A/N: Amazingly, you guys did not have to wait too long for chapter 14. I have to say, I was shocked at how quickly the rest of it was written. The muses have been very kind. A special shout out to bfireworks5, sonjamarieevans411, and RealHuntress18 for reviewing, thank you all so much! I truly appreciate it and so glad to hear that you are all enjoying this story.

To RealHuntress18: To clear up any confusion you may have when Sara was reflecting on the supernatural obstacles of the past, she was just doing a general age estimate. So, when she says that Silas and Amara were over two thousand years old she's including that they're also older than her because she is a descendant of Amara's. When Sara references her age at any time, you can assume that Silas and Amara are older. In this timeline, Silas, Amara and Tessa would've been anywhere between 2500-2600 years old whereas Sara is about 2,445 years old. To just say that they were over 2000 years old is just a time savor because everyone already knows that Sara is younger than them, but older than Klaus. I hope this clears up any confusion and I'm glad you're enjoying this story.

Now without further ado, Chapter 14! Enjoy! :)

LadySparx

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Chapter 14: Hello Mother

While the others were busy cleaning up the living room Damon had searched the entire boarding house for any signs of the Striga. Unfortunately, there were none and the vampire was beginning to panic.

"Any luck?" Caroline asked as Damon walked into the now clean living room. All the empty alcohol bottles were picked up, the trash and left out food was all thrown into a large garbage bag that sat beside the couch, and all the knocked over furniture from the blast was set right. Those cleaning the living room were amazed at the fact that there was no soot to be found and were grateful for small mercies.

Damon shook his head. "No sign of her. Anywhere." He sighed as he quickly poured himself a glass of bourbon and downed it in one gulp. "She has to be fine, right? That magical blast couldn't hurt her, could it? I mean we're all fine." Damon said as he looked to Bonnie, hoping the former witch would be able to ease his nerves and that his immortal girlfriend was still alive and well. Knowing that Sara had claimed that nothing could harm her made him want to believe that she was alright, but it was the fact that she had also claimed that the chalice had no means of magic when it obviously did that was causing him to slowly unravel.

Bonnie wanted to tell him that she was sure Sara was fine, but this was a little out of her depth. She wasn't sure what the rules were here when it came to the Striga. Was the magic that was tied to chalice as ancient as Sara? She would have to know more about it and the only one that knew the most about the now destroyed object was currently missing. It didn't make sense to her that Katherine had been just as close as Sara had been when the blast hit and she had only been thrown across the room. The rest of them had just been knocked back a few feet and yet Sara was nowhere to be seen. They were missing something, she was sure of it. Since Sara was a supernatural creature and she had obviously not passed through her to get to the Other Side, Bonnie was seventy-five percent certain that the Striga was alive and well. So, she tried to give him the best convincing smile that she could. "I'm sure she's fine. Knowing Sara, she'll appear soon enough."

"Yeah." Stefan nodded as he placed a reassuring hand on his brother's shoulder. "She probably did her whole smoke thing to avoid the blast and just hasn't reemerged yet. She said she didn't like to use it all that much and the blast could've pushed her farther back than she wanted." He suggested, unsure exactly how Sara did said trick. He had yet to see her perform such trick and he was curious about it. Had she been a cloud of smoke to avoid being hit? Could the blast have blown the smoke into different directions? If that was the case, he could see why it would take longer for her to reemerge in human form if she had to wait till the smoke fragments became one again.

"Yeah, I guess." Damon grumbled with a nod, trying his best to go with the good thoughts. Sara could take care of herself, she'd proven that time and time again. But dammit, he wasn't used to just sitting back and waiting. He wasn't used to this whole dating thing period, but from this point forward he wasn't going to worry until he truly believed that there was something to worry about.

Yeah, right. Who the fuck was he kidding? He'd bet his whole god damn Bourbon stock that he wouldn't last no more than an hour before he'd resort to ripping his hair out. Sara was making him soft, at least when it came to her. Where the hell had the big, bad, 'I-don't-give-a-fuck-about-anything-or-anyone' vampire that he used to be go? Oh, that's right, he fell in love.

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Sara shifted from her awkward position as she began to come too. She groaned as the banging in her head intensified. With the position that she was in, she thought maybe she was leaning against one of the walls, but if that was the case the wall was far too comfortable. She tried to move her hands and legs, but found that she could barely move anything. Everything was stiff and stuck, what? Her eyes snapped open in panic. Despite her blurry vision, she knew she was not looking out one of the many windows of the boarding house. The trees were moving and the floor was far too soft. Nothing at all like the hardwood floor she expected, even with carpeting. What the hell was going on? She tried to speak, but what came out of her mouth was a muffled, garbled mess. She was gagged as well it seemed. The last time she had been in a similar position things had not gone well to say the least.

"Oh good. You're awake."

Sara turned her head the best she could to look at the person who spoke from somewhere behind her, her vision had now cleared enough for her to see a pair of brown eyes looking back at her. A pair of arms were stretched out in front of this person as they shifted something back and forth. Sara shuffled herself as best she could with her hands bound behind her back with the sash from her robe which she was noticed she was no longer wearing, only her negligee. Now in a slightly better position, she looked out in front of her to see a road. She was in someone's car? How? What the hell had happened?

"You and I are going to have a little chat and don't even think of trying anything funny. It would be a shame for something to happen to your precious vampire." The woman behind the wheel threatened as Sara felt the car pick up speed, no doubt taking her somewhere outside of Mystic Falls.

This would make her third kidnapping since she arrived in the small, supernatural hot spot. What the hell had she exactly gotten herself into? Unsure of what this woman was capable of, Sara complied with the threat and sat back, quiet in the passenger seat. She was sure that this woman was with the Travelers and if they were out for blood because of their dead comrades, then she wasn't going to risk the lives of those back at the boarding house. That is, if they weren't already dead. Had the magical blast harmed them? She seemed fine except for the massive migraine she was suffering from, but then again, she always was. Were they in danger like the woman suggested and who the hell was this woman?

"Since you really can't do much talking, you'll just have to do all the listening." The woman sneered as she shifted her eyes from the road to the immortal creature beside her. "You've gone and made quite the mess, Sara. He's not very happy with you and neither am I for that matter." She spat. The creature in her car may be the most dangerous thing to ever walk this earth, but she didn't know when to leave well enough alone. She interfered with the Travelers, the doppelgangers, and now…well Nadia had no intention of telling Him that the chalice was now gone. Gregor may be dead, but she could still save her mother. "You've gone and fucked up real good, Striga."

'Who the fuck is this woman?' Sara thought as she listened to her talk about the Travelers and their Master. Her Master. If this woman was part the group of Travelers that had arrived, why had she not seen her at the house? Had she arrived after she had fed on those back on Pleasant Drive? Did that mean that more may have shown up to replace them? She should've known that just because she killed a few Travelers and took all their shit that they wouldn't have canceled their agenda that concerned some of the people that she had come to see as family. If anything, she probably just made it all worse. 'So much for being of help.' Sara thought as she recalled the words she had said on the night she had met everyone.

Despite all her uncertainties about everything else going on, there was one thing that Sara was certain about when it came to this woman who had taken her from the boarding house and it was that she was family. The woman's soul told her as much. She would have to try and reach out to her. Sara closed her eyes trying to concentrate as the woman beside her droned on. What she was about to do, she hadn't done in quite some time. Since she'd been so messed up lately, she wasn't even sure if it was going to work at all, but she had to try. Perhaps she could reason with this woman and maybe get her to tell her what she knew about this grand plan concerning the doppelgangers.

Sara had more abilities than she could count, okay so that wasn't technically true, but there were still several that the others didn't know about. This current one in particular being that she could identify members of her family based on their soul. This woman's soul was familial with her own and she was much older than she appeared to be. 'No doubt a vampire.' She thought to herself before her eyes flashed as she tried to establish a channel. Being family meant that Sara had another way to communicate with her, she just hoped that it would work.

'Who are you?' she mentally sent to the brunette woman behind the wheel.

Nadia had been so surprised by the voice in her head that she had slammed on the brakes, causing Sara to be thrown against the dashboard with a loud thud before sinking back into the passenger seat.

"What the hell?!" Nadia shouted as the car came to a stop. She shifted in her seat to stare at the Striga with her mouth open.

'Oh good. You can hear me.' Sara pushed through with the same snarky tone that the woman had used with her earlier. If she hadn't been sore before, she was now.

"Nobody ever said anything about you being telepathic!" Nadia swore as she shifted in the front seat. Could the Striga read minds? Did she know of her plans about saving her mother?

'I'm not. Not technically. It only works with those I'm related to. So, tell me. How are we related?' Sara asked. She'd be able to figure it out for herself just by the fact that she knew how old this woman truly was, but she wanted to hear her say it. Make things a little easier on her for once.

Again, Nadia swore. How was she supposed to tell her when she hadn't even told Katherine? Perhaps, if she told Sara it would make telling Katherine easier. Sara could help and holy shit, their voices sounded exactly the same! The Striga seemed to have a soft spot for family. Why else had she put up with Katherine lately if not for the fact that she's family and her doppelganger? Maybe this could…. Now hold up just a god damn freaking minute! She was the one who was supposed to be in control here! Nadia shook her head and released a small growl. Damn, this woman. She was getting sidetracked and she couldn't afford to be.

'Fine, if you won't tell me how we're related then tell me this; who are you?' Sara pushed through, annoyance clear in her tone. Nadia figured she'd been silent too long for the Striga's liking. Needless to say, she was grateful for the subject change.

"My name is Nadia." She said as she moved the car back into traffic. She still had a job to do.

'Well then Nadia, mind telling me why you have me bound and gagged in the front seat of your car?'

Nadia rolled her eyes. "Like I said, you fucked up good. He's mad at you." she stated rather bluntly.

'Who is He? Tell me!' Sara demanded as she struggled a bit with her bindings, trying to get more comfortable.

Nadia smirked. "You're not exactly in a good position to be making demands." She laughed. At least for now, Nadia felt like she still had the upper hand.

'I just fed off 12 of your friends. You really think this scrap of fabric can hold me?' Sara sent back with a quirk of her eyebrow. She could easily erupt into a cloud of smoke and be back at the boarding house if she wanted to. With her latest feeding, she was plenty strong enough to do so and still have plenty of control. However, she wanted to see what this woman knew and how they were related. It wasn't every day that she met a member of her family. There wasn't much left to her familial line anymore and the chances of it continuing were impossible seeing as Elena was the youngest descendant that she was aware about. Jeremy technically did not count seeing as he was strictly on the Gilbert side and Elena was only related to her and Katherine via the Flemming side.

Nadia realized that this was a challenge as much as it was a warning and she knew that she would lose against the immortal creature. She was only still here because she believed her lover to be in some sort of trouble, if that. "I don't know who He is. I've never met him and I don't know his name." she informed, deciding to play it safe. While they had talked on the phone, Nadia had no idea who Gregor's Master is. Since she wasn't officially a member of the Travelers, she hadn't been allowed to know certain things. Gregor told her what he was allowed to tell her and some things he wasn't. However, most things she only knew because of her heightened senses.

'But you've talked with him? Recently?' Sara was desperate to know who this man was and what he wanted with her friends and why.

"As a matter of fact, I have. Just after the fire you caused was put out." Nadia spat as she sent a particular nasty look in the Striga's direction. She knew she was going to have to tread carefully around Sara, but the grief she still felt over the death of Gregor burned inside her. Threatening to become more than just a small ball of fire of grief and rage.

'I'd apologize, but…'

"You're not sorry. They got what they deserved. Yeah, yeah." Nadia interrupted as she returned her gaze to the road. Despite having believed that the plan was a good idea at the time, it was clear that she and the now dead squad had gotten what they deserved for going behind His back and deviating from the plan. "We never should have tried to capture you." She muttered under her breath.

However, Sara still heard her. 'Why did you?' she asked calmly. She wanted to know what their plans were for her or had been since they didn't seem to relate with their Master's plan. Not to mention, she could see just how much Nadia regretted their plan to involve her just by the sad look she had on her face.

"Ego mainly." Was the answer she got along with a shrug from the brunette. "We wanted to see if our theory to capture you would be correct. The Travelers are just as intrigued by you as they are terrified." She paused for a moment, concentrating on the road before picking back up. "We were told to steer clear of you. He warned us about you, all though it seems he did not warn us enough." She said through gritted teeth. Had He told them that he knew what they had been up to, they never would've done it. He had allowed them to make this stupid mistake that would cost lives and invaluable means for the Plan to be lost. Was there even still a plan now? With the chalice being gone, Nadia wasn't so sure. Was it as important as He had claimed it to be? She wasn't sure of anything anymore.

'Was it worth it?' Sara asked.

"No." she sighed. "I fear I've lost everything now." She whispered.

Sara was curious about this woman, this new family member she was learning that existed; Nadia. Based on her soul she was over 500 years old and a vampire she guessed, seeing as she was still alive. She could see a few similarities in appearance between them, despite their years apart. Genetics was a funny thing or so she thought it would be if it weren't for the fact that her family line was full of doppelgangers. That's when it clicked.

Sara's eyes widened. 'You're Katherine's child!' she sent in shock. Once again, the brakes were slammed on and this time instead of being thrown into the dashboard, Sara was sent flying through the windshield and onto the pavement.

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Nadia stood over the unconscious creature that had just gone through her windshield. She was beginning to wonder what exactly had she gotten herself into. She had strayed from her orders, but so far things still seemed to be working in her favor.

Flashback

Last night on Pleasant Drive…

"Get that chalice back, Nadia!" He hollered into the phone. Nadia had to hold her cell phone away from her ear because he was so loud.

"How do you expect me do that if she has it?" Nadia snapped. Clearly the Striga was a creature not to be messed with, like hell was she going anywhere near her if she could help it. She'd been lucky to escape the Striga's mass feeding since she had been with Katherine on the other side of town at the time. Originally though, she was supposed to be at the house with them. Hell, she was supposed to be with the group that had captured her, but because Katherine had called her after receiving her number in the letter she had left for her, she had gone to meet the woman she had been searching for so long for.

"I don't care how you do it, just do it!" he ordered before Nadia was met with silence. She half prayed that he had hung up on her, but she wasn't that lucky. "I want you to get the Striga to leave town. I'm tired of her interference."

"How the hell do you expect me to do that? Just walk up to her and say 'Hey, leave town'? In case you forgot, you already told her to do that and she didn't do it!" Nadia shouted into the cell phone. This was unbelievable, she was not going to get herself killed because He couldn't deal with the Striga's interference. If he wanted her gone so god damn bad, why didn't he just come here and take care of the Striga himself? It was clear that he knew far more about her than he ever let on.

"Oh, you'll get her to leave, Nadia. There's only one person that's keeping the Striga here. She may act like she cares about the others, but only one really matters to her."

Where did this guy get his information? She knew Katherine was not a fan of the Striga, but from what she had been told, the Salvatore brothers and their band of friends had quickly accepted the immortal women into their ranks. She figured the Striga must have cared for them somewhat as well seeing as she had been told that the Striga had always been more of a solitary creature. It was a reason why they had hoped that her capture would've been easy, but she had managed to elude them for months. The Striga was not such an easy creature to track down, that was until she had come to stay in Mystic Falls. "And who might that be?" she asked with a roll of her eyes.

"Damon Salvatore." He growled out. Nadia wasn't exactly surprised by this, but his next words caused her undead heart to skip a beat. "I want you to kill him. Selephia will get the message loud and clear."

"What?! Are you insane?" she screeched. "That'll just piss her off even more! You know, that is if I'm actually able to kill him." Nadia couldn't believe what he was telling her to do. She'd never be able to pull it off. It wasn't that she couldn't kill someone because she could and has, but this? Oh. Hell. No. She'd be killed the moment she stepped through the fucking front door. No, she'd just have to try and get the chalice back and be done with it. When she didn't receive a response for her outburst, she stared at her screen to see that he had finally disconnected the call.

She was so screwed.

End Flashback

So, she had been given her orders to get the chalice back, to kill Damon Salvatore and then get the Striga to leave town. None of which she had done or planned on doing. After all, Nadia had her own agenda here and it had nothing to do with the Travelers'. She had tried to get the chalice back for Him as well as herself, but she had been too late. What she had stumbled upon though was nothing what she had been expecting and because of it she now found herself here with an unconscious Striga, executing a plan she was making up along as she went.

Flashback

Earlier that morning…

Finding out that Katherine had possession of the chalice, well technically speaking, Nadia was relieved. She would have to try and sneak back in somehow and get it back or she could ask Katherine to find a way to get it back to her. She was so relieved with the fact that getting the chalice back would be a piece of cake that Nadia figured she could maybe get revenge on the Striga as well. Despite already having orders to kill Damon Salvatore, the Striga's current boy toy, she figured she may as well go through with it anyway as a way to avenge Gregor. After all, she had no intentions of ever letting the Striga leave town, not when she needed her body to save her mother. Her plan could still work.

Her cell phone chimed with a new text message from Katherine and her happiness level plummeted as quickly as it had soared. "The chalice actually belongs to the Striga?" she said out loud, shocked. Nadia quickly looked around her to see if anyone in The Grill had heard her. It didn't appear like they had, but she quickly left the bar anyway. She didn't even bother to pay for her cup of coffee, leaving the full, second cup on the table.

How was that even possible? She really shouldn't have been all that surprised, the thing had looked ancient. However, she never would've imagined that the two were connected. Was that why He wanted it back so badly? The Striga knew what it could be used for? Is that why he desperately wanted her gone? If she knew what his plans were then she could make sure that he could never have the last of the doppelganger souls.

Well, there was no way in hell that Nadia was going to wait to get it back now, she'd have to get the chalice herself. She quickly sent off a text to Katherine saying not to let anything happen to it before she got into her car and drove off towards the boarding house.

When she arrived, she never thought the place would be up in smoke. "That Striga and her damn fires!" Nadia growled as she parked along the side of the road, far enough away from view, before quickly vamp speeding off just as a large explosion was heard. The ground shaking from the intensity of the blast.

This wasn't smoke from a fire, it was something else. However, Nadia was quick to cover her mouth and nose as she entered the boarding house. The thick, purplish grey fog encompassed the living room. It was like some invisible force kept it from going past the doorway as it slowly started to clear. Nadia had no idea where to start her search for the chalice, but she knew she didn't have much time seeing as she heard voices coming from the other room. She didn't know what it was, but Nadia had an idea that what she was looking for had been the cause of this strange haze. So, she slowly proceeded into the room shrouded in this strange fog.

How she managed not to trip on overturned furniture and unconscious bodies was beyond her as she made her way into the living room. She could barely see two feet in front of her, but as she got closer to the fire place the easier it was to see. What little flames still thrived amongst the charred remains caused the remnants of the chalice to sparkle. Nadia ran to the hearth, so intent on hoping to save the chalice that she didn't care about the heat as her hands dove into the coals. She found some metals bits and a few gem stones, but that was all that remained of the chalice. 'Damn it!' she swore. It was gone. It was all gone!

Nadia stood as her anger threatened to tear her apart. She had to bite down on her lip to keep the cry of rage from slipping out of her throat. Now, the Striga would surely pay. Nadia quickly took off for the direction that she recalled seeing the unconscious form of one Damon Salvatore, prepared to extract her revenge and fulfilling her orders when the floor quickly jumped up to meet her. She hit the carpet covered hardwood with a muffled thud. Looking back to see what she had tripped over, she saw the unconscious face of her mother. Nadia scrambled to her knees, to check and see if Katherine was okay when she quickly realized something wasn't right. This wasn't Katherine, it was Sara. Nadia was in luck, the Striga was unconscious! How perfect was this?

The sounds of hurried footsteps and voices caused Nadia to panic as she realized the smoke had nearly all, but cleared. Those that were unconscious were also beginning to stir as the haze cleared from room. She could be caught at any moment. Abandoning her orders and her plan for revenge, Nadia gathered the Striga into her arms and quickly fled the boarding house to her waiting car. She would deal with the Striga on her own.

End Flashback

So now here she was with the creature that was the cause of her disdain and she honestly didn't know what to make of her. For having gone through a windshield at 65 miles an hour, the Striga had nothing more than a few scrapes and scratches and maybe a few broken bones, if that. She was impressed to say the least, but this was also the woman who had killed her lover and some of her friends and Nadia just wanted to make her hurt as much as she did. However, there was also the fact that they were technically family, she was her mother's doppelganger and perhaps a way into Katherine's good graces. She needed Sara and she needed her body, in order to save her mother.

So, again Nadia didn't know what to really do with her. She did know that if the Striga were to come too before she could execute whatever plan she trying to come up with, she was bound to be mad as hell and would surely kill her if given half the chance. Not wanting to waste any more time, Nadia picked up the unconscious Striga and placed her back into the car before driving off to the destination that had just come to mind. She now had a relatively decent plan formulated to follow through on, a way to keep the Striga out of the way until the time came that Nadia needed her.

Upon reaching the cliff that over looked the quarry, Nadia threw the car into park before getting out and lifting Sara into her arms. Even with her increased strength, she figured the Striga weighed less than the average human. She was so light that it didn't seem possible, it couldn't be considered healthy for her to even feel this light. However, given her creature status Nadia wasn't sure what normal would be considered for the immortal woman. As Nadia pressed a button on her key remote to pop the trunk open, Sara groaned. Jesus, this woman's recovery time was off the charts. Afraid she was running out of time, Nadia quickly tossed the Striga into her trunk like she was nothing more than suitcase.

Sara groaned as she came to a second time, finding that everything hurt even more than before. She tried to shuffle around to get more comfortable after being tossed around like luggage, but moving caused even more pain to shoot through her nerve endings. It was probably for the best that she had limited space to maneuver in. Wait, what? Sara's eyes snapped open to be greeted by a beam of sunlight. She quickly squeezed them shut to block the sun's rays. She was sure it wasn't even one in the afternoon and she was already over today. Hell, she was over this week.

"You really are immortal, aren't you? Even a vampire would've been banged up more than you are now." Nadia's voice sneered from somewhere in front of her.

Sara's eyes opened once more to see Nadia standing over her, at least she was blocking the sun now, but it did nothing to ease the pain she felt. With Nadia blocking the sun, she was able to focus more on her surroundings. She wasn't on the pavement like she expected to be after going through the windshield, but in the trunk of Nadia's car. Why was she in the trunk? She would've asked as much, but found that their mental connection had been broken when she lost consciousness and she was in too much pain to even attempt opening up another.

If she was being honest with herself, Sara didn't think she'd be able to establish a new link anyway. This wasn't exactly one of the more practiced of her abilities. It was rare that she got to meet one of her family's descendants, that was if you didn't count the two other doppelgangers back at the boarding house and now Nadia. Three in one year was unheard of. It was rare if she found more than one every couple of decades or so, but to be honest she didn't really keep track of them. After she was exiled, she had lost touch with the rest of her family and it didn't help that her Uncle Cato and everyone had left Rome shortly after.

"Well, immortal or not, you won't be interfering with the Travelers anymore." Nadia growled as she slammed the trunk door down on Sara, plunging her into darkness. "Have a nice swim, Sara."

Sara struggled against her bindings the best she could as the trunk was slammed down on her, but froze when she was finally able to comprehend Nadia's muffled words. 'Swim?!' What the hell did that mean? As she shuffled around to try and undo her bindings, she felt before she heard the car creak forward. 'Fuck!' she swore as she felt the car go airborne as Nadia pushed the vehicle over the cliff.

Nadia watched the car as it went over the cliff. It crashed into the rocks here and there as it made its way down before splashing into the cold, murky waters below. Finally, they were free of the Striga's interferences with their plans. It was going to suck when the time came to retrieve her from her watery prison, but that was an issue for another day. Nadia pulled out her cell phone, intent on calling Him with the news when she turned around and came face to face with Sara. "How the h…" Nadia was cut off by a hand around her throat.

"I think it's time we had a little chat." Sara growled as she increased her grip on the vampire's throat. Her eyes flashed dangerously as she held the vampire a few inches off the ground, nearly crushing Nadia's windpipe.

The cell phone in Nadia's hands fell to the ground and bounced over the cliff as she clawed at Sara's hand. For having watched the car hit the water, Nadia noticed that Sara was still impeccably dry and now free of her bindings. How the hell had that happened? Clearly, she had gotten free, but how had she managed to escape the water in such a short amount of time? She never even saw Sara escape from the car. "Wha…what …are…y…you?" Nadia managed out as she gasped for breath. She was beginning to understand why they had been told to leave the Striga alone and it terrified the shit out of her.

Sara smirked. "Your worst nightmare." She growled out as she pulled Nadia closer to her, only a few inches were between them. Her eyes shifted to white as a piece of Nadia's soul floated from her mouth to Sara's.

x-TOPD-x

Back at the Boarding House…

It had been three hours since Sara had gone missing and once again Damon was not handling it well. He'd manage not to get himself drunk, but only because Stefan locked the door to the basement and hid the key within the first hour. In hindsight, it wasn't the greatest idea since the blood bag stock was also down in the basement and after Caroline's third round of nagging, Stefan had been forced to unlock the basement door after only forty-five minutes. To keep everyone else's minds at bay, they had cleaned the entire boarding house while they waited for Sara's return. The place had never been so clean.

"So, ah, is everyone coming over to clean our house next?" Jeremy called as he dumped out his bucket full of dirty water out of the window of the second-floor room he had been assigned to. Stefan just happened to be outside the window beating at a few old rugs before they were to be laid out and washed with the carpet cleaner Matt was in charge of.

"Hey! Watch it!" Matt shouted from the back patio as he just barely dodged the cascading, dirty water. He looked up and glared at Jeremy as he leaned out the window.

"Oops. Sorry!" he called down, giving the bartender an apologetic look as he brought the bucket back inside. He hadn't even looked before tossing the water, he had been to focused on giving Stefan hell for making him clean his house.

"Careful Jeremy!" Stefan shouted before rolling his eyes at the hunter's attitude. In his mind, this was better than everyone arguing or worrying themselves to death over the Striga and some of the rooms in the boarding house really did need this form of deep cleaning. So why not take the opportunity?

"Hey, I said I was sorry!" Jeremy snapped back as Stefan removed the rug from the line and laid it out for Matt to clean.

"I thought Damon was supposed to be the one in a bad mood." Came the voice of his sister as she walked into the bedroom.

"I just don't see why we gotta clean the whole place." Jeremy huffed as he turned to look at Elena.

"We're not cleaning the whole place, just the rooms that needed to be opened up. You know for how often we're here, there are still rooms I've never seen. Like this one for example." Elena said as she looked around the room Jeremy had been assigned. It was clearly one of the smaller bedrooms that the boarding house had, it didn't even have its own bathroom. Jeremy hadn't done to bad a job either or so she thought until she ran a hand over the dresser. She gave him a pointed look as she pulled back with a handful of dust.

"I hadn't gotten over there yet." Jeremy said with a sheepish look on his face.

"Then why did you dump out the water?" Busted.

"It was all dirty, I needed a new bucket full." Not busted. However, Jeremy had no intention of refilling his bucket and his sister knew it.

"Well here, let me." She offered and as Jeremy tried to tell Elena that it wasn't necessary, she had snatched the bucket from him and returned with a fresh batch of water before he could finish saying 'You don't have too.'

"Gee, thanks." Jeremy said with a groan before he resumed his cleaning duties. Elena gave him a smug look before she took off to open up the next room on her list. Being a vampire made cleaning go by so much faster.

x-TOPD-x

Nadia coughed and gasped as she made contact with the ground. Sara had released her after feeding enough to heal herself of her minor injuries. With the massive feeding session she had had with the Travelers the other day it hadn't been necessary, but she felt that Nadia needed to learn her place. Much like Katherine before.

'Like mother, like daughter.' Sara thought as she stared down at Nadia.

"Holy…holy shit!" Nadia wheezed as she stared up at her mother's look-a-like. "I knew you fed off souls, but I never thought that it'd feel like that." Had the feeling been the same for Gregor? She quickly shook her head to wipe the feeling away. She knew she never wanted to experience it again for as long as she lived.

"What, not a good feeling?" Sara asked, her head tilted to the side. The grin on her lips said that she wasn't even slightly apologetic.

"Not at all." Nadia said with a shake of her head. "You didn't do anything to me, did you?" She asked as she stood up. Even though she felt fine, she didn't know what the repercussions would be because of this if there even were any.

"You'll be fine. No lasting damage." Sara assured before her gaze hardened. "This time."

Nadia nodded her head at the threat. "Got it."

"Now, you're going to answer my questions."

"On one condition…" The two women faced one another as they negotiated. One wearing only a black negligee and was barefoot with her hands on her hips and the other in a complete outfit with her hands balled into fists by her sides. They would look to be quite the odd couple having a standoff if anyone were to come across them on the cliff.

x-TOPD-x

"You know, I don't think this place has been this clean since…actually I don't know if it's ever been this clean." Stefan said as everyone congregated onto the back patio for a late lunch.

"Sure it has, back when there were maids living here." Damon chuckled as he flipped burgers on the grill. He was finally in a good mood and everyone was glad that he had stopped giving Stefan a run for his money at being the broody brother.

It was Matt's idea to have Damon man the grill and he was currently patting himself on the back as it gave the raven-haired vampire something else to concentrate on other than his still missing girlfriend.

"Hey Donovan, isn't this your job?" Damon shouted over his shoulder.

"Yeah, but it's my day off." Matt grinned smugly from where he sat at the table, munching on chips. "You know it's kinda nice being waited on for a change." He laughed as he leaned back in his chair, taking a swig off his beer bottle. Yup, best idea ever.

"Yeah, well don't get used to it." Damon growled out in good nature.

"Get used to what?" Everyone turned to look at Elena, who was placing condiments on the table with the help of Caroline and Bonnie.

"What?" she asked, giving everyone a strange look. "I didn't say anything." She shrugged. If she hadn't said anything then…

"Sara!" Jeremy shouted as he and Stefan paused in their game of tossing an old football Jeremy had found while everyone bad been cleaning. Jeremy quickly took off in the direction towards the Striga while everyone had turned to see Sara standing in the back door that lead into the kitchen.

Damon was at her side in an instant, lifting her into the air and swinging her around. "Are you okay? What the hell happened?" he asked as he set her back down looking her over to ensure for himself that she was in one piece. When he deemed that she was indeed fine, he heaved a huge sigh of relief. His Sara was back.

"I'm fine, Damon." Sara smiled as she hugged her vampire before capturing his lips in a kiss. "Really, everyone I'm okay." She said as after breaking their kiss, trying to assure the group as they surrounded her. Jeremy threw his arms around the Striga and had her in a death grip. "Jeremy, I may be immortal, but I still need to breath." she wheezed out.

"Oops." Jeremy said as he quickly released her. "Sorry." he apologized with a sheepish grin on his face. Being a hunter now, he sometimes forgot how strong he was.

"What happened?" Damon asked again as he wrapped his arm around her waist before sending Matt a pointed look. He was effectively abandoning his post at the grill.

"Yeah, I got it." Matt grumbled with a nod before going over to the grill to keep an eye on the meat. Sara was back, safe and seemingly unharmed, so he didn't mind. Even if it was supposed to be his day off.

"It's…complicated." Sara said as she motioned for everyone to move back and sit down.

"Was it the magic from the chalice? Are you sure you're alright?" Bonnie asked as they all sat around the patio table, wondering if the magic could have done something to the immortal woman.

"Really guys, I'm fine. It wasn't the blast." Sara said with a shake of her head. "More like Travelers." Even though Nadia wasn't technically a Traveler, being a vampire and all, she did take orders from their Master, so she was more of an honorary member to Sara.

"Travelers?!" everyone shouted.

"There are more of them? How?" Jeremy asked.

"There are more than just the twelve I killed, Jeremy. There are hundreds to maybe even thousands of them, but that's beside the point." Sara informed before explaining that when everyone had been knocked back from the blast and before the smoke cleared, a vampire had gotten into the boarding house and took her away.

"A vampire?" Katherine asked, she was only aware of one other vampire that was in town and that had associations with the Travelers no less. Nadia couldn't have been that stupid, could she? Kidnapping the Striga? Was their plan of placing her soul into Sara's body over now? Hell, was Nadia even still alive?

Sara nodded. "That's right. She was part of the group of Travelers that took Stefan and I."

"Please tell me you killed her?" Damon scoffed with an eyeroll, hoping that they could be rid of all this Traveler bullshit once and for all.

"Not exactly." Sara said as she looked back towards the kitchen. She got up from the table and walked back towards the open door, motioning for someone to join her. "I have someone I want you all to meet." She said as Nadia joined her outside.

Nadia walked towards the group behind Sara and it was weird seeing three versions of her mother before her. At least it was a little easy to tell them apart, but she wondered if she was doing the right thing.

"Is this the vampire?" Damon growled as he stood up, glaring at the woman who had broken into his home and kidnapped his girlfriend.

"Damon." Sara warned before quickly addressing the others. "Everyone, I'd like for you all to meet Nadia Petrova."

"Petrova?" Katherine repeated, genuinely shocked at this new piece of information. Sara couldn't be insinuating that Nadia was…it just wasn't possible.

As everyone stood around in shock over the news, Nadia smiled as she took a step towards Katherine. Her secret was out now and if she was being honest with herself, it felt really good.

"Hello, Mother."

x-TOPD-x

A/N: And that is chapter 14! Rest assured everything will come full circle before the story is done. Please review and enjoy chapter 15! Any questions that weren't answered in this chapter, may be answered in 15. If they're not, stay tuned for other chapters to find out the answers that are still come along with many more questions.