Hello! So, I'm not officially back to my 'regular' upload schedule yet, still got that dissertation to finish and all, but I had most of this written already and wanted to at least upload one chapter this month. Aren't you lucky?

It's only taken us, what, over a year now? And we finally get introduced to an Original... Hope you enjoy the chapter :)

I've said it before, and I'll say it again...

School starting at 8:00 am should be a crime, I am not about this life!

Especially since last night was...rough.

I let out a yawn, rubbing the back of my neck which still felt stiff.

After Caroline had left, I stayed behind with Tyler, making sure he had someone to talk to if needed. He didn't, but he also didn't tell me to go away either, and so I stayed. Eventually, Tyler's mom came and found us and said she was going to bed, and that we should do the same since it was still technically a school night.

We never left the couch though.

I think I personally got maybe two whole hours of sleep? Four at most.

At this point I'm not sure how Tyler is standing, even with all the coffee we drank this morning.

And because I stayed over last night, without a change of clothes, I've had to borrow some of Tyler's. Now the t-shirt is fine, I steal his t-shirts all the time. The shorts were from a few years back, so I guess I could get away with a kind of sporty, tomboy look.

Except for these shoes.

These damn heels.

There was no way I could have borrowed a pair of shoes from Tyler, and any old pair that didn't fit him anymore was already ruined and therefore dumped. Plus, my feet are too small for anything his mom has so...

Here we are.

In school.

In a pair of damn heels.

It sure looks like I've done a walk of shame now.

I glare at a group of boys who start sniggering, rolling my eyes because goddamnit this sucks.

And like the goddess she is, Caroline is waiting by my locker for me, with my trainers and clothes in a bag that I'd left at her house the night before.

The fact Tyler and I had to walk past a memorial for Sarah to get to her though...

I sighed, we sure seem to work fast here in Mystic Falls. For such a small town, our death rate is ridiculously high.

Tyler seemed to stare at it for a moment longer before quickly rushing over to his locker.

Trying to give us all a sense of normality, I turn to Caroline. "Have I mentioned you're the greatest person ever?" I said, taking the bag from her and immediately changing my shoes, finally feeling comfortable.

"I wouldn't mind hearing it more," Caroline replied, then turning to Tyler, who has hardly said a word all morning. "Hey, how're you doing?"

Tyler doesn't reply, not feeling much in a talking mood. He closes his locker with a slam, flinching as it dents, and begins heading off to class on his own.

"He's..." I started, pausing when I found myself unsure how to describe how he could be feeling. "...dealing."

I mean, it's not even been a full day yet, how is he meant to come to terms with the fact that someone we know from school has died, and that because of that he now has to live with a horrible curse?

My heart breaks for him.

The first bell rings, and Caroline and I head our separate ways to class.

I catch up with Stefan in the corridor, dreading the conversation when he decides to start it off with "you know" ...

"You know," he said, making me internally groan, "I've heard a few comments about you this morning, the infamous Skye Hampton."

"Oh yeah?" I said, already dreading it, "What have you heard?"

"Something about a 'walk of shame' or 'strange fashion choices' but I mean, that first one cropped up a whole lot more than the second..."

I sighed, "It's already been a long day."

Stefan gives my shoulder a squeeze, "Don't worry, you've only got...7 hours to go?"

I groaned, wondering if this was all going to be worth it when none other than Jeremy Gilbert walked up to us. It was strange, I wasn't used to interacting with this Gilbert, I was used to the other one.

But then he said some things, that caused just a bit of confusion in the group...

"Listen, I'm glad you and Elena are back together, but she's gotta let me know if I've got to cover for her."

"...what?" Stefan said.

"I mean, Jenna's cool but you guys are pushing it a bit."

"Aw, you guys are back together?" I grinned.

"Wait a minute," Stefan said, bringing the three of us to a halt, "We're not back together."

Jeremy raised an eyebrow in confusion, "She didn't stay at your place last night?"

Stefan shook his head, "I saw her at the party, but that was it. She didn't stay over."

"Well, she didn't come home," Jeremy said, starting to look more concerned.

It's then I realised something. "Her car is still at the Lockwood's, I saw it when I was leaving there this morning."

The three of us stood around in confusion.

"Where is she then?" Jeremy said, asking the question we were all currently thinking.

Stefan ditched our first two classes, having a handy dandy ability which makes it easy for him. I, on the other hand, handy dandy ability-less, had to attend these classes. I could hardly focus, not really paying attention to anything going on, worried about whether Elena was okay or not. God, I hope she was.

But, well, knowing our luck, well...

By the time lunch came around though, Stefan had managed to get a group of people together to help find Elena.

Jeremy, obviously, and Bonnie - also kind of obviously - and Alaric and Damon too. I was a little miffed Caroline wasn't here but Stefan then told me that she was hanging out with Tyler, talking to him about being new to the supernatural world.

Knowing those two were hanging out, willingly, was a bit of a shock to me, not gonna lie but...it's good, I guess, that they're able to talk to each other. That Tyler has someone who is going out of their way to help him.

Because it was a bit of a stress-fest over here right now.

Bonnie was setting up candles, directing me and Jeremy on where to place certain ones around the room and where to move bits of furniture. Bonnie and I's rocky relationship was put on the backburner, the two of us just wanting to get Elena home safe.

Alaric was...very reluctant about the whole thing since we were doing this in his classroom technically.

He let out a sigh before he had opened the door, "Half an hour, I have classes."

"Thank you," we had all politely said before rushing in.

"Is there any chance you can loan us some weapons?" I heard Damon ask him.

The next sigh that came from Alaric was out of this world. "More?"

Yeah, I'm also surprised we need anymore with what we 'borrowed' off him for last night's event. This reminds me, I still have a stake in my backpack that I hope nobody saw while I was taking my books out today during class...

Oh well, just another thing to add to my rumour train for the day.

Wouldn't be the weirdest thing people have said about me.

Everything was eventually set up in the room, Bonnie making minor adjustments before taking out a map and laying it across the table. I helped secure it from rolling back up by placing books on the corners on my side of the table.

"Are you going to be able to find her?" Jeremy asked Bonnie, clear worry etched across his face. "How does this even work?"

Bonnie nodded her head, "I'll use your blood to draw energy for the tracking spell. You're blood-related, so it'll make the connection stronger."

Jeremy nodded his head and offered his hand over.

"Ready?" Bonnie checked, holding the knife just above his palm.

He nodded, "Ready."

Jeremy winced as with one clean-cut blood was dripping from his hand onto the map.

Bonnie started quietly chanting, closing her eyes to concentrate.

I kept glancing between her and the map, watching in a sort of morbid fascination as the blood began to move seemingly on its own. Jeremy grabbed a rag and held it to his wound, also watching as the blood formed into one blob in the area of Mystic Falls before heading downward.

The map was pretty big, and the further the little blob moved the more worried I became. She'd been missing for maybe 12 hours now, maybe longer. You could get pretty far in that amount of time...

Eventually, it stopped, and Bonnie pointed to a spot on the map that was about 300 miles away from us.

"That's...far," I sighed, trying not to feel defeated already.

"We're gonna need something more specific," Bonnie mutters, leaning forward on the desk.

"We'd need to find a map of...where?"

"Reidsville," Jeremy said, "We can get an aerial map, find out what's in the area and then find out where she might have been taken."

"I'll find Stefan, let him know the plan," I said, heading to the door only for it to open and for him and Damon to walk in. "Perfect timing."

"Hey, we're ready to go," Stefan announced.

"Got our location?" Damon asked.

I nodded my head, "Reidsville, Jeremy is gonna narrow it down a bit further but it's a long journey so we gotta leave now."

"We?" Damon repeated, raising an eyebrow.

I didn't like the tone of voice that came alongside that comment.

"Yes, we, unless you have decided to stay behind," I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

Damon laughed, copying my stance. "You're not coming."

I raised an eyebrow, "Excuse me?"

"Look, we already said to mini-Gilbert we weren't gonna let him, what makes you think we'd let you come with?"

"Come on!" I rolled my eyes, turning to the other Salvatore. "Stefan, say something!"

"No, Damon's right."

...wow, okay.

I think the whole room stopped to blink in shock at that comment.

"Wow, never thought I'd hear you say that..." I mumbled.

Stefan sighs, "Look, we can't be worried about you or Jeremy or anybody else."

"You were hardly worried about us last night..."

"That was different," Damon retorted, moving to stand right in front of me, using his arms to trap me between a table and him. My still crossed arms were the only things keeping him getting any closer. "Last night we had a plan, we knew what we were going up against. We don't know who or how many we're going up against today, we don't even know the exact location we're heading."

"Then wouldn't it be better having some backup?"

Damon pointed a thumb at himself, "Stefan wants backup? I'm the backup, and me? I don't need backup, which means you're staying here."

...I bit my tongue, giving him a half-hearted glare before letting my arms drop to my side. "Fine," I said, pushing past him. "Come home safe."

I walked out of the classroom, shaking my head, not happy that they were going without me. I think what pissed me off more was that they had already decided the fact before even coming into the room. I hate feeling out of the loop...

Lunch was still ongoing I realised as I left the main building, being greeted with a view of other teenagers hanging out, finishing some last-minute homework, some even playing basketball.

I don't even realise I was heading to their car until I was standing right beside it. It was all stocked up with everything Alaric had provided them with, ready to take down a vampire if need be.

At this point, it had to be a vampire, there's no way it could be a regular kidnapping, not when it came to our group apparently.

You know, you live in the same small town all your life, nothing really happens, and suddenly within what, within less than a year everything goes mental. Typical.

Glancing back towards the school, I consider my options.

A part of me can understand them wanting to keep us humans safe, but on the other hand, I couldn't just stay behind and twiddle my thumbs until they got back, not knowing how things were going. Plus, what if these two needed some human backup, hey? What if it's a place that vampires can't get into, did they think about that?

To be honest, I don't know if there are many places vampires can't enter, apart from people's homes without an invitation of course. This still makes me confused because aren't some stores technically family owned and have homes upstairs or in the back like? Can the vampire enter the store but not the living quarters? What about hotels? If they book a room can they only enter that room or can they enter any room? And since it's a hotel, does the invitation have an expiry date because someone else technically lives in there after them?

I shake my head, trying to divert my train of thoughts back to the problem at hand.

I mean, you know what, let's put it up to chance - if the car door is locked, I'll stay behind, if not well...it'll be their own fault.

With one final glance behind me, I try the car door...

*click*

...guess it's their own fault.

I smirk. Hackervoice, we're in.

The floor of the car was not comfortable in the least, especially since I was covered with Damon's leather jacket which was a lot heavier than I expected. I had to shove a bunch of pointy stakes to the other side as well, just so I wouldn't be stabbed during the journey.

The most stressful part of this whole ordeal though was when the brothers were just getting into the vehicle. I mean, what if they wanted to do one last inventory check and then discovered one unexpected person in the bagging area? Thankfully they didn't.

But that moment where they both got in the car, where neither the engine nor the radio was on, the moment where they were most likely to hear my heart beating out my chest, was definitely the most stressful.

As soon as we were out on the open road, I felt myself relax slightly. Still very uncomfortable, but slightly less stressed.

It was a bit awkward when the brothers started talking about me though...

"So...Skye didn't seem too happy," Stefan had said, deciding to be the one to bring yours truly into their brotherly road trip conversation, for whatever reason.

I heard Damon sigh, "It's for the best that she's back home, then we've only got one human to worry about."

...whoops.

"What's the deal with you two anyway?"

...Stefan, what are you doing?

"What do you mean?" Damon asked.

"Well," Stefan drew out, "You guys have been together for how long now? Officially, I mean."

Even from under a whole jacket, I could tell Damon was uncomfortable with this turn of conversation. "I dunno, what does it matter?"

"It's just I've never actually heard you guys refer to yourself as girlfriend and boyfriend...and has there ever officially been the first date?"

"We're exclusive, what more do you want?"

"I'm just wondering..."

"Well, stop."

"What do you guys refer to each other when you talk about each other? I've heard Skye use 'partner in crime' but I mean, in a serious situation."

I bit my lip, trying not to grin even though nobody could see me.

Damon laughs. "Yeah, I like that one."

"Aren't you doing a meet the parents this weekend?"

"Yeah? What does that have to do with what we label ourselves as? Why don't you just drop it, Stefan."

And for a while they did drop it, moving on to topics such as a potential game plan, and Stefan on blood. I didn't even know he was taking very small quantities, but at least it was somewhat controlled.

But then, Stefan had to move the topic back...

Who knew I was talked about so often? Sure as hell not me.

"I'm sorry by the way, for going behind your back with Skye and her memories. I didn't know you would be so upset over it."

"Hmm, it's fine now."

There's a pause before Stefan tentatively asks, "How do you feel about it though?"

"About what? The fact she's had previous lives without me? I mean, why should it matter? We've both experienced things the other hasn't, the same as any other relationship."

"Yeah but, she's reliving these moments. I think some of these memories will feel a lot fresher than you think."

There's a pause before I hear Damon again. "What do you mean?"

"I mean..." Stefan sighed, trying to find the right words. "Lisa, when her brother died she was wrecked. And...I dunno, after Skye got the memories of him back I can't seem to think that there's an air around her that's changed."

"A lot has happened in the last 24 hours, Stefan, a lot of stressful things. Between planning Katherine's murder and Lockwood activating his curse, it hasn't exactly been easy going."

"I guess..."

"Plus didn't she say she was running on 4 hours of sleep and a gallon of coffee?"

That's true, I did say.

"Yeah, she can hopefully get some rest and we'll be home by the time she wakes up."

...whoops again.

There's another moment of silence, and I think that the conversation has come to an end, but then Damon pipes up again...

"...out of curiosity, what else happened in these memories? Haven't exactly had the time to talk to Skye about it yet."

"Um..." Stefan said, and I could already tell what or who he was thinking about. "I mean, what do you wanna know?"

Stefan, you bloody traitor!

Ah, fuck it, we're far enough out that they can't turn back now.

And I've had enough of them talking about me when I was literally in the backseat.

And sure they didn't actually know that but, well, now they will.

Plus, this isn't a conversation I wanted Stefan to try and have with Damon.

In one quick movement, I remove Damon's jacket from the top of me, pulling myself up to where I was poking my head through the gap between the brother's seats.

"Right - "

"AHHH!"

"AHHH!" I yell, feeling my front half getting launched forward, my legs thankfully preventing me from going through the front window as Damon made the car come to an emergency stop. "Ow, what the hell?!

"What the hell?" Damon repeated, turning around to face me, a not so happy look on his face. "I should be the one saying that, what the hell? Yeah, that's right, what the hell are you doing here?! I told you to stay home!"

"Skye," Stefan said, a warning tone and a mean look making me wonder if I perhaps made a rash choice.

Well, too late to go back now.

"I'm your backup, whether you want it or not," I declared, sitting back properly and buckling into the middle seat.

Damon rolled his eyes dramatically, turning back to face the wheel and shaking his head.

A loud ding from Stefan's phone draws the attention off me for a moment, and I thank whoever decided to message at that very second.

Stefan sighs, looking at Damon before saying, "We can't turn back now."

"Sure we can."

"It's too late, Jeremy has sent me the address which is most likely where vampires hiding out would have taken Elena. We can't risk the sun going down, they'll be able to move after that."

I raised an eyebrow at Damon from the backseat, wondering what he was going to do.

He rolled his eyes back at me. "Fine," he said, although the way he said it didn't make it seem like it was fine. He turned the engine on and pointed a finger at me through the mirror, "You - "

"I'm not gonna stay in the car."

"Skye - "

"Drive, Damon, we can discuss this on the way!" Stefan interrupted.

With a frustrated groan, Damon starts the car moving again, somehow even faster than we had been driving before.

The silence that rings through the car afterwards is well, pretty awkward I'll admit.

I lean forward, placing my arms on either side of their headrests. "You know," I say, feeling now might be the best time to give them some friendly advice. "You should really learn to lock your door."

"Don't push it, Skye..." Stefan warned, glancing towards Damon who was not removing his eyes from the road.

"So," I say, not wanting to sit in silence. "I want the crossbow."

Damon scoffs, "Of course you want the crossbow."

"What's that even supposed to mean?"

"Don't play dumb with me."

Stefan groans, "Guys?"

"No," I say, holding a hand up to Stefan while glaring at the side of Damon's head. "I want to know what he meant by that."

Perhaps the journey to wherever it was we were going was a little louder now that I had decided to make an appearance, but personally, I thought that made things more interesting and made the time fly back faster.

Poor Stefan though, he'd hardly managed to get a word in.

"I'm just saying - "

"No, what you're saying is rubbish!"

"Guys..."

"Just because you can't appreciate some well-written literature - "

"Twilight is not 'well-written' and you know it!"

"Guys..."

"Fine!" I groaned, leaning back, "Even I can't lie about that."

"So you admit - "

"Guys!" Stefan yelled, interrupting our conversation.

Damon and I both stopped yelling at each other since he did sound quite angry.

"We're almost there," he said, pointing to the spot on the map, and then to the house in the distance.

It was an old, boarded up, half-fallen apart house in the middle of a clearing. There were two cars already in the area, not looking very old or abandoned...meaning people were probably inside.

Shit.

The sun was beginning to fall behind the trees, nightfall slowly approaching.

Damon pulled the car up a couple of yards behind the more expensive vehicle out of the two. As soon as the car came to a halt, I jumped out, not wanting Damon to try and lock me in or anything, even though he still probably could.

Stefan headed to the back of the car, and I was about to follow him so I could grab the crossbow when Damon placed a hand on my arm stopping me in my tracks.

"Hey," he said, starting the conversation off softer than the ones we'd had in the car. "You can still stay in the car..." I gave him a deadpanned look. He sighed, "Please stay in the car?"

I placed my hand over his. "I've come this far, I want to help," I told him. "I don't want to be out here and end up seeing someone else leave dragging Elena away, and having to go in and find your dead corpse..."

The look he gave me was still hard, but I could see a crack in his exterior.

"I don't want you in danger," Damon says. "There's no guarantee Stefan or I will be able to protect you."

The real severity of the situation hits, it's so easy to dissociate yourself with how crazy your life becomes. Elena has been kidnapped. Like actually kidnapped, taken. That fact alone is insane, throw in the fact it's probably a vampire that's got her and now we're in crazy town.

"I mean," I hesitate before continuing, "if something did happen - "

Damon scoffs, shaking his head as he seems to realise what I was about to say, that I wouldn't be dead-dead, I'd be reborn. "No way."

In one swift movement, he takes a bite out of his wrist, blood immediately dripping from the fresh wound. I stared between him and his bloody wrist in shock.

"You've only got a few seconds," Damon says, extending his wrist, "Only way I'm letting you in that house, otherwise you stay in the car. That's my condition."

Before I can talk myself out of it, actually considering what it would entail becoming a vampire in this life, I grab his wrist and drink before it's too late. The look I receive from him after isn't exactly happy, but he seems satisfied enough.

"Alright," he says, rolling his sleeve down, "Let's get you your crossbow."

After our quick preparations - me tying my hair up after consuming some of Damon's blood, all of us making sure we had a decent set of weapons each to defend ourselves with - the three of us sneak to the side of the house. The brothers are obviously able to hear what's going on, whereabouts people are, and how many we're up against.

Stefan had put up 3 fingers to indicate it was going to probably be a 3v3 but then shook his head, putting up 2 fingers instead. One of them had killed someone.

And that's when we made our move.

We snuck into the house, well, Stefan and Damon snuck into the house with Damon carrying me to a secluded corner on the opposite end of the foyer.

Placing me on my feet, he quickly places a silent kiss on my forehead before rushing to a separate position.

And the plan is set into motion.

I do my best to calm my heartbeat while hearing the noises and jabs from Damon and Stefan, moving swiftly around the room in order to distract, the sounds bouncing off the walls.

There's a split second where I peak around the wall I hide behind, able to catch two blurs grab Elena and another woman, leaving behind a man in a well-dressed suit. From the way he's dressed, the way he seems to hold himself, I'd place my bet on him owning the more expensive car sat outside. I'd also bet he was the one that after Elena...

I quickly hide back behind the wall before I can be spotted, checking that the safety of the crossbow was off.

"Excuse me," I hear him say, his footsteps walking towards the staircase, "To whom it may concern, you're making a grave mistake if you think you can beat me...you can't. You hear that?"

Well, man sure is confident. Hopefully, that fact will be his downfall...

"I repeat, you cannot beat me," he says, the sound of wood breaking catching my attention enough to peek around the corner again. He'd taken an old coat hanger and was making a stake out of it... "So I want the girl on the count of three, or heads will roll."

It was then I realised how familiar he seemed, and my blood ran cold.

This was the same man that killed me in my past life with Katherine.

With that realisation, I was filled with a newfound determination. No way was I going to let him take Elena...

I remember what Alaric had said about using one of these yesterday, during our plan to kill Katherine, and I aim it up just like he showed us all. Thankfully his back was currently to me, which meant I had a pretty big target.

Releasing a breath, I pull the trigger.

The knockback shook me a little, making me take a step back and unable to follow the stake with my eyes.

I look up to see if it hit its target.

No.

He'd caught it.

And in that second, I stop breathing.

I'm so fucked.

We briefly make eye contact as he looks first at the stake and then straight at me. My eyes widen and I turn quickly, trying to reload the crossbow in time but my heart drops when I feel a hand clamp on my shoulder.

I don't move, aside from my heart uncontrollably beating in my chest. I keep reminding myself how I drank vampire blood before coming in here, therefore if I die I should come back. If I die I should come back. Should. Was it enough? This wasn't how I wanted it to happen either way if I did decide to turn. What if he rips my heart out again? No way could I come back from that, not in this life anyway.

A hand touches my neck and I push back the feeling of wanting to cry.

"You..." he murmurs, brushing my birthmark. I turn my head to stare at him, wondering why I'm still alive. His expression is completely different, like in some sort of trance.

And I realise I have an opening.

I grip the stake in my hand tightly before bringing it up and toward his chest. However, he easily manages to grab my wrist before I can make contact, finally seeming to snap out of his trance. He yanks the stake from my hand and throws it to the side, it bounces off the floor, rolling further away from us.

Well, that may perhaps be the ammo out of the way, but I still have the weapon.

I should have known trying to bash him over the head with the crossbow wouldn't have gone any better.

He seemed to anticipate what I was about to do, shaking my other wrist until I drop it, kicking it to the side out of reach. I wouldn't have much use for it now anyway as it breaks upon hitting the wall from impact.

I'm so fucked.

It's harder to control the tears threatening to form now, unable to do anything as the man before me seems to still be in great thought, looking as if he's at crossroads with himself.

With him standing so close, I'm certain he's one of the people I've had visions of, specifically the man who literally ripped my heart out, and that's what keeps me fighting. His grip on my wrists doesn't falter no matter how hard I try to remove myself.

"Let go," I say, quieter than I intended to, but with how shaky my voice is, I'd be afraid to speak any louder. "And leave my friend alone."

A hint of a smile threatens to show on his face, and I don't know how I can tell something as subtle as that, but he finally looks like his mind has been set. Still holding onto one of my wrists, the other snakes around my waist and starts moving me towards the door.

Panicking, I started digging my heels into the floor as best as I could, starting to struggle more.

"Please cooperate," He almost seemed to plead, "Everything will be explained soon, I promise, but for now we must leave."

"No, stop!" I said, trying to land a hit on him with my free arm. It was useless. And I had a feeling he was losing his patience.

"Elijah! Wait!" We turned around and Elena stood at the top of the stairs, shaking like a leaf. "Please, I'll go with you, let her go. Let them all go. They're my friends, they were only trying to help."

For a moment I look up at the man called Elijah, wondering what his decision was. He takes a glance down at me, before looking back up at Elena. His grip on my waist tightens and my heart drops as I know his decision before he's even said a word.

"I'm sorry," Elijah says politely, "But for now you're free to go, doppelganger."

And before it's too late, I act in the only way I could at that moment.

Using a smaller stake tucked into my pocket, I grab it and quickly dig it into Elijah's side, and despite the grunt, his grip doesn't falter.

"Damon, help!" I scream, full-body thrashing in one last attempt to remove myself from him. I watch as Elena throws a vervain grenade through the air, and feel myself getting pulled away from the direct hit and a cry of pain from Elijah beside me as the device explodes.

The next thing I know, Stefan has thrown him off me and Damon is staking him to the wall with the old coat hanger.

And I don't know if it's the sight of a body attached to the wall, or what, but I burst into tears unable to hold them back any longer.

Damon is there not a second later, holding onto me tightly. And the feeling of his arms wrapped around me, the smell of his leather jacket, the sense of safety I felt after that brought me some peace. I look beside us and see Elena and Stefan also embracing, tears of relief staining Elena's cheeks.

She breaks away from Stefan before making her way over to us. Damon lets me go and I fall into Elena's arms, still crying and unsure why but just glad to have her back.

"I was so worried about you," I sobbed into her shoulder.

"Thank you for coming to get me..."

I pull away for a moment, forcing myself to stop crying long enough to smack her arm and tell her seriously, "Don't ever do that again!" I pull her back in for a tight hug after, so glad she was okay.

After calming down, we grab any weapons that weren't broken (sorry Alaric...) before leaving the house.

I can't help but stare at the grey face of the man named Elijah who I feel like I should be mourning despite knowing he was the reason Elena had been kidnapped, the reason that I was almost kidnapped! This close, I was able to see him clearer, and it was like looking at an old photo of someone you knew years ago but couldn't quite place who they were to you...

My chest aches, and before I can dwell on that for too long Damon places a hand on my back, leading me out into the early evening air. The sun had gone down, but it was still bright, the sky filled with hues of red and pink.

Elena and Stefan were by the car already, the pair of them hugging again after putting away everything.

Nobody really spoke until we were back out on the road. Elena phoned home, letting a worried Bonnie and Jeremy know that she was safe, that we were all safe, and that we were on our way back.

She and Stefan were in the back so they could hold onto each other during the journey back, so I was given the front seat. Although I kind of wish I got to have a bit of a cuddle right now...

Damon, somehow able to sense that, had reached over and grabbed my hand once which made me smile a little.

"They called him an Original, one of the first vampires to walk the earth," Elena said, breaking the silence.

"Sounds like a load of nonsense," Damon said bluntly. "But what about it?"

"He knew Skye," she continued, and I could feel the tension in the car rising. "Or he must have known a past life of hers or something."

"We don't need to worry about that now, you two have had a stressful few days, you should try and get some sleep," Damon interrupted, gripping my hand a little tighter. "There's no need to worry. He's gone now."

And for some reason, despite seeing Elijah's corpse hanging dead, a vampire impaled through the heart by a wooden object, with no logical reason, I didn't believe he was as dead as he seemed.

At that thought, I placed my other hand over Damon and I's conjoined hands, holding it closer to me before closing my eyes and trying to get some of that sleep I'd been missing out on.

You know, despite all of us making it out fairly unscathed, defeating the enemy and saving the girl, there was something in my gut that just makes me feel uneasy, as if it were saying this isn't over yet...

Wordcount: 6,237
Proofread?: Oh yeah, I'm not gonna be happy if there are mistakes in this bad boi

Well, well, well, what did you think? I'm very eager to know. That scene with Elijah catching the stake etc? I've had that scene written before the first chapter of this whole story. I hope I fit it in alright lmao.

It'll be a while until I'm back to more regular uploads, I've got assignments and exams approaching a whole lot faster than I care to admit. And while I've outlined the next chapter, I've got nothing written so. oop. will be another wee while

Reply to some super troupers

flawsome4ever - thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoy what I've written so far, your continued support makes me wanna get back to this pronto, I hate long waits between chapters. Damon and Skye are my dynamic duo yo, I love them so much.

AndTheSaintsAreallMadeOfGold - I'm sorry you had to wait over a year lmao but here it is! Elijah! In all his glory! Dissertation deadlines are hmmm a little too close for comfort if I'm being honest but hey, we're getting there, slowly but surely.

Goodboiii - thank you! your support means so much! and I definitely need that motivation for this diss lmao

Summer - Hey there! You're welcome for some bi rep! I just think making things a lil gayer makes things a little more interesting lmao like man, i know this show was 2009 but you can't tell me there wasn't one queer person in that friend group. Glad you're enjoying the story so far! I hope you stick around to see what happens next!