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A/N: Snow Silverstone – Emily DiDonato. (Violet Eyes)

Chapter 11

While Damon had an unconscious Elena Gilbert in his car speeding his way down to Georgia, blissfully unaware of the frantic search party for Snow Silverstone, Stefan Salvatore walked into his room with a glass of water, only to find it empty.

His eyes widened when he noticed the heavily vervained necklace he had gifted to Elena for protection against vampires lying innocently next to the picture he had of Katherine from 1864 and the puzzle pieces clicked in his head. Elena found out that she was Katherine's doppelgänger, and there was no doubt she was feeling betrayed, and possibly thinking along the lines of him dating her because of their identical looks.

He wasted no time in grabbing his phone and dialing Elena's number, only to sigh in frustration when it went directly to voicemail, "Elena. It's Stefan. I know that this picture must have confused you. But I can explain. I need to explain. So, please, when you get this, call me."

Just as he hung up, his phone beeped again with a text from Logan asking if he had found Snow, and he left the Boarding House to help with the search party. He would put Elena to the back of his mind for the time being, right now, Snow was missing, and knowing Mystic Falls, missing people didn't bode well.

Logan felt like pulling his hair out; he was nowhere near to finding Snow, and the major problem he was experiencing was that he couldn't rely on his vampire senses since Snow oddly enough, had no scent. He stood by the edge of Wickery Bridge, finding peace in staring into the murky depths of the water and called Snow's cell again.

His ears perked up when he heard the tell-tale sounds of a phone ringing nearby, and he used his impeccable eyesight to scan the area. His heart lurched and almost stopped beating when he noticed a stationary figure lying face first on the ground. He couldn't smell a scent, meaning it had to be Snow.

Logan vampire-sped down to the figure, and his blood ran cold when he recognized Snow. There was so much blood, so much that Snow was drenched in it and a huge puddle lay on the ground surrounding her. Her face was pale, paler than her usually Snow white skin and it was marred with dried blood, and Logan identified corpses with more color than her.

He called Liz and the Mystic Falls General immediately, carried Snow protectively in his arms and flashed over to his car, breaking the speed limit and reaching the hospital in record time.

Doctors and nurses swarmed around him and hastened to lay Snow on a gurney before rolling her in for immediate surgery, leaving behind a devastated Logan Fell drenched in blood, to sullenly sit by the waiting room for any news as he called Stefan.

Liz Forbes had a grimace plastered onto her face when she reached the hospital and found a blood-covered Logan and a morose Stefan waiting for the surgeons to update them on Snow's condition. Sensing that the Sheriff needed to speak with Logan privately, Stefan excused himself to get coffee from the nearby vending machine while he subtly listened in.

"It wasn't a vampire attack, Logan. It was premeditated murder," Liz sadly informed her looking shaken up. Other than Snow being like a second daughter to her, Mystic Falls never had to experience murder before. Deaths in Mystic Falls were either caused by vampires, sickness or accidents, such as Grayson and Miranda Gilbert's death.

Logan growled lowly in his throat and faced the sullen Sheriff, "I know, Liz. She was stabbed. I checked her out; she had a vicious stab wound, very deep. And the perpetrator threw her off the cliff instead of leaving her behind for everyone to stumble over her body.

Liz slumped down ungraciously in the seat next to Logan, "Who would want to kill such a sweet girl like Snow? She has no enemies, she is fiercely loved by all … do you think it was a random attack?"

Logan scowled in thought before shaking his head, "I don't know, maybe. We need to see if the perpetrator left anything behind where I found her body." Liz nodded and smile softly at Stefan when he came back with three cups of coffee and handed them out.

"Thank you, Stefan. By any chance do you know where Damon is?" Liz enquired.

Stefan shook his head, pressing his lips together in a straight line, "I think he's out of town for business," he lied convincingly.

-A-CINDERELLA-STORY-A-CINDERELLA-STORY-

Damon scowled for the umpteenth time when Elena's phone rang. Stefan was really doing a number with the nonstop calling, and not just Elena, but him as well. Damon had a witch to see and no time to waste, he wasn't about to coax his brother on the phone due to Elena being by his side.

Just as he was nearing Bree's bar, he heard groans sounding out from behind him, signaling that Elena had finally awoken, "Morning."

Elena sat up groggily, bewildered doe-like eyes scanning her surroundings, "Where are we?"

Readying himself for the Elena Gilbert hissy fit, Damon coolly told her that they were in Georgia, and just as he had predicted Elena began scolding him and whining at him to turn back.

"Where is my phone? Ok. We really need to go back. Nobody knows where I am, and Snow, oh my god, Snow," Elena cried out, her eyes beginning to tear up, causing Damon to stare at her with alarm, "Pull over. I mean it, Damon. Pull over! Stop the car!"

Damon rolled his eyes in annoyance, "Oh you were so much more fun when you were asleep," he groaned as he pulled over. Elena wasted no time in limping out of the car, steadying herself on the hood just as Damon flashed over to her.

"We have to go back, Damon," Elena desperately pleaded, she was worried about Snow and she hoped that they found her by now and that nothing was wrong with her.

"Oh come on. Look, we've already come this far –"

"Why are you doing this?" Elena fiercely interjected, "I can't be in Georgia. I wrecked my car. I have to go home. This is kidnapping."

Damon gave her a strange look, "That's a little melodramatic, don't you think?"

Elena deadpanned, "You're not funny. You can't do this. I'm not going to Georgia."

"Well, you're IN Georgia. Without your magical little necklace, I might add," Damon smirked, his eyes trailing over Elena's bare neck, "I can very easily make you … agreeable."

Elena was fuming, and her eyes glared a hole into Damon's head as she snapped, "What are you trying to prove?" Elena's familiar ringtone reverberated around them, and Elena gasped, "That's my phone."

Damon's signature smirk never left his face as he checked the I.D, "Mmm. It's your boyfriend. I'll take it," he answered the phone and placed it on his ear, his eyes dancing gleefully at the chance to annoy his little brother, "Elena's phone …"

"Where is she? Why do you have her phone? Is she okay?" Stefan rapidly asked sounding extremely frazzled.

Damon's eyes connected with angry brown ones, "Elena? She's right here. And yes, she's fine."

"Where are you," he spat out, and Damon could hear bustling activity on the other end, making him frown slightly in puzzlement, "Let me speak to her."

Damon placed the phone on his chest and smirked at Elena, "He wants to talk to you." His brows arched impressively when Elena growled and shook her head adamantly in refusal. Placing the phone back in his ear, he couldn't help but smugly say, "Yeah. I don't … don't really think she wants to talk to you right now."

Stefan sighed loudly at the other end, sounding defeated, "Look, Damon, just tell her we found Snow."

Damon's face morphed into confusion, the smirk and smugness leaving him completely, only to be replaced by perplexity, "Found Snow? What do you mean, 'found Snow'?"

Elena perked up, "Oh my God put the phone on speaker," she rushed out, her voice filled with relief. Damon acquiesced, and asked, "What happened?"

"I thought you knew," Stefan's voice reverberated around them sounding confused, "She's been missing since she left school yesterday. Logan found her last night under Wickery Bridge."

Damon frowned at that and Elena gasped, tremors wracking her body at the mention of that cursed bridge, "Is she alright?" she cried out.

But they were met with silence on the other end. Damon and Elena traded fearful glances and Damon growled, "Stefan –"

"She was attacked last night, it's not looking good," was the weary response.

"Oh my god," Elena gasped, her eyes brimming with tears. Damon however, had another thought in mind, "She has no scent, why would a vampire attack her?"

Stefan hesitated on the other line, "It wasn't a vampire, Damon. According to Logan and Sherriff Forbes, it was premeditative murder. She has a vicious stab wound, a very deep one. And apparently she was thrown down the cliff, to hide her body."

Damon's knuckles clenched, and they began turning white as Elena cried harder, choking out, "Who would want to kill Snow? She's such a sweetheart, everyone loves her."

"Why didn't you or Logan give her blood already?" Damon snarled angrily. The fact that someone hurt Snow, tried to murder the sweet girl that couldn't bear to hurt a fly set Damon on edge and he wanted nothing more than to rip the person's throat out.

"You think we haven't tried?" Stefan snapped. "Sheriff Forbes hasn't left the hospital and she's constantly taken in and out of surgery – Look, I gotta go, the surgeon is coming to update us."

And without a word, Stefan hung up on their faces, leaving Damon and Elena to stare at the blank screen in states of fear and shock.

Damon dragged Elena to the car and sped over to Bree's bar, "Look, I have to talk with someone about something. We'll get in and get out, okay?"

Elena nodded mutely, wiping away the continuous tears that marred her face.

-A-CINDERELLA-STORY-A-CINDERELLA-STORY-

"Are you three here for Snow Silverstone?" Dr. Jeffreys inquired as he approached Liz, Logan and Stefan.

"Yes, how is she?" Logan asked immediately.

Dr. Jeffreys grimaced, "She's stable for now, but it isn't looking good."

"What are you saying?" Liz demanded, her red-rimmed eyes focused on the surgeon.

Dr. Jeffreys sighed and calmly asked, "Does Ms. Silverstone have any relatives? Blood relatives?"

"Her parents both died, she's an orphan. Why?" Logan's voice quavered with fear; he could not lose Snow, he made a promise, and he was already failing on his first day.

"Ms. Silverstone has a rare blood type, AB-. Now she needs a blood transfusion, but for some reason all the AB-, A-, B- and O- are missing." Dr. Jeffreys dragged a weary hand over his face, "Due to the amount of blood loss, we need AB-, at most a relative to donate blood."

"Dr. Jeffreys, she's coding!" a nurse yelled frantically as she ran out of Snow's room. Dr. Jeffreys wasted no time in applying CPR and they rolled her in for surgery again, trying to buy her more time."

"Definitely premeditative murder," Liz's voice wavered, "Someone must have known her blood type and emptied the blood store so that she wouldn't be able to survive if she was found alive."

"That means, the perpetrator isn't some random killer, it means it was a well-crafted plan," Logan grimaced; his vampire side wanted to crush the person like a bug, and he was really trying to control his murderous urge.

At that moment, Caroline and Bonnie ran up to them and began crying as they had just found out about Snow. Logan and Stefan shared grim looks; they needed everyone to clear out so that they could give her some blood otherwise she wouldn't survive the night.

-A-CINDERELLA-STORY-A-CINDERELLA-STORY-

This was definitely not Damon's day. One thing the elder Salvatore hated more than anything, were traitors, and Bree, his favorite witch, betrayed him.

He came to that conclusion after Lee, Lexi's boyfriend nearly killed him by burning him to death, and if it weren't for Elena pleading to his conscience, then Damon would have been barbecued.

Leaving Elena in his car, Damon made his way back into Bree's bar approaching said witch from behind where she was downing a shot with tears rapidly falling down her face.

"We were just leaving, I wanted to say goodbye," Damon stated.

Bree didn't bother turning around to face him, and instead, she flatly said, "Good to see you again, Damon."

Burying his anger for a moment, enough to sound nonchalant, he said, "No kiss?"

That made Bree whip around to face him with narrowed eyes, "I'm full of vervain. I put it in everything I drink."

Inwardly smirking, when a flash of fear became pronounced in Bree's black orbs, Damon cocked his head and took a few steps closer, "And you're telling me this why?"

"Lexi was my friend. How could you?" Bree yelled angrily, her voice cracking with grief towards the end. She turned around, unable to stand staring at Damon anymore, but Damon had flashed in front of her and she jolted backwards in fear.

Grasping for straws to save her life, she blurted out, "The tomb can be opened."

Moving closer to her, Damon snarled, "You're lying." He was so sick of everyone trying to reach out for his conscience by using Katherine against him.

"Emily's grimoire, her spell book," Bree's voice had a begging quality to it, "If you know how she closed the tomb, the reversal process will be in her book. You can open the tomb," she pressed desperately.

"Where is this book?"

"I –I –"Bree stuttered, her eyes imploring him to believe her and spare her life.

"You have no idea," Damon ground out, his electric blue eyes piercing her solemnly. He didn't want to kill her, but she betrayed him, and he didn't trust her not to go against him again. Damon wasn't one to keep around lose ends.

"No. I'm telling the truth," Bree begged.

"And I believe you," Damon's face morphed in to genuine sadness and he crept closer, "My dear, sweet Bree. That's why I'm almost sorry."

But just as Damon was about to end her life, Bree cried out, using her last piece of information as a bargaining chip, "Wait! There's something else, something you should know."

Damon rolled his eyes, "Now you're just stalling the inevitable."

"N-no. You need to know," a few tears leaked down Bree's eyes and Damon instinctively brushed them away with the pad of his thumbs, "There is a darkness looming in the horizon. All servants of natures can feel it contaminating the air around them, nature is crying out for help."

"What do I care about this so-called darkness? I'm a vampire, an abomination to nature according to you witches," Damon snarled, but there was a mocking tint to his tone.

"It has a certain destination, Damon. It's approaching Mystic Falls," Bree blurted out, her voice taking a mystical tone and Damon stilled in shock, his eyes burning into black orbs questioningly.

"A darkness approaching Mystic Falls?" Damon scoffed, "You're that desperate for me to spare your life that you're sprouting witch horror stories to me? A vampire?" Damon really was amused now, all the anger towards Bree had drifted away at that moment.

Bree shook her head frantically, "Not Mystic Falls per say, Damon. This darkness, this evil, has a certain destination, to a certain somebody residing in Mystic Falls."

"Who?" Damon humored her, though there was curiosity heard in his tone.

"I-I don't know. We don't know. All I can say is that it is a gentle soul that doesn't stand a chance without help, I can help you," Bree pleaded.

Damon snorted, "I don't care for this darkness, or the mysterious person. I. Only. Care. About. Getting. Katherine. Out. Of. The. Tomb," and with that, Damon plunged his hand into Bree's chest and grabbed her heart, watching as Bree's face morphed into agonizing pain.

He savored the fear in her eyes for a moment longer before he ripped out her heart and dropped it next to her slumped body. He causally wiped her blood from his hands, grabbed his jacket and left the bar.

-A-CINDERELLA-STORY-A-CINDERELLA-STORY-

Dr. Jeffreys approached the increasing group of people waiting for Snow and smiled, instantly calming their nerves.

"I have good news. The surgery was a success and Snow is recuperating at the moment. She will be able to leave in two days but she won't be able to move much so that she doesn't rip out her stitches."

They all breathed out a sigh of relief, and wiped the tears from their eyes.

Logan approached with a confused look on his face, "But how? You said that a blood transfusion was needed …" he trailed off at the uncomfortable look that graced the surgeon's face.

"Ahh, you see. A man came in while we were in the middle of her surgery and donated blood. He was a perfect match," Dr. Jeffreys informed them.

Liz frowned in confusion, "Who was he?" Like Sherriff Forbes, Logan and Stefan found it suspicious that some stranger with matching blood type to Snow appeared spontaneously at the right moment and saved her life.

"I'm sorry Sherriff Forbes, but he asked for his identity to remain confidential," Dr. Jeffreys smiled weakly before excusing himself and leaving the group.

"Am I the only one that is grateful for the impeccable timing of this stranger, but suspicious to his timely arrival?" Logan stared Liz and Stefan in the face solemnly.

"No, there is something fishy about all of this, and I will be looking into it," Liz sighed, just as Damon and Elena walked into the hospital. Elena made a beeline to Bonnie and Caroline who informed her that Snow was recovering and the three girls cried in relief that their docile best friend was going to make it.

While Damon, Liz and Logan were immersed in a deep discussion over who the perpetrator could be and the motive for killing Snow, Stefan approached Elena, "Can we talk please? I hear the cafeteria has horrible coffee."

Elena half-smiled and half-grimaced at that, but she accepted his offer, and together the two of them made their way over to a silent corner in the cafeteria. Once Stefan placed two cups of coffee on the table, Elena pounced, "You could have told me."

"I wanted to tell you," Stefan spoke in an imploring tone, begging Elena to believe him.

Elena fixated her chocolate eyes solemnly on Stefan's forest green ones, "You said no more lies. Only the truth. I can handle the truth, Stefan. As crazy as it is, I can handle the fact that you are a vampire, and that you have a vampire brother, and that one of my best friend is a witch," Elena sighed, swallowing loudly before continuing, "I can accept the fact that the world is a much more mysterious place that I ever thought possible. But this … this lie, I cannot take."

Stefan had a wounded look etched on his face, and for the life of him, he couldn't hold eye contact with Elena's hurt doe-like eyes. Elena waited a few seconds before asking, "What am I to you? Who am I to you?"

Stefan snapped his head up and gazed gravely at Elena, instantly saying, "You are not Katherine. You are the opposite of everything that she was."

"And when did you figure that out?" Elena snapped, "Before you kissed me? Before we slept together?"

Stefan sighed, knowing that his next words would change Elena's life drastically, even with her knowledge of vampires and witches, "Before I met you."

After a beat, Elena gasped, "What?"

"The first day of school. When we met," Stefan told her, watching as a frown puckered on Elena's forehead, "It wasn't the first time, Elena."

Elena's heart began thumping uncontrollably, "Then when was it?"

"May 23rd, 2009."

There was a silence between them as Elena digested what exactly Stefan's words implied. Her eyes widened, and she rubbed her arms from the goosebumps that suddenly appeared, "But that was…" she trailed off, unable to speak those words.

"That was the day your parent's car went off the bridge," Stefan stated, his eyes holding hers solemnly.

"You were there?" Elena's voice came out in a whisper, dreading the answer, yet curious all the same.

"Every couple of years I come back here, to see Zach and see my home," Stefan began explaining to her, "Last spring, I was out in the woods, by old Wickery Bridge, and I heard the accident. All of it. I was getting there, but not fast enough. The car was already submerged. Your dad was still … he was still conscious. I was able to get to him, but he wouldn't let me help him, until I helped you."

While Stefan was regaling what happened that night, tears flooded Elena's face and once he was done, she had an epiphany, finally solving the final piece of the mysterious puzzle, "Oh my God. When I woke up in the hospital, nobody could figure out how I got out of the car. They said it was a miracle."

Stefan let out a long sigh, "I went back for them. But it was too late. I couldn't – I couldn't save them. When I pulled you out, I looked at your face. You looked like Katherine," Stefan shook his head frantically; "I couldn't believe the resemblance. After that, I spent months making sure that you weren't her. I watched you. I learned everything that I could about you, and I saw that you were nothing like Katherine. And I wanted to leave town, but Elena, I couldn't. I couldn't leave without knowing you. I'm so sorry that I didn't tell you. I wanted to, but you were so sad."

Elena took her time for everything Stefan had just told her to settle in before she dismissed them and asked what she really wanted to know, what had been constantly in her mind ever since she found the picture, "Why do I look like her?"

"Elena, you've been through so much, and with Snow," Stefan told her compassionately, not wanting to pop her bubble even more. But Elena wasn't having that. There was fire burning in her eyes as she stared at Stefan expectantly.

"Why do I look like her, Stefan? What are you not telling me?"

Deciding that it would be best to tell her, knowing that Elena wouldn't let it go, he said, "It didn't make any sense to me. You were a Gilbert. She was a Pierce. But the resemblance was too similar. And then I learned the truth," there was a beat of silence as Stefan paused to gauge Elena's reaction, "You were adopted, Elena."

And there it was; everything Elena knew, everything she thought she knew, came crashing down into a million little pieces. Her tears stopped only to be replaced by shaking limbs as Stefan embraced her tightly to his chest.

"How do you know all this?" Elena asked curiously.

"Your birth certificate from the city records," Stefan informed her, "It says Elena Gilbert, Mystic Falls General. But there's no record of your mother ever being admitted. There's no record of her ever being pregnant."

"What else do you know?" she inquired.

"For me to go any further, I would've had to look into the Pierce family, and I couldn't do that. It's too much of a risk. If someone found out I was asking about Katherine…" Noticing that Elena was really shaken up, Stefan cupped her face in the palm of his hands, and raised it to eye level, "Listen to me, it doesn't matter. You are the woman that I love. I love you."

Elena genuinely smiled and kissed him before staring deeply into his eyes; she wanted to cry and scream and rage and yell about how life was unfair, but she had a best friend suffering at the moment, "We need to find out who did this to Snow and why, Stefan."

Stefan's face changed and he looked as though he were carved from stone. "We will," he promised; whoever dared to harm the fragile and pure girl would meet a very sticky end.

-A-CINDERELLA-STORY-A-CINDERELLA-STORY-

While Stefan and Elena were in the cafeteria having a private conversation, Logan and Damon were trudging deeper into Mystic Falls General; two vampires on a mission.

"Remind me again why we are looking through the recent archives?" Damon hissed quietly into Logan's ear.

Logan huffed and squared his shoulder as he checked if the cost was clear, "I forgot you weren't here. Why did you follow me then?"

Damon smirked, "You looked like a vamp on a mission, and I was bored," he simply said, "Thought following you around would be more interesting than drinking through my bourbon collection."

Logan chuckled slightly, "Snow has a rare blood type found in only 1% of Caucasian Americans, and she needed a blood transfusion. I find it odd that all the blood types that could be donated to her, crucial to her survival was wiped clean from the hospital. What are the odds that a vampire stole blood bags from here and it was just a mere coincidence that they took the exact blood she would need?"

"None," Damon scowled; Logan was right, something was fishy. Vampires would take a variety, not all from the same blood type.

Logan gave Damon a side glance before continuing, "Yeah, well it gets weirder, trust me. Now tell me, what are the odds of some stranger having the same blood type as Snow, coming into Mystic Falls out of the blue just when Snow is in critical condition and needs a blood transfusion?"

"Again. None," Damon halted as they reached the storage level, "That's pretty much a lot of coincidences lining up in one hell of a day regarding Snow."

"Now do you get it?" Logan smiled, but there was no warmth to it. He began opening drawers looking for today's date.

"Well …." Damon scoffed, "Don't leave me hanging. Who was the dude?"

Without even looking up from his search, Logan said, "According to Dr. Jeffreys, he wanted to remain confidential. He didn't want his name coming up. So are you gonna help me find whoever this person was or are you gonna just stand there behind me and chat my ear off?"

Damon strolled towards the other end of the room and there was silence between the two vamps as they used their speed to search for the correct file. Damon suddenly smirked and said, "You know what my man? I like you. I'm glad I didn't end up killing you."

Logan scoffed, but there was a hint of a smile on his features, "Glad to know. Ah, found it," his tone turned victorious as he pulled out the file and Damon flashed over to his side.

"That's not possible," Logan whispered turning pale, his eyes widening marginally, frozen in a state of shock as he stared at the name glaring at him in fine print and the familiar signature that was staring him right in the face.

"What is it – oh, fuck," Damon hissed, his eyes finally freezing on the discovered name.

"He's dead. There's-there's no way," Logan dropped the papers and they fluttered ominously on the floor as Damon regarded the frantically pacing Logan Fell.

"Vampires cannot donate blood," Damon stated, and those words had the added effect of ceasing Logan's pacing.

"He cannot just rise from the dead, and there are no such things as zombies. He cannot be a vampire otherwise he wouldn't have been able to donate Snow his blood," Logan began listing off, not liking where he was going with this as the truth flashed glaringly in his face.

Damon was the one that uttered the words Logan couldn't, "That means Samuel Silverstone faked his own death, and is very much alive."

A/N: Da-Da-Dummm. Sorry for the cliffhanger, next chapter will be up soon.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. How did you like the Logan/Damon bonding? I'm thinking of making them friends along with Alaric… would be interesting, huh?

R&R.