N: Oh, it must be Christmas, cause there's an update. Sorry guys, this story's going a bit slow. You know how, when you're in a hurry to finish something, the words just don't come to you? Well, that's what's happening, I tried to speed things up, because I never intended this story to be too long, but I realized I can't and had to adjust.

I hope you still like this story and you're still following it. I'm not going to lie to you, the next chapter will take a while as well since I keep changing my mind, have my exams and as if that wasn't enough, now I'm sick.

As always, a big, BIG thank you to my wonderful feta Zoraya Windwalker, for beta-reading this and doing a great job at it!

By the edge of death

"Elena, wake up!"

Elena opened her eyes and blinked a few times. Her heart was beating fast; there's nothing worse than when someone wakes you up in the middle of the night; it's never good news.

"Rose…" Elena mumbled in a weak voice. "What…why are you here?"

"Shhh, they'll hear you!" Rose murmured close to Elena's ear.

"Who will hear me?"

"Vampires, they're here in the house. Damon sent me here to make sure you're safe," Rose explained and Elena's eyes opened wide.

"They're after me, aren't they?"

"Yes…" Rose answered. "There's a tunnel under the house, we can use it to get out. I'll find a car and take you as far away from Mystic Falls as possible."

"What? No, we can't leave Damon…they'll kill him."

"I'll check on him; you stay here and for Gods sake, be quiet!" Rose said and immediately disappeared from the room, leaving Elena alone.

She did as the other woman had told her …for about five minutes. Then she got tired of waiting and made her way towards the living room. As soon as she got close enough, she was able to hear voices and something that sounded like a moan. She took a few steps closer; now she was beside the door and recognized the sound as Damon's cries of pain.

"Look around you Salvatore! There's three of you and five us, not to mention you're tied up to a chair. Now, either you tell me where your pretty little wife is, or I kill your brother and his girlfriend; as for you…I might kill you either way. Where is she?"

"Go to hell!" Damon mumbled.

Elena rolled her eyes at his stubbornness; Damon would die before he let anyone tell him what to do, she was sure of that. The next thing she heard was a sharp scream and Damon yelling something that she made out as 'let her go you son-of-a-bitch!' but she wasn't sure.

Damon was watching powerless as one of the vampires was pushing a wooden stake in Rose's torso; close enough to her heat to make her cry in agony, but not close enough to kill her just yet.

Damon didn't exactly love Rose, but he liked her. She reminded him of himself, before he got turned; more naïve and optimistic, not yet too hardened by the punches fate tended to throw your way. She was funny and caring and she took care of him.

The vampire that was holding Rose looked at Damon and a malicious smile appeared on his face.

"It's either her or your brother, your choice," the vampire said and Damon growled in frustration.

Dammit, he loved his brother; no matter how many times he liked to shout he wishes he were dead, Stefan was the only family he had left.

Roses gazed at Damon…their eyes locked and she nodded towards him before pushing her chest forward, causing the stake to dive all the way through her heart. It took only a few seconds for her body to lose its ivory color and turn a sick shade of gray, the veins standing out in sharp and gruesome relief.

"Looks like the girl made the decision for you; apparently you were too much of a coward to make it yourself."

Damon cursed under his breath and let out a low growl. If he wouldn't have been tied up with vervain-soaked ropes he would've driven a stake through his mouth, down his throat only to pull it out again to shove it through his heart.

The vampire took a few steps closer and lowered himself to Damon's eye-level.

"You're next Salvatore," he said, loud and clear.

Elena's heart was beating like crazy by now. She started to look around in panic, trying to find something useful; anything that could help her.

She decided it was time to make her presence known, so, praying that she knew what she was doing, she bit her lip nervously, took a deep breath and stepped over the threshold into the room.

"I think I'm the one you're looking for," she said, her voice sounding way more confident then she actually felt.

"Katherine…" one of them gasped, making his way towards Elena, but before he got to her, she pulled a thin sword from behind her; she grabbed the edge with both hands and directed the sharp blade towards her chest.

"If any of you moves, I'll push this through and after killing hundreds of vampires over the years, I assure you it will go straight through my heart and kill me. I have a feeling your boss wouldn't appreciate that," Elena said looking around.

Damon looked at Elena; he had that 'what the hell are you doing?' expression painted all over his face and if it weren't for the tragedy of Rose's death and the danger for their lives Elena would have a good laugh about that.

"Well, I'll be damned," the vampire beside Damon said, raising an eyebrow at Elena. "You really expect me to believe you'll kill yourself for…him?"

"Oh come on Katherine, you would kill him yourself if that would save you…"

"He is my husband!" Elena shouted.

"So? Don't tell me that being human actually worked and you actually fell in love with this guy?" he asked amused and Elena was speechless for a second. She didn't know Katherine, she had no idea how much she loved Damon…all she knew was that for some twisted reason she wanted to save him.

"Lets not bring the past into this; mistakes were made, innocent blood had been spilled. I love that man more than anything in this world, if he goes, I go," Elena said and Damon thought she deserved an Oscar for her performance; if he didn't know any better, he would've believed her as well.

"If you say so…"

"So, there's how this is going to work. You get your men to untie my husband and his brother; you leave them out of this and I'll go with you."

"Looks like she loves you after all," the vampire told Damon. "Alright Katherine, if you want to play the role of the protective wife, so be it," he mumbled, and then he turned towards the two vampires on his left. "Alex, free them!" he ordered and the young vampire carried out the demand immediately. "Dmitri, Barden, go and prepare the cars…"

"I want to drive," Elena said interrupting him.

"I'm sorry?"

"You're vampires, I'm human…I'm not going to risk anything, I just want to drive."

"Fine; prepare the cars anyway and get rid of the driver,' he said and Elena watched as the Dmitri guy ripped out the other guy's heart, then followed the other one outside. The image almost made her puke her guts out, but she somehow managed to maintain a straight face.

In the meantime, Alex freed Damon and Stefan, but neither of them moved.

"You can lose the big knife, Katherine. I give you my word that no harm will come to the Salvatore brothers from me."

"Why should I trust you?" Elena asked.

"As long as I have you, I have no interest whatsoever in these two, plus, unlike you, I stay true to my promises and I gave you my word; that still means something to me."

"Ok," she said and gave the knife to Alex.

"Come on, we're going!" the leader said and they all got out. As soon as Stefan heard them drive away he rushed to his brother.

"I'm fine, Stefan," Damon shouted and Stefan pulled back. "Just because I didn't let them kill you doesn't mean we're best buds."

"Please, Damon; now it's not the time for you to be stubborn. I want to help you…I want to help you get her back."

"Why? Is it because you want to help your brother get back the woman he loves or is it because you want to get back the woman you love?" Damon asked.

"I'm not in love with Katherine, Damon; I never was in love with her…that was a mistake."

"I'm not talking about Katherine, Stefan."

"You…you're talking about Elena?" Stefan asked surprised.

Damon just nodded and Stefan looked away for a second before returning his attention back to his brother.

"I don't even know her…"

"Oh come on, Stefan! You're taking her three meals a day, you cook for her…"

"I love to cook, I always did," Stefan defended himself.

"You take her to three hour walks in the garden…"

Instinctively Stefan remembered their last walk and the conversation that came with it.

Flashback

"So, what's the story with you and your brother?" Elena asked as Stefan and she were slowly advancing towards the rose garden.

"What do you mean?" Stefan replied.

"Well, let's say that, if looks could kill, you two would've killed each other several times by now."

"Oh…you got that, did you?"

"Yeah, kind of hard to miss," Elena said smiling.

"Long story – short, I slept with his fiancé,' Stefan answered. His eyes falling to the ground and Elena realized he was ashamed.

"Katherine?" Elena asked surprised.

"The one and only…" he let out a sigh before continuing, "…well, she was beautiful; a lot like you in that department," he smiled and his smile made Elena blush slightly. "She was also smart and unpredictable…selfish and spoiled…I didn't really love her, but it was a time when I was obsessed with having her. I didn't care that I was going for something my brother wanted, all I cared about was her…being with her…"

"I'm not her," Elena interrupted him.

"Oh, I know, I didn't see you as her; never did."

"Your brother does," Elena whispered.

"I don't think he does," Stefan said and Elena raised an eyebrow at him, "Elena…" he started hesitant, "…do you…uh… like him?"

"Excuse me?"

"My brother, do you like him?" Stefan asked again as Elena took a seat on a small stone bench. She looked up at him; confusion was written all over her face.

"He kidnapped me, almost raped me and he IS planning to sacrifice me to bring his wife back from the dead…" she said in a soft, sad voice.

"That doesn't answer my question," Stefan said.

"I think it does…"

End

"Believe what you want Damon, but you need my help," Stefan ground out, exasperated.

"Fine, you can help me get Elena back. I'll go call the witch."

"Bonnie?"

"No, Harry Potter…man, sometimes I could swear you were adopted…"

N: So, Elena's been taken away and they think she's Katherine, now Team Salvatore Brothers in action; a new character will make an appearance next chapter to help them. Hope you liked this, review and let me know!