A/N- So this chapter might be a little shorter because I didn't have time to write all I wanted to, so I had to move a few things around in the plot, but I finally figured it out. I have loved getting feed back this for this story and have gotten some interesting suggestions.
Special thank you to DreaminOfLove22 for reviewing again. :)
Lexi paced back and forth in the Salvatore living room with the moonstone in her hand. "I need to do something."
Damon was out at the grill, drinking away his worries and wasting the time until dark. The teacher was locked in one of the rooms, because none of them were sure exactly what to do with him. He was full of vervain, so they couldn't compel him, but they couldn't let him just go out knowing everything about them either.
"We can't do anything yet." Caroline replied, always the voice of reason. "You don't have a daylight ring so we have to wait till night."
Lexi turned to her suddenly. "Then I need one. Where did you get yours?"
Caroline sat back slowly. "I . . . I know a witch."
"Who is it? We never actually got your answer earlier."
Caroline looked worried. "I don't know if I should tell you."
"Why?" Lexi asked, throwing her hands up in the air.
"Because she is a friend, and she doesn't really like vampires."
"But she helped you." Lexi sat down next to Caroline. "Please? Could you just ask for a favor and call her over? I have not been able to walk in the sun for a very long time. And anyway, if it got one, we would be able to make a deal with Klaus now."
Caroline sighed. "Fine, but you have to promise not to do anything to hurt her."
"Thank you!" Lexi said.
Caroline pulled out her phone and called her friend, asking her to come over to the Salvatore's house. Lexi resumed pacing for another fifteen minutes as she waited for the witch to show up.
Finally she heard the sound of a car pulling up to the house and a minute later there was a knock on the door. Caroline headed over and pulled the door open just enough for Bonnie to squeeze in. She didn't want to let too much sunlight in.
Bonnie squinted in the darkness of the house. All the windows had been covered. Although they had a healthy fire going and some light from the overhead lights, they were not very bright.
Lexi walked up to Bonnie, trying not to seem to eager, but at the same time desperate to get a ring, desperate to be a part of the action. "Will you make me a ring?"
Bonnie looked Lexi over, careful to keep a bit of a distance between them. "How can I trust you?"
Lexi shrugged. "I saved Caroline's life. But I guess that doesn't prove anything, because I could be lying."
"Wait." Caroline said. "When did you save my life?" Lexi didn't say anything, watching Caroline think about it for a moment before realization dawned on her face. "That night on the road. The accident. That was you?"
Lexi nodded.
Caroline turned to Bonnie, who was looking back and forth between the two girls, trying to understand what was happening. "Bonnie, you can trust her. She really did save my life."
Bonnie bit her bottom lip, debating what she should do for a moment. "Okay. I'll do it."
Lexi waited another few minutes, watching the new witch perform the increasingly familiar spell. When she was finished she picked up the ring and handed it to Lexi. "It's done. Now I'm going to go. My Grams is always telling me not to get involved in vampire business and I've done enough already."
Lexi said thank you while Bonnie went out the front door. The moment the door was closed, she rushed to one of the covered windows and tour down the heavy cloth that had been hanging over it. Sunlight fell into the room and onto the girl who was standing with her arms held out wide, soaking in the light she hadn't seen in over at least one hundred years.
Caroline smiled, letting Lexi have that time to enjoy the sun. The old vampire finally turned back to her new friend, a new determination on her face.
"Call Klaus. We are going to organize a negotiation. Elena for the moonstone. And it happens NOW."
The room was quiet. And empty. He was all alone.
Stefan sat up as quickly as he could, trying to get his bearings. All at once his memories came flooding back to him. Elena was a vampire. He had been kidnapped. Then she was there with him. Someone had come asking questions and then . . . He couldn't remember.
He stood up and peaked out the barred window in the door. There was a wall straight across from him with the silhouette of a window from the corridor to the left lit up against the wall by the sunlight. If he had to guess what time it was, he would have said late afternoon by the colors of the light. To the right there was a chair with a young boy sitting in it watching the cell door.
When he saw Stefan peeking out the window, he stood up and came over, smiling. He reached down and unlocked the door. He stepped into the cell, leaving the door behind him slightly ajar. "Well look what we have here." He said. "A newbie. You're finally back from the dead."
"What are you doing with me?" Stefan asked, then even more desperately, "Where is Elena? What have you done with her?"
"Calm down, calm down." The boy said. "Let's start over." He held out his hand. "I'm Kol."
Stefan stared at the hand being held out to him as if it were a foreign object. "What are you doing?" He asked.
Kol shrugged. "Just trying to be friendly."
Stefan watched Kol, trying to get a read on him, when he felt something sting his hand. He reached back into his pocket where he had felt it and found a piece of vervain. It must have been there since his brother had told him to carry it around with him weeks ago, before he had even learned of the existence of vampires. He grabbed it, noticing that it stung him to touch it, but it wasn't unbearable. He knew this was an important piece of information, but he didn't think about it. Right then, his goal was to get out of that cell.
"Why would you try to be friendly to me? I am your prisoner." Stefan answered, now trying to divert Kol's attention as he slipped the vervain out of his pocket and hid it in his hand, ignoring the pain it gave him. It wasn't too much for him to bear. At least not yet.
"It's entertaining." Kol said. Stefan nodded and made as if he was going to say something else, but instead quickly shoved it into Kol's face. He tried to rub it in, hoping maybe to get an eye and then ran, closing the door behind him. To his joy, he heard a click as it locked shut behind him.
He was up the stairs and out the front door faster than he knew he could be.
They were to meet Klaus in the middle of the town square. It was a public place and neutral ground, which would make it much harder for either party to double cross the other.
It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining high in the sky and the trees were just starting to turn color. The clouds were puffy and moved along through the blue sky slow and steady. It was cool out, but not freezing, the perfect weather for a cozy sweater that was a little too big and cuddling up to a loved one.
Damon wondered if the two blond vampires standing to either side of him even felt it, the temperature. They were wearing jackets, but that could have easily been for the benefit of any pedestrians who would see them standing there, out in the middle of the square on a cool day.
He couldn't really help but wonder how exactly he had gotten himself into this situation in the first place. Just a few weeks ago he had been a normal mechanics wow lived with his little brother and spent his free time at the bar, drinking. When had his life become this? He was standing there, in the center of his hometown, flanked by two blonde vampires waiting to bargain with an Immortal original vampire with a smooth white stone called a moonstone for a girl whom his brother had broken up with. A girl he had no reason to care about anymore.
Caroline stood first, being the first to see the new arrivals. Lexi noticed next and then Damon, both standing from the bench they had been waiting at in succession. Klaus had arrived, along with his brother, sister, and Elena. They walked with Elena between the two boys. To anyone else walking by it would just have looked like they were leading her by the arm, but Damon knew better. If she were to make one move to escape, before they allowed her to, they would stop her with whatever force necessary.
The new group reached the Damon and the girls and stopped. Klaus looked at them all in turn before finally letting his gaze settle on Damon. "Did you bring the moonstone?" He asked him.
Damon couldn't help but glance over to Elena. She couldn't say anything out loud, as Klaus would also hear it, but she pleaded with him with her eyes. She begged him not to hand it over for her. She told him how she would be okay, that her life wasn't worth whatever damage Klaus would inevitably do with it once he had it.
Damon looked back toward Klaus. He didn't care. He couldn't let her suffer and die because he wouldn't give up the stone. Whatever Klaus did with it would have to be a problem for another day, which they would deal with then, but right then, they needed Elena. Klaus was most likely going to get the stone anyway, and when he did, they would need her help to stop him. "I have it." he said, reaching into his back pocket and pulling it out. She showed it to the old vampire standing opposite him.
Klaus seemed satisfied in the fact that it was the real deal. There were no tricks this time. He turned and nodded at his brother and they let go of Elena's arms at the same time. The moment she was free she had speed over to the protection of her friends.
Klaus grabbed the moonstone from Damon's outstretched hand. "Thank you for doing business with us." he said. The three siblings then turned and walked away.
The group of four watched them go and when they were finally gone Elena whirled on Damon. "I can't believe I trusted you with that and now you went and gave away our only bargaining chip."
Damon opened his mouth, about to defend himself, but she cut him off. "It doesn't matter right now. We have bigger problems."
Caroline stepped forward. "What do you mean?"
Elena looked worried. Whatever she knew, it was bad news. Like they didn't already have enough of that. "It's Stefan." She said.