Elena woke up to Damon kissing the crown of her head. She gently lifted her head from his chest to look him in the eyes. He was sitting with his back propped up against the bedframe. His eyes were closed, but he was obviously awake. The light of dawn was barely peeking through the windows. It was still almost fully dark outside.
"What time is it?" Elena mumbled, resting her head against Damon's chest again.
"Early. Go back to sleep." Damon responded. He stroked her hair tenderly and tucked it behind her ear.
"Okay," Elena whispered. She snuggled closer to Damon. She closed her eyes again and was about to fall back into sleep when she felt Damon's body tense up.
"Aw, this is so cute," A voice sounded from the threshold. "I might puke."
Elena immediately awoke. She popped up and turned around quickly to find Katherine leaning against the doorframe. Maybe we should just stay at my place from now on, Elena thought sarcastically.
"What do you want, Katherine?" Elena demanded.
"That's for me to know and you to…well, not know." Katherine responded. She pushed herself up from the doorframe and began prowling to the bed. Damon instantly jumped off of the bed and placed himself in between Katherine and Elena. Katherine read his body language and let out a half-hearted laugh.
"Always the protector, aren't you?"
"Leave." Damon growled.
"Does that line usually work?" Katherine asked. Katherine stopped in front of Damon and looked around him to Elena, "I just wanted to send my regrets for your recent breakup."
Elena rolled her eyes at this and Damon gritted his teeth. Katherine looked up at Damon and read his reaction. Instantly, she knew that she breached a touchy subject and used that to her advantage.
"Oh, Damon…I'm sorry for you, too. I mean, feeling all that left over love between your brother and girlfriend…that must be tough." Katherine smiled wickedly. Elena's heartbeat picked up in fear. She instantly knew that Katherine somehow found out about the linking.
"How did you know?" Elena gasped. Damon turned to look at Elena in confusion, and that's when Elena realized that Damon thought she was referring to having left over emotions for Stefan. Elena quickly backpedaled, "No, not that. How did you know about the link?"
Damon's countenance was replaced with understanding and he turned back on Katherine.
"I'm Katherine Pierce. I know everything." Katherine said arrogantly.
"Don't forget 'full of yourself,'" Damon sarcastically raised his eyebrows and Katherine laughed.
"At least I'm not stupid, like your girlfriend." Katherine said, but her smile was quickly wiped off her face as Damon grabbed her by the throat. "Oh Damon, you're so strong." Katherine flirted to bother Elena. And it honestly did work. Elena felt a pang of anger rush through her veins. She territorially walked over to Damon.
"Can I kill her now?" Damon asked Elena.
"You always were so touchy about your women." Katherine said. She placed her hand on Damon's hand and forced him to unclasp her throat. She took a few steps back from him and walked to the fireplace. She stared into the hearth. "Anyway, I'm here to make a point."
"What's that?" Elena asked.
"Of how stupid you are! I mean, honestly, Elena!" Katherine laughed, turning back towards her, "You linked all of the people you love. I only really want two of them alive right now…and they both happen to be immortals." Elena silently stared at her, attempting to decipher what Katherine's new plan was. After a moment, Katherine continued, "Come on. You still don't get it? You have three mortals in your little group. They don't heal as quickly as you, fortunately."
That's when Elena caught onto Katherine's plan, but it was too late. Katherine already had a piece of firewood in her hand and she was vamp-speeding over to Elena. Katherine drove the piece of wood directly into Elena's stomach. Elena felt the wood puncture major organs and she gasped, falling to the ground. She groped at the wood and attempted to remove it from her body, but all it did was push the wood up dangerously close to her heart.
Damon lurched at Katherine, but Katherine threw her hands up in the air, stopping him.
"Save your girlfriend or kill me, you only have time for one. You choose." Katherine reasoned. She knew that Damon would choose saving Elena, so she took her chance to run away. Damon gritted his teeth in anger as he watched her go, and then he quickly fell to his knees in front of Elena. He pulled out the slab of wood and threw it onto the floor. Elena's head fell forward onto his shoulder; she was breathing heavily.
"Elena?" Damon asked concernedly.
"Damon," Elena whispered weakly, "Jeremy. Bonnie. Matt. They need vampire blood. We need to—," She tried standing up, but fell back to her knees.
"You need to rest, I've got it." Damon whipped out his phone and dialed Stefan.
"Hello?" Stefan's voice rang over the phone.
"Where are you?" Damon asked.
"Hunting, why?"
"You need to get to Elena's house right now. Jeremy needs vampire blood," Damon said.
"I'm on it." Stefan said. Damon pulled the phone away from his ear and dialed Caroline.
"What do you want?" Caroline rudely picked up her phone.
"Well, hello princess. Matt needs vampire blood. Now." Damon explained.
"I felt that. I'm already on the way. What about Bonnie and Jeremy?" Caroline asked.
"Stef and I have it." Damon hung up the phone before she could say anything else. He stood up and picked up Elena, her legs draped over his arm and her back braced by his other arm. He ran her down to the kitchen and placed her on the counter. He hurriedly went to the fridge and pulled out a blood bag. He handed it to her and she graciously accepted.
"Are you going to be fine?" Damon asked.
"Yes, now go." Elena demanded. Damon nodded and ran out to his Camaro.
He reached Bonnie just in the nick of time. She was lying in her bed, bleeding out. The stake had punctured the stomach. Damon was barely able to rehabilitate her. As she came to, she looked up at him weakly.
"We have to delink…it's just too dangerous," Bonnie whispered, her lips barely moving. Damon nodded in agreement.
Everyone reconvened an hour later at Elena's house. They strategically chose her house because any unwelcome vampires would have to be invited in by Jeremy.
When Elena walked in, she saw that only half the people were there. Caroline was standing in a corner, talking to Bonnie. She was obviously attempting to be as elusive as possible, considering her recent endeavors with Stefan. Damon was staring existentially out of the window, leaning on his arm that was braced on the wall. Elena was instinctively drawn to him, but she stopped herself, noticing Stefan sitting silently on the couch.
Elena hesitantly altered her course from Damon and slowly walked over to Stefan. She edged her way down to the couch until she was sitting right next to him.
"Stefan?" Elena hesitantly asked, as though the mere sound of her voice would break him.
"What's up?" Stefan asked, turning his attention fully towards Elena.
"I just wanted to say sorry."
The room fell completely silent other than Stefan and Elena's conversation.
"What for?"
"The PDA." Elena said, turning her eyes ashamedly to the floor. "That was…unfair to you." Stefan sighed and nodded his head.
"Thanks," He responded. Elena coughed slightly before nodding and standing up. Stefan caught her by the hand to stop her. Elena looked down at him, "And Elena, I'm not broken, so you don't have to act like I am. I'm fine. Really. In all honesty, when it comes down to it…" Stefan paused. A friendly smile twitched onto his lips, "I'm happy for you two."
"Thanks." Elena smiled back at him. She pulled away and walked over to Damon, who was still staring absentmindedly out of the window. The moment she reached him, she kissed him on the cheek and leaned on the wall adjacent to him, "Hi." She smiled.
"You're looking a little less dead than when I left you." He responded.
"Oh, that's weird, considering how I am actually dead." Elena joked.
"I never would've guessed. You just seem so lively." Damon smiled down at her and she chuckled. Just then, they heard three pairs of footsteps descending the staircase. Jeremy, Matt, and Tyler became visible at the landing.
"Great, we're ready." Bonnie said. She had already positioned the candles in a circle on the ground, obviously very eager to break the link. Everyone assumed a spot behind a candle and watched as Bonnie began the reversal spell.
At first, nothing seemed wrong. It was exactly as it had been when they originally did the linking spell. Even immediately after the spell was over, things appeared to be going well. Elena could no longer hear all the thoughts and feel all the emotions of her friends. She smiled at this realization, feeling like a mountain had just been lifted off of her shoulders. But, her smile was soon wiped away as the screams filled the room.
Stefan started it. He screamed and fell to his knees, clutching his head in his hands. Everyone looked at him with concern, and Caroline immediately ran to his side. Elena was on her way to helping him when Damon began screaming too, calling her attention to him. He fell to his knees and Elena ran over to him, kneeling in front of him.
"What's happening?!" Elena shouted to Bonnie, "What are you doing?!"
"It's not me!" Bonnie responded, "It's another witch!"
"Why is it only affecting them?!" Caroline shouted over the screams.
"Katherine!" Elena immediately knew the conspirator, "It's Katherine!"
A sudden silence fell across the room, drawing everyone's attention back to the Salvatore's. Both brothers' had their head placed between their hands, staring at the ground. Their breathing had begun to steady.
Elena looked around the room confusedly. All of her friends' were silent. Elena sucked in a deep breath, realizing that she would have to be the one to break the silence. She turned her attention back to Damon.
"Damon?" Elena hesitantly asked. She could practically feel everyone hold their breath as they intently watched her and Damon.
Damon slowly raised his head. He looked at Elena and then around the room at all the faces of her friends before his eyes settled back on her. He cocked his head to the side and examined her face. After a moment of just staring, he finally spoke.
"Who are you?"
A/N: Please leave some of your thoughts/predictions/comments/whatever in the reviews. I love hearing from you all!