CHAPTER 21&

"What is she going to do to me?" Elena wasn't sure if she actually wanted to know but she had to ask. The thought of not knowing was almost worse than knowing, as her vivid imagination started to play out horrendous painful scenarios to her, making her even more on edge.

"She has to go into your head a bit, make you have funny dreams until it doesn't hurt anymore." Charlotte said casually. She loved every moment of torturing her lovers' new pet.

"Hurt? It's painful?" Elena shuddered and twisted her hands even tighter than she had already been doing the entire car journey.

"Yeah." Charlotte said flatly. Elena squeezed her eyes closed trying to remember to breathe. She hated pain, she had such a low tolerance for it. Jeremy had always laughed at how easily she cried when they had hurt themselves as kids. He was always the tough one, breaking bones and spraining things and never crying, while she could cry at the sight of blood from a cut knee. She began to feel the onset of hyperventilation when Charlotte pulled into a parking space and stopped the car.

"We're here." She announced happily, demonstrating yet again that she was loopy. Elena grabbed the handle at her side and clenched it fiercely, her body almost unwilling to move to the demands of her will. She had never felt so frightened in all of her life. She could be leading herself to the slaughter and it would be her own fault. Charlotte sighed impatiently as Elena sat frozen.

"Think of Stefan." Charlotte suggested, having no idea just how much that name failed to ignite anything other than anger and resentment in Elena. Stefan had forced Damon into ordering her away and now she had to walk the plank, to prove to Damon that they could be together. Elena gritted her teeth thinking about it, when she realised that her anger had replaced a lot of her fear. She had to hang on and keep her head focussed on why she needed to do this. She took a deep breath and climbed out of the car, looking around. They were in a rather shady looking back street, somewhere in New Orleans. She'd never been to New Orleans before and was surprised to see lingering signs that Katrina had been there. The back streets they were walking down looked dilapidated and worn. She was almost glad that she was a vampire as she didn't have to worry about feeling vulnerable to being robbed or attacked anymore. This was a poor side of town indeed. They approached what looked like a herbal remedy shop and opened the door.

Elena looked around, overwhelmed by the smell of dust and incense burning away. The whole shop was stocked full of jarred herbs, candles, tarot cards and ornaments. She was sure that she could spend all day looking around the small shop and still see something that she hadn't seen or noticed before. It was like stepping into another world. She was so busy gazing around the various dream catchers and depictions of fairies that she didn't notice the looks exchanged by Charlotte and the shop keeper.

"She's here to see Rebbi." Charlotte said, snapping Elena's attention back to the women. She couldn't help but notice the look of fear and revulsion on the face of the shopkeeper. Evidently she knew what Elena was and she didn't like it. Elena tried not to take it personally, after all she knew how Bonnie felt about vampires too and rightly so considering how they had affected their lives. The shopkeeper looked her up and down and stupidly Elena tried to smile to make the woman less hostile, however the woman simply frowned at her further in response. The woman nodded and finally spoke.

"Back here." She motioned for Elena to follow into the back of the shop, curtained off from view. Elena felt her skin prickle but forced her legs (which now felt like they were made of lead) to move after her. She cast a glance at Charlotte.

"Are you coming with me?" Elena was amazed that she had even considered the fact that she wanted the lunatic with her, but truth be told, any familiar face was a welcome one right now. Charlotte raised her eyebrows at Elena in surprise at the request, but nodded all the same. Elena breathed a sigh of relief and walked through the curtain into the other side. It was so dark, even her new eyesight found it difficult to adjust. Thankfully her hearing prevailed and she heard the unmistakeable sounds of someone rising from a chair. She squinted until her vision cleared and beheld a small chamber with stone walls and a simple table and chairs. It almost looked like an old air raid shelter. A small African woman stood at the table talking in a language Elena didn't recognise, to the shop keeper. She looked over at Elena and smiled. Her smile seemed to be genuine and Elena felt herself relax a little at the warmer greeting.

"Come here child, you poor thing let me have a look at you." The woman spoke perfect English, with a slight southern drawl. She must be a local. Elena walked forward, noticing the shop keeper backing away as she did so.

"My name is Rebbi. Please take a seat." She instructed and Elena sat down at the table. At this point Rebbi noticed Charlotte lingering in the doorway and she smiled in greeting. "Charlotte, how wonderful to see you again! I assume that you brought our guest?"

"She needs your help like I did." Charlotte said with affection in her voice. Elena was shocked into silence by this insight into Charlotte's relationship with this woman. Charlotte had described the treatment for breaking the bond as being torturous and yet she seemed to have a fondness for this witch. Rebbi turned back to Elena and searched her face, leaving Elena feeling slightly unnerved and exposed.

"You have been sired by the same vampire?" She asked. Elena gasped before she could stop herself. How could this woman possibly know that? Rebbi nodded her head pleased that her deduction had proven accurate. She placed her hand on Elena's over the table. "Don't worry. I can help you with that. Charlotte is my best achievement of breaking the sire bond connection and I can feel that you will break yours too."

"What do we have to do to break it?" Elena asked carefully, wanting to make sure she knew exactly what was going to happen to her. She searched the woman for signs of deviance, but couldn't see past the smile and look of concern the woman had for her.

"It is slightly different for everybody. You have to trust me and trust yourself." The woman replied, not breaking eye contact with her.

"Charlotte said that all the others have died after doing this." Elena felt every word stab at her as she uttered them but she had to know. Rebbi's smile didn't falter, but her hold on Elena's hand tightened in a squeeze.

"It takes a strong will to be able to do this. Others have come and believed they wanted to break the bond and once they had they became conflicted over their desires. Unfortunately, once they leave me there is little I can do to help them decide what they do with their lives now that they have them back. For some weaker minds, it becomes too much to have free will again after having survived under someone else's' rule for so long." Rebbi explained and Elena nodded absentmindedly as she processed the information and considered how true her words could be. She could imagine how helpless someone would feel if they had always relied on someone else's desires to shape their behaviour and they suddenly had to decide on their own again. It would be frightening.

"I can see though that you are new to this aren't you? How long have you been a vampire?" Rebbi enquired.

"Not very long." Elena replied, not wanting to give up too much information to this stranger who seemed to be able to read her mind. Perhaps she had some psychic abilities like Bonnie. Rebbi nodded and released Elena's hand.

"That's wonderful, you will be in a much stronger position to get through this. Shall we start?"

Elena looked at her in surprise. She had thought there would be some negotiation over payment and other details.

"I need nothing from you other than your trust. A sire bond is a terrible infliction and I make it my responsibility to free others from it." Rebbi assured her as she motioned Charlotte towards the table.

"Why would you help vampires? Vampires upset the balance of nature for witches." Elena became defensive and suspicious again. Rebbi stopped in her motioning to Charlotte and stared Elena straight in the eyes.

"Not all witches hate vampires. The love of my life was a vampire and he was taken from me because of a sire bond." She explained no further as Elena sat back in her chair in fear that she had angered the woman. The woman showed no such indication but her words had been final and full of emotion. Elena considered the woman's story and thought of Bree and how much she had fallen for Damon and accepted his nature. Elena gave the woman a small smile of apology and Rebbi nodded at her in acceptance.

"Now I am not going to lie to you, this will be painful. Your body and mind are going to be at war with each other for dominance and you are going to have to fight through it if you are going to be successful." Elena gulped, feeling the fear return to grasp her again. "Charlotte, you know the drill." The woman said and Charlotte exited the room with a purpose, returning a moment later with chains and manacles. Elena looked at them in horror, suddenly feeling very unsure of whether she could do this. The woman picked up on her change in attitude and stood up to face her.

"Be strong and trust me. These are for your protection, nothing more. You will experience hallucinations that might make you want to injure yourself or me, so these binds will help stop that." Elena couldn't reign in the horror she was feeling at the sight of the chains. Suddenly she was reminded of Klaus locking her away in that room for her own protection, when she had killed the hunter. The hallucinations she had experienced had felt so real, she didn't know if she could go through that again. This time Damon wouldn't be here to save her from herself. Her body was screaming at her to run, to find another way to do this!

"Elena!" Charlotte growled, bringing Elena back to the present. Charlotte's stance was one of a predatory nature. Charlotte intended to make her go through with this to serve her interests, there was no way Elena was leaving now. With tears in her eyes Elena allowed herself to be led by Rebbi towards Charlotte as they shackled her up tight and lowered her into a sitting position on the ground. Elena looked up at their faces in fear as she tried to block out the thought circling around in her head that their faces were the last she was ever going to see.

Damon, I'm doing this for you, she silently sent her thoughts out to the universe hoping that somehow he would hear her.