Adriana opened her eyes and slowly sat up on the couch. She grabbed her head and looked at her surroundings.
"Oh, you're finally awake," someone said, causing her to look over. Eliana was seated at the dining table, resting her elbows on the surface. "Esme! Syd!" She called loudly. "She's up!"
Adriana carefully stood up from the couch and glanced out the window. She was surprised to find that it was already nighttime. "What happened?"
Esmeralda had been in her studying working with Binx, so they both walked into the kitchen. Esmeralda took a seat next to Eliana and Binx sprawled out at her feet.
"You tried to kill Damon, that's what happened," Eliana explained. "He had to knock you out and then he brought you back here."
"... Oh. Where is he now? I should apologize."
"I don't think that's a good idea," Sydney said as she walked into the room. "There's a reason you're staying here and not with your brother and your sister. I'm sure he knows you didn't mean it."
Adriana came over and sat across from Esmeralda and Eliana while Sydney busied herself in the kitchen.
"You must be starving. You haven't eaten since breakfast. Anything in particular you want?" Sydney asked as she pulled open the fridge.
Adriana shook her head. "Oh, no, I'm fine-"
"I'm not taking no for an answer."
"Well… I saw leftover soup when I was getting the milk this morning. What kind is it?"
"Chicken noodle, but it's not that stuff from a can. I made it myself."
"I'll have some of that, then. Thank you."
"Coming right up."
Adriana played with the bottom of her shirt. "Why are you being so nice to me? You just… opened up your home and I'm practically a stranger."
Esmeralda smiled at her warmly and Adriana suddenly felt safe, like everything was going to be okay. "We weren't just going to leave you out to get eaten by wolves. We're better than that. It's scary when you go through a big change alone. You deserved better than that. You and your siblings. And, to be fair, you're only in this because of us. It's kind of our fault."
"No, it's Damon's fault."
"And Damon's associated with us, which makes us partially responsible."
"I don't get it. Why do you hang around him? He doesn't seem like a good person."
"Trust me, he used to be worse a few years ago."
"What changed?"
"My daughter."
The microwave beeped and Sydney walked over to take the bowl out. She grabbed a spoon from a drawer, bumped it closed with her hip and then walked over to the dining table to set the soup in front of Adriana. She smiled awkwardly.
"Thank you."
Sydney took a seat at the head of the table and for a minute, they sat in silence.
"Well," Esmeralda started to stand up, "I have to get back to work. Holler if you need anything."
Sydney got up as well. "I'm gonna see what's on the telly."
Adriana gave a small laugh and Eliana shot her a knowing look.
"You can take the girl out of Britain, but you can't take the Britain out of the girl."
"How did you two meet?" Adriana asked curiously.
Eliana smiled and glanced at Sydney. "College. Syd was here studying abroad. We didn't have any classes together, but we frequented the same cafe that was on campus. She ordered the same thing every time. I memorized it and paid for her drink ahead of time one day and had the barista write my name and number on the cup. It was gutsy for the 90s, you know, it was a different time back then, and it totally could've backfired, but it was worth it."
"I almost didn't call you, you know," Sydney commented from the living room. "I knew who you were because the barista called your name out when your drink was ready, so it's not like I thought I was calling an anonymous face, but I thought it was one big prank."
Adriana turned in her seat to look at Sydney. "Why didn't you just text her?"
Sydney and Eliana both laughed.
"Hon, texting wasn't a very big thing yet," Eliana explained. "This was before your time. You wouldn't get it."
"And Esmeralda's husband? Where's he?"
The smiles on Eliana and Sydney's face wiped off and Adriana had a feeling she'd just asked a sensitive question. Eliana cleared her throat.
"He was her ex husband, and he's dead. You don't have to feel bad. He deserved it."
"Oh, sorry for even asking. Did she, uh… did she ever remarry?"
A wistful smile came over Eliana's lips. "She got close. His name was Alaric. The kids even started calling him dad."
"I don't mean to poke and prod… but… what happened?"
Eliana sighed. "He died. He was a good man."
Adriana was quiet for a moment. "There's a lot of death around here, isn't there?"
Eliana nodded. "Yeah, there is. Sorry you got caught up in all of this."
"Yeah. Me, too."
Adriana picked up her spoon and Eliana and Sydney decided to let her eat in peace.
xxxx
Elowen slowly climbed the stairs with a blood bag in her hands. Angel still hadn't come out of his room, so she decided to go to him. When she reached the door, she knocked on it.
"Go away," came Angel's muffled voice through the door.
"You can't stay in there forever."
"Yes, I can."
Elowen sighed. "You have to eat."
"I'm not hungry."
"Liar."
"Please, just… leave me alone."
Elowen groaned. She hated having to resort to this, but he was being stubborn. Golden light engulfed her and the next second, she was standing in Angel's room. He'd been sitting on the foot of the bed and quickly crawled up it to get away from her. He stared at her with wide eyes as he backed into the headboard.
"What the hell?! What are you?"
"I'm a witch. Did I forget to mention that?" Elowen walked over to him with her arm that was holding the blood bag extended. "Here. Eat."
When Angel didn't move, she rolled her eyes. She tossed the blood bag at him and on instinct, he caught it with both hands.
"Your sister is worried sick about you, and it doesn't help that she's not allowed anywhere near you. For her sake, eat, okay?"
Angel looked from her to the blood bag. Elowen was right in saying he was lying about being hungry. He was starving, and that scared him. This was all wrong. He was supposed to be the protective big brother who wasn't scared of anything. Veronica was the reckless one and Adriana was shy and soft spoken. That's how they worked. That was their dynamic. So, he took a deep breath, carefully pulled the top off of the blood bag and brought it to his mouth.
The second the blood touched his tongue, Angel's eyes closed in pleasure. His hands tightly closed around the blood bag, squeezing every last drop past his lips. Veins had slithered down his face and they stayed there for a moment after he pulled the now empty blood bag away from his mouth. It took him a second to catch his breath, and when he did, the veins went away. He opened his eyes and found Elowen looking at him expectantly.
"Well?" She asked. "Better?"
Angel nodded his head. "Yeah. Thanks."
Elowen waved him off. "Don't mention it. Don't be a stranger. If you need anything, lemme know."
She turned and started to leave the room when Angel stopped her.
"Wait."
Elowen stopped and turned back around.
"Yeah?"
"... Can you stay?"
Elowen shrugged and walked over to the desk in the room. She pulled out the chair and took a seat.
"What's up?"
Angel shifted around in his bed to face Elowen. "So… how does this vampire thing work? Like, how much of it is fact and how much is fiction?"
"Fact: you burn in the sun, you have to drink blood to survive, you have super speed and strength, you can compel people aka mind control and you're weak against a plant called vervain. Fiction: garlic can't hurt you, neither can holy water or crucifixes, you'll still have a reflection, you can't fly and or turn into a bat, and you definitely don't sleep in a coffin."
"You said there's something you can make to let me walk in the sun. A daylight ring?"
"Technically, I can make it into whatever kind of jewelry I want as long as I have lapis lazuli. It's the stone that I need to spell for it to work. My friend Caroline has a necklace, but everyone else has rings. They're the easiest to make."
"When do I get one? It's only been like a day, but I'm already getting cabin fever."
Elowen laughed. "You'll get one soon, once I have the time to make one. Then you can work on control. You're doing pretty good right now, considering you haven't tried to eat me yet."
"So… it's totally normal that I can hear your heart pumping blood into your body and that I can't think about anything else?"
"Totally normal."
"How are you so okay with this? It's like this is your everyday life."
Elowen shrugged. "It kind of is. I'm a witch. I was born into this. I didn't exactly have the privilege of being blissfully unaware for my entire life until it was dropped onto my lap. I've known about all of this my whole life."
"What else is there? I mean, is it just vampires and witches?"
"No. There's werewolves and vampire/werewolf hybrids."
"Vampire/werewolf hybrids? That sounds badass. Can I become one?"
"Nope. You have to be a werewolf first."
"Well, how do you become a werewolf?"
"You're born with the werewolf gene. You have to kill someone to trigger it."
Angel blinked. "Oh. Well, shit. That's intense. So, it's not like in the movies where you become a werewolf if you're bitten or scratched?"
Elowen shook her head. "I'm afraid not. You'll want to avoid werewolves on a full moon, though. A werewolf bite is fatal to vampires, and the only cure is the blood of a really untrusting, paranoid, arrogant jerk, so convincing him to give it to you is one in a million."
Angel tilted his head as a thought occurred to him. "Where did vampires come from, anyway? Like, how were they created?"
"Whew! Okay, buckle in, because this is a long story." Elowen shifted so she was sitting backwards in her chair. "So, it all started when…"
xxxx
Caroline, Bonnie and Elena were all partying and dancing around while loud music blared in the background. Elowen was watching them from the couch with a smile, her soda in her hands. She still felt wildly out of place. This wasn't her scene. It never had been. She saw what it had done to Josiah, and while this wasn't exactly on the same scale, it still didn't feel right. Caroline noticed and skipped over.
"Come on, Elle!" She reached out and grabbed her wrists. "Dance with me! Don't be a party pooper!"
Elowen sighed and let Caroline pull her to her feet. She set her soda down and started jumping around the room.
"That's the spirit!"
Elena went to pour herself another drink, but found that her bottle was empty. She sped across the room, got onto the dining table in the next room over and grabbed an unopened bottle of champagne. She then sped back into the room and popped the cork off.
Later, they'd somehow all made it to the upstairs bathroom across from Toby's bedroom. Elena was lying inside the bathtub while Caroline, Elowen and Bonnie were all seated around her. Bonnie had her phone in her hand and she was swiping through all the videos she'd taken that night.
"Check this out. Vamp speed video."
She handed Elena and played the video of her speeding from the living room to the dining room and then back again. Elena giggled.
"I look like superman. Watch this." She paused the video and then showed everyone else. It was on a clip where she was speeding back towards the living room. She was going so fast that the camera almost couldn't capture her properly. There was a giant blur behind her from the speed she was going at. "This year's Christmas card." They all laughed. "Being a vampire is so weird. Oh my god, I love this bathtub. Why don't we hang out in here more often?"
"Maybe because we've never had an excuse to commandeer Mrs. Lockwood's many bathrooms?" Elowen suggested. She was the only sober one and yet again, she felt like she didn't belong.
"Maybe we haven't, but you have," Caroline commented as if it were obvious.
Elowen tilted her head. "What do you mean?"
"Well, everyone knows how buddy buddy you and Toby are. I mean, you practically grew up together. It's no wonder you two dated."
Elena visibly grew awkward and Elowen moved her leg over to lightly nudge Caroline in the thigh. She didn't seem to get the hint.
"What? Am I wrong? I mean, I think it's a good thing he's trying to move on from you because being hopelessly in love with someone who doesn't feel the same way is pointless. Was he at least good in bed? I mean, compared to Stefan and Damon. Or not. Maybe that's not fair."
"Caroline!" Bonnie scolded with wide eyes. Elena had completely retreated into the bathtub, disappearing from their view.
"What? Was it something I said?" Caroline asked cluelessly.
"You're talking about Toby as if Elena isn't in the room," Elowen deadpanned. "Yes, he's my ex, but this is old news. He's with Elena now."
"Yeah, an ex who's clearly still in love with you."
That seemed to be the last straw for Elena. She pulled herself out of the tub and stormed out of the room. Elowen and Bonnie shot Caroline a look before they quickly got up and followed after her.
"Elena," Bonnie called after her as Elena made her way downstairs. "Elena, wait."
"You want to know why I set this whole thing up?" Elena asked loudly as she turned around. "It was to tell my friends that Toby and I slept together for the first time last night. That it was magical and everything that I hoped it would be. It was to tell you that I think I'm falling in love with him."
"No, Elena, you're not," Caroline said as she stopped behind Elowen.
"I'm sorry? I'm not?" Elena asked angrily. "Since when do you get to decide my feelings for me?"
"Since we found out that-"
"Caroline," Elowen hissed, cutting her off.
"No, what? Tell me." Elena crossed her arms. "Since you found out that what, Caroline?"
Elowen stared at Caroline, signaling her not to say anything. Caroline returned her stare, but felt herself slipping regardless. Elowen could tell that Caroline was giving in and she sighed. She gestured to Elena.
"Go ahead."
"You're sired to Toby," Caroline blurted not even a second later.
"What?" Bonnie asked dumbly.
Elena's angry expression dropped and was instead replaced by one of confusion. "What are you talking about?"
Caroline looked at Elowen with pleading eyes, silently asking her to explain, so she did.
"It was Toby's blood that turned you. You couldn't feed from animals or blood bags because he said so. I told him to ask you to try blood bags again this morning as a test and you failed. Because he told you it was okay, suddenly you can keep blood from a blood bag down."
"No." Elena shook her head. "There's no way. I…" As she trailed off, Bonnie took over.
"Are you sure?"
Elowen nodded. "Yeah, but there's hope. Damon said-"
Elena turned angry once again. "I'm sorry, you talked to Damon about this? Who else knows?"
Elowen grew silent.
"Who else knows, Elowen?" Elena's voice was much more forceful this time and Elowen suddenly felt bad.
"... My mom, Eliana, Sydney, and Stefan."
Elena scoffed. "Great, so, everyone but me."
"Well, not everyone everyone," Caroline piped up to try and be helpful. "I mean, Josiah doesn't know."
"Not helping, Care," Elowen told her without glancing at her.
Elena shook her head. "Party's over. You need to leave. All of you."
"Elena…" Bonnie tried to say, but Elena strode past her to the front door and pulled it open. Standing on the other side were a man and a woman Elowen recognized as two of Klaus's hybrids.
"Hello, girls," the woman said before rushing into the house and shoving Elena against the wall. Elowen was currently cursing Carol for inviting all of Klaus's hybrids into her home. After getting past Elena, the woman sped over to Caroline and grabbed her throat. The man rushed in and started fighting Elena to keep her at bay. She fought back, but eventually he got the upperhand and knocked her against the wall. Elowen acted just a second quicker than Bonnie and cast the pain infliction spell. The man and woman both grabbed their heads and Elena, using this opportunity, kicked the man in the stomach, sending him flying into the next wall over. Suddenly, a third hybrid sped into the room and pushed Elowen off of her feet. She slid across the floor and rolled over a couple of times. As the spell was lifted, the woman quickly grabbed Caroline again and bared her fangs.
"Don't move!" She yelled at Elowen as she tried to get up. "One bite from a hybrid and she's dead, remember?"
The man Elena had kicked had gotten up and sped over to her while she wasn't looking. He grabbed her by the hair and threw her to the ground. Bonnie ran over to Elena to help her up, as she was closer to Elena than to Elowen, and when she looked up, the three hybrids and Caroline were gone.
"Caroline?" Bonnie called out worriedly.
"They took her," Elowen told her with a cough as she slowly pulled herself to her feet. "She's gone."
xxxx
Stefan, Damon, Toby and Veronica all entered the shop Charlotte told them to look. Immediately, Veronica became distracted with all the knick knacks stationed throughout the small shop and wandered off to look at everything. A woman came out from the back of the shop and greeted them at the counter.
"Can I help you?" She asked.
"Hi. We're looking for a witch," Damon got straight to the point. "Sorry, no time for pleasantries."
The woman blinked. "I'm sorry. I don't understand."
"Look…" Damon looked at the blackboard behind her, where the words 'Nandi's Special' were written. "Nandi, is it? Let's skip the part where you pretend like you don't know what we're talking about. We need a spell that could break a vampire sire bond. Now, there was a witch here named Val. Ring any bells? She had a grimoire and it had a spell. One that broke a sire bond by sacrificing 12 human souls."
Stefan and Toby both looked at Damon in disbelief, both of their eyes wide. Veronica looked over and put the crystal that was in her hands down.
"Human sacrifice?" Veronica mused. "That's dark."
"A sacrifice?" Toby questioned. "You brought me here knowing that the spell required a human sacrifice?"
Damon shrugged. "Well, I was hoping the recipe had changed."
"Look, there's no magic like that here," Nandi explained. "I sell herbs and homeopathic remedies and dress it up with a little witchy woo woo for the tourists, but I don't practice."
"Okay, fine, listen, just tell us where we can find someone like your great grandma who can break the sire bond and won't flake out on us like old Val did."
"There's no one. All of her stuff is gone. The grimoires, her journals. We lost it all during Katrina. If a spell like that ever existed, it's gone for good."
xxxx
"Witch is lying," Damon said as him, Stefan, Toby and Veronica walked down the street. "Doesn't practice my ass."
"Human sacrifice?" Toby spoke up. "Did you really think I would go for this?"
"Extreme circumstances call for extreme measures."
"I take it you totally killed those 12 people in 1942," Veronica commented, seemingly okay with the whole situation. It was like after she got over her initial shock, she didn't really care.
"Of course I did," Damon replied in a duh tone. "Why wouldn't I have?"
"I hate to break this to you, Damon, but I'm not sacrificing anybody," Toby told him. "There's gotta be another way."
Damon rolled his eyes. "Oh, don't wuss out now. Do you want to break the sire bond or not?"
Toby stayed quiet.
"Thought so. So, who's gonna help me good cop/bad cop this witch? Not you," Damon added at the end when Veronica opened her mouth to answer.
Veronica pouted. "Oh, come on! Why not? I do bad very well."
"Being the bad cop is my job. There can't be two bad cops. It defeats the purpose of good cop/bad cop." Damon looked at Stefan. "What do you say, brother? You in?"
xxxx
Elowen, Elena and Tyler were all walking through the woods towards the abandoned barn the hybrids had been using to break the sire bond. Tyler was on the phone with Hayley and Alani.
"I get it, you guys. I'll find them and get them in line."
As he hung up, Elowen spoke up.
"Bonnie says no luck with the locator spell, but I know they're here."
"There's nowhere else for them to go," Tyler replied. "They're not dumb enough to risk getting caught by Klaus in town."
"Well, what do they want with Caroline?" Elena asked, stopping in the middle of the trees. Tyler stopped as well and turned to face her.
"Kim is trying to prove that she's the alpha. If I can make her submit, the pack will fall in line and we can finally get them free of Klaus. You'd think they'd play along with how much they hate him."
"But, Adrian doesn't, does he? I mean, he's still sired to Klaus."
"Being sired doesn't mean you feel differently about someone. I hated Klaus, but I still did everything he said. The bond affects how you act, not how you feel."
Before Elena could respond, a scream rang out through the air.
"Caroline," Elowen said with wide eyes. Her, Tyler and Elena all ran in the direction of her screams.
They all reached the barn and pushed the door open to enter. Inside, Caroline was tied up in shackles and Kim was torturing her.
"Stop!" Tyler yelled. "Stop it, Kim. Caroline's with us, alright? We're all on the same team."
"She's on your team, not mine," Kim replied. Behind Elowen, Elena and Tyler, the other hybrids slowly entered the barn. They came up and grabbed all three of them to restrain them while Kim continued to torture Caroline.
"Stop it!" Tyler yelled again. "Stop!"
"Ease up, Kim," the man from behind, Adrian, spoke up. "Klaus won't like this."
"That's the very point," Kim responded. "Do you think he'll like this?"
She picked up a stake, but before she could even use it, Elowen used her powers. All of the hybrids grabbed their heads in pain and slowly fell to their knees. Her, Tyler and Elena were all able to free themselves from the hybrid's grip and she ran over to kick the stake away from Kim. She used her powers again to open the shackles holding Caroline down and helped her to her feet.
"You're bleeding," Caroline told her. Elowen wiped at her nose and sure enough, there was blood on her fingers.
Elowen shook her head. "Doesn't matter. Get out of here."
"I'm not leaving you!"
"Get out of here, Caroline! Don't make me ask you again."
Caroline swallowed, hesitated for a second before grabbing Elena and pulling her out of the barn. Once they were a safe distance away, Elowen lifted the spell and turned to Kim.
"You messed with the wrong witch."
"Oh, yeah?" Kim got to her feet. "You messed with the wrong hybrid."
She made a move to rush at Elowen, but Tyler was faster. His hand plunged into her chest and she gasped in surprise. The other hybrids tried to walk towards them, but Tyler started to stop them.
"Stay back!" He ordered. "I'll rip her heart out right now!"
The other hybrids didn't make a move. Tyler looked Kim dead in the eye as he addressed the rest of the room.
"Kim put you all at risk today, but I'm not gonna hurt her. I'm not Klaus. I don't kill and torture my own friends to get what I want. Now, we broke the sire bond, but if you want to be free, we have to work together. No one can step out of line. Now, you're either with me, or you're against me. Submit. Submit, or you die."
Kim fell down to her knees. Tyler kneeled down with her, keeping his hand in her chest.
"I'm… I'm sorry," she apologized. Tyler removed his hand from her chest and she gasped again, this time as a means to catch her breath. One by one, the rest of the hybrids slowly knelt down, submitting to Tyler.
xxxx
Damon entered Nandi's shop alone. She turned around at the sound of the door opening and stopped when she saw who it was.
"What are you doing here?" She asked.
"Calling you out," Damon replied. "You're not Val's great granddaughter. You're her daughter. You're 80 years old. You don't look a day over 50. You're a practicing witch."
"Get out of my store."
"Give me what I want."
He started to walk towards her, but she quickly used her powers on him. Damon fell to the ground, holding his head with both of his hands in pain.
"I gave you a chance to leave with your life."
Stefan quickly emerged from the back of the store. "Wait, wait, wait, wait. We don't want any trouble, okay? We just- we just need your help. That's all."
"I told you, there's no one here who can help you," Nandi said to Stefan over her shoulder. "The kind of magic my mother practiced, it's unnatural. Witches don't even call it magic. We call it expression."
She lifted her spell on Damon and turned her attention to Stefan.
"Is that like black magic?"
"Worse. Channeling the power of human sacrifices calls on darkness that can't exist on this plane without swallowing it whole. She sold you a bill of goods about breaking the sire bond because she wanted access to that power and you gave it to her when you killed those 12 people."
Stefan walked over to Damon and helped him to his feet.
"Are you saying there's no spell?" Damon questioned.
Nandi shook her head. "The bond can't be broken with magic. A vampire only bonds to her sire when she has feelings for him before she turns, human feelings. Vampirism only heightens those emotions. You want her free? You have to set her free. Tell her to live her life without you and never think of you again, to stop caring about you, and then leave her. That's the only way around the sire bond."
xxxx
"That's… rough."
After Caroline was saved, that duplicate of Elowen disappeared. The real her that was at the boarding house had just been told about how Toby has to break the sire bond.
"Yeah," Stefan agreed. "I can't even imagine what he must be going through to have to do this."
Damon snorted. "Please, the kid's not even in love with her. This will be a piece of cake for him."
"He might not be in love with her yet, but he does really care about her," Elowen defended. "He's trying to move on instead of pining after me. Be grateful he's being the better man."
"I could crush his skull in my sleep, Wen. He wouldn't have stood a chance. Besides, you never loved him back. He would've gotten the hint eventually."
"... I could've loved him back," Elowen mumbled, mainly to herself. "One day. Maybe."
Stefan and Damon shared a look. Damon had been standing over by the drink cart with a glass in his hand while Stefan was sitting next to her on the couch. Elowen sighed and looked up from her hands.
"It's just… he's my best friend, you know? I've known him since I was 6. I don't know what I would've done without him when Luis was at the height of his abuse. His house was my home away from home and his mom was… she was almost perfect. Strong, independent, solid head on her shoulders. She was one of my mom's only friends. It was the same with me and Toby. I pushed away just about anybody who tried to get close to me in school because I was afraid of what Luis would do, and everybody already pitied me enough as it was. But… Toby? He refused to back down. He was there for me, always, without fail, every time. I used to sneak out at night and crash at his place and then sneak back home before everyone woke up so I wouldn't get caught."
She smiled wistfully at the memories and then glanced at Damon.
"I know you don't like him."
He snorted. "That's an understatement. He's annoying."
"But… he means a lot to me. I know you know that." She turned and looked at Stefan. "And I know that you know, too. I would do anything for him, and him for me. And because I care so much about him… I can't help but feel bad for him. He has to let the one person he decided to let in go. Can you even imagine having to do that? Because I don't think I could do that if it came down to one of you two, and I think that neither of you would be able to if it were me." She sighed. "I think I'm gonna go home, maybe check in on him to see how he's holding up." She stood up from the couch and so did Stefan. "See you guys later."
"Yeah." Stefan leaned over and gave her a quick peck on the lips. "See you later."
xxxx
Elena was cleaning up the mess that was made from the girl's night when she felt Toby's presence from behind her.
"Hey," she said without looking back at him.
"Hey back," he replied, walking further into the room.
"How was your night?" She finally turned around and faced him.
"Awful. Yours?"
"Same."
Toby put his hands in his pockets and searched for the right words. "Elena, um… we need to talk."
"I know that I'm sired to you, Toby."
Toby stopped and stared at her in surprise.
"Caroline told me and Elowen backed her up. That's what you were doing with Stefan and Damon, right? Is there a way to break it?"
"Not exactly, which is why we need to talk."
"Tyler told me the bond doesn't affect how I feel, just the way I act. My feelings for you haven't changed, Toby. Nothing has changed."
Toby sighed. "Everything has changed, Elena."
"Okay, fine, yeah. I mean, I've changed, but I'm happy." Elena took a tentative step towards him. She wasn't sure she wanted to bring this up. "And… I know that you're still in love with Elowen. You don't have to deny it or lie to me to make me feel better. I just have to ask… could you ever love me the way you love her? Because I love you, Toby, and I don't want to give up on you just because I'm sired to you."
Toby was silent for a moment. "... I'm gonna be honest. I could never love someone the same way I love her. She holds a special place in my heart, Elena, and I hope you can understand that. I've known her practically my entire life. She knows me better than I know myself. But… I know that I can love you back someday, if you give me time."
"How can I expect you to love me back if she's constantly in your life? I can give you all the time in the world, but that would never change anything as long as you're around her."
"Elena… don't go there. Please."
Elena and Toby stared at each other for a long while, Toby's eyes begging her to not say what she was going to say anyway.
"Me or her," Elena said at last. "Choose, because I refuse to be second best in your eyes for the rest of my life, Toby. Me or her."
Toby closed his head and dropped his head. "I think you already know the answer," he whispered. "I'm sorry." He opened his eyes and found that Elena was on the verge of tears. "You know that what you're asking isn't fair." He paused. "You can stay here for as long as you need. I'll crash somewhere else."
Toby moved to leave the room. He stopped, cast one last glance at Elena, and then left.
xxxx
Author's Note: So I've been doing a lot of thinking. I've been working on this series for almost 4 years. I've reworked a lot of scenes and plot lines and side plots, but I've rewritten season 5 at least three times and I'm barely satisfied with it. Everything took a weird turn towards the end of season 4 that I wasn't happy with and I didn't know how to fix it. I think after posting season 5, because I have it finished, I'm either going to retire the series or take a break. Honestly, I'm leaning towards retiring it, unless there's people that would still like to read this and have me finish it. I just can't promise that it's going to be as good as the first 2 to 3 seasons of this story. Season 5 was very focused on delena's new relationship and post stelena breakup which was just so hard and stressful to write out, and I honestly think that's where the downfall was. I told myself that I was going to see this finished because I invested so much time into it, but it's just getting to the point where I'm unhappy with just about everything I write. Like I said, if there's enough people who would like to see this through, then I'll try to give it a chance to finish! It just might take a little longer because I would definitely need a break from this after working on it for 4 years straight. Let me know what you guys think, and I'll sit on it for awhile :)
