Alright ;) First let me apologize for the delay on this chapter, but school and holidays got in the way and I had to take a break from the writing for a bit. I hope you my readers are still out there and know that I will never NOT finish a story. I know I would hate that, so I won't do that to you. Next... I personally am very happy with the way that this chapter came out, but I don't know how you guys will like it. I hope that as much as me.

One more episode to be re-written and perhaps an epilogue. It all depends on how the last will turn out :) Anyway, without further-a-do... the next chapter!

Thank you to all my silent readers, I'd love it if you shared your thoughts, a greater thanks to those who review, and please don't forget to do so after reading! :) *Kisses*

Follow me on twitter- elizabeth85cec or subscribe to my community!

Chapter 21- The Sun Also Rises

Caroline hadn't known how Matt had ended up in the woods, but now she'd come to a halt at the sight of Matt with a gun as a wounded Tyler that was turned into the form of a wolf, whimpered on the ground unmoving. Fear filled her as she ran towards the animal side of his love while yelling at Matt to go.

He hadn't understood what was happening until she bent down and was petting the wolf worriedly as she murmured soothing words to him. When Caroline had glanced up to glare at him at still being there, he gave her a sad smile nodding lightly and left.

Caroline picked up the wounded wolf then from the ground and rushed to the Lockwood Mansion hoping that it would be empty. She didn't know how long he would be out but she didn't care if he woke because he was hurt and even though her vampire mind reasoned that she could die. She just couldn't leave him there without knowing that he would be alright.

/

"I'm fine Elena…" Meredith's small voiced traveled to her from the circle of fire next to her, "I feel a little… loopy or something but I'm okay…" the red head tried to assure.

Elena's tears began to stream down her face, "What are you doing here, Mere…?" she questioned tortured, "Why did you come… you never visit without a call and…"

"I wanted to surprise my cousin…" she grinned and shrugged. Meredith had always been a smart intuitive girl… yes, she could panic now at the fact that something beyond her imagination was happening or just accept the fact that she was in danger as was the cousin she loved and she needed to find a way out. Fear… would have to wait…

Elena didn't even know if her cousin was aware of the dangers that she had just walked in on, and from what she could tell, she was already in transition. This was just not fair at all… she'd done everything right and Klaus still went ahead and found a way to hurt her family.

Near the circle between them both there was some blood on the ground and that's when Elena knew she'd been too late at trying to get her cousin out. Her eyes turned a crimson red as veins protruded under her lids and fangs itched their way out.

"Ah…" Meredith cried from the sudden change. She'd smelled it before she'd seen it and now she just focused on the spilled blood on the ground that she had literally made a run for until the flames of her circle got higher. "What's happening to me…?"

Elena gave her a sad smile as she tried to find the best way to tell her that her life was ruined and it was all her fault.

/

Elijah took a couple of deep breaths as he got in battle mode as seeing Katherine for a last time he now realized had been a very huge mistake. It had messed with his magnified emotions and he was trying to flip the switch at them at least momentarily, until they got through this whole ordeal. Stepping out of the SUV that boarded Damon, Stefan, Rose, and Isobel… Elijah began reciting the happenings of the way the night would play out.

"The sacrifice will be completed in stages…" he walked out into the forest, focusing on the danger at hand "As the full moon sets, the werewolf will be killed, then the vampire, and then at the end… the doppelganger…"

Damon didn't even blink at the comment as he was already feeling like he was dying inside a little. The treasured woman of his life was about to be murdered and he was going to have to stand there and witness it, and he wasn't sure he'd able to. Her being ripped away from him had been bad enough, but he was going to have to find the strength to let this plan all fall through. He heard Elijah continue as if he was dictating a recipe which wasn't what was going through his head right now.

"Once Elena dies, the curse will be broken…" they began to walk all listening intently, "Klaus will become a hybrid…"

"So when do we attack…?" Damon almost barked his tone murderous.

"Elena's death will activate his dormant werewolf side… that's when he'll be vulnerable and that's where Bonnie comes in…"

"Are we sure that Bonnie will survive this…?" Isobel spoke. Not that she knew her daughter's friends personally, but Elena had been adamant about protecting her, and being that she was THE major weapon, Isobel was going to try and follow her daughter's wishes as much as she could.

"If she can deliver him to the brink of death…" Elijah stopped to stare at them, "then I will finish the job myself…"

"I don't think so…" Damon voiced, "He… will be mine. I will be the one to end him…" he growled, his tone a tad distant as he remembered pulling out from the Boarding House's drive way to see the skid marks on the gravel from where three vampires had tried to hold him back and where Elena had last stood.

"No offense…" Elijah said truthfully, "But I don't think you'll be strong enough… he is an Original and with the Hybrid going into him…"

"Well I don't believe you'll have it in you to kill your own brother…" Damon retorted, "Trust me…" he glanced at Stefan as he recalled wanting to do it, but he never had really been able to go through with it… "Easier said than done…"

Outside Elijah's demeanor showed no balk from being able to do what needed to be done, but inside, he really did wonder if there were truth to the words that the elder brother had spoken. He knew he wanted vengeance for what he had done to his family, but would he follow through… was an entirely different thing.

/

As Elena finished explaining as best as she could to her distant cousin what she now was and what she was doing there, a noise came from the bushes. The witch had returned with a grunting girl that Elena quickly recognized as Jules. She was shouting as to why she was feeling the way she was as Greta explained the spell casted on her to slow down her transformation. It seemed that the three of them were in for a hell of a night.

And just when Elena thought things might be calm for a while as she plotted to try and rescue her cousin, Klaus made his presence known… "Hello my lovelies…" he smiled like they weren't in a freaking forest ready for their death like he actually had them. "Are we ready…?"

/

Caroline watched as a whimpering wounded wolf struggled to get back his grasp on reality. He seemed disoriented and as if he was having a really bad dream. Care couldn't believe the way things had turned out. She finally gets her boyfriend within reach for a horrible reason, and then they were kidnapped to be killed, and now she laid there on the floor of his mother's expensive home as she tried to determine what to do with him.

It was then that a snarl tore through the great ravenous black wolf… looking at her as if she was a menace to which Caroline realized, bringing him in to a home may not have been the best idea. The wolf inched close with precision as Caroline tried to reason with him, and before she knew what was happening, she was on the ground with him hovering over her ready to bite when he heard her whisper…

'Tyler, please…" she held her arms over her face, "I love you… don't do this, please don't bite me…"

When it registered on the vampire that no bite or wound had come… she pulled her hands away to an empty living room and the front door torn through. Tyler… was gone.

/

John had stormed in at the Gilbert Residence, freaking out to find it empty, but what had him on the verge of a fucken panic attack, was the fact that he'd gone to the Boarding House to find it also vacant… and to his horror, it looked like there had been a struggle in the front drive way. He was trying to remain positive, but the possibilities of that weren't looking too good.

His phone rang then and he was relieved to see Jeremy's name flash on his color ID, he answered swiftly quickly yelling into the line, "Where are you, and where's Elena?"

John listened for a couple of minutes as he got in his vehicle once more and began to drive… "I'll be right there…" he said into the phone hanging up and sped through the dirt roads. His only thought in his head was, 'please God, let my daughter be okay…'

/

The circles of fire danced around the spell bound lines that had been drawn as Elena heard and saw Klaus pull the Moonstone out from his pocket. She could barely make out that he wasn't too happy to part from the stone he'd been looking for forever, but then he'd handed it over and Greta had already began her chanting as a fire in the rock altar that she was standing at, burst into controlled flames…

Elena read his lips as he said, "Shall we…?" making his way to them, to begin this whole nightmare she'd have to endure.

Klaus neared the circle where Jules kept crying out in pain, the fire dissipating at his presence, and when she had tried to attack him or make a run for it… his hand had disappeared into her chest as she barely let out a gasp and Klaus was holding the female wolf's heart in his dead cold hand.

Elena and Meredith watched with utter shock… they both knew what was about to happen to both of them, but didn't make the scene less horrific as they had to watch from their fire prison, the death of a sort of human girl.

/

Jeremy stood behind Bonnie as she went over the spell that she had to use and chant to help kill Klaus as he reiterated that he would not be leaving her side. She smiled and nodded lovingly at him giving him his way, especially since she knew that all their human friends and loved ones were to be staying in that almost falling down house.

They had all come to agree that Ric, Jenna, and Jeremy… would be safer out of the line of fire whether they would like that or not.

Shortly after recalling that conversation, Bonnie heard someone go inside the house. Before she got a chance to tell Jeremy, Ric came into the room with Jenna trailing close behind. They were both carrying heavy bags of weapons when Ric spoke…

"Elijah, Damon and the rest are upstairs…" he said, a serious expression on his face, "I think it's time…" he announced.

Bonnie stood from where she'd been harboring her power to give Ric and Jenna a small smile, striding by them as they made their way upstairs.

"This isn't fair…" Jenna said softly, her tone full of concern, "They are just kids…" she shook her head.

"I know…" Ric sighed turning to face her, "But they have us… and we will protect them no matter what…"

Jenna nodded in approval, though she just couldn't get it out of her head that after both her niece and nephew had been through, the last thing they needed was something like this. Snapping out of her thoughts because she knew they'd be fighting evil, she set her hands on either side of Ric's face and said, "Okay…" she breathed out, "Let's go take care of our kids…"

Heading up the stairs hand in hand, Ric and Jenna walked up to a loudly shouting and hand flailing bursting of worry and anger looking John Gilbert…

"How could you let this happen…?" He growled at Damon, "I trusted you!" he spat, "More importantly… she trusted you! With her life! You say you love her you…" John was about an inch away from Damon's face before someone jumped in.

"That's enough John!" Isobel walked in glancing at a very much on edge Damon… he was so on the verge of going on a freaking killing rampage, but he allowed John to vent because he was Elena's father… and he didn't know about the elixir, and he knew exactly how he felt if not more, and… contrary to what he knew was the truth, he did feel like he'd failed her even with the knowledge that she shouldn't die.

/

Greta continued chanting as Klaus had squeezed the wolf's heart onto the rock altar. It sizzled loudly into life and they both seemed pleased with what was happening, which only allowed Elena to believe that this whole ritual… was working. Elena glanced at her cousin and tears streamed down her face…

Meredith knew this was most likely the end of her life and yet, she seemed perfectly serene at the moment. She had the slight itch to tell her much younger cousin that she was going to die anyway and that that had been the motive of her visit, but she just couldn't get it out. What was the point of adding to her cousin's obvious guilt when she would find out after she was gone either way? So instead, she glanced at her cousin trying to reassure her while saying…

"Don't worry about me…" Mere whispered in Elena's direction, "I'll be fine… I promise I will be okay…"

Elena wanted to believe her, but she felt herself shake from the sobs taking place inside her as she knew that there was no way that this situation would be okay. She knew that she could or could not come back to life, but she'd made peace with that. Her cousin being a part of this… wasn't okay with her.

/

Caroline had paced worriedly inside the Lockwood Mansion at Tyler's disappearance, wondering if he had run because he didn't want to hurt her or because she had finally voiced her 'I love you' loud and clear to him. She knew it was somewhat girly dumb to think that but the ache of uncertainty that not knowing was giving her was making her mind stress out of control.

Somewhat of a thud she heard then from the main entrance and she ran that way. A naked Tyler laid on the front steps and she ran for a blanket to go to his side draping it over him as she tried to nudge him awake.

"Tyler…?" Caroline stroked his hair softly, "Baby…? Please, say something… open your eyes…" she cooed.

He seemed to grumble something incoherent and then he was vaguely moving while turning his body to stare at her as he asked… "Caroline?"

Care nodded faintly as tears filled her eyes with relief at the sight that he seemed okay right before he passed out. She wrapped him well in the blanket carrying him to the couch sitting by him as she caressed his face and he stirred.

"I'm really sleepy…" he let out hoarsely, "and I feel very sore…" he ran a hand over his body, "did I get shot…?" his brows furrowed.

The site was so cute that Caroline couldn't help but chuckle a bit, "Yeah…" she told him, "I'll explain later…" she sat closer to him then and he laid his head on her lap as she continued her soothing touches.

"Okay…" he said vaguely conscious again as sleep was fighting with him. They sat there in the quiet, Care thought him to be sleeping and Tyler's mind going in and out of consciousness. It was then that he remembered something he was sure had not been a dream and he smiled… he'd been able to hold the animal within because reason had struck and because of his very powerful feelings for her. With as much strength as he could then, he raised his body to cup her surprised looking face while he whispered, "I love you too…"

Caroline's face lit up like waking up on Christmas morning to open one's presents ready to say it again but was cut off by a passionate kiss… that soon turned sloppy… and then his head found his way back to her lap. She chuckled, pulling him that much closer to her as he rested.

"Remind me to make love to you in the morning when I'm better…" he mumbled, and Caroline knew that if she could blush, she would have. Morning… couldn't come soon enough.

/

Time was passing by and with each millisecond that was passing, Damon was slightly tenser. He knew they had to wait for the all the phases of the Moon to pass as the ritual would progress but he wasn't even sure how the hell he was still standing. Isobel had taken John into another room to explain the plan and in turn the rest had to wait patiently.

Stefan, self righteous and all, had gone up to him… placed a hand on his shoulder for reassurance and Damon had shrugged him off. The last thing he needed was him to be like that… what he needed was Elena in his arms. Anyone else might just get their heads bitten off.

Isobel came back with a much calmer looking John, right about the time when Elijah walked in after staring at the sky.

"We should get moving to get in position…" Elijah voiced neutrally as all the vampires and the witch made their way out the door.

Ric, Jenna, Jeremy, and John close behind them when an invisible barrier blocked their exit.

"Bonnie…" Ric yelled, "What the hell is this?"

"We can't risk you guys getting hurt, so you're not coming…" she voiced.

"What?" Jenna banged against the invisible barrier.

"This is bullshit…" John growled, "My daughter's out there… Let. Me. Out."

"We don't need you…" Isobel put in, "I'll take care of our daughter… trust me…"

"Damon!" Ric yelled.

"Sorry buddy…" Damon answered blankly. He wasn't going to tell him he'd be worried of losing his best friend, but he sure as hell planned to protect him.

Jeremy glared with an intensity Bonnie had never seen and her face softened, "It's for your own good…" she mouthed 'I love you' to him, but to her surprise he just turned around and left out of her sight.

Damon turned to his brother and Rose then giving them a nod. Stefan acknowledged him with a tip of his head and soon they were both gone. Rose and Stefan were their back-up plan should something go wrong. Isobel stepped close to Bonnie taking her hand… and they had soon also disappeared into thin air. Damon turned to face Elijah then as they were to be the last to join them and said…

"Should something happen to her…" Damon let the threat hang.

"It won't…" Elijah responded back.

"You better not hesitate…" he said, "Or it'll be the last thing you do… I'll make sure of it."

Elijah didn't dignify his answer with a response because he wasn't going to get into a verbal argument with the vampire, but he knew he spoke the truth. There was no greater threat than a man in love, he knew that, even with him being an Original and all, no one was indestructible and eternity… was sure a hell of a long time to be watching one's back. So he just narrowed his eyes in his direction and asked, "You done…?"

Damon not giving an answer fully disappeared and Elijah followed suit right after.

/

Elena tried to get a handle on her emotions as she tried to keep it together. She had never understood how Meredith could be so calm in all situations, but her strength seemed to give her strength and so stopped her tears, just in time to see Greta glance up at Klaus letting him know that next ingredient was up now…

"No, no, no…" Elena mumbled, "I have to do something, I have to…"

"Elena…" Mere called, "It's okay really… just trust me…"

Elena shook her head, how could she say that, she thought. And soon, Klaus was stepping into the circle, Meredith fighting tooth and nail with him making sure to make the process as hard as possible for him and then… she was gone.

"No!" Elena cried at the corpse of her cousin a pale gray as Klaus murdered her without so much as a flinch as if she hadn't even been a person. That angered her and for a second she wished she would have made her capture harder if he wasn't going to keep his word anyway.

The chanting continued and Elena knew she was the only ingredient left for this stupid sacrifice to be completed. Klaus had called her forward and she strode past him in anger ready for this whole situation to finally be over.

Damon got there in time to see Klaus holding Elena's face as she clearly told him to 'Go to Hell' and then his sickening lips were covering her neck. Damon felt himself unconsciously surge forward, but Elijah held him back whispering…

"Not yet…"

The elder Salvatore continued to try and rush to her side, especially when her limp body fell to the ground without him being able to do anything about it. He would never… be able to put in words the crippling pain that took over his un-beating heart at the sight and sound of her death. He crumbled to the ground reaching for the middle of his chest as something else suddenly took over. Damon very clearly remembered the feeling creeping in his veins that was burning at his insides to the point of suffocation. The end of his life had felt that way.

"What's… happe-ning… to… me…?" Damon rasped; the pain, anguish, and suffering taking completely over his body.

"It's the elixir…" Elijah answered him, "Your immortality is being stripped from you straight into her…"

The side is his mind that knew that he loved Elena was glad that this was happening and would take much more pain if that meant that she would live. The other though, the one that didn't trust Elijah to keep his word, worried that he wouldn't follow through and kill his brother. He sure as hell hoped he'd asked more questions about the elixir because knowing how long he'd be paralyzed by this pain, was very much going to mess with his plan of crushing Elijah if it came to it.

As if knowing what he was thinking Elijah leaned near Damon telling him not to worry. Klaus was in mid transformation as Bonnie interrupted Greta's chanting with her own. Stefan had rushed ahead in a flash to snap Greta's neck as Isobel appeared by Elena's side, picking her up in her arms. She held her tight to her chest and murmured…

"You'll be okay sweetie…" she knelt by a struggling Damon, "You have to be okay Elena…"

Damon tried to shut out the pain, but to his discomfort, it wasn't working. He dragged himself closer to a sleeping looking Elena entwining their fingers, "I'm right here Elena… I'm right here my love, come back to me…" he pled quietly, "You have to come back to me…"

Isobel turned around in time to see Bonnie chant the last of her spell when Elijah walked into the clearing. She could hear them perfectly as Rose and Stefan stood across the other side of the open space while Bonnie and three of them on this side watched waiting.

"Elijah…" Klaus gasped just holding on to life.

"Hello brother…" Elijah said coldly glaring down at him, before soon he had his hand plunged deep into his chest and was reproaching him, "In the name of our family, Niklaus…"

"I didn't bury them at sea…" Klaus confessed.

"What?" Elijah uttered shocked.

"Their bodies are safe…" Klaus added, when Elijah hesitated, he continued, "If you kill me, you'll never find them…"

"Damn it!" Damon growled trying to get up to finish the job himself. This was one instance that he wished he'd been wrong.

"Don't do this…" Stefan called walking closer to them.

"You gave us your word…" Rose added as she kept to every step Stefan took ready to attack if he wished it; even if it would be futile.

Isobel cradled Elena for some reason closer and Damon strainfully turned to her, "Take her… Get her out of here…"

She didn't need to be told twice; Isobel picked up Elena once more and disappeared into the forest for the safety of her daughter. The moment that Isobel had disappeared Damon dragged his vampire ass to stand by Bonnie's side ready to tell her to do her job when Katherine appeared…

"Kill him Elijah…" she directed at the elder Original.

"Katerina…?" Elijah looked up first shaken, his dead heart then almost beating, and then… it he went blank.

"He knows where my family is…" he said evenly, letting go of his hold a little.

"I know where your family is…" Katherine voiced softly approaching, "please believe me…" she strode towards him slowly, her auburn eyes pleading and full of a raw emotion she had never allowed him to see but once.

Elijah was about to question her honesty on that when Stefan and Rose tackled him, Klaus tiredly picked himself up seeing the danger in Bonnie's eyes, and in a fast action he reached for Katherine… his wolf-vamp canines piercing her shoulder as a faint 'NO!' escaped Elijah's mouth and then… Klaus was gone…

Elijah threw Stefan and Rose off from his body rushing to Katherine's side. She sat on the ground feeling her wound heal while watery eyes turned up to lock with his. She chuckled humorlessly…

"Hmmm…" she raised her hand to cup the side of the Original's face, "Figures, huh?" she continued, her lips pressing into a firm line, "That I'd have to pay with death my disloyalty to you and all that I have hurt…"

Elijah's eyes burned red with anxiety as he held her hand on his masculine cheek, "Don't say that…" he swallowed thickly, "I'm going to fix this…" he nodded furiously, "I'm going to fix it…"

He stood up then bringing Katherine up with him. He was about to walk away from her to do some serious apologizing to the group that was not going to see him as a friend, when Katherine tugged back. His brows furrowed with confusion and the brewing worry as he saw tears run down her cheeks and she muttered softly…

"I love you, Elijah…" she tried to smile through her teary haze, "I loved you then and still do now…" she sniffled, "It was never Klaus, it was never him but you let him court me and then…"

Elijah couldn't respond to the confession that Katherine was offering. He hated that she felt that it was because she was going to die that she should tell him the truth, but he glowed, wanted to jump, and adored that the woman that he had desired… the girl that had wedged herself into his dead no longer beating heart, was professing her undying love for him. When that feeling seemed to fill the very depths of his being, of his dark life, of his cursed soul… he couldn't help but want her near and he'd pulled her to him. Crashing his needy, desperate lips against her very welcoming ones… her tiny body melting into his as the world faded around them, he holding her like the life line she'd been all this time to him. Like the sweet innocent girl he'd met, and not the evil woman he'd learned that she'd become with time.

"Unfucken… believable…" Damon growled under his breath at the sight of Klaus being gone and Elijah having a making out session with Katherine in the middle of this freaking situation.

Bonnie struggled to hold him up when Stefan came near to take over and Rose took the opposite side, "Let's get going…" she called.

They began to make their way out of the location were the sacrifice had taken place, back to where Elena would be… hopefully soon awake. Damon knew they still had Klaus to worry about, but one damned thing at a time.

"This was a disaster…" Bonnie said loudly.

"Whoa there Judgy…" Damon tried to smirk, "Don't get negative on me now…" his words slightly woozy, exactly how his stupid body felt.

"But…" Stefan began.

"Not now brother…" Damon shook his head as they neared the abandoned house were the humans had been left behind and the love of his life awaited, "First, I need Elena…" he rasped out. Why the hell did it feel like his life was being sucked out of him?

Rose and Bonnie smiled at the loving comment coming from the big bad Damon Salvatore as he continued…

"And then we can get with the brooding and worry lines that you do so well…" and then he was chuckling as they all seemed to come down at his way of lightening the mood.

/

On the couch of the very first floor of the old house laid a peaceful looking Elena being surrounded by all their family members and friends. Stefan and Rose let Damon stumble his way to her then, kneeling by her side in time to see her gasp back to life…

Their eyes locked in need to make sure that what they were seeing was real. Their hands reaching for each other… caressing the happy tears from each other's eyes and then they met in a fiery kiss. Tongues searching for that loving warmth of familiarity… heat pulling their bodies in to each other like magnets… sweet murmurs passing through their lips in happiness when suddenly Damon hit the ground.

"Damon?" Elena questioned in horror at his body going limp in her hands in a second and the next he'd slipped through her hold unconscious, "DAMON!" she screamed.