Elena had lost count of the days that she had been strapped to the "chair of doom", as she liked to refer to it. The only way she had any sort of time frame was due to the hunger pains that were becoming more and more severe as time went on. In all her time as a vampire, which admittedly wasn't all that long, she had never been to this point of hunger. Not even when she had first been turned did the thought of blood set her throat ablaze and her stomach into ravenous knots. So, she guessed that she had been locked away for nearly two weeks. Her hunger usually settled in at about a week and the way she felt at this moment was double the norm. Although, she didn't take into consideration that she had been sitting in vervain soaked ropes or that her mind was left to focus on few things which could have made things worse off than what they really were. Either way, thinking about how long she had been trapped did nothing to soothe the gnawing sensation that had formed in the pit of her stomach.
Her thoughts then shifted to Kol. Would he be out looking for her? Did he even care that she had disappeared? The longer she stayed tied up, the more she began to think that she had been a distraction for both of the Originals to pass time in their very long lives. Just as that thought settled in, she mentally slapped herself. She had to have faith or else she was liable to go mad. Taking a deep breath, she calmed her roiling emotions and focused on reciting the periodic table according to mass. It was the only thing she could think of to stave of the thoughts of her thirst and imprisonment.
As she reached the end of her list, her thoughts strayed back to Kol. She had thought that she had been in love before, or at the very least understood what love was, but as she was sitting there recounting how he had made her feel in such a short time, she decided that she had been a naive teenage girl up until this point. With Matt, it was her first real boyfriend. He was kind and sweet and she really could understand what Rebekah saw in him, especially after the type of men she had to deal with. But for her, Matt was too safe, too sweet, too…vanilla. It may sound petty coming from her and especially all the crap she had put him through, but he really was a good guy, just not her type of guy.
Stefan was similar to Matt, save for the danger factor. He was still sweet but held the edge that she so craved. Still, it wasn't enough and when she found that picture of Katherine, it pretty much shredded any hope that she may have had at truly falling in love with the younger Salvatore.
Then there was Damon, and even though she didn't date him or love him romantically, she had been attracted to his sporadic and unpredictable behavior. He was cruel at times, though that was when he was hurt or trying to cover up the fact that he cared. She had determined that, given the time, she could've fallen in love with him and it would've been something real. Though that idea was blown to hell when Katherine waltzed back in accepting both of the Salvatore's as her "boys". Given the history, they didn't mind if she didn't.
Elena had given up on the idea of love, considering it a foolish notion that people tricked themselves into believing but she had to admit, after a considerable amount of time around Kol, that it was a conceivable notion and maybe she had dismissed it a bit too early.
As she sat strapped to the stupid chair for the foreseeable future, she desperately hoped that she wasn't the only one that felt the connection.
She sighed and resigned herself to the inky darkness and the searing burn of the vervain ropes, but she clung to the hope that Kol loved her as much as she loved him and that he would find her.
Tatia knew the only way she could go about getting her boys back to Italy would be the straightest route, which admittedly was the most dangerous. Though she would also have to retrieve the other doppelganger before the real party could start. So, she'd have to giver herself enough of a head start so that she could nab the wench and make it back to Italy before they left again or, in a one in a million chance, found the other doppelganger.
Pulling one pamphlet she had purposefully brought with her she carefully snuck up to the Salvatore mansion and carefully slipped the pamphlet into the slot before taking off to a secluded hiding spot to watch the action unfold from. It didn't take very long before Katherine threw the door open, her eyes darting around wildly, trying to find the person responsible.
Tatia laughed to herself. It was all unfolding perfectly. Klaus was on his way back to Mystic Falls and soon the brother trio would be headed on a plane for Italy, leaving poor Katarina by her lonesome. The woman's malicious grin spread further.
Yes, all was going according to plan and soon enough the doppelgangers would be disposed of and the brothers would be hers.
Katherine had been ready to go and meet up with the Original's when a folded piece of paper had caught her attention. As she picked it up, she noticed that it was written in English but there were hints of Italian scattered throughout it. She realized it was a travel guide pamphlet for Italy, Rome to be exact. Her eyes widened as she flipped it to the back and there written in permanent marker was a name 'St. Tiburtis, find him and you find her.'
She ran outside to see if the person who had abducted Elena was still near, but she couldn't sense a thing. Whoever it was, was long gone.
Quickly, she pulled her phone from her pocket and dialed Elijah. He would know what the message meant, she was sure of it.
A/N. This chapter has been a long time in the making simply for the fact that I completely forgot where I was going with it. Low and behold a few years later, I finally remember so now I can semi-confidently post this chapter.