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Chapter 25

Everything seemed to cool down once Henry was eliminated by Klaus and it seemed like it was the perfect time to move back into the dorms or at the very least get back to normal life. They were all wrong as one day when Elena was walking up to the apartment that she shared with Elijah, there was a note for her and a bouquet of those same flowers waiting for her.

With trembling fingers, she opened the note and screamed.

You will be mine again darling.

Do you remember how we met? It is one of the best memories that I have of us

She wasn't sure who it was that was behind her but it didn't matter as Elijah suddenly came in front of her. He held her close, wrapping his arms around her. He could feel her body shake and shiver in fear which caused him to growl lowly as his mate was being tortured by some youngling. Pulling her face to his with his fingers, he laid his forehead on hers and whispered, "I will always watch over you. No matter what."

She nodded with tears stinging her cheeks.

Henry's sire was smirking as he watched the noble Original with his newest obsession.

Elena Gilbert-the doppelganger turned vampire-who was his most beautiful dream that came alive…in a way.

He smirked as the flowers and notes should have given away to her who he was but apparently he has to be more…direct in his perusal of her and he knew just how to do it. Walking onto the campus, he found Elijah's class roster and grinned, finding the perfect puppet to bring his plans to fruition.

Whistling, he walked out of there with a smirk.

Elena had made it in time for Elijah's class and as she sat down, the boy in front of her handed her a note with a shrug.

"This guy came up to me and paid me five hundred dollars to give you this-I'm not sure what his name is but he wanted you to have it." Quirking an eyebrow at him, she opened the note and wanted to puke as it fell from her hands. One hand went over her mouth and she caught Elijah's eye. Curious as to why she was suddenly looking sick, he picked up the note and his eyes narrowed.

There were pictures of her with him-one was of them at the Debutante Ball, one was of them in the apartment kissing and the last one was of them at the café with the others. It was truly official now; her stalker was taking it one step further than he anticipated.

"Miss Gilbert," he said softly. "If you want-you don't have to be here at the moment." Nodding, she grabbed her things and left the classroom to head out to her apartment when her phone went off. Fumbling for it, she saw that it was a blocked number and as her mind raced with who it could be she answered it.

"I see you got my notes."

Damon was back.

Elijah wasn't sure of what was going on in Elena's head when she said that Damon was the one sending her those gifts (even though he thought they were better for the trash or to be burned) when he called everyone to come to their apartment after classes.

Once everyone was inside, Elijah got up and locked the door when Klaus asked, "is it safe to sit on the couch?"

Elena decided to smirk and looked at Elijah playfully. He knew what she wanted to do at the moment and smirked.

"It's best if you stand." He was enjoying the reddening of his brother's face. "The couch was really comfortable."

"EWWWW! TMI! TMI!" Rebekah and Kol shouted as they covered their ears. Caroline, Bonnie and Stefan also looked a bit green.

Elena burst into laughter. "You are all so gullible!"

Caroline and Stefan caught on quicker than the others when they realized that the two just decided to joke around with them.

"Why call us here?" Stefan wanted to know why and once everyone else realized that the two were joking, managed to calm down enough to listen.

Elena's joyful attitude suddenly went away and Elijah's joy turned to anger.

"Damon is here-he knows where we are and everything." Elijah's voice was cold and biting as he spoke. "Those gifts that were given to Elena and Kol-they were from Damon." He was angry that Damon couldn't follow a simple demand but he was also worried as he had no idea about how long that Damon's been in the area. Did he find them when they first started going to this college or was him finding them recent?

Caroline was the first one to go over to Elena and hug her as Elena was fearful of the notes. Now knowing who it was, she was afraid that Elena would be forced to confront Damon and when she tells him that she's with Elijah…well, the blonde was afraid that Damon won't take it well and do something stupid to the brunette.

Bonnie and Rebekah also joined in on the hugging though each was afraid for Elena in different respects. Bonnie, knowing a bit of what Damon did to Caroline while she was human, was afraid that Damon would take Elena and try to do the same thing to her while Rebekah was worried that Damon would force Elena to be with him when she was happily in love with Elijah.

She and the girls happen to be 'Team Elejah' as Caroline called it.

Stefan, on the other hand, was wide eyed and hurt. All this time, his brother's been here and hasn't gone to visit him? Stefan wanted to drown his misery in alcohol as he realized that his brother most likely hated him.

Kol and Klaus each were angry that Damon somehow found his way to be near the girls. The things that Klaus wanted to do to Damon involved draining him dry and making him disappear for a century…hmmm…he has the perfect mausoleum already picked out to hide a desiccating vampire.

Kol, on the other hand, wanted to give him the same beating that he did back in Denver and this time, he was hoping that no one would stop him from doing that.

Bonnie was on her way back towards the apartment after her classes finished at noon the next day. She had been feeling a little on edge as she walked but she was a little on the hungry side so she picked up her pace and hurried along. Suddenly she was pulled against the little used side of a building.

"Hello witchy"

"Not interested," she began to walk past him but he grabbed her and thrust her against the wall.

"Look Bonnie I know you don't like the status quo these days anymore than me. The originals had no right to drive Stefan and I out of Elena's life. If you believe for one minute that Stefan is truly here for Rebekah than I'm going to assume that you're one of those sad college statistics that gets into recreational drugs," Damon smirked.

"I'm pretty sure a marriage proposal as an undercover assignment is not Stefan's style," Bonnie said. "Damon if you want to talk to Elena then go talk to her but my advice is don't try to come between her and Elijah. They're destined for each other."

"You know that's all nonsense," Damon scoffed. A moment later Damon was knocked clear of her and Bonnie watched as Kol took the baseball bat that he'd come with from practice and began to wail on Damon.

"Are you okay? I could feel you fear and anger but I was across campus," Kol worried between hits to Damon.

"I'm fine," Bonnie smiled. Damon got to his feet then and faced Kol.

"Ah, now you see Bonnie the tiger is showing his true stripes. He can pretend to play house with you and you can even dress it up with a ring but at the end of the day he's still just a monster," Damon said before his soliloquy was cut off by Kol striking him again with the baseball bat.

"Then what does that make me?" Bonnie asked. Kol stepped back a second with an almost malevolent smirk as Damon rose to his feet and stared at Bonnie.

"No!" he gasped.

"Kol's my sire," she said. "he turned me to protect me because I'm his mate and he loves me." With anger and more bravado than Kol had seen an arrogant young vampire muster against him in a long time Damon charged towards the original. Kol gripped him and promptly snapped his neck before releasing him to drop to the ground. Deciding a little more caution was called for he picked up Damon's limp body and settled him in the nearby wooded area where he was not likely to be disturbed or discovered before he awoke. Kol returned to Bonnie and stopped before her with a questioning glance. He smiled as he saw the now familiar acceptance and love in her eyes.

"I will never stop defending my family Bonnie."

"I know. Can we go back to our apartment now?"

"Of course," Kol smiled.

"By the way, I don't want to move back into the dorms," Bonnie said as they walked. "I rather enjoy 'playing house' with you." She leaned over and kissed him quickly.

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