glass for his share, waiting for him to finish gagging.

"And when did I start dreaming these memories?" she prompted and he shrugged.

"Around the same time." She almost smacked him out of irritation.

"Damon! 'The compulsion will continue' – that's what he said to me. For five hundred years, not that it mattered in the tomb, I was under compulsion. Vervain stops compulsion – or prevents it! Don't you see?"

Something finally seemed to click in Damon's head.

"So, by saying 'the compulsion will continue', your ex flame actually enabled you to regain your memories? You found the perfect loophole." A gleeful smirk was forming on his face and, in response, Lissa beamed.

"Exactly. The vervain prevented the compulsion from continuing!" she cried excitedly, jumping on the bed with unconcealed euphoria. Damon was more reserved but she could see the emotion in his eyes.

"I never thought I'd say this – but thank God you can think like your sister," he replied and she hugged him before literally dancing into her bathroom. There was a relief that came to finally knowing some answers.

"You should go and tell Stefan. I'll meet up with you guys later," she called over her shoulder. Damon didn't answer but she knew he heard. Seconds later, her bedroom door shut with a snap.

XXX

"Elena has been kidnapped?" Lissa hissed into her phone, speeding down the road at vampire speed. She hadn't yet mastered driving so had to be a pedestrian for a while. The girl in question hadn't made it home from the horrific masquerade ball and no one could figure out what had happened to her.

"It looks like. Stefan and I could really use your help." She doubted Damon was telling the truth about needing her but she appreciated him attempting to distract her from the insanity that was her subconscious mind.

"Right, I'll meet you at the school."

XXX

Lissa sat in the back of Damon's small yet smooth car and watched as scenery zoomed by. They didn't have to worry about cops with their heightened senses and they could just compel themselves out of trouble if they did manage to get caught for speeding. Damon was the one breaking the limit by at least thirty miles per hour and Stefan was sitting in the passenger's seat having just started speaking.

"Who do you think took her?" he asked airily. They had been going in uncomfortable silence for what felt like a week and Stefan's question had thankfully broken it after a conversation about weapons. Alaric was seriously prepared for someone Lissa had thought was a rookie vampire hunter.

"I don't know. Someone from Katherine's past. She said she was running from someone . . . maybe they got the wrong girl." Stefan turned to look at Lissa after Damon's out loud musing and she winced at the thought of her past – the running she'd been dragged into because she was fiercely loyal to her sister. She had avoided telling them the name of the focus of her memories for the very reason that Stefan was looking at her.

Damon's question had her wondering about her own fate. Katerina would surely be tortured for a long time before greeting death but what about Lissa? Would she be killed? Would she be tortured then killed? Would she be forced to be a slave? There were too many options to consider and each and every one scared her.

"Lissa?" Stefan asked, breaking her concentration and she silently thanked him for it.

"Hm?"

"Do you know who it is? Of course you do. Could they have taken Elena?"

She instantly shook her head in denial, knowing that Klaus was not responsible for Elena's disappearance – especially if they thought she was Katerina. Lissa's sister was easily identifiable to their enemies because they knew just what they were looking for. Elena was far too vulnerable to pass for Katerina.

"Katherine and, by association, me, are running from someone. But they wouldn't have taken Elena."

In the rear-view mirror, she saw Damon getting ready to question her more but she gave him her best venomous look and he paid attention to the road. Stefan quickly distracted him anyway and Lissa fell into her own thoughts once more – fear plaguing the vast majority. Klaus would surely be furious with her for siding with Katerina . . . but what would Elijah feel?

After learning what she had from her returning memories, she had no idea what would happen if she ever saw her old lover again. She wasn't sure she wanted to see him after what had happened between them. Five hundred blissful years of just believing she was pointlessly in love had been blown to smithereens with a few dreams and she had no idea what to think anymore.

Elijah POV

Trevor was rightfully dead and Katerina's exact human double stood shaking nearby. Strangely, he had not known that Katerina had had a child and that was where the doppelganger in front of him had come from. Of course, most of him believed she had perished in the church fire of 1864 but Rosemarie's story and the rumours of the tomb vampires from underneath the church confirmed she had neither died nor even been trapped at all.

"Where is the moonstone?" he asked, compelling the girl once her vervain necklace had been removed.

"In the tomb under the church ruins." Ah, a secure location. No vampire could go in without being trapped or so he'd heard. It wasn't a theory he was willing to test.

"What is it doing there?"

"It's with Katherine." So Katerina was trapped in the tomb with the moonstone, set to desiccate. He could not resist just one more question, though he knew he shouldn't do it. There was a reason for his compulsion.

"And what do you know of Elisaveta?" he queried. If Katerina had never been burned and there was a magic tomb, he held hope for her younger sibling, whom he knew had been inside that church on the night of the fire.

"She was trapped in the tomb. Damon saved her and she lives with him and Stefan in Mystic Falls." Rage that he barely contained shot through every cell in his body at the thought of Elisaveta desiccating slowly and painfully in the underground tomb – trapped with no release. He should have saved her . . . but how would he have explained that? And he should not have been keeping tabs on her in the first place – she was never meant to know about them. And she never would.

A noise distracted him and he realised they had company; company that would die.

Lissa POV

"Lissy, I think you should stay here." She rolled her eyes at the sound of her sister's nickname for her. Damon apparently didn't notice his slip and just looked at her seriously. She laughed a tad hysterically.

"Damon . . ." He looked at her and she sighed. "How about I give you a head start? I'll catch up and maybe you'll be done by the time I get there."

He looked placated and, after kissing her forehead, he followed after Stefan. Lissa huffed and sat on the blue hood of the car, idly picking her fingernails as she counted the seconds under her breath. They'd ended up in the literal middle of nowhere, with nothing but their house's location around for miles. Even if Elena managed to get out, she would find it hard to get help, especially if she didn't have her cell phone.

After reaching seven minutes and thirty two seconds, she took off quickly, easily finding the house. She carefully approached, almost silent, and listened in to what was occurring inside. It didn't seem like there was any kind of violence happening so she stayed outside.

"I want the girl on the count of three . . . or heads will roll." Aside from noticing that there would be violence very soon, Lissa swore she could recognise the voice but couldn't quite place it. Maybe, like her, they'd changed their accent so she couldn't recognise the person behind the voice. "Do we understand each other?"

"I'll come with you. Just please don't hurt my friends, they were just trying to help me out." Elena. Giving up on finding an alternate way into the house, Lissa slipped through the front door to see Elena at the top of the dingy staircase. All around, there was cracked paint and barely working lights to give some semblance of feeling to the neglected building. Elena was still wearing her clothes from the previous night and blood still soaked through. She was hugging herself protectively.

The man at the bottom of the staircase had short, floppy brown hair and was dressed impeccably in a suit that did not suit his surroundings, clutching a makeshift stake like a jousting pole. Why did she recognise him? He sped up the staircase, making Elena jump as he stopped right in front of her.

"What game are you playing with me?" Those soft, dangerous tones finally struck a gong in Lissa's head. Oh no. Oh God no.

It got worse when Elena threw one of Alaric's vervain grenades at the man and he cowered away, head turning in her direction. Their eyes met – his were wide and hers were terrified.

"Shit."

Sufficiently distracted from Elena, Elijah sped back down, halting directly in front of her. His hand rose to trace her cheekbone and she almost whimpered. Five hundred years on the run, living a lie and he had caught her completely by accident.

"Elisaveta." She hated to admit it, given what he'd done to her, but she had missed the way her name slid from his tongue. She felt completely paralysed and she knew her terror showed on her face. It was surging through her and she was sure her knees would give out when the paralysis wore off. Elijah's gaze never left hers and she unintentionally thought of the day he'd compelled her

"You compelled me," she whispered brokenly, shaking. He looked surprised as she uttered the words and she felt the need to be rescued. A shot went off no less than a second later and Elijah jolted slightly before whirling around angrily to face Stefan – who was toting a fierce gun she suspected belonged to Alaric. In a blur of events she struggled to follow, Elijah ended up staked to a door and Lissa remained frozen by the entrance.

"Hey, Liss, you in there?" Damon's voice penetrated her conscious and she moved only her eyes to look at him and his concerned expression. Realisation broke over his face like the sun appearing over the horizon as he registered the words she'd spoken to Elijah. "He was who you were running from . . . the guy in your dreams." Lissa couldn't bring herself to talk and Damon had to pick her up to move her because she was still pretty much frozen. Oh God, she was in trouble. And she was terrified.

Elijah POV

He felt his skin returning to its normal colour as the fake death wore off and soon yanked the large pole from his chest and let it clatter to the ground as he looked around the abandoned house. The doppelganger, her kidnapper and her rescuers were all long gone . . . Elisaveta was long gone.

Seeing her again was a surprise, but not an unwelcome one. The fact that she had discovered his compulsion was an unwelcome surprise and he could not fathom where she had learned such information. Katerina would not know as she had not been there . . . but maybe she had guessed and informed her sister of her theory. All the same, it didn't explain why Elisaveta was so sure. He knew she would be furious with Katerina for daring to imprison her and would not trust her word completely – so why was she so certain that he had compelled her?

He sighed, walking forward a few paces as her face came into his mind's eye. She was still as beautiful as the last time he'd seen her and it choked him to know she had spent one hundred and forty five years rotting underground. Vengeance directed at Katerina and the others that rescued Elena settled in his brain and he left the house, hoping to see his dear Elisaveta again.

But which betrayal rang truer: his or Katerina's?

Elijah has finally arrived! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that. I'll see you all as soon as possible, ok? Love Bianca :) x