When the Salvatores reached the boarding house, Jeremy was waiting for them outside. "Where have you guys been?" he asked. "We've been trying to contact you for almost an hour now."

"We went to the old Salvatore mansion and we found out that Susan's been staying there", replied Stefan. "I don't know how long she's been there but clearly, she sleeps there now."

"So now all we have to do is go kill her. We've got her this time", added Damon. "What was that about you trying to get in touch with us?"

"When Elena couldn't reach either of you, she called me. Turns out a girl was killed at the Whitmore campus." Jeremy then continued to tell them everything Elena had told him.

"Does she really think that I care about some girl I haven't even met being dead?" asked Damon.

"You do realise that her death is on you, right? Susan killed her just because you ignored her." Jeremy couldn't believe that Damon could be this flippant. But then again, this was the same guy that snapped his neck; who killed people without thinking twice about it. Giving up on trying to argue with the elder Salvatore, he asked, "What does she mean you ignored her?"

"She left him a note at the old Salvatore mansion. I found it and gave it to him but he decided to tear it up and burn it without reading it. But what kind of game is Susan playing? I thought she wanted to kill us because of us some grudge against Damon. Why would she hurt someone we don't know at all?" Stefan didn't like the idea of innocent people being caught in the cross fire.

"I don't know, Stefan. May be it's because she's a vampire and last I checked, vampires kill people. She was probably just hungry while she was at Whitmore and killed her and then decided it would be fun to mess with Elena while she was at it. And honestly, I don't care what game she's playing and I'm not going to be playing by her rules."

"Do you really think it's smart to provoke her? She's made it clear that she's willing to kill. How many more people does she have to kill for you to see that?" asked Jeremy.

"She isn't going to kill anyone else. You want to know why? It's because I'm going to kill her tonight. I'm just going to call Elena and explain the whole thing to her and then I'm going back to the old Salvatore mansion and we can be rid of her once and for all."

Damon then called Elena but he wasn't surprised when she didn't answer. He knew she was probably asleep by now. So he turned back to Jeremy and Stefan and said, "Want to hear Susan speak her last words?"

Before either of them could answer, a raven swooped into the house, dropped an envelope at Damon's feet and flew away. Damon retrieved the envelope and on seeing his name printed on it, he got ready to rip it apart but Stefan sped to him and took the envelope out of his hands and opened it. "Let's not let history repeat itself", he said and read the note out loud. "'I'm on to you.' She knows."

"So what if she knows? She'll be dead before the sun rises", said Damon as he took a look at his vibrating phone. The display read "Elena". He answered the phone with, "We've got her."

The answering voice on the other side was not Elena's. The speaker said, "And I've got her."

Damon's grip on the phone hardened as he snarled into it, "Susan."

"The one and only", said the voice at the other end of the line. "Meet me at Elena's room right now and we'll talk." She hung up the phone immediately before Damon could make any threats.

Turning back to Jeremy and Stefan, he said, "I guess there's going to be a slight change of plans." The other two simply glared back in response.

-xx-

Hanging up on Damon, Susan turned back to face the room. Elena was lying on the floor with her neck snapped. She really was a fighter and Susan knew that she would return to consciousness very soon. Once she had managed to neutralize Elena, Bonnie was more compliant. Right then, she was sitting at the edge of her bed. She had to work quickly before Elena came around again. She found a chair and moved it to the centre of the room. Then she turned to Bonnie and said, "Take a seat", motioning towards the chair. Bonnie got up and sat down on the chair. Susan quickly tied her wrists to the arms of the chair and her ankles to the front legs of the chair. She then went to Elena and picked her up after ensuring that she was still out. She turned around to Bonnie once more and said, "When Damon gets here, tell him to meet me by the tree where you found your class mate and tell him that he has to come alone." With that, Susan walked out the room, closing the door behind her. She had a few things to do in preparation for Damon's visit.

Bonnie tried to get out of the chair by trying to pull her hands out of the bonds but the ropes only cut into her skin. No matter how much she struggled, she couldn't get out. She was starting to get very frustrated and she wished she could somehow call for help. She turned to the left to see her cell phone lying on her bed and out of her reach. The screen was lit up and she could see Jeremy's face smiling up at her. As much as she wanted to answer the call, she couldn't do it. Her only consolation was that Damon and probably Stefan were on their way.

After what felt like an eternity, but was only 30 minutes, Bonnie heard the door to her room being unlocked. She felt a great wave of relief wash over her when she saw Caroline. "Caroline! Thank God you're here", she called out.

Caroline was in shock at the scene in front of her. The room looked trashed and Bonnie was tied to a chair at the centre of the room. "What happened here?" she asked as she quickly undid the ropes that held Bonnie immobile.

"Susan happened. She took Elena and told Damon to meet her here. Then she told me to tell him to meet her alone by the tree where Elena and I found her last victim."

"Her last victim? Are you telling me that Susan killed someone else too?"

Bonnie then went on to explain everything that she knew to Caroline. When she was free again, she noticed her phone was buzzing again. She picked it up and saw that it was Jeremy calling her again. "It's Jeremy"

"Isn't he supposed to be with Damon and Stefan?"

She nodded and answered the call to hear Jeremy's concerned voice almost screaming at her. "Bonnie, are you alright?"

"I'm fine but Susan's got Elena"

"We know. Damon, Stefan and I are on our way there. Where are you?"

"I'm still in my room and Caroline just got here. Susan left a message for Damon. She wants him to meet her alone by the tree where we found her last victim."

"Hang on I'm going to put you on speaker."

She then heard Stefan say, "You can see that tree from you room, right? Can you see here there yet?"

Bonnie stepped to the window. "No, there's no sign of her or Elena. There's no one there at all."

"Just keep an eye out just in case she turns up. If you see anything, let us know immediately" said Stefan before Jeremy cut in, "Whatever you do, don't try to go up against Susan."

"I won't", she promised before hanging up. Still looking out the window, she asked, "What do you think Susan has planned?"

Caroline walked over to the window as well. "I have no clue. I just hope she doesn't hurt Elena." Caroline did her best, straining to see every little detail in the dark. It was then that she noticed something under the tree. She pointed at it and asked Bonnie, "Do you see that?"

"Yeah, I do. What do you think it is? It's too small to be Elena. It looks like a child."

"I'm going to take a closer look."

"No, Caroline, wait. Susan explicitly said that Damon was to meet her alone. If she so much as senses someone else there, who knows what she would do to Elena?"

"We can't just sit here and wait for her. This is Elena we're talking about. I'm not going to stand by and watch if there's even the slightest chance that we could do something to help her. I promise to be extra careful. I won't let Elena die the way my mom did." Before Bonnie could say another word, Caroline left the room. With no other choice, she sat by the window and watched the tree. In a matter of minutes she heard a knock on the door. She opened the door and let Stefan and Jeremy into the room. "Caroline is somewhere closer to the tree. There's someone standing under it. She said she was going to keep her distance but try to find out who it is."

"Damon's on the way there too", said Stefan as he joined her at the window and then the waiting game began. He knew it was a risk to send Damon in there alone. Now he had to make his own decisions which meant that there was no one forcing him to play this Susan's way. The only reason Stefan let him go on his own was because he was convinced that he loved Elena enough to do as Susan said.

-xx-

Caroline stood in front of the building closest to the tree. From there she could clearly see a young boy standing under the tree looking lost. She wondered who he was and how he got there. She then saw Stefan and Jeremy making their way to the dorms and Damon walking toward the trees. He stopped for a minute and turned around and looked directly at her. In less than a second he was right beside her. "What are you doing here?" he hissed. "If Susan sees you here, Elena is as good as dead."

"Since when did you start playing by Susan's rules?" shot back Caroline.

"Since she kidnapped my girlfriend and threatened to kill her."

"Elena's my best friend. If I thought that there was the slightest chance that she could be in danger because of what I'm doing, I would stop doing it."

"Yeah, well, that's what I thought about leaving your mother in the woods when we went looking for her and look where that got us." Caroline looked visibly stung. "That's why you're here, isn't it?" continued Damon. "Your mom is dead because of her, indirectly and now you want to kill her."

Caroline sighed. "Well can you blame me? But I promise you, nothing will happen to Elena. I'll be careful and I'll make sure that she doesn't find out that I'm here."

Damon paused and thought about it for a minute. "You know what? You're right. Nothing's going to happen to Elena because I have a plan" he said with a sly smile. He knew exactly what he had to do. Susan would be dead before sunrise. They were back on track.

-xx-

AN: As I'm sure you can tell, the story is almost over. I'm working on another one as well to get me through the next few months until season 6. And please, review.